The terms used in regard to regulating f_The Library of Work and Play: Housekeeping

people say _open_ the draughts, they mean let the stream of air flow

unobstructed, but it is often accomplished by shutting something, such

as the slits at the top of the fire, and any opening in the stove pipe.

The reverse is also true. _Shutting_ the draughts means obstructing

the stream of air, and often requires opening places which let in air

going in a contrary direction to the regular draught, such as, openings

in the pipe and at the top of the fire. This is the reason that it is

better to get the principle of the draught thoroughly in mind and then

work the dampers and draughts in accord with it, rather than to follow

blindly directions which may utterly mislead.

Pipe dampers are sometimes inside the pipe with only a little handle

outside. Such a damper is a circle of iron with a small hole in the

middle. When the handle is vertical, the circle is vertical and the

pipe is open. When the handle is horizontal, the circle is horizontal,

and the pipe closed except for the small hole in the circle.

Besides dampers which regulate the amount of heat, there are oven

dampers which regulate its direction. An oven damper is a contrivance

by which heat is directed over or under or around the oven. When the

oven is to be used, the heat is directed there; when it is not, the

heat is allowed to concentrate elsewhere. These oven contrivances are

not usually visible, and are worked by a handle on the outside of the

stove. Sometimes directions for moving the handle are on it; if not,

one must experiment to find out what happens.

No one can cook with any certainty until she thoroughly understands the

stove or range used. This is best done by "making it work"; opening

everything which will open, turning everything which will turn, finding

out what everything is for, taking things apart and putting them

together again with "'satiable curiosity." If one does this before the

fire is lighted, and then lights the fire, there will be few mysteries

left unsolved.

Though the principles to be remembered in lighting a coal fire in a

stove are the same as those which govern the lighting of the wood

fire on the hearth, there are some variations in the process and some

additional acts to perform.

If there are ashes in the stove they must be dumped and removed. They

cannot warm the coals as in the hearth fire, and if left under the

grate they obstruct the draught. The fire maker is fortunate if the

grate of the stove is so constructed that the ashes may be dumped. If

this is not the case the grate must be shaken until it is empty. That

as little dust as possible may come out into the room, close all the

openings in the stove before beginning to shake the grate and do not

open them again until a few minutes after the shaking is over.

Lay in the grate of the stove a wood fire like the one on the hearth:

balls of paper, loose kindling, larger sticks crossed, and all

with many cracks between. But in addition sprinkle over the top a

fire-shovelful of coal. Be generous with kindling and wood: it takes

strong heat to ignite coal.

Just before lighting the fire see that the stream of air is

unobstructed; all the openings at the bottom of the fire open, all the

openings at the top shut, the pipe unobstructed, and the heat directed

_away_ from the oven.

Light the fire from below; this is often most easily accomplished

by crushing up a sheet of newspaper, putting it under the grate and

lighting it. When the sticks are really burning, put on another

shovelful of coal and as soon as this begins to ignite, put on two

more. Much coal put on at a time smothers the fire.

In spite of frequent and terrible accidents people persist in lighting

fires with kerosene. It is more sensible never to do it, but if you

sometimes do, at least do it in a sensible way, that is, soak wood or

paper in the oil and put it into the grate, then lay the fire as usual.

Never, _never_ bring the oil can near the range at any time or for any

purpose. Almost invariably the use of oil to light the fire is an

indication of laziness or ignorance.

It is more economical of time and fuel to keep the kitchen fire over

than to let it out every night. In a good stove, fire which is properly

raked and cared for can be kept week after week, month after month,

just as it can be kept in a furnace.

The daily care required by a coal fire is outlined below:

At night, the fire should be thoroughly raked and coal enough put on to

last until after breakfast. Leave the draughts open a few minutes until

the gas has burned off, then shut them for the night.

The first thing in the morning, open all the draughts and get the fire

well up. It ought not be necessary to put on coal.

After breakfast, rake the fire thoroughly, put on coal and empty the

ashes.

After luncheon put on as much coal as will be necessary to produce a

good fire at dinner time.

When a hot fire is needed for many hours feed it with a few coals at a

time; this will not deaden the fire and yet will keep it from burning

out. A fire which shows red underneath and has a few black coals on

top is in a healthy condition. As soon as all the coals are red the

heat begins to wane.

_The Furnace Fire._--The ability to run the kitchen fire will enable

the housewife to tend the furnace occasionally. If, however, she wishes

to care for it regularly, she will need to seek instruction from some

competent person who can show her the use of the particular draughts,

gauges, thermometers and other indicators by which the fire and the

steam or water are regulated.

A skilled person's aim in managing a furnace is perfect regularity.

Necessary care should be given it every day at the same hours, and the

fire should be kept as far as possible in the same condition. It is

injurious to the fire and to the furnace to attend to it too often or

not often enough; and the house will never be evenly heated if the fire

is first allowed to get very low and is then urged to an unusual height.

Stoves, furnaces and chimneys need occasional cleaning. Furnaces should

be cleaned when the fire is let out in the spring, and carefully looked

over in the fall by a competent man. Ranges which are not used in the

summer should be treated in the same way. Other ranges should be

cleaned and looked over once a year.

At some time when the kitchen fire is out the inside of the stove

should be swept, and the dust removed through an opening for the

purpose in the back or side of the stove.

About once a year all the flues in the house ought to be cleaned.

This is for two reasons, one, because the soot with which they become

coated is a non-conductor of heat and keeps the chimneys from warming

quickly; the other, because soot is inflamable. When we say a chimney

is on fire, we mean that the soot on the inside is burning. It makes a

terrifying roar, but don't stop to listen to it. Shut all the openings

in the stove. Throw salt on the fire. If there is a fireplace instead

of a stove at the bottom of the chimney close the opening in some way.

This may sometimes be done with a rug or a thick newspaper held tightly

stretched over the opening of the chimney. It must cover the whole

opening and must not be allowed to draw in on the fire. The point is to

keep the air from rushing up the chimney to feed the fire. This is done

by shutting out the air and by sending up gas from the burning salt

which is inimical to fire.

_Gas Range._--A gas range is a much simpler matter from a mechanical

point of view than one in which coal is burned. There is little to

do except keep it clean. It is lighted as any gas burner is lighted,

though preferably with a taper instead of a match, for in that case

your hand is not near enough to be burned by the first leap of the

flame. Fix firmly in mind which one of the little cocks supplies each

burner, and also that the cocks turn to the left to supply the gas, to

the right to turn it off. If when a burner is lighted, it "burns back"

with a roaring noise, turn the gas off and wait a moment or two before

lighting it again. It will then light in the usual way.

The iron sheet under the top burners needs washing about once in two

days, oftener if anything is spilled or boils over into it. More

occasionally the burners should be washed and the holes all made clear

with a wire or a broom straw. It does not hurt any part of a gas range

to wash it; it does it good. Some people prefer not to black their

ranges. The loss in appearance is made up for in the comfort of not

having the range rub off black on hands or cloths.

The rack and drip pans for broiling must be washed every time they are

used; otherwise, the grease left on them will smell and smoke and

sometimes catch fire if the oven burners are lighted. It is well to rub

the grease off the grate and the drip pan with a paper while they are

still hot, it makes them easier to wash.

Sometimes the fat in this drip-pan catches fire while the broiling is

yet going on. Usually people draw out the pan and blow out the blaze,

but this is dangerous. Milk poured directly on the flame with a big

spoon will quench it.

LIGHT AND WATER

Watch the bills which come in for light and water. If they vary

considerably and for no discoverable cause, or if they seem

unreasonably large, have some one come and see if there are leaks, if

the metres register correctly, and if they have been correctly read and

the bills made in accordance with the readings.

Light bills naturally increase from June to December and decrease from

December to June. They will be larger in a stormy month than in a

bright one, and in an apartment with dark rooms than in one without.

Water bills will be larger if the washing is done in the house than if

it is not. Both light and water bills will be somewhat larger if the

number of people in the household is increased. These things and any

other household changes must be considered in accounting for variations

in light and water bills.

The cost of both these commodities can usually be kept within bounds

by avoiding waste, such as burning a reading light by which no one

is reading, or five lights in the ceiling, two of which would not

be missed, or neglecting to turn off range burners until five or

ten minutes after the cooking is finished, or leaving faucets half

turned on, or running the tub and basin over every time they are used.

Sometimes a reasonable carefulness in such things saves the necessity

of stricter economy.

The man who comes to read your gas, water or electric metres will

usually be willing to teach you how to read them, if you ask as if

you wanted information and not as if you wanted to catch him in a

mistake. I might say here that plumbers, carpenters and furnace men

if approached in the same way often prove very instructive. They are

human, and can rarely resist the treat of giving information when the

chance is offered to them. One can learn a great quantity of useful

mechanics from them, besides things about their wives and children,

both amusing and edifying.

These are pictures of a gas-metre at the beginning and end of a month.

[Illustration]

The hands on the dials move in the directions the arrows indicate. Read

the number last passed by the hand on each dial, beginning with the one

farthest to the left and add two ciphers. _x_ reads 57600; _y_ reads

63800. The difference is the amount of gas used in the month.

If you cannot take the two ciphers on faith, there is another way of

reading the metre. Observe the words over each dial. Dial _c_ is in the

hundreds moving toward "1 thousand," it therefore reads 600. Dial _b_

is in the thousands moving toward "10 thousand," and therefore reads

7000. Dial _a_ is in the ten thousands moving toward "100 thousand,"

and therefore reads 50,000. Together they amount to 57,600, the number

obtained by the other method.

This is the picture of an electric metre:

[Illustration]

To read the metre:

Each hand moves in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Read the figure that the hand has actually passed, beginning with the

dial to the left.

755 K. W.'s

Subtract last month's reading from this reading and the difference will

be the amount consumed.

Viz: 755

726

----

29 K. W.'s.

The dials here are a simpler arrangement, as they merely represent the

usual numeration--units, tens, hundreds, thousands.

This metre is in an especially instructive condition, because the

1,000's dial gives no reading. The hand has not yet reached 1.

THE REFRIGERATOR

A refrigerator serves its purpose better if it is placed in a pantry or

on an enclosed porch. If it must be put in the kitchen, it should have

the place farthest from the fire.

The drain pipe of the refrigerator, which carries off the water from

the melting ice, sometimes empties into a pan, sometimes connects with

other pipes which carry the water out of the house. It should never

connect with the other drainage of the house, nor lead to any well or

sewer which receives other drainage. No traps or plumbing contrivances

are perfect enough to protect food which is shut up closely with the

opening of a pipe connecting even remotely with the drainage system.

