of venison or any sort of fresh meat. Pie crust for baking should be
shortened with butter, or with the dripping of roast beef, veal, or
_fresh_ pork. Mutton or lamb dripping are unfit for pie crust, as they
make it taste of tallow. Suet will not do at all for _baked_ paste,
though very good if the paste is to be boiled. Butter and lard will make
a nice plain paste for pies, if both are fresh and good; the butter to
be rubbed into the flour, mixed with a little cold water, and rolled
out; the lard to be spread evenly all over the sheet; then folded and
rolled out again. Meat pies should always have a bottom crust, as the
gravy it imbibes makes it very relishing. Veal pies are insipid without
the addition of some cold ham.
Pies made of game should have a puff-paste, as they are generally for
company.
On the shores of the Chesapeake, very fine pies are made of canvas-back,
or red-neck ducks, when in season. They require puff-paste to be made
in perfection. Pot-pies of these ducks are, of course, excellent.
A BEEF STEAK POT-PIE.--Take two pounds or more of tender beef steaks,
exclusive of the fat and bone, which must be omitted; the steaks from
the sirloin end, cut less than an inch thick, and not larger than four
or five inches square. Put them into a pot with enough water to cover
them, and season them slightly with pepper and salt. Dredge them with a
little flour, and lay on each a morsel of nice fresh butter. Stew the
steaks for half an hour. Meanwhile make a large portion of paste;
allowing to every quart or pound of flour, a small half pound of nice
beef-suet, entirely freed from all its skin and strings, and minced with
a chopper as finely as possible. To three pounds of beef allow four
quarts of flour and not quite two pounds of suet. A pot-pie with but
little paste in proportion to the meat, is no better than a stew. The
paste, if good, is always much liked. Divide the minced suet into two
halves. Rub or crumble one half the suet into the pan of flour; adding
by degrees a little _cold_ water, barely enough to make a stiff dough;
first mixing in a small tea-spoonful of salt. Roll out the lump of dough
into a large sheet, and spread it all over with the remainder of the
minced suet, laid on with a broad knife. Then fold it up, and set it on
a dish in a cool place, to get quite cold. Take a large iron pot, made
very clean. Lay in the bottom the largest pieces of beef steak, and
line round the sides with pieces of the paste, cut to fit. Next put in
the remainder of the meat, interspersed with raw potatos sliced, (either
white or sweet potatos,) and also pieces of the paste cut into squares,
and laid among the meat, to which must be added the gravy saved from the
stew. When the pot is nearly full, cover its contents with a large round
or circular piece of paste. This must not fit _quite closely_, but a
little space or crack must be left all around for the gravy to bubble up
as it boils. Before you put on the lid pour in half a pint, or more, of
water. Cut a cross-slit in the centre of the top-crust. Set the pot over
a good fire, and let it boil steadily, till all is done, meat and paste.
The upper-crust should be well-browned. When cooked, serve the whole
upon one large dish, laying the brown upper-crust on the top of all. If
there is too much gravy, send some of it to table in a sauce-boat, first
skimming it.
It will be improved by adding to the seasoning some nutmeg or powdered
mace. These are the only spices that accord well with meat or poultry.
POT-PIES.--The preceding receipt is good for any sort of pot-pie. They
are all on the same principle. The meat to be divested of the fat, and
stewed first in a pot by itself, saving the gravy. The paste (of which
there should always be an ample allowance) sufficient to line the sides
of the pot all round, and reaching up nearly to the top, besides plenty
of small square pieces to intersperse with the meat, and an upper crust
to cover the whole. At the very bottom the meat and gravy only, as there
the paste might burn. Pot-pies may be made of any sort of fresh meat, or
of fowls or any sort of poultry (cut up, as if for carving,) and
previously stewed. If made of chickens or pigeons or rabbits, add a few
slices of cold ham and put no other salt. For want of suet you may make
the paste with butter, but it must be fresh and good. Allow half a pound
of butter to a large quart of flour. Potato paste is tolerable for
shortening pot-pies, if you make it half mashed potato and half lard. We
do not recommend bread dough or any thing raised with yeast or soda for
boiled paste; when there is no shortening, boiled paste is always tough
and unwholesome.
Pot-pies may be made of apples pared, cored, and quartered; of peaches
quartered and stoned, or of any nice fruit. Fruit pot-pies should have
butter paste, and be well sweetened with brown sugar.
All boiled dough should be eaten warm. It falls and becomes heavy as
soon as cold.
