The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) Part 23

BEEFS HEART STEWED.

After washing the heart thoroughly cut it up into squares half an inch long; put them into a saucepan with water enough to cover them. If any sc.u.m rises skim it off. Now take out the meat, strain the liquor and put back the meat, also add a sliced onion, some parsley, a head of celery chopped fine, pepper and salt and a piece of b.u.t.ter. Stew until the meat is very tender. Stir up a tablespoonful of browned flour with a small quant.i.ty of water and thicken the whole. Boil up and serve.

BOILED BEEF TONGUE.

Wash a fresh tongue and just cover it with water in the pot; put in a pint of salt and a small red pepper; add more water as it evaporates, so as to keep the tongue nearly covered until done--when it can be easily pierced with a fork; take it out, and if wanted soon, take off the skin and set it away to cool. If wanted for future use, do not peel until it is required. A cupful of salt will do for three tongues, if you have that number to boil; but do not fail to keep water enough in the pot to keep them covered while boiling. If salt tongues are used, soak them over night, of course omitting the salt when boiling.

Or, after peeling a tongue, place it in a saucepan with one cup of water, half a cup vinegar, four tablespoonfuls sugar, and cook until the liquor is evaporated.

SPICED BEEF TONGUE.

Rub into each tongue a mixture made of half a pound of brown sugar, a piece of saltpetre the size of a pea and a tablespoonful of ground cloves, put it in a brine made of three-quarters of a pound of salt to two quarts of water and keep covered. Pickle two weeks, then wash well and dry with a cloth; roll out a thin paste made of flour and water, smear it all over the tongue and place in a pan to bake slowly; baste well with lard and hot water; when done sc.r.a.pe off the paste and skim.

TO BOIL TRIPE.

Wash it well in warm water, and trim it nicely, taking off all the fat. Cut into small pieces, and put it on to boil five hours before dinner in water enough to cover it very well. After it has boiled four hours, pour off the water, season the tripe with pepper and salt, and put it into a pot with milk and water mixed in equal quant.i.ties. Boil it an hour in the milk and water.

Boil in a saucepan ten or a dozen onions. When they are quite soft, drain them in a colander and mash them. Wipe out your saucepan and put them on again, with a bit of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour and a wine-gla.s.s of cream or milk. Let them boil up, and add them to the tripe just before you send it to table. Eat it with pepper, vinegar and mustard.

It is best to give tripe its first and longest boiling the day before it is wanted.

TO FRY TRIPE.

Boil the tripe the day before till it is quite tender, which it will not be in less than four or five hours. Then cover it and set it away.

Next day cut it into long slips, and dip each piece into beaten yolk of egg, and afterwards roll them in grated bread crumbs. Have ready in a frying pan over the fire some good beef drippings. When it is boiling hot put in the tripe, and fry it about ten minutes, till of a light brown.

You may serve it with onion sauce.

Boiled tripe that has been left from the dinner of the preceding day may be fried in this manner.

FRICa.s.sEED TRIPE.

Cut a pound of tripe in narrow strips, put a small cup of water or milk to it, add a bit of b.u.t.ter the size of an egg, dredge in a large teaspoonful of flour, or work it with the b.u.t.ter; season with pepper and salt, let it simmer gently for half an hour, serve hot. A bunch of parsley cut small and put with it is an improvement.

Some put in oysters five minutes before dishing up.

TRIPE LYONNAISE.

Cut up half a pound of cold boiled tripe into neat squares. Put two ounces of b.u.t.ter and a tablespoonful of chopped onion in a frying pan and fry to a delicate brown; add to the tripe a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and a little strong vinegar, salt and cayenne; stir the pan to prevent burning. Cover the bottom of a platter with tomato sauce, add the contents of the pan and serve.

TO CLARIFY BEEF DRIPPINGS.

Drippings acc.u.mulated from different cooked meats of beef or veal can be clarified by putting it into a basin and slicing into it a raw potato, allowing it to boil long enough for the potato to brown, which causes all impurities to disappear. Remove from the fire, and when cool drain it off from the sediment that settles at the bottom. Turn it into basins or small jars and set it in a cool place for future use. When mixed with an equal amount of b.u.t.ter it answers the same purpose as clear b.u.t.ter for frying and basting any meats except game and poultry.

Mutton drippings impart an unpleasant flavor to anything cooked outside of its kind.

ROAST LOIN OF VEAL.

