Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management/Chapter XLI

by Isabella Beeton

MILK, BUTTER, CHEESE AND EGGS.

 

CHAPTER XLI.

 

General Observations on Milk, Butter, Cheese, and Eggs, their Nutritious Properties, and Distinguishing Features, etc.

MILK.

Milk is obtained only from the Mammalia, and is intended by nature for the nourishment of their young. All young animals live upon it for the first months of their existence, and it is the only food that, taken alone, can support adult life. The fat rises in the form of cream; curd is the nitrogenous matter; and the whey contains sugar and milk lactose with saline or mineral matter. For the majority of those who lead healthy, simple lives, milk is an excellent article of diet, but the milk of each animal is distinguished by some peculiarities; and as that of the cow is by far the most useful to us, the following remarks will chiefly have reference to that source of supply. When drawn from the cow, the milk is of a yellowish-white colour, and is most yellow at the beginning of the period of lactation. Its taste is agreeable, and rather saccharine. The specific gravity of milk is somewhat greater than that of water, but varies somewhat in the milk produced from different individuals. On an everage, the specific gravity of milk is 1.032, water being 1.

Milk, as it is drawn from the cow, is slightly alkaline, but afterwards lactic acid is formed, so that it becomes at first neutral, then acid, and the acidity goes on increasing until it is easily perceptible to the taste. This acidity is said to assist in the rising of the cream. Most schemes for preserving milk fresh consist in the addition of some alkali to correct this acidity. A pinch of bi-carbonate of soda is efficacious, and with it decidedly sour milk can often be boiled without curdling, but it gives an unpleasant flavour. Preparations are sold of which the principal constituent is boracic acid, and it is said that most of the milk that comes to London is treated in this way.

The small cows of the Alderney or Guernsey breed afford the richest milk. In some parts of the country few other cows are kept; but they are not so hardy as many other breeds, they do not yield the large quantity of milk, and are therefore not great favourites with dairy farmers. The quality and wholesomeness of the milk depends greatly on the food and home of the animal. Large numbers of cows are kept in confined, ill-ventilated buildings, and are fed upon brewers' grains, so that the milk is thin and poor, and unfit for food. Milk from an animal in a state of disease cannot but produce ill health to the consumer. Of late years model dairies, under medical inspection, have been established in the neighbourhood of London, and have, no doubt, had a share in improving the health of the Metropolis. Milk may also be a carrier of infectious disease from the farm where it is produced to the consumer. The "milk epidemics" of fever are instances of this. It is, therefore, advisable to buy milk only at places where reasonable precautions for its wholesomeness are known to be taken, and failing this knowledge—perhaps in all cases—milk should be boiled.

Adulterated Milk.—Milk is more frequently adulterated with water than with anything else. The best popular test for adulteration by water is by means of a small instrument called a lactometer. It is useful, but not infallible, for it is based upon the fact that the specific gravity of milk is (as has been said) 1.032. But cream is lighter than milk; and, therefore, it sometimes happens that milk with an excess of cream will not stand the test so well as skimmed or poor milk. However, this fault is rare, for it is not an uncommon practice to make butter of all or part of the cream, and then to sell skimmed milk for fresh. This is easier now that mechanical separators have in large dairies almost superseded the old plan of allowing the cream to rise. By the old plan, the 12 hours that the milk stood was sufficiently long in the summer for it to turn sour, when it was no longer fit for sale, and generally went to fatten pigs. Now, while the milk is yet warm from the cow, it is put into a large reservoir, from which it is conducted along a series of metal pipes, where it rapidly cools. Then it trickles into the separator, and is whirled at a very rapid speed, the result being that the light cream is thrown to the top, while the heavier milk is drawn off below, completely skimmed and perfectly fresh.

To Keep Milk.—For the preservation of milk, scrupulous cleanliness is the first necessity. Not only must the pots and pans be scrubbed and scalded (that every dairy woman understands, at least, in theory), but the dairy must be clean and well ventilated; in it no open drain, no meat or game hanging; outside it no foul heap of yard refuse or decaying matter. Nothing is more certain to taint the milk and spoil the butter than neglect of these precautions.

Boiling milk preserves it; this is one great advantage of the Devonshire method of butter making for small dairies. And we have already spoken of the addition of soda or borax, Soda may very well be put in if the milk is to be used for soups or savouries, as the flavour is then disguised.

