Stewing differs from roasting and broiling, in the heat being applied to
the substance through a small portion of a liquid medium; and, from
boiling and frying, in the process being conducted by means of an
_aqueous_, and not by means of an oily fluid. It is necessary that the
fire be moderate; for a strong heat suddenly applied would be very
injurious. The liquids employed as the medium for applying the heat are
usually water, gravy, or broth, the quantity of which must be such as
shall prevent the meat from burning and adhering to the pan. It is not
requisite that the liquid be made to boil in stewing. It should only be
raised nearly to a simmering heat, which will retard the fluid being
evaporated too quickly. The closeness of the vessel will also prevent
the waste of the liquid. If it diminish too quickly, it must, from time
to time, be replenished.
The management of the fire in cooking, is, in all cases, a matter of
importance, but in no case is it so necessary to be attended to as in
preparing stews or made dishes; not only the palatableness, but even the
strength or richness of all made dishes, seems to depend very much upon
the management of the heat employed in cooking them.
The most proper sorts of animal food for stewing, are such as abound in
fibrine, and which are too dry or too tough for roasting. When beef or
mutton is rather old and too coarse flavoured, and not tender enough for
the spit or the gridiron, it may, by stewing, be not only rendered
tolerably palatable, but even sometimes savoury and good. But the
stewing process is not confined to flesh of this sort; for veal and
other young flesh which abounds in gelatine, when properly stewed, is
much relished.
The vegetables most usually stewed are carrots, turnips, potatoes,
pease, beans, and other leguminous seeds. Some fruits are also cooked in
this way.
_Rationale._--Stewing is nothing else than boiling by means of a small
quantity of an aqueous fluid, and continuing the operation for a long
time to render the substance tender, to loosen its texture, to render
it more sapid, and to retain and concentrate the most essential parts of
animal or vegetable food.
If the stew-pan be close shut, it is evident that none of the nutritive
principles can escape, and must either be found in the meat itself or in
the liquid. The water or gravy in which the meat is stewed, being
capable of dissolving the gelatine and albumen, the greater part of them
become separated during the simmering process. Now, since the firm
texture of the bundles of fibres of the meat is owing to the solid
gelatine and albumen glueing them, as it were, together, when they are
dissolved and disengaged, the meat must become greatly disorganized.
These principles, as well as the fat and osmazome, are partly disengaged
from the meat, and become united with the gravy. It is to these, indeed,
that the gravy owes all its richness and excellence. The muscular
fibres and the tendons acquire a gluey appearance and texture, and the
whole forms a savoury gelatinous _stew_, _gravy_, or _soup_.
No scorching or browning of the meat takes place if the process is
properly conducted; for the temperature to which it is exposed does not
exceed the boiling point of water.
In the stewing of vegetables, saccharine matter is formed, the starch
and mucilage are rendered soluble, and of course, set free the woody
fibre, which either floats through the liquid or adheres together very
slightly. It accordingly constitutes either a pasty fluid, or converts
the vegetables to a soft pulp; sometimes their original shape being
preserved entire, and at other times not.