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what could be extracted by water from a piece of meat comprised all in it that was of value to the body; and so it happened that for more than a hundred years after Papin had discovered the method of extracting all the gelatine out of bones (which he did by the aid of that contrivance still known in kitchens as the "Papin Soup Digester ") gelatine was considered to be one of the most, if not the most nourishing constituent of meats. In the last decade of the eighteenth century, and in the early part of this, the French made great use of gelatine under the impression that it was a proteid because it yielded nitrogen to the chemist. Improved methods of extracting it were invented, and so general did its use become, especially in the public institutions of Paris, that from 1829 to 1838 two and three quarters million portions of bone-gelatine soup were dealt out to the inmates of a single hospital. But in spite of the opinion of eminent scientists that gelatine soups and gelatine tablets were a perfect substitute for proteids, their consumption decreased; physicians again took hold of the subject, and by the middle of the century opinion had so changed that nearly all, if not all, food value was denied to them. Modern experimentation based on more rational methods has put gelatine in its right place. It is a food, just as much so as is fat; but like fat it cannot play the rôle of proteid, although a certain amount taken with fats and carbohydrates will enable the body to get along with a little less proteid. It is even said by Professor Voit to excel fat in its ability to do half duty for proteid material.

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We have thought it well to speak of this because of a sort of superstitious regard in the kitchen for "stock," a survival, one would think, of Papin's time. A good German housewife wont to discourse to the writer on the economical virtues of a certain "Frau Doctor" who " always boiled her bones three times” and dwellers in many a household have had their nostrils assailed by the smell of glue, during the sixth hour of bone boiling. But if the importance of gelatine was and is still exagger ated, this is still more true of the other parts of meat that can extracted by water.

Sol. albumen and

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We have seen that hot water coagulates proteid, extractives. and once coagulated, it will not dissolve in water, and for this reason the soup generally contains of this valuable

principle only the soluble albumen which rose as scum. If the cook has skimmed this off, the soup which she calls strong is strong with flavors rather than with nutritive principles.

To show how very little real food a good tasting meat soup may contain, we will give an analysis made by Prof. König.

He took 1 pound of beef and about 61⁄2 ounces of Analysis of soup. veal bones, and treated them, he says, as is usually done in the kitchen to get a pint of good strong soup or bouillon. This contained :

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But where are the albumens that were in the meat to begin with? Many of them are still there in that stringy, sodden mass, the "soup meat," which the cook tells us contains no further value. It consists of cooked connective tissue and albumen ; now these are foods, and they must be rescued from the garbage barrel, for with the help of the chopping-knife and the herb bag we can make them still do proteid duty in our bodies.

Real importance of soup.

If we do not overvalue either the gelatine or the flavoring matters in our meat soups, nor throw away the meat out of which they are made, we shall begin to make soups on the right basis, that is, an understanding of the real value of the materials we are working with, and we shall use meat for our soups less often than we do now perhaps, considering its high price and our greater need of it cooked in other ways. Soups should not be regarded as a luxury, neither as the last resort of poverty, but as a necessary part of a dinner, just as they are now used by all classes in Europe; but they need not be made of good cuts of meat, nor, indeed, of meat at all.

Proteid as we buy it.

We will now direct our attention to the proteid as we buy it.

We cannot here take up the chemical composition and exact nutritive value of every kind of meat to be bought at the butcher's stall, the fish market, and the poultry stand; but we must note a few points of importance.

