Great importance of the subject under consideration. Probability that water acts a much more important part in nutrition than has hitherto been generally imagined. Surprisingly small quantity of solid food necessary, when properly prepared, for all the purposes of nutrition. Great importance of the art of cookery. Barley remarkably nutritive when properly prepared. The importance of culinary processes for preparing food shown from the known utility of a practice common in some parts of Germany of cooking for cattle. Difficulty of introducing a charge of cookery into common use. Means that may be employed for that purpose.
There is, perhaps, no operation of Nature, which falls under the cognizance of our senses, more surprising, or more curious, than the nourishment and growth of plants, and animals; and there is certainly no subject of investigation more interesting to mankind.--As providing subsistence is, and ever must be, an object of the first concern in all countries, any discovery or improvement by which the procuring of good and wholesome food can be facilitated, must contribute very powerfully to increase the comforts, and promote the happiness of society.
That our knowledge in regard to the science of nutrition is still very imperfect, is certain; but, I think there is reason to believe, that we are upon the eve of some very important discoveries relative to that mysterious operation.
Since it has been known that Water is not a simple element, but a COMPOUND, and capable of being decomposed, much light has been thrown upon many operations of nature which formerly were wrapped up in obscurity. In vegetation, for instance, it has been rendered extremely probable, that water acts a much more important part than was formerly assigned to it by philosophers. --That it serves not merely as the VEHICLE of nourishment, but constitutes at least one part, and probably an essential part, of the FOOD of plants.--That it is decomposed by them, and contributes MATERIALLY to their growth;--and that manures serve rather to prepare the water for decomposition, than to form of themselves--substantially, and directly--the nourishment of the vegetables.
Now, a very clear analogy may be traced, between the vegetation and growth of plants, and the digestion and nourishment of animals; and as water is indispensably necessary in both processes, and as in one of them, (vegetation,) it appears evidently to serve as FOOD;--why should we not suppose it may serve as food in the other?--There is, in my opinion, abundant reason to suspect that this is really the case; and I shall now briefly state the grounds upon which this opinion is founded.-- Having been engaged for a considerable length of time in providing Food for the Poor at Munich, I was naturally led, as well by curiosity as motives of economy, to make a great variety of experiments upon that subject; and I had not proceeded far in my operations, before I began to perceive that they were very important;--even much more so than I had imagined.
The difference in the apparent goodness, of the palatableness, and apparent nutritiousness of the same kinds of Food, when prepared of cooked in different ways, struck me very forcibly; and I constantly found that the richness or QUALITY of a soup depended more upon a proper choice of the ingredients, and a proper management of the fire in the combination of those ingredients, than upon the quantity of solid nutritious matter employed;--much more upon the art and skill of the cook, than upon the amount of the sums laid out in the market.
I found likewise, that the nutritious of a soup, or its power of satisfying hunger, and affording nourishment, appeared always to be in proportion to its apparent richness or palatableness.
But what surprised me not a little, was the discovery of the very small quantity of SOLID FOOD, which, when properly prepared, will suffice to satisfy hunger, and support life and health; and the very trifling expence at which the stoutest, and most laborious man may, in any country, be fed.
After an experiment of more than five years in feeding the Poor at Munich during which time every experiment was made that could be devised, not only with regard to the choice of the articles used as Food, but also in respect to their different combinations and proportions; and to the various ways in which they could be prepared or cooked; it was found that the CHEAPEST, most SAVOURY, and most NOURISHING Food that could be provided, was a soup composed of PEARL BARLEY, PEASE, POTATOES, CUTTINGS OF FINE WHEATEN BREAD, vinegar--salt and water in certain proportions.
The method of preparing this soup is as follows; The water and the pearl barley are first put together into the boiler and made to boil; the pease are then added, and the boiling is continued over a gentle fire about two hours;--the potatoes are then added, (having been previously peeled with a knife, or having been boiled, in order to their being more easily deprived of their skins,) and the boiling is continued for about one hour more, during which time the contents of the boiler are frequently stirred about with a large wooden spoon, or ladle, in order to destroy the texture of the potatoes, and to reduce the soup to one uniform mass.--When this is done, the vinegar and the salt are added; and last of all, at the moment it is to be served up, the cuttings of bread.
The soup should never be suffered to boil, or even to stand long before it is served up after the cuttings of bread are put into it. It will, indeed, for reasons which will hereafter be explained, be best never to put the cuttings of bread into the boiler at all, but, (as is always done at Munich,) to put them into the tubs in which the soup is carried from the kitchen into the dining-hall; pouring the soup hot from the boiler upon them; and stirring the whole well together with the iron ladles used for measuring out the soup to the Poor in the hall.
