The Project Gutenberg EBook of Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book, by Catherine Beecher This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book Designed as a Supplement to Her Treatise on Domestic Economy Author: Catherine Beecher Release Date: June 23, 2017 [EBook #54965] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOMESTIC RECEIPT BOOK *** Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Les Galloway and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) MISS BEECHER’S DOMESTIC RECEIPT BOOK: DESIGNED AS A SUPPLEMENT TO HER TREATISE ON DOMESTIC ECONOMY NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF STREET. 1846. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by Harper & Brothers, In the Clerk’s Office of the Southern District of New-York. PREFACE. The following objects are aimed at in this work: First, to furnish an original collection of receipts, which shall embrace a great variety of simple and well-cooked dishes, designed for every-day comfort and enjoyment. Second, to include in the collection only such receipts as have been tested by superior housekeepers, and warranted to be the best. It is not a book made up in any department by copying from other books, but entirely from the experience of the best practical housekeepers. Third, to express every receipt in language which is short, simple, and perspicuous, and yet to give all directions so minutely as that the book can be kept in the kitchen, and be used by any domestic who can read, as a guide in every one of her employments in the kitchen. Fourth, to furnish such directions in regard to small dinner-parties and evening company as will enable any young housekeeper to perform her part, on such occasions, with ease, comfort, and success. Fifth, to present a good supply of the rich and elegant dishes demanded at entertainments, and yet to set forth a large variety of what is both healthful and good, in connexion with warnings and suggestions which it is hoped may avail to promote a more healthful fashion in regard both to entertainments and to daily table supplies. No book of this kind will sell without receipts for the rich articles which custom requires, and in furnishing them, the writer has aimed to follow the example of Providence, which scatters profusely both good and ill, and combines therewith the caution alike of experience, revelation, and conscience, “choose ye that which is good, that ye and your seed may live.” Sixth, in the work on Domestic Economy, together with this, to which it is a Supplement, the writer has attempted to secure in a cheap and popular form, for American housekeepers, a work similar to an English work which she has examined, entitled the Encyclopædia of Domestic Economy, by Thomas Webster and Mrs. Parkes, containing over twelve hundred octavo pages of closely-printed matter, treating on every department of Domestic Economy; a work which will be found much more useful to English women, who have a plenty of money and well-trained servants, than to American housekeepers. It is believed that most, in that work, which would be of any practical use to American housekeepers, will be found in this work and the Domestic Economy. Lastly, the writer has aimed to avoid the defects complained of by most housekeepers in regard to works of this description, issued in this country, or sent from England, such as that, in some cases, the receipts are so rich as to be both expensive and unhealthful; in others, that they are so vaguely expressed as to be very imperfect guides; in others, that the processes are so elaborate and fussing as to make double the work that is needful; and in others, that the topics are so limited that some departments are entirely omitted, and all are incomplete. In accomplishing these objects, the writer has received contributions of the pen, and verbal communications, from some of the most judicious and practical housekeepers, in almost every section of this country. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. Nourishing and unstimulating Food. Nourishing and stimulating food. Food that stimulates without nourishing. Food that is entirely Undigestible. Food that is unhealthful in nature, or made so by cooking. Liquid aliments, or drinks. Other liquid aliments, or drinks, 1 CHAPTER II. MARKETING—CARE AND USES OF MEATS. Selection and uses of meats. Modes of cooking and using the different parts of animals. Beef. Veal. Mutton. Pork. Marketing. On the Cure of Meats. Directions for cutting up a Hog. To try out Lard. Directions for salting down Pork. Mr. H. H.’s Receipt for Curing Hams. To prepare Cases for Sausages. Sausage Meat. Bologna Sausages. Another Receipt for Sausage Meat. Pickle for Beef, Pork, Tongues, or Hung Beef. Another by measure, and with less trouble. To salt down Beef to keep the year round. To Cleanse Calf’s Head and Feet. To Prepare Rennet, 26 CHAPTER III. BOILED MEATS. To cook a Ham (very fine). Smoked Boiled Tongues. A la Mode Beef. Another à la Mode Beef. To Boil a Leg of Veal or Mutton. Pot Pie, of Beef, Veal, or Chicken. Calf’s Head. Curried Dishes. To Prepare Curry Powder. Veal Stew. Another Veal Stew (very fine). To Stew Birds. A fine Mutton Stew. A Sausage Stew. To Bake Beef. Beef, or Mutton and Potatoe Pie. To Cook Pigeons. Beef or Veal Stewed with Apples (very good). To Boil a Turkey. To Boil Corned Beef, 36 CHAPTER IV. ROASTED AND BAKED MEATS. General Remarks. Roast Beef. Roast Lamb. Roast Mutton. Roast Veal. To Roast a Fillet or Leg of Veal. Baked, or Roasted Pig. To Roast a Spare Rib. Roast Turkey. Roast Goose. Roast Chickens. Roast Ducks. Mutton and Beef Pie. Chicken Pie. Mutton Haricot. To Cook a Shoulder of Lamb. Rice Chicken Pie. Potatoe Pie, 43 CHAPTER V. FRIED AND BROILED MEATS. General Remarks. A nice Way of Cooking Calf’s or Pig’s Liver. Fried Veal Cutlets. Fricassee Chickens. Meats Warmed over. A nice Way of Cooking Cold Meats. A Hash of Cold Meat for Dinner (very good). Cold Meat Turnovers. Head Cheese. Souse. Tripe. Force Meat Balls (another Hash.) To Prepare Cold Beef Steaks. A nice Way of Cooking Cold Boiled Ham. Another way of Cooking Cold Ham. A Veal Hash. Veal Balls (another