too much draft. Only just enough air should be supplied to promote
combustion. A coal fire, when well kindled, needs only air enough to
keep it burning. When the coal becomes red all through, it has parted
with the most of its heat, and the fire will soon die unless
replenished. To keep a steady fire, add but a small amount of fuel at a
time, and repeat often enough to prevent any sensible decrease of the
degree of heat. Rake the fire from the bottom, and keep it clear of
ashes and cinders. If a very hot fire is needed, open the drafts; at
other times, keep them closed, or partially so, and not waste fuel.
There is no economy in allowing a fire to get low before fuel is added;
for the fresh fuel cools the fire to a temperature so low that it is not
useful, and thus occasions a direct waste of all fuel necessary to again
raise the heat to the proper degree, to say nothing of the waste of time
and patience. The addition of small quantities of fuel at short
intervals so long as continuous heat is needed, is far better than to
let the fuel burn nearly out, and then add a larger quantity. The
improper management of the drafts and dampers has also much to do with
waste of fuel. As stoves are generally constructed, it is necessary for
the heat to pass over the top, down the back, and under the bottom of
the oven before escaping into the flue, in order to properly heat the
oven for baking. In order to force the heat to make this circuit, the
direct draft of the stove needs to be closed. With this precaution
observed, a quick fire from a small amount of fuel, used before its
force is spent, will produce better results than a fire-box full under
other circumstances.
An item of economy for those who are large users of coal, is the careful
sifting of the cinders from the ashes. They can be used to good
advantage to put first upon the kindlings, when building the fire, as
they ignite more readily than fresh coal, and give a greater, quicker
heat, although much less enduring.
METHODS OF COOKING.--A proper source of heat having been secured,
the next step is to apply it to the food in some manner. The principal
methods commonly employed are roasting, broiling, baking, boiling,
stewing, simmering, steaming, and frying.
_Roasting_ is cooking food in its own juices before an open fire. A
clear fire with intense heat is necessary.
_Broiling_, or _grilling_, is cooking by radiant heat over glowing
coals. This method is only adapted to thin pieces of food with a
considerable amount of surface. Larger and more compact foods should be
roasted or baked. Roasting and broiling are allied in principle. In
both, the work is chiefly done by the radiation of heat directly upon
the surface of the food, although some heat is communicated by the hot
air surrounding the food. The intense heat applied to the food soon
sears its outer surfaces, and thus prevents the escape of its juices. If
care be taken frequently to turn the food so that its entire surface
will be thus acted upon, the interior of the mass is cooked by its own
juices.
_Baking_ is the cooking of food by dry heat in a closed oven. Only foods
containing a considerable degree of moisture are adapted for cooking by
this method. The hot, dry air which fills the oven is always thirsting
for moisture, and will take from every moist substance to which it has
access a quantity of water proportionate to its degree of heat. Foods
containing but a small amount of moisture, unless protected in some
manner from the action of the heated air, or in some way supplied with
moisture during the cooking process, come from the oven dry, hard, and
unpalatable.
Proper cooking by this method depends greatly upon the facility with
which the heat of the oven can be regulated. When oil or gas is the fuel
used, it is an easy matter to secure and maintain almost any degree of
heat desirable, but with a wood or coal stove, especial care and
painstaking are necessary.
It is of the first importance that the mechanism of the oven to be used,
be thoroughly understood by the cook, and she should test its heating
capacity under various conditions, with a light, quick fire and with a
more steady one; she should carefully note the kind and amount of fuel
requisite to produce a certain degree of heat; in short, she should
thoroughly know her "machine" and its capabilities before attempting to
use it for the cooking of food. An oven thermometer is of the utmost
value for testing the heat, but unfortunately, such thermometers are not
common. They are obtainable in England, although quite expensive. It is
also possible at the present time to obtain ranges with a very reliable
thermometer attachment to the oven door.
[Illustration: An Oven Thermometer]
A cook of good judgment by careful observation and comparison of
results, can soon learn to form quite a correct idea of the heat of her
oven by the length of time she can hold her hand inside it without
discomfort, but since much depends upon the construction of stoves and
the kind of fuel used, and since the degree of heat bearable will vary
with every hand that tries it, each person who depends upon this test
must make her own standard. When the heat of the oven is found to be too
great, it may be lessened by placing in it a dish of cold water.
