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Sect. 3. the Poor Man's Cookery

1181. Under this head will be included directions suitable for the poor man's guidance, or rather for that of his wife, in conducting his humble cookery. I have already observed, that experience and -instinct are, in the main, pretty sure guides to man in selecting his diet; but there are numberless exceptions to this rule, and none more marked than in the case of the poor man. With the pittance which he has at his command, he is often tempted to spend too much in ways which do not bring him the best return for his money. Thus, he will buy nine-pennyworth of fine white bread in preference to eight of a superior quality in reality; but being more brown in appearance, and not patronized by his employers, he fancies it is not as good, and decides against it without giving it a trial. Again, in his desire for present happiness (or freedom from care the sensation should perhaps be called), he spends a day's wages in beer or gin, which would, if laid out in meat, make all the difference to him for the next week between the food which his system requires and that which he can then procure. Lastly, the poor man in his ignorance is led to mistake the promptings of his palate for an infallible guide, and thus is tempted to buy fat bacon or mutton to eat with his potatoes instead ot such lean parts as will supply the nitrogen in which they are deficient. It is chiefly in this neglect of azotized food that the poor are mistaken, and the reason is that its effects are not immediate, like those of alcoholic stimulants, nor is it in small quantities so full of flavour as fried fat, and therefore it is no wonder that both the one and the other should be preferred to it. Besides these reasons for choosing certain kinds of food peculiar to himself, it is unfortunately a fact that the labouring-man and his family seldom have their stomachs overloaded with food, and consequently it is of no importance to them to avoid that which is in itself too bulky; potatoes, therefore, are less objectionable in large quantities than they are to the overloaded stomach. But if with their potatoes, which contain very little nitrogen, they could mix lean meat or its juice, together with some gelatine, it would be of far more benefit than the fat which they select with so much care.

With bread, abounding in nitrogen, fat bacon or mutton is the proper mixture, or with beans, peas, or cabbage; but with potatoes -milk, buttermilk, gravy, or meat should be the proper flavouring material. It is of great importance, whenever the educated man is anxious to benefit his poorer neighbours, that these facts should be well known, so that he may be able to afford useful advice in the selection of the proper kinds of food. It may be here as well to repeat the various articles of food suited to the poor man, and to give them under the respective heads of azotized and non-azotized, so that he may have recourse to any of the former list to supply the deficiency in the azote of the latter, or vice versa.