The modern chafing dish is but slightly different in effect from the primitive char- coal stove or brazier. The use of alcohol for fuel makes it simple and clean. Wood alcohol — a by- product from distillation of wood — is often used for fuel, but its disagreeable odor makes it less desirable. Anything that may be cooked over any other stove in a frypan, saucepan, or double boiler may be pre- pared in the chafing dish. Aladdin Oven Heated by Lamp. •FIRE. 13 Heat brings out the flavors in food and develops new ones and makes soluble, substances which the human stomach could not otherwise digest. In most cases moderate heat long continued produces better results than intense heat applied for a short period. Effects of Cooking A MODIFIED NORWEGIAN COOKING BOX. Graniteware Palls with tight covers are packed with asbestos and covered with a pad, the lid of the box is then closed and the whole wrapped in an old blanket. The degree of heat best adapted to make food digesti- ible is not always that which produces the most ac- ceptable flavor, hence cooking must be more or less of a compromise. As yet we know little about the de- gree of heat best suited to the perfect cooking of each food and the temperature at which it should be served. Nothing will cook until it is warmed, and warming and drying are usually the first steps in the cooking process. 14 PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY. Transmis- sion of Heat Boiling Roasting The transmission of heat from a fire to our foods may be by conduction, as when heat travels along a bar of metal, by convection, when heat is transferred by the motion of heated liquid or gas, and by radiation through the air. The effect of heat on the food is fur- ther modified by the way the metal or other substance containing the food is affected by heat. The use of asbestos in the form of mats and linings for ovens and jackets for kettles to modify the heat transferred to food is likely to increase in the future. Broiling probably was the first attempt at cooking since it required little beside the fire and the heat. Roasting is a similar process applied to larger sections of meat and therefore requiring a longer time. The relationship of roasting and broiling is most apparent with a gas range for there is no line of separation be- tween the cooking of thick steaks and thin roasts. Much so-called roasting is really baking. In broiling and roasting, tender portions of fish, flesh or fowls are exposed to intense heat at first to sear the outside and close the open tubes or pores which con- tain the juices. The fire should be free from smoke and may be charcoal or half-burned wood or coal or gas. After the surface is browned the section of meat should be drawn away from the intense heat and kept at a more moderate temperature until cooked thor- oughly. More depends upon the shape of the article to be broiled or roasted than upon the weight. When a thick mass is to be cooked in this fashion it FIRE. 15 becomes necessary to modify the heat on the outside and Basting to aid in driving it in by the process known as basting ; that is, dipping up the hot fat which has dripped into a pan beneath the meat and hence is known as drip- ping, and pouring it over the outside of the mass. The glossy brown secured by basting may have suggested to some early cook the advantage of deep frying.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The modern chafing dish is but slightly different in effect from the primitive charcoal stove or brazier. The use of alcohol for fuel makes it simple and clean. Wood alcohol — a byproduct from distillation of wood — is often used for fuel, but its disagreeable odor makes it less desirable. Anything that may be cooked over any other stove in a frypan, saucepan, or double boiler may be prepared in the chafing dish. Aladdin Oven Heated by Lamp. Heat brings out the flavors in food and develops new ones and makes soluble, substances which the human stomach could not otherwise digest. In most cases moderate heat long continued produces better results than intense heat applied for a short period. Effects of Cooking A MODIFIED NORWEGIAN COOKING BOX. Graniteware Palls with tight covers are packed with asbestos and covered with a pad, the lid of the box is then closed and the whole wrapped in an old blanket. The degree of heat best adapted to make food digestible is not always that which produces the most acceptable flavor, hence cooking must be more or less of a compromise. As yet we know little about the degree of heat best suited to the perfect cooking of each food and the temperature at which it should be served. Nothing will cook until it is warmed, and warming and drying are usually the first steps in the cooking process. Transmission of Heat Boiling Roasting The transmission of heat from a fire to our foods may be by conduction, as when heat travels along a bar of metal, by convection, when heat is transferred by the motion of heated liquid or gas, and by radiation through the air. The effect of heat on the food is further modified by the way the metal or other substance containing the food is affected by heat. The use of asbestos in the form of mats and linings for ovens and jackets for kettles to modify the heat transferred to food is likely to increase in the future. Broiling probably was the first attempt at cooking since it required little beside the fire and the heat. Roasting is a similar process applied to larger sections of meat and therefore requiring a longer time. The relationship of roasting and broiling is most apparent with a gas range for there is no line of separation between the cooking of thick steaks and thin roasts. Much so-called roasting is really baking. In broiling and roasting, tender portions of fish, flesh or fowls are exposed to intense heat at first to sear the outside and close the open tubes or pores which contain the juices. The fire should be free from smoke and may be charcoal or half-burned wood or coal or gas. After the surface is browned the section of meat should be drawn away from the intense heat and kept at a more moderate temperature until cooked thoroughly. More depends upon the shape of the article to be broiled or roasted than upon the weight. When a thick mass is to be cooked in this fashion it becomes necessary to modify the heat on the outside and Basting to aid in driving it in by the process known as basting ; that is, dipping up the hot fat which has dripped into a pan beneath the meat and hence is known as dripping, and pouring it over the outside of the mass. The glossy brown secured by basting may have suggested to some early cook the advantage of deep frying.

Principles of cookery