Veal and lamb, like all young meats, are much less
digestible than beef or mutton. Both should have very
white, clear fat ; and if that about the kidneys is red or
discolored, the meat should be rejected. Veal has but
sixteen parts of nitrogenous matter to sixty-three of
water, and the bones contain much more gelatine than is
found in older animals. But in all bones much useful
carbon and nitrogen is found ; three pounds of bone yield-
ing as much carbon, and six pounds as much nitrogen, as
one pound of meat. Carefully boiled, this nutriment can
all be extracted, and flavored with vegetables, form the
basis of an endless variety of soups.
Pork is of all meats the most diflflcult to digest, con-
taining as it does so large a proportion of fat. In a
hundred parts of the meat, only nine of nitrogen are found,
fat being forty-eight and water thirty-nine, with but two
of salty matters. Bacon properly cured is much more
digestible than pork, the smoke giving it certain quahties
not existing in uncured pork. No food has yet been
found which can take its place for army and navy use or
in pioneering. Beef when salted or smoked loses much of
THE CHEMISTRY OF ANIMAL FOOD. 93
its virtue, and eight ounces of fat pork will give nearly
three times as much carbon or heat-food as the same
amount of beef ; but its use is chiefly for the laborer, and
it should have only occasional place in the dietary of
sedentary persons.
The pig is liable to many most unpleasant diseases,
measles and trichina spiralis being the most fatal to the
eaters of meat thus affected ; but the last — a small ani-
malcule of deadly effect if taken alive into the human
stomach, as is done in eating raw ham or sausage —
becomes harmless if the same meal is long and thoroughly
boiled. Never be tempted into eating raw ham or sau-
sage ; and in using pork in any form, try to have some
knowledge of the pig. A clean, well-fed pig in a well-
kept stye is a wonderfully different object from the
hideous beast grunting its way in many a Southern or
Western town, feeding on offal and sewage, and rolling
in filth. Such meat is unfit for human consumption, and
the eating of it insures disease.
We come now to another form of meat, that of edible
Entrails. This includes Tripe, Haslet^ or lights, &c.
More nitrogen is found here than in any other portion of
the meat. The cheap and abundant supply in this country
has made us, as a people, reject all but the liver. In the
country, the sweetbreads or pancreas are often thrown
away, and tripe also. The European peasant has learned
to utilize every scrap ; and while such use should not be
too strongly urged, it is certain that this meat is far better
than no meat. Fully one-third of the animals' weight
comes under this head, — that is, feet, tail, head, and
tongue, lungs, liver, spleen, omentum, pancreas, and
heart, topjether with the intestines. The rich man is
94 THE CHEMISTRY OF ANIMAL FOOD.
Page 46
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
Veal and lamb, like all young meats, are much less digestible than beef or mutton. Both should have very white, clear fat ; and if that about the kidneys is red or discolored, the meat should be rejected. Veal has but sixteen parts of nitrogenous matter to sixty-three of water, and the bones contain much more gelatine than is found in older animals. But in all bones much useful carbon and nitrogen is found ; three pounds of bone yielding as much carbon, and six pounds as much nitrogen, as one pound of meat. Carefully boiled, this nutriment can all be extracted, and flavored with vegetables, form the basis of an endless variety of soups.
Pork is of all meats the most difficult to digest, containing as it does so large a proportion of fat. In a hundred parts of the meat, only nine of nitrogen are found, fat being forty-eight and water thirty-nine, with but two of salty matters. Bacon properly cured is much more digestible than pork, the smoke giving it certain qualities not existing in uncured pork. No food has yet been found which can take its place for army and navy use or in pioneering. Beef when salted or smoked loses much of
its virtue, and eight ounces of fat pork will give nearly three times as much carbon or heat-food as the same amount of beef ; but its use is chiefly for the laborer, and it should have only occasional place in the dietary of sedentary persons.
The pig is liable to many most unpleasant diseases, measles and trichina spiralis being the most fatal to the eaters of meat thus affected ; but the last — a small animalcule of deadly effect if taken alive into the human stomach, as is done in eating raw ham or sausage — becomes harmless if the same meal is long and thoroughly boiled. Never be tempted into eating raw ham or sausage ; and in using pork in any form, try to have some knowledge of the pig. A clean, well-fed pig in a wellkept stye is a wonderfully different object from the hideous beast grunting its way in many a Southern or Western town, feeding on offal and sewage, and rolling in filth. Such meat is unfit for human consumption, and the eating of it insures disease.
We come now to another form of meat, that of edible Entrails. This includes Tripe, Haslet, or lights, &c. More nitrogen is found here than in any other portion of the meat. The cheap and abundant supply in this country has made us, as a people, reject all but the liver. In the country, the sweetbreads or pancreas are often thrown away, and tripe also. The European peasant has learned to utilize every scrap ; and while such use should not be too strongly urged, it is certain that this meat is far better than no meat. Fully one-third of the animals' weight comes under this head, — that is, feet, tail, head, and tongue, lungs, liver, spleen, omentum, pancreas, and heart, together with the intestines. The rich man is