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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78919 ***
+
+
+
+
+  Transcriber’s Note
+  Italic text displayed as: _italic_
+
+
+
+
+IN CAMP AND KITCHEN
+
+
+
+
+_Uniform with “In Camp and Kitchen.”_
+
+SOYER’S PAPER BAG COOKERY,
+
+By NICOLAS SOYER.
+
+F’cap. 8vo cloth, 1/-net. Third large edition.
+
+
+Paper Bag Cookery is handy, easy and economical, and hundreds of
+thousands of people have adopted it permanently.
+
+
+LONDON: ANDREW MELROSE.
+
+
+
+
+  IN CAMP AND
+  KITCHEN
+
+  A Handy Guide for Emigrants
+  and Settlers
+
+  BY THE AUTHOR OF
+  “THE SUCCESSFUL HOME COOK,” ETC.
+
+
+  LONDON: ANDREW MELROSE
+  3, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C.
+
+  1912
+
+    He must go—go—go away from here,
+      On the other side the world he’s overdue;
+    Send your road is clear before you
+                          When the old
+      Spring-fret comes o’er you,
+      And the Red Gods call for you!
+
+  _The Feet of the Young Men._—KIPLING.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+One who has had much to do with outgoing colonists and knows a great
+deal about their wants and difficulties, has summed up in a couple of
+terse sentences their primary needs. These are, he says—
+
+Things to Take: Time, Patience, Money.
+
+Things to Leave: Hurry, Worry, Doubt.
+
+The summary is an excellent one. It covers all the necessary ground;
+it is capable of infinite enlargement as to meaning, and at the same
+time it packs away into the smallest possible compass all that the
+traveller, the pioneer or future citizen can require. It is, in fact,
+a complete manual in itself, and all that we do here is to interpret
+it in fuller detail, and we do this in order to save the time, the
+patience and the money of those who perhaps have little of either to
+spare.
+
+Much has been written about the romance of colonization, and stories
+of pioneering experiences are of thrilling interest—when read at home.
+It is difficult to see the romance, as it is difficult to experience
+the thrills when actually undergoing the hardships and battling with
+the difficulties on the spot. What really helps, then, is not the
+ability to see the romance or the picturesqueness of the situation,
+but the ability to see the humorous side of things. A sense of humour
+saves many a situation, and to be able to laugh in the face of hunger
+and hardship, because it brings goodwill to bear on the subject, does
+wonders in the way of smoothing down the rough side both of men and
+things.
+
+One of the daily trials will be the imperative need of getting meals
+ready. Those three meals a day are perpetually hindering other work,
+taking up much time and thought, and involving much carrying about of
+tools and materials. Yet they cannot be done without, and are not to be
+despised or treated with indifference. In fact, from the health point
+of view they are of more consequence than making progress in other
+ways, for without health and strength the colonist is of no good at all.
+
+Those who set out with the idea of “roughing it” are very apt, in their
+early enthusiasm, to think lightly about the food question, but when
+they find themselves thrown on their own resources, obliged to use
+their own initiative in everything, it is wonderful how important a
+matter cookery becomes, and how much is made of a little knowledge or
+skill in this direction.
+
+“Can you tell me of a simple cookery-book to send out to my boy in
+Canada?” a lady asked us one day. “He says he finds meals are so much
+more important than he ever imagined they were, and he wants to know
+how to do so many things.”
+
+It is the simple book we have tried to write, one that the average
+young man—or young woman—will have the time and patience to read and
+the money to buy. It may not tell all that they will want to know, but
+at least it will tell them enough to make for comfort, economy and
+health, and we trust that all useless and needless technicalities have
+been avoided. The great Food question comes first, and has received
+the bulk of attention, as it should do, but there are a few useful
+suggestions further on which may help to make the difficult way easier.
+It is not possible to meet the wants of all types of settlers, for some
+go to pioneer work and others go to live under advanced conditions—more
+advanced, in fact, than they leave behind them in the old country;
+nevertheless, all must take with them a certain amount of time,
+patience and money, and all must leave behind hurry, worry and doubt,
+while all, wherever they are, will find, we think, some use for our
+Handy Guide.
+
+  L. H. Y.
+
+LONDON, 1912
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                               PAGE
+
+  INTRODUCTION                                                    7
+
+     I COOKING IN THE OPEN: ELEMENTARY COOKING APPARATUS         13
+
+    II THE LOG-HUT OR CAMP KITCHEN                               24
+
+   III DEALING WITH THE STORES: WATER, REFUSE, WASTE, ETC.       34
+
+    IV THE STAFF OF LIFE: BREAD; YEASTS, QUICK BREAD, ETC.       50
+
+     V THE DAY’S FOOD AND WORK: FOOD REQUIRED, INITIAL
+        PREPARATIONS                                             61
+
+    VI COOKING OF FISH, MEAT, AND VEGETABLES, THE “REASON WHY,”
+        ETC.                                                     78
+
+   VII SIMPLIFIED COOKERY RECIPES                                90
+
+  VIII PRACTICAL HINTS FOR THE HANDY MAN                        118
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+COOKING IN THE OPEN: AND ELEMENTARY COOKING APPARATUS
+
+
+The ideal colonist is he who is able to turn his hand to anything and
+to supply a table although having practically nothing in the way of
+cooking utensils. Necessity will teach him how to use his ingenuity in
+building and manufacturing contrivances of his own, and it is to such a
+handy man that we offer the following suggestions.
+
+A kettle, a “billy” and a frying-pan may seem a quite sufficient
+kitchen equipment at first, but some means of baking will soon seem
+necessary. Bread, for instance, or whatever takes the place of bread,
+is so much more satisfactory when baked. Hence it is worth while to
+spend a little time in building up a fireplace in which heat can
+be retained for some considerable time. Much must depend upon the
+kind of fuel that can be obtained, but mostly this will be wood, or
+charcoal made from wood, or the dried droppings of cattle, when coal is
+unprocurable.
+
+The most elementary type of fireplace for boiling purposes is made by
+gathering together large stones of even size, and to form a square with
+them, opening at one side, and of course open at the top. The size of
+this top opening is regulated by the size of the kettle or pan that is
+set over it. Place the stones with as much regularity as possible, and
+fill in the spaces between with clay or earth. If the soil is clay and
+stones are not to be had, form a fireplace with the clay itself in such
+a way as to have four walls with opening at the side and at top. Make a
+small fire first in the firehole with the driest grass and twigs, then
+feed it with small pieces of wood, and when it is burning well fill up
+with wood and dried grass and any fuel you have, packing it lightly but
+closely. It is possible to build a fire that will be bright and quick
+for boiling, or one that will burn steadily for hours, for stewing or
+baking purposes. With practice a good deal of skill is acquired, and
+the more the fireplace is used, the better will it serve its purpose.
+When new it is slower in getting to work on account of damp, but will
+burn quite quickly when hard and dry through. To dry the fuel that is
+going to be used is a great economy of time, and can be done when the
+fire itself has gone out. Keep the firehole clear and free from ashes.
+
+An oven can be made to stand on top of this fireplace by coating a
+large biscuit-tin with clay and baking it. A little ingenuity will
+devise a door for this oven, and it will be found to answer quite well
+for baking bread and cooking a pudding or for making a slow stew.
+
+In building a fire in the open take notice as to the way the wind blows
+and take advantage of it as much as possible, as it will help or hinder
+the fire from burning. Sometimes a screen of stones built up on the
+windward side will help matters considerably.
+
+A small pair of bellows should be included in the colonist’s outfit,
+as well as a small pair of tongs, for any fire will burn the better
+for a little coaxing with the bellows first, and pieces of wood can be
+more skilfully arranged with the help of tongs than without them. Then
+whenever any sawdust is met with it should be carefully collected and
+mixed with oil or paraffin into little cakes, to make quick and easy
+firelighters.
+
+An open bonfire, with tripod of three sticks or iron supports, may
+be all that it is possible to get together for the quick boiling of
+saucepan or kettle, but the results can never be so good as when a
+built up fireplace is made. On the other hand, a good bonfire leaving a
+thick bed of burnt ashes and embers is sometimes the best contrivance
+for roasting large pieces of meat, birds, and so on. Suppose it is
+desired to cook a whole large fish, a rabbit, fowl or other troublesome
+creature (troublesome because of the plucking and drawing, skinning,
+etc., that it seems to require), all trouble is saved by making a
+covering of wet clay well pressed down as a thick coating over the
+fish, bird or animal, after having let out the blood, making it into
+a sort of ball of clay. Bury this ball in the hot ashes and embers,
+heaping them over it. In about an hour or rather more, the ball can be
+broken open and feathers, fur or scales will be found to have stuck to
+the clay, leaving the flesh perfectly baked and juicy, and the entrails
+will have dried up inside.
+
+Suppose a big roast of meat is wanted—a half-side of a sheep or pig.
+The outer skin has, of course, been taken from the meat in this case
+and all internals too. Make a rather deep circle on the ground, paving
+it with flat stones, or beat the clay very flat and hard. Build a
+big fire on this and let it burn right through, then sweep aside all
+embers and ashes, brushing the stones or clay clean, lay down the meat
+and cover it first with a thick layer of leaves, then pile over it
+the embers, some brushwood, and finally more clay until it is closely
+covered and none of the heat can escape. Leave for two or three hours;
+uncover, and clear off all ashes, and the meat should be found well
+baked through. In a similar way bread can be cooked on hot stones,
+using only a thick layer of leaves and ashes for covering.
+
+A little experience will make any one quite skilful in the use of
+the most unpromising materials, and if compelled to do it a man can
+generally produce a quite appetising meal with nothing but a clay
+fireplace and a few old meat tins. The total absence of what Americans
+call “fixings”—the little additions which the ordinary cook at home
+considers indispensable—need not, and will not deter the camp cook
+from making savoury meals, but as circumstances alter cases very
+considerably, it is possible only to make suggestions here, which each
+one must adapt or improve upon to suit himself. When hungry men are
+craving to be fed the absence of seasoning or condiments is not missed,
+but good baking, frying or boiling has to be accomplished somehow.
+
+Where the camp is a more or less permanent one or the preliminary
+to a settlement and house-building, there may be a number of people
+to cook for, and hence it is worth while making some form of Trench
+Kitchen. For this, dig a trench about three feet deep and four or five
+feet wide, and at right angles form a series of narrow trenches close
+together. Arch over these with stones and turf and make hollows in the
+top of the ridges to hold saucepans and kettles. A hole for the firing
+is made at the end of each ridge, the smoke from which passes along the
+side trenches that are arched over and is drawn up a “chimney” that
+is set up in the middle of the cross trough at the further end which
+connects all the trenches. To create a good draught a long tin funnel
+helps to make this chimney. If there is any likelihood of the trench
+kitchen becoming flooded out by rains it can be tented over. A series
+of “ranges” is created by forming ridges in this way so that boiling
+and stewing, frying and grilling can all be going on at the same time.
+All the same, the need of an oven for baking will be felt, and while
+small ovens for placing over a firehole can be made out of biscuit
+tins as before mentioned, a large one can be built out of stones and
+clay, or with the help of an iron-hooped barrel, in this wise: cover
+the barrel with clay or turf and stones, well wetted and beaten down
+over it, and give it time to solidify, then build a fire inside the
+barrel. The wood will burn away, leaving the iron hoops as supports. If
+the covering is sufficiently thick, such an oven is quickly heated and
+retains its heat quite a long time, the fire being built inside it and
+swept out when burnt through. Insert a piece of piping in the middle
+of the top of this barrel-oven to act as a vent for the smoke. Arrange
+a door with a piece of sheet iron sufficiently large to cover up the
+opening; it need not, of course, be put on hinges, as stones will help
+to keep it in position. Food that is put into this oven to cook, after
+the oven has been heated and swept out, should be enclosed in a bag of
+paper if not already in a dish. A little practice will enable any one
+to judge how long the heat may be relied upon to last, and how long
+time must be allowed for the cooking in paper or in a dish.
+
+Food that is already cooked can be kept hot for hours by following
+the Thermos principle. This is the principle of storing up heat, but
+not of generating it. Anything that is already hot can be kept hot,
+and anything already cold can be kept cold. In a Thermos flask there
+is a vacuum between two surfaces which is a non-conductor preventing
+the escape of heat, likewise in the Thermos jar, and whatever is put
+in at a certain temperature retains that temperature for a very long
+time without alteration. While it is hardly possible for the pioneering
+colonist to make a good Thermos flask or jar, he can carry out the
+same principle of storing heat in other ways. The Hay-box Oven is a
+primitive construction, perhaps, but it answers extremely well and
+costs very little to make. What is wanted is a strong wooden box with
+well-fitting lid—a thick box and one that is large enough to take a
+thick layer of hay or sawdust at the bottom as well as all round the
+jar put inside the box. Cook over the fire the soup, stew, pudding or
+whatever it may be, and when sufficiently cooked and whilst boiling
+hot, lift the jar or pan off the fire and set it in the middle of the
+Hay-box Oven. Pack hay and sawdust closely round it, filling up all
+spaces, then over the top as well and put on the box cover, then a
+piece of blanket folded, or a rug. You may go away for hours, all the
+day or night, if you like, and come back to find your soup or stew
+perfectly cooked and thoroughly hot.
+
+A hole in the ground, lined with hay and sawdust, will answer the same
+purpose, if care is taken to cover the place very thickly to allow no
+escape of heat. The advantage of the box is that it is portable and can
+be used anywhere.
+
+The Biscuit-tin Oven has the advantage over the Hay-box Oven in that
+it can be used for actual cooking by placing it over the firehole and
+keeping a fire burning underneath it. But unless the biscuit-tin is
+covered with clay made hard the solder is very apt to melt and cause
+the oven to give way when exposed to great heat. The same objection
+arises with regard to the use of empty fruit and meat cans as cooking
+pots. On the other hand, stone jam jars are valuable, and make
+excellent stew-jars; especially useful are they for holding anything
+that is to go into the Hay-box Oven to be kept hot for hours.
+
+Where there are no saucepans and no jars to use, nothing but the open
+fire and a billy, it is an improvement to have two of these billies
+and to set one inside the other with water between. The “billy,” be it
+understood, is nothing more than a tin can with handle slung across it,
+but there are improved forms of it, such, for instance, as the cans
+which navvies use to carry their coffee or soup when going to work,
+and some of these are made in enamelled ware, with close-fitting lid.
+If one of these better cans were to be placed inside a rougher one of
+tin, the outer one would get all the smoking and hard usage, while the
+better one would be clean enough to set on the table when required.
+If a little hook is made in the wire of the handle it will prevent
+slipping when the billy is suspended over the fire.
+
+The principle of this kind of cookery—what a colonist would doubtless
+dub “glue-pot cookery”—is sound, and it is copied by many inventors of
+more elaborate things which, in spite of their elaboration, however,
+cook none the better in reality than two cans one inside the other.
+The Warrener, for instance, which is much liked by camp cooks and
+travellers, is in principle but a glorified glue-pot. What is really
+better than the Warrener is the Hutchings steamer, which is a kind
+of conjuror’s cabinet, having a tier of compartments or pans one
+fitting above the other, each one being a sort of steamer, the bottom
+one holding the water. This is guaranteed by its maker to cook as
+perfectly on the “top floor as in the basement,” and one or more of the
+compartments can be used without the other, while a whole dinner may be
+cooked at the same time with nothing but the one pan. These Hutchings
+steamers are likewise fairly cheap, and can be procured at the large
+ironmongery stores anywhere in London.
+
+Still another of these “glorified glue-pots,” if we may be pardoned
+for using the term, is the Welbank Boilerette, the Cooker that Looks
+After Itself, as its advertisement declares. This is much less
+expensive than the Warrener, and can be had in several sizes. It
+cooks everything—whether porridge, soups, stews, joints, fowls or
+vegetables—in their own juices, and so preserves the fullest flavours
+and makes tenderness certain. Like the Warrener, it must be used in
+conjunction with some sort of stove or fireplace, not on the hearth or
+open fire.
