to stand in those vessels. The soup^kettle should be high in propor- tion to the size, as only a small surface in contact with the hot range is needed for the long, slow simmering required in the preparation of soups. A kettle of that form takes less room on the range, and when dinner is being prepared, this is desirable. Other utensils used in the preparation of soups are, 1 coarse and 1 fine colander, and 2 or 3 squares of cheese cloth for strainers. The cloth strainer should be boiled in water with a little cooking=soda added. If boiled in soap, the odor is apt to remain in the cloth, giving a bad flavor to the soup. The Principles Involved in Soup Making. — Many cooks have little idea of the principles involved in extracting the nutritive properties from meat, but they are quite simple, and are as follows:* Fibre, fat, gelatine and albumen, with extractives and salts (to which some writers give the name of osmazome) , are the component parts of all meats. Fibres swell up and soften when subjected to the action of hot water. They are a valuable and nourishing food, but are insolu- ble in water, and constitute nearly all that remains of meat after long boiling. Fat is dissolved by boiling, but as it is contained in cells covered by a very fine membrane which never dissolves, a portion of it always adheres to the fibres. The other portion rises to the sur- face of the stock, and is that which has escaped from the cells which were not whole, or which have burst by boiling. Fat is also added to thickened soups, where it combines with starch and does not rise to the surface. The gelatine is soluble in water, and is the basis and nutritious portion of soup stock. It is the gelatine which, when enough of it is present, causes the stock to become a jelly when cold. Albumen surrounds the fibres of meat in its soluble state, just as it exists in an unboiled egg. It is soluble in cold or tepid water, but it begins to coagulate at 145° and sets into a jelly at 160°, for which reason it is evident that if the water is boiling when the meat is put in, or if it is afterwards made to boil up quickly, the albumen will harden, and will form a thin case or shell which will prevent the gel- atine and osmazome from dissolving, and the result will be a thin *Count Rumford, writing of his experiments in feeding the Bavarian army, says: "I constantly found that the richness or quality of a soup depended more upon the proper choice of the ingredients, and the proper management of the lire in the combination of these ingredients, than upon the quantity of solid nutritious matter employed; much more upon the art and skill of the cook than upon the sums laid out in the market." To which we may add, that the poor suffer more from the common lack of skill than the rich, be- cause they are least able to bear the losses it entails, and therefore we say, that to no class is a clear understanding of the principles of cookery bo im- portant as to the poor. SOUPS 21

AI-modernized reading of the original text

to stand in those vessels. The soup-kettle should be high in proportion to the size, as only a small surface in contact with the hot range is needed for the long, slow simmering required in the preparation of soups. A kettle of that form takes less room on the range, and when dinner is being prepared, this is desirable. Other utensils used in the preparation of soups are, 1 coarse and 1 fine colander, and 2 or 3 squares of cheese cloth for strainers. The cloth strainer should be boiled in water with a little cooking soda added. If boiled in soap, the odor is apt to remain in the cloth, giving a bad flavor to the soup. The Principles Involved in Soup Making. — Many cooks have little idea of the principles involved in extracting the nutritive properties from meat, but they are quite simple, and are as follows:* Fibre, fat, gelatine and albumen, with extractives and salts (to which some writers give the name of osmazome) , are the component parts of all meats. Fibres swell up and soften when subjected to the action of hot water. They are a valuable and nourishing food, but are insoluble in water, and constitute nearly all that remains of meat after long boiling. Fat is dissolved by boiling, but as it is contained in cells covered by a very fine membrane which never dissolves, a portion of it always adheres to the fibres. The other portion rises to the surface of the stock, and is that which has escaped from the cells which were not whole, or which have burst by boiling. Fat is also added to thickened soups, where it combines with starch and does not rise to the surface. The gelatine is soluble in water, and is the basis and nutritious portion of soup stock. It is the gelatine which, when enough of it is present, causes the stock to become a jelly when cold. Albumen surrounds the fibres of meat in its soluble state, just as it exists in an unboiled egg. It is soluble in cold or tepid water, but it begins to coagulate at 145° and sets into a jelly at 160°, for which reason it is evident that if the water is boiling when the meat is put in, or if it is afterwards made to boil up quickly, the albumen will harden, and will form a thin case or shell which will prevent the gelatine and osmazome from dissolving, and the result will be a thin *Count Rumford, writing of his experiments in feeding the Bavarian army, says: "I constantly found that the richness or quality of a soup depended more upon the proper choice of the ingredients, and the proper management of the lire in the combination of these ingredients, than upon the quantity of solid nutritious matter employed; much more upon the art and skill of the cook than upon the sums laid out in the market." To which we may add, that the poor suffer more from the common lack of skill than the rich, because they are least able to bear the losses it entails, and therefore we say, that to no class is a clear understanding of the principles of cookery bo important as to the poor.

The household cook book