The Plain Sailing Cook Book/Introductory
INTRODUCTION
EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES
The first and foremost essential in cookery is a conveniently arranged and well equipped kitchen, stocked with the necessary staple supplies. Under the heading of equipment, the most important items are of course a cooking-stove (presumably a gas-range, with an upper and a lower oven), a sink, a good-sized table with enamelled or oilcloth top, and an ice-box. Only a little less important than these, in view of its many advantages and conveniences, is a modern kitchen-cabinet. The kitchen should be provided with liberal shelf and cupboard space, and brass hooks to accommodate "hangable" articles should be screwed into the walls and casings at convenient points.
In the selection of minor equipment and supplies, an almost unlimited choice is available. But the following lists contain practically everything that may be considered essential for the purposes of the average housewife. These lists will serve as a convenient purchase guide for those who are furnishing and stocking a kitchen for the first time; and they will also be useful as check-lists in making occasional inventories of equipment and provisions on hand.
GENERAL KITCHEN NECESSITIES
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PREPARING AND MIXING UTENSILS
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COOKING UTENSILS
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STAPLE SUPPLIES
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HANDLING THE RECIPE
In preparing to cook, start with a clean and clear kitchen-table. Then set out the various utensils called for in the recipe to be followed, and see that you have conveniently at hand all the materials that will be required. In turning to the shelves or cupboard for small amounts of staple materials—sugar, flour, salt, etc.—place the receptacles back immediately where they came from after the material needed for the recipe has been taken out. Do not confuse and hinder your operations by having the work-table strewn with cans and jars and dishes that properly belong upon the shelves. Have a place for everything, and keep everything in its place.
With the utensils placed on the table, and the materials either set out or ready at hand, glance through the recipe and make a mental note of the different processes and stages involved. This will enable you to economize your time and movements, and to work intelligently toward a final result that is always clearly in view.
If the recipe to be used requires boiling water, place the teakettle over the fire before starting the other operations.
In the intervals between the different stages, if there is time, clear up your table and wash such utensils already used as will not be required again. Where several things are being cooked simultaneously, or nearly so, this may not be possible; but it is always desirable in the interests of cleanliness and economy.
Do not forget that, with very few exceptions, the recipes in this book are planned to serve two persons only. If more than two persons must be served, the amounts of the various materials and usually the cooking time should be increased proportionately beyond the amounts and the time stated in the recipes.
DIRECTIONS FOR MEASURING
Successful results in cookery are in large part dependent upon the exact measurement of materials. Do not attempt to cook without the aid of a standard measuring-cup, clearly marked for the half, third, and quarter cups; and a set of standard measuring-spoons, consisting of a tablespoon, half-tablespoon, teaspoon, half-teaspoon, and quarter-teaspoon. Measure everything in these utensils, and in these only.
Level measurements are called for in all the recipes in this book. Every reference to a "cup" of material means a level cupful; every reference to a "spoon" means a level spoonful. Fill the cup or spoon with the material to be measured, then with a palette or other straight-edged knife scrape off all the material that is not actually contained in the cup or in the bowl of the spoon. These remarks apply of course only to dry materials, as liquids are bound to level themselves.
Butter, to be measured accurately, must be soft enough to be pressed down into the cup or spoon; if too hard to be managed in this way, it should be heated slightly before measuring. In measuring flour for the cake recipes, the flour should be sifted directly into the measuring-cup; in other words, it should be measured after sifting, rather than before.
Keep the measuring utensils—the measuring-cup, measuring-spoons, and palette-knife—always conveniently at hand in cooking. They will be required in the case of most of the recipes contained in this book, and to economize space they are not included in the list of utensils given at the head of the various recipes.
REGULATING THE HEAT
While electricity is perhaps the ideal cooking medium, the majority of households are still dependent upon gas; and in the preparation of this book it has been assumed that the cooking will be done upon a gas-range. However, in nearly all cases the directions given may be successfully followed no matter what fuel or kind of stove is used, although the problem of heat-regulation is much more easily controlled with gas than with coal or wood. Important as this problem is, only a few rather rough suggestions for dealing with it satisfactorily can be given here. Actual experience is the only trustworthy guide.
