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214 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



January, 1915 



THE HOME TABLE 



Graduate oftfie ItfationdlHiaininy Scfioof. 

 I ofOooiety, Xgndoni €ny&n<r? 



Vegetable Oils vs. Animal Fats 



1HA VE had the surprise of my life ! I have always 

 had a strong prejudice against vegetable oils; I 

 had seen the different, most alluring advertisements 

 of many kinds, strongly recommended both for use 

 in cakes, pastry, and salads, as well as just for frying 

 purposes, but it required an immense amount of will 

 power even to try them. I had been told how 

 certain fats could be used, as described on the tin, for 

 frying "potatoes, onions, etc., all in the same fit" 

 and that no flavor of one food would impart it 1 " 1 J *o tne 

 next, but I myself had not tried it. 



At last I plunged! I made a cake, a very plain one, 

 for I confess I really thought it would just be thrown 

 away. Then, I gave it to my family to eat without 

 saying anything. And what do you think the comment 

 was next day? "We liked that cake you made us 

 yesterday; that was something like a cake!" Notwith- 

 standing this mark of approval, such was my prejudice 

 that I could hardly bring myself to eat any of the cake, 

 but at last I tried it and found that it really was good, 

 very good, with no faintest trace of the vegetable fat 

 that was used in the making. 



The vegetable fats are uniform in texture and ab- 

 solutely tasteless. Animal fats will often impart their 

 own flavor to the foods with which they are combined or 

 which are fried in them. They cannot be brought to 

 so great a heat as the vegetable fats, as they are more 

 liable to burn, and so they absorb the flavor of the fuod 

 they are cooking, such as potatoes or onions, and it 

 would be a riskv thing to fry doughnuts afterward in 

 the same fat. But with the vegetable fats or oils this 

 is possible; the fat does not absorb one odor and give 

 it to the next article of food. 



There are one or two little things to remember when 

 using these vegetable preparations. They contain no 

 salt, so when using as shortening instead of butter, add 

 salt to your mixture. Also be sure and follow the di- 

 rections on your tin as to measurements. If you do put 

 in as much of any of these vegetable preparations as 

 you would of butter, whatever you aie making will be 

 too rich and will not bind together properly. It is a 

 lighter, more digestible fat than lard or butter. You 

 will notice the textuie of it and see at once v/hat I mean. 

 Therefore, any more than your recipe calls for will be 

 fatal to the success of your venture. 



How to Fry 



You will need a deep pan with smooth finish on 

 sides and bottom. 



The one called a Scotch kettle is best. And get a 

 frying basket, as they are so convenient for small arti- 

 cles or potato chips. Also have ready a tin or agate 

 plate with soft paper to absorb the grease when the 

 things are draining. 



There are two kinds of frying, wet and dry. Wet 

 frying is when the food is plunged into a bath of hot 

 fat and is covered completely at once. Dry frying is 

 that done in a shallow pan, when the aiticle is fried first 

 on one side, then turned and fried on the other. Wet 

 frying is the most digestible as all the surface is sealed 

 at once and the fat is not so easily absorbed. All 

 small things can be done this way. 



Boiling Water Bubbles, Boiling Fat Does Not 



Remember that the hotter fat gets, the stiller it 

 gets. The bubbles and noise in fat are caused by 

 the water in it and as long as it makes any noise you 

 will know it is not hot enough to fry in. Ordinary 

 fats have a faint blue vapor rising from the surface as 

 soon as the temperature is hot enough — about 360 de- 

 grees F. Vegetable oils reach the proper temperature 

 for frying before the smoke or vapor rises. If you have 

 no thermometer to register the heat, drop a small piece 

 of the crumb of bread into the fat. Then count the 

 seconds it takes to brown it. For croquettes, fish and 

 meat, very hot oil is necessary so the bread should take 

 about 20 seconds. Potatoes and uncooked vegetables 

 require about 330 degrees, or about 70 to 80 seconds to 

 brown the bread. 



Beware of Accidents 



Do not put too many articles in the pan at once 

 or the heat will go down and the fat will bubble up 

 and may boil over, setting you on fire. I have known 

 of one or two quite bad accidents due to carelessness or 

 ignorance in this respect. After browning drain on the 

 soft paper and serve, arranged daintily on paper lace 

 doilies. 



Fried parsley is a pretty garnish. Wash fresh green 

 parsley sprigs. Dry by patting in a cloth and after 

 every article is fried take the pan off the fire and dip 

 the frying basket, with a few sprigs of parsley in it, 

 down once into the hot fat, then quickly up again and 



drain. The parsley will be found quite crisp and still 

 green. When you have finished with the fat let it cool 

 slightly and strain it carefully through a very fine wire 

 sieve or a piece of cheesecloth and set away to harden. 



Many people object to the vegetable oils on ac- 

 count of the smell when heated, but you can test 

 the brands for yourself and if the smell is not 

 rancid you may be sure that the product is good. 

 Another thing: there is no danger from tuberculosis 

 if you use a vegetable fat. "Safety first" can better be 

 applied to food than to anything. 



Prepared Flour 



I have made another discovery lately which is a boon 

 for both cold weather iridoors and camp life in summer. 

 Ready prepared doughnut flour. Just think what a 

 lot of preparation it needed to first prepare the dough, 

 and then all the trouble and time it took for frying. 

 I am not trying to save trouble at the expense of what 

 is good. I am simply trying to make things easier; 

 trying to get what is good , at the saving of needless worry 

 and work. This is a ready prepared doughnut flour. 

 Everything is in — eggs, flour, shortening, the sugar, the 

 spices — all you have to do is to add the water, roll out 

 and cut the dough, and fry it. I really have never 

 tasted better doughnuts than these made with the ready 

 prepared doughnut flour. I have read many times such 

 questions: "Why are my doughnuts always sodden 

 on the outside and hard inside? " or " Why do my dough- 

 nuts not puff out properly?" One question after 

 another, which shows that everyone these days cannot 

 make them, though our mothers might have been able 

 to. Well, why try? Why not have sure and certain 

 success instead of dire uncertainty, and possibly failure 

 and waste. Other good things to eat are made by the 

 same people that make the doughnut flour and all are 

 time and labor savers. 



For instance, have you tried prepared flour, or what 

 some call "self raising" flour? I am using a fine brand 

 of that now and quickly mixed up some dainty bread 

 sticks for dinner recently that were much appreciated; 

 also two dozen buns which turned out so good that I 

 had to repeat the process the next day. The shorten- 

 ing I used each time was first a vegetable fat and then 

 a vegetable oil to test them and they came out perfect 

 in every way. There was no taste of oil and the dough 

 raised beautifully. 



ROYAL 



Baking Powder 



is indispensable to 

 the preparation of 

 the finest cake, hot- 

 breads, rolls and 

 muffins. 



HAS MO SUBSTITUTE 



No other baking powder equals it in 

 strength, purity and wholesomeness. 



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