Author of Mrs. Rorer's Philadelphia Cook Book, Canning and Preserving, Bread and Bread Making, and other valuable works on cookery; Principal of Philadelphia Cooking School.
Copyright 1902 by SARAH TYSON RORER
All Rights Reserved
Printed by George H. Buchanan and
Company at the Sign of the Ivy
Leaf in Sansom Street Philadelphia
AN active teacher and a constant student must in twenty years collect and accumulate a vast amount of knowledge; in fact, too much to be embodied in a single book.
I have no apology to offer for the appearance of a new book on Domestic Science, especially this one. It represents on paper The School at its period of highest development, and the results of hard work of the best years of my life. Please read carefully each chapter of instructions preceding the recipes, for herein lies the great value of the work. I have not compiled a recipe book, but have made a complete new book telling the things one needs to know about cooking, living, health, and the easiest and best way of housekeeping. It is a book of general household knowledge.
A great change in the methods of living has taken place in America during the last few years. There was a time in the memory of teachers yet quite young when schools of cookery were places where persons were taught to make all sorts of fancy, odd and occasionally used dishes. In fact, to succeed with these elaborate dyspeptic-producing concoctions was the highest ambition. All this has now changed: the teacher or cook book
It has been fifteen years since I published my first book; during this time I have seen the art progress from "fancy cookery" to the highest type of Domestic Science. It has found a permanent place in the curriculum of our public schools, where it has been most valuable as a means of mental and moral training as well as useful for the individual in home keeping or obtaining a livelihood, all of which tend to and aid in the development
I believe that every woman should know how to housekeep. Giving up entirely the moral influence of a good meal, I believe that all women should learn to cook as an aid to higher education. Cookery puts into practice chemistry, biology, physiology, arithmetic, and establishes an artistic taste. And if our motto is, "Let us live well, simply, economically, healthfully and artistically," we have embraced all the arts and sciences.
Sarah Tyson Rorer
Of all the changes brought about during the Nineteenth Century, few have had a greater influence for good than the progress made in scientific cookery. A proper understanding of the conditions under which we live is of vital importance and assistance to the housewife and mother. Domestic science, including chemistry of food, is now taught in nearly all the public schools of our large cities. The young child is able to tell not only the chemistry of common foods, but the effect of heat upon them. These girls when they reach womanhood will be able to select and cook foods necessary to sustain and build the body-?they will know the elements of food, the general plan of body building.
Let us compare the living machine, the human body, to the railroad engine or locomotive. For both it is necessary to begin by selecting materials for the general structure. When these materials have been worked and fitted together, fuel must be constantly supplied and an abundance of air to make it burn; and in the third place water is required. As a result of this combination, motion, heat and waste are produced.
Pure air is of vast importance in body building. The oxygen uniting with the combustible part of the materials produces energy. The approximate principles of the body are resolved into about sixteen elements, each of which must be constantly sustained and nourished. A "perfect" or "complete" food contains all the elements necessary for the building of body. There are in the body five gases: Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine and fluorine. The four solids are carbon, sulphur, phosphorus and silica. Seven minerals: Cal-cium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, manganesium and a trace of iron and copper. Oxygen, hydrogen and carbon are found in nearly all the tissues and fluids of the body. Seventy-five per
Potassium chloride is found in the cells of tissues and in the muscle juices and nerve tissues. Green plants contain more potassium than sodium salts. This is also true of the potato; hence, succulent green vegetables supply to the system one of the necessary elements. We are told that green vegetables have no food value, and, according to the common acceptance of the meaning of these words, we can readily understand that they lack tissue-building elements; but they contain salts, which play a very important part in body building. Magnesium is found with lime in the tissues. No one has ever discovered its particular use, but there it is, a constant ingredient in the muscles and brain. To have a perfect diet, one must select from all the food products, not live on a too concentrated or restricted diet.
Nutrition may be said to take place under five conditions: Digestion, absorption, assimilation, destructive metabolism and elimination or excretion. The first begins in the mouth and continues throughout the alimentary canal; it is the process by which food is converted into assimilable compounds. All foods are not immediately assimilated or used; some are stored for future use. For instance, starch is digested and stored in the liver as
The relations between food, exercise and habits of the individual must be in proper proportion to the food ingested. The works of the body are of two kinds, muscular and nervous, and the internal as well as the external work is done by the stored energy produced by the burning or oxidization of the foods. Persons frequently forget that every time the heart beats, blood is consumed to produce the muscular action. In the energy of living, we use blood produced from the food we eat.
Alimentary principles may be divided into three classes: The albuminoids, nitrogenous foods or proteids; three words meaning the same, and comprising lean meats, fish, mollusks ( oysters and clams ), the crustaceae ( lobsters, crabs, shrimps), cheese, casein in milk, legumin found in the leguminous seeds, as old peas, beans and lentils, nitrogenous matter in nuts and the gluten of grains. The second division, non-nitrogenous or carbonaceous foods, consists of fats and the carbo-hydrates, the sugars, starches and mucilage, inulin and pectose, found in sea weeds and certain vegetables. The third group consists of inorganic foods, water and mineral salts.