+
+The frying-pan is another article which must be classed among
+elementary cooking appliances, for it is almost indispensable for the
+quick preparation of a meal. It is well to take two frying-pans, one of
+black iron for quick frying of fish or meat, the other of enamelled
+iron for cooking eggs and making damper. The iron one will not often
+need washing if it is well rubbed with paper after each time of using,
+but the other one will want washing with soap and perhaps a little sand
+or ashes to keep it white and smooth.
+
+Some travellers argue that bread as well as meat can be roasted on a
+spit—no doubt meaning that the spit can be run through the middle of
+a piece of dough, and by careful watching and turning the bread cooks
+all over. But a spit is not difficult to make, only in cutting them
+from wood care must be taken not to use poison woods; take the straight
+branches of trees that are well known and familiar. Wild shrubs
+and wild vegetables should be looked upon with distrust; a few are
+harmless, but many are not. It would be better to make the spit with
+an iron or wire rod, setting it in supports at either end, if at all
+possible to do so. The fire must have burnt clear red before attempting
+to roast anything on a spit, otherwise smoke will spoil the flavour of
+the food.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE LOG-HUT OR CAMP KITCHEN
+
+
+Some men possess considerable natural aptitude in cooking, and any
+skill of this kind will serve them in good stead when they become
+colonists, and where there is not natural aptitude it is well worth
+while acquiring a little knowledge by dint of study. Supposing all
+other kinds of employment fail, a cook’s job is generally to be got and
+no one grudges his wages. A little story may be cited which bears out
+the truth of this. The son of an army chaplain and a public school-boy,
+decided to go out to the Colonies, and before doing so took a course
+of lessons in land surveying. He went out to a large farm and at
+first did fairly well, but then he fell on evil times, and having no
+capital was soon on his beam ends. A chum of his who came across him
+remembered certain school study feasts, and as he was himself a kind of
+sub-contractor in a lumber camp, offered his friend the post of camp
+cook for a hundred or more men, at good wages. The offer was promptly
+accepted. The new cook, who was a smart lad, soon had everything well
+organized and in apple-pie order. He pleased the men mightily and could
+always rely on their help for the harder tasks of chopping firewood,
+washing-up, and so on. Soon he acquired a real liking for his job
+and got through his work quickly and easily. When the second season
+came round he again enlisted as camp cook, but this time, having some
+capital, he went into partnership with his friend the sub-contractor.
+The two prospered. They sub-contracted for the woodwork to be done on
+one of the railways then being built, and the “cook’s” knowledge of
+mathematics and surveying then came in useful. In a few years’ time he
+blossomed out as a railway engineer with an important post, big salary,
+house, servants and horses. Of course he had his mathematics and his
+land surveying to help him. Still it was his wage-commanding knowledge
+of cookery that had set him on his feet, and on the road to fortune.
+
+Most open-air cooks have to make the best they can out of the
+situation, for the site of a camp is not usually settled with much
+regard for their convenience. If there is good water within reasonable
+distance that is much to be thankful for. The planning out of the
+kitchen will depend chiefly upon circumstances; where there are only
+two or three to be catered for it is not a difficult matter, but where
+a dozen or more men want at least two meals a day, it is a matter
+requiring some contrivance and organization.
+
+Choose a position as much protected from wind as possible for the camp
+kitchen, and have it separate from the rest of the camp. Where rocks
+or boulders can be made use of take them into service, but build a
+furnace, (one or more), with stones, of a size convenient to hold pans
+and cauldrons, and make a table also.
+
+If a circular form is taken for the furnace it can be partly domed
+over, which enables more draught and a greater degree of heat to be
+obtained. Where a good deal has to be turned out of the kitchen it is
+a good plan to have a row of furnaces and build a chimney to connect
+with them, making the walls thick at bottom and narrow at the top. The
+chimney should come immediately behind the furnaces with a hollow base
+three feet square, gradually narrowing up to a height of six feet or
+more. A hole or flue of stones welded together with clay should connect
+each furnace with the chimney. If the whole battery is built in one
+block flues are easy to shape, and a splendid heat should be obtained
+from the stoves.
+
+Where a log cabin or stone hut is being built the greatest care should
+be given to the erection of the fireplaces for cooking purposes, as the
+comfort and likewise the safety of the whole construction will depend
+on this part being secure and sound. The more good masonry work is put
+into the fireplaces the greater and more economical will be the amount
+of heat obtained from the fuel that is consumed. Thick, well-made walls
+prevent the escape of heat.
+
+For the hearth and base of furnaces and chimney use as large stones
+as can possibly be found, the flatter the better. If the large stones
+require much levelling take smaller ones in preference and fit them
+together as evenly as can be with sand and clay. Excellent fireplaces
+can be built with stones and mud, but a little cement is of course much
+better for binding together the stones. Build the fireplace in the
+middle of the wall at the end of the hut, or across one corner. Make
+the hearth a little higher than the floor level. Sacrifice a little
+space, if need be, to have the fireplace inside the hut, and not, as
+is too often done, outside as a separate projection. Level the hearth,
+cover with a thin bed of cement or mortar or wet clay, and place
+thereon the largest and flattest stones, making the level as straight
+as you can. Now build round this hearth thick walls, starting them in a
+trench dug at least eighteen inches below the level of the ground. The
+walls should surround the hearth on three sides, leaving a part of the
+side facing into the hut open. Carry them up to about two or three feet
+high and gradually narrow them to bring the top nearer towards a dome
+shape. A good builder will then carry his furnace up in chimney shape
+right out through the roof of the hut, but if stones fail then the rest
+of the chimney can be a zinc or tin pipe. Experts, who are able to use
+mortar, will give the chimney a bend to right or left which prevents
+too strong a downward draught, or the fire from being put out by rain.
+
+With a hearth such as this it is well to place upstanding supports
+about the middle, such as a pan or kettle could be rested upon; this
+helps in the cooking very much, and prevents any spilling when the fire
+burns down. With an open hearth with thick-walled sides, such as this,
+much can be done, but it is well worth while going to the trouble of
+building a furnace oven, as before described, in addition.
+
+
+Additional Portable Appliances
+
+Only in very remote districts indeed would any one be limited to such
+rough fireplaces as these. Fuel of some other kind, such as oil, would
+assuredly be procurable to some extent, and a portable oil stove would
+take the place of the gas ring and gas appliances in town houses. The
+outgoing colonist would not be ill-advised to take with him a portable
+oil stove of some make, and when doing so he might as well choose one
+that will do more than merely boil a kettle. A small-sized Rippingill,
+with one tank can, when required, cook a full-sized dinner and will
+burn no more oil than a simple boiling stove. When buying such a
+stove buy a can for holding oil, a filler, and an extra wick or two,
+and carry something wherewith to clean the stove and keep it in good
+condition, then wherever oil is procurable the little stove can be
+brought into use and prove of endless comfort. There may be occasions
+when the stove must be packed away and resort be had to the rougher and
+more primitive methods of the clay fireplace or the tripod in the open,
+but the stove would in that case take no harm and come out smiling when
+opportunity favours it again.
+
+The same remark applies to the spirit lamp or traveller’s Etna; though
+methylated spirit is more difficult to procure than is kerosene or
+paraffin oil. Still there are occasions when travelling or when camping
+in a tent, or making a journey by boat, when a portable spirit stove or
+lamp is of great service, or in sickness.
+
+
+Electric Cooking Apparatus
+
+One must bear in mind that all Colonists are not going out as pioneers,
+but that many will be setting up new homes in districts where in
+certain matters conditions of living will be even more advanced than
+they are in the old country. For instance, in parts of South Africa,
+the Transvaal, and the Cape, electric power is fast coming into common
+use, while gas is not used at all and coal is scarce and expensive.
+In such cases, electric lighting will be found general in quite small
+townships and in quite small houses, and therefore the electric cooking
+stove will become, not a luxury such as we in England would deem it,
+but a necessity.
+
+Having ascertained how far electric power is in use in the district
+to which the colonist is going, and also how it is supplied and how
+available, it is possible then to consider the advisability of taking
+out a portable electric stove, such, for instance, as can be connected
+up with an ordinary light in any room. A portable stove of this kind,
+about twelve inches square, which is a combined Grill and Water Boiler,
+can be had for 35_s._ complete, with flexible wiring for connecting
+up. Its consumption is about 750 watts of electric energy per hour or
+about three-fourths of a unit—the cost of course depending on the price
+charged per unit in the district. In any case, this is a little stove
+that at a cost of approximately a penny will produce a full meal with
+tea, coffee or soup, a grilled steak or chop and toast in something
+less than half an hour. It is so small and so capable, that, whether
+sure of finding electric power or not, the outgoing colonist would add
+little to his expenses and less to his luggage by taking one on the
+chance of finding it useful.
+
+But when certain of electric power and when going out to establish
+a home forthwith, in a district where electricity is in common use,
+certain fittings and assuredly a cooking stove, should be taken
+without hesitation. There are some to be got out there no doubt, but
+they are cheaper here, and also there is more variety to choose from.
+Several types of electric ovens are now on the market; the price of
+them varies according to size and capacity. One that is strongly to be
+recommended for wear and capability, for family use in a small kitchen,
+is the “X.L.” It stands 36 inches high; it is 24 inches in width,
+and weighs 130 pounds. It is a thoroughly good and strong stove and
+can be installed wherever electric current is obtainable. One of its
+commendable points is its perfect freedom from dust or smoke, another
+is that each of its compartments can be used independently of the
+others, being controlled by separate switches. There is also a minimum
+and a medium switch, and when both are put on together the maximum
+degree of heat is obtained. The oven is large enough to hold a joint
+and pastry or bread, while the grill, the hot-plate and plate-warmer
+can be used or shut off, as desired. The price of this complete is £18
+10_s._ f.o.b. at any English port. These “X.L.” stoves are manufactured
+by O. G. Hawkes, Ltd., at Globe Works, Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham.
+
+Smaller and less expensive is the “Tricity” range and outfit supplied
+by the Berry Construction Company, 29a, Charing Cross Road, whose
+wholesale agents are Messrs. Gillespie & Beales, Amberley House,
+Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C. The Tricity Cookers are listed for
+Direct or Alternating Current Circuits of not less than 100 voltage.
+In addition to the oven and hot-plate, either of which can be used
+independently of the other, the outfit comprises an extension cooker
+which gives another boiling ring, and the whole equipment of utensils
+consists of thirteen articles, comprising a complete apparatus. The
+full list with stove and extension cooker costs £12 10_s._, but the
+oven and hot-plate alone is four guineas. Ordinary tin kettles and
+saucepans will answer, but the outfit is purchasable in parts and may
+consist of as few articles as any one wishes to take.
+
+That fine explorer, Boyd Alexander Smith, and in fact all experienced
+travellers, speak of the value of having a mincing machine at hand. It
+comes in useful for so many purposes, making tender and digestible
+meat that is often too tough to use in any other way. It assists in
+making savoury dishes out of remnants, will grind down the stale
+crusts, and save much trouble in many ways. A good mincing machine can
+be got for 12_s._ 6_d._, but one that has adjustable parts, making it
+useful for cutting up vegetables and beans, is a little more in price.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+DEALING WITH STORES, ETC.
+
+  Purification of Water—Storage of Water—Disposal of Refuse and
+  Waste—Keeping Food Stores—A Curing House—An Ice House, etc.
+
+
+The importance of having a supply of water can hardly be
+over-estimated. A township depends upon it, and a log-hut or cabin must
+be pitched as near to a water supply as is possible, while no journey
+of any length can be undertaken unless water is carried or obtained at
+fairly frequent intervals, and this whether the climate is hot or cold.
+Some ready means of purifying water that is abundant yet of doubtful
+quality is likewise essential, also some means of catching the rainfall
+as it occurs. Then we must consider the storage of water in camps and
+locations not intended to be permanent ones. On all these points it is
+desirable to be ready with knowledge and resourcefulness.
+
+Experienced travellers like the late Sir Francis Galton, W. B. Lord
+and Thos. Baines all speak of ways of filtering water and of making it
+fit for human consumption, writing at a time when the portable filter
+was almost unknown. Still if a portable filter saves much trouble it
+is also heavy to carry about, and rougher and readier forms must
+sometimes be resorted to. An excellent filter for camp use is described
+by the two writers last named. They say—
+
+Take a wooden box or barrel, long and deep. Bore a number of holes in
+the bottom and then fasten inside it a bag made with a folded piece
+of blanket. At the bottom place a layer of grass, moss or twigs, then
+a layer of sand, then fresh layer of moss, and so on until the barrel
+is half-filled. Make a cover which will fit well inside the barrel
+like a second bottom; press it down and weight it to keep it from
+rising. Half-sink this barrel in a pond or stream, and the water which
+will gradually filter up to the upper compartment can then be baled
+out clean and clear. If it needs purifying still further after this
+clearing, boil it with a pinch of alum, and then expose it again to the
+air. Alum has a chemical effect on organic matter, and a small handful
+of it will purify a whole hogshead of water.
+
+This arrangement of cask or barrel can be carried out by fitting a
+smaller cask inside a larger one, the smaller being perforated with
+holes, and the space between it and the larger one filled with stones
+and sand, then the double cask can be sunk in the pond. These rough and
+ready filters are very useful where a collection of water is found
+in hollow places, the drainage from streams and after a rainfall, the
+quality of which may be doubtful or too muddy for drinking purposes. If
+water is merely thick, not putrid, it can be filtered through a cloth.
+But where it is putrid, and is yet the only water available, it should
+be first boiled, then mixed up with crushed charcoal and allowed to
+settle again exposed to sun and air. Alum is a purifier and charcoal
+is a disinfectant. There is no other way of using salt water than by
+distilling it.
+
+How to store water, in places where it is difficult to keep any supply,
+is another matter. Every drop of rain water is of value, and should
+be caught, as far as possible by means of piping from the roofs of
+sheds, ending in barrels, but this source of supply can be increased by
+suspending blankets or canvas sails by the four corners between trees,
+weighting them with stones in the middle to make the water run towards
+the centre, and placing underneath this a barrel or bucket. Dew water
+brushed off leaves and grass into basins in the early morning will
+yield a great deal more than might be imagined, and in dry climates
+there is often a heavy fall of dew before sunrise.
+
+A precaution which old travellers take to prevent thirst is to keep
+the outer clothing damp and a wet cloth folded round the throat. Where
+water is not fit for drinking it still can be used to moisten clothing,
+and this little precaution prevents evaporation from the skin.
+
+As an indication where water may be found in strange districts, Galton
+advises watching the flight of birds. Converging flights of birds
+are usually safe guides, especially towards evening. Dogs also have
+an instinct for discovering water, but cattle are less trustworthy,
+as their tracks may often lead from rather than towards water. When
+digging for water, in default of spades, a hole can be made with a
+sharp-pointed stick, holding it upright and stirring it round, scraping
+out the loosened earth with the hands. Where soil or sand is found
+moist lower down, water will generally collect when a hollow is made
+for it. The native bushmen keep their holes open by a rough contrivance
+of twigs tied together and converging to a point.
+
+When carrying water in pails from a spring or well, place a thick
+wreath of grass or leaves round the edge of the pail to prevent
+spilling. Leaves floating on the top will also help to keep the water
+in. Where water has to be carried for a journey, over the shoulder or
+from a saddle, nothing is better than leather bags, or skin bags answer
+the purpose well. Stone jars are heavy and unsatisfactory.
+
+The water supply for a district of isolated homesteads or camps is
+sometimes a difficult matter to arrange where there is no spring
+or river near enough. Some form of co-operation in the matter of
+well-sinking is very desirable, and the wells should be concreted and
+protected in the common interest. Well boring is beyond our scope and
+cannot be gone into here, as it requires some engineering knowledge and
+skill, but it may doubtless come into the day’s work at some time or
+other. Making a cistern for rain water is, however, another matter, one
+for the individual camper or hut-dweller to attend to, and therefore
+we may here give Dr. George Vivian Poore’s clever adaptation of the
+old Venetian system, as cited by the editor of an admirable work on
+_Small Estate Management_, by A. C. Freeman, a useful book published by
+Rebman & Co., 129, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W.C., which will give
+invaluable help to those laying out homesteads.
