used in the kitchen, such as mincing, cutting, slicing, whisking,
mixing, knife-cleaning, bread-making, and other domestic machines,
but it could serve no useful purpose. All ordinary requisites can be
purchased at any ironmonger’s, in all degrees of size and quality.
Sundry new and ingenious implements are introduced to public notice
every year, and a great many may be found in the price lists of
the large firms, such as Mappin and Webb, 18 to 22 Poultry; Farrow
and Jackson, 8 Haymarket; Spong, 226 High Holborn; Kent, 199 High
Holborn; J. Baker and Sons, 58 City Road; Wilson and Son, King
William Street, Strand; and several others. In the _Ironmonger_ for
May and June, 1885, appeared an account of an ingenious machine for
washing crockery, adapted to the needs of large establishments. See
also p. 1006.
THE PROCESSES OF COOKERY.
Much useful information is to be derived from Prof. Mattieu
Williams’s Cantor Lectures on the Scientific Basis of Cookery, from
which some of the following paragraphs are borrowed.
_Roasting._--Williams shows that “in roasting a joint before the fire
without any screen, the radiant heat from the coal is only used; the
meat is heated only on one side, that next to the fire, and, as it
turns round, is radiating its heat away from the other side to the
wall, &c., of the kitchen. If a meat screen of polished metal is
placed behind the meat, the rays of heat not intercepted by the meat
itself are received upon the screen, and reflected back towards the
meat, and thus both sides are heated.”
There is an old rule well known all over the world of cookery, and
that is, “white meats well done, black meats underdone;” this applies
to all meats of the four as well as of the two-legged sort, but then
it means properly well done, and properly underdone. To attain this
end the first thing which demands attention is the making up of the
fire. It should be regulated according to the size and the nature of
the article which is to be roasted, and should be so managed as to
last all-aglow the whole length of time which the roasting will take.
In the case of joints of meat the following are the main points to
be attended to. The joint should be trimmed neatly; cut off the end
or flaps of a sirloin of beef (this makes a very good stew for the
kitchen dinner, or maybe used to make stock with greater advantage
than roasting it with the joint in the point of view both of economy
and of taste), a piece of buttered paper should be tied on with
string over the fat, and not removed until just before the joint is
done. If it can possibly be avoided do not use skewers to fix up the
joints, but use string instead; and when practicable perpendicular
roasting is preferable to horizontal, as not requiring the use of the
spit. Place the meat at first 18 in. from the fire, or even farther
off if it be a large joint and the fire greater in proportion. When
the meat is well warmed, gradually bring it nearer, and from that
time never cease basting the joint at regular intervals, but this you
must not overdo. The time that meat takes to roast is usually set
down at 15-20 minutes for every lb. the joint weighs, but this is
a very broad rule, so many circumstances tending to modify it. The
quality of the meat, the age of it, whether it be fresh killed or
not, the season of the year, the nature of the fire, and the position
of it as regards currents of air in the kitchen, must all be taken
into consideration. One thing only is certain, and that is, that when
the joint begins to smoke it is nearly if not quite done, and at
this stage 2-3 minutes more or less at the fire will make or mar the
success of the joint as a piece of artistic roasting. (The G. C.)
In Ovens.--“The oven is an apparatus for cooking by radiation. In
this case the meat or other object of cookery receives radiant heat
from the heated walls of the oven. If this chamber, with radiant
walls, be so arranged that the heat shall be radiated equally on all
sides, and is capable of regulation, it becomes a roaster, which
theoretically does its work more perfectly than an open fire, even
when aided by a screen.” (Williams.)
Williams has “not the slightest hesitation in affirming that
moderate-sized joints properly roasted in a closed chamber, are far
better than similar joints cooked with the utmost skill in front of a
fire. The smaller the joint, the greater the advantage of the closed
chamber.”
Roasting-ovens are now attached to all the best forms of kitcheners.
