# The English Housekeeper/Chapter 14

CHAPTER XIV.
MADE DISHES.
What is generally understood in England to represent a "made dish" is something too rich, or too highly seasoned, to be available for a family dinner; but this is an error. Made dishes are not of necessity rich or costly, but judgment is required in compounding them, and, by a little practice, a cook will acquire this judgment, and then will be able to convert the remains of joints, and much that would not appear to advantage if plainly cooked, into nice palatable dishes. It is the proper application of seasonings and flavouring ingredients, and not the superabundance of them, which constitutes the excellence of "made dishes."—(See in the Index for Sauces.)
It has been directed, in making soup, that it must not boil fast. Made dishes should never boil at all; very gentle simmering, and the lid of the stewpan must not be removed, ​after the necessary scumming is over. Time should be allowed for gradual cooking, and that over, the stewpan ought to stand by the fire a few minutes, that the fat risen to the top be taken off, before the dish is served. Indeed, ragouts are better made the day before, because then the fat is more completely taken off. Shake the stewpan if there be danger of burning, but if the lid be removed, the savoury steams escape, and also much of the succulent qualities of the meat.
Great delicacy is required in re-warming made dishes; they should be merely heated through; and the safest mode is to place the stewpan in a vessel of boiling water.
All made dishes require gravy, more or less good, and, in most houses, this, by a little previous forethought, may always be ready; for if the liquor in which meat has been boiled be saved, that seasoned, flavoured, and thickened, the cook will always be provided with gravy for a ragout or fricassee. (See the Chapter on Soup, and also that on Gravy.)
The following is a good store gravy.—Boil a ham, or part of one, in water to cover it, with four onions, a clove of garlic, six eschalots, a bay leaf, a bunch of sweet herbs, six cloves, and a few peppercorns. Keep the pot covered, and let it simmer three hours. The liquor is strained, and kept till poultry or meat of any kind is boiled; put the two together, and boil down fast till reduced to three pints; when cold, it will be a jelly, and suits any sort of ragout or hash.
Every cook ought to learn the art of larding, and also of braising, as they are both used in made dishes.
To Lard.
Have larding pins of various sizes. Cut strips of bacon, with a sharp knife, put one into the pin, pierce the skin and a very little of the flesh, and draw it through; the rows may be either near together or far apart. The bacon is sometimes rolled in seasonings to suit the meat.
To Blanch, either Meat or Vegetables.
This gives plumpness as well as whiteness. Put whatever it be into a saucepan with cold water to cover, and let ​it come to a boil; take it out, plunge it into cold water, and let it remain till cold.
To Braise.
This is, in fact, to stew in highly seasoned fat. Poultry must be trussed as for boiling. Either lard, or stuff it, with good forcemeat, and provide a thick-bottomed stew-pan, large enough to hold it. Line this with slices of bacon, or fat beef, sliced onion, carrot, and turnip. Strew in a few chopped herbs, salt, mace, black and Jamaica pepper, 2 bay leaves, and a clove of garlic. (The seasoning to suit the meat.) Lay the meat in, and cover it, first with the same quantity of herbs and spices as above, then with thin slices of bacon, and, over all, white paper; wrap a cloth about the lid of the stew-pan, and press it down, setting a weight on the top. Place the stew-pan over a slow fire, and put embers on the lid. The cooking process should be very slow. Braised joints are generally glazed.
To Glaze.
When the meat is sufficiently cooked, take it out of the stew-pan and keep it covered. Strain the gravy into a clean stew-pan, put it on the fire, and let it boil quickly, uncovered, a few minutes; brush the meat over with this, let it cool, and then brush again. What is not used may be kept in a jar tied down, in a cool place.—Fowls, Hams, and Tongues, cooked by plain boiling, are often glazed, to be eaten cold.—Another way is, to prepare a glaze beforehand, for Hams, Tongues, or Fricandeaux, thus: break the bone of a knuckle of veal, cut the meat in pieces, the same with shin of beef, add any poultry or game trimmings, and a few slices of bacon; put them in a stew-pan over a quick fire, and let them catch, then put in a little broth of cow-heels, or calf's-head, or feet. Let this stew to a strong jelly; then strain, and put it by in jars. It may be flavoured to suit the dish, at the time it is heated to be used. Glaze should be heated in a vessel of boiling water, and when quite hot, brushed over the meat. When cream is used, it should be first heated (not boil), poured in by degrees, and stirred, to prevent curdling. In making a stew, remember to let it stand by the fire nearly ten minutes, not simmering, that ​you may remove the fat, before you put in the thickening. The flour for this should be of the finest kind, well dried. For Ragouts, you may brown it, before the fire, or in the oven, and keep it ready prepared. It is convenient to keep spices ready pounded; the quantity so prepared, as to be proportioned to the usual consumption. Kitchen pepper is: 1 oz. ginger, ½ oz. each, of nutmeg, black and Jamaica pepper, and cinnamon; pound or grind, and keep them in small phials, corked, and labelled. For white sauces, white pepper, nutmeg, mace, and grated lemon peel, in equal proportion, may also be kept prepared; cayenne, added or not, as taste requires; cayenne is used in preparations of brains, kidneys, or liver. Made dishes are sometimes served on a Purée of mushrooms or vegetables. This is: boiled to a mash, just thicker than a sauce, and much used in French cookery. To Marinade is to steep meat or fish, in a mixture of wine, vinegar, herbs and spices.
Onions, small silver ones, are blanched, peeled and boiled in good broth to serve as garnish to bouilli and many other made dishes; or not blanched, but stewed with butter, if to be brown. When very strong you may parboil them with a turnip, for a stew, or forcemeat.
Some persons use brandy in made dishes. Wine in the proportion of a wine-glassful to a pint of gravy; the quantity of brandy small in proportion.
Truffles and Morells are a valuable addition to gravy and soup. Wash 1 oz. of each, boil them five minutes in water, then put them and the liquor into the stew.
Rump of Beef to Stew, Ragout, or Braise.
Cut out the bone, break it, and put it on in cold water, with any trimmings you can cut off the rump; season with onion, sweet herbs, a carrot, and a turnip. Scum, and let it simmer an hour; then strain it into the stew-pan in which you stew the beef. Season the rump highly with kitchen pepper (which see), and cayenne; skewer and bind it with tape. Lay skewers at the bottom of the stew-pan, place the meat upon them, and pour the gravy over. When it has simmered, rather more than an hour, turn it, put in a carrot, turnip, and 3 onions, all sliced, an eschalot, and a glass of flavouring vinegar. Keep the lid quite close, and ​let it simmer 2 hours. Before you take it up, put in a little catsup, made mustard, and some brown roux, or butter rolled in flour, to thicken the gravy.—Or: having taken out the bone, lard the beef with fat bacon, and stew it for as many hours, as the beef weighs pounds, in good gravy, or plain water, with vegetables and seasoning, as in the other receipt, to which you may add a head of celery. This dish should be nicely garnished; for which purpose have carrots boiled, and cut into any shapes you like, also button onions, Brussels sprouts, sprigs of cauliflower, &c., &c.; a border of mashed potatoes round the meat, and carrot or green vegetables disposed upon it, is also nice. Stewed tomatas also, or tomata sauce.
Brisket of Beef to Stew.
Wash, then rub the beef with salt and vinegar, put it into a stew-pan to just hold it, with water or broth; when it boils scum well, and let it stew an hour; add carrots, turnips, and onions, cut up. Stew it 6 hours, take out the bones, skim the gravy, add butter rolled in flour, a little catsup and mixed spices. Put the meat into a dish; add made mustard, and more catsup, to the gravy, pour some into the dish, and the rest in a tureen. This may be enriched by walnut and mushroom catsup, truffles, morells, and Port wine; also, carrots and turnips cut in shapes, boiled separately, and, when the meat is dished, spread over and round it. Serve pickles.
Beef, or Veal à la Mode.
The rump, the thick part of the flank, the mouse buttock, and the clod, are dressed as follows; take from 8 to 10 lbs. beef, rub well with mixed spices and salt, and dredge it with flour. Put some skewers at the bottom of a stew-pan, and on them thin slices of bacon, 2 table-spoonsful of vinegar, and a pint of good gravy or broth; then put in the beef, and more bacon. Cover close, and let it stew slowly 3 hours; then turn the meat, and put in cloves, black and Jamaica peppers, 2 bay leaves, and a few mushrooms, or catsup, also a few button onions, browned in the frying-pan, and a head of celery. Let it stew till the meat is tender, then take out the bay leaves, put in a tea-cupful of Port ​wine, and serve the meat with the gravy in the dish. The gravy will have thickened to a glaze. Some cooks lard the beef with thick slices of fat bacon, first dipped in vinegar, then in a mixture ready prepared, of black pepper, allspice, a clove and parsley, chives, thyme, savoury and knotted marjoram, all chopped very fine. Serve salad or cucumber. When veal is dressed this way (the breast is best), flavour with oyster catsup, lemon peel, lemon pickle, mace, bay leaf, and white wine. Garnish with pickled mushrooms, barberries, and lemon. This may be cooked in the oven, in a baking dish with a close fitting lid.
Beef to Collar.
The thin flank is best; the meat young, tender, not very fat. Rub it with salt and a very little saltpetre, lay it across a deep dish one night, to drain; rub in a mixture of brown sugar, salt, pounded pepper and allspice; let it lie a week in the pickle; rub and turn it every day. Then take out the bones, cut off the coarse and gristly parts, and the inner skin, dry it, and spread over the inside some chopped herbs of whatever flavour you choose, and mixed spices; roll it up as tight as you can, and bind with tape; allow it four or five hours' slow, but constant boiling. When done press it under a heavy weight, and put by to eat cold. It is sometimes served hot.
Bœuf Royale.
Bone the brisket, then scoop holes or cut slits in the meat, about an inch asunder, fill one with small rolls of fat bacon, a second with chopped parsley and sweet herbs, seasoned with pepper and salt, the third with oyster cut small and powdered with a very little mace and nutmeg. When all the apertures are stuffed, tie up the meat in a roll, put it into a baking pan, pour over it a pint of sherry, quite hot, and six cloves, flour the meat, cover close and set it in the oven for three hours; pour off the gravy, and put it by to cool that you may skim off the fat; if it is not already in a jelly, which it should be, boil it a little longer. Serve the beef cold, and the jelly round it.
Beef to Fricandeau.
Lard a piece of lean beef with strips of bacon, seasoned ​with salt, pepper, cloves, mace, and allspice; put it into a stew-pan, with a pint of broth, a faggot of herbs, parsley, half a clove of garlic (if you like), one eschalot, four cloves, pepper and salt. Let it stew till tender, take it out and keep hot by the fire; strain the gravy, and boil it quickly, till reduced to a glaze; and glaze the larded side of the beef. Serve on stewed sorrel or cucumbers.
Ox Cheek to Stew.
Having washed the cheek, tie it up round, and stew it in good gravy, or water, with two bay leaves, a little garlic (if approved), two onions, mushrooms, two turnips, two carrots, half a small cabbage, a bunch of sweet herbs, six whole peppers, a little allspice, and a blade of mace. Scum well, and when nearly done, take out the cheek, cut off the tapes, put it into a fresh stew-pan; strain the liquor, skim off the fat, add lemon juice, or vinegar, salt, cayenne, and catsup; whisk in some white of egg to clear it, pour it through a strainer, to the cheek; and stew it till quite tender.
Ox Palates.
Parboil them till the upper skin will easily come off, and either divide, or cut them in slices. Stew them slowly, in gravy thickened with browned flour, with a little minced eschalot or onion, or a spoonful of onion pickle, some catsup, and cayenne. If to be dressed high, add wine, mushrooms, truffles, and morells to the sauce, and forcemeat balls in the dish. Stewed cucumbers with this.—Beef skirts the same way.—Or: boil the palates in milk, and serve them in white sauce, flavoured with mushroom powder and mace.
To Pickle Ox Palates.
Clean and simmer them in water, scum well, then put as much mace, cloves, pepper, salt, and sweet herbs, as will make them highly seasoned, and let them boil gently 4 hours, or till quite tender; then take the skin off, cut them into small pieces, and set them by, to cool. Cover them with a pickle of half white wine, half vinegar, and spices as above: when this is cold, strain it, and pour over the palates; add 2 bay leaves, if you like. Cover very close.
Bouilli.
