is gradually softening and the fibers are gradually changing in texture.
The former is the thing to be especially desired, but the latter is not.
For this reason it is necessary to keep the temperature below the
boiling point and as low as is consistent with thorough cooking, for
cooks seem agreed, as the result of experience shows, that slow gentle
cooking results in better texture than is the case when meat is boiled
rapidly. This is the philosophy that lies back of the simmering process.

Losses of elements vary considerably with the method of cooking
employed, being of course greatest where small pieces of meat are
subjected to prolonged cooking. The chief loss in weight when meat is
cooked is due to the driving off of water. When beef is cooked by pan
broiling--that is, searing in a hot, greased pan, a common cooking
process--no great loss of nutrition results, particularly if the fat and
other substances adhering to the pan are utilized in the preparation of
gravy. When beef is cooked by boiling, there is a loss of 3 to 20 per
cent. of material present, though this is not an actual loss if the
broth is utilized for soup or in some similar way. Even in the case of
meat which is used for the preparation of beef tea or broth, the losses
of nutritive material are apparently small though much of the flavoring
matter has been removed. The amount of fat found in broth varies
directly with the amount originally present in the meat; the fatter the
meat the greater the quantity of fat in the broth. The loss of water
in cooking varies inversely with the fatness of the meat; that is,
the fatter the meat the smaller the shrinkage due to loss of water.
In cooked meat the loss of various constituents is inversely proportional
to the size of the cut. In other words, the smaller the piece of meat
the greater the percentage of loss. Loss also appears to be dependent
somewhat upon the length of time the cooking is continued. When pieces
of meat weighing 1-1/2 to 5 pounds are cooked in water somewhat under