Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume I Part 12

TABLE I

COMPOSITION OF CEREALS

Protein Fat Carbohydrate Cellulose Mineral Matter or Ash

Wheat Oats Rice Oats Oats

Rye Corn Rye Buckwheat Barley

Oats Barley Corn Barley Buckwheat

Barley Buckwheat Wheat Wheat Rye

Corn Rice Barley Rye Wheat

Buckwheat Wheat Buckwheat Corn Corn

Rice Rye Oats Rice Rice

CEREALS AS A FOOD

USES OF CEREALS

14. Cereals and cereal products play a very important part in the food problem, for the prosperity of a country depends on its grain crops and the people of all cla.s.ses are dependent on them for food. This is evident when it is known that they form a greater proportion of the food consumed than any other single food material. In their widespread consumption, they have many and varied uses. In truth, a meal is seldom served without some cereal food, for if no other is used, bread of some description is almost always included. Besides bread, a cooked or a dry cereal is usually served for breakfast, and for some persons this const.i.tutes the main breakfast dish, providing a nouris.h.i.+ng and easily digested food when served with milk or cream. This food is especially desirable for children, and for this reason is always among the first solid foods fed to them.

15. While to most persons the word cereal suggests the idea of a breakfast food, because cereals are used most often for that purpose, they find their place in other meals than breakfast. Although they are used less often on the dinner table than elsewhere, they frequently have an important place there, for a number of them are commonly used as dinner dishes and others might be used more frequently, and to advantage, too. In this connection, they are used in soups, and in certain forms, usually the whole or slightly crushed grain, they take the place of a vegetable. Some of them, particularly rice, are often used with meat or cheese in making an entree or in combination with eggs, milk, fruit, or various flavorings as a dessert to be served with a heavy or a light meal. Cold cooked cereal is often sliced and sauted and then served with meat or some other heavy protein dish. Cereals are also used for lunch or supper, perhaps more often than for dinner, and because of their easy digestion they are to be recommended for the evening meal for all members of the family, but especially for children.

When used in this way, they may be served with cream, as for breakfast, or prepared in any other suitable way. Whenever cereals are served, whether alone or in combination with other foods, the result is an economical dish and usually an easily digested one, unless, of course, the food with which they are combined is expensive or indigestible. But, to whatever use cereals are put, unless they are thoroughly cooked they are not easily digested and they lose much of their value. In fact, the ready-to-eat cereals, which have been thoroughly cooked, are preferable to those which are poorly cooked in the home.

SELECTION AND CARE OF CEREALS

16. Preparation of Grains for the Market.--So that the housewife may go about the selection of cereals in an intelligent manner, it may be well for her to know how they are prepared for market. After the grains are harvested, the first step in their preparation consists in thras.h.i.+ng, which removes the husks from the outside. In some countries, thras.h.i.+ng is done entirely by hand, but usually it is accomplished by machinery of a simple or a more elaborate kind. Occasionally no further treatment is applied, the whole grains being used as food, but generally they receive further preparation. Sometimes they are crushed coa.r.s.ely with or without the bran covering, and in this form they are known as _grits._ At other times they are ground finer and called _meal,_ and still finer and called _flour,_ being used mostly in these two forms for the making of various kinds of breads. Then, again, grains are rolled and crushed, as, for example, _cracked wheat_ and _rolled oats._

Various elaborate means have been devised by which cereals are prepared in unusual ways for the purpose of varying the diet. Sometimes they are used alone, but often certain other materials are used in their preparation for the market. For example, the popular flake cereals, such as corn flakes, are cooked with salt and sometimes with sugar and then rolled thin. Some of the cereals are thoroughly cooked, while others are malted and toasted, but the treatment to which they are subjected is generally given to them to improve their flavor and to aid in the work of digestion.

17. FACTORS THAT GOVERN CEREAL SELECTION.--Besides knowing about the ways in which cereals are prepared for market, the housewife should be familiar with the factors that govern their selection for use as food.

In the first place, cereals should be chosen to suit the needs and tastes of the members of the family, and then attention should be given to the forms in which they can be purchased. Some cereals are sold in sealed packages, while others can be bought in bulk. Each, however, has its advantages. Those sold loose are often lower in price than those sold in package form, but there is a question as to whether, with the chances for incorrect weight, the bulk foods are really much cheaper.

