Chapter VII: Part III: My Heritage (5)

Light the fire from a light or from another fire or with a match. This is the shortest and simplest act in fire making, but the most extraordinary. It would take some one wiser than three philosophers, four scientists and twelve owls to tell you what the flame is which springs up on the hearth. A springing flame has remained through all time such a mystery and wonder, that the poet, the musician and the devotee have woven it into rhythm, and music, and worship--and what is more, a boy and a fox terrier will keep still before it for half an hour.

When the fire is lighted, first the paper burns easily and quickly, then the small pieces of kindling light more slowly and burn more slowly, and from them the small pieces of wood light yet more slowly and burn yet longer, and when they are really burning one may put on the ordinary sticks, leaving always cracks between for the air and flames to draw through. Three sticks are needed to keep a good fire; a heavy one at the back, in front of it a stick almost burned through and a fresh one.

The person who lays the fire, unless she is expert, should light it. There is no way of learning how to lay it, nor of finding out the peculiarities of the fireplace and the fuel, except by seeing how the fire acts when it is lighted.

_A Coal Fire._--The coal fire in the kitchen in no way differs in principle from the wood fire on the hearth. The arrangements for it, though, are different. A range or a stove holds the fire instead of the hearthstone. The smoke and draught, instead of going directly up the flue, are led to it by a stove pipe. The draught must get into the stove in order to go up through the fire into the chimney.

The reason that a fire in a stove is more difficult to understand is that we have several contrivances for regulating and utilizing the heat. Most of these are called draughts or dampers. One knows from the words what they are for; the draughts let in draught at the bottom of the fire, the dampers in some way damp the ardour of the fire.

Stoves or ranges even of the same make are rarely exactly alike, but one can learn to manage the draughts and dampers in a few minutes' examination by keeping in mind the fixed principle that a stream of air enters under the fire, flows through the fire and passes out through the chimney. That to make the fire hot, we do our utmost to remove obstructions from the stream; that to deaden the fire, we obstruct the stream as much as we can. If we want the range hotter, we open a door or slide open some slits which will let in air _underneath_ the fire, and we open the damper in the stove pipe, that is we make as much passage-way for draught through the pipe as we can. If we want the range less hot, we let in air _on top_ of the fire, and shut the pipe damper, that is, the space for the draught to go up the pipe is made smaller and air coming in on top of the fire meets and checks air coming from underneath.

The terms used in regard to regulating fires are confusing. When people say _open_ the draughts, they mean let the stream of air flow unobstructed, but it is often accomplished by shutting something, such as the slits at the top of the fire, and any opening in the stove pipe. The reverse is also true. _Shutting_ the draughts means obstructing the stream of air, and often requires opening places which let in air going in a contrary direction to the regular draught, such as, openings in the pipe and at the top of the fire. This is the reason that it is better to get the principle of the draught thoroughly in mind and then work the dampers and draughts in accord with it, rather than to follow blindly directions which may utterly mislead.

Pipe dampers are sometimes inside the pipe with only a little handle outside. Such a damper is a circle of iron with a small hole in the middle. When the handle is vertical, the circle is vertical and the pipe is open. When the handle is horizontal, the circle is horizontal, and the pipe closed except for the small hole in the circle.

Besides dampers which regulate the amount of heat, there are oven dampers which regulate its direction. An oven damper is a contrivance by which heat is directed over or under or around the oven. When the oven is to be used, the heat is directed there; when it is not, the heat is allowed to concentrate elsewhere. These oven contrivances are not usually visible, and are worked by a handle on the outside of the stove. Sometimes directions for moving the handle are on it; if not, one must experiment to find out what happens.

No one can cook with any certainty until she thoroughly understands the stove or range used. This is best done by "making it work"; opening everything which will open, turning everything which will turn, finding out what everything is for, taking things apart and putting them together again with "'satiable curiosity." If one does this before the fire is lighted, and then lights the fire, there will be few mysteries left unsolved.

Though the principles to be remembered in lighting a coal fire in a stove are the same as those which govern the lighting of the wood fire on the hearth, there are some variations in the process and some additional acts to perform.

If there are ashes in the stove they must be dumped and removed. They cannot warm the coals as in the hearth fire, and if left under the grate they obstruct the draught. The fire maker is fortunate if the grate of the stove is so constructed that the ashes may be dumped. If this is not the case the grate must be shaken until it is empty. That as little dust as possible may come out into the room, close all the openings in the stove before beginning to shake the grate and do not open them again until a few minutes after the shaking is over.

Lay in the grate of the stove a wood fire like the one on the hearth: balls of paper, loose kindling, larger sticks crossed, and all with many cracks between. But in addition sprinkle over the top a fire-shovelful of coal. Be generous with kindling and wood: it takes strong heat to ignite coal.

Just before lighting the fire see that the stream of air is unobstructed; all the openings at the bottom of the fire open, all the openings at the top shut, the pipe unobstructed, and the heat directed _away_ from the oven.

Light the fire from below; this is often most easily accomplished by crushing up a sheet of newspaper, putting it under the grate and lighting it. When the sticks are really burning, put on another shovelful of coal and as soon as this begins to ignite, put on two more. Much coal put on at a time smothers the fire.

