PART VIII
Devices for Preparation and Conservation of Food
CHAPTER XXVII
Pots, Pans, and Other Devices
192. Materials from Which Utensils Are Made. Since there is considerable choice in utensils made from different materials, the housekeeper may like to know something about these materials and about their care, and the effect of acids and alkalis upon them.
Russia iron is one of the older materials for pots and pans, and it still holds a place in cookery, for it makes bread, loaf cake and cooky pans, which give to the food a thin, brown crust, due, undoubtedly, to the way in which it conducts heat. (See tables on page 158.)
Tinned metal, which is well tempered, also, gives a thin, brown crust to layer cakes and pies. It makes good bread, loaf cake and cooky pans. Most of the cheap tin of today is iron-coated with very little tin. It does good work, but utensils made of it cannot be kept as well polished and as attractive in appearance as more heavily-tinned ones.
Sheet iron, heavy steel and cast iron make the most popular frying pans. The heavy iron, holding heat as it does, makes a desirable brown coating on most foods without the danger of burning experienced with frying pans of other materials. This is due to specific heat and conductivity of the metal. Sheet-iron frying pans are useful in cooking foods which are wanted on short notice. The small-sized ones are most in use.