A VOLUME, instead of a single chapter, might be written upon the
various methods of preparing what the French call “_rechauffés_,” and
we speak of, usually contemptuously, as “warmed-over” meats. Cold
meat is seldom tempting except to the very hungry. Cold tongue, ham
and poultry are well enough on picnics and as a side-dish at tea. At
breakfast they are barely admissible; for a simple luncheon tolerable;
for dinner hardly excusable. At the first and last meal of the day, the
stomach craves something hot and relishable.
A wife told me, once, with strong disgust in the remembrance, that
when her husband took her on the wedding-trip to visit his mother, a
frugal Massachusetts matron, they were set down within half an hour
after their arrival, to lunch on a cold eel-pie left from the day
before. The daughter-in-law, forty years later, spoke feelingly of the
impression of niggardliness and inhospitality made on her mind by the
incident.
“If she had even warmed it up, I should not have felt so forlornly
homesick,” she said. “But cold eel-pie! Think of it!”
I confess to heartfelt sympathy with the complainant. There is a
suggestion of friendliness and home-comfort in the “goodly smell” of a
steaming-hot _entrée_ set before family or guest. It argues forethought
for those who are to be fed. We have the consciousness that we are
expected and that somebody has cared enough for us to make ready a
visible welcome. Pale slices of cold mutton, and thin slabs of corned
beef cannot, with the best intentions on the part of the caterer,
convey this.
The summing up of this lecture, is: Neither despise unlikely fragments
left over from roast, baked or boiled, nor consider them good enough as
they are without “rehabilitation.”
We will begin with a dish the mention of which provokes a sneer more
often than any other known to civilization.
Hash.
Rid cold corned or roast beef of fat, skin and gristle, and mince it in
a wooden tray with a sharp chopper until the largest piece is not more
than an eighth of an inch square.
With two cupfuls of this mix a cupful of mashed potato rubbed smooth
with a potato beater or wooden spoon.
Season well with pepper and salt if the beef be fresh, if corned use
the salt sparingly and pepper well.
Set a clean frying-pan on the stove with a cupful of beef gravy in it
from which you have skimmed all the fat. Clear soup will do if you
have no gravy. If you have neither, pour into the pan a half-pint of
boiling water and stir into this three tablespoonfuls of butter. When
the butter-water (or gravy) reaches the boil, add a half-teaspoonful of
made mustard.
Then put in the meat and potato and stir—scraping the bottom of the pan
to prevent sticking—for five minutes, or until you have a bubbling-hot
mass, not stiff, nor yet semi-liquid. It must have been brought to
boiling heat and kept at it about five minutes, cooking so fast that
you have to stir and toss constantly lest it should scorch.
Heap on a hot dish, and eat from hot plates.
Hash Cakes.
Having prepared the hash as above set it aside until cold, when mould
into flat cakes as you would sausage meat, and roll in flour. Heat
nice beef-dripping to a boil in a frying-pan, lay in the cakes, and fry
to a light brown on both sides.
Beef Croquettes.
You can make these of the cold hash by moulding it into rolls about
three and a half inches long, and rather more than an inch in diameter.
Roll these over and over on a floured dish or board to get them smooth
and regular in shape; flatten the ends by setting each upright on the
floury dish, and put enough dripping in the pan to cover them as they
lie on their sides in it. It should be _very_ hot before they go in.
Roll over carefully in the fat as they brown, not to spoil the shape.
Do not put too many in the pan at once; as fast as they are done take
them up and lay in a hot colander until all are ready. Arrange neatly
on a heated flat dish and serve.
A Mutton Stew.
Cut slices of cold mutton half an inch thick, trim away fat and skin
and divide the lean meat into neat squares about an inch across.
Drop a piece of onion as large as a hickory-nut in a cupful of water
and boil fifteen minutes. Strain the water through a bit of muslin,
squeezing the onion hard to extract the flavor. Allow this cupful of
water to two cupfuls of meat. If you have less mutton use less water;
if more increase the quantity of liquid.
Pour the water into a clean saucepan and when it boils add two full
tablespoonfuls of butter cut into bits and rolled over and over in
browned flour until no more will adhere to the butter.
