See first that the stove is ready (Chapter IV). Then comes the choice and study of the recipe or the method of cooking. The word "recipe" is from a Latin word meaning "take." Follow this advice and "take" or bring together on the work table whatever materials are needed. Decide upon the necessary utensils, and place them conveniently near. As you gather the materials together you will measure and weigh the exact amounts. Do this before you begin the putting together or mixing. Sometimes instead of mixing, the necessary process is paring, or sc.r.a.ping, or cutting, each with its own best way. Then follows the application of heat. Some foods are then served at once, others must be carefully put away after cooling. Or again, there is no application of heat, for instance, when the freezing temperature is used in ice cream; or in a salad, or fruit preparation where cooling in the refrigerator is the next step. The technique of preparing a meal and serving will be found in Chapter XVI.
=How to study a recipe.=--Remember that a recipe is a bit of experience handed down for us to make useful. Some one experimented at some time long ago, perhaps failed at first, tried again, finally succeeded, and pa.s.sed on the result by word of mouth to others. There were doubtless good cooks long before there were printed or written recipes. Some recipes, however, have been handed down from Roman times, and recipes were printed as early as the sixteenth century. Modern recipes are much more accurate than the old, as you may see if you have opportunity to read some old cook book.
At first in using a recipe follow its directions exactly. Notice the proportions, and read carefully the directions for combining the ingredients, noting those points that are most important. Have the whole process well in mind before you begin work. Do not let it be necessary to refer to the printed page at every move you make. This is poor technique.
When the use of a recipe is preceded by some simple experiment that makes the basic principle clear, it is much easier to use the recipe with intelligence.
When you are no longer a novice you may take liberties with a recipe, even a new one, scanning it with a critical eye, and perhaps giving it a cool welcome. It may not be new at all! For this is the secret of recipes,--there are really only a few, and the key to their use is the recognition of the old in the new garb, and the having of a few type recipes clearly in mind. Each kind of prepared dish has one, or two, or three basic forms or mixtures. Learn these, and then with experience you will become inventive, and make your own variations. For example, there are but two kinds of cake,--those made with b.u.t.ter (or other fat) and those without b.u.t.ter (the sponge cake). You will not attempt to memorize many recipes, but you will find that in studying these type recipes you have learned a few proportions so well that you cannot forget them. When you have reached this stage of freedom you will still do exact work, but your ingenuity and taste will have free play and you will not be tied to other people"s recipes. But you cannot well begin at this end.
Make some plan for recording new recipes that you test and find good. It may be a printed recipe, or one that a friend gives you. The most convenient plan is a recipe box or card file. The guide cards are arranged alphabetically, and each recipe is either pasted upon a card or written upon it. This plan makes it easy to discard an old recipe, or one that has proved unsatisfactory, and to keep new recipes in alphabetical order, which cannot be done in a book. A loose-leaf book is made for recipes, alphabetized at the side, with envelopes for holding cuttings that may be fastened in between the pages. This is a little less easy to use than the card file.
=Weighing and measuring.=--The system is "Avoirdupois," sixteen ounces to the pound. Learn to read the scales exactly, and when weighing, always allow for the weight of the utensil or paper holding the food. Weighing is more accurate than measuring, but it is slower, and the measuring can be made sufficiently accurate for most daily work. Weighing is necessary in the cookery of large pieces of meat and with poultry in order to estimate correctly the time for cooking; and it is more convenient to weigh than measure when preserving fruit if the quant.i.ties are large. Also in studying food values it is usually necessary to weigh the articles of food.
The measures in common use are the saltspoon, teaspoon, and tablespoon, the half-pint measuring cup, the pint, quart, and gallon of liquid measure. The saltspoon is not accurate, and it is better to use some fraction of a teaspoonful. Teaspoons and tablespoons of a standard volume may be found at some furnishing shops. The spoons in common use vary in size, and the only way to approximate accuracy is to use the level spoonful. This is now the common practice. Tin and gla.s.s half-pint cups are made gauged in quarters and thirds. Those commonly on sale sometimes measure more than one fourth of the standard quart. Inquire when you buy if the cup measure is standard,--that is, exactly one half standard pint.
A quart measure, with four divisions, is necessary for careful work. A pint measure is convenient, but not necessary if you have the quart and half-pint measuring cup.
