From the London and Country Cookbook, 1770. Courtesy of the Bryson Library.

FOODS AND HOUSEHOLD
MANAGEMENT

A TEXTBOOK
OF THE
HOUSEHOLD ARTS

v

PREFACE

This volume, like its companion, Shelter and Clothing, is intended for use in the course in household arts in the high school and normal school, whether the work be vocational or general in its aim. It is hoped that both volumes will prove useful in the home as well, including as they do a treatment of the homecrafts, and the related topics now so significant to the home maker,—the cost and purchasing of foods and clothing, the cost of operating, the management of the home, and questions of state and city sanitation vital to the health of the individual family.

The volume treats specifically of foods, their production, sanitation, cost, nutritive value, preparation, and serving, these topics being closely interwoven with the practical aspects of household management, and they are followed by a study of the household budget and accounts, methods of buying, housewifery, and laundering. It includes about 160 carefully selected and tested recipes, together with a large number of cooking exercises of a more experimental nature designed to develop initiative and resourcefulness. Shelter and Clothing deals with the organization and ideals of the home, house sanitation, decoration, and furnishing; and treats in full, textiles, sewing, costume design, and dressmaking.

Some of the recipes here given are adapted from those of such authorities as Mrs. Lincoln, Miss Farmer, and Miss Barrows, and others are original and from private sources.

The authors are glad to acknowledge their indebtedness to those who have read and criticized the manuscript: Professorvi Mary Swartz Rose of Teachers College, for her criticism and contributions to the book; Miss L. Ray Balderston, of Teachers College, for reading the chapters on Housewifery and Laundering; Professor May B. Van Arsdale, of Teachers College, for reading the chapters on Food; Professor Van Arsdale, Miss Bertha E. Shapleigh, and Miss Mary H. Peacock for their assistance in arranging for photographs; Miss Laura B. Whittemore, formerly of Teachers College, and Miss Amy L. Logan of the Horace Mann School for criticizing the manuscript from the point of view of the high school teacher; and also Professor Hermann Vulté for his kind assistance.

vii

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS

The topics in this volume are so arranged that they can be followed in sequence as the course of study develops through the year, with such modifications as seem necessary to the teacher in order that the work may best meet the needs of the pupils. The practice has become quite general of beginning the practical work in the autumn with the preparation and preservation of fruit, especially for those pupils who have had previous work in foods; and this plan commends itself as being seasonable and as making an appeal to the interest of the pupils. The opening chapters furnish material that is in part preliminary and that may also be studied as the practical work progresses from Chapter V onward. The preparation of a meal need not be deferred until all types of dishes have been cooked singly, as it is possible to prepare a luncheon box, to set an invalid tray, or to serve a simple breakfast quite early in the course, provided the equipment permits. If the school program allows, it is well to give a period to recitation at stated intervals, which would include a discussion of the text and of problems that arise from the laboratory work. The cost of food is a topic to be borne in mind throughout the year. It is an excellent plan for the pupils to record the current prices of each food material as it is used, and the cost of a given dish for a given number of people, the topic culminating in a detailed discussion when the chapter on the cost of food is read. A similar method may be pursued in connection with the nutritive values of food, the theme developing from lesson to lesson, until the pupils are ready for the chapter onviii menus and dietaries. An occasional lesson on housewifery or laundering may be introduced from time to time, if a complete sequence of lessons on these topics does not seem practicable; and through the year the pupils may be encouraged to keep simple accounts for themselves and in connection with the supplies of the school kitchen. Those teachers are fortunate who may coöperate with a school lunch room, thus affording their pupils opportunity for dealing with practical administrative and economic problems. The way in which the topics are used must of necessity vary with the previous experience of the pupils, whether or not they have had cookery, chemistry, and physiology, and the teacher will use the exercises at the end of the chapters with freedom, omitting some questions, and adding others as the need arises.

The following references will prove useful to teachers in developing the different topics of the volume:—

Laboratory Handbook for Dietetics—Mary S. Rose.

Chemistry of Food and Nutrition—Sherman.

Food Products—Sherman.

Science of Nutrition—Lusk.

The World’s Commercial Products—Freeman and Chandler.

Elementary Household Chemistry—Snell.

Nutritional Physiology—Stiles.

Household Bacteriology—Buchanan.

Bacteria, Yeasts, and Molds in the Home—Conn.

Microbiology—Marshall.

Household Physics—Lynde.

Selection and Preparation of Food—Bevier and Van Meter.

Principles of Cookery—Anna M. Barrows.

Technique of Cookery—M. B. Van Arsdale.

Cost of Living—Ellen H. Richards.

Cost of Food—Ellen H. Richards.

Cost of Shelter—Ellen H. Richards.ix

Cost of Cleanness—Ellen H. Richards.

Standards of Living—Chapin.

The New Housekeeping—Frederick.

Increasing Home Efficiency—Martha B. and Robert W. Bruere.

Household Hygiene—S. Maria Elliott.

Household Management—Bertha E. Terrill.

The New Hostess of Today—Larned.

Laundry Manual—Balderston and Limerick.

Bulletins of the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

xi

CONTENTS

xii

xiii

xiv

xv

1

CHAPTER I

Food problems.—“What shall I plan for the three meals?” is a question as new each day as the day itself. That many women ask it, and are glad for an answer or a suggestion is proved by a glance at the daily or weekly paper or woman’s magazine, whose publishers know that it pays to print menus innumerable. Indeed, the daily press is full of signs that the food problem is an acute one, for the current joke about food prices, the accounts of boycotts by housekeepers, popular articles on nutrition and pure foods, and the records of state and national legislation, all show that as a nation we are awake and seeking a way out of our present difficulties.

Doubtless, the housekeeper has always found the task of supplying food to her family one of the most perplexing, but modern conditions have made the difficulties manifold when contrasted with olden times. A pretty picture of household management in seventeenth century England is drawn by Sir Walter Scott in “Peveril of the Peak.” The lord of the castle has invited the village people to a great feast in celebration of the restoration of Charles the Second, and Lady Peveril finds her larder rather low. To be sure, there are2 carp in the pond, and deer in the park, but the beef question is puzzling, for the steward does not wish to kill his choice steer. Then appear in the courtyard two fine oxen, and several wethers, or sheep, gifts from a neighbor, and the menu is complete. Lady Peveril is described as an excellent housekeeper, and doubtless felt burdened by many cares, but how different were her problems from ours, and how simple by comparison! Beef trusts and the high price of beef, tuberculous cattle, unsanitary transportation and markets were not factors in her problem. In her day, and in the time of our grandmothers, less variety in diet was possible, and less expected except on state occasions; food was not transported over great distances, and the cost was not so much out of proportion to the average income.

Now every large city, and even the small town, is the market of the world. We have long been accustomed to the importation of oranges and lemons, and dried fruits from distant lands; but now we have peaches and pears from South Africa, melons from Spain, pineapples from the Azores, hothouse grapes from England, and apples from Australia, and in 1913, we read of the shipment of beef from Argentina. In our own country, early fruits and vegetables travel from the south to the north, so that the season of some foods is long extended. The large amount of canned food also does away with the natural limits of the season, and this is further affected by cold storage. Both the quality and the cost of food are modified by these new methods of commerce, and furthermore, modern methods of manufacture have changed the quality. In an ideal community these changes would be for the better, but manufacturers often think more of their own profit than of the quality of their goods, and as a result adulterations have crept in, making necessary the enactment and enforcement of pure food laws. This is by3 no means so simple a matter as it seems, for we must first understand what pure food really is.

Instinct guides somewhat in the selection of food where conditions of living are simple. Under more complex conditions there must be a scientific study of the whole situation in order that the individual may cope with it. Then, too, with such a variety of foods from which to select, it is easy to be tempted beyond our means, and to disregard the simple and the wholesome. We know that it is easy to develop a taste for some one food in excess, as for instance, sweets or dishes rich in fat and too highly flavored, and the physician adds his word here to the plea for a study of food and its functions.

The conclusion is this, that the housekeeper who has the welfare of her family at heart will not confine her interest in food to cooking processes and new recipes. Good cooks we must have, and our standard of cooking could easily be raised. But other facts about food are important to-day, and as we learn to prepare and serve food daintily, we must study such topics as the following:

What food is, its composition and how it nourishes us; how it is manufactured and transported; “pure food”; sanitary and convenient markets; the cost of food and how to buy; principles of food preparation; suitable combinations and amounts of food. These topics are all treated in this volume, and should be considered as important as the actual preparation of food.

What is food?—This would seem to be a difficult question to answer as we look about a modern grocery or market with its bewildering assortment of foods. It seems hardly possible to describe such a variety of articles in a brief sentence,4 or to find a definition that will apply to all. Yet we seem to know instinctively what food is, although we may not find it easy to give a definition. Even the lower animals are guided in selecting food by some natural instinct and seldom make a mistake.

A widely used government bulletin gives this definition: “Food is that which taken into the body builds tissue or yields energy or does both.” Probably we have learned this in our physiology, and admit it to be true, but for practical purposes, we need a more complete statement than this. Let us carefully determine what our foods really are, and what elements they contain, in order that we may select wisely for purposes of nutrition, and also that we may learn how to prepare food materials in a way that will utilize everything in them and waste nothing.

Vegetable and animal foods.—It is easy to divide food materials in a general way into those derived from the vegetable kingdom and those derived from the animal kingdom. In the vegetable group we have first, the different parts of many plants, and second, substances manufactured from plants. While we do not usually eat the whole of any one plant, yet there is not any part of the plant that we have not adopted as food. We use roots and tubers in beets, carrots, and potatoes, and the onion is a bulb. In celery and asparagus we eat the plant stalk. Plant leaves give us lettuce and other salads, cabbage and the like. Peas and beans and nuts are seeds, and cauliflower is a part of the flower. The fruit as a whole is familiar in many forms. Manufactured vegetable food materials include flour, meals, breakfast cereals, starch, sugar, molasses and sirups. The animal kingdom gives us the flesh of animals, fish and shell fish, and substances derived from animals, like eggs, milk, and the milk products, cream, butter, and cheese.

5

These materials vary so much in appearance that they would seem to have nothing in common. If, however, we compare the food of different animals and different races of men, we cannot but conclude that this is a mistaken judgment. We find an animal like the lion feeding entirely upon the flesh of other animals, and a strong creature like the ox, eating nothing but grass and grain. We also note that one race of men includes meat in its diet, and another subsists almost entirely upon vegetable food, such as rice and beans. Yet in both cases, these diverse kinds of food accomplish the same end,—body building and the supplying of energy. Let us study two common foods, from the two kingdoms, and see if through this study we can discover in what ways they are alike.

Comparison of milk and beans.—A moment’s thought enables us to see that in milk we have a food that must have all the elements needed in nutrition, since it is the only food taken by many young animals. The baby and the young calf find in it everything that is needed to build the growing body, and to give them energy. If you see a young calf frisking about the field, you can appreciate how well his food supplies his needs.

A simple experiment will help us to find some of the substances contained in milk. Let the milk stand until the cream rises on the top. Skim the cream, warm it slightly and beat it with an egg beater. Butter will soon “come,” and butter, we know, is a form of fat. Warm a pint of the skimmed milk, add to it a dissolved rennet tablet, and set it in a warm place. In a short time, the milk becomes solidified to a consistency like that of jelly. If allowed to stand longer, a watery liquid will separate itself from the solid portion. These are the “curds and whey” that result, also, from the souring of milk. The whey can be squeezed out of the6 curd, leaving it quite dry. We have now found at least three constituents of milk,—water, fat, and curd.

Fig. 1.—Composition of milk.

1. Whole milk.

2. Water.

3. Fat.

4. Protein.

5. Carbohydrate.

6. Mineral matter or ash.

Courtesy of President Gulliver, Rockford College.

You may then surmise from the sweet taste of milk that sugar is present; the chemist knows how to obtain it in pure form as “sugar of milk.” The chemist also finds certain mineral substances which remain behind when all the water is evaporated and the curds and sugar burned away. These mineral substances are spoken of by the chemist as “ash,” because this is what remains after burning the other portions of a food material, as ashes remain from a wood fire. Figure 1 shows you these substances in the amounts in which each occurs in a pint of milk. The sugar is one of a class of substances to which the chemist gives the name carbohydrate. To the substance in the curd that is different from all the other substances in the milk the name “protein” is given.

We will now turn to the composition of beans, for in beans we find food stored up to nourish the young plant, which we,7 also, appropriate as food. The composition of both the milk and the beans is given in this table. Compare also Figures 35 and 41.

Notice that the substances in the beans are the same in general nature as those in the milk, although the amounts are different. The water that the young plant needs is, of course, supplied from the earth. There is another difference to note although this is not shown in the table; in the beans the carbohydrate is of two kinds, sugar and starch.

All the varieties of food with which we are supplied will be found to contain some of these substances: protein, fat, carbohydrate, mineral matter, water; and to these we give the name foodstuffs. Some food materials (like the milk and beans just studied) contain all the foodstuffs, some only one, as in the case of sugar. We can now define food as something that contains one or more of the substances known as foodstuffs. But what are the foodstuffs themselves?

Elements in the foodstuffs.—Although we are not chemists, and may not even have taken a course in chemistry,8 yet through our nature study or physiology lessons, we are familiar with the fact that all the materials about us, including our own bodies and our food, are made up of simple substances that we call “elements.” We know, for instance, that coal is chiefly carbon, and we are familiar with such substances as sulphur, calcium, phosphorus, and iron. We know that the air contains oxygen, which we inhale, and that we breathe out a combination of carbon and oxygen called “carbon dioxide.” Since our bodies are composed of these and other elements, these elements must be supplied by our foods, and therefore, the foodstuffs in turn are composed of these same elements.

Proteins, fats, and carbohydrates all contain large amounts of carbon, and on this account are called fuel foods. But proteins are distinguished because they contain nitrogen in addition, which is found in no other foodstuff. Sulphur, too, we get only from protein, but we need less of it than of nitrogen, so we think about the nitrogen and let the sulphur take care of itself. The nitrogen that we draw in from the air with every breath, we breathe out again without being able to use it. This element is necessary to every living cell, but we can make it ours only through our protein food. Nitrogen is cheapest when obtained from the grains, from dried beans and peas. We pay a higher price for it in milk, eggs, fish, meat, and nuts. Carbon, which is found in all foodstuffs except water and some kinds of mineral matter, costs much less, especially when we take it in the form of carbohydrates such as starches and sugars. Oxygen is also abundant in our foods, but we get it even more cheaply in water and by breathing it in from the air. Phosphorus, iron, and calcium are very important elements, but we do not need them in very large quantities. We can get them cheaply in whole grains, peas and beans, some fruits and9 green vegetables, but they are worth paying for in milk and eggs. The elements last mentioned are present in the food partly as constituents of certain proteins and fats, partly as mineral salts. Other elements found as mineral matter are sodium and chlorine (which we take as common salt), potassium, magnesium, and traces of iodine and fluorine. These are all necessary to keep our bodies in good working order. We shall see later how to select our food materials so as to have all the different elements in the foodstuffs present in sufficient amounts.

Food for energy.—The first requirement of the body is for fuel, because it has a great deal of work to do. Even when one lies perfectly quiet and appears to be resting, the heart is working to keep up the circulation of the blood, the chest and diaphragm muscles are working to maintain the oxygen supply to the lungs, the alimentary tract is moving food material along, working to digest it and get rid of waste, and the skeletal muscles are being held up to “tone” so as to be ready for further action. All this work that we scarcely realize, may be called involuntary. To it we may add all sorts of voluntary movements, from simply speaking a word to turning somersaults or lifting heavy weights. All work involves energy, which we can obtain only from the fuel foods, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.

Energy takes different forms. Our supply comes from the sun in the forms of heat and light, and plants store it up in the form of chemical energy when they build carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. This may be changed into the forms of work or of heat when we eat the food. Whenever an attempt is made to change chemical energy to work, some of it will10 change to heat. So in our bodies, the fuel foods, which enable us to do both involuntary and voluntary work, furnish heat at the same time, to keep our bodies warm. When we are too cold, we can shiver or run or jump, and thus, by doing more work, get more heat too.

The unit of fuel value.—In our studies of food materials, we must find out just how much energy, or working power, can be obtained from each kind. We must have a measure of energy or fuel value; and just as the inch is a measure of length, and the pound of weight, so the Calorie serves as a measure of fuel value. This unit[2] measures energy as heat, being the amount of heat required to raise 1 kilogram of water 1° C. (or 1 pound of water about 4° F.), but we can express it also as work, being sufficient energy to raise a 1-pound weight 3087 feet into the air (or 1 ton about 1¹⁄₂ feet) if it were possible to convert it into mechanical work without loss. By burning foods in pure oxygen in a vessel placed in water so that all the heat is given off to the water, and then noting the change in temperature of the water, it is possible to find out just how much energy each will yield. Such a device is called a calorimeter. In the body there is usually a small portion of each kind of foodstuff which escapes digestion, and protein is not quite so completely burned as in the calorimeter. When allowance for the probable loss is made, the energy values of the fuel foodstuffs are as follows:

The standard portion.—Knowing the composition of any food material, it is possible from these figures to calculate11 the total fuel value, or we can refer to tables in which this has been calculated, and save ourselves labor. For comparison of different foods the Standard, or 100-Calorie, Portion is used, as this corresponds very closely with the amount of food for a single serving in many cases. In the sections treating of different foods the Standard Portion will be stated.

Food for body building.—Every living cell has a little life history of its own, and constantly demands a certain amount of new material to replace old which it has worn out. Besides this, old cells die, and new ones have to be made to replace them. Hence even a full-grown person needs building material, and much more is required in proportion when the person is growing and perhaps adding several ounces a week to his weight. The foodstuffs which have especial value as building material are protein and mineral matter.

Food for body regulating.—To help in the digestion of food, to keep the blood in proper condition, the muscles supple, and all the processes of the body at their best, ash constituents and water in the diet are necessary. A tabular summary of the functions of the foodstuffs and an outline of the changes which take place in digestion will be found in the appendix.

We are now able to give a more complete answer to our question, “What is Food?”

Food has been said to be that which taken into the body builds tissue or yields energy, or both. The food as a whole must contain all the chemical elements needed by the body, these elements being supplied in substances known as foodstuffs, viz., protein, fat, carbohydrates, mineral matter or ash, water. To be a food, a substance must contain one or all of the foodstuffs.

It must be noted here that our food materials as bought,12 contain inedible matter, as in the shells of eggs, the bone of meat, the skins and pods of vegetables. Moreover, the fiber that we eat in vegetable foods is not digested under ordinary circumstances, but seems rather to serve a useful purpose in giving bulk to our foods.

Food adjuncts.—In preparing foods for the table, we have the habit of adding substances to develop or give flavor. With the exception of sugar, which we use largely for its agreeable taste, these substances have no nutritive value. They are not hurtful unless used in excess, although pepper and other spices sometimes disturb digestion. Pepper, too, irritates a delicate throat.

Only a few flavors are really detected by the sense of taste. These are salt, sugar, acids, and bitter flavors; and something in the spices that gives a sensation hard to describe, but is unmistakable in an overdose of mustard or horse-radish. “Pungent” describes such a flavor.

The other flavors are really odors, and are detected by the sense of smell. Have you not at some time seemed to lose the sense of taste when suffering from a severe cold in the head? Yet even then you could taste sugar, salt, vinegar, and feel the pungency of pepper. These other flavors or odors are due to a volatile oil in the flavoring material, that is, an oil that readily evaporates, especially when heated, as distinguished from the non-volatile oils and fats like olive oil and butter. This is a practical bit of knowledge in our cookery, for whatever passes off as fragrance during the cooking process, is lost as flavor. For instance, to cook vanilla essence in a soft custard is equivalent to throwing most of it away.

The fine art of cooking is to develop the natural flavor of each foodstuff by the proper application of heat, and never to use these condiments and flavorings in excess. The artist in cookery has a gift for flavoring, somewhat as the painter has for color.

Beverages.—The dictionary defines “beverage” as “drink of any kind.” The word is used in different forms in several languages and is traced back to the Latin bibere,14 to drink. The common beverages will be studied in detail in connection with their preparation. They have slight nutritive value, save for the added milk, cream, and sugar. Cocoa and chocolate contain fat, and so have to be classed as foods. Milk is not a beverage, strictly speaking, but a food, and should be counted as a part of a meal.

EXERCISES

1. State the important topics in the study of foods.

2. Explain the difference between a “food material” and a “foodstuff.”

3. What are the important elements in protein, fat, and carbohydrates?

4. What food materials are rich in protein? In fat? In carbohydrate? In mineral matter?

5. Explain the meaning and use of the “Calorie.”

6. State the functions of food.

7. What is a food adjunct?

8. What is the waste material in food?

15

CHAPTER II

There is no more attractive room than a well-fitted kitchen, shining with cleanliness; and the kitchen furnishings should have their fair share of the money spent in buying furniture for the house.

A spotless cleanliness is the standard for the kitchen, and all the equipment should be selected with the thought of making cleanliness easily possible. Next in order is forethought in securing the comfort and convenience of the worker.

16

Plan of the kitchen.—Here the motto should be “Save steps.” How many weary miles do women walk within their kitchen walls because the sink, the stove, the refrigerator and the closets for food and dishes are put in to fit the spaces allowed by the windows and doors, with no thought of the rapid and easy dispatch of work.

Figure 2 shows the plan of a kitchen, of the “buffet” type, suitable for a small home or apartment. As this plan is drawn it would be necessary to use either electric apparatus, or a small gas stove upon one of the tables. A large gas stove could stand in place of the table at (1), or against the wall at (2), pushing the table at (3) nearer the door. The cupboards at (4) and (5) should be raised, leaving table space at both the right and left of the sink. Notice that the ice box is in the entry, and also that there is a cupboard that could be used for food. The china cupboard is conveniently near in the dining-room.

Fig. 2.—Plan of a small kitchen. Courtesy of the House Beautiful.

Figure 3 shows a larger kitchen, with a serving room between it and the dining-room. The ice box is in the outer17 wall and is filled from the outside. The cupboard at (1) could hold the cooking utensils, as it stands conveniently between the sink and the range. A kitchen as large as this should have a small table on rollers for carrying food materials and utensils back and forth. If you have ever visited the kitchen in a dining-car you will realize that compactness is one of the advantages of the small kitchen over the large, although the latter may be better ventilated and cooler.

Fig. 3.—Plan of a larger kitchen. Courtesy of the House Beautiful.

Furnishing the kitchen.—The walls and floors, and even the ceiling, should be washable. A tiled wall is as easy to wash as a china dish, but the expense is prohibitive in many cases. Table oilcloth for wall and ceiling is very satisfactory; next to this in desirability is paint, and for the last choice a washable paper. This paper will bear scarcely more than a damp cloth for cleansing purposes, however. Avoid cracks and crevices in the woodwork, having all surfaces as plain as possible.

The best floor is one covered with an inlaid linoleum, which gives warmth and comfort to the foot, is easy to clean, and wears for many years (Fig. 4). It should be cemented down at the edges that no dust may collect. The first cost is rather high, but it pays in the end. A hardwood floor of maple or yellow pine is also satisfactory. Tiling is the cleanest of all floorings, but is very fatiguing to the worker.

Fig. 4.—A kitchen corner. Courtesy of the Department of Household Science and Art, Pratt Institute.

Enamel-paint makes a smooth finish for the woodwork. In the kitchen of the future, which will be fireproof, steel fittings will probably take the place of all wood.

Have harmonious colors in the kitchen. Decide upon a cheerful color scheme, and carry it out in all the fittings. One most attractive kitchen is furnished in soft brown and buff, with a touch of blue in the linoleum on the floor. Figure 4 shows the interior of a small kitchen, practical for a family of six or eight. The curtain at the window, which gives a19 touch of daintiness, is of a washable material. Figure 5 shows a much larger kitchen, with two sinks, and a work-table in the center. See how conveniently the refrigerator is placed for serving, and for returning food from the serving room to the refrigerator. The vegetable sink is near the stove, and the utensils, too, are near by. A rolling table is seen at the left.

No plan can be drawn that would be perfect in all situations. If you ever have the opportunity to plan your own kitchen, decide just what you want it to contain, and then plan the places for each article. Sometimes there are too many drawers and shelves, and these not of the right size or position.

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The kitchen table.—The table should have a top with room for food materials and utensils to stand in neat order without crowding. Glass is the cleanest top, painted steel and hard maple coming next in order. Have some arrangement of shelves and drawers that small utensils and some food materials may be always at hand. Figure 6 shows a kitchen “cabinet” of painted steel with such conveniences. Notice the bin for flour, and the inverted jar for sugar, both with an opening at the bottom. Spices and flavorings and materials needed in small quantities are kept in jars on the shelves. The cupboard and drawers beneath will hold small utensils, towels, and whatever proves to be needed close by. Several makes of such cabinets are now on sale. A flat-topped table for a large kitchen, Fig. 5, could have drawers and cupboards below. If the outlay for a cabinet seems too great, the bins for sugar and flour may be purchased separately and fastened on the wall above the table, and one or two shelves screwed on the wall for the jars, with hooks fastened in underneath on which a few small utensils may be hung.

Fig. 5.—A well-equipped kitchen. Courtesy of the J. L. Mott Co.

A small rolling table may be made inexpensively by putting castors on a light table costing not more than a dollar. Put table oilcloth over the top. This is a great convenience in many ways. The height of the table should be such that the worker is not fatigued by bending over. Thirty-two inches is a good table height for a woman of five feet four or five inches. Blocks hollowed to fit the table legs may be used with a table of ordinary height for a tall person.

Cupboards and shelves.—If you purchase a cupboard see that the shelves are movable, and of varying widths. There are a few large utensils that need a deep shelf, about fifteen inches. If the shelves are to be built in, provide several widths from six to ten inches. Much space is sometimes wasted between shelves. Vary the distances here.

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Fig. 6.—A kitchen cabinet. Courtesy of the Columbia School Supply Co.

Smooth paint is the best surface for the shelf. Shelf covers of paper or oilcloth look clean when they are fresh, but are less sanitary than uncovered shelves. Drawers should not be too large, for these are heavy to pull and push when22 full. Cupboard shelves are on the whole more satisfactory than drawers, because this tiresome pulling out and pushing in are avoided. Towels can be piled on the shelves, and small utensils hung on right-angled screw hooks. Do not use curved hooks, except for hanging cups from the bottom of a shelf.

Fig. 7.—Section of a refrigerator wall. Courtesy of the White Enamel Refrigerator Co.

The refrigerator.—A good refrigerator is built with double walls, and has several layers of non-conducting material. Figure 7 shows the careful way in which the refrigerator wall is made. 1. Porcelain enamel lining lock joint. 2. Inside wood lining. 3. Three-ply red rope water-proof paper. 4. Wool felt deafening paper. 5. Flaxlinum insulation. 6. Dead air space. 7. Flaxlinum insulation. 8. Wool felt deafening paper. 9. Three-ply red rope water-proof paper. 10. Outside wood case. The ice chamber is arranged to be easily filled, and has a connecting pipe for carrying off the water. If this is connected with the sewerage system of the house, make sure that it is properly trapped (Fig. 8). See “Shelter and Clothing,” page 51, for description of the S trap. The closets for the food should have an enamel or tiled lining. This is non-absorptive, and may be kept perfectly clean. A large refrigerator is more economical of ice than a23 small one, and in the end more than balances the few dollars extra that must be paid for the larger size. Select the coolest spot that you have for the refrigerator. Figure 9 shows the construction of a good refrigerator.

Fig. 8.—A refrigerator trap. Courtesy of the White Enamel Refrigerator Co.

Fig. 9.—A well-constructed refrigerator. Courtesy of the White Enamel Refrigerator Co.

A window box fastened outside the window by strong iron brackets provides a convenient place for cooling food, and keeping some semi-perishable foods. It is easily made from a watertight wooden24 box, painted outside and in, the opening toward the window having a curtain of table oilcloth. A piece of wire netting set in one side of the box permits of a current of air.

Fig. 10.—A sink of simple construction. Courtesy of J. L. Mott Co.

The sink.—White enameled iron and porcelain are the most desirable materials for the sink. A simply constructed sink is shown in Fig. 10. Notice that the sink is supported from the wall, leaving a free space underneath. A larger sink is shown in Fig. 11, with the draining board in the sink. The trap below the sink should be a large S trap, and the trap and faucets should be nickel plate.

Fig. 11.—A larger sink. Courtesy of the J. L. Mott Co.

An iron sink should be rubbed and polished until it becomes very smooth. Do not attempt to paint it. If it is left perfectly dry, it will not rust.

Hot water supply.—A good supply is essential to rapid and thorough work. The apartment dweller who finds it piped to the sink is most fortunate. The separate house must have a boiler connected with the coal range, or a water25 tank fastened to the range. If gas is used, have some kind of gas water heater that will give a sufficient flow for dish-washing and cleaning purposes. A boiler may be heated with a kerosene stove. The boiler should be fastened above the floor with space below for a one-burner blue-flame kerosene stove. Have a faucet in the boiler. Wherever a boiler is used it is economy to have it covered with some non-conducting material, just as steam pipes are packed.

Utensils.—The expert cook is known by the small number of utensils that she uses. If you watch the expert at work, you will see too, that each utensil is exactly fitted to its use.

The skilled cook is like the carpenter or painter, and her set of tools is individual. The list given on page 28 is a sample one, to be changed to suit the individual preference, and increased as the need arises; it could be smaller, if26 necessary. When you first furnish a kitchen, avoid an elaborate display of tools, beginning with the few essentials only.

No one material is suitable for the construction of all utensils. Those subjected to intense heat must be of material able to resist it. The material for a given utensil must be selected with the purpose of the utensil in mind. The material should be durable, easy to clean, and of such a nature that it does not affect chemically the food material cooked in it.

