Essays; Political, Economical, and Philosophical Part 18

Cheese may likewise be made use of for giving an agreeable relish to these soups; and a very small quant.i.ty of it will be sufficient for that purpose, provided it has a strong taste, and is properly applied.--It should be grated to a powder with a grater, and a small quant.i.ty of this powder thrown over the soup, AFTER IT IS DISHED OUT.--This is frequently done at the sumptuous tables of the rich, and is thought a great delicacy; while the Poor, who have so few enjoyments, have not been taught to avail themselves of this, which is so much within their reach.

Those whole avocations call them to visit distant countries, and those whose fortune enables them to travel for their amus.e.m.e.nt or improvement, have many opportunities of acquiring useful information; and in consequence of this intercourse with strangers, many improvements, and more REFINEMENTS, have been introduced into this country; but the most important advantages that MIGHT be derived from an intimate knowledge of the manners and customs of differing nations,--the introduction of improvements tending to facilitate the means of subsistence, and to increase the comforts and conveniences of the most necessitous and most numerous cla.s.ses of society,--have been, alas! little attended to. Our extensive commerce enables us to procure, and we do actually import most of the valuable commodities which are the produce either of the foil of the ocean, or of the industry of man in all the various regions of the habitable globe;--but the result of the EXPERIENCE OF AGES respecting the use that can be made of those commodities has seldom been thought worth importing! I never see maccaroni in England, or polenta in Germany, upon the tables of the rich, without lamenting that cheap and wholesome luxuries should be monopolized by those who stand least in need of them; while the Poor, who, one would think, ought to be considered as having almost an EXCLUSIVE right to them, (as they were both invented by the Poor of a neighbouring nation,) are kept in perfect ignorance of them.

But these two kinds of Food are so palatable, wholesome, and nouris.h.i.+ng, and may be provided so easily, and at so very cheap a rate in all countries, and particularly in Great Britain, that I think I cannot do better than to devote a few pages to the examination of them;--and I shall begin with Polenta, or Indian corn, as it is called in this country.

CHAPTER. VI.

Of INDIAN CORN.

It affords the cheapest and most nouris.h.i.+ng food known.

Proofs that it is more nouris.h.i.+ng than rice.

Different ways of preparing or cooking it.

Computation of the expense of feeding a person with it, founded on experiment.

Approved Receipt for making an INDIAN PUDDING.

I cannot help increasing the length of this Essay much beyond the bounds I originally a.s.signed to it, in order to have an opportunity of recommending a kind of Food which I believe to be beyond comparison the most nouris.h.i.+ng, cheapest, and most wholesome that can be procured for feeding the Poor.--This is Indian Corn, a most valuable production; and which grows in almost all climates; and though it does not succeed remarkably well in Great Britain, and in some parts of Germany, yet it may easily be had in great abundance, from other countries; and commonly at a very low rate.

The common people in the northern parts of Italy live almost entirely upon it; and throughout the whole Continent of America it makes a princ.i.p.al article of Food.--In Italy it is called Polenta, where it is prepared or cooked in a variety of ways, and forms the basis of a number of very nouris.h.i.+ng dishes.-- The most common way however of using it in that country is to grind it into meal, and with water to make it into a thick kind of pudding, like what in this country is called a hasty-pudding, which is eaten with various kinds of sauce, and sometimes without any sauce.

In the northern parts of North America, the common household bread throughout the country is composed of one part of Indian meal and one part of rye meal; and I much doubt whether a more wholesome, or more nouris.h.i.+ng kind of bread can be made.

Rice is universally allowed to be very nouris.h.i.+ng,--much more so even than wheat; but there is a circ.u.mstance well known to all those who are acquainted with the details of feeding the negro slaves in the southern states of North America, and in the West Indies, that would seem to prove, in a very decisive and satisfactory manner, that INDIAN CORN IS EVEN MORE NOURIs.h.i.+NG THAN RICE.--In those countries, where rice and Indian Corn are both produced in the greatest abundance, the negroes have frequently had their option between these two kinds of Food; and have invariably preferred the latter.--The reasons they give for this preference they express in strong, though not in very delicate terms.--They say that "Rice turns to water in their bellies, and runs off;"--but "Indian Corn stays with them, and makes strong to work."

This account of the preference which negroes give to Indian Corn for Food, and of their reasons for this preference, was communicated to me by two gentlemen of most respectable character, well known in England, and now resident in London, who were formerly planters; one in Georgia, and the other in Jamaica.

The nutritive quant.i.ty which Indian Corn possessed, in a most eminent degree, when employed for fattening hogs and poultry, and for giving strength to working oxen, has long been universally known and acknowledged in every part of North America; and n.o.body in that country thinks of employing any other grain for those purposes.