Prepare it the same as any roast, leaving in the kidney, around which put considerable salt. Make a dressing the same as for fowls; unroll the loin, put the stuffing well around the kidney, fold and secure with several coils of white cotton twine wound around in all directions; place in a dripping-pan with the thick side down, and put in a rather hot oven, graduated after it commences to roast to moderate; in half an hour add a little hot water to the pan, and baste often; in another half hour turn over the roast, and when about done dredge lightly with flour and baste with melted b.u.t.ter. Before serving carefully remove the twine. A roast of four to five pounds will bake in about two hours. For a gravy, skim off some of the fat if there is too much in the drippings; dredge in some flour, stir until brown, add some hot water if necessary; boil a few minutes, stir in such sweet herbs as fancied, and put in a gravy boat. Serve with green peas and lemon jelly. Is very nice sliced cold for lunch, and Worcestershire or Chili sauce forms a fine relish.

ROAST FILLET OF VEAL.

Select a nice fillet, take out the bone, fill up the s.p.a.ce with stuffing, and also put a good layer under the fat. Truss it of a good shape by drawing the fat round and tie it up with tape. Cook it rather moderately at first, and baste with b.u.t.ter. It should have careful attention and frequent basting, that the fat may not burn. Roast from three to four hours, according to the size. After it is dished pour melted b.u.t.ter over it; serve with ham or bacon, and fresh cuc.u.mbers if in season. Veal, like all other meat, should be well washed in cold water before cooking and wiped thoroughly dry with a clean cloth. Cold fillet of veal is very good stewed with tomatoes and an onion or two.

In roasting veal, care must be taken that it is not at first placed in too hot an oven; the fat of a loin, one of the most delicate joints of veal, should be covered with greased paper; a fillet, also, should have on the caul until nearly done enough.

BOILED FILLET OF VEAL.

Choose a small, delicate fillet; prepare as for roasting, or stuff it with an oyster force meat; after having washed it thoroughly, cover it with water and let it boil very gently three and a half or four hours, keeping it well skimmed. Send it to the table with a rich white sauce, or, if stuffed with oysters, a tureen of oyster sauce. Garnish with stewed celery and slices of bacon. A boiled tongue should be served with it.

VEAL PUDDING.

Cut about two pounds of lean veal into small collops a quarter of an inch in thickness; put a piece of b.u.t.ter the size of an egg into a very clean frying pan to melt; then lay in the veal and a few slices of bacon, a small sprig of thyme and a seasoning of pepper and salt; place the pan over a slow fire for about ten minutes, then add two or three spoonfuls of warm water. Just boil it up and then let it stand to cool. Line a pudding-dish with a good suet crust, lay in the veal and bacon, pour the gravy over it; roll out a piece of paste to form a lid, place it over, press it close with the thumb, tie the basin in a pudding cloth and put it into a saucepan of boiling water, keeping continually boiling until done, or about one hour.

FRIED VEAL CUTLETS.

Put into a frying pan two or three tablespoonfuls of lard or beef drippings. When boiling hot lay in the cutlets, well seasoned with salt and pepper and dredged with flour. Brown nicely on both sides, then remove the meat, and if you have more grease than is necessary for the gravy put it aside for further use. Reserve a tablespoonful or more and rub into it a tablespoonful of flour, with the back of the spoon, until it is a smooth, rich brown color; then add gradually a cup of _cold water_ and season with pepper and salt. When the gravy is boiled up well return the meat to the pan and gravy. Cover it closely and allow it to stew gently on the back of the range for fifteen minutes. This softens the meat, and with this gravy it makes a nice breakfast dish.

Another mode is to simply fry the cutlets, and afterwards turning off some of the grease they were fried in and then adding to that left in the pan a few drops of hot water, turning the whole over the fried chops.

FRIED VEAL CHOPS. (Plain.)

Sprinkle over them salt and pepper, then dip them in beaten egg and cracker crumbs, and fry in drippings, or hot lard and b.u.t.ter mixed. If you wish a gravy with them, add a tablespoonful of flour to the gravy they were fried in and turn in cream or milk; season to taste with salt and pepper. Boil up and serve hot with the gravy in separate dish. This dish is very fine accompanied with a few sound fresh tomatoes, sliced and fried in the same grease the cutlets were, and all dished on the same platter.

VEAL COLLOPS.

Cut veal from the leg or other lean part into pieces the size of an oyster. Season with pepper, salt and a little mace; rub some over each piece; dip in egg, then into cracker crumbs and fry. They both look and taste like oysters.

VEAL OLIVES.

Cut up a slice of a fillet of veal, about half an inch thick, into squares of three inches. Mix up a little salt pork, chopped with bread crumbs, one onion, a little pepper, salt, sweet marjoram, and one egg well beaten; put this mixture upon the pieces of veal, fastening the four corners together with little bird skewers; lay them in a pan with sufficient veal gravy or light stock to cover the bottom of the pan, dredge with flour and set in a hot oven. When browned on top, put a small bit of b.u.t.ter on each, and let them remain until quite tender, which will take twenty minutes. Serve with horse-radish.

VEAL CHEESE.