+
+“His cistern, which received rain from the roof of a four-roomed
+bungalow cottage (giving about 1,100 feet square of surface), was
+circular, partly sunk in the ground, and built of concrete. The
+dimensions were: internal diameter 7 feet, depth 10 feet. It was
+divided into two compartments by a cement diaphragm, perforated at the
+bottom by agricultural drain-pipes. Both sections contained a filter
+bed, consisting of 1 foot of sand, 1 foot of fine gravel, and a top
+layer of coarse gravel, also one foot thick. The water on draining off
+the roofs into the gutters passed through a double strainer and then
+entered at the top of the first section of the cistern, being filtered
+downwards, and then filtered upwards as it rose in the second half,
+which was provided with a pump having a copper suction pipe (lead and
+ironing being of course inadvisable where soft, solvent rain water is
+concerned). A good cover protected the top. The storage capacity of
+this cistern was 1,600 gallons, or forty gallons a day for a drought of
+six weeks. Although the cottage was near a small town the water proved
+of excellent quality, pure, chemically and bacteriologically, and used
+for all purposes, and appreciated by a family in spite of its having
+a slightly yellow caste and a faint smell. An undoubted improvement
+would be to use as a substitute for the strainer an automatic tilting
+separator, which divests the first few gallons (the washing shower)
+from the reservoir. Such water is perfectly fitted for all domestic
+purposes, but the supply from an ordinary cottage roof may not be
+adequate for a household. In such a case a surface well may be sunk
+to provide water for washing, bathing, live stock watering, etc. Such
+wells should be sunk about 10 to 12 feet deep, the upper 8 or 10 feet
+being lined with impervious material (concrete with smooth cement
+surface) covered over. In this way the water can only rise from the
+bottom, and if the land is being well cultivated the ground water is
+sure to be pure. Dr. Poore had a shallow well, only 5 feet 6 inches
+deep, in his highly cultivated garden, the sides lined with concrete
+pipes protected by 4 inches of concrete right to the bottom. This well
+generally contained 3 feet 6 inches of water (about ninety gallons),
+yet it was chemically and bacteriologically pure and quite potable.”
+
+It may be useful to those who are making a dwelling within a township
+if we quote further the author’s words about water carried from main
+pipes. He says—
+
+“Where water is obtained through mains it is well to make some
+provision against the effects of frost. In Canada the general practice
+is to carry the supply pipe into the house below the frost level, into
+a sunken earthenware box, open at the bottom and resting on a drainage
+pit filled with sand or breeze. The tap proper is placed within this
+box, and rising from this to the sink level are two pipes, one within
+the other, the outer one being a tap spindle, the inner the actual
+water pipe. At the base of this pipe is a vent-hole. When the tap
+spindle is turned on the water rises and flows out; when turned off the
+vent-hole is opened and at once drains the standpipe, so that freezing
+is impossible. A somewhat easier method is to bring the pipe through a
+small closed copper vessel placed just at the entrance of the pipe into
+the house. When there is any sign of hard frost it is merely necessary
+to place a small flamed lamp beneath the copper vessel to prevent any
+possibility of freezing. It is inexpensive, saves much inconvenience,
+and also loss arising from damage done by bursts.”
+
+Having made what suggestions we can to help the colonist in the matter
+of securing and storing a water supply, we must now consider that other
+important item, the disposal of waste water and other refuse. It is
+amazing what an amount of refuse matter and waste water accumulates
+from day to day in a camp or quite small settlement. The ground is
+the one safe and sure receptacle for all waste matter, even kitchen
+waste where there are no fowls or pigs to consume the scraps. But all
+vegetable refuse and bones should be burned before returning it to the
+soil, hence a scrap heap can be made and set fire to once a week, the
+whole of it when raked out being dug into the soil again. Ashes from
+fires should be put into a box and kept for use in the earth closet,
+the waste matter from the latter being dug into a field or garden, not
+into a pit, and it should not be too far below the surface. Dry soil
+does quite as well as ashes for sprinkling into the closet pail, and
+this dug into the earth again at short intervals is the most sanitary
+and easy way of disposing of this waste. If the precaution of using
+plenty of dry earth is used no flies will gather about the organic
+matter, nor will any smells be noticeable.
+
+Waste water from baths and from kitchen washing-up is valuable wherever
+bush fruit is grown, and can always be poured round trees, or round
+young plants in a garden plot. The main point in disposing of all
+refuse is to restore as much as possible to the land. Where this is
+done carefully and with discrimination the ground benefits and nothing
+offensive is left to annoy by sight or smell. The secret of successful
+French and Dutch gardening is this careful digging in of all refuse
+matter, vegetable and other, and not in the applying of expensive
+guanos and manures. The authority quoted above has a good deal to say
+on this matter of returning refuse matter to the soil. To quote him
+again—
+
+“The splendid productive soils of the Dutch, French and Italian gardens
+are the result of many years of careful cultivation, a system whereby
+the soil is continually being enriched with what we are pleased to call
+‘Waste’ material. Therefore for both hygienic and practical gardening
+reasons, the earth closet system is to be advocated. While on the
+question of soil enrichment we would point out that those who cultivate
+small holdings, allotments and gardens should be taught to return as
+much to the soil as possible. All greenstuff, trimmings, leaves and
+so on, should either be dug in or placed to ripen in a compost pit
+and used as fertilizer when digging over the land. Sticks and wood
+should be burned and the ashes added to the pit because rotting wood
+in the soil attracts insects and so must be avoided. Such enrichment
+is valuable in any situation, but will be found to work marvels in
+lightening heavy clays and in bringing fertility to poor, porous soils.
+In our experience the most productive gardens have been those with
+‘made soils’ which have been enriched for generations. Dr. Poore’s
+experimental garden, dressed regularly with dry closet-soil, brought
+in over £56 per acre, the crops being ordinary orchard and bush fruit,
+asparagus, potatoes, green stuff and flower all grown in the open, no
+glass being used and very little labour available.”
+
+And now we must pass on to the keeping of stores—of stores of
+vegetables and dry goods and things in constant requisition for the
+kitchen.
+
+It is easy to make a series of store closets with deep boxes that are
+lined with zinc, turning the tops to face outwards, fitting in shelves
+if required, and then making a door to fit. These boxes can be piled
+one over the other, all facing the same way, and a curtain can cover
+them all if they are in any way unsightly. Dry goods and groceries
+generally require keeping in a temperate place, therefore these and
+linen and clothing can fill this series of damp-proof boxes. But when
+it is a question of storing fresh vegetables and fruit, potatoes,
+dried meat, dairy stuff, liquors and so on, an outside storehouse is
+imperative, also in hot weather all food must go into some cool place
+to keep it from insects and the atmosphere.
+
+It is a comparatively easy matter to dig out a pit some feet away
+from any tent or building, to dig it out of the earth in a shaded and
+protected spot, and then to brick the sides and build them up to a
+sufficient height above so as to make the whole depth of the sunk pit
+some eight or ten feet. Roof over the top of the pit with corrugated
+iron, and if there is heat or frost to fear make a thatch over this.
+Make one or two steps down into the pit and arrange also some shelves
+as seems convenient. If such a storeroom rises but a little way above
+ground and is protected at the top, it will be found to be of even
+temperature all the year round, admitting neither frost nor heat. It
+should be ventilated by perforating holes round the roof, but need not
+have light admitted except by the door. Failing the possibility of
+digging out and building such a storeroom, remember that pits in the
+ground lined with a collection of leaves or dry twigs and well covered
+over with earth and more branches, make excellent keeping places for
+stores of roots and fruit. There is no better preservative than Mother
+Earth.
+
+A good deal of meat, especially pork and beef, will have to be salted
+and dried for use at different times, and while salting and pickling
+are comparatively easy processes, needing only watching and frequent
+rubbing and turning, the later processes of curing and drying by smoke
+are more difficult, and for this purpose it is well to build a curing
+house.
+
+A smoke-curing house for hams and bacon may be made with two
+large-sized packing cases. Remove the top and bottom of one of the
+cases. From the other case remove one board at the top, the middle
+board; also cut a fairly large square hole on one side, large enough
+for any one to put head and shoulders through. With the boards that
+are cut away form a door by nailing batten on the inside or outside,
+and fasten to the box by means of hinges at bottom and catches at
+the top. If no hinges are at hand use stout pieces of leather, even
+the uppers of old boots will do. The catches are merely small, flat
+wedges of wood about the length of the middle finger, and as broad as
+two fingers. Nail or screw them in the middle on the box just above
+the flap door. By turning to left or right they will fasten the door
+firmly. Inside the top box fasten a series of rods, say six inches
+apart and six inches below the top. Over the long slit formed by
+removing one board as directed form a slanting roof with two boards
+kept in position by fastenings at each end. Nail pieces of netting from
+the edges of the slanting roof to the box. You thus provide ventilation
+and prevent insects from creeping in. Pierce the bottom of this case
+with a number of holes. Now choose for the site of the curing house
+sloping ground, dig a trench 18 inches deep and 6 or 7 feet long. Cover
+over the trench with flattened stones or bricks well packed together
+with earth. Over the top opening of this trench place the first case
+that had the top and bottom knocked out, and on this fix the second
+case. Suspend the hams and bacon inside the top case and then fasten
+the door tightly. At the lower end of the trench light a fire with wood
+refuse and sawdust, but avoid using pine or any resinous wood. The fire
+must be kept smouldering and the smoke will find its way up the trench,
+through the lower box into the curing chamber above, escaping very
+gradually by the ventilation outlets. Peats are best of all for keeping
+in a smoke fire. The smoking should be kept up for from three to five
+days, according to the amount of meat inside the curing chamber.
+
+Before placing the meat in this chamber it should be wiped dry after
+curing it with rubbings of dry salt, or by a mixture of saltpetre,
+black pepper, sugar and common salt. This may have been rubbed in for a
+week or ten days before the smoke cure was begun. If hams are intended
+for long keeping sew them up in cloths after curing with salt and
+before smoking them. Pieces of beef lightly salted and dried by smoke
+can be kept almost indefinitely, but they should be soaked and scraped
+before using for food.
+
+Biltong, or Jerked Beef as it is called in the United States, is a
+handy way of keeping meat for a length of time and is easily prepared.
+It is made by cutting the raw beef into slices, sousing the slices in
+sea water, then drying them hard in the sun. It can be kept threaded on
+spikes of wood, and when required the slices are taken off, soaked and
+washed, and laid in a frying-pan, with a little oil or other fat, and
+covered with plate, cooking over the fire for about an hour. A spoonful
+of vinegar put in the pan would tender the meat and improve the flavour.
+
+The converse to a smoke house would be an ice house, but wherever there
+is any dairying done this little place will prove a great boon, and it
+can be provided all the year round in most Colonies by taking a little
+forethought. In many places ice can be carried from lakes and ponds
+in the winter and stored for use in summer, and failing ice a fall of
+snow may be utilized, for snow that is packed into blocks and sluiced
+over with water will soon harden into ice. For storing it dig a deep
+hole, 4 to 8 feet deep, and build into this a house with walls of
+double thickness; the outer one may be of logs, the inner one of rough
+boards. Pack the space between the boards with sawdust, shavings or tan
+bark. The flooring should be of rafters placed close together about a
+foot above the ground. See that this open space is well drained. This
+can be done by digging a sloping trench a foot or two at the bottom
+and filling up with loose stones. The door of the house should also
+be double and packed with sawdust. The roof, which should come well
+above the hole, should slope and be composed of rafters well boarded
+over and covered with thick thatch of straw or fern. The thatch should
+project well beyond the walls but leave a ventilating space all round.
+Ice in blocks covered with sawdust can be kept in a quantity in this
+house, or blocks of ice at the bottom will make a cool storeroom of it
+for milk and butter in the summertime. Its main object, however, is to
+keep a store of ice for the dairy itself.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE STAFF OF LIFE
+
+  Making Bread—Oven and Hearth-baked Bread—Patent Yeasts for
+  Travellers’ Use—Quick Bread; the Damper, Pancake, Flapjack, Chupatty,
+  etc.—Dumplings and Pie-crusts—Uses for Dry Bread, etc.
+
+
+Bread is one of those things for which civilized man craves, and even
+in the most out-of-the-way places he is loth to exist without it. The
+many substitutes for bread rarely satisfy an Englishman, and he is
+driven to find some way of making a solid loaf. Nevertheless to bake
+bread presents a difficulty which can only be overcome by building an
+oven such as before described, or by using hot flat stones; the latter
+way of baking is as good as any when a little practice has shown how
+to do it skilfully. But the baking is only one difficulty; another
+and more serious one is to find a yeast wherewith to make a dough.
+German and other dried yeasts are usually to be bought in towns or from
+stores, and wherever there is a brewery barm can be got, but there are
+also dried and compressed yeasts that are put up in cakes for the use
+of travellers, which the outgoing colonist might procure, probably,
+at a ship chandler’s stores. Yeatman’s Yeast Powder is one of these.
+But failing any way of procuring dried yeasts there is another way of
+making a liquid yeast that is sure of producing a sweet and wholesome
+bread. For this the dried Bavarian hops are required, which are to be
+bought in packets from the chief English stores (they are known as
+the Phœnix brand), a packet of which will last a considerable time.
+A handful of these hops is boiled in water in a saucepan until the
+goodness has been extracted, then strained off, the hops thrown away,
+and the liquid returned to the pan with a spoonful of sugar, salt, and
+one or two tablespoonfuls of flour. These are stirred together and
+boiled up—never mind if it is a little lumpy—and then left to ferment.
+The mixture is ready for use the following day and will keep good for
+about ten days or a fortnight. In using, mix enough of this liquid
+with sufficient flour to make a small soft ball—technically called a
+“sponge,” setting this in the middle of the panful of flour which is
+intended for the bread. When this sponge has risen a little make the
+dough by adding to it warm water slightly salted, and working in the
+rest of the flour gradually until it can be kneaded with the hand and
+forms a large ball of dough, not too stiff and yet not too soft. This
+is then set to rise again in a warm place, and will take some five or
+six hours. Some people mix up the yeast and flour and water straight
+away and let one rising suffice. Either way should produce a light
+and wholesome dough. About four tablespoonfuls of the liquid yeast (or
+an ounce of dried compressed yeast of another kind, stirred to smooth
+paste with water), a large tablespoonful of salt and four pounds of
+flour, will make a nice quantity of bread. The amount of water depends
+a good deal on the kind of flour, but the result must be a rather firm
+dough; if too little water is put in the bread will be stiff and dry,
+if too much it will be puffy and full of holes.
+
+The dough can be mixed in the evening and left to rise all night,
+provided the pan containing it be set in a warm, sheltered place. The
+next morning, as soon as the oven has been made hot, or as soon as the
+hot stones of the hearth are ready, take up the dough, divide it and
+shape lightly with floured hands into loaves and bake them. The point
+to bear in mind is that while dough takes several hours to rise, it
+takes little harm by waiting until the oven is ready for it; but as
+yeast after it has been mixed with water ferments very quickly, the
+dough itself should not be made till the whole process of making it can
+be done right away. The science of the thing is that the introduction
+of yeast into the moistened flour causes carbonic gas to form, and
+the formation of these bubbles makes the dough swell out until the
+fermentation being finished the gas would cease to form and the dough
+would sink back, having lost its lightness. When the dough has about
+doubled its proportions, we stop the formation of the gas by baking
+the bread. Patent dried yeasts operate more quickly than do liquid
+home-made yeasts, and six hours is quite long enough to allow for the
+rising. Liquid yeasts might be given a little longer.
