Science in the Kitchen.
by
Mrs. E. E. Kellogg
Part 2 out of 17
average cook book.
For reasons stated elsewhere (in the chapter on Milk, Cream, and
Butter), we have in the preparation of all recipes made use of cream in
place of other fats; but lest there be some who may suppose because
cream occupies so frequent a place in the recipes, and because of their
inability to obtain that article, the recipes are therefore not adapted
to their use, we wish to state that a large proportion of the recipes in
which it is mentioned as seasoning, or for dressing, will be found to be
very palatable with the cream omitted, or by the use of its place of
some one of the many substitutes recommended. We ought also to mention
in this connection, that wherever cream is recommended, unless otherwise
designated, the quality used in the preparation of the recipes is that
of single or twelve hour cream sufficiently diluted with milk, so that
one fourth of each quart of milk is reckoned as cream. If a richer
quality than this be used, the quantity should be diminished in
proportion; otherwise, by the excess of fat, a wholesome food may become
a rich, unhealthful dish.
In conclusion, the author desires to state that no recipe has been
admitted to this work which has not been thoroughly tested by repeated
trials, by far the larger share of such being original, either in the
combination of the materials used, the method employed, or both
materials and method. Care has been taken not to cumber the work with
useless and indifferent recipes. It is believed that every recipe will
be found valuable, and that the variety offered is sufficiently ample,
so that under the most differing circumstances, all may be well served.
We trust therefore that those who undertake to use the work as a guide
in their culinary practice, will not consider any given recipe a failure
because success does not attend their first efforts. Perseverance and a
careful study of the directions given, will assuredly bring success to
all who possess the natural or acquired qualities essential for the
practice of that most useful of the arts,--"Healthful Cookery."
ELLA E. KELLOGG.
_Battle Creek, April 20, 1892._
Foods
The purposes of food are to promote growth, to supply force and heat,
and to furnish material to repair the waste which is constantly taking
place in the body. Every breath, every thought, every motion, wears out
some portion of the delicate and wonderful house in which we live.
Various vital processes remove these worn and useless particles; and to
keep the body in health, their loss must be made good by constantly
renewed supplies of material properly adapted to replenish the worn and
impaired tissues. This renovating material must be supplied through the
medium of food and drink, and the best food is that by which the desired
end may be most readily and perfectly attained. The great diversity in
character of the several tissues of the body, makes it necessary that
food should contain a variety of elements, in order that each part may
be properly nourished and replenished.
THE FOOD ELEMENTS.--The various elements found in food are the
following: Starch, sugar, fats, albumen, mineral substances,
indigestible substances.
The digestible food elements are often grouped, according to their
chemical composition, into three classes; _vis._, carbonaceous,
nitrogenous, and inorganic. The carbonaceous class includes starch,
sugar, and fats; the nitrogenous, all albuminous elements; and the
inorganic comprises the mineral elements.
_Starch_ is only found in vegetable foods; all grains, most vegetables,
and some fruits, contain starch in abundance. Several kinds of _sugar_
are made in nature's laboratory; _cane_, _grape_, _fruit_, and _milk_
sugar. The first is obtained from the sugar-cane, the sap of maple
trees, and from the beet root. Grape and fruit sugars are found in most
fruits and in honey. Milk sugar is one of the constituents of milk.
Glucose, an artificial sugar resembling grape sugar, is now largely
manufactured by subjecting the starch of corn or potatoes to a chemical
process; but it lacks the sweetness of natural sugars, and is by no
means a proper substitute for them. _Albumen_ is found in its purest,
uncombined state in the white of an egg, which is almost wholly composed
of albumen. It exists, combined with other food elements, in many other
foods, both animal and vegetable. It is found abundant in oatmeal, and
to some extent in the other grains, and in the juices of vegetables. All
natural foods contain elements which in many respects resemble
_albumen_, and are so closely allied to it that for convenience they are
usually classified under the general name of "albumen." The chief of
these is _gluten_, which is found in wheat, rye, and barley. _Casein_,
found in peas, beans, and milk, and the _fibrin_ of flesh, are elements
of this class.
_Fats_ are found in both animal and vegetable foods. Of animal fats,
butter and suet are common examples. In vegetable form, fat is abundant
in nuts, peas, beans, in various of the grains, and in a few fruits, as
the olive. As furnished by nature in nuts, legumes, grains, fruits, and
milk, this element is always found in a state of fine subdivision, which
condition is the one best adapted to its digestion. As most commonly
used, in the form of free fats, as butter, lard, etc., it is not only
difficult of digestion itself, but often interferes with the digestion
of the other food elements which are mixed with it. It was doubtless
never intended that fats should be so modified from their natural
condition and separated from other food elements as to be used as a
separate article of food. The same may be said of the other carbonaceous
elements, sugar and starch, neither of which, when used alone, is
capable of sustaining life, although when combined in a proper and
natural manner with other food elements, they perform a most important
part in the nutrition of the body. Most foods contain a percentage of
the _mineral_ elements. Grains and milk furnish these elements in
abundance. The cellulose, or woody tissue, of vegetables, and the bran
of wheat, are examples of _indigestible_ elements, which although they
cannot be converted into blood in tissue, serve an important purpose by
giving bulk to the food.
With the exception of gluten, none of the food elements, when used
alone, are capable of supporting life. A true food substance contains
some of all the food elements, the amount of each varying in different
foods.
USES OF THE FOOD ELEMENTS.--Concerning the purpose which these
different elements serve, it has been demonstrated by the experiments of
eminent physiologists that the carbonaceous elements, which in general
comprise the greater bulk of the food, serve three purposes in the body;
1. They furnish material for the production of heat;
2. They are a source of force when taken in connection with other food
elements;
3. They replenish the fatty tissues of the body. Of the carbonaceous
elements,--starch, sugar, and fats,--fats produce the greatest amount of
heat in proportion to quantity; that is, more heat is developed from a
pound of fat than from an equal weight of sugar or starch; but this
apparent advantage is more than counterbalanced by the fact that fats
are much more difficult of digestion than are the other carbonaceous
elements, and if relied upon to furnish adequate material for bodily
heat, would be productive of much mischief in overtaxing and producing
disease of the digestive organs. The fact that nature has made a much
more ample provision of starch and sugars than of fats in man's natural
diet, would seem to indicate that they were intended to be the chief
source of carbonaceous food; nevertheless, fats, when taken in such
proportion as nature supplies them, are necessary and important food
elements.
The nitrogenous food elements especially nourish the brain, nerves,
muscles, and all the more highly vitalized and active tissues of the
body, and also serve as a stimulus to tissue change. Hence it may be
said that a food deficient in these elements is a particularly poor
food.
The inorganic elements, chief of which are the phosphates, in the
carbonates of potash, soda, and lime, aid in furnishing the requisite
building material for bones and nerves.
PROPER COMBINATIONS OF FOODS.--While it is important that our food
should contain some of all the various food elements, experiments upon
both animals and human beings show it is necessary that these elements,
especially the nitrogenous and carbonaceous, be used in certain definite
proportions, as the system is only able to appropriate a certain amount
of each; and all excess, especially of nitrogenous elements, is not only
useless, but even injurious, since to rid the system of the surplus
imposes an additional task upon the digestive and excretory organs. The
relative proportion of these elements necessary to constitute a food
which perfectly meets the requirements of the system, is six of
carbonaceous to one of nitrogenous. Scientists have devoted much careful
study and experimentation to the determination of the quantities of each
of the food elements required for the daily nourishment of individuals
under the varying conditions of life, and it has come to be commonly
accepted that of the nitrogenous material which should constitute one
sixth of the nutrients taken, about _three ounces_ is all that can be
made use of in twenty-four hours, by a healthy adult of average weight,
doing a moderate amount of work. Many articles of food are, however,
deficient in one or the other of these elements, and need to be
supplemented by other articles containing the deficient element in
superabundance, since to employ a dietary in which any one of the
nutritive elements is lacking, although in bulk it may be all the
digestive organs can manage, is really starvation, and will in time
occasion serious results.
It is thus apparent that much care should be exercised in the selection
and combination of food materials. The table on page 484, showing the
nutritive values of various foods, should be carefully studied. Such
knowledge is of first importance in the education of cooks and
housekeepers, since to them falls the selection of the food for the
daily needs of the household; and they should not only understand what
foods are best suited to supply these needs, but how to combine them in
accordance with physiological laws.
CONDIMENTS.--By condiments are commonly meant such substances as
are added to season food, to give it "a relish" or to stimulate
appetite, but which in themselves possess no real food value. To this
category belong mustard, ginger, pepper, pepper sauce, Worcestershire
sauce, cloves, spices, and other similar substances. That anything is
needed to disguise or improve the natural flavor of food, would seem to
imply either that the article used was not a proper alimentary
substance, or that it did not answer the purpose for which the Creator
designed it. True condiments, such as pepper, pepper sauce, ginger,
spice, mustard, cinnamon, cloves, etc., are all strong irritants. This
may be readily demonstrated by their application to a raw surface. The
intense smarting and burning occasioned are ample evidence of the
irritating character. Pepper and mustard are capable of producing
powerfully irritating effects, even when applied to the healthy skin
where wholly intact. It is surprising that it does not occur to the
mother who applies a mustard plaster to the feet of her child, to
relieve congestion of the brain, that an article which is capable of
producing a blister upon the external covering of the body, is quite as
capable of producing similar effects when applied to the more sensitive
tissues within the body. The irritating effects of these substances upon
the stomach are not readily recognized, simply because the stomach is
supplied with very few nerves of sensation. That condiments induce an
intense degree of irritation of the mucous membrane of the stomach, was
abundantly demonstrated by the experiments of Dr. Beaumont upon the
unfortunate Alexis St. Martin. Dr. Beaumont records that when St. Martin
took mustard, pepper, and similar condiments with his food, the mucous
membrane of his stomach became intensely red and congested, appearing
very much like an inflamed eye. It is this irritating effect of
condiments which gives occasion for their extended use. They create an
artificial appetite, similar to the incessant craving of the chronic
dyspeptic, whose irritable stomach is seldom satisfied. This fact with
regard to condiments is a sufficient argument against their use, being
one of the greatest causes of gluttony, since they remove the sense of
satiety by which Nature says, "Enough."
To a thoroughly normal and unperverted taste, irritating condiments of
all sorts are very obnoxious. It is true that Nature accommodates
herself to their use with food to such a degree that they may be
employed for years without apparently producing very grave results; but
this very condition is a source of injury, since it is nothing more nor
less than the going to sleep of the sentinels which nature has posted at
the portal of the body, for the purpose of giving warning of danger. The
nerves of sensibility have become benumbed to such a degree that they no
longer offer remonstrance against irritating substances, and allow the
enemy to enter into the citadel of life. The mischievous work is thus
insidiously carried on year after year until by and by the individual
breaks down with some chronic disorder of the liver, kidneys, or some
other important internal organ. Physicians have long observed that in
tropical countries where curry powder and other condiments are very
extensively used, diseases of the liver, especially acute congestion and
inflammation, are exceedingly common, much more so that in countries and
among nations where condiments are less freely used. A traveler in
Mexico, some time ago, described a favorite Mexican dish as composed of
layers of the following ingredients: "Pepper, mustard, ginger, pepper,
potato, ginger; mustard, pepper, potato, mustard, ginger, pepper." The
common use of such a dish is sufficient cause for the great frequency of
diseases of the liver among the Mexicans, noted by physicians traveling
in that country. That the use of condiments is wholly a matter of habit
is evident from the fact that different nations employ as condiments
articles which would be in the highest degree obnoxious to people of
other countries. For example, the garlic so freely used in Russian
cookery, would be considered by Americans no addition to the natural
flavors of food; and still more distasteful would be the asafetida
frequently used as a seasoning in the cuisine of Persia and other
Asiatic countries.
