THE KITCHEN. (continued 5)

(b) Make a crust of 1 lb. flour, a large teaspoonful of baking powder, ½ lb. suet, and ½ teaspoonful salt; add water sufficient to make rather a soft paste; roll out as for a roly-poly pudding; and spread over it a mince of Australian meat, seasoned with pepper, salt, ¼ lb. minced bacon, and 2 shallots finely chopped. Spread this an inch thick, roll it up, pinch the ends firmly, and boil for 2 hours. Serve with thick brown gravy.

Sausage Rolls.—Put 1 lb. Australian tinned beef through a mincing machine; mince with a chopper ¼ lb. pork; grate 1 oz. bread crumbs; mix all together, and season well with pepper, salt, sweet marjoram, and, if liked, a little thyme. Make some light paste, roll it thin into square pieces, put some meat on it, and fold the paste over it, pinch the edges and ends securely, and bake for 20 minutes. This mixture of meat can be made into flat cakes or rissoles, egged and bread crumbed, and fried a golden brown in Australian fat.

Shape.—Take ½ oz. gelatine previously soaked in water, an onion, a carrot, a little thyme and marjoram, and 1 qt. good stock; boil until reduced to 1½ pint, add a tablespoonful of ketchup, and pepper and salt to taste. Strain the liquor into a saucepan, take 2 lb. of the meat, and cut it into neat collops; put them also into the saucepan and let them get warm, then pour all into a mould, put it into a cool place until cold and firm.

Stew.—(a) Cook some potatoes and onions in stock, or with some of the jelly from the tin, until thoroughly done and falling to pieces; add salt and pepper, and about 10 minutes before serving put in some small slices of the meat; simmer gently just long enough to warm them through, and serve with the potatoes and onions all mixed together.

(b) Slice 2 large Portugal onions in thin slices, and fry them a golden brown; simmer them in ½ pint thin gravy for 20 minutes; then add 2 lb. tinned mutton finely minced, pepper and salt to taste. Thicken the stew with a dessertspoonful of corn flour, and a piece of butter the size of a walnut; add a few drops of colouring, if it is necessary, to make the stew look a nice colour, and serve very hot on toasted bread.

Vienna Steak.—Turn out a 2 lb. tin of Australian fresh beef, scrape all the fat and jelly from it, melt the jelly in a saucepan, and use the fat, if any, to fry the steak with. Mince the meat finely, and pepper and salt it to taste; mix with it some finely-chopped onion, fried a light brown, and form it into pats the size of the hand and 2 in. thick; brush the pats—which should be more oblong than round, and slightly irregular in form—with egg and bread crumbs, and fry to a dark brown in the fat. Pile them on a hot dish, and surround them with fried onions and good gravy, in which the melted jelly forms a part. The pats should be strewed over with chopped parsley just before they are sent to table.

Vinaigrette.—Cut some Australian mutton in slices, lay them in a dish, make a sauce of 2 tablespoonfuls oil, 1 dessertspoonful vinegar, chopped parsley, a little celery cut small, sliced potatoes, sliced cucumber (when not obtainable, beetroot), and put over the mutton.

Beef (Bœuf). A la financière.—This is simply grenadins of beef served with a ragout à la financière in the centre of the dish. It requires some little care and taste to cook properly. The best part of the beef for the purpose is the undercut, which should be neatly trimmed, all fat and skin removed, and then cut up into shapely pieces about ⅓ in. in thickness, and shaped something like a flat pear—a long oval, rather pointed at one end. These grenadins or fillets should then be finely larded, and afterwards braised by putting them in a stewpan on some slices of bacon, with a carrot and onion sliced, a little celery, if in season, some sweet herbs, parsley, spices, salt and pepper to taste, and a little stock. When sufficiently cooked, take them out, drain, and glaze them, then serve round a ragout made with truffles, cockscombs, quenelles of chicken, mushrooms, &c., all previously cooked, then tossed together in some good brown gravy, highly flavoured with chicken or game, mushrooms, and white wine.

A la Macédoine.—Cut some rump steak in slices a little more than ½ in. thick, trim them all to the same size in the shape of cutlets, and lard them thickly on one side with fine lardoons of bacon fat. Lay them out, the larded side uppermost, into a flat pan, and put into it as much highly flavoured rich stock or gravy as will come up to the grenadins without covering them. Cover the pan, and place it in the oven to braise gently for an hour. Then remove the cover, baste the grenadins with the gravy, and let them remain uncovered in the oven till the larding has taken colour; they are then ready. Take equal quantities of carrots and turnips cut into the shape of olives, also equal quantities of peas, of green haricot beans, of asparagus points, and of small sprigs of cauliflowers. Boil all these vegetables in salted water, then melt a piece of butter in a saucepan, add a tablespoonful of flour, stir in sufficient milk to make a sauce, add pepper, salt, and a little grated nutmeg. Put all the vegetables into this sauce, of which you should have just enough to make them hold together; toss them gently in it to make them quite hot. Dress them in the middle of a dish, round them dispose the grenadins in a circle, and, having removed the superfluous fat from their gravy, pour this round the grenadins, and serve.

Alamode.—Rub your beef with saltpetre, if it is a large round it will take 3 oz., and the same weight of coarse sugar, then salt it very thick. Strew some black pepper over it and turn it frequently. Do not salt in too wide a pan, as the beef should be nearly covered with the brine. Let it be 3 weeks in salt; then wash it, and rub over it some pounded cloves and mace, and Jamaica pepper, then bind it up, and put some chopped suet into the pan, and cover it with water, and bake it. You must have it from the oven hot, as it will want binding up afresh. Bind with strong wide tape, unbleached.

À la Napolitaine.—Take a piece of fresh silverside, make 2 or 3 holes in it, and insert in each a piece of bacon rolled in powdered sweet herbs and pepper. Tie up the meat with string carefully. Take a piece of the fat of bacon, mince it with a meat chopper, adding to it a clove of garlic, an onion, some parsley, thyme, and marjoram. When the whole is finely minced and well amalgamated, put it into a saucepan with the meat, and keep turning the latter until it is browned on all sides; then moisten with plenty of French tomato sauce, diluted with a little stock, add salt to taste, and let the meat stew slowly till done. Remove the string and serve with macaroni, dressed with the sauce, round the meat. Having boiled the macaroni, mix with it a fair allowance of the above sauce, strained and freed from any superfluity of fat, and plenty of grated Parmesan cheese. The macaroni should be mixed or dressed in a warmed tureen, not in a saucepan on the fire.

Boiled.—Take a piece of the round, silverside, aitch-bone, or brisket; skewer it if absolutely necessary, and tie it up with string. Put it into a saucepan, cover it with cold water, and let it come gradually to the boil, removing the scum as it rises, and throwing in a small quantity of cold water from time to time. When well skimmed add 2 or more carrots, an onion, and a bundle of sweet herbs, and salt to taste. Draw the pan to the side of the fire, and let the beef slowly boil till done. 2-2½ hours from the time of boiling for a piece of beef 10-12 lb. weight. Strain and preserve the liquor for stock.

Braised.—Put in a stewpan a layer of slices of onion, and over this a layer of slices of fat bacon ½ in. thick; on this place a piece of round of beef 8-10 lb. weight, neatly tied up with string; set the saucepan on the fire for 20 minutes, and turn the beef over once or twice during the process, then add a cupful of wine (red or white), 2 carrots, and an onion cut in slices, a bundle of sweet herbs, pepper and salt to taste, and a few cloves. Lastly, fill up the saucepan with just enough common stock to come up to the top of the piece of beef; cover the pan close, and braise it for 4-5 hours, keeping a few hot cinders on the lid. Serve with its own gravy, freed from fat, and strained.

