_To select good beef._ (1) Quality. “Heavy” beef, that is, taken from
fat, heavy animals, is the best. It should be mottled with fat all
through the lean, and the large masses of fat should be firm and of a
creamy white colour. The grain of tender meat is fine. 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.
[Illustration: Figure No. 7.
Diagram of the cuts of beef. The double line shows the division between
forequarter and hindquarter.]
_Uses of the different cuts._ Beef is cut variously in different parts
of the country, and the same cuts are not always similarly named. Merely
to call the cuts by name would, therefore, make this chapter
unintelligible to some readers; but by consulting the accompanying
chart the pieces can be selected without reference to their names,
according to the part of the animal adapted to each particular use.
Those muscles which are much used and which have hard work to do will
have the most juice and the best flavour, though, at the same time, they
will be the toughest. For instance, all cuts, such as round, shoulder,
shin, and rump, which come from the legs or parts by which the legs are
connected with the body, will be tough and high-flavoured. The neck
also, and upper part of the shoulder, by reason of the support they give
to the weight of the head, are tough, although rich in flavour. Any cuts
from these parts, by whatever name they are called, are not suitable for
cooking with dry heat, such as that of baking, or broiling, but will
require long, slow cooking with water to make them tender. Such pieces
are the ones to buy for cooking in a hay-box. They do not command the
price of the tender cuts from the back of the animal, and it is,
therefore, a distinct economy to buy these cheap pieces and by skilful
cooking make them digestible and palatable. The parts numbered 1, 2, 7,
8, 9, in Fig. 7 are suitable for stews; those marked 11 and 12, as well
as all bones, are suitable for soups. Numbers 2, 5, 6, and 10 may be
used for stews or broth, but are adapted also to pot roasts, rolled
steaks, cannelon, Hamburg steak, etc., while only numbers 3 and 4 are
adapted to roasting or broiling.
Other parts of beef used as food, suitable for cooking in the hay-box or
cooker, are:
Brains, stewed or scalloped, or for croquettes.
Heart, stuffed and braised.
Liver, braised.
Tongue, boiled; fresh, corned, or pickled.
Kidneys, stewed.
Tail, soup.
TABLE SHOWING SOME OF THE NAMES GIVEN TO CUTS OF BEEF IN DIFFERENT PARTS
OF THE COUNTRY.
The numbers indicate the part from which the cuts are taken, as shown
on the chart (Fig. No. 7).