We know that butchers' meat contains from 50 per Butchers' meat. cent to 78 per cent of water, according to the quality of the piece, and the kind of animal. Most people in buying meat think first of the red part; they may know that it is advantageous to buy meat that is streaked with fat, but they hardly realize how wise it is to do so. As a rule, fat takes the place of water. Let us consult tables of analyses for the amount of water, proteids and nitrogenous extractives, fats, and salts contained in lean pieces and in pieces streaked with fat. In Prof. König's valuable treatise on foods we find such analyses, carefully collected and sifted out of a large amount of material; samples of neck, tenderloin, shoulder, hind quarter, and so on, alyses of meat. just as bought at the butchers', were analyzed after being freed from adherent lump fat, and the average composition of all the different cuts was as follows:

Prof. König's an

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These tables illustrate how wise it is to buy meat from a fat animal. They show that a pound of meat from a fat ox may have more than 20 per cent less water than a corresponding piece from a lean one; of course such a piece may contain from 3 to 4 per cent less proteid, but to compensate for this, it will have 25 per cent more fat.

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Let us give another table which illustrates that pieces like derloin are not the richest in proteids and fats, though they do have the finest flavor. It may help to console those whose purses do not allow them to buy these expensive cuts:

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In this case the difference between shoulder and tenderloin as

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to the amount of water contained in each is striking. case of medium fat and lean animals, poor and good pieces approach each other more nearly in composition.

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Healthy Homes and

We regret that the scope of this essay will not allow us to give drawings and full illustrations of the different parts of an animal, with advice in detail as to what to buy. We are glad to mention in this connection a former prize essay Foods for the Working Classes" - which gives much information needed by the housekeeper as to the qualities and comparative value of the meat from different animals, of milk and milk products.

Some meats com

Of butchers' meat beef must always be considered pared. the most economical, its choice being governed by facts just stated. Fat mutton also ranks high.

Pork.

Pork. Say what we may against pork, it is a most valuable kind of meat, especially for the poor man, and the laws governing its slaughter and sale should be so stringent as to protect him. The great importance of salt pork and bacon we have considered under "Fats." It is of little use to give rules about buying this meat; we must generally take what the butcher furnishes, but at least we can cook it well, never eating it raw even when well dried and smoked.

Fish.

Fish. From the standpoint of the economist, fish is worthy of especial mention; nature does the feeding, we have only to pay for the catching. In the season when it is best and cheapest, fresh fish should be used freely. We have only to remind the housewife that she loses one third to one fourth of the weight of a fish in bones and head.

Salted and

Salted and smoked fish is of great importance as smoked fish. food, and not alone for people living on the sea-coast. Salted cod contains, according to König's tables, 30 per cent of proteids, and this fact, together with its low price, fully justifies its popularity with all economical people.

Other salted and preserved fish, as for instance, the herring, give variety in the diet of many a poor family.

Internal organs.

LIVER, HEART, ETC.

Of the internal organs of animals generally considered eatable, we really appreciate only the liver. The lungs, brains, kidneys, heart, and the stomach prepared as tripe, are good food, and they are often sold very cheap in country towns. The head of most animals, as of the calf, is excellent for soups and other dishes, and in the country it is often given

away.

EGGS.

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To get an idea of the comparative value of eggs as a food, let us compare them with medium fat beef.

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We see that while the water is nearly the same in both, the meat has the advantage in proteids and the eggs the advantage in fat, this fat, moreover, being of very fine quality.

Take eggs at their cheapest, as in April, when they often sellat 15 cents a dozen, that would be 121⁄2 cents a pound, 10 eggs of average size weighing a pound. They could then be considered cheaper than the highest priced cuts of meat, but still much dearer than the cheaper parts, flank, neck, and brisket, at 8 cents. So that even at this low price, they are somewhat of a luxury to the man who must get his proteid and fat in their cheapest form.

And when we consider that only for a short time in the year is the price so low, eggs being on an average quoted at 25 to 30 cents, the showing for them as a proteid rival of meat is Poor indeed. Except in the spring the economically inclined must be sparing of their use even in dessert dishes. When housekeepers say, as I have heard them, that eggs at 25 cents a dozen are cheaper than meat, they must be speaking in comparison with very high priced meats.

Cheese (its food value).

CHEESE.

In America, cheese is regarded more as a luxury than as a staple article of food, and yet I pound of cheese is equal in food value to more than 2 pounds of meat, it

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