Chapter XVI

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=How to study a recipe.=——Remember that a recipe is a bit of experience handed down for us to make useful. Some one experimented at some time long ago, perhaps failed at first, tried again, finally succeeded, and passed on the result by word of mouth to others. There were doubtless good cooks long before there were printed or written recipes. Some recipes, however, have been handed down from Roman times, and recipes were printed as early as the sixteenth century. Modern recipes are much more accurate than the old, as you may see if you have opportunity to read some old cook book.

At first in using a recipe follow its directions exactly. Notice the proportions, and read carefully the directions for combining the ingredients, noting those points that are most important. Have the whole process well in mind before you begin work. Do not let it be necessary to refer to the printed page at every move you make. This is poor technique.

When the use of a recipe is preceded by some simple experiment that makes the basic principle clear, it is much easier to use the recipe with intelligence.

When you are no longer a novice you may take liberties with a recipe, even a new one, scanning it with a critical eye, and perhaps giving it a cool welcome. It may not be new at all! For this is the secret of recipes,——there are really only a few, and the key to their use is the recognition of the old in the new garb, and the having of a few type recipes clearly in mind. Each kind of prepared dish has one, or two, or three basic forms or mixtures. Learn these, and then with experience you will become inventive, and make your own variations. For example, there are but two kinds of cake,——those made with butter (or other fat) and those without butter (the sponge cake). You will not attempt to memorize many recipes, but you will find that in studying these type recipes you have learned a few proportions so well that you cannot forget them. When you have reached this stage of freedom you will still do exact work, but your ingenuity and taste will have free play and you will not be tied to other people’s recipes. But you cannot well begin at this end.

Make some plan for recording new recipes that you test and find good. It may be a printed recipe, or one that a friend gives you. The most convenient plan is a recipe box or card file. The guide cards are arranged alphabetically, and each recipe is either pasted upon a card or written upon it. This plan makes it easy to discard an old recipe, or one that has proved unsatisfactory, and to keep new recipes in alphabetical order, which cannot be done in a book. A loose-leaf book is made for recipes, alphabetized at the side, with envelopes for holding cuttings that may be fastened in between the pages. This is a little less easy to use than the card file.

=Weighing and measuring.=——The system is “Avoirdupois,” sixteen ounces to the pound. Learn to read the scales exactly, and when weighing, always allow for the weight of the utensil or paper holding the food. Weighing is more accurate than measuring, but it is slower, and the measuring can be made sufficiently accurate for most daily work. Weighing is necessary in the cookery of large pieces of meat and with poultry in order to estimate correctly the time for cooking; and it is more convenient to weigh than measure when preserving fruit if the quantities are large. Also in studying food values it is usually necessary to weigh the articles of food.

The measures in common use are the saltspoon, teaspoon, and tablespoon, the half-pint measuring cup, the pint, quart, and gallon of liquid measure. The saltspoon is not accurate, and it is better to use some fraction of a teaspoonful. Teaspoons and tablespoons of a standard volume may be found at some furnishing shops. The spoons in common use vary in size, and the only way to approximate accuracy is to use the level spoonful. This is now the common practice. Tin and glass half-pint cups are made gauged in quarters and thirds. Those commonly on sale sometimes measure more than one fourth of the standard quart. Inquire when you buy if the cup measure is standard,——that is, exactly one half standard pint. A quart measure, with four divisions, is necessary for careful work. A pint measure is convenient, but not necessary if you have the quart and half-pint measuring cup.

It is necessary to know the relation of these different weights and measures to each other. While you may find tables of relative weight and measures in many cookbooks, it is much better for you to work out a few of the most useful for yourself, making careful record in your notebooks.

The following abbreviations are short cuts in reading and writing.

oz. = ounce lb. = pound ssp. = saltspoonful tsp. = teaspoonful tbsp. = tablespoonful cp. = cup pt. = pint qt. = quart gall. = gallon

If you wish something quicker even than this for notebook work, you can use,

t = teaspoonful T = tablespoonful C = cup P = pint Q = quart G = gallon

_Experiments in weighing and measuring._[9]

Answer these questions by performing the experiments. Record in notebook in orderly form.

_Apparatus._ Standard scales, a quart measure, and for each pupil a measuring cup, table knife, teaspoon, and tablespoon.

_Materials._ Those mentioned below.