The patterns of utensils.—Select those made without seams, or flutings, where food particles collect. Bowls, saucepans, and kettles should have a lip on the side, for the pouring out of liquids. A pitcher should be of such shape that it can be easily washed, and it should have a lip that will pour well. A pot for boiling coffee should have a lip and not a spout. Select utensils with non-conducting handles.

Study carefully the selection of knives, and do not try to economize in their purchase. Knives must be sharp, and poor quality steel will never take a good edge. A worn table knife of Sheffield steel, when ground down, makes the best of kitchen knives. Buy a good sharpener and use it frequently.

Labor-saving devices.—A good machine saves the wear and tear of human muscle, and also much time. If you have studied the principles of the lever and other mechanical devices, you will understand why this is.[3]

Learn to pay for, use, and clean good machines.

A “Dover” egg beater is built on the principle of the “wheel and axle.” The large wheel has five times as many28 cogs as the small, one revolution of the large wheel giving five of the small, and one turn of the handle five revolutions of the blades. It saves your wrist, and saves time to use the “Dover” in place of a fork. It is more trouble to wash the Dover beater than the fork. Yet a cook may object to a bread mixer and meat chopper, because they are harder to clean than the bowl and spoon and knife.

A good bread mixer saves strength and is sanitary. Fig. 12.

Fig. 12.—An inexpensive bread mixer, cover on and off. Courtesy of Landers, Frary and Clark.

A meat chopper or grinder also saves strength and time, and is cleaner than the wooden chopping bowl.

For preparing and mixing.

1 can opener.

1 corkscrew.

1 vegetable knife, pointed.

1 steel table knife, broad blade.

1 meat knife and fork.

1 bread knife, or slicer.

1 small meat axe.

1 knife sharpener.29

1 3-bladed chopping knife, or meat grinder.

1 apple corer.

2 plated or steel forks, table.

1 long-handled fork, three-pronged.

1 palette knife.

1 pair heavy scissors.

1 set skewers.

1 large mixing spoon, enamel ware.

6 plated tablespoons, or German silver.

6 plated teaspoons, or German silver.

1 saltspoon, bone.

1 wooden spatula.

1 Dover egg beater, large size.

1 wire egg beater.

1 wire potato masher.

1 colander.

1 wire strainer.

1 wire strainer, cup size.

1 flour sifter.

1 flour dredger.

1 salt shaker.

1 coffee mill.

1 grater.

1 nutmeg grater.

1 glass lemon squeezer.

1 large mixing bowl for bread.

1 medium bowl for cake.

2 pint bowls.

1 quart measure.

1 half-pint measuring cup.

1 molding board.

1 rolling pin.

1 meat board.

1 or 2 plates.

1 or 2 china molds.

1 kitchen scales.

Other conveniences.

6 small hand towels.

Towel racks.

1 high stool.

1 or 2 comfortable chairs.

A clock.

Sheets of paper, tissue and heavier.

Heavy linen thread and large needle.

Ball of soft, strong twine.

A shelf for cook books.

For stewing, steaming, and boiling.

(Sizes dependent on number in family.)

1 teakettle, enamel or aluminium.

1 double-boiler, enamel ware.

1 pint saucepan, enamel covered.

1 or 2 stewpans, enamel covered.

1 kettle, covered.

1 steamer.

30

For broiling, pan broiling, the sauté, and frying.

(Broiler and toaster supplied with gas range.)

1 wire toaster.

1 heavy wire broiler.

1 frying pan, with lip, steel or iron.

1 frying kettle and basket.

For roasting, braising, and baking.

(Roasting pan provided with gas range.)

1 roasting pan, covered, steel or iron.

1 or 2 heavy earthen pots, covered.

1 baking pan for fish, iron, or heavy earthenware.

2 or 3 bread pans (for loaf cake also).

1 shallow pan for cake.

1 muffin pan.

1 flat cooky tin.

3 round pans, for layer cake, enamel.

2 pie pans.

2 or 3 pitchers.

6-12 heavy earthen cups, for popovers and custards.

2 round baking dishes, earthen or enamel.

For holding food materials.

A few cheap saucers, plates, and bowls for food in the refrigerator.

Bins for flour, meals, and sugar.

A dozen glass wide-mouthed preserving jars.

Jelly glasses for spices, etc.

Tin boxes can be kept for such purposes.

(Use gummed labels on these jars and glasses.)

For washing dishes.

1 dishpan, enamel.

1 shallow rinsing pan.

1 soap shaker.

2 soap dishes.

1 shaker for washing powder.

6 glass towels.

6 heavier towels.

6 loose weave dishcloths.

Care of the kitchen.—The daily cleaning must include the care of the sink and traps, the cleaning of the stove, brushing the floor, and washing off of tables. More thorough cleaning includes the scrubbing of the floor, washing of walls, woodwork, and windows, cleaning of closets and drawers.

31

The stoves should be rubbed often with paper, and washed thoroughly when necessary. Great pains must be taken to keep the ovens clean, by frequent washing out. Gas burners must be taken off and boiled in a solution of sal soda once in a while. The top and bottom of coal ovens should be cleaned out once a month. Kerosene stoves need constant cleaning. Stove blacking makes the stove more attractive.

Dish-washing.—It is not difficult to wash dishes well, although many people make it a very disagreeable process. The necessary apparatus is given in the utensil list. The cleansing materials include a plentiful supply of hot water, a good soap, ammonia or borax to soften the water, a gritty soap or powder. Have a pan for washing and another for rinsing, and a tray for draining if there is no drainer attached to the sink.

EXERCISES

1. What is essential to the planning of a convenient kitchen?

2. How may cleanliness be secured through the furnishings?

3. What are the requisites in a good work table?

4. Explain the construction of a refrigerator. Of a good sink.

5. Compare the materials used in utensils.

6. What is the advantage of a machine compared with hand power?

7. Make an estimate of the cost of utensils for the home kitchen from a price list obtained from some standard furnishing shop.

8. Examine the utensils in the school kitchen and at home. Consider the material and shape with reference to durability and convenience.

9. What are the important points in cleaning the kitchen?

10. What are the important points in good dish-washing?

11. What is a good order of work in dish-washing?

33

CHAPTER III

The fuels most widely used in this country are coal, gas, and kerosene. Wood is still used for cooking by those who own wood lots, or who live in a district where wood is abundant, but in a sense it is the fuel of the past. Electricity is generated from coal except in the few communities where the electric current is derived through machinery from the energy of falling water but electricity is not in common household use, and is still the method of the future for the average family. Other substances are burned for fuel occasionally or in restricted localities. Corn cobs are used sometimes in the corn belt. Peat is an old-world fuel. It is a vegetable substance taken in blocks from marshes, in reality the first stage of coal formation. It is a slow-burning fuel which is cheap in its own locality.

Economy of fuel is a world problem, for it is evident that the coal supply will be exhausted in course of time, and this is true also of coal oil or petroleum. Scientists are experimenting to discover practical methods, not dependent upon the burning of coal, for generating electricity. Water power is the only practicable method so far, and to make it permanently available we must conserve the forests still remaining to us, and thus safeguard the sources of our rivers.

Another effort toward economy is seen in the use for fuel of waste products treated in some way to make them readily combustible. The briquet is used in Europe where the fuel supply is limited. It is made of sawdust or waste coal, with34 some petroleum, tar, resin, or other substance, heated together and molded. Good briquets yield a large amount of heat in proportion to bulk and weight. The problem here, as with all waste, is to find a manufacturing process that will make the product cheap enough to be practical for common use.

It is a natural impulse to use lavishly whatever is at hand in abundance, and it is only a highly civilized community that takes thought for the economy of the future. Considered only from a selfish point of view, however, with coal and petroleum at the high prices that are likely to prevail, the saving of fuel is one of our most important economies.

The common fuels.—Coal is of two kinds, anthracite and bituminous, or hard and soft. Hard coal of good quality has 90 per cent or more of carbon, and burns with little flame. Soft coal contains as much as 18 per cent of flame-making substances, and gives off a heavy smoke. Hard coal is therefore cleaner, but it is more costly than soft coal, because the supply is smaller. The most important anthracite mines are found in the eastern United States, and hard coal is used more in this section than elsewhere. Good hard coal may be recognized by its glossy black color and bright surfaces. It is sold under different names taken often from the locality where it is mined. There are two kinds, one leaving a reddish ash, and the other a white. The red ash coal burns more freely than the white ash and the ash is heavier and therefore cleaner. The price is higher per ton or bag.

Coal is sorted in different sizes, a medium size being best for the ordinary range. Poor coal has slaty pieces in it, that will not burn but break up and mingle with the ashes. You can learn to detect it by the slaty color. Clinkers are formed by unburnable minerals, mixed with the coal, that35 melt and stick together, and even adhere to the lining or the grate. They are not often troublesome in the cooking range.

Coal is measured by the ton of two thousand pounds avoirdupois. A common hod of coal holds about thirty pounds. Coal should be bought in large quantity, and stored away in summer, if possible. The retail dealer in the city often charges an exorbitant sum for coal by the bag, so that the buyer of small quantities pays a much higher price for a ton bought in this way. The wholesale price of coal has increased on an average about 13 per cent since 1900.

Coke is the solid substance remaining after gas has been made from certain kinds of coal, and is sometimes sold by gas companies, as a by-product. It is light, and therefore easy to handle and does not smoke, but it burns out quickly, and the fire of coke requires frequent replenishing. It is sold by the bag, or in large quantities by the ton, also sometimes by the chaldron, an old English measure for coal, containing from thirty-two to thirty-six bushels.

Gas was used for illuminating long before it came into common use for heating and cooking. Commercial gas manufactured for both lighting and cooking is really a mixture of various gases. One method produces it from bituminous coal heated in retorts. Another method gives “water gas,” by passing steam through heated coal. The value of gas will depend upon the components of the mixture, and the manufacturer has an opportunity to make an inferior gas unless the law stipulates what the quality shall be.

The small town or country dweller may use a gas machine on the premises, the gas to be stored or generated in some tank in the ground, and piped into the house. Acetylene, a compound of carbon and hydrogen, is used in this way. Acetylene has a low flashing point, and there is question as to36 its safety. One firm sends a mixed gas of good quality in metal bottles to the consumer, the bottles being placed in a metal closet above ground outside the house. The firm claims that an explosion has never occurred.

Gas is measured by the cubic foot, and its price estimated per 1000 cubic feet. The amount is recorded on a meter as the gas passes into the house. See Fig. 13. It is an easy matter to learn to read a meter, and every one should do so who uses gas. Always compare the gas bill with the amount recorded by the meter. If the gas bill becomes larger than usual, and you feel sure that the consumption has been normal, report the matter to the company. A meter may be out of order, and need repair.

Fig. 13.—Reading the gas meter. Courtesy of New York Consolidated Gas Co.

To read the meter.—Figure 13 shows the three dials found on the face of a gas meter. The arrows show the direction. The dial at the right indicates 100 cubic feet between the numbers, the middle dial 1000 and the left-hand dial 10,000. The dials in this figure record 53,250 cubic feet. The price of gas varies from eighty cents to a dollar and a half per thousand cubic feet. “Eighty-cent gas” is the hope of many a consumer. At a dollar and a half it is not a cheap fuel.

37

Gas does away with the handling of coal and ashes in the kitchen and is thus a clean and labor-saving fuel. It gives an intense heat the moment the flame is lighted and this heat is easily regulated in a well-made stove. The flame should burn with a clear blue or greenish color. With a properly constructed stove only a small percentage of the heat is lost. In all these points it has the advantage over coal. The comparative cost is studied in the problems on page 53.

Natural gas is used in those regions where it occurs, piped to the house from a central source. It is found in limited areas only, and in some places has already been exhausted.

Coal oil, or petroleum, sometimes found oozing from crevices in rocks, or even floating on water, is a natural inflammable oil stored in the earth. It was known in ancient Persia, Greece, and Rome, but did not become of great commercial importance until the middle of the nineteenth century. It is now obtained by boring wells, and is found in great quantities in certain regions of the country. The crude oil yields many products valuable in the arts, medicine, and manufacture. Kerosene is the substance useful as a fuel and for giving light. When of good quality it is nearly colorless, and the flashing point should be 149° F., or 65° C. This flashing point is the temperature at which the vapor from the kerosene explodes or flashes. If the vapor flashes at a point lower than this, it means that the oil has not been sufficiently refined; that is, in the process of manufacture the substances that flash at a low temperature have not been removed, and therefore the oil is less safe.

Kerosene is sold by the gallon or barrel. The price for a good quality is about seventy cents for a five-gallon can. By the barrel a saving is made of several cents a gallon. It is useful as a fuel to those housekeepers who cannot have gas, and who find it a convenient substitute for coal in the38 summer. With the new blue-flame stoves it gives an intense heat, easily regulated. There is no heavy labor involved in its use, but even the best stove requires constant care and watchfulness. It is not so clean and easy to use as gas. The kerosene supply should be kept in a cool place, and stoves and lamps should never be filled by candle or lamplight.

Gasolene is used as a fuel for cooking in some places, but in others the fire insurance companies have such strict rules in regard to it that its use is practically prohibited. It is more volatile than kerosene, and its flashing point is very low. Kerosene is much safer for household use.

Alcohol is used with the chafing dish. Denatured alcohol is so cheap in Germany that it is used in large and especially adapted stoves for cooking purposes. There are denatured alcohol stoves on the market here, but they are little used.

Charcoal, wood partially burnt out, is little used for domestic purposes now.

The relative value of the common fuels is stated in quantities as follows, but this is of course dependent on the quality of the coal and the gas. One thousand feet of gas about equals from fifty to sixty pounds of coal, or four and one half gallons of kerosene; and one half ton of coal approximates a cord of wood.

Those who may be interested will find a fuller discussion of fuels and fuel values in Snell’s “Elementary Household Chemistry.”

Electricity is not a fuel, but is classed here as a source of heat. It may be supplied for cooking purposes by any company that furnishes electric light, and should be available in the country wherever an electric trolley runs. The energy supplied is measured and paid for by the kilowatt; that is, one thousand watts. The terms used for electrical measurements cannot be really understood until one has studied39 electricity. It may be said, however, that the ampere[6] is the unit of current strength, the volt is the unit of electrical pressure or electromotive force, the watt is the unit of electrical power and the basis of payment for current supplied for heating or lighting.

Voltage, amperage, and watt or kilowatt are the terms in common use. If you read the circulars that advertise electric cooking apparatus, you will find the request to state the voltage of your electric current in ordering a piece of apparatus. Or again, the number of watts used per hour is given, with the catalogue number and the size of an electric stove.

The cost of electricity per kilowatt (usually from ten to fifteen cents) varies in different localities.

The great advantage of electricity is that little heat is lost in radiation, and that the degree of heat is well under control. There are also no products of combustion present, and this is the only source of heat for cooking of which this is true. Both gas and kerosene vitiate the air to some extent.

Cooking apparatus.—The wastefulness of cooking operations, past and present, is due largely to the defects of the apparatus used. The open fireplace for wood, and the open grate for coal, are two arrangements that permit most of the heat to pass up the chimney, and into the room. See Frontispiece and Fig. 14. In Fig. 14 there is illustrated at the right a brick oven with a flue opening into the chimney. This was one of the earliest inventions for saving fuel and heat. This oven was lined with brick or stone, and the fire of wood was built in it, and allowed to remain until it had40 burned out. The coals and ashes were removed, and when the brick had cooled somewhat cakes and pies were put in to bake. This oven retained its heat for twenty-four hours, and beans put in Saturday afternoon were taken out hot for the Sunday morning breakfast. The method was clumsy, but a good heat saver.

Fig. 14.—A colonial fireplace. Courtesy of the Historical Society, Ipswich, Mass.

Figure 15 is an American stove, early nineteenth century, wood the fuel; and from this form, modified for using coal, has developed the modern American coal range (Fig. 18). Even the latest types are very wasteful of heat. Stoves like that shown in Fig. 19 have been devised for use with gas. Even with these only a small percentage of the heat generated is available for cooking.

Fig. 15.—An early American stove, 1823. Courtesy of the Bryson Library.

The ideal system is that which gives the largest possible percentage of its heat for cooking, and puts the degree of41 heat under quick control with the greatest saving of fuel, and of labor in operating. This does not mean that the stove which gives the most intense heat is the best, although some stoves seem to be constructed with that as the aim.

Let us consider some of the methods of saving heat, and study different kinds of apparatus with this knowledge in mind.

42

We recall the fact, first, that some substances are good conductors of heat, and others poor.[7] If you hold a metal poker in your hand, and place the other end in red hot coals, you will realize that metal is a rapid conductor of heat. If the poker has a wooden handle, the heat of the coals does not readily reach your hand, for the wood is a poor conductor. Moreover, this good conductor is a poor holder of heat, the heat radiating rapidly from it into the surrounding air, but the poor conductor, once thoroughly heated, cools off slowly.

It is not difficult to see how these facts apply in our cooking apparatus. From an oven with metal sides heat is lost by radiation. In a double oven, with an air space between the inner and outer part, some heat is saved. If the outer cover is of some non-conducting material, even less radiation takes place. This is the principle of the oven devised by Mr. Edward Atkinson. Here the inner oven is of sheet iron, and the outer covering of a non-conducting material, some composition with wood pulp or paper as the basis. If in this way heat can be trapped, as it were, in an oven, it will follow that less heat will have to be supplied, and we can use a smaller amount of fuel. This is the case in the Atkinson oven (Fig. 16), where the source of heat is either a kerosene lamp, or a small Bunsen burner of the rose type, which uses only a small amount of gas.

Fig. 16.—The Atkinson cooker.

43

Another illustration of the conserving of heat by the prevention of radiation is in the fireless cooker. This is a method used in Sweden in simple form, and adapted and improved to suit modern needs. Heat is supplied in the first place by gas or kerosene, and the water in the vessel containing the food is raised to the boiling point, and held there in some cases for a few minutes. The vessel is then placed in the “cooker,” which is a box with thick walls of some non-conducting material, and the heat already present is sufficient to finish the cooking process, since the radiation is very slow. In some cookers a heated stone is introduced to raise the temperature slightly. Both of these devices are excellent for the long, slow cooking that seems to mellow the food material and develop the flavors that do not result from rapid cooking.

At the same time, we need rapid processes, such as broiling and toasting, which give characteristic flavors. To meet this double need, a new type of gas stove has been made. See Fig. 17.

Fig. 17.—Construction of the duplex gas range. Courtesy of Domestic Equipment Co.

This is a gas stove, where the oven has thick walls of a non-conducting material. The oven is heated, for a short time only, the gas flame being cut off when the oven has reached the desired temperature. At the left is an attachment where rapid cooking may be accomplished when desired, and there is a device at (1) with the same principle as the fireless cooker, or the tea “cosey.” This cover is dropped over the kettle when the boiling point is reached, the flame is turned out, and the heat in the water finishes the process. There is no good reason why stoves embodying44 this same principle should not be used with kerosene, and with the electric current. Improved stoves of this type will be constructed, and certainly will tend toward great economy of fuel.

One method of saving fuel is by the use of a steam cooker, which consists of a series of compartments, one above another, containing several kinds of food, all to be cooked over the same burner, either gas or kerosene, or on one section of the top of the coal range when space is being used for the wash boiler or irons.

It requires intelligence to use such devices, and those who lack it cling obstinately to hot fires and violent cooking.

45

The coal range.—Progress is slow, and the coal range will not be abolished at present. Figure 18 is an example of a good range as easy to manage as possible. The coal box at (1) has a lining that prevents the iron from burning out. The air enters at (2) and passes out at (3), when the fire is first made. When it is necessary to heat the oven, a damper is closed at (4), and the heated air then passes around the oven in the direction of the arrows. The coal is put in at (5) and the ashes shaken down at (6). Larger ranges, resting upon the floor, have a “dump” for the ashes directly into the ash box in the cellar, and some makes have a device for operating this with the foot. The coal stove involves the46 labor of bringing in coal and taking out ashes, and space must be given to the coal bin and ash pit. A range of this size would serve for a family of five or six. It requires from 2 to 3 hods per day. A hood should be placed above a large range, whether coal or gas.

Fig. 18.—A modern coal range. Courtesy of Detroit Stove Works.

The gas stove.—Figure 19 shows a well-constructed stove of the usual type. Notice the air space, and asbestos lining around the oven. The burner for heating the oven is at (1). Holes in the sides allow the heated air to pass outside of the47 oven at (2) and into the oven as indicated by the arrows. The heated current passes out of the oven at the back of the top, and passes out of the stove at (3), where it should be carried away by a pipe into a flue. The heat of the oven burner is also used for toasting and roasting underneath, on the movable rack at (4). The oven burner is lighted by a leader burner at (5). The top burners, five in number, are at (6). Below those is a removable pan at (7). The top of the stove is removable in sections, and the burners are easily removed when cleaning is necessary.

Fig. 19.—A modern gas range. Courtesy of Detroit Stove Works.

48

The gas burner (Fig. 20) is constructed on the principle of the Bunsen burner, which you may have used in the laboratory. There is an opening in the pipe, near the stopcock, which admits the air, that it may mix with the gas, and give the blue flame. If there is not enough air, the flame burns with a yellow color, and smokes. If there is too much air, there is a roaring sound, and the flame “pulls back” and burns with a smoky yellow flame, and disagreeable odor. There is a valve always to regulate the air supply for each burner. Figure 20 shows a burner removed from the range. (1) is the hollow, star-shaped chamber which gives space for the thorough mixing of the gas with the air. The gas enters from the connecting pipe at (2), the air at (3), and (4) is the valve for regulating the air supply.

Fig. 20.—A gas stove burner. Courtesy of Detroit Stove Works.

Gas ranges of this type are built in different sizes, and with varying arrangements of ovens and hot-closets. An oven above the stove is convenient. Ranges are built also for using either gas or coal. A range of the size pictured, with four large burners on the top, will serve for a family of five or six, if the work is well planned. The oven burner consumes 30 to 40 cubic feet per hour, the top burners 2 cubic feet each, and the simmering burner somewhat less. This is estimated for a burner turned on full.

Kerosene stoves.—The best type is a blue-flame stove with a wick. Kerosene stoves are made with no wick, the kerosene being vaporized just before it reaches the burner, but such a stove requires occasional pumping to force the kerosene into the vaporizing chamber, and on the whole is less satisfactory than the stove with the wick. The heat is intense from this blue flame, and the burner is economical of the fuel. The small kerosene stoves, burning with a yellow flame are always inclined to smoke, and difficult to keep clean. A three- or four-burner oil stove with a portable oven will do the cooking in summer for a family of five or six. One burner consumes a gallon of oil in 15 hours. Portable double ovens are furnished with such stoves.

The kerosene stove is cheaper to operate than a gas range, even with kerosene at fourteen cents a gallon, but the heat is not under such perfect control, and the stove requires more work to keep it clean.

Electric apparatus.—Figure 21 shows a table arranged for cooking by electricity, each piece of apparatus having its own connection. Compare this with the frontispiece, the method of cooking in the eighteenth century, and you will51 realize how far we have progressed in the way of convenience, comfort, and heat economy. Figure 22 shows a disk stove four and a half inches in diameter, upon which a saucepan may stand, and which is therefore available for more than one purpose.

Fig. 21.—An electric cooking outfit. Courtesy of Department of Household Science, University of Illinois.

The advantages of electric cooking are obvious. The heat is directly conducted to each utensil, and a minimum amount is lost in radiation. The degree of heat is perfectly under control, and the manipulation is nothing more than the turning of a knob. When the apparatus is installed, it is adjusted to the voltage, so that no further regulation is52 necessary. There are no waste products, and no matches to light or throw away. If the wiring is properly done, there is no danger from fire. The one present disadvantage is the cost. Each piece of apparatus is expensive. The cost of running must depend upon the cost of electricity in the neighborhood, and the number of watts per hour used by each piece of apparatus. The larger the utensil, the more watts consumed. The disk stove in Fig. 22 uses 250 watts; a disk of 6 inches diameter, 475 watts; of 8 inches, 650 watts. Some pieces of apparatus are arranged for three different heats, with a different number of watts for each heat. With one disk stove 10 inches in diameter, 3 heats are possible, with 250, 500, and 1000 watts respectively.

Fig. 22.—A disk electric stove. Courtesy of Landers, Frary and Clark.

Oven thermometers.—A thermometer is furnished set in the door of many ranges. While these are guides after one has learned to use the oven, they are not really accurate by scale. For exact work in testing oven temperature, a hole must be bored in the side of the oven, and a chemical thermometer inserted, protected by asbestos and metal.

Simple tests for oven temperature will be found in Chapter XI.

EXERCISES

1. Why is the question of the cost and kind of fuel important?

2. What is the difference between hard and soft coal? Between red and white ash?

3. Why are certain fuels in more common use than others?

53

4. Explain the advantage of gas over coal. Over kerosene.

5. What are the advantages of electricity as a source of heat?

6. Explain the way in which electricity is measured.

7. Read the gas meter at home and estimate the amount and cost per day. (The ordinary burner consumes about two cubic feet per hour.)

8. Obtain the prices of the fuels used in the neighborhood and work out a comparison of the cost of fuel for preparing a meal.[8]

9. What are the methods of conserving heat in cooking apparatus?

10. Explain the structure and management of a coal stove.

11. Explain the principles involved in making a fire.

12. The structure and management of a gas stove.

13. Why does gas in a burner sometimes “pull back”?

14. State the requirements in a perfect example of cooking apparatus.

54

CHAPTER IV

The principles of cooking.—In science the word “principle” ordinarily means a formulation of some general or constant mode of behavior—a generalization based on many observations of fact. In cookery the word is used in the same sense; for example, one may say that an important principle to bear in mind when cooking with any fat is that the fats may be melted without decomposition, but when too strongly heated they begin to decompose with the production of acrid and irritating products. Sometimes, however, we speak of “principles of cookery” in a broader and somewhat less exact sense to indicate the general purposes of cooking operations, as when we say that the most important principle of vegetable cookery is to soften the fiber without destroying the flavor or dissolving away the ash constituents of the vegetable.

That is, the change either chemical or physical that takes place in a certain foodstuff by the application of heat or cold or by the use of a fermentation process may be referred to as the underlying, working principle. We shall study in detail these changes as we experiment with and prepare each food material, but a general statement of the effect of heat on various foodstuffs will be helpful here.

Protein.—There are several forms of protein, with differences that we can understand only after a thorough study of chemistry. The most important proteins in meat, fish,55 eggs, milk, old beans and peas coagulate, or become slightly harder or firmer at a temperature below the boiling point of water. We shall perform an experiment to show this while studying the egg. There is no marked chemical change; that is, the protein is not changed to another substance.

Fats.—Solid fats are liquefied by heat, and freed from the tissue that contains them in animal fats like suet.

When a fat begins to smoke with heat, a chemical change is taking place. If intense heat is continued, all the hydrogen and oxygen are driven off and pure carbon remains. When the fat is “brown,” giving the flavor we like, a part of the oxygen and hydrogen have been driven off. The “boiling” of fat in a kettle is ordinarily due to the boiling of the water contained in the fat.

Starch.—Starch occurs in the form of granules. See Fig. 39. In boiling water, the granule expands and finally bursts, and frees the content, the pure starch, and the whole mass thickens.

Boiled with an acid the starch is changed to dextrin, a substance resembling a gum, and the mixture becomes thin; and this process continued changes the dextrin to dextrose.

With intense “dry” heat, as in toasting, the granule expands and opens, and the contents change to dextrin. Continued heat reduces the starch to pure carbon. The brown color and pleasant flavor in toast are a stage on the road to carbon.

Sugar.—Sugar first melts with heat, then begins to decompose, giving off water. This is also a stage on the road to pure carbon. Caramel, a familiar flavor, is sugar in the brown stage, with the water partly driven off.

The art in applying intense heat to fat, starch, and sugar is to know the stopping point,—to reach the “brown taste” and stop short of the “burnt taste.”

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Mineral matter.—The “ash” remains for the most part unchanged by heat, but may be lost in the water in which vegetables and meat are cooked if the water is thrown away.

Vegetable fiber is softened by heat and moisture, and the protein, starch, fat, and sugar are freed, making them available for our digestion and nutrition.

Meat fiber softens at a low temperature, that is, below the boiling point of water, with moisture; continued intense heat shrinks and hardens it. A tender steak fried with fat in a hot pan will soon resemble sole leather.

The technique of food preparation.—From the moment the food materials enter the kitchen until the unusable portions are destroyed or carried away, there is a best way of working with them at each step, and the sum of these may be said to make a good technique. This technique will include cleanliness first and foremost, then skill in the use of tools, judgment in managing cooking apparatus and in applying heat in cooking processes, and accuracy and rapidity of execution. It will also include or add to itself the æsthetic element, the fine art of flavoring, the dainty garnishing of a dish. Moreover, this technique is the method of putting into practice some basic, scientific principle. To illustrate:

The care of food materials.—When food materials are delivered, have receptacles ready for each kind of food. (See kitchen furnishing.) Attend first to perishable foods. Wash and dry milk and cream bottles before putting them in the refrigerator. Treat eggs in the same way. This is also a good plan with lemons and other skin fruit, unless the quantity is too large, in which case they should not be put into the refrigerator. Remove wrappings from meat, poultry, and fish; wipe them with a soft cloth, dipped in salt and water, dry them, and place them in the ice box. Wash the cloth thoroughly and dry it. Fish should be covered that its odor may not affect other food. Vegetables like lettuce, celery, and spinach should be washed and picked over immediately, and the poor portions thrown away. All semi-perishable foods should be put in a cool, dry place, and the non-perishables in their separate receptacles. (See page 20.) Do not keep anything in brown paper bags, but save these bags for other uses.

Have a regular time for inspecting and for cleaning all the places and receptacles where food is kept. Do not allow any spilled food material to remain anywhere, and do not tolerate58 the presence of any material, cooked or uncooked, that shows the least taint. A keen sense of smell is a good servant here.

