The meat fibre deprived of its juice is still nourishing, but completely tasteless. Geoffrey pressed it to remove the last traces of broth, and found that men would not eat it, and dogs devoured it only under the compulsion of duction of the sapid meat-extract was an acid,* and promised to prove this in a subsequent article ; he unfortunately left hunger. Proust surmised that the most active principle in the pro- Probably the acid teimed subsequently mosinic acid by Liebig. 8 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY 1 14 his promise unfulfilled. He correctly appreciated meat- extract as a flavouring, taste-giving and stimulating prin- ciple, and thus distinguished it from materials for sub- stantial nutrition. For according to him there is no material amongst the resources of the kitchen equal to it in power to flavour certain dishes. This meat-extract and the savoury principles of cheese* have of all food-stuffs the highest sapidity. It is thus proved that the discovery and appreciation of extract of meat belongs to Proust, that he excluded decoc- tions of bones and all gelatine from any share in the value of meat-extract, and applied his standard to the valuation of articles of trade, such as bouillon tablets or glace. Common Stock, or Grand (General or Store) Stock. Some modern books on cookery begin with a description of common stock, without attempting to define a standard of strength or quality. This want of a reliable measure, which can be made up for only partially by the aid of the taste, leads to a multiplicity of operations and makeshifts, and to a great loss of material and time. The noted cooks have only one stock-broth, others have two or three qualities, the third being the weakest. For all purposes of cookery but one stock-pot is required, and that holding standard broth of beef or mutton, each p>int of udiich contains the soluble {in boiling ivater) part of one poimd of fresh meat. If this be too rich for any purpose, as for several it undoubtedly is, it may be diluted with hot water, but it need never be concentrated. The weak broths, on the contrary, which are prescribed for so many operations in ordinary cookery-books, all require hours of boiling before they assume a sufficiently concentrated state, and do not impart any noteworthy * Proust’s ‘ Disquisition on Cheese,’ in the course of which he discovered the remarkable principle ‘ oxyde of cheese,’ later, and at present, termed leucine, was published in Ann. Ghim. Phys., vol. x., p. 29. BOUILLON, OK MEAT-BROTH 115 quality to the materials which are boiled in them ; on the contrary, they frequently extract materials which ought to be retained in the vegetable or animal substances and tissues undergoing coction, and by the prolonged boiling which they require for concentration dissipate the flavours dis- solved in them. New Principles for the Preparation and Use of Standard Broth.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The meat fibre deprived of its juice is still nourishing, but completely tasteless. Geoffrey pressed it to remove the last traces of broth, and found that men would not eat it, and dogs devoured it only under the compulsion of hunger. Proust surmised that the most active principle in the pro-duction of the sapid meat-extract was an acid,* and promised to prove this in a subsequent article ; he unfortunately left Proust surmised that the most active principle in the pro- Probably the acid termed subsequently mosinic acid by Liebig. 1 14 his promise unfulfilled. He correctly appreciated meatextract as a flavouring, taste-giving and stimulating principle, and thus distinguished it from materials for substantial nutrition. For according to him there is no material amongst the resources of the kitchen equal to it in power to flavour certain dishes. This meat-extract and the savoury principles of cheese* have of all food-stuffs the highest sapidity. It is thus proved that the discovery and appreciation of extract of meat belongs to Proust, that he excluded decoctions of bones and all gelatine from any share in the value of meat-extract, and applied his standard to the valuation of articles of trade, such as bouillon tablets or glace. Common Stock, or Grand (General or Store) Stock. Some modern books on cookery begin with a description of common stock, without attempting to define a standard of strength or quality. This want of a reliable measure, which can be made up for only partially by the aid of the taste, leads to a multiplicity of operations and makeshifts, and to a great loss of material and time. The noted cooks have only one stock-broth, others have two or three qualities, the third being the weakest. For all purposes of cookery but one stock-pot is required, and that holding standard broth of beef or mutton, each p>int of udiich contains the soluble {in boiling ivater) part of one poimd of fresh meat. If this be too rich for any purpose, as for several it undoubtedly is, it may be diluted with hot water, but it need never be concentrated. The weak broths, on the contrary, which are prescribed for so many operations in ordinary cookery-books, all require hours of boiling before they assume a sufficiently concentrated state, and do not impart any noteworthy * Proust’s ‘ Disquisition on Cheese,’ in the course of which he discovered the remarkable principle ‘ oxyde of cheese,’ later, and at present, termed leucine, was published in Ann. Ghim. Phys., vol. x., p. 29. quality to the materials which are boiled in them ; on the contrary, they frequently extract materials which ought to be retained in the vegetable or animal substances and tissues undergoing coction, and by the prolonged boiling which they require for concentration dissipate the flavours dissolved in them. New Principles for the Preparation and Use of Standard Broth.

The spirit of cookery