In spite of frequent and terrible accidents people persist in lighting fires with kerosene. It is more sensible never to do it, but if you sometimes do, at least do it in a sensible way, that is, soak wood or paper in the oil and put it into the grate, then lay the fire as usual. Never, _never_ bring the oil can near the range at any time or for any purpose. Almost invariably the use of oil to light the fire is an indication of laziness or ignorance.

It is more economical of time and fuel to keep the kitchen fire over than to let it out every night. In a good stove, fire which is properly raked and cared for can be kept week after week, month after month, just as it can be kept in a furnace.

The daily care required by a coal fire is outlined below:

At night, the fire should be thoroughly raked and coal enough put on to last until after breakfast. Leave the draughts open a few minutes until the gas has burned off, then shut them for the night.

The first thing in the morning, open all the draughts and get the fire well up. It ought not be necessary to put on coal.

After breakfast, rake the fire thoroughly, put on coal and empty the ashes.

After luncheon put on as much coal as will be necessary to produce a good fire at dinner time.

When a hot fire is needed for many hours feed it with a few coals at a time; this will not deaden the fire and yet will keep it from burning out. A fire which shows red underneath and has a few black coals on top is in a healthy condition. As soon as all the coals are red the heat begins to wane.

_The Furnace Fire._--The ability to run the kitchen fire will enable the housewife to tend the furnace occasionally. If, however, she wishes to care for it regularly, she will need to seek instruction from some competent person who can show her the use of the particular draughts, gauges, thermometers and other indicators by which the fire and the steam or water are regulated.

A skilled person's aim in managing a furnace is perfect regularity. Necessary care should be given it every day at the same hours, and the fire should be kept as far as possible in the same condition. It is injurious to the fire and to the furnace to attend to it too often or not often enough; and the house will never be evenly heated if the fire is first allowed to get very low and is then urged to an unusual height.

Stoves, furnaces and chimneys need occasional cleaning. Furnaces should be cleaned when the fire is let out in the spring, and carefully looked over in the fall by a competent man. Ranges which are not used in the summer should be treated in the same way. Other ranges should be cleaned and looked over once a year.

At some time when the kitchen fire is out the inside of the stove should be swept, and the dust removed through an opening for the purpose in the back or side of the stove.

About once a year all the flues in the house ought to be cleaned. This is for two reasons, one, because the soot with which they become coated is a non-conductor of heat and keeps the chimneys from warming quickly; the other, because soot is inflamable. When we say a chimney is on fire, we mean that the soot on the inside is burning. It makes a terrifying roar, but don't stop to listen to it. Shut all the openings in the stove. Throw salt on the fire. If there is a fireplace instead of a stove at the bottom of the chimney close the opening in some way. This may sometimes be done with a rug or a thick newspaper held tightly stretched over the opening of the chimney. It must cover the whole opening and must not be allowed to draw in on the fire. The point is to keep the air from rushing up the chimney to feed the fire. This is done by shutting out the air and by sending up gas from the burning salt which is inimical to fire.

_Gas Range._--A gas range is a much simpler matter from a mechanical point of view than one in which coal is burned. There is little to do except keep it clean. It is lighted as any gas burner is lighted, though preferably with a taper instead of a match, for in that case your hand is not near enough to be burned by the first leap of the flame. Fix firmly in mind which one of the little cocks supplies each burner, and also that the cocks turn to the left to supply the gas, to the right to turn it off. If when a burner is lighted, it "burns back" with a roaring noise, turn the gas off and wait a moment or two before lighting it again. It will then light in the usual way.

The iron sheet under the top burners needs washing about once in two days, oftener if anything is spilled or boils over into it. More occasionally the burners should be washed and the holes all made clear with a wire or a broom straw. It does not hurt any part of a gas range to wash it; it does it good. Some people prefer not to black their ranges. The loss in appearance is made up for in the comfort of not having the range rub off black on hands or cloths.

The rack and drip pans for broiling must be washed every time they are used; otherwise, the grease left on them will smell and smoke and sometimes catch fire if the oven burners are lighted. It is well to rub the grease off the grate and the drip pan with a paper while they are still hot, it makes them easier to wash.

Sometimes the fat in this drip-pan catches fire while the broiling is yet going on. Usually people draw out the pan and blow out the blaze, but this is dangerous. Milk poured directly on the flame with a big spoon will quench it.

LIGHT AND WATER

Watch the bills which come in for light and water. If they vary considerably and for no discoverable cause, or if they seem unreasonably large, have some one come and see if there are leaks, if the metres register correctly, and if they have been correctly read and the bills made in accordance with the readings.

Light bills naturally increase from June to December and decrease from December to June. They will be larger in a stormy month than in a bright one, and in an apartment with dark rooms than in one without. Water bills will be larger if the washing is done in the house than if it is not. Both light and water bills will be somewhat larger if the number of people in the household is increased. These things and any other household changes must be considered in accounting for variations in light and water bills.

The cost of both these commodities can usually be kept within bounds by avoiding waste, such as burning a reading light by which no one is reading, or five lights in the ceiling, two of which would not be missed, or neglecting to turn off range burners until five or ten minutes after the cooking is finished, or leaving faucets half turned on, or running the tub and basin over every time they are used. Sometimes a reasonable carefulness in such things saves the necessity of stricter economy.

