Culinary Chemistry / The Scientific Principles of Cookery, with Concise Instructions for Preparing Good and Wholesome Pickles, Vinegar, Conserves, Fruit Jellies, Marmalades, and Various Other Alimentary Substances Employed in Domestic Economy, with Observations on the Chemical Constitution and Nutritive Qualities of Different Kinds of Food.

by Friedrich Christian Accum

STEWING.

Stewing differs from roasting and broiling, in the heat being applied to the substance through a small portion of a liquid medium; and, from boiling and frying, in the process being conducted by means of an aqueous, and not by means of an oily fluid. It is necessary that the fire be moderate; for a strong heat suddenly applied would be very injurious. The liquids employed as the medium for applying the heat are usually water, gravy, or broth, the quantity of which must be such as shall prevent the meat from burning and adhering to the pan. It is not requisite that the liquid be made to boil in stewing. It should only be raised nearly to a simmering heat, which will retard the fluid being evaporated too quickly. The closeness of the vessel will also prevent the waste of the liquid. If it diminish too quickly, it must, from time to time, be replenished.

The management of the fire in cooking, is, in all cases, a matter of importance, but in no case is it so necessary to be attended to as in preparing stews or made dishes; not only the palatableness, but even the strength or richness of all made dishes, seems to depend very much upon the management of the heat employed in cooking them.

The most proper sorts of animal food for stewing, are such as abound in fibrine, and which are too dry or too tough for roasting. When beef or mutton is rather old and too coarse flavoured, and not tender enough for the spit or the gridiron, it may, by stewing, be not only rendered tolerably palatable, but even sometimes savoury and good. But the stewing process is not confined to flesh of this sort; for veal and other young flesh which abounds in gelatine, when properly stewed, is much relished.

The vegetables most usually stewed are carrots, turnips, potatoes, pease, beans, and other leguminous seeds. Some fruits are also cooked in this way.

Rationale.—Stewing is nothing else than boiling by means of a small quantity of an aqueous fluid, and continuing the operation for a long time to render the substance tender, to loosen its texture, to render it more sapid, and to retain and concentrate the most essential parts of animal or vegetable food.

If the stew-pan be close shut, it is evident that none of the nutritive principles can escape, and must either be found in the meat itself or in the liquid. The water or gravy in which the meat is stewed, being capable of dissolving the gelatine and albumen, the greater part of them become separated during the simmering process. Now, since the firm texture of the bundles of fibres of the meat is owing to the solid gelatine and albumen glueing them, as it were, together, when they are dissolved and disengaged, the meat must become greatly disorganized. These principles, as well as the fat and osmazome, are partly disengaged from the meat, and become united with the gravy. It is to these, indeed, that the gravy owes all its richness and excellence. The muscular fibres and the tendons acquire a gluey appearance and texture, and the whole forms a savoury gelatinous stew, gravy, or soup.

No scorching or browning of the meat takes place if the process is properly conducted; for the temperature to which it is exposed does not exceed the boiling point of water.

In the stewing of vegetables, saccharine matter is formed, the starch and mucilage are rendered soluble, and of course, set free the woody fibre, which either floats through the liquid or adheres together very slightly. It accordingly constitutes either a pasty fluid, or converts the vegetables to a soft pulp; sometimes their original shape being preserved entire, and at other times not.