FOOD STUDY
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
A FIELD OF SUGAR CAXE
The source of one of our important foods
FOOD STUDY
A TEXTBOOK IN HOME ECONOMICS
FOR HIGH SCHOOLS
BY
MABEL THACHER WELLMAN
,
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF
HOME ECONOMICS IN INDIANA UNIVERSITY
FORMERLY INSTRUCTOR IN DIETETICS AND HOUSEHOLD
CHEMISTRY AT LEWIS INSTITUTE, CHICAGO
BOSTON
LITTLE, BEOWN, AND COMPANY
1920
Copyright, 1917,
BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
All rights reserved
Co
MRS. ALICE PELOUBET NORTON
WHOSE TEACHING HAS BEEN THE
SOURCE OF INSPIRATION
OF THIS BOOK
43846-1
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
THANKS are due to John Wiley & Sons for the use of
starch cuts from Leach's "Food Inspection and Analy-
sis"; to Ginn & Company for the use of mold cuts from
Conn's "Bacteria, Yeasts and Molds in the Home";
to the University of Illinois Agricultural Experiment
Station for the use of illustrations of cuts of steak; to
Walter Baker & Company for permission to use the copy-
righted cuts of the coffee berry and cocoa bean ; to Mrs.
Janet McKenzie Hill for the use of illustrations from
"Cooking for Two" ; to Miss Lucy G. Allen for diagrams
from "Table Service" ; to the Hoosier Manufacturing
Company for floor plans ; to the Walker & Pratt Manu-
facturing Company for diagram of a coal stove; and to
the heirs of Miss Fannie Merritt Farmer for permission
to use important recipes from the "Boston Cooking-
School Cook Book."
FOREWORD TO THE TEACHER
HOME ECONOMICS is still so new a study that no apology
is necessary for placing another textbook in this subject
on the market. Many of the best books which are now
available obviously are intended for the benefit of the
teacher rather than for the student, while others are
little more than carefully selected collections of recipes.
The present work is an attempt to present a manual of
definite directions which will aid the student in her ad-
venture into the subject, but it is by no means intended
to supersede the teacher or to furnish material which
can be taught by one untrained in the subject.
As in physics and chemistry, there are principles in
cooking which are worthy of consideration, and, as in
any science, they should be taught from an inductive
standpoint. But, equally, no attempt at a completely
inductive course should be made. The accumulated ex-
periences of mankind can be used with benefit. To
show a cake, for example, to a student who knows noth-
ing of cooking, and let her guess the ingredients, the
methods of combining them, and the temperature used
in baking, and then to let her experiment until she pro-
duced a perfect cake, might teach cooking, but the road
would be long and arduous. On the other hand, here,
as in other sciences, sufficient discovery to arouse interest,
viii FOREWORD TO THE TEACHER
to enable the pupil to question understanding!;^ and to
give control of the situation, is of undoubted benefit and
leads on naturally to research.
Where inductive courses have failed, the reason has
been most often that the preparatory steps have been
omitted by the teacher, and the student has been set to
find out something when she has no knowledge of what
she has set out to find. Chance discoveries, of course,
find their applications later on, but this is not education.
The student needs to have clearly in mind the results
looked for, before she begins an experiment. This by no
means implies that the result itself should be known, for
then interest is dulled. References should be looked up
only after the practical work, or its chief value is lost.
If it is necessary to economize on time, where com-
parative results are to be obtained, as in making tea, the
experiments may be divided among the class so that
one student compares her results with those of her neigh-
bors. This distribution of work, however, is not possible
when preparing dishes which call for skill in handling
or involve some special principles in combining or in
cooking; but there is no reason why one student may
not prepare bean soup while her neighbor makes potato
soup. Such a practice often helps to impress underlying
principles. College classes have been known to finish
their course in cooking with the idea that a special recipe
was necessary for each kind of soup or cake, and without
knowledge of proportions which would tell them when a
recipe was outside the bounds of possibility. This is
the result of cooking entirely from recipes. On the
other hand, an error quite as bad is made when recipes
are never used.
The order of the topics in this book is not that of the
conventional cook book, nor is it based on the chief food
FOREWORD TO THE TEACHER ix
principles, but is a logical working out of the subject and
makes possible certain advantages in presentation, as the
early introduction of such subjects as meals and serving.
This gives opportunity for the economic study needed as
a basis for household management all too often omitted
from courses in home economics and also affords an
occasion for necessary repetition of work, if skill as well as
knowledge is to be acquired. Another excellent way to
introduce repetition is by contests, in which, for example,
the students not only try to see who can make the best
bread but also are required to judge the results and
show why one is more desirable than another. In this
way they learn standards of perfection otherwise difficult
to teach. Regulation "score cards" may or may not be
used for such work.
The laboratory notes should show clearly the results
obtained in all experiments and should also answer all
questions asked in the directions. Recipes may be
written here, or better, kept in card catalog form. It is
well to accustom the student to the handling of a cook
book, and familiarity with more than one is surely de-
sirable.
The divisions I, II, III, and the like do not mean
divisions of single lessons. The experiments and the
cooking presented in each chapter can be carried out in
a double period of an hour and a half. Following the
laboratory work of each chapter of the text is material
intended to be taken up in subsequent recitations. Double
periods are not needed for recitation. If the schedule
calls for them, part of the time may well be occupied in
writing up note books. A double period for laboratory
work and a single period for recitation form a unit of
work which may be given once in a week, or twice if
time permits.
X FOREWORD TO THE TEACHER
The questions at the end of the lessons are not in-
tended to be written up in the laboratory notes, as they
are often much too comprehensive. Neither are they
intended to be exhaustive. Their object is to show
the student the scope of the subject, to give definite
material to look for in the references, and to start the
student thinking.
The laboratory work may be extended indefinitely by
preparing under each section other dishes which are
similar in principle. (See list of supplementary laboratory
work.) For convenience in using supplies, other dishes
can be substituted for those mentioned. In jelly-making,
for example, crab apple and grape are the fruits given,
one chosen as a juicy fruit requiring the addition of
no water, the other needing water in its preparation;
any other fruits answering these requirements may be
substituted. Jelly-making, pickling, and preserving are
placed first in the course, not because it is the logical
order, but because autumn is the best time in the school
year to obtain the necessary fruits. An attempt has also
been made to consider the amount of skill required in
every process. For this reason the dough and batter
series has not been introduced directly after the first
study of starch, but has been placed after the meat and
vegetable work. Since a laboratory using many ovens
becomes exceedingly warm, the roasting of meat and the
baking of bread, cake, and pies are not left until the end
of the course, for the least possible hot work is desirable
at the end of the school year.
It has not seemed desirable to explain such processes
as how to break an egg, how to beat eggs, how to "fold"
in the whites, how to use a rolling-pin, and all the rest.
The teacher who shows the process can make it plainer
than any words can do.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
FRUIT
PAGE
Coddled Apples ; Apple Sauce ; class experiment (Spoiling
of Fruit) ; lesson on Fruit . . . . . 1
CHAPTER II
CANNING FRUIT
Canned Peaches ; class experiment (Cause of Fruit Spoiling) ;
lesson on Molds . ... * , . . . 7
CHAPTER III
JELLY
Apple and Grape Jelly ; Trial Jelly ; Experiments and Tests
for Jellying ; lesson on Principles of Jelly-making . . 13
CHAPTER IV
JELLY-MAKING
Repeated Extractions; class experiments (Food Preserva-
tives) ; class work (Cucumber Pickles) ; lesson on Yeasts
and Bacteria 19
xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER V
SWEET PICKLED PEACHES
PA6K
Class experiments (Micro-organisms); lesson on Micro-
organisms . . . . . . . . . . 25
CHAPTER VI
USE OP WATER IN COOKING
Boiled Potatoes ; Mashed Potatoes ; class experiment (Stages
of Boiling Water) ; lesson on Potatoes .... 30
CHAPTER VII
USE OP WATER IN COOKING
Boiled Eggs; Stuffed Eggs ; class experiments (Eggs) ; lesson
on Water 39
CHAPTER VIH
USE OP WATER IN COOKING
Poached Eggs ; class experiment (Solubility of Egg White) ;
class experiment (Correct Temperature for Poaching
Eggs) ; lesson on Eggs 46
CHAPTER IX
USE OP WATER IN COOKING
Cereal Breakfast Foods ; class experiment (Relation of Sur-
face to Evaporation) ; Cereal with Fruit ; class experi-
ments (Cereals) ; lesson on Cereal Breakfast Foods . 51
CHAPTER X
STARCH
Apple Tapioca; Boiled Rice; lesson on Starch . . . 56
CONTENTS xiii
CHAPTER XI
BICE AND INDIAN PUDDINGS
PAGE
Cost of Breakfast Foods; preparation of Rice Pudding,
Indian Pudding, and Crisped Cereals ; lesson on Cellu-
lose ; lesson on Mineral and Organic Salts ... 62
CHAPTER XII
REVIEW LESSON
Breakfast, preparation and serving; lesson on Setting the
Table . ... . . . ... 67
CHAPTER XIII
TEA
Marshmallow Wafers ; individual experiments (Green Tea) ;
class experiments (Black Tea) ; lesson on Tea . . 74
CHAPTER XIV
COFFEE
Cheese Wafers ; class experiments (Making Coffee) . . 79
CHAPTER XV
COCOA AND CHOCOLATE
Oatmeal Cookies ; class experiments (Making Cocoa) ; Pre-
paring Chocolate; lesson on Cocoa, Chocolate, Condi-
ments and Flavoring Extracts . . ... '. . . 83
CHAPTER XVI
FREEZING
Water Ices ; Sherbet ; class experiments (Freezing Mixtures) ;
Lemon Ice ; class work (Lemon Sherbet) ; lesson on
Freezing Mixtures 90
Xiv CONTENTS
CHAPTER XVII
RECEPTION
PAGE
Candied Fruit Peel; Marguerites; Sandwiches; lesson on
Receptions . . ... . . . .95
CHAPTER XVIII
COMBUSTION AND FUELS
Scalloped Potatoes ; class experiments (Fuels) ; lesson on
Combustion and Fuels 98
CHAPTER XIX
DRAFTS AND THE COAL RANGE
Baked and Stuffed Potatoes ; class experiments (Drafts) ;
lesson on Coal Stoves 104
CHAPTER XX
FLAME AND GAS STOVES
Chocolate Bread Pudding ; class experiments (Care of a Gas
Stove) ; lesson on Gas Stoves ; How to Read a Gas Meter 108
CHAPTER XXI
RADIATION AND CONDUCTION OF HEAT
Class experiments (Transmission of Heat) ; Scrambled Eggs
on Toast ; lesson on Fireless Cookers . . . . 114
CHAPTER XXII
CONVECTION OF HEAT
Class experiments (Transmission of Heat) ; Potato Salad ;
Broiled Bacon ; lesson on Hot-water Systems ; lesson on
Kitchen Ware . 118
CONTENTS XV
CHAPTER XXIII
REVIEW LESSON
PAGE
Second Breakfast ; Omelets, Fried Mush and Syrup ; lesson
on Table Manners . . - . -<.,..* . 122
CHAPTER XXIV
MEDIUM WHITE SAUCE
Class experiments (Starch) ; White Sauce ; Creamed Chipped
Beef on Toast ; lesson on Wheat . . I 28
CHAPTER XXV
THICK WHITE SAUCE
Salmon Croquettes ; Cheese Souffle* ; lesson on Bread Flour . 132
CHAPTER XXVI
STARCH
Class experiment (Comparison of Flour and Cornstarch);
Cornstarch Mold; Chocolate Sauce; Macaroni and To-
mato Sauce ; lesson on Cornstarch * , . 135
CHAPTER XXVII
CREAMED VEGETABLES
Class experiments (Effect of Heat on Starch) ; Peas and Car-
rots ; lesson on Canned Vegetables . . . . . 139
CHAPTER XXVIH
THIN WHITE SAUCE
Cream Soups : Celery and Potato ; lesson on Classification of
Vegetables .142
xvi CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXIX
SCALLOPED VEGETABLES
PAGK
Class experiment (Mineral Ash in Vegetables) ; Cooking
Cabbage or Onion ; Cream Soup ; lesson on Vegetables . 146
CHAPTER XXX
GREEN VEGETABLES
Spinach ; Lettuce ; class experiments (Freshening of Green
Vegetables) ; French Dressing ; Sour Cream Dressing ;
lesson on the Amount of Food Necessary . . . 150
CHAPTER XXXI
SWEET-FLAVORED VEGETABLES
Squash; Buttered Beets; class experiment (Sugar Test);
lesson on Cane and Beet Sugar 158
CHAPTER XXXII
CANDIES
Class experiment (Stages in Sugar Cooking) ; class experi-
ment (Crystallization of Sugar) ; lesson on Carbohydrates 162
CHAPTER XXXIII
MEAT CAKES WITH CREAMED TTJRNIPS
Class experiment (Tests with Meat) ; class experiment
(Structure of Meat) ; Broiled Meat Cakes ; lesson on
Meat . 168
CHAPTER XXXIV
TENDER MEAT
Roast Beef ; Broiled Beefsteak and Corn Pudding ; class ex-
periment (Cooking Meat) ; lesson on Cuts of Beef and
Principles of Cooking Meat * , * .. ,. . . 175
CONTENTS XV11
CHAPTER XXXV
BEEF STEW
PAGE
Class experiments (Cooking Meat) ; Beef Stew and Dump-
lings ; class experiment (Keeping Meat Tender) ; lesson
on Meat Inspection . . . . .. . . . 179
CHAPTER XXXVI
LEFT-OVERS
Southern Spoon Bread ; lesson on Proteins . . . 183
CHAPTER XXXVII
MEAT SOUPS
Class experiment (Soluble Contents of Meat) ; class experi-
ment (Use of Bones in Soup) ; lesson on Meat Soups . 188
CHAPTER XXXVIII
GELATINE DISHES
Lemon Jelly; Snow Pudding; Bavarian Cream ; class experi-
ments (Gelatine) ; lesson on Gelatine . . . . 191
CHAPTER XXXIX
REVIEW LESSON
Dinner; Split-Pea Soup ; Spanish Cream ; lesson on Styles of
Serving . . . ^ . , ... 194
CHAPTER XL
POULTRY
Roast Chicken ; Fried Chicken ; class work (Weighing, Dress-
ing, Trussing, Roasting, and Frying Chicken) ; lessons
on Poultry and the Digestibility of Meat * . . 198
xviii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XLI
FISH
P4M
Baked Fish ; Boiled Fish with Egg Sauce ; Scalloped Fish ;
Stewed Tomato ; lesson on Composition and Digestibility
of Fish 202
CHAPTER XLII
OYSTER STEW FISH CHOWDER
Class experiment (Cooking Oysters) ; Preparation of Oyster
Stew and Fish Chowder ; lesson on Oysters . . . 207
CHAPTER XLIII
REVIEW LESSON
Dinner; Tomato Soup; Jellied Prunes; lesson on The
Dining Room 213
CHAPTER XLIV
POP-OVERS
Making Pop-overs; class experiments (Measuring Sifted
Flour ; White of Egg in Hot Fat) ; lesson on Flour
Mixtures 216
CHAPTER XLV
APPLE FRITTERS
Class experiment (Principle of Leavening) ; Apple Fritters ;
lesson on Leavening 220
CHAPTER XLVI
SOUR MILK GRLDDLECAKES
Class experiment (Soda as a Leavening Agent) ; Sour Milk
Griddlecakes ; lesson on Soda . v 222
CONTENTS XIX
CHAPTER XLVH
LEAVENING
PAGE
Sweet Milk Griddlecakes ; Sponge Cake; class experiment
(Baking Powder) ; lesson on Baking Powders . . 226
CHAPTER XLVIII
MUFFINS
Making Muffins ; class experiment (Weight of Flours) ; les-
son on Kinds of Flour . '. . . . . 230
CHAPTER XLIX
CAKE
Making a Plain Cake; Frosting; class experiment (Bread
Flour and Pastry Flour) ; lesson on Cake-making . . 233
CHAPTER L
BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS
Biscuits; Sour Milk Gingerbread; lesson on Baking-powder
Biscuits . ; . . . ..... . 237
CHAPTER LI
SUGAR COOKIES
Class experiments (Yeast) ; Sugar Cookies ; Ginger Snaps ;
lesson on Yeast . . . . - * * . . . 240
CHAPTER LH
BREAD-MAKING
Mixing and Baking Bread ; class work (Kneading) ; lesson
on Bread and Bread-mixing ...... 244
XX CONTENTS
CHAPTER LIH
BREAD
PA09
Rolls; Graham and Oatmeal Bread; class work (Parker
House Rolls) ; lesson on Bread and Bread-baking . . 249
CHAPTER LTV
PIES
Class experiments (Proportions of Fat and Liquid to Flour) ;
Pie Crust ; Apple Pie ; lesson on Pastry .... 254
CHAPTER LV
DOUGHNUTS
Class experiments (Fats) ; Doughnuts ; lesson on Fats . 257
CHAPTER LVI
MILK FATS
Butter; Whipped Cream; Philadelphia Ice Cream; class ex-
periments (Cream and Butter) ; lesson on Butter . . 262
CHAPTER LVII
CUSTABDS
Custard Ice Cream ; Boiled Custard ; Baked Custard ; Frozen
Custard; lesson on Milk . . . .... 267
CHAPTER
ACIDS AND MILK
Cream of Tomato Soup ; Lemon Milk Sherbet ; class experi-
ments (Acids and Milk) ; lesson on Milk (Continued) . 272
CONTENTS Xxi
CHAPTER LIX
CUBD OF MILK
PAQB
Cottage Cheese; Junket Custard; class experiments (Effect
of Heat on Sour Milk) ; lesson on Food for Children . 276
CHAPTER LX
CHEESE
Cheese Pudding; Welsh Rabbit; class experiments (Effect
of Extreme Heat on Cheese) ; lesson on Cheese . . 281
CHAPTER LXI
SALADS
Class experiments (Emulsions) ; Salad Dressings ; lesson on
Arrangements in the Kitchen and Dining Room . . 285
CHAPTER LXII
LUNCHEON
Prepare and Serve a Luncheon ; lesson on Menu-making . 292
APPENDIX
Food Requirements ; Tables of Height and Weight ; Table
of Fuel Values . . , 7 . . . . .297
SUPPLEMENTARY LABORATORY LESSONS . . 313
INDEX 315
INTRODUCTION
PLANNING meals is often thought a very simple piece
of work, and perhaps it is comparatively so, if it is not
necessary to consider either time or money. But people
are beginning to believe that it is really their duty to
consider both, and many of us have to, whether we
would or no.
Think, then, of all that it is necessary to know in order
to do this work well. First, the housewife must know
what the income is and how it is to be divided. Only
thus can she determine what the family can afford to
spend for food.
Next, she must know, in order to decide what is to be
served for dinner, what is in the market, and a great deal
about qualities and prices. In selecting meats, it is
necessary not only to be able to tell whether a given
piece is good, but to know what cuts are appropriate for
different uses. In choosing fresh fruits and vegetables,
a knowledge of what is in season is essential for wise
buying, since out of season they may be poor and
yet command even higher prices than good ones when
these are plentiful. Some knowledge of brands of canned
and package goods is useful, but will probably have to
be acquired locally. Even with all this information, a
knowledge of the part played by these foods in nourish-
ing the body, and of their relative value from this point
xxiv INTRODUCTION
of view, should govern the actual purchases ; and, curi-
ously enough, these considerations have no connection
with the price.
It is surely necessary to know how to prepare and serve
food in an appetizing manner. At first thought a knowl-
edge of cooking might seem necessary for the planner only
when she is also the cook; but without such knowledge
how is the manager to look out for the use of left-overs,
the saving of fuel, the adjustment of plans to oven space,
and above all, the amount of work required ? One meal
which seems very much like another may involve three
times as much work in preparation, and the real cost of
food is not merely the price paid for it in the store, but
also the cost of the labor required to prepare it, and of
the fuel to cook it.
From such consideration, it is evident that the planning
of meals requires broad knowledge, and it is easy to see
why food study is taking such a prominent place in school
work, and why it involves so much more than the art of
cookery.
FOOD STUDY
FRUIT
CODDLED APPLES
APPLE SAUCE
A. Class Experiment. THE SPOILING OF FRUITS.
Put three test tubes, with corks to fit, in a pan of eold
water and heat slowly to boiling. Empty the tubes and
half fill with uncooked fruit cut in small pieces.
1. Fill up the first tube with cold water, cork, and seal
with paraffin or wax.
2. Cover fruit in the second tube with water and boil
for three minutes. Fill up with boiling water ; cork
and seal.
3. Repeat (2), but do not cork the tube.
4. Take a tube which has not been boiled. Cook a
little fruit separately and, when it is cooled, put it
into the tube. Add enough of the fruit and juice to
fill it ; cork and seal.
Note results at the end of twenty-four and forty-eight
hours, and after several days. Under which conditions
does the fruit keep ?
1
,,J ,Si .-,?*.
B. KEEPING FRUIT FROM BREAKING WHILE COOKING.
1. Pare a peach. Cook half of it in half a cu of water.
When it is tender, add two tablespoons of sugar.
2. Make a syrup of half a cup of water and two table-
spoons of sugar, and cook the other half of the peach
in it.
Compare the results.
C. Prepare coddled apples and apple sauce, using one
apple.
CODDLED APPLES.
The apple may be washed and pared, and cooked whole
or quartered and cored ; but th'e whole apple or the piece,
whichever is used, should keep its shape. Therefore cook
gently. Use one-third as much sugar as water for the
small quantity. When shall the sugar be added? A bit
of stick cinnamon may be cooked with the apple.
APPLE SAUCE.
Wash, pare, core, and cut up an apple. Use about one-
third of a cup of water to an apple, and one-third as much
sugar as water. Here the apple should not keep its shape.
When shall the sugar be added? One-half teaspoon of
lemon or nutmeg or cinnamon may be added.
FRUIT
The botanist defines fruit as the seed-bearing parts of a
plant. However, we commonly call some of the fruits
vegetables; as, for example, tomatoes, cucumbers, and
squash. Then there are a few vegetables, such as rhu-
barb, which we use and think of as fruit. Only a few years
ago it was hard to obtain fresh fruits in winter. Bananas
could be obtained only in the larger cities, and oranges
FRUIT
US Deportment of Agriculture
b Deportment or Agncutti
Office of Experiment Stations
A C.True. Director
R-epared by
C.FLANGWORTHY
Expert in Charge of Nutntwn Investigations
COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
OfflD ^^ &%x ^^ nrrrm B /ei value
Fat Carbohydrate, A* Water
APPLE
EOBCE PORTKJM
DRIED FIG
eaei PORTION
COMPOSITION OP FRUITS
4 FOOD STUDY
and lemons were very expensive. Now conditions have
changed. Transportation is so much more rapid that with
the development of refrigeration we can have fruit
shipped from a distance and so are enabled to have fresh
fruit all the year round.
Fruit is sometimes classified from a nutritive standpoint,
as flavor fruit and food fruit. Some fruit contains so much
water that there is comparatively little nourishment to be
had from it. Watermelons and strawberries, for exam-
ple, contain more than ninety per cent water. But
nearly all fruit has real food value. Many of the fruits
which we think of as flavor fruits contain considerable
nutrition. A large-sized orange will furnish as much
nourishment as an egg, or as a banana, or as two
apples, mainly on account of the large amount of sugar
present.
The flavor of different fruits is due to sugars, acids,
and "ethereal" bodies. These ethereal bodies, or volatile
oils, as they are called, are present in such small quantities
that they are sometimes impossible to detect chemically,
but it is undoubtedly due to their presence that different
fruits have distinctive flavors. The acids present are
known as organic acids. In fruits these are such acids as
malic, tartaric, and citric. Some of these are burned in
the body, just as other food is, and form carbon dioxide
and water. They do not have to be excreted as do the
mineral acids, and so, in the body, we need hardly con-
sider them as acids at all.
The salts which are present in fruits are valuable. We
count the fruits, then, as foods which furnish alkaline
elements, and these help in keeping the blood in proper
condition.
Dried fruits are, of course, more nutritious, pound for
pound, than fresh fruits. A pound of fresh fruit will give
FRUIT 5
about six ounces when dried. A pound of dried fruit, then,
will be nearly three times as nutritious as a pound of fresh
fruit. We must take facts like these into account when
we consider whether dried or fresh fruit is more expensive.
We pay more for a pound of raisins than for a pound of
grapes, but since the raisins contain so much less water we
really are paying less for the amount of food material to be
obtained from them.
Fruits are particularly desirable in the diet because of
their flavor. They may increase greatly the palatability
of an otherwise somewhat tasteless meal. Jam on our
bread appeals to all of us. This increased palatability
probably means increased digestibility, so that, for this
reason alone, we should feel justified in including fruit
in the diet. However, the salts and acids present are
so important that we need fruits for this reason also,
even if their palatability does not tempt us. The salts
and acids in some fruits have a laxative effect. Prunes
and figs are examples of this class. Blackberries and
peaches are not laxative. Most other fruits rank be-
tween these two groups.
The amount of fiber present in fruits is small compared
with the amount in vegetables, but there is enough to
make some varieties distinctly more easily digestible if
cooked. Cooking softens the fruit. Fruit is also cooked
to preserve it. Cooked, dried, and preserved fruits have
all the advantages in the diet of fresh fruits.
Among the fruits considered the most digestible are
grapes, oranges, lemons, cooked apples, figs, peaches,
strawberries, and raspberries. Some people, however,
cannot eat strawberries. Only a little less digestible are
raw apples, prunes, pears, apricots, bananas, and fresh
currants. Bananas contain a good deal of starch if they
are unripe, and so in this condition are not very digestible
6 FOOD STUDY
unless cooked. When they are kept until the skins are
dark, the starch is largely changed into sugar and the fruit
is more digestible. The " strings", sometimes left on the
banana when it is peeled, are indigestible. As a whole,
fruits are digestible, although some people have idiosyn-
crasies which make a particular fruit disagree with them.
Over-ripe or green fruit is, of course, harmful.
Since much of our fruit is eaten raw, fruit should be
kept as clean as possible while it is marketed. All fruits
should be washed before being eaten, even fruits like
bananas and oranges, the skins of which we do not eat,
because we are apt to handle first the skin and then the
fruit. Such fruits as apples and oranges may be washed
and rubbed with a cloth to clean them. Fruits that have
sticky surfaces, especially if these have dried, are harder to
clean and need to be washed in two or three waters. It
is better to select packages of dates or figs which are pro-
tected from the dust, even if they cost slightly more, than
to buy those that are exposed to dirt and flies.
Fruit, then, should not be considered merely as a
luxury ; and some fruit should be included in every diet.
If it is necessary to count the pennies, choose the cheaper
varieties, which, fortunately, are as good for us as the more
expensive.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 293. "Use of
Fruit as Food."
Year Book U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Separate 610. "Raisins,
Figs, and Other Dried Fruits and Their Use."
QUESTIONS
1. What is the value of fruit as food ?
2. Are these values retained in coeked and preserved fruits?
3. Why is it better to use a silver knife in preparing fruit?
CANNING FRUIT 7
4. Make a list of dried fruits in common use and their cost per
pound.
5. Make a list of the common fresh fruits, giving then* seasons and
usual cost when in season.
II
CANNING FRUIT
CANNED PEACHES
A. Class Experiment. ONE CAUSE OF FRUIT SPOILING.
Take a piece of bread, moisten it with water, and leave
it exposed upon a plate during the lesson. Then cover
with a saucer ; leave for two days. If possible, examine
under a miscroscope.
B. To CAN A JAR OF PEACHES.
In canning fruit, use a fourth to a third of the weight of
the fruit in sugar and from two and a half to three cups of
water for each pound of sugar. Make a syrup by boiling
the sugar and water together for three to five minutes.
Scald the peaches by dipping in boiling water long enough
to loosen the skin; peel, cut in halves, and remove the
stones. Then, cook the fruit in the syrup. Often, only
part of the fruit is cooked at a time, so that there need not
be an excess of the syrup. While the peaches are cooking,
sterilize a jar and cover, as the test tubes were sterilized
in the last lesson. When the peaches are done, place the
jar either in hot water or on a cloth wrung out of hot water.
Fill the jar with fruit and pour in syrup until it overflows.
If there is not enough syrup, add boiling water. As
quickly as possible, put on a rubber and screw on the
cover. When the jar is cold, screw the cover as tight as
possible, being sure that it is air tight.
8 FOOD STUDY
C. ANOTHER METHOD OF CANNING.
Fill a jar with peaches, cut in half and stoned, within
one inch of the top. Make a syrup and pour over the
fruit. Adjust the rubber, screw cover on lightly or adjust
top without clamping, and place the jar in a moderate
oven or in a steamer. Cook till the fruit appears clear and
waxy. Then remove from the oven and tighten the cover.
Compare the advantages and disadvantages of these two
methods of canning.
MOLDS
(ONE CAUSE OF THE SPOILING OF FOOD)
Molds are so well known to everyone that it is surprising
to learn that there is no such botanical classification. All
plants that do not contain chlorophyll, the coloring matter
which makes an ordinary plant green, are called colorless
plants or fungi. The fungi include mushrooms and toad-
stools, but of more interest to the housekeeper are molds,
yeasts, and bacteria. All these are plants which feed on
organic food and so may be found living on any of our
foods that are not properly taken care of.
While nearly everyone recognizes molds at sight, few
have looked at them closely enough to realize what really
beautiful plants they are. When they begin growing,
they appear at first as soft, fluffy masses which are made
up of a tangle of much-branched threads. Each thread,
called a mycelium, looks white as it is seen ordinarily $ .
but appears nearly colorless under a microscope. When
the mold is older, perhaps after two days, it may show a
color, blue, green, brown, black, red, or pink, each color
marking a different variety of mold. The color is due to
the so-called spores, which are reproductive bodies and
which, if they contained nutritive material, would be seeds.
MOLDS
9
Each different species of mold has a different way of form-
ing spores.
Perhaps the most common household mold, one that is
almost always found on moldy bread, is penicillium. This
is a blue mold ; that is, at the time of spore formation, it
becomes blue, or
bluish-green. This
color is due to the
color of the spores
themselves. When
the mold is a day
or two old, the my-
celium sends up ver-
tical threads which
soon divide into
many little
branches. Then,
each branch begins
to divide by ring-
like constrictions as
if it were trying to
make beads of itself,
until, finally, the
branch is nothing
more than a string
of little round balls,
each of which is a
spore. These spores
are so light that a breath of wind blows them away,
and they float off in the air in search of new food
material.
Mucor, another mold commonly found on bread, is
coarser than penicillium, so that the threads are seen more
easily. When it is ready to form spores, the vertical
From Conn's " Bacteria, Yeasta,
and Molds In the Home."
PENICILLIUM, COMMON MOLD, AS SEEN
UNDER THE MlCEOSCOPE
10
FOOD STUDY
threads, instead of branching, form on their ends small
round knobs or sacs, and inside these balls are formed
thousands of spores, which, when the sac bursts, are sown
broadcast. These knobs on the mold look like small
black specks. Another mold, aspergillus, instead of form-
ing the spores inside the sac, forms them as beads on the
outside.
During the process of
growth, all these molds
may send their branch-
ing threads deep down
into the food on which
they are growing so that
more than the surface
Spores in an
older colony
From Conn's " Bacteria, Yeaats, and Molds In the Home."
SPORES OP PENICILLIUM
SPROUTING
GROWTH FROM Two SPORES,
Two DAYS LATER
may be affected. As a result of their .growth, they soon
change not only the appearance of the food, but the flavor
and odor as well. If the mold is allowed to go on growing,
the food may be entirely spoiled. On the other hand, some
molds produce delicious flavors, and many of the distinc-
tive flavors of our different cheeses are produced in this
way. Fruits are particularly subject to decay as a result
of mold action. If the skin of fruit is broken, the molds
MOLDS
11
have an especially good chance to get at the food material
inside and begin the process of decay.
A tempera-
ture as hot as
boiling, or even
a little lower,
will soon kill a
plant, and
molds are no ex-
ception to this
rule. When
fruit is canned,
then, it is boiled
not so much to
rnnk thp fruit From Conn's " Bacteria, Yeasts, and Molds in the Home."
MUCOR, ANOTHER MOLD FOUND ON BREAD
as to be sure
that it contains no live spores; and then it must be
put away air tight so that no new spores can blow in.
Spores
. $ V 'J- '.'
From Conn's " Bacteria, Yeasts, and Molds In the Home."
ASPERGILLUS, SHOWING MYCELIUM AND SPORE CLUSTERS
12 FOOD STUDY
This is one of the things accomplished in canning, al-
though the plants to be guarded against may be bacteria
and yeasts as well as molds.
REFERENCES
CONN. "Bacteria, Yeasts, and Molds in the Home." Section I,
Molds.
Cornell Reading Course for the Farm Home. "The Preservation of
Food in the Home," Part I.
U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 426. "Canning Peaches on the Farm."
U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 359. "Canning Vegetables in the
Home."
U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 203. "Canned Fruits, Preserves, and
Jellies."
Ohio State University Extension Bulletin, Vol. VI, Supplement 2,
No. 2. "The Canning of Fruits and Vegetables."
QUESTIONS
1. After sterilizing, why must the fruit be kept covered and air
tight?
2. After a jar is sterilized why should it not be wiped out with the
dish cloth ? Why must care be taken not to touch the inside of the
jar with the fingers?
3. Why is the rubber dipped in boiling water, and why is it not
boiled with the jar and cover ?
4. How can the jar be tested before using ? If leakage is due to a
poorly made jar and not to a poor rubber, what uses may be made of
the jar ?
5. Describe the different methods of canning.
6. How can a jar that sticks be opened ?
7. What different styles of cans are commonly used ? Discuss the
advantages of each kind.
JELLY 13
III
JELLY
APPLE AND GRAPE JELLY
A. TRIAL JELLY.
Place in saucepans one-half cup of crab apples and one-
half cup of pears or peaches, cutting them into pieces.
Just cover with water, later adding more if necessary.
Cover and boil, until fruit is soft and will mash easily.
Make a jelly bag out of double cheesecloth by folding and
sewing it in the shape of a cornucopia; and, when the
fruit is done, allow it to drip through the bag, at first
without squeezing. Examine juice, then squeeze the
remainder through and note the difference.
1 . Place in glass cups one teaspoon of each juice obtained,
and add an equal amount of alcohol. Let it stand
five minutes. Observe the pectin, the substance
which furnishes the thickening for jelly. Compare
the amounts found.
2. Now try to make jelly out of the rest of the two ex-
tracts by adding to each an amount of sugar equal to
three-fourths of the amount of the juice, and boiling
until it is determined whether the mixture will "jell."
Tests for jellying :
Place a few drops of jelly on a cold plate and put in a
cold place. When it is done the drops should harden over
the surface and wrinkle when scraped with a knife or
spoon. While making the test, remove the jelly from stove
to prevent over-cooking.
Perhaps the best, because the quickest, test is to allow
a little of the juice to drop from the spoon. When the
mixture is done, these drops should jelly and break off.
14
FOOD STUDY
US Department of Agriculture
Offie. of Etpermnt Stabm
AC True. Doctor
R-epored by
CFLANGWORTHY
fcpert n Charge of Nutrition Investigations
COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
nilill 883 KEgaa K^?3 Illlllll BSBB Fuel Vqlue
W.
GRAPE JUICE
UNfERMENTED
CANNED
FRUIT
Water: 77 2
COMPOSITION OP FRUITS AND FRUIT PRODUCTS
PRINCIPLES OF JELLY-MAKING 15
B. To MAKE JELLY.
Make grape jelly, using one cup of material. The
grapes should be picked over and washed before being put
into the saucepan. It is not necessary to add more water.
After the sugar is added to the juice, remove any scum that
forms. Sterilize the jelly glasses before filling. When
the jelly has hardened, cover with melted paraffin.
PRINCIPLES OF JELLY-MAKING
Because fruit juices differ so much in their composition,
it is impossible to give general directions sufficiently exact
always to insure a perfect jelly. In fact, perfect jelly is
rather seldom made. To be ideal it should not only be
beautifully colored and transparent, but so tender that it
cuts easily, and firm enough to keep its shape, but not so
firm that it does not quiver.
In order to make jelly, fruit juices must contain two
substances, acid and pectin, and these should be present in
proper proportion. When fruit is cooked, pectin is formed
by the action of water and heat on a substance called
pectose which is present in the raw fruit. This pectose is
closely related to cellulose 1 and probably is closely asso-
ciated with it in the cell walls of the fruit. It is absolutely
unlike cellulose, however, in its property of being affected
by boiling water. The pectin which is obtained from the
pectose is the substance which gives texture to our jellies.
It is possible to make jelly by great concentration without
the addition of any sugar at all to the fruit juice, but the
jelly that is formed is tough and gummy and not palatable,
as well as being much less in amount than is produced
ordinarily. The addition of sugar in the presence of the
1 Cellulose is the chief substance of which the cell-walls of
plants are composed.
16 FOOD STUDY
right amount of acid seems to precipitate the pectin and
make the jelly set.
Not only does one fruit differ from another in the amount
of these two substances which it contains, but different
lots of the same kind of fruit may differ materially. As
fruit ripens it contains less acid, and less pectin as well,
and over-ripe fruit may fail to jelly at all. Fruit that is
not fully ripe is much safer to use than that which is over-
ripe. Some fruits contain too much acid, unless they are
diluted with water, but it is quite possible to add so much
water that there is neither enough pectin nor enough acid
present. As a rule, very juicy fruits need have only
sufficient water added to prevent burning. When they
are soft enough to mash easily, the whole is transferred
to a cheesecloth bag wrung out of hot water, and the juice
is allowed to drip through. If the pulp is squeezed, the
resulting juice is not so clear, but the flavor is not changed.
Less juicy fruits must be covered with water while they
are cooked. The alcohol test for pectin may be relied
upon to tell whether the proper concentration is obtained.
The amount of sugar used, like the water, varies with
the kind of fruit. It is better to err on the side of
using too little, rather than too much. Jelly made from
currants and grapes that are rather green may have as
much as one part of sugar to one part of juice, but, in
general, three-quarters of the amount of the juice is the
right proportion of sugar. If at any time the alcohol test
does not show plenty of pectin, lessen the amount of sugar.
Too much sugar not only will give a jelly which is very
sweet, but may give one that is syrupy. The amount of
acidity can, perhaps, be as well judged by taste as in any
other way. Before the sugar is added, the fruit juice
should be distinctly tart.
Jelly can be made from fruits that are lacking in acid
PRINCIPLES OF JELLY-MAKING 17
by the addition of some acid of vegetable origin, such as
tartaric or citric. This does not always improve the
flavor. The acid is commonly added by stewing with
such fruits some other fruit which will supply the lack-
ing acid.
Most housekeepers do not realize that if fruit is allowed
to drip and is not squeezed through the jelly bag, the pulp
may be returned to the kettle and boiled with more water, f
which gives additional extractions. The last should be
concentrated until the alcohol test shows the right pro-
portion of pectin. The first extract is usually made into;
jelly by itself, because it has the finest flavor, while the,
subsequent extractions are worked up together. Some-\
times even a fifth extraction, if it contains sufficient i
pectin to make it worth while, can be made.
The time necessary for making jelly differs with differ-
ent fruits, with the amounts of pectin and acid present,
and with the proportion of sugar used. The jelly, however,
should be made as quickly as possible. If the fruit is
allowed to simmer, too long heating of the pectin with the
acid may entirely destroy this substance. For this reason
the sugar is heated before it is added to the juice; if it
cools off the mixture, the whole must be cooked a longer
time.
There are three ways of making jelly. In one, the
sugar is added at once to the fruit juice ; in another, the
fruit juice is boiled for some time before the sugar is put in ;
while in the third, it is put in when the fruit juice has
cooked about half the total time necessary for making the
jelly. Probably the third of these methods is the best.
After the jelly has hardened, it maybe covered in the old-
fashioned way by cutting a piece of paper which will just
fit into the top of the jelly glass, and dipping it into alco-
hol or brandy, placing this directly on the jelly, and then
18 FOOD STUDY
covering the top of the glass with another piece of paper
large enough to tie or paste down. The alcohol is used to
prevent the growth of molds, spores of which may have
settled on the surface while the jelly was cooling and form-
ing. The outer piece of paper is used to prevent the access
of fresh spores and to lessen evaporation. A somewhat
easier method is to pour a layer of melted paraffin over the
top of the jelly. The paraffin should be hot, so as to kill
any germs which may be present. If, in cooling, the
paraffin shrinks from the side, leaving a crack between it
and the glass, more paraffin should be poured in.
Jelly keeps best in a cool, dry place. Since the color
of fruit sometimes fades, it is well to keep jellies and fruits
where they are not exposed to too much light.
REFERENCES
Cornell Reading Course for the Farm Home. Vol. 1, No. 15.
"Principles of Jelly-Making."
U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 203. "Canned Fruits, Preserves,
and Jellies."
U. S. Farmers' Bulletin No. 388. "Jelly and Jelly Making."
QUESTIONS
1. Why should not saucepans or spoons made of aluminum, or tin,
be used in cooking fruit ?
2. Why should jelly bags be dipped into hot water before being
used?
3. Why are jelly glasses put in hot water, or on a cloth wet in hot
water before filling ?
4. Why, in jelly-making, is fruit not quite ripe preferred to fruit
over-ripe ?
5. Why is jelly covered after making ?
6. Where is it best to store jelly for keeping ?
7. Make a list of fruits which are good for jelly-making and star
those that are so juicy as to require no water added in the making.
JELLY-MAKING 19
8. Make a list of combinations of fruits that would make good
jelly.
9. Compare the cost of the canned fruit and jelly made in the
laboratory or at home with that of the commercial products.
IV
JELLY-MAKING (continued)
A. REPEATED EXTRACTIONS OF JUICE FOR JELLY-
MAKING.
Use sour apples or quinces.
1. Cut fruit in small pieces, without peeling or removing
seeds. Place one cup of fruit in a kettle, cover with
water, and cook until the fruit can be mashed easily.
Strain juice through a jelly bag, allowing it to drip
through without squeezing the bag. Reserve the
pulp for a second extraction. Test one teaspoon of
the juice for pectin. Keep the juice for jelly-making,
marking it "Extraction 1."
2. Add water to the pulp reserved in (1) and proceed as
before. Test one teaspoon of the juice for pectin.
Reserve the rest of the juice, Extraction II, for jelly-
making.
3. Make a third extraction. Again test one teaspoon
for pectin. Reserve this third extraction for jelly-
making.
B. JELLY FROM THESE EXTRACTIONS.
1. Make jelly from Extraction I, using :
a. Three-fourths as much sugar as juice.
b. Equal parts of sugar and juice.
20 FOOD STUDY
2. Boil Extractions II and III together rapidly, until the
resulting juice approximates the richness of Ex-
traction I. (This may be tested by alcohol, by the
color and taste.) Measure. Make jelly, using pro-
portion of sugar to juice that is found to give the
best results.
C. Class Experiments. FOOD PKESERVATIVES.
Sterilize small bottles or test tubes.
1. Place a piece of uncooked fruit in each.
a. Cover fruit with brine.
6. Cover fruit with a fifty per cent solution of sugar.
c. Cover fruit with a ten per cent solution of sugar.
d. Cover fruit with water and add ground cinna-
mon, clove, or mustard.
e. Cover fruit with water and add allspice or
nutmeg.
/. Cover fruit with vinegar.
g. Cover fruit with oil.
h. Cover fruit with alcohol.
2. Allow the tubes to stand for several days and ex-
amine from time to time until it is determined which
substances act as preservatives.
D. Class Work. PREPARE CUCUMBER PICKLES.
Make unripe cucumber pickles, using one-fourth of a
cup of cucumbers.
Wipe about a dozen small, unripe cucumbers and cover
them with brine made by dissolving one tablespoon of salt
to a cup of boiling water. After three days, drain off the
brine, reheat it to boiling, and again pour it over the
pickles. After a second three days, drain the cucumbers,
cover them with boiling water in which a salt spoon of alum
has been dissolved for every cup of water used. Allow
them to stand for six hours, then remove them from the
YEASTS AND BACTERIA 21
alum water, and cook for ten minutes in a part of the fol-
lowing mixture heated to boiling :
1 pint vinegar f tbsp. allspice berries
| red pepper | tbsp. whole cloves
Pack the cooked pickles in a jar and strain the rest of the
mixture over them.
YEASTS AND BACTERIA
As has already been said, yeasts as well as molds belong
to the colorless plants and fungi. The yeast which is
used in making bread is a collection of thousands of tiny
yeast plants, each of which is too small to be seen without
the aid of a microscope. These plants are even less like
ordinary plants than are the molds ; they consist merely
of a single cell which appears, under the microscope, as a
colorless oval. These yeast plants are so small and light
that, like the spores of the molds, they float about in the air.
Fruits preserved in sugar are especially apt to undergo a
change which, as can be seen at once, is not due to mold
growth. This is the action that takes place when preserves
" work " or ferment, and it may occur also in jellies or syrups.
Anything which contains sugar and water may show this
change. The change is characterized by a sharp, pungent
taste, and at some stages by the formation of bubbles
through the liquid. Whenever these phenomena occur,
it is a sign that growing yeasts are present. For yeasts,
when they grow, are able to break up the sugar which is
present and change it partly into alcohol, which gives the
stinging taste, and partly into a gas called carbon dioxide,
the escape of which through the liquid makes the bubbles.
While yeasts are producing these results, they are mul-
tiplying rapidly by a method called budding. In this
22 FOOD STUDY
way new cells are formed which appear first as very tiny
buds on the sides of the first cells and gradually grow larger
and larger until finally they separate into independent
cells. When active fermentation is going on, the yeast
present is always found to be in this growing state. If,
however, conditions are unfavorable, some yeast plants
can form within each cell a number of spores, each of
which is capable of developing again into a new plant.
This spore formation usually happens if there is sufficient
moisture present, but not enough food to produce growth.
The air may be laden with these spores and even with
some of the yeast cells themselves, as well as with the
spores of molds.
Other micro-organisms carried by the air are called
bacteria. They are as simple in structure as the yeasts,
and like them consist of single cells. They may, however,
have three distinct shapes. Some are like little rods and
are called bacilli (a bacillus, for a single one), others are
like spheres and are called cocci, the third variety is spiral
and is named spirilla (in the singular, spirillum). But
all these, no matter what shape they may be, reproduce
in the same way, and it is this method of reproduction
which distinguishes them from the yeasts. Each cell
grows a little longer than it was before and then breaks in
two, each half being an individual. This process, known
as reproduction by fission, gives to bacteria the name of
fission fungi.
Like yeasts, some bacteria can produce spores under
unfavorable conditions. A bacterium, however, instead of
producing a number of spores, forms only a single one.
The advantage of the spore state seems to be in the greater
power of resistance that the spore possesses it is less
easily killed by heat or cold or drying. If food is being
sterilized and spore-forming bacteria are present, it is quite
YEASTS AND BACTERIA 23
possible that the heating will kill all of the bacteria but the
spores will be left alive. By the following day, however,
the majority of these spores will have again changed them-
selves into the ordinary forms of bacteria, and a second
heating will kill these forms. A third heating is safest to
make sure that any spores remaining the second day are
destroyed. Both yeasts and bacteria are too small to be
seen without a microscope ; but of the two, yeasts are much
the larger. While a yeast cell is about one three-thou-
sandth of an inch in diameter, even the largest bacterium
has a diameter of not more than one ten-thousandth of
an inch. It might well seem as if organisms as small as
this could not do us either much harm or much good, and
this would probably be true if it were not for the wonderful
rate at which they can multiply. In a bacterium, division
may take place every half hour, and at that rate, in only
one day, conditions being favorable, a single cell could
produce about seventeen million others. If, then, food is
to be kept from spoiling, it is obviously necessary to
exclude the entrance of even one bacterium.
When bacteria first act upon food, the result may be
only beneficial; the good flavor of butter and some
cheeses is undoubtedly due to their action. Bacteria,
however, will finally render food unfit for use, producing
decay and putrefaction. But what a world it would be
if micro-organisms did not bring about these processes.
Our world would be littered with useless material, and the
soil long ago would have become exhausted.
Bacteria may be divided into three distinct classes :
first, those capable of producing diseases, such as typhoid
and diphtheria; second, those which in the process of
growth produce substances poisonous to us. These sub-
stances, called ptomains, are the cause of the ptomain poi-
soning cases which occur from time to time. The third
24 FOOD STUDY
class is composed of those that are either harmless or
beneficial to us. The bacteria which cause milk to sour not
only are not any more poisonous to us than are any of the
other vegetable plants used for food, but they may be of
positive benefit in keeping down the growth of more harm-
ful organisms.
"Swat the fly" has become a slogan in modern times.
A glance at the enlarged diagram of a fly, particularly of
the feet, will show why it is considered objectionable to
have flies around, and especially so to have them crawl
over food. Coming from infected material and filth, they
may bring with them all kinds of germs. If the germs are
introduced into food material, where every condition is
right for their reproduction, it is evident how trouble
may occur. It is very necessary then, that flies be ex-
cluded from houses as far as possible. Any flies that find
entrance must be killed or caught, and care must be taken
not to allow heaps of manure or garbage, or other fly-
breeding material, to stand long enough for their larvas to
develop and escape. Much the easiest method of keeping
free from flies is to control possible breeding places. A
new kind of garbage can acts as fly-catcher and, placed
just outside the house, may catch many flies which would
otherwise find their way in. Then garbage and flies
together must be disposed of. Other insects may, of
course, also act as carriers of germs, but the fly especially
brings them.
REFERENCE
CONN. " Bacteria, Yeasts, and Molds in the Home ", sections on
Bacteria and Yeasts.
QUESTIONS
1. Give instances in which bacteria are beneficial.
2. Why may there be more spores on the fruits and vegetables
SWEET PICKLED PEACHES 25
giowing in a very dry season ? Why would such fruits be harder to
can successfully ?
3. Why, in making cucumber pickles, is the brine reheated at
intervals ?
4. How should garbage cans be cared for ?
5. What are the best means of disposing of garbage ?
6. Why should all foods and dishes be covered carefully when
sweeping or dusting is going on ?
SWEET PICKLED PEACHES
A. PREPARE SWEET PICKLED PEACHES.
Use one peach.
5 peck peaches 1 pint vinegar
2 Ibs. brown sugar 1 oz. stick cinnamon
Cloves
Scald the peaches, peel them, and stick them with three
or four cloves. Cook until tender a few of them at a time,
in a syrup made by boiling together the sugar, cinnamon,
and vinegar. Put in jars.
B. Class Experiment.
CONDITIONS FAVORING GROWTH OF MICRO-ORGANISMS.
Try the following experiments, using petri dishes,
or saucers covered with tumblers or sheets of glass :
1. Place a piece of bread in each of two dishes.
Leave the first piece of bread dry; moisten the
second piece with water. Expose both to the air
for five minutes in a room where people are moving
about. Cover, and keep both in a dark place (as,
for example, in a cupboard) for two days, and ob-
serve the results.
26 FOOD STUDY
2. Place a piece of bread in another dish and moisten
it. Expose it for five minutes in a room when no
one but yourself is present, and do not move more
than you can help during the exposure. Keep this
dish also in the dark for two days and compare with
the second dish in (1).
3. Put pieces of bread (moistened) in four dishes, and
expose all at once for five minutes in a room with
people moving about.
a. Keep the first in a warm room.
b. Keep the second in an ice-box.
c. Keep the third in the sunlight as much as possible.
d. Keep the fourth in a dark, warm place.
Examine these at the end of two days. If necessary,
let them stand longer. What effect has dryness or
moisture, warmth or cold, light or darkness, on the
growth of mold ? Account for the difference in (2).
CONDITIONS FAVORABLE TO THE GROWTH OF
MICRO-ORGANISMS
Food might seem to be the first condition necessary to
the growth of micro-organisms, and so it is ; and yet they
seem able to live for a fair length of time without food.
They blow around in the air, or are transmitted by water,
in neither of which elements are they fed. Under these
circumstances, it is true, they are not growing or multiply-
ing, and may even be in the spore state, but once the
organisms reach available food, they begin to grow and
reproduce with wonderful rapidity.
Water, as well as food, is necessary, but different
organisms vary somewhat in regard to the necessary
amounts. Bacteria and yeasts require a goodly propor-
GROWTH OF MICRO-ORGANISMS 27
tion of water, and it is only in watery foods that they are
capable of much growth. Sugar and flour, for example,
are much too dry for them. Twenty-five to thirty per
cent of water is necessary for any growth, and, even then,
it will not be vigorous. Most bacteria cannot grow in
foods which are strongly acid, but molds do not mind
the acid, and as only small percentages of moisture are
necessary to keep them alive, in damp weather as dry a
food as flour may become moldy. Even books and clothes
may mold in a damp room. Mildew is one species of mold.
Bread that is in a closed bread-box is apt to become
moldy if left too long ; but if bread is spread out, exposed
to the air, it will probably dry without any molding at all.
Possibly this is because a moving current of air dries up
the moisture ; but, whatever the reason, it is true that mold
grows best in still air.
Bacteria differ greatly in relation to air. Some grow
only in the presence, others in the absence of it, and some
can prosper either way. The bacteria that live without air
cause putrefaction and are perhaps most likely to produce
ptomains; but the majority of bacteria grow best in an
abundance of air, and most foods begin to spoil on the
surface.
Direct sunlight rapidly kills bacteria, and any daylight
makes them grow more slowly and less vigorously. Molds
may grow in either light or darkness, but they, too, grow
best in a dark place. Plenty of light and fresh air, then,
are the housekeeper's allies in the fight against micro-
organisms.
Another method of checking the growth of micro-
organisms is by means of low temperatures. Few organ-
isms can make any but the most feeble growth in the cold.
Even rather slight differences in temperature seem to have
surprisingly great effects.
28 FOOD STUDY
For this reason food is placed in an ice-box to delay the
growth of the micro-organisms, but as the temperature,
even in very well-constructed refrigerators with a large
ice chamber, is forty to forty-five degrees, usually nearer
fifty degrees Fahrenheit, growth can be delayed only for
a limited time. Such food will spoil eventually. But a
temperature even of sixty degrees is still a great aid in
keeping food temporarily. Cold storage is more efficient
than home refrigeration, because a lower temperature is
used.
There are other means of preserving food, besides the
use of cold temperatures. Drying evidently prevents the
growth of bacteria, since they need so much water, and,
if this is thorough, it may also prevent mold action.
Dried fruits of all kinds have long been used, as have
also some dried vegetables. Lately, more kinds of dried
vegetables have been put upon the market, and even
desiccated soups. All these are good food, as nutritious
as before drying, but they do not retain quite the
original flavors.
Foods which can be boiled and canned may be made
truly sterile, and if the process is carried out properly, such
materials will keep indefinitely. Fruits and vegetables
may well be taken care of in this manner.
