Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/279

 257 KITCHEN AND COOKERY vegetable butter to fry in, one teaspoonful of tomato sauce. Method : Fry the nuts and onion in a part of the butter, then pass them through the nut-mill. Add the proteid, breadcrumbs, and sauce, and the non-meat extract (which has been dissolved in the remainder of the butter). Mix all well on a board, add the egg to bind, shape into six cutlets. Egg, breadcrumb, and fry in boiling vegetable butter in the deep fryer and basket. Can be served with fried parsley. Suppose, however, that at the table there are no egg or cheese or nut dishes, and no cheese or nuts, and no peas or haricot beans or lentils, but simply the ordinary fare (meat, bread, two vegetables, and sweet), what is to be done if we would rather not ask for a special dish ? As this is by far the commonest problem for would-be food reformers, I will offer in this article one suggestion for its solution. It is for the person to take the proteid part of his meal in a simple form, easily prepared or ready for eating or drinking, before the meal. There are many specialties that can be had for this purpose that can be eaten in biscuit or tablet form, or with hot water. We are constantly asked for these when people are going to pay visits or stay at hotels, where there is only the ordinary fare, which they cannot eat, and so they have to be provided with little secret substitutory meals with which to " fill up the gaps." Another great thing to remember in taking the first step in food reform is not to eat too much at a time in bulk. For it is not quantity that builds our bodies, but quality. A small dish of Welsh rarebit, properly made, is a far better midday meal than a plate of soup, and then a plate of vegetables (with all the juices boiled out of them), ending oif with a rice pudding and some fruit. It is far better to finish a meal feeling you have not eaten enough than to feel as if you have eaten too much. And that is what makes the first step in food reform so important — namely, what to eat instead of the meat course. It is a problem very little studied by the old-fashioned " vegetarian," whose plan was to " leave out the meat, and eat the rest." The " rest " was probably poor in proteid and also unappetising. And, therefore, if the scientific authorities are right in saying that a certain amount of proteid should be eaten daily in some form or other to build and repair the body, a great deal of " the rest " should be eaten — in fact, far more than an ordinary person can eat ! Think of potatoes and cabbages, for instance. While three ounces of roast beef will give one ounce of body-building proteid, how many ounces of potatoes and cabbages will give one ounce of it ? The amount which is supposed to be needed by one person, at one meal, makes us shudder to think of ! It is — according to many tables of food-values — about loo ounces of potatoes and cabbages, or over six pounds in weight ! Suppose, however, that instead of meat, and instead of this terrible excess of potatoes and cabbages, you choose nuts and cheese among your bases ; then you can get one ounce of proteid from quite a reasonable amount of these. The writer is not saying that one ounce of proteid is needed by one person at a meal ; but simply saying that if it is needed then we cannot get it from potatoes and cab- bages, nor at all easily from bread and pud- dings either. Even if only half an ounce is really needed, even then these foods will not contain it within a satisfactory compass. No, we must study food-values for a time, till we know, without referring to a book, what can take the place of meat and what can not. So that the beginner in food reform may have a variety of recipes to choose from, a few more are given below. It would be a good plan to experiment for a month on having one of these simple meatless dishes on the table at lunch or dinner, even if the other dishes consisted of meat or chicken or fish. The beginner would then have something nourishing and tasty to eat instead of dis- carding the flesh-foods, and only " eating the rest." Cheese Balls Ingredients : Two ounces of grated or milled Cheddar or Parmesan cheese, two ounces of brown breadcrumbs, one table- spoonful of tomato sauce, pepper and salt if required, a little grated onion, some parsley, to be fried. Boiling oil or vegetable butter. Method : Mix the cheese, breadcrumbs, grated onion, and the pepper and salt if required, into a stiff paste with the tomato sauce ; form into balls, roll in the egg and breadcrumbs, and fry in boiling oil. Serve with fried parsley. Tomato Cheese Line a buttered pie-dish with breadcrumbs, grate or mill some dry cheese on the crumbs, add pepper and salt if required. Take two, three, or four tomatoes, according to the size of the dish, and divide each into four slices. Put some of the pieces on the breadcrumbs, then add another layer of tomatoes, then a thin layer of grated or milled cheese, finally a thin layer of breadcrumbs. Dot small pieces of butter on the top, and bake for about twenty minutes. Eggs and Spinach Ingredients : One pound of spinach, two ounces of butter, four eggs, one ounce of grated or milled cheese, pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg to taste. Method : Cook the spinach in the butter in a doubie-pan cooker until tender. Pass through a fine sieve, put into a stewpan, and add seasonings and well-beaten eggs. Stir until they thicken, and serve at once on toast. N.B. — Do not allow the material to boil, or it will curdle. The following are good firms for supplying materials, ete., mentioned in this Section:— Messrs. Brown & Poison (Corn Flour) ; C. R. Shippam (Tongues, Potted Meats, etc.); Alfred Bird & Sons, Ltd. (Custard Powder) ; F. 8. Fry £ Sons, Ltd. (Cocoa) ; Samuel Hansou & Son (Eetl, White, and Blue Coffee) ; Hugon & Co. (" Atora" Beef Suet).