Science in the Kitchen Part 47

ROAST CHICKEN.--Dress carefully, singe, wash, and wipe dry. Put into a pan of the proper size, add a cup of boiling water, and cook very slowly for the first half hour, then increase the heat, baste frequently, turn occasionally so that no portion will brown too fast.

Cook from one to two hours according to size and age of the bird. It is usually considered essential to stuff a fowl for roasting, but a dressing compounded of melted fat and crumbs seasoned with herbs and strong condiments is not to be recommended.

If a dressing is considered necessary, it may be made of a quart of crumbs of rather stale whole-wheat bread, moistened with cream, to which add a small handful of powdered and sifted sage leaves which have been dried in the oven until crisp. Add salt as desired, a well-beaten egg, and a little chopped celery.

ROAST TURKEY.--Pluck, singe, and dress the turkey; wash thoroughly and wipe with a dry cloth. If dressing is to be used, stuff the body full, sew up, and truss. Place in a dripping-pan, add a pint of boiling water, and put in an oven so moderate that the turkey will not brown for the first hour; afterward the heat may be somewhat increased, but at no time should the oven be very hot. After the bird becomes brown, baste it occasionally with the water in the pan, dredging lightly with flour.

Cook until the legs will separate from the body; three or four hours will be necessary for a small turkey. One half hour to the pound is the usual rule. When tender, remove the stuffing and serve it hot, placing the turkey on a large hot platter to be carved. It may be garnished with parsley or celery leaves and served with cranberry sauce.

Ducks and geese may be prepared and roasted in the same manner, but less time will suffice for cooking, about one and one third hours for ducks of ordinary size, and about three hours for a young goose.

A stuffing of mashed potato seasoned with onion, sage, and salt is considered preferable for a goose. Equal parts of bread crumbs and chopped apples moistened in a little cream are also used for this purpose.

SMOTHERED CHICKEN.--Cut two chickens into joints and put in a closely covered kettle with a pint of boiling water. Heat very slowly to boiling, skim, keep covered, and simmer until tender and the water evaporated; add salt, turn the pieces, and brown them in their own juices.

STEAMED CHICKEN.--Prepare the chicken as for roasting, steam until nearly tender, dredge with flour and a little salt; put into a dripping-pan and brown in the oven. Other birds and fowls may be prepared in the same way.

STEWED CHICKEN.--Divide a chicken into pieces suitable for serving, and stew as directed for beef on page 400. Old fowls left whole and stewed in this manner for a long time and afterward roasted, are much better than when prepared in any other way. If a gravy is desired, prepare as for stewed beef. Other poultry may be stewed likewise.

FISH.

Fish is a less stimulating article of food than other meats. Edible fish are generally divided into two cla.s.ses, those of white flesh and those more or less red. The red-fleshed fish, of which the salmon is a representative, have their fat distributed throughout the muscular tissues, while in white fish the fat is stored up in the liver; hence the latter cla.s.s is much easier of digestion, and being less stimulating, is to be recommended as more wholesome. Different kinds of fish have different nutritive values. Their flavor and wholesomeness are greatly influenced by the nature of their food and the condition of the water in which they are caught; those obtained in deep water with strong currents are considered superior to those found in shallow water. Fish are sometimes poisonous, owing no doubt to the food they eat.

Like all animal foods, fish are subject to parasites, some of which take up their abode in the human body when fish infected with them are eaten.

An eminent scientist connected with the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, contributed an article to _Forest and Stream_ a few years ago, in which he stated that in the salmon no less than sixteen kinds of parasitic worms have been discovered, and undoubtedly many others remain unknown; four species were tapeworms, and four, roundworms. The yellow perch is known to be infested with twenty-three species of parasitic worms.

The pike carries with him at least twenty kinds, while many other varieties of fish are equally infested.

Fish have been highly lauded as a food particularly suited to the development of the brain and nervous system. This no doubt has arisen from the fact that fish contain a considerable amount of phosphorus.

Phosphorus is also present in the human brain, and for this reason it has been supposed that fish must be excellent nutriment for the brain; but the truth is, there is no such thing as any special brain or nerve food. What is good to build up one part of the body is good for the whole of it; a really good food contains the elements to nourish every organ of the body.

