Title: Godey's Lady's Book, Vol. 48, June, 1854
Author: Various
Editor: Sarah Josepha Buell Hale
Release date: March 30, 2023 [eBook #70411]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70411
Credits: Jane Robins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
The Table of Contents and Embellishments, &c. tables have been harvested from the January edition.
The cover page and music files have been created by the transcriber from this book and placed in the public domain.
[From the establishment of G. BRODIE, No. 51 Canal Street, New York. Drawn by L. T. VOIGT, from actual articles of costume.]
THE Talma we select for illustration is peculiarly becoming, especially for the richest toilet. Its material is white poult de soie. It is constructed of nine pieces cut in gores or pyramidal form, joined together, the seams being hidden by a fancy braid trimming. Nine tabs, widening at the bottom, and placed at distances equal to their width, descending about one-third of the depth of the garment, constitute the form of this novel garment. It is exquisitely adorned in needlework, and beautified by an elegant netted fringe. By an oversight in the drawing, fringe, which should also border the tabs that form the upper portion of the dress, was omitted.
[From the establishment of G. BRODIE, No. 51 Canal Street, New York. Drawn by L. T. VOIGT, from actual articles of costume.]
THIS is a novel and peculiarly dressy-looking garment, the distinctive features being a closed square front (which is confined by a bow of a rare fancy ribbon), and in the character of the flounce: this is gathered or fulled in divisions, giving it the appearance somewhat of a series of festoons. The separate compartments are strongly pronounced by transverse bands of black velvet and narrow black lace; a similar trimming of which outlines the whole scarf, and, with the piquant air of the garment, renders it an exceedingly beautiful production. The color may be made to taste. Those of lavender glacé silks, the drabs, and of black taffeta, especially are very beautiful.
BY A YOUNG AMERICAN COMPOSER.
Published by T. C. ANDREWS, 66 Spring Garden St., Phila.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1853, by T. C. ANDREWS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
THE EMPRESS. THE NOVADA.
A pattern of either of these will be sent on receipt of 62½ cents. Post-office stamps received in payment. These patterns are exact counterparts of the original, with trimmings, etc.
THE EMPRESS.—A silk mantelet, cut low in the neck. Two hollow plaits forming a fichu are trimmed with a bow in the middle of the back. The bottom is bordered by a wide ribbon plaited with bows at each side of the arm. Two rows of lace complete it.
THE NOVADA.—Pelisse, cut low and square. A wide revers forms the sleeve. All the edges are trimmed with ribbon, silk with gold fillets. Two rows of lace fall on the back, one narrow between two plaited ribbons; the other wider, which begins square in front and widens in the back: a deep lace runs along the bottom. The back is plain, and falls in flutes from the second row of ribbons.
June.
ILLUSTRATED WITH PEN AND GRAVER.
BY C. T. HINCKLEY.
THE various organic substances furnished by the animal and vegetable kingdoms, which constitute the food of man, are, from the nature of their chemical structure, liable to change and decay; they are also irregular in their supply; hence arises the necessity of storing up the abundance of one season to meet the deficiencies of another. The art of preserving food as much as possible in its original state is therefore of great importance; it has been improved by gradual steps, depending, in great measure, as in so many other cases, on chemical discovery and the diffusion of chemical knowledge among persons engaged in the useful arts; so that, at the present time, the deprivations suffered by our forefathers may be prevented; the commonest articles of food may be enjoyed at all seasons; and even the delicious fruits of our gardens may be made to contribute to our health and refreshment at a season when the trees which produced them are covered with snow. The mariner, too, is not now necessarily confined to salt meats; he may, on the longest voyage, and in the severest clime, as easily enjoy fresh meat and vegetables as when he is in port.
