Foods and home making

3. Then remove the pan from the flame and stir to mix the melted butter and dry ingredients. Add a small quantity of the milk. Stir and heat until the ingre- dients are blended. Continue adding a small quantity of milk, stirring and heating. 4. When the last portion of milk is added, let the mixture cook only until it reaches the boiling point. The sauce is then sufficiently cooked. Remove it from the flame. If it is not served imme- diately, cover to prevent a crust forming. White sauce is not harmed by reheating. Thin white sauce is suitable for making cream soups. In making the latter use \ to I cup mashed vegetable (called vegetable puree) to I cup white sauce. Recipes for thicker white sauces are given on page 246. 238 Luncheon or Supper The flavor of peas is pleasing to most persons. A cream soup containing peas not only is appetizing, but has a pleasing color — grayish green. The recipe for this soup follows : Turn the can of peas (both vegetable and surrounding liquid) into a saucepan. Add the sugar and water. Cover and cook the mixture (boiling gently) until the peas are very soft. Pour the peas and liquid into a coarse strainer and press the peas through the strainer. The pea pulp should pass through the strainer, only the covering or skin of the peas being left in the strainer. Put the flour, pepper, salt, and butter in a saucepan and make white sauce as directed on page 237. Combine this sauce with the strained peas. Place the mixture over the flame and heat until it reaches the boiling point. Serve at once. Yield : 6 servings. How is cream of tomato soup made ? Did you ever pour some milk over peaches and find that the milk soon became curdled ? What is there in peaches which would change the milk in this way? What would happen if milk and tomatoes were mixed? Let us see : Experiment 16 : To show what happens when tomato is added to milk. (a) In a test tube put a small quantity of milk. Add an equal amount of tomato. Heat the tube slightly. Examine the contents of the tube. What has happened to the milk? ( b ) There is a kind of paper, either pink or blue in color, which is known as litmus paper. Litmus paper is prepared by dipping plain paper in a kind of vegetable dyestuff and allowing the paper to dry. If a piece of blue litmus paper comes in contact with any liquid contain- ing acid, the blue paper will change to pink. Put a drop of tomato on a piece of blue litmus paper. What happens to the blue paper? CREAM OF PEA SOUP 1 can peas (No. 2) \ teaspoon sugar 1 cup water 2 tablespoons flour £ teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon salt 1§ to 2 tablespoons butter 1 pint milk Luncheon or Supper Soups — -Canned Foods 239 (c) What does the tomato contain that brings about this change in the color of the litmus paper ? (i d ) Why do tomatoes, peaches, and many other fruits curdle milk? It is the acid of tomatoes which curdles milk. Can anything be done to the acid of tomatoes to prevent it from curdling the milk ? Let us see : Experiment 17 : To show how baking soda affects tomatoes. (a) Put a small quantity of tomatoes in a test tube. Add \ teaspoon of baking soda. Shake the mixture. Put a drop of this mixture on a piece of blue litmus paper. Does the paper change in color? ( b ) What ingredient in the tomato did the baking soda affect ?