The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-10-26

CORRECT WAY TO FRY.
Facts Which All Cooks
Should Know but of
Which Few Seem
Aware.
"NET" AND DRY" METHODS.
How to Have Articles Dry and
Crisp Instead of Greasy and
soggy-Practical Hints.
WET" AND DRY" METHODS.

During the last thirty years we
nave made rapid progress in the cult
nary art, and the teachers of cookery
vino have risen among us have not
labored in vain, yet many people are
still woefully ignorant. They fry
in a certain way because they have
seen others do it that fashion, and as
the ''others" referred to went about
their work wrongly, their imitators err
also.
There are two methods of frying
known to experts, rather inelegantly
named in English "wet frying" and
dry frying" OF in French by the
terms ''sautern and ''frire." Both are
excellent when used suitably; when
improperly employed the result Is, to
say the least of it, unfortunate, and
leads TO the waste of good material.
The reason why our cooks so often
fail to fry successfully is that they
dry fry" everything, having no
notion whatever of wet frying.
To sauter, or dry fry, is to cook
food in a small quantity of hot fat,
and in a shallow pan. Omelets. pam
cakes, liver and bacon, chopped vege-
tables cut small, are samples of the
sort of food which may be correctly
cooked thus. Small pieces of meat
and fish may also be saute, and when
carefully done are very good, al
though it is open to question whether
they would not be much more salts
factory if fried in a larger pan and a
more generous proportion of fat.
When saute, articles should be in
constant motion, owing to the pan
being jerked to keep them from stick
ing, and they should be turned so
that they may be equally cooked on
both sides.
WET FRYING.
To wet fry is to lmmerse in hot fat,
and this method it is of which English
cooks are so much afraid, and which
constitutes real frying. The first
necessity for it is to have, plenty of
fat-sufficient, that is to cover the
food all over, SO that the heat shall be
conveyed to every part alike above
and below. Nor need it be supposed
that to use a quantity of fat thus is
ex~travagant. 1t is on the contrary
economical, as the fat can be used
again and again. The small quantity
of fat, that is melted in a frying pan
gets burned, and is always thrown
out. Whereas, fat properly cared for
need never be thrown out; it is strained
free from any little pieces of bread or
batter that may have got into it, is
washed when dirty, and can be con-
stantly renewed, little pieces of fat
being melted and drained into it,
thus keeping up its bulk and also its
quality; it is never allowed to burn,
because it is never left on the hot
plate a moment after it has done it's
work. People who understand frying
treat fat most respectfully, looking
upon it as a household treasure.
One reason why fried food is sup
posed to be necessarily greasy is that
lard is so much used for it. 1t cannot
be too strongly insisted upon that
lard is the very worst fat that can
be chosen for this purpose, and it is
the greasiest. Nearly all the great
masters in cookery have held this
opinion, and have also agreed in say-
ing that, for practical purposes, the
best fat procurable is the cooks per-
quisite-kitchen fat-the skimmings
of saucepans, the product of the fat
trimmings of joints melted, etc.,
which used to be universally and is
still far too frequently regarded as re-
fuse. Theoretically kitchen fat is not
the best medium for frying. Oil is the
best, and there are many clever cooks
who, using kitchen fat in a general
way. if they have any special dish to
fry, take oil for the purpose. 1t re-
quires very great care. heats quickly
and boils over quickly, so it is rather
dangerous. Besides this, in the ma
jority of kitchens where meat is used
every day it is unnecessary. If every
little piece of fat is rendered down as
it should be, and if the fat from roast.
joints is taken care of, there will be
abundance of frying material. Nor is
there any occasion to avoid a mixture
of fats. Beef, mutton, pork and veal
fat a be put together without any
disadvantage, and as a matter of fact
there is nothing better than mutton
fat for frying.
TO FRY DRY.
Much more important than one
kind of fat is it to have fat for frying
dry. There should never be any
moisture in fat used for frying, be-
cause even a few drops of water when
heated with fat make a splutter and
splash that is quite alarming, and
which may burn the person in
charge. Yet, seeing that fat has to
be washed frequently, it is not easy
to keep it dry. The best way when
it needs washing is to put it in a
large saucepan with a little water, let
it heat slowly till the fat is melted,
stir it with a wooden spoon, then
strain it through a cloth or hair sieve
into an earthenware jar. When the
fat is cold the impurities at the bot
tom should be scraped away and the
water underneath drained off. The
cleaned fat should then be replaced
in the oven to melt a second time in
order that the moisture may be effec-
tually expelled. Fat that is to be
strained should be allowed to cool a
little before pouring it through the
s%trainer; otherwise its great heat may
melt the solder of the vessel.
Not only should the fat used in fry
ing be perfectly dry, but the article to
be fried should be dry also. "Nothing
fries crisp that is wet, is a rule in fry
ing.
1t cannot be too strongly insisted
upon that for successful frying the
temperature of the fat is a matter of
supreme Importance. When fried ar
ticles come to the table broken. sod
den, uneven and notified looking, the
probability is that they have been