Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-01-17
THE CHEMISTRY OF COOKING.

III Il I IL fIM Is Ili1 or CUM! .NNi'
No woman can be said to be tho
| oughly proficient as a professor OF
| housewifery, until she understands
something Of the chemical elements Of
| food, and the purpose they serve when
taken into the system.
The use of chemistry in cooking is To
teach how to supplement one KIND OF
food for another which contains certain
essential elements lacking in the first.
The human body has been likened 20
n machine. and like any other ma
chine ii is constantly wearing ont.
| Every movement and every breath IS
| breaking down cells and tissues, and
| this waste must he repaired to keep
the body in normal working condition.
Food taken into the system has two
Offices to perform. the repairing Of
| bodily waste and the supplying OF fuel
to keep the bodily heat up 10 aS do
srees.
Foods may be divided into three
classes, heterogeneous. carbonaceous. ana
| those in which both are united.
heterogeneous food repairs bodily
| waste and builds up muscle and tissue,
and carbonaceous food supplies fat.
hNtit 'ili'4 civ saS " tilf bpts
OF late. too, especial attention has
been given to brain and nerve food,
| and ii has come to be understood that
| if we would send forth from our homes
into the world healthy. brainy men
and women. well equipped physically
| and mentally for the battle Of life, we
| must see to it that nerve and brain.
| bone and muscle, flesh and blood are all
| / 81.
with its own element of food. And
thus the necessity of a balanced ration
for the family is plainly seen.
When n knowledge of the needs Of
the body is supplemented by intelligent
cooking, a wholesome. strengthening
and nourishing meal is the result.
Cooking too, loses its old sense Of
common drudgery when considered as
scientific process, and a cook who
understands food values and the chem
istry of every day cookery. has a per-
feet right To consider herself scien-
list.
OF heterogeneous foods the richest is
found in the albumen of eggs. lean
meat. the curd OF milk. peas. beans
oats and whole wheat flour. and many
vegetables of which cabbage and
onions rank first.
Carbonaceous foods are in two class
es. the fats and the carbohydrates.
both containing the hydrogen ana
oxygen. The fats include the fat of
meat cream. butter, vegetable oils ana
grains.
Carbohydrates include starch and
sugar. sugar being cane sugar. honey
/
include the starchy vegetables, as po-
tatoes and cereals. as rice corn. wheat
and oats.
Milk is an almost perfect food. 1t
strengthens the whole body the cream
gives us fat: the whey contains the
salts ana phosphatcs that strengthens
the brain, bones and digestive organs
and the curd is the muscle making.
energy producing substance. Eggs are
rich in nitrogen and also sulphur for
the brain ana nerves.
But as a brain food fruit heads the
list, containing as il does the salts and
acids which are exceedingly whole
some. and WHICH aid so materially in
the digestion and assimilation of other
foods, fish, eggs. oysters, Holsters,
game. cheese.
From this it will be seen that thc
food that would best sustain and
nourish laborer in the open air.
would not be the best diet for n brain
worker. A dinner of boiled salt pork
and cabbage and whole wheat bi cad
is nearly perfect for an outdoor labor
er. as the cabbage is rich in nitrogen
and the pork in carbon. Beans. next
to meat, contain the most nitrogen.
and are excellent food for laborcrs
and next comes oats. wheat and bar
ley
In cold weather tho system requires
more carbOnaceouS food. and in sum
mer fruit. creams and vegetable sal
ads should appear on the bill of fare.
And from this it will be seen that
a knowledge of food elements and the
needs of the human body is quite nee
sary in order to provide the different
members of the family with bal
anced ration of food best suited to
their needs.
Every housewife should supplement
her collection Of cook books with Il
good work on the chemistry of food.
and should make it's contents special
study. Scientific stockmen have come
to consider the, balanced ration a nee
essity for the best development of
animal life, and how much more so
must it be for the best mental and
physical development of human be
ings.