Part 100

_Meat._--Of meats, beef and mutton are of course in season all the year round; pork only in the cold weather. Veal can be had at any time, but it is cheaper in late spring and summer; and even lamb as an article of luxury can be bought as early in the year as this. Doe venison can be bought this month. The greatest difficulty a young housekeeper has to encounter is that of going to choose meat at the butcher’s. No rules without experience in applying them are likely to be of great value. Good beef should be red, with a purplish hue where it has been lately cut. If it is very brilliant scarlet or very pale, it is not good. The fat should be opaque, not transparent, and should be abundant on the ribs and under the sirloin; there should be plenty of white or yellowish suet inside the animal, and even on the lean joints there should be specks of fat mixed up with the meat. It should not waste much in cooking, though this has to do with the stove as well as the meat, and it should not be watery--lying, for example, in a pool of moisture on the block. All this may have to do with the wholesomeness of the meat, as these are the indications to show that the animal was in good health when it was killed, and that it was not “knocked on the head to save its life.” Even for those who do not like any fat with meat, a lean joint should be ordered, not a joint that would be fat on a healthy animal. This does not apply to the preposterously fat beasts killed about Christmas time, that are scarcely in a state of health from repletion, and the meat is too rich to be very wholesome, and far too fat to be economical. The yellow colour of the fat in Christmas beef is caused by feeding on oilcake instead of green food. Then, as regards the tenderness of meat, it should be fine grained, and should not have thick strips of sinew or gristle running through it. All meat has some in some parts, of course; for instance, in the coarse end of the ribs (i.e. the ribs nearest the tail) there is a strip of gristle about 1½ in. under the skin. It is there always, and is very tough and prominent in old meat. Butchers often cut it out, and it should be cut out before cooking; but it is better still to insist on having the first cut of the ribs (i.e. the shoulder end). All these indications are, it may be easily seen, comparative rather than absolute, and an inexperienced housewife walking into a butcher’s shop will be puzzled to know exactly how red, what tinge of purple, what proportion of fat, and what thickness of gristle she is to be prepared to expect. It is for each woman to decide whether she will choose her own meat or leave it to the butcher’s choosing. At any rate, the butcher will do his part of the bargain better if he clearly understands that his customer knows good meat from second rate, and will not overlook shortcomings in quality or weight. The meat should be weighed frequently, if not invariably, and the butcher should not be allowed to send more than is ordered, or less than he charges for. Comparatively few butchers kill their own meat. They buy at the dead-meat markets such parts of such animals as they have the best sale for. A first-class butcher in a wealthy neighbourhood, only buys the best meat and the prime joints; but a butcher in a poor neighbourhood, with a low-class trade, finds a ready sale for coarser inferior meat, and in some town slums it seems as though every animal had at least 6 heads and a corresponding number of internal arrangements. The coarse meat may be perfectly wholesome; it would be in a respectable shop; but, being coarse or tough, it commands a much less price in the wholesale market, the sales at which, and the ruling prices, are quoted constantly in the daily papers. The price given is at per stone of 8 lb. Retail buyers can often make an excellent bargain in the meat markets, either by arranging with a salesman to have a certain quantity delivered once or twice a week, or by going to the market themselves. On a Saturday night, or on any night in bad keeping weather, meat of all kinds can often be bought at much less than its usual price. Against this has to be set the trouble, the value of the time, the railway fare, and the possibility of an inexperienced person being taken in.

