ANSWERS TO QUERIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XI, Issue 44, 4 November 1893, Page 382

ANSWERS TO QUERIES.

• Silly Little One.’—l by no means think you silly. In fact you are very wise to save all you can. Here are some hints on dripping as you request: Dripping is about the best thing to fry in next to oil; lard is not a good thing for many dishes, and certainly need not be used as long as good clarified dripping is to be had. Have a saucepan kept for the purpose, and into this put any pieces of tat you may have, with a little water, and let it all simmer gently (stirring it occasionally) till the fat is all rendered down, and is clear enough for you to see the bottom of the pan distinctly, while the bits of skin, etc., are all shrivelled up. Now draw it from the fire, and strain it carefully through a piece of clean muslin, as it gets cool, into a basin or jar. Care must be taken not to let the sediment, mix with the dripping when pouring it into the basin. Remember that you should always have enough fat in your pan to thoroughly cover the article to be fried, so that it may be immersed in the friture, and thus be boiled in the fat. Of course, this takes more fat at the time than does the dry frying so dear to many English cooks ; but, as the same fat can be used over and over again, it comes to very much the same in the end. Fat should always be strained after use, to remove any crumbs, etc., that may have fallen into it. If it gets to look cloudy, break up the dripping and put it into a basin. Pour on to it enough boiling water to cover it, and stir it well till it is melted and the discolouration is washed out of it. Now let it stand till perfectly cold, when you will find the dripping in a thin white cake at the top of the water, all the discolouration, etc,, having sunk to the bottom of the basin, while any sediment that may adhere to the under part of the cake can be easily scraped off. Properly treated dripping can be clarified several times, but if it is once allowed to burn it must be thrown away, as it would only taint whatever was put into it. Beef and mutton dripping should always be kept in separate basins, for, though the latter is excellent for frying purposes, it cannot be used (as can the beef dripping if properly clarified) for cakes or pastry. The great secret is to have the fat at the right temperature—that is, hot enough to seal up the pores of whatever has to be fried, thus preventing the grease getting in. As you probably know, water boils at a temperature of 212 deg. Fahrenheit, and never reaches a higher temperature, however hard it may boil. Fat and oil, on the contrary, require from 500 deg. to 650 deg. before they reach that point ; but, as this would inevitably reduce anything put into them to a cinder, they are used before they quite reach ebullition—■ a state which, if tested with a friometer or cookery thermometer, would show about 385 deg. Fahrenheit. This state is found by the condition of the fat, which, when fit for frying, is quite still, though on throwing in a morsel of breadcrumb it fizzles up at once, large bubbles rising to the surface, while the bread becomes a golden brown and quite crisp almost in a moment. Fat should always be tested in this way before using, as this simple precaution saves many failures.