It is of more importance than can well be imagined, that this bread which is mixed with the soup should not be boiled. It is likewise of use that it should be cut as fine or thin as possible; and if it be dry and hard, it will be so much the better.
The bread we use at Munich is what is called semel bread, being small loaves, weighing from two to three ounces; and as we receive this bread in donations from the bakers, it is commonly dry and hard, being that which, not being sold in time, remains on hand, and becomes stale and unsaleable; and we have found by experience, that this hard and stale bread answers for our purpose much better than any other, for it renders mastication necessary; and mastication seems very powerfully to assist in promoting digestion: it likewise PROLONGS THE DURATION OF THE ENJOYMENT OF EATING, a matter of very great importance indeed, and which has not hitherto been sufficiently attended to.
The quantity of this soup furnished to each person, at each meal, or one portion of it, (the cuttings of bread included,) is just ONE BAVARIAN POUND in weight; and as the Bavarian pound is to the pound Avoirdupois as 1,123842 to 1, --it is equal to about nineteen ounces and nine-tenths Avoirdupois. Now, to those who know that a full pint of soup weighs no more than about sixteen ounces Avoirdupois, it will not, perhaps, at the first view, appear very extraordinary that a portion weighing near twenty ounces, and consequently making near ONE PINT AND A QUARTER of this rich, strong, savoury soup, should be found sufficient to satisfy the hunger of a grown person; but when the matter is examined narrowly, and properly analyzed, and it is found that the whole quantity of SOLID FOOD which enters into the composition of one of these portions of soup, does not amount to quite SIX OUNCES, it will then appear to be almost impossible that this allowance should be sufficient.
That it is quite sufficient, however, to make a good meal for a strong healthy person, has been abundantly proved by long experience. I have even found that a soup composed of nearly the same ingredients, except the potatoes, but in different proportions, was sufficiently nutritive, and very palatable, in which only about FOUR OUNCES AND THREE QUARTERS of solid Food entered into the composition of a portion weighing twenty ounces.
But this will not appear incredible to those who know, that one single spoonful of salope, weighing less than one quarter of an ounce, put into a pint of boiling water, forms the thickest and most nourishing soup that can be taken; and that the quantity of solid matter which enters into the composition of another very nutritive Food, hartshorn jelly, is not much more considerable.
The barley in my soup, seems to act much the same part as the salope in this famous restorative; and no substitute that I could ever find for it, among all the variety of corn and pulse of the growth of Europe, ever produced half the effect; that is to say, half the nourishment at the same expence. Barley may therefore be considered as the rice of Great Britain.
It requires, it is true, a great deal of boiling; but when it is properly managed, it thickens a vast quantity of water; and, as I suppose, PREPARES IT FOR DECOMPOSITION. It also gives the soup into which it enters as an ingredient, a degree of richness which nothing else can give. It has little or no taste in itself, but when mixed with other ingredients which are savoury, it renders them peculiarly grateful to the palate[2].
It is a maxim, as ancient, I believe, as the time of Hippocrates, that "whatever pleases the palate nourishes;" and I have often had reason to think it perfectly just. Could it be clearly ascertained and demonstrated, it would tend to place COOKERY in a much more respectable situation among the arts than it now holds.
That the manner in which Food is prepared is a matter of real importance; and that the water used in that process acts a much more important part than has hitherto been generally imagined, is, I think, quite evident; for, it seems to me to be impossible, upon any other suppositions, to account for the appearances. If the very small quantity of solid Food which enters into the composition of a portion of some very nutritive soup were to be prepared differently, and taken under some other form, that of bread, for instance; so far from being sufficient to satisfy hunger, and afford a comfortable and nutritive meal, a person would absolutely starve upon such a slender allowance; and no great relief would be derived from drinking CRUDE water to fill up the void in the stomach.
But it is not merely from an observation of the apparent effects of cookery upon those articles which are used as Food for man, that we are led to discover the importance of these culinary processes. Their utility is proved in a manner equally conclusive and satisfactory, by the efforts which have been produced by employing the same process in preparing Food for brute animals.
It is well known, that boiling the potatoes with which hogs are fed, renders them much more nutritive; and since the introduction of the new system of feeding horned cattle, that of keeping them confined in the stables all the year round, (a method which is now coming fast into common use in many parts of Germany,) great improvements have been made in the art of providing nourishment for those animals; and particularly by preparing their Food, by operations similar to those of cookery; and to these improvements it is most probably owing, that stall feeding has, in that country, been so universally successful.
