freed from bran, and crushed into granules. Another preparation, called
Graham grits, is prepared by granulating the outer layers of the kernel
together with the germ of the wheat. This preparation, comparatively a
new one, includes the most nutritious properties of the grain, and its
granular form renders it excellent for mushes as well as for other
purposes. Farina is scarcely more nutritious than white flour, and
should not be used as a staple food. Graham grits contains the best
elements of the wheat grain in good proportion, and is one of the best
preparations of wheat. Other preparations of wheat somewhat similar in
character are farinose, germlet, etc.
_RECIPES._
FARINA.--Heat a pint of milk and one of water, or if preferred, a
quart of milk, in the inner cup of a double boiler; and when boiling,
stir in five tablespoonfuls of farina, moistened evenly with a little
milk. Let it boil rapidly until well set, which will be in about five or
eight minutes; then place in the outer boiler, and cook one hour. Serve
cold or hot with a dressing of cream or fruit juices. Farina may be
cooked in water alone, but on account of its lack of nutritive elements,
it is more valuable if prepared with milk.
FARINA WITH FIG SAUCE.--Cook the farina as in the foregoing recipe,
and serve hot with a fig sauce prepared as follows:--
Carefully look over, washed, and chop or cut quite finally, enough good
figs to make a cupful. Stew in a pint of water, to which has been added
a tablespoonful of sugar, until they are one homogeneous mass. If the
figs are not of the best quality and do not readily soften, it is well,
after stewing for a time, to rub them through a colander or vegetable
press to break up the tough portions and make a smooth sauce. Put a
spoonful of the hot fig sauce on each individual dish of farina, and
serve with cream or without dressing.
FARINA WITH FRESH FRUIT.--Cook the farina as previously directed.
Have some sliced yellow peaches, mellow sweet apples, or bananas in a
dish, turn the farina over them, stir up lightly with a fork, and serve
hot with cream.
MOLDED FARINA.--Farina to be used cold may be cooked in the same
manner as before described, with two or three tablespoonfuls of sugar
added at the same time with the farina, and when done, molded in cups
previously wet with a little cold water. Serve with a dressing of fruit
juice, whipped cream flavored with lemon, or mock cream flavored with
cocoanut.
GRAHAM GRITS.--To four parts of water boiling in the inner dish of
a double boiler add slowly, so as not to stop the boiling of the water,
one part of Graham grits. Stir until thickened, then place in the outer
boiler, and steam from three to five hours. Serve hot with cream, or
mold in cups previously dipped in cold water, and serve with a dressing
of fruit juice. The fig sauce prepared as previously directed, is also
excellent with Graham grits.
GRAHAM MUSH NO. 1.--Good flour is the first requisite for making
good Graham mush. Poor Graham flour cannot be made into first-class
mush. Flour made from the best white winter wheat is perhaps the best.
It may be used either sifted or unsifted, as preferred. The proportion
of flour and liquid to be used will necessarily vary somewhat with the
quality of the flour, but in general, three parts water to one of flour
will be needed. Too much flour not only makes the mush too thick, but
gives it an underdone taste. Stir the dried flour rapidly into boiling
water, (which should not cease to boil during the process), until a
thick porridge is obtained. It is well to have it a little thinner at
first than is desirable for serving, as it will thicken by cooking. Cook
slowly at least one hour. A longer time makes it more digestible.
Left-over Graham mush is nice spread on rather shallow tins, and simply
heated quickly in a hot oven.
GRAHAM MUSH NO. 2.--Moisten one pint of good Graham flour with a
pint of warm water, or enough to make a batter thin enough to pour. (The
quantity of water needed will vary a little with the fineness and
quality of the flour.) Pour this batter into a quart of water boiling in
the inner cup of a double boiler. Remember to add the batter
sufficiently slow, so as not to stop the boiling of the water. When
thickened, put into the outer boiler, and cook for one hour.
GRAHAM MUSH NO. 3.--Prepare in the same way as above, using milk or
part milk in the place of water. Left-over Graham mush at breakfast,
which has been prepared with water, is very nice if, while it is still
warm, a small quantity of hot milk is well stirred into it, and it is
then set by to be reheated in a double boiler for dinner.
GRAHAM MUSH WITH DATES.--Prepare a mush as for Graham mush No. 2.
