FoodNet

The school kitchen textbook

1915

Page 107 · 2 recipe records on this page

Presented as published in 1915. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
on one side before turning it ? How do we broil with gas ? Should the fat from meat be used? How would you broil a small piece of meat ? How would you make tough meat suitable for broiling? What is pan broiling? How would you cook the fat of chops? LESSON IV COOKING MEAT IN WATER The fibrin of meat is hardened and contracted by dry, intense heat, but softened by moist, moderate, and long- continued heat. Albumin dissolves in cold water, but hard- ens in hot water and by dry heat. Therefore all meat that has a tough, hard, or flabby fibre, with much gristle, tendon, and bone, should be cooked in water, and at a moderate heat. We cook meat in water for three distinct purposes : First, to keep the nutriment within the meat, as in boiled meat, and some forms of baked meat. Second, to draw nutriment out into the water, as in soups and meat broths. Third, to have the nutriment partly in the meat and partly in the water, as in stews, where we eat the broth with the meat. BOILED MEAT In boiling meat we leave the meat whole that only a small surface may be exposed. Plunge it into boiling salted water, enough to cover, and keep it there for five or ten minutes. This hardens the albumin over the entire surface and makes a coating through which the juices cannot escape. Then move the kettle where the water will be just below the boiling-point. Cover tightly to keep in the steam and the volatile, aromatic extractives which give flavor to the meat. A small amount of albumin from the outer surface will be dissolved and rise as scum. This should be removed, or it will settle on the meat and render it uninviting in ap- pearance. The salt coagulates this albumin and helps it to rise. It also slightly raises the boiling-point of the water, and by increasing its density aids in preventing the escape of the juices. 202 COOKING MEAT IN WATER 203 Meat cooked in this slow gentle way requires a longer time than when the water boils furiously, but it is made more tender, and has a better flavor. It will take fifteen or twenty minutes for the heat to penetrate to the center of the meat before the cooking process begins. Then allow twelve or fifteen minutes for each pound of meat. Two pounds in a cubical form will require a longer time than the same weight cut thin and having a broad surface. As meat varies, according to its age and feeding, in the tenderness of its fibre and the amount of connective tissue, gristle, and tendon, it is safer to allow at least an hour for the boiling or stewing of any kind, whatever the shape or weight; then increase the time from two to five hours as per the time-table. Notwithstanding the pains we take to keep the nutriment in the meat, some portion of it escapes into the water, and therefore the water should be saved and used for a gravy, or in warming over the meat. Recipe, No. 125. Boiled Mutton Wipe, remove the fat, and put the meat into well-salted boiling water. Boil ten minutes. Skim and simmer at least an hour, or until tender. One quarter of a cup of rice is sometimes boiled with the mutton.Boiled Mutton Serve with thickened gravy or parsley sauce poured over the mutton. Recipe, No. 126. Gravy for Mutton Gravy for Mutton