Hash). Broiled Meats. General Remarks. Broiled Ham. Broiled Veal Cutlets. Broiled Mutton Chops. Broiled Pork Steaks. Beef Steaks. Beef Liver. To Poach Eggs. To Boil Eggs. A Salt Relish. Egg Frizzle (very good). Frizzled Beef. Veal Cheese. A Codfish Relish. Another Way. Salt Herrings, 50 CHAPTER VI. SOUPS. French Vegetable Soup. Plain Calf’s Head Soup. An Excellent Simple Mutton Soup. Pea Soup. Portable Soup. A Rich Mock Turtle Soup. Another Dry Pea Soup. Clam Soup. Oyster Soup. Veal Soup. Macaroni Soup (Mrs. F.’s Receipt). Southern Gumbo (Mrs. L.’s Receipt). Giblet Soup, 57 CHAPTER VII. FISH. Directions for making Chowder. To Fry Fish. To Boil Fish. To Broil Fish. Baked Fish. Cod Sounds and Tongues. To Cook Salt Codfish. To Cook Cold Codfish. To Cook Oysters. Lobsters. Scolloped Oysters. Pickled Oysters. To Crimp Fresh Fish. To Cook Eels. To Cook Scollops. A Good Way of Using Cold Fresh Fish. To Cook Clams, 62 CHAPTER VIII. ON THE PREPARATION OF HASHES, GRAVIES, AND SAUCES. To prepare Gravy for a Cold Beef Hash, or Steak Hash. Gravy for a Mutton Hash, or Venison Hash. To prepare a Veal Hash. Common Gravies. Drawn Butter, or Melted Butter. Another Mode of preparing Drawn Butter. Drawn Meat Gravies, or Brown Gravies. Nice Article to use for Gravy, or Soup. Burnt Butter for Fish, or Eggs. Sauce for Salad, or Fish. Wine Sauce for Mutton or Venison. Oyster Sauce. Lobster Sauce. Apple Sauce. Celery Sauce for Boiled Fowls. Celery Vinegar. Essence of Celery, to flavor Soup. Herb Spirit. Soup Powder. Soy. Tomato Catsup. Mushroom Catsup. Walnut Catsup, 66 CHAPTER IX. VEGETABLES. Potatoes. Boiled Potatoes. Other Modes of Cooking Potatoes. Turnips. Asparagus. Beets. Parsnips and Carrots. Onions. Jerusalem Artichokes. Squashes. Cabbage and Cauliflowers. Peas. Sweet Corn. Succatosh. Beans. Egg Plant. Baked Beans. Tomatoes. Greens. Cucumbers. Macaroni. Another Way. To Cook Hominy. Macaroni Pudding, to eat with Meat. Salad. Mode of Dressing Salad. Mushroom. Celeriac. Salsify, or Vegetable Oyster. Southern Mode of Cooking Rice. Common Mode of Cooking Rice. Best Mode of Cooking Tomatoes. Sweet Potatoes. Artichokes. Stewed Egg Plant, 73 CHAPTER X. OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. On Constructing and Heating an Oven. How to know when an Oven is at the right Heat. How to know when Bread is Sour, or Heavy. How to treat Bread when taken from the Oven. Yeast. Potatoe Yeast. Home-made Yeast, which will keep good a Month. Home-brewed Yeast more easily made. Hard Yeast. Rubs, or Flour Hard Yeast. Milk Yeast. Wheat Bread of Distillery, or Brewer’s Yeast. Wheat Bread of Home-brewed Yeast. Baker’s Bread. Wheat Bread of Potatoe Yeast. Potatoe Bread. Cream Tartar Bread. Eastern Brown Bread. Rye Bread. Rice Bread.—No. 1. Rice Bread.—No. 2. Apple Bread. Pumpkin Bread. Walnut Hill’s Brown Bread. French Rolls, or Twists. Raised Biscuit. Very Nice Rusk. Potatoe Biscuit. Crackers. Hard Biscuit. Sour Milk Biscuit. A good Way to use Sour Bread, 83 CHAPTER XI. BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. General Directions for Griddle and other Breakfast Cakes. Buckwheat Cakes wet with Water. Extempore Buckwheat Cakes. Buckwheat Cakes wet with Milk. Griddle Cakes of Unbolted Wheat. Best Rice Griddle Cakes. A very delicate Omelet. Wheat Waffles. Miss B.’s Waffles (without yeast). Rice Waffles. Good Cakes for Tea, or Breakfast. Fried Rice for Breakfast. Fried Hominy. Rye Drop Cake (excellent). Wheat Drop Cake. Corn Griddle Cakes with Yeast. Pilgrim Cake. Sour Milk Corn Cake. Corn Muffins (from the South). Corn Griddle Cakes with Eggs. Sachem’s Head Corn Cake. Royal Crumpets. Bachelor’s Corn Cake. Mrs. W.’s Corn Cake. Corn Muffins. Savoy Biscuit. Cream Cakes. Wheat Muffins. Albany Breakfast Cakes. Sally Lunn. Cream Tea Cakes. Buttermilk Short Cakes. Wafers. Pennsylvania Flannel Cakes. Kentucky Corn Dodgers. Ohio Corn Cake. Scarborough Puffs. Cream Griddle Cakes. Crumpets. Fine Cottage Cheese, 94 CHAPTER XII. PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. General Directions in regard to Puddings and Custards. Little Girl’s Pie. Little Boy’s Pudding. Children’s Fruit Dumpling. Birth- day Pudding. Children’s Boiled Fruit Pudding. English Curd Pie. Fruit Fritters. Common Apple Pie. Plain Custard. A Richer Custard. Another Custard. Mush, or Hasty Pudding. Stale Bread Fritters (fine). To prepare Rennet. Rennet Custard. Bird’s Nest Pudding. A Minute Pudding of Potatoe Starch. Tapioca Pudding. Sago Pudding. Cocoanut Pudding (Plain). New England Squash, or Pumpkin Pie. Ripe Fruit Pies. Batter Pudding. Mock Cream. Bread Pudding. Sunderland Pudding. An Excellent Apple Pie. Boiled Apple Pudding. Spiced Apple Tarts. Boiled Indian Pudding. Baked Indian Pudding. Rice Balls, or German Pudding. Apple Custard. Rhubarb Pie. Plain Macaroni or Vermacelli Puddings. Green Corn Pudding. Bread Pudding for Invalids, or Young Children. Plain Rice Pudding, without Eggs. Another Sago Pudding. Oat Meal Mush. Modes of Preparing Apples for the Table. Fruit Custards. Modes of Preparing Rice for the Dinner or Tea Table. Rice and Meat Pudding. Modes of preparing Dishes with Dry Bread, or Bread so old as to be not good for the table, 104 CHAPTER XIII. RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. Ellen’s Pudding, or Rhubarb Tart. Nottingham Pudding. Rice Plum Pudding. Eve’s Pudding (the best kind). Baked English Plum Pudding. A Boiled English Plum Pudding. Almond Cheese Cake. Cocoanut Pudding. Arrowroot Pudding. Ground Rice Pudding. Mrs. O.’s Pumpkin Pie. Cracker Plum Pudding (excellent). Minced Pie. Marlborough Pudding. Orange, or Lemon Pudding. Sweet Potatoe Pudding. Quince Pudding. Paste for Puddings and Pies. Healthful Pie Crusts. Paste made with Butter. Directions for making Paste. Puff Paste. Sauces for Puddings. Liquid Sauce. Hard Sauce. A Healthful Pudding Sauce. An excellent Sauce for Boiled Rice, 121 CHAPTER XIV. PLAIN CAKES. General Directions for Making Cake. Rose Butter. Directions for Cleansing Currants. Frosting for Cake. Cake Frosting (another, which is harder). Good Child’s Cake. Ginger Snaps. Child’s Feather Cake. Best Molasses Gingerbread. Sponge Gingerbread. Cider Cake. Cup Cake without Eggs. Cream Cake without Eggs. Cream Tartar Cake, without Eggs. Fruit Cake without Eggs. Drop Cake. Sugar Gingerbread (rich). Sugar Gingerbread (plainer). Sponge Cake. Bridget’s Bread Cake (excellent). Doughnuts. Cookies (plain). French Cake. Walnut Hill’s Doughnuts. Cocoanut Cup Cake. Cocoanut Sponge Cake. Lemon Cake.