Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume I Part 11

(6) Describe: (_a_) sifting; (_b_) stirring; (_c_) beating; (_d_) creaming; (_e_) folding.

(7) Why is it necessary to measure foods accurately in cooking?

(8) Describe the measuring of: (_a_) cupful of flour; (_b_) one-half teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter; (_c_) 1 teaspoonful of baking powder.

(9) (_a_) Why should a systematic plan be outlined before beginning to carry out a recipe? (_b_) Give briefly the order of work that should be followed.

(10) What factors influence the length of time required to cook foods?

(11) Tell why foods spoil.

(12) (_a_) Mention the usual methods by which food is kept from spoiling.

(_b_) What is meant by the term preservative?

(13) (_a_) What is the aim in canning foods? (_b_) On what principle does success in drying foods depend?

(14) Explain the construction of a refrigerator and the principle on which it is based.

(15) Describe the placing of the following articles in the refrigerator and tell which should be covered and why: (_a_) milk; (_b_) b.u.t.ter; (_c_) cooked fish; (_d_) cooked tomatoes; (_e_) melons; (f) cheese.

(16) Explain how a refrigerator should be cared for.

(17) Name the ways in which foods may be kept from spoiling without ice.

(18) How should a cellar in which foods is to be stored be built and cared for?

(19) (_a_) Why is it necessary to store non-perishable foods? (_b_) Tell the best ways in which to preserve such foods.

(20) (_a_) What is a menu? (_b_) Explain the meaning of the term recipe. (_c_) In what order should the recipes of a menu be prepared?

REPORT ON MENU

After trying out the menu in the manner explained in the text, send with your answers to the Examination Questions a report of your success. In making out your report, simply write the name of the food and describe its condition by means of the terms specified in the following list.

Thus, if the chops were tender and well done, write, "Pan-broiled chops, tender, well done"; if the potatoes were sufficiently cooked and creamy, write "Mashed potatoes, sufficiently cooked, creamy"; and so on.

Pan-Broiled Chops: tough? tender? underdone? overdone?

Mashed Potatoes: sufficiently cooked? creamy? lumpy? too soft?

Creamed Peas: tender? tough? properly seasoned? improperly seasoned?

Sauce for Peas: smooth? lumpy? thin? of correct thickness? too thick?

Cabbage Salad: properly seasoned? improperly seasoned? crisp?

Orange Fluff: stiff enough? too soft? flavor agreeable? flavor disagreeable?

Sauce for Orange Fluff: smooth? lumpy?

CEREALS

PRODUCTION, COMPOSITION, AND SELECTION

PRODUCTION OF CEREALS

1. ORIGIN OF CEREALS.--_Cereals,_ which is the term applied to the edible seeds of certain grains, originated with the civilization of man.

When man lived in a savage state, he wandered about from place to place and depended for his food on hunting and fishing; but as he ceased his roaming and began to settle in regions that he found attractive, it was not long before he became aware of the possibilities of the ground about him and realized the advantage of tilling the soil as a means of procuring food. Indeed, the cultivation of the soil for the production of food may be considered as one of the first steps in his civilization.

Among the foods he cultivated were grains, and from the earliest times to the present day they have been the main crop and have formed the chief food of people wherever it is possible to produce them.

The grains belong to the family of gra.s.ses, and through cultivation their seeds, which store the nourishment for the growth of new plants, have been made to store a sufficient amount of nourishment to permit man to collect and use it as food. The name cereals was derived from the G.o.ddess Ceres, whom the Romans believed to be the protector of their crops and harvests. Numerous grains are produced, but only eight of these cereals are used extensively as food, namely, wheat, corn, oats, rice, barley, rye, buckwheat, and millet.

2. ABUNDANCE OF PRODUCTION.--With the exception of the desert lands and the Arctic regions, cereals of some kind are grown over the entire world. Some varieties thrive in the hot countries, others flourish in the temperate regions, and still others mature and ripen in the short warm season of the colder northern climates. In fact, there is practically no kind of soil that will not produce a crop of some variety of grain. Since grains are so easily grown and are so plentiful, cereals and foods made from them furnish a large part of the world's food supply. Indeed, about one-fourth of all the food eaten by the inhabitants of the world, when it is considered as a whole, is made up of cereals.