See this in direction for soup. But if to be dressed without soup, boil a piece of the flank or brisket in water to cover it, with a sufficiency of cut carrot and turnip to garnish, also a head of celery and 12 or 16 button onions, browned; add a small table-spoonful of black and Jamaica peppers tied in muslin; simmer it gently; and it requires a long time to cook it enough. When it has boiled till tender, take out enough of the liquor to make sauce; thicken it with brown roux, or flour rubbed in butter, add catsup, cayenne, and made mustard. Garnish with the vegetables. Caper, walnut, or tomata sauce. Pickled gherkins on the table.
Tongue to Stew.
Cut off the root, and boil a salted tongue tender enough to peel. Stew it in good gravy, with herbs, celery, soy, mushroom catsup, and cayenne. To be very rich this is served with truffles, morells, and mushrooms. Lard it if you like.—Or: put the tongue into a pan that will just hold it, strew over a mixture of pepper, cloves, mace, and allspice, and thin slices of butter, put a coarse paste over, and bake it slowly, till you think a straw will pass through it. To eat cold.
Ox Tails to Stew.
Divide them at the joints. Scald or parboil, then brown them in a stew-pan, with a little piece of butter, to keep from burning. Stew them slowly till tender, in broth or water, enough to make sufficient gravy, seasoned with salt, pepper, cayenne, chopped parsley, and a spoonful of made mustard. Thicken the gravy with brown flour. If you approve, put into the stew three onions (one brown), two carrots, and a bay leaf; or you may boil some cut carrots and turnips, stew them in melted butter, and serve round the pieces of meat in the gravy.
Irish Stew.
This excellent dish is made of mutton or beef. Chops cut from a loin or neck of mutton, trimmed of most of the ​fat, and well seasoned with salt, pepper, and spices. Parboil and skin as many potatoes as you think enough, the proportion is 4 lbs. weight to 2 lbs. of meat. Peel 8 or 10 onions (for 4 lbs. meat), lay some sliced suet at the bottom of the stew-pan, or a tea-cupful of melted butter, put in a layer of potatoes sliced, a layer of chops, slice a layer of onions over, then potatoes and mutton, and so on, the top layer potato; pour in half a pint of broth or water. A shank or small piece of ham is an improvement. This should stew very slowly; when the meat is tender the potatoes may be boiled to a mash, therefore have some boiled whole, by themselves. Beef steaks, and any of the coarser parts, make a better stew than mutton.
Rump Steaks to Stew.
The steaks should be of one thickness, about ¾ of an inch. Put about 1 oz. of butter into a stew-pan, and 2 onions sliced, lay in the steaks, and let them brown nicely on one side, then turn them to brown on the other side. Boil a large tea-cupful of button onions three quarters of an hour, strain, and pour the liquor over the steaks; if not enough to cover them, put a little more water or broth, add salt, and 10 peppercorns. Stew them very gently half an hour, then strain off as much of the liquor as you want for sauce; put it into a saucepan, thicken with brown flour, or roux, add catsup, a little cayenne, also a glass of red wine. Lay the steaks in a dish, and pour the sauce over. The boiled onions may be laid over the steaks. Mushrooms stewed with steaks are an improvement; 2 or 3 tomatas, also, will help to enrich the stew, and about 4 pickled walnuts may be put in. Harvey's and Reading sauces may be used to flavour, also chili or eschalot vinegar. With Cucumbers, or Potatoes.—Having your steak either broiled or fried, pour over it the following:—3 large cucumbers and 3 onions, pared, sliced, browned in the frying-pan, and then stewed till tender in ½ pint of gravy or water.—Or: cut the under side of the sirloin into steaks, broil them three parts, rub a piece of butter over each, and finish in the Dutch oven: serve them on potatoes, parboiled, cut in slices and browned.—Italian Steak: have a large tender one, season it with salt, pepper, ​and onion, or eschalot: put it, without any water, into an iron stew-pan, with a close-fitting lid, and set it by the side of a strong fire, but do not let it burn: in 2 hours, or a little more, it will be tender: serve, in its own gravy.
Rolled Beef Steaks.
Prepare a forcemeat of the breast of a fowl, ½ lb. veal, ¼ lb. ham, fat and lean, the kidney of a loin of veal, and a sweetbread, all cut very small, also a few truffles and morells stewed, an eschalot, a little parsley, thyme and grated lemon peel, the yolks of 2 eggs, ½ a nutmeg and ¼ pint of cream, stir this mixture over the fire ten minutes, then spread it on very tender steaks, roll them up and skewer them; fry them of a fine brown, then take them from the fat, and stew them a quarter of an hour with a pint of beef gravy, a spoonful of catsup, a wine-glassful of Port wine, and, if you can, a few mushrooms. Cut the steaks in two, serve them the cut side uppermost, and the gravy round. Garnish with lemon or pickled mushrooms.—The forcemeat may be less rich, according to what you have.
A fillet of beef, namely, the under cut of the rump, makes very nice steaks; cut in pieces ¼ inch in thickness, put them on the gridiron over a sharp fire, season them whilst broiling with pepper and salt, and turn them often, to keep the gravy in. Make a sauce of the yolks of 4 eggs, ½ lb. butter, in slices, salt, pepper, the juice of ½ a lemon, and a little chopped parsley; keep stirring it over the fire in every direction, till rather thick, then take it off and keep stirring until the butter is melted; if too thick, add milk or cream, and pour round the steak.
Beef Olives.
Cut slices, of ½ an inch thick, about 5 long, and 3 inches broad. Beat, dip them in egg, then in a seasoning of chopped herbs, bread-crumbs, salt, mixed spices, and a little finely shred suet. Roll up and fasten them with thread. These may be roasted in a Dutch oven, or stewed in clear gravy, after being browned in the frying pan. Thicken the gravy, and add catsup and walnut pickle; dish ​the olives, skim, and pour the gravy hot over them. They may be made of slices of cold roast beef, forcemeat spread over them, and when neatly tied up, stewed in gravy, or boiling water, with brown flour rubbed in butter, to thicken it.—Or: spread on the slices of beef this mixture; mashed potatoes worked to a paste, with cream, the yolks of 2 eggs, and 1 spoonful of flour, seasoned with salt and pepper; when this is spread on the slices, strew over each a very little finely chopped onion, parsley, and mushrooms; roll the olives up, fry in butter, or bake in a Dutch oven.
Beef Marrow Bones.
Fill up the opening with a piece of paste, tie a floured cloth over that, and place them upright in the pot. Two hours' boiling. Serve on a napkin, with slices of dry toast.
Beef Heart.
Soak it and cut off the lobes. Put in a good stuffing, and roast, or bake it, two hours. Serve gravy and currant jelly.—When cold, hash it like hare.
Hunter's Beef.
Take the bone out of a round, and rub in the following mixture, all in fine powder: ¼ lb. saltpetre, ¼ lb. lump sugar, 1 oz. cloves, 2 nutmegs, and 3 handfuls of salt; this for 25 lbs.; rub and turn it every day, till you think it salted enough to boil; take it out of the brine, wipe it with a sponge, and bind up firmly with tape. If you choose, a stuffing may be put into the place where the bone came out. Put the meat into an earthenware pan just to hold it, with a pint of broth or thin melted butter; put some pieces of butter or suet on the top of the beef, lay folds of brown paper over the pan, or a coarse crust is still better, and bake it at least five hours. This is generally eaten cold, but it may be eaten hot. The gravy left in the pan is preserved to flavour soups and sauces. It may be made of the Ribs: rub into a piece of 12 lbs., boned, 4 oz. bay salt, 3 oz. saltpetre, ½ lb. coarse brown sugar, 2 lbs. salt, and a teacupful of juniper berries bruised: rub and turn every day for three weeks, then bake it, covered with a coarse paste.
Hamburgh Beef.
Rub a rump or round of beef well with brown sugar, and let it lie five days; turn it each day. Sponge, and rub into it a mixture of 4 oz. common salt, 4 oz. bay salt, and 2 oz. saltpetre, well beaten, and spices to your taste. Rub and turn it every other day, for a fortnight: then roll up, tie it, put it in a cloth, then under a heavy weight; that done, hang for a week in a wood-smoke chimney. Cut pieces to boil as it is wanted, and when boiled enough, press the meat again under a weight, to eat cold.
Hung Beef.
Rub the best end of the ribs well with lump sugar, or treacle, and saltpetre; on the third day rub with common salt and saltpetre; rub and turn it every day for a week; let it lie a fortnight, turning it every other day, pouring the brine over. Take it out, wipe, and dust bran over, then hang it to dry (not smoke) six or eight weeks.
Bœuf à la Flamande.
Lard a piece of ribs of beef of 8 lbs. weight, and braise it over a slow fire, a slice of bacon under and over it; then add a pint of fresh mushrooms, 2 lbs. truffles, 2 doz. forcemeat balls, made with plenty of eggs, and ½ pint Madeira. Carrots and turnips, cut small, boiled separately in broth till quite tender, also silver onions as directed for made dishes; all or any of these may be laid over the beef.
Beef to Press.
Bone the brisket, flank, or ribs, and rub it with a mixture of salt, sugar, and spices; let it be a week, then boil till tender, and press it under a heavy weight till cold.
Beef to Hash, or Mince.
Cut thin slices of the underdone part, leaving aside the gristly parts and burnt outside to make gravy, with the bones; put these on in a quart of water, pepper, salt, two onions, a little allspice, cayenne, sweet herbs, and parsley: when the water has wasted one half, thicken with flour, ​mixing it in by degrees, a little at a time; when this has boiled up, skim off the fat, set it by the side of the fire to settle, strain it into another saucepan, and put it again on the fire; add mushroom catsup, pickle, or whatever ingredient you choose; when hot, put in the slices of meat, and all the gravy left of the joint; let the meat slowly warm through, but not boil, or it will become hard; a very few minutes will be sufficient. Toasted sippets round the dish. You may add any flavouring sauce you choose; eschalot vinegar is good, but use no onion. A table-spoonful of curry paste makes it a good curry.
Beef Cecils.
Mince cold meat very finely, and mix it with bread-crumbs, chopped onion, parsley, pepper, and salt. Put it into a stew-pan with a very little melted butter, and walnut pickle, stir it over the fire a few minutes, pour it in a dish, and when cool, put enough flour to make it into balls, the shape and size of large eggs; brush with egg, roll them in bread-crumbs, and brown before the fire. Pour good gravy over them. The minced beef may be warmed in scallop shells, between layers of mashed potatoes, or only a layer spread thinly over the top, and little bits of butter stuck on, and then browned before the fire: this may be moistened with any gravy you have, or walnut pickle.—Or: you may serve the mince on toasted bread, or under poached eggs. Chopped onions, previously parboiled, make this more relishing to some persons' tastes.
Beef Collops.
Cut thin slices of very tender beef, divide them in pieces three inches long, beat them with the blade of a knife, and flour them; fry them in butter three minutes, then stew them in a pint of water or gravy; if water add salt and pepper, half a pickled walnut, 3 small gherkins, or a table-spoonful of capers, a lump of butter and flour to thicken it. Take care it do not boil, but stew gently. The pickles all cut small.—Or: do not stew, but fry them in butter with 1 onion in slices, till cooked, about ten minutes; then put them in a hot dish, keep that covered, while you boil ​up in the pan a table-spoonful of boiling water, a tea-spoonful of lemon pickle, of oyster pickle, walnut catsup, soy and made mustard; pour all hot over the collops.
Beef en Miroton.
Cut thin slices of cold boiled (not salted), or roast beef, or tongue. Put 6 onions chopped into a saucepan with ¼ lb. of butter, turn it round frequently, and in a few minutes add a little flour mixed in a tea-cup of broth, and a wine-glass of white wine; let it be on the fire until the onions are cooked; then put in the meat with salt, pepper, and a spoonful of vinegar. After one boil, stir in a spoonful of made mustard, and serve it; the edge of each slice lying a little over the other round the dish.
Bubble and Squeak.
Cold boiled beef is best, but roast meat is very good. Cut it in thin slices, pepper well and fry them in butter, then keep them hot, while you fry some boiled cabbage, chopped; when done, put this high in the middle of the dish, and lay the slices of meat round: if you like, an equal portion of cold potatoes, chopped and fried with the cabbage. Serve thick melted butter, with pickled cucumbers, or onion or capers, and a little made mustard. Veal may be cooked this way, with spinach instead of cabbage.—Or: what is more delicate, cut bits of cold veal without any skin, about an inch long, and warm them in the frying pan with the white part of a boiled cauliflower in little bits, ½ pint of cream, and a light sprinkling of salt and cayenne.
Beef to Pot.
