New-York tribune., 1911-11-25
A Demonstration OF tn e
Saving Effected by
the Soyer Method.
BY Martha MccuIIoch Williams.

A dollars worth Of paper bags will be
ample to cook for any average family
throughout the month Add a box OF clips
at O cents-they will be good for another
month. and still another in careful hands
and the outlay is still inconsiderable.
Add still further so cents for greasing
pound OF lard, half pound of butter, half
a pound OF drippings-and the total Is
still more than moderate. Notwithstand-
ing. il is more than plenty Of us would
care to spend monthly merely in the in
tercst Of flavor or even of ease. Plenty
more Of us like TO take our duties labori-
ously. feeling that thus we win 20 the
kingdom Of thrift SO If there were no
economic Offset, paper bag cooking would
have 10 he reckoned either a fad or a lux
ury. II IS neither-it has come to stay.
in my opinion, by helping 10 stay. not
merely our stomachs. but the rise in the
mounting cost Of living.
say YOU pay from s. TO S4 a month for
gas-which is about a fair average II
the paper bag cooking cuts this a third, IL
has almost paid for itself at one fell
swoop. Intelligenuy used IL is safe 10 do
more-but counting IT, a third. there IS
handsome initial credit Add the saving
Of omission-the lack Of greasy CRIME 20
oversDread walls ana hangings, and there
is still another credit. Wear and tear are
commonly figured at TO 10 per cent. If
paper bag cooking saves half that loss it
is something more to the good And il
does save it, Two bodies cannot occupy
the same space. The grease that is held
inside the bag. to season and make tender
the food. can not volatilize and film things
as il would from a pan.
Next comes the saving in the quantity
of food cooked. Paper bag cooking is one
fifth TO one-fourth ahead there. In pot
cooking the scales show a shrinkage treble
that Of bag cooking. This is a saving well
worth while, vet far from telling the
whole story. Things bag cooked nourish
better, because they are more readily di-
gested. Their own vapors have broken
down their hard cellular fibre and left It
an easy victim to the gastric juice.
Which Of US mas not under stress, eaten
food cooked 70 death" and felt afterward
the futilty OF eating 1.-THE futility being
attested by pangs Of hunger. There may
have been substance left in the food. but
T
not assimilate it, In a manner we were
as though we had eaten grass. The human
stomach has not machinery for getting
out the nourishment in things cooked TO a
hard crisp A little crisping, as Of bacon,
breaks down readily. But the crust Of
overdcne roast the tips and tag ends gen
orally. are so much clear waste-even
| though some strong and toothful soul may
ar a pinch devour them.
Set this extra nourishment at one-tenth
OF the food cost and the food cost for a
family SO a week. Right there you have
more than the price Of bags. grease, clips,
etc.-almost the cost Of the gas.
But even then the sum in domestic
economy is just fairly begun. Paper bag
cooking not only saves thus negatively
by preventing loss and insuring full edi-
biity. but positively-and IN many ways,
as. for example in the food bought.
Round steak is more nourishing than any
/ ctheI-but the fact has been held TO be
Offset by the extra dentists bill the eating
/ Of it necessitated Paper bag cooking
makes il as tender as porterhouse itself;
| moreover. there IS no bone 20 be thrown
avay-uothing but clear meat And the
favorable difference in price runs all the
way from 10 10 cents the pound
/ have tried a rolled round roast in a
/ covered pan, codXing IT, even pampering
/ fl. all I knew how. yet had ii come out
still round. And ! have cooked the same
rolled round roast inside paper bag and
had IT come out not only edible, but de-
Hcious-a lordly dish rather than tax on
teeth and temper So with the fowls as
opposed TO fancy roasting poultry; so with