How to Buy Lamb
Sir,—The difference between being a good housekeeper and a bad one seems to me to be a matter of luck, to a certain extent, at any rate, and I think that it would be a good idea if a short course of instruction in retail purchasing were introduced into our schools. My reason for the above remarks is as follows :—Yesterday, my wife ordered from our butcher a shoulder of lamb. On opening up the parcel we decided to weigh the meat, and were very quickly convinced that we had purchased a piece of pedigree stock, as the price per pound worked out pence in excess of the advertised prices. Now, in common with most people we like nice tender meat, but, being- a bit curious' decided to investigate. Imagine our chagrin when we found that the “pedigree price lamb” was only the offspring of an ordinary flock ewe. Here’s the reason we' were misled: Had we ordered a forequarter, we’d have got what we ordered, but it appears that when ordering a shoulder the part which makes the difference between a shoulder and a forequarter is cut off and thrown, away, as it is no good, but we still have to pay for it. How much weight this part contains depends to my mind on whether the lamb is bony or otherwise. If a person has not a pup—we have, and he’s pretty keen on bones —it won’t matter much, but I should think that a good, housekeeper would buy a shoulder off a fat lamb, and she would then get a bigger proportion of meat. In conclusion, it would appear that our experience will prove of great benefit to all dog owners in straitened -circumstances. as the waste—the .difference between the shoulder and the forequarter, while perhaps not very'meaty, would be at least something for a dog to chew on. —I am, etc., BETTER HOUSEKEEPING.
Wellington, December 29. [When this letter was referred to a Wellington butcher he gave the reply that whenever lamb or mutton is sold in the shoulder as distinct from the forequarter, the neck and breast part that is cut off is likely to remain on the butcher’s hands, as It is difficult to sell alone. For this reason the purchaser paid the full price for the shoulder alone. The common method, particularly, among those with dogs, was to pay the same price and take away the full forequarter.]
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Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 85, 4 January 1935, Page 11
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409How to Buy Lamb Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 85, 4 January 1935, Page 11
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