BOILING, in cookery. One important preliminary rule in boiling rests on the fact, explained in a preceding article, that water cannot be heated in an open vessel, or in one with the ordinary fitting lid of a cooking utensil, to a higher point than 212'. When a vessel, then, has once begun to boil, a stronger fire than is just sufficient to keep it boiling, will only evaporate, or waste, the water in steam. but will not cook the food any faster: on the contrary, the outside will be rendered so hard by the quick boiling, that the interior will not be reached by the heat.
By long soaking in cold or tepid water, fresh meat loses much of its albumen and nutritive juice. When a piece of meat is to be boiled, it is necessary, for time preserva tion of these juices, and its consequent tenderness and nutritious quality, that the outside should be sealed up, by immersing it in boiling water, and keeping up the temperature for a minute; this closes up the pores, and coagulates the albumen of the exterior. The boiling water should then be taken off. and as much cold put in as will reduce it to is tepid state; it should then be gradually warmed until it reaches a degree slightly under the boiling-point, called simmering; at this point it must be kept without suffering any interruption of the heat, till the time elapses that is allowed for cooking the food. '`The cooking goes on through the agency of the natural moisture of the flesh. Converted into vapor by the heat, a kind of steaming takes place within the piece of meat; it is, when skillfully done, cooked by its own steam." 7o prepare meat for B., it should be trimmed, washed, and dried before it Is placed in the water. As it simmers, the water should be kept well skimmed with a skimming spoon, as frequently as any scum is thrown up, but with due remembrance of the fact, that raising the lid of the vessel lowers the temperature of the water; and the preserva tion of an equal degree of heat throughout the operation is of the greatest importance.
For fresh meat, 20 minutes is the allowance for cacti pound. The weather must also be considered: in frosty weather, or with very thick joints, extra 20 minutes should be given. Mutton loses in boiling, in 1 lb., 3i oz.; beef, iu 1 lb., 4 oz. Meat that has been salted and dried has its outer coat alrealy sealed it requires, therefore, to be thor oughly washed, soaked for two hours iu cold water, dried, and•put to boil in cold water, gradually brought to the boiling-point, and kept simmering for a time, proportioned to the size of the piece. Hams and tongues to be eaten cold, should he allowed to cool in the water in which they have been boiled. The following is a time-table for the cooking of these meats, reckoning from the time the water boils: A ham of 16 lbs. takes 4 hours; a tongue of 16 lbs., 2 to 4 hours; a pig's face of 16 lbs., 2 hours; a piece of bacon of 4 lbs., 2 hours.
Poultry and white meats, as veal or rabbit, should be put at once into tepid water gradually brought to the boiling-point, drawn hack immediately, and simmered, care fully skimming the water as scum rises. A chicken, or small fowl, or rabbit, will take
35 minutes: a foWl, or old rabbit, an hour, or an hour and a half, according to size. Some cooks add milk to the water, but this is apt to cause the scum to stick to the meat in streaks; some also use a cloth to inclose the meat, but this frequently imparts to it a disagreeable taste. Having trimmed, washed, and dried the meat, all that is necessary to keep it white, is to use a perfectly clean utensil, to he attentive to the skimming, nd careful that no soet falls from the lid into the pot when doing this. Meat should only just be covered with water; if it wastes, a cupful of water at the same temperature should be added. The liquor in which fresh meat has been boiled, is an excellent foundation for soups; and gravies.
high should be well cleaned and scraped; liver and roe should be carefully preserved, and boiled with the fish, in a flue net: they are used to garnish the fish. The sound of cod should be carefully cleaned, and left in the fish. Fish should be placed in cold water. in which a tablespoon full of salt and one of vinegar is mixed; should he gradually brought to the boiling-point, and simmered carefully. lest the outer part should the thick part is done. If on drawing up the fish-plate, a thin knife will easily divide the flesh from the bone in the thick parts, and if time eyes contract, and become like balls, the fish is sufficiently cooked. Drain by laying the plate across the kettle covered with the lid, and dish perfectly dry on the strainer, which should be covered with a napkin..
Vegetables require generally to be well washed, and placed in B. water, in which is mixed a large spoonful of salt. When they sink, they are done. Green vegetables should be weir picked, soaked in salt and water, drained and boiled in plenty of water. in a vessel without a lid. Cabbage requires two waters; spinach, very little, as it is full of moisture. Pens and beans should not soak, but be merely rinsed in a colander. Winter potatoes should soak for an hour or more; whether they should be placed in cold or B. water, depends on the sort A piece of soda the size of a small marble assists the B. of pens and cabbage. if the water is very hard.
14'r B. meat, the beet vessel is one made of iron, tinned inside or not, but one kept per fectly dry, and free from grease or rust. Tinned vessels are proper for B. fish and veg etables; they require to be kept very dry, the moisture entering between the metals rusts the iron, and makes holes that cannot be mended. A tinned vessel in daily use should be polished once a week with fine whiting and oil; too frequent polishing wears off the tin. The advantage of a tin over an iron utensil is, that it gains heat sooner.