London and
other places, the tin canisters have a minute hole, through which the
air may be expelled, while the meat is simmering or boiling within;
and in the case of poultry being preserved whole, extra precautions
are necessary, to insure the expulsion of the air from the hollow
bones of the birds. Soups are more easily prepared than solid meat, on
account of the greater facility for getting rid of the confined air.
The minute air-hole in the canister is soldered down when the process
is completed.

M. Alexis Soyer, who has a notoriety in London as the prince of cooks,
and a very ingenious man--a sort of Paxton of the kitchen--wrote to
the daily journals, about the time of the disclosure at Gosport, to
offer a few suggestions. He said: 'No canister ought to contain more
than about six pounds of meat, the same to be very slightly seasoned
with bay-salt, pepper, and aromatic herbs in powder, such as bay-thyme
and bay-leaf, a small quantity of which would not be objectionable
even for invalids. No jelly should be added to the meat; the meat, and
the meat alone, should produce its own jelly. With the bones and
trimmings of the above, a good _stock_ should be made without
vegetables, well reduced and skimmed, to form a very strong
transparent demi-glaze; six-pound canisters should be filled with the
same, bearing a special mark, and one of these allowed to every dozen
of the others. This demi-glaze, when diluted in water, would make six
gallons of very good broth, with which any kind of soup could be made
in a very short time.' He also points out how the condition of the
preserved meat may be guessed by the external appearance of the
canister. If either the top or bottom of the canister be convex, like
the upper surface of a watch-glass, the contents are in a state of
decomposition; the bulging being occasioned by the gases generated
during the chemical changes. If the contents of the canister be sound,
the top and bottom will be either quite flat, or slightly concave.

The Jury on Food, at the Great Exhibition, had quite an _embarras des
richesses_; they were surrounded by hundreds of canisters of preserved
provisions, all of which they were invited to open and taste. They
say, or their reporter says, that the merits of the contributions
'were tested by a selection from each; the cases were opened in the
presence of the jury, and tasted by themselves, and, where advisable,
by associates. The majority are of English man