Lean meat is best. Salt, and let it lie two days. Drain, season with pepper, and spices; bake it in a slow oven. When done, drain it from the gravy, and set it before the fire, to draw the moisture from it. Tear in pieces, and beat it up well in a mortar, with mixed spices, and enough oiled butter to make it the proper consistence. Flavour with mushroom powder, anchovy or minced eschalot. Put it into potting-cans, and pour clarified butter ​over, which may afterwards be used for various purposes. Potted Beef is generally made of meat which has been used to make clear gravy, or the remains of a joint.
Mock Hare.
Put the inside of a sirloin of beef into an earthen pan, cover it with Port wine, and let it lie 24 hours: then spread over it a forcemeat of veal, suet, and anchovies, chopped, also grated bread, mace, pepper, and mushroom powder, lemon peel, lemon thyme, eschalot, and the yolks of two eggs: roll up the beef tight, and roast it, by dangling before the fire: baste with the wine in which it was soaked, till half done, then with cream, or milk and butter, and froth it, till well coated, like hare. Serve a rich gravy, flavoured with walnut or mushroom catsup, and a table-spoonful of eschalot vinegar. Sweet sauce.—Or: a cold uncut inside of a roasted sirloin may be re-warmed whole, in gravy flavoured with eschalot vinegar, walnut or mushroom catsup, and Port wine.
Fillet of Veal to Stew.
Stuff it with a good forcemeat, roll tightly, and skewer it. Lay skewers at the bottom of a stew-pan, place the meat on them, put in a quart of broth, or soft water, lay some bits of butter on the top of the fillet, cover the stew-pan close, after taking off all the scum, and let it simmer slowly till the meat is tender; take it out, strain the sauce, thicken it, and put it on the fire to re-warm; season with white pepper, mace, nutmeg, a glass of white wine, and the juice of a lemon, pour it hot over the meat; lay slices of lemon, forcemeat balls, pickled mushrooms, or fresh ones stewed, over the meat, and round the dish. Serve white sauce.—This dish is made more savoury if you put mushrooms, and ham or tongue, in the forcemeat. Also, you make it richer by putting the best part of a boiled tongue, whole, where you take the bone out, fill up the cavities round the fillet with forcemeat; tie it up in a good shape, and either stew or bake it, in gravy, as above; or roast it, basting well. This may be served with a wall of mashed potatoes round, and that ornamented with pieces of tongue and bacon, cut in dice, alternately, with sprigs of green ​vegetable; or pieces of stewed cucumber; or Jerusalem artichokes cooked in white sauce; or garnish with lumps of young green peas.
Neck of Veal to Braise.
Lard the best end with bacon rolled in a mixture of parsley, salt, pepper, and nutmeg: put it into a stew-pan with the scrag end, a slice of lean ham, 1 onion, 2 carrots, and 2 heads of celery, nearly cover with water, and stew it till tender, about two hours. Strain off the liquor, and put the larded veal (the upper side downwards) into another stew-pan, in which you have browned a piece of butter, then set it over the fire, till the meat is sufficiently coloured; keep it hot in a dish whilst you boil up quickly a little of the strained liquor; skim it, put in a glass of Madeira, some orange or lemon juice, and pour it hot over the veal. Garnish with slices of lemon.—This joint may be covered with a veal caul and roasted; ten minutes before it is done, uncover it to brown. Serve it on sorrel sauce, celery, or asparagus tops: or with mushrooms fricasseed, or in sauce.
Breast of Veal to Stew, Ragout, or Collar.
An elegant dish for the second course. Put on the scrag and any bones of veal you have, to make gravy; put a well seasoned forcemeat into the thin part, sew it in; egg the top of the breast, brown it before the fire, and let it stew in the strained gravy an hour; when done, take it out and keep it hot over boiling water, while you thicken the sauce, and put to it 50 oysters cut up, a few mushrooms chopped, lemon juice, white pepper and mace; or catsup and anchovy sauce may be used to flavour it; also cream, white wine, truffles, and morells, at discretion. Pour the sauce hot over the meat, and garnish with slices of lemon and forcemeat balls, also pickled mushrooms.—A Scrag of veal is very good, stewed in thin broth or water, till very tender; make a sauce of celery, boiled in two waters to make it white, then put into very thick melted butter, stir in a coffee-cupful of cream, shake it two minutes over the fire, and pour it over the veal. Or tomata or onion sauce. To Ragout—Make a little gravy of the scrag and bones of ​the breast, cut the meat into neat pieces, rather long than broad, and brown them in fresh butter. Drain off the fat, and stew them in the gravy, with a bunch of sweet herbs, a piece of lemon peel, a few cloves, a blade of mace, two onions, white pepper, salt, and a little allspice. Simmer slowly, keeping it covered close. When done, take out the meat, skim off the fat, strain and thicken the gravy, add the juice of a lemon and a glass of white wine, and pour it hot over the veal, holding back the sediment. Breast and neck of veal may be stewed in water, or weak broth, without forcemeat. Veal is sometimes stewed with green peas, chopped lettuce, and young onions.—Lamb may be dressed this way, and served with cucumber sauce.—Rabbit the same, with white onion sauce. To Collar—Bone it, take off the skin, and beat the meat with a rolling pin; season it with pepper, salt, pounded mace, and a mixture of herbs, chopped very fine, then lay on thick slices of ham or 2 calves' tongues, boiled and skinned; bind it up in a cloth, and fasten it well with tape. Simmer it in enough water to cover it, over a slow fire, till quite tender, which will be about three hours and a half; then put it under a weight till cold. You may put in, in different parts, pigs' and calves' feet boiled and taken from the bones; also yolk of hard-boiled egg, grated ham, chopped parsley, and slices of beet root. Collared Veal to be eaten Hot—Spread a forcemeat over the breast (boned), then roll, bind it up tight, and stew it in water or weak broth. Serve it in good veal gravy, or on fricasseed mushrooms, and artichoke bottoms. This is sometimes roasted.
Veal Olives or Veal Rolls.
Cut long thin slices and beat them, lay on each one a very thin slice of bacon, and then a layer of highly seasoned forcemeat, in which there is a little eschalot. Roll them tight the size of two fingers 3 inches long; fasten them with a skewer, rub egg over, and either fry them of a light brown, or stew them, slowly, in gravy. Add a wine-glassful of white wine, and a little lemon juice.—If you do not choose the bacon, put only forcemeat strongly flavoured with ham; or grate ham thickly over the slices. Garnish with fried balls and pickled mushrooms.
Scotch Collops.
Cut small slices of the fillet, flour and brown them in fresh butter in the frying-pan, and simmer them very gently in a little weak broth or boiling water; when nearly done, add the juice of a lemon, a spoonful of catsup, a little mace, pepper and salt; take out the collops, keep them hot in the dish; thicken the sauce with browned flour, and pour it hot over the collops; garnish with curled slices of bacon.
Veal en Fricandeau.
The fat fleshy side of the knuckle, a little thin slice from the fillet, or the lean part of the neck boned. Take off the skin, beat the meat flat, and stuff with forcemeat; lard it, or not, as you like. Lay some slices of bacon at the bottom of a stew-pan, the veal on them, and slices of bacon on the top; put in 1½ pint of broth, or water, the bones of the meat, or 2 shanks of mutton; a bunch of herbs, 1 turnip, 1 carrot, 3 onions sliced, a blade of mace, 2 bay leaves, some white pepper, and lastly, more slices of bacon. Let this stew slowly, after being scummed, two hours, keeping the stew-pan closely covered, except when you baste the upper side of the fricandeau. The meat ought to be cooked to eat with a spoon. Take it out, when done, and keep it hot while you take all the bones out of the gravy, skim off the fat, and let it boil quickly till it thickens, and becomes a glaze; pour it over the meat. Mushrooms, morells and truffles may be added. Sorrel or tomata sauce.—Another: put the veal into a stew-pan, the larded side uppermost, add 2 tumblers of water, 2 carrots and onions in slices, 2 cloves, pepper and salt to taste, and a bunch of parsley: boil slowly three hours and a half; then brown the veal with a salamander; served with stewed mushrooms.
Knuckle of Veal to Ragout, or with Rice.
Break the bone and put it into a stew-pan with water to make a quart of broth, with the skin, gristles, and trimmings of the meat, a bunch of parsley, a head of celery, one onion, one turnip, one carrot, and a small bunch of lemon ​thyme; this being ready, cut the meat off the knuckle, the cross way of the grain, in slices smaller than cutlets, season with salt and kitchen pepper, dredge with flour, and brown them in another stew-pan. Then strain the broth, pour it over them, and stew it very slowly half an hour; thicken the gravy with white roux, and add the juice of half a lemon. With Rice—Cut off steaks for cutlets, or a pie, so as to leave no more meat on the bone than will be eaten hot. Break and wash the shank bone; put it into a stew-pan, with two quarts of water, salt, an onion, a blade of mace, and a bunch of parsley. When it boils, scum well, put in ¼ lb. of well-washed rice, and stew it at least two hours. Put the meat in a deep dish, and lay the drained rice round. Serve bacon and greens.
Granadin of Veal.
Line a dish, or shape, with veal caul, letting it hang over the sides of the dish; put in, first a layer of thin slices of bacon, then a layer of forcemeat, made of herbs, suet, and crumbs of bread, then a layer of thin slices of veal, well seasoned, and so on till the dish is filled; turn the caul over the whole, tie a paper over the dish, and bake it. Mushrooms may be added. When done, turn it out of the dish, and serve with a clear brown gravy.
Veal à la Daube.
Cut off the chump, and take out the edge-bone of a loin of veal; raise the skin and put in a forcemeat; bind the loin up with tape, cover with slices of bacon, and put it into a stew-pan, with all the bones and trimmings, one or two shanks of mutton, and just cover with water, or broth; a bunch of sweet herbs, two anchovies, some white pepper, and a blade of mace. Put a cloth over the stew-pan, and fit the lid tight, with a weight on the top. Simmer it slowly two hours, but shake the pan occasionally. The gravy will have become a strong glaze; take out the veal, the bacon, and herbs; glaze the veal, and serve it with tomata or mushroom sauce, or stewed mushrooms.
Veal to Haricot.
Shorten the bones of the best end of the neck; you may ​cut it in chops, or dress it whole. Stew it in good brown gravy, and when nearly done, add a pint of green peas, a large cucumber pared and sliced, a blanched lettuce quartered, pepper, salt, a very little cayenne, and boiling water, or broth, to cover the stew. Simmer it till the vegetables are done, put the meat in a hash dish, and pour the stew over. Forcemeat balls to garnish, if you choose.
Veal Cutlets à la Maintenon.
See Mutton Steaks à la Maintenon; or cook them without paper as follows: first flatten, and then season them with mixed spices, dipped in egg first, then in bread-crumbs mixed with powdered sweet herbs, grated nutmeg, and lemon peel. Broil them over a quick, clear fire, and serve directly they are done, with good gravy well flavoured with different sauces; or catsup in melted butter, or mushroom sauce. Garnish with lemon and curled parsley. They may be dressed in the Dutch oven, moistened, from time to time, with melted butter. The fat should be first pared off pretty closely. Serve pickles.
Calf's Heart.
Stuff it with a rich forcemeat, put the caul, or a well buttered paper over, and roast it an hour. Pour a sauce of melted butter and catsup over it.—Or: stuff, and brown it in a stew-pan, with a little butter, or a slice of bacon under it; put in enough broth or water to make a very little gravy, and let it simmer gently till done; take out the bacon, simmer and thicken the gravy, and pour it over the heart. Sweet sauce, or currant jelly.—Sheep's hearts are very nice, in the same way; a wine-glassful of catsup, or of Port wine, in the gravy.
Calf's Pluck.
Parboil half the liver and lights, and mince them. Stuff the heart with forcemeat, cover with the caul, or a buttered paper, or, instead of either, lay some slices of bacon on, and bake it. Simmer the mince of the liver in gravy or broth, add salt, pepper, chopped parsley, the juice of a lemon and catsup: fry the rest of the liver in slices, with parsley. ​When done, put the mince in a dish, the heart in the middle, the slices round. Garnish with fried parsley, or toasted sippets.—Or: cut the liver into oblong slices an inch thick, turn these round, and fasten with thread, or form them into any shape you like. Chop onions very fine, also mushrooms and parsley, fry these in butter, pepper and salt; then dredge flour over the pieces of liver, and put them into the frying-pan; when done enough, lay them in a dish, pepper slightly and keep them hot, whilst you pour enough broth or boiling water into the frying-pan to moisten the herbs; stew this a few minutes, and pour it over the liver. A nice supper or breakfast dish.—Lamb's pluck the same way.—Calf's liver is very good stewed. This is made rich, according to the herbs, spices, and sauces used. Chili vinegar is good.
Veal Sweetbreads.