_Boiling_ is the cooking of food in a boiling liquid. Water is the usual
medium employed for this purpose. When water is heated, as its
temperature is increased, minute bubbles of air which have been
dissolved by it are given off. As the temperature rises, bubbles of
steam will begin to form at the bottom of the vessel. At first these
will be condensed as they rise into the cooler water above, causing a
simmering sound; but as the heat increases, the bubbles will rise higher
and higher before collapsing, and in a short time will pass entirely
through the water, escaping from its surface, causing more or less
agitation, according to the rapidity with which they are formed. Water
boils when the bubbles thus rise to the surface, and steam is thrown
off. If the temperature is now tested, it will be found to be about 212°
F. When water begins to boil, it is impossible to increase its
temperature, as the steam carries off the heat as rapidly as it is
communicated to the water. The only way in which the temperature can be
raised, is by the confinement of the steam; but owing to its enormous
expansive force, this is not practicable with ordinary cooking utensils.
The mechanical action of the water is increased by rapid bubbling, but
not the heat; and to boil anything violently does not expedite the
cooking process, save that by the mechanical action of the water the
food is broken into smaller pieces, which are for this reason more
readily softened. But violent boiling occasions an enormous waste of
fuel, and by driving away in the steam the volatile and savory elements
of the food, renders it much less palatable, if not altogether
tasteless. The solvent properties of water are so increased by heat that
it permeates the food, rendering its hard and tough constituents soft
and easy of digestion.
The liquids mostly employed in the cooking of foods are water and milk.
Water is best suited for the cooking of most foods, but for such
farinaceous foods as rice, macaroni, and farina, milk, or at least part
milk, is preferable, as it adds to their nutritive value. In using milk
for cooking purposes, it should be remembered that being more dense than
water, when heated, less steam escapes, and consequently it boils sooner
than does water. Then, too, milk being more dense, when it is used alone
for cooking, a little larger quantity of fluid will be required than
when water is used.
The boiling point for water at the sea level is 212°. At all points
above the sea level, water boils at a temperature below 212°, the exact
temperature depending upon the altitude. At the top of Mt. Blanc, an
altitude of 15,000 feet, water boils at 185°. The boiling point is
lowered one degree for every 600 feet increase in altitude. The boiling
point may be increased by adding soluble substances to the water. A
saturated solution of common baking soda boils at 220°. A saturated
solution of chloride of sodium boils at 227°. A similar solution of
sal-ammoniac boils at 238°. Of course such solutions cannot be used
advantageously, except as a means of cooking articles placed in
hermetically sealed vessels and immersed in the liquid.
Different effects upon food are produced by the use of hard and soft
water. Peas and beans boiled in hard water containing lime or gypsum,
will not become tender, because these chemical substances harden
vegetable casein, of which element peas and beans are largely composed.
For extracting the juices of meat and the soluble parts of other foods,
soft water is best, as it more readily penetrates the tissue; but when
it is desired to preserve the articles whole, and retain their juices
and flavors, hard water is preferable.
Foods should be put to cook in cold or boiling water, in accordance with
the object to be attained in their cooking. Foods from which it is
desirable to extract the nutrient properties, as for broths, extracts,
etc., should be put to cook in cold water. Foods to be kept intact as
nearly as may be, should be put to cook in boiling water.
Hot and cold water act differently upon the different food elements.
Starch is but slightly acted upon by cold water. When starch is added
to several times its bulk of hot water, all the starch granules burst on
approaching the boiling point, and swell to such a degree as to occupy
nearly the whole volume of the water, forming a pasty mess. Sugar is
dissolved readily in the either hot or cold water. Cold water extracts
albumen. Hot water coagulates it.
_Steaming_, as its name implies, is the cooking of food by the use of
steam. There are several ways of steaming, the most common of which is
by placing the food in a perforated dish over a vessel of boiling water.
For foods not needing the solvent powers of water, or which already
contain a large amount of moisture, this method is preferable to
boiling. Another form of cooking, which is usually termed steaming, is
that of placing the food, with or without water, as needed, in a closed
vessel which is placed inside another vessel containing boiling water.