—No. 1. Gingernuts. Honey Cake. New Year’s Cookies. Boston Cream Cake. Almond, Hickory, or Cocoanut Cake. Caraway Cakes. Fruit Drop Cakes. Dr. B.’s Loaf Cake. Fancy Cakes. Fried Curd Cakes. Wine Cake. Egg Rusk. Citron Tea Cakes. French Biscuit (Mrs. Dr. C.), 130 CHAPTER XV. RICH CAKES. Old Hartford Election Cake (100 years old). Raised Loaf Cake. Mrs. H.’s Raised Wedding Cake (very fine). Yeast for the above Cake. Fruit Cake, or Black Cake. Pound Cake. French Loaf Cake. Portugal Cake. Golden Cake. Silver Cake. Shrewsbury Cake. Queen’s Cake. Crullars. Lemon Cake.—No. 2. Almond Cake. Lemon Drop Cakes. Jelly Cake. Cocoanut Drops. Sugar Drops, 146 CHAPTER XVI. PRESERVES AND JELLIES. General Directions for making Preserves and Jellies. To Clarify Syrup for Sweetmeats. Brandy Peaches. Peaches (not very rich). Peaches (very elegant). To preserve Quinces Whole. Quince Jelly. Calf’s Foot Jelly. To preserve Apples. Pear. Pineapple (very fine). Purple Plum.—No. 1. To preserve Oranges. Purple Plum.—No. 2. White, or Green Plum. Citron Melon. Strawberries. Blackberry Jam. To preserve Currants to eat with Meat. Cherries. Currants. Raspberry Jam.—No. 1. Raspberry Jam.—No. 2. Currant Jelly. Quince Marmalade. Preserved Watermelon Rinds. Preserved Pumpkin, 153 CHAPTER XVII. PICKLES. To Pickle Tomatoes. To Pickle Peaches. To Pickle Peppers. To Pickle Nasturtions. To Pickle Onions. To Pickle Gherkins. To Pickle Mushrooms. To Pickle Cucumbers. Pickled Walnuts. Mangoes. Fine Pickled Cabbage. An excellent Way of Preparing Tomatoes to eat with Meat. To Pickle Martinoes. A convenient Way to Pickle Cucumbers. Indiana Pickles. To Pickle Cauliflower, or Brocoli, 165 CHAPTER XVIII. ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS AND EVENING PARTIES. Ice Cream. Directions for freezing Ice Cream. Philadelphia Ice Cream. Another Ice Cream. Strawberry Ice Cream. Ice Cream without Cream. Fruit Ice Cream. Rich Custards. Wine Cream Custard. Almond Custard. A Cream for Stewed Fruit. Currant, Raspberry, or Strawberry Whisk. Lemonade Ice, and other Ices. Lemon and Orange Cream. Vanilla Cream. A Charlotte Russe. A Plainer Charlotte Russe. A Superior Omelette Souflée. Almond Cheese Cake. Flummery. Chicken Salad. Gelatine, or American Isinglass Jelly. Oranges in Jelly. Jelly Tarts. Sweet Paste Jelly Tarts. An Apple Lemon Pudding. Buttermilk Pop. Wheat Flour Blanc Mange. Orange Marmalade. A simple Lemon Jelly (easily made). Cranberry. Fruits Preserved without Cooking. Apple Ice (very fine). Lemon, or Orange Ice Cream. Cream Tarts. Whip Syllabub. Trifles. Nothings. Apple Snow. Iced Fruit. Ornamental Froth. To Clarify Isinglass. Blanc Mange. Calf’s Foot Blanc Mange. Variegated Blanc Mange. Jaune Mange. Ivory Dust Jelly. Apple Jelly. Another Lemon Jelly. Orange Jelly. Floating Island. Another Syllabub. An Ornamental Dish. Carrageen Blanc Mange (Irish Moss). A Dish of Snow. To Clarify Sugar. To Prepare Sugar for Candies. Sugar Kisses. Almond Macaroons. Filbert Macaroons. Cocoanut Drops. Candied Fruits. Another Way. To make an Ornamental Pyramid for a Table, 165 CHAPTER XIX. TEMPERANCE DRINKS. Ginger Beer Powders, and Soda Powders. Currant Ice Water. Sarsaparilla Mead. Effervescing Fruit Drinks. Effervescing Jelly Drinks. Summer Beverage. Simple Ginger Beer. Orange, or Lemon Syrup. Acid Fruit Syrups. Imitation Lemon Syrup. Superior Ginger Beer. Lemon Sherbet. Orange Sherbet. Sham Champagne. Coffee. Fish Skin for Coffee. Chocolate. Cocoa and Shells. Tea. Ochra. Children’s Drinks. White Tea. Boy’s Coffee. Strawberry Vinegar. Royal Strawberry Acid. Delicious Milk Lemonade. Portable Lemonade, 183 CHAPTER XX. RECEIPTS FOR FOOD AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. General Remarks on the Preparation of Articles for the Sick. An Excellent Relish for a Convalescent. Several Ways of Preparing Chickens for the Sick. Milk Porridge. Rice Gruel, and Oatmeal Gruel. Arrowroot and Tapioca Gruels. Dropped Egg. Wheat Gruel for Young Children with weak stomachs, or for Invalids. Another Panada. Herb Drinks. Other Simple Drinks. Cream Tartar Whey. Simple Wine Whey. A great Favorite with Invalids. A New Way of making Barley Water. Panada. Arrowroot Blanc Mange. Rice Flour Blanc Mange. Another Receipt for American Isinglass Jelly. Tapioca Jelly. Caudle. Sago Jelly. Spiced Chocolate. Barley Water. Water Gruel. Beef Tea. Tomato Syrup. Arrowroot Custard for Invalids. Sago for Invalids. Rice Jelly. Sassafras Jelly. Buttermilk Whey. Alum Whey. Another Wine Whey. Mulled Wine. Tamarind Whey. Egg Tea and Egg Coffee (very fine). Cranberry Tea. Apple Tea. Egg and Milk. Sago Milk. Tapioca Milk. Bread and Milk. Egg Gruel. Ground Rice Gruel. Oatmeal Gruel. Simple Barley Water. Compound Barley Water. Cream Tartar Beverage. Seidlitz Powders. Blackberry Syrup, for Cholera and Summer Complaint. Remarks on the Combinations of Cooking, 191 CHAPTER XXI. ON MAKING BUTTER AND CHEESE. Articles used in Making Cheese. Mode of Preparing the Rennet. To Make Cheese. To Scald the Curd. Directions for making Butter, 204 CHAPTER XXII. ARTICLES AND CONVENIENCES FOR THE SICK, 209 CHAPTER XXIII. THE PROVIDING AND CARE OF FAMILY STORES, 217 CHAPTER XXIV. SUGGESTIONS IN REFERENCE TO PROVIDING A SUCCESSIVE VARIETY OF FOOD. Directions for Preserving Fruits and Vegetables, 223 CHAPTER XXV. ON BREAD MAKING, 227 CHAPTER XXVI. DIRECTIONS FOR DINNER AND EVENING PARTIES. Setting the Table. Taking up the Dinner. Tea Parties and Evening Company, 234 CHAPTER XXVII. ON SETTING TABLES, AND PREPARING VARIOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD FOR THE TABLE, 243 CHAPTER XXVIII. ON SYSTEMATIC FAMILY ARRANGEMENT, AND MODE OF DOING WORK. Directions for the Cook. Directions for the Chambermaid. Odds and Ends, 247 CHAPTER XXIX. ON A PROPER SUPPLY OF UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES FOR HOUSEKEEPING. Kitchen Furniture, 