In recent years, still another method of preserving food
has been used. This consists in the addition of something
which will at least lessen the growth of germs, if not en-
tirely prevent it. The difficulty is to find substances which
will do this and yet have no harmful effect upon the people
who eat the food. Among the substances commonly
used for this purpose are borax, benzoic and salicylic
acids, and formalin. These are all known to be harmful if
taken in large amounts, but they are believed to have com-
paratively little effect in small quantities. But because, if
FOOD PRESERVATIVES 29
they are allowed at all, it is difficult to be sure that they
will be in sufficiently small amounts, and because repeated
doses possibly may cause trouble, or small doses from a
number of foods combine to make a large dose, and because
some people (such as young children and invalids) are
more susceptible to them than others, the national pure
food law has forbidden the ordinary use of them, unless
the kind and amount of any such added substance is
plainly printed on the bottle or can in which the food is
sold.
There are, however, some food substances which, them-
selves, have something of the preserving effect. Mixing
foods with sufficient sugar protects them well from bacteria
or mold growth, but not quite so well against yeasts.
Raisins, dates, and figs all have so much sugar in them that
it is not necessary to add any more to insure their keeping
well, when they are partially dried. Salt, too, has preserv-
ative action, and salting fish is a usual device for keeping
it. Other foods, like corned beef, are kept immersed in
brine, that is, in salt and water. Salted butter, too,
keeps better than fresh, and perhaps that is why so little
fresh butter is used in this country. Salty foods are un-
doubtedly not so digestible as fresh, and the use of such
foods for invalids and young children is questionable.
Vinegar, sometimes reinforced by spices, is another food
preservative, but pickled foods will not keep indefinitely.
Many of the common spices also have some preservative
power. Mince meat, if kept cool, will remain in good
condition for a long period. Fruit-cake, which is highly
spiced, keeps well. Sausage is another food which is
spiced in order to prevent spoiling. But pickled or spiced
food, like that preserved in salt, is probably far less digest-
ible than in the original form, and the too frequent use of
it is to be avoided.
30 FOOD STUDY
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 375. "Care of
Food in the Home."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 459. "House Flies."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 353. "The Ice-Box."
CONN. "Bacteria, Yeasts, and Molds in the Home", sections on
Yeasts and Bacteria.
Cornell Reading Course for the Farm Home . ' ' Preservation of Food
in the Home ", especially pages 281-286 inclusive.
QUESTIONS
1. Under what circumstances is it wise for a housewife to put up
much fruit ?
2. Why is drying a means of preserving fruits and vegetables ?
3. What preservative is sometimes added to commercial catsup?
4. How must an ice-box be taken care of ?
5. What foods should never be placed in an ice-box?
6. What kinds of foods is it unnecessary to keep in a cool place,
and why ?
7. Why should butter and milk be covered when in the refrigerator,
and if possible kept in a compartment by themselves ?
8. When a bread-box smells musty how must it be cared for ?
VI
USE OF WATER IN COOKING
BOILED POTATOES
MASHED POTATOES
A. VARIOUS METHODS OF BOILING POTATOES.
(Each student is to try one way and compare the result
with the others.)
1. Wash and scrub a potato. Cook it in boiling salted
water until it is soft. Allow one teaspoon of salt to
one quart of water.
USE OF WATER IN COOKING 31
2. Boil a potato as directed in (1), but pare it before
boiling.
3. Boil a potato as in (1), but, before boiling, cut off a
strip of the skin all around the potato.
How do these potatoes differ in color and in mealiness,
after they are done ?
Mash the potato with a fork. Beat till light and
creamy. Add two teaspoons of hot milk, one-half
teaspoon of butter, and season with salt, while beat-
ing. Heap the potato on a buttered plate and make
an indentation in the middle of the heap. Open an
egg, being careful not to break the yolk, slip it into the
indentation in the potato, and place all in an oven
until the egg is cooked sufficiently to suit taste.
Season egg with a very little butter, salt, and pepper.
Pimento may be rubbed through a strainer and
beaten into the potato at the beginning to add color
and flavor.
B. Class Experiment. COMPOSITION OF A POTATO.
(To be carried out while the potatoes are boiling.)
1. Pare a small potato; cut off a slice and leave it
exposed to the air for half an hour.
2. Grate the rest of the potato into a piece of cheese-
cloth. Gather up the corners of the cloth and, by
squeezing, press out all the liquid possible. Then
wash in a bowl of water till nothing more can be
extracted. Allow the water to stand, and examine
the sediment. Look at it under the microscope.
Boil a portion of it. Test a portion with iodine. A
blue color indicates the presence of starch.
3. Examine the contents of the cheesecloth. What
ingredients of potato have you found so far ?
4. Put a pared potato into a large kettle of cold water,
32 FOOD STUDY
and then put the kettle on to boil. When the
potato is cooked, compare it with those started in
boiling water in (A).
C. Class Experiment.
DIFFERENT STAGES IN THE BOILING OF WATER.
Heat some water in a saucepan to boiling ; meanwhile,
with a thermometer, take the temperature of the water
at the following stages :
1. When the first small bubbles appear on the bottom
and sides of the pan. (What are these bubbles ?)
2. When the water feels neither hot nor cold to the hand.
(Lukewarm)
3. When somewhat larger bubbles appear around the
edge and at the bottom of the pan. (Scalding)
What are these bubbles ?
4. When the bubbles begin to rise. (Simmering)
5. When the bubbles rise rapidly, breaking, and com-
pletely agitating the surface of the water. (Boiling)
6. Increase the heat and see if the water gets hotter.
POTATOES
The name potato is a corruption of the last part of the
Latin name for sweet potatoes, ipomcea batata, but the
name by common consent is given to our white potato.
White potatoes are a native of America, perhaps of Chile,
and were not known in Europe until about 1580. They
were introduced into North America about the same
time. At first, they did not meet with great favor in
Europe, and it was not until there was shortage in a series
of staple crops that they sprang into favor. Now they
have been adopted in Ireland to such an extent that they
form a large part of the food of the people, and for that
reason are often called Irish potatoes.
POTATOES
33
Potatoes form forty per cent of the total vegetable crop
of the world, so that their name of king of vegetables is not
undeserved, and they are next in importance among the
vegetable products to cereals. When we compare these
facts with the report that at the time of our American
Revolution a well-to-do family thought itself fortunate if
it had at most a barrel of potatoes for its winter supply,
and that these were only served on special occasions and
for honored guests, we can see how greatly the relative
importance of the position of the potato has changed.
The potato is a tuber, that is, an underground stem
which is thickened and has become a storehouse for future
plants. The eyes of the potato are buds from which the
new plants will sprout under proper conditions. These
new plants use the food material which is stored in the
potato, and the tuber itself is thereby gradually rendered
unfit for food.
CRUDE
FATOJfy
COMPOSITION OF THE POTATO
The average loss of nutrients from boiling is shown by the
shading.
If a thin slice across a potato is held up to the light, four
distinct parts are observable. First comes the grayish
brown skin, which corresponds with the bark of an ordinary
stem. Underneath this is the cortical layer, which may be
34
FOOD STUDY
from a tenth to a fifth of an inch thick, and is often slightly
colored. If this layer is exposed to sunlight for some
time, it will turn green, showing its relation to the green
layer which is found underneath the bark of an ordinary
stem. The inner layers are
known as the flesh of the
potato, and, for our pur-
pose, may be considered as
one. The potato is made
up of a network of cells;
| the cell walls being, of
course, largely cellulose.
The cells are filled with
water in which is dis-
SECTIONS OF THE POTATO
a, skin ; 6, cortical layer ; c, outer medullary layer ; d, inner
medullary layer.
solved mineral matter, a little sugar, and most of the
protein * which is found in the potato. In the cells and
surrounded by this water are the starch grains. While a
* Protein is the foodstuff containing nitrogen, and is essential
for building body tissue which contains nitrogen.
POTATOES 35
little fat is also present the amount is so small that it
need not be taken into consideration.
The potato is largely composed of water, seventy-eight
and three-tenths per cent, so over three-quarters of the
whole weight is water. Of the eighteen and four-tenths
per cent carbohydrate, about sixteen per cent is starch.
There is only four-tenths of one per cent of cellulose pres-
ent. Although they are small in amount, the two and two-
tenths per cent of nitrogenous matter and one per cent of
mineral matter are important.
Besides the substances already mentioned, there is also
a trace of solanin, a poisonous substance which may occur
in greater or less amounts and which is said to give the
characteristic flavor to the potato. This trace of solanin
is supposed to be volatilized during the cooking of the
vegetable, and so it is improbable that we ever eat it in any
large amounts. If the potato is old and has been allowed
to sprout, if it is unripe, or if it has been grown too near
the surface and so has a decidedly green color, it may
contain sufficient solanin to cause some digestive disturb-
ance. Instances of this, however, are probably very
rare. A fear of it makes us careful to cut away the flesh
immediately around the sprout in an old potato. Care
should also be taken to prevent sprouting, not only for
this reason, but because the sprouts use up the food ma-
terial in the tuber. Potatoes, then, should be stored in a
dark, dry, cool place, and should be protected against
freezing. A potato that has been frozen has a sweetish
taste and is never so mealy as a good potato.
Potatoes are distinguished as mealy, soggy, and waxy.
Most people prefer a mealy potato. This quality in the
vegetable is supposed to be due to the amount and dis-
tribution of the starch. If, however, in cooking, the steam
in a potato is allowed to condense to water, the potato
36 FOOD STUDY
becomes soggy. For this reason potatoes should never be
allowed to cease boiling while they are cooking; they
should be dried out as completely as possible when they
are done, and served in an uncovered dish. Baked
potatoes should be pricked with a fork or opened at once
when they are done. Some potatoes are naturally soggy,
but a good potato can be made so by poor handling in its
preparation for the table. New potatoes are much more
waxy than older ones, owing, perhaps, to the larger amount
of protein present.
Potatoes are sold both by measure and by weight, but in
many places dealers are now required to sell by weight,
because that gives a more uniform amount to the customer.
Potatoes should run fifteen pounds to a peck. In select-
ing, those of medium size and with a smooth skin should
be chosen. A large potato is more liable to break up in
cooking, and a small one means too much trouble in
preparation if it is to be pared.
In preparing potatoes for the table, they should first be
washed and then scrubbed with a small brush. If they
are to be boiled, they may or may not be pared before
cooking. If they are pared and then exposed to the air
for any length of time they will turn dark, owing to the
action of oxygen, together with a ferment which is found
in the potato. This can be prevented by dropping the
potatoes into cold water, which excludes the air. Soaking,
however, should be avoided, for it removes some of the
food material, which means loss of nutriment, and is only
permissible if the potato is rather old, wizened, or inferior.
In that case, the product is so much improved by the soak-
ing that we are justified, even though some food value is
lost. Since the cortical layer contains a higher percentage
of both the protein and mineral salts than the rest of the
potato, unless paring is carefully done we lose a large
POTATOES 37
part of the most valuable ingredients. If much fruit and
salad vegetables are included in the diet, it may not be
necessary to consider the loss of mineral salts ; but if it is
desired to preserve them, the potato should be cooked in its
jacket. This means that the potato is not quite so white,
but there is no special reason why a perfectly white potato
should be demanded. If potatoes are put on in cold water
to boil, the same effect as soaking is obtained. Most of
the mineral matter and protein, and some of the starch
are lost. If, instead, the potatoes are placed in boiling
water, the protein is coagulated quickly and less of it
escapes. Most of the mineral salts are still dissolved by the
water and so lost, since potato water has rather too strong
and disagreeable a flavor to be palatable and is usually
thrown away. Potatoes may be steamed with little loss
of nutriment, or baked, in which case practically nothing
is lost but water. Potatoes are cooked partly to hydrate
the starch, and partly because the expansion of water into
steam means the breaking of the cellulose walls of the
cells, whereby the contents become more readily digestible.
Probably the chief reason is the improvement of flavor.
Since potatoes contain a small amount of cellulose, com-
pared with most other vegetables, they are digestible, and
there is comparatively little difference in their digestibility
as a result of different ways of cooking. A mealy potato
seems to be more digestible than a soggy or waxy one,
probably because it is better broken up, and so the diges-
tive juices can get at it better. Potatoes have long been
classed as a starchy food, and most books state that there
is so little protein present that it need not be taken into
account. Max Rubner, in a recent paper, states that the
protein present is of such a character and amount as to
form a balanced ration, if it were possible to consume the
necessary bulk to supply the needed energy. Potatoes
38 FOOD STUDY
are so bulky, on account of the large amount of water
present, that they cannot serve as a sole food.
Sweet potatoes differ botanically from white in that they
are thickened roots instead of stems. Chemically, they
contain about nine per cent less water, and more carbo-
hydrate. Most of this additional carbohydrate is sugar,
which accounts for the sweet taste. Sweet potatoes
grown in different regions vary greatly in the amount of
sugar, those grown in the south containing a larger per-
centage than those in the north. There is so little differ-
ence in food value between sweet and white potatoes that
they may be substituted for one another in the diet.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Farmers' Bulletin No. 244. "Cooking Quality of Potatoes."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 256. "Preparation of Vegetables for the
Table."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 295. ' 'Potatoes and other Root Crops as
Food."
Office of Exp. Station Bulletin No. 43. "Losses in Cooking Vege-
tables." "Comparison of the Digestibility of Potatoes and
Eggs."
QUESTIONS
1. Why should not potatoes be tightly covered while boiling?
2. How should they be cared for when done ?
3. Why are new potatoes more often cooked in their skins or
jackets than old potatoes ?
4. When do new potatoes come into market ?
5. What is the average cost of potatoes ?
6. Is it fairer to sell potatoes by weight or measure? Would a
bushel of very large potatoes or of very small potatoes give the pur-
chaser most for his money ?
7. How should potatoes be kept to prevent sprouting? What
harm does the sprout do the potato ?
8. Are old or new potatoes considered more digestible? Why?
USE OF WATER IN COOKING 39
9. If you are going to use the potato mashed, what is the advan-
tage of cutting the potato into slices before cooking? What is the
disadvantage ?
10. Why should potatoes be pared as thinly as possible without
too great waste of time? Where do the mineral salts in potatoes
lie?
11. If the potatoes you wish to boil together are not all one size,
what will you do ?
12. Compare the temperature you obtained for boiling water with
the temperatures to be obtained at sea level, and on high mountains.
Explain the variations.
VII
USE OF WATER IN COOKING
BOILED EGGS
STUFFED EGGS
A. Class Experiments. EGGS.
1. Weigh out a pound of eggs. How many average-
sized eggs in a pound? Repeat with small eggs.
With large eggs. Would it be fairer to sell eggs
by the pound instead of by the dozen?
2. Boil an egg in a strong solution of cochineal for
half an hour. Break open and examine. What
property of the shell is shown? What problem
does this present in the care of eggs?
3. Tests for freshness.
a. Place eggs in a ten per cent salt solution.
What is the relation of the freshness of an egg
to its specific gravity ?
b. Roll up a large sheet of paper into a cylinder.
Place an egg in one end and look through
the other end. Hold in front of a strong
40 FOOD STUDY
light. What may a dark appearance indi-
cate?
c. Note the feeling of the shell, rough or smooth.
d. Shake various eggs.
Are all these tests reliable with cold storage
eggs?
B. Class Experiment.
COOKING TEMPERATURE OF WHITE OF EGG.
1. Put a little white of an egg into a test tube and im-
merse the test tube in cool water above the level of
the egg inside. Hold a thermometer in the egg white,
and heat the water gradually, watching the egg
carefully. As soon as it becomes opaque remove the
tube from the water and note the temperature.
Try some of the egg, and notice how tender it is.
Replace the test tube with the rest of the egg white
and heat as long as the temperature rises. Remove
and compare with the first.
2. Cook an egg in boiling water for three minutes.
Cook another by keeping it five minutes in water
just below the boiling point (about 175 F.). Break
and compare consistency.
3. Boil an egg for twenty minutes. Compare with an
egg kept in water just below the boiling point for
forty-five minutes.
C. Class Experiment. BOILING EGGS.
1. Place three eggs in three pints of boiling water.
Cover closely to retain heat, but remove from flame-
Remove :
a. one egg in five minutes,
b. one egg in seven minutes,
c. one egg in ten minutes.
WATER 41
2. Give directions for cooking correctly :
a. a soft-cooked egg,
b. a medium-cooked egg,
c. a hard-cooked egg.
D. PREPARE STUFFED EGGS.
Cut a hard-cooked egg in halves ; carefully remove the
yolk. Season the yolk by mashing and mixing with it
| tsp. vinegar A pinch of salt
1 ssp. mustard A few grains of paprika
Add melted butter, about a fourth of a teaspoon, so that
the yolk can be molded, shape into balls, and refill the
whites. Cheese or minced ham may be added to the yolk.
WATER
Water, as everyone knows, exists in three states or
conditions. It may be solid, in which case it is called ice ;
it may be liquid, and then it is really called water ; or it
may be a vapor, in which case it is spoken of as steam.
The difference between these states is merely one of tem-
perature. It takes heat to turn ice into water, and it takes
heat to turn water into steam. Since water cannot, under
ordinary circumstances, grow any hotter than its boiling
point, cooking will not proceed any faster because the
water is boiling fast instead of slow. All that is accom-
plished is the turning of more water into steam. If the
object is the concentration of the material, then it is of
course desirable to boil fast ; but in most boiling it means
merely a waste of heat. Occasionally the rapid motion is
itself desirable, because it keeps the food from settling
to the bottom of the pan and perhaps burning. The
pressure cooker is a device for retaining the steam and so
42 FOOD STUDY
increasing the pressure that the water itself actually is
hotter than the usual boiling point. Food can, of course,
be cooked faster in it than in the usual covered kettle,
because the temperature is really higher.
Water is used in more than one way in cooking. Some-
times it acts as a carrier of flavor, as when it is used to
extract the flavor of tea or coffee ; sometimes as a means
of conveying heat to the food to be cooked. This is its
use in boiling or steaming. At other times water is taken
up into the food itself. In cooking rice, for example,
there is much starch present but not enough water to
hydrate it. This is the reason that rice cannot be put in
an oven and baked as a potato can.
Water is composed of two gases, oxygen and hydrogen.
It is true that some water is actually manufactured in the
body by the oxidation of some of the hydrogen contained
in food, but as the water we consume as such is never
broken up in the body into these two gases, it is not neces-
sary to consider further its chemical composition.
Although water is not capable of furnishing the body
with energy, it is absolutely necessary to us. While
people have proved that it is possible to go without food
for weeks, it is impossible to live any length of time with-
out water. The body itself is about two-thirds water.
This\neans that there must be water to build up into body
substance. Besides this, water has many important
functions. For example, it moistens the digestive tract ;
makes it possible to swallow food ; softens the food itself ;
mixes with the digestive ferments, and so enables them to
act upon all parts of the food. It dissolves the food as it
is digested and carries it through the lining of the digestive
tract. Then, the blood is composed largely of water, as
are all the other fluids of the body ; so it is water that
carries nourishment to all the different cells in the body.
WATER 43
Water in the blood circulating through the body acts as a
distributor of heat, and, again, the evaporation of water as
perspiration helps to regulate the heat of the body. It is
water, too, that dissolves and carries away the wastes of
the body. But these are only some of the important func-
tions of water. It is probable that none of the chemical
and physiological changes which go on in the body can
take place except in the presence of water.
The body gives off from the lungs, skin, and kidneys
about four and one-half pints of water daily. About one-
sixth of this amount is the water that was spoken of as
manufactured from the oxidation of food ; the remaining
amount must be taken into the body daily. Of course,
a good deal of water is furnished by foods themselves.
Soups and beverages obviously contain large amounts of
water, but many other so-called solid foods, like potatoes,
contain large amounts. It is usually said that a person
needs about eight glasses of liquid a day.
At one time it was considered harmful to drink water
with meals, for it was feared that the water would dilute
the digestive juices to such an extent that they would fail
to act upon the food. This notion is still popularly be-
lieved. Recent experiments, however, were tried to
determine the truth of the matter. Healthy men were fed
test meals, in some cases water being given and in others
withheld. After a certain length of time, the contents of
the stomach were examined to see how fast digestion had
proceeded. In every case it was discovered that digestion
took place more quickly if water had been given. We know
now that the taking of water at meals is beneficial, stim-
ulating digestion and not hindering it. What has been
said is not in any way intended to imply that the washing
down with water of poorly chewed food is anything but
harmful. That is an entirely different question; nor
44 FOOD STUDY
is it intended to imply that the drinking of large quantities
of very cold water may not have a different effect from
the one described. Cold stops digestion, or slows it,
and too much ice water at a meal may readily have
this effect.
People who wish to grow thin are often told to go with-
out water at meal times. The reason this is an aid is not
that water itself is fattening, but because less is eaten if no
liquid is taken. The same effect would be accomplished
if we should in any other way lessen the amount eaten.
Anyone going without water at meals should be sure to
drink the needed amount of water between meals, for
water is just as necessary to him as to anyone else.
Water is usually classified as surface and ground water.
Rain water and water from streams and rivers belong to
the first class. Well water and deep spring water belong
to the second. Rain water is our purest water, if it is col-
lected from a clean surface after the dust in the air has
been washed out. This water, flowing along the ground or
through it, dissolves or carries along with it many different
substances. Water which has much mineral substance
dissolved in it is called hard ; this is the water that will
not lather easily with soap. Hard water is, however, of
two kinds. In one case there is present a soluble lime
salt which precipitates if the water is boiled. This is the
water which leaves a crust on the inside of a tea kettle.
It is called temporarily hard because the water itself is
softer after the boiling. Water containing salts of lime
and magnesium which are unaffected by the boiling is
called permanently hard. Permanently hard water may,
however, be softened by the addition of such chemicals as
soda, ammonia, and borax. Soft water is much the best
for washing and also for cooking, but it is not so palatable
as harder water. Water that is very hard is possibly not
WATER 45
so good for us. If it can be softened by boiling, it may be
cooled and used for drinking.
Water is a carrier of bacteria, and the most harmful
water is not hard water, but water which contains harm-
ful bacteria. There are many kinds of domestic filters
which are supposed to remove the bacteria from the
water. Most of them are not reliable and, in any event,
need great care. They must be sterilized frequently or
the water which goes through them will be found to con-
tain more bacteria than it did before. If there is any
reason to believe that the water is dangerous, it is much
safer to sterilize the water by boiling it. All that is
necessary is to bring the water to boiling and then cool it.
Water which has been boiled tastes flat because it contains
less air dissolved in it. The palatability can be increased
by pouring the water back and forth from one pitcher to
another so as again to dissolve air in it.
Freezing does not sterilize water. While in cities, at
least, our water usually comes from a reservoir that is
carefully protected from contamination, our ice supply
may come from a private pond in which the water may
be quite impure. Unless it is known that the water
from which the ice was made was pure, the ice itself should
not be put into beverages or foods. Instead, they can be
set on ice to cool. So-called artificial ice is manufactured
by freezing water in large tanks, the necessary cold tem-
perature being often obtained by the evaporation of
ammonia. Such ice is as pure as the water from which it
is made.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Bulletin 57. "Water Supply, Plumb-
ing and Sewage Disposal for Country Houses."
OGDEN. "Rural Hygiene."
46 FOOD STUDY
QUESTIONS
1. What diseases are most frequently carried by water?
2. Why is the water from shallow wells often dangerous ?
3. How should such wells be protected ?
4. Why is deep well water usually safer ?
5. How is the question of sewage disposal bound up with the
question of a safe water supply ?
VIII
USE OF WATER IN COOKING
POACHED EGGS
A. Class Experiment. SOLUBILITY OF EGG WHITE.
1. Cut a small piece of uncooked egg white with a
pair of scissors. Shake the egg white with some cold
water. Filter. Has any of the egg white dissolved ?
Find out by testing as follows :
a. Boil some of the filtered water.
What happens ?
b. Add nitric acid to a second portion and boil.
Cool, and add ammonia. Note color given.
c. Try the effect of the acid and ammonia on some
of the egg white itself. Egg white contains
large amounts of protein, and protein gives the
color with the acid and ammonia.
2. Repeat the experiment, but use water which is nearly
boiling to shake with the egg.
E. Class Experiment.
THE CORRECT TEMPERATURE FOR POACHING EGGS.
1. Drop one teaspoon of egg white into a pan of water
which is at about 150 F.
EGGS 47
2. Repeat, but have the water boiling hard and let it
continue boiling for a moment or two.
3. Repeat, but have the water just below boiling.
Why does the egg white spread in one, and break up
in another? In which is the temperature too high to
give the cooked egg a good consistency?
C. POACH AN EGG. From the results obtained in
the previous experiment, account for the temperature of
the water suggested in the following recipe. While it
is desirable, the muffin ring is not essential. Serve on
toast. What will happen if the water used is too cold?
Too hot?
DROPPED EGGS. (Poached)
Have ready a shallow pan two-thirds full of boiling,
salted water, allowing one-half tablespoon of salt to one
quart of water. Put two or three buttered muffin rings
in the water. Break each egg separately into a cup, and
carefully slip into a muffin ring. The water should cover
the eggs. When there is a film over the top, and the white
is firm, carefully remove with a buttered skimmer to cir-
cular pieces of buttered toast, and let each person season
his own egg with butter, salt, and pepper.
From the "Boston Cooking-School Cook Book." By
FANNIE M. FARMER.
EGGS
The United States government bulletin on eggs tells us
that "perhaps no article of diet of animal origin is more
commonly eaten in all countries or served in a greater
variety of ways." But eggs are even more interesting
when it is remembered that, like milk, they are a complete
food intended for the sole nourishment of the young
48 FOOD STUDY
animal. They must, of course, contain everything that is
needed for growth. Even after what has been said about
the need for water, it may be a surprise to learn that the
edible portion of eggs is about three-fourths water, averag-
ing about seventy-four per cent. The amount of protein
present is high, fourteen and a half per cent; and this,
together with the large amount of fat, ten and a half
per cent, makes eggs rank with milk and meat in the
diet. Then the ideal form of the iron and phosphorus
present in the mineral matter adds to the value of eggs
from the dietetic standpoint, and they are probably even
better building material than meat. This nutriment is
not divided evenly between the white and yolk, for the
white contains more water and less protein and mineral
matter than the yolk ; and practically all the fat is found
in the latter. This highly nutritious yolk is intended to be
the first source of food for the embryo chick. This embryo
can usually be seen as a tiny dark speck lying close to the
yolk. The white is food used at a later stage.
The problem in buying eggs is to obtain them fresh,
and the term fresh is by no means the same as new-laid.
The new-laid egg is, of course, the most desirable grade,
but often can be had only at an exorbitant price quite
beyond the pocketbook of the average person. Eggs,
like other foods, are affected by bacteria. The shells are
a partial protection, but since they are porous, bacteria
can enter and soon begin the process of decay. The
earliest change is mainly in flavor. Later, the membrane
which surrounds the yolk is partially absorbed and it be-
comes difficult to separate the yolk from the white. The
white can never be beaten stiff and dry if part of the yolk
is mixed with it. An egg kept too long in cold storage often
will have a white which will not beat properly.
As eggs do not keep long under usual conditions and as
EGGS 49
hens do not lay uniformly throughout the year, many
methods of preserving eggs have been tried. The most
successful method for home use is a water-glass solution.
This substance, which is a silicate of potassium or sodium,
or a mixture of the two, can be bought as a syrupy liquid
at a few cents a pound and diluted with ten times its volume
of water. The water used should be pure and is better
boiled and cooled before mixing. The diluted water-glass
is poured over the eggs so as to cover them completely, and
then they must be put into a cool place. This method is
not only the easiest to use, but also the one that keeps the
eggs best and with least disagreeable flavor. Eggs laid
in April, May, and June are the best to use for this pur-
pose, as they seem to keep most satisfactorily. The best
method of all for keeping eggs is cold storage, and such eggs
in certain seasons are about all that are on the market.
Eggs which have been kept in this way will rattle some-
what when shaken, because of the evaporation which
may have gone on, and yet be fresh enough for use.
Eggs should be washed before use. As the mucilagi-
nous substance on the outside of the shell helps to render
it less porous, it is better not to wash the shell until the
egg is to be used.
Eggs are becoming costly, and it is necessary to consider
this in their use. Many recipes which call for eggs for
thickening can be modified so that flour or starch may be
substituted for all or at least some of the eggs, and baking
powder may take the place of the egg used for leavening.
For most people eggs are an easily and completely
digested food. Sometimes an uncooked egg swallowed
whole causes disturbance, because it has not sufficient
flavor to start the flow of the digestive juices, and since
the egg is not broken up, what ferment is present cannot
well get at it. A raw egg beaten up with a little milk is
50 FOOD STUDY
much less apt to cause trouble. Eggs cooked in any way
are very completely digested, and the ordinary person does
not have to consider the small differences in digestibility
which result from different methods of cooking. Even
hard-boiled eggs, if they are not swallowed in lumps
instead of being properly masticated, can be included in
this statement. A soft-cooked egg is, however, more
acceptable to most people than one that is hard-boiled.
REFEKENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Farmers' Bulletin No. 87. "Food Value of Eggs."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 103. "Preserving Eggs."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 122. "Selling Eggs by Weight." "Flavor
of Eggs."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 128. "Eggs and their Use as Food."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 190. "Cost of Eggs in Winter."
Cornell Reading Course. "Preservation of Foods," Pt. Ill, pp.
299, 300.
Connecticut Exp. Station Bulletin, No. 55. "Infection and Preser-
vation of Eggs."
Office of Exp. Station Bulletin, No. 43. "Comparison of Digesti-
bility of Potatoes and Eggs."
QUESTIONS
1. How can the freshness of an egg be determined before
breaking ?
2. Why does an egg become stale ?
3. Are cold-storage eggs good food ?
4. What is the best method of preserving eggs at home ?
5. Why should eggs that are to be kept for some time not be
washed before being put away ?
6. Why must precaution be taken against putting eggs away
near strong-smelling foods ?
7. Why should eggs be washed before breaking ?
8. What use is made of egg shells ?
9. How many eggs of average size in a pound ?
USE OF WATER IN COOKING 51
10. What were the maximum and minimum prices of eggs during
the past year ? At what season of the year are eggs most expensive ?
Cheapest?
11. Why are eggs valuable as food?
IX
USE OF WATER IN COOKING
CEREAL BREAKFAST FOODS
A. Class Experiment.
THE RELATION OF SURFACE TO EVAPORATION.
1. Put equal amounts of water into two saucepans, one
much larger than the other, and heat both the same
length of time, until the water in one is about half
gone. Cool and measure roughly the amount of
water left in each. To what, besides time, is the rate
of evaporation proportional ? Would you increase or
decrease the amount of water to be used in cooking
a small amount of cereal in a large pan?
2. Repeat the experiment, but with the saucepans
closely covered. Is there any difference? Explain
the result.
B. PREPARE CEREAL WITH FRUIT.
1. Add gradually two tablespoons of wheatena to a cup
and a quarter of actively boiling water, to which one-
sixth of a teaspoon of salt has been added. After ten
minutes cooking over the direct flame, finish over hot
water. This will probably take thirty minutes. A
few moments before the cereal is done, add the meat
of five dates cut very fine. Serve with sugar and
cream.
52
FOOD STUDY
U&Doportmert of Agriculture
Office of Experment Stations
AC.True. Director
rrepGrea by
ORTW
C.ELANGWOR1...
Expert in Charge of Nutrition Investigation
COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
omD E%^? R^ mrm rarpueivoiw
Water
Fat Carbohydrate* Ash
CORN
Fat: 4.3
'ater:10.8
Water: 10,
FVotein:1
WHEAT
at:1.7
AA15-W ""-l-' 73 * Carbohydrates., ^ 5^^^ t .Q
FUEL VALUED FUEL VALUCT
BUCKWHEAT
ISOOcALDRCS Rrxjtan:10.0L^rWater:12.6 1750
PER POUND ~ . , __JH^Fat:2.2
:ALORIES Water: 1
Protein?
RICE
1720 CALORIES
PER POUND
Car
:10^
12 -2 Fua VALUE:
1720 CALORtt
PCR POUND
1750 CALORIES
PER POUND
COMPOSITION OF CEREALS
CEREAL BREAKFAST FOODS 53
2. Repeat (1) to the point where the cereal has been
cooked over the direct flame, but use only five-sixths
of a cup of water. Then, instead of finishing over
water, place it in a fireless cooker or hay box.
C. Class Experiments. CEREALS.
1. Test cereals for both starch and protein.
2. Examine rice- and oat-starch under the micro-
scope. Notice size, shape, and any apparent
markings.
CEREAL BREAKFAST FOODS
Cereals are cultivated grasses, but the seeds of these
grasses are often called cereals. Sometimes, the term
includes all products of cereals such as flour and macaroni
as well as the grains themselves. Common usage, how-
ever, often makes the word cereal synonymous with break-
fast food. The seeds of the cultivated grasses are the part
of the plant used, because they are packed with nutriment
for the embryo. The grains commonly used for breakfast* 1
food are wheat, oats, corn, rice, and, occasionally, barley.
Rice contains a larger amount of starch than the others,
but little fiber, and it is on this account easily digested.
Of the three grains most commonly used for breakfast
foods, wheat, oats, and corn, oats furnishes most protein
and fat, and has the highest calorie value * per pound.
Wheat, however, does not differ very greatly in nutritive
value and contains less fiber and so is more easily digested.
Corn has a very tough fiber and ranks below the other two
in calorie value. All these differences are comparatively
small, and we can rank cereals together in their place in
the diet, with the following average composition :
* The calorie value of a food is the amount of energy, meas-
ured in calories, which a given food furnishes to the body.
54 FOOD STUDY
Water 10-12 per cent.
Protein 10-12 per cent.
Carbohydrates 65-75 per cent.
Fat 2-8 per cent.
Mineral Matter 2 per cent.
These figures are for the raw grains. Mushes and
porridge contain a great deal of water. Cooked oatmeal
contains nearly eighty-five per cent of water, but shredded
wheat and the flaked breakfast foods have practically the
same composition as the original grains.
The cost of breakfast foods varies somewhat with the
cereal from which they are made, the cost of those made
from corn being least, those from oats next, while wheat is
the most expensive. Cost, however, differs even more
with the amount of preparation that has already been
made. From this point of view, breakfast foods may be
divided into four classes. In the first are foods like oat-
meal or cracked wheat in which the grain has been husked
but not cooked. Next, comes the class of partially cooked
foods. These have been steamed until they are somewhat
softened and then, if they are to be put on the market as
flakes, they are passed between hot rollers which flatten
the kernels. Rolled oats is an example of this class. The
third class is composed of those which are sold ready to
eat, as grape nuts or shredded wheat. Sometimes malt is
used in the process of manufacture and is supposed to
change the starch into sugar and so start the process of
digestion. In most breakfast foods which are malted, not
much change in the starch will be found to have occurred,
and since, for the healthy person, it is of little moment
whether this change has occurred or not, this fourth class,
called predigested, is not of great importance. Breakfast
foods which belong to the third class cost much more per
pound than those in the first class, because more trouble
CEREAL BREAKFAST FOODS 55
has been taken in the preparation. The advantage to the
housewife is in the saving of time necessary to prepare the
food. Foods of the first class need to be cooked many
hours in order to render them thoroughly digestible. This
is more or less trouble even on a coal or wood stove, and on
a gas stove is an expensive process. Cereals can, however,
be easily and cheaply prepared in a fireless cooker, and if
both cost and attention are to be considered, this is the
method of preparation which should be chosen. The foods
of the second class need, usually, to be cooked about twice
as long as the time given on the package. The manufac-
turer, in order to attract custom, cuts the necessary time
of preparation down to a minimum.
Many of the breakfast foods may be purchased both
in bulk and package. The advantage of the package is
greater surety of cleanliness. Most of the milling is
carried on under excellent sanitary conditions. The
package assures us that the goods have come to us in the
same condition as that in which they left the mill. Bulk
goods are often protected neither from dust nor insects.
As, however, the uncooked cereals sold in bulk are
thoroughly sterilized in cooking, this protection is far less
necessary than in the case of such foods as bread, which is
eaten as bought.
Since cereals do not keep well, it is better to buy them
only in moderate amounts. There is often considerable
saving, however, in buying even two packages instead of
one.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Farmers' Bulletin No. 105. "Cereal Breakfast Foods."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 237. "Cereal Breakfast Foods."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 249. "Cereal Breakfast Foods."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 316. "Cooking Cereal Foods."
56 FOOD STUDY
Fanners' Bulletin No. 298. "The Fireless Cooker."
The Exp. Station Bulletin No. 200. " Course in Cereal Foods."
QUESTIONS
1. Make a list of all the kinds of grain you know.
2. How does the English use of the word "corn" differ from the
American ?
3. Give illustrations of the different groups of breakfast foods on
the market.
a. Uncooked grains.
b. Partly cooked.
c. Ready to eat.
d. Predigested.
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the different
groups ?
5. Is the greater cost of package foods justified?
6. Why is it well to keep cereals in glass jars tightly covered ?
7. Why are cereals so important as food ?
8. How can the "skin" which sometimes forms on top of a cereal
while it is cooking be prevented ?
9. Why will soaking the grains for an hour or so beforehand shorten
the needed time for cooking ?
10. What are the advantages of using a fireless cooker in preparing
cereals ?
STARCH
APPLE TAPIOCA
BOILED RICE
A. PREPARE APPLE TAPIOCA.
1| tbsp. Minute tapioca
c. water
A pinch of salt
Cook together in a double boiler until transparent (about
fifteen minutes). Pare and core a sour apple. Put in a
buttered baking dish, and fill the cavity in the apple with
STARCH 57
sugar. Pour the tapioca over it, and bake in a moderate
oven until the apple is soft. Serve with sugar and cream.
B. RICE.
Wash the rice thoroughly in a strainer in a bowl of water,
rubbing the rice between the hands. Change the water,
until it remains clear. Cook by the following methods:
1. Gradually sprinkle two tablespoons of rice into two
cups of rapidly boiling water with one-half teaspoon
of salt added.
2. Cook two tablespoons of rice in two-thirds of a cup of
boiling, salted water for five minutes. Finish cook-
ing in a double boiler. (Why is less water used ?)
3. Cook two tablespoons of rice in two-thirds of a cup of
boiling, salted water for five minutes. Then place in
a mold and steam.
In all cases cook until the rice is soft.
a. Compare the time used to cook by the different
methods.
b. Compare the appearance of the kernels as a result
of the different treatments.
c. Note also the relative amounts of rice before and
after cooking.
STARCH
Starch occurs in the cells of all plants as tiny white
granules, but the size, shape, and appearance of these
differ with the kind of plant from which they are taken.
A plant manufactures sugar from the carbon dioxide in the
air and from water, and this sugar is used as nutriment for
the plant, being dissolved in the juice or sap and circulating
through it. But since the plant has to store some of this
nutriment for future use, it manufactures starch from some
of the sugar. Starch has the advantage over sugar that
58 FOOD STUDY
it is not soluble in water. The material is carried into the
cell as a solution of sugar which can pass readily through
the cell wall and is then turned into granules of starch.
When the starch is finally used as the plant food, this
process is reversed, the granules change into sugar again,
and can then pass out through the cell wall.
Scientists do not agree entirely in regard to the construc-
tion of starch granules, but they believe that they are
made up of at least two kinds of starch which are some-
times named red and blue amylose. Amylose is merely
the scientific name for starch, and the names red and
blue are given to the two kinds not at all because of their
color, for they are both white, but because of the colors
which they turn with iodine. The starch inside the
granules and composing the greater part of the grains is
blue amylose, easily digested. Its outer covering is red
amylose, much more difficult of digestion and impervious
to cold liquids. If the starch grain is heated in water, it
begins to swell, till its outer covering is stretched thin and
allows liquids to pass readily through it. In this form
digestive juices can get at the starch inside to digest it;
and, therefore, cooked starch is more digestible than raw.
Starch granules found in potato and arrowroot seem to
be made up of only these two kinds of starch, but those in
cereals seem to contain a small amount of a third kind
called rose amylose. This is more difficult of digestion
than is either of the other kinds, but with long boiling can
be made to change into blue amylose. As it seems to
be rather hard to cook the starch granules when they are
shut up in the cell walls of the seed, this may be the reason
why cereals take such a long time to cook. Corn starch is,
of course, a cereal starch, and ordinary wheat flour, too,
contains an abundance of starch; but in grinding the
grains, the cell walls are broken and so there is not the
Rice Starch
Wheat Starch
STARCH GRAINS, MAGNIFIED MANY TIMES
From Leach's "Food Inspection and Analysis."
STARCH
59
same difficulty in getting at the starch for cooking. If,
during the cooking of starch, as, for example, in the cooking
of oatmeal, the surface is left exposed so that the top dries,
the starch is changed into a hard skin which is exceedingly
difficult of digestion. If the oatmeal is stirred occasion-
ally and kept covered so that the steam is confined in the
space above the surface, no such change occurs.
When a vegetable food containing much starch, such as
potatoes or cereals, is cooked, the starch granules swell in
the process until they burst most of the cell walls of the
plant.
CHANGES OP STARCH GRAINS IN COOKING
a, cells and starch grains in a raw potato ; 6, in a partially
cooked potato ; c, in a thoroughly boiled potato.
Starch is not soluble in cold water, but, when heated, the
granules finally break down and gelatinize. This is only
partial solution. When a substance really dissolves, it
disappears entirely from view, as sugar does in water. It
may impart a color to the solution, but it does not render
it opaque. Because starch does not dissolve, it cannot
pass through the lining wall of the intestines and so must
be changed in digestion before it can be absorbed. A
ferment called ptyalin is found in the saliva, which is
capable of acting on starch and changing it to sugar.
There is an intermediate stage in this action, for the starch
60 FOOD STUDY
is first changed into dextrine. Dextrine is whitish like
starch, but with iodine turns a beautiful wine red. Unlike
starch, it is soluble in cold water. When starchy food is
chewed saliva is mixed with it, and as the food lies in the
fundus (or middle part) of the stomach the ptyalin has a
chance to act on it. It used to be thought that this
action stopped as soon as the food reached the stomach, for
ptyalin cannot act in gastric juice, but it is now known
that this change can go on for about two hours before the
gastric juice is so mixed with the food that the action is
stopped. Therefore it seems a somewhat important
matter that such food should be chewed thoroughly and
mixed with saliva and not swallowed whole or washed
down with liquids. In the stomach, however, not all of
the starch is digested. Probably most of it does not go
beyond the dextrine stage.
In the intestines there is another ferment, sometimes
called amylopsin, which, like the ptyalin, can digest starch.
We are, then, apparently, well equipped to digest starch,
and this is fortunate, for starch forms a large proportion
of the nutrients of our diet.
Dextrine may also be formed by heating dry starch very
hot, at least to 320 F. It is formed somewhat in toast,
and in the crust of bread, and in browned flour, since in
these cases the starch is exposed to intense heat. Some
breakfast foods are partially dextrinized and this is sup-
posed to make them more digestible. In reality, so small
a percentage of the starch is changed that they are really
not very different.
Browned flour does not possess the thickening power of
ordinary flour because the dextrine in it dissolves instead
of gelatinizing. Since heating with acids will dextrinize
starch at a much lower temperature, and only a few drops
of acid are necessary to bring this about, it is sometimes
J^[^
Pea Starch
Bean Starch
Buckwheat Starch Potato Starch
STARCH GRAINS, MAGNIFIED MANY TIMES
From Leach's "Food Inspection and Analysis."
STARCH 61
possible to obtain this result when it is unexpected and
undesired. When a lemon filling for a pie or a boiled
dressing that is made with flour are cooked too long or
with too much acid, they may grow thinner instead of
thicker as the cooking continues. So, also, if creamed
oysters are kept hot too long a thick white sauce may
become very thin.
REFERENCE
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Exp. Station Bulletin No. 202. "The
Digestibility of Different Kinds of Starches ... as Affected
by Cooking."
QUESTIONS
1. Where does a plant obtain the necessary elements to make
starch ? How does it take in water ? How does it get carbon ?
2. What purpose has the plant in manufacturing starch, and in
what parts of plants would you expect to find the largest stores of it ?
3. How is rice grown, and where do we obtain our largest supply?
4. What is the composition of rice? Why is it not used as an
exclusive diet ?
5. What is the difference in price of different grades of rice, and
to what is this due ?
7. Why not bake rice as we do potatoes ?
62 FOOD STUDY
XI
RICE AND INDIAN PUDDINGS
COST OF BREAKFAST FOODS
A. PREPARE RICE PUDDING.
c, steamed rice 1 tbsp. sugar
\ c. milk \ tsp. salt
\ egg 2 tbsp. raisins
Scald the milk before using it. Beat the egg with salt,
add sugar, and pour the scalded milk over the mixture.
Put into a buttered baking dish with rice and raisins.
The raisins may be omitted and a little grated rind of a
lemon used ; or cinnamon, ginger, or nutmeg. Molasses
or maple syrup may be substituted for the sugar. Or :
PREPARE INDIAN PUDDING.
Use one tablespoon of Indian meal to one cup of milk
and other ingredients in proportion.
5 c. scalded milk \ c. molasses
J c. Indian meal 1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ginger
Pour the hot milk over the meal, and cook twenty minutes
in a double boiler. Add the other ingredients, and bake
very slowly in a buttered dish.
B. CRISPED CEREALS.
Examine and taste a " ready-to-eat " cereal as it is pur-
chased. Place a little of it in a pan and put it for a moment
in an oven ; compare with the portion not heated.
C. COST OF BREAKFAST FOODS.
Take packages of well-known cereals. Determine how
much of each must be used for one serving, then how many
CELLULOSE
63
servings each package will give. Calculate the cost of a
serving of each, and fill in the following table.
NAME OF CEREAL
COST
OP PACKAGE
AMOUNT
OF ONE
SERVING
NUMBER OF
SERVINGS
IN A
PACKAGE
COST
PER
SERVING
COST
PER
OUNCE
CELLULOSE
Cellulose is the fiber which makes up part of the frame-
work of vegetable foods. It has the same chemical com-
position as starch, but is much less soluble, and human
food contains only a small percentage of it. It is a form of
carbohydrate which is of less importance to mankind than
to animals. While animals have ferments in the digestive
tract which are capable of digesting cellulose, none with
this power are secreted by man. Nevertheless, the scien-
tists find that man digests some cellulose. This is one
of the beneficial acts of bacteria present in the intestines.
These bacteria are capable of acting on tender cellulose
and changing it, perhaps into sugars and organic acids,
in which forms it can be absorbed and burned as fuel to
furnish the body with heat and muscular energy. Un-
doubtedly some of the breaking down of the cellulose
proceeds further than this, and hydrogen and other gases
are produced which have no nutritive value.
64 FOOD STUDY
But not all forms of cellulose are easily enough broken
down to have such changes occur. Cotton is a form
of cellulose which would be absolutely without nutritive
value. Such tender cellulose as is found in the cell walls
of seeds like the cereals, and in vegetables, especially when
young, is more capable of being digested. Still, it is
probable that the less cellulose there is present in a vege-
table food, the more digestible it is. This is probably the
reason that rice is so easily digested, for it contains less
cellulose than the other grains.
Boiling in water does not change real cellulose at all,
just as cotton clothes are not changed by boiling. But the
cellulose cell walls of a plant are stiffened with other re-
lated substances ; for one, with the pectose which changes
to pectin. Cooking dissolves out some of these inter-
cellular substances and also hydrates the starch, and so
cooked vegetables are softened. Then, as has already been
explained, by thorough cooking the cellulose walls may
be ruptured by the swelling of the starch grains within the
cells and so the contents exposed without its being neces-
sary first to digest the cell walls.
Some authorities believe that inert particles like cellu-
lose are sufficiently rough to stimulate the intestines to
peristaltic action, that is, to movements which hasten the
passage of food through the intestines and which are an
aid in combating constipation. But, since foods are not
laxative in proportion to the amount of cellulose they
contain, others believe this action is due rather to the
stimulus of certain salts which occur largely in the husks
of the cereal ; and that it is due to the presence of these
salts and not to the larger amount of cellulose in them that
such articles of food as cracked wheat and graham bread
are more laxative than those cereals which have undergone
more extensive manufacturing processes.
MINERAL AND ORGANIC SALTS 65
MINERAL AND ORGANIC SALTS
Mineral matter occurs not only in the teeth and bones,
but in every tissue of the body and in all the fluids. It is
necessary in all the vital processes. The principal mineral
elements in the body are calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium,
potassium, phosphorus, chlorine, iodine, fluorine, silicon,
and sulphur. These occur as compounds, forming both
mineral and organic salts. Unlike carbohydrates, fats,
and proteins, mineral salts are not changed in digestion
nor are they oxidized, and so they do not furnish the body
with energy. When organic matter is burned, these salts
remain unconsumed as the ash.
Mineral matter is present in all the digestive juices and
plays its part in the digestion and absorption of foods.
Mineral matter is dissolved in the blood and regulates its
specific gravity and its alkalinity. It is found in all
tissues, where it is concerned in metabolism.* Mineral
matter, too, probably stimulates the contractions which
cause the heart to beat.
Since man excretes every day a large amount of mineral
matter, this loss must be replaced. The necessary amount
of mineral matter is found in an ordinary mixed diet.
Common salt, sodium chloride, is the only mineral which
is added to food, but it is probable that there would be
enough of this furnished in the food of a mixed diet. In
fact, it is possible that large quantities of salt are really
bad for us rather than helpful. People, like the Esqui-
maux, who are unaccustomed to its use easily detect the
addition of an exceedingly small amount and dislike it, but
those who are habituated to its use crave it. Salt seems
to accentuate flavor.
* Metabolism includes all the processes which food undergoes
after it is digested and absorbed and before it is excreted.
66 FOOD STUDY
In the metabolism of proteins, mineral acids are formed
which must be neutralized by such basic substances as
sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, in order to
preserve the alkalinity of the blood. As these basic
elements are abundant in vegetables and fruits, it is neces-
sary that the diet should contain liberal amounts of both
and not consist too largely of meat. The modern diet is
likely not to be well balanced in this respect, because it
consists of liberal amounts of meat, fats, and sugar, all of
which contain insignificant amounts of mineral salts.
At first thought it seems strange that fruits should be
added to prevent over-acidity when fruits themselves are
acid; but the acids present are organic acids, such as
citric, malic, tartaric, and oxalic. Some of these are
decomposition products of starch and are oxidized by the
body to produce energy and are then given off as carbon
dioxide and water, just as starch is metabolized. Mineral
acids cannot be oxidized in the body and must be neutral-
ized into salts and then excreted, and that is why they
require basic elements with which to unite to become salts.
It is important to remember the need for generous
amounts of vegetables and fruit in the diet, for these often
seem expensive materials in comparison with the amount
of energy and of building material which they contain, and
the poor are tempted to leave them entirely out of their
rations.
REFERENCES
Ohio Agri. Exp. Station (Wooster) Bulletin 201. "Mineral Ele-
ments in Nutrition."
Ohio Agri. Exp. Station (Wooster) Bulletin r 207. "The Balance
between Inorganic Acids and Bases in Animal Nutrition."
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 73, pp. 23-27.
"Losses in Cooking Vegetables."
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Office of Exp. Station Bulletin No. 43.
"Losses in Boiling Vegetables."
SETTING THE TABLE 67
Journal of Home Economics, Vol. 4, No. 5, "Losses in Boiling Vege-
tables."
QUESTIONS
1. Are mineral elements so abundant in foods that they do not
need to be taken into consideration in menu making ?
2. What foods contain iron ? What special use has the body for
this substance ?
3. Why is milk so valuable a food for babies ?
4. How may carelessness in preparation waste or lose the salts
contained in foods ?
5. Discuss the boiling, baking, and steaming of vegetables from
this point of view.
6. What uses may be made of the water in which vegetables have
been cooked ? When is this worth while ?
7. Do canned and dried vegetables retain their mineral salts ?
XII
REVIEW LESSON
BREAKFAST
PREPARE AND SERVE A BREAKFAST.
Calculate the cost per person.
Suggested menu :
Fruit, fresh or stewed.
Cereal, cooked or ready-to-eat.
Eggs, boiled or poached.
Serve with toast or bread.
Milk.
SETTING THE TABLE
Scientists have established the fact that our state of
mind when eating is an important matter, a sense of com-
FOOD STUDY
fort and pleasure going far toward making a meal easily
digested. It is imperative, then, to try to make the table
as attractive as possible. Everything on the table must
be scrupulously clean, so clean that there is no question
From " Table Service." by Lucy O. Allen.
DIAGRAM OF BREAKFAST TABLE
about it. For this reason the use of a colored table-cloth,
which was common at one time, is no longer tolerated.
It is often difficult, especially with children, to keep all
parts of a table-cloth unspotted. In that case it is well to
consider the use of doilies which may be replaced as each
SETTING THE TABLE
69
70 FOOD STUDY
is soiled without greatly increasing the labor of washing.
They are often preferred even in houses where cost and
work are not a consideration, especially for the less formal
meals. Often, only one fairly large doily is used at each
place, but in more formal service or with a very highly
polished table smaller doilies for the glass, cup and saucer,
and bread-and-butter plate are also used.
In many homes the table-cloth is not removed be-
tween meals. This is usually unfortunate, because it
is seldom possible to make the cloth appear as fresh
as when all the wrinkles are shaken out. Often,
not all the crumbs are removed. If the housekeeper
is so busy that leaving the table set is a necessary
practice, at least some clean outer covering should
be spread over it to keep away the dust. A "silence
cloth" is not only a comfort in lessening the noise,
but it helps protect the table from hot dishes.
It also greatly improves the appearance of the table-
cloth and keeps it from wearing out so fast against the
edge of the table.
At each place the fork or forks are placed for conven-
ience with the tines up and on the left of the plate ; for the
same reason the knife or knives on the right with the sharp
edge toward the plate. Knives and forks should be placed
at such a distance that they give neither a crowded nor a
sprawled-out appearance and are set about an inch from
the edge of the table. Spoons, bowl up, are usually placed
at the right of the knives ; occasionally, however, they are
put at the top of the knives to save room. When much
silver is to be used, the various kinds are sometimes ar-
ranged according to size ; but it is better form, because less
confusing, to arrange them in the order of use, placing
those to be used first on the outside. Since the soup spoon
is large and unmistakable, it is sometimes placed out of
SETTING THE TABLE 71
order between the knives and smaller spoons. The napkin
should lie at the left of the forks unless for lack of room,
then it may be placed between the knives and forks. The
glass, right side up, at the end of the knife, and a butter
plate or bread-and-butter plate, just back and a little
to the left of the fork, usually completes the individual
service except for the plate itself. This may or may not
be in place when the meal begins.
It is difficult to give general rules in regard to the dishes
to be used. Some prefer to use plates under soup plates
and cereal dishes, and consider that as these protect the
table and table-cloth they are real labor savers. But, in
general, the use of extra dishes is not best ; and vegetables,
for example, should be served on the main plate unless
they are so liquid that this would be unpleasant.
