Poultry, Game And Rabbits

Poultry, Game And Rabbits may be valued from the same point of view as meat - they are animal food. The fact that they constitute white meat makes no actual difference to their nourishing value. Their digestibility depends upon their youth and condition - very fat fowls, and in particular waterfowl, being much less digestible than birds in normal condition.

Bacon

Bacon, although one of the most popular of all foods in this country, requires short notice at our hands. Usually eaten much fatter than fresh meat, when it is boiled it is of greater value to those whose occupation requires them to eat plenty of digestible fat, especially during the winter season. Bacon is easily digested, and when the lean portion of the meat does not exceed 25 per cent. it is, cooked in this way, an economical food at all times when prices are normal. When, however, bacon is dear it is more costly than butter, and one of the most expensive of animal foods, especially if it is fried, owing partly to the loss which is sustained in the process of cooking - a loss which few well-to-do persons take the trouble to prevent by saving the dripping. When bacon is fried or toasted until it is dry, it costs double as much as is paid for it, two rashers being required to provide the same weight as one as it came from the hands of the tradesman.

The best parts of the side are the cheapest, the lower-priced fore-end containing a large proportion of bone and coarse meat. Labourers and other country people who feed their own pigs are able to provide bacon for their own consumption at much lower cost than is charged by the grocer. In the course of its production and sale bacon passes through the hands of the curer, the merchant, and the retailer, and in each case a profit is made.

The best class of bacon is produced by pigs fed upon barley-meal, potatoes and skimmed milk - a typical pig weighing 175 lb. when he is slaughtered. This weight is reduced to 130 lb. or thereabouts, in the carcase, and 112 lb. when the cured sides are ready for sale. This weight provides typical sides of sizeable meat weighing 56 lb. each. The best joint of bacon is the loin, which should be composed of a rich, firm, tender fillet of lean, covered with two inches of fat. This depth of fat, however, which is more than the public demand, although it means more economical bacon, is not often produced on pigs of this size, but on those which are larger. The belly, or streaky, takes the next place, followed by the gammon or ham. Bacon is now usually cured with the assistance of boracic acid, which is better avoided, but the fact is not generally known. There are some factories, however, in which no boracic acid is used.

Fish

If we base the value of fish upon its average price we cannot regard it as an economical food. When herrings, sprats, mackerel, plaice and cod are exceptionally abundant and sold at low prices the question bears a different aspect. With the exception of herrings, eels, salmon and brill almost all varieties of fish contain little nutriment - water, bone and skin forming 75 to 85 per cent. of their weight after boiling. The fat fish - eels, salmon and herrings - are much the most nourishing, although, owing to their fatness, they are less well digested than white fish which are almost fatless, but which are among the most popular. These include smelts, plaice, soles, lemon soles and whiting - all of which contain a large amount of water, bone and skin - and halibut, hake and cod, in which waste is less. Among those varieties of fish in which the proportion of bone and skin is most prominent are turbot, gurnet and haddock.

In the whole range of fish consumed in this country herrings hold the first economical place - haddock, hake and whiting, all popular among the working-classes, being relatively dear, owing to their extreme poverty as food. Nor are the flat fish - soles, lemon soles and plaice - much superior. Thus, as food for families with small incomes, putting herrings aside, and with the reservation already made as to low prices when fish is abundant, fish cannot be recommended except as an agreeable or occasional addition to the foods of the table.

The nutrient matter of fish is easily absorbed, but, except in relation to the latter varieties - salmon, herrings and eels - fish contains nothing but the muscle-building material - protein - with some useful mineral matter. It has been observed that a man cannot perform severe physical work upon white fish of the popular varieties. Perhaps this is explained by the fact that, unlike red meat, it is not a stimulant, and that, weight for weight, as compared with an average joint providing some fat, it is much less nutritious. There are times, owing to the variation in the prices of fish, when the more costly salmon, or brill, is more economical to buy than haddock, whiting, or hake. Thus, salmon at 2s. a pound provides 5 oz. of nutritious food at a cost of about 5d. an ounce, whereas a pound of whiting or lemon sole provides only 2 1/2 oz. of food, and that of a less valuable character, at a similar cost. When soles cost 2s. a pound each ounce of nutriment - almost entirely muscle-forming - costs 10d. in round numbers. Fish is not only much too costly to be regarded as a daily food, but it is a producer of uric acid, and should, therefore, be eaten sparingly, if at all, by elderly people.