i89o 
779 
SOME NEW IDEAS OF ECONOMY. 
W E have so long been taught that 
“economy is wealth,” that “a 
penny saved is two-pence earned,” etc., that 
in a large majority of cases we, as a people, 
have only to be shown that any particular 
mode of action is economical in order to 
follow it at once, so that if economy is 
wealth, any principles of economy which 
The R. N.-Y. may be able to set before its 
readers must be in one way a means of 
wealth to them. 
It was stated in a former paper, that Mrs. 
Abel’s ideas of true economy, as set forth in 
her prize essay, differed in some respects 
from views generally held, and perhaps we 
cannot do better for our readers, than to 
briug together some of these ideas in com¬ 
pact form for their benefit. Two general 
statements at the outset, meet our notice : 
“The path of the housewife will be full of 
pitfalls if she does not understand in what 
true economy consists ;” “ we cannot econ¬ 
omize in the amount of our foods beyond 
certain limits and yet remain healthy and 
strong, and we must not greatly alter the 
relative proportions in which experience 
has shown that these foods are best com¬ 
bined.” To these propositions we can all 
assent. 
With regard to a saving in fuel several 
points are made. In winter, when the cook¬ 
ing-stove is also used as a means of warm¬ 
ing the rooms, this is not so much to be 
considered, although the cooking-stove 
burns more coal for the same heat secured 
than is the case with the stove intended 
only for warming. But it is in summer 
that the most fuel is wasted, while the heat 
radiated is also a source of exceeding dis¬ 
comfort to the weary worker. For cooking 
a single dish, for boiling a tea-kettle, or for 
keeping a pot at the simmering point, coal 
oil or kerosene is highly recommended, as 
a means of doing economical work. Char¬ 
coal, little known among us, but regarded 
as indispensable by the thrifty Germans 
and the French, is commended for steady 
cooking, and for broiling meat. The 
necessary appliance is simply a sort of deep 
spider with a grated bottom, to let down 
into the stove hole, and a bushel of charcoal 
lasts a long time, and costs but a few cents. 
In the line of direct saving of heat already 
obtained, a Heat Saver is described as an 
easy and simple economical appliance. This 
consists merely of a packing of wool be¬ 
tween an inner case of sheet iron, and an 
outer one of wood. The pot of meat or vege¬ 
tables, already boiling, and closely covered, 
is set into the inner box, a pillow or blanket 
is placed over it, and the lid of the outer 
box is closed upon the whole. With water 
in the proportion of two quarts to 1% 
pound of meat, five minutes, boiling 
and three hours of retirement to the “ Heat 
Saver,” were sufficient to make the meat 
tender. No doubt this will seem impossible 
to many of our readers, but the experiment 
is within the reach of all. 
The statement that for a low purse there 
is no help so great as a knowledge of flavor¬ 
ings, is a strong one, and one that our 
readers should ponder upon. Seasonings 
is, perhaps, a better word than flavorings 
to express what is meant. Mrs. Abel says 
further: “When we remember that we 
can live on bread, beans, peas, and a little 
cheap meat and fat the year round if we 
can only make it ‘go down,’ we shall real¬ 
ize the importance of such additions as 
rouse the appetite.” 
The test of economy as applied to any 
particular food must consider not only its 
small cost as compared with its bulk, but 
rather its cost as compared with its ability 
to supply nutrition. “ I beg you to exam¬ 
ine again your favorite dishes to see if 
they are as nutritious as they should be 
for their price,” says the essayist. 
Among food products, fish is especially 
recommended. “ Nature does the feeding; 
we have only to pay for the catching.” 
Salted cod is mentioned as containing 30 
per cent, of proteids or body builders. Hy¬ 
gienists and economists, as a rule, agree as 
to the value of fish. 
SttU£rcUunr0Uj9i gulvcvti.sinfl. 
Always name The R. N.-Y. in writing to 
advertisers. 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castorla, 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castorla, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castorla, 
When she had Children, she gave them Castorla. 5 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Eggs are compared with medium fat 
beef somewhat to their disadvantage, the 
proportion of proteids being as 21 to 12, in 
favor of the beef, while the eggs have more 
than double the pure fat. At 15 cents a 
dozen eggs are considered as a luxury to 
the man who must get his proteid and fat 
in their cheapest form, being considerably 
dearer than flank, neck or brisket at eight 
cents a pound. Thus it would pay the 
farmer to sell his eggs at 15 cents and buy 
the beef, but he does not always see the 
matter in this light. 
Cheese being equal in food value to 
twice its weight in meat, is recommended 
for frequent use to replace the meat, as it 
furnishes the necessary fat and proteids in 
a cheeper form. It may be served grated, 
with bread and butter, and is a good addi¬ 
tion to mashed potato, to porridges, to rice, 
sago, and all similar puddings, and indeed 
to any starchy foods. It is to be stirred 
into these dishes while they are hot. Its 
use with macaroni i3 quite well known. 
Butter is to be used as sparingly as pos¬ 
sible, its place being supplied largely by 
the cheaper fats of meats. Very little of the 
fats is wasted in the body, and practically 
they all do the same work when absorbed 
into its tissues. Mutton fat, for instance, 
will do our bodies the same service as does 
butter; unfortunately, however, we do 
not find it as palatable. Suet is recom¬ 
mended for use in puddings made of skim- 
milk, in order to make them richer, and is 
mentioned as combining well with bread 
crumbs in any hot dish,and also with many 
flour dishes (instead of butter) if they are 
only well cooked and eaten warm. It may 
also be used in all cake where molasses, 
spices, or strong flavors are used. Mar¬ 
row from bones can be substituted for 
butter even in fine cake. Cooked butter is 
noted as economical if butter must be used, 
as it may be bought when cheap, cooked 
down slowly, like frying out lard, and put 
away for winter use. If sweet when pre¬ 
pared it will keep as long as lard. Beef 
fat, fried out the same as lard, may be used 
the same as suet, by scraping it fine and 
sprinkling it with flour to keep it light. 
