The modern housewife or ménagère : comprising nearly one thousand receipts for the economic and judicious preparation of every meal of the day, with those of the nursery and sick room, and minute directions for family management in all its branches ... / by Alexis Soyer.

  • Soyer, Alexis, 1809-1858.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The modern housewife or ménagère : comprising nearly one thousand receipts for the economic and judicious preparation of every meal of the day, with those of the nursery and sick room, and minute directions for family management in all its branches ... / by Alexis Soyer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    laughed at the idea, but never tried it, saying, “We cannot teach anything to our grandmothers, and that what did for them would do for us.” Now, what could you say to such people ? why, nothing ; but let them alone, as I shall do for the future. But you, my dear, I know, have better sense ; proceed as I have directed, and you will find it a great improvement. Put your tea in the pot ten minutes before ready for it, warming both tea and pot, before the fire or in a slow oven ; fill with boiling water, and leave it from three to five minutes to draw, when it is quite ready. CACAO. CACAO was first known in Europe after the discovery of America, and it retains its Indian name ; of course, it was first used in Spain, and did not come into use in England until much later ; and we find that there was imported into England, in the year 1694, about 13,000tbs weight of it; in 1848, 410,000tbs. It is a long fruit, about five to eight inches, and three or four thick, which contains about thirty nuts : the tree grows to only a few feet in height. During the time of the famine in Ireland, I turned my attention to this valuable fruit, whose nutritive qualities are so great; and from conversation and correspondence with our principal importers and manufacturers of cho- colate, I found that it cannot be had in sufficient quantities to allow of a great consumption, as it is a production which, like all others, is subject to vicissitudes, which, at times, considerably raise the price of the nut; but I see no reason why it should not be made an article of greater cultivation, so as to provide for the great demand which would arise if it were more gene- rally introduced. In the course of my experiments, I have found that the shell is almost as nutritious as tlxe kernel, with less oily particles in it, which, to many, are unpleasant; and I am confident that large quantities might be imported into this country at a very cheap rate, which are, at the present moment, thrown away in South America and the West India Islands, just in the same way as the tobacco-stalk was, but which is now imported into this country for the purpose of making snuff. If imported in greater quantities, it would be a most excellent article of diet in our workhouses and charitable institutions. 46. CHOCOLATE.—Scrape two ounces of the cake into a stewpan or saucepan, with a gill of water, place