Chapter 11

HOW TO COOK, SEASON, AND MEASURE.

Before beginning to give you receipts, I wish to tell you about the effect of cooking food in different ways. We all want it cooked so that we can eat it easily, and get the most strength from it, without wasting any part of it. I will tell you some very good reasons for making soup and stew out of your meat instead of cooking it in any other way.

=Roasting or Baking.=--The first is the most extravagant way of cooking meat, as it wastes nearly one third of its substance in drippings and steam; the second also is very wasteful, unless the meat is surrounded with vegetables, or covered with a flour paste. When you do bake meat without a covering of paste, put it into a hot oven at the start, to crisp the outside and to keep in the valuable juices; you can moderate the heat of the oven as soon as the meat is brown, and let it finish cooking slowly by the heat of the steam which is constantly forming inside of it. It generally takes twenty minutes to bake each pound of meat.

=Broiling.=--This is another extravagant way of cooking meat, for a great deal of the fat runs into the fire, and some nourishment escapes up the chimney with the steam. If you must broil meat, have your fire hot and clear, and your gridiron perfectly clean; and, unless it has a ledge to hold the drippings, tip it towards the back of the fire, so that the fat will burn there, and not blacken the meat as it would if the gridiron were laid flat, and the fat could burn under the meat. Never stick a fork into broiled meat to turn it; and do not cut it to see if it is done; for if you do either you will let out the juice. Study the following table, and then remember how near the time given in it comes to cooking according to your taste. Fish will broil in from five to ten minutes; birds and poultry in from three to fifteen minutes; chops in from ten to fifteen minutes, and steak in from ten to twenty minutes.

=Boiling and Stewing.=--Boiling food slowly, or stewing it gently, saves all its goodness. After the pot once boils you cannot make its contents cook any faster if you have fire enough under it to run a steam engine; so save your fuel, and add it to the fire, little by little, only enough at a time to keep the pot boiling. Remember, if you boil meat hard and fast it will be tough and tasteless, and most of its goodness will go up the chimney, or out of the window, with the steam. Boil the meat gently, and keep it covered close to save the steam; it will condense on the inside of the cover, and fall back in drops of moisture upon the meat.

The following table shows how much is wasted in the different ways of cooking we have just spoken of. Four pounds of beef waste in boiling or stewing, about one pound of substance, but you have it all in the broth if you have kept the pot covered tightly; in baking one pound and a quarter is almost entirely lost unless you have plenty of vegetables in the dripping pan to absorb and preserve it; in roasting before the fire you lose nearly one pound and a half. Do not think you save the waste in the shape of drippings; it is poor economy to buy fat at the price of meat merely for the pleasure of trying it out.

=Frying.=--This is a very good method of cooking fish, and of warming cold meat and vegetables. To fry well put into your frying pan enough fat to cover what you mean to fry, and let it get smoking hot, but do not burn it; then put in your food, and it will not soak fat, and will generally be done by the time it is nicely browned. To SAUTE, or HALF FRY any article, you should begin by putting in the pan enough fat to cover the bottom, and let it get smoking hot, but not burnt before you put in the food. This also is a good way to warm over meat, vegetables, oatmeal, or pudding.

A very good way to cook meat and vegetables together is to put them in an earthen jar, cover it tightly, and cement the cover on with flour paste; then bake for about four hours.

If you are going to use a piece of meat cold do not cut it until it cools, and it will be more juicy. If the meat is salt let it cool in its own pot liquor, for the same reason.

=Salt and Smoked Meats.=--These meats are best when they are put over the fire in cold water, brought gradually to a boil, and then set back from the fierce heat of the fire, so as to keep scalding hot WITHOUT BOILING; they take longer to cook this way, but they are tender and delicious, and very little fat is wasted.

=Seasoning Food.=--Many people have the idea that a finely flavored dish must cost a great deal; that is a mistake; if you have untainted meat, or sound vegetables, or even Indian meal, to begin with, you can make it delicious with proper seasoning. One reason why French cooking is so much nicer than any other is that it is seasoned with a great variety of herbs and spices; these cost very little; if you would buy a few cents' worth at a time you would soon have a good assortment. The best kinds are Sage, Thyme, Sweet Marjoram, Tarragon, Mint, Sweet Basil, Parsley, Bay-leaves, Cloves, Mace, Celery-seed, and onions. If you will plant the seed of any of the seven first mentioned in little boxes on your window sill, or in a sunny spot in the yard, you can generally raise all you need. Gather and dry them as follows: parsley and tarragon should be dried in June and July, just before flowering; mint in June and July; thyme, marjoram and savory in July and August; basil and sage in August and September; all herbs should be gathered in the sun-shine, and dried by artificial heat; their flavor is best preserved by keeping them in air-tight tin cans, or in tightly corked glass bottles.

