Chapter 20

Chapter 203,744 wordsPublic domain

PORK.--Pork is meat obtained from the pig. In all meats, much fat is entangled in the network of connective tissue that binds the muscle fibers. Pork, however, contains more fat than does any other meat. The fat is most intimately mingled with the lean. For this reason it is digested slowly. Fresh pork should be used sparingly. Its use should be confined to the winter months. Pork should be thoroughly cooked. It sometimes contains organisms which may produce serious results, if not destroyed in the cooking. Pork is made more wholesome by curing, salting, and smoking. The fat of bacon is readily digested.

PORK CHOPS WITH SWEET POTATOES

Pare sweet potatoes, and place them in the bottom of a roasting pan. Wipe the pork chops, and place them on top of the potatoes. Place the roasting pan on the top shelf of a hot oven, in order to brown the chops. Brown on one side; turn the chops with a fork, and brown on the other side. Then remove the roasting pan from the oven, sprinkle the chops with salt, pepper, and powdered sage. Add a little boiling water. Return to the oven.

Cover and bake 1 hour, or until the potatoes are tender. Baste the potatoes and meat occasionally.

Remove the chops to the center of a hot platter, and surround them with the potatoes. Serve at once with Apple Sauce (for preparation of Apple Sauce, see _Fruit Sauces_).

TURNIPS WITH FRESH PORK

1 1/2 pounds fresh pork (shoulder) 3 medium sized turnips 1 tablespoonful salt 2 tablespoonfuls flour Pepper

Clean the meat, put it in a saucepan, and add enough boiling water to cover. Cook at simmering temperature for 1 1/2 hours.

Pare the turnips, cut them into cubes. When the meat has cooked 1/2 hour, add the turnips and salt and continue cooking for 1 hour or until the meat and vegetables are tender. Mix the flour with enough cold water (about 2 tablespoonfuls) to make a thin batter. Add it to the meat and turnips. Stir and cook for at least 10 minutes. Add a dash of pepper. Serve hot.

BROILED HAM

Parboil in boiling water for 10 minutes a slice of ham about 1/2 inch thick. Place in a broiler and broil, or place in a "frying" pan and pan- broil, turning often. Garnish with parsley and serve at once.

BACON

Place thin slices of bacon (from which the rind has been removed) in a hot frying-pan. As the fat tries out, drain it from the bacon. Scorching of the fat is thus prevented. Cook the bacon until it is brown and crisp, turning once.

_Bacon fat_ should be saved. It can be used in cooking.

SCALLOPED POTATOES WITH BACON

4 medium potatoes 1/4 pound sliced bacon Flour Salt, used sparingly Pepper Milk

Pare the potatoes and cut them into thin slices. Cook the bacon until brown; cut each slice of bacon into several pieces. Oil a baking-dish and place a layer of potatoes in it, then a layer of bacon and some of the tried-out bacon fat. Sprinkle with flour, salt, and pepper. Repeat, until all the ingredients are used; the top layer should be of bacon. Add milk until it reaches the top layer. Bake in a moderate oven for one hour, or until much of the milk has evaporated and the potatoes are tender. Serve hot.

1/4 cupful of bacon drippings may be used instead of sliced bacon.

QUESTIONS

Why should fresh pork be used in winter rather than in summer?

Why is pork slow in digesting?

Explain why vegetables and Apple Sauce are desirable foods to serve with pork (see Figure 62, Figure 68, and Figure 70).

For what reason should pork be cooked thoroughly?

What is the purpose of parboiling ham before broiling it?

What ingredient, invariably used in Scalloped Potatoes, is omitted in Scalloped Potatoes with Bacon? What is substituted for this material?

Why should salt be added sparingly to potatoes cooked with bacon?

How many persons does the given quantity of Scalloped Potatoes with Bacon and of Turnips with Fresh Pork serve?

To what cut of beef does ham correspond?

From _U.S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 28_, tabulate the percentage composition of fresh and salted ham. Compare it with the composition of beef steak (see Figure 68).

