The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-02-27
Electrical F,ireless
Cooker Great Aid In
Household Economy

Nancy was upset and rebellious
of mood when she dropped In to
see Mrs. Marsh that morning. Hus-
band Herb. along with the rest OF
the force at his plant. had had
20 per cent cut In salary. and
young engineers don't get munifi-
cent sums in the first place.
Hence, Nancy had been instituting
various household economies, one
OF which was an attempt to use
the cheaper cuts of meat. A
strip q bargain counter COW"
had ruined her dinner the night
before and proved the last straw
for tempers already strained to the
breaking point.
The whole story came out under
the influence of Mrs. Marsh's
sympathy-and that motherly
neighbor-lady took the problem in
hand at once.
NANCY, dear. spent years and
years worrying over this cheaper
cut problem and being only half
satisfied with my results" she
said, land then electric cookery
came along and has made it a
matter Of child-can-do-tt simplicity.
A Smile OF Relief.
Now, first I'll tell you what
found out about the idiosyncrasies
Of the meat family, particularly of
the tougher parts. When I'm
through, we'll run over to the
butcher to get another skirt steak
and you'll stay to lunch for
electrical cookery can do with it,"
fai
THE secret of making tough
meat tender" instructed Mrs.
Marsh, lis slow, even cooking.
EVEN mind you. Meats are Of
the class Of foods containing what
scientific folks call protein.
Now, when you heat proteins too
hard or too fast, they do gymnast-
les called 'coagulation' which, in
the vernacular. amounts to a
nasty curling up, stubborn stiff
ening, and a general Vulcanizing,
all very nice In a rubber tire, but
distinctly undesirable in a piece of
meat. II you have ever had an
India rubber-like hard boiled egg.
or string beans that SOMEBODY put
on hurriedly to cook at $40 for
$50 dinner. you know what /
mean by 'coagulated protein.
Yes we had one of those CO.
things last night" admitted Nancy,
but / called II steak"
However," continued Mrs.
Marsh. the real reason our tasters
are pleased by meats Is not be.
cause of their protein, but because
OF their extractives and salts. the
flavor part of meat, which make
for that tantalizing, I-want-another.
helping effect. Proper cooking does
the same thing for this flavor
element in meat that carmelizing
does for sugar-exaggerates the
good. To retain all that precious
the cooking should be
very slow, with a temperature not
to exceed $50 degrees"
Even Temperature the Secret.
OH complained Nancy, TEN
peratures mean nothing in my ig-
norant life"
We'll. the boiling point Of water
is 212 degrees. That's the heat
you kept your Inflated stew at
for hours. The juices you dis
solved in the boiling probably
would have made fine soup, but
your roast proper amounted to a
flavorless pulp.
Another family failing of meat
is connective tissues. Those are
the things you mean when you
say, 'stringy meat But prolonged
action of heat and moisture can
convert most OF the connective
tissue into gelatine, one Of the
most dlgestible forms OF protein,
so that the fibers, those erstwhile
strings actually fall apart and
the meat becomes tender.
See the fireless cooker compart-
ment OF my electric range? With
1t / can keep the protein soft and
uncoagulated, the flavoring ex-