[7] Carpenter’s Manual of Physiology, 3rd edition, 1846, p. 267.
[8] Londe, Nouveaux Éléments d’Hygiène, 2nd edition, vol. ii. p. 73.
[9] The necessity for this is not so great as may appear theoretically. I have tried the experiment of having veal cutlets fried in a bath previously used for fish, and was not able to detect any fishy flavour as I expected I should. This was the case even when I knew that the fish fat had been used, and I was consequently far more critical than under ordinary circumstances. Even apple-fritters may be cooked in fat that has been used for fish. I have tried this since the above was written and am surprised at the result.
[10] I have ventured to ascribe this lubricating function to the albumen which envelopes the fibres, though doubtful whether it is quite orthodox to do so. Its identity in composition with the synovial liquor of the joints, and the necessity for such lubricant, justify this supposition. It may act as a nutrient fluid at the same time.
[11] I am greatly disgusted with the cookery-books, especially the pretentious volume of Francatelli’s, on being unable to find any recipe for this delicious Italian dish, and a similar absence of a dozen or two of equally common and excellent preparations familiar to all who have dined at the Lepre (Rome), or other good Italian restaurants.
[12] Forty or fifty years ago these cheese fondus were one of the usual courses at many-course banquets, but now they are rarely found in the menu of such dinners. There is good reason for this. They are far too nutritious to be eaten with a dozen other things. Their proper use is to substitute the joint in an ordinary respectable meal of meat and pudding.
[13] Before the Adulteration Act was passed, mustard flour was usually mixed with well-dried wheaten flour, whereby the redundant oil was absorbed, and the mixture was a dry powder. Now it is different, being pure powdered mustard seed, and usually rather damp. It not only lies closer, but is much stronger. Therefore, in following any recipe of old cookery-books, only about half the stated quantity should be used.
[14] The reader who desires further information on this and kindred subjects will find it clearly and soundly treated (without any of the noxious pedantry that too commonly prevails in such treatises) in Dr. Andrew Combe’s Physiology of Digestion, which, although written by a dying man nearly half a century ago, still remains, like his Principles of Physiology, the best popular work on the subject. Subsequent editions have been edited and brought up to date by his nephew, Sir James Coxe.
[15] In fairness to retailers I should state that the price of arrowroot just now is unusually low; the ordinary range is from twopence to two shillings. People who are afraid of having their arrowroot adulterated should ask themselves what can be used to cheapen the St. Vincent at the above-quoted prices, which are those of the unquestionably genuine article.
[16] Shortly after the close of the Great Exhibition of 1851, when the South Kensington Museum was only in embryo, I had occasion to call on Dr. Lyon Playfair at the ‘boilers,’ and there found the Prince hard at work giving instructions for the arrangement and labelling of these analysed food products and the similarly displayed materials of industry, such as whalebone, ivory, &c. I then, by inquiry, learned how much time and labour he was devoting, not only to the general business of the collection, but also to its minor details.