beef: pale, delicate in flavor, with a softer fat, and succulently tender thanks to its soluble collagen, which readily dissolves into gelatin when cooked Calf flesh becomes more like beef with every day of ordinary life, so most veal calves aren’t allowed an ordinary life: they’re confined so that exercise won’t darken, flavor, and toughen their muscles, and fed a low-iron diet with no grass to minimize the production of myoglobin pigment and prevent rumen development (p 13), which would saturate and thus harden the fat In the United States, veal generally comes from confined animals fed a soy or milk formula and slaughtered between and 16 weeks old, when they weigh 150 to 500 lb/70–230 kg “Bob” or “drop” veal comes from unconfined, milk-fed animals three weeks old or less “Free-range” and “grain-fed” veal have become increasingly common as more humane alternatives, but are more like beef in the color and flavor of their meat Sheep Along with goats, sheep were probably the first animals to be domesticated after the dog, thanks to their small size, around a tenth that of cattle, and their herding instinct Most European breeds of sheep are specialized for milk or wool; there are relatively few specialized meat breeds Lamb and Mutton Lamb and sheep meat is finer grained and more tender than beef, but well endowed with red myoglobin and with flavor, including a characteristic odor (p 134) that becomes more pronounced with age Pasture-feeding, particularly on alfalfa and clover, increases the levels of a compound called skatole, which also contributes a barnyardy element to pork flavor, while lambs finished on grain for a month before slaughter are milder In the United States, lambs are sold in a range of ages and weights, from 1 to 12 months and 20–100 lb/9–45 kg, under a variety of names, including “milk” and ...Sheep Along with goats, sheep were probably the first animals to be domesticated after the dog, thanks to their small size, around a tenth that of cattle, and their herding instinct... red myoglobin and with flavor, including a characteristic odor (p 134) that becomes more pronounced with age Pasture-feeding, particularly on alfalfa and clover, increases the levels of a compound... that of cattle, and their herding instinct Most European breeds of sheep are specialized for milk or wool; there are relatively few specialized meat breeds Lamb and Mutton Lamb and sheep meat is finer grained and more tender than beef,