We are only beginning very slowly to recognise the valuable properties of nuts and their possibilities in the cuisine. Indeed, there is a rather deep-rooted prejudice against them as food, people having been so long accustomed to regard them as an unconsidered trifle to accompany the wine after a big dinner, and as in this connection they usually call up visions of dyspepsia, many people regard the idea of their bulking at all largely in a meal with undisguised horror. I remember a lady saying to me that she was quite sure a meal composed to any extent of nuts would kill her, for if she took even one walnut after dinner it gave her such pain. That rather reminds one of the story of a half-witted fellow who used to go about the country doing odd jobs, and asking in return a meal and a shake-down of straw or hay.

He always expressed astonishment at folks being able to sleep on feather beds, his aversion being founded on the fact that he had one night lain down on the hard ground with a single feather under him. "An' if I had sic a sarkfu' o' sair banes wi ae feather," he argued, "what like maun it be wi' a hale bed?"

Well, I can assure readers that whatever may be the troubles of a solitary nut in an oasis of good things, it is very different when nuts are taken alone or in a suitable and simple combination. Most of our digestive troubles are due to an excess of proteid matter, which clogs up the system, and either lodges in the body in the shape of some morbid secretion, or tries to force its way out in an abnormal way, as by the skin. Now, nuts are very rich in proteid, or flesh-forming matter, and it stands to reason, that if we superimpose them on an already full, or overfull, meal, the result is surfeit, and however wholesome or digestible this excess matter may be in itself, it may, and usually does, work harm in more or less obvious ways.

But curiously enough, this does not always work out with mathematical directness. Most things in the physical, as in the metaphysical, world work out as Ruskin says "not mathematically, but chemically." Though this may seem a far-fetched simile in connection with our dinner, it is a true one. To get back to our nuts. If after a meal of several courses, rich in quality and variety, highly-spiced and flavoured, and perhaps interspersed with little piquant relishes, serving to whet the appetite for the next course, one takes only a very few nuts, or an apple, or a banana, the probability is that "these last" will give the most direct trouble. The gastric juices may be already exhausted, and the nuts, therefore, lie a hard undigested mass on the stomach; or the apple digesting very quickly, and being ready to leave the stomach some hours before its other contents, but having to bide their time, ferments and gives off objectionable gases. Thus, the innocent fruit gets the blame, and the fish, game, or meat go free. Another way in which fruits may prove indigestible, through no fault of their own, is because of the unsuitable combination in which they are eaten. Most nuts, with the exception of chestnuts, which are largely composed of starch, consist almost entirely of fat, which, unless it meets with an alkali to dissolve it, is digested with great difficulty. The uric acid in flesh tends to harden this fat, and so retards digestion.

The medical faculty now recognise the nutritive properties of nuts, as also their wholesomeness and freedom from all toxic elements, and at all sanatoria for the treatment of rheumatic and gouty affections a nut and fruit diet is the established regime. We need not, however, go to an expensive sanatorium to enjoy this food, but may cure, or better, prevent these diseases in our own homes.

They are, I believe, best in their natural state, along with fresh fruits, salads, and the like, but there are also many dainty dishes, in the composition of which they may be used with advantage.

Mock Chicken Cutlets

only require to be known to be appreciated. Grate ¼ lb. shelled walnuts - this is best and easiest done by running through a nut-mill, but these are not expensive, as they may be had from 1s. 6d. - or Brazil nuts, and add to them two teacupfuls bread crumbs, mix in ½ oz. butter, spoonful onion juice, and a little mace, white pepper, salt or celery salt. Melt ½ oz. butter in saucepan. Mix in a teaspoonful flour, and add by degrees a gill of milk. When it thickens add the other ingredients. Mix well over the fire. Remove and stir in a beaten egg and teaspoonful lemon juice. Mix all thoroughly and turn out to cool. Form into cutlets, egg, crumb, and fry. Serve with bread sauce or tomato sauce.

Brazil Omelet

Take 2 ozs. shelled Brazil nuts and rub off the brown skin. If they are put in slow oven for 10 minutes, both shell and skin will come off easily. Flake in a nut-mill or pound quite smooth. Add the yolk of hard boiled egg, a teaspoonful ground almonds, or almond meal, and make into a paste. Then add some grated onion, a tablespoonful baked or mashed potato, the same of bread crumbs, and seasoning to taste. Mix well, and add the yolks of two eggs beaten up, and after mixing thoroughly, stir in lightly the two whites beaten quite stiff, butter a shallow tin or soup-plate, and pour in the mixture. Cover and bake gently, till set - about an hour. When cool, cut into neat shapes, egg, crumb, and fry. The same mixture will also make a delicious

Brazil Souffle

Add another white of egg stiffly beaten, and steam gently for 30 minutes.

Brazilian Quenelles

Add another two tablespoonfuls bread crumbs, and leave out the potato; use three eggs, but beat yolks and whites together. Butter one large or a number of small moulds, fill with the mixture, and steam gently for 20 to 40 minutes, according to size; turn out, and serve, if large, with slices of tomatoes baked or fried, arranged round. If small ones, have tomatoes piled up in centre and quenelles placed round.

A number of other savouries, in which nuts form a part, can be made by substituting grated walnuts, Brazil nuts, almonds, almond meal, Barcelonas, &c., for peas, beans, lentils, &c., in the previous recipes. As they are highly nutritive and concentrated, they must be used sparingly, however, along with plenty of bread crumbs, rice, and the like. There is no need to detail these, but I will give one to show what I mean.

Tags: Recipes and Cooking