30 The Bulletin. 



LECTURES DELIVERED AT WOMEN'S INSTITUTES. 



MEATS IN THE DIETARY. 



By Mrs. VV. N. HUTT. 



Long centuries ago was it that some poor hungry savage pulled from the 

 water his first oyster and ate it raw. That is supposed to have been man's 

 first taste of animal food. Later he captured the cave beasts. These, too, 

 he ate raw — and drank their blood. But as the years rolled on he learned 

 that flesh tasted better and kept longer when heat had altered its flavor and 

 flame had seared its sides. Ever since then man has eaten his meat cooked. 

 He did not know why he ate it at all; he simply knew that it appeased his 

 hunger and strengthened him. 



To understand the nourishing power of meat it is necessary to know some- 

 thing of the structure of flesh, which, unlike that of vegetables, is not made 

 of grains of nourishment with its indigestible walls of cellu. Practically speak- 

 ing, every bit of meat is capable of digestion and absorption into the body. 



STRUCTURE OF MEAT. 



Did you ever boil a piece of beef until it came apart in strings? These 

 strings are fibers, and if you had a microscope you would see that these same 

 fibers or strings of meat are made up of many little bundles of tubes, all held 

 together by a connective tissue. The walls of these tubes are made of a form 

 of proteid. Inside these tubes or muscle fiber is the juice which contains in 

 solution, water, more proteid and extractives. This latter it is which produces 

 the flavor of the various meats, and without it meat would be almost taste- 

 less. 



The connective flavor it is from which we get our gelatine, and imbedded 

 in it are tiny cells of fat. The amount of fat varies in different meats, being 

 almost entirely absent in the breast of chicken and in greatest abundance 

 in pork or goose. 



Just as vegetables start their chemical digestive changes for absorption 

 into the body in the mouth, so meat begins its changes in the stomach. Meat 

 is the most easily digested form of tissue builder we have. All animal food 

 is most easily digested when raw and the rarer cooked meats more digestible 

 than the well done. This is a good thing to know when you have to prepare* the 

 meals for those whom dyspepsia has in its iron grasp or who are recovering 

 from a long illness. 



Cooking develops the flavor of meat and also destroys any living thing 

 that might be in it. This is especially true of pork, and is the reason that 

 we cook it so thoroughly. 



A good way to prepare beef for a weak digestion is to scrape a steak in 

 one direction with a blunt knife, getting out all the fiber, but leaving the 

 connective tissue. Season the pulp with salt and pepper, make it into little 

 cakes about an inch thick, put it on a hot frying-pan without either grease 

 or water, letting it remain long enough to sear well, turn, set back on the 

 stove until the outside of the meat is gray, add a little piece of butter, and 

 serve. Remember, this is not frying the meat ; it is only searing it. 



The digestibility of the meat depends on the length of the fiber, the density 

 of the flesh, the amount and kind of fat and on the method of cooking. Sup- 

 pose you decide to kill that old hen that is the great grandmother of all the 

 other hens. You send Sambo out to get it, and he makes a mistake and gets 

 the nice fat young one. It is all tender, and so you cook it well, but quickly. 

 Next day, however, you make no mistake, and kill the old ben. The muscles 