In general, it may be said that the amateur cook comes to grief far more often through using too much rather than too little heat. Very seldom, if ever, is the full heating, capacity of an oven or a surface burner required in cooking anything. In preparing to cook, it is sometimes necessary to secure the maximum temperature in the shortest possible time; and in such a case the burners may of course be turned on full. But during the actual cooking process, it is seldom indeed that the best results will not be achieved with a somewhat reduced heat.
The terms "slow oven," "moderate oven," and "hot oven," which are used in this and practically all other cook-books, do not readily lend themselves to exact definition. Roughly speaking, for a "slow oven" the burners are turned on only about one-quarter of their full capacity; for a "moderate oven," about one-half full; and for a "hot oven," about three-quarters full. Again roughly speaking, a "slow oven" is one which feels warm but not hot to the hand; a "moderate oven" feels hot, but still not uncomfortably so even if the hand is held in the oven for several seconds; a "hot oven" feels so hot that the hand must be immediately withdrawn. The most improved gas-ranges now have oven-gauges which may be set so as to regulate these three temperatures automatically; but in the absence of such a device, the above suggestions are about all that can be offered until experience shows the way. In nearly all cases the oven should be lighted ten or fifteen minutes before it is actually needed.
In boiling liquids over a flame, it is often desirable to have the fullest possible flame in order that the boiling-point may be quickly reached. As soon as that point is reached, however, the flame should be at once reduced to the lowest point at which the boiling process will still continue. Otherwise, there will be a waste both of the liquid in evaporation and of the fuel. It is sometimes advisable to slip an asbestos mat between a saucepan or frying-pan and the flame, in order to reduce the cooking temperature and prevent scorching.
A FEW DEFINITIONS
The following is by no means intended as a complete glossary of cookery terms, but includes only those special words or phrases in commonest use the meaning of which it is necessary or desirable that the amateur cook should understand.
Baking. The process of cooking by diffused heat in an oven.
Basting. The process of moistening roasting meat of any kind, to prevent burning, by dipping up the liquid from the roasting-pan with a large spoon and pouring it over the surface of the meat from time to time during the roasting.
Beating. The method by which cooking materials, either singly or in combination, are put into quick and constant motion, being turned over and over, and the under part brought continually to the surface. Unlike the "stirring" process, in "beating" a large amount of air is combined and enclosed with the material that is beaten.
Boiling. The process of cooking food in boiling water.
Broiling. The process of cooking meats by direct contact with the fife or with a heated surface, either on top of the stove or in the oven.
Creaming. As applied to butter, and to mixtures in which butter is the chief ingredient, this denotes the process of rubbing, pressing, and stirring the butter or butter mixture with a wooden spoon until it becomes soft and thoroughly pliable. In cold weather, the bowl in which butter is "creamed" should be warmed before the butter is put into it.
Cutting and Folding. The process by which beaten egg-whites are ordinarily combined with other materials. It consists in placing the egg-whites and the other materials in a bowl, and then with a large spoon cutting slowly down through and through the entire contents of the bowl, lifting and turning the spoon at frequent intervals, and repeating these motions until all the materials are combined. This process is necessary in order that the air which has been combined and enclosed with the egg-whites in beating shall not escape—as it would do if the ordinary methods of mixing were followed.
Dredging. The process of sprinkling flour or other powder-like material over anything that is to be or has been cooked.
Frying. The process of cooking by direct immersion in some form of fat heated to a very high temperature.
Lukewarm. Moderately warm; neither decidedly hot nor decidedly cold.
Mincing. The process of cutting or chopping anything into small bits.
Mixing. Any method by which materials are combined in cookery, whether by "stirring," by "beating," or by "cutting and folding."
Parboil. To boil partially; a method commonly followed with some kinds of meat, either to preserve it until ready for the final cooking process or to render it more tender for cooking in the ordinary way.
