Foods and Household Management Part 8

_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 ca.n.a.l. 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 microorganisms_.

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 "Rotisserie"; 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.

_Saute._--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 sh.o.r.e. 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 cla.s.s 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. _m.u.f.fins_ may be reheated. _Toast_ may be kept to serve under eggs or meat.

All _b.u.t.ter_ should be saved. Pieces left on b.u.t.ter plates if clean should be sc.r.a.ped 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 munic.i.p.al 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 cla.s.ses of waste: uncooked refuse, like potato skins, egg sh.e.l.ls, pea pods, meat tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs and bones; and table sc.r.a.ps from plates.

_Pieces of fat_ may be "tried out," but do not acc.u.mulate more than you use. A few _egg sh.e.l.ls_ 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.