at between 160° and 170°, but the water in the kettle may be a little above this, as it must constantly transfer heat to the interior of the meat. The general rule is that it should "bubble" or "simmer" only, and if the cook can do no better she must follow these indications. That the true temperature for cooking meat is below the boiling point, many an intelligent housekeeper knows, but how is she to know when the water is at 170°? Here we come upon the weakest point in household cookery; various degrees of heat have different effects on the foods we cook, but of only one temperature is the housekeeper certain-that of boiling water.

For the use of the thermometer and the heat saver see page 194.

But to return; is there no way of cooking that will keep in the meat all these flavors and salts and albumens, just as nature mixed them? Yes, there are three ways-frying in fat, baking in an oven, and broiling over coals.

Frying in fat.

We will examine the first. If we plunge a thin piece of meat, as a cutlet coated with egg and breadcrumbs, into boiling fat, the albumen in the surface or rather in that of the egg surrounding it is coagulated as in boiling, but this time the outer rind preserves the juices still better because the fat will not mix with them as will water. Everyone knows how an oyster cooked in this way retains its juices.

Baking meat.

When we bake a piece of meat in the oven, we start in the same way; we sear the outside in fat, turning the roast about in a small quantity of fat made hot in a kettle; we then transfer it, still in the kettle or pan, to a hot oven where the process of cooking is completed, but at short intervals we moisten the surface with the fat in the pan. If we did not baste the roast, we would find a thick layer of grey, tasteless meat inside the outer brown crust, and indeed the whole piece would dry long before the center of our roast had reached the coagulating point; we baste, in order to keep in the juices which, as we know, will not mix with the fat, and also that only a mild degree of heat, not exceeding the coagulating point of proteids, may be transmitted to the interior. In the intervals of our basting, some water is driven out of the meat and evaporated into steam, and the high heat of the oven expends itself in evaporating this, in heating the basting fat, and perhaps (if it reach so high a temperature) in decomposing part of it, and in changing the chemical character of small quantities of

extractives, thus making the meat "tasty," and so it happens that only a mild degree of heat is passed into the center of the piece. We would hardly believe that the inside of a roast, with its light pink color, registers only 160° by the thermometer, yet this can be proved by any one with a long chemist's thermometer.

Although some of the water of our meat has evaporated, the extractives and salts are retained to a larger extent than in boiling, as we shall see by the table given later.

Broiling.

In broiling, the principle applied is exactly the same as in baking, the cooking being done by the medium of heated air. The dry heat of the coals affects the outer layer of the meat, as does the hot air of the oven. In both these methods, just as in boiling, we try to hold the temperature of our cooking medium just high enough to keep the heat traveling toward the interior of the meat.

We have now learned to cook the albumen enough and not too much and to keep the flavors of our meat; what about the connective tissue, and how has that fared with our different modes of cooking?

Tender meat.

If our meat is cut from the tenderer parts of an animal of the right age, well fed and fattened, and if it has been kept long enough after killing, the connective tissue will soften into eatable condition in the length of time required to cook the albumen by the methods described. Such meat, so cooked, will always be tender and full of flavor.

Tough meat.

But if the meat is cut from the tougher parts, or from an old or ill-fattened animal, or cooked too soon after killing, the connective tissue will not soften in that time; we must continue the application of heat till this tissue softens.

Methods com

to quality of

meat.

Therefore, what method of cooking we shall use, pared 1st, as depends on the quality of the meat we have. Trimmings and tough portions we will make into soup, expecting to chop the tasteless meat next day and add other flavors to make it palatable. Somewhat better pieces, but still requiring long cooking to soften the connective tissue, may be made into a stew or ragout; or if the piece is large and compact, boiled in water; but meat that is tender and juicy (and for improving tough meat see page 195) should be boiled, baked or broiled, choosing oftenest the last two methods, because of the more perfect retention of the juices and the fine flavor given to the outer layer.

2nd, as to economy.

We are told that baking or broiling is a very wasteful way of cooking meat; that if we would be truly economical we would always boil or stew, using our meat or its juices to flavor vegetables. From this we must dissent for it would condemn us to such a monotony as would be unendurable even to the poor. Better sometimes a smaller piece of broiled or baked meat with its delicious and stimulating flavor, and make our soup of vegetables and season it with herbs. Besides, according to the scientists, baking and broiling are not wasteful methods. I quote from a table of Professor König's, wherein are given the results of analysis of beef raw, after boiling and after "braten." Raw, it contained .86 per cent extractives (nitrogenous bodies mostly; very important as giving the stimulating smell and taste) and 1.23 per cent. salts

Raw..

After boiling..

Extractives.

.86 per ct.

.40 66

.72

66

Salts.