+
+If bread is made twice a week, the loaves should be made larger, and
+for taking out on journeys round flat cakes, made not too thick, are a
+convenient form; likewise for baking on the hearth these will be the
+handiest and cook the best. A round and rather thick ball of dough, cut
+across the top with a blunt knife, will give the Coburg loaf, which is
+a good shape for baking in an oven.
+
+Combinations of flour and maize meal, or of rice and flour, oatmeal and
+flour, and so on can be tried when a change is wanted. Where eggs and
+milk are procurable, there is a delicious American bread which is made
+by mixing two cupfuls of maize meal with every one of ordinary white
+flour, adding a little salt, two eggs and a cupful of milk to every
+three cups of the combined flours, with a spoonful of baking-powder
+rubbed in before moisture is added. This mixture is shaped into loaves
+and baked in tins—old biscuit tins floured inside will do quite well.
+The same mixture could be transformed into a cake of quite excellent
+quality by rubbing into the flour a little butter or lard, and a few
+raisins and spice and sugar.
+
+Excellent light buns for supper are quickly made by rubbing a little
+baking-powder into flour, adding salt, sugar and a few currants and
+spice, mixing with milk to a stiff dough, rolling out on a board,
+cutting into triangles and baking on flat hot stones, on both sides. Or
+if the milk has soured, mix a little soda with it and make up into a
+dough with flour alone and bake in the same way.
+
+The Australian Damper is really a thick, plain pancake, often merely a
+handful of flour made into a stiffish batter with water and a little
+salt and baked over the embers of a wood fire or on the hot stones.
+But the correct way of making Damper is to take a flat board or a
+dried sheepskin on which to knead. On this the flour is poured from
+the sack and sprinkled with salt. A hole is made in the middle of the
+heap of flour into which water is slowly poured, the right hand being
+kept moving round and round working the flour and water together to a
+thick, adhesive dough. This is then kneaded on the floured board until
+a firm ball is the result, and then with the hands a flat pancake is
+made about two inches thick. The embers are cleared away to leave a
+flat, bare place and the damper is lightly dropped upon it and covered
+with leaves, then the embers are raked back and it is left for about
+an hour, when it will be baked crisp and brown. A frying-pan without
+a handle might be inverted over the damper if the ashes were dirty.
+Fresh eggs beaten up with milk and used instead of water would make a
+richer and crisper and more nourishing damper. Scotch oatmeal added to
+a little flour, or the oatmeal alone mixed as for dry oatcake and baked
+on the hot stones, would be a more nourishing substitute for bread than
+is damper alone.
+
+The Flapjack is a similar kind of thing to the damper, but it is fried
+in a pan, with very little fat, that is to say, only enough to grease
+the pan, and fried on both sides. If made with cornmeal or buckwheat
+and mixed with milk and eggs, it becomes a very palatable thing, and
+has the merit of being quickly prepared. These pan cakes are just the
+thing for eating with sugar-cane syrup or molasses.
+
+A Cornmeal Pone is made with a quart of Indian meal, a teaspoonful of
+salt, a little melted lard and enough tepid water to make a soft dough.
+It is moulded lightly with the hands into an oblong mound, higher in
+the middle than at the sides, is brushed over with melted lard and dry
+flour, and is baked in hot oven rather crisply and broken into pieces,
+not cut. A broad leaf is laid over and under the pone if it is baked in
+the ashes.
+
+A Johnny Cake requires two cupfuls of buttermilk, a teaspoonful of
+soda, and two of salt, a good bit of butter melted soft, and enough
+Indian meal to make the cake so that it can be rolled out on a board
+to an inch in thickness. It is baked on the stones or in the oven in a
+shallow pan, and is then broken into pieces and eaten with butter.
+
+Buckwheat Cakes want the true Buckwheat flour, and to every four
+cupfuls a little salt and enough milk to make a thin batter, also a
+spoonful of yeast to every cupful of flour. The mixture is beaten well
+and left to rise overnight, and is then fried in greased pans on both
+sides, and eaten with syrup.
+
+The Chupatty is another form of thin or hastily made bread, and is
+generally made with Indian meal. If made with ordinary white flour,
+rub in a saltspoonful of salt to every half-pound, and mix to a light
+dough with cold milk. Cut this dough into pieces about the size of an
+egg, roll each piece into long, thin strips not more than an eighth of
+an inch thick. This is best done with the help of a floured board and a
+rolling-pin or smooth bottle, as the secret of making nice chupatties
+lies in the rolling. It should be rolled out at least six times, then
+the strips are placed on a baking tin and baked in a hot oven for
+about ten minutes. This is as crisp as water biscuit, and is very
+digestible. Where a dry biscuit or cake is wanted for a journey the
+chupatty is very useful.
+
+Any bread that has become stale can be freshened by dipping it in water
+and putting into a hot oven to steam through for a few minutes.
+
+
+Dumplings and Pie-Crusts
+
+When baking bread and making a stew or boiling meat with vegetables,
+small pieces of the dough can be broken off and dropped into the pan
+to form dumplings. If yeast or baking-powder has been worked into the
+dough the dumplings will be light though plain, but if they are wanted
+a little richer they should be made with chopped suet mixed with flour
+and water.
+
+The ordinary plain suet dumpling requires half as much chopped suet as
+flour in weight, and a little salt. It is mixed with either water or
+milk to make into a stiff dough—it is lightest when somewhat stiff—and
+if tying it up in a cloth to boil in water allow room for the pudding
+to swell. Boil a suet dumpling for two hours at least; it will not
+harm by being boiled longer. These plain dumplings are wholesome and
+excellent food especially in a cold climate, and should be eaten with
+syrup or butter and sugar. Sugar is, indeed, one of the most necessary
+items on the colonist’s bill of fare. The plain suet can be varied by
+mixing with it stoned raisins or currants or by using syrup in place of
+milk to mix the ingredients, adding a little ginger for flavour. Or the
+suet paste may be rolled out and spread with jam or soaked dried fruits
+and treacle, rolled up again, wrapped round with a cloth and boiled in
+fast boiling water, or folded in a buttered paper and steamed, for a
+couple of hours, making a light and appetising roll pudding. Or again,
+the paste may be rolled out and used to line a basin, the interior
+being filled with sliced apples and other fruits and sugar, covered
+with a top crust, then tied over and boiled for as long again. Or the
+centre may be filled with pieces of steak cut small and rolled in flour
+and seasoned with salt and pepper, a little water put in to make gravy,
+a top crust put on, and tied down, and this boiled for about four hours.
+
+If the colonist has built him a good oven and is ambitious of making
+pastry, having a fond recollection of jam tarts and apple pies as made
+at home, let him take a nice clean board, and put into a basin say a
+couple of pounds of flour, two big spoonfuls of dry baking-powder, a
+teaspoonful of salt, and into this flour rub lightly about a pound
+of lard or good dripping, rubbing till the flour feels like dry
+breadcrumbs in his hands. Mix this to a stiff paste with cold water,
+then cut off portions and roll out on a floured board. If a proper
+rolling-pin is not at hand a bottle will answer the purpose.
+
+If it is a fruit pie that is contemplated, fill a dish with pared and
+sliced apples, or plums washed clean, or other fruit, cover well with
+sugar, add a little water and then cover with a crust that has been
+rolled out to about half an inch thick. Make a little hole in the top
+for the steam to escape, and pinch the edges well and cut them round
+even with the edges of the dish. Put into an oven that is very hot
+and bake long enough to cook the fruit well, shielding the crust if
+necessary with paper. Fruits like blackberries, bilberries, damsons,
+etc., want well cooking, and should be partly done before the crust is
+put on. Where no pie-dish is at hand, roll out a sheet of paste and
+heap up the cut or picked fruit in the centre, with the sugar, and then
+fold up the paste to make it like a valise and pinch the edges well.
+Bake it on a greased tin.
+
+The good old-fashioned turnover or pasty is ever welcome, and needs
+but to have a piece of paste rolled out to a convenient sized round,
+and on half is spread the jam, mince, or fruit, and the other half is
+turned over, the edges pinched together, and it is baked on a tin in
+hot oven. The Cornish pasty has sliced potatoes, shred bacon, a trifle
+of onion and pepper and salt, and is folded over and baked in the same
+way. These are delicious to eat hot. When making a meat pie, cook the
+meat well before putting on the pastry crust.
+
+This plain short pastry is all that any colonist will require, at
+least until an elaborate kitchen equipment is at his service, but if
+he objects to rubbing in the shortening with his hands, he may mix
+the flour and water to a stiff paste, roll it out on a floured board,
+spread the shortening on this with the blade of a knife, fold up and
+roll out again at least twice. This way saves using the hands.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE DAY’S FOOD AND WORK
+
+  Popular Ideas about Food Values—Kind of Food Required in
+  Health—Concentrated and Bulk Foods—Initial Preparations for Cooking,
+  etc.
+
+
+There are a good many vague notions current about food which it is
+well to set right before we come to the actual work of cooking for
+making ready a meal. For instance, people are content, as a rule, to
+take what comes handiest, or to choose what is most customary, rather
+than have the trouble of thinking out or of choosing what might really
+make a meal of better value. Reliance on what is customary may easily
+lead to great monotony and to narrowness of ideas. In some cases, of
+course, monotony is perhaps inevitable, that is to say the material is
+perforce the same, and can only be varied by bringing the imagination
+into play in order to make its manner of presentment more varied. A
+man, for example, writes to us from Canada (he is pioneering in the
+Far West, let it be understood), and says that his meals consist of
+beef and potatoes, varied by potatoes and beef. Another writes from
+the Australian bush and declares there is nothing to be had but tea,
+damper and mutton, mutton, damper and tea. Both cases are doubtless
+exaggerations, but they show the monotony that may exist when there
+is little time to give to thought about meals. But on the other hand,
+people who have almost limitless resources at command, as in England,
+show little more imagination when it comes to planning a week’s meals
+for a family, year in year out, and monotony is their complaint also.
+
+Then we speak of “nourishing food,” of dishes that are “rich,”
+“indigestible” and so on, and of drinks that are “too strong” and “too
+weak,” often without quite knowing what we wish to express.
+
+All food is “nourishing” when properly combined and proportioned; if
+we get an excess of one thing, of fat, for example, or of sugar, it
+is “too rich” because less easily assimilated. As it is only by what
+is digested and assimilated that the body is nourished, it is easy to
+understand that two foods which contain the same amount of nutriment
+will not be equally nutritious unless both are equally digestible.
+
+What is wanted, speaking roughly, for proper nourishment and upkeep of
+the bodily system, is a daily sufficient yet not excessive supply of
+flesh-forming and heat-producing food, enough to repair the constant
+slow wastage that goes on. This waste, it is easy to understand,
+is increased when the body is actively engaged in hard labour and
+lessened when it is resting or doing sedentary work. The whole science
+of feeding lies in obtaining a right proportion of the two classes
+of food in the diet. An excess of either class, unless excreted, is
+stored up as fat. The reason we cook at all is that we may bring raw
+materials into a state in which they can be digested easily, and
+also that we may make those judicious mixtures which shall combine
+flesh-forming and heat-producing substances ready to be assimilated
+in the best possible way. There is no one perfect food that will do
+this for adults, as there is for infants who find all they require in
+milk. The adult body is only perfectly supplied by a mixed diet, and as
+regards the selection of materials one of the best and safest guides
+to take is the individual appetite under normal conditions. Appetite
+will generally suggest the kind of food the body is needing and will
+generally indicate when a sufficiency has been taken, also it will show
+by “loss of appetite” when food is not required and what kind of food
+is distasteful.
+
+Feeding the human body is very like feeding a fire; combustion is
+slow but steady and is made more rapid when the draught of air is
+increased—that is, when the lungs are inhaling and exhaling more
+deeply as in hard labour. The energy expressed by movement, labour,
+exercise or play corresponds to the burning of the fire, and is made
+up for by adding more fuel, and what part of the fuel is not consumed
+is thrown away as ashes are taken away from the grate. How thoroughly
+the food taken in is consumed must therefore depend a great deal upon
+its digestibility. That which is raw, hard, lumpy or tough will take
+long to assimilate, or indeed may be finally excreted as unassimilable.
+We assist assimilation when we mince or grind down the food to fine
+proportions—hence mastication. After it is swallowed the digestive
+juices set to work upon it and make it fit for absorption into the
+system. In addition to cooking food to make it tender and in addition
+to mastication, we further assist the work of digestion when we add
+condiments and flavours to it, because these help to increase the flow
+of the gastric juices and stimulate the activity of the digestive
+organs.
+
+We cannot obtain more heat or more muscle by eating special foods for
+the purpose. Flesh-forming and heat-producing foods must be taken
+together for each to do their work properly, but we can and do increase
+the proportions of one or the other according to the kind of work
+we are doing and the kind of climate we are living under. An extra
+cold atmosphere calls for more heat to make up for what is given off
+by radiation from the surface of the body as well as by increased
+respiration. Therefore fat and sugar must take a very prominent place
+in the diet of those who live in cold countries, farinaceous foods
+likewise. Meat and vegetables are needed where much muscular work
+is being done and where a stimulating diet rather than a heating
+one is wanted. A good deal of liquid food and water is needed when
+perspiration is excessive and where outward heat dries the skin.
+
+Appetite is again the best guide to follow under these different
+conditions, for Nature prompts and suggests what she is needing by
+means of appetite and taste. Appetite is also the best individual guide
+as to quantity, for it is rarely that two people will eat exactly the
+same amount in the same circumstances. Some appear to eat too much,
+and others too little, but if we judge results by weight, where that
+remains fairly constant, the quantities consumed merely correspond
+with their requirements. It is when an excess of fat is stored up in
+the system that the supply may be taken to exceed the demand. Yet this
+again is not altogether a reliable criterion to go by; it, in fact,
+puzzles many as it puzzled Dr. Johnson and his faithful Boswell.
+
+Talking of a man who had grown very fat so as to be incommoded by his
+corpulency, Dr. Johnson said, “He eats too much, sir.” Said Boswell,
+“I don’t know, sir; you will see one man fat who eats moderately and
+another lean who eats a great deal.” Johnson: “Nay, sir, whatever may
+be the quantity a man eats, it is plain that if he is too fat he has
+eaten more than he should have done. One may have a digestion that
+consumes food better than common; but it is certain that solidity is
+increased by putting something to it.” Boswell: “But may not solids
+swell and be distended?” Johnson: “Yes, sir, they may swell and be
+distended, but that is not fat!”
+
+As regards food materials, all fibrous and tough substances cannot
+be separated from the rest, nor is it necessary to separate them. A
+certain amount of bulk food is needful for the organs to work upon,
+and even if it is eventually excreted it still cannot be done without.
+Highly-concentrated foods, like extracts and essences and tabloids,
+will not satisfy the ordinary healthy appetite, and even if they did
+satisfy it they would end in weakening the organs of the body through
+want of sufficient work and exercise. Tissues and fibres can, however,
+be made soft and tender, and therefore much more easily digestible, by
+proper cooking. It should be remembered that the tissues of animals
+and vegetables toughen as they get older, while birds and meats that
+are freshly-killed are not so tender as when well hung. Wild birds and
+young animals are tougher than maturer and fattened ones.
+
+The initial processes of preparing food will present more difficulties
+to the colonist, perhaps, than the actual cooking. The very first
+process of all, that of catching and killing the animal or bird, is
+less troublesome to contemplate than the process of skinning, cleaning
+and cutting up; still, of course, it comes first.
+
+All animals and birds which are killed by shot must have the blood let
+out as soon as possible; it is usual to suspend them to drain this
+away. Then the skin is drawn off, the abdominal and thoracic viscera
+are removed, likewise the head and tail, and the animal is laid open
+by cutting down the breast line. In large animals like oxen and sheep
+by cutting through the middle of the back bone the carcass is divided
+into two equal parts, called sides, and the sides are again cut up
+into joints after quartering. The anterior portion is known as the
+fore-quarter, the posterior as the hind-quarter. In small animals like
+lambs the whole of the quarter is considered as one joint.