Eggs and milk are typical or perfect foods; that is, they contain within themselves all the elements necessary for the development of the young of their especial kind. The egg is a perfect food for the development of the chick, and milk for the young mammal; neither of these are, however, perfect foods for the human adult. When added to our daily bills of fare they are placed in the nitrogenous or albuminous group, and served with such foods as white bread and butter. Cows ' milk, a typical food for the calf, is by no means a typical food for the human being. Nor would human milk supply the requirements of the calf. The calf gets its growth in from four to five years; from infancy to manhood is three times that long. One can see at a glance that such food would quite upset the delicate digestive apparatus of an infant. When we go contrary to the laws of nature, sickness and suffering are the results. Cows '
The total amount of food required each twenty-four hours varies, of course, with the occupation and condition of the individual. The average adult in exercise requires as a day's ration about six pounds; of this amount about three and a half pounds will be water, much of which is found in the common foods and taken in beverages. Of the remaining part, one-fourth will be nitrogenous matter; three-fourths carbonaceous, with about two hundred grains of mineral matter. This is not the amount consumed by the average American, but the amount he
Animal foods, being richer in albuminoids or nitrogenous
A second illustration will give another example of the same idea:
Each one of these articles may be replaced by another of the same class. For instance, old beans are nitrogenous or muscle-making foods and may be substituted for beef; cheese, the casein of milk, may be substituted for either beef or beans; rice, macaroni, white bread, boiled chestnuts, white or sweet potato es, are each interchangeable one with the other, at different meals. Olive oil, cream, oleaginous nuts and butter are also interchangeable. When green or succulent vegetables or fruits are used, less water is required. It is wise to serve fruits with cereals or breads, vegetables with meats, cream with starchy puddings, olive oil with green vegetables. Digestion is more easily performed with correct combinations.
Starch does not occur in animal foods, but nitrogen is found abundantly in many vegetables. Nitrogenous foods are, as a rule, more easily digested uncooked. All starchy foods must be well and thoroughly cooked.
In old peas, beans and lentils the starch is so incorporated with legumin, the nitrogenous principle, that the cooking must be long and slowly done in order to soften the envelope or wall of the starch granules, otherwise fermentation or flatulency will result.
The first object of cooking is to assist digestion. Careful, simple cooking only can do this; for instance, baked or boiled potatoes are easily digested; when fried the starch granules are covered with a coating of fat which prevents digestive secretions from acting on them; frying renders them difficult of digestion. A large quantity of fried foods may be eaten without nourishing the body; and of one thing we are quite sure, they always tax the digestive organs. Many foods are chemically changed in the process of digestion. Starch is not found in the blood as starch, but is changed by
The
The secretions of the stomach are slightly acid and have no effect upon starches. The starches are separated in the stomach from other substances and passed on into the second stomach, the
The nitrogenous foods are torn apart by mastication; they enter the stomach (an acid medium), and in the presence of
Defective teeth and hasty mastication are frequently the primary causes of indigestion. Soft foods are to be especially condemned; mushes, for instance, should be masticated, other-wise they pass into the small intestine in an unprepared condition. Starches are burned in the body to produce heat and energy; they also produce fat. If taken in excess of that needed for immediate use, are stored as fat in the connective tissue. Fats and oils are burned in the body to produce heat and energy. Too much starch and sugar increase the weight of the body and crowd the liver. The albuminoids build the muscular lean flesh and tissues. Mineral matter aids in the formation of the teeth and bones. The cereals are rich in these salts, hence, are admirable foods for the young, not infants, but for children sufficiently old to have teeth for mastication, and for nursing mothers.
This table shows the quantity of nitrogenous and carbona-ceous elements in one hundred parts of some of our common foods and will assist in arranging a well balanced dietary.
The inexperienced housewife finds more or less difficulty in determining the exact time required for cooking the various vegetables and meats so that they may all be done for the same meal at the same time. Thermometers for ovens have not, until recently, been in general use. Now one can have the so-called "thermometer," really an indicator, put into the oven door of any modern range, either gas, coal or wood, and at a very small cost; thus relieving the cook from the necessity of standing and watching and making unsatisfactory attempts to ascertain the true heat of the oven. One cannot always tell what is meant by a moderate, moderately cool or quick oven, unless one has had long experience, and even then there is a lack of exactness and an unusual amount of worry. In this calendar, we refer only to Fahrenheit.
A potato will bake in three-quarters of an hour at a temperature of 300° Fahr.; it will harden on the outside and almost burn at a temperature of 400° in twenty minutes, and if the oven is only 220° it will take one hour and a quarter to a half.
In boiling meats always use boiling water and after the first five minutes of rapid boiling reduce the temperature to 180°, and cook twenty minutes to each pound. The meat must always be covered with water.
In making stews where the meat is cut into small pieces, it is better to heat it at first in a little fat, then make the sauce and allow the meat to cook for two hours at a temperature of 180°.
An eight pound turkey with stuffing should go into an oven at 400° for a half hour to seal the outside, and then bake at 280° for two hours longer. Without stuffing, the oven must be 400° for a half hour and then dropped to 280° for an hour and a half.
A four pound chicken with stuffing will bake at 400° for a
A tame duck stuffed with potatoes placed in an oven at 360° requires one hour to brown and one hour at 230 to finish.
A goose must be cooked according to its age, and it is very difficult to select a young goose unless one is experienced. See directions for selecting geese. If they are stuffed with potatoes, cook in an oven at 400° for thirty minutes; then for two hours at 230°, basting frequently.
Fish take on their weight in length rather than bulk, which gives a specific time independent of weight. Brown quickly for a half hour, then cook at 300° for a second half hour. Planked fish under the gas or before a wood fire will require thirty minutes, and in a coal, wood or oil oven forty-five minutes.
Oysters are done when the gills are thoroughly curled.
Game such as woodcock, snipe and pheasants, must be roasted or baked continuously for thirty minutes at 400°.
Partridge, split down the back, thirty minutes at 400°.
Prairie chicken forty-five minutes at 400°.
A haunch of venison will cook in a quick oven at 400° about thirty minutes, then bake slowly for two hours at 300°, basting frequently.
To test run a skewer in the fleshy part and if the blood follows upon drawing the skewer out and the meat at the same time is tender and rare, it is done.
All red meats should be served rare; all white meats well done.
All meats should be easily done before being seasoned with salt, as the salt draws out the juices and toughens the fibre, making even good meat dry and unpalatable.
