“Considering the large amount of discussion about the digestibility of fried food and of gravies made by heating flour in fat, a few words on the subject at this point may not be out of order.  It is difficult to see how heating the fat before adding the flour can be unwholesome, unless the cook is unskillful enough to heat the fat so high that it begins to scorch.  Overheated fat, as has already been pointed out, contains an acrid, irritating substance called ‘Acrolein,’ which may readily be considered to be unwholesome.  It is without doubt the production of this body by overheating which has given fried food its bad name.  There are several ways of varying the flavor of gravies and sauces.  One should be especially mentioned here.  The flavor of browned flour—­The good flavor of browned flour is often overlooked.  If flour is cooked in fat, until it is a dark brown color, a distinctive and very agreeable flavor is obtained.

“This flavor combines very well with that of currant jelly, and a little jelly added to a brown gravy is a great improvement.  The flavor of this should not be combined with that of onions or other highly-flavored vegetables.”

BUTTER, CHEESE AND SUET—­A SUBSTITUTE FOR BUTTER

This formula for preparing a good, sweet, wholesome substitute for butter to be used for baking and frying was given Aunt Sarah by a thrifty German hausfrau, who prepared and used it in her large family many years.  Aunt Sarah always kept a supply on hand.  It was made as follows: 

10 pounds of fine solid kidney suet. 10 pounds of clean pork fat. 10 pounds of butter.

The suet cut in small pieces was put in a large boiler of water, boiled until all was melted, and the fat extracted from the suet.  It was then all poured through a fine sieve into a vessel containing hot water (the larger the quantity of hot water the finer the fat will be).  Stand aside to become cold and solid.  The boiling process prevents the peculiar taste which fried lard and suet usually possess.  Treat the pork fat in a similar manner.  Allow the suet and pork fat to stand until the following morning, when remove the solid fat from the boiler of water, wipe off all moisture and add both pork fat and suet fat to the melted butter, which had been prepared in the following manner:  The butter was melted in a porcelain lined boiler and allowed to cook until all salt and other foreign substance had settled and the butter had the appearance of clear oil.  At this point the butter should be watched carefully, as when settled it might quickly boil over, when you would be liable to lose your butter, besides suffering serious consequences.  Now the liquid butter, suet and pork fat are all put together into a large boiler and allowed to melt together on the back part of the range.  This will probably be done in the morning.  After the noon meal is finished move the boiler containing fat to front part of range;