The common thickening agents are flour, corn starch,
rice flour, potato flour, arrow root, eggs ; also gelatin, sea
moss, junket for milk, and pectin of unripe fruits stiffen
liquids on cooling.
Proportions
One level tablespoon of flour will thicken one cup of
liquid for soups.
Two level tablespoons of flour will thicken one cup of
drippings or other liquid for gravies and sauces.
[ Three level tablespoons of broiuned flour will thicken one
cup of liquid for gravy.
The thickening power of corn starch is about twice that
of flour.
Four level tablespoons of corn starch will stiffen about
one pint of liquid, as in corn starch pudding.
Two good sized eggs to one pint of milk make a custard —
one egg to a cup for soft custard or baked cup custard;
three eggs to a pint of milk for a large mold custard.
One level tablespoon of granulated gelatin will stiffen
about one pint of liquid, if cooled on ice.
LEAVENING AGENTS
Doughs are made light or porous in the following ^yays :
(a) By the production (and expansion by heat) of car-
bon dioxide gas from the combination of baking
soda with some acid substance.
(b) From carbon dioxide gas produced by the growth
of yeast — a microscopic plant.
(c) From the expansion of entangled air, incorporated
in the dough by means of ( i ) beating batters ;
(2) folding thick doughs; (3) beating air into
eggs, especially the whites — then folding them
into the mixture.
(d) From the expansion of water to steam.
X LESSONS IN COOKING
Proportions
Use two level teaspoons baking powder to one cup of
flour.
Use one teaspoon less of baking powder for each egg
added after two have been used.
Use one-half teaspoon soda with one and a quarter tea-
spoon cream of tartar.
Use one-half teaspoon soda with one cup sour milk.
Use one-half teaspoon soda with one-half cup molasses.
Two teaspoons baking powder are equivalent to one-half
teaspoon soda in the above combinations.
The yeast plant grows best at 75 to 90 degrees F. It
changes sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas. Flour
contains a small proportion of sugar and during bread mak-
ing some of the starch is changed into sugar, but the yeast
begins to act more quickly if a little sugar or glucose is
added at first. Salt and fats in quantity hinder the growth
of the yeast. Low temperatures stop the growth almost
completely ; high temperatures kill the plant.
When eggs are used as leavening agents, the whites are
beaten separately, as they will hold much more air than
the yolks, and folded into the mixture the last thing, break-
ing as few air cells as possible.
When air is depended on for leavening agent, all mate-
rials are kept as cold as possible. Cold air expands more
on heating than warm air. In pastry making, heat also
melts the fat, so that the dough cannot be handled.
SHORTENING
Fats are added to doughs to make the product brittle —
friable — "short," and to enrich the mixture. The fat coun-
teracts the adhesive properties of the gluten and starch
in flour.
Pastry flours contain less gluten than bread flours and
so require less shortening.
Butter and oleomargarine contain about one-eighth water
and salt, and thus have less shortening powers than lard,
drippings, snowdrift, cottolene, etc., which contain no water.
Proportions
Two cups of flour (eight ounces) made into puff paste
requires eight ounces (one cup) of shortening.
FEOCESSEH IN COOKING xi
Page 5
Presented as published in 1912. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The common thickening agents are flour, corn starch, rice flour, potato flour, arrow root, eggs ; also gelatin, sea moss, junket for milk, and pectin of unripe fruits stiffen liquids on cooling.
Proportions
One level tablespoon of flour will thicken one cup of liquid for soups.
Two level tablespoons of flour will thicken one cup of drippings or other liquid for gravies and sauces. [ Three level tablespoons of browned flour will thicken one cup of liquid for gravy.
The thickening power of corn starch is about twice that of flour.
Four level tablespoons of corn starch will stiffen about one pint of liquid, as in corn starch pudding.
Two good sized eggs to one pint of milk make a custard — one egg to a cup for soft custard or baked cup custard; three eggs to a pint of milk for a large mold custard.
One level tablespoon of granulated gelatin will stiffen about one pint of liquid, if cooled on ice.
LEAVENING AGENTS
Doughs are made light or porous in the following ways :
(a) By the production (and expansion by heat) of carbon dioxide gas from the combination of baking soda with some acid substance.
(b) From carbon dioxide gas produced by the growth
of yeast — a microscopic plant.
(c) From the expansion of entangled air, incorporated
in the dough by means of ( i ) beating batters ; (2) folding thick doughs; (3) beating air into eggs, especially the whites — then folding them into the mixture. (d) From the expansion of water to steam.
Proportions
Use two level teaspoons baking powder to one cup of flour.
Use one teaspoon less of baking powder for each egg added after two have been used.
Use one-half teaspoon soda with one and a quarter teaspoon cream of tartar.
Use one-half teaspoon soda with one cup sour milk.
Use one-half teaspoon soda with one-half cup molasses.
Two teaspoons baking powder are equivalent to one-half teaspoon soda in the above combinations.
The yeast plant grows best at 75 to 90 degrees F. It changes sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas. Flour contains a small proportion of sugar and during bread making some of the starch is changed into sugar, but the yeast begins to act more quickly if a little sugar or glucose is added at first. Salt and fats in quantity hinder the growth of the yeast. Low temperatures stop the growth almost completely ; high temperatures kill the plant.
When eggs are used as leavening agents, the whites are beaten separately, as they will hold much more air than the yolks, and folded into the mixture the last thing, breaking as few air cells as possible.
When air is depended on for leavening agent, all materials are kept as cold as possible. Cold air expands more on heating than warm air. In pastry making, heat also melts the fat, so that the dough cannot be handled.
SHORTENING
Fats are added to doughs to make the product brittle — friable — "short," and to enrich the mixture. The fat counteracts the adhesive properties of the gluten and starch in flour.
Pastry flours contain less gluten than bread flours and so require less shortening.
Butter and oleomargarine contain about one-eighth water and salt, and thus have less shortening powers than lard, drippings, snowdrift, cottolene, etc., which contain no water.
Proportions
Two cups of flour (eight ounces) made into puff paste requires eight ounces (one cup) of shortening.
PROCESSES IN COOKING xi