All these facts prove to a demonstration that India Corn possesses very extraordinary nutritive powers; and it is well known that there is no species of grain that can be had so cheap, or in so great abundance;--it is therefore well worthy the attention of those who are engaged in providing cheap and wholesome Food for the Poor,--or in taking measures for warding off the evils which commonly attend a general scarcity of provisions, to consider in time, how this useful article of Food may be procured in large quant.i.ties, and how the introduction of it into common use can be most easily be effected.

In regard to the manner of using Indian Corn, there are a vast variety of different ways in which it may be prepared, or cooked, in order to its being used as Food.--One simple and obvious way of using it, is to mix it with wheat, rye, or barley meal, in making bread; but when it is used for making bread, and particularly when it is mixed with wheat flour, it will greatly improve the quality of the bread if the Indian meal, (the coa.r.s.er part of the bran being first separated from it by sifting,) be previously mixed with water, and boiled for a considerable length of time,--two or three hours for instance, over a slow fire, before the other meal or flour is added to it.--This boiling, which, if the proper quant.i.ty of water is employed, will bring the ma.s.s to the consistency of a thin pudding, will effectually remove a certain disagreeable RAW TASTE in the Indian Corn, which simple baking will not entirely take away; and the wheat flour being mixed with this pudding after it has been taken from the fire and cooked, and the whole well kneaded together, may be made to rise, and be formed into loaves, and baked into bread, with the same facility that bread is made of wheat flour alone, or of any mixtures of different kinds of meal.

When the Indian meal is previously prepared by boiling, in the manner here described, a most excellent, and very palatable kind of bread, not inferior to wheaten bread, may be made of equal parts of this meal and of common wheat flour.

But the most simple, and I believe the best, and most economical way of employing Indian Corn as Food, is to make it into puddings.--There is, as I have already observed, a certain rawness in the taste of it, which nothing but long boiling can remove; but when that disagreeable taste is removed, it becomes extremely palatable; and that it is remarkably wholesome, has been proved by so much experience that no doubts can possibly be entertained of that fact.

The culture of it required more labour than most other kinds of grain; but, on the other hand, the produce is very abundant, and it is always much cheaper than either wheat or rye.-- The price of it in the Carolinas, and in Georgia, has often been as low as eighteen pence, and sometimes as one s.h.i.+lling sterling per bushel;--but the Indian Corn which is grown in those southern states is much inferior, both in weight and in its qualities, to that which is the produce of colder climates.--Indian Corn of the growth of Canada, and the New England states, which is generally thought to be worth twenty per cent. more per bushel than that which is grown in the southern states, may commonly be bought for two and sixpence, or three s.h.i.+llings a bushel.

It is now three s.h.i.+llings and sixpence a bushel at Boston; but the prices of provisions of all kinds have been much raised of late in all parts of America, owing to the uncommonly high prices which are paid for them in the European markets since the commencement of the present war.

Indian Corn and rye are very nearly of the same weight, but the former gives rather more flour, when ground and sifted, than the latter.--I find by a report of the Board of Agriculture, of the 10th of November 1795, that three bushels of Indian Corn weighed 1 cwt. 1 qr. 18 lb. (or 53 lb. each bushel), and gave 1 cwt. 20 lb.

of flour and 26 lb. of bran; while three bushels of rye, weighing 1 cwt. 1 qr. 22 lb. (or 54 lb. the bushel), gave only 1 cwt. 17 lb.

of flour and 28 lb. of bran.-- But I much suspect that the Indian Corn used in these experiments was not of the best quality[13].

I saw some of it, and it appeared to me to be of that kind which is commonly grown in the southern states of North America.-- Indian Corn of the growth of colder climates is, probably, at least as heavy as wheat, which weights at a medium about 58 lb.

per bushel, and I imagine it will give nearly as much flour[14].

In regard to the most advantageous method of using Indian Corn as Food, I would strongly recommend, particularly when it is employed for feeding the Poor, a dish made of it that is in the highest estimation throughout America, and which is really very good, and very nouris.h.i.+ng. This is called hasty-pudding; and it is made in the following manner: A quant.i.ty of water, proportioned to the quant.i.ty of hasty-pudding intended to be made, is put over the fire in an open iron pot, or kettle, and a proper quant.i.ty of salt for seasoning the pudding being previously dissolved in the water, Indian meal is stirred into it, by little and little, with a wooded spoon with a long handle, while the water goes on to be heated and made to boil;-- great care being taken to put in the meal by very small quant.i.ties, and by sifting it slowly through the fingers of the left hand, and stirring the water about very briskly at the same time with the wooden spoon, with the right hand, to mix the meal with the water in such a manner as to prevent lumps being formed.-- The meal should be added so slowly, that, when the water is brought to boil, the ma.s.s should not be thicker than water-gruel, and half an hour more, at least, should be employed to add the additional quant.i.ty of meal necessary for bringing the pudding to be of the proper consistency; during which time it should be stirred about continually, and kept constantly boiling.-- The method of determining when the pudding has acquired the proper consistency is this;--the wooden spoon used for stirring it being placed upright in the middle of the kettle, if it falls down, more meal must be added; but if the pudding is sufficiently thick and adhesive to support it in a vertical position, it is declared to be PROOF; and no more meal is added.--If the boiling, instead of being continued only half an hour, be prolonged to three quarters of an hour, or an hour, the pudding will be considerably improved by this prolongation.

