Foods and Household Management Part 13

Sprinkle with sugar when served.

_Pears and apples._--When very mellow, these are delicious sliced and served with sugar and cream.

_Fruit juice._--Cut the fruit in two, and press on the gla.s.s squeezer over a cup.

Cooked Fruits

=Principles of cooking.=

The fiber, and skin when retained, are softened.

Flavors are developed at a low temperature long continued. A high temperature at the end of process, browns, and adds flavor.

Flavors retained by prevention of evaporation through covering tightly.

Bacteria and molds are destroyed.

=Adjuncts.=--Sugar. Sometimes a bit of b.u.t.ter.

Acid fruit juices, _or_

An acid jelly.

Seeded raisins, with acid fruit, as sour apples.

Nutmeg or cinnamon with some fruits.

=Cooking processes.=--Stewing and baking.

=Utensils.=--Knife and corer.

Stew pan, enamel ware, close cover.

Round or square baking pans, enamel ware, covered.

Earthenware pot, covered.

=Methods.=--If you can cook one fruit, you can cook all. Two common fruits are selected for your experiments, the apple and the prune; both are delicious, and both contain iron, the prune more than the apple.

_The apple._--A tart variety is best for cooking. The Greening and the Baldwin are excellent.

Apples are cooked whole, or as a sauce.

_Whole_, cooked with or without the skin, either stewed or baked.

For cooking whole, select those of uniform size.

For cooking whole, with the skin, select those with fair skins.

For cooking whole without skin, select firm texture, not mellow.

_An apple sauce_ may consist of slices, or may be mashed or strained, and may be either stewed or baked. Less perfect apples may be used than for baking.

_First step for all._--Wash, and examine carefully for blemishes, bruises, and insects in the interior.

=1. Whole apple baked, with skin.=

(1) Remove core.

(2) Place in pan, with enough water to barely cover the bottom of the pan.

(3) Pour sugar into the holes.

(4) A bit of b.u.t.ter may be put on the top of the sugar.

(5) Nutmeg or cinnamon may be mixed with the sugar if the apples are flat in taste.

(6) Cover the pan, and bake in a moderate oven, until the apples are tender. The length of time depends upon the quality of the apple. (See cla.s.s experiment.)

=Half apples.=--This is a modification of (1).

Cut the apples in two crosswise, and proceed as with the whole apple.

=2. Whole apples baked, without skin.=--A good method when skins are tough.

(1) Remove core and pare.

(2) Place in _earthen_ baking dish. The remainder of the process is the same.

(3) Serve in the dish in which they are baked.

(4) Currant jelly, or seeded raisins may be placed in the core holes instead of sugar.

_Cla.s.s experiment._--Bake side by side two apples of uniform size, one with, one without, the skin. Note carefully the length of time for baking each. What difference? Why is this? It may be necessary in the school kitchen to bake in a quick oven, on account of the shortness of the cla.s.s period. It does not spoil the apple to do this; but the longer process that you can use at home gives a richer color and flavor.

For this experiment, one pupil may bake the apple without the skin, and the next pupil one with the skin in case there is but one apple apiece; or it may be made a cla.s.s experiment with two apples.

=3. Whole, stewed.= (Compote.)--This is a more difficult method than method 2, and really no better.

(1) Core and pare five or six apples.

(2) Dissolve 1/2 cup sugar in 1/2 pint water in a saucepan.

(3) Place apples in the sirup. They should be barely covered.

(4) Cover closely and keep just below the boiling point, until the apples are tender.

(5) Cool slightly, remove the apples with care and place in the serving dish. Put a spoonful of jelly in each apple.