Obtain the price per pound of each cut of pork. Arrange in tabulated form and record date.

LESSON C

CHICKEN AND RICE

POULTRY.--Poultry includes chicken (or common fowl), turkey, duck, and goose--domestic birds suitable for food. Pigeon and squab are not considered poultry. Chickens that are three or four months old are called _spring chickens_ or broilers. Birds older than one year are sometimes called _fowls_.

SELECTION OF CHICKEN AND FOWL.--Chickens and fowls have certain characteristics which make them readily distinguishable. Chickens have soft feet, a soft and flexible breast bone, many pin feathers, and little fat. Fowls have hard and scaly feet, rigid breast bone, long hairs, and much fat surrounding the intestines.

DIGESTION OF POULTRY.--The muscle of chicken, fowl, and turkey contains little fat; the fat that exists is in layers directly under the skin and around the intestines. The fibers of the muscle are short. For this reason, and also because they have so little fat, these meats are readily digested. The white meat contains less fat than the dark.

DRESSING AND CLEANING POULTRY.--Singe, by holding the bird over a flame of gas, alcohol, or burning paper. Cut off the head, push back the skin, and cut off the neck close to the body. Cut through the skin around the leg one inch below the leg joint. If it is a fowl, take out the tendons; remove them separately, using a skewer (see Figure 71). Remove the pin feathers with the point of a knife or with a strawberry huller. Cut the oil bag from the tail.

The internal organs are not always removed before the chicken is sold. If they have not been removed, make an opening under one of the legs or at the vent, leaving a strip of skin above the vent. Remove the organs carefully,--the intestines, gizzard, heart, and liver should all be removed together. Care must be taken that the gall bladder, which lies under the liver, is not broken; it must be cut away carefully from the liver. The lungs and kidneys, lying in the hollow of the backbone, must be carefully removed. Press the heart to extract the blood. Cut off the outer coat of the gizzard. The gizzard, heart, and liver constitute the giblets to be used in making gravy. Wash the giblets. Place them all, with the exception of the liver, in cold water; heat quickly and cook (at simmering temperature) until tender. Add the liver a short time before removing the other giblets from the stove, as it does not require long cooking.

Clean the bird by wiping it thoroughly inside and out with a damp cloth, stuff and truss for roasting, or cut into pieces for fricassee or stew. If the bird is stuffed, the incision in the skin may be fastened together as directed for Baked Fish.

TRUSSING FOWL.--Insert a skewer through the fowl just underneath the legs, then thrust another skewer through the wings and breast. With a piece of string, tie the ends of the legs together and fasten them to the tail. Then wind the ends of the string fastened to the tail, around the ends of the skewer beneath the legs. Cross the strings over the back, and wind them around the ends of the skewer through the wings; tie the strings together at the back. If trussed in this manner, there is no string across the breast of the fowl. A fowl should be served breast side up (see Figures 72 and 73).

CUTTING A FOWL.--Cut off the leg, and separate it at the joint into "drumstick" and second joint. Cut off the wing and remove the tip; make an incision at the middle joint. Remove the leg and wing from the other side; separate the wishbone with the meat on it, from the breast, cut through the ribs on each side, and separate the breast from the back. Cut the breast in half lengthwise and the back through the middle crosswise. There should be twelve pieces. The neck and the tips of the wings may be cooked with the giblets for making gravy.

STEWED CHICKEN [Footnote 69: Stewed Chicken may be utilized for _Chicken Croquettes_) or _Creole Stew_.]

Cover the pieces of chicken with boiling water, and cook at boiling temperature for 15 minutes; then add one tablespoonful of salt and cook at simmering temperature until tender.

Arrange the pieces on a platter, placing the neck at one end of the platter and the "drumsticks" at the other, and the remaining pieces in order between. Cover with a sauce.

The chicken may be placed on pieces of _toast_ or served in a border of cooked _rice_.