Beef is no doubt the cheapest meat to buy. It is most satisfying, and there is least bone. The prime joints of beef, and the leg and loin of mutton are usually about the same price, and in these there is not much difference; but the cheaper joints of mutton are very bony, while the cheaper joints o£ beef can be quite solid meat with no bone at all. These solid pieces of beef are what economical people should buy, instead of ribs and sirloins, and rump, for every day household use. They are far less fat than the more expensive joints, and therefore they waste less in cutting at table as well as in cooking. Ribs of beef cut to greater advantage for a large party if the bone is taken out and the meat rolled. The cheaper joints are the thick flank, “leg of mutton piece” (part of the shoulder), the shin, clod, and sticking piece. Of these the last three are only fit for stewing or braising, as the meat is tough, though it is wholesome and nourishing. It is very suitable for economical pies and puddings, but needs separate stewing first. Of mutton the leg is most economical, though the shoulder is generally lower in price. Breasts of mutton are sometimes sold at a very low price, and may then be cheap for stewing or braising. On the whole, the fillet is probably the most economical joint of roasting veal; the breast is better fitted for stewing, but it should be considerably lower in price than the leaner and less bony joints.

_Fish._--Cod is now at its cheapest; soles, more or less in season all the year; lemon soles, which are rather less round in shape, less firm in texture, and about half the price of the black soles; haddocks, skate, conger, hake, herrings, plaice, ling, all of which are among the cheapest of fish; whiting, halibut, oysters, lobsters, crabs, shrimps; with shell-fish, such as winkles, whelks, and mussels, all are in season. Turbot, smelts, brill, flounders, and sea bream, red and grey mullet, are also to be recommended. Rhine salmon puts in an appearance this month, and, taken in conjunction with early cucumber, is delicious in flavour if extravagant in cost.

_Game and Poultry._--Turkey is never better than at this season; but we may recommend our readers, if they wish to taste turkey in perfection, to eschew the larger specimens, and pin their faith on a hen turkey of 7-9 lb. in weight. Among birds eaten with the trail, the golden plover is perhaps one of the best when skilfully dressed, either as a roast or _en salmis_. Larks, excellent either roasted, _en caisses_, or as an adjunct to rump-steak pudding, are also abundant; while from America are imported the savoury pinnated grouse and succulent canvas-back duck--not to be eaten except with currant jelly and celery salad. Grouse went out in December, but there remain fowls, chickens, geese, pheasants, partridges, wild ducks, hares, rabbits, capercailzies, snipe, and woodcock.

_Vegetables._--Broccoli, cabbage, savoys, spinach, Scotch kale, and sprouts for green; the green part of leeks is also useful as a garnish. Celery, parsnips, Jerusalem artichokes, and turnips for white vegetables. Lettuce, endive, beetroot, cresses, and forced cucumbers for salad. Potatoes can be bought at 50_s._ to 60_s._ a ton, according to size and quality. There is no economy in buying very small potatoes, as even at a low price, they are dear in the long run. Small consumers will find it more economical to buy by the sack of 168 lb. or the bushel of 56 lb. They should be kept in the dark and covered so that frost cannot reach them. Every week until new potatoes come in, the old ones grow dearer, and it is more difficult to get them good. A rough skin is said to indicate a mealy potato, and a smooth skin a waxy one; but that is not a sure guide, and the best way is to boil a sample and watch the result. There are few potatoes that cannot be made good by appropriate cooking, but some are good anyhow. Salsify--better known and appreciated in France and in America than in this country--an excellent vegetable, susceptible of varied treatment at the hands of a skilful cook--is also to be obtained.

_Fruit._--Not now very plentiful. American apples, by the lb. or barrel, can be had in plenty, but they are not cheap. Apple chips can be used for all cooking purposes where fresh apples are employed, and are no doubt the cheapest substitute for fresh fruit. Medlars, pears, and hothouse grapes are the only home-grown fruits. American grapes, sent over in barrels of sawdust, and oranges are so familiar that we almost forget they are foreign. This is pre-eminently the season for dried and crystallised fruits of all kinds. Old raisins (which can, of course, be bought at a much cheaper rate than any new crop) are better than new for cake and pudding making, as the skins are less tough, and large cake bakers commonly buy their year’s stock late in the season.

February.

_Meat._--Beef, mutton, pork, and in a lesser degree veal are all in season, and lamb begins to appear frequently on our tables; but neither lamb nor veal has yet attained its highest flavour.