3. ECONOMIC VALUE OF CEREALS.--The abundance of the world's grain supply makes the cost so moderate that many of the poorer cla.s.ses of people in various countries, especially those in the Far East, live almost entirely on cereals. Still there is another factor that controls the low cost of cereals and grains and keeps them within the means of all cla.s.ses of people, and that is their excellent keeping quality. They require very little care and will keep for an indefinite period of time.

Because of their unperishable nature, they may be stored in large quant.i.ties and distributed to consumers as they are needed and at a price that is fairly uniform.

Since the cost of cereals is moderate, they should form a large proportion of the diet of the entire family, especially if the family's income will allow only a limited sum to be spent for food. Some cereals, of course, are much cheaper than others, and in purchasing this kind of food the housewife should be governed accordingly. Those which require an elaborate manufacturing process in their preparation for the market are the most expensive, but they have an advantage in that they require practically no preparation before serving. For the varieties that must be cooked, the cost of preparing the dish, especially if the price of fuel is high, must be taken into consideration, for unless some thought is given to the economical use of the fuel, as well as to the method of cooking employed, the cost of the prepared dish may be greatly increased. However, in the preparation of cereals, very little skill or energy is required and a general knowledge of the best methods for one of them can, as a rule, be applied to all.

4. CEREAL PRODUCTS.--Besides the cereals already mentioned, a number of products of cereals are extensively used in cookery, chief among them being flour, corn starch, and other starches. Although every housewife should possess knowledge of the uses of each of these, instruction in them is not given until later. This Section includes particularly the study of grains--whole, cracked, flaked, and those made into grits or meal--and the use and the serving of them, as well as ready-to-eat cereals, which are commonly referred to as _breakfast foods._ The only additional foods to which attention is given at this time are macaroni, spaghetti, and foods of a similar nature, for as these are made from wheat they are truly cereal products. In their preparation for the table, the rules that govern the other cereal foods apply also in a large measure to them.

COMPOSITION OF CEREALS

5. The composition of all cereals is similar, yet each one has its distinguishing feature. While all the five food substances--water, mineral matter, protein, fat, and carbohydrate--are to be found in cereals, they occur in different quant.i.ties in the various kinds. Some contain large quant.i.ties of protein and others practically none, and while certain ones have considerable fat others possess comparatively small quant.i.ties. A characteristic of all cereals, however, is that they contain a large amount of carbohydrate and a small amount of water. It is well to remember, though, that while the food substances of cereals are found in sufficient quant.i.ties to sustain life, they will not permit a person to live for long periods of time exclusively on this form of food. Likewise, it will be well to observe that the foods made from a certain grain will be quite similar in composition to the grain itself; that is, any change in the composition of the foods must be brought about by the addition of other substances.

6. All grains are similar in general structure, too. The largest proportion of carbohydrate lies in the center, this substance growing less toward the outside of the grain. The protein lies near the outside, and grows less toward the center. Fat is found in small amounts scattered through the entire grain, but most of it is found in the _germ,_ which is a tiny portion of the grain from which the new plant sprouts. The mineral matter of cereals is found chiefly just inside the bran, or outer covering, so that when this covering is removed, as in the process of preparation for food, a certain amount of mineral matter is generally lost.

7. PROTEIN IN CEREALS.--The cereals are essentially a carbohydrate food, but some also yield a large proportion of protein. In this respect they differ from the animal foods that produce the princ.i.p.al supply of protein for the diet, for these, with the exception of milk, do not yield carbohydrates. The grain that contains the most protein is wheat, and in the form in which protein occurs in this cereal it is called _gluten,_ a substance that is responsible for the hardness of wheat. The gluten, when the wheat is mixed with water or some other liquid, becomes gummy and elastic, a fact that accounts for the rubbery consistency of bread dough. Cereals that contain no gluten do not make bread successfully. Next to wheat, rye contains protein in the greatest amount, and rice contains the least. Although protein is the most expensive of the food substances, the kind of protein found in cereals is one of the cheaper varieties.