1. How many eggs (medium size) to 1 lb.?

2. What is the weight of one egg?

3. Of one pint of flour?

4. Of one cup of flour?

5. Of one cup of granulated sugar?

6. Of one cup of powdered sugar?

7. Of one pint of milk?

8. Average the weight of six potatoes.

9. How many level teaspoonfuls of flour to a level tablespoonful?

10. How many teaspoonfuls of water to a tablespoonful?

11. How many tablespoonfuls of flour to a cup?

12. How many tablespoonfuls of water to a cup?

(These relative measures are convenient for dividing recipes.)

13. Measure a level tablespoonful of flour, by filling the spoon, holding it level, and leveling the flour by running the back of the knife quickly from the base of the bowl of the spoon to the tip.

How can you most accurately divide this in halves? In quarters?

14. How much does a cup of flaked cereal weigh?

15. How much does a cup of granular cereal weigh?

16. Butter is hard to measure in a cup. If a recipe calls for 1/4 cup butter, it is easier to measure it by tablespoonfuls. Find out how many make 1/4 cup.

17. How much does a cup of butter weigh? If you know this, you can weigh it, instead of measuring, or if your butter is in pound “pats,” you will be able to cut off a cupful, instead of weighing it.

18. An old-fashioned recipe for sponge cake reads thus: Take the weight of the eggs in sugar and half their weight in flour. Translate this into measures.

=Preparing and mixing.=——Food materials that are not to be mixed with others still need special preparation before heat is applied.

For fruits and vegetables, _washing_ is the first stage, followed by _scraping_, _paring_, _peeling_, _cutting_, or _slicing_. Meats, poultry, and fish must be cleaned by wiping, and _cut_ and _trimmed_ with a sharp knife.

Cooked meats and fish and vegetables may be _chopped_ or _sliced_.

Cooked vegetables are also _mashed_ and _beaten_.

Cream is _whipped_ or _beaten_, and eggs served raw likewise.

These seem simple processes, but each one needs a good tool and a knack in the muscles. Each method will be taken up in detail, with each food material.

_Methods of mixing_ are important, where several ingredients are combined. We seek for a way that will give the most complete mingling of all the substances with smoothness and lightness, at the same time saving time and strength. We must look always for the “short cut.” It is necessary to have the texture of the food such that it can be well masticated and mixed with the digestive fluids, but time is too precious to spend hours on a dessert, or in beating biscuits.

_Sifting_, or putting materials through a fine mesh, is used to lighten flour that has been packed down, to remove coarse portions, or to mix thoroughly several dry ingredients.

_Stirring_ is done with a spoon, and is a round and round motion, used for mixing a liquid and a dry ingredient.

_Rubbing_ is used for combining a dry ingredient with a semi-solid substance like butter. _Creaming_ is a term used for the rubbing of butter until it becomes soft and creamy. A spoon should be used, not the hand.

“_Cutting in_” with a knife is used for combining butter with flour in biscuit and pastry where the butter should not be softened.

_Beating_ with a spoon, or beater of the spoon type, is a free over and over motion, the spoon being lifted from the mixture for the backward stroke. This is used for increasing the smoothness of the mixture after the first stirring, and for beating in air. It needs a strong free motion of the forearm. Beating is also accomplished by the rotary motion of a mechanical beater like the Dover.

_Cutting and folding_ is the delicate process of mixing lightly beaten egg with a liquid or semi-liquid without losing out the air. The spoon is cut in, sidewise, a rotary motion carries it down and up again, and it folds in the beaten egg as it goes.

_Kneading_ is a motion used with dough, and is a combination of a rocking and pressing motion, accomplished by the hands. A good result can be obtained by some bread machines, and this is the cleaner method.

_Rolling out_ is just what the term denotes, a rolling of a thick piece of dough by means of a cylindrical wooden “pin” to the thickness proper for cookies and crusts. Dry bread is also rolled to break it into fine crumbs.

_Pounding_ and _grinding_ are usually accomplished for us now in factories in breaking of spices and coffee. It is better to have a coffee mill at home.

_The order of mixing_ is important in its effect in batters and doughs and is discussed in that chapter.

=Cooking processes.=——For the beginnings of cooking we should need to go back to the days when game was roasted by the open fire, built for warmth, or corn parched on hot stones. Perhaps some root was cooked in the hot ashes. This primitive method of roasting we still use in camp fires, and in modified form wherever food is directly exposed to the heat of coal or gas. Water could not be a cooking medium until man advanced at least to the first stage of pottery making, when some rude basket daubed with clay was water-tight and sufficiently heat proof.

