Edwin Giles Fulton

“ Thick batters are like cream. Still thicker batters, which may be poured in a continuous stream, are called pour batters. Any batter is a pour batter until it is made so stiff that it breaks or drops in the pouring, when it is called a drop batter. It will remain a batter until too stiff to be beaten, when it becomes a dough.
Doughs, like batters, are of varying degrees of thickness, ranging from those just stiff enough to be handled to those which may be rolled thin as paper. Generally speaking, one full measure of flour to one scant measure of liquid makes a pour batter. ”

“ Boiling effects partial destruction or removal of organic and mineral impurities found in water, hence the importance of boiling the water where such impurities exist. Boiling also expels all the air and the gases which give fresh water its sparkle and vitality. ”

“ Enough water should be used to make it the proper consistency to spread nicely. An egg beater or wire potato masher is an excellent utensil for mixing. A little salt can be added if desired. Nut butter when mixed with water does not keep but a few hours.
PEANUT CREAM
Cook the peanuts until they just begin to turn brown. Then make into butter, ground as fine as possible. Emulsify with water until it is the consistency of milk. Then put in double boiler and cook until it has become as thick as ordinary cream. A little salt can be added if desired. ”

“ It takes a longer time than some other ways of cooking, but requires less attention. There are two methods of cooking by steam: (1) In a steamer, which is a covered pan, with perforated bottom. This is placed over boiling water, and the steam carries the heat directly to the food. (2) By means of a double boiler. By this method the heat is conveyed from the boiling water, through the inner boiler to the food. When cooking by steam, the water should boil steadily until the food is done. Watery vegetables are made drier by steaming, and flour mixtures develop a different flavor than when baked. ”

“ Many kinds of food need the action of water or other liquid, combined with heat, to cook them in the best manner, and boiling is one of the most common forms of cookery. When water becomes too hot to bear the hand in it with comfort, it has reached one hundred and fifty degrees, or the scalding point. ”

“ WHY I WAS IMPRESSED TO WRITE A COOK BOOK.
It must appeal to the judgment of every thinking man and woman that the human family are more in need of sound, wholesome advice as to what they should eat and drink than ever before. The number of physicians and dentists increases each year at an alarming rate, but the aches and ills of the suffering people do not lessen. Thousands of people find themselves in a deplorable condition, with stomachs almost worn out, having depended largely upon predigested foods and a long list of so-called "dyspepsia cures." ”

“ To properly cook peanuts is the essential thing to produce a healthful, palatable nut butter. This can be accomplished if care is exercised. There are three ways of cooking them: namely, baking or roasting, boiling, and steaming. The baking process is the easiest way, but care should be used not to scorch them. Scorched or burnt peanuts are unfit to use in any form.
PROCESS NO. 1
Put a layer of peanuts about one-half inch deep in a dripping-pan and place on perforated shelf in a moderate oven. Allow them to bake slowly for about one hour. Cook them until they are a light brown or straw color. ”

“ After years of experience in conducting vegetarian restaurants in several cities and making a study of the food question, he thinks he can bestow no greater gift upon the people than to place before them a book containing instruction in the preparation of wholesome dishes that will build up in place of tearing down the body. ”

“ Starchy vegetables, as potatoes, supply energy and heat, and give necessary bulk to the food. Peas, beans, and lentils contain a large amount of proteid, used in building and repairing tissue, and are therefore used in place of meat. For weak stomachs they are more easily digested in the form of purees and soups, with the outer indigestible covering removed. All vegetables should be fresh; for in spite of all that may be said to the contrary, all vegetables, whether roots, leaves, or any other kind, begin to lose bulk and flavor as soon, as removed from the ground. ”

“ The salt hardens the water, and also sets the color in the vegetable. For peas and beans do not add salt to the water until they are nearly done, as they do not boil tender so readily in hard water.
Corn should not be boiled in salt water, as the salt hardens the outer covering of skin and makes it tough. Cook the vegetables rapidly till perfectly tender, but no longer. If vegetables are cooked too long, flavor, color, and appearance are all impaired. To judge when done, watch carefully, and test by piercing with a fork. The time required to cook a vegetable varies with its age and freshness ”