Brasciolette.—Take a piece of rump steak freed from fat, skin, and gristle, mince it finely, and pound it to a paste. Grate some breadcrumb and mix with it pepper, salt, spices, and chopped parsley to taste. Take some lean bacon and cut it in thin strips, 1 in. wide. Spread out the meat paste to the thickness of ½ in. Cut it into squares about 2½ by 4½ in. Put a strip of bacon on each square, with a small piece of butter, and 4 or 5 pine cone kernels (pignoli). Strew over a little breadcrumb prepared as above, and roll up tight on the table each brasciolette in meat paste, then roll it between the palms of the hands. When they are all done, pack them up close in one layer in a well-buttered baking tin. Strew plenty of the prepared breadcrumbs over them, and some little bits of butter. Bake in a quick oven. Look at them frequently, and when the brown gravy shows on the top they are done. They should not in any case be baked longer than 15 minutes. They may be served plain, or with some tomato sauce poured over them.

Bubble and Squeak.—Cut from a piece of boiled beef slices the thickness of a penny piece, trim and cut them into any shape you please—parts underdone being the best; plain boil 1 large cabbage, 1 carrot, 1 onion; when cooked, drain and mince them together very fine, removing any hard part of the cabbage. Put into a sauté pan a piece of butter the size of an egg; when melted put in the beef to warm, taking care it does not dry; this done, remove the meat and put in the vegetables; stir on the fire until they are very hot, moisten with a little good stock, add salt and pepper, a little grated nutmeg; place them and the meat on the dish in the same way as cutlets, pour over a little stock, and serve. (J. Burtenshaw.)

Bullock’s heart.—(a) A bullock’s heart, stuffed in the usual way, should first be gently simmered for an hour or more, according to size; then roasted slowly, being basted continuously, as all meat should; if preferred, it may be larded. Thus managed, it is an excellent dish.

(b) Put the heart in lukewarm water, and let it soak for 1½ hour, then have ready a good supply of veal stuffing, which put in the heart in every available place; sew it up carefully, and plunge it into boiling water, allowing it to boil 2 hours; then take it out, put it in the oven with a good piece of dripping on the top; baste occasionally, and bake 1½ hour. Have a tureen of good gravy, slightly thickened, sent to table with it, and, of course, currant jelly. (Kate Campion.)

Cow-heel.—(a) Wash, clean, and scald a cow-heel, and cut into pieces about 2 in. long and 1 wide. Dip these into the yolk of an egg beaten up. Cover them with breadcrumbs mixed with chopped parsley, pepper and salt, and a little cayenne. Fry them in boiling batter.

(b) Split the cow-heel, wash it, and place it in a stewpan with just enough water to cover it. Simmer gently for 3 hours, chop enough parsley to fill a tablespoon, put it into the stewpan. Mix 2 tablespoonfuls baked flour, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 saltspoonful pepper, and 1 teacupful cold water, pour it in, and stir till it thickens. Boil for 10 minutes longer, then serve.

Croquettes.—The croquettes can be made from any remains of cold beef, whether boiled or roast, that will cut into neat slices. These slices must be rather thin and nicely trimmed. Make a forcemeat by chopping parsley, fat bacon, dried herbs, and a suspicion of lemon peel together; season well, spread a little on each slice of meat, roll up and dip in a thin batter, then fry in boiling fat.

Fillet.—Take a piece of fillet of beef (the undercut of the sirloin), trim off the fat neatly and the thin skin next to it, lard not too finely the outside of the fillet with fat bacon, and lay it for a whole day in a pie dish with plenty of olive oil, pepper, salt, parsley, slices of onion, and bay leaves. Turn it occasionally. Cover the larded side with a piece of oiled paper, roast it at a brisk fire, and do not let it be overdone. Baste it frequently with butter, or with some of the marinade and a short time before serving remove the paper, sprinkle the fillet with salt, and cease basting, to let the larding take colour. Collect what gravy is in the dripping pan, free it entirely from fat, or serve it under the fillet; which may be garnished either with fried potatoes or with watercresses. If the gravy collected in the dripping pan is not sufficient, some well-flavoured and reduced clear beef stock can be added to it.

Frizzled.—Brown a piece of butter the size of an egg in a saucepan, add a cup of cream or milk, 1 teaspoonful flour, mixed with a little cold milk. Have ready ½ lb. of thinly-shaved smoked beef, add it to the mixture, let it just come to a boil; serve. (F. E. W.)

Hash.—(a) Two tumblers hot water, 1 large spoonful butter, 3 tablespoonfuls grated cheese, and the same of fine breadcrumbs; then season highly with cayenne pepper, adding three tumblers cold beef, minced. All stirred well together, and served as soon as hot.

(b) Fry a small onion, cut in thin slices in butter; when it begins to colour stir in a tablespoonful of flour, then add a cupful of stock, pepper and salt, a small pinch of powdered sweet herbs, and ½ wineglassful tarragon vinegar. When the sauce has boiled for a minute or two strain it into another saucepan; when cold, put in the beef cut in thin slices. If roast beef, all outside parts must be trimmed off. Set the saucepan by the side of the fire for the contents to get gradually warm; when nearly so, a fair allowance of sliced gherkins would be added. The longer the process of warming, the better the hash will be.

(c) Cut some thin slices of underdone roast or boiled beef, lay them in a buttered tin, strew over them some mushrooms and onions and a little parsley, all finely chopped, add pepper and salt, and pour in at the side as much stock as will come up to, but not over, the meat. Strew plenty of baked breadcrumbs over all, and put the tin in the oven for ½ hour, or till the moisture is nearly dried up. A very small quantity of wine may be added along with the stock.

Hung Beef.—(a) This is served in America, shaved very thin, so thin as to curl up; or grated, to spread on toast; also shred in omelettes.

(b) It should be soaked for a few hours, then boiled slowly until tender with carrots and cabbages. It is best eaten cold, or it may be shaved or grated, and served on buttered toast. Slices of it can be broiled on a gridiron and served with any green vegetables.

Kidney.—Parboil a beef kidney and cut it in slices, the thickness of a penny piece, toss them in a saucepan with a piece of butter for 5 minutes; in another saucepan put 1 oz. butter, and 1 dessertspoonful flour; stir on the fire until it begins to brown; moisten with 1 teacupful stock, add some finely minced parsley, the juice of a lemon, pepper and salt to taste; pour this sauce into the saucepan with the kidneys, and let them very gently simmer until thoroughly done.

Minced Collops.—Mince some raw beef very finely, put the mince into a saucepan with a bit of butter to prevent it sticking to the pan. When they are hot add 1 teaspoonful flour and a little gravy or water. They should be stirred often, to prevent their getting lumpy: they take about 20 minutes to cook. Onions minced may be added, or a little hot pickle. Hare collops are dressed the same way, with the addition of a little claret.

Mock Brawn.—Take 4 cowheels, clean and wash them thoroughly, boil them in plenty of water till very tender, then take them out and shred them in long pieces, which put in a stewpan; just cover them with stock, and let them stew a little. Have ready chopped a handful of capers, half as many gherkins, and one glass of vinegar stir in with the heels; put all into a mould; when quite cold turn out.

Ox Brains.—Lay the brains in plenty of lukewarm water to blanch. Put them into scalding water, with some salt, to boil slowly about ½ hour. Take them up, drain, and divide them into small pieces. Dip these into a well-beaten egg, sprinkle them with grated bread; fry them in plenty of butter a delicate brown. Sprinkle with lemon juice when done, and serve with slices of lemon as garnish.