Parboil a very little, then divide and stew them in veal broth, or milk and water. When done, season the sauce with salt and white pepper, and thicken with flour; add a little hot cream, and pour it over the sweetbreads.—Or: when parboiled, egg the sweetbreads, dip them in a seasoned mixture of bread-crumbs, and chopped herbs; roast them gently in a Dutch oven, and pour over a sauce of melted butter and catsup.—Or: do not parboil, but brown them, in a stew-pan, with a piece of butter, then pour over just enough good gravy to cover them; let them simmer gently, till done, add salt, pepper, allspice and mushroom catsup; take out the sweetbreads, thicken the sauce with browned flour, and strain it over them. Mushroom sauce and melted butter are served with sweetbreads.—Or: par-roast before the fire, cut them in thin slices, then baste with thin melted butter, strew bread-crumbs over, and finish by broiling before the fire.—Truffles and morells may be added to enrich the gravy.
Calf's Tails.
Clean and parboil the tails, brown them in butter, then drain and stew them in good broth, with a bunch of parsley, a few onions, and a bay leaf. Green peas, sliced ​cucumber, or lettuce, may be added and served altogether, when done, and the fat skimmed off.
Calf's Head.
Wash and soak it in warm water, take out the brains, and the black part of the eyes. Boil it in a large fish-kettle, with plenty of water and some salt. Scum well, and let it simmer gently nearly two hours. Lift it out, carefully sponge it to take off any scum that may have adhered, take out the tongue, and slightly score the head, in diamonds; brush it with egg, and sprinkle it with a mixture of bread-crumbs, herbs, pepper, salt and spices; strew some little bits of butter over, and put it in the Dutch oven to brown. Wash and parboil the brains; skin, and chop them with parsley and sage (parboiled); add pepper and salt, with melted butter, to a little more than moisten it, add the juice of a lemon, and a small quantity of cayenne; turn this a few minutes over the fire: skin the tongue, place it in the middle of a small dish, the brains round it; garnish with very small sprigs of curled parsley, and slices of lemon; serve the head in another dish, garnish the same. Serve melted butter and parsley. If you have boiled the whole head, half may be dressed as above, and the other half as follows:—cut the meat into neat pieces along with the tongue, and re-warm it in a little good broth, well seasoned with spices and lemon peel; when it is done, put in the juice of a lemon, pour it into your dish, lay the half head on it, garnish with brain cakes and lemon.—Calf's Head to Stew—Prepare it as in the last receipt to boil; take out the bones, put in a delicate forcemeat, tie it up carefully, and stew it in veal broth or water; season well with mace, mushroom powder and a very little cayenne. Stew very slowly, and when done, serve it with fried forcemeat balls, and a fricassee of mushrooms. It may be enriched to almost any degree, by flavouring sauces, truffles and morells, also oysters. A Collared Calf's Head in the same way: when boned season as in the last receipt; put parsley in a thick layer, then thick slices of ham or the tongue, roll it up, tie as firmly as you can in a cloth and boil it, and put it under a weight till cold.
Brain Cakes.
Take off all the fibres and skins which hang about the brains and scald them; beat them in a bason, with the yolks of two eggs (or more, according to the quantity of brains), one spoonful of flour, the same of bread-crumbs, a little lemon peel grated, and two tea-spoonsful of chopped parsley; add pepper, salt, nutmeg, and what spices you like; beat well together, with enough melted butter to make a batter; then drop it, in small cakes, into boiling lard, and fry of a light brown. Calf's or lamb's brains, in this way, for garnishing, or a small side dish. Brains à la Maître d'Hotel: Skin the brains and soak them in several waters, then boil them in salt and water, with a little piece of butter, and a table-spoonful of vinegar. Fry in butter, some thin slices of bread, in the shape of scollop shells. Lay these in a dish, the brains divided in two on them, and pour over a Maître d'Hotel sauce.
Calf's Head to Fricassee, and to Hash.
First parboil, then cut the meat into small pieces, and stew it, in a very little of the liquor in which it was boiled, or in rich white gravy, seasoned with white pepper, salt, onion and sweet herbs. Simmer gently, and, when nearly done, thicken with butter, rolled in flour, and just before you dish it, add a tea-cupful of hot cream, or the yolks of two eggs beaten; let it simmer, but not boil. Garnish with brain cakes, or curled slices of bacon.—To Hash: Calf's head cold, makes an excellent hash, and may be enriched to any degree, by adding to the following plain hash, some highly flavouring ingredients, such as sweetbreads, truffles, artichoke bottoms, button mushrooms, forcemeat and egg balls.—Cut the head and the tongue into slices. Take rather more than a quart of the liquor in which it was boiled, two shanks of mutton, or bones or trimmings of veal, and of the head; a bunch of sweet herbs, parsley, one large onion, a piece of lemon peel and some white pepper; boil this slowly, so that it may not waste too much, till it is well flavoured gravy, then thicken it with butter rubbed in flour, and strain it into a clean saucepan, add pounded mace, a large spoonful of oyster catsup or lemon pickle, sherry, and ​any sauce you like; put in the slices of meat, and warm them by gently simmering. Garnish with forcemeat balls, curled slices of bacon, or fried bread, in sippets, or brain cakes.
Mock Turtle.
Soak a large head, with the skin on, in hot water, then parboil it, in sufficient water to cover it, with a bunch of sweet herbs, 2 onions and a carrot; and after it has boiled to throw up the scum, simmer it gently half an hour. Then take the head out and let it get nearly cold before you cut it up. Take out the black parts of the eyes, and cut the other part into thin round slices, the gristly parts of the head into strips, and the peeled tongue into dice or square bits. Put the bones and trimmings of the head back into the stew-pan, and keep it simmering by the fire. Fry some minced eschalot or onion, in plenty of butter dredged with browned flour; then put it into a clean stew-pan, with all the cut meat, toss it over the fire a few minutes, then strain into it, a sufficient quantity of the stock to make the dish a stew-soup; season with pounded mace, pepper, salt, and a pint of Madeira; simmer it very slowly, till the meat is done, add a large spoonful of catsup or soy, a little chopped basil, tarragon and parsley. It must be skimmed before it is served; add the juice of a lemon, and pour it into a tureen. Forcemeat balls may be used as garnish: this is made richer by a cow heel, and also, by sweetbreads parboiled, or oysters and anchovies being added.
Veal to Mince.
Cold veal is generally used to mince, but undressed meat is the most savoury. Mince it finely, only the white part, and heat it in a little broth, or water (a piece of butter rolled in flour, if the latter), salt, white pepper, pounded mace, and plenty of finely chopped or grated lemon peel; when warm, put to it a small coffee-cupful of hot cream, and serve with sippets round the dish. This preparation does for patties or cecils or scallops, the same as directed for beef.—You may mix with the mince some stewed mushrooms. Veal may be hashed the same as beef; adding to the gravy, mace, nutmeg, and lemon peel.
Veal to Pot.
Season a thick slice of an undressed fillet, with mace, peppercorns and 3 cloves, bake or stew nearly four hours, pound it quite small in a mortar, with salt, and butter sufficient, just melted. Put it in pots, and cover with clarified butter. A portion of ham is an improvement.
Veal Cake.
Boil 8 eggs hard, cut two in half, the others in rings, put some of the latter and the halves round the bottom of a deep dish or shallow mould, and between each, a light sprig of parsley to make a layer; then a layer of very thin small pieces of cold veal, ham or tongue, and sprigs of parsley between, and more egg, moisten as you go on with a very good savoury jelly, flavoured with cayenne.—Or: make a very pretty dish; having boiled two calf's feet or a cow heel for jelly, or other purpose, put some nice little bits of the meat at the bottom of a deep round pudding mould, and little bits of ham or tongue and sprigs of parsley between, season to taste, then another layer, till full, moisten as you go on with some of the liquor. Set in a rather cool oven just to stiffen, then in a cool place, and turn it out of the shape. Bunches of barberries to garnish it.
Mutton to Haricot.
Cut the neck or loin, into chops, and trim off all the fat and bones. Have 3 pints of good broth, in which a turnip, carrot, bunch of parsley and 3 onions have been boiled. Season the chops well with kitchen pepper, and flour them; then brown them in the frying-pan, with a piece of butter, put them in a stew-pan, and pour the strained broth over. Let them stew very slowly half an hour, then put in 2 large carrots, cut in slices, and notched on the edges, 10 or 12 pieces of turnip, cut in fanciful shapes, 6 button onions, previously half roasted in the frying-pan, or parboiled, also a head of celery, cut up. When the chops are tender, skim the gravy, thicken it with browned flour; add pepper and salt, and a table-spoonful of walnut catsup, the same of camp sauce, of universal sauce, ​of chili or eschalot vinegar, and a wine-glassful of either Port or white wine. Lay the chops in a hash dish, the vegetables on them, and pour the gravy hot over. Cucumbers sliced, endive parboiled and cut up, or haricots parboiled, are good in this. Veal cutlets, beef steaks, and lamb chops, in the same way. Young lettuces and celery are more suitable to veal than turnip and carrot. Garnish with pickled mushrooms.
Leg of Mutton with Carrots.
Lard the leg and put it in a stew-pan just large enough to hold it, with a piece of butter. Set it over the fire five or ten minutes, and turn it to every side; take it out, and mix in the saucepan, with the butter, a spoonful of flour, and two tea-cupsful of broth or boiling water; let this simmer, turning the saucepan often; put in the mutton, and fill up with broth or boiling water; add salt and pepper, and a small bunch of herbs. Boil it slowly two hours, then put in a large plate of carrots cut in small pieces, and browned in another saucepan. Boil the mutton another hour after the carrots are added, and then serve it. Any lean joint of mutton may be cooked in this way.
Loin of Mutton to Roll or to Stew.
Keep it till quite tender, take out the bones, and put them on in water to cover them, with an onion and herbs, to make a good gravy. Season the meat highly with black and Jamaica pepper, mace, nutmeg and cloves, and let it lie all night. Flatten the meat with a rolling-pin, and cover it with a forcemeat, as directed for roast hare; roll it up and bind with tape; bake it in a slow oven, or half roast it before the fire, and baste from time to time with the made gravy. Let it get cold, skim off the fat which will have settled on it, dredge it with flour, then finish the cooking by stewing it in the gravy with which you basted, which must be carefully preserved, after the roasting or baking be over. When cooked enough, put to the gravy an anchovy pounded, a wine-glass of catsup, one of Port wine, and a table-spoonful of lemon pickle. Mushrooms are an improvement.—The Loin may be boned, larded, stuffed with ​forcemeat, then rolled, and stewed in white stock, with plenty of delicate vegetables, and served with spinach round it, and a sharp sauce.
Shoulder of Mutton.
The same as the loin; or stuffed with oysters solely (bearded); the meat rolled up, bound with tape, and stewed in broth, with a few peppercorns, a head of celery, and one or two onions. When done, take off the tape, and pour oyster sauce over.—Or: half roast a well-kept shoulder of mutton, let it get nearly cold, then score it on both sides, put it in a Dutch oven, before the fire, with a clean dish under to catch the gravy, and let it continue to roast. Bone and chop four anchovies, melt them in the basting ladle, add pepper and salt, then mix it into ½ pint of hot gravy, ¼ pint of Port wine, a spoonful of mushroom, the same of walnut catsup, and ½ a spoonful of lemon pickle; baste the meat with this as it roasts; when done, lay it on a clean hot dish, skim the dropped gravy, heat it, if necessary, and pour over the mutton.—Or: bone the shoulder, and steep it in wine, vinegar, herbs, and spices; have ready a stuffing, in which there are either oysters or mushrooms, put it in, cover the shoulder with a veal caul, and braise it. Serve with venison gravy, and sauce. Some like the flavour of garlic in this.
Breast of Mutton to Grill.
Cut off all fat which will not be eaten with the lean, score that in diamonds, and season with pepper and salt. Brush it with egg, and strew a mixture of bread-crumbs and chopped parsley over. Either roast or broil it in a Dutch oven, baste well with butter, strewing more crumbs and parsley over. Serve with chopped walnut or capers in butter.
Neck of Mutton to Stew.
Cut off some of the fat, and the meat into chops, put it into a stew-pan with water or broth to cover it, pepper, salt, an onion, and what herbs you like, cover close, and let it stew very gently; when half the water is wasted, put it by the side to let the fat rise, take that off, put in ½ pint claret, ​12 oysters, and let it stew till quite tender; take out the herbs, thicken the gravy, and add the juice of ½ a lemon, and what catsup you like.
To Dress Kidneys.