The processes of food preparation.—With kitchen in order, tools ready, and food materials at hand, we are ready for the actual food preparation. A distinction is to be made between cookery and cooking. Cookery includes all the steps necessary to produce the finished product, while cooking is the actual application of heat, only one step of the whole process, though, indeed, one of the most important and difficult. The order of procedure in food preparation is as follows:

See first that the stove is ready (Chapter IV). Then comes the choice and study of the recipe or the method of cooking. The word “recipe” is from a Latin word meaning “take.” Follow this advice and “take” or bring together on the work table whatever materials are needed. Decide upon the necessary utensils, and place them conveniently near. As you gather the materials together you will measure and weigh the exact amounts. Do this before you begin the putting together or mixing. Sometimes instead of mixing, the necessary process is paring, or scraping, or cutting, each with its own best way. Then follows the application of heat. Some foods are then served at once, others must be carefully put away after cooling. Or again, there is no application of heat, for instance, when the freezing temperature is used in ice cream; or in a salad, or fruit preparation where cooling in the refrigerator is the next step. The technique of preparing a meal and serving will be found in Chapter XVI.

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 good59 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 be60 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.61 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

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

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.

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 this65 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:

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.

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.

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

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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CHAPTER V

Although water does not supply energy to the body, it plays an important part in nutrition. As building material, it constitutes about two thirds of the body weight, and as a regulator of body processes it serves as a solvent and carrier of nutritive material and waste, keeps the blood and digestive fluids of proper concentration, and helps to regulate the temperature of the body. It is contained in nearly all food materials and is the basis of all beverages.

Water as a beverage.—Water is being given off all the time from the body through the lungs, skin, and kidneys. The exact amount depends partly upon atmospheric conditions and the amount of exercise, which affect the loss through the lungs and skin, and partly on the amount taken in, for water passes through the body rather quickly. We can endure lack of food for weeks, but can exist only a few days without water.

A drink of water taken the first thing in the morning tends to clean out the digestive tract and put one in good condition for breakfast. Water with meals aids digestion, provided it is not used to wash down food but is taken when the mouth is empty. It should not be extremely cold nor hot. Two glasses at a single meal are usually all that are desirable. When there is much water in the food, as in soups, milk, fruits, and some vegetables, or when other beverages are taken, less will be taken as plain water. When one feels71 hungry and uncomfortable between meals a drink of water will often relieve the sensation.

Water is either soft or hard. Rain water is perfectly soft, but as it passes through the earth after falling, it sometimes becomes laden with mineral substances, that affect its cleansing properties, and that may affect its physiological action. Such water is called hard.

Temporary hardness is caused by a soluble lime compound which is precipitated by boiling. If the teakettle is incrusted inside by a layer of lime, the hardness is of this character. Such water should be boiled and cooled for drinking. Permanent hardness is due to other compounds of lime and magnesia which are not precipitated by boiling, but which can be counteracted for cleansing purposes by the addition of some substance like ammonia, borax, or soda. If the excess of salts has some undesirable physiological effect, this water should be distilled, or bottled water for drinking brought from elsewhere.

Of much greater importance is the question of the freedom of the water supply from harmful bacteria and organic matter. Never use a well without having the water tested by an expert. This will sometimes be done by the local or state Board of Health or Experiment Station. All water sources should be guarded from contamination. (See “Shelter and Clothing,” Chapter V.) Filters may be used, and are effective in straining out sediment, but the home filter is seldom to be relied upon to remove actual bacterial contamination. If used at all, the filter should be frequently cleaned and sterilized in boiling water. In case the supply is suspected, the water for drinking should be boiled for at least ten minutes, allowed to settle, if necessary, and poured off into bottles for cooling. This is a practice to be commended after a heavy rainfall, and especially in the autumn. These bottles may be placed on the ice.

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Ice must be used with caution always in drinking water, and it is the safer way to cool the water beside the ice. The freezing of water in pond and river does not purify or sterilize it. Natural ice is usually questionable. Artificial ice, if properly manufactured, is much safer.

Always have a supply of water in covered pitcher or water bottle, with clean glasses at hand, where it may be taken freely when wanted. Remember that the individual cup or glass is an absolute necessity. The dipper or glass in common must not be countenanced. In a large family of many children it would save labor to use paper cups between meals.

Water should be swallowed slowly, and ice-cold water should not be taken when one is overheated. When one is overthirsty, control must be exercised in regard to quantity and rapidity of drinking.

Water in cooking.—Water is necessary to the softening of fiber, and the cooking of starch. It acts as a solvent for sugar and salt and for gelatin, and is the basis of meat soups, certain substances in the meat dissolving in the water. The flavors of tea and coffee are extracted by water.

As a medium in cooking it supplies heat in the steaming, boiling, and stewing processes, and in the form of melting ice with salt it acts as a freezing medium.

It is not necessary to lift the cover of a kettle to see if the water boils, if one is familiar with the action of water nearing and at the boiling point. A simple experiment with the boiling of water in a Florence flask is always interesting, and from it one gains practical knowledge.

Boiling at high altitudes.—When the air pressure upon the surface of the water is lessened, the water boils at a lower temperature. As the altitude increases, the air pressure decreases, as many a mountain traveler knows to his cost. The boiling temperature of water is so much lowered that the dwellers in high regions of several thousand feet find it difficult to cook starchy vegetables well. A heavy iron pot is made with clamps for fastening down a tight cover, which increases the temperature somewhat. Experiments D and E indicate a method that can be used to a small extent. The baking process should be largely used, and boiling avoided. For meat, eggs, and fish the lower temperature is not undesirable. (See the chapters relating to these foods.)

The uses of ice.—Water freezes and ice melts at the same point, 32° F., or 0° C. If ice is mixed with salt, the temperature is reduced far below the freezing point, nearly to 0° F. This process reduces any watery substance which it surrounds to its freezing point, the heat being used in the melting of the ice. This is an interesting topic to discuss in the Physics class.

Ice at its ordinary temperature of 32° F. is used for cooling food agreeably. Its most important function in the refrigerator is as preserver of food for a short time at least. For this it is invaluable, and cheap ice is really necessary in summer to the health of a great city.

Ice substitutes.—Where the supply fails or the price is exorbitant, one property of water makes it a partial aid.75 The rapid evaporation of water will absorb heat so rapidly as to reduce the temperature of adjacent bodies. In the tropics when ice is lacking, water is hung in porous jars in the breeze, and the temperature of the water in the jar is reduced.

To keep milk and butter cool wrap a wet cloth about the containing jar, and set the jar upon the window sill, keeping one end of the towel in a vessel of water; or the cloth may be wrapped directly around the butter. This method is surprisingly effective.

Fruit beverages.—Fruit juices with water and sugar make refreshing beverages and have nutritive value as well. (See the next chapter.)

Cocoa and chocolate, coffee, and tea.—These are the three most important non-alcoholic beverages used by man. They are used because of the agreeable flavor given them by volatile oils, and also because they have a stimulating effect. The stimulating property is due to an alkaloid, a crystallizable substance known in cocoa as theobromine, in coffee as caffeine, and in tea as theine. Chemical investigation indicates that caffeine and theine are the same and theobromine is a closely related substance. These substances have a recognized stimulating effect upon the nervous system, and the beverages containing them should therefore be used with caution by all. In the opinion of the writers, tea and coffee should not be taken by young people under twenty-five years of age. Tea and coffee also contain tannin, an astringent substance giving a disagreeable flavor to coffee and tea when these are improperly made, and having an undesirable effect upon digestion. Chocolate contains a non-volatile fat (cocoa butter) in large amount, and should be classed as a food as well as a beverage.

The plants from which cocoa, coffee, and tea are derived are natives of semi-tropical or tropical Africa, Asia, and76 America, having been introduced to Europe by early travelers in these lands.

Cocoa and chocolate.—Cocoa and chocolate are manufactured from the seed of a tree, Theobroma cacao, grown in tropical America. The seeds, when removed from the containing pod, are fermented to improve the flavor, dried, cleaned, roasted, and finally ground. The outer husk is loosened in the roasting, and is then removed, and sold as “cocoa shells.” It is the basis of a cheap beverage with an agreeable flavor. The first crushing of the seeds gives cocoa “nibs,” and these are further ground in a mill, and finally molded into the cake of plain chocolate. The addition of sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and sometimes other spices gives a variety of sweet chocolates. Powdered cocoa is prepared by the removal of the fat, which is a valuable product in itself, sugar and flavorings are added and sometimes a starch. The Dutch manufacturers use alkalies for removing the crude fiber and improving the color, and the consequent loss of flavor is balanced by the use of other flavoring matter. The adulterations of cocoa are largely77 starch in excess. The French and American cocoas are flavored with vanilla, the Dutch manufacturers using cinnamon as well.

The so-called soluble cocoas are very finely ground, and therefore mix readily with water, remaining in suspension for some time, but the cocoa itself is not dissolved. Powdered cocoa is bought in tin cans, is cheap, and is even more economical if bought in large cans than in small. Chocolate is more expensive always than the cocoa, and may be bought in cakes in pound packages, or in powdered form for immediate use.

Coffee is the inner seed of a berry from a tree, Coffea arabica, the process of manufacture consisting of the removal of the outer pulp, fermentation, washing, drying, and roasting. The first stages of the process are carried on at the coffee plantation, the raw berries being imported, and roasted shortly before using. The roasting in cocoa, coffee, and tea is necessary for desirable flavors, the heat developing volatile, aromatic principles, caramelizing the sugar, and causing other chemical changes. The differences in the flavor of coffees are due to the variety, the soil and climate, and methods of production and manufacture. No coffee grown in the western hemisphere has excelled, and scarcely has any equaled, the original Mocha and Java coffees, and these have long been trade names for coffee from other places, because of the popular liking for these brands. Brazil is now the great coffee producing country of the world, and from South and Central America and the West Indies we obtain coffee of excellent flavor.

The adulterations of coffee should be noted, although these are of the kind that gives the buyer something cheaper in place of coffee, rather than a substance that is injurious. Ground chicory root is sometimes mixed with coffee, but78 cannot be classed strictly as an adulterant, because many people, notably the French, add it openly, preferring its flavor. Among adulterants are rye meal, bran, beans and peas, cocoa shells, and even sawdust. Artificial beans have been made of bran, molasses, and water, sometimes with the addition of chicory and coloring matter. If ground coffee is put into a glass of cold water, it floats on the top and remains hard, while several of the adulterants named soften and sink to the bottom of the glass. Highly roasted coffee, however, will sometimes sink. Coffee beans from which coffee extract has been made are sometimes mixed with other coffee.

Coffee extracts and crystallized coffee are manufactured to simplify the coffee-making process, but the flavor is not equal to that of coffee infusion made directly from the bean. A preparation of coffee is also offered with the caffeine removed by some chemical process, but it is expensive in this country.

Buy coffee in the bean, and see that it is freshly roasted. Coffee, whole or ground, is sold extensively by the pound in tin cans, with a fancy label and name, and in this form it is usually expensive. Good coffee may be bought for twenty-five cents a pound of many reliable dealers, and may be purchased in five or ten pound packages, or bought in bulk to be kept in a tightly closed can.

Tea is the dried leaf of a shrub, Camellia thea, growing in the comparatively high lands of Japan, China, India, and Ceylon. A tea plantation exists in South Carolina, U.S.A., and furnishes a very pleasing grade of tea, somewhat resembling Japan tea in flavor. We are familiar with the fact that there are many kinds and grades of tea, the tea shrub varying as does the coffee tree, and the methods of curing affecting both color and flavor. The teas from the countries named have characteristic flavors, and each79 country has different varieties and grades. Russian tea is not grown in Russia, but is Chinese tea carried across the continent of Asia.

In general, tea may be classed as green or black, this difference in color depending upon the age of the leaf, and largely upon differences in the curing process. Green tea is made from the young leaf, and after picking is dried immediately by artificial heat, being constantly stirred for about an hour, in which time the leaves twist and curl. For black tea the leaves are allowed to wilt and ferment, before they are rolled and heated; and sometimes the heating is repeated. These details of the process vary in different localities. The leaves are finally sorted and graded for packing.

Both black and green teas are made in China. “Bohea” is one of the famous black Chinese teas. “English Breakfast Tea” is known as such only in America, and is a blend of black teas. Black tea is not so successfully made in Japan as in China. “Oolong,” from the island of Formosa, has the appearance of a black tea, with the flavor of a green. In Japan and China old-time methods prevail, with much handling of the tea leaves, but in Ceylon and India modern machinery makes the process a much more cleanly one.

Another classification of tea is that depending upon the age and size of the leaf, the young leaf making the finer grade tea. For example, in the black teas of India “flowery pekoe” is made from the youngest leaf, “orange pekoe” from the second, “pekoe” from the third, and “souchong” and “congou” come from the larger leaves.

The adulterations of tea are usually the leaves of other plants, but as a matter of fact very little adulterated tea is imported. The first grades of teas, however, and those most highly prized by the Chinese and Japanese, seldom find their way to America.

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Other beverages.—Several very acceptable coffee substitutes are on the market, made from roasted and ground grain, and they give an agreeable hot drink for breakfast when served with cream or milk. In some cases they seem to have a laxative effect, which is well for some people and not for others. A pleasant hot drink of the same nature may be made from the browned crusts of bread.

The substitutes for tea are not usually satisfactory. The Indians of the western coast of the United States make a tea from a plant which they call “Buona Yerba,” but for us it has a strong resemblance to the medicinal herb teas formerly used for curative purposes, such as sage, catnip, motherwort, and the like.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

1. Lemonade and fruit drinks.

Utensils.—Silver knife for paring and slicing, glass lemon squeezer, a grater, a strainer, and a saucepan. Avoid the use of tin and iron utensils.

Materials.—Lemon or other fruits, sugar water.

Proportions.—One half lemon to a glass, or 2 or 3 to a quart of water. Other fruits “according to taste.” Experiment here, using the juice and pulp of any fruit, combining those that are very acid with those that lack acidity,—lemon and raspberry, for example. One third to ¹⁄₂ cup sugar to a quart. The proportion cannot be stated with exactness, for fruit varies in acidity, and the final result must always be tested by the taste.

Method.

Plain lemonade.—After deciding upon the proper amounts to be used, dissolve the sugar in a part of the water, brought to the boiling point. When cool, add the lemon juice and remaining water, ice and serve. A small portion of grated rind may be added to the boiling water.

Another method is to use lump sugar, rubbing the peel of the lemon upon each lump before dissolving.

The general method is the same with other fruits, pulpy fruit and berries being mashed, the water added, and strained.

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Cherries, strawberries, and pieces of pulp are sometimes added before serving, when the fruit drink is ladled from a bowl as fruit punch. Be sure to cut the berries if they are large. A brightness is imparted to the fruit punch by the addition of carbonated water just before serving. A quart of fruit punch, if served in small cups, will suffice for eight people.

2. Cocoa shells.

Principle.—To extract the flavor from the shells, by boiling in water.

Utensil.—A saucepan or coffee boiler.

Proportions.—One half cup shells to 1 quart boiling water. As much as 1 cup of the shells may be used.

Method.

Wash the shells in a strainer under the faucet. Put the shells in the pot, pour on boiling water, and simmer gently for ¹⁄₂ hour. Strain off, and serve with cream, or milk, or evaporated milk and sugar.

3. Cocoa.

Principle.—To mix the particles smoothly and evenly with the liquid by stirring and by heating.

Utensils.—A measuring cup, a saucepan, spoon, and beater. A double boiler, if milk only is used.

Ingredients.—Powdered cocoa, sugar, water, or milk, or milk and water. Cocoa made with milk does not agree with some people, in which case it may be made with water only, and served with cream, milk, or evaporated milk.

Proportions.—One teaspoonful of cocoa to ¹⁄₂ measuring cup. More or less as preferred. One teaspoonful of sugar, ditto.

Method.

Heat the liquid. Stir a portion of the liquid cold, with the cocoa, add this to the hot liquid, add the sugar, and beat vigorously for a minute before removing from the fire.

4. Chocolate.

Principle.—To mix the chocolate smoothly with the liquid that the fat may not float on the top. This is accomplished by having all the ingredients either hot or cold. If after the chocolate is dissolved in a hot liquid, cold liquid is added, the oil separates and floats.

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Utensils.—A grater, or sharp knife, a saucepan, mixing spoon, and beater.

A French chocolate maker claims that any metal utensil affects the flavor of the chocolate, and always uses an earthen pot and wooden spoon and heater. An earthenware chocolate pot for this purpose is on the market.

Ingredients.—Chocolate, sugar, milk, or milk and water.

Proportions.—The amount of chocolate may be varied, depending upon the richness desired. Three or 4 ounce squares to 1 quart liquid, 4 teaspoonfuls sugar to 1 quart. The liquid is better half milk and half water, rather than milk only.

Method 1.[10]

The cold method.

Put the liquid and sugar into the saucepan. Break or cut the chocolate into small pieces, add to the liquid, and heat the liquid slowly, stirring occasionally but not constantly. When the liquid is hot, just before it reaches the boiling point, beat vigorously with a wooden spoon, or beater. The Dover beater is convenient. This beating makes a velvety smooth and a foamy mixture.

Method 2.

The hot method.

Heat the liquid with the sugar. Grate the chocolate or shave it with a knife. Protect the chocolate from the warmth of the fingers by a piece of paper. The process is less “sticky” if the chocolate and grater are chilled in the refrigerator. Just as the liquid is reaching the boiling point, pour in the grated chocolate, and beat vigorously.

Beaten chocolate does not need any additional cream when served. Beaten whipped cream is attractive on the top of each cup. But remember that chocolate is already rich in fat, and that additional fat may be indigestible. Such a cup of chocolate taken for luncheon with a roll is sufficient for the meal, and is certainly too rich in fat for serving at an afternoon tea.

5. Coffee.

Principle.—To extract the flavoring oils at the boiling point of water, and to avoid the extraction of the tannin. The83 tannin is extracted by prolonged boiling, and when the liquid coffee stands upon the grounds.

Utensils.—Coffee grinder, measuring cup, pot. The kind of pot depends upon the method used. One house furnishing firm displays some seventy different coffee pots, but they may be divided into three classes, the pot for boiling, the drip coffee pot, and the percolator (see Figs. 23 and 24). The coffee boiler should have a lip, and not a spout. A word of warning is needed in regard to the care of the pot. Coffee grounds should be removed from any pot immediately, and the pot washed at once in scalding hot soapsuds, rinsed, dried, and aired. Let the pot stand with cover off. If this is not done, a coat is soon formed on the inside of the pot, which spoils the flavor of the coffee. Where the pot has been neglected, boiling it out with a solution of caustic soda is sometimes a remedy.

Fig. 23.—A pot for boiling coffee and a pot for drip coffee. Courtesy of the Brambhall Dean Co.

Fig. 24.—A coffee percolator. Courtesy of Landers, Frary and Clark.

Ingredients.—Ground coffee, water, cold or boiling, white of egg or egg shell for boiled coffee. The coffee should be ground to medium fineness for boiled coffee, to a finer powder for the percolated and drip coffee.

Proportions.—One part of coffee to 5 or 6 of water, depending upon the strength desired. One egg shell, or half the white of an egg to 1 cup of ground coffee.

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Method 1.

Boiling.—Measure the coffee and water. Stir the white or the shell of an egg with the coffee, adding a little of the water, put this into the pot, add the remaining water cold, stir thoroughly, allow the water to rise slowly to the boiling point, and to boil one minute, remove the pot from the fire, pour in a small amount of cold water, and let the coffee stand for five minutes or until the grounds settle. During the cooking close the lip with clean soft paper if it has no lid. The actual boiling is continued for a brief period only, and coffee made by this method is considered by some people to have a flavor lacking in drip or percolator coffee. The egg is added to clarify the coffee. Pour off the liquid coffee from the grounds, and keep hot until it is time to serve it.

A second method differs from this in that the water is poured on at the boiling temperature, allowed to reach the boiling point in two or three minutes, and boiled for five minutes. The first gives uniformly better results. It is true, however, that different kinds of coffee need different treatment, and there is room here for much experimenting.

Method 2.

Drip coffee.—In this method the coffee is put in a receptacle above, the water passes slowly through, collecting in the pot below, from which it is served. Stand the lower part of the pot in a pan of hot water, or where it will keep hot. Measure the water, and bring it to the boiling point. Heat the ground coffee slightly, put it in the upper section of the pot, and pour on the water very slowly. Of course, the water is not actually boiling when it touches the coffee. If the liquid coffee is not strong enough, pour it from the lower part and pass it through the grounds again. This is the French method, and is an excellent way to prepare after-dinner coffee.

Method 3.

Percolator coffee.—In the percolator the water boils within the pot, and passes through the coffee at the boiling temperature. The exact method depends upon the pattern of the pot, and directions always accompany a given pot. For those who can use electricity, the electric percolator certainly gives an excellent coffee.

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Coffee is served “black,” or with cream, milk, or evaporated milk and sugar. If milk is used for breakfast coffee, serve it hot.

6. Tea.

Principle.—To extract flavor by allowing the leaves to remain for a few minutes, in water which has been poured on at the boiling temperature, and to avoid the extraction of tannin by making the period of steeping short. Tea must never be boiled.

Utensils.—An earthen pot, measuring cup, teaspoon, strainer. Sometimes a tea ball or piece of cheesecloth.

Proportion.—One teaspoonful of tea to about 1 cup of water, the amount depending upon the kind of tea.

Method.—Measure the water and bring it to the boiling point. Heat the tea slightly in the pot, pour on the water rapidly, allow to stand three to five minutes, strain into a heated pot for serving. The length of the steeping depends also upon the kind of tea. If there is an astringent flavor, the tea has stood too long.

The following method was recommended by an expert in India teas. Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan, throw in the tea leaves, lift the saucepan instantly to stop the boiling, steep for 3 or 4 minutes, strain off and keep hot. This expert claimed that by actually having the tea leaves at the boiling temperature for an instant the flavor is improved. Serve with cream or milk, or sliced lemon and sugar.

Where tea is to be served in very large quantities, this last method is very convenient. The water can be brought to the boil in a large kettle, and the tea thrown in, but care must be exercised to see that the steeping does not last too long. The tea, once decanted, can be kept hot for several hours, without losing flavor. Or again, a small amount of extra strong tea may be prepared, to be diluted with boiling water as it is served. The tea ball, or the plan of tying the tea in small pieces of cheesecloth, is convenient for serving at an afternoon tea.

7. Iced cocoa, coffee, and tea.

Cocoa and coffee are agreeable in hot weather served in a glass with ice, and cream and powdered sugar. Make both86 slightly stronger than for hot drinks, as the ice in melting dilutes the liquid.

Iced tea.—Prepare a small amount of strong tea, using 4 teaspoonfuls to 1 cup boiling water, strain off and cool. Dilute with iced water to the proper strength, sweeten with powdered sugar, and serve in glasses with one or two slices of lemon to each glass. For those who do not like the lemon, iced tea may be served with cream.

EXERCISES

1. What are the functions of water in the body?

2. What cautions should be exercised when drinking water?

3. Explain the likenesses and differences of cocoa and chocolate, coffee and tea.

4. Why is it better to serve whipped cream with cocoa, rather than with chocolate?

5. Explain the principles in making each beverage.

Teacher’s Note.—The beverages are treated in one chapter for convenience, but need not of necessity come at the beginning of the course. A fruit beverage, or cocoa, may make a convenient first lesson, when the pupils are becoming acquainted with the school kitchen. Coffee and tea may be made during the baking lessons.

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CHAPTER VI

The United States is fortunate in the native fruit supply, including as it does so many degrees of latitude and longitude with the differences in altitude, climate, and soil needed by different varieties. Now that we count Porto Rico among our possessions, a list of our fruits would include most of the varieties known in the temperate and semi-tropical zones. The United States Department of Agriculture experiments with new varieties from foreign lands that may make themselves at home in our soil, and work like that of Luther Burbank produces new species. Scientific methods of fruit growing are becoming more common, and the quality of fruit will doubtless improve in spite of fungous diseases and injurious insects. Our wild fruits are not yet entirely rooted out. The Maine blueberry, for example, is found on hundreds of acres and needs no cultivation beyond burning over every third year.

Fruit is necessary in our diet, and is not an extravagance unless we buy fancy varieties brought from a distance, or native fruits out of season.

Composition and nutritive value.—The chief foodstuffs in fruits are carbohydrates and mineral matter. Fresh fruit contains from 75 to 95 per cent of water, and its presence is apparent in such juicy fruits as the melon and the orange. Figure 25 shows that seemingly dry fruits like the banana and the apple also contain much water. Even fruits which have been artificially dried, like prunes and raisins, contain90 some water. (Fig. 26.) Although the carbohydrates of fruits are largely in the form of sugars easily digested and valuable as fuel, this kind of food is especially valuable for its rich supply of ash, including the compounds of calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and iron. The iron is of great importance, being in a form much more useful to the normal processes of the body than that prescribed medicinally. The bulk given by cellulose, and the laxative property of fruit acids also are safeguards against constipation, especially in a meat diet. Fruit is the best possible dessert after a hearty meat dinner.

Fig. 25.—Composition of fruit.

Fig. 26.—Composition of fruit.

Fig. 27.—100-Calorie portions of fresh and dried fruit. A. Fowler, Photographer.

The digestibility of fruit is increased for some people by cooking. This is probably due to the softening of the fiber, to the destruction of any bacteria present, and in the case of the banana, to the cooking of the starch. Fruit juice can91 be taken by little children and invalids who might find the fiber troublesome. Some people cannot eat berries on account of irritation caused by the seeds. In this case, juice may be squeezed from cooked berries and used for beverages and jelly.

How to buy.—Since we should eat fruit daily, and not merely as a “treat,” it is important to practice economy in buying it. Fresh fruits in season, and dried fruits are the cheapest. Canned fruit is economical when it is a product of one’s own garden, or put up when some fruit has a low market price. Prices are so variable, even with one variety, that no definite sum can be given as a fixed price. Apples vary from fifty cents a bushel near the orchard and in season, to ten cents apiece for a fancy table variety in the winter. When you buy fresh fruit, inquire the prices of the many kinds offered, note which is cheapest, and then observe whether the cheaper kind is such because it is abundant, or because it is of inferior quality. If you chance to want apples for cooking, and the only cheap apples are spotted and bruised, then buy dried apples, or even canned. It is best to decide upon the fruit after you have studied market conditions rather than before.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

The preservation of fruit and other foods has been a household industry for generations, and it is now an important commercial industry. The old-time farm had its smokehouse where hams and beef were “cured,” the barrel of brine stood in the cellar for pork and corned beef, apples and corn were dried for winter use, and rows of preserve jars stood upon the shelves. Food was preserved by simple processes long before the reason for the decay and spoiling of food was fully understood, but with larger knowledge and better appliances, we now preserve food more effectively and in quantities larger than were possible in former days.

Fruit is the food material now most commonly preserved in the home kitchen. Vegetables need to be subjected to heat for a much longer time than fruit, and many people prefer to buy canned vegetables rather than to go to the trouble and expense of canning them at home. Where there is an oversupply of vegetables in the home garden, it is sometimes economy to can them, and this may be done if care is exercised. The cost of fuel and labor must be counted in, when studying the question of home preserving versus buying the canned product.

Whatever the food material, and the process, the principles of preservation are the same for all.

Why does food spoil?—The decay and moldiness of fresh fruit are matters of common observation; and the housekeeper knows that mold is liable to cover the top of a jelly glass, and that a can of fruit will ferment at times, even to the point of bursting the can.

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We recognize another kind of deterioration in meat and fish that have become tainted, even when no mold is visible, and there is no opportunity for ordinary fermentation. The microscope has given us eyes to see, and as a result of the patient work of the scientist with this instrument we now know that the difficulties in keeping food are caused by the presence of minute vegetable organisms known as molds, yeasts, and bacteria. It is impossible in some cases to draw a sharp line between these different forms of lower life, yet we are able to distinguish them sufficiently for practical purposes.

Fig. 28.—Three species of mold. Buchanan’s Household Bacteriology.

Masses of mold that can be seen with the naked eye are distinguished by a feathery appearance and bright color. Figure 28 shows three species of the green mold that affects jam and jellies. Other species are found in Roquefort and Camembert cheese, and give the flavors characteristic in these cheeses.

The presence of yeast can be detected by its action, but it cannot itself be seen without the microscope. When canned fruit or homemade fruit juice “works,” yeasts cells are98 present in great number. Figure 29 shows one form of yeast, highly magnified, and Fig. 30 shows a single yeast cell. The yeast cake is a mixture of thousands of such cells with some flour or flour and meal, and the cells lie dormant in the cake, until we are ready to use them in bread. (See Chapter XII.) The actual yeast, however, is what Fig. 30 shows it to be, a tiny, one-celled plant, increasing in number by the division of the single cell, or by the budding out of one cell from another. When conditions are favorable the yeast cells increase in number with great rapidity, and some of the sugar that is present is broken down into carbon dioxide gas and alcohol. It is this gas that causes the familiar bubbling when fermentation is taking place. We put yeast cells into bread and cultivate it for this gas. But how does it occur in canned fruits, when its presence is not desired? Wild yeast floats in the air, and lies upon the surface of fruit. All cultivated yeast has been derived from wild yeast. In old-fashioned ways of bread-making no yeast was introduced,99 a soft dough being left in a warm place to ferment naturally, the yeast cells probably being present in the flour. The yeast that spoils the canned fruit is present in the fruit, in the utensils, or can, and has not been killed as it should be in the canning process.

Fig. 29.—One form of yeast. Buchanan’s Household Bacteriology

Fig. 30.—A yeast cell. a, cell wall. b, vacuole. c, granules. d, nucleus. e and e, buds. Buchanan’s Household Bacteriology.

Fig. 31.—The four types of bacterial cells. A, cocci. B, bacilli. C, spirilía. D, branched filamentous organism. Buchanan’s Household Bacteriology.

