Experimental cookery

Temperature for cooking omelets. Omelets are usually cooked above heat, but baking them in the oven is an easy method to secure uniform temperatures for class work. A temperature of 160° to 165°C. is a good one to use. If the temperature is too low the omelet tends to separate while cooking, the liquid portion collecting in the bottom of the cooking utensil and forming a solid mass with the foamy part on top. Too high a tempera- ture for cooking leaves the inside of the omelet too moist unless the outer portion is over-cooked and thus toughened. In cooking over the heat the omelet needs to be covered. The omelet can be placed under the broiler to brown the top quickly. Angel Cake Angel and sponge cakes are included under egg cookery because they logically belong here and not under batters and doughs. The texture of the finished cake depends chiefly upon the manipulation of the egg, and the cooking temperature corresponds to that used for egg cookery. Review o£ literature on angel cake. Excellent work has been reported from different laboratories on angel and sponge cake and a review of this literature seems rather imperative. Hunt and St. John separated the thick and the thin portion of egg whites. The average volume of the cakes from the thin portions was greater than for the cakes made from the thick portions. They have also reported that the volumes of angel food cakes made from egg whites beaten at room temperature, 21 °C., were larger than cakes made from similar whites beaten at 5°C. The grain of the cakes made from whites beaten at room temperature was finer and the cakes more tender than those from whites beaten at 5°C. Hedstrom, in studying the effect of the consistency of the egg white on the volume and texture of angel cakes, found the percentage of thin white increased, as did the />H, with increased age of the eggs. The effect of age of the eggs on the volume of the cakes is shown in Fig. 35. It is obvious that there are some discrepancies in these results. Nevertheless, they are given here, for further work, which is not complete, appears to substantiate these results in that cake volume decreases with increased age of the eggs. 356 EGG COOKERY Barmore's results of investigating the influence of chemical and physical factors on egg-w^hite foams are as foUow^s: stability of the foams was determined by beating the egg white with an electric food mixer and photographing the foams 2 and 10 minutes after beating had stopped. The specific gravity of foams was determined. Stability of the foams was further determined by placing the egg-white foam in a funnel and determining the drainage at definite intervals. 1 I Average of Seven or More Cakes Than Seven Cakes — — \ 1 \ A \ ,1 ._j '^ y V'/ \_ \ :; \ \. / \ s ^ S \ \ V -^ ^ ^ ■^ 620 610\ 600 O590 o580 S ^570 o >560 <u -^550 U ^540 S530 <520 510 500 490 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 Age of Eggs in Days Fig. 35. — Relation of angel cake volume to the age of the eggs. (Hedstrom.)