This little book has two chief aims. First, it is designed to serve as a guide to wholesome cookery and hygienic diet, and so dishes which contain much condiment, very high seasoning or unhealthful combinations are omitted. Since the chemistry of cooking is a study in itself, this book does not pretend to teach it thoroughly; but some hints have been given, in the various chapters, in regard to the value of foods, their proper combination, etc. Every housewife, however, ought to know something of the chemistry of cookery, and every member of the household should take enough interest in his own welfare to understand and follow a few of the simplest rules of hygiene. The most careful preparing will not make food digestible unless it be well masticated, for instance; nor can one continually overeat of the simplest food with impunity. On the other hand, enough must be taken to nourish the system, and each must judge for himself just how much that should be. The proper combination of foods is another important branch of the subject, and a few explanations, hints and examples will be found in the chapter on menus.

The second aim of this book is to provide some simple and explicit receipts which can be easily followed. Too many cook-books are so vague and general as to be quite useless to the beginner, and others give such elaborate and expensive dishes that only a small minority of the housekeepers find them available. The following recipes are the result of years of experience in cooking and of study to make the daily meals of a family nourishing and wholesome. Most of them have been tried and found useful as well as tasty.

Too many cooks make no distinction in their manner of cooking different articles of food. To most of them it simply means starting a raging fire, popping everything into water and boiling it as fast as possible; or into a very hot oven, with the sole object of finishing quickly. While the nature of some few dishes requires that they cook quickly, many foods are improved in nutritive value and in flavor by long, slow cooking, i.e., at a low temperature. Rapid boiling renders many things indigestible, unpalatable and unfit for the stomach; whereas, if cooked properly they would be quite wholesome.

Without going deeply into the chemical changes which take place in cooking, let us look at a simple example of the value of slow cooking. It is an accepted fact that an egg is more digestible if cooked slowly in water at a temperature of 160° F. than at 2120, or boiling point. In this case it is because the albumen of the egg is coagulated and rendered less soluble at the higher temperature. For other reasons, meat is often improved by slow cooking. Rapid boiling toughens the fibers of the meat, while slow cooking, in it's own juices, makes it tender and palatable. The cheaper cuts, especially, which really contain just as much if not more nourishment than the expensive steaks and fillets, should be cooked long and slowly, and will be found very tasty.

The grains are much improved by the slow method. The Scotch, who use so much oatmeal, cook it for hours, sometimes all day. As we Americans use oatmeal, largely as a breakfast cereal, it would seem hardly possible to get it done in time without rising in the middle of the night to start it. It is a good plan, however, to put the oatmeal for to-morrow's breakfast on the back of the stove, with plenty of water, in a covered pot, after the fire has been banked up for the night, and leave it until morning, when it' may be pushed forward and allowed to boil briskly for a time if necessary. Corn-meal mush is also improved in digestibility, and a sweet, nutty flavor is imparted to it if cooked slowly two or three hours. Rice may be prepared for convalescents, or persons of weak digestion, by cooking four or five hours, and it will be found very nutritious.

Many vegetables are improved by this method. The legumes can be cooked slowly all day to advantage. An excellent nourishing soup may be made by setting a pot of beans (with, of course, water, seasonings, etc.) on the back of the stove in the morning and leaving them to cook very gently and slowly until the soup is dished for dinner. Many of the old or dried vegetables, too, may be cooked long. In fact, the list of foods which require slow cooking is a long one.

For the following chapters, the proper time required for cooking each dish is given.