It is necessary to know the relation of these different weights and measures to each other. While you may find tables of relative weight and measures in many cookbooks, it is much better for you to work out a few of the most useful for yourself, making careful record in your notebooks.
The following abbreviations are short cuts in reading and writing.
oz. = ounce lb. = pound ssp. = saltspoonful tsp. = teaspoonful tbsp. = tablespoonful cp. = cup pt. = pint qt. = quart gall. = gallon
If you wish something quicker even than this for notebook work, you can use,
t = teaspoonful T = tablespoonful C = cup P = pint Q = quart G = gallon
_Experiments in weighing and measuring._[9]
Answer these questions by performing the experiments. Record in notebook in orderly form.
_Apparatus._ Standard scales, a quart measure, and for each pupil a measuring cup, table knife, teaspoon, and tablespoon.
_Materials._ Those mentioned below.
1. How many eggs (medium size) to 1 lb.?
2. What is the weight of one egg?
3. Of one pint of flour?
4. Of one cup of flour?
5. Of one cup of granulated sugar?
6. Of one cup of powdered sugar?
7. Of one pint of milk?
8. Average the weight of six potatoes.
9. How many level teaspoonfuls of flour to a level tablespoonful?
10. How many teaspoonfuls of water to a tablespoonful?
11. How many tablespoonfuls of flour to a cup?
12. How many tablespoonfuls of water to a cup?
(These relative measures are convenient for dividing recipes.)
13. Measure a level tablespoonful of flour, by filling the spoon, holding it level, and leveling the flour by running the back of the knife quickly from the base of the bowl of the spoon to the tip.
How can you most accurately divide this in halves? In quarters?
14. How much does a cup of flaked cereal weigh?
15. How much does a cup of granular cereal weigh?
16. b.u.t.ter is hard to measure in a cup. If a recipe calls for 1/4 cup b.u.t.ter, it is easier to measure it by tablespoonfuls. Find out how many make 1/4 cup.
17. How much does a cup of b.u.t.ter weigh? If you know this, you can weigh it, instead of measuring, or if your b.u.t.ter is in pound "pats," you will be able to cut off a cupful, instead of weighing it.
18. An old-fashioned recipe for sponge cake reads thus: Take the weight of the eggs in sugar and half their weight in flour. Translate this into measures.
=Preparing and mixing.=--Food materials that are not to be mixed with others still need special preparation before heat is applied.
For fruits and vegetables, _washing_ is the first stage, followed by _sc.r.a.ping_, _paring_, _peeling_, _cutting_, or _slicing_. Meats, poultry, and fish must be cleaned by wiping, and _cut_ and _trimmed_ with a sharp knife.
Cooked meats and fish and vegetables may be _chopped_ or _sliced_.
Cooked vegetables are also _mashed_ and _beaten_.
Cream is _whipped_ or _beaten_, and eggs served raw likewise.
These seem simple processes, but each one needs a good tool and a knack in the muscles. Each method will be taken up in detail, with each food material.
_Methods of mixing_ are important, where several ingredients are combined.
We seek for a way that will give the most complete mingling of all the substances with smoothness and lightness, at the same time saving time and strength. We must look always for the "short cut." It is necessary to have the texture of the food such that it can be well masticated and mixed with the digestive fluids, but time is too precious to spend hours on a dessert, or in beating biscuits.
_Sifting_, or putting materials through a fine mesh, is used to lighten flour that has been packed down, to remove coa.r.s.e portions, or to mix thoroughly several dry ingredients.
_Stirring_ is done with a spoon, and is a round and round motion, used for mixing a liquid and a dry ingredient.
_Rubbing_ is used for combining a dry ingredient with a semi-solid substance like b.u.t.ter. _Creaming_ is a term used for the rubbing of b.u.t.ter until it becomes soft and creamy. A spoon should be used, not the hand.
"_Cutting in_" with a knife is used for combining b.u.t.ter with flour in biscuit and pastry where the b.u.t.ter should not be softened.
_Beating_ with a spoon, or beater of the spoon type, is a free over and over motion, the spoon being lifted from the mixture for the backward stroke. This is used for increasing the smoothness of the mixture after the first stirring, and for beating in air. It needs a strong free motion of the forearm. Beating is also accomplished by the rotary motion of a mechanical beater like the Dover.