This hasty-pudding, when done, may be eaten in various ways.-- It may be put, while hot, by spoonfuls into a bowl of milk, and eaten with the milk with a spoon, in lieu of bread; and used in this way it is remarkably palatable.--It may likewise be eaten, while hot, with a sauce composed of b.u.t.ter and brown sugar, or b.u.t.ter and mola.s.ses, with or without a few drops of vinegar; and however people who have not been accustomed to this American cookery may be prejudiced against it, they will find upon trial that it makes a most excellent dish, and one which never fails to be much liked by those who are accustomed to it.

--The universal fondness of Americans for it proves that it must have some merit;--for in a country which produces all the delicacies of the table in the greatest abundance, it is not to be supposed that a whole nation should have a taste so depraved as to give a decided preference to any particular species of Food which has not something to recommend it.

The manner in which hasty-pudding is eaten with b.u.t.ter and sugar, or b.u.t.ter and mola.s.ses, in America, is as follows: The hasty-pudding being spread out equally upon a plate, while hot, an excavation is made in the middle of it, with a spoon, into which excavation a piece of b.u.t.ter, as large as a nutmeg, is put; and upon it, a spoonful of brown sugar, or more commonly of mola.s.ses.-- The b.u.t.ter being soon melted by the heat of the pudding, mixes with the sugar, or mola.s.ses, and forms a sauce, which, being confined in the excavation made for it, occupies the middle of the plate.--The pudding is then eaten with a spoon, each spoonful of it being dipt into the sauce before it is carried to the mouth; care being had in taking it up, to begin on the outside, or near the brim of the plate, and to approach the center by regular advances, in order not to demolish too soon the excavation which forms the reservoir for the sauce.

If I am prolix in these descriptions, my reader must excuse me; for persuaded as I am that the action of Food upon the palate, and consequently the pleasure of eating, depends very much indeed upon the MANNER in which the Food is applied to the organs of taste, I have thought it necessary to mention, and even to ill.u.s.trate in the clearest manner, every circ.u.mstance which appeared to me to have influence in producing those important effects.

In the case in question, as it is the sauce alone which gives taste and palatableness to the Food, and consequently is the cause of the pleasure enjoyed in eating it, the importance of applying, or using it, in such a manner as to produce the greatest and most durable effect possible on the organs of taste, is quite evident; and in the manner of eating this Food which has here been described and recommended, the small quant.i.ty of sauce used, (and the quant.i.ty must be small, as it is the expensive article,) is certainly applied to the palate more immediately;-- by a greater surface;--and in a state of greater condensation;-- and consequently acts upon it more powerfully;--and continues to act upon it for a greater length of time, than it could well be made to do when used in any other way.--Were it more intimately mixed with the pudding, for instance, instead of being merely applied to its external surface, its action would certainly be much less powerful; and were it poured over the pudding, or was proper care not taken to keep it confined in the little excavation or reservoir made in the midst of the pudding to contain it, much of it would attach itself and adhere to the surface of the plate, and be lost.

Hasty-pudding has this in particular to recommend it;--and which renders it singularly useful as Food for poor families,--that when more of it is made at once than is immediately wanted, what remains may be preserved good for several days, and a number of very palatable dishes may be made of it.--It may be cut in thin slice, and toasted before the fire, or on a gridiron, and eaten instead of bread, either in milk, or in any kind of soup or pottage; or with any other kind of Food with which bread is commonly eaten; or it may be eaten cold, without any preparation, with a warm sauce made of b.u.t.ter, mola.s.ses, or sugar, and a little vinegar.--In this last-mentioned way of eating it, it is quite as palatable, and I believe more wholesome, than when eaten warm; that is to say, when it is first made.--It may likewise be put cold, without any preparation, into hot milk; and this mixture is by no means unpalatable, particularly if it be suffered to remain in the milk till it is warmed throughout, or if it be boiled in the milk for a few moments.

A favourite dish in America, and a very good one, is made of cold boiled cabbage chopped fine, with a small quant.i.ty of cold boiled beef, and slices of cold hasty-pudding, all fried together in b.u.t.ter or hog's lard.

