LAUNDERING AND DRY CLEANSING
Principles of Washing and Ironing——Hard and Soft Water and
Detergents——Laundry Equipment——Order of Work——Methods of Washing
and Ironing——Public Laundries——Economics of Laundering 365
APPENDIX 383
INDEX 391
FOODS AND HOUSEHOLD
MANAGEMENT
CHAPTER I
FOOD MATERIALS AND FOODSTUFFS
=Food problems.=——“What shall I plan for the three meals?” is a question
as new each day as the day itself. That many women ask it, and are glad
for an answer or a suggestion is proved by a glance at the daily or weekly
paper or woman’s magazine, whose publishers know that it pays to print
menus innumerable. Indeed, the daily press is full of signs that the food
problem is an acute one, for the current joke about food prices, the
accounts of boycotts by housekeepers, popular articles on nutrition and
pure foods, and the records of state and national legislation, all show
that as a nation we are awake and seeking a way out of our present
difficulties.
Doubtless, the housekeeper has always found the task of supplying food to
her family one of the most perplexing, but modern conditions have made the
difficulties manifold when contrasted with olden times. A pretty picture
of household management in seventeenth century England is drawn by Sir
Walter Scott in “Peveril of the Peak.” The lord of the castle has invited
the village people to a great feast in celebration of the restoration of
Charles the Second, and Lady Peveril finds her larder rather low. To be
sure, there are carp in the pond, and deer in the park, but the beef
question is puzzling, for the steward does not wish to kill his choice
steer. Then appear in the courtyard two fine oxen, and several wethers, or
sheep, gifts from a neighbor, and the menu is complete. Lady Peveril is
described as an excellent housekeeper, and doubtless felt burdened by many
cares, but how different were her problems from ours, and how simple by
comparison! Beef trusts and the high price of beef, tuberculous cattle,
unsanitary transportation and markets were not factors in her problem. In
her day, and in the time of our grandmothers, less variety in diet was
possible, and less expected except on state occasions; food was not
transported over great distances, and the cost was not so much out of
proportion to the average income.
Now every large city, and even the small town, is the market of the world.
We have long been accustomed to the importation of oranges and lemons, and
dried fruits from distant lands; but now we have peaches and pears from
South Africa, melons from Spain, pineapples from the Azores, hothouse
grapes from England, and apples from Australia, and in 1913, we read of
the shipment of beef from Argentina. In our own country, early fruits and
vegetables travel from the south to the north, so that the season of some
foods is long extended. The large amount of canned food also does away
with the natural limits of the season, and this is further affected by
cold storage. Both the quality and the cost of food are modified by these
new methods of commerce, and furthermore, modern methods of manufacture
have changed the quality. In an ideal community these changes would be for
the better, but manufacturers often think more of their own profit than of
the quality of their goods, and as a result adulterations have crept in,
making necessary the enactment and enforcement of pure food laws. This is
by no means so simple a matter as it seems, for we must first understand
what pure food really is.
Instinct guides somewhat in the selection of food where conditions of
living are simple. Under more complex conditions there must be a
scientific study of the whole situation in order that the individual may
cope with it. Then, too, with such a variety of foods from which to
select, it is easy to be tempted beyond our means, and to disregard the
simple and the wholesome. We know that it is easy to develop a taste for
some one food in excess, as for instance, sweets or dishes rich in fat and
too highly flavored, and the physician adds his word here to the plea for
a study of food and its functions.
The conclusion is this, that the housekeeper who has the welfare of her
family at heart will not confine her interest in food to cooking processes
and new recipes. Good cooks we must have, and our standard of cooking
could easily be raised. But other facts about food are important to-day,
and as we learn to prepare and serve food daintily, we must study such
topics as the following:
What food is, its composition and how it nourishes us; how it is
manufactured and transported; “pure food”; sanitary and convenient
markets; the cost of food and how to buy; principles of food preparation;
suitable combinations and amounts of food. These topics are all treated in
this volume, and should be considered as important as the actual
preparation of food.
FOOD MATERIALS
=What is food?=——This would seem to be a difficult question to answer as
we look about a modern grocery or market with its bewildering assortment
of foods. It seems hardly possible to describe such a variety of articles
in a brief sentence, or to find a definition that will apply to all. Yet
we seem to know instinctively what food is, although we may not find it
easy to give a definition. Even the lower animals are guided in selecting
food by some natural instinct and seldom make a mistake.
A widely used government bulletin gives this definition: “Food is that
which taken into the body builds tissue or yields energy or does both.”
Probably we have learned this in our physiology, and admit it to be true,
but for practical purposes, we need a more complete statement than this.
Let us carefully determine what our foods really are, and what elements
they contain, in order that we may select wisely for purposes of
nutrition, and also that we may learn how to prepare food materials in a
way that will utilize everything in them and waste nothing.
=Vegetable and animal foods.=——It is easy to divide food materials in a
general way into those derived from the vegetable kingdom and those
derived from the animal kingdom. In the vegetable group we have first, the
different parts of many plants, and second, substances manufactured from
plants. While we do not usually eat the whole of any one plant, yet there
is not any part of the plant that we have not adopted as food. We use
roots and tubers in beets, carrots, and potatoes, and the onion is a bulb.
In celery and asparagus we eat the plant stalk. Plant leaves give us
lettuce and other salads, cabbage and the like. Peas and beans and nuts
are seeds, and cauliflower is a part of the flower. The fruit as a whole
is familiar in many forms. Manufactured vegetable food materials include
flour, meals, breakfast cereals, starch, sugar, molasses and sirups. The
animal kingdom gives us the flesh of animals, fish and shell fish, and
substances derived from animals, like eggs, milk, and the milk products,
cream, butter, and cheese.
These materials vary so much in appearance that they would seem to have
nothing in common. If, however, we compare the food of different animals
and different races of men, we cannot but conclude that this is a mistaken
judgment. We find an animal like the lion feeding entirely upon the flesh
of other animals, and a strong creature like the ox, eating nothing but
grass and grain. We also note that one race of men includes meat in its
diet, and another subsists almost entirely upon vegetable food, such as
rice and beans. Yet in both cases, these diverse kinds of food accomplish
the same end,——body building and the supplying of energy. Let us study two
common foods, from the two kingdoms, and see if through this study we can
discover in what ways they are alike.
=Comparison of milk and beans.=——A moment’s thought enables us to see that
in milk we have a food that must have all the elements needed in
nutrition, since it is the only food taken by many young animals. The baby
and the young calf find in it everything that is needed to build the
growing body, and to give them energy. If you see a young calf frisking
about the field, you can appreciate how well his food supplies his needs.
A simple experiment will help us to find some of the substances contained
in milk. Let the milk stand until the cream rises on the top. Skim the
cream, warm it slightly and beat it with an egg beater. Butter will soon
“come,” and butter, we know, is a form of fat. Warm a pint of the skimmed
milk, add to it a dissolved rennet tablet, and set it in a warm place. In
a short time, the milk becomes solidified to a consistency like that of
jelly. If allowed to stand longer, a watery liquid will separate itself
from the solid portion. These are the “curds and whey” that result, also,
from the souring of milk. The whey can be squeezed out of the curd,
leaving it quite dry. We have now found at least three constituents of
milk,——water, fat, and curd.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.——Composition of milk.
1. Whole milk.
2. Water.
3. Fat.
4. Protein.
5. Carbohydrate.
6. Mineral matter or ash.
_Courtesy of President Gulliver, Rockford College._]
You may then surmise from the sweet taste of milk that sugar is present;
the chemist knows how to obtain it in pure form as “sugar of milk.” The
chemist also finds certain mineral substances which remain behind when all
the water is evaporated and the curds and sugar burned away. These mineral
substances are spoken of by the chemist as “ash,” because this is what
remains after burning the other portions of a food material, as ashes
remain from a wood fire. Figure 1 shows you these substances in the
amounts in which each occurs in a pint of milk. The sugar is one of a
class of substances to which the chemist gives the name carbohydrate. To
the substance in the curd that is different from all the other substances
in the milk the name “protein” is given.
We will now turn to the composition of beans, for in beans we find food
stored up to nourish the young plant, which we, also, appropriate as
food. The composition of both the milk and the beans is given in this
table. Compare also Figures 35 and 41.
Composition of Milk and Beans
=================================================================
| WATER |PROTEIN | FAT |CARBOHYDRATE| ASH
FOOD MATERIALS |PER CENT|PER CENT|PER CENT| PER CENT | PER CENT
---------------|--------|--------|--------|------------|---------
Milk | 87.0 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 0.7
Beans, dried | 12.6 | 22.5 | 1.8 | 59.6 | 3.5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Notice that the substances in the beans are the same in general nature as
those in the milk, although the amounts are different. The water that the
young plant needs is, of course, supplied from the earth. There is another
difference to note although this is not shown in the table; in the beans
the carbohydrate is of two kinds, sugar and starch.
FOODSTUFFS[1]
All the varieties of food with which we are supplied will be found to
contain some of these substances: protein, fat, carbohydrate, mineral
matter, water; and to these we give the name _foodstuffs_. Some food
materials (like the milk and beans just studied) contain all the
foodstuffs, some only one, as in the case of sugar. We can now define food
as something that contains one or more of the substances known as
foodstuffs. But what are the foodstuffs themselves?
=Elements in the foodstuffs.=——Although we are not chemists, and may not
even have taken a course in chemistry, yet through our nature study or
physiology lessons, we are familiar with the fact that all the materials
about us, including our own bodies and our food, are made up of simple
substances that we call “elements.” We know, for instance, that coal is
chiefly carbon, and we are familiar with such substances as sulphur,
calcium, phosphorus, and iron. We know that the air contains oxygen, which
we inhale, and that we breathe out a combination of carbon and oxygen
called “carbon dioxide.” Since our bodies are composed of these and other
elements, these elements must be supplied by our foods, and therefore, the
foodstuffs in turn are composed of these same elements.
Proteins, fats, and carbohydrates all contain large amounts of carbon, and
on this account are called fuel foods. But proteins are distinguished
because they contain nitrogen in addition, which is found in no other
foodstuff. Sulphur, too, we get only from protein, but we need less of it
than of nitrogen, so we think about the nitrogen and let the sulphur take
care of itself. The nitrogen that we draw in from the air with every
breath, we breathe out again without being able to use it. This element is
necessary to every living cell, but we can make it ours only through our
protein food. Nitrogen is cheapest when obtained from the grains, from
dried beans and peas. We pay a higher price for it in milk, eggs, fish,
meat, and nuts. Carbon, which is found in all foodstuffs except water and
some kinds of mineral matter, costs much less, especially when we take it
in the form of carbohydrates such as starches and sugars. Oxygen is also
abundant in our foods, but we get it even more cheaply in water and by
breathing it in from the air. Phosphorus, iron, and calcium are very
important elements, but we do not need them in very large quantities. We
can get them cheaply in whole grains, peas and beans, some fruits and
green vegetables, but they are worth paying for in milk and eggs. The
elements last mentioned are present in the food partly as constituents of
certain proteins and fats, partly as mineral salts. Other elements found
as mineral matter are sodium and chlorine (which we take as common salt),
potassium, magnesium, and traces of iodine and fluorine. These are all
necessary to keep our bodies in good working order. We shall see later how
to select our food materials so as to have all the different elements in
the foodstuffs present in sufficient amounts.
FUNCTIONS OF THE FOODSTUFFS
=Food for energy.=——The first requirement of the body is for fuel, because
it has a great deal of work to do. Even when one lies perfectly quiet and
appears to be resting, the heart is working to keep up the circulation of
the blood, the chest and diaphragm muscles are working to maintain the
oxygen supply to the lungs, the alimentary tract is moving food material
along, working to digest it and get rid of waste, and the skeletal muscles
are being held up to “tone” so as to be ready for further action. All this
work that we scarcely realize, may be called involuntary. To it we may add
all sorts of voluntary movements, from simply speaking a word to turning
somersaults or lifting heavy weights. All work involves _energy_, which we
can obtain only from the fuel foods, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
Energy takes different forms. Our supply comes from the sun in the forms
of heat and light, and plants store it up in the form of chemical energy
when they build carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. This may be changed
into the forms of work or of heat when we eat the food. Whenever an
attempt is made to change chemical energy to work, some of it will change
to heat. So in our bodies, the fuel foods, which enable us to do both
involuntary and voluntary work, furnish heat at the same time, to keep our
bodies warm. When we are too cold, we can shiver or run or jump, and thus,
by doing more work, get more heat too.
=The unit of fuel value.=——In our studies of food materials, we must find
out just how much energy, or working power, can be obtained from each
kind. We must have a measure of energy or fuel value; and just as the inch
is a measure of length, and the pound of weight, so the Calorie serves as
a measure of fuel value. This unit[2] measures energy as heat, being the
amount of heat required to raise 1 kilogram of water 1° C. (or 1 pound of
water about 4° F.), but we can express it also as work, being sufficient
energy to raise a 1-pound weight 3087 feet into the air (or 1 ton about
1-1/2 feet) if it were possible to convert it into mechanical work without
loss. By burning foods in pure oxygen in a vessel placed in water so that
all the heat is given off to the water, and then noting the change in
temperature of the water, it is possible to find out just how much energy
each will yield. Such a device is called a calorimeter. In the body there
is usually a small portion of each kind of foodstuff which escapes
digestion, and protein is not quite so completely burned as in the
calorimeter. When allowance for the probable loss is made, the energy
values of the fuel foodstuffs are as follows:
Protein 4 Calories per gram or 1814 per pound.
