Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/629

Rh proportion of bone as the loin, and the neck most of all, 4 ozs. in every shilling's worth of meat, and is even fatter than the loin. Boiled or roasted, the neck is not a very cheap joint; but trimmed into cutlets, with all the fat removed, it is probably the dearest butchers' meat that can be eaten.

Competition remains at length between 15½ ozs. of leg against 17 ozs. of shoulder. The shoulder is fatter, it is true, and if it is sold at the same price as the leg, is dearer in every way. Sold at the price we have quoted, it appears to be as cheap as, or cheaper than, the leg if the fat is eaten. Children often dislike fat, and so it is cheaper to pay a little more for a lean joint for children. On the other hand, many people dislike a shoulder of mutton, and prefer a leg.

TABLE OF RELATIVE PRICES OF BEEF AND MUTTON.

The prices of meat per pound, in relation to the market price per stone of 8 lb., may be calculated sufficiently near to give a tolerably