Ox Cheek.—(a) One of the nicest dishes that comes to table is an ox cheek. It will require to be well washed, not soaked, and to be put on the fire in a large boiler full of cold water, and when it boils it must continue to do so for 4 hours. 1½-2 pints peas should be in soak all the night before, and put in with the cheek at first. Onions, carrots, turnips, and celery are also added, and require 2 or 3 hours’ boiling. This makes delicious soup for the following days, and the cheek itself a savoury and tender dish for a family. What is left can either be made into a shape for the breakfast or luncheon table, or cut into dice about 1 in. square and sent to table in the soup. Hard-boiled eggs, pepper, salt, and nutmeg must be added to the shape.

(b) It has long been in the north a favourite dish for breakfasts, or lunch when made into a pie; it is a most economical, excellent, and appetising dish, gentlemen like it for breakfast before a hard day’s shooting or hunting. Wash the ox cheek in several waters, let it soak 1 hour, then stew gently until the meat is cooked; remove it from the stew pot, take out all the bones, which return to the stew pot—use a digester for this purpose; put the meat on one side until quite cold, boil 2 eggs hard and leave until cold; any remnants of bacon or ham you have should be cut into pieces about ½ in. in size. Take 1½ pint of the stock from which you took the meat, reduce it one-third by boiling, flavour it with a teaspoonful of Yorkshire relish or Worcester sauce, pepper, and for those who like it, a little tarragon vinegar. Trim the meat, that is, take off the white skin, cut the rest into pieces, about 1 in. in size, lay them in your dish with the egg cut in slices, bacon or ham, till full, then pour in your gravy, cover with the paste, taking care to make an incision in the centre, and bake until the crust is sufficiently cooked. The pie should be eaten cold. If you have any other bones from meat they should be added to the stock and boiled for some hours; we always boil them for 3-4 days, removing the stock occasionally and filling up again with water, for the longer they are boiled, the more the stock is likely to jelly, you then have the foundation of many good soups. The ox cheek may be made into a galantine instead of pie. (M. E. S.)

Ox-head.—People who have to study economy are often puzzled as to what is the cheapest and most profitable dish for a Saturday early hot dinner when the boys and girls of the family are generally in from school. To those who are not already aware of the many excellencies and useful purposes to which half an ox head can be applied, this dish can be safely recommended. At a butcher’s in an unfashionable locality half a head can be bought uncooked for 5d. a lb. with the bones out, or 4d. with the bones in. The wary housekeeper will prefer having the bones left in as so much more stock is obtained in this case. The head must be soaked 12 hours in cold water. Then place it in a large saucepan, after dividing it into 2 portions, with about 4 gals. cold water, 2 onions stuck with cloves, 4 carrots, 3 turnips, ½ a burnt onion, a bay leaf, some mixed herbs in a muslin bag, salt and pepper to taste. Stew slowly for 4-5 hours. The liquor will gradually become reduced in quantity, and consequently, another gallon of water must be added. When quite tender, take it out of the saucepan and cut off sufficient slices to fill a dish: if the appearance of the head on the table is objected to, serve the meat with some of the gravy, and a fresh lot of vegetables. The slices do very well indeed for the dining room, and the servants can have a good dinner from what remains. Some nice pieces should be left, which can be made into a mould of collared head for Sunday night’s supper, in the following way: Cut the meat into little squares and also a small quantity of fat bacon. Put this into rather more than 1 pint stock with a teaspoonful of mixed herbs, 3 cloves in muslin, ½ teaspoonful of parsley, a dash of cayenne pepper, and some salt. Stew all these ingredients together for about 1 hour. When it has become tepid, wet a plain mould, pour in the mixture, and set it aside to get cool; serve garnished with aspic jelly made of gelatine and flavoured with tarragon vinegar. The first lot of stock makes splendid soup after all the fat has been carefully removed, and into which anything that is liked can be put, such as some pieces of ox tail from a tin containing tails only, because, the stock being so good, it is not necessary to add ox tail soup to it. A small quantity of French sago and the well beaten yolks of 2 eggs are a very good addition. The second stock, which is extracted from the bones, is naturally poorer; but it can be utilised very successfully for soup, thickened with tinned tomatoes, prepared tapioca, chestnuts, cold boiled potatoes, leeks, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, &c.; in fact, it can be employed in any way most handy. Such a large quantity of stock can be made from this very inexpensive dish, that, with the addition of 6d. worth of fresh bones, enough soup and gravy for a moderate-sized family can be obtained to last about a week. (C.)

Ox-tails.—Thoroughly wash and divide into 4 in. pieces 1 or 2 ox tails, put them into a stewpan, with a bunch of sweet herbs, a little salt and cayenne pepper, and rather more than 1½ pint stock. Simmer very gently for 2½ hours, then take out, and let them drain on a sieve. Brush them thickly over with the yolk of a well-beaten egg, and cover with breadcrumbs. Broil a fine brown on both sides very quickly, serve with a good gravy or sauce tartare.

Potted.—Take 1 lb. cold roast beef, free from skin and sinews, mince and then pound in a mortar to a paste. In pounding, add by degrees a large saltspoonful of salt, scarcely that quantity of black pepper, a pinch of cayenne, a little finely powdered mace, and 2 oz. clarified butter. Press into small jars, and cover with a slight coating of warm clarified butter; tie down tightly with bladder or paper. The clarified butter, after being used for covering, need not be wasted, but will do nicely for basting poultry or game.

Pressed.—(a) Take a piece of the brisket, or of the thick flank, trim it, and rub it well for 3 days with salt and saltpetre. Pound 3 oz. allspice, 1 oz. cloves, 1 oz. black pepper, 2 lb. salt, and ½ lb. brown sugar in a mortar. Tie up the beef, and put in a pan, rub it with the above ingredients every 12 hours for a week, drain it from the pickle, pour over it the juice of 2 or 3 lemons, and 1 glass brandy. Chop up 2-3 lb. beef suet, put a layer at the bottom of the dish, under the beef, and the rest on the top, cover it with a paste of flour and water, and bake for 6-7 hours. When done remove the crust (drain off the juice), and put the beef to press under heavy weights. Glaze it, and garnish with aspic jelly.

(b) To glaze.—The easiest way is to cut a thick slice from a piece of glaze, which may be bought at no great expense; remove the surrounding skin, and place it in a small-sized jam-pot to melt in the oven. When it has become quite liquid, and while it is still hot, apply it with a paste brush over the upper surface of the beef, which should be already trimmed and placed on the dish on which it is to be served, before the application of the glaze. It will soon get cold, and will then be ready for serving.

Pot au feu.—Take a piece of fresh silverside of beef weighing 6 lb., and about ½ lb. bones, tie up the meat neatly with string, and put both into a 6 qt. saucepan; fill it up with sufficient water to come well over the meat and bones, and set it on the fire; remove carefully with a skimmer the scum that will rise as the water gets warm but do not allow it to boil. Add at intervals during the process about 1 pint cold water in small quantities; this will have the effect of checking the ebullition, and will help the scum to rise. When the scum is all removed, put in about 1 oz. salt, a small handful of whole pepper and allspice, 1 onion stuck with 12 cloves, 1 onion toasted almost black before the fire or on the hob, 1 leek, 3 carrots of average size cut in 2 in. lengths, 2 turnips of average size each cut in 4, and a bouquet garni—i.e., 2 bay leaves, 2 or 3 sprigs each of thyme and marjoram, a clove of garlic, and a small handful of parsley, all tied together into a small faggot. The above vegetables should not be put in all at once, but gradually, so as not to check the gentle simmering of the pot au feu, which should be now skimmed for the last time, and placed by the side of the fire to simmer gently for at least 4 hours. According to the season, all or some of the following vegetables may be added: A head of celery cut in 2 in. lengths, 2 tomatoes, 2 parsnips, a handful of chervil. At the time of serving, strain the broth and skim off all the fat, add the least bit of sugar (not burnt sugar) and more salt if necessary; make the broth boiling hot, and pour it into the soup tureen over small slices of toasted bread, adding according to taste, a portion of the vegetables cut in thin slices.

