Meat offering

“ But this is a false frugality; and it is far better to buy good pieces of meat, and only stew them till they are tender enough to be eaten. Lean juicy beef, mutton, or veal, form the basis of good broth; and it is therefore advisable to procure those pieces which afford the richest succulence, and such as is fresh slain. Stale meat will make the broth grouty and bad tasted, and fat is not so well adapted to the purpose. The following herbs, roots, and seasonings, are proper for making and giving a relish to broths and soups, according as the taste may suit. ”

“ For our own part, I think we all felt that the comparative scarcity of meat this morning was an agreeable change, after our recent experiences. Animal food is so cheap and so good in this country that at every meal four or five dishes of beef or mutton, dressed in various ways, are provided. ”

“ When there is a surplus of beef offered for sale or in case of war, where the army contracts for large quantities of canned meat, the opposite conditions probably prevail, and the best meats are used for canning purposes and those of a less desirable quality offered for sale in the fresh state. ”

“ If you have no bones or bits of meat on hand to make stock with, a knuckle of beef or veal can be procured with little expense; or, if a rich soup is desired, several kinds of meat should be mixed. For instance: Take four pounds of the shin of beef, four pounds of the knuckle of veal, and a half-pound of good lean ham—any scraps of poultry, necks, wings, etc.—that may chance to be unused. Three onions, three carrots, one head of celery, a few chopped mushrooms, two or three fresh tomatoes, or what would be equal to them in canned tomatoes, if they can be obtained ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ Common household methods of extending the meat flavor through a considerable quantity of material which would otherwise be lacking in distinctive taste are to serve the meat with dumplings, generally in the dish with it, to combine the meat with crusts, as in meat pies or meat rolls, or to serve the meat on toast and biscuits. ”

“ This bulletin gives suggestions for selecting and cooking the cheaper cuts of beef, pork, lamb, and veal.
MEAT TO FIT THE BUDGET Meat is one of the more expensive foods to produce, so guard against waste at every step from butcher's block to serving platter. And to make your own meat dollars go further, learn to be a thrifty meat shopper. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When you order meat, poultry, or fish, tell the tradesman when you intend to dress it, and he will then have it in his power to serve you with provision that will do him credit, which the finest meat, &c. in the world, will never do, unless it has been kept a proper time to be ripe and tender. If you have a well-ventilated larder, in a shady, dry situation, you may make still surer, by ordering in your meat and poultry, such a time before you want it as will render it tender, which the finest meat cannot be, unless hung a proper time, according to the season and nature of the meat, &c. ”

“ Such appetite at all events as has rarely offered itself during years preceding, when the choice of food was conventionally limited to the unvarying progression and array of mutton and beef, in joint, chop, and steak, arriving after a strong meat soup, with a possible interlude of fish, and followed by puddings of which the ingredients are chiefly derived from animal sources. ”

“ Poultry and water-fowl, young pork, old beef, and fat meat in general, should not be eaten; but, on the contrary, meat of a proper age, of a warm and dry, but on no account of a heating and exciting nature. ”

“ We at once carried the meat and skin into the house, where Martin had some steaks ready for us. We lay down after supper with thankful hearts that a supply of meat had been so providentially sent to us. ”

“ The principal object of mentioning them here is to inform the consumer of the probable character of the potted goods which he may consume, and to let him understand that it is by no means certain that the name of the meat upon the label describes the character of the meat which he is actually eating. The chief object in the manufacture of potted meat is to make a supply of uniform character and consistency, and properly spiced and flavored to attract and hold the patronage of the consumer. ”

“ Save for stock, every bone, whether beef, mutton, poultry or game, as well as all the juices that are left in the meat carving dishes on the table, and the water in which meats are boiled and in which certain vegetables are boiled. ”

“ The chief reason for which meat is kept upon the bill of fare of most civilized people is that of conformity to custom, surely not to that of hygiene. That form of meat, therefore, which is pleasing to the taste, and which has a tendency to reduce the quantity of flesh consumed, is a step in the right direction of true food reform. ”

“ Not one atom of food is wasted in the French modes of preparation; even tough animal cartilages and sinews, instead of appearing burnt and blackened in company with the roast meat to which they happen to be related, are treated according to their own laws, and come out either in savory soups, or those fine, clear meat-jellies which form a garnish no less agreeable to the eye than palatable to the taste. ”

