the cooking of the potato is to let out the steam, or to
Bean?
Potatoes
Loss in
Preparing
9C
PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY.
Potatoes
with Meat
Combinations
Cooking
Vegetables
pour off the water as soon as the fibre and starch are
softened.
Because the potato is lacking in protein and fat, the
instinct of man has taught him to eat it with meat,
since it gave him the food principles the meat lacked,
and also the bulk desirable for the process of diges-
tion.
The art of the cook has devised many methods of
combining butter, oil, milk and eggs with the potato
and other vegetables to supply protein and fat. The
fried potato absorbs fat while cooking ; the white sauce
of creamed potato adds both fat and protein ; a potato
soup is creamed potato with more milk ; the potato
croquette contains tgg^ and is cooked in fat; a potato
salad has oil and often eggs.
Such additions, though increasing the cost of the
food, make the result equivalent to vegetables with a
moderate allowance of meat. Hence vegetable souf-
flees, or croquettes, may be served when the meat sup-
ply is limited.
Almost any vegetable, by due combination with
milk, butter, and eggs may appear as soup, fritters,
croquettes, soufflees, or salads. For these complicated
dishes, it is essential that the vegetable first shall be
perfectly cooked in a simple fashion.
The methods of cookery applied to vegetables are
similar to those used for meat, but must be adapted
to the composition and condition of the individual
specimen.
VEGETABLES. 91
It is impossible to give the exact time for cooking
any variety of vegetable, for every sample will differ.
They are unpalatable when underdone and also at the
other extreme.
There is usually some way of cooking best for each
vegetable, but if one kind only is available it is neces-
sary, to serve it in a variety of ways. This, perhaps,
explains why the average cook book gives more re-
ceipes for the potato than for all other vegetables.
Suitable utensils are essential ; vegetables should not
be cooked m iron kettles when others are attainable;
strainers, mashers, cutters, ricers and presses are de-
sirable.
Strong flavors frequently are due to careless prep-
aration. Careful trimming and thorough washing are
essential. Wilted vegetables are improved, as has been
said, by soaking. Salad plants need especial care in
washing to remove parasites and insecticides.
Any portion of a root or tuber grown above ground
becomes green and strong flavored and will impart
its flavor to other portions with which it may be
cooked. A decayed bit, or the scorching where the
water evaporates, may often ruin the flavor of all.
Young, tender, well flavored vegetables should be
cooked and served in the simplest manner. Inferior
specimens, like tough asparagus or celery which has
lost its crispness, by boiling, straining, and flavoring
may be made into palatable soup when they would be
worthless under simple treatment.
Preparation
92
PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY.
Vegetable
Soups
Vegetable soups are of two types ; — for one, the
vegetables are cooked till tender, cut in convenient
bits and added to a meat stock. For the other, by long
cooking in water a single vegetable or several together
are made into stock, and all that is soft enousfh is
rubbed through a strainer and then put with about an
equal quantity, according to the strength of each, of
TOMATO JELLY WITH BEETS.
Preparation
and
Digestibility
meat stock or thin white sauce. Thick, pulpy stock,
like that from peas, beans, or potatoes, needs a much
thinner sauce than would celery or asparagus. Un-
less some thickening of flour is used, the solider por-
tions will settle, leaving the soup watery on top.
In one of the publications of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture the difference in digestibility
of the same food cooked in various ways is thus stated :
Whole peas soaked and cooked, 60 per cent digested ;
VEGETABLES. 93
peas cooked a long time and strained, 82.5 per cent ;
pea flour cooked with milk, butter and eggs, 92 per
cent. This would seem to prove that the portion of
vegetable food considered undigestible can be reduced
by right methods of cooking.
Mashing is a form of preparation suited to squash. Mashing
turnip, parsnip, and potatoes. A seasoning of cream,
INDIVIDUAL APPLE AND CELERY SALAD.
or butter, and salt and pepper, is usually added. Frit-
ters and croquettes usually have mashed vegetables
as their foundation, or small bits are mixed with a
thick cr'^am sauce.
