Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Household Management Part 42

Minced lean beef should he soaked in a little cold water for at least twenty minutes, to extract the muscle juice for examination. The juice should be strained through a cheesecloth and poured into a gla.s.s. It shows nothing but water and a red colour.

In order to find the other substances, pour part of the juice into a small saucepan and heat it gradually until it boils gently. The red colour will disappear, and the alb.u.men which is dissolved in the juice will coagulate and become plainly visible. The pupils will recall that egg-white was affected in the same way by heat, and may be told that this coagulated substance is similar to egg-white, and is called muscle alb.u.men. The odour given off by heating suggests that the flavour is also in the muscle juice, hence the importance of conserving this juice in the cooking process.

Strain the boiled juice to get rid of the coagulated alb.u.men and then examine the liquid that is left. Its colour plainly denotes mineral matter in solution.

LESSON II

6. Meat experiments:

If time permit, the following experiments may be taken. The facts which these experiments prove may, however, be developed in a much shorter time by questioning:

(1) Cut lean meat into small pieces, cover them with cold water and let them stand. Note the colour of the water.

(2) Cover a piece of lean meat with boiling water and let it stand. Note the colour of the water.

(3) Sprinkle a piece of meat with salt. What happens?

(4) Wrap a piece of meat for a few minutes in ordinary brown wrapping-paper. What happens?

(5) Simmer a small piece of very tough meat for about an hour and then examine the connective tissue.

(6) Boil or bake a small piece of very tough meat and then examine the connective tissue.

7. Selection of meat:

(1) All flesh should be uniform in colour, of a fine grain, and firm and springy to the touch.

(2) Beef should be bright red in colour, well mottled, and surrounded with fat.

(3) Mutton should be a dull red, and its fat white, hard, and flaky.

(4) Lamb is lighter in colour than mutton, and the bone is redder.

(5) Veal has pinkish-coloured flesh and white fat. Very pale veal is not good.

(6) Pork should have firm flesh of a pale red colour. The skin should be white and clear, the fat white.

(7) Poultry: (_a_) Chickens.--Young chickens have thin, sharp nails; smooth legs; soft, thin skin; and soft cartilage at the end of the breastbone. Long hairs denote age. (_b_) Turkeys.--These should be plump, have smooth, dark legs, and soft cartilage. (_c_) Geese.--These should be plump and have many pin feathers; they should also have pliable bills and soft feet.

8. Care of meat:

(1) Remove the meat from the wrapping paper as soon as it arrives, to prevent the loss of juices. The butcher should use waxed paper next to the meat.

(2) Wipe the meat all over with a damp cloth, but do not put it into water.

(3) Place the meat on an earthen or enamel dish, and set it in a cool place until required.

(4) Frozen meat should be thawed in a warm room before being cooked.

LESSON III

9. General ways of preparing meat:

(1) Extracting certain substances.--(_a_) Soup--substances extracted in water from lean meat, bone, and fat. (_b_) Beef-tea--substances extracted in water from lean meat. (_c_) Bouillon--substances extracted in water from lean meat and flavoured with vegetable. (_d_) Beef juice--juices extracted from lean meat by heat only, or by pressure.

(2) Retaining all substances.--Roasts, boiling pieces, steaks, chops, cutlets.

(3) Retaining part and extracting part.--Stews.

10. Notes on tough meat:

(1) The toughness of meat depends on the thickness of the connective tissue holding the muscle tubes together.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cuts of beef

1. Neck, stews and soup. 2. Chuck ribs, cheaper roasts. 3. Prime ribs, very good roasts. 4. Loin, best steaks or roasts (sirloin, tenderloin, porterhouse). 5. Rump, roasts and steak. 6. Brisket, stews or corned beef. 7. Fore shank, soup. 8. Shoulder, stews or pot-roasts. 9. Short ribs, stews or cheap roasts. 10. Navel, corned beef. 11. Plate, stews or corned beef. 12. Flank, stews or corned beef. 13. Round, steaks. 14. 2nd cut round, stews and soup. 15. Hind shank, stews and soup. 16. Tail, soup.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Bony structure]

(2) The connective tissue is made thick and tough by two causes.--(_a_) Age--in old animals the connective tissue has grown thick.

(_b_) Exercise--in certain parts of the body, where muscles are much used, these muscles must be more firmly bound together, as in the neck and legs, etc.

(3) Dry heat will harden connective tissue, making it more difficult to cut and chew; therefore tough cuts should not be cooked in dry heat.

(4) Moist heat will soften and finally dissolve connective tissue, making it easy to cut and chew; therefore tough cuts should be cooked in moist heat.

(5) Tough meat is more abundant in an animal's body, and is, therefore, cheaper than tender meat.

(6) Tough meat has richer juices than tender meat and should be used for soup, broth, and beef-tea.

11. Digestibility of meat:

(1) The less muscle juice is coagulated by heat, the more easily it is digested.

(2) Because of their close texture, the liver, kidney, and heart of animals are more difficult to digest.

(3) Mutton and lamb, because of their shorter fibres, are more easily digested than beef.

(4) Veal is difficult to digest, owing to its stringy fibres.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cuts of veal]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cuts of lamb]

(5) Pork has a large amount of fat intermingled with its fibres, and is, therefore, difficult to digest.

(6) Chicken and turkey are easily digested, but goose and duck are indigestible, because of the fat through the muscle fibres.