BEEF-STEAK PUDDING.--After clearing it from the skin and strings, mince
as fine as possible three quarters of a pound of nice beef suet. Sift
into a pan two small quarts of flour. Rub half the suet into the flour,
and make it into a paste with a little cold water, (as little as
possible.) Roll it out into a large sheet, and spread over it, evenly,
the other half of the minced suet. Fold it, flour it, roll it again,
and divide it unequally into two pieces, one nearly three times larger
than the other. Roll them out, rather thick than thin. Have ready a
large pound and a quarter of tender-loin beef steak, that has been cut
into thin pieces (without fat or bone, seasoned with a very little salt
and pepper, and some nutmeg) and half-stewed, saving its gravy. Lay this
meat upon the large thick sheet of crust; pour the stewed gravy among
it, and add some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. Cover it with the
small round of paste, cut to fit, only allowing the lid large enough to
project a little over, so as to be joined firmly by pressing it all
round with your fingers. Do it well and securely, that it may not come
apart while boiling. Dip a large square pudding-cloth in hot
water--shake it out--lay it in a deep pan, dredge it with flour, lay the
pudding into it and tie it firmly, leaving room for swelling. Put it
into a large pot of boiling water, and boil it till, on probing with a
fork, you find the meat quite tender.
Or you may boil it in a large bowl with a rim, tying the cloth carefully
all over the top. Set the bowl in a pot of boiling water.
TO BOIL TRIPE.--Clean the tripe very carefully, giving it a thorough
scraping, and washing in warm water, and trim off the superfluous fat.
Lay it all night in weak salt and water. Then wash it again. Let it lie
an hour or two in milk and water, and then boil it five hours or more,
putting it on in cold water. It must be perfectly tender throughout.
This should be done the day _before_ it is to be cooked for dinner. On
that day, cut it into strips or bands, roll them with the fat side
inwards. Tie the rolls round with small white twine, and boil them two
hours longer; or till they are _perfectly tender throughout, and incline
to look transparent near the edges_. Have ready in a saucepan, some
onions peeled; and boil in milk and water, till soft enough to mash.
Then take them out; drain them; mix with the onion-water some nice fresh
butter divided into pieces and rolled in flour. When this has come to a
boil, return the onions to the liquor; season them with pepper, and give
them one boil up. When the tripe is done, transfer it to a deep dish,
and pour the onion sauce over it. When on your plate, add to it some
tarragon vinegar or mustard. Take the strings off before the tripe goes
to table.
TRIPE CURRY.--Having boiled two pounds of double tripe, cut it into
slips, peel two large onions, cut them also into dice, and put them into
a stew-pan, with three ounces, or three table-spoonfuls of fresh butter.
Let them stew till brown, stirring frequently, and mixing in a
table-spoonful of curry-powder. Add a pint of milk, and the cut-up
tripe. Let all stew together for an hour or more, skimming it well.
Serve it up in a tureen or deep dish, with a dish of boiled rice to eat
with it.
A good East India receipt for curry-powder, is to pound, very fine, in
a marble mortar, (made very clean,) six ounces of coriander seed, three
quarters of an ounce of cayenne, one ounce and a half of foenugreek
seed; one ounce of cummin seed, and three ounces of turmeric. These
articles (all of which can be obtained at a druggist's,) being pounded
extremely fine, must be sifted through clean thin muslin, and spread on
a dish, and laid before the fire for three hours, stirring them
frequently. Keep this powder in a bottle with a glass stopper. It is
used for giving an East Indian flavor to stews. The turmeric
communicates a fine yellow color.
Boiled rice is always eaten with curry dishes.
Curry balls for Mock Turtle, &c., are made of bread-crumbs, fresh
butter, hard-boiled yolk of egg, chopped fine, a seasoning of curry
powder, and some beaten raw egg, to make the mixture into balls, about
the size of a hickory-nut.
FRIED TRIPE.--Having boiled the tripe till perfectly tender all through;
cut it into pieces three or four inches square. Make a batter of four
beaten eggs, four table-spoonfuls of flour, and a pint of milk, seasoned
with powdered nutmeg or mace. Have boiling in the frying-pan an ample
quantity of the drippings of roast veal, or beef. Dip each piece of
tripe twice into the batter; then lay it in the pan, and fry it brown.
Send it to table hot.
Tripe was long considered very indigestible. This, it is now found, was
a mistake; physicians having discovered that it is quite the contrary,
the gastric juice that it contained, as the stomach of the animal,
rendering it singularly fitted for digestion, provided that it is
thoroughly cooked; so that on trial, a fork can easily penetrate every
part of it.
