CHAPTER I.

SHOWING THE ENORMOUS ADVANTAGES OF COOKING IN PAPER-BAGS OVER THE PRESENT METHOD.

When Primitive Man first ventured on the daring experiment of applying heat to his newly-slain prey, he would most naturally adopt the obvious plan of suspending it on three sticks over a fire. The result, though no doubt to a certain extent tasty, would be smoked, charred on one side, raw on the other, and this, coupled with the frequency of burned fingers gained while rescuing the meat from the fire into which it fell when the sticks burned through, caused Primitive Man--or, more probably, Primitive Woman--to evolve the method of cooking known to us to-day as Paper-bag Cookery.

Paper not having been discovered, the prehistoric cook could not use the bags now placed at our disposal, but a very fair substitute was always ready to hand in the shape of green leaves, in which the meat was carefully wrapped. A hole was dug in the ground, and partly filled with large stones, on the top of which a fire was kindled. When it had burned out, the stones would be almost red-hot, and the meat, wrapped in the green leaves, was laid in, some of the hot stones being raked over the parcel, and then the hole was filled in with earth, so that neither smoke nor steam could escape. In fifteen minutes or so, or as near that time as Primitive Man could restrain his hunger, the meat would be done to a turn, and the hungry family would break open their primitive cooking oven, and devour the delicious morsels.

From Darwin's _Voyage of the Beagle_ we learn that the Tahitians cooked their food at that date (1835) in precisely the same way, and those of us who have revelled in childhood in _Bill Biddon_, _The Trapper_, and other Indian stories, must remember the delightful feasts described in those books, where the hunters and their friends gathered round the camp fire at night, and ate buffalo meat and wild prairie birds in the same fashion. How much more delicious to the childish mind than the commonplace roast mutton of nursery dinners. In spite of the condescending explanations given by our elders that it was only the hunger of the hunters that made such cookery palatable, the child still believes in the delights of such a meal--and the child is right!

There is no method of cooking by which the flavour is so well brought out, and the juices so well preserved, as by cooking in this way; that is, by hot air surrounding the food, which is thus cooked in its own juices, and by the steam so generated.

Paper-Bag Cookery is not a mere craze of the moment; for once its advantages have been discovered, it will become firmly rooted as one of the best and most economical means of preparing food ever invented. Why it should have fallen into abeyance among civilised nations (except in the cooking of one or two special dishes) for so many centuries is impossible to surmise.

NO LOSS OF WEIGHT OR FLAVOUR.

One very great advantage of paper-bag cookery which will appeal strongly to the economist is the fact that meat thus treated loses little or nothing of its weight. To the great grief of the thrifty housewife, there is no way of preventing the lordly and expensive sirloin of beef or the dainty leg of lamb losing very considerably in its passage through the cooking process, and when one has paid a good price per pound for the meat, one certainly grudges losing even a few ounces of it.

In boiling meat less is lost, but even that little is mourned by the thrifty soul, and stews are recommended, because what is lost in the cooking goes to enrich the gravy and vegetables in the stewpan.

But stews, though nourishing and economical, are not savoury, and the thrifty housewife will rejoice to know that by placing her joint in a paper bag, her family may enjoy the savour and tastiness of roast meat, without the waste in the cooking. As the joint goes into the oven, so it comes out, the same weight, or, if in some instances there be some difference, it is so slight as to be infinitesimal.

Economy, however, is not everything, and paper-bag cookery appeals also to the epicure, who does not consider cost in ordering a meal to his taste.

Food cooked in a paper bag acquires a richness and a delicacy of flavour imparted by no other means of cooking. All the juices of the meat are preserved; there is no greasiness, no dryness, no risk of burning; even tough meat is made tender. Until a joint cooked by this method has been tasted, the epicure has no idea of the exquisite flavour and delicacy which await him.

HOW IT HELPS THE HOUSEKEEPER ON SMALL MEANS.

Quails, puff pastry, turbot, and salmon are all very well in their way, and it is gratifying to the wealthy epicure to know that to cook them in paper bags is to attain perfection; but there are many of us to whose limited incomes these dishes are quite unattainable luxuries, and who are more interested in knowing how to cook simple and cheap articles of food to advantage.

It is to these anxious housewives with limited purses that paper-bag cookery specially appeals; kippers, bloaters, and smoked haddocks are simple and cheap food, used every day as breakfast and supper dishes by those whose incomes oblige them to be careful in their expenditure. Excellent as these articles are, there are few more easily spoiled. They burn easily, and dry up very much in frying. A moment's neglect, and a burned, unpalatable, tasteless object is all that emerges from the frying-pan.

Cooked in a paper bag, however, there is no such danger and no one need fear to lose the savoury relish that a well cooked kipper or bloater possesses. They are just as tasty, but have acquired a flavour unsurpassed by any other method of cooking. The juices are preserved, and there is no fear of dryness. Place a kipper, bloater, or smoked haddock cooked in a paper bag before a lover of these fish, and he will discover new charms in his favourite dish.

