butter, cayenne to taste, 2 blades of pounded mace.
_Mode_.--As we have stated in recipe No. 608, the outside slices of
boiled beef may, with a little trouble, be converted into a very nice
addition to the breakfast-table. Cut up the meat into small pieces and
pound it well, with a little butter, in a mortar; add a seasoning of
cayenne and mace, and be very particular that the latter ingredient is
reduced to the finest powder. When all the ingredients are thoroughly
mixed, put it into glass or earthen potting-pots, and pour on the top a
coating of clarified butter.
_Seasonable_ at any time.
_Note_.--If cold roast beef is used, remove all pieces of gristle and
dry outside pieces, as these do not pound well.
PRESERVED MEATS.--When an organic substance, like the flesh of
animals, is heated to the boiling-point, it loses the property
of passing into a state of fermentation and decay. Fresh animal
milk, as is well known, coagulates, after having been kept for
two or three days, into a gelatinous mass; but it may be
preserved for an indefinite period, as a perfectly sweet liquid,
if it be heated daily to the boiling-point. The knowledge of
this effect of an elevated temperature has given rise to a most
important branch of industry,--namely, the preparation of
preserved meats for the use of the navy and merchant service. At
Leith, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, at Aberdeen, at
Bordeaux, at Marseilles, and in many parts of Germany,
establishments of enormous magnitude exist, in which soup,
vegetables, and viands of every description are prepared, in
such a manner that they retain their freshness for years. The
prepared aliments are inclosed in canisters of tinned iron
plate, the covers are soldered air-tight, and the canisters
exposed to the temperature of boiling water for three or four
hours. The aliments thus acquire a stability, which one may
almost say is eternal; and when a canister is opened, after the
lapse of several years, its contents are found to be unaltered
in taste, colour, and smell. We are indebted to the French
philosopher Gay-Lussac for this beautiful practical application
of the discovery that boiling checks fermentation. An exclusive
salt-meat diet is extremely injurious to the health; and, in
former times, thousands of mariners lost their lives for the
want of fresh aliments during long voyages. We are sorry to say
that the preserved meats are sometimes carelessly prepared, and,
though the statement seems incredible, sometimes adulterated.
Dr. Lankester, who has done so much to expose the frauds of
trade, that he ought to be regarded as a public benefactor, says
that he has seen things which were utterly unfit for food,
shipped as preserved meats. Surely, as he observes, there ought
to be some superintendent to examine the so-called articles of
food that are taken on board ship, so that the poor men who have
been fighting our battles abroad may run no risk of being
starved or poisoned on their way home.
RIB OF BEEF BONES.
(_A Pretty Dish_.)