The ivaters of a country sometimes determine the national
food. In Ireland, w^here the waters are strongly impregnated
with lime, they furnish what the potato, which is richer in pot-
ash and soda, lacks. When potatoes are combined with cabbage
and pork, as in kolcannon, the flesh-forming element is supplied;
and this, on account of the cost of meat, the laboring classes are
unable to obtain in any other form. In England and Scotland,
where the waters are soft, oats and wheat, which are rich in
phosphates, are the staple diet. When combined with milk,
eggs, rice, peas, beans, bacon, and cheese, their food is complete.
To satisfy the natural instinct to obtain these five elements,
we all prefer our bread with butter or cream, our meat with
potatoes, our rice with butter, milk, or eggs; our fish we cook
in fat ; we eat liver with bacon and ham, or bacon with eggsj
Tlie Boston Cook Book. 469
we eat cheese with crackers, butter with cauliflower or cabbage,
salt with all vegetables, oil with salad, and fresh vegetables with
salt meat. Fruits and foods intended to be eaten raw contain a
large proportion of water. This is supplied, when lessened by
evaporation, by cooking and soaking in water. In cooking
meats, we endeavor to retain all the juices, which are largely
water. In spring we crave fresh green vegetables and salads,
that we may have the potash salts of which there has been a
deficiency in the winter diet.
Occupation affects our choice of diet. Persons engaged in sed-
entary occupations cannot digest as much nor as easily as those
who labor out of doors. They should have food that gives the
greatest amount of nourishment in the smallest compass, and it
should be served in the most digestible form. Those who tax
their brains severely should have animal food and the most
digestible forms of starchy and warmth-giving foods. Those
who exercise freely in the open air may take a larger quantity,
and it need not be the most digestible, as they require food that
will stay by them. The laborer instinctively prefers potatoes
underdone, or *'with a bone in them;" and he chooses salt
meat, not only because it is cheaper, but because it stands by
him longer. The salt causes him to drink water freely, and
this supplies the waste caused by excessive perspiration. A
diet of vegetables, peas, beans, cheese, oatmeal, bacon, and
the cheaper, more indigestible parts of meat properly cooked,
is suitable for laboring people.
State of Health. — In selecting food with reference to health it
must be remembered that there are certain general rules which
have been established by the best authorities through many ages
and in a great variety of circumstances; there are, however,
some exceptions to these general rules. Milk is considered a
wholesome food, yet there are some persons who cannot take it.
Cheese is a cheap and nourishing food for laboring people, but
there are some persons to whom it is an active poison. This is
also true of oysters and strawberries. These exceptions are
owing to some idiosyncrasy of the palate or weakness of the
digestive organs, and should be regarded only as exceptions,
which do not affect the general principle.
Page 278
Presented as published in 1884. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The waters of a country sometimes determine the national food. In Ireland, w^here the waters are strongly impregnated with lime, they furnish what the potato, which is richer in potash and soda, lacks. When potatoes are combined with cabbage and pork, as in kolcannon, the flesh-forming element is supplied; and this, on account of the cost of meat, the laboring classes are unable to obtain in any other form. In England and Scotland, where the waters are soft, oats and wheat, which are rich in phosphates, are the staple diet. When combined with milk, eggs, rice, peas, beans, bacon, and cheese, their food is complete.
To satisfy the natural instinct to obtain these five elements, we all prefer our bread with butter or cream, our meat with potatoes, our rice with butter, milk, or eggs; our fish we cook in fat ; we eat liver with bacon and ham, or bacon with eggs;
Tlie Boston Cook Book. 469
we eat cheese with crackers, butter with cauliflower or cabbage, salt with all vegetables, oil with salad, and fresh vegetables with salt meat. Fruits and foods intended to be eaten raw contain a large proportion of water. This is supplied, when lessened by evaporation, by cooking and soaking in water. In cooking meats, we endeavor to retain all the juices, which are largely water. In spring we crave fresh green vegetables and salads, that we may have the potash salts of which there has been a deficiency in the winter diet.
Occupation affects our choice of diet. Persons engaged in sedentary occupations cannot digest as much nor as easily as those who labor out of doors. They should have food that gives the greatest amount of nourishment in the smallest compass, and it should be served in the most digestible form. Those who tax their brains severely should have animal food and the most digestible forms of starchy and warmth-giving foods. Those who exercise freely in the open air may take a larger quantity, and it need not be the most digestible, as they require food that will stay by them. The laborer instinctively prefers potatoes underdone, or *'with a bone in them;" and he chooses salt meat, not only because it is cheaper, but because it stands by him longer. The salt causes him to drink water freely, and this supplies the waste caused by excessive perspiration. A diet of vegetables, peas, beans, cheese, oatmeal, bacon, and the cheaper, more indigestible parts of meat properly cooked, is suitable for laboring people.
State of Health. — In selecting food with reference to health it must be remembered that there are certain general rules which have been established by the best authorities through many ages and in a great variety of circumstances; there are, however, some exceptions to these general rules. Milk is considered a wholesome food, yet there are some persons who cannot take it. Cheese is a cheap and nourishing food for laboring people, but there are some persons to whom it is an active poison. This is also true of oysters and strawberries. These exceptions are owing to some idiosyncrasy of the palate or weakness of the digestive organs, and should be regarded only as exceptions, which do not affect the general principle.