Condensed Milk in tins has a large and increasing sale. Fresh milk is evaporated in open pans until it loses the greater part of the water. A certain quantity of cane sugar is then added, and the milk is sealed down in tins, when it will keep for any length of time. The objection is the peculiar flavour that milk acquires in boiling, but this is not of consequence for many cooking purposes. The excessive sweetness is also objectionable, but unsweetened condensed milk may now be had. When the full milk is preserved it forms a valuable addition to our stock of foods, especially for infants and children, for whom a plentiful supply of good milk cannot be obtained. But, on the whole, condensed milk is less nutritive than the fresh article, from the fact that it is chiefly made of skimmed or separated milk, and in consequence is less rich in fats. A well-known writer says: "For a baby not fed by the mother, condensed milk, rightly mixed, is most nourishing. When condensed milk does not appear to agree with the child, then inquiry will almost certainly show that the fault lies in the mixing, and not in the condensed milk. The constitution of one child differs from that of another, and this fact must keep the careful nurse on her guard to anticipate and provide for any peculiarities of diet that may be necessary in consequence. Remembering this, it may be broadly asserted that a healthy child would do well on condensed milk alone for the first three months."

Milk carried to a distance, so as to be much agitated, and cooled before it is put into pans to settle for cream, never throws up so much, nor such rich cream, as if the same milk had been put into pans directly after it was milked.

Milk, considered as an aliment, is of such importance in domestic economy as to render all the improvements in its production extremely valuable. To enlarge upon the antiquity of its use is unnecessary; it has always been a favourite food in Britain. "Lacte et carne vivunt," says Caesar in his Commentaries; which, translated into English, is, "The inhabitants subsist upon flesh and milk." The breed of the cow has undergone great improvement in modern times as regards both the quantity and the quality of the milk which she affords. Although milk in its natural state is a fluid, yet, considered as an aliment, it is both solid and fluid; for no sooner does it enter the stomach than it is coagulated by the gastric juice, and separated into curds and whey, both of which are extremely nutritious. The milk of the human subject is much thinner than cow's milk; asses' milk comes the nearest to human milk of any other; goat's milk is somewhat thicker and richer than cow's milk; ewe's milk has the appearance of cow's milk, and affords a larger quantity of cream; mare's milk contains more sugar than that of the ewe; camel's milk is used only in Africa; buffalo's milk is employed in India and Egypt. The following comparison of the chief varieties of milk and their constituents will indicate generally their dietetic value.

	Specific Gravity.	Solids.	Proteids.	Fats.	Carbohydrates.	Salts.	Water.
Human milk	1.027	12.60	2.29	3.81	6.20	0.30	87.40
Cow's milk	10.32	12.83	3.55	3.69	4.88	0.71	87.17
Mare's milk	1.035	9.21	2.00	1.20	5.65	0.36	90.79
Asses' milk	1.026	10.40	2.25	1.65	6.00	0.50	89.60
Goat's milk	10.32	14.30	4.30	4.78	4.46	0.75	85.71
Buffalo's milk	10.32	18.60	6.11	7.45	4.17	0.87	81.40

Value of Milk.—From no other substance, solid or fluid, can so great a number of distinct kinds of aliment be prepared as from milk; some forming food, others drink; some of them delicious, and deserving the name of luxuries; all of them wholesome, and some medicinal; indeed, the variety of foods that seems capable of being produced from milk appears to be almost endless.

BUTTER.

In England butter has been made from time immemorial, though the art of making cheese is said not to have been known to the ancient Britains, and to have been learnt by them from the Romans. The taste of butter is peculiar, and very unlike any other fatty substance. It is extremely agreeable when of the best quality, but its flavour depends much upon the food given to the cows.

Butter, with regard to its dietetic properties, may be regarded as a combination of neutral fats mixed with water and small quantities of casein and salts. Its average proportion is as follows: Fat, 78 to 94; curd, 1 to 3; water, 5 to 14; salt, 0 to 7. Butter becomes sooner rancid than other fats, owing to the presence of more or less casein, which, no matter how throughly washed the butter may be, is never completely removed. When fresh it is a very wholesome article of diet; but it should be quite free from rancidity. If slightly salted when it is fresh, its wholesomeness is not at all impaired; but should it begin to turn rancid, salting will not correct its unwholesomeness. When salt butter is put into casks, the upper part next to the air is very apt to become rancid, and this rancidity is also liable to affect the whole cask.

Different Butters.—Fresh butter comes to London from nearly all the south, east, and south-eastern counties, also from Cheshire, Yorkshire, Devonshire and Wales. The Irish butter sold in London is nearly all salted, but is generally good. Brittany butter is in good repute all over Europe, America, and even India; but no country in the world is more successful in the manufacture of this article,

COWS.