SAUCE FOR CHICKEN

3 tablespoonfuls tried-out chicken fat or butter or substitute 1/4 cupful of flour 1 teaspoonful salt 2 tablespoonfuls chopped parsley 1 pint stock 2 egg yolks or 1 egg 1/8 teaspoonful pepper

Prepare the sauce (see _Cream Toast_), and pour it over the well- beaten eggs, stirring until thoroughly mixed. Cook until the eggs are coagulated. Serve at once over chicken.

QUESTIONS

Why is chicken more readily digested than other meat?

What is the reason for cooking stewed chicken 15 minutes in _boiling_ water? Why is the salt not added at first? Why should the chicken finally be cooked at simmering temperature rather than at boiling?

What use can be made of the fat of a fowl?

What is the purpose of the eggs in Sauce for Chicken?

Explain fully why rice or toast makes a desirable addition to Stewed Chicken.

LESSON CI

CHICKEN AND PEAS

CHICKEN CROQUETTES

2 1/2 cupfuls chopped chicken or fowl Onion juice 2 tablespoonfuls lemon juice 1 tablespoonful parsley

SAUCE

1 pint cream or milk 1/3 cupful fat 1/2 cupful flour 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls salt 1/8 teaspoonful pepper 1 teaspoonful celery salt

Chop the chicken very fine; add the seasonings. Make the sauce (see _Cream Toast_). Add the chicken to the sauce. Cool the mixture. Shape into cones. Cover with dried bread crumbs and egg, and cook in deep fat (see _Fried Oysters_). Drain on paper. Serve at once with green peas.

An egg may be beaten and added to the sauce, before mixing it with the meat.

QUESTIONS

What is the purpose of cooling the chicken mixture before shaping it into croquettes (see Experiment 17)?

How many croquettes does this recipe make?

How many cupfuls of chopped meat can be obtained from fowl of average weight?

What is the average weight of a chicken one year old? How long does it take to cook it?

What is the average weight of a spring chicken?

What is the present market price of spring chicken? Of fowl?

Compare the composition of fowl with that of round steak, using _U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 28_. Also record the percentage of refuse in a fowl when it is purchased. Considering the refuse in fowl, what is the price per pound?

Tabulate the percentage composition of fresh and dried peas and beans, and of dried lentils. Which are richer in protein, the fresh or the dried vegetables (see Figure 76)?

LESSON CII

OYSTER DISHES

EXPERIMENT 63. PROTEIN IN OYSTER LIQUOR.--Pour a small quantity of oyster liquor into a test tube and boil it. What change takes place? From your previous experience with eggs, what foodstuff would you infer that oysters contain? What inference can you draw from this as to the temperature at which oysters should be cooked?

OYSTERS.--An oyster is an animal covered with shell. The shell, which consists of mineral matter, protects the animal.

The oyster has no head, arms, or legs, but it has a mouth, liver, gills, and one strong muscle. The mouth is near the hinge-end of the shell; by means of the hinge, the shell is opened and water and food taken in; by means of the muscle, the shell is closed. (Find the muscle in an oyster; then the dark spot,--this is the liver; also find the fluted portions that partly surround the liver,--these are the gills.)

Oysters are in season from September until May. They are sometimes eaten during the summer months, but are not so palatable and are more apt to be contaminated by the bacteria of warm water. The bluish green color of some oysters is due to the oyster's feeding upon vegetable materials. This does not harm the flavor of the oyster.

Oysters are sometimes placed in fresh water streams or in water which is less salt than that in which they have grown to "fatten them." The animals take in the fresh water, become plump, and increase in weight. If the water is sewage-polluted, the oysters become contaminated with dangerous bacteria. Methods of cooking usually applied to oysters, such as stewing and boiling, may not destroy all bacteria. Hence, the danger in eating oysters taken from polluted water.

When oysters are prepared for market, they are sorted according to size. Blue points, or small oysters originally grown in Blue Point, are prized for serving raw in the half shell. This name, however, no longer indicates the place from which the oysters come, but is applied to small oysters in the shell. Large oysters selected for frying may be purchased. Oysters are found at markets either in the shell or with the shell removed.