If the food is to be served from the table, it should be so
arranged that it can be reached as conveniently as possible
by the one who is to serve. Near each dish should be
placed the utensils which will be needed; these should
not be used in common with another dish, and if the dishes
are passed to allow each to serve himself, they should be
passed with the dish so that no one is tempted to use his
own fork or spoon. In serving, if very few people are
present, ladies may be served first. Usually, however, it
is now customary for the host or hostess to serve in order,
beginning for the first course with the person on the right
and at the next course with the person on the left.
REFERENCES
FARMER. " Boston Cooking School Cook Book ", picture, page 592,
HILL. "Up-to-Date Waitress."
LARNED. "Hostess of To-day."
ALLEN. "Table Service."
WILSON. "Handbook of Domestic Science", pages 214-218.
72
FOOD STUDY
From " Table Service," by Lucy G. Allen.
DIAGRAM OP TABLE LAID FOR HOME DINNER (WITHOUT SERV-
ICE OF MAID)
SETTING THE TABLE 73
QUESTIONS
1. What is the principle underlying the arrangement of silver and
dishes on the table ?
2. Tell : a. Where should the napkin be placed while you are
eating ?
b. Should the napkin be laid on the table while it is
being folded at the end of the meal ?
c. Is it ever permissible not to fold the napkin ?
d. Show the proper ways of using knife, fork, and spoon.
e. Where should the knife and fork be placed in passing
the plate for a second serving ? Why ?
/. From what part of the spoon should we eat ?
g. Why should the spoon not be left in the cup ?
h. Why should a whole slice of bread not be spread
at a time ? How should bread be eaten ?
i. Discuss courteous ways of offering to serve another, of
accepting or refusing.
3. Why should dishes offered by a waitress always be passed to
the left of the person seated?
4. Why should finger bowls and tumblers not be filled too full of
water ?
5. In pouring a glass of water, why should the waitress avoid
touching the rim of the glass ? Should the same precaution be taken
in putting away glasses after washing ?
6. What care must be taken in laying a table-cloth ? In folding it ?
7. Why are doilies sometimes used in place of a table-cloth ? At
what meals are they most often used ?
8. How should a napkin be folded when it is laundered ?
9. What conditions modify the number of courses in which it is
desirable to serve a meal ?
74 FOOD STUDY
XIII
TEA
MARSHMALLOW WAFERS
A. PREPARE MARSHMALLOW WAFERS.
Dent a marshmallow by pressing on it, as hard as you
can, with the handle of a knife. Put in this dent a piece
of butter about the size of half a pea, and place the marsh-
mallow on a square cracker laid on an unbuttered tin.
Put it in the oven, until it puffs up and browns slightly.
Remove from the oven, and, as it grows cold, place in the
dent a piece of a candied cherry.
Serve with tea.
B. WEIGH A TEASPOON OF TEA. Allowing one tea-
spoon of tea to one cup, what would each cup cost ?
C. GREEN TEA.
1. To one-half teaspoon of tea add one-half cup of water
which is hot, but not boiling. Let it stand three
minutes.
2. To one-half teaspoon of tea add one-half cup of boil-
ing water, and boil, covered, for five minutes.
3. To one-half teaspoon of tea add one-half cup of boil-
ing water. Let it stand three minutes, and then
strain about half of it from the leaves.
4. Let the remainder from (3) steep twenty minutes
and then strain.
5. Pour one-half cup boiling water through one-half
teaspoon of tea in a fine strainer or tea-ball.
Compare 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, as to color, flavor, and
strength.
TEA 75
Put a teaspoon of each into five test tubes, add one-half
teaspoon of ferrous sulphate solution and set aside until
black precipitate settles. This precipitate shows the
amount of tannin (a substance in tea liable to cause diges-
tive disturbances) which is extracted from the tea by
each method.
D. Class Experiments. BLACK TEA.
Repeat C, but use black instead of green tea.
Judging from these experiments which method of making
tea is best? Why?
Compare the amounts of tannin in green and black tea.
E. MAKE A CUP OP TEA.
Serve with the wafers.
TEA
Chinese tradition recognizes the use of tea since 2700
B.C., but it was not used in England or on the Continent
until the latter part of the seventeenth century, nor was
it imported into America until 1711. In 1660 Pepys, an
Englishman of some political and social experience, records
in his diary the taking of his first cup of tea, which he ex-
plains is a "China drink." Now England and Australia
use large quantities of it per capita compared with its con-
sumption in the United States.
Tea comes to us mainly from China, Japan, Ceylon, and
India. There has been an attempt, however, to grow it
in our own country, and some is produced successfully in
South Carolina. Tea is made from the leaves of a shrub
called thea, which grows from three to six feet high. In
order to obtain the best flavor only new, tender leaves and
buds are used, but as these shrubs send out four sets of
shoots a year, there are four harvests. There are different
76 FOOD STUDY
grades and varieties of tea plants, but, in general, the tea
from each country has a characteristic flavor. Great
differences, however, are due to the age and size of the leaf.
The two leaves nearest the tip are the choicest and make
the real Flowery and Orange Pekoe; but it is said the
finest grades are so highly prized in their own countries
that they are never sold in the United States. The leaves
TEA LEAVES
a, Flowery Pekoe ; b, Orange Pekoe ; c, Pekoe ; d, Souchong
(first); e, Souchong (second); /, Congou; h, Bohea.
which grow farther and farther down the stem make less
and less desirable teas. In selecting teas, then, the size
of the uncurled leaves and their uniformity should be
considered. The substitution of a larger leaf than the
brand calls for, or the addition of tea "dust", or of too
large a proportion of stems, are now the chief adultera-
tions.
There are two chief methods of preparing the leaves for
market, and these affect not only the appearance but also
TEA 77
the flavor and the composition of the beverages made from
them. It is these methods of preparation which give us
black and green teas. The green color of the leaf is pre-
served in green tea by drying the leaf by artificial heat and
at a temperature high enough to destroy any ferments
that are present. During the drying, constant stirring
will cause the leaves to roll and curl. In making black tea,
on the contrary, the leaves are only withered and left
sufficiently moist to ferment before they are curled and
dried thoroughly. This fermentation not only changes
the color, but also somewhat affects the composition of
the leaf. The exact process, number of dryings, and so
forth, differ in different localities. Formosa-oolong is a
cross between black and green tea. It is a semi-fermented
tea which appears black, but has the flavor of a green tea.
Although the tea leaf is itself rich in protein, the infusion
contains practically only caffein, tannin, and essential oils.
None of these are in any sense food materials. Caffein, a
stimulating substance also found in coffee, acts upon the
nerves, producing a feeling of well-being, but it is this
which prevents sleep if the drinker is unaccustomed to the
drug. Caffein is so soluble that practically all of it is
extracted from the leaves however the infusion is made.
This is also true of the essential oils which give the charac-
teristic flavor. These so-called oils are not really oils at
all, but are chemical substances present in very small
amounts, and are somewhat volatile. For this reason tea
leaves should be kept in covered cans or jars.
The bitter ingredient, tannin, is drawn out more and
more if tea stands on its leaves, or is boiled. Tannin is
disagreeable in taste, but, besides this, it may hinder the
flow of digestive juices, and retard digestion. As a result
of fermentation, black tea contains much less tannin and
is usually recommended for that reason; but it is some-
78 FOOD STUDY
what more stimulating than green tea, for it contains a
little more caffein. Most people select the variety of tea
they use merely by preference for its flavor without
thought of composition. (
Individuals differ greatly in their sensitiveness to the
stimulants in tea, as well as to the tannin. Children are
always much more easily affected than adults, and should
not be allowed to take any stimulating drink. Authorities
say that no one should touch tea or coffee until over thirty.
Nervous people, of course, are most prone to notice bad
effects from the caffein, and those with weak digestions
may be troubled by the amount of tannin which even well-
made tea contains.
REFERENCES
FREEMAN and CHANDLER. "World's Commercial Products."
QUESTIONS
1. What is a beverage?
2. What is a decoction? An infusion? Which should tea be?
What is meant by steeping ?
3. Make a drawing of a tea leaf, and a sketch of a tea plant.
4. Make lists of some of the best varieties of both black and green
tea with their present prices.
5. What ought you to expect to pay for good tea? For fancy
varieties ?
6. How can the effects of tea-drinking be minimized ?
7. Should the use of tea be encouraged? What people should
avoid its use entirely ?
8. Why should a teapot be scalded immediately before making
tea in it ?
COFFEE 79
XIV
COFFEE
CHEESE WAFERS
A. PREPARE CHEESE WAFERS.
Sprinkle grated cheese, seasoned slightly with salt and
paprika, on thin crackers, and heat them in the oven
until the cheese melts.
Serve with coffee.
B. COST OF COFFEE. Determine the number of cups
a pound of coffee will make, allowing one rounding
tablespoon of ground coffee to each cup.
C. Class Experiments. MAKING COFFEE.
1. Mix one rounding tablespoon of coffee with one-
half teaspoon of egg white and one tablespoon of
cold water. Add one cup of boiling water. Boil
three minutes and let stand in a warm place or over
hot water for five minutes.
2. Repeat (1), omitting the egg. Why is the egg
used?
3. Repeat (1), using one tablespoon of egg white.
Compare carefully the resulting coffee for color and
flavor with that made in (1). Can too much egg be
used?
4. Repeat (1), omitting the egg, but adding one table-
spoon of cold water after boiling. Compare care-
fully with (1) and (2). What is the use of the cold
water ?
5. Repeat (1), omitting the egg, but tying the coffee
in a piece of cheesecloth.
80
FOOD STUDY
D. PERCOLATED AND DRIP COFFEE.
Coffee made by these methods may be compared with
that made by boiling.
COFFEE
The coffee bean is the seed of a fruit resembling a cherry.
Coffee grows on an evergreen tree, originally a native of
Arabia, but now cul-
tivated in nearly all
tropical countries.
The berries are pro-
duced three times a
year. They F are
picked and allowed
to ferment to soften
the pulp which is later
removed. This leaves
a husk which encloses
two berries with their
flat sides next each
other. After the re-
moval of the pulp the
husk is dried and
broken open and the
berries released.
These raw berries are exported to the countries in which
they are to be used, and then roasted to develop flavor
and to make them brittle for grinding. After washing
they are sold either ground or unground. As after grind-
ing they lose flavor somewhat quickly, the housewife usu-
ally buys either the whole berries and grinds them as
she uses them, or gets the grocer to grind the whole for
her, or else she buys ground coffee in air-tight cans.
COFFEE BERRY AND LEAF.
COFFEE 81
Mocha, Java, and Brazilian coffees are the three prin-
cipal kinds. The first two are used as trade names for
coffees having special characteristics and do not signify
the place of production. Most coffee comes from South
America, largely from Brazil. Differences of flavor are
due partly to differences in variety, but are largely the
result of differences in the maturity of the berries when
gathered and in the length of time they are roasted.
Berries are picked green, or left to turn red, or ripen fully
to a purple. Rio, a brand which is very familiar, is a
Brazilian coffee. Brazilian coffees cost less than Java.
Mocha is most expensive. A mixture of Mocha and Java
is a general favorite.
Perhaps the most economical way to purchase coffee is to
buy the roasted bean in five- or ten-pound bags and store
in tins until needed. The whole beans bought in bulk cost
less than the coffees sold in pound tins. The crispness
of the bean and the aroma tell whether the coffee is suffi-
ciently fresh to be good. The flavor of old coffee can be
somewhat improved by spreading it out well and re-
roasting in an oven.
The beverage coffee is chemically much like tea. It con-
tains caffein and essential oil and tannin, but the tannin
is in a somewhat different form and is perhaps less objec-
tionable. While the percentage of caffein in the bean is
less than in tea leaves, so much more coffee is used in
making a cup of the beverage that a cup of coffee contains
about as much caffein as three-quarters of a cup of tea.
Coffee, then, like tea, should be avoided by the nervous,
by those who have digestive disturbances, and by children.
Cream or milk in coffee and tea seem to render it less
digestible to some people. Individuals differ greatly in
their sensitiveness to tea and coffee. Some are much more
affected by one than by the other ; some are sensitive to
82 FOOD STUDY
both. It is easy to find out how much one is stimulated.
Those unaccustomed to coffee can see whether it makes
them feel nervous or produces sleeplessness or indigestion.
But coffee drinking becomes a habit and no great effect
may be noticed. If, however, the individual accustomed
to it will try going without, he can soon tell whether it
was affecting him. If he has headache, or is unduly
sleepy and dull, he may be sure he has been depending on
coffee as a stimulant.
A small cup of black coffee taken at the end of a hearty
meal sometimes acts as a promoter of digestion. This
usually signifies that the person benefited has eaten too
much and would be better off if he ate less and went with-
out the coffee.
REFERENCES
FREEMAN and CHANDLER. "World's Commercial Products."
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 122. "Coffee
Substitutes."
QUESTIONS
1. Where is coffee grown? How prepared for the market?
2. What varieties of coffee are on your local market ?
3. What do these varieties cost? What is a reasonable price to
pay for a good coffee ?
4. Why does an egg settle coffee ? Why are egg shells sometimes
used? If the shells are to be used for this purpose, when should
they be washed ?
5. Explain why cold water settles coffee.
6. Is coffee a decoction or an infusion ?
7. Describe the care which should be taken of a coffee pot.
8. Name some of the coffee substitutes. From what are these
usually made? How does their cost compare with that of coffee?
COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 83
XV
COCOA AND CHOCOLATE
OATMEAL COOKIES
A. PREPARE OATMEAL COOKIES.
Use one-eighth of the recipe:
\ c. sugar \ tsp. salt
\ tbsp. melted butter 1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg 1 c. rolled oats
1 tsp. baking powder
Mix the dry ingredients and add the egg beaten slightly
and the melted butter. Drop from a teaspoon on a
buttered tin. Bake from five to seven minutes in a slow
oven (365 F.).
B. Class Experiments. MAKING COCOA.
1. Try mixing one teaspoon of cocoa with cold water.
2. Try mixing one teaspoon of cocoa with boiling
water.
3. Try mixing one teaspoon of cocoa slowly with boil-
ing water.
4. Try mixing one teaspoon of cocoa with one-half tea-
spoon of sugar, then add boiling water.
MAKE COCOA. Mix as seems best from the results
of B. Use:
1 tsp. cocoa i c. water
tsp. sugar i c. milk
A few grains of salt
A few drops of vanilla, if desired
Mix cocoa, salt, sugar, and water, and boil one
minute. Add milk and boil until it begins to
84 FOOD STUDY
froth. Remove at once. Let half of this stand
a few moments. Beat the other half with an egg-
beater or a wire whisk until it foams. What is
the advantage of "milling" (beating)?
C. PREPARE CHOCOLATE.
Use the same proportions as for cocoa, but use a weight
of chocolate equal to the weight of the teaspoon of cocoa.
Melt the chocolate with sugar in a saucepan over hot
water, add boiling water slowly, stirring until smooth.
Then boil one minute, add milk, and proceed as in making
cocoa. Serve with cookies.
When would it be better in making cocoa and choco-
late to scald the milk first?
COCOA AND CHOCOLATE
The cocoa tree, a native of tropical American countries,
produces a pod from seven to ten inches long, and shaped
somewhat like a thick cucumber. In the pod are found
from twenty to forty beans from which chocolate and cocoa
are manufactured. The pods are harvested twice a year,
the beans being freed from the pod and allowed to ferment.
This fermentation is carried on very carefully, for upon it
depends the development of the flavor. Drying in the
air changes the color of the bean from white to red.
Roasting changes the beans further and loosens the husk,
which is removed and sold as cocoa-shells, to be boiled
with water for a beverage. The part of the bean under
the husk is called the nib. This is sometimes crushed and
put on the market as cracked cocoa, but more often is
ground and molded into a cake which is known as bitter or
cooking chocolate ; or, mixed with sugar, as sweet choco-
late. The latter is often flavored, usually with vanilla.
COCOA AND CHOCOLATE
85
Cocoa is made from chocolate by the removal of part
of the fat, approximately fifty per cent. The fat, in
American manufacture, is merely pressed out and, as cocoa
butter, forms a valuable trade product. Dutch manufac-
turers treat the chocolate with alkali in the process of mak-
ing cocoa and add some spice, usually cinnamon, as well as
vanilla. So-called "soluble cocoas" are merely those
which are finely
ground and so remain
in suspension a longer
time.
Cocoa, as a bever-
age, differs from tea
and coffee in being
fairly nutritious. As
larger amounts of
milk or cream are
usually used in its
preparation, this, too,
increases the food
value. Cocoa con-
tains tannin, but in
a quite different form
from that found in
tea, and its stimulat-
ing ingredient, theo-
bromin, although like caffein in its effects, is much milder.
However, there is something of a reaction against the too
free use of chocolate and cocoa, even in cases when the
large amount of fat in chocolate does not cause trouble.
Doctors caution some invalids and children against the
use of chocolate. Many who do not feel stimulated by
it notice the diuretic effect. Still, chocolate is probably
much to be preferred to tea and coffee as a beverage,
COCOA POD AND BEANS
86 FOOD STUDY
particularly as we are not likely to demand it with the
same frequency.
CONDIMENTS AND FLAVORING EXTRACTS
Substances possessing practically no nutritive value, but
consumed either for their stimulating effects or for their
flavor, are known as food adjuncts. Tea and coffee belong
under this head, as do condiments which increase the appe-
tite and stimulate the flow of digestive juices. Condi-
ments are largely aromatic fruits, seeds, and leaves, con-
taining volatile oils. Little children are considered better
off without spiced foods, as natural, unstimulated appetite
is the best guide to the amount of food which should be
eaten. Then, too, the spices which are preservatives may
hinder digestion and so cause difficulty. The flavorings
vanilla, orange, and lemon are usually considered harmless.
ALLSPICE. The fruit of an evergreen tree which grows
in the West Indies and belongs to the
same family as the clove. The fruit is
gathered when it is full grown, but before
it is ripe, and is dried in the sun. The
name comes from the supposed resem-
blance in taste to a mixture of cinnamon,
clove, and nutmeg.
ANISE, coriander, cumin, dill, and fennel, are all
fruits of various plants.
BAYLEAF, marjoram, mint, and summer savory
are dried herbs.
CAPERS. These are the flower buds of the caper
bush. They are picked and dried, and
stored in vinegar, but afterwards re-
moved and packed for shipping without
the vinegar.
CONDIMENTS
87
CARAWAY. These so-called seeds are the fruit of a
plant growing in northern and central
Europe and Asia ; it is also cultivated in
this country, especially in California.
CAYENNE. Cayenne or red-pepper is the fruit of the
capsicum, not a true pepper, several
species of which are grown in the tropics.
They belong to the same family as the
potato and tomato.
CINNAMON. True cinnamon is the inner bark of a plant
native to Ceylon. Cassia is a thicker
bark, resembling cinnamon in flavor, but
less delicate, coming from India, China,
and the East Indies. Much so-called
cinnamon is really cassia. Both have a
right to the botanical name cinnamon.
CLOVE. The flower buds of an evergreen grown
largely in Zanzibar, British East India,
and the West Indies. The buds are
dried in the sun or treated with wood
smoke. Dark, well-formed cloves are
best. Ground cloves deteriorate more
quickly than do whole cloves.
GINGER. The root of a plant native to southern
Asia. The plant, not unlike the iris in
appearance, grows freely in moist places in
tropical countries. The root is gathered
when the stem withers, is scalded, or
washed and scraped, to prevent sprouting,
and is sometimes bleached. Preserved,
Canton, and crystallized ginger are made
from young roots.
HORSE-RADISH. This is the root of a plant related to the
cress or nasturtium family. It is ground
88
FOOD STUDY
MACE.
MUSTARD.
NUTMEG.
PAPRIKA.
PEPPER.
SALT.
for use, and is sometimes mixed with
vinegar.
This spice is made from the covering
which surrounds the nutmeg seed.
The product is ground from the seeds of
various species of the mustard plant.
The hulls may or may not be removed.
Unground white mustard seeds are fre-
quently used in pickling. French mus-
tard is prepared by mixing ground mus-
tard with vinegar and other flavoring
materials, such as garlic and spices.
Nutmegs are the dried seeds of a tree
which resembles the orange. The tree is
native to the Malayan Archipelago.
This is prepared by grinding the ripe fruit
of the capsicum, carefully excluding seeds
and stem. This gives a product which is
far less peppery than Cayenne.
The fruit of the pepper plant, a climbing
perennial shrub, grown in the East and
West Indies. The unripe peppercorns
make black pepper. The ripe pepper,
with the husk removed, is ground into
white pepper.
Table salt is composed largely of sodium
chloride, usually with other mineral
matter, such as calcium sulphate. Traces
of calcium and magnesium chloride may
also be present. In the United States,
nine-tenths of all the salt produced comes
from New York, Ohio, Michigan, and
Kansas. Salt is obtained by mining rock
salt, from salt wells, or by the evapora-
EXTRACTS 89
tion of salt water from the ocean or from
salt lakes. Salt produced in the third
way must be refined by re-dissolving in
water and then re-crystallizing.
VINEGAR. In the United States, vinegar means the
product resulting from the fermentation
of apple juice. This is sometimes called
apple or cider vinegar, but various vine-
gars made from other materials may also
be sold under their appropriate names;
as wine vinegar, malt vinegar, and grain
or spirit vinegar.
EXTRACTS
Extracts are solutions in alcohol of the volatile oils
and other substances which give the characteristic flavors
to various plants. Extracts of many varieties are on the
market, but vanilla, lemon, orange, and almond are, per-
haps, the most commonly used.
Vanilla is a bean from a climbing vine, native to tropical
America. The beans grow in a pod which is allowed to
ferment after it is picked. Then the beans are dried for
market. To make extract they are cut up and extracted
with alcohol. Sugar is sometimes added. The Tonka
bean has a similar flavor.
Lemon and orange extracts are prepared by soaking
the peel of the fruits in strong alcohol.
Almond extract is made from the oil of bitter almonds.
This oil may be obtained not only from bitter almonds but
also from the seeds of apricots and peaches.
All spices and extracts sold in interstate commerce must
conform to certain fixed standards prescribed by Federal
laws. Many states also prescribe standards.
90 FOOD STUDY
REFERENCES
"History and Use of Cocoa and Chocolate." Walter Baker & Co.
Ltd., Dorchester, Mass.
"The Chocolate Plant." Walter Baker & Co. Ltd.
OLSEN. "Pure Foods."
QUESTIONS
1. Is it economical to buy a sweetened cocoa and pay as much per
pound as for ordinary cocoa ?
2. Which costs most per pound, chocolate or cocoa ?
3: What are the advantages and disadvantages in using cocoa in
place of chocolate in making frostings, cakes, and the like ?
4. Is it easier to melt or grate chocolate for such use ?
5. How do cocoa and chocolate compare in food value with tea
and coffee ?
XVI
FREEZING
WATER ICES
SHERBET
A. Class Experiments. A STUDY OF FREEZING
MIXTURES.
1. Prepare a small bowl of:
a. cracked ice.
6. mixture of one part of salt to one part of ice.
c. mixture of one part of salt to seven parts of ice.
d. mixture of one part of salt to ten parts of ice.
Insert a thermometer in each bowl as soon as the ice
and salt are mixed and find the lowest temperature
obtainable in each case, also the length of time neces-
sary to obtain this temperature.
FREEZING 91
2. Effect of different freezing mixtures.
Prepare a syrup, using two tablespoons of sugar to
one-half cup of water. Pour into four test tubes.
Prepare bowls as in (1) and insert one of the test tubes
in each. Compare the time required to freeze, and
the textures of the frozen syrups. Which freezing
mixture will you use to freeze an ice or a sherbet ?
3. Insert in a freezing mixture of one part of salt to
seven parts of ice test tubes containing :
a. a tablespoon of water.
b. a tablespoon of water and a saltspoon of ground
spice.
c. a tablespoon of syrup (one part sugar to four
parts of water).
d. a tablespoon of syrup (one part sugar to one
part of water).
e. a tablespoon of stiffly beaten white of egg.
Notice the time necessary to freeze and the texture of
each. Take the temperature of each when frozen.
What is the effect of suspended and dissolved sub-
stances on the freezing point of water ?
B. PREPARE LEMON ICE.
Boil two tablespoons of sugar with half a cup of water to
make a syrup. Add one tablespoon of lemon juice. Cool,
pour into a tin measuring cup or similar container, cover,
and surround with ice and salt. (What proportion will you
use ?) Stir while freezing.
C. Class Work. PREPARE LEMON SHERBET.
Prepare a syrup, using the same proportions as in (B)
but make enough to serve the whole class. Freeze in a
regular freezer.
1. Use two teaspoons of gelatine for every quart of
liquid. Soak the gelatine in a little cold water, while
92 FOOD STUDY
the syrup is cooking. Then pour the hot syrup over
it. Add lemon in the same proportion given in (B)
and strain. Grated lemon peel may be added.
Or:
2. When syrup is cool, mix in stiffly beaten white of
egg, using one-half to one egg white for each cup of
liquid. Add lemon as before.
FREEZING MIXTURES
Without a knowledge of physics it is rather difficult to
understand how ice and salt act as a freezing mixture. In
order to understand it at all we must know some prelimi-
nary facts. In the first place, the subject of energy must be
considered. Cold is not a thing in itself, but merely the
absence of heat. Heat, light, electricity, magnetism, and
motion are all forms of energy and can be transformed one
into another. Electricity in our lamps, for example, is
changed into light and also gives off heat. In an electric
flat-iron, heat is produced without any light at all. The
heat of the fuel is, in a locomotive, turned into the motion
which carries the train along. It is well-known, too, that
some substances, as a piece of hard rubber such as is found
in a fountain pen, can easily be electrified on a cold day by
rubbing briskly on a woollen surface and that they will then
attract bits of paper. These are all cases where one form
of energy is turned into another ; and it is a law in physics
that no energy is ever destroyed, but continues to exist.
When a solid like ice is changed into a liquid like water, or a
liquid such as water is changed into a gas such as water
vapor, heat is necessary for the change. This is said to be
used up in performing work and is spoken of as hidden, or
latent heat.
The same kind of action is illustrated by boiling water.
FREEZING MIXTURES 93
The temperature of the water rises until the boiling point
is reached, but no further application of heat will raise the
temperature above this point. This is because as fast as
the heat is supplied it is used up in turning the water into
steam ; the more the heat supplied, the more steam there
is formed, but the temperature of the steam itself is the
same as that of the water from which it comes. But when
it is said that the heat is used up, it is not meant that it is
destroyed ; for if the vapor be changed back to water, or
the water to ice, the energy again manifests itself and
appears as heat.
A second point to be understood is what is shown by the
freezing experiments : a liquid that has another substance
dissolved in it no longer freezes at the same temperature,
but at a lower one. The more substance there is dissolved,
the lower the freezing point becomes.
Now what happens when the ice and salt are mixed that
makes the two so much colder than before ? The ice is at
32 F. and the salt much warmer, but as soon as they are
mixed the temperature falls rapidly. What occurs is this.
The ice and salt which are next each other are mixed to
form brine. But brine, being really water with salt dis-
solved in it, should not freeze at 32 but at a much lower
temperature. If it cannot be frozen, the ice must melt.
But, as has already been said, heat is necessary to bring
this about. The only available heat is in the mixture itself
or the surrounding objects with which it comes into con-
tact. This heat is used up in doing the work of melting the
ice and becomes latent, that is, disappears and is no
longer evident as heat. Some heat also is used in doing
the work of dissolving the salt in the water. As a result
of these two actions the temperature of the mixture drops.
There are certain substances which conduct heat readily.
It is well known how hard it is to hold the end of a metal
94 FOOD STUDY
spoon while the other end is in boiling water. No diffi-
culty is experienced, if a wooden spoon is used. Wood,
then, is a poor conductor of heat and metal a good one.
An ordinary ice-cream freezer has a container made of
metal. This is so that the heat in the cream can easily
be "conducted" to the freezing mixture to be used up in
melting the ice and so disappear. On the other hand, the
outside tub of the freezer is usually of wood. That is in
order to keep the heat of the air from being easily con-
ducted into the freezing mixture, lest this heat be used
instead of that in the cream which is to be frozen. The
difficulty with the wooden tub is that as it stands unused
it is apt to shrink and then leak, and, besides, it is heavy and
clumsy. So some ice-cream freezers have a metal outside.
They undoubtedly take a little more ice and salt to do the
work, but otherwise are quite satisfactory.
REFERENCES
Agri. Exp. Sta., Burlington, Vt. "The Principles and Practice of Ice
Cream Making."
QUESTIONS
1. Why does an ice-cream freezer have a dasher?
2. Which is cheaper, ice or salt ? How does this point affect the
choice of the proportions of ice and salt to be used in a freezing mix-
ture?
3. What proportion of ice and salt would you use for chilling ?
4. How is ice cream packed and how is it covered for keeping ?
5. Can you make an ice cream or an ice mixture so sweet it will
not freeze? Why?
6. Can snow be used to make a freezing mixture instead of ice ?
7. Could ice have been frozen as readily in a glass cup as in a tin
cup ? Explain.
8. Explain why cologne rubbed on the forehead feels cool.
9. There are pressure cookers on the market which boil at a tem-
perature above 212 F. These cookers are of metal with a cover
which screws or clamps tightly into place, preventing the escape of the
RECEPTION 95
steam until the pressure reaches a certain degree, when an auto-
matic escape valve opens. The steam pressing on the surface of the
water prevents the ready formation of more steam. Why does the
temperature of the water then rise above that of ordinary boiling
water ?
XVII
RECEPTION
CANDIED FRUIT PEEL
MARGUERITES
SANDWICHES
HOLD A RECEPTION.
Prepare bread-and-butter or jelly sandwiches, candied
fruit peel, and marguerites or marshmallow crackers,
cocoa or tea, or coffee, as desired.
1. CANDIED FRUIT PEEL.
Wash and remove the skin of an orange or grape
fruit. Boil in water until tender. If the peel is
very oily, the water may be changed during the pro-
cess. When the peel is soft, scrape off some of the
inside white and cut the peel into even, narrow
strips. Make a syrup, using half a cup of sugar and
an equal amount of the water in which the peel was
cooked. Add the peel and cook until the syrup is
nearly evaporated, stirring. Drain the peel and roll
it in granulated sugar. Let it dry before serving.
2. MARGUERITES.
12 wafers \ tsp. vanilla
1 egg white c. chopped nuts or raisins or
^ tsp. salt the two mixed
2 tbsp. powdered sugar
96 FOOD STUDY
Mix the salt with the egg, and beat until very stiff.
Add the other ingredients, and spread on wafers.
Heat in a moderate oven until a delicate brown.
3. SANDWICHES.
In cutting bread for sandwiches, cut the slices as
thinly and evenly as possible. The crusts may or
may not be removed. If they are cut off, save them
to use as bread crumbs. If the butter is creamed
before using, it will spread more easily. After the
slices are put together, they may be cut in squares,
oblongs, or triangles. Sandwiches cut in rounds are
rather wasteful, unless the original loaf was a cylinder.
In order to prevent drying, sandwiches should be
wrapped in a dry cloth with a damp one outside,
until just before serving.
RECEPTIONS
Going to a reception sometimes seems a formidable
undertaking to one not used to it, but in reality it is a
simple affair for the guest. If the reception is formal and
the invitation "requests the pleasure of your company", a
reply must be sent in like form. But if the reception
card is informal as that for an " at home ", and if the invita-
tion is to be accepted, unless the invitation says "please
reply" or "R.S.V.P.", which is an abbreviation for the
French words meaning the same thing, it is not necessary
to respond. If one cannot attend, a calling card should be
mailed or sent to the hostess. If more than one name ap-
pears on the invitation, a man sends one calling card for
each person, a woman one for each woman, but all are
merely enclosed in the one envelope and directed to the
hostess. Nothing is written upon the cards.
RECEPTIONS 97
The guest may appear at any convenient time during
the hours set. Hat and gloves are worn at an afternoon
reception, but coats are ordinarily removed. Hats are not
worn at an evening affair.
The guest shakes hands first with the hostess, then with
any others who may be standing with her. Whether any
chatting may be done depends upon the number of guests
waiting for a chance to speak to the receiving line. After
mingling with the others for a few moments, one may be
invited to go to the dining room, or in the case of very in-
formal affairs left to find one's own way out. After being
served, one may chat again with friends, or go directly
to the receiving line to say good-by, and express one's
pleasure. Before leaving the house, cards are left, the
same rules applying as if they were sent.
An invitation to a reception is supposed to necessitate a
call upon the hostess afterwards, but at the present time
this rule is generally disregarded unless the invitation has
not been accepted.
The hostess is busy receiving her guests, so that it is
necessary that she be relieved of other cares. At informal
affairs friends are asked to pour at tables or to serve,
sometimes to invite to the dining room. Those assisting
do not wear hats. In some places it is a pretty custom to
pin favors, a flower or a knot of ribbon, to each guest as
he is served, so that no one shall be overlooked.
REFERENCES
FARMER. " Boston Cooking-School Cook Book," illustration
opposite p. 601.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the chief difference in the arrangement of the table for
a meal and for a reception?
98 FOOD STUDY
2. If you were instructing a person ignorant of how to behave at a
reception, what points would you make ?
3. Write a formal invitation and acceptance for a reception.
4. Under what circumstances do you send a card to a reception ?
When do you leave a card ?
XVIII
COMBUSTION AND FUELS
SCALLOPED POTATOES
A. PREPARE SCALLOPED POTATOES.
Wash, pare, and cut a potato into very thin slices. Put
in layers in a baking dish. Season each layer with salt
and butter, and pepper if desired. Cover with milk, and
bake in a slow oven until the potato is soft.
B. Class Experiments. 1. FUELS.
Take a narrow test tube and fill it two-thirds full
of wood the stems of matches will do. Heat,
holding it cautiously in a flame. As smoke
escapes, put a lighted match in the smoke and
see if it can be set on fire. Notice the black
residue left in the tube. This is charcoal.
2. Is air necessary to combustion?
Lower a candle or a burning splinter of wood
into a bottle of air and cover as closely as pos-
sible. Does it continue to burn ?
3. What is formed when fuel burns ?
a. Hold a cold glass tumbler for a moment
over a burning candle. Observe whether
moisture forms on the inside of the glass.
b. Burn a candle or a piece of wood in a
covered bottle till flame is extinguished.
COMBUSTION AND FUELS 99
Remove the candle or wood quickly and
pour in a little lime water, and shake it
around. Does it become milky? Try
lime water in a clean bottle of air. Carbon
dioxide is the gas which turns lime water
milky.
c. It is commonly said that food acts as fuel
in the body. See if the "products of com-
bustion", water and carbon dioxide, can be
detected in the air breathed out.
Test as follows :
(1) Breathe on a cold pane of glass. Does
moisture collect ?
(2) Breathe through a glass tube or a
lemonade straw into lime water. Do
we breathe out carbon dioxide ?
COMBUSTION AND FUELS
When the word combustion is used, it ordinarily means
burning, that is, the union of a substance with the oxygen
of the air with such rapidity that both heat and light are
produced. But in order to have this combustion take
place, it is necessary to have something more than a com-
bustible substance and oxygen. Wood is a combustible
substance, but it does not burn unless it is sufficiently
heated to " take fire." Not all materials have to be heated
to the same degree to make them burn, and the point to
which each must be heated is called the kindling tempera-
ture of the substance. Phosphorus has a low kindling
temperature and can easily be set on fire by the heat of
friction ; that is why it is used on the heads of matches.
Most combustible substances contain both carbon and
hydrogen as well as a little oxygen. When they are burned
100 FOOD STUDY
in the air the carbon unites with the oxygen to make carbon
dioxide, and the hydrogen with oxygen to form water,
oxygen from the air being used in the process. The com-
mon fuels are inexpensive substances which are largely
composed of these three elements. Foods, too, contain
the same elements in large amounts. When food is
burned in the body the process is a much slower one than
ordinary burning and no light at all is produced, but the
heat maintains the body temperature. Some fuels, like
some foods, have nitrogen in them, but this does not help in
the production of heat. The elements in fuels and foods
are put together so differently, however, that they are
entirely unlike in their nature, and the body could not burn
coal or wood instead of food.
The fuels that are most widely used in this country are
wood, coal, kerosene, and gas. Wood is becoming so expen-
sive and requires so much space for storage, that, in cities,
it is used only in starting a coal fire. In country districts
where wood is cheap, wood stoves are still in common use.
Wood must be set on fire by piling it on top of burning
paper, straw, or shavings. Such kindling is not sufficiently
hot to set fire to coal, so, in laying the coal fire, both paper
and wood are used. Wood is roughly divided into two
classes, hard and soft; the first is desirable when long-
continued, steady heat is necessary ; the other for quick,
hot fires. For kindling, soft wood must, of course, be
chosen. The usual way of selling wood is by the cord,
which consists of one hundred and twenty-eight cubic feet.
Coal is of two general kinds, anthracite or hard coal,
containing about ninety per cent of carbon and very little
gas, and bituminous or soft coal which contains gas and
burns with considerable flame. The latter variety is
dirty to handle and gives off much soot. It costs less by
the ton, however, than hard coal, especially in some parts
COMBUSTION AND FUELS 101
of the country, so it is often commonly used. A fire made
with it requires more frequent attention than one made
with hard coal, and when this and the cost of the cleaning
and laundering which it necessitates, as well as the wear
that this extra laundering means for fabrics, are all taken
into account, it is doubtful whether the use of soft coal is
really cheaper. Coal is sold by the ton; a long ton is
2240 pounds, a short ton only 2000 pounds.
Kerosene is also a much-used fuel, and in the blue-flame
stoves a very satisfactory one. It is one of the oils present
in petroleum, a mixture of natural oils found in the ground
in large quantities in some parts of the country. In order
to be sure that the more inflammable oils are not left in
the kerosene, in most states the quality is regulated by a
requirement that the flashing point shall not be below a
certain temperature. The flashing point is the tempera-
ture at which the vapor from the kerosene will catch fire
or flash. The kerosene itself does not burn, and the vapor
only for an instant. The temperature required below
which the vapor must not flash varies from 110 F. to
200 F., the latter meaning a very high-grade oil. Prob-
ably 149 F. is sufficiently safe, but as all kerosene is
explosive, care must be taken in its use. Stoves and lamps
should be filled only by daylight and never when they
are lighted or hot. Kerosene is sometimes poured on a
fire of coal or wood to act as kindling, and there have been
many accidents from such use. Safety requires that it
should never be used in kindling. The danger lies in
pouring it on after the fire is started, or when there are
hot ashes in the bed of the fire.
Gas is a much cleaner fuel to use than any of those
already mentioned. There are many varieties. Natural
gas, like kerosene, is found in the ground in certain parts
of the country. Its cost is much below that of artificial
102 FOOD STUDY
gas. The latter gas is made by two different methods,
one giving us coal gas, the other water gas. Coal gas is
obtained by heating coal, usually semi-bituminous, in
retorts so as to drive off the gas which it contains. Water
gas is made by passing steam over heated coal ; then this is
enriched by the addition of other gases in order to make it
more efficient. Any gas is dangerous, because, when it is
mixed with a certain amount of air, it becomes explosive,
and because some of the gases present, if they escape un-
burned, are highly poisonous. Water gas is particularly
poisonous. Leaks in gaspipes should not be neglected.
A light should never be taken into a room where there is a
strong smell of gas, windows and doors should be opened,
and, if necessary, the gas should be turned off from the
whole house by the main stopcock near the meter. The
surest way to detect small leaks is to paint over the sus-
pected places with strong soapsuds, and notice where bub-
bles are blown.
Acetylene is another sort of gas used for fuel in special
stoves. It is manufactured, usually on a small scale, by
the automatic dropping of calcium carbide into water.
The gas requires special burners, but gives a brilliant light.
It seems still to be a matter of dispute whether it is highly
poisonous as well as explosive.
Gasoline gas, sometimes called air gas, is made by pump-
ing air through gasoline. The law requires the gasoline
tank to be outside and at a certain distance from the house,
although the mixing chamber where more air is added may
be nearer. The gas makes an excellent fuel and does not
contain carbon monoxide, the compound in coal gas which
is most poisonous.
There are two kinds of alcohol which are common. One,
wood alcohol, ought not to be used, because its fumes are
poisonous. It is much cheaper than the other variety
COMBUSTION AND FUELS 103
called grain, or ordinary alcohol, because that is so highly
taxed. In recent years a way out of this difficulty has
been found in the use of denatured alcohol. This is merely
grain alcohol to which some substance has been added that
makes it impossible as a beverage and thus it escapes hav-
ing to pay the heavy tax otherwise imposed. The sub-
stance added in no way impairs its use as a fuel.
The use of electricity for cooking has certain advantages
which are furnished by none of the fuels. In its use there
are none of the products of combustion to get rid of, there
is no flame to set fire to the unwary, no matches to be
looked after, and its control is simple. It is, however, gen-
erally too expensive for common use. Electricity is meas-
ured by the kilowatt hour, the cost varying from about ten
to fifteen cents. The dials on an electric meter are not
unlike those on a gas meter and can be read easily.
REFERENCES
WHITE. "Fuels of the Household."
U. S. Dept. of Commerce. Bureau of Standards Circular No. 55,
sections on Coal, Wood, and Heating Value of Fuels.
QUESTIONS
1. Name the different substances which may be used as fuels and
arrange them in the order of their kindling temperatures.
2. Name the different kinds of coal used in the house, and, briefly,
characterize each.
3. Determine the comparative costs of the different fuels used in
your locality. Which is most commonly used and why ?
4. In an ordinary wood or coal stove, what becomes of the products
of combustion ? Where do they go in a gas range ? Account for the
difference in arrangement.
5. How is illuminating gas manufactured ?
6. What source of heat, sometimes used for cooking, is not the
direct result of combustion ?
104 FOOD STUDY
XIX
DRAFTS AND THE COAL RANGE
BAKED AND STUFFED POTATOES
A. PREPARE STUFFED POTATOES.
Wash a potato, scrubbing it well with a vegetable
brush. Bake in a hot oven until soft. Cut a piece off
the top and remove the contents with a fork, taking care
not to break the skin. Mash the contents with a little
butter, salt and pepper, and moisten with hot milk. Re-
place in the skin and reheat.
B. Class Experiments. DRAFTS.
1. What is the effect of a draft in a stove? Try
the following experiments to find out :
a. Put a lamp chimney over a lighted candle,
but hold it so high that it will not touch
whatever the candle is standing on. Take
small pieces of some light material (threads
of cotton wool will do) and hold them first
above the chimney, then underneath it. Is
the draft passing through the chimney
and in what direction, up or down?
6. Place a lighted candle in a saucer of water,
and put the lamp chimney over it so that
it, too, rests in the water. Why does the
candle go out ?
c. Fit a piece of pasteboard lengthwise into
the lamp chimney. Relight the candle
and replace the chimney, but set it so that
the candle flame is on one side of the paste-
board partition. Why does the candle
behave differently ? Test the draft.
COAL STOVES 105
d. Take an empty pasteboard shoe box. Cut
two holes in the cover, one at each end.
Each hole is to be a little smaller than the
bottom of a lamp chimney. With a drop
of melted wax, stick a lighted candle to
the bottom of the box so that the flame will
be under one of the holes when the cover
is put on. Cover, and put a lamp chimney
over each hole. Test the draft by holding
threads of the light material over each
chimney.
2. Examine a wood or coal stove, or range. Is there
a place for the air to come in as well as a place
for the products of combustion to pass out?
Can the size of these openings be regulated ?
COAL STOVES
Since air or oxygen is necessary for combustion, there
must be a constant supply of air, as in a draft, for a fire
to continue burning. The fire-box, then, in a stove could
not be air-tight. The air coming in the door below the
fire ordinarily passes out directly through the stove-pipe.
The check draft in the stove-pipe may, at will, be left wide
open, or turned so that it nearly closes the pipe. Besides
these two means of controlling the supply of air, there is a
third way. The upper door into the fire-box or a lid on
top of the stove may be left open. This allows the cold
air to blow across the top of the fire and cool it so that it
will burn much more slowly.
A fire merely built beside an oven would heat it un-
equally, so arrangements are made to allow the hot gases
from the fire to pass entirely around the oven when it is
desired to heat it. This is accomplished by shifting the
106
FOOD STUDY
oven damper. This closes the direct opening into the
stovepipe and so forces the gases to pass around the oven
before escaping.
COAL STOVE
The arrows show circulation of air through A, directly to smoke-
pipe, and through B, indirectly around oven.
Notice that there is a handle which may be fitted on a
bar from the grate. By turning the handle the grate
may be rocked back and forth to shake down the ashes.
The fire-box itself is lined with fire-proof material to pro-
tect the iron as much as possible from gradually burning
COAL STOVES 107
out. The top of the stove cannot be so protected, so care
must be taken to keep the fire low down in the fire-box.
This means a saving of coal, too, and generally gives as
efficient a fire.
Anything spilled on a stove should be wiped off im-
mediately with soft paper or cotton waste. If necessary,
soap and water or sapolio can be used later, or, when cold,
the top may be cleaned by rubbing with a few drops of
kerosene. In order to protect the iron from rusting, it is
necessary to keep it well covered. Blacking is usually
used for this purpose. The blacking is rubbed on
while the stove is cold and polished when it is warm.
A stove that is to be out of use for some time is still
better protected by covering it with a thin coating of
oil or grease.
It is interesting to consider why heating a portion of the
air causes a draft. This is because the heated air expands
so that the amount present in any given space is less than
it was before. It is therefore lighter. But this light air is
surrounded by cold air, which is heavier and so is pulled
down harder by the attraction of gravitation which pulls
everything toward the earth. The cold air, being pulled
harder, naturally displaces the warm air and so pushes it
up. It is often said that hot air rises, but this is not
strictly true, because it would not rise at all if it were not
for the colder, heavier air around it.
In the ventilation of rooms advantage is taken of the
fact that the circulation of air is caused by differences in
temperature. Hoods are often installed over stoves to
carry off the odors of cooking. These work in the manner
indicated above, the hot air over the stove being pushed
up into the exit pipe by the colder air around. The hood
itself acts merely by confining the warm air and preventing
it from scattering.
108 FOOD STUDY
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Commerce. Bureau of Standards, Circular No. 55,
sections on Amount of Heat used in Cooking and Some Other
Household Operations, Regulation of Stoves, Ranges, and Other
Heating Appliances, and on Oven Thermometers.
QUESTIONS
1. Why does a match go out if it is blown or shaken too hard ?
2. Why does a fire burn more brightly if it is blown with a bellows ?
Why does it not go out ?
3. Explain why, in building a coal fire, paper and wood are also
used. Why is the paper twisted and crumpled and the wood laid
criss-cross ?
4. How is an oven heated, and how is the temperature of an oven
controlled ?
5. What difficulty occurs if the ash pan is allowed to get too full ?
6. Why should ashes and soot be frequently removed from the
flues back of and under the oven ?
7. Why is a fire lighted at the bottom and not at the top ?
8. How would you arrange to keep a fire over night? Give the
reason for each act.
9. What is the danger in allowing coal gas to escape ?
XX
FLAME AND GAS STOVES
CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING
A. PREPARE CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING.
Melt one-fourth of a square of chocolate over hot water,
add half a cup of scalded milk, a quarter of a cup of bread
crumbs, quarter of an egg beaten, one tablespoon of sugar,
a pinch of salt, and a few drops of vanilla. Bake in a
buttered dish set in water until firm. Serve with milk or
cream.
GAS STOVES 109
B. Class Experiments. CARE OF A GAS STOVE.
1. Take a gas stove apart for cleaning.
2. Blacken the stove.
3. Examine a Bunsen burner. Light it, and alter-
nately open and close the holes at the base.
Hold a cold saucepan for a moment in the clear
flame. When it is again cold hold it in the yellow
flame. What effect on the flame has the admis-
sion of air to the gas? See whether air is ad-
mitted to the burners in a gas stove.
4. When the burners beneath the oven of a gas
stove are to be lighted, it is always safer to open
the oven door, or, at least, set it ajar. Try the
following experiments to see why :
a. Pour a scant teaspoon of gasoline (Warn-
ing : No light must be in the room while
inflammable substances such as this are
being poured. Why?) into a dry, wide-
mouthed bottle, stir with a hot glass rod
for a moment, then hold a lighted stick or
long splinter in the mouth of the bottle.
6. Pour the same amount of gasoline into a
small shallow dish (the top of a small tin
can will do) and light immediately. Ex-
plain the difference in action in the two
experiments. When might there be danger
of an explosion in a gas oven? What dif-
ference does opening the door make ?
GAS STOVES
A flame is burning gas, but the flame may be colorless or
yellow. For illuminating purposes a yellow flame is de-
sirable, because the glowing particles of carbon in the flame
110 FOOD STUDY
give off light. But for cooking, a flame as nearly colorless
as may be, is best. This is not only because such a flame
is hotter, but because the other flame will deposit soot;
and unburned soot on the saucepans means wasted fuel
as well as extra trouble in washing. Air admitted to
the gas furnishes an amount of oxygen sufficient to burn
up the soot. When a gas stove is first installed, the
plumber making the connection regulates, by means of
a small valve in each, the amount of air necessary
for each burner. This may need to be changed later
if conditions change; but usually any change in the
flame, particularly a sudden one, means that the burner
has become clogged, perhaps by something spilled over it.
In this case, if it does not readily burn clear again, the
burner should be detached and boiled out in a weak
solution of washing soda.
One of the greatest difficulties experienced may be in the
striking back of the flame. By this is meant the catching
fire of the gas in the mixer ; the gas burns with a roaring
sound and gives off a disagreeable odor and the flame is
small and yellow. This can be remedied only by turning
the gas off completely and, if the burner is hot, giving it
time to cool before relighting. The striking back may
occur if an attempt is made to light the gas too soon after
it is turned on, if the gas is turned too low so that there is
not sufficient pressure, or if the flame is blown by a sudden
draft. A stove in a bad position between windows and
doors may give much trouble in this way, but, usually, the
difficulty may be overcome by devising a screen to cut off
the draft.
Besides remembering to open the door of the oven before
lighting, one must also be careful, when the gas is turned
low in the oven, that the flame has not actually gone
out, leaving a little gas flowing. A habit should be formed
GAS STOVES 111
of always looking to see if the gas is still lighted under these
circumstances.
The heat of a gas stove is much more easily regulated
than is that of a coal stove, and care should be taken not
to waste gas by lighting it ahead of time, by leaving it
lighted when it is not in use, or by using more flame than is
necessary. Water that is just boiling is just as hot as
water that is boiling rapidly, and we cannot cook any
faster with one than the other.
Gas is a convenient fuel to use, because there are no
coals to carry and no ashes to take care of. The products
of combustion are supposed to be pushed through the pipe
at the back of the stove. Probably, however, this carries
off more from the oven than from the upper burners, and
a hood over the whole is much more effective, because it
carries off the odors of cooking as well.
A stop-cock is frequently put in the pipe connecting the
stove with the main gas pipe. As most burners leak a very
little, even with the best of care, this is a good practice,
making it possible to turn off the gas completely whenever
the stove is not to be used for some time. In case of a
serious leak, its use is obvious.
Gas is metered, or measured, by the cubic foot. It
generally costs from eighty cents to a dollar and a half for
a thousand cubic feet of gas. The meter is ordinarily read
every month and the reading of the month before sub-
tracted from the present reading, in order to determine
how much has been used. In some places there is a mini-
mum charge per month which must be paid even if no gas
has been used. In still other places there are slot meters
which allow gas to pass after a certain coin, usually a
quarter, has been inserted, the gas flowing until the
amount paid for has been used. These are used mostly
in tenement houses where bills are hard to collect and
112
FOOD STUDY
the frequent sending of a man to turn the gas on and
off is expensive.
Reading a gas meter is a simple matter, and in case of
disagreement over bills is a useful accomplishment. A
gas meter shows three dials ; the hand on each dial turning
in a direction opposite to the one next it, in order to help
obviate mistakes in reading.
Each division
of this dial de-
notes 10,000
feet.
Each division
of this dial de-
notes 1000 feet.
Each division
of this dial de-
notes 100 feet.
How TO READ A GAS METER. 1
Read from left-hand dial to right, always taking the
figures which the hands have passed. The dials above,
for example, register 3, 4, 6, and, adding two ciphers for
the hundreds, show 34,600 feet registered. To ascertain
the amount of gas used, deduct the previous register as
indicated on the above dials by dotted hands, 1, 7, 3,
from the present register, 3, 4, 6, as follows :
Register by dials shown above 3.4.6.00
Registered by previous statement, indicated by the dotted
hands .... . .......... 1.7.3.00
Number of feet used between readings 17,300 ft.
If you wish to know how much gas is being used, you
need only watch the dial at the right hand, each figure
of which means 100 feet.
1 By courtesy of the Newton and Watertown Gas Light Co.
GAS STOVES 113
The hand on this dial passes from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
8, 9, to 0, and a complete revolution shows a consump-
tion of 1000 feet, which appears on the dial next to it
on the left as 1.
The average burner at the top of a range, when turned
on full force, burns about two cubic feet of gas an hour,
while the oven burner consumes from thirty to forty cubic
feet. From these figures the advantage can readily be
seen of using a small portable oven placed over a top
burner, instead of the large oven. An oven of this sort,
costing from one to two dollars, soon pays for itself, espe-
cially in a small family, although the saving is not the full
difference between these figures, for the burners in either
case are not left on full after the oven is once hot.
The consumer is responsible for leaks which occur in the
gas pipes on his side of the meter, and it is for his advan-
tage to have these attended to promptly, not only because
of the danger, but because the escaping gas passes through
the meter and is registered against him. Leaks on the
other side of the meter are, of course, not so registered,
and, since they represent loss to the gas company, are
attended to by the company.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Commerce. Bureau of Standards, Circular No. 55,
sections on Gas and Electricity.
QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the advantages of a gas over a coal range.
2. What may be the result of letting milk and the like boil over on
a gas stove ?
3. Should the flame in a gas stove appear yellow ?
4. Why should a gas burner in a stove be turned on fully before
attempting to light it ? Explain.
5. What would you consider wasteful use of gas in a stove ?
114 FOOD STUDY
6. Explain the best methods of extinguishing if the following catch
fire:
a. clothing
b. kerosene or gasoline
c. alcohol or wood
7. What is the best treatment for burns or scalds?
8. Learn to read an electric meter.
XXI
RADIATION AND CONDUCTION OF HEAT
SCRAMBLED EGGS ON TOAST
A. Class Experiments.
How HEAT PASSES FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER.
1. Radiation of heat.
a. Stand in front of a hot stove or fire and notice
the heat. Then hold a screen between your face
and the fire. Do you feel the heat on your face
as before? Yet the air that surrounds you is
still warm. Heat that passes in straight lines
directly from one object to another at a distance
is called radiant heat. The heat is said to pass
by radiation.
b. Determine whether a bright, clean surface or a
dull, rough one radiates heat more easily. Take
two cheap tin cups, one that is bright and new
and polished as highly as possible, the other
that has been held in a flame until it is rough and
dull and sooty. Have both cups at room tem-
perature and fill each with equal amounts of
boiling water. Test with thermometers to see
which cools first. Is it economical of heat to keep
the sides of a saucepan smooth and clean ?