The bacteria are also one-celled microörganisms, smaller than the yeast. Figure 31 shows the four types of bacterial cells. Their size is measured by the unit used in the microscope, called the micron, which is about ¹⁄₂₅₀₀₀ of one inch. Bacteria may measure from one to three or four of these microns in length. Some bacteria are reproduced by means of spores which form within the cell. Bacteria, as they develop in some material, produce substances from the material that may or may not be injurious to us. One important truth about the bacteria is this: that many of them are harmless, and may even be made useful, as in the manufacture of fruit vinegar. The pleasant acid of buttermilk and of sour milk is due also to bacteria which are not harmful to us. However, there may be disease producing bacteria present in milk that is not clean, and their presence must not be tolerated. Other bacteria, developing100 in meat and fish, produce substances known as ptomaines, which are dangerous poisons; or, more often, the kinds of bacteria which thrive in meats and fish may themselves be directly injurious to man.

It is evident, therefore, that the problem before us is the control of these lower organisms, that we may increase or destroy them as we will.

The control of microörganisms.—With warmth, water, and food all living things flourish and grow; most organisms require air, but some of the microörganisms do not. Where these conditions are best met, the organism is most active and multiplies most rapidly. To retard growth or to destroy life, the conditions must be the reverse of favorable. While warmth, say a temperature from 70° to 90° F., promotes the life of most microörganisms, intense heat destroys it. The boiling temperature, 212° F., will kill these lower organisms, although this heat has to be continued for some length of time, particularly in the case of spores. The spores of certain bacteria are quite resistant. A temperature of 32° F. and lower retards growth, but it requires extreme cold to destroy bacteria. Since moisture is necessary to all the lower organisms, they do not develop in a dry material or dry place.

We cannot destroy these lower forms of life by removing food from them, since they are ever present, but we can make the food unavailable to them through the introduction in the material of certain substances called preservatives which prevent their growth. The preservatives long familiar are salt, sugar, wood-smoke, spices, vinegar, and alcohol. While a small amount of sugar is necessary in the fermentation process, a large amount acts as a preservative, as in candied fruit. It is an interesting fact that alcohol and vinegar, products of fermentation processes, tend (when101 sufficiently concentrated) to stop the growth of the fermentation organisms.

To the reader who desires a fuller account of the bacteria, yeast, and molds, especially as related to household affairs, Buchanan’s “Household Bacteriology” is recommended as the most recent and satisfactory book in this field.

A word about buying canned goods.—When canned goods are put up in large quantities at the factory, abuses are likely to exist. Poor, even decayed, fruit may be used, the whole process may be unclean from beginning to end, and undesirable preservatives or an excess of sugar or spice may be introduced to cover the use of poor materials or methods. The condition of the worker in the cannery is one of the important industrial problems at the present time. Unhappily, poor conditions do often exist in canneries that turn out a cheap product. On the other hand, there are firms that may well take pride in their system from beginning to end.

Serving canned food.—All canned food should be exposed to the air for a short time before serving, and stirred that the material may be aerated. This partially removes a certain flatness of taste. Canned fruit is improved by reheating, even.

When possible, vegetables bought in a tin can should be washed in the colander before they are heated. This greatly improves the flavor.

Principles of preservation.

Sterilization of food and all apparatus by the boiling temperature, 212° F.

The removal of moisture by some drying process.

The addition of a preservative.

Sealing, to prevent the entrance of air.

Practical methods.

Canning.—Fruit or vegetables sterilized at 212° F. and tightly sealed in jars or cans.102

Preserving.—Whole fruit, sterilized, large amount of sugar added, and sealed or covered in jars.

Jam making.—Fruit broken up, sterilized, sugar added, and covered.

Jelly making.—Fruit juices, sterilized, sugar added, covered.

Pickling.—Fruit and vegetables sterilized, vinegar, spices, and sugar the preservatives used.

Drying.—Fruits and vegetables protected from dust and insects, and slowly dried by the sun’s heat or artificial heat.

Fig. 32.—Preserving kettles in a large factory. Courtesy of H. J. Heinz Co.

Apparatus.—Scales. Quart measure. A preserving kettle of good enamel ware. Plated knives. Large spoon of enamel or wood. Tablespoon and table fork. Pint and quart cans with glass tops fastened by springs. New rubber rings. Jelly glasses with103 covers. Cloth jelly bag. Stick on which to hang the bag. Large bowl. Boiler, in which to stand the cans. A funnel. A dipper. Old towels, or cheap cloths. Saucer and spoon for testing.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

General directions.—Thoroughly wash all the utensils, just before using. Sterilize the cans and glasses by placing them in a large kettle or boiler on the stove, covering them with cold water, and allowing the water to reach the boiling point and to boil for half an hour. Covers and rubber rings should be treated in the same way.

Fig. 33.—Picking over strawberries. Courtesy of H. J. Heinz Co.

Prepare the fruit by careful washing, picking over, paring and cutting.

The skins may be loosened on peaches and tomatoes by pouring hot water over them.

Weigh both fruit and sugar, or measure if no scales are available.

See that the cooking apparatus is in good order, that the proper heat may be continued.

Avoid rapid boiling of the fruit.

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Place the cans when they are to be filled with hot fruit upon a towel wet in very hot water, or in a pan holding an inch or so of hot water. Never hold the can or glass in the hand.

Use a dipper for putting cooked fruit into the can. A funnel is useful placed in the mouth of the jar.

Put whole fruit and halves compactly in the jar, using tablespoon and fork, or two tablespoons. It requires practice to do this well.

See that all air bubbles are removed, and fill the cans to overflowing, before putting on the glass tops and fastening on the spring. Wipe off the jars, carefully, and stand them on their tops for a day in order to test the tightness of the rubbers and the fastening.

After filling jelly glasses, set them at one side, and cover them all with a piece of cheesecloth, until the jelly becomes firm. Then pour melted paraffin upon the jelly in each glass, and when the paraffin is cooled, put the covers on firmly.

Label the jars with the name of the fruit and the date of the preserving before putting them away.

Canning.

Method 1.—Material cooked before it is put into the can. This is a good method for berries, and for fruit that will be served as a sauce. Proceed in the preparation and finishing according to the general directions. Cook the fruit gently for half an hour. Use as little water as possible. No sugar is required in the canning process, but the flavor is better if a small amount is used in the beginning, a half cup of sugar to a pound of fruit.

Method 2.—Material cooked in the can. This is the better method for whole fruit and halves. Select firm, well-shaped fruit for this method, rejecting the mellow and soft fruit. Pack the cans tightly with the fruit, and pour in hot water with sugar dissolved in it, a half cup to the quart can. More sugar can be used, if so desired. Set the jars in a boiler on a rack, and surround them with warm water, to a height that will not allow the water to boil into the cans.

Set the cover on each jar, but do not fasten them. Cover the boiler closely, bring the water to a boil, and allow it to boil for an hour. At the end of this time, test the fruit for tenderness with a fork, pour in more sirup if it is necessary. Remove the jars when the water has cooled sufficiently, and adjust the covers. Cold105 water is sometimes used at the beginning, but this makes the process longer.

This is a good method also for the canning of whole vegetables like peas and asparagus. The cooking of vegetables should continue for at least two hours, and three hours are better for peas and string beans.

Apparatus is constructed for this method of canning, but the ordinary boiler answers the purpose.

Preserving.

A good method for peaches, apricots, and quinces. Select firm and handsome fruit and prepare it carefully. Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. (What is the measure of a pound of sugar?) Place enough water in the kettle to cover the fruit, dissolve the sugar in the water, put the fruit into the kettle, and cook very gently until the fruit becomes a clear color. Rapid boiling spoils the shape of the fruit. Do not stir at all, but skim off any scum that rises to the top. When the fruit is done, put it with great care into the jars. If the sirup is thin, boil it down for a short time, and then fill the jar. Close the jar as in canning.

This is a difficult process for beginners.

Jam making, and fruit butter.

This is the most economical of the preserving processes and the easiest for the novice. It is nothing more than a fruit sauce, with a larger amount of sugar than usual to assist in its preservation.

Soft and somewhat imperfect fruit may be used. If in the basket of fruit bought for canning or preserving there are some fully ripe or poorly shaped specimens, these may be used for jam. For jam proper allow a pint of sugar to a pound of fruit. Cook the fruit with enough water to prevent its sticking to the kettle, using as little as possible.

Mash the fruit by stirring it occasionally as it cooks. When the fruit is soft, add the sugar, stir thoroughly, and cook gently for about five minutes. Test by cooling a spoonful on a saucer. The jam should thicken slightly. When ready, pour it into jelly glasses, or somewhat larger earthen jars—“jam pots.” Seal, as directed for jelly.

The fruit butter is even more like fruit sauce than is the jam, for it is softer than jam, and contains less sugar. A cup or only a half106 cup of sugar to the pound of fruit is enough. Proceed exactly as in jam-making.

Apple butter may be flavored with spices, with ginger root and lemon juice, and with other fruits. One or two quinces or a slice of pineapple cooked with the apples gives a pleasing variety. Exercise the inventive faculty here.

Jelly making.

There is another principle involved in jelly making in addition to the principle of preservation. Fruit contains a substance known as pectose, one of the carbohydrates, that partially solidifies the fruit juice when the water in the juice is partially evaporated. The addition of sugar helps in this process, but no amount of sugar will set the jelly if the pectose is not present. Some fruits have more than others, and also more when not over-ripe. Currants and firm apples are good jelly makers, and serve as a basis for other fruits that do not jelly well. Mellow summer apples do not set well. Crab apples are excellent for this purpose.

There is another step in this process, the straining out of the juice from the pulp. For this, prepare a jelly bag from firm cotton cloth which has been boiled and washed. This bag must be hung in such a way that the juice drops from the point of the bag into a bowl below. It may be hung upon a stick between two chairs, or upon the rod of a strong towel rack over a table.

1. Apple jelly.

Select tart, red-skinned apples, cut them in small pieces with the skins on, retain the cores, and put them in a kettle with cold water to barely cover. When thoroughly cooked and mashed, put this pulp into the jelly bag, and allow the juice to drip as long as it will. Do not squeeze the bag, nor stir the pulp if you wish clear jelly. This dripping process is a matter of hours, and in the home kitchen may continue all night. Allow a pint of sugar to a pint of juice. Return the juice to the kettle, and allow it to simmer for twenty-five minutes or half an hour, skimming when necessary. In the meantime, heat the sugar, being careful not to melt or burn it. Stir the sugar gently into the juice, and boil five minutes. Test a little upon a saucer. It should show signs of jellying as it cools. Boil longer, if necessary. Finish as directed. Jelly often does not set until twenty-four hours have elapsed.

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2. Currant jelly.

The method is the same as with apple jelly. It is not necessary to remove the currants from the stem. Heat just long enough before the straining to make the juices flow well.

Very agreeable flavors are secured by the combining of two or more fruits in a jelly; quince and pineapple with apple;—a leaf of rose geranium or lemon verbena in a glass of apple jelly; raspberry with currant. White apple jelly may be flavored with mint leaves, and used in place of mint sauce with meat.

Pickling.

Pickles are not desirable in the diet. If acid is craved, it is much wiser to secure it by fresh fruits, and by the use of lemon juice.

Drying.

This process should not be discarded if there is a supply of fruit in the orchard or garden. Place thinly sliced apples and peaches upon plates or trays, protect by clean cheesecloth, and dry in the sun. The color may be dark, but the flavor is excellent.

Laboratory management.—The fruit selected for use in the school kitchen depends upon the time of year. The autumn is the season for preserving, but some fruit is available at any time of year: in the winter, apple and peach butter from the dried fruit; in the spring rhubarb jam or jelly; in the late spring or early summer, strawberry jam. If the school program and the equipment permit the serving of meals by the class, fruit may be preserved in the fall for these occasions.

EXERCISES

1. Explain the value of fruit in the diet.

2. Why is cooked fruit sometimes better than raw?

3. Inquire the price of fresh fruit in the market, and compute the cost of a 100-Calorie portion of two of the most common and cheapest.

4. The same with one or two of the dried fruits.

5. What are the important points in the preparation of fresh fruit for the table?

6. What changes are effected in baking an apple?

7. What are the principles of the preservation of food?

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8. What is meant by a preservative?

9. What is meant by sterilization?

10. What is mold? Decay? Fermentation?

11. What are the important points in canning?

12. What is the difference between canned fruit and “preserves”?

13. How does jelly making differ from the other processes?

14. What is one of the most important points in cooking dried fruits?

15. Find the cost of a can of peaches at the grocery. Weigh the contents and count the peaches. Compare with the cost of an equal amount of home-canned peaches. What points in the problem must be taken into account?

16. The same problem with jelly bought at the grocery and made at home.

17. Work out the problem of estimating the comparative cost of canned peaches and dried peaches, when calculated to the same food value.

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CHAPTER VII

The distinction between the fruit and the vegetable is purely arbitrary, since both are parts of plants and have the same general composition. Botanically the tomato is as truly a fruit as the apple; but when it is stewed and served with meat, it is classed as a vegetable. Other parts of plants, however, besides the fruit are used as vegetables.

Composition and nutritive value.—Vegetables are much like fruits in composition, being richest usually in carbohydrates and ash, but sometimes containing a large amount of protein. Some have carbohydrates in the form of starch, as the potato, and others in the form of sugar, as the beet; young corn is rich in sugar, old corn in starch. All have more or less cellulose, that in lettuce being very tender, while that in beets is so firm as to be softened only by long cooking. Study carefully Figs. 34 and 35. Notice how the amount of water compares with the amount in fruits. See, too, that beans, both green and dry, are richer in protein than other vegetables. Celery has the highest percentage of water, and is valuable for its ash and the bulk it gives because of the large amount of cellulose.

Fig. 34.—Composition of vegetables.

Fig. 35.—Composition of vegetables.

To explain these facts we must understand something of the physiology of the plant. The stem is the carrier of water and nutritive material to other parts of the plant. The onion bulb, the parsnip root, and the potato tuber are the winter storehouses of food for the next year’s plant when the112 leaves first sprout. In the dry bean seed, and also in the pea and lentil, the young plant lies dormant, with a large supply of all the foodstuffs ready for its first growth when warmth and moisture are supplied in the spring. Classified according to their nutritive value, the vegetables rank as follows. Leaves are grouped with stems.

Certain substances in some vegetables are supposed to have a physiological effect, but we should be cautious in accepting statements that have not been scientifically proved; for instance, that celery is “good for the nerves.” It is doubtless true that the oils which give onions and the cabbage their strong flavors do not agree with some people, and these vegetables should be eaten with caution.

How to buy.—Much interest is added to the study of vegetables by the examination of a seed catalogue easily obtainable from a firm selling seeds and plants. In this way, one may increase one’s knowledge of varieties for planting in the home garden, even if they are not common on the market. City markets offer an increasing variety of vegetables, and the purchaser should not hesitate to buy a vegetable because it is new to her. An inexpensive Italian vegetable, fenucchi, is now sometimes found on sale, and its characteristic flavor is very agreeable.

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Fig. 36.—100-Calorie portions of vegetables. A. Fowler, Photographer.

KIND	WEIGHT OF PORTION, OUNCES
Asparagus	16
Beets	10
Cabbage	13
Carrots	10
Corn	9
Cucumbers	20
Lettuce	22
Onions	8
Potatoes	5
Spinach	15
Tomatoes	15

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The season of vegetables is so extended by canning, by the shipping of vegetables from the South, and by growing under glass that there is always a wide range of choice. There are in winter, however, some tempting delicacies in the way of green vegetables that the buyer with a limited purse should pass by. A cucumber at fifty cents or even at ten cents is not a sensible purchase. Lettuce, grown under glass, at ten cents a head is not an extravagance, if the income allows thirty-five to forty cents per capita per day for food. As a rule, select the less expensive vegetable, provided it is in good condition. The prices are so fluctuating that a definite statement is impossible. (See Chapter XVII.)

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

EXERCISES

1. What is the distinction between fruits and vegetables?

2. How does the composition of apples compare with that of carrots?

3. Contrast the nutritive values of celery, potatoes, and old beans.

4. What other foods must be served with potato to make a meal complete?

5. How may we best retain the mineral matter of vegetables in cooking?

6. Is it allowable to cook a vegetable in boiling water and throw away the water?

7. Why must more time be allowed for baking a potato than for boiling?

8. Why more time for an old beet than for a young?

9. Find the cost of potatoes in your locality. Estimate the cost of a dish of mashed potato for five people.

10. Estimate the cost of 100-Calorie portions of several vegetables. See Fig. 36.

126

CHAPTER VIII

The common grains, sometimes called cereals,[11] yield some of the most important of all the food materials. Those most widely used are wheat, maize, or Indian corn, oats, rice, barley, rye, and millet. In this country wheat and corn are the two great crops upon which our prosperity largely depends, and a shortage in one of these crops is felt in the business world, not only in this country, but abroad. Rice is the important cereal in China, Japan, and India, and a failure of the rice crop may mean famine to millions of people, especially in India. These facts are mentioned to show that the race has learned to depend upon the grains as a staple food, and a study of their composition proves that this common habit is founded in reason. The grains are all members of the grass family, and the edible portion is the seed. From these seeds are manufactured pure starch, breakfast cereals, meal, and flour. Like beans and peas, these seeds are the storehouses of food for the young plants, and we therefore find the high nutritive value depicted in Fig. 37. Notice that the carbohydrate (starch) content is high in all; that all contain protein, oats, wheat, and rye being about equal in this and higher than the others; oats are highest in fat, corn ranking next. The ash contains the same important mineral substances that we found in the fruits, the percentages of each differing somewhat with the128 different grains and being quite different for the cereals as a class than for the fruits and vegetables as a class. It must be remembered that these percentages are given for the whole grain, and that the amounts of the nutrients in the manufactured product depend upon the process employed.

Manufacture of cereal food materials.[12]—The primitive method of making the material in the grain available for use was by grinding the grain between two stones, or by pounding one stone upon another, and this method is used by the Mexicans and certain of the American Indians to this day, human muscle being the power employed. Wind and water were harnessed for grinding grain, and were the only motive powers available until the invention of steam, the grinding being done by stones. In a Connecticut town there still exists a mill stone, one of a pair so small that they were carried into the settlement on horseback, and when placed in a small mill by a brook, they ground a bushel of corn in a day.

Fig. 37.—Composition of cereals.

Breakfast cereals and meal are now made in the great factories that produce flour; steam is the motive power and the grains are broken, or rolled, between steel rollers. (See Chapter XII.)

Breakfast cereals.—The ready-to-eat breakfast cereal has met the popular demand for a quickly prepared food for the first meal of the day. A few of these are made under known conditions, but they are sometimes manufactured from inferior grain, and the presence of grit at times indicates a possible lack of cleanliness in the process. It is a question, too, whether or not the starch has been subjected to heat for a sufficient length of time, and whether they can be masticated sufficiently to make the grain digestible, and the nutritive material available. Their use for young children is undesirable. For older people, they add variety129 to the diet, but they are usually more expensive than the home-cooked breakfast foods, even when the cost of fuel is taken into account. See Fig. 38.

Cooked breakfast cereals.—It is an easy task to cook a cereal, especially now that the fireless cooker in some form is present in so many homes. The cereal for breakfast does not necessitate early rising; as it may be prepared the day or evening before and be served in palatable form in the morning.

The most common breakfast cereals are made from oats, wheat, and corn, varying in fineness of grain from those ground like a meal to the coarser cracked wheat and the samp made from corn. It is well to use kinds made from different grains, but when the worth of a few has been proved, it is not wise to try another kind simply because it has a new label. One manufacturer confessed to a visitor that the same cereal was put into boxes of different colors and sold under different names as a means of inviting purchasers. The cereal foods made from whole grains are especially valuable on account of the high mineral content.

It usually pays to buy in boxes, rather than in bulk, in the case of cereals; and always from a reliable grocer. If you purchase a box of cereal as a “bargain,” weigh its contents and compare the weight with the weight of a box bought in the regular way. Also examine such a box for the presence of insects. These may be recognized sometimes by a webby substance, and again the insects themselves may be detected. Do not buy too large a stock of cereals, since they are better when they are fresh from the factory, and a good firm renews its stock often.

Fig. 38.—100-Calorie portions of starches and cereals. A. Fowler, Photographer.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

Rice.—Rice varies very much in quality and in the shape of the grain. Louisiana and Chinese rice are among those that have a firm and large grain keeping its shape well when133 cooked. Inferior varieties become too soft, and the finished product is pasty and poor in color and flavor. Much is said at present about the harmful effect of the polishing process upon the quality of the rice. An unpolished rice may sometimes be found on the market, brownish in color and with a good flavor.

Corn products.—Corn being our most abundant grain, it is the cheapest, and we should promote its use. Hominy and samp and Indian meal, when well cooked, are all most palatable. There is a difference between old and new process corn meal, to be noticed in the flavor and in the behavior of the two kinds in cooking. The new process meal now more largely on the market has been deprived of the germ, which contains a large amount of oil, and although the meal does not deteriorate so soon, there is some loss of flavor. Moreover,134 when the new process meal is used in an old-time recipe, more wetting must be used than the recipe calls for and a larger amount of fat.

The old process of grinding between stones is still employed in some localities. Southern and Rhode Island corn meal are ground in this way, and may be found at some groceries. There are also two colors, the yellow and the white, each with a distinctive flavor, and some people who think they dislike corn meal find the white meal agreeable.

Pure starches.—These occur as food materials in several forms. Cornstarch is the starchy portion only removed from the grain of corn. Wheat starch is more largely used for laundry purposes than for food. Rice flour may be treated as starch in cooking. Arrowroot is a fine starch from the roots of a family of plants growing in the West Indies and other warm climates. It is used principally in cooking for invalids. Cassava, manioca, tapioca, and sago are starchy materials in granular form. The first three are made from the pith of the cassava plant, the sago from the sago palm. The pure starches are all easily digested and inexpensive. Corn starch is the most abundant and cheapest pure starch in this country.

The starch granule.—To understand the behavior of materials like cornstarch, rice flour, and arrowroot in cooking, we need to know more of the starch grain. Cornstarch is composed of myriads of tiny granules somewhat like those pictured in Fig. 39, but smaller. The starch granules of different plants differ in size and even in shape, but they all have a covering lying in folds, the pure starch being within. The granule unfolds or bursts when exposed to heat. When these granules are floating in water, and, being heated, open at the same moment, the starch paste is smooth; otherwise, the starch lumps.

135

Fig. 39.—Changes of starch cells in cooking: a, cells of a raw potato with starch grains in natural condition; b, cells of a partially cooked potato; c, cells of a thoroughly boiled potato. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 295, U. S. Dept. Agriculture.

Desserts from the starches.—Cornstarch, in particular, is often disliked, because it is undercooked, and too large a proportion is used. It may be made very palatable, and is too valuable in cooking and too inexpensive to be discarded.

136

Macaroni, spaghetti, and vermicelli are valuable cereal products made from flour, this form of cereal food having originated in Italy. The Italians manufacture the paste in a large variety of forms, and some of the small fancy shapes are also used in soup. The composition of macaroni is shown in Fig. 51. It is a valuable material, and when served or cooked with cheese may well be the main dish of a home luncheon.

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EXERCISES

1. For what reasons are the cereal products so valuable?

2. Compare the composition of the different grains.

3. What changes are effected in the proper cookery of cereals?

4. What are the important points in practice?

5. What are the advantages of a good “ready to serve” breakfast cereal?

6. Ascertain the cost of a box of puffed cereal and an uncooked cereal of the same size. Weigh the contents of the two.

7. Estimate the cost of each one served to a family of six.

8. What is the cost of a 100-Calorie portion?

9. What is the advantage of serving dry toast with a cereal?

138

CHAPTER IX

Eggs are a specially interesting food because they contain all the elements necessary to the development of the young chick within the shell. The structure of the egg is familiar, with its division into the yolk and white, and it is interesting to note the details of this structure.

Break a fresh egg carefully into a saucer. The shell is porous, allowing water to evaporate from the egg and air to enter. To this porosity is due the fact that other substances may enter the egg, giving it an unnatural flavor and even hastening its deterioration. Within the shell is a fine membrane which protects the white. The yolk is also divided from the white by a more delicate membrane which enables one to separate the yolk from the white of a fresh egg. A careful examination reveals at each end of the yolk a continuation of this membrane in the form of small cords which are fastened at each end of the shell, holding the yolk evenly suspended in the center of the shell. Rough handling or jolting breaks this membrane, and the yolk drops to one side.

Lift the white carefully with a fork, and notice its elasticity. This cohesive property makes it possible to beat air into the white until the whole mass become porous. The yolk is creamy rather than light when beaten, and a bit of the yolk mixed with the white prevents the latter from becoming light and dry.

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Composition of the egg.—Figure 40 gives the composition of the yolk and white taken together, and of the yolk and white separated. The protein content is high, and the fat content as well, the yolk containing a higher percentage of these two foodstuffs than the white. The mineral matter is of high value, iron and phosphorus being found in ideal forms in the yolk. In using the egg as food we are availing ourselves of one of nature’s richest storehouses. A single egg of average size yields about 75 calories, of which 60 come from the yolk and 15 from the white. A very large egg, weighing two and two thirds ounces, will yield 100 calories.

Fig. 40.—Composition of eggs and cheese.

Fresh eggs and cold storage eggs.—The fresh-laid egg is always desired for its delicious flavor, and this flavor changes but little in a week or two if the egg is kept cool. It is desirable to preserve eggs, however, for future use at the season when they are most abundant and cheap. Many methods have been tried, such as laying them away in sawdust, sinking them in water-glass solution, or coating the shell with paraffin or some other substance to prevent evaporation and the entrance of air. The introduction of cold storage on a large scale promises a solution of the problem. If eggs are fresh when placed in storage, it is possible to keep them just above the freezing temperature for months without appreciable deterioration.

Eggs too long in storage may be detected by the musty odor and flavor, the running of the yolk into the white, and the thin quality of the white which prevents beating stiff. Some states have already passed stringent laws in regard to the sale of cold storage eggs.

The cost of eggs and how to buy.—The demand for fresh eggs is great, and so many eggs are exported, that the price is high, even in the summer. Twenty-five cents a dozen is a reasonable price, but this is below the average at the present141 date. The thirty-five or forty-cent daily allowance for food will permit the moderate use of eggs at thirty-five cents a dozen, but not a liberal use in cakes and desserts. They should be used at such a price and with that allowance as the main dish for breakfast or luncheon at times, and not in sweet dishes calling for three or four eggs. If a recipe for soft custard calls for three eggs to a pint of milk, leave out one egg or even two, and use one or two tablespoonfuls of cornstarch instead. Select eggs with a hard shell, and yolk of rich yellow. If the shell is soft and the yolk pale, these deficiencies should be reported, as they can be corrected by the poultryman. The difference in color of the shells, whether white or brown, is not of great consequence. If you can buy eggs by the crate direct from the poultryman, this is a saving, provided the eggs can be used before they deteriorate. A small crate holds fifteen dozen; the usual size thirty dozen. Some express companies have a special rate for eggs, and parcel post should aid in this method of buying.

Relative digestibility of soft and hard-cooked eggs.—The fact must be recalled that to digest is to dissolve, and that the digestion of food means a dissolving by the digestive juices, aided by water. When we speak of the digestibility of food we may mean the ease and comfort of digestion, or the length of time taken by the process, or the completeness of the process. If we take the third of these meanings, hard-cooked egg is as digestible as the soft-cooked or the raw egg, because it is completely dissolved in digestion in the course of time. If the second meaning of digestion is taken, the hard-cooked egg may be slightly less digestible, for a slightly longer time is consumed in the process. The latest researches, however, show that the digestive process is longer with any food than was formerly supposed, and the difference in this case is not especially important. Indeed, we must accept142 the conclusions of the scientist and frankly admit that the differences of temperature in cooking of egg do not have any great effect upon its digestibility.

Why then the popular idea that a hard-boiled egg is “absolutely indigestible”? A hard-boiled egg, or more than one, eaten rapidly, without mastication, at a picnic, and with much sweet food at an unusual hour, may interfere with the “ease and comfort in digestion” resulting from such a meal. But if the whites of the hard-boiled eggs are chopped fine, the yolk mashed, and the two served upon toast, thus insuring mastication, a dish is produced that is of average digestibility and that may be used for breakfast or luncheon without hesitation.

If a tender, jellylike consistency is wanted, cook the egg below the boiling point of water. If, however, a firmer egg is preferred, use the old-time method, and cook the egg three or four minutes in boiling water. It is the easier and quicker method.

Moreover, do not hesitate to use an egg “boiled” half an hour, provided it is chopped fine or sliced.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

Milk is the natural food of the young mammal, and contains all the foodstuffs in a form easily assimilable. Starch is not present, the carbohydrate being found in the form of lactose, or milk sugar, a sugar differing somewhat from the sugars found in vegetables and fruit (see Chapter X).

Whole milk and the milk products, cream, butter, and cheese, are all important food materials among the nations of the western world; and the manufacture of milk products, such as condensed milk, butter, and cheese, has developed147 large industries. While the Chinese and Japanese are two great peoples who have not utilized milk or any of its products as food for grown people to any extent, yet we are fully justified in counting these foods among the necessities. Nothing can fully take the place of milk in the family dietary.

