calves purposely before killing them, with a view to make the flesh
white, but this also makes it dry and flavourless. On examining the
loin, if the fat enveloping the kidney be white and firm-looking, the
meat will probably be prime and recently killed. Veal will not keep so
long as an older meat, especially in hot or damp weather: when going,
the fat becomes soft and moist, the meat flabby and spotted, and
somewhat porous like sponge. Large, overgrown veal is inferior to
small, delicate, yet fat veal. The fillet of a cow-calf is known by
the udder attached to it, and by the softness of the skin; it is
preferable to the veal of a bull-calf.


14. Mutton.

The meat should be firm and close in grain, and red in colour, the fat
white and firm. Mutton is in its prime when the sheep is about five
years old, though it is often killed much younger. If too young, the
flesh feels tender when pinched; if too old, on being pinched it
wrinkles up, and so remains. In young mutton, the fat readily
separates; in old, it is held together by strings of skin. In sheep
diseased of the rot, the flesh is very pale-coloured, the fat
inclining to yellow; the meat appears loose from the bone, and, if
squeezed, drops of water ooze out from the grains; after cooking, the
meat drops clean away from the bones. Wether mutton is preferred to
that of the ewe; it may be known by the lump of fat on the inside of
the thigh.


15. Lamb.