3i6 



RECREATION, 



degrees, then remove the stove again, close 

 the car tight, and start it on its way. Ba- 

 nanas shipped in this manner are held to be 

 safe for 48 to 60 hours, even though the 

 temperature goes to zero. 



''Quinces, apples, and pears are packed 

 in barrels, each layer of barrels covered 

 with and resting on straw." 



LOSSES IN COOKING MEAT. 



In connection with the nutrition investi- 

 gations conducted by the Office of Experi- 

 ment Stations of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, studies have been made by Prof. 

 H. S. Grindley on the losses which are 

 sustained when meat is cooked. 



Experiments have shown that a piece of 

 meat weighs less when fried or boiled than 

 when raw. One object of the investiga- 

 tions referred to was to determine the 

 character of this loss; whether the mate- 

 rial consisted chiefly of juice in the meat, 

 evaporated by the heat of cooking, or 

 whether it consisted of actual nutritive 

 materials. Should the latter supposition 

 prove true, wholly or in part, it seems de- 

 sirable to know whether it is possible or 

 desirable to avoid such losses. Professor 

 Grindley cooked samples of beef and mut- 

 ton in several ways. In some cases the 

 meat was pan-broiled, that is, quickly fried 

 in a hot frying pan in which no fat was 

 added. In other tests, the meat was 

 cooked in hot water. Sometimes the 

 water was cold at the start, rapidly raised 

 to the boiling point, and the boiling con- 

 tinued. In other experiments the degree 

 of heat used was varied in different ways. 

 While the investigations on the losses in 

 cooking meat are still inadequate, the con- 

 clusions given below seem warranted from 

 the results of the experiments. Though 

 the majority of the tests were made with 

 lean beef, it is probable the results apply 

 to other meats also. 



The chief loss in weight during the 

 cooking of beef is due to the driving off 

 of water. When beef is "pan broiled" 

 there appears to be no great loss of nutri- 

 tive material. When beef is cooked in 

 water, 3 to 20 per cent of the total solids 

 are found in the broth. The material thus 

 removed from the meat has been desig- 

 nated as a loss, but is not an actual loss if 

 the broth is utilized for soup or in other 

 ways. Beef which has been used for the 

 preparation of beef tea or broth has lost 

 comparatively little nutritive value, though 

 much of the flavoring material has been 

 removed. The quantity of fat found in 

 the broth varies directly with the quantity 

 present in the meat ; that is, the fatter the 

 meat, the larger the quantity in the broth. 

 The quantity of water lost during cooking 

 varies inversely as the fatness of the 



meat; that is, the fatter the meat, the lacs 

 the shrinkage in cooking. In cooking in 

 water the loss of constituents is inversely 

 proportional to the size of the piece of 

 meat. In other words, the smaller the 

 piece, the greater the percentage of loss. 

 The loss appears to depend on the length 

 of time of cooking. When meat is in 

 pieces weighing 1/2 to 5 pounds, and is 

 cooked in water at 80 to 85 deg. C. (175 

 to 185 deg. F.), there appears to be little 

 difference in the quantity of material 

 found in the broth, whether the meat is 

 placed in cold water or hot water at the 

 start. 



The nature of the nitrogenous ingre- 

 dients of the broth is not yet fully under- 

 stood. This subject is now being studied 

 in connection with further inquiries re- 

 garding the changes in meat in cooking. 



THE COOKING OF VEGETABLES. 



The following suggestions were recently 

 compiled for cooking vegetables : 



The coarser vegetables should be put 

 into salted, fast boiling water, allowing 

 one tablespoonful of salt to 2 quarts of 

 water for everything but spinach. The 

 cooking should be steady and the vege- 

 tables should be taken up the moment they 

 are done, as leaving them in the water 

 detracts from their flavor. When the 

 water is hard, a little baking soda may be 

 added to soften it ; but not more than one- 

 quarter teaspoonful to one gallon of water. 



A few of the more delicate vegetables 

 are exceptions to this rule. While steady 

 cooking is necessary, it should not be fast 

 enough to break them. Green peas, as- 

 paragus and cauliflower belong to this 

 class. The length of time required for 

 cooking vegetables follows : Potatoes, 

 squash, spinach and parsnips, 30 minutes ; 

 new beets, carrots and onions, 30 to 45 

 minutes ; new cabbage, string beans and 

 salsify, 45 to 60 minutes ; winter vege- 

 tables, as beets, carrots, turnips and 

 onions, one to 2 hours ; winter cabbage, 

 one hour. Spinach should be cooked in as 

 little water as possible and less salt than 

 used with the other vegetables, say x / 2 as 

 much to the given amount of water. Not 

 more than one pint of water to a peck of 

 spinach should be used. 



Are you saving your photo prints? If 

 not, begin at once. Send me 2 yearly sub- 

 scriptions to Recreation, at $1 each, and I 

 will send you a Buechner album that will 

 hold 100 4x5 prints. It will be of great 

 value to you in showing the progress you 

 make in your photography, from the first 

 page to the last, and your prints will al- 

 ways recall interesting memories. 



