Made-Over Dishes/Preface

PREFACE

Wise forethought, which means economy, stands as the first of domestic duties. Poverty in no way affects skill in the preparation of food. The object of cooking is to draw out the proper flavor of each individual ingredient used in the preparation of a dish, and render it more easy of digestion. Admirable flavorings are given by the little leftovers of vegetables that too often find their way into the garbage bucket.

Economical marketing does not mean the purchase of inferior articles at a cheap price, but of a small quantity of the best materials found in the market; these materials to be wisely and economically used. Small quantity and no waste, just enough and not a piece too much, is a good rule to remember. In roasts and steaks, however, there will be, in spite of careful buying, bits left over, that, if economically used, may be converted into palatable, sightly and wholesome dishes for the next day's lunch or supper.

Never purchase the so-called tender meat for stews, Hamburg steaks or soups; nor should you purchase a round or shoulder steak for broiling, nor an old chicken for roasting. Select a fowl for a fricassee, a chicken for roasting, and a so-called spring chicken for broiling. Each has its own individual price and place.

Save for stock, every bone, whether beef, mutton, poultry or game, as well as all the juices that are left in the meat carving dishes on the table, and the water in which meats are boiled and in which certain vegetables are boiled. Into this storehouse--for such a stock pot is--will go also the tough ends from the rib roasts, which would become tasteless and dry if roasted; the bits that are taken from the French chops; the bone that is left on the plate from the sirloin steak; and every piece of the carcass left on the general carving plate of all sorts of game and poultry. After the meat has been taken from the roast, these bones will also be used.