252 CHAPTER XXX. SUGGESTIONS IN REGARD TO HIRED SERVICE, 269 CHAPTER XXXI. ON THE STYLE OF LIVING AND EXPENSES, 273 CHAPTER XXXII. WORDS OF COMFORT FOR A DISCOURAGED HOUSEKEEPER, 276 CHAPTER XXXIII. FRIENDLY COUNSELS FOR DOMESTICS, 280 CHAPTER XXXIV. MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE, AND SUPPLEMENTARY RECEIPTS. Weights and Measures. Avoirdupois Weight. Apothecaries’ Weight. On Purchasing Wood. Items of Advice. To make nice Crayons for Blackboards. Some excellent Cheap Dishes. Stewed Beef. Tomato Beef. A good Way to use Cold Rice. To prepare Good Toast. A Good Pudding. Loaf Pudding. A Plain Lemon Pudding. An Excellent Indian Pudding without Eggs. Pork and Potato Balls. Oyster Pie. Green Corn Patties (like Oysters). Ohio Wedding Cake (Mrs. K.). Best Way of making Corn Cakes of all Sorts. Molasses Candy. To make Simple Cerate. Best Remedy for Burns. Ginger Tea. Indian Bannock. Egg and Bread. Floating Island. A New Mode of cooking Cucumbers, 283 THE DOMESTIC RECEIPT BOOK. CHAPTER I. ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. A work has recently been republished in this country, entitled, “A Treatise on Food and Diet; by Dr. J. Pereira. Edited by Dr. Charles A. Lee.” “The author of this work,” says Dr. Lee, “is well known throughout Europe and America, as one of the most learned, scientific, and practical men of the age;—a physician of great experience and accurate observation, and a highly successful writer. To the medical profession he is most favorably known as the author of the best work on the Materia Medica which has appeared in our language.” This work contains the principles discovered by Leibig, Dûmas, and Brossingault, and applies them practically to the subject of the proper selection of food. All the opinions, expressed in what follows, are sanctioned by the above work, by Dr. Combe, and by most of the distinguished practitioners of our age and country. In selecting food, with reference to health, the following principles must be borne in mind. First, that there are general rules in regard to healthful food and drink, which have been established, not by a few, but by thousands and thousands of experiments, through many ages, and in an immense variety of circumstances. It is these great principles, which must be the main dependance of every mother and housekeeper, to guide her in selecting healthful food and drinks for her children and family. These rules are furnished by medical writers and practitioners. Secondly, there are occasional exceptions to these general rules, and when such occur, two errors should be avoided. One is, giving up all confidence in the deductions of a wide experience, established by extensive experiments, and assuming that we have no rules at all, and that every person must follow the guidance of mere appetite, or his own limited experience. The other is, making the exception into a general rule, and maintaining that every person must conform to it. For example, it is found by general experience, that milk is a very safe and healthful article of food, and that alcoholic drinks are very unhealthful. But there are cases which seem to be exceptions to this rule; for some children never can eat milk without being made sick, and there are cases known where men have lived to a very advanced age and in perfect health, who have daily used alcoholic drinks, even to the point of intoxication. Still, it is very unwise to throw away the general rule and say, that it is just as well for children to drink alcoholic drinks as to use milk,—and as unwise to claim that every person must give up the use of milk because a few are injured by it. The true method is, to take the general rules obtained by abundant experience for our guide, and when any exceptions are found, to regard them as exceptions, which do not vacate the general rule, nor make it needful to conform all other cases to this exception. It will be the object of what follows, to point out the general rules, which are to regulate in the selection of drinks and diet, leaving it to each individual to ascertain, by experiments, what are, and what are not the exceptions. In the first place, then, it is a general rule that man needs a variety of aliment, so that it is unfavorable to health to be confined to only one kind of food. The various textures of the human body are composed of chemical compounds, which differ from each other, both as to ingredients, and as to modes of combination. It is true, that every portion of the body may be resolved to a few simple elements, of which oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen are the chief. But the bodily organs have not the power of forming all the various animal tissues from these simple elements. Instead of this, they must be introduced into the body in various complex and different combinations, as they exist in the forms of gluten, fibrine, albumen, caseine, and other animal and vegetable compounds. Thus the sugar, starch, and oils, found in certain kinds of food, supply the carbon which sustain the combustion ever carried on in the lungs by the process of breathing, and which is the grand source of animal heat. On the contrary, the blood, muscles, skin, cartilages, and other parts of the body, are daily nourished and renewed, some by the gluten contained in wheat, others by the albumen of eggs, others by the caseine of milk, and others by the fibrine of animals. All these are found in a great variety of articles used as food. When received into the stomach, the organs of digestion and assimilation prepare, and then carry them, each to its own appropriate organ, and then the excreting organs throw off the surplus. In order, then, to have every portion of the body properly developed, it is necessary to take such a variety of food, that from one source or another, every organ of the body shall be sustained by its appropriate nourishment. The experiments which prove this, have been conducted on a great scale, and the method and results are detailed in the work of Dr. Pereira. This fact exhibits one cause of the craving, sometimes felt for certain kinds of food, which usually is the call of nature for some