A guide to modern cookery

raw fats, chosen with care and thoroughly purified by cooking. Under no circumstances may butter be used for frying on a large scale, seeing that, even when thoroughly purified, it can only reach a comparatively low degree of heat. It may be used only for _small, occasional fryings_. The fat of kidney of beef generally forms the base of the grease intended for frying on a large scale. It is preferable to all others on account of its cheapness and the great length of time it can be worked, provided it receives the proper care. Veal-fat yields a finer frying medium, but its resistance is small, and it must, moreover, always be strengthened with the fat of beef. Mutton-fat should be deliberately discarded, for, if it happen to be that of an old beast, it smells of tallow, and, if it be that of a young one, it causes the hot grease to foam and to overflow down the sides of the utensil, this leading to serious accidents. Pork-fat is also used for frying, either alone, or combined with some other kind. In brief, the fat of kidney of beef is that which is best suited to fryings on a large scale. Ordinary household frying, which does not demand a very resisting grease, may well be effected by means of the above, combined with an equal quantity of veal-fat, or a mixture composed of the fat of kidney of beef, veal, and pork in the proportions of one-half, one-quarter, and one-quarter respectively. The grease used for frying ought not only to be melted down, but also thoroughly cooked, so that it may be quite pure. If insufficiently cooked, it foams on first being used, and so demands all kinds of extra precautions, which only cease to be necessary when constant heating at last rectifies it. Moreover, if it be not quite pure, it easily penetrates immersed solids and makes them indigestible. All grease used in frying should first be cut into pieces and then put into the saucepan with one pint of water per every ten lbs. The object of