Washington telegraph., 1854-06-21
Ch istry in Cooking.

In all the various modes of cooking chemical
changes IN the food are produced which adaots it
to the purpose OF nutrition. The taste is orcina-
rally a sufficient guide in determining whether
the fruits OF the earth suitable to be taken in
to the stomach without cooking Fruits ripened
by the sun upon the trees have already undergone
Kind OF cooking process, and are prepared Tor
TO I'd. although still further change is in some in
stances desirable. Vegetables growing beneath the
surface of the ground require the chemical change
produced by the application of heat.
In bo'iing the solvent power of the water aids
the decomposIng power of the heat. liz most
vegetables an important ingredient is starch
Starch consists of minute rounded grains envel-
oped IN sheath, which is broken bv the expan-
sIve power of the heat
Without this bursting of the slobues starch is
comparatively unhealthiu and unfit for lood-
Aibumen Is another abundant element of vegeta-
bic and animal substances The effect Of heat
upon albumen is to coagulate it seen in boil
ing an egg the W hite of which is nearly pure al
bumen A potato, when boiled, would be re-
duced to a mere mass of boiled starch were it not
for the albumen which hardens in the process of
boiling. Flesh is affected somewhat differently
by boiling. Lean meat consists mainly of mus
cular fibre, which is rendered hard by brisk boil
Ing. The hbTes, however. are surrounded by a
small quantity of albumen, which by coaguation
defends the fibre itself from becoming veiy hard
by direct exposure to the heat. The flesh of
young animals is more tender than that OF OLD
ones, because of the larger amount of albumen
which it contains.
Meat is best boiled according to Liebig. bv he
ing placed first in boiling water, where it should
remain few minutes Cold water should then
be introduced and the meat kept at temperature
of about i CO. until the cooking is completed In
this way the albumen is at once coaguiated in the
meat, and not removed by soaking. The Juices
OF the flesh are retained in the fibre, aid the
whole will have the flavor which belongs to the
particular kind of meat used; whereas by the
common slow process of cooking in a large GUAM
tIty of water, gradually raised from an ordinary
temperature to the boiling point, most of these
Iuces escape into the liquor and are lost to the
platter. On the other hand if the object of boil
ing the meat is to extract the juices for SOUP it
should soak for some time in tepd water that the
juices may be drawn from the fibre for the i'm
proVement OF the liqnid soup. In cooking meats
by roasting, a portion of water is driven away
Ihe albumen is coaguated, the fibre is rendered
hard. but the juices mostly retained The
portions OF the outside, carbonized and burnt are
less suitable for food, than the interior parts
Frying is more Objectionable. because the butter
or fat used becomes heated to point which eff
tects It's partial decomposition and renders it in
digestbe.
Sailing meat takes from it some of its most nu-
tritive portions, as may be proved by boiling the
brine in which meat has been packed. The al
bumen and other substances will collect on the
surface as a scum.
Besides these particular chemical changes pro-
duced by cooking. there is general separation of
the PARTICLES by the force of heat and water which
prepares the food to be acted upon by the Juices of
the mouth and stomach, and renders it more easi-
ly dgested