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The Story of Crisco: Veal

Veal Veal is at its best when the calf is from three to four months old. The meat should be of a close firm grain, white gr in color and the fat inclining to a pinkish tinge. Veal is sometimes coarser in the grain, and redder in the flesh, not necessarily a mark of inferiority, but denoting the fact that calf has been brought up in the open. Like all young meat, veal turns very quickly, therefore it never should hang more than two or three days. In choosing veal always examine the suet under the kidney; if this be clammy and soft, with a faint odor, the meat is not good, and always reject any that has greenish or yellowish spots about it. The head should be clean skinned and firm, the eyes full and clear, the kidneys large and well covered with fat, the liver a rich dark clear color, free from any spots or gristle, while the sweetbreads should be firm, plump, of a delicate color, and free from strings. Pork The flesh of pork, when in good condition, is a delicate pinky white, with a close fine grain; the fat, which should not be too abundant, of a white color, very faintly tinged with pink; the skin should be thin and elastic to the touch, and the flesh generally cool, clean, and smooth looking; if, on the contrary, the flesh is flabby and clammy when touched, it is not fresh. Pork, like all white meat, is quick to taint, and never should be kept long before cooking. If you have the slightest doubt about pork, it is best to reject it, for unlike other meat which may be quite wholesome and usable, though not of precisely prime quality, pork must be in really first class condition to be wholesome, and therefore it is impossible to be too particular in the choice of it. Always if possible look at the tongue, for, as in beef, this is a very fair criterion of the condition of the animal; a freshly scraped new wooden skewer run into the meat along the bone is a good test of the freshness of the pork, and be careful especially to examine the fat, for if there be little kernels in it the pork is "measly," How to Choose Foods a very common disease among pigs, and one particularly unwholesome to the consumer.