Common Sense in the Household 17

Common Sense in the Household 17

BEEF’S HEART—STEWED.

 

Wash the heart well, and cut into squares half an inch long. Stew them

for ten minutes in enough water to cover them. Salt the water slightly

to draw out the blood, and throw it away as it rises in scum to the

top. Take out the meat, strain the liquor, and return the chopped heart

to it, with a sliced onion, a great spoonful of catsup, some parsley, a

head of celery chopped fine, and cayenne pepper, with a large lump of

butter. Stew until the meat is very tender, when add a tablespoonful of

browned flour to thicken. Boil up once, and serve.

 

 

TO CORN BEEF.

 

Rub each piece of beef well with salt mixed with one-tenth part of

saltpetre, until the salt lies dry upon the surface. Put aside in a

cold place for twenty-four hours, and repeat the process, rubbing in

the mixture very thoroughly. Put away again until the next day, by

which time the pickle should be ready.

 

5 gallons of water.

1 gallon of salt.

4 ounces saltpetre.

1½ lb. brown sugar.

 

Boil this brine ten minutes; let it get perfectly cold; then pour over

the beef, having wiped the latter entirely dry.

 

Examine the pickle from time to time to see if it keeps well; if not,

take out the meat without delay, wipe it, and rub in dry salt, covering

it well until you can prepare new and stronger brine.

 

 

BOILED CORNED BEEF.

 

If your piece is a round, skewer it well into shape, and tie it up with

stout tape or twine when you have washed it in three or four waters and

removed all the salt from the outside. Put into a pot, and cover with

cold water. Allow, in boiling, about twenty minutes to a pound. Turn

the meat three times while cooking.

 

When done, drain very dry, and serve with drawn butter in a sauce-boat.

Send around mashed turnips with the meat. They should be boiled in a

separate pot, however, or they will impart a disagreeable taste to the

beef.

 

The brisket is a good piece for a family dinner.

 

 

BEEF TONGUE.

 

Soak over night in cold water when you have washed it well. Next

morning put into a pot with plenty of cold water, and boil slowly

until it is tender throughout. This you can determine by testing it

with a fork. Leave in the liquor until quite cold.

 

Pare off the thick skin, cut in round slices, and dish for tea,

garnishing with fresh parsley.

 

Tongue sandwiches are generally held in higher esteem than those made

of ham.

 

 

DRIED BEEF.

 

The most common way of serving dried or smoked beef is to shave it into

thin slices or chips, raw; but a more savory relish may be made of it

with little trouble.

 

Put the slices of uncooked beef into a frying-pan with just enough

boiling water to cover them; set them over the fire for ten minutes,

drain off all the water, and with a knife and fork cut the meat

into small bits. Return to the pan, which should be hot, with

a tablespoonful of butter and a little pepper. Have ready some

well-beaten eggs, allowing four to a half-pound of beef; stir them into

the pan with the minced meat, and toss and stir the mixture for about

two minutes. Send to table in a covered dish.

 

 

 

MUTTON AND LAMB.

 

 

ROAST MUTTON.

 

The parts which are usually roasted are:—

 

The shoulder,

The saddle, or chine, and

The loin and haunch (a leg and part of the loin).

 

The leg is best boiled, unless the mutton is young and very tender.

To roast—wash the meat well, and dry with a clean cloth. Let your

fire be clear and strong; put the meat on with a little water in the

dripping-pan. If you think well of the plan (and I do), let there be a

cupful of boiling water dashed over the meat when it is first put down

to roast, and left to trickle into the pan. I have elsewhere explained

the advantages of the method. Allow, in roasting, about twelve minutes

per pound, if the fire is good. Baste often—at first with salt and

water, afterward with the gravy. If it is in danger of browning too

fast, cover with a large sheet of white paper. Roast lamb in the same

manner, but not so long. Skim the gravy well, and thicken very slightly

with browned flour. Serve with currant jelly.

 

 

ROAST MUTTON _à la Venison_.

