Experimental cookery

A. Use 300 grams of carrots cut into cubes of the same size. Mix well and use 100 grams in each experiment. Use distilled water. 1. Cook until tender in a steamer. Save the water. Partially evaporate the water in the cooking utensil. When it is sufficiently concentrated put into a weighed evaporating dish. Rinse the cooking vessel with a small quantity of distilled water and add to the evaporating dish. Evaporate to dryness. Weigh the residue and determine the percentage of loss in the cooking water. 2. Cook in sufficiently boiling water to barely cover. Measure the quantity of water used. Watch carefully. If the water evaporates before the vegetable is tender add boiling water. Remove the carrots from the cooking vessel when they are tender and rinse the cooking vessel with a small amount of distilled water. Put the water in a weighed evaporating dish. Evaporate to dryness and weigh the residue. 3. Cook in 3 times the amount of boiling water used in A2, so that a rather large amount of water is left when the carrots are done. Evaporate the water according to directions under Al. B. Use 3 medium-sized potatoes for each experiment. The potatoes should be nearly the same size. Use distilled water. 1. Cook with skins on. Evaporate the cooking water after the potatoes are removed until only a small quantity is left. Put in a weighed evaporating dish, evaporate to dryness, and weigh the residue. 2. Peel the potatoes. Cook until tender. Proceed as in Bl. In which case did the greatest loss occur with the carrots? With the potatoes? Weight of residue Al A2 A3 Bl B2 By what methods are the losses in cooking vegetables the greatest? How can the losses be reduced to a minimum? What do you think of the advisa- bility of throwing away the juices from canned vegetables? The water in which vegetables are cooked ? Results and conclusions. FRUITS AND VEGETABLES 149 Experiment 21. To determine the best method of cooking dried vegetables. Use 50 grams of dried beans for each experiment. Keep a record of the time required for cooking, the weight after soaking and after cooking. Start the soaked beans to cook in 1 cup of boiling water and the unsoaked beans in 1 pint. If the beans become dry before they are cooked add boiling water of the same kind used in that particular experiment. Cook all the beans in covered pans. Test the beans with the sharp point of a knife or fork. Compare with your neighbors' results, to try to have all cooked to the same stage of doneness. If you have water softener, to soften hard water, repeat the experi- ments that call for tap water to compare with the results for hard water and distilled water. 1. Wash the beans and soak over night in tap water. Discard the water in which the beans were soaked. Weigh the beans. Add fresh tap water and cook until tender. Drain and weigh. 2. Soak over night in tap water to which % teaspoon of soda is added. Discard the soaking water and proceed as in 1. 3. Soak the beans over night in distilled water. Discard the soaking water and weigh the beans. Add fresh distilled water and cook until tender. Drain and weigh the beans. 4. Soak over night in distilled water to which % teaspoon of soda is added. Discard the soaking water and weigh the beans. Proceed as in 3. 5. Cook in tap water without soaking. Weigh.