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PREPARATION OF FRUIT
Use fresh, sound fruit, not too ripe.
1. Berries.—Pick over, wash in a strainer, and hull.
2. Currants, gooseberries.—Pick over, wash, remove ends and stems.
3. Cherries.—Pick over, wash, remove stones and stems.
4. Plums.—Pick over, wash, remove stems, and prick three or four times with a silver fork, in order to prevent the steam bursting the skin.
5. Pears, apples.—Pick over, wash, pare, and, to prevent discoloration, keep in cold water until used.
6. Peaches.—Pick over, plunge into boiling water a few seconds (using a wire basket), then into cold water; peel; drop into cold water to prevent discoloration.
SYRUP FOR CANNING
Use about 1 cup of water for each pint can.
No. 1 Syrup.—Equal parts of sugar and water, or 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar.
No. 2 Syrup.—1 1/2 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar.
1. Use No. 1 syrup for watery fruits and acid fruits.
2. Use No. 2 syrup for pears, peaches, sweet plums, sweet cherries, etc.
METHODS OF CANNING
1. Fruit cooked in a steamer:
Fill the sterilized jars with prepared fruit, with or without syrup. Place the covers, but do not fasten them down. Stand the jars in a steamer over cold water. Cover the steamer and heat to the boiling point. Steam at least fifteen minutes, or until the fruit is tender. Remove from the steamer, fill to overflowing with boiling syrup, and seal at once. Invert.
2. Fruit cooked in a boiler:
Put a false bottom in the boiler, to prevent the jars from being broken. Fill the jars with fruit, and add syrup if desired. Cover and place the jars in the boiler without touching one another. Pour in tepid water to within an inch of the top of the jars and bring gradually to boiling heat. Cook and finish as directed in 1, above.
3. Fruit cooked in an oven:
Fill sterilized, hot jars with prepared raw fruit and cover with hot syrup. Place the jars in a moderate oven, in a baking dish containing about an inch or two of hot water. Cook and finish as in 1, above.
4. Fruit cooked in a kettle:
Make a syrup in a fairly deep kettle. Put the prepared fruit into it and cook gently until tender. When the fruit is cooked, lift carefully into hot, sterilized jars, and fill to overflowing with boiling syrup. Seal at once and invert.
NOTE.—By Methods 1, 2, and 3 the fruit is kept more perfect in shape and loses less flavour than by Method 4. Methods 2 and 4 are best to choose for class practice.
After the lesson in Canning, it may not be wise to take the school time for further practice in the preservation of fruit. When such is the case, the theory of jam and jelly making may be discussed in class for home practice. The notes of these lessons may appear as follows:
JAMS AND PRESERVES
POINTS IN MAKING JAM
1. In this method sugar is the preservative, therefore the amount used must be large.
2. The quantity of sugar used is from three quarters to one pound of sugar to each pound of fruit. Little or no water is used.
3. The natural shape and appearance of the fruit is not kept.
4. The flavour of the fruit is not so natural, on account of the excessive sweetness.
5. The jar need not be sealed, but merely covered.
JELLY
COMPOSITION OF JELLY
1. Jelly is made from certain fruit juices and sugar.
2. The fruit juice must contain a certain amount of pectin, or jellying principle, and also a certain amount of acid.
PARTS OF FRUIT CONTAINING MOST PECTIN
(1) Skin, (2) core, (3) pits and seeds.
FRUITS CONTAINING MOST PECTIN
1. Currants
2. Crab-apples, apples
3. Quinces
4. Cranberries, blackberries, raspberries
5. Grapes, if rather green.
METHOD OF MAKING JELLY
1. Cut up the prepared fruit if necessary, and add barely enough water for cooking.
2. Set over the heat and simmer gently until the cellulose is very soft.
3. Turn into a jelly-bag, and drain for a number of hours or over night, in order to get rid of the cellulose.
4. Measure the drained juice and take the same quantity of sugar.
5. Heat the sugar in the oven.
6. Boil the juice gently and steadily for twenty minutes, skimming when required.
7. Add the hot sugar and boil very gently from three to five minutes, or until the mixture will jelly when tested.
8. Empty at once into hot glasses and set to cool.
9. When cold and firm, cover and set in a cool, dark place.
METHODS OF COVERING JAM OR JELLY
1. Melt paraffin and pour a layer on each glass, cover with a tin cover or paper pasted with egg-white.
2. Cut clean, white paper to fit the glass, and lay on the jelly when it is firm and cold. Place the cover or paper as in 1, above.
PICKLING
Where the teacher finds it desirable, a lesson should now be given on pickling, with or without class practice. At least one or two good recipes may be given for home use.
There are no new principles to teach. The use of vinegar, salt, and spices as preservatives should be reviewed.
CHAPTER XI
FORM IV: SENOR GRADE (Continued)
COOKERY
The first work in cookery, for this Form, should consist of practice lessons, which will test the ability of the class in cooking the simple animal and vegetable foods. The recipes used for these should be such as to attract the interest of the pupils, and each may be a combination of several food materials. Cream soups, custards, scalloped dishes, and shepherd's pie, would be useful for this purpose.
It is desirable that this test shall be made in as few lessons as possible, because nearly all the time in cookery for this year will be required for the new work, namely, a series of lessons on flour mixtures.
OUTLINE OF LESSON ON FLOUR
Flour is a food substance ground into a powder.
1. Sources of flour:
(1) Certain cereals—wheat, rye, barley, buckwheat, rice
(2) Potatoes.
2. Kinds of flour made from wheat:
(1) Graham flour—the entire wheat seed is ground.
(2) Whole wheat flour—the first outer coat of cellulose with its valuable mineral contents is removed before the seed is ground.
(3) White flour—only the central white part of the seed is ground.
NOTE.—The pupils should be given specimens of fall wheat to examine, so as to compare the outer coat of cellulose with the central white part of the grain.
3. Composition of white flour:
(1) Starch—a fine, granular, white substance
(2) Gluten—a sticky, yellowish, elastic substance (a protein food).
To find the substances in white flour, each pupil should mix half a cup of bread flour with enough cold water to make a dough. She must then be taught to knead it. This knowledge will be of use later in the bread lessons. After it is thoroughly kneaded until it is smooth and well blended, the dough should be washed in several waters. The first washing water should be poured into a glass and allowed to settle, to show the starch. After all the starch is washed away, the gluten will remain.
The gluten may then be put into a greased pan and baked, to demonstrate that it admits of distention, and also to show that it may be stiffened permanently by heat into any distended shape. The baked gluten should be reserved to be used as a specimen in succeeding lessons.
4. Kinds of wheat flour:
(1) Bread flour—contains much gluten.
(2) Pastry flour—contains little gluten.
NOTE.—Macaroni is a paste made from wheat flour which contains much gluten.
5. Tests for bread flour:
(1) The colour is a deeper cream than pastry flour, on account of the larger amount of gluten which it contains.
(2) When squeezed, it will not hold the impress of the hand.
(3) When the flour is made into a dough and washed, about one fourth of the original quantity remains as gluten.
OUTLINE OF SERIES OF LESSONS ON FLOUR MIXTURES
LESSON I
1. Meaning of flour mixtures:
A lightened mixture of flour and liquid, with or without other ingredients, is called a flour mixture.
2. Kinds of flour mixtures:
(1) Batters.—(a) Pour batters—pancakes, popovers (b) Drop batters—cake
(2) Doughs.— (a) Soft dough—cookies, baking-powder biscuits, doughnuts (b) Stiff dough—pastry.
3. Methods of mixing flour mixtures:
(1) Stirring.—A roundabout movement which simply mixes the ingredients.
(2) Beating.—An upright, circular movement, which incorporates air into the ingredients while being mixed.
(3) Folding.—A slow, careful beating, which blends the ingredients without loss of the air they contain.
(4) Kneading.—A movement of the hands to blend the ingredients and also to incorporate air.
(5) Cutting.—A hacking movement of a knife to mix fat through flour.
4. Framework of flour mixtures:
(1) Gluten
(2) Gluten and egg-white.
