FoodNet

Principles of cooking

1914

Page 10

Presented as published in 1914. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
1. Fixed fats. Softened by moderate heat, separated into fatty acid and glycerine by strong heat. Examples: butter, lard, olive oil. 2. Volatile oils. Found in orange and lemon skins, onions, etc. Soluble and volatile. V. MINERAL MATTER. 1. Lime in milk, sulphur in eggs, phosphorus in wheat. In proteins, sulphur, phosphorus, and iron. ue In vegetables, potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium. Common salt. VI. WATER. f ae « Necessity for Cooking. — Nature supplies us with the things needed to keep us alive, namely : — air, water, food, and heat, but they are not always in the form most accept- able to man. eh Air is made impure by factory smoke, by crowding human beings so closely together that enough oxygen is not ob- | | tainable, and by disease germs given: off in various ways © from the bodies of those afflicted with disease. Those who wish to enjoy health should seek always to work and live where there is an abundance of fresh ‘air. Water may contain disease germs; evidences of pollution which affect color, taste, and odor; or organic impurities : then sterilization or filtration iain: necessary to fit it for use. Foods are supplied by nature to us in great abundance, but most foods require some cooking before they are ready for consumption. Prehistoric man may have lived on uncooked foods, but even the savage tribes of to-day 28 COOKING have some means of cooking their food, crude though it may be. Reasons for Cooking. — Cooking may be defined as the preparation of foods for the table by means of heat. Several good reasons can be given why food should be cooked. 1. Cooking makes food more attractive and palatable because it changes the appearance of the raw food and develops flavor. | 2. It kills bacteria present in some foods which would bring about undesirable changes in the food itself, or by entering the body through the food cause certain dis- eases. 3. Heat brings about physical and chemical changes in the food which make it more digestible, such as the softening of cellulose in vegetables, connective tissue in meats, and the cooking of starch. Primitive Methods of Cooking. — Probably the first method of cooking used by the savage or uncivilized tribes _ was that of drying the food in the sun. This was also — *. a method of preservation so that the food might be stored «away for use in times of scarcity. The next method was, *. doubtless, that of roasting before the open fire or by. baking , » in hot ashes. Then came the construction of some crude vessels, the dropping of hot stones into the vessel which contained the water in which the food was to be cooked. — By this method meat was simmered and boiled. Later came the construction of vessels that could stand the ~ heat and be placed directly over the fire. Lastly, a prim- itive oven was made, and from these crude methods of roasting, baking, boiling, and stewing, were evolved and developed those in use at the present time. iy ee tet tte gt See Wut ery RE cake oe |, ahi hb ae eee hoe 108809 COOKING 209 METHODS OF COOKING