The school cookery book

Front matter

EDINBURGH SCHOOL OF COOKERY,

ALBERT BUILDINGS, SHANDWICK PLACE,

FOUNDED OCTOBER 1S75.

Preface

This “ School Cookery Book ” has been written chiefly for the use of cookery classes in elementary schools. The theory of food is therefore explained in simple language, the recipes are given in small quantities, and the directions are very minute. It is hoped, however, that the book may prove useful also to others who desire to study the theory and practice of good economical cookery. The text is complete without the footnotes, which are inserted for the benefit of teachers and older people. The theoretical part has been submitted to, and approved by, an eminent chemist and two physicians.

The Editor desires to express her obligation to Sir Thomas D. Acland, Bart., M.P., for valuable criticisms and suggestions.

PART I. — THEORETICAL. Introduction

The Principles of Cookery,

The Adaptation of Food to varying stances,

CIRCUM-

Part Ii.— Practical

Table of Weights and Measures, I-Iow to Choose Meat, &c.,

Names and Uses of various pieces of To Cleanse Utensils, &c.,

To Cleanse Vegetables,

General Directions for Cooking, Soups,

Fish, .

Meat,

Meat — Roasting,

Broiling,

Boiling,

Stewing,

Frying,

Cold Meat Cookery, .

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Miscellaneous Recipes, 83

Milk Puddings, no

Boiled and Miscellaneous Puddings, . . .117

Eggs, I24

Sauces,

Bread, &c., I3°

Drinks I3^

Infants' Food, J48

Appendix

Suggestions for Arranging Cookery Classes

in Elementary Schools, 152

i5S

Index,

THE

SCHOOL COOKERY BOOK.

PART I.

THEORETICAL.

Introduction

Motion and warmth are two essential conditions of the life of human beings.

Even when the body seems to be quite still, movement is going on in every part of it. The blood is constantly being pumped by the heart, and carried to all parts of the body; the lungs move with every breath ; a change is caused in the brain by every thought. To produce movement, either external or internal, some force or exertion (not necessarily voluntary) is used, and all force involves wear and tear. This wear and tear takes place in the flesh and blood, the fat and bones, and other materials of which the body is composed. If these used-up materials are not replaced, the body will wear away, and the animal become exhausted and die.

All living human bodies are warm.1 If the warmth

1 The temperature of th6 human body is about 98° Fahr. , and in healthy persons is nearly uniform both in hot and in cold weather. Thermometers, instruments formeasuringheat, have been constructed by various persons : the one made by Fahrenheit is in most general use. Freezing point is 320 (° means degrees); temperate, 55°; summer heat, 76°; blood heat, 98°; boiling point (water), 213°.

INTRODUCTION.

is not kept up they die. In keeping up this warmth something is used up, and this must be replaced.

Food replaces the materials used up by the movement of our bodies, keeps up warmth, and gives power of movement, or, as it is more correctly called, force. Food cannot, however, accomplish these objects in its natural state. It must be reduced into a lluid form so as to be able to pass through very small channels, and to be carried along in the blood. After it enters the bloodvessels it must mix with air,1 drawn in through the lungs and skin, and through the changes effected by the air and by various other organs of the body, the food is gradually made fit to replace all wasted and worn-out materials.

I he wholesomeness of food depends on three conditions : —

1. On the selection of the right materials, whether animal or vegetable, and on their use in proper proportions.

2. On cooking the materials in such a manner as to make them digestible, — that is, capable of being readily turned into material fit for replacing the waste of the body already spoken of.

3. On adapting the use of food to the different circumstances of age, employment, climate, and state of health.

1 That part of air called oxygen.

THE MATERIALS OF FOOD.

Chapter I. The Materials Of Food

Before learning the principles of Cookery, it is important to know something about the composition of the different kinds of food, in order to choose those that are best fitted to keep the body in health and vigour.

For this purpose let us consider one or two of our most important foods.

Milk is the most perfect human food that we have; infants live on it alone. We find that if milk stands for a little, the cream or fatty part separates and rises to the top, leaving the skim milk below. The cream is the principal part which gives warmth, but it does not repair the used-up materials of the body. The skim milk does this. Skim milk can be separated into curd and whey. Curd is, strictly speaking, the flesh-forming part : whey supplies water, sugar, and mineral substances.

Bread is another very important kind of food. If we take a little of the flour of which it is made, tie it in a cloth and squeeze it in cold water, we shall find that a milky or cloudy liquor will be formed in the water. The same can be got out of various grains, especially rice; also out of potatoes, arrowroot, tapioca and sago. This milky appearance is caused by starch , another of the materials which will keep up heat, but will not form flesh. Inside of the cloth there will be found a grey sticky or glutinous paste, which will be spoken of presently.