On one point in the philosophy of roasting, Williams differs from
Rumford. He thinks “it desirable--and has tested this theory
experimentally--to begin at a temperature above that which is to be
maintained throughout the roasting. The object of this is to produce
a crust on the surface of the meat that shall partially seal it, and
keep in the juices as much as possible. Then the temperature may
fall to the average, which should be well kept up, and rather raised
towards the last. This comes about automatically in the ordinary
course of cooking with a roasting-oven.”
He adds that “sealing is more demanded by a joint of beef than by one
of mutton of given size, because in the beef there is more of cut
surface, exposing the ends of the fibres of the meat. In a leg of
mutton, for example, this exposure is only at one end, the rest is
partially protected by the skin of the leg.”
_Basting._--“The _rationale_ of basting appears to be that it assists
in the sealing, and diminishes the evaporation of the juices of the
meat, the chief difference between well-roasted and ill-roasted
meat depending upon this.” In roasting, “the meat is stewed in its
own juices. The flavour depends on this: no water being used, these
juices are not diluted--they are, on the contrary, more or less
concentrated by evaporation; but if this evaporation be carried too
far, a drying-up occurs, and this desiccation is accompanied with
toughness and indigestibility, as well as sacrifice of flavour. The
smaller the joint, the greater the risk of such desiccation.”
_Grilling._--“This principle brings us at once to grilling, which is
another kind of roasting, i.e. of cooking by radiation. A beef steak
or mutton chop is not roasted by turning it round and round in front
of the fire, because so large a surface is exposed in proportion to
the mass, and such treatment would evaporate from that large surface
too much of the juices. Rapidity is the primary condition of success
in grilling. When a large and specially-constructed grill, placed
over a large coke or charcoal fire, is available, the heat radiated
on the exposed surface of the meat rapidly browns or carbonises the
exposed surface, and partially seals its pores.”
_Boiling._--“When water is heated in a glass vessel over a flame
where the action may be watched, bubbles are first seen growing on
the sides of the glass, gradually detaching themselves, and rising
to the surface. These are merely bubbles of air that was dissolved
in the water. After this, other and larger bubbles form on the
bottom just above the flame. At first they are flat, and continually
collapsing. Presently they become hemispherical, but still they
collapse; then they become more and more nearly spherical, and
afterwards quite spherical; afterwards they detach themselves, and
start upwards, but perish in the attempt, by collapsing somewhere
on the way. At last they reach the surface, and break there,
ejecting themselves as steam into the air. Now the water boils,
and a thermometer dipped into it registers 212° F. After this, it
matters not whether the boiling is very violent or only the gentlest
simmering, no further rise of the thermometer is perceptible, showing
that the simmering temperature and the ‘galloping’ temperature are
the same.”
“The actual cooking temperature for animal food is considerably below
the boiling point of water, and is regulated by the coagulation of
albumen, which commences at rather below 160° F., i.e. more than 50°
below the boiling point of water.”
To “apply this practically to the boiling of an egg for breakfast.
By the ordinary method of the 3 minutes’ immersion in continually
boiling water, the white becomes hard and indigestible before the
yolk is fairly warmed, and ½ minute too much, or ½ minute too little,
will nearly ruin the operation.”
“The proper mode is to place the egg in boiling water, and then
remove the saucepan from the fire altogether, and leave the egg in
the water from 10 minutes to ¼ hour. About ½ pint for 1 egg, ¾ pint
for 2 eggs, or 1 pint for 4 eggs, is the quantity demanded if the
saucepan is well covered.”
