The flesh of animals which are suddenly killed when in high health, so
far as the palate is concerned, is not yet fit for the table, although
fully nutritious and in perfection for making soup; because sometime
after the death, the muscular parts suffer contraction--their fibres
become rigid. When this has taken place, the flesh is not long in
experiencing the commencement of those chemical changes which terminate
in putrefaction; and it is of the utmost importance, in domestic
economy, to take care that all large joints of meat be in this
intermediate state when they are cooked: for no skill in the culinary
art will compensate for negligence in this point, as every one must have
often experienced to his great disappointment.
The degree of inteneration may be known by the flesh yielding readily to
the pressure of the finger, and by its opposing little resistance to an
attempt to bend the joint. Poultry also thus part readily with their
feathers; and it would be advisable to leave a few when the bird is
plucked, in order to assist in determining their state.
The following wholesome advice on this subject we copy from Doctor
Kitchiner:[30]--“_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. but always till it
has made some very slight advance towards putrefaction.”
[30] The Cook’s Oracle.
_Ox-beef_--when of a young animal, has a shining oily smoothness, a fine
open grain, and dark florid red colour. The fat is splendish yellowish
white. If the animal has been fed upon oil cakes, the fat has a golden
yellow colour.
_Cow-Beef_--is closer in the grain than ox-beef, but the muscular parts
are not of so bright a red colour. In old meat there is a streak of
cartilage or bone in the ribs, called by butchers, _the crush-bone_; the
harder this is, the older has been the animal.
_Veal._--The flesh of a bull calf is firmer, but not in general so white
as that of a cow calf. Exposures to the air for some time reddens the
colour of the flesh. Veal is best of which the kidney is well covered
with thick white hard fat.
_Mutton._--A _wether_, five years old, affords the most delicate meat.
The grain of the meat should be fine, and the fat white and firm. The
leg of a _wether mutton_ is known by a round lump of fat on the insides
of the thigh, the leg of an _ewe_ by the udder.
_Lamb._--The flesh of fine lamb looks of a delicate pale red colour; the
fat is splendid white, but it does not possess a great solidity. _Grass
Lamb_ is in season from Easter to Michaelmas. _House Lamb_ from
Christmas to Lady-day.
_Pork._--This species of meat of the best fed animals is particularly
fine grained, and may be bruised by forcibly pressing it between the
fingers. The skin of the young animal is thin; the flesh of old pigs is
hard and tough, and the skin very thick. The prime season for pork is
from Michaelmas to March. The western pigs, chiefly those of Berks,
Oxford, and Bucks, possess a decided superiority over the eastern of
Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk.
_Hare._--To ascertain its age, examine the first joint of the fore foot;
you will find a small knob, if it is a _leveret_, which disappears as
the hare grows older; then examine the ears; if they tear easily, the
animal is young. When newly killed, the body is stiff; as it grows
stale, it becomes flaccid.
_Venison_--is of a darker colour than mutton. If the fat be clear,
bright and thick, and the cleft of the hoof smooth and close, it is
young, but if the cleft is wide and tough, it is old. By pushing a
skewer or knife under the bone which sticks out of a haunch or shoulder,
the odour of the skewer will tell whether the meat be fresh or tainted.
Venison is best flavoured in the month of August, the animal should not
be killed till he is about four years old.
_Fowls_--for boiling should be chosen as white as possible, those which
have black legs had better be roasted. The season of perfection in
poultry is just before they have quite come to their full growth.
Chickens three months old are very delicate. Age makes a striking
difference in the flesh of fowls, since after the age of twelve months
it becomes tougher. The cock indeed, at that age, is only used for
making soup.
_Pigeons_--are in their greatest perfection in September, there is then
the most plentiful and best food for them; their finest growth is just
when they are full feathered. When they are in the pen-feathers, they
are flabby; when they are full grown, and have flown some time, they are
hard.
_Pheasants_--may be distinguished by the _length_ and _sharpness_ of
their _spurs_, which in the younger ones are _short_ and _blunt_.
_Partridges_--if old are always to be known during the early part of the
season, by their legs being of a pale blue, instead of a yellowish brown
colour: “so that when a Londoner receives his brace of blue legged birds
in September, he should immediately snap their legs and draw out the
sinews, by means of pulling off the feet, instead of leaving them to
torment him, like so many strings, when he would be wishing to enjoy his
repast.” This remedy to make the legs tender, removes the objection to
old birds, provided the weather will admit of their being sufficiently
long kept. If birds are overkept, their eyes will be much sunk, and the
trail becomes soft, and somewhat discoloured. The first place to
ascertain if they are beginning to be tainted, is the inside of the
bill.
_Fish_, and _Crimping of Fish_.--Both sea and river fish cannot be eaten
too fresh. The gills should be of a fine red colour, the eyes
glistening, the scales brilliant, and the whole fish should feel stiff
and firm, if soft or flabby the fish is old.
