Salt exists, as we have already found, in the blood: the craving for it is
a universal instinct, even buffaloes making long journeys across the
plains to the salt-licks; and its use not only gives character to insipid
food, but increases the flow of the gastric juice.
Black pepper, if used profusely as is often done in American cooking,
becomes an irritant, and produces indigestion. Red pepper, or cayenne, on
the contrary, is a useful stimulant at times; but, as with mustard, any
over-use irritates the lining of the stomach.
So with spices and sweet herbs. There should be only such use of them as
will flavor well, delicately, and almost imperceptibly. No one flavor
should predominate, and only a sense of general savoriness rule. Extracts,
as of vanilla, lemon, bitter almond, &c., should be used with the greatest
care, and if possible always be added to an article after it cools, as the
heat wastes the strength.
BEVERAGES.
Tea and coffee are the most universal drinks, after water. The flavor of
both is due to a principle, _theine_ in tea, _caffeine_ in coffee, in
which both the good and the ill effects of these drinks are bound up. It
is hardly necessary the principles should have different names, as they
have been found by chemists to be identical; the essential spirit of cocoa
and chocolate,--_theobromine_,--though not identical, having many of the
same properties.
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