Year: 1875




many different methods of applying
heat. The commonest, the most con-
vienent, the cheapest and quickest OF
these methods is frying, which can be
applied to almost all articles of food
which requires the least apparatus and
the smallest fire, yet Of all methods is
the least understood, the one which
DESTROYS most food, and Is the cause
of more Indigestion and dyspepsia
than all the other methods combined.
The reason of this is, that in many
substances the admixture of fat pre-
vents the chemical processes of cook
ing from having their proper develop
ment. The perfection OF frying would
be to have the food fried without
coming in contact with the the fat at
all. But as this is, of course, a self
evident impossibility, the next best
thing is TO have the food come in con
tact with the fat as little as possible.
This is accomplished simply by hav
ing the fat hot. Grease of every
description is capable of being heated
to much higher temperature than
water in fact, it can be made almost
throo times g. hot as boiling wa' :.
When fat is at its boilino roint II
is so hot that any a-''cle OF loCa'
brought in conta.' with 1t Is actually
hurr, and tbs Is precisely the reason
why fc~ purposes offrying, fat should
aIoays be boiling hot. For any
article of food, a donghnut for exam
pie, dipped into boiling fat, is imme
diately covered all over by thin
crust of burnt doughnut which pre-
vents the fat from penetrating further
in, and enables the rest OF the dough
nut to be exposed to a greater degree
OF heat that can be applied to it by any
other process, without coming into
contact with the fat, and the natural
chemical processes 90 on inside with
a greater vivacity and to a greater
degree Of perfection than can be oh
tained by any other method. Perfect
frying is the perfection Of cooking, but
so soon as the fat is not sufficiently hc;
to create the burnt crust around the
article fried, then the fat peuetrates it
and absolutely prevents cooking from
taking place at all. If the fat is not
boiling, bubbling hot, the process that
takes place is not cooking, but simply
drenching the food with a tepid fat,
and rendering it totally indigestible.
1t makes no difference how hot the
fat is made afterwards, The mischief
is done the moment the fat penetrates
inside.


All perfectly fried food has thin.
crisp, brown outside crust (which has
in itself a pleasant, reliShing TASTE J
and Is perfectly free from even the
suspicion of fat inside, except what
was Intentionally put there by the
cock. All houSekeepers know that
70 fry well their fat should be hot,
But they do not attend to it half as
scrupulously as they would if they
understood the true philosophy of it.
Boiling, bubbling, hot fat cannot pene
trate anything, and cooks to perfec
tion, tepid fat penetrateS everywhere
and does not cook at all, but actually
prevents cooking. Any housekeeper
who reads this, and chooses to profit
by it, need never put any greasy, fried,
half cooked, and indigeStible food
upon her table. The whole secret
consists in having the fat boiling hot
before the things are put in. There
Is one other condition which follows
naturally from this first one, but which
is almost invariably lost sight of even
by good cooks, and that Is that the
fat should entirely cover tAe article to
be fried. The reason of this is, that
the part not at once covered by the
fat remains cold, cools off the fat near
it, and then a6Sorbs the Ielhd fat just
the same as If it had never been hot.
Frying pans should be deep, well filed g,
and heated to the boiling point, and
then it is easy 10 turn ont fried food,
crisp, brown, and dry on the outside,
and perfectly soft, moist, and well
cooked within. 1t is popularity of
the outside crust of things lried in
boi ing fat that the fat itself drips off
from it as readily as water; hence,
well fried articles are neither greasy
in appearance nor very greasy in real
ity. Frying ought 10 be as easy a.
boiling.