Baking is of all others the cheapest and best way of dressing dinners for small families possessed of a good oven, and though generally the flavour is not considered as good as that of roasted meat, there are some dishes preferable when baked, such as pig, hare, legs 1 and loins of pork, shoulders of mutton, fillets of veal, etc. : and a baked ham is said to eat better than a boiled one. Practically the same general rules hold good regarding heat and time — i.e., high tempera- ture for the first few minutes, followed by a reduction of heat. It is almost needless to say, that for bread, cakes, buns, tarts, etc., the oven is your best means of cooking. Boiling. — Dressing food at the point of ebullition of water, or, to be technical, boiling, though a simple and convenient method of cooking, is inmost cases unthrifty, unless the object id to use the liquor in which the meat is boiled for soup L the most nourishing properties being dissolved out of the meat by the process. Still, for many reasons boiling is sometimes preferred ; and in such cases there are certain rules which must be observed. The meat should not be put into the pot until the water has boiled for five or six minutes, in order to reduce as much as possible its deteriorating action. After the meft*' has been put in, it should be allowed to boil briskly for anoth.^* five minutes,, for here, as in roasting, the meat requires a pro- MISS CAMERON'S COOKERY BOOK. 9 tecting case to keep in its nourishing juices, and this is formed by the hardening of its external portions. But this hardening process must not be carried to excess ; cold water should be added, therefore, to reduce the temperature considerably below boiling point, and the meat be allowed to simmer gently until it is ready to serve. The practice of putting meat into cold water and gradually raising it to boiling point, must be severely condemned, fumless, of course, you are making soup, and wish to extract all goodness from the meat. Meat loses about twenty-five per cent, of its weight in boiling. I may add, that when choosing meat for boiling, the following parts are best : briskets and rounds of beef, legs and neck of lamb and mutton. Turkey is more digestible boiled, and chops are often boiled for invalids, as they are lighter so cooked. The above rules are equally applicable to all vegetables, with the exception of old potatoes, which are put into cold or tepid water. Stewing. — A mode of preparing food more popular with our neighbours on the other side of the Channel than ourselves, intermediate between frying and boiling, and perhaps the most wholesome of all ways. Care must be taken not to confound stewing with boiling, by adding too much liquor, or to burn the food by adding too little, so making your dish uneatable. The regulation quantity of water is one quart to the pound of meat, but this is obviously impracticable in cooking, say, five or six pounds, and in that case, sufficient water should be added to about half cover the meat. The stew can be thinned afterwards to the consistency desired. Frying is : cooking in hot fat. There are two methods, muter (dry frying) and friter (wet frying). In the former a small quantity of fat is used, just enough to cover the bottom of the frying pan, and it should be allowed to get thoroughly hot before the meat is put into it. The meat should be frequently turned, to prevent hardening before it is cooked through. Such things as cutlets, steak, omelets, bacon, etc., "^uld be cooked in this way. For wet frying, ^\it veto * ^wpm enough fat or oil to cover the atticta to \>fc sfcoV<A. "a 10 MISS CAMEltON'S COOKERY BOOK.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Baking is of all others the cheapest and best way of dressing dinners for small families possessed of a good oven, and though generally the flavour is not considered as good as that of roasted meat, there are some dishes preferable when baked, such as pig, hare, legs and loins of pork, shoulders of mutton, fillets of veal, etc. : and a baked ham is said to eat better than a boiled one. Practically the same general rules hold good regarding heat and time — i.e., high temperature for the first few minutes, followed by a reduction of heat. It is almost needless to say, that for bread, cakes, buns, tarts, etc., the oven is your best means of cooking. Boiling. — Dressing food at the point of ebullition of water, or, to be technical, boiling, though a simple and convenient method of cooking, is in most cases unthrifty, unless the object is to use the liquor in which the meat is boiled for soup L the most nourishing properties being dissolved out of the meat by the process. Still, for many reasons boiling is sometimes preferred ; and in such cases there are certain rules which must be observed. The meat should not be put into the pot until the water has boiled for five or six minutes, in order to reduce as much as possible its deteriorating action. After the meat has been put in, it should be allowed to boil briskly for another five minutes, for here, as in roasting, the meat requires a pro- tecting case to keep in its nourishing juices, and this is formed by the hardening of its external portions. But this hardening process must not be carried to excess ; cold water should be added, therefore, to reduce the temperature considerably below boiling point, and the meat be allowed to simmer gently until it is ready to serve. The practice of putting meat into cold water and gradually raising it to boiling point, must be severely condemned, unless, of course, you are making soup, and wish to extract all goodness from the meat. Meat loses about twenty-five per cent, of its weight in boiling. I may add, that when choosing meat for boiling, the following parts are best : briskets and rounds of beef, legs and neck of lamb and mutton. Turkey is more digestible boiled, and chops are often boiled for invalids, as they are lighter so cooked. The above rules are equally applicable to all vegetables, with the exception of old potatoes, which are put into cold or tepid water. Stewing. — A mode of preparing food more popular with our neighbours on the other side of the Channel than ourselves, intermediate between frying and boiling, and perhaps the most wholesome of all ways. Care must be taken not to confound stewing with boiling, by adding too much liquor, or to burn the food by adding too little, so making your dish uneatable. The regulation quantity of water is one quart to the pound of meat, but this is obviously impracticable in cooking, say, five or six pounds, and in that case, sufficient water should be added to about half cover the meat. The stew can be thinned afterwards to the consistency desired. Frying is : cooking in hot fat. There are two methods, sauter (dry frying) and frire (wet frying). In the former a small quantity of fat is used, just enough to cover the bottom of the frying pan, and it should be allowed to get thoroughly hot before the meat is put into it. The meat should be frequently turned, to prevent hardening before it is cooked through. Such things as cutlets, steak, omelets, bacon, etc., would be cooked in this way. For wet frying, you require enough fat or oil to cover the article to be cooked.. "a

Miss Cameron's cookery book