Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1838, by Wm. A. ALCOTT, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

G. C. RAND, Printer,
3 Cornhill.

PREFACE.

CHAPTER I. DIGNITY OF THE HOUSE-KEEPER

Silent influence of the house-keeper. Her character as a teacher and educator. Should the mother be the house-keeper? Vulgar notions. Anecdote. Dignity of the house-keeper asserted. She is, in some respects, a legislator--a counsellor--a minister--a missionary--a reformed--a physician.

CHAPTER II. FIRST PRINCIPLES.

1. Obey the dictates of conscience. 2. Dare to disobey the mandates of fashion. 3. Dignify your profession. 4. Keep the house yourself, as much as possible. 5. Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well. 6. Importance of securing the aid of the husband and others. 7. Anecdote and reflections.

CHAPTER III. HAVING A PLAN.

Why a plan is indispensable. Hour of rising. Arrangements. Breakfast. Particular advantages. Mrs. Parkes's opinion. Time gained, how to be employed.

CHAPTER IV. KEEPING ACCOUNTS.

Every housewife should keep her own accounts. Deficiency in female instruction. Method of keeping an account. Advantages.

CHAPTER V. KEEPING A JOURNAL.

General importance of keeping a journal. Qualifications. Method should be simple. Materials of the journal. A difficulty--how overcome. Reflections.

CHAPTER VI. NATURE OF FOOD IN GENERAL.

In what sense man is omnivorous. Man a free agent. Animal food. Nutritious character of food. Table of nutritious substances. Second table, from the French. Inferences from these tables. Proofs of the inferior nutritive powers of lean meat. Three great divisions of aliments. The grand object of all food.

CHAPTER VII. FARINACEOUS FOOD.

Primary aliments. Secondary aliments. Substitutes. The following part of the work a vocabulary. General plan. Its contents.

CHAPTER VIII. FOOD FROM WHEAT.

Remarks on Wheat in general. Bread. Why wheat meal should not be bolted. Unfermented cakes. Loaf bread. Mixed bread. Crackers, biscuit, &c. Bread pudding. Boiled wheat. Toast, &c. Bread and milk. Bread and butter. Pastry. Gingerbread. Flour puddings. Bread and fruits. Potatoe bread.

CHAPTER IX. INDIAN CORN, AND ITS COMPOUNDS.

Qualities of Indian corn. Its excellence as food. Hulled corn. Boiled corn. Hommony. Indian cakes--eaten cool. Warm cakes. Parched corn. Boiled pudding. Brown bread. Baked pudding. Hasty pudding. Loaf bread. Dumplings. Meat bread. Gruel. Green corn. Polenta.

CHAPTER X. FOOD FROM RYE.

Extensive use of rye. Brown bread. Rye bread. Mixed bread. Biscuit, &c. Unleavened cakes. Gingerbread. Puddings Gruel.

CHAPTER XI. RICE.

Rice extensively used. Mistaken notion of its producing costiveness and blindness. Boiled rice. Baked rice. Rice bread. Rice and milk.

CHAPTER XII. BARLEY AND OATS.

Barley much used in Europe. Its properties. Mixed bread. Pearl barley. Oats.

CHAPTER XIII. THE POTATOE.

Importance of the potatoe as an article of diet. Modes of cooking it--boiling, baking, steaming and roasting. Bad boiling. Examples of a better mode. Cooking a potatoe well, seldom understood. The "civic crown." Mashed potatoes. Potatoe bread. Potatoes and milk. Potatoe soup. "Hash." Fried potatoes. The potatoe sometimes poisonous.

CHAPTER XIV. BEANS AND PEAS.

Beans and peas produce flatulency. Why. How they should be cooked and used. Green peas and beans. Their pods. Bread of peas and beans. Puddings. Pea soup. Bean porridge.

CHAPTER XV. BUCKWHEAT AND MILLET.

Buckwheat pancakes. In Germany, used for bread, puddings, &c. Hulled buckwheat. Anecdote of Peter the Great. Buckwheat bread in Boston. Millet.

CHAPTER XVI. BEET, CARROT AND PARSNIP.

