TREND OF MODERN MISS M. CHRISTIAN

NZ Truth, Issue 1263, 13 February 1930, Page 20

TREND OF MODERN

MISS M. CHRISTIAN

"Evolving New. Art Where

None Existed

(By Miss Marion Christian, well-known authority on the art of cooking, m an exclusive interview with "N. Z. Truth.") Cookery is the art of preparing and serving food, and by the application of heat and qther methods, making it more digestible, nourishing, and appetising. (

POOKERY, like everything else, has V> advanced with civilisation. . Some form of cookery has existed from the earliest +imes, and it has progressed from the simple to the elaborate, its progress depending partly upon the food available, partly upon the stage of civilisation reached, and partly by the appliances available for preparing, cooking and serving it.

The ancients were great eaters, but had little idea (if any) of food values, nor of any refinements of the palate. They had a very poor supplj 1 - of pots and pans, and all the other

equipment of a kitchen so their cookery was of necessity very plain and simple. As wealth and culture increased, the richest and rarest and most difficult varieties of food to obtain were sought out. It is from Italy during the Renaissance that the history of modern cookery really begins. The Italians were also the first to introduce forks. The use of fork and- spoon made a great difference m the progress of dining and cookery. Italian cooks were brought to

distinguishing of vitamins, "A" soluble m fat, found m butter and yolk of egg, "B" soluble m water and present m yeast and rice polishings. "C" soluble m water found m green vegetable, oranges and lemons, and many forms of fresh food. At the present time French cookery is admittedly the best, as the French know how to cook the food without

waste. The principal methods of cooking- are roasting- or baking, grilling, boiling-, stewing and frying-. Roasting- and boiling are suitable for lar g- c

Paris by Catherine de Medici and introduced there, their cultured simplicity. In the present day we have brought m a science of dieting and we choose our food more us regards quality than quantity. "We eat to live — not iive to eat." The modern menu is much more simple, but much more digestible than m our forefather's time, and although the food is more simple it requires good and careful cooking so that we do not. lose the essential qualities of the food, through too great heat and careless cooking. We -know since the Great War that foods must contain extras called vitamins, the absence of which means disease or death. i Recent researches have led to the

vessel m a small quantity of liquor. This is a suitable method for tough pieces of meat, as, the aim is to make food tender. Just as our meals are shorter and take up less time, so our modern kitchens are triumphs m time and labor-saving devices. Gas and electricity have done away with the labor of stoking and cleaning kitchen ranges and the attendant overheating. Glass and aluminium cooking uten r sils have done away with the cleaning and polishing of the brass and copper known "to our grandparents. The trend of modern cookery is undoubtedly a saving of health, time and money, and results m longer life and greater mental and physioal fitness.

joints of meat, i.e., anything over two pounds. The aim is the retention of the juices. For grilling only small tender pieces of food are suitable. This is one of the most digestible methods of cooking. The aim is to keep m all the juices. Frying is cooking food m hot fat, only small tender pieces of food ' should be used for this method. The aim is to keep m juices and to- keep fat out. Stewing is cooking slowly m a covered pan or