Christie C. “How to Market, And the Seasons of the Year for Butchers’ Meat, Poultry, Fish, Etc.” ―
Hannah Glasse
18th Century Food Shopping in the Colonial Period vs Modern Western Food Shopping
After reading The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse, I was fascinated by the stark contrasts in food shopping in the 18th century compared to food shopping in today’s modern world.
You might be thinking, Of course it was different! But, to actually read and imagine the steps for getting food from farm or market to plate made an impression on me. Eating required massive amounts of physical labor and knowledge, heavy cooking tools, and had to be done with no refrigeration. Additionally, there were very few if any food regulations. So, if you wanted to purchase fowl to eat for dinner, you had better know how to make sure it is fresh.
Modern food shopping as we know it today in the Western world encompasses the old fashioned methods of checking meat or vegetables for their color and texture as well as scanning nutrition labels and ingredients lists, sometimes with or without any idea what the numbers, measurements, or ingredients mean. If we were to bring a nutrition label to an 18th century cook, they would probably assume we are insane. Why would we require numbers to dictate what we eat? And, what are maltodextrin and artificial flavors, anyway?
In a way, I envy some methods of shopping and food preparation from the past in that food for the masses was produced locally, and the entire animal or plant was used.
There was also a sense of community between farmers since colonial farmers mostly produced food for themselves, “bartering with neighbors to augment their own production, and trading tiny surpluses for store foods” (Bushman, 1998).
There was also little to no distance or separation between the consumer and the animal or plant because cooking was not just taking meat and vegetables out of the fridge and throwing them in an oven or microwave. It was hunting or killing an animal, foraging for plants or harvesting from a farm and garden, and only then could food be prepared for consumption, which might require additional steps such as fetching water, gathering firewood, heating a firewood oven, setting a pot over coals to boil water, and fermenting or pickling to preserve essential foods, as shown in many of Glasse’s recipes (Glasse, 1746).
Food is definitely safer today than it was in the past, considering zero food regulations made for some sketchy food purchases up until the establishment of the USDA and FDA in 1862, and the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act and Federal Inspection Act in 1906. Subsequent laws would be passed to ensure better food safety (Brain Food, 2023). America could still use some work because we still face regular food contaminations and the industry has been deregulated in recent years, but I would trust today’s safety standards over the standards of the past any day of the week since, thankfully, we’re not allowed to sell clearly discolored and rotten food.
With that said, let’s look at How to Market Butcher’s Meat
How to Market Butcher’s Meat
To choose Lamb
In a fore-quarter of lamb mind the neck-vein: if it be an azure blue, it is new and good; but if greenish or yellowish, it is near tainting, if not tainted, already. In the hinder-quarter, smell under the kidney, and try the knuckle: if you meet with a faint scent, and the knuckle be limber, it is stale killed. For a lamb’s head, mind the eyes; if they be sunk or wrinkled, it is stale; if plump and lively, it is new and sweet. Lamb comes in April, and holds good until the end of August (Glasse, 1746).
It is important to understand the signs of spoiling meat by observing specific parts of the lamb. American grocery stores allow no such connection between the buyer, butcher, and animal. I would argue that most Americans (me included) that shop conventionally are rather ignorant when it comes to identifying specific parts of animals and how to identify signs of freshness beyond the initial color and smell (which can both be manipulated by the manufacturer).
Modern Day Tip: Familiarize yourself with the different parts of an animal so that you can identify signs of freshness beyond the color and odor of the meat. Odor and color can be manipulated by the manufacturer with chemicals and food color.
Veal
If the bloody vein in the shoulder looks blue, or of a bright red, it is newly killed; but if blackish, greenish, or yellowish, it is flabby and stale: if wrapped in wet clothes, smell whether it be musty or not. The loin first taints under the kidney; and the flesh, if stale, will be soft and slimy (Glasse, 1746).
The breast and neck taints first at the end, and you will perceive some dusty, yellowish, or greenish appearance; the sweetbread on the breast will be clammy, otherwise it is fresh and good. The leg is known to be new by the stiffness of the joint; if limber, and the flesh seems clammy; and has green or yellowish specks, it is stale. The head is known as the lamb’s. The flesh of a bull-calf is more red and firm than that of a cow-calf, and the fat more hard and curdled (Glasse, 1746).
Rotting meat was a normal occurrence, and oftentimes would still be sold to the ignorant buyer. For clarification, not all “rot” is fundamentally bad. When things rot, they are essentially decaying, and this process can be taken advantage of when attempting to ferment food. The issue is when the wrong bacteria contaminates your foods, which can lead to food borne illnesses and outbreaks. Glasse knows that meat can be manipulated to appear fresher than it is, hence the reason the shopper should check the quality if “wrapped in wet clothes,” which helps to keep the meat moist on the outside, but can still show signs of deterioration based on its odor.
Modern Day Tip: Check meats for texture.
