352 AGRICULTURE ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 



outside, we may then cook it as long as necessary at a 

 low temperature without danger that the juices and 

 flavoring matter will escape. But if we do not first 

 brown (coagulate) the outside, the meat becomes dry 

 and flavorless. " Basting 7 ' a roast by pouring the 

 gravy on it while roasting helps to coagulate the out- 

 side. Since fish cannot be so well treated in this way, 

 we may immerse it completely in hot fat. The fat 

 keeps the juices from coming out, and it does not itself 

 go in to any extent. 



Frying is generally the poorest way of cooking, 

 because it usually allows the fat to go in, the juices to 

 come out, and the temperature to get too high. To- 

 gether with hasty eating, it is to a great extent the 

 cause of our national evil of indigestion. 



Beef tea and broth. Meat also contains albumin, 

 a substance similar to white of egg. And when we make 

 beef tea for sick persons, we mince the lean meat fine, 

 and then put it in warm water (150 F.) for two hours. 

 The water extracts the albumin substance, as well as 

 the flavors of the meat, and so we get a very nourishing 

 drink. But if we boil this beef tea, the albumin is 

 boiled hard (coagulated), and then the fluid left behind 

 is simply broth, which stimulates, but does not nourish. 

 This is what we get in boiling meat for soup. 



Try the experiment of putting some chopped meat 

 in water for half an hour without heating it. How 

 does the taste of this meat after half an hour compare 