Fat 9 Calories per gram or 4082 per pound.
Carbohydrate 4 Calories per gram or 1814 per pound.
=The standard portion.=——Knowing the composition of any food material, it
is possible from these figures to calculate the total fuel value, or we
can refer to tables in which this has been calculated, and save ourselves
labor. For comparison of different foods the Standard, or 100-Calorie,
Portion is used, as this corresponds very closely with the amount of food
for a single serving in many cases. In the sections treating of different
foods the Standard Portion will be stated.
=Food for body building.=——Every living cell has a little life history of
its own, and constantly demands a certain amount of new material to
replace old which it has worn out. Besides this, old cells die, and new
ones have to be made to replace them. Hence even a full-grown person needs
building material, and much more is required in proportion when the person
is growing and perhaps adding several ounces a week to his weight. The
foodstuffs which have especial value as building material are protein and
mineral matter.
=Food for body regulating.=——To help in the digestion of food, to keep the
blood in proper condition, the muscles supple, and all the processes of
the body at their best, ash constituents and water in the diet are
necessary. A tabular summary of the functions of the foodstuffs and an
outline of the changes which take place in digestion will be found in the
appendix.
We are now able to give a more complete answer to our question, “What is
Food?”
Food has been said to be that which taken into the body builds tissue or
yields energy, or both. The food as a whole must contain all the chemical
elements needed by the body, these elements being supplied in substances
known as foodstuffs, viz., protein, fat, carbohydrates, mineral matter or
ash, water. To be a food, a substance must contain one or all of the
foodstuffs.
It must be noted here that our food materials as bought, contain inedible
matter, as in the shells of eggs, the bone of meat, the skins and pods of
vegetables. Moreover, the fiber that we eat in vegetable foods is not
digested under ordinary circumstances, but seems rather to serve a useful
purpose in giving bulk to our foods.
=Food adjuncts.=——In preparing foods for the table, we have the habit of
adding substances to develop or give flavor. With the exception of sugar,
which we use largely for its agreeable taste, these substances have no
nutritive value. They are not hurtful unless used in excess, although
pepper and other spices sometimes disturb digestion. Pepper, too,
irritates a delicate throat.
Only a few flavors are really detected by the sense of taste. These are
salt, sugar, acids, and bitter flavors; and something in the spices that
gives a sensation hard to describe, but is unmistakable in an overdose of
mustard or horse-radish. “Pungent” describes such a flavor.
The other flavors are really odors, and are detected by the sense of
smell. Have you not at some time seemed to lose the sense of taste when
suffering from a severe cold in the head? Yet even then you could taste
sugar, salt, vinegar, and feel the pungency of pepper. These other flavors
or odors are due to a volatile oil in the flavoring material, that is, an
oil that readily evaporates, especially when heated, as distinguished from
the non-volatile oils and fats like olive oil and butter. This is a
practical bit of knowledge in our cookery, for whatever passes off as
fragrance during the cooking process, is lost as flavor. For instance, to
cook vanilla essence in a soft custard is equivalent to throwing most of
it away.
_Salt._——A mineral substance that develops other flavors. It should not be
used in excess. A small amount is desirable even in sweet dishes.
_Acids._——Vinegar, lemon juice, and juices of other sour fruits. These are
pleasing in themselves, and in small quantities develop other flavors and
give a certain brightness of taste. They are used with meat and fish, and
in sweet dishes.
_Spices._——Red, black, and white pepper, cinnamon, cloves, allspice,
nutmeg, mace, and ginger are examples. They are made from the seeds of
certain plants, used whole or ground. Stick cinnamon is a layer of a stem.
Ginger is a root.
_Herbs._——Thyme, mint, sweet marjoram, summer savory are the leaves of
old-fashioned pot herbs, used either fresh or dried. There were many
others used in olden days that are not common now, such as sweet basil and
pot marigold. A quite complete list will be found nowadays in any good
seed catalogue. These herbs are used with meat dishes.
_Vegetable flavors._——Celery seeds and stalks, onions, leek and garlick,
carrots and turnips, all contain flavoring oils, and we use them for their
flavors in small portions, in meat dishes.
_Essences._——The oils of vanilla, bitter almonds, lemon and orange peel
are dissolved in alcohol, and used in liquid form in cakes and desserts.
Violet leaves and violet essence are sometimes used, but are a fad as a
flavor. Rose water made from rose leaves is an old-fashioned flavoring,
used infrequently now in blancmanges. The fresh leaf of a rose geranium
gives a pleasing flavor, for occasional use. Chocolate, coffee, and tea
are used for flavorings as well as for beverages.
_Coloring substances._——These come of many colors made from aniline dyes,
and while probably not often hurtful, they should be used only in sweets
and candies, and very seldom, if ever. It is better to depend on natural
fruit coloring when color is wanted.
The fine art of cooking is to develop the natural flavor of each foodstuff
by the proper application of heat, and never to use these condiments and
flavorings in excess. The artist in cookery has a gift for flavoring,
somewhat as the painter has for color.
=Beverages.=——The dictionary defines “beverage” as “drink of any kind.”
The word is used in different forms in several languages and is traced
back to the Latin _bibere_, to drink. The common beverages will be
studied in detail in connection with their preparation. They have slight
nutritive value, save for the added milk, cream, and sugar. Cocoa and
chocolate contain fat, and so have to be classed as foods. Milk is not a
beverage, strictly speaking, but a food, and should be counted as a part
of a meal.
EXERCISES
1. State the important topics in the study of foods.
2. Explain the difference between a “food material” and a “foodstuff.”
3. What are the important elements in protein, fat, and carbohydrates?
4. What food materials are rich in protein? In fat? In carbohydrate? In
mineral matter?
5. Explain the meaning and use of the “Calorie.”
6. State the functions of food.
7. What is a food adjunct?
8. What is the waste material in food?
CHAPTER II
KITCHEN FURNISHINGS
There is no more attractive room than a well-fitted kitchen, shining with
cleanliness; and the kitchen furnishings should have their fair share of
the money spent in buying furniture for the house.
A spotless cleanliness is the standard for the kitchen, and all the
equipment should be selected with the thought of making cleanliness easily
possible. Next in order is forethought in securing the comfort and
convenience of the worker.
=Plan of the kitchen.=——Here the motto should be “Save steps.” How many
weary miles do women walk within their kitchen walls because the sink, the
stove, the refrigerator and the closets for food and dishes are put in to
fit the spaces allowed by the windows and doors, with no thought of the
rapid and easy dispatch of work.
Figure 2 shows the plan of a kitchen, of the “buffet” type, suitable for a
small home or apartment. As this plan is drawn it would be necessary to
use either electric apparatus, or a small gas stove upon one of the
tables. A large gas stove could stand in place of the table at (1), or
against the wall at (2), pushing the table at (3) nearer the door. The
cupboards at (4) and (5) should be raised, leaving table space at both the
right and left of the sink. Notice that the ice box is in the entry, and
also that there is a cupboard that could be used for food. The china
cupboard is conveniently near in the dining-room.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.——Plan of a small kitchen. _Courtesy of the House
Beautiful._]
Figure 3 shows a larger kitchen, with a serving room between it and the
dining-room. The ice box is in the outer wall and is filled from the
outside. The cupboard at (1) could hold the cooking utensils, as it stands
conveniently between the sink and the range. A kitchen as large as this
should have a small table on rollers for carrying food materials and
utensils back and forth. If you have ever visited the kitchen in a
dining-car you will realize that compactness is one of the advantages of
the small kitchen over the large, although the latter may be better
ventilated and cooler.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.——Plan of a larger kitchen. _Courtesy of the House
Beautiful._]
=Furnishing the kitchen.=——The walls and floors, and even the ceiling,
should be washable. A tiled wall is as easy to wash as a china dish, but
the expense is prohibitive in many cases. Table oilcloth for wall and
ceiling is very satisfactory; next to this in desirability is paint, and
for the last choice a washable paper. This paper will bear scarcely more
than a damp cloth for cleansing purposes, however. Avoid cracks and
crevices in the woodwork, having all surfaces as plain as possible.
The best floor is one covered with an inlaid linoleum, which gives warmth
and comfort to the foot, is easy to clean, and wears for many years (Fig.
4). It should be cemented down at the edges that no dust may collect. The
first cost is rather high, but it pays in the end. A hardwood floor of
maple or yellow pine is also satisfactory. Tiling is the cleanest of all
floorings, but is very fatiguing to the worker.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.——A kitchen corner. _Courtesy of the Department of
Household Science and Art, Pratt Institute._]
Enamel-paint makes a smooth finish for the woodwork. In the kitchen of the
future, which will be fireproof, steel fittings will probably take the
place of all wood.
Have harmonious colors in the kitchen. Decide upon a cheerful color
scheme, and carry it out in all the fittings. One most attractive kitchen
is furnished in soft brown and buff, with a touch of blue in the linoleum
on the floor. Figure 4 shows the interior of a small kitchen, practical
for a family of six or eight. The curtain at the window, which gives a
touch of daintiness, is of a washable material. Figure 5 shows a much
larger kitchen, with two sinks, and a work-table in the center. See how
conveniently the refrigerator is placed for serving, and for returning
food from the serving room to the refrigerator. The vegetable sink is near
the stove, and the utensils, too, are near by. A rolling table is seen at
the left.
No plan can be drawn that would be perfect in all situations. If you ever
have the opportunity to plan your own kitchen, decide just what you want
it to contain, and then plan the places for each article. Sometimes there
are too many drawers and shelves, and these not of the right size or
position.
=The kitchen table.=——The table should have a top with room for food
materials and utensils to stand in neat order without crowding. Glass is
the cleanest top, painted steel and hard maple coming next in order. Have
some arrangement of shelves and drawers that small utensils and some food
materials may be always at hand. Figure 6 shows a kitchen “cabinet” of
painted steel with such conveniences. Notice the bin for flour, and the
inverted jar for sugar, both with an opening at the bottom. Spices and
flavorings and materials needed in small quantities are kept in jars on
the shelves. The cupboard and drawers beneath will hold small utensils,
towels, and whatever proves to be needed close by. Several makes of such
cabinets are now on sale. A flat-topped table for a large kitchen, Fig. 5,
could have drawers and cupboards below. If the outlay for a cabinet seems
too great, the bins for sugar and flour may be purchased separately and
fastened on the wall above the table, and one or two shelves screwed on
the wall for the jars, with hooks fastened in underneath on which a few
small utensils may be hung.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.——A well-equipped kitchen. _Courtesy of the J. L.
Mott Co._]
A small _rolling table_ may be made inexpensively by putting castors on a
light table costing not more than a dollar. Put table oilcloth over the
top. This is a great convenience in many ways. The height of the table
should be such that the worker is not fatigued by bending over. Thirty-two
inches is a good table height for a woman of five feet four or five
inches. Blocks hollowed to fit the table legs may be used with a table of
ordinary height for a tall person.
=Cupboards and shelves.=——If you purchase a cupboard see that the shelves
are movable, and of varying widths. There are a few large utensils that
need a deep shelf, about fifteen inches. If the shelves are to be built
in, provide several widths from six to ten inches. Much space is sometimes
wasted between shelves. Vary the distances here.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.——A kitchen cabinet. _Courtesy of the Columbia
School Supply Co._]
Smooth paint is the best surface for the shelf. Shelf covers of paper or
oilcloth look clean when they are fresh, but are less sanitary than
uncovered shelves. Drawers should not be too large, for these are heavy to
pull and push when full. Cupboard shelves are on the whole more
satisfactory than drawers, because this tiresome pulling out and pushing
in are avoided. Towels can be piled on the shelves, and small utensils
hung on right-angled screw hooks. Do not use curved hooks, except for
hanging cups from the bottom of a shelf.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.——Section of a refrigerator wall. _Courtesy of the
White Enamel Refrigerator Co._]
=The refrigerator.=——A good refrigerator is built with double walls, and
has several layers of non-conducting material. Figure 7 shows the careful
way in which the refrigerator wall is made. 1. Porcelain enamel lining
lock joint. 2. Inside wood lining. 3. Three-ply red rope water-proof
paper. 4. Wool felt deafening paper. 5. Flaxlinum insulation. 6. Dead air
space. 7. Flaxlinum insulation. 8. Wool felt deafening paper. 9. Three-ply
red rope water-proof paper. 10. Outside wood case. The ice chamber is
arranged to be easily filled, and has a connecting pipe for carrying off
the water. If this is connected with the sewerage system of the house,
make sure that it is properly trapped (Fig. 8). See “Shelter and
Clothing,” page 51, for description of the S trap. The closets for the
food should have an enamel or tiled lining. This is non-absorptive, and
may be kept perfectly clean. A large refrigerator is more economical of
ice than a small one, and in the end more than balances the few dollars
extra that must be paid for the larger size. Select the coolest spot that
you have for the refrigerator. Figure 9 shows the construction of a good
refrigerator.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.——A refrigerator trap. _Courtesy of the White Enamel
Refrigerator Co._]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.——A well-constructed refrigerator. _Courtesy of the
White Enamel Refrigerator Co._]
Artificial ice is cleaner and therefore safer to use than the natural.