When done, place in the dish in which the mush is to be served, some
nice, fresh dates from which the stones have been removed. Pour the mush
over them, and stir up lightly, taking care not to break the fruit, and
serve. Raisins previously steamed, or figs steamed and cut into pieces,
may be used instead of dates. Serve hot with cream, or mold, and serve
cold.
PLUM PORRIDGE.--Prepare a Graham mush as previously directed, and
when done, add to it a cup of well-steamed raisins and sufficient rich
milk to thin it to the consistency of porridge.
GRAHAM APPLE MUSH.--Prepare a smooth apple sauce of rather tart
apples. Sweeten it slightly, and thin with boiling water. Have this
mixture boiling, and add to it Graham flour, either sprinkled in dry or
moistened with water, sufficient to make a well-thickened mush. Cook,
and serve hot with cream.
GRANOLA MUSH.--Granola, a cooked preparation of wheat and oats,
manufactured by the Sanatarium Food Co., makes a most appetizing and
quickly prepared breakfast dish. Into a quart of boiling water sprinkle
a pint of granola. Cook for two or three minutes, and serve hot with
cream.
GRANOLA FRUIT MUSH.--Prepare the mush as directed, and stir into
it, when done, a large cupful of nicely-steamed, seedless raisins. Serve
hot with cream. Milk may be used instead of water, if preferred.
GRANOLA PEACH MUSH.--Instead of the raisins as directed in the
foregoing recipe, add to the mush, when done, a pint of sliced yellow
peaches. Finely-cut, mellow sweet apples, sliced bananas, and
blueberries may be used in a similar way.
BRAN JELLY.--Select some clean wheat bran, sprinkle it slowly into
boiling water as for Graham mush, stirring briskly meanwhile with a
wooden spoon, until the whole is about the consistency of thick gruel.
Cook slowly in a double boiler for two hours. Strain through a fine wire
sieve placed over the top of a basin. When strained, reheat to boiling.
Then stir into it a spoonful or so of sifted Graham flour, rubbed smooth
in a little cold water. Boil up once; turn into molds previously wet in
cold water, and when cool, serve with cream or fruit juice.
THE OAT, OR AVENA.
DESCRIPTION.--The native country of the plant from which our common
varieties of the oat are derived, is unknown. Oat grains have been found
among the remains of the lake-dwellers in Switzerland, and it is
probable that this plant was cultivated by the prehistoric inhabitants
of Central Europe.
The ancient Greeks and Romans used oats, ranking them next in value to
barley, which they esteemed above all other cereals. Although
principally grown as food for horses, the oat, when divested of its husk
and broken by a process of milling, is an exceedingly nutritious and
valuable article of diet for human beings; and there is no article of
food that has increased in general favor more rapidly in the last few
years than this grain.
The Scotch have long been famed for their large consumption of oatmeal.
It forms the staple article of diet for the peasantry, to which fact is
generally attributed the fine physique and uniform health for which
they, as a race, are particularly noted. It is related that Dr. Johnson,
of dictionary fame, who never lost an opportunity to disparage the
Scotch, on one occasion defined oats as, "In Scotland, food for men; in
England, food for horses." He was well answered by an indignant
Scotchman who replied, "Yes; and where can you find such fine men as in
Scotland, or such horses as in England?"
Oatmeal justly ranks high as an alimentary substance. It contains about
the same proportion of nitrogenous elements as wheat, and with the
exception of maize, is richer in fatty matter than any other of the
cultivated cereals. In general structure the oat resembles wheat.
To prepare oats for food, the husk, which is wholly indigestible in
character, must be thoroughly removed. To accomplish this, the grain is
first kiln-dried to loosen the husk, and afterward submitted to a
process of milling. Denuded of its integument, the nutritive part of the
grain is termed groats; broken into finer particles, it constitutes what
is known as oatmeal; rolled oats, or avena, is prepared by a process
which crushes the kernels. Oatmeal varies also in degrees of
trituration, some kinds being ground much finer than others. The more
finely-ground products are sometimes adulterated with barley meal, which
is cheaper than oatmeal and less nutritious. The black specks which are
sometimes found in oatmeal are particles of black oats which have been
ground in connection with the other.