ingredient, that the daily round of aliment does not supply. The statistics furnished in the work of Dr. Pereira, from various armies, prisons, almshouses, and asylums, show, that, where many hundreds are fed on the same diet, the general health of the multitude is better sustained by a considerable variety and occasional changes, than by a more restricted selection. Experiments on dogs and other animals, also, have been tried on a large scale, which prove that there is no kind of food, which, alone, will preserve full and perfect health; while every kind (except the food containing gluten, which is the chief ingredient of wheat and other bread-stuffs), when given exclusively, eventually destroys life. The exclusive use of wheat bread and potatoes, as found by experiment, will sustain life and health more perfectly, for a great length of time, than any other kinds of food. The above fact is a striking exhibition of the beneficence of Providence, in providing such an immense variety of articles of food. And no less so is the instinct of appetite, which demands not only a variety, but is wearied with one unchanging round. Having ascertained that it is needful to health, that a due variety of food should be secured, we next proceed to examine the principles that are to guide us in the selection. It is found that the articles used for food and drink may be arranged in the following classes:— First, articles that furnish no other stimulation to the animal functions than is secured by the fresh supply of nutrition. All food that nourishes the body, in one sense, may be called stimulating, inasmuch as it imparts renewed energies to the various bodily functions. In this sense even bread is a stimulant. But the more common idea attached to the word stimulant is, that it is a principle which imparts a speed and energy to the organs of the system above the ordinary point secured by perfect and appropriate nourishment. The first class, then, are those articles that serve to nourish and develop perfectly every animal function, but do not increase the strength and speed of organic action above the point of full nourishment. The bread-stuffs, vegetables, fruits, sugar, salt, acid drinks, and water are of this class. Secondly, those articles, which serve to nourish perfectly all the animal system, and at the same time increase the strength and speed of all functional action. All animal food is of this class. All physiologists and medical men agree in the fact, that the pulse and all the organs of the body, are not only nourished, but are quickened in action by animal food, while speed and force are reduced by confining the diet to farinaceous, vegetable, and fruit diet. Thirdly, those articles which impart no nourishment at all to the body, but act solely to stimulate all the organs to preternatural action. Alcoholic drinks, condiments, and aromatic oils are of this description. Fourthly, articles that are neither nourishing nor stimulating, but pass out of the system entirely undigested and unassimilated. The bran of coarse bread is an example. Fifthly, articles that, either from their nature or modes of combination and cooking, are difficult of digestion, unhealthful, and, of course, tend to weaken the organic powers by excessive or unnatural action. Animal oils, either cooked or rancid, and many articles badly cooked, are of this kind. NOURISHING AND UNSTIMULATING FOOD. The following presents a list of the articles which are found to be healthful and nourishing, and not stimulating, except as they supply the nourishment needed by the various bodily functions. The first and most important of these are called the farinaceous substances. Of these, wheat stands at the head, as the most nutritive, safe, and acceptable diet to all classes and in all circumstances. This can be used in the form of bread, every day, through a whole life, without cloying the appetite, and to an extent which can be said of no other food. Wheat is prepared in several forms, the principal of which are the common Fine Wheat Flour, the Unbolted, or Graham Flour, and Macaroni, Vermicelli, and Cagliari Pastes. The last are flour paste prepared, or cut into various shapes and dried. Wheat flour is made into bread of two kinds, the fermented, or spongy breads, and the unfermented, or hard breads. The spongy breads are made by using either yeast, or the combination of an acid and alkali. In yeast bread, the fermentation of the particles of diffused yeast evolve carbonic acid. This expands the flour in a spongy form, in which it is retained by the tenacity of the gluten of the flour, until baking hardens it. Corn meal and some other bread-stuffs cannot be raised thus, because they do not contain gluten sufficient to hold the carbonic acid as it evolves. When an alkali and acid are used to raise bread, their combination evolves carbonic acid by a more sudden process than the yeast fermentation. The lightness produced by eggs is owing to their adhesive porosity when beaten and mixed with flour and baked. Bread is also made of rice, rye, Indian meal, and barley. These varieties of bread-stuffs are useful in various ways. In cases when persons are troubled with looseness of bowels, rice bread, rice gruel, and rice water for drink, prevent the necessity of resorting to medicine. In cases where the opposite difficulty exists, a diet of unbolted wheat, or rye mush with salt and molasses will remedy the evil. These articles also can, all of them, be formed into a great variety of combinations that are at once healthful, and acceptable to the palate. The next class of healthful and unstimulating articles are the amylaceous, or starchy articles of diet. Of these Sago, Tapioca, Arrow Root, and the Lichens, are those in most frequent use. These are nourishing and remarkably easy of digestion. They are very much used for invalids, and for young children when first weaned. The next most valuable articles of food are the vegetables. Of these the Potato is at once the most healthful, and most universally relished. In the form of Starch, it makes, when cooked, a light and agreeable article for the sick, and is convenient to housekeepers as forming