The Tupelo journal., 1906-05-18


BY ETA BowsEY sCHLOENBACH.
Baking and roasting are not identi-
cal.
Roasting Is done before the fre and
baking is lone In the oven.
The ordinary household has not the
necessary equipment for roasting. The
modern housekeeper has introduced a
modified form Of this method OF cook
ing: She subjects the article to be
roasted to an intense dry heat. While
this does very well it hardly imparts
the same flavor as does roasting before
an open fire.
AS much care and attention should
be given to the baking of an article
as to its preparation. 1t is nearly USE
less to give any fixed rules for different
ovens. In these days the stoves and
the fuel used are so varied in form
that each housekeeper should under
stand perfectly her own oven. Expert
ence is the best teacher; let each wom-
an test and experiment with her partic-
ular stove until she has a perfect under
standing of it. She should be able to
tell by the puffs of air which come from
the oven when the door Is opened
whether 1t is moderate, hot or very
hot.
The heat in an oven should be even.
If it is not, and the article to be baked
is supposed to rise" after going into
| the oven, it will bake unevenly and
| one side will be heavy. If it happens
to be meat, one side will be cooked
| rare while the other side will be dry.
A piece Of asbestos paper is a very
| convenient thing to have in any house.
Should there be a draught or too much
| heat at one side of the oven the asbes-
| tos sheet can be used. Should there
be too much heat at the top and the
| bread or cake Is browning too rapidly.
q piece Of the paper should be laid on
the shelf above. 1t is a good plan to
| place a pan of hot water on the bot
tom of the oven if a slow, moist heat
is required.
All meat should be wiped with a
clean, damp cloth; sprinkled gener-
| ously with salt and dredged with flour,
then placed in a pan, which has been
made very hot, and quickly scared. The
| salt draws out the juices of the meat,
but the -four absorbs them and when
| tns meat is scared the albumen in the
juices hardens and forms, with the
| -four, a crust or casing. The meat
| should not be pierced with a fork while
| baking, as this allows the juices to
escape.
The oven should be very hot at first
and the heat gradually reduced. All
meat should be basted often; if no wa
ter has been used, then in its own
Juices.
All dark meat should be cooked rare;
white meat must be we'll done, but not
dry. To prevent this the meat can be
larded and basted often. Long. slow
| cooking breaks down the fiber of the
meat and renders it tender and juicy.
| The cheaper cuts of meat can be treat
ed in this way and made tempting
and delicious. Below l give a recipe to
illustrate this, also a time table for
boiling and baking.
Batters are thin mixtures of flour
and liquid, in the proportion of one
scant measure of liquid to one heaping
measure of -four. They are made light
| ly, mixing in air or gas and subjecting
| to quick heat before the air escapes.
| Air at 70 degrees expands to three
| times it's volume when exposed to the
| temperature Of a hot oven. AS the
| air expands the mixture rises and be-
comes light.
Batters are made light either by
heating air thoroughly into them: by
the addition of eggs beaten light; by
the use of baking powder or by the
| gas obtained by the union of an alkali
such as soda, with an acid such as soul
milk.
The oven should be hot for batters
and everything should be in readiness
to bake at once before the gases es-
cape. II the oven is too hot, however,
the sudden expansion causes the bub-
bles to burst and we have a heavy
| mixture as the result.
The general rules for the tempera-
ture of the oven are as follows:
Rolls, biscuit, breakfast cakes, puff
paste, game and small pieces of meat
require a very hot oven.
Large pieces of meat, poultry, etc.,
require a very hot wen at first. In
about ten minutes check the fire.
Bread, pastry and fish require a hot
oven; cakes, ginger bread, buildings,
ETC., a moderate oven.
Things which are to rise in the oven
| require heat from underneath to help
in the rising. II the oven is too hot
on top a crust will form and check the
rising.
The old idea Of shutting a cake up in
the oven and never looking at it has
long been done away with. 1t is much
better to see how things are baking
than to wait and find them beyond
help. Form the habit of watching care
fully, looking quickly and closing the
oven door gently.
Time table for boiling:
Eggs, coffee, CLANS oysters-three to
Eve minutes.
Green corn, rice, tomatoes, peas, as
paragus-15 to 90 minutes.
Potatoes, squash. spinach, macaroni
20 to 80 minutes.
| Crime hoouc-AE IN en- mipI1foc