Book of Household Management — 030 - Recipes. Chapter 13. Part 3.

A PICKLE FOR TONGUES OR BEEF (Newmarket Recipe).

641. INGREDIENTS.

--1 gallon of soft water, 3 lbs.

of coarse salt, 6 oz.

of coarse brown sugar, 1/2 oz.

of saltpetre.

_Mode_.

--Put all the ingredients into a saucepan, and let them boil for 1/2 hour, clear off the scum as it rises, and when done pour the pickle into a pickling-pan.

Let it get cold, then put in the meat, and allow it to remain in the pickle from 8 to 14 days, according to the size.

It will keep good for 6 months if well boiled once a fortnight.

Tongues will take 1 month or 6 weeks to be properly cured; and, in salting meat, beef and tongues should always be put in separate vessels.

_Time_.

--A moderate-sized tongue should remain in the pickle about a month, and be turned every day.

[Illustration: POTTING-JAR.

] POTTED BEEF.

I.

642. INGREDIENTS.

--2 lbs.

of lean beef, 1 tablespoonful of water, 1/4 lb.

of butter, a seasoning to taste of salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and black pepper.

_Mode_.

--Procure a nice piece of lean beef, as free as possible from gristle, skin, &c. , and put it into a jar (if at hand, one with a lid) with 1 tablespoonful of water.

Cover it _closely_, and put the jar into a saucepan of boiling water, letting the water come within 2 inches of the top of the jar.

Boil gently for 3-1/2 hours, then take the beef, chop it very small with a chopping-knife, and pound it thoroughly in a mortar.

Mix with it by degrees all, or a portion, of the gravy that will have run from it, and a little clarified butter; add the seasoning, put it in small pots for use, and cover with a little butter just warmed and poured over.

If much gravy is added to it, it will keep but a short time; on the contrary, if a large proportion of butter is used, it may be preserved for some time.

_Time_.

--3-1/2 hours.

_Average cost_, for this quantity, 1s.

8d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

POTTED BEEF (Cold Meat Cookery).

II.

643. INGREDIENTS.

--The remains of cold roast or boiled beef, 1/4 lb.

of butter, cayenne to taste, 2 blades of pounded mace.

_Mode_.

--As we have stated in recipe No. 608, the outside slices of boiled beef may, with a little trouble, be converted into a very nice addition to the breakfast-table.

Cut up the meat into small pieces and pound it well, with a little butter, in a mortar; add a seasoning of cayenne and mace, and be very particular that the latter ingredient is reduced to the finest powder.

When all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, put it into glass or earthen potting-pots, and pour on the top a coating of clarified butter.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

_Note_.

--If cold roast beef is used, remove all pieces of gristle and dry outside pieces, as these do not pound well.

PRESERVED MEATS.

--When an organic substance, like the flesh of animals, is heated to the boiling-point, it loses the property of passing into a state of fermentation and decay.

Fresh animal milk, as is well known, coagulates, after having been kept for two or three days, into a gelatinous mass; but it may be preserved for an indefinite period, as a perfectly sweet liquid, if it be heated daily to the boiling-point.

The knowledge of this effect of an elevated temperature has given rise to a most important branch of industry,--namely, the preparation of preserved meats for the use of the navy and merchant service.

At Leith, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, at Aberdeen, at Bordeaux, at Marseilles, and in many parts of Germany, establishments of enormous magnitude exist, in which soup, vegetables, and viands of every description are prepared, in such a manner that they retain their freshness for years.

The prepared aliments are inclosed in canisters of tinned iron plate, the covers are soldered air-tight, and the canisters exposed to the temperature of boiling water for three or four hours.

The aliments thus acquire a stability, which one may almost say is eternal; and when a canister is opened, after the lapse of several years, its contents are found to be unaltered in taste, colour, and smell.

We are indebted to the French philosopher Gay-Lussac for this beautiful practical application of the discovery that boiling checks fermentation.

An exclusive salt-meat diet is extremely injurious to the health; and, in former times, thousands of mariners lost their lives for the want of fresh aliments during long voyages.

We are sorry to say that the preserved meats are sometimes carelessly prepared, and, though the statement seems incredible, sometimes adulterated.

Dr. Lankester, who has done so much to expose the frauds of trade, that he ought to be regarded as a public benefactor, says that he has seen things which were utterly unfit for food, shipped as preserved meats.

