FoodNet

Elements of the theory and practice of cookery

1901

Page 39

Presented as published in 1901. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Time of Cooking, in Hours. Oatmeal (Raw) . 1 Steam. If soaked, 3 ; if not, 6 or more. Oatmeal (Steam- cooked), Rolled Oats, H-0, etc. . 1 If Steam. Rice 3 or more. Boil. i Rice 2i Steam. 1 Wheat (Rolled and Steam-cooked) . n Steam. 1 Indian Meal . . 16 Boil. 'if soaked, 3 ; if not, 6. Hominy .... 4 Steam. If soaked, 2; if not, 4. Wheaten Grits . . 3 (or if soaked overnight in 1 cup of cold water, add 2^ cups of boil- Steam. If soaked, 2 ; if not, 3. Farina and other ing water). fine Wheat Prep- arations . . . 1 3f Steam. 1 to 3 1 If the meal is sprinkled in dry, continue adding it 'until it begins to float ; after that, add no more. 80 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COOKERY Reading. — Chapter XVIII, Cereals, in Food Products of the World. (Drawings of stalks of rice and millet), pp. l-oO and 36-39 in Foods and Beverages. Kice Culture, p. 66, in the Domestic Science Reader. For poetry, read "Hiawatha's Fasting" and "Blessing the Cornfields." Also see pictures illustrating grain shipping in Har- per's Weekly, October 9, 1897. (Vol. 41, pp. 1000 and 1001.) ^Section 4. "Wheat, the King of Cereals When summer's hourly mellowing change May breathe, with many roses sweet, Upon the thousand waves of wheat That ripple round the lonely grange. — Tennyson. 145. Wheat, being capable of cultivation in a greater variety of soils and climates than any other grain, and being also better suited for bread-making and for use as a constant article of diet, has been called " the King of Cereals." A Study of Wheat. Part I 146. — A. Note the elliptical scar at the base of a wheat grain. This shows where the germ, or embryo, lies, from which the seed- ling springs. B. Crush a few grains of wheat, moisten them with boiling water, and test them for starch. If sprouted grains ^ be tested for starch, much of it will be found to have disappeared, and, under the 1 Wheat and other cereals may be grown in earth or sawdust, or on moist blotting paper laid on a plate and covered with a glass jar or cheese-dish cover. FUEL FOODS: SOME STARCHY PLANTS 81 microscope, the granules left will appear rough, as if eaten into. 147. How the seedling is fed. — What has become of the starch ? A\^e have before seen that Nature is careful to provide food for baby plants. In what part of the potato plant is starch stored ? What connection is there between that part of the plant from which the young plant springs and the location of the food supply ? The plant, like the human body, cannot make use of starch until it is digested. In what does the diges- tion of starch consist? This digestion in grains is effected by diastase, a substance developed in the seed during sprouting. What animal substance do you know of that can effect this change ? 148. Kinds of wheat. — Wheat is called winter wheat or spring wheat, according to whether it is best suited to being sown in autumn or in spring. Wheat that endures the cold and dampness of winter is soft and starchy ; wheat that comes up quickly in sunny spring weather is hard. Even spring wheat is soft in a rainy, cold season. These two sorts of wheat produce quite different kinds of flour, as you will learn in the next chapter.