Properly the drain pipe of the refrigerator should empty into an open

basin or sink in the cellar, which in turn drains off into the ground.

The next point of importance after the disposal of its drainage, is

to keep the refrigerator clean. Guard against spilling things on its

shelves, wash the ice before it is put in, if it is not clean, and do

not keep in it things with a strong or penetrating smell--An innocent

dish of cold-slaw unthinkingly put into the refrigerator produces an

odour which will startle the person who next opens the door.

A refrigerator needs cleaning once or twice a week. It should not be

cleaned oftener than is necessary because cleaning wastes the cold. For

this same reason wash it with cold water unless something greasy has

been spilled in it, and never leave the doors open one second longer

than is necessary.

Collect beforehand everything required for the cleaning, that, when the

work is once begun, it may be finished quickly. One needs cold water in

which there is baking soda, borax or boracic acid (2 oz. to the qt.),

a brush for scrubbing, cloths for wiping, something long and slim with

which to clean the drain pipe and a tray or pan to hold the ice while

the ice compartment is being cleaned.

Take the food out of the refrigerator, then the ice. Quickly but

thoroughly scrub and wipe dry the compartment for the ice, not

forgetting the drain pipe. In many refrigerators the drain pipe can be

removed for cleaning. Replace the ice and shut it in. Then scrub and

wipe the other compartments or shelves, and include the pan and the

floor under the refrigerator in this cleaning.

It is hardly necessary to say that rubbish and unsightly objects

ought not to be tucked away behind or under the refrigerator. Its

surroundings should be as clean and well-aired as possible.

A refrigerator is at its best when it is full of ice. To keep it full

is usually found economical as well as sanitary. If the ice is gone and

it will be some hours before a new supply will be brought, keep the

doors of the refrigerator open until it can be refilled. Without ice

the refrigerator becomes the very worst sort of crowded, unaired food

closet.

If one has difficulty in keeping an old or poor refrigerator sweet,

one or two pieces of charcoal wrapped in gauze and laid in the corners

will help. They will need renewing frequently. No disinfectant, however

odourless and harmless, should be put into the refrigerator or into the

water with which it is washed. Soda, borax or boracic acid answer the

same purpose and hurt nothing.

This chapter has concerned itself with what might be called the

household genii. They have always, as old tales will tell you,

been powerful and troublesome servants, yet withal valuable and

fascinating. And, nowadays, we have many inventions for keeping them

in order which would have made life easier for old-time sorcerers and

magicians who sought to govern them by rubbing lamps and saying rhymes.

MENUS AND MARKETING

1. MENUS

HUMAN beings must eat. Under ordinary circumstances this is neither a

disagreeable nor a despicable duty. Just now, however, it is a duty

which is being made unduly conspicuous. Even those of us with good

digestions and excellent appetites can hardly sit down to a meal

without taking some thought concerning nutritive values and the use of

beverages, things which should not be thought of except by housewives,

doctors and nurses, whose business they are. People watching their own

symptoms and doctoring themselves, people constantly observing their

own thoughts and feelings, and people studying their own diet and

digestions are all in the same class--they are all made ill by too much

personal attention.

Mr. G. K. Chesterton has said a wise word on the subject of keeping

good health. It is: "The one supreme way of making all those processes

go right, the processes of health and strength and grace and beauty,

the one and only way of making certain of their accuracy, is to think

about something else." He supports this idea with the command: "Take no

thought what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink."

The only person in a household who should busy herself with matters

of diet is the housekeeper. The other people ought to be too busy and

too interested to think of diet and digestion between meals, and too

courteously occupied in being agreeable at table to think of them then.

Knowledge concerning diet and digestion, both valuable and useless, can

be had without asking.

The grocer sends you with your purchases a pamphlet on nourishment;

a restaurant menu furnishes a few thoughts on mastication; warnings

against coffee drinking glare at you in the street cars; library

shelves are crowded with books on health, food, and so on. When we go

out to luncheon or have guests to dinner, matters of diet and digestion

are talked of so freely that we seem to eat with a chart of the

digestive tract before our mind's eye, and we suspiciously watch while

innocent food, which unobserved might have given vitality and cheer,

becomes a cause of weariness and depression.

To know enough to feed a family wisely, agreeably and economically

without becoming over-careful, or perhaps a faddist in regard to

food is indeed very difficult. For one thing, avoid fixed rules and

arbitrary ideas in catering. Digestions are as different as noses and

thumb signatures; one can, therefore, neither invariably forbid one

thing nor insist upon another. On the contrary, digestions are as

alike in general as noses and thumb signatures, and it is, therefore,

unnecessary and harmful that any member of a family should be

especially provided for and cooked for unless that person is an invalid

living upon a prescribed diet.

I believe a simple and successful rule for those who have nothing

to do with the meals except to eat them is: Eat what is set before

you and find something amusing to say or to think about. It is a

little difficult at first, both to eat things one does not especially

care for, and to think up something amusing, but it soon becomes a

habit. Meals are not times for stoking an engine, even with the most

thoughtfully selected fuel, but times for the renewal of life. There

is a meditative by-path which leads off from this thought concerning

the reasons that meals are in some cases the most sacred and spiritual

rites of religion. We must not wander there, however, but may note in

passing the reason for saying Grace at meals which is suggested by this

thought. A Grace blesses a gift of new life and is a thanksgiving for

it.

But that meals shall fulfil their office of renewing life and gladness,

it is necessary that the woman who selects and arranges them shall have

some knowledge and shall expend some care. It need not be elaborate

knowledge, nor burdensome care, just a usual quantity of each.

It has been discovered that human bodies are composed of chemical

elements just as are cabbages and doctors' prescriptions. Some of

the elements of which we are composed are oxygen, hydrogen, carbon,

nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, iron, potassium, calcium, and there are

others yet. It would seem a simple matter to find out just how much of

each of these things we contained and then to keep up the supply by

eating or inhaling them in the required quantities, but you can be sure

there is nothing as dull and matter-of-fact as that in this interesting

creation. We are not doctors' prescriptions, we are even a bit more

remarkable than cabbages, and it is not just correctly measured

proportions of oxygen, nitrogen and potassium that we need, but energy,

and heat, and flesh, and blood. Therefore, it is that when we consult

some wise table of statistics in which the nourishing value of food is

given, we do not find it given in terms of oxygen and hydrogen and the

rest, but in terms which indicate heat, energy and building material.

Tables of the composition of foods are usually made in the following

terms: Refuse, Water, Protein, Fat, Carbohydrates, Ash. Added to

these there will often be a division headed "Calories." The calorie

nevertheless is not a food substance, it is the unit by which

energy-giving heat is measured. Just as a ribbon is measured in yards

and molasses in cupfuls, so heat is measured in calories.

"Refuse" means that part of food which cannot be eaten or which could

not be used by the body if it were eaten, as bones, fibres, seeds,

parings, pods and shells.

"Protein" is an inclusive word for the chief substances in food which

the body can use in rebuilding itself as use wears it out.

"Carbohydrates" are the fuel of the body. They are converted at once

into heat and energy, or if there is a surplus they are often stored

in the body in the form of fat to be used when nourishment is less

abundant.

"Fat" is also fuel, a more concentrated form of fuel than the

carbohydrates. A certain quantity is stored in the body as a reserve

heat supply.

The word "Ash" in food tables stands for the mineral matters which are

used in our bodies for building bones and teeth, and for a few other

purposes; these minerals are for the most part building materials, but

are not so important as protein and are needed in smaller quantities.

Human bodies are constituted to withstand adversities and to bear the

experiments and mistakes which we make; therefore it is that though

these food substances usually serve the purposes attributed to them

above, yet when need arises the body is able, for a time at least,

to use one for the other. This is a provision, however, for special

and adverse occasions. Ordinarily food should be supplied in the

variety and proportion which will enable the body to use each class of

nourishment for its own purpose.

Roughly estimated, an average person's diet should be about one-fifth

protein, one-fifth fat and three-fifths carbohydrates. That the

carbohydrates exceed the others in quantity is easily accounted for.

They are not such concentrated fuel as fat, therefore a greater

quantity is needed; they are consumed to make heat instead of

being built into the body as protein is; therefore, we need more

carbohydrates, just as we need to renew the coal supply in a house more

frequently than to renew the carpets.

The foods from which we derive protein are chiefly meat, fish, milk,

beans, peas, bread and other articles made of wheat, corn, oats, and

like grains.

Vegetables, with the exception of beans and peas, furnish chiefly

carbohydrates.

Fats are derived for the most part from the animal food which we eat.

Butter, for instance, is chiefly fat, and the proportion of fat in

bacon is more than half.

But because nearly every kind of food contains other constituents

besides the one which is chief, the housekeeper who wishes to make wise

menus will need more and more detailed statements of food values as she

is able to get and understand them. If she has hitherto thought little

about such matters, she will probably not know that the United States

Government has very kindly employed people to make years of experiments

and to write books and pamphlets for her help, nor will she know that

she may have these last merely by asking the Department of Agriculture

for them. They are not made into attractive booklets, but they are

by no means dull reading. Farmers' Bulletin No. 142, for instance,

called "Principles of Nutrition and Nutritive Value of Food," and

written by Dr. W. O. Atwater, is brief, helpful and most interesting.

The figures in the table given below were taken from this Bulletin.

But there are things which may be derived from this and the many other

food pamphlets issued by the Government which are quite as important as

definite statistics. They are things which give the housewife a feeling

of comradeship with many people who are working earnestly with and for

her; things which increase her interest in her own small part of the

work and which give her a helpful sense of its dignity.

For many reasons it is impossible for a housewife to make an _exact_

calculation of the amount of nourishment which she gives her family.

The figures in even the most carefully made tables are, of necessity,

averages or approximates, for food varies in quality in different

localities and at different seasons. Moreover, the figures in the

various government reports upon food values and in books giving such

statistics differ somewhat, nevertheless, there is sufficient general

agreement upon which to base an intelligent effort to make wise as well

as agreeable menus.

On this account, a housewife who is neither very learned nor very

experienced can yet wisely regulate her menus by keeping in mind the

general character of a day's nourishment and helping out her lack of

chemical knowledge with a table of food values such as the one below.