Skin and split mutton kidneys, rub with salt and pepper, and pin them out with small wire skewers, to keep them open. Dip in melted butter, then lay them on the gridiron, the inside downwards first, that when you turn them the gravy may be saved. Put the kidneys in a very hot dish, and pour melted butter into each one.—Or: cut a fresh kidney into slices or mouthfuls; soak in warm water and well dry them, dust them with flour, and then brown with butter in the frying-pan: put them in a stew-pan with the white of 3 young onions chopped, salt, pepper, parsley, a table-spoonful of eschalot vinegar, and then let them simmer till the kidney is quite done. Mushroom or walnut catsup may be used. Serve mustard with this.—Or: mince the kidney and season well with salt, pepper, and cayenne; fry this, and moisten it with gravy or boiling water, or use what catsup or flavouring vinegar you like. Serve on a hot dish for breakfast.—Or: put the mince into a stew-pan with a bunch of sweet herbs and an onion tied up in muslin, as soon as it is just browned cover with boiling water and let it simmer 3 hours, then take out the herbs, and sprinkle over the mince a table-spoonful of sweet herbs in powder.
Mutton or Lamb Chops and Collops.
Cutlets for a supper or breakfast dish may be cut from a rather underdone leg: put a good sized piece of butter in the frying-pan, when hot lay the slices of meat in, and turn them often till done, then take them out and keep them hot, while you make a little gravy in the pan, of parsley, other herbs if you like, and a very little broth or boiling water; any flavouring sauce you have, and cayenne. The gravy should be thick of herbs; dish the cutlets in the centre, and the herbs round.—Or: pare and slice some cucumbers, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, pour a little vinegar over, and let them lie an hour; then stew them with the collops in broth, enough to make sufficient gravy; season ​with catsup and what flavouring ingredient you prefer, skim the gravy when the meat is done, and serve in a hash dish.—Or: chop the leaves of 6 sprigs of parsley with 2 eschalots, very fine, season with salt and cayenne, and mix all well together with a table-spoonful of salad oil, cover the cutlets on both sides with this, then shake grated bread-crumbs over, and fry them in fresh butter.
Cutlets à la Maintenon.
Lightly season and lay them in a pan with 3 table-spoonsful of oil; fry over a moderate fire till 3 parts cooked, then take them out, and fry 2 table-spoonsful of chopped onions of a light brown, pour off the oil and put in a pint of good brown sauce, 3 table-spoonsful of tomata sauce, a tea-cupful of chopped parsley, a little sugar, nutmeg, pepper and salt, reduce it till rather thick, then put in the cutlets for about 5 minutes: take them out, let them be cold in the sauce, and fold each one (the gravy about it), in white paper (oiled), and broil them 10 minutes over a moderate fire. Serve in the papers.
Sauces for cutlets may be made of oysters, mushrooms, tomatas, anchovies, &c., &c., by stewing them in gravy, suitably seasoned; always add some lump sugar. Serve with Jerusalem artichokes, cooked in white sauce, round them: or, a bunch of asparagus in the centre, the cutlets round, and more grass cut in points to garnish: or, French beans or peas the same way: or (a very pretty dish), divide in 8 or 10 pieces 2 nicely boiled small cauliflowers, and put them into a saucepan with a tea-cupful of white sauce, a tea-spoonful of lump sugar, and a little salt; when it boils, pour in the yolk of an egg mixed with 4 table-spoonsful of cream, and serve it as above.
Mutton to Hash.
When a leg of mutton comes from the table, cut slices to hash the next day, and leave them in the gravy; if the joint be underdone, all the better. Make a gravy of the gristles, trimmings and any bones of mutton, pepper, salt, parsley, and 1 or 2 cut onions; skim off the fat, strain it, and put in the meat (having well floured each slice), with salt to ​your taste, and cayenne: simmer very gently about five minutes, to warm the meat through, and serve with toasted sippets round the dish. This may have walnut catsup or any other you choose: or 2 pickled walnuts, cut up, and a little of the liquor; or, and this is a great improvement, when the gravy is ready, put in 4 tomatas, and simmer for a quarter of an hour before you put in the meat. Stewed mushrooms are a nice accompaniment. Mutton may be minced and warmed in a pulp of cucumbers or endive, which has been stewed in weak broth.—Or: put a good sized piece of butter into a stewpan with ½ pint of mushrooms, ½ an eschalot minced, and boil them gently; then mix in, by degrees, a table-spoonful flour, ½ pint broth, and stew till all the flavour be extracted; let it cool a little, and put in some minced underdone mutton, to heat through, without boiling.
Hunter's Pie.
Line a mould with mashed potatoes, fill it with slices of cold beef or mutton, or mutton or lamb chops, well seasoned, cover with mashed potatoes, and bake it. Some add a very little minced onion.
Leg of Lamb with Vegetables.
Cut the loin of a small hind quarter into chops, and fry them. Boil the leg, delicately white, place it in the middle of the dish, a border of spinach round, and the fried chops upon that.—Or: instead of spinach, put a sprig of boiled cauliflower between each chop. Pour hot melted butter over the leg.—Or: season the chops, brush them with egg, and roll them in a mixture of bread-crumbs, chopped parsley, grated lemon peel, nutmeg, and salt; fry them in butter, and pour over a good gravy, with oysters or mushrooms. Serve hot; garnish with forcemeat balls.
Breast of Lamb.
Stew it in good broth twenty minutes, let it cool, then score it in diamonds. Season well with pepper, salt, and mixed spices; dredge flour over, stick on some little bits of butter, finish in the Dutch oven, and serve on spinach, stewed cucumbers, or green peas.
Lamb Cutlets and Steaks.
Flatten, season, and stew them in veal broth, and a little milk; season with white pepper and mace. When nearly done, thicken the sauce with mushroom powder, a bit of butter rolled in flour, and add a tea-cupful of hot cream.—Lamb Chops with Potatoes—Cut handsome chops from the neck, and trim the bone. Season, egg, and dip them in bread-crumbs and parsley, and fry of a pale yellow. Mash some potatoes thin, with butter or cream, place this high in the centre of a dish, score it, and arrange the chops round, leaning each one on the side of the adjoining one. Garnish with lemon slices, and pickled mushrooms.
Shoulder of Lamb Stuffed.
Take out the bone, and fill the vacancy with forcemeat. This may be roasted; or, if to be rich, stewed in good gravy, or braised. Glaze it, if you like, and serve with sorrel, or tomata sauce.—Or: parboiled, allowed to cool, scored in diamonds, seasoned with pepper, salt, and kitchen pepper, and finished on the gridiron, or in a Dutch oven. Sauce Robert, mushroom, or sorrel sauce, or a clear gravy. Or: bone a small shoulder, lard the under side, with strips of bacon, rolled in a mixture of cloves, mace, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and salt, in small proportions. Roll the meat up, tie, and stew it in veal broth: or braise, and then glaze it. Serve it on cucumbers stewed in cream, or on stewed mushrooms.
Lamb's Head
May be dressed the same as Calf's Head.—Or: parboil, then score, season and egg it, cover with a mixture of bread-crumbs and parsley, and brown it before the fire. Mince part of the liver, the tongue, and heart, and stew till tender, in a little broth or water, with pepper and salt. Fry the rest of the liver with parsley. Put the mince in a dish, the head on it, and the fried liver round.
Lamb Fricassee.
Cut the best part of the brisket into square pieces of 4 ​inches each; wash, dry, and flour them. Simmer for ten minutes 4 oz. butter, 1 of fat bacon, and some parsley, then put in the meat, an onion cut small, pepper, salt, and the juice of half a lemon: simmer this two hours, then add the yolks of two eggs, shake the pan over the fire five minutes, and serve it.
Lamb's Sweetbreads.
Blanch, then stew them in clear gravy twenty minutes; put in white pepper, salt, and mace; thicken with butter rolled in flour, and add the yolks of two eggs well beaten, and stirred into a coffee-cup of cream, a little nutmeg and finely chopped parsley; pour the cream and eggs in by degrees, then heat it over the fire, but stir all the time. Veal sweetbreads in the same way. The best mode of re-warming Lamb is to broil, either over or before the fire.
Venison to Hash.
Cut in thin slices, and warm it in its own gravy; season with pepper, salt, mace, grated lemon peel, one wine-glassful of port and white wine mixed, and a table-spoonful each, of mushroom and walnut catsup and soy. Serve toasted sippets round it. If lean, mix with it some thin small slices of the firm fat of mutton. Cold venison may be minced and dressed as directed for beef.
Shoulder of Venison to Stew.
If too lean to roast, then bone and flatten it, lay over some thin slices of fat, well-flavoured mutton; season well with white pepper, salt, and mixed spices, roll it up tight, bind with tape, and stew it slowly in beef or mutton gravy, in a stew-pan which will just hold it; the lid close. When nearly done, put in a very little cayenne, allspice, and ½ pint of claret or Port. Stew three hours. Take off the tape, place the meat in a dish, and strain the gravy over. Venison sauce.
Venison Collops and Steaks.
A good way to dress what is too lean to roast well. Having cut thin long slices from the haunch, neck, or loin; ​make a good gravy of the bones and trimmings, strain it into a small stew-pan, put in a little piece of butter rolled in flour to thicken it, then a very little lemon, a wine-glassful of port or claret, pepper, salt, cayenne, and nutmeg; whilst this simmers gently, fry the collops, and pour the sauce hot over. You may add tarragon or eschalot vinegar, also soy and mushroom catsup. Garnish with fried crumbs. Season the steaks, and dip them in melted butter, then in bread-crumbs, and broil them in buttered papers, over a quick fire. Serve very hot, with good gravy in a tureen.
Pig to Collar.
It should be three or four weeks older than for roasting. Bone it, and season well with mixed spices; then spread over a layer of thin forcemeat of herbs, hard-boiled eggs, chopped fine, and a little suet, then a layer of thin slices of veal, a layer of seasoning, and so on; roll it up, tie in a cloth, and stew it three hours, in just enough water to cover the pig. It will then require to be tied tighter at each end, and put under a weight till cold.
Pork to Roll.
Bone the neck, spread over the inside a forcemeat of sage, crumbs, salt, pepper, and a very little allspice. Tie it up, and roast very slowly.
Pork Chops with Onions.
Season the chops on both sides with pepper and salt, brush them over with olive oil, and roll them in bread-crumbs; put them on the gridiron, taking care that the fire be clear, and do not turn the chops more than once. Put 12 large onions in slices, into a saucepan with a large piece of butter, turn the saucepan frequently that the onions may imbibe the butter equally; add half a tea-cupful of boiling water, some pepper and salt, and let the onions simmer three quarters of an hour; strain and mix with them a little made mustard. Place the onions in a dish and the chops on them.
Pig's Head Roasted.
Divide the head of a young porker in half, take out the ​brains and clean the inside; stuff it with bread-crumbs, sweet herbs, lemon peel, a very little suet, and an egg, to bind it, tie the head up carefully, and roast it. Serve with brain and currant sauce.
Pig's Feet and Ears soused.
Clean carefully, soak them some hours, then boil them tender, and when cold pour over the following pickle: some of the liquor they were boiled in, ¼ part of vinegar and some salt. Cut the feet in two, slice the ears, dip them in batter and fry them. Serve melted butter, vinegar and mustard.
To Fricassee.
Boil, and when cold cut in pieces, and simmer them in a very little veal broth, with onion, mace and lemon peel; just before you serve it, add a little cream, and a bit of butter rolled in flour.
Corned Pork with Peas.
Put a large piece of butter into a stew-pan with half a table-spoonful of flour, and when it is melted add a tea-cupful of boiling water, chopped herbs and pepper. Wash in three waters a small piece of corned pork, put it in the stew-pan, and when it has cooked half an hour add three pints of green peas, and let it cook one hour. Take out the herbs and pork, pass the rest through a sieve; serve the peas round the pork.
Hare to Jug.
A tender young hare is better jugged than an old one, but one that is too old to roast, may be good jugged. Cut it in rather small pieces, season with salt and pepper, and you may lard them if you like, if not put into the jar two slices of good bacon, then put in the pieces of hare with the following mixture; half a tea-spoonful of cayenne, a blade of mace and a very small bunch of sweet herbs, four silver onions, one stuck with six cloves, two wine-glassfuls of Port wine, half a pint of water, or thin broth, and a table-spoonful of currant jelly. Set the jug in a saucepan of boiling ​water, or put it in the oven for two or three hours, according to its age. Lay the meat on a dish before the fire, strain the liquor, boil it up, and pour hot over the hare; you may add lemon juice, walnut or mushroom catsup, and another glass of Port wine.—Or: you may put 2 lbs. of coarse beef in, to make the gravy better. This, and especially if the hare be an old one, will require an hour longer.
