Flesh, though it is so unlike milk in appearance, closely corre-
sponds to it in composition. The lean portion of it, especially as
seen in fowls or veal, but best of all in fishes, is a white, soft mass
so like curd that in the case of the salmon it goes by that name,
and it still more resembles it in chemical composition than it does
in colour and consistence. There is no sugar in flesh, but there is
fat, corresponding to the butter in milk, and there are the same
mineral matters as occur in milk and bones.
Eggs still more resemble milk than flesh does. The white of a
hard-boiled egg does not more recall to the eye the curd of milk
than it corresponds to it in qualities and chemical constituents.
The yolk of the egg is rich in fat or oil. A portion of the same
kind of sugar as occurs in milk is found in it ; and in white and
yolk together occur the mineral matters present in milk, as well
as in bones, blood, and flesh.
PHILOSOPHY OF COOKERY. xxix
Finally, if we take the wheat-flour from which bread is baked,
knead it into dough, and wash it in a stream of water as long as
it comes off milky, we find that there is left a soft, sticky, tena-
cious body, which when dried resembles cheese, and, still more,
the fibre of lean meat, or the flesh of white-fish thoroughly washed
and dried. This may be properly enough called the curd of flour.
Besides this, there are present in the flour a large amount of
starch, a very small amount of fat, and the same mineral matters
which have already been referred to as present in the other pat-
tern-diets and in the bodies of animals. Flour or bread thus cor-
responds to skim-milk, for it has very little fat in it ; and mankind
accordingly have long ago come to the wise conclusion that "bread
and butter " is much better than dry bread. It is devoid also of
sugar; but then it abounds ia starch, which has exactly the same
composition as sugar, and, moreover, changes into it when taken
as food into the stomach of a living animal, so that as an article
of diet starch counts as sugar, though not possessed of a sweet
taste.
It thus appears that in the simplest bill of fare which nature
offers there is one standing ingredient familiar to all, as it occurs
in curd of milk or white of egg ; and the use of this never-absent
constituent of food curious physicians have amply proved to be
to form the important constituents of that river of life, the blood,
and to build up through its instrumentality all the organs of the
body. A second unfailing ingredient is a mixture of certain
mineral matters or salts, of which we generally take little heed,
unmindful of the fact that without them blood could not be
formed, and that our limbs would be boneless, pulpy masses, like
the bodies of jelly-fishes.
Those indispensable articles of diet rigidly provided, the other
components of our food are dispensed with greater latitude.
Sugar may be omitted, if starch is supplied, and the place of
either may be taken by gum or succulent vegetable fibre. These
four bodies, indeed, (namely, starch, sugar, gum, and fibre,) are so
similar in composition, and are so easily changed into each other,
that they may be regarded as forms of one substance, equally
nutritious, though not equally acceptable to the palate.
Page 6
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
Flesh, though it is so unlike milk in appearance, closely corresponds to it in composition. The lean portion of it, especially as seen in fowls or veal, but best of all in fishes, is a white, soft mass so like curd that in the case of the salmon it goes by that name, and it still more resembles it in chemical composition than it does in colour and consistence. There is no sugar in flesh, but there is fat, corresponding to the butter in milk, and there are the same mineral matters as occur in milk and bones.
Eggs still more resemble milk than flesh does. The white of a hard-boiled egg does not more recall to the eye the curd of milk than it corresponds to it in qualities and chemical constituents. The yolk of the egg is rich in fat or oil. A portion of the same kind of sugar as occurs in milk is found in it ; and in white and yolk together occur the mineral matters present in milk, as well as in bones, blood, and flesh.
PHILOSOPHY OF COOKERY. xxix
Finally, if we take the wheat-flour from which bread is baked, knead it into dough, and wash it in a stream of water as long as it comes off milky, we find that there is left a soft, sticky, tenacious body, which when dried resembles cheese, and, still more, the fibre of lean meat, or the flesh of white-fish thoroughly washed and dried. This may be properly enough called the curd of flour. Besides this, there are present in the flour a large amount of starch, a very small amount of fat, and the same mineral matters which have already been referred to as present in the other pattern-diets and in the bodies of animals. Flour or bread thus corresponds to skim-milk, for it has very little fat in it ; and mankind accordingly have long ago come to the wise conclusion that "bread and butter " is much better than dry bread. It is devoid also of sugar; but then it abounds ia starch, which has exactly the same composition as sugar, and, moreover, changes into it when taken as food into the stomach of a living animal, so that as an article of diet starch counts as sugar, though not possessed of a sweet taste.
It thus appears that in the simplest bill of fare which nature offers there is one standing ingredient familiar to all, as it occurs in curd of milk or white of egg ; and the use of this never-absent constituent of food curious physicians have amply proved to be to form the important constituents of that river of life, the blood, and to build up through its instrumentality all the organs of the body. A second unfailing ingredient is a mixture of certain mineral matters or salts, of which we generally take little heed, unmindful of the fact that without them blood could not be formed, and that our limbs would be boneless, pulpy masses, like the bodies of jelly-fishes.
Those indispensable articles of diet rigidly provided, the other components of our food are dispensed with greater latitude. Sugar may be omitted, if starch is supplied, and the place of either may be taken by gum or succulent vegetable fibre. These four bodies, indeed, (namely, starch, sugar, gum, and fibre,) are so similar in composition, and are so easily changed into each other, that they may be regarded as forms of one substance, equally nutritious, though not equally acceptable to the palate.