NOVEMBER, 1923
P RAC T ICA
COO K EL R
* PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE OMAHA BEE
JOHN D. POLLARD, Managing Editor
■m( • 4M*'*• i * -
(Copyright, 1923;
"C.ookcrv is like matrimony—two
thini/s sort ed together should match."
— 4 non.
Modern Cookery — An Art and Science
t
nCCORDING to a gifted writer,
whose imagination conceived a
fairly definite notion of what
accompanied man’s rise from
uu. wiess, fire was found and first used as
a protection against wild animals. Huge
piles of combustibles were heaped before
the openings in the caverns in which the
tribe sought shelter and served the
double purpose when set on fire of scar
ing away prowling beasts and affording
warmth for the human beings crowded
* within the gloom behind them.
The Discovery
One day a huge wild animal at
tacked the women and children of
the tribe and fell, hurt to death, in
the embers of the watch fire. While
the survivors were caring for the in
jured as best they might, the hugt
animal roasted on his funeral pyre.
After something * like order had
been restored the women noticed
that the children were eagerly
gnawing at the half-charred flesh
of the beast. They tried it and
found a new and unsuspected fla
vor. Cookery had been discovered
and from this simple beginning has
grown up one of the most attractive
of sciences.
The preparation of food is a
science as well as an art. Very little
need to tempt the appetite of a hun
gry mortal, for hunger is ever the
best sauce, yet a proper conception
of the duty that rests on the cook
requires that some attention be
given to the little niceties that give
to food the qualities that appeal to
the eye as well as to the palate.
Even the most famished of men will
note the little things that embellish
the table as well as the viands, and
his satisfaction by the food will be
— no greater than the gratification
that comes with the thought that it
is tastefully served as well as care
fully prepared.
Of Economic Importance
In very truth, the progress of
mankind from that day when it was
accidentally discovered that cook
ing developed qualities and flavors
in food not possessed in the raw
state, to this time of enlightened
civilization can be fairly marked by
the advance in cookery. The ones
grim and trite Spanish proverb,
“God sends food and the devil
sends cooks,” has lost its signifi
cance and become merely an un
couth joke, because cooks have
proved their worth to the world by
their accomplishments.
We are not dealing with the
“cordon bleu,” the chef w’hose mys
terious compounds and concoctions
delight and mystify those who con
sume them. It was one of these
who prepared the meal at which
one of the diners, seeking to be fa
cetious, turned to the host, whose
tongue he did not speak, and quo- .
ried with a smile, “Quack, quack?” “No,"
returned the host with a most engaging
smile, “Bow wow!”
Drudgele&s Cooking
On the American housewife falls the
duties as well as the pleasures of cook
ing the meals for the family, for cooking
can be made a pleasure as well as drug
ery. Only where the real art of fixing
food is neglected does its practice be
come drudgery. A steady round of fry
THANKSGIVING
Could you look forward to the snow*
Of winter, to the hidden foes
That In the forest shadows lie.
Look upward to an alien sky, .
A thousand leagues from those you lore
And then give thanks to God above
For simple blessings such as they
Knew on the first Thanksgiving L>ayT
Yet how much greater is your store
Than that your fathers had before.
What comforts, pleasures, luxuries.
What riches never known to th<-»e;
And do you think. I ask again.
That these good women, pious men.
Could live l.ke you in these great days
And sever speak a word of praise?
If only wc, a little space—
A Pilgrim winter had to face—
If only we know hunger, we
Perhaps, would understand and see
How good our Covd has been to all.
Perhaps our blessings would recall
And bis, perhaps, before God the*
A little worthy of our sires.
'"■epyright, l*!l >
The Spirit of Thankfulnes
LET it be here, there, and everywhere.
Let its subtile presence be reflected
not only in the cheery atmosphere of the
home but also in the deeper significance
of personal gratitude for all the good
things in which we have been allowed
to share.
Tht» uplift of its influence is all powerful.
By and through it let us he mated to
accomplish better things, Itroaden our
lites, and make happier the lives of those
about tts.
ing, boiling and baking soon palls and the
jaded housewife notes the coming of meal
time with little enthusiasm. But this can
be remedied. Modern methods and appli
ances have lessened the actual manual
labor of getting a meal, even for a large
family, and the study of even a few
recipes affords such insight into the
mysteries of food combinations as gives
to the job of fixing up a lunch, a dinner
a supper or even the more simple meal of
breakfast, something of an adventure, be
cause it really becomes an achievement, a
triumph, when it turns out right.
And it will come out right if the
various steps are taken in order
and with due care.
Our Aim
In presenting this first edition ot
Practical Cookery magazine t< •
you, that is what The Omaha
Bee is trying to do .iust now:
not to teach anyone’s grandmother
how to milk ducks, but to show our
readers some new ways of doing old
tricks, and perhaps setting some
body on the track of how to be
chief cook and bottle washer in a
busy household and yet find a few
moments free from the command
ing presence of the kitchen range
every day. Not only will these ar
ticles treat of the handling of raw
materials in the food line, the effec
tive combinations that may be se
cured from them, and dainty dishes
that may garnish the more substan
tial elements of a home-prepared
meal—they will also tell of how to
handle the left over things, so that
true economy will prevail and noth
ing will be wasted.
In this lies the true art of cookery
and it is our purpose to be helpful
to those who are now sometimes
perplexed by showing ways that
have the approval of test, tried by
experience and known to be reli
able, and through this means to en
able all to save something of work,
of worn-, time and materia!, and
thus to lighten the burden of house
work to the extent that cooking will
be robbed of some of its terrors and*
take on some of the features of rea
pleasure.
We feel sure that this undertak
ing will not be in vain, for no home
is complete without a kitchen, and
a kitchen must have a mistress.
Meredith was right when he wrote:
“We may live without poetry, music
and art;
We may live without conscience
and live without heart;
We may live without friends; we
may live without books:
But civilized man cannot live with
out cooks."