It has long been a practice in Germany for those who fatten bullocks for the butcher, or feed milch-cows, to give them frequently what is called a drank or drink; which is a kind of pottage, prepared differently in different parts of the country, and in the different seasons, according to the greater facility with which one or other of the articles occasionally employed in the composition of it may be procured; and according to the particular fancies of individuals. Many feeders make a great secret of the composition of their drinks, and some have, to my knowledge, carried their refinement so far as actually to mix brandy in them, in small quantities; and pretend to have found their advantage in adding this costly ingredient.
The articles most commonly used are, bran, oatmeal, brewers grains, mashed potatoes, mashed turnips, rye meal, and barley meal, with a large proportion of water; sometimes two or three or more of these articles are united in forming a drink; and of whatever ingredients the drink is composed, a large proportion of salt is always added to it.
There is, perhaps, nothing new in this method of feeding cattle with liquid mixtures, but the manner in which these drinks are now prepared in Germany is, I believe, quite new; and shows what I wish to prove, that COOKING RENDERS FOOD REALLY MORE NUTRITIVE.
These drinks were formerly given cold, but it was afterwards discovered that they were more nourishing when given warm; and of late their preparation is, in many places, become a very regular culinary process. Kitchens have been built, and large boilers provided and fitted up, merely for cooking for the cattle in the stables; and I have been assured by many very intelligent farmers, who have adopted this new mode of feeding, (and have also found by my own experience,) that it is very advantageous indeed; that the drinks are evidently rendered much more nourishing and wholesome by being boiled; and that the expence of fuel, and the trouble attending this process, are amply compensated by the advantages derived from the improvement of the Food. We even find it advantageous to continue the boiling a considerable time, two or three hours, for instance; as the Food goes on to be still farther improved, the longer the boiling is continued[3].
These facts seem evidently to show, that there is some very important secret with regard to nutrition, which has not been yet properly investigated; and it seems to me to be more probable, that the numbers of inhabitants who may be supported in any country, upon its internal produce, depends almost as much upon the state of THE ART OF COOKERY, as upon that of agriculture. --The Chinese, perhaps, understand both these arts better than any other nation.--Savages understand neither of them.
But, if cookery be of so much importance, it certainly deserves to be studied with the greatest care; and it ought particularly to be attended to in times of general alarm on account of a scarcity of provisions; for the relief which may in such cases be derived from it, is immediate and effectual, while all other resources are distant and uncertain.
I am aware of the difficulties which always attend the introduction of measures calculated to produce and remarkable change in the customs and habits of mankind; and there is perhaps no change more difficult to effect, than that which would be necessary in order to make any considerable saving in the consumption of those articles commonly used as Food; but still, I am of opinion, that such a change might, with proper management, be brought about.
There was a time, no doubt, when an aversion to potatoes was as general, and as strong, in Great Britain, and even in Ireland, as it is now in some parts of Bavaria; but this prejudice has been got over; and I am persuaded, that any national prejudice, however deeply rooted, may be overcome, provided proper means be used for that purpose, and time allowed for their operation.
But notwithstanding the difficulty of introducing a general use of soups throughout the country, or of any other kind of Food, however palatable, cheap, and nourishing, to which people have not been accustomed, yet these improvements might certainly be made, with great facility, in all public hospitals and work-houses, where the Poor are fed at the public expense; and the saving of provisions, (not to mention the diminution of expence,) which might be derived from this improvement, would be very important at all times, and more especially in times of general scarcity.
Another measure, still more important, and which might, I am persuaded, be easily carried into execution, is the establishment of public kitchens in all towns, and large villages, throughout the kingdom, whence, not only the Poor might be fed gratis, but also all the industrious inhabitants of the neighbourhood might be furnished with Food at so cheap a rate, as to be a very great relief to them at all times; and in times of general scarcity, this arrangement would alone be sufficient to prevent those public and private calamities, which never fail to accompany that most dreadful of all visitations, a famine.
The saving of Food that would result from feeding a large proportion of the inhabitants of any country from public kitchens, would be immense, and that saving would tend, immediately, and most powerfully, to render provisions more plentiful and cheap,--diminish the general alarm on account of the danger of a scarcity, and prevent the hoarding up of provisions by individuals, which is often alone sufficient, without any thing else, to bring on a famine, even where there is no real scarcity: for it is not merely the FEARS of individuals which operate in these cases, and induce them to lay in a larger store of provisions than they otherwise would do; and which naturally increases the scarcity of provisions in the market, and raises their prices; but there are persons who are so lost to all the feelings of humanity, as often to speculate upon the distress of the Public, and all THEIR operations effectually tend to increase the scarcity in the markets, and augment the general alarm.
But without enlarging farther in this place upon these public kitchens, and the numerous and important advantages which may in all countries be derived from them, I shall return to the interesting subjects which I have undertaken to investigate;-- the science of nutrition, and the art of providing wholesome and palatable Food at a small expence.
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