Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume IV Part 1

Woman's Inst.i.tute Library of Cookery.

Vol. 4.

by Woman's Inst.i.tute of Domestic Arts and Sciences.

PREFACE

This volume, the fourth of the Woman's Inst.i.tute Library of Cookery, deals with salads, sandwiches, cold desserts, cakes, both large and small, puddings, pastry, and pies. Such foods const.i.tute some of the niceties of the diet, but skill in their preparation signifies at once a housewife's mastery of the science of cookery.

In _Salads and Sandwiches_ are presented so simply the secrets of appetizing salads that they can be grasped by even a novice, and sandwiches of numerous varieties, from those appropriate for afternoon teas to those suitable for the main dish in the meal, are so treated that they appear to rise above the ordinary place usually accorded them.

One need never hesitate to prepare a menu for an afternoon or evening social affair or the salad course in a luncheon or dinner after a study of this part of the volume.

A glance through _Cold and Frozen Desserts_ will convince one very quickly that a large number of the desserts that complete our meals are served cold. The mere mention of custards, gelatine desserts, and such frozen mixtures as ice creams, ices, frappes, sherbets, mousses, parfaits, and biscuits, all of which are explained here, is sufficient to indicate that this is an extremely delightful part of the subject of cookery. Entertaining takes on a new and simplified meaning when one knows how to make and serve such dishes.

To be able to make cakes and puddings well is one of the ambitions of the modern housewife, and she has an opportunity to realize it in a study of _Cakes, Cookies, and Puddings_, Parts 1 and 2. Sweet food in excess is undesirable, but in a moderate quant.i.ty it is required in each person's diet and may be obtained in this form without harm if it is properly prepared.

The two cla.s.ses of cakes--b.u.t.ter and sponge--are treated in detail both as to the methods of making and the required ingredients, and numerous recipes are given which will enable the housewife to provide both plain and fancy cakes for ordinary and special occasions. Puddings that are prepared by boiling, steaming, and baking, and the sauces that make them appetizing, receive a goodly share of attention.

_Pastries and Pies_ completes this volume, rounding out, as it were, the housewife's understanding of dessert making. To many persons, pastry making is an intricate matter, but with the principles thoroughly explained and each step clearly ill.u.s.trated, delicious pies of every variety, as well as puff-paste dainties, may be had with very little effort.

Upon the completion of a study of this volume, the housewife will find herself equipped with a knowledge of the way to prepare many delicacies for her meals. While these are probably not so important in the diet as the more fundamental foods, they have a definite place and should receive the attention they deserve.

SALADS AND SANDWICHES

SALADS

SALADS IN THE DIET

1. So much variety exists among salads that it is somewhat difficult to give a comprehensive definition of this cla.s.s of foods. In general, however, salads may be considered as a dish of green herbs or vegetables, sometimes cooked, and usually chopped or sliced, sometimes mixed with fruit or with cooked and chopped cold meat, fish, etc., and generally served with a dressing. For the most part, salads take their name from their chief ingredient, as, for instance, chicken salad, tomato salad, pineapple salad, etc. Just what place salads have in the meal depends on the salad itself. A high-protein salad, such as lobster salad, should take the place of the meat course, whereas, a light salad of vegetables or fruits may be used as an additional course.

2. IMPORTANCE OF SALADS. Salads are often considered to be a dish of little importance; that is, something that may be left out or added to a meal without affecting it to any great extent. While this may be the case in a meal that is composed of a sufficient variety of foods, salads have a definite place in meals as they are planned in the majority of households. Often there is a tendency to limit green vegetables or fresh fruits in the diet, but if the members of a family are to be fed an ideal diet it is extremely important that some of these foods enter into each day's meals, a fact that is often overlooked. There is no more effective nor appetizing way in which to include them in a meal than in the serving of salads. In addition, salads make a strong appeal to the appet.i.te and at the same time are beneficial so far as the health of the family is concerned.

3. PURPOSES OF SALADS.--Because of the wide variety of salads and the large number of ingredients from which a selection may be made in their preparation, salads can be used for various purposes. The housewife who gives much attention to the artistic side of the serving of food in her home will often use a salad to carry out a color scheme in her meal.

