after removing the shells as directed and lay them white side up on
the dish, which must be rather deep. Make a little mayonnaise sauce
(proportion of one yolk of an egg to half a teacup of salad oil stirred
into it drop by drop and half a teaspoonful of Tarragon vinegar), pour
the sauce over the eggs.
_Beet-root._ Boiled whole and cut into thin rings, pour over it a
little vinegar and dust a little powdered sugar on it and a little
finely chopped onion.
_Tomatoes._ Skinned and prepared as directed for tomato salad.
_Celery._ Cut or rather curled as you would peel rhubarb and dressed
either with oil and vinegar or with a little mayonnaise sauce to which
has been added half a teaspoonful of dry mustard.
Then there are olives, stuffed or otherwise, tunny fish or smoked
salmon which can be bought in small tins and do not require any
dressing. Simply serve on the dish.
_62. Chocolate_
Place a quarter of a pound of Chocolate Menier in a stone saucepan for
ten minutes covered with cold water. Let it stand on the side of the
stove. Work it into a smooth paste and add water or milk to make it a
pint. No sugar. Place it over the fire and bring it to a boil. Do this
six times, lifting it from the fire each time it boils.
_63. Coffee for Four Persons_
Put into an earthenware saucepan a teacupful of roasted coffee freshly
ground, and pour over one pint and a half of boiling water. Bring to a
boil twice. Tip a tablespoonful of cold water into the boiling coffee.
Let it stand for five minutes and strain through a strainer into a
warmed coffee pot.
SOUPS, STOCKS
_General Remarks_
If the vegetables are used for flavouring only, they may remain in
the soup all the time it is cooking. If, on the other hand, they are
intended to be dished in the soup they should be put in only in time to
be cooked thoroughly.
Every kitchen should contain in a cupboard always a bottle of cooking
sherry, a bottle of mushroom catsup, one of Worcester sauce, one of
tomato (bottled) sauce, some fresh lemons, vinegar, the best salad oil,
a packet of sweet herbs, bovril, nutmeg, cloves, and spice.
The object in adding sugar is to clear the soup or stock and will be
found as effective as eggshells.
In preserving stocks for soups, gravies, etc., care should be taken
never to allow the receptacle containing it to be covered--after it is
strained--except with a perforated meat cover.
Stock cannot be kept for more than two days without being reboiled.
Never neglect to dash cold water into it while still boiling or the
object of settling the solid particles and raising the fat will not be
attained.
_64. Beef Tea_
Take one pound of leg of beef not fat. One pound makes about a pint of
good beef tea. Cut the meat several times across, taking care not to
cut it through. Sprinkle with a half teaspoonful of salt, put into a
stone jar or saucepan with one piece of loaf sugar, add one and a half
pints of cold water and place in a steady oven to cook for two hours.
Always put it into the oven as soon as it is prepared as the salt
otherwise would draw the juice out of the meat. Directly it is cooked,
dash about one tablespoonful of cold water into it. Place in a cold
place for the fat to rise, remove with a sheet of white paper the fat
which will have risen to the top and make hot as required.
_65. Mutton Broth_
This can apply to either the short ends of cutlet bones, the shank
end of a leg of mutton, or the scrag end of the neck. Remove the fat
and place, with an onion (not cut), into a saucepan a turnip cut into
small pieces, a pinch of salt, one piece of loaf sugar, and if no fresh
parsley is obtainable a pinch of mixed sweet herbs that have been
rinsed in cold water. (If herbs are used they must be added as soon as
the broth boils; if fresh parsley it should never be added till it is
within ten minutes of being ready to serve.) More salt may be added
to taste. Bring to a boil quickly and then put a quarter teacupful of
washed pearl barley into it and boil gently for three and a half hours.
Strain and serve.
It will be noticed that some of the soup will boil away and a little
hot water will have to be added. This broth can be made with the
remains of cold potatoes added instead of the barley, in which case it
requires to be stirred through a cullender so as to avoid any pieces of
potato remaining whole.
_66. Chicken Broth_
Take the remains of any cold chicken, giblets, feet, and put into an
earthenware saucepan with one piece of loaf sugar, a pinch of salt,
one small onion (whole), cover with cold water. Keep boiling gently
for three hours adding from time to time a little water to keep the
saucepan about half full. Strain through a cullender and put in the
larder to get cool, after adding a little cold water to make the fat
rise to the top.
_67. Lentil or Split-Pea Soup_
If for pea soup, take the bone of a ham, or the small bones of a piece
of pickled pork and add about a quart of cold water and one onion.
