fats.

MEAT.

Meat is composed of muscular tissue, connective tissue or gristle,
fatty tissue, blood-vessels, nerves, bone, etc. The value of meat as
food is due chiefly to the nitrogenous compound it contains, the most
valuable being the albuminoids: the gelatinoid of meat is easily
changed into gelatin by the action of hot water. Gelatin when combined
with the albuminoids and extractives has considerable nutritive value.
Extractives are meat bases, or rather meat which has been dissolved by
water, such as soup stock and beef tea. The object in cooking meat is
to soften and loosen the tissue, which renders it more easily
digested. Another object is to sterilize or kill any germs which may
exist and to make it more palatable. The digestibility of meat is
influenced by the age of the animal killed and the feeding. The
following table is given as an average of the digestibility of animal
foods:--


TABLE OF COMPARATIVE DIGESTIBILITY.

_Commencing with the most digestible and ending with the least
digestible of meats and other animal foods._ (Thompson.)

Oysters.
Soft cooked eggs.
Sweetbread.
Whitefish, etc.
Chicken, boiled or broiled.