Horse meat

“ Even in the mixture of horse meat with other meat the variation in the character of the fats will be such as to lead to a correct judgment respecting the approximate amount of horse meat which has been used, provided it forms any notable amount of the mixture. ”

“ The use of horse-flesh is a recent innovation in sausage manufacture, and is practiced in Italy and Belgium, as well as in this country. These horse-sausages are said to be of the Bologna variety, and the makers justify them from the wholesomeness of horse-flesh when healthy. But the meat actually used is that of animals worn out by work or made useless by disease "fit for nothing else." ”

“ The published statistics of the Society for Promoting the Use of Horse-flesh show that, since its foundation in July, 1860, 100,080 horses, 6,690 donkeys, and 395 mules had been sold in Paris alone for food, up to the end of 1881, furnishing 67,809,460 pounds of meat. Horse-flesh is sold at half the price of beef. ”

“ For this reason many butchers breed pigs, and let them find their living in their slaughter houses. Beware, therefore, good reader, of butcher pork.
We are told that in the great establishments in France for the rearing of chickens and fowls, that they are fed upon horse flesh, which they eat voraciously. If carnivorous feeding makes our pigs’ flesh poisonous, it is very probable that a like system of feeding will make our delicate chicken meat a curse rather than a blessing to invalids. We may feel pretty sure that the horse flesh is not of the most healthy kind or of the freshest quality. ”

“ Now, when the bill of fare offers such tempting viands as buffalo beef, venison, mountain mutton, turkey, grouse, wildfowl, hares, rabbits, beaver and their tails, &c., &c., the station assigned to "dog" as No. 2 in the list can be well appreciated—No. 1, in delicacy of flavour, richness of meat, and other good qualities, being the flesh of panthers, which surpasses every other, and all put together.
"Painter meat can't 'shine' with this," says a hunter, to express the delicious flavour of an extraordinary cut of "tender loin," or delicate fleece. ”

“ The lean of good fresh beef is of a bright red color, a fine close grain, and feels tender to the touch on pinching it between your thumb and finger. The fat is firm and very nearly white. The suet about the kidney, firm and quite white. If, on the contrary, the lean is coarse, tough, and of a dull color, and the fat scanty, yellow, and moist, do not buy that meat for any purpose. The same rules will apply to mutton. If the weather is so cold that the meat is frozen, thaw it by lying it all night or early in the morning in a tub of cold water. ”

“ The chef de cuisine who could not enumerate an hundred and fifty entrées all distinctively French, would be no proficient in his noble profession. The British beef stands against all the world as the meat noblest for the spit, though the French ox which has worked its time in the fields gives the best material for the soup-pot; and though the Welsh lamb and the English sheep are the perfection of mutton young and mutton old, the lamb nurtured on milk till the hour of its death, and the sheep reared on the salt-marshes of the north, make splendid contribution to the Paris kitchens. ”

“ In plump young lamb and pork all cuts are tender. With veal, rib and loin are generally more tender than the rest of the carcass. The cheaper cuts of lamb, pork, and veal—that is, shoulder, breast, and shank meat—make good chops, roasts, pot roasts, and stews.
Learn the cuts of meat so you can name them when you see them. The best teacher is the reliable meat dealer. Arrange to do your marketing at the time of day when he can help you. ”

“ Sheep are handled in the same way. The dipping corrals are situated on different parts of the estancia in selected positions, and when these are at a long distance from the farmhouse the men, when employed there, cook their meals of great lumps of beef over a blaze of crackling sticks. The meat is hooked on to a long iron bar which is stuck upright in the ground, and the savoury smell of the roasting, crackling meat fills the air. ”

“ The soiled and blood-stained garments of the half-score figures gathered around the cheerful, crackling fire, in attitudes of careless ease, for the most part with pipe in mouth, the half-picked bones and fragments of meat scattered profusely here and there, telling of a hearty meal just passed by. The horses, rudely hoppled, grazing eagerly hard-by, their sides still wet with sweat; the plentiful supply of rudely-butchered meat that hung suspended from the trees around, mostly of buffalo and deer, all told plainly that this was the bivouac of hunters, resting after a successful day’s chase. ”

