Green vegetables, that is, fresh, uncooked vegetables
such as celery, cress, lettuce, tomato, etc., must be cool
and crisp. To bring about this condition they should be
thoroughly washed, allowed to stand in fresh, cold water
until all signs of wilting or softening have disappeared, then
wrapped in a damp towel and placed in the refrigerator un-
til needed. The leaf vegetables in particular, such as let-
tuce, cabbage, romaine, or endive, seem to retain their crisp-
ness better if wrapped in a damp towel than if allowed to
stand in water, or if placed on a dish in the refrigerator.
Fruits, such as apples and oranges, should be chilled,
FATS 121
but not pared or sliced until the last thing. Grapes,
cherries, etc., should be seeded or pitted.
Cooked foods, such as potatoes, beets, chicken, fish,
etc., may be sliced or cut in cubes and set away until
serving time.
The dressing, with the exception of a marinade, should
not be mixed with any green salad until just before it is
brought to the table, since the vinegar will cause fresh
vegetables to wilt.
In the combination of the various vegetables, fruits,
nuts, with one another or with meats or fish, there is un-
bounded scope for individual taste, as there is also in the
tasteful arrangement and decoration of every salad. The
illustrations on pages 113 and 116 will be perhaps sug-
gestive of new methods of combination or arrangement,
but everyone should be able to express her own tastes
and her own sense of the artistic in the construction
of some novel salad which shall be '' good for food, and
pleasant to the eyes."
DEEP FAT FRYING
Frying is a method of cooking food by immersing it in
very hot fat. Properly fried food should not be unwhole-
some for ordinarily healthy persons. The overheating
of the fat, to the point when chemical decomposition
takes place, and when the irritating or poisonous sub-
stances are formed which were mentioned at the beginning
of this chapter, is the most important thing to avoid in
this method of cooking. The beginning of this decomposi-
tion is usually indicated by the appearance of a delicate
blue smoke or vapor, which rises first from the sides of the
kettle, later from the whole surface of the fat. If the
articles to be fried are plunged into the fat at the first
122 PRINCIPLES OF FOOD PREPARATION
appearance of this vapor the temperature will be immedi-
ately lowered by the introduction of the cold food, and no
great harm will be done. This is why the best cookery
books direct that the food shall be immersed in the fat
when it first begins slightly to smoke at the sides of the
kettle. This test, however, is not the best for a novice to
depend on. A more excellent way is to use a thermometer
to test the temperature of the fat, first at its decomposi-
tion point, indicated by the blue vapor, next at the temper-
ature proper for frying. If the decomposition point of
the fat should be lower than 350-400° F., which is the
temperature commonly employed in frying, such a fat is
unfit to use for a cooking medium.
EXPERIMENTS IN HEATING FAT
Page 52
Presented as published in 1914. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Green vegetables, that is, fresh, uncooked vegetables such as celery, cress, lettuce, tomato, etc., must be cool and crisp. To bring about this condition they should be thoroughly washed, allowed to stand in fresh, cold water until all signs of wilting or softening have disappeared, then wrapped in a damp towel and placed in the refrigerator until needed. The leaf vegetables in particular, such as lettuce, cabbage, romaine, or endive, seem to retain their crispness better if wrapped in a damp towel than if allowed to stand in water, or if placed on a dish in the refrigerator.
Fruits, such as apples and oranges, should be chilled,
but not pared or sliced until the last thing. Grapes, cherries, etc., should be seeded or pitted.
Cooked foods, such as potatoes, beets, chicken, fish, etc., may be sliced or cut in cubes and set away until serving time.
The dressing, with the exception of a marinade, should not be mixed with any green salad until just before it is brought to the table, since the vinegar will cause fresh vegetables to wilt.
In the combination of the various vegetables, fruits, nuts, with one another or with meats or fish, there is unbounded scope for individual taste, as there is also in the tasteful arrangement and decoration of every salad. The illustrations on pages 113 and 116 will be perhaps suggestive of new methods of combination or arrangement, but everyone should be able to express her own tastes and her own sense of the artistic in the construction of some novel salad which shall be "good for food, and pleasant to the eyes."
DEEP FAT FRYING
Frying is a method of cooking food by immersing it in very hot fat. Properly fried food should not be unwholesome for ordinarily healthy persons. The overheating of the fat, to the point when chemical decomposition takes place, and when the irritating or poisonous substances are formed which were mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, is the most important thing to avoid in this method of cooking. The beginning of this decomposition is usually indicated by the appearance of a delicate blue smoke or vapor, which rises first from the sides of the kettle, later from the whole surface of the fat. If the articles to be fried are plunged into the fat at the first
appearance of this vapor the temperature will be immediately lowered by the introduction of the cold food, and no great harm will be done. This is why the best cookery books direct that the food shall be immersed in the fat when it first begins slightly to smoke at the sides of the kettle. This test, however, is not the best for a novice to depend on. A more excellent way is to use a thermometer to test the temperature of the fat, first at its decomposition point, indicated by the blue vapor, next at the temperature proper for frying. If the decomposition point of the fat should be lower than 350-400° F., which is the temperature commonly employed in frying, such a fat is unfit to use for a cooking medium.
EXPERIMENTS IN HEATING FAT