and cut the meat into 2 steaks, trimming them neatly. Take a marrow
bone, break it, remove the marrow in one piece, blanch it for a
minute in hot water, and put it into the oven to keep it warm. Broil
the steaks, and serve them over some Bordelaise sauce, placing on
each the marrow, cut in slices and brushed over with a little thin
glaze. _Bordelaise Sauce._--Mince finely 2 or 3 shallots, blanch them
for a few minutes, press out the water from them, and put them into
a saucepan with a cupful of white wine; let them boil 20 minutes,
then add 2 cupfuls Spanish sauce, a dust of pepper, and some parsley
finely minced; let the sauce give a boil or two, and it is ready.
Well-flavoured gravy, thickened with browned flour and butter, may be
used instead of Spanish sauce.
(_b_) The great secret in cooking a steak lies in having a perfectly
clear red fire-no black or smoking coal. It should also be quite
even, so as to be at an equal distance all over (nearly 1 ft.) below
the gridiron. Before putting on the gridiron throw a handful of salt
on the top of the fire; then place the gridiron on to get quite hot.
Before putting on the steak rub the gridiron well over with a piece
of suet or fat. See that the steak is cut of an equal thickness-¾
in., certainly not less. It should on no account be beaten. Place it
on the gridiron, and turn frequently with steak tongs. If these are
not at hand, use a fork; but put it into the edge of the fat, on no
account into the lean, as that would let out the gravy and spoil the
steak. The time for cooking must depend on the thickness of the steak
and on the fire--10 minutes is the rule. Serve on a very hot dish,
on which should be ready, sliced very thin, a shallot. For gravy,
use Cock’s Reading Sauce and a very little boiling water. After the
steak is dished pepper and salt well, and rub it over with a piece of
butter.
(_c_) Stewed.--Season and lay them in a stewpan, put in ½ pint water,
a blade of mace, an anchovy, and small bunch of herbs, a piece of
butter rolled in flour, a glass of white wine, and an onion, cover
close, and let it stew till the steaks are tender, then take them
out, strew some flour over them, fry them in butter till they are of
a nice brown and pour off the fat; strain the sauce they were stewed
in, pour it into the pan, and toss it up together till the sauce is
quite hot and thick, then lay your steaks in the dish, pour the sauce
over them, and serve with horseradish and pickles. (S. S.)
(_d_) Pie.--Have your steak cut up and placed in its dish (nearly
covered with water) in the oven for 1½ hour, with a cover over the
dish. The oven should be about the heat for rice pudding. Open the
door if likely to dry the gravy. When cooked take it up, and after
properly flavouring it, and adding a hard-boiled egg cut up, lay
on the crust, and replace the pie in the oven until the paste is
properly cooked.
(_e_) Ditto.--Cut up 1½ lb. fillet steak or rump steak, with 2
kidneys, previously boiled, 2 eggs boiled hard and cut lengthways in
4 pieces, pepper and salt lightly, flour the steak and kidneys, place
some of the meat and some of the egg in the dish, and a piece of
butter the size of a walnut; add a teacupful of good gravy, seasoned
with a teaspoonful of Worcester and 1 dessertspoonful Harvey sauce;
fill the dish with the remaining portions of meat and eggs. Cover
with the paste, and bake slowly for 2½ hours.
(_f_) Pudding.--Line your basin with thin suet crust. For a small
pudding take ¾ lb. rump steak, cut in thin slices, without fat or
gristle; make a powder of pepper and salt, dip each slice into it,
and lay it round in layers in the basin until nearly full. Fill up
the centre with oysters or mushrooms, tie it tight, and boil for 3
hours; add water in the saucepan as required, but it must not reach
the top of the pudding basin. Fill up the basin with good stock.
Tea.--(_a_) Use Gard’s patent meat juice extractor. Its principal
virtue consists in the beef tea being cooked just enough to render it
most digestible. Put about ¼ pint water to ½ lb. beef, the roll of
the shoulder.
