All kinds of fat, except bacon fat, may be used for frying until it becomes of a dark brown colour ; it must then be clarified by melting with water, or strained into hot water, when all the impurities fall to the bottom, and the fat, when cold, can be removed in a solid state. When the fat has become nearly black from use it has decomposed and lost its frying pro- perties, and will give a bad colour and taste to every- thing fried in it. Different liquids come to a boiling temperature at different degrees of heat. Water boils at 2120, and all the coal in the cellar will never enable you to obtain a higher temperature. Fats and oils require a much higher temperature, from 500° to 650°, before they come to the boiling point, and this is why fat is Frying. 57 used instead of water. If we could obtain the same temperature with water as with fats and oils we could fry as well, or better, in water, because everything fried would be free from any greasy taste. What takes place when a drop of water or sprig of parsley falls into hot fat ? If the temperature of the fat is not more than 21 2° no visible effect takes place, but if the temperature be above 2120 the water is con- verted into steam and explodes. The higher the temperature the more violent and rapid the explosion; and if any considerable quantity of water were thrown into hot fat it would be dangerous, because the fat would be thrown all over the kitchen. . From several experiments made in the Cookery School I am en- abled to give the following temperatures (Fahrenheit) for frying : — Soles . . . . . 380° Rissoles . • 385° Croquettes . - • 385° Cutlets • 3S5° Fritters • - • • 385° Potato chips •' 385° Whitebait 400° When anything is egged and bread-crumbed and fried in hot fat, the thing fried is not in contact with the fat, because the albumen is at once solidified, and forms a covering through which the fat never pene- trates. The temperature of the fat slightly varies according to the nature of the things fried, and as we use a thermometer to determine the temperature of our 58 Buckmasier' s Cookery. rooms, so we ought to use a thermometer much more in cooking. We can never raise cooking to a science until we have more exact language and methods. Too high a temperature must in all cases be avoided, and this temperature is indicated by the smoke rising from the kettle. The different degrees of heat are generally determined by throwing into the fat a small sprig of parsley, or a drop or two of water, or a piece of bread the size of a small nut ; if ebullition is produced at once, and large bubbles rise to the surface, the fat has reached a temperature known in the kitchen as hot fat. For warm fat the bread should only give rise to small bubbles with scarcely any fizzing.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

All kinds of fat, except bacon fat, may be used for frying until it becomes of a dark brown colour ; it must then be clarified by melting with water, or strained into hot water, when all the impurities fall to the bottom, and the fat, when cold, can be removed in a solid state. When the fat has become nearly black from use it has decomposed and lost its frying properties, and will give a bad colour and taste to everything fried in it. Different liquids come to a boiling temperature at different degrees of heat. Water boils at 2120, and all the coal in the cellar will never enable you to obtain a higher temperature. Fats and oils require a much higher temperature, from 500° to 650°, before they come to the boiling point, and this is why fat is Frying. used instead of water. If we could obtain the same temperature with water as with fats and oils we could fry as well, or better, in water, because everything fried would be free from any greasy taste. What takes place when a drop of water or sprig of parsley falls into hot fat ? If the temperature of the fat is not more than 21 2° no visible effect takes place, but if the temperature be above 2120 the water is converted into steam and explodes. The higher the temperature the more violent and rapid the explosion; and if any considerable quantity of water were thrown into hot fat it would be dangerous, because the fat would be thrown all over the kitchen. . From several experiments made in the Cookery School I am enabled to give the following temperatures (Fahrenheit) for frying : — Soles . . . . . 380° Rissoles . • 385° Croquettes . - • 385° Cutlets • 385° Fritters • - • • 385° Potato chips •' 385° Whitebait 400° When anything is egged and bread-crumbed and fried in hot fat, the thing fried is not in contact with the fat, because the albumen is at once solidified, and forms a covering through which the fat never penetrates. The temperature of the fat slightly varies according to the nature of the things fried, and as we use a thermometer to determine the temperature of our Buckmasier' s Cookery. rooms, so we ought to use a thermometer much more in cooking. We can never raise cooking to a science until we have more exact language and methods. Too high a temperature must in all cases be avoided, and this temperature is indicated by the smoke rising from the kettle. The different degrees of heat are generally determined by throwing into the fat a small sprig of parsley, or a drop or two of water, or a piece of bread the size of a small nut ; if ebullition is produced at once, and large bubbles rise to the surface, the fat has reached a temperature known in the kitchen as hot fat. For warm fat the bread should only give rise to small bubbles with scarcely any fizzing.

Buckmaster's cookery