Kitabı oku: «Popular Books on Natural Science», sayfa 9
CHAPTER XIII.
BROTH
Soup, meat, and vegetables are the principal dishes of a plain household dinner.
When examining this more closely, we find the selection so judicious that we may well admire the tact of woman, who discovered it long before science did.
The good tact of woman does even more yet; it selects the dishes in such a manner that they mutually compensate for their wants, that is, that each offers to the body what is wanting in the others.
The principal dishes composing a meal are divided into fat-producing and flesh-producing ones. All farinaceous diet provides the body with fat; all albumen substances, with flesh. To support the body, however, it is also necessary to give it salt, from which bones, hair, nails and teeth may be formed.
Our domestic wives, indeed, look to all that. Long before scientific men had investigated the necessity for nutriment of the kind, all-providing woman had arranged culinary matters so as to be able to satisfy all the demands of nature. But not only the proper selection of articles of food, – the way and manner also in which they are cooked and served, are of prime importance to a proper nutrition; and we maintain that household fare may justly be regarded as a guide for scientific investigations.
A judicious housewife will first of all place meat on the fire, to have good soup and well-cooked meat. She will prefer beef to any other kind, because it contains but little fat and much albumen and animal fibre; for this reason it makes better broth, and still preserves strength enough to be a healthy, strength-giving dish.
Besides, meat, by cooking, becomes more nutritive, inasmuch as its digestibility is greatly facilitated. One of the most important tasks of the cook consists in promoting one's digestion; in other words, in saving the stomach labor. Flesh in its raw state keeps its nutritive elements shut up in cells which are gluey. By boiling it, the gelatine becomes soft and mixes with the water; hence it comes that broth is glutinous, and, if allowed to cool, becomes thick and like jelly. This substance is in part very nourishing; it is often obtained from bones and cartilages, and then sold under the name of "bouillon-tables," which, when boiled in water, make a tolerably good soup. Thus we see that the first object of all cooking is the dissolving of the cellular tissues. Not before this is done do we obtain the real nutritive element of the flesh, which then is taken up by the stomach all the easier, inasmuch as it has thus been well prepared to be easily changed into blood.
But before the meat reaches the boiling-point, albumen is separated from its surface and mixes with the water; it is this which gives broth its real strength and nutritive power. Afterwards, when the water boils, this albumen condenses; the broth becomes white, as if containing the white of eggs; from the inside of the meat flows continually more and more albumen into the broth, and makes it stronger and stronger. During this time, moreover, the fat parts of the meat melt, and its salts are also dissolved in the broth; hence a great deal of the most nutritive parts of the meat goes over into the broth; and although much of the strength of the meat has been withdrawn, still there is much of it left yet, and the meat has now become easier to masticate and easier to be digested. We need not add that a sufficient quantity of salt is thrown into the soup, which quickly dissolves in the water; but in the same degree that the meat excretes a part of its ingredients and gives them to the water, in the same measure does the meat absorb salt. By this it becomes not only more tasteful and digestible, but also more nutritive. It was not until recently that the importance of salt as a nutritive was recognized; this cannot be otherwise, for the tissues of the human body, as well as its blood and cartilages, need salt for their formation and support. Who does not know that every farmer gives his cattle salt from time to time, so as to improve their strength and general health?
Our readers will readily understand now, that the weaker the broth the stronger must be the meat, and vice versâ. It often occurs that we care less to have good broth than good beef. In such cases we must not put the meat into cold water, but into boiling water. So soon as the meat is thrown into boiling water, the albumen on the outside coagulates, surrounding the whole piece as it were with a hard crust, which does not permit the nutritive parts of the inside to escape. The same effect is produced by the roasting of the meat in an oven, although here it is not covered by water. It is more judicious, however, and more important for the household, to make good broth, and to let dinner commence with it.
For he who has been at work all the forenoon, needs such food at first as will not cause his stomach too much labor; and soup is that food. Let every good housewife bear this in mind.
CHAPTER XIV.
WHAT IS BEST TO BE PUT INTO SOUP?
The answer to this question will be "Something farinaceous," and, indeed, no better answer could be given.
