School and Home Cooking Part 31

Cut stale bread into slices, remove the crusts, and spread with b.u.t.ter.

Cut into strips and brown slowly in the oven. Save the crusts and prepare Dried Bread Crumbs with them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 42.--DRIED BREAD CRUMBS. (Note that the jar is covered with a cloth.)]

DRIED BREAD CRUMBS

Dried Bread Crumbs may be prepared from crusts and small pieces of bread.

Dry the bread in a slow oven or in a warming oven. Crumb it by rolling on a pastry board or putting it through a meat grinder. If fine crumbs are desired, sift the crushed bread. Place the fine and coa.r.s.e crumbs in separate jars. Cover the jars by tying a piece of muslin over each. (The muslin covering can also be conveniently secured by means of a rubber band.) If each jar is tightly covered with a lid, air is excluded from the crumbs and molds often grow on them. Bread crumbs thoroughly dried and stored as directed will keep for several months (see Figure 42).

QUESTIONS

Explain why thick soup may serve as a valuable part of a meal.

Why is it served as the first course of a meal?

Is the mashed potato of Potato Soup strained before or after adding it to the other ingredients? When is the Corn Soup strained? How is the flavor extracted from the onion in preparing Potato Soup? How is the flavor extracted for Corn Soup? From this explain the difference in straining the soups.

If fresh corn were used for this soup, how would its cooking differ from that of canned corn?

How should fresh corn be cut from the cob for soup (see _Green Corn_)?

What is the price per can of corn?

In preparing Soup Sticks, why are the crusts removed from the bread before b.u.t.tering it? Why is the bread spread with b.u.t.ter before cutting it into strips? Aside from flavor, what is the purpose of spreading the bread for Soup Sticks with b.u.t.ter?

How should dried bread crumbs be covered for storing? Why?

What is the difference between soft bread crumbs (see note under recipe for Stuffed Tomatoes) and dried bread crumbs? Which should be used for scalloped dishes? Which for covering fried foods? Think of the dishes which contain bread crumbs and then state for which foods either kind of crumbs could be used. Explain.

LESSON LI

MILK THICKENED WITH EGG (A)

CUSTARDS.--Since eggs have the property of stiffening when heated, they are often used for thickening liquids, especially milk. Milk thickened with eggs is called _custard_.

There are two kinds of plain custards: (_a_) steamed or baked custard and (_b_) soft custard. The method of mixing these custards is the same, but the methods of cooking and the tests for sufficient cooking differ.

That the milk may not scorch and that the egg may not cook too hard, all milk-and-egg mixtures should be cooked below the boiling temperature of water. They should never be cooked directly over the fire, but over hot water or in a double boiler. That the egg may cook evenly and not too quickly, the water in the double boiler _should not boil rapidly_.

If a custard is properly cooked, the egg is in a soft-cooked condition. It exists in a jelly-like ma.s.s throughout the milk. The custard has a creamy appearance. If, however, a custard is cooked too much, the egg becomes hard-cooked and the particles of egg appear in "lumps" in the milk mixture. The custard is then said to be _curdled_.

A curdled custard may be made smooth by placing the upper part of the double boiler in a pan of cold water and then beating the custard _at once_ with a Dover egg beater. This applies to all types of plain custards.

STEAMED OR BAKED CUSTARD

1 pint milk 2 or 3 eggs 1/4 cupful sugar 1/8 teaspoonful salt 2 tablespoonfuls caramel sirup _or_ 1/16 teaspoonful nutmeg

Scald the milk in a double boiler. Beat the eggs _slightly_, add the sugar and salt, mix. Add the hot milk to this mixture. Strain the mixture, flavor, and pour it into a mold. If _steamed custard_ is desired, steam (without stirring) until the custard is firm. Let the water in the steamer boil gently rather than vigorously. Test for sufficient cooking by inserting a knife into the custard. If it comes out clean, the custard is done.

If _baked custard_ is desired, place the cups of custard in a pan of hot water, and bake in a moderate oven (325 degrees F.) for 35 minutes or until firm. Test as steamed custard.

If a Baked or Steamed Custard is to be turned out of the mold after steaming, 3 or 4 eggs should be used with each pint of milk. By placing a little Caramel Sirup in the bottom of each mold, a custard may easily be turned out of the mold. The custard mixture should be poured very gently on top of the sirup to prevent the custard and sirup from mixing. The caramel also serves as a sauce for the custard when served. (Caramel Sirup may be prepared by caramelizing sugar (as directed in making _Peanut Candy_) and then dissolving the caramelized sugar in boiling water. Use equal quant.i.ties of sugar and water.)

SOFT CUSTARD

1 pint milk 1/4 cupful sugar 2 eggs 1/8 teaspoonful salt 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla

Mix the materials in the same way as for steamed or baked custard. Instead of pouring the mixture into molds, return it to the double boiler and cook (stirring constantly) until it thickens or forms a coating over the spoon.

Strain, cool, and flavor. Note that steamed custard is strained and flavored before cooking, and soft custard, after cooking.

In preparing soft custard, the eggs may be separated and the yolks cooked with the milk and other ingredients. The whites may be beaten stiff and beaten into the hot mixture with a Dover egg beater. Soft Custard may be used as a sauce over cooked rice, cake, bananas, peaches, and other foods.

_To Decrease the Eggs in Custard _

When eggs are expensive omit 1 or 2 from a custard recipe. Subst.i.tute 1/2 _tablespoonful of corn-starch for each omitted egg._ For methods of thickening milk with both eggs and starchy materials, see Lessons LIV.

QUESTIONS

What is the purpose of eggs in custard?

Why are eggs beaten _slightly_ for custards?

How do Steamed Custards and Soft Custards differ in method of cooking?

What are the tests for sufficient cooking of each?

What is the purpose of straining custards? Why is Steamed Custard strained and flavored before cooking, and Soft Custard, after cooking?

In what condition is the egg when a custard is curdled? How can a curdled custard be made smooth?

LESSON LII

MILK THICKENED WITH EGG (B)

FLOATING ISLAND

_Custard_

1 pint milk 3 egg yolks 1/4 cupful sugar 1/8 teaspoonful salt 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla

_Meringue_