Such an apparatus is termed a double boiler. Food cooked in its own
juices in a covered dish in a hot oven, is sometimes spoken of as being
_steamed_ or _smothered_.
_Stewing_ is the prolonged cooking of food in a small quantity of
liquid, the temperature of which is just below the boiling point.
Stewing should not be confounded with simmering, which is slow, steady
boiling. The proper temperature for stewing is most easily secured by
the use of the double boiler. The water in the outer vessel boils, while
that in the inner vessel does not, being kept a little below the
temperature of the water from which its heat is obtained, by the
constant evaporation at a temperature a little below the boiling point.
_Frying_, which is the cooking of food in hot fat, is a method not to be
recommended--Unlike all the other food elements, fat is rendered less
digestible by cooking. Doubtless it is for this reason that nature has
provided those foods which require the most prolonged cooking to fit
them for use with only a small proportion of fat, and it would seem to
indicate that any food to be subjected to a high degree of heat should
not be mixed and compounded largely of fats. The ordinary way of frying,
which the French call _sauteing_, is by the use of only a little fat in
a shallow pan, into which the food is put and cooked first on one side
and then the other. Scarcely anything could be more unwholesome than
food prepared in this manner. A morsel of food encrusted with fat
remains undigested in the stomach because fat is not acted upon by the
gastric juice, and its combination with the other food elements of which
the morsel is composed interferes with their digestion also. If such
foods are habitually used, digestion soon becomes slow and the gastric
juice so deficient in quantity that fermentation and putrefactive
changes are occasioned, resulting in serious disturbance of health. In
the process of frying, the action of the heat partially decomposes the
fat; in consequence, various poisonous substances are formed, highly
detrimental to the digestion of the partaker of the food.
ADDING FOODS TO BOILING LIQUIDS.--Much of the soddenness of
improperly cooked foods might be avoided, if the following facts were
kept in mind:--
When vegetables, or other foods of ordinary temperature, are put into
boiling water, the temperature of the water is lowered in proportion to
the quantity and the temperature of the food thus introduced, and will
not again boil until the mass of food shall have absorbed more heat from
the fire. The result of this is that the food is apt to become more or
less water-soaked before the process of cooking begins. This difficulty
may be avoided by introducing but small quantities of the food at one
time, so as not to greatly lower the temperature of the liquid, and then
allowing the latter to boil between the introduction of each fresh
supply, or by heating the food before adding it to the liquid.
EVAPORATION is another principle often overlooked in the cooking of
food, and many a sauce or gravy is spoiled because the liquid, heated in
a shallow pan, from which evaporation is rapid, loses so much in bulk
that the amount of thickening requisite for the given quantity of fluid,
and which, had less evaporation occurred, would have made it of the
proper consistency, makes the sauce thick and unpalatable. Evaporation
is much less, in slow boiling, than in more rapid cooking.
MEASURING.--One of the most important principles to be observed in
the preparation of food for cooking, is accuracy in measuring. Many an
excellent recipe proves a failure simply from lack of care in this
respect. Measures are generally more convenient than weights, and are
more commonly used. The common kitchen cup, which holds a half pint, is
the one usually taken as the standard; if any other size is used, the
ingredients for the entire recipe should be measured by the same. The
following points should be observed in measuring:--
1. The teaspoons and tablespoons to be used in measuring, are the silver
spoons in general use.
2. Any material like flour, sugar, salt, that has been packed, should
either be sifted or stirred up lightly before measuring.
3. A cupful of dry material is measured level with the top of the cup,
without being packed down.
4. A cupful of liquid is all the cup will contain without running over.
Hold the cup in a saucer while measuring, to prevent spilling the liquid
upon the floor or table.
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.--The following
comparative table of weights and measurements will aid in estimating
different materials:--
One heaping tablespoonful of sugar weighs one ounce.
Two round tablespoonfuls of flour weigh one ounce.
Two cupfuls of granulated sugar weigh one pound.
Two cupfuls of meal weigh one pound.
Four cupfuls of sifted flour weigh one pound.
One pint of oatmeal, cracked wheat, or other coarse grains, weighs about
one pound.
One pint of liquid weighs one pound.