Richness of the beet. Boiling, steaming, baking and roasting it. Pickled beets. Medicinal properties. Nature of the carrot. Fit only for strong, healthy stomachs. Seasoning it. Does it prevent intestinal worms? Medicinal effects. The parsnip. How kept. Should it be eaten young?

CHAPTER XVII. THE TURNIP.

Character of the turnip. Use made of it by the Romans. Mashing it.

CHAPTER XVIII. THE ONION AND RADISH.

Dr. Paris's opinion. Modes of cooking the onion. How to preserve it. Radishes. Objections to their use.

CHAPTER XIX. THE SQUASH, PUMPKIN AND TOMATO.

The squash. Boiled. Made into pies. The pumpkin. Pies. The tomato.

CHAPTER XX. CABBAGE, LETTUCE, &c.

Cabbage of little value. How best adapted to use. Boiled. Raw. Sour crout. Eaten with ham and chesnuts. Lettuce. Anecdote of Galen. Greens and celery.

CHAPTER XXI. ARROW-ROOT, TAPIOCA, &c.

Nutritive properties of arrow-root. Made into jelly. Eaten with rice. Sago. Mushrooms.

CHAPTER XXII. ON FRUITS IN GENERAL.

Second grand division of aliments. Principles interspersed. Apology for the order and arrangement.

CHAPTER XXIII. THE APPLE.

The apple one of the Creator's noblest gifts. Varieties of this fruit. Little used for food. The apple very nutritious. Sweet apples. Rules for selecting the apple. Raw apples best. Baked apples. Why apples sometimes "disagree." Five rules for learning to use apples as food. Apples for breakfast. Accompaniments. Boiling apples. Apple sauce. Danger of putting it in home-made earthen vessels. Stewing apples. Baking and roasting. Baked apples and milk. Apple dumplings. Puddings. Bird's nest puddings. Fried apples. Preserves. Mince pies. Improved mince pies. Other preparations of apples. Apple bread. All apples should be perfect. Never cook green apples.
 

CHAPTER XXIV. THE PEAR.

Quality of pears. Bad ones. Baking and roasting pears. Cautions in preserving them. Forcing maturity. Mealy pears. Cultivation of the pear. Stewing. Drying. Pear jam.

CHAPTER XXV. THE PEACH, APRICOT AND NECTARINE.

Stone fruits in general. Nature of the peach. Cooking it. Drying. The apricot and nectarine.

CHAPTER XXVI. THE STRAWBERRY.

Prejudice against fruits--how unreasonable. Fruits a preventive of disease. Green fruits injurious. Market fruits very imperfect. Cultivating the strawberry. General laws of summer fruits. Strawberries for breakfast. Eaten alone. Eaten with wine, sugar, milk, &c. Strawberries and bread. Used for luncheon. Preventive of gravel and other diseases.

CHAPTER XXVII. THE RASPBERRY.

Medicinal character of the raspberry. Its varieties. Every family should cultivate it, as they should the strawberry. Difficulties. How overcome. Female labor.

CHAPTER XXVIII. THE BLACKBERRY.

The best variety of this fruit. Raising it ourselves. The dewberry. Prejudice against the high blackberry. Anecdote to show how unfounded it is. Abuses of the blackberry.

CHAPTER XXIX. THE WHORTLEBERRY.

An error. The whortleberry with milk. Not improved by cookery. Varieties of this fruit.

CHAPTER XXX. THE GOOSEBERRY, CURRANT AND GRAPE.

Character of the gooseberry. When useful. The currant. Used unripe. The grape. What varieties useful.

CHAPTER XXXI. THE CHERRY.

Proper selection of cherries. Swallowing the stones. Its evils. Drinking wine or spirits with cherries. No cooking into pies, puddings, &c., admissible. Varieties of the cherry. It should be eaten in the morning.

CHAPTER XXXII. THE PLUM.

The plum indigestible. It should be eaten alone. The prune.

CHAPTER XXXIII. THE MELON.

The muskmelon. Hot bed cultivation. The watermelon. How sometimes raised.

CHAPTER XXXIV. THE CUCUMBER.

Evils of the cucumber overrated. Ripe cucumbers. Not very nutritious.

