To Boil Rice. — Put a cup of prepared rice into two quarts of boiling water and boil rapidly for fifteen or twenty minutes, drain in a sieve or colander, return to the vessel in which it was cooked, and set on the back of the range to dry off. Rice cooked and drained in this manner is very good, but is dry and tasteless in comparison with rice cooked according to the following method : Put a cup of rice into three cups of cold water slightly salted✪ Boiled Rice. Place it over a moderately brisk fire. Stir from the bottom occasionally with a wooden spoon, while the rice is swelling. After the water begins to boil briskly, and the rice to hop about, let it cook without stirring until it becomes so tender that the grains can be crushed between the fingers, then remove to a cooler part of the range and let simmer gently for a few minutes. During the time it is simmering lift the rice lightly from the bottom of the vessel by inserting a fork at the side of, and underneath, the rice. This lifting with the fork is quite important, as it aids the drying off, and, when skilfully done, leaves the grains distinct and separate. CEREALS. Preparations of the different varieties of grain are growing into popular favor so rapidly that every one should be acquainted with the best method of preparing them. Oatmeal, rolled wheat, hominy, and other cereals, when sent to table, as they generally are, in a half-raw, sloppy, or slimy condition, are not inviting articles of diet, and if eaten at all are eaten under protest and with- Boiling, 75 out relish. Yet when properly cooked and served, any- one of them will make as delicious a breakfast or supper dish as can be desired. To Cook Cereals. — Pearled wheat, pearled barley, cracked wheat, crushed wheat, rolled wheat, rolled bar- ley, rolled oats, oatmeal, avena, coarse hominy, fine hom- iny, farina, farinose, and numerous other grain products that belong in the category of cereals can be cooked very nicely in an ordinary agate ware or porcelain-lined stew-pan, if carefully watched and frequently stirred. But as much stirring, while cooking, renders cereals starchy and robs them of some of their finest flavors it is better, as well as more convenient, to cook them in a double boiler or farina kettle. Fill the outside boiler about two thirds full of boiling water, set the inside boiler or kettle in it, put the proper quantity of boiling liquid in the inside kettle, add the requisite amount of salt, and sprinkle in the grain or meal, stirring slowly until it swells or thickens enough to keep it from settling on the bottom of the kettle, then cease stirring, cover closely, and let it simmer until thoroughly cooked. All mushes thicken in cooling, and in preparing any of the cereals to be eaten cold, the proportion of liquid used should be increased about one third. Water alone can be used for cooking any of the grains or grain products; but some of them are richer and finer flavored when the liquid used in their preparation is milk and water mixed in about equal proportions. This is more especially the case with barley, rice, hominy, farina, and farinose. The quantity of salt that should be used in cooking cereals✪ Cooking Cereals depends considerably upon individual taste, but 76 The Art of Cookery. care should be taken not to use too much, and a safe general rule is to add half a teaspoonful of salt to each pint of liquid.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

To Boil Rice. — Put a cup of prepared rice into two quarts of boiling water and boil rapidly for fifteen or twenty minutes, drain in a sieve or colander, return to the vessel in which it was cooked, and set on the back of the range to dry off. Rice cooked and drained in this manner is very good, but is dry and tasteless in comparison with rice cooked according to the following method : Put a cup of rice into three cups of cold water slightly salted. Place it over a moderately brisk fire. Stir from the bottom occasionally with a wooden spoon, while the rice is swelling. After the water begins to boil briskly, and the rice to hop about, let it cook without stirring until it becomes so tender that the grains can be crushed between the fingers, then remove to a cooler part of the range and let simmer gently for a few minutes. During the time it is simmering lift the rice lightly from the bottom of the vessel by inserting a fork at the side of, and underneath, the rice. This lifting with the fork is quite important, as it aids the drying off, and, when skilfully done, leaves the grains distinct and separate. CEREALS. Preparations of the different varieties of grain are growing into popular favor so rapidly that every one should be acquainted with the best method of preparing them. Oatmeal, rolled wheat, hominy, and other cereals, when sent to table, as they generally are, in a half-raw, sloppy, or slimy condition, are not inviting articles of diet, and if eaten at all are eaten under protest and with- Boiling, 75 out relish. Yet when properly cooked and served, anyone of them will make as delicious a breakfast or supper dish as can be desired. To Cook Cereals. — Pearled wheat, pearled barley, cracked wheat, crushed wheat, rolled wheat, rolled barley, rolled oats, oatmeal, avena, coarse hominy, fine hominy, farina, farinose, and numerous other grain products that belong in the category of cereals can be cooked very nicely in an ordinary agate ware or porcelain-lined stew-pan, if carefully watched and frequently stirred. But as much stirring, while cooking, renders cereals starchy and robs them of some of their finest flavors it is better, as well as more convenient, to cook them in a double boiler or farina kettle. Fill the outside boiler about two thirds full of boiling water, set the inside boiler or kettle in it, put the proper quantity of boiling liquid in the inside kettle, add the requisite amount of salt, and sprinkle in the grain or meal, stirring slowly until it swells or thickens enough to keep it from settling on the bottom of the kettle, then cease stirring, cover closely, and let it simmer until thoroughly cooked. All mushes thicken in cooling, and in preparing any of the cereals to be eaten cold, the proportion of liquid used should be increased about one third. Water alone can be used for cooking any of the grains or grain products; but some of them are richer and finer flavored when the liquid used in their preparation is milk and water mixed in about equal proportions. This is more especially the case with barley, rice, hominy, farina, and farinose. The quantity of salt that should be used in cooking cereals depends considerably upon individual taste, but 76 The Art of Cookery. care should be taken not to use too much, and a safe general rule is to add half a teaspoonful of salt to each pint of liquid.

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