Have ready two large teacupfuls of split peas (that have soaked for
two hours). Boil steadily for three or four hours, stirring from time
to time to prevent burning. Strain through a cullender and serve with
fried bread, very hot. Proceed in the same way for lentil soup, only in
that case the bones of either beef or veal may be used instead of pork.
_68. White Bean Soup_
Have ready one pint of white beans boiled soft in water with a piece of
common soda the size of a pea. Put them into a saucepan with remains of
cold meat--beef, mutton, or veal--one uncut onion, one turnip, pepper
and salt to taste, and if not objected to, a few cold potatoes. Boil
gently about three hours, then pass the whole through a fine cullender
to strain the skins from the beans. Replace in a saucepan and bring
to a boil; then serve very hot. Have ready some slices of stale bread
about half an inch thick cut into dice. Have a little beef (or veal)
dripping, bring to a boil in an enamel frying pan and drop the bread in
while it boils, fry till a light brown and quite crisp. Serve in a hot
dish with a strainer under. This bread is good for either pea, lentil,
haricot, or potato soup.
_69. Chicken Soup_
Take the remains of any cold roast or boiled fowls, salt and pepper to
taste; a whole onion, half a rasher of very lean bacon, one piece of
loaf sugar, one quart of water. Put all together into a saucepan and
bring to a boil, keeping the meat or bones covered. Boil two hours.
Take one and a half flat tablespoonfuls of flour, one ounce of fresh
butter, and put the butter and flour into a smooth china or earthenware
bowl (enamel bowl will do), work the two together with a tablespoon
till a perfectly smooth paste is made, then pour the soup through a
cullender on to the paste, stirring all the time; add a little milk and
if possible a little fresh cream. Replace the soup in the saucepan, put
it back on the stove and stir one way till it boils, when it is ready
to serve.
_70. Game Soup_
Take a rabbit and wash it in a little water with a pinch of salt, then
cut it up. Put it into a stone saucepan with one quart to three pints
cold water, salt and pepper to taste, one piece of loaf sugar, one
onion whole (or three or four spring onions), one carrot, about half
a pound of gravy beef, and the remains of any cold game. Boil gently
for three hours, strain, and place in the saucepan again, bring to a
boil, thicken with flour and butter mixed as for chicken soup, bring
to a boil while stirring. Strain and serve. If not dark enough add
teaspoonful of bovril.
_71. Asparagus Soup_
Take the remains of cold veal, the bottom ends of asparagus, one onion,
salt and pepper, one piece of loaf sugar, and two pints of cold water.
Let it boil gently for three hours. Have ready, well mixed into a
smooth paste, two tablespoonfuls of flour with one and a half ounces
of fresh butter. Strain the soup, while still boiling, through a
strainer on to the paste, stir gently till perfectly smooth, add half
a teacupful of cream and a little milk. Care should be taken that the
soup is not too thick or thin. Replace in the saucepan and stir gently
over a clear fire till it boils. It is then ready to serve and should
be perfectly smooth.
_72. Tomato Soup_
Take the remains of cold chicken, beef, or veal; add two pounds of
fresh tomatoes cut into slices, one onion, pepper and salt, five pieces
of sugar. Put all into a stone saucepan and boil gently two hours (in
about a quart of water); have ready the same mixture of butter and
flour as for asparagus soup, strain the tomato soup on to it, add the
half teacupful of cream and a little milk, put back into the saucepan
and stir till it boils. This should be about a quart of soup.
It will be noticed that most of these recipes are made with the remains
of cold meat instead of buying especially to make the soup, and in this
way most things can be used up without any waste.
_73. Clear Ox Tail Soup_
Soak a fresh ox tail in cold water for two hours. Then cut at each
joint, remove all the fat, and lay in three pints of cold water in
a saucepan with a pinch of salt, two pieces of loaf sugar, and a
teaspoonful of mushroom catsup. Boil for three hours, then add one
sliced carrot and a finely cut onion; boil for another half hour. The
soup is then ready to be served with the meat in it.
_74. Thick Ox Tail Soup_
Proceed in the same manner as for the clear soup, adding a good
teacupful of strong beef stock. Put in whole an onion and a carrot with
a teaspoonful of Worcester sauce. Boil for three hours, then dash in a
cupful of cold water and remove from the fire to stand in a cool place.
Carefully remove all the fat and the vegetables. Bring the soup to a
boil again and add a carrot cut into oblong pieces, boil for another
half hour, thicken with a little carefully mixed flour and water, and
serve with the meat in it.
