COOKING. Meat is not often eaten raw by civilized people. For the most part it is either roasted, broiled, fried, stewed, or boiled. Among the chief objects of cooking are the loosening and softening of the tissues, which facilitates di gestion by exposing them more fully to the action of the digestive juices. Another important ob ject is to kill parasites and microorganisms if present. and thus destroy organisms that might otherwise expose the eater to great risks. Minor, but by no means un important, objects are the coagulation of the albumen and blood so as to rerder the meat more acceptable to the sight, and the develop ment and improvement of the natural flavor, which is often accomplished in part by the addition of condi ments.
If meat in cooking is placed in cold water and heated gradually. part of the organic salts. the soluble al bumen, and the extractives or flavoring matters will he dissolved out. The broth or soup obtained will be rich, but the meat will be corre spondingly tasteless. This tasteless material has been found to be as easily and completely digested as the same weight of ordi nary roast. It contains nearly all the protein of the meat, and, if it is properly combined with vegetables, salt, and flavoring materials. makes an agreeable as well as nutritious food. If a piece of meat is plunged into boiling water, the albumen on the entire surface of the meat is quickly coagulated, and the enveloping crust thus formed resists the dissolving action of water and prevents the escape of the jniees and flavoring matters. Thus cooked, the meat retains most of its flavoring matters and has the desired meaty taste. The resulting broth is correspondingly poor.
Theoretically, the principal difference between roasting or baking and boiling is the medium in which the meat is cooked. In boiling, the flesh to be cooked is surrounded by water; in roasting, by hot air, although in ing proper much of the heat comes to the joint as 'radiant' heat. In both eases. if properly con ducted. the fibres of the meats are cooked in their own juices.
It is interesting and at the same time impor tant to remember that the snmller the cut to be roasted the hotter should lie the fire and the shorter the period of cooking. A very hot fire coagulates the exterior and prevents the drying up of the meat juices. This method would not, however, be applicable to large cuts, because meats are poor conductors of heat. and a large piece of meat exposed to this intense heat would become burned and changed to charcoal on the exterior long before the beat could penetrate to the interior. The broiling of a steak or a chop is done on exactly this principle. An intense
heat should be applied to coagulate the albumen thoroughly and stop the pores. and thus prevent the escape of the juices.
Recent experiments on the losses in cooking meat lead to the following deductions: The chief less in weight during the cooking of beef, and donbtless other meats also, is due to the driving away of water. When beef is 'pan broiled' there appears to he no great loss of nu tritive material. When beef is cooked in water from 3 to 20 per cent. of the total solids is found in the broth. 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 amount of fat found in the broth varies directly with the amount present in the meat i.e. the fatter the meat the larger the quantity in the broth. The amount of water lest during cooking varies inversely as the fatness of the meat —i.e. the fatter the moat the less the shrinkage in cooking. In cooking in water the loss of eon r.tituents 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 upon the length of time of cooking. When meat in pieces weighing from to 5 pounds is cooked in water at 80° to 85° C. ( 175' to 185° F.) there appears to be little difference in the of material found in the broth whether the meat is placed in cold water or hot water at the start.
Sinee meat nutrients are principally protein and fat, a considerable amonnt of carbohydrate foods (bread and other eereals, vegetables. fruits. etc.) are eaten with the meats to form a \veil balanc(s_l diet. According to the results of a large number of dietary studies, beef and veal to gether furnished 10.3 per cent. of the diet of the average Ameriesm family; mutton and Iamb. 1.4 per cent.; pork, 5.4 per cent.; and poultry, 1.1 per cent. of the total food: beef and veal, 24.6: mutton and lamb, 3.3; pork, S.S ; and poul try, 2.6 per cent. of the total protein, and 19.5. 3.8. 30.0, and 1.2 per cent. respectively of the total fat.
For further information. consult the general works mentioned under Boon; also Fiirster, Der nlirtrert des Rindlleischrs Lei den yebriiark liehslen. Zubereilungsarlen (Berlin, 1897); United States Department of Agriculture. Office of Experiment Stations Bulletins Nos. 28 (re iced) ti6. and 102; United States Department of Agriculture. Bureau of Chemistry Bulletin 13. part 10: United States Department of Agri culture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 34.