GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

Principles of cookery.—Clean, sweet milk is an ideal food, which requires no cooking. Heating milk to 212° F. changes its properties in some way, so that it is not considered an ideal food for babies’ regular diet. If it must be used, for reasons of safety, some uncooked food, such as orange juice, should also be given. This is the reason for pasteurizing milk instead of boiling it.

Heating milk in an open vessel causes some of the protein to harden into a thin “skin” on the top. This can be prevented by stirring the milk until it is cool.

1. To pasteurize milk.

This cannot be done accurately without a thermometer. The milk bottle should be placed upon a rack in a kettle of water, with a clean thermometer inserted through the cover of the bottle. Heat the water slowly, and watch the thermometer. When it reaches 155° F., see that the water becomes no hotter. Set the kettle on a rack on

the stove top, or use a simmering burner with rack and asbestos mat. It is difficult to keep the temperature even, but it should remain at 140-155° F. half an hour. At the end of half an hour, the bottle should be removed, and cooled as rapidly as possible in running cold water.

2. Rennet custard.

1 quart milk, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, a shake of salt, flavoring, 1 rennet tablet. The flavoring may be: 1 teaspoonful vanilla, or a few tablespoonfuls of orange juice, or the vanilla, plus three or four tablespoonfuls of cocoa to suit the taste.

To prepare.—This is a process without cooking. Rennet tablets are made from the stomach of the calf, and contain the digestive enzyme, rennin, which results in the solidifying of the curd of the milk. Rennet custard has passed the first stage of milk digestion.

Put all the flavoring substances into the milk, and warm it slightly, not more than 100° F. The cocoa when used should be “dissolved” in a small amount of hot water. Dissolve the rennet in a tablespoonful of cold water, and stir this very thoroughly into the milk. Pour the milk into the cups in which the custard will be served, and set the cups in a warm but not hot place. A good method is to place them in a pan of warm water (100° F.). The milk becomes firm in a half hour or an hour, and as soon as it is set, should be put in the ice box, otherwise the process continues and the custard becomes watery as the curd shrinks and forces out the whey. Serve very cold with fruit on the top, or whipped cream with the cocoa flavoring; or put grated nutmeg or powdered cinnamon on the top. This is a simple and delicious dessert, and one of the most wholesome. For children it should be flavored with fruit juice or vanilla rather than with cocoa.

3. Uses of sour milk.

Do not throw away any sour milk that is clean and not stale. Milk that has soured enough to set, is a delicious dessert, with cream and sugar. The acid is very pleasant, being the same as that of buttermilk. Sour milk is better for griddlecakes and muffins than sweet milk. (See Chapter XI.) Another excellent use for sour milk is to make it into cottage cheese. (See below.)

Matzoon and other similar preparations are essentially soured milks, prepared under controlled conditions. These preparations are the common form of milk in certain parts of the Orient, where milk is never used sweet.

Kumyss is milk slightly soured and fermented with one species of yeast. This is a Russian method. These preparations are excellent for invalids and exhausted people, for they can sometimes be assimilated because of the fine curds when sweet milk cannot.

Condensed milk is a practical method of preserving milk. The milk is evaporated under pressure at a high temperature in apparatus constructed for the purpose. Cane sugar or glucose is sometimes added. A new patent process condenses the milk at low temperature, preserving it for a short period, as compared with the condensed milk in tins, but it keeps well for several days, and bears transportation. Condensed milk may be used in cooking, when clean fresh milk is not available. The unsweetened kinds are most useful, but, like pasteurized milk, must be treated with care after the cans are opened.

Cheese.—Cheese is made from the curd of milk, and contains the most nutritive parts of the milk in highly concentrated form. In the process of manufacture, the milk is first curdled by rennet, and the whey strained out. The curds after preliminary treatment, varying according to the style of cheese to be made, are finally pressed together very slowly in a cheese press, which is screwed down more tightly as the cheese becomes dryer. The cheeses are then covered with cheesecloth and “ripened” slowly, the ripening process giving characteristic consistency and flavor. This ripening is due to the action of bacteria and molds. (See page [97].) Foreign varieties of cheese, made originally in some one locality, have marked colors, quality, and flavors, as Brie,

Camembert, Roquefort, and the Swiss cheeses. Parmesan is an Italian cheese, excellent with macaroni and spaghetti.

American cheeses vary in color, in strength of flavor, in creaminess, and in degree of hardness. Much the greater part is, however, of the general type known as “American cheddar” or “standard factory” cheese.

Club cheese is an American cheese of good quality, put up in small jars. It is a soft cheese, excellent to serve with crackers, but is too expensive for common use.

Cottage cheese is a home product made from sour milk, and used at once.

Composition and nutritive value.—Cheese is high in protein, and usually in fat. (See Fig. 40.) Note the small amount of water, which makes cheese a very concentrated food. The protein content makes it a meat substitute, for those with whom cheese does not disagree. Being a dense as well as concentrated form of food, it

should be eaten in small quantities, and in combination with other food materials in such a way that it will become finely divided, or it will not be easily digested. The ash content is high, the most valuable of the ash constituents of the milk being retained in the cheese.

The cost of cheese.—The foreign cheeses are expensive, but American cheeses may be classed among the moderate priced foods and they compare favorably with other protein foods.

Cheese costs more than beans, and less than most cuts of meat. A good American cheese costs about twenty-five cents per pound. Taking account of composition as well as cost per pound, we find that a given amount of money buys about twice as much food value when spent for cheese as it would if spent for beef. See Fig. 45.

Fig. 45.—100-Calorie portions of cheese. A. Fowler, Photographer.

No.KindWeight of Portion,
ounces
1.Swiss0.8
2.Cream0.9
3.American0.8
4.Roquefort1.0
5.Parmesan1.9
6.Cottage3.2

Care of cheese in the pantry.—Cheese should be kept dry and covered, that its odor may not be noticeable. Soft cheese should be kept in the ice box. The receptacle for cheese should be thoroughly sterilized before each new purchase is put away.