The white sauce is a useful additon to vegetables
^ Creamed
since it increases their nutritive value and modifies vegetawej
strong flavors. Almost any cooked vegetables may
thus be "creamed" or "scalloped" by adding both tlv^
sauce and buttered crumbs and baking. This is an ex-
cellent way to reheat something left from a previous
day.
94
PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY.
Salads
Salad is a term belonging- especially to a class of
uncooked vegetables and in all cases implies a vegeta-
ble foundation though meats or fish may be added.
The dressing of oil and vinegar is likewise of vegeta-
ble origin.
Here is another of our attempts to bring together
the five food principles in a single compound. Water
and mineral matter, protein, fat, and carbohydrate are
usually blended in fairly balanced proportions. This is
especially true of salads containing eggs, fish, or meat
and eaten with bread.
Addition
of Water
GRAINS
The grains or cereals are the main dependence of the
human race for food and have been known from very
early times. Some member of this family of plants
is found in every section of the world. Rice, wheat
and corn are most largely used as food, while oats, rye,
barley, and millet follow closely. Animals can eat these
grains or grasses as they grow. For the human stom-
ach the coarser portions must be removed. All are
similar in composition, being from two-thirds to three-
fourths starch. The protein ranges from 7 to 15 per
cent ; fat varies from i to 10 per cent ; there is about
I per cent mineral matter and 10 to 12 per cent of
water.
Before we can eat and digest such foods a large
amount of water must be combined with them. Analy-
ses have shown that the percentage of water in mushes,
GRAINS.
95
boiled rice, macaroni, and mashed potato is nearly the
same.
When we buy cereals in paper packages we pay a
little more for them than when they are boug-ht in
bulk, but that is a convenient, clean form in which to
keep them. All cereals should be looked over before
cooking since they are liable to attacks from insects.
A Cup of Corn Meal, and the Amount of Mush It Will Make.
To make mushes start v-ith the desired proportion of
liquid, as that regulates the final amount. If too much
water is used it can seldom be drained off, as it might
be from potatoes, and if there is too little at the begin-
ning it is practically impossible to add more without
making the mush lumpy and pasty. A double boiler,
a dish set in a steamer or a covered pail in a kettle of
water, are the utensils suitable for cooking mushes.
Mushei
96 PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY.
Cooking '^^^ coarser the grain, the more water required, and
Cereals |-|-jg longer will be the time of cooking. Whole grains
are improved by soaking in cold water, finely ground
preparations must be mixed with cold water to pre-
vent the formation of lumps. All others should be put
into boiling water. Add one teaspoonful of salt to each
quart of water. Ordinary oatmeal and granulated
wheat need four times their bulk of water, cracked
wheat and hominy require more. The rolled grains re-
quire but twice their bulk of water.
The cooking at first should be rapid and the upper
part of the double boiler should be placed directly on
the stove for five minutes. Then put it over the other
part, cook closely covered and do not stir. Such foods
are not injured by cooking for a longer time than the
usual directions allow. Coarse hominy, oatmeal, oi
cracked wheat for breakfast should be cooked several
hours the previous' day.
Rice Rice may be boiled in a quantity of water which is
afterwards drained off, but this is wasteful unless some
use is made of the liquid.
Macaroni and tapioca are not strictly cereals but con-
form to the same rules of cooking.
Most mushes or cooked cereals may be moulded and
served cold for variety, especially in warm weather, or
be packed smoothly in oblong pans or round tin boxes
and when cold sliced and fried to serve with syrups or
to eat with meats.
Fried
Mush
GRAINS. 97
A portion of cooked cereal may be added to the
liquid used in mixing muffins.
Manufacturers of the present day seem to be trying
to see in how many different forms they can prepare
the few standard grains ; they are left whole, are
cracked, are crushed into flakes, or broken into gran-
ules. As the result of this variety of preparations- and
Cereals shaped iu fancy Moulds.
the generous way in which they are advertised cereals
are used more and more.
During the last few vears thev have been cooked in
the factories and prepared in forms readv for immedi- to Eat â–
^ / Cereals
ate use. These forms have many merits though not
all that are claimed for them. In some respects they
resemble the primitive forms of unleavened bread
which were the first attempts among all races, the
bannock, the hoe cake, the tortilla.