Roast.—(a) Cut off most of the flap of the sirloin and trim the joint neatly. Have a clear, brisk fire well built up. Place the joint close to it for the first half-hour, then move it further off. Baste frequently. When nearly done sprinkle the joint well over with salt. Put a small quantity of water in the dripping pan, then pour off the gravy, free it effectually from fat, and pour it over the joint in the dish. Time of roasting about 3 hours for a 10-12 lb. sirloin. Garnish with scraped horseradish and Yorkshire pudding. Serve horseradish sauce in a tureen.

(b) Take a piece of the undercut of sirloin of beef, trim off the fat neatly, and the thin skin next to it; lard (not too finely) that side of it with fat bacon, and lay it for a whole day in a pie dish, with plenty of olive oil, pepper, salt, parsley, slices of onion, and laurel leaves. Tie it on the spit, cover the larded side with a piece of buttered paper, roast it at a brisk fire, and do not let it be overdone. Baste it frequently with its own gravy, and a short time before serving remove the piece of paper to let the larding take colour. Serve with its own gravy.

Salt.—Wash the piece of beef thoroughly, then proceed as in boiling fresh beef, omitting the salt. Serve garnished with carrots.

Scalloped.—Melt together 2 oz. Parmesan cheese and 2 oz. butter, finely mince ½ lb. tender and rather underdone cold roast beef; mix this with the cheese and butter, seasoning it with a little pepper and salt; have ready some tin or plated scallop shells, buttered and sprinkled over with breadcrumbs finely grated; pour in the mixture, sprinkle over it some more breadcrumbs, and then grate Parmesan cheese over the top; they may be baked either in the oven or in a Dutch oven before the fire. Serve very hot.

Spiced.—(a) Take the bones from a piece of thin flank, and put it for 10 days into the following pickle—it should be covered. Boil for 20 minutes 2 gal. water, 5 lb. salt, 2 lb. coarse sugar, 2 oz. saltpetre, 2 oz. black pepper and of mixed spice, bruised and tied in muslin, and bay leaves. Clear the scum as it rises, and let it stand till cold. To boil the meat, put it in cold water, to cover, with a wineglassful of vinegar and a few vegetables. Let it come very slowly to boiling point, simmer it very slowly, and leave it in the pickle till it is cold. If it is hard, it is cooked too fast. Vinegar helps to make it tender, and it (as well as all boiled meat) is much less dry if it is left till cold in the liquor. Before boiling, the thin flank should be sprinkled with chopped parsley, herbs, and allspice, rolled, and tied with tape. (E. A. B.)

(b) ½ lb. black pepper, ½ lb. white ditto, 3 oz. allspice, 3 oz. cloves, 2 oz. saltpetre, 1 lb. salt, 1 lb. coarse brown sugar. Grind all the spice, and pound the saltpetre fine; mix all the ingredients well together. Get a round of about 26 lb. small beef, with 2 lb. extra fat, to replace the marrow bone, which must be cut out of the centre; let the meat be as fresh as possible, remove any kernels, then thoroughly hand-rub every inch of the round, put it with all the ingredients into a stone crock, or pan, where it will make its own pickle, rub it well, and turn it in the pan every second day for 2-3 weeks. To cook it: Bind it into good shape with tape; put 1 qt. cold water, and a plate of suet or good dripping into a large pot; put in the beef, and completely cover it with suet or dripping; place another plate above all, and put the cover on the pot. Bake for 6 hours in an oven, turning the beef at the end of the third hour.

Steak (a). À la Bordelaise.—Take a rib of beef, remove the bone, and cut the meat into 2 steaks, trimming them neatly. Take a marrow bone, break it, remove the marrow in one piece, blanch it for a minute in hot water, and put it into the oven to keep it warm. Broil the steaks, and serve them over some Bordelaise sauce, placing on each the marrow, cut in slices and brushed over with a little thin glaze. Bordelaise Sauce.—Mince finely 2 or 3 shallots, blanch them for a few minutes, press out the water from them, and put them into a saucepan with a cupful of white wine; let them boil 20 minutes, then add 2 cupfuls Spanish sauce, a dust of pepper, and some parsley finely minced; let the sauce give a boil or two, and it is ready. Well-flavoured gravy, thickened with browned flour and butter, may be used instead of Spanish sauce.

(b) The great secret in cooking a steak lies in having a perfectly clear red fire-no black or smoking coal. It should also be quite even, so as to be at an equal distance all over (nearly 1 ft.) below the gridiron. Before putting on the gridiron throw a handful of salt on the top of the fire; then place the gridiron on to get quite hot. Before putting on the steak rub the gridiron well over with a piece of suet or fat. See that the steak is cut of an equal thickness-¾ in., certainly not less. It should on no account be beaten. Place it on the gridiron, and turn frequently with steak tongs. If these are not at hand, use a fork; but put it into the edge of the fat, on no account into the lean, as that would let out the gravy and spoil the steak. The time for cooking must depend on the thickness of the steak and on the fire—10 minutes is the rule. Serve on a very hot dish, on which should be ready, sliced very thin, a shallot. For gravy, use Cock’s Reading Sauce and a very little boiling water. After the steak is dished pepper and salt well, and rub it over with a piece of butter.

(c) Stewed.—Season and lay them in a stewpan, put in ½ pint water, a blade of mace, an anchovy, and small bunch of herbs, a piece of butter rolled in flour, a glass of white wine, and an onion, cover close, and let it stew till the steaks are tender, then take them out, strew some flour over them, fry them in butter till they are of a nice brown and pour off the fat; strain the sauce they were stewed in, pour it into the pan, and toss it up together till the sauce is quite hot and thick, then lay your steaks in the dish, pour the sauce over them, and serve with horseradish and pickles. (S. S.)

(d) Pie.—Have your steak cut up and placed in its dish (nearly covered with water) in the oven for 1½ hour, with a cover over the dish. The oven should be about the heat for rice pudding. Open the door if likely to dry the gravy. When cooked take it up, and after properly flavouring it, and adding a hard-boiled egg cut up, lay on the crust, and replace the pie in the oven until the paste is properly cooked.

(e) Ditto.—Cut up 1½ lb. fillet steak or rump steak, with 2 kidneys, previously boiled, 2 eggs boiled hard and cut lengthways in 4 pieces, pepper and salt lightly, flour the steak and kidneys, place some of the meat and some of the egg in the dish, and a piece of butter the size of a walnut; add a teacupful of good gravy, seasoned with a teaspoonful of Worcester and 1 dessertspoonful Harvey sauce; fill the dish with the remaining portions of meat and eggs. Cover with the paste, and bake slowly for 2½ hours.

(f) Pudding.—Line your basin with thin suet crust. For a small pudding take ¾ lb. rump steak, cut in thin slices, without fat or gristle; make a powder of pepper and salt, dip each slice into it, and lay it round in layers in the basin until nearly full. Fill up the centre with oysters or mushrooms, tie it tight, and boil for 3 hours; add water in the saucepan as required, but it must not reach the top of the pudding basin. Fill up the basin with good stock.

