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MRS RORER'S
NEW
COOK BOOK
A MANUAL
OF
HOUSEKEEPING
By
SARAH TYSON RORER
Author of Mrs. Rorer's Philadelphia Cook Book, Canning and Preserving,
Bread and Bread Making, and other valuable works on cookery; Principal of
Philadelphia Cooking School.
PHILADELPHIA
ARNOLD AND COMPANY
420 Sansom Street
Copyright 1902 by SARAH TYSON RORER
All Rights Reserved
Printed by George H. Buchanan and
Company at the Sign of the Ivy
Leaf in Sansom Street Philadelphia
PREFACE
AN active teacher and a constant student must in twenty years collect and
accumulate a vast amount of knowledge; in fact, too much to be embodied in
a single book.
I have no apology to offer for the appearance of a new book on Domestic
Science, especially this one. It represents on paper The School at its
period of highest development, and the results of hard work of the best
years of my life. Please read carefully each chapter of instructions
preceding the recipes, for herein lies the great value of the work. I have
not compiled a recipe book, but have made a complete new book telling the
things one needs to know about cooking, living, health, and the easiest
and best way of housekeeping. It is a book of general household knowledge.
A great change in the methods of living has taken place in America during
the last few years. There was a time in the memory of teachers yet quite
young when schools of cookery were places where persons were taught to
make all sorts of fancy, odd and occasionally used dishes. In fact, to
succeed with these elaborate dyspeptic-producing concoctions was the
highest ambition. All this has now changed: the teacher or cook book
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(an ever present teacher) that does not teach health, body building, and
economy in time and money, is short lived. There are still a few women who
do elaborate cooking to please the palate and appetite, and the general
habits of people. They are still in the palate stage of existence. Strive
to reach a higher plane of thought--eat to live. Why should any woman be
asked to stand for hours over a hot fire mixing compounds to make people
ill? Is this cookery? Is the headache that follows a food debauchery more
pleasant or pardonable or less injurious than that which follows drink?
Results of intemperance are identical. Simple living and high thinking
have the approval of learned men and women, but, like all temperance
questions, depend so much upon habit, education and palate that progress
must be slow; but there is no better stimulant to the enthusiastic worker
than slow progressionthe constant but regular improvement.
It has been fifteen years since I published my first book; during this
time I have seen the art progress from "fancy cookery" to the highest type
of Domestic Science. It has found a permanent place in the curriculum of
our public schools, where it has been most valuable as a means of mental
and moral training as well as useful for the individual in home keeping or
obtaining a livelihood, all of which tend to and aid in the development
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of industries. To fit students for living should be the main object of
public education.
I believe that every woman should know how to housekeep. Giving up
entirely the moral influence of a good meal, I believe that all women
should learn to cook as an aid to higher education. Cookery puts into
practice chemistry, biology, physiology, arithmetic, and establishes an
artistic taste. And if our motto is, "Let us live well, simply,
economically, healthfully and artistically," we have embraced all the arts
and sciences.
[Editorial note: .Reproduction of a handwritten signature.]
Sarah Tyson Rorer
View page [table of contents]
> CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface ......................................... 3
Chemistry of Foods .............................. 9
Kitchen Calendar ............................... 17
Proper Seasons for Different Foods ............. 26
Methods of Cooking ............................. 33
Soups .......................................... 47
Thick, Nutritious Soups ........................ 63
Soups with Milk ................................ 67
Soups from White Stock ......................... 77
Chicken Soups .................................. 81
Gumbos of Okra and Filee ....................... 83
Mutton Soups .................................. 85
Fish Soups ..................................... 86
Chowders ....................................... 92
Fish ........................................... 95
Odd Dishes of Fish ............................ 106
Frogs ......................................... 113
Crustaceae .................................... 114
Mollusks ...................................... 123
Meats ......................................... 135
Beef .......................................... 140
Mutton ........................................ 163
Pork .......................................... 181
Poultry ....................................... 186
Game .......................................... 204
Stuffings ..................................... 212
Meat Sauces ................................... 214
Carving ....................................... 231
Serving ....................................... 239
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PAGE
EGGS .......................................... 247
Milk .......................................... 259
Cream ......................................... 267
Butter ........................................ 268
Cheese ........................................ 271
Vegetables .................................... 277
Starchy Vegetables ............................ 283
Italian Pastes ................................ 300
Starchy Vegetables, also Containing Sugar ..... 311
Succulent Vegetables Containing a Little Starch and Sugar
..................................... 317
Vegetables Containing Nitrogen and Starch ..... 323
Vegetables Containing Nitrogenous Matter with- out Starch or Sugar
........................... 338
Vegetables Containing Sugar, No Starch ........ 349
Green or Succulent Vegetables ................. 361
Salad Plants .................................. 422
A Few Edible Weeds ............................ 424
Plants Used as Seasonings and Flavorings ...... 426
Spices ........................................ 431
Flavorings .................................... 436
Salads ........................................ 439
Dinner Salads ................................. 448
Luncheon, Supper and Reception Salads ......... 457
Fish Salads ................................... 467
Cereal Foods .................................. 474
Bread ......................................... 487
Small Breads .................................. 501
The Second Cooking of Bread ................... 505
Baking Powder Breads .......................... 507
Sour Milk and Soda Breads ..................... 514
Quick Breads with Eggs ........................ 515
Unleaven Breads ............................... 518
Nuts .......................................... 522
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PAGE
Serving of Fruits ............................. 542
Sub-acid and Dried Fruits ..................... 549
Pastry ........................................ 551
Desserts ...................................... 558
Cold Puddings ................................. 558
Plain Desserts ................................ 568
Simple Hot Puddings, Containing Eggs or Milk .. 571
Desserts, Flavored with Chocolate ............. 581
Desserts without Eggs or Milk ................. 584
Apple Desserts, Few Containing Eggs or Milk ... 588
Frozen Desserts ............................... 600
Pudding Sauces ................................ 607
Cakes ......................................... 613
Fillings ...................................... 626
Candies ....................................... 628
Beverages ..................................... 634
Fruit Punches ................................. 638
Jelly Making and Preserving ................... 640
Jelly Making .................................. 642
Preserving .................................... 644
Canning ....................................... 647
Canning Vegetables ............................ 650
Table Waiting, or How to Train the Waitress ... 653
A Plea for the Little Dinner .................. 664
Serving Dinner without a Maid ................. 667
Jewish Recipes ................................670
Spanish Recipes ............................... 680
Creole Recipes ................................ 685
Hawaiian Recipes .............................. 691
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> CHEMISTRY OF FOOD
Of all the changes brought about during the Nineteenth Century, few have
had a greater influence for good than the progress made in scientific
cookery. A proper understanding of the conditions under which we live is
of vital importance and assistance to the housewife and mother. Domestic
science, including chemistry of food, is now taught in nearly all the
public schools of our large cities. The young child is able to tell not
only the chemistry of common foods, but the effect of heat upon them.
These girls when they reach womanhood will be able to select and cook
foods necessary to sustain and build the body-?they will know the elements
of food, the general plan of body building.
Let us compare the living machine, the human body, to the railroad engine
or locomotive. For both it is necessary to begin by selecting materials
for the general structure. When these materials have been worked and
fitted together, fuel must be constantly supplied and an abundance of air
to make it burn; and in the third place water is required. As a result of
this combination, motion, heat and waste are produced.
Pure air is of vast importance in body building. The oxygen uniting with
the combustible part of the materials produces energy. The approximate
principles of the body are resolved into about sixteen elements, each of
which must be constantly sustained and nourished. A "perfect" or
"complete" food contains all the elements necessary for the building of
body. There are in the body five gases: Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen,
chlorine and fluorine. The four solids are carbon, sulphur, phosphorus and
silica. Seven minerals: Cal-cium, sodium, potassium, magnesium,
manganesium and a trace of iron and copper. Oxygen, hydrogen and carbon
are found in nearly all the tissues and fluids of the body. Seventy-five
per
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cent of the adult human body is water; the proportion is greater in
infants and less in the aged. It is one of the essentials in carrying on
the vital processes. It dissolves substances necessary for the nutrition
of the body, and carries from it the waste products. It is the medium in
which chemical reaction takes place, and which carries the nutrient
materials from one place to another. A considerable increase of water in
the body, however, is looked upon as unfortunate, while a deficiency, if
prolonged, causes a retention and accumulation of waste in the body,
resulting in imperfect nutrition, and is one of the chief causes of
constipation.
Potassium chloride is found in the cells of tissues and in the muscle
juices and nerve tissues. Green plants contain more potassium than sodium
salts. This is also true of the potato; hence, succulent green vegetables
supply to the system one of the necessary elements. We are told that green
vegetables have no food value, and, according to the common acceptance of
the meaning of these words, we can readily understand that they lack
tissue-building elements; but they contain salts, which play a very
important part in body building. Magnesium is found with lime in the
tissues. No one has ever discovered its particular use, but there it is, a
constant ingredient in the muscles and brain. To have a perfect diet, one
must select from all the food products, not live on a too concentrated or
restricted diet.
Nutrition may be said to take place under five conditions: Digestion,
absorption, assimilation, destructive metabolism and elimination or
excretion. The first begins in the mouth and continues throughout the
alimentary canal; it is the process by which food is converted into
assimilable compounds. All foods are not immediately assimilated or used;
some are stored for future use. For instance, starch is digested and
stored in the liver as glycogen. The carbohydrates are burned for heat
and energy, and the excess stored as fat in the connective tissues.
Destructive metabolism is a process that is continually going on in the
tissues; a sort of tearing out of the dead cells during the activity of
building the new. For example, the waste products cast out of the lungs
are products
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of destructive metabolism. They are no longer required by the system, are,
in fact, in the way, and must be thrown aside for new materials.
The relations between food, exercise and habits of the individual must be
in proper proportion to the food ingested. The works of the body are of
two kinds, muscular and nervous, and the internal as well as the external
work is done by the stored energy produced by the burning or oxidization
of the foods. Persons frequently forget that every time the heart beats,
blood is consumed to produce the muscular action. In the energy of living,
we use blood produced from the food we eat.
Alimentary principles may be divided into three classes: The albuminoids,
nitrogenous foods or proteids; three words meaning the same, and
comprising lean meats, fish, mollusks ( oysters and clams ), the
crustaceae ( lobsters, crabs, shrimps), cheese, casein in milk, legumin
found in the leguminous seeds, as old peas, beans and lentils, nitrogenous
matter in nuts and the gluten of grains. The second division,
non-nitrogenous or carbonaceous foods, consists of fats and the
carbo-hydrates, the sugars, starches and mucilage, inulin and pectose,
found in sea weeds and certain vegetables. The third group consists of
inorganic foods, water and mineral salts.