a fine minute pudding to meet an emergency. Of the great variety of vegetables that are furnished at market, or from our gardens, almost all are palatable and healthful to a stomach that is strong. Peas, Beans, Onions, and cooked Cabbage and Turnips, usually are not good for persons whose powers of digestion have been weakened. The next most valuable articles of food are the Fruits. Almost all kinds of fruit, when fully ripe, are healthful to those who are not suffering from weakness of digestion. Grapes, Apples, Peaches, Strawberries, Raspberries, and Currants, are least likely to prove injurious. The skins and seeds of all fruits consist of woody matter, that is perfectly undigestible, and should never be taken in large quantities. It is the skins and seeds of the grape that make raisins so often injurious to young children. If the skins and stones can be removed, nothing can be found that is more safe and healthful, in moderate quantities, than raisins and grapes. The next articles of healthful unstimulating food are the Saccharine substances, Sugar, Molasses, and Honey. On this point, Dr. Pereira remarks, “The injurious effects which have been ascribed to sugar are more imaginary than real. The fondness of children for saccharine substances may be regarded as a natural instinct; since nature, by placing it in the mother’s milk, evidently intended it to form a part of their nourishment. Instead, therefore, of repressing this appetite for sugar, it ought rather to be gratified in moderation. The popular notion, of its having a tendency to injure the teeth, is totally unfounded. During the sugar season of the West Indies, every negro on the plantations, every animal, and even the dogs, grow fat. And no people on earth have finer teeth than the negroes of Jamaica. It is probable that this erroneous notion has been propagated by frugal housewives, in order to deter children from indulging in an expensive luxury. Sugar is readily digested by a healthy stomach. In dyspeptics, it is apt to give rise to flatulence and acidity of stomach.” These remarks, without other considerations, may lead to erroneous conclusions. There is no doubt that both children and adults are often injured by the use of sugar, but it is not because it is unhealthful in its nature, but because it is used in excess or in an improper manner. In the “Domestic Economy,” pg. 105, it is shown that highly concentrated food is not favorable to digestion, because it cannot be properly acted on by the muscular contractions of the stomach, and is not so minutely divided as to enable the gastric juice to act properly. Now Sugar, Candy, and the like, are highly concentrated nourishment, and should not be used except when mixed with other food. The reason, then, why children are injured by sugar is, that they eat it too frequently, in too large quantities, and unmixed with other food. A stick or two of pure candy, eaten with crackers or bread, never would injure any healthy child. It is too often the case, that candies are mixed with unhealthful coloring matter, or with nuts and other oily substances, that make them injurious. The next article of healthful, unstimulating food, is jellies and preserved fruits. As it has been shown that uncooked fruits and sugar are both healthful, it may not seem surprising that jellies and fruits cooked in sugar, when eaten moderately, with bread or crackers, are regarded as among the most nourishing and healthful of all aliments. When they prove injurious, it is owing either to the fact that they are taken alone, or with rich cream, or else are taken in too great quantities. Eaten moderately, as a part of a meal, they are safe and nourishing to all, except persons of poor digestion. Healthful stomachs need not be governed by rules demanded by the invalid, which has too often been attempted. The preceding presents a vast variety of articles suitable for food, containing in abundance all the principles demanded for the perfect development of all the animal functions, and which physiologists and medical men unitedly allow to be healthful. These can be combined by the cook in an endless variety of agreeable dishes, involving no risk to a healthful stomach, when taken in proper quantities and in a proper time and manner. NOURISHING AND STIMULATING FOOD. The second general division of food, embraces articles which serve perfectly to nourish and develop every animal organ, but, at the same time, increase the speed and strength of all functional action beyond the point which is attained by the system, when fully and perfectly nourished by vegetables, fruits, and bread-stuffs. There is no dispute among physiologists and physicians as to the fact, that animal food produces chyle which is more stimulating to the various organs, than that which is formed from an exclusive vegetable diet. The only question debated is, whether this increase of stimulus is favorable, or unfavorable to health and long life. Those who maintain that it is unfavorable, say, that all other things being equal, that machine must wear out the soonest which works the fastest; that, it is proved, both by analysis and by facts, that a vegetable diet contains every principle needed for the perfect development of the whole bodily system, as much so as animal food; and that the only difference is the stimulation in the animal food, which makes the system work faster, and of course, wear out sooner. To this it is replied, that the exact point of stimulation, which is most safe and healthful, cannot be determined, and that it is as correct to assume, that to be the proper medium, which is secured by a mixed diet, as to assume that the proper point is that, which is secured by an exclusive vegetable diet. Moreover, the fact that the teeth and digestive organs of man, which seem to be fitted both for vegetable and animal food, and the fact that the supplies of food on the earth make it needful to adopt sometimes animal, and sometimes vegetable diet, and sometimes a mixture of both, furnish an à priori argument in favor of a mixed diet. In deciding which kinds of animal food are most healthful, several particulars are to be regarded. The