Lessons V, VI, etc.
While studying vegetable food, practice will be given in nearly every lesson in the preparation and cooking of vegetables or fruit, but after the completion of this series of lessons, these foods should be prepared and cooked with more intelligence and interest. For this reason, there may be, at the last, one general practical lesson devoted to vegetables and fruit, to review and impress the facts that have been taught. As potatoes, on account of their large amount of starch, require special care, an extra lesson may be given to this vegetable.
In the lesson on potatoes the attention of the class should be directed to the following:
POINTS IN COOKING POTATOES
1. Be sure to soften the cellulose thoroughly.
2. After the potatoes are cooked, get rid of all possible moisture, that they may be white and mealy.
(1) If potatoes are cooked in water, drain them thoroughly, remove the cover, and shake over the heat to dry out the starch.
(2) If potatoes are baked, break the skins and allow the moisture to escape as steam.
3. When serving mashed potatoes, pile them lightly without smoothing.
USE OF STARCH TO THICKEN LIQUIDS
A lesson on the use of starch for thickening purposes should be given before lessons on the making of a sauce or a soup from the water in which vegetables have been cooked. The necessity of separating the starch grains should be shown by experiments.