Always wash off the block before putting it into the ice chamber. Wash out
the ice chamber once a week, and pour a solution of washing soda down the
waste pipe.
The food chambers should be washed out once a week and dried, and no
spilled food allowed to remain a moment. Do not leave the doors open. Have
a strong ice pick for breaking ice.
A _window box_ fastened outside the window by strong iron brackets
provides a convenient place for cooling food, and keeping some
semi-perishable foods. It is easily made from a watertight wooden box,
painted outside and in, the opening toward the window having a curtain of
table oilcloth. A piece of wire netting set in one side of the box permits
of a current of air.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.——A sink of simple construction. _Courtesy of J. L.
Mott Co._]
=The sink.=——White enameled iron and porcelain are the most desirable
materials for the sink. A simply constructed sink is shown in Fig. 10.
Notice that the sink is supported from the wall, leaving a free space
underneath. A larger sink is shown in Fig. 11, with the draining board in
the sink. The trap below the sink should be a large S trap, and the trap
and faucets should be nickel plate.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.——A larger sink. _Courtesy of the J. L. Mott Co._]
An iron sink should be rubbed and polished until it becomes very smooth.
Do not attempt to paint it. If it is left perfectly dry, it will not rust.
=Hot water supply.=——A good supply is essential to rapid and thorough
work. The apartment dweller who finds it piped to the sink is most
fortunate. The separate house must have a boiler connected with the coal
range, or a water tank fastened to the range. If gas is used, have some
kind of gas water heater that will give a sufficient flow for dish-washing
and cleaning purposes. A boiler may be heated with a kerosene stove. The
boiler should be fastened above the floor with space below for a
one-burner blue-flame kerosene stove. Have a faucet in the boiler.
Wherever a boiler is used it is economy to have it covered with some
non-conducting material, just as steam pipes are packed.
=Utensils.=——The expert cook is known by the small number of utensils that
she uses. If you watch the expert at work, you will see too, that each
utensil is exactly fitted to its use.
The skilled cook is like the carpenter or painter, and her set of tools is
individual. The list given on page 28 is a sample one, to be changed to
suit the individual preference, and increased as the need arises; it could
be smaller, if necessary. When you first furnish a kitchen, avoid an
elaborate display of tools, beginning with the few essentials only.
No one material is suitable for the construction of all utensils. Those
subjected to intense heat must be of material able to resist it. The
material for a given utensil must be selected with the purpose of the
utensil in mind. The material should be durable, easy to clean, and of
such a nature that it does not affect chemically the food material cooked
in it.
_Aluminium._——A white metal, fairly durable, very light in weight.
Discolors easily, and is not easy to clean. Expensive. Used for all kinds
of utensils.
_Copper._——Endures heat, durable, fairly light to handle. Hard to keep
clean. Expensive. Used for kettles. Not desirable for family use.
_Earthenware._——Will not endure the highest temperatures without
crackling. Easily breakable. Easy to clean, unless crackled. Inexpensive.
Useful for slow oven processes, for pitchers and mixing bowls.
_Enamel._——A vitrified material upon iron or steel. The English enamel
ware upon iron is durable, excellent for preserving, heavy. The German and
American enamels are lighter. Avoid the attractive blue, and blue and
white except for pitchers, cups, bowls, and plates. They crackle and chip
off more easily with heat then the gray enamels. One German make, of a
dark mottled gray, is less brittle in the finish than most American makes.
All the enamels are easy to keep clean. Used for kettles, saucepans,
roasting, and baking. Less durable than steel and iron.
_Iron._——Endures intense heat. Durable. Heavy to handle. Becomes smooth
with long use, and then is not difficult to clean. Affects the color of
acid fruits. Not expensive. Used for frying kettles and pans and kettles
for boiling.
_Russia iron_ is a sheet iron of good quality for roasting and bread pans.
Expensive.
_Steel._——Endures intense heat. Durable. Medium weight. Fairly easy to
clean. Affects acid fruits. Medium cost. Same uses as iron, also for
roasting and baking pans, and smaller kettles.
_Tin._——Tin, a “useful metal,” is plated on thin sheet iron for utensils.
So-called _block_ tin is the best quality. Will not endure intense heat.
The tin wears and scratches off with use. Not easy to clean. Discolors
easily, and colors acid fruit. Poor tin ware is not worth buying. Good
quality is not cheap. May be used for measures, and for small saucepans,
but is less desirable than other wares.
_Wooden ware._——Used for molding boards, meat boards, and spoons.
_The patterns of utensils._——Select those made without seams, or flutings,
where food particles collect. Bowls, saucepans, and kettles should have a
_lip_ on the side, for the pouring out of liquids. A pitcher should be of
such shape that it can be easily washed, and it should have a lip that
will pour well. A pot for boiling coffee should have a lip and not a
spout. Select utensils with non-conducting handles.
Study carefully the selection of knives, and do not try to economize in
their purchase. Knives must be sharp, and poor quality steel will never
take a good edge. A worn table knife of Sheffield steel, when ground down,
makes the best of kitchen knives. Buy a good sharpener and use it
frequently.
=Labor-saving devices.=——A good machine saves the wear and tear of human
muscle, and also much time. If you have studied the principles of the
lever and other mechanical devices, you will understand why this is.[3]
Learn to pay for, use, and clean good machines.
A “_Dover_” _egg beater_ is built on the principle of the “wheel and
axle.” The large wheel has five times as many cogs as the small, one
revolution of the large wheel giving five of the small, and one turn of
the handle five revolutions of the blades. It saves your wrist, and saves
time to use the “Dover” in place of a fork. It is more trouble to wash the
Dover beater than the fork. Yet a cook may object to a bread mixer and
meat chopper, because they are harder to clean than the bowl and spoon and
knife.
A _good bread mixer_ saves strength and is sanitary. Fig. 12.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.——An inexpensive bread mixer, cover on and off.
_Courtesy of Landers, Frary and Clark._]
A _meat chopper_ or grinder also saves strength and time, and is cleaner
than the wooden chopping bowl.
LIST OF UTENSILS[4]
_For preparing and mixing._
1 can opener.
1 corkscrew.
1 vegetable knife, pointed.
1 steel table knife, broad blade.
1 meat knife and fork.
1 bread knife, _or_ slicer.
1 small meat axe.
1 knife sharpener.
1 3-bladed chopping knife, _or_ meat grinder.
1 apple corer.
2 plated or steel forks, table.
1 long-handled fork, three-pronged.
1 palette knife.
1 pair heavy scissors.
1 set skewers.
1 large mixing spoon, enamel ware.
6 plated tablespoons, or German silver.
6 plated teaspoons, or German silver.
1 saltspoon, bone.
1 wooden spatula.
1 Dover egg beater, large size.
1 wire egg beater.
1 wire potato masher.
1 colander.
1 wire strainer.
1 wire strainer, cup size.
1 flour sifter.
1 flour dredger.
1 salt shaker.
1 coffee mill.
1 grater.
1 nutmeg grater.
1 glass lemon squeezer.
1 large mixing bowl for bread.
1 medium bowl for cake.
2 pint bowls.
1 quart measure.
1 half-pint measuring cup.
1 molding board.
1 rolling pin.
1 meat board.
1 or 2 plates.
1 or 2 china molds.
1 kitchen scales.
_Other conveniences._
6 small hand towels.
Towel racks.
1 high stool.
1 or 2 comfortable chairs.
A clock.
Sheets of paper, tissue and heavier.
Heavy linen thread and large needle.
Ball of soft, strong twine.
A shelf for cook books.
_For stewing, steaming, and boiling._
(Sizes dependent on number in family.)
1 teakettle, enamel or aluminium.
1 double-boiler, enamel ware.
1 pint saucepan, enamel covered.
1 or 2 stewpans, enamel covered.
1 kettle, covered.
1 steamer.
_For broiling, pan broiling, the sauté, and frying._
(Broiler and toaster supplied with gas range.)
1 wire toaster.
1 heavy wire broiler.
1 frying pan, with lip, steel or iron.
1 frying kettle and basket.
_For roasting, braising, and baking._
(Roasting pan provided with gas range.)
1 roasting pan, covered, steel or iron.
1 or 2 heavy earthen pots, covered.
1 baking pan for fish, iron, or heavy earthenware.
2 or 3 bread pans (for loaf cake also).
1 shallow pan for cake.
1 muffin pan.
1 flat cooky tin.
3 round pans, for layer cake, enamel.
2 pie pans.
2 or 3 pitchers.
6-12 heavy earthen cups, for popovers and custards.
2 round baking dishes, earthen or enamel.
_For holding food materials._
A few cheap saucers, plates, and bowls for food in the refrigerator.
Bins for flour, meals, and sugar.
A dozen glass wide-mouthed preserving jars.
Jelly glasses for spices, etc.
Tin boxes can be kept for such purposes.
(Use gummed labels on these jars and glasses.)
_For washing dishes._
1 dishpan, enamel.
1 shallow rinsing pan.
1 soap shaker.
2 soap dishes.
1 shaker for washing powder.
6 glass towels.
6 heavier towels.
6 loose weave dishcloths.
=Care of the kitchen.=——The daily cleaning must include the care of the
sink and traps, the cleaning of the stove, brushing the floor, and washing
off of tables. More thorough cleaning includes the scrubbing of the floor,
washing of walls, woodwork, and windows, cleaning of closets and drawers.
The stoves should be rubbed often with paper, and washed thoroughly when
necessary. Great pains must be taken to keep the ovens clean, by frequent
washing out. Gas burners must be taken off and boiled in a solution of sal
soda once in a while. The top and bottom of coal ovens should be cleaned
out once a month. Kerosene stoves need constant cleaning. Stove blacking
makes the stove more attractive.
=Dish-washing.=——It is not difficult to wash dishes well, although many
people make it a very disagreeable process. The necessary apparatus is
given in the utensil list. The cleansing materials include a plentiful
supply of hot water, a good soap, ammonia or borax to soften the water, a
gritty soap or powder. Have a pan for washing and another for rinsing, and
a tray for draining if there is no drainer attached to the sink.
_Order of work._——Prepare the dishes by scraping and neatly piling
articles of a kind together. Rub greasy dishes with soft paper, and put
water and ammonia or washing powder into utensils that need soaking. Have
clean towels at hand. Make ready a pan of hot soap suds, by using a soap
shaker, or soap solution, but do not put the cake of soap in the pan. Have
rinsing water ready.
Wash the cleanest dishes first, usually the glasses, next the cups and
saucers, and the silver next. Have the soiled dishes near the pan, and put
in only one or two articles at a time, washing with mop or dish cloth. To
pile in a number means the nicking of china, and scratching of silver. Dip
each dish in the rinsing water and then put in the drainer. If there is
not room for two pans, the dishes may be piled on the drainer not too many
at a time, and the rinsing water poured over. Be careful not to use too
hot water for delicate china and glass. Change the soapy water when it
becomes in the least greasy.
Wipe the dishes while they are still warm, and use dry towels.
Wash the utensils thoroughly, especially on the bottom. Heavy utensils can
be dried without wiping, on or near the stove. Do not put any utensils
away until they are perfectly dry.
Steel knives should be scoured and thoroughly rinsed and dried. Wash out
the towels and dishpan, and leave the sink and drainboard perfectly clean.
It does take time and work for this whole process, but spotless
cleanliness is our aim.[5]
Home dish-washers are being devised, and should save some of the labor.
None as yet has proved very satisfactory.
EXERCISES
1. What is essential to the planning of a convenient kitchen?
2. How may cleanliness be secured through the furnishings?
3. What are the requisites in a good work table?
4. Explain the construction of a refrigerator. Of a good sink.
5. Compare the materials used in utensils.
6. What is the advantage of a machine compared with hand power?
7. Make an estimate of the cost of utensils for the home kitchen from a
price list obtained from some standard furnishing shop.
8. Examine the utensils in the school kitchen and at home. Consider the
material and shape with reference to durability and convenience.
9. What are the important points in cleaning the kitchen?
10. What are the important points in good dish-washing?
11. What is a good order of work in dish-washing?
CHAPTER III
FUEL AND STOVES
The fuels most widely used in this country are coal, gas, and kerosene.
Wood is still used for cooking by those who own wood lots, or who live in
a district where wood is abundant, but in a sense it is the fuel of the
past. Electricity is generated from coal except in the few communities
where the electric current is derived through machinery from the energy of
falling water but electricity is not in common household use, and is still
the method of the future for the average family. Other substances are
burned for fuel occasionally or in restricted localities. Corn cobs are
used sometimes in the corn belt. Peat is an old-world fuel. It is a
vegetable substance taken in blocks from marshes, in reality the first
stage of coal formation. It is a slow-burning fuel which is cheap in its
own locality.
Economy of fuel is a world problem, for it is evident that the coal supply
will be exhausted in course of time, and this is true also of coal oil or
petroleum. Scientists are experimenting to discover practical methods, not
dependent upon the burning of coal, for generating electricity. Water
power is the only practicable method so far, and to make it permanently
available we must conserve the forests still remaining to us, and thus
safeguard the sources of our rivers.
Another effort toward economy is seen in the use for fuel of waste
products treated in some way to make them readily combustible. The briquet
is used in Europe where the fuel supply is limited. It is made of sawdust
or waste coal, with some petroleum, tar, resin, or other substance,
heated together and molded. Good briquets yield a large amount of heat in
proportion to bulk and weight. The problem here, as with all waste, is to
find a manufacturing process that will make the product cheap enough to be
practical for common use.