CHAPTER XXXV. THE FIG AND RAISIN.

The fig extensively used for food. Fresh figs. Dried figs. Figs and bread. The raisin.

CHAPTER XXXVI. NUTS.

The chesnut much used by the ancients. Boiled chestnuts. How used now in Europe. Used for bread.

CHAPTER XXXVII. ANIMAL FOOD.

Where animal food is admissible. Should be used, if used at all, principally as a condiment. What animals have been eaten. Arrangement of the subject.

CHAPTER XXXVIII. MILK.

What the circumstances are in which milk is admissible. Milk for infants. Milk for diseased persons. Use of it by the Arabs. Milk a cheap food. Healthy milk. Milk poured on bread. Milk toast.

CHAPTER XXXIX. BUTTER.

Butter on bread. "Made" dishes. Butter-eating carried to the highest excess. The real evils of eating butter.

CHAPTER XL. CHEESE.

General properties of cheese. Good cheese. Bad cheese. Cheese sometimes poisonous. Anatto. Arsenic. Grand objection to cheese. New and old cheese compared.

CHAPTER XLI. EGGS.

How eggs should be cooked. Rarely boiled. Poached. Artificial or "made" dishes. Fresh eggs. How to preserve eggs. Egg cider. Eggs and wine.

CHAPTER XLII. FLESH AND FISH.

General remarks. Simplicity in diet. Best kinds of flesh. Wild animals. Fattened animals. Salted meat. Smoked meat. Meat pies. Boiling. Broiling. Baking. Frying. Fish. Animal food sometimes poisonous. Shell Fish.

CHAPTER XLIII. SUMMARY OF LEADING PRINCIPLES.

Simplicity in diet. Penalties of neglecting it. Importance of mastication. Temperature of food should be low. Why it should be so. Why purely nutritious substances should not be used. Why solid food is preferable to liquid. Drinks in general. Our meals should be regular. Proper hours of eating. Number of meals a day. Rules for the proper combination of several articles of food at a meal. Regard to the season of the year, hour of the day, and time of the week. Regard to our employment. Regard to age.

CHAPTER XLIV. COOKERY, AS IT IS.

Present object of Cookery. What its object should be. Example of abuse. Error of eating hot food. Condiments and accompaniments of food. Another example of abuse in cookery. Another, still. Objections to cool food answered. A laughable sight. Gustatory pleasure perfectly lawful. Who best secure it. A great but common mistake. Losses sustained by those who have fashionable appetites. An anecdote of a country table. Usual views and feelings of house-keepers about plain meals. "Trimmings" of our meals. Woman too much a slave to fashion. Cooking not her main object. What she should glory in, if she glories at all.

CHAPTER XLV. COOKERY, AS IT SHOULD BE.

"Pulling down" and building up. Popular complaints against dietetic writers. Examples of telling what people should do. Boiling corn. Why cool food is better than hot. Objections to cooking in large quantities at once. Directions on the subject. Rice, beans and peas. Potatoes. Cooking economically. Employing children in domestic concerns. Its advantages. Intentions of Providence in this matter. Objections considered. Why daughters hate domestic concerns. Proposed remedy. Oral instruction by mothers who are house-keepers. Modified plans. Rational cooking a simple and easy concern. Three fourths of the time now spent in it wasted.

CHAPTER XLVI. ECONOMY OF TIME, BY A REFORMATION IN COOKERY.

Estimates of labor. Table. Results of the estimates. Facts. Difficulties--some of them removed. Three fourths of female labor in cooking might be saved. Anecdotes to illustrate the subject.

CHAPTER XLVII. EXPENSE OF ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE FOOD COMPARED.

Table of comparisons. Results. Objections considered. Examples to illustrate the subject. Another table of comparison. Preservation of cooked vegetable food. A third table. Fourth table. Reflections.

CHAPTER XLVIII. HOW TO BEGIN THE WORK OF REFORMATION.

First principle. Sudden changes. First direction to inquirers. Difficulties in their way. These difficulties illustrated. None need fear to do what is known to be right. Anecdote. Supposed process of reform in house-keeping. Remarks and reflections.