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the fat away from the article cooking, thus causing it to be less 

 greasy than if it had been cooked in our ordinary fryingpans. 



After having spoken of cooking by convection, the Lecturer 

 next called attention to roasting, or cookery by radiation. Rumford 

 put his meat in a closed vessel, and then cooked it by radiation. 

 If flesh is to be roasted, a circular fire, with the meat in the centre, 

 Avould be the proper thing ; but undoubtedly, tlie best way of so 

 «ooking meat is in an oven. There has been, and up to the present 

 is, great prejudice against baked meat : two reasons could be given 

 for tliis antipathy ; the first is that in the time of our forefathers, 

 the joints used to be sent to a bakery, Avhere all sorts and conditions 

 of meat mingled their various odours so that individual flavour was 

 entirely lost in the eating ; and secondly, the ovens were constructed 

 for the baking of bread, not for the roasting of meat. 



Cheese is a slighted article of food. It is very nutritious ; 

 but should not be eaten raw. 201bs. of it is equal to 601bs. or 

 more of sheep-flesh. Mutton contains 70 per cent, of water, whereas 

 Clieshire cheese has only 30 per cent., and no bones. But it is 

 found to be very indigestible owing to the casein, the principal 

 constituent of cheese, being insoluble. There are two forms of 

 casein : soluble, as in milk, which is easy of digestion, all the young 

 of the mammalia living and thriving on it ; and insoluble as, in 

 cheese. It is this latter form of casein which is the cause of 

 cheese not being easy of digestion. A method was given of bringing 

 the casein back to its soluble state, viz., by grating the cheese and 

 putting it into water or milk, adding bicarbonate of potash in the 

 proportion of about one-sixth of an ounce of potash to lib. of 

 cheese. In cheese we liave a good portable food, specially adapted 

 for the poor ; no ice is required to keep it, as in animal food, below 

 a certain temperature. In Italy the people never take soup without 

 having grated cheese served with it. There are a number of Avays 

 in which cheese might be more used in this country ; it could be 

 used in puddings, and would be both digestible and economical. 



In conclusion, the Lecturer dwelt on the fact that the subject, 

 one of the greatest practical importance, was really one capable of 

 scientific treatment, and well worthy the sti;dy of everybody. 