It is a natural impulse to use lavishly whatever is at hand in abundance,
and it is only a highly civilized community that takes thought for the
economy of the future. Considered only from a selfish point of view,
however, with coal and petroleum at the high prices that are likely to
prevail, the saving of fuel is one of our most important economies.
=The common fuels.=——_Coal_ is of two kinds, anthracite and bituminous, or
hard and soft. Hard coal of good quality has 90 per cent or more of
carbon, and burns with little flame. Soft coal contains as much as 18 per
cent of flame-making substances, and gives off a heavy smoke. Hard coal is
therefore cleaner, but it is more costly than soft coal, because the
supply is smaller. The most important anthracite mines are found in the
eastern United States, and hard coal is used more in this section than
elsewhere. Good hard coal may be recognized by its glossy black color and
bright surfaces. It is sold under different names taken often from the
locality where it is mined. There are two kinds, one leaving a reddish
ash, and the other a white. The red ash coal burns more freely than the
white ash and the ash is heavier and therefore cleaner. The price is
higher per ton or bag.
Coal is sorted in different sizes, a medium size being best for the
ordinary range. Poor coal has slaty pieces in it, that will not burn but
break up and mingle with the ashes. You can learn to detect it by the
slaty color. _Clinkers_ are formed by unburnable minerals, mixed with the
coal, that melt and stick together, and even adhere to the lining or the
grate. They are not often troublesome in the cooking range.
Coal is measured by the ton of two thousand pounds avoirdupois. A common
hod of coal holds about thirty pounds. Coal should be bought in large
quantity, and stored away in summer, if possible. The retail dealer in the
city often charges an exorbitant sum for coal by the bag, so that the
buyer of small quantities pays a much higher price for a ton bought in
this way. The wholesale price of coal has increased on an average about 13
per cent since 1900.
_Coke_ is the solid substance remaining after gas has been made from
certain kinds of coal, and is sometimes sold by gas companies, as a
by-product. It is light, and therefore easy to handle and does not smoke,
but it burns out quickly, and the fire of coke requires frequent
replenishing. It is sold by the bag, or in large quantities by the ton,
also sometimes by the chaldron, an old English measure for coal,
containing from thirty-two to thirty-six bushels.
_Gas_ was used for illuminating long before it came into common use for
heating and cooking. Commercial gas manufactured for both lighting and
cooking is really a mixture of various gases. One method produces it from
bituminous coal heated in retorts. Another method gives “water gas,” by
passing steam through heated coal. The value of gas will depend upon the
components of the mixture, and the manufacturer has an opportunity to make
an inferior gas unless the law stipulates what the quality shall be.
The small town or country dweller may use a gas machine on the premises,
the gas to be stored or generated in some tank in the ground, and piped
into the house. Acetylene, a compound of carbon and hydrogen, is used in
this way. Acetylene has a low flashing point, and there is question as to
its safety. One firm sends a mixed gas of good quality in metal bottles to
the consumer, the bottles being placed in a metal closet above ground
outside the house. The firm claims that an explosion has never occurred.
Gas is measured by the cubic foot, and its price estimated per 1000 cubic
feet. The amount is recorded on a meter as the gas passes into the house.
See Fig. 13. It is an easy matter to learn to read a meter, and every one
should do so who uses gas. Always compare the gas bill with the amount
recorded by the meter. If the gas bill becomes larger than usual, and you
feel sure that the consumption has been normal, report the matter to the
company. A meter may be out of order, and need repair.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.——Reading the gas meter. _Courtesy of New York
Consolidated Gas Co._]
_To read the meter._——Figure 13 shows the three dials found on the face of
a gas meter. The arrows show the direction. The dial at the right
indicates 100 cubic feet between the numbers, the middle dial 1000 and the
left-hand dial 10,000. The dials in this figure record 53,250 cubic feet.
The price of gas varies from eighty cents to a dollar and a half per
thousand cubic feet. “Eighty-cent gas” is the hope of many a consumer. At
a dollar and a half it is not a cheap fuel.
Gas does away with the handling of coal and ashes in the kitchen and is
thus a clean and labor-saving fuel. It gives an intense heat the moment
the flame is lighted and this heat is easily regulated in a well-made
stove. The flame should burn with a clear blue or greenish color. With a
properly constructed stove only a small percentage of the heat is lost. In
all these points it has the advantage over coal. The comparative cost is
studied in the problems on page 53.
_Natural gas_ is used in those regions where it occurs, piped to the house
from a central source. It is found in limited areas only, and in some
places has already been exhausted.
_Coal oil_, or _petroleum_, sometimes found oozing from crevices in rocks,
or even floating on water, is a natural inflammable oil stored in the
earth. It was known in ancient Persia, Greece, and Rome, but did not
become of great commercial importance until the middle of the nineteenth
century. It is now obtained by boring wells, and is found in great
quantities in certain regions of the country. The crude oil yields many
products valuable in the arts, medicine, and manufacture. _Kerosene_ is
the substance useful as a fuel and for giving light. When of good quality
it is nearly colorless, and the flashing point should be 149° F., or 65°
C. This _flashing point_ is the temperature at which the vapor from the
kerosene explodes or flashes. If the vapor flashes at a point lower than
this, it means that the oil has not been sufficiently refined; that is, in
the process of manufacture the substances that flash at a low temperature
have not been removed, and therefore the oil is less safe.
Kerosene is sold by the gallon or barrel. The price for a good quality is
about seventy cents for a five-gallon can. By the barrel a saving is made
of several cents a gallon. It is useful as a fuel to those housekeepers
who cannot have gas, and who find it a convenient substitute for coal in
the summer. With the new blue-flame stoves it gives an intense heat,
easily regulated. There is no heavy labor involved in its use, but even
the best stove requires constant care and watchfulness. It is not so clean
and easy to use as gas. The kerosene supply should be kept in a cool
place, and stoves and lamps should never be filled by candle or lamplight.
_Gasolene_ is used as a fuel for cooking in some places, but in others the
fire insurance companies have such strict rules in regard to it that its
use is practically prohibited. It is more volatile than kerosene, and its
flashing point is very low. Kerosene is much safer for household use.
_Alcohol_ is used with the chafing dish. Denatured alcohol is so cheap in
Germany that it is used in large and especially adapted stoves for cooking
purposes. There are denatured alcohol stoves on the market here, but they
are little used.
_Charcoal_, wood partially burnt out, is little used for domestic purposes
now.
The relative value of the common fuels is stated in quantities as follows,
but this is of course dependent on the quality of the coal and the gas.
One thousand feet of gas about equals from fifty to sixty pounds of coal,
or four and one half gallons of kerosene; and one half ton of coal
approximates a cord of wood.
Those who may be interested will find a fuller discussion of fuels and
fuel values in Snell’s “Elementary Household Chemistry.”
_Electricity_ is not a fuel, but is classed here as a source of heat. It
may be supplied for cooking purposes by any company that furnishes
electric light, and should be available in the country wherever an
electric trolley runs. The energy supplied is measured and paid for by the
kilowatt; that is, one thousand watts. The terms used for electrical
measurements cannot be really understood until one has studied
electricity. It may be said, however, that the _ampere_[6] is the unit of
current strength, the _volt_ is the unit of electrical pressure or
electromotive force, the _watt_ is the unit of electrical power and the
basis of payment for current supplied for heating or lighting.
Voltage, amperage, and watt or kilowatt are the terms in common use. If
you read the circulars that advertise electric cooking apparatus, you will
find the request to state the voltage of your electric current in ordering
a piece of apparatus. Or again, the number of watts used per hour is
given, with the catalogue number and the size of an electric stove.
The cost of electricity per kilowatt (usually from ten to fifteen cents)
varies in different localities.
The great advantage of electricity is that little heat is lost in
radiation, and that the degree of heat is well under control. There are
also no products of combustion present, and this is the only source of
heat for cooking of which this is true. Both gas and kerosene vitiate the
air to some extent.
=Cooking apparatus.=——The wastefulness of cooking operations, past and
present, is due largely to the defects of the apparatus used. The open
fireplace for wood, and the open grate for coal, are two arrangements that
permit most of the heat to pass up the chimney, and into the room. See
Frontispiece and Fig. 14. In Fig. 14 there is illustrated at the right a
brick oven with a flue opening into the chimney. This was one of the
earliest inventions for saving fuel and heat. This oven was lined with
brick or stone, and the fire of wood was built in it, and allowed to
remain until it had burned out. The coals and ashes were removed, and
when the brick had cooled somewhat cakes and pies were put in to bake.
This oven retained its heat for twenty-four hours, and beans put in
Saturday afternoon were taken out hot for the Sunday morning breakfast.
The method was clumsy, but a good heat saver.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.——A colonial fireplace. _Courtesy of the Historical
Society, Ipswich, Mass._]
Figure 15 is an American stove, early nineteenth century, wood the fuel;
and from this form, modified for using coal, has developed the modern
American coal range (Fig. 18). Even the latest types are very wasteful of
heat. Stoves like that shown in Fig. 19 have been devised for use with
gas. Even with these only a small percentage of the heat generated is
available for cooking.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.——An early American stove, 1823. _Courtesy of the
Bryson Library._]
The ideal system is that which gives the largest possible percentage of
its heat for cooking, and puts the degree of heat under quick control
with the greatest saving of fuel, and of labor in operating. This does not
mean that the stove which gives the most intense heat is the best,
although some stoves seem to be constructed with that as the aim.
Let us consider some of the methods of saving heat, and study different
kinds of apparatus with this knowledge in mind.
We recall the fact, first, that some substances are good conductors of
heat, and others poor.[7] If you hold a metal poker in your hand, and
place the other end in red hot coals, you will realize that metal is a
rapid conductor of heat. If the poker has a wooden handle, the heat of the
coals does not readily reach your hand, for the wood is a poor conductor.
Moreover, this good conductor is a poor holder of heat, the heat radiating
rapidly from it into the surrounding air, but the poor conductor, once
thoroughly heated, cools off slowly.
You can think of many illustrations from your daily life. Why do you
prefer a woolen blanket on a cool night, rather than a linen sheet,
merely? Why do you use a cloth holder in ironing? What is the principle of
a hot water bottle? Air is a poor conductor. Can you think of an
illustration of this? What is the principle of a thermos bottle?
It is not difficult to see how these facts apply in our cooking apparatus.
From an oven with metal sides heat is lost by radiation. In a double oven,
with an air space between the inner and outer part, some heat is saved. If
the outer cover is of some non-conducting material, even less radiation
takes place. This is the principle of the oven devised by Mr. Edward
Atkinson. Here the inner oven is of sheet iron, and the outer covering of
a non-conducting material, some composition with wood pulp or paper as the
basis. If in this way heat can be trapped, as it were, in an oven, it will
follow that less heat will have to be supplied, and we can use a smaller
amount of fuel. This is the case in the Atkinson oven (Fig. 16), where the
source of heat is either a kerosene lamp, or a small Bunsen burner of the
rose type, which uses only a small amount of gas.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.——The Atkinson cooker.]
Another illustration of the conserving of heat by the prevention of
radiation is in the _fireless cooker_. This is a method used in Sweden in
simple form, and adapted and improved to suit modern needs. Heat is
supplied in the first place by gas or kerosene, and the water in the
vessel containing the food is raised to the boiling point, and held there
in some cases for a few minutes. The vessel is then placed in the
“cooker,” which is a box with thick walls of some non-conducting material,
and the heat already present is sufficient to finish the cooking process,
since the radiation is very slow. In some cookers a heated stone is
introduced to raise the temperature slightly. Both of these devices are
excellent for the long, slow cooking that seems to mellow the food
material and develop the flavors that do not result from rapid cooking.
At the same time, we need rapid processes, such as broiling and toasting,
which give characteristic flavors. To meet this double need, a new type of
gas stove has been made. See Fig. 17.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.——Construction of the duplex gas range. _Courtesy
of Domestic Equipment Co._]
This is a gas stove, where the oven has thick walls of a non-conducting
material. The oven is heated, for a short time only, the gas flame being
cut off when the oven has reached the desired temperature. At the left is
an attachment where rapid cooking may be accomplished when desired, and
there is a device at (1) with the same principle as the fireless cooker,
or the tea “cosey.” This cover is dropped over the kettle when the boiling
point is reached, the flame is turned out, and the heat in the water
finishes the process. There is no good reason why stoves embodying this
same principle should not be used with kerosene, and with the electric
current. Improved stoves of this type will be constructed, and certainly
will tend toward great economy of fuel.
One method of saving fuel is by the use of a _steam cooker_, which
consists of a series of compartments, one above another, containing
several kinds of food, all to be cooked over the same burner, either gas
or kerosene, or on one section of the top of the coal range when space is
being used for the wash boiler or irons.
It requires intelligence to use such devices, and those who lack it cling
obstinately to hot fires and violent cooking.
