REASONS FOR COOKERY                         

We may say there are five good reasons for cooking : to make it pleasant to taste , to render mastication easy , to facilitate digestion , to combine foods , and to econimise them by eating them warm .

To take the first reason , no one can enjoy and many cannot even be healthily nourished by a monotonous diet .

Tasteless food is not simply unpleasant ; it is not healthful  ; and the same food taken day after day , although it may contain all the necessary constituents , looking at it from the point of view of chemical analysis , does not give the requsite sustaining power .

It has been actually pointed out how a great improvement has been effected in the inmates of large public institutions by a change in the dietary .

We cannot give too much importance to this reason for good ccooking , which is never monotonous , for it affects so materially the health as welll as the confort of us all .

The second reason that the making mastication easier , is apparent without much consideration , the act may be said to be that of dividing and subdividing the food so that it exposes a greater surface to the action of the digestive juices with which it afterwards comes in contact ; and it can easily be seen how the sufficent cooking of food facilitates this .

Some of our greatest and strongest animals , chiefly carnivorous  ones , can swallow their food raw and wiithout mastication , but their digestion idds very different from our human one , and we should require to devote a great deal longer time to our mealls had we to accomplish all the grinding and subdividing by our teeth alone .

By cooking fibre is softened , starch hydraded , dough vesiculated , albumen coagulated , and a very large portion of indigestable matter , or matter difficult of mastication  , removed ; so half our work is done for us in the kitchen .

To the action of heat upon food may be ascribed the most important results of cookery , cooking may not alter the chemical constitution of food , but it may utterly change its value , turning it from indigestable to digestable matter as well as rendering it pleasant to the taste .

Some of the changes wrought by heat are easily explained ; whether fibre is shrivelled or swelled  , whether gelatin is brittle or dissolved , we do not require science to discover , but science tells us why these things are , and so enables us to more easily bring our food into the conditions we require it .

The fourth reason we have for cooking is the combonation of foods , which should be carefully done in the right proportions , so that by supplying deficiencies and counteracting superabundant qualities in various foods  , we may materially help digestion and supply the body with all its needs .

In many cases this has been done from the early period in cookery bu natural instinct , such as that which prompts us to serve peas with bacon , egg sauce with salt fish , or butter and milk with rice ; but this has probably been done long before we would give the reasons , not knowing the constituents of the foods -- , that peas contain starch , or floury matter , necessary to combine with fat bacon , or that egg sauce would supply the lack of nourishment in salt fish ,daily  , cooks learn these thigs , but there is still a wide field for their discoveries .

The fifth reason for cooking is the economising of our food by heating it , part of what we eat is heat giving food to keep the heat in our bodies at a certain point , so long as we are in health we should be 98° on a fahrenheit thermometer , warm but not hot , a higher or lower temperature shows that something is amiss

A simple illustration may serve to show why warm food is more nourishing than cold , when we put fresh coals on the fire the temperature of the room is lowered at once, because some of the heat from the live coals is absorbed into the fresh coals  , this is just the case with the cold food , for some of the heat of our bodies must be employed to heat it .

There are gas burners that give a brilliant light and are yet economical , because the spare heat of the flame is used to heat the gas that will be presently burnt , and we warm our food on the same principle , the coals saving the heat of our bodies .

It should be a known fact that whereas hot food is not wholesome , warm food is not only more nourishing than cold , but it goes farther , and is , therefore , as we  have said , more economical .

                                                                    BOILING                                                                                              

Boiling though one of the easiest processes in cookery requires careful management , boiled meat should be tender , savoury , and full of its osn juice , or natural gravy ; but , through carelessness , it is too often sent to table hard , tasteless , and innutritious .

To insure a successful result , the heat of the fire must be judiciously regulated , the proper quantity of water kept up in the pot , and scum which rises to the surface carefully removed , or it will attach itself to the meat .

The vessels used for boiling should be made of cast iron , well tinned within , and provvided with closely fitting lids .

They must be kept clean , otherwise they will render items cooked in them unsightly and unwholesome .

