1903 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
395 
Man’s Idea of Domestic Science 
The Mistress of the Home of 1925 will 
be a chemist. She will be a trained 
scientist. She will regard her kitchen as 
a laboratory in which a thousand won¬ 
derful experiments will be tried. The 
idea that the kitchen is a place of drudg¬ 
ery, where only those enter who are 
forced by circumstances, will have dis¬ 
appeared; and there will remain only 
wonder that anyone could ever have 
been ignorant enough of the marvelous 
processes of science to have taken so lit¬ 
tle interest in the subject. The kitchen 
itself will disappear from the basement 
and from the home forever, in its 
place, adjoining the dining-room, so that 
the transit from the fire to the table 
may occupy but a second’s time, will be 
the ‘’household laboratory.” The mis¬ 
tress ot the house and her daughters 
find no more interesting period of the 
day than that which is spent in the well- 
lighted, well-ventilated, cleanly and 
comfortably arranged room given up to 
the constant surprises which science of¬ 
fers to those who will study with inter¬ 
est her wonders in the realm of com¬ 
binations of food materials and the 
transformations brought about by vary¬ 
ing degrees of heat. 
For instance, last year I made an au¬ 
tomobile journey with a party of army 
officers from New York to Washington. 
Just in time for a seven-o’clock supper, 
we arrived at Havre de Grace, that old 
Maryland town, where, as a boy, I had 
been ferried across. Now, we ran our 
automobile on a flat car, and were pull¬ 
ed across by a locomotive. When we 
were all seated at table, a door opened, 
giving view of a stove in full operation. 
Three young women came quickly 
through, bearing plates, upon each of 
which was a steak perhaps three by 
three inches. Never have I tasted such 
a delicious steak. It was full of juice, 
as no steak of Delmonico’s ever was. i 
fear the proprietress was disheartened 
by the way every member of the party 
sent back for more, not once, but twice. 
The officers were unanimous that they 
had never tasted anything so perfect. 1 
wili not say that one day’s travel had 
not added to our appetites. But there 
were old campaigners present, and we 
had just come from the Waldorf, so that 
there were some not easily to be fooled. 
“What part of the beef?” No one 
knew. The landlady was sent for. 
“Cuts out of the porterhouse?” 
“No. Round steak!” 
Could it, by any possibility, be the 
despised round steak?—that part of the 
beef which would cause a shudder to 
pass around the tables at Delmonico’s 
or Sherry’s if, by any chance, it should 
appear? Yet, I will venture, not in 40 
years have either of these dining-rooms 
seen such a perfect morsel of steak. And 
it was all a mere matter of science—of 
knowing how. The explanation was 
simple enough when it came to be made 
—almost as simple as Columbus’ egg- 
trick. “After all, the round steak is the 
most nutritious part of the beef. It is 
inclined to be tough; the problem is to 
remove the fiber.” 
This is the way it was explained by 
the proprietress-chemist of this Mary¬ 
land kitchen; 
“Get a three-inch round wooden 
pounder and a four-inch wooden plank 
as a pounding-board. Then cut the 
steak into small bits—say three by three 
inches, a little under three-quarters of 
an inch in thickness. Measurement is 
always important—almost essential. 
Placing on the block of wood the small 
piece of steak, it is hammered and 
pounded and beaten, and then beaten 
and hammered and pounded again, until 
not a fiber is left intact. It must be 
pounded out until it covers almost twice 
its former area, and it becomes, conse¬ 
quently, less than half an inch in thick¬ 
ness. It then looks ragged in places.” 
In this way, that which was tough has 
been made into the tenderest of steaks; 
the change being a physical one, not 
chemical. 
’Then comes the next process of 
science; the meat is to be cooked, and 
must retain every particle of its juice. 
“Held in a broiler it would drop its most 
important constituents, but, seared with 
a very hot iron, its juices will be intact; 
not a particle will escape; then the heat 
can be applied, gradually, until it is 
cooked throughout.” 
There is but one implement of the 
kitchen that will accomplish this, so my 
informant toid me, and—0 joyous, bril- 
iiant, mighty cooks of France, and high 
and pompous cooks of England! Would 
you believe it?—this scientific tooi of the 
kitchen is the despised skillet! “The 
interior must be perfectly dry, contain¬ 
ing neither oil nor butter—simply dry. 
Place over a quick fire until the skillet 
is truly hot; then the meat must be de¬ 
posited quickly with a fork, and almost 
immediately turned over, and then turn¬ 
ed back again, and then back once 
more.” 
This is the perfection of scientific 
cooking. “Two or three pieces, just done 
enough and no more—steaming hot— 
they are lightly tossed into a hot plat¬ 
ter. Then, with a fork, butter—good 
butter, mind you—is pressed into every 
interstice. Just a trifle of salt and pep¬ 
per is added, and the butter runs away 
from the meat in a brown gravy, mixed 
with some of the ragged particles that 
have been beaten out of the edges of 
the meat.” 
Then, quickly to the table! No pass¬ 
ing up through dumb-waiters and but¬ 
lers’ pantries, and waiting until the 
courses shall be finished. The guests 
must be seated, waiting, napkins on 
knees and ready, when this hot, deli¬ 
cious morsel shall be placed before 
them. Ah, me! Those Maryland scien¬ 
tists! What a degree of skill they have 
shown in their food laboratories! When 
the day comes that the mistress will 
take as much pride in her kitchen as in 
her drawing-room, the first step in the 
solution of many problems will have 
been made. 
