Handbook of domestic science and household arts for use in elementary schools

Caution! — Avoid the use of terms like "starch cell," or "bursting of wall of starch grain," or "starch is made soluble," or "dissolves," because they do not express the truth, though commonly used. Recipes for Pajnls Riced Potatoes. — Select medium sized potatoes, pare, and cut into uniform shape, and cover with cold water till ready for use. Never soak in cold water, as there will be a loss of mineral salts and starch. As soon as possible immerse in boiling salted water — two quarts water, one tablespoon salt. Continue to boil the water till potatoes are tender; tliat is, easily pierced by a fork. Drain and leave uncovered while preparing the dish in which the potato is to be served. When the dish has been dipped in hot water and dried, force the hot potato through a vegetable press, or rub through a colander or coarse sieve, using a wooden spoon, thus piling the product lightly upon the dish. Never touch the product after having passed it through the press. Escalloped Potatoes. — Scrub, pare, and cut five small potatoes in one-eighth inch slices. Soak one-half hour in hot water to remove some of the acrid flavor. Drain and put into a deep pudding dish in layers, alternating with salt, pepper, butter, and a thin layer of sifted flour. Add warm milk so that it is visible in top layer. Bake in slow oven one and a half hours, or till potatoes are soft. Serve in the dish in which it is cooked. Transformation of Starch into Soluble Compounds History of Sauces. — Various liquid or semi-liquid products, which by adding flavor, moisture, or by increasing attractiveness of solid foods render them more palatable, and therefore more digestible, are known as sauces. The early Romans used a sauce which they termed jits, but it may have been the meat juice, or gravy, rather than a product resembling our modern sauces. It is surmised that our modern sauce is an evolution of a solution used by the Eomans in preserving or maturing meats. Pliny writes of salsugo or salsilago, a briny pickle in which meat was kept. Thudichum thinks that this standard jus became a salsum or salsa, which the French changed into saulza, and finally into sauce. Beginning as meat juice or meat pickle, these additions became more and more complicated, but retained as a basis the juice or juice diluted with hot water — bouillon, or meat broth. Each nationality has its favorite sauces, but it is to France that w'e owe the greatest debt, as they held fast to the old traditions, and so improved and increased the number of sauces that long before America was discovered the scmciers of Paris had formed a corporation. Before the reign of Louis XI. (1423-1483) they made sauces which the people used to flavor their ragouts. By a patent of Louis XII. this making of sauces was raised in 1514 to the rank of a distinct trade or profession. The era of fine cookery in France began during the reign of Lonis XIV., in seventeenth century, when the nobles vied with each other in compounding delicate dishes. From this time on, even into and beyond the French Eevolution, the art of cookery flourished to such an extent that writers and artists and statesmen were more proud of being the inventor of a new sauce or a new dish than of their professional skill in other lines — Alexander Dumas is a famous example ; while many