The necessity for adopting means for the preservation of articles of food arises from the complicated structure of organic compounds, and their tendency to resolve themselves into simpler or inorganic compounds. Although the comprehensive history of the animal and vegetable kingdoms is written with a very brief alphabet; although the elements which enter into the composition of organic bodies are only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen—often, but not always, nitrogen—and occasionally minute portions of sulphur and phosphorus; yet their extraordinary powers of combination are such that there appears to be no limit to the number of definite substances which they are capable of producing, each substance having a character peculiar to itself, and often a crystalline form. It is very different with the fifty-eight other members of the list of elements; the compounds which they assist in forming are inorganic, and they are formed by the union of pairs of elements, or pairs of binary compounds.
It is a consequence of this complicated structure that organic compounds are unstable in their character, and liable to decomposition, or, in other words, to resolve themselves into simpler compounds. An inorganic substance, on the contrary, however complex its formula may appear, is actually built up of binary compounds, the simplest that can be formed. But in the organic substance the carbon and hydrogen have a strong tendency to form carbonic acid; the hydrogen and oxygen to form water; the hydrogen and nitrogen to form ammonia; or, the hydrogen and the sulphur to form sulphuretted hydrogen, &c. In popular language, these changes are expressed by such terms as decay and putrefaction. Liebig, however, has given precision to them by limiting the term decay to the decomposition of moist organic matter freely exposed to the air, the oxygen of which gradually burns and destroys it without sensible elevation of temperature.[1] The term putrefaction is limited to changes which occur in and beneath the surface of water, the effect being a mere transposition of elements or metamorphosis of the organic body.[2] The conversion of sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid is a simple illustration of the term. The contact of oxygen is, however, first necessary to the change, which, when once begun, is continued without the aid of any other external substance, except perhaps water, or its elements. Every instance of putrefaction begins with decay; and if the decay, or its cause, viz., the absorption of oxygen, be prevented, no putrefaction occurs. In short, if the access of oxygen be prevented, there is no decay; if the access of water be prevented, there is no putrefaction. The exclusion of air and moisture forms the basis of some of the best methods of preserving food.
There are certain substances named Antiseptics (from ἀντὶ, against, and σήπομαι, to putrefy), from their property (exerted, however, very unequally) of preventing the putrefaction of organic substances. Thus, alcohol, and common salt in certain proportions, check all putrefaction and all the processes of fermentation by depriving the putrefying body of water. Nitre, vinegar, spices, and sugar are also antiseptics. The antiseptic effect of a very low temperature is caused by the solidification of the water and other juices, which, in their usual fluid state, allow the molecules to move freely on one another.
We will first notice the various methods of preserving animal food. These are: 1, by drying; 2, by cold; 3, by salting and by sugar; 4, by smoking; 5, by vinegar; 6, by parboiling and excluding air; 7, by potting; 8, by alcohol.
1. A familiar example of the first method is afforded in common glue, which in its hard and dry state may be kept for any length of time. So also may white of egg, if prepared by pouring the white of a number of eggs into a large flat dish, and exposing this for twelve or fourteen hours to heat in front of the fire. As the water evaporates, the albumen forms into a yellow, transparent, hard, shining, brittle mass, which scales off at the least touch—a test that it is properly done. These two substances, gelatine and albumen, are two of the constituents of flesh; fibrin or fleshy fibre, which is the third, dries equally well, and is not liable to putrefaction in that state. Gelatine, after being dried, may be softened by the action of hot water. Albumen coagulated by heat cannot be softened again by water; but if dried at about 140° without being coagulated, it may be dissolved in cold water, retaining all its valuable properties. Hence, in preserving meat by drying, too high a temperature must be carefully avoided, or the albumen will become coagulated, and the meat be made insoluble.
