DIVISION II.—WHOLE GRAINS.
Some have maintained that since man is made to live on grain, fruits, etc., and since the most perfect mastication is secured by the use of uncooked grains, it is useless, and worse than useless, to resort to cookery at all, especially the cookery of bread. I have mentioned Dr. Schlemmer and his followers already as holding this opinion. Many of these people confine themselves to the use of uncooked grains and fruits. They do not cook their beans and peas. Nor can it be denied that they enjoy thus far very good health.
Now, while I admit that man, as an individual, can get along very well in this way, I am most fully persuaded that many kinds of farinaceous food are improved by cookery. Of the potato, I have already, incidentally, spoken. But are not wheat and corn, and many other grains, as well as the potato, improved by cookery? A barrel of flour (one hundred and ninety-six pounds) will make about two hundred and seventy pounds of good dry bread. It does not appear that the bread contains more water than the grain did from which it was made. Whence, then, the increase of weight by seventy-four pounds? Is not the water—a part of it, at least—which is used in making bread, rendered solid, as water is in slacking lime; or at least so incorporated with the flour or meal as to add both to its weight, and to its nutritious properties?
Or if, in the present infancy of the science of domestic chemistry, we are not able to give a satisfactory answer to the question, is not an affirmative highly probable? Such an answer would give no countenance, I believe, to the custom of raising our bread, since the increase of weight in making unfermented cakes or loaves, is about as great as in the case of fermented ones.
One of the strongest arguments ever yet brought against bread-making is, that it relieves us from the necessity of mastication. But to this we reply, that such cakes as may be made (and such loaves even) require more mastication than the uncooked grains. Pereira, in his excellent work on Diet, endeavors to support the doctrine that cooking bursts the grains of the farinacea, so as to bring them the better within the power of the stomach. This is specious, if not sound. In any event, I think it pretty certain, that though man can do very well on raw grains, yet there is a gain by cookery which more than repays the trouble. But though baking the flour or meal into cakes or bread, is the best method of preparation, there are other methods, secondary to this, which deserve our notice. One of these I will now describe.
Section A.—Boiled Grains.
These require less mastication than those which are submitted to other processes; but they are more easy of digestion, and to some more palatable, and even more digestible.
Receipt 1.—Take good perfect wheat; wash clean, and boil till soft in pure soft water. Those who are accustomed to salt their food, use sugar, etc., will naturally salt and sweeten this.
Receipt 2.—Rye or barley may be prepared in the same way, but it is not quite so sweet.
Receipt 3.—Indian corn may be boiled, but the process requires six hours or more, even after it has soaked all night, and there has been a frequent change of the water. And with all this boiling, the skins sometimes adhere rather strongly, unless you boil with them some ashes, or other alkali.
Receipt 4.—Rice, carefully cleaned, and well boiled, is good food. Imperfectly boiled, it is apt to disorder the bowels. And so unstimulating is it, and so purely nutritious, that they who eat it exclusively, without salt or curry, or any other condiment, are apt to become constipated. Potatoes go well with it.
Receipt 5.—Chestnuts, well selected, and well boiled, are highly palatable, greatly nutritious, and easy of digestion. They are best, however, soon after they are ripe.
Receipt 6.—Boiled peas, when ripe, either whole or split, make a healthy dish. They are best, however, when they have been cooked several days. When boiled enough, drain them through a sieve, but not very dry.
Some housekeepers soak ripe peas over night, in water in which they have dissolved a little saleratus. If you boil new or unripe peas, be careful not to cook them too much.
Receipt 7.—Beans, whether ripe or green (unless in bread or pudding), are not so wholesome as peas. They lead to flatulence, acidity, and other stomach disorders. And yet, eaten in moderate quantities, when ripe, they are to the hard, healthy laborer very tolerable food. Eaten green, they are most palatable, but least healthy.
Receipt 8.—Green corn boiled is bad food. Sweet corn, cooked in this way, is the best.
Receipt 9.—Lentils are nutritious, highly so; but I know little about them practically.
Section B.—Grains, etc., in other forms. They may be baked, parched, roasted, or torrefied.
Receipt 1.—Dry slowly, with a pretty strong heat, till they become so dry and brittle as to fall readily into powder. Corn is most frequently prepared in this way for food; but this and several other grains are often torrefied for coffee. Care should be taken to avoid burning.
Receipt 2.—Roasted grains are more wholesome. It is not usual or easy to roast them properly, however, except the chestnut, as the expanded air bursts or parches them. By cutting through the skin or shell, this result may be avoided, as it often is in the case of the chestnut. To roast well, they should be laid on the hearth or an iron plate, covered with ashes, and by building a fire slowly, all burning may be prevented.
Receipt 3.—Corn and buckwheat are often parched, and they form, especially the former, a very good food. In South America, and in some semi-barbarous nations, parched corn is a favorite dish.
Receipt 4.—Green corn is often roasted in the ear. It is less wholesome, however, than when boiled. Sweet corn is the best for either purpose.
Receipt 5.—Of baking grains I have little to say, because I know little on that subject.[28]