The man who comes to read your gas, water or electric metres will usually be willing to teach you how to read them, if you ask as if you wanted information and not as if you wanted to catch him in a mistake. I might say here that plumbers, carpenters and furnace men if approached in the same way often prove very instructive. They are human, and can rarely resist the treat of giving information when the chance is offered to them. One can learn a great quantity of useful mechanics from them, besides things about their wives and children, both amusing and edifying.

These are pictures of a gas-metre at the beginning and end of a month.

The hands on the dials move in the directions the arrows indicate. Read the number last passed by the hand on each dial, beginning with the one farthest to the left and add two ciphers. _x_ reads 57600; _y_ reads 63800. The difference is the amount of gas used in the month.

If you cannot take the two ciphers on faith, there is another way of reading the metre. Observe the words over each dial. Dial _c_ is in the hundreds moving toward "1 thousand," it therefore reads 600. Dial _b_ is in the thousands moving toward "10 thousand," and therefore reads 7000. Dial _a_ is in the ten thousands moving toward "100 thousand," and therefore reads 50,000. Together they amount to 57,600, the number obtained by the other method.

This is the picture of an electric metre:

To read the metre:

Each hand moves in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Read the figure that the hand has actually passed, beginning with the dial to the left.

755 K. W.'s

Subtract last month's reading from this reading and the difference will be the amount consumed.

Viz: 755
726
----
29 K. W.'s.

The dials here are a simpler arrangement, as they merely represent the usual numeration--units, tens, hundreds, thousands.

This metre is in an especially instructive condition, because the 1,000's dial gives no reading. The hand has not yet reached 1.

THE REFRIGERATOR

A refrigerator serves its purpose better if it is placed in a pantry or on an enclosed porch. If it must be put in the kitchen, it should have the place farthest from the fire.

The drain pipe of the refrigerator, which carries off the water from the melting ice, sometimes empties into a pan, sometimes connects with other pipes which carry the water out of the house. It should never connect with the other drainage of the house, nor lead to any well or sewer which receives other drainage. No traps or plumbing contrivances are perfect enough to protect food which is shut up closely with the opening of a pipe connecting even remotely with the drainage system. Properly the drain pipe of the refrigerator should empty into an open basin or sink in the cellar, which in turn drains off into the ground.

The next point of importance after the disposal of its drainage, is to keep the refrigerator clean. Guard against spilling things on its shelves, wash the ice before it is put in, if it is not clean, and do not keep in it things with a strong or penetrating smell--An innocent dish of cold-slaw unthinkingly put into the refrigerator produces an odour which will startle the person who next opens the door.

A refrigerator needs cleaning once or twice a week. It should not be cleaned oftener than is necessary because cleaning wastes the cold. For this same reason wash it with cold water unless something greasy has been spilled in it, and never leave the doors open one second longer than is necessary.

Collect beforehand everything required for the cleaning, that, when the work is once begun, it may be finished quickly. One needs cold water in which there is baking soda, borax or boracic acid (2 oz. to the qt.), a brush for scrubbing, cloths for wiping, something long and slim with which to clean the drain pipe and a tray or pan to hold the ice while the ice compartment is being cleaned.

Take the food out of the refrigerator, then the ice. Quickly but thoroughly scrub and wipe dry the compartment for the ice, not forgetting the drain pipe. In many refrigerators the drain pipe can be removed for cleaning. Replace the ice and shut it in. Then scrub and wipe the other compartments or shelves, and include the pan and the floor under the refrigerator in this cleaning.

It is hardly necessary to say that rubbish and unsightly objects ought not to be tucked away behind or under the refrigerator. Its surroundings should be as clean and well-aired as possible.

A refrigerator is at its best when it is full of ice. To keep it full is usually found economical as well as sanitary. If the ice is gone and it will be some hours before a new supply will be brought, keep the doors of the refrigerator open until it can be refilled. Without ice the refrigerator becomes the very worst sort of crowded, unaired food closet.

If one has difficulty in keeping an old or poor refrigerator sweet, one or two pieces of charcoal wrapped in gauze and laid in the corners will help. They will need renewing frequently. No disinfectant, however odourless and harmless, should be put into the refrigerator or into the water with which it is washed. Soda, borax or boracic acid answer the same purpose and hurt nothing.

This chapter has concerned itself with what might be called the household genii. They have always, as old tales will tell you, been powerful and troublesome servants, yet withal valuable and fascinating. And, nowadays, we have many inventions for keeping them in order which would have made life easier for old-time sorcerers and magicians who sought to govern them by rubbing lamps and saying rhymes.

XI

MENUS AND MARKETING

1. MENUS

HUMAN beings must eat. Under ordinary circumstances this is neither a disagreeable nor a despicable duty. Just now, however, it is a duty which is being made unduly conspicuous. Even those of us with good digestions and excellent appetites can hardly sit down to a meal without taking some thought concerning nutritive values and the use of beverages, things which should not be thought of except by housewives, doctors and nurses, whose business they are. People watching their own symptoms and doctoring themselves, people constantly observing their own thoughts and feelings, and people studying their own diet and digestions are all in the same class--they are all made ill by too much personal attention.

Mr. G. K. Chesterton has said a wise word on the subject of keeping good health. It is: "The one supreme way of making all those processes go right, the processes of health and strength and grace and beauty, the one and only way of making certain of their accuracy, is to think about something else." He supports this idea with the command: "Take no thought what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink."

