WHAT IS BEST TO BE PUT INTO SOUP?

The answer to this question will be "Something farinaceous," and, indeed, no better answer could be given.

Broth contains gluten and albumen, both of which are changed in the body into flesh. Not only the animal part of our body, but chiefly the active, working part of it requires nutriment that can be transformed partly into fat. Breath and perspiration, so unavoidable in labor, are supported by means of fat in our body. This explains why fat people perspire more than others; why fat people get out of breath sooner than lean persons; why the other sex, who are more apt to become fat than men, perspire more; and why children, because they run about much, and hence need more breath and perspiration, usually prefer bread to meat.

As has been said, broth, which contains only such ingredients as are intended to produce muscle-fibres, may well be mixed with something farinaceous, which should be thrown in and boiled with the soup, in order to promote the formation of fat in the body. It matters little what may be chosen for the purpose—flour, groats, barley, rice, or potato, or any other article; provided always it contains starch; for this becomes saccharine even when boiling; it changes in the body into acid of milk, and lastly into fat. Perhaps it is advisable to use that which contains most starch. Rice, for example, has much of it; probably this accounts for the fact that lively children are very fond of it. A hundred pounds of rice include eighty-five of starch; while a hundred pounds of wheat contain but about seventy-four pounds. A judicious housekeeper will know very well that a less quantity is taken of rice than of flour. The various kinds of farina and barley possess but about one-half the starch of rice; and potatoes are so poor in that, that five pounds of potatoes yield no more starch than one pound of rice. All this is a matter of great importance to our housewives.

The usefulness of soup-material lies, however, not always in its great nutritive capacity, but very often in the facility with which it may be cooked. Thus we cannot boil rice in the broth itself; it must, to loosen its cells properly, be boiled first in water; this takes a little over half an hour, and requires of course a place on the fire, and hence more fuel. The cell of the farina or pearl-barley, on the other hand, was crushed already by the grinding; therefore it needs but little attention, and may be boiled in the broth itself without any loss of time. When making scientific observations on food, such circumstances must not be overlooked; for time and fuel cost money, and may, in the eyes of practical housewives, raise the price of the article too much; while to a scientific man the same article may appear very cheap.

There are other viands which, though not very nutritive, are yet very popular and in common use. As an example of this class, we may give the potato.

That the latter is poor in starch, was stated above. Its extensive use is surprising, when we consider, that, according to calculation, the little nutriment obtained from the potato is paid more highly for than that of flour. And yet there is good reason for the extensive use of the article. Its preparation, in the first place, is an easy one, especially when the potato is boiled whole, without being peeled. This is a great convenience for the housewife, who, besides the time devoted to the house, needs time for work from the proceeds of which she may support herself. She values, therefore, any dish which can be prepared with little expense of time and money; more than any other article may the potato be said to possess this quality. From it a meal can be prepared in half an hour, and the cook need not watch it constantly; potatoes do not boil over. Besides all this, there is another advantage, and it is this which makes it a favorite even with the rich; already, when boiling, its starch is transformed into sugar, giving the potato a more pleasant flavor than any other cheap dish can be said to have. How easily the potato starch is converted into sugar may be noticed best in half-frozen potatoes, because there the cells containing the starch burst during the process of freezing.