The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-11-04
The Frying PAN.

Taking as a text the fact that fifty
persons were recently poisoned by eat
ing uEvhOles0me crulIers for breakfast.
a New York paper devotes some space
90 a solemn warning against eating
fried food at all. especially for break
fast The idea that a1y considerable
part Of the population Of New York is
in the habit OF eating at breakfast
such alleged food as crulIers and
dOughnuts" is apparently horrifyiug to
this journal and its auu-dOughnut
diatribe ends with this.
'B oalt4st is a most important meal D. de-
serves Study and Thought Its first principle is
n'rEiH- tlcl; above an, ~ fried sAegt-''
II is only when something like this
poisoning incident happens that some
New York people realize that there is
any world outside the section Of society
which takes its dinner in several courses
and evening dress. There are some
thing more than three millions Of people
in that metropolis. and among these
swarmins masses there are probably "a
good many hundreds of thousands who
DO eat fried food for breakfast More
over, il is probably as wholesome for
them. when not poisoned. as hastily
cooked oatmeal or bakers bread would
DE, and neither Of these articles would
be good with the addition Of a dose Of
strycnninc. The trouble with most OF
the food In the homes Of poor people
is not that il is fried. or boiled. or
baked. but that II is not well cooked
and is of inferior quality to begin with.
There are 40 people in the world whose
cooking is SO thoroughly in accord with
hyEieUio principles as the French. and
they fry all sorts Of things. The aver
age pioneer ia this country was
brought up on fried bacon. or chicken.
. or potatoes. or douEhnuts. or beefsteak
and while Americans are proverbiaI
JysIepucs. 1t is a question whether it
is the cooking or the habit Of the eater
that is most ~ blame. When a gentle
man sits down at counter and bolts
his luncheon IN five minutes. thinking
hard about business al the time. it does
not make much difference what he eats.
so far as his digestive organs are con
/ Cerucd, a few years Of that sort Of
! treatment viii probably have an effect
OF course. il is not tu De argued that
/ the doughuut-=5 specially the variety
which comes from the bakery-is a
proper food for the American family
I at breakfast. or any other time. for the
matter of that But il is no worse than
griddle cakes. or French fried potatoes.
or certain species Of hot bread found
| on the average boarding house table
/ The chemical process known as frying
+ is. properly. the cooking Of any article
| Of food in hot lard or butter. If the
: cooking IS done quickly. and the me-
/ dunn in which the article Is placed is
/ hot, no harm can be done. but. unf0r-
I tuuately. some cooks seem To think that
/ a gentle, steaGy and Ong-continued
/ heat is the proper thing for "a frying
pan. and the result is unpleasant The
same type Of cook insists on violent
! heat In the wrong place. and tries TO do
I in ten minutes work that should take
/ two hours. What is needed in this
! country is instruction In cooking and
/ eating. not hysteriCal denunciatiOn OF
/ one article of food or another one
\ prophet arises and abuses hot bread .
! weIl-meaning and lambHke disciples