To show the framework, the gluten baked in the flour lessons should be used. It should be pointed out as the skeleton of the mixture which upholds the entire structure and on which the other ingredients depend. To have light mixtures, this framework must admit of being expanded and also of being stiffened permanently into the stretched shape. Since egg-white has both of these necessary qualities, it may be used for a framework either alone or in combination with gluten.
It should also be observed that a mixture of ingredients light in weight does not prevent the framework from rising as much as heavy ones do.
The pupils will see that the framework of a mixture must increase in size in order to make the mixture light, but it must be made very clear that, while heat stiffens any framework, it will not distend it. Some other agency is required for this.
5. Lightening agents used in flour mixtures:
(1) Air.—Incorporated by beating, kneading, and sifting.
(2) Steam.—Incorporated in the form of a liquid which, when heated, changes to steam.
(3) Carbonic acid gas.—Formed in the mixture by the chemical union of soda with some acid. Examples: soda and sour milk; soda, cream of tartar and water; soda and molasses.
The lightening agents, air and steam, may be taught from the samples of baked gluten. Experiments will show how to produce the carbonic acid gas.
Experiments:
1. Put into a thick glass 1/8 tsp. of soda and 1/4 tsp. of cream of tartar. Mix, and note the result. Stir in 1/8 cup of cold water, and note the result.
2. In No. 1, use hot water in place of cold, and note the result.
3. Put 1/4 cup of sour milk in a glass. Stir into the milk 1/4 tsp. of soda, and note the result.
4. Put 1 tbsp. of molasses in a glass. Stir into the molasses a pinch of soda, and note the result.
Baking-powder:
It may now be explained that, for the sake of convenience, soda and cream of tartar may be obtained already mixed, in accurate proportions of two parts of acid to one of the soda. This mixture is known as baking-powder. As very little moisture is necessary to start the action of the powder, a little cornstarch is added to it to keep it dry. For the same reason, it should always be kept tightly covered.
Soda is made from common salt and is cheap, but the source of cream of tartar makes it expensive, so that good baking-powder cannot be low priced. If such be advertised, it is usually adulterated.
As soon as the foregoing principles of flour mixtures are understood, they should be put into practice. The lessons on cake, bread, and pastry should follow in the order named, with as much practical work in connection with each as the time will allow.
CAKE MAKING
LESSONS II AND III
1. Classes of cake:
(1) Cakes without butter.—These mixtures contain no heavy ingredients and have little weight depending on the framework. They are lightened by air and steam only. Examples: sponge cake, angel cake.
(2) Cakes with butter.—These are mixtures having ingredients of greater weight; and the three lightening agents—air, steam, and carbonic acid gas are used to raise them. Examples: pound cake, chocolate cake, nut cake, etc.
NOTE.—Practice should be given in making at least one of each kind of cake, to demonstrate the method of mixing employed.
2. General directions for making cake:
(1) Attend to the fire, so as to have the oven at a proper heat.
(2) Grease the pans thoroughly; greased paper may be used to line the bottom of the tin, but, in the case of fruit cake, the whole tin should be lined.
(3) Have everything ready, so that the mixing may be quickly done.
(4) Use pastry flour.
(5) Use fine granulated sugar to ensure its being dissolved.
(6) Blend the ingredients thoroughly, and at the same time incorporate as large an amount of air as possible.
(7) Fill the pan about two-thirds full, pushing the mixture well to the corners and sides, so as to leave a depression in the centre.
(8) Attend carefully to the baking.
3. General rules for mixing cake:
(1) Cake without butter— (a) Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs. (b) Beat the yolks until thick and lemon-coloured. (c) Add sugar to the yolks gradually and continue beating; add the flavouring. (d) Beat the whites until stiff and dry, then fold them into the first mixture. (e) Gradually sift and fold in the flour until well mixed.
(2) Cake with butter— (a) Cream the butter by working it with a wooden spoon. (b) Add the sugar gradually by stirring it in. (c) Beat the eggs until light, and add to the first mixture. (The eggs may be separated and the whites added later.) (d) Add the liquid and beat until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved. (e) Mix the flour and baking-powder in a sifter and gradually sift and beat it into the mixture until it is thoroughly blended. (Liquid and flour may be added alternately.) (f) Fold in the stiffly beaten whites, if the eggs have been separated. (g) If fruit, peel, nuts, etc., are used, they should be floured out of the quantity allowed for the cake and added last.
4. General directions for baking cake:
(1) Small, thin cakes should be baked in a hot oven.
Examples: cookies, layer cake.
(2) All loaf cakes require a moderate oven.
(3) In baking cakes, divide the time stated in the recipe into quarters as follows:
First quarter—mixture should begin to rise.
Second quarter—mixture should continue rising.
Third quarter—mixture should begin to brown and to stiffen into shape.
Fourth quarter—mixture should finish browning and stiffening and shrink slightly from the sides of the pan.
(4) Mixture is cooked when a slight pressure leaves no dent, or when a small skewer or fine knitting-needle put into the centre comes out clean and dry.
To the inexperienced minds of the girls in the Fourth Form, to whom the study of flour mixtures is new, the number and variety of these seems very large. All cook books give an almost endless collection of recipes for cakes, cookies, muffins, etc., and to the pupils each of these seems an entirely new mixture. In reality, many of them are but slight variations of the same type. A certain mixture of materials is used for a foundation, and numerous varieties are made from this by addition, subtraction, or substitution of ingredients. The original mixture is called a basic recipe. Instead of teaching isolated mixtures, it will be found an excellent idea to give the class the basic ingredients for a recipe and encourage them to suggest variations, either original or from memory.
Typical basic recipes for cake and biscuits are given below:
BASIC RECIPE FOR CAKE
1/4 cup butter 3/4 cup sugar 2 eggs 1/2 cup milk 1 1/2 cup flour 1/4 tsp. salt 2 tsp. baking-powder 1/2 tsp. vanilla.
VARIATIONS OF BASIC RECIPE FOR CAKE
1. Spice cake:
To the basic recipe add 1 tbsp. of spice. Sift in the spice with the flour.
2. Nut cake:
Add 1/2 cup of chopped nuts. Increase the baking-powder by one third. Put a little of the flour on the nuts and beat them in at the last.
3. Fruit cake:
Add 3/4 cup of currants, raisins, figs, or dates, or a mixture of all. Increase the baking-powder by one third. Flour the fruit and add it last.
4. Chocolate cake:
Add 1/2 cup grated chocolate. Increase the milk by 2 tbsp. Heat the chocolate in the milk just enough to dissolve it. Cool the mixture and use in place of milk.
BASIC RECIPE FOR BISCUITS, ETC.
2 cups flour 1/2 tsp. salt 4 tsp. baking-powder 2 tbsp. fat (butter, lard, or dripping) About 2/3 cup milk.
VARIATIONS OF BASIC RECIPE FOR BISCUITS
1. Sweet biscuit:
Add 2 tbsp. of sugar after the fat is added.
2. Fruit biscuit:
Add 2 tbsp. of sugar and 1/2 cup of fruit, (currants, raisins, peel, or a mixture of all) after the fat is added.
3. Scones:
Add 2 tbsp. of sugar, and use one egg and only 1/2 cup of milk. Beat the egg until light, add to milk, and use this for liquid. Form into round cakes about eight inches in diameter, and cut into quarters.
4. Fruit scones:
Add 1/2 cup of fruit to the scone recipe.
5. Short cake for fruit:
Same as scones, but double the amount of fat.
6. Dumplings for stews:
Use the basic recipe, leaving out the fat.
7. Steamed fruit pudding:
Use the basic recipe to make the dough that incases the fruit.
BREAD MAKING
In beginning the bread lessons, it will be found that there are no new principles to teach. It will, however, be necessary to explain the new means of producing gas which is used in this particular mixture, namely, yeast.
From their lessons on the "Preservation of Food" and "Canning", the pupils are already acquainted with one class of microscopic plants. The little plants, in that case, were a source of great inconvenience to the housekeeper. Yeast may be introduced as another family of one-celled plants, but one which is most useful. Under good conditions these tiny plants will produce a large amount of carbon dioxide gas, provided they are given sufficient time. If, however, the gas be required quickly, soda and acid must be used. For this reason, plain flour mixtures, in which the carbon dioxide is quickly made, are called quick breads, to distinguish them from breads in which yeast is used. Examples of these are baking-powder biscuits, gems, corn-bread, etc.
