The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-02-11
Egg Dishes.

Delightful Egg Dishes
Eggs are indeed veritable store
houses of building material containing
in their restricted limits practlcahy an
the constituents necessary 10 develop
the young chick and nourishlng 1t un-
til it is ready to be Matched Ihere pc
ing no muscular movement possible II
the narrow confines OF the ~eh,natu
the tue economist, does not waste nef
supplies by adding carbohydrate TO the
list. unnecessarily. as this principle IS
but to serve. chiefly, as a source Oh
muscular energy.
The volk Of the egg is by far the
most nourishing part and very diner
ent in composition from the WHITE lt
contains 8 little more than half as
much water. while IN the other hand
II gives a higher percentage of prOte1d
and mineral matter. and a large
amount of fat. The latter substance IS
almost entirely absent in the white
which consists of a solution OF proteld
enclosed in millions of tiny cells. BY
beating the white of eggs the walls OF
these cells are ruptured and the di-
gestibility greatly increased, and IN
his form it is made a more available
food for delicate persons or invalids. as
the walls of the cells offer the proteid
matter shu up in their interior.
While the white OF egg is known as
egg albunen, it Is not a single SUB
stance. but appears to be formed OF q
mixture OF OfHGTtttt DIOICt4c. sumo VI
these are of q compound nature and
contain a carbohydrate group in their
molecules, this latter fact must be taken
into consideration when treating severe
cases of diabetes that either restrtA
carbohydrates to a very limited guam
THY or exclude them altogether from
the diet. The yolk is a very complex
composition and contains almost the
same total of nutritive matter as meat,
but it is somewhat poorer in prOteld,
while relatively richer in fat. For this
reason eggs are wonderfully well
adapted chemically to increase the
value Of foods rich in carbohydrates.
only moderately rich in proteid. and
made a very complete food, especially
when made into buildings. by the ad-
ditiOn of eggs One important fact
must be remembered in cooking eggs,
that their digestibility and food value
is greatly impaired and in many in
stances entirely lost by improper man
ner of cooking them.
THEIR DIGESTIBILITY.
Peculiar individual conditions play q
part in the digestion of ggs When per
sons cannot eat them without grieVous
effects following. they should be rigor-
ously avoided. numerous cases are on
record of persons becoming violently III
after eating egg There are various
reasons given for this, among them the
possibility that the digestive juices act
on the egg in such manner as to pro-
QuCe DOISOQS from IL Ut SuipnuIelttE
hydogen seems to he produced while the
egg is undergoing the digestive process.
As the sulphur of the egg is confined
almost entirely to the white of the egg,
when the latter result is evident the
trouble may be avoided by rejecting
the white.
The result OF experiments made on .
healthy man, given eggs in various
forms, may give one a clearer knoWi-
edge of the digeStibility of egg under
favorable conditions. without going
into detail uf the experiment we give
the result obtained by giving two eggs
cooked in the different ways most COM
mon IN the average household. The
time noted, when every part of the egg
had left the stomach.
Two eggs tightly boiled had left the
stomach in one and three-quarter hours
Two eggs given raw required two n
one-ouarter hours. Two Doached eggs
with five of butter nave left
the stomach in two and one-half hours
Hard boiled, they required three hours,
and made into a plain omelet the same
length Of time was consumed Contrary
to the accepted idea this experiment.
shows that the raw esq was not dis.
posed Of as quickl~as the lightly boiled.
d does not prove, however, that the
slightly cooked egg is the best suited
in all cases When the stomach requires
rest, it would seem that the raw egg IS
the host ada9ted for it as experiments
show them to be scarcely digested ia
the stomach at all. but to MSS out Of ii
to a large extent unchanged. its diges.
ton really being performed in the intes-
tine. thus making no demand on the
stomach. and if, as supposed. it is such
a bland huid that it does not excite the
secretions of gastric juice, or move
ments in the stomach. it is the less irrl,
tating of the two.
The absorption of eggs in the intestine
seems very complete, and comparing
them h~ard-boiled with meat, they are
as completely absorbed. and very small
per cent Of the dried substance is lost.
This very small residue, which contains
lime. may perhaps have something to do
with the c-onstipating effect eggs have
on some persons.
The yolk of the cooked egg. owing to
the great richnes and its larger pro-
portion of solids is probably more slowly
in the stomach than the white.
The hard-boiled egg is often more cas-
lily disposed of, when very finely chop
PED. than the soft boiled.
Eggs cannot be considered a cheap
source of Drcteid whe depended on
alone to furnish this element ia daily
diet as a healthy mar would require at
least 20 per day to furnish the amount
Of nitrogen demanded.
But they are most valuable to AL who
find them agreeable, on account Of the