Methods of cooking discussed in the light of the above general principles:

I. Boiling

In boiling the moisture is unlimited, but the heat is limited to the boiling point of water, which at standard atmospheric pressure is 212° F. (100 degrees centigrade). This temperature is not sufficient to cook some foods right without the time being extended over a considerable period. Boiling is quite impracticable in high altitudes because the boiling point of water is enough lower in these altitudes so that the foods which ordinarily may be boiled sufficiently in thirty or forty minutes would, at the high altitudes, require a greatly prolonged period. Boiling of meat, even when the meat is cut into small pieces and plunged into boiling water, results in a considerable extraction of juices. However, this is a matter of no disadvantage in many cases, and the juices thus extracted may be utilized for the making of rich and palatable gravies which, served with the meat, restore to it the original juices externally applied. In the preparation of the German pot roast, for example, extracted juices are in part taken up by the roast as it is "boiled down in the pot."

II. Roasting And Baking

There is no essential difference between roasting and baking, as both are performed in an oven heated to several hundred degrees. The term "baking" is more generally applied to the process as applied to breads, pastries, etc., while the term "roasting" is more generally used when the process is applied to meats. The reason for this probably dates back to the time when breads, pastries, etc., were baked in ovens or pans in the coal and ashes of an open fireplace, while meats were roasted on a turning spit over the coals. When the modern stove or range with its oven was introduced, the old terms "baking" and "roasting" were continued, notwithstanding the fact that the bread was baked and the meat roasted in the same oven, under the same general conditions. In passing, the author would emphasize the importance of "basting" a roast. While the juices of meat are in a large measure sufficient in their moisture to assure a gelatinization of the connective tissues of the meat, especially when the baking is continued at a moderate temperature and for a longer period, still, this gelatinization of the connective tissues is produced much more quickly and completely if the roasting meat is frequently basted. Various basting liquids have been devised, but the most practical and effective one is the liquid which may be dipped from the pan in which the roast rests. This is simply a mixture of melted fat, water, and meat juices, together with any savory spices or mints that may have been used in the dressing, the essential constituent always being the water. A self-basting device has been made in which a cover over the roasting pan collects the evaporated moisture, conducts it to a point over the roast where it drips upon the roast. In this case the basting liquid is naturally nearly pure water. While this method is a labor-saving device, it is doubtful if it produces as good results as a hand basting with the mixed liquor from the roasting pan.

III. Frying

Two methods of frying are in general use. First, fritters, doughnuts, Saratoga chips, French fried potatoes, and some other preparations are fried by floating them in boiling hot fat. This hot fat reaches a temperature of 400° to 600° F., which is so much hotter than the temperature of boiling water that the food is rapidly cooked, the immersion in the hot fat usually lasting but a few minutes. The effect of the hot fat upon the food is to sear or coagulate the surface, making a sort of coating which protects the inside from absorbing the fat. Foods thus prepared may be savory and wholesome, and there is no essential objection to this method on physiological grounds.

The other method of frying is simply to put a film of grease in an open frying pan and put potatoes, French toast, griddle cakes, eggs, and corn-meal mush upon this film of hot fat. There are two disadvantages to this method. First, the volume of fat is so small that it is very likely to become superheated. This point can be detected by the smoking of the fat. Smoking fat is rapidly volatilizing; if a lighted match were brought into the column of smoke, it would burst into flame, showing that the fat is being reduced to a vapor. The remnant of fat still left in the frying pan rapidly turns brown and has a strong acrid taste due to the liberation of fatty acids and perhaps other products of combustion. The food which is frying in the pan takes up a certain amount of this brownish, acrid fat, and besides being far less palatable, the food is, partly for that reason and partly because of its having soaked up fat, much more difficult of digestion than if prepared by other methods. The success of this latter method of frying, if it is to be used at all, rests upon the skill and close attention of the cook, who should never permit the frying pan to smoke.