Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-11-21
FAMILY LIFE
IN OLD VENICE
LIVING FROM HAND TO MOUTH
ONE THING THAT PREVENTS
WASTE.

All Venetian families live from hand
throughout Italy. The days market
irg suffices for that day, writes NJ. H..
Voise in the November Pilgrim II
for your cooking you need tomatoes,
you buy two and not whole kilo. for
all fruit and vegetables are mere sold
b. weight and not by measure. Even
the ever necessary riso and pasta are
bought fresh and fresh in the ex-
act quantity that experience has
shown the family uses.
So the groceries and the markets
act as a huge storehouse and dole out
each housenolder's supply every morn
ing so that no waste is possible. You
never buy whole pound of butter or
a dozen eggs at a time. With the
mornings milk comes exactly enough
butter for the uses of the day. If
Maria needs more butter she makes a
dart for the nearest store and returns
with three cents worth. If an extra
egg is required in cooking, that one
egg is bought instead of nalf a dozen.
And you can buy two-tifths of a cent
worth of anything at exactly the same
rate you would buy dollars worth
in fact for less if you are foreigner.
for unless your eye is sharp you would
be apt to get trifle less than good
measure.
So my household budget for the day
stands:
One lb. turkey. ooc: l h. goose, 16
cents: fish. 50 cents; y ID. mush-
rooms. cents: / lb. tomatoes, 3-5
cents: salt pork for soup. cents;
carrots, l cent; parsley, % cent: soup
meat, y b.. cents: rice. % cents
Zucci, l cent: salad, 3 cents; Il Of a
cabbage. | % cents; verdura (soul
greenD. cent: cheese (parmesan for
r;sottol. cents: lb. grapes, 4 cents
other fruit, 8 cents: total, SLOTS
Can Buy Turkey Wing.
You see you can buy not only the
fraction of a pound of anything, but
You can buy a leg or a wing or shoul
der of lamb In this case | have a les
OF turkey with its large. yellow claw
attached. and some white meat. ano
a good piece of breast of goose. | an
allowed to choose my own cut.
The frugal Nenetians would no
think of committing the extravaganza
of buying a good sized turkey or :
whole goose. The fritto misto of fish
is a mixture of various sorts of frlet
fish. I have four small soles, a mum
Der of trigla. which look like goldfish
some silvery sardines, and aquantit.
of shrimps which are better fried thai
in any other way. The fish man ha
thrown in three or four squid, whicl
the Venetians love. and of which the,
make inky stew. Well cleaned an
fried, they taste not unlike scallops
The zucci are tiny baby squashes. an
earlier in the season the fritto misto
are garnshed with zucci flowers fried
Maria will first fry zucci in olive OF
and then the fish.
Anyone who keeps house in Nenic
will find that the picturesqueness c
surroundings is carried out in all tn
details of life. The kitchen, for il
stance, vii be more primitive tina
any kitchen you have yet seen.
your apartment is anything short Of
palace. 1t is apt to be a spaciou
room, around the top of which run
a row of shelves filled with pewte
plates. There are rows of copper pot
and saucepans and there are fascina
every size. nd in the inventory Their
is sure to be a round wooden boar
with a stubby handle, to turn out tn
steaming polenta on.
Polenta is nothing in the world Blu
an excellently made cornmeal mush-
a corn meal mush with the mushines
left out, for to be perfect, polenta mus
have consistency. Besides the eXao
proportions of water. salt and mea
polenta, to be good must be stirre
continually and long cudgel for thi
purpose is another item in the kitcl
el. furnishing. Our polenta was cool
ell in a copper pot hung on a Gran
over wood fire. and this brings m
to the cooking arrangements. Ther
is no stove in this Venetian kitchen
there is nothing to cook on by near
which an American cook could tur
out square meal.
There is wide soapstone heart
the height of the ordinary range, su
mounted by an imposing hood. Q
this hearth, without aid of andiron
is built a wood fire. The sticks al
long, and only one end is lighted
the other end extends out on the eds
of the hearth, and as the lighted en-
burns down, the stick is pushed ba6
into the flame.
On either side of this fire stands
fornello, an earthenware vessel som
thing like large square f1owerpOt.
these are made charcoal fires, qui
large enough to heat two flatirons
the same time. This is all the coo
ing arrangement; there is no place f
roasting or baking. No bread, cak
or biscuit is ever made in an Italia
house. If you wish to roast a turk,
Or a large bird. you send it in its pa
with the butter for its basting to Il
baker, who roasts it to a beautif
brown for from three 10 five cen
The smaller fowls are roasted in o.
of the large copper casseroles, and
turning and twisting and basting
cessantly. the bird is as perfect
roasted as one would wish
There is no place for keeping al
thing hot on this embryonic rams
end with only three places for coo
and set aside to make way for 9th
dishes On the other hand, the
could not be a more economical W
OF cooking. In a very few momer
the charcoal fire burns at full pitt
ard if one wishes for just enough a
no more to broil a chop, one may ha
it without having to light a fire SUI
cient to cook an entire dinner. as o
would have TO do with us. for the fl
fol an American kitchen range COS
anywhere between % to 35 cents