Conservative cookery / by Margaret Blatch.

  • Margaret Blatch
Date:
[Between 1920 and 1929?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Conservative cookery / by Margaret Blatch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Humane Diet Leaflets. Ernest Bett, M.A., President The Vegetarian Society. Edited by BERTRAND ALLINSON, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., President London Vegetarian Society. 13. Conservative Cookery. By Marcaret BLATCH. T is well-known that vegetables contain natural mineral salts and mild acids, which are of vital importance to the blood, to the necessary functions of the body and our general well- being. We should therefore use the best means in our power to retain these valuable elements in the cooking of our vegetables. It is obvious that the more water we use in the process the more we shall draw out the flavour and the salts and acids. ‘The exception which is made in the use of tea shows very clearly what takes place. No one in this case thinks of throwing away the water and eating the leaves, which is what is done in much of the cooking of vegetables. The conservative method, then, is the method which, as the term applies, aims at conserving or keeping the valuable properties in the vegetables instead of throwing them away. If the water in which vegetables are boiled, is saved and used as stocks for soups and sauces, then we are giving back to a certain extent that which we have previously extracted. But it is not always convenient or advisable to trust to this method. The wiser plan is to use as little water as possible, or better still, the vegetables may be steamed or stewed, when they will retain every particle of the mineral salts. In the case of pulse foods, macaronis and rice, the necessary quantity of water should be ascertained from the Conservative Cookery Book recipes or by personal experiment. Spinach and cabbage may be cooked without any water at all, with the addition of a small piece of butter, and most vegetables, with the exception of cauliflowers and one or two others, lend themselves to this conservative cookery. Cauliflower water can always be used as stock, and is one of the finest and most tasty foundations for soups. With cauliflowers, Brussel Sprouts, peas and beans, a little water is advisable at starting, and with carrots, turnips and beetroots a little milk in the jar is good. It may be noted that vegetables take a good deal longer to cook by this method.
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