Beef

To be a good judge of meats is essential to safe and successful marketing. Beef is in most general favor and takes natural precedence in the list.

Good beef, if young, will be of a bright red color, fine grained, firm to the touch. The fat a clear straw color, and a little of it through the muscles, giving the meat a marbled appearance. The suet should be dry and crumbly, and of a darker shade than the fat. In old beef both flesh and fat will be darker, much coarser in fiber, and decidedly dry compared with young beef.

If the beef is of a pale dull color and flabby, it is not well matured; if very dark colored and coarse-grained with deep yellow fat it will be found tough and tasteless; and if it bears greenish tints, and feels slippery on the surface it is already stale and unfit for use.

Meat to be tender, should be eaten when first killed, as the muscles are relaxed then. After a short time they stiffen, when the flesh will be proportionately hard. Afterward they again relax when the flesh will be found as at first, tender and juicy.

If kept long the meat should be carefully wiped as often as moisture gathers.

Each side of beef is divided into two parts, the fore and hindquarters, and these again into the various cuts. The hindquarter contains loin, rump, round, fillet or tenderloin, leg and flank; the loins include the tenderloins, a small part of which runs back into the rump. The loin is cut usually into steaks and roasts. The flank is useless save for corning, as a "plate-piece," that is, one from which the bones can be removed after boiling and the whole pressed. Rib roasts are next best to sirloin, the first five ribs being considered the choicest cut. The ribs can be removed and used in making soup-stock and the meat rolled and skewered securely, for convenience in carving. If the roast is rolled at the meat market, have the bones sent home, to be used in making soup. Steaks are in most demand. Sirloin is best liked, as it includes a portion of the tenderloin; the third cut of the round is the best and juiciest steak. Trim off every superfluous bit of bone or gristle and add to the soup-stock.

Among other parts, the shank is used for a soup bone; the round may be taken for braised beef or pot roast; the flank for soup or stew; hock for soup; the rump to roast or boil.

Mutton

Good mutton is one of the most nutritious and easily digested meats in use, and particularly adapted to invalids, but, on account of the superabundance of fat, by no means the most economical. In choosing mutton particular attention should be paid to the appearance of the fat. In the best it should look white and clear, and the lean will be firm, dark-red, and juicy.

Mutton requires long keeping, even more than beef. After a few days hanging in a cool place in summer, and much longer in winter, it will be found that the "cold air has entirely removed the "woolly" taste and rendered the meat itself tender.

The saddle and shoulder of mutton are the most desirable for roasting. A saddle of mutton is simply the two loins joined. The leg, unless very tender, is better for boiling and may be cooked when quite fresh. Chops are cut from the loin or ribs. The flank and breast are best for stews or broth. Mutton is at its best from August to the Holidays.

Lamb

Lamb is in season from May to September. It is cut very much like mutton. The bones are slightly reddish in color, and the fat is firm and white.

Veal

Veal, though a favorite meat, requires great discrimination in its selection, the question as to its wholesomeness being a disputed point. Very thorough cooking is required to fit it for the table and even then it is far less digestible than beef or mutton. Nevertheless, from mock turtle soup, down through the bill of fare, to calves' foot jelly, veal furnishes the material for many dainty dishes. It is in season from April to September.

Good veal should have a firm, white fat, and lean with a pinkish tinge. If too white, the calf has been bled, and this detracts from the flavor. If too young the meat will have a bluish tinge, and be soft and flabby to the touch.

Younger than four weeks, veal is unfit for food. The loin of veal is best for roasting; the leg furnishes fillets and cutlets; the knuckle makes a good white soup. The fillet is simply a solid piece of meat from the upper part of the leg, and can be roasted plain, or stuffed and roasted. The breast answers for stews or soups. The sweet-breads are especially delicate, and should always be chosen in preference to those of the grown animal. Sweetbreads are white, fat-looking pieces, or glands found near the heart of the animal. The head makes a delicious mock turtle soup. The tongue is excellent pickled; the brains may be served in epicurean ways; the liver is the best of all animal livers, as are the kidneys.

Pork

Fresh pork should be firm with clear white skin, pale red lean, and pure white fat. If the fat is tinged with yellow and inclined to be soft and flabby, the pork is inferior in quality. Spare ribs form the favorite roasting piece, the loin coming next in the popular estimation. Chops and steaks may be cut from either loin or ribs. The hams and shoulders are smoked, the other portions are usually pickled, and the trimmings utilized as sausage meat. The head is most desirable in the form of head cheese though it is sometimes pickled; the feet, under the guise of souse, are the daintiest and most digestible portion of the animal.