RADIATION AND CONDUCTION OF HEAT 115
2. Conduction of heat.
a. Hold one end of a long piece of wire, or an iron
poker, in a flame, while you hold the other end
in your hand. Feel how the heat is led along
or conducted from one part of the metal to
another.
b. Are all substances equally good conductors of
heat? Repeat (a) with a glass rod or a long
splinter of wood, instead of the wire. Does
the other end grow as hot? Hold a test tube
two-thirds full of water in a flame, but at an
angle so that the water at the top is directly
heated. Can you get the water at the top hot
while the water at the bottom is still cool ? Is
water a good conductor of heat ? Is air ?
c. Test the relative conductivity of two saucepans
by taking two of different materials (as for
example, one of aluminum and one of granite).
Pour into them equal amounts of cold water,
and place them over two flames which are
equally hot, or heat first one and then the
other. Determine which boils in the shorter
time.
B. SCRAMBLE AN EGG.
Serve on a slice of toast. Decide how the heat has
been transmitted to each in the cooking.
SCRAMBLED EGG.
Beat an egg slightly, add a tablespoon of milk, and sea-
son with pepper and salt. Pour into a pan in which a
teaspoon of butter has been melted, and cook, scrap-
ing the mixture from the pan as it sets, until all is
creamy.
116 FOOD STUDY
FIRELESS COOKERS
There is an old story of a man who was held to be a
wizard because he could blow both hot and cold ; he blew
on his hands to warm them and on his soup to cool it. But
fireless cookers can do just as seemingly contrary things,
since they can keep hot things hot and cool things cool.
All that is necessary is that they be constructed in such a
way that little heat can pass in or out of them.
The simplest form of fireless cooker is the hay box ;
literally a box stuffed with hay which, with the air spaces
between, makes a non-conductor of heat. Usually, the
hay is kept from scattering by covering it with stout cloth.
Whatever is to be cooked is placed in water in a saucepan
or pail, heated to boiling, tightly covered, and placed in the
center of the hay. The difficulty with this type of cooker
is that some steam with the odor of the food escapes from
the cooking vessel and is absorbed by the hay, which gradu-
ally becomes musty and must be replaced. More efficient
cookers are lined with non-absorbing material, such as
enameled metal, which can be washed if desired. The
metal, being a fairly good conductor of heat, even when
enameled, must be made double with an air space between.
Further insulation can be put between these two layers.
This type is commonly furnished with soapstones, which
can be heated as hot as desired and placed inside to increase
the heat and make even baking possible.
Of course, none of these cookers is so constructed that
no heat can escape, and, gradually, the material inside be-
comes cold. The efficiency of different cookers is measured
by the heat that is retained after some hours of standing.
To test, equal amounts of boiling water are put in dif-
ferent cookers, and the temperature of water is taken after
a given number of hours.
FIRELESS COOKERS 117
There is now on the market a combination of a gas stove
and a fireless cooker which is convenient. The range can
always be used as an ordinary gas stove, but over some of
the top burners are hung cylinders which may be lowered
at will to cover the kettle which has been heating over the
burner. At the same time, the flame is extinguished by the
automatic turning off of the gas. The oven, too, is excep-
tionally well insulated and may be used as a fireless cooker
also. While the first cost of these stoves is more than that
of the ordinary types of ranges, they are undoubtedly
great savers of gas.
A thermos bottle uses the same principle as a fireless
cooker. Since heat cannot pass in any more readily than
it can pass out, both may be used to keep cold drinks cold
by protecting them from the heat of the air. Thermos
bottles are made with a vacuum between the inner and
outer layers, and are more resistent to the passage of heat
than the ordinary cookers.
Ice-boxes and refrigerators, too, are efficient in the meas-
ure in which they are non-conductors of heat, this depend-
ing on the kind and number of layers of material used for
"packing." Some people recommend the wrapping of the
ice in the ice-box in paper of some heavy material to keep it
from melting so fast by protecting it from the heat of the
air inside the box. This must not be done if it checks the
melting too much, for it is the melting of the ice which
causes the low temperature in the box, and the lowering
of the temperature is in proportion to the melting, the heat
of the air being rendered latent as the ice changes to water.
REFERENCES
Any good school textbook in Physics on heat.
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 298, "The Fire-
less Cooker."
118 FOOD STUDY
U. S. Dept. of Commerce. Bureau of Standards, Circular No. 55,
sections on Radiation, Refrigeration, and Ice.
QUESTIONS
1. Is the iron used for the top of stoves a good or bad conductor of
heat ? Does this matter in cooking ?
2. Why can you hold your hand for a few moments in an oven
whose temperature is above that of boiling water ?
3. How are steam and hot water radiators usually finished?
Why?
4. Which boils more quickly, a new tin kettle or one which is dull
on the bottom ?
5. Describe different types of fireless cookers.
6. Why are the metal bails on cooking vessels often made with
wooden handles ?
7. What was the old-fashioned tea cosey and how did it work ?
8. What are the materials commonly used in making ice-boxes ?
9. Why is the ice compartment at the top instead of the bottom
of an ice-chest ?
10. How may the weight of a piece of ice be determined by its
measurements in inches ?
XXII
CONVECTION OF HEAT
BROILED BACON
POTATO SALAD
A. How HEAT PASSES FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER.
1. Convection of heat.
Put cocoa shells or sawdust into water and heat in
a glass beaker if you have it. Notice the movement
of the particles. Does this indicate movement of the
water also ?
HOT-WATER SYSTEMS 119
B. PREPARE POTATO SALAD.
Use one potato. Serve with a crisp slice of bacon.
Explain carefully exactly how the heat in cooking passes
from the fire to the potato : to the bacon.
POTATO SALAD.
Cut a boiled potato into half -inch cubes. Season with
salt and pepper, mix with a very little chopped onion and
parsley, add two teaspoons of oil, and one teaspoon of
vinegar.
BROILED BACON.
Lay in a frying pan a thin slice of bacon with the rind
cut off. When one side is brown turn the slice.
HOT-WATER SYSTEMS
In some ways the passing of heat by convection is
harder to understand than the two other methods of trans-
fer. In conduction, heat is said to be passed on from one
particle to the next. Water is known to be a poor conduc-
tor, although nobody knows why this is so. In the experi-
ment in which water with sawdust in it was heated in a
beaker, the water would not readily pass the heat from one
particle to the next. Instead, the water at the bottom
of the beaker became heated by contact, and heat has
exactly the same effect on water that it has on air. The
water which is heated expands and so becomes lighter.
Then it is pushed up by the colder water above, which is
pulled down harder by gravity, to become heated in its
turn. The whole of the water becomes hot, not by the
passage of heat from one particle to the next, but by the
movements of the particles themselves, carrying the heat
with them. Thus a circulation of the water is started, the
hottest water rising to the top. So a water boiler, when it
120 FOOD STUDY
is heating, first becomes warm at the top. This can easily
be felt by placing a hand on the outside of the boiler.
Boilers and hot-water pipes lose heat through radiation
and contact with air, and, to decrease the loss, are some-
times jacketed with asbestos. Asbestos is a mineral sub-
stance, finely shredded and pressed into a sheet. It is not
only a poor conductor of heat, but is fire-proof as well.
It is fairly expensive.
THE SELECTION OF KITCHEN WARE
In choosing utensils for the kitchen many things must
be taken into consideration. First of all, the probable
number of people to be cooked for will govern the size of
many of the utensils. Moreover, the style of living will
affect the kinds and number of them. In general, for the
sake of storage room and convenience of access, the num-
ber of utensils should be kept as small as possible. Utensils
which can be used for many purposes should be selected
rather than those that fit a single need, unless that need is
frequent. In nearly any kitchen are to be found a number
of utensils that are good, but are so seldom needed that
they are never used, because it is too much trouble to find
and wash them for the occasion. Beside these consider-
ations, convenience in handling, ease in cleaning, and
durability must all be taken into account. There are
saucepans which upset easily ; and saucepans with handles
with sharp edges or which grow hot too quickly ; saucepans
and skillets with lips on only one side, and that the wrong
one, so that if one tries to pour from them and stir at the
same time, the stirring must be done with the left hand.
Ease of cleaning demands that the utensils be smooth,
with rounded sides and no seams or corners, and that they
should be wide enough to permit easy access for cleaning.
THE SELECTION OF KITCHEN WARE 121
Meat grinders differ markedly in this respect, some being
almost impossible to get clean at all. With larger kettles,
weight must be taken into consideration.
Durability depends partly on make and partly on the
material used. Saucepans are usually of aluminum,
enamel or granite ware, or tin. The so-called tin utensil is
steel, or sometimes wrought iron or copper, covered with
tin. It is the least expensive of the three types and also
the least durable. Cheap grades are easily attacked by the
weak acids in fruits and vegetables, and even the better
grades are not proof against these acids when hot; but
tin vessels are light and good conductors of heat. Since
tin is sufficiently soft to scratch easily and to wear off
it is better suited for baking pans and bread and cake-
boxes than for saucepans.
Granite and enamel ware is made by coating an iron
or steel foundation with a glaze which is not unlike glass
in its nature. The quality depends upon the character
of the foundation, upon the ingredients of the glaze,
and the number of coatings, as well as on the success with
which every particle of the metal is covered. The dura-
bility is greatly affected by the care that is exercised in
using it. Sudden heating or cooling, too vigorous scour-
ing, and dropping, all tend to make it crack and chip
off, exposing the metal beneath.
Aluminum is light, and also an excellent conductor
of heat. It darkens if any alkaline substances are
used in cleaning it, and should be scoured inside with
fine steel wool, not soaked in washing powders. It is
affected slightly by acids, but the experts tell us
that the amount dissolved is insufficient to harm us.
It warps if subjected to too much heat. However, it
makes a durable saucepan and probably justifies its
cost.
122 FOOD STUDY
REFERENCES
CLARK. "Care of the House. "
U. S. Dept. of Commerce. Bureau of Standards, Circular No. 55,
section on Water.
QUESTIONS
1. Examine a coal range and see whether it has a water-back or a
water-front. What makes the water pass from this container into
the boiler?
2. Make a diagram of the hot-water system in your school or in a
house, and explain the circulation through the pipes.
3. Of what material is the boiler made? What other materials
may be used ? Is it always wise to use the water from the hot-water
faucet for cooking or drinking?
4. Has your boiler a faucet connected with the lower part of the
boiler? What is its use ?
5. What is the water rate in your town ? If meters are installed
in the houses, learn to read one.
xxm
REVIEW LESSON
SECOND BREAKFAST OMELETS, FRIED MUSH AND
SYRUP
A. PREPARE AND , SERVE A BREAKFAST.
Calculate the cost per individual. Suggested menu :
Fruit, fresh, or stewed dried fruit
Omelet
Fried mush with syrup
Tea, coffee, or cocoa
1. OMELETS.
a. French omelet.
Use the same proportions as in scrambled eggs.
Have the bottom and sides of a frying pan well-
TABLE MANNERS 123
buttered. Do not stir, but as the mixture sets,
draw in the edges with a knife and tip the pan
so that the liquid portion runs into the bottom
of the pan. When brown on the bottom, fold
and turn upside down on a hot platter.
6. Fluffy omelet.
Beat the yolk and seasoning with the milk and
fold in the egg white, stiffly beaten. When it is
brown on the bottom, place in an oven or under
a gas broiler to dry out the top before folding.
Since it requires some skill to make omelets and since
large ones are more difficult to handle than smaller
ones, it might be well here, for practice, to have one-
egg omelets made for each person to be served.
2. FRIED MUSH.
Pack mush made of hominy or other breakfast cereal
into a wet pan, until cold. Cut into slices ; if moist
dip into flour, and brown on both sides in a little fat
in a frying pan.
3. SYRUP.
Boil half a cup of brown sugar, three tablespoons of
water, and half a teaspoon of butter. When moder-
ately thick, cool and flavor with a few drops of vanilla.
TABLE MANNERS
It is commonly said, and surely with much truth, that
it is easy to judge of a person's training by his ability to
write a correct letter and his manners at table. While such
manners are partly convention, in most cases there is a
reason underlying the convention. For example, if chairs
are close together and two people start to sit down from
124 FOOD STUDY
the space between adjacent chairs, confusion results.
Therefore, convention says, sit down and get up from the
left-hand side of the chair. If the chairs are placed at the
table so that the front edge of the chair is in line with the
hanging edge of the table cloth, there will be little if any
adjustment and much noise will be avoided. Unless there
are place cards with the names of guests the hostess indi-
cates where each is to be seated. The guest of honor, if a
man, is placed to the right of the hostess ; if a woman, to
the right of the host. Host and hostess are seated at op-
posite ends of the table. If there is a waitress, the hostess
enters the dining room last and sits at the end nearest the
entrance door, but if there is no waitress she places her-
self at the opposite end in order to facilitate serving. As
far as possible men and women are arranged alternately,
at a formal dinner coming out in couples. A hostess
shows her social skill in placing congenial people together.
All stand until the hostess is ready to sit down.
Silver, as explained in the directions for table setting,
should be so placed that there is no difficulty in telling
which article should be used at any time, but convention
says the hostess should begin to eat first and anybody in
doubt has only to follow her lead. A child often grasps
the handle of his spoon with the back of his hand up.
When he raises it to his mouth, this throws his arm up
with his elbow out where it is almost certain to interfere
with his neighbor. Instead, he should be instructed to
hold it as he would a pen ; then it will be raised with a
wrist movement and with his elbow down. The soup
spoon is dipped into the soup away from the person, so
that the edge which is covered by the soup will be the higher
edge as the soup is eaten and there will be less tendency to
drip. Soup is eaten from the side instead of from the
point of the spoon, because the spoon is too large to go
TABLE MANNERS 125
into the mouth and one is less likely to put it in too far
from the side. Bread and crackers are not broken into
soup, because this is apt to scatter crumbs. If croutons
or oyster crackers are served, these are already prepared
and may be dropped into the soup without difficulty.
The hands are placed as far up on the handles of knives
and forks as possible, so the fingers will not come in contact
with the soiled parts. The fork may be used either in the
right hand, as the spoon is, with the tines up, or it may be
used in the left with the tines down. It is not good form
in cutting meat to hold the fork in an upright position,
grasping it around the middle of the handle by the fingers.
Perhaps the reason for this is that it is not nearly so secure
a hold as by the other method. The knife is never put
into the mouth, because of the suggestion of cutting the
lips or tongue. Since it is not used in the mouth, the knife
should be used instead of the fork for taking butter from
one's own butter plate.
Only such food is eaten with the fingers as will not soil
them. When in doubt, do not use them. It is not eti-
quette to cut up all the meat before beginning to eat, as
we do for children. There should be time between bites
for the necessary preparation of the next mouthful. A
whole slice of bread should not be spread at a time,
partly for the same reason but mainly because of the
difficulty. Spreading it on the left hand gives too much
contact to be dainty.
Plates should not be shifted as one finishes with them,
that is the duty of the waitress ; to do so looks as if the
person concerned were in too great a hurry. Nor should
they be piled together. In passing a plate for a second
serving the knife and fork should be left on the plate
because there is no other place to put them. They should
be placed neatly together so that there shall be room on
126 FOOD STUDY
the plate to place the food and in such a position that
there shall be as little danger as possible of their falling off.
When the main course at dinner is finished, the knife and
fork should again be arranged so that there is no danger
of disturbing them in lifting the plate. At no time during
a meal should the knife and fork be laid with the handles
on the cloth and the other ends on the plate. This may
cause liquids to run up toward the handles, beside implying
that the plate is too full.
Salad and pie are eaten with a fork. If cut with a knife
it implies that the salad is not crisp or the pie is not tender.
There is a fashion, not always followed, of eating ice cream
with a fork instead of a spoon. Perhaps this is to show
that the cream is frozen hard enough not to drip. A spoon
should not be left in a cup, because that makes it easy to
tip the cup over.
The napkin should be placed on the lap with one fold
left in it and should not be crumpled up. Dainty people
sometimes contend that only a corner of the inside of the
fold should be used to wipe the mouth so that the soiled
part shall be kept inside. But perhaps one should not
have such a soiled mouth as to make this necessary. Care
must be taken to wipe the lips before drinking if there is
danger of making a greasy mark on the glass, and after
drinking if the lips are at all wet. This is especially
necessary after drinking milk, but, with care, there is no
need to dip much of the upper lip in the milk.
Noiselessness in eating means special care in eating soup
not to suck in the breath. This is a common fault, and
there are many jokes about the man who will make his
fortune by inventing a noiseless soup spoon. For the
same reason, the lips must be kept closed in chewing and
only small mouthfuls should be taken. One should eat
slowly, so as not to appear too hungry, and with sufficient
TABLE MANNERS 127
deliberation to appear to be enjoying and appreciating
what is served.
When asked to express a preference in regard to food,
do so promptly even if you have no strong feeling. In
offering second servings, it is better to say "May I give you
some meat " instead of " some more meat." " Yes, please "
or " Yes, thank you" are correct forms of accepting ; " No
more, thank you" of refusing. "No, thank you, I would
not care for any" is awkward. f
If at table articles are passed around by the people
seated, then tho'ightfulness in seeing that others are
served with what they wish is necessary. Serving one's
self without passing the dish shows selfishness. If it is
necessary to ask to have something passed to you, do not
address your request to the table in general, but to the one
who is nearest the dish. Then the others are not unnec-
essarily troubled to discover who can pass it. At most
formal dinners, however, guests are relieved of all passing
by a waitress or butler, and then to pass a dish implies a
reflection on the service.
During the meal one should sit erect, alertly attending
to what is going on. Lolling or leaning back in the chair
implies one is fatigued or bored. Elbows off the table is
a good rule. Most of our movements are habits and the
only way to acquire table manners is by constant practice.
We cannot be careless every day and then expect to go
through a formal occasion without a slip. We shall find our-
selves automatically doing the thing we intended to avoid.
Remarks on the food are usually considered in bad
taste. It should be taken for granted that it will be deli-
cious, and appreciation can be shown in other ways than in
words. Unpleasant and too intimate topics of conversa-
tion should be avoided. At a small table the conversation
ir usually general, at a larger party where a general con-
128 FOOD STUDY
versation can hardly be heard, conversation alternately
with those immediately around is the rule.
The handkerchief should not be in evidence at table
and, if possible, should not be used. Picking the teeth
or putting the fingers in the mouth, touching the hair,
or even the face, should all be avoided.
The hostess knows when the meal is concluded, and so
she is the one to give the signal for leaving the table. At
some dinners the ladies go first, leaving the men to smoke.
Everyone rises, however, while the ladies pass out. If one
is not to be present at the next meal at the same place, it is
not necessary to fold the napkin. It should be placed on
the table as compactly as possible and not spread out, so
that it is in danger of coming into contact with soiled
dishes. If the napkin is folded, this should not be done
on the table.
A dinner invitation necessitates a call afterward as an
acknowledgment of the courtesy.
QUESTIONS
1. What points must be taken into consideration in determining
the character of the breakfast to be served to a given family ?
2. List as many points as possible that seem to you necessary to
make breakfast a comfortable meal.
XXIV
MEDIUM WHITE SAUCE
CREAMED CHIPPED BEEF
A. Class Experiments. STARCH.
1. Boil a pinch of starch with about a tablespoon
of water ; cool and add a drop of iodine. Recall
the test on potato. Repeat, using flour instead
of starch.
WHITE SAUCE 129
2. Methods of mixing starch and hot liquids.
a. Stir a teaspoon of cornstarch or flour into
half a cup of boiling water and note results.
Break a lump and examine the inside.
b. Pour half a cup of boiling water on a tea-
spoon of starch or flour. Does it still lump ?
c. Mix a teaspoon of flour or starch with a
teaspoon of sugar, then pour on half a cup
of boiling water. Result ?
d. Mix a teaspoon of starch or flour with a
little cold water, making a smooth paste,
and pour this into half a cup of boiling
water, stirring. Result?
e. Melt a teaspoon of fat, add a teaspoon of
flour or starch, stir thoroughly, and then
pour in gradually half a cup of boiling
water, stirring as you pour.
In what ways could you successfully mix flour,
butter, and hot milk, to make a white sauce?
B. WHITE SAUCE.
To find out how much flour is used to thicken a cup
of milk to the consistency of a white sauce.
Melt a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan on a
fire, add a tablespoon of flour, and then pour in
hot milk, stirring and adding it gradually until
you obtain the consistency you think proper for
a white sauce. Be sure to keep track of the
amount of milk used. Calculate how much
flour would be needed for a cup of liquid.
Ordinarily a fourth teaspoon of salt to a cup of
liquid would be added. Why is it unnecessary,
considering the use to be made of the white
sauce in (C) ?
130 FOOD STUDY
C. PREPARE CHIPPED BEEF ON TOAST.
Shred the beef into pieces, cover with hot water
and let stand a minute to remove some of the
salt. Then drain, and reheat the beef in the
sauce made in (B). Add salt, if needed.
WHEAT
In this country wheat is of greater importance as a food
for man than is corn or any other of the cereals. Rice is so
largely used in eastern countries, China, Japan, and India,
that possibly more rice is used as food, taking the world at
large. In England, Hutchison estimates, the people con-
sume wheat at the rate of six bushels for each inhabitant ;
in America, Sherman concludes that the amount used is
even greater, as high as six and a half bushels per person.
As America has not only the proper conditions of climate,
but the necessary acres on which to grow it, wheat is
an important agricultural product, the United States
exporting it in large quantities. More corn is actually
grown, it is true, but more of this is used on the farms for
cattle food, so that the wheat crop is first in commercial
importance.
Wheat is classified as "hard" or "soft," according as its
gluten content is high or low; as "winter" or "spring,"
according to the season in which it is planted. In locali-
ties where the winter is not too severe, wheat is planted in
the fall and allowed to winter in the ground, maturing early
in the summer. Spring wheat is not planted until the
winter is over and, consequently, matures later in the sea-
son. The character of the wheat differs with the variety
and the locality where it is grown, but, in general, winter
wheat contains more starch and is "softer" than spring
wheat, which is usually preferred for making bread flour.
WHEAT 131
The percentage of gluten is not, however, the only thing
to be considered, for the quality of the gluten is of even
greater importance than the amount.
Durum wheat, a very "hard" variety, is used for the
manufacture of macaroni, spaghetti, or vermicelli. These
are manufactured by forcing the flour, mixed with water
to form a stiff dough, through holes in the cover of a steam-
heated cylinder. In Italy, the shaped paste is hung on
rods to dry, sometimes in the air, sometimes in ovens. It
is claimed that in America greater care is taken during the
drying process to protect the paste from dust. Good
macaroni should be cream white, should break without
splitting, should not lose its shape and should swell to
about three times its bulk when cooked.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Exp. Sta. Bulletin No. 200. "Courses
in Cereal Foods."
QUESTIONS
1. Why do we cook starch?
2. What are the proportions for making an ordinary white sauce ?
These are used so often they should be learned thoroughly.
3. Review the different ways in which white sauce can be suc-
cessfully put together. Give instances in which you think it would
be advantageous to use each of these methods.
4. If you are making a small amount of white sauce by the
melted-butter method, cold liquid may be added. If you are mak-
ing large amounts it is wiser to use hot liquid. Account for the
difference.
132 FOOD STUDY
XXV
THICK WHITE SAUCE
SALMON CROQUETTES
CHEESE SOUFFLE
A. PREPARE SALMON CROQUETTES.
Make a third of a cup of thick white sauce, using the
proportions of four tablespoons of flour, and two table-
spoons of butter, to one cup of milk. Add one-fourth of a
teaspoon of salt.
Use half of the white sauce to prepare salmon croquettes,
using about twice as much fish (flaked) as sauce. Sea-
son with lemon, salt, and paprika. Spread on a plate to
cool, shape, then dip in crumbs, in egg (beat an egg
slightly with a fork, add two tablespoons of water), and
in crumbs again. Fry in deep fat. When fat will turn a
piece of bread a golden brown in forty seconds, it is the
right temperature for frying food that is already cooked.
Find out, with a thermometer, what temperature this is.
(Be careful to wipe off the thermometer, but do not wash
until cool for fear of breaking.) Drain the croquettes
on absorbent paper, and do not pile on top of one another
while hot.
B. PREPARE CHEESE SOUFFLE.
Use the rest of the white sauce to prepare cheese
souffle. Add to the white sauce one and a half tablespoons
of grated cheese, a little paprika, and half the beaten yolk
of an egg. Then fold in half the stiffly-beaten white of an
egg. Bake in a buttered earthenware dish placed in a
pan of water. Serve at once.
FRYIXG CROQUETTES
Kidney Rib French
LAMB CHOPS
BREAD FLOUR AND ITS MANUFACTURE 133
BREAD FLOUR AND ITS MANUFACTURE
The wheat kernel consists of a number of different parts.
The outside layer is known as bran and is removed in the
process of making white flour. This bran consists of cellu-
lose and mineral matter, with a higher percentage of nitro-
gen than is found in wheat
flour. But this nitrogen
is found largely in the
aleurone or inner layer of
the bran, and is enclosed
in cells which are so thick-
walled that probably not
much of it could be di-
gested if eaten. The
germ is rejected, because
it contains so large a per-
centage of fat that flour
containing it would be
less likely to keep. The
portion of the kernel, after
the bran is removed and
without the germ, is known
as the endosperm. This
endosperm is the portion
which is ground to make
white flour. It consti-
tutes about eighty per cent of the whole kernel and
contains a large percentage of starch, about seventy-
five per cent besides nearly twelve per cent protein,
about one per cent fat, and half of one per cent of mineral
matter. It is curious to note that even so dry a sub-
stance has about thirteen per cent of water present.
The length of the process of making flour varies in the
GRAIN OF WHEAT
Diagram of section : a, bran ;
6, aleurone layer ; c, germ or em-
bryo ; d, endosperm.
134 FOOD STUDY
different mills. In the old process, the wheat kernels were
ground between millstones, the crushed product was sifted
first through coarser material to remove the bran, next
through bolting cloth to remove the material of interme-
diate size which was called middlings. What went through
the bolting cloth was flour. Now, after the wheat has been
screened to remove foreign substances and cleaned, it is
put between corrugated rollers which flatten and partially
crush the kernel, producing a small amount of flour. This
is known as the first break. After the flour has been
sifted out, the rest is again crushed between rollers which
are this time a little closer together. These processes
are repeated, some mills using so many rollers and sieves
that there may be forty different "streams" of flour from
the grinding. These "streams" are finally mixed to-
gether to form the various grades of flour desired. In the
higher grades of flour, the gluten is more elastic and
better for bread-making.
REFERENCES
Booklets sent out free by well-known flour mills.
QUESTIONS
1. Consult various cook books, and then make a table showing the
kinds of fat, starch, liquid, and seasoning, which may be used in
preparing sauces for vegetables, fish, meat, and puddings that have
a white sauce basis.
2. How many pounds are there in a barrel of flour ? In a bag ?
3. What does the same grade of flour cost by the pound, the bag,
and the barrel ?
4. What are the trade names of some of the best-known, high
grade flours 9
CORNSTARCH MOLD 135
XXVI
STARCH
CORNSTARCH MOLD
MACARONI AND TOMATO SAUCE
A. Class Experiments.
Mix half a tablespoon of cornstarch with quarter of a
cup of cold water, and cook, stirring and adding measured
amounts of water until you obtain the same consistency
as a medium white sauce. What is the comparative
thickening power of flour and cornstarch ?
B. CORNSTARCH MOLD.
Make a cornstarch mold, using a cup of milk, one
tablespoon of sugar, a saltspoon of salt, and as much corn-
starch as would give the consistency of the thick white
sauce used in the last lesson. How will you combine the
ingredients? Cook five minutes over the fire, stirring
constantly ; then cook covered, over water, until the "raw"
taste has disappeared. This will take at least fifteen
minutes. 1 Remove from the fire, add a few drops of vanilla
and pour into a wet mold, and let stand until cold. Serve
with chocolate sauce.
CHOCOLATE SAUCE.
Melt a quarter of a square of chocolate with a quarter of
a teaspoon of butter. Add three tablespoons of water, a
half cup of sugar and a few grains of salt. Boil until
moderately thick; cool, and flavor with a few drops of
vanilla.
1 In cooking so small a quantity so long a time, it may be
necessary to allow for the increased loss by evaporation.
136 FOOD STUDY
C. PREPARE MACARONI AND TOMATO SAUCE.
Boil until tender a quarter of a cup of macaroni broken
into inch pieces in a pint of boiling water with half a
teaspoon of salt. Drain and pour some cold water over it
to prevent the pieces from sticking together. Reheat
in an equal amount of tomato sauce. Make this as you
would white sauce, but use the juice from canned tomato
for the liquid. Since macaroni is starchy, use a propor-
tion of flour that will make a sauce between thin and
medium.
CORNSTARCH
The manufacture of cornstarch is interesting because so
many other products are made at the same time. The
outline of the process is as follows.
After the corn is cleaned, it is soaked or steeped in warm
water for a couple of days. In order to prevent its spoiling,
a little sulphurous acid is added. When the corn is suffi-
ciently swollen, it is ground coarsely so as to break up the
kernel without breaking the germ. The germ is so rich in
both protein and fat that it is most easily taken care of by
itself. All that is necessary to separate it after the grinding
is to run the ground mass into separators, when at a certain
density of the liquid the germ, light on account of its oil
content, floats on top of the water, while the ground hulls
and starch settle and are drawn off from the bottom. The
next problem is the separation of the starch from the hulls.
It is necessary to grind the mass up much more finely than
before, then the semi-liquid is passed over sieves of bolting
cloth with a 200 mesh, which is shaken mechanically so
that the particles of the hull are sifted out, the starch itself
passing through. The hulls are separated, re-ground, and
re-sifted, and sprayed with water during the process, in
order to get out all the starch possible. The starch and
CORNSTARCH 137
water that goes through the sieve, however, is still mixed
with protein. This liquor, at just the right density, is
passed over long tanks with slightly inclined bottoms.
As it flows, the starch settles and rolls along the inclined
surface, thus washing itself.
The water containing the protein is usually mixed with
the hulls and the dried product is used for feed for cattle.
The separated germ is pressed to extract some of the oil.
Corn oil is used as food only to a small extent, but it is
used for making soap and in other industrial processes.
The germ with the oil partly expressed is mostly exported
to Europe as oil-cake, and is used for feeding stock.
After all the processes the starch has gone through, it
is still crude. It may, at this stage, be used to make corn
syrup and glucose, but otherwise it must be still further
refined. Too much protein remains in it, so that it is
further washed, sometimes with water alone, sometimes
with dilute alkali. Often the plant which separates all
the direct products of corn also manufactures dextrine as
well as corn syrup and glucose.
Cornstarch is less difficult to mix with liquids than is
flour, because it does not contain the gluten which flour
does. When hot water is poured over starch, it gelatinizes
the starch with which it comes into contact. The starchy
grains form a mass which is impervious to water and so
prevents the water reaching all of the starch grains. This
can be prevented by mixing some other substance with
the starch before pouring on the water, because the other
substance separates the grains and gives them room to swell
without sticking together. As raw starch is both less
digestible and much less palatable than cooked, prevention
of lumping is important.
In spite of all the purifications cornstarch has undergone
in its manufacture it has a characteristic flavor which
138 FOOD STUDY
everyone readily recognizes and which must be due to
some other substance mixed with the starch. Only after
long cooking does this flavor disappear.
QUESTIONS
1. Give two reasons why, in making the pudding, the cornstarch
is covered during the long cooking ?
2. Why does cornstarch require so much longer cooking than
flour?
3. If you were to make a large amount of cornstarch pudding
why would you not mix the cornstarch with all of the cold milk ?
How would you proceed ?
4. What ways can you think of to vary cornstarch pudding,
besides serving it with different sauces ? Consult cook books.
5. How do macaroni, spaghetti, and vermicelli differ ? What do
the names mean ?
6. Study the cost of various macaronis to be found in your
markets. Do cost and quality correspond ?
7. Consult cook books and make a list of ways in which maca-
roni may be served.
8. How does a sauce thickened with cornstarch differ in appear-
ance from one thickened with flour ?
9. Since sauces are not cooked a long time, would you choose corn-
starch to thicken a sauce which was not highly flavored ? Why ?
10. How does laundry starch differ from the cornstarch used for
cooking ?
11. Why is laundry starch in Europe manufactured from potatoes
and not from corn ?
CREAMED VEGETABLES 139
XXVII
CREAMED VEGETABLES
PEAS AND CARROTS
A. Class Experiments.
THE EFFECT OF MOIST HEAT ON STARCH.
1. Mix half a teaspoon of starch with a third of a cup of
water. Let it stand. Does the starch settle out?
Pour the mixture through a filter paper placed in a
funnel. Test the water which passes through for
starch. Is starch soluble; that is, does it dissolve
in cold water?
2. Examine a few grains of corn starch under a micro-
scope. Of wheat starch (flour). Compare them
with the microscopic appearance of potato starch.
3. Mix a teaspoon of starch with two-thirds of a cup of
water. Heat to 180 F., using a thermometer to
determine the temperature. Pour off a part, and
heat the remainder to boiling. Taste each. Cool,
and examine under a microscope the starch in both
stages of cooking.
B. CREAMED PEAS AND CARROTS IN TOAST BOXES.
Wash and scrape a carrot, and boil it in salted water
until tender. If the carrot is very large, it may be neces-
sary to cut it up in order to have it cook in a short time,
but this is not the ordinary practice. While the carrot is
cooking, make a white sauce, using the same proportions
as in the last lesson, but mix as follows : cream the butter
and flour together, add the hot milk slowly, stirring hard.
Add equal amounts of diced carrots and canned peas.
Serve in toast boxes. These are made by cutting a cube
140 FOOD STUDY
of the desired size, say three inches, out of the crumb of a
stale loaf of bread, hollowing it from one side, and brown-
ing it in the oven.
CANNED VEGETABLES
Vegetables are much more difficult to can at home than
fruits. This is possibly because of the greater amount of
acid present in fruits. Tomatoes, in common parlance
called a vegetable although they are really the fruit of the
tomato plant, are, like the fruits, easy to can. The diffi-
culty in canning vegetables is caused by the spore-forming
bacteria. Intermittent sterilization may be resorted to,
and the cans of vegetables boiled for an hour on three
successive days ; or very long boiling may be tried, perhaps
for five hours, on a single day. This really overcooks the
vegetable, so that a better product is obtained by heating
for a shorter time under pressure, when the temperature
is higher than that of boiling water.
In the commercial process the latter method is used.
The cans are filled with the vegetables, the caps are
soldered on, leaving only a small hole for the escape of
steam. The can is then "processed", as it is called, either
by cooking it in steam under pressure or in a solution of a
substance like calcium chloride or rock salt, which boils
at a higher temperature than water alone. This higher
outside temperature makes the contents of. the can itself
boil. The length of time this process is carried on depends
upon the particular vegetable and how long it has stood
after picking, before being canned. When perfect steriliza-
tion is probably effected, the tiny hole in the can is soldered.
Some modern factories leave more than one hole to be
soldered, and the old rule that more than one hole means
that the cans have started to spoil and been re-sterilized
no longer holds. After sealing, the cans are inverted to
CANNED VEGETABLES 141
detect possible leaks. The cans are usually labeled upside
down, and the contents of cans of some sorts of material
are more easily removed if opened at the bottom.
All canned goods are better for being opened half an
hour or so before using and allowed to air. If the can is
tin, the contents should be poured out as soon as it is
opened, because there is a chance of any acid in them
acting on the tin in the presence of air. Such canned
goods as peas and beans have a better flavor if drained
from the liquid in which they are packed, and washed by
having fresh water poured over them. To prevent waste
of material, the liquid may be added to soup.
REFERENCES
OLSEN. "Pure Foods."
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Fanners' Bulletin No. 359. "Canning Vegetables in the Home."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 73. Exp. Sta. Work, Vol. IV, p. 3. "Swells
in Canned Vegetables."
QUESTIONS
1. What should be the price of cans of different kinds of vege-
tables?
2. If one has storeroom for them, is there advantage in buying
canned goods in quantity ?
3. How much do the ordinary-sized cans of different vegetables
contain ?
4. What differences are there between the different grades of the
same canned vegetables ?
5. What is the best use to make of the cheaper grades ?
6. Suggest vegetables which would be good creamed.
142 FOOD STUDY
XXVIII
THIN WHITE SAUCE
CREAM SOUPS:
CELERY AND POTATO
A. MAKE CROUTONS IN THE OVEN.
B. THE PRINCIPLE OF CREAM SOUPS.
Wash and scrape some celery, and cut it into half-inch
pieces. (Often only outside stalks and leaves are used,
while the white, crisp pieces are kept to serve uncooked.)
Cook about half a cup of celery, to which a small piece
of onion may be added if desired, in boiling salted water.
When soft, rub through a sieve. Make a white sauce
using one tablespoon each of butter and flour, and exactly
half a cup of celery water. Thin with milk, measuring
the amount used, until you obtain the right consistency
for a cream soup. Adding the amounts of water and milk
used, what do you determine is the usual proportion of
flour to liquid needed to thicken a soup ?
C. PREPARE POTATO SOUP.
To two tablespoons of mashed potato, add half a cup
of thin white sauce. Add milk, measuring the amount,
to make a soup of the right consistency. Serve with
croutons. How much milk was used all together ? Why
is more needed here in proportion to the flour than in
celery soup? To make the soup richer, part cream may
be used, or white stock instead of water, or a spoon of
well-beaten egg white or of whipped cream may be
placed in the serving dish before the soup is poured
into it.
CLASSIFICATION OF VEGETABLES 143
CLASSIFICATION OF VEGETABLES
The term vegetable, as it is commonly used, includes
many foods which botanically would be classed elsewhere.
Rice, macaroni, French chestnuts, and even tomatoes
and cucumbers are all examples of such foods. At least,
it will be admitted that if they are not vegetables they
are used as such.
Classifications of vegetables are many. One is made
according to the part of the plant from which they come.
For example :
Bulbs : garlic, onions.
Fruits : cucumber, egg plant, squash, tomato.
Leaves : Brussels sprouts, cabbage, lettuce, spinach.
Roots : beets, carrots, oyster plant, sweet potato, turnips.
Seeds : beans, corn, lentils, peas, rice.
Stems : asparagus, celery, chives.
Tubers : Jerusalem artichokes, white potato.
Although this is of interest, it is not much help to us from
the food standpoint.
Another classification, made according to food value,
gives us succulent, or watery, as opposed to starchy vege-
tables. This is sometimes misleading, if one concludes
from it that watery vegetables have little or no food value.
Not only do they contain valuable mineral salts, but, as
Sherman, in his book on Food Products, justly says, "Even
those fruits and green vegetables that are eaten for flavor
with little thought of food value, and which are often
thought of as luxuries because of their high water content,
will often be found to furnish energy at no greater cost
than many of the familiar cuts of meat, when account is
taken of the extent to which the fat of the meat is usually
rejected or lost in cooking or at the table." This
144
FOOD STUDY
USDeportment of Agriculture
Offieecf Experiment Stations
A.C.True: Director
Prepared fay
C.FTLANGWORTHY
Expert in Charge of Nutrition frwestigations
COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
ODID ^3 Essa mm jMfg> ]
rnrm
Water
Fuel Value
SSS&
ONION
FUEL VALUE
c
385 CALDRIE5 PP? POUND
85 CALORICS
PCR POUND
COMPOSITION OP VEGETABLES
CLASSIFICATION OP VEGETABLES 145
classification, however, is suggestive, especially in menu-
making. It is much better to serve a variety of vegetables
together, rather than too many from one class. Rice,
potatoes, and macaroni are much better substituted for.
one another than served at the same time.
An old classification as to season shows, at least, how
times have changed, for with greater facilities for trans-
portation from both North and South, together with hot-
house vegetables, the display in a market no longer follows
the old list. Celery, for example, was given as a fall and
winter vegetable, whereas it is now to be found most of the
year.
The classification which helps most in cooking is un-
doubtedly that into mild- and strong-flavored vegetables. -
In the first, every effort should be made to retain as much
of the flavor as possible. In the latter case, the result
may be improved if some of the strong taste is removed.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmer's Bulletin No. 256. "Prepara-
tion of Vegetables for the Table."
QUESTIONS
1. Make a list of as many of the common vegetables as you can
that would contain sufficient starch to have a thickening effect in
making soup.
2. Make a list of succulent vegetables which you think would
make good soup. How would a recipe for making cream soup from
these differ from one for making soup with starchy vegetables ?
3. How could the materials for making a cream soup be combined
otherwise than by mixing the flour with the melted butter ? If you
were making a larger quantity of soup, say a quart, which method
would seem to you easiest ?
4. Using a cook book, make a list of seasonings which are desirable
to use in soups.
146 FOOD STUDY
XXIX
SCALLOPED VEGETABLES
CABBAGE OR ONION
A. Class Experiment. MINERAL ASH IN VEGETABLES.
Put a piece of vegetable about as big as an inch cube
into an evaporating dish and heat until the residue is quite
white. The process may be hastened by moistening with
a drop of nitric acid, and if a blast lamp is available, use it.
Note the amount of ash obtained.
B. COOKING STRONG-FLAVORED VEGETABLES.
Boil pieces of cabbage or onion.
1. In very little water (a) covered
(6) uncovered
2. In much water (a) covered
(6) uncovered
Compare the odor given off while cooking, and the flavor
of the vegetable at the end. Which is the best method of
cooking strong-flavored vegetables ? Save the water used,
as well as the vegetable.
C. PREPARE SCALLOPED CABBAGE OR ONION.
Place the vegetable cooked in (B) in a buttered baking-
dish, mix with medium white sauce, and sprinkle with
buttered crumbs.
Buttered crumbs are easily prepared by melting the
butter in a saucepan, stirring in the bread crumbs and
seasoning with salt, and pepper if desired. Allow about
half a teaspoon of butter for a tablespoon of crumbs.
D. PREPARE CREAM SOUP.
Use the water in which the vegetables were cooked.
Make your own recipe.
VEGETABLES 147
VEGETABLES
In buying vegetables it is wisest to buy those which are
in season, rather than imported or hot-house vegetables.
The latter are seldom equal in flavor or texture and are
usually much more costly. It is easy to blunt our relish for
a vegetable by eating poor specimens out of season. Even
when vegetables are in season, there is much choice to be
exercised in their selection. Some vegetables, when kept,
do not retain their sweet flavor. This is especially true of
green peas and corn, in only less measure of string beans
and asparagus. Such vegetables must be fresh, and fresh-
ness is told chiefly by crispness. Asparagus can be judged
partly by seeing whether the stems have been cut recently.
In corn, not only should the silk be brown, but the ear
filled with well-developed kernels. The kernel, when cut,
should be tender and juicy. String beans should have a
brittle pod with tender strings, and the beans should be
small. Some varieties of peas are large ; unless of such a
variety, young peas are small. Pods should be crisp and
green and, for the sake of economy, full. Fresh spinach,
celery, lettuce, cucumber, radishes, summer squash, and
tomatoes are not difficult to select. Lettuce and celery
should be tender as well as fresh and crisp. The freshness
of young carrots and beets can be told by their leaves.
With older ones, in the winter market, smaller vegetables
are not only more tender, but, if bought by measure, give
more for the money.
If wilted vegetables must be used, they should be soaked
in cool water to freshen them as much as possible. The
effect is much the same as with wilted flowers. Vegetables
do not, however, keep well standing in water. The water
becomes full of bacteria, just as does the water in which
flowers stand, and, if the vegetables are cut, some of the
148
FOOD STUDY
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of Experiment Stations
ACTrwe.Direetor
COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
Rpared by
CXFLANGWORTHY
E*>ert Charge of Nutrition hnatigdtioRS
mnn &a& %*^
Protein Fat Carbohydrate* Ash
SHELLED BEAN, FRESH
Fat-.0.6
FYotein:9/
Value
mTTTIl
Water
NAVY BEAN, DRY
2.0
Carbo
FUEL VALUE
740 CALORIES PCR POUND 1600 CALORIES PCR POUND
STRING BEAN, GREEN
Water: 89.
FUEL VALUE
D
195 CALORIES PER POUND
CORN, GREEN
EDIBLE PORTION
Water: 75 .4
Carboh^drates-.ISJ
,3h:0.7
COMPOSITION OF LEGUMES AND CORN
VEGETABLES 149
soluble constituents are soaked out. Dried vegetables,
too, must be soaked, but only for a limited time, to restore
the water which has been lost in drying.
Although vegetables differ greatly in regard to their
composition, they are all valuable for their mineral salts.
But unless care is taken, these valuable constituents, as
well as much soluble protein and sugar, will be lost in the
preparation. For this reason steaming is better than
boiling unless the water in which they are cooked is to be
used. For the same reason vegetables are better cooked
whole or cut in as large pieces as possible. Recent experi-
ments 1 have shown, for example, that while spinach and
cabbage lose very little when steamed, over thirty per
cent more of the total solids are lost when the same vege-
tables are boiled. Baking is an ideal method for vegetables
that can be so prepared.
In general, vegetables are put on to boil in hot water.
The exception should be made with peas and beans, which
are less tough if started in cold water. As a general rule,
vegetables are greatly over-cooked, losing much flavor in
this way. They should be removed from the water as
soon as they are sufficiently tender. This is especially
true of mild-flavored vegetables, but it is true, too, of
cabbage, which becomes slimy and quite different in
texture and flavor as a result of long cooking.
Vegetables may be prepared deliciously in a fireless
cooker. With strong-flavored vegetables, the heat is not
sufficient to develop the objectionable strong flavor.
Winter vegetables to be stored should be kept cool, dark,
dry, and piled up, to keep out as much air as possible.
Squashes are an exception and should be spread out in a
warm, dry place.
1 Journal of Home Economics, Deo. 1912, " Losses in Cooking
Vegetables.'!
150 FOOD STUDY
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Farmers' Bulletin No. 256. "The Preparation of Vegetables for
the Table."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 73, pp. 23-27 : "Cooking Vegetables."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 342, pp. 29-30 : "Cooking Beans and other
Vegetables."
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Office of Exp. Sta. Bulletin No. 245. "Courses in the Use and
Preparation of Vegetable Foods."
QUESTIONS
1. Make a list of strong, and of sweet or mild-flavored vegetables.
2. Are vegetables which contain little starch cheap or dear food
compared with the amount of nutrients they contain ?
3. How is their use justified ?
4. Suggest uses for the water in which vegetables have been cooked.
5. Why is it unwise to buy vegetables, fruit, and meat by
telephone ?
XXX
GREEN VEGETABLES
SPINACH
LETTUCE
A. Class Experiments.
THE FRESHENING OF GREEN VEGETABLES.
1. Soak lettuce in ice water for half an hour.
2. Soak lettuce in ice water over night.
3. Wash lettuce and put it in an air-tight can or jar on
ice in an ice-box ; allow it to remain an hour or longer.
4. Wash lettuce, wrap in a damp cloth, and place on ice
in an ice-box ; allow it to remain an hour or longer.
GREEN VEGETABLES 151
5. Wash lettuce, wrap it in a damp cloth, and hang in
the wind.
6. Pour a little French dressing (see below) over a lettuce
leaf, and let it stand awhile.
How would you recommend keeping lettuce? How
freshen it quickly? When should it be dressed?
B. COOKING GREENS.
Pick over and wash very carefully in several waters
spinach or other greens.
1. Cook for ten minutes in a saucepan without the addi-
tion of more water than remains from the washing,
tossing frequently to prevent burning. Chop. Con-
tinue simmering until tender.
2. Cook uncovered in a large amount of salted water
until tender.
Compare the flavor and color obtained by the different
methods of cooking.
Season part of the spinach with salt, pepper, and butter,
and serve with slices of hard-cooked eggs.
Pack the rest into a mold to cool. Serve as salad with
one of the following dressings.
FRENCH DRESSING.
Use one-third to one-half as much vinegar or lemon juice
as oil, and a quarter of a teaspoon of salt for each table-
spoon of oil. Add a little pepper or paprika. Beat with a
spoon till well blended.
SOUR CREAM DRESSING.
Beat half a teaspoon of powdered sugar into a tablespoon
of thick, sour cream, and season with salt, pepper, and
lemon juice or vinegar to taste.
152 FOOD STUDY
THE AMOUNT OF FOOD NECESSARY
The nutrients in food are summed up into five groups
called food principles or foodstuffs : water, mineral matter,
proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.
Water is found in nearly all foods. Its specific uses in
the body have already been mentioned in the discussion of
water.
Mineral matter, too, has been discussed, so that all that
need be said here is to point out the fact that it is found
generally in all foods. The kinds, as well as the amounts,
differ greatly, and it is a difficult matter to try to supply
definite amounts of all the different kinds. In general,
however, those foods which contain large amounts of
mineral matter should be eaten in abundant quantity.
Meat, fats, and sugar, show so little ash that if too much of
them is eaten the diet may easily fail to furnish a sufficient
supply of mineral substances. The value of fruits and
vegetables on account of their salts has already been
emphasized.
~ The proteins get their name from a word which means
" first ' ' or " chief." They received this name because they
are the only foodstuffs which contain nitrogen and so are
essential for building and repairing body tissue, for this
also contains nitrogen. Besides nitrogen, they contain
oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, as well as other elements,
such as sulphur and phosphorus, in smaller quantities.
Meats, eggs and milk provide us with large amounts of
animal protein. Protein is also found in our vegetable
foods, most of the nuts, some of the grains, and a few
vegetables containing appreciable amounts.
The carbohydrate group receives its name because all
the compounds in this class are composed of carbon, and
of hydrogen and oxygen which are usually in the same pro-
THE AMOUNT OF FOOD NECESSARY 153
portion as in water. Starch, cellulose, and sugar, as well
as pectin and dextrine, are all members of this group.
The fats contain only the three elements which are found
in the carbohydrates, but they are present in quite differ-
ent proportions. Oils are merely fats which are liquid
at ordinary temperatures instead of solid.
As has already been said, the last three classes of foods
act as fuels in the body, supplying it with energy. The
energy which is thus supplied is the sole source of the
energy of the body. It is used not only for maintaining
the temperature, but for all muscular movement as well.
It is, then, a matter of great moment, not only that the
body should be supplied with enough protein for building
material, but that it should also be supplied with enough
energy. At first thought it might seem as if proteins
could be used entirely for both these purposes and fats and
carbohydrates omitted from the diet, but there is every
reason to believe that the results would be bad, for a
number of causes, one of which is that this would furnish
the body with a great excess of nitrogen.
It is easy to see that enough energy must be furnished,
but what is "enough" and how is the amount to be deter-
mined? This can be done by measuring the energy
needed by the body, and the amount of energy supplied
by various foodstuffs.
While energy may be measured in a variety of ways, for
example, as work, measured in foot-pounds, or as light,
measured in candle power, the energy value of foods is
measured as heat in calories. The unit of measurement,
the calorie, is the amount of heat necessary to raise the
temperature of a kilogram (about a quart) of water one
degree Centigrade, or it may be expressed as about the
amount of heat that would raise the temperature of a
pound of water four degrees Fahrenheit.
154 FOOD STUDY
To determine the energy value of a foodstuff all that is
necessary is to burn a given amount of it in such a way
that all the heat given off shall be taken up by water.
Then, knowing the amount of water and the rise in tem-
perature, the number of calories given off can be calculated.
Such an apparatus is called a calorimeter, from the word
meter, or measure, and color, a Latin word meaning heat.
A hollow metal cylinder, containing the material to be
burned and a supply of oxygen, is immersed in an insulated
tank containing a measured amount of water. Combus-
tion is started by sending an electric spark through the
foodstuff. The heat given off passes through the metal
cylinder into the water. The rise in temperature is very
accurately determined by means of thermometers, and
corrections are made for any unavoidable escape of
heat.
All the carbohydrates and fats which are digested and
burned in the body give off, so far as is known, the same
amounts of energy under these circumstances that they do
in the calorimeter. Proteins, however, are not completely
oxidized in the body, and so furnish it with a somewhat
smaller amount of heat than the calorimeter would indicate.
Allowing for losses in digestion, it has been determined
that every ounce of either protein or carbohydrate eaten
supplies the body with 113 calories of heat; fats have
greater fuel value and give 255 calories for every ounce.
The total amount of energy which must be supplied per
person per day is, obviously, affected by the size of the
person whose temperature must be maintained, as well as
by the amount of energy used up in work. Atwater,
for the United States Department of Agriculture, deter-
mined the following amounts as necessary for the man or
woman of average size. The woman is allowed less be-
cause she averages less in weight.
THE AMOUNT OF FOOD NECESSARY 155
Man with hard muscular work 4150 calories
Man with moderately active work 3400 calories
Man at sedentary or the woman with moderately ac-
tive work 2700 calories
Man without muscular exercise or the woman at light
to moderate work 2450 calories
How much protein is necessary daily is still a matter of
controversy, but it is well established that the old notion
that much meat or protein is necessary for strength is false.
Some put the figure higher than others, but 300 to 400
calories a day from protein is probably a safe amount for
the average person.
In stating the composition of food, sometimes the per-
centages of the various ingredients are given. Another
way of expressing it is to state the number of calories
of heat given by the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins in
an amount of food which furnishes a total of one hundred
calories of energy. This amount is known as the " stand-
ard portion." The second method is perhaps less con-
fusing, especially when comparisons between foods are to
be made.
For example, suppose a boiled potato and white flour
are to be compared. The percentage composition of the
two is as follows :
WATEB
PROTEIN
FAT
CARBO-
HYDRATE
Boiled potato . .
Wheat flour
75.5%
128%
2.5%
10.8%
1%
1.1%
20.9%
74.8%
With this great difference in the percentage of water pres-
ent, it is evident that the percentages of the other ingredi-
ents cannot be compared directly.
156
FOOD STUDY
Compare this with the number of calories furnished by
the ingredients in the hundred-calorie portions.
WEIGHT OP
CALORIES FROM
100-CALORiE PORTION
Protein
Fat
Carbohydrate
Boiled potato . .
3| OZ.
11
1
88
Wheat flour . .
loz.
12
3
85
It is at once evident that they are not so unlike in their
nutritive elements, but that about four times as much
weight of potato must be had to provide the same amount
of energy.
If potatoes cost five cents for three pounds (If ^ per
pound) and flour is five cents a pound, it is easy to cal-
culate that four pounds of potatoes would cost six and
two-thirds cents, while a pound of white flour would fur-
nish the same amount of fuel value for five cents.
Compare milk with flour.
WATEB
PROTEIN
FAT
CARBO-
HYDRATE
Flour . . . .
12.8%
10.8%
1.1%
74.8%
Milk
87.0%
3.3%
4.0%
5.0%
The difference in the percentage of water present in the
two makes it hard to decide which really furnishes the
more protein, or fat, or carbohydrate.
WEIGHT OF
IOO-CALORIE PORTION
CALORIES FROM
Protein
Fat
Carbohydrate
Flour ....