TONGUES.--Corned or salted tongues are very little in use now. They
spoil so soon, that it is scarcely possible to obtain one that has not
been salted too late; and when quite fresh, they have a faint,
sickening, doubtful taste. It is best always to buy them dried and
smoked. Choose the largest and plumpest, and with as smooth an outside
or skin as you can. Put a tongue into soak the evening before it is to
be cooked; changing the water at bed-time. In the morning wash it in
fresh water. Trim off the root, which is an unsightly object, and never
carved at table. But it may be cut into pieces, and added to pea-soup,
or bean-soup, or pepper-pot. Put on the tongue in a large pot of cold
water, and boil it steadily for five or six hours, till it is so tender
that a straw, or a twig from a corn-broom, will easily penetrate it.
When you find that it is thoroughly done (and not till then) take it up.
A smoked tongue requires more boiling than a ham, and therefore is
seldom sufficiently cooked. When quite done, peel it carefully, and keep
it warm till dinner. If well-boiled, it will seem almost to melt in your
mouth. When you dish it do not split it. The flavor is much injured by
carving it lengthways, or in long pieces. It should be cut in round
slices, not too thin.
For a large party we have seen two cold tongues on one dish. One of them
whole--the root concealed entirely with double parsley, cut paper, or a
bunch of flowers cut out of vegetables, very ingeniously, with a sharp
penknife--the vegetables raw, of course not to be eaten. Red roses made
of beets, white roses or camellias of turnips, marigolds of carrots, &c.
The stems are short wooden skewers, stuck into the flowers, and
concealed by double parsley. These vegetable bouquets can be made to
look very well, as ornaments to cold tongue, or to the end of the shank
of a ham, or to stick into the centre of a cold round of a-la-mode beef.
Where there are two cold tongues on one dish, it is usual to split one
to be helped lengthways, and garnish it with the other, cut into
circular pieces, and laid handsomely round.
Cold tongue sliced is a great improvement to a chicken pie, or to any
bird pie.
BAKED TONGUE.--Having soaked a fine large smoked tongue all night, in
the morning trim it nicely, and if it still seems hard, soak it again in
fresh cold water till it is time to cook it. Then put it into a deep
dish, (having trimmed off the root,) and make a coarse paste of flour
and water. Cut up the roots into little bits, and lay them round and
about the tongue, to enrich the gravy. Lay all along the surface some
bits of butter rolled in flour, and season with a little pepper--no
salt. Pour in a very little water, and cover the dish with the coarse
paste. Bake it till the tongue is very tender. This you may ascertain by
raising up with a knife one corner of the paste and trying the tongue.
When done, peel it, dish it, strain the gravy over the tongue, and send
it to table. Garnish with baked tomatos, or mushrooms, or large roasted
chestnuts peeled.
For a large company have two baked tongues, one at each end of the
table. Eat them warm.
LARDED TONGUE.--Take a large cold tongue, that has been well boiled.
Trim off the roots. Have ready some slips of the fat of cold boiled ham,
cut into long thin pieces, about as thick as straws. With a larding
needle, draw them through the outside of the tongue, and leave them
there. Arrange the borders in rows, or handsome regular forms, leaving
about an inch standing up on the surface.
Cold meat or poultry is far better for larding than that which is yet to
cook.
TONGUE TOAST.--Make some slices of nice toast, not very thick, but
browned evenly all over, on both sides. Trim off the whole of the crust.
Butter the toast slightly. Grate, with a large grater plenty of cold
tongue, and spread it thickly over the toast. Lay the slices side by
side, on a large dish--not one slice on the top of another.
Serve them up at breakfast, luncheon, or supper.
HAM TOAST--Is prepared in the same manner, of grated cold ham spread on
slices of buttered toast.
SANDWICHES--Are slices of cold ham, or tongue, _cut very thin_, and laid
between thin slices of buttered bread. The meat may be seasoned with
French mustard. Roll them up nicely. There are silver cases made to
contain sandwiches to eat on the road when traveling.
Sandwiches for traveling may be made of the _lean_ of cold beef, (roast
or boiled,) cut very thin, seasoned with French mustard, and laid
between two slices of bread and butter.
MUTTON.
MUTTON.--If mutton is good it is of a fine grain; the lean is of a
bright red color, and the fat firm and white. Unless there is plenty of
fat the lean will not be good; and so it is with all meat. If the lean
is of a very dark red, and coarse and hard, and the fat yellowish and
spongy, the mutton is old, tough, and strong. Therefore, do not buy it.
If there is any dark or blackish tint about the meat, it is tainted, and
of course unwholesome. If kept till it acquires what the English call
venison taste, Americans will very properly refuse to eat it.
