Milk is at once the food and drink of the suckling, which,
though unsupplied with any other nourishment whatever, grows in
every part of its body. In milk, therefore, there must be every-
thing which is needed to build up and repair the waste of bone,
muscle, nerve, and all the other tissues of the wonderfully con-
structed human body. We may safely, therefore, affirm that an
artificial diet containing all the substances present in milk will fully
nourish the frame, and that, conversely, if any of them are absent,
the nutritiousness of such diet will to that extent be diminished.
Flesh, including under that term the fat and lean, and all the
juices of meat, is not largely employed as the sole article of food
by any race of men. But that it can alone, or at least accompanied
only by water, sustain animal life to the fullest, we see in the case
of carnivorous creatures, such as the lion, which eat nothing else ;
and the Eskimos of the Arctic Regions, the Red Indians of the
North American Prairies, and the Spaniards of the South Ameri-
can Pampas, sustain life for months together on flesh alone. Flesh
thus, like milk, can supply the living body with all it requires for
the sustenance and repair of every part.
XXV111 PHILOSOPHY OF COOKERY.
Of eggs, the same may be said. For to hatch the egg of any
bird, such as a hen, it is only necessary to keep it for a certain
number of days at a particular temperature, and so placed that
air shall not be prevented from entering through the pores of the
shell. In due season the white and yolk of the egg (including a
portion of the shell) are formed into a perfect little bird, which has
been fully developed from the contents of the egg, or at least only
with the addition of air and some earthy matter derived from the
shell. An egg thus contains all that is requisite to form a perfect
animal.
Lastly, bread (especially if made from the entire grain) can sup-
port for an indefinite period the life of man, though taken alone, or
at least accompanied only with water.
It will surprise no one that the flesh of an ox, a sheep, a calf, or
a pigeon, should admit of ready conversion into the flesh of man,
and that it should serve alone for his full nourishment. But it
does not so certainly appear that milk, or eggs, or bread should be
equally serviceable as food. They certainly, however, are, though
not in equal degree ; and a determination of the substances which
by their presence in them give them this feeding, life-sustaining
power, will teach us what things must be present in all food.
First, then, of milk. Besides water, it contains four things —
namely, curd, butter, sugar, and mineral matters or salts. The
curd, when dried, forms what is more familiar to us under the
name of cheese. Butter does not essentially differ in character
from fat or oil. The sugar of milk, though not identical with cane-
sugar, much resembles it ; and the mineral matters, or salts are partly
identical with those found dissolved in natural waters, partly with
those which form the hard and solid part of the bones of animals. .
Page 5
Presented as published in 1886. 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
Milk is at once the food and drink of the suckling, which, though unsupplied with any other nourishment whatever, grows in every part of its body. In milk, therefore, there must be everything which is needed to build up and repair the waste of bone, muscle, nerve, and all the other tissues of the wonderfully constructed human body. We may safely, therefore, affirm that an artificial diet containing all the substances present in milk will fully nourish the frame, and that, conversely, if any of them are absent, the nutritiousness of such diet will to that extent be diminished.
Flesh, including under that term the fat and lean, and all the juices of meat, is not largely employed as the sole article of food by any race of men. But that it can alone, or at least accompanied only by water, sustain animal life to the fullest, we see in the case of carnivorous creatures, such as the lion, which eat nothing else ; and the Eskimos of the Arctic Regions, the Red Indians of the North American Prairies, and the Spaniards of the South American Pampas, sustain life for months together on flesh alone. Flesh thus, like milk, can supply the living body with all it requires for the sustenance and repair of every part.
XXVIII PHILOSOPHY OF COOKERY.
Of eggs, the same may be said. For to hatch the egg of any bird, such as a hen, it is only necessary to keep it for a certain number of days at a particular temperature, and so placed that air shall not be prevented from entering through the pores of the shell. In due season the white and yolk of the egg (including a portion of the shell) are formed into a perfect little bird, which has been fully developed from the contents of the egg, or at least only with the addition of air and some earthy matter derived from the shell. An egg thus contains all that is requisite to form a perfect animal.
Lastly, bread (especially if made from the entire grain) can support for an indefinite period the life of man, though taken alone, or at least accompanied only with water.
It will surprise no one that the flesh of an ox, a sheep, a calf, or a pigeon, should admit of ready conversion into the flesh of man, and that it should serve alone for his full nourishment. But it does not so certainly appear that milk, or eggs, or bread should be equally serviceable as food. They certainly, however, are, though not in equal degree ; and a determination of the substances which by their presence in them give them this feeding, life-sustaining power, will teach us what things must be present in all food. First, then, of milk. Besides water, it contains four things — namely, curd, butter, sugar, and mineral matters or salts. The curd, when dried, forms what is more familiar to us under the name of cheese. Butter does not essentially differ in character from fat or oil. The sugar of milk, though not identical with canesugar, much resembles it ; and the mineral matters, or salts are partly identical with those found dissolved in natural waters, partly with those which form the hard and solid part of the bones of animals. .