The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual Part 91

_b.u.t.tock of Beef_

Is always boiled, and requires no print to point out how it should be carved. A thick slice should be cut off all round the b.u.t.tock, that your friends may be helped to the juicy and prime part of it. The outside thus cut off, thin slices may then be cut from the top; but as it is a dish that is frequently brought to table cold a second day, it should always be cut handsome and even. When a slice all round would be considered too much, the half, or a third, may be given with a thin slice of fat. On one side there is a part whiter than ordinary, by some called the white muscle. In some places, a b.u.t.tock is generally divided, and this white part sold separate, as a delicacy; but it is by no means so, the meat being coa.r.s.e and dry; whereas the darker-coloured parts, though apparently of a coa.r.s.er grain, are of a looser texture, more tender, fuller of gravy, and better flavoured; and men of distinguis.h.i.+ng palates ever prefer them.

FOOTNOTES:

[412-*] He who greedily grapples for the prime parts, exhibits indubitable evidence that he came for that purpose.

[419-*] Another way of carving a shoulder of mutton, and one which many persons prefer, is in slices from the knuckle to the broad end of the shoulder beginning on the outside. See the lines _f_ and _g_.