We give no directions for disguising spoilt meat. It should be thrown
away. Nothing is fit to eat in which decomposition is commencing.
BOILED LOIN OF MUTTON.--A good loin of mutton is always very fat, so
that in cooking it is well to remove or pare off a portion of the
outside fat. Unlike most other meats, mutton is the better for being
boiled in soup. Put it into a large pot; allow to every pound a quart of
water. Boil it slowly and skim it well, adding the vegetables when the
scum has done rising. The vegetables should be sliced turnips, potatos,
and grated carrots. Have ready plenty of suet dumplings, in the
proportion of half a pound of finely minced suet to a pound and a
quarter of flour. Rub the suet into the pan of flour, and use as little
water as possible in mixing the dough. Make it into thick dumplings,
rather larger round than a dollar. Boil them in a pot by themselves,
till thoroughly done. Serve up the meat with the dumplings round it. Or
put the dumplings in a dish by themselves, and surround the meat with
whole turnips. This is an excellent plain dish for a private family.
Serve up pickles with it.
SAUCE FOR BOILED MUTTON.--This particularly applies to mutton that has
been boiled in soup, and which is so very generally liked, that it is
served up on tables where soup-meat of beef and veal is considered
inadmissible. To make a suitable sauce to eat with it--take two or three
large boiled onions; slice them and put them into a sauce-pan, with a
piece of fresh butter slightly rolled in flour, a table-spoonful of
_made_ mustard. French mustard will be best; or, for want of that, two
table-spoonfuls of strong tarragon vinegar, and a half-salt-spoon of
cayenne, and some pickled cucumbers chopped, but not minced. Green
nasturtion seeds will be still better than cucumbers. Put these
ingredients into a small sauce-pan, adding to them a little of the
mutton soup. Set this sauce over the fire, and when it simmers well,
take it off, put into a sauce-boat, and keep it hot till the mutton goes
to table.
To keep nasturtions--take the full-grown green seeds, and put them into
a large bottle of the best _cider_ vinegar, corking them closely. They
require nothing more, and are far superior to capers.
BOILED LEG OF MUTTON.--After nicely trimming a middle-sized leg of
mutton, wash, but do not soak it. Put it into a pot that will hold it
well, and pour on rather more water than is sufficient to cover it. Set
it over a good fire, and skim it as soon as it begins to boil, and
continue till no more scum appears; having thrown in a small
table-spoonful of salt after the first skimming. After the liquid is
clear, put in some turnips, pared, and, if large, divided into four
pieces. Afterwards it should boil slowly, or simmer gently for about two
hours or more. Send to table with it caper sauce; or nasturtion, which
is still better. Eat it with any sort of green pickles. Pickles and
turnips seem indispensable to boiled mutton. Do not mash the turnips,
but let them be well drained.
Setting boiled turnips in the sun will give them an unpleasant taste.
Tarragon sauce is excellent with boiled mutton.
MUTTON STEAKS STEWED.--Take some tender mutton steaks, cut from the leg.
Beat them a little with a rolling pin, and season them with pepper and
salt. Put them into a stew-pan with sliced potatos, sliced turnips,
sliced onions, sliced or grated carrots, and sweet marjoram leaves
stripped from the stalks. Pour in just sufficient water to cover the
stew, and let it cook slowly till it is tender and well done. Serve it
up hot in a deep dish, with a cover. A table-spoonful of tarragon
mustard will improve the stew.
When tomatos are in season, you can stew mutton or any other meat with
tomatos only--no water. Having prepared the meat, and laid it in the
stew-pan, cover it with tomatos, peeled and quartered. Add some sugar to
take off a portion of their acid, and a chopped onion. No water, as the
meat will cook in the liquid of the tomatos. They must stew till
thoroughly dissolved.
Tender-loin beef steaks--or veal cutlets, may be stewed as above.
MUTTON CHOPS BROILED.--The best steaks are those cut from the loin,
about half an inch thick. Divest them of the bone, and remove the skin
and fat. Then butter them slightly all over, before cooking. This will
be found an improvement. The French go over them with salad oil, which
is still better. Sprinkle on them a little pepper and salt. Having
heated the gridiron well over a bed of very hot live coals, place it
somewhat aslant, grease its bars with a little of the mutton suet, and
lay on the steaks and broil them well; turning them three or four times,
and seeing that they are not scorched or burnt on the outside, and red
or raw when cut. Turn them with a knife and fork, or with steak-tongs,
an instrument with which every kitchen should be furnished. To cook them
well requires a clear glowing fire, without blaze or smoke. They should
be done in about a quarter of an hour. When you take them up, turn them
on a well-heated dish, and pour their gravy over them.
