Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1892-03-11
ABOUT BAKED MEATS.
The Close Range Hardly What 1t Ought
to Be.


The very general adoption of the
close range or Kitchener" in place of
the open CRATE has necessarily caused
an abandonment of the method of
roasting our meat before the open fire
and the substitution of the process of
baking in close chamber or oven. No
doubt the latter method is the most
convenient and the most economical,
but it may be questioned whether it is
the most wholesome In baking, the
meat is, as it were, cooked in it's own
Juices; the vapors exhaled from the
warm meat are confined in the close
oven and do not escape into the atmos.
phere, adding, no doubt to the flavor
and also to the richness of the food.
At the same time the joint surround
ed by this dense vapor does not yield SO
freely as when roasted in an open at
mosphere, as can be seen by comparing
the yield of dripping obtained in the
dish in which leg of mutton has been
baked with the amount which similar
joint gives to the dripping-pan when
roasted. That a very large quantity of
the more oily portion of the fatty mat
ters especially of the fat distributed
between the muscular fibers, does not
leave the meat when baked can be
shown by examining slice of baked
meat and comparing it with similar
slice of roast meat, when it will be
seen that in the former minute oily
globules are abundantly distributed
among the fibers, while in meat that
has been we'll and thoroughly roasted
they are comparatively unnoticeable.
Moreover the gravy from baked meat
when cut always yields more grease than
does that from roast meat, though, as
above stated, the yield to the dripping
pan is less with the former than the
latter. 1t is this retention of the vola-
tile aroma and unctuous juices that
renders baked meat so popular, and no
doubt with persons of strong stomachs
it is not harmful; but when digestion is
feeble we are convinced it is highly in
furious and that its continued use not
only aggravates but also induces indi-
gestion, and that in many instances
very considerable benefit has resulted
from the advice of the medical man to
the patient to order his meat to be
roasted instead of baked.
Our knowledge at present regarding
the respective digestibility of different
fats is very imperfect, still the general
and popular opinion is that the more
oily fats are less digestible and more
"bilious" than the solid, and it is these
fluid fats which form the grease OF
cooked meats. Much the same may be
said regarding the mode of cooking ba'
con. Thus in the north of England
thick slices Of bacon are placed in shall
low tins and cooked in the oven, while
rashers are usually fried in pan over
the fire. In both cases, however, the
bacon is cooked in its own dip" or
most oily portions of Its fatty matter.
1t has long been pointed out that ba
con cooked by either of the above meth
DDS is "bilious" article of diet where
as when bacon is toasted it is not APT
to disagree even with decidedly "bil
ious" people, the reason being that the
oily portion of the fat or dip" is re
moved and only the more solid fat left
We have no wish to raise a panic will
regard to the useful and economical
kitchener" but would merely sugges
that baking may in some instances bt
the unsupported cause of Indigestion, il
which case return to the use of thu
roasting-jack and the open fire would
seem desira BILE. Scientific American.