Cleanliness is, of course, of greater importance with cereals that do not require cooking than with those which are subjected to high temperatures in order to prepare them for the table. Therefore, from the standpoint of cleanliness, there is no advantage in purchasing rice and similar raw cereals in packages.

18. The next thing to consider in the purchase of cereals is their cost.

They vary considerably in price, but it has been determined that in food value there is little difference, pound for pound, between the cheap and the expensive cereals, the variation in price being due to their abundance or scarcity and the method used in preparing them for market. The entirely uncooked ones are the cheapest, the partly cooked ones are medium in price, and the thoroughly cooked ones are the most expensive. This difference, however, is practically made up by the expense of the fuel required to prepare them for the table, the cheapest cereal requiring the most fuel and the most expensive, the least.

Besides varying in price, the different kinds of cereals offer the housewife an opportunity to select the one that is most convenient for her. Those which are ready to serve are the best for the meal to which the least possible amount of time can be given for preparation. The other kinds require cooking, of course, but this need not be a hindrance, for they can be prepared on one day and reheated for breakfast the following day, or they can be cooked overnight by the fireless-cooker method. In the case of such cereals, long cooking is usually necessary for good flavor and easy digestion; consequently, the cooking method that will accomplish the desired result with the least expenditure of fuel is the most economical one and the one to select.

19. TABLE OF GRAIN PRODUCTS.--As a further aid in coming to an understanding of cereals, or grains, and their value, there are given in Table II the various uses to which grains are put and the forms in which they occur as food. In this table, as will be observed, the form of the grain product is mentioned first and then the grain from which it is made. A careful study of this table will be profitable to the housewife.

20. CARE OF CEREALS.--As carriers of disease, cereals are a less dangerous food than any other. This characteristic of cereals is due to the fact that the cooking all of them require in some part of their preparation destroys any disease germs that might be present. They are not likely to be adulterated with harmful material, either; and, in addition, the sealed packages in which many of the cereals are put up keep them clean and free from contamination. However, care must be given to both the uncooked and the factory-prepared varieties of this food.

The packages containing ready-to-eat cereals should not be allowed to remain open for any length of time if it is desired to keep them fresh and crisp, for they absorb moisture from the air very quickly. If they do become moist, however, drying in the oven will in most cases restore their freshness. If it is necessary to open a single package of prepared cereal and all of the contents cannot be utilized at once, as, for instance, when only one or two persons are to be served with that particular cereal, the best plan is to empty the remainder into cans or jars that are provided with covers. Uncooked cereals, which are used less quickly than the prepared kinds, are often attacked by mice and other vermin, but such an occurrence can be prevented if the cereal is poured into jars or cans that can be kept tightly closed. Considerable care must be given to flour and cereal products purchased in large quant.i.ties, for if they are allowed to collect enough moisture, they will become moldy and lose their flavor, and thus be unfit for use. To preserve them well, they should be kept in metal-lined bins or in bins made of carefully matched boards and in a cool, but not damp, place.

TABLE II

GRAIN PRODUCTS

/ Pearl barley | Hulled wheat / Whole Grains {Hominy: Corn | | Corn | Rice | | / Farina: Wheat or corn | | Cream of Wheat: Wheat | Crushed Grains {Cracked Wheat: Wheat | | Hominy Grits: Corn | | Wheat Grits: Wheat | Samp: Corn Cereals { | / Corn | Meal {Barley | | Rice | Oats | | / Flaked: Rye, wheat, rice, corn Prepared Cereals {Shredded Grain: Wheat | Malted Grain: Rye, barley, wheat, and corn Puffed Grain: Corn, rice, wheat

/ Corn Starch {Rice Wheat

/ Macaroni Wheat {Vermicelli Spaghetti

Glucose} Usually corn Sirup /

/ Wheat Cereal Coffee {Rye Barley

/ Wheat | Rye Flour {Corn | Buckwheat Rice

Liquors Malted Drinks} All grains Beer | Whisky /

Alcohol: All grains

Feed for animals: All grains

PREPARATION OF CEREALS FOR THE TABLE

METHODS OF COOKING CEREALS

21. PURPOSE OF COOKING.--As the so-called ready-to-eat cereals require practically no further preparation, attention is here given to only those cereals which need additional treatment to prepare them properly for the table. Raw grains cannot be taken into the body, for they are neither appetizing nor digestible. The treatment to which they must be subjected is cooking, for the structure of grains is such that cooking is the only means by which the coverings of the starch granules can be softened and broken to make them digestible. But this is not the only effect produced by cooking; besides making raw cereals digestible, cooking renders them palatable, destroys any bacteria or parasites that might be present, and, by means of its various methods, provides a variety of dishes that would otherwise be very much limited.

