Foods and household management

1. Dissolve half a teaspoonful of baking powder in two tablespoonfuls of water and heat in a test tube, or saucepan, over a flame ; notice the effervescence when the bubbling is at its height, and hold a lighted match in the mouth of the tube. This is a simple test for carbon dioxide. 2. Dissolve 2 teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar in i cup water in a glass. Dissolve 1 teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda in i cup water in a glass. Taste both of these. Test both with litmus paper, noting the change of color. There are several vegetable coloring matters that change color in this way, in the presence of an acid or an alkaline substance. Turn the two solutions together, and test with both blue and pink litmus paper, after the solution has stood for several minutes. What results ? Taste this mixed solution to see if you can detect any difference. To prove that there is a substance still left, evaporate the water. 3. A pretty form of this experiment is to use, instead of litmus the water in which red cabbage has previously been boil»d and which therefore contains some of the coloring matter of the cabbage. The changes in color are very striking, and prove conclusively that neither the cream of tartar nor the soda remains such. B, Oven experiments. If one oven in the school kitchen can be equipped with a chemical thermometer inserted in the oven, the following experiments are helpful. 1. Let each pupil test the oven by feeling, when it has reached 380° F., 400** F., 425° F., 450° F., 475° F.-500° F. 2. Place pieces of white paper, one for each pupil, in the oven for five minutes at the various temperatures. These may be pasted in the notebook for future reference. I. Popovers, puffovers, or mahogany cakes. Ingredients for 12, Flour 1 pint Milk 1 pint Eggs 3 Salt i teaspoonful Some rules give two eggs only. For baking, heavy earthen cups, hot and greased. Method of mixing is No. 1. Special points a — The liquid must be poured very slowly into the flour to prevent lumping. A large Dover egg beater is convenient for beating out lumps, if any occur. The leavening of the popover is effected by steam, and it is not necessary therefore to spend time and strength in the long beating sometimes recommended. This has been conclusively proved by experiment. Neither is it necessary to put the batter into the oven immediately, as sometimes directed. It may stand all day or even over night. Pour the batter in the hot cups, having each cup two thirds full. The baking of the popovers is unique, in that they should / be put into an intensely hot oven for the first stage of the baking — as hot as 475° F., or even more — then the oven must be cooled. This first stage crusts the top; then the expansive force of the steam pushes up the top ; and the muffin " pops " or " puffs " over. The more moderate heat cooks the sides and the bottom, and makes an agreeable crust. The perfect puffover is hollow. Three quarters of an hour is the average time of baking. If at the end of that time the oven door is set ajar, and the popovers allowed to remain longer, they are improved, coming from the oven stiff and crisp with a rich brown color, rather than soft and underdone.