+
+In cutting up a side of beef the usual method followed is according to
+the following diagram:
+
+[Illustration:
+
+  _A._ Rump.
+  _B._ Buttock.
+  _C._ Shin.
+  _D._ Buttock Steak.
+  _E._ Aitchbone.
+  _F._ Sirloin.
+  _G._ Ribs.
+  _H._ Chuck Ribs.
+  _I._ Clod.
+  _J._ Shin.
+  _K._ Shoulder or Bladebone.
+  _L._ Brisket.
+  _M._ Thin Flank.
+  _N._ Thick Flank.
+  _O._ Gravy Piece.
+]
+
+A young ox gives the best beef, but bull beef is dark in colour with
+a coarse grain. If beef is to be tender it should be hung as long as
+weather and climate will permit of, but should be looked over every day
+and moisture wiped off. Any part which is touched with flies should
+be rubbed over with cloths wrung out of vinegar. If any part seems
+slightly tainted rub powdered charcoal over it, or black pepper.
+
+The most suitable uses of the different parts for cooking are as
+follows:
+
+  Sirloin and Ribs, prime roasting joints.
+
+  Rump, for cutting into steaks for grilling.
+
+  Buttock, for stewing steak, or for boiling fresh.
+
+  Round or Buttock, for salting and boiling.
+
+  Thick and thin Flank, salting, boiling or baking.
+
+  Shins and Gravy Piece, for soups.
+
+  Chuck Ribs, for second quality steaks.
+
+  Bladebone, for braising and stewing.
+
+  Clod, boiled or stewed.
+
+  Brisket, for salting and pressing, or for baking with potatoes.
+
+  Tail, for stewing and soup-making.
+
+  Tongue, for salting, boiling and pressing.
+
+  The Skirt makes delicious stews and rich gravy.
+
+  Beef Kidney is tough and too rich to use alone, but a little added to
+  other stews is excellent.
+
+  Liver too coarse to use except for feeding animals.
+
+  Knuckles and feet make stiff jelly.
+
+Mutton does not cut up into so many parts, but is simply divided into
+leg and loin (or if the loin is undivided it makes a “saddle,”) and the
+fore-quarter makes breast, shoulder and neck pieces.
+
+Veal is similarly jointed to beef but is much smaller, and the whole
+round of the leg is called the fillet and is cut in thick portions or
+slices; the loin includes the rump, and the neck is really included
+with the ribs. The breast of veal is excellent as the gristly parts
+easily soften, and the knuckles which correspond to the shin and leg of
+beef are much more tender and gelatinous.
+
+As pigs are killed at different ages and the larger and fatter animals
+are usually cured and dried for bacon, the smaller pigs are cut up very
+similarly to mutton and lamb. The hind-quarter gives the leg and hind
+loin, the fore-quarter the “hand” or shoulder, foreloin, spare ribs and
+neck, while the head is split into two “chaps.” When made into bacon
+the side is cured whole and the leg becomes the ham, the shoulder half
+the gammon. The breast gives the part known as “streaky” bacon, and the
+back and ribs, flank and collar are sold at varying prices.
+
+Certain portions of the interior organs of the carcass are useful for
+food and quite digestible. The tongues, for instance, which when cut
+away from the root part can be salted and pickled, then boiled or
+dried, make an excellent dish. The sweetbreads in young animals are
+very delicate, and after first boiling them in salted water for a few
+minutes they can be fried or stewed to make a savoury dish. The kidneys
+are removed from the fat in which they are embedded and split open and
+lightly fried or grilled, or beef kidney is added to stews of other
+parts of beef. Ox tails after skinning and jointing make an excellent
+savoury stew or very nourishing soup. Sheep’s liver is edible when
+properly cooked, but lamb’s and calf’s liver are better and not at all
+tough when fried and stewed afterwards. Ox liver is not fit for human
+food. The hearts of very young animals alone are edible, and even then
+are somewhat tough.
+
+The best suet is that found round about the kidneys, and this fat can
+be removed in large pieces, which if kept dry will remain sweet for
+a week or two and is used for making puddings and crusts for pies.
+The other interior fat of the animal (both of beef and mutton) can be
+melted down and clarified by pouring into jars containing a little
+boiling water, then it is useful for all frying purposes and many other
+things. The interior fat of the pig is also melted down, but it yields
+lard, a pure white and soft fat that is as edible as butter. This
+should be run into tins whilst warm and covered with paper when cold to
+keep it from the air.
+
+Rabbits are split open to let out the blood and the entrails removed
+directly they are killed, and being thus paunched they can be slung on
+a stick and kept for some time before skinning, although the fresher
+they are the more easily will the skin be removed. To do this make an
+incision down the length of the body, and draw the skin backwards,
+bringing the legs up first and ending by pulling the skin over the
+head. A rabbit can be turned round for boiling, or be cut into joints
+for stewing. Hares are treated the same way except that hares are not
+boiled, but they are often roasted. A better way is to cook a whole
+hare in a casserole or braising-pan, as the meat is very dry, but the
+best way of all is to cut it in joints and cook it in a deep stone jar,
+with red wine and small vegetables and a little fat pork.
+
+Fowls are plucked most easily by first dipping them bodily into
+boiling water, but this renders the feathers unusable for any other
+purpose. Plucking is quickly accomplished if the feathers are pulled
+the reverse way from that which they take naturally, and after cutting
+off the head, splitting the neck to remove the gullet and windpipe, an
+incision at the lower end makes it easy to empty the fowl by drawing
+out the entrails and organs; wash out with clean water afterwards, then
+bind together the legs and tie down the wings to the sides, and the
+fowl is trussed quite sufficiently for ordinary purposes. The reason
+for fastening wings and legs to the sides is to prevent these from
+shrivelling and getting too dry by cooking. As the meat of fowls and
+indeed of most birds is very lean it is an improvement to wrap them
+in some thin leaf fat, or to cook a piece of fat bacon with them if
+braising or roasting, or even if boiling them.
+
+The meat of wildfowl is drier and leaner than that of the domestic fowl
+and wild ducks are a little fishy in flavour. Prairie hens are plump
+as a rule but also lean, and most small wild birds are tastier and
+more tender if they are wrapped in thin slices of fat before cooking.
+Quick cooking is best for those that are small and young, but fowls of
+uncertain age are better slowly stewed or boiled.
+
+The flesh of fish contains more water than that of meat or fowl, but it
+is light and digestible and nourishing when fresh, and plump fish are
+invariably of primer quality than thin ones. Most fish want scraping
+as well as washing, and it is well to cut off the heads and remove the
+entrails; in some kinds like mackerel and herrings they are split open
+and scraped clean, while in flat fish cutting off the heads and fins
+suffices. Large fish like salmon and cod have a good deal of interior
+to be removed before they are cooked and the heads are left on if
+preferred.
+
+Where a little curing house has been set up as before described,
+herrings which have been cleaned and split open can be lightly salted
+and smoke-dried, and thus the colonist can make his own kippers. Small
+haddock can also be cured and smoke-dried, mackerel likewise.
+
+Surplus fish can be kept by first cleaning and then salting them
+and packing down in a barrel, but smoke-curing is a better way of
+preserving them, and in the log-hut kitchen they can hang in strings
+from the rafters.
+
+Oysters, clams, mussels and shellfish that are eaten without cooking
+should be very fresh indeed for it to be trustworthy. Oysters are
+wholesome and easily digested and are rightly considered a delicacy,
+and in some places they are plentiful enough.
+
+Lobsters, crabs and shrimps want boiling in salted water until they
+turn a bright red colour, and when cold they are broken open and the
+flesh picked out. An iron cauldron or saucepan is best to boil them
+in. All these should be killed by cooking; that is they should be
+alive up to the time they are boiled, as if not perfectly fresh they
+so quickly decompose and may easily set up ptomaine poisoning. There
+are circumstances and places where shellfish are a valuable article
+of food, however, and in moderation they do much to vary a diet that
+without them would be monotonous and unappetising. A liberal washing
+in clean water should be given to all creatures that are taken from
+salt water pools and shallow places. But the same careful cleansing is
+necessary in the case of freshwater fish, too, especially that taken
+from ponds, as they are apt to taste of mud unless well soaked and
+scraped before cooking.
+
+The initial preparations for cooking which vegetables require make
+many people forego their use altogether, yet although troublesome
+enough there is nothing about them that is half so disagreeable as the
+preparatory work of preparing meat and poultry for cooking. A liberal
+washing, a scraping or paring, perhaps coring and dividing and cutting
+up—and that is practically all there is to do except in the case of
+peas which want shelling, or of beans which want stringing and slicing.
+
+Almost without exception, the edible roots want paring after washing
+before cooking them in any way whatsoever. The rind is not intended
+to be eaten and is tough in all except very young roots. While the
+actual nutritive value of roots, tubers and green vegetables is low,
+their health value is high, and they are both a welcome and valuable
+addition to the diet, and whenever a garden patch has been secured the
+colonist’s first thought will be to grow his own vegetables, and as
+great a variety of them as he can.
+
+Potatoes are the most nutritive of all vegetables and rank next to
+bread in value, but artichokes have a higher nutritive value than even
+potatoes, and should be freely cultivated especially where there is a
+pig to be fed, as pigs thrive rapidly and produce fine bacon when fed
+upon these tubers.
+
+The next most important vegetable to the potato is the onion, and this
+is one of the best of nature’s medicines, too. But after skinning an
+onion the root bit should always be cut out before cooking in any form.
+Cut away the hard fibres from cabbages before boiling them and boil
+rapidly in salted water. Never cook outer leaves or woody parts and
+fibres of anything; all such parts should be returned to the ground as
+its share of the proceeds, for they make the most valuable manure.
+
+When gathering cabbages or lettuces, and things of like nature, if
+not ready to make use of them for a few hours, leave the roots on as
+they will keep fresh and crisp a much longer time. If on account of
+frost these have to be dug up and brought under shelter, also leave
+the roots on, but let them be kept covered with sand or soil and in
+a dry place. Carrots and turnips keep well in a sand heap. Celery is
+another excellent vegetable for the colonist to cultivate wherever it
+will grow; it is good in all climates and will stand a good deal of
+frost, and is most wholesome eaten either in a natural state or cooked.
+Here again, eat only the best parts and let the rest be returned to the
+ground.
+
+Dried fruits are extremely useful where fresh fruits are hard to
+procure, and the nutritive value of dried fruits is relatively high
+in proportion to their weight. They are a form of concentrated food,
+easily portable and satisfying, but their value is increased when they
+are soaked in water for some hours and then cooked. But dried raisins,
+dates and figs are excellent for eating without other preparation,
+while prunes and apples are better after soaking and stewing.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+COOKING FISH, MEAT AND VEGETABLES
+
+  The Reason Why in Roasting, Boiling, Baking and Stewing—How to Fry,
+  Braise, Grill, etc., and Use of Condiments and Seasoning.
+
+
+Every one likes to know the “reason why” any particular method is
+recommended or pursued, and if we cannot give the correct scientific
+explanation of any process used in the kitchen we can at least give the
+reason for its being followed. And once we know the reason for a method
+we are independent of any necessity for slavish following of other
+directions, because success or failure will be the result of right or
+wrong in the method, not of a defect in the recipe.
+
+For instance: The principle of Roasting is that of cooking by radiated
+heat; Baking is a combination of radiated with air-conducted heat.
+Hence roasting is done before an open fire and baking is done in an
+oven.
+
+
+Roasting
+
+The joint should be hung not too near the fire to begin with, in order
+that sufficient fat may exude to moisten the surface; after a few
+minutes, however, it is brought closer that this moisture may become
+encrusted so as to keep in the gravy. The joint is kept moving in order
+that it may cook evenly on all sides, and when it is cooked through
+steam will be seen rising from it.
+
+Now, in place of having a revolving spit and a roasting jack, a
+substitute can be made by forming a sort of cradle for the joint out
+of thin wire and suspending this from a nail or hook. It is well to
+suspend the wire cradle with a piece of twine from the hook or nail as
+twine will revolve with a twist of the fingers, but wire will not. The
+fire, whether it is one built on the ground or in a fireplace, must
+have burnt through clear red before the joint is placed in front of it.
+In the old cottages in Scotland where a wide-throated chimney and open
+hearth with flat stone constitutes all the cooking range there is, it
+is common to see a big nail projecting from the chimneypiece, while the
+joint is tied in a cradle of string and suspended from the nail, on a
+level with the hottest part of the fire. Everybody passing by gives a
+twist to the string and so the joint moves round and the result when
+done is a perfect roast. The fat that drops is caught by a tin set on
+the flat stone of the hearth, and a batter mixture poured into this
+is baked by the time the meat is ready for eating. It would be quite
+possible to manage something of this type in a log-hut kitchen, but in
+tent or camp it would be better to bake rather than roast meat.
+
+
+Baking
+
+In Baking meats—or in baking anything else for that matter—the greatest
+heat is needed at first, in order to give the same shock of surprise
+that frying gives to anything that is plunged in hot fat. The reason
+for this is to form a crust as quickly as possible and prevent the
+escape of the juices. An oven that is only just warm will dry the
+surface without forming this crust, but one that is thoroughly hot
+will bring the juices up to the surface and make a brown coating very
+quickly. In the same way pastry or bread will rise when plunged into
+good heat, but remain white and heavy if the oven is cool. To know
+whether an oven is hot enough for baking it can be tested by spreading
+a little dry flour on a piece of tin and putting it in the oven for a
+few minutes. If it does not brown the oven is too slow; if it browns
+readily it is hot enough for meat. Pieces of thick white paper will
+prevent the surface of anything from scorching.
+
+It is usually reckoned that beef and mutton take from twenty to
+twenty-five minutes per pound for both roasting and baking; veal and
+pork want half an hour per pound, but a fowl or pheasant should not
+require longer than fifteen minutes per pound weight.
+
+
+Paper Coverings
+
+There is great advantage in using a paper wrapping when cooking meat or
+fish on hot stones or in a furnace oven. If a paper bag is greased and
+folded up tightly it will keep in all the steam and flavour, allowing
+nothing to be wasted, and proves a very cleanly way of cooking, and
+saves much washing-up and scouring of tins and pans. In true Paper bag
+cookery, now much used in gas ovens and English ranges, the bag is made
+of a special paper, grease-proof, nevertheless where the right kind of
+bag is not available wrapping up in ordinary white paper is much better
+than nothing, but always grease the paper first. Shape the paper, or
+the bag, so that a hollow forms at the bottom, into which the fat and
+gravy collects. This facilitates dishing up, as a cut with a knife will
+let this through into a tin held underneath.
+
+
+Boiling
+
+Now as to Boiling meat. Sometimes we boil it in order to extract all
+the goodness as for soup, sometimes for the sake of cooking meat or
+fish in this special way. In the first case it should be put over a
+slow fire in cold water, and when it has reached the boiling-point be
+withdrawn and allowed to cook without boiling again, and cooking a very
+long time in this way much improves the flavour of broth or soup. But
+when the meat is intended to be eaten, the water into which it is put
+should nearly boil when it is first put in with its vegetables, and
+then be brought rather quickly to the boiling-point, drawn away, and
+kept boiling very gently indeed. Never on any account let it boil fast,
+still it must _just_ boil or else the meat will not cook. Fast boiling
+ruins the soup and toughens the meat. When rice is added to broth, it
+is washed and put in about an hour before the soup is finished; when
+barley is put in, it can be added as soon as the broth boils, as it
+takes longer to soften. A fair-sized piece of meat with vegetables will
+take from two to three hours to boil it well. For Scotch broth the
+vegetables are chopped small and the barley and these boiled together
+with the mutton.