The use of yeast is the simplest and cheapest way of obtaining carbonic acid gas, and mixtures so made remain moist longer than those in which baking-powder is used.
Throughout the introductory lesson, this fact must be kept prominently before the class, that yeast is a plant and, as such, requires plant conditions. The necessary conditions will be known from the lesson on "Bacteria", so that they have only to be reviewed. The pupils may be told that although they cannot see the plants, they can very plainly see the bubbles of gas which the plants give off when the latter are made active under favourable conditions.
LESSON I
OUTLINE OF LESSONS ON YEAST
1. Description of yeast:
Yeast is a one-celled plant which can be seen only with a microscope. Under good conditions it becomes very active and multiplies rapidly by a process called budding. It is used by the housekeeper for the carbonic acid gas it gives off.
2. Conditions necessary for the activity of yeast:
(1) Oxygen
(2) Water
(3) Food.—This must be sugar, or starch which it will change into sugar. Potato starch is more easily used by yeast than flour starch. It uses also some nitrogenous food and mineral matter.
(4) Heat.—The yeast plant thrives in a heat of about the same temperature as our bodies. A little extra heat will only make it grow faster; but excessive heat will kill it.
Freezing will not kill the plant, though cold makes yeast inactive.
3. Sources of yeast:
Yeast was first found as wild yeast in the air, but now it may be obtained at grocery stores, in three forms:
(1) Liquid yeast.—The plants are put into a starchy liquid. This will keep only a few days, as the starch sours.
(2) Dry yeast.—The plants are put into a starchy paste and the mixture is dried. This form will keep for months, because it is perfectly dry but, for the same reason, it takes the plants a long time to become active when used.
(3) Compressed yeast.—The plants are put into cakes of a starchy mixture and left moist. They will keep only a few days. Good compressed yeast is a pale fawn colour, smells sweet, breaks clean, and crumbles easily.
4. Experiments with yeast:
Make a yeast garden by using the plants obtained at the grocery store as follows:
Take half a cup of lukewarm water to give the plants moisture, a teaspoonful of sugar for immediate food, and the same of wheat starch (flour) for a reserve food. Beat the mixture to infold oxygen, and then put in one-quarter cake of yeast plants.
Divide the mixture among a number of test-tubes, so that each group of four pupils has three.
(1) Place one test-tube in warm water and heat to boiling.
(2) Place one test-tube in water which feels warm to the hand.
(3) Place one test-tube in cracked ice and freeze the mixture. Afterwards thaw, and place the same test-tube in lukewarm water.
Observe the results, and compare the amount of gas formed under the different conditions.
LESSON II
PRACTICAL BREAD-MAKING
Ingredients of plain bread:
1. Liquid.—(1) It wets the mixture and causes the ingredients to adhere.
(2) It furnishes steam for a lightening agent.
(3) It allows the gluten to become sticky and elastic.
(4) It furnishes moisture for yeast plants.
2. Yeast.—It gives off carbonic acid gas, which lightens the mixture.
3. Salt.—(1) It gives a flavour.
(2) It retards the growth of the yeast plant.
4. Flour.—(1) It thickens the mixture.
(2) It supplies food for the yeast plant.
(3) It supplies gluten for a framework for the mixture.
Amount of ingredients for one small loaf:
Liquid—1 cup or 1/2 pt. Salt—1/2 tsp. Flour—About three times the amount of liquid
Yeast—Amount depends on the time given the bread to rise, as follows:
12 hr. to rise 5 hr. to rise 3 hr. to rise 1/4 yeast cake 1/2 yeast cake 1 yeast cake
NOTE.—One cake of compressed yeast contains about the same number of yeast plants as one cake of dry yeast or one cup of liquid yeast.
Process in making bread:
(1) Mixing (stirring, beating, and kneading).— (a) This mixes the ingredients. (b) It incorporates air to aid the yeast plant and to act as a lightening agent. (c) It makes the gluten elastic.
(2) First rising.—This allows the yeast plants conditions and time to produce carbonic acid gas, until the dough is distended to twice its original size.
(3) Moulding.—(a) This distributes the gas evenly throughout the loaf. (b) It shapes the loaf.
(4) Second rising.—This again allows the yeast plants time to produce gas which will distend the dough to twice its size.
(5) Baking.—(a) The heat of the oven expands the air and gas in the dough, which causes the gluten framework to distend. (b) The water changes to steam, which becomes another agent in distending the gluten. (c) The starch on the outside of the loaf becomes brown in the dry heat of the oven, while the inside starch is made soluble in the moist heat of the mixture. (d) The gluten stiffens into the distended shape. (e) The yeast plants are killed.
In this lesson, after deciding on the necessary ingredients, the pupils may be told the amount of each to use for their class work. They should then measure and mix these ingredients and set the dough away for the first rising. While the bread is rising, the kitchen may be put in order and the other steps of the process reasoned out and written.
Other school work must be taken then, until the dough has fully risen, when the process may be completed. After each stage of the process has been carried out, the notes on it may be written.
With the foregoing principles of bread-making in mind, the class should be able to make any bread mixture. Each pupil should have entire responsibility for the process of making one small loaf of plain bread. About half a cup of liquid, mixed with the other necessary ingredients, makes a good-sized loaf for practice. Smaller loaves than this give little chance for manipulation.
In Household Management centres, where the pupils come from other schools for the lesson period only, the process will have to be divided into two lessons. The first lesson may include the first two stages—mixing and first rising—each pupil using small quantities, say for one eighth of a loaf of the ordinary size. At the end of the lesson, they may carry their dough home for completion, or it may be used by another class which is ready for the later steps of the process.
The second lesson will include the last three steps—moulding, second rising, and baking—and it will be necessary for the teacher to have dough prepared for the moulding stage when the class arrives.
LESSON III
FANCY BREADS
These mixtures are but variations of plain bread. The extra ingredients, such as milk, eggs, butter, spices, sugar, currants, raisins, peel, etc., are added at the most convenient stage of the process.
NOTE.—If there is not time to have one fancy bread, such as Parker House rolls or currant bread, made in school, recipes for these may be discussed in class and the work done at home.
THE BREAD-MIXER
1. This utensil mixes and beats the bread by means of a large beater turned with a handle, thus avoiding the use of the hands for this purpose.
2. It does this work with less energy and in a much shorter time than if the hands were used.
3. It can be used only for the first two steps of bread-making, namely, mixing and first rising.
4. The ingredients must all be put in at once; hence, they must be accurately measured.
5. The amount of ingredients may be learned by calculation from previous bread-making done in the old way, or by using the book of recipes accompanying each mixer.
NOTE.—There are several good kinds of bread-mixers which may be bought in three sizes. Small size makes 1 to 2 loaves and costs $1.35 (about). Medium size makes 2 to 6 loaves and costs $2.00 (about). Large size makes 4 to 10 loaves and costs $2.50 (about).
PASTRY
Pastry is one of the simplest flour mixtures, and one that has the lowest food value. The intimate blending of butter or lard with the flour envelopes the starch grains with fat, and makes the mixture difficult to digest. The same thing occurs in frying food and in buttering hot toast; so the idea is not a new one to the class.
In introducing the lesson on pastry, this principle of digestion should be reviewed, and it should be made plain that delicate pudding and seasonable fruits are a much better form of dessert.
There are no new principles to teach, but some old ones to impress. The object of the housekeeper should be to make a mixture that is light and one that will fall to pieces easily. To ensure the latter, anything that would toughen the gluten must be avoided.
From the bread lesson, the pupils have learned that working the water into the gluten or much handling of flour after it is wet, makes a mixture firm and tough. In pastry there must be enough gluten to stick the ingredients together, but its elastic quality is undesirable. For the latter reason also, a small amount of water is used.
In the cake mixtures, it was found that the use of fat in the "butter cakes" made the framework tender and easily broken, so in pastry the same means may be employed. Fat of some kind is mixed with the flour to act on the gluten and destroy its toughness.
Air and steam are the only lightening agents commonly used in pastry. Since cold air occupies less room than warm air and admits of more expansion, it is desirable that the mixture be kept very cold. The low temperature also prevents the fat melting; hence, the necessity for the use of cold utensils and materials throughout the process.