The general aim in providing food, as has already been said, is to

furnish all the varieties of nourishment which the body requires and

the chief ones in about the proportion of a fifth protein to a fifth

fat to three-fifths carbohydrates. That is, either the per cent. of

protein or the per cent. of fat multiplied by three should about equal

the carbohydrates. This is, of course, a very rough and general way

of estimating, but I believe it to be a practical way to begin the

study and application of a branch of difficult and as yet slightly

established knowledge.

==================================================================

|_Refuse._

| | _Water._

| | | _Protein._

| | | | _Fat._

_Food Materials._ | | | | | |_Ash._

________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______

| Per | Per | Per | Per | Per | Per

Chuck ribs | 16.3 | 52.6 | 15.5 | 15.0 | .... | 0.8

Ribs | 20.8 | 43.8 | 13.9 | 21.2 | .... | .7

Rib rolls | .... | 63.9 | 19.3 | 16.7 | .... | .9

Round | 7.2 | 60.7 | 19.0 | 12.8 | .... | 1.0

Rump | 20.7 | 45.0 | 13.8 | 20.2 | .... | .7

Shank, fore | 36.9 | 42.9 | 12.8 | 7.3 | .... | .6

Porterhouse steak | 12.7 | 52.4 | 19.1 | 17.9 | .... | .8

Sirloin steak | 12.8 | 54.0 | 16.5 | 16.1 | .... | .9

| | | | | |

Corned beef | 8.4 | 49.2 | 14.3 | 23.8 | .... | 4.6

Canned corned beef | .... | 51.8 | 26.3 | 18.7 | .... | 4.0

Dried and smoked beef | 4.7 | 53.7 | 26.4 | 6.9 | .... | 8.9

| | | | | |

Breast | 21.3 | 52.0 | 15.4 | 11.0 | | .8

Leg | 14.2 | 60.1 | 15.5 | 7.9 | | .9

Leg cutlets | 3.4 | 68.3 | 20.1 | 7.5 | 1.0

| | | | | |

Flank | 9.9 | 39.0 | 13.8 | 36.9 | | .6

Leg, hind | 18.4 | 51.2 | 15.1 | 14.7 | | .8

Loin chops | 16.0 | 42.0 | 13.5 | 28.3 | | .7

| | | | | |

Breast | 19.1 | 45.5 | 15.4 | 19.1 | | .8

Leg, hind | 17.4 | 52.9 | 15.9 | 13.6 | | .9

| | | | | |

Ham | 10.7 | 48.0 | 13.5 | 25.9 | | .8

Ham, smoked | 13.6 | 34.8 | 14.2 | 33.4 | | 4.2

Shoulder | 12.4 | 44.9 | 12.0 | 29.8 | | .7

Shoulder, smoked | 18.2 | 36.8 | 13.0 | 26.6 | | 5.5

Loin chops | 19.7 | 41.8 | 13.4 | 24.2 | | .8

Bacon, smoked | 7.7 | 17.4 | 9.1 | 62.2 | | 4.1

Salt pork | | 7.9 | 1.9 | 86.2 | | 3.9

| | | | | |

Bologna | 3.3 | 55.2 | 18.2 | 19.7 | | 3.8

Pork | | 39.8 | 13.0 | 44.2 | 1.1 | 2.2

Frankfort | | 57.2 | 19.6 | 18.6 | 1.1 | 3.4

| | | | | |

Chicken, broilers | 41.6 | 43.7 | 12.8 | 1.4 | | .7

Fowls | 25.9 | 47.1 | 13.7 | 12.3 | | .7

Goose | 17.6 | 38.5 | 13.4 | 29.8 | | .7

Turkey | 22.7 | 42.4 | 16.1 | 18.4 | | .8

| | | | | |

Cod, dressed | 29.9 | 58.5 | 11.1 | .2 | | .8

Cod, salt | 24.9 | 40.2 | 16.0 | .4 | |18.5

Halibut, steaks | 17.7 | 61.9 | 15.3 | 4.4 | | .9

Mackerel, whole | 44.7 | 40.4 | 10.2 | 4.2 | | .7

Shad, whole | 50.1 | 35.2 | 9.4 | 4.8 | | .7

Herring, smoked | 44.4 | 19.2 | 20.5 | 8.8 | | 7.4

Salmon, canned | | 63.5 | 21.8 | 12.1 | | 2.6

Sardines | 5.0 | 53.6 | 23.7 | 12.1 | | 5.3

| | | | | |

Oysters | | 88.3 | 6.0 | 1.3 | 3.3 | 1.1

Clams | | 80.8 | 10.6 | 1.1 | 5.2 | 2.3

Crabs | 52.4 | 36.7 | 7 | .9 | .6 | 1.5

Lobsters | 61. | 30.7 | 5.9 | .7 | .2 | .8

| | | | | |

EGGS: | 11.2 | 65.5 | 13.1 | 9.3 | | .9

| | | | | |

Butter | | 11.0 | 1.0 | 85.0 | | 3.0

Whole milk | | 87.0 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 5.0 | .7

Skim milk | | 90.5 | 3.4 | .3 | 5.1 | .7

Buttermilk | | 91.0 | 3.0 | .5 | 4.8 | .7

Condensed milk | | 26.9 | 8.8 | 8.3 | 54.1 | 1.9

Cream | | 74.0 | 2.5 | 18.5 | 4.5 | .5

Cheese, full cream | | 34.2 |25.9 | 33.7 | 2.4 | 3.8

| | | | | |

Entire wheat flour | | 11.4 | 13.8 | 1.9 | 71.9 | 1.0

Graham flour | | 11.3 | 13.3 | 2.2 | 71.4 | 1.8

medium grades | | 12.0 | 11.4 | 1.0 | 75.1 | .5

Low grade | | 12.0 | 14.0 | 1.9 | 71.2 | .9

etc. | | 10.3 | 13.4 | .9 | 74.1 | 1.3

Wheat breakfast food | | 9.6 | 12.1 | 1.8 | 75.2 | 1.3

Buckwheat flour | | 13.6 | 6.4 | 1.2 | 77.9 | .9

Rye flour | | 12.9 | 6.8 | .9 | 78.7 | .7

Corn meal | | 12.5 | 9.2 | 1.9 | 75.4 | 1.0

Oat breakfast food | | 7.7 | 16.7 | 7.3 | 66.2 | 2.1

Rice | | 12.3 | 8.0 | .3 | 79.0 | .4

Tapioca | | 11.4 | .4 | .1 | 88.0 | .1

| | | | | |

White | | 35.3 | 9.2 | 1.3 | 53.1 | 1.1

Brown | | 43.6 | 5.4 | 1.8 | 47.1 | 2.1

Graham | | 35.7 | 8.9 | 1.8 | 52.1 | 1.5

Whole wheat | | 38.4 | 9.7 | .9 | 49.7 | 1.3

Rye | | 35.7 | 9.0 | .6 | 53.2 | 1.5

| | | | | |

Molasses | | | | | 70.0 |

Honey. | | | | | 81.0 |

Sugar, granulated | | | | |100.0 |

Maple syrup | | | | | 71.4 |

| | | | | |

Beans, dried | | 12.6 | 22.51| .8 | 59.6 | 3.5

Beans, lima, shelled | | 68.5 | 7.1 | .7 | 22.0 | 1.7

Beans, string | 7.0 | 83.0 | 2.1 | .3 | 6.9 | .7

Baked beans, canned | | 68.9 | 6.9 | 2.5 | 19.6 | 2.1

Beets | 20.0 | 70.0 | 1.3 | .1 | 7.7 | .9

Cabbage | 15.0 | 77.7 | 1.4 | .2 | 4.8 | .9

Celery | 20.0 | 75.6 | .9 | .1 | 2.6 | .8

portion | | 75.4 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 19.7 | .7

Cucumbers | 15.0 | 81.1 | .7 | .2 | 2.6 | .4

Lettuce | 15.0 | 80.5 | 1.0 | .2 | 2.5 | .8

Mushrooms | | 88.1 | 3.5 | .4 | 6.8 | 1.2

Onions | 10.0 | 78.9 | 1.4 | .3 | 8.9 | .5

Parsnips | 20.0 | 66.4 | 1.3 | .4 | 10.8 | 1.1

Peas, shelled | | 74.6 | 7.0 | .5 | 16.9 | 1.0

Peas, canned | | 85.3 | 3.6 | .2 | 9.8 | 1.1

Potatoes | 20.0 | 62.6 | 1.8 | .1 | 14.7 | .8

Rhubarb | 40.0 | 56.6 | .4 | .4 | 2.2 | .4

Sweet potatoes | 20.0 | 55.2 | 1.4 | .6 | 21.9 | .9

Spinach | | 92.3 | 2.1 | .3 | 3.2 | 2.1

Squash | 50.0 | 44.2 | .7 | .2 | 4.5 | .4

Tomatoes | | 94.3 | .9 | .4 | 3.9 | .5

Tomatoes, canned | | 94.0 | 1.2 | .2 | 4.0 | .6

Turnips | 30.0 | 62.7 | .9 | .1 | 5.7 | .6

| | | | | |

Apples | 25.0 | 63.3 | .3 | .3 | 10.8 | .3

Apples, dried | | 28.1 | 1.6 | 2.2 | 66.1 | 2.0

Bananas | 35.0 | 48.9 | .8 | .4 | 14.3 | .6

Grapes | 25.0 | 58.0 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 14.4 | .4

Lemons | 30.0 | 62.5 | .7 | .5 | 5.9 | .4

Muskmelons | 50.0 | 44.8 | .3 | | 4.6 | .3

Oranges | 27.0 | 63.4 | .6 | .1 | 8.5 | .4

Pears | 10.0 | 76.0 | .5 | .4 | 12.7 | .4

Raspberries | | 85.8 | 1.0 | | 12.6 | .6

Strawberries | 5.0 | 85.9 | .9 | .6 | 7.0 | .6

Watermelons | 59.4 | 37.5 | .2 | .1 | 2.7 | .1

Apricots, dried | | 29.4 | 4.7 | 1.0 | 62.5 | 2.4

Dates | 10.0 | 13.8 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 70.6 | 1.2