Sugar also is an important agent in producing and keeping up warmth. These three substances — fats, starch, and sugar — may therefore be named—

IO

THE MATERIALS OF FOOD.

I. Warmth or Heat-giving Foods.1

Table showing the Chief Warmth-giving Foods.

Fats.

Cream.

Butter.

Oil.

Yolk of Egg.

Suet.

Dripping.

Lard.

Starch.

Found in Flour.

Potatoes.

Arrowroot.

Com Flour.

Rice.

Semolina.

Tapioca.

And most Garden Vegetables.

Sugar.

Found in Sugar Cane.

Beetroot.

Honey.

Fruit.

Milk.

The heat-giving foods, after digestion, are passed into the blood, which is then pumped by the heart into the lungs. The blood is spread out in little thin hair-like vessels all over the lungs, so that the air breathed into the lungs may mix with it. The mixture of that portion of the air called oxygen with the fatty particles floating in this blood, causes in living creatures a burning up of these fatty particles, and this combustion produces heat, and is so like the process of burning which goes on in a fire, that it is sometimes called animal burning or combustion.2 This mixture of fresh air with the other particles of food floating in the blood, also causes one of the many changes which they pass through, before they are in a fit state to become part of the body.

We must now see what kinds of food, or rather what parts of food, will make flesh, and so build up

1 Technically called Carbonaceous Foods, because they contain a great deal of carbon. Coal, peat, and wood are the carbon burnt in a common fire. The air supplies the oxygen, which may be pumped in with bellows to make the fire bum briskiy.

2 The technical name of this process is Oxidation.

1 1

THE MATERIALS OF FOOD.

the body. The white of egg1 is the type of food which is required for this purpose. Lean meat- and skim milk3 are of the same nature. The sticky or glutinous substance4 which was left in the cloth alter the starch was squeezed out of the flour, is a flesh former; also parts of almost all grains, such as oats, and including the glutinous matter5 of peas and beans. All these substances will make flesh that is, wil replace the used-up materials of the body and we shall therefore call them

II. Flesh-formers.6

Table showing the Chief Flesh-forming Foods.

Animal.

Lean. Meat.

Fish.

Poultry.

Skim Milk.

Cheese.

White of Egg.

It will be seen from this table that both the animal and vegetable kingdoms supply flesh-formers. Half a pound of animal food contains a larger amount of flesh-forming power than half a pound of vegetable food. But the same amount of flesh-forming power may be derived from certain vegetable products (which are much cheaper) if taken in large quantities. The vegetable products which yield the greatest amount of

1 Albumen.

2 The juice and fibre of lean meat consist almost entirely of albumen and fibrin.

3 When milk is turned into cheese, this substance is called casein.

4 Glutin.

D Legumin.

6 Technically called Nitrogenous Foods, as nitrogen is the flesh-forming element common to them all. They are also called albuminoid— i.e., white of egg like.

Vegetable.

Flesh-forming Material exists largely in — Peas. Flour, ) made

Beans. Macaroni, > from

Lentils. Semolina, ) wheat.

Oatmeal. Rye.

Barley. Maize.

THE MATERIALS OF FOOD.

the kind of food which replaces the used-up materials of the body, are peas, beans, and lentils, called collectively “ the pulses.” Persons who have little or no animal food must find their chief flesh-forming food in the pulses, because these contain from two to three times as much flesh-forming power as even the grains that rank next them in that respect. Dr. Parkes writes,1 “ A labouring man by ringing the changes on oatmeal, maize, peas and beans, rice and macaroni (which is made from corn), to which may be added cheese and bacon occasionally, may bring up his children as well nourished as those of the richest people and at a small cost. Oatmeal, the most nutritious of the cereal grains and formerly the staple food of our finest men, .... Indian corn, .... peas and beans and rice are far less used by our poorer classes than should be the case.”

I lie names of heat-givers and flesh-formers correctly indicate the chief work of these two important classes of foods. But for the sake of exactness it must be stated that flesh-forming foods certainly do a little towards keeping up warmth ; whilst, on the other hand, heat-givers do a little towards making flesh.

1 he power of movement — force — is now believed to be produced chiefly by fatty or heat-giving foods.2

With regard to bones and some other parts of our

1 Page 21, in “ Personal Care of Health " by E. A. Parkes, M.D., F.R.S. (published by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, price is.). Professor Parkes was head of the Government Hospital at Netley. We are indebted to him for most important discoveries about food ; he had great opportunities for observations on soldiers, making great exertions on definite rations weighed out. Fuller information is given in his larger work on Hygiene.

*' Liebig and others attributed to flesh-forming foods, especially lean meat, the power of producing force. But the opinion of scientific men on this subject has undergone a change, and recent experiment points to fats as the means of giving force.