Oatmeal lacks the tenacity of wheaten flour, and cannot, without the
addition of some other flour, be made into light bread. It is, however,
largely consumed by the inhabitants of Scotland and the north of
England, in the form of oatcakes. The oatmeal is mixed with water,
kneaded thoroughly, then rolled into very thin cakes, and baked on an
iron plate or griddle suspended over a fire. So much, however, depends
upon the kneading, that it is said that the common inquiry before the
engagement of a domestic servant in Scotland, is whether or not she is a
good kneader of oatcakes.
The most common use of oatmeal in this country is in the form of mush or
porridge. For this the coarser grades of meal are preferable. For people
in health, there is no more wholesome article of diet than oatmeal
cooked in this way and eaten with milk. For growing children, it is one
of the best of foods, containing, as it does, a large proportion of bone
and muscle-forming material, while to almost all persons who have become
accustomed to its use, it is extremely palatable. The time required for
its digestion is somewhat longer than that of wheaten meal prepared in
the same manner. It is apt to disagree with certain classes of
dyspeptics, having a tendency to produce acidity, though it is
serviceable as an article of diet in some forms of indigestion. The
manner of its preparation for the table has very much to do with its
wholesomeness. Indeed, many objectionable dishes are prepared from it.
One of these, called _brose_, much used in Scotland, is made by simply
stirring oatmeal into some hot liquid, as beef broth, or the water in
which a vegetable has been boiled. The result is a coarse, pasty mass of
almost raw oatmeal, an extremely indigestible compound, the use of which
causes water brash. A preparation called _sowens_, or flummery, made by
macerating the husks of the oats in water from twenty-four to thirty-six
hours, until the mixture ferments, then boiling down to the consistency
of gruel, is a popular article of food among the Scotch and Welsh
peasantry. When boiled down still more, so it will form a firm jelly
when cold, the preparation is called _budrum_.
PREPARATION AND COOKING.--Oatmeal requires much cooking in order to
break its starch cells; and the coarser the meal, the longer it should
be allowed to cook. A common fault in the use of oatmeal is that it is
served in an underdone state, which makes a coarse, indigestible dish of
what, with more lengthy preparation, would be an agreeable and
nutritious food. Like most of the grains, it is best put into boiling
soft water, and allowed to cook continuously and slowly. It is greatly
injured by stirring, and it is therefore preferably cooked in a double
boiler or closed steamer. If it is necessary to use an ordinary kettle,
place it on some part of the range where the contents will only simmer;
or a hot brick may be placed under it to keep it from cooking too fast.
It may be cooked the day previous, and warmed for use the same as other
grains.
RECIPES.
OATMEAL MUSH.--Heat a quart of water to boiling in the inner dish
of a double boiler, sift into it one cup of coarse oatmeal, and boil
rapidly, stirring continuously until it sets; then place in the outer
boiler, the water in which should be boiling, and cook three hours or
longer. Serve with cream.
OATMEAL FRUIT MUSH.--Prepare the oatmeal as directed above, and
stir in lightly, when dishing for the table, some sliced mellow and
juicy raw sweet apples. Strawberry apples and other slightly tart apples
are likewise excellent for the purpose. Well-ripened peaches and bananas
may also be used, if care is taken to preserve the slices whole, so as
to present an appetizing appearance. Both this and the plain oatmeal
mush are best eaten with toasted whole-wheat wafers or some other hard
food.
OATMEAL BLANCMANGE NO. 1.--Soak a cupful of coarse oatmeal over
night in a pint and a half of water. In the morning, beat the oatmeal
well with a spoon, and afterwards pass all the soluble portion through a
fine strainer. Place the liquid in the inner dish of a double boiler,
and cook for half an hour. Turn into cups, cool fifteen or twenty
minutes, and serve warm with cream and sugar, or a dressing of fruit
juice. A lemon sauce prepared as directed on page 354 likewise makes an
excellent dressing.
OATMEAL BLANCMANGE NO. 2.--Take a pint of well-cooked oatmeal, add
to it a pint of milk, part cream if obtainable. Beat well together, and
strain through a fine wire sieve. Turn the liquid into a saucepan, and
boil for a few moments, until it is thick enough to drop from the point
of a spoon; then turn into cups previously wet in cold water, and mold.
Serve with a dressing of fruit juice or whipped cream slightly sweetened
and flavored with lemon.
JELLIED OATMEAL.--Cook oatmeal or rolled oats with an additional
cup or cup and a half of water, and when done, turned into cups and
mold. Serve cold with hot cream.