OUTLINE OF LESSON ON PASTRY
1. Ingredients:
(1) Flour, (2) salt, (3) fat, (4) water.
2. Notes on flour:
(1) Use only pastry flour, which will have a small amount of gluten.
(2) After the flour is wet, handle the mixture as little as possible, to avoid working the water into the gluten and making it tough.
3. Notes on fat:
(1) Fat is used to destroy the elasticity of the gluten, so that it will not be tough when cooked.
(2) Butter, lard, or dripping may be used.
(3) Lard makes more tender pastry than butter.
(4) Butter gives the best flavour.
(5) Half butter and half lard makes a good mixture.
(6) Layers of fat may be put in between layers of pastry, to separate it into flakes.
(7) If two fats are used, the softer is cut into the flour, and the harder one laid on the paste and folded in.
4. Notes on water:
(1) Use the water as cold as possible.
(2) Use the least amount of water necessary to make the ingredients adhere.
5. Lightening agents used in pastry:
(1) Air.—(a) This should be as cold as possible. (b) The air may he folded in, between layers of pastry.
(2) Steam.
6. Kinds of pastry:
(1) Plain pastry.—In this, one quarter to one third as much fat as flour is used, and it is all "cut in".
(2) Flaky pastry.—In this, the same amount of fat is used as in plain pastry, but half of it is "laid on" and folded in.
(3) Puff pastry.—In this, one half as much fat as flour, up to equal parts of each is used; one quarter of the fat is cut in, and the remainder is laid on and folded in.
7. Amount of ingredients for plain pastry for one pie:
1 1/2 cup pastry flour; 1/4 tsp. salt; 1/2 cup fat (lard and butter); ice water.
CHAPTER XII
FORM IV: SENIOR GRADE (Continued)
MEAT
As meat is rather a complex food the teaching of which involves a good many lessons, and as it does not lend itself as well as other foods to the making of dishes useful in practice work, it seems wise to defer the study of it until the Senior Form is reached; the ability and home needs of the pupils should decide this. The season of the year should also be considered. It is wiser to take meat lessons in cold weather because it is then more pleasant to handle and easier to keep. The latter consideration is important in some rural districts, where shops are not convenient.
More preparation is needed for the first meat lesson than for most foods. Some days before, thin bones such as leg or wing bones of fowl, or rib bones of lamb should be soaked in diluted hydrochloric or nitric acid (one part acid to ten of water), to dissolve the mineral substance which gives the bone its rigidity.
Any time before the lesson, a large solid bone of an old animal, such as a knee or hip joint of beef, should be burned for hours to get rid of the connective tissue which holds the mineral substance in shape. This should be carefully done, in order to retain the shape of the bone and to show the porous formation of the mineral substance. If the bone is not blackened by the fire, its white colour will also indicate the lime of which it is formed.
On the day of the lesson it will be necessary to have a piece of meat showing the three parts—fat, bone, and muscle. A lower cut of the round of beef has all these parts, and the muscle is sufficiently tough to show its connective tissue plainly. For the study of fat, a piece of suet is best, as it can be easily picked apart to show its formation.
In examining fat meat and lean meat it is essential that, at least, every two pupils have a piece, as close scrutiny is necessary. One or two samples of bone will suffice for the class.
No definite amount of work can be laid down for any one lesson. The interest and ability of the class must be the guide. In rural schools, the time of each lesson must be comparatively short, though no Household Management teacher should spend more than forty minutes on purely theoretical work without a change of some kind.
The following is an outline of the facts to be considered in this particular study:
LESSON I
1. Names of meat:
(1) Beef, from the ox or cow. The best meat comes from an animal about four years old.
(2) Veal, from the calf. It should be at least six weeks old.
(3) Mutton, from the sheep. Spring lamb is from six to eight weeks old; yearling is one year old.
(4) Pork, from the pig.
(5) Fowl, poultry—chicken, turkey, duck, goose.
(6) Game, wild animals—deer, wild duck, partridge, etc.
2. Parts of meat:
(1) Fat.—(a) Inside fat, around the internal organs, usually called kidney fat, or suet. (b) Outside fat, next the skin, called caul fat.
(2) Bone, (3) muscle, or lean meat.
3. Composition of fat:
(1) Connective tissue, (2) true fat, (3) water.
Fat should be the first part studied, because it is the simplest tissue and the parts are most plainly seen. Pick the specimen apart, and the tissue that holds it together is found. Its name is easily developed from its use.
The water may be shown by heating pieces of fat in a small saucepan and, when it becomes hot, covering the dish with a cold plate. Remove the plate before it gets heated, and moisture will be condensed on its surface. The presence of water in fat may also be reasoned out by remembering that water enters into the composition of all body tissues.
4. Composition of bone:
(1) Mineral matter (lime), (2) connective tissue, (3) water.
Neither the mineral substance nor the connective tissue in bone can be seen until either one or the other is eliminated.
Strike the fresh bone with a steel knife, and it shows the quality of hardness. Bones are built from food, and the only food substance that is so hard is mineral matter. Show the burned bone, with only the mineral matter left, and let each pupil examine it. Its formation indicates the spaces which the part burned out of it occupied. Let it fall or crush part of it in the fingers, to show how easily it is broken. Such bones would be no use as a framework to support the body. The bones of very old persons get too much like this, and we are afraid to have such people fall. The burned bone needs something to hold it together—a connective tissue. Such a tissue was in the spaces before the bone was burned.
Show the bone after it has been prepared in an acid solution, with only the connective tissue left. Explain how it was prepared. Bend it to show its pliability. To be of use in the body it needs some substance to make it hard and rigid—the mineral matter which was dissolved out.
NOTE.—This is an excellent time to show the necessity for bone-building mineral in the diet of babies and young children. If they do not get this mineral substance during the growth period, they cannot have hard, rigid bones, and their bodies are apt to become misshapen—bow legs, curved spines, etc. This substance is also necessary for hard, sound teeth.
Draw attention to the fact that the mineral matter in milk and eggs is in solution, and therefore ready to be used by the body. Mineral matter is not in solution in bone, and cannot be dissolved by the digestive process, therefore it is practically of no use as food.
Compare the connective tissue of bone with that of fat, and let the pupils account for the difference in thickness. Lead them to see that connective tissue can be dissolved in hot water, and in this way may be extracted from the mineral part of bone. The housekeeper may do this herself, or she may buy it already extracted, as gelatine.
5. Composition of muscle:
(1) Connective tissue
(2) Red part, made up of microscopic tubes holding a red juice. The juice contains: (a) Water (b) Red colour (c) Flavour (d) Muscle albumen—a protein substance similar to egg-white (e) Mineral matter.
It should be made clear that the walls of such tiny tubes can never be thick enough to be tough. Attention should be called to the real cause of toughness—the thick connective tissue.
NOTE.—Very small pieces of meat will serve for specimens. Tough meat is better, because it shows the connective tissue more plainly. When the muscle is being examined, it should be carefully scraped with a knife, until a layer of connective tissue is laid bare. The red part that is scraped off should be explained, and a drawing should be made to illustrate it.
Minced lean beef should he soaked in a little cold water for at least twenty minutes, to extract the muscle juice for examination. The juice should be strained through a cheesecloth and poured into a glass. It shows nothing but water and a red colour.
In order to find the other substances, pour part of the juice into a small saucepan and heat it gradually until it boils gently. The red colour will disappear, and the albumen which is dissolved in the juice will coagulate and become plainly visible. The pupils will recall that egg-white was affected in the same way by heat, and may be told that this coagulated substance is similar to egg-white, and is called muscle albumen. The odour given off by heating suggests that the flavour is also in the muscle juice, hence the importance of conserving this juice in the cooking process.
Strain the boiled juice to get rid of the coagulated albumen and then examine the liquid that is left. Its colour plainly denotes mineral matter in solution.
LESSON II
6. Meat experiments:
If time permit, the following experiments may be taken. The facts which these experiments prove may, however, be developed in a much shorter time by questioning:
(1) Cut lean meat into small pieces, cover them with cold water and let them stand. Note the colour of the water.