All meats must go into a very hot oven (400°). After they have been thoroughly seared on the outside cool down the oven
Bread in small French loaves will be baked continuously at 360° for 30 minutes; square loaves at 300° for ten minutes and for fifty minutes at 260°.
Pastry, such as patties and tarts, for twenty minutes at 360°.
Muffins, gems, sally lunns and other light breads twenty minutes at 360°.
Corn bread in shallow pans forty-five minutes at 360°.
Pies with upper crust thirty minutes at 360°; with under crust thirty minutes at 340°.
Apples, cored, in a slow oven at 260°, so that they may become soft without hardening the skin.
Cakes without butter require a hot oven 300° to 360°.
Four-egg sponge cake, twenty minutes; six-egg sponge cake thirty minutes; ten-egg sponge cake, forty-five minutes.
Angel food and sunshine cake, baked in pans made for the purpose, require a cool oven, 230°, which is gradually increased during the first half hour to 260°, baking in all three-quarters of an hour. If the cake is not brown at the end of this time increase the heat for just a moment until it assumes the proper color.
Cakes containing butter, such as pound cake, cup cake and fruit cake, must be baked in a very slow oven.
Fruit cake may be steamed for three hours and finished in an oven at a temperature of 240°, or it may be put into an oven at 220° for three hours and finished at 260° for one hour.
For gas baking allow twenty degrees less than the above.
The time required for cooking green vegetables:
All underground vegetables are as a rule rich in woody fibre; use boiling, unsalted water to start, adding salt when they are partly cooked.
Rule for cooking dry and underground vegetables.
A half pint measuring cup, tin or glass, can be purchased at any house-furnishing store for ten cents, and is the standard measure for all recipes.
These measures are level.
To save confusion in weights and to be uniform with English and French methods, measure all tablespoonfuls and teaspoonfuls rounding, as much above the spoon as the bowl below. In all these recipes a tablespoonful or teaspoonful means a rounding measure, unless otherwise stated.
A degree of Centigrade is greater than a degree of Fahrenheit as nine is greater than five.
To reduce Fahrenheit to Centigrade subtract 32 from the given number in Fahrenheit, muliply the result by 5 and divide this by 9. To change Centigrade to Fahrenheit multiply the degrees of Centigrade by 9, divide the result by 5, then add 32. Boiling point of water at sea level, Fahrenheit, 212°; Centigrade 100°.
It is impossible to give the exact seasons for fruits in different parts of the United States, but a general idea will be helpful.
Preserve all fruits when at their height; they are then in season. This rule will apply also to canning or jelly making. In the South, of course, the time will be earlier than in the far North. It is a well-known fact that green fruits contain a goodly amount of pectose, which by the action of natural ferments in the fruit is changed to pectin. This pectin exists in a ready formed condition in Irish moss, and is found in fruits just ripe. In a day this is again changed, hence over-ripe fruits will not make firm jelly. See jelly making.
Tomatoes should be canned during August; after that time they lose their solidity and become watery, also their sweetness of flavor and become more acid.
Beef and mutton are used the year round, but are really in best condition and in season during the winter months.
Veal and lamb are in season during the spring months, from the first of April to the first of June. They are used before and after this time, but are not plentiful.
"Spring" chickens appear about the first of May. With the present incubator method of raising chickens, and the "house" fashion of raising lambs, we have both at an earlier season, but they are high in price, and do not give a corresponding amount of nourishment.
Capons, from December until April.
Turkeys from September until March.
Geese and ducks, sold under the name of "green geese" and ducklings," from the first of June to the first of September; old ducks and geese from the first of December to the first of April.
Guinea fowls are best from the first of June to the first of October, although they appear in the markets the year around.
Game is in season during the fall and winter; the season begins about the first of November and closes February first.
Woodcock are in the market from the first of August to January. They are best after the first of October. Cold storage game is exposed for sale at all seasons, but is undesirable food.
Reed birds or rice birds are in season along the Middle Eastern coast from the latter part of August and September to October. These are the reed birds of the North and the rice birds of the South.
Rabbits and hares are in season from November first to February first; in many places they are in market the year round; they are not good, however, when out of season.
Venison is good from September first to January first.
Wild duck, partridges and geese from September first to April first; the choicest of these are the canvas back, red head, mallard, teal and widgeon.
Cod, haddock, lake halibut, chicken halibut, striped bass, eels, Columbia River salmon, smelts, red snapper, Nova Scotia herring, pickerel, catfish, terrapin, green turtle, scallops, oysters, white bait.
You will find exposed for sale long lists of fish not included here. They are not in season, however; but are preserved in some fashion, either in cold storage, or by freezing, and are not wholesome food. We have now coming from the South prawns, fresh mackerel and shad.
Cod-fish, haddock, halibut, striped bass, eels, Columbia River salmon, frost fish, Spanish mackerel, sheep's-head, red snapper and smelts still coming from Maine and Massachusetts and the inferior frozen ones from Canada. During the latter part of this
Cod-fish haddock, halibut, striped bass, chicken halibut, eels, Columbia River salmon, flounders Spanish mackerel pompano, sheep's-head, red snapper and shad are quite abundant from North Carolina and are beginning to come a little farther north. Salmon trout, white fish, yellow perch and pickerel are also coming in small quantities; terrapin, green turtle, oysters and scallops are still in season. During the latter part of the month we have salmon coming from the Kennebec and other rivers of Maine, and they remain in good condition all through April.
We have about the same list, adding now good shad, from the Susquehanna, Delaware and Hudson Rivers, and fresh mackerel also make their appearance at this season. Sheep's-head are still coming from North Carolina as well as king fish; smelts go out of season, that is they lose their sweetness; red snapper is in its best condition the middle of this month. Sea bass are coming from the North, and blue fish make their appearance in southern waters about the middle of the month. The season for brook trout opens April first. Salmon trout, white fish, green turtle, lobster, prawns, hard shell crabs, and crawfish are found in good condition. Scallops leave us at the the end of this month as well as oyster. We have in their place clams. the latter part of this month frogs' legs are in good condition and plentiful.