Tea.—(a) Use Gard’s patent meat juice extractor. Its principal virtue consists in the beef tea being cooked just enough to render it most digestible. Put about ¼ pint water to ½ lb. beef, the roll of the shoulder.

(b) Put the beef, cut in pieces or slashed, into a jar with a cover, and tie it over with paper; stand the jar in a saucepan with plenty of water, but not enough to make the jar float. Setting the jar in the oven dries the meat. It should be well boiled gently, and the lid kept on the saucepan to keep the steam in.

(c) Mince 8 oz. gravy beef very finely, pour over 8 oz. cold water, and let it stand 1 hour; pour off the liquor, and it is ready.

(d) Dr. Stutzer has exposed the common superstition about the nourishing powers of beef tea. He extracted all the extractible matter from 100 gr. of beef with 100 gr. water, and a good proportion of salt, at a gentle heat for 4 hours, but could only succeed in obtaining in solution ¹/₁₂th the nourishing matter of the beef, the other ¹¹/₁₂th remaining behind in the bouilli. In other words, we should have to take ½ gal. beef tea made with beef to each pint of water before we got as much nourishment as is contained in ¼ lb. of steak. We might, it is true, evaporate our beef tea down to, say ½ pint, but we doubt if it would be palatable to the least squeamish invalid.

Tongue.—(a) Never boil a tongue, only simmer, and allow 3 hours for a large one. Never cure small ones. ¼ hour to every lb. is the usual time given when meat is simmered, for meat should not boil, as it hardens it; but you may know when the tongue is done, by its peeling readily. The skin should peel off as a glove, when drawn, does from the hand; and if the tongue is to be eaten cold, it can be glazed; or if warm, a few well-browned and sifted breadcrumbs put over it, and a paper frill should encircle its root. Many garnish warm tongue with flowers in the old-fashioned way; but these adornments interfere with the carver; serve browned or glazed, with simply a frill.

(b) A dried tongue should be put to soak all night in cold water; if it is only pickled, 2-3 hours will suffice. Put the tongue in a saucepan sufficiently large, and with as much cold water as will cover it well; put it on the fire until it comes to boil, then remove it to the side, let it simmer but not boil. A bunch of herbs in the water when boiling is a great improvement; while cooking the water should be skimmed.

(c) Put the tongue into an earthen pan, and lay on the top of it a few slices of butter; then cover the pan with a flour-and-water crust, and bake, according to size, in a moderately hot oven. When done, take off the skin, and straighten the tongue on a board, by means of skewers at the tip and root. When cold, glaze it, ornament it with a frill of paper, vegetables cut into shapes, and curled parsley.

Tournedos.—Cut some rump steak or fillet of beef in slices about ½ in. thick, trim them all to the shape of cutlets (pear shape), lay them in a marinade composed as follows: Olive oil and tarragon vinegar in equal parts, an onion and a carrot sliced; pepper, salt, and bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, parsley, and a few cloves. There should be enough marinade to cover the fillets, and they should lie in it for 12 hours. When wanted, take them out of the marinade, fry them in butter quickly on both sides, and arrange them in a circle on a dish alternately with slices of bread cut to the same shape as the fillets, and fried a golden colour also in butter. Pour in the centre of the dish some well made sharp sauce (sauce piquante, or sauce poivrade), and serve.

Vinaigrette.—Cut in thin slices the cold beef of the pot au feu. Mix in a small basin 1 teaspoonful mustard with some water and the yolk of an egg; stir it continually, and at the same time drop in some olive oil, drop by drop, until the sauce becomes pretty thick; then add a little vinegar, and continue stirring and dropping in the oil until you have as much sauce as you require. Add a hard egg chopped up in small pieces some chopped-up parsley and chervil, a little salt, and 3 tablespoonfuls good cream. Arrange the slices of beef round the dish, and pour the sauce over them.

Mutton (mouton). Baking.—In baking a joint in any kind of oven, the following rules must be enforced to command success. First of all, the joint must be placed in a proper baking tin, which can be bought of any ironmonger for 6-8s. This baking tin is a double tin, one placed inside another and has raised grating to place the meat on, which prevents its being sodden in the fat. Water is put in the under-tin to prevent any scorching of the dripping, which imparts such an unpleasant taste to the meat; the small amount of steam from this water helps to keep the meat from drying and hardening, but is not sufficient to sodden it. Secondly, the joint must be put into a thoroughly hot oven, which hardens the outside enough to keep in the gravy. After the first ¼ hour of brisk heat, lower the fire a little, keeping a moderate fire for the rest of the time. The joint must be turned the under side uppermost when it is half cooked, or it will not be evenly done or browned, as the main heat in stoves or kitcheners proceeds from the top of the oven. Thirdly, the oven door should be opened every 10 minutes for a second or two to allow the vapour from the meat to escape: it is the confined vapour of meat in a close oven that makes a baked joint offensive to a sensitive palate. To sum all up in a few words, the oven must be thoroughly hot when the joint is first put in, the meat must be raised above the dripping, water must be used in the under tin, and the oven door must be opened every 10 minutes. Suppose we have a leg or shoulder of mutton to cook, in an ordinary kitchener or stove oven, place the joint, ready trimmed, on the grating of your baking tin, the underside uppermost, as when it is turned it will bring the proper side up to send to table, and be ready for the final browning. Dust it over lightly with flour, and put a lump of dripping in the upper tin to baste with; pour sufficient cold water in the underneath baking tin. Put the joint into the hot oven, and let it remain ¼ hour, if a joint of 10-12 lb.; but if only 5-6 lb., 10 minutes will be enough. Open the oven door once in that time, and baste it at the end of the ¼ hour, then lower the fire a little, and keep a steady even fire all the time the joint is cooking. Baste every 10 minutes, at the same time the door is opened to let the vapour escape. Turn the joint, when half cooked, and flour it a little; and ¼ hour before it is finally cooked dust it well with flour, and do not baste it again unless any part of the meat refuses to moisten and brown, when a very little dripping may be put on this part to bring it to its right colour. When the meat is ready to dish up, take the baking tin out of the oven, put the meat on a warm common dish, and return it to the oven to keep hot while the fat is being separated from the gravy, which is best done by pouring both fat and gravy into a hot basin, and then skimming the fat off quickly with a large spoon. A shoulder of mutton will make very little gravy, and should have some made gravy added to it. An economical way of making the gravy nice is to boil a teacupful of water in a saucepan with a good pinch of salt and a little white pepper in it. Mix ½ teaspoonful flour in a little water until smooth, and stir into the boiling water. Let it boil a minute, and when all the fat is skimmed off the gravy pour the gravy into the saucepan, letting it simmer a second, and pour it over the meat or into a gravy tureen, and send to table.

Breast.—(a) With the poor, to whom fat is a necessity, this dish is much in vogue, but to be economical, even from their point of view, it must be bought at a low price. Persons accustomed to the prime parts of mutton are wont to despise the breast; but it may, with a little care and skill, be made into excellent dishes. It is essential that it should be partly prepared the day before using, as it cannot be freed sufficiently from fat until cold. After preparing in the following manner the meat may be made either into a mutton pasty, Devonshire pie mutton pudding, stew, or curry. It is besides excellent eaten cold. Cut the breast into convenient pieces, and lay them in a saucepan, meat downwards, sprinkle with pepper and salt, and slice 3 onions over them. If it is desired to use the fat drawn from the mutton in any way in which the flavour of onions would be objectionable, they must be omitted. Set the stewpan at a low heat, and allow the meat to cook gradually in its own fat and juices. It will take about 3 hours. When done put away the meat on a dish, and the fat in a basin. The next morning a little gravy will be found beneath the cake of fat, which will, from a breast of mutton weighing about 3 lb., be as much as ¾-1 lb. It is excellent fat either for making family cakes and pies or for frying. Use the gravy, with the addition of a little water or stock, onion or other vegetables to dress the meat, in any of the ways above mentioned.

