Steaming is an admirable method of cooking tough meats or hams. Modern housewives use a "cooker," which comes for this purpose, but the old-fashioned perforated steamer over a kettle of boiling water is also good.
Boiling is one of the simplest methods of cooking the cheaper cuts of meat. Properly employed, it consists in plunging the whole piece of meat in a large kettle of rapidly boiling water. The meat should be entirely covered by the water, which should continue to boil rapidly for five minutes after the meat has been immersed in it. The temperature of the water should then be immediately lowered to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. If one has not a cooking thermometer, one has only to remember that water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, and it will easily be seen that 160 degrees is considerably below the boiling point.
Stewing or fricasseeing is really cooking slowly in a sauce after the meat has first been browned in a little hot fat. If the mixture is allowed to boil the meat will be tough and shriveled, but if properly stewed it will be soft and easy to digest. Fricasseeing is the most economical of all methods of cooking meat, as there is very little loss in weight, and what is lost from the meat is found in the sauce.
Braising is a method much used in France, and is a cross between boiling and baking. It is done in a covered pan in the oven. The meat is first browned in a little hot fat and then placed in a pan which is partly filled with stock or water. The pan is covered closely and set in a hot oven. After ten minutes the temperature of the oven is reduced to a very low point, and the meat cooks slowly as the stock in the pan evaporates. This method is the best for inferior pieces which require long, slow cooking. It is an excellent method of cooking veal. Meat which is lacking in flavor can be flavored by adding vegetables or herbs to the stock in the pan.
Different cuts of meat require different methods of cooking to bring about the best results. The following diagram and the accompanying suggestions for proper cuts for certain methods of cooking are those given by a prominent teacher in one of the leading domestic science schools in the United States.
| Chuck Ribs Loin Rump Round Hind Shank Flank Navel End Clod Fore Shank Brisket. |
- Chuck
- Ribs
- Loin
- Rump
- Round
- Hind Shank
- Flank
- Navel End
- Clod
- Fore Shank
- Brisket.
The Practical
Value and Use of
Fireless Cookers
The object of the following article is to present in simple and convenient form the history of the growth of fireless cooking and its advantages over the ordinary methods, so that those women who have had no experience in the management of fireless cookers may be encouraged to try them, and those adventurous women who experimented with the earlier cookers and met with disappointment may be induced to try again.
Such eminent authorities as Linda Hull Larned, author of a series of cook-books; Margaret J. Mitchell, Instructor of Domestic Science at Drexel, Pa., and formerly Dietitian of Manhattan Institute State Hospital, N. Y.; Mrs. Runyon, manager of the lunchroom in the Boston Chamber of Commerce; and Miss Armstrong, director of the Drexel Institute lunchroom—all advocate the use of fireless cookers, and unite in the assertion that it has invariably been found that a good understanding of their management has resulted in success followed inevitably by enthusiasm.