TEST QUESTIONS
The following questions constitute the "written reci-
tation" which the regular members of the A. S. H. E.
answer in writing and send in for the correction and
comment of the instructor. They are intended to
emphasize and fix in the memory the most important
points in the lesson.
PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY.
PART II.
Read Carefully. Place your name and address on the
first sheet of the test. Use a light grade of paper and write
on one side of the sheet only. Do not copy an siucrs front the
lesson paper. Use your own words, so that the instructor
may know that you understand the subject. Read the les-
son paper a number of limes before attempting" to answer
the questions.
1. In what ways are eggs used in cookery?
2. What substances are naturally combined with
eggs and milk, and why?
3. What is the fundamental principle in cooking arti-
cles containing a large proportion of egg ?
4. Mention five dishes where egg is an essential in-
gredient, and five others where it may be used
or omitted. Explain why.
5. If we find it necessary to reduce the number of
eggs in a cake or custard, what other changes
would be necessary?
6. Alake a two days' menu for the season when eggs
are at the lowest price, and two days' menu
for the season when they are expensive.
7. Which forms of animal food are the most ex-
pensive and why?
Which most economical and why?
8. What portions of meat are best for soup stock ?
What should be discarded ? Describe the proc-
ess of making soup. Has the extracted meat
nutritive value?
lO
II
12
13
14
15
PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY.
Whv is less fat absorbed by food in frying in
deep fat than in sautering?
Give methods of preparing tough meat so that it
is palatable and nutritious.
Give the names of soups which have (a) little,
(b) much, and (c) great nutritive value.
Why do we add stuffing and sauce to meats and
fish ?
What is the greatest obstacle to be overcome in
cooking vegetables ?
Give methods for cooking fish. What is the
proper appearance of a fresh fish ?
Plan a rotation of dififerent cereals for five break-
fasts in winter and five in summer, giving rea-
sons for your choice.
16. How may dififerent methods of preparing a veg-
etable change its nutritive value ?
17. Describe your own method of roasting meat.
18. Give the names of the vegetables and grains used
in your household. Name some that are not
used.
19. Is there any question you wish to ask or subject
vou would like to discuss relatins: to this les-
son ?
Note. — After completing the test, sign jonr full name.
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PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY
PART III
BREAD AND OTHER DOUGHS
Having considered the whole grains we must learn
how to use them when ground into flour. Although
some forms of bread like hoe cake and tortillas can be
made from cracked grain without making it into a
flour, most people depend upon flour for a large part of
their daily food.
In the best cook books the ingredients are mentioned
in the order in which the}- are to be put together to
secure the best results and to save dishes ; the dry cups
and spoons are used for the flour and spices, then for
the shortening and liquids. The flour is sifted before
measuring and sifted again to mix the other materials
with it.
There is such variation in flours that it is impossible
to give exact recipes for doughs, but it is easy to learn
certain general proportions and experience must teach
the rest. A simple formula will be helpful in inter-
preting old recipes in which the exact quantities of
flour or liquid are not stated, or in analyzing recipes to
decide whether they are doughs or batters.
One measure of flour to one of liquid makes a bat-
ter.
Two measures of flour to one of liquid gives the
usual muffin mixture.
Order of
Mixing
Ingredients
General
Proportions
in Doughs
loo PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY.
Three measures of flour to one of liquid makes a
soft dough, but one that may be kneaded.
Four measures of flour to one of Uquid is the usual
proportion for doughs to be rolled thin like pastry or
cookies.
Batters and muffins can be stirred with a spoon.
Doughs are mixed more thoroughly and easily with a
knife.
Doughs are made light because thus they are more
palatable and digestible.
Making The almost endless variety of breads, cake, and pas-
°Lifht try may be classified according to the means used to
make them light. Yeast has been known to the human
race from a very early period, the others are much
later inventions.
The principal means are these:
Tlie mechanical introduction of air, as by beating
or by the addition of eggs or by the folding of pastry,
or in the aerated or Daughlish bread.
The use of yeast, the growth of a plant filling the
dough with gas.
The chemical combination of a bi-carbonate of soda,
with some acid substance.
