never gained without trouble. The
second is wholly untenable; soup, fish, vegetables, and bread, are all
less costly than heavy joints of meat; if hunger can be partly satisfied
on them, and it is true that a thick slice of bread and a bowl of soup
will content the hungriest stomach, less meat will be required, and
consequently less expense incurred. This is an excellent reason why the
housewife should not spend the bulk of her market money on a large roast
of beef, or a leg of mutton, but should rather divide the amount among
the different dishes of soup, fish, a _ragout_, or stew of some cheap
cut of meat, and a few vegetables; and now and then indulge in a plain
pudding, or a little fruit for dessert. With judicious marketing and
proper cooking, the food of our well-to-do classes might be made far
better than two-thirds of that now served on the tables of the wealthy;
and the poor might learn that their scrag-end of mutton would furnish
them with at least three dishes. To forward in some measure this result,
the present collection of COOKING SCHOOL receipts is offered to the
public, with the assurance that every one given has been tested by the
author, and is complete in every detail, as economical as care and use
can make it, and plain enough for ordinary households. The quantities
mentioned in the various receipts are calculated to serve for a family
of eight persons, when two or more dishes constitute a dinner, with the
addition of soup; of course when only one dish is to form the meal, with
bread and vegetables, a larger quantity must be allowed.

Communications from all parts of the country state that the principles
of kitchen economy as taught in the NEW YORK COOKING SCHOOL and widely
disseminated by the press, have been put into practice in many families,
to the great improvement of health and temper; for an illy fed man can
neither be strong nor cheerful; the hours spent at table should be full
of harmony and content, or the meal will fail to meet the requirements
of the body. The question of the hour is "How well can we live, if we
are moderately poor?" The author of THE COOKING SCHOOL MANUAL is doing
her best to answer it satisfactorily. She has worked earnestly in a
comparatively new field of labor, and she prays that strong hands may
unite in the effort to show how excellent a thing it is to make the best
and most of the bountiful supply our country's teeming bosom bears at
every harvest tide.

CON