If onions are liked, mince one as fine as possible, and strew it over
the steaks while broiling; or, boil and slice some onions, mix some
butter among them, season them with pepper, and a little powdered mace
or nutmeg, and serve them up with the meat on the same dish, or in a
sauce-boat.
MUTTON CHOPS WITH TOMATOS.--Broil some mutton steaks in the above
manner, and have ready some baked tomatos. When the steaks are dished,
lay on each a large baked tomato with the face downward, or cover each
steak with stewed tomato sauce. For baking, take fine ripe tomatos of
the largest size. Cut out a piece from the stem end, and extract the
seeds. Then stuff each tomato with grated bread-crumbs, butter, and
minced sweet marjoram, or finely minced onion. If you have any cold veal
or chicken, add a little of that to the stuffing, mincing it, of course.
Bake them in a dish by themselves.
Or, you may send the steaks to table with a slice of fried egg-plant
laid upon each; buttered, and sprinkled with bread-crumbs.
MUTTON STEAKS FRIED.--Make a nice batter of grated bread-crumbs, milk
and beaten egg, and put it in a shallow pan. Prepare some fine steaks
cut from the loin, divested of fat, and with the bone cut short. Have
ready, in a hot frying-pan, some fresh butter or drippings. Dip each
steak twice over in the batter, then fry them brown. Send them to table
very hot.
You may fry mutton chops like beef steaks, covered with onions, boiled,
drained, and sliced.
POTATO MUTTON CHOPS.--Cut some nice chops or steaks from the best end of
a neck of mutton. The loin will be still better. Trim off all the fat,
but leave a small part of the bone visible, nicely scraped. Season them
with pepper and salt, and fry them in butter or drippings. Have ready
plenty of mashed potatos with which cover the chops all over separately,
so as to wrap them up in the mashed potatos. Glaze them with beaten egg,
and brown them with a salamander or a red-hot shovel. This is a nice
breakfast dish.
KEBOBBED MUTTON.--This is an Asiatic dish, much approved by those who
have eaten it in Turkey or India, and it is certainly very good. Remove
the skin from a loin of mutton, and also the whole of the fat. Divide it
at every joint, cutting all the steaks apart, and making separate steaks
of the whole loin. Make a mixture of grated bread-crumbs, minced
sweet-herbs, a little salt and pepper, and some powdered nutmeg. Have
ready some beaten yolk of egg. Dip each steak into the egg then; twice
into the seasoning. Roll up each steak round a wooden skewer, and tie
them on a spit with packthread. Roast them before a clear fire, with a
dripping-pan under them to catch the gravy, which must be skimmed
frequently. They must be roasted slowly and carefully, taking care to
have them thoroughly cooked, even to the inmost of every roll. Baste
them with just butter enough to keep them moist. When done, carefully
take the kebobs from the skewers, and send them to table hot. Eat with
them large Spanish chestnuts, roasted and peeled; or else sweet potatos,
split, boiled, and cut into short pieces. Pour the gravy into the dish
under the kebobs.
Instead of rolling up the kebobs, you may fasten them flat (after
seasoning,) with the same spit going through them all, and roast them in
that manner. They should all be of the same size and shape. To dish
them, lay them one upon another in an even pile. Eat mushroom sauce with
them, or any other sort that is very nice.
Venison steaks are very good kebobbed in this manner, at the season when
venison can be had fresh, tender, and juicy. For sauce have stewed wild
grapes, mashed and made very sweet with brown sugar, or grape jelly,
which is still better; or, sauce made of fine cranberries, such as
abound in the north-west.
AN IRISH STEW.--Take three pounds of thick mutton cutlets from the loin,
and remove the fat. Slice thick five pounds of fine potatos that have
been previously pared. Place a layer of meat in the bottom of a
stew-pan, or an iron pot, and lay some of the potatos upon it. Season
all with salt and pepper. Upon this another layer of meat--then some
potatos again, then meat, and so on till all is in, finishing with
potatos at the top. Pour in a pint of cold water. Let it simmer gently
for two hours or more, till the meat and potatos are thoroughly done.
Serve it up very hot, meat and potatos, on the same dish. If approved,
you may add, from the beginning, one or two sliced onions.
A similar stew may be made of beef steaks and potatos.
You may stew pork cutlets in the same manner, but with _sweet_ potatos,
split and cut in long pieces, or with yams. The seasoning for the pork
should be minced sage.
This is a very plain, but very good dish, if made of nice fresh meat and
good potatos, and well cooked.