Surely, as he observes, there ought to be some superintendent to examine the so-called articles of food that are taken on board ship, so that the poor men who have been fighting our battles abroad may run no risk of being starved or poisoned on their way home.

RIB OF BEEF BONES.

(_A Pretty Dish_.

) 644. INGREDIENTS.

--Rib of beef bones, 1 onion chopped fine, a few slices of carrot and turnip, 1/4 pint of gravy.

_Mode_.

--The bones for this dish should have left on them a slight covering of meat; saw them into pieces 3 inches long; season them with pepper and salt, and put them into a stewpan with the remaining ingredients.

Stew gently, until the vegetables are tender, and serve on a flat dish within walls of mashed potatoes.

_Time_.

--3/4 hour.

_Average cost_, exclusive of the bones, 2d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

BEEF RISSOLES (Cold Meat Cookery).

645. INGREDIENTS.

--The remains of cold roast beef; to each pound of meat allow 3/4 lb.

of bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste, a few chopped savoury herbs, 1/2 a teaspoonful of minced lemon-peel, 1 or 2 eggs, according to the quantity of meat.

_Mode_.

--Mince the beef very fine, which should be rather lean, and mix with this bread crumbs, herbs, seasoning, and lemon-peel, in the above proportion, to each pound of meat.

Make all into a thick paste with 1 or 2 eggs; divide into balls or cones, and fry a rich brown.

Garnish the dish with fried parsley, and send with them to table some good brown gravy in a tureen.

Instead of garnishing with fried parsley, gravy may be poured in the dish, round the rissoles: in this case, it will not be necessary to send any in a tureen.

_Time_.

--From 5 to 10 minutes, according to size.

_Average cost_, exclusive of the meat, 5d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

ROLLED BEEF, to eat like Hare.

646. INGREDIENTS.

--About 5 lbs.

of the inside of the sirloin, 2 glasses of port wine, 2 glasses of vinegar, a small quantity of forcemeat (No. 417), 1 teaspoonful of pounded allspice.

_Mode_.

--Take the inside of a large sirloin, soak it in 1 glass of port wine and 1 glass of vinegar, mixed, and let it remain for 2 days.

Make a forcemeat by recipe No. 417, lay it on the meat, and bind it up securely.

Roast it before a nice clear fire, and baste it with 1 glass each of port wine and vinegar, with which mix a teaspoonful of pounded allspice.

Serve, with a good gravy in the dish, and send red-currant jelly to table with it.

_Time_.

--A piece of 5 lbs.

about 1-1/2 hour before a brisk fire.

_Average cost_, for this quantity, 5s.

4d.

_Sufficient_ for 4 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

BEEF ROLLS (Cold Meat Cookery).

647. INGREDIENTS.

--The remains of cold roast or boiled beef, seasoning to taste of salt, pepper, and minced herbs; puff paste.

_Mode_.

--Mince the beef tolerably fine with a small amount of its own fat; add a seasoning of pepper, salt, and chopped herbs; put the whole into a roll of puff paste, and bake for 1/2 hour, or rather longer, should the roll be very large.

Beef patties may be made of cold meat, by mincing and seasoning beef as directed above, and baking in a rich puff paste in patty-tins.

_Time_,--1/2 hour.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

MINIATURE ROUND OF BEEF.

(_An Excellent Dish for a Small Family_.

) 648. INGREDIENTS.

--From 5 to 10 lbs.

of rib of beef, sufficient brine to cover the meat.

_Mode_.

--Choose a fine rib, have the bone removed, rub some salt over the inside, and skewer the meat up into a nice round form, and bind it with tape.

Put it into sufficient brine to cover it (the brine should be made by recipe No. 654), and let it remain for 6 days, turning the meat every day.

When required to be dressed, drain from the pickle, and put the meat into very hot water; let it boil rapidly for a few minutes, when draw the pot to the side of the fire, and let it simmer very gently until done.

Remove the skewer, and replace it by a plated or silver one.

Carrots and turnips should be served with this dish, and may be boiled with the meat.

_Time_.

--A small round of 8 lbs.

, about 2 hours after the water boils;

one of 12 lbs.

, about 3 hours.

_Average cost_, 9d.

per lb.