(_b_) Put the beef, cut in pieces or slashed, into a jar with a
cover, and tie it over with paper; stand the jar in a saucepan with
plenty of water, but not enough to make the jar float. Setting the
jar in the oven dries the meat. It should be well boiled gently, and
the lid kept on the saucepan to keep the steam in.
(_c_) Mince 8 oz. gravy beef very finely, pour over 8 oz. cold water,
and let it stand 1 hour; pour off the liquor, and it is ready.
(_d_) Dr. Stutzer has exposed the common superstition about the
nourishing powers of beef tea. He extracted all the extractible
matter from 100 gr. of beef with 100 gr. water, and a good proportion
of salt, at a gentle heat for 4 hours, but could only succeed in
obtaining in solution 1/12th the nourishing matter of the beef, the
other 11/12th remaining behind in the _bouilli_. In other words, we
should have to take ½ gal. beef tea made with beef to each pint of
water before we got as much nourishment as is contained in ¼ lb. of
steak. We might, it is true, evaporate our beef tea down to, say ½
pint, but we doubt if it would be palatable to the least squeamish
invalid.
Tongue.--(_a_) Never boil a tongue, only simmer, and allow 3 hours
for a large one. Never cure small ones. ¼ hour to every lb. is the
usual time given when meat is simmered, for meat should not boil,
as it hardens it; but you may know when the tongue is done, by its
peeling readily. The skin should peel off as a glove, when drawn,
does from the hand; and if the tongue is to be eaten cold, it can
be glazed; or if warm, a few well-browned and sifted breadcrumbs
put over it, and a paper frill should encircle its root. Many
garnish warm tongue with flowers in the old-fashioned way; but these
adornments interfere with the carver; serve browned or glazed, with
simply a frill.
(_b_) A dried tongue should be put to soak all night in cold water;
if it is only pickled, 2-3 hours will suffice. Put the tongue in a
saucepan sufficiently large, and with as much cold water as will
cover it well; put it on the fire until it comes to boil, then remove
it to the side, let it simmer but not boil. A bunch of herbs in the
water when boiling is a great improvement; while cooking the water
should be skimmed.
(_c_) Put the tongue into an earthen pan, and lay on the top of it
a few slices of butter; then cover the pan with a flour-and-water
crust, and bake, according to size, in a moderately hot oven. When
done, take off the skin, and straighten the tongue on a board, by
means of skewers at the tip and root. When cold, glaze it, ornament
it with a frill of paper, vegetables cut into shapes, and curled
parsley.
Tournedos.--Cut some rump steak or fillet of beef in slices about
½ in. thick, trim them all to the shape of cutlets (pear shape),
lay them in a marinade composed as follows: Olive oil and tarragon
vinegar in equal parts, an onion and a carrot sliced; pepper, salt,
and bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, parsley, and a few cloves. There
should be enough marinade to cover the fillets, and they should lie
in it for 12 hours. When wanted, take them out of the marinade, fry
them in butter quickly on both sides, and arrange them in a circle on
a dish alternately with slices of bread cut to the same shape as the
fillets, and fried a golden colour also in butter. Pour in the centre
of the dish some well made sharp sauce (sauce piquante, or sauce
poivrade), and serve.
Vinaigrette.--Cut in thin slices the cold beef of the _pot au feu_.
Mix in a small basin 1 teaspoonful mustard with some water and the
yolk of an egg; stir it continually, and at the same time drop in
some olive oil, drop by drop, until the sauce becomes pretty thick;
then add a little vinegar, and continue stirring and dropping in
the oil until you have as much sauce as you require. Add a hard egg
chopped up in small pieces some chopped-up parsley and chervil, a
little salt, and 3 tablespoonfuls good cream. Arrange the slices of
beef round the dish, and pour the sauce over them.