Eggs and milk are typical or perfect foods; that is, they contain within
themselves all the elements necessary for the development of the young of
their especial kind. The egg is a perfect food for the development of the
chick, and milk for the young mammal; neither of these are, however,
perfect foods for the human adult. When added to our daily bills of fare
they are placed in the nitrogenous or albuminous group, and served with
such foods as white bread and butter. Cows ' milk, a typical food for the
calf, is by no means a typical food for the human being. Nor would human
milk supply the requirements of the calf. The calf gets its growth in from
four to five years; from infancy to manhood is three times that long. One
can see at a glance that such food would quite upset the delicate
digestive apparatus of an infant. When we go contrary to the laws of
nature, sickness and suffering are the results. Cows '
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milk does not agree with the average infant; it was never meant to agree
and has no right to agree. In vegetable foods the carbo-hydrates
predominate and must therefore be mixed with nitrogenous substances, in
order to form a perfect diet. Many vegetables are rich in nitrogen, others
in starch. In arranging our daily bills of fare these must be blended.
A perfect diet consists of common food materials blended to suit the age,
sex, occupation and climate in which the individual lives. They must not
only be well proportioned, but well selected and taken in proper
quantities, or they are worse than waste, as their presence clogs the
delicate digestive organs, throwing them out of order. There is more
danger from over-eating than from under-eating. When persons reach middle
life or a little beyond there is less vigor, hence, less necessity for a
large quantity of food. People who disobey this rule either accumulate fat
and become unwieldy, or wear out the secretory organs, and have such
diseases as gout, rheumatism, Bright's disease, and many kindred
complaints. Rich and highly-seasoned dishes please the palate and induce
the thoughtless to take greater quantities of food than can be
assimilated; too much meat, too many starchy foods and sweets with too few
green vegetables and fruits produce torpid or over-worked livers. Men as a
class eat too much meat, and are prone to kidney and liver troubles; women
eat too much starch mixed with sugar and cooked butter, as in cakes,
preserves and puddings, and are prone to corpulency and constipation.
The total amount of food required each twenty-four hours varies, of
course, with the occupation and condition of the individual. The average
adult in exercise requires as a day's ration about six pounds; of this
amount about three and a half pounds will be water, much of which is found
in the common foods and taken in beverages. Of the remaining part,
one-fourth will be nitrogenous matter; three-fourths carbonaceous, with
about two hundred grains of mineral matter. This is not the amount
consumed by the average American, but the amount he should consume.
Animal foods, being richer in albuminoids or nitrogenous
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constituents, must be taken in small quantities. By mixing a small amount
of lean beef with bread or potato we get a food palatable, attractive and
containing the necessary requirements. A mixture of beans and potatoes
will contain rather more of the tissue-building elements. It would require
two pounds of ordinary bread to supply the nitrogen in twelve ounces of
meat. Three meals a day might be arranged from a table of ingredients
containing the proper proportions of all the elements:
Bread. ......................................... 12 oz.
Butter. ......................................... 3 "
Milk. ........................................... 4 "
Potato. ......................................... 6 "
Rice. ........................................... 4 "
Cabbage. ........................................ 6 "
Cheese.......................................... 4 "
Sugar. .......................................... 1 "
Water alone, including that in tea and coffee.. 55 "
A second illustration will give another example of the same idea:
Beef, weighed raw.............................. 12 oz.
Whole wheat bread. ............................. 23 "
Butter. ......................................... 3 "
Potato. ........................................ 10 "
Water. ......................................... 55 "
Each one of these articles may be replaced by another of the same class.
For instance, old beans are nitrogenous or muscle-making foods and may be
substituted for beef; cheese, the casein of milk, may be substituted for
either beef or beans; rice, macaroni, white bread, boiled chestnuts, white
or sweet potato es, are each interchangeable one with the other, at
different meals. Olive oil, cream, oleaginous nuts and butter are also
interchangeable. When green or succulent vegetables or fruits are used,
less water is required. It is wise to serve fruits with cereals or breads,
vegetables with meats, cream with starchy puddings, olive oil with green
vegetables. Digestion is more easily performed with correct combinations.
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Starch does not occur in animal foods, but nitrogen is found abundantly in
many vegetables. Nitrogenous foods are, as a rule, more easily digested
uncooked. All starchy foods must be well and thoroughly cooked.
In old peas, beans and lentils the starch is so incorporated with legumin,
the nitrogenous principle, that the cooking must be long and slowly done
in order to soften the envelope or wall of the starch granules, otherwise
fermentation or flatulency will result.
The first object of cooking is to assist digestion. Careful, simple
cooking only can do this; for instance, baked or boiled potatoes are
easily digested; when fried the starch granules are covered with a coating
of fat which prevents digestive secretions from acting on them; frying
renders them difficult of digestion. A large quantity of fried foods may
be eaten without nourishing the body; and of one thing we are quite sure,
they always tax the digestive organs. Many foods are chemically changed in
the process of digestion. Starch is not found in the blood as starch, but
is changed by enzymes (unorganized ferments) in the digestive secretions,
into sugar. The ptyalin of the saliva, the pepsin and rennin of the
stomach, the trypsin, amylopsin, and steapsin of the intestinal secretions
are enzymes.
The enzyme ptyalin in the saliva (an alkaline medium) acts upon the starch
precisely the same as diastase, which is found in the common malt
extracts. If our foods are well cooked and thoroughly masticated we assist
in the digestion of the starches and save the cost of "aids to digestion."
Digestion is natural; indigestion, the artificial digestion, unnatural.
The secretions of the stomach are slightly acid and have no effect upon
starches. The starches are separated in the stomach from other substances
and passed on into the second stomach, the duodenum, the upper part of the
small intestine, where again, in the presence of alkaline secretions, they
meet the enzyme amylopsin, which continues and completes the digestion
begun in the mouth.
The nitrogenous foods are torn apart by mastication; they enter the
stomach (an acid medium), and in the presence of
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the enzyme pepsin are partly or wholly digested, as the conditions may be;
if the digestion is not finished, they pass into the duodenum where in the
presence of an alkaline medium, digestion is continued by the enzyme
trypsin. The oils are emulsionized in the small intestine in an alkaline
medium, by enzyme steapsin and the bile.
Defective teeth and hasty mastication are frequently the primary causes of
indigestion. Soft foods are to be especially condemned; mushes, for
instance, should be masticated, other-wise they pass into the small
intestine in an unprepared condition. Starches are burned in the body to
produce heat and energy; they also produce fat. If taken in excess of that
needed for immediate use, are stored as fat in the connective tissue. Fats
and oils are burned in the body to produce heat and energy. Too much
starch and sugar increase the weight of the body and crowd the liver. The
albuminoids build the muscular lean flesh and tissues. Mineral matter aids
in the formation of the teeth and bones. The cereals are rich in these
salts, hence, are admirable foods for the young, not infants, but for
children sufficiently old to have teeth for mastication, and for nursing
mothers.
DIET TABLE
This table shows the quantity of nitrogenous and carbona-ceous elements in
one hundred parts of some of our common foods and will assist in arranging
a well balanced dietary.
Nitrogen.
Carbon.
Lean beef. ....................................
3.00
11.00
Common roasted beef. ..........................
3.528
17.76
Calf 's liver. .................................
3.093
15.68
Calf 's heart. .................................
2.031
16.00
White fish. ...................................
2.41
9.00
Salmon. .......................................
2.09
16.00
Eels. .........................................
2.00
30.05
Eggs.. ........................................
1.90
l3.50
Milk ( cow's )..................................
.66
8.00
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Nitrogen.
Carbon.
Oysters. ......................................
2.13
7.18
Lobster. ......................................
2.93
10.96
Cheese (ripe old).............................
4.126
41.04
Cheese (Cream)................................
2.920
71.10
Cheese (Neufchatel)...........................
1.27
50.71
Beans (fresh full-grown Limas)................
4.50
42.00
Beans (old dried).............................
4.15
48.50
Peas (dried)..................................
3.66
44.00
Peas (split)..................................
3.91
46.00
Lentils. ......................................
3.87
43.00
Hard wheat. ...................................
3.00
41.00
Soft wheat. ...................................
1.8l
39.00
Flour, white.. ................................
1.64
38.50
Oatmeal. ......................................
1.95
44.00
Rye flour. ....................................
1.75
41.00
Rice. .........................................
1.80
41.00
Potatoes......................................
.33
11.00
Barley. .......................................
1.90
40.00
Indian corn. ..................................
1.70
44.00
Bread (common home-made)......................
1.20
30.00
Carrots. ......................................
.31
5.50
Fish (dried)..................................
.92
34.00
Nuts (English walnuts)........................
1.40
20.65
Almonds. ......................................
2.67
40.00
Butter. .......................................
.64
83.00
Olive oil. ...............................
Traces only.
98.00
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> KITCHEN CALENDAR
The inexperienced housewife finds more or less difficulty in determining
the exact time required for cooking the various vegetables and meats so
that they may all be done for the same meal at the same time. Thermometers
for ovens have not, until recently, been in general use. Now one can have
the so-called "thermometer," really an indicator, put into the oven door
of any modern range, either gas, coal or wood, and at a very small cost;
thus relieving the cook from the necessity of standing and watching and
making unsatisfactory attempts to ascertain the true heat of the oven. One
cannot always tell what is meant by a moderate, moderately cool or quick
oven, unless one has had long experience, and even then there is a lack of
exactness and an unusual amount of worry. In this calendar, we refer only
to Fahrenheit.
A potato will bake in three-quarters of an hour at a temperature of 300°
Fahr.; it will harden on the outside and almost burn at a temperature of
400° in twenty minutes, and if the oven is only 220° it will take one hour
and a quarter to a half.
In boiling meats always use boiling water and after the first five minutes
of rapid boiling reduce the temperature to 180°, and cook twenty minutes
to each pound. The meat must always be covered with water.
In making stews where the meat is cut into small pieces, it is better to
heat it at first in a little fat, then make the sauce and allow the meat
to cook for two hours at a temperature of 180°.
An eight pound turkey with stuffing should go into an oven at 400° for a
half hour to seal the outside, and then bake at 280° for two hours longer.
Without stuffing, the oven must be 400° for a half hour and then dropped
to 280° for an hour and a half.
A four pound chicken with stuffing will bake at 400° for a
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half hour; and then one and a half hours at 280°; the same sized chicken
not stuffed, a half hour at 400°, then one hour at 280°.
A tame duck stuffed with potatoes placed in an oven at 360° requires one
hour to brown and one hour at 230 to finish.
A goose must be cooked according to its age, and it is very difficult to
select a young goose unless one is experienced. See directions for
selecting geese. If they are stuffed with potatoes, cook in an oven at
400° for thirty minutes; then for two hours at 230°, basting frequently.
> SCHEDULE FOR FISH AND GAME
Fish take on their weight in length rather than bulk, which gives a
specific time independent of weight. Brown quickly for a half hour, then
cook at 300° for a second half hour. Planked fish under the gas or before
a wood fire will require thirty minutes, and in a coal, wood or oil oven
forty-five minutes.
Oysters are done when the gills are thoroughly curled.
Game such as woodcock, snipe and pheasants, must be roasted or baked
continuously for thirty minutes at 400°.
Partridge, split down the back, thirty minutes at 400°.
Prairie chicken forty-five minutes at 400°.
A haunch of venison will cook in a quick oven at 400° about thirty
minutes, then bake slowly for two hours at 300°, basting frequently.
