uce. Allow two to each person.

FOOTNOTES:

[71-*] See No. II.

[77-*] See No. II.

IX.

VARIOUS CULINARY MATTERS.

This little book does not pretend to go into what may be called the
principles of cooking, except in so far as they are involved in the
production of all choice cookery; and where it is considered that a
principle is little known or too little attended to, the effort will be
made to give it emphasis by reiteration here.

By principles of cooking I mean the simple rules by which roasting,
boiling, stewing, etc., are successfully accomplished. Any book or
series of articles written a dozen years ago would have been of no real
use without these rudiments, but within that period there have been
cooking-schools started and cookery books written so exceedingly exact
in directions that it will be unnecessary to repeat them in "Choice
Cookery," which does not pretend to include family cooking.

For this reason the cooking of joints of meat will not be entered into.
Nevertheless there are certain rudiments of cooking which are not dwelt
on usually in books. They are taught in the cooking-schools, and those
of my readers who have had the advantage of attending them will not need
the instruction here given. But I meet with many women who devote much
time to the art of cooking, and who have taught themselves by book and
experiment all they know, who yet, when told to chop a small quantity of
herbs very fine, will struggle and chop almost leaf by leaf in their
faithful endeavor to carry out the direction. Others, less faithful,
finding their method chops some parts fine and leaves some leaves almost
whole, let it go at that, with the reflection that "that _must_ do, as
it would take all day" to get them all one degree of fineness. So,
although it may seem almost too trivial a point to need mention, we
will go into the matter of herb-chopping, lemon-grating, etc., that the
simple operations may be performed easily and in a very short time.

_To Chop Herbs._--Use the leaves only, never the stems; let them be
fresh and crisp, or, if wilted, leave them in water for a time. Gather
the leaves firmly between the thumb and three fingers of the left hand;
shave them through with a sharp knife as you push them forward under it.
(The process resembles chaff-cutting by hand machine.) Turn them round;
gather them up again, and cut across them in the same way; then finish
by chopping quickly, holding the point o