“ In our efforts to teach how to live without the use of flesh foods, we find we have only begun to discover the inexhaustible resources of the great vegetable kingdom in the boundless wealth of varied hygienic foods. ”

“ It is much more preferable to grind the salt in with the nuts than to mix it in the butter.
ALMOND BUTTER
Almond butter is more difficult to make than peanut butter, on account of the difficulty in removing the skins. Dry heat does not loosen the skins as it does the peanut. To blanch almonds, soak them in boiling water from two to five minutes; then the skins become loose and can be pinched off by pressing on the nut with the thumb and finger; the skins will crack and the kernel pop out. Dry them in a slow oven until they become thoroughly dry and crisp, taking care not to burn them. ”

“ By setting the grain in boiling water, the indigestible outer portion or cellulose is more completely broken up, and the starch granules are more thoroughly acted upon by the water, the object being to cook the starch and the gluten as thoroughly as possible. If the grains are cooked in a double boiler, they will not need to be stirred after they are set, except when cooked in a very large quantity. ”

“ Put lentils to cook in a large quantity of boiling water; boil rapidly a short time, then simmer without stirring. When they begin to get tender and are yet quite moist, slice an onion and press into the lentils until covered; keep the vessel over a slow, even fire, until the lentils are well dried out. The drying-out may be finished in the oven if the lentils are covered so that they will not harden on top. When well dried add a little boiling water and rub through a fine colander, removing the hulls. Into this pulp stir the browned flour. ”

“ Disease among cattle, poultry, and fish has increased so alarmingly in the last few years that we should no longer depend on the animal kingdom for food. We should look to the grains, nuts, vegetables, and fruits for a better dietary than can be prepared [4] from the flesh of animals likely to be contaminated with tuberculosis, cancer, and other diseases.
In writing this book, the author has treated the subject from the commonly accepted definition of the term vegetarianism, which means to abstain from flesh food, but allows the use of eggs, milk, and its products. ”

“ Put the water, butter, and onion in a saucepan and set on the stove; when it begins to boil, add the protose and let simmer ten or fifteen minutes, then place where it will boil, and thicken with the browned and white flour rubbed smooth in the tomato; the thickening should be thin enough to pour readily. Let cook a few minutes and add salt and celery salt, and serve with vegetables or roasts. ”

“ The importance of pure food can not be overestimated. The surest way to get it is to do your own grinding, thus having the article freshly ground as you use it, and avoiding the danger of injurious adulterations. This mill is adapted to grinding or pulverizing any of the following articles:—
Coffee, peanuts or nuts of any kind, all wet or oily substances, corn meal, cracker dust, bread crumbs, cracked wheat and oats, horseradish, and cooked meats, spices, herbs, and roots, vanilla beans and pods when mixed with sugar and ground together for flavoring ”

“ Wash the lentils, put to cook in saucepan with plenty of cold water, and boil till tender; when soft, turn them into a fine colander, and drain thoroughly, saving the water they were cooked in. Peel the onions, cut into thin slices, put in a flat stew-pan with a lump of butter, or a little olive oil, and fry. Put the lentils in the onions and add salt to taste. Moisten with a little of the broth drained from the lentils and allow them to simmer at the side of the fire. ”

“ Pare tomatoes, and keep in a cold place, and sprinkle with chopped ice at serving time. The list of vegetables suitable for salads is so long that the question of kind is wholly a matter of choice. Asparagus, peas, string beans, beets, cauliflower, etc., are all well utilized in salads. Freshly cooked vegetables or left-overs may be used, but all cooked vegetables must be cold and perfectly tender. By deftly combining these left-overs with the favorite dressing, there is material for a delicious and economical salad, to which the somewhat aristocratic name of macedoine salad may be given. ”

“ Fresh water should be used when the object is to extract the flavor, or soluble parts, as in soups and broths. Salt water should be used when it is desired to retain the flavor and soluble parts, as in most green vegetables. Cold water draws out the starch of vegetables. Boiling water bursts starch grains, and is absorbed by the swelling starch, and softens the cellulose in cereals and vegetables. ”

