The cultivated Aznerican of colonial descent, while loyal to the virtues of succotash and the four B's of Boston, which are similar in nature and food value to the tortilla and frijoles of Mexico and the lentils of Egypt, is learning what to accept and what to reject frorn the solid puddings, pastry, bread and meats of England; the spicy cakes, sour vegetables, sausages and delicatessen supplies of Germany; the complex soups, sauces, entrees, souffles and artistic disguises of the French; the pungent Spanish puchera; the savory Hungarian gou lash and Turkish pilaf ; the Italian palenta, risotto and macaroni; the hors d'reuvres of Russia and Scandinavia, and the curries and fruits of the tropics; and from them all he is beginning to evolve a simplicity and an indi viduality which may bc characterized as truly American. He prefers on his meat the sauce of its own juices; he insists on having no doubt as to the identity of his veal and chicken; he has accepted the piquancy of the green salad with its soothing oil in place of the sweets of the pudding and the sharpness of his mother's picldes. The nutty Vienna roll has talcen the place of the half-baked raised biscuit, and he finds the bit of cheese which is the main food of the Swiss or Holland peasant, with the fruits and nuts of the savage., a good substitute for the soggy pie of his aristocratic ancestor.
Evolution of Methods of It is sufficient for our purpose here to consider foals merely as animal and vegetable, with albumen as the type of the former, and starch of the latter, albumen requiring a low and starch a high temperature. (Sce Fool)). Starch and albumen are frequently combined in natural food, and still more frequently in cooked food. but they must be digested by fluids of a (Ef ferent nature, one an alkaline and the other an acid. Therefore, how to cook them that cad: may best do its work in the body is the prob lem of good cookery.
Heat—Cooking means: to prepare by. heat (Latin coguo), and in all its phases heat is the important factor. The heat of the sun causes plant food to grow and ripen; the heat of the living animal prepares its flesh and products for the higher animal, man •, he applies artificial heat in cooking vegetable and animal foods, and after eating them, his awn internal heat helps in the assimilation of the food into his body. The absence of heat sufficient to be called cold is essential to make many foods more palatable. Water is removed from some foods by concentration, and added to others for the solution of albumen and the hydration of starch Air, for the expansion of various sub stances the development of improved flavors and the dissipation of disagreeable odors is essential, and care should be taken that it be pure as possible.
Fuel.— Heat for cooking purposes was ob tained first by drying foods in the sun. Many kinds of flesh, fish and fruit are still prepared in this way. Then came the burning of wood, oil, coal, gas, coal oil and alcohol; the latest advance is the use of electricity, the expense of which has retarded its adoption, but its merits are great and its possibilities unlimited.
Heat is applied to food in two ways: through hot air, as in broiling, roasting and baldng; and through hot liquids, as in boiling, frying and their variations.
Broiling or Grilling is cooldng by close con tact with the fire. The primitive way was on the coals: the smoke and ashes may have led the barbarian to wind the meat round a stick and hold it over the fire, much as the Turks do now with their strips of mutton or kabobs. To save personal attention the meat was suspended from a stick; later it was cooked on bars of wood or iron, called a gridiron, hence our word grilling, and was turned when partly cooked. The modern improvement of this time-honored method is the wire broiler, used over red-hot charcoal, or under the' gas flame, and frequent turning has been found to be the secret of good broiling. Contact with the fire sears the fibres, with a slight loss of outside substance, but it seals the juices inside and gives the richest possible flavor. °The gridiron ts the thermometer of civilization?' Toasting is simply the broiling of bread and other cooked starchy foods, in order to develop dextrin. It sometimes develops charcoal. Pan-broiling is cooldng in a very hot dry pan, with somehmes the merest film of grease to prevent too great loss of substance by adhesion. The quick sear ing gives almost the same flavor as in direct broilmg. It is a convenient way for the chafing dish and oil stove.
Put the anchovies in the heated pan and in a moment They will begin to hiss and are done.— Archestraius.
Roasting is a modification of broiling, at a lower temperature, adapted to large pieces of meat and poultry, which, on account of their thickness, are placed at a greater distance from the fire after the first searing. In early times the animal was dressed and hung at once over the fire; when the fire was made in a hole, sticks were laid across On which the animal rested; we call it a barbecue. After fires were 'built on the hearthstones and cooking was done inside, the meat was hung on a frame placed in front of the fire, and was turned and basted by the cook's attendants. This was the common way of cooking meat in the great baronial halls of England for many centuries and may still be seen in old country inns. The modern spit has its clock-work attachments, which turn the meat, dip up the gravy and pour it over at reg ular intervals. In warm countries but little roasting is done; and although once the only way in America, it is now seldom vsed except in hotels, and by those who have ranges with a special attachment for roasting, or who have revived the old custom on the hearth of their country kitchens; for there are many who still think the old Greek method greatly superior to the cooldng of meat in the oven, which is com monly called roasting.