The Kitchen Encyclopedia Part 4

A Fireless Cooker Saves Irritation and Worry

For by this method of cooking the housewife knows that the food cannot burn or overcook.

A Fireless Cooker Adds to the Intellectual Expansion and the Pleasures of the Family

Because it gives the mother time from her kitchen to oversee the development of her children, and to share with them and their father their pleasures and interests.

To the Wage-earning Woman

the fireless cooker is a positive G.o.dsend. She can put food into the cooker before going to work, and return to find her meal all ready.

If the Housewife Lives in the City

and has to serve dinner at night all the preliminary cooking can be done at noon, and the meal placed in the fireless cooker till evening.

To the Bachelor Girl

who lives by means of a kitchenette, and must do her cooking in what is at once parlor, bedroom and kitchen, what a blessing is the absence of heat and odors that the fireless cooker a.s.sures.

In Conclusion

we quote from a bulletin published by the University of Illinois, in which a study is made of the methods of roasting and cooking meats. The authors found that there was no advantage in cooking meat in a very hot oven (385 degrees Fahrenheit), but rather a difficulty to keep it from burning; that in an oven which was about 350 degrees Fahrenheit the meat cooked better; and that in an Aladdin oven, which kept the meat at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, it cooked best of all--that is, it was of more uniform character all through, more juicy and more highly flavored.

These findings point to an advantage in fireless cooking, and Miss Mitch.e.l.l a.s.serts that practical experience bears it out. With regard to meats cooked in water in the cooker, Miss Mitch.e.l.l a.s.serts that experience has shown that they become well done and are more tender than when boiled, showing that the temperatures necessary to reach that degree of cooking are obtained even in the center of a large piece of meat, without toughening or hardening the outside of the meat, as is done when more intense heat is applied.

Recipes

The following recipes are for the cheaper cuts of meat exclusively, and employ one or another of the preceding methods. Note that in all the recipes the two general rules for tender and juicy meat are observed.

The outside of the meat is first quickly seared over to prevent the escape of the juices, and after the first five minutes the heat is reduced so as not to harden the alb.u.men. Boiled or frica.s.seed meats should cook slowly. If meat is boiled at a gallop the connective tissue is destroyed, the meat falls from the bones in strings, and is hard and leathery.

For stews, meat en ca.s.serole, or in any fas.h.i.+on where water is used in the cooking, select the round (5), either upper or under. For boiling, the clod (9) or the round (5) or the extreme lower piece of (3). For rolled steak, mock fillet, steak a la Flamande, or beefsteak pie, the flank steak (7) is best. For cheap stews use (10). For beef a la mode, in a large family use a thick slice of the round (5), for a small family the clod (9). For soup, use the s.h.i.+n or leg. For beef tea, mince meat, and beef loaf, the neck is best. The chuck (1) is used only for roasting or baking, and is good value only for a large family. (2) and (3) are the standing ribs and carve to the best advantage. The aitch or pin bone (in 3) is a desirable roast for a large family. (3) is the loin, the choicest part of the animal. From it come the fillet or tenderloin, the sirloin, and the porterhouse steaks. (4) is the rump, from which come good steaks for broiling.

Beef Cannelon with Tomato Sauce

(One of the nicest and easiest of the cheap dishes)

Use Flank Steak (7)

1 pound uncooked beef chopped fine 1 cupful cold boiled potatoes 1 teaspoonful salt 1 egg unbeaten 1/4 teaspoonful white pepper 1/2 cupful Swift's beef extract 1 tablespoonful Swift's Premium Oleomargarine

Mix together beef, potatoes, salt, and pepper, and stir in egg last.

Form into a roll 6 inches long. Roll this in a piece of white paper which has been oiled on both sides. Place in a baking-pan and add the beef extract and the oleomargarine. Bake half an hour, basting twice over the paper.

{Footer: Swift's Premium Oleomargarine reduces the cost of good living.}

To serve beef cannelon, remove the paper, place the roll on the platter, and pour over it

Tomato Sauce

1 tablespoonful Swift's Premium Oleomargarine 1 cupful strained tomatoes 1 teaspoonful onion juice 1 tablespoonful flour 1/4 teaspoonful white pepper 1 bay-leaf

Add onion, bay leaf, salt and pepper to tomatoes. Rub the oleomargarine and flour together and place in inner kettle of oatmeal cooker, set over the fire, add the tomato, and stir until it boils. Then place the kettle over hot water in the lower half of the oatmeal cooker, and cook so for ten minutes, when it is ready to serve.

Spanish Minced Beef in Meat Box

(Very pretty and palatable)

Use any of the cheaper cuts.

The Filling

1 tablespoonful Swift's Premium Oleomargarine 1 onion chopped fine 6 sweet peppers cut in strips 4 tomatoes peeled, cut in halves and seeds squeezed out 1/2 teaspoonful salt

Make the filling first. Put the oleomargarine in upper half of an oatmeal kettle, add onion and peppers, and simmer gently for twenty minutes.

Then add the tomato halves cut into three or four pieces each and cook twenty minutes longer. Then add salt and pepper and set over hot water in lower half of kettle to keep hot till wanted. Now make the

Meat Box

2 pounds uncooked beef chopped fine 1 egg unbeaten 1 teaspoonful salt 1/4 teaspoonful pepper

Work all well together. Form into a box whose sides are about an inch thick. Place this box on a piece of oiled paper in the bottom of a baking-pan and bake in a quick oven for thirty minutes, basting twice with melted oleomargarine.

To serve, lift box carefully, and place on platter and pour the filling into the center, and send at once to the table.

{Footer: Swift's Premium Oleomargarine is a delicious, wholesome spread for bread.}

Beef a la Mode

Use Clod (9) or Under Round (5)

The day before the beef is to be served rub it all over with the following, well mixed together:--

1/2 teaspoonful ground cloves 1 teaspoonful ground ginger 1/2 teaspoonful ground allspice 1/2 teaspoonful ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoonful white pepper

Then sprinkle the beef with about two tablespoonfuls vinegar and let stand overnight. Next day put in the bottom of the roasting pan:--

1 cupful small white b.u.t.ton onions (chopped onion will do) 1 cupful carrot cut in dice 1/2 teaspoonful celery-seed 1 bay-leaf 4 cupfuls Swift's beef extract or of stock 2 tablespoonfuls gelatine that has been soaked in cold water for half an hour