For, with the wedding breakfast for a
finish, the bell has sounded the call 130
times and we have served 4,000 meals.
The reasons are cogent for drawing the
line at thiseven number: the stock, of
groceries laid in on a calculation for one
month, which did not arrive until one
week was past, has lasted one week over
a month and is now exhausted. Mar-
keting is beginning to come in from the
farms at all sorts of irregular prices ; ap-
ples, poultry, vegetables, all getting cheap
but impossible to keep track of, and but-
ter and eggs correspondingly advanced ;
in short w^ have had a rare opportunity,
it has been well improved and now the
favorable conditions no longer exist.
952— Review.
In keeping the foregoing accounts of
'".est of dishes and meals there has been
no attempt and no wish to argue that one
style of living is better than another;
those who must set out cheap meals will
look at the comparative cost of dishes,
taking notice at the same time of the
number of orders that can be served from
them, and choose always to make those
that are least expensive while others who
furnish a complete hotel bill of fare will
find an approximate figure to show what
the expense ought to be. In tnis malier
of meals and prices, too, instead of fic-
ticiously changing and improving the
summer boarding house and its faciliiies
I have studiously represented it as it is
with the restrictions as to markets, the
lack of proper utensils, the scarcity of
"help," and such things as usually fur-
nish excuses for a poor table, because I
believe this was a fair average of such
houses and I did not want a model place
to set up a pattern by. Our advantages
lay in having express facilities and in be-
ing in close proximity to a creamery and
a cheese factory which established low
prices for dairy products and at the same
time caused the offerings to be plentiful,
the whole neighborhood being engaged
in the milk business. This it will be seen
was an important item, and siill the
greater number of country houses are as
well fixed as we were ; it may be by keep-
ing cows of their own, and most cf them
ha've far better gardens. In counting
the cost of soups I have first added to the
price of steaks and roasts the loss of
bones and trimmings, making meat that
costs II cents at first rate at 15 or 20
cents a pound when the net weight was
reached, and then have valued these
bones and cullings at about 2 cents a
pound in soup; vegetables, quenelles,
eggs, and all such ingredients have been
duly allowed for. It did not prove feasi-
ble to show some things in the wa>; of
small economies such as every sensible
cook puts in practice— how the cold rice
left from a previous dinner and the can
of peaches opened but scarcely touched,
for the preceding supper become the
"peaches a la Richelieu" of to-day's din-
ner; or how the can of corn, too much
yesterday, becomes the green corn friiiers
on a new bill. I'hore has been greater
watchfulness over the waste while this
record was being kept, than would have
been necessary* in the ordinary run of
work, but otherwise all has been done
according to common usage, and the
sums total will provo reliable data for
future calculations.
COOKING JFOR PROFIT.
'39
953— Croceres for Four Thousand.
Bill at No. 520 $109 52
Bought additional :
Mushrooms, 4 cans i 20
Shrimps, 2 cans retail 55
Page 288
Presented as published in 1886. 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
For, with the wedding breakfast for a finish, the bell has sounded the call 130 times and we have served 4,000 meals. The reasons are cogent for drawing the line at thiseven number: the stock, of groceries laid in on a calculation for one month, which did not arrive until one week was past, has lasted one week over a month and is now exhausted. Marketing is beginning to come in from the farms at all sorts of irregular prices ; apples, poultry, vegetables, all getting cheap but impossible to keep track of, and butter and eggs correspondingly advanced ; in short we have had a rare opportunity, it has been well improved and now the favorable conditions no longer exist.
952— Review.
In keeping the foregoing accounts of best of dishes and meals there has been no attempt and no wish to argue that one style of living is better than another; those who must set out cheap meals will
look at the comparative cost of dishes, taking notice at the same time of the number of orders that can be served from them, and choose always to make those that are least expensive while others who furnish a complete hotel bill of fare will find an approximate figure to show what the expense ought to be. In this matter of meals and prices, too, instead of ficticiously changing and improving the summer boarding house and its facilities I have studiously represented it as it is with the restrictions as to markets, the lack of proper utensils, the scarcity of "help," and such things as usually furnish excuses for a poor table, because I believe this was a fair average of such houses and I did not want a model place to set up a pattern by. Our advantages lay in having express facilities and in being in close proximity to a creamery and a cheese factory which established low prices for dairy products and at the same time caused the offerings to be plentiful, the whole neighborhood being engaged in the milk business. This it will be seen was an important item, and siill the greater number of country houses are as well fixed as we were ; it may be by keeping cows of their own, and most cf them ha've far better gardens. In counting the cost of soups I have first added to the price of steaks and roasts the loss of bones and trimmings, making meat that costs II cents at first rate at 15 or 20 cents a pound when the net weight was reached, and then have valued these bones and cullings at about 2 cents a pound in soup; vegetables, quenelles, eggs, and all such ingredients have been duly allowed for. It did not prove feasible to show some things in the way of of small economies such as every sensible cook puts in practice— how the cold rice left from a previous dinner and the can of peaches opened but scarcely touched, for the preceding supper become the "peaches a la Richelieu" of today's dinner; or how the can of corn, too much yesterday, becomes the green corn fritters on a new bill. I'hore has been greater watchfulness over the waste while this record was being kept, than would have been necessary in the ordinary run of work, but otherwise all has been done according to common usage, and the sums total will provo reliable data for future calculations.
'39
953— Groceries for Four Thousand.
Bill at No. 520 $109 52
Bought additional :
Mushrooms, 4 cans i 20
Shrimps, 2 cans retail 55