1. Jersey Cow. 2. Ayrshire Cow.

SHAPED BUTTER AND OMELET.

 

1. Fairy Butter. 2. Curled Butter. 3. Sweet Omelet.

than Denmark, this country supplying more butter to the rest of the world than any other. Equally good is the butter imported from Holland, the annual import of which into England is enormous. Butter of good quality is also imported from Canada, America, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Argentine. The Board of Trade's latest return shows that Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Holland, each send about one and a quarter million pounds, (sterling) worth of butter into the United Kingdom annually. France sends butter worth about £2,000,000, and Denmark supplies us with nearly £10,000,000 worth.

To make Butter.—There are 3 methods pursued in the manufacture of butter. In one, the cream is separated from the milk, and in that state it is converted into butter by churning. In the second method, the whole milk is subjected to the same process, but it is extremely wasteful, for the sour butter milk is of no use except as food for pigs, whereas new skimmed milk has a marketable value, or, enriched with linseed meal or other oily substances, may be given to calves instead of whole milk. In Devon and Cornwall, and the West of England generally, the milk, as soon as it comes from the cow, is heated over a stove or hot water pipes, which makes the cream rise and thicken into the well known "clotted cream," which is afterwards very readily and quickly turned into butter. The first method is generally said to give the richest butter, and the last the largest quantity but opinions differ.

Churning.—A great many different churns are sold, but the secrets of good butter making are simple and applicable to all kinds.

The first is scrupulous cleanliness. Everything must be scalded daily with boiling water, rinsed with cold water, and used wet. Every utensil must be set out in the open air every day.

The second is the right temperature for the cream. A thermometer is absolutely necessary, and must register 55° to 60° Fahr. when churning begins. The desired temperature is usually attained by adding a little warm water or icy cold water when it is necessary to modify the temperature. Butter, under these conditions, should come in about 15 minutes. It is then washed quite free from butter milk, usually with cold water, before the butter is removed from the churn. Salt is generally added in the proportion of from ¾ to 1 oz. for each 3 lb. of butter. It should be dried and finely powdered.

To sweeten Rancid Butter.—This is done in several ways: by beating it in lime water (water in which 1 lb. would be washed should have about 15 drops of chloride added); by scalding with boiling water, or by washing in new milk. The last named is the safest and best method, and those who live some distance from the place from whence they procure their supplies of butter will find these instructions to perfectly sweeten rancid butter of service to them. The butter must be thoroughly washed and kneaded first in new milk, where it will lose the acid which has turned it, then in fresh spring water.

Margarine.—Butter and margarine are classed together in the list of imports published by the Custom House, and until the Act of 1881 butter and margarine were sold together to the general public, both under the name of the more expensive product. By the provisions of the Act, passed to prevent the fraudulent sale of artificial butter, margarine, known also as oleo-margarine, must only be sold under that name, while butter must be made exclusively of milk or cream. Margarine is bought by pastrycooks and by some large consumers, as well as by retail traders, and, if well manufactured and sold at a reasonable retail price, would be a most valuable addition to the food of the people, who commonly suffer from a want of fatty food. Margarine is made of oleo-margarine, the oily constituent of the fat of animals, melted, mixed with a certain proportion of milk and of butter, and then churned. Afterwards it is washed and worked like butter, and made up to imitate the kinds most in demand. If carefully prepared and made from pure fats, margarine has a high nutritive value, but is always less digestible than butter, and it is sometimes carelessly prepared and insufficiently purified.

CHEESE

Cheese is the Curd of Milk, dried.—This curd, or casein, which is held in solution in the whey under natural conditions, or so long as the milk is fresh, has the curious property of coagulating under the influence of an acid.

Lactic acid, formed in the milk, serves to precipitate the curd in the ordinary process of souring. Curd is formed in the first stage of digestion by the action of the gastric acid of the stomach. Lemon-juice is often used to make curd for cheesecakes. In cheese making "rennet," or "runnet," is used—a preparation from the stomach of the calf; or in some countries, principally in Holland, a weak solution of hydrochloric acid is substituted for the rennet.