The use of condiments is unquestionably a strong auxiliary to the
formation of a habit of using intoxicating drinks. Persons addicted to
the use of intoxicating liquors are, as a rule, fond of stimulating and
highly seasoned foods; and although the converse is not always true, yet
it is apparent to every thoughtful person, that the use of a diet
composed of highly seasoned and irritating food, institutes the
conditions necessary for the acquirement of a taste for intoxicating
liquors. The false appetite aroused by the use of food that "burns and
stings," craves something less insipid than pure cold water to keep up
the fever the food has excited. Again, condiments, like all other
stimulants, must be continually increased in quantity, or their effect
becomes diminished; and this leads directly to a demand for stronger
stimulants, both in eating and drinking, until the probable tendency is
toward the dram-shop.
A more serious reason why high seasonings leads to intemperance, is in
the perversion of the use of the sense of taste. Certain senses are
given us to add to our pleasure as well as for the practical, almost
indispensable, use they are to us. For instance, the sense of sight is
not only useful, but enables us to drink in beauty, if among beautiful
surroundings, without doing us any harm. The same of music and other
harmonics which may come to us through the sense of hearing. But the
sense of taste and was given us to distinguish between wholesome and
unwholesome foods, and cannot be used for merely sensuous gratification,
without debasing and making of it a gross thing. An education which
demands special enjoyment or pleasure through the sense of taste, is
wholly artificial; it is coming down to the animal plane, or below it
rather; for the instinct of the brute creation teaches it merely to eat
to live.
Yet how wide-spread is this habit of sensuous gratification through the
sense of taste! If one calls upon a neighbor, he is at once offered
refreshments of some kind, as though the greatest blessing of life came
from indulging the appetite. This evil is largely due to wrong
education, which begins with childhood. When Johnnie sits down to the
table, the mother says, "Johnnie, what would you like?" instead of
putting plain, wholesome food before the child, and taking it as a
matter of course that he will eat it and be satisfied. The child grows
to think that he must have what he likes, whether it is good for him or
not. It is not strange that an appetite thus pampered in childhood
becomes uncontrollable at maturity; for the step from gormandizing to
intoxication is much shorter than most people imagine. The natural,
unperverted taste of a child will lead him to eat that which is good for
him. But how can we expect the children to reform when the parents
continually set them bad examples in the matter of eating and drinking?
The cultivation of a taste for spices is a degradation of the sense of
taste. Nature never designed that pleasure should be divorced from use.
The effects of gratifying the sense of taste differ materially from
those of gratifying the higher senses of sight and hearing. What we see
is gone; nothing remains but the memory, and the same is true of the
sweetest sounds which may reach us through the ears. But what we taste
is taken into the stomach and what has thus given us brief pleasure
through the gratification of the palate, must make work in the
alimentary canal for fourteen hours before it is disposed of.
VARIETY IN FOOD.--Simplicity of diet should be a point of first
consideration with all persons upon whom falls the responsibility of
providing the family bills of fare, since the simplest foods are, as a
rule, the most healthful. Variety is needed; that is, a judicious
mingling of fruits, grains, and vegetables; but the general tendency is
to supply our tables with too many kinds and to prepare each dish in the
most elaborate manner, until, in many households, the cooking of food
has come to be almost the chief end of life. While the preparation of
food should be looked upon as of so much importance as to demand the
most careful consideration and thought as to its suitability,
wholesomeness, nutritive qualities, and digestibility, it should by no
means be made to usurp the larger share of one's time, when simpler
foods and less labor would afford the partakers equal nourishment and
strength.
A great variety of foods at one meal exerts a potent influence in
creating a love of eating, and is likewise a constant temptation to
overeat. Let us have well-cooked, nutritious, and palatable food, and
plenty of it; variety from day to day, but not too great a variety at
each meal.
The prevalent custom of loading the table with a great number of viands,
upon occasions when guests are to be entertained in our homes, is one to
be deplored, since it is neither conducive to good health nor necessary
to good cheer, but on the contrary is still laborious and expensive a
practice that many are debarred from social intercourse because they
cannot afford to entertain after the fashion of their neighbors. Upon
this subject a well-known writer has aptly said: "Simplify cookery, thus
reducing the cost of living, and how many longing individuals would
thereby be enabled to afford themselves the pleasure of culture and
social intercourse! When the barbarous practice of stuffing one's guests
shall have been abolished, a social gathering will not then imply, as it
does now, hard labor, expensive outlay, and dyspepsia. Perhaps when that
time arise, we shall be sufficiently civilized to demand pleasures of a
higher sort. True, the entertainments will then, in one sense, be more
costly, as culture is harder to come by than cake. The profusion of
viands now heaped upon the table, betrays poverty of the worst sort.
Having nothing better to offer, we offer victuals; and this we do with
something of that complacent, satisfied air with which some more
northern tribes present their tidbits of whale and walrus."
TABLE TOPICS.
"Let appetite wear reason's golden chain,
and find in due restrain its luxury."
A man's food, when he has the means and opportunity of selecting it,
suggests his moral nature. Many a Christian is trying to do by
prayer that which cannot be done except through corrected
diet.--_Talmage._
Our pious ancestors enacted a law that suicides should be buried
where four roads meet, and that a cart-load of stones should be
thrown upon the body. Yet, when gentlemen or ladies commit suicide,
not by cord or steel, but by turtle soup or lobster salad, they may
be buried on consecrated ground, and the public are not ashamed to
read an epitaph upon their tombstones false enough to make the
marble blush.--_Horace Mann._
It is related by a gentleman who had an appointment to breakfast
with the late A.T. Stewart, that the butler placed before them both
an elaborate bill of fare; the visitor selected a list of rare
dishes, and was quite abashed when Mr. Stewart said, "Bring me my
usual breakfast,--oatmeal and boiled eggs." He then explained to his
friend that he found simple food a necessity to him, otherwise he
could not think clearly. That unobscured brain applied to nobler
ends would have won higher results, but the principle remains the
same.--_Sel._
Study simplicity in the number of dishes, and a variety in the
character of the meals.--_Sel._
I have come to the conclusion that more than half the disease which
embitters life is due to avoidable errors in diet, ... and that more
mischief, in the form of actual disease, of impaired vigor, and of
shortened life, accrues to civilized man from erroneous habits of
eating than from the habitual use of alcoholic drink, considerable
as I know that evil to be.--_Sir Henry Thompson._
The ancient Gauls, who were a very brave, strong, and hearty race,
lived very abstemiously. Their food was milk, berries, and herbs.
They made bread of nuts. They had a very peculiar fashion of wearing
a metal ring around the body, the size of which was regulated by act
of Parliament. Any man who outgrew in circumference his metal ring
was looked upon as a lazy glutton, and consequently was disgraced.
To keep in health this rule is wise:
Eat only when you need, and relish food,
chew thoroughly that it may do you good,
have it well cooked, unspiced, and undisguised.
--_Leonardo da Vinci_
THE DIGESTION OF FOODS.
It is important that the housekeeper not only understand the nature and
composition of foods, but she should also know something of their
digestive properties, since food, to be serviceable, must be not only
nutritious, but easily digested. Digestion is the process by which food
rendered soluble, and capable of being absorbed for use in carrying on
the various vital processes.
The digestive apparatus consists of a long and tortuous tube called the
alimentary canal, varying in length from twenty-five to thirty feet,
along which are arranged the various digestive organs,--the mouth, the
stomach, the liver, and the pancreas,--each of which, together with the
intestines, has an important function to perform. In these various
organs nature manufactures five wonderful fluids for changing and
dissolving the several food elements. The mouth supplies the saliva; in
the walls of the stomach are little glands which produce the gastric
juice; the pancreatic juice is made by the pancreas; the liver secretes
bile; while scattered along the small intestines are minute glands
which make the intestinal juice. Each of these fluids has a particular
work to do in transforming some part of the food into suitable material
for use in the body. The saliva acts upon the starch of the food,
changing it into sugar; the gastric juice digests albumin and other
nitrogenous elements; the bile digests fat, and aids in the absorption
of other food elements after they are digested; the pancreatic juice is
not confined in its action to a single element, but digests starch,
fats, and the albuminous elements after they have been acted upon by the
gastric juice; the intestinal juice is capable of acting upon all
digestible food elements.
[Illustration: The Alimentary Canal, _a._ Esophagus; _b._ Stomach; _c._
Cardiac Orifice; _d._ Pylorus; _e._ Small Intestine; _f._ Bile Duct;
_g._ Pancreatic Duct; _h._ Ascending Colon; _i._ Transverse Colon; _j._
Descending Colon; _k._ Rectum.]
THE DIGESTION OF A MOUTHFUL OF BREAD.--A mouthful of bread
represents all, or nearly all, the elements of nutrition. Taking a
mouthful of bread as a representative of food in general, it may be said
that its digestion begins the moment that it enters the mouth, and
continues the entire length of the alimentary canal, or until the
digestible portion of the food has been completely digested and
absorbed. We quote the following brief description of the digestive
process from Dr. J.H. Kellogg's Second Book in Physiology[A]:--
[Footnote A: Good Health Pub. Co., Battle Creek, Mich.]
"_Mastication._--The first act of the digestive process is mastication,
or chewing the food, the purpose of which is to crush the food and
divide it into small particles, so that the various digestive fluids may
easily and promptly come into contact with every part of it.
"_Salivary Digestion._--During the mastication of the food, the salivary
glands are actively pouring out the saliva, which mingles with the food,
and by softening it, aids in its division and prepares it for the action
of the other digestive fluids. It also acts upon the starch, converting
a portion of it into grape-sugar.
"_Stomach Digestion._--After receiving the food, the stomach soon begins
to pour out the gastric juices, which first makes its appearance in
little drops, like beads of sweat upon the face when the perspiration
starts. As the quantity increases, the drops run together, trickle down
the side of the stomach, and mingle with the food. The muscular walls of
the stomach contract upon the food, moving it about with a sort of
crushing action, thoroughly mixing the gastric juice with the food.
During this process both the openings of the stomach are closed tightly.
The gastric juice softens the food, digests albumen, and coagulates
milk. The saliva continues its action upon starch for sometime after the
food reaches the stomach.
"After the food has remained in the stomach from one to three hours, or
even longer, if the digestion is slow, or indigestible foods have been
eaten, the contractions of the stomach become so vigorous that the more
fluid portions of the food are squeezed out through the pylorus, the
lower orifice of the stomach, thus escaping into the intestine. The
pylorus does not exercise any sort of intelligence in the selection of
food, as was once supposed. The increasing acidity of the contents of
the stomach causes its muscular walls to contract with increasing
vigor, until finally those portions of the food which may be less
perfectly broken up, but which the stomach has been unable to digest,
are forced through the pylorus.
