Soyer's Culinary Campaign: Being Historical Reminiscences of the Late War.: With The Plain Art of Cookery for Military and Civil Institutions

&c. I could not but approve of the elegant appearance these utensils presented, but at the same time give my disapprobation of their having copper in use, while screwed down so tightly that but a small chance remained of their being properly tinned. In removing the lid, I remarked to the Captain that not the slightest particle of tin remained, and that therefore the cooking could not be done in any other but a highly dangerous manner. I then explained to the woman cook where the danger lay; when she quietly answered that there could be no danger, as she had each boiler cleansed two or three times a day; which of course was the root of the evil, having no doubt been the cause of the entire disappearance of the tin. In asking her how long it was since they were tinned, she replied,--“Not since she had been engaged there, nor, probably, since they had been fixed up;” when I explained to her the sad mistake in not having well tinned all such boilers, in large establishments such as this, where the utensils are in daily use, as they ought to be tinned at least once in every three months. I then made about a gallon of beef-tea with the hospital rations, in less than an hour, to which quick process she much objected, saying that she was certain the patients would not like it, as in that time it could not be thoroughly done, as she always stewed it for at least six or seven hours, by which time the meat was done to ribbons. I begged the Captain to allow several basins of my broth to be sent to the different wards to various patients, which was done, whom we afterwards visited. When the Captain inquired of one how he felt, he answered that he felt a great deal better that day, his taste having returned to him, which was a proof of the superiority of my plan over that of their cook’s--a system, I regret to say, practised in many large establishments. (For Beef-tea, see Hospital