_Instructions for choosing it._
An ox is in its prime, for food, at five or six years old.
BEEF is never out of season, but it is in the _greatest perfection_ in
November, December, and January.
The lean of the finest ox-beef, if of a proper age, has a fine smooth
grain, it is of a bright or carnation red, feels tender, and appears
to be marled or intermixed with fat. The fat parts are firm, of a
cream colour, and rather white than yellow. This latter distinction
is of importance, because, if the beef be old, the fat will be yellow
and skinny; and if the ox has been unnaturally fed, or in a confined
place, and particularly if it has been fed with oil-cake, it will be
very yellow, soft, flabby, and greasy. On the other hand, if the beef
be too young, the fat will be white, almost like mutton fat, and the
lean will be of a pale colour.
The grain of _cow-beef_ is closer than that of the ox, and the lean is
of a darker red.
_Heifer-beef_ has all the appearances and qualities of good ox-beef,
except that the grain of the lean is of a finer texture.
_Bull-beef_ is coarser and redder than any other, the fat hard and
skinny, and it has a strong, rank smell.
_The_ JOINTS OF BEEF, _according to the London method of cutting_.
[Illustration:
_The Hind Quarter._
1 Sirloin
2 Rump
3 Edge-bone
4 Buttock
5 Mouse-buttock
6 Veiny-piece
7 Thick-flank
8 Thin-flank
9 Leg
10 Fore-ribs
_The Fore Quarter._
11 Middle-ribs
12 Chuck-ribs
13 Leg-of-mutton-piece
14 Brisket or Breast-cut
15 Clod
16 Neck or sticking-piece
17 Shin
18 Cheek