Fat Beef

Fat Beef is of greater value as food than lean beef. The fat is all food; the lean contains water and indigestible fibre to the extent of three-quarters of its weight.

A Good Carcase Of Mutton

A Good Carcase Of Mutton has alternate dark red and white natural bars above the loins. The lean should be a soft red, and the fat firm and white. The loin of the wether should be covered with half an inch of fat over the fillet, which forms the lean of the chops, extending to nearly an inch at the point of the scrag end of the chop bone. The fillet should be large, round, full and tender. A chop with a small fillet and abundance of fat is extremely wasteful, for, as with the loin, nobody eats the scrag. Mutton should never be too fat, for the reason that, unlike the fat of beef, it is never all consumed.

The Best Colonial Mutton

The Best Colonial Mutton is more economical, weight for weight, than the best British. This fact was ascertained by an investigation made for the War Office by the writer with the assistance of the then President of the Society of Analysts, Dr. Bernard Dyer. The flesh of frozen mutton is damp and cold, and although the fat is white the lean is not so well coloured as home-killed mutton, while the kidneys are removed.

Bacon

Where the quality and price of British bacon is satisfactory, it should always be preferred to bacon cured abroad. This is only a natural course to pursue. The war has developed the fact that we have been enriching the foreign producer to our own loss. Bacon for frying is one of the most costly of foods - a large proportion of the fat being melted as dripping which, at the moment of writing, is thus costing 1s. to 1s. 4d. per pound. A side of prime, sizeable bacon weighs from 56 to 65 lb., and is cut up by the tradesman in various ways. Let us take a side of 60 lb. as an example, and cut it in four parts. The fore end is cut right across to a little less than one-fourth of the length of the side. The other, or gammon, end including the corner, is cut about the same length, thus leaving slightly more than one-half of the side. This is cut into two parts - the top being the long back, best suited for boiling, while the bottom forms the long streaky, chiefly the belly, for rashers. The fore end will weigh about 16 lb., the gammon end 14 lb., the back 17 lb., and the streaky 13 lb. These four parts of a side of bacon can be subdivided thus: the fore end is cut up into the collar or top corner, the piece next to it, which is the prime part of the collar, and a smaller cut which forms the thick of the back. Below the last cut comes a similar cut which forms the thick of the streaky. The gammon end is cut across the centre into the gammon and the corner piece above it, known as the corner of the gammon. The remainder of the long back is divided into the prime cut of the back ribs and the loin, while the remainder of the long streaky, cut into three, provides the prime thick streaky, the middle piece or thin streaky, and the hind piece or flank.

The best cuts of bacon are the back, streaky, and gammon; but the demand for these parts of the side is so general and constant that the tradesman is able to sell them at relatively more than they are worth. Thus it is that the fore-end and the corner piece of the gammon cost less, but in spite of the waste which they entail they are relatively cheaper to buy. It is important to notice, too, that as the cheaper cuts of bacon are suited only for boiling they provide much more economical joints than those parts of the side which are cut up for rashers. The reason is, that while the rasher is accompanied by great waste, there is no waste in boiling, for no fat is lost.

In Buying Bacon

In Buying Bacon it is the most economical plan to select small, fat meat - never lean meat - whatever the size of the joint. Lean meat means a larger proportion of bone, and a higher price for every ounce upon it. The fatter the meat, therefore, the lower the relative cost, and what is much to the point, the lower the actual cost by the pound, for the public object to fat meat, and its price is lower in consequence. The fore-end may be most uneconomical when it is lean, for the same reason, while it may be most economical if it is fat. It is necessary, too, to point out that the objection to fat is perfectly groundless - its value as food is much greater than that of the lean, which not only possesses small nourishing value, but is less wholesome.

Cheese

Cheese is one of the most difficult foods for a non-expert to buy. Although there is no tangible loss of nourishing value as between British and imported cheese, there is a wide difference in its quality as denoted by its flavour and creamy consistence. Colonial and American cheese possesses practically the same food value as English, but they are inferior in the points we have named. The natural colour of cheese is a pale straw, yellow cheese being artificially coloured. Cheshire cheese is usually yellow. Prime Cheddar is no better as food than the other varieties of firm or pressed cheese, but the early ripening Cheshire, containing more water, is of less nourishing value. The buyer of cheese should ascertain that it is agreeable in flavour, see to the weight, and reject a cut which is mouldy or cracked.