One pint of meat chopped and packed solid weighs one pound.
Seven heaping tablespoonfuls of sugar = one cupful.
Five heaping tablespoonfuls of flour = one cupful.
Two cupfuls of liquid or dry material = one pint
Four cupfuls of liquid or dry material = one quart.
MIXING MATERIALS.--In the compounding of recipes, various modes are
employed for mingling together the different ingredients, chief of which
are _stirring_, _beating_, and _kneading_.
By _stirring_ is meant a continuous motion round and round with a spoon,
without lifting it from the mixture, except to scrape occasionally from
the sides of the dish any portion of the material that may cling to it.
It is not necessary that the stirring should be all in one direction, as
many cooks suppose. The object of the stirring is to thoroughly blend
the ingredients, and this may be accomplished as well by stirring--in
one direction as in another.
_Beating_ is for the purpose of incorporating as much air in the mixture
as possible. It should be done by dipping the spoon in and out, cutting
clear through and lifting from the bottom with each stroke. The process
must be continuous, and must never be interspersed with any stirring if
it is desired to retain the air within the mixture.
_Kneading_ is the mode by which materials already in the form of dough
are more thoroughly blended together; it also serves to incorporate air.
The process is more fully described in the chapter on "Bread,"
TEMPERATURE.--Many a cook fails and knows not why, because she does
not understand the influence of temperature upon materials and food.
Flour and liquids for unfermented breads cannot be too cold, while for
bread prepared with yeast, success is largely dependent upon a warm and
equable temperature throughout the entire process.
COOKING UTENSILS.--The earliest cookery was probably accomplished
without the aid of any utensils, the food being roasted by burying it in
hot ashes or cooked by the aid of heated stones; but modern cookery
necessitates the use of a greater or less variety of cooking utensils to
facilitate the preparation of food, most of which are so familiar to the
reader as to need no description. (A list of those needed for use will
be found on page 66.) Most of these utensils are manufactured from some
kind of metal, as iron, tin, copper, brass, etc. All metals are
dissolvable in certain substances, and some of those employed for making
household utensils are capable of forming most poisonous compounds when
used for cooking certain foods. This fact should lead to great care on
the part of the housewife, both in purchasing and in using utensils for
cooking purposes.
Iron utensils, although they are, when new, apt to discolor and impart
a disagreeable flavor to food cooked in them, are not objectionable from
a health standpoint, if kept clean and free from rust. Iron rust is the
result of the combination of the iron with oxygen, for which it has so
great an affinity that it will decompose water to get oxygen to unite
with; hence it is that iron utensils rust so quickly when not carefully
dried after using, or if left where they can collect moisture. This is
the reason why a coating of tallow, which serves to exclude the air and
moisture, will preserve ironware not in daily use from rusting.
"Porcelain ware" is iron lined with a hard, smooth enamel, and makes
safe and very desirable cooking utensils. German porcelain ware is
unexcelled for culinary purposes.
"Granite ware" is a material quite recently come into use, the
composition of which is a secret, although pronounced by eminent
chemists to be free from all injurious qualities. Utensils made from it
are light in weight, easily kept clean, and for most cooking purposes,
are far superior to those made from any other material.
What is termed "galvanized iron" is unsuitable for cooking utensils, it
being simply sheet iron coated with zinc, an exceedingly unsafe metal to
be used for cooking purposes.
Tin, which is simply thin sheet iron coated with tin by dipping several
times into vats of the melted metal, is largely employed in the
manufacture of cooking utensils. Tinware is acted upon by acids, and
when used for holding or cooking any acid foods, like sour milk, sour
fruits, tomatoes, etc., harmful substances are liable to be formed,
varying in quantity and harmfulness with the nature of the acid
contained in the food.
In these days of fraud and adulteration, nearly all the cheaper grades
of tinware contain a greater or less amount of lead in their
composition, which owing to its greater abundance and less price, is
used as an adulterant of tin. Lead is also used in the solder with which
the parts of tinware are united. The action of acids upon lead form very
poisonous compounds, and all lead-adulterated utensils should be wholly
discarded for cooking purposes.