Method of Making.—Although the broad principles of cheese making may be said to apply to all varieties of a particular class, the cheese of each county has certain distinguishing characteristics. That of Cheshire and Wales has a crumbly texture, and a deep yellow colour, produced artificially by the addition of anatto. Cheddar cheese, although similar in shape and size, is less crumbly, and usually of a pale colour. The methods employed in making these well-known varieties of cheese are almost identical. They are usually made of whole milk, unless the milk is very rich in cream, in which case the night's milk is skimmed before adding that of the morning. A properly equipped dairy is provided with a jacketed milk vat, so contrived that the milk may be surrounded with either hot or cold water. By these means the temperature of the milk is raised to a suitable heat, usually about 70° Fahr., and the rennet is added. The temperature is then raised and maintained at a higher level until the curd is firm enough to cut. Many-bladed knives greatly facilitate this part of the work, but some little practice is necessary to enable the worker to wield one successfully. After cutting, the fine particles of curd are stirred continuously until the necessary degree of firmness is attained, and these are then allowed to sink to the bottom of the vat, where they remain in warm whey until sufficient acidity is developed. When the right point is reached, the whey is drawn off, the curd is broken up, covered with warm cloths, and kept thus until ripe enough to be salted and put into cheese moulds. The cheese remains in the mould under pressure until sufficiently firm to support its own weight, when it is trimmed and ironed into a good shape, and then transferred to the drying room. Here it remains for months, being turned every day, so that any moisture contained in the cheese may be equally distributed. The whole process is extremely simple, but the success of the whole depends on the amount of acidity developed during the various stages of the work. If the curd is allowed to become too acid, a hard cheese is the result; if not sufficiently developed, the cheese is too crumbly, and consequently wasteful.

To choose Cheese.—The taste and smell are the best indications of quality. There is so much difference of taste that cheese, almost alone of all foods, is tasted by the customer before purchasing. A good cheese has rounded edges and sides, and when a piece is rubbed between the fingers it should melt and feel smooth. The bulging should not be great, however, as that indicates slight fermentation, and the cheese should be flat at the top. The best cheese is made of new milk, and contains, therefore, fat in addition to the curd. Skimmed milk cheeses are hard and indigestible. In fact, no cheese is easy of digestion, which probably accounts for its not being a universal food; it has almost every other virtue, being cheap, portable, easy to store and palatable. In every pound of cheese as much solid food is contained as in a pound of lean meat, and the food is of the flesh-forming kind, being rich in both proteid and fat.

The principal Varieties of Cheese used in England are the following: and most of these are shown in the coloured plate. Cheshire Cheese, famed all over Europe for its rich quality and fine piquant flavour. It is made of entire new milk from which the cream has not been taken off. Gloucester Cheese is much milder in its taste than the Cheshire. There are two kinds of Gloucester cheese, single and double. Single Gloucester is made of skimmed milk, or of milk deprived of half the cream; Double Gloucester is a cheese that pleases almost every palate; it is made of the whole milk and cream. Stilton Cheese is made by adding the cream of one day to the entire milk of the next; it was first made at Stilton, in Leicestershire. Gorgonzola strongly resembles Stilton, and has a large sale. Much is now made in England to imitate the original. Sage Cheese is so called from the practice of colouring some curd with bruised sage, marigold-leaves and parsley, and mixing this with some uncoloured curd. With the Romans, and during the middle ages, this practice was extensively adopted. Cheddar Cheese is manufactured principally at Pennard, near Cheddar, and is one of the best and most widely known cheeses we consume. American Cheddar is considered the best of the cheeses sold as American. Brickbat Cheese has nothing remarkable except its form. It is made by turning with rennet a mixture of cream and new milk. The curd is put into a wooden vessel the shape of a brick, and is then pressed and dried in the usual way. Dunlop Cheese has a peculiarly mild and rich taste; the best is made entirely from new milk. New Cheese (as it is called in London) is made chiefly in Lincolnshire, and is either made of all cream, or, like Stilton, by adding the cream of one day's milking to the milk that comes immediately from the cow; these cheeses are extremely thin, and are compressed gently two or three times, turned for a few days, and then eaten new with radishes, salad, etc. Skimmed Milk Cheese is made in most dairy countries, and is eaten by the peasantry, but is not generally exported. There are some exceptions, such as the Parmesan Cheese, made in Parma and Piacenza, the most celebrated of all cheese, and made entirely of skimmed cow's milk. The high flavour which it possesses is supposed to be owing to the rich herbage of the meadows of the Po, where the cows are pastured. The best Parmesan is kept for 3 or 4 years, and none is carried to market until it is at least 6 months old. Dutch Cheese derives its peculiar pungent taste from the practice adopted in Holland of coagulating the milk with muriatic acid instead of rennet. Swiss Cheeses, in their several varieties, are all remarkable for their fine flavour. That from Gruyère, a bailiwick in the canton of Fribourg, is best known in England. It is flavoured by the dried herb of Melilotos officinalis in powder. Cheese from milk and potatoes is manufactured in Thuringia and Saxony. Cream Cheese, although so called, is not properly cheese, but is merely cream dried sufficiently to be cut with a knife. All cheeses are imitated in countries and places other than those from which they take their conventional names. Cheese is also made of skimmed milk mixed with animal fats or margarine, in the place of the cream that has been removed for sale. Camembert is a Brittany cheese, one of the most esteemed of cream cheeses, it being richer than most; it is a small, flat cheese of a pale yellow colour, with a dark rind. Roquefort is a very rich cheese, made in the South of France, from the milk of sheep and goats. Like Stilton, it has to be kept a considerable time before it is sufficiently ripe for eating. Shabzieger is a cheese exceedingly strong both in smell and taste, and for that reason is considered a delicacy by some and a cheese to be avoided by others. An excellent but little known English cheese is one called Wensleydale, which takes its name from the place where made, a small village in Yorkshire. This cheese has the characteristics of Stilton, and is rich in quality. Dorsetshire yields a very good cheese called Blue Veiny, from its blue-veined appearance. It may be compared to Stilton in flavour, but is less rich, being made entirely from skimmed milk. There are, in addition to the above, various fancy cheeses.