_Stewing._--“The prevailing idea in England is that stewed meat
only differs from boiled meat by being kept in the water for a
longer time--that stewing is simply protracted boiling. I venture,
nevertheless, to declare the total fallacy of this, and to assert
that, so far as flesh food is concerned, boiling and stewing are
diametrically opposite, as regards the special objects to be
attained. In boiling a joint--say, a leg of mutton--the best efforts
of the cook should be directed to retaining the juices within the
meat, and allowing the smallest possible quantity to come out into
the water. In stewing, the business is to get as much as possible out
of the meat, to separate the juices from the meat and convey them to
the water. This is the case, whether the French practice of serving
the liquid _potage_ or _bouillon_ as a separate dish, and the stewed
meat or _bouilli_ as another, or the English and Irish fashion of
serving the stewed meat in its own juices or gravy, as in the case of
stewed steak, Irish stew, &c.
“The poor French peasant does more with 1 lb. of meat, in the way of
stewing, than the English cook with three or four. The little bit of
meat, and the large supply of vegetables are placed in a pot, and
this in another vessel containing water--the _bain-marie_ or water
bath. This stands on the embers of a poor little wood fire, and is
left there till dinner-time, under conditions that render boiling
impossible, and demand little or no further attention from the cook;
consequently, the meat, when removed, has parted with its juices to
the _potage_, but is not curled up by the contraction of the hardened
albumen, nor reduced to stringy fibres. It is tender, eatable, and
enjoyable, that is, when the proper supply of saline juices of the
meat _plus_ the saline juices of the vegetables, have been taken into
the system.
“Whether the _potage_ and the meat should thus be separated, or
whether they should be stewed together, as in an Irish stew, &c., is
merely a matter of taste and custom; but that a stew should never
be boiled, nor placed in a position on the fire where boiling or
‘simmering’ is possible, should be regarded as a primary axiom in
cooking where stewing is concerned.”
_Braising._--This takes its name from the French word _braise_, the
red embers of a wood fire being so called. There are proper pans
sold for this kind of cooking, called braising-pans; they are rather
shallower than ordinary stewpans, and they have the edges of the lid
turned up to hold live coals, it being necessary to have heat from
above as well as below in braising. It is also necessary as much as
possible to exclude the air. Should there be no braising-pan in the
house it is possible to do it, but less well, in an ordinary stewpan,
which will have to be put into the oven.
_Frying._--“Frying ranks with boiling and stewing, rather than with
grilling. When properly conducted, it is one of the processes in
which the heat is communicated by convection, the medium being hot
fat instead of the hot water used in the so-called, and mis-called
‘boiling’ of meat. I say ‘when properly conducted,’ because it is too
often very improperly conducted in domestic kitchens. This is the
case whenever fish, cutlets, &c., are fried on a merely greased plate
of metal, such as a common frying-pan. Pancakes or omelettes may be
thus fried, but no kind of fish or meat. These should be immersed in
a bath of fat sufficiently deep to cover them completely. To those
who have not reasoned out the subject, such complete immersion in so
large a quantity of fat may appear likely to produce a very greasy
result. The contrary is the case.
“Let us take, as an example, the frying of a sole. On immersing this
in a bath of fat raised to a temperature above that of boiling water,
a violent hissing and crackling noise (‘frizzling’) is heard. This is
caused by a series of small explosions due to the sudden conversion
of water into steam. The water was originally on the surface and
between and within the fibres of the flesh of the sole. The continual
expansion of this water into vapour, and its outbursting, prevent
the fat from penetrating the fish, so long as the temperature is
maintained above 212° F., and thus the substance of the sole is
cooked by the steam of its own juices, and its outside is browned by
the superheated fat.
“Now, let us suppose that a merely greased plate, like the bottom
of a frying-pan, is used. Only one side of the sole is cooked at
first--the side in contact with the pan--therefore it must be turned
to cook the other side. When thus turned, the side first cooked with
its adhering fat is cooling; its steam is condensing between its
fibres, and the fat is gradually entering to supply the place of
steam, while the other side is cooking. Thus it is more greasy than
if rapidly withdrawn from the bath of hot fat, and then allowed to
drain before the steam commences to condense. A stew-pan, or any
other suitable kind of kettle, may be used, if provided with a wire
basket for lifting; or a frying-pan of the ordinary kind, if deep
enough.”
