Home › Water, Making of Tea, Coffee, Etc › Water, Making of Tea, Coffee, Etc
Water, Making of Tea, Coffee, Etc
Water is boiled in the kitchen for two distinct purposes: First, for the cooking of itself; second, for the cooking of other things.-Mattieu Williams. WATER is a very important item in cookery. It is often made the vehicle of conveying heat to the article to be cooked, and the character of the cook is shown by her skill in regulating the degree of heat thus conveyed. If you put a spoonful of salt or sugar into a glass of cold water and stir the water, the sugar or salt seems lost. You can not see it, but a taste of the water proves to you that it is there. If you use hot water instead of cold, the substance will disappear even more quickly. We say of these substances that they are soluble in water.
If a pound of steak, in one piece or in several small pieces, be covered with cold water, the water will soon be colored by the juices of the meat. More of the juices will be drawn out into the water, in a given time, if the meat be cut into small pieces than if it be left in one large piece, just as granulated sugar will dissolve more quickly than a cube of loaf sugar. Water is nature's great solvent; all substances are in some degree soluble in water. Water is hard or soft; hard water contains salts of lime and is less solvent than soft water. Hard water is distinguished by the fact that in it soap will not lather freely. This solvent property of water is made much use of in cookery, and both in cookery and in nature it may be of great benefit to us or quite the reverse; for, on account of its solvent property, water may become contaminated with the germs of disease or with lead from the pipe in which it stands. If water be boiled in a teakettle, day after day, and the kettle be left unwashed, lime and other salts that settle upon the bottom of the kettle will become dissolved in the water, thus making it even more hard than when it is first drawn from its source. Water in a stationary boiler often holds in solution rust and other deposits from lead, copper and brass. None of this water is fit for drinking or cooking.
SAFE DRINKING WATER If the presence of disease germs be suspected in water, boiling is the only remedy. Let the water boil vigorously half an hour, then pour it from a height into a vessel, (fruit jars are convenient), that has been washed in boiled water, then filled with the same and let stand in a hot place half an hour. Cover the vessel closely and store in a cool place. Such water tastes flat and dead, because some of the gases in combination have been driven off in boiling. By pouring the water into the receptacle from a height, gases are absorbed during the passage through the air, which give the water a more natural taste.
Joints are made in lead pipe more easily than in iron or steel pipe, and so the former is generally used in plumbing, after the pipe enters the walls of the house, or above the cellar. To obviate any danger of lead poisoning, before using the water, let it run two or three minutes, thus discarding the water that has been standing in the pipe. Never take water from the hot-water pipe for drinking or cooking purposes.
TEMPERATURE OF WATER FOR COOKING We have said that heat hardens proteid substances, and that high heat changes starch to soluble compounds; thus it is evident, at once, that proteid substances and starch should not be subjected to water at the same temperature. Then, first of all, the young cook needs to acquaint herself with the nature of water at different temperatures. An ordinary thermometer, if handled carefully, will be of assistance in learning to secure accurate temperatures. In using the thermometer avoid subjecting it too suddenly to extremes of heat and cold.
BOILING AND SIMMERING WATER Nine women out of ten will say that "a teakettle boils," some time before it has reached that state. Water holds gases and when heated - even by standing in a warm room, - these gases expand and appear as tiny bubbles on the bottom of the vessel; as the heat is increased these bubbles rise and break at or near the surface of the water. By the time most of the air has been driven off from the water, the heat causes larger bubbles to collect at the bottom of the pan; these bubbles are of an invisible gas known as steam. The first break before they reach the surface, because they are not strong enough to withstand the pressure above them. At this point a thermometer set in the water would register about 185 deg F. If the water were in a teakettle, a steady stream of very fine mist would slowly pass from the spout of the kettle. Such water is said to simmer. By and by, as the water becomes hotter, the bubbles become stronger and will not break until they reach the surface of the water; the thermometer (at sea level) now indicates 212 deg F. and we say the water boils. From a teakettle of boiling water the steam comes in forcible jets through the spout. Above sea level, the pressure being deceased, water boils at several degrees lower than 212 deg F. By increasing the heat water may be made to boil furiously, but it will not grow hotter. TO HEAT WATER QUICKLY When boiling water is needed at short notice, set the water over the fire in a saucepan that presents considerable surface to the fire, and cover the dish to retain heat.
