The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking Adapted to Domestic Use or Study in Classes

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THE
EASIEST WAY
IN
HOUSEKEEPING AND COOKING.

Adapted to Domestic Use or Study in Classes
BY
HELEN CAMPBELL,

AUTHOR OF "IN FOREIGN KITCHENS," "MRS. HERNDON'S INCOME," "PRISONERS OF
POVERTY,", "SOME PASSAGES IN THE PRACTICE OF DR. MARTHA SCARBOROUGH,"
"WOMEN WAGE-EARNERS," ETC., ETC.

"If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly."

BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY,
1903.




_Copyright, 1893,_
BY ROBERTS BROTHERS.

University Press:
JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.


A Book for Agnes L.V.W.

AND THE SOUTHERN GIRLS WHO STUDIED
WITH HER.




PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION.


The little book now revised and sent out with some slight additions,
remains substantially the same as when first issued in 1880. In the midst
of always increasing cookery-books, it has had a firm constituency of
friends, especially in the South, where its necessity was first made
plain. To enlarge it in any marked degree would violate the original plan,
for which the critic will please read the pages headed "Introductory,"
where he or she will find full explanation of the growth and purpose of
the book. Whoever desires more receipts and more elaborate forms of
preparation must look for their sources in the bibliography at the end,
since their introduction in these pages would practically nullify the
title, proved true by years of testing at the hands of inexperienced
housekeepers, whose warm words have long been very pleasant to the author
of "The Easiest Way."

NEW YORK, June, 1893.




CONTENTS.

PART FIRST.

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY                                       5

CHAPTER.

   I. THE HOUSE: SITUATION AND ARRANGEMENT        11
  II. THE HOUSE: ITS VENTILATION                  19
 III. DRAINAGE AND WATER-SUPPLY                   27
  IV. THE DAY'S WORK                              35
   V. FIRES, LIGHTS, AND THINGS TO WORK WITH      45
  VI. WASHING-DAY AND CLEANING IN GENERAL         54
 VII. THE BODY AND ITS COMPOSITION                68
VIII. FOOD AND ITS LAWS                           73
  IX. THE RELATIONS OF FOOD TO HEALTH             80
   X. THE CHEMISTRY OF ANIMAL FOOD                90
  XI. THE CHEMISTRY OF VEGETABLE FOOD            100
 XII. CONDIMENTS AND BEVERAGES                   110

PART SECOND.

STOCK AND SEASONING                              119
SOUPS                                            122
FISH                                             131
MEATS                                            144
POULTRY                                          161
SAUCES AND SALADS                                173
EGGS AND BREAKFAST DISHES                        180
TEA, COFFEE, &C                                  193
VEGETABLES                                       197
BREAD AND BREAKFAST CAKES                        208
CAKE                                             221
PASTRY AND PIES                                  232
PUDDINGS, BOILED AND BAKED                       238
CUSTARDS, CREAMS, JELLIES, &C                    245
CANNING AND PRESERVING                           252
PICKLES AND CATCHUPS                             257
CANDIES                                          259
SICK-ROOM COOKERY                                261
HOUSEHOLD HINTS                                  270
HINTS TO TEACHERS                                280
LESSONS FOR PRACTICE CLASS                       282
TWENTY TOPICS FOR CLASS USE                      285
LIST OF AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO                  286
EXAMINATION QUESTIONS                            287
BIBLIOGRAPHY                                     288
INDEX                                            289




_Introductory._


That room or toleration for another "cook-book" can exist in the public
mind, will be denied at once, with all the vigor to be expected from a
people overrun with cook-books, and only anxious to relegate the majority
of them to their proper place as trunk-linings and kindling-material. The
minority, admirable in plan and execution, and elaborate enough to serve
all republican purposes, are surely sufficient for all the needs that have
been or may be. With Mrs. Cornelius and Miss Parloa, Marion Harland and
Mrs. Whitney, and innumerable other trustworthy authorities, for all
every-day purposes, and Mrs. Henderson for such festivity as we may at
times desire to make, another word is not only superfluous but absurd; in
fact, an outrage on common sense, not for one instant to be justified.

Such was my own attitude and such my language hardly a year ago; yet that
short space of time has shown me, that, whether the public admit the
claim, or no, one more cook-book MUST BE. And this is why:--

A year of somewhat exceptional experience--that involved in building up
several cooking-schools in a new locality, demanding the most thorough
and minute system to assure their success and permanence--showed the
inadequacies of any existing hand-books, and the necessities to be met in
making a new one.