The only person in a household who should busy herself with matters of diet is the housekeeper. The other people ought to be too busy and too interested to think of diet and digestion between meals, and too courteously occupied in being agreeable at table to think of them then.

Knowledge concerning diet and digestion, both valuable and useless, can be had without asking.

The grocer sends you with your purchases a pamphlet on nourishment; a restaurant menu furnishes a few thoughts on mastication; warnings against coffee drinking glare at you in the street cars; library shelves are crowded with books on health, food, and so on. When we go out to luncheon or have guests to dinner, matters of diet and digestion are talked of so freely that we seem to eat with a chart of the digestive tract before our mind's eye, and we suspiciously watch while innocent food, which unobserved might have given vitality and cheer, becomes a cause of weariness and depression.

To know enough to feed a family wisely, agreeably and economically without becoming over-careful, or perhaps a faddist in regard to food is indeed very difficult. For one thing, avoid fixed rules and arbitrary ideas in catering. Digestions are as different as noses and thumb signatures; one can, therefore, neither invariably forbid one thing nor insist upon another. On the contrary, digestions are as alike in general as noses and thumb signatures, and it is, therefore, unnecessary and harmful that any member of a family should be especially provided for and cooked for unless that person is an invalid living upon a prescribed diet.

I believe a simple and successful rule for those who have nothing to do with the meals except to eat them is: Eat what is set before you and find something amusing to say or to think about. It is a little difficult at first, both to eat things one does not especially care for, and to think up something amusing, but it soon becomes a habit. Meals are not times for stoking an engine, even with the most thoughtfully selected fuel, but times for the renewal of life. There is a meditative by-path which leads off from this thought concerning the reasons that meals are in some cases the most sacred and spiritual rites of religion. We must not wander there, however, but may note in passing the reason for saying Grace at meals which is suggested by this thought. A Grace blesses a gift of new life and is a thanksgiving for it.

But that meals shall fulfil their office of renewing life and gladness, it is necessary that the woman who selects and arranges them shall have some knowledge and shall expend some care. It need not be elaborate knowledge, nor burdensome care, just a usual quantity of each.

It has been discovered that human bodies are composed of chemical elements just as are cabbages and doctors' prescriptions. Some of the elements of which we are composed are oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, iron, potassium, calcium, and there are others yet. It would seem a simple matter to find out just how much of each of these things we contained and then to keep up the supply by eating or inhaling them in the required quantities, but you can be sure there is nothing as dull and matter-of-fact as that in this interesting creation. We are not doctors' prescriptions, we are even a bit more remarkable than cabbages, and it is not just correctly measured proportions of oxygen, nitrogen and potassium that we need, but energy, and heat, and flesh, and blood. Therefore, it is that when we consult some wise table of statistics in which the nourishing value of food is given, we do not find it given in terms of oxygen and hydrogen and the rest, but in terms which indicate heat, energy and building material.

Tables of the composition of foods are usually made in the following terms: Refuse, Water, Protein, Fat, Carbohydrates, Ash. Added to these there will often be a division headed "Calories." The calorie nevertheless is not a food substance, it is the unit by which energy-giving heat is measured. Just as a ribbon is measured in yards and molasses in cupfuls, so heat is measured in calories.

"Refuse" means that part of food which cannot be eaten or which could not be used by the body if it were eaten, as bones, fibres, seeds, parings, pods and shells.

"Protein" is an inclusive word for the chief substances in food which the body can use in rebuilding itself as use wears it out.

"Carbohydrates" are the fuel of the body. They are converted at once into heat and energy, or if there is a surplus they are often stored in the body in the form of fat to be used when nourishment is less abundant.

"Fat" is also fuel, a more concentrated form of fuel than the carbohydrates. A certain quantity is stored in the body as a reserve heat supply.

The word "Ash" in food tables stands for the mineral matters which are used in our bodies for building bones and teeth, and for a few other purposes; these minerals are for the most part building materials, but are not so important as protein and are needed in smaller quantities.

Human bodies are constituted to withstand adversities and to bear the experiments and mistakes which we make; therefore it is that though these food substances usually serve the purposes attributed to them above, yet when need arises the body is able, for a time at least, to use one for the other. This is a provision, however, for special and adverse occasions. Ordinarily food should be supplied in the variety and proportion which will enable the body to use each class of nourishment for its own purpose.

Roughly estimated, an average person's diet should be about one-fifth protein, one-fifth fat and three-fifths carbohydrates. That the carbohydrates exceed the others in quantity is easily accounted for. They are not such concentrated fuel as fat, therefore a greater quantity is needed; they are consumed to make heat instead of being built into the body as protein is; therefore, we need more carbohydrates, just as we need to renew the coal supply in a house more frequently than to renew the carpets.

The foods from which we derive protein are chiefly meat, fish, milk, beans, peas, bread and other articles made of wheat, corn, oats, and like grains.

Vegetables, with the exception of beans and peas, furnish chiefly carbohydrates.

Fats are derived for the most part from the animal food which we eat. Butter, for instance, is chiefly fat, and the proportion of fat in bacon is more than half.

