Norwegian cooking apparatus.

Construction described.

The following mode of using it has been employed in my own kitchen, and the temperatures taken by myself. A fowl weighing two or two and a half pounds is put into a four or five quart saucepan, boiling on the fire or gas stove. Ebullition ceases for half a minute, owing to the coldness of the body introduced, and then reappears: it should be continued actively, but for five minutes only. Then remove at once and place it without addition of any kind in the central cavity of the Norwegian cooker. Boiling water is next to be poured in to fill the hot-water jacket which surrounds it, and the lid made fast. But no fluid of any kind is put into the cavity with the fowl. The apparatus is now accurately closed, and set aside in a corner, screened from draughts, but not near to any source of heat, after which it is to remain untouched for eighteen or twenty hours. On opening it the fowl will be found perfectly cooked and tender throughout, and the temperature of the liquor will be from about 8o° to 900. This should be skimmed from all fat, and serve as a basis for the sauce. The initial boiling is of course intended to seal the surface, and to prevent the juices of the bird from escaping; but some portion will of course find its way out into the cavity, and is to be utilized in the manner suggested, so that no particle is lost. The fowl can be served at once, masked with a good white sauce or otherwise, according to taste. The same process and time will cook mutton admirably. It will be quite tender, and its juice is also served as gravy in the dish. Vegetables can be cooked apart to garnish, chosen either for the purpose of a "haricot" or for an "Irish stew."

Practical directions for using it.

Results.

A most useful lesson is thus afforded to illustrate the power of a low temperature, if continued long enough, to cook meat thoroughly, and at the same time to render it tender and digestible. It is not necessary, however, to adopt this apparatus for ordinary purposes. Equal results can be obtained in a shorter time by the Warren pot for all practical purposes, following the directions before given.

A few words are necessary here respecting the boiling of vegetables; some of these are perhaps better steamed, a question which will be considered below. For the most part, green vegetables are better boiled. They should be first thoroughly washed, to free them from dirt and insects, but not allowed to soak for an hour or more in water, which only does harm.

No waste possible.

Process for mutton.

Boiling of vegetables.

Preparation.

Boiling Vegetables: Steaming.

When ready to be cooked, they should be put into a saucepan of boiling water, to which salt has been added at the rate of a tablespoonful to half a gallon; and if the water be hard, a very small quantity of soda should be used also; if rain or any other soft water can be obtained, no soda should be employed. They should be kept briskly boiling during the time required, and generally without the saucepan-lid; and the cooking should commence so as to be finished exactly at the time they are required at table, as they take injury by being kept standing for any length of time before they are served. It is best to transfer them at once, after careful draining, into hot vegetable dishes. Nothing looks more slovenly and disagreeable than water drained from the vegetables occupying the bottom of the vegetable dish. It should be remembered in boiling peas that soda is never to be used; it destroys their delicate flavour; if any addition is made, besides the usual quantity of salt, it should be a little sugar.

B. Steaming, for various purposes, especially for cooking fish and some vegetables, is preferable to boiling, because so much of their best constituents is lost by the latter process. Respecting its applicability to fish, see the chapter on the subject. Vegetables are deteriorated by the loss of their saline elements in boiling water: this is strikingly evident in the case of potatoes, which, peeled and boiled as they usually are, become insipid, in comparison with those which are steamed or boiled in their "jackets." The value of the jacket is well-known to the Irish peasant, who rarely or never removes it until the tuber is cooked. But other vegetables, such as cauliflower, broccoli, brussel-sprouts, etc., should be steamed for the same reason, although the colour is not so bright and clear as when boiled, as they usually are, with a little soda added to the water.

Use of soda.

Boiling peas.

B. Steaming potatoes.

A simple steamer consists of a saucepan half-filled with water kept at boiling, and replenished as it wastes, with a cylindrical receiver for the fish or vegetable, of about equal capacity, fitting to its top when the lid is removed, to take its place at the top of the receiver instead. This receiver admits through its base, which is perforated with small holes, a constant atmosphere of steam at 212° The cooking is thus effected with but very slight loss of the saline elements referred to.

C. Stewing and Braising, processes by which meat and poultry are prepared and served in the most tender condition possible, and in an attractive form for the table, are somewhat neglected in this country. There is a marked distinction between "braising" and "stewing" not sufficiently recognized here; hence, probably, the infrequency with which a true braise appears at our tables.

Stewing. This consists in nothing more than a and other vegetables.

The steamer.

Long cooking in water at low temperature. Applicable to either beef or mutton, from which most of the fat should be removed, the meat should be placed, more or less divided into small portions with the bones belonging thereto, in an enamelled saucepan with a moderate quantity of water, a few vegetables for flavour, very little salt, and some pepper to taste. The cover being put on, it should be placed over a small gas ring or charcoal, or on a portion of the hot plate, where it cannot rise to boiling-point. In fact, the temperature should never be above 1700, and continue three, four, or six hours according to the quantity; at all events, until the meat is quite tender. The coarser and even tougher portions become by this process very digestible, appetizing, and nutritious. Much the same result may be obtained in the "Warren's cooking-pot" already referred to.