_Sufficient_ for 6 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

_Note_.

--Should the joint be very small, 4 or 5 days will be sufficient time to salt it.

BRISKET OF BEEF, a la Flamande.

649. INGREDIENTS.

--About 6 or 8 lbs.

of the brisket of beef, 4 or 5 slices of bacon, 2 carrots, 1 onion, a bunch of savoury herbs, salt and pepper to taste, 4 cloves, 4 whole allspice, 2 blades of mace.

_Mode_.

--Choose that portion of the brisket which contains the gristle, trim it, and put it into a stewpan with the slices of bacon, which should be put under and over the meat.

Add the vegetables, herbs, spices, and seasoning, and cover with a little weak stock or water;

close the stewpan as hermetically as possible, and simmer very gently for 4 hours.

Strain the liquor, reserve a portion of it for sauce, and the remainder boil quickly over a sharp fire until reduced to a glaze, with which glaze the meat.

Garnish the dish with scooped carrots and turnips, and when liked, a little cabbage; all of which must be cooked separately.

Thicken and flavour the liquor that was saved for sauce, pour it round the meat, and serve.

The beef may also be garnished with glazed onions, artichoke-bottoms, &c. _Time_.

--4 hours.

_Average cost_, 7d.

per lb.

_Sufficient_ for 6 or 8 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

FRENCH BEEF.

--It has been all but universally admitted, that the beef of France is greatly inferior in quality to that of England, owing to inferiority of pasturage.

M.

Curmer, however, one of the latest writers on the culinary art, tells us that this is a vulgar error, and that French beef is far superior to that of England.

This is mere vaunting on the part of our neighbours, who seem to want _la gloire_ in everything; and we should not deign to notice it, if it had occurred in a work of small pretensions; but M. Curmer's book professes to be a complete exposition of the scientific principles of cookery, and holds a high rank in the didactic literature of France.

We half suspect that M. Curmer obtained his knowledge of English beef in the same way as did the poor Frenchman, whom the late Mr. Mathews, the comedian, so humorously described.

Mr. Lewis, in his "Physiology of Common Life," has thus revived the story of the beef-eating son of France:--"A Frenchman was one day blandly remonstrating against the supercilious scorn expressed by Englishmen for the beef of France, which he, for his part, did not find so inferior to that of England.

'I have been two times in England,' he remarked, but I nevère find the bif so supérieur to ours.

I find it vary conveenient that they bring it you on leetle pieces of stick, for one penny: but I do not find the bif supérieur.'

On hearing this, the Englishman, red with astonishment, exclaimed, 'Good heavens, sir!

you have been eating cat's meat.'

" No, M. Curmer, we are ready to acknowledge the superiority of your cookery, but we have long since made up our minds as to the inferiority of your raw material.

BEEF OLIVES.

I.

650. INGREDIENTS.

--2 lbs.

of rump-steak, 1 egg, 1 tablespoonful of minced savoury herbs, pepper and salt to taste, 1 pint of stock, No. 105, 2 or 3 slices of bacon, 2 tablespoonfuls of any store sauce, a slight thickening of butter and flour.

_Mode_.

--Have the steaks cut rather thin, slightly beat them to make them level, cut them into 6 or 7 pieces, brush over with egg, and sprinkle with herbs, which should be very finely minced; season with pepper and salt, and roll up the pieces tightly, and fasten with a small skewer.

Put the stock in a stewpan that will exactly hold them, for by being pressed together, they will keep their shape better; lay in the rolls of meat, cover them with the bacon, cut in thin slices, and over that put a piece of paper.

Stew them very _gently_ for full 2 hours; for the slower they are done the better.

Take them out, remove the skewers, thicken the gravy with butter and flour, and flavour with any store sauce that may be preferred.

Give one boil, pour over the meat, and serve.

_Time_.

--2 hours.

_Average cost_, 1s.

per pound.

_Sufficient_ for 4 or 6 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

II.

(_Economical_.

) 651. INGREDIENTS.

--The remains of underdone cold roast beef, bread crumbs, 1 shalot finely minced, pepper and salt to taste, gravy made from the beef bones, thickening of butter and flour, 1 tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup.

_Mode_.

--Cut some slices of underdone roast beef about half an inch thick; sprinkle over them some bread crumbs, minced shalot, and a little of the fat and seasoning; roll them, and fasten with a small skewer.

