The Chemistry of Cookery

9·0 | 1·7 | 5·7 | 16·0 | +------------------------+-------+------+------+------+-------+-------+ The fat exists in the form of minute globules of oil suspended in the water. The rising of these to the surface forms the cream. When the milk is new it is slightly alkaline, and this assists in the admixture of the oil with the water, forming an emulsion which may be imitated by whipping olive or other similar oil in water. If the water is slightly alkaline the milky-looking emulsion is more easily obtained than in neutral water, still more so than when there is acid in the water. As milk becomes older lactic acid is formed; at first alkalinity is exchanged for neutrality, and afterwards the milk becomes acid. This assists in the separation of the cream. Butter is merely the oil globules aggregated by agitation or churning. The condition of the casein has been already described. The sugar of milk or ‘lactine’ is much less sweet than cane sugar. The cookery of milk is very simple, but by no means unimportant. That there is an appreciable difference between raw and boiled milk may be proved by taking equal quantities of each (the boiled sample having been allowed to cool down), adding them to equal quantities of the same infusion of coffee, then critically tasting the mixtures. The difference is sufficient to have long since established the practice among all skilful cooks of scrupulously using boiled milk for making _café au lait_. I have tried a similar experiment on tea, and find that in this case the cold milk is preferable. Why this should be—why boiled milk should be better for coffee and raw milk for tea—I cannot tell. If any of my readers have not done so already, let them try similar experiments with condensed milk, and I have no doubt that the verdict of the majority will be that it is passable with coffee, but very objectionable in tea. This is milk that has been very much cooked. The chief definable alteration effected by the boiling of milk is the coagulation of the small quantity of albumen