Milk
1 OZ.
5+oz.
12
19
3
52
85
29
THE AMOUNT OF FOOD NECESSARY 157
It may be seen at once, by the second table, that over five
times as much milk is necessary to equal the total calories
in flour, but that the milk will furnish almost twice as
many calories from protein. If milk costs four cents a
pint (about a pound), it is evidently much more expen-
sive both as a source of energy and as a source of protein.
Such comparisons are of great interest, for food value
and cost, curiously, have no connection with each other.
Some of the government pamphlets show by graphs the
amount of fuel value which can be purchased in different
foods for a given amount of money, but the price of foods
changes so rapidly that these quickly become antiquated.
In addition to the recognized food principles, there
seems to be another class of substances present in foods,
which are known as vitamines. These are present in
natural foodstuffs in only small amounts, but they seem
necessary, some for nutrition and others for growth.
Fruits, vegetables, and milk are our best sources for these
substances, so far as is known at present. The whole
subject of vitamines is under investigation, and it is to be
hoped that before long we shall be able to speak more
definitely concerning them. However, they furnish an
excellent additional reason for the inclusion of fruits and
vegetables in our diet.
In all these discussions, it should be remembered, no
account has been taken of mineral matter. Sherman says
that of the mineral elements, only calcium, iron, and phos-
phorus need to be considered, if the diet be sufficient and
balanced. (See the Appendix.)
Since many of our servings of food are about a hun-
dred-calorie portion or bear a simple relation to it,
it is convenient to use such a table in estimating the
fuel value of a meal. A table of this kind will be found
in the Appendix.
158 FOOD STUDY
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Office of Exp. Sta. Bulletin No. 28.
"The Chemical Composition of American Food Materials."
QUESTIONS
1. Describe Swiss chard. Why is it not commonly found in the
market?
2. List leaves which may be substituted for spinach as "greens."
3. Can the outer leaves of lettuce, not desirable for salad, be used in
this way ?
4. If you had peas that you were not going to use for a couple of
days, would they keep better cooked or raw ? How about potatoes ?
5. Why must all green vegetables be washed before using, even
though they look clean ?
6. Make a list of vegetables classified as to composition.
7. What vegetables and fruits contain more water than milk does ?
XXXI
SWEET-FLAVORED VEGETABLES
SQUASH
BUTTERED BEETS
A. SQUASH.
Prepare squash, boiled, steamed, and baked. Com-
pare the time of cooking, the texture, and the flavor.
BOILED SQUASH.
Cut the squash in pieces, pare, and remove seeds and
strings. Cook in boiling, salted water, until soft. Drain,
mash, and season with salt, pepper, and butter.
STEAMED SQUASH.
Follow directions under boiled squash, except that,
instead of boiling the squash, you should cook it in a
strainer over boiling water.
SQUASH 159
BAKED SQUASH.
Prepare squash by cutting in squares and removing
seeds and strings, but do not pare. Bake until soft.
B. 1. Wash a beet and cut the top off close. Cook in
hot water until tender.
2. Wash a beet as before, but take pains not to
break the skin, retain the root and at least an
inch of the top. Cook as before. Compare
results. When should beets be peeled, before or
after cooking ? To serve, peel, and cut beets in
half-inch slices and reheat in a little butter;
season with salt, and pepper if desired.
C. Class Experiment. SUGAR TEST.
Very dilute copper sulphate and potassium hydroxide
solutions are used in testing 1 /or sugar.
1. Boil together a little ot the two solutions, and note
the color obtained when no sugar is present.
2. To a few drops of glucose, add a little of the two
solutions and boil. (Corn syrup may be used.)
What is the color when sugar is present?
3. See if you can obtain this color by using granulated
sugar in place of the glucose.
4. Boil a little granulated sugar with some acid in the
water. (Cream of tartar or vinegar may be used.)
Now try the sugar test, but before boiling, be sure to
add enough of the hydroxide to color the solution
blue and not green.
5. Boil small pieces of vegetables or fruit, such as beet,
onion, sweet potato, grape, apple, prune, or date, with
water, and then test the water for sugar. If the test
is not obtained at once, try boiling first with acid,
and then making the test.
160 FOOD STUDY
CANE AND BEET SUGAR
Sucrose is the chemical name of the sugar used as lump,
granulated, or powdered sugar. It occurs in large amounts
in sugar cane and in the sugar palm, as well as in sugar
beets. In the manufacture of sugar from sugar cane, the
cane is crushed and the juice squeezed out by passing
between a series of rollers while the pulp is sprayed with
water. This gives what is called raw juice. The separa-
tion and refining of the sugar is sometimes carried out by
one process, sometimes by another. Lime is often used
to neutralize the acidity of the juice, impurities are filtered
off or allowed to settle out, and the residue is boiled re-
peatedly, sugar crystallizing out after each boiling. In
modern factories, this last process is accomplished in
vacuum pans. The raw or brown sugar which is obtained
requires still further purification. It is washed with sugar
syrup, dissolved in hot water, clarified, and filtered first
through cotton bags, then through bone-black filters, to
remove as much of the color as possible, and again crys-
tallized in vacuum pans. During the last process, the
sugar is often "blued" to make it appear whiter. When
we study in detail all the processes which sugar goes
through, and all the machinery which is used in its manu-
facture, it seems marvelous that sugar can be sold for a
few cents a pound.
Sugar from beets is manufactured by similar processes,
but the juice is soaked out instead of being crushed out of
the beet. As found on the market, the crystals of sugar
from the one source are usually coarser than from the
other, but the two are equally valuable. The United
States produces sugar in large quantities, but more from
cane than from beets. Europe, on the other hand, makes
beet sugar.
CANE AND BEET SUGAR 161
Refined sugar could also be manufactured from the sap
of the sugar maple, although not very profitably, for the
amount of sugar present is small ; but because the taste of
the raw sugar is agreeable, maple sugar, as such, is put
upon the market and obtains a good price.
The amount of sugar used yearly is large. In this
country, about eighty-five pounds per person is con-
sumed, but of course some of this is used in industrial
processes. It is only recently that sugar has been used
freely, and it is still an open question whether such exten-
sive use is desirable. Sugar not only lacks mineral salts,
as has already been pointed out, but it shows some ten-
dency to cause indigestion. In too great concentration,
it abstracts water from the the mucous membrane. Sher-
man suggests that this effect is easily illustrated by hold-
ing a piece of hard candy in one side of the mouth for some
time, without moving it. Then, too, sugar readily fer-
ments in the stomach, and forms irritating acids. On the
other hand, sugar is quickly digested and furnishes an
immediate source of energy.
In the household use of sugar, it should be remembered
that the best time to eat sugar or candy is after meals. If
taken with staple food, it often causes more to be eaten
than is needed, or by cloying the appetite, produces the
opposite effect. Taken between meals, it may upset the
normal appetite. It is less likely to irritate the stomach,
if taken with other food. Liberal amounts of water also
tend to lessen the irritation.
Sugar is a hearty food and can undoubtedly be used in
larger quantities by very active people, hard laborers,
and children, than by sedentary people, if it does not
produce digestive disturbances. It is often carried by
soldiers or mountain climbers because it is a concentrated
food.
162 FOOD STUDY
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 93. "Sugar as
Food" or Farmers' Bulletin, No. 535. "Sugar and Its Value
as Food."
Journal of Home Economics. Vol. VII, p. 544. "The Consump-
tion of Sugar."
QUESTIONS
1. Make a list of common vegetables, giving season, amount needed
for a family of four, and the probable cost of that amount when in
season. (The work on this table may well be divided between the
different members of the class.)
2. Make a list of the cheaper vegetables, and give as many ways
of preparing each as you can find. Consult cook books.
XXXII
CANDIES
A. Class Experiment.
THE STAGES IN SUGAR COOKERY.
Boil \ c. sugar in \ c. water. Test by dropping product
into cold water at the following stages. Feel the ball in
2, 3, 4, and 5. Note color in last.
1. 233 degrees Fahrenheit "Hair" or "Thread" stage.
2. 236-242 degrees Fahrenheit Soft ball stage.
3. 254 degrees Fahrenheit Hard stage.
4. 260-275 degrees Fahrenheit Crack stage.
5. 290-350 degrees Fahrenheit Caramel stage.
6. 290 degrees Fahrenheit Hard crack stage.
Syrup at the thread stage is used in making frosting.
Prepare peanut brittle by pouring the syrup at caramel
stage over chopped nuts spread on a buttered pan. Mark
in squares as it cools.
CARBOHYDRATES 163
B. Class Experiment. CRYSTALLIZATION OF SUGARS.
Dissolve f c. sugar in J c. water. Divide into 3 portions.
1. Boil first portion to hard crack stage, and set aside
to cool.
2. To the second portion add J tsp. vinegar or lemon
juice or a pinch of cream of tartar. Boil to hard
crack stage and set aside to cool.
3. To the third portion add one-fourth the volume of
glucose. Boil to hard crack stage and set aside to
cool.
Why is acid or glucose added in making many candies ?
C. CANDIES.
Make such candies as time and circumstances warrant.
Cook to :
1. Soft ball stage (238) Panochi, Fudge (Chocolate
cream candy), Cocoanut Cream Candy, Fondant.
2. Hard ball stage (254) Chocolate Caramels, Planta-
tion Drops, Butter Cups.
3. Crack stage (270) Molasses Candy, Ice Cream
Candy, Vinegar Candy, Popcorn Balls, Butter-
scotch.
4. Hard crack stage (290) Glace-Fruit, and Nuts.
For recipes see cook-books.
CARBOHYDRATES
Carbohydrates are sugars, and substances like cellulose,
starch and pectin which may be changed into sugars
either by boiling with acids or by ferment action.
The carbohydrates are divided into three groups ac-
cording to their complexity, and are called mono-, di-,
and poly- saccharides. The chief members of the groups
are as follows :
164
FOOD STUDY
USOepor-tment of Agriculture Prepared by
Officaof Experinent Stations OELANGWORTHY
A-C.Tr u Director Expert in Charge of Nutrition bwwtgations
COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
mUD E88&3 try^sa is\\\\\i muni
Pot Carbohydrates Aah
Protein
Water
1860CAUIRIC5
PER POUND
STICK CANDY
Carjiphydrate3;96.5
CALDHIES
POUND
:3.0
FUEL
A3h:0.5
MAPLE SUGAR
t-Water;16.3
1785 CALOW!
LOWES
PCR POUNU
HONEY
FVotein.0.4
Cahbo- Carbo-
1520 CALORIES PEB
COMPOSITION OF FOODS CONTAINING SUGAR
CARBOHYDRATES
165
MONOSACCHARIDES
DlSACCHARIDES
POLYSACCHARIDES
Glucose or dextrose
Fructose or levulose
Galactose
Sucrose or " sugar "
Milk sugar or lactose
Malt sugar or maltose
Starch
Dextrine
Cellulose
Glycogen
Pectin
All the members of the first and second group are sugars,
and all are soluble in water and more or less sweet in taste.
The two groups are sometimes called single and double
sugars. A plant probably manufactures a single sugar
out of carbon dioxide and water, and then changes the
single sugar into either double sugar or polysaccharides.
When polysaccharides or disaccharides are digested, or
boiled with water and acid, the plant-manufacturing
process is reversed and the substances are finally broken
down into single sugars. To prove this, chew a bit of
cracker, being careful not to swallow it before the sweet
taste of the sugar is evident. The breaking down pro-
cess also goes on in the plant when stored starch or sugar
is used for further growth, as, for example, in a potato
when it sprouts.
Glucose and fructose occur in many fruits and vegetables
and are present in large quantities in honey. Glucose is
used so extensively for food that it is also manufactured
from cornstarch by boiling the starch with acid. The chief
points to be remembered about these two sugars are that
they do not need to undergo any process of digestion
before being absorbed, that they do not crystallize so
readily as cane sugar, and that they give the sugar test.
Galactose is a digestive product of milk sugar and is not
found as such in foods.
Of the disaccharides, sucrose and lactose are the more
166 FOOD STUDY
important in OUT foods. Lactose is found in milk. It
ferments in the stomach less readily than sucrose and so is
probably much better for babies. Accordingly, modified
milk and other baby foods are often prepared by the addi-
tion of lactose. It is also used as a basis for sugar pills.
It is manufactured commercially by separating it from milk.
When sucrose is boiled with an acid in the presence of water
it changes into equal parts of glucose and fructose. Glu-
cose is far less sweet than sucrose, but fructose is much
sweeter. Consequently the mixture, "invert" sugar as it
is called, is not very different in sweetness from the original
sucrose, but the latter is probably a little sweeter. Some
recipes call for the addition of sugar to acid fruits after
boiling, so that this change will not take place as a result
of the cooking. The saving is probably so small as not to
be appreciable. On the other hand, this change is delib-
erately sought after in making candies like fondant and
fudge which must be smooth and velvety, not granular,
and in candies like butter-scotch which must not "sugar."
The single sugars crystallize with much more difficulty
than sucrose, and the presence of even small amounts of
them makes the candy less liable to "grain" or "sugar."
Sometimes, instead of bringing about the change by boil-
ing with acid, a little glucose syrup is added to produce the
same result.
During digestion all the carbohydrates are broken down
into single sugars and are then absorbed and carried to the
liver. Here and in the muscles any sugar in excess of that
needed in the blood is stored as glycogen, or animal starch.
At need, the process is reversed, the stored glycogen is
again broken down into sugar to keep the supply of it
constant in the blood.
Saccharin is a chemical substance with a sweet taste
and is entirely unlike the carbohydrates. It has no
CARBOHYDRATES 167
food value, and as, in too large amounts, it interferes with
digestion, its use in food sold in interstate commerce has
been forbidden by the United States government.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 93, "Sugar
as Food ", or Fanners' Bulletin No. 535, "Sugar and its
Value as Food."
Commercial Geographies and Atlases.
QUESTIONS
1. Compare sugar and starch in appearance, in taste, in their
behavior in cold and hot water, and in their tendency to crystallize.
2. Compare the cost of a pound of cornstarch, of flour, of sugar.
3. What other reasons besides the economic one can you give
why it would be unwise to omit all starch from our diet and replace
it with sugar ?
4. What are brown sugar, molasses, powdered sugar, lump sugar ?
5. Why can candy with brown sugar, molasses, or glucose, be
easily made with the addition of acids ?
6. Grind some granulated sugar in a mortar and taste it. If
powdered sugar tastes less sweet than granulated, is this a proof
that it is adulterated ?
7. If sugar were adulterated with either sand or starch, how
would these manifest themselves ?
8. What different kinds of "lump" sugar are there and what is
the difference between them ?
9. Which costs most by the pound, granulated or lump sugar?
Why do many people consider it less expensive to serve lump sugar
on the table?
10. Where is sugar produced? Do we export or import sugar?
Do we use more cane or beet sugar ?
11. How is glucose manufactured? Is it healthful? Why has
there been a prejudice against it?
168 FOOD STUDY
XXXIII
MEAT CAKES WITH CREAMED TURNIPS
A. Class Experiment. TESTS WITH MEAT.
Soak some ground meat for a few moments in a little cold
water. Pour off the liquid and divide it into two parts.
1. Test one part by boiling it with a few drops of nitric
acid, and then cooling it and adding ammonia. Test,
in the same way, a bit of the meat fiber from which
the juice has been soaked out. Recall and compare
with the experiment on egg white.
2. Heat the other portion to simmering and observe.
Then boil it. Compare with the experiment on egg
white.
B. Class Experiment. THE STRUCTURE OF MEAT.
1. Scrape a small piece of raw beef in the same direction
as the fiber with a dull knife, and notice the structure.
Can you see any fat among the fibers ?
2. Draw a muscle fiber as it appears under the micro-
scope.
C. PREPARE BROILED MEAT CAKES.
1. Grind the beef, season with salt, and pepper if desired,
and shape lightly into small flat cakes. Grease
a frying pan lightly (a piece of the meat fat may be
rubbed over the hot pan), and broil the cakes. Serve
with creamed turnips.
MEAT
STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION
Meat is made up of fibers which are embedded in and
held together by connective tissue. The connective tissue
MEAT
169
US.Dpartment of Agriculture
Office of Experiment Stations
A.C.True: Director
R-epored by
CJn-ANGWORTOY
Expert in Charge of Nutrition hvestigcltia
COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
Hgi EiPl {^3 ITTTTTT1
Protarx Fat Carbohydrate* Ash Water
LAMB CHOP
ul Value
EOBLE PORTION
Water: 53.1
PORK CHOP
EOBLE PORTK3N
SMOKED HAM
EOBLE PORTION
Waten40.3
FUEL
VALUE
COMPOSITION OF MEAT
170 FOOD STUDY
is composed of two proteins, collagen and elastin. The
collagen, when boiled with water, forms gelatine. The
fibers are hollow with walls composed of the protein sub-
stance called elastin. This is like collagen in some of its
properties, but it will not dissolve on boiling with water.
The content of the fibers is called muscle juice. It is
composed of water in which are proteins, coloring matter,
salts, and extractives. Besides this, there is fat deposited
in varying amounts, mainly in the connective tissue. In
beef, the fat is usually in sufficiently thick layers to be seen
readily ; in pork, the fat surrounds the fibers in such small
particles as not to be visible, although present in a generous
amount. The proteins of the muscle juice are mainly
myosin and albumin, and both coagulate with heat. The
extractives, so named because they can be extracted from
the meat by boiling it in water, are of value because they
give the meat its flavor. Although they contain nitrogen,
they have practically no food value, since they cannot
build tissue nor furnish heat to the body. They are
stimulants, however, and cause a flow of digestive juices
in the stomach, which aids in the digestion of food. Lean
meat shows about the following composition:
EDIBLE MEAT
Water 75.0% to 77.0%
Mineral matter . . . 0.8% to 1.8%
Fat 0.5% to 3.0%
Muscle fibre .... 13.0 % to 18.0 %
Connective tissue . . 2.0 % to 5.0 %
Extractives .... 0.5%
Shortly after an animal is slaughtered a condition known
as rigor mortis sets in, during which the muscles are very
stiff. Meat must be eaten either before this begins, or
after the meat has hung for a while. In hanging, acids
MEAT 171
develop which perhaps aid in softening the meat again,
and certainly add to its flavor.
The cuts of meat which are tender usually command
the highest price. They come from the parts of the animal
which are least toughened by exercise, but there is con-
siderable difference in tenderness in the "better cuts,"
breed, age, size, and the manner in which the animal has
been fattened, all affecting the result. The length of the
fibers seems to be another factor in the question of tough-
ness. Loin steaks and rib roasts are good examples of
choice cuts. It is interesting to know, however, that many
of the cheaper cuts contain more extractives and less water,
so that they are both better flavored and more nutritious.
Waste, too, must be taken into account. Instructive data
on this subject can be obtained in Bulletin 158, of the
Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station.
Experience is needful before one can recognize good
meats in the market. This can best be acquired by getting
a butcher to show different grades of meat, and to explain
why one is better than another. Here are some of the
chief points to be noted.
BEEF
The meat should be bright red after standing, but it
will be purplish red if recently cut. It should be fine-
grained, firm, and the lean well-mottled with fat. Coarse,
flabby, dark beef is poor meat ; if it lacks fat, it is underfed
or old.
VEAL
Young veal is generally excluded from market; that
from an animal about two months old is considered best.
The meat is much paler than beef, and shows no mottling
of the lean with fat. It should be pinkish and fine-grained.
172
FOOD STUDY
1. Neck.
2. Chuck.
3. Shoulder.
4. Fore shank.
5. Breast.
6. Ribs.
7. Loin.
8. Flank.
9. Leg.
10. Hind shank.
CUTS OF VEAL
1. Neck.
2. Chuck.
3. Shoulder.
CUTS OF MUTTON AND LAMB
MEAT
173
MUTTON
This is from sheep at least three years old. It should be
fine-grained and pinkish red with hard white fat.
LAMB
Spring lamb is from an animal eight weeks to three
months old. All lamb is less than a year old. The meat
differs in color from mutton, but the two are more easily
distinguished by the bone. In lamb, this is pinker and
ridged or saw-like at the joint of the leg. In mutton, the
bone is whiter and smoother and less ridged.
1. Head.
2. Shoulder.
3. Back.
4. Middle cut.
6. Belly.
6. Ham.
7. Rib.
8. Loin.
CUTS OP PORK
PORK
The meat should be fine-grained and firm, and the fat
should not be soft. The meat is very pale.
174 FOOD STUDY
All meat requires constant care, as it spoils easily. It
should be kept in a cool place and not left wrapped in
paper. If placed directly on the ice, much juice is lost.
Meat which has become slightly tainted may be washed
with water in which a little cooking soda has been dis-
solved.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Farmers' Bulletin No. 39. "Economical Use of Meat in the Home."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 34. "Meats : Composition and Cooking."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 162. "Experiment Station Work," pp. 9-10.
QUESTIONS
1. Account for the yellow stain nitric acid leaves, if you spill it on
your hands.
2. Does tender or tough meat contain more connective tissue ?
3. If much-used muscle is tougher, which parts of a steer or sheep
would you expect to find tough ? Which tender ?
4. Is tender or tough meat likely to be the more juicy?
5. For what reasons should meat be unwrapped before putting it
away when it comes from market?
6. Why, before cooking, should meat be wiped with a damp cloth
rather than washed ?
7. Which food principle is practically absent in meat ? Mention
foods served with meat, which would be particularly adapted to
make good the deficiency.
ROAST BEEF 175
XXXIV
TENDER MEAT
ROAST BEEF
BROILED BEEFSTEAK AND CORN PUDDING
A. PREPARE ROAST BEEF. 1
Weigh the beef before and after cooking. Wipe
beef and, if necessary, skewer into shape. Dredge all
sides with salt, pepper, and flour (Why is this added?).
Insert a thermometer with the bulb in the center of the
roast. Place fat side up, in a hot oven at 428 F. for
fifteen minutes, then reduce the heat to 342 F. and
cook until the inner temperature of the meat as shown
by the thermometer reaches, if rare is desired, 131 to
149 F. ; if medium, 149 to 158 F. ; if well-done, 158 to
176 F. If meat is quite lean, it may be necessary to add
fat to the pan. If very dry, add a little water. This is
undesirable, as it may give the beef a "stewed" flavor.
Let the thermometer remain in for some time after the
meat has been removed from the oven. Explain the
change in temperature which takes place.
Calculate the length of time necessary for each pound of
meat roasted rare, medium, or well-done. Why is the
meat put into a very hot oven at first ? Why is the tem-
perature lowered later ?
B. Class Experiment. COOKING MEAT.
1. Sprinkle a bit of raw meat with salt. What effect
does the salt have upon the juices of the
meat?
1 The roast can be cooked rare and used for left-over meat.
176 FOOD STUDY
2. Take two small pieces of meat.
a. Put one in a cold frying pan and cook it,
heating slowly at first.
b. Put the other in a hot frying pan.
Explain why the juices flow in one case and not
in the other.
C. PREPARE BROILED BEEFSTEAK. When will you
salt it ? Serve with corn pudding.
CORN PUDDING (CORN A LA SOUTHERN).
To one can chopped corn, add two eggs slightly beaten,
one teaspoon of salt, one-eighth teaspoon pepper, one and
one-half tablespoons melted butter, and one pint scalded
milk; turn into a buttered pudding-dish and bake in
slow oven until firm.
From the " Boston Cooking-School Cook Book." By
FANNIE M. FARMER.
Curs OF BEEF AND PRINCIPLES OF COOKING MEAT
Beef is not always cut up in exactly the same way. In
general, the carcass is first split into two "sides" of beef,
then divided into the fore and hind quarters. From the
fore quarter are cut rib roasts and chuck. The first ribs
cut off are the best, known as "prime." The chuck ribs
may also be used for roasts or steaks. Brisket, shoulder,
clod, cross-ribs, plate and navel are all used for corned
beef ; while they, as well as the neck and shank, are used
for stews, ground meat, or soup meat. The shank is used
for soups.
The hind quarter consists of loin, rump, round, flank, and
hind shank. The loin furnishes the choicer steaks, club,
porterhouse, and sirloin, which are cooked by broiling, or
cut into roasts. The rump is used for steaks and roasts,
CUTS OF BEEF
177
1. Neck.
2. Chuck.
3. Rib.
4. Shoulder cled.
5. Fore shank.
6. Brisket.
7. Cross ribs.
8. Plate.
9. Navel.
10. Loin.
11. Flank.
12. Rump.
13. Round.
14. Second cut round.
15. Hind shank.
CUTS OF BEEF
178 FOOD STUDY
but is not considered so choice as rib and loin. It furnishes
much edible meat for the price paid ; however, it is some-
what coarse. The round is divided into parts called " top "
and "bottom", as the meat lies on the butcher's table in
being cut. "Inside" and "outside" would mean more in
locating the cut. The top is much the tenderer of the two
and is sometimes used for steaks and roasts, while the
bottom of the round serves for stews and Hamburg steak.
The flank is sometimes sold as flank steak, but needs to be
cut and pounded to make it tender. It is more often used
for stewing or corning.
The other parts of beef also used for eating are the
heart, liver, kidneys, brains, tongue, tail, and tripe (the
lining of the stomach).
It will be noticed that the more tender meat is reserved
for roasting and broiling. This means for the bulk of the
meat the use of a low temperature. Notice that, even in
a well-done roast of beef, the internal temperature is below
the simmering point of water. The surface, to be sure, is
exposed to very high temperatures and is correspondingly
toughened, but this small sacrifice is in order to furnish
flavor, also in order to coagulate the proteins near the
outside and so confine the juices. Stewing or boiling, and
pot-roasting or braising (which is really steaming and stew-
ing) are the methods employed in cooking tough meat. In
all these, the meat is exposed to a much higher temperature
than is used in cooking tender meat. Muscle fiber is such a
poor conductor of heat that in roasting and broiling only the
outside is much heated. But in the other methods, the
water or steam penetrates into the meat, carrying heat with
it. This gives a temperature high enough, with time, to
soften connective tissue or even gelatinize it. The fibers,
however, are not dissolved and are always tougher than
in more tender meat ; but, on the whole, the general effect
Porter-house Steak
TYPICAL CUTS OF STEAK
BEEF STEW 179
is better than can be obtained by treating such meat as a
better cut.
Since heat toughens meat, special care needs to be exer-
cised in the preparation of left-over meats. If the meat
is tender and already well cooked, it should be reheated
but not recooked; if tough or insufficiently cooked, it
should be simmered until tender.
Since tenderness is such a desirable characteristic that
it is the one on which price is based, great pains should be
taken not to toughen choice cuts of meat in cooking, and
to prepare the tougher cuts so that they may be as desir-
able as possible. Many cooks woefully fail in this respect.
REFERENCES
As in last lesson. (Farmer's Bulletins, No. 39, 34 and 162.)
QUESTIONS
1. Would you need a hotter or a cooler oven to roast two pieces of
beef to the same degree, if one piece were very large and the other
very small ?
2. How thick should steak be cut ?
3. If you wish steak well done, will you merely cook it longer ?
4. To what is the loss in weight due in roasting beef ?
5. Which cuts of beef furnish the most lean meat for the price paid ?
XXXV
BEEF STEW
DUMPLINGS
A. Class Experiments. COOKING MEAT.
1. Sear a small piece of meat in a frying pan. Pour
half a cup of cold water over it and simmer for
half an hour.
180 FOOD STUDY
2. Repeat with a piece of meat of the same size and
shape, but omit the searing.
Compare the appearance and taste of the resulting
broths. Cut the meat open and see whether one tastes
or appears different from the other.
B. PREPARE BEEF STEW.
Cut lean beef into small cubes. Season each piece
highly, dredge with flour, and brown on all sides in a frying
pan with a little suet. Add enough water to cover meat
(reserving one piece for the next experiment), let it come
rapidly to the boiling point, then simmer or finish the cook-
ing in a double boiler until tender. At least two hours is
necessary. Before the stew is finished, diced vegetables
may be added, and twenty minutes allowed for them to
cook. If the gravy is not thick enough, a little flour and
water may be added. This should be done before cooking
the dumplings. If left-over roast beef is used, will it be
necessary to brown ? Should the left-over gravy be added ?
C. SERVE THE STEW WITH DUMPLINGS.
Sift together one cup of flour, two teaspoons of baking-
powder, and a quarter of a teaspoon of salt ; then stir in
enough milk to make a soft dough, about a third of a cup.
1. Drop a spoon of the mixture into the stew, covering
it with the gravy.
2. Drop the rest by spoonfuls over the meat in the stew
in such a way that the dumpling is held well out
of the water.
In which case is the dumpling soggy?
D. Class Experiment. KEEPING MEAT TENDER.
To show why meat is simmered instead of boiled.
Boil the cube of meat reserved from (B) for an hour, and
MEAT INSPECTION 181
then compare it with a piece of meat from the stew which
has been cooked the same length of time.
MEAT INSPECTION
Not only is the slaughtering and packing of meat the
largest manufacturing process in the United States, but
our consumption of meat is very great. Reports for the
United States Department of Agriculture estimated the
per capita consumption of beef, lamb, mutton, pork, and
veal in 1900 as 178.75 Ibs. while that of Great Britain was
only 122 Ibs., Germany 99 Ibs., and France 80 Ibs. More-
over, about a third of all the expenditure for food materials
is spent for meat. When this is realized, as well as the fact
that meat is one of the foods " most subject to conditions
rendering it unwholesome or even dangerous ", it is no
wonder that the Federal government yearly appropriates
a large sum of money for meat inspection and makes
the penalties for violation of the meat-inspection law
much more severe than for violation of the other food
laws.
Meat may be dangerous, first, because animal parasites
may be present, such as trichina in pork ; or, second, be-
cause bacteria may be present. The latter may be dan-
gerous for two reasons. They may be bacteria causing
diseases which are capable of being communicated through
the eating of the flesh, or they may be bacteria which
produce poisons or ptomains in the meat, which, if eaten,
may cause illness or even death.
Federal inspection excludes from interstate commerce
and exportation all meat found unfit for food, and al-
lows only meat to be sold which is considered as coming
from healthy animals, slaughtered under sanitary condi-
tions. Since meat is an ideal culture medium for bacteria,
182 FOOD STUDY
it is necessary not only to see that it is from healthy animals
but that it is not infected afterwards. Such infection could
easily take place if flies and dust were allowed, or if the
meat were handled by men with unclean and infected
hands. What infection may mean is evident from recent
studies made on Hamburg steak, which report as high as
525,000,000 bacteria to a gram of meat, even average
samples showing about 10,000,000. Fortunately these
are not usually bacteria which cause disease or produce
ptomains.
As they know of this government inspection, many
people have an unwarranted feeling of safety in buying
meat. Too often it is not realized that the Federal
government can control only those slaughter houses which
send meat into interstate commerce. Smaller houses,
selling in one state only, are not under federal juris-
diction at all. Hence, state and city inspection laws are
also necessary.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Bureau of Animal Industry, Circular
125. "The Federal Meat-Inspection Service."
Commercial Geographies.
QUESTIONS
1. What advantages are there in serving meat cooked, instead of
raw?
2. What methods of preserving meat are allowed by the Federal
law?
3. Is there any limit to the time meat may be kept in cold storage
before being sold ?
4. What are the causes of the increased cost of meat ?
5. What trade in meat has the United States with other countries ?
6. How much Hamburg steak would you buy to serve four people ?
How much tenderloin steak? How large a roast of beef? How
heavy a leg of lamb ?
LEFT-OVERS 183
XXXVI
LEFT-OVERS
SOUTHERN SPOON BREAD
A. LEFT-OVERS. Each student is to come to class
ready to prepare some dish from "left-over" meat.
B. SPOON BREAD. Serve the dish prepared in (^4)
with Southern Spoon Bread. Use two tablespoons of
cornmeal and other ingredients in proportion.
SOUTHERN SPOON BREAD.
Place two cups of cornmeal mixed with a quarter of a
cup of flour in a strainer and pour boiling water over it.
Let the mixture drain. Add
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. melted fat
2 1 c. sour milk or buttermilk
1 egg, beaten slightly
1 tsp. soda
Bake in a buttered dish until of the consistency of a firm
mush. Serve with gravy or jelly.
PROTEINS
Much has been said about proteins, but to understand
their relative value and the place in the diet, it is necessary
to know more about them. American physiologists are
using the classification of which a simplified form is given
here. The proteins are divided into three main classes :
I. Simple proteins, which are found as such.
a. Albumins as found in egg white, in meat, in
wheat, in milk, and in many other protein foods.
184
FOOD STUDY
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of Experiment Stations
A.C.True. Director
Prepared by
C.r7LANGWORTHY
Expert in Charge of Nutrition Investigations
COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
nmD 813^ w^m ^^ rmrni
Fat Carbohydrates Ash
Proton
Water
Fuel Value
.WALNUT CHESTNUT
-Protein: 16.6 ***W-^te^"** ^
Fat:7.0
2825 CALORICS PER POUND
3125 CAUJR1C5 PC* POUND
COMPOSITION OP NUTS
PROTEINS 185
b. Globulins of which the myosin of meat is a
good example. It is also present in small
quantities in egg white and in wheat, as well as
in many other foods.
Gluten from wheat
is made up of two
proteins, glutenin
c. Glutelins.
d. Alcohol-soluble proteins.
which belongs to
group (c) and glia-
din which is an
alcohol-soluble pro-
tein.
e. Albuminoids of which collagen, elastin, and
ossein of bone are examples.
II. Conjugated proteins which are proteins linked with
some other substance. ' Casein, which is protein
linked with a phosphorus compound and is the chief
protein of milk, is one example. Haemoglobin, which
is protein linked with the coloring matter of blood,
is another.
III. Derived proteins. These are formed or derived from
the others. For example, in digestion proteins are
changed first into meta-proteins, then into proteoses,
and peptones; these last three are all derived
proteins. When protein is coagulated, as egg white
when it is cooked, it becomes a derived protein.
All these proteins can be still further broken down into
amino acids. This action is probably largely carried out
in digestion, and then these amino acids are afterwards
combined and built up into body proteins if they are used
to repair tissue. But analysis shows that not all proteins
contain the same amino acids, and even where the same
acids are present, they vary greatly in amount. This
186 FOOD STUDY
would make us suspect that the different proteins might
have different food values, and experiments have shown
this to be true. Certain proteins when used alone seem
insufficient. While some will perfectly support life and
growth, others will support life, but not growth, and
still others will not support life at all. Casein is a good
example of the first, while it has been known for a long
while that gelatine had the characteristics of the third class.
For a while gelatine was not called a protein at all. Now
it is known by analysis that the difficulty with gelatine is
that certain of the amino acids found in casein are absent.
This does not make the acids which are present of no
value, but means that gelatine is incomplete by itself and
needs to be supplemented by proteins which contain the
missing amino acids.
As the body proteins are many, and also varied in the
kinds and amounts of amino acids they contain, it will
easily be seen why it is so difficult to state an exact amount
of protein which is needed daily in the diet. It undoubtedly
makes a difference what the proteins are that are eaten.
Since so little really is known about the whole matter, we
have here one of the best arguments for variety in diet,
that all the needed substances may be present. Until
more is known, it will be impossible to settle the question
whether a vegetarian diet is superior to one which contains
animal protein. Many people who argue for vegetarian-
ism are advocates of it only in its modified form, that is,
they believe in the use of milk and eggs, but not in the
use of meat and fish which involves the sacrifice of life.
So far as is known, there is no essential difference be-
tween proteins from vegetable sources, and from animal
sources, but it is true that because of the way they are
combined, the latter are often much more completely
absorbed and, perhaps, are more quickly digested as well.
PROTEINS 187
Vegetarians are apparently proving that meat-eating
is not essential to life. Still it is true that people like
meat, and that the dominating races of the world are meat
eaters, although we are not sure whether that is true be-
cause of, or in spite of, that fact. On the other hand,
there is little evidence that the vegetarians are really
any better off physically than the meat eaters. There is
some evidence that endurance is better in those who eat
less protein than in those who eat much, but this is entirely
aside from the source of the protein. Fisher, at Yale
University, has tried experiments in which people who ate
less protein showed much greater ability to carry on given
exercises than did those who habitually used more protein.
Such tests as deep knee-bending, leg-raising, and holding
the arms out horizontally, were tried. Not only could the
low-protein consumers hold out longer, but they were less
exhausted afterwards and suffered less from sore muscles.
Whether this effect is due to the lack of alkaline salts in
meat, or to some other cause, is not known. However,
considering all the evidence, it would seem as if Americans
at least would do well to lessen the amount of meat they
habitually consume. As we are the greatest meat eaters
among the civilized nations, it would seem that this could
be done with perfect safety and possible benefit.
REFERENCES
As in previous chapter.
Also U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 526. "Mut-
ton and Its Value in the Diet."
QUESTIONS
1. Why is casserole cookery especially adapted to the preparation
of tough meat ?
2. List good ways of preparing different left-over meats.
188 FOOD STUDY
3. Make a table showing the cost per pound of the best, of a
fairly desirable, and of a cheap cut of beef, veal, mutton, lamb, and
pork. Also show the cost of liver, kidney, tripe, heart, sweetbreads,
tongue, brains, ham, and sausage.
4. Read up on the subject and debate the question of vegetarian-
ism.
XXXVII
MEAT SOUPS
A. Class Experiment.
THE SOLUBLE CONSTITUENTS OF MEAT.
1. Place a two-inch cube of beef in a third of a cup of cold
water. Let it soak half an hour, then heat slowly to
boiling, noting (1) the temperature at which coagu-
lation takes place and (2) that at which the color
changes. Continue heating ten minutes.
2. Cook a second cube of exactly the same size as in (1),
but do not soak it. ;
3. Take a third cube like the others, grind or chop it
into very small pieces, and cook as in (1).
Compare the resulting broths.
B. PREPARE SOUP.
Allow a pint and a half of water for each pound of
meat and bone. Remove the fat by passing a small
piece of ice, wrapped in a cloth, around on the
surface of the soup. Divide into two portions.
1. Clear the first portion with the white of an egg. Beat
the egg slightly and crush the shell, allowing one egg
white and shell to each two quarts of soup. Add
to the soup, bring slowly to the boiling point, and
skim, or strain through cloth.
MEAT SOUPS 189
2. Serve the second portion with vegetables, or rice,
macaroni, or barley.
C. Class Experiment. THE USE OF BONES IN SOUP.
Examine the structure of a piece of bone. Put two
pieces as nearly alike as possible to soak, one in dilute
hydrochloric acid, the other in water. Let them stand in
a cool place for several days. Compare the results. On
what has the acid acted ? Examine the ossein which is
left. Now cook each bone separately in just enough
water to cover and until the water is boiled down to one-
half the amount. Let cool. Compare the consistency.
MEAT SOUPS
Liebig, who is sometimes called the father of organic
chemistry, taught that protein was the sole source of
muscular energy, and that meat extracts were of great
nutritive value. Even Liebig afterwards realized that
this last was wrong, that the meat extract was a stimulant
instead of a food. But notwithstanding, the notion was
held in popular opinion for a long time, and some people
to-day still believe the meat extract gives strength to
invalids. True meat extracts are mainly composed of the
flavoring matter of meat with some mineral salts. Practi-
cally no fat, no gelatine, or other proteins are present.
We can see readily that this means no real food value.
The extracts may have then- place, however, as stimulants.
They are often fed to invalids under special conditions,
or used to flavor soups or sauces.
Only slightly more nutritious are the home-made meat
broths and beef tea. They contain some protein, partly
gelatine, and a little fat, but are, after all, mostly water.
A pint of beef broth made from a pound of beef and a half
190 FOOD STUDY
pound of veal bone shows less than one and a half per cent
of protein, and about one and a half per cent of fat, and
although a strong soup, it contains over ninety-five per
cent of water. As soups may contain even ninety-eight
per cent of water, it is quite evident that anyone fed on
beef broth would not be getting much food.
Meat juices, both home-made and preserved, contain
more nutriment. The home-made juices differ according
to the cut of beef used and the method of extraction.
They average about five per cent of coagulable protein.
But Hutchison calculates that about three pints of such
juice would be necessary to feed an invalid for a day.
While the commercial beef juices run higher in protein
than those extracted at home, their cost is very great.
Hutchison suggests, therefore, the substitution of egg
white with water flavored with beef extract, when beef
juice is especially called for.
It is evident that meat broths, extract, tea, and the
like, are all low in food value. Nevertheless they may have
a place in the diet. They are used sometimes with other
food to stimulate the flow of the digestive juices and to act
as appetizers. This is their logical use at the beginning
of a dinner. Because they are really light food, they are
better before a hearty meal than a thickened cream soup,
or a puree. Sometimes they are used when it is better for
the patient not to have much to eat, to satisfy his desire
for food. Suppose, for example, that a person has broken
a leg and is laid up for a while. It is difficult to make
such a person, not sick and with a normal appetite, realize
that he is better off with less food than he needs when he
is more active. Here, broths and soups and beverages
are an aid in adding bulk to the diet, without furnishing
too much food.
If meat broths contain so little nutriment, evidently the
GELATINE DISHES 191
meat used to make them is almost as nutritious as before
it was used. It has lost flavor and needs to be made
palatable, but with proper treatment is still valuable as
food.
REFEKENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Bulletin No. 27. "Bouillon Cubes:
Their Contents and Food Value Compared with Meat Extracts
and Home-made Preparations of Meat."
QUESTIONS
1. Why is bone added to soup? Should it be split into pieces?
2. Consult cook books and make lists of herbs and of vegetables
which may be used in meat soups.
3. Would you allow more water to meat in making soup with
vegetables than without ?
4. Devise ways for utilizing the meat which has been used in soup
making. Is such use worth while ?
XXXVIII
GELATINE DISHES
LEMON JELLY
SNOW PUDDING
BAVARIAN CREAM
A. Class Experiments. GELATINE.
1. Soak a fourth of a teaspoon of gelatine in a table-
spoon of cold water for five minutes. Does it
dissolve? What has happened? Add two
tablespoons of boiling water. Compare the
result of putting two tablespoons of boiling
water directly on a quarter of a teaspoon of
192 FOOD STUDY
gelatine not been soaked in cold water. Which
method will you use in preparing gelatine?
2. Measure the number of tablespoons of gelatine
in a box. How much does a tablespoon of
gelatine weigh ? How much jelly will it make ?
See directions with the box.
3. Compare the cost, the net weight, and the
amount of jelly supposed to be made from
packages of at least three different well-known
gelatines.
B. PREPARE GELATINE DISHES.
Dissolve one tablespoon of gelatine in nine table-
spoons of water. Divide into three portions. How much
more liquid can you add to each and obtain the proper
consistency for jelly?
1. Make the first portion into a plain jelly, using lemon
or orange juice for the additional liquid. For the
amount of flavoring and sweetening follow the rec-
ipes supplied with the box.
2. Make the second portion into a sponge. Follow
the recipe for snow pudding.
3. Make the third into a Bavarian cream.
Different flavors may be used, or a single flavor, as,
for example, coffee may be used in all three.
Place each in a wet mold, put in a cool place to harden.
If you wish to use them at once, surround the molds with
crushed ice and salt.
GELATINE
Gelatine for commerce is made from the skin, ligaments,
and bones of animals. It is put on the market in a number
of forms. Of these, sheet gelatine is possibly the cheapest,
but pulverized gelatine is the most convenient.
GELATINE 193
As a gelatine jelly usually contains only about two per
cent of gelatine, such dishes evidently are not very hearty.
For this reason, they make excellent light desserts to use
after a substantial meal, or as a hot-weather dish. Since
they are also easily digested and absorbed, they are valu-
able, too, in invalid diets. But, combined with much
cream and sugar, a gelatine dish may be made very nutri-
tious.
A word of warning must be given in regard to the use of
pineapple and gelatine. This fruit contains a ferment
which is capable of liquefying the gelatine, so that if the
fruit is used raw, the jelly fails to set. If the pineapple
is heated, this ferment is destroyed ; so that pineapple
jelly may be made with either canned pineapple, or fresh
pineapple which has been stewed for a few moments.
In making meat soups, gelatine is formed from the bone
and connective tissue which are present in the meat.
Since the bones of young animals contain more gelatine-
making material than is found in the bones of older animals,
while, on the other hand, the meat of older animals has
most connective tissue, this explains why veal bones are
so often used with beef in soup making. Hutchison quotes
experiments which show that the buying of bones to obtain
gelatine is much more expensive than adding commercial
gelatine to soup, and suggests that the bones themselves
should be used only in order to utilize what would other-
wise be waste material.
Agar-agar, a Japanese sea-weed, is sometimes used
instead of gelatine, especially by vegetarians. It passes
through the body without being digested, and so has no
food value. It has the advantage of not being so easily
liquefied as gelatine and can be made without ice in warm
weather. The vegetable gelatines on the market are
usually agar-agar preparations.
194 FOOD STUDY
Irish moss is another seaweed sold in a dried form. It
has a peculiar flavor which is greatly relished by some
people. Like agar-agar, it is probably not nutritious.
When made into a jelly with milk, it may, however,
furnish a pleasing variety/ and is at least as nourishing as
the milk alone.
QUESTIONS
1. Compare the cost of a plain fruit gelatine with the cost of the
same dish made with a "ready-to-mix" preparation.
2. What advantage have the pulverized gelatines over the sheet
form?
3. How many classes of gelatine desserts are there ? Consult cook
books.
4. What relation is there between gelatine and glue ?
XXXIX
REVIEW LESSON
DINNER
SPLIT PEA SOUP
SPANISH CREAM
PREPARE AND SERVE A DINNER.
Suggested menu :
Soup Split pea soup.
Meat Pork chops.
Vegetables
Creamed string beans (canned), or
Creamed turnips.
Mashed potatoes.
Dessert Spanish cream.
STYLES OF SERVING 195
SPLIT PEA SOUP.
Soak a cup of peas for an hour or so, then drain, add a
quart of cold water, and a slice or two of onion, and simmer
until the peas are soft. This will take at least two hours.
Rub through a strainer, and reheat, thinning with milk
until the consistency of soup. Thicken with flour as in
potato soup. A tablespoon of butter will improve the
flavor, or a piece of fat salt pork may be simmered with
the peas.
SPANISH CKEAM.
i box gelatine or Yolks 3 eggs
1 tbsp. granulated gelatine ^ c. sugar (scant)
3 c. milk | tsp. salt
Whites 3 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla
Scald milk with gelatine, add sugar, pour slowly on
yolks of eggs slightly beaten. Return to double boiler
and cook until thickened, stirring constantly; remove
from range, add salt, flavoring, and whites of eggs beaten
stiff. Turn into individual molds, first dipped in cold
water, and chill; serve with cream. More gelatine will
be required if large molds are used.
From the "Boston Cooking-School Cook Book." By
FANNIE M. FARMER.
STYLES OP SERVING
There are two styles of serving meals the English
and the Russian.
According to the English style, everything is served
at the table, soup from a tureen, meat from a
platter placed in front of the host, the dishes being
passed either by a maid or by those seated at table.
According to the general custom, the hostess serves the
196 FOOD STUDY
soup, salad, and dessert ; the host, the meat, fish, and the
vegetables to be placed on the plate, while other members
of the family serve the butter and such vegetables as are
eaten from side dishes. In modern practice the latter
are eliminated as far as possible, for only vegetables which
cannot be eaten with a fork are served in separate dishes.
In the Russian style, serving dishes are not placed on
the table ; either the portion of food on a plate is placed
before the individual to be served, or the serving dishes
are passed in turn to each person and returned to the serv-
ing table. The latter is the usual formal style of service
and cannot be carried out without a maid.
In common practice these two styles are often combined.
Soup, nowadays, is almost always served in the Russian
style, whether a maid is present or not. With a maid, the
vegetables are frequently served in the Russian style,
while the roast is carved on the table and served in the Eng-
lish style. In this case, the maid places an empty plate
before the host and, while he is filling it, she takes another
plate in her right hand ; then, from the left of the host,
having taken up the filled plate in her left hand, she puts
the empty plate in its place. The filled plate is placed
before the individual for whom it is intended, from his
right. Then, with another empty plate, the waitress re-
turns to the left of the host for the next filled plate. Dishes
from which an individual is to serve himself are, of course,
passed to the left, and all serving may be carried on from
that side, but the placing of plates and cups from the right
is considered the better form. Hot plates and vegetables
may be held on a folded napkin; a tray is used for
creamer and sugar bowl, or small dishes of jelly and the
like, also for silver.
Strict Russian service requires a plate always before
each individual except when all are changed for the
STYLES OF SERVING 197
dessert. The empty plate is removed with one hand,
as the filled plate is placed with the other hand.
Much more thought must be put into the serving when
no maid is present, for continual rising from the table is
disturbing to all. A maid can go to the pantry for a for-
gotten utensil without calling attention to the oversight,
but the omission is extremely noticeable if some one must
rise from the table. Extra care must be taken, then, to
see that the serving has been thought through in detail
and that everything which will be needed has been placed
near at hand. A wheeled tray or serving table beside the
hostess makes it possible to arrange for many things to be
within reach without crowding the table. Food must be
selected which will not spoil by standing from the begin-
ning of the meal until the appropriate time for serving it.
If there are children in the family who are capable of doing
so, it is better to have them remove the courses than to
have the hostess leave the table.
It is an art to accomplish the clearing of the table suc-
cessfully, avoiding noise and the piling of dishes, yet with
sufficient rapidity. Formal service, which calls for the
removal of one plate at a time, is often too slow, even when
a plate is taken in each hand. If plates must be piled,
remove the plate from the left and, holding it out of sight
as far away from the table as possible, take up the side
dishes, one by one, with the other hand, and pile them
on the plate held in the left hand. It is much better, how-
ever, to use as few side dishes as possible and to remove
them on a tray, after the main plates have been carried
away. After the individual dishes, the serving dishes are
removed, then any other dishes, salt and pepper holders
and the like. Crumbs are removed before dessert, either
with a tray and scraper, or, better, a plate and folded
napkin. With doilies, the latter method, must be used.
198 FOOD STUDY
When there is no maid, the removal of crumbs from the
table may be omitted.
REFERENCES
ALLEN. "Table Service."
Books on letter writing.
QUESTIONS
1. Write a note inviting a friend to dinner (a) informally, (6)
formally.
2. Write notes accepting or declining these invitations.
3. What are the duties of a hostess ?
4. What are the points to be made in training a waitress concern-
ing her appearance, conduct, and duties ?
XL
POULTRY
ROAST CHICKEN FRIED CHICKEN
A. Class Work. CHICKEN.
1. Weigh a chicken. Compare with weight after it is
cleaned and dressed, but not stuffed.
2. Clean and dress a chicken and truss as for roasting.
If the head and feet have not been removed, cut
them off. Remove pin feathers, using a small knife
and being careful not to break the skin. Turn back
the skin at the neck so as to cut off the neck close to
the body, and pull out the windpipe and the crop.
Starting just below the breastbone, make a lengthwise
incision just large enough to admit the hand and re-
move the entrails, gently, so as not to break the gall
bladder. Save the gizzard, heart, and liver, but dis-
card the gall bladder. Remove the lungs and the
kidneys, saving the latter. With a knife remove the
CHICKEN 199
oil bag from the tail. Singe the chicken over a flame,
and wash it inside and out. With a knife slit the giz-
zard all around to the inner lining and pull off the
flesh. Trim the heart. The neck and giblets are
simmered, and the broth with the meat finely chopped
is used in making gravy.
To truss fowl :
Draw thighs close to body and hold by inserting a
steel skewer under middle joint, running it through
the body, coming out under middle joint on
other side. Cut piece three-fourths inch wide from
neck skin, and with it fasten legs together at ends;
or cross drumsticks, tie securely with a long string
and fasten to tail. Place the wings close to the body
and hold them by inserting a second skewer through
the wing, body, and wing on opposite side. Draw
the neck skin under back and fasten with a small
wooden skewer. Turn bird on its breast. Cross
string attached to tail piece and draw it around each
end of lower skewer; again cross string and draw
around each end of upper skewer ; fasten string in a
knot and cut off ends. In birds that are not stuffed,
legs are often passed through incisions cut in body
under bones near tail.
From the " Boston Cooking-School Cook Book." By
FANNIE M. FARMER.
3. Instead of roasting the chicken, cut it up and prepare
as fried chicken.
If the chicken is tender, sprinkle the pieces with flour
and salt and saute them in hot fat in a frying pan.
When brown, lower the heat, cover, and cook slowly
for a few moments. If meat is tough, parboil until
tender, then saute, as before, until brown. In this
case, the broth is used to make the gravy, and the
200 FOOD STUDY
flour is browned; in the first way, milk is used as
the liquid and the flour is not browned. In either
case, use the fat in which the chicken has been cooked.
POULTRY
While in its broader sense the term meat includes the
flesh of all animals, in its narrow sense it includes only
beef, veal, mutton, lamb, and pork. These are sometimes
spoken of as " butcher's meat." Poultry is the name given
to all domestic birds suitable for food. Pigeon and squab,
together with all birds and animals which are hunted, are
known as game.
With modern methods of cold storage and incubator
hatching, there is no longer much need of considering
season in connection with chicken. It is always found in
market. Young chickens weighing about a pound and a
half are often called broilers. In selecting chicken, it is
necessary to know the signs of age. The chicken is known
by its smooth feet and skin, and abundance of pin feathers,
and the soft cartilage at the end of the breastbone. Long
hairs and hard, scaly feet are signs of an older bird. A
good turkey is plump with smooth, dark legs, and also
shows soft cartilage at the end of the breastbone. Young
geese, like young chickens, have an abundance of pin
feathers.
The United States Department of Agriculture recom-
mends that poultry be shipped without the removal of
the entrails. In order to ship for long distances, poultry,
after killing, must be kept in a temperature of about 32 F.
While below 30 F. the flesh becomes "frosted", at 35 F.
it deteriorates too rapidly for good results. It is cus-
tomary to thaw frozen poultry before it is sold. This
gives opportunity for deterioration to take place, and it
THE DIGESTIBILITY OF MEAT 201
would be much better if customers would demand such
poultry still frozen.
THE DIGESTIBILITY OP MEAT
The fibers in the meat of chicken and turkey are shorter
than in beef and mutton. This makes them tender.
The white meat of chicken is especially tender on account
of the tender fibers and the small amount of connective
tissue. Not much is really known, however, in regard to
the comparative digestibility of different kinds of meat.
Many books quote experiments which have determined the
length of time meat remains in the stomach. Undoubt-
edly this time is affected by the toughness, the method of
cooking, the amount of fat present, and the degree to
which it has been ground up by the teeth, as well as by the
kind of meat eaten. It is well proved that much fat
means that the meat stays a longer time in the stomach.
Tables have been made from these results, in regard
to ease and lack of discomfort in digestion, which agree
pretty well with popular opinions. In general, the rarer
the meat and the less fat present, the more quickly it passes
from the stomach. But as little is known regarding intes-
tinal digestion, this is only part of the story. It has been
shown, however, that differences in digestibility are not
at all marked if determined by the test of the total amount
which is digested and absorbed. Then meat ranks with
milk and eggs, being from ninety-seven to ninety-eight
per cent digested and absorbed. As protein in general is
not more than ninety-five per cent digested and absorbed,
meat must be ranked as a food that is well utilized and
fairly rapidly digested.