flesh of young animals is more tender than that of the old ones, but yet they usually are not so easily digested. Beef, and Mutton, and Venison, when tender, are considered the meats which are most easily digested, and best for weak stomachs. Venison is more stimulating than Beef and Mutton. These meats, when tough, are not so easily digested as when tender. All meats are made more tender and digestible by hanging. Solid meats, properly cooked, are more easily digested than soups and broths. For it is found that these liquids are never digested till the water is absorbed, leaving a solid mass more undigestible than was the solid meat. When useful to invalids, it is because they supply the loss of the withdrawn fluids of the body, but not because more easily digested. The white meats, such as Chicken and Veal, are best for invalids, because less stimulating than dark meats. Liver contains so much oil that it is not good for invalids or dyspeptics. The digestibility and healthfulness of meat depends very much upon the mode of cooking. Boiled meats are most easily digested, when properly boiled. Roasting, broiling, and baking, are healthful modes of cooking, but frying is a very pernicious mode of preparing meats, the reason of which will be explained hereafter. Though there is a disagreement of opinion among practitioners and physiologists, as to the propriety of using any animal food, they are all agreed in regard to certain general principles that should regulate its use. They are as follows:—Less animal food should be used in warm climates than in cold, and less, also, in summer than in winter. The reason of this is, that heat is stimulating to the system, and as meat diet is also stimulating, when heat increases, meat, as a diet, should decrease, or fevers may ensue. Another principle is, that the proportions of meat diet should depend somewhat on the constitution and circumstances. When a person is of full habit, or inclined to inflammatory attacks of any kind, the proportion of animal food should be much less than in other cases. On the contrary, when there is a state of the system that demands gentle stimulus, an increase of meat diet is sometimes useful. Persons subject to cutaneous eruptions are sometimes entirely cured by long abstinence from animal food, and all kinds of oily substances. FOOD THAT STIMULATES WITHOUT NOURISHING. The articles which come under this head, are usually called the condiments. In regard to these, Dr. Pereira remarks,— “The relish for flavoring, or seasoning ingredients, manifested by almost every person, would lead us to suppose that these substances serve some useful purpose beyond that of merely gratifying the palate. At present, however, we have no evidence that they do. They stimulate, but do not seem to nourish. The volatile oil they contain is absorbed, and then thrown out of the system, still possessing its characteristic odor.” The articles used for food of this kind, are the sweet herbs employed for seasoning, such as Thyme, Summer Savory, and the like, and the spices, such as Cloves, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Pepper, and Ginger. Mustard, Horseradish, Water Cresses, Garlic, and Onions, contain these stimulating oils, combined with some nourishing food. “Condiments,” says Dr. Beaumont, “particularly those of a spicy kind, are non-essential to the process of digestion in a healthy state of the system. They afford no nutrition. Though they may assist the action of a debilitate stomach for a time, their continual use never fails to produce an indirect debility of that organ. They affect it as alcohol and other stimulants do—the present relief afforded is at the expense of future suffering. Salt and Vinegar are exceptions when used in moderation. They both assist in digestion, Vinegar by rendering muscular fibre more tender, and both together, by producing a fluid having some analogy to the gastric juice.” FOOD THAT IS ENTIRELY UNDIGESTIBLE. There is no kind of food used which consists exclusively of indigestible matter. But it often is the case, that a certain amount of indigestible matter is mixed with nourishing food, and serves, by its mechanical aid, to promote the healthful action of the stomach and bowels. This is the reason why unbolted flour is deemed more healthful than fine flour, and is consequently preferred for dyspeptics. But where there is too great a quantity of such indigestible matter, or where it is not properly combined with digestible food, it proves injurious and often dangerous. This is the case when the skins and seeds of fruits are swallowed, which always pass off entirely undigested. FOOD THAT IS UNHEALTHFUL IN NATURE, OR MADE SO BY COOKING. The most injurious food, of any in common use, is the animal oils, and articles cooked with them. On this subject, Dr. Pereira remarks:—“Fixed oil, or fat, is more difficult of digestion, and more obnoxious to the stomach, than any other alimentary principle. Indeed, in concealed forms, I believe it will be found to be the offending ingredient in nine-tenths of the dishes which disturb weak stomachs. Many dyspeptics who avoid fat meat, butter, and oil, unwittingly eat it in some concealed form. Liver, the yolk of eggs, and brains, such individuals should eschew, as they abound in oily matter.” “The influence of heat on fatty substances effects chemical changes, whereby they are rendered more difficult of digestion, and more obnoxious to the stomach. Hence those culinary operations in which fat or oil is subjected to high temperatures, are objectionable.” “Fixed oils give off, while boiling, carbonic acid, an inflammable vapor, and an acrid oil, called Acroleon, while the fatty acids of the oil are, in part, set free. It has always appeared to me that cooked butter proves more obnoxious to the stomach than cooked Olive oil. This I ascribe to the facility with which, under the influence of heat, the acrid, volatile acids of butter are set free. The fat of salt pork and bacon is less injurious to some dyspeptics than fresh animal fats. This must depend on some change effected by curing.” “In many dyspeptics, fat does not become properly chymified. It