1339. Economicals of Cooking Meats.—The most economical way of cooking meat is to boil it, if the liquid be used for soup or broth, as it always ought to be.
Baking is one of the cheapest ways of dressing a dinner in small families, and several kinds of meat are excellent, done in this way. Legs and loins of pork, legs of mutton, and fillets of veal will bake to much advantage; especially if they be fat. Never bake a lean, thin piece; it will all shrivel away. Such pieces should always be boiled or made into soup. Pigs, geese, and the buttock of beef are all excellent baked. Meat always loses in weight by being cooked.—In roasting, the loss is the greatest. It also costs more in fuel to roast than to boil—still there are many pieces of meat which seem made for roasting; and it would be almost wrong to cook them in any other way. Those who cannot afford to roast their meat, should not purchase the sirloin of beef. Stewing meat is an excellent and economical mode of cookery.
1340. Butter as Diet.—Butter, when new and sweet, is nutritious, and, in our climate, generally healthy; during the winter, when made very salt, it is not a good article of diet for some people.
1341. Condiments.—Pepper, ginger, and most of the condiments, are best during summer; they are productions of hot climates, which shows them to be most appropriate for the hot season. On the other hand, fat beef, bacon, and those kinds of food we denominate "hearty," should be most freely used during cold weather.
1342. Eat Slowly.—Eat slowly. One of the most usual causes of dyspepsia among our business men, arises from the haste in which they swallow their food without sufficiently chewing it, and then hurry away to their active pursuits. In England very little business is transacted after dinner. There ought to be, at least, one hour of quiet after a full meal, from those pursuits which tax the brain, as well as those which exercise the muscles.