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Terms Used in the Cooking Of Meats

This Roasting and Baking. All methods of cooking are derived from these because these were the primitive ways in which heat was applied to food. Roasting, with its modifications, is the direct application of heat. means the searing of the flesh on all sides, to close the pores so the juices do not escape, before the meat is cooked throughout. In our homes this is done in the oven, as the modern oven can be regulated so as to have a high temperature until the meat is seared and then the heat lowered until the entire joint is cooked. In the present time, roasting and baking as applied to meat, are synonymous terms. Broiling. This is one of the modifications of early roasting. It is exposing a slice or thin cut of meat to the direct rays of heat, which thoroughly cooks the outside and should but delicately cook the inside.

Pan Broiling. Is cooking by means of a heated metal. Rub the surface of a very hot iron frying pan with a bit of fat; put in the meat and turn it constantly, keeping the pan very hot. Sauteing. This is really what many of us regard as frying. It is putting chops or the like into a pan and allowing them to cook in their own fat. Some of the fat should be first heated in the pan.

Frying. This method of cooking is the immersion of the articles to be cooked in deep fat, heated smoking hot. Fat is hot enough to be used when a bit of dry bread thrown TERMS USED IN THE COOKING OF MEATS into it will brown at once. Do not make the mistake of using the fat before it is sufficiently heated, as the fats or oil will saturate the articles, making them unfit to eat. At the proper temperature, fish and fritters may be cooked simultaneously in the same fat without injuring the flavor of either.

Boiling. This is the application of heat through the medium of boiling water. Water boils at 212° Fahrenheit. Starchy foods and some vegetables should be cooked in rapidly boiling salted water. Meat, however, if you wish to retain the juices within it, should be plunged into the boiling water to sear the outside, which is the same principle used in roasting, then the temperature lowered so as not to harden the albumen of the meat, making it insoluble and so indigestible.

Stewing. In order to draw the juices and gelatinous substances into the liquid, the meat is cooked in water sufficient to cover it and not allowed to reach the boiling point at any time, gently simmering throughout the cooking. This is a method that is greatly varied by the flavorings and seasonings added.

Braising. To braise is to combine a saute and a stew. The meat, cut in small pieces, is seared over in hot fat in a pan or casserole, and then a small portion of water added and kept at the simmering point until thoroughly cooked.