To test run a skewer in the fleshy part and if the blood follows upon
drawing the skewer out and the meat at the same time is tender and rare,
it is done.
All red meats should be served rare; all white meats well done.
All meats should be easily done before being seasoned with salt, as the
salt draws out the juices and toughens the fibre, making even good meat
dry and unpalatable.
> GENERAL BAKING IN COAL OR WOOD STOVE
All meats must go into a very hot oven (400°). After they have been
thoroughly seared on the outside cool down the oven
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to 260°, when the fat will begin to melt. Baste with this fat every
fifteen minutes. Do not use water.
Bread in small French loaves will be baked continuously at 360° for 30
minutes; square loaves at 300° for ten minutes and for fifty minutes at
260°.
Pastry, such as patties and tarts, for twenty minutes at 360°.
Muffins, gems, sally lunns and other light breads twenty minutes at 360°.
Corn bread in shallow pans forty-five minutes at 360°.
Pies with upper crust thirty minutes at 360°; with under crust thirty
minutes at 340°.
Apples, cored, in a slow oven at 260°, so that they may become soft
without hardening the skin.
Cakes without butter require a hot oven 300° to 360°.
Four-egg sponge cake, twenty minutes; six-egg sponge cake thirty minutes;
ten-egg sponge cake, forty-five minutes.
Angel food and sunshine cake, baked in pans made for the purpose, require
a cool oven, 230°, which is gradually increased during the first half hour
to 260°, baking in all three-quarters of an hour. If the cake is not brown
at the end of this time increase the heat for just a moment until it
assumes the proper color.
Cakes containing butter, such as pound cake, cup cake and fruit cake, must
be baked in a very slow oven.
Fruit cake may be steamed for three hours and finished in an oven at a
temperature of 240°, or it may be put into an oven at 220° for three hours
and finished at 260° for one hour.
For gas baking allow twenty degrees less than the above.
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The time required for cooking green vegetables:
Green peas, young and fresh.......................... 15 minutes
Green peas, old and not fresh........................ 30 "
String beans......................................... 45 "
Beans, shelled (green)............................... 45 "
Lima beans, young, fresh............................. 30 "
Lima beans, dried (soaked)........................... 45 "
Cabbage, whole head, simmer.......................... 2 hours
Cabbage, half head................................... 1 hour
Cabbage, quarter head................................ 30 minutes
Cabbage, chopped..................................... 20 minutes
Cauliflower and Broccoli............................. 30 "
Cucumbers, cut into quarters......................... 30 "
Squash, pared and cut into blocks.................... 20 "
Pumpkin, in squares for pies......................... 30 "
Tomatoes, peeled and stewed.......................... 30 "
Tomatoes, baked, whole, slow oven.................... 1 hour
Tomatoes, stuffed and baked.......................... 1 "
Green peppers, stuffed............................... 1 "
Green peppers, stewed................................ 30 minutes
Onions, new.......................................... 45 "
Spanish onions, whole................................ 2 hours
Spanish onions, cut into slices...................... 1 hour
Okra................................................. 1 "
Celery, stewed....................................... 30 minutes
Spinach.............................................. 10 "
Brussels sprouts, fresh.............................. 30 "
Kale................................................. 45 "
Bananas, baked (240°)............................ 30 "
Apples, sweet, baked (slow).......................... 30 "
Apples, sour, baked (slow)........................... 20 "
All underground vegetables are as a rule rich in woody fibre; use boiling,
unsalted water to start, adding salt when they are partly cooked.
Rule for cooking dry and underground vegetables.
Potatoes, to boil until they can be easily pierced to the center with a
fork................................... 30 minutes
Potatoes, to bake, slowly............................ 45 "
Potatoes, cut into dice to cream..................... 10 "
Rice, Carolina....................................... 30 "
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Rice, Patna.......................................... 20 minutes
Beans, soup, dried, soaked over night, slowly........ 2 hours
Beans, if for baking, until skin cracks.............. 30 minutes
Peas, dried, soaked over night....................... 2 hours
Lentils, dried, soaked over night.................... 1 hour
Sweet potatoes, medium size, to boil................. 40 minutes
Sweet potatoes, medium size, to bake............ 45 to 50 "
Turnips, white, cut into blocks, to stew............. 20 "
Turnips, yellow, cut into blocks, to stew............ 30 "
Carrots, cut into dice, to stew...................... 1 hour
Parsnips, cut into halves............................ 1 "
Beets, new........................................... 45 minutes
Beets, old........................................... 4 hours
Salsify, boiled...................................... 45 minutes
Globe artichokes..................................... 45 "
Jerusalem artichokes, sliced......................... 30 "
Jerusalem artichokes, whole.......................... 45 "
Asparagus............................................ 45 "
Polk shorts.......................................... 45 "
Green sweet corn, after it begins to boil............ 5 "
> TO MEASURE
A half pint measuring cup, tin or glass, can be purchased at any
house-furnishing store for ten cents, and is the standard measure for all
recipes.
These measures are level.
A "cup" = 1/2 pint
1 gill (1/4 pint) = 1/2 cup
1 pint of brown sugar = 13 ounces
2 cups (or 1 pint) of granulated sugar = 1 pound
2 1/4 cups of powdered sugar = 1 "
4 cups of sifted flour = 1 "
1 pint of water = 1 "
1 pint of solid fat = 1 "
1 pint of solid chopped cooked meat = 1 "
1 pint of wheat = 1 " 1 ounce
1 pint of Indian meal = 1 "
10 eggs, medium sized, = 1 "
A common tumbler holds about 1/2 pint
A common-sized wineglass, 4 tablespoonfuls = 1/2 gill
A dash of pepper = 1/2 saltspoonful
View page [22]
> ROUNDING MEASURES
To save confusion in weights and to be uniform with English and French
methods, measure all tablespoonfuls and teaspoonfuls rounding, as much
above the spoon as the bowl below. In all these recipes a tablespoonful or
teaspoonful means a rounding measure, unless otherwise stated.
1 rounding tablespoonful of flour = 1/2 ounce
1 rounding tablespoonful of sugar = 1 "
1 rounding tablespoonful of butter = 1 "
1 tablespoonful of ordinary liquids = 1/2 "
1 saltspoonful = 1/4 teaspoonful
1 teaspoonful = 1/4 tablespoonful
2 teaspoonfuls = 1 dessertspoonful
4 teaspoonfuls = 1 tablespoonful
1 dessertspoonful = 1 /2 "
2 dessertspoonfuls = 1 "
45 drops of water = 1 teaspoonful
1 teaspoonful = 1 fluid dram
16 oz. avoirdupois, or commercial weight = 1 pound
A hundredweight = 112 pounds
31 1/2 gallons, liquid measure = 1 barrel
2 barrels = 1 hogshead
1 barrel of potatoes about 150 pounds
1 barrel of flour = 196 pounds
1 barrel of sugar about 350 pounds
> THERMOMETER SCALES
Fahrenheit?Freezing point = 32° of the scale
" Boiling point = 212° " "
Centigrade?Freezing point = 0° " "
" Boiling point = 100° " "
A degree of Centigrade is greater than a degree of Fahrenheit as nine is
greater than five.
To reduce Fahrenheit to Centigrade subtract 32 from the given number in
Fahrenheit, muliply the result by 5 and divide this by 9. To change
Centigrade to Fahrenheit multiply the degrees of Centigrade by 9, divide
the result by 5, then add 32. Boiling point of water at sea level,
Fahrenheit, 212°; Centigrade 100°.
View page [23]
> DIGESTIBILITY OF FOODS
ARTICLES OF DIET.
HOW COOKED.
TIME OF CHYMIFICATION.
H.M.
Pigs'Feet (soused).............
Boiled
1 00
Sweetbreads....................
Stewed or Broiled
1 00
Tripe..........................
Boiled
1 00
Rice...........................
Boiled?plain
1 00
Eggs...........................
Raw
2 00
Eggs (whipped).................
Raw
1 30
Eggs...........................
Soft Boiled
1 30
Rice...........................
Boiled with milk
1 30
Salmon Trout...................
Boiled
1 30
Venison Steak..................
Broiled
1 30
Brains.........................
Boiled
1 45
Ox Liver.......................
Broiled
2 00
Cod fish (cured dry)...........
Boiled
2 15
Eggs...........................
Roasted
2 15
Turkey.........................
Boiled
2 25
Gelatin........................
Boiled
2 30
Goose..........................
Roasted
2 30
Pig (sucking)..................
Roasted
2 30
Lamb...........................
Broiled
2 30
Cabbage........................
Raw
2 30
Chicken........................
Fricasseed
2 45
Beef...........................
Boiled
2 45
Beef...........................
Roasted
3 00
Bacon..........................
Broiled
3 00
Mutton.........................
Boiled
3 00
Corn Bread.....................
Baked
3 15
Mutton.........................
Roasted
3 15
Sausage........................
Broiled
3 20
Oysters........................
Stewed
3 20
Irish Potatoes.................
Boiled
3 30
Cheese.........................
Raw
3 30
Turnips........................
Boiled
3 30
Eggs...........................
Hard Boiled
3 30
Eggs...........................
Fried
3 30
Beets..........................
Boiled
3 45
Fowls..........................
Boiled
3 45
Salmon (salted)................
Broiled
4 00
Beef...........................
Fried
4 00
Fowls .........................
Roasted
4 00
Ducks..........................
Roasted
4 00
Veal...........................
Boiled
4 00
Vartilage......................
Boiled
4 15
Ceal...........................
Roasted
4 30
Cabbage........................
Boiled
4 30
Pork...........................
Roasted
5 15
Tendon.........................