The dried flesh of the bison, of the buffalo, and of the deer, forms pemmican, the preparation of which is thus described in Captain Back's Journal:—
"While meat remains in a thick piece, it is impossible to get the middle dried before putrefaction commences; but if the meat be cut into slices, its desiccation may be easily effected. The fleshy parts of the hind quarters are cut into very thin slices, dried in the sun, or before the fire, and pounded. Two parts of the pounded meat are then mixed with one of melted fat, and packed into a bag formed of the hide of the animal. A bag weighing ninety pounds is called a taureau by the Canadian voyageurs; and, in fact, only one bag of pemmican is generally made from each bison cow. Two pounds of this kind of food are sufficient for the daily support of a laboring man; though, when the voyageurs first commence upon pemmican, they each consume three pounds or more. In the spring, they generally boil the young shoots of Epilobium angustifolium with it, and some Scotchmen in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company add flour or oatmeal, thus rendering it more palatable. The best pemmican is made of finely-pounded meat mixed with marrow, and further improved by the addition of dried berries or currants. If kept from the air, it may be preserved sound for several years, and being very portable, it might be used with great advantage in provisioning troops that have to make forced marches. It may be eaten raw, or mixed with a little water and boiled; and although not much relished by those who taste it for the first time, the voyageur, with the single addition of the luxury of tea, requires nothing else for breakfast, dinner, and supper."
In the West Indies, and in South America, jerked beef is prepared by cutting the meat into slices, dipping them into sea-water or brine, and then drying them in the sun. The flesh of wild cattle is thus preserved at Buenos Ayres. Sometimes this dried meat is pounded in a mortar, into a uniform paste, which is pressed into jars, and if intended to supply the wants of the traveller, it is beaten up with maize meal and packed closely in leather bags. It is eaten in this state without further cooking. Drying meat in the air is said, however, to injure its flavor, and to dissipate a great portion of the nutritious juices.
Some kinds of fish are preserved by slitting them down the middle, and drying them in the air to evaporate the moisture. Small cod, haddock, and stock fish, prepared in this way, will, if kept dry, remain good for a great length of time.
Portable soup is prepared by processes similar to those used in the manufacture of glue. The gelatine of meat is dissolved by boiling water, and the water being evaporated, the gelatine is left in a solid state. Any fresh lean meat, with the fat cut away, will answer the purpose. Bones are also used for the purpose, the gelatine being extracted by means of a digester. In the French manufacture of gelatine brut fin, one hundred pounds of bones yield about twenty-five of gelatine, which is dried, cut up into dice, and used for making soup.
2. The effect of cold in the preservation of animal substances received a remarkable illustration in the discovery made by Pallas, in the year 1779, on the shores of the Frozen Ocean, near the mouth of the river Lena, of an animal of immense size, imbedded in ice, which, as it melted gradually, exposed it to the air and furnished food for the hungry wolves and other animals of those regions. It was the opinion of Cuvier that this animal differed from every known species of elephant, and was antediluvian, preserved from the remote period of the deluge in the mass of ice which enveloped it. Some of the hair of this animal may be seen in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, England.
In Russia, Canada, Hudson's Bay, and other countries where the frost is sufficiently steady, meat preserved in this way is a common article of commerce. Travellers speak with admiration of the frozen markets of Russia, supplied as they are from distant places with provisions solidified by the cold. Thus, in the market at Petersburg, Mr. Kohl noticed partridges from Saratoff, swans from Finland, heathcocks and grouse from Livonia and Esthuria, while the wide Steppes furnished the trapp-geese which flutter over their endless plains, where the Cossack hunts them on horseback, and kills them with his formidable whip. All these birds, as soon as the life-blood has flown, are apparently converted into stone by the frost, and, packed in huge chests, are sent for sale to the capital. So rapid are the effects of frost in that country, that the snow-white hares, which are brought in sledge-loads to the market, are usually frozen in the attitude of flight, with their ears pointed and their legs stretched out, just as they were at the moment of death. Another curious sight in these markets is a frozen reindeer, its knees doubled under its body, its hairy snout stretched forth upon the ground, and its antlers rising majestically in the air; or a mighty elk, disappearing piece by piece, as the action of the saw and the axe separates it for distribution among the several customers.
When provisions have been frozen, great care is required in thawing them; for, if this be done suddenly, putrefaction soon sets in, and although cooked immediately, they are hard and deficient in flavor. They must be thawed by immersion in cold water.