No one can deny, however, that appetising as these homely fish are, the smell of frying kippers or bloaters is most aggressive. Not content with filling the house, it forces its way into the street, and triumphantly proclaims to our neighbours upon what humble fare we are feasting. But cooked in a "Papakuk Bag," there is absolutely no smell to reveal the nature of the coming repast, and as many people dislike very much the smell of the food they are about to eat, and, indeed, complain that the smell takes away their appetite completely, this in itself is a great gain.

THE PROPER BAGS TO USE.

Red mullet, cutlets, and one or two other dainties have always been cooked in paper (ordinary kitchen paper, thoroughly oiled), and it seems strange that the delicious flavour thus obtained did not earlier stimulate some observant and enterprising chef to apply the principle to other foods. But now that attention has been drawn to the matter, many of our best known chefs are strongly urging the use of paper bags. Joints of meat can be cooked by wrapping in sheets of kitchen paper, carefully secured to envelope the meat entirely, and exclude the air, but for other food bags are essential.

Let no thrifty soul think to economise by saving for this use the bags in which articles have been sent home from grocers, greengrocers, or other tradesmen. This plan would be an excellent illustration of the proverb, "Penny wise and pound foolish," for though a few pence might be saved, the spoiling of the food would be a much more serious expense. Cooked in these bags, everything would taste unpleasantly of paper, even if the cooking were otherwise successfully carried out.

A much graver matter would be the danger to health. The paper, not manufactured for cooking purposes, might have something injurious in its composition, or the paste used in joining the bags might contain some harmful substance, so that a doctor's bill would make the cost of the bags got without payment far in excess of those manufactured for the purpose, and sold for a very small sum.

HOW THE BAGS SHOULD BE FASTENED.

When the food has been placed in the bags, the openings must, of course, be secured, for the whole essence of this method lies in the complete exclusion of the air, and the sealing up of the juices and flavour of the food that it may cook in its own steam.

Now, the question is, how to fasten the food in the bag in the most secure manner. Clips can be obtained with the bags, and these are excellent. Safety-pins are not advisable, as they are apt to tear the paper when being adjusted. On no account must ordinary pins be used, for they are easily overlooked when removing the paper, and lying unnoticed on the meat dish, might be conveyed to a plate and be inadvertently swallowed.

GREASING THE BAGS.

There is a great difference of opinion about this, some cooks greasing each bag inside and outside without any regard to what is being cooked; some grease only in special cases, and others do not use grease at all. It is, however, quite necessary to freely grease the inside of the bags containing fish or pudding, otherwise the food will stick to the bag, and although it is not wise to thickly grease one containing a joint, especially a fat joint, yet the meat itself should be lightly rubbed over with a morsel of dripping or vegetable lard to prevent the paper sticking to it. Butter should not be used, as it gives meat a bad colour.

If the bag containing a joint be thickly greased inside and out, the interior of the oven will be greasy and will smell, thus doing away with two of the benefits of paper-bag cookery--cleanliness and freedom from smell.

THE COOKING OF DIFFERENT DISHES TOGETHER.

If a joint of meat is being roasted in an oven in the ordinary way, nothing else may be cooked at the same time, unless it be a Yorkshire pudding or baked potatoes, which are placed below the meat expressly to catch the dripping and the gravy.

If the rash cook ventured to put in several articles of food at once, disaster would be the result. The tart would savour of roast pork, the meat taste of onions, or the baked fish would give its own special flavour to everything else in the oven. Apart from this, the heat required to cook the joint would curdle the milk pudding, and the gentle warmth required for the custard would leave the steak in an almost raw condition. Then, too, the necessity of hanging the joint from the bar at the top of the gas-cooker leaves very little room for anything else.

In paper-bag cookery, the most varied assortment of dishes will lie amicably side by side on the grid supplied with the gas-cookers, and no mingling of flavours or spoiling of one or the other will result. Cooking them thus altogether, an immense saving in time and in expense for heating is effected. Even the savoury onion will cook placidly by the side of a bag of gooseberries, without imparting its flavour to the fruit.

While cooking is going on, the oven door can be freely opened without risk of spoiling anything by the admission of cold air, which, of course, would be fatal to the contents of the oven in ordinary cooking.

THE CLEANLINESS OF PAPER-BAG COOKERY.

When dinner has been successfully cooked, dished up, and eaten, the labours of the cook are by no means ended, for then comes the distasteful business of clearing up. The oven must be cleaned while it is still hot, the interior well scrubbed out with hot water and soda to free it from the grease which will cause such an unpleasant smell next time the oven is used. The baking tin must next be attended to, and then comes the array of saucepans, stewpans, and frying-pans which have been used, and which are often so difficult to scour that one can understand and almost forgive the hard-driven "general" who puts them away in a dirty condition, trusting to be able to clean them some time before they are again required. In this particular, the contrast between paper-bag and ordinary cooking is most striking.

