Principles of cooking

' STEAMING VEGETABLE FOODS. PRINCIPLES THAT | APPLY TO COOKING OF CARBOHYDRATES -AND * VEGETABLE PROTEIN Recipe for Steamed Rice and Use of Double Boiler. — Fill the lower part of a double boiler one third full of boiling water. Put two quarts of boiling water in the upper part of the boiler, add one half teaspoon of salt and gradually add one cup of rice which has been washed in cold water. Cook until soft, about 20 to 30 minutes, _ stirring occasionally with a fork. Drain and keep hot until ready to serve. Rice may be served as a vegetable with meat gravy, or as a dessert with cream and sugar, or with sliced fruit, or with date sauce. | Calculate cost. Recipe for Date Sauce. — Wash then stone, and chop one half pound of dates, add one fourth cup of cold water and one fourth cup of sugar and cook until it thickens, about ten minutes. Serve on the rice, with vee or plain cream. In the preceding lessons the effect of heat and moisture on the carbohydrates in vegetable foods has been con- | sidered. In addition to carbohydrates, vegetables contain soluble volatile oils, mineral matter, vegetable acids, and a network of protoplasm which is composed of protein, a substance which is hardened or coagulated by heat. Potatoes contain about 2.2 per cent protein; apples contain .4 per cent; onions, 1.6 per cent; rice, 8 per cent. If vegetables are soaked in cold water, soluble protein, volatile oils, starch, extractives, and mineral matter are extracted in the water. If they are plunged into boiling water and cooked at a temperature about 180° F., the pro- tein is coagulated, and this framework aids in retaining the starch and mineral matter. Rice contains : — Water Carbohydrate Cellulose Protein Fat Mineral Matter 12.3% 79% 4% 8% 1.3% 4%% Unlike potatoes, rice contains but a small .quantity of water; and as starch absorbs water during cooking, rice must be cooked in enough water to allow the starch grains to swell. It may be cooked in a small quantity of water and all the water will be absorbed and no nutrients lost. When rice is cooked in this way, it is soft and the.grains tend to stick together. When rice is cooked in a large quantity of water and the excess of water is drained off, some of the nutrients are lost in the water, but the grains do not stick together, and they are more easily masticated than in the soft, pasty form. 1. Heat and moisture soften cellulose. 2. Heat and moisture cause starch grains to swell, and burst the walls of cellulose that inclose them. 3. Heat coagulates the protein and this aids in retaining soluble substances. 4. Starch and mineral matter are lost when foods containing them are cooked in a large quantity of water and the water is drained off. | Recipe for Steamed Squash. — Place a steamer over a kettle of boiling water. Place squash, cut into pieces, in the steamer and steam until soft, about 30 or 40 minutes. Scrape the squash from the rind, flavor with butter, salt, and pepper, and serve. 1 The cellulose is included in the carbohydrate. Steaming in a steamer is a better method of cooking vegetables than cooking in boiling water, because there is no loss of nutrients. At what meal would you serve steamed squash? What other vegetables serve a similar place in this meal? Squash contains : — Water Carbohydrate Cellulose! Protein Fat Mineral Matter 88.3 % 9% 8% 1.4% *:5% 8% Squash contains so much water that it may be baked, or steamed, or boiled. It contains very little starch. TOASTING BREAD. PRINCIPLE WHICH APPLIES TO STARCHY FOODS |