_The coal range._——Progress is slow, and the coal range will not be
abolished at present. Figure 18 is an example of a good range as easy to
manage as possible. The coal box at (1) has a lining that prevents the
iron from burning out. The air enters at (2) and passes out at (3), when
the fire is first made. When it is necessary to heat the oven, a damper is
closed at (4), and the heated air then passes around the oven in the
direction of the arrows. The coal is put in at (5) and the ashes shaken
down at (6). Larger ranges, resting upon the floor, have a “dump” for the
ashes directly into the ash box in the cellar, and some makes have a
device for operating this with the foot. The coal stove involves the
labor of bringing in coal and taking out ashes, and space must be given to
the coal bin and ash pit. A range of this size would serve for a family of
five or six. It requires from 2 to 3 hods per day. A hood should be placed
above a large range, whether coal or gas.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.——A modern coal range. _Courtesy of Detroit Stove
Works._]
=To make a coal fire.=——See that the grate is clean and that the ashes
have been removed. You know that a current of air containing oxygen is
needed to make the fire burn. How will you arrange the damper at (2) and
(3) when you are starting the fire?
Coal does not begin to burn easily. Therefore we kindle it by materials
that have a low kindling temperature, light wood, paper, and matches.
In the bottom of the grate, lay twisted pieces of paper, or very finely
split pieces of wood, or shavings, next in order larger pieces of wood
laid “crisscross,” yet close enough not to let the coal fall through, and
on the top a shovelful or two of coal. Why do you not put in flat
newspapers, and lay the kindling lengthwise and solid? Put on the stove
lids, arrange the dampers properly, and touch the match. Why do you use
the match? Why does the match light? Perhaps your nature study lessons
will help you to explain this whole kindling process.
What should be the next step in the fire making? How should you finally
arrange the dampers?
A coal fire will keep well for a considerable length of time, if the coal
is put on and the ash removed regularly, provided the stove is well
constructed, and the coal of good quality. Add fresh coal before the fire
becomes a dull red, and shows ashes. If it gets too low, wood kindling
will be needed, and this is poor management. Be careful not to put in so
much coal that you cannot put the lid on firmly. It ruins the top of a
stove if the hot coals touch it.
Soot must be removed once in a while from the top and bottom of the oven,
and from the stove pipe.
_The gas stove._——Figure 19 shows a well-constructed stove of the usual
type. Notice the air space, and asbestos lining around the oven. The
burner for heating the oven is at (1). Holes in the sides allow the heated
air to pass outside of the oven at (2) and into the oven as indicated by
the arrows. The heated current passes out of the oven at the back of the
top, and passes out of the stove at (3), where it should be carried away
by a pipe into a flue. The heat of the oven burner is also used for
toasting and roasting underneath, on the movable rack at (4). The oven
burner is lighted by a leader burner at (5). The top burners, five in
number, are at (6). Below those is a removable pan at (7). The top of the
stove is removable in sections, and the burners are easily removed when
cleaning is necessary.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.——A modern gas range. _Courtesy of Detroit Stove
Works._]
The gas burner (Fig. 20) is constructed on the principle of the Bunsen
burner, which you may have used in the laboratory. There is an opening in
the pipe, near the stopcock, which admits the air, that it may mix with
the gas, and give the blue flame. If there is not enough air, the flame
burns with a yellow color, and smokes. If there is too much air, there is
a roaring sound, and the flame “pulls back” and burns with a smoky yellow
flame, and disagreeable odor. There is a valve always to regulate the air
supply for each burner. Figure 20 shows a burner removed from the range.
(1) is the hollow, star-shaped chamber which gives space for the thorough
mixing of the gas with the air. The gas enters from the connecting pipe at
(2), the air at (3), and (4) is the valve for regulating the air supply.
[Illustration: FIG. 20.——A gas stove burner. _Courtesy of Detroit Stove
Works._]
Gas ranges of this type are built in different sizes, and with varying
arrangements of ovens and hot-closets. An oven above the stove is
convenient. Ranges are built also for using either gas or coal. A range of
the size pictured, with four large burners on the top, will serve for a
family of five or six, if the work is well planned. The oven burner
consumes 30 to 40 cubic feet per hour, the top burners 2 cubic feet each,
and the simmering burner somewhat less. This is estimated for a burner
turned on full.
=To manage a gas stove.=——Before lighting the top or oven burners see that
the stopcocks are all tight, with no escaping gas. To light the top
burners, strike the match, turn on the stopcock, and touch the match to
the gas when it is flowing well. A disagreeable “popping” follows if the
match is applied to the burner before the gas flows. For lighting the
oven, a “leader” burner at the side of the stove acts as a taper. Open the
oven doors, and the door below, strike the match, turn on the leader, and
light it, turn on the back burner, and then the front burner, and _turn
out_ the leader. The so-called explosion of a gas stove is due to the
sudden lighting of a quantity of gas under the oven that has collected
without being lighted.
The important point in managing a gas stove is to keep the stopcock turned
so that the flame is low. The full flame is needed only when water is
being brought to the boiling point, and for the first heating of the oven.
The low flame should be protected from draft. Many gas stoves now have a
small simmering burner that is more useful than the large burner. Another
point in the use of the stove is the prevention of the “boiling over” from
some kettle. The low flame helps here, and it is also necessary that the
kettles should not be too full. “Boiling over” clogs the burners, and
makes necessary the frequent cleaning of the pan underneath the burners.
The oven burner should be lighted from five to ten minutes before the oven
is wanted, depending upon the intensity of the flames. After the food has
been put in the oven, allow a few minutes, not more than five, for the
food to heat through, and then turn the flame as low as possible. Often,
one burner can be turned out. This you have to learn by experience. When
toasting or broiling is the process, light the oven burner before using,
because the work is performed by the heated iron as well as by the gas
flame. Leave the lower door open, as bread toasts or meat broils, to
hasten the browning process, for it is the oxygen of the air that causes
the browning. Some coal ovens have a damper for admitting air for this
same purpose and though some flavor is lost in this way by evaporation,
the amount is negligible in a quick cooking process. The Atkinson oven is
so tightly closed, that food does not acquire a rich brown in it. An
opening at the top is available when a delicate brown is wanted. It is
true, however, that the slow process with a minimum of evaporation gives a
flavor that compensates for the brown color and flavor. All burners should
be removed if the holes seem clogged and be boiled out in a solution of
washing soda, two tablespoonfuls to a gallon of water. Do not blacken the
burners.
_Kerosene stoves._——The best type is a blue-flame stove with a wick.
Kerosene stoves are made with no wick, the kerosene being vaporized just
before it reaches the burner, but such a stove requires occasional pumping
to force the kerosene into the vaporizing chamber, and on the whole is
less satisfactory than the stove with the wick. The heat is intense from
this blue flame, and the burner is economical of the fuel. The small
kerosene stoves, burning with a yellow flame are always inclined to smoke,
and difficult to keep clean. A three- or four-burner oil stove with a
portable oven will do the cooking in summer for a family of five or six.
One burner consumes a gallon of oil in 15 hours. Portable double ovens are
furnished with such stoves.
The kerosene stove is cheaper to operate than a gas range, even with
kerosene at fourteen cents a gallon, but the heat is not under such
perfect control, and the stove requires more work to keep it clean.
The one important point in the management of this blue-flame wick stove is
to keep the flame down by having the wick low, and where it belongs. The
cylinder around the burner prevents the escape of heat and carries it to
the utensil above. A careless person, by raising the wick too high, and
producing a yellow smoky flame, makes much trouble for herself. It is
important to fill the tank without spilling a drop of kerosene, and to
keep every part of the stove well washed off with soap and water. The wick
should be rubbed off occasionally, never cut, and if an odor becomes
perceptible, the burner should be taken apart and boiled in a solution of
washing soda and water. The wick will need to be renewed at intervals,
depending upon the amount of use that it has. With care a stove of this
kind is clean and odorless.
_Electric apparatus._——Figure 21 shows a table arranged for cooking by
electricity, each piece of apparatus having its own connection. Compare
this with the frontispiece, the method of cooking in the eighteenth
century, and you will realize how far we have progressed in the way of
convenience, comfort, and heat economy. Figure 22 shows a disk stove four
and a half inches in diameter, upon which a saucepan may stand, and which
is therefore available for more than one purpose.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.——An electric cooking outfit. _Courtesy of
Department of Household Science, University of Illinois._]
The advantages of electric cooking are obvious. The heat is directly
conducted to each utensil, and a minimum amount is lost in radiation. The
degree of heat is perfectly under control, and the manipulation is nothing
more than the turning of a knob. When the apparatus is installed, it is
adjusted to the voltage, so that no further regulation is necessary.
There are no waste products, and no matches to light or throw away. If the
wiring is properly done, there is no danger from fire. The one present
disadvantage is the cost. Each piece of apparatus is expensive. The cost
of running must depend upon the cost of electricity in the neighborhood,
and the number of watts per hour used by each piece of apparatus. The
larger the utensil, the more watts consumed. The disk stove in Fig. 22
uses 250 watts; a disk of 6 inches diameter, 475 watts; of 8 inches, 650
watts. Some pieces of apparatus are arranged for three different heats,
with a different number of watts for each heat. With one disk stove 10
inches in diameter, 3 heats are possible, with 250, 500, and 1000 watts
respectively.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.——A disk electric stove. _Courtesy of Landers,
Frary and Clark._]
=Oven thermometers.=——A thermometer is furnished set in the door of many
ranges. While these are guides after one has learned to use the oven, they
are not really accurate by scale. For exact work in testing oven
temperature, a hole must be bored in the side of the oven, and a chemical
thermometer inserted, protected by asbestos and metal.
Simple tests for oven temperature will be found in Chapter XI.
EXERCISES
1. Why is the question of the cost and kind of fuel important?
2. What is the difference between hard and soft coal? Between red and
white ash?
3. Why are certain fuels in more common use than others?
4. Explain the advantage of gas over coal. Over kerosene.
5. What are the advantages of electricity as a source of heat?
6. Explain the way in which electricity is measured.
7. Read the gas meter at home and estimate the amount and cost per day.
(The ordinary burner consumes about two cubic feet per hour.)
8. Obtain the prices of the fuels used in the neighborhood and work out a
comparison of the cost of fuel for preparing a meal.[8]
9. What are the methods of conserving heat in cooking apparatus?
10. Explain the structure and management of a coal stove.
11. Explain the principles involved in making a fire.
12. The structure and management of a gas stove.
13. Why does gas in a burner sometimes “pull back”?
14. State the requirements in a perfect example of cooking apparatus.
CHAPTER IV
FOOD PREPARATION, THE PRINCIPLES AND
TECHNIQUE
=The principles of cooking.=——In science the word “principle” ordinarily
means a formulation of some _general_ or _constant mode of behavior_——a
generalization based on many observations of fact. In cookery the word is
used in the same sense; for example, one may say that an important
principle to bear in mind when cooking with any fat is that the fats may
be melted without decomposition, but when too strongly heated they begin
to decompose with the production of acrid and irritating products.
Sometimes, however, we speak of “principles of cookery” in a broader and
somewhat less exact sense to indicate the _general purposes_ of cooking
operations, as when we say that the most important principle of vegetable
cookery is to soften the fiber without destroying the flavor or dissolving
away the ash constituents of the vegetable.
That is, the change either chemical or physical that takes place in a
certain foodstuff by the application of heat or cold or by the use of a
fermentation process may be referred to as the underlying, working
principle. We shall study in detail these changes as we experiment with
and prepare each food material, but a general statement of the effect of
heat on various foodstuffs will be helpful here.
_Protein._——There are several forms of protein, with differences that we
can understand only after a thorough study of chemistry. The most
important proteins in meat, fish, eggs, milk, old beans and peas
coagulate, or become slightly harder or firmer at a temperature below the
boiling point of water. We shall perform an experiment to show this while
studying the egg. There is no marked chemical change; that is, the protein
is not changed to another substance.
_Fats._——Solid fats are liquefied by heat, and freed from the tissue that
contains them in animal fats like suet.
When a fat begins to smoke with heat, a chemical change is taking place.
If intense heat is continued, all the hydrogen and oxygen are driven off
and pure carbon remains. When the fat is “brown,” giving the flavor we
like, a part of the oxygen and hydrogen have been driven off. The
“boiling” of fat in a kettle is ordinarily due to the boiling of the water
contained in the fat.
_Starch._——Starch occurs in the form of granules. See Fig. 39. In boiling
water, the granule expands and finally bursts, and frees the content, the
pure starch, and the whole mass thickens.
Boiled with an acid the starch is changed to dextrin, a substance
resembling a gum, and the mixture becomes thin; and this process continued
changes the dextrin to dextrose.
With intense “dry” heat, as in toasting, the granule expands and opens,
and the contents change to dextrin. Continued heat reduces the starch to
pure carbon. The brown color and pleasant flavor in toast are a stage on
the road to carbon.
_Sugar._——Sugar first melts with heat, then begins to decompose, giving
off water. This is also a stage on the road to pure carbon. Caramel, a
familiar flavor, is sugar in the brown stage, with the water partly driven
off.
The art in applying intense heat to fat, starch, and sugar is to know the
stopping point,——to reach the “brown taste” and stop short of the “burnt
taste.”
_Mineral matter._——The “ash” remains for the most part unchanged by heat,
but may be lost in the water in which vegetables and meat are cooked if
the water is thrown away.
_Vegetable fiber_ is softened by heat and moisture, and the protein,
starch, fat, and sugar are freed, making them available for our digestion
and nutrition.
_Meat fiber_ softens at a low temperature, that is, below the boiling
point of water, with moisture; continued intense heat shrinks and hardens
it. A tender steak fried with fat in a hot pan will soon resemble sole
leather.
