INTRODUCTION

How to make pure food, better food and to economize on the cost of same is just now taxing the attention and ingenuity of domestic science teachers and food experts generally. The average housewife is intensely interested in the result of these findings, and must keep in touch with them to keep up with the times and run her home in an intelligent and economical as well as healthful routine.

The eternal feminine question is, "What shall we have for dinner to-day?" It is not always the easiest thing in the world to think of a seasonable menu, nor to determine just the right combination that will furnish a meal appetizing and well-balanced in food values. Furthermore, both the expense and the amount of work entailed in preparation must be considered.

This Cook Book is especially designed to meet just that pressing daily need of the housewife. It presents for her guidance a menu for every Sunday dinner in the year; it suggests dishes which are seasonable as well as practical; it tells in a simple, intelligent manner just how these dishes can be made in the most wholesome and economical form; and the recipes have all been especially made for this book and tested by that eminent expert, Mrs. Elizabeth O. Hiller.

The title of "52 Sunday Dinners" has been given the book because Sunday dinners as a rule are a little more elaborate than the other dinners of the week, but from these menus may be gleaned helpful hints for daily use.

While climatic conditions differ somewhat in various sections of the country, we have tried to approximate the general average, so that the suggestions might be as valuable to the housewife in New England as to the housewife in the West or South, or vice versa.

Simplicity, economy and wholesomeness have been given preferred attention in the preparation of these recipes, many of which are here presented for the first time.

In the interest of health and economy a number of the recipes suggest the use of Cottolene—a frying and shortening medium of unquestioned purity—in place of butter or lard. Cottolene is a vegetable shortening, pure in source and manufactured amid cleanly favorable surroundings. It is no new, untried experiment, having been used by domestic science experts and thousands of housewives for nearly twenty years; to them Cottolene for shortening and frying is "equal to butter at half the price, better and more healthful than lard—and more economical than either." We, therefore, offer no apologies for the small proportion of recipes specifying the use of Cottolene, and suggest that a trial will convince any housewife that Cottolene makes better food than either butter or lard, and is preferable from the standpoints of efficiency, economy and healthfulness.

We commend this book to your critical inspection and test, believing you will find it convenient, helpful, unique and pointing the way to better and more economical living.

For All Shortening and Frying Use COTTOLENE

Cottolene is not offered the housewife as a cheap imitation of either butter or lard, but as a vegetable product which is superior to either for cooking purposes. Because it happens to be about half the price of butter, or less, is but an additional reason, from a purely economical standpoint, for its use. The main argument for the use of Cottolene is the purity of its ingredients and the wholesomeness of the food prepared with it.

There isn't an ounce of hog fat in Cottolene, and from cottonfield to kitchen human hands never touch the product. It is pure and absolutely free from taint or contamination from source to consumer. Packed in our patent, air-tight tin pails, Cottolene reaches you as fresh as the day it was made. Lard and butter are sold in bulk, and do not have this protection.

Cottolene is always uniform in quality, and because of its freedom from moisture it goes one-third farther than butter or lard, both of which contain about 20% of water. It is much more economical than lard; about 50% more so than butter.

Cottolene contains no salt, and is richer in shortening properties than either butter or lard. Two-thirds of a pound of Cottolene will give better results than a pound of either butter or lard.

Because Cottolene is made from sweet and pure oils, refined by our own special process, it makes food more digestible. Its use insures light, flaky pie-crust; it makes deliciously crisp, tender doughnuts; for cake-making it creams up beautifully and gives results equal to the best cooking butter; muffins, fritters, shortcake and all other pastry are best when made with Cottolene; it makes food light and rich, but never greasy. Cottolene heats to a higher temperature than butter or lard, and cooks so quickly the fat has no chance to soak in.

You can fry fish in Cottolene and use the remaining fat for frying