EGGS.

The Nutritive Properties of Eggs.—Although the qualities of those belonging to different birds vary somewhat, their nutritive constituents of fats and salts are identical, varying only in degree. Eggs are valuable on account of their concentrated nourishment, and their ready digestibility when raw or slightly cooked. The quality of eggs depends much upon the breed of the hens, and upon the character of the food given to them. New-laid eggs are more easily digested than eggs a day or two old, but the milkiness of an egg cooked almost as soon as it is laid is generally disliked. Poaching is undoubtedly the lightest way of dressing eggs; and this is effected by putting them for 2 or 3 minutes into boiling water, to which is added a little salt and a few drops of lemon-juice or vinegar to assist the coagulation of the albumen. Another light digestible way of cooking an egg is to place it into a saucepan of boiling water, and let it remain covered by the side of the fire for 10 minutes. Immersion for this period will cook the white of the egg to the consistency of a jelly, but the water must not be allowed to even simmer.

Uses of Eggs.—The purpose for which eggs are employed are more numerous and varied than any other article of food; they form an impervious coating for frying; they bind dry mixtures; they increase the tenacity of paste and dough, so that they more completely retain the air; when beaten to a froth, they are the means of introducing a good deal of air into a mixture, and thus increase its lightness; and to all mixtures they give colour, flavour and lightness.

Sources of Supply.—The Metropolis is supplied with eggs from all parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and they are likewise largely imported from various parts on the Continent; as France, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Russia, Guernsey and Jersey, and also from Canada. The last Board of Trade return furnishes the following statistics:—

Eggs Imported into the United Kingdom.

Principal Countries	Great Hundreds.	Value.
Russia	7,932,906	£2,042,520
Denmark	3,602,326	£1,461,459
Germany	3,554,232	£1,191,161
Belgium	2,157,073	£837,120
France	1,698,614	£710,057
Egypt	572,312	£142,192
Canada	317,772	£129,631
Other British Possessions	318,861	£130,010
Total imported.	20,154,096	£6,644,150

The Eggs of different Birds vary much in size and colour. Those of the ostrich are the largest; one laid in the menagerie in Paris weighed 2 lbs. 14 ozs., held 1 pint, and was 6 inches deep; this is about the usual size of those brought from Africa. Travellers describe ostrich eggs as of an agreeable taste: they keep longer than hen's eggs. Drinking-cups are often made of the shell, which is very strong. The eggs of the turkey are almost as mild as those of the hen; the egg of the goose is large, but well flavoured. Ducks' eggs have a rich flavour; the albumen is slightly transparent, or bluish, when set or coagulated by boiling, and requires less time to cook than hens' eggs. Guinea fowls' eggs are smaller and more delicate than those of the hen. Eggs of wild fowl are generally coloured, often spotted; and the taste generally partakes somewhat of the flavour of the bird. Those of land birds that are eaten, as the plover, lapwing, ruff, etc., are in general much esteemed; but those of sea-fowl have, more or less, a strong fishy taste. The eggs of the turtle are very numerous; they consist of yolk only, without shell, and are delicious. The average weight of a hen's egg in the shell is 2 oz., the shell constituting about 10 per cent. of its total weight. Eggs keep best in a cold temperature of 36° Fahr.