The grease used for frying ought not only to be melted down, but also thoroughly cooked, so that it may be quite pure. If insufficiently cooked, it foams on first being used, and so demands all kinds of extra precautions, which only cease to be necessary when constant heating at last rectifies it. Moreover, if it be not quite pure, it easily penetrates immersed solids and makes them indigestible. All grease used in frying should first be cut into pieces and then put into the saucepan with one pint of water per every ten lbs. The object of the water is to assist in the melting, and this it does by filtering into the grease, vaporising, and thereby causing the latter to swell. So long as the water has not com- pletely evaporated, the grease only undergoes the action of liquefaction, 1.e., the dissolution of its molecules; but its thorough cooking process, ending with its purification, only begins when all the water is gone. The grease is cooked when (1) the membranes which en- veloped it alone remain intact and are converted into greaves; (2) it gives off smoke which has a distinct smell. At this stage it has reached such a high temperature that it is best to remove it from the fire for about ten minutes, so that it may cool; then it must be strained through a sieve, or a coarse towel, which must be tightly twisted. 264—THE VARIOUS DEGREES OF HEAT REACHED BY THE FRYING MEDIUM, AND THEIR APPLICATION The temperature reached by a frying medium depends upon LEADING CULINARY OPERATIONS 125 the latter’s constituents and its purity. The various degrees may be classified as moderately hot, hot, very hot. The expression ‘‘ boiling hot ’’ is unsuitable, seeing that fat never boils. Butter (an occasional frying medium) cannot over- reach 2489 F. without burning, whereas if it be thoroughly purified it can attain from 269° to 275° F.—a temperature which is clearly below what would be needed for work on a large scale. Animal greases used in ordinary frying reach from 275° to 284° F. when moderately hot, 320° F. when hot, and 356° F. when very hot; in the last case they smoke slightly. Pork-fat (lard), when used alone, reaches 392° F. without burning. Very pure goose dripping withstands 428° F.; and, finally, vegetable fats may reach, without burning, 482° F. in the case of cocoa-nut butter, 518° F. with ordinary oils, and 554° in the case of olive oil. The temperature of ordinary frying fat may be tested thus: it is moderately hot when, after throwing a sprig of parsley or a crust of bread into it, it begins to bubble immediately ; it is hot if it crackles when a slightly moist object is thrust into it; it is very hot when it gives off a thin white smoke per- ceptible to the smell. The first temperature, ‘‘ moderately hot,’’ is used (1) for all products containing vegetable water the complete evaporation of which is necessary ; (2) for fish whose volume exacts a cook- ing process by means of penetration, previous to that with con- centration. In the first degree of heat with which it is used the frying fat therefore only effects a kind of preparatory operation. The second temperature, “‘hot,’’ is used for all products which have previously undergone an initial cooking process in the first temperature, either for evaporation or penetration, and its object is either to finish them or to cover them with a crimped coating. It is also applicable to those products upon which the frying fat must act immediately by concentration—that is to say, by forming a set coating around them which prevents the escape of the contained substances. Objects treated with this temperature are: all those panés a Vanglaise or covered with batter, such as various croquettes, cromesquis, cutlets, and collops a la Villeroy, fritters of all kinds, fried creams, &c. In this case the frying medium acts by setting, which in certain cases is exceedingly necessary.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The grease used for frying ought not only to be melted down, but also thoroughly cooked, so that it may be quite pure. If insufficiently cooked, it foams on first being used, and so demands all kinds of extra precautions, which only cease to be necessary when constant heating at last rectifies it. Moreover, if it be not quite pure, it easily penetrates immersed solids and makes them indigestible. All grease used in frying should first be cut into pieces and then put into the saucepan with one pint of water per every ten lbs. The object of the water is to assist in the melting, and this it does by filtering into the grease, vaporising, and thereby causing the latter to swell. So long as the water has not completely evaporated, the grease only undergoes the action of liquefaction, i.e., the dissolution of its molecules; but its thorough cooking process, ending with its purification, only begins when all the water is gone. The grease is cooked when (1) the membranes which enveloped it alone remain intact and are converted into greaves; (2) it gives off smoke which has a distinct smell. At this stage it has reached such a high temperature that it is best to remove it from the fire for about ten minutes, so that it may cool; then it must be strained through a sieve, or a coarse towel, which must be tightly twisted. 264—THE VARIOUS DEGREES OF HEAT REACHED BY THE FRYING MEDIUM, AND THEIR APPLICATION The temperature reached by a frying medium depends upon the latter’s constituents and its purity. The various degrees may be classified as moderately hot, hot, very hot. The expression ‘‘ boiling hot ’’ is unsuitable, seeing that fat never boils. Butter (an occasional frying medium) cannot overreach 248° F. without burning, whereas if it be thoroughly purified it can attain from 269° to 275° F.—a temperature which is clearly below what would be needed for work on a large scale. Animal greases used in ordinary frying reach from 275° to 284° F. when moderately hot, 320° F. when hot, and 356° F. when very hot; in the last case they smoke slightly. Pork-fat (lard), when used alone, reaches 392° F. without burning. Very pure goose dripping withstands 428° F.; and, finally, vegetable fats may reach, without burning, 482° F. in the case of cocoa-nut butter, 518° F. with ordinary oils, and 554° in the case of olive oil. The temperature of ordinary frying fat may be tested thus: it is moderately hot when, after throwing a sprig of parsley or a crust of bread into it, it begins to bubble immediately ; it is hot if it crackles when a slightly moist object is thrust into it; it is very hot when it gives off a thin white smoke perceptible to the smell. The first temperature, ‘‘ moderately hot,’’ is used (1) for all products containing vegetable water the complete evaporation of which is necessary ; (2) for fish whose volume exacts a cooking process by means of penetration, previous to that with concentration. In the first degree of heat with which it is used the frying fat therefore only effects a kind of preparatory operation. The second temperature, “‘hot,’’ is used for all products which have previously undergone an initial cooking process in the first temperature, either for evaporation or penetration, and its object is either to finish them or to cover them with a crimped coating. It is also applicable to those products upon which the frying fat must act immediately by concentration—that is to say, by forming a set coating around them which prevents the escape of the contained substances. Objects treated with this temperature are: all those panés a Vanglaise or covered with batter, such as various croquettes, cromesquis, cutlets, and collops a la Villeroy, fritters of all kinds, fried creams, &c. In this case the frying medium acts by setting, which in certain cases is exceedingly necessary.

A guide to modern cookery