To improve the quality of fish, they are sometimes subject to the
process called _crimping_. The operation has been examined by Mr.
Carlisle, to whom we are indebted for the following particulars:
“Whenever the rigid contractions of death have not taken place, this
process may be practised with success. The sea fish destined for
crimping, are usually struck on the head when caught, which it is said
protracts the term of the contractibility and the muscles which retain
the property longest are those about the head. Many transverse sections
of the muscles being made, and the fish immersed in cold water, the
contractions called crimping takes place in about five minutes, but if
the mass be large, it often requires 30 minutes to complete the process.
The crimping of fresh water fish is said to require hard water, and the
London fishmongers usually employ it.”
Mr. Carlisle found, that by crimping, the muscles subjected to the
process have both their absolute weight, and their specific gravity
increased, so that it appears, that water is absorbed and condensation
takes place. It was also observed that the effect was greater in
proportion to the vivaciousness of the fish.
From these observations, it appears, that the object of crimping is
first to retard the natural stiffening of the muscles, and then by the
sudden application of cold water, to excite it in the greatest possible
degree, by which means the flesh both acquires the desired firmness and
keeps longer.
ON KEEPING OF MEAT, AND BEST CONSTRUCTION OF LARDERS, PANTRIES AND MEAT
SAFES.
Larders, pantries and safes, for keeping meat, should be sheltered from
the direct rays of the sun, and otherwise guarded against the influence
of warmth. All places where provisions are kept should be so constructed
that a brisk current of cool air can be made to pass through them at
command. With this view it would be advisable to have openings on all
sides of larders, or meat safes, which might be closed or opened
according to the way from which the wind blows, the time of the day, or
season of the year; they should be kept, too, with the greatest
attention to cleanliness. It will be better also if the sides or walls
of meat safes are occasionally scoured with soap, or soap and slacked
quicklime.
Warm weather is the worst for keeping meat; the south wind has long been
noted as being hostile to keeping provisions. Juvenal, in his 4th
Satire, says:
“Now sickly autumn to dry frost give way,
Cold winter rag’d and fresh preserved the prey;
Yet with such haste the busy fisher flew,
As if hot south-wind corruption blew.”
A joint of meat may be preserved for several days in the midst of summer
by wrapping it in a clean linen cloth, previously moistened with strong
vinegar, and sprinkled over with salt, and then placing it in an
earthenware pan, or hanging it up, and changing the cloth, or ringing it
out a-fresh, and again steeping it in vinegar once a day, if the weather
be very hot.
The best meat for keeping is _mutton_, and the leg keeps best, and may
with care, if the temperature be only moderate, be preserved without
becoming tainted for about a week; during frost a leg of mutton will
keep a fortnight.
A shoulder of _mutton_ is next to the leg the joint best calculated for
keeping in warm weather.
The scrag end of a neck is very liable to become tainted; it cannot be
kept with safety during hot weather for more than two days.
The kernels, or glands, in the thick part of the leg should be dissected
out, because the mucous matter in which they abound speedily becomes
putrid, and then tends very much to infect the adjoining part.
The chine and rib-bones should be wiped, and sprinkled over with salt
and pepper, and the bloody part of the neck should be removed. In the
brisket, the commencement of the putrefactive process takes place in the
breast, and if this part is to be kept, it is advisable to guard against
it becoming tainted, by sprinkling a little salt and pepper over it: the
vein, or pipe near the bone of the inside of a chine of mutton should be
cut out, and if the meat is to be kept for some time, the part close
round the tail should be sprinkled with salt, after having first cut out
the gland or kernel.
In _beef_ the ribs are less liable to become tainted than any other
joint; they may be kept in a cool pantry in the summer months for six
days, and ten days in winter.
The round of beef will not keep long, unless sprinkled over with salt.
All the glands or kernels which it contains should be dissected out.
The brisket is still more liable to become tainted by keeping, it cannot
be kept sweet with safety more than three days in summer, and about a
week in winter.
_Lamb_ is the next in order for keeping, though it is considered best to
eat it soon, or even the day after it is killed. If it is not very young
the leg will keep four or five days, with care, in a cool place in
summer.
_Veal_ and _Pork_--a leg will keep very well in summer for three or four
days, and a week in winter:--but the scrag end of veal or pork will not
keep well above a day in summer, and two or three days in winter.
The part that becomes tainted first of a leg of veal is where the udder
is skewered back. The skewer should be taken out, and both that and the
part beneath it wiped dry every day, by which means it will keep good
three or four days in warm weather. The vein or _pipe_ that runs along
the chine of a loin of veal should be cut out, as is usually done in
mutton and beef. The skirt of a breast of veal should likewise be taken
off, and the inside of the breast wiped, scraped, and sprinkled with
salt.