MIXED MUSH.--A cup and a half of rolled wheat, mixed with one-half
cup of coarse oatmeal, and cooked the same as oatmeal, forms a mush
preferred by some to oatmeal alone.
ROLLED OATS.--This preparation of oats should be cooked the same
as oatmeal, but requires only three parts water to one of rolled oats,
when cooked in a double boiler.
OATMEAL WITH APPLE.--Cold oatmeal which has been left over may be
made into an appetising dish by molding in alternate layers with
nicely-steamed tart apple, sprinkled lightly with sugar. Serve with
cream. Other cooked fruit, such as cherries, evaporated peaches, and
apricots may be used in the same way. A very pleasing dish is made by
using between the layers ripe yellow peaches and plums sliced together,
and lightly sprinkled with sugar.
OATMEAL PORRIDGE.--Into a quart and a half of water, which should
be boiling in the inner dish of a double boiler, sprinkle one cup of
rather coarse oatmeal. Boil rapidly, stirring meanwhile until the grain
is set; then place in the outer boiler, and cook continuously for three
hours or longer. A half cup of cream added just before serving, is a
desirable addition.
BARLEY.
DESCRIPTION.--Barley is stated by historians to be the oldest of
all cultivated grains. It seems to have been the principal bread plant
among the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. The Jews especially held
the grain in high esteem, and sacred history usually uses it
interchangeably with wheat, when speaking of the fruits of the Earth.
Among the early Greeks and Romans, barley was almost the only food of
the common people and the soldiers. The flour was made into gruel, after
the following recipe: "Dry, near the fire or in the oven, twenty pounds
of barley flour, then parch it. Add three pounds of linseed meal, half a
pound of coriander seeds, two ounces of salt, and the water necessary."
If an especially delectable dish was desired, a little millet was also
added to give the paste more "cohesion and delicacy." Barley was also
used whole as a food, in which case it was first parched, which is still
the manner of preparing it in some parts of Palestine and many districts
of India, also in the Canary Islands, where it is known as _gofio_. Of
this custom a lady from Palestine writes: "The reapers, during barley
harvest, take bunches of the half-ripe grain, and singe, or parch, it
over a fire of thorns. The milk being still in the grain, it is very
sweet, and is considered a delicacy."
In the time of Charles I, barley meal took the place of wheat almost
entirely as the food of the common people in England. In some parts of
Europe, India, and other Eastern countries, it is still largely consumed
as the ordinary farinaceous food of the peasantry and soldiers. The
early settlers of New England also largely used it for bread making. At
the present day only a very insignificant quantity of barley is used for
food purposes in this country, and most of this in the unground state.
Barley is less nutritious than wheat, and to many people is less
agreeable in flavor. It is likewise somewhat inferior in point of
digestibility. Its starch cells being less soluble, they offer more
resistance to the gastric juice.
There are several distinct species of barley, but that most commonly
cultivated is designated as two-rowed, or two-eared barley. In general
structure, the barley grain resembles wheat and oats.
Simply deprived of its outer husk, the grain is termed _Scotch milled_
or _pot barley_. Subjected still further to the process by which the
fibrous outer coat of the grain is removed, it constitutes what is known
as _pearl barley_. Pearl barley ground into flour is known as _patent
barley_. Barley flour, owing to the fact that it contains so small a
proportion of gluten, needs to be mixed with wheaten flour for
bread-making purposes. When added in small quantity to whole-wheat
bread, it has a tendency to keep the loaf moist, and is thought by some
to improve the flavor.
The most general use made of this cereal as a food, is in the form of
pearl, or Scotch, barley. When well boiled, barley requires about two
hours for digestion.
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS FOR COOKING BARLEY.--The conditions requisite
for cooking barley are essentially the same as for oatmeal. It is best
cooked slowly. Four parts of water to one of grain will be needed for
steaming or cooking in a double boiler, and from four to five hours'
time will be required, unless the grain has been previously soaked for
several hours, in which case three hours will do. If the strong flavor
of the grain is objected to, it may be soaked over night and cooked in
fresh water. This method will, however, be a sacrifice of some of the
nutriment contained in the grain. Barley thus soaked will require only
three parts water to one of barley for cooking.
