SOUP. A nourishing and healthful food to be taken as the first course at dinner. Lean meat only should be used for soup. The con ditions to be observed in boiling meat, both as respects its quality as food, and also when it is intended for soup, are as follows: If the mass of flesh intended to be eaten be introduced into the boiler when the water is in a state of brisk ebullition, if the boiling be kept up for a few minutes, and the pot then put in a warm place, so thtt the temperature of the water be kept at one hundred and fifty-eight to one htindred and sixty five degrees, we then have united the conditions for giving to the flesh the qualities which best fit it for being eaten. When it is introduced into the boiling water the albumen of the flesh is immediately coagulated on the surface, and to a certain extent inwards, thus forming a skin or shell which no longer permits the juice of the meat to flow out nor the water to penetrate the mass. The flesh continues juicy and well flavored, the ,greater part of the savory constit uents being retained in the meat. On the other hand, if the mass of flesh is set on the fire with cold water, and this slowly heated to boiling, the flesh undergoes a loss of soluble and savory mat ter, while the soup becomes richer in these. The
albumen is gradually dissolved from the surface to the center; the fiber loses, more or less, its quality of tenderness, and Becomes hard and tough. The thinner the piece of meat the greater its loss of savory constituents. This explains the well known observation that the mode of boiling which yields the best soup gives the toughest, driest, most vapid meat, and that in order to obtain well-flavored and eatable meat we must relinquish the idea of making good soup from it. If finely chopped meat be slowly heated to boiling with an equal weight of water, kept boiling for a few minutes, and then strained and pressed, we obtain the very strongest and best-flavored soup that can be made from flesh. When the boiling is longer continued some little organic matter is dissolved, but the flavor and other properties of the soup are thereby in no degree increased or improved. By boiling, mut ton may be regarded as losing about one-fifth of its weight, and beef about one-fourth. By roasting, mutton and beef lose each about one third of their weight; mutton is, however, the most nutritious meat.