Since oysters spoil readily, they must be kept cold during transportation. They are now shipped in containers surrounded by ice. Formerly ice was placed in contact with the oysters.

Note the percentage composition of oysters (see Figure 74). With such a large quantity of water, the oyster has little food value. Oysters are prized for their flavor, but make an expensive food. Cooking makes oysters somewhat tough, but it sterilizes them and makes them safer to use. It is considered that oysters properly cooked are easily digested. They should be eaten when very fresh. They spoil quickly and develop poisonous products.

CLEANING OYSTERS.--Drain off the liquor. If the liquor is to be used, strain it through a fine strainer. Place the oysters in a strainer or colander, and wash them. Do not allow oysters to stand in water after washing. Run each oyster through the fingers to remove pieces of shell that may be clinging to it.

OYSTER STEW

1 cupful milk 1 pint oysters 1 tablespoonful butter Salt and pepper

Heat the milk in a double boiler; add the seasonings and butter. Clean the oysters; cook them in a saucepan until they become plump and the edges curl. Add the hot milk and serve at once.

The milk may be thickened with 1 tablespoonful of flour (see recipe for _Thin White Sauce_).

Serve crackers or bread with Oyster Stew.

SCALLOPED OYSTERS

1 pint oysters 1/2 teaspoonful salt 3 cupfuls soft bread crumbs 3 tablespoonfuls butter or substitute 1/4 cupful oyster juice or milk Cayenne

Wash the oysters, strain the juice, and butter the crumbs. Add the seasoning to the oysters. Place one fourth of the buttered crumbs in the bottom of a buttered baking-dish. Add one half of the oysters, another fourth of the crumbs, then the remainder of the oysters, the liquid, and finally the remaining half of the buttered crumbs. Bake in a moderate oven from 30 to 40 minutes.

If baked in individual baking-dishes, only 15 minutes will be required for baking.

QUESTIONS

Count and record the number of oysters in one pint.

From Figures 64 and 74, tabulate the percentage composition of oysters and milk.

Find the weight of one cupful of oysters and of one cupful of milk. How do they compare as to the amount of water, protein, and fat contained in one pint of each?

What is the difference in cost of one pint of each?

What is the purpose of straining the oyster liquor?

Why should not oysters stand in water after washing (see Experiment 38)?

Explain why oysters should be cooked only a short time. What is the effect of long cooking upon oysters?

In Scalloped Oysters, why is the liquid added before the last layer of crumbs?

How many persons do each of these oyster recipes serve?

What dietetic reason can be given for combining oysters and bread?

From _U.S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 28_, tabulate the percentage composition of the following fish: Fresh and salt cod, fresh and smoked herring, fresh and salt mackerel, fresh and canned salmon, fresh perch, and fresh white fish. Which contains the most fat? How can fish be classified with regard to fat content (see _Classes of Fish_)? Which fish contains the most protein?

How do fish, shellfish, and beef compare in protein content? Which is the cheapest source of protein (see Figures 68 and 74)?

LESSON CIII

MEAT-SUBSTITUTE DISHES

MEAT-SUBSTITUTE MATERIALS.--Cottage cheese, eggs, peanuts, and other legumes are valuable substitutes for meat. The legumes with the exception of soy-beans and peanuts, however, do not contain complete protein. Hence, their use with eggs or milk is desirable.

Nuts are a form of fruit. They are rich in nutritive materials. If they can be digested readily, they make a valuable food. They need to be ground fine or chewed thoroughly, however, to make them digestible. Nuts contain much fat, protein, and little carbohydrates. Chestnuts, however, contain much of the latter foodstuff. Because they contain protein, nuts may be used as substitutes for meat. But most nuts are expensive. For this reason in many households they are impractical as everyday foods.