Broth contains gluten and albumen, both of which are changed in the body into flesh. Not only the animal part of our body, but chiefly the active, working part of it requires nutriment that can be transformed partly into fat. Breath and perspiration, so unavoidable in labor, are supported by means of fat in our body. This explains why fat people perspire more than others; why fat people get out of breath sooner than lean persons; why the other sex, who are more apt to become fat than men, perspire more; and why children, because they run about much, and hence need more breath and perspiration, usually prefer bread to meat.
As has been said, broth, which contains only such ingredients as are intended to produce muscle-fibres, may well be mixed with something farinaceous, which should be thrown in and boiled with the soup, in order to promote the formation of fat in the body. It matters little what may be chosen for the purpose – flour, groats, barley, rice, or potato, or any other article; provided always it contains starch; for this becomes saccharine even when boiling; it changes in the body into acid of milk, and lastly into fat. Perhaps it is advisable to use that which contains most starch. Rice, for example, has much of it; probably this accounts for the fact that lively children are very fond of it. A hundred pounds of rice include eighty-five of starch; while a hundred pounds of wheat contain but about seventy-four pounds. A judicious housekeeper will know very well that a less quantity is taken of rice than of flour. The various kinds of farina and barley possess but about one-half the starch of rice; and potatoes are so poor in that, that five pounds of potatoes yield no more starch than one pound of rice. All this is a matter of great importance to our housewives.
The usefulness of soup-material lies, however, not always in its great nutritive capacity, but very often in the facility with which it may be cooked. Thus we cannot boil rice in the broth itself; it must, to loosen its cells properly, be boiled first in water; this takes a little over half an hour, and requires of course a place on the fire, and hence more fuel. The cell of the farina or pearl-barley, on the other hand, was crushed already by the grinding; therefore it needs but little attention, and may be boiled in the broth itself without any loss of time. When making scientific observations on food, such circumstances must not be overlooked; for time and fuel cost money, and may, in the eyes of practical housewives, raise the price of the article too much; while to a scientific man the same article may appear very cheap.
There are other viands which, though not very nutritive, are yet very popular and in common use. As an example of this class, we may give the potato.
That the latter is poor in starch, was stated above. Its extensive use is surprising, when we consider, that, according to calculation, the little nutriment obtained from the potato is paid more highly for than that of flour. And yet there is good reason for the extensive use of the article. Its preparation, in the first place, is an easy one, especially when the potato is boiled whole, without being peeled. This is a great convenience for the housewife, who, besides the time devoted to the house, needs time for work from the proceeds of which she may support herself. She values, therefore, any dish which can be prepared with little expense of time and money; more than any other article may the potato be said to possess this quality. From it a meal can be prepared in half an hour, and the cook need not watch it constantly; potatoes do not boil over. Besides all this, there is another advantage, and it is this which makes it a favorite even with the rich; already, when boiling, its starch is transformed into sugar, giving the potato a more pleasant flavor than any other cheap dish can be said to have. How easily the potato starch is converted into sugar may be noticed best in half-frozen potatoes, because there the cells containing the starch burst during the process of freezing.
CHAPTER XV.
LEGUMINOUS VEGETABLES
The greens which we put in soup cannot be considered nutriment, but rather a kind of spice, and perhaps also as a means of giving us the benefit of some medicinal qualities which they in part contain. We will dwell no longer on this subject, but proceed to the most nutritive articles of food we use, viz., the leguminous vegetables.
Pease, beans, and lentils are so extremely rich in fat and muscle-forming elements, that in this regard they excel bread and are almost on a level with meat. No wonder, therefore, that they are very favorite articles if well cooked, when we consider the fact that they are so very cheap. Where people are too poor to buy meat every day, legumes must not be found wanting. They play a great part in barracks and prisons; and in order to keep pace with the immense progress gastronomical science has made, one of the above-named articles ought to be used in those establishments on all days on which there is no meat.
The element common to all three is called legumine. It is richer in starch than bread and contains nearly three times more of it than the potato. Partly legumes contain also ready-made sugar; this may be tasted in green pease. Besides this, their flesh-forming parts are in greater quantity than those of other plants, while their quantity of water is less, and it is therefore not advisable to take them dry. New pease and beans have, moreover, the advantage of being eatable together with their hulls and pods, as these, when yet green, contain likewise sugar and starch.
But we must recommend, above all, not to eat the hulls of dried legumes. This may be avoided if, when boiled, the cook crushes them and strains them through a coarse sieve, by which process the hulls are left. If this is not done, we run the danger of disturbing the functions of the body, inasmuch as these dry hulls are dissolved neither by the saliva of the mouth nor the gastric juice of the stomach.