"_Intestinal Digestion._--As it leaves the stomach, the partially
digested mass of food is intensely acid, from the large quantity of
gastric juices which it contains. Intestinal digestion cannot begin
until the food becomes alkaline. The alkaline bile neutralizes the
gastric juice, and renders the digesting mass slightly alkaline. The
bile also acts upon the fatty elements of the food, converting them into
an emulsion. The pancreatic juice converts the starch into grape-sugar,
even acting upon raw starch. It also digest fats and albumem. The
intestinal juice continues the work begun by the other digestive fluids,
and, in addition, digests cane-sugar, converting it into grape-sugar.
"_Other Uses of the Digestive Fluids._--In addition to the uses which we
have already stated, several of the digestive fluids possess other
interesting properties. The saliva aids the stomach by stimulating its
glands to make gastric juice. The gastric juice and the bile are
excellent antiseptics, by which the food is preserved from fermentation
while undergoing digestion. The bile also stimulates the movements of
the intestines by which the food is moved along, and aids absorption. It
is remarkable and interesting that a fluid so useful as the bile should
be at the same time composed of waste matters which are being removed
from the body. This is an illustration of the wonderful economy shown by
nature in her operations.
"The food is moved along the alimentary canal, from the stomach
downward, by successive contractions of the muscular walls of the
intestines, known as peristaltic movements, which occur with great
regularity during digestion.
"_Absorption_.--The absorption of the food begins as soon as any portion
has been digested. Even in the mouth and the esophagus a small amount is
absorbed. The entire mucous membrane lining the digestive canal is
furnished with a rich supply of blood-vessels, by which the greater part
of the digestive food is absorbed.
"_Liver Digestion._--The liver as well as the stomach is a digestive
organ, and in a double sense. It not only secretes a digestive fluid,
the bile, but it acts upon the food brought to it by the portal vein,
and regulates the supply of digested food to the general system. It
converts a large share of the grape-sugar and partially digested starch
brought to it into a kind of liver starch, termed glycogen, which it
stores up in its tissues. During the interval between the meals, the
liver gradually redigests the glycogen, reconverting it into sugar, and
thus supplying it to the blood in small quantities, instead of allowing
the entire amount formed in digestion to enter the circulation at once.
If too large an amount of sugar entered the system at once, it would be
unable to use it all, and would be compelled to get rid of a
considerable portion through the kidneys. The liver also completes the
digestion of albumen and other food elements."
TIME REQUIRED FOR DIGESTION.--The length of time required for
stomach digestion varies with different food substances. The following
table shows the time necessary for the stomach digestion of some of the
more commonly used foods:--
min
Rice 1 00
Sago 1 45
Tapioca 2 00
Barley 2 00
Beans, pod, boiled 2 30
Bread, wheaten 3 30
Bread, corn 3 15
Apples, sour and raw 2 00
Apples, sweet and raw 1 30
Parsnips, boiled 2 30
Beets, boiled 3 45
Potatoes, Irish, boiled 3 30
Potatoes, Irish, baked 2 30
Cabbage, raw 2 30
Cabbage, boiled 4 30
Milk, boiled 2 00
Milk, raw 2 15
Eggs, hard boiled 3 30
Eggs, soft boiled 3 00
Eggs, fried 3 30
Eggs, raw 2 00
Eggs, whipped 1 30
Salmon, salted, boiled 4 00
Oysters, raw 2 55
Oysters, stewed 3 30
Beef, lean, rare roasted 3 00
Beefsteak, boiled 3 00
Beef, lean, fried 4 00
Beef, salted, boiled 4 15
Pork, roasted 5 15
Pork, salted, fried 4 15
Mutton, roasted 3 15
Mutton, broiled 3 00
Veal, broiled 4 00
Veal, fried 4 30
Fowls, boiled 4 00
Duck, roasted 4 30
Butter, melted 3 30
Cheese 3 30
Soup, marrowbone 4 15
Soup, bean 3 00
Soup, mutton 3 30
Chicken, boiled 3 00
The time required for the digestion of food also depends upon the
condition under which the food is eaten. Healthy stomach digestion
requires at least five hours for its completion, and the stomach should
have an hour for rest before another meal. If fresh food is taken before
that which preceded it is digested, the portion of food remaining in the
stomach is likely to undergo fermentation, thus rendering the whole mass
of food unfit for the nutrition of the body, besides fostering various
disturbances of digestion. It has been shown by recent observations that
the length of time required for food to pass through the entire
digestive process to which it is subjected in the mouth, stomach, and
small intestines, is from twelve to fourteen hours.
HYGIENE OF DIGESTION.--With the stomach and other digestive organs
in a state of perfect health, one is entirely unconscious of their
existence, save when of feeling of hunger calls attention to the fact
that food is required, or satiety warns us that a sufficient amount or
too much has been eaten. Perfect digestion can only be maintained by
careful observance of the rules of health in regard to habits of eating.
On the subject of Hygiene of Digestion, we again quote a few paragraphs
from Dr. Kellogg's work on Physiology, in which is given a concise
summary of the more important points relating to this:--
"The hygiene of digestion has to do with the quality and quantity of
food eaten, in the manner of eating it.
"_Hasty Eating._--If the food is eaten too rapidly, it will not be
properly divided, and when swallowed in coarse lumps, the digestive
fluids cannot readily act upon it. On account of the insufficient
mastication, the saliva will be deficient in quantity, and, as a
consequence, the starch will not be well digested, and the stomach will
not secrete a sufficient amount of gastric juice. It is not well to eat
only soft or liquid food, as we are likely to swallow it without proper
chewing. A considerable proportion of hard food, which requires thorough
mastication, should be eaten at every meal.
"_Drinking Freely at Meals_ is harmful, as it not only encourages hasty
eating, but dilutes the gastric juice, and thus lessens its activity.
The food should be chewed until sufficiently moistened by saliva to
allow it to be swallowed. When large quantities of fluid are taken into
the stomach, digestion does not begin until a considerable portion of
the fluid has been absorbed. If cold foods or drinks are taken with the
meal, such as ice-cream, ice-water, iced milk or tea, the stomach is
chilled, and a long delay in the digestive process is occasioned.
"The Indians of Brazil carefully abstain from drinking when eating, and
the same custom prevails among many other savage tribes.
"_Eating between Meals._--The habit of eating apples, nuts, fruits,
confectionery, etc., between meals is exceedingly harmful, and certain
to produce loss of appetite and indigestion. The stomach as well as the
muscles and other organs of the body requires rest. The frequency with
which meals should be taken depends somewhat upon the age and occupation
of an individual. Infants take their food at short intervals, and owing
to its simple character, are able to digest it very quickly. Adults
should not take food oftener than three times a day; and persons whose
employment is sedentary say, in many cases at least, adopt with
advantage the plan of the ancient Greeks, who ate but twice a day. The
latter custom is quite general among the higher classes in France and
Spain, and in several South American countries.
"_Simplicity in Diet._--Taking too many kinds of food at a meal is a
common fault which is often a cause of disease of the digestive-organs.
Those nations are the most hardy and enduring whose dietary is most
simple. The Scotch peasantry live chiefly upon oatmeal, the Irish upon
potatoes, milk, and oatmeal, the Italian upon peas, beans, macaroni, and
chestnuts; yet all these are noted for remarkable health and endurance.
The natives of the Canary Islands, an exceedingly well-developed and
vigorous race, subsist almost chiefly upon a food which they call
gofio, consisting of parched grain, coarsely ground in a mortar and
mixed with water.
"_Eating when Tired._--It is not well to eat when exhausted by violent
exercise, as the system is not prepared to do the work of digestion
well. Sleeping immediately after eating is also a harmful practice. The
process of digestion cannot well be performed during sleep, and sleep is
disturbed by the ineffective efforts of the digestive organs. Hence the
well-known evil effects of late suppers.
"_Eating too Much._--Hasty eating is the greatest cause of over-eating.
When one eats too rapidly, the food is crowded into the stomach so fast
that nature has no time to cry, 'Enough,' by taking away the appetite
before too much has been eaten. When an excess of food is taken, it is
likely to ferment or sour before it can be digested. One who eats too
much usually feels dull after eating.
"_How Much Food is Enough?_--The proper quantity for each person to take
is what he is able to digest and utilize. This amount of various with
each individual, at different times. The amount needed will vary with
the amount of work done, mental or muscular; with the weather or the
season of the year, more food being required in cold than in warm
weather: with the age of an individual, very old and very young persons
requiring less food than those of middle age. An unperverted appetite,
not artificially stimulated, is a safe guide. Drowsiness, dullness, and
heaviness at the stomach are indications of an excess of eating, and
naturally suggest a lessening of the quantity of food, unless the
symptoms are known to arise from some other cause.
"_Excess of Certain Food Elements._--When sugar is too freely used,
either with food or in the form of sweetmeats or candies, indigestion,
and even more serious disease, is likely to result. Fats, when freely
used, give rise to indigestion and 'biliousness.' An excess of albumen
from the too free use of meat is harmful. Only a limited amount of this
element can be used; an excess is treated as waste matter, and must be
removed from the system by the liver and the kidneys. The majority of
persons would enjoy better health by using meat more moderately than is
customary in this country.
"_Deficiency of Certain Food Elements._--A diet deficient in any
important food element is even more detrimental to health than a diet in
which certain elements are in excess.
"The popular notion that beef-tea and meat extracts contain the
nourishing elements of meat in a concentrated form, is a dangerous
error. Undoubtedly many sick persons have been starved by being fed
exclusively upon these articles, which are almost wholly composed of
waste substances. Prof. Paule Bernard, of Paris, found that dogs fed
upon meat extracts died sooner than those which received only water."
FOOD COMBINATIONS.--Some persons, especially those of weak
digestive powers, often experience inconvenience in the use of certain
foods, owing to their improper combinations with other articles. Many
foods which are digested easily when partaken of alone or in harmonious
combinations, create much disturbance when eaten at the same meal with
several different articles of food, or with some particular article with
which they are especially incompatible. The following food combinations
are among the best, the relative excellence of each being indicated by
the order in which they are named: Milk and grains; grains and eggs;
grains and vegetables or meats; grains and fruits.
Persons with sound stomachs and vigorous digestion will seldom
experience inconvenience in making use of other and more varied
combinations, but dyspeptics and persons troubled with slow digestion
will find it to their advantage to select from the bill of fare such
articles as best accord with each other, and to avoid such combinations
as fruits and vegetables, milk and vegetables, milk and meats, sugar and
milk, meat or vegetables, fats with fruits, meats, or vegetables, or
cooked with grains.
TABLE TOPICS.
Now good digestion waits on appetite, and health on
both--_Shakespeare._
We live not upon what we eat, but upon what we digest.--_Abernethy._
If we consider the amount of ill temper, despondency, and general
unhappiness which arises from want of proper digestion and
assimilation of our food, it seems obviously well worth while to put
forth every effort, and undergo any sacrifice, for the purpose of
avoiding indigestion, with its resulting bodily ills; and yet year
after year, from the cradle to the grave, we go on violating the
plainest and simplest laws of health at the temptation of Cooks,
caterers, and confectioners, whose share in shortening the average
term of human life is probably nearly equal to that of the combined
armies and navies of the world.--_Richardson._
Almost every human malady is connected, either by highway or byway,
with the stomach.--_Sir Francis Head._
It is a well-established fact that a leg of mutton caused a
revolution in the affairs of Europe. Just before the battle of
Leipsic, Napoleon the Great insisted on dining on boiled mutton,
although his physicians warned him that it would disagree with him.
