Part 8 (1/2)

3 oz. chocolate .08 1/2 cup sugar .02 -- .10 -- Cost of third day's dinner .46

FOURTH DAY'S DINNER

1 codfish steak, 1 lb. .10 4 smelts for garnis.h.i.+ng .10 -- .20

CHARTREUSE OF CHICKEN (page 190).

1 cup rice .04 White sauce .07 What is left of turkey including giblets .00 Boiled potatoes .05 Scalloped tomatoes .15 Salad of water-cresses .05 Bread pudding .10 -- .46 -- Cost of fourth day's dinner .66

First day $1.91 Second day .54 Third day .46 Fourth day .66 Extras for bread, seasonings, etc. .30 ---- Total $3.87 Average per day 96-3/4 cents.

The turkey in this case gave three cupfuls of chopped meat after the dinner of the first day. Any kind of meat can be made into the same dishes, and will be liked if the meat is chopped very fine, is well seasoned, and made creamy by using enough sauce.

WASTEFULNESS

As a rule the family life of America does not represent opulence, yet it has become a familiar saying that a French family could live on what an American family throws away.

Again, it is said that in American kitchens half the provisions are spoiled and the other half wasted. There is no need to-day of being open to such accusations. At small expense a woman can have the benefit of lessons in cooking-schools, and should not be accepted as a cook until she has some knowledge of the duties, and is qualified to bear that name.

The gage of a woman's rank in her profession can be definitely determined by what she wastes or utilizes, and the high wages paid a first-cla.s.s cook are often saved by the intelligent use she makes of all her materials. Many of her best entrees are but a combination of odds and ends which another cook would throw away. Her delicious sauce, which gives a very ordinary dish that requisite something which makes it highly esteemed, may be but the blending of many flavors obtained from little sc.r.a.ps.

The waste in foods need be so small as practically to have no waste material; not a crumb of bread, a grain of sugar, a bit of b.u.t.ter, a sc.r.a.p of meat or fat, a piece of vegetable or leaf of salad, but can be utilized with profit. The soup pot is a receptacle for everything too small for other uses, and from this source can be drawn seasonings which will give richness and flavor to innumerable dishes, which are greatly improved by using stock instead of milk or water in their preparation.

HOW TO UTILIZE WHAT SOME COOKS THROW AWAY

[Sidenote: Bread.]

Trim such pieces of cut bread as will do for toast into uniform shape and serve at the next breakfast. Smaller pieces cut into croutons (page 81) for garnis.h.i.+ng or for soup. Save unshapely pieces for bread pudding, Brown Betty, or stuffings. Save every sc.r.a.p of bread for crumbs, to use for breading croquettes, chops, scallop dishes, etc. It is well to have two kinds of crumbs, using the white ones for the outside of fried articles, as they give a better color.

To prepare the crumbs, separate the crumb from the crusts of bread and dry each of them slowly, on separate tins, on the shelf of the range. When dry, roll, sift and place them in gla.s.s preserve-jars until wanted.

[Sidenote: Fat.]

Clarify all beef fat and drippings, the grease which rises on soup stock, and fat from poultry, and keep in a clean jar or tin pail for use in frying; it is preferable to lard (see ”frying,” pages 72 and 59). Mutton, turkey, and smoked meat fat has too strong a flavor to be used for frying, but save it with other fat that may be unsuitable for frying, and when six pounds are collected make it into hard soap (page 259).

Use the marrow of beef bones on toast for a luncheon entree (page 159), or use it with bread to make b.a.l.l.s for soup (page 94).

Grill wings and legs of fowls that are left over (page 188) for luncheon, or stuff the legs as directed (page 188). If the sinews are removed from the legs when the fowl is drawn, as directed (page 180), the meat of the leg will be as good as that of the second joint.

Use a ham bone for improving bean soup. Use the carca.s.ses of fowls and the bones from roasts for making soup.

Try out chop bones and other meat taken from the plates for soap fat.

[Sidenote: Tough Pieces.]

Chop the tough ends of steak very fine, season, and form them into b.a.l.l.s or cakes, saute or broil them, and serve for breakfast or luncheon (see ”Hamburg steaks,” page 151).