A Taste of the Past: Exploring The Complete Housekeeper
The Complete Housekeeper was published in 1803, and it’s an extensive guide to mastering the essentials of the kitchen. From selecting the best meat and seafood and cooking it, to making sauces and desserts, this guide has notes on just about everything culinary.
The excerpt below deals with selecting the best red meats. Our advice would be, when selecting beef, prioritize "marbling"—the visible white flecks of fat within the meat—as it indicates quality and juiciness. Also, look for a bright red color and a firm texture, and, if you’re buying prepackaged meat at the supermarket, make sure that the packaging is intact with no tears or excess liquid. The USDA grading system categorizes beef into three levels: "Prime" (the highest quality with the most marbling), "Choice" (high quality with moderate marbling), and "Select" (leaner with less marbling).
This section of the guide starts with beef, then moves onto other red meats.
HOW TO CHOOSE BEEF
If it be ox beef and of a proper age, it will be of a darkish red, and marbled in the grain, which you may see at the lean part of the thin end of the sirloin; and the fat of a blossom colour. The fat of cow beef is of a whiter colour, and the lean of a pale red. Bull beef is of a closer grain, and a deep dusky red; the fat is skinny and hard, and has a rammish or rank smell.
MUTTON
Mutton is in its perfection at five years old, which you may know by looking at the lean part, where the fore and hind quarters are parted, it will be marbled with fat, and the lean of a darkish red : if young, the lean will be of a pale red, and not so mixt in the grain. Observe that the fat be of a good colour, and no way inclinable to yellow ; if it is yellowish, it is tainted in the feeding, and not good.
VEAL
If the bloody veins in the shoulder be of a bright red, it is new killed, but if blackish or green, it is stale: the loin first taints under the kidney, and the flesh will be soft and flimsy ; the breast and neck taint first at the upper end ; and the sweet-bread on the bread will be flimsy ; if otherwise, it will be fresh and good. Observe that the fat of your veal be of a fine white colour, and fine in the grain; if otherwise, it will dress coarse.
HOUSE LAMB
In a forequarter of lamb, mind that the neck vein be of a light blue, if so, it is good; if it be of a greenish colour, it is tainted. The hind quarter smell under the kidney ; if you meet with a faint smell, it is stale killed, and near tainting. Observe also that it be fine in the grain, and the fat of a clear white.
This section of the guide provides insights into selecting not only high-quality beef, but mutton, veal, and lamb. What we’ve learned from here is that, for beef, ox beef is considered ideal with its dark red color and marbled texture, while cow beef is paler. The guide also adds that for veal, or younger cows, the meat is stale if it is soft and flimsy. The fat of veal should be fine-grained and white. In mutton, a five-year-old animal is considered prime, exhibiting a dark red lean with marbled fat. Younger mutton has less marbling. The term “lamb” in the United States often refers to mutton, or adult sheep, as long as the animal is under a certain age. For true lamb, according to this guide, a fine grain and clear white fat are indicators of good quality. In essence, assessing the color and texture of the meat, along with the color and condition of the fat, is a must for selecting fresh and high-quality cuts.