School and Home Cooking Part 22

If the lesson period is limited to 90 minutes, it is advisable to plan only a simple meal. The following menu is suggested:

Seasonable Fruit,--fresh or cooked French Toast with Sirup Milk

Determine the number of persons each recipe for the foods above will serve. It may be necessary to prepare only a portion of a given recipe or more food than the quant.i.ty stated in the recipe. The pupil should become accustomed to dividing or multiplying the quant.i.ties given in recipes.

Commence your work at such a time that the food will be in proper condition--hot or cold--at the time set for serving the breakfast.

Follow the English or family style of serving.

Serve the breakfast with or without a maid (see previous lesson).

LESSON x.x.xII

REVIEW: MEAL COOKING

MENU

Seasonable Fruit Sauce Breakfast Cereal Coffee

See Review, for suggestions regarding the preparation of the lesson.

LESSON x.x.xIII

HOME PROJECTS [Footnote 37: See Lesson IX]

SUGGESTIONS FOR HOME WORK.--If cooked cereals are desired for breakfast at your home, prepare breakfast cereals in the evening for the following morning.

Make a dessert for the evening meal at least three times a week.

SUGGESTED AIMS:

(1) To cook the cereal a sufficient length of time to produce a sweet flavor and make it tender, to evaporate the moisture sufficiently so that mastication will be necessary, to allow no sc.u.m to form on top.

(2) To select a variety of desserts so that a different one may be served each time.

DIVISION FIVE

ENERGY-GIVING OR FUEL FOODS,--RICH IN FATS AND OILS

LESSON x.x.xIV

FAT AS A FRYING MEDIUM

COMPARISON OF FATS AND CARBOHYDRATES.--_Fat is a foodstuff._ Fat and oil [Footnote 38: Fat and oil are very similar, oil being fat that is liquid at ordinary temperature.] form another great cla.s.s of energy-giving or fuel foods. In the body, these foods, like carbohydrates, give energy; in fact weight for weight they furnish more than twice as much energy as carbohydrates. There is, for example, about as much fat by weight in one pound of b.u.t.ter as there are carbohydrates in one pound of tapioca. By measurement it has been found that one pound of b.u.t.ter gives to the body almost two and one fourth times as much energy as does one pound of tapioca.

Fats and oils are not only used as food (b.u.t.ter for example) and as const.i.tuents of foods (fat in pastry), but as a medium for cooking. The use of fat as a cooking medium follows:

EXPERIMENT 31: TEMPERATURE AT WHICH FATS AND OILS DECOMPOSE OR "BURN."-- Into each of 6 test tubes put 2 teaspoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, cottonseed oil, corn oil, beef drippings, lard, and Crisco. Gently heat each one of the fats or oils until fumes first arise from them. Then insert a thermometer [Footnote 39: Care should be taken in using a thermometer in hot fat. It should be allowed to cool before washing.] in each tube and note the temperatures. These are the temperatures at which the various fats decompose. Record these temperatures in your notebook.

How do the decomposing temperatures of fat compare with that of boiling water? Which would be the hotter medium for cooking--hot fat or boiling water?

Which fat reaches the highest temperature before it begins to decompose?

If fat is used as a medium of cooking, which of these fats, as far as temperature is concerned, would be the most desirable? Give a reason for your answer.

What is the price per pound or pint of each of these fats or oils?

Which of these are vegetable and which are animal fats or oils?

FATS FOR DEEP-FAT FRYING.--As shown by the above experiment, fat reaches a high temperature when heated. For this reason fat may be used as a cooking medium. The process of cooking food in deep fat is called _frying_.

From the standpoint of temperature the best fat for frying is that which can be heated to a very high temperature without burning.

Other factors such as flavor and cost, however, have to be taken into consideration. Fat not only heats foods, but it imparts flavor since some of the fat in which a food is cooked, clings to the food. The costs of the various fats differ greatly. This must be regarded in selecting fats for cooking. Taking these factors into consideration, many prefer the cheaper vegetable fats for frying, while others find a mixture of beef drippings and lard satisfactory.

EXPERIMENT 32: BREAD FRIED IN "COOL" FAT (CLa.s.s EXPERIMENT).--Put some suitable fat for frying in an iron pan and heat. Note carefully the change that takes place in fat as it heats. When the fat "foams" or bubbles, or reaches a temperature of about 300 degrees F., drop into it a piece of bread. After one minute remove the bread from the fat; examine the bread by breaking it apart to see if the fat has soaked into the bread. Is it desirable to have the fat soak into fried foods? What conclusion can you draw as to frying foods in "cool" fats?

EXPERIMENT 33: THE TEMPERATURE OF FAT FOR FRYING (CLa.s.s EXPERIMENT).-- Continue to heat the fat of Experiment 32. When fumes begin to rise from the fat, or the fat reaches a temperature of 365 degrees F., again drop a bit of bread into it. After one minute remove the bread and examine it as above. Has as much fat soaked into it as in the first bit of bread? What conclusion can you draw from this in regard to the proper temperature for frying foods?

Cooked foods and foods needing but little cooking require a higher temperature than batters or other uncooked foods. If a bit of bread is browned in 40 seconds, the fat is of proper temperature for cooked foods and for oysters. If bread is browned in 60 seconds, the fat is of proper temperature for uncooked foods.

GENERAL RULES FOR FRYING.--Since fat, when heated, reaches such a high temperature, the kettle in which it is heated should be of iron.

If there is any moisture on foods, it must be evaporated before the foods brown. Excessive moisture also cools the fat considerably, hence, _foods that are to be fried should be as dry as possible._

Place the foods to be cooked in a bath of fat deep enough to float them.

The kettle should not be too full, however, as fat is apt to bubble over especially when moist foods are placed in it.

Foods may be placed in a frying basket, or they may be lowered into the fat and taken from it with a wire spoon. All fried foods should be drained on paper.

When one quant.i.ty of food has been removed, the fat should be reheated and its temperature tested before adding the second quant.i.ty of food.

Fat used for frying should be cooled and clarified with potato as directed on the following page.

If a coal range is used for heating the fat, sand or ashes and a shovel should be near at hand in case the fat takes fire.

If hot fat must be carried or lifted, wrap a towel about the hand before grasping the handle of the kettle.