It will, I think, be universally admitted as a fact, that many of our continental neighbours live, not only much more economically, but better than we do. The daily cost of living of a family abroad, whose annual income is 10,000 francs, should be contrasted with one at home whose income is £400 a year. Is there any reason why the former should live better than the latter? Probably, so far as materials go, the English are the best off. Better meat, as a rule, is to be obtained in England than on the Continent, but, unfortunately, worse dinners are made from it.

The art of cooking, as well as our habits of living, are to a great extent matters of tradition that have been handed down from mother to daughter for generations past, not only in England but elsewhere, and probably for many generations to come will these same habits be maintained. The Frenchman will always commence his dinner with some soup and bread, because he cannot afford to dine without it. The Englishman will rarely have soup because he thinks it too extra-vagant.

The chief causes of the superiority of foreign cooking to English are - First. The art of cooking is better understood. Secondly. Foreigners take far more trouble than we do. Thirdly. They generally have better cooking implements.

In a very large proportion of English houses the kitchen utensils are not in keeping with the other appointments of the house. The contrast between a small foreign kitchen, with its rows of bright copper stewpans, and an English one, with its few blackened saucepans, its one burnt frying-pan, and often no stewpan at all, will to a certain extent explain the reasons why our dinners so differ from what we get abroad.

One of our most fixed traditions is that three courses are more extravagant than one. There are, I fear, few English housekeepers who would consider a dinner consisting of, say, soup, then some fish, or a dish of macaroni, followed by a roast leg of mutton, cheaper than simply a roast leg of mutton by itself.

There are many persons who pride themselves on their economy, and it will be often found that those who most pride themselves are the very ones who fail to be really economical through ignorance. We will take the very common case of a family consisting of, say, husband and wife and five children, and one woman-servant. The means of the family are such that economy is desirable, but yet there is no stint, and all at each meal are allowed to have as much as they like.

On grounds of economy soup should be served every day at the commencement of dinner, and when fish is cheap it should always follow the soup. When fish cannot be obtained, it will be found that a dish of macaroni or rice, cooked in the Italian fashion, to be eaten before the meat, will be the means of lessening the expense of the weekly bills, and at the same time the dinner will be better in appearance, and more wholesome.

The Italian who commences his dinner with a gigantic portion of macaroni, or Risotto, lives far more economically than we do. The cheap dish of flour or rice acts as a damper on the appetite, and when the meat follows, naturally one-half only is consumed of what would have been taken had there have been only a joint; and probably many of us, especially children, eat far too much meat, and too little of flour and vegetables, in their ordinary every-day dinner.

A dinner for young persons, and indeed for all, commencing with potato soup, and some plain fish, ending with meat, would be more wholesome, and certainly more economical, than a dinner consisting of meat alone.

The soup should contain some goodness in it, for it should be borne in mind that a healthy appetite must be satisfied, if not in one way, then in another. Some persons consider it extravagant to use extract of meat at all. If, however, one pennyworth of extract of meat is the means of causing the eater to take three pennyworth of meat less, we make a clear gain of twopence.

In ordering fish, try and make a bargain with your fishmonger to supply you with a small quantity each day, leaving it to him to send what fish he likes. There are many who would undertake to supply two pounds of fish daily for sixpence. It is greatly to be regretted that the thousands of tons of fish that can be obtained at an original cost of less than one penny a pound cannot be turned to better account than it is. In the following pages will be found directions for cooking almost every kind of fish to be met with in this country, both sea and fresh-water fish.

One of the most common forms of waste from ignorance is over-cooking, especially in roasting and frying. Take the case of geese and ducks, turkeys, and hare, what a common thing it is to find these over-roasted; the meat dry, the breastbones having the appearance of being burnt up in the fire. Fried whiting and soles, how often are these juicy?

It is essential for economical cooking that the housekeeper should look ahead. Too often the mistress of the house will consult with the cook, or make her own arrangements for to-day's dinner, directly after breakfast. Too late. Arrange each day for to-morrow's dinner. I will give a simple case. The family consists of husband and wife and five children, and one servant. The usual dinner-hour is two o'clock. The joint to-day is roast leg of mutton. Arrange, as is often done, to make some hash for to-morrow's dinner. To order the hash to-morrow will be too late.

By four o'clock the joint will be nearly cold, if not quite. Cut all the meat from the bone, chop up the bone and put it on, with whatever odds and ends of vegetables you can find, to stew to make stock to-day. (See No. 10.) There is generally a kitchen fire. It will cost no more fuel. Turn this stock out into a basin the last thing at night. Remove the fat the first thing in the morning, and put it on again. You will now have "stock".

This stock will help to make the hash good. It will also, with the remains of cold potato left from yesterday, and an onion and a pint of milk, make some good potato soup. Yet in nine cases out of ten the leg of mutton is put in the larder, the meat cut off in the morning it is required, the bone stewed for about an hour. Of course the so-called stock is ditch-water. Stock cannot be made properly under five hours, slow stewing.