School and Home Cooking Part 97

(_f_) Caramel,--when sugar (without addition of water) liquefies when hot and becomes very hard and brittle when cold (310 degrees F.).

FUDGE

2 cupfuls sugar 1/2 cupful water or milk 1/2 cupful corn sirup 2 ounces chocolate 2 tablespoonfuls b.u.t.ter 1 teaspoonful vanilla 1/4 teaspoonful salt

Mix the sugar with the liquid. Add the chocolate and sirup. Boil _gently_ to a "soft ball" stage. Just before removing from the fire, add the b.u.t.ter. Cool, then beat the mixture until it thickens. Add the vanilla and salt and pour into a b.u.t.tered pan. Cut into squares; when cool the fudge is ready for serving.

The b.u.t.ter may be omitted.

PANOCHA

2 cupfuls light brown sugar 1/2 cupful milk 1/8 teaspoonful cream of tartar 2 tablespoonfuls b.u.t.ter or subst.i.tute 1/2 pound nuts 1/8 teaspoonful salt

Mix the sugar with the milk. Add the cream of tartar, and boil gently to a "soft ball" stage. Just before removing from the fire, add the b.u.t.ter and salt. Cool and beat until the mixture thickens. Add nuts that have been cut into pieces; pour into a b.u.t.tered pan; cut into squares. When cool, the Panocha is ready for serving.

Sour milk or cream may be subst.i.tuted for sweet milk and cream of tartar.

When sour cream is used, omit the b.u.t.ter or subst.i.tute.

b.u.t.tERSCOTCH

1/2 cupful water 3 cupfuls light brown sugar Juice of 1 lemon _or_ 1/4 cupful vinegar 2 to 4 tablespoonfuls b.u.t.ter

Mix the sugar and liquids thoroughly. Boil gently to the "crack" stage.

Add the b.u.t.ter. Pour into b.u.t.tered pans. When almost cool, cut into squares with a chopping knife. Break into pieces when cold.

The b.u.t.ter may be omitted. If this is done, add 1/8 teaspoonful of salt.

CINNAMON b.a.l.l.s

1 cupful sirup 2 cupfuls sugar 1 tablespoonful b.u.t.ter 1/8 teaspoonful salt 1 tablespoonful water 1 tablespoonful vinegar 1 tablespoonful ground cinnamon _or_ 2 drops of oil of cinnamon

Put all the ingredients except oil of cinnamon into a saucepan and boil to the crack stage. If oil of cinnamon is used for flavoring, add it to the mixture after cooking. Pour into a greased pan. When cool enough to handle, take a small portion and shape it into a ball. If the candy becomes too stiff to shape, it may be placed in an oven until it is soft enough to handle.

Oil of cinnamon produces a more pleasing flavor than ground cinnamon.

However, the former is expensive. If it is added, the use of a medicine dropper prevents its waste.

QUESTIONS

What ingredient does corn sirup contain that would make it effective in preparing creamy candy?

Explain the use of corn sirup, cream of tartar, sour milk, and vinegar in these candies. In Fudge, why is the b.u.t.ter added just before removing the candy from the fire (see _Frying and Digestion_)?

Why are not the nuts cooked in the Panocha mixture?

Why is b.u.t.ter or subst.i.tute omitted in Panocha if sour cream is subst.i.tuted for sweet milk?

If a thermometer is used for testing sirups, what precaution should be taken against breaking?

From _U. S. Department of Agriculture_, Bulletin No. 28, tabulate the percentage composition of granulated (see Figure 94), powdered, brown, and maple sugars. What is the price per pound of each?

How many cupfuls in a pound of brown sugar?

Considering the percentage of carbohydrates, and the price per pound of granulated and brown sugar, which is the cheaper?

Tabulate the percentage composition of honey, of mola.s.ses, and of maple sirup.

How much fudge, by weight, does 1 pound of sugar make?

What is the cost per pound of homemade fudge?