Figs | | 18.8 | 4.3 | .3 | 74.2 | 2.4

Raisins | 10.0 | 13.1 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 68.5 | 3.1

| | | | | |

Almonds | 45.0 | 2.7 | 11.5 | 30.2 | 9.5 | 1.1

Chestnuts | 16.0 | 37.8 | 5.2 | 4.5 | 35.4 | 1.1

Cocoanuts | 48.8 | 7.2 | 2.9 | 25.9 | 14.3 | .9

Cocoanut, prepared | | 3.5 | 6.3 | 57.4 | 31.5 | 1.3

Hickory nuts | 62.2 | 1.4 | 5.8 | 25.5 | 4.3 | .8

Peanuts | 24.5 | 6.9 | 19.5 | 29.1 | 18.5 | 1.5

Walnuts, black | 74.1 | .6 | 7.2 | 14.6 | 3.0 | .5

Walnuts, English | 58.1 | 1.0 | 6.9 | 26.6 | 6.8 | .6

| | | | | |

Chocolate | | 5.9 | 12.9 | 48.7 | 30.3 | 2.2

Cocoa, powdered | | 4.6 | 21.6 | 28.9 | 37.7 | 7.2

----------------------------------------------------------------

A table given as this one, in percentages instead of quantities,

may seem at first sight too indefinite to be of much service to a

housekeeper who naturally wishes to know the quantity of food to give

her household as well as the proportions of its composition. I have

purposely avoided giving a food table which deals with quantities

because I believe this one to be more useful to a beginner. One's

first calculations in food values can hardly be other than approximate

and inexact. Not many girls, when they begin their housekeeping, have

either the time or the ability to make the calculations which even the

simplest schemes for computing a dietary require. Besides, an effort

to provide scientifically correct meals on the part of a housewife to

whom the effort is unfamiliar and difficult is apt to produce monotony

in the meals, worry in her, and disregard and forgetfulness of the

family's particular tastes.

A first and simple step for her to take is to make herself familiar

with the chief value of different articles of food and of the more

usual combinations. When she takes this last matter into consideration

she will find that many combinations which are traditional, which were

probably made merely by instinct, are, when tested, palatable wisdom.

For instance, bread is a very complete food in itself except that it is

a little lacking in fat, but people have been spreading butter on it

for centuries, and thereby completing it.

Consider the traditional combination of baked beans and brown bread.

Referring to the table we find beans a fairly well-balanced food, but

a little lacking in fat. In brown bread neither the protein nor the

fat come anywhere near being a third of the carbohydrates. Therefore,

when we combine these two articles we shall be a little lacking in

protein and a good deal lacking in fat. Butter on the bread will help

this last difficulty and the wisdom of our ancestors will help out the

rest. What did they combine with these two? Codfish cakes, to be sure.

And in these there is codfish which has a good deal of protein in it;

egg which has protein and fat; butter which is chiefly fat and potato

which is chiefly carbohydrates. We might make a diagram of it, like

this:

Cod fish Protein

Egg Protein Fat

Butter Fat

Potato Carbohydrates

As a dish to combine with two articles somewhat lacking in protein and

fat, we may feel ourselves content with this.

In many people's minds the word "sausage" is just naturally followed by

the words "buckwheat cakes." Is there sanction for this? From the food

table we learn that sausage has a fair percentage of protein, almost no

carbohydrates, and is almost half fat. Buckwheat cakes have in them,

beside buckwheat flour, a little milk and often some wheat flour or

corn meal. This table will, perhaps, represent the matter better than

an explanation.

_Protein._ _Fat._ _Carbohydrates._

Sausage 13.0 44.2 1.1

Buckwheat flour 6.4 1.2 77.9

Milk 3.3 4.0 5.0

The table says to the eye, too much fat. One cannot remedy the defect

by increasing the protein and carbohydrates to match the fat, for we

should then have as much food at one meal as we should need for three.

The real remedy is to balance this meal with others during the day in

which the percentage of fat is very low. Another remedy is to serve

meals with a large percentage of fat on very cold days; in that case

the weather will help to balance the excess of heat production.

Pursuing this matter of tradition, why are peas served with lamb,

and why is pork so often accompanied with "greens" of some sort? The

percentage of protein in lamb is low enough to allow, perhaps require,

some supplement from the vegetables. The excess of fat in pork is

offset by the excess of water in greens, and also by certain medicinal

qualities they possess which are represented in the percentage of

"Ash." One might almost say that the combination known as "hog's jowl

and turnip greens" is providential. I am sure it has saved bodily

suffering and even lives in certain pig-raising localities.

One can see from looking thoughtfully at this food table that the

dinner at which we have lamb, veal, poultry, or fish is the occasion

upon which to have a substantial vegetable, such as macaroni, lima

beans, parsnips or sweet potatoes, or an especially substantial dessert

such as a boiled pudding or a pie. It is also evident that when we have

beef, mutton or pork it is healthful to combine them with vegetables

like spinach, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and turnips, which contain a

large percentage of water. The dessert for such occasions may well be a

jelly or fruit in some form--something light and cool.

The day on which we have roast pork is not the occasion to have apple

dumpling or any dessert with a percentage of fat; the meal at which we

serve beef steak and mushrooms is not the one to complete with mince

pie, for we should then have more protein than we should know what to

do with. On the contrary, the day on which the main dish at dinner is

made from yesterday's meat, or is fish, is not the time for a watery or

a fluffy dessert, unless we are purposely planning a day of abstinence.

If it happens that the family diet includes little meat, care must

be taken that protein is supplied from other sources, otherwise we

shall be running an engine at full speed in a building which is never

decently repaired and which will one day fall round our ears.

There are several questions which frequently arise in the mind of

a person who begins to study food values. One is, why are articles

included in the menu of almost every meal which have almost no value

as nourishment? In many cases such articles are appetizing and

refreshing; such are lettuce, celery, muskmelons, cucumbers and many

soups and desserts. They also contain much water, of which the body has

great and constant need. They also give bulk to our food, which is a

necessity because some of the processes of digestion do not begin until

the organs to which they belong are expanded.

A housewife who is bewildered or disheartened will sometimes ask why

we cannot take our food in capsules, or why an ideal dietary cannot be

made and used over and over again. She will not be the first person who

has thought of these expedients, but it has been fairly well proved

that highly condensed food, as also "predigested" foods, not only lack

this element of bulk of which we have been speaking, but have an even

worse defect. They give us something for nothing, which is always bad

for us. That is, they furnish us with nourishment without requiring any

effort to speak of from the digestive organs. As a result the digestive

organs grow flabby and useless from having nothing to do. A child in

school who is never given anything difficult to do grows flabby in mind

and character and soon _can't_ do anything difficult; so it is with a

digestion.

The objection to the use of an ideal dietary is, in the first place,

that such a dietary has not been discovered. People claim to have

discovered it, but that is different from really doing so. But the

chief objection to the use of such a thing is that the body requires a

variety of food, that a variety of food has been provided for it on the

earth and that the part of us which is not body will not stand eating

the same thing every day or even every week. Have you ever lived in

a boarding house or in an institution where there was an invariable

week's menu. It is a mechanical contrivance which soon stirs up

rebellion, and rightly.

Probably a word more needs to be said on this subject of variety, for

it is a saving grace in menu making. If one can give one's household

_real_ variety of food, not merely that which is made by different

methods of serving and cooking, but that which is actually a difference

in constituents, mistakes in selection will then never get very long or

thoroughly established. If one cannot be right all the time, by means

of variety one can be fairly sure of being right some of the time.

Variety is also made necessary by changes in season, in occupation, in

state of health, and I think I may add without making a loop-hole for

pampering people unduly, that it is made necessary at times by change

of mood.

A trivial thing comes to my mind which none the less illustrates what

I am trying to say about variety. So often I have seen a woman, whom I

like to be with, a woman who has many, many things to do, take a few

moments to make the last bit of her cookie-dough into an elephant or

a rabbit of extraordinary figure. The cheering effect of this animal

upon the boy who comes in from school very tired and perhaps cross or

discouraged, is delightful to see. I repent that I called it a trivial

thing, for this puffy, blunt-legged animal is to the child pleasant

food, an amusing sight and the assurance that some one has thought

gladly of him during the long school hours.

Variety in menus gives to the grown-up mind the same pleasurable

feelings which the cookie elephant gives to the mind of the child, with

this practical addition, that such feelings of pleasure also quicken

the appetite and the energy and digestive powers of the body, thus

enabling it to profit more by the nourishment varied foods convey.

MARKETING

Making a wise menu does not by any means produce a meal. It is a first

step in the process, the next is to buy the food which is required by

the menu.

Many women like to shop, and even more like to have it thought that

they know how to shop. For some unknown reason shopping for food

does not usually excite the same interest nor is it so coveted an

accomplishment. I wonder if it seems less interesting because the

things shopped for are not "to keep." If this is the reason, one has

but to remind oneself that they are "to keep," only they must first be

transmuted into the flesh and bones, work and laughter of the family.

A large city market is a "sight" in the same sense that a museum or

an aquarium or a menagerie is. It is also to some extent a "sight" in

the way that an art gallery is. I would like to give as a reward to

good housekeepers a visit to the market in Venice. It is spread in

heaps and piles of colour on gray stones, and shaded with gay awnings.

Women wearing fringed shawls and high heels and high combs go to it in

gondolas, and the market-stuffs are brought to it in boats which glide

up to the steps through thousand-coloured ripples.

Often, however, marketing is done in ugly little shops instead of in

one big market. But though small shops are not so spectacular, they are

often easier to market in, and the customer usually receives an amount

of personal attention which is useful if one has many things to learn.

One of the best reasons for going to a market or to provision shops

every day or two is that there is so much to be learned there. An

incidental reason is that going to market takes the housewife out of

doors more often than she might otherwise go. Another reason for going

is that it helps in making varied menus; one sees things which would

never have been thought of at home. The housewife who goes to market

can also take advantage of special prices.

Wise marketing, like wise shopping, requires of us two moral qualities,

judgment and self-restraint. One must ask oneself and answer wisely and

truly:

Is this what I want?

Is its price reasonable for me to pay?

Is it good of its kind?

Is it in good condition?

Is it a suitable size or quantity?

If any of it is left to-day will it fit into my plans for to-morrow?

Is this what I want? That is, is it what I have reasonably planned to

get or just something which momentarily appeals to me. On the other

hand, is it perhaps better for my purpose than the thing I had planned

to have?

"Reasonable," used in regard to a price, has two interpretations, and

the housewife is concerned with both. She must consider whether the

price of an article is "within her means" as people say, that is,

whether she can buy this thing which she wants without sacrificing

something equally or more important. She must also consider whether the

price is a reasonable value for the nourishment and enjoyment which it

represents and not a fictitious price caused by unseasonableness or an

unusual demand.