THE MATERIALS OF FOOD.

bodies which require mineral matter —as salt, lime, iron, &c., it is enough to observe here, that with the exception of a certain amount of salt, these are not taken in the body in a solid form, but exist in very minute particles in different foods. They are chiefly supplied in vegetables including grains and fruits. Lime is also supplied in water and in milk, these mineral matters are generally called —

III. Salts.

They are essential to the health of the body.

About two-thirds of the human body consist of water. In a full-grown person about five pints pass off daily in various ways. It is, therefore, evident that if one object of food is to replace the waste of the body,

IV. Water

must be supplied to replace what goes out, and must therefore form an important part of food. Liquid foods (milk, soups, and drinks) consist largely of water. It is not, however, necessary to replace the waste entirely by drinking liquid, as a large proportion of all apparently solid food is in reality water. Fruit and vegetables contain a great deal of water, and there is much evtn in animal food. Water does not directly nourish the body either by forming flesh or giving heat. Its chief uses are — a, to mix with and soften solid food, and thus help the various stages of digestion; b, to assist in carrying the food to the various parts of the body, where it is required to replace what has been wasted ; c, to mix with and help to carry off matter which has been used up.1 It is

1 The blood contained in the arteries conveys the digested food to the various parts of the body, and that contained in the veins removes the used-up matter. More than three-fourths of the blood consists of water.

THE MATERIALS OF FOOD.

very important that water for cooking and drinking should be pure. If it is impossible to obtain pure water it should first be boiled and then filtered.1

There is a class of foods that might be arranged under some of the heads already mentioned, but it is simpler to speak of it separately) viz: —

Flavourings, or, as they are sometimes called, Condiments. These consist of salt (which comes under the head of minerals), pepper, mustard, vinegar, flavouring herbs, spices, etc. Condiments are of little or no use in repairing the waste of the body, but, used in moderation, they assist in making food more palatable ; and by helping to draw out the saliva in the mouth and the other fluids in the stomach which are required to mix with the food, they assist it on through the wonderful changes which have to take place before it is taken into the blood and becomes part of the human body.

The four classes of foods — heat-givers, flesh-formers, salts, and water — must be represented in our diet, if the body is to be kept in a healthy state.2 Of these four, cookery has chiefly to do with heat-giving and flesh-forming foods ; and it will be observed that inclination leads us to couple foods together, so that one may supply what the other wants. For example, veal

1 Directions for making a cheap filter are given at page 89. It should, however, be noted that a filter only removes solid matter, such as gravel, sand, etc., but it cannot take away the more dangerous matters which arc often dissolved in the water, such as sewage, lead, etc.

a The chief elements of the body are oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon and salts. A certain amount of these, after undergoing various changes and combinations, passes off from the body daily and is replaced as follows : — oxygen, chiefly by the air entering the body by the lungs ; hydrogen, chiefly in the form of water ; nitrogen, by flesh-forming or nitrogenous foods ; carbon, by warmth-giving or carbonaceous foods ; and salts, by the salts mentioned above.

and poultry are flesh-formers, but are deficient in heat-giving material, therefore we take bacon with them. Pork is very fat, therefore we take peas pudding with it. To corn-flour, tapioca, &c., we add milk, and so on.

A General Statement of the Component Parts of our Chief Foods.

Warmth-giving

Materials.

Flesh-forming | Materials, j

Minerals or Salts.

Animal Foods.

Milk contains Eggs

Meat (including fat), .

Cream (fatty). 1 Yolk (fatty).

Fat.

Skim milk.

White of egg.

The lean part.

Various salts.

Hardly any salts ; the shell which makes the bones of the chicken contains limeand other salts.

A very small quantity.

Wheat contains, . .

Much starch.

Considerable

flesh-forming

material,

Lime and other salts.

Oats contain,

Do. do.

Much do.

Do. do.

tn

•a

Peas and

beans contain, . .

Less starch.

Do. do.

Do. do.

ii*

•e

Potato contains, . .

Tapioca ^ 0

Much starch.

Verylittlefieshforming material.

Various salts.

-4->

v

bn

<D

Sago . -Is Arrowroot ( g Corn flour ) 3 Garden vege-A

Much starch.

Hardly any.

Hardly any.

i

tables, roots ( and leaves j contain, . )

Some starch.

Very little.

Salts plentiful.

Fruits contain

Sugars.

...

A little.

16 THE PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY.

The chief lesson to be learned from this chapter is, that different classes of food must be represented in the daily diet, and that variety of food is essential to health.

A second important lesson is, that food which will form flesh is to be found not only in milk, eggs, and butcher meat, but also in vegetable food, especially in pulses and in grains (wheat, barley, oats, &c.), and this food in these pulses and grains is much cheaper than the same kind of food when bought in the form of animal food.

