bstance like the white of an egg. It exists in the juices
of meat and contains much nourishment. If allowed to escape, the
nourishment is lost and the meat is hard. Therefore we have the first
general rule for the cooking of meat, namely:

_To retain the albumen, the outside of each piece of meat should be
seared or sealed at once before the cooking is continued._

Albumen is coagulated and hardened by intense heat. Therefrom comes the
second general rule, namely:

_Intense heat hardens and toughens meat, while a soft moist heat softens
the fiber._

From these general rules we pass to the specific methods of cooking
meat, which are nine in number--broiling, roasting, baking, frying,
sauteing, steaming, boiling, stewing, or fricasseeing.

Broiling and roasting are practically the same, the chief difference
being in the time employed. Both mean to expose one side of the meat to
the fire while the other is exposed to the air. By this method the meat
is quickly seared and the nutritive juices retained. Meat cooked in this
way is richer and finer in flavor.

Baking means cooking in a pan in the oven of a stove, and in these days
of hurry has largely superseded roasting.

Frying is the cooking by immersion in hot fat at a temperature of 350
degrees Fahrenheit. There must be sufficient fat to wholly cover each
article. This method is employed for croquettes, oysters, etc., and is
less injurious to digestion than sauteing.

Sauteing is cooking in a small quantity of fat, as an omelet or hashed
browned potatoes are cooked. This is the least wholesome of all methods
of cooking meat, and is often held directly responsible for indigestion.

Steaming is an admirable method of cooking tough meats or hams. Modern
housewives use a "cooker," which comes for this purpose, but the
old-fashioned perforated steamer over a kettle of boiling water is also
good.

Boiling is one of the simplest methods of cooking the cheaper cuts of
meat. Properly employed, it consists in plunging the whole piece of meat
in a large kettle of rapidly boiling water. The meat should be entirely
covered by the water, which should continue to boil rapidly for five
minutes after the meat has been immersed in it. The temperature of the
water should then be immediately lowered to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. If
one has not a cooking thermometer, one has only to remember that water
boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, and it will easily be seen that 160
degrees is co