_Test for Lead-Adulterated Tin._--Place upon the metal a small drop of
nitric acid, spreading it to the size of a dime, dry with gentle heat,
apply a drop of water, then add a small crystal of iodide of potash. If
lead is present, a yellowish color will be seen very soon after the
addition of the iodide. Lead glazing, which is frequently employed on
crockery and ironware in the manufacture of cooking utensils, may also
be detected in the same manner.
Cooking utensils made of copper are not to be recommended from the point
of healthfulness, although many cooks esteem them because copper is a
better conductor of heat than iron or tin. The acids of many fruits
combine with copper to form extremely poisonous substances. Fatty
substances, as well as salt and sugar, act upon copper to a greater or
less degree, also vegetables containing sulfur in their composition and
produce harmful compounds.
Utensils made of brass, which is a compound of copper and zinc, are not
safe to use for cooking purposes.
TABLE TOPICS.
Bad cooking diminishes happiness and shortens life.--_Wisdom of
Ages._
Says Mrs. Partington: "Many a fair home has been desiccated by poor
cooking, and a man's table has been the rock on which his happiness
has split."
SIGNIFICANT FACT.--_Lady_--"Have you had much experience as a cook?"
_Applicant_--"Oh, indeed I have. I was the cook of Mr. and Mrs.
Peterby for three years."
_L._--"Why did you leave them?"
_A._--"I didn't leave them. They left me. They both died."
_L._--"What of?"
_A._--"Dyspepsia."
Cooking is generally bad because people falling to routine; habit
dulls their appreciation, and they do not think about what they are
eating.--_Didsbury._
_Lilly_ (Secretary of the cooking class)--"Now girls, we've learned
nine cakes, two kinds of angel food, and seven pies. What next?"
_Susie_ (engaged)--"Dick's father says I must learn to bake bread."
_Indignant chorus_--"Bread? How absurd! What are bakers for?"
It is told of Philip Hecgnet, a French, physician who lived in the
17th, century, that when calling upon his wealthy patients, he used
often to go to the kitchen and pantry, embrace the cooks and
butlers, and exhort them to do their duty well. "I owe you so much
gratitude, my dear friends," he would say; "you are so useful to us
doctors; for if you did not keep on poisoning the people, we should
all have to go to the poorhouse."
There are innumerable books of recipes for cooking, but unless the
cook is master of the principles of his art, and unless he knows the
why and the wherefore of its processes, he cannot choose a recipe
intelligently and execute it successfully.--_Richard Estcourt._
They who provide the food for the world, decide the health of the
world. You have only to go on some errands amid the taverns and
hotels of the United States and Great Britain, to appreciate the
fact that a vast multitude of the human race are slaughtered by
incompetent cookery. Though a young woman may have taken lessons in
music, and may have taken lessons in painting, and lessons in
astronomy, she is not well educated unless she has taken lessons in
dough!--_Talmage._
HOUSEHOLD WORKSHOP
It is a mistake to suppose that any room, however small and unpleasantly
situated, is "good enough" for a kitchen. This is the room where
housekeepers pass a great portion of their time, and it should be one of
the brightest and most convenient rooms in the house; for upon the
results of no other department of woman's domain depend so greatly the
health and comfort of the family as upon those involved in this
"household workshop." The character of a person's work is more or less
dependent upon his surroundings, hence is it to be greatly wondered at
that a woman immured in a small, close, dimly-lighted room, whose only
outlook may be the back alley or the woodshed, supplies her household
with products far below the standard of health and housewifely skill?
Every kitchen should have windows on two sides of the room, and the sun
should have free entrance through them; the windows should open from the
top to allow a complete change of air, for light and fresh air are among
the chief essentials to success in all departments of the household.
Good drainage should also be provided, and the ventilation of the
kitchen ought to be even more carefully attended to than that of a
sleeping room. The ventilation of the kitchen should be so ample as to
thoroughly remove all gases and odors, which, together with steam from
boiling and other cooking processes, generally invade and render to some
degree unhealthful every other portion of the house. It is the steam
from the kitchen which gives a fusty odor to the parlor air and provides
a wet-sheet pack for the occupant of the "spare bed." The only way of
wholly eradicating this evil, is the adoption of the suggestion of the
sanitary philosopher who places the kitchen at the top of the house.