This is, of course, the least valuable use that salads have, but it is a point that should not be overlooked. The chief purpose of salads in a meal is to provide something that the rest of the foods served in the meal lack.

Even though it is not desired to use the salad to carry out a color scheme, it should always be made an attractive dish. As is well known, nothing is so unappetizing as a salad in which the ingredients have not been properly prepared, the garnish is not fresh and crisp, or the dressing and salad ingredients have been combined in such a way as to appear messy or stale looking. There is no excuse for such conditions, and they need not exist if proper attention is given to the preparation of the salad.

4. SELECTION OF SALADS.--Although salads, through their variety, offer the housewife an opportunity to vary her meals, they require a little attention as to their selection if a properly balanced meal is to be the result. Salads that are high in food value or contain ingredients similar to those found in the other dishes served in the meal, should be avoided with dinners or with other heavy meals. For instance, a fish or a meat salad should not be served with a dinner, for it would supply a quant.i.ty of protein to a meal that is already sufficiently high in this food substance because of the fact that meat also is included. Such a salad, however, has a place in a very light luncheon or a supper, for it helps to balance such a meal. The correct salad to serve with a dinner that contains a number of heavy dishes is a vegetable salad, if enough vegetables are not already included, or a fruit salad, if the dessert does not consist of fruit. In case a fruit salad is selected, it is often made to serve for both the salad and the dessert course.

5. SALAD ACCOMPANIMENTS.--In addition to the ingredients used in the preparation of salads, dressings usually form an important part. These vary greatly as to ingredients and consequently as to composition, but most of them contain considerable fat and therefore increase the food value of the salad. Then, too, an accompaniment of some kind is generally served with salads to make them more attractive and more pleasing to the taste. This may be a wafer or a cracker of some description or a small sandwich made of bread cut into thin slices and merely b.u.t.tered or b.u.t.tered and then spread with a filling of some sort.

Such accompaniments, of course, are not a necessity, but they add enough to the salad to warrant their use.

COMPOSITION OF SALADS

6. The composition, as well as the total food value, of salads depends entirely on the ingredients of which they are composed. With an understanding of the composition of the ingredients used in salads, the housewife will be able to judge fairly accurately whether the salad is low, medium, or high in food value, and whether it is high in protein, fat, or carbohydrate. This matter is important, and should receive consideration from all who prepare this cla.s.s of food.

7. PROTEIN IN SALADS.--As may be expected, salads that are high in protein have for their basis, or contain, such ingredients as meat, fish, fowl, cheese, eggs, nuts, or dried beans. The amount of protein that such a salad contains naturally varies with the quant.i.ty of high-protein food that is used. For instance, a salad that has hard-cooked eggs for its foundation contains considerable protein, but one in which a slice or two of hard-cooked egg is used for a garnish cannot be said to be a high-protein salad.

8. FAT IN SALADS.--The fat in salads is more often included as a part of the dressing than in any other way, but the quant.i.ty introduced may be very large. A French dressing or a mayonnaise dressing, as a rule, contains a sufficient proportion of some kind of oil to make the salad in which it is used somewhat high in fat. In fact, salads are often used as a means of introducing fat into a meal, and whenever this is done they should be considered as one of the dishes that supply energy-producing food material to the meals in which they are served.

9. CARBOHYDRATE IN SALADS.--For the most part, salads do not contain carbohydrate in any quant.i.ty. If fruits are used, the salad will, of course, contain a certain amount of sugar. Salads in which potatoes, peas, beets, and other vegetables are used also contain starch or sugar in varying quant.i.ties. However, with the exception of potato salad, salads are probably never taken as a source of carbohydrate.

10. MINERAL SALTS IN SALADS.--In the majority of salads, mineral salts are an important ingredient. Meat and fish salads are the only ones in which the mineral salts are not especially desirable, but they can be improved in this respect if a certain amount of vegetables are mixed with them. Green-vegetable salads are the most valuable sources of mineral salts, and fruit salads come next. In addition, these two varieties of salads contain vitamines, which are substances necessary to maintain health. Cheese and egg salads, which are high-protein salads, are also valuable for the vitamines they supply.