=Dried Celery and Parsley.=--If you ever use celery, wash the leaves, stalks, roots and trimmings, and put them in a cool oven to dry thoroughly; then grate the root, and rub the leaves and stalks through a sieve, and put all into a tightly corked bottle, or tin can with close cover; this makes a most delicious seasoning for soups, stews, and stuffing. When you use parsley, save every bit of leaf, stalk or root you do not need, and treat them in the same way as the celery. Remember in using parsley that the root has even a stronger flavor than the leaves, and do not waste a bit.

=Dried Herbs.=--When you buy a bunch of dried herbs rub the leaves through a sieve, and bottle them tightly until you need them; tie the stalks together and save them until you want to make what the French call a _bouquet_, for a soup or stew. A _bouquet_ of herbs is made by tying together a few sprigs of parsley, thyme and two bay-leaves. The bay-leaves, which have the flavor of laurel, can be bought at any German grocery, or drug-store, enough to last for a long time for five cents.

=Table Sauce.=--There is no reason why you should not sometimes have a nice relish for cold meat when you can make a pint of it for six cents, so I will give you a receipt for it. Get at Washington market at the herb stand, a bunch of TARRAGON; it will cost five cents in the summer, when it is green and strong, and not much more in the winter; put it in an earthen bowl, and pour on it one pint of scalding hot vinegar; cover it and let it stand until the next day; then strain it, and put it into a bottle which you must cork tight. Either put more hot vinegar on the tarragon, or dry it, and save it until you want to make more; you can make a gallon of sauce from one bunch, only every time you use it you must let it stand a day longer.

=Celery Salt.=--If you mix celery root, which has been dried and grated as above, with one fourth its quantity of salt, it makes a nice seasoning and keeps a long time.

=Spice Salt.=--You can make this very nicely by drying, powdering and mixing by repeated siftings the following ingredients: one quarter of an ounce each of powdered thyme, bay-leaf, and pepper; one eighth of an ounce each of marjoram and cayenne pepper; one half of an ounce each of powdered clove and nutmeg; to every four ounces of this powder add one ounce of salt, and keep the mixture in an air-tight vessel. One ounce of it added to three pounds of stuffing, or forcemeat of any kind, makes a delicious seasoning.

=Lemon and Orange Tincture.=--Never throw away lemon or orange peel; cut the yellow outside off carefully, and put it into a tightly corked bottle with enough alcohol to cover it. Let it stand until the alcohol is a bright yellow, then pour it off, bottle it tight, and use it for flavoring when you make rice pudding. Add lemon and alcohol as often as you have it, and you will always have a nice flavoring.

=Vanilla Tincture.=--Make this from a broken Vanilla Bean, just as you would make Lemon Tincture. When you make a plain rice pudding, and when you boil rice with sweetening, put a teaspoonful of either of these tinctures with it, and it will be very good.

=Measuring.=--Be careful about measuring. Do not think you can guess just right every time; you cannot do it. One day the dinner will be a great deal better than another, and you will wonder why; it will be because it is carefully seasoned and properly cooked. A good rule for seasoning soups and stews, is half an ounce, or a level tablespoonful of salt, and half a level teaspoonful of pepper to each quart of water; try it, if it is right you will know how much to use; if it is not right, alter it to suit your taste; but settle the point for once, and then you will know what to depend upon. The following table will give you some good hints about measuring; there are four teaspoonfuls in one tablespoon; two tablespoonfuls in one ounce; two ounces in one wineglassful; two wineglassfuls in one gill; two gills in one good sized cupful; two cupfuls in one pint; two pints in one quart. One quart of sifted flour, thrown into the measure, and shaken down, but not pressed, weighs one pound; one quart of Indian corn meal, shaken down in the measure weighs one pound and three ounces; one quart of fine sugar weighs one pound and a half.