FoodNet

Experimental cookery

1932

Page 196

Presented as published in 1932. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Losses in meats cooked in water. The losses of meat cooked in water kept at a boiling temperature are usually higher than those cooked in water held at a temperature of 85 °C. or lower. Often the loss is twice as great in the boiling water. The extent of surface area, composition, and time of cooking affect the loss. Commercially boiled hams are often cooked at a temperature of about 75 °C., for this results in a lower cooking loss, about 15 per cent, which gives a texture that cuts and slices well. One very lean 242 MEAT ham cooked in the laboratory in water at 82° with a total cooking loss of 12.4 per cent sliced well and had an excellent flavor. A cooking loss of 20 to 25 per cent seems to give a flavor to the ham that is preferred by most persons. The Percentage of Cooked Meat That Is Edible Van Arsdale and Monroe have reported their results on ''The cost of meat as purchased and eaten." The following table is compiled from their results. TABLE 31 Cost of Meat as Purchased and Eaten {Va7i Arsdale and Monroe) Kind of meat Number of chops, etc. Per cent edible Purchase price per pound Cost per pound cooked edible portion eaten Rib lamb chop 6 21.00 SO. 28 vS 1.360 (Frenched) Rib lamb chop 6 26.39 0.28 1.110 Loin lamb chop 6 44.20 0.28 0.646 Loin pork chops 6 48.00 0.23 0.483 Ham 1 43.80 0.19 0.433 Round beef steak 6 59.61 0.25 0.421 Porterhouse steak 2 56.27 0.30 0.522 Pot roast 1 54.85 0.26 0.485 Fowl 1 23.00 0.25 1.080 From the figures of Van Arsdale and Monroe it will be seen that the loin lamb chops have higher percentage edible portion that the rib lamb chops. Determinations of the weight of the cooked edible portion of rib and loin pork chops made in the author's laboratory give similar results, i.e., the loin pork chops have less waste than the rib pork chops. The percentage of edible round beef steak given by Van Arsdale and Monroe's results is much lower than the total edible portion for this cut of beef, on account of the large percentage of the portion served which was not eaten. Monroe and Van Arsdale have published results of experiments wnth roasts of beef, veal, lamb, and pork. The most extensive w^ork on determining the weight and amount of edible and servable meat with which the author is familiar is that of Mc- Elhinney. This work was done in the Institutional Laboratory at Iowa State College. The figures in the following tables are compiled from Mc- Elhinney's results. POULTRY 243 The searing temperature for all the meats with the exception of the ham was 250° to 275°C. for 20 minutes, and they were then cooked at 125°C. for the remainder of the cooking period. The baked hams were cooked at 150°C. for 30 minutes and then at 125°C. for the remainder of the time. For the boiled hams a pint of water was allowed for each pound, and they were cooked at a temperature of 82° to 83 °C. The degree of doneness was determined by the use of a chemical thermometer inserted into the roast as previously described. TABLE 32 The Average Cooking Losses and Time Required to Cook Different Kinds of Meat {McElhinney) Inner Maxi- Kind of meat Number of Total weight of all Weight after cooking Total cooking loss, Minutes per pound for temper- ature when re- moved mum interior temper- roasts from oven, ature roasts per cent cooking reached,