“ Cut Beef, Veal, Ham, Tongue, and Breasts of Poultry, with a sharp knife, very thin; Mutton, Lamb, and Pork rather thicker.
Never rise from your seat to carve; never cut across the grain of the meat, that is, not across the ribs of beef, as I have seen some persons do, and Mr. B. tells me is often done at clubs, but it is only those do so who do not know how to carve or appreciate the true flavor of the meat. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Buttocks of beef, fillets of veal, and legs of mutton and lamb, as they have most solid meat and least bone, in proportion, are best for large families.
The most economical way for marketing, is to buy what roasting and boiling pieces you want in one lot. Butchers will sell quantities, thus assorted, much cheaper than they will sell single joints; and prime roasting joints, when bought alone, are always charged extravagantly. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There are several grades of meat, depending upon the nature and feeding, each wholesome and nutritious, but some demanding more special cooking than others.
About fifty-five per cent of a steer is meat; the remainder includes the hide and various other by-products, which, except the hide, are not worth in their primary state anywhere near as much per pound as they cost alive. The fifty-five per cent of the animal which is meat must, therefore, carry the greater portion of the original cost. ”

“ To this dietary the artisan adds meat, mostly beef or mutton, and some butter. A piece of fresh and therefore not tender beef is baked, or cooked in a frying-pan, in the latter case becoming a hard, indigestible, and wasted morsel; by the former process a somewhat better dish is produced, the meat being usually surrounded by potatoes or by a layer of some batter, since both contain starchy products and absorb the fat which leaves the meat. The food of the peasant might, however, be cheaper and better; while the provision of the artisan is simply extravagant and bad. ”

“ Beefsteak, mutton-chop, roast beef, lamb, boiled chicken and fish, such as shad or bass.
What points should I consider in feeding meat? Most meats should be rare, scraped or finely divided, as a child will not chew it properly. Boiled or roast beef is best; fried meats should not be given to a child. ”

“ We have advised the abstaining from beef and pork, but in this case mutton should be also let alone, or very rarely eaten; and the dinner being made solely of the tender and young meats in this reduced quantity, the next care must be, that these are always well and thoroughly dress’d. It is a fashion to eat meat almost raw, and doctors have advis’d it; but they would be better physicians for bears and wolves, than men. ”

“ Prepare soup stock in a kettle which will retain heat. Fit with a tight cover, for the vapors must be held in to add to the flavor of the stock. Shank and neck of beef, pork or lamb, left-over morsels of meat, bones from steaks, roasts, chops and the carcasses of poultry, are good materials from which to make meat stock. ”

“ It is a meat for which many must acquire a taste, but it is very healthful and nutritious. At the central abattoirs, where government inspection is in force, comparatively few diseases, or few diseased sheep, are found, this particular kind of live stock proving to be much healthier than either cattle or hogs. ”

“ In other words, the consumer is entitled to know that because a piece of meat is comminuted is no reason for supposing that it is not edible.
Sausage, mince meat, comminuted meat, potted, canned, and other meats or preparations from these sound, clean, edible fragments, necessarily rejected in the process of preparing fresh meats for curing and for consumption, are entitled to the same consideration and may be looked upon with the same certainty of purity by the consumer when properly inspected and prepared as the larger pieces. ”

“ I am well aware that in your homes it is not a common every-day occurrence for you to dress a large joint of meat, from which enough would be left for one or more days' dinner; but still it may, and does sometimes occur, that you have cold meat at your disposal, upon which you may exercise your knowledge in domestic economy. ”

“ Although the consumption of butchers' meat was not so great in the Middle Ages as it is now, the trade of a butcher, to which extraordinary privileges were attached, was nevertheless one of the industries which realised the greatest profits. ”

“ Although every one knows it cannot be wholesome, such is the scarcity of meat and the uncontrollable desire to eat beef, that it is eagerly bought, at least by those residents who come from other provinces where beef is the staple article of food. ”

“ As stated before, stock is not as good when made entirely from cooked meats, but in a family where it requires a large joint roasted every day, the bones, and bits and underdone pieces of beef, or the bony structure of turkey or chicken that has been left from carving, bones of roasted poultry, these all assist in imparting a rich dark color to soup, and would be sufficient, if stewed as above, to furnish a family, without buying fresh meat for the purpose ”

“ We have no fresh vegetables here, except potatoes, and have to depend upon canned stores in the commissary for a variety, and our meat consists entirely of beef, except now and then, when we may have a treat to buffalo or antelope. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Tender meats are digested more readily than those which are tough, or than many kinds of vegetable food. The farinaceous articles, such as rice, flour, corn, potatoes, and the like, are the most nutritious, and most easily digested. The popular notion, that meat is more nourishing than bread, is a great mistake. Good bread contains one third more nourishment than butcher's meat. ”

“ And this not in times of dearth or scarcity, but rather as a relish. They never buy anything but bacon; never butcher's meat. Philanthropic ladies, to my knowledge, have demonstrated over and over again even to their limited capa [Pg 372] cities that certain parts of butchers' meat can be bought just as cheap, and will make more savoury and nutritive food ”