BOILING.
IN boiling meats the temperature of the liquid should be kept at about the boiling point or a few degrees lower; that is, the water should bubble gently at one side of the pot or stewpan. Great care must be taken that the water shall never boil rapidly, and that the temperature shall not be much lower than that indicated by a slight bubbling at the side of the stewpan. The meat and liquid will both be spoiled if kept for any length of time in a closed vessel with the temperature too low. A piece of meat cooked in water that boils rapidly all the time will be hard, dry, and stringy, no matter how long it is cooked or how tender and good it was originally; but even a tough, dry piece will be tender and juicy if cooked at the temperature indicated by the water’s bubbling at one side of the pot. All meats will be juicier if they be allowed to cool, or even partially to cool, in the liquid in which they were boiled. The dish in which a food material is cooling must always be uncovered until the substance is perfectly cold.