Household cookery

Steaming is cooking food by the use of steam, and is considered the lightest method of cooking. There are various ways of steaming. The food may be placed in a steamer (a vessel which has holes in the bottom). This is fitted over a pan of boiling water; the steam rising into the upper vessel thus cooks the food. This is a good way of cooking fish, vegetables, etc. Puddings made in moulds or basins, the top covered with greased paper, may be placed in a pan of boiling water, the water only coming three parts of the way up the basin, and kept boiling the whole time, more boiling water being added as it METHODS OF COOKING boils away. More time must be allowed for steaming than boiling. Braising is a form of stewing. Cover the bottom of a stewpan with a layer of thickly sliced vegetables (onions, carrot, turnip, parsley, etc.). Put in the meat and enough stock or water to just cover the vegetables, put the lid on the pan, and cook gently till the meat is tender. When the meat is cooked, take it from the pan, place on a tin, and put in a hot oven about lo minutes to brown the outside. Strain the vegetables from the liquid, skim off the fat, and use the liquid for making the gravy to be served with the meat. RULES FOR CHOOSING MEAT Beef. — Flesh smooth-grained, deep red in colour, firm, when pressed with the finger leaving no impression. Fat pale yellow or cream colour. Mutton. — Flesh fine-grained, good red colour. Fat white and hard. Lamb. — Flesh paler in colour than mutton. Fat white and hard. VeaL — Flesh fine-grained, pale pink in colour. Fat white and firm. Pork, — Flesh close-grained, pale pink in colour. Spots of any kind should not be present (these indicate disease). Fat very white. STOCK Stock is the foundation of all meat sauces, soups, and purees, and may be prepared either expensively or economically. It is the Hquid in which meat and bones (either cooked or uncooked) have been boiled. There are various kinds of stock. 1. First stocky made by boiling fresh meat and bones. 2. Second stocky made by reboiUng the meat and bones used for first stock, with water, fresh vegetables, and seasoning added. This stock will become a thick jelly when cold. Owing to longer cooking and a higher temperature much gelatine is extracted, thus making it useful for jellies. 3. White stocky made from white meats, such as bones half boiled for brown stock, chicken, veal, cowheel, etc. 4. Browfi stocky made from brown meats, such as beef, rabbit, etc. 5. Fish stock, made from the bones and trimmings of fish. Stock 2 lbs. meat and bones. 3 pints cold water. I carrot. 1 onion. J turnip. 2 or 3 sprigs of parsley. A small piece of celery. Sprig of marjoram. Sprig of thyme. Bay leaf. A few peppercorns. Tea-spoonful of salt. Method, — Cut up meat, break the bones, put into the water with salt, bring slowly to boil; add vegetables, and simmer for 3 or 4 hours. Strain into a basin, and when cold remove fat from the top. Tied in a piece of musHn. SOUPS Soup is a very useful and wholesome kind of food, as it supplies nourishment in a form which is easily digested and passed into the blood. With attention and a little trouble it may be prepared economically, being made without meat, from nourishing vegetables, such as peas, beans, and lentils, etc.