Evening star., 1914-04-15
Pork.

The housewife must exercise care ir
selecting pork. If pork is i'll fed or In
any way diseased 1t Is dangerous. In
fresh pork the meat should be very fine
grained and pale and the fat very white
II there is a clammy, livid look about the
meat it is stale and should be rejected
If the fat is full Of small hard spots OF
kernels it is an indication of disease.
The loin and ribs are the parts chosen
for roasting or for chops. Sometimes the
bone is removed and the leg is roasted,
and il has delicious flavor.
In good bacon the rind is thin, the fat
is very firm and white. the lean pale and
tender. Fat bacon. well cured. is much
the better tasting and more wholesome.
II the bacon looks rusty and has yellow
streaks in the fat the wise housewife
does not buy It,
Inc BEST hams are the ones ranging
from eight to fifteen pounds; the skin is
thin, fat solid and the shank is small and
tapering. An old-fashioned method of
testing hams much relied upon by our
grandmothers was to run sharp knife
along the bone on the f1eshy side. If it
came out clean the ham was good. but if
the knife was smeared it indicated that
the ham was spoiled.
Young sucking pigs three to five weeks
old, roasted were a great delicacy with
an older generation, but luckily the de-
mand is not extensive now, or we should
De racing the same problem concerning
pork that the vast consumption of veal
has brought home to US about beef
shortage.
In buying mutton care should be taken
that the fat is clear. hard and white
as the mutton with flabby, livid or yellow
rat indicates too long a residence in cold
storage. 1t would seem that great
quantity of fat in mutton would mean
much waste. but the lean part is SO much
more juicy and tender when this is the
case that the nice housewife always
makes her selection with this in view
The leg has the least fat in proportion to
the weight. and next comes the shoulder
The color of the lean part of mutton is
a deep. dark red, in contrast to the more
vivid cherry red of beef.
The best roasting piece to choose is
the hind quarter, though the shoulder
NAV be roasted. as well as the saddle,
loin and haunch.
The ribs are usually the preferred
chops. as they are sweeter and more
tender. but the loin chops are much more
economical as there is much less bone
and not so much hard meat as in the rib
chops
Lamb is good to eat at year old and
is much more digestble than other imma-
ture meats such as veal or pork
We seem to have grown into the habit
OF valuing things to eat because they are
unreasonable as strawberries in January,
but the wise housewife knows that it is
better reason to have things in season.
and she will hesitate about buying spring
lamb. which is much inferior in nutrient
value to the best mutton. merely be-
cause it comes on the market in the
early spring and is an extremely expen-
sive delicacy. The meat of spring lamb
should be clear pink and fat
Beef.
Many a housewife has been in the
habit OF giving into the hands of her
butcher the selection of her meats, but
the modern, efficient housewife devotes
a little time to the study of the prob
lem and finds she is enabled to get bet
ter meats and pay less for them by at
tending to her buying herself.
In selecting beef choose that which is
a clear cherry red color after being eX-
posed to the air. The meat of a brick
red color should be avoided, as that often
indicates that spoiled meat has been
treated to a bath of chemicals to bring
1t back from its gray, unhealthy color
The fat should be of light straw color.
and in order to be tender the meat should
be well marbed with fat. If the beef is
of coarse grain and the fat deep yell
low it is sure to be tough. In grass-fed
beef the fat is winter than corn-fed. In
COW beef the fat is also whittier than in
OK beef. but OK beef is the sweetest.
most juicy and most economical. When
the quality of meat is in question press
it with the finger. If the depression dis
appears quickly it is prime. but if it