Domestic science (Clark, Cornell home economics)

Method of Broiling Beefsteak. When the steak is brought to the house, take it from the paper, wipe off with a damp cloth, place it in the refrigerator or in a very cool place. If a coal stove is in use, have the coals hot but without flame or smoke. Grease a broiler with beef fat, have it hissing hot, place the steak on it, and hold it near the coals. Count ten slowly, turn the broiler and hold the other side down for some time. Then turn every 12 seconds for about 1½ minutes, or until the outside is well seared. Now hold farther from the fire and turn until the steak is brown, or longer if it is liked well done. Just before finishing browning, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and turn once, so that the seasoning will cook in. Have ready a hot platter. Place the steak on it and spread both sides with butter, or with Maitre d'Hotel butter. Garnish with water cress or parsley, and shces of lemon. Serve at once. If a gas stove is used, have the broiling-oven hot. Place meat in a double broiler, or on the rack over the pan. Turn as in broiling over coals, but not so often. Turn gas down and lower the pan after the meat is seared. To cook a steak one inch thick, five or six BROILED BEEFSTEAK 189 minutes are required. For one IJ inches thick, eight to ten minutes are required. Well-broiled steak is puffy, as the moisture expands into steam, and is well-browned, juicy and red on the inside. If steak is less than one inch thick it loses so much water by evaporation that the Inside is dry before the outside is brown. Steak cooked on a pan may be almost as wellflavored and juicy as broiled meat, if it is properly done, but a cast-iron pan, not sheet-iron, must be used. Let the cast-iron pan become almost red hot before putting meat into it. Rub over the surface of the pan with a piece of fat taken from the steak. Now place steak in pan and sear one side, and then turn and sear the other side. Keep turning until it is done. If any melted fat collects in the pan pour this off. Season and serve like broiled steak. Recipe for Maitre d'Hotel Butter. | c. butter, 1 tbsp. lemon juice, J tsp. salt, few grains of pepper, 1 tbsp. parsley cut fine. 'Method. Cream the butter and stir in the other ingredients. Notes Review the principle of tender-meat cookery. This lesson may be given as group work, having two or three girls for the class. Or, better still, have each girl cook a small piece of steak, and then let two girls cook a large steak before the class. Order or Lesson 1. Review of principle of tender-meat cookery. 2. Talk on how to select a good beefsteak. 3. Discuss carefully the method of broiling beefsteak. 4. Compare process with pan-broiling. 5. Work. 6. Serve steak with wafers. 7. Wash dishes. 8. Review discussion, if there is time. BOOK II PRESERVATION OF FRUITS Lesson I In preserving, the most important steps are sterilization of the foods and utensils used. It is necessary to seal the foods to exclude all germs. Scientists have found that if food is perfectly sterilized, and the opening of the jars filled with sterilized cotton, food will not ferment, for bacteria cannot pass through the cotton. Food spoils because of bacteria development. Bacteria grows very rapidly in foods rich in nitrogenous substances, if warmth and moisture are present. Such nitrogenous foods are meat, fish, eggs, peas, beans, milk, etc. These are difficult to preserve. Fruits are usually slightly acid and do not often support bacterial growth; therefore canned fruits are more commonly fermented by yeasts. Some vegetable foods that have much acid and very little nitrogenous substance are easily preserved.