Application of heat is the most difficult stage of the whole process of cookery. It is so easy to have the heat too intense, or too low, to expose the food for too long or too short a time to its action. Most of our apparatus fails to give us a uniform heat, the tendency being to an increase or decrease of temperature. Since the boiling temperature of water remains at 212° F., boiling is an easy process to manage, provided the water does not boil out. The presence of water insures a low or moderate temperature always.

It requires patience and time to learn how to bring this natural force of heat under control. One novice who had allowed a flour paste to boil over and burn while she was looking out of the window remarked: “We may forget, but they never do!”——a pretty way of stating the steady working of nature’s forces which we can harness for our use only by the exercise of reason and will and constant watchfulness. The unintelligent cook is impatient of slow processes, and cannot believe that food will finally be “done” unless the water is at a “galloping” boil, and a red-hot fire is keeping the oven at burning temperature.

Look upon the application of heat as a continuation of nature’s slow ripening process, a softening of tough fibers and a development of pleasing flavors. For why do we cook at all except for these reasons? Primitive man thought only that the food had a better taste. He may have decided, too, that it was easier to masticate; but we have learned that in some cases we may, with right methods of cooking, make it easier to digest farther on in the alimentary canal. Modern science carries us a step farther and teaches us that cooking destroys lower organisms, such as harmful bacteria that may be present, and even animal parasites in meats.

We cook, therefore, _to improve the appearance of food, to develop flavors, to render some foodstuffs more digestible and to destroy microörganisms_.

We have at our command the following processes:

=Heat direct= from coal, charcoal, wood, or gas.

_Toasting._——Surfaces of food exposed and turned for browning.

_Broiling._——Thin portions of meat or fish exposed and turned for searing, browning, and short cooking of the interior.

_Roasting._——Thicker cuts of meat exposed and turned frequently for searing, browning, and gradual cooking of the interior. This is an ancient method. It survives in the French “Rôtisserie”; and we use it in the modern gas stove when we cook directly _under_ the gas.

=Heat through an intervening medium.=

_Water_, the medium.

_Boiling._——Cooking in boiling water, temperature, 212° F., or 100° C.

_Simmering_, _stewing_, or “_coddling_.”——Cooking in water below the boiling temperature, 180° F. up to 210° F.

_Steaming._——Cooking in a receptacle into which steam penetrates, 212° F.——or in a closed receptacle surrounded by steam or boiling water as in a double boiler, or a “steamer,” temperature from 200° F. to 210° F.

_Fat_, the medium.

_Deep fat frying_, temperature 350°-400° F.

_Heated surfaces_, the medium.

_Pan broiling._——Cooking of chops or steaks in a heated pan, without additional fat.

_Sauté._——To cook in a heated pan with a small amount of fat, enough merely to prevent the food from sticking to the pan and to hasten the browning process. “Baking” cakes on a griddle is a modification of this method.

_Baking._——Cooking in a heated oven, temperature from 300° F. to 450° F., or higher for rapid browning. Meat and poultry cooked in an oven are baked and not roasted, although we use the word “roast” for this method.

_Braising._——Cooking meat in a heated oven in a closed vessel, with a supply of water to keep down the temperature. This might be called an “oven stew.”

These methods are sometimes combined in one process. In a brown stew, the meat is first cooked in a pan with a little fat to brown it, and to sear the outside for retaining the juices, before the actual stewing begins. A “pot-roast,” is an old-fashioned method of cooking a solid piece of meat with a little water in a pot on top of the stove. The water simmers out, and the meat is browned. What methods does this process unite?

The American Indians in their Squantum, or Clam Bake, heated a layer of stones by means of a fire on top, removing the ashes when the fire died down. A layer of wet seaweed was placed on the stones, and upon this clams, fish, and corn were laid, and covered with another layer of seaweed. We have inherited this method from the Indians, and use it at the shore. What is the cooking process?

=Care of food after cooking.=——Bread, cake, cookies, and pastry should be cooled on a rack, or spread out in such a way that they do not steam. They should then be placed in a tin box or stone jar, which has been cleaned by washing and scalding with boiling water, and thoroughly dried. This process destroys any mold that might be lurking about. Keep paraffin paper on hand to cover this class of food in its box or jar. This will prevent too rapid drying out. Do not use cloth. It flavors the bread or cake, no matter how clean it may be.

All food that is to be served cold or reheated should be cooled before placing in the ice box. For what reason? Cool by placing in a draught, or set the vessel containing the food in running cold water from the faucet. It is particularly important to cool soups and broths rapidly. Which of these methods will you use, as being the more rapid?

All meat that is to be served cold should be cooled, especially if it is rare, or underdone. How will you accomplish this?

