The Chemistry of CookeryWilliams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Science
The Chemistry of Cookery
Williams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Cooking
It should be understood that when I recommended the use of bicarbonate
of potash for the solution of casein, all these principles were kept
in view, including the objection to the bicarbonate itself. In the
case of the cheese, the quantity recommended was based on an estimate
of the quantity of lactic acid existing in the cheese and capable of
leaving the casein to go over to the potash. In the case of the peas
the quantity is difficult to estimate, owing to its variability. The
more correct determination of such quantities is among the objects of
further research to which I have before alluded.
Speaking generally it is not to the laboratory of the chemist that we
should go for our potash salts, but to the laboratory of nature, and
more especially to that of the vegetable kingdom. They exist in the
green parts of all vegetables. This is illustrated by the manufacture
of commercial potash from the ashes of the twigs and leaves of timber
trees. The more succulent the vegetable the greater the quantity of
potash it contains, though there are some minor exceptions to this. As
I have already stated, we extract and waste a considerable proportion
of these salts when we boil vegetables and throw away the _potage_,
which our wiser and more thrifty neighbours add to their every-day
_menu_. When we eat raw vegetables, as in salads, we obtain all their
potash.
Fruits generally contain important quantities of potash salts, and
it is upon these especially that the possible victims of lithic acid
should rely. Lemons and grapes contain them most abundantly. Those who
cannot afford to buy these as articles of daily food may use cream of
tartar, which, when genuine, is the natural salt of the grape, thrown
down in the manner I shall describe when on the subject of the cookery
of wines.
At the risk of being accused of presumption, I must here protest, as a
chemist, against one of ‘the fallacies of the faculty,’ or of certain
members of the faculty, viz. that of indiscriminately prohibiting to
gouty and rheumatic patients the use of acids or anything having an
acid taste.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account