“ Put the water and butter into a double boiler and set on the range. Mix the sugar, flour, and corn starch together; grate in the lemon rind, add the juice and beaten yolks of the eggs. When the water in the boiler is scalding hot, stir in the mixture, and cook [229] till of the consistency of cold honey, stirring now and then to ensure even cooking. Remove from the fire; when cool, pour into deep pie tins, lined with good pastry. When done, meringue with the whites of the eggs. ”

“ Heat the milk to boiling, stir in the rice, flour, butter, onion, mace, and salt. Cook all ten minutes, stirring frequently. Have the potatoes ready, freshly cooked and mashed; while hot add the rice mixture, and put into a pan to cool. When cool, cut in slices about five inches long, dip in egg and crumbs, put in oiled pan, and bake until nicely browned. Serve with parsley sauce. ”

“ It must be apparent to all students of the past century that the people of the present are not enjoying the same degree of health as our ancestors, nor have we any assurance that things will improve unless some radical change is made. ”

“ In toasting bread, do not expose it to such fierce heat that the bread will be burned or singed. Singed bread is not toasted bread. Again, the fire should be hot enough to more than simply dry the bread. ”

“ Drain off all the water possible and put them through a colander. Put on tins suspended over the stove, or in a slow oven, with the door open, taking care not to brown them. When perfectly dry and hard, grind through the mill loosely adjusted. If it is not fine enough, spread out to dry some more, pass through the mill again more tightly adjusted, but if the mill is too tight, it will grind it into butter. A good plan is to rub it through a flour sieve. ”

“ Observing these proportions and following the foregoing directions, delicious cream soups are made of rice, squash, celery, peas, asparagus, cucumber, spinach, peanuts, potato, corn, lima beans, cauliflower, beets, tomato, salsify, chestnut, mushrooms, [40] onions, baked beans, lentils, macaroni, spaghetti, watercress, string beans, sago, tapioca, barley, carrots, etc. All vegetables should be cooked very tender in boiling salted water, drained, and rubbed through a sieve. Rice, sago, tapioca, and barley should be boiled slowly till each grain is soft and distinct. ”

“ All green vegetables that are eaten raw and dressed with acid, salt, and oil, are included in the list of salads, and they should always be served crisp and cool. Wash salad greens carefully, allowing them to stand in cold or iced water until crisp. Drain and wipe dry with a soft towel, taking care not to bruise the leaves, and keep in cool place till serving time. If they are not thoroughly dried, the water will collect in the bottom of the dish and ruin any dressing used. ”

“ A splendid way to cook them is to fill a tight-covered dish about two-thirds full, place in the oven, and shake occasionally. When cooked this way, they are not so liable to burn, and they retain their flavor better. When they have cooked sufficiently, spread out at once. ”

“ When they are pared, they should be baked in a dish, and oil of some kind added, to prevent their outsides from becoming burned.
MASHED POTATOES
Pare and boil or steam six or eight large potatoes. If boiled, drain when tender, and let set in the kettle for a few minutes, keeping them covered, shaking the kettle occasionally to prevent scorching. Mash with a wire potato masher, or, if convenient, press through a colander; add salt, a lump of butter, and sufficient hot milk to moisten thoroughly. Whip with the batter whip, or wooden spoon, until light and fluffy. ”

“ The kind that suffer least in this respect are beets, potatoes, carrots, etc. Those which are most easily affected are cabbage, lettuce, celery, asparagus, etc.
Vegetables that have been touched with the frost should be kept in a perfectly dark place for some [118] days. The frost is then drawn out slowly, and the vegetables are not so liable to rot.
GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR VEGETABLES
Fresh green vegetables should be cooked as soon after being gathered as possible. Those containing sugar, as corn and peas, lose some of their sweetness by standing. ”

“ When there is quite a commotion on the surface of the water, and the bubbles breaking above it throw off steam or watery vapor, two hundred and twelve degrees, or the boiling point, is reached. [10] After water reaches the boiling point it becomes no hotter, no matter how violently it may boil. The excess of heat escapes in the steam. ”