Yeast For practical use in every-day life it is essential
to remember that yeast must be treated like other forms
of plant life and if we want it to grow, we must pro-
vide the right kind of soil, sufficient moisture, and suit-
able temperature. After its work is done, the vitality
of the yeast must be destroyed by heat.
BREAD.
It may be desirable to know how to manufacture
yeast at home and how to utiUze the dried yeast cakes
in emergencies, though compressed yeast cakes are now
so generally used that it is hardly necesary. A com-
pressed yeast cake should be firm and solid, not soft
and pasty ; it should look something like fresh cheese,
not dark colored and moldy. When only part of a
Yeast
Cakes
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USEFUL UTENSILS.
yeast cake is to be used, it should be cut ofif squarely
and the remainder wrapped smoothly in tin foil again,
when it may be kept a few days longer.
BREAD
The essential ingredients in bread making are yeast,
liquid, and flour ; the proportions may be varied ac-
cording to conditons.
Sugar and shortening are commonly used, but if
they were omitted wholly it would be possible to have
palatable, nutritious bread. Salt is essential to suit the
taste of most persons, but as bread is usually combined
lOi
PRINCIPLES OP COOKERY.
Causes of
Slow Rising
Kinds of
Flour
with salted butter its absence would be less noticeable,
and bread might be made without it. Fermentation is
hindered by the presence of salt, a small amount of
sugar hastens the process.
Sugar in large quantities makes the dough dense and
the yeast cannot expand so readily. An excess of short-
ening has much the same effect. If a dough is made
stiff with flour it rises more slowly. A stiff dough
usually has small air cells and is finer grained than
when the dough is made softer.
The liquid may be milk, whole or skimmed, or water,
or half of each. The milk supplies some sugar, fat and
nitrogenous matter and produces a more nourishing
loaf than that which is n^de with water. Mashed po-
tatoes or sifted squash or cooked cereals are some-
times added to a bread dough for variety, but the proc-
ess is not changed by such additions.
The best bread flour is made from spring wheat and
pastry flour from winter wheat, though they may be
used interchangeably if necessary. The spring wheat
flour contains more gluten and less starch, so that less
of the bread flour is required to produce a dough of a
given consistency.
The entire or whole wheat flours provide more bone
making materials than white flour, otherwise there is
little difference in the nutritive value of the better
grades of each.
The presence of gluten makes wheat the favorite
flour for yeast dough. Gluten is adhesive when moist-
BREAD.
IC3
ened and thus retains the gas bubbles formed by the
yeast in somewhat the same way that egg-whites hold
air when they are beaten.
Old recipes for mixing yeast bread usually give di-
rections for rubbing shortening into the flour and then
Order of
Mixing
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"BREAD CAKE" OR BUN BREAD.
adding tlie other ingredients with liquid to make a
dough that can be kneaded. The best authorities to-
day reverse the order, thus saving time and energy and
producing a better result.
The liquid is warmed that the fat, sugar, and salt
m.ay readily blend with the other ingredients and that
the dough may rise more rapidly. When it is below
icx) F, or cool enough to avoid cooking the yeast, that
Liquid
Warmed
104
PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY
Double
Process
Bread
Amount
of Yeast
Short
Process
is added and well mixed through the liquid. Sufficient
flour then is mixed in to give the desired consistency
for kneading.
At first the mixture may be stirred with a spoon, but
as it becomes stiffer a knife will more easily serve to
produce a smooth dough.
The process of mixing bread may illustrate the bat-
ter and drop batter or muffin mixture as well as the
dough. To make a sponge, half the quantity of flour to
be used is mixed with the liquid and this allowed to
rise till foamy, when the remainder of the flour is add-
ed. The advantages of this double process are that a
trifle less flour is required since the first has- time to
expand before the second is put in, and that the process
is somewhat shortened because in the first stage there
is less resistance for the yeast to overcome and the
whole sponge becomes full of yeast for the second
stage.
Sometimes it is more convenient to use a small j^or-
tion of yeast and allow the dough to rise for a longer
time, and again to use more yeast and thus do the work
moje quickly. Until the scientists decide which is real-
ly the better method, the housekeeper will find it de-
sirable to vary the quantity of yeast according to her
conditions. Time, temperature, and quantity of yeast
must be considered, — if one must be diminished, the
others should be increased.