APPENDIX

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING

In using this text, the teacher may follow the _order_ of _presenting_ a lesson which she considers most satisfactory. She may prefer to preface processes of cooking with a discussion of foods and reasons for the steps involved in the processes, or she may consider it advisable to have the pupils do the cooking and discuss foods and methods later. In case both the so-called "theory" and practical work are undertaken in the same lesson, the time required to cook the food often determines the order of the lesson. In either case, this text may be used to advantage.

Although recipes in definitely stated form appear in the book, the teacher need not refer to them in cla.s.s, or place them upon the board previous to the lesson. She may prefer to lead the pupils to develop a recipe. The latter method is valuable in training pupils to know the proper quant.i.ty of food materials to combine for practical _recipe making_, and to know how to _subst.i.tute_ one food material for another.

The _relation_ of one recipe to another is shown in this text and should be constantly emphasized. The pupils should be made to understand that there are a few basic recipes from which many may be developed.

Much attention should be given to the _cost_ of foods. At frequent intervals, pupils should be required to compute the cost of particular dishes or of entire meals. The _buying_ of foods by the pupils is most valuable. In table service lessons, it is advisable to have the pupils not only plan and cook foods but, when possible, buy them.

In teaching _table service lessons_, the greatest care should be taken to adapt the lessons to the standard of living of the pupils. In communities where the equipment for serving foods is most meagre, a special effort should be made to make the best use of such dishes and furnis.h.i.+ngs as are found in the homes of the pupils. Serving meals in a more pleasing way with more adequate (but not elaborate) equipment should also be taught. Methods of serving without a maid meet best the needs of most pupils of the public schools.

The cooking of foods by each pupil in _family quant.i.ty_ rather than in individual amount is valuable. To do this some practical way of disposing of the cooked products must be arranged. The lunch rooms of the school may serve as the means of disposal. In case the pupils of a school cook for the lunch room, the greatest care needs to be exercised by the teacher to place the responsibility of preparing a salable product upon the pupil. Too much a.s.sistance on the part of the teacher in directing the pupils' work and in deciding when a food is sufficiently cooked or baked, may interfere in developing initiative in pupils,--one of the aims to be accomplished in education. The plan of having each pupil prepare a food for the first time in individual quant.i.ty and then later in family quant.i.ty for the lunch room has proved satisfactory in some cases.

This text furnishes material for a _year's_ work, if five lessons per week (at least ninety minutes in length) are given; or for _two years'_ work, if the curriculum provides for but two or three lessons per week. If it is necessary to arrange a shorter course, certain lessons may be omitted or a.s.signed for home work, or lessons may be combined.

If the teacher wishes to _correlate_ food study with some other subject such as general science, or physiology, chemistry, or physics, the time may be extended, or the order of work may be changed to fit the particular requirements. Because many of the lessons of the first eight divisions treat of the uses of the foods in the body, they are especially good for correlation with physiology. The remaining lessons, many of which emphasize food composition, may be correlated to advantage with chemistry.

If for any reason an entire semester's work is to be devoted to table service, including the planning, buying, cooking, and serving of foods and determining the cost and computing the calorific value of the foods, the material found in _Related Work_--the lessons placed at the end of each division--will be found adequate for such a course.

BOOKS FOR REFERENCE

_Bevier and Van Meter_: Selection and Preparation of Food.

_Brechner_: Household Physics.

_Brownlee and Others_: Chemistry of Common Things.

_Buchanan_: Household Bacteriology.

_Child Health Organization of America_: Pamphlets.

_Cooley and Others_: Teaching Home Economics.

_Conn_: Bacteria, Yeasts, and Molds in the Home.

_Department of Household Science, University of Illinois_: Principles of Jelly-Making (Bulletin).

_Farmer_: Food and Cookery for the Sick and the Convalescent.

_Farmer_: The Boston Cooking School Cook Book.

_Hill_: Cooking for Two.