Though hasty-puddings are commonly made of Indian meal, yet it is by no means uncommon to make them of equal parts of Indian, and of rye meal;--and they are sometimes made of rye meal alone; or of rye meal and wheat flour mixed.

To give a satisfactory idea of the expence of preparing hasty-puddings in this country, (England,) and of feeding the Poor with them, I made the following experiment:--About 2 pints of water, which weighed just 2 lb. Avoirdupois, were put over the fire in a saucepan of a proper size, and 58 grains in weight or 1/120 of a pound of salt being added, the water was made to boil.--During the time that is was heating, small quant.i.ties of Indian meal were stirred into it, and care was taken, by moving the water briskly about, with a wooden spoon, to prevent the meal from being formed into lumps; and as often as any lumps were observed, they were carefully broken with the spoon;--the boiling was then continued half an hour, and during this time the pudding was continually stirred about with the wooden spoon, and so much more meal was added as was found necessary to bring the pudding to be of the proper consistency.

This being done, it was taken from the fire and weighed, and was found to weigh just 1 lb. 11 1/2 oz.--Upon weighing the meal which remained, (the quant.i.ty first provided having been exactly determined by weight in the beginning of the experiment,) it was found that just HALF A POUND of meal had been used.

From the result of this experiment it appears, that for each pound of Indian meal employed in making hasty-pudding, we may reckon 3 lb. 9 oz. of the pudding.--And expence of providing this kind of Food, or the cost of it by the pound, at the present high price of grain in this country, may be seen by the following computation:

L. s. d.

Half a pound of Indian meal, (the quant.i.ty) ]

used in the foregoing experiment,) at 2d ]

a pound or 7s. 6d. a bushel for the corn, ]... 0 0 1 (the price stated in the report of the ]

Board of Agriculture of the 10th of ]

November 1795, so often referred to,) costs]

58 grains or 1/120 of a pound of salt, at ]

2d. per pound ]... 0 0 0 1/60 ------------ Total, 0 0 1 1/60

Now, as the quant.i.ty of pudding prepared with these ingredients was 1 lb. 11 1/2 oz. and the cost of the ingredients amounted to ONE PENNY AND ONE SIXTIETH OF A PENNY, this gives for the cost of one pound of hasty-pudding 71/120 of a penny, or 2 1/3 farthings, very nearly.--It must however be remembered that the Indian Corn is here reckoned at a very exorbitant price indeed[15].

But before it can be determined what the expence will be of feeding the Poor with this kind of Food, it will be necessary to ascertain how much of it will be required to give a comfortable meal to one person; and how much the expence will be of providing the sauce for that quant.i.ty of pudding.--To determine these two points with some degree of precision, I made the following experiment:-- Having taken my breakfast, consisting of two dishes of coffee, with cream, and a dry toast, at my usual hour of breakfasting, (nine o'clock in the morning,) and having fasted from that time till five o'clock in the afternoon, I then dined upon my hasty-pudding, with the American sauce already described, and I found, after my appet.i.te for Food was perfectly satisfied, and I felt that I had made a comfortable dinner, that I had eaten just 1 lb. 1 1/2 oz. of the pudding; and the ingredients, of which the sauce which was eaten with it was composed, were half an ounce of b.u.t.ter; three quarters of an ounce of mola.s.ses; and 21 grains or 1/342 of a pint of vinegar.

The cost of this dinner may be seen by the following computation:

For the Pudding Farthings.

1 lb. 1 1/2 oz. of hasty-pudding, at 2 1/3 farthings a pound ... ... ... ... 2 1/2 ------ For the Sauce

Half an ounce of b.u.t.ter, at 10d. per pound 1 1/4 Three quarters of an ounce of mola.s.ses, at 6d. per pound ... ... ... ... 1 1/352 of a pint of vinegar, at 2s 8d.

the gallon ... ... ... ... ... ... 0 1/16 ------ Total for the Sauce, 2 5/16 farthings.

Sum total of expences for this dinner, for the pudding and its sauce... ... ... 4 13/16 farthings.

Or something less than one penny farthing.

I believe it would not be easy to provide a dinner in London, at this time, when provisions of all kinds are so dear, equally grateful to the palate and satisfying to the cravings of hunger, at a smaller expence.--And that this meal was sufficient for all the purposes of nourishment appears from hence, that though I took my usual exercise, and did not sup after it, I neither felt any particular faintness, nor any unusual degree of appet.i.te for my breakfast next morning.

I have been the more particular in my account of this experiment, to show in what manner experiments of this kind ought, in my opinion, to be conducted;--and also to induce others to engage in these most useful investigations.