Calf's Liver, Braised.
Wash and wipe a calf's liver. Lard one side of it. Cover the bottom of
the braising pan with slices of salt pork, using about a quarter of a
pound. Cut an onion and half a carrot in small pieces, and spread over
the pork. Lay the liver on this, and dredge thickly with salt, pepper
and flour. Cover the pan, and place where it will cook slowly for half
an hour. Add a bouquet of sweet herbs and three pints of stock or
water. Put the pan in a moderate oven and cook for two hours. Baste
frequently with the gravy in the pan, and salt, pepper and flour.
About twenty minutes before the liver is done, add one teaspoonful of
vinegar and one of lemon juice. Strain the gravy over the liver when
it is dished.
Beef Stew.
Take the bones and hard, tough parts left from a roast of beef. Remove
all the meat from the bones, and cut it in small pieces. Cut about a
quarter of a pound of the fat of the meat in very small pieces. Put it
in the stew-pan to fry. When it begins to brown, put in half a carrot,
one small turnip, and two onions, cut fine. Stir over the fire for ten
minutes. Take out the fat and vegetables, and put the bones in the
bottom of the kettle. Add the meat and the cooked vegetables, but not
the fat. Dredge well with salt, pepper, and flour, shaking in at least
half a cupful of flour. Add three pints of water, and simmer gently
one hour; then put in six potatoes, pared and cut in slices. Simmer
one hour longer. Taste to see if seasoned enough. Draw forward where
it will boil more rapidly. Stir the stew, and put in the dumplings.
Cook just ten minutes. The cover of the stew-pan must fit tightly.
There should be about two pounds of meat for this stew, not counting
the bones.
Cold Meat with Purée of Potato.
Six good-sized potatoes, one table-spoonful of butter, one cupful of
boiling milk, salt and pepper to taste. Pare and boil the potatoes,
and mash light and fine. Add the butter, seasoning and boiling milk.
Beat up light, and spread on a hot platter. Lay on this handsome
slices of any kind of cold meat, and on each slice put a table-
spoonful of hot gravy. Put a little gravy around the dish, and set in
the oven for five minutes. Garnish with parsley, and serve. If there
is no gravy left from the dinner of the day before, make a pint in the
following manner: Put a quart of water with some of the hard pieces
and bones of the meat, and boil down to one pint. Put one table-
spoonful of butter in a frying-pan, and, when hot, add one table-
spoonful of flour. Stir until dark brown, and strain the broth on
this. Season with salt, pepper and, if you please, one spoonful of
Halford sauce.
Shepherds' Pie.
One quart of any kind of cold meat, eight large potatoes, one small
onion, one cupful of boiling milk, salt, pepper, and nearly a pint of
gravy or stock, thickened with one table-spoonful of flour. Season the
meat and put in a deep earthen dish. Grate the onion into the gravy,
and pour over the meat. Pare, boil and mash the potatoes. Add the
salt, pepper and milk and one table-spoonful of butter. Cover the pie
with this, and bake gently half an hour.
Shepherds' Pie, No. 2.
Cut into dice one quart of any kind of cold meat. Mince very fine two
table-spoonfuls of salt pork, and add to the meat. Pare and cut into
dice four large uncooked potatoes; grate or chop fine one onion; chop
fine one table-spoonful of parsley. Mix, and season well with salt and
pepper, and add a large cupful of water. Put in a deep earthen dish.
Make a paste with four potatoes, two table-spoonfuls of butter, a
large cupful of boiling milk and a pint of flour. Pare, boil and mash
the potatoes; then add butter, salt and milk. When all is very light,
beat in the flour, gradually. Sprinkle the board with flour, and roll
the paste a little larger than the dish. Make a hole in the centre, to
let out the air. Cover the dish with the paste, being careful to have
the edge come inside the dish. Bake gently one hour.
Escaloped Meat.
Chop the meat rather coarse. Season with salt and pepper. For one pint
of meat use half a cupful of gravy and a heaping cupful of bread
crumbs. Put a layer of the meat in an escalop dish, then gravy, then a
thin layer of crumbs; and continue this until the dish is full. The
last layer should be a thick one of crumbs. Cook in a hot oven from
fifteen to twenty minutes. All kinds of cold meat can be escaloped,
but beef is so dry that it is not so good as mutton, veal, etc,
Curry of Cold Meat.
Three table-spoonfuls of butter, three teaspoonfuls of flour, one
onion, one teaspoonful of curry powder, salt, pepper, one generous
pint of stock or water, about two pounds of any kind of cold meat, cut
in thin slices. Put the butter in the frying-pan, and, when hot, add
the onion. When the onion turns yellow, add the flour and curry
powder. Stir two minutes, add the stock or water, simmer five minutes,
and strain on the meat. Simmer all together for ten minutes. Serve
with a border of rice or mashed potatoes.
Barley Stew.
About a quarter of a pound of cold roasted or broiled meat, two
onions, four potatoes, a quarter of a cupful of barley, one table-
spoonful of flour, one quart of water, and salt and pepper to taste.
Cut the meat into dice; wash the barley; cut the onions _very
fine_. Put all in a stew-pan, and dredge with the flour, half a
table-spoonful of salt, and one-eighth of a teaspoonful of pepper. Add
the water, and simmer two hours. Pare and slice the potatoes. Add them
to the stew, and simmer one hour longer. Taste to see if there is
enough, salt and pepper, and if there is not, add more.
Dumplings.
One pint of flour, measured before sifting; half a teaspoonful of
soda, a teaspoonful of cream of tartar, one of sugar, half a
teaspoonful of salt. Mix all thoroughly and run through the sieve. Wet
with a small cupful of milk. Sprinkle a little flour on the board.
Turn the dough (which should have been stirred into a smooth ball with
a spoon) on it roll to the thickness of half an inch, cut into small
cakes, and cook ten minutes.
By remembering that the soup should be boiling rapidly when the
dumplings are put in; that they should not sink too deep in it; that
they should boil _just ten minutes_; that the cover should fit
tightly, so that the steam shall not escape; and that the pot boils
all the time, so that the steam is kept up; and by following the other
directions, success is insured.