GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR USING THE BAG.
I. SELECT a bag that fits the food to be cooked. When a liquid is used
or a number of ingredients are to be cooked together, use a wood cookery
dish which holds the food stuffs together and permits their ready
removal from the bag.
II. Brush over the outside of the bag with a little water to make it
pliable. Grease the inside except in the case of vegetables or when
water is added, using for this another little flat brush (kept for this
purpose) and pure vegetable oil, melted butter or drippings. Apply the
brush with a rotary motion greasing the bottom first and working toward
the top; or lay the bag flat on a table, reach inside and grease the
lower side of the bag, then press the other side against it until both
surfaces are evenly greased. The up-to-date housewife who is adopting
the paper-bag culinary cult has also discovered that for greasing the
bags, a necessary step, there is nothing that can take the place of the
high grade vegetable oils. They are easily applied and absolutely
tasteless and odorless, a great point, this, when the bags themselves
have sometimes been condemned as imparting a foreign odor to foods
cooked in them, when in reality it was the fault of the special fat with
which they were greased. Now place the bag flat on the table, seam side
up and lift the uppermost side while you insert the article to be
cooked. Press the air out of the bag, fold over the corners and make two
folds of the mouth of the bag, fastening firmly with three or four
clips, or even pins. No harm is done if the two lower corners of the bag
are folded and also fastened with one clip each.
III. Now be sure the oven heat is right. If you are using gas for the
cooking, light for five minutes before the bag goes into the oven. The
average oven heat should be not less than 200 degrees Fahrenheit, and
may be 250 degrees. When the bag is put into the oven, the heat must be
at once reduced to 170 degrees. An inexperienced cook lacking an oven
thermometer can test the right degree of heat by placing a bit of paper
in the oven and noting the color it assumes. At the end of five minutes
it should be a light golden brown.
If the heat is too intense the bag will burst. Now carefully lay the bag
on the grid shelves or wire broilers--never on solid shelves, being
careful to _place the seam side of the bag up_.
This is imperative, as otherwise the juices of the food being cooked may
cause the seam to open, and distribute its contents over the oven. Once
placed in position, roasts and entrees on the lower shelf, about an inch
from the oven floor, fish on the middle shelf, and pastry on the top
where heat is most intense,--do not move or open the bags until the
schedule time of their cooking is accomplished. In placing the article
to be cooked, take care that the bag does not touch the sides of the
oven and that it is not too close to the flames. When the time limit of
cooking has expired, take up the bag from the shelf by drawing _with_
the wires, not across them, which is apt to tear the bag made tender by
charring. Slip on to the lid of a pot or flat tin held just beneath the
grid and thence to the heated platter. To secure the gravy, stick a
pinhole in the bottom of the bag and allow it to drain on to the
platter, or serving dish. Rip open the bag from the top and throw the
charred fragments away at once. If to be served hot, arrange at once on
a heated platter or other dish, with its appropriate garnish.
POINTERS FOR PAPER BAG COOKERY.
I. In the case of a coal-heated oven with solid shelves a wire broiler
or "grid" should be substituted as the heat must be allowed to circulate
on all sides of the bag.
II. The size of the oven makes no difference but it _must be kept
clean_.
III. In the case of a fowl or joint see that there are no rough edges or
bones protruding that will be likely to pierce the bag.
IV. Do not season the article to be cooked too highly as none of the
seasonings are dissipated during the cooking as is usually the case in
ordinary boiling or roasting.
V. For cooking fruit, grease the outside of the bag.
VI. In removing the bag from the oven, draw with the wires, not across
them.
VII. To brown things at the last of the cooking, if necessary, puncture
a few holes in the top of the bag.
VIII. If a bag breaks in the cooking, as it sometimes will if the heat
is too intense, do not try to remove the article being cooked from the
bag, but slip the whole into a new well-greased bag. The use of two bags
is better than one when things require long cooking or for meats with
much fat or juicy dishes. While it may cost a bit more, it will save
much anxiety lest the bag burst.
IX. To avoid having any chance drippings soil the oven floor, slip a
thin tin baking sheet or shallow dripper under the broiler, letting it
rest flat on the bottom of the oven. Put in a little hot water and this
steam will keep the bag moist and do much to discourage its breaking.
Indeed, in baking any kind of fruit cake, which requires slow cooking,
quite a little water in the drip-pan underneath is advisable.
X. In baking pastry and cake, a few tiny holes should be made in the
upper side of the bag before putting in the oven. This will brown the
surface of the cake delicately.
XI. Do not let the bag touch the sides of the oven or the gas flames.
XII. Wire trivets such as are sold at house-furnishing stores for use in
cooling bread and cakes will be found a great convenience. If a bag is
laid on a trivet, it can then be easily set in the oven and as easily
lifted out when done.
XIII. Never try to take things from the oven with the gas lighted.
Matches are cheaper than gas, if the oven has to be relighted, and
burned fingers or wrists are more costly than many matches.
XIV. Use care in opening the oven. A draught from an open door or window
might cause the gas flame to ignite the bag.
XV. Until taught by experience, follow the time table as given in the
cookery book.