_RECIPES._
BAKED BARLEY.--Soak six tablespoonfuls of barley in cold water over
night. In the morning, turn off the water, and put the barley in an
earthen pudding dish, and pour three and one half pints of boiling water
over it; add salt if desired, and bake in a moderately quick oven about
two and one half hours, or till perfectly soft, and all the water is
absorbed. When about half done, add four or five tablespoonfuls of sugar
mixed with grated lemon peel. It may be eaten warm, but is very nice
molded in cups and served cold with cream.
PEARL BARLEY WITH RAISINS.--Carefully look over and wash a cupful
of pearl barley. Cook in a double boiler in five cups of boiling water
for four hours. Just before serving, add a cupful of raisins which have
been prepared by pouring boiling water over them and allowing them to
stand until swollen. Serve hot, with cream.
PEARL BARLEY WITH LEMON SAUCE.--Pearl barley cooked in the same
manner, but without the addition of the raisins, is excellent served
with cream or with a lemon sauce prepared as directed on page 354.
RICE.
DESCRIPTION.--Rice is one of the most abundantly used and most
digestible of all the cereals. It grows wild in India, and it is
probable that this is its native home. It is, however, now cultivated in
most tropical and sub-tropical climates, and is said to supply the
principal food for nearly one third of the human race. It is mentioned
in history several hundred years before Christ. According to Soyer, an
old writer on foods, the Greeks and Romans held rice in high esteem,
believing it to be a panacea for chest and lung diseases.
The grain is so largely grown and used by the Chinese that "fan," their
word for rice, has come to enter into many compound words. A beggar is
called a "tou-fan-tee," that is, "the rice-seeking one." The ordinary
salutation, "Che-fan," which answers to our "How do you do?" means,
"Have you eaten your rice?"
Rice requires a wet soil, and the fields in which the grain is raised,
sometimes called "paddy" fields, are periodically irrigated. Before
ripening, the water is drained off, and the crop is then cut with a
sickle, made into shocks, stacked, threshed, and cleaned, much like
wheat. The rice kernel is inclosed within two coverings, a course outer
husk, which is easily removed, and an inner, reddish, siliceous coating.
"Paddy" is the name given in India to the rice grain when inclosed in
its husk. The same is termed "rough rice" in this country. The outer
husk of the rice is usually removed in the process of threshing, but the
inner red skin, or hull, adheres very closely, and is removed by rubbing
and pounding. The rough rice is first ground between large stones, and
then conveyed into mortars, and pounded with iron-shod pestles. Thence,
by fanning and screening, the husk is fully removed, and the grain
divided into three different grades, whole, middlings, and small whole
grains, and polished ready for market. The middlings consist of the
larger broken pieces of the grain; the small rice, of the small
fragments mixed with the chit of the grain. The broken rice, well dried,
is sometimes ground into flour of different degrees of fineness. The
small rice is much sweeter and somewhat superior in point of nutritive
value to the large or head rice usually met with in commerce.
Rice is characterized by a large percentage of starch, and is so
deficient in other food elements that if used alone, unless consumed in
very large quantities, it will not furnish the requisite amount of
nitrogenous material necessary for a perfect health food. For this
reason, it is necessary to supplement its use with some other food
containing an excess of nitrogenous elements, as peas, beans, milk, etc.
Associated with other articles rich in albuminous elements, rice is
exceedingly valuable, and one of the most easily digested foods. Boiled
or steamed rice requires but a little over one hour for digestion.
PREPARATION AND COOKING.--Rice needs to be thoroughly washed to
remove the earthy taste it is so apt to have. A good way to do this is
to put it into a colander, in a deep pan of water. Rub the rice well
with the hands, lifting the colander in and out the water, and changing
the water until it is clear; then drain. In this way the grit is
deposited in the water, and the rice left thoroughly clean.
The best method of cooking rice is by steaming it. If boiled in much
water, it loses a portion of its already small percentage of nitrogenous
elements. It requires much less time for cooking than any of the other
grains. Like all the dried grains and seeds, rice swells in cooking to
several times its original bulk. When cooked, each grain of rice should
be separate and distinct, yet perfectly tender.
RECIPES.
STEAMED RICE.--Soak a cup of rice in one and a fourth cups of water
for an hour, then add a cup of milk, turn into an earthen dish suitable
for serving it from at table, and place in a steam-cooker or a covered
steamer over a kettle of boiling water, and steam for an hour. It should
be stirred with a fork occasionally, for the first ten or fifteen
minutes.