Boiled
5 30
View page [24]
> NAMES OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES
ENGLISH
FRENCH
GERMAN
SPANISH
Almond
Amandier
Mandel
Almendra
Apple
Pomme
Apfel
Manzana
Apricot
Abricote
Aprikose
Albarieoque
Artichoke
Artichaut
Artischöke
Cinauco
Asparagus
Asperge
Spaigel
Esparrago
Banana
Banane
Pisang
(Guineo)
Bean, Broad
Fève de Marais
Grosse Bohne, Garten Bohne
Haba
Bean, Kidney
Haricot
Türkische Bohne
Judias and Fasoles
Beet
Betterave
Rothe Rübe
Betarraga
Berberry
épine vinette
Berberitzen
Berberis
Black Currant
Cassis and Groseille noir
Schwarze Johan-nisbeere
Grosella negro
Borecole
Chou vert, or Non pommé
Grüner Kohl
Col
Broccoli
Broccoli and Chou brocoli
Italienischer Kohl
Broculi
Brussels Sprouts
Chou de Bruxelles or à jets
Sprossen Kohl
Cabbage
Chou pommé or Cabus
Kopfkohl
Berza
Cardoon
Cardon
Kardon
Cardo
Carrot
Carotte
Möhre or Gelbe Rübe
Chirivia
Cauliflower
Chou-fleur
Blumen Kohl
Berza florida
Celery
Céleri
Sellerie
Appio hortense
Cherry
Cerise
Kirsche
Cerezo
Chicory or Succory
Chicorée Sauvage
Gemeine Cichorie
Achieoria
Cress, Garden
Cresson
Gemeine Garten Kresse
Mastuerzo
Cress, Water
Cresson de Fontaine
Brunnen Kresse
Berro
Cress, Winter
Cresson de Terre
Winter Kresse
Hierba de Santa Barbbara
Cucumber
Concombre
Gurke
Pepino or Cohombro
Eggplant
Melongène Aubergine
Tollapfel and Eierpflanze
Berengena
Endive
Chicorée des Jardins, Endive
Endivie
Endivia
Fig
Figue
Feige
Higuera
Filbert
Noisette
Haselnuss
Avellano
Garlic
Ail
Knoblauch
Ajo
Gooseberry
Groseille
Stachelbeere
Uva-Crespas
Grape
Vigne
Traube and Weintrauben
Vina
Horseradish
Cranson or le Grand Raifort
Meerrettig
Rabano Picante
Kohlrabi or Turnip Cabbage
Chou-rave
Kohl Rabi
Leek
Poireau
Gemeiner Lauch or Porro Zwiebel
Puerro
Lemon
Limon
Citrone
Limon
Lettuce
Laitue
Gartensalat and Lattich
Lechuga
Melon, Musk
Melon
Melone
Melon
Mint, Common
Menthe des Jardins
Münze
Menta
Mulberry
Mùre
Maulbeere
Moral
Mushroom
Champignon comestible
Essbare Blätter Schwämme
Seta
Mustard
Moutarde
Senf
Mostaza
Nectarine
Pêche lisse
Nectarpfirsich
Especie de Durazno
Olive
Olive
Olive
Olivo
View page [25]
ENGLISH
FRENCH
GERMAN
SPANISH
Onion
Oignon
Zwiebel
Cebolla
Orange
Oranger
Pomeranze
Naranja
Orach
Arroche
Meldekraut
Armuelle
Parsley
Persil
Petersilie
Perejil
Parsnip
Panais
Pastinake
Chirivia and Pastinaca
Pea
Pois
Erbse
Guisante
Peach
Pêche
Pflrsiche
Alberchigo
Pear
Poire
Birne
Pera
Pepper, Red or Chile
Piment
Spanischer Pfeffer
Pimiento
Pineapple
Ananas
Ananas
Pina
Plum
Prune
Pflaume
Ciruelo
Pomegranate
Grenade
Granate
Granada
Potato
Pomme de Terre
Kartoffel
Batatas Inglezas
Pumpkin or Gourd
Courge
Kürbis
Calabaza
Quince
Coignassier
Quitte
Membrillo
Radish
Radis and Rave
Rettig and Radies
Rabano
Rape
Navette
Repskohl
Naba silvestre
Red Currant
Groseille rouge
Gemeine Johannisbeere
Grosella
Rhubarb
Rhubarbe
Rhabarber
Ruibarbo
Sage
Sauge
Salbei
Salvia
Salsify
Salsifls
Haferwurzel and Bocksbart
Barba Cabruna
Savoy
Chou de Milan or pommé fraisé
Wirsing or Herzkohl
Berza de Saboya
Sea-kale
Chou Marin and Crambé
Meerkohl
Col marina
Spinach
épinard
Spinat
Espinaca
Strawberry
Fraise
Erdbeere
Fresa
Sweet Chestnut
Marron
Castanie
Castano
Thyme
Thym
Thimian
Tomillo
Tomato
Tomate
Liebesapfel
Tomate
Turnip
Navet
Rübe
Nabo
Walnut
Noyer
Wallnuss
Noguera
White Currant
Groseille blanche
Gemeine Johannisbeere
Grosella
Watermelon
Melon d'Eau
Wassermelone
Sandia
View page [26]
> PROPER SEASONS FOR DIFFERENT FOODS
It is impossible to give the exact seasons for fruits in different parts
of the United States, but a general idea will be helpful.
Preserve all fruits when at their height; they are then in season. This
rule will apply also to canning or jelly making. In the South, of course,
the time will be earlier than in the far North. It is a well-known fact
that green fruits contain a goodly amount of pectose, which by the action
of natural ferments in the fruit is changed to pectin. This pectin exists
in a ready formed condition in Irish moss, and is found in fruits just
ripe. In a day this is again changed, hence over-ripe fruits will not make
firm jelly. See jelly making.
Tomatoes should be canned during August; after that time they lose their
solidity and become watery, also their sweetness of flavor and become more
acid.
> MEATS
Beef and mutton are used the year round, but are really in best condition
and in season during the winter months.
Veal and lamb are in season during the spring months, from the first of
April to the first of June. They are used before and after this time, but
are not plentiful.
"Spring" chickens appear about the first of May. With the present
incubator method of raising chickens, and the "house" fashion of raising
lambs, we have both at an earlier season, but they are high in price, and
do not give a corresponding amount of nourishment.
Capons, from December until April.
Turkeys from September until March.
Geese and ducks, sold under the name of "green geese" and ducklings," from
the first of June to the first of September; old ducks and geese from the
first of December to the first of April.
View page [27]
Guinea fowls are best from the first of June to the first of October,
although they appear in the markets the year around.
Game is in season during the fall and winter; the season begins about the
first of November and closes February first.
Woodcock are in the market from the first of August to January. They are
best after the first of October. Cold storage game is exposed for sale at
all seasons, but is undesirable food.
Reed birds or rice birds are in season along the Middle Eastern coast from
the latter part of August and September to October. These are the reed
birds of the North and the rice birds of the South.
Rabbits and hares are in season from November first to February first; in
many places they are in market the year round; they are not good, however,
when out of season.
Venison is good from September first to January first.
Wild duck, partridges and geese from September first to April first; the
choicest of these are the canvas back, red head, mallard, teal and
widgeon.
> FISH
> JANUARY
Cod, haddock, lake halibut, chicken halibut, striped bass, eels, Columbia
River salmon, smelts, red snapper, Nova Scotia herring, pickerel, catfish,
terrapin, green turtle, scallops, oysters, white bait.
You will find exposed for sale long lists of fish not included here. They
are not in season, however; but are preserved in some fashion, either in
cold storage, or by freezing, and are not wholesome food. We have now
coming from the South prawns, fresh mackerel and shad.
> FEBRUARY
Cod-fish, haddock, halibut, striped bass, eels, Columbia River salmon,
frost fish, Spanish mackerel, sheep's-head, red snapper and smelts still
coming from Maine and Massachusetts and the inferior frozen ones from
Canada. During the latter part of this
View page [28]
month we have our choicest smelts from Long Island. Southern shad are now
more plentiful; salmon, trout, and white fish are good. Terrapin green
turtle, scallops and oysters are in fine condition. Soft shell crabs are
beginning to come, also a little fresh crab meat from the Southern waters.
> MARCH
Cod-fish haddock, halibut, striped bass, chicken halibut, eels, Columbia
River salmon, flounders Spanish mackerel pompano, sheep's-head, red
snapper and shad are quite abundant from North Carolina and are beginning
to come a little farther north. Salmon trout, white fish, yellow perch and
pickerel are also coming in small quantities; terrapin, green turtle,
oysters and scallops are still in season. During the latter part of the
month we have salmon coming from the Kennebec and other rivers of Maine,
and they remain in good condition all through April.
> APRIL
We have about the same list, adding now good shad, from the Susquehanna,
Delaware and Hudson Rivers, and fresh mackerel also make their appearance
at this season. Sheep's-head are still coming from North Carolina as well
as king fish; smelts go out of season, that is they lose their sweetness;
red snapper is in its best condition the middle of this month. Sea bass
are coming from the North, and blue fish make their appearance in southern
waters about the middle of the month. The season for brook trout opens
April first. Salmon trout, white fish, green turtle, lobster, prawns, hard
shell crabs, and crawfish are found in good condition. Scallops leave us
at the the end of this month as well as oyster. We have in their place
clams. the latter part of this month frogs' legs are in good condition and
plentiful.
> MAY
Lobsters, crabs, prawns and shrimps are now in good condition; oysters and
scallops have gone, clams of different varieties taking their place.
Oregon salmon continues during the entire month. Flounders are at their
best. Fresh mackerel, Spanish mackerel and pompano come in refrigerator
cars and are in
View page [29]
good condition. Butterfish and weak fish are plentiful and cheap. King
fish appear and are good until October. Sheep's-head, porgies and sea bass
are abundant. Shad now comes from the Connecticut waters and is of very
superior flavor but is passing out of season, the flesh becoming soft and
unpalatable. Brook trout are at their best, and we still have eels and
striped bass, cod, halibut, chicken halibut and haddock, green turtle, and
frog's legs.
> JUNE
Cod-fish has just gone out of season, the flesh is soft and not at its
best; cod is truly a winter fish. This may also be said of haddock,
halibut and chicken halibut. We have striped bass, eels, lobsters and
fresh salmon from the rivers of Maine and Canada, which is cheapest during
this season of the year. Black bass, fresh mackerel, pompano, Spanish
mackerel, weak fish, butter fish, king fish, sheep's-head, sea bass,
sturgeon and porgies, the latter being cheap and perhaps undesirable. A
few shad are exposed for sale, but they are unpalatable. Blue fish,
however, are getting larger and are much better than during the previous
month. This also applies to black bass.
It may be remembered that striped bass in some markets are called rock
fish, and are salt water fish; while black bass are fresh water fish.
Crabs, lobsters, clams, frogs' legs and crawfish are still in season.
> JULY
Eels, lobsters (from Maine and Canada), pompano, flounders, black bass,
Spanish mackerel, butter fish, weak fish, sheep's-head, porgies, sea bass,
blue fish, moon-fish, brook trout, green turtle, crawfish, shrimps, frogs'
legs and soft crabs are still in season. This list will also answer for
August.
> SEPTEMBER
Cod-fish, haddock, halibut are coming, and are in better condition than
during the previous month, but they are not first-class until October.
Rock or striped bass, lobsters eels salmons now come from Nova Scotia, and
the price is; steadily advancing and becomes very high until the last of
the month,
View page [30]
when the East coast salmon go out of season. Flounders, black fish, fresh
mackerel, Spanish mackerel, the latter being in their best condition
during this month, pompano, butter fish, weak fish, porgies and a few
smelts are exposed for sale, but is not at its best until October. The
grunter a fish similar to the red snapper is also in season. Sea ha s and
blue fish, salmon trout, white fish, cod-fish and porgies green turtle,
crawfish, frogs' legs, lobsters, hard crabs and soft crabs are high in
price, and are, perhaps, in their best condition. Moon-fish, butter fish
and oysters are exposed for sale, but are not fine. Clams, hard and soft,
and soft crabs are now coming from the East coast, north of New York.
