Skc 



22.1 



THE FOOD QUESTION'. 



359 



iiig it in hot -water has the same effect tliat is produceil iiixm an egg — the 

 albumen is coagulated, and remains in the meat, and cooks witli it, and 

 becomes the mo.st nutritive portion of it. Tlierefore remember it as one of 

 the most important items of knowledge alxjiit cooking, never to put a piece 

 of meat into water to boil, unless the water is boiling hot ; and never put a 

 piece of meat to roast until your fire is very hot; and if it goes into an oven 

 to bake, see that the oven is hot enough to cook the outride almost instantly. 

 If you let it simmer slowly, it will ooze out the richest portion of its property ■ 

 for food. "The first effect of applying a strong heat to a piece of fresh 

 meat, is to cause the fibers to contract, to squeeze out a portion of the juice, 

 and partially to close the pores so as to prevent the cscai)e of more. Heat 

 is applied to meat chiefly in three ways — boiling, roasting, and baking. 

 During these operations, fresh beef and mutton, when moderately fat, lose, 

 on an average, about as follows : 



In boiling. Id baking. In rodullng. 



4 lbs. of beef lose 1 ll> 1 11). 3 oz lib Ouz. 



4 lbs. of mutton lose 14 oz 1 lb. 4 o» 1 lb. G oz. 



The greater loss in baking and roasting arises chiefly from the greater quan- 

 tity of water evaporated, and of fat which is melted out by either of these 

 two methods of cooking. 



" lu preparing meat for the table, we discover that it is most dcsir- 

 aljle to retain all the ingredients of its juice ; how this is to be done will 

 depend much upon the method of culinary jirocedure. If the piece of 

 meat be introduced into the water when briokly boiling, the albumen at its 

 surface, and to a certain depth inward, is immediately coagulated, thus 

 inclosing the mass in a crust or shell, Avhich neither permits its juice to flow 

 out, nor the external water to penetrate M-ithin, to dissolve, dilute, and 

 weaken it. The greater part of the sapid constituents of the meat are thus 

 retained, rendering it juicy and well-flavored. It should be boiled lor oaly 

 a few minutes, and then kept for some time at a tomj)eraturo from 15S to 

 1(')3 deirrees. Meat is underdone or bloodv when it has been heated 

 througliout only to the temperature of coagulating albumen (140 degrees); 

 it is quite done or cooked when it has been heated through its whole mass 

 to I.'jS or 1G5 degrees, at which temperature the coloring nnitter of the 

 blood coagulated. As in boiling, so in baking or roasting; for whether tho 

 meat be surrounded by water or in an oven, as soon as tho water-proof coat- 

 ing is formed around it, tho further changes are eft'ected alike in both cases, 

 by internal vapor or steam. In roasting or baking, therefore, the fire chould 

 be at first made quite hot, until the surface-pores are conij)Iefely plugged 

 and the allmminous crust formed. Hence, a beefsteak or mutton-chop is 

 done quickly over a smart fire, that the lichly-tlavored natural juices may 

 bo retained." 



The above is extracted from a most valuable book — one that no lioii«e- 

 keeper can afford to do without. It is " Younuuis' Ilaiid-I'.Ki'k of Ilnusehold 

 Science." It is scieueo in such an attractive form that all may read it with 



