Meat

“ 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. ”

“ Take out their Meat and Mince it small, and set it over a Chafing dish of Coals with a little white Wine, a little Salt, and a blade of Mace, and when it is very hot, put in some Butter and some Crums of white bread, then warm the shells against the fire, and fill them again with their Meat, and so serve them in. ”

“ If one is inclined to be rebellious, not coming to call, the show of a piece of meat at once secures its submission and capture. Singular how partial they are to raw meat, and more singular to see the expert way in which they catch up the meat with the claws of either leg, and hold it from them while they devour it piecemeal. ”

“ Seasonable all the year, but more suitable for a winter dish.
GOOD MEAT.—The lyer of meat when freshly killed, and the animal, when slaughtered, being in a state of perfect health, adheres firmly to the bones. Beef of the best quality is of a deep-red colour; and when the animal has approached maturity, and been well fed, the lean is intermixed with fat, giving it the mottled appearance which is so much esteemed. ”

“ Choose the freshest meat, and have it cut as thick as possible; for if it is a thin, flat piece, it will not look well, and will be very soon spoiled by the boiling.
III. NEVER WASH MEAT, as it deprives its surface of all its juices; separate it from the bones, and tie it round with tape, so that its shape may be preserved, then put it into the stock-pot, and for each pound of meat, let there be one pint of water; press it down with the hand, to allow the air, which it contains, to escape, and which often raises it to the top of the water. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Another writer on ‘Life in Abyssinia,’ thus describes the native mode of eating meat.—‘There is usually a piece of meat to every five or six persons, among whom arises some show of ceremony as to which of them shall first help himself; this being at length decided, the person chosen takes hold of the meat with his left hand, and with his sword or knife cuts a strip a foot or fifteen inches long, from the part which appears the nicest and tenderest. ”

“ And as for meat, there is none to be got except jerked-beef, which is the flesh of the bullock cut into strings and hung up in the sun to dry, and which has about as much juice in it as a strip of bark dangling in the wind from a dead tree. ”

“ Notice the shape of the cut of meat. Meat must be cut across the grain. Loosen from the bone, notice the grain, and cut evenly and firmly. With fowl, discover the joints, pierce with the end of the knife, disjoint, and lay at the side, and then slice the breast across the grain. If carving at the table, learn the preference of those served, whether they wish light or dark meat, meat well done or underdone. Have a spoon for dish gravy and stuffing.
EXERCISES
1. Plan the order of work for the following menus: (a) Cooked cereal and cream, stewed prunes, poached egg on toast, popovers, coffee. ”

“ We have seen those who in every other respect were true gentlemen and ladies, carve poultry or a piece of meat in such a barbarous manner as to banish all desire to eat, and almost the ability to taste the big, uncouth, mangled lump that was put, or rather thrown, on the plate. ”

“ MEAT is the name applied to the flesh of all animals used for food. Beef is the meat of steer, ox, or cow, and is the most nutritious and largely consumed of all animal foods. Meat is chiefly composed of the albuminoids (fibrin, albumen, gelatin) , fat, mineral matter, and water. ”

“ The warmer the weather, and the staler the meat, the less time it will take in dressing.
When meat is overdone it is spoiled, and the fault can never be corrected;—when neither overdone nor underdone it is most digestible and most nutritious;—and when thoroughly done, it eats short and tender. ”

“ The third head of my discourse is that of Meat, of which America furnishes, in the gross material, enough to spread our tables royally, were it well cared for and served.
The faults in the meat generally furnished to us are, first, that it is too new. A beefsteak, which three or four days of keeping might render practicable, is served up to us palpitating with freshness, with all the toughness of animal muscle yet warm. ”

“ It may indeed be doubted, whether butcher’s meat is any where a necessary of life. Grain and other vegetables, with the help of milk, cheese, and butter, or oil, where butter is not to be had, it is known from experience, can, without any butcher’s meat, afford the most plentiful, the most wholesome, the most nourishing, and the most invigorating diet. ”

“ MEAT, a word originally applied to food in general, and so still used in such phrases as “meat and drink”; but now, except as an archaism, generally used of the flesh of certain domestic animals, slaughtered for human food by butchers, “butcher’s meat,” as opposed to “game,” that of wild animals, “fish” or “poultry.” ”

“ As meat is composed of several substances, fibrine, albumen, gelatin, fat and the juices, it is necessary to understand the various methods of cooking in order to secure the best results. Meat has its season as well as many other foods. Pork is better in autumn and winter; veal in the spring and summer; fowl in autumn and winter; lamb in the summer and autumn; mutton and beef may be used any time. Meat should not be allowed to remain in the paper in which it comes from market, as it absorbs the juices and injures the flavor. ”

“ What is usually called roast meat in countries not inhabited by English-speaking people, is what we should call ‘baked meat,’ the very name of which sets all the gastronomic bristles of an orthodox Englishman in a position of perpendicularity. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Stuff it with any force meat that you like. You remember this morning that we made force meat by chopping a teaspoonful of onion and frying it in a tablespoonful of butter, then putting in with the fried onion a cupful of stale bread soaked in cold water, seasoning with salt and pepper and sweet herbs. I said also that you could add chopped meat, cold meat or eggs, or to make any desired addition to the force meat in the way of seasoning. A little grated cheese in stuffing is very nice. You scarcely will realize what the seasoning is. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Many times have I followed, with eager step, the waiting-girl when she shook the table-cloth, to get the crumbs and small bones flung out for the dogs and cats. It was a great thing to have the privilege of dipping a piece of bread into the water in which meat had been boiled, and the skin taken from the rusty bacon was a positive luxury. ”

