CHOICE AND CUTTING UP OF MEAT. 7
meat, if not perhaps to be reckoned with really first-rate home-grown mutton, is at all events decidedly superior to a great deal of (so-called) English mutton. Remember that the best way to thaw this meat is to hang it for several hours either in the kitchen or in some place of about the same temperature, remembering that it should, save in very dry, cold weather, be cooked as soon as it is properly thawed. Remember, also, that owing to the extra quantity of moisture it possesses, joints of it should be hung with the uncut part down, i.e., in hanging a leg be sure to hang it by the thick part, leaving the shank end down—or, in thawing, the juice would run out at the cut part. This is, by the way, one great reason for the prejudice against frozen meat, as being “so dry.” One more note about thawing meat, and a gruesome one. Be careful where it is hung, as all moisture is attracted by cold, and any steam or exhalations from drains, etc., will infallibly gather round the meat, and, as the frost in the latter gives, will taint and corrupt it.
Lamb should be plump, a pale brownish pink in the lean, with opaline and firm, hard fat. A faint bluish tinge is generally noticeable in the latter. Be sure the butcher always sends a piece of “caul” (a thin, semi-transparent membrane) over the fat to protect it whilst roasting. “House lamb” is in season from Christmas to Lady Day, and is so-called from its having been born about midwinter, and, consequently, reared under shelter and principally fed on milk. “Grass lamb” succeeds to this, and is the young lamb brought up naturally, more or less