II.
643. INGREDIENTS.—The remains of cold roast or boiled beef, 1/4 lb. of 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.