Figure 41 shows how all the foodstuffs are represented in milk. When milk first comes from the cow the fat is suspended in tiny, invisible particles throughout the water, giving the milk its yellow tint, and the fat rises to the top in the form of cream after a few hours. The protein, sugar, and ash are dissolved in the water. When milk reaches the stomach, the protein separates from the water in the form of curd. This change is brought about by an enzyme (soluble ferment) called rennin, which is present, along with pepsin, in the gastric juice. Curd is also formed by the souring of milk through the action of bacteria, or by adding acid directly to the milk. Milk should never be gulped down, but taken in sips, so that only small portions of curd are formed in the stomach, because these are much easier to digest than large ones. Sometimes milk is soured purposely, as in buttermilk or zoolak or matzoon, that curds may form and be beaten fine before it is drunk. This is very easy to digest, because then no large curds can form. For the same reason, it is often better to take milk with bread or some other food, or to cook it in some dish. Skim milk is a valuable food, for it has everything found in whole milk but the fat. We miss the flavor of the fat in drinking it, hence it is better to use it in pudding or soup or in cooking cereals where we do not care so much about the milk flavor. Study Fig. 41, comparing the percentages of the foodstuffs in whole, skim, and buttermilk, and cream. Notice that the skim milk is higher than the whole milk in protein and sugar, that it has as much ash, and a trace of fat even. It does not tell us, however, that149 the forms of ash in milk are most valuable, and that it is richer in calcium than any other food material. How these foods compare in fuel value is shown in Fig. 42.

Fig. 41.—Composition of milk and cream.

Fig. 42.—100-Calorie portions of milk and cream. A. Fowler, Photographer.

Wholesome and clean milk.—At present, the milk supply is one of our most pressing community problems, showing how closely the country and the city are united. A case of typhoid fever in one farm family, not properly cared for, may be the seed of a serious epidemic in some town. To insure clean milk to the consumer, and a fair return in money to the producer, is a great sanitary and commercial problem, not to be solved in a day.

Milk is a medium in which bacteria flourish, both the harmless and the disease producing. Typhoid fever and other fatal diseases may be carried by milk from unclean barns150 and dairies, and tuberculosis is possible from diseased cows. The cows must be in good health, and the stable clean. Figure 43 shows a stable with cement floor and good drainage. The cows must themselves be clean, and should be curried and washed. The milkers should have clean clothes and hands, and all receptacles should be sterilized. The milk must be rapidly cooled (see Fig. 44), bottled in sterilized bottles, kept cool during transportation, and delivered as promptly as possible to the consumer. “Certified” milk is produced and handled under the best conditions, but costs at least 15 cents a quart. Since a quart of milk is equivalent to a pound of steak or to 8 eggs, milk even at 15 to 20 cents a quart is more economical than meat and eggs at ordinary prices. At the usual price of 8 to 10 cents a quart, milk is very economical as compared with other perishable foods.

Fig. 43.—A modern cow house. Courtesy of the Walker-Gordon Laboratory.

Fig. 44.—Milk bottling room. Courtesy of Walker-Gordon Laboratory.

The question of preservation and pasteurization can be treated here but briefly. Preservatives are forbidden by law in most states. Pasteurization is heating at a temperature151 sufficiently high to kill any disease germs present, but not high enough to give a cooked taste. This process, while it destroys most of the bacteria, does not kill the spores of all. The chief arguments against pasteurization are (1) that on a commercial scale it is difficult to really accomplish this, and (2) that it is easily used to cover the sale of unclean milk. The argument for it is, that it is impossible to obtain as yet an ideal supply for a large city in hot weather, and that pasteurization, if properly conducted, kills nearly all of the dangerous bacteria and saves the lives of many babies. Clean milk that needs no pasteurization is our ultimate aim, and we must remember that milk pasteurized under unknown conditions needs to be kept cold and treated with even more care than fresh milk, for it “spoils” quite as easily, only we may not know it because it may not taste sour.

In the last few years the question of pasteurization has152 been studied with very great care. It is found best to heat the milk for 20 to 30 minutes at a temperature of 140° to 155° F. If it is certain that this method has been used, one need not hesitate to trust the milk, for the arguments against pasteurization do not properly apply here.

How to buy.—Investigate by question and inspection, if possible, the available milk supply. Be sure to do this in the country in the summer. Always buy bottled milk. Where the income is small, good quality milk should be used for the little children and invalids, and skim milk purchased for cooking. In many places skim milk is supplied in bottles by reliable firms. The usual price for bottled milk in the city is 8 to 10 cents, and this is of good average quality. Keep milk cold. If there is no ice, use an ice substitute (page 74), and in very hot weather pasteurize or scald the milk, cooling afterward as quickly as possible by placing in cold water and stirring the water.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

Matzoon and other similar preparations are essentially soured milks, prepared under controlled conditions. These preparations are the common form of milk in certain parts of the Orient, where milk is never used sweet.

Kumyss is milk slightly soured and fermented with one species of yeast. This is a Russian method. These preparations are excellent for invalids and exhausted people, for they can sometimes be assimilated because of the fine curds when sweet milk cannot.

Condensed milk is a practical method of preserving milk. The milk is evaporated under pressure at a high temperature in apparatus constructed for the purpose. Cane sugar or glucose is sometimes added. A new patent process condenses the milk at low temperature, preserving it for a short period, as compared with the condensed milk in tins, but it keeps well for several days, and bears transportation. Condensed milk may be used in cooking, when clean fresh milk is not available. The unsweetened kinds are most useful, but, like pasteurized milk, must be treated with care after the cans are opened.

Cheese.—Cheese is made from the curd of milk, and contains the most nutritive parts of the milk in highly concentrated form. In the process of manufacture, the milk is first curdled by rennet, and the whey strained out. The curds after preliminary treatment, varying according to the style of cheese to be made, are finally pressed together very slowly in a cheese press, which is screwed down more tightly as the cheese becomes dryer. The cheeses are then covered with cheesecloth and “ripened” slowly, the ripening process giving characteristic consistency and flavor. This ripening is due to the action of bacteria and molds. (See page 97.) Foreign varieties of cheese, made originally in some one locality, have marked colors, quality, and flavors, as Brie,155 Camembert, Roquefort, and the Swiss cheeses. Parmesan is an Italian cheese, excellent with macaroni and spaghetti.

American cheeses vary in color, in strength of flavor, in creaminess, and in degree of hardness. Much the greater part is, however, of the general type known as “American cheddar” or “standard factory” cheese.

Club cheese is an American cheese of good quality, put up in small jars. It is a soft cheese, excellent to serve with crackers, but is too expensive for common use.

Cottage cheese is a home product made from sour milk, and used at once.

Composition and nutritive value.—Cheese is high in protein, and usually in fat. (See Fig. 40.) Note the small amount of water, which makes cheese a very concentrated food. The protein content makes it a meat substitute, for those with whom cheese does not disagree. Being a dense as well as concentrated form of food, it156 should be eaten in small quantities, and in combination with other food materials in such a way that it will become finely divided, or it will not be easily digested. The ash content is high, the most valuable of the ash constituents of the milk being retained in the cheese.

The cost of cheese.—The foreign cheeses are expensive, but American cheeses may be classed among the moderate priced foods and they compare favorably with other protein foods.

Cheese costs more than beans, and less than most cuts of meat. A good American cheese costs about twenty-five cents per pound. Taking account of composition as well as cost per pound, we find that a given amount of money buys about twice as much food value when spent for cheese as it would if spent for beef. See Fig. 45.

Fig. 45.—100-Calorie portions of cheese. A. Fowler, Photographer.

Care of cheese in the pantry.—Cheese should be kept dry and covered, that its odor may not be noticeable. Soft cheese should be kept in the ice box. The receptacle for cheese should be thoroughly sterilized before each new purchase is put away.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

EXERCISES

1. Compare the composition of eggs, milk, and cheese.

2. How may an egg which has been kept too long in cold storage be detected?

3. What is the effect of the boiling temperature of water upon an egg?

4. Compare a hard- and a soft-cooked egg for digestibility.

5. What are the dangers from unclean milk?

6. How may the milk supply be safeguarded?

7. Why is cheese a meat substitute?

8. What caution should we exercise in using it?

9. What precaution must we take in cooking cheese?

158

CHAPTER X

Fats are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but have much more carbon than the other kinds of foodstuffs. Notice in Fig. 46 that olive oil and lard are pure fats; the other fat foods containing water, protein, and ash. Fat is available in various forms, with differing flavors and a wide range of prices. To many people it is unpalatable in some of its cheapest forms; yet its use is important, and some kind should be included in the diet. Fluid and emulsified fats are the most easily digested, hence olive oil, cream, and egg yolk are highly desirable. Bacon and butter belong nearly in the same class. A vigorous man at hard labor can digest fat of any kind without difficulty, and needs it because it gives so much fuel in proportion to its bulk.

Fat tends to retard gastric digestion, and delicate persons must be careful about taking with it other foods which are hard to digest, or taking it in the form of fried foods, pastries, rich cakes, and sauces. Persons with delicate appetite, who lose weight because they do not get enough fuel, may be benefited by taking a little more fat in the diet, especially if they do not digest starch and sugar readily, but a very large amount (over 6 or 7 ounces a day) will not be perfectly digested.

Fat as a food.—Beef fat, as it occurs with lean, is a digestible fat. If thoroughly browned in the cooking process, it is most palatable, and the taste for it should be cultivated. In gravy, it may be used with potato, instead of butter. Fat tried out from suet, may161 be used in place of butter as an ingredient in some puddings, and even in batter mixtures. It may also be used with vegetables when the price of butter is prohibitive. See Fig. 47.

Fig. 46.—Composition of fat foods.

Fig. 47.—100-Calorie portions of fat foods.A. Fowler, Photographer.

Bacon is a digestible and agreeable form of fat, but it is not so cheap as beef fat, though cheaper than butter.

Fat pork is lower in price than bacon, and can be assimilated by vigorous people, especially those living out of doors.

Cream is one of the most delicious fatty food materials, and is digestible, but ranks with butter and bacon as to cost. While it is not a cheap food, it is not such an extravagance when moderately used as some people suppose, who have not worked out the problem. Usually the most economical source of cream is to take it from the top of the bottle of milk. The remaining partially skimmed milk may be used at table or in cooking or for making cottage cheese.

Butter is a digestible fat, ranking at present among the more expensive food materials.

Watchfulness is necessary with both cream and milk that cleanliness and quality may be insured.

Butter substitutes.—These are made from beef fat and other edible fats and oils, and are much less expensive than butter. They may be used in cooking with good result. The usual trade names are butterine, or oleomargarine, or some word similar to these. Oleomargarine has the same food value as butter at lower cost, but lacks fine flavor.

Olive or sweet oil.—The fat content of olive oil is one hundred per cent, its fuel value being equal to that of lard. See Fig. 46. It is made in Italy, France, Spain, and California, the oils from the different countries differing somewhat in flavor. The cheaper grades are sometimes adulterated with corn oil or cottonseed oil, which have the same food value but should, of course, be sold under their own names and not at olive oil prices. An American firm is now manufacturing olive oil in Spain; this and the California olive oil are of high grade. Italian oil by the gallon is of good quality, and usually somewhat less expensive than the French. It is a costly food material, but valuable in the dietary. Never buy it in small bottles, as this adds greatly to the cost. The most economical method is to purchase by the gallon in a tin can. If kept cool, it will not deteriorate except very slowly. Always wipe off the mouth of the bottle or can before pouring out the oil.

162

Fat as a cooking medium.—Fat is necessary for the sauté, and for deep fat frying. For deep fat frying several preparations are made from cottonseed oil that are agreeable to use and of moderate price.

Lard has been the most commonly used, but many people object to the flavor. Beef drippings should be saved and kept cool in covered jelly glasses. These drippings are useful for browning vegetables, meatballs, and in pan-broiling if a small amount of additional fat is necessary.

When deep fat frying is used, great pains must be taken to see that the fat is sufficiently hot in order that the food material may not soak fat, and the cooked food must be kept hot when the fat is draining off on absorptive paper. The best fats for this purpose are the vegetable oils. The refined cottonseed oils now on the market are excellent. For details of use see page 120. Keep a box of sand to pour into it, if the kettle of fat takes fire. Never pour water into blazing fat.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

The making of sauces and gravies.—Many sauces and gravies are made from a fat, mixed with a starchy substance, the two mingled with a liquid. The fat gives flavor and nutriment, the starch is used for thickening, the liquid also gives flavor. You are now familiar with the cooking of fat and starch, and can readily understand that the combination of all these ingredients is not an easy matter. The fat will float upon the top of the liquid unless the right amount of starch or flour is used, and the flour will have a tendency to lump. There are several good methods in use. The method given for your experiment is one of the simplest, because it uses only a few utensils, and gives uniformly good results. It requires no more watchfulness than the other methods.

These sauces and gravies are not foods for little children and invalids.

Sugars are of common occurrence in the vegetable world in the fruits and juices of many plants. Pure grape juice may contain as high as 25 per cent of glucose though usually it is not so concentrated. Glucose is also found in considerable amount in sweet corn and onions. It is not so sweet as166 cane sugar (sucrose). Fructose is one of the sweetest of sugars, and helps to give honey its great sweetness.

Lactose or milk sugar is found chiefly in milk. It is the least sweet of all the sugars. If there were as much cane sugar in milk, we should soon grow tired of it because it would be too sweet. It is sometimes added to milk to make its fuel value higher, especially in case the milk has been diluted, as in the diet of babies and invalids.

Maltose or malt sugar is formed from starch in germinating seeds.

Sucrose or cane sugar is most commonly manufactured from sugar cane and sugar beets. To a much smaller extent it is made commercially from the sugar maple, sorghum cane, and sugar palm, and it is found in considerable amount in some common fruits and vegetables.

Its manufacture forms a great industry, and its consumption is enormous, some ten million tons coming into commerce annually, and this does not represent the total consumption.

Figure 48 shows the composition of several common sugars. Notice that the granulated sugar is a pure foodstuff, being 100 per cent carbohydrate, while all the others contain traces of protein, ash, and water. Sugar is a fuel food, exclusively, like olive oil and other pure fats.

Fig. 48.—Composition of sugars.

Sugar is a valuable food material, but should not be used in excess; the tendency in the United States is rather toward an excessive use of sugar. It is liable to cause an acid fermentation in digestion, when taken in large amounts, and is sure to irritate the stomach. It should be well diluted by other foods. The amount that may be eaten daily varies for most people from two ounces for young children to four ounces for adults, but many people cannot eat these amounts without more or less irritation of the stomach. It is a common practice to oversweeten cakes and desserts, the sweetness167 of the sugar often disguising other agreeable flavors. The liking for sweets should be well under control, for the eating of too much sugar is a habit easy to form, and one which crowds out other valuable foods.

Cane Sugar is sold both brown and white, and is manufactured in powdered, granulated, and solid form, the latter usually cut in cubes or dominoes.

The canes are first crushed, the juices passing from the machine being of a rather dark greenish color. This juice is first clarified and filtered, and then boiled down in order to crystallize the sugar, the liquid sirup forming molasses. In the older methods the sirup was boiled in open pans, and the crystals filtered from the molasses by a slow process. In the modern process the sirup is boiled at a low temperature in vacuum pans, and the sugar is separated from the molasses by a centrifugal machine, built on the same principle as a cream separator. The principles of beet sugar manufacture are essentially the same, with some differences in detail.

The molasses manufactured in the older method is richer in cane sugar and is a better table molasses than the new process molasses, the latter being used chiefly for the manufacture of alcohol. Molasses is either dark or light, the darker having a stronger flavor especially suited to gingerbread and Indian meal pudding. Molasses comes in the bulk, and may be slightly acid; or in cans, in which case no acid fermentation should have taken place. Where canned molasses is used in a batter, it is sometimes necessary to use baking powder instead of soda. “New Orleans” is a light-colored molasses, “Porto Rico” dark.

Brown sugar has not passed through the refining processes necessary to the whitening of the sugar. It is softer than the granulated white, has a decided brownish color and a rich flavor.

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In buying sugar it is economy to purchase granulated in large quantities, a fraction of a cent per pound being saved in this way. The cut sugar comes in convenient boxes, which keep the product clean. Powdered sugar may be bought in small quantities, three or five pounds, since it is not used so much in cooking as the granulated.

Candy, homemade and purchased.—Candy, if not eaten between meals, is an allowable form of sugar. The best time for eating it is at the end of a meal, one or two pieces. Even in this case, however, it would be better for the body if the craving for sweet were satisfied by fruit rather than candy.

Candy made at home costs less than high grade commercial candy, even counting in the labor. It is superior to cheap grade candy, which may even contain poisonous coloring matter. It is a pleasure to make it at times, and it is always a pleasing gift at the holiday season.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

Laboratory management.—The holiday time is the natural season for the candy-making lesson. It is not worth while to spend much time on this topic, at the sacrifice of others.

EXERCISES

1. What is meant by a fuel food?

2. Why should fat be taken daily?

3. Compare the cost of different kinds of fat.

4. Why is beef fat less expensive than butter?

5. How is fat mixed with other ingredients in a sauce?

6. What is the chief point to consider in the cookery of fat?

7. What is the difference between cane sugar and honey?

8. Compare the cost of a pound of homemade candy with that of good quality bought at a shop.

9. How is fat changed in digestion?

10. How is sugar changed in digestion?

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CHAPTER XI

Wheat flour is the important material in this group, but muffins and biscuit may be varied by the use of corn meal, rye, and Graham flour, and cooked cereals may also be utilized. The ingredients are flour, salt, a liquid, sometimes a fat, eggs, and sugar. The flavorings are spices, essences, fruit juice, dried fruits, nuts, chocolate. The mixture must be smooth, but it is also necessary to make it porous or “light.” This is accomplished by means of leavening agents, “to leaven” meaning “to make light.”

Leavening agents.—The batter, or dough, is leavened by introducing into it air or a gas that expands when heated in the oven, thus making the whole more porous and larger in bulk.

The proportions of the main ingredients.—Attempts are made to define the degrees of stiffness of batters and doughs, but these distinctions are not very accurate. A “pour batter” is liquid enough to pour, and a “dough batter” soft enough to drop from a spoon; a “soft dough” is next in grade, and “dough” is the stiffest of all.

173

To understand proportioning the ingredients, the nature of the ingredients when heated must be taken into account. Butter and other fats melt when heated, and behave like a liquid in the mixture. Therefore, when there is a very large amount of butter, no other wetting is necessary, as in pound cake. We may make a scale, with a thin popover mixture at one extreme, with no butter in it, and the stiff pound cake at the other, with butter the only liquid (except the flavoring). Between these two are the mixtures of medium stiffness, with both butter and liquid. This general rule may be given: As the quantity of butter is increased, the batter must increase in stiffness, and there must be either less liquid or more flour.

A beaten egg looks like a liquid and behaves so during the mixing, but in the oven it stiffens. For this reason we can make a sponge cake with many eggs and no liquid in the mixing, and use no other leavening agent than the air beaten into the egg.

One old-fashioned rule for sponge cake reads: Take the weight of the eggs in sugar and half their weight in flour, with the juice and rind of a lemon for ten eggs. Such a rule was adapted to the days when eggs were cheap. We should now use fewer eggs in sponge cake, and this means that water and baking powder must replace the eggs omitted.

Baking.—This is a science and an art that requires much practice. Do not be discouraged if you do not succeed at first.

Concerning the utensils for baking, see Chapter II. The cups or pans are prepared by warming and greasing. Use a bit of soft paper or a brush for greasing the pan and ordinarily an inexpensive fat, reserving butter for delicate cake. Flour sprinkled on a pan is sufficient for biscuit and cookies. Line a pan for loaf cake with white paper, and grease the paper.

See that the oven is ready before the mixing begins. We shall not be able to bake accurately until our ovens are equipped with thermometers. In the meantime we must use some simple oven test. The indicators on the doors of some ovens are a guide, although they are not really accurate according to the scale of the thermometer. A glass door is also a convenience.

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A loaf should be baked at a lower temperature than a biscuit or muffin. Why?

For loaves, 380° F. Test by the hand, counting fifteen slowly, fifteen seconds. A piece of white paper will become a delicate brown in five minutes.

For biscuits, muffins, and small cakes, 425° to 450° F.—Test by the hand, a count of ten. A piece of paper becomes a deeper golden brown in five minutes.

Any mixture containing baking powder may stand some little time before it is put in the oven, provided it is kept cold. The action of the baking powder is not immediate, and is very slight at a low temperature.

The stages of the baking are first, the rising; second, the crusting over; third, the baking of the interior; and last, a shrinkage of the whole.

Many ovens bake unevenly, and pans must be shifted. This should be done with care and not before the third stage of the baking. It is often well to cool off the oven the latter part of the time. An oven that is too hot may be cooled by a pan of water. Paper may be laid over the top of the cake if the browning has been too rapid. These are all makeshifts, and indicate a poor oven, or poor management of the fire. Do not look into the oven for the first ten minutes of baking, and always close the oven door gently.

When we are privileged to have electric ovens, with glass doors, and an accurate thermometer, baking will be an easy and accurate process.

EXPERIMENTS AND RECIPES

A. Experiments with baking powder.

1. Dissolve half a teaspoonful of baking powder in two tablespoonfuls of water and heat in a test tube, or saucepan, over a flame; notice the effervescence when the bubbling is at its height,176 and hold a lighted match in the mouth of the tube. This is a simple test for carbon dioxide.

2. Dissolve 2 teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar in ¹⁄₂ cup water in a glass.

Dissolve 1 teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda in ¹⁄₂ cup water in a glass.

Taste both of these.

Test both with litmus paper, noting the change of color. There are several vegetable coloring matters that change color in this way, in the presence of an acid or an alkaline substance.

Turn the two solutions together, and test with both blue and pink litmus paper, after the solution has stood for several minutes. What results?

Taste this mixed solution to see if you can detect any difference.

To prove that there is a substance still left, evaporate the water.

3. A pretty form of this experiment is to use, instead of litmus, the water in which red cabbage has previously been boiled and which therefore contains some of the coloring matter of the cabbage. The changes in color are very striking, and prove conclusively that neither the cream of tartar nor the soda remains such.

B. Oven experiments.

If one oven in the school kitchen can be equipped with a chemical thermometer inserted in the oven, the following experiments are helpful.

1. Let each pupil test the oven by feeling, when it has reached 380° F., 400° F., 425° F., 450° F., 475° F.-500° F.

2. Place pieces of white paper, one for each pupil, in the oven for five minutes at the various temperatures. These may be pasted in the notebook for future reference.

1. Popovers, puffovers, or mahogany cakes.

Ingredients for 12.

Flour	1	pint
Milk	1	pint
Eggs	3
Salt	1⁄2	teaspoonful

Some rules give two eggs only.

For baking, heavy earthen cups, hot and greased.

Method of mixing is No. 1.177

Special points.—The liquid must be poured very slowly into the flour to prevent lumping. A large Dover egg beater is convenient for beating out lumps, if any occur.

The leavening of the popover is effected by steam, and it is not necessary therefore to spend time and strength in the long beating sometimes recommended. This has been conclusively proved by experiment. Neither is it necessary to put the batter into the oven immediately, as sometimes directed. It may stand all day or even over night.

Pour the batter in the hot cups, having each cup two thirds full. The baking of the popovers is unique, in that they should be put into an intensely hot oven for the first stage of the baking—as hot as 475° F., or even more—then the oven must be cooled. This first stage crusts the top; then the expansive force of the steam pushes up the top; and the muffin “pops” or “puffs” over. The more moderate heat cooks the sides and the bottom, and makes an agreeable crust. The perfect puffover is hollow. Three quarters of an hour is the average time of baking. If at the end of that time the oven door is set ajar, and the popovers allowed to remain longer, they are improved, coming from the oven stiff and crisp with a rich brown color, rather than soft and underdone. In an old family cookbook, one recipe, sixty years old, calls popovers “Mahogany Cakes.”

They may be eaten as a muffin, or served with a pudding sauce as a dessert.

2. Plain muffins.

Ingredients for 12.

Flour	1	pint
Baking powder	3	teaspoonfuls
Salt	1⁄2	teaspoonful
Eggs	2	or 1
Milk	11⁄4	cup
Butter, or butter substitute	1	tablespoonful
Sugar, if desired	1	tablespoonful

For baking, greased muffin pan. Bake about half an hour.

Method of mixing is No. 1.

This recipe may be varied in many ways.

(a) Use ¹⁄₂ cup cooked cereal in place of an equal quantity of flour. Will you change the amount of wetting?178

(b) One cup fine white corn meal, or ¹⁄₂ cup yellow meal in place of equal quantities of flour. Corn meal absorbs more water than white flour.

What change in the wetting?

The oven should be the temperature for bread, and the baking at least ³⁄₄ of an hour.

(c) One cup Graham or rye meal in place of an equal quantity of flour.

3. Baking-powder biscuit.

Ingredients.

Flour	1	pint
Baking powder	3	teaspoonfuls
Salt	1⁄2	teaspoonful
Butter, or butter substitute	1 or 2	tablespoonfuls
Milk	1	scant cup

For shaping, molding board, rolling pin, and biscuit cutter.

For baking, an iron sheet or pan sprinkled with flour. Oven about 425° F., a ten-second test, or golden brown paper. Bake twenty minutes to half an hour.

Method of mixing is No. 2.

To shape. Dust the board with flour, turn out the dough, dredge with flour, pat into a firm mass, and then pat or lightly roll out to ¹⁄₂ inch thickness. Cut out with a cutter dipped in flour. (A small glass or the top of a round tin can may be used.)

Variations.—Add 1 egg. This makes a delicious biscuit. Sprinkle the top with granulated sugar, and spice. Dried currants washed, and dredged with flour, may be laid on the top.

Increase the butter to two or three tablespoonfuls, and decrease the wetting and the mixture becomes shortcake. This is the mixture to use for the true strawberry shortcake. Many other fruits may be used, both uncooked and cooked.

4. Sour milk griddlecakes.

Ingredients.

Flour	21⁄2	cups
Salt	1⁄2	teaspoonful
Melted butter	2	tablespoonfuls
Sour milk	2	cups
Soda	11⁄4	teaspoonfuls
Egg	1

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Method.—Mix dry ingredients. Add sour milk, egg well beaten, and melted butter in order given. Beat thoroughly. Drop by spoonfuls on a greased griddle and let cook until the edges are cooked and the cake full of bubbles. Turn with a cake turner or spatula knife and cook on the other side. Serve with butter and sirup or scraped maple sugar.

5. Sweet milk griddlecakes.

Ingredients.

Flour	3	cups
Baking powder	4	teaspoonfuls
Salt	1	teaspoonful
Sugar	1⁄4	cup
Milk	2	cups
Egg	1
Melted butter	2	tablespoonfuls

Method.—Mix dry ingredients. Beat egg and mix with it the milk. Pour liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir altogether until smooth. Add the melted butter and cook the cakes the same as with sour milk griddlecakes.

6. Cookies.—Cookies may be plain, or rich in butter; crisp and thin, or soft and thick. They may be sweetened with sugar, or molasses, and spiced in various ways. It would be an interesting exercise to tabulate all the possible forms of cookies.

Ingredients.

Butter	1	cup
Sugar	11⁄2	cups
Eggs	2
Milk	3	tablespoonfuls
Flour		about 3 cups
Baking powder	1	teaspoonful
Salt	11⁄2	teaspoonfuls

The flavoring may be two teaspoonfuls of vanilla, or lemon essence, one or two tablespoonfuls of ground spice, or caraway seeds.

For baking, a floured iron sheet or flat pan. Temperature 425° F., or even more. The baking requires from 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cooky.

180

Fig. 49.—Materials and utensils for fancy cookies. Courtesy of Miss Anna M. Barrows.

181

The method of mixing is No. 3. Notice that this is a stiff dough. The amount of flour depends somewhat upon the expertness of the cooky maker. The flour used in rolling out must be accounted for, as the expert can manage a softer dough than the novice. Mix the baking powder and salt with one cup of the flour.

Shaping the cookies.—Figure 49 shows you the apparatus. The dough is turned out upon the floured board, gently rolled out to a quarter of an inch, cut and placed in a floured pan; or cut off a small piece, roll in the flour, until it forms a ball, set the ball in the pan, and pat it down to a round. This may seem to take longer, but it is easier, and there is no board to clean afterward.

A plainer cooky is made with ¹⁄₂ cup butter, and ¹⁄₂ cup water or milk, with somewhat more flour.

7. Butter cake.—A foundation recipe. Learn to make one cake well, and vary it by changing the forms and flavors.

Ingredients.

Butter	1⁄3	cup
Sugar	1	cup
Eggs	2
Milk	2⁄3	cup
Flour	13⁄4	cup
Baking powder	21⁄2	teaspoonfuls
Salt	1⁄4	teaspoonful

The flavoring may be 1 teaspoonful of vanilla or lemon essence, or ¹⁄₂ teaspoonful of almond, or two teaspoonfuls of spices. Raisins, ¹⁄₂ cup, citron ¹⁄₄ lb., nuts, ¹⁄₂ cup. The rind of ¹⁄₂ orange is delicious with the vanilla flavor. With the vanilla use 4 tablespoonfuls of cocoa, for a chocolate flavor.

To make a plainer cake, omit one egg, use ¹⁄₄ cup butter, and ³⁄₄ cup of milk.

If you use ¹⁄₂ cup butter, making a richer cake, what other changes should be made?

Bake in deep or shallow pan, jelly cake tins, or small tin cups.

The mixing is Method 3.

As layer cake, it may be used with a variety of fillings and icings,—jelly, cream filling, soft icing with nuts, raisins, or dates.182

A chocolate filling.—One half cup milk, 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup of sugar, yolk of one egg, 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract. Break up the chocolate, melt it in a bowl over hot water or in a double boiler, with the sugar and the milk. When the mixture is smooth add the beaten yolk, cook for one or two minutes, add the vanilla, and remove from the fire.

Fig. 50.—A loaf of sponge cake. Courtesy of Dept. of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College.

8. Sponge cake.—The old-time sponge cake is given on page 173. Sponge cakes should be baked in a very moderate oven, below 380° F., the bread temperature. (See Fig. 50.)

9. Hot water sponge cake.

Ingredients.