_Fish._--Turbot and brill are still seasonable, and are much alike, though turbot is considered the better, and is the dearer of the two. The flesh should have a yellowish tinge, and these, like all other flat fish, should be preferred when they are thick in proportion to their size. Turbot keeps well for a few days, and should be hung up by its tail, not laid flat. Other fish are still in season that were in the markets last month. The lists of the London fish markets give the following names: Soles, plaice, sturgeon, eels, conger, skate, haddocks, sprats, halibut, herrings, whiting, mackerel, hake, roker, coal fish, smelts. As much fish is caught and brought to London that should be left in the sea, it does not follow that all the prices quoted are of fish in full season. There are names in the list quite unfamiliar to some readers, but there is not one that does not belong to a fish that, good of its kind and well cooked, is fit to set before any one. We often should fare better and save money if we lengthened our list. Codfish, haddock, plaice, flounders, and the ever-welcome sole are in fine condition, but herrings and mackerel are not to be recommended. Smelts, whitings, and red mullet are still in season. Of late years the conger-eel has taken up a position formerly denied to him, and although in bad odour, on account of his cheapness, he is not a bad fish when carefully dressed, and, above all things, makes an excellent soup. Shell-fish are scarce, dear, and--with the exception of oysters--are not so good as later in the season. Salmon is never finer than during this month.

_Game and Poultry._--Game is on the wane. Grouse, pheasant, and partridge are over, and game imported from the forests of Norway and the prairies of Illinois but inadequately fills the place of our home-grown birds. In default of these come swimming and wading fowl, woodcock, snipe, and golden plover. Wild duck holds its own, and always presents an appetising morsel. Of all Lenten fowl, the curlew holds the chiefest place, and affords an admirable dish either as a roast or _en salmis_. The godwit is also an excellent bird. Larks are to be had, and, in default of ortolans, are agreeable if diminutive. Hares are still to the fore, and rabbit is to be obtained, and may be roasted, smothered in onions, or best of all exhibited in a curry.

Barndoor poultry waxes scarce and dear. Turkeys no longer abound as at Christmas, and guinea-fowl are found the best substitute. Spring chickens present but a diminutive appearance, while geese and ducks are becoming rare.

_Vegetables._--Seakale and rhubarb can be added to the list of vegetables, but they are still costly, though before the end of the month forced rhubarb will be common.

_Fruit._--Oranges are now at the lowest prices, and very plentiful. It is a time of year when bottled and tinned fruits are in great request, both for dessert and for cooking.

Apples, with the exception of the _reinette_ and other varieties of russets, are becoming scarce. France and America, however, send us lady-apples, and a few choice pippens, such as the famous Newtown variety.

_Breadstuffs._--Good flour should have a very slight yellow tinge, should not feel gritty between the fingers, and it should be adherent, so that a handful pressed together retain its shape. There should be no mouldy smell nor acid taste. The best test of all is to bake a loaf of bread, always granted that the character of the flour is not to be held liable for shortcomings of cook or yeast. The very fine and white pastry flour makes the best-looking and also delicious-tasting bread, and is much to be preferred for puff paste and rolls; but for family use seconds flour and seconds bread is better, for not only is it cheaper, but it is more nourishing, because it contains less starch and a larger proportion of bone and flesh forming material. Rice is added in making bread, sometimes because it is cheaper than flour, at other times because it retains water. Bread made so is heavier and of closer texture. Potatoes are used only in small quantity, to assist the action of the yeast. Alum enables flour to be used that without it could not make passable bread.

As it cools, bread begins to lose weight. This may be stopped by throwing a thick cloth over the loaves, but the crust thereby becomes heavy. No private person would need to do this, but as household bread is sold by weight, and every customer may demand a full 4 lb. to each quartern, or 2 lb. to an ordinary loaf, it is sometimes in the baker’s interest to do so. When bread is left at the house it is not customary to weigh it, but the humbler housekeepers who fetch their bread take care to have a slice thrown in as makeweight if the scale does not turn at 2 lb. or 4 lb. Fancy bread is never sold by weight.

