Now, frying is boiling in fat, and the cause of the difference between boiling in water and boiling in fat, is that fat can be made so very much hotter than water that the work can be done much more quickly, while at the same time a peculiar brown appearance and tasty flavour is given to the article fried. If we had a ther- mometer we should find that when w.ater is boiling it reaches 212 deg. We might make a fire large enough to roast an ox, but we should never get water hotter than that. Fat, however, can be made more than twice as hot as water, and therefore it conveys heat much more quickly. We have, I dare say, all felt what it is to be scalded with boiling water, and that is bad enough ; but the pain is trifling compared to that which we suffer when we are burned with boiling fat. And that is because hot fat is so very, very hot 29 The Frying-Pan. If we were going to boil anything in water, we should never think of pouring a little drop of water into the bottom of a pan and laying the meat upon it, then leaving it till it was sufficiently cooked. In the same way, when we are going to fry anything, we should not be content to put a little fat in a frying-pan and cook the meat in this. And yet how many people there are who think a spoonful or two of fat is quite sufficient for frying ! They would be quite horrified if we said that we must cover the article to be fried with fat before we could fry it perfectly. “ Where are we to get such a quantity of fat from.?" I can imagine them saying. “ It would take a couple of pounds or more of fat to fry in that way. How extravagant to use a couple of pounds of fat to fry one dish ! ” Ah ! I don’t feel that the charge of extrava- gance can be fairly laid against me. Where, 1 would ask, is all the fat that these friends of ours have used for frying during the last three or four weeks ? Is it not true that most of it was burnt away, and that the remainder was thrown out as soon as it was done with .? If it could be collected and brought here, there would be quite enough for our purpose. The fact is, it is not wasteful to use a quantity of fat at a time. Fat lasts heated in quantities, and if properly treated can be used again and again ; indeed, I do not hesitate to say that with care it could be used thirty or forty times over. Before we can fry perfectly, however, there are one or two more points to be considered besides the quantity of the fat. One of these is its temperature. Fat used in frying should be' hot^ so hot that it is still. This sounds strange, I dare say, but it is quite true. If we put a saucepan half-filled with water on the fire, it would at first be still, and as it became hot it would move about, and when it reached the boiling point it would bubble away in the most lively manner. P'at, on the contrary, would very quickly begin bubbling : then, as it grew hot, it would, if properly clarified, become quite still, and a light blue vapour would be seen rising from it. This stillness and the appearance of the vapour is the sign that it is at the proper heat for frying. It would not do to wait until the vapour became smoke, however, for that would mean that the fat was beginning to burn. 30 The Girl’s Own Cookery Book.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Now, frying is boiling in fat, and the cause of the difference between boiling in water and boiling in fat, is that fat can be made so very much hotter than water that the work can be done much more quickly, while at the same time a peculiar brown appearance and tasty flavour is given to the article fried. If we had a thermometer we should find that when w.ater is boiling it reaches 212 deg. We might make a fire large enough to roast an ox, but we should never get water hotter than that. Fat, however, can be made more than twice as hot as water, and therefore it conveys heat much more quickly. We have, I dare say, all felt what it is to be scalded with boiling water, and that is bad enough ; but the pain is trifling compared to that which we suffer when we are burned with boiling fat. And that is because hot fat is so very, very hot The Frying-Pan. If we were going to boil anything in water, we should never think of pouring a little drop of water into the bottom of a pan and laying the meat upon it, then leaving it till it was sufficiently cooked. In the same way, when we are going to fry anything, we should not be content to put a little fat in a frying-pan and cook the meat in this. And yet how many people there are who think a spoonful or two of fat is quite sufficient for frying ! They would be quite horrified if we said that we must cover the article to be fried with fat before we could fry it perfectly. “ Where are we to get such a quantity of fat from.?" I can imagine them saying. “ It would take a couple of pounds or more of fat to fry in that way. How extravagant to use a couple of pounds of fat to fry one dish ! ” Ah ! I don’t feel that the charge of extravagance can be fairly laid against me. Where, 1 would ask, is all the fat that these friends of ours have used for frying during the last three or four weeks ? Is it not true that most of it was burnt away, and that the remainder was thrown out as soon as it was done with .? If it could be collected and brought here, there would be quite enough for our purpose. The fact is, it is not wasteful to use a quantity of fat at a time. Fat lasts heated in quantities, and if properly treated can be used again and again ; indeed, I do not hesitate to say that with care it could be used thirty or forty times over. Before we can fry perfectly, however, there are one or two more points to be considered besides the quantity of the fat. One of these is its temperature. Fat used in frying should be hot, so hot that it is still. This sounds strange, I dare say, but it is quite true. If we put a saucepan half-filled with water on the fire, it would at first be still, and as it became hot it would move about, and when it reached the boiling point it would bubble away in the most lively manner. P'at, on the contrary, would very quickly begin bubbling : then, as it grew hot, it would, if properly clarified, become quite still, and a light blue vapour would be seen rising from it. This stillness and the appearance of the vapour is the sign that it is at the proper heat for frying. It would not do to wait until the vapour became smoke, however, for that would mean that the fat was beginning to burn. 30 The Girl’s Own Cookery Book.

The girl's own cookery book