Copper pans , if used at all , should be reserved fooe operations that are performed with rapidity ; as by long contact with copper , food may become dangerously contaminated .

In boiling vegetables , make sure water is at a rolling boil , bubbles will break surface of water rapidly , use this method for grains like rice and oats as well , a rolling boil may occur more quickly if the vesssel used has been covered with lid .

In the boiling of vegetables , grains or meat , one should add a small amount of salt  to the water , this adds flavour which may be lost in the proces of boiling

                                                     DOUBLE BOILING

This is a mode used when making confections such a caramel , or melting chocolate , it is achieved  by having either a double vessel , made for this purpose , or by using two vessels , one slightly larger than the other , water is placed in the bottom section , and the item you wish melted in the top or smaller vessel , you do not wish the water to get inside of the smaller vessel , as this would mean having to begin again .

                                                               STEWING                              

In stewing it is not requisite to have so great a heat as in boiling .

A gentle simmering in a small quantity of water  is all that is necessary , to simmer is to have over your flame the water in your chosen vessel  at a lower flame , for a longer period of time .

It is a method much used on the Continent , and wholesome as well as economical .

Such foods as ; prunes , pears , beef and hocks of ham , may be cooked in this manner , beef may be scraped and stewed or simmered , in the making of beef tea .

                                                                   FRYING                          

This very favourite mode of cooking may  be accurately described as broiling in fat or oil .

Substances dressed in this way are generally well recieved , for they introduce an agreeable variety , possessing , as they do , a peculiar flavour .

By means of frying , cooks can soon satisfy many requisitions made  on them , it being a very expeditious mode of preparing dishes for the table , and one which can be employed when the fire is not sufficiantly large for the purposes of roasting and boiling.

The great point to be borne in mind in frying is that the liquid must be hot enough to act instantaneously , as all the merit of this culinary operation lies in the invation of the boiling liquid , which carbonizes or burns , at the very instant of the immersion of the body placed in it ,

It may be ascertained if the fat is heated to the proper degree by cutting a piece of bread and dipping it in the frying pan for five or six seconds ; and if it be firm and of  dark brown when taken out , put in immediately what you wish to prepare ; if it be not , let the fat be heated until of the right temperature .

This having been effected , moderate the fire , so that the actionmay not be too hurried , and thhat by a continuous heat the juices of the substance may be preserved and its flavour inhanced .

All dishes fryed in fat should be placed before the fire on a piece of blotting paper, or sieve reversed , and there left for a few minutes , so that any superfluous greasy moisture may be removed

                                                          ROASTING

Of the various methods of preparing meat this is the most generally appreciated in this country , but it is not the most economical or advantageous , and it is not to be recommended for small joints .

It is effected by hanging the meat before the fire , and keeping it in motion to prevent the scorching of any particular part , when meat is properly roasted the outer layer of its albumen is coagulated , and thua the natural juices are prevented from escaping .

In roasting meat the heat must be strongest at first and it then be much reduced , to have a good juicy roast , therefore , the fire must be red and vigorous at the very commencement of the operation ..

In the most careful roasting some of the juice is squeezed out of the meat , and evaporating on its surface , gives it a dark brown colour , a rich lustre , and a strong aromatic taste .

Besides these effects on the albumen and the expelled juice , roasting melts the fat out of the fat cells .

If a spit is used to support the meat before the fire , it it should be kept quite bright , and scoured with sand and water , as brickdust and oil are apt to give disagreeable taste to the meat .

In spitting a joint , the prime part should be left untouched , so  as to avoid any great escape of its juices .

In stirring the fire , or puttin fresh coals on it , the dripping-pan should always be drawn back , so that there may be no danger of the coals , cinders , or ashes flling down into it .

Under each particular recipe there is stated the time required for roasting each joint ; but , as a general rule , it may be here noted that for every pound of meat , in ordinary -sized joints , a quarter of an hour should be allotted .

White meats , and the meat of young animals , require to be very well roasted , both to be pleasant to the palate and easy of digestion .