It is customary to allow about 1 lb. baker’s bread a day for each person. Two people would eat a half-quartern loaf between them. Of course, individual appetites vary, and if there is great abundance of other food, the bread bill may be diminished; but (though, of course, there should be no idea of stinting the supply) 1 lb. a day is an ample allowance, and if more is consumed there is probably some waste going on, new loaves being begun before the old are finished, and pieces of bread thrown into the dustbin or hog-tub. This is as unnecessary as it is undesirable. Half a stale loaf can be made fresh by warming it through in the oven. Slices of bread should not be cut till they are needed; but if they are cut, they can be made into puddings or fritters for the nursery tea or kitchen supper, much more popular and wholesome, and no more costly, than the monotonous bread and butter and bread and cheese. Smaller pieces can be dried and pounded for cutlets or fish; soaked in cold water or milk, they come in for rissoles and stuffing.

March.

_Meat._--Pork is not seasonable in hot weather, and is not often seen on table after this month. Beef, mutton, and veal are obtainable as usual, and lamb can also be had, though it will be dear for a few weeks yet.

_Fish._--Slightly salted and smoked haddocks are consumed in enormous quantities in London. Fresh or smoked, they are always a low-priced fish. There is not much to be remembered in choosing such fish, except that they should be large and thick; the smaller ones are all bone and skin. They should be scalded to draw out the salt and to make them soft, a preliminary to cooking that is often forgotten.

Perhaps nothing varies in quality and price so much as fish. It must be in season, as it is always tasteless and insipid, sometimes actually unwholesome, at other times. Fish out of season should not be bought, however cheap it seems to be. It is always in best condition just before spawning, when it is filled with roe. Afterwards it loses the store of fat, and becomes poor and watery. It must be fresh, and this is not easy of detection to the inexperienced. The smell is a guide; but fish kept on ice may not smell disagreeably, yet it may have been a long time out of the water, and as soon as it is taken from the ice it will begin to decompose, and in a few hours of warm weather will be quite uneatable. It should be bright and red about the gills and eyes, not dull and brown; but this also is an appearance that the fishmongers know how to give the fish long after nature has taken it away. It should not have been knocked about or bruised; the scales should be all there. A large fish is usually to be preferred to a small one, provided it be not old and coarse fleshed, and consequently tough, for the small contain a greater proportion of bone. The flesh should, with some few exceptions, have a bluish tinge when freshly cut. It should be firm, though not tough; but the firmness has something to do with good cookery. Salt enough to make the water like weak brine, or a little vinegar, tends to make the flesh of boiled fish firm.

In choosing any shell-fish, the great thing to be considered is the weight in proportion to size. The heavier they are the better; the lighter fish are apt to be watery. Of lobsters choose those with broadest tails. The very large lobsters, hoary with white incrustations on the shell, are often old and tough.

Cod is a winter fish, flourishing best in the coldest waters. Whitebait is brought into town each afternoon for the late dinners of fashionable London, as it loses its freshness even in a few hours, especially when the warm weather of June and July comes. Smelts when fresh are brown on the back and silvery-looking. They are not so plentiful now as in late autumn.

Monday is a dangerous day to go marketing, because perishable goods may have been kept from the Saturday before. For the same reason, on Saturday night fish may often be bought very cheap, because, though it is perfectly good at the time, it will not keep for 36 hours.

All oily fish must be perfectly fresh, and they do not generally keep long or well. Salmon trout, for instance, is said never to be eaten in perfection except by the fisherman, and many cases of poisoning with mackerel have been sufficiently severe to be noticed in the papers, while mild cases of discomfort due to that cause are known to every one. Mackerel lives but a very little time after it is taken out of the water. There are two mackerel fisheries, one in the spring and one in the autumn, and the fish are sometimes sold even in London at a very low price; in the fishing villages a score or more can be bought for a shilling. Nothing like this price is to be met with in town, but yet they are among the cheapest foods as soon as the fishing boats are in full work; and tons will be sold this month and next from barrows in the streets, often excellent fish, though they cost about a quarter of what we pay at the fishmonger’s. It should be bright and silvery looking, not bruised about the head.

