Why Is It Worse To Fry It Than To Cook It In Other Ways?

"Well, a very important part of the digestion of meat should take place in the stomach, while fats are not digested there at all. Now, to coat the food that the juices of the stomach act on, with fat, amounts to smuggling it through the stomach without digestion. Of course, this is not absolutely so, but the tendency is strongly in that direction, especially for persons of weak stomachs. This explains why lean meat that is fried until it is hard, is such a fruitful source of dyspeptic troubles."

How Should Meats Be Cooked?

"Well, if soup is desired, the meat should be covered with cold water and gradually warmed and then stewed at a low temperature until the meat is sufficiently tender. The way to make a roast tender, is to first immerse it in boiling water and then put in an oven and roast at a low temperature."

What Is The Object In This?

"The object is to coagulate or sear the entire outer portion of the meat so that no juices can escape."

Can This Be Done In Any Other Way?

"Yes, by putting it into an oven that is very hot, or by enveloping the meat in a layer of dough, which accomplishes the same result. The whole object is to cook the surface of the meat and form such a coating as will not allow either heat or juices to escape. Then, after the surface is treated in this way, the meat should be cooked at a low temperature. This will make it much more tender."

How About Cooking Steaks?

"The same principle applies to steaks. The only way to cook a steak is to broil it - frying is abominable. Steak should be cut thick and put on a broiler - charcoal preferred - and cooked on one side and then turned over and broiled on the other quickly, so as to preserve the natural juice of the meat. It may be skillet-broiled the same way."

Then You Would Add Butter To It Afterwards?

"Well, the practice of adding butter (often strong at that) would seem to be a very bad one, because it is always objectionable to heat butter, and the flavor of the meat is quite equal or superior to the flavor of the butter. If butter be added while hot, it is about as objectionable as if fried."

"Beef tea is a preparation extensively used for the sick, but as ordinarily made it has very little nutritive value."

What Is Wrong With The Ordinary Methods?

"In order to get the solid matter out of meat, it must be macerated in cold water. If a great deal of heat be applied, it simply coagulates the proteid elements and makes them solid, and keeps all the valuable part sealed in the particles of meat, instead of dissolving in the water. The meat extracts of commerce are made by chopping the meat into fine particles, and then adding sufficient amount of cold water to soak thoroughly. Of course more of the solid matter would be dissolved, if the meat is occasionally bruised a little. After it has stood for some hours it is pressed so that as much solid matter as possible is gotten out of the meat in this way. Where no press is at hand, the macerated meat may be put in a coarse cotton or linen cloth and the juice squeezed out with a lemon squeezer. It should then be cooked at a low temperature and flavored to suit. Not much cooking is required.

"Beef broth is made by stewing beef bones and gristly substances with portions of meat. If they are first soaked in cold water, and cooked at a low temperature, the water will absorb much more from the bones ana the soup be much richer and more palatable."

How Do You Make Meat Powder, Or Scraped Meat?

"One way is to scrape the meat of a tender beef-steak that has been broiled according to directions heretofore given. The small particles that are gotten out of the steak with a dull knife or spoon, are quite nutritious, while no considerable amount of coarse matter is taken up in this way.. Another way to treat meat is to chop it fine, cook and dry by slow fire for several hours and then grind it in a mill until it is reduced to a fine powder. All of these methods of treating beef may be useful in typhoid fevers, or even in lingering illness of any kind."

Are There Not Many Parts Of The Animal Used For Fowl Besides The Flesh?

"Yes; the pancreas, thyroid gland, what is known as the third stomach of the cow, called tripe, the heart, liver, kidneys, brains and sometimes the blood."

What Is The Sweetbread?

"Strictly speaking the sweetbread is the thyroid gland, although the pancreas is known and sold by that name."

Have These Any Food Value?

"The sweetbread is said to have considerable value, is easily digested and is supposed to have a great deal of merit in regulating certain disorders of nutrition."

What About Tripe?

"The Germans eat tripe, but not many Americans. It is very similar to meat, but is more easily digested.

"The heart is considered very tough and undesirable as a food, although it is very rich in tissue-forming material."

Doctor, I Suppose The Liver Is More Extensively Used As Food Than Any Other Organs Of The Animals?

"Yes; a great many people are fond of liver, and it is much more tender than either the heart or meat, but is less nutritious. If the liver and the kidneys are cooked for a great length of time, they become tough and difficult to digest. Many people are fond of animal brains. The constituents are very similar to that of eggs, only perhaps somewhat richer in fat. The blood is not used to any extent in this country, but it is used as a food in foreign countries. Tongue is largely fat and is about as hard to digest as fat pork."

As Gelatine Is An Article Of Commerce, I Suppose The People Would Be Glad To Know Something About Its Properties. What Can You Say Of It, Doctor?

"Gelatine is an important part of bones, tendons and ligaments, and it is from these that the gelatine of commerce is manufactured. It is somewhat different from meat, and will not of itself support life, but it is a very valuable food and is easily digested. The Keystone gelatine, made by the Michigan Carbon Co., is much superior to gelatine formerly sold."

"Is it not used extensively in making jellies?" '"Yes, it is. Ordinary jellies that are manufactured and sold through the trade, are mainly gelatine colored and flavored, and very often with essential oils instead of fruit flavors. They are much more easily digested than homemade fruit jellies, but much less palatable."

How Does Veal Compare With Beef As A Food?

"One would naturally suppose that veal would be very much more easily digested, and in every way superior to beef, because calves for veal are young and tender."

How Does The Composition Compare With That Of Beef?

"Yeal contains considerable less fat than beef; otherwise, the per cent of tissue-forming substance is about the same as that of round steak, but is not so easily digested."

Why Is It Not Far More Digestible, Being So Much More Tender?

"That is a matter in which authorities do not quite agree. Yea! is much more favored in Europe than it is in this country, and the only reason that can be given why veal should disagree with people is because of the closeness of its texture, and it is probable that it is due to this fact that the digestive juices of the stomach do not penetrate it as quickly as ordinary beef or any other fresh meat." "Doctor, you speak of mutton as though it was a common article of food. It may be that you have not boarded much, and therefore are not acquainted with the fact that it is lamb that is universally used and not mutton; at least it is always lamb on the bills-of-fare."

"One would think that lamb was too innocent a subject for use in perpetrating a fraud."

In What Way Does Mutton Differ From Beef?

"It does not differ materially from beef except in flavor. It is supposed to contain more fat and less mineral substance, but the difference is not great. Mutton is about as difficult to digest as beef, although, the fat is still firmer and more likely to disagree than the fat of other animals."

At What Age Does The Sheep Make The Best Meat?

"It is said that animals at least three years old make the best mutton, and that the main reason for the superiority of mutton produced in England is due to the greater age of the animals. Mutton is said to be somewhat constipating, but it is doubtful if it is more so than other lean meats."

"Venison from a young deer is believed to be the most palatable and easiest to digest of all meats; but as few people have an opportunity to eat venison, its composition is not a matter of great importance, although it is very similar to that of lean beef."

Doctor, Why Does Meat Spoil So Quickly?

"That is partly due to the blood that is in it. The prevailing method of slaughtering animals is to shoot them or strike them a blow in the head. This is a good method for the butcher, but not for the meat."

Why So?

"Because the shock paralyzes the body and keeps in most of the blood, thereby increasing the weight of the meat. If animals are bled to death the meat is superior in quality and will keep longer and it is really a more humane way to slaughter them."