This book is intended for the use of those housekeepers and cooks whowish to know how to make the most wholesome and palatable dishes at theleast possible cost. In cookery this fact should be remembered above allothers; a good cook never wastes. It is her pride to make the most ofeverything in the shape of food entrusted to her care; and her pleasureto serve it in the most appetizing form. In no other way can she proveher excellence; for poor cooks are always wasteful and extravagant.
Housekeepers can safely make this book a guide for those of their cookswho are willing to learn new and good methods of cooking familiar foods.Lest it should be said that undue preference is given to foreign ways ofcooking, the author begs her readers to remember how much of the successof any dish depends upon its taste; if it is well-flavored, andpalatably seasoned, the eaters of it do not closely criticise itscomponent parts. It is just there that benefit is derived from Europeanculinary skill; the judicious use of a few inexpensive sweet herbs, andsavory sauces, will raise a side dish, made from the cheapest cut ofmeat, in gustatory excellence far[Pg 4] above a badly cooked porterhousesteak, or a large but poorly flavored roast. Because the art ofutilizing every part of food is eminently French, the New York CookingSchool plan has been to adapt foreign thrift to home kitchen use. Toprovide enough at each meal; to cook and serve it so as to inviteappetite; to make a handsome and agreeable dish out of the materialswhich the average cook would give away at the door, or throw among thegarbage; all are accomplishments that our American wives and daughterswill be glad to learn from their European sisters.
The day has passed for regarding cooking as a menial and vulgar labor;and those who give some thought to their daily food usually gain invigor and cheerfulness. It is a truism that food is concentrated force.The manipulation of a motive power capable of invigorating both body andmind, is an occupation worthy to employ intelligence and skill. Incountries where the people depend upon meagre supplies this art isbrought to perfection. The pot-au-feu of France and Switzerland, theolla podrida of Spain, the borsch of Poland, the tschi of Russia,the macaroni of Italy, the crowdie of Scotland, all are practicalexamples of this fact. In no country in the world is there such anabundance of food as in America; all the needful ingredients for makingthese national dishes, or their equivalents, can be found in the marketsof our cities, and most of them are the products of this country. Thisbeing true, there is no reason why American cookery[Pg 5] should be socomparatively limited—why the question of "what shall we have fordinner to-day?" should be the despair of the inexperienced housekeeper.If in no other land is there such profusion of food, certainly in noneis so much wasted from sheer ignorance, and spoiled by bad cooking. InEurope provinces would live upon what towns waste here. The very herbsof the field in the hands of a skilful cook can be transformed intop