_75. Julienne Soup_
Take one pound of lean gravy beef not cut up, put it into a saucepan
with one piece of loaf sugar, an onion (whole), a little pepper and
salt, and three pints of water. Boil for two hours. Dash a teacupful
of cold water in to cause the fat to rise. Allow it to cool, skim the
fat, and strain the soup into another saucepan. Put in one carrot, cut
into slices and then into tiny strips, half a turnip, in strips, and
a few green peas. These last may be from a bottle if it is impossible
to obtain the fresh. Boil for half an hour and serve the soup with
the vegetables in it. This soup will turn out perfectly clear if the
directions are carefully followed.
_76. To Use Roast Beef Bone for Soup_
Remove all the fat; put the bone in a saucepan with about a quart of
water, a piece of loaf sugar (to clear it), salt, pepper, one carrot
cut into narrow strips, one onion sliced, and a little cut cabbage.
Boil steadily for an hour and a half. Remove the bone and then serve
the soup with the vegetables in it.
BEEF
_Roasting. Boiling_
_General Remarks_
Sirloin 7 lbs. 1½ to 2 hours.
Fillet say 4 lbs. 1 hour.
Round 4 to 5 lbs. 1¼ hours.
Rolled Ribs 7 lbs. 2¼ to 2½ hours.
Aitchbone 7 lbs. 2½ to 3 hours.
The first and the two last joints should be bought large, not under
seven pounds, on account of the bone they contain.
In roasting or rather in baking, as is the general practice of small
households (either in gas stove or coal), attention should be paid
that the oven is not too fierce as it reduces the joint greatly and of
course spoils the taste and appearance.
On the other hand, an oven not sufficiently hot spoils the meat by
making it hard.
The proper degree of heat is best learned by experience but as a guide
it may be said that a joint should begin to splutter and sizzle within
fifteen minutes after the oven door is shut.
If the meat does not appear to be cooking satisfactorily at the end of
fifteen minutes the baking tin should be stood on the stove over the
fire (top off) after putting a little beef dripping into the tin.
While on the fire turn the joint over several times with the fork. At
the end of ten to fifteen minutes the meat may be put back into the
oven.
The dripping should be preserved as follows:--
After the meat is cooked, place the joint on the dish. Turn the fat out
of the baking tin into a basin and dash into it at once a tablespoonful
of cold water. This will separate the meat juice from the fat.
In this way you obtain perfectly clear fat and the meat juice under
it will be found useful for colouring sauces or improving soups. This
applies to all roast meat--beef, veal, and mutton--providing the joint
is not stuffed.
As to obtaining gravy for the joint itself, proceed as follows:--
After pouring off the fat into the basin as directed, put half a
teacupful of cold water into the baking tin and let it stand on top of
the fire till it boils, which will happen almost at once. Turn over the
joint in the dish.
Should the gravy appear not dark enough, the meat juice separated as
above from the fat of other joints may be added.
_N.B._ Never flour the joint before putting it in the oven. The
practice has nothing to recommend it and it would make it impossible to
obtain dripping or preserve the very useful meat juice.
_77. Salt Beef and Carrots_
Soak over night in cold water a piece of salt beef, say about four
pounds. Put it into a saucepan three parts full of boiling water. Time
for cooking: one and a half hours. When the meat has been boiling for
half an hour add four carrots cut in four lengthwise. Make about six
suet dumplings in the same way as suet crust for pudding and put in the
saucepan twenty minutes before the meat is ready. Care must be taken
that no salt is added to anything. Serve with the dumplings and carrots
round the dish.
_78. Stuffed Steak with Thick Sauce_
Take two pounds of rump steak, free it from sinews; make about four
large cuts in it without cutting it right through, with a sharp knife.
Lay the stuffing (sage and onion according to rec: 40) on the steak,
cover with a piece of flare, or if not available a piece of buttered
paper tied round with string, and bake for one hour. Lay the meat on a
dish and remove the string and paper. Put a pinch of pepper and salt
into the baking tin and about a teacupful of water. Place over the top
of the stove until it boils, stir into it a tablespoonful and a half of
carefully mixed flour, bring it to the boil again and carefully strain
it through a gravy strainer over the meat. Serve with baked or boiled
potatoes.
_79. Rump Steak with Kidney and Mushroom Sauce_
Melt over a clear fire an ounce of butter in an enamelled frying pan,
then put in one and a half pounds of rump steak to fry briskly for
five minutes, turning over once. Put the stove top on then and cook
the steak for fifteen to twenty minutes more. Prepare half an ox
kidney cut into dice, half a Spanish onion chopped very fine, and six
or seven mushrooms (which have been previously placed in salted water
for a short time to remove all grit). After dishing the steak put the
kidney in the pan first, then the onion, then the mushrooms and fry
very briskly but lightly for ten to fifteen minutes. Then add half a
teaspoonful of Worcester sauce, six tablespoonfuls of water, and half a
tablespoonful of flour mixed very smooth and thin with a little water.
