84 On Cottage Economy and Cookery. 



far distant from London, and In remote parts of the comitry; but 

 this can occasion no real inconvenience, as every one can reduce 

 the cost of any article to the sum usually paid for it where he 

 resides. 



There can be little doubt that bacon, household-bread, and 

 cheese, washed down by a draught of strong beer, is a v/holesomc 

 and substantial meal for a working man ; and, if he can but afford 

 it, he will seldom find a better. Fresh animal food is, however, 

 more nutritious ; as bacon, although it goes farthest in family use, 

 and is therefore more commonly employed by the poor, yet occa- 

 sions much greater perspirations after hard labour, and thus not 

 only creates more exhaustion, but a little change, where it can be 

 had, is both pleasant as well as wholesome. When a cottager 

 has a garden and fattens a pig, he seldom goes to the l)utcher 

 until the bacon is all consumed ; but he would do better by occa- 

 sionally buying a pound or two of meat to eke out the bacon until 

 he can kill another hog. 



With regard to strong beer, we are far from decrying its use 

 in moderation ; but, independently of its cost, although its excite- 

 ment gives momentary strength, yet we know, from those who have 

 tried it, that continual labour will be better performed by a man 

 who during the day drinks only water mixed with some powdered 

 ginger, and leaves the beer to enjoyment with his wife at night; 

 for although the malt liquor exhilarates the spirits, and enables a 

 man to perform more work for an hour, yet this stimulus leaves 

 him in a more exhausted state than before he drank it. The 

 powder is extremely cheap : it warms the stomach, and a very 

 small quantity, which can be mixed in a moment, with a pint of 

 water, will be found a more invigorating draught in warm weather 

 than the same quantity of common harvest-beer. 



It is a great error to suppose that butter and cheese are less 

 expensive than meat, if it be judiciously purchased and economi- 

 cally prepared ; but the poor are, in marketing, oftentimes more 

 anxious to obtain a portion of the best joints than to content them- 

 selves with those of inferior price, although these generally con- 

 tain as much, and sometimes more, real nourishment. The 

 trimmings of the joints and the coarse parts, as well as the bones, 

 when flavoured with various sorts of vegetables, and thickened 

 with either rice, barley, or oatmeal, can be converted into several 

 savoury dishes at a very trifling cost. Of the various kinds of 

 meat, beef and mutton are decidedly to be preferred; and, in 

 regard to cookery, stews of different sorts are not only the most 

 economical, but have the advantage of procuring for the family a 

 warm supper of some variety after the toil of the day is over. 

 Of these, perhaps, the cheapest may ]je made from a shin of beef, 

 which usually weighs from 16 to 20 lbs. ; and, if the whole be 



