Principles of cooking

When a mixture contains cornstarch and eggs, the cornstarch is cooked first with the milk, and the eggs are added after the mixture has thickened. The reason for this is that all egg dishes should be cooked at a low temperature. . and only enough to coagulate the egg, while starch requires longer cooking. _ CEREAL PRopucts — ITALIAN PASTES The foods called Italian Pastes, because they were originally made in Italy, though they are made in this country also, are macaroni, spaghetti, and vermicelli. They are made from a wheat containing a high percentage of gluten. The flour is mixed with water and kneaded to a stiff dough. It is then put into hollow cylindrical presses and forced into tubes of various shapes and then dried. The largest tubes are called macaroni, the next spaghetti, and the smallest vermicelli. These pastes are nutritious foods because the flour has so high a percentage of gluten that a dish of macaroni and cheese is in itself a meal. | Macaroni and Cheese. — Two quarts of boiling water, one tablespoon of salt, one cup of macaroni broken into inch pieces. Cook in a double boiler twenty minutes. Drain, pour cold water over and drain again. Grate or chop cheese. Arrange a layer of macaroni in a baking dish, sprinkle with cheese, put in another layer of macaroni and cheese. Pour one recipe of White Sauce over it. Cover with buttered crumbs, and bake until crumbs are brown. Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce. — Two quarts of boiling water, one tablespoon of salt, about one cup of spaghetti unbroken. Cook in double boiler until soft, about twenty minutes. Drain and pour cold water over, and drain again. Pour tomato sauce over, heat one minute, and serve. Z Hold the sticks of spaghetti in the hand, place the other end of the sticks in the boiling water, and as they soften they will coil in the cooking vessel. Tomato Sauce. — One pint of tomatoes, one half onion chopped fine. Cook ten minutes. Put through a sieve. Melt four tablespoons of butter, rub in four tablespoons of flour, add one half teaspoon of salt, one eighth teaspoon of pepper, add the tomato, and cook until it thickens. CEREAL PRODUCTS — FLOUR Some of the cereals, wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat, are made into flour. Wheat flour is the only one that is used very extensively. In the process of flour making the outer or bran coats and the germ are removed, and the endosperm is ground into a fine powder. There are various grades of flour, depending on the quality of the wheat, the fineness of the flour, and the amount of ‘bran left in the product. The names mean very little to the average person, because each milling firm coins a name for its best grade of flour and advertises it extensively. The best grades are designated in trade as the fancy patent, standard patent, etc. Whole wheat flour is made by grinding all the grain except the outer bran coats. Some cheap grades of flour are made from the endosperm and germ, some have the finer parts of the endosperm removed, and are made from the remainder. | It is poor economy to buy cheap flour. The best grades of flour absorb more’water during bread making, and so not as much flour is needed as when the cheaper grades are used. Cheap flour makes poor bread, and sometimes much of the bread is wasted because it is not appetizing. Good flour is creamy in color, does not hold the impress of the fingers if held in the hand, and absorbs about 30 per cent its weight of water in bread making. Pastry flour contains more starch than bread flour. It is made from soft or winter wheat, while bread flour is made from hard or spring wheat. Pastry flour is used for pies, cakes, etc., but a good substitute for it may be made by sifting two tablespoons of cornstarch into each cup of bread flour. FLour, LEAVENING AGENTS, AND SHORTENING