First of all, even the mistress will 
want to go there. This will be a step to¬ 
ward that workshop camaraderie with 
her superintendent of the laboratory— 
the cook. The manufacturer goes into 
the factory, and he takes pleasure in 
meeting the chiefs of departments. But 
the head of the food laboratory and her 
mistress—that is, the average mistress 
and cook, upon what terms are they? 
As a rule, both need education, both re¬ 
gard food preparation as uninteresting 
and far from scientific. Yet what a 
thing for the housemistress to reflect 
upon—that she not only has in her 
keeping the health of her husband and 
children and her own health, but a 
laboratory in which she may find infinite 
delight in applying heat scientifically, in 
measuring and estimating the values of ' 
foods, in giving pleasure through variety 
and excellence, and so imparting 
strength for the day’s work to every 
member of the household.—John Brisben 
Walker in Cosmopolitan Magazine. 
Finnan Haddie.—Put a piece of butter 
the size of a walnut in pan and when 
hot add two cupfuls of Finnan haddie 
picked fine. Add one cupful of cream 
or milk into which one tablespoonful 
of flour has been rubbed smooth; let 
come to a boil and wjien cooled a little 
add a dash of pepper, and just before 
serving the well-beaten yolk of an egg. 
Serve on toast. 
T he durable 
wall coating 
is largely 
used In Churches as wcil «« homes. W.; 
offer the free services otour corns ol artists 
111 helping to work outbe.aiulful effects. Write 
and see what we. can do for you 
Alabastine Co., Grand Rapids, Mich, 
and 105 WaterSlreet, New York City. 
CQL ANNUM 
/U GUARANT’EED 
NO p—r.——— 
MnrAiii iTinil business Is regularly 
drCwULAMUn ^ inspected by and con¬ 
ducted under absolute 
supervision of the Banking 
Department. Our depositors include many of the 
most prominent clergymen, professional and busi¬ 
ness men In t'ue country, whose Indorsements, 
together wlfn full Information of onr methods, we 
will gladly send upon request. 
Depo'sits may be made or withdrawn at any time 
and hear earnings for every day invested. 
Paid In Capital Assets Surplus 
*1,000,000 *1,000,000 *186,000 
Industrial Savings and Loan Co., 
11.34 Broadway, New York. 
“Big Four ” 
THE 
World’s Fair Route 
FROM THE 
Leading Cities of 
Ohio, Indiana 
and Illinois 
TO 
St. Louis 
WRITE FOR FOLDERS. 
WAKKEN J, I.YNCH, W. V. DEBPK, 
Gen’l Pass Agt. Ass’t Gen’l P. A. 
CINCINNATI, OHIO 
In comparing Grain-0 and coffee 
remember that while the taste is 
the same Grain-O gives health and 
strength while coft'ee shatters the 
nervous system and breeds disease 
of the digestive organs. Thinking 
people prefer Grain-O and its ben¬ 
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TRY IT TO-DAY. 
Atgrocers everywhere; 15c. and 26c. per package. 
We will send any bicycle to any address with the un¬ 
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“A great deal In a little space." 
—The l^ress. 
“THE 
FOUR=TRACK 
SERIES” 
This is the title of a series of 
boo’fs of travel and edfication 
issued by the Passenger Depart¬ 
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NEW YORK CENTRAL & 
HUDSON RIVER RAILROAD 
These small books are filled with 
information regai’ding the best 
modes of travel and the education 
that can best be obtained by travel. 
They I’elate specifically to the 
great resorts of America—to trips 
to the islands of the sea and 
around the world. 
They also contain numerous il¬ 
lustrations and new and accurate 
maps of the country described. 
A copy of the 52-page Illustrated Catalogue 
of the '‘Four-Track Scries" will be sent free 
upon receipt of two-cent stamp by GeorgeH. 
Daniels,General Passenger Agent, New York 
('entral & Hudson River Railroad, Grand 
Central Station, Now York. 
Hutchins Horizontal 
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Absolutely new, better than an electric fan In hot weather. 0,»erate» 
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IF YOU ONLY nNEW 
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Sarsaparilla 
“ I had a breaking out on my body and I 
tried different remedies without relief. I 
then tried Ayer’s Sarsaparilla, and before 
I had taken half a bottle I was entirely 
cured.”—M. A.Wall, Bentley Creek, Pa. 
What was the matter with this man? Ask your doctor. 
He will tell you that the man’s blood was impure. Just 
as soon as the Sarsaparilla purified and enriched his blood 
he was entirely cured. See that your blood is pure, in good 
condition for a hard spring’s work. 
$1.00 a bottle. J. C. Ayer Co.. 
All druggists. Lowell, Mass! 
A RURAL MAIL BOX 
Should be 
sim./le, neat, 
strong, and 
durable. 
A bo.x may be 
approved by 
tbe P. M. Gen¬ 
eral and still 
not bo satisfac¬ 
tory to the pur- 
Shascr. 
Our “Uncle 
Sam’s F.ivor- 
ite” hasolIi.!ial 
approv,-! and 
also the ap¬ 
proval of thou¬ 
sands who are 
using It and 
know it’s all right. 
BOND STEEL POST CO., 
Adrian, Mich. 
_._ 
