Hand-Book of Practical Cookery, for Ladies and Professional Cooks: Containing the Whole Science and Art of Preparing Human Food

seen in the cuts. WATER. Rain-water is for cooking purposes, as for other purposes, the best, but is seldom used, especially in large cities, where it is difficult to procure it. Another difficulty is, when procured it soon gets foul. The next best is river-water, or water from lakes. By boiling, water evaporates its gases and alkali, and is inferior afterward for cooking purposes, especially for boiling vegetables; therefore, we earnestly recommend to use the water at the first boiling. When foul water has to be used for want of other, if no filter, charcoal, sand, or paper can be had to filter it, it will improve by boiling it and then exposing it to the air for some time. WINES. Native wines, when pure, are just as good as any other for cooking purposes. It is wrong and a great mistake to underrate native wines; they have a little more acerbity than foreign wines, but are not inferior. It cannot be otherwise, being grown in a virgin soil, or nearly so. The richer the soil or the younger the vineyard, the more acid the wine. Cold nights during the ripening of the fruit make the wine more acid, not ripening so perfectly. Wine is a healthy drink, and many invalids would recover much quicker by a judicious use of it. Different wines are used in cooking, and we give the names of the best ones in the different receipts. A little vinegar may be used as a substitute for wine, but it is very inferior, and in many dishes it cannot be used at all. A few dollars spent during the year in wine for cooking purposes, makes much better and more wholesome dishes. White wine contains little tannin; it retains nitrogenous matters, and is free from essential oils; hence the superior flavor and quality of brandy made with white wines. It is more aperient and less nutritive than red wine. Essential oils pass in red wine while it is fermenting. Wine and sugar with certain fruits are excellent, and are known to neutralize the crudity of the fruit,