66

1.45

After "braten". The advantage is seen to be in favor of braten, both in regard to extractives and salts. The loss of water was nearly the same in both cases. As for the fat lost in broiling a beefsteak, that is indeed a loss, but one to be made up in some measure by the smaller quantity of fuel necessary to cook the meat. The loss of this fat need not be made so much of, until we have learned to do better in many other still more important directions.

The philosophy of cooking meat according to the different methods has been treated, and we will now give a few additional directions as to carrying out these methods.

Materiais for

SOUP MAKING.

Lean meat of any sort, beef best; fresh, better than soup making. that long kept; bones of next value, especially the spongy rib bones and vertebræ. Saw and chop the bones into little pieces,-cut the meat small. Soft water is better than hard. Keep a kettle, if possible, for this purpose alone, and add to it all bits of meat and bones as they accumulate. Put the meat into cold water, let it stand some hours if possible, heat very gradually and keep simmering. Two hours or less brings out all the flavors of the meat, but a much longer time is necessary to get all the nutriment from the bones.

Method of making.

Skimming.

well cleaned.

Do not remove the scum; it contains the albumen of the soup, and nothing objectionable if the meat was

An hour before the soup is served add flavors; onions and carrots are the best, celery, summer savory, and parsley next. Use others, as cloves, nutmeg, bay leaf, etc., only occasionally. Add salt and pepper just before serving.

When done, strain and skim off all fat (better if left to stand till next day, the fat removed and the soup simply rewarmed), and make such additions as you wish.

[We prefer our soups with the fat removed, but the laboring people of Europe with their hardy stomachs find a soup much better if covered with "eyes."]

These rules apply to all meat soups. and nutritious soup, veal a delicate soup. made from a calf's head.

Mutton makes a strong

An excellent soup is

BOILING.

Put the meat into boiling water, bring quickly again To boil meat. to a boil and keep so for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature (as see page 189), and so keep it till the meat in the center has reached 160°-170°, or has changed in color from bluish to red, our usual test. For use of the "Cooking Safe" for this purpose, see page 194. Braising, "a la mode," kettle roasts, &c., are but modifications of this method.

To make meat

This is a combination of soup making and boiling. stews. Use inferior parts, cut in pieces and cook, at 170° if possible, till tender. Half an hour before serving, season in any way you wish. See page 197.

suet in which

FRYING IN FAT.

How to prepare Lard if used for this purpose should be tried out at to fry meat. home, but beef fat is cheaper and if nicely prepared no one can object to the taste.

Cut the fresh suet in pieces, and cover with cold water; let it stand a day, changing the water once in the time. This takes out the peculiar tallowy taste. Now put it in an iron kettle, with a half teacup of milk to each pound of suet, and let it cook very slowly till the fat is clear, and light brown in color, and till the

sound of the cooking has ceased. The pieces may be loosened from the bottom with a spoon, but it is not to be stirred; if it burns the taste is ruined. Now let it stand and partly cool, then pour off into cups to become cold; it smells as sweet as butter and can in many cases be used instead of it The fat left still in the pieces may be pressed out for less particular uses.

Any clean fat, even mutton, has its uses in cookery, and should be tried out and kept nicely.

Oils for use in frying.

There are oils now sold which but for prejudice we would always use. Pure cotton seed oil is a fine oil with a delicate flavor; rape seed oil, which is used extensively abroad for this purpose, is also a pure vegetable oil, but somewhat rank in flavor. It is treated thus: a raw potato is cut up and put into the kettle, heating with the oil and cooking till it is brown, it is then taken out and the oil used like lard. The potato has absorbed the rank flavor.

Thin pieces of meat, like cutlets and chops, are coated with beaten egg and bread crumbs, and cooked in boiling fat for 5 to 10 minutes, according to the kind of meat

Make some beef fat hot in an iron pan or broad To bake meat. kettle. Put the meat into it, and with a fork stuck into the fat part, turn it rapidly till it is on all sides a fine brown, then put it into a hot oven (about 340° F.), elevating it above the pan on a meat rack, or a few iron rods. Now comes the process

Basting.

called basting; in five minutes or less you will find that the top of the meat has dried, and you must now dip, with a spoon. the hot fat from the pan over the top. Do this every few minutes adding no water to the pan; you will find your meat well cooked in from twelve to fifteen minutes to the pound. It is done when it has lost, in the middle, the blue color, and become a fine red. Only salt and pepper should be used to season such a roast, and must be added when the meat is half done; if earlier, it toughens the fibres.

But when fuel is expensive, or in summer when a hot To broil meat. fire is a nuisance, the perfectly cooked meat can also be obtained by broiling; the management of the fire is the only trouble. We are told that a beefsteak for broiling should be cut three-fourths of an inch thick, and put over a hot fire of coal or charcoal; quite right, but when it has browned quickly, as it should, and been