Hare to Stew.
Cut off the legs and shoulders, cut down the back and divide each side into three. Season these with pepper, salt, and mixed spices, and steep them 4 or 5 hours in eschalot vinegar, and 2 or 3 bay leaves. Make about 1½ pint of good gravy, of beef or mutton stock, the neck, head, liver, heart and trimmings of the hare, 3 onions, a carrot, a bunch of sweet herbs, 12 black peppers, the same of allspice, and a slice of bacon, in small pieces. Strain this into a clean stew-pan, and put the hare and the vinegar into it; let it stew slowly, until done. If required, add salt, more spices, and cayenne; also good sauces, and Port wine if you choose. Thicken with browned flour. An old hare may be larded and stewed in a braise.
Hare to Hash.
Into a pint of gravy put 2 silver onions, 4 cloves, and a very little salt and cayenne, simmer gently till the flavour of the spice and vegetables is extracted, then take them out, add 2 table-spoonsful of red currant jelly, the same of Port wine, and when quite hot, put in the slices of hare, and any stuffing there may be. Serve it hot with sippets and currant jelly.
Rabbits with fine herbs.
Joint 2 white young rabbits, and fry the pieces in butter with some rasped bacon, a handful of chopped mushrooms, parsley, eschalot, pepper, salt, and allspice; when of a nice brown put it into a stew-pan, with a tea-cupful of good gravy and a tea-spoonful of flour. Stew slowly till done, skim and strain the sauce, and serve it hot about the ​meat; the livers minced and cooked with it. When you serve it, add the juice of ½ a lemon and a very little cayenne.
Rabbits to Fricassee.
Cut them in joints and parboil them; take off the skin, and stew them in gravy of knuckle of veal, lean ham, sweet herbs, mace, nutmeg, white pepper, lemon peel and mushroom powder; when the meat is tender, thicken the gravy with the yolks of 3 or 4 eggs in a pint of cream; stir in gradually 2 table-spoonsful of oyster, 1 of lemon pickle, and 1 of essence of anchovy. Serve very hot. Stewed mushrooms are good with this. Garnish with slices of lemon and pickled barberries.
Rabbit, Hare, and Game to Pot.
Rabbit must be seasoned with pepper, salt, cayenne, mace, and allspice, all in fine powder.—Hare with salt, pepper, and mace.—Partridges, with mace, allspice, white pepper, and salt in fine powder.—Read directions to pot beef, and proceed in the same way.
Turkey to Braise.
Truss it as for boiling: put 3 onions, a carrot, turnip, and a head of celery, all sliced, at the bottom of a stew-pan, with a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, 2 bay leaves, 3 cloves, and a blade of mace, also ½ lb. of lean ham, and 2 lbs. of veal cut small, put in 2 quarts of water, and then the turkey (the breast downwards), cover close, and let it simmer over a slow fire about two hours, according to its size; then take it up, and keep it hot, strain the stock into a stew-pan, boil it over the fire, and skim off all the fat; have 2 oz. butter melted in another stew-pan, stir in enough flour to make it thickish, and keep stirring till it is cooked enough, but keep it white, then take it from the fire, and keep stirring till half cold, pour in the stock, add a little sugar, and boil it all up, stirring all the time: place the turkey on the dish, with either some cauliflower heads or Brussels sprouts round it, and pour the sauce over.
Fowls, with Mushroom Sauce.
Braise them the same as directed for turkey, and when the stock is strained into the stew-pan, put in some mushrooms, and stew it till they are cooked, add lump sugar, and, at the last, stir in the yolk of 1 egg, beat up with a table-spoonful of cream, take it off the fire, and pour over the fowl in the dish.—Or: do not braise, but stew the fowl, in good stock, and when done, thicken the gravy, and put in enough button mushrooms; serve mushroom sauce with this, or a white fricassee of mushrooms round it.—Fowl with Oysters: the same as either of the above, using oysters in the place of mushrooms.
Fowl to Force.
Bone, then stuff a large fowl with a forcemeat made of ¼ lb. of veal, fowl, or turkey; 2 oz. grated ham, 2 oz. yolk of hard-boiled egg, lemon peel, mixed spices, and cayenne to taste; beat the whole in a mortar, to a paste, adding 2 raw eggs to bind it. Sew up the fowl, form it into its own natural shape, draw in the legs, and truss the wings. Stew it slowly in clear white broth; when nearly done, thicken the sauce with butter, rolled in flour; just before you serve it, add a little hot cream, by degrees, to the sauce, stirring all the time. Squeeze the juice of a lemon into a dish, lay the fowl in the centre, and pour the sauce over it.—Or: the stuffing may be of pork sausage, and the fowl roasted; serve good gravy in the dish, and bread sauce in a tureen.
Chickens, Pigeons, or Rabbits, to Braise.
Bone and stuff them as directed in the last receipt, and lay slices of bacon on them. Brown a few sliced onions in a stew-pan, and add all the bones and trimmings, with, if you can, two shanks or a scrag of mutton, or a shank of veal, a bunch of sweet herbs, mace, and a pint of broth or soft water; simmer gently one hour. Then put in the chicken, cover the lid of the stew-pan with a cloth in thick folds, and let it stew very gently till done. If you wish to glaze the chicken, pigeon, or rabbit, take it out, and keep it hot while you strain the gravy, and boil it quickly to a jelly; ​glaze the chicken, and serve with a brown fricassee of mushrooms.
Chickens to Fricassee.
Cut them up, and season the joints with mixed spices and white pepper. Put into a pint of clear gravy or stock, two onions, three blades of mace, a large piece of lemon peel, and a bunch of sweet herbs. When ready put in the chickens, and stew them gently half an hour, covered close. When done, take them out, keep hot over boiling water, strain the sauce, thicken it with butter rolled in flour, and add salt and nutmeg. Just before you serve it, pour in, by degrees, ¼ pint of cream, heated, and the yolks of two eggs, beaten; keep stirring least it curdle, and do not let it boil: pour it over the chickens. A glass of white wine may be added. Garnish with lemon. You may put into the stew-pan, a quarter of an hour after the chickens, some quite young green peas and lettuce.—The French Fricassée Naturel is as follows: cut up the chickens, blanch them in hot water a few minutes, then dip them into cold water, and put them into a stew-pan with 4 oz. butter, parsley, green onions, and a tea-cupful of trimmed button mushrooms, to warm through, and slightly brown; add salt and white pepper, and dredge flour over them; then put in a little of the liquor they were blanched in, and let it simmer half an hour, or till the chickens are done: take them out, and keep hot, strain the sauce, give it a quick boil, add the yolks of two eggs, and pour it over the chickens.
Fowl à la Chingara.
Cut a fat fowl down the back and breast, then across, to be in four equal parts. Melt a very little piece of butter in a stew-pan, put in four slices from the thickest part of a boiled ham, then the fowl, and stew it gently, till done; take out, keep it hot, pour the fat off the glaze at the bottom of the stew-pan, and pour in a little good gravy, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Simmer gently a few minutes, during which, fry, in the fat you have poured off, four toasts, dust over them a little pepper and salt, place them in a dish, a quarter of the fowl on each; either with the ham or not. Skim the sauce, and serve in a tureen.
Cold Fowl or Turkey to Pull.
Take off the skin, and pull the meat off the breast and wings, in long flakes; brown these in the frying-pan with a piece of butter, drain them from the fat, put them into a saucepan with a little gravy previously seasoned with salt, pepper, nutmeg and mace. Simmer gently, to warm the meat; during which, score and season the legs, if turkey, and broil them, with the sidebones and back. Thicken the sauce with the yolks of two eggs, and add a tea-cupful of hot cream. Serve the hash in the middle, the broil round. Garnish with toasted sippets. Mushroom sauce good with this. Boudins are made thus: mince the meat which is left on fowl or turkey; put a tea-spoonful of chopped onion and a piece of butter into a stew-pan and turn it over the fire, for a minute or two, then put in a table-spoonful of flour and mix it well, a pint of stock and the mince, season with pepper, salt, and sugar; simmer it till heated through, and then stir quickly in, the yolks of three eggs well beaten, stir it over the fire, but do not let it boil, and pour it out on a dish to get cold; divide it into equal parts, and roll them round or to your fancy, egg and bread-crumb them two or three times, and fry of a light brown. These may be flavoured with ham, tongue or mushroom cut up in the mince.
Goose or Hare to Braise.
Stuff it for roasting, lay thin slices of bacon over it; line a stew-pan with bacon, put the goose and giblets in the centre, 5 or 6 onions, 2 carrots and turnips, a clove of garlic, all sliced, salt, black and Jamaica peppers, 2 bay leaves, and a slight sprinkling of finely chopped herbs. Moisten with boiling water. Lay a sheet of paper over, cover close, lay a folded cloth over the lid, put a weight on the top to keep it tight, and stew gently. (See instructions for braising.) Apple, pear, or currant jelly sauce.
Turkey or Hare en Daube.
Lard the breast and legs of the turkey with strips of bacon, with salt, pepper, spices, and herbs; and lay slices of bacon over the breast. Line a stew-pan with bacon, ​and put in the turkey, with a hock of ham or a calf's foot (both if you can), also the head and feet of the turkey, 4 onions, 2 carrots, young onions, a few sprigs of thyme, a bunch of parsley, and 6 cloves; moisten this, with a tea-cupful of melted butter, and cover it with white paper. Simmer it five hours; take it off the fire, and let it stand by the side twenty minutes, or half an hour. Take out the turkey, strain the gravy, and boil it down quickly; beat up an egg, stir it into the gravy, put it on the fire, and let it come nearly to a boil, then stand by the side of the fire half an hour, and it will be a jelly; strain it again if not clear, and pour it over the turkey.
Pigeons to Stew.
Put a piece of butter, rolled in flour, a little chopped parsley, and the liver, into each pigeon, truss, then place them on slices of bacon, in a stew-pan; cover with more slices of bacon, and stew them three quarters of an hour. Serve good brown gravy. Stewed mushrooms, if liked. Garnish with sprigs of boiled cauliflower, or small heads of brocoli. Or: add bread-crumbs to the stuffing, truss them for roasting, and brown them in the frying-pan; then put them into the stew-pan, with good stock of beef, flavoured with herbs, mace, anchovies, mushroom powder, onions, and pepper; stew till tender, then add oyster, mushroom and walnut catsup, Port and white wine, soy, Gloucester and camp sauces. Garnish with egg balls and pickled mushrooms.—Or: first stuff them with bread-crumbs, spices, parsley, and a little fresh butter; half roast them in a Dutch oven, and finish in the stew-pan, in good gravy; to which wine, lemon peel, and mushrooms may be added. Pour it over the pigeons. Asparagus may be laid round and between them.—Pigeons in Jelly—Pick, wash, and singe two plump pigeons; leave the heads and feet on, clean them well, clip the nails close to the claws, and truss them, propping the heads up with skewers; season inside with pepper and salt, and a bit of butter in each. Put a quart of the liquor of boiled knuckle of veal, or calf's head or feet, into a baking-dish, with a slice of lean ham, a blade of mace, a faggot of sweet herbs, white pepper, lemon peel, and the pigeons. Bake them in a moderate oven; when done, take them out ​of the jelly, and set by to get cold, but cover them to preserve their colour. Skim the fat off the jelly when cold, then boil it up with the whites of 2 eggs beaten, to clear it, and strain through a bag. Place the pigeons in a dish, the clear jelly round, and over them, in rough heaps. Instead of baking, you may roast the pigeons, and when cold, put a sprig of anything you like into their bills, place them on some of the jelly, and heap more of it round.—Pigeons in Forcemeat—Spread a savoury forcemeat in a dish, then in layers, very thin slices of fat bacon, young pigeons cut up, sliced sweetbreads blanched, 2 palates boiled tender and cut up, mushrooms, asparagus tops, cockscombs and the yolks of 4 eggs boiled hard; spread more forcemeat on the top, bake it, and turn it out in a dish, with rich gravy poured round. Pigeons en Compote.—Parboil 2 large pigeons; take them out of the water, and squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the breast of each. Have prepared in a stew-pan ¼ lb. of butter, a table-spoonful of flour, and 2 tea-cupsful of weak broth, a faggot of herbs, pepper, salt, a piece of ham and 8 mushrooms in quarters: place the pigeons in this, and stew them slowly till tender. Blanch 12 button onions, and a ¼ of an hour before they are done, put them in the stew-pan. When done, take out the herbs and ham, skim the gravy, pour it over the pigeons, in a dish, and the onions round.
