IT has been said that the frying-pan has ruined more American
digestions than all the other hurtful agencies combined. It
is certainly true that while the process of frying _properly_
performed upon certain substances does not of necessity, make them
unwholesome—the useful utensil does play altogether too important a
part in our National cookery. Broiled meats are more wholesome, more
palatable, and far more elegant. Certain things should never be fried.
That beefsteak should _never_ make the acquaintance of the frying-pan
is a rule without an exception.
The best gridirons for private families are the light, double
“broilers,” made of tinned wire and linked together at the back with
loops of the same material. They are easily handled, turned and
cleansed, and when not in use may be hung on the wall out of the way.
It is well to have two sizes, one for large steaks, the smaller for
birds, oysters, and when there is occasion to broil a single chop or
chicken-leg for an invalid.
Beefsteak.
Never wash a steak unless it has fallen in the dirt or met with other
accident. In this case cleanse quickly in cold water and wipe perfectly
dry before cooking.
Have a clear hot fire and do not uncover that part of the stove above
it until you have adjusted the steak on the broiler. If you use the
ordinary iron gridiron, lay the meat on it the instant it goes over the
fire, but have it already warm and rub the bars with a bit of fresh
suet.
When the meat has lain over the coals two minutes and begins to
“sizzle,” turn it and let the other side cook as long. Watch it
continually and turn whenever it begins to drip. Do this quickly to
keep in the juices. If these should fall in the fire in spite of your
care, lift it for an instant and hold over a plate or dish until the
smoke is gone. Broiled meats flavored with creosote are not uncommon,
but always detestable. The knack of broiling a steak well is to turn it
so often and dexterously that it will neither be smoked nor scorched.
Ten minutes should cook it rare, if the fire is right and the steak
not very thick. Cut with a keen blade into the thickest part when the
time is up. If the heart is of a rich red-brown—not the livid purple of
uncooked flesh, carry broiler and meat to a table where stands a hot
dish. Lay the steak on this. In a saucer have a liberal tablespoonful
of butter cut into bits, and with these rub both sides of the smoking
steak, leaving unmelted pieces on the top. Sprinkle it also on both
sides with pepper and salt—about half a teaspoonful of salt and a third
as much pepper for a large steak. All this must be done _quickly_.
Before you begin to cook the steak, prepare the butter and measure the
salt and pepper. Cover the dish closely. If you have not a block-tin
dish-cover, lay over the steak another dish, made very hot in the oven,
and set both with the meat between them in the plate-warmer, or in an
open oven, or somewhere where it will keep hot for three minutes.
Serve—i. e. put on the table—as hot as possible and on warm plates.
Unless you have a hot water dish, do not send the steak into the
dining-room until all have taken their places.
Sometimes steak is tough. You shake your head over it as it comes from
the butcher’s basket. I know of an enterprising meat merchant who
objected to a wealthy customer because he would have choice cuts. He
was willing to pay double for them, but as the worthy seller observed:
“We _must_ sell second-best cuts, and he’d ought to take his turn.”
Like sin, tough steak ought not to be, but it _is_! If your turn to
take it has come, lay it on a clean board, some hours before cooking
it, and hack it on both sides, criss-cross, with a tolerably sharp
knife, taking care not to cut too deeply. Rub both sides very well
with the strained juice of a lemon, and set the meat in a cold place
until you are ready to cook it. Do this over night, if you want it for
breakfast. Very tough, fibrous meat is sometimes made eatable by this
process.
Mutton or Lamb Chops.
Cut off most of the fat and all the skin. A clean bone an inch in
length will project from the smaller end when you have pared away the
tallow and skin which would have cooked into rankness and leather.
Put as many chops on the broiler as it will conveniently hold, and
broil as you would beefsteak. Cut into the largest to see if it is
done. If it is, lay the chops on a heated dish set over a pot of
boiling water; butter, pepper and salt them, and cover them up while
you cook the rest.
Serve as soon as the last is cooked, as they lose flavor with standing.
Lay sprigs of parsley around the edges of the dish and scatter a few
over the chops which must be arranged in neat rows, a small end next to
a large.
Broiled Ham.
Cut even slices from a cold boiled Ferris & Co.’s “Trade Mark” ham.
Divide these into oblong pieces about an inch and a half in width,
and broil quickly over clear coals until a delicate brown touches the
slices here and there. Lay in order on a hot dish. Broiled ham is
appetizing, and should be accompanied by dry toast, lightly buttered.
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