Domestic science (1914 text-book)

Among the most common flavorings are the extracts which are used in cakes and candy. These extracts, lemon, vanilla, orange, peach, rose and almond are made from the flower, fruit or seed from which they get their name. Some other extracts, such as banana and strawberry, are made from chemicals. Besides these extracts, fruit juices, such as lemon juice and orange juice, are often used for flavoring. But perhaps the first flavorings used were the spices. It is true that all Digitized by Google BISCUITS these flavorings have no real food value, but because they are so pleasing to the taste they stimulate digestion, and so are important in the diet. The spices are all plant products, the most common of which are ginger, all-spice, clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Ginger is usually sold in a powdered form, but it is really the root of a plant. All-spice, so called, because it tastes like a mixture of all the other spices, is the cheapest of all the spices. Cloves, used either whole or ground (ground in cakes), are the partly opened bud of a plant. Cinnamon is the bark of a tree. It may be used in long stick-like form. The nutmeg is the nut of a peach-like tree. The outer pulp is not used. Ahnost all of the spices Fig. 59.- A Bundle of Cinnamon are imported from countries having a tropical climate. Lesson l# Drop Biscuit Materials used: Class Rule J c flour 1 tp baking powder i tb fat 7 tb milk Utensils needed: 2 bowls sieve spoons Home Rule 2 c flour 4 tp baking powder 2 tb fat If c milk 2 case knives 2 measuring cups rolling pin biscuit cutter molding board baking tins Digitized by Google Work to be done: 1. Put the oven on to heat. 2. Sift all dry ingredients. 3. Put fat, or shortening, into measured dry ingredients. 4. With two case knives, cut the fat into the dry mixture till the whole mixture is of a mealy consistency. 5. Add the milk slowly , cutting the mass instead of stirring it. 6. Sift a little flour onto the baking tin, then shake oflF all that does not stick. 7. Drop the biscuit mixture from the end of a knife in small piles onto the floured tin. 8. Place the pan on the bottom grate in a hot oven. 9. When the biscuits have risen and browned slightly on the bottom, raise them to the top grate that they may harden on top. 10. When well browned remove from oven. Principles: 1. This mixture is thicker than a batter, and is known as a soft dough. 2. The shortening is added by cutting it in with a knife, because all the ingredients of dough should be kept as cold as possible in order that the biscuit may be tender and the dough be less sticky, and so easier to handle. If the shortening were kneaded in with the hands the mixture would be warmer. 3. The baking powder acts the same here as it did with the batter. What is its use? Fig. 60. — Dropping Biscuit Dough onto Tin Digitized by Google BISCUITS 139 Serving: 1. Serve the biscuit while hot. 2. Serve the biscuit with butter at breakfast, luncheon, or dinner. 3. Serve with stew at dinner. Table manners: Rule : Biscuit should be broken apart, not cut. Cleaning up: 1. What kind of water should be used for rinsing batter dishes? Should dough dishes be treated the same or not? Why? What has been learned: 1. To cut shortening into dry ingredients. 2. That a soft dough is a mixture thicker than a batter. 3. To keep all ingredients for biscuit cold. Lesson LI Baking Powder Biscuit Materials used: Class Rule Home Rule ^ c flour i tb lard 2 c flour 2 tb lard 1 tp baking j tp salt 4 tp baking f tp salt powder a little milk powder a little milk Utensils needed: Bowls spoons measuring cup molding board sieve 2 knives biscuit cutter baking tin Work to be done: ><^^ 1. Put on oven to heat. JP^ISmll^