Ducks with Peas.
Season them with salt, pepper, cayenne and mixed spices. Lay some very thin slices of bacon in a stew-pan, the ducks on them, more slices over them, moisten with broth, or water, and stew them from half to a whole hour, according to their age, and size. While they are stewing, parboil, and fry in butter, or with bits of bacon, 2 or 3 pints of young green peas, pour off the fat, put them in a stew-pan with a very little water or broth, salt, pepper, sugar, a bunch of parsley, and some young onions. Take the onions and parsley out from the peas, skim off the fat, and pour the gravy over the ducks.—Or: half roast the ducks, and stew them in a pint of good gravy, a little mint, and 3 sage leaves chopped small, cover close and let it stew half an hour. Boil a pint of green peas as for eating, and put them in, after you have thickened the ​gravy: put the ducks into a dish, and pour the gravy and peas over.
Ducks to Ragout.
Prepare them the same as pigeons to stew, brown them all round, in the frying-pan, then stew them in good broth, till tender. Season well with pepper, salt, onions, sage, and what other herbs you like. Thicken the sauce with browned flour and butter. Add a glass of Port, if you like, and pour it over them.
Ducks to Hash.
Cut them up, as at table, and if you have not any gravy suitable, prepare some of the trimmings, 3 onions, a bunch of herbs, pepper, salt, sugar, and spices. Strain, thicken it, and put in the pieces of duck; do not let the gravy even simmer, but keep hot by the side of the fire until the meat is heated through. Port wine or catsup, and cayenne may be added.—Goose may be hashed in this way, the legs scored, seasoned and broiled, laid on the hash, or served by themselves.
Wild Fowl to Ragout.
Half roast the bird, score the breast in 3 at each side, lightly strew mixed spices and cayenne into each cut, squeeze lemon juice over the spices. Stew it till tender, in good brown gravy, take it out and keep hot; add 1 or 2 finely shred eschalots to the gravy, also a glass of Port wine, and pour it over the wild fowl; any game may be re-warmed cut up, in good gravy, boiling hot, thickened with bread-crumbs, and seasoned with salt, spices to taste, wine, and lemon juice, or pickle.
Snipes, Landrails or Woodcocks to Ragout.
Pick 2 or 3 very carefully, take out the trail, and lard them with slices of fat and lean ham, dredge well with flour, and fry in butter of a light brown: then stew in good gravy, flavoured with sherry or Madeira, Port or claret, anchovy, oyster, and lemon pickle, and walnut catsup, 2 table-spoonsful of soy, cayenne and Gloucester sauce. Thicken with ​flour and butter. Just before serving add the juice of a lemon, and 1 table-spoonful of eschalot vinegar. Pound the trail with salt, lay it on slices of buttered toast, before the fire, put it in a deep dish, serve the ragout over.
Partridge or Wild Duck Salmi.
Par-roast two partridges, which have been kept long enough, when cold, skin and carve them, put them into a small saucepan with one eschalot, a bit of lemon peel, a very little dressed ham in small bits, all the trimmings of the birds, a large glass of Madeira, half a wine-glassful of the best olive oil, pepper, salt, cayenne and the juice of a lemon. When just heated through, dish the birds on a very hot dish, pour the strained sauce over, and serve very hot, with grilled toasts. A little good sauce of veal gravy, the trimmings, cayenne, and the juice of a bitter orange; then put in the pieces of duck, and simmer till hot.
Tripe to Fricassee.
Stew a piece of the thick part in well-seasoned veal stock. Cut it in strips, shake it over the fire in white sauce, five minutes; squeeze the juice of a lemon in the dish, pour the fricassee in, and garnish with slices of lemon. If maigre, cream and yolk of egg will enrich it.
Mock Brawn.
Having cleaned a hog's head, split it, take out the brains, cut off the ears, and rub the head well with salt. Let it drain for twelve hours, spread 2 oz. common salt and 1½ oz. bay salt over it, and the next day put it into a pan, cover with cold water, and let it stand a day and night. Then wash well, and boil it until the bone comes out; skin the head and tongue, and cut both into bits. Put half of the skin into a pan, spread the meat in layers, season with salt and pepper, press it down hard, and cover with the other half of the skin. If too fat, add bits of lean pork. Make a pickle of 2 oz. salt, a pint of vinegar, and a quart of the liquor; boil it three times, and when cold pour it over.
Tripe in the Scotch Fashion.
First boiled and cold; then simmer it gently in milk and water, with salt, and a piece of butter. When quite tender, take it out, and let it cool, whilst you prepare a thick batter of three eggs, three spoonsful of flour and some milk; add green onions or chives, parsley chopped fine, and ginger. Cut the tripe in square cutlets or strips, dip them in the batter, thick enough to form a thick crust, and fry in beef dripping.
A Scotch Haggis.
Having cleaned a sheep's pluck, cut some places in the heart and liver, to let out the blood, and parboil it all (during which the windpipe should hang over the side of the pot in a bowl, that it may empty itself). Scum the water, as the pluck boils: indeed, it ought to be changed. From half to three quarters of an hour will be sufficient. Take it all out, cut off about half of the liver, and put it back to boil longer. Trim away all pieces of skin and black-looking parts from the other half of the liver, the heart, and part of the lights, and mince all together, with 1 lb. of beef suet and three or four onions. The other half of the liver having boiled half an hour longer, put it in the air to get cold; then grate it to the mince, and put more onions if you like, but slightly parboiled. Toast a large tea-cupful of oatmeal flour; turn it often with a spoon, that it may be dried equally of a light brown. Spread the mince on a board, and strew the meal lightly over, with salt, pepper and cayenne. Have ready the haggis bag (it is better to have two, for one may burst), put in the meat, with broth to make a thick stew; the richer the broth the better; add a little vinegar, but take care that the bag be not too full, for the meat must have room to swell. When it begins to boil, prick the bag with a needle; boil it slowly, three hours. The head may be parboiled, minced and added.
Curry of Chicken, Rabbit, or Veal.
Read in the Chapter on Seasonings, the part relating to Curry Powder.—Curry may be made of cold meat, and makes a variety with the common mode of re-warming ​meat, but not so good a Curry as when made of undressed meat. Cut the meat into pieces, as are served at table, and brown them, in butter, with 1 or 2 sliced onions, over a quick fire. When of a fine amber colour, put it and the onions in a saucepan, with some veal, mutton broth, or stock of poultry and veal, or mutton trimmings; when this has simmered long enough to cook the meat, put in the curry powder, from 2 to 3 dessert-spoonsful, according to the quantity of meat, rubbed and mixed very smooth with a spoonful of flour; stir this carefully in the sauce, and simmer it five minutes; when done, put in the juice of a lemon, and stir in by degrees a coffee-cupful of thick cream. A small part of the meat and the livers of poultry may be pounded to thicken the sauce.—Or: rub the powder into a thin paste, with cream, and rub each piece of meat with it, when half cooked, then return it to the saucepan to finish stewing.—Another—Fry 4 large sliced onions in 2 oz. of butter, and put all into a stew-pan, with either a loin of lamb in steaks, a breast of veal cut up, chicken, duck or rabbit jointed, or any thing undressed and lean, with a pint of good stock, or more, according to the quantity of meat; stew till tender: then take out the meat, and mix with the gravy about 2 dessert-spoonsful of turmeric powder, 6 pounded coriander seeds, cayenne to taste, and 2 table-spoonsful of chili, or eschalot vinegar. Boil these till thoroughly mixed and thick, and till the turmeric has lost the raw flavour; then put in the meat, and give it one boil. Squeeze in the juice of a lemon or a lime, and serve it very hot, in a deep dish, with plenty of gravy; the rice in another.—Stewed onions, stewed cucumbers, or stewed celery, brown, are good with curry. Serve pickles (melon mangoes most suitable), and chili vinegar.—Veal cutlets fried with onions in butter, and stewed in gravy as above. Lamb, Duck, Cow-heel, and Lobster make good curries. Indeed tender steaks and mutton chops are also very good dressed in curry.
Curry Kebobbed.
Cut into bits, either chicken and tongue, or veal and ham; season with eschalot, and fasten them in alternate slices on small skewers. Mix with flour and butter 2 dessert-spoonsful of curry powder, or 1 of curry paste, 1 of ​turmeric, and add by degrees ½ pint of good gravy. Fry the meat with 3 onions, chopped in butter, and put all into a stew-pan with the gravy, a tea-spoonful of mushroom powder, a wine-glassful of sherry or Madeira, 2 table-spoonsful of lemon pickle, 2 of garlic or tarragon vinegar, 1 of soy, 1 of walnut pickle, 1 of claret or Port, and a tea-spoonful of cayenne vinegar.—Garnish with pickles.
Curry of Fish.
Slices of cod, turbot, brill, and halibut, also whitings, haddocks, and codlings, may all be curried. To be maigre, make the gravy of well-seasoned fish stock; if not, of beef or veal broth, in which an onion and carrot have been boiled; thicken with butter rubbed in browned flour. Bone the fish, and cut them into neat pieces, rub with flour, and fry them in butter, of a light brown. Drain them on a sieve. Mix very smoothly a table-spoonful of curry powder (more or less according to the quantity of fish), with a dessert-spoonful of flour, and mix it to a paste with a little of the broth; add 2 onions, beaten in a mortar, and ¼ pint of thick cream, mix this in the gravy, or roll the piece of fish in it, then put them in the gravy, and stew them gently till tender; place them in a dish, skim the fat off the sauce, and pour over the fish.—Lobsters, prawns, shrimps, oysters, and muscles are curried in the same way, to form a dish by themselves, or with other fish.—Slices of cold cod, turbot, or brill are re-warmed in curry sauce.
Beef or Ham Chutney.
To 1 oz. of grated meat, put 1 small onion chopped very fine, 1 tea-spoonful of grated ginger, and cayenne to taste; mix well together, adding vinegar or lemon juice.
Fish Chutney.
Parboil an onion, chop it very fine, and add to the fish, which should be rather salted, and chopped fine, or grated; add cayenne and vinegar to taste.
Rice to Boil for Curry.
Pick, and soak it in water; then boil very quickly, with a ​little salt in the water, till tender, but not soft; drain, and lay it on a sieve reversed, before the fire, to dry. Turn it with a fork, as lightly as possible, but do not use a spoon. Serve it in a dish by itself; or round the dish in light heaps, the curry in the middle. After it is boiled, some cooks pour cold water over, and then set it before the fire to dry. Every particle ought to be distinct, yet perfectly tender.—Another way is, to wash it in warm water, pick it carefully, pour boiling water over it in a stew-pan, cover that close, and keep it by the side of the fire to be quite hot. In an hour's time, pour off the water, set the stew-pan on the fire, and stir briskly with a fork till the rice is dry, but not hard.—The Hindostanee mode is this: when well picked, soak it in cold water a quarter of an hour; strain and put it into boiling water rather more than enough to cover it; boil it ten minutes, skimming, if necessary; then add a gill of milk for each lb. of rice, and boil it two or three minutes; take it off the fire, strain, and put it back into the saucepan over a slow fire; pour on it ½ oz. of butter melted, and a table-spoonful of the water in which it was boiled; boil it slowly, another eight minutes, and it will be ready.—In Carolina they soak the rice two hours in salt and water, wash it, put it in a bag of cheese cloth, then steam it twenty minutes, and each grain will be separated.
A Pillau.
Stew some rice in broth, or melted butter, till tender, season with salt, pepper, and mace. Prepare a boiled fowl, or mutton chops, or veal cutlets, dressed as you like; place them in a hot dish, and if fowl or veal, slices of boiled bacon over; cover the meat with the rice, glaze it with beaten egg, and place it before the fire, to brown. Garnish with hard-boiled egg and slices of lemon.—Or: half roast a breast of veal, cut it in pieces, season with pepper and salt (curry powder, if you like), and stew them in gravy, or broth. Place a high border of rice round a dish, the veal in the centre, thin slices of bacon on it, and cover with rice, glaze with yoke of egg, and brown it. A turkey capon, or old fowl, larded, may be dressed in this way; or cold poultry, or rabbit.
Sausages.
