The process of meat preparation which demands the most time is hoilimj in water, but it has the advantage that no fat is necessary to begin with. Freshly-killed heef is unsuitable for boiling, some parts, such as the brisket, excepted, which can be boiled tender in two hours, provided it has been strongly beaten. All meat used in the field should be energetically beaten, as it becomes more tender and tasty by this bruising ; the beating should not be effected on small, but mainly on large pieces of meat. The effect of beating, in ordinary life, of meat before cooking is differently stated by different authors — e.g., Kitchiner. We ourselves believe that the effect upon the quality of the meat is inappreciable; the piece or slice, however, preserves its flat or square shape better when beaten, and is not bent, twisted, and crumpled up so much as when it is left unbeaten. In case the meat provided for the soldiers came from old or lean or freshly-killed animals, no beating or cooking will be able to make it tender. In this case there is only one process which will make the meat eatable — namely, mincing. In the minced state it can be quickly cooked, and requires little additional chewing ; it is also easily digested. The mincing is done with the sahre (a man may mince a pound of flesh in ten minutes), or, better, with a so-called sausage or rotary mincing machine. The mince may be stewed, or fried, or formed into balls and fried, and is then always tasty and digestible. As examples of the swiftness with which soldiers can prepare their meal with the aid of the mincing-machine, we quote the following facts from the Bohemian campaign in 1866 : At 10 o’clock two sheep were ' killed ; at 10.40 the last portion of meat had passed through the mincing-machine; at 11 o’clock it was eaten. At 11 o’clock an ox was killed ; at 1.30 the last piece of one METHODIZING OF CAMP COOKERY 657 side, half the ox, was eaten. Two mincing-machines had been employed. Indeed, the mincing-machine is eminently useful in the field. All meat which it is difficult to prepare, or which takes much time for its preparation — e.y., the neck, or the parts cut off the head (cheeks) — when thus minced can be cooked in a few minutes. If a soldier finds that his meat has become too tough during roasting, or that it has not become tender during boiling, let him pass it through the mincing-machine, form it into rissoles, fry them, and in ten minutes he will have digestible, tasty meat. This mincing is also useful during bad weather, when fires will not burn, or when there is but little wood or a scarcity of water. On days of rest the mincing-machine may be used to transform meat into sausages, which may be kept ready against days on which cooking is difficult. During the siege of Paris the Germans had, on account of the rinderpest, no beef, but only mutton and pease-sausages, so-called Erbsiourst. They cooked the mutton in various ways, and ate it boiled, grilled, as cho2:)s and cdtelettcs, roast on Ike spit^ as Jclpubabs grilled and steioed, and as mince ; they thus had ^aily variety for each week, and were fed admirably. It follows from all this that the cooking of the soldiers should be studied, organized, and, so to say, methodized, and secured by technical instruction and compulsory pre- scription ; above all, it should be purified of fundamental errors such as the following :

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The process of meat preparation which demands the most time is boiling in water, but it has the advantage that no fat is necessary to begin with. Freshly-killed heef is unsuitable for boiling, some parts, such as the brisket, excepted, which can be boiled tender in two hours, provided it has been strongly beaten. All meat used in the field should be energetically beaten, as it becomes more tender and tasty by this bruising ; the beating should not be effected on small, but mainly on large pieces of meat. The effect of beating, in ordinary life, of meat before cooking is differently stated by different authors — e.g., Kitchiner. We ourselves believe that the effect upon the quality of the meat is inappreciable; the piece or slice, however, preserves its flat or square shape better when beaten, and is not bent, twisted, and crumpled up so much as when it is left unbeaten. In case the meat provided for the soldiers came from old or lean or freshly-killed animals, no beating or cooking will be able to make it tender. In this case there is only one process which will make the meat eatable — namely, mincing. In the minced state it can be quickly cooked, and requires little additional chewing ; it is also easily digested. The mincing is done with the sahre (a man may mince a pound of flesh in ten minutes), or, better, with a so-called sausage or rotary mincing machine. The mince may be stewed, or fried, or formed into balls and fried, and is then always tasty and digestible. As examples of the swiftness with which soldiers can prepare their meal with the aid of the mincing-machine, we quote the following facts from the Bohemian campaign in 1866 : At 10 o’clock two sheep were ' killed ; at 10.40 the last portion of meat had passed through the mincing-machine; at 11 o’clock it was eaten. At 11 o’clock an ox was killed ; at 1.30 the last piece of one METHODIZING OF CAMP COOKERY side, half the ox, was eaten. Two mincing-machines had been employed. Indeed, the mincing-machine is eminently useful in the field. All meat which it is difficult to prepare, or which takes much time for its preparation — e.y., the neck, or the parts cut off the head (cheeks) — when thus minced can be cooked in a few minutes. If a soldier finds that his meat has become too tough during roasting, or that it has not become tender during boiling, let him pass it through the mincing-machine, form it into rissoles, fry them, and in ten minutes he will have digestible, tasty meat. This mincing is also useful during bad weather, when fires will not burn, or when there is but little wood or a scarcity of water. On days of rest the mincing-machine may be used to transform meat into sausages, which may be kept ready against days on which cooking is difficult. During the siege of Paris the Germans had, on account of the rinderpest, no beef, but only mutton and pease-sausages, so-called Erbsiourst. They cooked the mutton in various ways, and ate it boiled, grilled, as chops and cutlettes, roast on the spit as kebabs grilled and stewed, and as mince ; they thus had ^aily variety for each week, and were fed admirably. It follows from all this that the cooking of the soldiers should be studied, organized, and, so to say, methodized, and secured by technical instruction and compulsory prescription ; above all, it should be purified of fundamental errors such as the following :

The spirit of cookery