Experimental cookery

6. Omit the milk. Reduce the eggs to ^ for the whole recipe. Mix with the same number of strokes used under Bl. 7. Omit the milk. Increase the eggs to 3. Mix with the same number of strokes used under Bl. How much flour is added in each instance? Would increased mixing when the milk is reduced improve the texture? Flour added for whole recipe Appear- ance Texture Crispness Fh Keeping quality Results. C. The series under B may be repeated and less flour added to make drop cookies to compare with A. Which proportions give a crisp cooky? A soft one? Which cookies keep better, the roll or drop ones? Could the amount of mixing be increased and improve the texture for either series? CHAPTER XIII FATS AND OILS The principal uses of fats and oils in cookery are as follows: ( 1 ) to give richness and flavor, as the addition of fat to vegetables, and in mayon- naise and French dressings; (2) for sauteing and for cooking foods in deep fat; (3) for shortening, as in biscuits, muffins, cakes, and pastries. For the first use, flavor is important and may be the deciding factor, unless cost needs to be considered. Examples of this are butter or bacon fat for vegetables in preference to lard or Crisco, and olive oil for salad dressings in preference to other oils. This is a matter of personal choice. For the latter two uses, not only the flavor but also the chemical and physical characteristics may to some extent be deciding factors as to the preferable fat to use. True fats and oils are composed of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, though certain fat derivatives, the lipins, contain either nitrogen or nitrogen and phosphorus. Properties o£ fats and oils. One characteristic of fats and oils that may be an advantage or disadvantage in food preparation is that they are excellent solvents for many aromatic compounds. They are solvents for odors of onions, fish, perfumes, and many of the aromatic flavors used for seasoning food. Onions, celery, parsley, etc., may be cooked in fat, and this fat stored in the refrigerator to use in seasoning sauces, meats, etc. This can save many preparations of small amounts of onion or other vegetables used for seasoning. Perhaps the enhanced flavor when fat is added to the fruit filling of pies is partially due to the fat retaining more of the aromatic flavor of the fruit as well as to the enriching of the filling. Because the fat is a good solvent for vanilla and other flavor, it is often advised that it be added to the fat during creaming in mixing cake. The fats, the fatty acids, and the soaps formed from the fatty acids and alkalies all lower the surface tension of water. Fats and oils are only sparingly soluble in alcohol, but are readily soluble in ether, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, etc. Fats and oils are insoluble in water. They have a greasy feel and produce characteristic transparent spots on paper. Specific gravity of fats and oils. All the naturally occurring fats and oils have a specific gravity of less than 1.0. The term specific gravity is used to denote the ratio between the weight of a substance and the weight of an equal volume of water. Usually the weights are compared at the same temperature. Thus if the specific gravity of an oil is given as 0.919 542 GLYCERIDES 543