Is it good of its kind? And is it in good condition? Are questions

which may well be considered together. We can only learn to answer

them by experiment and experience. Especially is this true in regard

to meat. One cannot easily recognize the different pieces from

another person's description, and it is often difficult to do so from

pictures. Even the names of the pieces differ considerably in different

localities, and a knowledge of the quality of meat is impossible to

obtain except from actual experience. The best and easiest way to

learn about meat is from a good butcher. Three or four minutes of his

time appropriated by you every time that you go to his shop will make

you into a skilful marketer. Do not hesitate to ask him questions nor

be afraid of betraying your ignorance. For whether you know much or

little, it is well to put a good deal of responsibility upon him in

selecting meat, then if it is not satisfactory he can fairly be taken

to task, but if you do the choosing without his help, a mistake is your

own fault.

If the housewife is not sure of the names given to pieces of meat in

the locality in which she is marketing, or not very sure of such names

anywhere, she may easily explain her wishes by designating what she

means to do with a piece of meat, as, "a piece of veal for roasting,"

"about a pound and a half of lamb for stewing," "a piece of beef for

soup," and the like phrases.

Her receipt book will probably give her pictures and the names of

pieces of meat, or she may again apply to her paternal government for

Farmers' Bulletin No. 34: "Meats: Composition and Cooking," in which

she will find placid animals divided into numbered sections, and

considerable explanation of ways in which these sections may be used.

Because the names of pieces of meat and the methods of cutting them

vary considerably, I shall give but a brief and general table here.

This diagram of a side of beef will give some idea of the position of

the several pieces.

[Illustration:

1. Hind Shank

2. Lower Round

3. Round

4. Aitch Bone

5. Rump

6. Loin

7. Flank

8. Navel

9. Plate

10. Ribs

11. Brisket

12. Cross Ribs

13. Chuck

14. Neck

15. Shoulder

16. Fore Shank

]

_Beef._--The neck, shin or shank and navel are usually used for soup

stock.

A variety of pieces known by a variety of names, such as cross ribs,

plate or Rattel rand, brisket, shoulder, rump, thick flank, aitch bone

and the butt or vein, are used for boiling, braising, stewing, corned

beef, pot roasts and spiced beef.

The upper round, occasionally called the buttock, is used for round

steaks.

The lower round is good for beef-tea, hamburg-steak, meat pies and any

purpose for which good chopped beef is needed.

The chuck ribs are those nearest the neck; they are frequently used

for stews, chuck steaks and ragout. Sometimes the ribs are removed and

the meat rolled and tied; this makes a tender and well-flavoured roast.

The prime ribs, of which some people say there are five and others six,

are used for prime roasts. They are divided into first, second and

third cuts; the last is considered least desirable.

From the part of the animal known as the loin are cut porterhouse,

sirloin and short steaks; from this part also comes the tenderloin,

sometimes called the fillet.

The parts of the loin and the prime ribs are the most expensive and

are considered the most desirable parts of the animal. The housekeeper

whose purse will not permit her to buy them may comfort herself,

though, with the fact that they contain no more nourishment than some

less popular pieces.

Other meats are divided into somewhat fewer cuts than beef. The more

general divisions are given below.

_Veal._--The loin is used for roasts and chops.

The fillet for roasts and cutlets.

The better parts of the neck and the breast are used for roasting and

chops.

The less desirable parts for pies, pot roasts and stews.

The shank, which in veal is known as a "knuckle," is used for soup and

broths.

_Mutton or lamb._--The leg is used for roasting or boiling.

The shoulder for baking and roasting.

The loin for chops and roasts.

The ribs, which are often called the "rack," are used chiefly for chops.

The breast may be roasted, baked or stewed.

_Pork._--Hams and shoulders, the back and front legs of the animal, are

eaten either smoked or fresh.

The loin, ribs and sparerib are used for roasts, chops, stews and baked

dishes.

Pieces used for salt pork and bacon are cut from the almost clear fat

of the back and sides.

Almost all parts of the pig are used for food, but as they are usually

known by names which indicate what they are, they give the housewife

little trouble in remembering them.

The use of your eye, sometimes of your hand, is required in judging the

condition of the food you are buying.

Meat which is without fat is probably tough. Fat of beef should be pale

yellow and dry, the lean, bright red and firm. Mutton, veal and pork

should have pure white fat, the lean of mutton should be bright red,

of veal, pink, of pork, a somewhat more delicate pink.

Chickens should have soft, moist, yellow feet, smooth, thick legs, and

tender skin. The end of the breastbone should be pliable. Plump, very

bright yellow chickens are fat and are better for stews or pot-pie than

for roasting.

Turkeys should have smooth, black legs and white, plump breasts. If the

flesh of their legs is purplish they are probably old.

Geese and ducks should have soft feet, hard breasts and pinkish beaks.

Fish in good condition have bright eyes and scales, stiff fins and

flesh so hard and firm that it will not retain the mark if pressed with

a finger.

It is not a difficult matter to tell whether fruit and vegetables are

fresh and good. When such things are wilted, withered, bruised or

lacking in firmness, they are not good for food unless they are merely

wilted as lettuce and asparagus sometimes are on a hot day, or when

they have been carried through the sun.

I know of no way of judging butter except by tasting it. There is

little also by which to judge eggs; their shells should not be shiny or

very smooth and they should feel both light and heavy--if you can tell

what I mean by that.

The last two questions on the marketing list are also usually

considered together. Both are really questions concerning quantity.

Food so often comes in quantities too large for one meal that it is

usually better to make menus for two days at one time and then revise

the second day's menu when the second day comes.

Under these questions of quantity comes a class of articles a little

different from those which we have just been mentioning: articles like

sugar, flour, salt, coffee, tea and the like, which are bought in

bulk. In what quantity it is wise to buy such things depends upon the

size of the household, the place where these articles may be kept, the

distance from the place where the supply can be renewed, the income of

the family and whether the housewife or a reliable servant dispenses

them for use. I think it is pretty generally admitted that households

which are living on small means do better to buy food supplies in small

quantities. The advantages of doing this are, that if the commodity is

injured in any way, the loss is small; that no large outlay of money is

required at any one time; that the smallness of the quantity possessed

is a continual guard against its lavish use. These advantages usually

amply offset the fact that it is a little cheaper and a little more

comfortable to buy in large quantities.

Because it is easier, housewives sometimes fall into the way of dealing

at just one or two shops. This is a good thing to do usually, a poor

one to do invariably. To go occasionally to other shops gives one the

chance to find better things and pleasanter conditions; it also makes

your regular shopkeeper more anxious to please if he knows you go

elsewhere when you are not pleased. An advantage in cities of going

here and there, is that one can often take advantage of a difference

in prices in different localities. This must be done, of course, with

judgment; otherwise one makes oneself a fit subject for one of those

jokes about women who save two cents on a head of lettuce and spend ten

in carfare going to get it.

Women who take the same sort of trouble about marketing as they do

about buying their clothes usually succeed well with it. It is really

not a difficult form of shopping and interest in it grows as one

learns.

XII

COOKING

OUR Brother the Sun gets up every morning to cook, cooks all day, and

seems to enjoy cooking. The cooking processes which we engage in are

many of them imitations of his. When we use water and heat to soften

and break up starch cells, it is only a copy of the process by which

the sun makes the dry starch laid up in a seed in the damp earth into

food for the first little leaves of a plant. Long before we ever

thought of cooking, the sun was changing starch into sugar by heating

apples and pears and peaches through and through every day. One might

even venture to say that he had warmed milk for all the mammal babies

ever since the first one was born. Every once in a while, people

appear who try to persuade us to "go back to nature" and eat our food

uncooked, not realizing that they are asking us, not to go back to

nature, but to our own first ignorance of what nature is doing.

[Illustration: Photograph by Helen W. Cooke

Cooking]

The dictionary says that "to cook" is "to prepare food by subjecting

it to heat"; a brief and simple definition including some thousands of

processes ranging from the universal cooking done by the sun to that

performed by an accomplished French chef.

The object of cooking is to make food more digestible and more

attractive. For changes occur in food when it is subjected to heat

which make it more easily used by the body and which make it more

agreeable in flavour--more "appetizing." An incidental but important

benefit from cooking is that great heat kills the animal organisms

which food sometimes contains.

1. THE PROCESSES

The most usual processes of cooking are broiling, boiling, stewing,

braising, frying, roasting and baking.

_Broiling._--Food is broiled by being held close to a fire of glowing

red coals. The utensil needed for doing this is a wire broiler, which

should be greased before the meat is laid in it, preferably with a

bit of fat from the meat. In broiling, the chief object is to keep

the juices of the meat from running out. For this reason the meat is

laid close over the red coals for about ten seconds, then turned with

the other side to the coals that both may be seared almost at once.

Afterward it is turned frequently to prevent burning. Broiled meat is

not seasoned until it is done because salt draws out its juices. Care

is also taken not to cut or pierce the meat while it is cooking.

Steaks and chops are almost always broiled; fish, chicken and oysters

are frequently cooked in this way.

Broiling may be done in a frying pan heated intensely hot, and greased

as the wires of the broiler were with a bit of fat from the meat--a

tiny bit. The meat is laid in the pan, first on one side for a few

seconds, then on the other. It is turned, as when broiling over the

coals, often enough to keep it from burning.

Articles of food which are thin need a hotter fire, or to be laid

nearer the fire than thicker ones. This assures that the time required

to brown the outside will be too brief to dry the article through and

through.

A thick piece of meat will not cook through to the middle for some time

and should therefore be exposed to a slower fire that the outside may

not be hard before the inside is cooked. These principles apply also

to the roasting and baking of thick and thin articles of food.

_Boiling._--As only liquids can boil, we mean when we say we boil

potatoes, that we cook them in boiling water. When water is heated,

tiny bubbles of steam rise in it, which at first break before they

reach the surface; this is "simmering." As the heat increases, the

bubbles rise more quickly and higher, and break at the surface; this

is boiling. Water boils at 212° F., and, though its motion may be

increased by heat to a "gallop," it gets no hotter, for the steam

escapes when the little bubbles burst. Liquids which have a greater

density than water, such as salt water, syrup, grease and oil, do not

boil until they have reached a higher temperature than 212°. Milk boils

at a lower temperature than water. The reason it "boils over" so easily

is that what one might call the texture of the milk bubbles which

enclose the steam is less delicate than that of the water bubbles,

therefore instead of breaking when they come to the surface, they pile

up one upon another.

