Miss Parloa's New Cook Book Part 12

[Ill.u.s.tration: Stew-Pan.]

The stew-pans that are porcelain-lined are better than the tin-lined, because the tin is liable to melt when frying is done, as, for instance, when meat and vegetables are fried for a stew. Granite ware stew-pans are made in the same shapes as the porcelain-lined.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Heavy Tin Sauce-Pan.]

The tin sauce-pans are nice for sauces and gravies. The porcelain- lined come in the same shapes. Copper is a better conductor of heat than either tin or iron, but when it is not kept perfectly clean, oxide of copper, which is very poisonous, collects on it, and is dissolved by oils and fats. Then when fruit, pickles, or any food containing an acid is allowed to cool in the vessels, verdigris is produced; and this is a deadly poison.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bread or Dish Pan. Shallow Milk Pan.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dripping Pan. Bread Pan.]

The stamped tin-ware is made from a better quality of metal than the soldered; therefore, it comes higher, but it is in the end cheaper, and it is always safer. Bread, milk and dish pans should be made of stamped tin. The pans for roasting meat should be made of Russian iron.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Basting Spoon. Ladle. Dredging Box.]

The spoons for basting and mixing, and also the ladle, should be strong and well tinned.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Lemon Squeezer.]

The plain wooden lemon squeezer is the most easily kept clean, and is, therefore, the best. That made of iron, with a porcelain cup, is stronger, but it needs more care.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dover Egg Beater.]

The Dover egg beater is the best in the market. It will do in five minutes the work that in former years required half an hour. There are three sizes. The smallest is too delicate for a large number of eggs.

The second size, selling for $1.25, is the best for family use.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Apple Parer.]

An apple parer saves a great deal of time and fruit, and is not very expensive.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wooden Buckets.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wooden Boxes.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cake Box.]

Wooden buckets and boxes come in nests, or, they can be bought separately. A good supply of them goes a great way toward keeping a store-room or closet in order.

The j.a.panned ware is best for canisters for tea and coffee and for spice and cake boxes. Cake boxes are made square and round. The square boxes have shelves. The most convenient form is the upright. It is higher-priced than the other makes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tea Caddy.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Spice Box.]

The spice box is a large box filled with smaller ones for each kind of ground spice. It is very convenient, and, besides, preserves the strength of the contents.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Oblong Jelly Mould.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pointed Jelly Mould.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Rice Mould.]

There are so many beautiful moulds for fancy dishes that there is no longer any excuse for turning out jellies, blanc-mange, etc., in the form of animals. There are two modes of making moulds. By one the tin is pressed or stamped into shape, and by the other it is cut in pieces and soldered together. Moulds made by the first method are quite cheap, but not particularly handsome. Those made in the second way come in a great variety of pretty forms, but as all are imported, they are expensive.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Crown Moulds.]

The crown moulds are especially good for Bavarian creams, with which is served whipped cream, heaped in the centre.

[Ill.u.s.tration: French Pie Mould.]

The French pie mould comes in a number of sizes, and can be opened to remove the pie. Deep tin squash-pie plates, answer for custard, cream, Washington and squash pies, and for corn cake.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Vegetable Cutter.]

Tin vegetable cutters, for cutting raw vegetables for soups, and the cooked ones for garnishing, are nice to have, as is also a confectioner's ornamenting tube for decorating cake, etc. Larger tubes come for lady fingers and eclairs. Little pans also come for lady- fingers, but they cost a great deal. The jagging iron will be found useful for pastry and hard gingerbread.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Lady-Fingers Pan.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Confectioner's Tube. Jagging Iron.]

The little tin, granite ware and silver-plated escaloped sh.e.l.ls are pretty and convenient for serving escaloped oysters, lobster, etc. The price for the tin style is two dollars per dozen, for the granite ware, four dollars, and for the silver-plated, from thirty to forty dollars.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Escaloped Sh.e.l.l.]

SOUPS.

Remarks on Soup Stock.

There is a number of methods of making soup stocks, and no two will give exactly the same results. One of the simplest and most satisfactory is that of clear stock or bouillon. By this the best flavor of the meat is obtained, for none pa.s.ses off in steam, as when the meat is boiled rapidly. The second mode is in boiling the stock a great deal, to reduce it. This gives a very rich soup, with a marked difference in the flavor from that made with clear meat kept in water at the boiling point. The third way leaves a mixed stock, which will not be clear unless whites of eggs are used. In following the first methods we buy clear beef specially for the stock, and know from the beginning just how much stock there will be when the work is completed. By the second method we are not sure, because more or less than we estimate may boil away. The third stock, being made from bones and pieces of meat left from roasts, and from the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of raw meats, will always be changeable in color, quant.i.ty and quality. This is, however, a very important stock, and it should always be kept on hand. No household, even where only a moderate amount of meat is used, should be without a stock-pot. It can be kept on the back of the range or stove while cooking is going on. Two or three times a week it should be put on with the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs and bones left from cooked and uncooked meats. This practice will give a supply of stock at all times, which will be of the greatest value in making sauces, side dishes and soups. Meat if only slightly tainted will spoil a stock; therefore great care must be taken that every particle is perfectly sweet.

Vegetables make a stock sour very quickly, so if you wish to keep a stock do not use them. Many rules advise putting vegetables into the stock-pot with the meat and water and cooking from the very beginning.

When this is done they absorb the fine flavor of the meat and give the soup a rank taste. They should cook not more than an hour--the last hour--in the stock. A white stock is made with veal or poultry. The water in which a leg of mutton or fowl have been boiled makes a good stock for light soups and gravies. A soup stock must be cooled quickly or it will not keep well. In winter any kind of stock ought to keep good a week. That boiled down to a jelly will last the longest. In the warm months three days will be the average time stock will keep.