The paper-bag cookery manual

Economy of food material. In the past nobody ever expected that foods, such as meat, fish, or vegetables, should be of either the same size or weight after cooking as before. The shrinkage in the joint, or the dish of depleted vegetables, was looked upon by the household as inevitable, and a necessary evil. But now, nous avons change tout cela. Paper-bag cookery has achieved the maximum of food material with the minimum of expenditure of heat to a degree never yet attained by any form of civilised or uncivilised cookery. Perhaps the most popular of all the recent paper- bag demonstrations up and down the country, was one where two joints of meat were cooked simultaneously by both the old and new methods, to prove this point of economy of food material in the latter case. An ordinary joint of beef, weighing 4 lbs. 4 ozs., was placed in a buttered bag, and deposited on a trivet on the shelf of the demonstration gas oven. Almost simul- taneously another joint of beef, weighing 26 THE PAPER-BAG COOKERY MANUAL. 3 lbs. 14 ozs., was placed in another oven in a tin, and cooked after the old-fashioned method. After the cooking both joints were weighed. The paper-bag joint just tipped the scale at 4 lbs. J-oz., showing a shrinkage of only 3£ ozs. in the cooking. The second joint, cooked after the old method, turned the scale at 3 lbs. 3£ ozs., showing a shrinkage of not less than 10£ ozs., exactly three times the amount recorded in the case of the first joint. These statements are based on actual tests that have been made for the purpose of comparison. The Hygienic Safety of the System. The question as to the gaseous effects of paper-bag cookery on the food has been so often raised, and is of such supreme im- portance that too great care cannot be taken to go into the matter scientifically and discover what are actually the hygienic properties of food when cooked in this way. The safety to the cook is, of course, assured. No danger or detriment lurks in the system for him or her. But it is equally and even more necessary that the consumer should be able to indulge in paper-cooked food without the slightest qualms as to his health or digestion. In this connection, then, the opinion of a well known analyst, whose laboratory we sought, is of the utmost value. Here are his words : THE PAPER-BAG COOKERY MANUAL. 27 “If the food is fresh and good before cooking it will be fresh and good after cooking; if it were tainted and decomposed before, the cooking will not make it safe, pot or bag, because poisonous products of decomposition may remain. Moreover, the ‘Express’ paper-bags when fastened as directed are not gas-tight. If they were they would burst. The poisonous effect of some foods,” he continued, “is not due to any gaseous or readily volatile matter, but to alkaloidal and similar substances pro- duced by bacterial development. The bacteria themselves are killed by proper cooking, whether in pots or in ‘Express’ bags. The products of decomposition, however, once formed, remain almost wholly after cooking, whether in pots or bags. Cooking in ‘Express’ bags,” the analyst added, “has an important advantage over the pot-and- pan system, inasmuch as it tends materially to diminish the possibility of the contami- nation of food.” 28 THE PAPER-BAG COOKERY MANUAL. An Ideal Oven Thermometer.