“ But neither beef nor mutton require to be so well done as pork, lamb, and veal.—Pork, in particular, requires to be thoroughly done. It must be basted with salt and water; and the skin or rind of the leg, loin, and spare-rib, must be scored, with a sharp knife, after it has been some time at the fire, to make it eat the better. Geese, pigs, and young pork, require a brisk fire, and should be turned quickly.
Great care should be taken in spitting the meat, that the prime part of the joint be not injured:—to balance it on the spit, cook-holds and loaded skewers are very handy. ”

“ In choice and well-fed beef, the lean will be found intergrained with fat: very lean meat is generally of an inferior quality.
The ribs, the sirloin, and the rump, are the proper joints for roasting. The round, or buttock, the edgebone, the second round, or mouse-buttock, the shin, the brisket, the shoulder or leg of mutton piece, and the clod, may be boiled or stewed. The neck is generally used for soup or gravy; and the thin flank for collaring. The best steaks are cut from the middle of the rump ”

“ Pork—fresh and salted, bacon and ham—is the natural and invariable food of the settler. Beef and mutton are too valuable as marketable steers, dairy cattle, and wool-growers, and are not so conveniently prepared into keeping forms; hence the pigs he breeds on his clearings are looked upon by the bush-farmer as the regular source whence to draw his household provision in the meat way. ”

“ If young and freshly killed, the lean of ox-beef will be smoothly grained, and of a fine, healthy, carnation-red, the fat rather white than yellow, and the suet white and firm. Heifer-beef is more 185closely grained, and rather less bright of colour, the bones are considerably smaller, and the fat of a purer white.
Of bull-beef we only speak to warn our readers that it is of all meat the coarsest and the most rank in flavour. It may be known by its dark hue, its close tough fibre, and the scanty proportion, bad appearance, and strong odour of its fat. ”

“ Their food also consisteth principally in beef, and such meat as the butcher selleth—that is to say, mutton, veal, lamb, pork, etc., whereof he findeth great store in the markets adjoining, beside sows, brawn, bacon, fruit, pies of fruit, fowls of sundry sorts, cheese, butter, eggs, etc., as the other wanteth it not at home, by his own provision which is at the best hand, and commonly least charge. ”

“ Pork, veal, and lamb, should always be well roasted; but many eaters prefer mutton and beef rather underdressed, though some persons have a strong objection to the sight even of any meat that is not thoroughly cooked.
Joints which are thin in proportion to their weight, require less of the fire than thick and solid ones. Ribs of beef, for example, will be sooner ready to serve than an equal weight of the rump, round, or sirloin ”

“ These vegetables should be cooked a little longer than the potatoes. So far as the meat component goes, almost any flesh is suitable. The leftovers from the broiled steaks or chops; chickens or fowls, ducks, grouse, shore birds or any other meat from the roast or spit; the greater the variety, the better the stew. If fresh meat is purchased, get the neck, shin, bottom of the round, or any of the inferior pieces in preference to the, so-called, choicer cuts. Although not so tender, they have a far richer flavor. It is needless to say that venison, rabbits, or squirrels are adapted to this dish. ”

“ Of course, the butcher takes care to regulate his prices so as to secure a remunerative profit on his outlay. Prime parts of beef are sirloins, ribs and rounds; of mutton, legs and loins. Middling pieces of beef are top ribs, back ribs, and silverside; of mutton, shoulders. Inferior pieces of beef are shins, brisket and flank, clod, or shoulder, sticking piece, or neck; of mutton, necks and breasts. The prices given in the table are such as would be paid for meat of the best quality. ”

“ Beef makes the best brown stock, but it lacks gelatinous substance; therefore stock for good consommé, or clear soup, should be made of beef and veal, and a fowl, or part of a fowl added to give it an additional flavour.
2. White stock is usually made from veal, bones and remains of poultry and calves' feet. The liquor in which calves' head or fowls has been boiled makes excellent white stock.
3. Stock meat should be as lean and as fresh as possible. Never wash meat unless obliged, as it deprives its surface of all the juices. ”