The emperor's brain resented the liberty taken with its colleague,
the stomach; the monarch's equilibrium was overturned, the battle
lost, and a new page opened in history.--_Sel._
Galloping consumption at the dinner table is one of the national
disorders.--_Sel._
The kitchen (that is, your stomach) being out of order, the garret
(the head) cannot be right, and every room in the house becomes
affected. Remedy the evil in the kitchen, and all will be right in
parlor and chamber. If you put improper food into the stomach, you
play the mischief with it, and with the whole machine
besides.--_Abernethy._
Cattle know when to go home from grazing, but a foolish man never
knows his stomachs measures.--_Scandinavian proverb._
Enough is as good as a feast.
Simplicity of diet is the characteristic of the dwellers in the
Orient. According to Niebuhr, the sheik of the desert wants only a
dish of pillau, or boiled rice, which he eats without fork or spoon.
Notwithstanding their frugal fare, these sons of the desert are
among the most hearty and enduring of all members of the human
family. A traveler tells of seeing one of them run up to the top of
the tallest pyramid and back in six minutes.
One fourth of what we eat keeps us, and the other three fourths we
keep at the peril of our lives.--_Abernethy._
COOKERY.
It is not enough that good and proper food material be provided; it must
have such preparation as will increase and not diminish its alimentary
value. The unwholesomeness of food is quite as often due to bad cookery
as to improper selection of material. Proper cookery renders good food
material more digestible. When scientifically done, cooking changes each
of the food elements, with the exception of fats, in much the same
manner as do the digestive juices, and at the same time it breaks up the
food by dissolving the soluble portions, so that its elements are more
readily acted upon by the digestive fluids. Cookery, however, often
fails to attain the desired end; and the best material is rendered
useless and unwholesome by a improper preparation.
It is rare to find a table, some portion of the food upon which is not
rendered unwholesome either by improper preparatory treatment, or by the
addition of some deleterious substance. This is doubtless due to the
fact that the preparation of food being such a commonplace matter, its
important relations to health, mind, and body have been overlooked, and
it has been regarded as a menial service which might be undertaken with
little or no preparation, and without attention to matters other than
those which relate to the pleasure of the eye and the palate. With taste
only as a criterion, it is so easy to disguise the results of careless
and improper cookery of food by the use of flavors and condiments, as
well as to palm off upon the digestive organs all sorts of inferior
material, that poor cookery has come to be the rule rather than the
exception.
Another reason for this prevalence of bad cookery, is to be found in the
fact that in so many homes the cooking is intrusted to an ignorant class
of persons having no knowledge whatever of the scientific principles
involved in this most important and practical of arts. An ethical
problem which we have been unable to solve is the fact that women who
would never think of trusting the care of their fine china and
bric-a-brac to unskilled hands, unhesitatingly intrust to persons who
are almost wholly untrained, the preparation of their daily food. There
is no department of life where superior intelligence is more needed than
in the selection and preparation of food, upon which so largely depend
the health and physical welfare of the family circle.
The evils of bad cookery and ill-selected food are manifold, so many, in
fact, that it has been calculated that they far exceed the mischief
arising from the use of strong drink; indeed, one of the evils of
unwholesome food is its decided tendency to create a craving for
intoxicants. Bad cookery causes indigestion, indigestion causes thirst,
and thirst perpetuates drunkenness. Any one who has suffered from a fit
of indigestion, and can recollect the accompanying headache and the
lowness of spirits, varying in degree from dejection or ill-humor to the
most extreme melancholy, until the intellectual faculties seemed dazed,
and the moral feelings blunted, will hardly wonder that when such a
condition becomes chronic, as is often the case from the use of
improperly prepared food, the victim is easily led to resort to
stimulants to drown depression and enliven the spirits.
A thorough practical knowledge of simple, wholesome cookery ought to
form a part of the education of every young woman, whatever her station
in life. No position in life is more responsible than that of the person
who arranges the bills of fare and selects the food for the household;
and what higher mission can one conceive than to intelligently prepare
the wherewithal to make shoulders strong to bear life's burdens and
heads clear to solve its intricate problems? what worthier work than to
help in the building up of bodies into pure temples fit for guests of
noble thoughts and high purposes? Surely, no one should undertake such
important work without a knowledge of the principles involved.
THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC COOKERY.
Cookery is the art of preparing food for the table by dressing, or by
the application of heat in some manner.
FUELS.--Artificial heat is commonly produced by combustion, caused
by the chemical action of the oxygen of the air upon the hydrogen and
carbon found in fuel. The different fuels in common use for cooking
purposes are hard wood, soft wood, charcoal, anthracite coal, bituminous
coal, coke, lignite, kerosene oil, gasoline, and gas. As to their
respective values, much depends upon the purpose for which they are to
be used. Wood charcoal produces a greater amount of heat than an equal
weight of any other fuel. Soft wood burns quicker and gives a more
intense heat than hard wood, and hence is best for a quick fire. Hard
wood burns slowly, produces a larger mass of coals, and is best where
long-continued heat is desired. Anthracite coal kindles slowly, and
burns with little flame or smoke, but its vapor is sulphurous, and on
that account it should never be burned in an open stove, nor in one with
an imperfect draft. Its heat is steady and intense. Bituminous coal
ignites readily, burns with considerable flame and smoke, and gives a
much less intense heat than anthracite, Lignite, or brown coal, is much
less valuable as fuel. Coke is useful when a short, quick fire is
needed. Kerosene and gas are convenient and economical fuels.
MAKING FIRES.--If coal is the fuel to be used, first clean out the
stove by shaking the grate and removing all ashes and cinders. Remove
the stove covers, and brush the soot and ashes out of all the flues and
draft holes into the fire-box. Place a large handful of shavings or
loosely twisted or crumpled papers upon the grate, over which lay some
fine pieces of dry kindling-wood, arranged crosswise to permit a free
draft, then a few sticks of hard wood, so placed as to allow plenty of
air spaces. Be sure that the wood extends out to both ends of the
fire-box. Replace the covers, and if the stove needs blacking, mix the
polish, and apply it, rubbing with a dry brush until nearly dry, then
light the fuel, as a little heat will facilitate the polishing. When the
wood is burning briskly, place a shovelful or two of rather small pieces
of coal upon the wood, and, as they ignite, gradually add more, until
there is a clear, bright body of fire, remembering, however, never to
fill the stove above the fire bricks; then partly close the direct
draft. When wood or soft coal is used, the fuel may be added at the same
time with the kindling.
CARE OF FIRES.--Much fuel is wasted through the loss of heat from
too much draft. Only just enough air should be supplied to promote
combustion. A coal fire, when well kindled, needs only air enough to
keep it burning. When the coal becomes red all through, it has parted
with the most of its heat, and the fire will soon die unless
replenished. To keep a steady fire, add but a small amount of fuel at a
time, and repeat often enough to prevent any sensible decrease of the
degree of heat. Rake the fire from the bottom, and keep it clear of
ashes and cinders. If a very hot fire is needed, open the drafts; at
other times, keep them closed, or partially so, and not waste fuel.
There is no economy in allowing a fire to get low before fuel is added;
for the fresh fuel cools the fire to a temperature so low that it is not
useful, and thus occasions a direct waste of all fuel necessary to again
raise the heat to the proper degree, to say nothing of the waste of time
and patience. The addition of small quantities of fuel at short
intervals so long as continuous heat is needed, is far better than to
let the fuel burn nearly out, and then add a larger quantity. The
improper management of the drafts and dampers has also much to do with
waste of fuel. As stoves are generally constructed, it is necessary for
the heat to pass over the top, down the back, and under the bottom of
the oven before escaping into the flue, in order to properly heat the
oven for baking. In order to force the heat to make this circuit, the
direct draft of the stove needs to be closed. With this precaution
observed, a quick fire from a small amount of fuel, used before its
force is spent, will produce better results than a fire-box full under
other circumstances.
An item of economy for those who are large users of coal, is the careful
sifting of the cinders from the ashes. They can be used to good
advantage to put first upon the kindlings, when building the fire, as
they ignite more readily than fresh coal, and give a greater, quicker
heat, although much less enduring.
METHODS OF COOKING.--A proper source of heat having been secured,
the next step is to apply it to the food in some manner. The principal
methods commonly employed are roasting, broiling, baking, boiling,
stewing, simmering, steaming, and frying.
_Roasting_ is cooking food in its own juices before an open fire. A
clear fire with intense heat is necessary.
_Broiling_, or _grilling_, is cooking by radiant heat over glowing
coals. This method is only adapted to thin pieces of food with a
considerable amount of surface. Larger and more compact foods should be
roasted or baked. Roasting and broiling are allied in principle. In
both, the work is chiefly done by the radiation of heat directly upon
the surface of the food, although some heat is communicated by the hot
air surrounding the food. The intense heat applied to the food soon
sears its outer surfaces, and thus prevents the escape of its juices. If
care be taken frequently to turn the food so that its entire surface
will be thus acted upon, the interior of the mass is cooked by its own
juices.
_Baking_ is the cooking of food by dry heat in a closed oven. Only foods
containing a considerable degree of moisture are adapted for cooking by
this method. The hot, dry air which fills the oven is always thirsting
for moisture, and will take from every moist substance to which it has
access a quantity of water proportionate to its degree of heat. Foods
containing but a small amount of moisture, unless protected in some
manner from the action of the heated air, or in some way supplied with
moisture during the cooking process, come from the oven dry, hard, and
unpalatable.
Proper cooking by this method depends greatly upon the facility with
which the heat of the oven can be regulated. When oil or gas is the fuel
used, it is an easy matter to secure and maintain almost any degree of
heat desirable, but with a wood or coal stove, especial care and
painstaking are necessary.
It is of the first importance that the mechanism of the oven to be used,
be thoroughly understood by the cook, and she should test its heating
capacity under various conditions, with a light, quick fire and with a
more steady one; she should carefully note the kind and amount of fuel
requisite to produce a certain degree of heat; in short, she should
thoroughly know her "machine" and its capabilities before attempting to
use it for the cooking of food. An oven thermometer is of the utmost
value for testing the heat, but unfortunately, such thermometers are not
common. They are obtainable in England, although quite expensive. It is
also possible at the present time to obtain ranges with a very reliable
thermometer attachment to the oven door.
[Illustration: An Oven Thermometer]
A cook of good judgment by careful observation and comparison of
results, can soon learn to form quite a correct idea of the heat of her
oven by the length of time she can hold her hand inside it without
discomfort, but since much depends upon the construction of stoves and
the kind of fuel used, and since the degree of heat bearable will vary
with every hand that tries it, each person who depends upon this test
must make her own standard. When the heat of the oven is found to be too
great, it may be lessened by placing in it a dish of cold water.
