School and Home Cooking Part 56

QUESTIONS

Why is chicken more readily digested than other meat?

What is the reason for cooking stewed chicken 15 minutes in _boiling_ water? Why is the salt not added at first? Why should the chicken finally be cooked at simmering temperature rather than at boiling?

What use can be made of the fat of a fowl?

What is the purpose of the eggs in Sauce for Chicken?

Explain fully why rice or toast makes a desirable addition to Stewed Chicken.

LESSON CI

CHICKEN AND PEAS

CHICKEN CROQUETTES

2 1/2 cupfuls chopped chicken or fowl Onion juice 2 tablespoonfuls lemon juice 1 tablespoonful parsley

SAUCE

1 pint cream or milk 1/3 cupful fat 1/2 cupful flour 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls salt 1/8 teaspoonful pepper 1 teaspoonful celery salt

Chop the chicken very fine; add the seasonings. Make the sauce (see _Cream Toast_). Add the chicken to the sauce. Cool the mixture. Shape into cones. Cover with dried bread crumbs and egg, and cook in deep fat (see _Fried Oysters_). Drain on paper. Serve at once with green peas.

An egg may be beaten and added to the sauce, before mixing it with the meat.

QUESTIONS

What is the purpose of cooling the chicken mixture before shaping it into croquettes (see Experiment 17)?

How many croquettes does this recipe make?

How many cupfuls of chopped meat can be obtained from fowl of average weight?

What is the average weight of a chicken one year old? How long does it take to cook it?

What is the average weight of a spring chicken?

What is the present market price of spring chicken? Of fowl?

Compare the composition of fowl with that of round steak, using _U. S.

Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 28_. Also record the percentage of refuse in a fowl when it is purchased. Considering the refuse in fowl, what is the price per pound?

Tabulate the percentage composition of fresh and dried peas and beans, and of dried lentils. Which are richer in protein, the fresh or the dried vegetables (see Figure 76)?

LESSON CII

OYSTER DISHES

EXPERIMENT 63. PROTEIN IN OYSTER LIQUOR.--Pour a small quant.i.ty of oyster liquor into a test tube and boil it. What change takes place? From your previous experience with eggs, what foodstuff would you infer that oysters contain? What inference can you draw from this as to the temperature at which oysters should be cooked?

OYSTERS.--An oyster is an animal covered with sh.e.l.l. The sh.e.l.l, which consists of mineral matter, protects the animal.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 74--COMPOSITION OF FISH, FISH PRODUCTS AND OYSTERS (Revised edition)]

The oyster has no head, arms, or legs, but it has a mouth, liver, gills, and one strong muscle. The mouth is near the hinge-end of the sh.e.l.l; by means of the hinge, the sh.e.l.l is opened and water and food taken in; by means of the muscle, the sh.e.l.l is closed. (Find the muscle in an oyster; then the dark spot,--this is the liver; also find the fluted portions that partly surround the liver,--these are the gills.)

Oysters are in season from September until May. They are sometimes eaten during the summer months, but are not so palatable and are more apt to be contaminated by the bacteria of warm water. The bluish green color of some oysters is due to the oyster's feeding upon vegetable materials. This does not harm the flavor of the oyster.

Oysters are sometimes placed in fresh water streams or in water which is less salt than that in which they have grown to "fatten them." The animals take in the fresh water, become plump, and increase in weight. If the water is sewage-polluted, the oysters become contaminated with dangerous bacteria. Methods of cooking usually applied to oysters, such as stewing and boiling, may not destroy all bacteria. Hence, the danger in eating oysters taken from polluted water.

When oysters are prepared for market, they are sorted according to size.

Blue points, or small oysters originally grown in Blue Point, are prized for serving raw in the half sh.e.l.l. This name, however, no longer indicates the place from which the oysters come, but is applied to small oysters in the sh.e.l.l. Large oysters selected for frying may be purchased. Oysters are found at markets either in the sh.e.l.l or with the sh.e.l.l removed.

Since oysters spoil readily, they must be kept cold during transportation.

They are now s.h.i.+pped in containers surrounded by ice. Formerly ice was placed in contact with the oysters.

Note the percentage composition of oysters (see Figure 74). With such a large quant.i.ty of water, the oyster has little food value. Oysters are prized for their flavor, but make an expensive food. Cooking makes oysters somewhat tough, but it sterilizes them and makes them safer to use. It is considered that oysters properly cooked are easily digested. They should be eaten when very fresh. They spoil quickly and develop poisonous products.

CLEANING OYSTERS.--Drain off the liquor. If the liquor is to be used, strain it through a fine strainer. Place the oysters in a strainer or colander, and wash them. Do not allow oysters to stand in water after was.h.i.+ng. Run each oyster through the fingers to remove pieces of sh.e.l.l that may be clinging to it.

OYSTER STEW

1 cupful milk 1 pint oysters 1 tablespoonful b.u.t.ter Salt and pepper

Heat the milk in a double boiler; add the seasonings and b.u.t.ter. Clean the oysters; cook them in a saucepan until they become plump and the edges curl. Add the hot milk and serve at once.

The milk may be thickened with 1 tablespoonful of flour (see recipe for _Thin White Sauce_).

Serve crackers or bread with Oyster Stew.

SCALLOPED OYSTERS

1 pint oysters 1/2 teaspoonful salt 3 cupfuls soft bread crumbs 3 tablespoonfuls b.u.t.ter or subst.i.tute 1/4 cupful oyster juice or milk Cayenne

Wash the oysters, strain the juice, and b.u.t.ter the crumbs. Add the seasoning to the oysters. Place one fourth of the b.u.t.tered crumbs in the bottom of a b.u.t.tered baking-dish. Add one half of the oysters, another fourth of the crumbs, then the remainder of the oysters, the liquid, and finally the remaining half of the b.u.t.tered crumbs. Bake in a moderate oven from 30 to 40 minutes.

If baked in individual baking-dishes, only 15 minutes will be required for baking.