_Mutton_ (mouton). Baking.--In baking a joint in any kind of oven,
the following rules must be enforced to command success. First of
all, the joint must be placed in a proper baking tin, which can be
bought of any ironmonger for 6-8_s._ This baking tin is a double tin,
one placed inside another and has raised grating to place the meat
on, which prevents its being sodden in the fat. Water is put in the
under-tin to prevent any scorching of the dripping, which imparts
such an unpleasant taste to the meat; the small amount of steam from
this water helps to keep the meat from drying and hardening, but is
not sufficient to sodden it. Secondly, the joint must be put into
a thoroughly hot oven, which hardens the outside enough to keep in
the gravy. After the first ¼ hour of brisk heat, lower the fire a
little, keeping a moderate fire for the rest of the time. The joint
must be turned the under side uppermost when it is half cooked, or
it will not be evenly done or browned, as the main heat in stoves or
kitcheners proceeds from the top of the oven. Thirdly, the oven door
should be opened every 10 minutes for a second or two to allow the
vapour from the meat to escape: it is the confined vapour of meat
in a close oven that makes a baked joint offensive to a sensitive
palate. To sum all up in a few words, the oven must be thoroughly
hot when the joint is first put in, the meat must be raised above
the dripping, water must be used in the under tin, and the oven door
must be opened every 10 minutes. Suppose we have a leg or shoulder
of mutton to cook, in an ordinary kitchener or stove oven, place
the joint, ready trimmed, on the grating of your baking tin, the
underside uppermost, as when it is turned it will bring the proper
side up to send to table, and be ready for the final browning. Dust
it over lightly with flour, and put a lump of dripping in the upper
tin to baste with; pour sufficient cold water in the underneath
baking tin. Put the joint into the hot oven, and let it remain ¼
hour, if a joint of 10-12 lb.; but if only 5-6 lb., 10 minutes will
be enough. Open the oven door once in that time, and baste it at the
end of the ¼ hour, then lower the fire a little, and keep a steady
even fire all the time the joint is cooking. Baste every 10 minutes,
at the same time the door is opened to let the vapour escape. Turn
the joint, when half cooked, and flour it a little; and ¼ hour before
it is finally cooked dust it well with flour, and do not baste it
again unless any part of the meat refuses to moisten and brown, when
a very little dripping may be put on this part to bring it to its
right colour. When the meat is ready to dish up, take the baking tin
out of the oven, put the meat on a warm common dish, and return it
to the oven to keep hot while the fat is being separated from the
gravy, which is best done by pouring both fat and gravy into a hot
basin, and then skimming the fat off quickly with a large spoon. A
shoulder of mutton will make very little gravy, and should have some
made gravy added to it. An economical way of making the gravy nice is
to boil a teacupful of water in a saucepan with a good pinch of salt
and a little white pepper in it. Mix ½ teaspoonful flour in a little
water until smooth, and stir into the boiling water. Let it boil a
minute, and when all the fat is skimmed off the gravy pour the gravy
into the saucepan, letting it simmer a second, and pour it over the
meat or into a gravy tureen, and send to table.
Breast.--(_a_) With the poor, to whom fat is a necessity, this dish
is much in vogue, but to be economical, even from their point of
view, it must be bought at a low price. Persons accustomed to the
prime parts of mutton are wont to despise the breast; but it may,
with a little care and skill, be made into excellent dishes. It is
essential that it should be partly prepared the day before using, as
it cannot be freed sufficiently from fat until cold. After preparing
in the following manner the meat may be made either into a mutton
pasty, Devonshire pie mutton pudding, stew, or curry. It is besides
excellent eaten cold. Cut the breast into convenient pieces, and lay
them in a saucepan, meat downwards, sprinkle with pepper and salt,
and slice 3 onions over them. If it is desired to use the fat drawn
from the mutton in any way in which the flavour of onions would be
objectionable, they must be omitted. Set the stewpan at a low heat,
and allow the meat to cook gradually in its own fat and juices. It
will take about 3 hours. When done put away the meat on a dish, and
the fat in a basin. The next morning a little gravy will be found
beneath the cake of fat, which will, from a breast of mutton weighing
about 3 lb., be as much as ¾-1 lb. It is excellent fat either for
making family cakes and pies or for frying. Use the gravy, with the
addition of a little water or stock, onion or other vegetables to
dress the meat, in any of the ways above mentioned.