_Boiling_ is the cooking of food in a boiling liquid. Water is the usual
medium employed for this purpose. When water is heated, as its
temperature is increased, minute bubbles of air which have been
dissolved by it are given off. As the temperature rises, bubbles of
steam will begin to form at the bottom of the vessel. At first these
will be condensed as they rise into the cooler water above, causing a
simmering sound; but as the heat increases, the bubbles will rise higher
and higher before collapsing, and in a short time will pass entirely
through the water, escaping from its surface, causing more or less
agitation, according to the rapidity with which they are formed. Water
boils when the bubbles thus rise to the surface, and steam is thrown
off. If the temperature is now tested, it will be found to be about
212 deg. F. When water begins to boil, it is impossible to increase its
temperature, as the steam carries off the heat as rapidly as it is
communicated to the water. The only way in which the temperature can be
raised, is by the confinement of the steam; but owing to its enormous
expansive force, this is not practicable with ordinary cooking utensils.
The mechanical action of the water is increased by rapid bubbling, but
not the heat; and to boil anything violently does not expedite the
cooking process, save that by the mechanical action of the water the
food is broken into smaller pieces, which are for this reason more
readily softened. But violent boiling occasions an enormous waste of
fuel, and by driving away in the steam the volatile and savory elements
of the food, renders it much less palatable, if not altogether
tasteless. The solvent properties of water are so increased by heat that
it permeates the food, rendering its hard and tough constituents soft
and easy of digestion.
The liquids mostly employed in the cooking of foods are water and milk.
Water is best suited for the cooking of most foods, but for such
farinaceous foods as rice, macaroni, and farina, milk, or at least part
milk, is preferable, as it adds to their nutritive value. In using milk
for cooking purposes, it should be remembered that being more dense than
water, when heated, less steam escapes, and consequently it boils sooner
than does water. Then, too, milk being more dense, when it is used alone
for cooking, a little larger quantity of fluid will be required than
when water is used.
The boiling point for water at the sea level is 212 deg. At all points
above the sea level, water boils at a temperature below 212 deg., the exact
temperature depending upon the altitude. At the top of Mt. Blanc, an
altitude of 15,000 feet, water boils at 185 deg. The boiling point is
lowered one degree for every 600 feet increase in altitude. The boiling
point may be increased by adding soluble substances to the water. A
saturated solution of common baking soda boils at 220 deg. A saturated
solution of chloride of sodium boils at 227 deg. A similar solution of
sal-ammoniac boils at 238 deg. Of course such solutions cannot be used
advantageously, except as a means of cooking articles placed in
hermetically sealed vessels and immersed in the liquid.
Different effects upon food are produced by the use of hard and soft
water. Peas and beans boiled in hard water containing lime or gypsum,
will not become tender, because these chemical substances harden
vegetable casein, of which element peas and beans are largely composed.
For extracting the juices of meat and the soluble parts of other foods,
soft water is best, as it more readily penetrates the tissue; but when
it is desired to preserve the articles whole, and retain their juices
and flavors, hard water is preferable.
Foods should be put to cook in cold or boiling water, in accordance with
the object to be attained in their cooking. Foods from which it is
desirable to extract the nutrient properties, as for broths, extracts,
etc., should be put to cook in cold water. Foods to be kept intact as
nearly as may be, should be put to cook in boiling water.
Hot and cold water act differently upon the different food elements.
Starch is but slightly acted upon by cold water. When starch is added
to several times its bulk of hot water, all the starch granules burst on
approaching the boiling point, and swell to such a degree as to occupy
nearly the whole volume of the water, forming a pasty mess. Sugar is
dissolved readily in the either hot or cold water. Cold water extracts
albumen. Hot water coagulates it.
_Steaming_, as its name implies, is the cooking of food by the use of
steam. There are several ways of steaming, the most common of which is
by placing the food in a perforated dish over a vessel of boiling water.
For foods not needing the solvent powers of water, or which already
contain a large amount of moisture, this method is preferable to
boiling. Another form of cooking, which is usually termed steaming, is
that of placing the food, with or without water, as needed, in a closed
vessel which is placed inside another vessel containing boiling water.
Such an apparatus is termed a double boiler. Food cooked in its own
juices in a covered dish in a hot oven, is sometimes spoken of as being
_steamed_ or _smothered_.
_Stewing_ is the prolonged cooking of food in a small quantity of
liquid, the temperature of which is just below the boiling point.
Stewing should not be confounded with simmering, which is slow, steady
boiling. The proper temperature for stewing is most easily secured by
the use of the double boiler. The water in the outer vessel boils, while
that in the inner vessel does not, being kept a little below the
temperature of the water from which its heat is obtained, by the
constant evaporation at a temperature a little below the boiling point.
_Frying_, which is the cooking of food in hot fat, is a method not to be
recommended--Unlike all the other food elements, fat is rendered less
digestible by cooking. Doubtless it is for this reason that nature has
provided those foods which require the most prolonged cooking to fit
them for use with only a small proportion of fat, and it would seem to
indicate that any food to be subjected to a high degree of heat should
not be mixed and compounded largely of fats. The ordinary way of frying,
which the French call _sauteing_, is by the use of only a little fat in
a shallow pan, into which the food is put and cooked first on one side
and then the other. Scarcely anything could be more unwholesome than
food prepared in this manner. A morsel of food encrusted with fat
remains undigested in the stomach because fat is not acted upon by the
gastric juice, and its combination with the other food elements of which
the morsel is composed interferes with their digestion also. If such
foods are habitually used, digestion soon becomes slow and the gastric
juice so deficient in quantity that fermentation and putrefactive
changes are occasioned, resulting in serious disturbance of health. In
the process of frying, the action of the heat partially decomposes the
fat; in consequence, various poisonous substances are formed, highly
detrimental to the digestion of the partaker of the food.
ADDING FOODS TO BOILING LIQUIDS.--Much of the soddenness of
improperly cooked foods might be avoided, if the following facts were
kept in mind:--
When vegetables, or other foods of ordinary temperature, are put into
boiling water, the temperature of the water is lowered in proportion to
the quantity and the temperature of the food thus introduced, and will
not again boil until the mass of food shall have absorbed more heat from
the fire. The result of this is that the food is apt to become more or
less water-soaked before the process of cooking begins. This difficulty
may be avoided by introducing but small quantities of the food at one
time, so as not to greatly lower the temperature of the liquid, and then
allowing the latter to boil between the introduction of each fresh
supply, or by heating the food before adding it to the liquid.
EVAPORATION is another principle often overlooked in the cooking of
food, and many a sauce or gravy is spoiled because the liquid, heated in
a shallow pan, from which evaporation is rapid, loses so much in bulk
that the amount of thickening requisite for the given quantity of fluid,
and which, had less evaporation occurred, would have made it of the
proper consistency, makes the sauce thick and unpalatable. Evaporation
is much less, in slow boiling, than in more rapid cooking.
MEASURING.--One of the most important principles to be observed in
the preparation of food for cooking, is accuracy in measuring. Many an
excellent recipe proves a failure simply from lack of care in this
respect. Measures are generally more convenient than weights, and are
more commonly used. The common kitchen cup, which holds a half pint, is
the one usually taken as the standard; if any other size is used, the
ingredients for the entire recipe should be measured by the same. The
following points should be observed in measuring:--
1. The teaspoons and tablespoons to be used in measuring, are the silver
spoons in general use.
2. Any material like flour, sugar, salt, that has been packed, should
either be sifted or stirred up lightly before measuring.
3. A cupful of dry material is measured level with the top of the cup,
without being packed down.
4. A cupful of liquid is all the cup will contain without running over.
Hold the cup in a saucer while measuring, to prevent spilling the liquid
upon the floor or table.
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.--The following
comparative table of weights and measurements will aid in estimating
different materials:--
One heaping tablespoonful of sugar weighs one ounce.
Two round tablespoonfuls of flour weigh one ounce.
Two cupfuls of granulated sugar weigh one pound.
Two cupfuls of meal weigh one pound.
Four cupfuls of sifted flour weigh one pound.
One pint of oatmeal, cracked wheat, or other coarse grains, weighs about
one pound.
One pint of liquid weighs one pound.
One pint of meat chopped and packed solid weighs one pound.
Seven heaping tablespoonfuls of sugar = one cupful.
Five heaping tablespoonfuls of flour = one cupful.
Two cupfuls of liquid or dry material = one pint
Four cupfuls of liquid or dry material = one quart.
MIXING MATERIALS.--In the compounding of recipes, various modes are
employed for mingling together the different ingredients, chief of which
are _stirring_, _beating_, and _kneading_.
By _stirring_ is meant a continuous motion round and round with a spoon,
without lifting it from the mixture, except to scrape occasionally from
the sides of the dish any portion of the material that may cling to it.
It is not necessary that the stirring should be all in one direction, as
many cooks suppose. The object of the stirring is to thoroughly blend
the ingredients, and this may be accomplished as well by stirring--in
one direction as in another.
_Beating_ is for the purpose of incorporating as much air in the mixture
as possible. It should be done by dipping the spoon in and out, cutting
clear through and lifting from the bottom with each stroke. The process
must be continuous, and must never be interspersed with any stirring if
it is desired to retain the air within the mixture.
_Kneading_ is the mode by which materials already in the form of dough
are more thoroughly blended together; it also serves to incorporate air.
The process is more fully described in the chapter on "Bread,"
TEMPERATURE.--Many a cook fails and knows not why, because she does
not understand the influence of temperature upon materials and food.
Flour and liquids for unfermented breads cannot be too cold, while for
bread prepared with yeast, success is largely dependent upon a warm and
equable temperature throughout the entire process.
COOKING UTENSILS.--The earliest cookery was probably accomplished
without the aid of any utensils, the food being roasted by burying it in
hot ashes or cooked by the aid of heated stones; but modern cookery
necessitates the use of a greater or less variety of cooking utensils to
facilitate the preparation of food, most of which are so familiar to the
reader as to need no description. (A list of those needed for use will
be found on page 66.) Most of these utensils are manufactured from some
kind of metal, as iron, tin, copper, brass, etc. All metals are
dissolvable in certain substances, and some of those employed for making
household utensils are capable of forming most poisonous compounds when
used for cooking certain foods. This fact should lead to great care on
the part of the housewife, both in purchasing and in using utensils for
cooking purposes.
Iron utensils, although they are, when new, apt to discolor and impart
a disagreeable flavor to food cooked in them, are not objectionable from
a health standpoint, if kept clean and free from rust. Iron rust is the
result of the combination of the iron with oxygen, for which it has so
great an affinity that it will decompose water to get oxygen to unite
with; hence it is that iron utensils rust so quickly when not carefully
dried after using, or if left where they can collect moisture. This is
the reason why a coating of tallow, which serves to exclude the air and
moisture, will preserve ironware not in daily use from rusting.
"Porcelain ware" is iron lined with a hard, smooth enamel, and makes
safe and very desirable cooking utensils. German porcelain ware is
unexcelled for culinary purposes.
"Granite ware" is a material quite recently come into use, the
composition of which is a secret, although pronounced by eminent
chemists to be free from all injurious qualities. Utensils made from it
are light in weight, easily kept clean, and for most cooking purposes,
are far superior to those made from any other material.
What is termed "galvanized iron" is unsuitable for cooking utensils, it
being simply sheet iron coated with zinc, an exceedingly unsafe metal to
be used for cooking purposes.
Tin, which is simply thin sheet iron coated with tin by dipping several
times into vats of the melted metal, is largely employed in the
manufacture of cooking utensils. Tinware is acted upon by acids, and
when used for holding or cooking any acid foods, like sour milk, sour
fruits, tomatoes, etc., harmful substances are liable to be formed,
varying in quantity and harmfulness with the nature of the acid
contained in the food.
