METHODS OF PREPARING FOOD. 359 



dishes, because their albumen becomes more solid and indigestible 

 with prolonged cooking. 



Frying 1 is usually objectionable because the fat in which the 

 meat is cooked produces an excess of volatile acids ; moreover it is 

 often burnt and thus changed in character and rendered indigestible, 

 causing flatulence and heartburn. If, however, it be skillfully done 

 frying is a wholesome form of cooking food. The skill consists in 

 frying " lightly," quickly and evenly and with constant motion, so 

 that the oil is not allowed to burn. A perfectly clean frying-pan, a 

 clear, smokeless fire, good, pure, clean fat or clarified dripping or a 

 small quantity of oil or genuine fresh butter, are essential. The fat 

 should actually boil, the meat, fish and vegetable be turned about 

 till they are lightly cooked without a scorch, then served hot with 

 all the oil drained away ; they are then nice and wholesome for most 

 persons. 



Boiling There is a vast difference between boiling meat 

 which is to be eaten and meat whose juices are to be extracted for 

 soup. In the former case the juices have to be kept in ; in the latter 

 drawn out. Slow boiling of a joint makes excellent nourishing soup, 

 but spoils the meat by extracting all the goodness. Quick boiling 

 also spoils the joint by hardening all the fibres. It should be plunged 

 into boiling water and kept at boiling temperature for five or ten 

 minutes; cold water should then be added to reduce it to about 165 

 (which may be ascertained by putting any thermometer into the 

 water), at which it should be maintained for the whole period of 

 cooking. By the contraction and coagulation of albumen caused by 

 the first plunge, the internal juice is prevented from escaping into 

 the surrounding water, or from being diluted by its entrance through 

 the pores. Mutton and fish are best boiled in hard water, water to 

 which salt has been added or sea-water. The scum which rises on 

 the top of the water while meat is being boiled is always useless and 

 unwholesome and should be removed as completely as possible. 

 Vegetables are best boiled ; they should be thoroughly cooked, so as 

 to become soft, then strained in a cullender and served as free from 

 water as possible. Cabbages and carrots can hardly be boiled too 

 long. Soft water is essential for vegetables ; steaming them is a form 

 of boiling them in soft water. 



Stewing occupies a middle position between roasting and 

 boiling. The meat should be covered with cold water, then heated 

 up and kept simmering, not boiling, till thoroughly done. The 

 nutritive materials are diffused through the solid and liquid, which 

 are then served up together. Hashing is the same process with 

 meat previously cooked. But hashed, or otherwise twice-cooked 

 meat, is very unwholesome. 



There is another method of cooking, by which the meat is 

 stewed in its own vapor alone. The meat is placed in a covered jar, 

 the jar is put into water in a saucepan and the water is made to si in- 



