Experiment. — A. Test beef-juice for albumin. If albumin is
shown to be present, observe the form in which it appears. Com-
pare with pure white-of-egg cooked, and with white-of-egg mixed
with water and heated. AVhat besides albumin do you think beef-
juice contains ? Note that heating destroys the red color of beef-
juice. What gives it this color ?
256. Nitric acid added to beef-juice clots it and turns it
yellow. What does this prove? What other nitrogenous
substance is coagulated by acid ? Human flesh, too, is
stained yellow by nitric acid. How do you explain this?
257. Beef-juice contains albumin and other proteids,
mineral salts, and extractives, dissolved in water ; boil-
ing coagulates the albumin into a brownish jelly. In
the bits of beef we have pressed there remains some
albuminous juice ; what besides may be shown by an-
other experiment ?
Experiments. — B. Observe the fibrous appearance of a piece of
round of beef. Can you see any fat among the fibres? Scrape
with a knife first one side, then the other, of one of the pieces of
meat from which the juice has been squeezed, until only the fibres
are left. Pick some of them apart with a needle. Try to break or
tear them. C. Heat the mass of fibre, and note the effect.
Each fibre is a bundle of tube-shaped cells filled
chiefly with proteid substance. These tubes are cov-
ered and bound together with a web cf white connec-
tive tissue, threaded by tiny blood-vessels. Toward the
ends of the muscles the fibres dwindle down till only a
firm mass of connective tissue, called tendon, is left.
146 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COOKERY
The contents of the tubes and blood-vessels may be
scraped out, leavmg these, with the connective tissue,
in a pale-colored, stringy mass.
258. Two facts important to bear in mind in cooking
meat. — 1. Heat, by causing the collagen in the con-
nective tissue to swell, tends to force the juices out of
the muscle-fibres.^ 2. Dry heat hardens connective
tissue.
259. The pulp of meat consists chiefly of myosin, a jelly-
like proteid similar to the fibrin of blood. Both myosin and
fibrin are liquid during life, but clot after death.^
Directions for making Raw Beef Sandwiches (for
Invalids)
Cut juicy, lean beef into thin strips. Scrape the pulp from
them, season it highly with salt and pepper, and spread between
thin slices of bread.
260. Microscopical examination of meat fibre. — Soak in salted
water a few fibres of beef from leg or round. Examine them
under a microscope, using a one-inch objective. Look at the ends
of the fibres. Can you see that they are hollow tubes ? Observe
the fine stripes (strice) on the fibres. The muscles of the stomach
and some other organs are not striped.
261. Tests for mineral salts in meat. — A. Heat a bit of meat
in a crucible or evaporating dish over a Bunsen burner for several
1 See § 244. Though collagen swells, a mass of connective tissue,
as a whole, shrinks when heated. This shrinkage is caused by loss of
water.
2 The liquid forms, myosinogen ?iXi6. fibrinogen^ differ chemically
from the clotted substances, bearing the same relation to them that
caseinogen does to casein. (§ 169, note 1.)
)
THE FLESH OF ANIMALS 147
Page 68
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Experiment. — A. Test beef-juice for albumin. If albumin is
shown to be present, observe the form in which it appears. Com-
pare with pure white-of-egg cooked, and with white-of-egg mixed
with water and heated. AVhat besides albumin do you think beef-
juice contains ? Note that heating destroys the red color of beef-
juice. What gives it this color ?
256. Nitric acid added to beef-juice clots it and turns it
yellow. What does this prove? What other nitrogenous
substance is coagulated by acid ? Human flesh, too, is
stained yellow by nitric acid. How do you explain this?
257. Beef-juice contains albumin and other proteids,
mineral salts, and extractives, dissolved in water ; boil-
ing coagulates the albumin into a brownish jelly. In
the bits of beef we have pressed there remains some
albuminous juice ; what besides may be shown by an-
other experiment ?
Experiments. — B. Observe the fibrous appearance of a piece of
round of beef. Can you see any fat among the fibres? Scrape
with a knife first one side, then the other, of one of the pieces of
meat from which the juice has been squeezed, until only the fibres
are left. Pick some of them apart with a needle. Try to break or
tear them. C. Heat the mass of fibre, and note the effect.
Each fibre is a bundle of tube-shaped cells filled
chiefly with proteid substance. These tubes are cov-
ered and bound together with a web cf white connec-
tive tissue, threaded by tiny blood-vessels. Toward the
ends of the muscles the fibres dwindle down till only a
firm mass of connective tissue, called tendon, is left.
146 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COOKERY
The contents of the tubes and blood-vessels may be
scraped out, leavmg these, with the connective tissue,
in a pale-colored, stringy mass.
258. Two facts important to bear in mind in cooking
meat. — 1. Heat, by causing the collagen in the con-
nective tissue to swell, tends to force the juices out of
the muscle-fibres.^ 2. Dry heat hardens connective
tissue.
259. The pulp of meat consists chiefly of myosin, a jelly-
like proteid similar to the fibrin of blood. Both myosin and
fibrin are liquid during life, but clot after death.^
Directions for making Raw Beef Sandwiches (for
Invalids)
Cut juicy, lean beef into thin strips. Scrape the pulp from
them, season it highly with salt and pepper, and spread between
thin slices of bread.
260. Microscopical examination of meat fibre. — Soak in salted
water a few fibres of beef from leg or round. Examine them
under a microscope, using a one-inch objective. Look at the ends
of the fibres. Can you see that they are hollow tubes ? Observe
the fine stripes (strice) on the fibres. The muscles of the stomach
and some other organs are not striped.
261. Tests for mineral salts in meat. — A. Heat a bit of meat
in a crucible or evaporating dish over a Bunsen burner for several
1 See § 244. Though collagen swells, a mass of connective tissue,
as a whole, shrinks when heated. This shrinkage is caused by loss of
water.
2 The liquid forms, myosinogen ?iXi6. fibrinogen^ differ chemically
from the clotted substances, bearing the same relation to them that
caseinogen does to casein. (§ 169, note 1.)
)
THE FLESH OF ANIMALS 147