25. The term cookery, as has been explained, means the preparation of
both hot and cold dishes for use as food, as well as the selection of
the materials or substances that are to be cooked. The importance of
cooking foods by subjecting them to the action of heat has been
recognized for ages; and while it is true that there are many foods that
appeal to the appetite in their raw state and still others that can be
eaten either raw or cooked, there are several reasons why it is
desirable to cook food, as will be seen from the following:
1. Cooking makes foods more palatable. This is true of such foods as
meat, cereals, and many vegetables, which would be very unappetizing if
they were eaten raw.
2. Cooking renders foods more digestible. For instance, the hard grains,
such as wheat, and the dried vegetables, such as beans, cannot be
readily digested unless they are softened by cooking. But while cooking
makes such foods more digestible, it renders others more difficult of
digestion, as in the case of eggs, the degree of digestibility depending
somewhat on the cooking method used and the skill of the cook. An egg in
an almost liquid form, or when only slightly cooked, as a soft-boiled
egg, is more easily digested than when it becomes hardened by cooking.
Then, too, a properly prepared hard-cooked egg is more digestible than
an improperly cooked one, although the degree of hardness may be
the same.
3. Cooking gives foods greater variety. The same food may be cooked by
various methods and be given very different tastes and appearances; on
the other hand, it may be combined with a large number of other foods,
so as to increase the variety of the dishes in which it is used. The
large number of recipes found in cook books show the attempts that have
been made to obtain variety in cooked dishes by the combining of
different foods.
4. Cooking sterilizes foods either partly or completely. Many foods
need partial or complete sterilization for safety. They must be
completely sterilized if the germs that produce fermentation or
putrefaction and thereby spoil food would be destroyed. This is done
when fruits and vegetables are canned for keeping. Foods that are
exposed to dust, flies, and improper handling should be thoroughly
cooked in order to destroy any pathogenic germs that might be present.
By such germs are meant disease-bearing germs. They differ from germs
that produce fermentation and putrefaction, or spoiling, and that must
in general be considered as a help, for these play an important part in
the raising of bread and the preparation of various foods, as is pointed
out later.
5. Cooking develops flavor in many foods. In the case of some
vegetables, the flavoring substance is given off in the air by certain
methods of cooking and a better flavor is thereby developed.
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