But because nearly every kind of food contains other constituents besides the one which is chief, the housekeeper who wishes to make wise menus will need more and more detailed statements of food values as she is able to get and understand them. If she has hitherto thought little about such matters, she will probably not know that the United States Government has very kindly employed people to make years of experiments and to write books and pamphlets for her help, nor will she know that she may have these last merely by asking the Department of Agriculture for them. They are not made into attractive booklets, but they are by no means dull reading. Farmers' Bulletin No. 142, for instance, called "Principles of Nutrition and Nutritive Value of Food," and written by Dr. W. O. Atwater, is brief, helpful and most interesting. The figures in the table given below were taken from this Bulletin. But there are things which may be derived from this and the many other food pamphlets issued by the Government which are quite as important as definite statistics. They are things which give the housewife a feeling of comradeship with many people who are working earnestly with and for her; things which increase her interest in her own small part of the work and which give her a helpful sense of its dignity.

For many reasons it is impossible for a housewife to make an _exact_ calculation of the amount of nourishment which she gives her family. The figures in even the most carefully made tables are, of necessity, averages or approximates, for food varies in quality in different localities and at different seasons. Moreover, the figures in the various government reports upon food values and in books giving such statistics differ somewhat, nevertheless, there is sufficient general agreement upon which to base an intelligent effort to make wise as well as agreeable menus.

On this account, a housewife who is neither very learned nor very experienced can yet wisely regulate her menus by keeping in mind the general character of a day's nourishment and helping out her lack of chemical knowledge with a table of food values such as the one below. The general aim in providing food, as has already been said, is to furnish all the varieties of nourishment which the body requires and the chief ones in about the proportion of a fifth protein to a fifth fat to three-fifths carbohydrates. That is, either the per cent. of protein or the per cent. of fat multiplied by three should about equal the carbohydrates. This is, of course, a very rough and general way of estimating, but I believe it to be a practical way to begin the study and application of a branch of difficult and as yet slightly established knowledge.