Eggs	2
Sugar	1	cup
Hot water or Milk	3⁄8	cup
Flour	1	cup
Baking powder	11⁄2	teaspoonfuls
Salt	1⁄4	teaspoonful
Lemon or	1⁄4	teaspoonful
Vanilla extract	1⁄2	teaspoonful

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Method.—Separate eggs and beat yolks and whites thoroughly. Mix and sift the dry ingredients. Add the sugar gradually to beaten yolks alternately with water until well blended. Next add the flavoring and then fold in the stiffly beaten whites together with the dry ingredients until blended. Bake in a buttered shallow pan in a moderate oven for twenty-five minutes or until cake shrinks from the side of the pan.

10. Plain gingerbread.

Ingredients.

Molasses	1	cup
Boiling water	1⁄2	cup
Flour	21⁄2	cups
Soda	1	teaspoonful
Ginger	11⁄2	teaspoonfuls
Salt	1⁄2	teaspoonful
Butter	4	tablespoonfuls

Method.—Melt butter in boiling water. Mix dry ingredients. Add the molasses to the water and butter and stir this mixture into the dry ingredients, beating vigorously. Pour into a buttered shallow pan and bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven. If the molasses is taken from a freshly opened can, no acid will be present and the soda should be omitted and 3 teaspoonfuls of baking powder used instead.

Laboratory management.—Effective work in batters cannot be accomplished with less than ¹⁄₂ cup liquid, though a smaller portion is sometimes used. It is well to have some group work, so that the pupils may learn to beat larger quantities. If there is a school lunch room, large quantities may be utilized there.

Pastry.—Pastry is a stiff dough with a large proportion of shortening, and is flaky when baked rather than porous. Pastry and pies should not be used as a staple food, but when well made and properly masticated, pies may be eaten occasionally by people in good health. The crust should be flaky, and thoroughly baked.

184

EXERCISES

1. What are the chief ingredients of batter mixtures and doughs?

2. Explain leavening by air.

3. Why is steam a leavening agent?

4. How is gas formed for leavening purposes?

5. How does the presence of butter or other fat affect the stiffness of a mixture?

6. What are the important points to remember in mixing ingredients?

7. Why are baking-powder biscuits mixed differently from popovers?

8. What are the most practical oven tests?

9. Why is a loaf cake baked longer than cookies?

10. How many muffins, average size, can be made from a pint of flour?

11. Compare the cost of homemade cake with bakers’ cake.

12. What are the advantages of the homemade over the bakers’, or the bakers’ over the homemade?

187

CHAPTER XII

Yeast bread when well made is a food of which the palate never tires, and it is usually recognized as a part of every well-planned meal. The quick breads are a convenient substitute at times, but they are not the staff of life in the same sense, and are, on the whole, less widely used.

The making of a perfect loaf of bread is the goal of all those who aspire to excel in cookery; and the art of bread making requires not only a clear understanding of the underlying principles, but patience and persistence in experimentation and practice until a uniformly perfect product is achieved. The fact that in yeast we have a living organism with which to deal makes the whole process a delicate one, in which every detail is of importance, whether it be a matter of ingredients, proportions, methods of mixing, or temperature.

The standard of good bread.—There will always be some difference of opinion in regard to a desirable quality in bread, and individual preference will control the final result, whether the crumb of the bread shall be dry and porous or somewhat more moist and finer in grain. French bread is of the former type, the English preferring a close grain and solid loaf. Allowing for these differences, it is still possible to standardize bread, and to state in percentages the different points to be considered in judging a loaf.

We must consider the size and symmetry of the loaf, in order that the interior of the bread may be baked to the very188 center, without overbaking or burning the crust, and therefore very large loaves should be avoided. The crust should be uniform in color, the shade ranging from a light golden to a darker brown, and the quality may be soft or crisp, but never tough. The crumb should be light, the cavities evenly distributed throughout the loaf and of uniform size. It should also be elastic, tender, and yet not pasty, evenly baked without streaks and heavy portions near the crust, and the color should be creamy rather than a snowy white. (Fig. 55.)

The following score cards will be useful in judging loaves, and in the bread contests which are interesting and helpful.

Digestibility and nutritive value.—Bread of the standard described is readily digestible when at least twelve hours old and stands high in nutritive value. Figure 51 compares the composition of several varieties.

Fig. 51.—Composition of bread.

Like the cereals, it has considerable protein, and some fat, but is highest in starch. The white bread, unless made with milk, has very little ash. A slice almost one inch thick weighing 1.38 ounces, from a baker’s five-cent loaf, will yield 100 Calories.

The cost of bread.—The table in Chapter XVII states the amount of protein and energy obtained for ten cents from bread as compared with other common foods, and makes the fact clear that bread is essentially one of the cheapest foods, remaining relatively so whatever the general fluctuations in food prices may be.

A pound loaf of bread at the bakery should cost five cents, the cost being slightly less when the bread is made at home, even taking the fuel into account. It is an open question, however, whether bread should be made at home or bought at the bakery, all the circumstances being weighed in the balance by the individual. (See Chapter XVII.) In America, we need to learn to dictate and control the methods in the191 public bakeries because bakers’ bread is being used more and more, although it is said that 50 per cent is still made at home. If bread is to be bought, it is necessary for the housekeeper to understand the bread-making process and the standard of good bread that she may criticize intelligently, and force the public bakeries to furnish bread made under ideal conditions. Such bread is supplied in France, where the housekeepers in the city, though noted for their thrift, do not think of bread making at home as a practical or economical procedure. It must be understood that the baker’s oven is fitted to do better work than the small oven of the average kitchen, and if the public through laws and inspection will control the quality of the materials used and the cleanliness of the process, baker’s bread will be a useful “ready-cooked” food.

The ingredients of bread.—The essential ingredients are flour, water, and yeast. The liquid may be milk, or milk and water, the milk changing the flavor slightly and increasing the nutritive value, while the cream in the milk increases the tenderness of the crumb and crust. The non-essentials include salt to develop flavor, sugar sometimes added to hasten fermentation and also for flavor, and a fat to increase tenderness, as, for instance, butter or some cheaper fat. Spices and dried fruits are used in sweet breads, and when eggs are added sweet bread becomes a plain cake having a delicious and characteristic flavor.

The characteristics of good flour.—The average composition of flour is as follows:

192

The protein occurs in the form of gluten, which has the property of stretching and expanding, and which makes the framework of the loaf of bread, since it retains the air and carbon dioxide, and hardens when baked. The protein of oats and corn lacks this property, and therefore oatmeal and corn meal give a very different type of bread. Rye flour contains gluten, and the rye loaf therefore resembles the wheat loaf. Wheat and flour differ largely on account of the difference in the amount of gluten, and the gluten itself varies in quality with the variety of wheat.

Fig. 52.—Experiment illustrating the effect of the kind of wheat upon the size of the loaf. Courtesy of Utah Agricultural College.

Figure 52 shows the result of an experiment with flour made from different kinds of wheat, all the other factors in the bread making being identical. This effect of the difference in the composition of the flour is very striking. Again, the same variety of wheat will differ from season to season,193 and the time of planting, also, affects the quality of the grain. The time of planting and reaping gives us two classes of wheat and flour, the winter and spring. Winter wheat is sown in the fall and obtains its first growth before winter, living through the winter in those latitudes where the climate is sufficiently mild, being harvested in early summer. Spring wheat is sown in the spring and harvested late and it is the wheat of the great flour-producing state, Minnesota. The difference in the composition of the two wheats is shown in this table.[13]

Note that the spring wheat contains more protein and therefore more gluten. The flour from spring wheat is creamy in color, granular to the touch, has more gluten, and is known as a strong flour. Flour from winter wheat is somewhat whiter in color and smoother to the touch, feeling more like cornstarch, and if a portion is squeezed in the hand, it retains the imprint of the fingers. It has less gluten, more starch, and is known as a soft flour. This type of flour is sometimes called “pastry flour,” the smaller percentage of gluten making it more desirable for pastry or cake than the stronger flour.

Flour manufacturers and bakers are constantly experimenting to find the best possible varieties and combinations of varieties for bread flour. Some difference of opinion exists,194 but a combination of winter and spring wheat in flour is considered the best for bread by some authorities.

We must learn to like a creamy color in bread, for this means the presence of more gluten. To summarize: a good bread flour contains a large percentage of gluten, is creamy in color, and granular to the touch.

Manufacture of flour.—Modern machinery has taken the place of the old-time stones in the grinding of flour, although the two main divisions of the process remain the same, these being the crushing of the grain and the sifting out of the coarse portion. Milling now includes many stages in the process not possible with the cruder machinery of former times, and the present effects a greater number of separations and permits the miller to make a greater variety of products.

Fig. 53.—A dissected grain of wheat. Courtesy of Washburn Crosby Co.

Figure 53 shows a dissected kernel of wheat, with its five layers of bran. Within these at B is a shell of glutinous matter, yellowish and of flinty hardness, and within this, but not sharply divided from it, lie the starch granules in a network of woody fiber, the germ lying at A. The milling process must remove the bran coats and the germ, and crush and roll the remaining portions to the necessary fineness. The germ if allowed to remain affects the color and keeping properties. The breaking and rolling are accomplished by steel machinery, and the final sifting is done through silk bolting cloth. By195 the new machinery about 70 per cent of the wheat is saved for food, 30 per cent being bran, “shorts,” and other by-products used chiefly for cattle feeding.

Figure 54 shows the vertical section of a mill, simplified in the drawing that all the steps of the process may be clear. The diagram does not, of course, show the actual arrangement of the mill.[14]

Fig. 54.—Simplified diagram of a flour mill. Courtesy of the Washburn Crosby Co.

The typical parts in a modern flour mill are as follows: (1) Scales, for weighing wheat as it is received. (2) Receiving separator, for separating other kinds of seeds from wheat. (3) Storage bins, for reserve supply of wheat in advance of mill requirements. (4) Mill separator, for further separating foreign seeds from wheat. (5) Scourer, for removing dust from wheat kernels. (6) Cockle cylinder, for removing all round seeds. (7) Wheat washer, for thoroughly cleansing the wheat. (8) Wheat dryer, for drying wheat after washing. (9) 1st break rolls, for rupturing bran, enabling bran and germ to be separated from interior. (10) 1st break scalper, for sifting middlings through bolting cloth to separate from bran. (11) 2d break rolls, for further loosening the middlings from bran. (12) 2d break scalper, for separating more middlings from bran. (13) 3d break rolls, for further loosening middlings from bran. (14) 3d break scalper, for final separation of middlings from bran. (15) Bran duster, for dusting low grade flour from bran. (16) Bran bin, for packing bran for shipment. (17) Grading reel, for separating middlings by sifting through various sizes of bolting cloth. (18) Dust collector and purifier, for cleaning and purifying middlings by air and sifting. (19) Smooth rolls, for grinding purified middlings very fine to flour. (20) Flour bolter, for sifting flour from purified middlings. (21) 2d reduction197 rolls, for further grinding of purified middlings. (22) Flour bolter, for separating flour from purified middlings of second grading. (23) Flour bin and packer, for packing flour for shipment. (24) Elevator, for raising products to the various machines.

Other forms of flour.—There has been much discussion of entire wheat flour versus white flour, and the practical conclusions are as follows: the bread from whole wheat flour compares favorably with that from white flour (see Fig. 51), but this material is slightly less available for digestion than the material of the white flour. The mineral content is higher, and when the income is so limited that this cannot be furnished in milk, green vegetables, and fruit, whole wheat bread should be used. It makes a pleasing variety, too, for any table.

Graham flour is a coarse flour, containing the outer bran. It is useful for its effect upon the intestines in case of constipation, but has to be avoided by some people on account of its irritating effect. White flour may have coarser material mixed with it, for variety in bread making, such as rye or Indian meal, or graham flour.

Yeast in bread.—Yeast is put into bread dough in order to produce carbon dioxide gas to lighten the whole mass. It is studied in the chapter on preservation of fruit, but in bread making we need to foster its growth instead of destroying it as, you will recall, we found necessary in preserving. You can easily reason out for yourself just how this should be done, especially after performing the experiments with yeast.

If yeast is in good condition, it has little effect on the flavor of bread, even if used in a rather large quantity to hasten the process.

The best forms of yeast now in use are the compressed and dried cakes, the former needing to be fresh, the latter198 keeping the vitality of the yeast cells for a long time. Liquid yeast may be made at home, but it is somewhat uncertain unless made with great exactness, and less easy to manage on the whole than the other forms.

Proportions of the ingredients.—One part of water to three of flour, or one cup to three of flour for a loaf, is an average proportion. The practiced bread maker will vary this slightly to suit the variations in the flour from time to time, but it is a safe rule for the beginner to follow. Spring wheat flour requires somewhat more water than the winter wheat, or the blend of the two. Salt should be used sparingly, for although it improves the flavor of the loaf, salt is a preservative which retards or prevents the growth of lower organisms, and in the case of bread it acts therefore as a check to fermentation. One teaspoonful to a loaf is the largest amount that it is best to use.

The quantity of yeast depends upon several conditions. The larger the amount of yeast used, the shorter is the time of rising, and as many as two compressed yeast cakes may be used to one loaf if it is necessary to hasten the process, without any perceptible effect on the color, texture or flavor. If a very large amount of yeast is used, the bread is “crumbly,” and a difference in flavor will be noticed. A smaller amount may be used if time is allowed for the rising, even ¹⁄₈ cake of compressed yeast to a loaf, if the bread is to rise over night in warm weather. It must be remembered that, if the rising process is too prolonged, other organisms have a chance to work, and the bread may sour.

A small amount of sugar hastens fermentation, and from one to two teaspoonfuls to a loaf may be used. Many people prefer the flavor of bread with no sugar, however. Some bakers use malt extract both as a yeast food to hasten fermentation and for its effect upon the flavor.

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Fat, or shortening, should be sparingly used, not more than one or two teaspoonfuls being allowed to a loaf. If you study a number of bread recipes, you will see that this ingredient varies more than the others. As a matter of fact, if the flour is of good quality and the bread well made, this ingredient is not necessary (in loaf bread at least), although it seems to improve the quality of biscuit and rolls.

Methods of mixing and the rising of bread.—Dissolve the yeast in a portion of the liquid, stir this mixture into the remaining liquid, add half the flour, and beat the mixture thoroughly at this stage. Add the sugar if any is to be used. When this soft mixture, called the “sponge,” becomes full of bubbles, add the salt, the shortening if used, and the remaining flour. Knead the dough by the hand, or by the machine, for about ten minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic. Put it into a greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to remain until it doubles its bulk. Some bread makers knead in all the flour at the first, and obtain a good result. The first rising is more rapid, however, and experience seems to prove that the results are better on the whole with the sponge. Cut the dough down, knead again, using as little flour as possible. Shape into loaves, place the loaves in greased pans, cover, and leave again until the loaves double their bulk, when they are ready for baking. If left too long, the bubbles of gas become too large.

Temperature and time are important, in this matter of mixing and rising. The process may be shortened to five or six hours, including the baking, or lengthened to twenty-four by the choice of the amount of yeast and the temperature. The shorter process is the better, on the whole. After reading over the sections of the chapter on preservation of fruit, performing the yeast experiments, and discussing the results, you will be able to answer these questions:

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A few suggestions.—The kneading stretches the gluten and long kneading gives a fine grain. In such a recipe as that for the making of Parker House rolls, a very delicate quality results from a protracted process; one old-fashioned housekeeper recommends a half hour’s kneading three times. Fortunately a sufficiently good bread or roll may be made by ten or fifteen minutes’ kneading at a time.

Bread dough may be cut or stirred with a large knife in place of the kneading, and this is a good method to teach to those who live in crowded space and find it difficult to have a perfectly clean kitchen and proper utensils. With this method the dough must be softer, and it remains in the bowl until it is turned into the baking pan. The resulting loaf is somewhat moist, and not fine-grained, but the flavor is good.

Brushing the surface of the dough in the bowl or pan with water or milk will prevent the formation of a dry crust on the top.

Baking the bread.—The temperature of the oven should be steady, and about 380° F. An authority recommends 180° C. (355° F.) when the loaf is put in, rising to 220° C. (425° F.).[15] The amount of flour for one loaf has been given. A loaf this size should be baked in a pan 8¹⁄₂ to 9 inches × 3¹⁄₂ to 4 × 3 to 3¹⁄₂. The material of the pan is not of great consequence. Tin gives good results, a longer time being202 required for baking in a granite pan. A loaf should bake about one hour. (See Fig. 55.)

Fig. 55.—A few loaves of bread. Courtesy of the Dept. of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College.

Rolls and biscuit may be shaped in many ways. (See Fig. 56.) How will the baking differ from that of the loaf?

Fig. 56.—Rolls of different shapes. Courtesy of the Dept. of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College.

Care of bread after baking.—Remove from the pans, cool on a rack, place in tin box or stone jar, and cover with paraffin paper.

Uses of stale bread.—Bread that has become too dry may be freshened by moistening the surface and heating in the oven. Bread may be used for toast, croutons for soup, escalloped dishes, puddings, crumbs for coating other food materials, and may be made into cups for holding other materials.

EXPERIMENTS AND RECIPES

EXERCISES

1. What is a standard for good bread?

2. Describe a perfect loaf.

3. How do climate and method of raising affect the composition of wheat and flour?

4. What are the essentials of good bread flour?

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5. Why is it so necessary to control temperature in bread making?

6. What is the best temperature and why?

7. Explain the part played by gluten in bread making.

8. State the underlying principles of bread making.

9. Explain the advantage of a bread machine over the hand in kneading.

10. What is the best temperature for baking a loaf? For baking biscuit?

11. What are the principles and practical points in toast-making? (See Chapter IV.)

12. What is the argument in connection with homemade bread versus baker’s bread?

13. How can the public insure good quality baker’s bread?

14. What is the nutritive value and digestibility of bread?

15. How much bread in the 100-Calorie portion?

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CHAPTER XIII

The meats that we commonly use are derived from the flesh of domestic and wild animals of herbivorous habits and from fowls. The flesh of carnivorous animals is seldom used as food. The various kinds are obtained as follows:

Under the head of poultry we include the common fowl, turkeys, ducks and geese, the guinea hen, and game birds.

Fig. 57.—Fiber cells of plain muscular tissue. Kimber’s Anatomy for Nurses.

Quality of good meat.—The quality of meat is dependent on the condition of the animal from which it is derived. The creature should be in perfect health and well fed. Good beef is largely obtained from the cattle ranges of the West, but there is no reason why cattle should not be raised to greater extent in the East. Sheep for mutton are best raised where the climate is not too severe. Methods of slaughter, transportation, and preservation210 all affect the quality of beef. The pure food laws and Federal meat inspection law are valuable to the consumer in their control of the quality of the meat, that it shall be free from disease and from adulterations. See Chapter XVII for the discussion of preservatives and pure food laws.

Fig. 58.—Cuts of Beef.

Key:
A.	Ribs
B.	Hip bone
C.	Loin
D.	Porterhouse
E.	Prime ribs
F.	Shoulder
G.	Neck
H.	Head
I.	Brisket
J.	Shin
L.	Navel
M.	Plate
N.	Flank
O.	Leg
P.	Horseshoe
Q.	Round
R.	Oxtail
S.	Rump
Z.	Sirloin

Courtesy of Bureau of Publications, Teachers College.

In meat as it is purchased we have bone, fat, and the flesh, consisting of the muscle of the animal with its connective tissue. The color of the meat should be clear and fairly bright, not purplish or dull. There should be little or no odor, and the meat should be firm and elastic to the touch.

Beef should be a bright red and well streaked with fat.

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Veal should be pink and is somewhat less firm than beef. If watery and flabby, it is too young.

Mutton is a duller red, and firm. The fat is white or slightly yellow and hard.

Lamb is pink, rather than red, and slightly less firm.

Pork is rather pale, somewhat less firm than beef and mutton, and the fat is softer.

Fig. 59.—The hind quarter of beef hanging.

Cuts:
A, Leg; B, Round; C, Rump; D, Top Sirloin; E, Loin; F, Flank.

Bones:
g, leg bone; h, socket bone; j, rump bone; k, hip bone; e, back bone; m, part of rump bone; n, wing rib.

Courtesy of Bureau of Publications, Teachers College

Tough and tender meat.—To understand the difference between the tough and tender cuts we must be familiar with the structure of the muscle (see Fig. 57). Each muscle consists of bundles of tubes held together by connective tissue. In tough meat, the muscle tubes are thicker and there is more connective tissue present. Exercise strengthens the muscle, and this accounts for the fact that the unexercised muscles of the young animal give us a softer meat. In the mature animal the muscles most exercised furnish the tough meat, and the less used muscles the tender. If you study Fig. 58, you can easily determine where the tough meat will occur, if you think of the proportionate amount of exercise that the different muscles receive. The tough cuts come from the neck and legs, the tender cuts from the middle213 of the back, the toughness increasing as the cuts approach the neck and the hind legs. The muscles of the abdomen are also tender, but they give a coarse-grained meat. The various cuts of meat are shown as they occur in the standing animal in Fig. 58, and in the hind and fore quarters hanging, in Figs. 59 and 60. The individual cuts of beef and mutton are shown in the figures that follow. The tender cuts from the ribs and loin are the most highly prized, and therefore bring the highest price. These cuts are liked because of their tenderness although the nutritive value of the tough meat is as high or possibly even higher than that of the tender. All meat is now high-priced, and you will find the reasons for this discussed in Chapter XVII. For the sake of economy we are forced to use the relatively cheaper cuts, and to seek for meat substitutes. We must also take pains to use the cooking processes that will make the tough meats palatable.

Fig. 60.—The fore quarter of beef, hanging.

	KEY	USES
1.	1st and 2d ribs Prime	Roasts
2.	3d and 4th ribs Prime	”
3.	5th and 6th ribs	”
4.	7th rib	”
5.	8th rib	”
6.	9th rib	”
7.	Chuck steaks, or roasts, 10th to 13th ribs	”
8.	Chuck pot roast	”
9.	Neck	Beef tea, etc.
10.	Yoke	”
11.	Navel	Stew and corning
12.	Plate	”
13.	Brisket	Corning
14.	Cross Rib	Pot Roast
15.	Shoulder	”
16.	Shin	Soup

Courtesy of the Bureau of Publications, Teachers College.

Composition and nutritive value.—Figure 64 shows you the composition of several common meats. Meat is valuable chiefly for its protein, fat, and mineral salts. The juices of the meat in the muscle cells contain nitrogenous extractive materials which give flavor, and are possibly stimulating, but they have no food value. From the bone and also from the connective tissue, gelatin is dissolved in cooking. Gelatin is a protein, but differs in certain chemical properties from other proteins, and cannot be used as the only source of nitrogen. It is a very useful protein, however, and as it can be substituted in part for more expensive proteins, it used to be called a “protein saver.”

In spite of the fact that meat is a common article of diet it should not be used in excess. Other forms of protein, as those in eggs and milk, are usually digested as easily, and most people can digest vegetable proteins if the vegetables are carefully prepared. Very little children should not have216 meat, for it has stimulating properties which are undesirable for them, and it takes away the taste for foods more important for growth (see Food for Growth, Chapter XVIII). When used largely in the diet, meat tends to cause intestinal putrefaction and to form excess of acid in the body. It is less likely to be harmful if taken with plenty of fruits and green vegetables and liberal drinking of clear water.

Fig. 61a.—Left: Chuck rib roast, 9th and 10th ribs. Right: Blade rib, 7th and 8th ribs.

Fig. 61b.—Left: 1st cut prime rib roast. Right: 2d cut prime rib roast. Courtesy of Bureau of Publications, Teachers College.

Fig. 62a.—Porterhouse steak; Delmonico steak. Courtesy of Bureau of Publications, Teachers College.

Fig. 62b.—Flatbone sirloin steak; Hip steak.

It should be realized that in none of the European countries is meat used so liberally as in the United States, and that there are reasons to believe that we might be better off if we could satisfy ourselves with a meat consumption nearer the average of other civilized peoples—say half as much meat per person per year as we are now accustomed to use. The fuel value of meat depends largely upon the amount of fat which is eaten. If a pound of steak contains 2 ounces of fat and 14 ounces of clear lean, the rejection of the fat means a loss of fully one half of the fuel value. The following table shows the difference between raw meat of the same cut, free from bones and connective tissue, due to differences in amounts of fat. Most people would prefer the strictly lean meat.

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Fig. 63a.—1: Rib lamb chops, French. 2: Rib lamb chops. 3: Loin lamb chops. 4: Left: Blade shoulder chop. Right: Round bone shoulder chop. 5: Chuck steak. 6: Skirt steak. 7: Flank steak.

Fig. 63b.—Left.—Top and bottom round. Right.—Round bone sirloin steak. Courtesy of Bureau of Publications, Teachers College.

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For very complete and conveniently arranged tables giving the percentage composition, the food values per pound and per ounce, the weight and nutrients of the 100-Calorie portions of all the important meats and other food materials as well, see Rose’s “Laboratory Handbook for Dietetics.”

Dangers from meat.—Three dangers from meat must be recognized; (1) animal parasites, such as the trichina sometimes found in pork, (2) poisons developed in the meat by bacteria when it is kept too long or without sufficient refrigeration, this danger being recognized as ptomaine poisoning, (3) bacteria, sometimes present in meat, which are directly injurious to man and which are now held to be the cause of most of the sickness commonly attributed to ptomaine poisoning. Government protection must be given us here, but the housekeeper too has a responsibility. If the raw meat has failed to receive proper inspection, we can protect ourselves by cooking the meat to a degree that will kill any parasite present. For this reason meat should not be served that looks raw or too underdone. The cooked meat should be pink rather than red.

Meat poisoning may be avoided in the first place by exercising great care in regard to the odor of meat. Meat may hang to “ripen,” as the butchers say, but one must learn to distinguish between the odor of properly ripened meat, and that of even slightly tainted meat. Quite as important is the rapid cooling of meat, poultry, fish, and soups that are not to be used at once. Cases of digestive disturbance and even actual poisoning sometimes occur when underdone meat, especially lamb, veal, or poultry, remains warm overnight.

Fig. 64.—Composition of meats.

The effect of heat upon meat.—The fat of meat is melted by heat. The meat fiber shrinks and hardens220 with intense heat; on the other hand it softens at a temperature somewhat below the boiling point of water. The structure of the muscle must be studied further in order to make the principles of cooking perfectly clear. If you think of the structure of the muscle cell as somewhat resembling the structure of an orange, you can picture quite clearly what happens under different conditions. Open a section of orange and separate some of the single cells. These may represent the muscle cells of meat that can be seen only under the microscope. If you cut across one of these tiny cells, the contents will escape, and this is what happens when the muscle cells are cut across. Then, too, if the muscle is heated, the juices will pass through the membrane of the cell, and this happens, too, if the meat is put into cold water. The substances in the juices of the meat which are not coagulated by heat are called the extractives, because they can be extracted by hot water. The most valuable protein matter remains behind in the muscle cell, however. Among these proteins are those known as meat albumin, and this behaves in cooking very much as does the white of egg,—that is to say, it coagulates.

Bearing these facts in mind, we can decide just what to do in order to bring about the result that we desire in meat cookery, for sometimes we wish to extract the juices and sometimes we wish to have all, or nearly all, retained in the meat. We are now ready to state the principles of meat cookery as follows:

In broiling, pan broiling, roasting, and boiling the high temperature coagulates the meat albumin and hardens the fiber on the surface, thus forming a coating which prevents the further escape of juices. In the roasting and boiling of221 large pieces the temperature may then be lowered to prevent the further shrinking and hardening of the fiber in the interior of the meat, which comes from a protracted high temperature. With a very thick steak after the surface searing the cooking may be completed in the oven.

In beef juice or beef tea, this may be done by placing the chopped beef in a jar and placing the jar in an oven, or in hot water; or for beef tea and ordinary soup by putting the chopped meat, or small pieces of meat, in cold water and heating the water slowly.

This is desirable in stews, in braised beef, and in pot roast. State for yourself just how this would be accomplished.

Flavors suitable with meat.

Herbs. All the pot herbs including savory, marjoram, thyme, sage, pot marigold.

Vegetables. Onion, carrot, turnip, celery, celery root, parsley root and leaf.

Spices. Clove, allspice, mustard, red, black, and white pepper. Some nationalities use nutmeg.

Acids. Lemon, tomato, and other acid fruits.

EXPERIMENTS AND RECIPES

In selecting poultry see that the flesh is firm, that there is a good amount of fat underneath the skin, and that the skin is whole and a good yellow. Notice the odor of the fowl particularly. The skin of cold-storage poultry has not such a good color and is sometimes broken. Often the flesh is shrunken, and if the cold storage has been too long continued the odor is unpleasant. Refrigeration is allowable for a period. Another way to judge cold-storage poultry is by227 the price. Well-fed poultry freshly killed brings a high market price and a bargain quite often proves to be poultry too long in cold storage. Good quality poultry is at present a high-priced food.

To prepare poultry for cooking, the “dressing” of the chicken is often done now at the market. If it is necessary to do this at home, make an incision with a sharp knife just inside of one of the legs, in the groin. Insert the hand and remove all the entrails. The skin must be loosened at the neck and the crop removed. In any case, wash the chicken thoroughly inside and out, even holding the cavity under running water. If there is hair remaining on the chicken, singe this off over burning paper or over a gas flame.

The composition is essentially the same as that of meat. The white of chicken, fowls, and turkeys is thought to be more digestible than the dark meat.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

Preserved meats and poultry.—Smoked and salted meats are valuable foods, although the nutritive content is somewhat less available for digestion. The salted and smoked meats need long and slow cooking below the boiling temperature of water.

Canned meats and poultry of good quality are now in the market, and they are convenient and useful when not used to excess. Buy well-known brands. The government inspection of canned meats is of great importance, for the individual cannot protect himself. Canned soups are convenient for those who cook by gas and who live in small quarters. Buy good brands even if they are somewhat more expensive. The best firms manufacturing canned229 soup are scrupulously clean in their methods and pride themselves on using good material.

Other parts of meat and poultry.—Some of the internal organs of the animals and fowl are used for food. Most of them are comparatively cheap, and may be made palatable.