8. FAT IN CEREALS.--The fat of cereals helps to contribute to their heat-and energy-producing qualities, and, besides, it is one of the cheaper sources of this food substance. Of the eight grains, or cereals, used as food, oats and corn contain the most fat, or heat-producing material. The oil of corn, because of its lack of flavor, is frequently used in the manufacture of salad oil, cooking oil, and pastry fat. The fat that occurs in cereals becomes rancid if they are not carefully stored. In the making of white flour, the germ of the wheat is removed, and since most of the fat is taken out with the germ, white flour keeps much better than graham flour, from which the germ is not abstracted in the milling process.

9. CARBOHYDRATE IN CEREALS.--The food substance found in the greatest proportion in cereals is carbohydrate in the form of starch. Cereals contain many times more starch than any of the other food substances, rice, which is fully three-fourths starch, containing the most, and oats, which are less than one-half starch, the least. Starch is distributed throughout the grain in tiny granules visible only under the microscope, each being surrounded by a covering of material that is almost indigestible. In the various grains, these tiny granules differ from one another in appearance, but not to any great extent in general structure, nutritive value, or digestibility, provided they are cooked thoroughly. The large amount of carbohydrate, or starch, in cereals explains why they are not hard to digest, for, as is well known, starch is more easily digested than either protein or fat. This and the fact that some grains contain also a large amount of fat account for the high energy-producing quality of cereals. While it is safe to say that cereals are chiefly valuable for their starch, the tissue-building material in some grains, although in small proportion, is in sufficient quant.i.ty to place them with the protein foods.

10. MINERAL MATTER IN CEREALS.--Cereals contain seven or eight of the minerals required in the diet. Such a variety of minerals is sure to be valuable to the human body, as it is about one-half of the whole number required by the body for its maintenance. Since, as has already been explained, much of the mineral matter lies directly under the coa.r.s.e outside covering, some of it is lost when this covering is removed. For this reason, the grains that remain whole and the cereal products that contain the entire grain are much more valuable from the standpoint of minerals than those in which the bran covering is not retained. If a sufficient percentage of minerals is secured in the diet from vegetables, fruits, and milk, it is perhaps unnecessary to include whole cereals; but if the diet is at all limited, it is advisable to select those cereals which retain the original composition of the grain.

11. WATER IN CEREALS.--Cereals contain very little water in their composition. This absence of water is a distinct advantage, for it makes their nutritive value proportionately high and improves their keeping quality. Just as the strength of a beverage is lowered by the addition of water, so the nutritive value of foods decreases when they contain a large amount of water. On the other hand, the keeping quality of cereals could scarcely be improved, since the germs that cause foods to spoil grow only in the presence of water. This low proportion of water also permits them to be stored compactly, whereas if water occurred in large amounts it would add materially to their bulk.

12. CELLULOSE IN CEREALS.--In addition to the five food substances that are found in all cereals, there is always present another material known as cellulose, which, as is pointed out elsewhere, is an indigestible material that occurs on the outside of all grains, as the bran covering, and covers the starch granules throughout the inside of the grain. In fact, it forms a sort of skeleton upon which the grains are built. As long as the cellulose remains unbroken, it prevents the grain from being digested to any extent. However, it forms a valuable protective covering for the grain and it has a certain value, as bulk, in the diet, a fact that is ignored by some persons and overrated by others. It is well to include at least some cellulose in cereal foods when they are taken in the diet, because its presence tends to make food less concentrated.

13. TABLE SHOWING COMPOSITION OF CEREALS.--Not all grains, or cereals, contain the same amount of food substances and cellulose; that is, while one may be high in protein it may be lacking in some other food substance. The relation that the various grains bear to one another with regard to the food substances and cellulose is clearly set forth in Table I. In this table, under the various food substances and cellulose, the grains, with the exception of millet, are mentioned in the order of their value, ranging from the highest down to the lowest in each of the food substances and cellulose. Thus, as will be seen, wheat is highest in protein and rice is lowest, oats are highest in fat and rye is lowest, and so on. Also, as will be observed, while wheat is highest in protein, it is, as compared with the other cereals, sixth in fat, fourth in carbohydrate, fourth in cellulose, and fifth in mineral matter. In this way may be compared all the other cereals to see in just what way they are of value as a food.