(_b_) Boil it tender, and take out the bones; have ready some parsley
and thyme, well chopped, a little salt, pepper, and some breadcrumbs;
mix them well, and lay on the top of the lamb, put it down before the
fire to brown, and serve it up with a good gravy and a few capers.
Broth.--(_a_) Take ½ lb. Scotch barley, 5-6 lb. mutton (neck or
breast), put on the fire with 5 qts. of water, and bring it slowly to
a boil. Turnips, carrots, onions, or leeks and celery cut up small,
with ½ pint dried green peas, to be added ½ hour after the meat and
barley have boiled. The whole then to be simmered 2½ hours longer.
The fat must be removed as it rises to the surface when boiling. If
preferred, the meat can be served as a separate course, with some
large vegetables round it.
(_b_) Take a piece of the best end of a neck of mutton (say 6
cutlets), saw, short off, the end of the ribs in one piece, also the
chine, divide the cutlets, and trim off the fat. Put the cutlets,
ribs, and chine into a saucepan with 2 qts. cold water, and 2
tablespoonfuls pearl barley; when the saucepan has been on the fire
for ½ hour, throw in 1 onion, 2 carrots, 1 turnip, and ½ head celery,
all cut in small squares the size of peas. Keep on skimming the
broth of all fat, and scum at intervals; when it has boiled another
hour, add pepper and salt to taste, a pinch of powdered thyme, and a
dessertspoonful of finely mixed parsley. Then let the broth simmer
gently till wanted, removing the ribs and chine at the time of
serving.
Casseroles.--Boil 6 large potatoes; when done add salt, pepper,
grated nutmeg, 3 yolks of eggs, 1 oz. butter; beat all well together
over the fire a few minutes, then pass through a sieve. Butter a
large baking sheet; place the potato on it in a flat heap 1½ in.
high. When cold, cut them out with a plain cutter the size of a
patty, egg and breadcrumb; make an impression at one end with a
smaller cutter, to represent the top of the patty; fry a golden
colour in hot lard. Remove the inside, and fill them with the mince
moistened in the same way as for patties. Serve very hot on a napkin.
Chops.--Take some chops from a loin of mutton, trim them neatly, and
remove all fat; lay them in a deep dish, with slices of onion, a few
cloves, whole pepper, salt, and sweet herbs; add oil and vinegar in
equal parts just sufficient to cover them; let them marinade for
10-12 hours, turning them occasionally, then broil over a clear fire;
arrange them neatly on a dish. Fry one or two shallots, minced very
finely in butter; when just beginning to take colour, pour on the
chops, and serve with sharp sauce in a boat.
Croquettes.--Roll up the mince in balls, egg and breadcrumb, and fry
them in hot lard. They can be made into any shape, such as round
balls, diamonds, sugar loaf, or cutlets. They must be served with
fried parsley, and very hot.
Cutlets. (_a_) Cold.--Trim some neck cutlets very neatly, remove
every particle of fat, and cut the bone quite short. Lard them finely
with bacon or ham, and put them into a braising pan on a slice of fat
bacon. Add a sliced carrot, a turnip, and an onion, also sliced, a
bundle of sweet herbs, whole pepper, and salt to taste. Add a little
gravy or good stock--if liked, a glass of white wine. Braise gently
for an hour or so. When sufficiently done, drain and put them to
press until cold between 2 dishes. Trim them again, glaze with some
of the gravy reduced for the purpose, and serve with clarified aspic
jelly and sprigs of chervil or tarragon, or with cold tomato sauce.
