LIVE STOCK breeders' ASSOCIATION. tj 



^ 



calls extractives. The per cent of extractives present is increased 

 by age and by exercise, just as is also the toughness of meat; hence we 

 find that the toughest meat is the best for soup, for it has the highest 

 flavor, and if successfully cooked is really very palatable. On account 

 of the fact that age is essential to the development of the best flavor 

 in beef, we find it necessary to compromise between tenderness and 

 flavor. Veal lacks the flavor of older beef. The yearling does not 

 produce as well flavored beef as the two-year-old. 



The flavor and tenderness of beef are also improved by the ripening 

 process. A number of days, probably two weeks time, is necessary 

 to develop the best flavor in ripening beef. There is in this process 

 a breaking down of some of the nitrogenous compounds into extract- 

 ives and into sarcolactic acid. The extractives improve the flavor, and 

 the acid, by softening the sarcolemma, increases the tenderness of the 

 meat. These extractives are not nutrients in the ordinary sense of the 

 term, but are merely tonics or stimulants. Beef extract and clear 

 broth contain very little more than this extractive matter and are almost 

 wholly lacking in real food. In skimming from the top of broth the 

 last of the gray scum which comes to the surface, we remove almost 

 the last of the real nutriment contained and leave it little more than a 

 stimulant. 



We ordinarily consider that meat to be good must be fat and 

 also that this fat must be well mingled with the lean — that is, the meat 

 must be well marbled as we say. Now, just why is it that we fatten 

 meat ? 



First : We fatten meat because lean meat cannot be successfully 

 ripened. Lean meat is very watery ; fat meat is comparatively dry ; 

 and lean meat will rot before it will ripen, because its watery condition 

 affords so much better opportunity for bacteria to grow. Fat meat is 

 also well protected from bacterial invasion by its surface covering 

 of dry fat. 



Second : The fattening animal takes but little exercise. From 

 disuse its connective tissue softens and the meat becomes more tender. 



Third : Fat meat does not shrink, shrivel, lose its moisture 

 and become tough in cooking as does lean meat. Put a lean steak 

 into a skillet to broil and in a moment it will be swimming in the 

 water which has escaped from it. Put a fat steak in the same skillet 

 and it will broil without loss of its juices and without nearly so much 

 shrinkage. 



In comparing meat from the different portions of the carcass 

 we note the truth of some of the above statements. For instance, the 

 muscles of the neck which are exercised a great deal are very highly 



