Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume IV Part 8

To prepare them, add cream to cream cheese until it is thin enough to be forced through a pastry bag. Using the rosette tube in the bag, make a single rosette in the center of each wafer. Dust with paprika and serve.

142. CANAPES.--Although differing somewhat from the open sandwiches that have been described, canapes are usually placed under this head.

_Canapes_ are small pieces of bread toasted or sauted in b.u.t.ter and then spread with some highly seasoned material, such as caviar, anchovy paste, well-seasoned smoked or canned salmon, or a vegetable mixture.

They are served either hot or cold as an appetizer or as a first course for lunch or dinner.

To make canapes, toast or saute slices of bread and cut them into any shape desired. Cover each piece with a thin layer of the material to be used and then decorate in any of the ways shown in Fig. 27 or in any other manner. Sometimes a thin layer of tomato is used, but often just a border of some material of contrasting color, such as the yolk of egg forced through a ricer, finely chopped parsley, a thin strip of pimiento, etc., is placed around the edge.

SALADS AND SANDWICHES

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

(1) Discuss the importance of salads and their value in the diet.

(2) In planning meals to include salads, what rules should be observed in order to make the meals balance properly?

(3) Of what value to the salads are the accompaniments often served with them?

(4) What ingredients used in salads make them satisfactory as high-protein salads?

(5) How is fat usually supplied in making salads?

(6) What salad ingredients are of the most value for supplying mineral salts?

(7) To what extent are vegetables and fruits combined in making salads?

(8) Of what value are salads in the use of leftovers?

(9) (a) What is meant by garnishing salads? (b) How may coa.r.s.e lettuce be used to advantage for garnish?

(10) (a) Describe the best quality of olive oil. (b) What other kinds of oils may be used as salad oils?

(11) (a) What ingredients beside oil are included in the making of the various kinds of salad dressings? (b) What is the value of each?

(12) Describe the ideal condition of ingredients used for salads.

(13) How may salad ingredients be freshened if they have become wilted?

(14) Describe the cleaning of lettuce for salad.

(15) (a) When may a salad serve as a dessert? (b) In making a salad that contains nuts, when should they be added?

(16) (a) Tell how and why marinating is done. (b) What kind of salads should always be marinated?

(17) At what time during a meal is the salad served when it is used as a separate course?

(18) (a) Give several points that must be observed if mayonnaise dressing is to be successfully made. (b) What utensil is best for the cooking of boiled salad dressing? Tell why.

(19) (a) Describe the bread that may be used to best advantage for sandwiches. (b) Into what shapes may sandwiches be cut so that there will be no waste of bread?

(20) (a) How should b.u.t.ter be prepared for spreading sandwiches? (b) How may sandwiches be kept moist when they are prepared some time before they are to be served?

ADDITIONAL WORK

Give a recipe for an original salad in which at least one ingredient is a left-over.

COLD AND FROZEN DESSERTS

THE DESSERT IN THE MEAL

GENERAL DISCUSSION

1. A dessert always consists of sweet food of some kind, and in the usual meal it is served as the last course. Sometimes, especially in more elaborate meals, another course, such as cheese and coffee, may follow, but ordinarily the dessert is the last food that is served.

The eating of something sweet after the heavy course of a meal has undoubtedly become a habit with almost every person. At any rate, a dinner in which a dessert is not included generally leaves one unsatisfied and gives the feeling that the meal has not been properly completed. Some housewives, however, make the mistake of serving a heavy dessert after a large meal, with the result that those served leave the table feeling they have had too much to eat. If this occurs, the same combination of food should be avoided another time and a simple dessert used to follow a dinner that is already sufficiently heavy.

2. There is nothing fixed about the dessert course of a meal. It may be very simple or it may be as complicated and elaborate as desired. To make an elaborate dessert usually requires a good deal of time, and unless time and care can be devoted to such a dessert it should not be attempted. However, whether a dessert is simple or elaborate, it should always be made sufficiently attractive to appeal to an appet.i.te that is already almost satisfied. Besides providing a chance to end a meal in an attractive and appetizing way, it offers a splendid opportunity to carry out a color scheme that may be adopted for a meal. Of course, this is seldom done, except for a party or a company meal, for a color scheme has no particular value other than to appeal to the esthetic sense.