For common use. a short process is to be preferred
to the old custom of letting the dough rise over night.
BREAD.
los
When it rises by day we can regulate the temperature
and stop the process at the right time. One yeast cake
to one pint of hquid and about three pints of flour, will
make two medium-sized loaves of bread, which can be
completed inside of six hours.
BREAD MAKING MACHINE.
When necessary, a dough well risen and ready to
shape may be cut down and put in a refrigerator or
other cold place and thus held in check for several
hours without injury. Sometimes half the bread may
be shaped in a loaf and the remainder in rolls and the
pans containing the latter set away in a cool place for
several hours before baking that they may be hot for a
later meal.
When first mixed, dough is kneaded just enough to
blend all ingredients, then it is put back in the bowl.
Holding
Dough
in Check
Sisin^
io6
PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY.
brushed over with water or with melted fat and cov-
ered while it is rising. Such precautions aid in pre-
venting the formation of a dry crust caused by the
evaporation of the water on the surface during the
process of rising. The bowl containing the dough
may be set in a pan of warm water which is changed
often enough to keep the temperature even. When the
dough must stand over night in a cool kitchen, the
bowl may be wrapped in a blanket to prevent the es-
cape of heat.
Kneading Mucli time IS doubtlcss wasted in kneading doughs,
though it seems to be agreed that this process works
all ingredients together and thus give a better texture
to the bread. To knead work the edges of the dough
little by little toward the center, pull it over, press
down into the mass and press it away with one hand
while turning the whole around with the other. When
the dough is smooth, elastic, and rises quickly when
pressed and docs not stick to the hand then it is done.
After the dough is double in bulk it should be
kneaded enough to redistribute the air bubbles which
have run together and formed larger ones, and to
shape it for baking. At this stage no fiour should be
added, for here much time would be required to work
in a little flour, and that is why long kneading has
been thought necessary. Dip the fingers in soft fat if
the dough inclines to stick, as one would do when pull-
ing candy.
Shaping To shapc bIscuits or rolls, first make smooth round
BREAD.
107
balls, then by gentle rolling and pressure make the fin-
ger rolls — then farther extend till the strips can be
twisted or left as sticks for soup. Thus one form mav
be developed from another.
When rolls are to be cut out and folded, the pressure
of the rolling pin will equalize the air bubbles without
previous kneading. Instead of making the dough for
rolls rich with butter or lard, it is wiser to brush over
the outside of the rolls with melted fat when they are
put in the pan.
BUNS— SEPARATE AND IN LOAF.
Again the dough must be allowed to double in bulk
and then it is ready to bake.
To summarize the points already covered. — The time
required depends upon the quantit}- of yeast used, and
the temperature at which the dough is kept. One
measure of liquid to three of llour is the usual propor-
tion. For fancy breads make a sponge first, and let
the mixture rise three times. Large quantities of sugar
and butter tend to retard the growth of the yeast plant.
For bread add all the flour at once. Small shapes are
Summary
io8
PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY.
Baking
of Bread
Cooking Soda
with Acids
preferable to large ones, as thus more thorough cook-
ing is insured.
The baking of bread is not easily disposed of in a
few words. Yeast doughs having risen before being
put in the oven will bear rather a higher degree of heat
at first than other doughs. A more moderate oven
is required for loaves than for rolls that the heat
may penetrate evenly, but the loaf must remain a suf-
ficient time to raise the center to a degree of heat that
will insure the destruction of the yeast. A moderate
temperature might allow the dough to continue rising
and even to sour from the growth of bacteria when in
the oven.
When thoroughly baked, a loaf of bread will seem
light and hollow and no steam will come from it to
burn the hand as it is turned from the pan.
The usual temperature for baking bread is about
400° F, though a good result may be reached by a
more moderate heat continued for a longer time.
Experiment. Three or four glass tubes or common
tumblers are all the apparatus needed for some prac-
tical experiments which will make the use of these leav-
ening agents much clearer than does the ordinary cook-
book. Dissolve some soda in half a tumbler of water;
in another tumbler dissolve some cream of tartar, in
a third have a little molasses ; in a fourth place some