Fat is insoluble in water, but melts by heat and floats on the surface of a liquid. As it is enveloped in the cells of a very tine indissoluble membrane, one part of the fat adheres always to the fibers, unless the cooking be too long and the cells are broken by the force of the boiling. Fat exists either separately in certain parts of animals, and in other parts it is interposed between the fibers; these last parts are always the most digestible and the most nourishing.

Albumen (L' Albunune)

Is of the same nature as the white of egg which contains scarcely anything else than albumen; it is soluble in cold or tepid water and coagulates between one hundred and fifty to two hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit. Albumen abounds in the blood and it is found in every part of the flesh; it coagulates after being dissolved, and in broth forms what is called scum, rising to the surface of liquids in which meats are cooked. The less blood the animal has lost, the more albumen there is, and as the blood contains much osmazome, the result will be that meat having the most blood will produce a more savory soup than that which has lost a larger quantity.

When a piece of either beef or mutton is needed rare, it must be plunged into boiling liquid, and being at once seized by the action of the heat, the albumen coagulates and encloses the osmazome inside. Allow fifteen minutes for each pound of meat for a leg of mutton weighing six to eight pounds; if boiled according to this time the meat will be found rare, unless the boiling has been too long. If on the contrary, this same piece of meat be put into cold water and is allowed to cook slowly, the albumen not coagulating at once, will let the osmazome escape into the liquid and the meats will be white and less juicy, but as nothing is lost, the broth will have gained by it in quality.

Bones (Les Os)

Are inorganic parts having much solidity besides being of a gelatineous nature; they contain considerable fat substance analogous to marrow, but this is but a part of their matter. Bones contain eight times more gelatin than meat. They are generally split into smaller pieces.