The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-07-17
FOOD PREPARATIONS
AND THERMOMETERS
For Uniform, Results in
Cooking Be Exact.

prepared by the United States Department
of Agriculture)
The modern housekeeper has
learned, among other things, that 1t is
necessary to be exact In her cookery
methods to secure uniform results. She
must measure the ingredients of her
cake In the same way every time she
makes 1t, and she must regulate her
oven temperature to the same point at
each baking. Cookbooks intended to
meet requirements no longer tell her
to bake in moderate oven," leaving
her to guess just what moderate"
may mean; they say, "bake at 300 de-.
grees Fahrenheit" or "bake at 300 de-
grees to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, be-
ginning low, and raising tempera-
ture gradually" If one Is follow
ing up-to-date directions for making
candy, for deep-fat frying, for roast
ing meat, or for any kind of baking,
the recipe will undoubtedly mention
the best temperature or range of tenn
peratures for the process and mate
rails being used.
Indispensable, therefore, to accurate
cookery Is a dependable thermometer.
A single strong, well-made chemical
thermometer can be made to answer
for a number Of these purposes if it
gives readings up to about 800 degrees
Fahrenheit. Separate thermometers
are on the market for several special
cooking processes, and may be found
convenient in some cases.
The general-purpose thermometer
can be adapted to oven use by thrust
ing it through hole in the top Of the
oven and clipping it in place with a
spring clothespin. Used in this way,
it is most effective since it can be ar
ranged so as to record the tempera-
ture of the center of the oven rather
than the sides and can be read from
outside the oven without opening the
door.
A thermometer helps to roast meat
with accuracy. If it is inserted into
the piece to be cooked it's reading in
dicates TO the housekeeper when the
meat at the center of the roast is
rare" medium or "well-dOne."
In sugar cookery-represente in
the household in the making Of candy,
icings, sirups for canning, or sauces, a
thermometer is practically essential.
There is much uncertainty as to just
when a strip "spins thread" forms
a soft ball." or reaches the hard
crack" and the cook is only success
full as often as she makes lucky
guess. A thermometer which can be
dipped directly into the hot strip reg
listers the exact temperature, and as
sugar combinations are known to be-
have in certain ways when they reach
different temperatures, all doubt is
eliminated. A thermometer can also
be used to test the temperature for
deep-fat frying or for other cooking
processes at temperatures above 212
degrees Fahrenheit, where accuracy
and uniform results are important.
A thermometer is obviously required
for pasteurizing milk at home-that
is, raising the milk to a temperature
of 145 degrees Fahrenheit and hold
ing it there for 80 minutes. The
chemical thermometer is of such a
size and shape that it will go into one
Of the bottles. Butter making and
other processes often carried on in
the farm home call for the use of a
dairy thermometer, but the general
purpose thermometer will do.
In addition to all the ways in which
thermometers help by telling how hot |
foods are, one must not-forget the i'm
portant role they may play in connec-
ton with keeping food cool. 1t is only by
means of a thermometer that one can J
tell whether the refrigerator is eff
cient-i. e., maintaining fairly steady
temperature below 30 degrees Fahren-
heit. The thermometer shows beyond |
question where the coolest part of the |
icebox is, and in homes where ice is
not always used, helps the housekeeper |
to locate some part of her cellar or
outside porches where foods can be |
safely stored.