Aug. 31, 1883.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE • 



135 



THE CHEMISTRY OF COOKERY. 



XVII. 



By W. Mattieu Williams. 



PRYING IN OIL. 



EGARDING the fat used in frying as a mRclium for 

 conveying heat, freedom from any special flavour of 

 its own is a primary desideratum. Olive oil of the best 

 quality is almost absolutely tasteless, and having as high a 

 boiling point as animal fats it is the best of all frying 

 media. In this country there is a prejudice against the 

 use of such oil. I have noticed at some of those humble, 

 but most useful establishments where poor people are 

 supplied with penny or twopenny portions of good fish, 

 better cooked than in the majority of "eligible villa 

 residences" that in the front is an inscription ^-tating 

 "only the best beef-dripping is used in this establishment." 

 This means a repudiation of oil. Such oil as has been 

 supplied for fish-frying may well be repudiated. 



On my first visit to Arctic Norway I arrived before the 

 garnering and exportation of the spring cod harvest was 

 completed. The packet stopped at a score or so of stations 

 on the Lofodens and the mainland. Foggy weather was 

 no impediment, as an experienced pilot free from catarrh 

 could steer direct to the harbour by " following his nose." 

 Huge cauldrons stood by the shore in whicli were stewing 

 the last batches of the livers of cod fish caught a month 

 before and exposed in the meantime to the continuous 

 arctic sunshine. Their condition must be imagined, as I 

 abstain from description of details. The business then 

 proceeding was the extraction of the oil from these livers. 

 It is, of course, " cod liver oil," but is known commercially 

 as " fish oil," or " cod oil." That which is sold by our 

 druggists as cod liver oil is described in Norway as 

 " medicine oil," and though prepared from the same raw 

 material, is extracted in a dili'erent manner. Only fresh 

 livers are used for this, and the best quality, the " cold- 

 drawn " oil, is obtained by pressing the livers without 

 stewing. Those who are unfortunately familiar with 

 this carefully prepared, highly refined, product, know 

 that the fishy flavour clings to it so pertinaciously 

 that all attempts to completely remove it without decom- 

 posing the oil have failed. This being the case, it is easily 

 understood that the fish oil stewed so crudely out of the 

 putrid or semi-putrid livers must be nauseous indeed. I 

 am told that it has nevertheless been used by some of the 

 fish fryers, and I know that refuse " Gallipoli " (olive oil 

 of the worst quality) is sold for this purpo.se. The oil 

 obtained in the course of salting sardines, herrings, ifcc, 

 has also been used. 



Such being the case, it is not surprising that the use of 

 oil for frying should, like the oil itself, be in bad odour. 



I dwell upon this because we are probably on what, if a 

 fine writer, I should call the "eve of a great revolution" 

 in respect to fiying media. 



Two new materials, pure, tasteless, and so cheap as to 

 be capable of pushing pig-fat (lard) out of the market, have 

 recently been introduced. These are cotton-seed oil and 

 poppy-seed oil. The first has been for some time in the 

 market oU'ered for sale under various fictitious names, 

 which I will not reveal, as I refuse to l)pcome a medium for 

 the advertisementof anything — however good in itself — that 

 is sold under false pretences. If the lamp of Knowledge, 

 more fortunate than that of Diogenes, should light upon 

 some honest men who will retail cottonseed oil as cotton- 

 seed oil, 1 shall gladly (with the Editor's permission) do a 

 little straightforward touting for them, as they will be 



public benefactors, greatly aiding the present movement 

 for the extension of the use of fish food. 



As every bale of cotton yields half a ton of seed, and 

 every ton of seed may be made to yield 28 lb. to 321b. of 

 crude oil, the available quantity is very great. At present 

 only a small quantity is made, the surplus seed being used 

 as manure. Its fertilising value would not be diminished 

 by removing the oil, which is only a hydro-carbon, i.e., 

 material supplied by air and water. All the fertilising con- 

 stituents of the seed are left behind in the oil-cake from 

 which the oil has been pressed. 



Hitherto cotton-seed oil has fallen among thieves. It 

 is used as an adulterant of olive oil ; sardines and pilchards 

 are packed in it. The sardine trade has declined lately, 

 some say from deficient supplies of the fi.sh. I suspect that 

 there has been a decline in the demand due to the substi- 

 tution of this oil for that of the olive. Many people who 

 formerly enjoyed sardines no longer care for them, and they 

 do not know "why. The substitution of cotton-seed oil ex- 

 plains this in most cases. It is not rancid, has no decided 

 flavour, but still is unpleasant when eaten raw, as with 

 salads or sardines. It has a flat, cold character, and an 

 aftertaste that is faintly suggestive of castor oil ; but faint 

 as it is, it interferes with the demand for a purely luxurious 

 article of food. This delicate defect is quite inappre- 

 ciable in the results of its use as a frying medium. The 

 very best lard or ordinary kitchen butter, eaten cold, has 

 more ot . .ectionable flavour than refined cotton-seed oil. 



I have not tasted poppy-seed oil, but am told that it is 

 similar to tliat from the cotton-seed. As regards the 

 quantities available, some idea may be formed by pluck- 

 ing a ripe head from a garden poppy and shaking out 

 the little round seeds through the windows on the top. 

 Those who have not tried this will be astonished at the 

 numbers produced by each flower. As poppies are largely 

 cultivated for the production of opium, and the yield of the 

 drug itself by each plant is very small, the supplies of oil 

 may be considerable ; 571, -542 cwt. of seeds were exported 

 from India last year, of which 346,031 c«t. went to France. 



Palm oil, though at present practically unknown in the 

 kitchen, may easily become an esteemed material for the 

 frying kettle (I say "kettle," as the ordinary English fry- 

 ing pan is only fit for the cooking of such things as barley 

 bannocks, pancakes, fladbrod, or oatcakes). At present, 

 the familiar uses of palm-oil in candle-making and for rail- 

 way grease will cause my suggestion to shock the nerves of 

 many delicate people, but these should remember that 

 before palm-oil was imported at all, the material from which 

 candles and soap were made, and by which cart-wheels and 

 heavy machinery were greased, was tallow — i.e., the fat of 

 mutton and beef. The reason why our grandmothers did 

 not use candles when short of dripping or suet was that the 

 mutton fat constituting the candle was impure, so are the 

 yellow candles and yellow grease in the axle-boxes of the 

 railway carriages. This vegetable fat is quite as inoffensive 

 in it.self, quite as wholesome, and — sentimentally regarded 

 — less objectionable, than the fat obtained from the carcase 

 of a slaughtered animal. 



AVhen common-sense and true sentiment supplant mere 

 unreasoning prejudice, vegetable oils and vegetable fats 

 will largely supplant those of animal origin in every 

 element of our dietary. Wo are but just beginning to 

 understand them. Chevreul, who was the first to teach us 

 the chemistry of fats, is still living, and we are only 

 learning how to make butter (not " inferior Dorset," but 

 " choice Normandy ") without the aid of dairy produce. 

 There is, therefore, good reason for anticipating that the 

 inexhaustible supplies of oil obtainable from the vegetable 

 world — especially from tropical vegetation — will cr« long 



