Skin and bone the eels; season them with mace, chopped eschalots,
pepper, salt and pimento. Roll up the whole, and tie it firmly with
tape; put it in a stew-pan with a pint of veal _stock_, half pint of
white wine, and half as much vinegar; and let them simmer till done.
Then put them into a dish; skim off the fat, and season with salt. Clear
the liquor by simmering it a few minutes, with the white of two eggs,
and pass it through a cloth: after which boil it till it becomes a thick
jelly when cold. Then take the tape from the eels, and pour the liquid
transparent jelly over the fish.
BEST METHOD OF PRESERVING ALL KINDS OF COOKED BUTCHER’S MEAT, FISH, OR
POULTRY.
Of all the methods of preserving animal substances for domestic
purposes, or sea store, the process found out by Mr. Appert, and pursued
in this metropolis upon a large scale by Messrs. Donkin and Gamble, is
unquestionably the best. It is as follows:
Let the substance to be preserved be first par-boiled, or rather
somewhat more, the bones of the meat being previously removed. Put the
meat into a tin cylinder, fill up the vessel with the broth, and then
solder on the lid, furnished with a small hole. When this has been done,
let the tin vessel, thus prepared, be placed in water and heated to the
boiling point to complete the remainder of the cooking of the meat. The
hole in the lid is now closed perfectly, by soldering, whilst the air is
rushing out.
The vessel is then allowed to cool, and from the diminution of volume in
the contents, in consequence of the reduction of temperature, both ends
of the cylinder are pressed inwards and become concave. The tin cases,
thus hermetically sealed, are exposed in a _test-chamber_ for at least a
month, to a temperature above what they are ever likely to encounter;
from 90° to 110° Fahrenheit. If the process has failed, putrefaction
takes place, and gas is evolved, which in process of time will bulge out
both ends of the case, so as to render them convex instead of concave.
But the contents of whatever cases stand this test, will infallibly keep
perfectly sweet and good in any climate, and for any length of time. If
there was any taint about the meat when put up, it inevitably ferments,
and is detected in the _proving_ process.
All kinds of animal food may be preserved in this way--beef, mutton,
veal, and poultry, either boiled or roasted. The testimonies in favour
of the success of the process are of the most unexceptionable kind. At
Messrs. Donkin and Gamble’s establishment the meat is put up in
canisters of from 4 lbs. to 20 lbs. weight each. It is charged from 1s.
8d. to 3s. a pound; roast higher than boiled, and veal dearer than
mutton or beef. The weight of the canister is deducted, and nothing is
charged for the canisters; and it should be observed, that these
provisions being cooked, and without bone, render them equivalent to
double the weight of meat in the raw state; for it is certain, that the
waste in cooking, together with the weight of bone, are about one half.
Captain Neish took a quantity of provision, thus prepared, to India, not
one canister spoiled; and one which he brought home contained beef in
the highest state of preservation after two years, and having been
carried upwards of 35,000 miles in the warmest climates.
The commissioners for victualling the navy also examined some, nearly
four years old, which had been in the Mediterranean and Quebec, and
found it as sound, sweet, and fresh, as if it had been only yesterday
boiled. We are enabled to add the testimony of that distinguished
navigator, captain Basil Hall, who has liberally communicated to us the
result of his personal experience and observation, which is as
follows:--“I can answer for the perfect preservation of a great number
of cases which were in my possession during the voyage to China. I had
88_l._ worth, and not one failure. At that time milk was preserved in
bottles corked; but tin cases have been substituted with very great
effect, as I have myself tried. It is really astonishing how excellent
the milk is; and, indeed, every thing preserved in this way is good.”
“You must, on examining the list of prices, bear in mind, that meat thus
preserved _eats_ nothing, nor _drinks_--is not apt to get the rot, or to
die--does not _tumble_ over-board, nor get its legs broken, or its flesh
wore off its bones, by knocking about the decks of a ship in bad
weather--it takes no care in the keeping--it is always ready--may be eat
cold or hot--and thus enables you to toss into a boat in a minute, as
many days’ _cooked_ provisions as you choose--it is not exposed to the
vicissitudes of markets, nor is it scourged up to a monstrous price (as
at St. Helena), because there is no alternative. Besides these
advantages, it enables one to indulge in a number of luxuries, which no
care or expence _could_ procure.”
In this preservative process is displayed a singular and important fact
with regard to the agency of oxygen in putrefaction. The tin canisters
being closed during the exposure to heat, must necessarily contain with
the included matter some portion of air; and if heat were not applied,
or even if applied imperfectly, putrefaction would take place. This
proves that the effect of the high temperature is to produce some kind
of combination of the oxygen of the air with the animal or included
matter, not leading to putrefaction, or even counter-acting it, while
by this combination it is effectually removed. The air accordingly,
where the process is successful, is deprived of oxygen; but if the heat
were not sufficiently prolonged, and by far the greatest part of the air
in the vessel not exhausted, putrefaction soon comes on. From
experiments that have been made on this mode of preserving alimentary
substances, it has been proved, that if the vessels were opened only for
a short time and again closed, without heat being applied, the inclosed
substances soon putrefied: as they did also from mere exposure to the
air. But if, after having been exposed even for an hour or two, they
were re-placed, the vessels again treated as before, and then the due
degree of heat applied, they could be preserved as at first. And this
repeated exposure to the air, and removal of its operation by heating,
it appears from Gay Lussac’s experiments, can be renewed a number of
times. Nay, by occasional exposure to the heat of boiling water, without
the exclusion of the air, he found the exemption from putrefaction to be
attained.
The theory of these effects is not very apparent. Gay Lussac supposes,
that the oxygen may combine with that principle analogous to gluten,
which excites fermentation, and which may equally excite putrefaction;
that this by a kind of coagulation is separated by heat, and thus
rendered inert; and that it is only that part of it which has suffered
oxygenation which is capable of this coagulation; it is thus removed,
while the exclusion of oxygen prevents the putrefaction from taking
place, which would otherwise be excited by the remainder. But this is
rather hypothetical and unsatisfactory.