==================================================================
|_Refuse._
| | _Water._
| | | _Protein._
| | | | _Fat._
| | | | |_Carbohydrates._
_Food Materials._ | | | | | |_Ash._
________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______
| Per | Per | Per | Per | Per | Per
| cent.| cent.| cent.| cent.| cent.| cent.
BEEF: | | | | | |
Chuck ribs | 16.3 | 52.6 | 15.5 | 15.0 | .... | 0.8
Ribs | 20.8 | 43.8 | 13.9 | 21.2 | .... | .7
Rib rolls | .... | 63.9 | 19.3 | 16.7 | .... | .9
Round | 7.2 | 60.7 | 19.0 | 12.8 | .... | 1.0
Rump | 20.7 | 45.0 | 13.8 | 20.2 | .... | .7
Shank, fore | 36.9 | 42.9 | 12.8 | 7.3 | .... | .6
Porterhouse steak | 12.7 | 52.4 | 19.1 | 17.9 | .... | .8
Sirloin steak | 12.8 | 54.0 | 16.5 | 16.1 | .... | .9
| | | | | |
Corned beef | 8.4 | 49.2 | 14.3 | 23.8 | .... | 4.6
Canned corned beef | .... | 51.8 | 26.3 | 18.7 | .... | 4.0
Dried and smoked beef | 4.7 | 53.7 | 26.4 | 6.9 | .... | 8.9
| | | | | |
VEAL: | | | | | |
Breast | 21.3 | 52.0 | 15.4 | 11.0 | | .8
Leg | 14.2 | 60.1 | 15.5 | 7.9 | | .9
Leg cutlets | 3.4 | 68.3 | 20.1 | 7.5 | 1.0
| | | | | |
MUTTON: | | | | | |
Flank | 9.9 | 39.0 | 13.8 | 36.9 | | .6
Leg, hind | 18.4 | 51.2 | 15.1 | 14.7 | | .8
Loin chops | 16.0 | 42.0 | 13.5 | 28.3 | | .7
| | | | | |
LAMB: | | | | | |
Breast | 19.1 | 45.5 | 15.4 | 19.1 | | .8
Leg, hind | 17.4 | 52.9 | 15.9 | 13.6 | | .9
| | | | | |
PORK: | | | | | |
Ham | 10.7 | 48.0 | 13.5 | 25.9 | | .8
Ham, smoked | 13.6 | 34.8 | 14.2 | 33.4 | | 4.2
Shoulder | 12.4 | 44.9 | 12.0 | 29.8 | | .7
Shoulder, smoked | 18.2 | 36.8 | 13.0 | 26.6 | | 5.5
Loin chops | 19.7 | 41.8 | 13.4 | 24.2 | | .8
Bacon, smoked | 7.7 | 17.4 | 9.1 | 62.2 | | 4.1
Salt pork | | 7.9 | 1.9 | 86.2 | | 3.9
| | | | | |
SAUSAGE: | | | | | |
Bologna | 3.3 | 55.2 | 18.2 | 19.7 | | 3.8
Pork | | 39.8 | 13.0 | 44.2 | 1.1 | 2.2
Frankfort | | 57.2 | 19.6 | 18.6 | 1.1 | 3.4
| | | | | |
POULTRY: | | | | | |
Chicken, broilers | 41.6 | 43.7 | 12.8 | 1.4 | | .7
Fowls | 25.9 | 47.1 | 13.7 | 12.3 | | .7
Goose | 17.6 | 38.5 | 13.4 | 29.8 | | .7
Turkey | 22.7 | 42.4 | 16.1 | 18.4 | | .8
| | | | | |
FISH: | | | | | |
Cod, dressed | 29.9 | 58.5 | 11.1 | .2 | | .8
Cod, salt | 24.9 | 40.2 | 16.0 | .4 | |18.5
Halibut, steaks | 17.7 | 61.9 | 15.3 | 4.4 | | .9
Mackerel, whole | 44.7 | 40.4 | 10.2 | 4.2 | | .7
Shad, whole | 50.1 | 35.2 | 9.4 | 4.8 | | .7
Herring, smoked | 44.4 | 19.2 | 20.5 | 8.8 | | 7.4
Salmon, canned | | 63.5 | 21.8 | 12.1 | | 2.6
Sardines | 5.0 | 53.6 | 23.7 | 12.1 | | 5.3
| | | | | |
SHELL FISH: | | | | | |
Oysters | | 88.3 | 6.0 | 1.3 | 3.3 | 1.1
Clams | | 80.8 | 10.6 | 1.1 | 5.2 | 2.3
Crabs | 52.4 | 36.7 | 7 | .9 | .6 | 1.5
Lobsters | 61. | 30.7 | 5.9 | .7 | .2 | .8
| | | | | |
EGGS: | 11.2 | 65.5 | 13.1 | 9.3 | | .9
| | | | | |
DAIRY PRODUCTS: | | | | | |
Butter | | 11.0 | 1.0 | 85.0 | | 3.0
Whole milk | | 87.0 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 5.0 | .7
Skim milk | | 90.5 | 3.4 | .3 | 5.1 | .7
Buttermilk | | 91.0 | 3.0 | .5 | 4.8 | .7
Condensed milk | | 26.9 | 8.8 | 8.3 | 54.1 | 1.9
Cream | | 74.0 | 2.5 | 18.5 | 4.5 | .5
Cheese, full cream | | 34.2 |25.9 | 33.7 | 2.4 | 3.8
| | | | | |
FLOUR, MEAL, ETC.: | | | | | |
Entire wheat flour | | 11.4 | 13.8 | 1.9 | 71.9 | 1.0
Graham flour | | 11.3 | 13.3 | 2.2 | 71.4 | 1.8
Wheat flour, roller | | | | | |
process, high and | | | | | |
medium grades | | 12.0 | 11.4 | 1.0 | 75.1 | .5
Low grade | | 12.0 | 14.0 | 1.9 | 71.2 | .9
Macaroni, vermicelli, | | | | | |
etc. | | 10.3 | 13.4 | .9 | 74.1 | 1.3
Wheat breakfast food | | 9.6 | 12.1 | 1.8 | 75.2 | 1.3
Buckwheat flour | | 13.6 | 6.4 | 1.2 | 77.9 | .9
Rye flour | | 12.9 | 6.8 | .9 | 78.7 | .7
Corn meal | | 12.5 | 9.2 | 1.9 | 75.4 | 1.0
Oat breakfast food | | 7.7 | 16.7 | 7.3 | 66.2 | 2.1
Rice | | 12.3 | 8.0 | .3 | 79.0 | .4
Tapioca | | 11.4 | .4 | .1 | 88.0 | .1
| | | | | |
BREAD: | | | | | |
White | | 35.3 | 9.2 | 1.3 | 53.1 | 1.1
Brown | | 43.6 | 5.4 | 1.8 | 47.1 | 2.1
Graham | | 35.7 | 8.9 | 1.8 | 52.1 | 1.5
Whole wheat | | 38.4 | 9.7 | .9 | 49.7 | 1.3
Rye | | 35.7 | 9.0 | .6 | 53.2 | 1.5
| | | | | |
SUGARS, ETC. | | | | | |
Molasses | | | | | 70.0 |
Honey. | | | | | 81.0 |
Sugar, granulated | | | | |100.0 |
Maple syrup | | | | | 71.4 |
| | | | | |
_VEGETABLES_: | | | | | |
Beans, dried | | 12.6 | 22.51| .8 | 59.6 | 3.5
Beans, lima, shelled | | 68.5 | 7.1 | .7 | 22.0 | 1.7
Beans, string | 7.0 | 83.0 | 2.1 | .3 | 6.9 | .7
Baked beans, canned | | 68.9 | 6.9 | 2.5 | 19.6 | 2.1
Beets | 20.0 | 70.0 | 1.3 | .1 | 7.7 | .9
Cabbage | 15.0 | 77.7 | 1.4 | .2 | 4.8 | .9
Celery | 20.0 | 75.6 | .9 | .1 | 2.6 | .8
Corn, green, edible | | | | | |
portion | | 75.4 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 19.7 | .7
Cucumbers | 15.0 | 81.1 | .7 | .2 | 2.6 | .4
Lettuce | 15.0 | 80.5 | 1.0 | .2 | 2.5 | .8
Mushrooms | | 88.1 | 3.5 | .4 | 6.8 | 1.2
Onions | 10.0 | 78.9 | 1.4 | .3 | 8.9 | .5
Parsnips | 20.0 | 66.4 | 1.3 | .4 | 10.8 | 1.1
Peas, shelled | | 74.6 | 7.0 | .5 | 16.9 | 1.0
Peas, canned | | 85.3 | 3.6 | .2 | 9.8 | 1.1
Potatoes | 20.0 | 62.6 | 1.8 | .1 | 14.7 | .8
Rhubarb | 40.0 | 56.6 | .4 | .4 | 2.2 | .4
Sweet potatoes | 20.0 | 55.2 | 1.4 | .6 | 21.9 | .9
Spinach | | 92.3 | 2.1 | .3 | 3.2 | 2.1
Squash | 50.0 | 44.2 | .7 | .2 | 4.5 | .4
Tomatoes | | 94.3 | .9 | .4 | 3.9 | .5
Tomatoes, canned | | 94.0 | 1.2 | .2 | 4.0 | .6
Turnips | 30.0 | 62.7 | .9 | .1 | 5.7 | .6
| | | | | |
FRUITS, BERRIES, ETC.: | | | | | |
Apples | 25.0 | 63.3 | .3 | .3 | 10.8 | .3
Apples, dried | | 28.1 | 1.6 | 2.2 | 66.1 | 2.0
Bananas | 35.0 | 48.9 | .8 | .4 | 14.3 | .6
Grapes | 25.0 | 58.0 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 14.4 | .4
Lemons | 30.0 | 62.5 | .7 | .5 | 5.9 | .4
Muskmelons | 50.0 | 44.8 | .3 | | 4.6 | .3
Oranges | 27.0 | 63.4 | .6 | .1 | 8.5 | .4
Pears | 10.0 | 76.0 | .5 | .4 | 12.7 | .4
Raspberries | | 85.8 | 1.0 | | 12.6 | .6
Strawberries | 5.0 | 85.9 | .9 | .6 | 7.0 | .6
Watermelons | 59.4 | 37.5 | .2 | .1 | 2.7 | .1
Apricots, dried | | 29.4 | 4.7 | 1.0 | 62.5 | 2.4
Dates | 10.0 | 13.8 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 70.6 | 1.2
Figs | | 18.8 | 4.3 | .3 | 74.2 | 2.4
Raisins | 10.0 | 13.1 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 68.5 | 3.1
| | | | | |
NUTS: | | | | | |
Almonds | 45.0 | 2.7 | 11.5 | 30.2 | 9.5 | 1.1
Chestnuts | 16.0 | 37.8 | 5.2 | 4.5 | 35.4 | 1.1
Cocoanuts | 48.8 | 7.2 | 2.9 | 25.9 | 14.3 | .9
Cocoanut, prepared | | 3.5 | 6.3 | 57.4 | 31.5 | 1.3
Hickory nuts | 62.2 | 1.4 | 5.8 | 25.5 | 4.3 | .8
Peanuts | 24.5 | 6.9 | 19.5 | 29.1 | 18.5 | 1.5
Walnuts, black | 74.1 | .6 | 7.2 | 14.6 | 3.0 | .5
Walnuts, English | 58.1 | 1.0 | 6.9 | 26.6 | 6.8 | .6
| | | | | |
Chocolate | | 5.9 | 12.9 | 48.7 | 30.3 | 2.2
Cocoa, powdered | | 4.6 | 21.6 | 28.9 | 37.7 | 7.2
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A table given as this one, in percentages instead of quantities, may seem at first sight too indefinite to be of much service to a housekeeper who naturally wishes to know the quantity of food to give her household as well as the proportions of its composition. I have purposely avoided giving a food table which deals with quantities because I believe this one to be more useful to a beginner. One's first calculations in food values can hardly be other than approximate and inexact. Not many girls, when they begin their housekeeping, have either the time or the ability to make the calculations which even the simplest schemes for computing a dietary require. Besides, an effort to provide scientifically correct meals on the part of a housewife to whom the effort is unfamiliar and difficult is apt to produce monotony in the meals, worry in her, and disregard and forgetfulness of the family's particular tastes.

