(1) Deep fat frying, — An iron kettle is the best for deep fat, 3 quarts a convenient size. A wire basket is almost neces- sary for frying soft material. Fill the kettle i full of fat and place over fire. When a slight blue smoke or vapor rises from it, it is ready to test. Test with small cubes of bread. If bread browns iji 1 minute, the temperature is right for uncooked mixtures. If it browns VEGETABLES AND VEGETABLE COOKERY 121 • \ in 10 seoonds, it is right for cooked materials. Care must be taken to keep the temperatures at the right point, for if too cool, the material will soak fat ; if too hot, both fat and material to be cooked will bum. (2) To clarify fat.^ — Drop several slices raw, pared potato into the fat and let bubble up. Strain all through cheesecloth back into pail from which fat was taken. The potatoes seem to absorb food odors and collect crumbs and leave the fat clear. 7. Stewed celery. — A green vegetable. Stalks of celery, too tough or coarse- for serving uncooked, are delicious when stewed. The process is simple. Wash, scrape, and cut the stalks crosswise. Place them in a stew^an, barely cover with hot water, adding a teaspoonful of salt to a pint of celery✪ Stewed Celery. Cook gently for half p,n hour or until the celery is tender. Use the liquid remaining in making a sauce, . adding some milk to make the necessary amount of liquid. Three fourths of a cup of sauce is enough for a pint of celery. See Chapter X. 8. Cabbage. — The method given makes cabbage a delicious and I attractive vegetable, as delicate as cauliflower, and the odor ! in the kitchen is not noticeable. Select a small cabbage, with the ribs in the leaves not too thick. Prepare the cabbage before washing it by cutting out the stalks from below with a sharp knife. Separate the leaves. Have ready the largest kettle available, nearly full of rapidly boiling water. Drop in one cabbage leaf at a time, pressing each one down with a long-handled spoon or skimmer. Do this so slowly that the water does not stop boiling. Leave the kettle uncovered, and allow the cabbage to cook frbm 12 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the leaf stalks. Remove the leaves with a long-handled skimmer, putting them into a colander standing on a plate. Immediately pour the hot water down the sink drain, turn on the cold water to flush away the odor, and fiU the kettle with cold water. While the cabbage is cooking, you have made a pint of white sauce. No. 2 (Ch. X), adding a teaspoonful of salt, and have prepared J cup of buttered crumbs✪ Cabbage. Cut the cabbage leaves slightly, place them in a baking dish, pour the white sauce over them, sprinkle the crumbs on the top, and brown the crumbs in the 122 FOODS AND HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT oven or under the gas. If you can, prepare this as a surprise at home, and ask the family to *' guess " what it is. If the cabbage is a good one, some of the leaves turn a vwy pretty green with this method of boiling.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

(1) Deep fat frying, — An iron kettle is the best for deep fat, 3 quarts a convenient size. A wire basket is almost necessary for frying soft material. Fill the kettle i full of fat and place over fire. When a slight blue smoke or vapor rises from it, it is ready to test. Test with small cubes of bread. If bread browns in 1 minute, the temperature is right for uncooked mixtures. If it browns • \ in 10 seconds, it is right for cooked materials. Care must be taken to keep the temperatures at the right point, for if too cool, the material will soak fat ; if too hot, both fat and material to be cooked will bum. (2) To clarify fat. — Drop several slices raw, pared potato into the fat and let bubble up. Strain all through cheesecloth back into pail from which fat was taken. The potatoes seem to absorb food odors and collect crumbs and leave the fat clear. 7. Stewed celery. — A green vegetable. Stalks of celery, too tough or coarse- for serving uncooked, are delicious when stewed. The process is simple. Wash, scrape, and cut the stalks crosswise. Place them in a stewpan, barely cover with hot water, adding a teaspoonful of salt to a pint of celery. Cook gently for half p,n hour or until the celery is tender. Use the liquid remaining in making a sauce, . adding some milk to make the necessary amount of liquid. Three fourths of a cup of sauce is enough for a pint of celery. See Chapter X. 8. Cabbage. — The method given makes cabbage a delicious and I attractive vegetable, as delicate as cauliflower, and the odor ! in the kitchen is not noticeable. Select a small cabbage, with the ribs in the leaves not too thick. Prepare the cabbage before washing it by cutting out the stalks from below with a sharp knife. Separate the leaves. Have ready the largest kettle available, nearly full of rapidly boiling water. Drop in one cabbage leaf at a time, pressing each one down with a long-handled spoon or skimmer. Do this so slowly that the water does not stop boiling. Leave the kettle uncovered, and allow the cabbage to cook from 12 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the leaf stalks. Remove the leaves with a long-handled skimmer, putting them into a colander standing on a plate. Immediately pour the hot water down the sink drain, turn on the cold water to flush away the odor, and fiU the kettle with cold water. While the cabbage is cooking, you have made a pint of white sauce. No. 2 (Ch. X), adding a teaspoonful of salt, and have prepared J cup of buttered crumbs. Cut the cabbage leaves slightly, place them in a baking dish, pour the white sauce over them, sprinkle the crumbs on the top, and brown the crumbs in the oven or under the gas. If you can, prepare this as a surprise at home, and ask the family to *' guess " what it is. If the cabbage is a good one, some of the leaves turn a very pretty green with this method of boiling.

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Foods and household management