American Cookery the Art of Dressing Viand Fish Poultry and Vegetables Author Amelia Simmons

How to choose Flesh

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'd, and among poultry the soonest fattened.
_Mutton_, grass-fed, is good two or three years old.
_Lamb_, if under six months is rich, and no danger of imposition; it may be known by its size, in distinguishing either.
_Veal_, is soon lost--great care therefore is necessary in purchasing. Veal bro't to market in panniers, or in carriages, is to be prefered to that bro't in bags, and flouncing on a sweaty horse.
_Pork_, is known by its size, and whether properly fattened by its appearance.
To make the best Bacon
To each ham put one ounce saltpetre, one pint bay salt, one pint molasses, shake together 6 or 8 weeks, or when a large quantity is together, bast them with the liquor every day; when taken out to dry, smoke three weeks with cobs or malt fumes. To every ham may be added a cheek, if you stow away a barrel and not alter the composition, some add a shoulder. For transportation or exportation, double the period of smoaking.