11. CELLULOSE IN SALADS.--Vegetable and fruit salads serve to supply cellulose in the diet. Unless the meals contain sufficient cellulose in some other form, the use of such salads is an excellent way in which to introduce this material. Of course, the salads composed of foods high in cellulose are lower in food value than others, but the salad dressing usually helps to make up for this deficiency.

INGREDIENTS OF SALADS

12. VARIETY IN SALAD INGREDIENTS.--One of the advantages of salads is that the ingredients from which they can be made are large in number. In fact, almost any cooked or raw fruit or vegetable, or any meat, fowl, or fish, whether cooked expressly for this purpose or left over from a previous meal, may be utilized in the making of salads. Canned foods of these varieties may also be used to advantage for salads during the winter when fresh foods are expensive and difficult to procure. The idea that such foods cannot be used is wrong.

13. As far as meats are concerned, they are not used so extensively in salads as are fruits and vegetables. Often, however, veal or pork may be used to increase the quant.i.ty of material needed to make certain salads, such as chicken salad. Canned fish or fish freshly cooked makes appetizing salads, and if there is not a sufficient quant.i.ty of one kind on hand, another may be added without impairing the quality of the salad.

14. As has already been stated, almost any vegetable, raw, canned, or freshly cooked, can be used in the making of salads. In addition, these vegetables may be combined in almost any way. Small amounts of two, three, four, or more vegetables may be combined with an appetizing salad dressing and served as a luncheon or dinner salad. If no definite recipe is followed but whatever material that happens to be on hand is utilized, the result is not only an appetizing salad, but a saving of vegetables that might otherwise be wasted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1]

15. Fruits, both canned and raw, are largely used in the making of salads. As with vegetables, almost any combination of them makes a delicious salad when served with the proper dressing. Thus, a slice of pineapple, a canned peach or two, or a few spoonfuls of cherries may be added to grapefruit, oranges, bananas, or whatever fruit may happen to be most convenient or easy to procure and served with the salad dressing that is preferred. Vegetables are seldom used with fruits, celery being the only one that is ever employed in this way. On the other hand, nuts are much used with fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish in the making of salads and any variety may be utilized.

16. SALAD GARNISHES.--The garnishing of salads, while it may seem to be an unimportant part of the preparation of this food, is really a matter that demands considerable attention. Lettuce is used oftenest for this purpose, but almost any edible green, such as endive, watercress, etc., makes an excellent garnish. Generally when lettuce is the garnish, the leaves are used whole, but if they are not in good condition for garnishing or if use is to be made of the coa.r.s.e outside leaves of the stalks, they may be arranged in a pile, rolled tight, and then, as shown in Fig. 1, cut with a sharp knife into narrow strips. Lettuce prepared in this way is said to be _shredded_, and a bed of it makes a very attractive garnish for many kinds of salad. Among the other foods used as a garnish are certain vegetables that give a contrast in color, such as pimiento, green peppers, radishes, and olives. Slices of hard-cooked eggs or the yolks of eggs forced through a ricer likewise offer a touch of attractive color.

17. NATURE OF SALAD DRESSINGS.--When a salad is properly made, a salad dressing of some kind is usually added to the ingredients that are selected for the salad. This dressing generally has for its chief ingredient a salad oil of some kind, many satisfactory varieties of which are to be found on the market. Olive oil has always been the most popular oil used for this purpose, and in many respects it is the most desirable. It can be obtained in several grades, the price varying with the excellence of the quality. The best grades have a yellowish color, the poorest ones are somewhat green, and those of medium quality shade between these two colors. The best grades are also clear, while the poorer ones are usually cloudy, the better the quality the less cloudy the oil. Besides olive oil, however, there are oils made of cottonseed, corn, and nuts. Many of these products are cheaper than olive oil and are almost, if not quite, as satisfactory. In combination with the oil that is used for salad dressing, there is always an acid of some kind, such as vinegar or lemon juice. To these ingredients are added spices and flavoring. Such a dressing is prepared without cooking, the ingredients being combined by proper mixing or beating.

