Joan Scobey - The Fannie Farmer Junior Cookbook

The kind to use is called double-acting. Baking soda is another leavener when combined with an acid, such as sour cream or buttermilk, and is often used with baking powder. Beef. Because we want to eat healthier foods, especially with less cholesterol, beef is now younger and less fatty than it was in former years. When you buy beef, check for ruddy meat and clear white fat; steaks and roasts should have thin veins of fat, called marbling. For hamburgers, look for bright red meat and minimal fat (less than 18 to 20 percent, if it is listed on the label).

You can easily grind your own in a food processor from chunks of chuck and/or round. Figure on to pound of boneless beef per person, as in hamburger or minute steaks, and twice as much per person if the steak or roast has a bone. Bread crumbs. Fresh bread crumbs are easy to make and much tastier than the store-bought packaged variety. Put slices or crusts of fresh bread in a food processor and process until they are well pulverized. White bread is most commonly used, but rye and whole-wheat breads can also be processed, and they have nice snappy flavors.

Store them in the freezer in an airtight plastic bag. Butter is labeled lightly salted or sweet, which means unsalted. Many professionals prefer sweet butter for baking, but the difference is marginal, so use whichever you prefer. Butter stored in the freezer keeps for months and can be defrosted and re-frozen. In the refrigerator it lasts about a week or two, and should be tightly wrapped. Chicken is labeled according to age, from young broilers or fryers (they mean the same thing) to older and larger roasters and mature hens for stewing.

The color of the skin doesnt matter, but chicken should be moist and plump with a fresh odor. Allow about to 1 pound per person for birds with bones, pound per person for boneless breasts. Rinse chicken in cold water as soon as you get home, wrap it loosely, and refrigerate it for no more than a day or two. After preparing it, wash your hands, knives, and cutting board in hot soapy water to prevent contamination. (See A Special Warning, .) Chocolate for cooking is unsweetened, semisweet, or sweet and usually comes in scored bars or in individually wrapped 1-ounce squares. Cornstarch is a powder used as a thickening agent and must be dissolved in a small amount of cold water before being added to hot sauces. Cornstarch is a powder used as a thickening agent and must be dissolved in a small amount of cold water before being added to hot sauces.

Its often used in Chinese cooking to produce the characteristic thick, shiny sauces. Cream for whipping has at least 30 percent fat content and is called heavy cream. Light cream and half-and-half dont have enough fat for whipping and are used primarily for sauces and coffee. Eggs are graded according to their size. These recipes (and most cookbooks) use the size labeled large (which is actually not as big as extra large and jumbo). Fish. Fish.

Buy fish thats as fresh as possible. Look for bright eyes, shiny skin that springs back when you press it, and a clean sea aroma; avoid any fish that looks dull and gummy and has a strong fishy smell. Choose fish thats refrigerated on ice, not already packaged. You can buy fish whole, just as it is caught, or dressed and ready for cooking, which means scaled and eviscerated, with the head, tail, and fins removed. Dressed fish is also sold as steaks, which are cross-section slices of large fish that include the backbone, and fillets, which are the boneless sides cut lengthwise. Figure about to 1 pound of whole fish per person, pound per person of dressed fish, steaks, or fillets.

Refrigerate the fish immediately and use it within a day or two.