In these days of fraud and adulteration, nearly all the cheaper grades
of tinware contain a greater or less amount of lead in their
composition, which owing to its greater abundance and less price, is
used as an adulterant of tin. Lead is also used in the solder with which
the parts of tinware are united. The action of acids upon lead form very
poisonous compounds, and all lead-adulterated utensils should be wholly
discarded for cooking purposes.
_Test for Lead-Adulterated Tin._--Place upon the metal a small drop of
nitric acid, spreading it to the size of a dime, dry with gentle heat,
apply a drop of water, then add a small crystal of iodide of potash. If
lead is present, a yellowish color will be seen very soon after the
addition of the iodide. Lead glazing, which is frequently employed on
crockery and ironware in the manufacture of cooking utensils, may also
be detected in the same manner.
Cooking utensils made of copper are not to be recommended from the point
of healthfulness, although many cooks esteem them because copper is a
better conductor of heat than iron or tin. The acids of many fruits
combine with copper to form extremely poisonous substances. Fatty
substances, as well as salt and sugar, act upon copper to a greater or
less degree, also vegetables containing sulfur in their composition and
produce harmful compounds.
Utensils made of brass, which is a compound of copper and zinc, are not
safe to use for cooking purposes.
TABLE TOPICS.
Bad cooking diminishes happiness and shortens life.--_Wisdom of
Ages._
Says Mrs. Partington: "Many a fair home has been desiccated by poor
cooking, and a man's table has been the rock on which his happiness
has split."
SIGNIFICANT FACT.--_Lady_--"Have you had much experience as a cook?"
_Applicant_--"Oh, indeed I have. I was the cook of Mr. and Mrs.
Peterby for three years."
_L._--"Why did you leave them?"
_A._--"I didn't leave them. They left me. They both died."
_L._--"What of?"
_A._--"Dyspepsia."
Cooking is generally bad because people falling to routine; habit
dulls their appreciation, and they do not think about what they are
eating.--_Didsbury._
_Lilly_ (Secretary of the cooking class)--"Now girls, we've learned
nine cakes, two kinds of angel food, and seven pies. What next?"
_Susie_ (engaged)--"Dick's father says I must learn to bake bread."
_Indignant chorus_--"Bread? How absurd! What are bakers for?"
It is told of Philip Hecgnet, a French, physician who lived in the
17th, century, that when calling upon his wealthy patients, he used
often to go to the kitchen and pantry, embrace the cooks and
butlers, and exhort them to do their duty well. "I owe you so much
gratitude, my dear friends," he would say; "you are so useful to us
doctors; for if you did not keep on poisoning the people, we should
all have to go to the poorhouse."
There are innumerable books of recipes for cooking, but unless the
cook is master of the principles of his art, and unless he knows the
why and the wherefore of its processes, he cannot choose a recipe
intelligently and execute it successfully.--_Richard Estcourt._
They who provide the food for the world, decide the health of the
world. You have only to go on some errands amid the taverns and
hotels of the United States and Great Britain, to appreciate the
fact that a vast multitude of the human race are slaughtered by
incompetent cookery. Though a young woman may have taken lessons in
music, and may have taken lessons in painting, and lessons in
astronomy, she is not well educated unless she has taken lessons in
dough!--_Talmage._
HOUSEHOLD WORKSHOP
It is a mistake to suppose that any room, however small and unpleasantly
situated, is "good enough" for a kitchen. This is the room where
housekeepers pass a great portion of their time, and it should be one of
the brightest and most convenient rooms in the house; for upon the
results of no other department of woman's domain depend so greatly the
health and comfort of the family as upon those involved in this
"household workshop." The character of a person's work is more or less
dependent upon his surroundings, hence is it to be greatly wondered at
that a woman immured in a small, close, dimly-lighted room, whose only
outlook may be the back alley or the woodshed, supplies her household
with products far below the standard of health and housewifely skill?
Every kitchen should have windows on two sides of the room, and the sun
should have free entrance through them; the windows should open from the
top to allow a complete change of air, for light and fresh air are among
the chief essentials to success in all departments of the household.
Good drainage should also be provided, and the ventilation of the
kitchen ought to be even more carefully attended to than that of a
sleeping room. The ventilation of the kitchen should be so ample as to
thoroughly remove all gases and odors, which, together with steam from
boiling and other cooking processes, generally invade and render to some
degree unhealthful every other portion of the house. It is the steam
from the kitchen which gives a fusty odor to the parlor air and provides
a wet-sheet pack for the occupant of the "spare bed." The only way of
wholly eradicating this evil, is the adoption of the suggestion of the
sanitary philosopher who places the kitchen at the top of the house.
To lessen to discomforts from heat, a ventilator may be placed above the
range, that shall carry out of the room all superfluous heat, and aid in
removing the steam and odors from cooking food. The simplest form of
such a ventilator this inverted hopper of sheet iron fitted above the
range, the upper and smaller end opening into a large flue adjacent to
the smoke flue for the range. Care must be taken, however, to provide an
ample ventilating shaft for this purpose, since a strong draft is
required to secure the desired results.
There should be ample space for tables, chairs, range, sink, and
cupboards, yet the room should not be so large as to necessitate too
many steps. A very good size for the ordinary dwelling is 16 x 18 feet.
Undoubtedly much of the distaste for, and neglect of, "housework," so
often deplored in these days, arises from unpleasant surroundings. If
the kitchen be light, airy, and tidy, and the utensils bright and clean,
the work of compounding those articles of food which grace the table and
satisfy the appetite will be a pleasant task, and one entirely worthy of
the most intelligent and cultivated woman.
It is desirable, from a sanitary standpoint, that the kitchen floor be
made impervious to moisture; hence, concrete or tile floors are better
than wooden floors. If wooden floors are used, they should be
constructed of narrow boards of hard wood, carefully joined and
thoroughly saturated with hot linseed oil, well rubbed in to give polish
to the surface.
Cleanliness is the great _desideratum_, and this can be best attained
by having all woodwork in and about the kitchen coated with varnish;
substances which cause stain and grease spots, do not penetrate the wood
when varnished, and can be easily removed with a damp cloth. Paint is
preferable to whitewash or calcimine for the walls, since it is less
affected by steam, and can be more readily cleaned. A carpet on a
kitchen floor is as out of place as a kitchen sink would be in a parlor.
The elements of beauty should not be lacking in the kitchen. Pictures
and fancy articles are inappropriate; but a few pots of easily
cultivated flowers on the window ledge or arranged upon brackets about
the window in winter, and a window box arranged as a jardiniere, with
vines and blooming plants in summer, will greatly brighten the room, and
thus serve to lighten the task of those whose daily labor confines them
to the precincts of the kitchen.
THE KITCHEN FURNITURE.--The furniture for a kitchen should not be
cumbersome, and should be so made and dressed as to be easily cleaned.
There should be plenty of cupboards, and each for the sake of order,
should be devoted to a special purpose. Cupboards with sliding doors are
much superior to closets. They should be placed upon casters so as to be
easily moved, as they, are thus not only more convenient, but admit of
more thorough cleanliness.
Cupboards used for the storage of food should be well ventilated;
otherwise, they furnish choice conditions for the development of mold
and germs. Movable cupboards may be ventilated by means of openings in
the top, and doors covered with very fine wire gauze which will admit
the air but keep out flies and dust. All stationary cupboards and
closets should have a ventilating flue connected with the main shaft by
which the house is ventilated, or directly communicating with the outer
air.
No kitchen can be regarded as well furnished without a good timepiece as
an aid to punctuality and economy of time. An eight-day clock with large
dial and plain case is the most suitable.
Every kitchen should also be provided with a slate, with sponge and
pencil attached, on one side of which the market orders and other
memoranda may be jotted down, and on the other the bills of fare for the
day or week. In households where servants are kept, the slate will save
many a vexatious blunder and unnecessary call to the kitchen, while if
one is herself mistress, cook, and housekeeper, it may prove an
invaluable aid and time-saver if thus used.
[Illustration: A Convenient Kitchen Table.]
Lack of sufficient table room is often a great source of inconvenience
to the housekeeper. To avoid this, arrange swinging tables or shelves at
convenient points upon the wall, which may be put up or let down as
occasion demands. For ordinary kitchen uses, small tables of suitable
height on easy-rolling casters, and with zinc tops, are the most
convenient and most easily kept clean. It is quite as well that they be
made without drawers, which are too apt to become receptacles for a
heterogeneous mass of rubbish. If desirable to have some handy place for
keeping articles which are frequently required for use, an arrangement
similar to that represented in the accompanying cut may be made at very
small expense. It may be also an advantage to arrange small shelves
about and above the range, on which may be kept various articles
necessary for cooking purposes.
One of the most indispensable articles of furnishing for a
well-appointed kitchen, is a sink; however, a sink must be properly
constructed and well cared for, or it is likely to become a source of
great danger to the health of the inmates of the household. Earthen-ware
is the best material for kitchen sinks. Iron is very serviceable, but
corrodes, and if painted or enameled, this soon wears off. Wood is
objectionable from a sanitary standpoint. A sink made of wood lined with
copper answers well for a long time if properly cared for.
The sink should if possible stand out from the wall, so as to allow free
access to all sides of it for the sake of cleanliness, and under no
circumstances should there be any inclosure of woodwork or cupboards
underneath to serve as a storage place for pots and kettles and all
kinds of rubbish, dust, and germs. It should be supported on legs, and
the space below should be open for inspection at all times. The pipes
and fixtures should be selected and placed by a competent plumber.
Great pains should be taken to keep the pipes clean and well
disinfected. Refuse of all kinds should be kept out. Thoughtless
housekeepers and careless domestics often allow greasy water and bits of
table waste to find their way into the pipes. Drain pipes usually have a
bend, or trap, through which water containing no sediment flows freely;
but the melted grease which often passes into the pipes mixed with hot
water, becomes cooled and solid as it descends, adhering to the pipes,
and gradually accumulating until the drain is blocked, or the water
passes through very slowly. A grease-lined pipe is a hotbed for disease
germs.
Water containing much grease should be cooled and the grease removed
before being turned into the kitchen sink, while bits of refuse should
be disposed of elsewhere, since prevention of mischief is in this case,
as in most others, far easier than cure. It is customary for
housekeepers to pour a hot solution of soda or potash down the sink
pipes occasionally, to dissolve any grease which may tend to obstruct
the passage; but this is only a partial safeguard, as there is no
certainty that all the grease will be dissolved, and any particles
adhering to the pipes very soon undergo putrefaction.
A frequent flushing with hot water is important; besides which the pipes
should be disinfected two or three times a week by pouring down a gallon
of water holding in solution a pound of good chloride of lime.
STOVES AND RANGES.--The furnishing of a modern kitchen would be
quite incomplete without some form of stove or range. The multiplicity
of these articles, manufactured each with some especial merit of its
own, renders it a somewhat difficult task to make a choice among them.
Much must, however, depend upon the kind of fuel to be used, the size of
the household, and various other circumstances which make it necessary
for each individual housekeeper to decide for herself what is best
adapted to her wants. It may be said, in brief, that economy of fuel,
simplicity of construction, and efficiency in use are the chief points
to be considered in the selection of stoves and ranges.