Boiling water hardens and toughens some of the protein substances in

food, but softens and makes digestible most of the substances included

under the head of carbohydrates.

Cold water softens and dissolves into itself some of the protein

substances, and also soaks out the nourishing qualities of

carbohydrates.

These facts are extremely useful in deciding upon the best method of

boiling food. For instance, if we have a piece of meat or fish which

we wish to boil and serve whole, it should be put into water which is

already boiling; this hardens the outside sufficiently to keep the

juices inside. This hardening is accomplished in about eight or ten

minutes; at the end of that time, the temperature of the water should

be allowed to fall a little below the boiling point that the inside

of the article may be cooked without being hardened. Water into which

fish is put should be just boiling, not rapidly boiling, as the motion

sometimes breaks the fish into pieces.

If we wish to make soup, broth, or beef-tea, we cut meat into small

pieces and put it into cold water, which is then gradually brought to

a high temperature. The cold water dissolves the substances of the

meat, which it has a better opportunity of doing from many small pieces

than from one large one, and gradually becomes highly and agreeably

flavoured. Meanwhile, the meat becomes more and more tasteless and

colourless and is, at last, fit only to be thrown away.

Salt is put into the water in which meat is boiled. In cold water it

helps to draw out the juices of the meat. In boiling water it draws

them out a little, but the heat of the water converts them into a thin

albuminous coating for the meat which assists in keeping in the juices.

Nearly all vegetables should be put into boiling water instead of being

put on the fire in cold and allowed to come to the boiling point. This

is in order that the changes which are made in the cells and fibres may

be made at once, before dissolvable substances like starch and sugar

are soaked out into the water which is to be thrown away. Some watery

vegetables, such as tomatoes and spinach need extremely little water,

sometimes no more than adheres to them after they have been washed.

These things are really stewed, not boiled. White potatoes should be

boiled gently, that the outsides may not break and fall off as they

soften.

In most cases, the boiling water in which vegetables are put should

be salted, in the proportion of a tablespoonful of salt to two quarts

of water. This not only seasons them but makes the temperature of

the water somewhat greater. There are some exceptions to this,

however; green corn is one of them; salt yellows and toughens it. Many

authorities will tell you not to salt peas until they are nearly

cooked.

As soon as vegetables are tender they should be drained. Potatoes,

whether boiled or baked, should not be covered after they are drained

or taken from the oven. They should dry in the air, not soak in their

own steam.

_Stewing._--Stewing resembles boiling. It is boiling done in the juices

of the article cooked increased with a little water. As we wish some of

the juices to flow out, we put food to be stewed into cold water. When

it has been brought gradually to the boiling point, the heat should

then be lowered to the simmering point and the food allowed to simmer

for a long while. Stewing is a slow method of cooking but it makes

digestible and appetizing meat and coarse vegetables which otherwise

would be hard fare. To food which is neither coarse nor tough, it

imparts a particularly delectable flavour. Stewed mushrooms are a good

example of this.

_Braising._--Braising is rather like stewing done in the oven. A

tightly covered pan or earthenware dish is required for it and a "slow"

oven. The meat is shut in the pan with seasonings and a little water,

and cooked long and slowly in the oven.

Braising is sometimes done in a closely covered dish set in a

moderately heated place on the top of the stove.

_Frying._--Frying is done in two ways, by immersing the article to be

fried in deep, hot fat and also by laying it first on one side then

on the other in a pan in which there is a little hot fat. This latter

method is often called sautéing.

The object of frying is quickly to form a crisp, brown crust round the

oyster, croquette, doughnut or whatever is being cooked, which will not

allow the flavour and constituents of the food to escape into the fat,

nor the fat to penetrate into the food. Provided this is accomplished,

frying is an entirely defensible mode of cooking, but imperfectly done

it is a particularly unwholesome method.

The temperature of the fat is the point for chief concern. If it is

much below 380°, it will soak into the articles put into it, and the

result will be food which is unpleasant to look at and hurtful to eat.

If the temperature of the fat is much above 380°, food put into it will

become almost instantly dark and hard.

Fat at the right temperature for frying is perfectly still and smokes a

very little. An inch cube of bread dropped into it will become brown in

one minute.

Articles which are to be fried should be as dry as possible because

water lowers the temperature of the fat and makes it sputter. They

should also not be very cold as this likewise cools the fat.

Lard, suet, drippings, olive oil and combinations of these things are

used for frying because they can be raised to a very high temperature.

We cannot fry in water because it can never be made hot enough to crisp

anything. Fried articles must be carefully drained, it is well if they

can be laid on a paper or a netting for this purpose.

_Roasting._--Roasting, strictly speaking, is now rarely done. It is

the method of cooking joints of meat by hanging them before an open

fire. Roasting done in the oven is really a form of baking. The process

requires a very hot oven that the outside of the meat may be incrusted

with melted fat and albumen which will keep the juices inside. Meat

for roasting is first rubbed with flour and salt; the salt starts the

juices, the flour combines with them and helps in the incrusting just

mentioned. It is well to put a few spoonfuls of drippings or some fat

from the meat into the pan, for this, as we have noted, becomes hotter

than water. If the piece of meat is very large, or requires thorough

cooking as in the case of pork and veal, water may be put in the pan

as soon as the outside is incrusted. This will reduce the temperature

and make the roasting slower and more thorough. It is most satisfactory

to have a rack in the roasting pan, that the meat may stand over, not

in, the water.

Roasting meat must be often "basted," that is, spoonfuls of the hot fat

or water in the pan must be poured over the meat now and again to keep

the outside from hardening and charring. The occasional opening of the

oven door for this purpose also lets fresh air into the oven and thus

improves the flavour of the meat.

_Baking._--Because we have come to use the word which meant cooking

meat before the fire for cooking it in the oven, we more usually apply

the word baking to the cooking of bread, cake, vegetables, puddings and

the many other things which we cook by shutting them up in the dry heat

of the oven.

None of these articles require as high a temperature as meat. You

cannot bear to put your hand into an oven which is ready for a roast

of meat; in an oven ready for bread you can hold your hand a minute or

two. The reason for this is that the juices and steam are to be kept

inside meat, but the gases in bread are to be let out, the crust must

not therefore harden at once. One of the things which must be guarded

against when baking bread in a gas range is the danger of having the

oven so hot at first that a hard crust is formed on the bread before

the crumb is sufficiently baked.

It is not always possible to regulate the heat of the oven with

dampers. Should this be the case and the oven is too hot at the top,

lay a paper or a pie-plate over the article which is baking. If it is

too hot on the bottom set the pan containing the food on an oven rack

or on an inverted pie-plate. While bread or cake are baking the oven

door should only be opened when necessary and then quickly closed, for

cold air sometimes ruins such things.

Things which are merely to be browned are set on a grate near the top

of the oven. Things large or thick, which are to be baked through

slowly are set on the bottom of the oven. Some substances dry a good

deal during the process of baking; such are breads, cakes and puddings.

The pans or dishes for such articles must be greased. Tins for cakes

which require long baking are often lined with stiff greased paper, as

this makes it more certain that the cake will not stick to the pan.

A housewife should have a standard cook book to refer to for the

details of cooking. Besides this, it is well for her to gather from

books and magazines serviceable receipts and suggestions about

household matters. These may be copied into an indexed blank book,

though I believe something in the nature of a card catalogue would be

better for the purpose.

2. THE PREPARATIONS

Food usually needs some preparation for the processes of cooking.

Though it requires nothing more, it is almost invariably first washed

in clean, fresh water.

_Meat._--Fresh meat should be rinsed quickly in cold water. Meat which

has been smoked or salted often needs scrubbing with a brush as well

as rinsing, and salt meat frequently requires to be soaked for several

hours.

_Poultry._--Poultry is usually sent to the market killed and plucked,

and is sometimes "drawn" before it is sent from the market to the

buyer. In country places it is often brought to the housewife alive and

though this has inconveniences it has also the great advantage that the

poultry can then be drawn immediately after it is killed, which seems

the more clean and more reasonable method.

To the housewife who finds herself in the predicament of having a live

chicken when she needs a dead one, I can say from experience that

beheading is the least offensive method for the unskilled to employ.

Use a sharp axe or hatchet and strike hard. Do not be distressed by

the convulsive movements which follow, they do not indicate suffering.

They happen because the intense throbbing thing, we call life cannot be

snuffed out like a candle. Even in a small creature it is a tremendous

rush and swirl which cannot be stopped on the instant. This is a piece

of work which it is not necessary for a housekeeper to learn to do; she

need only know that she can do it if she must. I have found in my own

housekeeping that it is more economical to hire my neighbour, black

Caroline to kill the chickens, because she can walk out of the kitchen

door with two chickens in her hand, kill them, and come back again

without interrupting the camp-meeting hymn she is singing and I am

afraid I must admit that I cannot do the same thing without shivering

and tears.

A few minutes after the poultry is killed it should be plucked. Some

people scald it to make the feathers come out more easily; others, on

reasonable grounds, heartily disapprove of this performance and insist

on "dry picking." Hold the fowl by the feet and pull the feathers

out toward the head, unless the skin proves to be very tender; in

that case pull the other way. Carefully remove all the little black

pin-feathers. Put a screw of paper on the stove, light it and singe

the chicken quickly to remove hairs and down. If the head has not

previously been removed, cut it off about an inch from the body. Just

below where the neck and body join you will feel through the skin a

rough movable lump. This is the crop and should be removed by loosening

the skin from the neck and drawing up the crop between the two. Cut

it off close to the body. Cut off the legs at the joint and cut out a

little oil bag which you will find on top of the tail.

When chickens are split down the back for broiling, or cut into pieces

for fricasseeing or frying, it is a simple matter to remove the

internal organs. If, however, they must be drawn for roasting, it takes

some skill to do it. It is an assistance to remember that the organs

lie more or less bound together in the cavity of the body, somewhat

as the seeds lie in the cavity of a cantaloupe. The organs should be

disordered as little as possible in the removal, as some of them,

notably the gall-bag of the liver, contain substances which affect the

taste of the meat if they touch it. As the chicken lies breast up, make

a short crosswise slit in it a little distance from the tail. Put one

or two fingers into this opening keeping them close to the walls of

the cavity, and gently loosen the organs, gradually working them out at

the slit. Some strength is needed for this, but it should be applied

gently.