18. Another kind of dressing that is much used is known as boiled salad dressing. Its ingredients are similar to those used in the uncooked salad dressing, but usually less fat is employed and eggs alone or eggs and some starchy material are used for thickening.

Then, again, entirely different kinds of dressing may be made for fruit salads. Sometimes these dressings contain no fat, and other times they have for their basis sweet or sour cream, but usually they are made so that they are somewhat acid to the taste.

RELATION OF SALADS TO MEALS

19. Because of the large variety of ingredients that may be used in the making of salads, it is usually possible to make the salad correspond properly with the other dishes in the meal. This is a little more difficult to accomplish when left-over materials are used in salads, but, even in this event, the addition of ingredients that will make the salad more nearly approach what must be supplied is usually possible. If the meal is to be a light one and the salad is to serve as the princ.i.p.al dish, it should be sufficiently heavy and contain enough food value to serve the purpose for which it is intended. It should be decided on first, and then the rest of the dishes should be planned to correspond with the salad.

On the other hand, when the meal is a heavy one and the salad is to be one of the lighter dishes, the main dishes should be decided on first and the salad planned so that it will correspond properly with the other dishes. For instance, with meat or fish as the main course of the meal, a fish, egg, or cheese salad would obviously be the wrong thing to serve. Instead, a light salad of vegetables or fruits should be selected for such a meal. It should be remembered, also, that if the other dishes of a meal contain sufficient food value to make the meal properly nourishing, a salad containing a rich dressing will provide more than a sufficient supply of calories and consequently should be avoided.

20. Another point that should not be neglected in selecting a salad is that it should be a contrast to the rest of the meal as far as flavor is concerned. While several foods acid in flavor do not necessarily unbalance a meal so far as food substances and food value are concerned, they provide too much of the same flavor to be agreeable to most persons. For instance, if the meal contains an acid soup, such as tomato, and a vegetable with a sour dressing, such as beets, then a salad that is also acid will be likely to add more of a sour flavor than the majority of persons desire.

Then, too, it is not a good plan to serve in the salad the same vegetable that is served in the soup or the dinner course. Thus, creamed celery and a salad containing celery, and tomato soup and tomato salad are bad combinations and should, like others similar to them, be carefully avoided. Even though such vegetables may be on hand in quant.i.ty, they can usually be kept for another meal.

PRINCIPLES OF SALAD MAKING

21. CONDITION OF SALAD INGREDIENTS.--When the kind of salad to be served is decided on, the selection and preparation of the materials are the next matters to receive attention. Very often materials that are on hand are utilized in this way, but if it is possible to select the ingredients expressly for the salad, they should be very carefully chosen. Any kind of salad, but particularly a vegetable or a fruit salad, becomes much more attractive if it is made with ingredients that are in good condition and that are attractive in appearance. They should therefore be fresh and crisp and never mushy, wilted, nor limp. Of course, this does not mean that material that is slightly unattractive must be discarded, for it can usually be prepared so that it can be utilized in some way. However, much of the deterioration of salad ingredients before they are used can be avoided if proper attention is given to them after they come into the home. Without doubt, the best way in which to keep radishes, celery, parsley, watercress, and other greens that are much used in salads is to wrap them loosely in a moist cloth as soon as they are received in the home and then put them in a cool place.

Small muslin or linen bags having a draw-string in the top are very good for this purpose, but they are not a necessity, for old napkins or small pieces of worn cloth will do very well.

22. CLEANING AND FRESHENING SALAD INGREDIENTS.--In the making of a salad, the cleaning of the ingredients used is a very important part of the work. While nothing should be wasted in the process of preparation, decayed or discolored leaves, stems, or parts of fruits and vegetables should, of course, be removed. Every lettuce leaf and every part of other salad vegetables should be looked over carefully and washed separately in cold water. To accomplish this, the stalks or leaves must be taken apart after the root is cut off. Then, before they are used, they should be examined carefully again in order to make sure that no small bugs nor worms and no dirt remain on them. Such vegetables will become crisp if they are allowed to remain in cold water long enough to bring back their natural freshness. A little ice added to the water helps to accomplish this more quickly. It should be remembered, however that lettuce leaves bruise and break easily and so must be handled carefully if the best appearance is desired.