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Classic
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page 41
Refined cotton-seed oil is now being adopted by most professional cooks in
hotels, restaurants, and many private households for culinary purposes, and will
doubtless in future supersede animal fats, especially for frying, it being quite
as delicate a medium as frying with olive oil. It is now sold by leading
grocers, put up in packages of two and four quarts.
The second mode of frying, using a frying-pan with a small quantity of fat or
grease, to be done properly, should in the first place have the frying-pan hot
over the fire, and the fat in it actually boiling before the article to be
cooked is placed in it, the intense heat quickly searing up the pores of the
article and forming a brown crust on the lower side, then turning over and
browning the other the same way.
Still, there is another mode of frying; the process is somewhat similar to
broiling, the hot frying-pan or spider replacing the hot fire. To do this
correctly, a thick bottom frying-pan should be used. Place it over the fire, and
when it is so hot that it will siss, oil over the bottom of the pan with a piece
of suet, that is if the meat is all lean; if not, it is not necessary to grease
the bottom of the pan. Lay in the meat quite flat, and brown it quickly, first
on one side then on the other; when sufficiently cooked, dish on a hot platter
and season the same as broiled meats.
Fish.
In selecting fish, choose those only in which the eye is full and prominent, the
flesh thick and firm, the scales bright and fins stiff. They should be
thoroughly cleaned before cooking.
The usual modes of cooking fish are boiled, baked, broiled, fried and
occassionally stewed. Steaming fish is much superior to boiling, but the
ordinary conveniences in private houses do not admit of the possibility of
enjoying this delicate way of cooking it. Large fish are generally boiled,
medium-sized ones baked or boiled, the smaller kinds fried or broiled. Very
large fish, such as cod, halibut, etc., are cut in steaks or slices for frying
or broiling. The heads of some fish, as the cod, halibut, etc., are considered
tidbits by many. Small fish, or pan fish, as they are usually called, are served
without the heads, with the exception of brook-trouts and smelts; these are
usually cooked whole, with the head on. Bake fish slowly, basting often with
butter and water. Salmon is considered the most nutritious of all fish. When
boiling fish, by adding a little vinegar and salt to the water, it seasons and
prevents the nutriment from being drawn out; the vinegar acting on the water
hardens the water.
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