The new century cookery book

When we speak of a boiled leg of mutton, or a boiled fowl or turkey, it is really not boiled at all — with the exception of the first . stage, which occupies at the most from five to ten minutes — but merely simmered. In boiling meat, a certain proportion of the nutritious qualities are sure to escape into the water and steam, for which reason the quantity of water should not be more than suffices to cover the meat, nor the saucepan an inch larger than is necessary to hold it. Boiled too long or too fast, meat becomes indigestible and hard. Hard water is better than soft water for boiling meat in, more of its tenderness and richness being retained in the former than in the latter. Too rapid boiling tends to overdo the exterior portion of the meat, while the interior remains underdone. This is the reason that when the meat has been kept at the boiling-point about five minutes the temperature should be reduced, and the rest of the process be more slowly conducted. Salted meat, in particular, should be very slowly cooked, kept simmering, and allowed to grow cool in the pot. The scum which rises to the surface of the water should be carefully removed while the water is near the boiling-point, as otherwise it sinks, and looks very unsightly attached to the meat. Genuine boiling at the stated temperature must, therefore, be described as a temporary process, being as a complete process only available for the five purposes already mentioned. ‘ Simmering,’ on the other hand, is an operation with a varied scope in cookery, and as such can justly be described as the middle point of culinary heat applied for preparing certain foods. STEAMING. Steaming is a process very similar to boiling, for it is cooking in the heated vapour of water. This practice as a means of cookery is largely adopted in hotels, clubs, schools, hospitals, prisons, barracks, workhouses, and other large institutions. It is also frequently applied in ordinary household cookery for particular articles of food requiring a very slow process of cooking. The extent of this depends greatly upon the appliances at hand. An ordinary kitchen steamer, fixed to the top of a large saucepan, with a close-fitting lid, is generally all that is required in this direction for simple household cookery on a small scale. If, however, steaming is required on a large scale, one or more large steaming apparatuses are needful to carry out this special process. The articles of food which are to be steamed are prepared in There is probably not an article in the batterie de cuisine more important for gradual, i.e. slow, cooking than a modern steamer. The experienced and economically-minded cook treasures this utensil most highly. Apart from the old-fashioned potato steamers, there are several improved patterns which are so arranged that several articles, indeed, three or four courses, can be cooked in one steamer ; the appliance is constructed so that each article of food is in its own compartment, so that whilst the steaming operation goes on, the flavour of the other articles do not affect the contents of the compartments above or below. This is done by providing each with its own steam pipe, which is run along the side from top to bottom ; the steam, therefore, does not travel from one to the other. Many puddings, some meats, and some vegetables, are considered