+
+When boiling fish the water should be at the boiling-point when it is
+put in, but only just reach that point, or rather not quite reach it
+afterwards. The water should be salted, and a few drops of vinegar will
+help to keep the flakes of fish firm. Fish should simmer till the skin
+shows signs of cracking, then it is sufficiently done. Fish that is
+boiled fast is flavourless and ragged. But a pudding or anything cooked
+in a mould may boil as fast as you please.
+
+Some vegetables are better for putting to cook in cold water, others
+must have boiling water. Dried vegetables and some potatoes want cold
+water, and dried peas and beans want long previous soaking. Green
+vegetables and green peas, on the other hand, want plunging into fast
+boiling salted water and to be kept boiling fast. Potatoes and some of
+the other root vegetables will steam better than they will boil.
+
+
+Stewing
+
+There is no doubt that Stewing is the ideal way of cooking all tough
+meats and old birds. Stews want slow cooking and close covering to keep
+in the steam, and need several hours to do them well. A stew should be
+mellow and have plenty of gravy. The best plan is to bring the contents
+of the stewpan to boiling-point rather quickly, then to set the pan or
+jar in a corner of the oven or hearth, where it will have gentle heat
+for a long time. Unless it reaches the boiling-point once, however, it
+will not start cooking. After it had reached the boil however it could
+be set in the Hay-box Oven or in a hole in the ground, and would go on
+cooking all right for many hours without harm.
+
+Recipes for different stews are given in the next chapter, but the
+principle of making a stew savoury and nourishing and tender is grasped
+when we understand that it is necessary to bring it to full heat, that
+is boiling-point early, then to let it cook well below that point for
+several hours. Tough meat should then become quite tender, and the
+gristly pieces soft and glutinous. A little vinegar added to a stew
+helps to make the meat tender, and seasoning makes it savoury.
+
+A little vinegar added to a stew of game draws out the flavour, and
+likewise some pickle added to one of venison or dried meat greatly
+improves it. So, too, does a little red wine.
+
+Fish stews are excellent, and this method of cooking makes very
+palatable the coarser kinds of river or pond fish. After being scraped
+to free it from scales, and after washing well in water, it should
+be dried and cut into pieces of a convenient size, rolled in flour
+and sprinkled with salt and pepper, packed into the stewpan with a
+little vinegar or the juice of a lemon, and with several small pats of
+butter, then covered down closely and stewed for an hour or so. Omit
+the vinegar when cooking the more delicate kinds of white fish, adding
+only salt and butter, and perhaps a little milk. If liked, a little
+grated cheese can be sprinkled over a stew of white fish.
+
+A way of greatly improving a plain stew is to first fry the meat and
+vegetables which compose it, frying them sufficiently to brown them,
+but not enough to cook them properly; the cooking is done by the
+stewing, but the frying gives a savouriness which nothing else can.
+Onions and carrots and potatoes fried before they are added to a stew,
+for instance, make it very much richer than if put in raw. Rinse out
+the frying-pan with boiling water and add this to the stew. Such things
+as liver and bacon, kidneys, giblets, etc., should always be fried
+lightly before stewing them.
+
+
+Frying
+
+The object in Frying is to form a savoury and brown crust on the
+outside so as to keep in the juices within. Hence, as before said,
+a shock of “surprise” is given by plunging the article to be fried
+into boiling fat, and cooking it quickly so as to have it juicy and
+succulent within. On this account we choose things that do not need
+long cooking for cooking by frying methods. Small things like cutlets
+and chops, slices of fish and bacon, made up rolls of minced meat, and
+so on, and things that we can dip into batter and roll in flour or
+breadcrumbs are fried. But we also fry fresh fish that has been split
+down the back and laid flat, and small birds which want light and quick
+cooking. The pan and the fat must be very hot, and when dry frying
+(that is, frying with a pan that is only just rubbed with fat) is
+chosen, as for a fried beefsteak, frequent turning over and great care
+to do it quickly and yet without scorching, is needed.
+
+Pour off any fat used for frying into a jar containing a little boiling
+water. This will clear it and leave it as a cake on the top which can
+be lifted off and used several times over.
+
+
+Braising
+
+Braising is a combination of baking and stewing. Really the
+braising-pan should hold hot coals on the top as well as be surrounded
+with them, and a tightly-covered vessel set within the ashes of a wood
+fire, with embers covering the top, would furnish an ideal braise. It
+is a capital way of cooking when there is only the hearth available,
+for the piece of meat is put inside the deep pan, with a little fat
+but no water, and the cover is put on and fastened down, the whole
+thing being smothered in hot ashes or embers. It can be left for some
+hours, and may be set aside to become cold before opening the pan. A
+large piece of meat braised would take four or five hours to cook well.
+A leg of pork, for instance, covered with a little fat taken from the
+breast, cooked in this way is delicious; so, too, is a leg of mutton.
+The braising-pan may be of iron that is enamelled or merely tinned
+inside, or of glazed earthenware. The difference between a braise and
+a stew is that for a stew the meat is cut up in pieces, vegetables are
+usually added, with seasoning and a little water to make gravy, and
+long cooking in a corner of the oven is necessary, while for a braise
+the joint is left whole, vegetables are generally omitted and the pan
+is buried among the ashes.
+
+
+Grilling
+
+Grilling or Broiling is a method used for cooking small steaks or
+chops; small fish split and laid open; small birds treated the same
+way, and requires a very hot red fire, with a grill that is somewhat
+like a magnified toaster. The thing that is grilled must be turned over
+and over very frequently, to cook both sides quickly and lightly, and
+it should be cooked through in a few minutes.
+
+Combinations of cooking methods like frying and stewing, as just
+mentioned, give better results sometimes than one method alone. For
+example, sausages that are first boiled and then fried are twice as
+succulent and savoury as when only fried. A piece of bacon first boiled
+then baked is likewise much improved.
+
+
+Condiments
+
+Salt, which toughens meat if added at the beginning, can be put in just
+before the cooking is finished, but meat that has been salted long
+enough to preserve it is usually tender after it has been boiled. Salt
+arrests decay, and while it toughens the fibres it helps to draw out
+the juices, so that its action is helpful in certain conditions and a
+hindrance in others. Pepper helps to keep game and poultry sweet, and
+gives piquancy to any dish. Sauces and wines should never be added
+except at the last moment or their effect is lost. The practice of
+adding sauces and much seasoning is not to be commended. The object
+of all cooking is to bring out the flavour of the thing cooked, not
+to add another to it, except that other flavour is indispensable as a
+complement.
+
+A Boiling-pan, a Braising-pan, a Frying-pan and a Stew-pan or
+casserole, with a roasting spit, might be considered the full
+complement of any kitchen. Less can be made to do, but more would not
+really be necessary, unless the more meant, shall we say, a supply of
+paper bags?
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+SIMPLIFIED COOKERY RECIPES
+
+
+General directions have been given with regard to cooking of meat and
+vegetables, making soups, and so on, in the previous chapters, but for
+handy reference the colonist will like to refer to the recipe itself as
+he wants it and when he wants it.
+
+
+Soups and Broths
+
+GAMEKEEPER’S BROTH.—Strain off clear about a quart of stock obtained
+by stewing the bones of game, poultry or rabbits with any meat bones
+available. Brown scraps and trimmings of meat will have made this stock
+richer and deeper in colour. Fry till brown a few small onions and
+carrots, and in the same fat any scraps of game or meat that seem good.
+Add these to the strained stock and mix with the rest of the fat in the
+frying-pan a little flour, some pepper and salt, stir up well and thin
+with a few spoonfuls of the stock, then add all to the remainder and
+boil up once. A little red wine would, of course, make this richer, but
+is not necessary.
+
+OX-TAIL SOUP.—Joint the tail and place the pieces in a deep stone jar
+with peeled onions, say three or four, as many carrots, and some salt
+and pepper. Fill up the jar with water. One tail should make three or
+four pints of strong soup. Stew in a corner of the hearth or oven for
+four or five hours, and serve a few pieces of meat with the liquor. It
+is not necessary to thicken the soup, but if it is preferred so, it can
+have a little flour and dissolved butter rolled together and stirred
+into the hot liquor gradually, and boiled up once.
+
+SHEEP’S HEAD BROTH.—Wash the head well and put on in a pan with cold
+water, a good spoonful of salt, a large cupful of well-washed barley,
+some onions and turnips, carrots and leeks if to be had, and a piece
+of celery likewise, and boil very gently for at least three hours. Add
+cold water always, say two quarts to one head. A little fresh parsley
+chopped small will give a very nice flavour to the broth, put in when
+cooked.
+
+SCOTCH BROTH.—The neck and other lean parts of mutton make the best
+broth, and should be cut small enough to serve a little meat in each
+plate. Turnips and onions are cut into small pieces and put in with
+the meat in liberal quantity. A little salt and pepper, and some fresh
+green peas when in season are added when the rest of the broth has
+boiled, and pearl barley, previously washed and soaked in cold water,
+is put in with the first vegetables as it takes long to cook. Boil two
+hours.
+
+GRAVY SOUP.—Parts of lean beef, such as the shin and tougher pieces of
+the leg, with any large bones broken in pieces, make the best gravy
+soup. The meat should be cut into pieces and put into a deep jar with
+the bones, and just enough water to cover well. Put in a spoonful of
+salt and a few peppercorns and leaves of any sweet herbs available, but
+no vegetables save one or two onions. Cook very slowly indeed, never
+allowing it to boil hard. After cooking about six hours, strain off,
+let it get cold to enable any fat to be skimmed off, then warm up as
+wanted. It should be a rather deep colour and very strong and clear.
+
+RABBIT OR HARE SOUP.—The bones and larger joints, heads, and so on,
+without any blood, of course, are put on to cook in cold water, and
+with them put onions and carrots. Cook a long time, then strain and
+pick off any nice bits of meat to return to the stock. Mix a large
+spoonful of flour with cold water, also a teaspoonful of salt and half
+one of pepper, and same of sharp sauce if available. Stir into the hot
+liquor and boil up for five minutes.
+
+BEEF BOUILLON.—Take a nice piece of fresh beef, say two or three pounds
+weight; put it on in a pan with warm water rather more than enough to
+cover it. Bring it up to the boil quickly, and as soon as it boils add
+pared carrots and parsnips—no turnips—onions, leeks and celery, as many
+as the pan will hold, then let all boil _very gently_ for three hours
+or so. The beef and vegetables can be eaten as a dish after the soup
+has been taken off clear. The latter is most reviving and appetising as
+well as wholesome. The point is not to let it boil hard, and to keep
+the broth clear and well-flavoured.
+
+FISH SOUP.—The water in which a large fish has been boiled will make
+a foundation for good fish soup, straining it clear then returning to
+it flakes of fish carefully picked from skin and bone, and a little
+minced onion and parsley. Melt a small pat of butter and stir into
+it some white flour till quite smooth, then a little cold milk, and
+pour into the stock. Add pepper and salt at discretion, and bring to
+boiling-point. Small fresh white fish are sometimes boiled in the
+stock till quite soft and the whole strained through a colander, then
+finished off as indicated.
+
+POTATO SOUP.—Boil three or four large potatoes after peeling, and when
+done mash them down to a pulp; chop finely a large onion and fry it in
+butter or lard, but do not let it brown. Dredge a little flour on to
+this, then add a teaspoonful of salt and a little pepper and stir up
+with the mashed potato, and thin down with milk to make it like cream,
+stir well till it boils and serve.
+
+Soak white haricot beans for twelve hours, and then boil them until
+they will mash down smoothly, and treat exactly as above, and an
+excellent white soup will result.
+
+ONION BROTH.—Peel, slice thinly and boil, several white onions, using
+a deep saucepan and enough water to cover them well. When quite tender
+and soft stir in half as much milk, and a large spoonful of cornflour
+or barley meal, with butter, pepper and salt enough to season well, let
+it boil up a minute or two and serve.
+
+Or bone stock can be used instead of water, leaving out the milk.
+
+The water in which ham or bacon has been boiled will make excellent
+foundation for peas or lentil soup. Pea flour is less trouble and quite
+as satisfactory as using dried peas, but if the latter are preferred
+let them soak at least twelve hours before boiling in this liquor. Boil
+till soft, then crush through a colander with wooden spoon and season
+the puree well, adding a little butter also. If too thick, thin down
+with either milk or water, put in a spoonful of fresh mint chopped or
+of dried and sifted herbs.
+
+Treat lentils in just the same way, except that they will not need the
+previous soaking that dried peas do.
+
+If pea flour is used, mix it well with cold water first, boil the
+stock and stir in the paste when it is hot and boil well, stirring
+frequently; season and add the herbs or mint as before.
+
+If fresh green peas are used, they need no soaking, only boiling till
+very soft, mashing and thinning down with stock.
+
+PUMPKIN OR VEGETABLE MARROW SOUP.—Pare, split down and take out the
+seeds from large marrows or from portions of ripe pumpkin. Boil in
+enough water to cover well until quite tender, then rub through a
+colander. Melt some butter and mix with it a large spoonful of flour,
+and stir this into the marrow, thinning down with a little boiling
+milk, adding salt and pepper and a spoonful of sugar, a little spice if
+liked, and boil till all is smooth as a custard.
+
+TOMATO SOUP.—Cook half a dozen large tomatoes in a little butter, after
+cutting them in slices and some slices of peeled onion. Cook till
+tender, and rub down with wooden spoon or pass through a colander. Add
+enough clear bone stock to make the required quantity of soup, and salt
+and pepper, with a teaspoonful of sugar also. Then finally stir in some
+butter and flour mixed together to a smooth paste, boil well and serve.
+
+Mixtures of vegetables like turnips, parsnips, artichokes and potatoes,
+with onion to make a savoury flavour, make an excellent white soup.
+Carrots and tomatoes and onion go well together for a soup that is made
+up with bone stock.
+
+It is an improvement in all these soups to use _baked_ flour where
+flour is mentioned, as this gives the soup a richer flavour. To make
+it, spread a little white flour on a sheet of paper and bake very
+slowly in a cool oven, then keep in a tin.
+
+
+Boiled, Baked and Fried Fish
+
+BOILED FISH (which is never really _boiled_ but is cooked just under
+the boiling-point) is done after much the same method, no matter what
+the kind of fish. It is better when boiling large fish to wrap them
+in a piece of clean calico or muslin as the thinner parts get cooked
+before the thicker are done, and with a wrapping it is easier to lift
+the fish out without breaking it. Cook in water that is well salted,
+and if the fish is a white one, like cod, add a little vinegar to the
+water.
+
+Another way of boiling fish is to lay it in a dish with just sufficient
+stock—fish stock by preference—to cover it, with a few small onions
+round it and a little wine or vinegar added.
+
+After boiling, drain the fish well and serve plenty of nice sauce
+separately, and boiled potatoes left whole. A large cod, boiled whole,
+with plenty of mealy potatoes and a dishful of parsley or egg sauce
+will make an excellent meal.
+
+In boiling portions of fish, like middle cuts, it is better after
+draining to take away skin and all bones and then serve it in flakes
+masked under a sauce. It is a neater and more appetising way than to
+have each one leave a mess of skin and bones on their plate, and a very
+pretty dish can be made by sprinkling a little grated cheese or parsley
+on the top and browning the dish before serving.
+
+Watch fish carefully while it is boiling, and as soon as it shows signs
+of parting from the bone it should be drained. If boiled too long all
+its flavour is gone, and if boiled too fast it will be raggy and yet
+tough. Small fish like fresh herrings and mackerel, likewise soles and
+plaice, all of which are very nice when carefully boiled, should rather
+be _poached_, much as one would poach an egg.
+
+BAKED FISH.—The best way of baking any fish is to do it in a paper
+wrapping. If the right kind of paper bag is not to be had, wrap it in
+white notepaper, having buttered this first and put a little pat of
+butter inside with a sprinkle of pepper and salt. Close up tightly and
+bake in a rather hot oven and serve in its paper case if possible.
