The Home Science Cook Book

HOME F'^- '^^-^" COOK BOOK/ ^.-^^ -'• ^ai&Si^i:?. t iNCOLN... ANN, The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924090146758 coi CO! oi o=COi •Nil COS THE Home Science Cook Book Mary J. Lincoln and Anna Barrows EIGHTH PRINTING WHITCOMB & BARROWS Boston 1912 Copyrighted, 1902, BY Home Science Publishing Company. Copyright Assigned January 14th, 1904, TO Mart J. Lincoln and Mary Earrows. Thomas Todd Co., Printers 14 Beacon Street, Boston Preface. The aim of this book is not to answer the question "what" as to choice of foods, nor "why" certain processes have been adopted as best suited to their preparation for the table, but it endeavors to tell "how" to put materials together to produce ^^sults pleasing to the eye and palate and nourishing to the body. The choice of foods may be considered in another handbook, but this one is distinctly a cook-book. Cook-books of the past contained recipes for color- ing fabrics, healing diseases, for cleaning, for pickling and preserving, yet little by little these processes have become trades, and have departed or are gradually going from under the home roof, probably never to return. The art of cooking still remains, and since the introduction of the chafing-dish and the gas stove is receiving new attention. This book is no rival to the larger cook-books, but presents much in little space, and suggests many short cuts for those who believe in simplifying life and for the busy people who have not time for elaborate processes. It will be most helpful to those who have taste and judgment in other matters, and are willing to use both brains and hands when cooking. Clean- ' ness in every detail and ' the application of good sense to the circumstances of the moment " are essentials in good cooking. iv Preface. Proportions are frequently given instead of definite quantities, that a recipe may more readily be adapted to the needs of families of different sizes. Uniformly small quantities are used with special reference to families of two or three persons. To save space and avoid repetition of the same process, a single recipe often is given with variations, instead of the many recipes found under one head in larger volumes. Hence the whole of any subject should be studied before undertaking any part of it. Time and Temperature, When thermometers come into general use as a kitchen appliance it may be possible to state how much heat any dish will bear and for how long. Under present conditions it seems better to show how we may know when a food is cooked instead of stating the exact number of minutes required. Most foods are better if subjected to moderate heat for a long time than to intense heat for a shorter period. Much also depends upon the shape and size of the article to be cooked and upon the variety and age of fruit or vegetable. Weights and Measures. All the measures used in this book are level unless otherwise specified. Flour is sifted before measuring, then sifted again with other ingredients. When butter is bought in prints it is simpler to divide by ounces than by the tablespoon. Two ounces of butter is equivalent to one-fourth of a cup or to four level tablespoons. Other measurements accord with those in general use. Three teaspoons = one tablespoon. Eight tablespoons = one-half cup. Two cups = one pint. " To economize space the common termination " ful has been omitted from spoon and cup, as common usage has dropped it from quart and peck. Contents. PAOE Breakfast i Fruit 3 Cereals i6 Bread 23 Quick Doughs 34 Eggs 46 Luncheon 57 Emergency Luncheons 58 School Lunch Basket 61 Sauces 63 Soups 72 Entrees 83 Salads and Salad Dressings 100 Dinner 113 Fish 114 Meats 126 ' Vegetables . 146 Desserts 164 Cakes 195 Cheese 212 Nuts 216 Beverages 217 How A Course Dinner May Be Served without a Maid 223 Menus for Every Day Life 231 Index 269 vii Breakfast. Breakfast. Many housekeepers would be happy to eliminate breakfast from the order of the day. To go without this meal has been something of a fad of late, and many who have tried this plan extol it highly, while others have returned to their former custom of a hearty meal in the morning. Breakfast in well-to-do American households usually consists of several courses, — fruit, cereal, eggs, fish, or meat and potatoes, and warm bread, or griddle cakes, or doughnuts. Whether this is served in courses, or all placed on the table at once, depends upon the service available and the family custom. If one pair of hands must prepare and serve the food, the variety of dishes is usually reduced, and many households would be better off for such reduction. Let the variety extend over successive days, but do not make breakfast as substantial as dinner. Two or three well-made dishes will supply the needed food principles as well as a dozen compounds. Fat is required, but cream, butter, and bacon should not all be provided at a single meal to supply it. Starch is necessary, but it is not essential that we get it from cereals, potato, and bread at the same time. Protein we must have, but we do not need eggs, and chops, and fish, all served for a single breakfast. Attractive table service counts for more at breakfast than at any other meal. Appetites are more : 2 Home Science Cook Book. fickle than after vigorous exercise later in the day. " Made dishes," or composite foods, are less appetizing- than when served at luncheon or dinner. A substantial cereal, a banana, and a glass of milk are some- times a better preparation for the day than a more elaborate combination of foods. Heavy meats, like steaks and chops, are seldom desirable ; tripe, liver, and fish seem less substantial ; the main dependence should be placed upon eggs, bacon, cold meats, or simple forrtis of reheating the remnants of a previous day's dinner. Fruit, raw or cooked, is always desirable for the breakfast table, and in cold weather warm stewed fruits are undoubtedly most acceptable. Fruit might be substituted for potatoes occasionally as an accom- paniment to meat. Hot dishes and substantial foods are more acceptable in winter than during the summer. We should re- member, also, that everything cools rapidly on a cold morning, and precautions should be taken by the use of warm plates and platters to keep the food in good condition. The average breakfast, then, may consist of these types of food Fruits, fresh or cooked, according to quality and season. Cereals, dry, hot, cold, or recooked like fried mush. Breads, hot, cold, toasts, and griddle cakes. Animal Pood, eggs, and simple preparations of fish or meat. Drinks, coffee, cocoa, cereal coffee, tea, milk, or water. Fruit. Fruit. Fruit is mainly water, but tliat is pure, and the solids are such as will aid in keeping the body in healthy condition. Perfect fruit is always best served in its natural condition, without cooking and without any addition. But fruit of the highest order is not always obtainable, nor is fresh fruit always most economical or digesti- ble, hence other modes of serving it must be devised. The market fluctuates ; a holiday, or a cold wave, or long rain, adds a few cents to the cost of even the common fruits, while a day or two earlier or later they may be proportionately lower in price. A prudent housekeeper has a reserve supply for such occasions; when prices were low she bought a double quantity, and now serves stewed or baked fruits. She may even anticipate the season and bring out a jar of canned blueberries or blackberries just as the new crop appears in the markets. Such fruits if properly canned and well aired after being taken from the jar are almost as good as when first cooked. When a quantity of berries is bought, the choicer specimens may be reserved to be eaten as they are. Washing Berries. One writer says of berries: "Do not ruin their " flavor by washing them ; this may apply to those grown in our own gardens, but not to those which come from city markets. When we think of the many hands and the clouds of dust through which most fruit comes to us, the loss of a little flavor is the less evil. 4 Home Science Cook Book. There is a right and a wrong way of washing berries ; they should not be left standing in a pan of water in a warm kitchen, nor be put in a colander and water poured through long enough for the sand on the top layer to be washed down through the whole mass. Gently put a few at a time in a pan of cold water. Shake out the clusters of currants, or hull strawberries, rinsing each as lifted from the water, and the sand will be removed and settle to the bottom of the pan. Rasp- berries must be handled very carefully, but blueberries and gooseberries will bear quite severe treatment. Preparation. In the preparation of fruits no utensils should be used that can discolor them or injure the flavor. Agate or graniteware, wooden or silver spoons and silver knives are best suited to this work. There is much for Americans to learn from the French regarding their compotes or fruits preserved with little sugar, and made as needed.

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