> OCTOBER
Cod-fish during the latter part of the month are in better condition;
striped bass or rock fish, lobsters, black fish, Columbia River salmon are
here, but are not as fine as those caught on the Maine coast, which come
earlier in the season. Flounders, fresh mackerel, Spanish mackerel,
pompano, weak fish, king fish, sheep's-head, grunter, red. snapper, white
perch, sea bass, black bass, blue fish, salmon trout, white fish, yellow
perch, pickerel, masquallonge, green turtle, carp, oysters, clams, hard
and soft crabs, crawfish and prawns. Hard and soft crabs are now passing
out of the market. White bait and scallops are beginning to make their
appearance, but are not in as good condition as they are in November.
Oysters are getting better.
> NOVEMBER
Cod is now in fine flavor. Haddock, halibut, rock or striped bass salmon,
trout, fresh mackerel, grunter, perch, red snapper, perch, pickerel,
masquallonge and blue fish are in good condition up until about the middle
of the month, and those exposed for sale during the winter months are
preserved by freezing. Masquallonge, cod-fish, green turtle, terrapin, red
snapper are fairly good. Oysters are better: frogs' legs, hard crabs,
craw-fish and prawns are rather going out of season.
View page [31]
> DECEMBER
During this month oysters are in fine condition, also scallops smelts,
while lobster and crustaceæ in general are in poor soft condition. Oysters
and scallops come in as the lobsters go out flounders, terrapin, halibut,
cod-fish are now at their best. Rock or striped bass, Columbia River
salmon, frost fish, torn cods cusk, black fish, red snapper, black bass,
pickerel, masquallonge green turtle, and shad from the St. John River,
Florida, are exposed for sale in the markets; they have been transported,
of course, in refrigerator cars; they are not fine in flavor and are quite
high in price.
> VEGETABLES
Our rapid transportation makes it almost impossible to give exact time
when vegetables are in season. Our country being large, the climate so
very different in different parts, vegetables, like fruit, are in season
the whole year. Celery in New York, Philadelphia and Boston is truly in
season during the winter; from the South, as early as July 1st. Lettuce
can be had all the year round; in the winter it is grown in hot houses, or
comes from the far South; while in summer we have a home production, which
is less desirable than that grown in winter.
Mushrooms are grown in cellars or fields, and can be purchased at any
season. We have a number of vegetables that can be grown in any garden
during the summer and put aside to keep for winter use. It is well to
remember that appetites are destroyed by too much sameness. Use vegetables
in season in the locality in which you live. Such vegetables as carrots,
turnips, parsnips, beets, cabbage, onions, celery, salsity, leeks, endive
and potatoes are easily kept for winter use. This relieves you of the
necessity of canning vegetables. Tarragon, parsley and herbs may be dried
just before the flowering-season. Green peppers and okra are also easily
dried. The winter vegetables are greater in number than the summer ones,
hence it not necessary to can and preserve such foods, unless one lives on
a narrow diet.
Winter vegetables are sweet and white potatoes, artichokes,
View page [32]
celery, endive, cabbage,onions, leeks, chicory, yellow and white turnips,
kale, winter squash, pumpkins, mushrooms, old peas, beans, lentils, old
beets, salsify, carrots and parsnips.
Spring.-All the above with spinach, scullions, dandelions, asparagus,
poke, corn, salad and early lettuce added.
Summer-Peas, string-beans, summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet corn,
new potatoes, lima beans, new beets, lettuce, fresh sweet peppers,
mushrooms, summer cabbage, egg plant, okra, Brussels sprouts and onions.
Autumn or Fall.?Potatoes, sweet and white; celery, cabbage, tomatoes,
peppers, lima beans, corn, Brussels sprouts, kidney beans, onions, cos or
Romaine, new white turnips and new carrots.
View page [33]
> METHODS OF COOKING
Primitive man, no doubt, could easily masticate and digest his raw wheat,
but in the present generation under existing circumstances this is
entirely out of the question. Heat does not always, alter the chemical
constituents of food, but when properly applied, practically aids
digestion. Such changes may not be detected by chemical analysis, and yet
be perceptible to the digestive apparatus.
Heat coagulates and hardens albumin. Thus we say meats are rendered less
digestible by cooking. Cooking is necessary, however, to remove the danger
of poisonous germs. The woody fibre of vegetables is softened by moist,
slow cooking, the starch cells are ruptured, and the whole is made more
easy of digestion. A slow, moist heat softens the fibre of meat; an
intense heat hardens and toughens it. Meat slowly cooked at a temperature
of 180° Fahr. becomes tender, juicy and easily digested; when boiled at a
gallop the connective dissolves, the meat falls from the bones and into
strings, but the fibre is not tender. Such boiled meat is leathery and
difficult of digestion.
The cooking of meat also enables it to be more readily masticated. In the
raw state it is rather tough and can be torn apart only with great
difficulty. One can easily observe this by the method in which the lion
pulls the flesh from the bones while he is eating.
Albumin exists in the juices of meat as well as in the blood, and unless
the outside of each piece is coagulated ("sealed") at once, much
nourishment is lost, but a continued high temperature is a disadvantage.
The results of cooking depend much more upon the skill of the cook than
the amount of money spent for material.
A piece of so-called inferior meat in the hands of an educated cook will
he sent to the table palatable, sightly and nutritious.
View page [34]
But the finest roasts our markets afford are dry, tasteless and valueless
when badly cooked.
The most experienced chemist with all his modern apparatus cannot
demonstrate the causes and sources of flavors. Practical taste and
experience alone create and detect flavors--the cook holds the secret.
The pleasure of eating, digestion and health depend upon the knowledge of
the cook. Good, wholesome and nutritious food is always attractive,
palatable and pleasure giving.
Heat is applied to animal and all vegetable foods, either by boiling
steaming and braising-?moist heats; broiling or grilling and roasting-?dry
heat in an abundance of air; baking?-dry heat, as in an oven;
frying?-immersing in hot fat; and sautéing?-cooking in a little fat.
> THE STOVES AND FUEL WITH WHICH WE COOK
Combustion or burning means the rapid union of a substance with oxygen.
The temperature at which the burning takes place is called the kindling
point. The article burned is burned or oxidized. This burning is also
called oxidization. Oxygen exists free (this means that it is not combined
with other materials) in the air, and forms about one-fifth of its volume.
Wood, oil and coal are composed mainly of carbon and hydrogen, and are all
incapable of supporting combustion or burning without the assistance of
oxygen. Hence, all our household structures or stoves for the burning of
wood or coal have a draft at the bottom of the fire-box.
In gas and oil stoves oxygen is supplied through perforations at the base
of the burners. In a gas stove we call them mixers, or Bunsen burners. In
an oil stove a perforated tube encircles the wick, allowing the air to
enter equally at all points. This mixture of air with gas produced by the
burning wick gives the blue flame, the same as the burner on the gas
stove. Where a balance is kept up there are no free particles of carbon to
deposit themselves upon the utensils in the form of soot. Too much air
hinders combustion; the direct pipe or chimney damper should be closes as
soon as the fire is kindled. This
View page [35]
will save the fuel and keep up an intense and even heat throughout the
stove. All properly arranged stove drafts are adapted to the size of the
fire-box and constructed to admit the least possible quantity of air
beyond that necessary for active combustion. The cook who opens wide the
lower door has not vet learned how to make or keep a good cooking fire.
When the fire does not burn she gives it an occasional "poke," which still
further deadens it.
Gas is the cheapest and most easily managed of all fuels providing care is
given to its use. A good gas stove well managed will, counting in the time
for care and lack of dust, cost one-third less than coal. A good
blue-flame oil stove is quite its equal as far as cooking is concerned,
but requires more care, as it must be filled and have the wicks adjusted
each day. In the hands of a careful cook neither gas nor oil stoves give
off unpleasant odors. For all cooking purposes, a blue flame is desirable.
For illumination, a red flame. Coal and charcoal are mostly carbon in
rather an impure state. Hard or anthracite coal being dense, almost pure
carbon, must be heated throughout before combustion will take place. For
this reason, on kindling a coal fire some lighter material which will,
while burning, heat the coal, must be used. When once heated to the point
of combustion the coal readily takes fire, and other coal placed on top of
the hot coal will, in turn, burn. Wood on top of coal deadens and smothers
the fire.
Boxes or stoves used for heating or cooking purposes are not complete
unless they are attached to a chimney or flue. Flames tend upward; heated
air expands, becomes lighter and is pressed upward by the heavier air with
which it is surrounded. The fire is kindled at the bottom of the stove
where the cold air enters the fire-box, and this is also at the bottom of
the chimney. Thus, as the air is heated, it is pressed upward in the
chimney, causing a "draft." The cold air coming in at the bottom in its
turn is heated, and so keeps on this continuous pushing upward The chimney
also serves to carry off the poisonous products of combustion. Any
interference with the upward tendency of hot air causes the chimney to
smoke. There are several causes for smoky chimneys. The rate of motion of
the current varies
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with the size, height or length and temperature of the chimney. A cold
chimney, one that has been standing idle all summer, or a new chimney will
smoke. The fresh brick and mortar are good conductors of heat, and absorb
it so rapidly that the rising current becomes cold, condenses and
obstructs the ascent. The smoke crowded underneath fills the chimney and
is forced down and into the room. To avoid this, start a fresh fire with
an abundance of light material, such as shavings or excelsior, until the
chimney is heated and the smoke begins to ascend easily; then add hard
wood or coal.
It must be remembered that with this smoke come also the poisonous
products of combustion, which make a perfect flue a necessity. The higher
the chimney, the greater the draft. A brick chimney, however, may be so
high that it will cool the air current below the top or outlet. For this
reason, pipes of galvanized iron are used as extension shafts. High
buildings and tall trees overshadowing a chimney frequently disturb the
draft, which is another cause for smoking chimneys. The wind passes down
the chimney with sufficient rapidity to cool the ascending air, which is
forced back and down into the room.
In wood fires we frequently notice volumes of flame coming out through the
openings of the stove. Such conditions can be regulated only by extensions
to the chimney. An ordinary cook stove with such a draft would, on a quiet
day, bake beautifully, but never when the wind is blowing. To condemn a
stove thus placed would be folly. In this country there are very few
ill-constructed cooking-stoves; the defects are usually in the chimneys.
Chimneys built on the south or east side of a house give less trouble than
those on the west or north side. The cold air is apt to chill them.
When there are two fireplaces in the house, or a fireplace below and a
stove entering the chimney above, the fire in one or the other will not
burn well unless the one not used is closed. For example, if a fire is
lighted on the first floor and the stove or pipe hole is open on the
second, the current is interrupted and the room will fill with smoke and
gas. This difficulty will be remedied by keeping the stove closed on the
second floor while the fire is burning on the first floor, or closing the
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chimney place below, or lighting a fire in it when there is a fire on the
second floor. Air entering a flue or stovepipe horizontally will also
interrupt the draft. For this reason a damper in the stovepipe is used to
cool off or check the fire.
Anthracite coal being nearly solid carbon may be arranged to "keep." To
accomplish this, lift the lid on the top of the stove, or open a little
damper at the top of the fire-box; this will allow cold air to enter, pass
over the upper surface of the coal, chill it, and prevent rapid burning.
