All About Beef

( Originally Published 1904 )

When good beef is first cut, the lean is firm so that no mark of the finger remains when one presses it; it is of purplish red, changing to bright red, and becoming moist, after being ex-posed to the air.

There should be plenty of fat; if this is lack ing, it -is- a sign that the meat comes from an old or poorly fed specimen.

When the beef-animal first comes into the hands of the butcher, it is split into halves, or sides." Each half is then divided into fore-quarter and hind-quarter, the division being made just back of the ribs.

The first six ribs, counting forward from the loin, are called the prime ribs. The first steaks cut - on the small end of the loin are called short steaks, and have not much tenderloin: between these and the point where the hip bone ';joins the spine, come the porterhouse steaks, and between this joint and the thighbone the sirloin. This name, " Sir Loin," was given as a title indicative of superiority, in recognition of the tender and juicy nature of the meat that -comes from that little-used muscle, or " cushion," found on the loin by the backbone.

The tenderloin, another little-used muscle, soft, but without much flavor or juice, is found inside of the loin, under the " short ribs."

The best cuts for broiling are steaks from the loin: short steaks, porterhouse, and sirloin.