Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1913-04-23
PAPER BAG
COOKING
Great System Perfected by M.
S0yer, Famous London Chef.
MERITS OF PAPER BAG COOKING
REVIEWED.
BY Martha MccuIIoch Williams

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
fiavors, 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 it
instantly inside another bigger bag,
to finish the cooking
Buy clips in several sizes. They are
cheap and almost everlasting. Use
them freely in fastening up the bags
they can be pulled off before the
bag is thrown away and used over
and over.
Do not be niggard as regards bags.
Often it 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 it. 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 it
touches nothing but air. This quick
heat is essential-it vaporizes the
liquids or the juices inside the bag
and makes a medium for softening
and flavoring the food fiber. But ii
the heat is too long continued, it de.
stroys the tensile strength of the bag.
makes it break of itself, and spill its
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, lush in the
hampers, then open the oven door.
and set inside upon the oven floor
shallow pan of cold water. Leave the
oven door ajar for two or three min
utes, with a strip of white paper on
the shelf beside the bag. If the paper
turns pale yellow the heat is suf-
ficiently reduced. If it 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. Keep
the door ajar until the test paper
merely yellows. Fly that time the
hampers should have done their work
sufficiently. Close the oven door.
leaving inside another strip of clean
white paper. In three minutes look
at tiff it is browning too fast, set
the door again ajar, but if merely vel.
lowing let the door stay closed.
This regulation of heat is a vital
part of the problem, but much less in
tricate than it sounds. A gas range
too hot needs to have half the fame
turned off, and what remains reduc-
ed as low as is safe.
In baking pastry and cake it is es-
sentiaI to make very tiny holes in the
upper side of the bag before they go
in the oven. The holes should be in
the highest part of the bag, but not
very close together.
Things cooked at full head Of gas
those which take five to ten minutes
should not be taken up until the gas
is extinguished, so as to avoid all risk
of burning the hands. Relighting the
stove means no more than the sacri-
fee of a match-and even half a min
Lite of gas flame will pay for many
matches.
There are no rifles in paper bag
cooking, nor in any other method of
cookery for that matter. Things that
seem too small to count make the diff
ference between success and failure
here as in the other concerns of life.
AS, for instance, a clip loosely put on
may let liquids run out, making heaps
of trouble for the cook, filling the
house with i'll doors, and half running
a dish otherwise beyond compare.