As this is imperfect combustion, great care must be taken to have the
chimney flue open, that the products of combustion may not come out into
the room. Carbon-monoxide, the product of imperfect combustion, is a
colorless, odorless, poisonous gas. Being an accumulative poison it is
still more dangerous. As hard coal contains a little sulphur, the odor of
the sulphur is noticed, when the drafts are imperfect, which is like the
sounding of an alarm-bell, for carbon-monoxide is found in its company.
Gas stoves used continually for cooking purposes must, like coal stoves,
be attached to a chimney to carry off the poisonous products of
combustion. There is less danger in summer, when all doors and windows are
open.
> GAS COOKERY
The application of heat is just the same, no matter what fuel is used.
Oil, gas, wood or coal gives about the same result, when managed by a
trained housewife. Gas cooking is the ideal cooking. It is economical and
cleanly, two very important points. Roasting and broiling in a gas stove
are done underneath the gas jets, in other words in the lower oven, by
some called the broiling oven or broiling chamber. The oven must be heated
for five or eight minutes before using.
Where economy of space must be observed a small flat top gas stove with
three burners with a steam cooker and a portable oven, will easily serve a
family of six to eight. The baking is done precisely the same as in any
other stove. Heat all ovens thoroughly before putting in the articles.
Some cakes require
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a cool oven, but even then jets must be lighted a few minutes before using
the oven. For meats and all articles requiring a very hot oven, light the
gas five minutes before using the oven, from three to four if a cool oven
is called for.
To use gas economically, one must always keep in mind the capacity of a
single burner. The gas must be lighted when you are ready to use it, and
turned out the moment you have finished. Under such circumstances, taking
also into consideration that it does not require time for replenishing, as
an oil, coal or wood stove, and there is no dust or ashes to remove, gas
is the cheapest of all fuels. In preparing a dinner on a gas stove, select
vegetables that may be cooked in the oven, and meat cooked in the
underneath oven or broiling chamber, or materials that may be cooked in a
steam cooker on top of the stove on a single burner. By paying attention
to details of this kind a gas range may be used, the necessary water
heated for scullery and laundry purposes, at a cost of not over $10 per
quarter; much cheaper than coal for the same amount of work.
A sample dinner prepared at a minimum cost:
Cream of Pea Soup
Broiled Steak
Baked Potatoes
Scalloped Tomatoes
Salad
Mock Charlotte
First prepare the charlotte. In so doing, use one burner on the top of
the. stove, allowing five minutes for its use. An hour before dinner time,
light the oven burners; when the indicator registers 9, wash the potatoes,
put them in a baking pan and in the oven on the grate. Prepare the
scalloped tomatoes, stand them aside as they require but twenty minutes
cooking. Trim and wipe the steak ready for broiling. It will require
fifteen minutes, and the broiling chamber is already heated. Light a top
burner for the pea soup, which will be made while you are broiling the
steak, if canned peas are used; if fresh, allow fifteen minutes for the
first boiling of the peas press them through a colander, and finish while
the steak is broiling.
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[Illustration: An illustration of Two Large Gas Stoves showing the Baking
and Boiling Processes.]
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Twenty minutes before dinner place the tomatoes in the oven. In five
minutes put the steak underneath. Now finish up the soup. Turn out the
burner, the water in the under boiler will keep it sufficiently hot. The
potatoes are done Take each one carefully in a napkin; press it until it
is perfectly soft within the skin, being careful not to break the skin,
and dish them on a folded napkin. Dish and season the steak. Turn out the
oven burners at once. Place everything in the oven to keep warm while the
soup is being served. The cooking of all this dinner, if carefully
managed, will cost not more than five cents.
Let us observe for a moment the reverse of this meal. We will have boiled
or mashed potatoes; these will require an extra burner. Select stewed
tomatoes instead of baked. These will take another burner. The soup will
take the third, and the oven will be lighted for twenty or twenty-five
minutes for heating and broiling the steak. It can be seen at a glance
that seven or eight cents will be required against the five cents in the
first case. Large gas bills are not, as a rule, caused by the stove or the
meter, but the lack of thought or knowledge of the cook.
Where long, slow cooking becomes necessary, as in the making of stock and
the cooking of cereals, use the simmering burner, after the articles have
first been brought to boiling point. On baking days where six or eight
loaves of bread must be baked at one time, put four on the underneath
grate and four on the upper grate. After the bread has been baking fifteen
minutes change the upper for the under row; turn down the burners to the
minimum and bake slowly after the loaves have all been nicely browned.
When using the oven for baking purposes, it is wise to select a small
roast or a steak , for the dinner, as these can be roasted or broiled
underneath thus again making double use of the oven burners. When baking
cakes or cinnamon bun, that require a sow fire, chicken or fricandeau may
be cooked underneath. A slow fire is much the better roasting fire. In
baking, light the oven burners least five minutes before putting the
articles in the oven. Meats or poultry require a very quick oven Heat
until the indicator points to 12; continue at full heat until the
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meat is seared on the outside, then turn down the gas until the hand runs
back to 8 and cook slowly fifteen minutes to each pound. For pastry the
indicator should point to 10; bake at baking. Bread in square loaves does
not require extreme heat. The indicator should register 8 during the
entire baking. For large loaves, gradually increase to 9, at which point
the baking will be finished. For angel food, sunshine and sponge cake,
start at 6; increase the heat slowly for 20 minutes until it registers 8;
finish cooking at this point. Three-quarters of an hour is the time
allowed for the baking. For cakes containing butter, heat to 6 before
putting in the cakes; after twenty minutes increase the heat to 8, and
finish. Bake a cup, or pound cake at slow heat, register at 7, for two
hours.
> TO BROIL STEAK
Light the oven burners at least five minutes before the time for broiling.
Allow twelve to fifteen minutes for a steak an inch and a half thick. When
the rack and pan are hot, place the steak on the rack, and put it as near
the flames as possible without having it touch. As soon as it is seared
and brown on one side, turn, sear and brown on the other. Now turn again.
Remove the rack three or four slides down, but do not reduce the heat.
Cook for five minutes; turn the steak and broil for five minutes longer
and it is ready to season and serve.
A steak properly broiled will be "done" throughout, rare and juicy, not
raw or purple in the middle, as is usually the case over a coal fire.
Broil chops the same as steak. For broiling or planking fish, heat the
oven five minutes, and place the fish flesh side up; when nicely browned,
turn clown the burners and cook slowly for a half hour. Fish cooked under
the gas is most delicious.
In these days good cooks no longer guess at oven temperatures. They have
positive results; gas, as well as wear and tear on one's nerves, are
saved. One knows when the oven is ready, how much to reduce the heat, and
how to regulate until the
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baking is done. There is no opening or closing of the doors allowing the
escape of the heat during baking. The temperatures given above are
exclusively for gas cooking.
> BOILING
It may seem presumptuous to suggest that few people know how to boil
water, but such is the case. During my experience as a teacher, which
extends over a period of twenty years, I can safely say that not more than
fifty ladies applying for admission to my school have been able to tell
what is meant by the "boiling of water," or the different temperatures at
which it boils, and why, and what chemical changes take place during and
after the boiling. We boil water in the kitchen for two purposes: for the
cooking of the water itself frequently to remove dangerous germs, and for
the purpose of cooking other materials. The average housewife?-I am
speaking now of the masses?-has few conveniences for experimental
examinations, hence she must take a great deal for granted. The boiling
point, under ordinary atmospheric pressure (sea level), is 212° Fahr.;
this point changes according to the altitude. When bubbles form on the
bottom of the kettle, come clear to the surface and rupture quietly
without making an ebullition, the water is simmering. At this point the
thermometer should register 180° Fahr., and it is at this temperature that
we cook meats and make soups. When the bubbles begin to form on the sides
and bottom of the vessel and come toward the top of the water, there is a
motion in the water, but it is not really boiling hot; it is simply giving
back the atmospheric gases which have been absorbed within. It is only
when the thermometer reaches 212° Fahr. and the water is in rapid motion
that it can be called boiling water, and the atmospheric gases still
continue to be given off with the steam for a considerable time after the
water has commenced to boil rapidly; in fact, it is difficult to determine
when the last traces have been expelled. It is safe oppose, however, that
ten minutes' boiling will free the water from its gases, make it tasteless
and render it unfit for the making of tea, coffee or other light infusions
of delicate materials. By filtering boiled water, allowing it to drop from
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an upper into a lower vessel, it will be aerated and assume its original
flavor. Boiled water is flat. The mineral matter in this water, which is
calcareous, is precipitated. Our tea-kettle, if not cleaned daily, becomes
encrusted with these materials.
We speak of boiling meats, boiling eggs, boiling vegetables, but we know
that these materials are much better when cooked in water below the
boiling point. But it is very difficult to get ride of the terms "boiled."
Boiled meat is not boiled at all, but is cooked far below the boiling
point that the fibre may be softened and the meat made tender. The meat
itself does not boil, even if the water surrounding it is boiling. Boil a
piece of meat at full gallop for thirty minutes, after the meat has been
thoroughly heated, plunge a thermometer into the centre of the meat, and
to your surprise it will not register over 170° Fahr. Meats baked in very
hot ovens register about the same.
Boiling is one of the simplest and best methods of cooking the so-called
inferior pieces of meat, and consists in plunging the whole piece into a
large kettle of boiling water. The meat must be entirely covered, boiling
rapidly for five minutes, the temperature of the water then lowered to
160° or 180° Fahr., and the cooking continued at this temperature. Some
cooks lower the water to 130°, especially for mutton.
Meat loses greater weight in the boiling than by any other process. The
better pieces of meat, such as the round and shoulder, lose about
twenty-five per cent., and such a piece as the brisket, being rich in fat,
loses forty per cent. Four pounds of beef will lose one pound. Four pounds
of mutton will lose fourteen ounces.
Salt meats that have already parted with a large portion of their juices
must be thoroughly washed in cold water and put on to boil in cold water;
the water in which they were boiled may be saved for other purposes. All
water in which meats are boded should be saved for stock and sauces. For
soups, start always with cold water.
All vegetables go over the fire in boiling water; there is no exception to
this rule. Such as turnips, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts,
after the first boil, must be cooked slowly in an uncovered kettle.
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Rice and macaroni boil rapidly, not that rapidly boiling water gives a
greater degree of heat, but the motion washes apart or separates the
particles or grains. Rice cooked slowly in a small quantity of water is
heavy and unsightly.
> STEAMING
Steaming is an admirable method of cooking tough meats or hams, fruit
cakes, puddings and things requiring a long, moist heat. Modern housewives
use for this purpose a "cooker" or sterilizer. The old-fashioned
perforated steamer over a kettle of boiling water will, however, answer
every purpose. Steaming requires a little longer time than boiling.
Potatoes, rice, peas, beans, corn, squash, cucumbers and pumpkins may be
steamed.
Materials never boil in a double boiler, nor are they steamed. Things
cooked in a double boiler are cooked below boiling point. For making
custards, scalding milk or cooking cereals, it is most advantageous, as it
removes all danger of burning.