A first and simple step for her to take is to make herself familiar with the chief value of different articles of food and of the more usual combinations. When she takes this last matter into consideration she will find that many combinations which are traditional, which were probably made merely by instinct, are, when tested, palatable wisdom. For instance, bread is a very complete food in itself except that it is a little lacking in fat, but people have been spreading butter on it for centuries, and thereby completing it.

Consider the traditional combination of baked beans and brown bread. Referring to the table we find beans a fairly well-balanced food, but a little lacking in fat. In brown bread neither the protein nor the fat come anywhere near being a third of the carbohydrates. Therefore, when we combine these two articles we shall be a little lacking in protein and a good deal lacking in fat. Butter on the bread will help this last difficulty and the wisdom of our ancestors will help out the rest. What did they combine with these two? Codfish cakes, to be sure. And in these there is codfish which has a good deal of protein in it; egg which has protein and fat; butter which is chiefly fat and potato which is chiefly carbohydrates. We might make a diagram of it, like this:

Cod fish Protein
Egg Protein Fat
Butter Fat
Potato Carbohydrates

As a dish to combine with two articles somewhat lacking in protein and fat, we may feel ourselves content with this.

In many people's minds the word "sausage" is just naturally followed by the words "buckwheat cakes." Is there sanction for this? From the food table we learn that sausage has a fair percentage of protein, almost no carbohydrates, and is almost half fat. Buckwheat cakes have in them, beside buckwheat flour, a little milk and often some wheat flour or corn meal. This table will, perhaps, represent the matter better than an explanation.

