The Portland daily press., 1880-05-15
SATURDAY MORNING, MAY Is.

the joint, must OF course, accompany every
portion, as in the case of the fillet and it
should be remembered that these two sorts of
fat are very different in quality; the under, Or
fillet, being of far more juicy, delicate and
tender quality than the upper, especially, when
hot. The upper, however, accompanied as it
is by the crackly edge of skin, if we choose to
call it so, is exceedingly toothsome, with fla
vor peculiarly its own, highly priced by the
Briton.
The ordinary plan of carving the srloin,
however, recommends itself to most house
wives as the better, from the fact that lean
and fat go together necessarily with each slice
1t is generally advised that, before slices are
cut, the point of the knife should be inserted a
short distance between the meat and the bone,
both of the chine Tor short upright bone) and
the rib Tor long bone). Then the knife has but
to be passed dextrously down the face of the
meat, and each slice comes away easily and
clean from the edges. Only, of course, those
helped first in this instance get the brown or
well-done outside, and those later on the under
done or juicy. Therefore it is always necessa-
ny for the carver, as an act of common civility
to ask those whom he is helping whether their
preference be for we'll or under done.
Slices of roast beef from the upper side can
not well be cut too thin, when carved in what
L call the ordinary fashion, excepting, perhaps
the first, or outside slice. which admits, from
its crispness, of having little more substance
The joint should be kept perfectly straight up
on the dish-that is to say, at right angles with
the line of sight of the carver-for nothing
looks worse or more awkward than for the
meat to be twisted all awry and in fact no real
facility is afforded by doing so, for, if the carv-
or does but stretch his arms out far enough to
bring his right hand and wrist we'll above the
joint, he will find that by holding the knife
almost perpendieularly, and cutting down.
ward, he has, with the support from the fork,
all the purchase necessary. On no account.
either, may he stand up, set his arms akimbo,
or bow his back; all the strength requisite
can be exercised from his chair, by
lnclining the body sufficiently forward. The
muscular exertion is seldom greater than most
ladies can supply, and they should not be de-
terred by any slight sense OF fatigue in the ear
a gentle exercise well calculated to strengthen
their hands and wrists without in any way dis
figuring them.
During all pauses in the carving, the knife
and fork should be placed on the knife rests,
and never thrust and left under the Joint: nor
while the carver adds gravy to the plate of
meat in front of him, with the spoon in his
right hand, is it we'll for him to hold both knife
and fork in bunch, as it were, in his left. To
do this gives sovernly, hasty, clearinghouse
sort OF effect to the process, especially it, at
the same time, the dish be tilted with the left
hand, for the easier filling of the spoon. This
is.always an inelegant proceeding, calculated
to endanger the purity of the table-cloth, by
the sluicing OF the gravy over the edge of the
dish, or, even worse, the capsizing of the Joint
ITSELF A carver can not be too Careful never
to make mess; and if every dish has, as it
should, a well, there is no excuse for his doing
so. A tiny crust of bread put under one end Of
the dish to can't it little, in the absence of a
gravy well, is at the most all that can be par
doned in the way of disturbing the equilib-
rum of the dish.
If portion of the garnislr of horse-radish is
to go with each helping. it must be dispensed
with the points of the fork. The gravy spoon
should always be put in vessel of hot water
and placed at the right hand of the dish, up to
the moment of using So essential, too, are hot
plates to perfect condition of roast meat that
second plate for second helping is strongly
to be advocated; and for the same reason,
though digniied calm should characterize the
carver's behavior, there should be, on the other
hand, no approach to dawdling
Attention to simple details like these dis
tinguishes the good from the bad carver, and
renders the execution of his task rather
graceful act than otherwise. In carving the
sirloin and similar ribbed joints too plant
blade is not desirable. When, however, we
are dealing with a round of beef lying fiat be-
fore us, or the boiled silver side, or piece of
roast so-called boned beef, the knife cannot
well be too yielding, nor, again, the slices cut
too thin. Never either omit with these sorts
of joints, where one has to cut directly toward
the fork, to raise its fnger-guard, for, if the
knife Slip it will run straight over the bow of
the prongs, to the imminent peril of the car
ver's hand. For, of course, in manipulating a
piece of meat with the surface to be cut living
uppermost, the left or fork hand is higher than
the right or knife hand-nearly the reverse of
the position necessary in carving joint stand
ing upright In this case the knife IS held
nearly perpendicularly, the fork nearly hori-
zontally-just, indeed, the contrary to the
manner OF using the tools for flat joint
While referring to these latter I may 90 on to
say that with the aitch-bone, as with the round
of beef, it may be desirable to cut rather
thick slice from the outside before beginning to
help; but the habit is wasteful and should be
adopted with judgment. These are not diff
cult joints to carve, if it be remembered always
that knife with thin plant blade is abso-
lutely necessary. OF course delicate morsel
OF the fat must 60 with each serving. The
brisket OF beef is not joint very usually to be
met with; but it has its merits and has only to
be cut neatly across the bones to prevent its
having jagged, untidy look on its reappear-
ance at table. What has been said CONCERNING
the carving of the sirloin of beef applies in ali
respects to the carving of the ribs, except that
those having no undercut the carver's task is
thus rendered less diversified. The beef tongue
must likewise be carved precisely upon the
same principles as the sirkoin, when the Joint
is cut transversely like its llet; the fat at the
root OF the tongue, of course. not being over
looked.