Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-06-10

BLOWN MUTTON AND VEAL.

Sordid Buachern.
BLOWN MUTTON AND VEAL.
| Frum the N. Y. Herald.
IAN trades have their tricks" IL o proverb Of
which many people are willing to argue the
truth, but few are ready to admit that the vIands
+! that are placed on their tables have undergone
| before reaching the kitchen Q communicating
and perhaps infectious contact the mere men
ton Of which is disgusting. Yet the truth, al
though disagreeable, is at times salutary, even
when 1t may usurp the functions of medicine
and act as an emetic. Hence this article.
A well known dealer ID meat, of Washington
| Market, said to Herald reporter yesterday:
The Herad ought to, denonnce as strongly as
possible the sale Of 'blewns. mutton. 1t is an
| outrage upon cleanliness and health"
| The word blown" Immediately suggested a
| significance familiar to butchers-the condition
OF meat in which maggots have been deposited
But this revolving as It. .is to even strong an
petite. is not nearly so disgusting as the mean
| ing Of the term as then used by the marketman.
THE practice Of blowing meat continued he,
rs one that the public knows very little about,
and lucky for it that it doesn't. But it is very
Old one. probably quite as old as the trade of
| Strengthening animals. 1t 70 forbidden by stat
ute, but in this city this part of the statute has
| never been enforced" "a
TO BE READ AFTER DINNER.
Chow is meat 'blowfl?' VI
"In the same manner that,a bladder or bub-
Bile is blOwn-with the human lips and breath.
In slaughter-houses where 1t is practised the
| dresser who begins the process Of skinnng the
| animal pricks the fell on the leg as soon as he
lays it bare with the point Of his knife and then
| applying his mouth to the aperture forces his
breath into it. 1t is but the work of an instant
and an observer who had not heard Of the prac-
tlce and did not know exactly how it is done
would never be aware oft. In the midst of the
| many rapid and dexter6us movements of the
| dresser in stripping the hide from the victim
| this passes as if it were like the others. You
simply see man STOPPING over for perhaps q
single second. aud If he has noted in you any,
thing of an inquisitOria air he will pretty surely
| have his back toward you very opportunely
swiftly that it is almost like the performance of
prcstidfgftateur. The men employed in slaugf-
ter-hOuses are none of them remarkable for
| cleanliness OF person and delcacy Of habits, and
even II their lips were as fresh and pure as those
| of an infant and their breath as sweet the prac-
tice could not be excused. As matter of fact,
| three-fOurths of them are chewers of tobacco.
| smaller but considerable proportion of them
are large imbibers of that cheap sort of liquor
which goes by the generic name of rum, and
| the Lord only knows how many have infected
constitutions. Who could eat chop or cut of
roast mutton with the consciousness of this nos
| sibility In his mind?'
| what meats are blown? ?"
Veal, mutton and lamb but chiefly the two
| last A gread deal of blown mutton and lamb
is sold IN the market. 1t can hardly be detected
by an ordinary housekeeper; and there are, in
| deed, many dealers in meat who cannot recop-
nlze it: A man like me- however who has
served his apprenticeship in q slaughter house
| ton. lamb or veal that looks unnaturally plump.
II you thrust sharp instrument into it sud-
denly you will probably hear a slight Kissing
sound. 1t is the foul breath of some butcher
escaping. such OF it at least as has not already
| been absorbed by the surrounding tissues
The dealer Illustrated his words with a uuar-
| ter OF lamb that had been hanging on his own
| stall. Take hind saddle in that condition
and work the legs" said he with laugh, land
1t would make first-rate pair Of bellows"
''PLAITING."
There is another practice of butchers" con-
tinued he, (which Is to be condemned, although
it is not 80 revolving. It is that Of plating
| lamb. 1t is done by all butchers, and consists
| In wrapping about the legs and loin Of the hind
quarter of the carcass first mutton caul and then
the caul of the lamb itself, both being pinned
tightly down with wooden skewers. The prin-
cipai object Of this is to give additional weight
| TO the SADDLE or quarter, making the consumer
| pay the price of lamb for mutton fat. The caul.
you understand, is the envelope Of fat which
surrounds the organs contained i'm the abdomen.
| In winter the quality 81 the meat does not de-
| teriorate much in consequence Of this practice.
but in summer 1t does greatly. The caul CON
| fines the air within the cavity Of the loin and
pelyis, where it quickly becomes vitiated and
hastens putrefaction. A few butchers In warm
| weather pin the caul about the legs in such a
manner as to admit ola free circulation of air
rior to the other. Blowing and plating both
cause the meat to spoil great deal more Gnicklv
than 1T otherwise would" y
protest against the sale Of "blown' or
| plated" meat In this city was signed by about
days ago and presented TO the mayor. It
pointed out the fact that the law forbade it. but
that the law in this respect Had never been en-
forced IN New York. although it had In Brook
| iyn: me section Of the sanitary code which
deals with this subject is as follows:
That cased. blown plated raised stuffed pntrid
Or of fowl sa Gs eS neat
for sale for human food held OF kept in any market
public or private. or in public place in said city
AT THE sLAUGHTER-HOUsEs.
The reporter visited yesterday q majority of
| the slaughter-houses in the neighborhood of 43d
| street, on the east side of the city. There he
found ample confirmation Of the statement
made by the Washington market dealer. In
only one establishment where sheep and lambs
were slaughtered did he find any specimens.
dressed and hung up, which were not plated in
the manner which has been described as hasten-
ing decomposition. 1t seemed to the reporter
who disciplined his horror sufficiently to observe
infinitely the process of killing and dressing.
that the throat-cutting was unnecessarily pro-
ionged, to the greater agony of the victims A
| ffeer use Of CrotOn water would have kent the
reeking floors Of the abattoirs In more cleanly
condition. As it was, CLOTHING blood and the
contents Of emptied intestines were blended dis
gustingiy under the feet of the red-stained work
ers. who seemed a. unconscious Of the pangs of
their palpitating victims as II they Themselves
had none Of the weakness and tenderness of NOR
tally and the common instincts Of life Some Of
these slaughter-pens are deep cellars, into which
the descent is by means Of narrow stone steps.
slippery with the gore Of the dumb innocents.
| and where men of brawny form, with bare. be-
spattered arms, squirt tobacco and saliva be-
| tween the strokes Of the knife. In one of these
the reporter saw distinctly the act Of blowing.
IN In another abattoir on 44th street, situated
above ground, the same thing was again wit
messed score Of times. The proprietor seemed
uneasy, at this continued observation and ad-
dressed several questions to the reporter,
Finally he placed hlmself in front Of the latter
and ostentatiously engaged another person in
I4