Volume 2

Health lectures for the people.

Date:
1883-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health lectures for the people. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    128/600 (page 116)
    Soyer, used to say that all vegetable soups are improved by the addition of a little vinegar and brown sugar. The cheapest, and in some respects best kind of lentils are the Egyptian. They, however, have a good deal of earth about them, and require much more washing than the split red lentils, which resemble split peas in appearance. A dish that Sir Eobert Christison specially recommended to us is made of well-boiled lentils, surrounded by boiled rice, and covered with melted butter, to which a little chopped parsley has been added. There are many ways of cooking lentils, peas, and beans. All of these may be made into soups of various kinds, or may be added to broth or other soups. Peas make a capital dish in the shape of peas-pudding, which is taken with pork. Pease-brose and fat pease-brose (the latter being ordinary pease-brose with the addition of some dripping) are admirable and nutritious dishes, with the additional recommendation of being quickly and easily prepared. Beans, either broad or haricot, may be served as a vegetable when plainly boiled, or with parsley sauce over them, and they should always accompany boiled bacon. Or, after being well- boiled, and the water allowed to drain away, they may be tossed in a frying-pan with fat bacon cut into small pieces. It is not in our department to give you the arguments for and against vegetarianism, but a few facts which are well established may be of practical use to you. 1st. Pulses are not so easily digested as animal food, and are, therefore, more suited for those who have good digestion than for the weakly. 2nd. Pulses are more digestible when taken with even a small amount of animal food, than when taken alone. 3d. When fat or oil is taken with them, they are also more easily digested than if eaten alone. Vegetables. The pulses are vegetables, but those we shall now speak of are more commonly called garden vegetables.