FoodNet

Experimental cookery

1932

Page 112

Presented as published in 1932. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Masters's results with legumes. Masters, using London tap water (temporary hardness 12 parts per 100,000 parts of water and permanent hardness 5 parts per 100,000 parts of water) and cooking butter beans, found that soaking made little difference in time required for cooking, but that soaking with sodium bicarbonate in the soaking water did shorten the cooking time. Distilled water gave a shorter cooking time than tap water. Masters also determined the soaking and cooking losses of total solids. It is interesting to note that soaking with soda in the water gave not only a shorter cooking period, but also a slightly decreased loss of total solids. However, there was only a very slight difference. This was with the percentage of soda that she considered to give the best cooking results, 1 per cent (equivalent to about ^ teaspoon of soda per cup of water). With larger amounts of soda than 1 per cent, greater losses due to disintegration of the beans occurred. With a small amount, 0.25 per CLASS RESULTS WITH NAVY BEANS 139 cent, the cooking time was shortened but the total loss of solids was slightly- higher than for the other methods of cooking. Losses were also high when large amounts of soda were used in the soaking instead of the cooking water. When other types of beans were substituted for the butter beans, the results were similar, although the cooking time might be longer or shorter according to the nature of the beans, and the cooking losses higher or lower, varying with the thickness of the skins of the beans. The loss of solids during cooking of the butter beans was about 10.5 to 11 per cent if beans were not soaked. If beans were soaked before cooking the total loss was about 12.5 per cent. One of the methods recommended by Masters for cooking beans is to add soda to the soaking water and salt to the cooking water. She found that discarding the soaking water gave no greater cooking losses than when it was retained and the beans cooked in the water in which they were soaked. Class results with navy beans. The experimental class results for several years at Iowa State College show that, although some navy beans cook in a very short time, the majority require about the same time, which is close to the average given in the following tables. Some require longer cooking. To show this the minimum and maximum time as well as the average are given in the tables. The beans were washed and added to 1 pint of boiling water. If the water evaporated to dryness, boiling water was added. The soaked beans stood over night, usually 15 to 24 hours. All the figures are for 15 or more tests. The water is quite hard, averaging about 340 parts of carbonate per million parts of water. The mineral content as carbonate is as follows: CaCOs 240 parts per million parts of water. MgCOs 100 parts per million parts of water.