It requires patience and time to learn how to bring this natural force of heat under control. One novice who had allowed a flour paste to boil over and burn while she was looking out of the window remarked: “We may forget, but they never do!”——a pretty way of stating the steady working of nature’s forces which we can harness for our use only by the exercise of reason and will and constant watchfulness. The unintelligent cook is impatient of slow processes, and cannot believe that food will finally be “done” unless the water is at a “galloping” boil, and a red-hot fire is keeping the oven at burning temperature. Look upon the application of heat as a continuation of nature’s slow ripening process, a softening of tough fibers and a development of pleasing flavors. For why do we cook at all except for these reasons? Primitive man thought only that the food had a better taste. He may have decided, too, that it was easier to masticate; but we have learned that in some cases we may, with right methods of cooking, make it easier to digest farther on in the alimentary canal. Modern science carries us a step farther and teaches us that cooking destroys lower organisms, such as harmful bacteria that may be present, and even animal parasites in meats. We cook, therefore, _to improve the appearance of food, to develop flavors, to render some foodstuffs more digestible and to destroy microörganisms_. We have at our command the following processes: =Heat direct= from coal, charcoal, wood, or gas. _Toasting._——Surfaces of food exposed and turned for browning. _Broiling._——Thin portions of meat or fish exposed and turned for searing, browning, and short cooking of the interior. _Roasting._——Thicker cuts of meat exposed and turned frequently for searing, browning, and gradual cooking of the interior. This is an ancient method. It survives in the French “Rôtisserie”; and we use it in the modern gas stove when we cook directly _under_ the gas. =Heat through an intervening medium.= _Water_, the medium. _Boiling._——Cooking in boiling water, temperature, 212° F., or 100° C. _Simmering_, _stewing_, or “_coddling_.”——Cooking in water below the boiling temperature, 180° F. up to 210° F. _Steaming._——Cooking in a receptacle into which steam penetrates, 212° F.——or in a closed receptacle surrounded by steam or boiling water as in a double boiler, or a “steamer,” temperature from 200° F. to 210° F. _Fat_, the medium. _Deep fat frying_, temperature 350°-400° F. _Heated surfaces_, the medium. _Pan broiling._——Cooking of chops or steaks in a heated pan, without additional fat. _Sauté._——To cook in a heated pan with a small amount of fat, enough merely to prevent the food from sticking to the pan and to hasten the browning process. “Baking” cakes on a griddle is a modification of this method.