The London markets are supplied with salmon packed in ice from many of the northern rivers that flow to the eastern coasts of Britain. Every salmon fishery is now provided with an ice-house, and a stock of ice collected during the winter. The salmon is packed in large oblong wooden boxes, with pounded ice between, and the fish is received in London as fresh as when it was taken out of the water. It is not, however, frozen. Most fishmongers are furnished with ice-houses or cellars for the preservation of their fish in tubs of ice; and we do not see why English butchers should not be provided with larders cooled by the same means. In many parts of the United States every housekeeper has a small ice-safe, in which, through the warm season, all kinds of perishable provisions are kept. Public ice-houses are also maintained by the butchers, so that, under the burning climate of South Carolina, there is less loss in the way of butcher's meat, fish, game, &c., than in the comparatively temperate summer of London. The meat is sent to the ice-house, near the market, every evening, and is cooled down to near the freezing-point during the night; when exposed on the stalls next day, it retains its low temperature for a long time. Such a plan, adopted in London, would prevent the immense waste of meat during every summer, which is said to amount to at least two thousand tons in London alone. It is true that, when meat has been once frozen, its flavor is injured, but the reduction of meat to 32° or thereabouts, and the solidification of its juices, are very different things; and it would be easy to regulate the temperature within a range of several degrees.
3. Various kinds of salt are used in the preservation of food. Saltpetre and sal prunella (which is saltpetre deprived of its water of crystallization by heat) are also used for the purpose. The action of these alkaline salts upon animal substances is, as already noticed, to abstract the water in the juices of the meat, and, being dissolved therein, the salts enter the pores of the animal substance; the albumen of the meat, which is more liable to putrefaction than the gelatine and fibrine, is thus rendered less so. There are two methods of salting, dry salting and pickling. In dry salting, the meat is packed in dry salt, or in some cases the surface is rubbed all over with salt. In pickling, the meat is kept immersed in a solution (sometimes saturated) of common salt dissolved in water. This method does not render the meat so salt as dry rubbing, and is probably less injurious to its nutritious qualities, but it will not keep the meat so well. Bacon is cured by salting and drying, for which latter purpose it is often hung up in the wide chimneys of farm-house kitchens; cod is also salted and dried for the large demand of the Peninsula; in England, it is used in a green state; that is, instead of being split quite open, it is only opened down to the navel, then salted, and laid in brine or strong pickle, and put into casks without drying. Haddock, cod, or ling, are cured by splitting the fish and removing the backbone; they are then salted for two or three days, with equal parts of salt and sugar, or with salt alone; they are next stretched on sticks, and laid on the beach to dry in the sun, or they are arranged on stages, or hung up in an inclosed space warmed by a stove. Herrings are salted, or pickled, and smoked.
Sugar, like salt, takes away the water from animal substances, and thus prevents putrefaction. By immersing meat in molasses, it has been preserved fresh for months. Fish is sometimes preserved by cutting it open, rubbing in sugar, and leaving it for a few days; it is then dried in the air, taking care to turn it frequently. For a salmon of six pounds weight, a table-spoonful of brown sugar is sufficient; but, if hardness be required, a teaspoonful of saltpetre is to be added.
4. The efficacy of smoking, or smoke-drying, arises not only from the heat of the smoke, but from certain chemical products disengaged during the combustion of the wood fuel used for the purpose. Pyroligneous acid vapor and creasote are both produced, and the latter substance possesses the remarkable property of coagulating albumen. Hence, those chimneys only are fit for the purpose where the fire below is wood or peat, not coal. The kind of wood burnt is also of importance, the smoke from beech and oak being preferable to that from fir or larch. Smoke from the twigs of juniper, rosemary, peppermint, &c., impart to the meat a portion of their aromatic flavor. Westphalia hams owe some of their excellence to being smoked by juniper. Slow smoking is preferable to rapid, as it penetrates completely into the interior of the meat. In some parts of the country, the drying and smoking of hams are a separate trade. In such cases, a smoking-house or hut is erected, about twelve feet square, and the walls seven feet high, with a hole in the roof; joists are laid across inside, to hang the flitches on, and the floor is covered five or six inches deep with sawdust, which, being kindled, produces much smoke and little flame.
5. Vinegar and some other acids preserve both animal and vegetable substances by coagulating their albumen, which, as already stated, is peculiarly liable to putrefactive fermentation.
