Nice work if you can eat it

Influence of fat content on palatability of roast beef.

Trevor @ Thursday January 14th 2010 11:03

From “Livestock in the Brehon Laws” by J O’Loan in the Agricultural History Review in 1959 (via):

In a detailed investigation conducted at Cambridge University School of Agriculture with cattle of varying degrees of fatness, to assess, inter alia, the palatability of the meat, the highest award given by a panel of trained meat tasters was to an animal in which the fat was 28 per cent of the carcase and 33⅓ per cent of the particular joint cooked for tasting. The report [EH Callow in Journal of Agricultural Science, 1944] says, “Tasting tests revealed that there is a close connection between the fatness of a joint and its palatability when roasted. Up to the point at which rather more than one-third of the joint is fatty tissue the palatability is enhanced as fatness increases. Beyond this point the palatability diminishes.”

Re the rest of the piece: how did early or modern Spanish traders rate their stock? I have no idea.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories: (Pre-)Roman, Arithmetic, Early Middle, Flocks and work animals, Food, Les bourgeois, The law court

« · »

RSS: post comments, blog comments, blog posts

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Share this post
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • LinkedIn
  • Live
  • Ma.gnolia
  • Meneame
  • MySpace
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
See also
Google Reader

I share other stuff over here.

Pordiosería

If you're feeling generous, check out my Amazon wishlists for Deutschland, France , and the UK, or use PayPal to

My 5% bookstore - new stuff



Spanish history

Modern Spanish fiction

Spanish classics

On this day

Barcelona

  • March 21 1848 

    En Barcelona como en otras partes comienza hoy la primavera, que en honor de la verdad no suele ser aqui la estacion mas hermosa del año. Cierto que ya los árboles comienzan á echar hoja, y que la linda y olorosa violeta alfombra los jardines y ribazos, y que le hacen cortejo otras flores; per...

Josep Pla, Palafrugell (1918-9)

  • 21 de març de 1918 En aquest paĂ­s tenim un costum molt curiĂłs. Quan ens trobem, al carrer, dues persones, cara a cara, no tenim, a penes, res a dir-nos. Però, una vegada acomiadats i fets set o vuit passos, se’ns ocorren tot d’una una sèrie de coses urgents a dir a la persona que hem deixat fa un moment. [...]
  • 21 de març de 1919 Inici de la primavera. Biblioteca. Tot traduint Renard penso que Ă©s mĂ©s important dominar un ofici qualsevol que posseir una curiositat dilatada, vastĂ­ssima. La curiositat es pot improvisar; un ofici, no. La curiositat Ă©s superficialment agradable, però deixa una certa buidor amarga per dintre. Un ofici Ă©s monòton i pesat, però tĂ© moments d’una voluptuositat [...]

The peepul's choice

Back to top