joint to baste it properly. Put into the pan enough fat to cover the bottom ; when it is melted, put in the joint and cover it with a tightly-fitting lid. Cook over a slow fire and baste it frequently. Allow the same time as for cooking before the fire. Stewing. — This is considered to be the most economical way of cooking meat, as here all the juices, which escape from the meat when cooked in other ways, are preserved in the gravy. Coarse pieces of meat may be dipped in vinegar and made comparatively tender by long and gentle stewing. Only a very slow fire is needed for this method of cooking. The stew should never be allowed to rise to boiling-point. In stewing steak or any juicy meats, the outside should be hardened by browning it first in a small quantity of hot fat, so as to keep in the juices. The meat is then placed in a stewpan and a small quantity of hot water or stock poured round it. This should be allowed to simmer very slowly ; it must not come to boiling-point. Another good way of stewing is to put the stew in a stone jar with a tightly-fitting lid or cover of greased paper. The jar may be placed in a slow oven, or in a saucepan of cold water over the fire, and the water kept boiling round the jar three or four hours. I Steaming. — Place the food in a tin or earthenware vessel, well-greased, cover either with a tightly- fitting lid or greased white paper. Place it in a pan of boiling \N3itex, allowing the water to come only half way up its side. Add more boiling water as it reduces, and take care to have a closely-fitting lid on the pan. The boiling of an egg appears to be the simplest of culinary operations, and yet even in this there is a field for study, and more than one method of procedure. For ex- 8 INTRODUCTION. ample, the Portuguese in the Azores (among other peoples) put eggs upon the table in boiling water without previous cooking, and whenever one wishes for an egg he takes it. After the albumen is once coagulated, it does not become harder, as the water is becoming colder all the time, and is soon below the temperature at which coagulation takes place. Mr. Williams gives an experiment to prove that eggs are better when cooked at a lower temperature than that of boiling water. It is as follows : — Heat a pint of water to boiling, and, keeping the water boiling, cook in it an egg three minutes and a half, the usual time for soft-boiled EGGS. Take this egg out, put another in, and remove the saucepan from the fire to the hearth or some other convenient place. Leave this second egg in for about ten minutes — at least as long as this — and compare the two. The second egg will be found to be uniformly cooked, no portion of the white appearing raw, as is ordinarily the case with soft-boiled eggs, but all soft and tender and yet coagulated. It is necessary to use not less than a pint of water in the experi- ment given, or it will lose its heat before the egg is sufficiently cooked. The same result may be more certainly reached by keeping an egg in water at the temperature of i8o degrees Fahr. for ten minutes, or of i6o degrees Fahr. for twenty minutes or more; the point being to ensure that the whole egg has been heated to the temperature of i6o degrees, which is the temperature at which the white is per- fectly coagulated, and is yet soft and tender.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

joint to baste it properly. Put into the pan enough fat to cover the bottom ; when it is melted, put in the joint and cover it with a tightly-fitting lid. Cook over a slow fire and baste it frequently. Allow the same time as for cooking before the fire. Stewing. — This is considered to be the most economical way of cooking meat, as here all the juices, which escape from the meat when cooked in other ways, are preserved in the gravy. Coarse pieces of meat may be dipped in vinegar and made comparatively tender by long and gentle stewing. Only a very slow fire is needed for this method of cooking. The stew should never be allowed to rise to boiling-point. In stewing steak or any juicy meats, the outside should be hardened by browning it first in a small quantity of hot fat, so as to keep in the juices. The meat is then placed in a stewpan and a small quantity of hot water or stock poured round it. This should be allowed to simmer very slowly ; it must not come to boiling-point. Another good way of stewing is to put the stew in a stone jar with a tightly-fitting lid or cover of greased paper. The jar may be placed in a slow oven, or in a saucepan of cold water over the fire, and the water kept boiling round the jar three or four hours. Steaming. — Place the food in a tin or earthenware vessel, well-greased, cover either with a tightly- fitting lid or greased white paper. Place it in a pan of boiling water, allowing the water to come only half way up its side. Add more boiling water as it reduces, and take care to have a closely-fitting lid on the pan. The boiling of an egg appears to be the simplest of culinary operations, and yet even in this there is a field for study, and more than one method of procedure. For ex- ample, the Portuguese in the Azores (among other peoples) put eggs upon the table in boiling water without previous cooking, and whenever one wishes for an egg he takes it. After the albumen is once coagulated, it does not become harder, as the water is becoming colder all the time, and is soon below the temperature at which coagulation takes place. Mr. Williams gives an experiment to prove that eggs are better when cooked at a lower temperature than that of boiling water. It is as follows : — Heat a pint of water to boiling, and, keeping the water boiling, cook in it an egg three minutes and a half, the usual time for soft-boiled EGGS. Take this egg out, put another in, and remove the saucepan from the fire to the hearth or some other convenient place. Leave this second egg in for about ten minutes — at least as long as this — and compare the two. The second egg will be found to be uniformly cooked, no portion of the white appearing raw, as is ordinarily the case with soft-boiled eggs, but all soft and tender and yet coagulated. It is necessary to use not less than a pint of water in the experiment given, or it will lose its heat before the egg is sufficiently cooked. The same result may be more certainly reached by keeping an egg in water at the temperature of i8o degrees Fahr. for ten minutes, or of i6o degrees Fahr. for twenty minutes or more; the point being to ensure that the whole egg has been heated to the temperature of i6o degrees, which is the temperature at which the white is perfectly coagulated, and is yet soft and tender.

The handy dictionary of cookery