The Story of Crisco Part 5

The joint should be basted about every ten minutes, as this helps to cook it, keeps it juicy and improves the flavor. The time allowed is fifteen minutes for every pound, twenty minutes over for beef and mutton; for veal and pork twenty minutes for every pound and thirty minutes over.

Oven Roasting

Roasting in the oven of ordinary coal stoves or ranges is not considered so good as roasting before an open fire; nevertheless it may be said safely that the greatest part of meat roasting is done in close ovens. It appears, from various experiments that meat roasted or baked in a close oven loses rather less of its weight than if roasted by an open fire.

The excellence of a roast depends to a great extent upon the amount of basting it receives.

Some cooks season a joint before it is cooked, while others season it with salt and pepper just before it is served. There is a difference of opinion as to which is the more correct way of the two. Meat of newly killed animals requires longer cooking than meat which has been hung for a time.

In warm weather joints require slightly less time for roasting than in cold.

Boned and rolled or stuffed meats require longer cooking than the same joints would if neither rolled nor stuffed. The meat of young animals and that of old ones requires different treatment. As a rule young flesh, containing less fibrine, requires longer cooking. White meat, such as pork, veal and lamb, always should be well cooked and never must be served rare. The exact time and process of roasting must be left to the good management of the cook, who must be guided by circ.u.mstances and conditions. The cook's business is to serve the joint as full of nourishing qualities as possible. Though roasting is considered one of the easiest and most simple processes of cookery, it really requires quite as much attention to obtain perfect results as is necessary to prepare so-called "made" dishes, the recognized test for good cooks.

Boiling

Boiling (of fresh meat).--This is cookery by immersion in boiling liquid, which after a few minutes is reduced to simmering. The object of the high temperature at first is to harden the surface alb.u.men and so seal the pores and prevent the escape of the juices. If continued too long, this degree of heat would tend to toughen the joint throughout; after the first few minutes, therefore, the heat must be reduced to about 180 F. The pan used for boiling meat should be only just large enough to hold the joint, and the quant.i.ty of liquid no more than is required to cover it. For the boiling of salt meat the general rule of first hardening the surface is not to be followed. The salting of meat withdraws a large proportion of its juices, while at the same time the salt hardens the fibres, and this hardness would be intensified by extreme heat. Very salt meat sometimes is soaked in cold water to extract some of the salt, but whether this is done or not, the rule for boiling salt meat is to immerse it in cold or tepid water and bring slowly to boiling point; boil for five minutes to seal the pores and prevent any further loss of juice, then reduce to 180 F., and maintain a uniform temperature till the meat is cooked. Salt meat takes longer to cook than fresh meat, and the saltness may be qualified by boiling vegetables with the meat, turnips especially being useful for this purpose.

Baking

The actual differences between roasting and baking are not great, the terms being frequently interchanged. Meat loses rather less weight when baked than when roasted, but the flavor of meat is inferior and less developed. The heat of an oven being steadier, baking takes somewhat less time than roasting. In a gas oven having an open floor the current of air is not impeded, and such baking very nearly approaches roasting, and the flavor generally is acknowledged to be the same.

Stewing

Stewing is cooking slowly with a small quant.i.ty of liquid in a covered vessel. The method is specially suitable for the coa.r.s.er and cheaper parts of meat, which are rendered tender without loss of their juices.

The usual plan is to make a gravy flavored and colored to suit the stew, and after the ingredients are well blended and cooked to lay the meat in the boiling liquid. After about two minutes boiling, the temperature is reduced to simmering, about 160 F., a lower temperature than that required for a large joint of "boiled" meat. The time depends greatly on the quality of the meat, but none will stew satisfactorily in less than from one and a half to two hours, and the longer allowance is to be preferred.

Broiling

Broiling, sometimes called grilling, is cooking by the direct action of fire brought almost into contact with the meat. The outer surface is burned or seared, the alb.u.men hardened and the juices, which have a tendency to escape on the side turned from the heat, are retained in the meat by frequent turning. The fire for broiling must be very clear, intensely hot and high in the grate. The utensil required for broiling is a gridiron, the bars of which are greased and heated to prevent sticking and subsequent tearing of the meat. The gridiron is laid quite close over the heat, so that the lower surface is dried and hardened at once.

The meat must be turned at very short intervals before the juices have been driven from the heat to the opposite surface. If once allowed to reach the surface, they will be thrown off in turning and lost, the meat being correspondingly impoverished. By constant turning the juices are kept moving backwards and forwards, and the meat remains moist and full of flavor. Each side should be exposed to the fire about three times, and it is not desirable to use meat less than one inch or more than one and a half to two inches thick for the purpose.

The thinner pieces should have even greater heat applied than the thick ones, as the longer thin ones are exposed to the fire the more dry and tasteless they become, while the thicker pieces may be slightly withdrawn after thoroughly hardening the surface and cooked rather more slowly that the heat may penetrate to the center. The frequent turning must be continued, or the juices will reach the hardened outer fibres, soften them, and escape.

If a double broiler is used the turning is managed easily, but with a single gridiron care must be taken not to puncture the meat by using a fork. Steak tongs are made for the purpose of lifting and turning broiled meat, but a spoon or a spoon and knife will answer. A single rim of fat on the chop or steak will tend to keep the edge moist and baste the meat, but too much will cause flame to rise in continuous jet, making the surface smoky. If there is absolutely no fat on the piece to be broiled, morsels of finely chopped suet may be occasionally thrown into the fire, so the sudden spurt of flame from this source leaves a deposit of fat on the meat which improves the flavor, and, without softening the alb.u.men, prevents its becoming uneatably hard and dry.