Mutton
If the mutton be young, the flesh will pinch tender; if old, it will wrinkle, and remain so; if young, the fat will easily part from the lean; if old, it will stick by strings and skins; if ram-mutton, the fat feels spongy, the flesh close-grained and tough, not rising again when dented with your finger; if ewe mutton, the flesh is paler than wether-mutton, a closer grain, and easily parting. If there be a rot, the flesh will be palish, and the fat a faint whitish, inclining to yellow, and the flesh will be loose at the bone. If you squeeze it hard, some drops of water will stand up like sweat. As to the newness and staleness, the same is to be observed as by lamb (Glasse, 1746).
Mutton refers to sheep meat in which the animal is over a year old. It has a stronger, gamier flavor compared to lamb. Glasse makes a distinction between ram and ewe meat, highlighting its texture and fat content.
Beef
If it be right ox-beef, it will have an open grain; if young, a tender and oily smoothness: if rough and spongy, it is old or inclining to be so, except the neck, brisket and such parts as are very fibrous, which in young meat will be more rough than in other parts. A carnation, pleasant colour betokens good spending meat; the suet a curious white; yellowish is not so good (Glasse, 1746).
Cow-beef is less bound and closer grained than the ox, the fat whiter, but the lean somewhat paler; if younger, the dent you make with your finger will rise again in a little time (Glasse, 1746).
Bull-beef is of a close grain, deep dusky red, tough in pinching, the fat skinny, hard, and has a rammish rank smell; and for newness and staleness, this flesh bought fresh has but few signs, the more material is its clamminess, and the rest your smell will inform you. If it be bruised, these places will look more dusky or blackish than the rest (Glasse, 1746).
Pork
If it be young, the lean will break in pinching between your fingers; and if you nip the skin with your nails, it will make a dent; also if the fat be soft and pulpy, in a manner like lard; if the lean be tough, and the fat flabby and spongy, feeling rough, it is old, especially if the rind be stubborn, and you cannot nip it with your nails (Glasse, 1746).
If of a boar, though young, or of a hog gelded at full growth, the flesh will be hard, tough, reddish, and rammish of smell; the fat, skinny and hard; the skin very thick and tough, and, pinched up, will immediately fall again (Glasse, 1746).
As for old and new killed, try the legs, hands, and springs, by putting your finger under the bone that comes out: for if it be tainted, you will there find it by smelling your finger; besides the skin will be sweaty and clammy when stale, but cool and smooth when new (Glasse, 1746).
If you find little kernels in the fat of the pork, like hail-shot, if many, it is measly, and dangerous to be eaten. Pork comes in in the middle of August, and holds good till Lady-day (Glasse, 1746).
Venison
Try the haunches or shoulders under the bones that come out, with your finger or knife, and as the scent is sweet or rank, it is new or stale; and the life of the sides in the most fleshy parts: if tainted, they will look greenish in some places, or more than ordinary black. Look on the hoofs, and if the clefts are very wide and rough, it is old; if close and smooth, it is young. (Glasse, 1746)
The buck venison begins in May, and is in high season till All-hallows-day: the doe is in season from Michaelmas to the end of December, or sometimes to the end of January (Glasse, 1746).
Westphalia Hams, and English Bacon
Put a knife under the bone that sticks out of the ham, and if it comes out in a manner clean, and has a carious flavour, it is sweet and good; if much smeared and dulled, it is tainted or rusty (Glasse, 1746).
English gammons are tried the same way; and for the other parts, try the fat: if it be white, oily in feeling, does not break or crumble, good; but if the contrary, and the lean has some little streaks of yellow, it is rusty, or will soon be so (Glasse, 1746).
To choose Butter, Cheese, and Eggs
When you buy butter, trust not to that which will be given you to take, but try in the middle, and if your smell and taste be good, you cannot be deceived (Glasse, 1746).
Cheese is to be chosen by its moist and smooth coat: if old cheese be rough-coated, rugged, or dry at top, beware of little worms or mites: if it be over full of holes, moist, or spongy, it is subject to maggots: if any soft or perished place appear on the outside, try how deep it goes, for the greater part may be hid within (Glasse, 1746).
Eggs hold the great end to your tongue; if it feels warm, be sure it is new; if cold, it is bad, and so in proportion to the heat and cold, is the goodness of the egg. Another way to know a good egg, is to put the egg into a pan of cold water; the fresher the egg the sooner it will fall to the bottom; if rotten, it will swim at the top. This is also a sure way not to be deceived. As to the keeping of them, pitch them all with the small end downwards in find wood ashes, turning them once a week end-ways, and they will keep some months (Glasse, 1746).
Modern Day Tip: The “float test” for eggs is still used today. Place the egg in a glass of cold water and make sure it’s completely submerged. If it sinks to the bottom and lies flat on its side, it’s still fresh. If it floats, it’s not good anymore. You can also shake the egg against your ear. If you hear lots of sloshing, it’s probably too old to eat. If you hear very little movement, it’s most likely fresh. You can also shake the egg to check the yolk. If you hear liquid, discard it.
References
Bushman, R. L. (1998). Markets and Composite Farms in Early America. The William and Mary Quarterly, 55(3), 351–374. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2307/2674528
Brain Food, the Official IFT Blog, (2023). A Historical Look at Food Safety. Retrieved from https://www.ift.org/news-and-publications/blog/2019/september/a-historical-look-at-food-safety