Lobsters, crabs, prawns and shrimps are now in good condition; oysters and scallops have gone, clams of different varieties taking their place. Oregon salmon continues during the entire month. Flounders are at their best. Fresh mackerel, Spanish mackerel and pompano come in refrigerator cars and are in
Cod-fish has just gone out of season, the flesh is soft and not at its best; cod is truly a winter fish. This may also be said of haddock, halibut and chicken halibut. We have striped bass, eels, lobsters and fresh salmon from the rivers of Maine and Canada, which is cheapest during this season of the year. Black bass, fresh mackerel, pompano, Spanish mackerel, weak fish, butter fish, king fish, sheep's-head, sea bass, sturgeon and porgies, the latter being cheap and perhaps undesirable. A few shad are exposed for sale, but they are unpalatable. Blue fish, however, are getting larger and are much better than during the previous month. This also applies to black bass.
It may be remembered that striped bass in some markets are called rock fish, and are salt water fish; while black bass are fresh water fish. Crabs, lobsters, clams, frogs' legs and crawfish are still in season.
Eels, lobsters (from Maine and Canada), pompano, flounders, black bass, Spanish mackerel, butter fish, weak fish, sheep's-head, porgies, sea bass, blue fish, moon-fish, brook trout, green turtle, crawfish, shrimps, frogs' legs and soft crabs are still in season. This list will also answer for August.
Cod-fish, haddock, halibut are coming, and are in better condition than during the previous month, but they are not first-class until October. Rock or striped bass, lobsters eels salmons now come from Nova Scotia, and the price is; steadily advancing and becomes very high until the last of the month,
Cod-fish during the latter part of the month are in better condition; striped bass or rock fish, lobsters, black fish, Columbia River salmon are here, but are not as fine as those caught on the Maine coast, which come earlier in the season. Flounders, fresh mackerel, Spanish mackerel, pompano, weak fish, king fish, sheep's-head, grunter, red. snapper, white perch, sea bass, black bass, blue fish, salmon trout, white fish, yellow perch, pickerel, masquallonge, green turtle, carp, oysters, clams, hard and soft crabs, crawfish and prawns. Hard and soft crabs are now passing out of the market. White bait and scallops are beginning to make their appearance, but are not in as good condition as they are in November. Oysters are getting better.
Cod is now in fine flavor. Haddock, halibut, rock or striped bass salmon, trout, fresh mackerel, grunter, perch, red snapper, perch, pickerel, masquallonge and blue fish are in good condition up until about the middle of the month, and those exposed for sale during the winter months are preserved by freezing. Masquallonge, cod-fish, green turtle, terrapin, red snapper are fairly good. Oysters are better: frogs' legs, hard crabs, craw-fish and prawns are rather going out of season.
During this month oysters are in fine condition, also scallops smelts, while lobster and crustaceæ in general are in poor soft condition. Oysters and scallops come in as the lobsters go out flounders, terrapin, halibut, cod-fish are now at their best. Rock or striped bass, Columbia River salmon, frost fish, torn cods cusk, black fish, red snapper, black bass, pickerel, masquallonge green turtle, and shad from the St. John River, Florida, are exposed for sale in the markets; they have been transported, of course, in refrigerator cars; they are not fine in flavor and are quite high in price.
Our rapid transportation makes it almost impossible to give exact time when vegetables are in season. Our country being large, the climate so very different in different parts, vegetables, like fruit, are in season the whole year. Celery in New York, Philadelphia and Boston is truly in season during the winter; from the South, as early as July 1st. Lettuce can be had all the year round; in the winter it is grown in hot houses, or comes from the far South; while in summer we have a home production, which is less desirable than that grown in winter.
Mushrooms are grown in cellars or fields, and can be purchased at any season. We have a number of vegetables that can be grown in any garden during the summer and put aside to keep for winter use. It is well to remember that appetites are destroyed by too much sameness. Use vegetables in season in the locality in which you live. Such vegetables as carrots, turnips, parsnips, beets, cabbage, onions, celery, salsity, leeks, endive and potatoes are easily kept for winter use. This relieves you of the necessity of canning vegetables. Tarragon, parsley and herbs may be dried just before the flowering-season. Green peppers and okra are also easily dried. The winter vegetables are greater in number than the summer ones, hence it not necessary to can and preserve such foods, unless one lives on a narrow diet.
Winter vegetables are sweet and white potatoes, artichokes,
Spring.-All the above with spinach, scullions, dandelions, asparagus, poke, corn, salad and early lettuce added.
Summer-Peas, string-beans, summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet corn, new potatoes, lima beans, new beets, lettuce, fresh sweet peppers, mushrooms, summer cabbage, egg plant, okra, Brussels sprouts and onions.
Autumn or Fall.?Potatoes, sweet and white; celery, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, lima beans, corn, Brussels sprouts, kidney beans, onions, cos or Romaine, new white turnips and new carrots.
Primitive man, no doubt, could easily masticate and digest his raw wheat, but in the present generation under existing circumstances this is entirely out of the question. Heat does not always, alter the chemical constituents of food, but when properly applied, practically aids digestion. Such changes may not be detected by chemical analysis, and yet be perceptible to the digestive apparatus.
