Cookery for every household

To those who- adopt an entirely vegetarian diet nuts are almost indispensable ; containing as they do a large amount of proteid matter, which is valuable for building up the tissues and enriching the blood, they form a good substitute for meat, besides being able to supply the necessary milk and oil. Then again, they are not only nutritious and palatable, but are easy of digestion if carefully prepared and thoroughly masticated. The food value of nuts is often under-estimated by English people, and they are declared to be indigestible, but this is largely owing to their being served as dessert when the appetite has already been satisfied. A highly nutritious food of this kind, added to an already substantial meal, is quite likely to prove too much for a not overstrong digestion, although two or three carefully blanched and dried almonds, eaten at the end of a meal, will sometimes aid digestion. Another reason for the indigestibility of nuts lies in their being rapidly eaten and insufficiently masticated. For this reason vegetarians very often grind them ; in fact for those who go in for nut cookery to any extent a nut -mill will be found invaluable. The price of this little machine is from Is. 6 d. upwards, and if the nuts are first slightly roasted and then ground, they are more likely to have a good flavour than those bought in the ground form. There is quite a variety of nuts now on the market, both shelled and unshelled, such as almonds. 1. Sapucaia Nut. 2. Walnut. 8. Brazil Nut. 4. Peccan. 5. Almond. 6. Barcelona. 7. Chestnut. Barcelona, Brazil and Cashew nuts, chestnuts, cocoanuts, hazel nuts or filberts, pea nuts, peccans, pine nuts or pignolias, pistachios, sapucaia nuts. I 3 1. Filbert. j 8. Pea Nuts. 2. Pine Nuts or Pignolias. I 4. Cashew Nuts. walnuts, &c. All these may be eaten in their natural state, besides being suitable for cooking, with the exception of the chestnut, which, owing to the large amount of starch it contains, must always be cooked. There are also various nut foods to be had from the different nut-food specialists, along with special recipes for their use, and several kinds of nut butter, which form very good frying media. 1624. Chestnuts, To Boil (Marrons) Wash the chestnuts, make a slit with a knife in the shell of each and throw them into a saucepan of boiling water, slightly salted. Boil them quickly from 20 to 30 minutes, or until they are quite tender, and then drain. They may now be served very simply as they are, in a folded serviette with pats of butter handed separately, when they wall form a nice relish for a family supper party. If, however, they are to be served as a vegetable, remove the outside shell and brown inner skin, season them lightly with pepper and salt, and toss them in a little butter over the fire. Serve them very hot. Note. — Chestnuts make a very good substitute for potatoes, and are a nice change. 1625. Chestnuts in Brown Sauce (Marrons a 1’EspagnoIe) 1J lbs. chestnuts. J pt. brown sauce.