(b) Boil it tender, and take out the bones; have ready some parsley and thyme, well chopped, a little salt, pepper, and some breadcrumbs; mix them well, and lay on the top of the lamb, put it down before the fire to brown, and serve it up with a good gravy and a few capers.

Broth.—(a) Take ½ lb. Scotch barley, 5-6 lb. mutton (neck or breast), put on the fire with 5 qts. of water, and bring it slowly to a boil. Turnips, carrots, onions, or leeks and celery cut up small, with ½ pint dried green peas, to be added ½ hour after the meat and barley have boiled. The whole then to be simmered 2½ hours longer. The fat must be removed as it rises to the surface when boiling. If preferred, the meat can be served as a separate course, with some large vegetables round it.

(b) Take a piece of the best end of a neck of mutton (say 6 cutlets), saw, short off, the end of the ribs in one piece, also the chine, divide the cutlets, and trim off the fat. Put the cutlets, ribs, and chine into a saucepan with 2 qts. cold water, and 2 tablespoonfuls pearl barley; when the saucepan has been on the fire for ½ hour, throw in 1 onion, 2 carrots, 1 turnip, and ½ head celery, all cut in small squares the size of peas. Keep on skimming the broth of all fat, and scum at intervals; when it has boiled another hour, add pepper and salt to taste, a pinch of powdered thyme, and a dessertspoonful of finely mixed parsley. Then let the broth simmer gently till wanted, removing the ribs and chine at the time of serving.

Casseroles.—Boil 6 large potatoes; when done add salt, pepper, grated nutmeg, 3 yolks of eggs, 1 oz. butter; beat all well together over the fire a few minutes, then pass through a sieve. Butter a large baking sheet; place the potato on it in a flat heap 1½ in. high. When cold, cut them out with a plain cutter the size of a patty, egg and breadcrumb; make an impression at one end with a smaller cutter, to represent the top of the patty; fry a golden colour in hot lard. Remove the inside, and fill them with the mince moistened in the same way as for patties. Serve very hot on a napkin.

Chops.—Take some chops from a loin of mutton, trim them neatly, and remove all fat; lay them in a deep dish, with slices of onion, a few cloves, whole pepper, salt, and sweet herbs; add oil and vinegar in equal parts just sufficient to cover them; let them marinade for 10-12 hours, turning them occasionally, then broil over a clear fire; arrange them neatly on a dish. Fry one or two shallots, minced very finely in butter; when just beginning to take colour, pour on the chops, and serve with sharp sauce in a boat.

Croquettes.—Roll up the mince in balls, egg and breadcrumb, and fry them in hot lard. They can be made into any shape, such as round balls, diamonds, sugar loaf, or cutlets. They must be served with fried parsley, and very hot.

Cutlets. (a) Cold.—Trim some neck cutlets very neatly, remove every particle of fat, and cut the bone quite short. Lard them finely with bacon or ham, and put them into a braising pan on a slice of fat bacon. Add a sliced carrot, a turnip, and an onion, also sliced, a bundle of sweet herbs, whole pepper, and salt to taste. Add a little gravy or good stock—if liked, a glass of white wine. Braise gently for an hour or so. When sufficiently done, drain and put them to press until cold between 2 dishes. Trim them again, glaze with some of the gravy reduced for the purpose, and serve with clarified aspic jelly and sprigs of chervil or tarragon, or with cold tomato sauce.

(b) Stewed.—Take some lean, neatly trimmed mutton chops from the loin, and fry them lightly a good brown. Have ready sufficient good, well-seasoned gravy, in which put a few slices of pickled cucumber. Add the chops, and stew most gently 1½-2 hours.

(c) With apples and gravy.—Take some cutlets from the neck, trim them neatly; season with pepper and salt, put them in a deep dish, with slices of apples and chopped onions over, pour in sufficient stock or gravy to cover them; put the dish in the oven, cover it over, and let the contents braise gently for ¾ hour, or until thoroughly cooked; serve in the dish in which they were cooked.

(d) À la maître d’hôtel.—These may be prepared over night by cutting from a neck of mutton as many as will be required; cut the bones rather short, and cut a cutlet from between every 2 bones, these with the bone being only the thickness of the bone itself; trim off some of the fat, flatten them, season with pepper and salt, and set them in the larder for the night. The next morning prepare the sauce before cooking the cutlets. For this take 1 oz. butter, 1 teaspoonful finely chopped parsley, and a few drops of lemon juice; mix these well together with a knife on a plate, then proceed to fry the cutlets in clarified butter on both sides till quite done; put them at once on to a very hot dish, and put little bits of the maître d’hôtel butter all over them; these at once melt and form a nice savoury gravy.

(e) Lamb cutlets.—Take a neck of lamb, divide it into cutlets, trim them neatly, dip them in liquefied butter, sprinkle them with pepper and salt, and broil them in a double gridiron in front of a brisk fire; dispose them in a circle on the dish round a pyramid of spinach.—Pick and wash perfectly clean 2-3 lb. spinach, put it into a saucepan with a little water, and let it boil till quite done. Turn it out on a hair sieve to drain, throw the water away, and pass the spinach through the sieve. Put a good lump of butter into a saucepan with a pinch of flour, mix well, add the spinach, pepper and salt to taste, and a little milk; stir well and serve.

(f) Savoury.—Cut the cutlets from a neck of mutton rather thick, lard and put them in a braising pan, with enough good gravy to cover them; add an onion stuck with cloves, a sliced carrot, a faggot of herbs; braise till quite tender. Remove them from the gravy, strain, then reduce it, and skim well. When cold trim the cutlets carefully, simmer till hot in the reduced gravy. Have ready a block of bread (pyramid shape), fry it in butter, put it in the centre of the dish, the cutlets round it (the gravy in the dish), and garnish with new carrots and turnips (cut up small, and previously tossed in butter), arranged alternately between the cutlets. Instead of the block of bread and garnish of carrots and turnips, they may be served with peas or beans, tossed in butter, or with any purée of vegetable, or with tomatoes, &c., according to the season.

Haggis.—The outer covering of this is made from the stomach or paunch of a sheep, which requires great care in the cleansing. It must be well washed, and then be allowed to soak for several hours in salt and water; after this, turn it inside out, put it into boiling water to scald, scrape it well, and then put it into a large basin of cold water to remain till wanted. Care must be taken in scraping that no thin places are left, or they will burst in the boiling. Take a sheep’s pluck, clean it well, piercing the liver and heart in several places to let out the blood. Boil the liver and lights for 1½ hour, putting them into fresh water after they have boiled for ¼ hour, and adding the remainder of the pluck to boil with them during the last ½ hour they are on the fire. Take them off and trim away any discoloured parts and the skin. Grate half the liver, and mince all the rest as finely as possible. Chop 2 good-sized onions and 1 lb. suet, and mix with ½ pint oatmeal previously well dried, 2 teaspoonfuls salt, a dash of cayenne, 1 teaspoonful black pepper, and a little grated nutmeg. To this add the juice of a small lemon, and ½ pint good brown gravy. Mix all thoroughly, take the bag or skin from the cold water in which it has lain since preparing, and into it put the mixture. Sew the skin up securely, not forgetting to leave room for it to swell, and at once put it into boiling water, to remain gently simmering for 3 hours after it again comes to the boil. Just at first it must be occasionally pricked with a needle, to let out the air, and prevent it from bursting. Some people tie it in a cloth as well, for fear of this happening; but it ought not to have one, and with attention it will turn out perfectly well without. A haggis is also sometimes made from the stomach or pluck of a calf or lamb, but that of the sheep is most generally used. If lamb is used for this purpose, great care must be taken to sew up any thin places, or possibly holes in the skin, which from being so tender often occur. Occasionally a small quantity of beef, finely minced, is added to the other ingredients, as described for filling the haggis, but it is more generally made without this addition. It must be served directly it is taken off the fire, as hot as possible, with no gravy or sauce of any kind, nor any garnish, as the gravy from the inside flows all over the dish directly the knife is put into it.

