Recipes Tried and True Part 6

PIGEONS AND PARTRIDGES.

These may be boiled or roasted the same as chickens, only cover the b.r.e.a.s.t.s with thin slices of bacon; when nearly done, remove the bacon, dredge with flour, and baste with b.u.t.ter. They will cook in half an hour.

RABBITS. MRS. ECKHART.

Rabbits, which are best in mid-winter, may be frica.s.seed, like chicken, in white or brown sauce. Rabbit pie is made like chicken pie. To roast a rabbit, stuff with a dressing made of bread crumbs, chopped salt pork, thyme, onion, pepper and salt; sew up; rub over with a little b.u.t.ter, or pin on a few slices of salt pork; add a little water, and baste often. Rabbits may be fried as you would steak, and served with a sour sauce made like a brown flour gravy, with half a cup of vinegar added; pour over the fried rabbit, and serve it with mashed potatoes.

MEATS.

"What say you to a piece of beef and mustard?"

--SHAKESPEARE.

ACCOMPANIMENTS. MRS. DELL DE WOLFE.

With roast beef, tomato sauce, grated horseradish, mustard, cranberry sauce, pickles.

With roast pork, apple sauce and cranberry sauce.

With roast veal, tomato sauce, mushroom sauce, onion sauce, or lemon sauce.

With roast mutton, currant jelly, caper sauce, bread sauce, onion sauce.

With roast lamb, mint sauce, green peas.

TO BOIL MEATS.

For all meats allow from fifteen to twenty minutes for each pound.

Skim well. All fresh meats are to be put into boiling water to cook; salt meats into cold water. Keep the water constantly boiling, otherwise the meat will absorb the water. Be sure to add boiling water if more is needed. The more gently meat boils the more tender it will be.

TO BROIL MEATS.

In broiling all meats, you must remember that the surface should not be cut or broken any more than is absolutely necessary; that the meat should be exposed to a clear, quick fire, close enough to sear the surface without burning, in order to confine all its juices; if it is approached slowly to a poor fire, or seasoned before it is cooked, it will be comparatively dry and tasteless, as both of these processes are useful only to extract and waste those precious juices which contain nearly all the nouris.h.i.+ng properties of the meat.

BEEFSTEAK. MR. GEORGE B. CHRISTIAN.

The chief secret in preparing the family steak lies in selection.

Like cooking the hare, you must first catch it. Choose a thick cut from the sirloin of a mature, well fatted beeve, avoiding any having dark yellow fat. Detach a portion of the narrow end and trim off any adhering inner skin. Place the steak upon a hot spider, and quickly turn it. Do this frequently and rapidly until it is thoroughly seared, without burning. It may now be cooked to any degree without releasing the juices. Serve upon a hot platter. Pour over a scant dressing of melted b.u.t.ter. Season. Whosoever partakes will never become a vegetarian.

STUFFED BEEFSTEAK. E. H. W.

Take a flank or round steak and pound well; sprinkle with pepper and salt. Make a plain dressing; spread it on the steak; roll it up; tie closely, and put in a skillet with a little water and a lump of b.u.t.ter the size of an egg; cover closely and let it boil slowly one hour; then let it brown in skillet, basting frequently. When done, dredge a little flour into the gravy, and pour over the meat.

TO FRY STEAK. MRS. H. T. VAN FLEET.

Have a nice tenderloin or porterhouse steak, one inch and half in thickness, well hacked. Over this sprinkle salt, pepper, and a little flour. Have ready a very hot spider. Into this drop plenty of good, sweet b.u.t.ter (a quarter of a pound is not too much); when thoroughly melted, lay in the meat; turn frequently. While cooking, make many openings in the steak to allow the b.u.t.ter to pa.s.s through. When done, place on a hot platter and serve immediately.

BEEFSTEAK AND ONIONS. MRS. H. T. VAN FLEET.

Have a steak well hacked; over this sprinkle pepper, salt, and a little flour. Into a very hot spider drop one teaspoonful of lard; when melted, lay in steak; pour over this two tablespoons boiling water, and cover steak with four good-sized onions, sliced very thin.

Cover quickly and cook five minutes; then turn all over together, and cook five minutes longer. Care should be taken that the onions do not turn. Take up on hot platter; place onions on top of meat, and serve immediately.

BEEFSTEAK AND MUSHROOMS. CALEB H. NORRIS.

Put the steak on to fry, with a little b.u.t.ter. At the same time put the mushrooms on in a different skillet, with the water from the can and one-half cup extra; season with pepper and salt, and thicken with a tablespoonful of flour. Take the steak out, leaving the gravy, into which put the mushrooms, cook for a few minutes, and pour all over the steak.

BEEF LOAF. MRS. J. J. SLOAN.

Take three and one-half pounds of lean beef (raw), chopped; six crackers, rolled fine; three well-beaten eggs, four tablespoonfuls of cream, b.u.t.ter the size of an egg; salt and pepper to taste; mix all together and make into a loaf. Bake one and one-half hours. Serve cold in thin slices.

BEEF A LA MODE. ALICE TURNEY THOMPSON.

Take a round of beef, four or five inches thick, and for a piece weighing five pounds soak a pound of white bread in cold water until soft; turn off the water; mash the bread fine; then add a piece of b.u.t.ter the size of an egg, half a teaspoonful each of salt, pepper, and ground cloves, about half a nutmeg, two eggs, a tablespoonful of flour, and a quarter of a pound of fresh pork, chopped very fine.

Gash the beef on both sides and fill with half the dressing. Place in a baking pan, with luke-warm water enough to cover it; cover the pan and put into the oven to bake gently two hours; then cover the top with the rest of the dressing, and put it back for another hour and let it brown well. On dis.h.i.+ng up the meat, if the gravy is not thick enough, stir in a little flour, and add a little b.u.t.ter. It is a favorite meat, eaten cold for suppers and luncheons. When thus used, remove the gravy.

FRIED LIVER.

Always use calf's liver, cut in slices. Pour boiling water over, and let it stand fifteen minutes. Fry some slices of breakfast bacon; take out the bacon; roll the liver in either flour or corn meal, and fry a delicate brown; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve with gravy if you like.

POTATO AND MEAT PIE.

Take mashed potatoes, seasoned with salt, pepper, and b.u.t.ter; line a baking dish with it; lay upon this slices of cold meat (any kind), with a little pepper, salt, catsup, and gravy; then another layer of potatoes, another of meat, and so forth till pan is filled, having the last a cover of potatoes. Bake until thoroughly warmed. Serve in the dish in which it is cooked.