Foods.

  • Smith, Edward (1818?-74)
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Foods. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    83/569 page 53
    I MUTTON, LA]MB, GOAT'S, AND CAMEL'S FLESH. 53 most useful joint in the sheep, and justifies the higher price deraanded for it. The neck has the greatest pro- portion of hone, with a large proportion of fat, and is not so economical as the price of it might indicate. The most solid meat is the leg, and the least the shoulder and breast. The latter has the further dis- advantage of having more fat than lean, whilst the lean is not easily masticated, and has but little flavour, but as the price at which it is sold is less than that of any other joint of mutton, it is not without its advan- tage to the poorer classes. The liquor in which mutton is boiled has less nutri- tive value, except in the fat, than the broth of beef, but having a delicate flavour is preferred by many persons. It is, however, too rich in fat, unless a large portion of that substance be first removed. The loss on cooking mutton is generally believed to be greater than that on beef. At the Soup Kitchen in Leipsic only 9^ ounces of cooked meat remained after boiling one pound of fresh meat and bone, whilst the broth contained nearly one-third of the weight of the fresh meat. In my own experiments the loss on the laiuckle of mutton was 30 per cent, on the meat, and 14 per cent, on the bone ; or 4| ounces and 2^ ounces in the pound of raw meat and bone. The solid matter in the broth was 34*3 per cent, of the raw weight. This varies much with the breed of the sheep. Thus, mountain sheep have the least fat, and the mutton loses the least in cooking, whilst the Leicestershire breed produces a very large proportion of fat, and causes the greatest loss in cooking. The mixed breed of the Lincolnshire and Leicester sheep is much approved in the midland counties, as increasing the proportion of lean flesh; whilst the South Down is prefei-red in London and neighbourhood,
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