59
There is no branch of cookery which requires more nicety than plain boiling, though, from its simplicity, some cooks think it does not. They think that to put a piece of meat into water, and to make that boil for a given length of time, is all that is needful; but it is not so. To boil a leg of mutton, or a fowl, properly, requires as much care as to compound a made dish. Meat which is poor and tough cannot be made tender and fine flavoured by boiling; but that which was, to all appearance, very fine meat before it was put into the pot, has often been taken out really good for nothing. And many a Butcher and Poulterer have been blamed, when the fault was not theirs.
Meat should be put into cold water, enough to keep it well covered. The longer in reason it is coming to a boil, the better, as a gradual heating produces tenderness, and causes a separation from the meat of the grosser particles, which rise in the shape of scum to the surface, and which should be carefully taken off. The finest leg of mutton must be disgusting, if garnished with flakes of black scum. Care should be taken to watch the first moment of the scum's appearing in order to remove it, and then, by throwing in a little salt, the remainder will be caused to rise; and if the fast boiling of the water render the scumming difficult, pour in a very little cold water. The practice of boiling meat, such as poultry, veal, and lamb, in floured cloths, to keep it white, must have been the invention of lazy cooks, if not of tasteless and extravagant housewives; for the meat is rendered less juicy, and the liquor in which it has been boiled, so good for broth or gravy, must be lost.
When the pot has been well scummed, and no more scum to be seen, set in such a situation on, or by, the fire, that it may continue to boil gently and regularly, for the time required; and see that it do not stop boiling alto-
