If meat is hard, tough, and unpalatable, it is plain
that some rule of good cooking has been neglected, and
the result is not that it is merely uninviting, but that
it is, as before said, unwholesome. Custards turn, cakes
do not rise, pastry is heav}" and uneatable, soups and
fish, &c., go wi'ong simply for the want of science on
the part of the cook. A gifted cook can flavour better
"to taste " than by following any scientific mode of
due proportions of seasoning ; but a gifted cook is a
rare person, and ordinary mortals must be con-
tented to follow the definite rules which are set before
them.
On the whole, it cannot be doubted that cooking as
an art has much progressed of late years, and will be
more perfected if still more intelligent knowledge is
directed to it.
Notes on Boilingf.
Well-boiled meat is not so common as it should be,
and one of the reasons is the persistence with which
the old-fashioned notion of putting the joint into cold
water is still clung to by many writers on this subject.
72 PRACTICAL GASTRONOMY
Mrs. Glasse is often referred to as the most old-
fashioned and unscientific of cooks, but she, at any
rate, steered clear of this blunder ; whereas, Murray
says : ** All meat for boiling should be first entirely
covered with cold water." One of the best authorities
says : "If the flesh be introduced into the boiler when
the water is in a state of brisk ebullition, and if the
boiling be kept up for a few minutes, and the pot
then placed in a warm place, so that the temperature
of the water is kept at 158 deg. to 165 deg., we have
the united conditions for giving to the flesh the
qualities which fit it for being eaten. If you wish
to rob meat of its most nourishing and wholesome
properties, put it in cold water, which receives them,
leaving the meat quite unfit for eating, even if it does
make the water a foundation for soup —that is, stock !
But if you want ' stock,' it can be made with
cheaper material than joints of meat intended for the
table."
When meat is to be eaten, the albumen should be
retained in it, for not only does it preserve the fibrin
from becoming hard, but it gives to it softness and
delicacy. The influence of boiling water upon albumen
is well known. The best method of boiling meat
intended for food is to introduce it into boiling water ;
if the boiling be kept up for five minutes, and then so
much cold water be added as to reduce the temperature
to 165 deg., and the whole retained at this temperature
long enough, all the conditions are united which give
to the flesh the quahty best adapted for its use as
NOTES ON BOILING 73
Page 27
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If meat is hard, tough, and unpalatable, it is plain
that some rule of good cooking has been neglected, and
the result is not that it is merely uninviting, but that
it is, as before said, unwholesome. Custards turn, cakes
do not rise, pastry is heav}" and uneatable, soups and
fish, &c., go wi'ong simply for the want of science on
the part of the cook. A gifted cook can flavour better
"to taste " than by following any scientific mode of
due proportions of seasoning ; but a gifted cook is a
rare person, and ordinary mortals must be con-
tented to follow the definite rules which are set before
them.
On the whole, it cannot be doubted that cooking as
an art has much progressed of late years, and will be
more perfected if still more intelligent knowledge is
directed to it.
Notes on Boilingf.
Well-boiled meat is not so common as it should be,
and one of the reasons is the persistence with which
the old-fashioned notion of putting the joint into cold
water is still clung to by many writers on this subject.
72 PRACTICAL GASTRONOMY
Mrs. Glasse is often referred to as the most old-
fashioned and unscientific of cooks, but she, at any
rate, steered clear of this blunder ; whereas, Murray
says : ** All meat for boiling should be first entirely
covered with cold water." One of the best authorities
says : "If the flesh be introduced into the boiler when
the water is in a state of brisk ebullition, and if the
boiling be kept up for a few minutes, and the pot
then placed in a warm place, so that the temperature
of the water is kept at 158 deg. to 165 deg., we have
the united conditions for giving to the flesh the
qualities which fit it for being eaten. If you wish
to rob meat of its most nourishing and wholesome
properties, put it in cold water, which receives them,
leaving the meat quite unfit for eating, even if it does
make the water a foundation for soup —that is, stock !
But if you want ' stock,' it can be made with
cheaper material than joints of meat intended for the
table."
When meat is to be eaten, the albumen should be
retained in it, for not only does it preserve the fibrin
from becoming hard, but it gives to it softness and
delicacy. The influence of boiling water upon albumen
is well known. The best method of boiling meat
intended for food is to introduce it into boiling water ;
if the boiling be kept up for five minutes, and then so
much cold water be added as to reduce the temperature
to 165 deg., and the whole retained at this temperature
long enough, all the conditions are united which give
to the flesh the quahty best adapted for its use as
NOTES ON BOILING 73