=The technique of food preparation.=——From the moment the food materials
enter the kitchen until the unusable portions are destroyed or carried
away, there is a best way of working with them at each step, and the sum
of these may be said to make a good technique. This technique will include
cleanliness first and foremost, then skill in the use of tools, judgment
in managing cooking apparatus and in applying heat in cooking processes,
and accuracy and rapidity of execution. It will also include or add to
itself the æsthetic element, the fine art of flavoring, the dainty
garnishing of a dish. Moreover, this technique is the method of putting
into practice some basic, scientific principle. To illustrate:
The _principle_ that underlies toast-making is threefold,——
Heat evaporates moisture throughout the slice of bread.
Intense heat changes the content of the starch granules on the surface of
the slice of bread to dextrin.
Intense heat, long continued, will change first the surface starch, and
then all, to carbon (charcoal).
A _good technique_ will secure the first two, and avoid the third and
includes,——
The selection of bread already partially dry.
The cutting of bread into slices of uniform thickness.
Regulating the source of heat.
Placing the slices firmly in a toaster, or on a fork, or evenly on a rack
when toasting by gas.
Keeping the toast at a distance from the source of heat that insures a
steady but not too rapid change.
Turning the toaster or the slices to cook each surface in turn and thus to
make the process slower.
Stopping the process before carbon is formed and the toast “burned.” (A
good technique does not include scraping the toast!)
The _æsthetic element_ in toast-making might be a pretty shape of the
slices, say triangular pieces, and a dainty arrangement. In this case and
in others it is true that the result of a good technique is æsthetic, in
that correct manipulation while securing the desired chemical change also
develops the pleasing golden brown that makes the toast so attractive.
=The care of food materials.=——When food materials are delivered, have
receptacles ready for each kind of food. (See kitchen furnishing.) Attend
first to perishable foods. Wash and dry milk and cream bottles before
putting them in the refrigerator. Treat eggs in the same way. This is also
a good plan with lemons and other skin fruit, unless the quantity is too
large, in which case they should not be put into the refrigerator. Remove
wrappings from meat, poultry, and fish; wipe them with a soft cloth,
dipped in salt and water, dry them, and place them in the ice box. Wash
the cloth thoroughly and dry it. Fish should be covered that its odor may
not affect other food. Vegetables like lettuce, celery, and spinach should
be washed and picked over immediately, and the poor portions thrown away.
All semi-perishable foods should be put in a cool, dry place, and the
non-perishables in their separate receptacles. (See page 20.) Do not keep
anything in brown paper bags, but save these bags for other uses.
Have a regular time for inspecting and for cleaning all the places and
receptacles where food is kept. Do not allow any spilled food material to
remain anywhere, and do not tolerate the presence of any material, cooked
or uncooked, that shows the least taint. A keen sense of smell is a good
servant here.
=The processes of food preparation.=——With kitchen in order, tools ready,
and food materials at hand, we are ready for the actual food preparation.
A distinction is to be made between cookery and cooking. Cookery includes
all the steps necessary to produce the finished product, while cooking is
the actual application of heat, only one step of the whole process,
though, indeed, one of the most important and difficult. The order of
procedure in food preparation is as follows:
See first that the stove is ready (Chapter IV). Then comes the choice and
study of the recipe or the method of cooking. The word “recipe” is from a
Latin word meaning “take.” Follow this advice and “take” or bring together
on the work table whatever materials are needed. Decide upon the necessary
utensils, and place them conveniently near. As you gather the materials
together you will measure and weigh the exact amounts. Do this before you
begin the putting together or mixing. Sometimes instead of mixing, the
necessary process is paring, or scraping, or cutting, each with its own
best way. Then follows the application of heat. Some foods are then served
at once, others must be carefully put away after cooling. Or again, there
is no application of heat, for instance, when the freezing temperature is
used in ice cream; or in a salad, or fruit preparation where cooling in
the refrigerator is the next step. The technique of preparing a meal and
serving will be found in Chapter XVI.
=How to study a recipe.=——Remember that a recipe is a bit of experience
handed down for us to make useful. Some one experimented at some time long
ago, perhaps failed at first, tried again, finally succeeded, and passed
on the result by word of mouth to others. There were doubtless good cooks
long before there were printed or written recipes. Some recipes, however,
have been handed down from Roman times, and recipes were printed as early
as the sixteenth century. Modern recipes are much more accurate than the
old, as you may see if you have opportunity to read some old cook book.
At first in using a recipe follow its directions exactly. Notice the
proportions, and read carefully the directions for combining the
ingredients, noting those points that are most important. Have the whole
process well in mind before you begin work. Do not let it be necessary to
refer to the printed page at every move you make. This is poor technique.
When the use of a recipe is preceded by some simple experiment that makes
the basic principle clear, it is much easier to use the recipe with
intelligence.
When you are no longer a novice you may take liberties with a recipe, even
a new one, scanning it with a critical eye, and perhaps giving it a cool
welcome. It may not be new at all! For this is the secret of
recipes,——there are really only a few, and the key to their use is the
recognition of the old in the new garb, and the having of a few type
recipes clearly in mind. Each kind of prepared dish has one, or two, or
three basic forms or mixtures. Learn these, and then with experience you
will become inventive, and make your own variations. For example, there
are but two kinds of cake,——those made with butter (or other fat) and
those without butter (the sponge cake). You will not attempt to memorize
many recipes, but you will find that in studying these type recipes you
have learned a few proportions so well that you cannot forget them. When
you have reached this stage of freedom you will still do exact work, but
your ingenuity and taste will have free play and you will not be tied to
other people’s recipes. But you cannot well begin at this end.
Make some plan for recording new recipes that you test and find good. It
may be a printed recipe, or one that a friend gives you. The most
convenient plan is a recipe box or card file. The guide cards are arranged
alphabetically, and each recipe is either pasted upon a card or written
upon it. This plan makes it easy to discard an old recipe, or one that has
proved unsatisfactory, and to keep new recipes in alphabetical order,
which cannot be done in a book. A loose-leaf book is made for recipes,
alphabetized at the side, with envelopes for holding cuttings that may be
fastened in between the pages. This is a little less easy to use than the
card file.
=Weighing and measuring.=——The system is “Avoirdupois,” sixteen ounces to
the pound. Learn to read the scales exactly, and when weighing, always
allow for the weight of the utensil or paper holding the food. Weighing is
more accurate than measuring, but it is slower, and the measuring can be
made sufficiently accurate for most daily work. Weighing is necessary in
the cookery of large pieces of meat and with poultry in order to estimate
correctly the time for cooking; and it is more convenient to weigh than
measure when preserving fruit if the quantities are large. Also in
studying food values it is usually necessary to weigh the articles of
food.
The measures in common use are the saltspoon, teaspoon, and tablespoon,
the half-pint measuring cup, the pint, quart, and gallon of liquid
measure. The saltspoon is not accurate, and it is better to use some
fraction of a teaspoonful. Teaspoons and tablespoons of a standard volume
may be found at some furnishing shops. The spoons in common use vary in
size, and the only way to approximate accuracy is to use the level
spoonful. This is now the common practice. Tin and glass half-pint cups
are made gauged in quarters and thirds. Those commonly on sale sometimes
measure more than one fourth of the standard quart. Inquire when you buy
if the cup measure is standard,——that is, exactly one half standard pint.
A quart measure, with four divisions, is necessary for careful work. A
pint measure is convenient, but not necessary if you have the quart and
half-pint measuring cup.
It is necessary to know the relation of these different weights and
measures to each other. While you may find tables of relative weight and
measures in many cookbooks, it is much better for you to work out a few of
the most useful for yourself, making careful record in your notebooks.
The following abbreviations are short cuts in reading and writing.
oz. = ounce
lb. = pound
ssp. = saltspoonful
tsp. = teaspoonful
tbsp. = tablespoonful
cp. = cup
pt. = pint
qt. = quart
gall. = gallon
If you wish something quicker even than this for notebook work, you can
use,
t = teaspoonful
T = tablespoonful
C = cup
P = pint
Q = quart
G = gallon
_Experiments in weighing and measuring._[9]
Answer these questions by performing the experiments. Record in notebook
in orderly form.
_Apparatus._ Standard scales, a quart measure, and for each pupil a
measuring cup, table knife, teaspoon, and tablespoon.
_Materials._ Those mentioned below.
1. How many eggs (medium size) to 1 lb.?
2. What is the weight of one egg?
3. Of one pint of flour?
4. Of one cup of flour?
5. Of one cup of granulated sugar?
6. Of one cup of powdered sugar?
7. Of one pint of milk?
8. Average the weight of six potatoes.
9. How many level teaspoonfuls of flour to a level tablespoonful?
10. How many teaspoonfuls of water to a tablespoonful?
11. How many tablespoonfuls of flour to a cup?
12. How many tablespoonfuls of water to a cup?
(These relative measures are convenient for dividing recipes.)
13. Measure a level tablespoonful of flour, by filling the spoon, holding
it level, and leveling the flour by running the back of the knife quickly
from the base of the bowl of the spoon to the tip.
How can you most accurately divide this in halves? In quarters?
14. How much does a cup of flaked cereal weigh?
15. How much does a cup of granular cereal weigh?
16. Butter is hard to measure in a cup. If a recipe calls for 1/4 cup
butter, it is easier to measure it by tablespoonfuls. Find out how many
make 1/4 cup.
17. How much does a cup of butter weigh? If you know this, you can weigh
it, instead of measuring, or if your butter is in pound “pats,” you will
be able to cut off a cupful, instead of weighing it.
18. An old-fashioned recipe for sponge cake reads thus: Take the weight of
the eggs in sugar and half their weight in flour. Translate this into
measures.
=Preparing and mixing.=——Food materials that are not to be mixed with
others still need special preparation before heat is applied.
For fruits and vegetables, _washing_ is the first stage, followed by
_scraping_, _paring_, _peeling_, _cutting_, or _slicing_. Meats, poultry,
and fish must be cleaned by wiping, and _cut_ and _trimmed_ with a sharp
knife.
Cooked meats and fish and vegetables may be _chopped_ or _sliced_.
Cooked vegetables are also _mashed_ and _beaten_.
Cream is _whipped_ or _beaten_, and eggs served raw likewise.
These seem simple processes, but each one needs a good tool and a knack in
the muscles. Each method will be taken up in detail, with each food
material.
_Methods of mixing_ are important, where several ingredients are combined.
We seek for a way that will give the most complete mingling of all the
substances with smoothness and lightness, at the same time saving time and
strength. We must look always for the “short cut.” It is necessary to have
the texture of the food such that it can be well masticated and mixed with
the digestive fluids, but time is too precious to spend hours on a
dessert, or in beating biscuits.
_Sifting_, or putting materials through a fine mesh, is used to lighten
flour that has been packed down, to remove coarse portions, or to mix
thoroughly several dry ingredients.
_Stirring_ is done with a spoon, and is a round and round motion, used for
mixing a liquid and a dry ingredient.
_Rubbing_ is used for combining a dry ingredient with a semi-solid
substance like butter. _Creaming_ is a term used for the rubbing of butter
until it becomes soft and creamy. A spoon should be used, not the hand.
“_Cutting in_” with a knife is used for combining butter with flour in
biscuit and pastry where the butter should not be softened.
_Beating_ with a spoon, or beater of the spoon type, is a free over and
over motion, the spoon being lifted from the mixture for the backward
stroke. This is used for increasing the smoothness of the mixture after
the first stirring, and for beating in air. It needs a strong free motion
of the forearm. Beating is also accomplished by the rotary motion of a
mechanical beater like the Dover.
_Cutting and folding_ is the delicate process of mixing lightly beaten egg
with a liquid or semi-liquid without losing out the air. The spoon is cut
in, sidewise, a rotary motion carries it down and up again, and it folds
in the beaten egg as it goes.
_Kneading_ is a motion used with dough, and is a combination of a rocking
and pressing motion, accomplished by the hands. A good result can be
obtained by some bread machines, and this is the cleaner method.
_Rolling out_ is just what the term denotes, a rolling of a thick piece of
dough by means of a cylindrical wooden “pin” to the thickness proper for
cookies and crusts. Dry bread is also rolled to break it into fine crumbs.
_Pounding_ and _grinding_ are usually accomplished for us now in factories
in breaking of spices and coffee. It is better to have a coffee mill at
home.
_The order of mixing_ is important in its effect in batters and doughs and
is discussed in that chapter.
=Cooking processes.=——For the beginnings of cooking we should need to go
back to the days when game was roasted by the open fire, built for warmth,
or corn parched on hot stones. Perhaps some root was cooked in the hot
ashes. This primitive method of roasting we still use in camp fires, and
in modified form wherever food is directly exposed to the heat of coal or
gas. Water could not be a cooking medium until man advanced at least to
the first stage of pottery making, when some rude basket daubed with clay
was water-tight and sufficiently heat proof.
Application of heat is the most difficult stage of the whole process of
cookery. It is so easy to have the heat too intense, or too low, to expose
the food for too long or too short a time to its action. Most of our
apparatus fails to give us a uniform heat, the tendency being to an
increase or decrease of temperature. Since the boiling temperature of
water remains at 212° F., boiling is an easy process to manage, provided
the water does not boil out. The presence of water insures a low or
moderate temperature always.
