Meat.—Examine the meat before you accept it. If you do not know the looks of good meat, you should go to a butcher's shop and ask him to show you how to know it. Much gristle is a sign of old age. You can easily tell if meat smells disagreeable. Beef should be of a bright red color, and juicy and elastic. The fat should be firm and of a pale straw color. Mutton should feel dryish and the fat look white. All papers must be taken off at once. The feet of fowls should be soft and flexible, not dry, and the skin of the back should not be discolored.
Beef and mutton, when underdone, are more easily digested than when cooked through.
Roasting and grilling of meat is done to so heat the outside that the juices are kept in. The meat has to be frequently turned to prevent it burning, but allow plenty of salt to melt into the meat with the dripping, or it will taste just as good as a sole of a boot.
As Mr. Holding said: "The only method I know of for properly making your meat thoroughly indigestible" is to hurry a stew.
To stew or braise any meat or fowl you must leave it long and keep it slow. The flavor is improved if the meat be fried first. Then put in flavoring vegetables, bacon, herbs, and a little stock, and by the time you have done a day's work you will find a dish fit for a king. Even tough meat can be made delicious in this way, so long as it never gets near boiling and is closely covered. This is a case of "Sow hurry, and you reap indigestion."
Fish.—A most unwholesome food is stale fish. The gills, if fresh, should be bright red. Canned fish is often
