The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual Part 23

298), or boil (slowly by themselves) some Spanish or the whitest common onions you can get; peel them before you boil them; when they are tender, which a middling-sized onion will be in about three-quarters of an hour, drain them in a hair-sieve, take off the top skins till they look nice and white, and put them with the tripe into a tureen or soup-dish, and take off the fat if any floats on the surface.

_Obs._ Rashers of bacon (Nos. 526 and 527), or fried sausages (No. 87), are a very good accompaniment to boiled tripe, cow-heels (No. 198), or calf's feet, see Mr. Mich. Kelly's sauce (No. 311*), or parsley and b.u.t.ter (No. 261), or caper sauce (No. 274), with a little vinegar and mustard added to them, or salad mixture (No. 372 or 453).

Tripe holds the same rank among solids, that water-gruel does among soups, and the former is desirable at dinner, when the latter is welcome at supper. Read No. 572.

_Cow-Heel_,--(No. 18.*)

In the hands of a skilful cook, will furnish several good meals; when boiled tender (No. 198), cut it into handsome pieces, egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them a light brown; lay them round a dish, and put in the middle of it sliced onions fried, or the accompaniments ordered for tripe. The liquor they were boiled in will make soups (No.

229, 240*, or No. 555).

N.B. We give no receipts to boil venison, geese, ducks, pheasants, woodc.o.c.ks, and peac.o.c.ks, &c. as our aim has been to make a useful book, not a big one (see No. 82).

FOOTNOTES:

[108-*] The _gigot_ is the leg with part of the loin.

[111-*] _If not to be cut till cold_, two days longer salting will not only improve its flavour, but the meat will keep better.

[111-+] In the West Indies they can scarcely cure beef with pickle, but easily preserve it by cutting it into thin slices and dipping them in sea-water, and then drying them quickly in the sun; to which they give the name of _jerked beef_.--BROWNRIGG _on Salt_, 8vo. p. 762.

[115-*] This, _salted_, makes a very pretty supper-dish.

[120-*] BAKER, in his Chronicle, tells us the turkey did not reach England till A. D. 1524, about the 15th of Henry the 8th; he says,

"_Turkies_, carps, hoppes, piccarell, and beere, Came into England all in one year."

ROASTING.

N.B.--_If the time we have allowed for roasting appears rather longer than what is stated in former works, we can only say, we have written from actual experiments, and that the difference may be accounted for, by common cooks generally being fond of too fierce a fire, and of putting things too near to it._

_Our calculations are made for a temperature of about fifty degrees of Fahrenheit._

SLOW ROASTING _is as advantageous to the tenderness and favour of meat as slow boiling, of which every body understands the importance. See the account of Count Rumford's shoulder of mutton._

_The warmer the weather, and the staler killed the meat is, the less time it will require to roast it._

_Meat that is very fat_, requires more time than we have stated.

BEEF _is in proper season throughout the whole year._

_Sirloin of Beef._--(No. 19.)

The n.o.ble sirloin[122-*] of about fifteen pounds (if much thicker, the outside will be done too much before the inside is enough), will require to be before the fire about three and a half or four hours; take care to spit it evenly, that it may not be heavier on one side than the other; put a little clean dripping into the dripping-pan, (tie a sheet of paper over it to preserve the fat,[123-*]) baste it well as soon as it is put down, and every quarter of an hour all the time it is roasting, till the last half hour; then take off the paper, and make some gravy for it (No.

326); stir the fire and make it clear: to brown and froth it, sprinkle a little salt over it, baste it with b.u.t.ter, and dredge it with flour; let it go a few minutes longer, till the froth rises, take it up, put it on the dish, &c.

Garnish it with hillocks of horseradish, sc.r.a.ped as fine as possible with a very sharp knife, (Nos. 458 and 399*). A Yorkshire pudding is an excellent accompaniment (No. 595, or No. 554).

_Obs._ The inside of the sirloin must never be cut[123-+] hot, but reserved entire for the hash, or a mock hare (No. 66*). (For various ways of dressing the inside of the sirloin, No. 483; for the receipt to hash or broil beef, No. 484, and Nos. 486 and 487; and for other ways of employing the remains of a joint of cold beef, Nos. 503, 4, 5, 6).

_Ribs of Beef._--(No. 20).

The first three ribs, of fifteen or twenty pounds, will take three hours, or three and a half: the fourth and fifth ribs will lake as long, managed in the same way as the sirloin. Paper the fat, and the thin part, or it will be done too much, before the thick part is done enough.

N.B. A pig-iron placed before it on the bars of the grate answers every purpose of keeping the thin part from being too much done.

_Obs._ Many persons prefer the ribs to the sirloin.

_Ribs of Beef boned and rolled._--(No. 21.)

When you have kept two or three ribs of beef till quite tender, take out the bones, and skewer it as round as possible (like a fillet of veal): before they roll it, some cooks egg it, and sprinkle it with veal stuffing (No. 374). As the meat is more in a solid ma.s.s, it will require more time at the fire than in the preceding receipt; a piece of ten or twelve pounds weight will not be well and thoroughly roasted in less than four and a half or five hours.

For the first half hour, it should not be less than twelve inches from the fire, that it may get gradually warm to the centre: the last half hour before it will be finished, sprinkle a little salt over it; and if you wish to froth it, flour it, &c.

_MUTTON._[124-*]--(No. 23.)

As beef requires a large, sound fire, mutton must have a brisk and sharp one. If you wish to have mutton tender, it should be hung almost as long as it will keep;[124-+] and then good eight-tooth, _i. e._ four years old mutton, is as good eating as venison, if it is accompanied by Nos.

329 and 346.

The leg, haunch, and saddle will be the better for being hung up in a cool airy place for four or five days at least; in temperate weather, a week; in cold weather, ten days.

If you think your mutton will not be tender enough to do honour to the spit, dress it as a "_gigot de sept heures_." See N.B. to No. 1 and No.

493.

_A Leg_,--(No. 24.)

Of eight pounds, will take about two hours: let it be well basted, and frothed in the same manner as directed in No. 19. To hash mutton, No.

484. To broil it, No. 487, &c.

_A Chine or Saddle_,--(No. 26.)

(_i. e._ the two loins) of ten or eleven pounds, two hours and a half: it is the business of the butcher to take off the skin and skewer it on again, to defend the meat from extreme heat, and preserve its succulence; if this is neglected, tie a sheet of paper over it (baste the strings you tie it on with directly, or they will burn): about a quarter of an hour before you think it will be done, take off the skin or paper, that it may get a pale brown colour, then baste it and flour it lightly to froth it. We like No. 346 for sauce.

N.B. Desire the butcher to cut off the flaps and the tail and chump end, and trim away every part that has not indisputable pretensions to be eaten. This will reduce a saddle of eleven pounds weight to about six or seven pounds.

_A Shoulder_,--(No. 27.)