The Express.
London, England, 1866-09-28 00:00:00

BEL 2 FROM THE RIVER PLATE.

A very interesting reunion was held yesterday
at the London Tavern, the object of which was
the important one of ascertaining whether our
present very deficient supply of animal food might
not be supplemented from the illimitable Pampas
of South America. The object of the meeting was
stated by Mr. Paris, who explained that at a pre-
vious social meeting held in the London Tavern in
November last, the advantages of an invention for
preserving meat fresh was tested, and was pro-
nounced to be successfuL The inventors were
Messrs. M'Call and Sloper and the process was the
introduction of a certain gas, the nature of which is
still the secret of the patentee, by means of whichthe
meat was preserved fresh fur any possible period.
Armed with this invention, and provided with par-
cels of English beef cured according to the Sloper-
Weal' process, Mr. Paris proceeded to Buenos
Ayres, and at a public entertainment there con-
vinced all the local authorities that beef could be
preserved
perfectly fresh over the voyage to Eng-
land The government of Buenos Ayres, seeing
the advantages that might accrue, gave Mr. Paris
every facility for procuring the beef of the country,
and it was some of this beef cured according to
Mr. M'Call'e process that was served up at
yesterday's luncheon. Before its introduction
Mr. Paris stated very candidly that the
experiment was made under unfavourable circum-
stances, the present year having been a very bad
one for cattle in La Plata ; the agent of
Sloper and M'Call having fallen sick, and been ob-
liged to communicate the curing process to him
(Mr. Paris) ; and the local workmen having put
the beef into pans of pine wood instead of that
which had no flavour of turpentine. The meat,
however, was prepared under the inspection of
Messrs. Zimmerman, the principal merchants of
Buenos Ayres, and it now came before the London
public, genuine South American beef of the Pam-
pas, and preserved solely by the process patented
by Messrs. Weall and Sloper.
After this exordium, the luncheon, which con-
sisted exclusively of Buenos Ayrean beef, was put
on the table in the various forma of roast, stewed,
and in pies and puddings. The company ate
heartily of the beef in all its varieties, and were
unanimous in their approval of its freshness and
flavour, giving, however, due credit to Mr. Nicholls,
the eminent chef of the London Tavern, who had
taken care that it should be dished to the best ad-
vantage. The roast beef was very fine, quite as
good as the filet Lauf of the first class Paris tublea
hiite, and the stewed beef and puddings were ad-
mirable. There could be no doubt but that if
imported extensively the La Plata beef, prepared
according to the M'Call process, would
be a most valuable addition to the food of
London, especially as we can state, on the autho-
rity of f4r. Paris, that it could be sold by retail
over the counter at prices varying from fourpence
halfpenny to sixpence a pound, according to the
capacity of the retailer. At the conclusion of the
luncheon, cases of the raw meat which had been
imported from Buenos Ayres were opened in pre-
sence of the company, and appeared and smelt as
fresh as if they had been packed yesterday. It was, in
fact, really good, succulent meat, and was unhesi-
tatingly pronounced to be such by Mr. War-
rener, the well-known preserver of fresh meat
for the army. The importance of this pro-
cess, as well as of the labours of Mr.
Paris in procuring a supply of the raw
material, can hardly be overrated when we recollect
that two and a halt millions of black cattle have
up to the present date been annually killed in La
Plata solely for the sake of their hides, the meat
being left to the vultures, whilst we in this country
have been paying human) prices for meat of not very
superior quality. At the close of the proceedings,
a resolution affirming the success of the process
was proposed by Mr. Revolts, and assented to by
general acclamation.

13 rama.