Frying

Frying may be looked on as a derivative of broiling, and pa.s.ses by easy stages, from broiling on a slightly greased metal plate, or _sauteing_ in a shallow pan in a small quant.i.ty of Crisco, to cooking by actual immersion into a bath of hot fat. In a house where small and delicately made dishes are in demand, and where variety in the re-dressing of cold meats has to be studied, this frying in deep fat is one of the cook's most needed accomplishments. Though exceedingly easy to do well, it is also exceedingly easy to do badly.

Deep fat frying, which means submerging the food in the fat, is far superior to shallow or saute frying, and can be done most economically with Crisco. Little is absorbed by the foods, and the Crisco does not take up the odor or flavor of the food which is fried in it. This characteristic makes it possible to use Crisco for frying one article of food after another.

Use _plenty_ of Crisco for frying. The temperature of the hot Crisco then will be but little lowered when the food is added. There is little absorption and what is left may be used for _all_ frying, merely by straining out food particles after each frying.

Sufficient Crisco should be put into the pan to fill it about two-thirds full. From two to three pounds for a pan eight inches in diameter will not be too much. Into this pan or kettle a wire "frying-basket" should fit quite loosely, the basket measuring quite an inch less across the top than the pan.

Let Crisco get hot gradually in the pan. Do not put into an already hot container. No fat should be treated in this manner.

Do Not Wait for Crisco to Smoke

Heat Crisco until a crumb of bread becomes a golden brown in

60 seconds for raw dough mixtures, as crullers, fritters, etc.

40 seconds for cooked mixtures, as croquettes, codfish b.a.l.l.s, etc.

20 seconds for French fried potatoes.

Seconds may be counted thus: one hundred and one, one hundred and two, etc.

The fat may be tested also by dropping into it a little piece of the article to be cooked. When it rises to the top, bubbles vigorously and browns quickly, the fat is hot enough.

When prepared, the foods must be placed in the basket, not too many at a time or too close together, and then lowered gently into the fat.

They generally will sink to the bottom for a minute or two, and only float when they have begun to brown. When a bright golden brown, take up the basket and let the fried things drain in it, over the hot fat, for a few seconds. Then take them out gently one by one, and lay them on a sheet of brown or kitchen paper.

The draining over the pan is one of the princ.i.p.al things to attend to; if this be neglected, the fat will cling about the fried things, making them both look and taste greasy, whereas if properly drained in the basket to begin with, they will afterwards scarcely mark the paper. When, as is sometimes the case, no frying basket is used, each thing fried should be drained between a spoon and the edge of the pan.

To Clarify

It is economy to use three pounds in the kettle, clarifying the fat when it is put away. To clarify Crisco, take that which has been used for deep frying and when it has cooled, but not solidified, strain through a double thickness of cheese cloth, replace kettle on stove, drop several slices of potato into the Crisco and reheat. When the potatoes are golden brown, take out and pour the Cris...o...b..ck into the tin. With this little care, fish, oysters, onions, chops, fritters, doughnuts, etc., may be fried over and over again in the same Crisco.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The dry or saute method of frying is less satisfactory, in that it is difficult even after much practice to produce a uniformly colored surface. A small quant.i.ty of fat only is needed, and where the fat, i.e., the heat, ends, a crack is formed in the outer coat, through which flavor escapes and fat enters; the appearance also is rendered unsightly. Flat fish can be fried fairly well by this method, or, indeed, almost any thin substance, as thin edges are not affected in this way. For pancakes and other articles of similar nature it is the best method. It rarely is possible to use the fat from the dry method a second time, except for dishes of the same kind, as the fat always is more or less flavored by the food cooked in it. The most digestible fat for frying and the best for results undoubtedly is Crisco.

Steaming

Steaming is a process very similar to boiling, for it is cooking in the heated vapor of water. This practice as a means of cookery is largely adopted in hotels, clubs, schools and hospitals, and other large inst.i.tutions; also frequently applied in ordinary home cookery for particular articles of food requiring a very slow process of cooking. An ordinary kitchen steamer, with a close-fitting lid is generally all that is required for simple household cookery on a small scale. The articles of food which are to be steamed are prepared in exactly the same manner as for boiling. Many puddings, some meats, and some vegetables are considered better if cooked by steam, and inasmuch as the process of cooking is a very slow one, there is no fear of the food being destroyed by too fierce a heat, as the temperature in steaming never reaches beyond 212 F. Fish, meat and poultry cooked by steam are as a rule tender, full of gravy and digestible. By steaming, watery vegetables are made drier; tough meats are softened and made tender; while farinaceous mixtures and puddings develop a totally different flavor when baked or fried.

Braising

Braising is a combination of roasting and stewing small joints of meat in a shallow stewpan. It is a favorite method of cooking with the French, and is supposed to bring out an unusually fine flavor and aroma. The pan in which a braise is to be made always should be lined with slices of bacon, carrot, onions and herbs, upon which the meat is placed. It usually is moistened with stock or stock and wine. The more delicate meats, such as sweetbreads, fillets, fowls and turkeys sometimes are covered with b.u.t.tered paper; this is done to prevent the heat from the top of the pan scorching or imparting too much of a roast flavor to the meats which are to be braised. Occasional basting during the process of this method of cooking is essential. When done, the meat is taken up, the fat removed from the vegetables and gravy, which latter is then reduced, strained and blended with some kind of gravy or thin sauce.

Poaching and Marinating