_Protein._ _Fat._ _Carbohydrates._
Sausage 13.0 44.2 1.1
Buckwheat flour 6.4 1.2 77.9
Milk 3.3 4.0 5.0

The table says to the eye, too much fat. One cannot remedy the defect by increasing the protein and carbohydrates to match the fat, for we should then have as much food at one meal as we should need for three. The real remedy is to balance this meal with others during the day in which the percentage of fat is very low. Another remedy is to serve meals with a large percentage of fat on very cold days; in that case the weather will help to balance the excess of heat production.

Pursuing this matter of tradition, why are peas served with lamb, and why is pork so often accompanied with "greens" of some sort? The percentage of protein in lamb is low enough to allow, perhaps require, some supplement from the vegetables. The excess of fat in pork is offset by the excess of water in greens, and also by certain medicinal qualities they possess which are represented in the percentage of "Ash." One might almost say that the combination known as "hog's jowl and turnip greens" is providential. I am sure it has saved bodily suffering and even lives in certain pig-raising localities.

One can see from looking thoughtfully at this food table that the dinner at which we have lamb, veal, poultry, or fish is the occasion upon which to have a substantial vegetable, such as macaroni, lima beans, parsnips or sweet potatoes, or an especially substantial dessert such as a boiled pudding or a pie. It is also evident that when we have beef, mutton or pork it is healthful to combine them with vegetables like spinach, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and turnips, which contain a large percentage of water. The dessert for such occasions may well be a jelly or fruit in some form--something light and cool.

The day on which we have roast pork is not the occasion to have apple dumpling or any dessert with a percentage of fat; the meal at which we serve beef steak and mushrooms is not the one to complete with mince pie, for we should then have more protein than we should know what to do with. On the contrary, the day on which the main dish at dinner is made from yesterday's meat, or is fish, is not the time for a watery or a fluffy dessert, unless we are purposely planning a day of abstinence. If it happens that the family diet includes little meat, care must be taken that protein is supplied from other sources, otherwise we shall be running an engine at full speed in a building which is never decently repaired and which will one day fall round our ears.

There are several questions which frequently arise in the mind of a person who begins to study food values. One is, why are articles included in the menu of almost every meal which have almost no value as nourishment? In many cases such articles are appetizing and refreshing; such are lettuce, celery, muskmelons, cucumbers and many soups and desserts. They also contain much water, of which the body has great and constant need. They also give bulk to our food, which is a necessity because some of the processes of digestion do not begin until the organs to which they belong are expanded.

A housewife who is bewildered or disheartened will sometimes ask why we cannot take our food in capsules, or why an ideal dietary cannot be made and used over and over again. She will not be the first person who has thought of these expedients, but it has been fairly well proved that highly condensed food, as also "predigested" foods, not only lack this element of bulk of which we have been speaking, but have an even worse defect. They give us something for nothing, which is always bad for us. That is, they furnish us with nourishment without requiring any effort to speak of from the digestive organs. As a result the digestive organs grow flabby and useless from having nothing to do. A child in school who is never given anything difficult to do grows flabby in mind and character and soon _can't_ do anything difficult; so it is with a digestion.

The objection to the use of an ideal dietary is, in the first place, that such a dietary has not been discovered. People claim to have discovered it, but that is different from really doing so. But the chief objection to the use of such a thing is that the body requires a variety of food, that a variety of food has been provided for it on the earth and that the part of us which is not body will not stand eating the same thing every day or even every week. Have you ever lived in a boarding house or in an institution where there was an invariable week's menu. It is a mechanical contrivance which soon stirs up rebellion, and rightly.

Probably a word more needs to be said on this subject of variety, for it is a saving grace in menu making. If one can give one's household _real_ variety of food, not merely that which is made by different methods of serving and cooking, but that which is actually a difference in constituents, mistakes in selection will then never get very long or thoroughly established. If one cannot be right all the time, by means of variety one can be fairly sure of being right some of the time. Variety is also made necessary by changes in season, in occupation, in state of health, and I think I may add without making a loop-hole for pampering people unduly, that it is made necessary at times by change of mood.

A trivial thing comes to my mind which none the less illustrates what I am trying to say about variety. So often I have seen a woman, whom I like to be with, a woman who has many, many things to do, take a few moments to make the last bit of her cookie-dough into an elephant or a rabbit of extraordinary figure. The cheering effect of this animal upon the boy who comes in from school very tired and perhaps cross or discouraged, is delightful to see. I repent that I called it a trivial thing, for this puffy, blunt-legged animal is to the child pleasant food, an amusing sight and the assurance that some one has thought gladly of him during the long school hours.

Variety in menus gives to the grown-up mind the same pleasurable feelings which the cookie elephant gives to the mind of the child, with this practical addition, that such feelings of pleasure also quicken the appetite and the energy and digestive powers of the body, thus enabling it to profit more by the nourishment varied foods convey.

MARKETING

Making a wise menu does not by any means produce a meal. It is a first step in the process, the next is to buy the food which is required by the menu.

Many women like to shop, and even more like to have it thought that they know how to shop. For some unknown reason shopping for food does not usually excite the same interest nor is it so coveted an accomplishment. I wonder if it seems less interesting because the things shopped for are not "to keep." If this is the reason, one has but to remind oneself that they are "to keep," only they must first be transmuted into the flesh and bones, work and laughter of the family.