THE CHEMISTRY OF COOKERY. 691 



giver or fattener, while the cheese is highly nitrogenous, and sup- 

 plies the elements in which the potato is deficient, the two together 

 forming a fair approach to the theoretically demanded balance of 

 constituents. 



I say baked potatoes rather than boiled, and perhaps should explain 

 my reasons, though in doing so I anticipate what I intended to say 

 when on the^subject of vegetable food. 



Raw potatoes contain potash salts which are easily soluble in water. 

 I find that when the potato is boiled some of the potash comes out 

 into the water, and thus the vegetable is robbed of a very valuable 

 constituent. The baked potato contains all its original saline constit- 

 uents which, as I have already stated, are specially demanded as an 

 addition to cheese-food. 



Hasty-pudding made, as usual, of wheat-flour, may be converted 

 from an insipid to a savory and highly nutritious porridge by the ad- 

 dition of cheese in like manner. 



The same with boiled rice, whether whole or ground, also sago, 

 tapioca, and other forms of edible starch. Supposing whole rice is 

 used, and I think this the best, the cheese may be sprinkled among 

 the grains of rice and well stirred or mashed up with them. The 

 addition of a little brown gravy to this gives us an Italian risotto. 



Peas-pudding is not improved by cheese. The chemistry of this 

 will come out when I explain the composition of peas, beans, etc. 



I might enumerate other methods of cooking cheese by thus adding 

 it in a finely divided state to other kinds of food, but if I were to ex- 

 press my own convictions on the subject I should stir up prejudice by 

 naming some mixtures which some people would denounce. As an ex- 

 ample I may refer to a dish which I invented more than twenty years 

 ago — viz., fish and cheese pudding, made by taking the remains from 

 a dish of boiled codfish, haddock, or other white fish, mashing it with 

 bread-crumbs, grated cheese, and ketchup, then warming in an oven 

 and serving after the usual manner of scalloped fish. Any remains 

 of oyster-sauce may be advantageously included. 



I find this delicious, but others. may not. I frequently add grated 

 cheese to boiled fish as ordinarily served, and have lately made a fish 

 sauce by dissolving grated cheese in milk with the aid of a little bi- 

 carbonate of potash. I suggest these cheese mixtures to others with 

 some misgiving as regards palatability, after learning the revelations 

 of Darwin on the persistence of heredity. It is quite possible that, 

 being a compound of the Swiss Mattieu with the "Welsh Williams, 

 cheese on both sides, I may inherit an abnormal fondness for this 

 staple food of the mountaineers. 



Be this as it may, so far as the mere palate is concerned, I have 

 full confidence in the chemistry of all my advocacy of cheese and its 

 cookery. Rendered digestible by simple and suitable cookery, and 

 added, with a little potash salt, to farinaceous food of all kinds, it 



