Principles of food preparation

To the Student. Coffee and tea contain a certain nerve-stimulating substance called caffeine. A similar substance, but one that is much milder in its action, theobromine, is found in cocoa and chocolate. These compounds may be regarded as quite near relatives — if not exactly sisters, surely first cousins — of that Borgian family which includes nicotine, strychnine, morphine, etc., in that they may all be traced back to the common ancestry of what chemists call the nitrogen heterocycles. This is something that need not trouble you until you study organic chemistry. It is sufficient for today to know that caffeine, as well as strychnine, if taken at the wrong time, or in excessive quantity, may work as a mischief-maker in the system. It is the opinion of many persons that the wrong time to take coffee or tea (the caffeine-containing beverages) is any day before one's thirtieth birthday, and that excessive quantity is anything more than one cup at breakfast time. But this one cup of coffee, if well made, is tolerated by most persons of adult age. Besides the nerve-stimulants just mentioned, tea, coffee, and chocolate contain tannin, an astringent substance which is found in most fruits and vegetables. In the methods of making coffee that follow, the same brand of coffee should be used, since it will be interesting to note the different results from different ways of making. FOUR WAYS OF MAKING COFFEE I. Cold-Process Coflfee Proportions. Four ounces of coffee to one pint of water. Method. Mix the coffee thoroughly with cold water. Let it stand eight to ten hours, or overnight. Decant the liquid carefully, heat until it boils, and serve. Coffee made in this way is said to be less hurtful than when made by the more usual methods. 2. Boiled Coflfee with Cold Water Proportions. Two ounces of coffee to one pint of water. Method. Mix one or two spoonfuls of beaten egg with one-half cup of cold water — or one or two crushed eggshells may be substituted for the beaten egg. (See notes following recipes.) Add the remainder of the water, and heat very slowly to boiling. Let boil for 3 m.; then draw aside from the heat and allow to settle for 5 m. before serving. 3. Boiled Coflfee with Boiling Water Proportions. Two ounces of coffee to one pint of water. Method. Mix the dry coffee with beaten egg and cold water as in 2. Add freshly boiling water, let it boil for 5 m., draw aside to settle as in 2, and serve. 4. Filtered or " Drip " Coflfee Proportions. Four ounces of coffee to one pint of water. Method. Place the coffee in the strainer, or the upper part of the coffeepot. Stand the coffeepot in a pan of hot water. Add the boiling water to the coffee, onefourth at a time, at intervals of 1 m. Cover the pot be- tween the additions of water. The coffee, if not strong enough, may be re-filtered. This is sometimes called French coffee, and is served for after-dinner coffee. A better result may be obtained by the use of a percolater, where the boiling water in the lower part of the pot is made to squirt out over the ground coffee in the upper part, filter through it, and drip into the lower part again, and the process may be kept up until the coffee is the desired strength without any fear that it will grow cold.