(_b_) Stewed.--Take some lean, neatly trimmed mutton chops from the
loin, and fry them lightly a good brown. Have ready sufficient good,
well-seasoned gravy, in which put a few slices of pickled cucumber.
Add the chops, and stew most gently 1½-2 hours.
(_c_) With apples and gravy.--Take some cutlets from the neck, trim
them neatly; season with pepper and salt, put them in a deep dish,
with slices of apples and chopped onions over, pour in sufficient
stock or gravy to cover them; put the dish in the oven, cover it
over, and let the contents braise gently for ¾ hour, or until
thoroughly cooked; serve in the dish in which they were cooked.
(_d_) À la maître d’hôtel.--These may be prepared over night by
cutting from a neck of mutton as many as will be required; cut the
bones rather short, and cut a cutlet from between every 2 bones,
these with the bone being only the thickness of the bone itself;
trim off some of the fat, flatten them, season with pepper and salt,
and set them in the larder for the night. The next morning prepare
the sauce before cooking the cutlets. For this take 1 oz. butter, 1
teaspoonful finely chopped parsley, and a few drops of lemon juice;
mix these well together with a knife on a plate, then proceed to
fry the cutlets in clarified butter on both sides till quite done;
put them at once on to a very hot dish, and put little bits of the
_maître d’hôtel_ butter all over them; these at once melt and form a
nice savoury gravy.
(_e_) Lamb cutlets.--Take a neck of lamb, divide it into cutlets,
trim them neatly, dip them in liquefied butter, sprinkle them with
pepper and salt, and broil them in a double gridiron in front of a
brisk fire; dispose them in a circle on the dish round a pyramid of
spinach.--Pick and wash perfectly clean 2-3 lb. spinach, put it into
a saucepan with a little water, and let it boil till quite done. Turn
it out on a hair sieve to drain, throw the water away, and pass the
spinach through the sieve. Put a good lump of butter into a saucepan
with a pinch of flour, mix well, add the spinach, pepper and salt to
taste, and a little milk; stir well and serve.
(_f_) Savoury.--Cut the cutlets from a neck of mutton rather thick,
lard and put them in a braising pan, with enough good gravy to cover
them; add an onion stuck with cloves, a sliced carrot, a faggot of
herbs; braise till quite tender. Remove them from the gravy, strain,
then reduce it, and skim well. When cold trim the cutlets carefully,
simmer till hot in the reduced gravy. Have ready a block of bread
(pyramid shape), fry it in butter, put it in the centre of the dish,
the cutlets round it (the gravy in the dish), and garnish with new
carrots and turnips (cut up small, and previously tossed in butter),
arranged alternately between the cutlets. Instead of the block of
bread and garnish of carrots and turnips, they may be served with
peas or beans, tossed in butter, or with any purée of vegetable, or
with tomatoes, &c., according to the season.
Haggis.--The outer covering of this is made from the stomach or
paunch of a sheep, which requires great care in the cleansing. It
must be well washed, and then be allowed to soak for several hours in
salt and water; after this, turn it inside out, put it into boiling
water to scald, scrape it well, and then put it into a large basin
of cold water to remain till wanted. Care must be taken in scraping
that no thin places are left, or they will burst in the boiling.
Take a sheep’s pluck, clean it well, piercing the liver and heart
in several places to let out the blood. Boil the liver and lights
for 1½ hour, putting them into fresh water after they have boiled
for ¼ hour, and adding the remainder of the pluck to boil with them
during the last ½ hour they are on the fire. Take them off and trim
away any discoloured parts and the skin. Grate half the liver, and
mince all the rest as finely as possible. Chop 2 good-sized onions
and 1 lb. suet, and mix with ½ pint oatmeal previously well dried, 2
teaspoonfuls salt, a dash of cayenne, 1 teaspoonful black pepper, and
a little grated nutmeg. To this add the juice of a small lemon, and ½
pint good brown gravy. Mix all thoroughly, take the bag or skin from
the cold water in which it has lain since preparing, and into it put
the mixture. Sew the skin up securely, not forgetting to leave room
for it to swell, and at once put it into boiling water, to remain
gently simmering for 3 hours after it again comes to the boil. Just
at first it must be occasionally pricked with a needle, to let out
the air, and prevent it from bursting. Some people tie it in a cloth
as well, for fear of this happening; but it ought not to have one,
and with attention it will turn out perfectly well without. A haggis
is also sometimes made from the stomach or pluck of a calf or lamb,
but that of the sheep is most generally used. If lamb is used for
this purpose, great care must be taken to sew up any thin places, or
possibly holes in the skin, which from being so tender often occur.
