her maxim and rule on all occasions.

Put your meat into cold water, in the proportion of about a quart of
water to a pound of meat; it should be covered with water during the
whole of the process of boiling, but not drowned in it; the less
water, provided the meat be covered with it, the more savoury will be
the meat, and the better will be the broth in every respect. The water
should be heated gradually, according to the thickness, &c., of the
article boiled; for instance, a leg of mutton of ten pounds weight
should be placed over a moderate fire, which will gradually make the
water hot without causing it to boil, for about forty minutes; if the
water boils much sooner, the meat will be hardened, and shrink up as
if it was scorched--by keeping the water a certain time heating
without boiling, its fibres are dilated, and it yields a quantity of
scum, which must be taken off as soon as it rises, for the reasons
already mentioned.

"If a vessel containing water be placed over a steady fire, the
water will grow continually hotter, till it reaches the limit of
boiling; after which, the regular accessions of heat are wholly
spent in converting it into steam: the water remains at the same
pitch of temperature, however fiercely it boils. The only difference
is, that with a strong fire it sooner comes to boil, and more
quickly boils away, and is converted into steam."

Such are the opinions stated by Buchanan in his "Economy of Fuel."
There was placed a thermometer in water in that state which cooks call
gentle simmering--the heat was 212 deg., _i.e._, the same degree as the
strongest boiling. Two mutton chops were covered with cold water, and
one boiled fiercely, and the other simmered gently, for three-quarters
of an hour; the flavour of the chop which was simmered was decidedly
superior to that which was boiled; the liquor which boiled fast was in
like proportion more savoury, and, when cold, had much more fat on its
surface; this explains why quick boiling renders meat hard,
&c.--because its juices are extracted in a greater degree.

[A SCRAPER AT THE DOOR KEEPS DIRT FROM THE FLOOR.]

1069. Time of Boiling.

Reckon the time from the water first coming to a boil. The old rule,
of fifteen minutes to a pound of meat, is, perhaps, rather too little;
the slower the meat boils, the tenderer, the plumper, and whiter it