---
title: Don't Overcook Meat
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-overcook-meat-1944/
description: 'Army kitchen poster: a red sheet headed ''Don''t Overcook Meat'' with a column of arrows pointing down to a roasting-time table and a drawing of a cut'
section: Collection
---

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3. Don't Overcook Meat

[![Don't Overcook Meat, 1944 US poster: Army kitchen poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dont-overcook-meat-1944.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dont-overcook-meat-1944.jpg)

# Don't Overcook Meat

Army kitchen poster: a red sheet headed 'Don't Overcook Meat' with a column of arrows pointing down to a roasting-time table and a drawing of a cut of meat. Three benefits of low-temperature cooking are listed and no drawbacks, a card-stacking pattern; the sheet is mostly a practical chart, so the technique is faint.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
DON'T OVERCOOK MEAT
Cook at Low Temperature
Prevents Shrinkage
Saves Food Values
Seals in Natural Juices
and Flavors
TIMETABLE FOR ROASTING MEATS*
OVEN TEMPERATURE 325° F.
KIND OF MEAT | WEIGHT | Approximate Cooking Time Per Pound: RARE | MEDIUM | WELL DONE
Beef, boneless | 6-8 lb. | 25-30 Min. | 30-35 Min. | 35-40 Min.
Lamb, boneless | 3-6 lb. | Never rare | 35-40 Min. | 40-45 Min.
Pork, boneless | 4-6 lb. | Always Well Done | 45-50 Min.
Veal, boneless | 4-6 lb. | Always Well Done | 40-45 Min.
Smoked, ham | 8-10 lb. | Always Well Done | 30 Min.
Smoked, ham | 10-12 lb. | Always Well Done | 25 Min.
Smoked, ham | 12-16 lb. | Always Well Done | 20 Min.
Smoked, picnic | 4-8 lb. | Always Well Done | 35-45 Min.
Note: Place uniform size pieces in roasting pan fat side up.
* This timetable supersedes roasting data contained in TM 10-405.
FOR BEST ROASTING RESULTS ALWAYS CHECK WITH THIS CHART
[emblem:] U.S. ARMY SAVE CONSERVATION PROGRAM
THIS POSTER TO BE DISPLAYED IN KITCHENS ONLY
ARMY CONSERVATION PROJECT No. 80-Q-32
[imprint:] U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944-O-586283
OFFICE OF THE QUARTERMASTER GENERAL
[handwritten:] Conservation - food
```

[← Don't miss your great opportunity: The Navy needs you in the WAVES](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-miss-your-great-opportunity-waves-1944/) [Don't Shiver Next Winter... Order Coal Now! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-shiver-order-coal-1944/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Persepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/persepolis-apadana-delegate-relief-500bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Manufactured consensus)
- [Alabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/relief-sennacherib-storming-citadel-nineveh-704bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Card stacking). Content note: An Assyrian palace relief of troops storming a fortified city, with a file of figures below; Assyrian royal reliefs and texts record killing, mutilation and deportation, shown as carved, with the historical context and scholarly dispute on the regime page.
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Silver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denarius-vespasian-judaea-capta-0070/) (Roman Empire · 0070 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman victory coin showing a mourning female figure as the personification of the conquered province of Judaea after the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt; shown as struck, with the historical context on the regime page.