215. Good bread flour, and how to tell it. — Glutinous
flour, besides being more nutritious than starchy flour,
makes the elastic dough necessary for producing light
yeast bread. Hard spring wheat, being rich in gluten,
yields such flour. You may know it (1) hy its creamy
ivhite color, (2) hy its gritty feeling, (3) by its capacity
for absorbing ivater, nearly one and one-half cupfuls
of flour being taken up by one quart of good flour in
making dough stiff enough for yeast bread, and (4) by
its caking but slightly when squeezed in the hand.^
Where to find more about flour and flour-mills. — In Foods and
^eyero^es, pp. 30-36; Food Products of the l^oWaf, pp. 149-155; and
in " Flour-milling in the Northwest," The Nation, Vol. LIV, p. 424.
Section 3. Macaroni and Other Flour Pastes
216. Macaroni, spaghetti, vermicelli, and other Italian
pastes made from the glutinous flour of hard wheat, are
to Italians what our various kinds of bread are to us.
To make them, a stiff mixture of flour and hot water is
1 For cake and pastry, flour made from winter wheat is desirable.
Unfortunately, poor bread flour is often sold under the name of pastry
flour.
BREAD 119
placed in an iron cylinder, the end of which is closed by
a disk pierced with holes. A piston forces the paste
out through these in threads, rods, or tubes, according
to the shape of the openings. When dry, the threads
form vermicelli (Italian for little ivorms)^ — the rods,
spaghetti (Italian for a cord), and the tubes, macaroni
(Italian for crushed). Italian macaroni is dried by
hanging over wooden rods in the open air or in ovens ;
American macaroni is laid on flat frames.
217. Excellent macaroni is made in this country by
cleanlier methods than those used abroad, but because of
a common, though mistaken, belief that Italian wheat
is superior to ours, people will not buy it, except with
Italian or French labels. Why not show sense and
patriotism by preferring a domestic article, if it is as
good or better than an imported one, and, by so doing,
make it unnecessary for manufacturers to use deceptive
labels ?
218. How to know good macaroni. — Good macaroni is
yellowish in color and rough in texture ; it breaks
cleanly without splitting, in boiling swells to double its
bulk, and neither becomes pasty nor loses its tubular
shape. Imitations made of starchy flour colored, are
made both here and abroad.
219. Macaroni contains so much gluten that it is almost
equal to meat as a food, especially if cooked with cheese.
220. Spaghetti may be prepared in any way suitable
for macaroni, but is usually served with Tomato Sauce.
120 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COOKERY
Vermicelli is used only in soups. Noodles, to serve in
soup, are made in various shapes from a paste of flour,
water, and eggs.
Recipes
221. To grate cheese. — Use Parmesan, or any cheese
stale enough to be dry. Grate on a coarse grater, and
do not pack the grated cheese in measuring it.
222. To prepare buttered crumbs for scalloped dishes. —
Mix dried crumbs (§ 234) with melted butter, using one-
fourth of a cupful of butter to one cupful of crumbs.
Tomato Sauce (for Spaghetti, Macaroni, or Boiled Rice)
Tomato (canned or steamed), 1 cupful.
Butter, 2 tablespoonfuls.
Flour, 2 tablespoonfuls.
Onion (chopped), 1 teaspoonful.
Salt, %. teaspoonful.
Pepper, yi teaspoonful.
Page 56
Presented as published in 1901. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
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215. Good bread flour, and how to tell it. — Glutinous
flour, besides being more nutritious than starchy flour,
makes the elastic dough necessary for producing light
yeast bread. Hard spring wheat, being rich in gluten,
yields such flour. You may know it (1) hy its creamy
ivhite color, (2) hy its gritty feeling, (3) by its capacity
for absorbing ivater, nearly one and one-half cupfuls
of flour being taken up by one quart of good flour in
making dough stiff enough for yeast bread, and (4) by
its caking but slightly when squeezed in the hand.^
Where to find more about flour and flour-mills. — In Foods and
^eyero^es, pp. 30-36; Food Products of the l^oWaf, pp. 149-155; and
in " Flour-milling in the Northwest," The Nation, Vol. LIV, p. 424.
Section 3. Macaroni and Other Flour Pastes
216. Macaroni, spaghetti, vermicelli, and other Italian
pastes made from the glutinous flour of hard wheat, are
to Italians what our various kinds of bread are to us.
To make them, a stiff mixture of flour and hot water is
1 For cake and pastry, flour made from winter wheat is desirable.
Unfortunately, poor bread flour is often sold under the name of pastry
flour.
BREAD 119
placed in an iron cylinder, the end of which is closed by
a disk pierced with holes. A piston forces the paste
out through these in threads, rods, or tubes, according
to the shape of the openings. When dry, the threads
form vermicelli (Italian for little ivorms)^ — the rods,
spaghetti (Italian for a cord), and the tubes, macaroni
(Italian for crushed). Italian macaroni is dried by
hanging over wooden rods in the open air or in ovens ;
American macaroni is laid on flat frames.
217. Excellent macaroni is made in this country by
cleanlier methods than those used abroad, but because of
a common, though mistaken, belief that Italian wheat
is superior to ours, people will not buy it, except with
Italian or French labels. Why not show sense and
patriotism by preferring a domestic article, if it is as
good or better than an imported one, and, by so doing,
make it unnecessary for manufacturers to use deceptive
labels ?
218. How to know good macaroni. — Good macaroni is
yellowish in color and rough in texture ; it breaks
cleanly without splitting, in boiling swells to double its
bulk, and neither becomes pasty nor loses its tubular
shape. Imitations made of starchy flour colored, are
made both here and abroad.
219. Macaroni contains so much gluten that it is almost
equal to meat as a food, especially if cooked with cheese.
220. Spaghetti may be prepared in any way suitable
for macaroni, but is usually served with Tomato Sauce.
120 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COOKERY
Vermicelli is used only in soups. Noodles, to serve in
soup, are made in various shapes from a paste of flour,
water, and eggs.
Recipes
221. To grate cheese. — Use Parmesan, or any cheese
stale enough to be dry. Grate on a coarse grater, and
do not pack the grated cheese in measuring it.
222. To prepare buttered crumbs for scalloped dishes. —
Mix dried crumbs (§ 234) with melted butter, using one-
fourth of a cupful of butter to one cupful of crumbs.
Tomato Sauce (for Spaghetti, Macaroni, or Boiled Rice)
Tomato (canned or steamed), 1 cupful.
Butter, 2 tablespoonfuls.
Flour, 2 tablespoonfuls.
Onion (chopped), 1 teaspoonful.
Salt, %. teaspoonful.
Pepper, yi teaspoonful.