Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1880-02-06
Gentle Heat in Cooking.

It is a simple method of reasoning to
say that the greater the heat the quicker
tho cooking is done. / have often seen
d~o increased in an emergency to make
'ho already boiling dishes cook more
quickly. It is such an illusion of the
senses that they never think of timing
the difference. It needs bit of science
to understand why boiling water can
mover be hotter than 2120, unless the
steam is forcibly detained by immense
pressure. So women have wasted their
own physical strength in the unnecessa-
~ heat, have wasted no one can calCu-
late how much fuel, have wasted food in
many ways, and have kept our food in a
state of needless barbarity.
The gentler heat used is doubtless one
secret of the superior delicacy and rich
ness of French cookery. We find that
some of their directions give certain
number of sheets of paper for cooking
certain dishes. We do not intend to fol-
low their example in this, for we have
not the utensils necessary to make paper
very available as fuel, nor would it be
economical in this country. We do not
necessarily take the French authority
for example in any thing, but we take a
hint from anybody, and improve on it if
we can.
With a gentle heat and tight covers
we may have Just the amount of juice
we like in our vegetables. 1t is not nee
essary to have the heat quite up to the
boiling point. Two hundred and ten
Farenheit will cook them perfectly, but
as this involves several trials with ther-
mometer, prefer to keep them simmer
ing. A glance will decide this, or per-
haps the ear, if the hand at the same
time rests on the cover. Many kinds of
meat can be cooked in this way very
nicely. A rump steak three or four
inches thick, kept closely covered and
cooked in its own juices alone, Will be
far more tender than when put into the
oven, and this without basting and with
ont Fat. the latter having been trimmed
or closely. With mushes the improve
ment IS equally great, principally because
1t dlspenses with the stirring Mushes
are stirred to prevent their sticking and
burning, though it is not nearly so effica-
cious for this purpose as many imagine
1t Is the starch that sticks, and this is set
free by the stirring, so that in some cases
the dish is more likely to burn with stir
ring than without. This is true of sa.np,
the southern hominy. With four or fiv.
parts water in a tin vessel, it will cook
quite smartly during the four or five
hours necessary to make it tender, with
out burning; but stir it a little and it
will be likely to scorch. If it barely
SINNERS, however, it will cook just as
fast, and be in no danger of scorching.
Ii it needs more water, add it boiling
hot, keeping samp even full. The small
hoIniny mostly used at the North has
been found so difficult to cook, even over
raging fires, that the hominy boiler has
been devised for it, a superfuous article
for that purpose in some kitchens I wot
of. One part hominy is poured slowly
into three parts boiling water and stirred
five minutes or until it sets, (does not
sink), then covered closely and put
where it will barely simmer three
fourths of an hour, or an hour, according
to its coarseness. Stir it as little as pos
sible in taking up with a large spoon,
and if good article it will be light, de-
liciOus, and quiVer almost like a Jelly.