Cookery^ 46S 
whepe fuel is dear, broiling should be done Over a stove suppli-= 
ed with charcoal. 
When a poor man purchases meat, the consideration of most 
moment is not the price per lb., but the relative quantity of meat 
and bone — next of fat and lean. In point of nutriment, fat is 
worth twice as much as lean : for candles and soap, thrice as much- 
Even beef-stakes may be cheaper to a poor man than the cheapest 
joint of the ox. As to the broiling of a beef-steak, I shall have 
much to say on the subject when I come to it. For the present, 
I will only lay down Shakepeare’s golden rule ; “ If when *twere 
done, ’twere well done, then 'twere well ’twere done quickly. 
Some experiments have been made by a Mr. W. Scrimshire 
on the comparative waste in the boiling and roasting of potatoes. 
Four potatoes were boiled in the usual way, and then steamed to 
drive off the superfluous water, and render them mealy. They 
weighed 3562 grains, and lost by the operation when quite cold 
80 grains of the original weight, or about two per cent. Another 
potatoe weighing 1300 grains treated in the same way, lost only 10 
grains. The water contained mucilage and extractive matter. 
A potatoe of the same kind, weighing 1220 grains, roasted un- 
der hot embers, but not sufficiently, lost 200 grains when cold. 
Another weighing 1198 grains roasted for hour was found tho-^ 
roughly cooked, but it had lost when cold 380 grains. 
Hence in boiling potatoes, we throw away about 2 per cent, of 
their weight ; in roasting them, about 40 per cent. 
The value of the potatoe as an article of culture, fs well shewn 
in the letter of Mr, Curwen, a very spirited and accurate cultivator, 
and a very well informed and respectable gentleman. I shall sub= 
join it to this essay, recommending it to the earnest consideration 
of your readers. 
The common breakfast beverage in this country is coffee. I 
have no hesitation in stating it as a fact, that to a poor family three 
pounds of dried succory (chicory, chicorium intubus) and one 
pound of coffee, are of 20 per cent, more value, than four pounds 
of coffee, and nearly equal in flavour : to me, the beverage is plea- 
santer. The quantity of the mixture to be used, is about one 
fourth less than of coffee, to make an infusion of equal strength. 
Experto crede Roberto. I have frequently drank it. If this be 
sweetened with molasses made of an inspissated infusion of good 
jnalt, it will constitute a saving, that may be an object of some con- 
sequence to a poor man with a family. You well know that in 
Northumberland, the poorer people will gladly exch?inge coffee 
