Broth, Scotch

This, which is in very general use amongst the middle and working cla es of Scotland, is made as follows:—Put into a pot three quarts of cold water along with a cupful of Scotch barley, and let it boil; add two pounds of neck of mutton. Allow it to stew gently for an hour, skimming occasionally. Then add turnips cut in squares, and onions sliced, and carrots and turnips uncut. The half of a small cabbage chopped in moderately fine pieces may be put in instead of all these vegetables; and leeks may be used instead of onions. Stew the whole for an hour longer. The broth is now ready. Season with salt and serve in a tureen. The meat is served in a separate dish, with the uncut pieces of turnip and carrot and a little of the broth as gravy. Any meat may be employed in the same way. Broths and soups contain the greater part of the saline matter of the meat, the crystalline principles, viz. creatin and creatin in, some of the albumen and fat, and an amount of gelatin, dependent upon the duration of the boiling proce . They also contain nearly all the odorous matters of the meat. Cold water extracts from one sixth to one fourth of the solid ingredients of meat. The presence of a large quantity of highly nitrogenous crystalline principles in broths and soups accounts for their restorative powers. These, which are the creatin and creatin in , bear a close resemblance to the thein of tea and coffee, and the theobrominæ of cocoa, in their physiological effects. Broth is contra-indicated for children at the breast, as it not unfrequently induces sickne , disorders the bowels, and induces fever. The same applies to beef tea. When, however, broth and beef tea are used as clysters in such quantities that can be retained, they act most beneficially. See Boiling , Soup , .