Part 3 (1/2)

_Stewing_ is the prolonged cooking of food in a small quant.i.ty of liquid, the temperature of which is just below the boiling point.

Stewing should not be confounded with simmering, which is slow, steady boiling. The proper temperature for stewing is most easily secured by the use of the double boiler. The water in the outer vessel boils, while that in the inner vessel does not, being kept a little below the temperature of the water from which its heat is obtained, by the constant evaporation at a temperature a little below the boiling point.

_Frying_, which is the cooking of food in hot fat, is a method not to be recommended--Unlike all the other food elements, fat is rendered less digestible by cooking. Doubtless it is for this reason that nature has provided those foods which require the most prolonged cooking to fit them for use with only a small proportion of fat, and it would seem to indicate that any food to be subjected to a high degree of heat should not be mixed and compounded largely of fats. The ordinary way of frying, which the French call _sauteing_, is by the use of only a little fat in a shallow pan, into which the food is put and cooked first on one side and then the other. Scarcely anything could be more unwholesome than food prepared in this manner. A morsel of food encrusted with fat remains undigested in the stomach because fat is not acted upon by the gastric juice, and its combination with the other food elements of which the morsel is composed interferes with their digestion also. If such foods are habitually used, digestion soon becomes slow and the gastric juice so deficient in quant.i.ty that fermentation and putrefactive changes are occasioned, resulting in serious disturbance of health. In the process of frying, the action of the heat partially decomposes the fat; in consequence, various poisonous substances are formed, highly detrimental to the digestion of the partaker of the food.

ADDING FOODS TO BOILING LIQUIDS.--Much of the soddenness of improperly cooked foods might be avoided, if the following facts were kept in mind:--

When vegetables, or other foods of ordinary temperature, are put into boiling water, the temperature of the water is lowered in proportion to the quant.i.ty and the temperature of the food thus introduced, and will not again boil until the ma.s.s of food shall have absorbed more heat from the fire. The result of this is that the food is apt to become more or less water-soaked before the process of cooking begins. This difficulty may be avoided by introducing but small quant.i.ties of the food at one time, so as not to greatly lower the temperature of the liquid, and then allowing the latter to boil between the introduction of each fresh supply, or by heating the food before adding it to the liquid.

EVAPORATION is another principle often overlooked in the cooking of food, and many a sauce or gravy is spoiled because the liquid, heated in a shallow pan, from which evaporation is rapid, loses so much in bulk that the amount of thickening requisite for the given quant.i.ty of fluid, and which, had less evaporation occurred, would have made it of the proper consistency, makes the sauce thick and unpalatable. Evaporation is much less, in slow boiling, than in more rapid cooking.

MEASURING.--One of the most important principles to be observed in the preparation of food for cooking, is accuracy in measuring. Many an excellent recipe proves a failure simply from lack of care in this respect. Measures are generally more convenient than weights, and are more commonly used. The common kitchen cup, which holds a half pint, is the one usually taken as the standard; if any other size is used, the ingredients for the entire recipe should be measured by the same. The following points should be observed in measuring:--

1. The teaspoons and tablespoons to be used in measuring, are the silver spoons in general use.

2. Any material like flour, sugar, salt, that has been packed, should either be sifted or stirred up lightly before measuring.

3. A cupful of dry material is measured level with the top of the cup, without being packed down.

4. A cupful of liquid is all the cup will contain without running over.

Hold the cup in a saucer while measuring, to prevent spilling the liquid upon the floor or table.

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.--The following comparative table of weights and measurements will aid in estimating different materials:--

One heaping tablespoonful of sugar weighs one ounce.

Two round tablespoonfuls of flour weigh one ounce.

Two cupfuls of granulated sugar weigh one pound.

Two cupfuls of meal weigh one pound.

Four cupfuls of sifted flour weigh one pound.

One pint of oatmeal, cracked wheat, or other coa.r.s.e grains, weighs about one pound.

One pint of liquid weighs one pound.

One pint of meat chopped and packed solid weighs one pound.

Seven heaping tablespoonfuls of sugar = one cupful.

Five heaping tablespoonfuls of flour = one cupful.

Two cupfuls of liquid or dry material = one pint

Four cupfuls of liquid or dry material = one quart.

MIXING MATERIALS.--In the compounding of recipes, various modes are employed for mingling together the different ingredients, chief of which are _stirring_, _beating_, and _kneading_.

By _stirring_ is meant a continuous motion round and round with a spoon, without lifting it from the mixture, except to sc.r.a.pe occasionally from the sides of the dish any portion of the material that may cling to it.