3. The cost of desserts is also a matter that may be varied. For instance, it may be low, as in plain rice pudding, which contains merely rice and milk, or it may be high, as in such concoctions as mousse or parfait, which may contain cream, eggs, gelatine, and fruit. It is possible then, with correct planning, to make the price of the dessert equalize the cost of the meal. For example, if the previous courses have contained expensive foods, the dessert should be an economical one, whereas an expensive one is permissible either when an elaborate meal is desired or when the cheapness of the food served before the dessert warrants greater expense in the final dish.

4. The fact that desserts are often a means of economically utilizing left-over foods should not be overlooked. A famous cooking expert is responsible for the statement that any edible left-over may be utilized in the making of soup, salad, or dessert. This is an important truth to keep in mind, for, with the exception of a knowledge of the correct purchase and cooking of foods, nothing makes so much for economy in cookery as the economical use of leftovers.

5. Desserts are really of two kinds: those which are heavy, such as hot puddings and pastry, and those which are light or of a less substantial nature, such as gelatine, custards, ices, etc. In general, light desserts are either frozen or allowed to cool before they are used and consequently may be made some time before the serving of the meal. It is with desserts of this kind that this Section deals, the heavier desserts being discussed elsewhere.

COMPOSITION AND FOOD VALUE OF DESSERTS

6. Attention should be paid to the composition and food value of desserts in order that the meals in which they are served may be properly balanced. For instance, when a housewife understands the value of the ingredients used in the preparation of a dessert, she will be able to determine the kind of dessert necessary to supply what is lacking in the meal. Of course, if she first decides on a particular dessert that she wants to serve, it will be necessary for her to plan the other dishes accordingly. This, however, is not the logical way in which to plan meals. It is much more reasonable to have the dessert supply anything that the meal may lack in the way of food const.i.tuents.

In considering the food value of desserts, it should be remembered that they are just as valuable as the ingredients they contain. The ingredients in which this cla.s.s of foods is highest are carbohydrate in the form of starch or sugar or both, protein, especially when eggs in any quant.i.ty are used, and fat.

7. CARBOHYDRATE IN DESSERTS.--As a rule, the carbohydrate in desserts is obtained from two sources. It is furnished by the sugar, honey, or other sweetening that is added to the mixture, or it is in the form of starch added to thicken, as in the case of corn starch, or material actually used as the basis of the dessert itself, such as rice, tapioca, bread, etc. These ingredients are, of course, easily digested if they are properly cooked. On the whole, desserts can therefore be regarded as high-carbohydrate foods.

8. PROTEIN IN DESSERTS.--Protein is usually supplied in desserts by means of eggs and milk. Custard made almost exclusively of these two foods is sufficiently high in protein to be taken into account in the planning of the main dish for the meal. Because of the presence of this food substance in many desserts, proper cooking is a matter to which attention must be given, for it makes for digestibility as well as consistency. Cream added to desserts also supplies a little protein. If wheat flour is used, it adds a small amount of protein in the form of gluten. Most of the starchy preparations, such as tapioca, rice, corn starch, etc., however, are almost entirely devoid of protein material.

Gelatine desserts are sometimes thought to be high-protein foods, but, as is explained elsewhere, gelatine is not regarded as true protein. If such desserts are to contain protein, it must come from some other source.

9. FAT IN DESSERTS.--Fat is usually added to desserts in the form of cream. Sometimes, a little b.u.t.ter is used in the making of a dessert, but for the most part the chief source of fat in desserts is the plain or whipped cream that is added to them or served with them.

PRINCIPLES OF DESSERT MAKING

10. ATTRACTIVENESS OF DESSERTS.--Attractiveness, as has been mentioned, is essential in a dessert if it is to appeal to an appet.i.te that may be nearly satisfied by the time the dessert course is reached. To render dessert attractive, it should be carefully made and artistically garnished and served. It may be made to appeal through a sense of beautiful proportion, an attractive color combination, or an attractive or artistic preparation. Because sweets are liked by most persons, it is seldom difficult to prepare attractive desserts. Indeed, the housewife who fails in this respect may be said to be unsuccessful in the easiest part of cookery.