To the following receipts saltpetre may be added, to give a red hue. Mushrooms and oysters give a nice flavour, but the sausages do not keep well. Sausage meat may be cooked without skins: mould it into flat cakes, moistening with yolk of egg, to bind, and then fry them. These cakes form a pretty supper dish, garnished with curled parsley; also a garnish for roast turkey or fowl. The ingredients must be well mixed. Herbs ought to be used sparingly. Pork Sausages.—Cut 3 lbs. of fat, and 3 lbs. of lean pork, into thin slices, scrape each one, and throw away the skin; cut the meat altogether, as small as possible, with 2 oz. salt, ½ oz. pepper, 6 tea-spoonsful of sage, chopped fine, 2 nutmegs, and 2 eggs. Boil a pint of water, let it get cold, put in the crumb of a penny roll, to soak all night; the next morning mix it with the other ingredients, and fill the skins. Oxford Sausages.—To 1 lb. pork, add 1 lb. veal, 12 oz. beef suet, 3 oz. grated bread, 3 eggs, well beaten, with mace, black pepper, salt, and sweet herbs, these last chopped, then pounded in a mortar, before they are put to the other ingredients. Anchovy is an improvement.—Or: leave out the bread, herbs and suet, have plenty of fat to mix with the lean, mix it with yolk of egg, into long thin cakes, and fry them. Epping Sausages.—Equal portions of young tender pork, and beef suet. Mince them very finely, season with salt, pepper, grated nutmeg, and a little chopped sage. Veal Sausages.—Equal quantities of lean veal and fat bacon, ½ a handful of sage leaves, salt, pepper, and a few anchovies; beat all well in a mortar. Roll this into cakes and fry them. Bologna Sausages.—An equal portion of beef, veal, lean pork and fat of bacon, minced and mixed well together. Season with pepper, salt, and spices; fill a large skin, and boil it an hour.
Rissoles.
Any sort of cold meat, but veal, chicken, turkey and sweetbreads are best. Mince the meat, season with salt and pepper, and stew it two minutes in well-seasoned gravy; use no more than sufficient to moisten the mince. Let it get cold, then roll into balls; dip these into egg beaten; then into bread-crumbs, and fry them of a light ​brown. When done, place them in a dish, and pour good gravy into it.—Or: roll out thin puff paste, spread some mince on it, and roll up, in what shape you please; fry of a light brown. Rissoles may be made of cold turbot, shrimps, lobster and cod; season with cayenne and thin melted butter; add the yolk of an egg to bind it, then roll up in thin puff paste and fry them.
A Bread Border.
Cut slices of firm stale bread, the thickness of the blade of a knife, into any shape you like. Heat some top fat, or oil, in a saucepan, and put in the sippets. Take some out before they are much browned, and let the rest brown more. Drain well, fasten each one up with white paper, until you are ready to use them; then pierce the end of an egg, let out a little of the white, beat it up with a knife, and mix in a little flour. Heat a dish, dip one side or point of each sippet in the egg, and stick them, one by one, on the dish, in what form you please, and put the ragout or fricassee in the centre.
A Rice Border.
Soak the rice well, then stew it with salt and a blade of mace; to be richer, use butter and yolk of egg. When just tender, and no more, place it round the dish, as an edging; glaze with beaten yolk of egg, and set it in the oven, or before the fire, a few minutes; then put in the curry, or hash, &c. &c.
Potatoe Border.
Mash them nicely; and form a neat border round the edge of the dish; mark it and glaze with yolk of egg; brown it in the oven, and put the hash in the centre.
Omelets.
These with practice, are easily made, and are convenient to make out a dinner or supper, especially in the country, where fresh eggs may almost always be obtained. Omelets are so common in France, that the poorest inn by the road ​side will always furnish one. Fresh eggs are essential; the frying-pan should be round and small. The basis of most omelets is the following: beat well the yolks of 6 and the whites of 3 eggs, put to them a little salt and 2 table-spoonsful of water; put 1½ oz. fresh butter into the frying-pan, and hold it over the fire; when the butter is hot, pour in the eggs, shake the pan constantly, or keep stirring the eggs till they become firm, then with a knife lift the edge all round, that the butter may get under. If over done, it will be hard and dry. Gather the border up, roll the omelet, and serve in a hot dish. This may be flavoured in various ways: with grated lemon peel, nutmeg and mace; or with the juice of a Seville orange; or with grated ham, tongue, or veal kidney, pepper and salt; or finely chopped parsley, green onions, chives and herbs: also, for maigre dinners, lobster meat, shrimps or the soft parts of oysters may be pounded, seasoned and put into the eggs. A pounded anchovy, and, also, mushroom powder, may be used to give flavour. Potatoe or wheaten flour, about a table-spoonful, is sometimes added to the eggs.
Eggs to Poach.
Boil some spring water, skim it, and put in a table-spoonful of vinegar. Break off the top of the egg with a knife, and let it slip gently into the boiling water, turning the shell over the egg, to gather in the white; this is said to be a better way than to break the egg into a cup, then turn it into the water. Let the saucepan stand by the side of the fire till the white is set, then put it over the fire for two minutes. Take them up, with a slice; trim them, and serve on toasts, spinach, brocoli, sorrel, slices of broiled ham, or in the centre of a dish, with pork sausages round.
Eggs to Fry.
Melt a piece of butter in a frying-pan, and slip the eggs in.—Or: lay some thin slices of bacon in a dish before the fire, to toast; break the eggs into tea-cups, and slip them gently into boiling lard, in a frying-pan. When done, little more than two minutes, trim the white, and lay each one on a slice of bacon. Make a sauce of weak broth, cayenne, made mustard and vinegar.
Eggs to Butter.
Beat 12 eggs with 2 table-spoonsful of gravy; melt ¼ lb. butter, stir the eggs and this together, in a bason with pepper, salt, and finely minced onion, if liked. Pour this backwards and forwards from one bason to another, then into a stew-pan on the fire, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, to prevent burning. When of a proper thickness, serve on toast.
Eggs to Fricassee.
Boil them hard, then cut the eggs in slices, pour a good white sauce over, and serve with sippets round the dish.
Eggs to Ragout.
Boil 8 eggs hard, take off the shell, cut them in quarters. Have ready a pint of gravy, well seasoned and thickened, and pour it hot over the eggs.—Or: melt some butter, thicken with flour, season with nutmeg and mace, add a tea-cupful of cream, and pour hot over the eggs.
Swiss Eggs.
Put a piece of butter the size of a small egg into a saucepan with ¼ lb. grated cheese, a little nutmeg, parsley and chives finely chopped, and ½ a glass of white wine. Stir it over a slow fire, till the cheese is melted; then mix in 6 eggs well beaten, set it on the fire, and keep stirring till done. Serve in the centre of a small dish, with toasted sippets round.
Scotch Eggs.
Boil 4 eggs hard, as for salad, peel and dip them, first in beaten egg, then in a forcemeat of grated ham, crumbs and spices. Fry in clarified dripping, and serve in gravy. Or: in white sauce.
Eggs à la Tripe.
Fry 4 sliced Spanish onions in butter, then dust in some flour, let it catch to a light brown, put in a breakfast ​cupful of hot milk, salt and pepper, and let it reduce. Then add 12 hard-boiled eggs, some in halves or quarters, others in slices, mix these gently in the sauce (a tea-spoonful of made mustard if you like), and serve it.
Eggs à la Maitre d'Hotel.
Fry onions as in the last receipt, add melted butter, with plenty of parsley chopped in it, put in the eggs and serve quite hot.
Fondu.
Mix an equal quantity of grated parmesan and Gloucester cheese, add double the weight in beaten yolk of egg and cream, or melted butter; beat all well together, add pepper and salt, then the whites of the eggs, which have been beaten separately: stir them lightly in, and bake in deep tin dish, or in paper cases, but fill only half full, as it will rise very much. Serve quite hot.
Ramakins.
Beat an equal portion of Gloucester and Cheshire cheese in a mortar, with the crumb of a French roll, soaked in milk, and the yolks of 3 eggs; season with salt and pepper, and when beaten to a paste, add the whites of 2 eggs, and bake them in saucers, in the Dutch oven.—Or: roll paste out thin, lay a thin slice of cheese on it, cover with paste, and bake like puffs.—Or: beat ¼ lb. Cheshire cheese with 2 eggs and 2 oz. butter, and form it into cakes to cover thin pieces of bread cut round with a wine-glass. Lay these on a dish, not touching one another, put it on a chaffing dish of coals, hold a salamander over till quite brown, and serve hot.
Asparagus and Eggs.
Beat 4 eggs well, with pepper and salt. Cut some dressed asparagus into pieces the size of peas, and stir into the eggs. Melt 2 oz. of butter, in a small stew-pan, pour in the mixture, stir till it thickens, and serve hot on a toast.
Mushrooms and Eggs.
Slice and fry some large onions and a few button mushrooms; drain them well; boil some eggs hard, and slice them; simmer in good gravy, or melted butter, with pepper, salt, mustard, and eschalot vinegar.
Devils.
These are made of legs, rumps, backs and gizzards of cold turkey, goose, capon, and all kinds of game, venison, mutton kidney, the back bone of mackerel well buttered, biscuits and rusks. The meat must be well scored for the seasonings to find their way into it: salt, pepper, cayenne, curry, mushroom, truffle, and anchovy powder, must be used according to taste. Broil, over a quick strong fire, and serve them dry, if to eat with wine; but they may be served with anchovy, or any piquant sauce. Served in a hot water dish.—Biscuits are spread with butter, heated before the fire and sprinkled with the seasonings.
Anchovy Toasts.
Fry thin slices of bread, without the crust, in butter. Spread them with pounded anchovies mixed with butter.
Mock Caviare.
Bone 6 anchovies, pound them in a mortar with dried parsley, a clove of garlic, cayenne, salt and salad oil, also lemon juice if you like. Serve on toast or biscuit.
Sandwiches.
The bread should be cut in thin slices with a sharp knife. Various things are used. Slices of beef, ham, or tongue, or either of the last two grated or scraped; also German or pork sausage, anchovies and shrimps; forcemeat, and all kinds of potted meat. Some persons cut the meat in very little pieces, and spread them over the bread; a mixture of ham and chicken in this way makes delicate sandwiches: or ham and hard-boiled yolk of egg, seasoned with salt, mustard, or curry powder, according to the meat. Cheese sandwiches are made thus: 2 parts of grated parmesan or ​Cheshire cheese, one of butter, and a small portion of made mustard; pound them in a mortar; cover slices of bread with a little, then thin slices of ham, or any cured meat, cover with another slice of bread, and press it lightly down; cut these sandwiches small.
Maccaroni. (See to make the paste.)
Boil 2 oz. in good broth or gravy, till tender; add a small piece of butter, and a little salt, give it a turn in the stew-pan, and put it in the dish. Scrape parmesan, stilton, or any other dry rich cheese over, and brown it before the fire.—Or: mix a pint of milk and a pint of water, put in 2 oz. maccaroni, and simmer it slowly three hours, till the liquor is wasted, and the maccaroni tender. Add grated cheese, salt, and cayenne, mix well, and brown it before the fire. Maccaroni plain boiled, with a little salt, till tender, and the gravy of roast or boiled meat poured over it, is light and nourishing for an invalid. Maccaroni in the Italian way.—Mince about six livers of fowl or game with a very little celery, young onion, and parsley (blanched), and stew them in good butter. Then have six more livers cut small, not minced, and cooked in a little butter. Boil 2 oz. of maccaroni in white gravy, season it, if necessary, add powdered mace and cayenne; when done, put a layer of it in a deep hot dish, then a layer of the mince, a layer of grated parmesan, then maccaroni, and at top the chopped livers and more cheese, and enough of the gravy to moisten it sufficiently; put it before the fire a quarter of an hour, or on a slow stove: then brown it or not as you choose. Another (Italian).—Boil it in water, pass it through a cullender, and having ready prepared some tomata sauce (which see), lift a layer of the maccaroni lightly with two forks out of the cullender into a deep vegetable or hash dish, put a light sprinkling of grated cheese, then tomata sauce, then maccaroni, and again tomata sauce, till the dish be full; if the maccaroni be dry, add butter in little bits, and cayenne, if you think proper. This is not browned. You may omit the cheese. Maccaroni Maigre.—Simmer 2 oz. maccaroni in a pint of milk and a pint of water (mixed) three hours, and the liquor wasted: stir into it grated cheese, salt, and cayenne, and brown it before the fire.
Toast and Cheese.
Toast a slice of stale bread half an inch thick, without the crust, butter one side, and lay on slices of toasting cheese; put it into a cheese-toaster before the fire; when done, lightly pepper and salt it, and serve it hot.
Welsh or Scotch Rabbit.
There are many receipts for this, and the following is a good one. Mix some butter with grated cheese (unless that be so fat that the butter is not required), add salt, pepper, made mustard, and a tea-cupful of brown stout or Port wine; put this into a cheese-toaster, stir till the cheese be dissolved, then brown, and serve it quite hot: toasts in a separate dish.