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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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