NEEDS OF THE ANIMAL 353 



with that of meat which has been dropped in boiling 

 water, allowed to boil a few moments, and then al- 

 lowed to stand half an hour? Is a low or high tem- 

 perature best for extracting the flavor? Which method 

 extracts the most albumin from the meat? Test this 

 by boiling the water in which the meat has been stand- 

 ing and thus coagulating the albumin. 



Meat should be boiled only when the liquid is to be 

 saved and used as in soups and stews. These are very 

 economical, because they make use of every bit of nour- 

 ishment in the food, and can be made of bones and 

 small pieces which would otherwise be thrown away. 

 If these small pieces are browned in the frying pan (es- 

 pecially with a little flour, butter, or olive oil) before 

 being cooked in the stew, its flavor can be made deli- 

 cious. It is just in the preparation of good soups, 

 gravies, and stews that the people of Europe greatly 

 surpass us, and are able to live well on what many 

 an American family throws away. In America the 

 poorest families usually waste most. 



Economy in food. Figure 181 shows the relative 

 amount of actual nourishment and energy in twenty- 

 five cents' worth of food as purchased in the market 

 at the prices given. We see that for twenty- five cents 

 we get about eleven times as much energy in the form 

 of wheat bread as in the form of beef or eggs. There is 

 also given the amount of food and energy needed daily 

 by a man at moderate work. We see from this that 



2A 



