ut 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.

The water should be heated gradually, according to the thickness, &c. of
the article boiled. For instance, a leg of mutton of 10 pounds weight
(No. 1,) 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, the fibres of the meat are dilated, and it yields a
quantity of scum, which must be taken off as soon as it rises.

"104. 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.

"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."--BUCHANAN _on the Economy of Fuel_, 1810.

The editor 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 a gallop,
and the other simmered very gently for three quarters of an hour: the
chop which was slowly simmered was decidedly superior to that which was
boiled; it was much tenderer, more juicy, and much higher flavoured. 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.

Reckon the time from its first coming to a boil.

The old rule of 15 minutes to a pound of meat, we think rather too
little: the slower it boils, the tenderer, the plumper, and whiter it
will be.

For those who choose their food thoroughly cooked (which all will who
have any regard for their stomachs), twenty minutes to a pound for
fresh, and rather more for salted meat, will not be found too much for
gentle simmering by the side of the fire, allowing more or less time,
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