liquid. Stir together until smooth ; then gradually add a part of the liquid until the mixture is thin enough. In making a thickening for soups or sauces there should be four or five times as much liquid as there is flour. The Way to Add Thickening to a Boiling Liquid. If a thickening made of flour or any kind of starch and a cold liquid be poured, without stirring, into the hot liquid, it falls to the bottom of the dish, and some of it cooks in lumps before the liquid is stirred. Sauces and soups frequently are spoiled in this manner by being made too thin and lumpy. To add thickening properly, hold the bowl which contains the thickening mixture in the left hand. Put .a long-handled spoon in the boiling liquid, and begin to stir from the bottom ; then gradually pour in the thickening, stirring all the while. This will give a smooth sauce or soup. If the liquid is to be thickened with flour and butter, the treatment is different. Beat the butter to a cream, and then beat in the flour. If there be twice as much butter as flour, stir it all in at once, and continue stir- ring until it is all dissolved ; but if there be more flour than butter, gradually pour on this enough boiling liquid to make a very thin substance. Stir this into the re- mainder of the liquid. When yolks of eggs are used for thickening a soup or sauce, beat them well ; then add a gill of cold liquid to every two yolks. Stir it into the hot liquid, and stir all the time the dish is on the fire, which should never be more than a minute. About Stirring and Beating. Many dishes are spoiled because the difference between stirring and beating is not understood. WHAT ALL HOUSEKEEPERS SHOULD KNOW. 881 In stirring, the object is to combine the ingredients, or to make a substance smooth. The spoon is kept rather close to the bottom and sides of the bowl or saucepan, and is worked round and round in the mixture until the object is attained. Beating is employed for two purposes : first, to break up a substance, as in beating eggs for breading or for cus- tards ; second, for making a substance light by imprison- ing air in it. This is the case when we beat the whites of eggs, batters, cake, etc. The movement is very differ- ent from stirring. The spoon or whisk at every stroke is partially lifted from the bowl, and brings with it a por- tion of the materials that are being beaten, which carries air with it in falling back. It is not the number of strokes that makes substances light, but rather the vigor and rapidity with which the beating is done. This is the reason why so many people can say that they have better luck in making cake when they are in a hurry. It is not " luck," but the sure result of beating so rapidly that a large amount of air is imprisoned in the eggs and the .batter. This air expands in the heat, and, every- thing else being favorable, a light cake or muffin is the result. So essential is air to all forms of 'tread, cake, pastry, and many kinds of dessert, that every cook should learn how to beat in the easiest and most effectual manner. When using a spoon or whisk for beating, take long- upward strokes, the more rapid the better. The spoon should touch the bottom of the bowl each time, and the motion must be regular.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

liquid. Stir together until smooth ; then gradually add a part of the liquid until the mixture is thin enough. In making a thickening for soups or sauces there should be four or five times as much liquid as there is flour. The Way to Add Thickening to a Boiling Liquid. If a thickening made of flour or any kind of starch and a cold liquid be poured, without stirring, into the hot liquid, it falls to the bottom of the dish, and some of it cooks in lumps before the liquid is stirred. Sauces and soups frequently are spoiled in this manner by being made too thin and lumpy. To add thickening properly, hold the bowl which contains the thickening mixture in the left hand. Put .a long-handled spoon in the boiling liquid, and begin to stir from the bottom ; then gradually pour in the thickening, stirring all the while. This will give a smooth sauce or soup. If the liquid is to be thickened with flour and butter, the treatment is different. Beat the butter to a cream, and then beat in the flour. If there be twice as much butter as flour, stir it all in at once, and continue stirring until it is all dissolved ; but if there be more flour than butter, gradually pour on this enough boiling liquid to make a very thin substance. Stir this into the remainder of the liquid. When yolks of eggs are used for thickening a soup or sauce, beat them well ; then add a gill of cold liquid to every two yolks. Stir it into the hot liquid, and stir all the time the dish is on the fire, which should never be more than a minute. About Stirring and Beating. Many dishes are spoiled because the difference between stirring and beating is not understood. In stirring, the object is to combine the ingredients, or to make a substance smooth. The spoon is kept rather close to the bottom and sides of the bowl or saucepan, and is worked round and round in the mixture until the object is attained. Beating is employed for two purposes : first, to break up a substance, as in beating eggs for breading or for custards ; second, for making a substance light by imprisoning air in it. This is the case when we beat the whites of eggs, batters, cake, etc. The movement is very different from stirring. The spoon or whisk at every stroke is partially lifted from the bowl, and brings with it a portion of the materials that are being beaten, which carries air with it in falling back. It is not the number of strokes that makes substances light, but rather the vigor and rapidity with which the beating is done. This is the reason why so many people can say that they have better luck in making cake when they are in a hurry. It is not " luck," but the sure result of beating so rapidly that a large amount of air is imprisoned in the eggs and the .batter. This air expands in the heat, and, everything else being favorable, a light cake or muffin is the result. So essential is air to all forms of bread, cake, pastry, and many kinds of dessert, that every cook should learn how to beat in the easiest and most effectual manner. When using a spoon or whisk for beating, take long upward strokes, the more rapid the better. The spoon should touch the bottom of the bowl each time, and the motion must be regular.

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