Boiling of Milk. — Milk boils at 196° F. For this reason
it burns easily and should always be cooked in a double
boiler. The object of boiling milk is to kill possible disease
germs. Formerly it was "sterilized" by keeping it at boil-
ing temperature for one hour. This did kill the germs, but
it also rendered the milk much less digestible. It is now,
therefore, customary to pasteurize the milk, particularly if
intended for young children. This is subjecting it to a lower
temperature for half an hour. An easy and efficient way to
pasteurize milk is to immerse it in a tightly covered pail of
boiling water ; set this on a block of wood, or a wooden
table for half an hour, and then chill it with water and put
it in the refrigerator. Milk so treated is perfectly digest-
ible and will keep for at least twenty-four hours.
Methods. — Tell the children to boil water at home, watch-
ing it carefully from the beginning. Let them bring to you
for criticism their written notes on the following points :
(1) Where do bubbles first form ?
(2) Where are they largest ?
(3) When are they largest ?
PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 169
(4) What happens just before the actual boiling begins ?
(5) What is the cause of these bubbles ?
(6) At what temperature does the water begin to boil ?
What is its temperature after ten minutes' boiling ? after a
half-hour ?
(7) Has no more heat been added to the boiling water ?
(8) What has become of it ?
Of course most children will be unable to determine the
questions of temperature at home. This work, then, must
be performed in the schoolroom.
Get from the children the fact that the two important
sources of foods are plants and animals. Let them classify
each. Probably the plants will be subdivided into cereals,
roots and tubers, green vegetables, fruits ; and animal food
into milk, eggs, meat, poultry, fish. Consider the ap-
proximate composition of each, the effect of heat upon it,
and the consequent method and time of boiling.
Stewing. — The object of stewing is to cook the meat so
that it will be tender and juicy, and to serve with it the
broth in which it has been cooked, which shall also be rich
and appetizing. Obviously, to put the meat into boiling
water will keep the broth from receiving its quota of flavor
and food, and, at the same time, to let it stand in cold water
will enrich the broth at too great an expense to the meat.
The usual method is to cut the meat into small pieces,
thus exposing a large amount of surface to the cold water,
into which it is then placed. Then raise the temperature
to the simmering point (180° F.) and let it cook for several
hours.
Allowing the water to boil will be fatal to the success of
the stew, for at that temperature, the albuminoids of the
meat exposed to the action of the heat, because of the great
amount of surface, will become hardened and dry. The
meat may look tender, for the long boiling will dissolve the
170 HANDBOOK OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE
connective tissue and set the muscle fibres free, only to
expose them more effectively to the searing action of the
high temperature, thus rendering them very hard and dry.
Page 81
Presented as published in 1900. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Boiling of Milk. — Milk boils at 196° F. For this reason it burns easily and should always be cooked in a double boiler. The object of boiling milk is to kill possible disease germs. Formerly it was "sterilized" by keeping it at boiling temperature for one hour. This did kill the germs, but it also rendered the milk much less digestible. It is now, therefore, customary to pasteurize the milk, particularly if intended for young children. This is subjecting it to a lower temperature for half an hour. An easy and efficient way to pasteurize milk is to immerse it in a tightly covered pail of boiling water ; set this on a block of wood, or a wooden table for half an hour, and then chill it with water and put it in the refrigerator. Milk so treated is perfectly digestible and will keep for at least twenty-four hours.
Methods. — Tell the children to boil water at home, watching it carefully from the beginning. Let them bring to you for criticism their written notes on the following points :
(1) Where do bubbles first form ?
(2) Where are they largest ?
(3) When are they largest ?
(4) What happens just before the actual boiling begins ?
(5) What is the cause of these bubbles ?
(6) At what temperature does the water begin to boil ? What is its temperature after ten minutes' boiling ? after a half-hour ?
(7) Has no more heat been added to the boiling water ?
(8) What has become of it ?
Of course most children will be unable to determine the questions of temperature at home. This work, then, must be performed in the schoolroom.
Get from the children the fact that the two important sources of foods are plants and animals. Let them classify each. Probably the plants will be subdivided into cereals, roots and tubers, green vegetables, fruits ; and animal food into milk, eggs, meat, poultry, fish. Consider the approximate composition of each, the effect of heat upon it, and the consequent method and time of boiling.
Stewing. — The object of stewing is to cook the meat so that it will be tender and juicy, and to serve with it the broth in which it has been cooked, which shall also be rich and appetizing. Obviously, to put the meat into boiling water will keep the broth from receiving its quota of flavor and food, and, at the same time, to let it stand in cold water will enrich the broth at too great an expense to the meat.
The usual method is to cut the meat into small pieces, thus exposing a large amount of surface to the cold water, into which it is then placed. Then raise the temperature to the simmering point (180° F.) and let it cook for several hours.
Allowing the water to boil will be fatal to the success of the stew, for at that temperature, the albuminoids of the meat exposed to the action of the heat, because of the great amount of surface, will become hardened and dry. The meat may look tender, for the long boiling will dissolve the
connective tissue and set the muscle fibres free, only to expose them more effectively to the searing action of the high temperature, thus rendering them very hard and dry.