Instruction in cookery (Methuen's text-books, Thompson)

The first example of a baking lesson is generally the making and baking of a milk pudding. In this lesson it is well to impress on the children’s minds the proper proportion of 2 oz. of starchy food to 1 pint of milk. The time spent on weighing and measuring the exact amounts, and showing them i-pint mugs, i-pint and J-pint pie dishes, is not wasted — for how many adults are absolutely sure of the quantities required for milk puddings ? They may also be shown such homely measures as tablespoons and cups. I well remember a small boy trotting by my side to school, who, being asked what he would like for dinner, said : ‘ Well, miss, I should like a nice milky rice pudding, not too sweet.’ That was a perfect description of what it should be. It is very difficult to get a perfect result into any pudding smaller 'than a |-pint, but J-pint dishes are supplied by some authorities. Tapioca, if soaked all night, is very good for these small ones, as they are not so liable to dry up in the time required for cooking them. Semolina and barley are also the better for being cooked in a saucepan first ; the latter may be ‘ creed ’ in water to make it soft, and then cooked in milk. Slow, long cooking is the keynote for all milk puddings. If the oven has browned the tops of the puddings before the inside is cooked, it is a good way to remove them from the oven and stand them in a tin of water on the top of the stove. They will thus go on cooking without any fear of being burnt. The next lesson after the milk-pudding lesson may be devoted to the making and baking of Yorkshire puddings and baked potatoes. The cooking of a joint may be demonstrated at this lesson, but it is difficult for every child to get real practice on such small pieces for roasting as are generally supplied, and steak, stuffed hearts, and stuffed steak may be used ; but these give very little practice for large joints, so by far the best way is for each child to cook a heart or rolled steak, Yorkshire pudding and potatoes, and to cook a biggish joint in turn during the following lessons. The use of the Dutch oven should be show and practised, as this is easily fixed on a parlor stove.. The great point in teaching the baking of Yorkshire puddings is to emphasize the fact that the batter should be poured into a flat tin well covered with smoking hot fat, and then placed in a hot oven. The real way of baking it under the meat is not easy for a class. This might be managed in a gas oven where only one Yorkshire pudding was required by suspending the meat from a hook so that it dripped on to the baking tin containing the Yorkshire pudding. Each child should make up 2 oz. of flour, ^ egg, 3- pint of milk and water, \ teaspoonful of salt, and carefully stir the ingredients (the mixed egg and milk) very gently into a hole in the middle of the flour. This quite prevents lumps. Baked potatoes may be scrubbed and baked in their skins in a very hot oven, or they may be peeled, parboiled, and placed in a dish of hot fat, and basted with this at intervals.