> ROASTING
By this method the nutritive juices and the flavor extractives, are more
thoroughly retained than by any other method of cooking. Roasting and
broiling are practically the same, and mean to expose one side of the meat
to the fire, while the other is exposed to the fresh air. The method is
almost obsolete in this country, as conveniences for such cooking have
gone out of date. In our hurried life such methods are too slow, except
where the gauze door oven is used. Baking has almost entirely substituted
the roasting of beef. Roasting most thoroughly and quickly seals the
juices on the outside, forming a crust which acts as a barrier, preventing
further escape of the juices. The meat loses less weight than by boiling,
is richer and finer in flavor. Beef, mutton, game, turkeys or chickens in
fact a meats with the exception of pork and veal have the best and highest
flavor when cooked in this fashion. The loss of weight in roasting is due
to the loss of water and fat, which amount about twenty per cent.
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> BAKING
This is a method of cooking in the oven of a stove. It is by no means an
inferior way of cooking meat, providing the basting is carefully done. We
bake our bread, cake, potatoes and tomatoes, meats, poultry and game. Four
pounds of beef will lose in baking one pound three ounces; four pounds of
mutton will lose in baking one pound four ounces.
> STEWING OR FRICASSEEING
This is really "boiling," in a sauce. After the meat has been browned
either by throwing it into a hot pan or into a little hot fat, it is
cooked in a brown sauce at a temperature of 180° Fahr. If the mixture is
allowed to boil hard during the cooking it will become tough and
shriveled. When properly stewed the texture is soft and loose and readily
breaks down under mastication. This is why we are told that stewed meats
are easy of digestion. Stewing is the most economical method of cooking
meats. There is practically no loss. The loss in weight is not 15 per
cent., and what is lost to the meat is held in the sauce, so that really
one gets a full return for each dollar spent.
> BRAISING
Braising is a cross between boiling and baking, a method largely employed
in France; hence we take for granted that it must be an economical way of
cooking meats. It is best adapted to inferior pieces, those requiring
long, slow cooking. A covered pan is employed for the purpose, and in this
country is called a "roasting pan;" but we cannot "roast" in a covered
pan. The meat is placed in the pan, the pan partly filled with stock or
water, then closely covered and placed in a well heated oven. The meat
browns even while the water in the pan is evaporating; tough or dense
flesh, such as that found in old poultry or cattle illy fed, when cooked
in this manner, is tender and palatable, hence more easy of digestion. It
is also a choice method of cooking veal and pork. Flavor insipid meat,
such
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as veal, with bay leaf, carrots, onions and various herbs placed in the
pan during the braising. The loss to the meat in cooking is held in the
water or stock which is used for the sauce.
> BROILING OR GRILLING
This is the same as roasting, applied to a smaller portion of meat. We
broil or grill our steaks, chops, spring chicken and fish.
> FRYING
By frying we mean cooking by immersion in hot fat at a temperature of 350°
to 380° Fahr. There must be sufficient fat in the pan to wholly cover each
article. We fry such things as croquettes, egg plant and oysters. This
method is less injurious than sauteing. When fats are heated to a high
temperature, fatty acids are developed, which greatly irritate the
digestive organs. Fried meats are always to be avoided even by persons
with strong digestion. They will in time produce disorders of the
digestive tract.
The art of frying is little understood in the average household. The
products of the frying pan are usually indigestible, greasy, unsightly and
unpalatable. Fats over-heated, before the articles are fried, are most
injurious. If too cool, foods are greasy and under-done. An article well
fried will come from the fat as free from grease as though it had been
cooked in water.
A croquette that will soil the fingers as it is taken from the fat is not
fit for food. Fried oysters leaving their marks on the serving plate are
certaintly not palatable or dainty. Oil is the best material for frying.
"Ko-nut" or "Nut-ko," made from cocoanut, a cocoanut butter, is also
excellent. The compounds sold under various names as cottosuet, cottolene
and vegetole are mixtures of suet and cotton-seed oil, are wholesome and
give better results than lard. Lard is last to be chosen, it absorbs
easily, consequently is expensive. Foods fried in pure lard are greasy and
rather offensive. All warmed-over foods, as croquettes and cecils, must be
dipped in egg and rolled in
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bread crumbs before frying. The egg rich in albumin coagulates, forming a
thin grease proof covering over the outside, as soon as they are put into
the hot fat. Thus articles are cooked fat without taking up the fat. This
fat, when cool, must be strained and put aside to use over and over again,
as long as it lasts. Ten pounds of fat will last the entire winter and you
may fry four or five times a week, if the digestion of the family will
allow.
> SAUTéING
This is cooking in a small quantity of fat. An omelet, lyon naise
potatoes, hash brown potatoes are sautéd, not fried. Butter is usually
employed for this purpose, but is the poorest of all frying materials, as
it decomposes at a very low temperature. Oil is more wholesome.
> LARDING
By this we mean stitching a piece of meat with strips of fat salt pork.
These strips are called "lardoons," and are usually two inches in length
and an eighth of an inch in width. The "needle" used for the purpose is
called a larding needle; instead of having an eye at the end, it has four
slits which fold together as it is pulled through the meat.
Place the strip of fat pork down into the needle, take a stick as shown in
the cut, pull the needle through the meat leaving a portion of the lardoon
at each end. We lard sweet breads, game, poultry, veal and fillet of beef.
It is not, however, at all necessary or obligatory that any of these shall
be larded, but it is the ordinary method. People not using- pork simply
omit that part of the recipe.
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[Illustration: An illustration of the Larding Process.]
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> SOUPS
> SIMPLE UTENSILS FOR MAKING SOUP
Perhaps first in importance for the making of good soup arc the utensils
necessary for its preparation. The juices of meat are acid; hence it is
undesirable to use either tin or iron; even after a thorough cleaning,
they will impart an unpleasant odor, and spoil the flavor of the soup for
the person with a delicate palate.
An ordinary granite kettle with a closely fitting lid will answer every
purpose. If you can afford a little more at first cost, the one with an
outside copper bottom will last twice as long, and is really more
desirable. The bottom being double prevents the rapid boiling which is
always objectionable for clear soups. Have the kettle sufficiently large
to hold the bones, the meat and the water, and leave a space, of at least
four inches, from the top. This will allow of easy skimming. As the
ordinary clear soup is made from bone and meat, rapid boiling clouds the
soup, making a clear soup impossible, without clarification; hence the
necessity for great care in making.
> STRAINING
An ordinary colander may be used for the first straining, and after this a
purée sieve.
For a perfectly clear or brilliant soup, a double cheesecloth is
preferable to a flannel bag. The objection to flannel is that it holds the
flavor or odor of the soup, and is rarely thoroughly cleansed; then at the
next straining, it gives to the soup a stale. unpleasant flavor.
Cheesecloth is easily cleansed; the fibre of cotton is more yielding than
that of flannel.
Use always cold water in making soups.
As all the nourishment of meat cannot be drawn out into the water, the
meat from soups should be saved and used for such dishes as pressed meats,
sandwiches and curries, where
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added flavorings are pronounced. The water draws out the albumin, which
coagulates and is removed from the top by skimming. It is the coagulation
of all the albumin throughout the hot liquid, as it gradually comes to the
surface, that clarifies the stock. This nourishment is lost both to the
soup and meat, but the fibre remains undissolved. The salts or mineral
matter have been dissolved in the water, taking the flavor and odor from
the meat; hence made dishes with decided flavor only are palatable.
> SOUP
Soups may be divided into four classes : Those containing considerable
nourishment, as thick milk soups; the clear soups containing vegetables,
moderately nourishing; the thin clear soups containing the stimulating
elements of the beef, without nourishment, as stock, consommé, bouillon;
and the cold fruit soups. Those of the last class are used only in the
summer at the beginning of a luncheon, are rather heavy, and cannot be
considered hygienic. Perfectly clear soups and those containing bits of
vegetables are dinner soups; while the milk or so-called "cream" soups may
be used for luncheon or supper where they form a part of the nourishment
of the meal. In most well-to-do families, soup begins the dinner. As the
dishes following are rich in food value, the soup need not necessarily be
nutritious. Under such circumstances, a perfectly clear soup is desirable,
the object being to draw into the stomach the digestive fluids before the
entrance of solid food. But where a soup is to form the entire dinner, as
it frequently does among the middle or laboring classes, it must contain
sufficient meat and vegetable material to give the necessary nourishment.
In France, among the country folk, the ordinary pot-au-feu always
palatable, nutritious and economical, and no one complains of being hungry
immediately after, as is usually the case in this country, where "things"
are strained out and too often thrown away.
To repeat, water cannot dissolve the fibre of beef, which holds a large
part of the nourishment. Clear soups are only
View page [illustration]
[Illustration: An illustration of a Soup Kettle, a Measuring Cup and a
Skimming Spoon.]
[Illustration: An illustration of Different Soup and Gravy Strainers.]
View page [49]
made nutritious by the addition of other materials: in themselves they
have no food value, but are important at the beginning of a heavy dinner.
While the fashion of having a dinner soup is confined to the few, the
masses would follow, I am sure, if they knew the hygiene of the fashion.
For clear soup, select either a plain stock, bouillon or consommé. The
first may be made from fresh meat, or the bones from cooked meats. The
latter method is recommended to those who wish to live well and
economically.
Bouillon is a light clear soup served in cups at the beginning of a
luncheon.
Consommé is the most expensive and the most tasty of all clear soups; it
is always used as a dinner soup.
> STOCK
Stock is the foundation of all the clear soups, and the very life and
essence of all meat sauces.
To make a perfectly clear stock use a shin of beef, meat and bone in
proportion of one pound of meat to a half pound of tone. Wipe it carefully
with a damp cloth; cut the meat from the bone; and then into small blocks
or pieces. Put into the stock kettle two tablespoonfuls of sugar and one
sliced onion; stir over a hot fire until the onion and sugar brown and
burn. Throw in the meat, keeping the kettle still quite hot; shake and
stir the meat until it seems slightly scorched; then add the bones that
have been well cracked and five quarts of cold water cover the kettle,
bring slowly to boiling point and skim. Push the kettle now over a
moderate fire where it will just bubble, not boil, for three hours. At the
end of this time add one onion into which you have stuck twelve cloves, a
bay leaf, a carrot, a few green tops of celery or a half teapoonful of
celery seed, and a saltspoonful of pepper. Cover and simmer gently for
another hour. These vegetables may be saved and used purée. A wire
vegetable ball is a convenience. Now strain the stock and stand it aside
to cool. When cold remove every
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particle of fat from the surface, and it is ready for use. If carefully
made this will be clear, brown, transparent, and when cold a thick jelly.
The meat that is strained from the stock must not be thrown away, but put
aside for the making of pressed meats or curries.
STOCK FOR CONSOMMé
This is, as a rule, of rather better flavor than stock made entirely from
beef. Purchase a shin of beef and a shin of veal, or what the butchers
call a "knuckle of veal." Wipe both carefully with a damp cloth. Have them
well cracked; remove the meat from the bone, and cut it into blocks. Put
two table-spoonfuls of sugar and a sliced onion into the soup kettle to
brown and burn; then add the meat from the veal and beef. When this is
carefully seared, add the bones and six quarts of cold water. Finish the
same as in the preceding recipe.
