A New Level of Taste

<p>In preparing a new and carefully revised edition of this my first work on general cookery I have introduced improvements corrected errors and added new receipts that I trust will on trial be found satisfactory. The success of the book (proved by its immense and increasing circulation) affords conclusive evidence that it has obtained the approbation of a large number of my countrywomen; many of whom have informed me that it has made practical housewives of young ladies who have entered into married life with no other acquirements than a few showy accomplishments.</p><p> </p><p>Gentlemen also have told me of great improvements in the family-table after presenting their wives with this manual of domestic cookery; and that after a morning devoted to the fatigues of business they no longer find themselves subjected to the annoyance of an ill-dressed dinner. No man (or woman either) ought to be incapable of distinguishing bad eatables from good ones. Yet I have heard some few ladies boast of that incapacity as something meritorious and declare that they considered the quality the preparation and even the taste of food as things entirely beneath the attention of a rational being; their own minds being always occupied with objects of far greater importance.</p><p> </p><p>Let all housekeepers remember that there is no possibility of producing nice dishes without a liberal allowance of good ingredients. Out of nothing nothing can come is a homely proverb but a true one. And so is the ancient caution against being penny-wise and pound-foolish. By judicious management and by taking due care that nothing is wasted or thrown away which might be used to advantage one family will live excellently well at no greater cost in the end than another family is expending on a table that never has a good thing upon it. </p>