There is one thing in baking that we must bear in
mind, and that is, that" an oven will not look after itself.”
The numbers of carefully prepared delicacies I have seen
spoilt through forgetfulness of this simple fact ! Only the
other day a young friend of mine announced her intention
to make some buns. She collected her materials, selected
the recipe, mixed the ingredients in the most satisfactory
manner, and put her buns into the oven. The whole
family was in a state of expectation, when suddenly an
odour more strong than agreeable diffused itself through
the house. The buns were burning. My friend had for-
gotten to look after them whilst they were in the oven,
and they were all burnt as black as our shoes.
One objection to an oven is that it is not always hot
when it is wanted. Those who want to do a little cooking
in a hurry and find that the oven is cold and the fire low,
may make a substitute for the oven out of a saucepan.
.Small pieces of meat, poultry, and game are excellent thus
" baked in a pan.” Take a common iron saucepan (a tin
or an enamelled one would not answer the purpose). Melt
a slice of dripping in it, and rub the meat or bird that is
to be cooked✪ Baked Meat in a Pan all over with dripping. Place it in the pan,
put on the lid, and turn it about every two or three
minutes till it is equally browned all over. Cover the
pan closely, draw it to the side of the fire so that the
meat can cook slowly, and turn and baste it frequently.
It will be done in about the same time that it would
take to cook in an ordinary oven, and few would guess
that it had not been dressed as usual.
28
V.
THE FRYING-PAN.
ALWAYS look upon a frying-pan as the pet utensil of
a-it incompetent cook. Those who scramble through
the preparation of food, instead of cooking it intelligently,
generally rely upon a frying-pan to save them from the
difficulties into which their want of punctuality and fore-
thought lead them. The result is that food from their
hands is usually presented either burnt, greasy, or hard,
very often all three, and it is nearly always indigestible.
There is no method of cookery that is so popular
amongst a certain class of cooks as what they call frying,
and there is no process that is so little understood by
them as real frying. I am going to try to explain very
clearly what true frying really is, and the difference be-
tween it and half frying.
You will remember that when we were talking about
boiling, 1 said that if meat were plunged into boiling
water and boiled for about five minutes, the albumen
would coagulate on the surface, and make a sort of case
that would keep in the goodness of the meat.
Page 14 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1882. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
There is one thing in baking that we must bear in mind, and that is, that" an oven will not look after itself.” The numbers of carefully prepared delicacies I have seen spoilt through forgetfulness of this simple fact ! Only the other day a young friend of mine announced her intention to make some buns. She collected her materials, selected the recipe, mixed the ingredients in the most satisfactory manner, and put her buns into the oven. The whole family was in a state of expectation, when suddenly an odour more strong than agreeable diffused itself through the house. The buns were burning. My friend had forgotten to look after them whilst they were in the oven, and they were all burnt as black as our shoes.
One objection to an oven is that it is not always hot when it is wanted. Those who want to do a little cooking in a hurry and find that the oven is cold and the fire low, may make a substitute for the oven out of a saucepan. .Small pieces of meat, poultry, and game are excellent thus " baked in a pan.” Take a common iron saucepan (a tin or an enamelled one would not answer the purpose). Melt a slice of dripping in it, and rub the meat or bird that is to be cooked all over with dripping. Place it in the pan, put on the lid, and turn it about every two or three minutes till it is equally browned all over. Cover the pan closely, draw it to the side of the fire so that the meat can cook slowly, and turn and baste it frequently. It will be done in about the same time that it would take to cook in an ordinary oven, and few would guess that it had not been dressed as usual.
THE FRYING-PAN.
ALWAYS look upon a frying-pan as the pet utensil of an incompetent cook. Those who scramble through the preparation of food, instead of cooking it intelligently, generally rely upon a frying-pan to save them from the difficulties into which their want of punctuality and forethought lead them. The result is that food from their hands is usually presented either burnt, greasy, or hard, very often all three, and it is nearly always indigestible.
There is no method of cookery that is so popular amongst a certain class of cooks as what they call frying, and there is no process that is so little understood by them as real frying. I am going to try to explain very clearly what true frying really is, and the difference between it and half frying.
You will remember that when we were talking about boiling, 1 said that if meat were plunged into boiling water and boiled for about five minutes, the albumen would coagulate on the surface, and make a sort of case that would keep in the goodness of the meat.
Records on this page
Baked Meat in a Pan