In boiling an egg, what we want is to set the white, without making the albumen tough and hard; the best way, therefore, is to always keep the water below the boiling point — nearer that of sim- mering water. Some people put the egg in cold water and take it off as soon as it boils. Others prefer to put it first into a sauce=pan of boiling water, and then take off the pan and let it cook as the water cools. It is a mistake to boil even a hard boiled egg an instant longer than is enough to set the albumen in the white and yolk. Recollect that vegetables require boiling, and meat only simmer- ing; therefore, you can not, as a rule, boil vegetables with meat with- out spoiling one of them. Vegetables should be put into boiling water at first, and kept there. Flour foods, such as macaroni, sago, rice, cornflour and flour puddings, should be kept all the time in boiling water, in order to burst the starch granules. The mechanical action of fast bubbling water is often useful here, partly in preventing the grains of rice, etc., from settling to the bottom of the pan. STEWING — This is a process often confounded by ilhinformed people with boiling a long time, and even moderately good cooks often confound it with " simmering." A stew, properly so called, is when both meat and juice — that is, all the liquor — are eaten to- gether. Stewing invariably requires a heat much below that of THE PROCESSES AND PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 115 boiling water; 135° to 160° is about stewing point. Whatever is stewed, parts with much of its goodness to the surrounding liquor, which should not, therefore, be wasted. And yet it is not desirable in stewing to extract all the juices from the meat, as is done in mak- ing soup or beef = tea; part should be barely coagulated, and thus re- tained in the meat in as tender a condition as possible. To accom- plish this, a hain-marie or double boiler is an excellent thing to use. If you have not this, it will be a good idea to extemporize one, by setting one dish inside another, something like a carpenter's glue- pot. A puddingsbasin, with a wide projecting rim, may be set into another pan just large enough for it to drop into and rest upon its rim. Put the meat into this basin, pour hot water over it, and pour hot water into the outer basin, forming a " water bath;" then let this outer water boil, but very gently, so as not to make the inside basin jump with its steam. Stew it thus for about double the time usually prescribed, and compare the result with similar materials stewed in the old way. ^ The superiority will be evident. In any event, even if stewed on the old plan, the water should not hoil nor get near the boiling point: keep the water at 150° to 160° by setting the dish at the side of the stove and letting it quietly stew. Less water is used than in boiling. A common mistake is to put in too much water. The meat needs to be barely covered, and cooks forget that at the moderate heat of stewing there is very little loss by evaporation. It is the cheapest method of cooking that there is. Little heat is re- quired, and therefore little fuel used; nothing is wasted, and what- ever goes into the pot comes out. No attention is needed while cooking, and the cheapest and coarsest meat can be used.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

In boiling an egg, what we want is to set the white, without making the albumen tough and hard; the best way, therefore, is to always keep the water below the boiling point — nearer that of simmering water. Some people put the egg in cold water and take it off as soon as it boils. Others prefer to put it first into a sauce=pan of boiling water, and then take off the pan and let it cook as the water cools. It is a mistake to boil even a hard boiled egg an instant longer than is enough to set the albumen in the white and yolk. Recollect that vegetables require boiling, and meat only simmering; therefore, you can not, as a rule, boil vegetables with meat without spoiling one of them. Vegetables should be put into boiling water at first, and kept there. Flour foods, such as macaroni, sago, rice, cornflour and flour puddings, should be kept all the time in boiling water, in order to burst the starch granules. The mechanical action of fast bubbling water is often useful here, partly in preventing the grains of rice, etc., from settling to the bottom of the pan. STEWING — This is a process often confounded by ill-informed people with boiling a long time, and even moderately good cooks often confound it with " simmering." A stew, properly so called, is when both meat and juice — that is, all the liquor — are eaten together. Stewing invariably requires a heat much below that of THE PROCESSES AND PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 115 boiling water; 135° to 160° is about stewing point. Whatever is stewed, parts with much of its goodness to the surrounding liquor, which should not, therefore, be wasted. And yet it is not desirable in stewing to extract all the juices from the meat, as is done in making soup or beef-tea; part should be barely coagulated, and thus retained in the meat in as tender a condition as possible. To accomplish this, a bain-marie or double boiler is an excellent thing to use. If you have not this, it will be a good idea to extemporize one, by setting one dish inside another, something like a carpenter's gluepot. A puddings-basin, with a wide projecting rim, may be set into another pan just large enough for it to drop into and rest upon its rim. Put the meat into this basin, pour hot water over it, and pour hot water into the outer basin, forming a " water bath;" then let this outer water boil, but very gently, so as not to make the inside basin jump with its steam. Stew it thus for about double the time usually prescribed, and compare the result with similar materials stewed in the old way. ^ The superiority will be evident. In any event, even if stewed on the old plan, the water should not hoil nor get near the boiling point: keep the water at 150° to 160° by setting the dish at the side of the stove and letting it quietly stew. Less water is used than in boiling. A common mistake is to put in too much water. The meat needs to be barely covered, and cooks forget that at the moderate heat of stewing there is very little loss by evaporation. It is the cheapest method of cooking that there is. Little heat is required, and therefore little fuel used; nothing is wasted, and whatever goes into the pot comes out. No attention is needed while cooking, and the cheapest and coarsest meat can be used.

The household cook book