“ True, again, the meat, owing to its having been all boiled for soup before being baked to do duty as a roast joint, has no more flavour left in it than in a mouthful of papermaker’s pulp, so that one really has to inquire whether it be stag or roebuck, or goose, pork, beef, or veal that we are eating ”

“ Articles which in the canning retain a natural appearance usually remain, especially if cooked a little, friendly to the palate. This is particularly true of meat retaining hard fibers, such as ham, bacon, dried meats, and corned beef. ”

“ In an hour's time we all sat down to a feast of carne con cuero, or meat roasted in the hide, juicy, tender, and exquisitely flavoured. I must tell the English reader who is accustomed to eat meat and game which has been kept till it is tender, that before the tender stage is reached it has been permitted to get tough. Meat, game included, is never so tender or deliciously flavoured as when cooked and eaten immediately after it is killed. ”

“ Then put in flavoring vegetables, bacon, herbs, and a little stock, and by the time you have done a day's work you will find a dish fit for a king. Even tough meat can be made delicious in this way, so long as it never gets near boiling and is closely covered. ”

“ Coarse-grained meat, and meat streaked with connective tissue or gristle, is sure to be tough. (2) Freshness. Fresh beef is a good red colour, modified, when it is very cold, to a purplish shade. If black or greenish in tint the meat is stale, and its odour will be bad. Meat is flabby after it is killed, but soon grows firm. It is in suitable condition for cooking before this change takes place, or some days after it. ”

“ Either the skin stuffed with minced meat, or boned, & fill the vents and body; or not boned and trust to boil, fill the bodies with any of the farsings following made of any minced meat, and seasoned with pepper, cloves, mace, and salt; then mince some sweet herbs with bacon and fowl, veal, mutton, or lamb, and mix with it three or four eggs, mingle all together with grapes, gooseberries, barberries, or red currans, and sugar, or none, some pine-apple-seed, or pistaches; fill the fowl, and stew it in a stewing-pan with some strong broth, as much as will cover them, and a little white wine ”

“ For instance, lamb and veal usually have very little fat in the tissues, mutton and beef always contain more, while pork contains a greater amount of fat than the meat of any other domestic animal.
8. The composition of meat depends to a large extent on the breed of the animal, the degree to which it has been fattened, and the particular cut of meat in question. However, the muscle fibers are made up of protein and contain more protein, mineral salts, or ash, and certain substances called extractives, all of which are held in solution by water. ”

“ Texture and Flavor of Meat—General Methods of Cooking Meat—Economies in Use of Meat.
A good idea of the changes which take place while meat is being cooked can be obtained by examining a piece of flesh which has been "cooked to pieces," as the saying goes. In this the muscular fibers may be seen completely separated one from another, showing that the connective tissue has been destroyed. It is also evident that the fibers themselves are of different texture from those in the raw meat. ”

“ Beef broth may be made by adding vegetables to essence of beef —or you may wash a leg or shin of beef, the bone of which has been well cracked by the butcher; add any trimmings of meat, game, or poultry, heads, necks, gizzards, feet, &c.; cover them with cold water; stir the whole up well from the bottom, and the moment it begins to simmer, skim it carefully. ”

“ By serving some preparation of flour, rice, hominy, or other food rich in starch with the meat we get a dish which in itself approaches nearer to the balanced ration than meat alone and one in which the meat flavor is extended through a large amount of the material. ”

“ 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. ”

“ INGREDIENTS.—The remains of cold roast beef; to each pound of meat allow 3/4 lb. of bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste, a few chopped savoury herbs, 1/2 a teaspoonful of minced lemon-peel, 1 or 2 eggs, according to the quantity of meat. ”

“ Legs and loins of pork, legs of mutton, fillets of veal, and many other joints, will bake to great advantage, if the meat be good; I mean well-fed, rather inclined to be fat: if the meat be poor, no baker can give satisfaction. ”

“ 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. ”

“ With Cold Meat.—When the paste is placed in the mould as directed above, line it with thin slices of salt pork, then put a very thin layer of sausage-meat, prepared also as above, then fill with butcher's meat, poultry, and game, having previously removed all the bones, and cut the meat in strips; the greater the variety, the better the pâté. ”

“ The meat is then brought, which consists of one entire sheep, boiled in a huge Russian pot. They separate the flesh from the bones, and tear it into as small pieces as the bread, with which it is mixed. ”

“ Cover tightly and simmer slowly, until the meat will slip from the bones, not allowing it to boil all the strength out, as the meat can be made into a nice dish for breakfast or luncheon, by reserving a cupful of the liquor to put with it in a mince on toast, or a stew. ”

“ Rolled Beef—Hang three ribs three or four days; take out the bones from the whole length, sprinkle it with salt, roll the meat tight and roast it. Nothing can look nicer. The above done with spices, etc., and baked as hunters' beef is excellent. ”

“ It is convenient, occasionally, to send the dinner out to be cooked, and the meat which suffers least from such cookery ought to be selected; veal is good baked, so is pork, a sucking pig, a goose, and a duck ”