the food, fits tightly half way down into the lower one, which contains the boiling water. The steam is partially confined, and as it changes from the gaseous to the liquid form, or condenses on the inner boiler, it gives up its lieat suflSciently to cook the food. These modes of cooking are often called steaming, but they are only other forms of boiling ; the cooking by real steam is a very different process. Superheated steam is forced through pipes into a receptacle containing the food, and in this way a greater degree of heat is obtained. This is the method used in canning factories. Moist Steaming. In real steaming as it is commonly done, a steamer or covered pan with perforations in the bottom is placed over boiling water, the food placed in it, and kept entirely out of the water, but in direct contact with the steam, which, coming through the perforations, condenses, gives up its heat, and cooks the food. Some vegetables, fruits, meats, and other foods or mixtures which have suffi- cient moisture in themselves are cooked in this way. Watery vegetables are made drier ; tough, dry meats are softened, and made tender ; and flour mixtures have a different flavor from that obtained by dry heat or cooking in water. This method is moist steaming, the steam conveying the heat directly to the food. Moist steaming is also a convenient way to re~heat cooked foods such as stale bread and cake, left overs of fish, meat, and vegetables. In this lesson we are to learn more about starch as it is found in grains like oatmeal ; also about a kind of protein contained in grains and called gluten, because when dry it is tough and sticky like glue. These grains are hard and dry. Many things which have dried in ripening, need a large amount of water to sw^ell and soften them. If we were to cook oatmeal in the oven, without anything else, as we did the baked potatoes, it would be harder and drier than it is now. But the potatoes be- come softer by baking. If we wanted a thin gruel of oatmeal we should cook it in a large quantity of water until the starch and gluten were swollen and softened ; but when we make oatmeal mush 138 SCHOOL KITCHEN TEXTBOOK we want to have it more like solid food than pasty gruel. We cannot drain off the water as easily as we did from the potatoes, so we must be careful to use only so much water as is needed to swell and soften the starch and gluten. Oat- meal, for mush, requires four times its bulk of water; fine oatmeal, a little less. We use boiling water because oatmeal is not a fine powder like flour, and the grains will separate easily without being first wet in cold water, and because the boiling water bursts the starch grains quickly, and begins at once to cook them. If we put the meal into cold water, the starch will come out into the water, and make it gluey and pasty. This thickened, gluey water cannot soften the gluten quickly, so it takes a longer time to cook, and it always has a raw, pasty taste. We add salt because there is not enough in the grain, and then we must cook it until the gluten is softened thoroughly. Cook it rapidly at first, directly on the stove, about ten minutes, to burst all the starch grains. When the water is nearly absorbed, place the pan into, or over, another of boiling water.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

the food, fits tightly half way down into the lower one, which contains the boiling water. The steam is partially confined, and as it changes from the gaseous to the liquid form, or condenses on the inner boiler, it gives up its lieat suflSciently to cook the food. These modes of cooking are often called steaming, but they are only other forms of boiling ; the cooking by real steam is a very different process. Superheated steam is forced through pipes into a receptacle containing the food, and in this way a greater degree of heat is obtained. This is the method used in canning factories. Moist Steaming. In real steaming as it is commonly done, a steamer or covered pan with perforations in the bottom is placed over boiling water, the food placed in it, and kept entirely out of the water, but in direct contact with the steam, which, coming through the perforations, condenses, gives up its heat, and cooks the food. Some vegetables, fruits, meats, and other foods or mixtures which have sufficient moisture in themselves are cooked in this way. Watery vegetables are made drier ; tough, dry meats are softened, and made tender ; and flour mixtures have a different flavor from that obtained by dry heat or cooking in water. This method is moist steaming, the steam conveying the heat directly to the food. Moist steaming is also a convenient way to re~heat cooked foods such as stale bread and cake, left overs of fish, meat, and vegetables. In this lesson we are to learn more about starch as it is found in grains like oatmeal ; also about a kind of protein contained in grains and called gluten, because when dry it is tough and sticky like glue. These grains are hard and dry. Many things which have dried in ripening, need a large amount of water to swell and soften them. If we were to cook oatmeal in the oven, without anything else, as we did the baked potatoes, it would be harder and drier than it is now. But the potatoes become softer by baking. If we wanted a thin gruel of oatmeal we should cook it in a large quantity of water until the starch and gluten were swollen and softened ; but when we make oatmeal mush we want to have it more like solid food than pasty gruel. We cannot drain off the water as easily as we did from the potatoes, so we must be careful to use only so much water as is needed to swell and soften the starch and gluten. Oatmeal, for mush, requires four times its bulk of water; fine oatmeal, a little less. We use boiling water because oatmeal is not a fine powder like flour, and the grains will separate easily without being first wet in cold water, and because the boiling water bursts the starch grains quickly, and begins at once to cook them. If we put the meal into cold water, the starch will come out into the water, and make it gluey and pasty. This thickened, gluey water cannot soften the gluten quickly, so it takes a longer time to cook, and it always has a raw, pasty taste. We add salt because there is not enough in the grain, and then we must cook it until the gluten is softened thoroughly. Cook it rapidly at first, directly on the stove, about ten minutes, to burst all the starch grains. When the water is nearly absorbed, place the pan into, or over, another of boiling water.

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