Scarcely anything in the entire range of cookery is more objectionable than the ordinary method of frying food in fat. A little butter, lard, cottolene or other fat is made hot in the frying pan, and the sliced vegetables, bread, eggs, oysters, meats, are put in to brown and harden into a grease-laden, indigestible mass, that would give a hyena the dyspepsia. It is quite impossible for the digestive organs to properly dispose of such material, hence fermentation and putrefaction often occur, and our stomachs become for the time a brewery laden with destructive gases and poisons, which result in various so- called diseases. Animal fats are exceedingly pernicious for frying purposes, and if we must continue to fry our food, let it h^ immersed in good, sweet, vegetable oil — simply boiled in oil instead of water. Anything can be cooked in VEGETABLE OILS. 63 this way with perfect ease, cold mush, vegetables, fish balls, etc., and those who use animal food will find that steaks, cutlets, fowls, eggs, chops, fish, an)rthing in that line, will be far more delicate in flavor and digest more easily when cooked by immersion in a kettle of hot veg- etable oil — cotton-seed, cocoanut and olive oils all bein| in the market and sold at reasonable prices. Place the material to be fried in the frying basket, and then plunge in the oil which must be at the *' flat boil or heat," as it is called, and the food will not then soak fat, neither should it be hard and greasy if properly cooked. Fried foods, because so fashionable, are not by any means essential to the very best of "good living, '* andf might well be dis- pensed with by those who desire good digestion and a clean, brilliant complexion, free from oiliness, so common among the consumers of fried food, animal fats, butter and cheese. The superiority of vegetable oils and fats over animal fats must be apparent to all those who consider the envi- ronments surrounding the growth and development of each. Nuts and seeds are the vital product of trees and shrubs living a natural life and ripening their fruits by healthful processes. The animal leads an enslaved artificial life that induces disease. Then follow doctors and drugs and state expen- diture of millions of dollars to arrest and cure( ?) diseases and so improve their health as to prepare them to pay the penalty of an obedient, submissive life, by being slain, that we may consume their flesh and revel in luxuries their fat produces for our tables. Unclean, unwholesome, indeed, is such fat, when in 64 THE FAT OF THE LAND. contrast with pure, unadulterated vegetable oil and butter. One need not be a vegetarian or even a hygienist to use these vegetable oils, for there are thousands of families using them, who also use animal food, finding economy in health and purse by so doing. Part II BREAD.. 67" CHAPTER VII. BREAD. THE EVOLUTION OF BREAD. Grains. were in the very ancient days eaten uncooked.. When fire became a necessity they were softened by cook- ing. Later they were ground or crushed between stones and made with water into bread, cakes or wafers which were served " broken " instead of being cut. This was the primitive unleavened bread, and in some countries is still in use. Later, leaven or yeast was used, and to-day in some form is the universal material for raising bread. Yeast is the product of a fermenting process which leads ^ to putrefaction.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Scarcely anything in the entire range of cookery is more objectionable than the ordinary method of frying food in fat. A little butter, lard, cottolene or other fat is made hot in the frying pan, and the sliced vegetables, bread, eggs, oysters, meats, are put in to brown and harden into a grease-laden, indigestible mass, that would give a hyena the dyspepsia. It is quite impossible for the digestive organs to properly dispose of such material, hence fermentation and putrefaction often occur, and our stomachs become for the time a brewery laden with destructive gases and poisons, which result in various socalled diseases. Animal fats are exceedingly pernicious for frying purposes, and if we must continue to fry our food, let it be immersed in good, sweet, vegetable oil — simply boiled in oil instead of water. Anything can be cooked in this way with perfect ease, cold mush, vegetables, fish balls, etc., and those who use animal food will find that steaks, cutlets, fowls, eggs, chops, fish, anything in that line, will be far more delicate in flavor and digest more easily when cooked by immersion in a kettle of hot vegetable oil — cotton-seed, cocoanut and olive oils all being in the market and sold at reasonable prices. Place the material to be fried in the frying basket, and then plunge in the oil which must be at the *' flat boil or heat," as it is called, and the food will not then soak fat, neither should it be hard and greasy if properly cooked. Fried foods, because so fashionable, are not by any means essential to the very best of "good living, '* andf might well be dispensed with by those who desire good digestion and a clean, brilliant complexion, free from oiliness, so common among the consumers of fried food, animal fats, butter and cheese. The superiority of vegetable oils and fats over animal fats must be apparent to all those who consider the environments surrounding the growth and development of each. Nuts and seeds are the vital product of trees and shrubs living a natural life and ripening their fruits by healthful processes. The animal leads an enslaved artificial life that induces disease. Then follow doctors and drugs and state expenditure of millions of dollars to arrest and cure (?) diseases and so improve their health as to prepare them to pay the penalty of an obedient, submissive life, by being slain, that we may consume their flesh and revel in luxuries their fat produces for our tables. Unclean, unwholesome, indeed, is such fat, when in contrast with pure, unadulterated vegetable oil and butter. One need not be a vegetarian or even a hygienist to use these vegetable oils, for there are thousands of families using them, who also use animal food, finding economy in health and purse by so doing. Part II BREAD.. 67" CHAPTER VII. THE EVOLUTION OF BREAD. Grains were in the very ancient days eaten uncooked. When fire became a necessity they were softened by cooking. Later they were ground or crushed between stones and made with water into bread, cakes or wafers which were served " broken " instead of being cut. This was the primitive unleavened bread, and in some countries is still in use. Later, leaven or yeast was used, and to-day in some form is the universal material for raising bread. Yeast is the product of a fermenting process which leads to putrefaction.

A practical cook and text book for general use