Have ready some gravy made from the beef bones; put in the pieces of meat, and stew them till tender, which will be in about 1-1/4 hour, or rather longer.

Arrange the meat in a dish, thicken and flavour the gravy, and pour it over the meat, when it is ready to serve.

_Time_.

--1-1/2 hour.

_Average cost_, exclusive of the beef, 2d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

BROILED OX-TAIL (an Entree).

652. INGREDIENTS.

--2 tails, 1-1/2 pint of stock, No. 105, salt and cayenne to taste, bread crumbs, 1 egg.

_Mode_.

--Joint and cut up the tails into convenient-sized pieces, and put them into a stewpan, with the stock, cayenne, and salt, and, if liked very savoury, a bunch of sweet herbs.

Let them simmer gently for about 2-1/2 hours; then take them out, drain them, and let them cool.

Beat an egg upon a plate; dip in each piece of tail, and, afterwards, throw them into a dish of bread crumbs; broil them over a clear fire, until of a brownish colour on both sides, and serve with a good gravy, or any sauce that may be preferred.

_Time_.

--About 2-1/2 hours.

_Average cost_, from 9d.

to 1s.

6d.

, according to the season.

_Sufficient_ for 6 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

_Note_.

--These may be more easily prepared by putting the tails in a brisk oven, after they have been dipped in egg and bread-crumb; and, when brown, they are done.

They must be boiled the same time as for broiling.

STRANGE TAILS.

--Naturalists cannot explain the uses of some of the strange tails borne by animals.

In the Egyptian and Syrian sheep, for instance, the tail grows so large, that it is not infrequently supported upon a sort of little cart, in order to prevent inconvenience to the animal.

Thin monstrous appendage sometimes attains a weight of seventy, eighty, or even a hundred pounds.

TO DRESS BEEF PALATES (an Entree).

653. INGREDIENTS.

--4 palates, sufficient gravy to cover them (No. 438), cayenne to taste, 1 tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup, 1 tablespoonful of pickled-onion liquor, thickening of butter and flour.

_Mode_.

--Wash the palates, and put them into a stewpan, with sufficient water to cover them, and let them boil until perfectly tender, or until the upper skin may be easily peeled off.

Have ready sufficient gravy (No. 438) to cover them; add a good seasoning of cayenne, and thicken with roux, No. 625, or a little butter kneaded with flour; let it boil up, and skim.

Cut the palates into square pieces, put them in the gravy, and let them simmer gently for 1/2 hour; add ketchup and onion-liquor, give one boil, and serve.

_Time_.

--From 3 to 5 hours to boil the palates.

_Sufficient_ for 4 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

_Note_.

--Palates may be dressed in various ways with sauce tournée, good onion sauce, tomato sauce, and also served in a vol-au-vent; but the above will be found a more simple method of dressing them.

BEEF PICKLE, which may also be used for any kind of Meat, Tongues, or Hams.

654. INGREDIENTS.

--6 lbs.

of salt, 2 lbs.

of fine sugar, 3 oz.

of powdered saltpetre, 3 gallons of spring water.

_Mode_.

--Boil all the ingredients gently together, so long as any scum or impurity arises, which carefully remove; when quite cold, pour it over the meat, every part of which must be covered with the brine.

This may be used for pickling any kind of meat, and may be kept for some time, if boiled up occasionally with an addition of the ingredients.

_Time_.

--A ham should be kept in the pickle for a fortnight; a piece of beef weighing 14 lbs.

, 12 or 15 days; a tongue, 10 days or a fortnight.

_Note_.

--For salting and pickling meat, it is a good plan to rub in only half the quantity of salt directed, and to let it remain for a day or two to disgorge and effectually to get rid of the blood and slime; then rub in the remainder of the salt and other ingredients, and proceed as above.

This rule may be applied to all the recipes we have given for salting and pickling meat.

TO PICKLE PART OF A ROUND OF BEEF FOR HANGING.

655. INGREDIENTS.

--For 14 lbs.

of a round of beef allow 1-1/2 lb.

of salt, 1/2 oz.

of powdered saltpetre; or, 1 lb.

of salt, 1/2 lb.

of sugar, 4 oz.

of powdered saltpetre.

_Mode_.