Heat coagulates and hardens albumin. Thus we say meats are rendered less digestible by cooking. Cooking is necessary, however, to remove the danger of poisonous germs. The woody fibre of vegetables is softened by moist, slow cooking, the starch cells are ruptured, and the whole is made more easy of digestion. A slow, moist heat softens the fibre of meat; an intense heat hardens and toughens it. Meat slowly cooked at a temperature of 180° Fahr. becomes tender, juicy and easily digested; when boiled at a gallop the
The cooking of meat also enables it to be more readily masticated. In the raw state it is rather tough and can be torn apart only with great difficulty. One can easily observe this by the method in which the lion pulls the flesh from the bones while he is eating.
Albumin exists in the juices of meat as well as in the blood, and unless the outside of each piece is coagulated ("sealed") at once, much nourishment is lost, but a continued high temperature is a disadvantage.
The results of cooking depend much more upon the skill of the cook than the amount of money spent for material.
A piece of so-called inferior meat in the hands of an educated cook will he sent to the table palatable, sightly and nutritious.
The most experienced chemist with all his modern apparatus cannot demonstrate the causes and sources of flavors. Practical taste and experience alone create and detect flavors--the cook holds the secret.
The pleasure of eating, digestion and health depend upon the knowledge of the cook. Good, wholesome and nutritious food is always attractive, palatable and pleasure giving.
Heat is applied to animal and all vegetable foods, either by boiling steaming and braising-?moist heats; broiling or grilling and roasting-?dry heat in an abundance of air; baking?-dry heat, as in an oven; frying?-immersing in hot fat; and sautéing?-cooking in a little fat.
Combustion or burning means the rapid union of a substance with oxygen. The temperature at which the burning takes place is called the kindling point. The article burned is burned or oxidized. This burning is also called oxidization. Oxygen exists free (this means that it is not combined with other materials) in the air, and forms about one-fifth of its volume. Wood, oil and coal are composed mainly of carbon and hydrogen, and are all incapable of supporting combustion or burning without the assistance of oxygen. Hence, all our household structures or stoves for the burning of wood or coal have a draft at the bottom of the fire-box.
In gas and oil stoves oxygen is supplied through perforations at the base of the burners. In a gas stove we call them mixers, or Bunsen burners. In an oil stove a perforated tube encircles the wick, allowing the air to enter equally at all points. This mixture of air with gas produced by the burning wick gives the blue flame, the same as the burner on the gas stove. Where a balance is kept up there are no free particles of carbon to deposit themselves upon the utensils in the form of soot. Too much air hinders combustion; the direct pipe or chimney damper should be closes as soon as the fire is kindled. This
Gas is the cheapest and most easily managed of all fuels providing care is given to its use. A good gas stove well managed will, counting in the time for care and lack of dust, cost one-third less than coal. A good blue-flame oil stove is quite its equal as far as cooking is concerned, but requires more care, as it must be filled and have the wicks adjusted each day. In the hands of a careful cook neither gas nor oil stoves give off unpleasant odors. For all cooking purposes, a blue flame is desirable. For illumination, a red flame. Coal and charcoal are mostly carbon in rather an impure state. Hard or anthracite coal being dense, almost pure carbon, must be heated throughout before combustion will take place. For this reason, on kindling a coal fire some lighter material which will, while burning, heat the coal, must be used. When once heated to the point of combustion the coal readily takes fire, and other coal placed on top of the hot coal will, in turn, burn. Wood on top of coal deadens and smothers the fire.
Boxes or stoves used for heating or cooking purposes are not complete unless they are attached to a chimney or flue. Flames tend upward; heated air expands, becomes lighter and is pressed upward by the heavier air with which it is surrounded. The fire is kindled at the bottom of the stove where the cold air enters the fire-box, and this is also at the bottom of the chimney. Thus, as the air is heated, it is pressed upward in the chimney, causing a "draft." The cold air coming in at the bottom in its turn is heated, and so keeps on this continuous pushing upward The chimney also serves to carry off the poisonous products of combustion. Any interference with the upward tendency of hot air causes the chimney to smoke. There are several causes for smoky chimneys. The rate of motion of the current varies
It must be remembered that with this smoke come also the poisonous products of combustion, which make a perfect flue a necessity. The higher the chimney, the greater the draft. A brick chimney, however, may be so high that it will cool the air current below the top or outlet. For this reason, pipes of galvanized iron are used as extension shafts. High buildings and tall trees overshadowing a chimney frequently disturb the draft, which is another cause for smoking chimneys. The wind passes down the chimney with sufficient rapidity to cool the ascending air, which is forced back and down into the room.
In wood fires we frequently notice volumes of flame coming out through the openings of the stove. Such conditions can be regulated only by extensions to the chimney. An ordinary cook stove with such a draft would, on a quiet day, bake beautifully, but never when the wind is blowing. To condemn a stove thus placed would be folly. In this country there are very few ill-constructed cooking-stoves; the defects are usually in the chimneys. Chimneys built on the south or east side of a house give less trouble than those on the west or north side. The cold air is apt to chill them.
When there are two fireplaces in the house, or a fireplace below and a stove entering the chimney above, the fire in one or the other will not burn well unless the one not used is closed. For example, if a fire is lighted on the first floor and the stove or pipe hole is open on the second, the current is interrupted and the room will fill with smoke and gas. This difficulty will be remedied by keeping the stove closed on the second floor while the fire is burning on the first floor, or closing the
Anthracite coal being nearly solid carbon may be arranged to "keep." To accomplish this, lift the lid on the top of the stove, or open a little damper at the top of the fire-box; this will allow cold air to enter, pass over the upper surface of the coal, chill it, and prevent rapid burning. As this is imperfect combustion, great care must be taken to have the chimney flue open, that the products of combustion may not come out into the room. Carbon-monoxide, the product of imperfect combustion, is a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas. Being an accumulative poison it is still more dangerous. As hard coal contains a little sulphur, the odor of the sulphur is noticed, when the drafts are imperfect, which is like the sounding of an alarm-bell, for carbon-monoxide is found in its company.