Haricot.—Toss some chops or mutton cutlets in butter till they are a good colour all over. Take them out. Have some carrots and turnips, also potatoes, all cut the same shape, and pass them in butter on the fire, each vegetable separately, till they are half-cooked. Strain the butter so used; add to it a good pinch of flour, or more according to quantity, to thicken the sauce. When the mixture begins to acquire a golden colour, put in as much water (or stock) as will be required for sauce, together with the meat, pepper, salt, a bunch of sweet herbs, with a clove of garlic or a shallot in it. When the meat is half-cooked, add the carrots, after a little time the potatoes, then the turnips. Serve when done, removing the sweet herbs.

Hashed.—(a) Mince an onion and fry it in butter to a brown colour, add 1 tablespoonful flour, stir well, pour in enough stock or broth to make the sauce, with a dash of vinegar, pepper, salt, and spices to taste. Let the sauce give a boil, then strain it, and when cold put in the slices of meat well trimmed of any outside parts, and a good allowance of pickled gherkins cut in slices. Let the whole get warm by gentle simmering, and keep it hot till wanted for table. Serve garnished with fried sippets. Cut out of a loaf slices 1 in. thick, shape them into triangles or arrow-heads all of a size; put some butter in a frying-pan, and when quite hot lay the sippets in it. Turn them frequently, adding more butter as it is wanted, and taking care that they are all fried to the same light golden colour. A readier way, but producing not so nice a sippet, is to lay the pieces of bread in the frying basket, and dip it in a saucepan full of boiling fat. They must afterwards be laid in front of the fire to drain.

(b) Cut your meat in slices, free from fat, gristle, and skin. Take a flat dish, and cover the bottom with dry flour, seasoned to taste with pepper and salt; rub each piece of meat all over in this flour, and lay them in a “Dutch oven,” i.e., a brown stoneware jar or pot with a lid, and one small hole in it. When you have packed as much meat as you require, pour on the whole some cold gravy free of fat (or stock), seasoned with a dessert spoonful of or more of Worcester or any other favourite sauce; put on the lid, and put it into a slow oven. It may be left any number of hours, and only requires to be occasionally looked at, and a little gravy or hot water added to it, and stir now and then to prevent it getting dry.

(c) Roast 1 large or 2 small onions until they are quite black; cut the meat in small thin pieces; put the fat, skin, and bones in a saucepan with the onions and water, allowing for the latter to waste; let all stew until the gravy looks good and rich; then strain, and put the meat and gravy on again, letting them simmer gently until the meat is quite cooked; put a sufficient quantity of mushroom or walnut ketchup in a cup, and stir in enough flour to make a very thick batter, also a liberal quantity of cayenne; add this to the hash, giving it one “boil up,” stirring occasionally, and serve as usual with sippets of toasted bread. (F. J. H.).

(d) Chop the bones of the meat and let them simmer 3-4 hours, with 2 good-sized onions previously fried, thicken with flour, and add a little Harvey sauce and soy, then strain. Put the meat (which should be cut into nice slices, but not too thin) into the gravy, and let it heat thoroughly; just before serving, stir in whilst on the fire a good-sized piece of butter. Add pepper and salt.

(e) Fry in a saucepan 3 small onions and 3 small slices bacon or ham until they are brown; then add a little more than ½ pint water, and thicken it with flour; then strain it, and add it to the meat, with a little Harvey’s sauce; pepper and salt to taste. It will take about an hour to hash.

(f) Cut the mutton into nice slices, free from skin and fat, and dredge each slice on both sides with flour; take 6 good-sized mushrooms, trim them, cut each into 4 pieces, and put them into a stewpan to stew, with a small piece of butter; add a little good stock, some pepper and salt, and, when sufficiently done, put in the meat. Let it heat through slowly, stirring frequently to prevent burning; but be careful that it does not boil, or the meat will be hard; and, as soon as the flour loses its raw taste and thickens the hash, it is done, and should be served immediately with sippets of neatly cut thin toast or fried bread round the dish.

Irish stew.—(a) Cut up into cutlets about 3 lb. best end of a neck of mutton, saw off the chine bone, and trim off the fat; season the cutlets well with pepper and salt, and put them with the bones into a stewpan, just covering them with cold water; stew gently for ½ hour, remove from the fire, skim the fat from the gravy, and then return it with the chops into the stewpan; add about 8 potatoes cut in halves, 4 onions sliced, 2 turnips, and 1½ pint of either stock or water; cover the stewpan, and simmer gently for 1½-2 hours. Serve with the potatoes in the centre of the dish, the cutlets arranged all round, and with the onions and gravy poured over.

(b) For a more economical stew, take the scrag of mutton, together with any trimmings, bones, &c., from the best end. To 1 lb. meat put 2 lb. old potatoes, peeled and cut in pieces, with 2 onions sliced, pepper and salt, cover with cold water or weak stock, and simmer gently for 2 hours; when half done add a few whole potatoes, and when the ingredients are well amalgamated skim off superfluous fat, and serve very hot.

(c) Take any thin pieces of mutton that have been cut off the loin or breast, and cut them in pieces 4 in. square. Put them in a stewpan, and cover them with boiling water. Add 2 doz. whole onions, pepper and salt, put on the cover closely, and draw it to the side of the fire, and let it boil slowly for 1 hour. Add a little boiling water to it. Wash and pare 2 doz. potatoes, put them in the stewpan amongst the mutton, and let them boil till quite soft. Stir the potatoes with the mutton till it becomes smooth, then dish it hot.

(d) Put some slices of cold boiled corned beef (never fresh), into a stewpan with a good deal of water or thin stock, 2 large onions sliced, and some cold boiled potatoes (whole), a little pepper. Stew gently until the potatoes are quite soft and have taken up nearly all the gravy; some will break, but they should be as whole as possible. Turn all out on a flat dish and serve. (M. M. F.)

Kidneys.—(a) À la maître d’hôtel.—Plunge some mutton kidneys in boiling water; open them down the centre, but do not separate them, peel, and pass a skewer across them to keep them open; pepper, salt, and dip them into melted butter; broil them over a clear fire on both sides, cooking the cut side first; remove the skewers, have ready some maître d’hôtel butter, viz. butter beaten up with chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and a little lemon juice; put a small piece into the hollow of each kidney, and serve very hot.

(b) Devilled.—Skin and parboil the kidneys, split them in halves without separating them, dip them in liquefied butter, and sprinkle pepper and salt with a judicious proportion of cayenne over them; place them, spread open, in a double gridiron, and broil either in front of or on a brisk fire. Serve hot, placing on each kidney a piece of butter into which has been worked pepper, salt, cayenne, and minced parsley in due proportions.

(c) Fried.—Split asunder, and then free from skin and fat; sprinkle them with salt and cayenne pepper, and having put them in the frying-pan, which must be well heated, pour some clarified butter over them. Fry them over a brisk fire, place them in a dish, or upon slices of fried toast; make in the pan some gravy mixed with ketchup, or any sauce which is preferred, and pour it into the dish with the kidneys.