--Rub in, and sprinkle either of the above mixtures on 14 lbs.

of meat.

Keep it in an earthenware pan, or a deep wooden tray, and turn twice a week during 3 weeks; then bind up the beef tightly with coarse linen tape, and hang it in a kitchen in which a fire is constantly kept, for 3 weeks.

Pork, hams, and bacon may be cured in a similar way, but will require double the quantity of the salting mixture; and, if not smoke-dried, they should be taken down from hanging after 3 or 4 weeks, and afterwards kept in boxes or tubs, amongst dry oat-husks.

_Time_.

--2 or 3 weeks to remain in the brine; to be hung 3 weeks.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

_Note_.

--The meat may be boiled fresh from this pickle, instead of smoking it.

BEEP RAGOUT (Cold Meat Cookery).

656. INGREDIENTS.

--About 2 lbs.

of cold roast beef, 6 onions, pepper, salt, and mixed spices to taste; 1/2 pint of boiling water, 3 tablespoonfuls of gravy.

_Mode_.

--Cut the beef into rather large pieces, and put them into a stewpan with the onions, which must be sliced.

Season well with pepper, salt, and mixed spices, and pour over about 1/2 pint of boiling water, and gravy in the above proportion (gravy saved from the meat answers the purpose); let the whole stew very gently for about 2 hours, and serve with pickled walnuts, gherkins, or capers, just warmed in the gravy.

_Time_.

--2 hours.

_Average cost_, exclusive of the meat, 4d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

ROAST RIBS OF BEEF.

657. INGREDIENTS.

--Beef, a little salt.

_Mode_.

---The fore-rib is considered the primest roasting piece, but the middle-rib is considered the most economical.

Let the meat be well hung (should the weather permit), and cut off the thin ends of the bones, which should be salted for a few days, and then boiled.

Put the meat down to a nice clear fire, put some clean dripping into the pan, dredge the joint with a little flour, and keep continually basting the whole time.

Sprinkle some fine salt over it (this must never be done until the joint is dished, as it draws the juices from the meat); pour the dripping from the pan, put in a little boiling: water slightly salted, and _strain_ the gravy over the meat.

Garnish with tufts of scraped horseradish, and send horseradish sauce to table with it (_see_ No. 447).

A Yorkshire pudding (_see_ Puddings) sometimes accompanies this dish, and, if lightly made and well cooked, will be found a very agreeable addition.

_Time_.

--10 lbs.

of beef, 2-1/2 hours; 14 to 16 lbs.

, from 3-1/2 to 4 hours.

_Average cost_, 8-1/2d.

per lb.

_Sufficient_.

--A joint of 10 lbs.

sufficient for 8 or 9 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

MEMORANDA IN ROASTING.

--The management of the fire is a point of primary importance in roasting.

A radiant fire throughout the operation is absolutely necessary to insure a good result.

When the article to be dressed is thin and delicate, the fire may be small; but when the joint is large, the fire must fill the grate.

Meat must never be put down before a hollow or exhausted fire, which may soon want recruiting; on the other hand, if the heat of the fire becomes too fierce, the meat must be removed to a considerable distance till it is somewhat abated.

Some cooks always fail in their roasts, though they succeed in nearly everything else.

A French writer on the culinary art says that anybody can learn how to cook, but one must be born a roaster.

According to Liebig, beef or mutton cannot be said to be sufficiently roasted until it has acquired, throughout the whole mass, a temperature of 158°; but poultry may be well cooked when the inner parts have attained a temperature of from 130° to 140°.

This depends on the greater amount of blood which beef and mutton contain, the colouring matter of blood not being coagulable under 158°.

ROAST RIBS OF BEEF, Boned and Rolled (a very Convenient Joint for a Small Family).

658. INGREDIENTS.

--1 or 2 ribs of beef.

_Mode_.

--Choose a fine rib of beef, and have it cut according to the weight you require, either wide or narrow.

Bone and roll the meat round, secure it with wooden skewers, and, if necessary, bind it round with a piece of tape.

Spit the beef firmly, or, if a bottle-jack is used, put the joint on the hook, and place it _near_ a nice clear fire.

Let it remain so till the outside of the meat is set, when draw it to a distance, and keep continually basting until the meat is done, which can be ascertained by the steam from it drawing towards the fire.