Gas stoves used continually for cooking purposes must, like coal stoves, be attached to a chimney to carry off the poisonous products of combustion. There is less danger in summer, when all doors and windows are open.
The application of heat is just the same, no matter what fuel is used. Oil, gas, wood or coal gives about the same result, when managed by a trained housewife. Gas cooking is the ideal cooking. It is economical and cleanly, two very important points. Roasting and broiling in a gas stove are done underneath the gas jets, in other words in the lower oven, by some called the broiling oven or broiling chamber. The oven must be heated for five or eight minutes before using.
Where economy of space must be observed a small flat top gas stove with three burners with a steam cooker and a portable oven, will easily serve a family of six to eight. The baking is done precisely the same as in any other stove. Heat all ovens thoroughly before putting in the articles. Some cakes require
To use gas economically, one must always keep in mind the capacity of a single burner. The gas must be lighted when you are ready to use it, and turned out the moment you have finished. Under such circumstances, taking also into consideration that it does not require time for replenishing, as an oil, coal or wood stove, and there is no dust or ashes to remove, gas is the cheapest of all fuels. In preparing a dinner on a gas stove, select vegetables that may be cooked in the oven, and meat cooked in the underneath oven or broiling chamber, or materials that may be cooked in a steam cooker on top of the stove on a single burner. By paying attention to details of this kind a gas range may be used, the necessary water heated for scullery and laundry purposes, at a cost of not over $10 per quarter; much cheaper than coal for the same amount of work.
A sample dinner prepared at a minimum cost:
First prepare the charlotte. In so doing, use one burner on the top of the. stove, allowing five minutes for its use. An hour before dinner time, light the oven burners; when the indicator registers 9, wash the potatoes, put them in a baking pan and in the oven on the grate. Prepare the scalloped tomatoes, stand them aside as they require but twenty minutes cooking. Trim and wipe the steak ready for broiling. It will require fifteen minutes, and the broiling chamber is already heated. Light a top burner for the pea soup, which will be made while you are broiling the steak, if canned peas are used; if fresh, allow fifteen minutes for the first boiling of the peas press them through a colander, and finish while the steak is broiling.
Twenty minutes before dinner place the tomatoes in the oven. In five minutes put the steak underneath. Now finish up the soup. Turn out the burner, the water in the under boiler will keep it sufficiently hot. The potatoes are done Take each one carefully in a napkin; press it until it is perfectly soft within the skin, being careful not to break the skin, and dish them on a folded napkin. Dish and season the steak. Turn out the oven burners at once. Place everything in the oven to keep warm while the soup is being served. The cooking of all this dinner, if carefully managed, will cost not more than five cents.
Let us observe for a moment the reverse of this meal. We will have boiled or mashed potatoes; these will require an extra burner. Select stewed tomatoes instead of baked. These will take another burner. The soup will take the third, and the oven will be lighted for twenty or twenty-five minutes for heating and broiling the steak. It can be seen at a glance that seven or eight cents will be required against the five cents in the first case. Large gas bills are not, as a rule, caused by the stove or the meter, but the lack of thought or knowledge of the cook.
Where long, slow cooking becomes necessary, as in the making of stock and the cooking of cereals, use the simmering burner, after the articles have first been brought to boiling point. On baking days where six or eight loaves of bread must be baked at one time, put four on the underneath grate and four on the upper grate. After the bread has been baking fifteen minutes change the upper for the under row; turn down the burners to the minimum and bake slowly after the loaves have all been nicely browned. When using the oven for baking purposes, it is wise to select a small roast or a steak , for the dinner, as these can be roasted or broiled underneath thus again making double use of the oven burners. When baking cakes or cinnamon bun, that require a sow fire, chicken or fricandeau may be cooked underneath. A slow fire is much the better roasting fire. In baking, light the oven burners least five minutes before putting the articles in the oven. Meats or poultry require a very quick oven Heat until the indicator points to 12; continue at full heat until the
Light the oven burners at least five minutes before the time for broiling. Allow twelve to fifteen minutes for a steak an inch and a half thick. When the rack and pan are hot, place the steak on the rack, and put it as near the flames as possible without having it touch. As soon as it is seared and brown on one side, turn, sear and brown on the other. Now turn again. Remove the rack three or four slides down, but do not reduce the heat. Cook for five minutes; turn the steak and broil for five minutes longer and it is ready to season and serve.
A steak properly broiled will be "done" throughout, rare and juicy, not raw or purple in the middle, as is usually the case over a coal fire. Broil chops the same as steak. For broiling or planking fish, heat the oven five minutes, and place the fish flesh side up; when nicely browned, turn clown the burners and cook slowly for a half hour. Fish cooked under the gas is most delicious.