Salted fish, like salted meat, is deprived of most of its nutriment during the curing process, and being rendered much more difficult of digestion, possesses very little value as a food.

Sh.e.l.l-FISH (OYSTERS, CLAMS, SCALLOPS, LOBSTERS, CRABS, ETC.)--Although considered a luxury by epicures, sh.e.l.lfish are not possessed of a high nutritive value. The whole cla.s.s are scavengers by nature and according to recent researches it appears that they are not altogether safe articles of diet. Many cases of severe and extensive sickness have been traced to the use of clams and oysters.

Investigations made to ascertain the cause show the poisonous part of the mussel to be the liver. Rabbits and other small animals inoculated with the poison died in one or two minutes. Not all mussels are thus poisonous, but inasmuch as there is an abundance of wholesome food, it would certainly seem the part of wisdom to discard sh.e.l.lfish altogether.

HOW TO SELECT AND PREPARE FISH.--The flesh of good, fresh fish is firm and hard, and will respond at once to pressure with the fingers. If the flesh feels soft and flabby, the fish is not fresh. The eyes should be full and bright and the gills of a clear red color.

Fish should be cleaned as soon as possible after being caught. To do this, lay the fish upon a board, and holding it by the tail, sc.r.a.pe off the scales with a dull knife held nearly flat, working from the tail toward the head. Sc.r.a.pe slowly, and rinse the knife frequently in cold water. Cut off the head and fins, make an opening from the gills halfway down the lower part of the body, sc.r.a.pe out the entrails and every particle of blood. Remove the white part that lies along the backbone, then thoroughly rinse and wipe dry.

Keep in a cool place until ready to cook, but do not place directly on ice, as that will have a tendency to soften the flesh. Fresh fish should never be allowed to soak in water. If salt fish is to be used, it should be freshened by placing it skin-side up in cold water, and soaking for several hours, changing the water frequently.

Frozen fish should be placed in cold water to thaw, and when thawed, should be cooked immediately.

Fish is cooked by nearly all methods, but retains more nourishment when broiled or baked. It should be thoroughly cooked, being both indigestible and unpalatable when underdone.

Boiled fish is usually dependent for flavor upon some kind of rich sauce so incompatible with healthy digestion that we do not recommend this method.

_RECIPES._

BAKED FISH.--Select a perfectly fresh, properly dressed fish. Rinse thoroughly and wipe dry. Fold it together and place in a dripping pan with a cup of boiling water. Cook slowly and steadily until tender. A fish weighing three or four pounds will require at least two hours. If desired, the fish may be lightly dredged with flour, toward the last, as it begins to brown.

BROILED FISH.--Thoroughly clean the fish, and if small, split down the back. Fish of larger size should be cut into inch slices. Use a double wire broiler well oiled with a bit of suet. Lay the fish, with its thickest part next the center of the broiler, skin uppermost, and broil over a bed of clear coals until the flesh-side is of an even brown. The time required will vary, according to the size of the fish, from five to twenty minutes; then turn and brown on the other side. If the fish be very thick, when both sides are browned, put the broiler in the oven over a dripping pan and cook until done.

MEAT SOUP.

Soups made from meat require first the preparation of a special material called _stock_, a liquid foundation upon which to begin the soup.

Beef, veal, mutton, and poultry are all made into stock in the same manner, so that general rules for its preparation will be sufficient for all meat soups.

The princ.i.p.al const.i.tuents of meat and bones, the material from which stock is compounded, are fiber, alb.u.minous elements, gelatinous substances, and flavoring matters. The alb.u.minous elements are found only in the flesh. The gelatinous substance found in bones, skin, and tendons, is almost devoid of nutriment. In selecting material for stock, therefore, it is well to remember that the larger the proportion of lean meat used, the more nutritious will be the soup.

But little else than gelatine is obtained from the bones, and although serviceable in giving consistency, a soup made princ.i.p.ally from bones is not valuable as a food. The amount of bone used for soup should never exceed the flesh material in weight. The bones, tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, and remnants of steaks, chops, and roasts may be advantageously utilized for soups.

