METHODS OF PREPARING FOOD. 363 



where it will be increased. Stir the meat every ten minutes or 

 quarter of an hour, and in three-quarters of an hour to an hour (if 

 the meat has been minced in the machine) or longer, according to 

 the fineness of the shredding, the first process of extraction will be 

 completed ; the jar should be taken out, the juice strained off through 

 a hair-sieve or muslin and set aside. The albumen which coagu- 

 lates at 135, is thus secured. The meat left in the sieve should 

 now be put into the saucepan with a quart of boiling water, covered 

 and slowly simmered for three hours ; then boiled up and strained 

 at once. The liquor strained off should be boiled down to half a 

 pint and when cooled down mixed with the other half -pint set aside. 

 The result is a pint of strong beef-tea, with all the soluble portion 

 of the meat and the albumen uncoagulated, ready for use. The 

 fat may be removed while warm by white blotting-paper or when 

 cold in the solid cake. The beef -tea should be warmed up by plac- 

 ing what is required in a cup and setting the cup in a basin of boil- 

 ing water ; but water should not be mixed with it (except to dilute 

 it) nor should it be put on the fire to boil. Flavoring may be added to 

 taste. Coloring may be given by putting a thin slice of brown toast 

 or a small piece of burnt onion in the saucepan when the meat is 

 set on to boil. 



The meat used in any preparation for invalids should be as 

 fresh as possible and should be divested beforehand of all fat or 

 gristle. If this precaution be neglected, a greasy taste is given to 

 beef-tea which cannot afterwards be completely removed. In 

 re-warming beef -tea which has been left to cool, care must be taken 

 to warm the tea up to the point at which it is to be served and no 

 higher; this is best done, not by putting it on the fire, but in a cov- 

 ered vessel placed in hot water. When once allowed to get cold it 

 never regains the agreeable flavor it possessed when fresh. 



Rice (whole or ground), pearl-barley, vermicelli, sago or tapioca 

 may often be advantageously added to thicken beef -tea. 



Beef-Juice 1. Take a pound of rump-steak or leg of beef, 

 cut up into pieces the size of dice; put it into a pint of cold water, 

 into which previously mix twenty drops of hydrochloric acid and 

 half a teaspoonful of salt. Cover up and let it stand in a cool place 

 for two hours. Strain off the liquor (pressing the meat) and gently 

 simmer for ten minutes. A tablespoonful will give more nourish- 

 ment to a patient than a cupful of ordinary beer tea. In extreme 

 cases it might be given without being cooked. Beef -juice combined 

 with albumen (white of egg) yields much sustenance in typhoid 

 fever. 



2. Shred the beef and put it into a jar (no water); tie up close 

 and put the jar into a saucepan of water, and let it simmer. Give 

 the invalid one or two spoonfuls at a time ; keep the jar in hot water. 

 Make fresh when all goodness is extracted. 



Beef-Essence This is prepared as follows: A pound of 

 lean beef, free from skin, bone and fat, should be cut up into small 



