Domestic science (Clark, Cornell home economics)

Egg recipes are not very accurate, as in different cases it will take the water different lengths of time to boil. For practice work, the teacher may put 2 eggs in the shell in boiling water and leave one in for 3 m., the other for 10 m. Compare results. Meanwhile each pupil is cooking one egg in shell according to Recipe No. 1. Have each pupil examine carefully her egg and the other two eggs, and compare. Review Egg Tests in Book I. Refer to Egg Lesson in Book I. Pupils may be told the week before to look up the subject of eggs and to study the notes they have for that lesson in the first-year course. The principles then established should be reviewed and perhaps others added. There is no need to repeat facts. If time permits, the following simple test for cooking eggs may be tried by a group of pupils or by one pupil or the teacher. If there is not time, pupils may try this at home and report the following week. Place a little of the white of egg in a test tube; hold test tube and chemical thermometer in a pan of water. Heat the water gradually. Notice how the white of egg looks at 150° F., at 180° F. Stir with a stick to show degree of solidity. Notice appearance and solidity at 212° F. Keep the water boiling for o < a z ■< several minutes : then take out some of the white of egg and examine it. Oedbb of Lesson 1. Kingdom and class to which eggs belong. 2. Parts of the egg. 3. Composition. What food principles contained? Lacking in what? 4. Nutritive value as compared with other foods. With what foods should eggs be served? 5. Tests for fresh eggs. Review first year's lesson. 6. Care of eggs. Preservation. 7. Use of eggs. 8. Cooking of eggs. Lesson V Scarcely a breakfast is considered complete without a cereal, and cereals such as rice, tapioca, etc., are frequently used at other meals. The use of cereals is largely a matter of taste. Some prefer raw cereals, others those which are cooked. In recent years many new cereals have come into the market, ready for the table, some partially cooked and predigested. All varieties of grains are used in the various preparations. The name cereal comes from Ceres, the Greek goddess of the harvest. The name was given to grain and grasses, the seeds of which are used as foods. Wheat, Indian corn or maize, oats, rice, rye, and barley, are the grains from which flour, meal and different cereal products are made. The products of wheat are the meals, white flour. entire wheat flour, graham meal and the cereal products, Pettijohn's breakfast food, pearl wheat, rolled wheat, cracked wheat, farina, and cream of wheat. In like manner, from each cereal there are many preparations. Cereals grow in different climates, from cold regions where barley is raised, to warm climates, the southern states and India, where rice grows. They are threshed, winnowed, hulled and ground for the market. Cereals are very nutritious and cheap food. They must be thoroughly cooked. The time allowed in the recipe on packages of cereals is usually not sufficient. They contain much cellulose in proportion to other ingredients, and for that reason require long cooking. The nature of the starch grains of each cereal makes a difference in the time of cooking. Cooking, as weU as softening the cellulose, also develops the flavor, bursts the starch cells, and softens the gluten. The fireless cooker is very good for cooking oatmeal. Cereals should generally be cooked in a double boiler, and in boiling salted water. They may be cooked first directly over heat for 10 or 15 m., and then placed in a double boiler. In this case they require watching at first. Cereals may be served hot or cold, boiled, steamed or fried, in cakes, muffins, puddings, etc. They are more digestible when eaten with fruit or bread, — something which must be masticated.