Host and Guest

by A. V. Kirwan

Mutton.—is not good under three years old; younger, it is turgid and pale. The best is above five; but it is seldom to be got in the market of that age. The black-faced, or short sheep are best for the table, though more depends on the pasture than on the breed.

Mutton fed on mountains and downs, where the herbage is short and fine, is better than that fed on rich pasture. Always, therefore, choose the Dartmoor, the small Welsh, the South Down, or Scotch Highland mutton. Some of the largest and fattest sheep are produced in Leicestershire, and the marshes of Kent, but the smaller mutton is to be preferred. The flesh of the wether should always be preferred to that of the ewe. Hill wether mutton, from four to seven years old, is far the best whether for boiling or roasting. Choose it short in the shank, thick in the thigh, and of a pure, healthy, brownish red, with the flesh marbled.

Pinch the flesh with your fingers; if it regains its former state in a short time, the mutton is young, but otherwise it is old, and the fat will be clammy and fibrous. If it be ram mutton, the flavour of which is disagreeable and strong, the grain will be close, the lean tough and of a deep red colour; it will not rise when pinched, and the fat will be spongy. The test of excellence in this meat is that it does not fly from the knife when cut, but rather closes upon it. Carefully observe the vein in the neck of mutton or lamb; if it look ruddy or bluish, the meat is fresh, but if yellowish, is decaying, and if green, completely tainted. The hind-quarter may be judged of from the kidney and knuckle. If you find a faint smell under the kidney, or the knuckle is unusually limp, the meat is stale. That mutton and lamb will always prove the best, the legs and shoulders of which are short-shanked.

Lamb.—In the choice of lamb, observe the eye, which should be bright and full; if it be sunk and wrinkled, the meat is stale.

Grass lamb comes into season in April or May, and continues till August. House lamb may be had in great towns almost all the year, but is in highest perfection in December and January.

Veal.—The whitest veal in England is not the most juicy, having been made so by frequent bleeding. The French veal of Pontoise is finer than the English. The whiteness is produced by feeding the animal on milk and biscuits. The calf is there brought to market in a covered van.

Veal should be fat, and white, and young; the mode of feeding is of great importance. Examine the kidney, the state of which will show the feeding and condition of all animals.

Veal, when stale, generally becomes flabby and clammy. The flesh of the cow-calf is not of so bright a red, nor so firmly grained as that of the bull-calf, neither is the fat so much curdled. The shoulder may be known by the vein in it, which if it be not of a bright red, is surely stale, and if any green spots appear about it, totally unfit for use. Should the neck or breast appear yellowish at the upper end, or the sweetbread clammy, it is not good. In the choice of this meat, one of the best indications is that the kidney be covered with a white dense fat.

The loin may be known by smelling under the kidney, which always taints first, and becomes putrescent, and the fat in that case loses its firm consistence. The leg may be known by the joint, which if it be limp, and the flesh clammy, with green or yellow spots, is unfit for use.

The head, if new and sweet, must have the eyes plump and lively, but if they are sunk or wrinkled, it is not good.