Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1880 — How to Buy Meats. [ARTICLE]

How to Buy Meats.

There are not many house keepers who have any thorough knowledge about meats; the condition in which it ought to be bought, its appearance when it is unfit for use, and the most desirable cuts to purchase. This sort of knowledge is most essential, especially when there exists so little conscience on the part of the butchers. One fact should be remembered, and that is that in the purchase of meats, as in everything else, the best is the cheapest. Cheap joints always include large bones and sinews; such joints shpuld be used for soup and gravies. For roasting and boiling choose the better cuts, such as legs of mutton and veal, ribs, sirloin and round of beef. Ox beef, when good and yoiuig, has a fine open gram and a good red color; the fat is firm and white. The grain of cow beef is closer and the color darker. When the fat of beef is hard and skinny, and the lean of a deep red, it is very inferior. Old meat may be known by a line of horny texture running through the meat of the ribs. Tire cuts known as chuck, brisket and round, are the least desirable. Sirloin and middle ribs are best for roasting. In choosing mutton, look for firmness and fineness of grain, good color and firm, white fat. Lamb should be fresh. The vein in the neck of lamb is blue when the meat is fresh, but turns green when kept too long. In buying hindquarters, examine the kidney; there will be a slight smell if the meat is not as fresh as it should be. Veal is generally preferred when the meat is delicately white, but it is better flavored and more juicy when the color is a little deeper. To test veal look at the loin; if the kidney, which will be found on the under side of one end of the loin, is enveloped in firm and white fat, the meat is certainly recently killed and undoubtedly good. The kidney always changes first, and then the meat is flabby and spotted, and the suet soft.— New York I'ribune.