As this volume is not intended to be a practical cook-book, no attempt
is made to give rules for all the various processes of cooking food;
nor is it necessary, for nearly every family owns a cook-book giving
the required directions. What I wish to emphasize is that in all
these processes the rules given by the best chefs refer directly or
indirectly to the preservation and development of the food Flavors. A
few brief paragraphs will suffice to prove this point.
_Broiling._ As one expert puts it: "The ideal to be reached in broiling
steak is to sear the surface very quickly, so that the juices which
contain the greater part of the _flavoring_ of the meat shall be kept
in, and then to allow the heat to penetrate to the inside until the
whole mass is cooked to the taste of the family. To pass the point
where the meat ceases to be puffy and juicy and becomes flat and hard
is very undesirable, as the _palatability_ is then lost. Exactly the
same ideal should be kept in mind in broiling chopped meat. If this
were always done, hard, compact, _tasteless_ balls or cakes of meat
would be served less often."
The three words I have italicized show that in this case, as in all
others, my contention is borne out that Flavor is the guiding principle
in all scientific cooking.
The use of the gridiron for a broil, or "grill," as the English call it
(after the French griller), also imparts to the meat a slightly burnt
taste relished by epicures.
_Roasting._ Why is our roast beef usually so insipid and unappetizing?
Sometimes the inferior quality of the meat is to blame, but more
frequently our disappointment is due to the cook's indolence or the
substitution of baking for roasting.
Real roasting is like broiling in so far as it requires exposure of the
meat to an open fire. It differs from broiling in that it also calls
for frequent basting, that is, taking up with a spoon the fat which
flows from the meat and pouring it over the surface, thus aiding the
initial searing in keeping in the juices, on which the Flavor depends.
Ordinary cooks are too lazy to baste and therefore this precious juice
escapes into the pan, where it is in turn spoiled by a deluge of water
and an uncooked mass of flour, the resulting liquid being a sorry
substitute for real, savory gravy.
In place of roast meat most families now have to put up with baked
meat. Baking in an open pan in a modern range results in the tainting
of the meat with the disagreeable flavor of charred fat spattered by
the cooking process against the top and the sides of the oven. The oven
being unventilated, and not easily washed, the result is a permanent
"oven taste" in the roast beef, mutton, veal, pork, or chicken, which
is almost as exasperating to a discerning diner as the taint of
cold-storage poultry.
This objectionable oven taste can be eliminated by using a double
roasting pan, which also has, to a certain extent, the advantage of
being self-basting. A conscientious cook, who knows the value of Flavor
and of real gravy, will nevertheless look after the basting personally.
The value of gravy is far too little understood. Nothing is more
appetizing in association with a good plain roast than the gravy made
from its fat and some of its juices. In starting a roast it is of prime
importance to expose the meat at once to a very high temperature so
as to sear the surface and (as already stated) keep the juice in the
meat. But before the searing process is completed, enough of the juice
usually escapes to make, in combination with the fat which continues
to ooze out, a delicious gravy.
The French do not add flour to gravy; if it is added, it should at
least be used sparingly, and cooked five to eight minutes in the gravy.
_Frying._ Give a dog a bad name, etc.! Frying has been denounced as
an invention of the devil, a source of countless digestive disorders.
As ordinarily practised it fully deserves its evil repute. From a
dietetic as well as a gastronomic point of view nothing could be more
objectionable than the fried steaks, bacon, potatoes, and diverse
deadly fritters daily placed on hundreds of thousands of American
tables. But frying on rational principles is an entirely wholesome and
most desirable branch of the science of savory cooking.
Success or failure in this branch is chiefly a matter of temperature.
At the moment the meat, fish, or vegetable is put into the fat, this
must be sufficiently hot to coagulate the surface so that (as in the
processes of roasting or broiling) the juices with their Flavors are
kept within.
If the fat is not hot enough, the food comes out soaked with grease
and highly indigestible. On the other hand, care must be taken that
the fat is not scorched. This point is best explained in one of the
Agricultural Department's helpful publications.[7]
"The chief reason for the bad opinion in which fried food is held
by many is that it almost always means eating burnt fat. When fat
is heated too high it splits up into fatty acids and glycerin, and
from the glycerin is formed a substance (acrolein) which has a very
irritating effect upon the mucous membrane. All will recall that the
fumes of scorched fat make the eyes water. It is not surprising that
such a substance, if taken into the stomach, should cause digestive
disturbance. Fat in itself is very valuable food, and the objection to
fried foods because they may be fat seems illogical."
The temperature required varies with the different foods and styles
desired. On this point, as well as on the relative merits of the
various baths to be used, sufficient information is given in cook
books. The best frying baths are made of suet and veal fat, fresh
butter, and pure olive oil. For the sake of economy, and variety in
flavor, it is also advisable to use the drippings from fried bacon,
ham, or sausage--but _not_ from fish.
In speaking of broiled meat I referred to the slightly burnt taste
which is relished by epicures--somewhat as dissonances are by
music-lovers. In the case of fried and roast meats, properly browned
on the surface, there is a somewhat similar but less dissonant flavor
which comes from browning the meat with fat. If the browning has been
done scientifically many persons (I am one of them) prefer the outside
slices of roast meat to the inside.