Bring to a boil and turn over the steak before serving.
_80. Stewed Steak_
Cut into pieces about a finger’s length one and a half pounds of rump
steak. Have ready in an enamelled frying pan about an ounce of fresh
butter made hot, or dripping. Lay the steak in this and fry briskly
on a clear fire for ten minutes. Remove the meat and put it into an
earthenware saucepan with a slice. Fry in the same butter or dripping
one large Spanish onion. Cut two large or six small carrots into
pieces; add this and the onion to the steak with a piece of loaf sugar,
pepper and salt, and half a teaspoonful of Worcester sauce or mushroom
catsup. Cover with cold water and stew gently for two hours. Thicken
with a little carefully mixed flour and water. Best served in the
earthenware saucepan wrapped in a napkin.
_81. Marinaded Beef_
This recipe will be useful when the question arises of keeping a
joint over a Sunday. Get your butcher to cut you about four pounds of
undercut of beef. Make the marinade as follows: For a pint of best
malt vinegar one whole onion, one carrot (onion and carrot to be left
whole), one-fourth pint of cold water, two bay leaves, six or seven
peppercorns, salt and pepper to taste; put into an enamel saucepan and
bring to a boil. Simmer gently for half an hour then turn into a deep
basin to get cold. When quite cold place the beef in it and turn it
over five or six times in the course of the two days it has to wait for
cooking. When required for the table take some good dripping--either
beef or mutton according to which joint you wish to cook--put it into a
baking tin and when quite hot place the meat in it and cook in a nice
hot (but not fierce) oven for three-quarters of an hour to one hour.
Place the meat on a hot dish, turn out the fat which is no longer of
any use. For the gravy put four or five tablespoonfuls of the marinade
into the hot baking tin with a teaspoonful of bovril and bring to a
boil. Add to the boiling gravy, if possible, two or three teaspoonfuls
of cream (not preserved) thickened with a little flour and water mixed
smoothly, and serve either poured over the meat or in a sauce boat.
_Note._ The above will do for loin of mutton.
_82. Steaks on Toast_
Take a nice thick steak, beat it lightly with the blade of a firm
knife, cut into rounds say about the size of the foot of a large
wineglass, allowing two little steaks per person. Sprinkle with a
little salt. Have a deep frying pan with some good beef dripping ready
melted. Cut some rounds of dry bread a little bigger than the meat. Fry
these a crisp brown in the dripping. Drain them on a strainer. Put some
more fresh dripping in the pan and fry the little steaks which should
be cooked so as to allow the gravy to run red when cut. Place each on
the round of toast and serve very hot with some thick brown gravy.
_83. Scraped Meat Steak_
Take about two pounds of lean steak cut very thick. Scrape it free from
all fat or other particles with a sharp knife on to a big flat dish.
Add pepper and salt to taste, about half a finely sliced and minced
onion, a tablespoonful of Worcester sauce. Work all together with the
blade of the knife pressing the meat, etc., on the dish. In this way
the onion should entirely disappear. Form into little round cakes the
size of a small round dinner biscuit only three times as thick. Roll in
egg and breadcrumbs and fry lightly from three to seven minutes. Place
on a hot dish and serve. A welcome addition is the whole yolk of an
egg served on each, and it is quite palatable prepared in this way and
served quite raw.
MUTTON
_Roasting._ _Boiling_
_General Remarks_
Leg 7 lbs. 1¾ hours.
(This can be cut in half across and used as two joints if desired, thus
doing away with a lot of cold meat for succeeding days)
Shoulder 7 to 8 lbs. 1¾ to 2 hours.
Loin 4 to 6 lbs. 1 to 1¾ hours.
For roasting mutton the oven must be brisk. No joint of mutton should
be put on the top of the stove.
For dishing and gravy proceed as for beef.
Shank end of leg of mutton makes very good mutton broth.
_83. Boiled Mutton_
Boil the bottom half of a leg of mutton in a saucepan three parts full
of water for one and a half hours with a teaspoonful of salt. Serve on
a flat dish with a little parsley as garniture.
Serve with caper sauce. Proceed as per No. 110 but adding half a cupful
of capers (bottled) instead of the parsley, ten minutes before serving
in a boat.
