Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-12-26
paner.Ba9 Cookery.

Paper.Bag Cookery.
Since the new system Of cooking In
paper bags has been injected into the
problem Of housekeeping with uncertain
and Indifferent servants-and often with
no such help at ALT has been proven
that 1t can do much in economizing 1000,
promoting digestion, and diminishing
kitchen fuel expenses.
This new element In domestic i'ie u
not an ordinary paper bag. II 10 pa
per bag in which food may be cooked 80
that pots and pans are unnecessary; one
that concentrates heat so that less 10 re-
auired; one which coDserves the welght,
flavor and nutritive qualities OF 1000,
and the nutritious and corrective prop
critics of vegetables.
The development Of the Soyer paper
bag has been difficult, but now botn
English and American manufacturers
supply them and it is said that domestic
bags are as good as the foreign ones ana
cheaper.
American bags come In pack
ages that cost twenty-five cents. Every
woman will want to know the number OF
bags contained in package and their
sizes. One orders bags literally by let
ter. Package A represents sixty bags
that are nine inches long by six and hall
inches in width; B holds thirty of nine
by fourteen size; c twenty that are
eleven BY nineteen inches; ID fifteen
of the largest dimensions, fifteen oy
twenty inches; and x holds the best COL
lection of all for the experimental
thirty bags of assorted sizes.
OF vital moment Is the greasing OF the
bag. 1t should be thoroughly creased
es ecially in the corners and folds, even
when fat bacon Is to be cooked, 40 the
paper is subjected to severe heat before
the bacon has time to melt. Amateurs
who have not been careful In this respect
and In modifying heat have lost their
bags and much of the contents by reason
of burned paper. This never happens
when the bag is evenly creased, no mat
ter how little butter, lard, or oil may be
used. Experience proves that one may
rapidly and thoroughly prepare the bag
| if butter, or its equivalent, has first been
warmed until soft.
The bag must always rest with the
seam upward, and the open end should
be folded more than once and have the
corners tucked in the fold to prevent
leakage.
Still another important matter con-
Germs the cleanliness of the oven. II 1t
is not clean the food will not brown we'll.
Soyer and medical experts insist that,
for hygienic reasons, an apparently clean
oven should be busted before food 10 in
troduced and this brings home to house
wives that ovens are the most neglected
objects in kitchen; cooks object to
cleaning them just as they object to
cleaning pans in which meat and biscuit
are baked. They claim that the oiliness
LETT by these articles prevents the pans
from rusting, and If any cleaning at all Is
done it is by means of greasy rag
brushed over the pan to remove dry
flakes. knowledge of this lack OF clean
illness and that grease attracts and holds
disease microbes has moved physicians
to urge that meats and pastries be al
ways cooked in paper bags.
Every housewife must remember that
under no circumstances may the bag be
laid on q solid oven surface. Not less
than an inch of space should intervene
between bag and oven floor. All gas
ovens have gratings and five or ten
cents will procure singe-bsrred iron or
cross barred wire grids, or broilers, for
other sorts of stoves. 1t IL absolutely
essential that heat should circulate
under and around the bag both to pre-
vent it from bursting and to cook the
food evenly.
| An oven thermometer will prove OF
great help to an amateur cook, Is she
can then readily regulate heat to the
Wand in course of preparation, and
thermometer is more necessary for use
with a coal or wood than with gas
range. 1t requires very little care not to
.corch the bag in too hot an oven, but
this care is necessary. II gas range Is
| used the oven ia heated eight minutes
before food is inserted and then, after an
interval of five minutes, the burners are
turned down halfway.
With fish, which is odorless and juicy
cook ed in bag, the oven should not be
as hot and only one burner Is required to
cook it.
Instead of using thermometers most
experimenters test bag in their ovens
To see how much heat 1t can stand with
out scorching sufficient to crack and
leak. This individual test sets stand
ard of the maximum heat that should be
used in that particular oven.
Meats are seasoned and placed in bag
with all the ingredients, including stuff
fling, water for gravy, and often with &C.
com paniments of peas, carrots or pota-
toes. The time of cooking meat ia de-
tsrmined by its weight and that for vege'
tables in the usual way. Asparagus ID
delicious cooked IN three or four table
spoonfuls of water for thirty-hve to
forty. five minutes, and seasoned and
buttered tomatoes are delectable baked
in twelve minutes.
Fish may be most delicious If cor
rectly cooked by this bag system. For
instance, take a flet Of any white fish
about one and a half pounds in weight.
Wash the fish and dip it in flour, sea
sonsd with pepper.and salt. Spread IL
generously with half.melted butter, and
lay it carefully in the bag. The bag, Of
course, has been we'll buttersd inside
with melted butter. Turn in the top OF
the bag carefully, double turning, and
IaSt6n IL VIII VITO paPoi-ohPo' nv
oven should have been we'll heated
gas oven needs eight or ten minutes OF
heating before the fish 10 put In. Give
it twenty minutes OF cooking and you
will f1pd il delicious.
A filst of beef one and half inches
thick will take twenty minutes to cook.
Cut it in several pieces, butter them
we'll and put In the bag with 1t the sea-
soning and handful of mushrooms or
olives and two tablespoonful OF brown
sauce or gravy made OF stock or beei
extract.
With tough chicken to cook, try II
In bag. Stuff as usual, put five spoon
fuls of butter or dripping on the breast,
and roast in the bag for about two hours
Il will be tender and sweet.
Allow twelve minutes to cook tomatoes
or mushrooms, adding seasoning and
lump of butter.
Mrs. l.. 81. Wallace, prominent
Englishwoman demonstrator of paper.
bag cookery, says that paper.bag cook
cry is still 10 ito infancy and that In time
some way will be found to cook macs.
roni and kindred pastes as successfully
as squash, potato dishes, and all varie-
a..