598 



TJic Country Gcntlcivoman 



BOILING. 



Now, as the researches of Dr Beaumont 

 and others have demonstrated that meat is 

 always rendered more and more indigestible 

 in proportion to the prolonged action of heat, 

 it is highly necessary that the temperature 

 should not be continued beyond the point 

 necessary to accomplish these objects. Lie- 

 big says that a temperature of 133^. Fahr. 

 will coagulate albumen, and that the red 

 colouring matters of the blood and muscle 

 are coagulated and destroyed at from 158'' 

 to iGs'^ (say 170°). He therefore advises 

 that all cooking operations, in respect of 

 meat, should be limited to \jO° . His direc- 

 tions are, that in boiling meat it should be 

 introduced into the vessel when the water is 

 in a state of brisk ebullition, and that the 

 boiling should be kept up for a few minutes. 

 The pot is then to be placed in a warm situa- 

 tion, so that the water is maintained at from 

 158" to 165°. The effect of this is, that the 

 boiling water coagulates the albumen and 

 tissue upon the surface of the meat, and to a 

 certain depth inwards, and thus forms a crust 

 which does not permit the juice of the meat 

 to flow out, nor the water to penetrate into 

 the meat. The flesh, therefore, retains its 

 savoury constituents, and is not too sodden \ 

 but if, on the other hand, the meat be set 

 upon the fire with cold water, and then slowly 

 heated to boiling, the flesh undergoes a loss 

 of soluble and savoury matters, while the soup 

 becomes richer in them. The albumen, in 

 fact, is gradually dissolved from the surface 

 to the centre ; the fibre loses, more or less, 

 its quality of shortness or tenderness, and be- 

 comes hard and tough. The thinner the piece 

 of flesh is, the greater is its loss of savoury 

 constituents. 



This explains the well-known observation, 

 that that mode of boiling which yields the best 

 soup, gives the driest, toughest, and most 

 vapid meat; and that, in order to obtain 

 well-flavoured and eatable meat, we must re- 

 linquish the idea of making good soup from it. 



\{ finely chopped flesh be slowly heated to 

 boiling, with an equal weight of water, and be 

 kept' boiling for a few minutes, then strained 

 and pressed, we obtain the very strongest and 



best flavoured soup which can be made from 

 flesh. When the boiling is longer continued, 

 some little additional organic matter is dis- 

 solved, but the flavour and other properties 

 of the soup are thereby in no degree increased 

 or improved. By the action of the heat on 

 the fibres of meat a certain amount of water 

 or juice is always expelled from them ; whence 

 it happens that the flesh loses weight by boil- 

 ing, even when immersed in water (as much 

 sometimes as 24 per cent, of the weight of the 

 raw flesh). In larger masses this loss is not 

 so great. 



ROASTING. 



Even in roasting meat the heat must be 

 strongest at first, and it may then be much 

 reduced. The juice which, as in boiling, 

 flows out, evaporates, in careful roasting, from 

 the surface of the meat, and gives to it the 

 dark brown colour, the lustre, and the strong 

 aromatic taste of roast meat. It is doubtful, 

 however, whether the heat of 170'' is suffi- 

 ciently high to ensure the destruction of the 

 parasites of meat, and therefore, I would .ad- 

 vise that the temperature should be as nearly 

 as possible to that of boiling water (212'^). 



COMPARATIVE MERITS OF BOILING, COOKING, 

 ROASTING, AND FRYING. 



Of the four methods of cooking which are 

 commonly practised in this country — namely, 

 boi/ifig, baki7ig, roasting, andyri-/;;^, the former 

 is undoubtedly the most economical, and pro- 

 duces the most digestible food, but the flavour 

 of the meat is not well developed, and it is 

 quite unsuited for many descriptions of meat; 

 the flesh of young animals, for example, con- 

 sisting of an undue proportion of albumen 

 and gelatine in the tissues, Avill boil away to 

 a large extent, and so Avill lose fatty tissue, 

 like that of American bacon ; and, indeed, 

 unless the process is well managed, there will 

 always be considerable loss, as I have just 

 stated, from the escape of albumen, saline 

 matter, and the alkaloids of the meat, into 

 the water, amounting sometimes to from 16 

 to 24 per cent, of the weight of the joint ; 

 and that these are valuable constituents of 

 flesh, is proved by the experiments of the 

 French Academicians, who found that when 