 

A Christmas saddle of mutton is very fine prepared as follows: Wash it

well, inside and out, with vinegar. Do not wipe it, but hang it up to

dry in a cool cellar. When the vinegar has dried off, throw a clean

cloth over it, to keep out the dust. On the next day but one, take down

the meat and sponge it over again with vinegar, then put it back in

its place in the cellar. Repeat this process three times a week for a

fortnight, keeping the meat hung in a cold place, and covered, except

while you are washing it. When you are ready to cook it, wipe it off

with a dry cloth, but do not wash it. Roast—basting for the first hour

with butter and water; afterward with the gravy, and keeping the meat

covered with a large tin pan for two hours. A large saddle of mutton

will require four hours to roast. When it is done, remove to a dish,

and cover to keep it hot. Skim the gravy, and add half a teacupful

of walnut, mushroom or tomato catsup, a glass of Madeira wine, and a

tablespoonful of browned flour. Boil up once, and send to table in a

sauce-boat. Always send around currant or some other tart jelly with

roast mutton. If properly cooked, a saddle of mutton, prepared in

accordance with these directions, will strongly resemble venison in

taste. An old Virginia gentleman whom I used to know, always hung up

the finest saddle his plantation could furnish _six weeks_ before

Christmas, and had it sponged off with vinegar every other day, until

the morning of the important 25th; and the excellence of his mutton

was the talk of the neighborhood. It can certainly be kept a fortnight

anywhere at that season.

 

 

BOILED MUTTON.

 

Wash a leg of mutton clean, and wipe dry. Do not leave the knuckle

and shank so long as to be unshapely. Put into a pot with hot water

(salted) enough to cover it, and boil until you ascertain, by probing

with a fork, that it is tender in the thickest part. Skim off all the

scum as it rises. Allow _about_ twelve minutes to each pound. Take

from the fire, drain perfectly dry, and serve with melted butter, with

capers, or nasturtium seed; or, if you have neither of these, some

cucumber or gherkin-pickle stirred into it. If you wish to use the

broth for soup, put in very little salt while boiling; if not, salt

well, and boil the meat in a cloth.

 

 

MUTTON STEW. ✠

 

Cut up from three to four pounds of mutton,—the inferior portions will

do as well as any other,—crack the bones, and remove all the fat. Put

on the meat—the pieces not more than an inch and a half in length—in

a pot with enough cold water to cover well, and set it where it will

heat gradually. Add nothing else until it has stewed an hour, closely

covered; then throw in half a pound of salt pork cut into strips, a

little chopped onion, and some pepper; cover and stew an hour longer,

or until the meat is very tender. Make out a little paste, as for the

crust of a meat-pie; cut into squares, and drop in the stew. Boil ten

minutes, and season further by the addition of a little parsley and

thyme. Thicken with two spoonfuls of flour stirred into a cup of cold

milk. Boil up once, and serve in a tureen or deep covered dish.

 

If green corn is in season, this stew is greatly improved by adding, an

hour before it is taken from the fire, the grains of half a dozen ears,

cut from the cob.

 

Try it for a cheap family dinner, and you will repeat the experiment

often. Lamb is even better for your purpose than mutton.

 

 

MUTTON CHOPS.

 

If your butcher has not done it,—and the chances are that he has not,

unless you stood by to see it attended to,—trim off the superfluous fat

and skin, so as to give the chops a certain litheness and elegance of

shape. Dip each in beaten egg, roll in pounded cracker, and fry in hot

lard or dripping. If the fat is unsalted, sprinkle the chops with salt

before rolling in the egg. Serve up dry and hot.

 

 

_Or,_

 

You may omit the egg and cracker, and broil on a gridiron over a bright

fire. Put a little salt and pepper upon each chop, and butter them

before they go to table. Cook lamb chops in the same way.

 

 

MUTTON CUTLETS. (_Baked_).

 

Cut them from the neck, and trim neatly. Lay aside the bits of bone

and meat you cut off, to make gravy. Pour a little melted butter over

the cutlets, and let them lie in it for fifteen minutes, keeping them

just warm enough to prevent the butter from hardening; then dip each in

beaten egg, roll in cracker-crumbs, and lay them in your dripping-pan

with a _very_ little water at the bottom. Bake quickly, and baste often

with butter and water. Put on the bones, etc., in enough cold water to

cover them; stew, and season with sweet herbs, pepper, and salt, with a

spoonful of tomato catsup. Strain when all the substance is extracted

from the meat and bones; thicken with browned flour, and pour over the cutlets when they are served.