STOCK FROM BEEF AND CHICKEN
This, perhaps, is one of the most delicate of all stocks. Purchase a fowl
that can be used as a boiled fowl for dinner. Draw and truss. Put the
sugar and onion into the kettle as directed in preceding recipes. Cut the
meat from the shin of beef into blocks; put it into the kettle until
seared; then add the bones. Now arrange the chicken so that it will rest,
as it were, on these bones. Add five quarts of cold water. Bring to
boiling point and skim. Simmer gently until the chicken is tender, and
then take it out for use. Continue cooking the stock for at least three
hours; season and finish as in stock recipe.
WHITE STOCK
This term is given to stock made from veal and chicken alone. Where one
has a roasted breast of veal, the bones may be used with the carcass of
chickens for white stock, for milk soups and sauces. Or you may purchase a
fowl and a knuckle of veal.
View page [illustration]
[Illustration: An illustration of a Frying Basket, Frying Pan and a
Croquette Mold.]
[Illustration: An illustration of Sifferent kitchen utensils.]
[Illustration: An illustration of a Leg or Shin or Beef.]
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This, however, would be an extravagant method, and only necessary in large
establishments with large families.
All meats used in soup may be made over into such dishes as curries and
pressed meats.
> STOCKFROM BONES
The economical housewife saves every bone left from the centre of steaks,
the bones from roasts, the carcasses of poultry and the liquid in which
they have been boiled, for the usual household stock for everyday soups.
These bones may be placed in the refrigerator from day to day until the
allotted time for cooking. They must be cracked, placed in the soup
kettle, covered with cold water and simmered gently for four hours. At the
first boil, skim. At the end of the third hour, add the flavorings the
same as in plain stock.
The delicate flavor of each vegetable depends upon the volatile materials
they contain. This, of course, is easily dissipated if the stock is boiled
hard or long after they are added; hence the desirability of adding them
just one hour before the stock is strained. If they are put in at the
beginning of the four hours, the bitter rather than the pleasant flavor is
extracted, and the soup will not be agreeable.
Select ironing or baking days for the making of stock, when one is obliged
to have long fires for other work; in this way both fuel and time are
saved.
Stock made from the left-over meats or bones is not, as a rule, as clear
as that made from fresh meats. When wanted perfectly clear, it must be
clarified.
To clarify remove the fat from the surface; turn the stock carefully into
the soup kettle, allowing the sediment to remain in the bottom of the
bowl. Beat the whites of two eggs with the washed shells and a half cup of
cold water. Add this to the cold soup; mix carefully; bring to boiling
point, an add a tablespoonful of lemon juice. Boil hardfor five minutes.
Let stand a moment to settle; strain carefully through two or three
thicknesses of cheesecloth wrung from cold water.
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The albumin in the white of egg acts mechanically, entangling the floating
particles in a sort of fine membrane which is formed by the boiling, and
leaves the soup perfectly clear.
Stock may be kept in warm weather, under favorable circumstances, for four
or five days; in winter, for ten or twelve days The first thing necessary
to the preservation of stock is the removal of the fat. Second, it must be
cooled quickly after it is strained. In summer, it will keep much longer
if the vegetable flavorings are omitted; add salt and pepper only.
BOUILLON
4 pounds of lean beef
3 quarts of cold water
1/2 teaspoonful of celery seed or
a few tops of celery
2 whole cloves
Grating of nutmeg
1 teaspoonful of salt
1 tablespoonful of sugar
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoonful chopped onion
1 tablespoonful chopped carrot
1 blade of mace
Whites of 2 eggs and the crushed shells
A dash of cayenne
Bouillon is a clear soup made from lean beef without bone. It perhaps has
less flavor than consommé, but is in many cases preferable. It is not a
dinner soup; but is, as a rule, served in cups for luncheons and suppers.
Chop fine the beef, after having removed all visible fat. Put the sugar
into the soup kettle; brown and burn, then throw in the meat and add
quickly the cold water. Stir the meat and the water until the meat is
reduced to a sort of pulp. Push the kettle over the fire; bring to boiling
point. Do not skim, but push the kettle back where the bouillon will
simmer gently for three hours, keeping the kettle closely covered. At the
end of this time, add the bay leaves, celery seed or a few tops of celery,
chopped onion, carrot, cloves, mace and grating of nutmeg; simmer gently
for thirty minutes, and strain. Add to the bouillon the whites of the
eggs, that have been slightly beaten, with crushed shells. Mix well
together, bring quickly to boiling point, boil five minutes, and strain
through
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two thicknesses of cheesecloth. Stand aside to cool. When cold remove the
globules of fat from the surface.
Season with a half teaspoonful of salt, a dash of red pepper and a few
drops of kitchen bouquet to each quart of bouillon.
CHICKEN BOUILLON
1 fowl
2 quarts of cold water
1 blade of mace
1 teaspoonful of salt
1 teaspoonful of sugar
1/2 teaspoonful of celery seed or a few celery tops
1 saltspoonful of pepper
Procure a nice fowl; draw, wash and dry quickly and carefully. Cut it into
pieces, removing all the flesh from the bones. Put the flesh through the
meat chopper. Put the sugar into the soup kettle, and when it is browned
and burned throw in the chicken meat. Stir this around for a moment; then
add the cold water and the bones. Cover the kettle; bring to boiling point
and skim. Simmer gently for two hours. At the end of that time add the
celery tops or celery seed, the mace, a bay leaf, and if you have it, a
clove of garlic; if not, add simply a slice of onion. Simmer gently for
thirty minutes and strain. This may be clarified the same as in preceding
recipe, and served in cups for lunch. Season with salt and pepper. If
carefully made, it is one of the daintiest of all clear soups.
CONSOMMé a la COLBERT
While the stock or consomme is being heated for dinner, carefully poach a
sufficient number of eggs to allow one to each person. When the consomme
is hot and nicely seasoned turn it into the tureen and drop in carefully
the eggs; send at once to the table.
CONSOMMé WITH MACARONI
Boil the macaroni first in clear water for thirty minutes; cut it too
pieces, add it to hot consomme or stock. Any starchy vegetable matter
boiled in consomme or stock will cloud it.
Spaghetti or any of the Italian pastes may be, used in the same way, first
having been boiled in water until soft.
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CONSOMMé a la DUCHESS
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1 egg
1/2 cup of soft cheese
1 saltspoonful of salt
A dash of cayenne
Work together all these ingredients; form into tiny balls the size of
small marbles. Roll them in egg and drop quickly into boiling stock or
water. They cannot, however, be dropped into the stock in which they are
to be served, or it will become clouded. Take them out with the skimmer,
put into the soup tureen, pour over the hot stock and send at once to the
table.
CONSOMMé WITH EGG BALLS
3 hard boiled eggs
White of one egg
2 quarts of stock
1 tablespoonful of grated parmes or soft cheese
1 saltspoonful of salt
A dash of cayenne
Press the yolks of the eggs through a sieve; add the salt, pepper and
cheese. Now add slowly the uncooked white of egg. Make this into tiny
balls like marbles; drop them into a saucepan of boiling water or into a
little hot consommé. Lift carefully with a skimmer, put them into a
tureen, and pour over the hot stock.
CONSOMMé WITH MARROW BALLS
1/2 cup of soft bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoonful of clear onion juice
1 saltspoonful of salt
1/4 cup of chopped marrow
1 egg
2 quarts of stock
A dash of pepper
Mix together the bread crumbs and chopped marrow. Season with salt, clear
onion juice, and a dash of pepper; mix well and add gradually the yolk of
the egg. Make this into small balls, roll them quickly in the white of
egg, slightly beaten; drop them into boiling water. They will first go to
the bottom of the saucepan, but in a moment will come to the surface. As
soon as they float (about two minutes) lift with a skimmer and put at once
into a tureen; carefully pour over the hot stock.
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CONSOMMé WITH SUET BALLS
2 ounces of suet
2 quarts of stock
8 tablespoonfuls of flour
1 saltspoonful of salt
A dash of pepper
Remove the membrane from the suet, chop fine, add the flour and the salt
and pepper; mix, and add sufficient ice water to just moisten, not to make
it wet. Make into tiny balls, drop them into a little boiling stock, and
cook slowly for five minutes. Put them into the soup tureen and pour over
the hot stock.
CONSOMMé WITH FORCEMEAT BALLS
4 tablespoonfuls of chopped cold meat
1/2 teaspoonful of onion juice
1 l/2 quarts of stock
4 tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs
1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley
Yolk of one egg
1 saltspoonful of salt
A dash of pepper
Chop fine any cold meat that has been left over, chicken, veal or beef.
Four tablespoonfuls of this meat will make sufficient for six people. Add
the bread crumbs; season with salt, pepper, chopped parsley and a few
drops of onion juice. Add the yolk of egg and work carefully until the
bread is moistened by the egg. Form into tiny balls, drop into a small
quantity of boiling stock. Push the kettle to one side of the fire where
they cannot boil rapidly, or they may go to pieces. Cook slowly for five
minutes. Drain, put into the soup tureen and pour over the hot stock.
CONSOMMé WITH ALMOND BALLS
24 almonds
Whites of two eggs
Stale bread crumbs
2 quarts of stock
1/2 saltspoonful of salt
Blanch and chop or grind fine the almonds. Mix with them the stale bread
crumbs. Add the salt, and then sufficient white of egg to bind the whole
together; work well, make into tiny balls roll them in the remaining white
of egg and drop them quickly
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into hot oil-do not use butter. If you are without oil, use your ordinary
frying material, whatever that may be, either lard or suet. Shake until
they are a golden brown; lift with a skimmer turn for a moment on to soft
brown paper and then put into the soup tureen and pour over at once nicely
seasoned hot stock.
CONSOMMé WITH GERMAN FARINA BLOCKS
1 egg
2 tablespoonfuls of olive oil
4 tablespoonfuls of farina
1 quart ofstock
A half teaspoonful of salt
Beat the egg without separating until fairly light; then stir in the
farina, sprinkling it in slowly that the mixture may be smooth. It should
be about the thickness of good molasses. Add the salt. Put two
tablespoonfuls of olive oil into an ordinary saute pan; when hot, pour in
the farina mixture. Push it on the back part of the stove where it will
brown slowly. This will take at least ten minutes. Then turn it as you
would a pan-cake and brown it on the other side. Lift carefully from the
oil and drain on brown paper. Cut into cubes of a half inch, put at once
into the soup tureen and pour over the sea-soned hot stock.
CONSOMMé a la ROYALE
1 egg
1 quart of stock
1 saltspoonful of salt
1/2 teaspoonful of clear onion juice
1/2 saltspoonful of pepper
Beat the egg until the white and yolk are thoroughly mixed. Add two
tablespoonfuls of the stock, the clear onion juice, salt and pepper. Mix
thoroughly and turn into a small custard cup. Stand this cup in a pan of
hot water and cook in the oven until the custard is set. Turn it out
carefully, and cut into dice. Or you may cook it in a shallow pan and cut
it into fancy shapes. Put these blocks into the tureen and pour over the
seasoned hot stock.
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