.! LB P-' y ^ Y
VOL. LIX.
INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 23, 1904.
NO 30.
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THE
GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  COOKING
MEATS AND VEGETABLES
The Kitchen is a Chemical Laboratoryi
lst Premium.—I heard art ex-United
States chemist, make the remark, in a
conversation on cooking, that there was
more knowledge of chemistry required in
the looking of a single meal than there
was m the running of a two-hun-dred-acre
farm. Chemistry relates to those operations hy which the intimate nature of a
thing Ts changed, or by which it acquires
new properties.
Heat is the agency by which chemical
changes take place in the cooking of our
meats   and   vegetables. Cooking   does
not add to or diminish the elementsin our
meats or vegetables, if properly done, and
yet you might sit down to ia table and
havo to eat double the amount of food
to get the sustenance you would if your
meal had been . properly cooked and no
waste made in the cooking. If you were
to eat your meat raw, as it comes from
the butcher's block, you would get all
there is in it, just as the wild, meat-eating animal does, but in our civilization our
done, theu taken out and drained. Do not
cover up your cooking by putting gravy
on the meat. Put it in a separate dish
and let the eater do his own mixing.
We have such a great variety of vegetables, fruits and berries, that it would be
impossible to go into the details ofi the
cooking   of   each. Therefore,   I   shall
give only a few general principles. With
fruits and berries that need sweeteninj.,
the fjugar should be put in just before they
are taken off the fire, and let them boil up
once then take off. There are some vegetables that you may modify the rank
taste of very much by putting them into
a liberal quantity of water and let them
come to the boiling point, thenr pour off
the water and fill up again and cook. The
bean family, both green aud dry, belong
to this class. Ono thing you should remember is that salt is inclined to harden
both meats and vegetables, and as a rule
it is best not to add salt until just befjore
you take them from the fire. There
are some vegetables that are inclined to
melt down and become mushy. Add the
salt to those when you put them on to
cook. As a rule, do not put in so much
water that you cannot cook it down. low.
If you do you lose much of the richness,
both of meats and vegetables.      My busi-
easily digested. The pumpkin is oue of
these. There is uo laboratory in science
that needs closer watching when iu operation- than the range in the kitchen.
What I have said is not in disparagement, of the American housewife, for I
think sho leads the world in the culinary
art.       But we never get too old to learn.
Marion Co. Mary Ann.
Vegetables Should be Carefully Prepared.
2d Premium.—The idea iu cooking meat
is to retain the juices as much as possible
and to make it tender. The outside must
therefore be subject to a brisk heat at the
beginning, either in frying pan or oven.
This sears it, and prevents the escape of
the juices. The custom has gone out,
(from regard to the digestion-), of smothering the meat in grease. Broiling is better than frying.
The time required for baking depends,
of course, upon the size of the joint, and
tho heat kept up in the oven. The larger
the joint, the slower should be the cooking
to   ensure   thoroughness. Sometimes   a
piece of heavy paper may he needed over
tho top, as, once the outside is charged,
it is hard for the heat to permeate, aud
the flavor is spoilt.
Salt,  pepper  and  spices  should  not  be
that afterwards the liber hardens and becomes indigestible. Stewed cabbage (introduced with German cooking,) deprives the
vegetable of its health-giving properties.
Boiling a piece of bacon with every vegetable is not appetizing, and a bad plan for
the summer at jairy rate, when fat food is
best    curtailed.
When green peas are young and tender,
they are quickly cooked. When old they
need the stewing treatment before they
soften. The dried pulses, such as beans,
split peas, etc., soften best after soaking
iu cold water, and theu brought gradually to the boil. As vegetables coarsen
with age, the flavor is often improved by
changing tho boiling water during the
cooking process. I_. A.  N.
Oregon.
Some Good General Rules.
3d Premium.—In iall methods of cooking the oibject is to make meat tender, to
increase its flavor, aud to retain its natural juices. Meat should go on the stove
under boiling water. Boil hard for five
minutes, to cement the juices, put back
to simmer where it cannot possibly boil,
allow 20 minutes to each pound of meat.
In this way it will be tender, juicy and
rare.        Add  salt at the last  half hour.
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The New Agricultural Department Building,  to lie erected at Washington.
appetites and tastes require something
different. When one fries steak until
it warps up, like a green chip, and is about
as hard and with- as little taste to it, stop
and think how much nourishment one
is getting and where the rest of it is gon_.
If one tumbles three or four pounds of
meat into a large pot of cold water,
and boils it for hours, filling the pot wiih
water occasionally, aud, after it is ready
to fall to pieces, lifts it out, and pours the
broth to the pigs, who g_ts the most food.
tho human beings or the pigs? Again, if
"one puts the roast into the pan, and waits
until it melts down flat, you will find that
the better food elements have evaporated.
If you want meat that retains all the food
elements and flavor, put it into hot oven,
or hot water, aud sear it as soon as possible, and you will have the better properties of your meats sealed up aud preserved
for your own eating.
