The Book of Household Management Part 74

II.

643. INGREDIENTS.--The remains of cold roast or boiled beef, 1/4 lb. of b.u.t.ter, cayenne to taste, 2 blades of pounded mace.

_Mode_.--As we have stated in recipe No. 608, the outside slices of boiled beef may, with a little trouble, be converted into a very nice addition to the breakfast-table. Cut up the meat into small pieces and pound it well, with a little b.u.t.ter, in a mortar; add a seasoning of cayenne and mace, and be very particular that the latter ingredient is reduced to the finest powder. When all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, put it into gla.s.s or earthen potting-pots, and pour on the top a coating of clarified b.u.t.ter.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

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

PRESERVED MEATS.--When an organic substance, like the flesh of animals, is heated to the boiling-point, it loses the property of pa.s.sing into a state of fermentation and decay. Fresh animal milk, as is well known, coagulates, after having been kept for two or three days, into a gelatinous ma.s.s; but it may be preserved for an indefinite period, as a perfectly sweet liquid, if it be heated daily to the boiling-point. The knowledge of this effect of an elevated temperature has given rise to a most important branch of industry,--namely, the preparation of preserved meats for the use of the navy and merchant service. At Leith, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, at Aberdeen, at Bordeaux, at Ma.r.s.eilles, and in many parts of Germany, establishments of enormous magnitude exist, in which soup, vegetables, and viands of every description are prepared, in such a manner that they retain their freshness for years. The prepared aliments are inclosed in canisters of tinned iron plate, the covers are soldered air-tight, and the canisters exposed to the temperature of boiling water for three or four hours. The aliments thus acquire a stability, which one may almost say is eternal; and when a canister is opened, after the lapse of several years, its contents are found to be unaltered in taste, colour, and smell. We are indebted to the French philosopher Gay-Lussac for this beautiful practical application of the discovery that boiling checks fermentation. An exclusive salt-meat diet is extremely injurious to the health; and, in former times, thousands of mariners lost their lives for the want of fresh aliments during long voyages. We are sorry to say that the preserved meats are sometimes carelessly prepared, and, though the statement seems incredible, sometimes adulterated.

Dr. Lankester, who has done so much to expose the frauds of trade, that he ought to be regarded as a public benefactor, says that he has seen things which were utterly unfit for food, shipped as preserved meats. Surely, as he observes, there ought to be some superintendent to examine the so-called articles of food that are taken on board ship, so that the poor men who have been fighting our battles abroad may run no risk of being starved or poisoned on their way home.

RIB OF BEEF BONES.

(_A Pretty Dish_.)

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

_Mode_.--The bones for this dish should have left on them a slight covering of meat; saw them into pieces 3 inches long; season them with pepper and salt, and put them into a stewpan with the remaining ingredients. Stew gently, until the vegetables are tender, and serve on a flat dish within walls of mashed potatoes.

_Time_.--3/4 hour. _Average cost_, exclusive of the bones, 2d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

BEEF RISSOLES (Cold Meat Cookery).

645. INGREDIENTS.--The remains of cold roast beef; to each pound of meat allow 3/4 lb. of bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste, a few chopped savoury herbs, 1/2 a teaspoonful of minced lemon-peel, 1 or 2 eggs, according to the quant.i.ty of meat.

_Mode_.--Mince the beef very fine, which should be rather lean, and mix with this bread crumbs, herbs, seasoning, and lemon-peel, in the above proportion, to each pound of meat. Make all into a thick paste with 1 or 2 eggs; divide into b.a.l.l.s or cones, and fry a rich brown. Garnish the dish with fried parsley, and send with them to table some good brown gravy in a tureen. Instead of garnishing with fried parsley, gravy may be poured in the dish, round the rissoles: in this case, it will not be necessary to send any in a tureen.

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

_Average cost_, exclusive of the meat, 5d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

ROLLED BEEF, to eat like Hare.

646. INGREDIENTS.--About 5 lbs. of the inside of the sirloin, 2 gla.s.ses of port wine, 2 gla.s.ses of vinegar, a small quant.i.ty of forcemeat (No.

417), 1 teaspoonful of pounded allspice.