Roasting. Strictly speaking, the process of cooking over a clear fire, with some form of metal reflector to concentrate the heat on the material that is being cooked. In common usage, however, there is little clear differentiation between "roasting" and "baking."
Searing. As a method of closing the pores of meat, and thus retaining the juices while cooking, this consists in bringing the surface of the meat in direct contact for a moment or two with the flame or with some very hot metal surface.
Shredding. The process of pulling or breaking anything into very small pieces.
Simmer. A liquid "simmers" when it is kept at the stage just before boiling begins — the stage at which small bead-like bubbles appear on the bottom of the utensil and rise slowly to the surface of the liquid.
Singe. As commonly used in cookery, to burn off the minute "pin-feathers" of a chicken or other fowl before cooking, by holding it for a moment directly in a flame and turning it constantly so that the entire surface comes in contact with the flame.
Steaming. The process of cooking by steam from boiling water. This requires a special form of utensil.
Steep. To soak or bathe for a considerable time in water—ordinarily hot, or at least warm, water—contained in a covered utensil.
Stewing. The process of cooking food in a small amount of hot water kept just below the boiling-point. "Stewing" requires a longer time than "boiling," but the cooking is more thorough and more of the actual nutriment is retained.
Stirring. As a means of blending various materials, or of preventing liquids from burning while cooking, this consists of circular motions made through the material with a spoon, the motions being gradually widened and contracted during the process, with the spoon kept in continual contact with the bottom of the utensil.
Threading. When sugar and water has reached a certain stage in the boiling process, a few drops poured from the end of a spoon will form into a thin hair-like thread. This is known as the "threading" stage.
SOME USEFUL SUGGESTIONS
Warm food should never be put in the ice-box, but should stand outside until it becomes cool.
Two or three yards of clean white cheese-cloth should always be kept in the kitchen. It will be found useful for many purposes.
In using a double-boiler, it is important to see that the lower compartment is always kept about half full of boiling water. As the water boils away, more should be added from time to time.
Use a small soft brush or a piece of tissue-paper wadded up into a soft ball for buttering baking-dishes. If the pans are heated slightly just before buttering, the process is made much easier.
Twenty minutes or so before meal-time, the dishes required for serving hot food should be placed on the warming-shelf or in the warming-compartment of the stove, so that they will be thoroughly warm when the meal is ready to serve.
The tissue-paper wrappings of oranges, grapefruit, etc., should always be straightened out and placed on a hook in the kitchen, for use in draining fried food, in wiping out greasy pans and dishes before washing, and in numerous other ways.
A jar or bowl in which to pour all fat and drippings left from cooking meat, especially bacon and other forms of pork, should be kept conveniently at hand. This fat may be used for frying eggs, potatoes, etc., and may also be used instead of butter in making muffins and in greasing muffin-pans.
Bits of stale bread and crackers should always be saved, and from time to time rolled out on a bread-board into crumbs. These crumbs are useful in many ways. When ready to use them, they may be "buttered" if desired, by adding one tablespoon of melted butter and a quarter-teaspoon of salt to a half-cup of crumbs, and mixing well together.
To separate the white from the yolk of an egg when each is to be beaten separately, crack the shell, then pull the shell apart and pour the contents back and forth from one half of the shell to the other, allowing the white to drop off gradually into a bowl while still keeping the yolk in the shell. When nothing is left in the shell but the yolk, this should then be put into another bowl. If the white is beaten first, it will not be necessary to wash the beater before beating the yolk.
When frying anything in "deep fat," from two to three pounds of fat should be used, and the kettle containing the fat should be set over a slow fire at least ten minutes before the frying process begins. The fat must be carefully watched and handled, as a serious accident can easily be caused by its spilling or catching fire. It should never be smoking hot for cooking; tests should be made from time to time with small bits of the material to be fried, and the heat regulated on the basis of these tests. The moment all the material has been fried, the kettle should be taken off the fire and set in some safe place to cool for a few minutes. Then pour out the fat through a fine strainer or piece of cheese-cloth into a bowl or jar kept for this purpose. After it is thoroughly cold, the fat should be placed in the ice-box.