To fry rissoles, or anything which requires to be fried all over at
one time, a wire basket must be used, a stewpan large enough round
to receive the basket, and deep enough to hold a sufficient quantity
of melted fat to completely cover whatever is to be fried. Place the
rissoles in the basket, set the stewpan containing the fat on the
fire, and when the fat is boiling, at once plunge the basket into it
and hold it there until they are sufficiently cooked, which will be
when they have attained a delicate golden colour. The greatest care
will be necessary in watching for the moment of boiling, this will
be when the fat ceases to bubble and splutter; it will then become
perfectly silent, and almost immediately a light blue steam will rise
from it, which is the sign of boiling, the frying must then instantly
commence, for it will soon after begin to smoke, and if put into the
fat while in this condition the rissoles would be quite spoilt, both
in colour and flavour. For cutlets, soles, or anything flat, you may
use a cutlet-pan or frying-pan and fry one side at a time. Lard,
butter, and sweet oil are all used, and for very delicate frying they
are necessary. Whitebait must be done in oil, omelettes in butter, as
also cutlets if you wish them to be particularly nice; but for most
things and for all ordinary occasions there is nothing better than
good well-clarified dripping.
_Kitchen odours._--All “greens,” to use a familiar expression,
especially cabbage, as we know, have a horrible tendency to create
noxious vapours; whilst onions, it need not be said, permeate the
remotest recesses of a building, not only while they are cooking, but
while they are being prepared for the saucepan or the frying-pan.
To thoroughly deodorise the boiling cabbage or the frying onion
is next door to impossible, but the effluvium may be mitigated. A
large piece of bread is sometimes put upon the knife’s point whilst
onions are being peeled, in order to prevent the tearful effect
which the pungent esculent produces on the eyes; and we have lately
been told in a popular cookery book that the offensive results of
cabbage boiling may be well nigh got rid of, by wrapping up in a
piece of clean white linen rag a large lump of bread, and putting it
in the saucepanful of water in which the cabbage is being cooked.
The same plan, no doubt, would be equally effective in the case of
broccoli, which, if possible, is a greater offender than cabbage in
emitting offensive fumes. The obnoxious reek is mitigated, we are
told, by some cooks, by boiling broccoli in two waters--parboiling
them to begin with; then taking them out of the saucepan, straining
them, allowing cold water to run over them for a few minutes, and
placing them in a fresh pot of boiling water. What applies here may
be extended, no doubt, with beneficial results to most greenery,
not forgetting the cauliflower--another marked offender in the way
of creating bad odour. It is, however, very frequently the careless
manner in which the water used in the boiling of vegetables is thrown
away, which produces the worst stench of which the kitchen is guilty.
Nothing is so detestable as this smell of “green water,” and the cook
who allows it to get the upper hand of her is either very careless or
very incompetent. If the water be thrown recklessly down the sink,
and no means are adopted to deodorise it, hours will elapse ere the
fumes can be dissipated, during which they will have found their way
all over the house. Where the drainage and such like appliances are
in perfect order (or, indeed, where they are not more particularly),
it should be held as an essential part of the scullery-maid’s duty
to pour gallons of fresh water, both boiling and cold, down the sink
immediately after the cabbage water. If this be done freely, and a
liberal sprinkling of Sanitas Powder or other inoffensive deodoriser
be then distributed about the sink or drain trap, we need not be
troubled, as we constantly are, by bad smells when dinner is over.
RECIPES FOR DISHES.
In the presence of such a number of cookery books as already exist,
it is obviously impossible to offer a selection of original recipes.
Every known dish has been subjected to variations till the list is
practically endless. The idea which has guided the writer of this
section is general utility. Many of the recipes are gleaned from the
replies of experienced housewives in the correspondence columns of
recent numbers of the ‘Queen’ newspaper; than this, no more valuable
and inexhaustible source of current information exists, and the
reader in quest of additional recipes or instructions cannot do
better than consult the weekly pages of that pre-eminent “ladies’”
newspaper.