Bits of roast meat and roast gravies are especially serviceable material, since they are rich in the flavoring elements of meat. It should be remembered, however, that these flavoring matters are chiefly excrement.i.tious or waste substances, derived from the venous blood of the animal.

The greatest care must be observed to keep the sc.r.a.ps perfectly sweet and fresh until needed, as stale meat is exceedingly unwholesome. If the sc.r.a.ps are mostly cooked meats and bones, a small portion of raw, lean meat should be used with them; it need not be of the choicest quality; tough, coa.r.s.e meat, when fresh and good, can be advantageously used for soup stock.

If fresh material is to be procured, select for beef soups a piece from the shin or lower round; the same choice of pieces may be made of veal; of mutton, pieces from the forequarter and neck are best.

In preparing meat for soup, if it is soiled, scrub the outside thoroughly with a clean cloth wet in cold water, or cut away the soiled portion. Break the bones into as small pieces as convenient; cut the meat into inch dice, remove the marrow from the bones, and put it aside.

If added to the stock, it will make it greasy.

Having selected proper material and prepared it for use, the next step is to extract the juices. To do this put it into cold water, bring very gradually to the boiling point,--an hour is not too long for this,--then cook slowly but continuously. In the observation of these simple measures lies the secret of success in stock-making.

The alb.u.minous elements of the meat, which are similar in character to the white of an egg, are readily dissolved in cold or tepid water, but boiling water coagulates them. If the meat is put into boiling water, the alb.u.men coagulates, or hardens, forming a sort of crust on the outside of the meat, which prevents the inner juices from escaping; on the contrary, if the meat is put to cook in cold water, and is gradually raised to the boiling point, the soaking and simmering will easily extract and dissolve the juices.

Salt likewise hinders the extraction of the meat juices, and should not be added to stock during its preparation.

The best utensil for use in the preparation of stock is a soup digester.

This is a porcelain-lined kettle, resting on standards, with a cover fitting closely into a groove, so that no steam can escape except through a valve in the top of the cover. In this the meat can be placed and allowed to cook for hours without burning. An ordinary granite-ware kettle with tightly fitting cover set on a stove ring or brick, answers quite well. It should, however, be kept entirely for this purpose. A double boiler is also suitable.

The correct proportion of water is to be used is about one quart to each pound of meat and bones, though this will vary somewhat with the material and the length of time required for cooking. The sc.u.m which is thrown to the surface of the water during the cooking process is composed of blood and other impurities, and should be removed as rapidly as it rises. If allowed to remain after the water reaches the boiling point, it will become incorporated into the stock and injure it in flavor and wholesomeness.

If the meat and bones are well cut and broken, the juices ought to be all extracted, with proper cooking, in three or four hours. Longer cooking will render the stock thicker and more gelatinous but not more nutritious, and too long cooking will detract from its flavor. As soon as the meat will fall from the bones, the stock should be removed from the pot and strained at once.

A good way to strain stock is to place a colander over an earthen crock or jar (the colander should fit inside the jar), with a cloth strainer within the colander. Then dip the contents of the stock kettle into the colander, and leave it there to drain for fifteen or twenty minutes. Do not squeeze the cloth, and when well drained, throw the sc.r.a.ps away.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Arrangement for Straining Stock.]

French cooks, with their propensity for economy, sometimes select a good quality of beef, cook it so as to retain a portion of the juices in the meat, and make it serve both for preparing the soup and for boiled beef on the bill of fare. The meat is not cut up, but is heated quickly and removed as soon as tender, so that only part of the juices are extracted.

Set the stock where it will become cold. The more rapidly it cools, the more delicate will be its flavor, and the better it will keep. The fat will rise to the surface, and can be easily removed when desired. If the quant.i.ty of fat in the material used was considerable, a solid cake will cover the top. This fat, by excluding the air, helps keep the stock sweet, and should not be removed until the stock is needed.

If only a portion is to be used at one time, the remainder with the fat should be reheated and cooled, that a new crust may be formed. In winter, stock may be kept several days, if care is thus taken to reheat it. In summer, unless kept in a very cold place, it will spoil in a few hours.