Opinions differ as to whether there is any essential
difference in the amount and kinds of extractives present
202 FOOD STUDY
in " light " and " dark ", or in " red " meat. That there are
slight differences is indicated by the distinctive flavors of
the different kinds, but that these are sufficient to warrant
the allowing of some and the exclusion of others from
the diet under different circumstances, seems hardly war-
ranted.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 182. "Poultry
as Food."
QUESTIONS
1. What kinds of game are found in your local market? When?
2. Is game brought into market usually cheap ? Is rabbit ?
3. Give a table showing seasons when chicken, fowl, turkey, geese,
and ducks are best, and give price per pound.
4. Discuss good methods of preparing a tough bird.
XLI
FISH
BAKED FISH BOILED FISH WITH EGG SAUCE
SCALLOPED FISH STEWED TOMATO
A. Class Work. PREPARE BAKED FISH.
BAKED HADDOCK WITH STUFFING.
Clean a four-pound haddock, sprinkle with salt inside
and out, stuff, and sew. Cut five diagonal gashes on
each side of backbone and insert narrow strips of fat salt
pork, having gashes on one side come between gashes on
other side. Shape with skewers in form of letter S, and
fasten skewers with small twine. Place on greased fish-
FISH 203
sheet in a dripping-pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper,
brush over with melted butter, dredge with flour, and place
around fish small pieces of fat salt pork. Bake one hour
in hot oven, basting as soon as fat is tried out, and continue
basting every ten minutes.
From the " Boston Cooking-School Cook Book." By
FANNIE M. FARMER.
B. THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT WAYS OF "BOIL-
ING" FISH.
Notice in which ways the fish is toughest, and in
which it is tender, but keeps its shape. What is the
advantage of the cheesecloth ? Formulate a rule for so-
called "boiled" fish.
1. Place a small piece of fish (haddock or halibut cut in
inch cubes) in a cup of boiling water, and boil rapidly
for ten minutes.
2. Place a second piece of fish in a cup of boiling water,
and simmer for ten minutes.
3. Repeat (2), but first wrap the fish in cheesecloth.
4. Repeat (2), but before putting in the fish add three-
quarters of a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon and quar-
ter of a teaspoon of salt.
Serve half of the fish with egg sauce. This is a medium
white sauce made with water as the liquid, twice the usual
amount of butter, and hard-cooked egg, either sliced or
chopped. The sauce without the egg is known as drawn
butter.
Scallop the rest of the fish. Soft bread crumbs may be
added to the fish to increase the amount. Serve with
stewed tomato.
FISH
The composition of fish is not unlike that of meat. In
general, it is considered to be a somewhat lighter and less
204
FOOD STUDY
USDepartment of Agriculture
Office </ ExpermMt Station.
A.C.True. Director
Prepared by
arLANGWORTHY
Gpert in Charge of Nutrition Investigators
COMPOSmON OF FOOD MATERIALS
HEDDD
Prater,
COD
Lean Fish
Fat CvboKydratw
uO. VALUE;
ater:82.6 W~
325 CALORCS PER POUND
FVotein.-15.8
mrm
Fuel Value
Sain. Equals
1006 CaicJries
SALT COD
FUEL
B I Waten 53.
4-10 CALORCS PER POUND
R-otein.-2l
OYSTER
1:1.2
SMOKED HERRING
Fat:1
Ash-.1
FUEL VALUE-
FUEL VALUE.
Hi B
1355 CALORIES PER POUND 6^5 CALORIES PER POUND \/^~Oy
COMPOSITION OF FISH AND OYSTERS
FISH
205
nourishing food than meat. Here is a comparison of the
composition of two typical fish with beef.
ROUND BEEF
very lean
COD STEAKS
edible portion
Protein
22.6
18.7
Fat
2 8
05
Ash
1.3
1 2
Water
736
797
ROUND BEEP
all analyses
MACKEREL
edible portion
Protein
20.9
18.7
Fat
10.6
7.1
Ash
1 i
1.2
Water
67.8
73.4
As fish contain less extractives and rather less protein also,
it can well be substituted for meat in the dietaries of
people who take little exercise.
Fish may be divided into groups according to the amount
of fat the flesh contains, cod and whitefish being examples
of lean fish, while salmon, mackerel, and bluefish are oily.
Fish spoils so readily that it is even more important to
know how to select it than how to select meat. It is true
that the flavor of fish is much better if it can be used as
soon as caught. Since this is not possible with fish sold in
market, such fish should be killed as soon as caught, and
kept on ice. Notice that, in the market, fish exposed for
sale is sprinkled with chopped ice. To be good, the flesh
must be firm, not soft and flabby, and eyes and gills must
be bright. With practice, the sense of smell is a great
aid in determining freshness.
206 FOOD STUDY
The amount of waste in head, bones, and skin is large,
if fish are bought whole. Hutchison estimates that this
may amount to seventy per cent as purchased, and even
be as much as thirty-five per cent in fish as sent to the
table. These facts must be taken into account in deter-
mining the actual cost of fish, as well as the real cost of
canned fish free from waste. As usual with foods, the
cost is no measure of the food value of the special kinds of
fish bought. The fat fish are much more nutritious than
lean fish on account of the fat present.
If fish have been cleaned at market, they should still be
wiped inside and out with a damp cloth. Great care must
be taken of fish after it has been bought. It should be
kept cold, on ice if possible, but, unless the flesh is pro-
tected by skin, not directly on the ice itself. It must not
stand long before being cooked.
The distinctive taste of fish is due partly to the fat
present. Since the flavor except in very oily varieties
is never strong, even greater care should be taken in cook-
ing to preserve the extractives in fish than in meat. At
least five per cent of the solid matter in fish may be lost in
boiling. Acid, lemon juice, or vinegar, is often added to
the water used in boiling fish in order to help coagulate the
protein, and so keep the flesh white and firm.
In general, fish is about as digestible as meat, the kinds
containing less fat digesting with greater ease than the
more oily varieties. Salt, smoked, and pickled fish are
all more difficult of digestion than fresh fish.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 85. "Fish as
Food."
Bureau of Chemistry Bulletin No. 133. "The Preparation of
Cod and other Salt Fish for Market."
OYSTER STEW FISH CHOWDER 207
QUESTIONS
1. Give a list of fish which would be classed as rich and oily, and
of those which could be called dry. Which class usually has dark
flesh ? Which are considered more easily digested ?
2. Why is pork or butter usually added in baking fish, but not in
baking meat ?
3. Find out what fish are commonly sold in your home market.
Make a table showing season and price.
4. Give ways suitable for cooking different kinds of fish.
5. In boiling a large piece of fish, why would it be convenient to
put the fish on a plate or rack, and wrap up together? Would
strips of cheese cloth placed across under a fish to be baked help in
lifting it when done ?
6. How should a fish be cleaned? Scaled? Skinned?
7. Consult cook books for sauces and garnishes suitable to serve
with fish.
8. Suggest combinations of vegetables which are good with fish.
9. Suggest ways of serving left-over fish.
XLII
OYSTER STEW FISH CHOWDER
A. Class Experiment. COOKING OYSTEKS.
Put an oyster in water and heat slowly to boiling. Ob-
serve all the changes which take place, and the tempera-
tures which cause the changes. When are oysters done ?
What is the best temperature to use in cooking?
B. PREPARE OYSTER STEW.
Clean oysters by pouring a little cold water over them in
a strainer. Add this water to the oyster liquor and strain
through cheesecloth to remove any sand present. Feel
each oyster to be sure no bits of shell remain. Season hot
208 FOOD STUDY
milk with salt, pepper, and butter, then add oyster liquor
and oysters. How long will you cook it after the oysters
are added? Allow about equal amounts of milk and
oysters ; and at least half a tablespoon of butter to each
cup of milk. If thick stew is preferred, rolled crackers are
sometimes cooked in the milk, or the whole thickened with
flour.
C. PREPARE FISH CHOWDER.
4 Ib. cod or haddock 1 tbsp. salt
6 c. potatoes cut in j inch slices or tsp. pepper
4 c. potatoes cut in f inch cubes 3 tbsp. butter
1 sliced onion 4 c. scalded milk
1| inch cube fat salt pork 8 common crackers
Order the fish skinned, but head and tail left on. Cut off
head and tail and remove fish from backbone. Cut fish
in two-inch pieces and set aside. Put head, tail, and back-
bone broken in pieces, in stewpan; add two cups cold
water and bring slowly to boiling point; cook twenty
minutes. Cut salt pork in small pieces and try out, add
onion, and fry five minutes ; strain into stewpan. Parboil
potatoes five minutes in boiling water to cover ; drain, and
add potatoes to fat ; then add two cups boiling water and
cook five minutes. Add liquor drained from bones, then
add the fish; cover, and simmer ten minutes. Add
milk, salt, pepper, butter, and crackers split and soaked
in enough cold milk to moisten. Pilot bread is sometimes
used in place of common crackers.
From the " Boston Cooking-School Cook Book." By
FANNIE M. FARMER.
OYSTERS
Oysters, the United States Deputy Commissioner of
Fisheries tells us, are not only the most extensively eaten
OYSTERS 209
of all shellfish, but are also, with a single exception, the
most valuable economically of all aquatic animals. The
United States furnishes eighty-eight per cent of the total
quantity of oysters produced, and has at least 150,000
men and women engaged in the industry. While all of
the coast states but one deal in oysters, in fifteen of them
this is the chief fishery product. However, the greatest
number of oysters in this country come from Long Island
Sound, Maryland, Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas,
and Washington. France produces the crop next largest
to the United States. Japan and China are also oyster
producing countries.
It is easy to see what a demand there must be for oysters.
This is no doubt partly due to the fact that they are easily
digested, but it is probably also because they can be used
to furnish considerable variety to the diet, since they lend
themselves to so many ways of preparation. They are
almost universally used, appearing on the menus of the
most exclusive as well as the cheapest restaurants.
Langworthy gives the following composition for oysters :
Water 88.3 per cent
Nitrogenous substances 6.1 per cent
Fat 1.4 per cent
Carbohydrates 3.3 per cent
Salts 1.9 per cent
The total solids are about equal in amount to those of
milk, but a quart of shucked oysters costs from four to five
times as much as a quart of milk. Oysters, like milk, are
bulky for the amount of nourishment which they contain.
The nitrogen present is probably not all in the form of pro-
tein ; the carbohydrate is largely the glycogen stored in the
liver of the animal. Milk and oysters are the two animal
foods which are exceptional in furnishing large amounts
210 FOOD STUDY
of carbohydrate, although not in the same form. Eaten
raw, oysters are an unusually digestible food ; even cooked,
they are still easily digested, although they are less so
when fried than when cooked in any other way.
Long ago the demand for oysters outran the natural
supply and oyster culture became an industry. Italy
began their cultivation about a hundred years before the
Christian era, and within the last century even those
places where oysters were naturally most abundant have
been forced to cultivate them. In order to understand
what oyster farming means one must know something of
the habits of the oyster. An oyster produces an incredible
number of eggs, apparently to compensate for the fact
that in natural life the percentage of those that will find
suitable conditions for development is very small. Oyster
farming consists in the preservation of as many of these
eggs as possible. The newly-born young is not more than
one one-hundred-and-fiftieth of an inch long, nearly trans-
parent, has no shell, and swims freely. By the time it is
large enough to be visible to the naked eye it can no longer
move around. To survive, during the swimming period it
must not only escape being eaten by adult oysters, fish,
and other shellfish, but it must find a suitable place in
which to develop. If it sinks on a muddy, soft sandy, or
slimy bottom it cannot live. If, however, it attaches
itself to clean shells it has a chance to survive. But the
oyster has many enemies against which even the hard
shell that surrounds it does not afford perfect protection.
Certain mollusks drill minute holes through the shell and
so get at the oyster's body, starfish may force the shell
open and devour the contents, or it may be attacked by
certain kinds of fish with jaws powerful enough to crush
the shells ; or barnacles, sponges, or mussels may grow so
thickly on the shells as to cut off food and oxygen. Oyster
OYSTERS 211
culture consists mainly in providing suitable beds of shells
for the young oysters and in protecting them from as
many of their enemies as possible. Palisades are some-
times erected around the beds to keep off the large fish.
When ready for market, the oysters are dredged, freed
from dirt and attached shells, and sorted according to size.
Three sizes are usually recognized. The smallest, called
"half shells", are usually eaten raw, the middle-sized,
sometimes called "culls", are for general use, while the
largest or "box" oysters are selected for frying. The
difference in size is mainly a question of age, for, while
there are many varieties of oysters, there is not much vari-
ation in size between the varieties. One peculiarity of
the oyster is that it remains just as tender when old as it
was when young. The fact that it takes no exercise may
explain this. The names Blue Point, Rockaway, and
the like, which used to indicate the locality from which
the oyster came, now usually mean no more than size.
For example, many small oysters are called Blue Points.
Oysters stand shipping well. If left in the shell, kept
cool, and sprinkled occasionally with brackish water, they
will live for weeks without any deterioration. Even
when "shucked", if kept cool, they remain edible for eight
to ten days, but they keep best if removed from the oyster
liquor. Shucked oysters are usually washed carefully in a
number of waters, and packed in air-tight receptacles sur-
rounded by ice. Care must be taken not to let them be-
come frozen. Formerly, they were shipped floated in a
tub with a cake of ice. The objections to this practice
were twofold. The ice often had to be replaced during
the shipping, with the consequent danger of infection.
Secondly, oysters lose salts and much flavor if soaked in
fresh water, although they gain in size from the absorp-
tion of water. Consequently many states require the
212 FOOD STUDY
other method of shipment and specify that the oysters
sold shall not contain more than ninety per cent water.
Because they take up fresh water, oysters are sometimes
"fattened" by placing them in the fresh water at the
mouth of rivers. It is most necessary that such beds shall
not be in water contaminated by sewage, lest the raw
oyster become a carrier of typhoid germs, but, even at
best, there seems to be no reason for allowing the practice.
The notion that oysters cannot be eaten during the
months which contain no "r" in their names, May, June,
July, and August, has no real foundation except that they
are more liable to be contaminated by the bacteria in the
water when it is warm. Oysters are not good when they
are spawning, but this requires only from three to four
weeks and takes place in different species at different
seasons. Of course, if not properly kept cool, oysters
spoil more quickly in hot than in cold weather.
Oysters occasionally appear unusually green. This is
sometimes due merely to certain seaweeds or diatoms on
which they have been feeding, and does not in any way
impair the oyster as an edible product. Only rarely is it
due to copper, and probably never in amounts sufficient to
prove injurious.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 85. "Fish as
Food."
National Geographical Magazine, Vol. 24 (1913), pp. 257-281.
SMITH. "Oysters; the World's Most Valuable Water Crop."
QUESTIONS
1. Compare the cost of oyster stew and a cream vegetable soup.
2. Compare the cost and taste of fish chowder made at home with a
canned chowder of good brand.
3. Should the crabs frequently found in oysters be used ?
REVIEW LESSON 213
4. Are oysters which are greenish good to eat ?
5. In what months are oysters not used, and why ?
6. If fresh lobsters and clams are obtainable in your market,
compare the cost of these with oysters. If not, compare the cost of
canned lobsters and clams.
7. Are shellfish expensive forms of nutriment ?
XLIII
REVIEW LESSON
DINNER
TOMATO SOUP
JELLIED PRUNES
PREPARE AND SERVE A DINNER.
Suggested menu :
Soup Tomato.
Meat Baked fish, with any suitable sauce.
Vegetables Buttered beets.
Stuffed potatoes.
Salad Lettuce with French dressing.
Dessert Jellied prunes.
TOMATO SOUP.
Cook a can of tomatoes with a pint of water, a tablespoon
of chopped onion, and three or four cloves, until the toma-
toes are soft. Strain and thicken. Season to taste.
JELLIED PRUNES.
| lb. prunes \ box gelatine or
2 c. cold water 2| tbsp. granulated gelatine
Boiling water 1 c. sugar
\ c. cold water i c. lemon juice.
214 FOOD STUDY
Pick over, wash, and soak prunes for several hours in
two cups of cold water ; cook in same water until soft ;
remove prunes; stone, and cut in quarters. To prune
water add enough boiling water to make two cups. Soak
gelatine in half cup cold water, dissolve in hot liquid, add
sugar, lemon juice, then strain, add prunes, mold, and
chill. Stir twice while cooling to prevent prunes from
settling. Serve with sugar and cream.
From the " Boston Cooking-School Cook Book." By
FANNIE M. FARMER.
THE DINING ROOM
The American woman has been accused in the past of
great lack of taste in the furnishing and decoration of her
house, although being second only to the French woman
in her knowledge of how to dress. Fortunately, however,
matters have been improving greatly in this respect, per-
haps because the woman is beginning to understand that,
while fashion complicates the problem, there really are
fundamental laws to- guide her. Honesty, simplicity, and
use are the touchstones, and it is amusing that it is the
artists, who have always been considered impractical in
matters of everyday life, who are insisting that usefulness
is the first test.
First, a thing should look like the thing it really is
and not like something else. A salt shaker should look
like a salt shaker and not be an owl with holes in its
head. A pillow on a couch should be made to be a
pillow, not ruffled or beaded, nor of some material which
would either be easily spoiled or uncomfortable to use.
Suitability, also, is being considered. The era of hang-
ing gilded rolling pins with hooks across them for key
holders, or gilded toasters for magazine racks has gone
THE DINING ROOM 215
by. But man is still under the influence of the notion
that we must have multitudes of things around us. Let
us rather test every object in a room and decide if it is
really useful or if it is really beautiful, and discard the rest.
Let each object be as beautiful as possible. The use of
ornament is shown everywhere about us, but much of the
so-called ornament is meaningless, interferes with use, or
greatly increases work. This is unsuit ability.
With 'this in mind, it is easy to formulate the needs of
the dining room. First, it must be a place not only really
clean, but one that allows no suspicion in the matter. A
well-lighted room with light colors is required rather
than a dark one which might conceal dirt. Few objects
should be around. Too many suggest subconsciously to
the mind that since it is much work to dust, dust has prob-
ably been allowed to accumulate. The air must be fresh ;
no stale odors of food are welcome. Therefore, heavy
materials to which odors cling are unsuitable for draperies
or upholstering. Carpets are excluded, and rugs are ad-
mitted only because they deaden noise. Moreover, as
one likes to be sure nothing has been spilled on the chair,
evidently leather or cane seating is to be chosen instead of
stuffed furniture. The height of table and chairs should
be carefully adjusted for comfort. Chairs that are so
high that the average person cannot touch the floor while
sitting in them are disagreeable. Again, children often
are seated at table so that their chins barely appear, or
they are placed so high that they are sitting almost on a
level with the table itself, and are reproved for spilling.
Since undoubtedly our state of mind affects our diges-
tions, colors must be restful and harmonious, and the room
must be light and cheerful. On the sideboard or table
may be placed utensils which are appropriate and beauti-
ful. But remember that it is almost impossible to have
216
FOOD STUDY
too few articles around, for things accumulate almost
faster than they can be cared for; and that it is, con-
sequently, very, very easy to have too many.
REFERENCES
Pictures and articles on Dining Rooms in such magazines as "The
House Beautiful," or hi books on House Furnishing.
QUESTIONS
1. Calculate the cost per person of the dinner served and compare
it with the following dinner :
Main course Fish chowder.
Bread and butter.
Dessert German toast with a pudding sauce.
2. Make a list of dishes, glass, silver, linen, and the like, which you
would consider a moderate equipment for a dining room, and find
out about what the cost would be.
3. Describe a dining room which you consider suitably furnished.
4. How would you rank a dining room, as a public, semi-public, or
private room? What influence should this have on the choice of
pictures for the room ?
XLIV
POP-OVERS
A. PREPARE POP-OVERS.
Use one-fourth of the following proportions :
LIQUID
(Milk)
FLOUR
(Bread flour
sifted)
EGO
FAT
(Butter)
SALT
1 C.
1 C.
1
1 tsp.
Jtsp.
FLOUR MIXTURES 217
Mix as follows:
1. Beat white and yolk separately. Add the milk to
the beaten yolk and add to the flour and salt. Stir
in the melted butter and finally fold in the beaten
white.
2. Add the milk to the flour and salt. Add unbeaten
egg and melted butter and beat with a Dover egg
beater until there are no lumps.
Pour each pop-over batter into hot, buttered, earthen
molds or iron muffin pans, but do not fill molds more than
quarter full. Bake in a hot oven l (482 F.) until the
pop-overs are puffed and beginning to brown, then reduce
the heat and finish baking. Allow thirty to thirty-five
minutes for the whole baking. Compare results.
B. Class Experiments. 1. Fill a cup with unsifted
flour. Sift the flour and refill the cup, being
careful not to pack the flour. Recipes always
call for flour measured after one sifting. Why ?
2. Drop a teaspoon of unbeaten white of egg into
hot fat. What immediately happens to the
water in the white of egg? What makes pop-
overs pop ? Why is so hot an oven used ?
FLOUR MIXTURES
Cream soup and white sauce are made with compara-
tively little flour for the liquid used, and without the use
of eggs. Beginning with pop-overs come a series of thick-
ened mixtures, usually with more or less egg. Of these
the more liquid are termed batters. A mixture thin
a Test the heat of the oven at 482 F. with your hand. An
" educated " hand is of the greatest help when trying to bake with-
out a thermometer. Also test by putting a piece of white paper
in the oven for five minutes.
218 FOOD STUDY
enough to pour is called a "pour-batter"; it is about as
thick as thin cream. Then comes a "drop-batter",
thicker than a pour -batter but still liquid enough to drop
from a spoon, "breaking" when it is poured. It has
the consistency of thick cream. Thicker than this is
" soft dough" ; then, still thicker, is " dough." Obviously
pop-overs are a pour-batter ; so are griddle-cakes. Muffins
are drop-batter, baking-powder biscuits are soft dough, and
bread is dough. Cookies and pastry are still stiffer mix-
tures. But none of these terms are exact, because the
proportions of flour and liquid in any one may vary a good
deal. Also, it will readily be seen that eggs act as a liquid
until they are cooked, and that fat is liquid while it is
melted. All these things, therefore, must be taken into
consideration. Then, one flour differs from another in its
gluten content, so, therefore, in the amount of liquid it
can absorb. But in spite of all this, quite accurate results
can be obtained with definite proportions, until one comes
to a mixture like bread which must be handled.
In considering the whole question of proportions, think
of the liquid as fixed in amount, one cup, and then the
proportion of flour used with it. In pop-overs equal
amounts are used, one cup of each. Therefore, pop-over
batter is said to be 1:1, one cup of liquid to one cup
of flour. As griddle-cakes, fritter-batter, muffins, and
bread vary mainly in the amount of flour used, this is an
easy way to remember proportions. Cake ordinarily
contains so much fat or so many eggs that these must be
taken into consideration in counting liquid.
The method of mixing depends upon the leavening agent
and the result to be accomplished. If the leavening is
steam, as in pop-overs, beating in air is evidently unneces-
sary. Therefore the separate beating of the egg, folding in
the white, gives no better pop-overs than are obtained by
FLOUR MIXTURES 219
the shorter method. Beating the flour with the liquid
develops the gluten in it, which is necessary to retain the
steam which expands and so makes the pop-overs hollow.
Notice in each mixture exactly how you combine the in-
gredients and see the reasons in every case.
Baking is much easier -if a thermometer can be used in
the oven, because then the temperature can readily be
measured and not guessed at. Many home ovens can
quite easily have a hole bored, so that a thermometer can
be inserted. The result is more accurate than the results
obtained from oven thermometers. With gas ovens, it is
possible to tell with a little practice how hot a given oven
is by the length of time the gas has been lighted and the
degree to which it is turned on. Many ovens bake un-
evenly. This is especially liable to be true of small ovens.
In these, care must be taken not to put pans too near the
sides. It is impossible to fill such an oven too full and
get good results. A pan of water will help cool an oven ;
an asbestos mat placed under a pan will keep the bottom
from baking as fast ; paper put over the top will keep the
top from browning as rapidly. But all these ought to be
unnecessary with a good oven and sufficient skill in baking.
QUESTIONS
1. Is pour-batter an appropriate name for batters of the type of
pop-overs ?
2. Look up a recipe for cream puffs. Cream cakes. Eclairs.
How do these compare in proportions with the pop-over recipe ?
3. If you mixed cream puffs as pop-overs and attempted to bake
them on a flat surface what would happen ? Account, then, for the
partial cooking of the flour during the mixing.
4. Compare the proportions of flour to liquid in cream soups,
white sauces, and pop-overs. Also with the amount of flour you
would have to substitute for cornstarch to make a mold. Compare
the textures when cooked.
220 FOOD STUDY
XLV
APPLE FRITTERS
A. Class Experiments. THE PRINCIPLE OF LEAVEN-
ING.
1. Tie a piece "of rubber sheeting over the top
of a test tube, cool the tube, then heat it
slightly. Notice the effects on the rubber.
What effect has heat and cold upon the volume
of the air in the tube ?
2. How is the gas held in the dough ?
Mix one teaspoon of flour with an equal amount
of water. Repeat, using cornstarch instead of
flour. Notice the difference in the result. To
explain : mix \ c. flour with water (a teaspoon
at a time) to make a very stiff dough. Wash, by
kneading it gently in a bowl of cold water until
the part left, the gluten, no longer gives a blue
color with iodine. (What has been washed out ?)
a. Reserve a pinch of the gluten, divide the
rest into two balls. Bake one in a hot
oven, the other in a slow oven. Explain
difference in results.
b. With the piece reserved, determine if
gluten is protein.
B. APPLE FRITTERS.
Prepare a pop-over batter, using J c. liquid. Pare
and core an apple and cut crossways into slices. Dip a
slice into the batter. Is it thick enough to make a cover
for the apple? Add enough flour to make a "cover-
batter." Record proportions one would need for a cup of
liquid. Fry in deep fat and serve with syrup
LEAVENING, , _ . , 22J.
LEAVENING
The term leavening means "making lighter." Bread
is leavened and, instead of being a solid, heavy mass,
is spongy, light, and porous. The process is supposed
to improve not only the flavor but the digestibility of the
mass.
The principle of all leavening is the expansion by heat of
some gas which is thoroughly mixed through the batter or
dough. In cooking, there are three agents which are com-
monly used in leavening doughs. The first of these is
water vapor or steam. This, as in the pop-overs, is manu-
factured from the water present in the batter by the heat
of the oven. Then further heat expands the steam still
more. At the same time the heat hardens the expanded
gluten, so that after a while no further stretching is pos-
sible. This explains why muffins and cake rise in the
oven only at the beginning of the baking.
The second agent is air. This is mixed in a batter in
two ways, it may be entangled in the batter itself by
beating rapidly, or it may be beaten into egg and then
folded into the batter. Even snow may be folded in like
egg and introduce some air into the mixture. When the
batter full of tiny bubbles of air is heated, this air expands
and, stretching the gluten by which it is held, it makes
larger holes, thus leavening all the mass and making it
rise.
Carbon dioxide is the third agent. This may be
forced into the dough, a process, however, which is never
used at home and rarely elsewhere. Carbon dioxide is,
instead, manufactured in the dough itself. When yeast is
put into bread, one is really starting a plant to grow. The
plant feeds mainly on sugar. If cane sugar is present, it
turns it first into glucose and fructose sugars and then
222 FOOD STUDY
breaks them up into carbon dioxide and alcohol. The
heat of the oven acts on carbon dioxide exactly as it does
on water vapor or steam, expanding it into larger bubbles.
As alcohol is more easily turned into vapor than is water,
it becomes a gas and, expanding, helps in the leavening
process.
The other method of introducing carbon dioxide into
doughs and batters will be shown in the next lesson.
QUESTIONS
1. What effect has heat on gluten?
2. What other proteins are hardened by heat ?
3. After pop-overs are thoroughly baked, as they cool, what
becomes of the steam ? Why are they better eaten hot ? Compare
them to baked potatoes in this respect.
4. Why does an insufficiently cooked pop-over fall, when it is
taken out of the oven ?
5. Calculate the cost of pop-overs. How do they compare with the
cost of the bread that they would replace in a meal ?
XLVI
SOUR MILK GRIDDLECAKES
Class Experiments. SODA AS A LEAVENING AGENT.
1. To find out why soda makes cakes light.
Add a teaspoon of vinegar to a pinch of soda in a
test tube. Tip the tube and hold the mouth
of this test tube just above another containing a
teaspoon of lime water. After a moment, cover
the mouth of the lime-water tube and shake it.
What is present ? What caused the bubbles in
the first tube?
SOUR MILK GRIDDLECAKES 223
2. What kind of substances must be put with soda
to produce this gas ?
a. Dip a piece of blue litmus paper into vine-
gar and note the effect on the paper. Hold
it in the fumes of ammonia, an alkaline sub-
stance, and see the result.
b. Now test the following and determine
whether they are acid, alkaline, or neutral
(neither acid nor alkaline) :
1 water.
2 sour milk.
3 sweet milk.
4 molasses and water.
5 cream of tartar dissolved in hot water.
6 thin starch paste.
7 soda and water.
c. Pour a few drops of soda and water into
each of the tubes. Which cause effer-
vescence ?
3. Will bubbles of gas go on forming indefinitely ?
To a little soda and water add, successively,
small amounts of vinegar. Do bubbles con-
tinue to form? Has all the gas in the soda
been set free? Has soda an agreeable taste?
What would be the difficulty, if there were more
soda in bread or cake than the acid present
could act on?
4. How much soda can be used with a given amount
of acid ?
Dissolve a teaspoon of soda in quarter of a cup
of water in a measuring cup. Then dilute half
a cup of thick sour milk with about half a cup
of water. Add, slowly, the soda solution to the
224
FOOD STUDY
sour milk until it is neutral to both red and blue
litmus paper.
Calculate the amount of soda to use with one
cup of sour milk.
B. PREPARE SOUR MILK GRIDDLECAKES
Use one-fourth of the following proportions :
LIQUID
(Thick, sour milk)
FLOTJR
EGO
FAT
(Melted butter)
SALT
SODA
1 C.
1 to H c.
1
1 tbsp.
1 tsp.
?
How will you combine the ingredients? Cook by drop-
ping spoonfuls of the batter on a griddle or frying pan,
using enough fat to keep the cakes from sticking. A
soapstone griddle should not be greased. When the cake
is full of bubbles and the under side is brown, turn the
cakes over, using a spatula or a cake turner, and brown
the other side also.
SODA
Soda has two chemical names : bicarbonate of soda, and
acid sodium carbonate. In spite of the latter name, soda
is alkaline to litmus and not acid in any of its properties.
It is manufactured from common salt by a number of
different processes.
Our grandmothers used saleratus in place of soda. This
is bicarbonate of potash and, like soda, gives off carbon
dioxide when it is combined with an acid. As this was
originally manufactured it was not finely powdered, but
in a more or less scaly mass which could by no means have
been easily sifted with the flour in making use of it. In
order, then, to get it properly mixed, it was necessary to
SODA 225
dissolve it in the liquid used. This probably accounts for
the many cooks who still dissolve the soda in the sour milk
used with it, instead of sifting it with the flour. This
is, obviously, a waste of soda, because all the gas which
bubbles off is lost as leavening, since there is no gluten
present to retain the gas.
Since definite amounts of acid act on definite amounts of
soda, a question naturally arises in regard to the acidity
of sour milk. Is it always uniformly acid? This must
be answered in the negative for milk that has not clabbered.
But after that stage has been reached, the acidity remains
fairly constant, until changes take place in the milk which
render it unfit for food. Therefore, the proportion of soda
that can wisely be used with a cup of clabbered milk is a
definite one. Many recipes, especially when enough other
flavoring, such as chocolate or spice, is used to disguise the
taste of an excess, call for a larger proportion of soda. The
result is greatly improved if the soda is reduced to the cor-
rect amount, and if more leavening is needed the added
amount is supplied by the addition of baking powder.
Great caution must be taken when molasses is used to
act as the acid with soda. Modern molasses is entirely
different in respect to its acidity, being always much less
acid than of old. It is safer to allow not more than a
quarter of a teaspoon of soda to a cup of molasses, if the
molasses is bought in bulk. Use baking powder for the
rest of the leavening. If the molasses is canned, it may
have practically no acidity whatever, and baking powder
should be used instead of any soda.
QUESTIONS
1. How does baking soda differ from washing soda?
2. What finally becomes of the carbon dioxide gas from the soda
used in griddle-cakes ?
226 FOOD STUDY
3. Is carbon dioxide harmful ?
4. What is soda water? How is it made?
5. Wherein lies the chief danger of drinking soda water at a public
store if it is managed carelessly ? Are there any laws in your town
or city governing this ?
6. Why is soda soothing to a burn ? When should it not be used
for this purpose ?
XLVII
LEAVENING
SWEET MILK GRIDDLECAKES
SPONGE CAKE
A. Class Experiment. BAKING POWDER.
1. Mix a little soda and cream of tartar. Does any-
thing happen? Add water. What test with
litmus paper was given by cream of tartar and
water ?
2. Pour a tablespoon of water on half a teaspoon
of baking powder. Is gas given off? From
this experiment what two substances do you
suppose that baking powder contains?
3. Boil (2). When cool, add iodine. What third
substance does this show is present?
1 4. Why starch is used.
Stir together half a teaspoon of starch and half a
teaspoon of water. What becomes of the water ?
What happens if the soda and acid in baking
powder becomes moist ? Why is starch added ?
5. Weigh out one ounce of soda and two and a
quarter ounces of cream of tartar. Add half
an ounce of starch. Mix thoroughly and sift.
Compare the cost of this with the cost of an
GRIDDLECAKES SPONGE CAKE
227
equal weight of purchased cream of tartar bak-
ing powder.
B. PREPAKE SWEET MILK GRIDDLECAKES
Use one-fourth of the following proportions :
LIQUID
(milk)
FLOUR
EGG
FAT
SALT
BAKING POWDER
1 C.
?
1
1 tbsp.
1 tsp.
?
The usual amount of baking powder is two teaspoons to
a cup of flour. How does the amount of soda used in the
sour milk griddlecake recipe compare with the amount of
baking powder used here ?
C. PREPARE SPONGE CAKE.
Use one-sixth of the following recipe.
oven at 338 F.
Bake in an
*Yolks 6 eggs
1 c. sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice
tsp. salt
Grated rind one-half lemon
*Whites 6 eggs
1 c. flour (pastry)
Beat yolks until thick and lemon-colored, add sugar
gradually, and continue beating, using Dover egg-beater.
Add lemon juice, rind, and whites of eggs beaten until stiff
and dry. When whites are partially mixed with yolks,
remove beater, and carefully cut and fold in flour mixed
and sifted with salt. Bake one hour in a slow oven, in
an angel-cake pan or deep narrow pan.
From the " Boston Cooking-School Cook Book." By
FANNIE M. FARMER.
* The eggs in this recipe may be reduced to four with good
results.
228 FOOD STUDY
BAKING POWDERS
While baking powders are now practically all made with
soda as the carbonate, many different substances are used
for acid. There are three distinct types of powders, classi-
fied according to their composition. The oldest type is
made with cream of tartar. This is a substance which is
found abundantly in grape juice. If grape juice stands in
wooden kegs, cream of tartar crystallizes out in masses
on the inside. This crude substance, argol as it is called,
is then purified by being dissolved in water, filtered, often
through bone black, so as to remove the coloring matter
of the grapes, and then re-crystallized and ground. It
makes a good baking powder, because it is not easily sol-
uble in water and does not need much "filler" to keep it
dry. When it acts with the soda, besides the carbon
dioxide another substance, known as Rochelle salts, is
formed. This substance is used as a purgative in medi-
cine, but so little of it results from the amount of baking
powder ordinarily used in cooking that probably it has
little effect on the human system.
Phosphate powders, a second type of baking powder,
are usually made with acid calcium phosphate. These
powders give a good deal of gas, but the gas is evolved
very quickly. More filler is used because of this. The
residue, like that of the tartrate powders, is also purga-
tive, but probably no action is caused from the amount
usually eaten.
The third class, alum powders, contains most com-
monly potash alum, that is, potassium aluminum sul-
phate, and, since alum is very soluble, even more filler is
used than in the phosphate powders. In these powders
the evolution of gas is much more continuous than in
the phosphate types. Much objection has been made
BAKING POWDERS 229
to these powders, because it was feared there might be
injurious effects from the alum used. Repeated ex-
periments do not seem, however, to show that the resi-
dues here are any more harmful than in the other cases.
Manufacturers of tartrate powders have done their best
to prove alum powders injurious because, as alum is much
less expensive than cream of tartar, these last powders are
naturally much cheaper.
Besides these three distinct types, there are mixed
powders in which more than one acid is used. Alum is
sometimes mixed with the phosphate powders to make
the evolution of gas more continuous. Tartaric acid it-
self often takes the place of a part of the cream of tartar
in a tartrate powder. Probably the truth of the matter
is that too much of them is not good for digestion, but that,
as ordinarily used, they are all harmless. Nor do we
ordinarily make much account of the difference in in-
gredients in our actual use of baking powders.
Sometimes, instead of baking powder, cream of tartar
and soda are used. For one teaspoon of soda two slightly
rounded teaspoons of cream of tartar are allowed. This
does not give such good results as are obtained with
purchased baking powders, because the measuring of the
soda and acid is not nearly so accurate, nor is the mixing
so thorough. Some recipes for home-made powders call
for as many as a dozen siftings and are, therefore, rather
laborious to make.
Since over two parts of cream of tartar are used for one
of soda, and since in tartrate baking powder there is also
some filler present, ranging from seven to about twenty
per cent, it will be seen that only about one-fourth of the
baking powder is soda. If, therefore, we wish to substitute
baking powder and sweet milk for soda and sour milk, about
four times as much baking powder as soda must be used.
230
FOOD STUDY
QUESTIONS
1. Find out the cost per pound of baking powders of the different
types found on your market.
2. What are the regulations in regard to baking powders for sale in
interstate commmerce ?
3. Have you state or city regulations in regard to baking powders ?
4. Correct the following recipe for sour-milk gingerbread by cal-
culating the amount of soda to use with this amount of molasses,
and with the amount of sour milk. Subtract the sum from the
amount of soda given in the recipe. What is the amount of the extra
soda ? How much baking powder will you add to replace the extra
amount?
1 c. molasses
1 c. sour milk
2 c. flour
1} tsp. soda
2 tsp. ginger
tsp. salt
c. melted butter
5. What is the leavening in sponge cake?
cooler oven than ordinary cake ?
Why does it need a
XLVIII
MUFFINS
A. PREPARE MUFFINS.
Use one-fourth of one of the following proportions
LIQUID
(Milk)
FLOUR
EGG
FAT
(Butter)
SUGAR
SALT
BAKING
POWDER
1.
1 C.
2c.
1
1
1 tbsp.
itsp.
?
2.
1 c.
2o.
1
2
1 tbsp.
itep.
?
3.
1 c.
2c.
1
2
2 tbsp.
* tsp.
?
What is the effect of fat as shown in (1) and (2)?
sugar as shown by (2) and (3) ?
Of
KINDS OF FLOUR 231
B. Class Experiment. WEIGHT OF FLOURS.
Weigh a cup of each of the following :
1. Bread flour sifted once.
2. Whole wheat or graham flour. (Sift, but replace
the bran.)
3. Corn meal.
4. Rye flour.
C. PREPARE MUFFINS. Follow the proportion given
in (A 2), but use only one-half of the amount of flour. Use
a weight of one of the other flours equal to the weight of
the omitted flour.
KINDS OF FLOUR
More than one kind of flour is manufactured from wheat.
The preparation of bread flour has already been described,
and it will be remembered that in its manufacture all of
the bran coatings are removed. When none of these out-
side layers is removed, but all are ground up together, true
graham flour is produced. This flour was named after
an American minister, Dr. Sylvester Graham, who in-
vented the process. He advocated this, because of the
supposed wastefulness of throwing away so much nutri-
ment as chemical analysis showed remained in the dis-
carded bran. Later, it was discovered that this nutriment,
largely protein, was most abundant in the aleurone or
inner layer of the bran. Therefore, it was argued, the
outer coats could be discarded and only the inner layer
ground with the kernel, producing a flour which would
be less coarse, but would preserve the whole nutriment
of the wheat. Accordingly, this received the somewhat
misleading name of whole wheat flour, a name which would
really much more accurately describe graham flour. For
232 FOOD STUDY
a while after this flour was put on the market, much was
to be heard about the superior nutritive value of whole
wheat bread, compared with bread made from white flour.
Later work has shown that the cells containing the protein
in the aleurone layer are so tough that few of them are
broken in the grinding, and so the protein present is not
digested easily. Moreover, the whole mass passes so
much more rapidly through the digestive tract that ex-
periment shows that rather less nutriment is actually
absorbed from bread made from the coarser varieties of
flour. These breads may have their place in the diet,
however, because they contain more salts, and it is prob-
ably due to these that they possess their laxative effect.
Rye is the only flour besides wheat flour which contains
sufficient gluten to make risen bread, and rye bread is
much more moist and dense than white bread. Nearly
all recipes, even for graham and whole wheat breads, call
for the addition of some bread flour. In making corn-
meal muffins, for example, from one-third to two-thirds of
the flour as given in an ordinary recipe for muffins may be
substituted with an equal weight of corn meal. The more
flour used in proportion to the corn meal, the lighter the
muffins, but, of course, there is also less and less flavor
of corn meal.
Corn meal is made from different varieties of corn giving
a white or a yellow meal. Southerners generally use white
corn meal, and northerners yellow, each claiming a superi-
ority for their product. There is an undoubted difference
in flavor, but which is better is a matter of taste each
individual must settle for himself.
QUESTIONS
1. Describe the wheat kernel.
2. How many pounds are there in a barrel of flour ?
CAKE
233
3. What does flour cost per pound ? Per barrel ?
4. Is there any advantage in buying a barrel of flour instead of a
quarter-barrel sack?
5. What care should be taken in storing flour ?
6. How does the nutritive value of a pound of flour compare with
that of a pound of cornstarch? Of corn meal? Of beef (the
round) ? Compare the cost of a hundred-calorie portion of each, as
well as the cost per pound.
7. How many muffins of average size can you make from two
cups of flour ?
XLIX
CAKE
A. MAKE A PLAIN CAKE.
Use one-eighth of the following proportions
LIQUID
(Milk or water)
FLOUR
(Pastry)
FAT
(Butter)
SUGAR
EGGS
BAKING POWDER
1 C.
3c.
Jo.
l|c.
4
3 tsp.
Add a few grains of salt and a few drops of flavoring.
Half the class mix as in (1), the other half as in (2).
Compare the appearance of batters before baking and of
cakes after baking. Which method of mixing takes less
time? Bake cake at 385 F, in greased pans only two-
thirds full, until it shrinks away from the sides of the pan
and springs back into place when gently pressed on top
with the finger.
1. Cream the butter, adding the sugar gradually, until
the two are as well mixed as possible. Add the
beaten yolks of eggs, and then alternately liquid and
234
FOOD STUDY
flour sifted with the baking powder. Finally, fold
in the stiffly beaten whites.
2. Put the sugar in a bowl and pour in the liquid. Stir
and let stand, while you separate and beat the eggs.
Add the beaten yolks and the butter melted. Gradu-
ally stir in the flour sifted with the baking powder
and finally fold in the stiffly beaten whites as before.
B. FROSTING.
Frost cake with uncooked frosting, I or II, using
one-fourth the amounts.
Without egg
1 c. powdered sugar
water
milk
2 tbsp. liquid < cream
orange juice
etc.
1 tbsp. lemon juice
II
With egg
1 c. powdered sugar
1 egg white
1 tsp. flavoring
Beat with a spoon till mix-
ture begins to thicken.
C. Class Experiment.
BREAD FLOUR AND PASTRY FLOUR.
1. Compare bread flour and pastry flour :
a. Color.
6. Feeling.
c. Packing in hand when pressed.
2. Weigh a cup of pastry flour (sifted once). Com-
pare with the weight of a cup of bread flour de-
termined in the last lesson. How much bread
flour is equal in weight to a cup of pastry flour ?
3. Fill a cup with pastry flour. Sift and remeas-
ure. Continue sifting as long as there is any
increase in volume. How many times is it
worth while to sift flour for cake?
CAKE-MAKING 235
4. Wash out the gluten from equal weights of the
two flours and compare the amounts obtained.
(Add water gradually to make a dough ball
which can be handled. Knead in the palm of the
hand under running water or in a bowl, until
all of the starch has been removed. How can
this be tested? Bake a small portion in a hot
oven as for pop-overs.)
CAKE-MAKING
At first glance there seems to be an almost endless
variety of recipes for cake. Even omitting flavorings as
variations, there are still plain cakes, and rich cakes, differ-
ing in the amount of egg, sugar, and butter used, until one
almost concludes that any proportions will do. But on
further analysis certain fundamental facts can be dis-
tinguished.
Take, first, the proportion of liquid to flour. Whether
the butter is melted in mixing or not, it melts in the oven
and then counts as liquid. The fat, then, as well as
the liquid, must be counted. If a richer cake is de-
sired than the one made in the laboratory, the amount
of butter can be increased if the amount of liquid is cor-
respondingly decreased. For example, good cake can be
made with three-quarters of a cup of butter and three-
quarters of a cup of liquid, or with a cup of butter and a
half of a cup of liquid. In any of these cases the sum of
the two is still one and a half cups. In "pound cake" the
whole amount is butter, and no liquid proper is used.
Eggs, on the other hand, while they increase the liquid
before baking, do not count as liquid after heat is applied.
The sponge cake recipe would call for eighteen eggs to
three cups of flour, with three tablespoons of lemon juice.
236 FOOD STUDY
Notice the very large number of eggs necessary when so
little liquid is used. In pound cake the proportions for
three cups of flour would be only seven and a half eggs
because of the butter used.
Sugar makes the cake more crumbly as more and more
is added, and increases the size and the lightness, but,
meanwhile, the crust becomes sticky and tough, and
the cake sweeter and sweeter. The amount of sugar
in the general recipe may be increased to two cups if
one likes a sweeter cake. If chocolate is added, the
larger amount of sugar is desirable.
The leavening in a cake of the type that is being dis-
cussed, is mainly the gas from the baking powder, and a
skilled cakemaker can get good results without beating the
egg separately. But in pound and sponge cake where no
baking powder is used, great pains in folding in the egg
must be taken, and one sees why nearly twice as many
eggs for the same amount of flour are used.
If one is making a butter cake the great question is in.
regard to mixing. The problem seems to resolve itself
into the easiest way to get the ingredients blended very
thoroughly. Hard butter is difficult to mix, also unbeaten
egg. If the butter and sugar are not well creamed, the
grain of the cake is coarse. On the other hand, the butter
may be melted and successfully combined. Since beat-
ing flour with liquid develops the gluten and so makes the
cake tougher, this should be avoided as far as possible.
For this reason the melted butter is better beaten in
before adding the flour, instead of afterwards. Melting
the butter saves much time. It is especially convenient
in making chocolate cake, for the chocolate can be melted
with the butter.
BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS
237
QUESTIONS
1. Why is pastry flour desirable in making cake?
2. Account for the rule : If bread flour is used in place of pastry flour
take out two tablespoons for each cup of flour called for in the recipe.
3. In making cake what would be the effect of using bread flour
mixed with a little cornstarch, say half a cup of cornstarch to two
cups of flour ?
4. What ingredients are changed in making a muffin mixture
into a cake mixture ?
5. Change various recipes for cake to a three-cups-of-flour basis,
and see how the ingredients called for correspond to the general rule.
BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS
GINGERBREAD
A. PREPARE BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS.
Use one-half of the following recipe :
FLOUR
FAT
SALT
BAKING POWDER
MILK
Ic.
1 tbsp.
itsp.
Usual proportion
for 1 c. flour
?
Add milk (find out how much is needed) to make
(1) a stiff batter to be dropped from a spoon into
muffin tins,
or (2) a very soft dough which can be rolled out from
one-half to one inch thick and cut into biscuit,
or cut into small pieces and patted into shape.
The dough should be so soft that it is sticky.
Bake in an oven at 425-435 F.
a. Bake one biscuit at once.
238 FOOD STUDY
b. Bake another after letting it stand from
fifteen minutes to a half an hour.
c. Bake a third biscuit in a slow oven.
d. Bake a fourth after kneading the dough or
vigorously stirring the batter.
Compare the results and decide what precautions must
be taken to make good biscuit.
B. MAKE SOUR-MILK GINGERBREAD.
Use corrected recipe in Question 4, Lesson XLVII.
BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS
There are two types of rolled baking-powder biscuits, one
small and practically all crust, the other larger, lighter,
and with comparatively little crust. To make the first, the
biscuits are rolled thinner and baked farther apart than
those of the second type which is, perhaps, the more
conventional.
The biscuits, which are made so soft as to drop and
which need the support of muffin tins to give them shape,
are more crusty than the more usual rolled biscuit. They
are often called " emergency biscuit ", because they can
be prepared so quickly.
After the liquid is added, any of these doughs should
be worked as little as possible for, if they are, the gluten
will be developed too much. This is the reason why the
fat is worked -in before the liquid. The fat can be cut in
easily with two knives, or worked in with a fork, or rubbed
in with the fingers. Since it is easier to combine the fat
when it is cold, the first methods are to be preferred, espe-
cially in warm weather. With as stiff a mixture as this,
there is no escape of gas from the dough and the biscuits
can stand without harm for a time before they are baked.
BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS 239
In fact, standing for a moderate period is slightly advan-
tageous, because it gives time for some of the gas to be
evolved before the dough is baked too much to rise. With
a batter such as is used in griddle-cakes, the gas evolved
soon escapes, and if the batter is kept over until another
meal more baking powder must be added before using.
Baking-powder biscuit dough, or a dough made with
slight variations, is used in many ways. It is often used
as a crust for meat pies, and sometimes for a deep fruit
pie, in both cases there being no lower crust. It may also
be used for fruit dumplings. Sometimes baking-powder
biscuit dough is rolled out and sprinkled with maple
sugar, or with sugar, cinnamon, raisins and currants or
citron. The dough is then rolled up and cut off in pieees
somewhat less than an inch thick, and baked as biscuit.
This dough may have some sugar added in the making.
Short-cake is only baking-powder biscuit dough with more
fat, usually double the amount, and with some sugar added.
Dutch apple cake may be made as a modification of the
baking-powder biscuit recipe. To the dough made with
one cup of liquid, an egg and two tablespoons of sugar are
added. Sour milk or soda biscuit are made in exactly the
same way as baking-powder biscuit, except that sour milk
and soda replace the sweet milk and baking powder.
QUESTIONS
1. Write a recipe for soda biscuit.
2. Is the habitual use of hot breads to be recommended ?
3. What is the advantage of patting baking-powder biscuit into
shape, instead of rolling the dough ?
4. If too much flour is used in shaping the biscuit, what is the
result?
5. What is the difference in the result, if butter instead of lard is
used as the fat ? If half butter and half lard is used ? What other
fats may be used ?
240 FOOD STUDY
6. What is the effect on the texture of increasing the fat ?
7. What is the effect on the texture of increasing the sugar ?
8. How many average-sized biscuits will one cup of flour make ?
How much flour would you allow for biscuits for breakfast for a
family of five ?
LI
SUGAR COOKIES
GlNGERSNAPS
A. Class Experiments. YEAST.
I. Blend a yeast cake with a cup of water in which
a teaspoon of molasses has been mixed. Divide into four
portions.
1. Freeze the first and then let it stand at room tem-
perature.
2. Boil the second and let it cool to room temperature.
3. Heat the third to lukewarm.
In turn, fill a test tube with part of each of these three
portions and invert in the remaining liquid, taking care
not to admit bubbles of air into the tubes. Use cups or
tumblers, if no beakers are at hand. While inverting, the
test tubes may be covered with the thumb or a piece of
stiff paper. Keep at room temperature, and note result
after an hour or two.
4. Chill the fourth portion, fill a test tube with the mix-
ture and invert as above, and place in an ice-box, or out of
doors if it is cold weather. Compare the result with the
others after the same length of time.
II. Examine under a microscope yeast from an actively
fermenting liquid, and make a drawing of a "plant/'
III. Observe the action of yeast with the following
food materials and account for the results. Use J yeast
YEAST 241
cake and J c. liquid in each case. Invert in test tubes
as before.
1. Water.
2. Water with | tsp. flour.
3. Milk.
4. Water in which potatoes have been cooked.
5. Water and J tsp. of starch.
6. Water and J tsp. of sugar.
B. MAKE SUGAR COOKIES OR GINGERSNAPS.
SUGAR COOKIES.
2 tbsp. fat ssp. soda
j c. sugar J tsp. baking powder
If tbsp. egg | c. flour and amount neces-
1 tbsp. sour milk sary to roll
A few drops of vanilla
GINGERSNAPS.
j c. brown sugar \ tbsp. cinnamon
c. molasses 1 tbsp. lemon juice
3 tbsp. fat A little grated lemon rind
\ tbsp. ginger 1 c. flour
\ tsp. soda
Roll as thin as possible.
YEAST
The compressed and dried yeast cakes sold in stores are
usually made from yeast obtained from distilleries. Here
the yeast is grown by sowing it in "wort", as it is called, a
mixture of crushed grain or mashed potatoes, warm water,
and sprouted barley. Under these conditions the yeast
plants multiply rapidly. The yeast which collects as a
scum on top of the wort is preferred for bread yeast,
although the yeast which settles out at the bottom is
sometimes used. The yeast is freed from impurities as
242
FOOD STUDY
far as possible, pressed to remove the water, and then cut
into cakes which are wrapped in tin foil. Starch may be
mixed with the yeast before the pressing process takes
place. A small percentage of starch helps to keep the
yeast, especially in warm weather, as well as making it
easier to mix with the flour in bread-making. As the
amount of starch used varied from five to fifty per cent,
the government recently has ruled that if starch is used
in compressed yeast cakes, its presence must be stated on
the label.
Compressed yeast cakes
must be fresh to be in good
From Conn's " Bacteria, Yeasts, and Molds In the Home."
1. YEAST FROM A DRIED 2. THE SAME YEAST AFTER
YEAST CAKE. A FEW HOURS' GROWTH.
condition, and this can be told readily on examination.
The cakes should be creamy white, not dark ; uniform in
color, not streaked ; a firm, even texture, not slimy ; and
there should be no disagreeable odor.
Compressed yeast in good condition can usually be
purchased in places of any size. In remote districts, how-
ever, it cannot always be obtained while it is sufficiently
fresh for use. Such communities may use dried yeast
cakes which are made from the same yeast as the com-
pressed yeast cakes. After the yeast is mixed with starch
or meal, it is partly dried, either in the sun or at a low
temperature under pressure. Under these conditions
some of the yeast cells die, while others pass into a resting
YEAST 243
stage. Thus the dried yeast is not so active as com-
pressed yeast and it takes longer to start fermentation.