COTTAGE CHEESE AND NUT LOAF

1 cupful cottage cheese 1 cupful chopped nuts 1 cupful soft bread crumbs 1 teaspoonful salt 1/8 teaspoonful pepper 2 teaspoonfuls lemon juice 2 tablespoonfuls scraped onion 1 tablespoonful fat

Mix the cheese, nuts, bread crumbs, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Cook the onion and fat together until they are brown. Add a small quantity of water and then add the onion mixture to the other ingredients. If necessary, add more water to moisten the mixture. Pour into a baking-dish and bake until brown.

(From _United States Food Administration Leaflet_.)

SCALLOPED EGGS WITH CHEESE

6 hard-cooked eggs 2 cupfuls medium White Sauce 2 cupfuls buttered soft bread crumbs 3/4 cupful cheese

Grate the cheese, or cut it into pieces, and add it to the White Sauce. Cut the eggs in slices. Oil a baking-dish, and place the materials in the dish in layers, having the lower and top layers of bread crumbs. Bake in a moderate oven until the mixture is heated through and the crumbs are browned. Serve hot in place of meat.

PEANUT ROAST

1 1/2 cupfuls dried bread crumbs Milk 1 1/2 cupfuls shelled peanuts 4 teaspoonfuls baking powder 1 egg Salt and pepper

[FIGURE 76--THE COMPOSITION OF LEGUMES AND CORN (Revised edition.)]

Cover the bread crumbs with milk, and soak them until soft. Chop the peanuts very fine, and mix with the baking powder; beat the egg. Mix thoroughly all the ingredients, and turn into an oiled bread pan. Bake about 45 minutes in a moderate oven. Serve hot with Tomato Sauce.

Commercial salted peanuts may be used for Peanut Roast.

QUESTIONS

From _U.S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 28_, find the percentage of protein in Cream and Cottage Cheese, eggs (see Figure 75), walnuts, peanuts, dried peas, and beans (see Figure 76), and beef. How many ounces of protein does a pound of each of these foods contain? What is the price per pound of each of these foods? Which food is the cheapest source of protein?

Why are bread crumbs a valuable addition to Scalloped Eggs with Cheese (see Figure 77)?

Name other meat-substitute foods and dishes.

LESSON CIV

MEAT EXTENDERS AND ONE-DISH MEALS

MEAT EXTENDERS.--The flavor of meat is generally liked. Doubtless the flavor accounts more than any other characteristic for the popularity of meat. By using a small quantity of meat and combining it with various cereals and vegetables, the flavor of meat permeates the mixture although its quantity is reduced and price consequently lowered. Foods containing such a combination of food materials are termed _meat extenders_. Those desiring to reduce the quantity of meat consumed either for the sake of health or economy will find meat-extending dishes desirable.

ONE-DISH MEALS.--When many demands other than those of housekeeping are made upon homekeepers it is often wise to lessen housekeeping duties. It is both possible and satisfactory to cook an entire meal in one dish. A meal consisting of one dish with a few accessories is termed a one-dish meal. It is obvious that the one-dish meal is both simple and economical; it saves time, fuel, and food; it is a wise conservation measure.

In preparing the one-dish meal use a combination of two or more of the following groups of food:

(1) Vegetables,

(2) Milk, or cheese, or eggs, or fish, or meat, or beans, or nuts,

(3) Cereal, such as corn, barley, rice, oats, or buckwheat.

To two or more of these groups of food a small amount of fat or oil is generally added.

The use of such foods with a dessert or fruit or a plain salad makes a meal that satisfies the most exacting.

It is most interesting to select foods from the groups above that would "eat well" together. The one-dish meal gives one the opportunity for a fascinating study of food combinations. If the casserole or fireless cooker is used in their preparation, the possibilities are limitless.

An examination of the meat-substitute dishes and meat extenders will show that most of these foods make one-dish meals.

MUTTON WITH BARLEY

1 pound mutton 1 onion 1/2 cupful pearled barley 2 quarts water, boiling 4 potatoes Celery leaves (fresh or dried) 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls salt