MEAT AND MEAT-PREPARATIONS. 425 



to the taste. Among the extractives there are some that have a stimulating 

 influence on the nervous system, such as kreatin, kreatinin, etc., and some that 

 give to the flesh the pleasant characteristic taste (osmazome). The latter is 

 due in part also to the various fats in the meat, and at times it appears 

 distinctly only on preparation. In 100 parts of meat the amount of extractives 

 is in man and in pigeons 3, in deer and in ducks 4, in swallows 7. 



Preparation of Meat. As a general rule the flesh of younger animals is more 

 tender and more easily digested than that of older animals, because the sarcolemma. 

 the connective tissue and the elastic constituents are less tough. Further, after 

 being allowed to hang for a while, the flesh is still more tender, because the inosite 

 is converted into sarcolactic acid, the glycogen into sugar, and the latter into 

 lactic acid, so that the constituents of the meat undergo a sort of maceration. 

 Meat is further always more easily attacked by the digestive juices when in a 

 finely divided state than when in large pieces; and, finally, it should be noted that 

 adequately boiled, steamed, broiled or roasted meat is easily digestible, although 

 not so rapidly as raw meat. In the preparation the heat should not be too in- 

 tense or too long continued, because in such an event the muscle-fibers become 

 hard and much shrunken. On the other hand, those pieces of meat that are 

 heated to about 60 or 70 C., such as the pieces from the middle of a large roast 

 that yet have a rosy but not bloody appearance, are most easily digested, as this 

 temperature is quite sufficient with the aid of the acid in the meat to transform 

 the connective tissue into gelatin. 



Thus, the meat falls apart and the separate fibers are readily isolated in the 

 stomach. To obtain a piece of good, readily digestible meat, a large cubical 

 block is taken and its surface is suddenly exposed to strong heat by frying in fat 

 or immersion in boiling water. In this manner a firmly coagulated layer of albumin 

 forms on the surface, which no longer allows the juices of the meat to escape 

 from the interior. The reddish, juicy parts from the interior of a piece of meat 

 thus prepared are the most nutritious and the most readily digested, while the 

 hard and much shrunken outer crust resists the digestive juices for some time. 



Meat-broth is most suitably prepared by permitting thoroughly chopped 

 meat to stand for some hours in cold water and then boiling, v. Liebig found 

 that out of 100 parts of chopped beef thus treated, but 6 parts pass over into 

 the cold water. Of these, 2.95 parts are again precipitated as coagulated albumin 

 and for the greater part skimmed off and thrown away, so that only 3.05 parts 

 remain dissolved. Of 100 parts of chicken 8 parts are extracted, of which 4.7 

 are coagulated and 3.3 parts dissolved in the broth. By protracted boiling a 

 part of the coagulated albumin may again pass into solution. The dissolved 

 substances are: i. Inorganic salts of the meat, of which 82.27 P er cent, pass over 

 into the broth. The boiled-out meat retains principally the earthy phosphates. 

 2. Kreatin, kreatinin, lactates and inosinates, which give to the meat-broth its 

 stimulating and nerve-strengthening power, as well as a small amount of extract- 

 ives of pleasant taste and some glycogen. 3. Gelatin, which is obtained in consid- 

 erable amount from the flesh of younger animals. 



In accordance with the facts and figures presented, meat -broth is thus to 

 be considered really as merely a highly valuable stimulant, acting as a re- 

 storative to the muscles, but not as a food in the ordinary sense of the word, 

 for the constituents of the meat-extract and the kreatin leave the body in the 

 urine in a practically unchanged condition. From larger pieces of meat cooked 

 in the broth even fewer constituents are obtained. Such cooked-out meat ac- 

 cordingly, provided it is not much shrunken by excessive boiling and therefore 

 rendered difficult of digestion, possesses a high nutritive value, which is usually 

 underestimated by the laity. On the other hand, the preparation of meat-broth 

 at home is a real luxury, its so-called strength in the sense of the laity being 

 a pure illusion. 



J. v. Liebig' s Meat-extract is a fat-free meat-broth containing, however, some 

 gelatin and glycogen, and also about 30 per cent, of albumoses and peptone. It 

 is prepared from finely chopped beef or mutton, in parts of South America and 

 Australia where beef is plentiful, and is evaporated in wide dishes on a water- 

 bath to the consistency of an extract. By solution in water a cheap meat-broth 

 can thus be readily obtained: i kilogram of beef yields 31 grams.. By boiling 

 the solution with bones (gelatin), some beef-fat, pot-herbs and addition of salt 

 a beverage completely replacing fresh broth is obtained. The so-called "bouillon- 

 tablets" on sale consist almost entirely of desiccated gelatin, which is obtained 

 to the extent of about 28 per cent, from bones boiled in Papin's pots under high 

 pressure. These alone, when dissolved in hot water, naturally cannot replace 