Many are prejudiced against beef and mut¬ 
ton fats for use as shortening, but this is 
caused largely by not being familiar with 
the proper methods for their use. 
But while the above idea regarding fats 
may be very valuable to those of our 
readers who may be obliged to pay city 
prices for butter, to the average farmer, 
who gets little more for his butter than 
lard is worth, and less than he usually pays 
for meat, they will not present such an as¬ 
pect of economy. Circumstances must 
always be taken into account when con¬ 
sidering the superior economy of any par¬ 
ticular product. 
“ The economical and busy housewife says 
she has no time or money for sauces, 
but the fact is she cannot afford to do with¬ 
out them,” says Mrs. Abel. Drawn 
butter sauce may be made equally well 
from butter or from beef fat, according to 
the usual plan of placing a tablespoonful 
of the fat in a saucepan, and stirring in a 
tablespoonful of flour when the fat is hot. 
In brown sauce, the mixture is stirred 
until it browns; in milk sauces milk is 
used in place of the water. Chopped 
pickles and vinegar are added to the brown 
or white sauce for fish ; or a little mustard 
if mustard sauce is desired; horse-radish 
may be added to drawn butter or to any 
meat gravy. The mint sauce so famous 
for meat, may be made by chopping two 
tablespoonfuls of mint, mixing it with a 
tablespoonful of sugar and one half cupful 
of vinegar, and setting it away for an hour 
or two before using. By the use of these 
various sauces, variety is secured for many 
meals, and a meal may almost be changed 
from a scant to a good one by their help, 
especially when there are children, who are 
always so fond of “ gravy.” 
Mrs. Abel does not manifest the usual 
objections which writers have toward pork, 
but asserts that too much cannot be said 
in its praise as furnishing a good, lasting, 
and cheap fat. Nearly 20 different ways of 
serviug its various forms are given. The 
question of its healthfulness, however, is 
left untouched. 
Green vegetables are not recommended as 
within the pale of economical foods, except 
iu the case of onions, carrots and herbs as 
flavorings for soups and stews. “ When 
you go for a walk, be sure to bring home 
mint and sorrel in your pocket; the former 
will make you a nice mint sauce, the latter 
a delightful flavor in soup.” Our friends 
on the farm will scarcely be able to agree 
that vegetables are expensive. At retail 
city prices, however, there is little doubt 
that they are so. From the farm garden, 
properly cared for, the case is just the 
reverse. 
It will not do for us to take as gos¬ 
pel everything we are told, even by so 
practical an economist as the writer of the 
prize essay, but it will certainly be good 
for us to look at these questions from her 
stand-point, and see whether our “econo¬ 
mies ” have always been economical in fact. 
THE ART OF COOKING CAULI¬ 
FLOWER. 
% 
A GOOD lady who had for once been so 
fortunate as to secure a fine lot of 
cauliflower in the home garden, confessed 
that she was somewhat disappointed in 
this much-lauded vegetable, as it was not 
so good as she had supposed. 
It is quite possible that a want of practice 
in, and a scarcity of good recipes for cook¬ 
ing this favorite dish may account for her 
lack of appreciation of it. 
Four rules never to be be deviated from, 
may be laid down : the first, that the cauli¬ 
flower is to be soaked in salt and water for 
at least a half hour before cooking, in order 
to drive out any insects or worms that may 
be lurking among the flowerets; second, 
(if to be boiled), when ready for cooking, 
the vegetable is to be plunged into salted, 
thoroughly boiling water; third, jt is not 
to be cooked a moment after it becomes 
tender; fourth, to be served as soon as done. 
Neglect of any one of these points is sure to 
result in failure, while a careful following 
of them will give a wholesome, delicate 
dish, and one that will be eaten with gusto 
and remembered with pleasure. 
A very simple method of serving cauli¬ 
flower is with milk and butter after the 
manner of cabbage, but a more elaborate 
white sauce generally accompanies it. This 
is the familiar drawn butter sauce, to which 
may be added a little vinegar or lemon 
juice, to give piquancy of flavor. Some¬ 
times this sauce is varied, by adding milk . 
to the flour and butter, when it is called 
“ cream sauce.” 
Escalloped cauliflower is made by placing 
a layer of the parboiled flowerets in a pud¬ 
ding dish and covering them with cream 
sauce enough to moisten, with the addition 
of a little grated cheese, usually Parmesan; 
this is to be followed with another layer of 
the vegetable, and the whole covered with 
bread crumbs, dotted with bits of butter. 
To make a fine cream soup from cauli¬ 
flower first boil it in salt water until nearly 
done. For a small head bring another 
quart of water or milk-and-water to boil, 
adding half an onion or a bit of spice if de¬ 
sired, and thicken it as for drawn butter 
sauce, with an ounce of butter and some 
flour. Boil the cauliflower in the liquid 
until soft, then put the whole through a 
colander ; return to the fire, and add a cup 
of cream; simmer for five minutes, and 
serve at once, with squares of fried bread. 
MYRA Y. NORYS. 
Pi.o'ccUaneou.s ^Mvcrtteiug. 
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