886 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



FOODS— HUMAN NUTRITION. 



Studies on the influence of cooking upon the nutritive value of meats at 

 the University of Illinois, 1903-4, II. S. Grindley and A. D. Emmett (V. 8. 

 Dept. Agr., Office Expt: Stas. Bid. 162, pp. 230). — This bulletin reports experi- 

 ments to determine the loss of nutrients which results when meat is cooked 

 under different conditions in water, by pan broiling, by roasting, sauteing, fry- 

 ing, broiling, and pot roasting, as well as studies of the influence of the differ- 

 ent methods of cooking upon flavor and palatability, and upon the nature of 

 the substances which bones yield when cooked in hot water as in soup making, 

 the work as a whole being a continuation of studies previously reported (E. S. 

 R., 15, p. 988). 



From the results obtained it appeared that " meats of different kinds and cuts 

 may be analyzed directly and with accuracy — that is, without being first previ- 

 ously air dried. The soluble matter in meats may be completely removed by ex- 

 traction with cold water and the preparation and analysis of such cold-water 

 extracts is of great importance in studies of the true value of flesh foods. The 

 total proportion of raw meat which is soluble in cold water is considerable, the 

 average results showing that the cold-water extract contains about 2.3 per cent 

 proteid, 1 per cent nitrogenous extractives, 1.6 per cent nonnitrogenous extrac- 

 tives, 0.7 per cent nitrogen, and 0.8 per cent ash. None of the fat present in the 

 meat is dissolved by cold water. . . . 



" Meats cooked by boiling are less soluble in cold water than are raw 

 meats. . . . 



" The different methods commonly followed in cooking meat in hot water vary 

 somewhat as to time and temperature of cooking, but the resulting cooked 

 meats are quite similar as regards composition and also as regards the propor- 

 tion of their constituents which are soluble in cold water. 



" Meats cooked by dry heat, as in roasting, broiling, sauteing, and frying, are 

 on an average 2.4 times more soluble in water than boiled meats, but are only a 

 little more than half as soluble as raw meats, . . . 



" The more pronounced flavor of meats cooked by dry heat as compared with 

 those cooked in hot water is without doubt due to the larger proportion of solu- 

 ble constituents which the former contains. As regards the losses in weight 

 when meat is cooked in hot water, the average values show that it is equal to 

 from 10 to 50 per cent of the total weight of the fresh meat used, the average 

 being about 34 per cent. . . . 



" The fatter kinds and cuts of meat lose less water, proteid. and mineral mat- 

 ters, but more fat than leaner kinds of meat. The proportion of nutrients 

 extracted in the broth is directly proportional to the length of time and the 

 temperature of the cooking period. Different cuts of some kinds of meat 

 behave differently as regards the nature and amount of the losses they sustain 

 when cooked in hot water. On an average, the larger the piece the smaller the 

 percentage losses. When meat is cooked in water at 80 to 85° C, placing the 

 meat in hot or cold water at the start has little effect on the amount of material 

 recovered in the broth. Beef used in the preparation of beef tea or broth has 

 lost comparatively little of its total nutritive material, though most of the con- 

 stituents which give flavor have been removed, 



"As regards the composition of complete or un filtered meat broths, the aver- 

 age results vary, the total solid matter containing from 1 to 10 per cent of the 

 total quantity of meat used. 



" The clear, filtered broths contained less of the important food elements, i. e., 

 proteids and fat, than complete or unfiltered broths, but practically the same 