It requires patience and time to learn how to bring this natural force of
heat under control. One novice who had allowed a flour paste to boil over
and burn while she was looking out of the window remarked: “We may forget,
but they never do!”——a pretty way of stating the steady working of
nature’s forces which we can harness for our use only by the exercise of
reason and will and constant watchfulness. The unintelligent cook is
impatient of slow processes, and cannot believe that food will finally be
“done” unless the water is at a “galloping” boil, and a red-hot fire is
keeping the oven at burning temperature.
Look upon the application of heat as a continuation of nature’s slow
ripening process, a softening of tough fibers and a development of
pleasing flavors. For why do we cook at all except for these reasons?
Primitive man thought only that the food had a better taste. He may have
decided, too, that it was easier to masticate; but we have learned that in
some cases we may, with right methods of cooking, make it easier to digest
farther on in the alimentary canal. Modern science carries us a step
farther and teaches us that cooking destroys lower organisms, such as
harmful bacteria that may be present, and even animal parasites in meats.
We cook, therefore, _to improve the appearance of food, to develop
flavors, to render some foodstuffs more digestible and to destroy
microörganisms_.
We have at our command the following processes:
=Heat direct= from coal, charcoal, wood, or gas.
_Toasting._——Surfaces of food exposed and turned for browning.
_Broiling._——Thin portions of meat or fish exposed and turned for searing,
browning, and short cooking of the interior.
_Roasting._——Thicker cuts of meat exposed and turned frequently for
searing, browning, and gradual cooking of the interior. This is an ancient
method. It survives in the French “Rôtisserie”; and we use it in the
modern gas stove when we cook directly _under_ the gas.
=Heat through an intervening medium.=
_Water_, the medium.
_Boiling._——Cooking in boiling water, temperature, 212° F., or 100° C.
_Simmering_, _stewing_, or “_coddling_.”——Cooking in water below the
boiling temperature, 180° F. up to 210° F.
_Steaming._——Cooking in a receptacle into which steam penetrates, 212°
F.——or in a closed receptacle surrounded by steam or boiling water as in
a double boiler, or a “steamer,” temperature from 200° F. to 210° F.
_Fat_, the medium.
_Deep fat frying_, temperature 350°-400° F.
_Heated surfaces_, the medium.
_Pan broiling._——Cooking of chops or steaks in a heated pan, without
additional fat.
_Sauté._——To cook in a heated pan with a small amount of fat, enough
merely to prevent the food from sticking to the pan and to hasten the
browning process. “Baking” cakes on a griddle is a modification of this
method.
_Baking._——Cooking in a heated oven, temperature from 300° F. to 450° F.,
or higher for rapid browning. Meat and poultry cooked in an oven are baked
and not roasted, although we use the word “roast” for this method.
_Braising._——Cooking meat in a heated oven in a closed vessel, with a
supply of water to keep down the temperature. This might be called an
“oven stew.”
These methods are sometimes combined in one process. In a brown stew, the
meat is first cooked in a pan with a little fat to brown it, and to sear
the outside for retaining the juices, before the actual stewing begins. A
“pot-roast,” is an old-fashioned method of cooking a solid piece of meat
with a little water in a pot on top of the stove. The water simmers out,
and the meat is browned. What methods does this process unite?
The American Indians in their Squantum, or Clam Bake, heated a layer of
stones by means of a fire on top, removing the ashes when the fire died
down. A layer of wet seaweed was placed on the stones, and upon this
clams, fish, and corn were laid, and covered with another layer of
seaweed. We have inherited this method from the Indians, and use it at the
shore. What is the cooking process?
=Care of food after cooking.=——Bread, cake, cookies, and pastry should be
cooled on a rack, or spread out in such a way that they do not steam. They
should then be placed in a tin box or stone jar, which has been cleaned by
washing and scalding with boiling water, and thoroughly dried. This
process destroys any mold that might be lurking about. Keep paraffin paper
on hand to cover this class of food in its box or jar. This will prevent
too rapid drying out. Do not use cloth. It flavors the bread or cake, no
matter how clean it may be.
All food that is to be served cold or reheated should be cooled before
placing in the ice box. For what reason? Cool by placing in a draught, or
set the vessel containing the food in running cold water from the faucet.
It is particularly important to cool soups and broths rapidly. Which of
these methods will you use, as being the more rapid?
All meat that is to be served cold should be cooled, especially if it is
rare, or underdone. How will you accomplish this?
=Care of left overs.=——This is one of the tests of food management. It is
so easy at the end of a meal either to throw food away, or set it into the
refrigerator on the dish in which it has been served. Have a good supply
of cheap bowls, plates, and saucers to hold left overs in the
refrigerator, thus avoiding one possibility for breakage of the table
china.
Keep _slices of bread_ for toasting, _pieces of bread_, to dry for crumbs,
with special receptacles for each. Return pieces of _cake_ to the cake
box. _Muffins_ may be reheated. _Toast_ may be kept to serve under eggs or
meat.
All _butter_ should be saved. Pieces left on butter plates if clean should
be scraped into a wide-mouthed jar and kept for cooking.
Pieces of _meat_ should be kept for reheating or “made” dishes, stews or
soups or for salads. In hot weather, let your first order of meat be
small, and dispose of left overs as rapidly as possible.
_Vegetables_ may be reheated, or used for flavoring soups and stews, or
used cold in salads.
_Desserts_ and _fruits_ may be used for a “pick up” luncheon.
_Salads_ do not keep their freshness and flavor well, and should be used
very soon.
_Milk_ and _cream_ should be returned to proper receptacles in the
refrigerator as soon as possible.
=Disposal of waste food.=——This is the final test of good housekeeping,
and many otherwise good housekeepers fail just here. Even at its best the
garbage pail is not altogether a pleasing object, and at its worst it is
unspeakable. It must not be ignored.
Have a system adapted to your own kitchen, and the municipal method of
disposal, if there is such.
Use a covered pail of enamel ware, rather than one of galvanized iron. The
surface of the enamel is smooth, and therefore easier to wash, and there
is no excuse for putting off the cleansing of the pail. Wash, rinse, and
dry the pail and the cover immediately after it is emptied. Do not put a
piece of paper in the bottom of the pail. This request is made by the
department in New York City, and it is always better not to mix food waste
and paper waste. If you live in an apartment house, your name should be
painted on the pail.
Never put liquid into the garbage pail with solid refuse. Strain out
whatever liquid may be left in coffee or tea, and pour it into the sink
drain. If there is a greasy liquid to throw away, add to it a teaspoonful
or more of washing powder, and let it stand a time. If you have used
enough of the powder, you will find that you have a soapy liquid to pour
down the sink.
Coffee, tea, cocoa, or lemonade left in cups should be diluted and poured
down the sink and never into the garbage pail.
Empty garbage at evening when possible, to prevent the long standing
through the night. Keep the pail closely covered both day and night, to
keep out flies, and water bugs, if they are about. Allow the pail to stand
outside the kitchen unless the fire escape is the only accessible
out-of-doors. Remember that the fire escape is not a back porch, and that
you would be fined for using it as such if the inspectors were efficient.
There are two classes of waste: uncooked refuse, like potato skins, egg
shells, pea pods, meat trimmings and bones; and table scraps from plates.
_Pieces of fat_ may be “tried out,” but do not accumulate more than you
use. A few _egg shells_ may be kept for settling coffee, but again do not
keep too many.
The _country dweller_ has a simple problem. What the farm animals do not
eat will serve as fertilizer for plant life. After the bones have been
picked, keep them together, in some receptacle, and finally bury or burn
them. Have a compost heap properly covered where the uneaten fragments
will decompose and make fertilizer, or bury them at once if preferred.
The _city dweller_ who uses a coal stove is able to burn some refuse.
Strain out whatever liquid is present, dry the refuse _under_ the grate,
and put it into a _hot_ fire. Do not crowd damp refuse into the fire box
when the fire is low, for it will smoulder, and this heavy smoke will
eventually clog the flues. The odor of this smoke, too, is disagreeable in
the neighborhood. A garbage drier, set into the stove pipe, has been
devised, but the simpler plan of drying the refuse under the grate is
quite as satisfactory.
Where gas or kerosene is the fuel, or where electricity is used, the
garbage pail is the only resort, unless one lives in a building equipped
with a special stove or “garbage burner” for the disposal of waste.
EXERCISES
1. What is a principle in cooking?
2. What are the effects of heat upon the foodstuffs?
3. What is meant by technique in cookery?
4. What are the essentials in caring for food in the house?
5. What are the steps in the preparation of food?
6. Explain the origin and usefulness of a recipe.
7. What are the standard weights and measures?
8. What is the purpose of stirring ingredients? Of beating?
9. What is the difference between boiling and steaming?
10. The difference between baking and roasting? Roasting and broiling?
Broiling and toasting?
11. What is the difference between frying and the sauté?
12. Describe the care of “left overs” and waste.
CHAPTER V
WATER AND OTHER BEVERAGES
Although water does not supply energy to the body, it plays an important
part in nutrition. As building material, it constitutes about two thirds
of the body weight, and as a regulator of body processes it serves as a
solvent and carrier of nutritive material and waste, keeps the blood and
digestive fluids of proper concentration, and helps to regulate the
temperature of the body. It is contained in nearly all food materials and
is the basis of all beverages.
=Water as a beverage.=——Water is being given off all the time from the
body through the lungs, skin, and kidneys. The exact amount depends partly
upon atmospheric conditions and the amount of exercise, which affect the
loss through the lungs and skin, and partly on the amount taken in, for
water passes through the body rather quickly. We can endure lack of food
for weeks, but can exist only a few days without water.
A drink of water taken the first thing in the morning tends to clean out
the digestive tract and put one in good condition for breakfast. Water
with meals aids digestion, provided it is not used to wash down food but
is taken when the mouth is empty. It should not be extremely cold nor hot.
Two glasses at a single meal are usually all that are desirable. When
there is much water in the food, as in soups, milk, fruits, and some
vegetables, or when other beverages are taken, less will be taken as plain
water. When one feels hungry and uncomfortable between meals a drink of
water will often relieve the sensation.
Water is either _soft_ or _hard_. Rain water is perfectly soft, but as it
passes through the earth after falling, it sometimes becomes laden with
mineral substances, that affect its cleansing properties, and that may
affect its physiological action. Such water is called _hard_.
_Temporary hardness_ is caused by a soluble lime compound which is
precipitated by boiling. If the teakettle is incrusted inside by a layer
of lime, the hardness is of this character. Such water should be boiled
and cooled for drinking. _Permanent hardness_ is due to other compounds of
lime and magnesia which are not precipitated by boiling, but which can be
counteracted for cleansing purposes by the addition of some substance like
ammonia, borax, or soda. If the excess of salts has some undesirable
physiological effect, this water should be distilled, or bottled water for
drinking brought from elsewhere.
Of much greater importance is the question of the freedom of the water
supply from harmful bacteria and organic matter. Never use a well without
having the water tested by an expert. This will sometimes be done by the
local or state Board of Health or Experiment Station. All water sources
should be guarded from contamination. (See “Shelter and Clothing,” Chapter
V.) Filters may be used, and are effective in straining out sediment, but
the home filter is seldom to be relied upon to remove actual bacterial
contamination. If used at all, the filter should be frequently cleaned and
sterilized in boiling water. In case the supply is suspected, the water
for drinking should be boiled for at least ten minutes, allowed to settle,
if necessary, and poured off into bottles for cooling. This is a practice
to be commended after a heavy rainfall, and especially in the autumn.
These bottles may be placed on the ice.
Ice must be used with caution always in drinking water, and it is the
safer way to cool the water beside the ice. The freezing of water in pond
and river does not purify or sterilize it. Natural ice is usually
questionable. Artificial ice, if properly manufactured, is much safer.
Always have a supply of water in covered pitcher or water bottle, with
clean glasses at hand, where it may be taken freely when wanted. Remember
that the individual cup or glass is an absolute necessity. The dipper or
glass in common must not be countenanced. In a large family of many
children it would save labor to use paper cups between meals.
Water should be swallowed slowly, and ice-cold water should not be taken
when one is overheated. When one is overthirsty, control must be exercised
in regard to quantity and rapidity of drinking.
=Water in cooking.=——Water is necessary to the softening of fiber, and the
cooking of starch. It acts as a solvent for sugar and salt and for
gelatin, and is the basis of meat soups, certain substances in the meat
dissolving in the water. The flavors of tea and coffee are extracted by
water.
As a medium in cooking it supplies heat in the steaming, boiling, and
stewing processes, and in the form of melting ice with salt it acts as a
freezing medium.
It is not necessary to lift the cover of a kettle to see if the water
boils, if one is familiar with the action of water nearing and at the
boiling point. A simple experiment with the boiling of water in a Florence
flask is always interesting, and from it one gains practical knowledge.
_Experiments with the boiling temperature of water._
_A._ _Apparatus_: A ring stand, a Florence flask, a square of wire net, a
chemical thermometer, a Bunsen burner.
_Method_: Place the Florence flask, half full of water, on the square of
wire net upon the large ring of the ring stand over the Bunsen burner.
Put the chemical thermometer in the Florence flask, clamping it in such a
way that the bulb is covered by the water and yet does not touch the
bottom of the flask.
Make record in the notebook as follows:
(1) The temperature when the first small bubbles appear on the side of the
flask.
(2) Temperature when the first large bubbles appear on the bottom.
(3) Temperature when many bubbles rise rapidly to the top.