22. CHANGES THAT CEREALS UNDERGO IN COOKING.--In the process of cooking, cereals undergo a marked change, which can readily be determined by performing a simple experiment. Place an equal amount of flour or corn starch--both cereal products--in two different gla.s.ses; mix that in one gla.s.s with cold water and that in the other with boiling water. The mixture in which cold water is used will settle in a short time, but if the substance that goes to the bottom is collected and dried it will be found to be exactly the same as it was originally. The mixture in which boiling water is used, however, will not only become a sticky ma.s.s, but will remain such; that is, it will never again resume its original form.

This experiment proves, then, that grains that come in contact with water at a high temperature, as in cooking, absorb the water and burst their cellulose covering. This bursting frees the granulose, or the contents of the tiny granules, which are deposited in a network of cellulose, and as soon as this occurs it mixes with water and forms what is called soluble starch. Starch in this state is ready for digestion, but in the original, uncooked state only a very small part of it, if any, is digestible.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1]

23. PREPARATION FOR COOKING CEREALS.--Before the cooking of cereals is attempted, it is advisable for the sake of convenience to get out all utensils as well as all ingredients that are to be used and arrange them so that they will be within easy reach. The way in which this should be done is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 1. The utensils and ingredients shown, which are suitable for most methods of cooking cereals and particularly for cooking them by the steaming process, consist of a double boiler _a_; a measuring cup _b_, a knife _c_, and spoons _d_ and _e_, for measuring; a large spoon _f_, for stirring; a salt container; and a package of cereal. The housewife will be able to tell quickly from a recipe just what ingredients and utensils she will need, and by following the plan here suggested and ill.u.s.trated she will find that her work can be done systematically and with the least expenditure of time.

24. FIRST STEPS IN THE PROCESS OF COOKING.--While cereals may be cooked in a variety of ways, the first steps in all the processes are practically the same. In the first place, the required amount of water should be brought to the boiling point, for if the water is boiling the cereal will thicken more rapidly and there will be less danger of lumps forming. Then salt should be added to the water in the proportion of 1 teaspoonful to each cupful of cereal. Next, the cereal should be stirred into the boiling salted water slowly enough to prevent it from forming lumps, and then, being constantly stirred, it should be allowed to cook until it thickens. The process up to this point is called _setting_ a cereal, or grain. After the cereal is _set_, it may be boiled, steamed, or cooked in the fireless cooker, but the method of cookery selected should be chosen with a view to economy, convenience, and thoroughness.

The terms _setting_ and _set_ should be thoroughly fixed in the mind, so that directions and recipes in which they are used will be readily understood.

25. COOKING CEREALS BY BOILING.--Very often the cereal, after it is set, is allowed to cook slowly until it is ready to serve; that is, the method of _boiling_ is practiced. This method, however, is not to be recommended, because it is not economical. Cereals cooked in this way require constant watching and stirring, and even then it is difficult to keep them from sticking to the cooking utensil and scorching or becoming pasty on account of the constant motion. Sometimes, to overcome this condition, a large quant.i.ty of water is added, as in the boiling of rice; still, as some of this water must be poured off after the cooking is completed, a certain amount of starch and soluble material is lost.

26. COOKING CEREALS IN THE DOUBLE BOILER.--Probably the most satisfactory way in which to cook cereals, so far as thoroughness is concerned, is in a double boiler, one style of which is shown at _a_, Fig. 1. This method of cookery is known as _steaming_, or _dry steaming_, and by it the food itself, after it is set, never comes within 6 or 8 degrees of the boiling point. In this method, the cereal is first set in the small, or upper, pan of the double boiler. This pan, which is covered, is placed into the large, or lower, pan, which should contain boiling water, and the cereal is allowed to cook until it is ready to serve. The water in the large pan should be replenished from time to time, for if it is completely evaporated by boiling, the pan will be spoiled and the cereal in the upper pan will burn.