Foods and home making

Thus we see that unless tough meat is chopped into bits, it requires long cooking to make it good to eat. With our modern devices, such as the heat-regulated oven, pressure cooker, and fireless cooker, long cooking of meat is not difficult. At what temperature should meat be cooked? Recent experimenting has revealed valuable information about the temperature at which meat should be cooked to make it tender, juicy, and tasty. If meat is to be roasted, should the oven temperature be high or low? If it is to be cooked in water, should the water boil or simmer ? Should meat be put in water to wash it? Should it be salted before or during cooking? Let us experiment to find answers to the last three questions. Experiment 24: To show how to wash meat and when to salt it. (a) Place the soft red part of meat saved from Experiment 22 in a cup. Add enough cold water to cover the meat. Let the meat stand for at least 15 minutes. Examine the water. What color is it? (b) Has any of the meat juice been drawn out into the water? ( c ) While washing meat, should you let it stand in water ? Why ? ( d ) Take two i-inch pieces of lean beefsteak; sprinkle one piece on all surfaces with salt. Heat a frying pan. Place the two pieces in the pan. Cook about 1 minute. Turn each. Which piece has browned more readily? (e) When should salt be added to meat — before or during cooking? 364 Dinner i Experiment 26: To show the effect of cooking meat at boiling and sim- mering temperatures. (а) Fill two saucepans with hot water. In each drop a i-inch cube of lean beef. Let one piece cook at simmering temperature for 45 min- utes. When water is simmering how does its surface appear — quiet or in motion? Let the other piece cook at boiling temperature for 45 minutes. (б) Remove the meat from the water. Cut each in two across the fibers. Does the meat cooked at simmering temperature look some- what moist or dry? (c) Does the boiled meat look more or less moist than the piece cooked at simmering temperature ? (d) Sprinkle each with a little salt and taste. Which cooking tem- perature— boiling or simmering — makes meat more juicy and gives it a better taste ? How is meat seared and roasted ? Many persons like a slice from the outside better than one from the center of a roast. The outside of a roast becomes hotter than the inside. The intense heat produces a pleasing flavor in the outside layer of meat. The flavor of the interior of a piece of meat is not affected by browning the outside. Recent experimenting shows that the intense heat neither prevents the escape of meat juices as was formerly thought, nor prevents shrinkage. However, browning the outside of meat accomplishes two purposes : (1) it makes the meat look appetizing, and (2) it makes the outer layers taste better. Cooking meat at a high temperature so as to brown the surface is called searing. Meat is usually seared by heating it in a hot oven or by browning it in fat on the surface burner.