Chapter II. The Principles Of Cookery

Food is cooked that it maybe made acceptable to the taste, and digestible.

The chief modes of cooking are roasting, broiling, boiling, stewing, baking, and frying. Of these modes, boiling is the most digestible ; roasting the most nutritious ; stewing the most economical. In this chapter we shall treat of foods as commonly known, viz., animal food (including milk and eggs) and vegetable food. These require very different management in cooking. Two general rules may be laid down —

1. Meat, milk, and eggs should be cooked at a moderate heat (about i6o° Fahr.).

2. Vegetables (including grains) should be cooked for a short time at least at boiling point (212 Fahr.).

1. Animal food. Every one knows that when an e^g is boiled for four minutes the white becomes quite sofid. The material of which white of egg consists is called albumen. Similar substances exist largely in milk, in fish, and in lean meat, but not in fat. If milk

THE PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY. 1 17

is cooked at boiling point this substance turns into a tough skin ; and if fish and meat are cooked too long at boiling point the juice hardens and the fibre becomes tough rags. Meat is not only unpalatable when thus hardened, but is less digestible.

Meat to be made into soup must be differently treated from meat to be served as a joint. To make soup, we must draw the juices out of the meat, and for this purpose the meat must be cut into small pieces, put on with cold water and salt to draw out the juices, slowly warmed, then simmered — not boiled.

If, however, the meat is to be cooked for eating, we must on the contrary keep in the juices. This is done by exposing the meat for a few minutes to a strong heat which hardens the albumen on the surface, and so forms a case which keeps the juices from running out. The special modes of forming this casing will be found in the general directions for the different ways of cooking. Salted meat, however, should be cooked without this process of hardening, and should be put on with cold water, to soften the fibre and draw out some of the salt. The power of salt to draw out fluids causes salted meats to be much less nutritious than fresh meats; because not only is the fibre hardened by the salt, but the nourishing fluids are drawn out, and are thrown away with the brine. Salt does not affect fat in the same way — hence well-cooked fat bacon is more digestible than ham.

Hard water is best for boiling fresh meat for eating, as the lime in it helps to harden the outer surface. Soft water is best for soup and salt meat, as it does not exercise the same hardening effect. The water in which meat is boiled should be used as stock for soups or gravies, as certain of the nutritive properties of the meat are found in it.

is THE PRINCIPLES OF COOKERY.

The finer pieces of meat which are juicy and tender in fibre are generally roasted or boiled, as these processes serve to retain the juices, and sufficiently soften the fibre. Coarser and hard pieces should be stewed, as long, slow heat is needed to soften them. Gristly pieces should be slowly boiled or stewed ; because it is only when cooked with liquid that the gristle can become soft. Dry heat, as in roasting, whether before the fire or in the oven, makes gristle tough like leather.

Fish contains less albumen than most kinds of animal food ; but the same general principle of cookery should be applied to it. The oily kinds, such as mackerel, herring, and salmon, the most nutritious though least digestible, are best suited for grilling. In white fish the oil is principally contained in the liver, which is generally removed from the fish, but may be used in various ways. White fish are generally boiled, fried, or baked.

The liquor in which fish is boiled should be used as stock for soup, as there is much nutriment in it, and it is to be regretted that it is so generally thrown away.

2. Vegetables. — Vegetables, especially grains, contain a large quantity of starch, which is most unwholesome as an article of diet, unless the grains are swollen and burst. To accomplish this, it must be mixed with a sufficient amount of liquid, and be subjected, for a few minutes at least, to a high degree of heat. The liquid is, in certain preparations, supplied in the form of fat which melts with heat. Suet, butter or dripping may be mixed with flour; but great care must be taken to have the fat very finely mixed with the flour, as when this is not done the flour cakes together, and the melted fat cannot reach it to assist in bursting the grains. For this reason, short crust is more wholesome than puff paste, as in the former the starch and fat are .more thoroughly mixed. The use of baking powder makes pastry, etc., lighter.

In cooking garden vegetables, the heat should reach boiling point, not only because the starch cells must be burst, but because there is a good deal of confined air in vegetables which it is desirable by this means to set free. The water may, however, after five or. ten minutes, be reduced to slow boiling, as the full boiling point has the effect of hardening the woody fibre ot which vegetables consist largely. The bursting of the starch cells can be carried out at a somewhat lower heat (170° or 180° Fahr.). The cooking of garden vegetables in hard water helps to hold in the nourishing juices; but it is at the risk of the lime in the water hardening the woody fibre. Therefore, while hard water makes vegetables more nutritious, soft water makes them more digestible.