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Preparation of Food by Keeping (Manently if it is entirely)

manently, if it is entirely excluded. Dry heat is not so injurious as the moist, yet warm, atmosphere, which always prevails in underground kitchens; and even a much higher temperature, if dry, will do less mischief than one comparatively cool, but moist; that is to say, if the latter is above 60 or 70 degrees Fahrenheit, for below that point decomposition does not go on with any degree of rapidity. It must ✓ be remembered, that almost all kinds of animal food intended for roasting require a certain amount of decomposition to make them tender, the only exception being those which are, in the first place, sufficiently so when quite fresh; and, in the second, are so prone to rapid decomposition, that they are not to be kept without great risk: such are veal and some kinds of poultry, which in moderately cool weather will not keep more than a few days, and in summer are not always to be depended on for twenty-four hours. For this reason, in frosty weather meat may be kept for an indefinite time without altering its condition; and in long frosts there is scarcely a possibility of getting it into a state fit for the spit. Hence it is always desirable to maintain in the larder a temperature considerably above the freezing point, and below 50, or at all events 60 degrees, with a good current of air free from moisture.