A Study on The Effects of Different Cooking Methods on Vitamin C Contents of Cooked Potato Meals at an Establishment of Food Service

Abstract

This study had been planned and carried out to determine the vitamin C content o f the potato meal with minced meat, prepared and cooked out in different ways in mass catering systems. At the fırst stage o f the study 14 governmental and 8 private hospitals in Ankara were visited. During these visits mass-catering ser\>ices of the hospitals, preparing and cooking methods o f the potato meal with minced meat were determined by observation and questionnaire method and were evaluated according to the opinions o f the supervisor dietitians o f the hospitals. At the second stage, potato meal with minced meat were prepared and cooked by 7 different methods which were determined in the fır s t stage, under the same conditions except the cooking and preparation methods, in Ankara City Hospital kitchen. At the third stage, samples that were taken simultaneously from the cooked meals, raw potatoes and raw meal mixtures were analyzed by spectrophotometric methodfor the vitamin C content. At the end of these analyses vitamin C values were found to be as follows; raw potatoes 20 mg/100 g, raw meal mixture 12 mg/100 g, Standard method; machine peeling + washing + slicing + baking 11.7 mg/100 g (method 1), handpeeling + washing + slicing + immediate frying + baking 9.8 mg/100 g (method 2), machine peeling + washing + slicing + frying + baking 11.0 mg/100 g (method 3), machine peeling + slicing + soaking in water fo r two hours + frying + baking 9.05 mg/100 g (method 4), machine peeling + soaking in water fo r a night + slicing + frying + baking 10.2 mg/100 g (method 5), machine peeling + slicing + soaking in water fo r two hours + fyying + waitingfor a night + baking 3.8 mg/100 g (method 6), machine peeling + washing + slicing + boiling + baking 2.6 mg/100 g (method 7). The minimum vitamin C level has been determined in the method 7 and the highest level has been determined in the method 1. İt has been observed that there have been great losses in vitamin C content of the potato meal with minced meat depending on the preparing and cooking methods. When the mass catering systems ’ rules was considered, it has been found that, the most suitable methods for cooking potato meal with minced meat are Standard method and the one that was immediately fried and baked without waiting.