floats on the stomach in the form of an oily pellicle, becoming odorous, and sometimes highly rancid, and in this state excites heartburn, disagreeable nausea, eructations, and sometimes vomiting. It appears to me, that the greater tendency which some oily substances have than others to disturb the stomach, depends on the greater facility with which they evolve volatile, fatty acids, which are for the most part exceedingly acrid and irritating. The distressing feelings excited in many dyspeptics by mutton fat, butter, and fish oils, are, in this way, readily accounted for. Butter contains no less than three volatile, fatty acids, namely—the butyric, capric, and capröic. Fats, by exposure to the air, become rancid, and in this state are exceedingly obnoxious to the digestive organs. Their injurious qualities depend on the presence of volatile acids, and in part also on non-acid substances.” These statements show the reasons why the fried food of all kinds is injurious. Fat is an unhealthful aliment, and when heated becomes still more so. This mode of cooking, then, should be given up by every housekeeper, who intends to take all reasonable means of preserving the health of her family. There are an abundance of other modes of preparing food, without resorting to one which involves danger, especially to children and invalids, whose powers of digestion are feeble. The most common modes of preparing unhealthful food, is by frying food, and by furnishing bread that is heavy, or sour, or so newly baked, as to become clammy and indigestible when chewed. Though there are many stomachs that can for a long time take such food without trouble, it always is injurious to weak stomachs, and often renders a healthful stomach a weak one. A housekeeper that will always keep a supply of sweet, light bread on her table, and avoid oily dishes, oily cooking, and condiments, will double the chances of good health for her family. Minuteness of division is a great aid to easy digestion. For this reason food should be well chewed before swallowing, not only to divide it minutely, but to mix it with the saliva, which aids in digestion. The cooking of food, in most cases, does not alter its nature; it only renders it more tender, and thus more easily divided and digested. When a person is feverish and loathes food, it should never be given, as the stomach has not sufficient gastric juice to secure its digestion. The practice of tempting the sick by favorite articles, should therefore be avoided. LIQUID ALIMENTS, OR DRINKS. “Water” says Dr. Pereira, “is probably the natural drink of all adults. It serves several important purposes in the animal economy:—firstly, it repairs the loss of the aqueous part of the blood, caused by evaporation, and the action of the secreting and exhaling organs; secondly, it is a solvent of various alimentary substances, and, therefore, assists the stomach in digestion, though, if taken in very large quantities, it may have an opposite effect, by diluting the gastric juice; thirdly, it is a nutritive agent, that is, it assists in the formation of the solid parts of the body.” The health of communities and of individuals is often affected by the nature of the water used for drink, and it is therefore important to know how to secure pure and good water. Rain water is the purest of all water, purer than the best spring water. Of course every person who fears that the water used is the cause of any evil, can obtain that which is known to be pure and good. The cheapest mode of obtaining good rain water, is to have a large cistern dug in the vicinity of some large building, with conducting spouts. This can be lined with water lime, and the water thus obtained, when cooled with ice, is as pure as any that can be found. A distinguished medical writer, Dr. Cheyne, remarking on the effects of foreign substances in water, states these facts: — “At the Nottingham Assizes, July, 1836, it was proved on trial, at which I was a witness, that dysentery, in an aggravated form, was caused in cattle by the use of water contaminated with putrescent vegetable matter, produced by the refuse of a starch manufactory. The fish were destroyed, and all the animals that drank of this water became seriously ill, and many died. It was shown, also, that the mortality was in proportion to the quantity of starch made at different times, and that when the putrescent matter (of the manufactory) was not allowed to pass to the brook, the fish and frogs returned, and the mortality ceased among the cattle.” Dr. Barry, an English physician, states, that when the troops at Cork were supplied with water from the river Lee, which, in passing through the city, is rendered unfit for drinking by the influx from sewers, Mr. Bell suspected that a dysentery, prevailing at the time, arose from this cause. Upon assuming the care of the troops, he had a number of water carts to bring water from a spring, and did not allow the use of river water, and very shortly the dysentery disappeared. Sir James McGregor states, that, at one time in the Spanish war, when during three months 20,000 dead bodies were interred at Ciudad Rodrigo, all those exposed to emanations from the soil, and who were obliged to use water from sunken wells, were affected by low malignant fevers, or dysenteries. This shows that burying in large towns affects the health of the inhabitants, first by emanations from the soil, and secondly by poisoning the water percolating through that soil. Many such facts as these, show the importance of keeping wells and cisterns from the drainings of sinks, barn-yards, and from decayed dead animals. And it is probable that much sickness in families and communities has been caused by neglecting to preserve the water pure, that is used for drink and cooking. Water is sometimes rendered unhealthful by being conducted through lead pipes, or kept in lead reservoirs, or vessels. It is found that the purer the water, the more easily it is affected by the lead through which it passes. When the water has certain neutral salts in it, they are deposited on the surface of the lead, and thus protect from its poisonous influence. Imm...