6. In the year 1810, M. Appert received a reward of 12,000 francs from the French Government for his method of parboiling provisions, and inclosing them in earthenware vessels in such a manner as to exclude the air. Many vegetables, fruits, &c., can be kept fresh for a great length of time, by shutting them up closely in a vessel, having previously filled up the interstices with sand or other loose substance that will exclude nearly all the air. Fresh walnuts may be preserved in this way in a jar, packed with sand and closely covered over; grapes packed in sawdust are imported into this country. Meat cannot be preserved in this way, but by exposing it to the heat of boiling water, the albumen, in which putrefaction first commences, coagulates; and as coagulated albumen is somewhat slow in decomposing, we thus have a reason for the common observation that cooked meat will keep longer than raw. It will not, however, keep many days, unless the air be perfectly excluded, not only from the external, but from the internal parts. The air in the interior may be expelled by boiling, and the exterior air may be kept away by inclosing the substance in an air-tight vessel. If these conditions be carefully observed, food may be preserved for any length of time. Appert's method consists in applying heat to the substances to be preserved, so as to coagulate their fermentable juices, and then to place them in such a situation as to deprive them of contact with air. The vessel in which the meat is prepared is plunged for some time into boiling water before it is finally sealed, in order to drive out the last portions of the air; for, if a small portion of oxygen gas were present, this would be sufficient to commence the process of fermentation, and when once begun it would be continued.
M. Appert's process may be described as follows:—
The meat to be preserved is first parboiled, or somewhat more, and freed from the bones. It is then put, together with vegetables, if required, into tin cases or canisters, which are filled quite up with a rich gravy; a tin cover, with a small aperture in it, is then carefully fixed on to each canister by solder, and while the vessel is perfectly full, it is placed in boiling water, or in a saline bath, heated above the boiling point of water, and kept therein until the air has been expelled as completely as possible by the steam generated within the canister. The small hole in the cover is completely closed up with a little solder while the contents are yet hot, the issue of the steam being stopped for a moment by means of a damp sponge. The canister, with its ingredients, is now allowed to cool, in consequence of which these contract, and the sides of the vessel are forced slightly inwards by the pressure of the atmosphere, and become a little concave. As a precautionary measure, however, the tins are placed in the testing-room, which is heated to above 100° Fahr. Should putrefaction take place in consequence of a minute portion of oxygen left in the case, and not combined with the animal or vegetable matter, the generated gases will burst the canisters; those, however, which withstand this test will preserve the provisions for many years; for as each vessel is hermetically sealed, and all access of air prevented, it may be sent into any climate without fear of putrefaction, and the most delicate food of one country be thus eaten in its original perfection in a distant region, many months, or even years after its preparation. In this manner may all kinds of alimentary substances be preserved; beef, mutton, veal, and poultry; fish and game; soups, broths, and vegetables; creams and custards. Of a quantity taken by Captain Nash to India, not one canister was spoiled; and one which he brought back contained, after two years, beef in the highest state of perfection and preservation, and after having been carried upwards of 35,000 miles, in the warmest climates. This method has been adopted by the commissioners for victualling the English Navy, who, having examined some meat so preserved for four years, during voyages in the Mediterranean, found it as sound, sweet, and fresh, as if it had been boiled only the day before. Captain Basil Hall bears similar testimony. It was stated, however, by the officers in the Antarctic voyage, that they gradually got very tired of preserved meats, but not of preserved vegetables, and that there was an insipidity in them which they did not find in fresh food. There is, however, no doubt that, if the articles be selected with care, and the process be properly conducted, M. Appert's method of preserving food is a valuable invention. If the contractor be careless or dishonest, the most fearful consequences might ensue to the crews of ships victualled with preserved meats. It appears, from a recent examination of several thousand canisters of the preserved meat of the Navy at Portsmouth, England, that their contents were masses of putrefaction, consisting of meat, &c., which, even in a fresh state, ought never to be used as food. It is stated that this preserved meat was supplied from Galatz, in Moldavia.