In these days good cooks no longer guess at oven temperatures. They have positive results; gas, as well as wear and tear on one's nerves, are saved. One knows when the oven is ready, how much to reduce the heat, and how to regulate until the
It may seem presumptuous to suggest that few people know how to boil water, but such is the case. During my experience as a teacher, which extends over a period of twenty years, I can safely say that not more than fifty ladies applying for admission to my school have been able to tell what is meant by the "boiling of water," or the different temperatures at which it boils, and why, and what chemical changes take place during and after the boiling. We boil water in the kitchen for two purposes: for the cooking of the water itself frequently to remove dangerous germs, and for the purpose of cooking other materials. The average housewife?-I am speaking now of the masses?-has few conveniences for experimental examinations, hence she must take a great deal for granted. The boiling point, under ordinary atmospheric pressure (sea level), is 212° Fahr.; this point changes according to the altitude. When bubbles form on the bottom of the kettle, come clear to the surface and rupture quietly without making an ebullition, the water is simmering. At this point the thermometer should register 180° Fahr., and it is at this temperature that we cook meats and make soups. When the bubbles begin to form on the sides and bottom of the vessel and come toward the top of the water, there is a motion in the water, but it is not really boiling hot; it is simply giving back the atmospheric gases which have been absorbed within. It is only when the thermometer reaches 212° Fahr. and the water is in rapid motion that it can be called boiling water, and the atmospheric gases still continue to be given off with the steam for a considerable time after the water has commenced to boil rapidly; in fact, it is difficult to determine when the last traces have been expelled. It is safe oppose, however, that ten minutes' boiling will free the water from its gases, make it tasteless and render it unfit for the making of tea, coffee or other light infusions of delicate materials. By filtering boiled water, allowing it to drop from
We speak of boiling meats, boiling eggs, boiling vegetables, but we know that these materials are much better when cooked in water below the boiling point. But it is very difficult to get ride of the terms "boiled." Boiled meat is not boiled at all, but is cooked far below the boiling point that the fibre may be softened and the meat made tender. The meat itself does not boil, even if the water surrounding it is boiling. Boil a piece of meat at full gallop for thirty minutes, after the meat has been thoroughly heated, plunge a thermometer into the centre of the meat, and to your surprise it will not register over 170° Fahr. Meats baked in very hot ovens register about the same.
Boiling is one of the simplest and best methods of cooking the so-called inferior pieces of meat, and consists in plunging the whole piece into a large kettle of boiling water. The meat must be entirely covered, boiling rapidly for five minutes, the temperature of the water then lowered to 160° or 180° Fahr., and the cooking continued at this temperature. Some cooks lower the water to 130°, especially for mutton.
Meat loses greater weight in the boiling than by any other process. The better pieces of meat, such as the round and shoulder, lose about twenty-five per cent., and such a piece as the brisket, being rich in fat, loses forty per cent. Four pounds of beef will lose one pound. Four pounds of mutton will lose fourteen ounces.
Salt meats that have already parted with a large portion of their juices must be thoroughly washed in cold water and put on to boil in cold water; the water in which they were boiled may be saved for other purposes. All water in which meats are boded should be saved for stock and sauces. For soups, start always with cold water.
All vegetables go over the fire in boiling water; there is no exception to this rule. Such as turnips, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, after the first boil, must be cooked slowly in an uncovered kettle.
Rice and macaroni boil rapidly, not that rapidly boiling water gives a greater degree of heat, but the motion washes apart or separates the particles or grains. Rice cooked slowly in a small quantity of water is heavy and unsightly.
Steaming is an admirable method of cooking tough meats or hams, fruit cakes, puddings and things requiring a long, moist heat. Modern housewives use for this purpose a "cooker" or sterilizer. The old-fashioned perforated steamer over a kettle of boiling water will, however, answer every purpose. Steaming requires a little longer time than boiling. Potatoes, rice, peas, beans, corn, squash, cucumbers and pumpkins may be steamed.
Materials never boil in a double boiler, nor are they steamed. Things cooked in a double boiler are cooked below boiling point. For making custards, scalding milk or cooking cereals, it is most advantageous, as it removes all danger of burning.
By this method the nutritive juices and the flavor extractives, are more thoroughly retained than by any other method of cooking. Roasting and broiling are practically the same, and mean to expose one side of the meat to the fire, while the other is exposed to the fresh air. The method is almost obsolete in this country, as conveniences for such cooking have gone out of date. In our hurried life such methods are too slow, except where the gauze door oven is used. Baking has almost entirely substituted the roasting of beef. Roasting most thoroughly and quickly seals the juices on the outside, forming a crust which acts as a barrier, preventing further escape of the juices. The meat loses less weight than by boiling, is richer and finer in flavor. Beef, mutton, game, turkeys or chickens in fact a meats with the exception of pork and veal have the best and highest flavor when cooked in this fashion. The loss of weight in roasting is due to the loss of water and fat, which amount about twenty per cent.
This is a method of cooking in the oven of a stove. It is by no means an inferior way of cooking meat, providing the basting is carefully done. We bake our bread, cake, potatoes and tomatoes, meats, poultry and game. Four pounds of beef will lose in baking one pound three ounces; four pounds of mutton will lose in baking one pound four ounces.
This is really "boiling," in a sauce. After the meat has been browned either by throwing it into a hot pan or into a little hot fat, it is cooked in a brown sauce at a temperature of 180° Fahr. If the mixture is allowed to boil hard during the cooking it will become tough and shriveled. When properly stewed the texture is soft and loose and readily breaks down under mastication. This is why we are told that stewed meats are easy of digestion. Stewing is the most economical method of cooking meats. There is practically no loss. The loss in weight is not 15 per cent., and what is lost to the meat is held in the sauce, so that really one gets a full return for each dollar spent.
Braising is a cross between boiling and baking, a method largely employed in France; hence we take for granted that it must be an economical way of cooking meats. It is best adapted to inferior pieces, those requiring long, slow cooking. A covered pan is employed for the purpose, and in this country is called a "roasting pan;" but we cannot "roast" in a covered pan. The meat is placed in the pan, the pan partly filled with stock or water, then closely covered and placed in a well heated oven. The meat browns even while the water in the pan is evaporating; tough or dense flesh, such as that found in old poultry or cattle illy fed, when cooked in this manner, is tender and palatable, hence more easy of digestion. It is also a choice method of cooking veal and pork. Flavor insipid meat, such
This is the same as roasting, applied to a smaller portion of meat. We broil or grill our steaks, chops, spring chicken and fish.
By frying we mean cooking by immersion in hot fat at a temperature of 350° to 380° Fahr. There must be sufficient fat in the pan to wholly cover each article. We fry such things as croquettes, egg plant and oysters. This method is less injurious than sauteing. When fats are heated to a high temperature, fatty acids are developed, which greatly irritate the digestive organs. Fried meats are always to be avoided even by persons with strong digestion. They will in time produce disorders of the digestive tract.
