Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-01-04
A Few Culinary Facts.

"A Few Culinary Facts.
The term boiling is often erroneously
used in cookery. The expressions.
1.-The tea-kettle boils," The rice is
boiling "boiled beef" etc, are all
good Illustrations of the rhetorical fig
ure ''m=tonymy, but they are practf-
eally Incorrect. In all cases, it Is only
the liquid which boils; no solid can
Dol until first changed to a liquid. Sol
ids become liquid at the melting point:
liquids take the form of steam or vapor
at tho boiling point. Boiling is the
conve' son of liquid into steam by
the application of heat sufficient to
GAUGE ebullition or agitation of its sur
face. Boiling, therefore, as applied to
the cooking of solids. is heating or
cooking in a boiling liquid 1t is one
of the most generally used and abused
forms of cooking. Boiling water. which
Is really cooked water, is the LIQUID nsu,
ally employed. Water, as it is heated
from below, expands into vapor. The
| air OF the water and the steam shoot
up in the form of bubbles. As they
come in contact with the cold water
near the surface, the bubbles collapse. the
steam is condensed and descends with
the cold water. making a double set of
currents, which cause quite commo-
ton among the particles. As the
whole body of water becomes hotter.
these bubbles of steam + Sc higher and
higher before collapsing, and finally
r Sc and break the surface. Water Is
scalding hot at one hundred and fifty le-
| grees, or when the hand can not be
borne In 1t. 1t SINNERS when the bub-
bles all collapse beneath the surface, or
at one hundred and sixty-five degrees.
! Ii boils when the bubbles rise to the
surface and the steam is thrown of. or
at two hundred and twelve degrees.
When this boiling point is reached, the
heat escapes with the steam. and all the
lire in the world can not make the water
any hotter; it only let's the steam escape
more rapidly. With few exceptions.
1t Is waste of fuel, time and mate
rial TO keep the water boiling at
galloping rate. A kettle should
| pands in heating; and i'm boilino
over, rs OF course IT will, makes need
less work and Injuries the stove. Water
VIII boil more quickly in kettle with
rough surface than in one with a
nAhOObh SuALiCCs Tic WalcT auneIGS 10
smooth surface with greater force,
ana this must be overcome before boil
ing will take place. Water boils at a
higher temperature when there is sugar
or salt or anything in it to increase the
density. 1t takes longer for it to boil,
but it is hotter when that point is
reached. No one ever doubted that
who has been burned by boiling syrup.
Fresh water, as has been said, boils at
two hundred and twelve degrees. salt
wafer at two hundred and twenty-four
degrees. Ii we put salt with the water
IN the lower part of a double boiler. a
greater degree of heat is obtained by
which to cook articles in the top. Wa
ter, in boiling. loses the air or gases
which give it fresh taste and spark
ling appearance. 1t becomes flat and
tasteless. If there is any impurity in
water boiling will destroy it. Then by
cooling and exposing it to pure
ar again. it becomes aerated and
pa,atdble. But water for cooking.
unless there are impurities to be re-
moved, should be used when freshly
boiled. This is especially important in
making tea and coffee. Soft water should
be used in boiling where the object is to
soften the texture and extract the solu-
bic parts, as in soups, broths, tea and
coffee. Hard water, or soft water salt
ed, is better when it is desired to pre-
serve the articles whole and retain the
soluble and flavOring principles, as in
most green vegetables. In cooking
meat, fish and vegetables in water, it
should be remembered the cold water
draws out the albuminous Juices and
sottens the iibers and gelatInous por-
tons OF meat and holds them in solution.
1t draws out starch, but does not unite
with 1t. Boiling water hardens and
toughens albumen and fibrine, bursts the
starch grains and is absorbed by the
swelling starch. Meat is cooked in
water for three distinct purposes: First,
to keep the nutriment within the meat,
as in what is usually called boiled meat.
To do this the meat is left whole, that
only little surface may be exposed.
Plunge it into boiling sailed water and
keep it there for five or ten minutes.
This hardens the albumen over the en-
tire surface and makes coating
through which the juices can not escape.
Then move the kettle where the water
will simmer slowly. See that the cover
hAo blShtiy, W Keep Ill the steam. Inc
water should be sailed TO raise the boil
ing point and increase the density of
the water, and thus prevent the escape
OF the juices. A small amount of albu-
men in the outer surface will be dis
solved and will rise as scum. This
should be removed, as it will settle on
the meat and render it uninviting in ap-
pearance- In turning the meat do not
pierce into it to let the Juices escape.
1t will take n longer time to cook in this
way, but the tibrine will be softened and
the meat made more tender and of.bet-
ter flavor than when kept boiling flu
riously. Second, meats are cooked in
water to have tho nutriment wholly in
the liquid, as in soups and meat-teas.
Cut the meat in small pieces, soak in
cold water, the longer the better, heat
gradually and keep hot, but not boiling,
until all the goodness is extracted.
Third, TO have the nutriment partly in
the liquid and partly in the meat, as in
stews and fricassees. Put the meat in
cold water. let the water boil quickly.
then skim and keep at the simmering
point. The cold water will draw out
enough of the juices to enrich the liquid;
then, as it reaches the boiling point, the
meat hardens and retains the remainder.
Boston Herald.
Care OF Rain-water Cisterns.