_84. Boiled Mutton for an Invalid_
Take a little of the best end of the neck of mutton and, after removing
the fat, put it in a stone saucepan which has been previously rinsed
in cold water, with half a pint of fresh milk and a little salt. While
boiling add half an onion cut up small. Boil gently for an hour and a
half. Thicken with a little flour and serve.
_85. Breast of Mutton Stuffed_
Lay the breast of mutton on the pastry board and put sage and onion
stuffing (recipe 40) into it. Roll and tie with string and bake for one
hour.
_86. Leg of Mutton Cutlets_
Cut the leg of mutton in half, the top part for roasting and the rest
of the leg cut into cutlets of about an inch thick (it should cut into
four cutlets). Put half an ounce of butter into a pan and melt it over
the fire. Fry the cutlets over a clear, brisk fire for five minutes,
and turn over once during that time. Put the stove top on and cook the
cutlets for fifteen minutes more. Then dish.
_87. Mutton Cutlets and Mashed Potatoes_
Cut three pounds of best end of neck of mutton (it is always best to
cut your own cutlets), carefully remove the line of fat and scrape the
bone which should not be longer than three inches. Chop the rest off.
Put one ounce of fresh butter in an enamelled frying pan and make it
hot. Lay the cutlets in the butter and put over a brisk fire for three
minutes. Turn once and place on the stove with the top on. Cook for
another fifteen minutes. If any doubt is felt as to their being done,
it is well to cut one to see whether it is cooked perfectly. It should
look red not purple, and the gravy should run. Arrange the mashed
potatoes in a pyramid in the centre of the dish and stand the cutlets
round it with a little paper frill on each bone.
_88. Boiled Mutton with Mushrooms or Olives_
Take some mutton cutlets from which all the fat has been removed. Put
them into a frying pan with a little good dripping and some finely
sliced onion. Fry to a light brown. Cut into dice one or more sound
turnips and a carrot and put into a small saucepan together with one or
two stoned olives or mushrooms cut up, unless the button ones are used.
Add the fried meat and onion and if possible a little strong meat gravy
to just cover the whole. (The stones of the olives should be put in as
well and removed before serving). Add pepper and salt and allow to stew
gently an hour and a half. Thicken with a little smoothly mixed flour
and water stirred into it. Bring to a boil and serve in a deep dish.
_89. Hot Pot_
Take about two and half pounds of best end of neck of mutton and after
removing the bones (which will make mutton stock) cut the meat in two
(each cutlet); have two sound turnips and two carrots cut into dice
and one large onion finely sliced. Put the vegetables in a pile in the
centre of a stone (deep) saucepan. Place the meat round it and add
pepper and salt. Pour in a small breakfast cup of cold water and cover
the whole with slices of partly cooked boiled potato. Spread liberally
with some good beef dripping and cover with the saucepan lid. Put into
a good oven and allow two and a half hours for it to cook. Then remove
the lid and leave to brown, when it will be ready to serve. It is best
served in the saucepan with a white serviette wrapped round it.
_90. Hashed Mutton_
Take the remains of cold roast mutton. Remove the fat and cut the meat
into nice small slices not too thin. Fry lightly a large onion cut into
thin slices, a little diced turnip, and half a dozen dry chillies.
Put all together into an enamelled saucepan and if possible a little
mutton stock made from the bone. Stew gently for an hour, add two
tablespoonfuls of washed rice, thicken with a little flour and water
mixed smooth, and serve hot.
_100. Stewed Lamb and Green Peas_
Take two and a half pounds of lean lamb cutlets; put them into an
enamelled saucepan with an onion cut into thin slices, one or two
fresh young turnips peeled and cut into squares, salt and pepper, and
a piece of loaf sugar. Stew gently for an hour, add a breakfast-cupful
of freshly shelled green peas and let them boil all together for twenty
minutes. Thicken with a little smoothly mixed flour and water. Serve
very hot with a little chopped parsley dusted over the top.
_Roast Lamb_
To roast lamb proceed as for mutton, only the joints, being smaller,
will not require so long to cook. A nice way to serve a leg of lamb is
as follows: have some bacon lard cut into strips about an inch long,
cut little slits in the outside of the leg and insert a piece of bacon
lard in each. Cook in a nice steady oven, allowing about an hour and a
half for a leg of four pounds.
If you wish to serve a leg of lamb or any other joint cold it is well
to choose a joint not too large for your purpose and to cook it the
day before it is required. Avoid cutting it while it is hot. In this
way the gravy should run freely when the cold joint is cut and the
flavour will be much better. The same applies to any joint intended to
be used cold.