COOKING. 89 



and more easily broken up by the teeth because their 

 connective tissue loses its toughness, being for the most 

 part turned into jelly. If the meat be cooked too fast 

 this change occurs very imperfectly, and it comes to 

 table stringy, tough, unpleasant to eat, and hard to di- 

 gest. 



When meat is boiled, much of its flavoring and some of 

 its nourishing matters are apt to pass out into the water 

 and be lost. If the meat be plunged at first into boiling 

 water for a few minutes, the surface is hardened and a 

 coating formed, which keeps in the flavoring matters of 

 the deeper parts. The cooking should then be continued 

 slowly. Quick boiling, except at the start, will spoil the 

 best and most tender piece of meat. 



Hogs are especially apt to suffer from a parasite, which 

 lives in their muscles. This parasite is a little worm 

 named trichina. If the meat be eaten raw or imperfectly 

 cooked, these parasites bore their way out of the alimen- 

 tary canal and travel all over the body, producing the 

 disease known as trichinosis. This danger may be avoid- 

 ed by thorough cooking, which kills the trichinae. 



19. The Cooking of Many Vegetables is very important. 

 Those which are not eaten in the green state for their 

 minerals, nearly all contain starch as their chief constitu- 

 ent. This starch exists in the form of tiny solid parti- 

 cles which are very hard to digest. When the vegetable 

 is boiled, these particles are softened and made easier to 



More digestible ? Why should they be cooked slowly? Why should 

 a joint which is to be boiled be put at first in very hot water? Why 

 should the cooking be finished slowly? Why should hog-meat, 

 especially, be thoroughly cooked ? 



19. What is the chief nutritive substance in vegetables ? How is it 

 altered by boiling ? By roasting? 



