The school kitchen textbook

Stirring. Stir means simply to blend or mix two or more materials. In mixing dry materials, stir or move the spoon round and round in the material until well blended. In mixing dry materials with liquids, add the liquid gradually, and stir slowly at first to avoid spattering. Be sure that the bowl of the spoon — not the edge nor the tip merely — touches the bottom and sides of the bowl. This is mashing as well as stirring, and the mixture soon becomes a paste. When perfectly smooth, add more liquid until the desired consistency is obtained. We stir flour and water together for a thickening, and we stir flour and butter and milk for a sauce, but when air is needed in the mixture, we beat. Beating. Tip the bowl slightly, and hold the spoon so that the edge scrapes the bowl, and bring it up through the mixture, and over with a long quick stroke to the opposite side; under and up through again, lifting the spoon out of the mass, cutting clear through, and scraping from the bottom at every stroke. We beat eggs, batters, and soft doughs. The albumin of the eggs and the gluten of the flour, owing to their glutinous properties, catch the air and hold it in the form of bubbles, something as we make soap bubbles by blowing air into soapy water. The faster we beat, and the more we bring the material up from the bowl into the air, the more bubbles we have; but one stirring motion will break them. So in any mixture where we wish to obtain all the air possible we must be careful to beat and not to stir. Thin batters, like gems made without eggs and popovers, should be beaten vigorously just before baking. Batters require to be baked in a hot oven, but if it be too hot, the sudden expansion of the air bursts the bubbles and the mixture falls. In cooking batters in iron or tin, grease the dishes to keep the mixture from sticking. The fat on the dish heats quickly, and so helps to cook the outside of the mixture. This heat gives a flavor and texture to the crust different from those of the inside. The greater heat of the fat on the hot griddle gives a crust different from that obtained by baking in the oven. There the under crust that comes in contact with the greased pan is unhke the top crust which had no fat in contact with it, and all these crusts are unlike that of the steamed pudding, because they have been subjected to greater heat. The brown color and the flavor of crusts are caused by the change of some of the starch into dextrine. Cooking on a greased griddle is a two-sided baking, — first on one side, then turning and baking the other side. It is one form of cooking with hot fat, and from carelessness, too much fat is often used. It is called frying; but true frying is immersion in hot fat. It is really sauteing, because the cakes are turned over, but many prefer the word baking. A well-greased griddle or pan is one greased uniformly, — not a daub here and there, nor masses of grease in the corners, but just a thin coating of fat laid uniformly over the entire surface. Any more fat than enough to prevent the food from sticking is unnecessary, and is absorbed by the food, making it unwholesome. Very thin batters, or those containing eggs and sugar, require more fat than other kinds ; but stiff doughs, like pastry and plain cookies, often need none.