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Cooking by Gas
Gas Stoves for cooking purposes are much used nowadays, and are rapidly increasing in public favour. Cleanliness, convenience, and economy are the advantages claimed for gas as a cooking agent, and, when controlled by a competent person, the claim may fairly be allowed. The economy of gas in relation to coal is entirely a matter of management. If the gas be turned off when not in use, and is not used extravagantly, it need not be any more expensive than coal, especially when the labour of lighting, stoking, and cleaning is taken into account. The main causes of waste are wrong utensils, the lighting of large burners when small ones would suffice, the neglect to transfer the vessel from a large to a small burner after boiling point has been reached, and carelessness in leaving the gas on when it is no longer required. If a burner has been lighted for cooking potatoes and a second for boiling a pudding, and the oven heated for a joint, it may be thought that there is not much amiss; yet, with a little forethought, the consumption might be reduced by cooking the potatoes in a steamer over the pudding, or by baking instead of boiling the potatoes, and so saving an extra burner. Then, again, supposing a meat stew or pie is being baked, a rice or other milk pudding may be cooked at the same time, or fruit may be baked. When the oven is used all the burners must be lighted; it is therefore great waste to cook only one thing at a time. It is a mistake also to use heavy iron pots and pans on gas stoves, as the cost of the extra gas required to bring them to the boil would pay for suitable new utensils many times over. Gas is also wasted by turning it on too high; when the flame is burning round the pans instead of underneath, it is obvious that the vessels are being prematurely worn out. With the exercise of a little common-sense those who study the matter will soon find out how to manage their gas stove in the most economical manner, and they will be surprised at the small amount of gas required to keep the contents of a large stewpan at simmering point.
As the result of a long series of experiments it has been proved that meat roasted by gas loses less in weight than when cooked in the oven of a coal range. In other words, a large proportion of the nutritious juices of the meat are retained when it is cooked by gas. Looked at from this point of view, it must be acknowledged to be an economical way of cooking. The heat of a gas stove can be regulated with the utmost exactness, the required heat can be got just when it is wanted, and either a slow simmering fire or a brisk boiling fire can be had at a moment's notice. There need thus be little or no waste of heat, as the requisite amount for any required purpose can at all times be got.
Broadly speaking, there are two different classes of gas-cooking apparatus--namely, those in which the gas flames are of a luminous type, that is, similar to the burners used for lighting rooms, but on a smaller scale; and those whose burners produce what is called "atmospheric flames," in which the gas is largely admixed with air before being burned. The products of combustion from luminous flames are steam and carbonic acid only, which are no more hurtful than the products from good gas burners used in a sitting-room. The atmospheric burners, in addition to steam and carbonic acid, produce carbonic oxide--a most dangerous and poisonous gas, generally attended by a very noxious smell, and requiring very thorough ventilation to carry it away safely. Moreover, it has been found, after a series of exhaustive trials, that the flavour of meat cooked in ovens heated by blue atmospheric flames is not so good as that of meat roasted by the radiant heat of white flames. In choosing a gas stove one should be selected which has its oven lined with white enamel, thus securing great cleanliness, as the interior is easily washed out with a flannel dipped in hot water and sprinkled with a little soap powder, then rinsed and wiped dry.
Full information on the subject of gas stoves is given in a little book entitled, "The Art of Cooking by Gas," by Miss Sugg, issued by the publishers of this work.
We will now go on to consider what is really another form of roasting--viz. grilling. There is perhaps no better test of a cook than a rump-steak and a boiled potato. If you can get the former black outside and red in, and the latter a floury mass as white as snow that crumbles to pieces on your plate, you may rest assured that the cook thoroughly understands his or her business. The same principles, of course, apply to grilling a chop or steak as to roasting or boiling, the point being as much as possible to surround the meat very quickly with a hard film to keep in the juices and flavour. For grilling it is essential, therefore, to have a perfectly clear fire, and also to place the chop or steak near the fire at starting. It is obvious, too, that the very first principles of cookery are overlooked if the cook is foolish enough to stick a fork into the steak or chop to turn it. By this means you commit the unpardonable crime of letting out the gravy.
We have, however, already fully described the principles to be observed in the use of the gridiron. It will always be found best to have one gridiron for meat and another for fish. In grilling kidneys, also, it is best to remove them every now and then, and dip them into a little hot fat if there is any handy.
We have already discussed the general principles of cooking to be observed both in frying and boiling. I would, however, remind you that, in choosing a joint, such as a leg of mutton, when it is for boiling and not for roasting, it is advisable to have it rather fresher. A leg of mutton for roasting may be left till it is on the verge of turning. Not so a leg for boiling. First, if the mutton be kept too long it will be of a very bad colour when sent to table; secondly, the liquor in which it was boiled will not be fit for anything.
In boiling a leg of mutton, it should always be borne in mind that even with the greatest care some considerable amount of nourishment will get out into the water. Indeed, it would be a very practical lesson, not only to cooks but to heads of households, to make a few experiments in weighing materials before roasting or boiling and after. They should remember, too, that there is no such thing in nature as annihilation. Very often when turnips are a little old, the cook, in order to save herself a very little trouble, will boil all the turnips with the leg of mutton, thereby rendering the liquor too sweet to make soup. To my mind, one great drawback to salt beef is that even with plenty of soaking previously in cold water, the liquor in which the beef is boiled is unfit for making soup. I have no hesitation in saying that in the majority of establishments the refuse of the joints should be sufficient to enable the family to have soup every day. By "refuse" I mean the water in which meat is boiled, the trimmings, etc., but especially the bones left from joints. A silver-side of beef when fresh if boiled makes capital soup, and yet cases are found where such liquor is absolutely thrown away. I recollect once on board ship seeing the cook empty overboard the liquor in which had been boiled--over-boiled, of course--a huge fresh aitchbone of beef. Waste is absolutely sinful; and when we consider for one moment that we injure our fellow-creatures more by wasting a leg of mutton than by burning a Pound20 note, we shall the better realise the importance of economy in cooking in its strictest sense. The truest economy is to get the greatest amount of nourishment possible out of the materials we use. Nor should we waste because the materials are cheap and plentiful. Even were it in our power to multiply food to a miraculous extent, it would still no less be our duty to gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
In boiling poultry of all kinds, it should be our endeavour to obtain--just as in boiling fish--a good colour, and of course the principle is the same. In boiling, say, a fowl or a turkey, by rubbing the breast over with lemon-juice, or by placing a few thin slices of lemon on the breast, and covering them over with a piece of buttered paper, and wrapping the whole in a cloth, you will be able to send the fowl to table with that snow-white appearance which renders it so much more tempting to the appetite. The reason of the flesh being whiter is that the acid of the lemon helps to dissolve the outside impurities of the skin on the breast of the fowl.