+If a large piece of fish is baked in a paper bag the wrapping can
+be pulled away when it is safely landed on the dish. Small fish are
+delicious when baked in a paper case, and all the flavour is kept in
+and the natural juice of the fish as well. This is a clean way of
+cooking when the oven is nothing but a flat hearthstone, only care must
+be taken that the paper wrapping cannot catch alight.
+
+FRIED FISH.—A clear hot fire is the first consideration when frying
+anything, then a clean hot pan, some good fat such as rendered suet
+or lard, and not too much of it, and the fish must have been well
+dried after cleaning, then rubbed with flour. If cleaned an hour or
+two before they will be cooked, the fish should be dipped in milk and
+coated with flour, then left to dry, in this way a crust forms on them
+which browns quickly when fried, and is little if at all inferior to
+the more troublesome method of frying what has been coated with beaten
+egg and dipped in crumbs of bread. The rough and ready way of flouring
+fish after drying and then frying in hot fat is quite satisfactory
+when flavour counts for more than appearance, but you cannot fry fish
+_without_ first coating them with dry flour.
+
+Another way is to make a batter with an egg, a little flour, salt and
+milk, making it rather thick, and dipping the fish into this, then
+putting them at once into hot fat. This, too, is an easy method and
+a nice crust forms on the outside of the fish which keeps in all the
+flavour.
+
+Flat fish, like soles, flounders and plaice, are the best for frying,
+or slices cut across a large fish.
+
+The fat in the pan must be very hot indeed, which is told by a faint
+blue smoke rising from it.
+
+GRILLED OR BROILED FISH.—This is the camp ready way of cooking
+freshly-caught fish, and very good it is. After cleaning and emptying,
+the fish is split down the back, rubbed lightly with oil and laid
+on a grid and held over the coals. It wants a little skill to grill
+well, and not to burn the fish, but if quickly cooked in this way,
+turning frequently on both sides, the result is excellent. Herrings
+and mackerel broil well, so do trout and some of the small river fish.
+A pat of butter, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and a few drops of
+vinegar are all the sauce that is needed.
+
+Sufficient directions for roasting, boiling or braising meat have
+already been given, so that we may pass on to savoury dishes, among the
+best of which are—
+
+
+Hotpots
+
+For a LANCASHIRE HOT-POT take about a couple of pounds of lean beef
+and as many potatoes and several onions. Cut the beef into small pieces
+about an inch square and roll these in flour that has been liberally
+seasoned with salt and pepper. Pare the potatoes and cut them in very
+thick slices; peel the onions and chop roughly. Make a layer of beef,
+onions and potato alternately in a stewpan just large enough to hold
+the whole quantity comfortably without leaving much space. Pour in
+enough water to barely cover, then put on the lid and set in a moderate
+oven for quite two hours, to simmer well but not boil. It should be
+very tender and lightly browned on the top. Serve in the same pan. The
+flouring of the meat keeps that more tender and makes the gravy richer.
+
+For a HUNTER’S HOT-POT take any game or rabbits, and after cleaning and
+skinning, joint them and roll in seasoned flour, then form layers of
+rabbit, onion, whole potatoes or pieces of turnip or other sweet roots,
+and fill up with warm water, closing tightly and stewing for two to
+three hours or even longer. Venison would be good stewed in this way.
+Game birds are better stewed without vegetable additions, but with a
+little pork or bacon cut in strips and put with them. Flour well all
+the same.
+
+For IRISH STEW take the neck and breast of mutton and cut in
+convenient sized pieces, flouring well in seasoned flour as before, and
+lay in a deep stewpan with whole onions and potatoes, as many as the
+stewpan will accommodate. Put in less water, only enough to cover the
+bottom well, then lay a plate face downwards on the top before putting
+on the cover of the pan, and cook in good oven for three hours. The
+plate helps to keep in the steam and to keep the top of the stew from
+browning.
+
+For making a Hot-Pot with breast of veal or lamb, as sometimes it is
+possible to do in the spring or summer time, the meat is cut in strips
+and across in short lengths, is floured and put in a deep jar with
+a few very young onions, some herbs like mint and parsley, plenty
+of seasoning and a spoonful of vinegar, as well as sufficient water
+to just barely cover the whole. The vegetable additions are cooked
+separately, although a few boiled green peas might be put into the pot
+just before serving.
+
+A VEGETARIAN HOT-POT is very savoury when no meat is procurable, and a
+mixture of vegetables, such as carrots, onions, potatoes, turnips and
+so on, should be pared, cut into neat rounds and fried well in clear
+fat till all are lightly browned, then sprinkle with pepper and salt
+and dredge flour over very lightly, put the vegetables in the stew
+pan, rinse out the frying-pan with hot water, add just a tablespoonful
+of vinegar or sharp sauce, and pour over the rest. Cover down closely
+and stew for an hour in the oven. A little American green corn taken
+from the husk and put into a vegetable stew makes it very nice.
+
+A bottle of curry powder would be of great assistance to a camp
+cook, as a spoonful of this stirred into a stew or a sauce would
+make a wonderful difference to the savouriness of the dish, to stews
+of mutton especially, and of vegetables without meat. After frying
+the vegetables, let the curry powder be stirred into the fat in the
+frying-pan and mixed with that and the flour, then a little hot water
+or stock added, and just cooked a little before pouring it into
+the stewpan. The addition of an apple or a ripe tomato, or failing
+everything else a spoonful of vinegar, will give the desirable flavour
+of acidity which a curry should have.
+
+
+Fried Steak and Onions
+
+In making this very favourite dish it is well to remember that the best
+results are gained by combining frying and stewing, that is, frying
+first and stewing for a short time afterwards. Only so do you get the
+mellow flavour and the full savour which frying should give. Thus,
+cut the steak into small squares and flour well, then fry in a little,
+not much, hot fat, on both sides, rather quickly, so as to brown well.
+Then lay the pieces of steak as they are done at the bottom of the
+stewpan. While these are being fried a quantity of onions can be peeled
+and sliced up, and with a little more fat added they are put into the
+frying-pan after the meat is finished. Toss them frequently to brown
+lightly all over, and to make them thoroughly tender cover for five or
+ten minutes with a plate large enough to fit the frying-pan, and so let
+them steam through. Then add to the steak, rinse out the pan with warm
+water, add pepper and salt to it, and pour over the onions, cover the
+stewpan down closely and set in a corner of the fireplace to simmer
+for an hour or so. Then the dish will be found both appetizing and
+digestible.
+
+
+Calf’s Liver, Pig’s Fry, etc.
+
+In frying liver follow the same method as just described for steak,
+only cut the liver or the pig’s fry into slices, not too thick, and
+flour very thoroughly, frying till just lightly browned. Fry some bacon
+afterwards which has been cut into strips, and add to the liver; then
+fry the onions as before, season them and add with a little stock to
+rinse out the pan, and cover the stewpan and cook for an hour or more
+in the corner of oven or fireplace.
+
+When frying Mutton Chops coat them with flour first, as this keeps the
+outside from getting dry. Make a nice gravy to go with fried chops by
+adding a very little flour to take up the fat in the frying-pan, some
+spoonfuls of sharp sauce, salt and pepper and a little stock or water,
+boiling this and serving it with them. It takes but a minute or two to
+make gravy, and it makes a great deal of difference to the dish and its
+value.
+
+After frying anything like bacon or ham it is an improvement just
+before it is quite finished to cover it over in the pan with a plate
+and let it steam through for five minutes, thus making it very tender.
+
+
+Toad-in-the-Hole
+
+Beat four tablespoonfuls of flour and two eggs, and a saltspoonful
+of salt, together with a little cold milk, adding more milk when the
+batter is perfectly smooth, enough to make it like thick cream. Cut
+about a pound of beefsteak and one or two kidneys into small pieces,
+lay them at the bottom of a well buttered baking dish or pie-dish,
+sprinkle with salt and pepper, and then pour over them the batter.
+Set the dish in a hot oven, but shield the top to keep from scorching
+before the meat is done through. Mutton chops or sausages can be
+substituted for the beef and kidney, and mushrooms help to give a nice
+flavour. Australian tinned mutton or American corned beef may be used
+this way also and make a very savoury dish, though less savoury than
+fresh meat, of course, and therefore where cooked meat is used a little
+gravy should be made separately and poured over the portions as they
+are served. Fresh meat can be lightly fried before covering it with the
+batter, to make it more savoury.
+
+
+Beefsteak, Kidney and Mushroom Pudding
+
+A plain suet crust made with half a pound of beef suet chopped, a pound
+of flour and teaspoonful of salt, rubbed together and mixed rather dry
+with cold water, then rolled out twice before lining the mould with
+it, is the first step towards making this pudding. Grease the mould
+well, line it with crust rolled to about half an inch thick, and cut
+out a piece for the top to fit exactly. Then proceed to fill with steak
+cut into small squares, each one rolled in flour mixed with salt and
+pepper, and add a few pieces of ox kidney cut small, and mix with
+the meat some peeled mushrooms if these are to be had, or oysters if
+these are available, and failing either the pudding will be very good
+without them. Fill level with the top, wet the edges of the crust and
+pinch down the covering piece, after pouring in sufficient cold water
+to nearly but not quite cover the meat. Then tie down with a cloth,
+or screw on the cover of the mould, whichever kind of mould is used,
+and plunge it into a deep pan of boiling water, and keep boiling very
+fast for four hours—certainly not less than three. If making a larger
+pudding give it still longer time to boil. The moulds with screw on
+covers are much to be recommended, as when using a cloth, however
+carefully this is tied over, some of the gravy and goodness of the
+pudding is apt to ooze through into the water. Take off the cover, bind
+a clean cloth round the mould, and serve, or turn it out into a deep
+dish if preferred.
+
+Where mutton is more plentiful than beef, lean parts, chops trimmed
+from all fat, and kidneys cut in half, with mushrooms, or without them,
+would make another delicious pudding.
+
+Mushrooms alone, plenty of them, liberally sprinkled with pepper and
+salt and floured, might be packed inside a mould lined with suet crust,
+and a few strips of bacon or salt pork put with them, then boiled for
+a couple of hours, and a very savoury pudding would result.
+
+When boiling beef or mutton with vegetables, as before directed, small
+balls of this plain suet crust dropped into the broth when it boils
+and cooked for an hour or so, are, in the opinion of many people, a
+great addition to the dish and certainly help to make it a little more
+substantial.
+
+The same crust lines the mould when sliced apples, plums, berries
+and wild fruits are used for the filling, with sugar added, and when
+boiled this turns out an excellent pudding. Boil always two hours. A
+suet crust improves with long boiling, but is not at all good when too
+little done.
+
+For a JAM ROLL make the crust in the same way, rolling it out to about
+a quarter of an inch thick, in a long strip of ten or twelve inches
+wide. Spread with jam, or treacle, with chopped fruits, soaked dried
+fruits and syrup, or anything that is available, and then begin at
+one end and roll up, not too tightly, pinching down the edges to keep
+it compact. Take a cloth, wring it out of hot water, sprinkle lightly
+with flour, and place your roll pudding across one corner, fold over
+the sides towards the middle, then roll up neatly and securely, but
+again not too tightly, as the pudding wants room to swell, fasten
+securely, and plunge into fast boiling water, and keep boiling without
+intermission for two hours. Unroll from the cloth and serve on hot dish.
+
+A plain boiled suet pudding may be boiled in a cloth, or in a greased
+mould tied down, and served with hot treacle or cane syrup, or white
+sauce in which some spoonfuls of jam have been boiled, sweet sauce with
+wine, and so on, or with the gravy from meat.
+
+The plain pudding may be made richer by adding currants or a liberal
+quantity of stoned raisins to it, or mixing with it treacle, marmalade
+or jam, and then boiling and serving with sauce.
+
+Golden Pudding is of the same type, but may be called the Sunday
+edition of the weekday variety. It is made by mixing the same plain
+ingredients with eggs instead of milk or water, adding a little
+baking-powder to the dry flour first, then a spoonful of orange
+marmalade and two of clear sugar syrup, and after mixing and putting
+into a buttered mould this is boiled for two hours and served with a
+sweet sauce containing a suspicion of something spirituous—whatever
+Sunday rations permit of!
+
+While on the subject of boiled puddings, it will not do to leave out a
+recipe for Christmas Pudding, as there may be occasion for the colonist
+to make his own some day.
+
+Equal quantities (whatever the weight, this depending upon the size
+of pudding required), say, half a pound each of stale crumb of bread
+grated finely, flour, suet minced, currants and stoned raisins and
+sugar; mix these together first, then add two ounces of candied fruit
+shred small, half a packet of mixed spice and teaspoonful of ginger, a
+teaspoonful of salt, four eggs and quarter of a pint of brandy or rum.
+Mix thoroughly and keep for two or three days before boiling, then put
+into moulds and tie over closely, and boil five hours.
+
+To simplify this, leave out the candied fruits and spices, using only
+the plainer ingredients and all raisins can be used instead of currants
+if preferred. A pound of figs cut very small might take the place of
+any other fruit, and the spirituous liquor can be omitted altogether,
+using milk in place of it.
+
+Equal quantities, say half a pound, of stoned and chopped raisins, suet
+and flour, mixed together with cold milk, and boiled for four or five
+hours, make a very excellent substitute for a rich plum-pudding.
+
+
+Baked Milk Puddings
+
+It is a mistake to put eggs in baked milk puddings, except it be when
+a custard is required. A deep dish makes the best puddings of this
+type, and the heat at which they are cooked must be only moderate; they
+do exceedingly well on the flat stones in front of a fire or in the
+hearth after a fire has been swept away, or at the bottom of a clay
+oven as mentioned in the early chapters of this book.
+
+Wash whole rice and barley very thoroughly before using, then allow
+three large tablespoonfuls of either to each pint of milk used. Roughly
+speaking, it is sufficient to cover well the bottom of the dish that is
+used. Add sugar and a little salt and spice if liked, then pour in the
+milk—cold—and stir up well and set to cook.
+
+Tapioca is done the same way, but is not washed before using. Tapioca
+is more nourishing than either rice or barley. Sago makes another
+change, and is also very nourishing, and hominy is likewise good,
+though it is improved by preparing as ground rice, namely, by boiling
+in a saucepan with the milk first, till stiff, and when cool one or two
+eggs and a little spice are beaten in and the mixture is poured into a
+buttered dish and baked till just brown on the surface.
+
+Macaroni is broken into inch lengths and thrown into boiling salted
+water and cooked till just tender, then drained, mixed with one or two
+beaten eggs and a little milk, with grated cheese, pepper and salt, or
+instead with a little sugar and spice, poured into a buttered dish and
+cooked till firmly set.
+
+Or, after boiling till tender, and draining from water, it can be
+returned to the saucepan with plenty of butter and grated cheese,
+pepper and salt, with either a little cream or some tomato sauce,
+and after tossing with a fork cover down and leave to simmer for ten
+minutes, then turn out into a dish and eat with a fork.
+
+
+Batter Puddings
+
+To make a light batter, good either for baking as a Yorkshire pudding,
+for boiling to eat with sauce, or for frying as Pancakes, allow to
+every egg two large tablespoonfuls of flour, half a saltspoonful of
+salt and a breakfast-cupful of milk.
+
+When mixing, break the egg first into a basin, add the salt, then the
+flour and a quarter of the milk, then beat well and briskly, so as to
+work out all traces of lumps, and gradually beat in the rest of the
+milk. A little water as well as the milk makes the batter lighter than
+one made with all milk. Increase the proportions according to the size
+of pudding or the number of pancakes required.
+
+This batter can be poured into a shallow baking tin containing some
+hot fat—for a Yorkshire pudding—and baked rather quickly in hot oven,
+or poured into a buttered mould which it will three-parts fill, tied
+down and boiled or steamed for two hours, or taken by small cupfuls and
+poured into a well-greased frying-pan and turned over as it sets and
+browns.
