sufficient water to cover
the meat; set it over the fire, and when it boils, plunge in the joint
(see No. 557), and let it boil up quickly. Now draw the pot to the side
of the fire, and let the process be very gradual, as the water must only
simmer, or the meat will be hard and tough. Carefully remove the scum
from the surface of the water, and continue doing this for a few minutes
after it first boils. Carrots and turnips are served with this dish, and
sometimes suet dumplings, which may be boiled with the beef. Garnish
with a few of the carrots and turnips, and serve the remainder in a
vegetable-dish.

_Time_.--An aitch-bone of 10 lbs., 2-1/2 hours after the water boils;
one of 20 lbs., 4 hours. _Average cost_, 6d. per lb.

_Sufficient_.--10 lbs. for 7 or 8 persons.

_Seasonable_ all the year, but best from September to March.

_Note_.--The liquor in which the meat has been boiled may be easily
converted into a very excellent pea-soup. It will require very few
vegetables, as it will be impregnated with the flavour of those boiled
with the meat.

THE ACTION OF SALT ON MEAT.--The manner in which salt acts in
preserving meat is not difficult to understand. By its strong
affinity, it, in the first place, extracts the juices from the
substance of meat in sufficient quantity to form a saturated
solution with the water contained in the juice, and the meat
then absorbs the saturated brine in place of the juice extracted
by the salt. In this way, matter incapable of putrefaction takes
the places of that portion in the meat which is most perishable.
Such, however, is not the only office of salt as a means of
preserving meat; it acts also by its astringency in contracting
the fibres of the muscles, and so excludes the action of air on
the interior of the substance of the meat. The last-mentioned
operation of salt as an antiseptic is evinced by the diminution
of the volume of meat to which it is applied. The astringent
action of _saltpetre_ on meat is much greater than that of salt,
and thereby renders meat to which it is applied very hard; but,
in small quantities, it considerably assists the antiseptic
action of salt, and also prevents the destruction of the florid
colour of meat, which is caused by the application of salt.
Thus, it will be perceived, from the foregoing statement, that
the application of salt and saltpetre diminishes, in a