irreparable injury to their health;[58-*] and many lose
their lives before they learn their business.

To encourage the best performance of the machinery of mastication, the
cook must take care that her dinner is not only well cooked, but that
each dish be sent to table with its proper accompaniments, in the
neatest and most elegant manner.

Remember, to excite the good opinion of the _eye_ is the first step
towards awakening the _appetite_.

Decoration is much more rationally employed in rendering a wholesome,
nutritious dish inviting, than in the elaborate embellishments which are
crowded about trifles and custards.

Endeavour to avoid _over_-dressing roasts and boils, &c. and
_over_-seasoning soups and sauces with salt, pepper, &c.; it is a fault
which cannot be mended.

If your roasts, &c. are a little _under_-done, with the assistance of
the stewpan, the gridiron, or the Dutch oven, you may soon rectify the
mistake made with the spit or the pot.

If _over_-done, the best juices of the meat are evaporated; it will
serve merely to distend the stomach, and if the sensation of hunger be
removed, it is at the price of an indigestion.

The chief business of cookery is to render food easy of digestion, and
to facilitate nutrition. This is most completely accomplished by plain
cookery in perfection; i. e. neither _over_ nor _under_-done.

With all your care, you will not get much credit by cooking to
perfection, if more than _one dish goes to table at a time_.

To be eaten in perfection, the interval between meat being taken out of
the stewpan and its being put into the mouth, must be as short as
possible; but ceremony, that most formidable enemy to good cheer, too
often decrees it otherwise, and the guests seldom get a bit of an
"_entremets_" till it is half cold. (See No. 485.)

So much time is often lost in placing every thing in apple-pie order,
that long before dinner is announced, all becomes lukewarm; and to
complete the mortification of the _grand gourmand_, his meat is put on a
sheet of ice in the shape of a plate, which instantly converts the gravy
into jelly, and the fat into a something which puzzles his teeth and the
roof of his mouth as much as if he had birdlime to masticate. A complete
_meat-screen_ will answer the purpose of a _hot closet_, _plate-warmer_,
&c.--See Index.

It will save you infinite trouble and anxiety, if you can prevail on
your employers to use the "SAUCE-BOX," No. 462, herei