As the golden tints of summer are succeeded by the brown hues of autumn, a certain falling off in vegetables begins to make itself felt; but ripe potatoes, scarlet tomatoes, creamy cauliflowers, and abundant artichokes console us in some measure for the asparagus, peas and beans of earlier days. Summer salads are scarce, while the celery and endive of winter have not yet appeared. Cold cooked cauliflower makes an excellent salad, and potato salad is well known in America and in Germany. The comparative cheapness of artichokes at this season is a strong inducement to indulge in one of the most delicate of all possible salads. Cut up and served either with plain salad dressing, or better still with a rich mayonnaise, artichoke bottoms present a delicious dish, and if a little cooked and finely minced truffle be added, the salad gains much in elegance and flavour.
It is a delusion to suppose that the small button mushrooms are the only variety worthy of careful cookery. The huge field mushrooms are excellent when toasted and eaten for breakfast, with a little pepper, salt, and butter, and a slice of well-made dry toast.
Fruit.—Stone-fruit of all kinds is to be had in abundance. Peaches and plums, apples and pears, form the basis of many charming tarts, pies, and puddings. West Indian pines are to be bought at a low price, and as the tropical fruit lacks the high flavour of hothouse fruit, it is perhaps eaten to the best advantage when sliced and dressed with wine, sugar, and a little orange or lemon juice. Magnificent melons of all sizes, shapes, and colours, from the huge green rosy-hearted water melon, and the rocky-looking Dutch variety to the elegant “cantelupe,” the dainty “nutmeg,” the recherché “green fleshed,” and the tiny “golden drop.” In this country it is but too common to regard the melon simply as a dessert fruit, to be eaten with sugar and accompanied by wine. Eaten in this way the melon is excellent; but perhaps the true use of the melon, like that of most fruits, is to form the initial dish of the day. In America it is customary to begin breakfast with a melon seasoned with pepper and salt.
The apple crop is commencing in most parts of the country; but winter apples will not be picked until quite the end of the month.
Buying at the Stores almost necessitates buying in large quantities. Whether it is wise to do this more than one is compelled must depend to some extent on the facilities for keeping groceries. If they are anything tolerable, it will not be amiss to give a large order for necessaries at the beginning of the month or quarter, when last month’s earnings or income have just been paid. Some groceries improve by keeping, as, for instance, candles and soap, which harden by exposure to the air, and so do not waste in use.
Many others are no worse for keeping. Under this head come all the groceries that are sent out in air-tight tins and bottles, and these are also delightfully independent of a bad store-room; and the greater number of the rest will keep without harm in wood or earthenware for any reasonable length of time. The things that do harm with keeping are those that are artificially dried, such as oatmeal and maize meal, which readily take up moisture from the surrounding air and turn bitter. Salt, and, to some extent, sugar, have the same disagreeable absorbent power, but they can easily be dried, and return to their former condition. Cheese is another thing that improves with keeping in a damp place, or closely covered; but, as the process of ripening is really a careful cultivation of mites and mould, and, as mould is fatal to most food, it is not wise to buy a store of cheese and keep it in the store-room.
To choose groceries is not always an easy thing. One would need to qualify for a buyer in the grocery trade to do it well. But a few hints every one can pick up, and every one will find useful. The quotations in the daily newspapers will not help us much, for those paragraphs bristle with trade terms, and are barely intelligible to the outsider. A grocer selects sugar by the taste and smell; to the average housekeeper all sugars smell alike. Mites are common in moist sugar, less so in crystallised, and they may be detected by dropping a pinch into water; the sugar sinks and the mites float. Presently the sugar dissolves, and the sediment may fairly be taken for sand or other adulterant. The profit on the sale of cane sugar has of late been extremely small; in fact, cane sugar has often during the past year sold for less than it cost to bring it to England. The chief adulterant used is grape sugar, which is made from starchy matter. Grape sugar has much less sweetening power than cane sugar—5 parts of the former doing the work of 3 of the latter—and it crystallises with difficulty. The sugar prepared from beet, of which much is used in England, is cheaper, and therefore it also may be said to be used as an adulterant, when it is passed off for cane sugar; but the two sugars nearly resemble one another, and there is no reason to suppose that beet sugar is unsuitable for preserving. There is, however, this difference in the two sugars—i.e. that the treacle drained off from beet sugar has an unpleasant flavour, and so cannot be used as cane treacle is. Lump sugar and crystallised sugar are least likely to be adulterated, and are therefore better to buy than ordinary moist sugar.
Rice is sold under many names. Aracan is the lowest priced, and that grown in Rangoon is not much dearer. Patna rice is recommended for curries, because it is said to keep its shape better when boiled, and occasionally Carolina, which is very large grained, is spoken of. True Carolina is seldom met with in this country; there is but a limited supply, and little of that leaves America; selected Patna does duty under its name. The rice that swells most in cooking is the best. Rice is like potatoes, and different sorts develop different tendencies, and need different treatment. Good Rangoon is generally cheapest for household purposes, and good rice broken is more advantageous than inferior rice whole. Tapioca used to be an article of luxury, but is now as cheap as sago, which it strongly resembles in taste and nourishing power. Corn-flour can always be recommended. To ensure having a genuine article it is well to order the brand of an established house.
October.
Meat.—The grosser viands, supplied by the butcher, are in great perfection. Beef, mutton, and veal are all to be recommended, and lamb has been replaced by pork. Esteemed coarse and indigestible by many, the flesh of youthful swine yet possesses rare merits.