(2) Cover a piece of lean meat with boiling water and let it stand. Note the colour of the water.
(3) Sprinkle a piece of meat with salt. What happens?
(4) Wrap a piece of meat for a few minutes in ordinary brown wrapping-paper. What happens?
(5) Simmer a small piece of very tough meat for about an hour and then examine the connective tissue.
(6) Boil or bake a small piece of very tough meat and then examine the connective tissue.
7. Selection of meat:
(1) All flesh should be uniform in colour, of a fine grain, and firm and springy to the touch.
(2) Beef should be bright red in colour, well mottled, and surrounded with fat.
(3) Mutton should be a dull red, and its fat white, hard, and flaky.
(4) Lamb is lighter in colour than mutton, and the bone is redder.
(5) Veal has pinkish-coloured flesh and white fat. Very pale veal is not good.
(6) Pork should have firm flesh of a pale red colour. The skin should be white and clear, the fat white.
(7) Poultry: (a) Chickens.—Young chickens have thin, sharp nails; smooth legs; soft, thin skin; and soft cartilage at the end of the breastbone. Long hairs denote age. (b) Turkeys.—These should be plump, have smooth, dark legs, and soft cartilage. (c) Geese.—These should be plump and have many pin feathers; they should also have pliable bills and soft feet.
8. Care of meat:
(1) Remove the meat from the wrapping paper as soon as it arrives, to prevent the loss of juices. The butcher should use waxed paper next to the meat.
(2) Wipe the meat all over with a damp cloth, but do not put it into water.
(3) Place the meat on an earthen or enamel dish, and set it in a cool place until required.
(4) Frozen meat should be thawed in a warm room before being cooked.
LESSON III
9. General ways of preparing meat:
(1) Extracting certain substances.—(a) Soup—substances extracted in water from lean meat, bone, and fat. (b) Beef-tea—substances extracted in water from lean meat. (c) Bouillon—substances extracted in water from lean meat and flavoured with vegetable. (d) Beef juice—juices extracted from lean meat by heat only, or by pressure.
(2) Retaining all substances.—Roasts, boiling pieces, steaks, chops, cutlets.
(3) Retaining part and extracting part.—Stews.
10. Notes on tough meat:
(1) The toughness of meat depends on the thickness of the connective tissue holding the muscle tubes together.
(2) The connective tissue is made thick and tough by two causes.—(a) Age—in old animals the connective tissue has grown thick. (b) Exercise—in certain parts of the body, where muscles are much used, these muscles must be more firmly bound together, as in the neck and legs, etc.
(3) Dry heat will harden connective tissue, making it more difficult to cut and chew; therefore tough cuts should not be cooked in dry heat.
(4) Moist heat will soften and finally dissolve connective tissue, making it easy to cut and chew; therefore tough cuts should be cooked in moist heat.
(5) Tough meat is more abundant in an animal's body, and is, therefore, cheaper than tender meat.
(6) Tough meat has richer juices than tender meat and should be used for soup, broth, and beef-tea.
11. Digestibility of meat:
(1) The less muscle juice is coagulated by heat, the more easily it is digested.
(2) Because of their close texture, the liver, kidney, and heart of animals are more difficult to digest.
(3) Mutton and lamb, because of their shorter fibres, are more easily digested than beef.
(4) Veal is difficult to digest, owing to its stringy fibres.
(5) Pork has a large amount of fat intermingled with its fibres, and is, therefore, difficult to digest.
(6) Chicken and turkey are easily digested, but goose and duck are indigestible, because of the fat through the muscle fibres.
(7) Game is easy of digestion.
The practical work, besides the experiments, in connection with the meat lessons, should consist of at least three preparations of this food: (1) the cooking of tender meat, (2) the cooking of tough meat, (3) the making of soup.
The object of each preparation should be made plain, so that the pupils may fully understand what they are trying to accomplish.
1. Object in cooking tender meat:
(1) To change the flavour and appearance.
(2) To seal the tubes to keep in the juices.
(3) To cook the meat without densely coagulating the protein of the muscle juice, so as to keep it digestible.
2. Object in cooking tough meat:
(1) To change the flavour and appearance.
(2) To soften and partially dissolve the connective tissue, making it easy to cut.
(3) To avoid making the muscle juice indigestible.
3. Object in making soup:
(1) To extract the connective tissue from the bone.
(2) To extract the muscle juice from the tubes.
GENERAL RULES FOR COOKING MEAT
1. Baking:
Place the meat in a very hot oven with pieces of the fat or some dripping in the pan. Baste every ten minutes. Keep the oven very hot for a small roast. For a large roast, check the fire after the first fifteen minutes. Bake fifteen minutes to each pound.
2. Broiling:
(1) Over the coals.—Put the meat between the hot greased wires of a broiler. Place over a very hot, clear fire. Turn the broiler every ten seconds. Beef one inch thick cooks rare in eight minutes.
(2) Pan Broiling.—Heat a frying-pan smoking hot. Lay the meat in flat; turn constantly until seared, then frequently, as in broiling, but do not pierce the muscle part with a fork. Beef one inch thick cooks rare in ten minutes.
3. Boiling:
Cover the meat with boiling water. Boil five minutes. Then simmer until done. Tender meat takes twenty minutes to the pound; tough meat takes from three to five hours.
4. Stewing:
Cut the meat in pieces of a suitable size. Cover with cold water. Bring gradually to the simmering point and simmer until tender, usually three or four hours. Keep the pot closely covered.
5. Beef juice: Take one pound of steak from the top of the round. Wipe the steak, remove all fat, and cut the lean meat in small pieces. Place in canning jar, and cover; place on a rest in the kettle and surround with cold water. Allow the water to heat slowly, care being taken not to have it reach a higher temperature than 130 degrees. Let stand two hours; strain and press the meat to obtain all the juices. Salt to taste.
NOTE.—These rules may be dictated to the class, as all of the principles which they involve have been previously discussed.
FISH
Since fish is the flesh of sea animals, there will be little new to learn concerning it.
Main points of difference between this flesh and ordinary meat are:
1. Fish is less stimulating and nourishing than meat, as it contains more water and less protein than an equal quantity of lean meat.
2. Oysters, and the class called white-fish, are more easily digested than meat, hence they should be chosen for invalids or those having weak digestions.
Kinds of fish:
1. White-fish.—The fat is stored mostly in the liver, making the flesh easy to digest. Examples: cod, halibut, haddock, white-fish.
2. Oily fish.—The fat is distributed throughout the flesh, making it more difficult to digest. Examples: salmon, herring, mackerel.
3. Shell-fish.—Because of their close fibres, these are difficult to digest, with the exception of oysters. Examples: clams, scallops, and oysters.
4. Crustaceous.—The flesh is tough and hard to digest. Examples: lobsters, crabs.
Selection of fish:
Fresh fish may be recognized by the following:
1. The eyes should be full and bright.
2. The flesh should be firm and elastic.
3. The gills should be bright red.
4. There should be no unpleasant odour.
Cooking of fish:
Fish may be cooked in any way similar to meat. As the flesh of fish contains food substances which are very easily dissolved in water, boiling is not a good method of cooking to choose for this food. Steaming, baking, and frying are more suitable.
GELATINE
A lesson on gelatine naturally follows the lessons on meat and fish. The study of bone and the making of soup have explained the source of this substance, and only a few additional facts are necessary.
The gelatine practice dishes are sure to prove attractive to the class, and the common use of this food in sickness, and in salads and desserts, makes it important that its food value be understood.
1. Source of gelatine:
Gelatine is obtained from the bones, cartilage, and skin of animals. It is the connective tissue dissolved out of these parts.
The housekeeper may obtain it for herself or she may buy it already extracted; both are equally good.
2. Commercial forms:
(1) Sheet gelatine
(2) Shredded gelatine
(3) Granulated gelatine.
3. Properties of gelatine:
(1) It softens in cold water, but will not dissolve.
(2) It dissolves in hot water.
(3) It jellies when cold, if the solution be sufficiently strong.
(4) Good gelatine has little taste, colour, or odour, and no sediment when dissolved.
4. Steps in dissolving gelatine:
(1) Put a small amount of cold water or any cold liquid on gelatine, and let it stand until the liquid is absorbed.
