Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/278

 KITCHEN AND COOKERY 256 r HOW TO LIVE WITHOUT MEAT By Mrs. EUSTACE MILES What Food Reform Means-- Vegetarian - Recipes-Meatless Entrees-The Value ol Cheese- FOR some years I have been seeing daily how successful food reform, of the richt and sensible kind, can be, and how health V it can make people and keep people ; and 1' often wonder the converts to food reform are not to be counted by millions. The first step is to get satisfactory substi- tutes for meat. It is quite clear that we must look for two distinct things— first, the body-building and waste-repairing proteid ; secondly, the stimulating and appetising. It is equally clear that badly cooked vegetables will not take the place of meat. For instance, potatoes, cabbages, and turnips are poor in proteid, and have no body- building or stimulating properties. The two chief problems, then, are : 1. What are the food bases (proteids) to be used instead of meat ? 2. What are the stimulants and appetisers to be used instead of the juices of meat ? For the present, the simplest way is to advise, in place of meat, some good substitute. Later on, of course, one considers the making of soups, the cookery of vegetables in a double pan (hot-air) cooker' so as to preserve their valuable juices and flavours, and, generally, the balancing of the different elements, and the right order of the different foods, and so on. But, as a first step, it is enough to ask, " What shall we take instead of meat ? " At various meetings I hear ardent food reformers (who prefer to be called " fruit- arians " or " vegetarians ") arguing that the meat business is inhumane (as, alas! it is), that meat is expensive, that it contains uric acid, that it may be tuberculous, and so on. All this is true ; but they do not explain the scientific side of meat or give it its due as a body-builder and repairer, and as a stimulant and appetiser. If people first understand why meat (apparently) docs them good, it is easier to explain to them why it does them harm. It is no use to abuse our old workers and servants, and give them notice, until we have found some equally experienced workers and servants to take their place. In this article it will be best, just for the present, to be content to alter one item in the meal, and only one. The rest of the meal may have faults and mistakes, but these can be left till later on. Rome was not built in a day, and an old-fashioned English meal will not be un-built in a day. Instead of meat and gravy, then, I suggest, as alternatives, one or two body-building and appetising substitutes, or entrees. For in food reform there are no joints ; entrees usually take the place of joints. The first meatless entree (or sustaining dish) may contain eggs, boiled or poached or Nut Cutlets scrambled, or made into an omelette. This is a nice recipe for scrambled eggs : Nourishing Scrambled Eggs The proteid here comes from the eggs and proteid food. Ingredients : One ounce of butter, two eggs, one tablespoonful of milk, pepper and salt if required, buttered toast. Utensils : A small saucepan and a basin. Recipe : Prepare some buttered toast and keep it hot. Melt the butter in a saucepan or deep fryer. Beat up the eggs in the basin and add them to the butter, and pepper and salt if required. Put the mixture into the saucepan or deep fryer, and cook and stir until the eggs are set, stir in proteid food, and lastly the milk. Turn out upon the buttered toast, and serve. Eggs do not agree with everyone. Perhaps they may tend to biliousness. In that case, the entree, or sustaining dish, could contain cheese. The recipe I give is one out of many for " Welsh rarebit." Proteid Welsh Rarebit In this recipe the proteid comes from the cheese, proteid food, and bread. Ingredients : Four ounces of hard, dry, Cheddar cheese, one ounce of butter, one ounce of proteid food, one tablespoonful of milk. For flavouring, if desired, one tea- spoonful of made mustard, or a little grated onion, a quarter of a teaspoonful or less of paprika or capsicum, one tablespoonful of digestive sauce, or any one of these alone. Utensils : A nut and cheese mill and a saucepan. Recipe : Prepare some buttered toast. Mill the cheese. Put the butter into a saucepan over the gas-ring, and stir with a wooden spoon. Add the flavouring and the milk. Then add the milled cheese and proteid food, and stir until the consistency is that of thick cream. Spread on the buttered toast, brown the top (if desired), and serve very hot. As a third alternative for the entree, or sus- taining dish, here is a recipe for nut cutlets. It needs a nut and cheese mill, but this little apparatus is almost indispensable in food reform cookery, and is necessary for hundreds of the best dishes, for it grinds the nuts and the cheese, and all the spare odds and ends of crusts and bits of bread can be passed through it and converted into bread- crumbs, instead of being thrown into the dustbin or fire ; and so it is economical too. Nut Cutlets Ingredients : Two ounces of mixed nuts, two ounces of proteid food, two ounces of breadcrumbs, one teaspoonful of non-meat extract, an egg to bind, or milk if preferred, one ounce of butter, one small slice of onion.