Principles of cookery

up in very few words. All that is necessary is to have the fruit and everything that comes in contact with it sterilized, and then keep the air away from it. That is, the fruit and whatever it touches must be raised to a sufficient degree of heat to destroy any micro-organisms already there that would cause change of form or decay. This being done care must be taken that no others are allowed to enter through the air. There is no magic about it, only constant watchfulness. Gentle cooking, long continued, seems to be fatal to the bacteria, which might work so much ill, and this method is more conducive to preserving the natural appearance of the fruit than is intense heat for a short period. Fruit, vegetables, milk, and meats all are prepared in similar fashion. Animal foods spoil easily because of their composition, CHOICE OF FOOD Primitive man made use of anything near his hand to satisfy his need and accidents and extreme hunger made many foods appetizing to our ancestors which might not appeal to us today if we had not inherited the taste for them. According to W. Mattieu Williams, "the fact that we use the digestive and nutrient apparatus of sheep, oxen, etc., for the preparation of our food is merely a transitory barbarism." Other authorities agree with him that the art of cooking may some time be so developed as to enable us to prepare the coarser vegetable substances in an easily assimilated form without depending upon animals as middle men. The art of the cook has done much to make tin- The Art likely food materials attractive, but there is another of Cookine phase of the question, and that is the problem how to make what we know is nourishing both pleasant and attractive. The cook of the past had to make the best possible use of the meager nutrients at hand. The cook of the present and future has the harvests of the whole world within reach all the year around. How shall such abundant material be combined to satisfy the palate without overloading the digestive organs? More important still, how shall we select and prepare foods that they may produce sufficient energy in the human body for the great tasks awaiting it in our complex civilization. Classification of Food Organic Foods During the last twenty years or less much material has been published by the U. S. Department of Agriculture recording the results of investigations. Many of these pamphlets can be secured for the asking. For practical use all the principal substances found in our foods may be classified under five heads : water, mineral matter, protein, fat, and carbohydrate. The first, and its importance in cooking, has already been considered. The second appears in different forms in all foods, rarely exceeding one per cent, of their natural weight. This it is which remains as ash when a food is burned. It is most prominent in the refuse portions of food which are removed before coming to the table, such as the husks and bones. Some of these mineral matters are readily soluble in water, hence are lost when no use is made of the water in which vegetables are boiled. Common salt is the principal mineral substance in use in cooking. The other three great classes of food substances are known as organic compounds, — the protein, fat, and carbohydrate.