But if you want soup from your meat,
put it iir cold water and bring it to a
toil slowly, and you will extract the sub
stance from the meat and- have it in the
soup. If you boil it long enough, ycu
can give the meat to-the dogs and not
lose much food in the operation. Meat
overcooked not ouly loses its food value
but all that flavor that makes it palatable.
Pork and mutton- should be cooked done
(but no more), but beef should show the
red when brought to fhe table, unless it is
to be eaten cold. Meats that are to be
eaten hot or warm should be eaten as
soon after cooked as possible, and all
meats and fowl that are cooked iu lard,
butter or oils, should not be put into
the skillet or pan until the lard, butter or
oil is well heated, and then should be
turned almost immediately aud ofteu until
ness at one period of life caused me to (
have to eat where meal time caught n.c,
whether in town or country, and where
the good wife of the house had no chance
to show her extra cooking. I came iu
just as or after the family had sat down-
to their meal, and I had a good opportunity to study the ordinary cooking of hundreds of families, and I want to say to
you iu this article that the Irish potato
is the worst abused dish that comes on
the American table. The Irish potato
will only bear so mueh cooking and be at
its best for either health or taste. If
you boil it with its jacket on, if it is boiled ten- seconds too long it is ruined. 1
do not care wheu, where or how one cooks
it, over-cooking ruins it. The Irish potato is principally starch, and is formed
of starch balls, or globules, and when you
cook it long enough to burst those balls
they immediately absorb the water or
grease they are cooking in, and are formed into a solid mass. All their mellow
mealiness is gone, and there is no process
known to the culinary art by which they
may be restored. 'Ihey become a . sad,
solid mass. You may boil them, stew
or fry tliem, but you canuot restore that
dry mealiness. I know of no vegetable
thatissoeasilyruiued by over-cookin-g. The
only chance to get tlie Irish potato to your
table in its best condition is to watch it
closely and "get it out of the element that
it is cooked in as soon as it is done.
Over-cooking is the rule of the American, rather than the exception. Do not
conclude, however, that I want you to eat
your meats and vegetables raw. Far
from it. There are a few things that
cau hardly be cooked too much, to break
down the cell and fiber so that they are
added until a late stage of cooking, as
tiiey help to draw out the juices and
harden the meat. Even in soup making
this should be attended to, as the juices
themselves undergo a change, and lose
their best properties.
For boiled meat, plunge it iuto boiling
water, and then only simmer. The liquor will then be useful for stock. But
braising is a much better method. Before
braising, a French cook holds the joint of
meat over a clear flame for a few moments before placing it in- the pan. With
a very little water, and adding anything
wished as flavoring, give it slow, very
slow, coking, which will serve to make
tough meat tender. It stews in its own
juices, and nothing is lost. Salt meat
needs first soaking, in order to draw out
the unnecessary salt before cooking, which
iraturallly must be boiling.
Vegetables need careful preparation.
Tho carrot to be scraped, which preserves
its potash; the turnip should be peeled,
for its skin- has pernicious qualities in it.
The beet hardly will bear touching, if it
is to keep its beautiful color. Every other
vegetable needs washing and looking over.
Most of them are best plunged iuto salted,
boiling water, straight from the washing,
(roots cut up or left whole according to
their age), and then kept at the boiliu-g
point until  tender.
Potatoes aro said to be better for the
same treatment. They undergo a loss,
in the peeling, of their mineral substances,
and retain what is left, as well as the nitrogenous element, in this way. Baked
they lose the least, and are easiest of digestion.
Oabbage should be taken up and drained, directly it is tender.     Science tells us
Meats that are eookedvfor soup are put on
iu cold water, and simmered until the
juice, is extracted.
If meats are baked, the oven should
Ik. heated very hot, about 400 degrees P.,
before putting in. Cook until the outside is thoroughly seared, then cool to
about 2G0 degrees. Fifteen minutes to
a pound is the time required to bake.
All green vegetables, as oabbage, onions, peas, string beans, should go over
the fire in boiliu-g, salted water. Boil
rapidly for a moment, then cook just at
the boiling point. Take up as quick as
tender. The minute they lose their brilliant color they are unfit for food. The
object in cooking vegetables is to soften
tho fibre arrd preserve the mineral matter.
All green vegetables should be carefully
drained before being served. Vegetables
whose parts that are used for food grow
under ground, should be cooked in unsalted, boiling water, and seasoned after being drained. In this class are beets,
potatoes, etc.
On account of the odor contained iu
cabbage aud onions, they should be co.k-
ed in an uncovered vessel, to prevent parting their odor. Cabbage when properly cooked does not part with its odor, and
is no more difficult of digestion thau other
vegetables.
Washington Co. A. S.
Premiums of $1, 75 cents, 50 cent-
are given for the firBt, second and third
best articles for the Experience Department each week. Manuscript should bo
sent direct to the Indiana Parmer Company and should reach tu one week before date of publication.
Continued  on page 1G.