The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1912-06-27
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MERITS OF PAPER BAG COOKING
REVIEWED.
BY Martha Mcculloch williams.

BY Martha Mcculloch Wiiliams.
In this Anal paper on my expert
ences with M. soyer's paper bag cook |
cry, 1t may be we'll to sum up briefly |
its claims and its performances.
In the claims, item one, economy.
more than vital in the present state
of finance high and low.
Item two, nutrition; things cooked
In paper bags certainly set better
upon the stomach and return more
strength Of mind and body than the
same things cooked outside it.
> Item three, prevention-the proven.
ton of ptomaine and other obscure
poisons, bred betwixt food and air.
Not the widest microbe of them all
can survive baking in the Overland
after the baking the bag is thrown
away.
Item four, increase and lettering of
favors, which means increase and
lettering of food itself.
Item five, the making tender Of
tough, hence indigestible fiber, as in
round steak, old fowls and such like
things.
Item six, prevention Of smells-an
advantage SO apparent as to require
no more than bare mention.
Item seven, the browning mercy,
the abolition of scrubbing out pots and
pans.
A fine array truly. But not the
whole tale of benefits. The whole
might be tedious. Any way, IN the
little remnant of allotted space, other
things press to be spoken.
Words of caution, for example. In
cooking in paper bags mind, not your
p's and as, but the simple directions
for use. Namely, to grease the bags
we'll, not to overfill them, to fold
over the open end three times and
fasten the fold with wire clips, to lay
the filled bag always seam side up,
and if by chance it breaks, to put 1t
instantly inside another bigger bag,
to fiaish the cooking. ,.r.
Buy clips in several sizes. They are
cheap and almost everlasting. Use
them freely in fastening up the bags
they can be pulled on before the
bag is thrown away and used over
and over.
Do not be niggard as regards bags.
Often 1t is better to use two or three
small ones than a single one of medi-
UNI or large size.
Coal and wood ranges are not so
we'll adapted to paper bag cooking as
gas ranges. Still, bag cooking can be
done with any kind Of heat-the
knack lies in the regulation of 1t. The
theory of paper bag cooking Is this:
A cold bag put into a hot stove gets
warm very quickly throughout, and
the paper of it crisps wherever 1t
touches nothing but air. This quick
heat is essential-it ,vaporizes the
liquids or the juices inside the bag,
and makes medium for softening
and flavoring the food fiber. But If
the heat is too long continued, it de-
stroys the tensile strength of the bag.
makes 1t break of itself, and spill it's
contents. Hence, the importance of
lowering the heat, and quickly, before
this destruction is accomplished.
There are several ways of doing
this. They may be used in combina.
ton or separately. First, push in the
hampers, then open the oven door
and set inside upon the oven floor a
shallow pan of cold water. Leave the
oven door ajar for two or three min
utes, with strip of white paper on
the shelf beside tho bag. If the paper
turns pale yellow the heat is sui
f1ciently reduced. If 1t turns brown
very quickly. set the door wide, take
out the water pan and refill after
emptying, with fresh cold water, then
set again upon the oven floor. KeeI
the door ajar until the test paper
merely yellows. Ey that time the
hampers should have done their work
sufficiently. Close the oven door
leaving inside another strip Of clear
white paper. In three minutes lool
at tiff it is browning too fast, SCI
the door again ajar, but If merely vel
lowing let the door stay closed.
This regulation of heat is a vita
part Of the problem, but much less in
tricate than 1t sounds A gas range
M orr