Of salmon, it is usual to allow about ½ lb. for each person, if a handsome piece is wanted for boiling; less will do if a large party is to be provided for, but more is needed for a dinner of 2 or 3 persons. The middle of the fish costs more than the head and shoulders, and the tail less than either. Salmon goes farther than most kinds of fish, but only very seldom is it a cheap food. A curdy appearance between the flakes generally denotes a good fish. Turbot and the smaller species of the same genus are in prime condition. Brill is an admirable fish when chicken-turbot is not to be had. Soles are firm and white as ever. Salmon, now in splendid condition, has to endure the rivalry of the dainty trout. Towards the end of the present month shad begin to ascend the Severn and some of the rivers of France. This delicate fish is never better than when simply grilled. Eels are now in season, and may be served either as a stew, a spatchcock, or _à la tartare_.

_Game and Poultry._--Goslings are to be found, and in the opinion of many are much more agreeable in their youthful beauty than in the mature and adipose condition of stubble-fed geese. Guinea-fowl are always good, great and small, and perhaps are best when nipped in the bud as mere eggs--a delicious morsel to a delicate palate.

Very little game is to be had, and that little consists, besides hares, of aquatic birds, woodcock, snipe, plover, widgeon, and teal, together with curlew.

_Vegetables._--The vegetable market shows signs of spring. Forced cucumbers appear to keep salmon company. Spring salads take the place of winter. Artichokes from France are tolerably plentiful, and that excellent vegetable--sorrel, which forms such an agreeable addition to shad or to a _fricandeau_, is to be seen in our markets, although at present it finds but little favour in the sight of English cooks. Covent Garden imports sweet potatoes for the benefit of American customers, and custard-apples from the island of Madeira. New potatoes, carrots, turnips and parsnips are more abundant than in the preceding month. Portugal sends green peas, and imported asparagus becomes less costly.

_Fruit._--We should be badly off for fruit if it were not for oranges, which are actually cheaper than English apples in the apple season. Now is the time to make marmalade, as Seville oranges are plentiful. If oranges or any other fresh fruit have to be kept, they should be in the dark, and laid on wood, not on a plate or dish. It is better to put them in rows, and not heap them up. Grapes are still in the market, flanked by apples and pears of the most durable kinds, and early strawberries.

April.

_Meat._--Grass lamb is the meat of the season.

_Fish._--Whitebait is a choice natural product. It is supposed that this delicious fish can only be obtained, either “plain,” “devilled black,” or “devilled red,” in true perfection at those excellent hostelries which by its means have attained celebrity. No greater mistake exists. It is within the power of every gentleman to have as good whitebait at his own table as he can obtain elsewhere. Fresh bait, ample flouring, and boiling--absolutely boiling--lard will solve the problem in the most satisfactory manner.

Salmon is getting cheaper--if not better--and plump chicken-turbot is still in. The gigantic but rather coarse halibut remains, with plaice and flounder. Dainty brook-trout and larger specimens of the same genus, from the Irish lakes, present an agreeable spectacle; while the gurnet is in great force. Whiting is yet in season, but mackerel and herring are better later on. Oysters take their leave.

_Game and Poultry._--Spring chickens, ducklings, goslings, and guinea-fowl but feebly replace the juicy birds of the autumn and winter months.

_Vegetables._--Among the prime vegetables of the month asparagus holds the chiefest place, and is always delicious. To those who have not yet tasted it we may recommend cold asparagus, with plain salad-dressing, as a breakfast dish without a peer. Green peas, early French beans, seakale, sorrel, spinach, succulent mushrooms, early carrots, and baby turnips are plentiful.

_Fruit._--Pines, melons, oranges, hothouse grapes, peaches, nectarines and strawberries, and a few durable apples and pears apart--fruit is scarce; but delicious tarts can be made of green peaches and apricots.

May.