Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-10

opaquely white.
WHY IT WAS oNE-sIDED.
'sWhy is it, said wise young miss, "that the
yolk Of the egg goes to one side?"
That looked liked q poser, but Miss Jacobs
responded:
because it is the heavier part"
"But why doesn't it stay in the middle?"
because the pan is tipped httle," said Miss
Jacobs.
'Oh," said the inquirer, with a somewhat
crushed air. She had thought she was on the
verge Of a great scientific discovery.
"Can you tell me-" said Miss Jacobs, "why
some OF the white comes up on the outside Of
the poacher?'
Here, indeed, was q hard one. The girls
looked at the egg, looked at the film in the
water outside the ring that enclosed the egg,
looked at Miss Jacobs, looked at one another.
thought over all they had studied in their nat
ural philosophy and chemistry, and gave it up,
at least all gave it up except one very practi-
because" said this pupil, ''the poacher isn't
down tight"
eyes; that is it" said Miss Jacobs.
Then all the girls laughed. They thought
the question required some very wise answer,
but now they saw it, just as another company
OF very wise people once saw it when Christie
pher Columbus made a simple experiment with
an egg.
When the class had sat as q court Of inquiry
on the egg and decided that it was cooked
enough, one Of them was deputed to take Il
from the fire and dish it.
..How will she get it," asked Miss Jacobs.
There are not many people, besides practical
housekeepers, perhaps, who would think this
presented a serious problem, but let one who
thinks it is easy go to a kitchen, poach an egg,
take it up and serve it on the table in present
al shap nd no vr,ll en- "a, 20,
learn in the process.
She will lift the saucepan" said one men,
Der Of the class.
Saucepan? Is this a spider?" said Miss
Jacobs.
Frying -pan." sang out several members of
the class. in the gleeful tone that class and
society at large always assumes when it catches
one Of its members tripping.
=. "Ihat Is right" said Miss Jacobs, "she will
lift the frying-pan."
The pupil selected for the task thereupon
lifted the pan, containing the poacher and the
Poached egg, from the stove and bore it to the
kitchen table. There, with the class crowding
around her, under the instructions of Miss
Jacobs, she raised the hinged part Of the
poacher 80 that the ring was removed from the
egg. 1t seemed then that the egg could be
slid of the fiat surface on which it rested upon
the dish ready to receive it. The neophyte
discovered, however, that the white of the egg
adhered to the metal all around. The pupil
the edges so as to remove it without breaking
This operation was almost accomplished when
an awkward movement was given to the knife
Alas! at the very moment of success the yolk
OF the egg, that looked SO round and plump
and firm. received a fatal stab from a friendly
hand. 1t seemed to melt into saffron tears and
soon was trickling in yellowish streams all over
the white. There was a chorus Of "Ohs"
when this calamity occurred. The egg, dis
ordered as it was, was transferred to a dish
nnd vr-r<h
tasted by each member OF the class in turn.
The verdict was that it was more palatable
than the steamed egg, which had been pre-
pared just before the exercise in the poaching
was begun.
TAKING NOTES.
The class then went into the adjoining room.
where there is a long table. Seated about
the table they wrote down in notebooks prac-
teal recipe for poaching eggs, each drawing
up, In her own language. directions or a descrip-
ton OF the process OF poaching. Miss Jacobs
told STAR reporter that the practice was this
year different from that of last year when re-
cipes used first to be dictated by the teacher
and written alike in all the notebooks. >Now
the teacher talks about the material to be used
and the processes to be followed in cooking, and
then there is a practical demonstration. After
that the girls write their own recipes. When
the class had finished the work in their note
books, Miss Jacobs gave a little practical talk
on digestion. This is thing that good many
cooks never think about. In conducting the
school practical teaching in chemistry as ap-
piled to the materials or the processes of cook
ing and physiology is blended with the instruc-
ton in cooking.
A MANUAL OF TEACHING.
Miss Jacobs, who is in charge of the cook
ing school attached to the Washington High
School, and Miss Slote, who has charge of the
cooking school on Capitol Hill, have prepared
a manual of teaching. which is now in use in
all the cooking schools Of the public schools.
This manual provides for three years course.
The lessons in cooking begin in the seventh
grade, and the last year Of instruction in this
branch OF knowledge is, or will be, received by
the girls in their first years attendance at the
High School. As this is the second year that
the schools have been in operation the plan
has not yet been fully carried out and High
School girls are receiving some Of them the
first and some of them the second years course
in cooking. After this year the matter will have
arranged itself. Miss Jacobs, however, is now
blending the third year with the second years
instruction OF some OF her more advanced
classes. The third year will take the pupil
into the higher reaches Of the culinary art.
From the very first, however, the pupil learns
at each lesson something that can be put into
practice at once in the kitchen. The synopsis
or plan Of instruction gives first the general
heading Of cooking, under which there is four
sub-headings: 1. Definition. 2. Purposes g.
Processes. 4. Incidental and general inform
alton respecting materials, sources, processes
of preparing and combination, care and selec-
ton Of materials. Under the head of pro-
cesses six are named: A. Boiling. B. Stewinp
@. Broiling. d. Baking. e. Frying. F. pre-
serving. Then each process 10 to be taken up,
the materials to be treated and the utensils
used to be fully explained by precept and ex-
ample.
SMALL SECTION or THE COURSE
The manual gives the course in detail For
instance, at the beginning Of the course the
teacher devotes herself to the general sub,ect
of boiling, according TO the following instruc-
tons:
1. Talk about cooking to discover what il ia.
how it effects food-materials and what il need
full for cooking.
Heat; natural and artificial,
Fuel; wood, charcoal, coal, gas.
Give directions for making a FIRE and make
one.
2. Teach boiling by means Of experiments.
(D Heat cup Of water, noting the change
in temperature from time to time. Note sim
mering and boiling.
o. Compare, by boiling, fresh and salt water
with respect to density. Experiment With eggs
and blocks of wood. DISCOVER That Il tafes
longer TO boil salt water than it does TO boil
fresh water.
(c) Put . piece Of fresh meat into boiling
water for short time. Note the result TO meat
and water. Cut the meat and note the result.
Snow the effect TO meat and water Of cold
water on meat (thib requires some time). Cut
the meat and noka tia rasulk poSl thn ,~>xor