The meat having been cooked in a bag, there is no grease to be scrubbed from the oven, and none on the bars of the grid where it has lain; the interior of the cooker is perfectly clean; there is no baking or dripping-pan to be cleansed with hot water and plenty of soda; there are no saucepans to scour.

When the paper bags have been disposed of, there remain only the plates, knives, forks, and spoons to wash up, and that over, cook may sit down to rest. This, in itself, is such an immense saving of labour and time, that the mistress who adopts "Papakukery" may be said to have gone far towards solving the servant problem.

THE BEST OVEN TO USE.

A gas-cooker is undoubtedly the best for paper-bag cookery, as the ease with which the heat is regulated, and a steady even degree maintained, the little attention it requires while the food is cooking, make it ideal for all ways of preparing food, but especially for the method now under consideration. Gas is absolutely perfection for paper-bag cookery. But all houses are not supplied with gas, and even if they are, the economical housewife may prefer to cook by coal fires, at all events in winter, when the kitchen-range is alight all day long, or when it is going for the purpose of getting hot water for baths.

An ordinary coal heated kitchen-range will answer very well for paper-bag cookery, if a little care and attention be given to the matter. The cook must firmly impress on her mind that the bags must _not_ be laid on a solid baking sheet, but on a wire grid, which may be cheaply acquired at an ironmonger's; that the oven must be heated to 220° Fahr. before the food is put into it--a cooking thermometer is not an expensive item; and that, though the heat may be lessened after some twenty minutes, the fire must not be allowed to go down and then be built up again to complete the cookery.

If the bags are put on a hot baking sheet, the cooking will be a failure, because it is necessary for the hot air to circulate round the food and completely surround it; besides, the bags will burst as soon as they are laid on a hot solid surface.

When cooking in a gas oven, it must be remembered that the gas must be lighted and left full on for ten minutes before the food is put in, and also that the lower grid must not be put in the lowest groove, or the bags will catch fire from being too near the flame. The top grid should be put in the groove nearest the top of the oven, if that will allow the bags to lie conveniently on it, and the second grid as near the first as may be convenient.

A wire grid from the ironmonger's may be added to the two usually supplied with the gas-cooker; in some ovens there is room for two additional ones. After about ten to fifteen minutes, the gas may be turned half-way down, and this degree of heat steadily maintained till the cooking is completed.

Sometimes, when people are living in apartments, there is a supply of gas, but no cooker. In such a case, it would be easy to buy a gas ring and tubing to attach it to a gas jet. Over the ring a tin oven, such as can be had cheaply from most ironmongers, should be placed, and it will be found that a paper-bag dinner will emerge most successfully from it.

Even if nothing more than a paraffin stove is to be had, still the paper-bag cook need not despair. Longer time will be needed to get the oven placed on top of a paraffin stove to the necessary degree of heat, but by remembering this, and maintaining the same steady heat, paper-bag cookery may be managed much more satisfactorily in such an oven than ordinary cooking could possibly be.

A HOME-MADE GRID.

As a wire grid in the oven is necessary, and many housewives may not be able to try the new cooking because their ovens are not fitted with a grid, here is a very cheap and simple way of making a grid that will answer perfectly.

Get a piece of ordinary wire netting, cut it to the width of the oven, then thread through the natural edge on both sides an iron or brass rod--a curtain or stair rod will do--then place in the oven as shown in the sketch. The ends of the rods must rest on the little ledge in the oven which usually supports the iron shelf, and that will give the necessary strength and support to the grid. The total cost should not be more than twopence or threepence.

DISHING-UP.

At the end of the specified time, a peep into the oven will reveal the array of paper bags, probably well browned but not burned. If there has been the slightest smell of burning paper, it should at once be looked to and the gas reduced.

A large fish-slice should be employed to remove the bag containing the meat from the oven and place it on the hot dish ready for it. A pair of scissors should be at hand to slit open the bag, which must then be dexterously removed, leaving the nicely browned, perfectly cooked joint on the dish. There will be very little gravy, as that, of course, is the juice of the meat, and the claim of the paper-bag cookery is that it seals up the juices _within_ the meat. On no account add water to the few spoonfuls of rich, strong gravy in the dish, for that would completely spoil the delicious flavour.

In families where much gravy is desired, it must be made separately with a little stock, browned and thickened.

The potatoes can now be turned out of their paper bag into a hot dish, and the same process can be followed with peas or sprouts. Cauliflower requires gentler handling. Its bag should be slit, and the nicely cooked flower--almost all green must be cut away--suffered to glide gently into a dish filled with hot white sauce ready prepared. The pudding may continue in the oven, the gas turned very low so that it may keep hot, but not cook any longer, till it is required.