To be in perfection, mutton should be at least four, or better five
or six years old, but sheep of this age are rarely if ever, met with
now-a-days, when they are constantly killed under two years. To know
the age of mutton, examine the breast bones; if these are all of a
white gristly color the animal was four years old or over, while the
younger it is the pinkier are the bones, which, in a sheep of under a
year, are entirely red.
Good mutton should be of a clear dark red, the fat firm and white,
and not too much of it; when touched the meat should feel crisp yet
tender. If the fat is yellow and the lean flabby and damp, it is bad.
A freshly scraped wooden skewer run into the meat along the bone
will speedily enable anyone to detect staleness. For roasting mutton
scarcely can be hung too long, as long as it is not tainted; but for
boiling it must not be kept nearly so long or the meat will be of a
bad color when cooked.