COMPOSITION OF TEA A cup of tea, outside of the cream and sugar often taken with it, possesses no nutritive qualities. It is a stimulant and has a mildly exhilarating effect. The desirable elements in tea are the stimulating principle, theine, and the essential oil, which gives fragrance. An undesirable element in tea is tannin, a bitter astringent substance. Tannin in the stomach interferes with digestion by hardening the proteid substances in the food; it also toughens and hardens the lining of the stomach. The problem is to make tea so as to secure the desirable qualities and avoid the tannin. This is really a very simple thing to do. The essential oil and theine are readily and quickly dissolved from the tea leaves upon the application of boiling water. Simmering water makes a weak, insipid infusion of tea. After the water has stood on the leaves five minutes, the presence of the astringent tannin is apparent, and if the water with the leaves be boiled rather than steeped, tannin is extracted in quantity. Tea, made by pouring water over the "spent" tea leaves that have been left standing in a teapot from a previous meal, is a slow but sure poison.
THE TEAPOT AND TEA BALL The pot in which tea is steeped deserves consideration, for tannin combines with the elements in some metals, as tin, producing most unwholesome compounds. China, earthen ware and silver, all are satisfactory wares in a teapot. It doubtless is needless to add that both the tea and coffee-pot should be emptied at once after use, then cleansed and dried with care, and again scalded and dried before use. Perhaps, for two, a silver tea ball is quite as desirable for tea making as a teapot.
STEEPING THE TEA Let the cups and tea-ball be made hot in the warming oven, or by immersing in hot water and then drying. Put a generous teaspoonful of tea into the ball; have fresh-drawn water boiling on the range or over the alcohol lamp. Pour the water into the cups and lift the ball up and down, first in one cup and then in the other, until the color shows that the right strength of tea is secured. Do not let the ball remain in the cups more than five minutes. If a stronger cup be desired, use the tea leaves in the ball for one cup, remove the spent leaves and take a fresh portion of leaves for the second cup. When tea is made in the teapot, let the pot stand in a warm place four or five minutes after the boiling water has been poured over the leaves, then pour off the liquid at once. As there has been no motion in a pot of tea that has not been boiled, it is quite evident that the strongest tea will be at the bottom of the pot. COFFEE AND COFFEE MAKING When the paper-like covering and the soft pulp are removed from the fruit of the coffee tree, two seeds remain; these are the coffee beans of commerce. By roasting these beans moisture is driven off and fragrance is developed. By grinding or otherwise pulverizing the beans a larger extent of surface is presented to the solvent action of water, and, if the water be heated to the boiling point, a fragrant, mildly stimulating beverage is produced. Tannin is present in coffee, but in less quantity than in tea, and it is not dissolved from the coffee bean so readily as from the more fragile tea leaf. Breakfast coffee may be made by boiling the ground coffee in the water, or by filtering water at the boiling point through the pulverized product. A silver or white enameled pot is the proper receptacle for coffee that is to be boiled; two level tablespoonfuls of ground coffee, to each cup of water, is the accepted proportion for the beverage. This proportion holds good also, if the coffee is to be made in a filter. For after-dinner coffee, double the measure of coffee is the rule.
In our talk on proteid, we said that heat hardened proteid substances. We make use of this fact to secure clear, boiled coffee. By mixing a little white of egg (which contains a large proportion of proteid substance) with the ground coffee, the egg will harden about the grains of coffee, when the liquid boils, and the mass thus held together will settle to the bottom of the pot, leaving the liquid clear and sparkling. The white that adheres to the shells of two eggs (broken for some other purpose) will be sufficient to clear two cups of coffee. If too much egg be used, such a firm coating will be formed around the coffee that the water can not act upon it and the decoction will be weak. TWO CUPS OF BOILED COFFEE Five level tablespoonfuls of ground coffee. The crushed shells of two eggs or a little white of egg.
Four tablespoonfuls of cold water.
Two cups and one-half of boiling water.
Three tablespoonfuls of cold water.
Mix together thoroughly the coffee, the crushed shells and the four tablespoonfuls of cold water; let stand five or six minutes, then pour on the boiling water, cover closely, and let boil three or four minutes after boiling begins. Remove the pot to a cooler part of the range, pour the three tablespoonfuls of water down the spout and let stand for about eight minutes, then carefully pour of two cups of the liquid. Keep the inside of the coffee-pot immaculate, as coffee absorbs odors and flavors most readily. Always scald the pot before using.
FILTERED COFFEE A large variety of pots, in which filtered coffee may be made, are to be seen in kitchen furnishing stores. Full directions for making the coffee come with the pots. The items most essential to note are, that the water used be at the boiling point, and the liquid be hot when it is served. A pound of coffee will served two people, once a day, nearly two weeks.