Most every one that once in his life had culinary labor to perform, is acquainted with the fact that the cooking of legumes is often accompanied by a peculiar circumstance. Pease sometimes may boil by the hour without getting soft; it happens even that young pease, soft by nature, become harder and harder by boiling; while, at other times, the same pease have become soft and burst open after but half an hour's cooking. The reason of this lies not in the pease, but in the water they are boiled in. Our housewives undoubtedly know, from the experience of their wash-days, that there is hard water and soft. Soap, when put in hard water, breaks into small pieces, while it dissolves in soft water completely and forms a slimy liquid. Science has solved this mystery: spring-water contains lime, which combines chemically with the fat in soap and forms with it an insoluble element; while rain-water contains little or no lime, and therefore dissolves soap. The same is the case in regard to the legumine. The lime in spring-water, which settles on the bottom of vessels as sediment, combines with some constituent parts of the pea and forms a very hard, indigestible body; rain-water, however, dissolves legumine completely.
It must now appear evident to all, that much fuel and nutritive element is gained by cooking pease, beans, and lentils in soft water. To comfort those who, on the plea of uncleanliness, are opposed to rain or cistern water, we desire to state that rain-water when poured through linen or cotton cloth is not in the least impure; especially if it be allowed to stand quietly for a few hours and then have the scum removed from its surface.
Pease, beans, and lentils produce in the healthy body blood, flesh, milk, and fat. By their being strained through a coarse sieve they lose such disagreeable qualities as, for example, the bloating they produce in the body, which makes them very unpopular with many.
Another great advantage in leguminous vegetables lies in this, that they contain phosphorus, a principle needed for the formation and preservation of the bones and brain; therefore we may justly maintain that legumine is good for the body and mind both.
CHAPTER XVI.
MEAT AND VEGETABLES
It is an old German habit to consider meat and vegetables as belonging together.
In the common kinds of vegetables there is very little nutriment. Nearly nine-tenths of the weight of cabbages and other varieties consist of water. There is therefore but little left for nutriment proper, as, for example, vegetable albumen, gluten, vegetable fat, starch, and sugar. It is only such vegetables as turnips, etc., that contain much sugar, for which reason they are well adapted for children and convalescents. In fine, if nutriment alone were considered, the enjoyment of our common vegetables would be nothing but a luxury.
In truth, however, they possess elements which make them very beneficial to man, if he takes them together with meat. They contain organic acids – like fruit, which for this reason is so universally liked – and have the quality of preserving in a state of dissolution the soluble albumen of the meat. Thus they save much labor to the digestive organs, and accelerate the transition of meat into chyle. Hence the well-known fact, that after dinner, though we can eat nothing more, yet we like to taste some good raw fruit, or cooked fruit of any kind. Vegetables are taken for a similar purpose, and are therefore very healthy when eaten with meat.
But why is it that our housewives often serve vegetables before they do meat, and fruit after the meat?
Very likely they themselves do not know why, as is the case so often; yet they act here, as in many other things, with wise instinct. Fruit contains organic acid, which, in a ready-made condition, is very beneficial to us; it needs only to be taken up by the stomach. We do well, therefore, if we take fruit after the meat, and allow digestion to go on with it. From vegetables, however, this acid is only produced in the stomach, and during the process of digestion. If taken before meat, the acid may promote the digestion of the meat; while if it is taken after the meat, the acid comes much too late to be of any benefit. This explains the fact, that vegetables in which this acid has been produced by fermentation – as is the case, for example, with sour-crout – are usually taken together with meat.
Another great advantage of vegetables is, that they are rich in mineral salts necessary for the health of the body. There are ingredients in the various kinds of vegetables, of which it may scarcely be believed that they can be eaten, for they belong to the metals and metal combinations; as, for example, chlorine, iron, potassium, and natron; these play an important part in the body. It is, therefore, not surprising to us that a judicious physician will more often prescribe a good vegetable than medicine; and one ought to be thankful to him if he sends people more to the market than to the drug-store. There are, indeed, many diseases successfully cured by such organical remedies, which only nature knows how to prepare. To mention but one remedy, spinage, so highly beneficial to children and young girls of very pale appearance. Their green-sickness takes origin from a want of iron in the blood. Though every physician is able to prescribe medicine which contains iron, yet the effect of such artificial inorganic remedies is often very doubtful; while spinage itself contains iron, and therefore offers a better organic remedy, and food.
