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Show Preparation of Vegetables By WINIFRED STUART GIBBS in The Priscilla "Cookery moans wrote Ruskln. "a knowledge if nil herbs and fruits land balms and spices," adding with. ' Instinctive prophecy "and of :ill that' 1 i. healing and sweet in the fields and ! groves." Some of us who were wont to read jour "Sesame and Lllltes" chiefly for beauty of phrase and style, have lived' to see this same knowledge of all herbs and fruits develop wonderfully, iand he put to very practical use, even , to the feeding of whole nations. Just what should the housekeeper Iknow about vegetable cookery? N'ot mereU abstract truths concern-ling concern-ling the chemistry of cookery, although these arc important buy Vital facts IshowLng how good cookery affects the palatalnlity. n l.iiivt reoiH'niv and food lvalue of vegetable foods. Before considering these separately,! 1 1 huso we docide upon a practical mothod of classifying vegetables so I that we may have a good foundation; for our working program. Obviously. J for our present purposi- it is best to classify vegetables according to the luirt u-; d for food. I .( 1 . 1 LB B COOKER! I We come now to ihe most import-an! import-an! point of all. and this phase of thei subject cannot be condensed into crisp statements Scientists are working long and late to slfi available information and to gather new facta as the study of nutrition and food preparation advances. ad-vances. The late Miss Parloa was among tho first to realize that while we ezen 1st great care in the cooking of meat, according ac-cording to whether the cuts be tough or tender, we are apt to cook our vegetables vege-tables quite haphazardly Shortly before be-fore her death Miss Parloa said: "We need much research along these lines." Today, this research is well under way. lr Minna C. Denton, first holder hold-er of the Ellen 11 Richards fellowship at the University of Chicago, writes ' When some parts of a vegetable in- very mu-h totighor and mon n-sLs-tant than others, the two should not as a rule, be cooked together untii th toughest part is done 1 We do not expect to cook tho tenderloin strip and tho tail piece of a Porterhouse steak successfully i the Bame process." Miss Denton, Miss Harrows, and other leaders .ir constantly adding to our fund of knowledge qn this ques tlon of vegetable cookery. Just what facts concerning tho effect I of oookery on the food value of ck' tables .should the- hftu4?ke.'per slf . Iftoni available materia) for practical use toda ? utlioritip.s agree that for tho most part tho simplest methods of preparation prepara-tion are the best. Vegetables rna be balled or fried, scalloped or steamed but as "eVery woman knows" the mos; common method cf preparation It 1 I b.iillng. Now one of the chief functions of vegetables in the scheme of nutrition is the contributing of of certain 'valuable 'valu-able mineral salts. One can see thai ithe.se salts might easily be affected b 1 such a process as boiling or cooking in large quantities of water. AN'e are but I recently coming to realize, however, Just how important it Is to make Uflc lot the water in which vegetables have been cooked. Hero are some of the conclusions formed b Dr. Denton and others Who are 1 ncagoj in tin- stud) of 'his prob lom. Vegetables boiled in a large quantit-, I Of water may lose as high as sixty per I cent of their fuel value and mineral salts One way to obviate this is bj steaming or cooking In water carefully measured so that it maj all be ab-1 ab-1 sorhed. In the case of potatoes bak-fing bak-fing or cooking m Jackets accomplishes the same result. General directions for cooking each case of vegetables tellon ly the first part of the story. Housekeepers have ! given considerable thoupht to cooklir-ieaeh cooklir-ieaeh cut 01 variety of meat. Thej can render real service by sTudyins vegetable cookery in the same Waj For example, tough leaves of cauliflower cauli-flower or the core of cabbage or turnip tur-nip may be saved and given a long slow cooking In the flreless, or chop-1 chop-1 pod and added to soups or stews. I Vegetables cut lengthwise in falrh ' large pieces lose less in cooking than ' those, finely cut. When vegetables are pared and put to soak in cold water until cooking ;time. the loss is considerable, uid this waste of food material would seem to offset the advantage gained of saving time. Cue in preparation beginning with thorough cleaning and following 4o a ! nice adjustment of quantity of water and temperature affects the food value; Indirectly, by making the food ready J for thorough digestion and assimlla-l tion. |