Dr. Allinson's cookery book, comprising many valuable vegetarian recipes — John Shaqi
Dr. Allinson's cookery book, comprising many valuable vegetarian recipesAllinson, T. R. (Thomas Richard)
Science
Dr. Allinson's cookery book, comprising many valuable vegetarian recipes
Allinson, T. R. (Thomas Richard)
Vegetarian cooking
Vegetarians also frequently stay with non-vegetarian friends, or lodge
with others who do not understand how to provide for them. For such
this book will especially prove useful, for in it will be found a set
of thirty menus, one for each day in a month, giving suitable recipes
with quantities for one person only. Throughout this book it will be
found that the use of wholemeal has been introduced in the place of
white flour. Those persons who do not care to follow the hygienic
principle in its entirety can easily substitute white flour if
preferred. The recipes have been written bearing in mind the necessity
for a wholesome diet; and they will be found to be less rich than
those in most of the cookery books published. Should any one wish to
make the dishes richer, it can easily be done by an addition of
butter, eggs, or cream.
Let me draw the attention of vegetarians to the use of soaked sago in
many dishes. This is a farinaceous food which should be used much more
largely in vegetarian cookery than it is. Thoroughly soaked sago
should be used in all dishes, savouries or sweets, in which a
substitute for suet is required to lighten the mixture; that is, in
boiled savouries or sweets which are largely made of wholemeal, as,
for instance, in vegetable haggis, roly-poly pudding, and all fruit or
vegetable puddings which are boiled in a paste. When soaked sago is
used (taking a teacupful of dry sago to two breakfastcupfuls of meal)
a light paste will be obtained which would mislead any meat eater into
the belief that suet or, at any rate, baking powder had been used.
Baking powder, tartaric acid, soda and bicarbonate of soda, are all
most injurious to the system, and these chemicals have been left out
of this book entirely. In breads and cakes I have used a small
quantity of yeast for the rising of the dough; those who once have got
accustomed to the use of yeast will not find it any more trouble than
using baking powder. It may here be beneficial to give a few hints as
to the harm done by the use of the most commonly introduced chemicals,
namely, soda, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, tartaric acid, and
citric acid. Not only do they delay the digestion of the foods in
which they are used, and give rise to various stomach troubles, but
also cause rheumatism and gout, and often are the primary cause of
stone in the kidney and bladder. Another danger lies in the fact that
these chemicals are too dear to be supplied pure to the public, which
always demands cheap goods, and the result is that many of the
chemicals in the market are mixed with other still worse poisons, like
arsenic, for instance. Self-raising flour, which is liked by so many
on account of its convenience, is nothing but ordinary flour mixed
with some sort of baking powder; in the same way egg powders are
simply starch powders, coloured and flavoured, mixed with baking
powder. Tartaric acid and citric acid also belong to the class of
injurious chemicals.
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