The researches of Proust* published in 1821 f on the sapid or savoury principles of meat were made in the course of an investigation into the nutritive value of certain tablets for the production of bouillon which had been imported from South America. Thouvenel had made known as the result of his meditation and experiment that meat-broth owes its quality to a peculiar principle to be found in meat only. Of all the tissues of the animal body, flesh alone gives this principle as a tasty broth, which excites the appetite ; the other tissues (the brain alone excepted) give only insipid extracts and solutions of glue or gelatine. No plants, and no parts of plants, some fungi excepted, possess the savour of animal broth. The sapid principle of meat may be described loithout exaggeration as the guintessence of the art of cookery. Ten pounds of beef without bones fully extracted with boiling water gave a tasty broth which, after it had been evaporated and dried as far as could be, left ten half-ounces of solid extract of meat. This Proust terms the model of all that could be prepared in the line of materials for making bouillon, and argues further that, as 10 lb. of beef did not give less than 10 lb. of tasty and rich broth, we might by adding to J oz. of the solid meat-extract 1 lb. of water and the usual salt and spices, produce a bouillon as good as it can be made by any other method. On the other hand, Proust extracted 20 lb. of fat beef containing 5 lb. of bones, and obtained by evaporation of * Louis Proust was a French chemist who lived at the end of the last and the beginning of the present century. During the Terror period of the French llevolution he left Paris, and lived at Madrid until the Restoration. f ‘Sur les tablettes de bouillon,’ ‘Atm. d. Chiin. et Phys.’ 18 (1821), 170; also 'Journ. d. Pharin.’ viii. 80. BOUILLON, OR MEAT-BROTH ”3 the resulting broth 1 lb. of dry extract. But according to the first experiment he should have obtained only fifteen half ounces, or ^ oz. of extract from every pound of flesh. He had, therefore, to account for the origin of the excess of oz. of extract, and did so as follows : The bones had not changed in weight during boiling, which caused the investigator to exclaim, ‘ Voilh covwie les os font du bouillon,' in allusion to the fallacy current in many kitchens, that broth could be extracted by boiling from mere bones ; the excess of weight in the extract had been obtained by the formation of gelatine from soft parts — that is to say, gristle, tendons, ligaments, and membranes. Proust described the pure extract as a dry, flexible, elastic, brownish paste, which imparted to the mouth so intense a taste of meat that at first it was disagreeable. He found that alcohol separated from it half its weight in the shape of savoury principle, and that the part insoluble in alcohol was tasteless like gelatine. When fresh meat was 1 treated with alcohol, the savoury matter was also extracted, I and it was thus proved that the savoury principle is pre- sent in the meat before cooking, and is not produced by the process of cooking. The gravy of roast meat which flows during roasting pre-exists in the meat, just as the flavour of rum exists in the watery extract of the sugar- cane, but it becomes altered and improved by the influence of heat.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The researches of Proust* published in 1821 f on the sapid or savoury principles of meat were made in the course of an investigation into the nutritive value of certain tablets for the production of bouillon which had been imported from South America. Thouvenel had made known as the result of his meditation and experiment that meat-broth owes its quality to a peculiar principle to be found in meat only. Of all the tissues of the animal body, flesh alone gives this principle as a tasty broth, which excites the appetite ; the other tissues (the brain alone excepted) give only insipid extracts and solutions of glue or gelatine. No plants, and no parts of plants, some fungi excepted, possess the savour of animal broth. The sapid principle of meat may be described without exaggeration as the quintessence of the art of cookery. Ten pounds of beef without bones fully extracted with boiling water gave a tasty broth which, after it had been evaporated and dried as far as could be, left ten half-ounces of solid extract of meat. This Proust terms the model of all that could be prepared in the line of materials for making bouillon, and argues further that, as 10 lb. of beef did not give less than 10 lb. of tasty and rich broth, we might by adding to J oz. of the solid meat-extract 1 lb. of water and the usual salt and spices, produce a bouillon as good as it can be made by any other method. On the other hand, Proust extracted 20 lb. of fat beef containing 5 lb. of bones, and obtained by evaporation of * Louis Proust was a French chemist who lived at the end of the last and the beginning of the present century. During the Terror period of the French llevolution he left Paris, and lived at Madrid until the Restoration. f ‘Sur les tablettes de bouillon,’ ‘Atm. d. Chiin. et Phys.’ 18 (1821), 170; also 'Journ. d. Pharin.’ viii. 80. ”3 the resulting broth 1 lb. of dry extract. But according to the first experiment he should have obtained only fifteen half ounces, or ^ oz. of extract from every pound of flesh. He had, therefore, to account for the origin of the excess of oz. of extract, and did so as follows : The bones had not changed in weight during boiling, which caused the investigator to exclaim, ‘ Voilh covwie les os font du bouillon,' in allusion to the fallacy current in many kitchens, that broth could be extracted by boiling from mere bones ; the excess of weight in the extract had been obtained by the formation of gelatine from soft parts — that is to say, gristle, tendons, ligaments, and membranes. Proust described the pure extract as a dry, flexible, elastic, brownish paste, which imparted to the mouth so intense a taste of meat that at first it was disagreeable. He found that alcohol separated from it half its weight in the shape of savoury principle, and that the part insoluble in alcohol was tasteless like gelatine. When fresh meat was 1 treated with alcohol, the savoury matter was also extracted, I and it was thus proved that the savoury principle is present in the meat before cooking, and is not produced by the process of cooking. The gravy of roast meat which flows during roasting pre-exists in the meat, just as the flavour of rum exists in the watery extract of the sugarcane, but it becomes altered and improved by the influence of heat.

The spirit of cookery