been to restaurants of every class, and called for beefsteak
and roast beef, but have never got the real article, although it's my
belief," said he, leaning forward solemnly, "that I have eaten _horse_
three times this week." Of course the Englishman of rank, who has spent
half his life on the continent, is not at all the _average_ Englishman.

Americans think the hare and rabbits, of which the English make such
good use, very mean food indeed, and if they are unprejudiced enough to
try them, from the fact that they are never well cooked, they dislike
them, which prejudice the English reciprocate by looking on squirrels as
being as little fit for food as a rat. And a familiar instance of
prejudice from ignorance carried even to insanity, is that of the Irish
in 1848, starving rather than eat the "yaller male," sent them by
generous American sympathizers; yet they come here and soon get over
that dislike. Not so the French, who look on oatmeal and Indian meal as
most unwholesome food. "_Ca pese sur l'estomac, ca creuse l'estomac_," I
heard an old Frenchwoman say, trying to dissuade a mother from giving
her children mush.

The moral of all of which is, that for our comfort's sake, and the
general good we should avoid unreasonable prejudices against unfamiliar
food. We of course have a right to our honest dislikes; but to condemn
things because we have heard them despised, is prejudice.

CHAPTER XVII.

A CHAPTER OF ODDS AND ENDS--VALEDICTORY.

I HAVE alluded, in an earlier chapter, to the fact that many
inexperienced cooks are afraid of altering recipes; a few words on this
subject may not be out of place. As a rule, a recipe should be
faithfully followed in all important points; for instance, in making
soup you cannot because you are short of the given quantity of meat, put
the same amount of water as directed for the full quantity, without
damaging your soup; but you may easily reduce water and _every other
ingredient_ in the same proportion; and, in mere matters of flavoring,
you may vary to suit circumstances. If you are told to use cloves, and
have none, a bit of mace may be substituted.

If you read a recipe, and it calls for something you have not, consider
whether that something has anything to do with the substance of the
dish, or whether it is merely an accessory for which something else can
be substituted. For instance, if you are ordered to use cream in a
sauce, milk with a larger amount of well-w