316 USE OF SALT IN COOKING. 



crispness of this curdy matter that renders a salmon, 

 newly caught and in full condition, so vastly superior 

 to one that has been long kept, or taken out of season. 

 The curd quickly decomposes in hot weather, and is 

 converted into a sort of limpid oil, which imparts to the 

 flesh its peculiar oily quality, when long kept, or carried 

 to a distance. And I have, on several occasions, been 

 not a little amused at gentlemen, reared far from the 

 home of the salmon, and who never tasted it except 

 when in this half-decomposed and oily condition, com- 

 plaining of the dryness and want of condition of a fish 

 in the very height of perfection almost jumping alive in 

 the kettle. 



As it is then a most essential matter to preserve the 

 curd in all its integrity, either from decomposition or 

 loss in the cooking, particular attention must be paid to 

 its treatment in the pot. 



It is a fact well known to chemists that water in 

 which any saline matter is dissolved requires to attain 

 a much higher degree of heat before it reaches the 

 boiling-point than pure water does. Thus, a saturated 

 solution of common salt does not boil until it attains 

 228 F., while simple water boils at 212, at the level of 

 the sea. Fat or oil floating upon the surface of a kettle 

 of water, by preventing the free evaporation of steam, 

 has a similar effect. Almost every cook with even a 

 humble knowledge of her business, knows that cabbage, 

 spinach, and other green vegetables, can only be rendered 

 tender by boiling them in water in which there is either 

 a portion of salt, carbonate of soda, or fat meat ; though 



