Meats will be regarded as essential by the majority,
and naturally they come first in considering food ; and
beef is taken as the standard, being identical in composi-
tion with the structures of the human body.
Beef, if properly fed, is in perfection at seven years old.
It should then be a light red on the cut surface, a darker
red near the bone, and slightly marbled with fat. Beef
contains, in a hundred parts, nearly twenty of nitrogen,
THE CHEMISTRY OF ANIMAL FOOD. 91
seventy-two of water, four of fat, and the remainder in
salts of various descriptions. The poorer the quality of
the beef, the more it will waste in cooking ; and its appear-
ance before cooking is also very different from that of the
first quality, which, though looking moist, leaves no stain
upon the hand. In poor beef, the watery part seems to
separate from the rest, which lies in a pool of serous bloody
fluid. The gravy from such beef is pale and poor in flavor ;
while the fat, which in healthy beef is firm and of a delicate
yellow, in the inferior quality is dark yellow and of rank
smell and taste. Beef is firmer in texture and more satis-
fying to the stomach than an}' other form of meat, and is
usually considered more strengthening.
Mutton is a trifle more digestible, however. A healthy
person would not notice this, the digestive power in health
being more than is necessary for the ordinary meal ; but
the dyspeptic will soon find that mutton gives his stomach
less work. Its composition is very nearly the same as that
of beef; and both when cooked, either by roasting or
boiling, lose about a third of their substance, and come
to us with twenty-seven parts of nitrogen, fifteen of fat,
fift3'-four of water, and three of salty matters.
Mountain sheep and cattle have the finest-flavored meat,
and are also richest in nitrogenous matter. The mountain
mutton of Virginia and North Carohna is as famous as
the Enghsh Southdown ; but proper feeding anywhere will
make a new thing of the ordinary beef and mutton.
When our cattle are treated with decent humanity, — not
driven days with scant food and water, and then packed
into cars with no food and no water, and driven at last to
slaughter feverish and gasping in anguish that we have no
right to permit for one moment, — we may expect tender.
92 THE CHEMISTRY OF ANIMAL FOOD.
wholesome, well-flavored meat. It is astonishing that
under present conditions it can be as good as it is.
In well-fed animals, the fat forms about a third of the
weight, the largest part being in the loin. In mutton, one-
half is fat ; in pork, three-quarters ; while poultry and
game have very little.
The amount of bone varies very greatly. The loin
and upper part of the leg have least ; nearly half the
entire weight being in the shin, and a tenth in the carcass.
In the best mutton and pork, the bones are smaller, and
fat much greater in proportion to size.
Page 45
Presented as published in 1881. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Meats will be regarded as essential by the majority, and naturally they come first in considering food ; and beef is taken as the standard, being identical in composition with the structures of the human body.
Beef, if properly fed, is in perfection at seven years old. It should then be a light red on the cut surface, a darker red near the bone, and slightly marbled with fat. Beef contains, in a hundred parts, nearly twenty of nitrogen,
seventy-two of water, four of fat, and the remainder in salts of various descriptions. The poorer the quality of the beef, the more it will waste in cooking ; and its appearance before cooking is also very different from that of the first quality, which, though looking moist, leaves no stain upon the hand. In poor beef, the watery part seems to separate from the rest, which lies in a pool of serous bloody fluid. The gravy from such beef is pale and poor in flavor ; while the fat, which in healthy beef is firm and of a delicate yellow, in the inferior quality is dark yellow and of rank smell and taste. Beef is firmer in texture and more satisfying to the stomach than an}' other form of meat, and is usually considered more strengthening.
Mutton is a trifle more digestible, however. A healthy person would not notice this, the digestive power in health being more than is necessary for the ordinary meal ; but the dyspeptic will soon find that mutton gives his stomach less work. Its composition is very nearly the same as that of beef; and both when cooked, either by roasting or boiling, lose about a third of their substance, and come to us with twenty-seven parts of nitrogen, fifteen of fat, fifty-four of water, and three of salty matters.
Mountain sheep and cattle have the finest-flavored meat, and are also richest in nitrogenous matter. The mountain mutton of Virginia and North Carolina is as famous as the Enghsh Southdown ; but proper feeding anywhere will make a new thing of the ordinary beef and mutton. When our cattle are treated with decent humanity, — not driven days with scant food and water, and then packed into cars with no food and no water, and driven at last to slaughter feverish and gasping in anguish that we have no right to permit for one moment, — we may expect tender, wholesome, well-flavored meat. It is astonishing that under present conditions it can be as good as it is.
In well-fed animals, the fat forms about a third of the weight, the largest part being in the loin. In mutton, onehalf is fat ; in pork, three-quarters ; while poultry and game have very little.
The amount of bone varies very greatly. The loin and upper part of the leg have least ; nearly half the entire weight being in the shin, and a tenth in the carcass. In the best mutton and pork, the bones are smaller, and fat much greater in proportion to size.