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Hints About Marketing (Very few housekeepers)

Very few housekeepers understand how to select meats wisely or how to buy economically. Most trust the butcher, or buy at hap-hazard, with no clear understanding of what they want, and no consideration at all for economy; and yet a little knowledge of facts, with a moderate amount of experience and observation, will enable any one to buy both intelligenfly and economically. It is best, when possible, to buy for cash. Ready money always commands the best in the market, at the lowest prices. It is also better to buy of the most respectable regular dealers in the neighborhood, than of transient and irresponsiblc parties. Apparent "bargains" frequently turn out the worst possible investments. If a dealer imposes on you, drop him at once. Meat should always be wiped with a dry, clean towel as soon as it comes from the butcher's, and in loins the pipe which runs along the bone should be removed, as it soon taints. Never buy bruised meat. When found necessary to keep meat longer than was expected, sprinkle pepper, either black or red, over it. It can be washed off easily when ready for cooking. Powdered charcoal is excellent to prevent meat from tainting. Meat which has been kept on ice must be cooked immediately, but it is much better to place meats, poultry, game, etc., by the side of, not on, ice, as it is the cold air, not the ice, which arrests decay. All meats except veal, are better when kept a few days in a cool place...

BUYING BEEF, select that which is of a clear cherry-red color after a fresh cut has been for a few moments exposed to the air. The fat should be of a light straw color, and the meat marbled throughout with fat. If the beef is immature, the color of the lean part will be pale and dull, the bones small, and the fat very white. High-colored, coarse-grained beef, with the fat a deep yellow, should be rejected. In corn-fed beef the fat is yellowish, while that fattened on grasses is whiter. In cow-beef the fat is also whiter than in ox-beef. Inferior meat from old or ill-fed animals has a coarse, skinny fat and a dark red lean. Ox-beef is the sweetest and most juicy, and the most economical. When meat pressed by the finger rises up quickly, it is prime, but if the dent disappears slowly, or remains, it is inferior in quality. Any greenish tints about either fat or lean, or slipperiness of surface, indicates that the meat has been kept so long that putrefaction has begun, and, consequently, is unfit for use, except by those persons who prefer what is known as a "high flavor." Tastes differ as to the choice cuts, and butchers cut meat differently. The tenderloin, which is the choicest piece, and is sometimes removed by itself, lies under the short ribs and close to the backbone, and is usually cut through with the porterhouse and sirloin stakes. Of these the porterhouse is generally preferred, the part nearest the thin bone being the sweetest. If the tenderloin is wanted, it may be secured by buying an edgebone steak, the remainder of which, after the removal of the tenderloin, is equal to the sirloin. The small porterhouse (421)