(2) Add a boiling liquid and stir thoroughly until dissolved.
5. Value in the diet:
(1) Gelatine is a nitrogenous substance, but cannot of itself build tissues, as most protein foods do. When eaten, it will save the tissues already making up the body, hence is called a protein-sparer.
(2) It is very easily digested, and for this reason it gives a pleasant variety to the diet of an invalid.
(3) It makes an attractive dessert at the end of a substantial meal, without adding much nutriment.
6. Ways of using gelatine:
(1) It may assist in making soup.
(2) Any liquid may be used to dissolve this substance to make a plain jelly. Examples: coffee jelly, tomato jelly, wine jelly.
(3) Plain jelly may be varied as follows:
Allow the plain jelly mixture to cool until it is as thick as cream, and then beat in whipped egg-white, or fruit, or chopped vegetables, and set away until firm. Examples: snow pudding, orange charlotte, vegetable salad.
(4) Strain off the juice from a can of fruit, heat it, and use it for dissolving the gelatine. When almost set, add the fruit, and set away to become firm.
FROZEN DISHES
A lesson on frozen dishes may be taken at any time, but it seems specially opportune after the gelatine lesson. It may be impossible to make these dishes in school, but the facts of the lesson may be discussed and recipes furnished, after which a Form IV pupil should find no difficulty in carrying out these recipes at home.
Elementary science should be correlated, to explain the use of salt in the freezing process.
VALUE OF FROZEN DISHES
1. They are cooling, refreshing, and nourishing when properly taken; they are not good as a final course at a meal, as cold mixtures reduce the temperature of the stomach and thus retard digestion.
2. They are appetizing in appearance and flavour.
3. They are economical as regards cost of ingredients, fuel, time, and energy.
KINDS OF FROZEN DISHES
1. Water ice.—Fruit juice diluted with water, sweetened and frozen; stirred about every five minutes while freezing.
2. Frappe.—Water ice frozen to the consistency of mush; in freezing, equal parts of ice and salt are used to make the mixture granular.
3. Sherbet.—Water ice to which is added a small quantity of dissolved gelatine or beaten egg-white; stirred constantly while freezing.
4. Ice cream.—Thin cream, sweetened, flavoured, and frozen; stirred constantly while freezing.
5. Plain ice cream.—Same as ice cream with custard added.
6. Mousse.—Thick cream, beaten until stiff, sweetened, flavoured, placed in a mould, packed in ice and salt (two parts ice to one part salt), and allowed to stand three hours. A small quantity of dissolved gelatine may be added to the mixture.
PRACTICAL WORK
1. Freezing:
(1) Scald the can and dasher and cool just before using.
(2) See that all parts of the freezer are properly adjusted.
(3) Empty the mixture into the can; never fill the can more than three-quarters full, to allow for expansion when freezing.
(4) Prepare ice by chipping finely or by crushing in a canvas bag by means of a mallet.
(5) Allow three measures of ice to one of coarse rock salt and pack this mixture solidly around the can.
(6) Turn the crank slowly and steadily until the mixture begins to freeze, then turn more rapidly until frozen.
(7) Add more ice and salt as needed, but do not draw off the salt water except to keep it from getting inside the can.
2. Packing:
(1) When the mixture is frozen, draw off the water, remove the dasher, and pack the contents of the can down solidly with a spoon.
(2) Replace the cover, using a cork for the opening, then repack in ice and salt (four parts ice to one part salt).
(3) Cover with newspapers, blanket, or carpet, and let it stand for at least one hour before serving.
2. Moulding:
(1) Wet the mould and pack the frozen mixture in solidly.
(2) Place the cover on the mould and bind strips of greased cotton or waxed paper around all the crevices.
(3) Imbed the mould in ice and salt (four parts ice to one part salt).
(4) Wrap a cloth wrung from hot water around the mould for an instant, before removing the mixture.
PLANNING AND PREPARATION OF MEALS
The food work of the previous Forms, from constant reference and use, should be so well known that it may be reviewed in one lesson, under the following heads:
1. Uses of food
2. Necessary substances in food
3. Composition of the common foods—milk, eggs, meat, vegetables, fruit, seeds
4. General sources of each food substance.
After the review, the class may be asked to prepare menus for one day's meals, keeping in mind the following:
1. Daily balance of food substances
2. Appetizing appearance and flavour of the food
3. Economy of time, labour, and money in providing the food.
The preparation of menus may be continued, even while other work is being studied, until the teacher feels satisfied with the ability of the class to prepare menus intelligently.
The planning of menus should, if time permit, be extended to actual practice in preparing and serving the meals called for by some of the menus. In this Form there should be a limit set to the number of people served and the cost of the food.
Since breakfast and luncheon were prepared in the Junior Form, a dinner should be taken in this. The entire responsibility of the meal should be given to the pupils, each being appointed to perform definite duties. The teacher may advise while the class is planning the work, but not assist while it is being carried out.
Each member of the class may be asked to prepare a menu to suit the special conditions which have been made as to number and cost. These may be planned at home and brought to the teacher for criticism. At the first lesson, three or four of the best may be written on the black-hoard for comparison and choice.
When the selection is made, members of the class should be chosen for the following duties: (1) marketing, (2) preparation of food, (3) laying the table, (4) serving, (5) representing members of the family to eat the meal.
NOTE.—To prevent any suspicion of favouritism, the duties may be written on slips of paper and the pupils allowed to draw these.
At the second lesson the meal will be prepared, served, and eaten. In schools lacking an equipment, the meal may be planned and selected in the same way as above, but the entire responsibility of carrying it out must rest on one pupil, as it will be necessary for each to prepare and serve it in her own home.
CHAPTER XIII
FORM IV: SENIOR GRADE (Continued)
INFANT FEEDING
This subject is more suitable for older students than for those attending the public and separate schools, but, because of its importance and the fact that many girls never go beyond the Entrance class, it is deemed wise to present, to the pupils of Form IV, the main facts relating to the feeding of infants. Each teacher must however use her judgment in the choice of these facts for her class and in the method of presenting them. The instruction given may include the following ideas:
The natural food of an infant is its mother's milk, and too much stress cannot be placed on the necessity of nursing by the mother.
Even if the mother has but a small supply, the baby should not be weaned; the supply should be supplemented by modified milk. In the rare cases where a mother cannot nurse her baby, a physician should prescribe the food. In such a case the best substitute is cow's milk.
If cow's milk be used, it will have to be changed or "modified" to make it as far as possible like mother's milk. Cow's milk differs in the following respects: It has (1) less water and therefore more solids; (2) a larger proportion of protein and mineral compounds; (3) less sugar; (4) a different combination of fats.
Cow's milk cannot be made like mother's milk, but it is better food for a little baby if cream, milk sugar, and barley water, are added in certain proportions, varying according to the age of the child.
RECIPE FOR MODIFIED MILK
Milk 7 ounces
Milk sugar 1/2 ounce
Cream (18%) 1 ounce, if ordinary milk be used or 1/2 ounce if Jersey milk be used.
Barley water Dilute with barley water to make 20 ounces for the first two or three weeks, then reduce to 16 ounces up to about three months of age. The volume may then be reduced to 14 ounces, and at five or six months to 12 ounces.
Mixed milk, and not one cow's milk, should be used, for the reason that a better average of milk is secured from several cows than from one. The supply should be fresh and clean. To make sure of the latter, scrupulous care should be given to the cleanliness of the cows' bodies and stables, the utensils, and the clothing and hands of the milkers. If there is any doubt of the cleanliness, the milk should be pasteurized. The pasteurization greatly reduces the bacterial life in the milk by a temperature which does not change its composition and digestibility, as is the case in sterilizing it.
DIRECTIONS FOR PASTEURIZING MILK
Sterilize bottles as for canning. Nearly fill the bottles with milk and cork them with absorbent cotton which has been sterilized (by being baked a delicate brown). Place the bottles on a rest in a deep kettle and surround them with cold water as high as the milk. Heat the water gradually to 155 degrees Fahrenheit, or until tiny bubbles show in the milk next the glass. Remove the kettle and contents to where the temperature of the milk will remain the same for half an hour. Then cool the milk quickly by putting the bottles first in lukewarm water and then in cold water. Keep in a cool place and do not remove the cotton until ready to use. Pasteurized milk should not be kept more than a couple of days.