The art of frying is little understood in the average household. The products of the frying pan are usually indigestible, greasy, unsightly and unpalatable. Fats over-heated, before the articles are fried, are most injurious. If too cool, foods are greasy and under-done. An article well fried will come from the fat as free from grease as though it had been cooked in water.
A croquette that will soil the fingers as it is taken from the fat is not fit for food. Fried oysters leaving their marks on the serving plate are certaintly not palatable or dainty. Oil is the best material for frying. "Ko-nut" or "Nut-ko," made from cocoanut, a cocoanut butter, is also excellent. The compounds sold under various names as cottosuet, cottolene and vegetole are mixtures of suet and cotton-seed oil, are wholesome and give better results than lard. Lard is last to be chosen, it absorbs easily, consequently is expensive. Foods fried in pure lard are greasy and rather offensive. All warmed-over foods, as croquettes and cecils, must be dipped in egg and rolled in
This is cooking in a small quantity of fat. An omelet, lyon naise potatoes, hash brown potatoes are sautéd, not fried. Butter is usually employed for this purpose, but is the poorest of all frying materials, as it decomposes at a very low temperature. Oil is more wholesome.
By this we mean stitching a piece of meat with strips of fat salt pork. These strips are called "lardoons," and are usually two inches in length and an eighth of an inch in width. The "needle" used for the purpose is called a larding needle; instead of having an eye at the end, it has four slits which fold together as it is pulled through the meat.
Place the strip of fat pork down into the needle, take a stick as shown in the cut, pull the needle through the meat leaving a portion of the lardoon at each end. We lard sweet breads, game, poultry, veal and fillet of beef. It is not, however, at all necessary or obligatory that any of these shall be larded, but it is the ordinary method. People not using- pork simply omit that part of the recipe.
Perhaps first in importance for the making of good soup arc the utensils necessary for its preparation. The juices of meat are acid; hence it is undesirable to use either tin or iron; even after a thorough cleaning, they will impart an unpleasant odor, and spoil the flavor of the soup for the person with a delicate palate.
An ordinary granite kettle with a closely fitting lid will answer every purpose. If you can afford a little more at first cost, the one with an outside copper bottom will last twice as long, and is really more desirable. The bottom being double prevents the rapid boiling which is always objectionable for clear soups. Have the kettle sufficiently large to hold the bones, the meat and the water, and leave a space, of at least four inches, from the top. This will allow of easy skimming. As the ordinary clear soup is made from bone and meat, rapid boiling clouds the soup, making a clear soup impossible, without clarification; hence the necessity for great care in making.
An ordinary colander may be used for the first straining, and after this a purée sieve.
For a perfectly clear or brilliant soup, a double cheesecloth is preferable to a flannel bag. The objection to flannel is that it holds the flavor or odor of the soup, and is rarely thoroughly cleansed; then at the next straining, it gives to the soup a stale. unpleasant flavor. Cheesecloth is easily cleansed; the fibre of cotton is more yielding than that of flannel.
Use always
As all the nourishment of meat cannot be drawn out into the water, the meat from soups should be saved and used for such dishes as pressed meats, sandwiches and curries, where
Soups may be divided into four classes : Those containing considerable nourishment, as thick milk soups; the clear soups containing vegetables, moderately nourishing; the thin clear soups containing the stimulating elements of the beef, without nourishment, as stock, consommé, bouillon; and the cold fruit soups. Those of the last class are used only in the summer at the beginning of a luncheon, are rather heavy, and cannot be considered hygienic. Perfectly clear soups and those containing bits of vegetables are dinner soups; while the milk or so-called "cream" soups may be used for luncheon or supper where they form a part of the nourishment of the meal. In most well-to-do families, soup begins the dinner. As the dishes following are rich in food value, the soup need not necessarily be nutritious. Under such circumstances, a perfectly clear soup is desirable, the object being to draw into the stomach the digestive fluids before the entrance of solid food. But where a soup is to form the entire dinner, as it frequently does among the middle or laboring classes, it must contain sufficient meat and vegetable material to give the necessary nourishment. In France, among the country folk, the ordinary
To repeat, water cannot dissolve the fibre of beef, which holds a large part of the nourishment. Clear soups are only
2 Soup Colander
3 Soup Sieve
4 Coarse Gravy
5 Fine Gravy Strainer
While the fashion of having a dinner soup is confined to the few, the masses would follow, I am sure, if they knew the hygiene of the fashion.
For clear soup, select either a plain stock, bouillon or consommé. The first may be made from fresh meat, or the bones from cooked meats. The latter method is recommended to those who wish to live well and economically.
Bouillon is a light clear soup served in cups at the beginning of a luncheon.
Consommé is the most expensive and the most tasty of all clear soups; it is always used as a dinner soup.
Stock is the foundation of all the clear soups, and the very life and essence of all meat sauces.
To make a perfectly clear stock use a shin of beef, meat and bone in proportion of one pound of meat to a half pound of tone. Wipe it carefully with a damp cloth; cut the meat from the bone; and then into small blocks or pieces. Put into the stock kettle two tablespoonfuls of sugar and one sliced onion; stir over a hot fire until the onion and sugar brown and burn. Throw in the meat, keeping the kettle still quite hot; shake and stir the meat until it seems slightly scorched; then add the bones that have been well cracked and five quarts of
This, however, would be an extravagant method, and only necessary in large establishments with large families.
All
The economical housewife saves every
The delicate flavor of each vegetable depends upon the volatile materials they contain. This, of course, is easily dissipated if the
Select ironing or baking days for the making of
To clarify remove the fat from the surface; turn the
The albumin in the
Bouillon is a clear soup made from