Be sure that all the organs are removed, then wash the fowl under the

faucet or in a pan of cold water. Wipe it dry with a clean cloth. The

washing should be done with especial thoroughness if the fowl has

remained long undrawn.

Carefully separate the heart, liver and gizzard from the other organs.

Cut the veins from the heart. Trim the fat from the gizzard, cut a slit

in the thick part and draw the slit open; the inner lining must be

removed, unbroken if possible. Wash these giblets carefully, put them

at once on the fire in cold water and simmer until tender.

_Eggs._--Eggs should be washed when they are brought into the house;

the shells are then clean to be used for clearing coffee or soup.

When preparing eggs for cooking, do not break them one after another

into the bowl in which they are to be beaten, but put each one into a

cup and them slip it into the bowl. If this precaution is not taken, an

egg unfit for use may be dropped into a bowl with several fresh ones

and all will be wasted.

Some people separate the white of an egg from the yolk by cracking a

small piece from one end and pouring out the white, leaving the yolk

in the shell until last; others break the egg through the middle by

striking it on the edge of the cup and pass the yolk back and forth

from one half-shell to the other until all the white has run into the

cup. Whatever method is used, care must be taken that no yolk runs

into the white as this prevents the white from frothing. It is on this

account that the whites and yolks are beaten separately when we want

eggs especially frothy. Eggs also froth better when they are very cold.

They are beaten before they are used because we sometimes wish to put

air into a mixture by this means.

_Fish._--Large fish are usually prepared and sold in pieces by the fish

dealer. Small fish are usually left whole and should be cleaned as soon

as possible after they are bought. First remove the scales by scraping

them toward the head with the back of a knife. Hold the knife flat

that it may slip under the scales. Have a pan of cold water at hand in

which to rinse the knife frequently. Cut off the head just below the

gills. Slit the body at the thinner edge and remove the entrails. Run

the point of the knife along the backbone to remove the blood which

lies there. Cut off the tail last, as it is a convenient handle. Shad

containing roe must be slit very carefully, that the roe may not be

cut or broken. Fish which are to be served with heads and tails on are

slit from the gills half way down the body and the entrails removed as

before described.

After fish are cleaned, wash them carefully in cold water--some people

prefer to use salted water--then salt inside and out and lay them on a

plate in a cool place--not the refrigerator--until it is time to cook

them. Wash off the salt and season them again before cooking.

If a piece of fish which is to be boiled is wrapped in a thin cloth the

motion of the water will not break it.

_Shell-Fish._--Receipts for cooking oysters or clams which begin, "Open

the oysters"--or "Take two dozen clams from the shells"--are rather

amusing when one remembers what an exaggerated pleasure in retirement

these creatures take. They do not open their shells when one reads a

receipt at them.

_Oysters._--When oysters are cooked in their shells heat opens them;

otherwise, some one must open them by hand. A small thin knife with

an iron handle is best for this work. The hand in which the oyster is

held should be protected with a heavy glove or mitten. If you can find

no place where the thin point of the knife can be pushed between the

shells, rap the edge of the oyster with the handle of the knife until

some little crack is made into which the point can be thrust, then

gently but firmly work the shells apart. Put the oysters into a bowl.

The opening should be as cleanly a performance as possible, for the

oysters are the better for not being washed. Instead of washing them,

lift them one or two at a time from one bowl to another, looking them

over carefully for any bits of shell. It is better to wash them if

they have not been opened in the house. If oysters are to be cooked or

served in their shells, the shells must be thoroughly scrubbed.

_Clams._--Clams, whether thin shell, or hard shell, should be scrubbed,

rinsed, and laid in a pot with not more than a half-cupful of water.

Not more, because the juice from the clams should be diluted as little

as possible. Cover the pot closely. As soon as the shells open the

clams are cooked. When hard shell clams are taken from the shells, clip

off with scissors the hard rim from each one. The clam juice should be

saved and put aside to settle, the clear liquor can then be poured off.

It is used to some extent in nearly all dishes made from clams.

If an oyster or a clam has its shells open, pick it up in your hand.

If it closes it is all right, if it remains open throw it away for it

is dead. Only death prevents these creatures from shutting their doors.

_Scallops._--Scallops as we see them on the table or as they come

prepared from the market, are really the muscles of the scallop which

hold its shells together. Whole scallops are boiled and the muscle

removed when the shells open.

_Lobsters._--Lobsters are sometimes bought alive, sometimes already

boiled. They are not exactly green or brown or blue when alive, but are

bright red when cooked. A boiled lobster is opened by splitting the

body and tail lengthwise and cracking the claws. The firm white and red

meat and a bit called the "coral" are the parts to be eaten. The head,

a sand-pouch near the throat, the stomach and intestines and the tough,

feathery gills on the under side of the body must not be used.

_Crabs._--Hard shell crabs are cooked by plunging them into salted

boiling water for fifteen or twenty minutes. They change in colour as

lobsters do. If you wish to open them, first remove the little flap

which folds down on the under shell, then, placing your thumbs at the

place where the flap was fastened on, draw the upper and lower shells

apart. A little, grayish sand pocket sometimes adheres to one shell,

sometimes to the other. This and the gray, spongy fingers attached to

the lower shell should be removed and thrown away.

Before soft shell crabs are cooked, the sand-pocket and spongy

substances under the edges of the shell should be removed. The upper

shell is soft enough to be turned back for this purpose.

_Vegetables._--Almost without exception, vegetables are prepared for

cooking by being washed and laid in cold water to be freshened. Some

kinds require no other preparation; others must be also scraped or

peeled or shelled or husked.

Those vegetables which require no preparation for cooking except

washing and freshening are: asparagus, beets, cabbage, cauliflower,

spinach and sweet potatoes.

Cress, celery, endive, lettuce and radishes require this same

preparation, but are not usually cooked.

One must be careful not to break the skins of beets and not to cut

their tops too close, that the juices may not flow out and leave the

beet colourless and tasteless.

Salt should be put in the water in which cabbage and cauliflower are

freshened and the cabbage heads should be divided into quarters that

the small insects which these vegetables are apt to contain may be

driven out.

The washing of spinach requires especial care. It is well to use two

pans that the spinach may be lifted back and forth from one to the

other and the sand left in the bottom of the pans. A little salt should

be put into one of the waters to expel insects.

Vegetables which require also to be scraped are, carrots, oyster plant,

parsnips and new potatoes.

Vegetables which require to be peeled as well as to be washed and

freshened are: cucumbers, egg plant, mushrooms, onions, white potatoes,

squash, turnips and tomatoes.

Egg plant is sliced, but the slices are not always peeled. It is

freshened in salted water.

Cucumbers and tomatoes are laid in water before they are peeled instead

of afterward. Thick pieces should be cut from the ends and sides of

cucumbers as the skin contains unwholesome juices.

Onions are less unpleasant to peel if held under water during the

process.

Vegetables which also require shelling or husking are: lima beans,

green peas and green corn.

Corn silk may easily be removed from the ears with a brush.

_Dried_ beans and peas require many hours of soaking to make them ready

to be cooked.

String beans are prepared by a process peculiar to themselves. Some

people cut a thin strip from each side of the pod; others cut the

pointed end toward one side, the stem end toward the other and draw

away the strings with the cut pieces. The point of importance is to get

rid of the strings absolutely.

Rice is prepared by thorough washing. A good way to accomplish this is

to put the rice in a coarse strainer and lower it into a pan of water.

Lift and stir the rice, then raise the strainer from the pan, change

the water and repeat the washing process. Continue to repeat this until

the water remains clear.

_Fruit and Berries._--Fruit should be washed and wiped dry when it is

brought from the market. It is then ready for use in any way that may

be desired. Thick skinned fruits such as pears and apples are peeled

before they are cooked. Dried fruit is usually soaked before it is

cooked.

It is desirable that berries which come from the market or store should

be washed. This can best be accomplished by putting them in a coarse

sieve or colander and holding them under a gently running faucet. It

is a good thing to spread them on a clean paper or cloth to dry. When

berries are picked in the garden, one may have the luxury of eating

them unwashed.

_Mixtures._--There are certain articles of food, different and

differently prepared from any hitherto mentioned, which might be

called as a class, mixtures. They are dishes made by mixing several

food substances together, and are called bread, cake, pudding, pastry,

sauces and many other names.

_Bread._--Of these mixtures bread is the most important and the most

difficult to make. Receipts for bread are the simplest ones we have,

yet a detailed description of bread-making might easily fill a book. To

read such a description for the first time would very probably shock a

careful housewife. She has learned to protect her stores of food from

any processes of fermentation; she regards the growth of fungus in the

cellar or of mould on the back of the refrigerator as an indication of

unhealthful dampness, perhaps of dirt; she probably has some terror

of germs and bacteria. Is it not rather shocking then, to learn that,

without fermentation, fungus and bacteria, she could not make the

sweet, clean bread which she bakes every two or three days. When she

has thought out these puzzling facts, she will find that each one of

her bakings is a sermon from the text that all things work together for

good if one knows the secret of their use.

Yeast is a form of bacteria--a germ--a microscopic fungus which floats

about in the air. I find that a Government Report on the subject calls

this "wild yeast." One cannot resist following out the idea thus

suggested, and saying that this wild species may be caught by the

housewife in mixtures of warm hops, potato and flour and "domesticated"

for use in bread making.

The little yeast plants multiply quickly when they find something which

they like to feed upon, and it happens that they like a mixture of

flour and water which is neither very hot nor very cold. Therefore,

when we put yeast into dough the little plants feed and multiply

and in doing so change the character of the dough. They cause it to

ferment, just as grape or apple juice ferments. When the carbohydrate

substances in the flour, that is, the starches and sugars, ferment they

change, and in the change form alcohol and carbon dioxide. When this

performance is at its height, we put the dough into the oven, the yeast

plant is killed by the heat and a stop thus put to its activities.

Another result of putting the bread into the oven is that the bubbles

of gas formed by fermentation expand with the heat. The gas escapes,

but not before the walls of the bubbles have been hardened sufficiently

by heat to make the bread full of tiny holes--"porous" we call it, and

"light."

The following receipt is a usual one for a small batch of bread:

2 quarts of flour.

1 tablespoonful of salt.

1 " " sugar.

1 " " lard.

1 half cake of yeast soaked in a cup of milk.