The utmost care and cleanliness should be observed in preparing the infant's food. All utensils which come in contact with the food should be sterilized each time they are used. Bottles with rubber tubes should never be used, as they cannot be thoroughly cleaned. The bottle should be plain and graduated without a neck, and the nipple should admit of being turned inside out.
CARE OF BOTTLES
After the nursing, the bottles should at once be rinsed with cold water. Later, the bottles and nipples should be carefully washed in hot, soapy water, then rinsed in clear, hot water. They should then be sterilized by boiling in water for twenty minutes, after which they may be placed in boric acid solution (1 tsp. to 1 qt. water), or the bottles may be emptied and plugged with sterilized absorbent cotton until again required.
CARE OF FOOD
It saves much time to make sufficient food to last for twenty-four hours. This may be put into a large bottle, or what is better, into the several nursing bottles, and each plugged with sterilized absorbent cotton. After cooling, the bottles should be put on the ice or in some cool place until required. Where there is no refrigerator, an ice-box made on the principle of the home-made fireless cooker will do excellent service. When the food is to be used, it should be warmed slightly above body heat by placing the bottle in warm water.
The following table is taken from The Care and Feeding of Children by L. Emmet Holt, M.D., of New York.
SCHEDULE FOR FEEDING A HEALTHY CHILD
DURING THE FIRST YEAR
- Interval Night Number between feedings of Quantity Quantity Age meals (6 p.m. feedings for one for 24 by day to in 24 feeding hours 6 a.m.) hours - - - - Hours Ounces Ounces 2nd to 7th day 3 2 7 1 2 7-14 - - - - 2nd and 3rd weeks 3 2 7 2-3 1/2 14-24 - - - - 4th to 6th week 3 2 7 3-4 21-28 - - - - 7th week to 3 mos. 3 2 7 3 1/2-5 25-35 - - - - 3 to 5 months 3 1 6 4 1/2-6 27-36 - - - - 5 to 7 months 3 1 6 5 1/2-6 1/2 33-39 - - - - 7 to 12 months 4 .. 5 7-8 1/2 35-43 - - - -
CHAPTER XIV
FORM IV: SENIOR GRADE (Continued)
HOUSEHOLD SANITATION
As the principles of sanitation are based on a knowledge of bacteria, the facts concerning these microscopic plants, which were taught in the lesson on the "Preservation of Food", have only to be reviewed and extended.
The following topics should he quickly reviewed:
1. Description of bacteria
2. Occurrence of bacteria
3. Favourable conditions for bacteria
4. Multiplication of bacteria
5. Useful bacteria
6. Harmful bacteria.
It is with the harmful bacteria that our lesson on sanitation deals. The pupils already know that some kinds belonging to this class cause the decay of food, and now they are ready to be told that other harmful kinds of microscopic plants gain entrance to our bodies and cause disease. Concerning these, the following outline of facts should be taken:
1. MEANS OF BACTERIA ENTERING THE BODY
(1) Through the respiratory organs
(2) Through the digestive tract
(3) Through the broken skin.
2. COMMON DISEASE-PRODUCING BACTERIA
(1) Those entering the respiratory organs.—Mumps, scarlet fever, whooping-cough, diphtheria, measles, pneumonia
(2) Those entering the digestive tract.—Typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis
(3) Those coming through cuts, etc.—Skin diseases like ringworm, blood poisoning, lockjaw (tetanus).
If housekeepers do not exercise care, these disease-producing bacteria may enter the home, and finding there all the conditions which they require, they will multiply, and become a menace to the family.
3. METHODS OF SANITATION
Since bacteria are too small to be seen, it is very hard to deal with them. The housekeeper has the following ways of protecting the household:
(1) By having all drain pipes trapped:
(2) By keeping the house free from lodging places for bacteria: (a) Keep the house clean and free of dust. (b) Wash garbage pails and sinks daily and scald them and drain pipes at least once a week. (c) Keep the refrigerators, cupboards, and receptacles for food clean, and allow no spoiled food to remain in them. (d) Wash and sterilize the soiled clothing once a week. (e) Keep the cellar well aired and clean; allow no decaying material to remain in it. (f) Keep the door-yards clean; allow no scraps of food, cleaning water, or sweepings to be thrown near the house.
(3) By keeping the supply of food from disease-producing bacteria: (a) Use screens to keep out flies, which transfer bacteria from their bodies to food. (b) Wash fresh fruit and vegetables before using. (c) Boil for twenty minutes water of doubtful purity.
(4) By keeping the bodies of the family strong and healthy, so that if bacteria gain an entrance they will be resisted and overcome: (a) Provide well-balanced, nutritious food. (b) Supply suitable clothing to protect the body. (c) See that there is an abundant supply of fresh air, night and day.
4. DISPOSAL OF WASTE IN VILLAGES AND RURAL DISTRICTS
(1) Burn all combustible material.
(2) Bury tins, broken dishes, etc.
(3) Feed refuse food to animals or empty it into a pit dug for the purpose, and cover with a layer of earth from time to time.
(4) Throw slop water at a distance from the house and well, and plant stalky growths like sunflowers, which absorb the waste.
5. METHODS OF DISINFECTING
Where bacterial disease is known to exist, the utmost care should be taken to subject everything that has come in contact with the patient to a process which will kill the disease-producing plants. Only two ways of doing this are known:
(1) Subject the bacteria to extreme heat which will kill them— (a) Burn everything that can be burned. (b) Boil bed and body linen. (c) Scald dishes. (d) Scald or bake utensils.
(2) Use chemicals to destroy the germs— (a) Use chemical solutions to wash surfaces, materials, or utensils. (b) Seal the rooms and burn chemicals to produce vapours which will destroy bacteria.
NOTE.—Directions for the use of chemicals are given under the lesson on "Home Nursing".
HOME NURSING
This part of the work does not require a special equipment, though it is an advantage to have one. An ingenious teacher, with the co-operation of her pupils, will invent plans for providing whatever is necessary for demonstration. Pupils living near the school can supply many of the needed materials.
A doll and doll's bed may be used to teach bed making and the changing of bed-clothing while the patient is in bed. The doll may also be used to illustrate the method of giving a patient a bath in bed and of changing the body clothing, if such information is desired.
In some cases, a manual training pupil might construct the bed, and the sewing class the mattress, bed-clothing, and doll's underwear. If this were the property of the school, the girls could take turns in making the bed every day and in laundering the clothing at home once a week.
It is desirable that the instruction in home nursing be given in two lessons. These may be outlined as follows:
LESSON I
THE SICK ROOM
1. Location.—The room should be on the sunny side of the house and be as large and airy as possible. The top floor is quieter, but necessitates many steps.
2. Furniture.—All furniture should admit of easy cleaning. Small rugs are better than a carpet, as they can be easily removed for cleaning. In infectious diseases, only bare necessities should be kept in the room.
The bed should be single and placed so as to be accessible from both sides. It should be high enough to prevent the nurse stooping. The bed-clothing should be of light weight and washable.
A bedside table should be provided, also a couch for the nurse. A screen will be found useful to prevent draughts and to shade the light.
3. Ventilation.—A thermometer should be used, and the temperature kept at 65 degrees to 68 degrees, or, in special diseases, according to the doctor's orders.
An abundant supply of fresh air should be provided day and night. To secure this, there must be two openings, one to admit pure, fresh air, and the other to let out the impure air. These openings are preferably on opposite sides of the room and at different heights. If there is only one window, it should be made to open at both top and bottom. In extreme cases, an adjoining room may be aired and, after the fresh air is warm, it may be admitted to the sick room.
4. Care.—The room should be kept very clean and neat. All cleaning should be quietly done, so as not to annoy or disturb the patient. The floor, wood-work, and furniture should be dusted with a damp cloth.
Flowers should be removed at night and should have fresh water daily.
No food or medicine should he left in the room. Soiled dishes or clothing should be removed as soon as possible and, in cases of infectious diseases, placed in water containing a disinfectant.
