FoodNet

English and French cookery

1890

Page 13

Presented as published in 1890. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
When this flesh is very white it indicates a sacrificing of useful qualities for the mere sake of appearance, or, in other words, the still far too common practice of bleeding the calf before slaughtering it — a process which removes the flavouring and nutritious juices, leaving the meat tasteless and dry, so that veal is never eaten without season- ing. In its natural condition it is very nutritious and palatable, less heating than beef, but too indigestible to be recommended to those who have weak stomachs. Veal is often placed upon the dietary of persons who have a tendency to haemorrhage. Persons troubled with phlegm and abdominal complaints should abstain from it. In cases of pectoral and inflammatory diseases veal is often recommended. Most meats are, but veal particularly is, in its least nourishing condi- tion when boiled. The fat of veal is very light, and being slow to show signs of putrescence is often given by physicians to patients of a scorbutic taint, but when boiled it is specially indigestible. Pork. Pork is a hard meat, which requires more masticating than beef, and should be eaten more sparingly than either beef or mutton. Anciently, physicians considered it, when carefully eaten and properly digested, the most nutritious of all meats ; but in this they were undoubtedly mistaken. The mere fact that in rearing pigs the quantity rather than the quality of the flesh is considered in the feeding and rearing is antagonistic to that idea. It should, as a rule, be avoided by persons who suffer from frequent indigestion, or those who lead a sedentary life without sufficient outdoor exercise. Eaters whose fluids are impure, with a tendency to eruptions, and'those who are suffering from wounds or ulcers, will be wise to avoid a dish of pork. Persons afflicted with weak stomachs, coughs, chest disease, or consumption, should also avoid pork. Under other circumstances, and when eaten w»ith moderation, good pork is as wholesome as it is palatable. Even in delicate health this meat may be eaten sparingly ; but the notion that a dram is necessary to assist its digestion is erroneous, for spirituous liquors may indeed prevent, but cannot promote, its solution in the stomach. It would be the more advisable not to drink for a short time after eating pork, as it is usually very fat, and its fat is more subtle and soluble than any other. The most proper additions to pork are the acidulated vegetables, 28 ENGLISH AND FRENCH COOKERY. such as gooseberry or apple-sauce, which not only gratify the palate, but correct its properties, neutralise, in a manner, its great proportion of fat, and thus operate beneficially on the alimentary canal. The flesh of the sucking-pig is, in consequence of the thick and strong juice with which it abounds, not very readily dissolved in the stomach, and is not a proper food for weak and sickly people. Venison.