FoodNet

Foods and household management

1914

Page 34

Presented as published in 1914. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
12. How many tablespoonfuls of water to a cup? (These relative measures are convenient for dividing recipes.) 13. Measure a level tablesi>oonful of flour, by filling the spoon, holding it level, and leveling the flour by running the back of the knife quickly from the base of the bowl of the six>on to the tip. How can you most accurately divide this in halves? In quar- ters? 14. How much does a cup of flaked cereal weigh? 15. How much does a cup of granular cereal weigh? 16. Butter is hard to measure in a cup. , If a recipe calls for } cup butter, it is easier to measure it by tablesi)oonfuls. Find out how many make } cup. 17. How much does a cup of butter weigh? If you know this, you can weigh it, instead of measuring, or if your butter is in pound ** pats," you will be able to cut off a cupful, instead of weighing it. 18. An old-fashioned recipe for sponge cake reads thus : Take the weight of the eggs in sugar and half their weight in flour. Trans- late this into measures. Preparing and mixing. — Food materials that are not to be mixed with others still need special preparation before heat is applied. For fruits and vegetables, toashing is the first stage, followed by scraping, paring, peeling, cutting, or slicing. Meats, jwidtry, and FOOD PREPARATION 63 fish must be cleaned by wiping, and cut and trimmed with a sharp knife. Cooked meats and fish and vegetables may be chopped or sliced. Cooked vegetables are also mashed and beaten. Cream is whipped or heaterij and eggs served raw likewise. These seem simple processes, but each one needs a good tool and a knack in the muscles. Each method will be taken up in detail, with each food material. J Methods of mixing are important, where several ingredients are combined. We seek for a way that will give the most complete mingling of all the substances with smoothness and lightness, at the same time saving time and strength. We must look always for the " short cut." It is necessary to have the texture of the food such that it can be well masticated and mixed with the digestive fluids, but time is too precious to spend hours on a dessert, or in beating biscuits. Sifting f or putting materials through a fine mesh, is used to Hghten flour that has been packed down, to remove coarse portions, or to mix thoroughly several dry ingredients. Stirring is done with a spoon, and is a round and round motion, used for mixing a liquid and a dry ingredient. Rubbing is used for combining a dry ingredient with a semi-soUd substance like butter. Creaming is a term used for the rubbing of butter until it becomes soft and creamy. A spoon should be used, not the hand. " Cutting in " with a knife is used for combining butter with flour in biscuit and pastry where the butter should not be softened. Beating with a spoon, or beater of the spoon type, is a free over and over motion, the spoon being lifted from the mixture for the backward stroke. This is used for increasing the smoothness of the mixture after the first stirring, and for beating in air. It needs a strong free motion of the forearm. Beating is also accomplished by the rotary motion 6f a mechanical beater like the Dover. CtUting and folding is the dehcate process of mixing lightly beaten egg with a hquid or semi-hquid without losing out the air. The 64 FOODS AND HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT