626 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



nent and to become of immense advantage 

 to the community. But no important step 

 of advancement can be taken in this direc- 

 tion without a wide diffusion of its advan- 

 tages ; whatever has been gained by English 

 experience is ours as well as theirs. One 

 of the fruits of the establishment of the 

 London Training-School is that we have at 

 last got a hand-book of cookery upon the 

 right method, and which, if used as it can 

 be everywhere, will be certain to elevate 

 this hitherto neglected branch of domestic 

 economy. The claims of this work upon 

 American households are so important, and 

 so clearly presented by the editor in her 

 preface to the American edition, that we 

 cannot better serve the interested readers 

 of the Monthly than by quoting the main 

 portions of the statement : 



" The present work on cookery appeared 

 in England under the title of ' The Official 

 Hand-Book of the National Training-School 

 for Cookery,' and it contains the lessons on 

 the preparation of food which were prac- 

 tised in that institution. It has been re- 

 printed in this country with some slight 

 revision, for the use of American families, 

 because of its superior merits as a cook- 

 book to be consulted in the ordinary way, 

 and also because it is the plainest, simplest, 

 and most perfect guide to self-education in 

 the kitchen that has yet appeared. In this 

 respect it represents a very marked advance 

 in an important domestic art hitherto much 

 neglected. 



" A glance at its contents will show the 

 ground it covers, and how fully it meets the 

 general wants. The dishes for which it 

 provides have been selected with an unusual 

 degree of care and judgment. They have 

 been chosen to meet the needs of well-to-do 

 families, and also those of more moderate 

 means, who must observe a strict economy. 

 Provision is made for an ample and varied 

 diet, and for meals of a simple and frugal 

 character. Receipts are given for an excel- 

 lent variety of soups, for cooking many 

 kinds of fish in different ways, for the prep- 

 aration of meats, poultry, game, and vege- 

 tables, and for a choice selection of entrees, 

 souffles, puddings, jellies, and creams. Be- 

 sides the courses of a well-ordered dinner, 

 there are directions for making rolls, bis- 

 cuits, bread, and numerous dishes for break- 



fast and tea, together with a most valuable 

 set of directions how to prepare food for 

 the sick. The aim has been to meet the 

 wants of the great mass of people who are 

 not rich enough to abandon their kitchen 

 to the management of professional cooks, 

 and who must keep a careful eye to ex- 

 pense. But, while the costly refinements 

 of artistic and decorative cookery are 

 avoided, there has been a constant refer- 

 ence to the simple requirements of good 

 taste in the preparation of food for the 

 table. 



" But the especial merit of this volume, 

 and the character by which it stands alone 

 among cook-books, is the superior method 

 it offers of teaching the art of practical 

 cookery. It is at this vital point that all 

 our current cook-books break down ; they 

 make no provision for getting a knowledge 

 of this subject in any systematic way. So 

 much in them is vague, so much taken for 

 granted, and so much is loose, careless, and 

 misleading, in their receipts, that they are 

 good for nothing to teach beginners, good 

 for nothing as guides to successful prac- 

 tice, and only of use to those who already 

 know enough to supply their deficiencies 

 and protect themselves against their errors. 

 In fact, the hand-book required to teach 

 cookery effectually cannot be made by any 

 single person in the usual manner, but it 

 must be itself a product of such teaching. 



" The present volume originated in this 

 way, and embodies a tried and successful 

 method of making good practical cooks. 

 The lessons given in the following pages 

 came from a training-kitchen for pupils of 

 all grades, and the directions of its receipts 

 are so minute, explicit, distinct, and com- 

 plete, that they may be followed with ease 

 by every person of common-sense who has 

 the slightest desire to learn. They are the 

 results of long and careful practice in teach- 

 ing beginners how to cook, and have grown 

 out of exercises often repeated with a view 

 of making them as perfect as possible. It 

 is commonly regarded as a good thing in a 

 cook-book that its compiler has tested some 

 of its receipts, and points out the troubles 

 and failures likely to occur in early trials. 

 But the completeness of the instructions in 

 this work was attained through the stupidi- 

 ties, blunders, mistakes, questionings, and 



