The Chemistry of CookeryWilliams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Science
The Chemistry of Cookery
Williams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Cooking
The flavour of the clear pea-soup which I obtained by filtering through
flannel shows that some of the casein is dissolved; this is further
demonstrated by adding an acid to the clear solution, which at once
precipitates the dissolved casein. The filtered pea-soup sets to a
stiff jelly on cooling, and promises to be a special food of some
value, but for the reasons above stated, I am not yet able to speak
positively as to its quantitative value. The experience of any one
person is not sufficient for this, the question being, not whether
it contains nutritive material—this is unquestionable—but whether it
is easily digested and assimilated. As we all know, a food of this
kind may ‘agree’ with some persons and not with others—_i.e._ it may
be digested and assimilated with ease or with difficulty according
to personal idiosyncrasies. The cheesy character of the abundant
precipitate which I obtain by acidulating this solution is very
interesting and instructive, regarded from a chemical point of view.
The solubility of the casein is increased by soaking the peas for some
hours, or, better still, a few days, in the solution of bicarbonate of
potash.
Another question is opened by these experiments, viz. what is the
character and the value of the fibrous solid matter remaining behind
after filtering out the clear pea-soup? Has the alkali acted in an
opposite manner to the acid in the ripening pear? Is it merely a
fibrous refuse only fit for pig-food, or is it deserving of further
attention in the kitchen? Should it be treated with dilute acid—say
a little vinegar—to break up the fibre, and thereby be made into
good porridge? Other questions crop up here as they have been
cropping continually since I committed myself to the writing of these
papers, and so abundantly that if I could afford to set up a special
laboratory, and endow it with a staff of assistants, there would be
some years’ work for myself and staff before I could answer them
exhaustively, and, doubtless, the answers would suggest new questions,
and so on _ad infinitum_. I state this in apology for the merely
suggestive crudity of many of the ideas that I have thrown out.
Before leaving the subject of peas, I must here repeat a practical
suggestion that I published in the ‘Birmingham Journal,’ about twenty
years ago, viz. that the water in which green peas are boiled should
not be thrown away. It contains much of the saline constituents of the
peas, some soluble casein, and has a fine flavour, the very essence
of the peas. If to this, as it comes from the saucepan, be added a
little stock, or some Liebig’s ‘Extract,’ a delicious soup is at once
produced, requiring nothing more than ordinary seasoning. With care,
it may form a clear soup such as just now is in fashion among the
fastidious, but prepared however roughly, it is a very economical,
wholesome, and appetising soup, and costs a minimum of trouble.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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