Meat, whether it be boiled or roasted, loses during cooking
from one-fifth to one-third of its whole weight. 28 pieces
of beef, weighing 280 lb., lost in boiling 73 lb. 14 oz., or
26| per cent. ; 19 pieces of beef, weighing 190 lb., lost in
roasting 61 lb. 2 oz., or 32 per cent. ; 9 pieces of beef.
CULINARY PROCESSES
69
weighing 901b., lost in halcincj 271b., or 32 per cent. , 27 legs
of mutton, weighing 270 lb., lost in boiling 55 lb. 8 oz., or
211^ per cent.; 35 shoulders of mutton, weighing 350 lb.,
lost in roasting 109 lb. 10 oz., or 31| per cent. ; 16 loins of
mutton, weighing 141 lb., lost in roasting 49 lb. 14 oz., or
354 per cent. ; 10 necks of mutton, weighing 100 lb., lost in
roasting 32 lb. 6 oz., or 32 J per cent.*
This loss in each form of preparation is mainly due to the
exudation of water from the meat, while it loses its colloid
pi’otoplastic constitution, in which it contains about 75 per
cent, of water ; another portion of the loss consists in fat,
and only a small portion in extractives and salts, constituting
the solid ingredients of broth or gravy. In the process of
boiling some gelatine also is lost by solution ; in roasting,
however, very little, more from veal than from beef.
Baking. — Baking may be defined as cooking by a combina-
tion of radiated and air-conducted heat ; if the oven be well
ventilated, as bakers’ ovens generally are, the preparations
retain a very pure taste, are first cooked in moisture, then ’
dried, and ultimately browned on the outside. Upon meat
baking has about the same effect as roasting, and produces
in it a similar loss. If the preparation placed in the oven
for baking be covered, the effect is the same as that pro-
duced by braising, namely, cooking in a moist atmosphere,
under the simultaneous influence of dark radiating heat,
capable of browning surfaces and transforming extractives
into broiun anhydrides or caramels.
Baking! is one of the cheapest and most convenient ways
of dressing a dinner for small families ; the baker’s oven is,
indeed, often the only kitchen a poor man has in which to
* The losses in weight of meat in roasting and boiling are given accord-
ing to experiments recorded in Tillock's Philosophical Magazine.
f The observations on baking in a baker’s oven are ex Kitchiner, ‘ Oracle,’
p. 77 ; they were written specially for this work by a baker of the name of
Turner, who, about 1830, carried on a distinguished business near Pitzroy
Square. ‘He was in the habit,’ he says, ‘of baking legs and shins of beef,
ox-cheeks, etc., garnished with onions, turnips, etc., for the first families.’
70
THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY
Page 56
Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Meat, whether it be boiled or roasted, loses during cooking from one-fifth to one-third of its whole weight. 28 pieces of beef, weighing 280 lb., lost in boiling 73 lb. 14 oz., or 26| per cent. ; 19 pieces of beef, weighing 190 lb., lost in roasting 61 lb. 2 oz., or 32 per cent. ; 9 pieces of beef.
weighing 90 lb., lost in halving 27 lb., or 32 per cent. , 27 legs of mutton, weighing 270 lb., lost in boiling 55 lb. 8 oz., or 211^ per cent.; 35 shoulders of mutton, weighing 350 lb., lost in roasting 109 lb. 10 oz., or 31| per cent. ; 16 loins of mutton, weighing 141 lb., lost in roasting 49 lb. 14 oz., or 354 per cent. ; 10 necks of mutton, weighing 100 lb., lost in roasting 32 lb. 6 oz., or 32 J per cent.*
This loss in each form of preparation is mainly due to the exudation of water from the meat, while it loses its colloid protoplastic constitution, in which it contains about 75 per cent, of water ; another portion of the loss consists in fat, and only a small portion in extractives and salts, constituting the solid ingredients of broth or gravy. In the process of boiling some gelatine also is lost by solution ; in roasting, however, very little, more from veal than from beef.
Baking. — Baking may be defined as cooking by a combination of radiated and air-conducted heat ; if the oven be well ventilated, as bakers’ ovens generally are, the preparations retain a very pure taste, are first cooked in moisture, then ’ dried, and ultimately browned on the outside. Upon meat baking has about the same effect as roasting, and produces in it a similar loss. If the preparation placed in the oven for baking be covered, the effect is the same as that produced by braising, namely, cooking in a moist atmosphere, under the simultaneous influence of dark radiating heat, capable of browning surfaces and transforming extractives into brown anhydrides or caramels.
Baking! is one of the cheapest and most convenient ways of dressing a dinner for small families ; the baker’s oven is, indeed, often the only kitchen a poor man has in which to
* The losses in weight of meat in roasting and boiling are given according to experiments recorded in Tillock's Philosophical Magazine.
f The observations on baking in a baker’s oven are ex Kitchiner, ‘ Oracle,’ p. 77 ; they were written specially for this work by a baker of the name of Turner, who, about 1830, carried on a distinguished business near Pitzroy Square. ‘He was in the habit,’ he says, ‘of baking legs and shins of beef, ox-cheeks, etc., garnished with onions, turnips, etc., for the first families.’