Time must be allowed for dried yeast to become actively
growing and multiplying.
Some housekeepers "make yeast" at home by using
commercial yeast to start the growth. This is usually
accomplished by adding a little dried yeast, or yeast from
a previous growth, to potatoes which have been grated,
mixed with water, and boiled and cooled. A small amount
of sugar is also added.
Brewers sell yeast in a liquid form, but usually to bak-
eries rather than for use in private families, for such yeast
must be used at once and is more trouble to transport
than are yeast cakes.
There are many different varieties of yeast, and the
one sold for bread-making has really been selected as best
for making fermented liquors, rather than because it is
known to be the best for bread-making. Wild yeasts are
sometimes used in making the so-called salt-rising bread.
Here, milk is mixed with a little flour and salt and set aside
to ferment. The action is apparently not always due to
the same cause. Sometimes wild yeasts are present,
and at other times the action is entirely due to bacteria.
Bread made in this way is much less uniform than that
made with cultivated yeast.
It is interesting to know that although fermentation
has been recognized and practised from very early times,
nothing definite was known about the cause until Pasteur
worked out the problem in the middle of the nineteenth
century. The account of how he went to work to prove
that yeast-cells really produced the changes and that they
did not originate spontaneously, as was believed previ-
ously, is a fascinating story of scientific research. 1
1 " Life of Louis Pasteur," by Radot.
244 FOOD STUDY
REFERENCE
CONN. " Bacteria, Yeasts and Molds in the Home," section on
Yeasts.
QUESTIONS
1. Compare the recipe for sugar cookies with the muffin recipe.
What is the effect of the increase of fat and the addition of sugar ?
Why can cookies be rolled out without danger of toughening them ?
2. Compare the recipe given for sugar cookies with one containing
more fat, as, for example, Miss Farmer's recipe for rich cookies.
What difference will you expect in the two kinds of cookies ? Cal-
culate the difference in cost.
3. Show what different flavors could be added to your recipes to
make different varieties of cookies. Tell in each case how and when
the new ingredient would be added.
4. What fats could be used in making sugar cookies ? gingersnaps ?
LII
BREAD-MAKING
A. MAKE BREAD.
\ tsp. fat (lard)
\ tsp. sugar
\ tsp. salt
| c. boiling liquid (water, or milk and water)
Pour the liquid over the other ingredients. Let them
stand until lukewarm (98). Add J to \ 1 yeast cake
softened in \ tbsp. lukewarm water. Sift in gradually
f c. flour, or as much as is needed to make a dough as soft
as can be handled. Knead thoroughly but lightly, until
1 This large amount of yeast is added to enable the process of
bread-making to be carried through in a very short time. For
ordinary home use the proportions would be one yeast cake to a
pint of liquid. The bread in this lesson can be mixed and baked
in two hours.
BREAD-MAKING 245
it is elastic and does not stick to the hands. Place over
lukewarm water in the top of a double boiler which may be
greased. Cover tightly. (Why?) The top of the dough
may be brushed lightly with fat. (Why?) Maintain
the lukewarm temperature until the dough has doubled
in bulk.
Knead again until the bubbles have been evenly dis-
tributed, adding no more flour than is necessary to keep
the dough from sticking. Shape into a loaf, first cutting
off sufficient dough to make two biscuits.
Place the loaf in a greased tin, cover, and let rise until
the loaf has doubled in size. Place in an oven at 450 F.
for ten minutes, and finish baking at 365 to 385 F.
Knead a little extra fat into the biscuit dough, shape,
and let rise as in the case of the loaf. The best tempera-
ture for baking rolls is 435 F.
B. Class Work. KNEADING.
One student should make a larger quantity of dough,
and each student in turn should be taught the correct
process of kneading with the larger amount.
BREAD-MIXING
The term "breads" or " breadstuff s" includes unleav-
ened bread, as well as bread which is raised with yeast or
with gas from soda. The term " bread " is usually confined
to bread made with yeast, and it is so used here.
The essentials in bread -making are flour, liquid, salt,
and yeast. Fat is usually added, and other ingredients
may be.
Bread is made in two ways, and is known as short-
and long-process bread. The method of making short-
process bread is the more modern. This method became
246 FOOD STUDY
possible only with the availability of fresh yeast, such as
is found in compressed yeast cakes. In short-process
bread-making, the yeast is stirred with lukewarm water
and mixed with sufficient flour and warm water to obtain a
dough of the desired consistency. The combination may
be made by stirring the water into the flour, or vice-versa.
If fat is to be used, it is melted by pouring hot water over
it and then allowed to cool to the proper temperature.
The yeast is stirred with water to separate it, so that it
can be mixed more readily with the other ingredients.
The water should be warm, about 90 F., in order to hasten
the growth of the yeast. This is desirable, because less
time is given for the development of bacteria which may
cause the dough to become sour. In order to maintain the
suitable temperature after mixing, the dough is covered
to prevent its cooling and also drying. The flour fur-
nishes both protein and starch as food for the yeast plants.
Pure yeast cannot act directly on starch.
Flour contains diastase, an enzyme not unlike the
ptyalin found in saliva, which is capable of changing the
starch into sugar. As soon as sugar is produced, the yeast
begins to act upon it by means of the ferments which it
contains. These break up the sugar present into carbon
dioxide and alcohol. The carbon dioxide is a gas which
cannot escape easily through the dough, since the gluten
present holds it, much as the soap in soapsuds holds air
when one blows into it.
Gluten in flour is developed by kneading, since this
mixes water with the glutenin and gliadin, two proteins
found in flour. Many people have an idea that bread
must be kneaded with great force, but this is a mistake.
The more lightly the dough is handled, the better the tex-
ture of the bread. As little flour as possible should be
used, but, of course, enough must be added to enable the
BREAD-MAKING 247
dough to be handled without sticking to the board or the
fingers. Experience makes it possible to handle a very
soft dough, and this is probably one of the ways in which
skill counts in bread-making.
As the yeast grows and produces carbon dioxide, the
dough is stretched by the gas until it is full of bubbles, and
"rises." The action is allowed to go on, until the dough
has doubled in bulk. At this stage, it could be baked,
but it would give a bread of very uneven texture, for, with
all the care in mixing, the bubbles of gas are unevenly
distributed and some are very large. So, instead of being
baked, the dough is kneaded again, this time to break
up the larger bubbles and to distribute the gas as evenly as
possible. Then the dough is shaped into loaves. It is
again set in a warm place for the yeast to produce more
gas, since some was lost in the kneading process. When
the dough has doubled in bulk, it is ready for baking.
Fat is commonly added because the bread is " shorter",
as it is called, that is, less tough . Sugar is sometimes added
to hasten the starting of the yeast, as well as to make the
bread more tender. Potatoes and potato water also seem
to stimulate the yeast to quicker action, and to make the
bread less dry after it is baked. Milk may be used as the
liquid in place of part or of all of the water. It adds some
fat as well as a little more food value to the bread and
changes its flavor somewhat. If milk be used, it is first
scalded to kill some of the bacteria present. There is
always danger of the dough souring, because the yeast
itself is not free from bacteria, and some kinds of bacteria
act on the alcohol and produce acids which make the
bread sour. In a short-process bread, there is less danger
of sour dough, because the yeast usually acts too quickly
to give the bacteria time to multiply sufficiently to produce
enough acid to sour the dough.
248 FOOD STUDY
The liquid must not be mixed with the yeast while it is
too hot, or the yeast will be killed. Yeast plants cannot
stand a temperature of 130 F.
The length of time necessary to make bread by the short
process depends upon the amount of yeast used. If the
first rising is to be overnight, usually from one-fourth to
one-half of a yeast cake is used for each quart of liquid.
To shorten the time of rising, the amount of yeast can be
increased almost indefinitely. Even as many as five or
six cakes of yeast can be used and, if they are perfectly
fresh, they will not give a disagreeable flavor to the bread.
But since they increase the cost of the bread unduly,
usually not more than a cake to a quart of liquid is used.
Since neither yeast nor bacteria grow well in the cold,
it is possible to check the rising of the dough by placing
it in an ice-chest or some other cold place. This is some-
times done in order to keep the dough so that hot biscuits
may be served at a special time.
Long-process bread is made by setting a sponge. This
means that in the first mixing only about half the flour is
used. The sponge, as it is called, is really a batter. This
is allowed to stand until it is very light and foamy. Then
the rest of the flour is mixed with it and the dough is
then treated as if this were the first mixing in short-process
bread. The advantage of this way of making bread is that
dry yeast can be used, for the rising of the sponge gives
time for it to become actively-growing yeast. Some cooks
set a sponge when using compressed yeast, but there is no
necessity for doing so, and as the long process means more
work than the short process, the latter method should be
preferred.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 389. "Bread and
Bread-Making."
BREAD 249
QUESTIONS
1. What will happen in bread-mixing :
(a) if the weather is too warm ?
(6) if, in very cold water, the flour is not warmed ?
(e) if the bread is put to rise in too warm a place ?
(d) if the bread is put to rise in too cold a place ?
(e) if the bread is insufficiently kneaded before shaping
into loaves?
(/) if the bread is kneaded too heavily ?
(g) if too much flour is used ?
2. What may happen if the liquid is not scalded ?
3. When is it advantageous to use a bread mixer ?
4. Why is a different temperature required in baking bread and
rolls?
LIII
BREAD
ROLLS
GRAHAM AND OATMEAL BREAD
A. Class Work. PARKER HOUSE ROLLS.
Make Parker House rolls by the long process method of
making bread.
Use:
2 c. scalded milk 1^ tsp. salt
3 tbsp. butter 1 yeast cake
2 tbsp. sugar 3 c. flour to make sponge
About 3 c. flour to make dough
When ready to form rolls, divide the dough into small
pieces and shape into Parker House rolls, tea biscuits,
finger rolls, cinnamon rolls, and the like. See cook books
for directions.
250 FOOD STUDY
B. MAKE GRAHAM OR OATMEAL BREAD.
Follow the short process of making bread.
GRAHAM BREAD.
1 r 'ri I ^ c -
1 1 c. water (3 tbsp. may be potato water)
1 yeast cake ( ?)*
1 j c. white flour
1 f c. graham flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. brown sugar, or \ c. molasses
OATMEAL BREAD.
Pour two cups of boiling water over one cup of rolled oats.
Add 4 tbsp. brown sugar, or ^ c. molasses
2 tbsp. fat
1 tsp. salt
1 yeast cake (?) 1
Flour to make a stiff dough, about 4^ c.
BREAD
When bread has risen sufficiently, it is placed in a hot
oven at about 450 F. Baking the dough accomplishes
a number of things. It kills the yeast plants so that
fermentation stops ; it also kills any bacteria which may
be present ; it expands the carbon dioxide gas so that the
loaf is larger after than before baking; it vaporizes the
alcohol and drives it off; it hardens the gluten so that
the bread, once risen, will keep its shape and will not fall
when it cools ; and, finally, it causes the starch on the in-
side of the loaf to take up water and become hydrated,
while it dextrinizes some of the starch in the crust.
As these are all essential processes, it is important to be
sure that the bread is so thoroughly baked as to effect
1 Amount depends on time to be given to rising.
BREAD
251
U.S Department of Agriculture Reared by
Office of Experiment Station, C-FTLANGWORTW
A-CTrwe; Director- G^ert in Charge of Nutrition Investigations
COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
mill] E%&ga msm &$$$ in inn .Revalue
Phton Fat
WHITE BREAD
Aah Water
WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
35.3
Fat: 1.3
Ashtl.1
FUE.L VALUE
OAT
BREAKFAST FOOD
FuEL VALUE:
121 5 CALORIES \A/Afr. R4 ^
PER POUND VVJtr;_O2.D
TOASTED
BREAD
Ash:
ates:11.5
CORN BREAD
I285CALOHIE5
MACARONI
COOKCO
Fat:1.5 FVotein: 3.0 ^Waten 78.4
1205 CA
PER POUND
, >-^ieo '"" 141 5 CALORIES
Carbohydrates: 15.8 VALUE; I PER POUND
COMPOSITION OF BEEAD AND OTHER CEREAL PRODUCTS
252 FOOD STUDY
all these results. In bread which is insufficiently baked
all the organisms which are present may not be killed,
and it may grow sour as it is kept. Bread is sufficiently
baked when tapping the top and bottom of the loaf pro-
duces hollow sounds. Since long baking is so desirable,
many people lower the heat after the bread is well baked,
and leave the loaves in the oven for a long time.
Bread-making is, perhaps, one of the most common
subjects for cooking contests because, if one is to count on
always turning out excellent results, considerable skill is
required, as well as knowledge of the reasons for all the
steps. The requirements for a perfect loaf are shown by
the score cards used in judging such contests. The follow-
ing is the one given in the U. S. Experiment Station
Bulletin No. 225.
SCORE CARD FOR JUDGING BREAD
Thoroughness of baking 20
Color (1) Shade, golden brown 6
(2) Evenness 6
Shape of loaves, oblong, 1 to 2 Ibs 8
Sweetness, no sourness after thorough mastication ... 25
Flavor, slightly milky , 15
Quality of crumb, moist but not wet 8
Evenness of crumb . . ; . . 3
Firmness of crumb 4
Color of crumb, cream rather than pearl white .... 5
Total 100
To obtain the best results in baking, the loaves should
be single and about 4 inches X 4J inches X 9 inches in
size.
Freshly baked bread is indigestible, because of the
difficulty of mastication. Such bread tends to roll up
into a pasty mass instead of breaking up as a cracker does
when it is chewed.
BREAD AND ROLLS MADE WITH ONE YEAST CAKE
GRAHAM BREAD MADE WITHOUT KNEADING
LOAF OF BREAD AND PARKER HOUSE ROLLS
From " Cooking for Two," by Janet McKenzie Hill.
BREAD 253
Bakers' bread is usually much lighter than home-made
bread, a slice of given dimensions weighing about half
as much as a slice of home-made bread of the same
size. It is, of course, slice for slice, just about half as
nutritious, and we usually eat more of the bakers' bread
to satisfy our appetites. This does not condemn bakers'
bread as a food, but the fact remains that this must be
taken into consideration in comparing the cost of pur-
chased with that of home-made bread. The demand for
the ready-made product is becoming so great that usually
a fairly well-made bread can be purchased almost any-
where and the average quality is probably better than in
the average home-made product, for many housewives
make bread much below the standard.
Since yeast leaves no such questionable residues in the
bread as baking powder does, the constant use of yeast bread
is supposed to be preferable to that of baking-powder
breads, but the bad effects of the too continued use of
the latter may be partly the result of the habit of eating
such breads hot instead of cold.
QUESTIONS
1. When would you prefer to make a long-process bread?
2. Why should bread not be put away while it is still warm ?
3. Why is bread stored in a bread-box ?
4. Why should cake and bread be kept in separate boxes ?
5. Compare the weight and the price of home-made and bakers'
loaves of bread.
6. Compare the cost per loaf, if short-process bread is set over
night, or is made in two hours.
7. Compare the cost of making bread with compressed yeast set
over night, and with dried yeast used in long-process bread.
8. What is "potato yeast" ? How is it made and used?
9. How would you make whole wheat bread ? rye bread ?
10. Why is some white flour used in making such breads as
graham, rye, and oatmeal ?
254 FOOD STUDY
LIV
PIES
A. Class Experiments.
CORRECT PROPORTIONS OF FAT AND LIQUID TO FLOUR.
I. (a) Mix a teaspoon of lard and three teaspoons of
flour into a small cake and bake.
(6) Repeat, using butter instead of lard,
(c) To explain the difference in the results, melt,
over hot water, 1 oz. butter and 1 oz. lard.
Let stand, and notice any differences. How
would you substitute one for the other ?
II. (a) Repeat I (a), but add to each a carefully
measured amount of water, the least possible
necessary to make the mixture hold together.
How much is used ?
(6) Repeat, using twice as much water.
(c) Repeat, using three times as much water.
III. Repeat II (a), but use very hard fat and ice water,
cutting them into the flour with a knife. Why?
Write a recipe with directions for making pie crust.
B. PREPARE PIE CRUST.
Use either:
1. All butter.
2. All lard.
3. Half lard and half butter.
4. All Crisco.
What proportion of fat will you use in each case?
How will the amount of salt vary with the amount of fat
used ? Roll out crust.
PASTRY 255
1. Cover the bottom of a small inverted pie-plate with
a very thin crust. Prick with a fork. Bake in a hot
oven for a few minutes. Slip the crust into the in-
side of the plate and finish baking.
2. Cover the inside of the plate with crust. Do not
prick. Bake as before. Compare with (1) for use
as a shell for pie. Explain the behavior of (2).
3. Bake a piece of the crust trimmings in a very slow
oven. Decide upon the best temperature for baking
pastry shells.
C. PREPARE AN APPLE PIE.
PASTRY
Pastry flour differs from bread flour in having a smaller
amount of gluten and a larger amount of starch. The
advantage in using it for pastry and for cake is that so
made they are more tender than when made with the
larger amount of gluten. It is quite possible, however,
to make both good pastry and good cake with ordinary
bread flour. If bread flour be used, greater care should
be taken not to develop the gluten by too much working.
This is just the opposite of what we try to do in making
bread.
Pastry flour is made in two ways. It is sometimes made
by grinding the "softer" winter wheat; sometimes by
selecting the flour stream from the grinding of "hard" or
spring wheat, which will furnish the largest percentage of
starch. The housekeeper may get much the same effect
by adding cornstarch to bread flour, using three parts of
flour to one part of cornstarch. The flour sold as pastry
flour is often unsatisfactory, being in reality only a poorer
grade of flour and one not adapted especially to pie- and
cake-making. Pastry flour is distinguished from bread
256 FOOD STUDY
flour by its whiter color, its smoother and less gritty qual-
ity, and by its retaining better the print of the fingers, if
squeezed in the hand.
Since no leavening agent is ordinarily used in pie crust,
careful handling is necessary to entangle air in the dough
so that the heat of the oven shall expand it and produce
a light crust. This is accomplished by the many foldings
of the dough after it is first rolled out. This folding makes
many horizontal layers which in a light, baked crust are
separated somewhat from each other. The large amount
of fat undoubtedly helps in the power of these layers to
retain gas which may be partly the air, as already men-
tioned, as well as vapor from the water in the dough.
Moisture undoubtedly plays a larger part in leavening
pastry than it does in bread, because here the thin layer
of crust is heated more quickly to a much higher tempera-
ture than that of the inside of a loaf of bread.
Fat in pie crust makes it short and flaky. Different
fats are used, butter, oleomargarine, lard, Crisco, cottolene,
and the like. Butter usually gives the best flavor, but it
is the most expensive. Sometimes part butter is used.
Pie crust is not generally considered very digestible,
due to a number of reasons. The lower crust, if wet and
soggy and underdone, forms a soft mass which is rarely
properly mixed with saliva in chewing. Well-baked pie
crust which is flaky and crisp undoubtedly breaks up
better and so is more digestible. Overheated fat is not
easily digested and, for some people, this may be a source of
difficulty. Then, so little liquid is used with the flour that,
often, part of the starch is not hydrated at all, so that even
after baking, it is not really changed from raw starch.
It is easy to see that the really light and flaky crust is the
most desirable from the standpoint of digestibility, as
well as from that of taste.
DOUGHNUTS 257
QUESTIONS
1. What effect does water have on flour?
2. What effect has fat?
3. How are crusts of a two-crust pie held together ?
4. Is there a difference in the oven temperature for pies filled
with cooked and uncooked mixtures ? Why ?
5. Compare butter, Crisco, and lard as shortening in pastry.
6. What effect has temperature during mixing and before baking
on the resulting pie crust ? Why is this ?
7. Why is pie crust difficult to digest ?
8. Why is it necessary to perforate crust for single-crust
pie?
9. Is it necessary to butter a pie-tin?
10. Can unbaked pastry be kept over from one day to the next ?
How?
DOUGHNUTS
A. Class Experiments. FATS.
1. Examine the following fats: butter, oleomar-
garine, lard, cottonseed oil, olive oil, beef fat,
Crisco, and snowdrift. Note the differences in
color and odor.
2. Find the temperatures at which butter, lard,
and Crisco melt. Place two tablespoons of each
fat in small beakers, stand in warm water, insert
a thermometer, and note the temperature at
which the fat melts.
3. Put drops of olive oil and oil of peppermint on a
piece of paper and warm them. How do they
differ?
4. To determine the "cracking" or "burning
point" of fats:
258 FOOD STUDY
a. Test butter with blue litmus paper; then
place about two teaspoons of butter in a
small evaporating dish and heat until the
first appearance of smoke. Determine the
temperature of the fat. Hold a piece of
moist litmus paper in the fumes.
b. Repeat with lard, olive oil, and Crisco.
In which fats would it be best to fry ?
5. Heat fat, lard, or Crisco to 355 R, and then
determine in how many seconds a small piece of
bread will brown in the fat. Repeat with the
fat at 365 F., and at 385 F. What is the effect
on the bread at the low temperature? Of the
last two temperatures, which would be better
for frying uncooked material like fritters?
Material already cooked, such as croquettes ?
B. MAKE DOUGHNUTS.
Use one-eighth of the following recipe :
1 c. milk 2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. butter - 4 eggs
1 c. sugar 4 c. flour
4 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. cinnamon
| tsp. nutmeg
C. CLARIFY THE FAT USED.
Heat the fat slowly with a few slices of raw potatoes;
then strain through cheesecloth placed in a strainer.
FATS
Fat, a term which is used to include edible oils as well,
is, like carbohydrate, a source of energy in the body.
Weight for weight, fats furnish the body with two and a
quarter times as much energy as do the carbohydrates.
FATS
259
U.S.Dportmerit of Agriculture
Office of Experiment Stations
A.C.True Director
ft^poredby
C.FLANGWORTHY
Expert in Charge of Nutrition Investigation
COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
mrm
Water
Phrtein Fat Carbohydrate* Ash
OLIVE OIL
BACON
:67.4-
3030 CALORIES PER POUND
ater.13.2
34-10 CALDHIK PER POUND
4080 CALORIES PER POUND
COMPOSITION OP FOODS CONTAINING MUCH FAT
260 FOOD STUDY
But not all substances which are ordinarily spoken of
as fats are really pure fat. Olive oil and lard are prac-
tically pure fat, but butter contains only eighty-four per
cent of it, the rest being mostly water, curd, and mineral
matter.
Fats are usually divided into two classes, volatile and
non-volatile fats. These terms are somewhat misleading,
as the volatility does not refer to the fats themselves, but to
the fatty acids which enter into their composition. Most
fats are chemical compounds of glycerine and fatty acids.
Those that are made from volatile fatty acids have low
melting points and are more digestible than most of the
fats of the other class. They are found in milk fat, hence
also in cream and butter.
The non-volatile fats of food are chiefly three : olein,
palmitin, and stearin. The first of these has so low a
melting point that it is an oil at ordinary temperatures.
Olive and cottonseed oils are largely composed of olein.
Stearin has the highest melting point of the three, and so
fats like suet, which is largely stearin, are fairly firm.
The melting point of palmitin is between that of the other
two. Most of the fat of foods is a mixture of these non-
volatile fats. The melting point of some of them is
shown in the following table :
Stearin . ... .. .,:. 140 F. Lard 86-102
Mutton fat . . . 116.5-123 Butter 83-95
Palmitin .... 113 Olein Fluid
Beef fat .... 107.5-122 Olive oil Fluid
Bacon f at . . . . 103 Cottonseed oil ... Fhiid
Fats which have a melting point of 110 or below, seem
to be digested about equally well. However, the eating of
fat causes the food to remain longer in the stomach and so
retards the processes of digestion. In some cases this may
FATS 261
cause digestive disturbances by allowing more time for
the decomposition of food in the digestive tract through the
action of bacteria, but fat itself is not liable to objection-
able decomposition during digestion. Fat which has been
heated to too high a temperature is much more liable
to cause digestive difficulties, because, apparently, of the
presence of irritating decomposition products. Hence
it is necessary in selecting a fat for frying to consider the
temperatures at which this decomposition takes place.
The following is a table of "cracking points", as the de-
composition temperatures are often called :
Crisco 896 F. Lard 419-475
Olive oil .... 608-680 Butter 365-428
Cottolene .... 450
Fats vary greatly in cost, olive oil being expensive.
Advantage should be taken of the lower price asked for it
in quantity. (Buying oil in a small bottle is very extrava-
gant.) Italian oil in bulk is usually cheaper than French
oil. Good American oil is manufactured in California.
Butter and cream are also expensive sources of fat, but
they are very desirable for children and invalids on account
of their ease of digestion. Bacon fat ranks with butter
and cream both in digestibility and expense. Fat left
from the frying of bacon should be carefully saved for
sauteing, as should that tried out from the fat of beef,
veal, pork, and chicken. Even the fat which hardens on
soup stock can be used. Gravies, sauces, cream soups,
and gingerbread may all be made with such fat, and vege-
tables and meat may be sauted in them. Mutton fat * has
so strong a flavor that it is usually objected to on this
account.
1 For ways of utilizing this fat, see U. S. Dept. of Agriculture,
Bulletin No. 310, page 11.
262 FOOD STUDY
Yolks of eggs are one-third fat and furnish fat in a very
digestible form.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Bulletin No. 310. "Digestibility of
Some Animal Fats."
QUESTIONS
1. How are these fats obtained : butter, lard, cottonseed oil,
olive oil, beef fat, lard, Crisco ?
2. What does each cost per pound? Are fats sufficiently expensive
foods to make it worth while to consider economy in their use ?
3. Suggest good opportunities for the substitution of a cheaper
fat for a more expensive one. For example, would it be better to use
lard in gingersnaps or sugar cookies ?
4. Discuss the digestibility of fats.
5. What care must be taken in frying food to make it as digestible
as possible?
6. Why is fat-soaked food indigestible ?
7. What is the difference between sauteing and frying ?
8. Why does the cooking of slices of raw potato in fat clarify it ?
9. Why is deep-fat frying dangerous, especially over an open flame ?
10. Why should fried foods be drained on unglazed paper ?
11. Why should foods to be fried be as dry as possible?
12. How is soap manufactured ?
LVI
MILK FATS
BUTTER
WHIPPED CREAM
PHILADELPHIA ICE CREAM
A. Class Experiments. CREAM AND BUTTER.
1. Examine a drop of cream under the microscope.
Note the globules of fat. Compare with drops
CREAM AND BUTTER 263
of whole and of skimmed milk examined in the
same way.
2. Chill a portion of cream and whip 1 until stiff.
Reserve and finish as whipped-cream pudding.
3. Warm another portion and whip as above.
Explain the difference in the result.
4. To make butter.
Shake a weighed and measured amount of ripened
cream in a preserve jar, until the fat separates.
Add ice. Collect the lumps into a mass and
plunge them into ice water and work out all
the buttermilk. Weigh. Add salt in the pro-
portion of one-half ounce to every pound of
butter. Compute the cost of this butter and
compare it with the market price.
B. PREPARE WHIPPED-CREAM PUDDING.
Beat into whipped cream, crumbs rolled from dried
macaroons, or from gingersnaps, or dried cake, or stir in
dates or figs cut into small pieces. Sweeten and flavor
as desired. Candied cherries may be used as decorations.
C. PREPARE PHILADELPHIA ICE CREAM.
Add flavoring and sweetening to cream and freeze, stirring.
Use f c. cream ; add 2 tsp. sugar and J tsp. vanilla ; or
2 tsp. sugar and 2 tsps. ground macaroons ; or melt 1 tsp.
grated chocolate, add 1 tbsp. sugar and gradually stir
in the cream ; or add fresh or canned fruits and sweeten to
taste.
BUTTER
It is curious to think that butter, now considered such
an indispensable article of diet, was not used at all in
1 The efficiency of different cream whippers may be tried out.
Some will whip the cream from the top of an ordinary milk bottle.
264 FOOD STUDY
ancient times. Even the butter used in the Middle Ages
is said to have been semi-liquid and a very inferior article.
In modern times butter-making has been a household
industry until very recently. The first creamery in the
United States was built about 1861. Now such establish-
ments are common, and are often owned by associations
of farmers. Sometimes the milk itself is sent to the
creamery, in other cases only the cream. The milk or
cream, as the case may be, is usually tested and paid for
on the basis of the fat content. More and more, cream is
being pasteurized before ripening. This kills any disease-
producing germs, as well as most of the others, and gives
a more uniform product and one which keeps well. The
ripening is accomplished by the addition of skimmed
milk which is in a state of active fermentation. The
mixture is kept at about 70 R, then it is colored and
churned. It is interesting to note, so accustomed are
we to colored butter, that while the coloring of most
foods is forbidden unless so labeled, the coloring of butter
is permitted. The washing of the butter after churning
is an important part of the process ; carelessness means the
failure to remove enough of the buttermilk, which gives a
streaked butter of poor keeping qualities. Butter made
on the farm often fails to be good because of insufficient
working. Salting not only gives flavor, but helps in the
keeping of the butter, partly by aiding the removal of the
buttermilk. The amount of moisture in butter varies,
but more than sixteen per cent is usually illegal ; the aver-
age amount is about twelve per cent.
Butter which is kept too long becomes rancid, that is,
of poor flavor and odor. This rancidity may be from two
causes, the more common of which is not the decomposition
of the fat, but the spoiling of the protein present in the
curd. Renovated or process butter is butter which has
BUTTER 265
been reworked after becoming more or less rancid. The
butter fat is removed from the rest by melting, and air is
blown through to remove any bad odor ; then it is mixed
with fresh cream or milk, and churned. Some states
restrict the sale of this butter, although they permit the
sale of poor butter.
Many housewives seem to be ignorant of the fact that
poor tasting butter can be renovated fairly well at home
by merely working the butter, so as to wash it thoroughly,
in a succession of bowls of cold water.
Oleomargarine or butterine has one advantage over
butter, although it lacks the fine flavor. It is cheaper.
It is made by churning other-than-butter fats with milk,
or milk and butter, or milk and cream. Soft beef fat and
neutral lard are often used and are sometimes mixed with
cottonseed oil, cocoanut fat, or peanut oil. The butter
makers have succeeded in having a tax of ten cents a pound
placed on colored butterine, which makes the price of the
product too high for it to compete with butter. The tax
on uncolored oleomargarine is only a quarter of a cent a
pound. As many people object to "colorless butter", fats
which have a natural yellow color are used to give a colored
product and yet avoid the excessive tax. Unfortunately
the butterine made with the yellow fats does not seem to
keep as well as the other.
Oleomargarine is a perfectly clean, wholesome food and
should be more widely used than it is. Many people
cannot distinguish the difference in flavor between it and
butter, especially for any use except with bread, and the
flavor is decidedly to be preferred to that of poor butter.
Its use in Europe is much more extensive than in this
country.
Buttermilk may contain not more than 0.2 per cent of
fat, whereas normal milk contains about four per cent.
266 FOOD STUDY
This makes it evident that buttermilk is less hearty than
whole milk, although there is a common belief that the
contrary is true. Such milk is valued not only for its
flavor and perhaps for its increased digestibility, but also
for the lactic acid bacteria present. Some authorities
hold that these bacteria are carried into the small intestine
and keep in check the growth of those bacteria which cause
putrefaction. Much of the milk sold as buttermilk is
really fermented skim milk containing perhaps only 0.1 per
cent of fat. The greater digestibility of fermented milk
seems to lie in the finely divided condition of the protein.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 384. " Whipped
Cream. " " Farm Butter Making."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 69. "Pasteurized Cream."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 237. "Care of Cream on the Farm."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 131. "Household Test for the Detection
of Oleomargarine and Renovated Butter."
QUESTIONS
1. In what form is the fat in milk?
2. Why does fat sold as cream command a higher price than the
same sold as butter ?
3. What is the difference between creamery and dairy butter?
What is "country butter"?
4. What different butters are sold in your stores and how do the
prices vary at the present time ? Compare with the cost of oleomar-
garine.
5. What are the variations in price of butter in your stores during
the year ? What causes the variation ?
6. What is the average percentage composition of butter? of
cream ?
7. What is rancid butter ?
8. When butter shows whitish streaks through it, what is the cause ?
9. Why does whipped cream usually sour more quickly than ordi-
nary cream ?
CUSTARDS
267
LVII
CUSTARDS
CUSTARD ICE CREAM
A. PREPARE BOILED CUSTARD.
Use one-fourth of the following proportions :
Eoo
MILK
SUGAR
FLAVORING
1.
}
1 C.
1 tbsp.
\ tsp. vanilla and a few grains of salt
2.
1
1 C.
1 tbsp.
tsp. vanilla and a few grains of salt
3.
2
1 C.
1 tbsp.
| tsp. vanilla and a few grains of salt
Beat the egg slightly, add milk and sugar, and cook
over hot water, stirring carefully until the custard coats
the spoon. Flavor and cool. Compare the various con-
sistencies obtained. Which is best?
B. PREPARE BAKED CUSTARDS.
Use one-fourth of the following proportions, and the
amount of egg determined in A.
EGG
MILK
SUGAR
FLAVORING
1.
?
1 e.
1 tbsp.
as preferred
2.
?
1 c.
H tbsp.
as preferred
3.
?
1 c.
3 tbsp.
as preferred
Use scalded milk, otherwise mix as in A. Wet an
earthen or china mold and pour in the mixture. Set in a
dish of water and bake, until when tested with a knife, the
268 FOOD STUDY
blade comes out clean. What effect has the large amount
of sugar on the consistency ?
C. PREPARE FROZEN CUSTARD OR FRENCH ICE CREAM. 1
I II
1 c. milk 1 c. thin cream
6 tbsp. sugar | tbsp. vanilla
legg
A pinch of salt
Make a boiled custard from I ; cool, combine with II,
and freeze.
MILK
Milk is of great importance as a food, and it is estimated
that in the United States the per capita consumption is
over half a pint a day. Because it is so universally used and
forms so large a part of the diet of children and invalids, most
states have set standards to which the milk sold must con-
form. These standards are not identical in every state,
but are more or less similar. The standards often regu-
late the minimum amount of fat and of total solids (or of
total solids, not fat) which the milk must furnish. They
are intended to prevent skimming and watering. The
average composition of milk is estimated to be :
COMPOSITION OF MILK
Fat 4.0 per cent.
Protein 3.3 per cent.
Water 87.0 per cent.
Carbohydrate 5.0 per cent.
Ash 0.7 per cent.
Total solids not fat 8.9 per cent.
The fat and protein content of different milks vary much
more than do the other constituents. The fat is sometimes
1 In French ice cream only the yolks of eggs are used. Some
flour may be substituted for egg, if preferred.
MILK
269
US Deportment oF Agriculture
Office of Experiment Stations
A.C True director
Prepared fay
CrTLANGWORTHY
Expert h Chorgeof Nutrition Investigations
COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
amn Lnmo
Fat Carbohydrate* Ash
Value
In. Equals
Calories
WHOLE MILK
SKIM MILK
ater:87.0
atenSCXS
rates: 5.0
3.3 FbQ3L
AsbO.
C D
Fuei. VAiue:310 CALORICS PER POUND FUEL vAiuc:165 CAumcs PCR POUND
BUTTERMILK
CREAM
ater:91.0
.-3.0 Fat:1
Carboh>ate3-.4..8 A
D
FuEL VALUEilGO CALORIES PER POUND FuEL
CALORIES PER POUND
COMPOSITION OF MILK
270 FOOD STUDY
as low as three per cent, but may even be six per cent. The
protein varies less, from about three per cent to four per
cent. The amounts called for in the various state stand-
ards run from two and a half per cent of fat in Rhode
Island to three and a half per cent in a number of states ;
the total solids not far from eight and a half to nine per
cent. Occasionally a state requires a greater percentage
of fat in summer than in winter. It may readily be seen
that these requirements are reasonable and not excessive.
Because milk sours readily, there is a strong temptation
to add preservatives. This practice is forbidden by federal
law for milk shipped from state to state, and is usually
also forbidden by each state for milk sold locally. Such
use of preservatives is less common now than formerly as
a result of these laws, and is more likely to occur in small
towns without milk inspectors than in large cities. Form-
aldehyde and borax or boric acid are the more common
preservatives used, and they are not at all difficult of
detection by chemical analysis. Most state food labora-
tories will analyze, free of charge, milk sent in by the con-
sumer. If the milk being used does not sour so rapidly as
would seem natural, it is wise to send it for analysis. The
danger from preservatives is not great, but they are liable
to interfere with digestion.
A much greater danger from milk lies in the fact that it
is so excellent a medium for the growth of bacteria. It
must, therefore, be guarded rigidly from contamination.
To begin with, it must come from a healthy cow. As a
great danger lies in milk from cows which have tuberculosis,
it is wise to have the cows tested with tuberculin. Since
the milk must be protected from dust and dirt, the adja-
cent parts of the cow, as well as the udder, should be
cleaned before milking. The stable must be clean, well-
drained, light, and airy. A special washable over-garment,
MILK 271
worn only at the time of milking, should be used by the
milker, and his hands should be freshly washed. Machines
for milking which give good service are now obtainable.
It is of importance that the pails be sterilized and covered
or "hooded." As soon as the milk is drawn, it should be
removed from the stable to a separate milk-room used
only for this purpose. Not only must this room be light
and clean, but it should be screened against flies. It
should be unnecessary to strain the milk. If this is done,
it should be poured through sterilized cloth or cotton.
It is important that the milk be cooled as rapidly as pos-
sible and kept at a low temperature, since warmth so
greatly stimulates the increase of bacteria.
Certified milk is often obtainable. This means milk
which is so handled that it can be guaranteed to be of an
unusually good quality. It means inspection not only of
the milk itself, from time to time, both as to chemical com-
position and bacterial count, but also supervision of the herd
and of the whole process of production. Such milk is
of necessity costly, since this inspection must be paid for.
Pasteurized milk is milk which has been heated to a
temperature sufficiently high to kill any disease-producing
bacteria which may be present. Usually the milk is heated
to 140-145 F. and kept at this temperature for twenty or
thirty minutes, then cooled as rapidly as possible. Pas-
teurization of milk is often required by the health authori-
ties for market milk which does not come from tuberculin-
tested cows. The process of pasteurization changes the
taste less and brings about fewer changes in the substances
present than does sterilization.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Farmers' Bulletin No. 363. "Use of Milk as Food."
272 FOOD STUDY
Farmers' Bulletin No. 413. "Care of Milk and Its Useln the
Home."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 457. "Production of Sanitary Milk."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 227 or 273. "Clean Milk."
Farmers' Bulletin No. 237. "Care of Cream on the Farm."
QUESTIONS
1. Can milk be bought in your stores, in "bulk" as well as in
bottles ? Which will you prefer ? Why ?
2. What do you have to pay for milk ? Does this vary with the
season ? Is more than one grade of milk sold ?
3. What is the standard for milk in your state ? in your city ?
4. Will your laws allow the sale of skimmed milk ? If so, what
does it cost ? Does its food value justify this price ?
5. What precaution will you take in caring for milk in the home ?
6. Why will scalding postpone the souring of milk ?
7. Describe a process for pasteurization of milk at home.
8. If you are not sure of the sanitary quality of your milk, why
will you recommend pasteurization ? Why is this especially neces-
sary in milk for babies and little children ?
9. For what purpose are eggs used in custards ?
10. Why are the eggs beaten only slightly for custards? Why
beaten at all?
11. How would the use of flour or cornstarch instead of some of the
eggs in custard affect the price ? Which of the two would you prefer
to substitute and why?
LVIII
ACIDS AND MILK
CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP
LEMON MILK SHERBET
A. Class Experiments. ACIDS AND MILK.
The possible effect of heat and acids on sweet milk
in making cream of tomato soup.
1. Heat a little milk which is sour, but not separated.
Note the result.
CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP 273
2. Mix a tablespoon of tomato juice with one of milk,
and heat. Note the result.
3. Add tomato juice, drop by drop, to a little milk, stir-
ring, and see how much juice can be added before the
milk separates. Then reverse the experiment, add-
ing the milk to the tomato juice.
4. Make a quarter of a cup of medium white sauce,
omitting the salt, and add, stirring slowly, a quarter
of a cup of hot tomato juice. Season.
5. Compare the flavor of (4) with soups made by adding
a saltspoon of soda to the tomato.
Give the reasons for each of the following precautions
in the making of cream of tomato soup :
1. Be sure that the milk is perfectly sweet.
2. Thicken either the tomato juice or the milk. Have
each hot, and do not heat further after combining ;
or combine cold, and heat only to the serving point.
3. Omit salt until ready to serve.
4. Pour the tomato into the milk.
5. Avoid letting the soup stand after it is made.
6. If the milk is old, or the tomato juice very acid, or the
soup must stand (as in serving a large number of
people), use soda.
B. CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP.
Prepare a half cup of cream of tomato soup, seasoning
by heating onion, or cloves, or bay leaf in the milk.
Remove, before serving.
C. PREPARE LEMON MILK SHERBET.
Make in large amounts in a freezer, or stir and freeze
in a tin cup.
LEMON MILK SHERBET.
4 c. milk 1| c. sugar
Juice of three lemons
274 FOOD STUDY
Combine and freeze. Curdling will not affect the qual-
ity after freezing.
MILK (continued)
The amount of fat in milk varies with the breed of cow
as well as with the feed given. Milk from Jersey cows is
high in fat ; from Holstein cows, low. Milk from the latter
breed is considered best for babies. While the amount of
fat in milk averages four per cent by weight, in the cream
it averages from twenty to thirty per cent. The fat of milk
is already in an emulsified form, so, like the fat of egg-yolk,
it is considered especially digestible. Babies, however,
often have difficulty in digesting much of it. This fat is
peculiar in containing a relatively high amount of the
volatile fats and less olein than is present in most fats used
as food. It also contains a very small amount of stearin
and a fairly large amount of olein.
At least three-fourths of the protein in milk is casein.
Some albumin is also present, as well as other proteins in
much smaller amounts. These proteins are of high nutri-
tive value. An unusually high percentage of them is
digested and absorbed, and they do not readily undergo
intestinal putrefaction. The percentage of protein in milk
is much greater than in mothers' milk. To remedy this,
milk for feeding to babies is diluted with water, after
which more sugar is added.
Sugar of milk is the carbohydrate present in milk. This
sugar is less sweet than cane and is supposed to be much
better for babies, because it is less liable to irritate the
stomach. As, however, cheap grades of milk sugar are
impure, and the pure sugar is exceedingly expensive, many
doctors recommend the addition of cane sugar to the
diluted milk in baby-feeding.
The mineral elements in milk need special mention.
MILK 275
Calcium and phosphorus are present in unusual amounts.
The iron present seems to be in a form which is most
readily assimilated, thus making up somewhat for the
small quantity present. Babies are born with relatively
more iron in their bodies than adults have. This seems
to be nature's way of assuring them a plentiful supply.
Diluted cows' milk furnishes less iron than mothers' milk,
and so babies which are fed artificially have other food
added to their diet earlier than those w r hich are nursed.
Boiling milk seems to bring about certain changes in the
substances present. The protein is undoubtedly changed,
for such milk fails to clot with rennin, while raw milk
clots readily. The boiling may also affect the vitamines
present. This may be an important question when milk
is used as the sole food. Boiled milk does not seem to be
less digestible than raw milk.
When milk sours, the lactic acid bacteria present change
the milk sugar to acid. The acid finally precipitates the
protein and the milk "clabbers." Milk containing too
little acid to bring about this, may separate when heated.
If salt is present, this is even more liable to happen.
Herein lies the difficulty of making cream of tomato soup
without neutralizing the acid with soda, but the flavor is
superior if soda is not used.
The important thing to remember in connection with
milk is its value in the diet. A reasonable amount should
be included even by those living at low cost. Sherman
tells us that " those who are able to spend 30 to 40 cents per
person per day for food are practising true economy when
they buy and use liberally the best milk obtainable, even at
a price of from 15 to 20 cents per quart." Also, "in no
other way can the food habits no$ prevailing, especially
in the cities, be so certainly and economically improved
as by a more liberal use of milk."
276 FOOD STUDY
REFERENCES
As in the previous lesson.
Journal of Home Economics. Vol. VIII, pp. 429-432. "A Study
of Condensed and Evaporated Milk."
QUESTIONS
1. What is meant by scalding milk? How can you easily tell
when it is scalded ?
2. Why is milk usually heated in a double boiler? When may
this be done over a direct flame ?
3. Would you infer that acid is present in chocolate, since
chocolate fudge is so liable to separate in cooking ? Does the separa-
tion affect the final product ?
4. What two classes of condensed milk are there ? How are they
prepared ? What do they cost ? How does this cost compare with
that of ordinary milk ?
LIX
CURD OF MILK
COTTAGE CHEESE JUNKET CUSTARD
A. Class Experiments.
THE EFFECT OF HEAT ON SOUR MILK.
1. Test milk, sour enough to have clabbered, with blue
litmus paper. Cut a little of the milk with a knife
and strain some of the whey through cheesecloth.
Save both curd and whey for comparison.
2. Boil half a cup of the milk for three minutes. Strain
through a cheesecloth and compare with the curd
obtained in (1), (3), and (4). Reserve the whey.
3. Heat half a cup of the milk in a double boiler until it
separates. Strain through a cheesecloth.
4. Pour half a cup of boiling water into half a cup of the
sour milk. Take the temperature of the mixture.
Strain the curd as before.
FOOD FOR CHILDREN 277
5. Compare the whey of unheated milk with the whey
obtained by heating, and decide why heat is used in sepa-
rating. Examine the texture of the curds and determine
the effect of great heat. Which methods of separation
should be used in making cottage cheese ?
B. PREPARE COTTAGE CHEESE.
Season and serve as a salad.
Class Experiments.
C. 1. To one fourth of a cup of milk, add half a tea-
spoon of rennin * solution. Boil, and set aside
in a mold, until cool.
2. To one fourth of a cup of lukewarm milk, add
half a teaspoon of rennin solution. When cool,
compare with (1).
D. JUNKET CUSTARD.
Make a recipe for a "Junket Custard", using choco-
late, caramel, or vanilla, as flavoring, and prepare the
custard.
FOOD FOR CHILDREN
The subject of food for children is an important one,
for the digestions of little children are easily upset.
Failure in obtaining a properly balanced diet means
failure in proper development and growth.
Certain dishes are excluded from the children's bill-of-
fare for various reasons. Coffee and tea should not be
allowed, because they are nerve stimulants. Even cocoa
as a regular drink is of questionable value, for it, too, con-
tains a stimulating principle. Hot water with milk, or
cereal coffee, will furnish hot drinks when called for, but
1 Rennin solution is made by dissolving a junket tablet in two
tablespoons of water.
278 FOOD STUDY
all children should be encouraged to drink plenty of milk.
A quart of milk a day for each child should be provided.
This does not mean that such an amount must necessarily
be drunk, because, when preferred, some of it may be
served in soup, in white sauce, or in simple puddings.
Secondly, foods containing much fat are excluded. This
means pastry, fried foods, rich cake, and rich sauces,
because they are difficult of digestion. For the same rea-
son, pork, the fat of meat, and rich fish like salmon and
mackerel, are forbidden. Spices, condiments, and strong
acids such as vinegar, are also better omitted, as are raw
foods containing much cellulose, as celery, cabbage, and
radishes.
Almost any vegetable can be given, if it is prepared
properly for the child. Little children are likely to
swallow with insufficient chewing, so carrots, parsnips,
turnips, onions, peas, beans, and corn may be difficult of
digestion for them. But these same vegetables rubbed
through a sieve and served as puree or a cream soup are
excellent. The difficulty of chewing also makes veal too
difficult of digestion. Bananas and cheese are so readily
swallowed in lumps that the form in which these are fur-
nished should be considered. The mixing of macaroni or
rice with a little cheese affords a satisfactory way in which
to serve the latter. Bananas as well as apples can be given,
even to very little children, if they are scraped or baked.
Children are especially susceptible to infection, so raw
fruits must be clean. Berries bought in market are almost
impossible to clean properly, and so are safer cooked.
Figs and dates can be washed in hot water and sterilized
in the oven.
Sugar may be given in moderate amounts, but it is much
better not to stimulate the child's taste for it. Don't
teach the baby to eat sugar. When given at all, as candy
FOOD FOR CHILDREN 279
or otherwise, it should be at the end of a meal. The
objections to its use on cereals is that the child should be
led to eat only because he is hungry, and not because he
likes the taste of a special dish. Sugar is much more apt
to be irritating when taken on an empty stomach. More-
over, when eaten last, it is less apt to interfere with the
appetite for other foods.
Many authorities say that children are better off with-
out meat until they are eight or nine years old. There is
no question that many children are given meat in too
large amounts. As Miss Hunt points out, a child of even
six to nine years of age would have sufficient protein in his
daily diet from one egg, three glasses of milk, and what he
will secure from the bread, cereals, and vegetables which
the normal child can be depended upon to eat.
Children should be trained in eating habits just as much
as in others. Many make the mistake of giving the little
child only soft, mushy foods, and then wonder that he
does not learn to chew. Crusts of bread and hard crackers
are excellent educators for children beginning to eat.
Most mothers are in a hurry and feed the child too
rapidly. The next spoonful is waiting at his lips before
he has swallowed the first. So the children learn to eat
too rapidly. The older child is too often forbidden to talk
at the table, so even that interference with rapid eating
is done away with. It is wise not to excuse children from
the table when they have finished, but to require them to
stay until the end of the meal. The child in a hurry to
return to play will eat much more rapidly if he knows he
can go when he has finished eating.
Children should be trained to like all kinds of food.
If, as little children, they are fed vegetables in purees and
soups, the difficulty which often occurs in teaching a child
to like them will be avoided. Much can be accomplished
280 FOOD STUDY
by suggestion. If the older people do not eat all kinds of
food, or if a child's dislikes are dwelt upon, difficulties will
arise. The assumption that the flavor of a food is deli-
cious and that the child will like it, will go far.
Water-drinking is another habit which may need atten-
tion. Food should not be washed down, nor should the
water be iced ; otherwise, water at meals is desirable, as is
also water between meals. Most adults drink too little
water.
Children should not eat whenever they are hungry, but
at regular times. Lunches between meals should be
provided regularly for little children. Care should be
taken that the food be of such a nature as to be digested
quickly, so as not to interfere with the following meal.
It should be of such a character as to tempt only the
hungry child to eat.
The amount of food required by children at various
stages of their growth is shown in a table in the Appendix.
The total amount is considered a minimum rather than an
outside limit. A child with a natural, unspoiled appetite,
fed simple, nourishing food, can safely be trusted not to
overeat.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 712. " School
Lunches."
U. S. Bureau of Education. Bulletin No. 403. "The Daily Meals
of School Children," by Caroline L. Hunt.
Teachers' College Bulletin. "The Feeding of Young Children,"
by Mary Swartz Rose,
Teachers' College Bulletin. "Food for School Boys and Girls,"
by Mary Swartz Rose.
QUESTIONS-
1. Plan a series of meals for three days for a child of three, of six,
and of ten.
CHEESE PUDDING 281
2. Plan five school lunches for a child of ten.
3. Sum up the principal points concerned in the feeding of children.
LX
CHEESE
CHEESE PUDDING
WELSH RABBIT
A. Class Experiments.
EFFECT OF EXTREME HEAT ON CHEESE.
1. Heat a small piece of cheese for some time in a hot
frying pan. Allow it to cool, and examine. What
two constituents do you find present? What is the
effect of extreme heat on protein ? on fat ?
2. Heat another small piece of cheese in a double
boiler (or over water). After the cheese is melted,
cool it, and compare with (1).
What precautions must be taken in cooking cheese ?
B. PREPARE CHEESE PUDDING a luncheon dish.
\ c. milk j c. bread crumbs
| egg, beaten slightly 3 tbsp. grated cheese
Salt and pepper
Bake in a buttered dish, until firm.
C. PREPARE WELSH RABBIT.
1 oz. cheese Cayenne or paprika
tsp. butter \ egg, beaten slightly
| tsp. mustard 1 tbsp. milk
\ tsp. salt 1 slice toast
Melt the cheese and butter in a double boiler, mixed
with the dry ingredients, and add the egg in the milk
282
FOOD STUDY
U.S.Dpartment of Agriculture Prepared by
Office of Experiment Stations C.FLANGWORTHY
AC.True: Director Expert in Charge of Nutrition Investigations
COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
mrm ras ^^i mrrm
Protein Pot Carbohydrate, Ash Water
WHOLE EGG EGG
WHITE AND YOLK
Water:737/
Fat:10.5
Ash-.L
FUEL VALUE OF
WHOLE EGG>
700 CALORIES
PCR POUND
|water s 86i2
r
K FVotein.-13.0
FUEL VALUE or YOLK
1608 CAU3RIES
PCR POUND
CREAM CHEESE
FUEL VALUE*
1950 CALORIES PER POUND
COTTAGE CHEESE
Waters 7Q
20.9
Carbo.
hydrates:4-.3
510 CALORIES PCR POUND
COMPOSITION OP EGGS AND CHEESE
CHEESE 283
as soon as the cheese is melted. Stir, until it thickens,
and pour over toast.
Or:
2. Make a medium white sauce and, while it is hot, stir
in grated cheese, seasoning with salt and pepper.
CHEESE
Cheese first was probably only a means of preserv-
ing milk ; now there are several hundred varieties. Like
butter, cheese was a home-made product until about
1850, while now, except for cottage cheese, almost no
family makes its own supply.
In making cheese, the milk is first allowed to "ripen "
until it is at the right stage of sourness. Sometimes lactic-
acid-forming bacteria are added to the milk in order to
hasten the souring. If the cheese is to be colored, the col-
oring material is mixed with the milk. Rennet is then
stirred into the milk. This is a ferment capable of clot-
ting milk, obtained from the lining of calves' stomachs.
When the curd has formed, it is cut into small pieces;
these are stirred and heated somewhat and piled up to
drain off as much whey as possible, and so improve the
texture of the cheese. The curd is again cut into small
pieces and salted and pressed. The salt helps to check
any further souring. The product at this stage is called
green cheese, and is lacking in flavor until it undergoes a
ripening process. For this purpose the cheese is stored
at the desired temperature for weeks or even months
until various ferments or micro-organisms, mainly bacteria,
produce the desired flavor and texture. Finally, the rind
is treated with disinfectants and painted or varnished to
protect the cheese from further action.
Cheese is of two main types, hard and soft. Almost
284 FOOD STUDY
three-fourths of the cheese used in this country is hard
cheese, of which "American Cheese" is an example. A
more accurate name for this cheese is " American Cheddar
Cheese." It is often called "New York Cream Cheese."
Milk from goats may be used in making cheese. Some
cheese is made from skimmed milk; some from whole
milk ; some even from whole milk to which cream has been
added. In "filled cheese", the cream is removed and lard
or some other fat is substituted. The sale of skimmed-
milk cheese and of filled cheese is often regulated by state
laws. Federal laws require the sale of filled cheese in
labeled packages.