A stove or range of plain finish is to be preferred, because it is much
easier to keep clean, and will be likely to present a better appearance
after a few months' wear than one of more elaborate pattern. But
whatever stove or range is selected, its mechanism should be thoroughly
understood in every particular, and it should be tested with dampers
open, with dampers closed, and in every possible way, until one is
perfectly sure she understands its action under all conditions.
OIL AND GAS STOVES.--In many households, oil, gas, and gasoline
stoves have largely taken the place of the kitchen range, especially
during the hot weather of summer. They can be used for nearly every
purpose for which a wood or a coal range is used; they require much less
labor and litter, and can be instantly started into full force and as
quickly turned out when no longer required, while the fact that the heat
can be regulated with exactness, makes them superior for certain
processes of cooking to any other stove. But while these stoves are
convenient and economical, especially in small families, they should be
used with much care. Aside from the danger from explosion, which is by
no means inconsiderable in the use of gasoline and oil stoves, they are
not, unless well cared for altogether healthful. Unless the precaution
is taken to use them in well-ventilated rooms or to connect them with a
chimney, they vitiate the atmosphere to a considerable extent with the
products of combustion. Oil stoves, unless the wicks are kept well
trimmed, are apt to smoke, and this smoke is not only disagreeable, but
extremely irritating to the mucous membrane of the nose and throat. Oil
stoves are constructed on the same principle as ordinary oil lamps, and
require the same care and attention.
Quite recently there has been invented by Prof. Edward Atkinson a very
unique apparatus for cooking by means of the heat of an ordinary
kerosene lamp, called the "Aladdin Cooker." The food to be cooked is
placed in a chamber around which hot water, heated by the flame of the
lamp, circulates. The uniform heat thus obtained performs the process of
cooking, slowly, but most satisfactorily and economically, the result
being far superior to that obtained by the ordinary method of cooking by
quick heat. The cooker is only used for stewing and steaming; but Mr.
Atkinson has also invented an oven in which the heat is conveyed to the
place where it is needed by a column of hot air instead of hot water.
With this oven, which consists of an outer oven made of non-conducting
material, and an inner oven made of sheet iron, with an intervening
space between, through which the hot air circulates, no smoke or odor
from the lamp can reach the interior.
KITCHEN. UTENSILS.--The list of necessary kitchen utensils must of
course be governed somewhat by individual circumstances, but it should
not be curtailed for the sake of display in some other department, where
less depends upon the results. A good kitchen outfit is one of the
foundation-stones of good housekeeping. The following are some of the
most essential:--
Two dish pans; two or more _papier-mache_ tubs for washing glassware;
one kneading board; one bread board; one pair scales, with weights;
scrubbing and stove brushes; brooms; dustpans; roller for towel;
washbowl; soap dish; vegetable brushes.
[Illustration: A Double Boiler.]
FOR THE TIN CLOSET.-One dipper; one egg-beater; one two-quart pail;
one four-quart pail; six brick-loaf bread pans; three shallow tins;
three granite-ware pie tins; two perforated sheet iron pans for rolls,
etc.; one set of measures, pint, quart, and two quart; two colanders;
two fine wire strainers; one flour sifter; one apple corer; one set
patty pans; two dripping pans; two sets gem irons; one set muffin rings;
one toaster; one broiler; the six saucepans, different sizes; two
steamers; six milk-pans; one dozen basins, different sizes; one chopping
bowl and knife; six double boilers; two funnels, large and small; one
can opener; griddle; kettles, iron and granite ware; two water baths.
FOR THE DISH CLOSET.--One half dozen iron-stone china cups; three
quart bowls; three pint bowls; two large mixing bowls; two quart bowls
with lip; six deep plates; three kitchen pitchers; one glass rolling
pin; six wooden and six iron spoons, assorted sizes; six kitchen
teaspoons; one stone baking pot; glass jars for stores; crocks and jars.
THE PANTRY.--The pantry and china closet should have direct light
and good ventilation. The dark, dingy places sometimes used for this
purpose are germ breeders. There should be plenty of shelf room and
cupboards for the fine glass and china-ware, with a well-arranged sink
for washing the dishes. The sink for this purpose is preferably one
lined with tinned or planished copper; for dishes will be less liable to
become injured and broken then when washed in an iron or earthen-ware
sink. Extension or folding shelves are a great convenience, and can be
arranged for the sink if desired. The accompanying cuts illustrate a
sink of four compartments for dish-washing, devised by the writer for
use in the Sanitarium Domestic Economy kitchen, which can be closed and
used as a table. Two zinc trays fit the top, upon which to place the
dish drainers. If preferred, the top might be arranged as a drainer, by
making it of well-seasoned hard wood, with a number of inclined grooves
to allow the water to run into the sink. If the house be heated by
steam, a plate-warmer is an important part of the pantry furnishing.
[Illustration: Compartment Sink for Dish-Washing. Open.]
THE STOREROOM.--If possible to do so, locate the room for the
keeping of the kitchen supplies on the cool side of the house. Plenty of
light, good ventilation, and absolute cleanliness are essential, as the
slightest contamination of air is likely to render the food supply unfit
for use.
The refrigerator should not be connected with the kitchen drain pipe,
and the greatest care should be taken to keep it clean and sweet. It
should be thoroughly scrubbed with borax or sal-soda and water, and well
aired, at least once a week. Strongly flavored foods and milk should not
be kept in the same refrigerator. The ice to be used should always be
carefully washed before putting in the refrigerator. Care should also be
taken to replenish it before the previous supply is entirely melted, as
the temperature rises when the ice becomes low, and double the quantity
will be required to cool the refrigerator that would be necessary to
keep it of uniform temperature if added before the ice was entirely out.
THE WATER SUPPLY.--The water used for drinking and cooking purposes
should receive equal consideration with the food supply, and from
whatever source obtained, it should be frequently tested for impurities,
since that which looks the most refreshing may be contaminated with
organic poison of the most treacherous character.
[Illustration: Compartment Sink for Dish-Washing. Closed.]
A good and simple test solution, which any housewife can use, may be
prepared by dissolving twelve grains of caustic potash and three of
permanganate of potash in an ounce of distilled water, or filtered soft
water. Add a drop of this solution to a glass of the water to be tested.
If the pink color imparted by the solution disappears at once, add
another drop of the solution, and continue adding drop by drop until the
pink color will remain for half an hour or more. The amount of the
solution necessary to security permanent color is very fair index to the
quality of the water. If the color imparted by the first one or two
drops disappears within a half hour, the water should be rejected as
probably dangerous. Water which is suspected of being impure may be
rendered safe by boiling. Filters are only of service in removing
suspended particles and the unpleasant taste of rain water; a really
dangerous water is not rendered safe by filtering in the ordinary
manner.
CELLARS.--Sanitarians tell us that cellars should never be built
under dwelling houses. Because of improper construction and neglect,
they are undoubtedly the cause of much disease and many deaths. A
basement beneath the house is advantageous, but the greatest of care
should be given to construct it in accord with sanitary laws. It should
be thoroughly drained that there may be no source of dampness, but
should not be connected with a sewer or a cesspool. It should have walls
so made as to be impervious to air and water. An ordinary brick or stone
wall is inefficient unless well covered with good Portland cement
polished smooth. The floors should likewise be covered with cement,
otherwise the cellar is likely to be filled with impure air derived from
the soil, commonly spoken of as "ground air," and which offers a
constant menace to the health of those who live over cellars with
uncemented walls and floors.
Light and ventilation are quite as essential to the healthfulness of a
cellar as to other rooms of the dwelling. Constantly during warm
weather, and at least once a day during the winter season, windows
should be opened wide, thus effecting a free interchange of air. All
mold and mustiness should be kept out by thorough ventilation and
frequent coats of whitewash to the walls. Vegetables and other
decomposable articles, if stored in the basement, should be frequently
sorted, and all decaying substances promptly removed. This is of the
utmost importance, since the germs and foul gases arising from
decomposing food stuffs form a deadly source of contamination through
every crack and crevice.
KITCHEN CONVENIENCES.
In these days of invention and progress, much thought and ingenuity have
been expended in making and perfecting labor-saving articles and
utensils, which serve to make housework less of a burden and more of a
delight.
THE STEAM-COOKER.--One of the most unique of these conveniences is
the steam-cooker, one kind of which is illustrated by the accompanying
cut. Steaming is, for many foods, a most economical and satisfactory
method of cooking. Especially is this true respecting fruits, grains,
and vegetables, the latter of which often have the larger proportion of
their best nutritive elements dissolved and thrown away in the water in
which they are boiled. In the majority of households it is, however, the
method least depended upon, because the ordinary steamer over a pot of
boiling water requires too much attention, takes up too much stove room,
and creates too much steam in the kitchen, to prove a general favorite.
The steam-cooker has an escape-steam tube through which all excess of
steam and odors passes into the fire, and thus its different
compartments may contain and cook an entire dinner, if need be, and over
one stove hole or one burner of an oil or gasoline stove.
[Illustration: The Steam-Cooker.]
THE VEGETABLE PRESS.--The accompanying cut represents this handy
utensil, which is equally useful as a potato and vegetable masher; as a
sauce, gruel, and gravy strainer; as a fruit press, and for many other
purposes for which a colander or strainer is needed, while it economizes
both time and labor.
[Illustration: Vegetable Press.]
LEMON DRILL.--This little article for extracting the juice of the
lemon, and which can be purchased of most hardware dealers, is quite
superior to the more commonly used lemon squeezer. Being made of glass,
its use is not open to the danger that the use of metal squeezer is are
from poisonous combinations of the acid and metal, while the juice
extracted is free from pulp, seeds, and the oil of the skin.
[Illustration: Lemon Drill.]
A HANDY WAITER.--In many households where no help is employed, a
labor-saving device like the one represented in the accompanying
illustration, will be found of great service. It is a light double table
on easy-rolling casters, and can be readily constructed by anyone handy
in the use of tools. If preferred, the top may be covered with zinc. In
setting or clearing the table, the dishes may be placed on the lower
shelf, with the food on the top, and the table rolled from pantry to
dining room, and from dining room to kitchen; thus accomplishing, with
one trip, what is ordinarily done with hundreds of steps by the weary
housewife. If desirable to reset the table at once after a meal, the
waiter will be found most serviceable as a place whereon the glassware
and silverware may be washed. It is equally serviceable for holding the
utensils and material needed when cooking; being so easily moved, they
can be rolled to the stove and is always convenient.
[Illustration: The Handy Waiter.]
WALL CABINET.--where cupboard space is limited, or where for
convenience it is desirable to have some provision for supplies and
utensils near the range and baking table, a wall cabinet offers a most
convenient arrangement. It may be made of a size to fit in any
convenient niche, and constructed plainly or made as ornamental as one
pleases, with doors to exclude the dust, shelves on which to keep tin
cans filled with rice, oatmeal, cracked wheat, and other grains; glass
jars of raisins, sugar, citron, cornstarch, etc.; hooks on which may
hang the measures, egg-beater, potato masher, and such frequently needed
utensils; and with drawers for paring knives, spoons, and similar
articles, the wall cabinet becomes a _multum in parvo_ of convenience
which would greatly facilitate work in many households.
[Illustration: Wall Cabinet.]
PERCOLATE HOLDER.--The accompanying cut illustrates an
easily-constructed device for holding a jelly bag or percolate. It may
be so made as to be easily screwed to any ordinary table, and will save
the housekeeper far more than its cost in time and patience.