_Mode_.--Take the inside of a large sirloin, soak it in 1 gla.s.s of port wine and 1 gla.s.s of vinegar, mixed, and let it remain for 2 days. Make a forcemeat by recipe No. 417, lay it on the meat, and bind it up securely. Roast it before a nice clear fire, and baste it with 1 gla.s.s each of port wine and vinegar, with which mix a teaspoonful of pounded allspice. Serve, with a good gravy in the dish, and send red-currant jelly to table with it.

_Time_.--A piece of 5 lbs. about 1-1/2 hour before a brisk fire.

_Average cost_, for this quant.i.ty, 5s. 4d.

_Sufficient_ for 4 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

BEEF ROLLS (Cold Meat Cookery).

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

_Mode_.--Mince the beef tolerably fine with a small amount of its own fat; add a seasoning of pepper, salt, and chopped herbs; put the whole into a roll of puff paste, and bake for 1/2 hour, or rather longer, should the roll be very large. Beef patties may be made of cold meat, by mincing and seasoning beef as directed above, and baking in a rich puff paste in patty-tins.

_Time_,--1/2 hour.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

MINIATURE ROUND OF BEEF. (_An Excellent Dish for a Small Family_.)

648. INGREDIENTS.--From 5 to 10 lbs. of rib of beef, sufficient brine to cover the meat.

_Mode_.--Choose a fine rib, have the bone removed, rub some salt over the inside, and skewer the meat up into a nice round form, and bind it with tape. Put it into sufficient brine to cover it (the brine should be made by recipe No. 654), and let it remain for 6 days, turning the meat every day. When required to be dressed, drain from the pickle, and put the meat into very hot water; let it boil rapidly for a few minutes, when draw the pot to the side of the fire, and let it simmer very gently until done. Remove the skewer, and replace it by a plated or silver one.

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

_Time_.--A small round of 8 lbs., about 2 hours after the water boils; one of 12 lbs., about 3 hours.

_Average cost_, 9d. per lb.

_Sufficient_ for 6 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

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

BRISKET OF BEEF, a la Flamande.

649. INGREDIENTS.--About 6 or 8 lbs. of the brisket of beef, 4 or 5 slices of bacon, 2 carrots, 1 onion, a bunch of savoury herbs, salt and pepper to taste, 4 cloves, 4 whole allspice, 2 blades of mace.

_Mode_.--Choose that portion of the brisket which contains the gristle, trim it, and put it into a stewpan with the slices of bacon, which should be put under and over the meat. Add the vegetables, herbs, spices, and seasoning, and cover with a little weak stock or water; close the stewpan as hermetically as possible, and simmer very gently for 4 hours. Strain the liquor, reserve a portion of it for sauce, and the remainder boil quickly over a sharp fire until reduced to a glaze, with which glaze the meat. Garnish the dish with scooped carrots and turnips, and when liked, a little cabbage; all of which must be cooked separately. Thicken and flavour the liquor that was saved for sauce, pour it round the meat, and serve. The beef may also be garnished with glazed onions, artichoke-bottoms, &c.

_Time_.--4 hours. _Average cost_, 7d. per lb.

_Sufficient_ for 6 or 8 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

FRENCH BEEF.--It has been all but universally admitted, that the beef of France is greatly inferior in quality to that of England, owing to inferiority of pasturage. M. Curmer, however, one of the latest writers on the culinary art, tells us that this is a vulgar error, and that French beef is far superior to that of England. This is mere vaunting on the part of our neighbours, who seem to want _la gloire_ in everything; and we should not deign to notice it, if it had occurred in a work of small pretensions; but M. Curmer's book professes to be a complete exposition of the scientific principles of cookery, and holds a high rank in the didactic literature of France. We half suspect that M. Curmer obtained his knowledge of English beef in the same way as did the poor Frenchman, whom the late Mr.

Mathews, the comedian, so humorously described. Mr. Lewis, in his "Physiology of Common Life," has thus revived the story of the beef-eating son of France:--"A Frenchman was one day blandly remonstrating against the supercilious scorn expressed by Englishmen for the beef of France, which he, for his part, did not find so inferior to that of England. 'I have been two times in England,' he remarked, but I nevere find the bif so superieur to ours. I find it vary conveenient that they bring it you on leetle pieces of stick, for one penny: but I do not find the bif superieur.' On hearing this, the Englishman, red with astonishment, exclaimed, 'Good heavens, sir! you have been eating cat's meat.'" No, M. Curmer, we are ready to acknowledge the superiority of your cookery, but we have long since made up our minds as to the inferiority of your raw material.