The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, May 1883Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
History
The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, May 1883
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
Thursday: To-day the washing and ironing are all through with, and
the best dinner of the week can be prepared. What shall it be? An
Englishman would say, roast beef; a German, a goose; an Italian, veal,
tomatoes, and macaroni; a Frenchman, wild pigeons, or sweet-breads,
or deviled crabs, or some dainty combinations. What does the great
American heart cry out for? Turkey and oysters! turkey and oysters! and
six vegetables; everything the season affords, reserving nothing for
the morrow. Have your own way about this Thursday dinner. I shall not
interfere with economic ideas or European combinations, but promise to
tell me when it is over if your purse is not lighter and your stomach
heavier than you anticipated? If so, Friday, I shall take you under
instruction again, and to restore your over-taxed stomach we will have,
first, a good beef soup, and, to invigorate you mentally, after the
soup, we will have a beautiful salmon, or any large fish, stuffed and
baked; served with potatoes and barley bread, which will also give
phosphorus. Stewed cherries for dessert, and cheese and crackers will
supply other needs.
By Saturday you will have recovered from that heavy dinner of Thursday,
and from Friday’s dinner the cook will possibly have saved enough fish
to make some nice little fish patties to serve before the good, rare
roast of beef, which for our Saturday dinner is accompanied by spinach,
made very fine, mashed to the consistency of mashed potatoes, and
served with a plateful of bread-dice, (in form of cubes), which have
been fried as one fries doughnuts; roasted potatoes and a fresh salad;
a cardinal, or transparent, or cream pudding, and your fresh fruit, and
after dinner coffee.
You will feel, as Sunday approaches again, that you have at least had
variety from day to day, and not eaten something of everything the
market affords every day, until you are utterly tired of everything!
From the beef of Saturday can be prepared for Sunday breakfast what the
French call a _râgout_, which is more savory than hash, because the
pieces of meat are left about two inches in size, and flavored with a
bit of bacon, potatoes, carrots, and onions.
In this enumeration I have left beefsteak, liver, kidneys,
sweet-breads, and ham untouched. All of these I presumed you would
claim for your breakfasts and teas. Sardines, and dried beef and
tongue, and many other things the market also gives you, and in
exercising some ingenuity you will not have to repeat the same dish day
after day, nor confine yourself to roasting and frying everything, when
things are often better boiled, or stewed, or smothered. And now I will
not intrude upon another Sunday dinner. I can only hope, in parting
from the subject and from you, that the kitchen and dining-room have
grown more interesting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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