Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1908-09-08
FOR CHEAPER MEAT.
Packers to Start Campaign to
Make Beef Cost Less.
CHOICE CUTS ROOT OF EVIL.

Will Be Reduced In Price In Order to
Show American Public the Value OF
Portions Now Considered Worthless
Chuck Steak After Careful Cooking
Good Eating, Says Expert.
Every person in the country is in
terested in the price Of meat and will
therefore also be interested in a move
ment which the western packers are
preparing to undertake to teach the
American public that other portions of
beef are as nutritious and, when
properly cooked, as palatable as the
costlier cuts. The ultimate end will be
the lowering of prices on all grades of
meats, especially in those cuts which
are now in chief demand.
In short, the western packers are
! preparing a campaign to teach the pub
lie to buy and eat the whole ''critter''
and not a few choice cuts alone. from
the sale Of which the retailers say they
must obtain the cost Of the entire car
cass because of their inability to sell
the cheap cuts. This campaign is to
be carried on through the retail deal
ers of the country. who will be coached
on the subject so thoroughly that they
will be competent to teach their GUS
| toners.
The packers say one of the chief rea-
sons why beef is not cheaper in Amer
! lea is that the people demand the best
cuts and leave so much of the so called
| inferior grades on the hands of the
packers that they are forced to keep
the price Of the best cuts up to counter
act the waste, but if the sales of the
cheaper grades were increased the cost
of all would decrease materially.
! One Of the packers arguments will
be taken from the year book of the
United States department of agricul-
ture written by George X. Holmes,
chief of the bureau of statistics. Mr..
Holmes points out the mistake made
! by people Of limited means in selecting
the most expensive cuts when many of
the unsought portions are equally or
even more nutritious. One of Mr..
Holmes comments is as follows:
Although epicureans admit and
chemists demonstrate that the neck
piece is toothsome and nutritious, it
bears the lowest price. In fact, it
would hardly be considered respectable
to ask the butcher for a piece Of the
neck. Perhaps a low order of proficien-
cy in the housewives cooking in the
past gave to the neck piece its low
place. The story might have been diff
ferent had the cook known how to
utilize the meat in the making Of at
tractive and delicious dishes. The points
of the argument is that cheap cuts Of
a good. carcass are as good as expen-
sive pieces when judiciously selected
and properly cooked"
American butchers complain that the
average housewife has little knowledge
of the art of cooking. She does not
know how to make tasty dish of the
cheap grades of meat. She therefore
buys the best steaks, slaps them in the
frying pan and places them on the ia
bic when she thinks they are properly
cooked On the other side Of the Allan
tic the cuts are placed on a more equal
footing, the demand for the different
cuts being more general. On this side
the laborer's wife is more likely to or
der chops or steaks than to ask for
brisket or neck, and in consequence il
pays the big packers to send barrels
and barrels Of brisket and the cheaper
cuts to England, while in many cases
the American butchers would prefer
purchasing more Of the portions from
which they take the so called "choice"
cuts to stocking up with the entire car
cass.
While the tenderloin is the tenderest
and is considered the most delicate
cut, 1t is not so juicy or so well flavor
ed as other portions less tender, and it
is not nearly so nutritious as parts
which require more cooking. And
both tenderloin and sirloin contain less
nutritive value than is found in the
cheaper meats.
Another government expert says that
a chuck steak after careful cooking
compares favorably with a round or
sirloin from the same carcass.