Thus veal , pork and lamb should be thoroughly done to the centre , mutton and beef , on the other hand . do not , generally speaking , require to be dressed to the point that , in carving them , the gravy should just run ,but not too freely .

Of course in this , as in most other dishes , the taste of individuals vary ; and there are many who cannot partake , with satisfaction , of any joint unless it is what others would calll overdressed .

                                                 BROILING

In order to succeed in a broil , the cook must have a bright , clear fire ; so that the surface of the meat may be quickly heated .

The result of this is the same as that obtained in roasting , namely, a crust , so to speak , is formed outside , and thus the juices of the meat are retained .

The appetite of an invalid , so difficult to minister to , is often pleased with a broiled dish , as the flavour and sapidity of the meat are so well preserved .

The utensils used for broiling need but little description , the common gridiron , used in all our kitchens , is the same as it has been for ages past , although some little variety has been introduced into its manufacture , by the addition of grooves to the bars , by means of which the liquid fat is carried into a small trough .

One point it is well to bear in mind -viz., that the gridiron should be kept in a direction slanting towards the cook , so that as little fat as possible may fall into the fire .

It has been observed that broiling is the most difficult manual office the general cook has to perform , and one that requires the most unremitting attention ; for she may turn her back upon the stewpan or the spit , but the gridiron can never be left with impunity .

                                                           BAKING                                                       

The principal difference between roasting meat and baking it is that in baking , the fumes caused by the operation are not carried off in the same way as in roasting .

Much however ,  of this disadvantage is obviated by the improved construction of modern ovens , and especially those in connection with the best kitcheners .

With meat baked in the generality of ovens there is undoubtedly a peculiar taste , which does not at all equal the flavour developed by roasting meat .

Should the oven be very brisk , it would be advisable to cover the joint with a piece of white paper , to  prevent the meat from being scorched outside before the heat can penitrate into the inside , this paper should be removed half an hour before the time of serving dinner , so that the joint may take a good colour .

By means of a jar , many dishes may be economically prepared in the oven , the principal are soups , gravies , jugged hare , beef tea ; and this mode of cooking may be advantageously adopted with a ham , previousley covered with a common crust of flour and water .

All dishes prepared for baking should be more highly seasoned than when intended to be roasted , there are some dishes that are at least equally well cooked in the oven as by roasting ; thus a shoulder of mutton and baked potatoes , a filet or breat of veal , a suckling pig , a hare well basted  , will be recieved by connoisseurs as well when baked as if they had been roasted .

Indeed , the baker's oven , or the family oven , may often , ass has beeb said , be substituted for the cook and the spit with greater economy and convenience .

                                                   THE SCIENCE OF COOKERY

Till lately , chemistry has not been in active growth , but day by day it is now adding to our physiological knowledge , and id fast becoming a more popular science ,with it and by it's aid , advances the science of cookery .

A dietary cure is now as common , if not more so , than a medicinal one for even the greatest disorders , particularly in cases of mental aberration ; and to this reason may be partly owing the giant strides that cookery has taken during the last few years .

It is argued by some who object to the term "science of cookery"  that people lived as long before such a thing was heard of .

So they did , just as they knew the laws of gravitation or elementry mathmatics , before the days of wonderful machinery or steam .

But as we are ready to acknowledge the fact that these discoveries have done much good , specially that science applied to agriculture enables us to support a larger population in greater comfort , why should we not be ready to say whether science in cookery will not aid us in the feeding of our starving millions , inasmuch as it's very backbone is economy -economy in the use of the digestive organs as well as in the preparation of the food itself .

We venture to assert that gradually but surely our methods of cooking and our combonations of foods will be based upon the most carefully tested scientific discoveries , and that from laboratory to kitchen , through , it maybe , treatise or lecture , the information will be handed down .

It stands to reason that we should study and learn for ourselves the properties of the foods we consume every day of our lives , even before we know those of the medicines we occasionally take , and not test them , at the expense of our bodily health , as we may do , not knowing of what they are composed