CHAPTER VI 

 THE SCIENCE OF THE KITCHEN 



1. In what ways are our modern methods of 

 cooking better than the methods used in early 

 times ? 



2. What advantages has each of the following 

 methods of preserving foods over the other : drying 

 and canning ? 



Purposes of cooking. Man in his early history ate his 

 food uncooked ; but to-day civilized man finds that cooking 

 foods serves three important purposes : first, it destroys 

 parasites and disease germs; second, it renders the food 

 more palatable ; and third, it makes the food more digestible. 



Sometimes bacteria and parasites that cause disease, such 

 as typhoid fever and trichinosis, are found in foods ; but the 

 high temperature used in cooking kills these dangerous forms 

 and thus renders them harmless. Many foods are made 

 more agreeable to the taste through cooking, and this has 

 an important effect on the digestion of the food, as it is found 

 that foods which we enjoy are digested better than foods 

 that we dislike. 



Many foods are rendered more digestible by cooking. 

 Much of the starch found in vegetable foods is inclosed in 

 cellulose walls, upon which the digestive juices cannot act. 

 Cooking bursts these walls, thus allowing opportunity for 

 the digestive juices to act on the swollen starch granules. 

 Cooking softens the tough, connective tissues of some meats, 

 and this renders them more tender and easily digested. 



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