36? METHODS OF PREPARING FOOD. 



of milk in addition will make it more so. And a greater improve- 

 ment is made when for the milk are substituted the whites of two 

 eggs beaten up with two tablespoonfuls of milk and stirred in when 

 the barley is sufficiently cool to be eaten. 



Beef-tea 1. llalf a pound (or a pound, according to the 

 strength required) of rump-steak should be cut up into small pieces 

 and put into a covered enameled saucepan with one pint ol cold 

 water. Let this stand in a cool place for several hours and let it 

 then simmer gently for two hours. Skim well and serve. If grease 

 be specially repugnant, the last traces may be removed by lightly 

 skimming the surface with pieces of white blotting-paper. If there is 

 time it is better to let the beef -tea get quite cold and then remove 

 the cake of fat. 



2. The same proportions of beef and water placed in an 

 earthen vessel, lightly covered and allowed to stand in a saucepanful 

 of hot water near the fire for several hours is a plan much com- 

 mended. 



3. Heat the meat and water gradually to the boiling-point, 

 and then strain immediately. 



4. In order to make beef -tea or any extract of meat quickly, 

 economically and of a certain required strength, some physicians 

 recommend the use of a receiver having an air-tight screw-cover, 

 with safety-valve and a boiler. A small quantity of the beverage 

 may be prepared as follows : One pound of beef, divested of fat, 

 bone and gristle and cut into very small pieces should be put into 

 the receiver, adding eight ounces of water, the cover screwed tighth 

 on, and the receiver placed in the boiler, which has been filled with 

 water. It should boil for three hours, when the receiver should be 

 removed and when sufficiently cool, the cover unscrewed. After 

 squeezing the meat, now a tasteless mass, thirteen ounces of beef- 

 tea, without any loss of aroma and three times stronger than that 

 prepared in the ordinary way, will be obtained. As experiments 

 prove that one pound of beef will yield five ounces of meat-juice, 

 the extract can oe more or less concentrated by regulating the pro- 

 portion of water. The preparation can be made in one-third of 

 the time if salt be added to the water in the boiler. The extract of 

 course becomes gelatinous and consolidates on cooling, when bones 

 or the sinewy parts of meat are used; but gelatine, contrary to the 

 popularly received opinion, is comparatively unimportant in nutri 

 tion. 



5. Shred a pound of beef (with sausage-machine if possible); 

 place it in a jar and add a saltspoonful 01 salt; place the jar in a 

 saucepan so large that it may be covered with the lid. Mix exactly 

 equal quantities of boiling and cold water, and of this put half a 

 pint into the jar which contains the meat and enough in the sauce- 

 pan around the jar to reach as high as the water inside the jar. 

 Cover the saucepan with the lid and place it on the hearth or where 

 the heat of the water will be maintained, but not on the fire or stove 