EXERCISES

1. From what animals are meats derived?

2. What are the chief values of meat?

3. Why should its use be limited?

4. What actual dangers may arise from its use?

5. What precautions must be exercised by the government, inspector and the housekeeper?

6. We are told that chicken pie should have the crust pricked or lifted when it comes from the oven. Is this reasonable?

7. How may you judge good meats in the market?

8. Why is the neck of beef tough? For what would you use it?

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9. Why is porterhouse steak tender? Why is it not used in a stew? (It would make a delicious stew.)

10. What cuts would you select for stewing and braising?

11. Make a list of the cuts of beef and mutton and lamb, pork, etc., in your notebook, with the best methods of cookery for each.

12. Add to this list the current prices of each in your locality.

13. What is the size and cost of a 100-Calorie portion of beef round?

14. With this in mind, calculate how much round steak you would buy for dinner for five people. How much porterhouse?

15. Explain the structure of the muscle.

16. What takes place when meat is seared? When is this process used?

17. Explain the principle of soup making. Devise an experiment to show the effect of salt upon the pieces of meat. What is the nutritive value of soup meat?

18. Explain the principle of stewing meats.

19. What is the difference between broiling and pan broiling?

20. What are some of the best ways of utilizing left over meat and poultry?

21. Which is more economical, croquettes or an escalloped dish? Explain fully.

22. How may you distinguish poultry in good condition from that too long in cold storage?

23. Why is good poultry not a cheap food?

24. Discuss making soup versus buying canned soup.

25. What are the advantages of canned meat? The possible disadvantages?

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CHAPTER XIV

Fish and shellfish are valuable assets as food, so much so that the government has a Bureau of Fisheries, and has established stations at intervals on the coast and on inland lakes for the study and production of those foods that come from salt and fresh water. We have used these products of the waters as if the supply were limitless, forgetting that fish and shellfish are living creatures with habits that we cannot ignore without working havoc to the species. Young salmon and shad are hatched in the upper reaches of the rivers, and if we insist on trapping the mature fish at the river mouth on their northern migrations, the number of young decreases, and salmon and shad become high-priced foods. To ignore fishery and game laws is an ignorant and dishonest proceeding, with far-reaching economic results.

Varieties of fish.—In Bulletin No. 28 of the Office of Experiment Stations, United States Department of Agriculture, forty-four different fish are listed, all used as food. A visit to the fish stall in the market of a seaboard city will acquaint you with many interesting species. Fresh and salt water fish differ in flavor, and there is a difference to be detected between fish from running, or from lake water, brook trout, for instance, having a superior flavor. The food supply also influences the flavor, and both fresh and salt water fish have a better flavor when taken from sandy and rocky bottoms rather than muddy. The habit of the fish also has233 an effect on the quality and taste. The chequit, for instance, is so sluggish and easy to catch that it is sometimes called “lazy” or “weakfish,” and it is watery and poor flavored compared with the shad, a fish of more vigorous habits. The amount of fat also causes a difference in flavor, such high flavored fish as salmon and shad containing much fat. The distinctive flavors of mackerel and herring are apparently not due to fat, since their fat content is not particularly high. Among the most common and best liked fish are bass, blackfish, bluefish, cod, flounder, haddock, halibut, herring, mackerel, porgy (sometimes called scup or scuppaug), salmon, shad, smelt, weakfish, whitefish. Brook trout and salmon trout are luxuries.

Fig. 65.—Composition of fish.

Composition and nutritive value.—Figure 65 shows the composition of several kinds. Compare their composition with that of meat. The nutritive content is high, yet fish seems a lighter and less satisfying food than meat, although on the seaboard of some countries it is the chief animal food. The digestibility of fish and meat are about equal, but some varieties of fish are less digestible than others, this being true of the oily and strong-flavored fish,—herring, mackerel, salmon, and shad.

There are popular prejudices for and against fish that are not warranted. The idea that fish is a “brain food” because it contains phosphorus was exploded long since, for fish contains no more phosphorus than some other foods, and phosphorus is no more valuable to the brain than to the other tissues.

Fish, however, is valuable in the dietary for supplying protein and giving variety, and in season, it is one of the cheaper foods.

Quality of fish.—Fish deteriorates and decomposes much more rapidly than meat, and is at its best when cleaned and234 cooked just after being caught. Ice will preserve fish for a short time only. If ever on a camping trip you have eaten bluefish caught in the surf, or trout from the brook, cooked immediately, you know what flavor a fish may have. Fish should be killed immediately, and put on ice if they are not to be cooked at once. If there is no ice, clean the fish, sprinkle the flesh with pepper and salt, wrap in a wet cloth, and set in a breeze or draught.

When fish are transported over long distances they should be packed in ice in refrigerator cars, and you will notice that the fishman in the shop keeps the fish on ice until he sells them.

In selecting fish, see that the flesh feels firm and that the eyes are still bright. If you have a keen sense of smell, this will also guide you, although to the novice the odor of fish may be disagreeable even if untainted.

Fish in season and caught plentifully near by, are of good quality and should be cheap. Shad and salmon have their season in the spring, bluefish come north in the summer, sometimes as late as August, porgies are a summer and autumn fish, and smelt are abundant in the winter. Deep-sea fish like cod and halibut have a long season, and may be bought at any time.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

Laboratory management.—For individual work or work in groups of two, small fish, as perch, may be procured and these may be stuffed and baked in the period.

The shellfish are of two classes; the mollusks including clams, mussels (seldom used in this country), oysters, and scallops, and the crustaceans,—lobsters and crabs. None of the mollusks have high nutritive value, but they are a protein food, and add to the variety of the diet. The composition of the oyster is shown in Fig. 65, and it will be noted that the fat percentage is small and the calorie value low.

The oyster is raised in beds in the ocean, or bays often near the river mouth, and it is the neighborhood to the river that makes it possible for the oyster to carry germs of contagion, particularly of typhoid fever, when city sewage poured into the river passes over the oyster bed. Here, too, government protection is essential, and this is a matter that has created so much excitement that conditions are already improved. There is an association of oyster growers who make a point of advertising clean oyster beds, and cleanly methods of handling and transporting.

Oysters vary in size and flavor, the flavor seeming to depend upon the locality. The smaller are sought for serving raw, and the medium and larger for cooking. They are sold by the measure or number when taken from the shell, the latter giving the surer quantity; and the price is usually one cent apiece. They are in season from September to May. The whole flesh of the oyster is soft and edible, even the muscle by which it opens and shuts its shell being tender.

Clams are of two kinds, distinguished differently in different places. They are known as hard and soft, or round and239 long, and in Rhode Island the hard round clam still bears the Indian name Quahaug, the soft shell clam being the only “clam.”

The long clam lies buried in the soft mud of creeks and muddy shores left exposed at low tide, when they are dug by hoes from the mud. The round clam lies on the bottom of shallow warm waters, and is raked with an implement made for the purpose. The round clam is used when very young and small in place of raw oysters; but both kinds when matured have a tough portion that is not softened in cooking, and that is more or less indigestible. The long “neck” which protrudes from the shell has to be discarded.

Both kinds may be roasted in the shell, and are very palatable served hot with melted butter, salt, and pepper. They are most commonly used in soups and in chowder. They are purchased by the quantity or number, are cheaper than oysters, and are always in season.

Scallops, as purchased, are only a part of the animal in the shell, consisting solely of the round white muscle which operates the shell. The escallop, or scallop, is migratory, moving by a shooting motion, the mature scallops reaching the creeks and shores in the autumn, and though found in so-called beds they are not fixtures like the oysters. The flavor is sweet, and they have a quality that makes them more or less indigestible, especially when fried. They are very palatable and more digestible served in a stew made like an oyster stew. They are sold by the measure and are cheap in season.

The lobster is now a luxury, for methods of catching in the past have made them scarce in their old haunts. The lobster is a much more highly developed animal than the mollusk, having strong muscles inside its coat of mail, and the flesh has a protein content that compares very favorably with240 meat. When fresh, and not served with rich sauces or eaten at irregular hours, it is not especially indigestible, and may be the main dish at luncheon or supper, served simply with salt, pepper, and melted butter and not taken with meat foods. Its own delicious flavor needs no addition in the way of sauces and high seasoning.

The crab is essentially like the lobster, being smaller, and having a sweeter flavor. The soft shell crab is caught just as the old shell is shed, and is highly esteemed as a delicacy. Both lobsters and crabs are cooked in the shell, and if allowed to die naturally before cooking they are uneatable. They may be purchased alive or cooked, and one is surer of their condition when they are bought alive. Twenty-five cents a pound is now an average price for lobsters in shell. Crabs are somewhat less expensive at times, but soft shells are always high-priced.

The following table shows the food value of a few of this group in terms of the weight of the 100-Calorie portion.

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Preserved fish and shellfish.—Smoking and salting are two old-time methods that are still in use, and smoked salmon, herring, and finnan haddie furnish us well-flavored foods at a reasonable price. Small smoked herring are eaten uncooked, and the other two kinds are excellent broiled, or parboiled and finished in the oven. Salt cod should not be despised, for it is convenient and may be made palatable. Like the meats, the fish preserved by these methods are slightly less available for digestion.

Preserving in oil is made familiar to us by the sardine of Italy in olive oil and the small herring of America in cottonseed oil, which also bears the name of sardine. The latter is less delicate in flavor than the European sardine, but is of course cheaper, and is palatable and of equal food value.

Canned fish and shellfish are used in localities where fresh fish are not easily available, and should not be unwholesome if the process is properly inspected. Canned salmon is the most common, and makes an excellent luncheon dish when well prepared (see chapter on salads).

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Principles of cooking.—The protein in all of these is the chief consideration. The oyster is more delicate when cooked just below the boiling point of water for a brief period only. This is also true of the clam, except the tough membranes which must be chopped. The flesh of both lobster and clam is toughened by cooking, and the process should be short.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

Among these, beans, peas, lentils, eggs, milk, and cheese have already been mentioned. Fish is classed also as a meat substitute.

Nuts.—These are a valuable meat substitute, some of them having a good protein content, and a high fat content as well. (See Fig. 66.) They maybe served raw for dessert, with some fruit either fresh or dried, raisins and nuts being a pleasing combination. They should be thoroughly masticated. They are also palatable and possibly more digestible when cooked. The reason that many people consider nuts indigestible is because they eat them between meals, and do not give them a proper place in a meal, eating them when245 enough food of other kinds has been taken. One who is open-minded in the matter of menus will find that nuts, raw or cooked, can literally take the place of meat in a meal.

Fig. 66.—Composition of nuts.

EXERCISES

1. What is the chief food value of fish?

2. Compare the composition of fish and meat.

3. What are the causes influencing the flavor and quality of fish?

4. What precautions may be taken to prevent the spoiling of fish?

5. How may the oyster beds be safeguarded?

6. In what way does the cookery of fish and shellfish resemble that of meat?

7. In what important way does the cookery of fish differ from that of meat?

8. Why is fish cheapest in season?

9. Estimate the cost of 100-Calorie portion of one or two given varieties.

10. What precaution is necessary in opening a lobster?

11. What must a food contain to make a meat substitute?

12. What are the important meat substitutes?

13. In what way should nuts be used in the diet?

14. What are some of the practical ways of using nuts?

15. Price several kinds of nuts and several cuts of meat in the market, then look up the composition of each, remembering that the whole kernel of the nut is eaten, but often only the lean part of the meat. With this in mind calculate the food value actually obtained for a given expenditure in each case.

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CHAPTER XV

Salads and desserts are sometimes looked upon as luxuries, and something to be omitted where people must exercise strict economy, and as more or less indigestible forms of food to be avoided. As a matter of fact both of these types of dishes are extremely valuable in giving variety to the diet. They may be very inexpensive, and when they have the right relation to the rest of the meal, are not more indigestible than many other forms of food. A heavy salad or rich dessert eaten after a sufficient amount of other food will naturally cause digestive disturbance.

To disprove the theory of great cost of desserts, two friends once had an amusing contest to see which could serve the largest number of palatable desserts at the lowest price. It was interesting to see how many could be made for a cost of from six to ten cents for a family of five.

Materials used for salad.—The word “salad” is said to be derived from the Latin “salis” (salt) which implies that the salad has been looked upon more or less as a relish. We all associate with a salad appetizing crispness and freshness. The materials used in the modern salad are so varied that a complete list would include nearly all our fruits and vegetables and meat foods.

Salad dressings.—Plain lettuce or celery served with salt is in a sense a salad, but it is our custom to dress the lettuce with a mixture which contains an acid and usually an oil. A very simple, old-fashioned form of dressing used in this country is vinegar and sugar. Substitute lemon juice or fresh lime juice for the vinegar and you will have a very refreshing and simple salad for a summer day.

The ordinary dressing consists of vinegar or lemon juice, and oil; another form is mayonnaise, where the yolk and sometimes the white of egg are used to hold the oil and vinegar together.

Another form is a cooked dressing which may be bottled and kept for a longer time than the French dressing or the mayonnaise.

Fig. 67.—A cucumber salad. Courtesy of Dept. of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

Fig. 68.—A salad with salmon molded in gelatin. Courtesy of Dept. of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College.

The dessert in this country includes the sweet dish, or the fruit at the end of the meal. In simple meals the dessert is usually one of the two, although in more elaborate meals fruit is served after the sweet dish, and sometimes crackers and cheese are served at the last. From the point of view of nutrition and digestibility this is more than is necessary, and you will notice that when both are served, the fruit is often declined. Like the salad, the dessert may be made from a large variety of materials and bears different names. There are hot puddings and cold puddings, pies and tarts, jellies and ices and ice creams. It is very interesting to read over the many dishes of this class in a cookbook and to attempt to classify them. If you are fortunate enough to have access to a cookbook of the eighteenth century, you will find that much labor was given to the preparation of elaborate structures which served as table ornaments; even now you will find French cooks who spend much time in making elaborate displays of their skill. For everyday life the dessert should be attractive to the eye and yet simple.

Fig. 69.—A gelatin mold. Courtesy of Dept. of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College.

Making desserts attractive.—This is done by serving hot desserts in a dish around which a napkin may be folded; and cold desserts, especially those made with gelatin, may be molded in some attractive form and garnished. Figure 69 shows a very simple gelatin dessert garnished with candied cherries and a little angelica, the stem of a plant which has been sugared, and the whole surrounded with whipped cream.256 Whipping the cream and putting it around the base takes only a few minutes. As in salad, the garnish should be eatable and easily prepared.

Frozen mixtures.—There are some interesting principles to note here. The freezing is accomplished by using a mixture of chopped ice and rock salt. Can you explain how this reduces the temperature?

Another interesting point is this: Have you ever seen a milk bottle on a cold winter morning with the paper cover or even the metal cap pushed up, the frozen milk standing high above the top of the bottle? What does this suggest to you in connection with the filling of the ice cream freezer?

It must be noted, too, that a larger amount of flavoring material is needed in a frozen dessert than in one that is not. The frozen custard, for instance, needs more vanilla than one prepared in the ordinary manner. Can you account for this?

EXERCISES

1. Explain the value of salads and desserts in the dietary.

2. What are the important points in a good salad?

3. Give a number of agreeable combinations of material in a salad.

4. What are the substitutes for olive oil?

5. Why should mayonnaise dressing be kept cold in the mixing?

6. Make a classification of the different types of dessert.

7. What is gelatin, and why is it useful in desserts?

8. What are the underlying principles of custard making?

9. Why is it important that the can in a freezer should not be filled to the top?

10. Why does chopped ice and salt freeze the mixture?

11. Estimate the cost of the following dishes for five people: Potato salad with boiled dressing; a baked custard; a Brown Betty; French ice cream; raspberry or lemon ice.

12. Explain what is meant by garnishing.

265

CHAPTER XVI

The preparation of a number of dishes assembled for a meal requires a skill quite different from that necessary for the making of a single dish. A menu being decided upon, it needs an accurate sense of time, forethought, and promptness, to have a number of dishes ready at the same time, or in proper sequence if several courses are served. Such questions as the following must be answered:

Technique of preparation.

To understand the bearing of these questions you will need to select some menu and make a plan for preparing it. (See exercises at the end of this chapter.)

The fact is obvious that in preparing a meal you cannot finish the dishes one at a time, but that steps individual to each dish must be interwoven with each other, and the cook must have them all “on her mind,” and is often doing half a dozen things at once. As a high school girl, preparing a266 part of her first meal, remarked, “This is as good training as mathematics.”

The woman at home will devise many ways of easing and shortening the labor just before the meal is served, avoiding haste and anxiety in this way. With the fireless cooker and other slow-cooking apparatus, the heavy work may sometimes be done far ahead of mealtime. A dessert can be prepared and be cooking as breakfast dishes are washed, and at the time left overs are put away they can be arranged ready for serving, as in the case of poultry or meat to be served cold. While the preparation of the midday meal is in progress, something can sometimes be done for the last meal, too. This, indeed, is a field for generalship, and it is a successful campaign when the meals are all on time and well prepared, and the cook and family cheerful.

Important points in serving each dish.—Each dish should be perfectly done, neither over nor under cooked. All hot dishes should be hot, and cold dishes cold. Lukewarm food is not agreeable. Bread and cake and some kinds of pastry are the only foods that may have the temperature of the room. Sliced meat and salads should be cold. Chill chocolate éclairs before serving and see how much they are improved; indeed, experiment with a number of foods that are usually served at room temperature.

Table equipment and service.—This is a place where beauty is a large element, and most people understand the charm of a daintily laid table, as the family gathers for a meal. But many factors must be taken into account, for it is an easy matter to pass from the simple and beautiful to an extravagant display, to spend more on the dining-room equipment than the income warrants, and to waste much energy in unnecessary work. Our great need here is to learn to see beauty in simplicity. We must remember, too, that many people in our country live in crowded quarters, and have no time for anything but the simplest kind of table service.[16]

Fig. 70.—Good designs for table silver. Courtesy of Gorham Co.

Setting the table.—The first principles here are to have everything clean and shining, and to lay everything straight. Have as little on the table as possible. It is not comfortable to have a large array of articles at one’s place. Figure 71 shows you a dainty and well-laid table, arranged for a Sunday night supper, and this arrangement is a good one for any meal, with substitutes for the chafing dish.

Fig. 71.—A table set for Sunday night supper. Courtesy of Dept. of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College.

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Fig. 72.—A convalescent’s tray. Courtesy of the Dept. of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College.

Fig. 73.—A convalescent’s tray with rack for holding cover. Courtesy of the Dept. of Foods and Cookery, Teachers College.

Waiting on the table.—When we wait on ourselves, this should be done with cheerfulness, and all should take a share. After the food is on the table, one person can “help” one thing and one another. It is a good plan for the young people of the family to take turns as waiter in removing the soiled dishes and food and putting on the dessert. A quick method is to place a tray on a small stand near the table, taking the274 dishes from one place at a time, and sorting them on the tray as you go. The tray can then be carried into the kitchen, with the dishes partly arranged for washing.

One mother uses a plan for having everybody help at breakfast time, modeled after the tray system of a cafeteria. The breakfast is cooked ready to serve, and on the kitchen table is a small tray for each one of the family of four. All necessary articles are at hand, and even the boy of seven sets his own tray and helps himself to food, and takes his place at the table; and then when the meal is ended each one carries out his dishes and puts them in neat array for washing.

The waitress at a formal meal has to be alert, rapid yet gentle in all her motions, with a desire to make other people comfortable, and a faculty for remembering their likes and dislikes. A good waitress does not pass a second time a dish once declined.

The waitress must know the menu, and have everything ready for each course at hand on the sideboard, with dishes kept hot in the hot closet.

The table is laid in time, she herself is immaculate, and the room is well aired and the temperature agreeable. A piece of bread is folded in each napkin. If the first course is cold,—perhaps a grapefruit,—she arranges these at each place. If it is to be a hot bouillon, the cook tells her that all is ready, and then she informs the hostess that dinner or luncheon is served.

The details of this type of waiting vary with the place and the taste of the hostess, but the following method is simple and rapid.

EXERCISES

1. Plan the order of work for the following menus: (a) Cooked cereal and cream, stewed prunes, poached egg on toast, popovers, coffee. (b) Tomato bisque, lamb chops with peas and mashed potatoes, plain lettuce with French dressing, Brown Betty with foamy sauce, black coffee.

2. What are the important points in serving each dish? Give some simple garnishes.

3. Obtain price lists and estimate the cost of table furnishings.

4. What do you consider good taste in china and silver?

5. What are the important points in table setting?

6. Make a list of dishes to be used for the menus given above, or other menus.

7. What are the fundamentals in waiting on the table?

8. How may the home service be made comfortable?

9. Discuss different methods in formal service.

10. How may the guest be made most comfortable?

278

CHAPTER XVII

This is at all times an important matter, but the notable increase in food prices, during the last decade, has made it a matter of interest to all. The cost of food is one item only in the whole cost of living, and this is affected by many conditions in manufacture and commerce and the business of the nations. Economists and others interested in social questions are studying the problem, but as yet they do not agree upon the cause, or causes, of the increased cost of living. We cannot hope, therefore, to understand the situation fully; but we must be determined to spend money as wisely as we can, and to learn what we may about food prices in relation to food values. There are a few causes of the difference in price between one food and another that are more or less unchanging. The cost of food may be considered from several points of view. The question of the cost for each individual a day and relation of cost and nutritive value are studied in Chapter XVIII. The proportion of the income to be spent for food is taken up in Chapter XIX.

Labor and prices.—The amount of labor involved in producing a food material affects its price. Meats cost more than staple vegetable foods, like corn, wheat, or beans, because we must raise the corn first to feed the animals. Meat is as cheap as vegetable foods only when the animal can find its own food, as in the pioneer days of any country, when only a small part of the land is under cultivation. To the Pilgrim Fathers, meat was cheaper than corn, in terms of279 labor, with deer at hand in the forest and corn raised with difficulty in small clearings. Meat production is now an industry, and the product an expensive one, especially as the wide cattle ranges of our West, where the animals have formerly found natural food, are now used more and more for other purposes.

Transportation.—Carrying food from place to place increases its cost. In one sense this is another form of labor. Each person who handles the food material from producer to consumer adds something to what the consumer pays. We have heard much discussion of late of the “middleman,” and the effort to bring the producer and consumer closer together. This simply means doing away with some person who handles the product after it leaves the producer and before it reaches the consumer and who must have something for his labor. In transportation there is another element involved, the original cost of the means of conveyance; and the natural wear and tear on the product are items that increase the final cost. The modern farmer who carries his produce to market in an auto truck must have a return for the original cost of the truck and the keeping of it in repair. The long-distance railway furnishes cold-storage cars, and the cost of these and their maintenance affect freight rates. A peach from South Africa costs from fifty to sixty cents in the Boston market. It is probably true, in this case, that a fancy price is asked because African fruit is a novelty here; but the difficulty and expense of long-distance transportation naturally make it costly.

Demand and supply.—The relation of demand to supply affects the price of food in a way not difficult to understand. Where the supply is permanently small and the demand widespread, the price of the particular food material will be high, and vice versa. Olive oil is a good example of the permanently280 high-priced food. California olive oil brings a high price not only because it is pure and well flavored, but because many people want it, and the industry is a small one. Many years are needed to establish an olive grove, and olive raising is not a popular way of making money, because it is slow. One enterprising American firm has bought an olive grove in Spain, and is using new methods there, but the product, though delicious, is no cheaper. Although the manufacture of olive oil will doubtless remain a rather small industry, the use of olive oil is increasing, in this country, at least. It does not seem likely, therefore, to become a cheap form of fat.

We find nearly the opposite of this in cottonseed oil, a large supply and a relatively smaller demand making a low price. The seed (a by-product of the cotton industry) contains a large quantity of oil, and it is not all used as food. Therefore, it is permanently a low-priced fat, as contrasted with the permanently high-priced fat, olive oil.

Agricultural conditions.—There are two things of which the farmer can never feel sure, the kind of weather to expect and the general character of the season. Of course, the season affects the quality and the amount of any crop, and this, again, influences the price.

Another aspect of the effect of season on food is this: that a food is in its own locality cheaper when it is in season than at other times of year, when it has to be brought from a distance.

Insect pests and plant diseases not infrequently spoil a crop, and the market price goes up with the smaller supply. This is what happened not long since to the potato crop and potato prices, when potatoes were affected by the potato blight. Moreover, if the farmer succeeds in keeping his crop free from a particular pest, it means a more or less permanent increase in his expenses, for in fighting insects and281 fungi there is an outlay for machinery and chemicals, and much labor is expended. Unfortunately, injurious insects and plant diseases are on the increase, and this may mean a permanent rise in the cost of certain foods. Another fact has to be reckoned with in comparing the prices of different foods. Some vegetables are more difficult to raise than others, even when the season is favorable, and the insects at least partly conquered. Some plants have more vitality than others, and grow under almost any condition of soil and moisture.

Animal diseases must also affect the price of food. If a large number of cattle are found to have tuberculosis, and are condemned as food, healthy cattle bring a higher price, because, again, the supply is small in relation to the demand.

Quality of food.—Poor food always costs less money than good food, but it may not be economy to buy it. There may be more usable material in one good apple at five cents than in three wormy ones for five.

Form and place in which food is sold.—Food in the package costs more than in bulk, and each fancy label adds a fraction to the cost. Plate-glass windows and ribbon decorations in a shop and the large expense of rent on a fashionable street are all paid for by the consumer.

Relative cost of home and shop products.—When prepared food of any kind is purchased, one pays for raw material plus the cost of fuel and the labor involved in the cooking and the cleaning of apparatus and kitchen. For example, canned soup sold by one of the best manufacturers brings a good price because so much time and labor are used in a careful inspection of all material, and in keeping up a high standard of cleanliness. Remember, too, that whenever cooked food appears on the table, these two items, fuel and labor, are in reality added to the cost of the raw material.282 We may not pay cash always for the labor, but it must be accounted for in time and energy. The woman who says, “My time doesn’t count,” has a poor opinion of herself. Whether or not it is better to buy cooked food or to prepare food at home is discussed on page 292.

Other elements in food prices.—So far we have considered those causes of food prices that are what may be called “natural,” always to be taken into account, and only partly under our control. There are others that have to do with big business methods and interests and that have great influence at some one period in a nation’s life, and less at others. They are more or less under our control if we have the wisdom and courage to act. A discussion of these causes is part of the study of economics proper, and we can only stop by the way to think of them for a moment.

Transportation must always increase cost, as we have learned, but bad methods, involving the handling of food by many people, increase it unnecessarily. Our present methods of marketing food are clumsy, and not economical, especially in large cities. The subject is being seriously studied with a view to improvement, possibly by the establishment of public markets.

At present we have a bewildering state of things, but the housekeeper who sincerely desires, can learn to buy and prepare the less costly foods in an appetizing way, and leave nothing for the garbage pail but the parts that are actually not eatable.

Comparative costs.—It would be useless to print here a list of actual prices, since they vary in different localities, and are constantly changing. This list can be made by yourselves in your notebooks for your own home town, and for the current year. The table on page 318 is a guide, however, for in spite of fluctuations in prices there are certain283 foods that are permanently more economical than others; for example, grain products than meats, for reasons already explained. As a rule, the rising cost of food has been so general as not to change greatly the relative economy of the different types of food as compared with each other.

Cost and nutritive value.—The discussion of cost has dealt so far with the cost of food materials as they are found in the market. What we are really seeking to learn is the amount of nutritive material to be obtained for a given sum of money, and in order to do this, we must think of our purchases in terms of the foodstuffs and their values. The accompanying table from a government bulletin[17] gives an estimate of cost from this point of view in terms of protein and fuel value. Notice that wheat bread is a cheap food, standing first in the amount of building material and energy.

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The price quoted for eggs is low, and even less could be obtained for ten cents at prevailing prices in 1913-1914. This kind of estimate is a help in making menus and dietaries. (See Chapter XVIII.) Another method of estimating economy for this purpose is by calculating the cost of 100-Calorie portions of various food materials. A table giving such a comparison will be found in the next chapter.

In addition to the general principles of buying discussed in Chapter XXI there are some details to be studied in purchasing food.

Personal attention in buying food.—It is absolutely necessary to visit the market and the grocery where food is purchased. The purchaser would not fail to visit a shop before deciding to patronize it regularly, but frequent calls are necessary if buying is to be economical. Select the grocery, market, and bakery with a view to their cleanliness. Notice if the doors and windows are screened, and if proper effort is made to catch flies that may have entered. Refuse to buy food that is exposed upon the sidewalk, and if it is within doors, see that it is protected from dust and flies. The best markets now have tiled walls and floors, which help to insure cleanliness. The difference in odor is marked between a market that is properly cleaned daily, and one where the proprietor uses uncleanly methods. Meat and vegetables, in particular, should be personally selected whenever this is possible. The butcher must understand that the purchaser is familiar with the different cuts of meat and that honest service is demanded in regard to the quality, trimming, and weight of the meat. One does not want to be too suspicious, but it is well for the butcher to know that the purchaser has a set of standard scales at home by which to prove285 the accuracy of his weighing. It is also important to inspect fruit and vegetables for quality and cost.

Quantities in which to purchase food.—The amount that one purchases of a certain food depends on its keeping qualities, and upon the storage space available at home. A general rule may be stated: Buy perishable foods in small quantities; non-perishable foods in large. The reason for buying in larger quantity is that the cost is somewhat less, although sometimes it seems but little less. Some one has remarked that no one is a good buyer who does not consider a quarter of a cent. In a modern house or apartment where there is not room for a barrel of flour or sugar, then the quantity must be gauged by the space. The same is true of canned goods as of flour and sugar. Buying by the dozen saves a little on each can if you have shelf room for piling the cans.