Stir this in with a little pepper and salt, a pinch of mace and a
teaspoonful of lemon-juice. Boil up once and drop in the meat. Cover
closely and let it simmer at one side of the stove, almost, but never
_quite_ boiling, for ten minutes.
Turn into a deep dish and serve very hot.
Minced Mutton on Toast.
Trim off skin and fat from slices of cold mutton and mince in a
chopping-tray. Season with pepper and salt.
Into a clean frying-pan, pour a cupful of mutton-gravy which has been
skimmed well, mixed with a little hot water and strained through a bit
of coarse muslin.
When this boils, wet a teaspoonful of browned flour with three
tablespoonfuls of cold water, and a teaspoonful of tomato or walnut
catsup, or half a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce. Rub out all the
lumps and stir into the gravy in the frying-pan. Boil up once well
before putting in the mutton.
As soon as the mixture bubbles and smokes all over, draw it to one
side of the range where it will keep hot, but not quite boil; cover
it closely, and let it stand five minutes. Warmed-over mutton becomes
insipid when cooked too much.
Before the mince is put into the pan, toast the bread. Cut thick slices
from a stale loaf, and trim off the crust. If you would have them look
particularly nice, cut them round with a cake or biscuit-cutter. Toast
to a light-brown, and keep hot until the mince is cooked.
Then lay the toast on a heated platter; butter the rounds well on both
sides, and pour on each a tablespoonful of _boiling_ water. Heap a
great spoonful of the minced mutton on each piece.
The mince should not be a stiff paste, nor yet so soft as to run all
over the dish. A cupful of gravy will be enough for three cupfuls of
meat.
Some people fancy a little green pickle or chow chow chopped very fine
and mixed in with the mince while cooking. Others think the dish
improved by the addition of a teaspoonful of lemon-juice put in just
before taking it from the fire.
Devilled Mutton.
Cut even slices of cold mutton, not too fat.
Stir together and melt in a clean frying-pan two
tablespoonfuls of butter and one of currant or grape
jelly.
When it hisses lay in the mutton and heat
slowly—turning several times—for five minutes, or
until the slices are soft and very hot, but not until
they begin to crisp.
Take out the meat, lay on a warmed dish, cover and set
over boiling water.
To the butter and jelly left in the pan add three
tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
A small teaspoonful of made mustard.
A quarter spoonful of salt.
Half as much pepper as you have salt.
Stir together over the fire until they boil, and pour
on the meat. Cover three minutes over boiling water,
and serve.
Devilled, or Barbecued Ham.
Slice cold Ferris & Co.’s “Trade Mark” ham, lean and fat together, and
lay in a clean frying-pan. Fry gently in the grease that runs from it
as it heats, until the lean is soft, the fat clear and beginning to
crisp at the edges.
Take out the slices with a fork, lay on a warmed dish; keep hot over
boiling water.
Add to the fat left in the frying-pan:
Four tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
A small teaspoonful of made mustard.
As much pepper as will lie _easily_ on a silver
half-dime.
Stir until it boils, then pour on the ham. Let it stand
covered over the boiling water for five minutes
before sending to the table.
Chicken Croquettes.
One cup of cold chicken, minced fine.
One quarter cup of pounded cracker.
One teaspoonful of cornstarch, wet up in a _little_
cold water.
One egg.
One tablespoonful of butter.
Half a tablespoonful of salt.
A good pinch of pepper.
Half a cupful of boiling water.
Mix minced chicken and crumbs together in a bowl with
salt and pepper.
Put the boiling water in a clean saucepan, add the butter and set over
the fire. When the butter is melted stir in the wet corn starch. Boil
and stir until it thickens.
Have the egg beaten light in a bowl and pour the hot mixture upon it.
Beat well, and mix with the minced chicken. Let it get perfectly cold
and make into croquettes as directed for beef croquettes.
But roll these in a well-beaten egg, then in fine cracker-crumbs
instead of flour, and fry, a few at a time, in a mixture half-butter,
half-lard enough to cover them well. Drain off every drop of fat from
each croquette as you take it up, and keep hot until all are done.
Serve hot and at once.
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