The Red Cloud chief., 1886-01-08
The Philosophy of Frying.

The object OF cooking. tsavs j. Is.
Hodgkins in the H0UsekecperJ, IL Ia
bring about mere chemical changes in
articles Of food when exposed 10 the in
fluencc Of heat. Baking. frying. boil
ing, or roasting are all only - MANY
different methods Of applying heat.
The cDmmGnest, the most convenient.
the cheapest, and quickest Of these
methods J. frying, which can be APP
piled To almost all articles Of food,
which requires the least apparatus and
the smallest fire. vet Of all methods is
tho least understood. the one which de-
stroys most food. and i the cause of
more indi gestion and dyspepsia than all
the other methods combined. The
reason Of this is. that in many sub
stances the adTnixturc of fat prevents
chemical processes of cooking from hav-
ing their proper development. The
perfection Of frying would be 10 have
food fried without coming into contact
with the fat M all. But ~ this l.. If
course, a sclf-cvidcnt impossibility. the
next best thing i, 10 have the food come
in contact with the fat aS little as posi-
bie, This is accomplished simply by
having the III, hot Grease of every de-
sorip;ion Is capable III being heated TO
a very much higher temperature thau
water: i'm fact. il can be made almost
three times rs hot Is boiling water.
When fat is AZ is boiling point it is so
hot that any article of food brought in
contact with it is actually iurnt, and
this is precisely the reason why, for pnr-
poses Of frying, fat should always be
doughnut for example, dipped into boil
ing fat, is Immediately covered all over
by a thin crust of burnt dough which
prevents the fat from penetrating further
i'm. and enables the rest If the doughnut
to be exposed to a greater degree of hca,
than can be applied to it by any other
process, without coming III contact with
the fat. and the natural chemical pro-
cesses 90 on inside with Il greater de-
gree of perfection than can be obtained
by any either method. Perfect frying is
the perfection of cooking. IN. - soon rs
the fat is no: sufficiently hot To c.ea.;
the burnt crust around the article fried,
the fat penciratcS il and absolutely pre-
vents cooking from taking place at all.
Ii the fat is not boiling. bubbling hot,
the process that takes place is not cook
inc. bat simply drcnching the food with
n tcpid fat and rendering IL totally in
digcstible. 1t makes no difference hog
hot the fat is aiterward. the mischief Is
done the moment the fat penctrates in.
side.
All ,,n,f,,ti.- f,I.l I'll L.. ILL.,,
crisp. brown outside crust (Which has in
itself Il rclishing taStc). and is perfectly
free from even the suspicion of fat in
side. except what was Intentionally put
there by the cook. All housckccpcrs
know that To fry well their fat should be
hot. But they TO not attend 10 it hall
as ~scrupulously rs they would If they
understood the true philosophy of it.
Boiling. hubbling. hot fat cannot pcne-
trate anything. and cooks to perfection:
tcpid fl; pcnetratc> everywhere and does
not cook nj all. bat actually prevents
cooking. ANY househccpcr who reads
this. and chooses To profit by il. need
never put any greasy. fried. half-cookcd.
indigestiblc food upon her table. Tho
hotel sccrc; consists in having the fat
boiling hot before the things are put in
There is one other condition which fol-
lows naturally from this first one, but
which i almost invariably lost sight of
even by good cooks. and that is that
the fat should entirely cover the article
10 be fried. The reason of th;, j.. hat
the part not M once covered by the fat
remains cold. cooiS oil the fat hear il.
and then ab>orbs the tepid fat just the
same a. If il had never been hot. Fry
ing-pans should BE- deep. well-iillcd, and
heated 10 the boiling point, and then it
is easy 10 tara ou, fried food. crisp,
brown. and dry on the outside. and per-
fectly soft. moist. and well cooked with
in. 1t is Il peculiarly of the outside
crust of things fried in boiling fat that
the fat itself drips OF from i; rs
readily Is water; hence. well-:ried arti-
cles are neither greasy i'm appearance
nor very greasy in reality. Frying
ought 10 be- rs easy aS boiling.