KNEADING TABLE.--Much of the tiresome labor of bread-making can be
avoided if one is supplied with some convenient table similar to the one
represented in the cut, wherein the needed material and utensils may be
kept in readiness at all times. The table illustrated has two large tin
drawers, each divided into two compartments, in which may be kept corn
meal, entire wheat, and Graham and white flours. Two drawers above
provide a place for rolling-pin, bread mallet, gem irons, spoons, etc.,
while a narrow compartment just beneath the hardwood top affords a place
for the kneading board. The table being on casters is easily moved to
any part of the kitchen for use.
[Illustration: Percolater Holder.]
[Illustration: Kneading Table.]
DISH-TOWEL RACK.--Nothing adds more to the ease and facility with
which the frequent dish-washings of the household may be accomplished
than clean, well-dried towels. For quick drying,--an item of great
importance if one would keep the towels fresh and sweet,--the towel rack
represented in the cut, and which can be made by any carpenter, is a
most handy device. When not in use, it can be turned up against the wall
as illustrated. It is light, affords sufficient drying space so that no
towel need be hung on top of another, and projecting out from the wall
as it does, the free circulation of air between the towels soon dries
them.
[Illustration: Dish-Towel Rack.]
KITCHEN BRUSHES.--These useful little articles can be put to such a
variety of uses that they are among the chiefest of household
conveniences. They are also so inexpensive, costing but five cents
apiece without handles and seven cents with handles, that no housewife
can afford to be without a supply of them. For the washing of dishes
with handles, the outside of iron kettles, and other cooking utensils
made of iron, they are especially serviceable. The smaller sizes are
likewise excellent for cleaning cut glass ware, Majolica ware,--in fact,
any kind of ware with raised figures or corrugated surfaces. For
cleaning a grater, nothing is superior to one of these little brushes.
Such a brush is also most serviceable for washing celery, as the
corrugated surface of the stalk makes a thorough cleaning with the hands
a difficult operation. Then if one uses a brush with handle, ice water,
which adds to the crispness of the celery, may be used for the cleaning,
as there will be no necessity for putting the hands in the water. A
small whisk broom is also valuable for the same purpose. Such vegetables
as potatoes, turnips, etc., are best cleaned with a brush. It makes the
work less disagreeable, as the hands need not be soiled by the process,
and in no other way can the cleaning be so well and thoroughly done.
[Illustration: Vegetable Brush.]
All brushes after being used should be carefully scalded and placed
brush downward in a wire sponge basket, or hung up on hooks. If left
around carelessly, they soon acquire the musty smell of a neglected
dishcloth.
TABLE TOPICS.
The kitchen is a chemical laboratory, in which are conducted a
number of chemical processes by which our food is converted from its
crudest state to condition more suitable for digestion and
nutrition, and made more agreeable to the palate.--_Prof. Matthew
Williams._
Half the trouble between mistresses and maids arises from the
disagreeable surroundings to which servants are confined. There is
no place more dismal than the ordinary kitchen in city dwellings. It
is half underground, ill-lighted, and unwholesome. What wonder,
then, in the absence of sunlight, there is a lack of sunny temper
and cheerful service? An ill-lighted kitchen is almost sure to be a
dirty one, where germs will thrive and multiply. Let sanitary
kitchens be provided, and we shall have more patient mistresses and
more willing servants.--_Sel._
A sluggish housemaid exclaimed, when scolded for the uncleanliness
of her kitchen, "I'm sure the room would be clean enough if it were
not for the nasty sun, which is always showing the dirty
corners."--_Sel._
If we would look for ready hands and willing hearts in our kitchens,
we should make them pleasant and inviting for those who literally
bear the "burden and heat of the day" in this department of our
homes, where, emphatically, "woman's work is never done." We should
no longer be satisfied to locate our kitchens in the most
undesirable corner of the house. We should demand ample
light,--sunshine if possible,--and justly too; for the very light
itself is inspiring to the worker. It will stir up cheer and breed
content in the minds of those whose lot is cast in this work-a-day
room.--_Sel._
Any invention on the part of the housekeeper intended to be a
substitute for watchfulness, will prove a delusion and a
snare.--_Sel._
"The first wealth is health," says Emerson.
A knowledge of sanitary principles should be regarded as an
essential part of every woman's education, and obedience to sanitary
laws should be ranked, as it was in the Mosaic code, as a religious
duty.--_Sel._
Much of the air of the house comes from the cellar. A heated house
acts like a chimney. A German experimenter states that one half of
the cellar air makes its way into the first story, one third into
the second, and one fifth into the third.
CEREALS AND THEIR PREPARATION FOR THE TABLE
Cereal is the name given to those seeds used as food (wheat, rye, oats,
barley, corn, rice, etc.), which are produced by plants belonging to the
vast order known as the grass family. They are used for food both in the
unground state and in various forms of mill products.
The grains are pre-eminently nutritious, and when well prepared, easily
digested foods. In composition they are all similar, but variations in
their constituent elements and the relative amounts of these various
elements, give them different degrees of alimentary value. They each
contain one or more of the nitrogenous elements,--gluten, albumen,
caseine, and fibrin,--together with starch, dextrine, sugar, and fatty
matter, and also mineral elements and woody matter, or cellulose. The
combined nutritive value of the grain foods is nearly three times that
of beef, mutton, or poultry. As regards the proportion of the food
elements necessary to meet the various requirements of the system,
grains approach more nearly the proper standard than most other foods;
indeed, wheat contains exactly the correct proportion of the food
elements.
Being thus in themselves so nearly perfect foods, and when properly
prepared, exceedingly palatable and easy of digestion, it is a matter of
surprise that they are not more generally used; yet scarcely one family
in fifty makes any use of the grains, save in the form of flour, or an
occasional dish of rice or oatmeal. This use of grains is far too meager
to adequately represent their value as an article of diet. Variety in
the use of grains is as necessary as in the use of other food material,
and the numerous grain preparations now to be found in market render it
quite possible to make this class of foods a staple article of diet, if
so desired, without their becoming at all monotonous.
In olden times the grains were largely depended upon as a staple food,
and it is a fact well authenticated by history that the highest
condition of man has always been associated with wheat-consuming
nations. The ancient Spartans, whose powers of endurance are proverbial,
were fed on a grain diet, and the Roman soldiers who under Caesar
conquered the world, carried each a bag of parched grain in his pocket
as his daily ration.
Other nationalities at the present time make extensive use of the
various grains. Rice used in connection with some of the leguminous
seeds, forms the staple article of diet for a large proportion of the
human race. Rice, unlike the other grain foods, is deficient in the
nitrogenous elements, and for this reason its use needs to be
supplemented by other articles containing an excess of the nitrogenous
material. It is for this reason, doubtless, that the Hindoos use
lentils, and the Chinese eat peas and beans in connection with rice.
We frequently meet people who say they cannot use the grains,--that they
do not agree with them. With all deference to the opinion of such
people, it may be stated that the difficulty often lies in the fact that
the grain was either not properly cooked, not properly eaten, or not
properly accompanied. A grain, simply because it is a grain, is by no
means warranted to faithfully fulfil its mission unless properly
treated. Like many another good thing excellent in itself, if found in
bad company, it is prone to create mischief, and in many cases the root
of the whole difficulty may be found in the excessive amount of sugar
used with the grain.
Sugar is not needed with grains to increase their alimentary value. The
starch which constitutes a large proportion of their food elements must
itself be converted into sugar by the digestive processes before
assimilation, hence the addition of cane sugar only increases the burden
of the digestive organs, for the pleasure of the palate. The Asiatics,
who subsist largely upon rice, use no sugar upon it, and why should it
be considered requisite for the enjoyment of wheat, rye, oatmeal,
barley, and other grains, any more than it is for our enjoyment of bread
or other articles made from these same grains? Undoubtedly the use of
grains would become more universal if they were served with less or no
sugar. The continued use of sugar upon grains has a tendency to cloy the
appetite, just as the constant use of cake or sweetened bread in the
place of ordinary bread would do. Plenty of nice, sweet cream or fruit
juice, is a sufficient dressing, and there are few persons who after a
short trial would not come to enjoy the grains without sugar, and would
then as soon think of dispensing with a meal altogether as to dispense
with the grains.
Even when served without sugar, the grains may not prove altogether
healthful unless they are properly eaten. Because they are made soft by
the process of cooking and on this account do not require masticating to
break them up, the first process of digestion or insalivation is usually
overlooked. But it must be remembered that grains are largely composed
of starch, and that starch must be mixed with the saliva, or it will
remain undigested in the stomach, since the gastric juice only digests
the nitrogenous elements. For this reason it is desirable to eat the
grains in connection with some hard food. Whole-wheat wafers, nicely
toasted to make them crisp and tender, toasted rolls, and unfermented
zwieback, are excellent for this purpose. Break two or three wafers into
rather small pieces over each individual dish before pouring on the
cream. In this way, a morsel of the hard food may be taken with each
spoonful of the grains. The combination of foods thus secured, is most
pleasing. This is a specially advantageous method of serving grains for
children, who are so liable to swallow their food without proper
mastication.
COOKING OF GRAINS.--All grains, with the exception of rice, and the
various grain meals, require prolonged cooking with gentle and
continuous heat, in order to so disintegrate their tissues and change
their starch into dextrine as to render them easy of digestion. Even the
so-called "steam-cooked" grains, advertised to be ready for use in five
or ten minutes, require a much longer cooking to properly fit them for
digestion. These so-called quickly prepared grains are simply steamed
before grinding, which has the effect to destroy any low organisms
contained in the grain. They are then crushed and shredded. Bicarbonate
of soda and lime is added to help dissolve the albuminoids, and
sometimes diastase to aid the conversion of the starch into sugar; but
there is nothing in this preparatory process that so alters the chemical
nature of the grain as to make it possible to cook it ready for easy
digestion in five or ten minutes. An insufficiently cooked grain,
although it may be palatable, is not in a condition to be readily acted
upon by the digestive fluids, and is in consequence left undigested to
act as a mechanical irritant.
[Illustration: A Double Boiler.]
For the proper cooking of grains the double boiler is the best and most
convenient utensil for ordinary purposes. If one does not possess a
double boiler, a very fair substitute may be improvised by using a
covered earthen crock placed within a kettle of boiling water, or by
using two pails, a smaller within a larger one containing boiling water.
A closed steamer or steam-cooker is also valuable for the cooking of
grains. Grains may be cooked in an ordinary kettle, but the difficulties
to be encountered, in order to prolong the cooking sufficiently and
prevent burning, make it the least desirable utensil for this purpose.
Water is the liquid usually employed for cooking grains, but many of
them are richer and finer flavored when milk is mixed with the
water,--one part to two of water. Especially is this true of rice,
hominy, and farina. When water is used, soft water is preferable to
hard. No salt is necessary, but if used at all, it is generally added to
the water before stirring in the grain or meal.
The quantity of liquid required varies with the different grains, the
manner in which they are milled, the method by which they are cooked,
and the consistency desired for the cooked grain, more liquid being
required for a porridge than for a mush. The following table gives the
time necessary for cooking and the quantity of liquid required for the
various grains, with the exception of rice, when cooked in a double
boiler or closed steamer, to produce a mush of ordinary consistency. If
an ordinary kettle is used for cooking the grains, a larger quantity of
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