564 



MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



Average Composition of Edible Portion of Different Cuts of 'Meat. 



The difference between the cuts is chiefly in the amount of the 

 fat and consequently in the fuel value. So far as the proteins are 

 concerned, very little difference is found in the items included in 

 the table. The cooking of meats develops the pleasing taste and 

 odor of extractives and that due to the browned fat and tissues and 

 softens and loosens the protein (gelatinoids) of the connective 

 tissues, and thus makes the meat more tender. Extreme heat, how- 

 ever, tends to coagulate and harden the albuminoids of the lean por- 

 tions, and also weakens the flavor of extractives. If the heating is 

 carried too far a burned or charred product of bad flavor results. 

 (F. B. 142.) 



Meats lose weight in cooking. A small part of this is due to 

 escape of meat juices and fat, but the chief part of the material lost 

 is simply water. The nutritive value of a meat soup depends upon 

 the substances which are dissolved out of the meat, bones, and gristle 

 by the water. In ordinary meat broth these consist almost wholly of 

 extractives and salts, which are very agreeable and often most useful 

 as stimulants, but have little or no value as actual nutriment, since 

 they neither build tissue nor yield energy. The principles which 

 underlie the cooking of fish are essentially the same as with meats. 



The thoroughness with which a given food material may be di- 

 gested can be studied satisfactorily only by means of natural diges- 

 tion experiments in which the quantities of nutrients in the mate- 

 rial eaten are determined and compared with those in the feces 

 excreted. Such experiments are sometimes made with dogs and 

 other animals, but the most satisfactory are those made with men. 

 Only those made with men are here considered. (0. E. S. 193.) 



Numerous studies of the effect of different methods of cooking 

 upon the thoroughness and ease of digestion of meat have been made. 

 Many valuable studies have been made at the University of Illinois 

 by H. S. Grindley and others. 



In one bulletin the results of 67 digestion experiments with men 

 are given. These experiments were of two kinds. In 23 of them 

 the meat was eaten in a rather varied ration, the purpose being to 