Cheese is often considered difficult of digestion, but
undoubtedly part of this trouble is due to the failure to
chew it sufficiently. Moreover, cheese, which is highly
nutritious, is commonly eaten at the end of a meal and
the consequences of overeating are laid to the indiges-
tibility of cheese. Experiments conducted by Lang-
worthy show that cheese is digestible both as to ease
and completeness of digestion, there being "practically
no difference between the cheese and the meat with
respect to ease of digestion, at least in such quantities
as are commonly eaten." American cheese is, then, a
good substitute for meat, and, at ordinary prices, a cheap
source of protein.
REFERENCES
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin No. 487. " Cheese
and Its Economic Use in the Diet."
QUESTIONS
1. What does ordinary cheese cost per pound?
2. What is the average composition of such cheese ?
3. How does it compare in expense with meat as a source of pro-
tein? In total nourishment?
SALADS AND SALAD DRESSINGS 285
4. What other kinds of cheese are for sale in your markets, and
what do they cost ?
5. Give examples of hard and soft cheeses.
6. Discuss the digestibility of cheese. Give as many reasons as
possible why it is ordinarily considered somewhat indigestible.
7. In making macaroni and cheese, would it be better to sprinkle
the cheese on top, or mix it with the white sauce ? Give the reason.
8. Suggest different cheese dishes.
9. Give the essential steps in the making of cheese.
LXI
SALADS
SALAD DRESSING
A. Class Experiments. EMULSIONS.
1. Shake together a few drops of oil with a little
vinegar or water. Examine. Let stand, and
examine again. Is the emulsion permanent ?
2. (a) Shake together a few drops of oil with a little
sodium hydroxide solution, and examine after
letting it stand.
(b) Shake together a little oil with a little
vinegar and a little egg yolk, and examine after
letting it stand.
B. MAKE A MAYONNAISE DRESSING.
Use the following proportions :
tsp. mustard * f tsp. paprika
f tsp. sugar 1 tsp. vinegar
tsp. salt ^ tsp. lemon
1 egg yolk | c. oil 2
1 May be omitted entirely.
2 Olive oil or a good cottonseed oil may be used. A mixture of
equal parts of the two is satisfactory.
286 FOOD STUDY
After separating, the yolk of the egg may be rolled
about on a piece of cheesecloth, held flat in the hand, to
remove all of the white. This will give a thicker dressing.
Have the mixing bowl and the ingredients cold. In very
warm weather the bowl may be surrounded with cracked
ice. Beat the yolk until it is thick and creamy. Add
the dry ingredients, and, beating constantly, the other
ingredients in one of the two following ways :
1. Add the oil slowly, at first drop by drop, until a
good emulsion is formed. Then add the lemon and
vinegar alternately with the oil. Beat vigorously
before each addition.
2. Add the vinegar and lemon to the beaten egg ; then,
add the oil, slowly. It should not be necessary to
add it drop by drop. Beat vigorously between each
addition.
If the oil separates out, beat another yolk, and add the
separated mixture slowly, beating vigorously.
The mayonnaise may be mixed with whipped cream,
or with stiffly beaten white of egg, immediately before
serving.
C. MAKE BOILED DRESSING.
1 egg 2 tsp. sugar
f c. milk 1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. butter 1 tsp. flour
2 tbsp. vinegar f tsp. mustard *
| tsp. paprika
Mix the dry ingredients and add the vinegar. Beat the
egg slightly and add the milk. Combine the two. Which
should be poured into the other? Add the butter.
Cook as boiled custard.
1 May be omitted.
ARRANGEMENTS IN THE KITCHEN 287
If uncertain of the freshness of the milk, make without
the vinegar and cool the mixture before adding the acid.
D. SALADS.
Serve dressings on salads, using such combinations of
meat, vegetables, fruits, and nuts, as seem desirable.
Review Lesson XXX for treatment of lettuce.
Suggestions:
1. Apple and date with boiled dressing.
2. Orange, pineapple, and grape, with mayonnaise.
3. Apple, celery, and nut, with either dressing.
4. Cabbage with boiled dressing.
5. String beans with either dressing.
6. Banana with boiled dressing, sprinkled with nuts.
7. Potato salad with either dressing.
ARRANGEMENTS IN THE KITCHEN AND DINING ROOM
The older idea of a kitchen is quite different from our
modern ideal. Originally the kitchen was a living room
in which the preparation of food was carried on as one of
many industries. Therefore, when the room was in order,
everything pertaining to cooking was, as far as possible,
put out of sight. Now, the kitchen is a workshop for the
preparation of food and need be adapted only for that
use, and may show frankly the use for which it is intended.
If one pictures the going to and fro which is necessary
in the preparation of a meal, the advantage of a small
kitchen is at once obvious. The stove, sink, and table,
to save both time and steps, must be near each other.
Their relative positions, also, make a considerable dif-
ference in the steps which have to be taken. In the
preparation of a meal, food which is ready to go to the
dining room is taken from the stove, placed in serving
288 FOOD STUDY
dishes, and carried into the other room. Therefore, a
serving table should stand between the stove and the door
into the dining room. This need not be a large table ; it
may be only a shelf, even a folding shelf. It may very
conveniently be covered with galvanized iron or zinc, be-
cause then hot dishes and kettles can freely be set on it.
On the other hand, a table on which food is prepared for
cooking should stand next to the stove and near the storage
cupboard and ice-box. These need not necessarily be in
one straight line. Note the accompanying illustrations
(floor plans of kitchens).
For washing dishes, the drain boards and china closet
should be near the sink. But, obviously, water will also
be needed in mixing food, and in cooking it. The best
way, then, to bring the sink near all these is to place it
opposite the stove.
This sort of arrangement of work is called "routing" it.
Unfortunately the positions of the stove, sink, and closets
are often determined by the architect, with little or no
regard to the convenience of the worker. But thought
and ingenuity in putting up shelves and cupboards can do
much in transforming an inconvenient kitchen into at
least a more convenient one.
Nor are these larger arrangements the only ones to be
thought about. Quite as much saving of time can be
made by the proper placing of utensils and supplies.
Think where any given article is used most and keep it near
that place. For example, soap, scouring powder, silver
polish, as well as the dishpan, dish-mop, and the like are
all used in the sink. Store them so that they are within
immediate reach. Some may hang from the wall behind
the sink, or from the edge of a small shelf placed above
and a little to one side of the sink. Compare the con-
venience of this with the practice, for example, of carrying
ARRANGEMENTS IN THE KITCHEN
289
the dishpan, often every time it is used, across the kitchen
and standing it in a pantry closet.
Certain supplies should be kept near the stove, as well
II 1 1 II
Cellar
Illllll
Cupboard
Ice
Box
Sink
X /
X /
/
,-/? ,'
Table
O
O
O
Stove
Serving
Shelf
--
/V-N i
, OiningRoom Si rTablel (A
From ' You and Your Kitchen," bv Mrs. Christine t'reuerlck.
FLOOR PLAN OF A POORLY-ARRANGED KITCHEN
A. Steps taken in the preparation of a meal. B. Steps taken in
clearing away.
as spoons and other utensils to be used there. Of course,
nothing which is not used frequently should be stored in the
kitchen. Other things are better put away in cupboards
or in the pantry. If the kitchen is dusty, as when a coal
290
FOOD STUDY
range is used, open shelves may be replaced by cupboards,
or by curtained shelves protected by a window shade
which will roll up. Narrow shelves with articles only
one row deep are much more convenient than wider
^
II 1 1 1 1 1 1
C*&\\&Y'
Cs@JJclU
I
se
^
fc
ox
A V
Hoosiec
Cabinet
Drain
Sink
>-,
8 V <
o
o
o
Stove
Otain
v
>.
^
\
Servingr
Table China
1
'. /
t /
Shelf
Dining Room
fl
/'
\\
\
N
X ^
^^^
Table) \f
hi'
L
From " You and Your Kitchen," by Mrs. Christine Frederick.
FLOOR PLAN OF THE SAME KITCHEN, PROPERLY ARRANGED
shelves where the articles in front must be moved aside
to give access to those behind. Plan never to hang one
article over another on the same hook.
Apply these same principles to the arrangements of the
dining room. Evidently salt and pepper shakers, sugar
ARRANGEMENT IN THE KITCHEN
291
bowls, napkins in use, and other articles used only at the
table should be stored as near it as possible. But what
about serving dishes? If these are kept in the dining
room, they must be taken to the kitchen, filled, brought
J
\k A
>^
2
Of
^ hp
Pantcy
*^^
X
Drain
TY X
^
o
Sink
v v
8
-^
Stove
Drain
N
+*
V:
A /
i
Serving
SheJf
Table China
Oining'Room S( (fablej ; A
\ v *
x /
N. ^
X
ANOTHER WELL-ARRANGED KITCHEN
back, used, carried out, washed, and brought back again
for storage, 'only to be carried out to the kitchen again
before using. This is evidently not efficiency.
Planning of this sort is really very useful. Time studies
are often made to determine which is the quickest way of
carrying on a given process, or to see how much time is
292 FOOD STUDY
saved by a better arrangement. Noting the exact time
it takes to do a given task by one method, and then the
exact time necessary in another way, shows the difference
in the two much more accurately than a mere impression
of the difference. Surely, the ideal is not to spend one's
whole time doing housework, but to do it as quickly and
efficiently as possible, so that one may have time for the
larger things of life.
REFERENCES
Various cook books, on salads.
"The Efficient Kitchen," by Georgie Boynton Child.
"The New Housekeeping," by Christine Frederick.
QUESTIONS
1. Into what two general classes would you divide salads?
2. Which kind of salads would it be appropriate to include in
a hearty-dinner menu ?
3. What are the chief points to consider in judging a salad ?
4. What ways do you recommend for caring for celery which must
be kept for a day or two ?
5. Why is it worth while to learn to like salads ?
LXII
LUNCHEON
PREPARE AND SERVE A LUNCHEON.
Decide on the type of luncheon you wish to prepare
(formal or informal), on the number of people to be
served, and on the amount you wish to spend. How
will the season of the year and the time you can spend
in preparation affect your choice ? Plan a menu accord-
ingly. Prepare and serve.
MENU- MAKING 293
MENU-MAKING
Most of the principles of menu-making have already
been stated, but it will be useful to bring them together,
and sum up at this point. A great deal is said at the
present time about balanced meals, and many lists of
these are published. At first glance the student who
knows that a "balanced diet" furnishes a certain
number of total calories, with a certain percentage
of these from fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, and
a given amount of mineral elements, is puzzled, be-
cause these lists say nothing at all about amounts. It
must be evident, then, that such meals are not accurately
balanced in this sense. They are balanced in the sense
that they furnish all the different elements required and
in approximately the correct amounts. It is obvious that
the housekeeper who tried to balance the diet for every
member of the family would have an endless task and
would seldom accomplish her end, because the various
individuals would demand liberty to eat more or less of the
foods provided and the accurate balance would be upset at
once.
For the healthy individual no such accurate plan-
ning is necessary, but it is most important that meals be
balanced in the other sense. First, meals should be con-
sidered not individually, but in groups, meals for the day,
for the week. Decide, for example, how much meat you
intend to include in the diet of the week, and distribute it
accordingly. Some people find themselves best suited
with meat only two or three times a week ; others desire
it at least once a day, while still others prefer it in smaller
amounts even more frequently. But as meat is expensive
and too much of it is probably not good for us, the skilled
menu-maker will devise substitutes which will satisfy
294 FOOD STUDY
her family and gradually change their tastes. Remember
that the food habits of children are much more easily
changed than are those of adults.
Having selected the meat or meat substitute, begin
filling out the meal. Remember that it is wise to distrib-
ute the fat so as not to have too much of it in any one
meal as it is likely to cause digestive disturbances. In
making combinations, do not include in the same meal
dishes which furnish practically the same food principles.
Rice should be substituted for potatoes and not served
with them. Plan definitely to include vegetables and
fruits for their mineral content. If meat and nutritive
vegetables are to be served, fruits make a suitable dessert.
If the dessert, on the other hand, is rich and high in food
value, see that the vegetables are less starchy. If little
meat is provided and the whole dinner seems too light,
the meal might include a hearty soup or salad. Consider-
ing the larger grouping, we should see that the food for the
day runs evenly. If a lunch or supper is hearty, the
dinner should be lighter than usual, or vice-versa. Alter-
nate days of feast and famine do not give satisfaction.
The suitability of the food must also be taken into
account. People who work out of doors most of the time
not only need more hearty food, but can digest it better
than can those who are more closely confined and with
more sedentary habits. For the latter, as for children,
easily digested food must be provided.
Last but by no means least, remember to provide variety.
First, variety within the meal itself. Not only should the
same flavor not appear twice in a meal, as chicken broth
followed by chicken, or tomato soup followed by tomato
salad, but as much variety as possible in food combinations
should be sought. It is evident that a meal must not be
composed too largely of liquids, and the dryness or
MENU-MAKING 295
character of the food should be considered. Boiled pota-
toes are more acceptable with a meat with gravy than,
for example, with Hamburg steak. Peas and beans at the
same time not only provide about the same food elements
in the same proportions, but are too much alike. Two
creamed vegetables at once are not so pleasing as if one
were mashed or served in some other way. Variety in
flavor is important. Two strong-flavored vegetables, as
onions and turnips, are not acceptable at the same time ;
on the other hand, if only mild-flavored foods are chosen,
the whole is insipid. In food combinations, color, too,
should be taken into account. Carrots and cranberries
do not make a pleasing color harmony.
Variety also demands that the same foods prepared in
exactly the same way should not be served at successive
meals. Moreover, the same food combinations should not
be repeated too frequently. Do not always serve peas
with lamb. Bread and butter are, of course, repeated,
but there are innumerable ways of serving potatoes,
although if you lived in some families you would think that
there were but one or two at most. Left-overs may be made
to appear like a new dish, or a meal may be skipped before
serving the same article again. Some boarding-house
keepers and some housewives, as well, make the mistake
of running on a regular schedule so that it is possible to
predict the meal beforehand. This is, of course, a grave
error.
A warning should be given in regard to variety. The
variety desirable is not the serving of too many kinds of
food at one meal. Some people, and especially country
hotel-keepers, serve at one meal all the vegetables that are
to be had, and there is no variety possible for the next
meal. Pickles of various sorts, different kinds of jam
and preserves, appear all at once at each meal, and one
296 FOOD STUDY
grows as tired of them all as if one had really eaten all
the kinds, whereas one served at a time at different meals
would have meant a new attractiveness. For this reason
it is easy to tire of cafeteria or hotel meals where the food
has to be selected before eating.
REFERENCE
U.'S. Dept. of Agriculture. Office of Exp. Station. Circular 110.
"Food Customs and Diet in American Homes."
QUESTIONS
1. Why are the following menus faulty ? How would you improve
them?
(a) Split-pea soup (6) Bouillon
Roast beef Bacon and eggs
Mashed potatoes Buttered beets
Baked beans Squash
Banana salad Lettuce salad, French dressing
Plum pudding Baked apple and whipped
cream
(c) Roast lamb
Macaroni
Creamed potatoes
Boiled rice
2. Make out balanced menus for a week's meals, providing for the
use of left-overs, and introducing variety. State whether you con-
sider the meals are low, medium, or high in price.
APPENDIX
FOOD REQUIREMENTS
A. For Adults
I. Atwater and Benedict's Standard for Total Calories
for average man weighing 154 pounds.
Man sleeping requires 65 calories per hour
Man sitting at rest 100 calories per hour
Man at light muscular exercise 170 calories per hour
Man at active muscular exercise .... 290 calories per hour
Man at severe muscular exercise .... 450 calories per hour
Man at very severe muscular exercise . . . 600 calories per hour
The average woman is supposed to require eight-tenths
of the amount needed by the man. This is based on the
fact that the average woman weighs eight-tenths of the
weight of the average man.
Using the figures given above, the daily requirement
for a man of average weight with the given activity would
be as follows :
8 hours of sleep [65 cal. needed each hour] .... 520 calories
6 hours of sitting at rest 1 [100 cal. needed each hour] . 600 calories
5 hours of light exercise 2 [170 cal. needed each hour] . 850 calories
4 hours of active exercise [290 cal. needed each hour] . 1160 calories
l_hour of severe muscular exercise 3 [450 cal. each] . 450 calories
24 Total Calories needed per day 3580
1 Eating, reading, writing, etc.
2 Moderate walking, dressing, etc.
8 Chopping wood, digging ditches, etc.
297
298 FOOD STUDY
2. Atwater's Standard for Total Calories for adults
under different conditions of activity.
Man with hard muscular work 4150
Man with moderately active work 3400
Man at sedentary or woman with moderately active work . 2700
Man without exercise or woman at light to moderate work . 2450
3. Standards for Protein.
How much protein is desirable is still unsettled.
About fifteen per cent of the total calories should come
from protein, according to Atwater; twelve per cent, ac-
cording to Langworthy; eight and one-half per cent,
according to Chittenden.
Mothers* milk furnishes a little less than one-tenth of the
total calories from protein. As this is by nature intended
for the period of greatest growth, this is probably enough
for any age, provided the protein is well adapted for use
in body-building.
4. Standard for Mineral Elements.
This has not been determined so accurately as has
the total calorie requirement. It is probable that there is
a larger demand for mineral elements in proportion to the
total calorie requirement during growth than in adult life.
Calcium, iron, and phosphorus are the mineral elements
which are least likely to be present in sufficient amounts.
The requirement is usually stated as follows :
Calcium oxide [CaO] 1.0 gram
Iron [Fe] 015 gram
Phosphoric acid [P2O 6 1 2.75 grams
E. B. Forbes of the Ohio Experiment Station says :
"Generally speaking, a high ash content of the food is
desirable, since the organism is much better able to handle
an excess of ash constituents than to meet a deficiency.
APPENDIX 299
It is good practice, therefore, to utilize the water in which
foods are cooked, in so far as this can be done without
detracting from the acceptability of the food, since the
cooking water dissolves out much mineral matter. An
abundance of mineral salts in the diet is also desirable,
aside from nutritive considerations, because they con-
tribute a laxative character to the food. Foods which
are deficient in minerals are apt to be constipating.
"A general character of the mineral nutrients of foods
is the predominance of acid or basic elements. If the
nutrients are present in the proportions in which they are
needed the bases will predominate, and it is probably
best that the bases should exceed the acid elements in the
diet. It is true, however, that the organism has the ca-
pacity to neutralize a considerable excess of acids. Meat,
eggs, and cereals have acid ash; vegetables, milk, and
most fruits have alkaline ash. The latter group should
be liberally represented in the diet."
Foods High in Calcium
Milk and cheese [both especially rich], eggs, vegetables,
fruits, hard water.
Foods High in Iron
Beef, eggs, beans, peas, and other green vegetables
[especially spinach], raisins, figs, dates, prunes.
Foods High in Phosphorus
Milk and cheese, eggs, nuts, vegetables [especially peas
and beans], cereal products with outer seed coats.
300
FOOD STUDY
TABLE OF HEIGHT AND WEIGHT
A. For Men
Symonds's Table of Height and Weight for Men at Different Ages.
Based on 74,162 accepted Applicants for Life Insurance.
(Medical Record, Sept. 5, 1908.)
Ages.
15-24
26-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
DO Df
5 ft. in.
120
125
128
131
133
134
134
134
131
1 in.
122
126
129
131
134
136
136
136
134
2 in.
124
128
131
133
136
138
138
138
137
3 in.
127
131
134
136
139
141
141
141
140
140
4 in.
131
135
138
140
143
144
145
145
144
143
Sin.
134
138
141
143
146
147
149
149
148
147
Gin.
138
142
145
147
150
151
153
153
153
151
7 in.
142
147
150
152
155
156
158
158
158
156
Sin.
146
151
154
159
160
161
163
163
163
162
9 in.
150
155
159
162
165
166
167
168
168
168
10 in.
154
159
164
167
170
171
172
173
174
174
11 in.
159
164
169
173
175
177
177
178
180
180
6 ft. in.
165
170
175
179
180
183
182
183
185
185
lin.
170
177
181
185
186
189
188
189
189
189
2 in.
176
184
188
192
194
196
194
194
192
192
Sin.
181
190
195
200
203
204
201
198
B. For Women
Symonds's Table of Height and Weight for Women at Different Ages.
Based on 58,855 accepted Applicants for Life Insurance.
(McClure's Magazine, Jan. 1909.)
Aw>s
1519
20-24
25-29
'30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55 59
60 64
Ages.
DU O*
4ft. 11 in.
111
113
115
117
119
122
125
128
128
126
5ft. Oin.
113
114
117
119
122
125
128
130
131
129
lin.
115
116
118
121
124
128
131
133
134
132
2 in.
117
118
120
123
127
132
134
137
137
136
3m,
120
122
124
127
131
135
138
141
141
140
4 in.
123
125
127
130
134
138
142
145
145
144
5 in.
125
128
131
135
139
143
147
149
149
148
6 in.
128
132
135
137-
143
146
151
153
153
152
7 in.
132
135
139
143
147
150
154
157
156
155
Sin.
136
140
143
147
151
155
158
161
161
160
9 in.
140
144
147
151
155
159
163
166
166
165
10 in.
144
147
151
155
159
163
167
170
170
169
APPENDIX
C. For Children
301
AGE
CALORIES PER POUND OF
BODY WEIGHT
CALORIES PER DAT
1-2
45-40
900-1200
2-5
40-35
1200-1500
6-9
35-30
1500-1800
10-13
30-25
1800-2200
14-17
25-20
2200-3000
D. For Children
Sill's Table of Weights of Children from Birth to the Fifth Year.
(New York Medical Journal, January, 1911.)
From Tables by Koplik.
AGE WEIGHT
At birth 7.5
6 months ...'.* 15.0
1 year 21.0
30.3
29.2
. 34.9
33.1
fboys 37.9
4years |girls 36.3
302
FOOD STUDY
D. For Children (Continued)
II
Average Weight and Height of Boys at Different Ages.
[Ninth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education,
Part I, 1910, Health and Education.]
Ht
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
in.
yrs.
yrs.
yrs.
yre.
yrs.
yrs.
yrs.
yrs.
yrs.
yrs.
yrs.
yrs.
yre.
yrs.
yre.
yre.
39
35
40
38
36
41
39
39
42
41
41
43
42
42
42
44
46
44
43
45
46
46
45
46
48
48
48
47
49
50
50
48
54
53
53
53
49
54
55
55
50
57
58
58
51
59
60
60
61
52
62
62
61
63
53
62
65
65
67
67
67
54
65
68
68
70
71
71
55
69
71
75
75
76
56
71
77
76
78
79
79
57
77
79
80
82
82
58
78
84
85
86
87
59
84
86
90
91
60
85
91
94
95
90
61
98
97
99
96
62
99
103
106
104
104
63
100
107
112
112
110
118
64
114
118
120
117
120
120
65
122
119
122
122
120
126
125
66
121
125
125
126
129
139
67
128
129
128
131
134
132
68
133
133
130
136
136
136
69
134
136
139
139
139
139
70
136
140
143
143
144
145
71
140
146
146
146
164
72
149
154
73
165
APPENDIX
303
D. For Children (Continued)
III
Table of Weight and Height of Girls at Different Ages.
[Ninth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education,
Part I, 1910.]
Ht
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
in.
yrs
yra.
yrs.
yra.
yrs.
yrs.
yra.
yrs.
yra.
yrs.
yra.
yra.
yra.
yra.
yra.
yra.
39
34
40
37
35
41
38
37
42
41
39
39
43
41
41
42
44
45
43
44
42
45
45
45
45
46
48
47
47
47
50
49
49
48
51
51
49
53
53
54
50
56
56
57
51
59
58
60
52
63
62
62
63
53
64
63
66
65
54
69
68
69
68
55
70
71
73
56
75
75
76
78
57
78
80
83
58
83
86
88
89
59
88
94
93
97
100
60
94
99
96
100
104
109
103
99
99
61
104
100
102
109
109
106
105
111
62
104
106
111
110
107
111
114
63
107
109
116
110
112
113
114
64
112
118
116
117
114
119
115
65
114
118
121
125
120
123
125
TABLE OF FUEL VALUES
The approximate weight in ounces and the exact weight
in grams of the amount of each food necessary to furnish
100 calories of heat are shown in the following tables, as
well as the number of these calories which come from pro-
tein.
If it is desired to add other foods to the list, divide the
number of calories furnished by a pound l of the food into
1600 to find the number of ounces, into 45,364 to find the
number of grams. To find the number of calories from
protein, multiply the weight in grams of the 100-calorie
portion by the per cent 2 of protein in the food, and then
multiply by 4.
In the table, A. P. means "As Purchased" ; E. P. means
"Edible Portion."
WEIGHT OP 100-CALOBiE
APPROXIMATE
NAME OF FOOD
PORTION
NUMBER OF
CALORIES FROM
Oz. (approx.)
Grams
PROTEIN
Berries
Blackberries ....
6
171
9
Blueberries ....
4*
131
3
Cranberries ....
71
215
3
Currants
6
175
10
Raspberries ....
6
164
7
Strawberries ....
9
256
10
One cup of berries weighs about 5| oz.
1 See U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Office of Experiment Station.
Bulletin No. 28. "Chemical Composition of American Food
Materials."
2 If exact results are desired, re-calculate the fuel value per
pound, using factors 4, 4, 9, instead of 4.1, 4.1, and 9.3 used in
Bulletin.
304
APPENDIX
305
NAME OF FOOD
WEIGHT OF 100-CALORis
PORTION
APPROXIMATE
NUMBER OF
CALORIES FROM
PROTEIN
Oz. (approx.)
Grams
Biscuits (see also Crackers)
Beaten
Rolls, white (water)
I
H
21
36
10
13
One medium-sized roll weighs about 2 oz.
One large sweet roll weighs about 2? oz.
Graham
Rye
White
One thin slice of home-made bread weighs about 1 oz.
One thin slice of bakers' bread weighs about oz.
One slice Boston brown bread weighs about 2 oz.
3 also muffins)
Brown . . .
i
li
H
H
43
38
39
9
14
14
* 2
u
38
14
^heat . . .
x 2
H
41
16
Butter (see Fats)
Cereals (see also Bread)
Corn Meal ....
28
10.5
Corn Flakes ....
28
11
Cornstarch ....
28
Farina
28
12
Flour, Graham . . .
28
13
Flour, Rye . . . .
29
8
Flour, White .
28
12
Flour, Whole Wheat .
27
15
Hominy, cooked
1
28
9
Macaroni, uncooked .
1
28
15
Oatmeal, Rolled Oats .
1
28
16
Rice, uncooked . . .
1
29
9
Shredded Wheat . .
1
27
12
Tapioca
1
28
Wheat, Cracked . .
1
28
12
One cup of corn meal weighs about 5 oz.
One tablespoon of corn starch weighs about \ oz.
One cup of cereal weighs about 8 oz.
One shredded wheat biscuit weighs about 1 oz.
One cup of white flour weighs about 4 oz.
One tablespoon of white flour weighs about 1 oz.
306
FOOD STUDY
WEIGHT OF IOO-CALORIE
APPROXIMATE
NAME OF FOOD
PORTION
NUMBER OF
Oz. (approx.)
Grams
PROTEIN
Cheese
Cheddar .... .:
I
22
24
Cottage . . . . .;
si
91
76
One and one-half inch cube of cheese weighs about 1 oz.
One tablespoon of grated cheese weighs about f oz.
Crackers
Graham
Oyster
Saltines
Soda
Water
(see Sweets)
) Sweets)
I
4
24
24
10
11
. . . . .
3
23
24
10
10
25
12
Four square wafers weigh about 1 oz.
Cream (see Milk)
Desserts (see Sweets)
Eggs
Whole E.P. . .
White
2J
7
68
196
36
97
Yolk
1
28
17
One egg without shell weighs about If oz.
One egg white weighs about 1 oz.
One egg yolk weighs about oz.
Fats (see Oil)
Butter . .
i
13
0.5
Cottolene
Lard
i
I
11
11
Oleomargarine . . .
Salt pork
2
i
i
13
13
0.5
1
One tablespoon of butter weighs about
One pat of butter weighs about oz.
One cup of butter weighs about 8 oz.
oz.
APPENDIX
307
NAME OF FOOD
WEIGHT OP IOO-CALORIE
PORTION
APPROXIMATE
NUMBER OF
CALORIES FROM
PROTEIN
Oz. (approx.)
Grama
Fish
Blue, E.P. .....
4
113
88
Butter, E.P
2
59
42
Cod, fresh, dressed . .
7!
216
96
Cod, salt, E.P. . . .
3*
126
97
Halibut, Steak, E.P. .
3
82
61
Herring, smoked .
u
35
51
Lobster, canned . .
4*
119
86
Oysters, E.P. ...
7
198
49
Salmon, dressed, E.P. .
H
49
43
Sardines .....
if
37
34
Whitefish . . . . .
2i
67
61
One serving of halibut or whitefish weighs about 3 oz.
One cup of oysters weighs about 6 oz.
Flour (see Cereals)
Fruits (see also Berries)
Apples, A.P
Apples, dried . . .
Apricots, A.P.
7*
H
6i
212
34
184
3
3
g
Bananas, E.P. . . .
Cherries, fresh, E.P. .
Cherries, candied . .
Cherries, canned . .
Currants, fresh, A.P. .
Currants, dried . . .
Dates, A.P. . .
31
4|
1
4
6i
1
1J
101
128
29
112
175
31
32
5
9
0.5
5
11
3
3
Figs, dried ... .
Grapes, A.P
u
5
32
138
5
5
Grape Juice ....
Grape Fruit ....
Lemons, A.P. ' ' . .
Lemons, E.P. . .
3*
8
Hi
8
100
220
324
226
7
9
9
Muskmelons ....
Olives, A.P
18
11
510
46
6
2
Oranges, A.P. ...
Oranges, E.P. . .. .
Peaches, A.P. ...
Peaches, canned . .
Pears, A.P. . . . ; .
9*
7
101
7*
fti
268
195
297
213
177
6
6
7
6
4
308
FOOD STUDY
NAME OP FOOD
WEIGHT OP IOO-CALORIE
PORTION
APPROXIMATE
NUMBER OP
CALORIES FROM
PROTEIN
Oz. (approx.)
Grams
Fruits (see also Berries)
Pears, canned . . .
Pineapples, E.P. . .
Pineapples, canned . .
Plums
5
81
21
4
11
11
l
151
28i
132
232
65
118
39
32
29
433
800
2
4
1
5
3
3
3
3
5
Prunes, dried, A.P.
Raisins, A.P
Raisins, E.P. . .
Rhubarb, E.P. . . .
Watermelons, A.P. . .
One medium-sized apple weighs about 5 oz.
One large banana weighs about 5 oz.
Three dates weigh about 1 oz.
One fig weighs about 1 oa.
Five olives weigh about 1 oz.
One large orange weighs about 6 oz.
One medium-sized peach weighs about 4 oz.
Three prunes weigh about 1 oz.
One cup of raisins weighs about 4 oz.
Meats
*fl
*w
Bacon, smoked . . .
i
16
7
Beef, corned . .
If
34
21
Beef, dried ....
2
56
67
Beef, Heart ....
U
39
25
Beef, Liver ....
3|
78
64
Beef, Porterhouse Steak
U
37
32
Beef, Roast ....
1
29
26
Beef, Round, lean . .
21
64
55
Beef, Sirloin ....
11
41
31
Beef, Sweetbreads .
2
57
38
Beef, Tenderloin . .
11
35
23
Beef, Tongue, E.P.
21
63
48
Chicken (broilers), E.P.
3i
93
80
Fowl, E. P
ii
45
35
Ham, fresh, medium fat
i
31
19
Ham, smoked, medium
fat
i-i
24
16
Ham, deviled . . .
i
26
20
APPENDIX
309
NAME OF FOOD
WEIGHT OF 100-CALOKiE
PORTION
APPROXIMATE
NUMBER OF
CALORIES FROM
PROTEIN
Oz. (approx.)
drams
Meats
Lamb, Chops, broiled,
E.P
1
28
24
Lamb, Leg, medium fat,
E.P
If
44
34
Mutton, Leg, medium
fat, E.P. . . .
If
41
32
Pork, Chops, medium
fat, E.P
U
34
22
Pork, Tenderloin . .
If
52
39
Sausage, Pork . . .
f
22
12
Sausage, Pork and Beef
11
35
17
Sausage, Wienerwurst .
11
32
36
Turkey, E.P. ...
H
34
29
Veal, Cutlet, E.P. . .
21
66
13
Veal, Leg, medium fat,
E.P
2J
62
50
Two slices of broiled bacon weigh about i oz.
One serving of meat weighs about 3-4 oz.
Milk
Buttermilk ....
9i
280
30
Condensed, sweetened .
1
31
11
Condensed,
unsweetened . .
2
59
23
Cream, thin ....
11
51
5
Cream, thick . . ..
1
26
2
Skimmed .....
9*
273
37
Whey
131
375
15
Whole .
LKJ I
5
145
19
One cup ( pint) of milk weighs about 8? oz.
One cup of cream weighs about 8 oz.
One tablespoon of whipped cream weighs about
Molasses (see Sweets)
Muffins (see Biscuits)
Nuts
Almonds, shelled
Butternuts, E.P. ,
Chestnuts, E.P.
oz.
i
15
13
i
15
17
M
41
10
310
FOOD STUDY
WEIGHT OF IOO-CALORIE
APPROXIMATE
NAME OP FOOD
PORTION
NUMBER OF
CALORIES FROM
Oz. (approx.)
Grams
PROTEIN
Nuts
Cocoanut, fresh . .
I
17
4
Cocoanut, prepared
i
15
4
Peanuts, E.P. ...
f
18
19
Walnuts, California,
E.P.
*
14
10
One cup of shelled nuts weighs about 5-5 oz.
Oil, Olive ..... | \ I 11
One tablespoon of oil weighs about J oz.
Pies (see Sweets)
Puddings (see Sweets)
Rolls (see Biscuits)
Soups, canned
Celery, Cream of . . 6 187
Corn, Cream of ... 3 102
Pea, Cream of ... 7 196
Tomato 9 225
Vegetable 26 735
Sweets
Cake, Chocolate layer . 1 28
Cake, Frosted ... 1 27
Cake, Fruit .... 1 27
Cake, Gingerbread . . 1 27
Cake, Sponge ... 1 25
Chocolate .... % 16
Cocoa | 20
Doughnuts .... | 23
Fig bars 1 28
Gingersnaps .... 25
Honey ...... 1 31
Macaroons .... 1 24
Marmalade, Orange . 1 29
Molasses 1J 35
Pie, Apple .... 1J 37
Pie, Custard .... 2 56
Pie, Lemon .... \\ 39
Pie, Mince .... If 35
Pie, Squash .... 2 56
APPENDIX
311
NAME OF FOOD
WEIGHT OF IOO-CALORIE
PORTION
APPROXIMATE
NUMBER OF
CALORIES FROM
PROTEIN
Oz. (approx.)l
Grams
Sweets
Pudding, Apple Tapioca
Pudding, Cornstarch .
Pudding, Lemon Jelly .
Pudding, Rice . . .
Sugrar
3
li
3
2
1
1
1
82
45
78
51
25
23
23
1
12
5
12
6
Syrup, Maple .
Vanilla Wafers .
One square of chocolate weighs about 1 oz.
One tbsp. of cocoa weighs about i oz.
One medium-sized doughnut weighs about 1
One tbsp. of honey weighs about 1 oz.
One cup of molasses weighs about 11 oz.
One serving of pie weighs about 5 oz.
One lump of sugar weighs about ? oz.
One tbsp. of sugar weighs about oz.
One cup of sugar weighs about 7| oz.
One cup of maple syrup weighs about 11 oz.
oz.
Vegetables
Asparagus, fresh, E.P.
16
450
33
Asparagus, cooked,
E.P
71
213
18
Beans, baked, canned
* 2
21
78
21
Beans, dried ....
1
29
26
Beans, Lima, canned .
4*
130
21
Beans, String, canned
171
488
22
Beans, String, fresh
8
241
22
Cabbage, E.P. .
m
317
20
Carrots, E.P. . . .
71
221
10
Cauliflower, E.P. . .
11*
328
24
Celery, E.P
19
540
24
Corn, canned . *
3*
102
12
Corn, green, E.P. . .
3*
99
12
Cucumbers , ,
20i
575
18
Egg plant
14J
358
17
Lettuce .....
18|
524
25
Mushrooms . .
71
223
31
Onions .....
n
205
13
Parsnips .....
5*
154
10
312
FOOD STUDY
NAME OF FOOD
WEIGHT OF IOO-CALORIE
PORTION
APPROXIMATE
NUMBER OF
CALORIES FROM
PROTEIN
Oz. (approx.)
Grams
Vegetables
Peas, canned . . . .
Peas, fresh ....
Potatoes, Chips . .
Potatoes, Sweet, E.P.
Potatoes, White, E.P.
Pumpkins, E.P. . . .
Radishes, E.P. . . .
61
3|
i
21
4*
13|
12
14f
7!
15*
15i
9
181
100
17
81
120
389
341
416
217
439
443
254
26
28
5
6
11
16
18
35
12
16
21
13
Spinach
Squash, E.P
Tomatoes, fresh . .
Tomatoes, canned . .
Turnips, E.P. . . ,
One-half pint of baked beans weighs about 7j oz.
One serving of most vegetables weighs about three to four
ounces.
One serving of celery, lettuce, or radishes weighs about
one ounoe.
SUPPLEMENTARY LABORATORY LESSONS
I. Dried fruit. Baked bananas. Baked apples.
II. Peach butter. Canned tomatoes.
III. Apple and mint jelly.
IV. Chili sauce. Mustard pickles.
V. Spiced prunes. Watermelon-rind pickle.
VI. Potatoes in the half shell.
VII. Marguerite salad. Shirred eggs.
VIII. Scrambled eggs with or without milk.
IX. Date tapioca. Chocolate tapioca.
X. Turkish Pilaf . Compote of rice and pears.
XI. Tapioca cream. Brown-bread brewis.
XII. Iced tea. Cinnamon crackers.
XIII. Fruit punch. Percolated and drip coffee.
XIV. Iced cocoa or cocoa shake.
XV. Frappe. Apricot ice.
XXIV. Potatoes au gratin. Creamed eggs.
XXV. Rice croquettes. Egg cutlets.
XXVI. Baked macaroni and cheese.
XXVII. Creamed celery.
XXIX. Cauliflower.
XXX. Brussels sprouts. Kale.
XXXIII. Cannelon of beef, or beef loaf.
XXXIV. Breaded chops. Franconia potatoes.
XXXV. Swiss steak. Braised beef.
XXXVII. Noodles. Beef tea.
313
314
FOOD STUDY
XXXVIII. Irish moss. Agar-agar. Jellied meat.
Double mold.
XLI. Fried smelts. Creamed codfish. Finnan
haddie. Planked fish.
XLII. Scalloped oysters. Panned oysters. Oysters
with bacon.
XLIV. Cream puffs. Fruit puffs.
XLV. Celery fritters. Timbale cases.
XLVI. Waffles. Johnny cake.
XLVII. Hot-water sponge cake. Angel cake.
XLVIII. Date muffins. Sally Lunn. Boston brown
bread.
XLIX. Chocolate cake. White cake. Gold cake.
Boiled frosting.
L. Dutch apple cake. Cinnamon roly-poly.
LI. Hermits, or other drop cookies.
LII. Raisin bread. Nut bread. Baking-powder
nut bread.
LIII. Finger rolls. Swedish tea ring, etc.
LIV. Custard pie. Lemon cream pie. Fruit tarts.
LV. Raised doughnuts. Sour-milk doughnuts.
LVL Mousse. Parfait.
LVII. Frozen pudding. Spanish cream.
LIX. Cottage cheese and walnut sandwich.
Maids of Honor.
LX. Cheese balls. Cheese fondu. Cheese
straws.
INDEX
INDEX
ACETYLENE, 102.
Agar-agar, 193.
Albumin, 183, 274.
in meat, 170.
Alcohol, grain, 102, 246, 250.
wood, 102.
Apple, coddled, 2.
fritters, 220.
jelly, 13.
sauce, 2.
tapioca, 57.
BABY-FEEDING, 274.
Bacon, broiled, 119.
fat, 261.
Bacteria, 21-24, 25-29, 247, 248.
in meat, 181, 182.
in milk, 266, 270-271, 275.
Baking, 219.
Baking powder, 226-229, 237-
239.
and soda, 229.
Baking powder biscuit, 237-239,
253.
Beef, 171.
broth, 189.
chipped, 130.
cuts of, 177.
roast, 175.
steak, 176.
stew, 180.
tea, 189-191.
Bread, 244-253.
bakers', 253.
baking, 250.
composition of, 251.
digestibility of, 252.
graham, 250.
kneading of, 245, 246-247.
mixing, 245-248.
oatmeal, 250.
score card for, 252.
spoon bread, 183.
Breakfast foods, buying, 55.
classification of, 54.
cooking of, 51, 55.
cost, 54, 62-63.
crisping of, 62.
Breakfasts, 67, 122.
Butter, 260, 261, 262-266.
butterine, 265.
digestibility of, 261.
in cake, 236.
making, 263.
oleomargarine, 265.
rancidity, 264-265.
Butterine, 265.
Buttermilk, 265-266.
CAKE, 227, 233, 235-236, 255.
making, 235-236, 255.
plain, 233.
sponge cake, 227.
Calories, 53, 153-157, 304-312.
317
318
INDEX
Candies, 162-163.
Canning, 7, 8, 12.
Carbohydrates, 163-167.
caloric value, 154.
See also CELLULOSE, PECTIN,
STARCH, SUGARS.
Carrots, creamed, 139.
Casein, 274.
Cellulose, 15, 34, 37, 63-64, 133,
278.
Cereals :
composition of, 52, 54.
corn meal, 232.
corn pudding, 176.
Indian pudding, 62.
mineral elements in, 299.
mush, fried, 123.
rice, boiled and steamed, 57.
rice pudding, 62.
spoon bread, 183.
See also BREAKFAST FOODS.
Cheese, composition of, 282.
cottage cheese, 277.
digestibility of, 284.
effect of extreme heat on, 281.
manufacture, 283.
mineral elements in, 299.
pudding, 281.
souffle, 132.
wafers, 79.
Welsh rabbit, 281.
Chicken, 198-201.
Children, food for, 277-280.
foods bad for, 277-279.
food requirements for, 280,
301.
habits of drinking, 280.
habits of eating, 279.
Chocolate, 84-85, 236.
sauce, 135.
,Coal, 100.
Cocoa, chocolate and, 83-85.
composition of, 85.
effects of, 85.
for children, 277.
making, 83.
Coffee, 79-82.
buying, 81.
composition of, 81.
effects of, 81-82.
for children, 277.
making, 79.
Combustion, 98-103.
Condiments, 86-89, 278.
Cookies, gingersnaps, 241.
oatmeal, 83.
sugar, 241.
See also WAFERS.
Cornstarch, manufacture of,
136-138.
mold, 135.
thickening power of, 135.
Cream, 262.
whipped cream pudding, 263.
Cream soups, 142, 261.
Croquettes, 132.
Croutons, 142.
Cucumber pickles, 20.
Custard, baked, 267.
boiled, 267.
frozen, 268.
junket, 277.
DINING ROOM, 214-216, 287-292.
Dinners, 194, 213.
Doughnuts, 258.
Drafts, 104-107.
Dumplings, 180.
EGGS, 47-50.
boiled, 40-41.
buying, 48.
INDEX
319
Eggs Continued
composition of, 47-48, 262,
282.
cooking temperature of egg
white, 40.
cost, 48.
digestibility, 49-50.
fat in, 262.
freshness, 39, 48.
milk and, 267.
mineral elements in, 299.
omelets, 122-123.
poached, 46-47.
preservation of, 49.
scrambled, 115.
solubility of egg white, 46.
stuffed, 41.
tests for freshness of, 39.
Electricity, 103.
Energy, 153, 154.
total daily requirements, 154-
155, 280, 297-299, 301.
Extractions, 170.
Extracts, 89.
FAT, caloric value, 154.
clarification of, 258.
composition of foods rich in,
259.
cost, 261.
digestibility of, 260, 261, 274.
emulsions of, 285.
in butter, 262-266.
in eggs, 262.
in meat, 170.
in milk, 268, 270, 274.
in pastry, 254, 256.
Fireless cookers, 116-117, 149.
Fish, baked, 202.
boiled, with egg sauce, 203.
buying, 205-206.
chowder, 208.
composition of, 203-205.
croquettes, 132.
digestibility, 206.
effect of different ways of
boiling, 203.
scalloped, 203.
Flies, 24.
Flour, bread, 130-131, 133-134,
234-235.
composition of, 133.
kinds of, 231-232.
graham, 231.
mixtures, 217-219.
manufacture of, 130-131, 133-
134.
pastry, 234-235, 255-256.
rye, 232.
weight of, 231.
white wheat, 231-232.
Food, daily amount necessary,
152-157, 280, 297, 299,
301.
composition of, 155-157.
cost of, 157.
for children, 277-280, 301.
fuel value of, 155-157, 304-
312.
lacking in mineral elements,
152.
laxative effect of food, 5, 64.
mineral elements in, 152, 299.
preservation, 20, 28, 29, 270.
Freezing, 90-94.
See also under ICE, ICE CREAM,
SHERBET.
Fritters, apple, 220.
Frostings, 234.
Fruit peel, candied, 95.
Fruit, buying, 3, 6.
canning, 7, 8, 12.
320
INDEX
Fruit Continued
composition of, 3, 14-16.
cooking of, 2.
cost of, 3, 6.
digestibility of, 5.
for children, 278.
laxative effect of, 5.
mineral elements in, 5, 152,
299.
nutritive value, 4, 5.
pickling of, 20, 25.
spoiling of, 1, 7, 8-12.
Fuel value of food. See FOOD,
FUEL VALUE OF.
Fuels, 98-103.
acetylene, 102.
alcohols, 102.
coal, 100.
gas, 101-102.
gasolene, 102.
in body, 153.
kerosene, 101.
GARBAGE, 24.
Gas, 101-102.
Gas stoves, 109-113, 117.
Gasolene, 102.
Gelatine, 191-194.
Bavarian cream, 192.
from meat proteins, 170.
in soups, 189.
Irish moss, 194.
jellied prunes, 213.
lemon jelly, 192.
snow pudding, 192.
Spanish cream, 195.
vegetable, 193-194.
Gingerbread, 238, 261.
Gingersnaps, 241.
Gluten, 130-131, 185, 246-247.
Greens, cooking of, 151.
Griddlecakes, sour milk, 224.
sweet milk, 226-227.
HEAT, conduction of, 115.
convection of, 115.
radiation of, 114.
Height and weight, 300-303.
of boys, 302.
of children, 301.
of girls, 303.
of men, 300.
of women, 300.
Hot-water systems, 119-120.
Hundred-calorie portions, 157,
304-312.
ICE, lemon, 91.
Ice cream, frozen custard, 268.
Philadelphia, 263.
JELLY, covering, 17.
apple, 13.
grape, 13.
making, 15, 19.
principles of making, 15-18.
prunes, 213-214.
repeated extractions for, 17,
19.
storing, 18.
sugar in, 16, 19.
Jellying, tests for, 13.
KEROSENE, 101.
Kitchen arrangements, 287-292.
Kitchen ware, selection of, 120-
121.
LABORATORY LESSONS, supple-
mentary, 313-314.
Lamb, 172-173.
Leavening, ah*, 221, 256.
INDEX
321
Leavening Continued
baking powder, 226, 228-229.
carbon dioxide, 221.
in cake, 236.
in pastry, 256.
principles of, 220.
soda, 222-225.
water vapor, 221, 256.
yeast, 221, 240-243, 246, 247,
248.
Luncheon, 292.
MACARONI, 131, 136.
Marguerites, 95.
Marshmallow wafers, 74.
Meals, balanced, 293.
See also MENU-MAKING.
Meat, beef, 171.
beef, chipped, 130.
beef, cuts of, 177.
beef, mineral elements in, 299.
beef, roast, 175.
beef stew, 180.
beefsteak, 176.
beef tea, 189-191.
broth, 189.
buying, 171.
care of, 174.
chicken, 198-201.
composition of, 169-170.
consumption of, 181, 187.
cooking of, 175-176, 179-180.
cuts of, 171-174, 176-178.
dangers from, 181-182.
digestibility of, 201-202.
extract, 189-191.
for children, 279.
inspection, 181-182.
in the dietary, 293-294.
juice, 190.
lamb, 172-173.
left-overs, 183.
left from soup, 191.
meat cakes, 168.
mutton, 172-173.
pork, 173.
poultry, 200-201.
soups, 188-191.
structure, 168-170.
veal, 171-172.
Menu-making, 293.
Meters, gas, 111-112.
Micro-organisms, bacteria, 21-
24, 181, 182, 247, 248, 270-
271.
conditions favoring growth,
25-29.
molds, 8-12, 25-29.
yeasts, 21-24, 25-29, 221,
240-243, 246, 247, 248,
253.
Milk, acids and, 272-275.
boiling, 275.
buttermilk, 265-266.
certified, 271.
composition of, 268-269.
dangers from, 270-271.
effect of heat on curd, 276.
eggs and, 267.
fat in, 274.
for children, 278.
mineral elements in, 274-
275, 299.
pasteurized, 271.
proteins in, 274.
sour, uses of, 277.
souring of, 275.
value in diet, 275.
Mineral elements :
acidity and alkalinity, 66.
daily requirement of, 157,
298-299.
322
INDEX
Mineral elements Continued
foods lacking in, 152.
in cereals, 299.
in cheese, 299.
in eggs, 299.
in foods, 152, 299.
in fruits, 5, 152, 299.
in milk, 274-275, 299.
in nuts, 299.
in potatoes, 37.
in vegetables, 146, 149, 152,
299.
in water, 299.
use of, in body, 65.
Molasses, 225.
Molds, 8-12, 25-29.
Muffins, 230.
Mush, fried, 123.
Mutton, 172-173.
Myosin, 170.
NUTS, composition of, 184.
mineral elements in, 299.
OILS, 258-261.
Oleomargarine, 265.
Omelets, 122-123.
Oysters, 207-212.
composition of, 209.
cooking of, 207.
cultivation of, 210-211.
stew, 207.
PASTRY, 254-256.
digestibility of, 256.
Peaches, sweet pickled, 25.
canned, 7.
Peas, creamed, 139.
Pectin, 13, 15, 19-20.
Pickles, cucumber, 20.
sweet pickled peaches, 25.
Pies, apple, 255.
Pop-overs, 216-217, 221.
Pork, 173.
Potatoes, boiled, 30-31.
buying of, 36.
composition of, 31, 33, 35.
digestibility, 37.
mashed, 31.
mineral elements in, 34, 37.
preparation for the table, 36,
37.
salad, 119.
scalloped, 98.
stuffed, 104.
sweet, 38.
Poultry, 200-201.
Preservatives, 20, 28-29, 270.
Pressure cooker, 41.
Protein, 34, 152, 183-187.
calorie value, 154.
daily requirement, 155, 186-
187, 298.
in meat, 170.
in milk, 274.
Pudding, cheese, 281.
chocolate bread, 108.
corn pudding, 176.
Indian pudding, 62.
rice, 62.
rice, boiled, 57.
whipped cream, 263.
RECEPTIONS, 95-97.
Refrigerators, 117.
Rice, boiled and steamed, 57.
Rice pudding, 62.
Rolls, Parker House, 249.
SACCHARIN, 166.
Salads, 287.
potato, 119.
INDEX
323
Salad dressings, boiled, 286.
French, 151.
mayonnaise, 285-286.
sour cream, 151.
Sandwiches, 96.
Sauce, chocolate, 135.
egg, 203.
fat in, 268.
tomato, 136.
white, 129, 132, 142.
Serving, 195-198.
Sherbet, lemon, 91.
lemon milk, 273.
Soda, 222-225.
baking powder and, 229.
cream of tartar and, 229.
molasses and, 225.
sour milk and, 189.
Souffle, cheese, 132.
Soup, beef broth, 189.
beef tea, 189-191.
chowder, 208.
cream of celery, 142.
cream of onion, 146.
cream of potato, 142.
cream of tomato, 273.
gelatine in, 189.
principle of cream soup, 142.
split pea, 195.
tomato, 213.
Sour milk, 223-224, 229.
effect of heat on, 276.
griddlecakes, 224.
Sponge cake, 227.
Spoon bread, 183.
Starch, 56, 57-61, 64, 128-129.
cooking of, 59.
cornstarch, 135.
digestion of, 59-60.
effect of moist heat on, 139.
manufacture of, 57.
mixing with liquids, 137.
tapioca, 56.
Stoves, coal, 105-107.
fireless cookers, 116-117.
gas, 109-113, 117.
Sugar, 165-166, 278.
beet, 160-161.
candies, 162-163, 278.
cane, 160-161.
composition of foods contain-
ing sugar, 164.
crystallization of, 163.
digestion of, 161, 166.
in baby-feeding, 274, 278.
in cake, 236.
in milk, 274.
manufacture of, 160-161.
stages in sugar cooking, 162.
test for, 159.
Syrup, 123.
TABLE-MANNERS, 123-128.
Table-setting, 67-72.
Tapioca, apple, 57.
Tea, black, 75, 77, 88.
composition, 77.
effects of, 78, 81-88, 277.
green, 74, 77, 88.
making, 75, 77.
Thermos bottles, 117.
Tomato, sauce, 136.
soup, 213.
soup, cream of, 273.
VEALS, 171-172.
Vegetables, beets, 159.
buying, 147.
cabbage, scalloped, 142.
. canned, 140-141.
carrots, 139.
classification of, 143-145.
324
INDEX
Vegetables Continued
composition of, 144.
cooking, 146, 149, 158-159.
corn pudding, 176.
for children, 278.
freshening, 147, 149-150.
green vegetables, 149-151.
in fireless cooker, 149.
lettuce, 150-151.
mild flavored, 158-159.
mineral elements in, 146, 149,
152, 299.
onions, scalloped, 142.
peas, creamed, 139.
spinach, 151.
squash, 158-159.
strong flavored, 146, 149.
turnips, creamed, 168.
Vegetarianism, 186-187.
WAFERS, cheese, 79.
Marguerites, 95.
marshmallow, 74.
Water, 30, 39, 41-45, 46, 152.
classification of, 4.
drinking, 43-^4, 45, 280.
hot-water systems, 119-120.
mineral elements in, 299.
necessity to body, 42^3.
relation of surface to evapo-
ration, 51.
safe, for drinking, 45.
stages in boiling, 32.
uses in cooking, 30, 39, 42, 46,
51.
Weight and height, boys, 302.
children, 301.
girls, 303.
men, 300.
women, 300.
Wheat, 130-131, 133.
See also FLOUR.
White sauce, medium, 129.
thick, 132.
thin, 142.
YEAST, 21-24, 25-29, 221, 240-
243, 246, 247, 248, 253.
as a leavening agent, 221.
cakes, 241-242.
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW
AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS
WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.
SEP 25 1392
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