Meat and vegetables are sufficient for the body. There is not need of much meat. From six to eight ounces a day constitutes the quantity sufficient for a man. Meat and vegetables compensate each other's wants; the former is poor in water, the latter rich; vegetables are wanting in albumen, which is found abundantly in meat. This happy circumstance is favorable to the formation of that mixture of elements essential to the preservation of the body.
Household fare, according to what we have seen, is precisely what it ought to be, and does not, as some people are inclined to think, result solely from the whims of the housewives. Thus is proved again what we have said above, viz., that the natural instinct and tact of woman have, by long years of practice, been guided by a better and more practical course than science itself.
There are some other important articles of food, but we must keep them for "Supper;" and our readers will no doubt be very glad if we conclude this chapter, and treat in the next one the question,
"Is it good to take a little nap after dinner?"
CHAPTER XVII.
THE NAP AFTER DINNER
An old adage says, "After dinner thou shalt either rest or walk a thousand steps." Habit, however, has modified this very much; for people nowadays neither rest nor walk; but, if they can, they lie down and slumber. Now, it is true that sleep does not belong to the articles of food. We might despatch the question of the nap after dinner here at once; yet, if it has any influence upon the digestion of food, it is of enough importance to merit a few words.
It was mentioned before, that eating and digestion are a labor. To many it may be the most pleasant labor, to others even the only labor of their lives; but be this as it may, it is certainly a labor for all and every one; and it is important that during the process quiet should be enjoyed. He who thinks he gains by not taking enough time for eating, or he who takes his dinner while working or moving about, loses actually more than he even thinks of winning. The activity without disturbs seriously the activity within. The perspiration on the surface of the body withdraws moisture from the inside of the body to such an extent as to diminish even the saliva in the mouth, so necessary to digestion. Have not all of you had the experience, that when fatigued you feel dryness in the mouth; that you feel as if a piece of dry bread would not pass down, but remain in your throat? And as with the saliva, it is with the other digestive fluids; if there is any want of them, the food we have taken lies in the stomach like stone.
It is therefore desirable to take a short rest before dinner, not to perform any kind of labor whatever during the same, and, above all, not to exercise the body immediately after dinner. Eating is an inward work, and should not be accompanied by any labor without. As an additional proof of what we said above, it may be stated that, as probably many of our readers know already, even in the hottest summer, perspiration diminishes after dinner. This will convince all, that when the digestive apparatus is at work, the outer organs ought to be at rest. Once more, then: before and after dinner we need rest, and it is this rest which renders us indisposed to labor and makes us feel sleepy.
On the other hand, we must take but a short slumber. Those who have accustomed themselves to sleep after dinner, feel that half an hour's slumber is all that is needed, and that they even feel weary if they have slept longer.
The reason of this is, the process of digestion is properly carried on chemically by the food, being dissolved through the gastric juice. This digestion, however, is greatly promoted by the motions of the stomach, which tosses the food about from one side to the other, mixing it entirely, and finally making a large ball of it, whose various ingredients are, as it were, fused together. This process needs rest on our part; during it sleep is sweet and agreeable. But for the further digestion of food, energy is needed, which we have not during that sleep; therefore its want makes our prolonged sleep uneasy, or renders our digestion imperfect. This latter may be felt by every one who goes to bed with a full stomach. His sleep during the first hour is undisturbed and pleasant, because it is favorable to the first stage of digestion. But after that, sleep is very uneasy; weariness and complaints about bad digestion follow, and the imprudent person rises next morning with headache, coated tongue, and indigestion in the stomach.
From what has preceded we may conclude, that a short nap after dinner is conducive to good health; while if taken too long, it will produce the contrary effect. Dizziness in the head and fetid taste in the mouth are sure signs of one's having overslept one's self, and he who has been so imprudent must animate his system – not by liquor, but with a glass of fresh water; or he must, if he feels very heavy, wash with very cold water. For this is the moment when digestion needs activity more than anything else; the above symptoms are the indications, and man should consider them as the summons of nature, who calls to him, "Thou hast eaten and reposed; go, then, to thy labor; this is the time!"
Let every one obey her call, and there will be less sickness.