(4) Point at which temperature ceases to rise.
(5) Temperature when vapor first appears at the mouth of the flask.
(6) What differences are apparent in the amount and motion of the vapor
before and after boiling?
(7) Lift the thermometer above the water and note the temperature just
above the surface, when the water is rapidly boiling.
The small bubbles are bubbles of air. The large are bubbles of steam. A
complete study of the boiling process should be made in the Physics class.
The boiling point is the point at which water becomes steam, and also the
point at which steam condenses again to water. The temperature of boiling
water and steam are the same. Under pressure steam may be heated to a
higher temperature.
_B._ Boil water in a small saucepan closely covered.
(1) Note the _sounds_ of the water just before boiling, and the change in
sound as the boiling begins.
(2) Note the difference between the vapor escaping, before boiling, and
after. This experiment is best performed in a teakettle.
_C._ Test the temperature of the inner part of the double boiler, when the
water boils rapidly below. To be exact, a hole should be bored in the
cover of the boiler, a cork with a hole inserted, the thermometer run
through the cork. An approximate result is obtained by putting in the
thermometer, setting on the cover tilted, and covering the opening with a
cloth.
_D._ Stir salt into rapidly boiling water in the lower part of the double
boiler until no more salt will dissolve (a saturated solution). Test the
temperature.
_E._ Put the inner part of the double boiler containing water into this
boiling solution of saturated salt, being sure that the inner part is
sufficiently deep in the salt solution. Note the temperature of the water
in the inner boiler when it becomes heated.
=Boiling at high altitudes.=——When the air pressure upon the surface of
the water is lessened, the water boils at a lower temperature. As the
altitude increases, the air pressure decreases, as many a mountain
traveler knows to his cost. The boiling temperature of water is so much
lowered that the dwellers in high regions of several thousand feet find it
difficult to cook starchy vegetables well. A heavy iron pot is made with
clamps for fastening down a tight cover, which increases the temperature
somewhat. Experiments _D_ and _E_ indicate a method that can be used to a
small extent. The baking process should be largely used, and boiling
avoided. For meat, eggs, and fish the lower temperature is not
undesirable. (See the chapters relating to these foods.)
=The uses of ice.=——Water freezes and ice melts at the same point, 32° F.,
or 0° C. If ice is mixed with salt, the temperature is reduced far below
the freezing point, nearly to 0° F. This process reduces any watery
substance which it surrounds to its freezing point, the heat being used in
the melting of the ice. This is an interesting topic to discuss in the
Physics class.
Ice at its ordinary temperature of 32° F. is used for cooling food
agreeably. Its most important function in the refrigerator is as preserver
of food for a short time at least. For this it is invaluable, and cheap
ice is really necessary in summer to the health of a great city.
=Ice substitutes.=——Where the supply fails or the price is exorbitant, one
property of water makes it a partial aid. The rapid evaporation of water
will absorb heat so rapidly as to reduce the temperature of adjacent
bodies. In the tropics when ice is lacking, water is hung in porous jars
in the breeze, and the temperature of the water in the jar is reduced.
To keep milk and butter cool wrap a wet cloth about the containing jar,
and set the jar upon the window sill, keeping one end of the towel in a
vessel of water; or the cloth may be wrapped directly around the butter.
This method is surprisingly effective.
=Fruit beverages.=——Fruit juices with water and sugar make refreshing
beverages and have nutritive value as well. (See the next chapter.)
=Cocoa and chocolate, coffee, and tea.=——These are the three most
important non-alcoholic beverages used by man. They are used because of
the agreeable flavor given them by volatile oils, and also because they
have a stimulating effect. The stimulating property is due to an alkaloid,
a crystallizable substance known in cocoa as theobromine, in coffee as
caffeine, and in tea as theine. Chemical investigation indicates that
caffeine and theine are the same and theobromine is a closely related
substance. These substances have a recognized stimulating effect upon the
nervous system, and the beverages containing them should therefore be used
with caution by all. In the opinion of the writers, tea and coffee should
not be taken by young people under twenty-five years of age. Tea and
coffee also contain tannin, an astringent substance giving a disagreeable
flavor to coffee and tea when these are improperly made, and having an
undesirable effect upon digestion. Chocolate contains a non-volatile fat
(cocoa butter) in large amount, and should be classed as a food as well as
a beverage.
The plants from which cocoa, coffee, and tea are derived are natives of
semi-tropical or tropical Africa, Asia, and America, having been
introduced to Europe by early travelers in these lands.
The introduction of these beverages is an interesting bit of history. The
Spaniards found cocoa in tropical America, and carried it back to Spain,
and it was not used in England until 1657. It was sold in Danvers,
Massachusetts, in 1771, the raw material having been brought by Gloucester
fishermen from the West Indies. Coffee is said to have originated in
Abyssinia, reaching Europe by way of Arabia, and being sold in England in
1650. Coffee-houses were licensed in America in 1715. A Chinese tradition
places the discovery of the use of tea at 2700 B.C. It was first used in
England in 1657, and was imported into America in 1711. An amusing story
is told of the first tea party in a town of western Connecticut, where the
tea was boiled violently in a large iron kettle and served on a platter
with the leaves, as a form of soup, the leaves themselves being eaten.
=Cocoa and chocolate.=——Cocoa and chocolate are manufactured from the seed
of a tree, _Theobroma cacao_, grown in tropical America. The seeds, when
removed from the containing pod, are fermented to improve the flavor,
dried, cleaned, roasted, and finally ground. The outer husk is loosened in
the roasting, and is then removed, and sold as “cocoa shells.” It is the
basis of a cheap beverage with an agreeable flavor. The first crushing of
the seeds gives cocoa “nibs,” and these are further ground in a mill, and
finally molded into the cake of plain chocolate. The addition of sugar,
vanilla, cinnamon, and sometimes other spices gives a variety of sweet
chocolates. Powdered cocoa is prepared by the removal of the fat, which is
a valuable product in itself, sugar and flavorings are added and sometimes
a starch. The Dutch manufacturers use alkalies for removing the crude
fiber and improving the color, and the consequent loss of flavor is
balanced by the use of other flavoring matter. The adulterations of cocoa
are largely starch in excess. The French and American cocoas are flavored
with vanilla, the Dutch manufacturers using cinnamon as well.
The so-called soluble cocoas are very finely ground, and therefore mix
readily with water, remaining in suspension for some time, but the cocoa
itself is not dissolved. Powdered cocoa is bought in tin cans, is cheap,
and is even more economical if bought in large cans than in small.
Chocolate is more expensive always than the cocoa, and may be bought in
cakes in pound packages, or in powdered form for immediate use.
_Coffee_ is the inner seed of a berry from a tree, _Coffea arabica_, the
process of manufacture consisting of the removal of the outer pulp,
fermentation, washing, drying, and roasting. The first stages of the
process are carried on at the coffee plantation, the raw berries being
imported, and roasted shortly before using. The roasting in cocoa, coffee,
and tea is necessary for desirable flavors, the heat developing volatile,
aromatic principles, caramelizing the sugar, and causing other chemical
changes. The differences in the flavor of coffees are due to the variety,
the soil and climate, and methods of production and manufacture. No coffee
grown in the western hemisphere has excelled, and scarcely has any
equaled, the original Mocha and Java coffees, and these have long been
trade names for coffee from other places, because of the popular liking
for these brands. Brazil is now the great coffee producing country of the
world, and from South and Central America and the West Indies we obtain
coffee of excellent flavor.
The adulterations of coffee should be noted, although these are of the
kind that gives the buyer something cheaper in place of coffee, rather
than a substance that is injurious. Ground chicory root is sometimes mixed
with coffee, but cannot be classed strictly as an adulterant, because
many people, notably the French, add it openly, preferring its flavor.
Among adulterants are rye meal, bran, beans and peas, cocoa shells, and
even sawdust. Artificial beans have been made of bran, molasses, and
water, sometimes with the addition of chicory and coloring matter. If
ground coffee is put into a glass of cold water, it floats on the top and
remains hard, while several of the adulterants named soften and sink to
the bottom of the glass. Highly roasted coffee, however, will sometimes
sink. Coffee beans from which coffee extract has been made are sometimes
mixed with other coffee.
Coffee extracts and crystallized coffee are manufactured to simplify the
coffee-making process, but the flavor is not equal to that of coffee
infusion made directly from the bean. A preparation of coffee is also
offered with the caffeine removed by some chemical process, but it is
expensive in this country.
Buy coffee in the bean, and see that it is freshly roasted. Coffee, whole
or ground, is sold extensively by the pound in tin cans, with a fancy
label and name, and in this form it is usually expensive. Good coffee may
be bought for twenty-five cents a pound of many reliable dealers, and may
be purchased in five or ten pound packages, or bought in bulk to be kept
in a tightly closed can.
_Tea_ is the dried leaf of a shrub, _Camellia thea_, growing in the
comparatively high lands of Japan, China, India, and Ceylon. A tea
plantation exists in South Carolina, U.S.A., and furnishes a very pleasing
grade of tea, somewhat resembling Japan tea in flavor. We are familiar
with the fact that there are many kinds and grades of tea, the tea shrub
varying as does the coffee tree, and the methods of curing affecting both
color and flavor. The teas from the countries named have characteristic
flavors, and each country has different varieties and grades. Russian tea
is not grown in Russia, but is Chinese tea carried across the continent of
Asia.
In general, tea may be classed as green or black, this difference in color
depending upon the age of the leaf, and largely upon differences in the
curing process. Green tea is made from the young leaf, and after picking
is dried immediately by artificial heat, being constantly stirred for
about an hour, in which time the leaves twist and curl. For black tea the
leaves are allowed to wilt and ferment, before they are rolled and heated;
and sometimes the heating is repeated. These details of the process vary
in different localities. The leaves are finally sorted and graded for
packing.
Both black and green teas are made in China. “Bohea” is one of the famous
black Chinese teas. “English Breakfast Tea” is known as such only in
America, and is a blend of black teas. Black tea is not so successfully
made in Japan as in China. “Oolong,” from the island of Formosa, has the
appearance of a black tea, with the flavor of a green. In Japan and China
old-time methods prevail, with much handling of the tea leaves, but in
Ceylon and India modern machinery makes the process a much more cleanly
one.
Another classification of tea is that depending upon the age and size of
the leaf, the young leaf making the finer grade tea. For example, in the
black teas of India “flowery pekoe” is made from the youngest leaf,
“orange pekoe” from the second, “pekoe” from the third, and “souchong” and
“congou” come from the larger leaves.
The adulterations of tea are usually the leaves of other plants, but as a
matter of fact very little adulterated tea is imported. The first grades
of teas, however, and those most highly prized by the Chinese and
Japanese, seldom find their way to America.
=Other beverages.=——Several very acceptable coffee substitutes are on the
market, made from roasted and ground grain, and they give an agreeable hot
drink for breakfast when served with cream or milk. In some cases they
seem to have a laxative effect, which is well for some people and not for
others. A pleasant hot drink of the same nature may be made from the
browned crusts of bread.
The substitutes for tea are not usually satisfactory. The Indians of the
western coast of the United States make a tea from a plant which they call
“Buona Yerba,” but for us it has a strong resemblance to the medicinal
herb teas formerly used for curative purposes, such as sage, catnip,
motherwort, and the like.
GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES
=1. Lemonade and fruit drinks.=
_Utensils._——Silver knife for paring and slicing, glass lemon squeezer, a
grater, a strainer, and a saucepan. Avoid the use of tin and iron
utensils.
_Materials._——Lemon or other fruits, sugar water.
_Proportions._——One half lemon to a glass, or 2 or 3 to a quart of water.
Other fruits “according to taste.” Experiment here, using the juice and
pulp of any fruit, combining those that are very acid with those that lack
acidity,——lemon and raspberry, for example. One third to 1/2 cup sugar to
a quart. The proportion cannot be stated with exactness, for fruit varies
in acidity, and the final result must always be tested by the taste.
_Method._
=Plain lemonade.=——After deciding upon the proper amounts to be used,
dissolve the sugar in a part of the water, brought to the boiling point.
When cool, add the lemon juice and remaining water, ice and serve. A small
portion of grated rind may be added to the boiling water.
Another method is to use lump sugar, rubbing the peel of the lemon upon
each lump before dissolving.
The general method is the same with other fruits, pulpy fruit and berries
being mashed, the water added, and strained.
_Cherries_, _strawberries_, and pieces of _pulp_ are sometimes added
before serving, when the fruit drink is ladled from a bowl as fruit punch.
Be sure to cut the berries if they are large. A brightness is imparted to
the fruit punch by the addition of carbonated water just before serving. A
quart of fruit punch, if served in small cups, will suffice for eight
people.
=2. Cocoa shells.=
_Principle._——To extract the flavor from the shells, by boiling in water.
_Utensil._——A saucepan or coffee boiler.
_Proportions._——One half cup shells to 1 quart boiling water. As much as 1
cup of the shells may be used.
_Method._
Wash the shells in a strainer under the faucet. Put the shells in the pot,
pour on boiling water, and simmer gently for 1/2 hour. Strain off, and
serve with cream, or milk, or evaporated milk and sugar.
=3. Cocoa.=
_Principle._——To mix the particles smoothly and evenly with the liquid by
stirring and by heating.
_Utensils._——A measuring cup, a saucepan, spoon, and beater. A double
boiler, if milk only is used.