is also a most important factor in the preparation of
food ; honey, ices, custards, salads, butter, gelatine
dishes and many others being only fit to eat when cold.
WATER
or some other liquid, in connection with heat, is neces-
sary in the many forms of cookery. Grains, dried fruit,
and foods which have parted with nearly all their moist-
ure in the ripening or drying process, need the addition
of a large quantity of water in cooking to soften and
swell the gluten and starch before they are fit for the
table.
AIR,
or the free action of oxygen upon our food while cooking,
1 6 THE PA TTERN CO OK- B O 0K\
develops certain flavors not otherwise obtainable ; thus.
meat roasted or broiled has a much finer flavor than
when boiled or fried. Food cooked before the fire or in
the open air (as "camping-out" parties can testify)
shows the advantages of this combined action of heat and
air. Drying in the sun was one of the earliest modes of
cookery. Then came roasting before the fire or broiling
over the coals, and baking in hot ashes ; this last was the
primitive oven. As the art of making kitchen utensils
developed, other modes were adopted. Then to encono-
mize heat, ovens were invented. The oven originally con-
sisted of a covered dish set over or near the fire, having
sometimes a double cover filled with coals. Afterwards
stoves, which kept the fire and heat in a limited space,
were introduced ; and so extensive are the improvements
in them, that we now have conveniences with them for
doing all forms of cooking with w^ood, coal, oil or gas.
THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD.
" Now, good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both."
Shakspere.
Why we eat, what to eat, and when to eat it, are
questions which all should be able to answer. That a
man may eat his fill and yet be hungry is a well-known
fact. What then is the reason ? It is certainly not the
quantity but the quality of food which satisfies ; and
often, indeed, it not only happens that what is one man's
meat is another's poison, but it is also true that what
is food at one season of the year or time of life, or
in one climate, may be poison at another season or
age or in another climate. Dwellers in the tropics
thrive on fruits upon which the inhabitants of the frigid
zone would starve, while the blubber and oil that com-
pletely nourish the Icelander would be fatal if eaten
under the Equatorial sun. Even the same person
requires fruit in the tropics and fat and oils in the frozen
zones. The child requires food made up of different ele-
ments from that needed by the adult, and the food of a
laborer in the field must differ from that of the student,
who takes little exercise, and whose strain of life is
heavy on the nervous system.
17
1 8 THE PA TTERN COOK-BOOK.
Page 3
Presented as published in 1890. 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
is also a most important factor in the preparation of food ; honey, ices, custards, salads, butter, gelatine dishes and many others being only fit to eat when cold.
WATER
or some other liquid, in connection with heat, is necessary in the many forms of cookery. Grains, dried fruit, and foods which have parted with nearly all their moisture in the ripening or drying process, need the addition of a large quantity of water in cooking to soften and swell the gluten and starch before they are fit for the table.
AIR,
or the free action of oxygen upon our food while cooking,
develops certain flavors not otherwise obtainable ; thus. meat roasted or broiled has a much finer flavor than when boiled or fried. Food cooked before the fire or in the open air (as "camping-out" parties can testify) shows the advantages of this combined action of heat and air. Drying in the sun was one of the earliest modes of cookery. Then came roasting before the fire or broiling over the coals, and baking in hot ashes ; this last was the primitive oven. As the art of making kitchen utensils developed, other modes were adopted. Then to economize heat, ovens were invented. The oven originally consisted of a covered dish set over or near the fire, having sometimes a double cover filled with coals. Afterwards stoves, which kept the fire and heat in a limited space, were introduced ; and so extensive are the improvements in them, that we now have conveniences with them for doing all forms of cooking with wood, coal, oil or gas.
" Now, good digestion wait on appetite, And health on both."
Shakespeare.
Why we eat, what to eat, and when to eat it, are questions which all should be able to answer. That a man may eat his fill and yet be hungry is a well-known fact. What then is the reason ? It is certainly not the quantity but the quality of food which satisfies ; and often, indeed, it not only happens that what is one man's meat is another's poison, but it is also true that what is food at one season of the year or time of life, or in one climate, may be poison at another season or age or in another climate. Dwellers in the tropics thrive on fruits upon which the inhabitants of the frigid zone would starve, while the blubber and oil that completely nourish the Icelander would be fatal if eaten under the Equatorial sun. Even the same person requires fruit in the tropics and fat and oils in the frozen zones. The child requires food made up of different elements from that needed by the adult, and the food of a laborer in the field must differ from that of the student, who takes little exercise, and whose strain of life is heavy on the nervous system.