+
+
+Omelettes
+
+For an omelet the freshest of eggs will be needed, and they are broken
+on to a plate, salt and pepper added and not more than a tablespoonful
+of milk; this is lightly beaten with the blade of a knife until just
+mixed, then poured into the pan, which contains butter that is on the
+point of turning brown. Leave to set, then pass a knife round the edge
+and underneath, fold one half over the other and slip on to a hot dish.
+
+If a cheese omelet is wanted, add some spoonfuls of grated cheese to
+the mixture and cook as just directed.
+
+If minced herbs or mushrooms are added, put the herbs with the eggs,
+but cook the mushrooms in a separate pan with some butter, and just
+before folding the omelet over slip in the cooked mushrooms between.
+Fried giblets and livers and strips of bacon are introduced in the same
+way to make another variation.
+
+
+Cheese and Stale Bread
+
+By grating the bread and cheese and mixing these with an egg, salt and
+pepper and just a little milk, the mixture can make a kind of pancake
+in the ordinary way, or be baked in a buttered pie-dish in the oven as
+a savoury pudding.
+
+Supposing there are some stale crusts and a bit of dry cheese, but no
+eggs or butter. Pour a little boiling water, or better still a little
+boiling milk, over the crusts in a dish and leave to soften, then put a
+little ale or cider into a frying-pan, slice up the cheese very thinly,
+lay it in the hot liquor, and while it is getting hot through beat up
+the soaked bread with a fork, add a sprinkle of salt and then put all
+into the frying-pan and toss up till the whole is thoroughly light and
+hot through.
+
+Another way is to pour milk over broken crusts and set these in a dish
+inside the oven and when hot to cover thickly with grated or sliced
+cheese, salt and pepper enough to season well, and return until just
+browned on the surface.
+
+If very dry crusts of bread are dipped in milk and baked between two
+plates, then spread with butter and toasted cheese, they make a very
+relishable supper.
+
+
+Using Tinned Provisions
+
+In place of fresh milk condensed milk makes excellent milk puddings,
+batter puddings, bread, and so forth. If using the sweetened milk leave
+out sugar mentioned in the recipes. Do not add too much water to the
+milk.
+
+Corned Beef can be cut into small squares and lightly fried, then
+served inside a wall of mashed potato, with a tomato gravy made and
+poured over. Or served inside a batter baked in dish as mentioned in
+Toad-in-the-Hole.
+
+Make a curry sauce by using some bone stock, or stock made by
+dissolving a soup square, adding to it a good spoonful of curry powder
+or paste, a little salt and pepper and tomato or Worcester sauce, and a
+spoonful of baked flour mixed smooth with dissolved butter. Boil up and
+allow to simmer. Fry till very brown some thinly sliced onions, dredge
+with seasoning, and fry also slices of corned beef in same pan after
+the onions are done. Place all in the curry sauce and leave to simmer
+for half an hour, then serve with boiled rice or mashed potato.
+
+Tinned Australian mutton chops can be added to a stew of onions and
+potatoes when these have partly cooked, and with plenty of seasoning
+make a very palatable Irish Stew.
+
+Tinned Rabbit is improved by having a little curry added to the
+gravy after it has been made hot and by cooking it gently to mix the
+flavours. Some boiled onions and white sauce accompany tinned rabbit
+excellently well.
+
+Tinned Fruits and Vegetables can be made hot and served with cooked
+rice or custard sauce, according to what they are, and whether sweet or
+savoury. Tinned peas, for instance, and tinned mushrooms, go well with
+rice and a curry sauce; tinned tomatoes, cheese, pepper and salt, are
+tossed together and fried for a few minutes.
+
+
+Kitchen Wrinkles
+
+Fill all saucepans with cold water as soon as done with and set aside;
+when ready to wash them heat the water and it will be easy to scour
+them with soda and sand. Never leave a pan to be dry before washing, as
+it will be ten times harder to clean and probably require scraping.
+
+Pour all fat that has been used for frying or baking into a jar
+containing a few spoonfuls of boiling water; this clarifies the fat and
+causes all crumbs and sediment to fall to the bottom. The fat can then
+be lifted off in a cake and used over and over again.
+
+Soup that has been over-salted can be corrected to some extent by
+putting in raw potatoes and bringing up to the boiling-point again—not
+letting the potatoes break up and spoil the colour of the soup.
+
+Raw potatoes are one of the best preventives of scurvy, and can be
+eaten if they are grated, while plain boiled potatoes, eaten hot or
+cold, are the best corrective in a diet that contains too much salt
+meat.
+
+Sliced raw onions placed about in saucers are excellent disinfectants
+where there is infectious sickness about; change at least every day and
+substitute fresh onions. Small-pox and other fevers have been kept away
+by having onions hanging in the room. Saucers of slaked lime are also
+good disinfectants, particularly where there is any damp or bad smell
+about.
+
+To take the stains from steel knives clean first with damp earth, then
+rub with a cork and some emery powder and methylated spirit, or with
+powdered wood ash.
+
+
+To Boil Rice
+
+Rice is so often badly-cooked that the Black Man’s way of boiling it
+may be worth quoting. He says—
+
+“Wash him well; much wash in cold water; rice-flour make him stick.
+Water boil all ready, very fast. Shove him in; rice not burn, water
+shake him too much. Boil twenty minutes. Rub one rice in thumb and
+finger; if all rub away him quite done. Put rice in colander, hot water
+run away through; put cold water through him, then put back in pan,
+cover him and keep hot, then soon rice all ready. Eat him up.”
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Vegetables which have strong flavours, such as green cabbage, nettles,
+turnip-tops, and so on, should be drained from the first water, then
+returned to the pan with fresh boiling water. They will be much more
+easily digested if this is done.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+PRACTICAL HINTS FOR THE HANDY MAN
+
+
+Mosquitos, Gnats and Wasp Stings
+
+When camping out, these troublesome insects can inflict much torture,
+and one way of keeping them out of a tent is to hang up a piece of raw
+meat outside it for them to settle upon. To paint freely woodwork and
+canvas with petroleum and ordinary oil mixed together is another way of
+keeping insects at a distance. For the stings themselves, a mixture of
+common soda and salad oil mixed together is a great means of allaying
+the irritation. Pull out the sting if it is still visible and bathe
+with warm water and common salt, then with oil and soda. Rubbing the
+body freely with oil or fat is a preventive of insect bites, and it is
+said that those who will eat spices freely, particularly cinnamon, will
+never be bitten.
+
+
+Screening Sun-Rays
+
+Where light is wanted yet the sun’s rays must be kept out, of cellar or
+room, the best way is to mix whitewash and ordinary blue, coating the
+window with this inside. When afraid of sun-rays on the head remember
+not only to protect the head itself but also the nape of the neck and
+the spine. A thick pleat of something in the lining of the coat or
+shirt and high collar are very necessary in order to guard these nerve
+centres both from excessive cold and heat.
+
+
+Roof-Fire Risks
+
+Roofs, more especially those covered with shingles, boards, tarred felt
+or any form of thatch, are a source of danger from fire. An excellent
+and simple way of protecting them is to run a fairly large pipe,
+with small perforations all along its course, along the ridge pole,
+connecting it with the house water supply if in town or with the water
+cistern in the country. By turning a tap, which should be controlled
+from a place easily got at, the pipe is filled with water which escapes
+through the perforations and covers the whole roof with a thin sheet of
+water. This will extinguish sparks from passing locomotives or a forest
+conflagration, and prevent fire from both internal or external heat. In
+hot climates the system can be employed for cooling the roof.
+
+
+Waterproof Putty
+
+A plastic waterproof paste is often useful. It can be prepared by
+almost anyone anywhere by taking a piece of ordinary cheese, steeping
+it in water until quite soft, then rubbing and kneading it well with
+about half its weight of quicklime. With this you can put in panes of
+glass, stop up cracks, and make wooden cases waterproof.
+
+
+Cutting Glass
+
+When without a glazier’s diamond make a stout wire or thin iron rod red
+hot and draw a line with it, very lightly, where you want the glass
+cut; unless it is very thick glass it will snap off quite easily. And
+for opening a bottle that is too tightly corked, instead of breaking
+the neck and splintering the glass, take a piece of string and soak it
+in turpentine, tie it tightly round the neck of the bottle where you
+wish it broken off, then set fire to the string, and the glass will
+snap off easily at the heated line.
+
+
+Rust on Tools
+
+It is not an easy matter to remove rust from tools without damaging
+them. Better by far is to preserve your tools from rust. Professor
+Olmstead, of Yale College, gave the following recipe for keeping tools
+from rusting, which deserves to be more widely known: Melt together six
+to eight parts of lard to one of resin and stir till cool. It will
+remain semi-liquid. Rub on tools or any polished surface in a very thin
+film. It will protect the metal from damp and can easily be rubbed off
+again when the article is wanted. The resin prevents the oil or lard
+from becoming rancid. When too thick, thin down with benzine.
+
+
+Re-sharpening Files
+
+Files that are constantly in use soon become clogged and will not work
+properly. The material that clogs them should be washed or dissolved
+out. Sawdust can be got out by steeping in hot soap-suds. For iron
+filings use a very dilute solution of sulphate of copper. For copper
+use dilute nitric acid. For zinc dilute sulphuric acid. Use all acids
+very weak, then wash well and dry thoroughly.
+
+
+Nailing Boards
+
+Many people in putting up boards will nail one after the other, making
+a complete job of each board. But this is not the right way. First nail
+the board down on one side, the starting side, let us say the left.
+Next place the second board in position and nail down the left. This
+done, nail down the right side of the first board. Now place board
+three in position, nail down its left side, then the right side of
+board number two, and so on right along. The object of this is to get
+the boards close together and so make a compact job of it. They are
+practically wedged in close to each other. To obtain the best results
+do not drive the nails straight down but at a slight angle, right and
+left. Boards nailed thus cannot be shaken loose. But in nailing up
+cases that have to be opened again, drive the nails straight in as
+that makes lifting up with a screwdriver much easier. To rub nails
+and screws with vaseline, a tin of which should always be kept in the
+tool-box, makes them much easier to drive in and prevents rusting.
+
+
+Gates Without Hinges
+
+Hinges are one of the weak points in gates of all kinds, especially
+heavy wooden ones that have to undergo much hard wear and tear; they
+are apt to break and cannot always be replaced. Say you have a three
+or four-barred gate, with vertical bars longer than the horizontal.
+The top and lowest bars of the gate must project beyond the horizontal
+and should be pierced with round holes. The gate is hung by having its
+end post passed through the hole in the lower bar; the top bar is then
+placed in position and the top of the gate post passed through its
+hole. The intermediate bars are nailed to shorter posts which do not
+come higher than the level of the top of the gate. A gate of this kind
+will swing easily provided the holes are made large enough.
+
+Another gate is more like the swinging section of a fence, and is
+intended to block watercourses which run dry, at certain seasons. On
+the other hand if the fence is brought down too low or made too solid
+it may be swept away when the water rises. The method is to construct a
+string hurdle, planned so as to stop gaps, with a strong and long top
+bar. This top bar just rests in bifurcated posts on each bank or side,
+the posts forming a sort of V-shaped rest. If necessary, this top bar
+can be rivetted to the posts and the bottom of the hurdle weighted with
+stones. If not weighted, however, the result is that the watercourse is
+fenced over but the hurdle swings when the water rushes through without
+being carried away and falls back into position as the stream subsides.
+
+
+Watches as Compasses
+
+All watches are compasses, and this fact may help any one out of a
+difficulty when uncertain of their bearings. All that has to be done is
+to point the hour hand to the sun. The south lies exactly between that
+point and the hour twelve; thus at six o’clock the exact south will be
+found at the point marked three on the dial.
+
+If the way has been lost and bearings cannot be taken either from an
+elevation or by a compass or watch, and a watercourse can be found,
+follow that downwards; it will at least prevent travelling in a circle,
+and most likely lead to some habitation.
+
+
+Substitute for Coffee
+
+The grains of corn, such as wheat or oats, make an excellent substitute
+for coffee if dried and browned on tins over a fire and then bruised
+or ground up. So do small beans of the haricot variety. They may be
+crushed between stones and then roasted in a pan over the fire, and
+boiled with water, the liquor being poured off clear. All raw fruits
+and root vegetables like potatoes are preventives of scurvy, and dried
+fruits like peaches and apples are excellent sustaining food on a
+march, while dried raisins are better than all.
+
+
+To Make Limewash
+
+Mix quicklime in a bucket with hot water and glue. If for disinfecting
+purposes add a little carbolic solution. Care must be taken not to let
+a splash get into the eyes, and if by accident it does so, bathe the
+eyes at once with warm water and vinegar. The acid neutralises the lime.
+
+
+To Make Whitewash
+
+Put some whiting into a pail and add powdered dry size. Pour on boiling
+water till the mixture is as thick as cream, and to keep it white add
+a little common washing blue. A tint of salmon pink or terra-cotta
+is obtained by mixing some Venetian red with the whiting. Whiting is
+easier and safer to apply than limewash, but is no use for disinfectant
+purposes.
+
+
+Suggestions
+
+Agates are sold for sixpence by tobacconists and can be kept with a
+piece of tinder in a little tin box, to use instead of a flint for
+procuring a spark from steel.
+
+The burning-glass taken from a telescope and held over tinder in hot
+sunshine will cause it to ignite.
+
+Firewood should be looked for under bushes, as the driest and easiest
+to light is always found there. Old tree roots make excellent firewood.
+Large logs make the best fire when placed transversely and built in
+with smaller wood.
+
+When obliged to sleep on the ground scrape a hollow for the hip bone to
+rest in and another for the shoulder, then much better rest is obtained.
+
+A piece of mackintosh should always be taken with any rugs, but failing
+mackintosh a piece of tarred or painted canvas is excellent for keeping
+out damp. Brown paper is an excellent non-conductor of heat, and if
+placed between rugs and blankets makes one worth two in warmth. A bag
+filled with grass or dry earth makes a good pillow. Thick quilts or
+rugs with sheets of wadding quilted in between them are better for
+bed-coverings than blankets when camping out, and are lighter to carry.
+
+Take care to keep the extremities warm when in cold climate. Increase
+the warmth of knitted woollens by lining them with thin flannel or
+silk, and cut the legs from stockings that are worn out at the feet and
+use these for covering the arms. Keep the mouth covered if you would
+keep warm in keen frosty weather, as this prevents rapid evaporation of
+the heat of the body. The Red Indians knew this, and one of them seeing
+a white man suffering from cold once remarked to him, “You no keep your
+breath warm and so, you cold.”
+
+Much sugar should be consumed in cold climates, and eating sweets
+freely is much to be commended. Toffee can be made easily over a
+camp fire at night, and is wholesome faring for anyone. Chocolate
+is excellent food likewise, and peppermint candies are good for
+stimulating digestion and warming the stomach.
+
+A thick dressing-gown is a great comfort in either hot or cold
+climates; it can be worn while day clothes are airing or drying and is
+a better sleeping dress than night clothes when travelling.
+
+During cold weather, after washing the body, rub well with oil to help
+to keep the skin soft and free from sores. A horse-hair flesh glove to
+use for a vigorous dry rub is better than too frequent washing in water.
+
+Grease the soles of shoes when much walking has to be done, and a layer
+of grease between the foot and shoe is a great preventive of foot
+sores. The harder the ground the thicker the socks or stockings should
+be.
+
+
+A Summary of Useful Things
+
+A mincing machine, a small sewing machine, English-made steel knives
+(plated knives are in common use in Canada, but they are apt to be
+very blunt). Kitchen tools, horn spoons and enamelled plates and cups.
+Small pair of bellows. A leather roll containing chisel, gouge, files,
+nippers, screwdrivers, gimlet and hand saw, with a few nails and
+screws—this is as indispensable as a “Housewife,” although the latter
+article must not be left behind. A can-opener and strong clasp-knife,
+some strong glue, a shoemaker’s reel of thread and some cobbler’s wax,
+and tin of vaseline, are all excellent if not absolutely indispensable.
+
+
+_Printed by_ BUTLER & TANNER, _Frome and London_.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78919 ***