All excreta should be taken away immediately and, if necessary, disinfected before being emptied.
METHODS OF DISINFECTING
1. Dishes or clothing.—(1) Make a solution using one part of carbolic acid to twenty parts of water (six teaspoonfuls to a pint of water) and let it stand for half an hour. Soak the articles in this for two hours. (2) Use formalin according to directions. (3) Use bichloride tablets according to directions. (This turns clothes yellow.)
NOTE.—These solutions must be renewed every twenty-four hours, if exposed to the air.
2. Excreta.—Cover the excreta with one of the above solutions and allow it to stand for half an hour before emptying.
LESSON II
THE PATIENT
1. Care of the bed.—The bed of a sick person should be kept specially clean and fresh. The linen should be changed every day, or oftener if soiled. Where the supply of linen is limited, or where there is pressure of work, a good airing and sunning may occasionally take the place of laundering.
In making the bed, it should be kept in mind that the under sheet requires unusual tucking in at the head, to prevent its slipping down and becoming wrinkled. The upper sheet should receive extra attention at the foot, as it is apt to pull up.
When changing the sheets with the patient in bed, work as deftly and quietly as possible. Have the clean sheets warmed and the room comfortably heated. Begin with the under sheet as follows:
(1) To change the under sheet.—Turn the patient over on the side away from you and fold the soiled sheet in flat folds close to the body. Lay the clean sheet on the side of the bed near you, tuck it in, and fold half of it against the roll of soiled sheet, so that both can be slipped under the body at once. Turn the patient back to the opposite side, on the clean sheet, pull out the soiled sheet, and tuck the clean one smoothly in place.
(2) To change the upper sheet.—Loosen all the clothes at the foot of the bed. Spread a clean sheet and blanket, wrong side up, on top of the other bedclothes. Pin the clean clothes at the head of the bed or get the patient to hold them. Gradually slip down and draw out the soiled sheet and blanket. Tuck all in place.
2. Care of the diet.—Recovery from sickness in many cases depends more upon the right kind of food than on medicine. The importance of proper diet should have been impressed on the minds of the pupils by their lessons on food, in the Junior Grade of Form IV. They may now be shown that, in sickness, the responsibility of the choice of food is transferred from the patient to the doctor or nurse. Hence it is most important that a person acting as nurse should be trained in food values and proper methods of cooking. She should also be capable of exercising daintiness and artistic skill in serving, so that the appearance of the food may tempt the patient to eat it.
It should not be necessary to review the comparative values of the well-known foods or the best methods of applying heat to make and keep these foods digestible; it may be taken for granted that the class remembers these facts. The time may be more profitably used in naming and discussing special dishes which are included in invalid cookery. Recipes may be given for any of these which the pupils desire or the teacher chooses, and one or two of the dishes which require very little time to make, may be prepared.
For the sake of convenience, diets for the sick may be classified as Milk, Liquid, Light, and Full. These terms are an easy way of indicating a certain range of foods.
Milk Diet.—Milk, butter-milk, koumyss, kephyr.
NOTE.—Lime-water may be given with sweet milk, one part to three of milk.
Liquid Diet.—Milk diet, beef juice or beef-tea, broths, gruels, and sometimes jelly.
Light Diet.—Soup, white meat of fowl, white fish, oysters, soft-cooked eggs, custard, milk puddings, fruit, gelatine jellies.
Full Diet.—Any food that is not particularly hard to digest.
NOTE.—Plenty of water should be given in all diets.
POULTICES
A poultice is used to reduce inflammation and should be as large as the affected part.
The kinds in ordinary use are:
1. Mustard poultice, used as a counter irritant.
2. Linseed, bread, or potato poultice, used to soothe.
Directions for a mustard poultice:
1. For a very strong poultice, mix pure mustard to a paste with warm water; spread on a piece of cheesecloth or muslin, leaving a margin of an inch; fold over the margin, and cover with thicker cotton or paper.
2. For milder poultices use flour to reduce the mustard as follows:
(1) 1 part flour to 1 part mustard
(2) 2 parts flour to 1 part mustard
(3) 3 parts flour to 1 part mustard.
Directions for linseed, bread, or potato poultices:
Use boiling water to mix the above to the consistency of thick porridge, and spread as in the mustard poultice, excepting that the layer of poultice is made much thicker, in order to retain the moisture and heat.
FOMENTATIONS
These are much the same in their effects as poultices, but are sometimes more convenient.
Directions for fomentations:
Spread a towel over a large basin, place a flannel in the towel and pour boiling hot water over it. Fold the towel over the flannel, gather the dry ends of the towel in either hand, and wring. Carry to the patient, shake out the flannel, and apply.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following books are recommended for reference, the more useful being marked with an asterisk:
THE HOME
Furnishing of a Modest Home. Daniels, $1.00. Atkinson, Mentzner & Co., New York.
Home Decoration. Priestman, $1.50. Whitcomb & Barrows, Boston.
*Care of a House. Clark, $1.50. The Macmillan Company of Canada, Ltd., Toronto.
SCIENCE AND SANITATION
*Elementary Household Chemistry. Snell, $1.25. The Macmillan Company of Canada, Ltd., Toronto.
Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning. Richards and Elliott, $1.00. Whitcomb & Barrows, Boston.
Fuels of the Household. White, 75c. Whitcomb & Barrows, Boston.
*Story of Germ Life. Conn, 35c. Whitcomb & Barrows, Boston.
*Household Foes. Ravenhill, 75c. McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart, Ltd., Toronto.
*The Source, Chemistry, and Use of Food Products. Bailey, $1.75. Blakiston, Son & Co., Philadelphia.
FOOD AND DIETETICS
*Food Products. Sherman, $2.00. The Macmillan Company of Canada, Ltd., Toronto.
Food Materials and their Adulterations. Richards, $1.00. Whitcomb & Barrows, Boston.
*Food and Dietetics. Hutchison, $3.00. Wm. Wood & Co., 51 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y.
Principles of Human Nutrition. Jordan, $1.75. The Macmillan Company of Canada, Ltd., Toronto.
*Care and Feeding of Children. Dr. Emmet Holt, 75c. D. Appleton, N.Y. (McAinsh, Toronto)
Care of the Baby. Dr. J. P. C. Griffith, $1.50. W. B. Saunders & Co., Philadelphia.
A Little Talk about the Baby. Helen MacMurchy, M.D. Free. The Provincial Board of Health, Toronto.
Farmers' Bulletins. 5c each. Department of Agriculture, Washington, U.S.A.
COOKING AND SERVING
*Boston Cooking School Cook Book. Farmer, $2.00. McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart, Ltd., Toronto.
*Diet in Disease. Pattee, $1.00. Whitcomb & Barrows, Boston.
Elements of the Theory and Practice of Cookery. Williams & Fisher. The Macmillan Co. of Canada, Ltd., Toronto.
*Girls' Home Manual. Annie B. Juniper. British Columbia Government, Victoria, B.C.
Practical Cooking and Serving. Hill, $1.50. McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart, Ltd., Toronto.
LAUNDRY WORK
The Art and Practice of Laundry Work. Rankin, 1s. 6d. Blackie & Son, Limited, London, England.
The Expert Cleaner. Seaman, 75c. McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart, Ltd., Toronto.
*Bulletins on "The Laundry". 5c each. Department of Home Economics, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
HOME NURSING
Emergencies. Gulick, 40c. Ginn & Company, New York.
*Home Nursing. Harrison, $1.00. The Macmillan Co. of Canada, Ltd., Toronto.
Hints and Helps for Home Nursing and Hygiene. Cosgrave, 40c. St. John Ambulance Assn., Toronto.
ECONOMICS
Home Problems from a New Standpoint. Hunt, $1.00. Whitcomb & Barrows, Boston.
*Household Management. Terrill. American School of Home Economics, Chicago, Ill.
*The New Housekeeping. Frederick, $1.00. Musson Book Co., Toronto.
MAGAZINES
Good Housekeeping Magazine. $2.00 per year. 119 West Fortieth St., New York.
*The Journal of Home Economics. $3.00 per year. 525 West 120th St., New York.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page viii, "Wood" changed to "Wool" (of Wool Fibre)
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