Foods and home making

10. Give at least two reasons why it is unwise to buy whole canned tomatoes for soup. Why use cream soups for luncheon? Shall we “ drink milk ” or “ eat milk ”? Because milk is such a valuable food, it has been said that we should speak of eating milk rather than of drinking it. Although the idea of eating milk seems absurd, we surely do eat milk when we combine it with solid foods such as vegetables, eggs, and bread. A cream soup is usually not made with cream. It is made with milk thickened with flour. Hence the milk appears to be thick somewhat like cream. Perhaps it is for this reason that cream soups are so called. The thickened milk used in soup making is usually combined with a mashed vegetable. As was mentioned on page 223, the combination of milk and vegetable makes a wholesome food. 236 Luncheon or Supper Less food is eaten for luncheon than for dinner. Because a luncheon is one of the simpler meals, cream soups, being nutri- tious, make good luncheon foods. These soups are more suitable to serve for luncheon than for dinner — the meal at which a greater variety of food is served. When soup is included in a menu, it is usually served for the first course. The hot soup acts as an appetizer. How can a smooth sauce be made ? Why is white sauce used in cream soups ? Lumps in gravy or sauce are not appetizing. Unless a gravy purposely has chopped giblets or other food in it, we like the gravy smooth. It is the same way with a sauce. The flour used in thickening sauces should not form lumps. To prevent lumping, there are ways of combining flour with the other ingredients of a sauce. Let us learn how this can be done by experimenting. Experiment 14: To show what happens when flour is added to a hot liquid. (а) Have some water boiling on the stove. Put 1 teaspoon of flour in a small saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons of boiling water. At once stir and heat over a flame until the mixture thickens. Is it smooth ? (б) Remove one of the largest lumps from the pan. With a knife cut the lump in two. What do you find inside? Experiment 16 : To show what happens when flour is mixed with fat before it is added to a hot liquid. (a) In a small saucepan put 1 teaspoon each of flour and fat. Mix well. Add 2 tablespoons of boiling water. At once stir and heat over a flame, until the mixture thickens. Is it smooth ? From Experiment 15 we learn that we can get a smooth mixture if we mix the flour with fat before adding the hot milk. This method is followed in making white sauce (described on page 237) and in making vegetable cream soups. The latter contain mashed vegetable and milk. To prevent these mate- rials separating, bind them together. This can be done by mix- ing the mashed vegetable with white sauce instead of milk. Luncheon or Supper Soups — Canned Foods 237 THIN WHITE SAUCE 1 tablespoon flour \ teaspoon salt Dash pepper, if desired | to 1 tablespoon butter 1 cup milk 1. First measure the flour and other dry ingredients so the same utensils can be used without washing for measuring butter. (To economize use the less butter.) 2. In a saucepan, put the dry ingredi- ents and butter. Place the flour, pepper, and salt on the side of the pan nearest the handle; place the butter on the side farthest away from the handle. Tilt the saucepan over the flame so the butter is melted, but the flour is not browned.