CASSEROLES OR THE REVOLUTION CULINARY
“Since my daughter came back from driving an ambulance in France and
from living in the various towns, she has not only brought back an
international atmosphere with her but she is quite a Kitchen Red. She
has revolutionized our whole culinary system.”
“You strike terror to my soul. What can you mean?” I said with
amusement.
“Well, since she has returned she is keen for cutting down unnecessary
effort and unnecessary processes and she thinks that the French have
solved the simplifying of cookery by the use of the casserole or
casserole system as I like to call it!”
It is quite true that these fads are overdone, generally. But this is no
fad, as it’s been popular for æons, and if it had not been, why should
you not give it a trial? Because a thing can be used intemperately is no
reason why it should not be attempted. We drink water, yet we don’t
choke or drown ourselves very often.
In these servant famine days where people either have none, one or a
very depleted staff of them, processes must be cut down, handling of
utensils must be decreased. Therefore, cooking in dishes that can be
used on the table, and coming directly from the stove, cuts the use of
one set of dishes, of washing the extra dishes, and as these utensils
are of pottery or glass the ease with which they can be washed cuts this
process in half.
These casserole dishes are made in glazed pottery, white on the inside
and you can buy them in pretty nearly every color, as far as the outside
is concerned. Because of the heat-conducting attributes of pottery long
and slow cooking is the result of their usage. This fact is, of course,
their greatest asset, because slow cooking is necessary to bring out the
best flavors and render food more digestible.
Casserole cookery--after all with the French it means really a kind of
dish. Adapted to our use as mentioned before, it is a system by which
cooking is done (slowly in the casserole) in utensils usable on the
table. Strictly speaking, casserole cookery is cooking done in the
casserole. The French use the casserole for made-over dishes and have
given the world a fund of dishes and ideas which have saved much money
and besides given much pleasure. This, of course, is a culinary as well
as an economic feat. And probably one of the best uses of the casserole
is the fact that tough cuts of meat and cheaper grades of vegetables
which are just as nutritious as the expensive are rendered delicious and
appetizing by this slow casserole cooking.
The appearance of these dishes is enough to stimulate the jaded palate.
They come, too, with cases made in the different metals: copper, brass,
iron and silver. The dish as it is taken from the stove is slipped into
one of these open-work cases and gives quite a finish to the table.
These holders, be it remembered, are not necessary, but for that reason
they are alluring.
But, people are prone to think that casserole cookery means living on
stews and cheap cuts all the time. But this is entirely wrong, as you
can bake, roast, boil and braise in these dishes. Excellent cake and
bread, soup and fruits can be cooked and all very deliciously.
Scalloped dishes and marmites and things in ramekins are very good, too.
These are casserole cookery, too, only those dishes are for the most
part “individuals,” and these individual dishes are often made in the
more delicate pottery wares. Naturally, you do not have to use the
family size always.
They are so made that they do not break if you use ordinary common sense
with them. When they are new, they should be set in very cold water for
a few hours, let the cook apply gradual heat, never sudden heat, and
remember that she must not put them on or in the stove without something
in them, and that when she uses them on top of the stove she must put
asbestos or metal trays under them to insulate them from too direct a
heat.
Common or uncommon sense has to be used with all cooking utensils to
lengthen their lives. But here are some of the good points in casserole
cookery:--Less liquid need be added when using them as the food in long
cooking cooks its own juices; left-over foods become delicious in them;
freshly cooked foods become most appetizing; the tight covers keep in
all aroma and flavor (if the cover doesn’t fit tight enough a little
flour paste around the top of the casserole will seal it completely);
there is no burn to remove when washing these dishes and food cannot
adhere obstinately to cause a loss of time and patience; anything that
is to be removed is very evident and rubbing it off the smooth sides is
very rapidly accomplished. And they look so well after they are cleaned
that the cook is well repaid.
In buying casserole dishes, you should be sure that they are smooth on
the inside and outside with no little blisters or cracks. The best
casseroles are not expensive and it is very encouraging to-day to get
anything with epicurean attributes at proletarian prices.
Women should try things as business men try things when they are
cutting down expenses, and operations. And it doesn’t matter how wealthy
a firm is either when cost reduction can be made. Isn’t it queer that
our wealthy women never think of cutting costs in their kitchens? Yet
the wealthy firm is always trying to shave costs.
After women realize that slow cookery is healthiest and is most
economical, why do they persist in being too conservative to buy new
things? There seems to be no reason except that they may unconsciously
feel that were they to begin on slow cookery, they would adhere to it so
rapidly that rapid cookery would fade away. It may be recalled that some
housekeepers insist upon cooking even the demi-tasse in paper bags!
But to save the rapid cookery processes, the glass utensil has been born
and is waxing popular. Rapidity is its chief attribute. By this rapidity
in cooking there is a saving of fuel, and as the utensils are taken
directly from the stove, as are the casseroles, and used on the tables,
there is the same saving of service time. These glass utensils bring out
the flavors in all kinds of foods; they do not absorb odors or greases;
they are very easy to keep clean; there is never any burn to remove and
one can always see inside the utensil to find out how the food is
faring!
On first thought you may fear breakage. But they don’t break. They are
strongly guaranteed against breakage in the oven. They are annealed so
perfectly that they can stand intense and sudden heat and not break.
Chauffeurs from France came back with great tales of safety glass which
is used on motors. This glass rarely breaks. Even if hit by shrapnel it
simply cracks and crazes. This fact will give confidence in what the
scientific manufacturers of glass are doing to-day.
This cooking glass is also made in engraved patterns which make it
suitable for the most exacting table use.
But why is it that cooking can be done so much more rapidly in the glass
ware?
Because the glass utensil utilizes by the nature of glass composition
every bit of heat in the oven and the metal utensil does not. This is
proved by putting a metal and a glass pot in the oven equally full of
water and the glass pot will boil very soon while the ... you can guess
the rest.
Of course, this glass is only usable in the oven. It is really miracle
stuff because even boiling water poured into one of the utensils won’t
break it.
Can everything be cooked in this ware?
A pretty good range: light omelets, dried fruit, cake, bread, meat and
rechaufférs. The glass casserole is very much in vogue at present
because the glass ware is adaptable to slow cooking, too.
It’s amazing, isn’t it, to think what can be done with glass and china
fire-proof as they have become! Yet it isn’t when you think of crossing
the ocean in sixteen hours.
But what is amazing is that some women are so slow to investigate and
are willing to live in their unexplored mediæval culinary ruts, while in
every other line they seem to be so up and coming. But women that do
their own work are far more forward looking.