Foods may be classed in this connection as perishable, semi-perishable, and non-perishable. This depends somewhat for any one housekeeper upon the size of her refrigerator, and upon an available place where food may be cool, even if not so cold as in the refrigerator. Those foods classed here as perishable are those which readily “spoil,” that is, those that are affected by mold and bacteria on account of the moisture that they contain, and also those that lose flavor and freshness quickly. Those most easily affected should be kept the coldest; those in the semi-perishable group do not deteriorate so rapidly, although a low temperature is desirable with all of these. Under the non-perishable foods are classed those that are not subject to bacteria or mold in ordinary circumstances. These should be kept dry, however, and never in a heated place. In a sense, no food material is non-perishable. Insects sometimes develop in the cereal products, for instance, and the material is thus286 rendered unfit for food. The food adjuncts do not spoil except as they lose flavor if kept too long.

Suggestions for buying.—Milk and cream must be delivered daily. The average amount used by the family is the regular order. Fresh meat should be delivered on the day wanted unless the refrigerator is large with a space for hanging meat. Even then, it should not be kept more than twenty-four hours. Meat should not be placed directly on the ice. Fresh berries and delicate vegetables should be delivered on the day wanted. Butter and eggs may be purchased once a week; other semi-perishables in quantities depending on storage space. It is economical to buy a box of lemons, and the root vegetables in large quantities. Flour and sugar are purchased by the bag or barrel; lump sugar, in boxes. Breakfast cereals are best bought in packages, and it is wise not to buy a large number at one time. It is better to purchase oftener and have fresher material. Coffee may be bought in pound cans, but it is economy to purchase it in five or ten pound quantities, unground. Tea comes in closely sealed packages, in ¹⁄₄, ¹⁄₂, and 1 lb. and larger. Cocoa is bought in ¹⁄₂ lb. cans, but it is economy to buy in large cans if it is frequently used. Macaroni is bought by the package, and the number at one time must287 depend on how much it is used in the menu. Rice, tapioca, and sago may be bought in bulk and kept in tin or glass jars. Salt by the bag or box. Spices, ground, in tight boxes; whole in bulk, to be kept in tightly closed cans. Molasses comes by the gallon or in cans. If in bulk, it is usually acid; in the can it is not. Vinegar comes by the gallon, or in bottles. Canned and preserved goods, singly, by the dozen, or case. Bakery products, when bought at all, should be purchased daily, or every other day. Do not buy so much that stale bread accumulates.

Weights, measures, and packages.—The buyer is at a disadvantage here in regard to quantities, for the baskets in which fruits and vegetables are sold do not always conform to the standard dry measures, and dishonest dealers evade the law in regard to the use of standard scales. Even if they have the standard, they resort to tricks that give the customer short weights. Here the Bureau of Weights and Measures, with its Commissioner and corps of inspectors, comes to the aid of the purchaser. Effective work has been done in our cities in enforcing the laws, and this work continues.

Selling fruit, vegetables, and even eggs by weight would simplify matters in many ways, and this is the custom in some parts of the United States with vegetables and fruit, although it is not yet a common practice; with eggs it seems more convenient to sell by the dozen, but grading according to size is a step toward standardization.

The alluring packages in which so many articles are offered are quite uneven as to the quantities they contain. They certainly do away with some handling of food, and they keep out dust. Unfortunately, an attractive package does not guarantee a clean factory or clean handling in the packing. Dried figs, for example, in pretty baskets are sometimes288 packed in uncleanly places. Moreover, small packages are poor economy, since the box adds to the cost of the food material, and sometimes there seems even more package than food. If the family consumes many biscuits or “crackers,” it costs considerably more to buy them in packages. Yet, these are convenient, and should be cleanly, and are justified for these reasons, provided the housekeeper does not buy many small packages.

The quantities in canned goods are variable and sometimes below measure when purchased from a second-rate dealer. In September, 1914, the net weight amendment to the National Food Law will go into effect, after which, in general, foods sold in packages must be labeled to show net weight or measure or numerical count.

As already suggested, you should own standard scales for testing the purchases made by weight, even baker’s bread. Buy fruit and vegetables by the quart, peck, and bushel, rather than by the basket of uncertain measure. Examine baskets containing small fruits to see if they have false bottoms. If you discover small measure, report at once to the dealer, and to whatever authority has charge of such matters in your town.

Quality.—Modern methods of manufacture, transportation, and storage make it difficult to determine the history and quality of food we purchase in the markets. Yet the consumer has a natural right to know if the food offered for sale is the best of its kind; fresh eggs, clean milk, meat from healthy animals, untainted and free from harmful preservatives, sound vegetables and fruit, manufactured and preserved foodstuffs unspoiled by the manufacturing processes, free from harmful preservatives, and of good flavor. Many people must be in danger of forgetting the flavor of a fresh-laid egg. The familiar signs in many small shops, “Fresh289 eggs,” “Strictly fresh eggs,” “Fancy eggs,” are amusing, but they bespeak an unnatural state of things.

As our business methods have created conditions beyond the control of the individual consumer it follows that we must take concerted action, and make and enforce whatever laws are necessary. This is done partly through the Federal government, and partly through state laws and municipal ordinances. Thus, while we may not know the actual conditions in which food is produced, we may through legislation seek to insure that the food we buy shall be

(1) what it purports to be in kind and amount,

(2) free from deterioration or unwholesome conditions,

(3) possessed of full nutritive value.

The Federal Food and Drugs Act of June 30, 1906, commonly known as “The Pure Food Law,” and on which subsequent legislation by most of the states has been largely based, defines the main types of adulteration and misbranding, but, except in the case of confectionery and of habit-forming drugs, does not name the specific substances which are to be prohibited or restricted in use, nor does the law itself contain standards of composition for foods.

According to this law a food is deemed adulterated:

(1) If any substance has been mixed or packed with it so as to reduce or lower or injuriously affect its quality or strength.

(2) If any substance has been substituted, wholly or in part.

(3) If any valuable constituent has been wholly or in part abstracted.

(4) If it be mixed, colored, coated, powdered, or stained in a manner whereby damage or inferiority is concealed.

(5) If it contain any added poisonous or other added deleterious ingredient which may render such article injurious to health.

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(6) If it consists in whole or in part of a filthy, decomposed, or putrid animal or vegetable substance, or any portion of an animal unfit for food, or if it be the product of a diseased animal, or one that has died otherwise than by slaughter.

And a food is deemed to be misbranded:

(1) If it be an imitation of or offered for sale under the distinctive name of another article.

(2) If it be labeled or branded so as to deceive or mislead the purchaser, or purport to be a foreign product when not so, or if the contents shall have been substituted in whole or in part, or if it fail to bear a statement on the label of the quantity or proportion of any narcotic or habit-forming drug which it contains.

(3) If it bear an incorrect statement of weight or measure.

(4) If the package containing it or its label shall bear any statement, design, or device which is false or misleading in any particular.

For a fuller discussion of the basis of pure food legislation and the essential features of the United States laws see Sherman’s “Food Products,” from which a part of the summary here given is drawn.

The modern cold storage plant is of immense service in keeping food from the season of abundance to that of scarcity, but it may prove worse than useless if improperly managed. State and federal laws must control the management, and government inspection must be thorough. Cold storage would be a benefit to all under proper conditions of management, and the prices of many foods would be evenly adjusted by the maintenance of a steady supply. Many states now have laws regulating cold storage plants and there is every reason to hope that the abuses which have291 sometimes existed will be eliminated and the usefulness of cold storage extended.

We may feel that the progress of the pure food movement has been most satisfactory, even though much more remains to be done. The states generally have either enacted new food laws, or revised their laws following the national law. Under the national law over 2000 prosecutions have already (1913) been decided in favor of the government.

Congress has passed an even more stringent law for meat inspection supplementary to the Pure Food Law with ample appropriation for its enforcement. Moreover, in 1913, the Secretary of Agriculture appointed outside experts to inspect meat-packing establishments throughout the country. This inspection is to check up the regular work being done by the Bureau of Animal Industry.

The enforcing of federal and state laws has already largely stopped the misbranding of package foods as to weight or measure, cheap substitutions, the removal of valuable ingredients, and the sale of decomposed or tainted food derived from diseased animals. Remember that abuses can be kept down to any extent that we are willing to pay for. Taxpayers must appropriate money to pay for inspection, for laws, no matter how good, will not insure pure food unless carried out faithfully by an adequate number of specially trained inspectors.

In the face of all these difficulties we must not be frightened into that state of mind where danger seems to lurk in every mouthful. We must use caution and common sense in our buying, and earnestly support every good movement for bettering conditions.

There is a certain difference in quality even at a first class dealer’s that one must learn to distinguish. One can of peaches will cost more than another, because the peaches are292 larger. If it is only this, and there is only a slight difference in flavor in favor of the more costly, buy the cheaper by all means. A fancy brand of imported preserves brings a fancy price which it is not worth while to pay. We have to learn to distinguish between poor and good quality, on the one hand, and between good and what may be called “fancy,” on the other. We should demand the good, but most of us cannot afford the “fancy.”

Ready-cooked foods.—More and more cooked food, canned or otherwise, is taking its place in the market. When canned goods were first manufactured on a large scale they comprised fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish, but we are now accustomed to a miscellaneous variety, including soups, baked beans, puddings, and pudding sauces, spaghetti, hashed meat, and shellfish. Bakery products have a larger sale than ever, and are found in small towns, and even in country districts carried there by bakers’ wagons. In our large cities we find the “delicatessen shop” very common, where small portions of cooked meats and fowl may be purchased after the custom of Europe, and these stores are open even on Sunday.

How shall we decide what is best for us in our buying? We must not condemn entirely the buying of cooked food without a careful study of the situation. The custom has grown with changes in our mode of living, especially in cities, where the small apartment is common, and where gas is the fuel. Under these conditions it is difficult to prepare foods that need long and slow cooking, and these processes are more expensive when gas is used. The long slow cooking of soup and beans, the even baking of bread, are difficult to accomplish. The odors from these processes fill the small apartment, and scent it for some time, and this is unpleasant at all seasons.

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Take another example, the canning and preserving of fruits. The first cost of the fruit is usually high in the city, and this plus the sugar and the gas, and the labor and the lack of storage space make it seem impracticable in these conditions, and many people decide in favor of buying goods already canned. Such housekeeping is simplified by buying cooked products to some extent. The fireless cooker helps here, but not for all processes. Counting in fuel, the cost is not so much greater as we might suppose; and comfort and convenience are increased. Under other conditions, even in the city, a different conclusion is reached. If coal is the fuel, and a steady fire is kept, perhaps in winter for heating purposes, then it is economy to cook most food materials at home.

In the country and small village different conditions prevail. Here the abundance of certain fruits in season makes it economical to can and dry, even counting fuel and labor. In some sections many people can their own vegetables also. However, even in the country in the summer, it is a decided relief to the farmer’s wife, probably short of “help,” to win a little leisure by buying staple bakery products. Here if strict economy is not necessary, is it not better to save strength rather than money? Each housekeeper must work out these problems for herself.

EXERCISES

1. What are the more permanent factors in the cost of food material?

2. Why is vegetable food usually cheaper than animal food?

3. Explain the effect of season upon the cost.

4. Why does transportation affect the cost of food?

5. Why is clean milk more costly than unclean?

6. How do business conditions affect the cost?

7. Why is wheat bread a truly cheap food?

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8. How can we estimate the cost of the actual nutrients in food?

9. Describe the working of the pure food law.

10. Why are such laws necessary?

11. How may we all aid in the passage and enforcement of pure food laws?

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CHAPTER XVIII

When we have learned to choose and cook wholesome and appetizing food we have not solved the whole problem of successful feeding. It is possible to make people sick with good food, if it is badly selected and fed at wrong times or in unsuitable amounts. Whether children grow to their full size and strength depends more upon the choice of their food than upon any other one thing. The effect of food is strikingly shown in the case of the white rats in Fig. 74. The two upper ones are the same age. Both had the same mother, lived in the same kind of clean cages, and had plenty of food, but the diet of the upper was good for growth, while that for the middle one was not. It remained perfectly well, but became stunted because of the character of its food. You can see that it resembles the lowest one in the illustration, which is only one fourth as old. In this chapter we shall consider how and when and in what amounts to serve food so that every one may get from it the fullest benefit in both health and happiness.

Fig. 74.—The effect of food on growth. Reprinted from publication of the Carnegie Institution. Courtesy Professor Lafayette B. Mendel.

In Chapter I we learned that the body is a working machine whose first requirement is fuel. Hence the first consideration in the diet is to have the proper amount of fuel for each day, to provide energy for the constant internal work that keeps the body alive, and for the variable external work297 which may be so light as to consist of the few movements that one makes lying in bed, or sitting quietly; or so hard as to exercise many muscles, as playing tennis, bicycling, or swimming.

Fig. 75.—Respiration calorimeter, open. From the “Journal of Biological Chemistry.” Courtesy of Professor Graham Lusk.

Energy requirements of adults.—We have also learned something about the foods which supply this energy; we must now find out how much fuel (in the form of food) it takes to do different amounts of work, just as the owner of an automobile wants to know how much gasoline per mile or per hour is required to run his machine under different conditions. Very careful experiments have been made on many men in different ways to measure their energy output,298 the most accurate and interesting being those made in a respiration calorimeter, a device so delicate as to be able to measure the extra heat given off when one changes from lying perfectly quiet to sitting up equally still, thus adding the work of holding the upper part of the body upright. A respiration calorimeter large enough to hold a child is shown in Figs. 75 and 76. You can see that it consists of a chamber with thick walls to prevent loss of heat. In Fig. 75 the door is open. When an experiment is going on the door is closed, as in Fig. 76, air being furnished through special tubes. The walls are fitted with delicate thermometers and every device299 which will help to get the exact amount of heat given off from the body is employed.

Fig. 76.—Respiration calorimeter, closed. From the “Journal of Biological Chemistry.” Courtesy of Professor Graham Lusk.

Just as it takes more fuel to run a big machine than a little one, so it takes more energy for a large person than a small one; therefore we must know the weight of the one whose food requirements we wish to calculate, as well as the amount of energy required to do different kinds and amounts of work. The following table will help in calculating the approximate fuel requirements of any grown person. The food needs of children and young people under twenty-five will be discussed later.

Light exercise may be understood to include work equivalent to standing and working with the hands, as at a desk in chemistry or cookery; or work involving the feet like walking or running a sewing machine. Many persons, as students, stenographers, seamstresses, bookkeepers, teachers, and tailors do little or no work heavier than this.

Active exercise involves more muscles, as in bicycling compared with walking, or exercise with dumb-bells as compared with typewriting. Carpenters, general houseworkers, and mail carriers do about this grade of work while on duty.

Severe exercise not only involves a good many muscles, but causes enough strain to harden and enlarge them. Bicycling up grade, swimming, and other active sports would be included in this kind of exercise. Lumbermen, excavators, and a few others do even heavier work than this.

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Knowing the weight of a grown man or woman, and something of the daily occupation, as in the case of a professional man, we can estimate the probable energy requirement somewhat as follows:

Total Calories per pound for 24 hours, 18; 18 × 154 pounds (the weight of the average man) = 2772, or approximately 2680, Calories per day required. Calculate in this way the energy requirement for various grown persons whom you know.

Energy requirements during growth.—In estimating food requirements of those who are under twenty-five years old, we must bear in mind that the same materials which serve for fuel serve in part for building material. Protein is used for muscle building as well as for supplying energy, and the larger one grows, the greater the reserves of carbohydrate and fat which he can carry. Furthermore, internal activity is greater in the young than the middle aged or very old, and external activity is apt also to be greater. Think, for instance, how much running children do compared with their parents. For all these reasons, we cannot use the table for adults in calculating the energy requirement of young people. In the following table an attempt has been made to take account of their greater needs, but the estimates include only moderate exercise; with hard work more will be required. Notice that the highest allowance per pound of body weight is for the youngest children.

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With these two tables for calculating energy requirement we can determine about how much will be needed by each member of the family. A group consisting of a professional man, his wife, and three children under 16 will require about 10,000 Calories per day; a workingman’s family with the same number of children from 12,000 to 14,000, because of the harder work which both parents and possibly the children will do.

Protein requirement.—Since few of our foods consist of a single foodstuff, and we are not likely to make even a single meal on pure fat, or pure protein, or pure carbohydrate alone, we are sure to get some building material in any diet, but we must see to it that we are getting amounts which furnish the best possible conditions for growth and repair.

As we have already seen, nitrogen in the form of protein is necessary to the life of every cell in the body. From protein, too, muscle is built, though we cannot build good muscle merely by feeding protein; a diet moderate in its amount of protein, but with plenty of fuel for healthy exercise is best for muscle building. Under all ordinary conditions, if ten to fifteen Calories in every hundred (10 to 15 per cent of the total Calories) are from protein, the need for this kind of building material will be met. Thus a family requiring 10,000 Calories per day should have from 1000 to 1500 of these as protein Calories. The following table gives the protein302 Calories in the 100-Calorie portions of some common food materials.

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Notice that some foods, like bread, have about the right proportion of protein calories; others, like beef, beans, and peas are very high in protein calories. By combining some foods high in protein with others containing little or none, we can get the right proportion. Thus, 100 Calories of beef combined with 400 each of bread and butter will give 900 Calories of which 114, or 12.7 per cent, are from protein.

It is interesting to work out other combinations which give these good proportions.

Ash requirement.—We are also assured of ash in any ordinary diet, but some attention should be paid to kind and amount, especially as many common foods have lost the parts richest in ash. Patent flour, for instance, made from the inner part of the grain, is not so rich in ash as whole or cracked wheat. Valuable salts are also lost in cooking vegetables when the water in which they were cooked is thrown away. If not desired with the vegetable, this should be saved for gravy or soup. It is not necessary to calculate a definite amount of ash for the diet, if ash-bearing foods are freely used. By reference to the table on page 384 you can see what foods are valuable for supplying the important kinds of ash. Milk is particularly rich in calcium and hence is required when the bones are growing. Eggs have iron and phosphorus in forms well suited to growth. But if eggs are too expensive,304 the vegetables and fruits generally will supply these same substances.

Diet for growth.—Diets made in the chemical laboratory from mixtures of pure (isolated) protein, fat, carbohydrate, and ash to satisfy all the requirements which we have so far mentioned, do not behave alike when fed to animals. The kind of protein is important as well as the amount. This is shown by experiments in which only one protein is fed at a time. On some, the animals will not thrive. On others, adult animals do very well, but the young ones become stunted like the one shown on page 295. Milk has been found to contain proteins on which young animals can thrive. But even in diets containing the protein from milk, young animals do not develop normally unless the salts of milk are added too. No perfect substitute for milk has ever been found. During the first year of life, a child lives on it almost exclusively; for the first five years it should be considered the most important article in the diet; and throughout the period of growth it should be freely used if children are to become vigorous men and women. If not liked as a beverage, it can be used in cocoa, or cereal coffee, in soups, puddings, and other dishes. Considering what milk may save in the way of more expensive protein foods, such as eggs and meat, and of ash-supplying foods like fruits and vegetables, it is to be regarded as a cheap food. It is possible to get the proper amounts of fuel and protein from white bread and meat, but such a diet is poorly balanced as to ash constituents and especially lacks calcium. It would need to be balanced by adding some fruit or vegetable and even then would not contain as much calcium as is best for growing people. A diet of bread and milk, on the other hand, is so nearly perfectly balanced (supplying fuel, protein, and ash constituents in suitable amounts) that it can be taken exclusively305 for a long time. Whole wheat bread and milk would be even better, because the whole wheat would supply more iron, in which white bread and milk are not rich. The addition of fruits and vegetables to the bread and milk diet would also be an advantage—partly for the same reason.

Other foods especially valuable for growth are eggs and cereals from whole grains. Children should acquire the habit of eating fruits and green vegetables of all kinds, for when they are older and likely to take less milk and cereals, the fruits and vegetables supply important ash constituents and also help to prevent constipation.

The foods good for children are also good for adults, but the latter can keep their bodies in good repair with less protein and ash in proportion to body weight than are required during growth, and many kinds of protein serve for repair. If there are not enough milk and eggs to go around, adults can take meat, nuts, peas, beans and bread for protein, and trust to these and fruit and vegetables for ash. When the body has been wasted by sickness, however, a return to the foods of growth, especially a diet of milk and eggs, is best for building it up again.

The number of meals in a day.—Knowing how much and what kinds of food are best for each member of the family, we must next find out how to divide the total food for the day into meals. Few of us could take our required fuel in one meal, and if we could, we should probably be hungry before the time for the next meal. Some persons get along very well with two meals a day, but usually their fuel requirement is not high. Most people are more comfortable and more likely to eat a suitable amount in a deliberate fashion if they have three meals a day. When large amounts of fuel have to be taken, four or five meals may be better than three; babies who have to eat in proportion to their size,306 often 2¹⁄₂ times as much as their mothers, take 2¹⁄₂ times as many meals, i.e. 7 or 8 in a day.

The amount of food for each meal.—While the number of meals depends largely on the amount to be eaten in the whole day, and the appetite of the subject, the amount at each meal is most influenced by the nature of the daily occupation. The baby with nothing to do but eat and sleep has meals uniform in kind and amount. The business man who works very hard through the middle of the day, and has not time to take an elaborate meal, nor time to rest after it so that it may digest easily, takes a light luncheon and makes up for it at breakfast and dinner. The outdoor worker who has a long hard day and expends much energy, takes an hour at noon for a substantial dinner, in addition to a hearty breakfast and supper and sometimes a mid-forenoon or mid-afternoon lunch.

Regularity of meals.—More important than the number of meals is regularity as to time of eating and amount of food. Training for the digestive tract is just as important as training the eye or the hand or the brain. We cannot expect good digestions if we have a hearty luncheon to-day, none at all to-morrow, and perhaps a scanty and hasty late one the next day. To take food into the stomach between meals is to demoralize the digestive system. Foods that are excellent as part of a meal provoke headaches and bad complexions, and many symptoms of a protesting stomach, when taken between meals. The younger the person, the more important is regularity. Little children soon suffer if their meals are not “on the minute.” Adults have more difficulty in controlling their time, but if they have to be late to meals, they should be more careful than usual to eat slowly and to choose plain simple food that will digest easily.

Mental attitude toward meals.—Good food may be provided at the proper time and yet the members of a family307 may fail to keep well and happy unless they come to meals in the right condition. Haste, chill, exhaustion, anxiety, excitement, fretfulness, or anger may interfere with the digestion of the most digestible of meals. Orderly table service, good manners, and cheerful conversation are very important factors in the success of a meal. Peace and joy as well as “calories” are watchwords of good nutrition.

Balanced meals.—Having determined how many meals to serve in the day and what their hours shall be, the next question is how to choose and distribute the constituents of the day’s ration so as to promote digestibility and satisfaction. A meal of pure protein, or fat, or carbohydrate would not be relished, and would have some physiological disadvantages. Digestion is likely to be more complete on a mixed diet. A meal of carbohydrate alone leaves the stomach more quickly than any other kind, and one would feel hungry before the next meal, though one might have had plenty of fuel; a meal of fat alone would leave the stomach very slowly, and one would not have so good an appetite for the next meal; a meal of pure protein would stimulate heat production without any particular advantages, except possibly in very cold weather: it would be decidedly undesirable in hot weather. For these and other reasons it is best to have the different foodstuffs represented in each meal, and to see that no one contains an excess of fat, which tends to retard all digestion. This is what is usually meant by a balanced meal, but it may also include care that about the same proportion of fuel is served at the same meal each day. A meal does not need to be “balanced” in quite the same sense as a day’s ration. The latter must have a definite amount of fuel, a suitable proportion of protein, ash well represented, some food for bulk, the whole selected with regard for the physical condition, tastes, habits, and pocketbooks of those to be fed.

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Menus.—Food taken at a stated time constitutes a meal. It may consist of a single food material, as bread, or a single dish, as soup; or it may contain many kinds of food and many dishes. When the day’s ration consists of a single food, there is no trouble in arranging the bill of fare, for all meals are alike. But as soon as we have two foods, we may consider whether they will digest better if eaten together or separately, and which way they will please the palate better. Balanced diets do not necessarily afford attractive menus. Macaroni and oatmeal would make a fairly well balanced meal except as regards ash constituents, but no one would call such a combination pleasing. By the substitution of a little cheese and an orange for the oatmeal, a meal containing about the same fuel value and proportion of protein could be arranged, and it would certainly appeal more to the appetite, and furnish better proportions of ash constituents.

In the construction of the menu for the day or meal, we must consider not only food values and time of day and combinations which shall be digestible, but flavor, color, texture, and temperature of our foods. The study of digestible combinations belongs to the science of nutrition. The harmonious blending of tastes, odors, colors, and the like is an art. Just as there are pleasing combinations of sound, so there are harmonies of flavor; certain dishes seem naturally to “go together.” Habit has a great deal to do with food combinations. A Chinaman would not eat sugar on rice; a Japanese would not cook beans with molasses as the Bostonian does. It is interesting to experiment with new combinations, and study to find out why old ones are pleasing. Why do we like crackers with soup? Butter on bread? Toast with eggs? Peas with lamb chops?

Digestible menus.—Some of our eating habits are worth preserving and cultivating. Fresh fruit for breakfast stimulates309 the appetite and helps to prevent or overcome constipation. A mild-flavored food like cereal is better relished before we have had meats or other highly flavored food. Soup at the beginning of a meal puts the stomach in better condition to digest the food that follows. Ice cream at the end of a meal is less likely to chill the stomach than at the beginning. Bread and butter afford a good combination of fat and carbohydrate. Crackers help in the breaking up of cheese into particles easy to digest.

Not all of our eating habits are good, however. Griddlecakes, melted butter, and maple sirup taste good, but the cakes make a pasty mass difficult for digestive juices to penetrate. The sirup is likely to ferment, and the butter coating the whole delays digestion greatly. Chicken salad is popular, but combinations of protein with much fat (as in the mayonnaise dressing) always digest very slowly. Simple dishes, without rich sauces or gravies, and not excessively high in fat, are easiest of digestion. Pastries, fried foods, meats with much fat, like pork and sausage, are always more or less difficult and should be attempted only by the strong, or when the body is free from physical or nervous weariness, and not about to undertake mental work.

Attention to the art of menu making not only helps to make the diet easier to digest, but also better balanced. Foods which are similar in color, flavor, and texture, like potatoes and rice, are not artistic in combination, and it is better to substitute for one of them a green vegetable, or meat or butter, in which case we get a better balance, as more ash, protein, or fat would then be included with the starch of the rice or potato.

In making the bill of fare it is a great mistake to consider each meal by itself alone. If we do so, some days are likely to be very high in fuel, while others may be very low. Then,310 too, the impression left from one meal carries over to the next. We do not care to see on the dinner table the same foods that we saw at luncheon. Our love of variety is one of nature’s ways of seeing to it that we get different kinds of foodstuffs in our diet. Variety stimulates appetite, but this does not mean a great variety at one meal. The truest variety is obtained by a few well-selected dishes at each meal. If we do not exhaust our resources on one meal, we shall be able to have a greater range of foods in the course of a week. A hotel may have fifty or sixty items on its bill of fare, but after a few days one feels as if there were a great sameness, because all of them are impressed on the mind at each meal and every day.

Dietaries.—A dietary, as we shall use the term here,[19] is a statement of the food requirements of a person or group of persons for a day or some other definite length of time, with a selection of foods to satisfy this requirement.

The first part of a family dietary will have to be calculated according to the age, weight, and occupation, as stated on pages 299-303. When complete, it will stand somewhat like this:

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In selecting food to satisfy these requirements it is a good plan to make first a list of those foods that need to be included in the day’s dietary, no matter what the particular menu may be. This will include foods for growth where there are children, special dishes needed if any one is sick, and those common foods which we are accustomed to include in every day’s menu, such as bread and butter.

For the family which we are considering, this list will stand somewhat as follows:

This list is to be kept in planning the menu, whose character is further determined by certain dishes which we wish particularly to have included. For instance, we may desire roast beef for dinner. This is a highly flavored meat, and a protein food which will go a long way towards satisfying the adult’s protein needs. Special protein food for breakfast may well be omitted, or take the form of eggs, which are a contrast to the meat in flavor, form, etc. Protein food for luncheon might be fish or some other meat substitute.

Vegetables for dinner should not only harmonize with the meat, but contrast pleasingly with each other. This result is insured by choosing one vegetable from the starchy type, as potatoes or sweet potatoes, and the other vegetable of the green or succulent group, as spinach or asparagus.

Below are two menus, in which have been kept in mind the312 foods which ought to be included (see page 311) and the artistic arrangement of the day’s meals, with roast beef as the keynote.

By a little calculation from tables giving the 100-Calorie portions of food materials[21] we can find out whether or not we have well-balanced dietaries. Let us take, for example, Menu I, and make a list of the foods required to prepare it for a family of this size.

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It is evident that we have enough protein, and as a good share of it is from milk, we know that it will satisfy the children’s requirements in the best possible way. The adults will get theirs largely from the salmon and meat. Comparing this list with our first tentative one, we find that we have used in building up our dietary 21 portions of milk, 5 of cereal, 5 of fruit (not including lemon juice), 4.1 of green vegetable, 8 of meat (including salmon), 18 of bread, and 22 of butter, but no eggs. We have a good representation of the different kinds of foodstuffs, with this exception, and as the boys would need the eggs most, we could put them in for their breakfast, thus adding about 140 total Calories and 50 protein Calories. With this addition we are still slightly deficient in total energy, but to add one or two hundred Calories is a very simple matter. A second serving of potatoes, an extra roll for those whose fuel requirement is highest, or a slightly more liberal use of butter, might well solve the problem. This dietary calculation shows how the menu may help in getting a balanced diet, and how knowledge of food values can be applied as a check on the menu. If we had had fewer dishes in each meal, we should have had to plan to serve larger portions of some or all of them, or to use more freely such staples as bread, butter, and milk.

Each family must find out the kind of menu best suited to its resources. Some typical meal plans suitable for everyday use are given below.