Another plan is known as the concentrated process. About 30 lbs. of meat is reduced to 1 lb., and this is called the essence or extract of meat, and is recom- mended for making beef-tea and soups. Almost every chemist and grocer sells this extract of meat ; but we cannot depend on extracts of meat as an article of food any more than we can depend on a teaspoonful of flavoured alcohol for beer and spirits. The stomach requires quantity as well as quality. There is no method of making meat or vegetables more nutritious, in the sense usually understood. If you have one pound of extract and dilute it with thirty pounds of water, you have only one pound of solid matter in solution. You may desiccate vegetables and meat and free them from water, so as to occupy a smaller bulk, and when you have done this you have done all that you can do. What we have to consider is, Can these meats be used as an economic, wholesome article of food, with other things ? None of the nutritive or flesh-forming properties of the meat are lost in tinning, and you have 4 lbs. of solid cooked meat, without bone, which . are equal to at least 6 lbs. of butcher’s meat. The prejudice against preserved meat may be gradually overcome by the middle and upper classes eating it. Several varieties of soup may be prepared from i tinned meat. D 2 VEGETABLES. All vegetables intended for boiling should be well washed in cold water, but not soaked ; a little vinegar in the water will be more effectual in removing insects than salt. Green vegetables should have plenty ol room, and be plunged into boiling water with a small teaspoonful of pounded loaf-sugar. The saucepan should be uncovered and the water, if necessary, skimmed. The vegetables should not remain in the water an instant after they are cooked. We do not attach sufficient importance to vege- tables ; they may be prepared in different ways, and eaten as separate dishes. In other countries they form quite a distinct part of the dinner. It is sometimes said that plain boiled vegetables are best; but this would also apply to plain boiled meat and fish. Care fully cooked vegetables are more wholesome and di gestible. No person can remain long in health with out fresh vegetables, but few vegetables can be eaten with safety without cooking. If some of the following recipes are thought rather expensive, they may often economically replace meat, which is now the most costly thing on a table. In summer, our food might with advantage consist chiefly of vegetables and fruit, Which accords not only with the desire but the season, CURRIES. I have frequently been told that we never succeed with curries as they do in India and China, where in some form or other it is a standing dish. Almost everything may be cooked in curry, but white meats are best ; the great art consists in using good stock, and genuine curry paste or powder.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Another plan is known as the concentrated process. About 30 lbs. of meat is reduced to 1 lb., and this is called the essence or extract of meat, and is recommended for making beef-tea and soups. Almost every chemist and grocer sells this extract of meat ; but we cannot depend on extracts of meat as an article of food any more than we can depend on a teaspoonful of flavoured alcohol for beer and spirits. The stomach requires quantity as well as quality. There is no method of making meat or vegetables more nutritious, in the sense usually understood. If you have one pound of extract and dilute it with thirty pounds of water, you have only one pound of solid matter in solution. You may desiccate vegetables and meat and free them from water, so as to occupy a smaller bulk, and when you have done this you have done all that you can do. What we have to consider is, Can these meats be used as an economic, wholesome article of food, with other things ? None of the nutritive or flesh-forming properties of the meat are lost in tinning, and you have 4 lbs. of solid cooked meat, without bone, which . are equal to at least 6 lbs. of butcher’s meat. The prejudice against preserved meat may be gradually overcome by the middle and upper classes eating it. Several varieties of soup may be prepared from i tinned meat. D 2 VEGETABLES. All vegetables intended for boiling should be well washed in cold water, but not soaked ; a little vinegar in the water will be more effectual in removing insects than salt. Green vegetables should have plenty of room, and be plunged into boiling water with a small teaspoonful of pounded loaf-sugar. The saucepan should be uncovered and the water, if necessary, skimmed. The vegetables should not remain in the water an instant after they are cooked. We do not attach sufficient importance to vegetables ; they may be prepared in different ways, and eaten as separate dishes. In other countries they form quite a distinct part of the dinner. It is sometimes said that plain boiled vegetables are best; but this would also apply to plain boiled meat and fish. Carefully cooked vegetables are more wholesome and digestible. No person can remain long in health with out fresh vegetables, but few vegetables can be eaten with safety without cooking. If some of the following recipes are thought rather expensive, they may often economically replace meat, which is now the most costly thing on a table. In summer, our food might with advantage consist chiefly of vegetables and fruit, Which accords not only with the desire but the season, CURRIES. I have frequently been told that we never succeed with curries as they do in India and China, where in some form or other it is a standing dish. Almost everything may be cooked in curry, but white meats are best ; the great art consists in using good stock, and genuine curry paste or powder.

Buckmaster's cookery