=Soups.=--The foundation of all soups is or should be found in the
stockpot, an institution that is too often neglected, especially in
small households where economy is most necessary. As the nutritive
elements of all foods, both animal and vegetable, are readily
extracted by the prolonged application of hot water, it follows that
much feeding material which is of too coarse or rough a character
to be brought to table can be made useful by simmering till all its
virtue is exhausted. Hence the value of the stockpot. If the odds and
ends accumulated in the kitchen do not suffice to make the quantity
of stock required, they must be supplemented by stock prepared
specially. The following recipes for making stock are sufficient for
all ordinary needs.
_Common Stock._--(_a_) 6 lb. shin of beef, 6 qt. water. Cut all the
meat off the bones, and cut the meat across and across, and sprinkle
a teaspoonful of salt over it and put it at once into the 6 qt.
water in an earthen vessel, while you do as follows: wash and cut up
2 carrots and 2 turnips and leave them in clear water; then put at
the bottom of your soup pot (the digesters are the best) 2 slices
of bacon, a piece of butter as large as 2 walnuts, a Spanish onion
stuck all over with cloves, another cut up in rings, 2 large lumps
of white sugar, a few peppercorns, a small bunch of marjoram and
thyme tied up in muslin, as much grated lemon peel as would cover
sixpence, and then put in the carrots and turnips. Let these all be
browned at the bottom of the stockpot, stirring all the time, until
the bacon looks well enough done to be eaten, then put in the meat
and the water it has stood in, and the bones broken; leave the lid
off at first, so that you may watch for the rising of the scum,
which must be instantly removed, or the colour of your soup will
be spoiled; when you have carefully skimmed it, and no more rises,
put the lid tightly on the digester, and leave your soup to simmer
gently and evenly for 5 hours. Do not throw away the scum; it is not
dirty, provided you have wiped the shin of beef clean before you cut
it up; and this scum, although it would spoil the clearness of your
soup, is really beef-tea, and worth using in the stockpot. When the 5
hours are nearly elapsed, have ready a large kettle of quite boiling
water, then strain the soup through a close sieve into a perfectly
clean earthen jar, and immediately put back into the digester all
the contents of the sieve, and pour the kettle of boiling water upon
them, and let this stew all night. The next morning strain it into
another earthen jar, and leave it to set. The first stock is now
ready to scrape every atom of fat from the top of it, then wipe the
top with a clean soft cloth, and all the edges of the jar, then turn
it upside down on a large dish, and scrape the fat and sediment from
the other side. Wash the earthen jar, and dry well before the fire,
and then put your stock back, and you will have a perfectly clean
soup with a delicious flavour, and without requiring any clearing
with whites of eggs, which always impoverishes the soup. To colour
it, take pieces of bread, toasted very brown, and put into the stock
when you warm it: and before sending to table put a teaspoonful of
sherry at the bottom of the tureen, and pour the almost boiling
soup upon it. Of course, it must be strained, to prevent the pieces
of toast going in; and you can either use it plain, or with cut
vegetables in it. Those sold in tins are best; but they require
washing in water, and then warming in some inferior stock, and must
be well strained, and then put with the wine at the bottom of the
tureen, before you pour your soup into it. The next day scrape and
wipe your second stock, and do just the same with it, and it comes
in for gravies, for entrées, or for thick soups, and sometimes is as
clear as the first stock.
(_b_) Slack’s patent digester is the most useful and economical of
stockpots. Its management is quite simple, but care must be taken
when filling it to leave sufficient room for the steam to pass away
through the hole in the cover. A sheep’s milt is a good foundation
for stock.
(_c_) Procure from a heel shop a cowheel that has been boiled, crack
it up and simmer for several hours in salt and water; when done,
strain, and there will be about a gallon of good jelly. If the heel
is uncooked, boil till half done, then throw the first water away, or
the jelly will be too rancid for soup.