Foods and Household Management Part 32

=9. Croutons.=--Cut a slice of bread a day old 1/2 inch thick. Spread with soft b.u.t.ter, cut off the crust, put the slices in a pan, cut in cubes and set the pan in the oven until the croutons are brown.

EXERCISES

1. What is a standard for good bread?

2. Describe a perfect loaf.

3. How do climate and method of raising affect the composition of wheat and flour?

4. What are the essentials of good bread flour?

5. Why is it so necessary to control temperature in bread making?

6. What is the best temperature and why?

7. Explain the part played by gluten in bread making.

8. State the underlying principles of bread making.

9. Explain the advantage of a bread machine over the hand in kneading.

10. What is the best temperature for baking a loaf? For baking biscuit?

11. What are the principles and practical points in toast-making? (See Chapter IV.)

12. What is the argument in connection with homemade bread _versus_ baker's bread?

13. How can the public insure good quality baker's bread?

14. What is the nutritive value and digestibility of bread?

15. How much bread in the 100-Calorie portion?

CHAPTER XIII

MEATS AND POULTRY

The meats that we commonly use are derived from the flesh of domestic and wild animals of herbivorous habits and from fowls. The flesh of carnivorous animals is seldom used as food. The various kinds are obtained as follows:

_Meat_ _Animal_

Beef Ox Veal Calf Mutton Sheep Lamb Young sheep Pork Pig Ham and bacon Pig Venison Deer

Under the head of poultry we include the common fowl, turkeys, ducks and geese, the guinea hen, and game birds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 57.--Fiber cells of plain muscular tissue. _Kimber's Anatomy for Nurses._]

=Quality of good meat.=--The quality of meat is dependent on the condition of the animal from which it is derived. The creature should be in perfect health and well fed. Good beef is largely obtained from the cattle ranges of the West, but there is no reason why cattle should not be raised to greater extent in the East. Sheep for mutton are best raised where the climate is not too severe. Methods of slaughter, transportation, and preservation all affect the quality of beef. The pure food laws and Federal meat inspection law are valuable to the consumer in their control of the quality of the meat, that it shall be free from disease and from adulterations. See Chapter XVII for the discussion of preservatives and pure food laws.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 58.--Cuts of Beef.

KEY:

_A._ Ribs _B._ Hip bone _C._ Loin _D._ Porterhouse _E._ Prime ribs _F._ Shoulder _G._ Neck _H._ Head _I._ Brisket _J._ Shin _L._ Navel _M._ Plate _N._ Flank _O._ Leg _P._ Horseshoe _Q._ Round _R._ Oxtail _S._ Rump _Z._ Sirloin

_Courtesy of Bureau of Publications, Teachers College._]

In meat as it is purchased we have bone, fat, and the flesh, consisting of the muscle of the animal with its connective tissue. The color of the meat should be clear and fairly bright, not purplish or dull. There should be little or no odor, and the meat should be firm and elastic to the touch.

_Beef_ should be a bright red and well streaked with fat.

_Veal_ should be pink and is somewhat less firm than beef. If watery and flabby, it is too young.

_Mutton_ is a duller red, and firm. The fat is white or slightly yellow and hard.

_Lamb_ is pink, rather than red, and slightly less firm.

_Pork_ is rather pale, somewhat less firm than beef and mutton, and the fat is softer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 59.--The hind quarter of beef hanging.

_Cuts_: _A_, Leg; _B_, Round; _C_, Rump; _D_, Top Sirloin; _E_, Loin; _F_, Flank.

_Bones_: _g_, leg bone; _h_, socket bone; _j_, rump bone; _k_, hip bone; _e_, back bone; _m_, part of rump bone; _n_, wing rib.

_Courtesy of Bureau of Publications, Teachers College_]

=Tough and tender meat.=--To understand the difference between the tough and tender cuts we must be familiar with the structure of the muscle (see Fig. 57). Each muscle consists of bundles of tubes held together by connective tissue. In tough meat, the muscle tubes are thicker and there is more connective tissue present. Exercise strengthens the muscle, and this accounts for the fact that the unexercised muscles of the young animal give us a softer meat. In the mature animal the muscles most exercised furnish the tough meat, and the less used muscles the tender. If you study Fig. 58, you can easily determine where the tough meat will occur, if you think of the proportionate amount of exercise that the different muscles receive. The tough cuts come from the neck and legs, the tender cuts from the middle of the back, the toughness increasing as the cuts approach the neck and the hind legs. The muscles of the abdomen are also tender, but they give a coa.r.s.e-grained meat. The various cuts of meat are shown as they occur in the standing animal in Fig. 58, and in the hind and fore quarters hanging, in Figs. 59 and 60. The individual cuts of beef and mutton are shown in the figures that follow. The tender cuts from the ribs and loin are the most highly prized, and therefore bring the highest price. These cuts are liked because of their tenderness although the nutritive value of the tough meat is as high or possibly even higher than that of the tender. All meat is now high-priced, and you will find the reasons for this discussed in Chapter XVII. For the sake of economy we are forced to use the relatively cheaper cuts, and to seek for meat subst.i.tutes. We must also take pains to use the cooking processes that will make the tough meats palatable.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 60.--The fore quarter of beef, hanging.

KEY USES 1. 1st and 2d ribs } 2. 3d and 4th ribs } Prime Roasts 3. 5th and 6th ribs "

4. 7th rib "

5. 8th rib "

6. 9th rib "

7. Chuck steaks, or roasts, 10th to 13th ribs "

8. Chuck pot roast "

9. Neck Beef tea, etc.

10. Yoke "

11. Navel Stew and corning 12. Plate "

13. Brisket Corning 14. Cross Rib Pot Roast 15. Shoulder "

16. Shin Soup