=Care of left overs.=——This is one of the tests of food management. It is so easy at the end of a meal either to throw food away, or set it into the refrigerator on the dish in which it has been served. Have a good supply of cheap bowls, plates, and saucers to hold left overs in the refrigerator, thus avoiding one possibility for breakage of the table china.

Keep _slices of bread_ for toasting, _pieces of bread_, to dry for crumbs, with special receptacles for each. Return pieces of _cake_ to the cake box. _Muffins_ may be reheated. _Toast_ may be kept to serve under eggs or meat.

All _butter_ should be saved. Pieces left on butter plates if clean should be scraped into a wide-mouthed jar and kept for cooking.

Pieces of _meat_ should be kept for reheating or “made” dishes, stews or soups or for salads. In hot weather, let your first order of meat be small, and dispose of left overs as rapidly as possible.

_Vegetables_ may be reheated, or used for flavoring soups and stews, or used cold in salads.

_Desserts_ and _fruits_ may be used for a “pick up” luncheon.

_Salads_ do not keep their freshness and flavor well, and should be used very soon.

_Milk_ and _cream_ should be returned to proper receptacles in the refrigerator as soon as possible.

=Disposal of waste food.=——This is the final test of good housekeeping, and many otherwise good housekeepers fail just here. Even at its best the garbage pail is not altogether a pleasing object, and at its worst it is unspeakable. It must not be ignored.

Have a system adapted to your own kitchen, and the municipal method of disposal, if there is such.

Use a covered pail of enamel ware, rather than one of galvanized iron. The surface of the enamel is smooth, and therefore easier to wash, and there is no excuse for putting off the cleansing of the pail. Wash, rinse, and dry the pail and the cover immediately after it is emptied. Do not put a piece of paper in the bottom of the pail. This request is made by the department in New York City, and it is always better not to mix food waste and paper waste. If you live in an apartment house, your name should be painted on the pail.

Never put liquid into the garbage pail with solid refuse. Strain out whatever liquid may be left in coffee or tea, and pour it into the sink drain. If there is a greasy liquid to throw away, add to it a teaspoonful or more of washing powder, and let it stand a time. If you have used enough of the powder, you will find that you have a soapy liquid to pour down the sink.

Coffee, tea, cocoa, or lemonade left in cups should be diluted and poured down the sink and never into the garbage pail.

Empty garbage at evening when possible, to prevent the long standing through the night. Keep the pail closely covered both day and night, to keep out flies, and water bugs, if they are about. Allow the pail to stand outside the kitchen unless the fire escape is the only accessible out-of-doors. Remember that the fire escape is not a back porch, and that you would be fined for using it as such if the inspectors were efficient.

There are two classes of waste: uncooked refuse, like potato skins, egg shells, pea pods, meat trimmings and bones; and table scraps from plates.

_Pieces of fat_ may be “tried out,” but do not accumulate more than you use. A few _egg shells_ may be kept for settling coffee, but again do not keep too many.

The _country dweller_ has a simple problem. What the farm animals do not eat will serve as fertilizer for plant life. After the bones have been picked, keep them together, in some receptacle, and finally bury or burn them. Have a compost heap properly covered where the uneaten fragments will decompose and make fertilizer, or bury them at once if preferred.

The _city dweller_ who uses a coal stove is able to burn some refuse. Strain out whatever liquid is present, dry the refuse _under_ the grate, and put it into a _hot_ fire. Do not crowd damp refuse into the fire box when the fire is low, for it will smoulder, and this heavy smoke will eventually clog the flues. The odor of this smoke, too, is disagreeable in the neighborhood. A garbage drier, set into the stove pipe, has been devised, but the simpler plan of drying the refuse under the grate is quite as satisfactory.

Where gas or kerosene is the fuel, or where electricity is used, the garbage pail is the only resort, unless one lives in a building equipped with a special stove or “garbage burner” for the disposal of waste.

EXERCISES

1. What is a principle in cooking?

2. What are the effects of heat upon the foodstuffs?

3. What is meant by technique in cookery?

4. What are the essentials in caring for food in the house?

5. What are the steps in the preparation of food?

6. Explain the origin and usefulness of a recipe.

7. What are the standard weights and measures?

8. What is the purpose of stirring ingredients? Of beating?

9. What is the difference between boiling and steaming?

10. The difference between baking and roasting? Roasting and broiling? Broiling and toasting?

11. What is the difference between frying and the sauté?

12. Describe the care of “left overs” and waste.

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