Principles of cookery

The cook finds it safe to scald the milk for soups, bread, or puddings, to prevent its souring during the process, before cooking it with the other ingredients. There is a gain in the time of cooking when the milkis heated while the other materials are being prepared. A bit of bicarbonate of soda dissolved in milk before it is heated often will neutralize any incipient acidity and make it usable for puddings or soups. The "cream" of tomato soup is liable to curdle unless the acid of the tomato is neutralized by soda or the milk thickened with flour before the two parts are combined. It is safer with all "cream" soups to keep the stock and thickened milk apart until just before using. Lemon or other acid fruit juices are sometimes mixed with milk for sherbet without curdling if, before the juice is added, the milk is thoroughly chilled in the freezer can. To Prevent Souring Neutralizing Acidity Mixing with Acid Salt sometimes curdles milk, especially when it is added to hot milk. Since the solid portions of milk readily adhere to the bottom of the saucepan placed in direct contact with heat, and the resulting burned flavor rapidly penetrates the whole of the milk, a double boiler or its equivalent, one dish set in another of boiling water, is the best way to heat milk. Milk is an important ingredient in preparing cocoa and chocolate, and such beverages rank with soup in nutritive value. Hot milk sipped slowly is a simple remedy. for exhaustion and sleeplessness. Hot milk should be served with coffee when cream is not available. The milk soups are valuable foods and have as their foundation the white sauce described further on. Most of our puddings require milk, especially the cereal and custard varieties, cooking Because there are solids in the milk more time must be allowed for the grains of rice or corn meal to absorb the moisture than when cooked in water. The protein portions of the milk have somewhat the same effect as the egg used to coat the croquette or oyster before frying. If the particles of grain are thus varnished over they cannot absorb moisture as rapidly as from clear water. Hence, it is often advisable to cook the grains in water first and finish the procese in the milk. In making blanc mange from Irish moss, if the moss is first cooked in a small quantity of water and MILK. 47 the thick paste strained before it is added to the milk, there is no loss of milk. When the moss is cooked directly in the milk there is some loss of milk when the moss is strained out. [illustration: BLANC-MANGE.] The baked Indian meal pudding and the creamy rice pudding require long, gentle baking. There is a Milk continual evaporation of moisture from the surface of "BLANC-MANGE." the pudding pan, and really a condensing of the milk. In proportion as the pudding dish is refilled with milk, the pudding increases in nutritive value. Milk is commonly used for mixing dough of many types and this adds to the nutritive value of bread and cakes. Bread made of milk or part milk will have a browner, tenderer crust than bread made wholly with water. There seems to be good ground, however, for the prevalent idea that bread or cake made with milk does Concentrated Milk