A properly cooked meal, and a neatly arranged dinner-table, are helps to the happiness and moral progress of the humblest of families.—Buckmaster.
A really capable housekeeper will not be satisfied with good cookery only. She will be careful to have each dish nicely served, however plain it may be. Culture, or the want of it, will be seen at once in the appointment of her table. This remark does not apply to a profusion of glass, silver, or flowers—these are questions of wealth—but to the neatness and order with which a table is laid, and the manner in which the meal is served.
Some people are particularly sensitive to external impressions; and to them a dinner, or any other meal, however costly, served in an untidy room, with table-cloth soiled, silver tarnished, glasses smeared, and above all a slovenly servant, would be enough to give a feeling of depression that would anything but aid digestion.
A great point to be attended to is to have everything perfectly clean and orderly, however old and plain. Clean table-cloths make a wonderful difference to the look of a table; a few flowers also will do much to give it a bright appearance. Servants should be neat in their dress, and quiet in their movements. If only one is kept, that is no reason why she should wait at table in a slovenly dress and with ruffled hair.
The dining-room should be, if possible, a bright room with a good aspect. Heavy, sombre furniture, however fashionable, should be avoided. It is unfortunate that so little attention is paid to the influence of colour; a warm colouring will do much to give a bright look to a room which would otherwise be dull.
The influence of the mental emotions on the digestion is so great that it is important that the conversation at meals should be as cheerful as possible, and no unpleasant subject should be discussed: anything that disturbs the appetite disturbs the digestion also.
With these points carefully attended to—a bright room, neatly-laid table, well-cooked food, and cheerful conversation—dinner, or any other meal, will become what it should be, a refreshment to both mind and body.
[HOW TO COOK.]
Hints to Beginners.
A few hints to beginners on the proper way to set about their work may be, perhaps, of some use; as I know many people get disgusted with cookery at the very outset, and after one attempt, form a resolution never to enter the kitchen again. They have spent the whole morning trying to make a single dish, and that has proved a failure; they have become hot, tired, and irritable, and ill able to bear the laughter their failure has excited. There has been a waste of material to no purpose, and they conclude, therefore, that it is useless for them to make any further attempts. At any rate, they determine that they will not try again ‘just yet;’ and that often means that they do not try again at all. This disappointment and fatigue is generally the result of want of method and forethought. A recipe has been taken into the kitchen to be tried; very probably one half of the terms used in it have not been understood by the would-be cook. She at once begins to make the dish, going to the recipe to look for each article required as she wants to use it. If some of the supplies have run short, she has perhaps to wait in the middle of her operations while she sends to purchase them. Moreover, when the cake, pastry, or whatever it may be, is made, the fire has very likely been forgotten. In this way, even if the dish has been properly prepared, it is spoiled in the cooking.