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Page 30
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 hardly likely to choose much of this food, the tongue and
sweetbreads being the only dainty bits; but there are wholesome and savory
dishes to be made from every part, and the knowledge of their preparation
may be of greatest value to a poorer neighbor. Both ox-tails and head make
excellent soup. Tripe, the inner lining of the stomach, is, if properly
prepared, not only appetizing but pleasant to the eye. Calves' feet make
good jelly; and pigs' feet, ears, and head are soused or made into
scrapple. Blood-puddings are much eaten by Germans, but we are not likely
to adopt their use. Fresh blood has, however, been found of wonderful
effect for consumptive patients; and there are certain slaughter-houses in
our large cities where every day pale invalids are to be found waiting for
the goblet of almost living food from the veins of the still warm animal.
Horrible as it seems, the taste for it is soon acquired; and certainly the
good results warrant at least the effort to acquire it.
VENISON comes next in the order of meats, but is more like game than any
ordinary butchers' meat. It is lean, dark in color, and savory, and if
well cooked, very digestible.
POULTRY are of more importance to us than game, and the flesh, containing
less nitrogen, is not so stimulating as beef or mutton. Old fowls are
often tough and indigestible, and have often, also, a rank flavor like a
close hen-house, produced by the absorption into the flesh of the oil
intended by nature to lubricate the feathers.
GAME contains even less fat than poultry, and is considered more
strengthening. The flesh of rabbits and hares is more like poultry or game
than meat, but is too close in fiber to be as digestible. Pigeons and many
other birds come under none of the heads given. As a rule, flesh is
tender in proportion to the smallness of the animal, and many varieties
are eaten for the description of which we have no room here.
FISH forms the only animal food for a large part of the world. It does not
possess the satisfying or stimulating properties belonging to flesh, yet
the inhabitants of fishing-towns are shown to be unusually strong and
healthy. The flesh of some fish is white, and of others red; the red
holding much more oil, and being therefore less digestible. In _Salmon_,
the most nutritious of all fishes, there are, in a hundred parts, sixteen
of nitrogen, six of fat, nearly two of saline matter, and seventy-seven of
water. _Eels_ contain thirteen parts of fat. _Codfish_, the best-known of
all the white fish, vary greatly, according to the time of year in which
they are taken, being much more digestible in season than out (i.e., from
October to May). _Mackerel_ and _Herring_ both abound in oil, the latter
especially, giving not only relish to the Irishman's potato, but the
carbon he needs as heat-food. _Shell-fish_ are far less digestible, the
_Oyster_ being the only exception. The nitrogenous matter in oysters is
fourteen parts, of fatty matter one and a half, of saline matter two, and
of water eighty. At the time of spawning--from May to September--they lose
their good condition, and become unwholesome. _Lobsters_ rank next in
importance, and are more delicate and finer-flavored than _Crabs_. Both
are, however, very difficult of digestion, and should only be used
occasionally. The many forms of pickled and smoked fish are convenient,
but always less wholesome than fresh.
MILK comes next, and has already been considered in a previous chapter. It
is sometimes found to disagree with the stomach, but usually because
looked upon as drink and not as real food, the usual supply of which is
taken, forgetful of the fact that a glass or two of milk contains as much
nourishment as two-thirds of the average meal. The nitrogenous matter in
milk is known as caseine, and it is this which principally forms cheese.
CHEESE is commonly considered only a relish, but is in reality one of the
most condensed forms of nitrogenous food; and a growing knowledge of its
value has at last induced the Army Department to add it to the army ration
list. Mattieu Williams, after giving the chemical formulas of caseine and
the other elements of cheese, writes; "I have good and sufficient reasons
for thus specifying the properties of this constituent of food. I regard
it as the most important of all that I have to describe in connection with
my subject,--The Science of Cookery. It contains, as I shall presently
show, more nutritious material than any other food that is ordinarily
obtainable, and its cookery is singularly neglected,--practically an
unknown art, especially in this country. We commonly eat it raw, although
in its raw state it is peculiarly indigestible, and in the only cooked
form familiarly known among us here, that of Welsh rabbit or rare-bit, it
is too often rendered still more indigestible, though this need not be the
case. Cream-cheese is the richest form, but keeps less well than that of
milk. Stilton, the finest English brand, is made partly of cream, partly
of milk, and so with various other foreign brands, Gruyere, &c. Parmesan
is delicately flavored with fine herbs, and retains this flavor almost
unaltered by age. Our American cheeses now rank with the best foreign
ones, and will grow more and more in favor as their value is understood,
this being their strongly nitrogenous character. A cheese of twenty
pounds weight contains as much food as a sheep weighing sixty pounds, as
it hangs in the butcher's shop. In Dutch and factory cheeses, where the
curd has been precipitated by hydrochloric acid, the food value is less
than where rennet is used; but even in this case, it is far beyond meat in
actual nutritive power."
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