“ Nice lard is much better than butter for basting roasted meats, or for frying. To choose butchers’ meat, you must see that the fat is not yellow, and that the lean parts are of a fine close grain, a lively colour, and will feel tender when pinched. Poultry should be well covered with white fat; if the bottom of the breast bone be gristly, it is young, but if it be a hard bone, it is an old one. Fish are judged by the liveliness of their eyes, and bright red of their gills. Dredge every thing with flour before it is put on to boil, and be sure to add salt to the water. ”

“ A portion of the fat should invariably be served with the venison.
No. 6. SIRLOIN OR RUMP OF BEEF. As the very tender part of this favourite joint, which lies under the bone, and is called the fillet, is preferred by many eaters, the beef should be raised, and some slices be taken from it in the direction a b, before the carver proceeds further. The slices should be cut quite across the joint, from side to side, as indicated by the line from c to d, in which direction the whole of the meat is occasionally carved, though it is much more usual to slice the upper part from e to f. ”

“ The best beef steak is cut from the inner part of the sirloin. Good steak may be cut from the ribs.
If you wish to practise economy, buy the chuck, or piece between the shoulder and the neck; it makes a good roast or steak, and is excellent for stewing or baking. The thick part of the flank is also a profitable piece; good to bake or boil, or even roast.
The leg and shin of beef make the best soup—the heart is profitable meat, and good broiled or roasted. The leg rand is used for mince pies—it needs to be boiled till it is very tender. The tongue, when fresh, is a rich part for mince pies. ”

“ The white meats—milk, butter, and cheese—though very dear, are reputed as good for inferior people, but the more wealthy feed upon the flesh of all sorts of cattle and all kinds of fish. The nobility (“whose cooks are for the most part musical-headed Frenchmen and strangers “) exceed in number of dishes and change of meat. Every day at dinner there is beef, mutton, veal, lamb, kid, pork, conie, capon, pig, or as many of these as the season yielded, besides deer and wildfowl, and fish, and sundry delicacies “wherein the sweet hand of the seafaring Portingale is not wanting.” ”

“ We are happy if we can get some rusty salt Pork, or Beef, which hath been carried without Pickle; for as we cannot carry Barrels on Horses, we are forced to take out the Meat and put it in Packs on Horses Backs; sometimes we get a few live Cattle from the Cow-Pens, but they are so lean that they are Carion and unwholesome. ”

“ BEEF.—Good beef has an open grain, and a tender, oily smoothness; a pleasant carnation color, and clear white suet, betoken good meat; yellow suet is not so good.
PORK.—If young, the lean will break in pinching, and if you nip the skin with your nails, it will make a dent; the fat will be soft and pulpy, like lard. If the lean be tough, and the fat flabby and spongy, feeling rough, it is old, especially if the rind be stubborn, and you cannot nip it with your nails. Little kernels, like nail-shot, in the fat, are a sign that it is measly, and dangerous to be eaten. ”

“ Prepare a forcemeat with one pound of veal, and one and one-half pounds of lean pork. Strain through a sieve, season with salt and pepper and a little grated nutmeg, and add a pint of cream. Cut in small squares the tip of a smoked boiled beef tongue, one-half pound of white fat pork, one-quarter pound of ham, one-quarter pound of peeled pistache nuts, and four truffles. Mix thoroughly with the force meat, and put on top of the fowl. ”

“ It is not essential that the meat or fish should be fresh. I have seen pig meat eaten after three days' decomposition. Neither is the rawness an impediment, for it is customary in certain localities to eat pork absolutely raw, for ceremonial reasons. Besides pork, venison, and fish, an occasional wild chicken or other bird snared in the forest, or a hornbill killed with an arrow, helps to keep his larder supplied. ”

“ Although a saddle of mutton or sirloin or fillet of beef frequently comprise this course, one's choice is not necessarily confined to joints of meat, for turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, pies, venison, etc., may all be served instead. If there are two removes, the poultry is served before the joint of meat.
Appropriate, plainly-dressed vegetables are always served with the "remove"; but it is a matter of choice as to whether they appear on the menu; and the same remark applies to such sauces as mint and horseradish, and other things which always accompany certain dishes. ”