Meat should always be cooked, because by being cooked it is made more easily digestible; but it should not be cooked, until all the juices, which contain much of the nourishing matter, are dried up and the meat made hard. Meat that is cooked until it is dry and hard is more difficult to digest than meat that is not cooked at all.
Questions. 1. What effect has improper cooking on foods? 2. Why should starches be thoroughly cooked? 3. What is the objection to starchy foods fried in grease? 4. What changes take place in fatty food when it is fried over a very hot fire? 5. Why should all meats be cooked? 6. What is the objection to cooking meat until the juices are dried out?
Remember. 1. Starchy foods should be thoroughly cooked so that the fine grains may be softened and the food thus made more easy to digest. 2. Fats should not be fried over a very hot fire because too much heat causes a poison to form in the fat. 3. Meats should be cooked, but never until they become dry, as the juices in the meat contain most of the nourishing material.
[CHAPTER IX]
HOW NEATNESS, CHEERFULNESS, AND GOOD MANNERS PROMOTE HEALTH
Why mealtime should be pleasant
The dining table should be the pleasantest and most inviting place in the house. If you are complaining and quarreling during the meal, you cannot enjoy the food; you cannot eat it properly; and your ill temper will so affect your body that you cannot properly digest what you eat. A dirty table, with flies swarming over the food, is not very tempting, and when seated at such a table, one does not eat the things that are best for him and sometimes does not eat anything at all.
