“ 1st. It is neither of a pale pink colour nor of a deep purple tint, for the former is a sign of disease, and the latter indicates that the animal has not been slaughtered, but has died with the blood in it, or has suffered from acute fever. “ 2nd. It has a marked appearance from the rami- fications of the little veins of fat among the muscles. “ 3rd. It should be firm and elastic to the touch, and should scarcely moisten the fingers — bad Meat being wet and sodden and flabby, with the fat looking like jelly or wet parchment. “ 4th. It should have little or no odour, and the odour should not be disagreeable, for diseased Meat has a sickly cadaverous smell, and sometimes a smell of physic. For details respecting Culinary Processes, Utensils, Sauces, dec., referred to, see under their special heads. TEE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL COOKERY. 919 Meat — continued. This is very discoverable when the Meat is chopped up and drenched with warm water. “ 5th. It should not shrink or waste much in cooking. “ 6th. It should not run to water, or become very wet on standing for a day or so, but should, on the contrary, dry upon the surface. “ 7tli. When dried to ash at a temperature of 212deg. or thereabout it should not lose more than 70 to 74 per cent, of its weight, whereas bad Meat will often lose as much as 80 per cent. “ Other properties of a more refined character will also serve for the recognition of bad Meat — as that the juice of the flesh is alkaline or neutral to test-paper, instead of being distinctly acid; and the muscular fibre, when examined under the microscope, is found to be sodden and ill-defined.” Having selected good and fresh Meat, the next consider- ation is how to keep it so. For the purposes of keeping Fig. 1138. Meat-safe. small quantities a safe like that shown in the drawing (see Fig. 1138) is excellent, possessing all the qualities pre- scribed by science. It is of metal, therefore easily cleaned ; the walls and roof are of perforated zinc or wire net, per- mitting the freest ventilation, whilst preserving the Meat from the attack of flies and other vermin. All that is necessary is to provide a cool place in which to hang it. Wire dish-covers (see Fig. 1139), of various sizes, are obtainable almost everywhere. There are several ways of preserving Meat, such as Refrigerating, Curing, &c., which are duly described under these headings ; the following also may be worthy of attention : Fig. 1139. Wire Disii-cover. i (1) Put the Meat into a stone jar, cover with sour milk✪ Preserving Meat with Sour Milk, changing it about every three days, and it will remain Meat — continued. good for a week or so. When wanted for use, wash off all the milk and put the Meat in a basin with soda-water for a few minutes, to make it quite tender. (2) The Meat should be cut up iuto pieces of not more than 31b. in weight, and covered with Indian meal✪ Preserving Meat with Indian Meal. Roll them up, and they will keep for five days even in the middle of summer. In spite, however, of the greatest care, Meat will occasionally, especially in warm weather, become what is called tainted, that is in parts. As a rule the flesh next to the bone is affected first ; under any circumstances much difficulty will be experienced in its restoration even if this is possible. The following method is recommended as giving the best results :

AI-modernized reading of the original text

“ 1st. It is neither of a pale pink colour nor of a deep purple tint, for the former is a sign of disease, and the latter indicates that the animal has not been slaughtered, but has died with the blood in it, or has suffered from acute fever. “ 2nd. It has a marked appearance from the ramifications of the little veins of fat among the muscles. “ 3rd. It should be firm and elastic to the touch, and should scarcely moisten the fingers — bad Meat being wet and sodden and flabby, with the fat looking like jelly or wet parchment. “ 4th. It should have little or no odour, and the odour should not be disagreeable, for diseased Meat has a sickly cadaverous smell, and sometimes a smell of physic. For details respecting Culinary Processes, Utensils, Sauces, dec., referred to, see under their special heads. Meat — continued. This is very discoverable when the Meat is chopped up and drenched with warm water. “ 5th. It should not shrink or waste much in cooking. “ 6th. It should not run to water, or become very wet on standing for a day or so, but should, on the contrary, dry upon the surface. “ 7tli. When dried to ash at a temperature of 212deg. or thereabout it should not lose more than 70 to 74 per cent, of its weight, whereas bad Meat will often lose as much as 80 per cent. “ Other properties of a more refined character will also serve for the recognition of bad Meat — as that the juice of the flesh is alkaline or neutral to test-paper, instead of being distinctly acid; and the muscular fibre, when examined under the microscope, is found to be sodden and ill-defined.” Having selected good and fresh Meat, the next consideration is how to keep it so. For the purposes of keeping [illustration: Fig. 1138. Meat-safe.] small quantities a safe like that shown in the drawing (see Fig. 1138) is excellent, possessing all the qualities prescribed by science. It is of metal, therefore easily cleaned ; the walls and roof are of perforated zinc or wire net, permitting the freest ventilation, whilst preserving the Meat from the attack of flies and other vermin. All that is necessary is to provide a cool place in which to hang it. Wire dish-covers (see Fig. 1139), of various sizes, are obtainable almost everywhere. There are several ways of preserving Meat, such as Refrigerating, Curing, &c., which are duly described under these headings ; the following also may be worthy of attention : [illustration: Fig. 1139. Wire Dish-cover.] (1) Put the Meat into a stone jar, cover with sour milk, changing it about every three days, and it will remain Meat — continued. good for a week or so. When wanted for use, wash off all the milk and put the Meat in a basin with soda-water for a few minutes, to make it quite tender. (2) The Meat should be cut up iuto pieces of not more than 31b. in weight, and covered with Indian meal. Roll them up, and they will keep for five days even in the middle of summer. In spite, however, of the greatest care, Meat will occasionally, especially in warm weather, become what is called tainted, that is in parts. As a rule the flesh next to the bone is affected first ; under any circumstances much difficulty will be experienced in its restoration even if this is possible. The following method is recommended as giving the best results :

Records on this page

Preserving Meat with Sour MilkPreserving Meat with Indian Meal

The encyclopaedia of practical cookery