Occasionally a small quantity of beef, finely minced, is added to the
other ingredients, as described for filling the haggis, but it is
more generally made without this addition. It must be served directly
it is taken off the fire, as hot as possible, with no gravy or sauce
of any kind, nor any garnish, as the gravy from the inside flows all
over the dish directly the knife is put into it.
Haricot.--Toss some chops or mutton cutlets in butter till they are a
good colour all over. Take them out. Have some carrots and turnips,
also potatoes, all cut the same shape, and pass them in butter on
the fire, each vegetable separately, till they are half-cooked.
Strain the butter so used; add to it a good pinch of flour, or more
according to quantity, to thicken the sauce. When the mixture begins
to acquire a golden colour, put in as much water (or stock) as will
be required for sauce, together with the meat, pepper, salt, a bunch
of sweet herbs, with a clove of garlic or a shallot in it. When
the meat is half-cooked, add the carrots, after a little time the
potatoes, then the turnips. Serve when done, removing the sweet herbs.
Hashed.--(_a_) Mince an onion and fry it in butter to a brown colour,
add 1 tablespoonful flour, stir well, pour in enough stock or broth
to make the sauce, with a dash of vinegar, pepper, salt, and spices
to taste. Let the sauce give a boil, then strain it, and when cold
put in the slices of meat well trimmed of any outside parts, and a
good allowance of pickled gherkins cut in slices. Let the whole get
warm by gentle simmering, and keep it hot till wanted for table.
Serve garnished with fried sippets. Cut out of a loaf slices 1 in.
thick, shape them into triangles or arrow-heads all of a size; put
some butter in a frying-pan, and when quite hot lay the sippets in
it. Turn them frequently, adding more butter as it is wanted, and
taking care that they are all fried to the same light golden colour.
A readier way, but producing not so nice a sippet, is to lay the
pieces of bread in the frying basket, and dip it in a saucepan full
of boiling fat. They must afterwards be laid in front of the fire to
drain.
(_b_) Cut your meat in slices, free from fat, gristle, and skin. Take
a flat dish, and cover the bottom with dry flour, seasoned to taste
with pepper and salt; rub each piece of meat all over in this flour,
and lay them in a “Dutch oven,” i.e., a brown stoneware jar or pot
with a lid, and one small hole in it. When you have packed as much
meat as you require, pour on the whole some cold gravy free of fat
(or stock), seasoned with a dessert spoonful of or more of Worcester
or any other favourite sauce; put on the lid, and put it into a slow
oven. It may be left any number of hours, and only requires to be
occasionally looked at, and a little gravy or hot water added to it,
and stir now and then to prevent it getting dry.
(_c_) Roast 1 large or 2 small onions until they are quite black;
cut the meat in small thin pieces; put the fat, skin, and bones in a
saucepan with the onions and water, allowing for the latter to waste;
let all stew until the gravy looks good and rich; then strain, and
put the meat and gravy on again, letting them simmer gently until the
meat is quite cooked; put a sufficient quantity of mushroom or walnut
ketchup in a cup, and stir in enough flour to make a very thick
batter, also a liberal quantity of cayenne; add this to the hash,
giving it one “boil up,” stirring occasionally, and serve as usual
with sippets of toasted bread. (F. J. H.).