DIRECTIONS for CATERING, or procuring the best VIANDS, FISH, etc.
- BEEF. The large stall fed ox beef is the best, it has a coarse open grain, and oily smoothness; dent it with your finger and it will immediately rise again; if old,, it will be rough and spungy, and the dent remain.
- COW Beef is less boned and generally more tender and juicy than the ox, in America, which is used to labor.
- Of almost every species of Animals, Birds and Fishes, the female is the tenderest, the richest flavour's, and among poultry the soonest flattened.
- MUTTON, grass-fed is good two or three years old.
- LAMB, if under six months is rich, and no danger of imperfection; it may be known by its size, in distinguishing either.
- VEAL, is the soon lost - great care therefore is necessary in purchasing. Veal bro't to market in panniers, or in carriages, is to be preferred to that brought in bags, and bouncing on a sweaty horse.
- PORK, is known by its size, and weather properly fattened by its appearance.
To make the best Bacon
- To each ham put one ounce saltpeter, one pint bay salt, one pint molasses, shake together 6 or 8 weeks, or when a large quantity is together, salt them with liquor everyday; when taken out to dry, smoke three weeks with cobs or malt fumes. To every ham may be added a cheek, if you stoy away a barrel and not alter the composition, some add a shoulder. For transportation or exportation, double the period of smoking.