2 cups of milk or water.

The sugar and the lard are not necessary to bread making but are

frequently used; the lard because it makes bread tender and moist, the

sugar to take the place of some of the sugar in the flour which is used

up in fermentation.

Without the other four ingredients, flour, salt, "wetting" and yeast,

we could not have bread.

The yeast is either a little compressed cake of useful bacteria, or it

is a liquid in which this bacteria has congregated.

The flour is a nourishing but unattractive substance which we wish the

yeast plant to change into spongy, pleasant-flavoured, digestible food.

The salt assists in making the pleasant flavour and also helps to

prevent fermentation from going beyond the desired point. Unless the

fermentation of bread stops at the right time, changes occur in the

dough like those which take place in milk when it sours, and in cider

when it turns to vinegar.

Milk or water are necessary to give the flour the moist consistency

which is agreeable to the growth of yeast plants. It is sometimes

necessary to heat the "wetting" a little, for the temperature of the

dough to be favourable to the activity of the yeast must be not less

than 70° F. nor more than 90° F.

Directions for mixing bread frequently tell you to "set a sponge."

This is done by mixing all the ingredients except the flour, and then

stirring into them just enough flour to make a thick batter. This

mixture is set in a temperature between 70° and 90° and allowed to

ferment. The "sponge" is a more watery mixture than dough and in it

the yeast has an especially easy opportunity to develop. The setting

of a sponge also serves as a test of the yeast. If the yeast does

not greatly increase the quantity of the sponge and make it full of

bubbles, it will not be strong enough to affect the stiffer dough.

When the sponge has increased to about twice its size in the beginning,

enough flour is stirred in to make kneading possible. The object of

kneading is that the yeast may be distributed through the flour so

evenly that its effect upon all parts of the dough will be the same.

After the kneading the bread is "set to rise," that is it is put in a

comfortably warm place, out of the way of draughts, and left while the

yeast plants multiply and ferment the bread.

When the dough has increased to about twice its original size, it is

kneaded a little more, chiefly to break the bigger bubbles which would

make holes in the bread. It is then moulded into loaves and rolls and

set to rise again, this last because in the moulding it has acquired

a little more flour and its sponginess has been somewhat compressed.

It is finally baked, as has been said, to stop fermentation and

preserve the porous character of the bread. Baking also forms the

pleasant-flavoured crust.

A person of inquiring mind may observe in the table of food values

given in the previous chapter that the nourishing constituents are

greater in quantity in flour than, with a slight exception in fat and

ash, they are in bread. The natural question will then be, why take

all this trouble to cultivate yeast plants in flour when the result

furnishes less nourishment than flour? Why not mix flour and water

and bake it? This would be "unleavened bread" which is somewhat like

crackers, somewhat like macaroni, both of which register higher in

nourishing constituents than bread. Nevertheless, they do not serve

our purpose as well as bread, because they are much more hard to

digest and more quickly create distaste. The body must not only have

nourishment supplied to it, it must have it supplied in forms which it

can use without serious difficulty. It is quite possible, therefore,

to obtain more actual nourishment from digestible, appetizing bread

which contains a smaller per cent. of nutriment, than from a crude and

insipid flour mixture which contains a greater per cent.

_Cake._--There are other methods of making food "light" besides putting

yeast into it. Two of these are commonly used in making cake and fancy

breads. Sponge cakes are made light by beating air into the eggs used.

Cakes which contain butter, and breads which contain no yeast are made

light with baking powder, which is a mixture of soda and cream of

tartar, or with soda and cream of tartar put in separately. Soda is an

alkali; cream of tarter is an acid. A combination of the two liberates

carbonic acid gas to raise the cake and also counteracts the poisonous

properties of the soda. Three rounded teaspoonfuls of baking powder

produce the same effect as one level teaspoonful of soda and two

rounded teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar. Therefore, if a receipt calls

for soda and cream of tartar and we have only baking powder, or vice

versa, we may use one for the other if we remember this equality.

One frequently finds soda and not cream of tartar called for in

receipts in which sour milk or molasses is required. In such cases the

acid in the milk or in the molasses will take the place of that usually

furnished by cream of tartar. Soda and cream of tartar, or baking

powder, should be put into the flour before it is sifted, they are thus

thoroughly mixed with it and also sifted.

The ingredients of fancy breads and cake must be mixed in ways which

will not interfere with the means by which they are made light.

It is usually a good plan when mixing muffins, gems, Sally Lunn or

anything of the kind which does not require kneading, to put all the

dry ingredients together in one bowl, all the wet ones together in

another bowl, then to stir the wet ones into the dry ones and if there

are eggs in the mixture fold in the beaten whites last.

Whites of eggs are nearly always the last thing to be put into any

mixture, because if they are moved about more than is necessary to get

them in, much of the air in them will be lost.

The ingredients of cake are usually mixed in the following order:

butter and sugar beaten together to a creamy consistency; beaten yolks

of eggs; milk or water and flavouring; flour and baking powder; whites

of eggs.

The order for mixing a sponge cake is the same except that some of the

ingredients mentioned in this list will be omitted.

The reason that flour is put in last, or next to the last, is that it

contains the baking powder or the soda and cream of tartar. When these

substances are wet they give off gas which is to make the cake light,

therefore they should not be wet until just before the cake is ready

for the oven.

Fruit is put into a cake last of all. It is floured before it is put

in to keep the pieces from sticking together, and to keep the moisture

they contain from injuring the cake.

Because the lightness of cake depends upon bubbles of air or gas which

in the course of time collapse, cake batter should be baked as soon as

mixed. That this may be possible, the fire should be put into suitable

condition and the utensils and materials gathered and prepared before

the mixing begins.

_Pastry._--Pastry mixtures differ from bread or cake mixtures in that

they are flaky instead of spongy. Things flake when they are composed

of layers; the point then is to make pastry by a process which will

produce layers. When a smooth dough has been made of flour, salt and

cold water, it is rolled lightly to a thin sheet, tiny pieces of butter

are scattered over it and a very little flour sprinkled on it. The

sheet is then doubled, rolled to the former thickness, butter and flour

are applied to it as before and it is again doubled. This is repeated

several times. When it is finally ready for the oven it is in layers

of dough and butter. When the heat of the oven melts the butter and

expands the air between the layers, they separate a little, that is,

they flake.

By means of this theory of pastry one can better understand the

directions given in pastry receipts. For example, the ingredients

must be kept cold that the butter and dough may not combine during

the rolling. The pastry must be handled lightly and never pressed or

pounded because this would press out the air and crush the layers into

each other.

The filling of pies sometimes presents difficulties. A very juicy

filling soaks the under crust. One remedy used for this is to bake

the bottom crust before filling the pie; another is to brush it over

with white of egg. The very best way to prevent the under crust of a

pie from being soggy and indigestible is not to have one. Put the

fruits into a fairly deep baking-dish and cover it with a flaky top

crust. This is an English method which we should do well to follow. The

result is more fruit and less crust, and none of that under crust which

whatever pains you take will more or less relapse into dough.

Juicy pies must not be filled quite full, that they may not boil

over in the oven. Openings cut in the crust help to prevent this; an

inverted tea cup put into a deep pie is also a preventive. I am told

that if the top crust is just laid over the pie and not fastened at the

edges, the juice of the filling is less apt to run out.

3. THE SEQUENCE

Going into the kitchen to make one dish; or getting a supper for which

much of the food has been previously prepared, gives no suggestion of

one of the chief difficulties in getting meals. This difficulty is the

sequence of work. Unless thoughtful and orderly arrangements are made,

one dish will be done too early, another too late, the cook may find

she is required to perform two pieces of work at once and the last

moments before the meal will be crowded with more things than can

possibly be done.

The time required to cook different articles of food often furnishes a

sort of schedule for getting the meal. Additional time must be allowed,

however, for preparations before cooking and for finishing touches

after cooking.

Except when a gas range is used the fire is the first thing to attend

to.

The other things to be arranged for naturally fall into three groups

with intervals between in which work may be done which does not have to

be timed.

The first group contains things which take long to cook, such as

baked and boiled meats, oatmeal, some puddings, old vegetables, and

vegetables which are cooked slowly like stewed tomatoes. These things

are prepared and put on the fire as soon as the fire is ready for them.

Between this and the second group is an interval which may be used for

preparing the second group and for setting the table, arranging salad,

putting dishes to warm, etc. Sometimes a dessert has to be prepared in

this interval, in that case the food of the second group may have to be

made ready and the table set at the very beginning of things, before

the fire is looked after.

The second group contains vegetables and desserts which cook in from

thirty to forty-five minutes, soup which is to be warmed, eggs which

are to be boiled hard to accompany vegetables, anything which takes a

half or three-quarters of an hour to cook or which is needed in the

concluding preparations of the other food.

After this second group is on the fire comes another interval in which

things may be done which were left over from the other interval and in

which cold food such as bread, butter and milk may be put on the table.

In this time also preparation must be made for the cooking necessary

to the third group. Some of these are, mixing thickening for gravy,

shelling hard-boiled eggs for spinach, and collecting on the kitchen

table seasonings, butter and milk for the cooked vegetables and meat.

The third group contains things which must be done a very brief time

before the meal. These are broiling meat, preparing cooked vegetables

for the table, making sauces and gravy, putting beaten egg or

vermicelli in soup and getting everything arranged in dishes.

Then there are three last things for the housewife to do before the

meal: to see that the fire is in condition to leave, that soiled pots

and pans are filled with water, and last of all to take an instant to

wash her hands, remove her apron and make herself tidy.

There are one or two ways in which preparations for meals may be

simplified. For any large meal but especially for dinner served late in

the day, as many preparations as may be, should be made in the morning

or at luncheon time. When making the menu for a meal do not select

things which conflict; for instance, a roast of meat and a delicate

pudding cannot be baked at the same time. Likewise, it is inconvenient,

not to say unappetizing to have the meat and vegetables and dessert for

a meal all boiled or all baked or all fried. Try not to have two things

for the same meal which will be spoiled if they are not served the

instant they are cooked.

At the end of this chapter about food, I have the desire to put a

little verse which often runs in my head when I am getting meals.

"_Though o'er the board the constellations shine,

Austere the feast for time's retainers spread;

Laughter the salt of life, and love the wine,

Sleep the sweet herbs, and work the bitter bread._"

A TIME TABLE

The terms used in regard to regulating fires are confusing. When