(d) Ditto.—For a breakfast dish they should be first skinned and cut open lengthwise down to the root, but without quite separating them. Then season them with pepper and salt, and fry them in butter for about 8 minutes, turning them when they are half done. Serve them very hot, each one on a small round piece of buttered toast, a tiny piece of butter being put upon each kidney.

(e) Ditto.—Take six kidneys, remove the skin, and cut them into quarters, fry them in butter for 5 minutes over a bright fire, powdering them over with flour; turn them a moment, in order that the flour may be well cooked. Throw in ½ glass white wine, some mushrooms ready prepared, some chopped parsley, a little shallot, pepper and salt, all to cook in the frying-pan for 8 minutes, stirring it during the time; then serve at once.

(f) Grilled.—Cut 3 kidneys in half, dip them in an egg previously beaten up with salt and pepper; pass them in white breadcrumbs; put a piece of butter the size of an egg to melt; when melted, dip in the kidneys and pass them again in breadcrumbs, then grill before a slow fire and serve with sauce piquante on a rich gravy. (Jane Burtenshaw.)

(g) Put upon a silver skewer about 6 in. long with ornamental head, and cook in a dish before the fire with a little bacon. The one imparts flavour to the other; they must be served up together.

(h) Stewed.—Cut them (after carefully skinning them) into halves, or, if large, into quarters, and simmer them gently in rich stock for 2-3 hours at least. The slower they are done the better, as they should be quite tender. Then take as much of the stock as is required for the dish in which they are to be served, thicken it with a little flour, add a little seasoning and a flavouring of mushroom ketchup, a dash of Worcester sauce and a teaspoonful of sugar, and let it just boil up. Then add a large wineglass of claret, and pour over the kidneys. There should be plenty of gravy, but not so much that the kidneys swim in it. If only a small dish is required, a wall of mashed potatoes may be put round the dish, with the kidneys in the middle; otherwise a great many are required to make it look nice. A garnish of fried sippets is an improvement.

(i) Toast.—Chop very fine some kidneys and a little of the surrounding fat; season with salt, pepper, a little cayenne pepper, and grated lemon peel; warm this mixture with a little butter, then place on thin slices of toast, first beating up and adding one egg to the kidneys, place the toast in a dish with a little butter; brown them in an oven, and serve very hot. This is a very appetising little dish.

Kromeskies.—Cut some pieces of fat bacon as thinly as possible, in size 1½ in. by 2 in., lay them flat, place a small piece of mince on each; roll up tightly, taking care that the mince does not escape; put aside in a cold place, dip each in batter, and fry a light brown colour. Serve with fried parsley.

Lamb Pie (Agneau).—Cut your lamb in thin slices, and season it with cloves, mace, nutmeg, sugar, salt, and a little small pepper, and lay it in your coffin (pie crust), and lay on it and between it a few raisins of the sun stoned, and a few currants, and a few skirret roots boiled and blanched, and the marrow of 2 or 3 bones, candied lemon, dates, and dried citron, preserved barberries, and candied lettuce, and sliced lemon, and some butter. Close your pie, and when it is baked let the caudle be white wine verjuice and sugar beaten up with the yolks of 3 or 4 eggs, and set it on the fire, and keep stirring it till it begins to be thick; then put it in the pie, shake it together, scrape on plenty of sugar, and send it up.

Lambs’ Tails.—Trim the tails. Place some slices of bacon in a saucepan, over them a layer of onions and carrots sliced, then the tails; then a clove of garlic, a sprig of thyme, a bay leaf, and some parsley tied up in a bundle, salt to taste, a few cloves, and some whole pepper. Place the saucepan over the fire for 10 minutes, then add 1 glass sherry and about 1 pint stock or water, and let the whole simmer gently for 2-3 hours. Take out the tails, strain the liquor; let it reduce almost to a glaze, put back the tails in it to get warm, and serve with a purée of spinach or sorrel.

Leg of Mutton. (a) Boiled.—Cut the leg of mutton cleanly across the meat and bone from the shank down, with as much meat as will suffice for the meal. Rub it and flour it all over, but specially the cut meat surface. Plunge it at once into a saucepan or pot of boiling water to cover it, together with some salt, a few grains of pepper, and a bunch of parsley. Draw away from the fire, and allow the water to cool almost completely; then put once more on the fire, and cook slowly according to weight, till quite done to taste. Serve with parsley, onions, caper, sorrel, or any sauce preferred; garnish with meat or potato rissoles. The flour and the plunging into boiling water will prevent the juice from escaping, and the meat will cut just as finely as from a whole boiled leg of mutton.

(b) Braised.—Take a small leg of mutton, trim it close of all superfluous fat, saw the shank bone short off, make an incision where it joins the other bone, bend it in, and tie up the leg with string. Line the bottom of a braising pan, just large enough to hold all the ingredients, with slices of fat bacon; place the leg on this, add 2 onions stuck with 6 cloves, 3 carrots cut in pieces, a bundle of sweet herbs, whole pepper and salt to taste; pack all these things round the leg, put 2 slices bacon on the top of all, and set the pan with the lid on the fire for about 15 minutes. Be careful it does not catch, then pour in enough common cold stock or water just to cover over the contents, put a piece of buttered paper on the top, then the lid, and, having placed some hot embers on that, set the whole to braise on a gentle fire for about 3½ hours. Strain off a small portion of the liquor, free it from fat, reduce it on the fire not quite to a glaze, place the leg in the dish, pour the reduced liquor over it, and round it a stiff purée of dried haricot beans.

(c) Roast.—For a 7 o’clock dinner, hang your mutton before the fire, but 3 yd. distance from it, by 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Wind up the jack, and let it just be under the influence of the fire, but no nearer, for 1 hour; then edge it a little nearer, until it is time really to begin roasting it, and then pay it constant attention until it goes to table. Dredge it well, so as to froth it, and preserve the juices, and baste it incessantly. Continue to dredge and baste it, until within 10 minutes of serving; then roll a piece of butter the size of a walnut in flour, and make it into a rich paste, and pick little bits off and stick them all over the leg of mutton, and let them melt over it for 10 minutes. Do not touch it with the basting ladle again. Then dish it on a really hot dish, not one that has been so hastily heated that it as quickly cools, but let dish and plates be heated well through. Never pour the gravy over the joint; if you do, you wash off all the brown and frothy appearance and taste that proper care in roasting should and does produce.

Loin. (a) Braised.—Bone and trim off from a loin of mutton all superfluous fat, lard the thin part, and roll it round; lay the joint in a stewpan over some slices of fat bacon, add whole pepper and salt to taste, an onion stuck with cloves, 2 sliced carrots, and a bunch of sweet herbs; moisten with stock, and let it braise gently for an hour or so. When done, strain the gravy, free it from fat, pour it over the joint in the dish, and serve garnished with vegetables plainly boiled.

(b) Stewed.—Select a loin with the flap on; it must not be a fat loin. Take off some of the fat, carefully remove the bones, which requires a very sharp knife; see that none of the lean meat is taken off at the same time. When boned, roll it up tightly, tie it round with broad tape, and skewer it also. Before serving, remove the tape; but it will be necessary to keep it skewered together. Place it in a stewpan with ¼ pint port or claret, and something less than 1 qt. stock or water. If the meat is fried a light-brown before stewing it is a great improvement. Add a small bouquet of sweet herbs, a carrot, turnip, an onion, a blade of mace, a tablespoonful of ketchup, a dessertspoonful of anchovy sauce, a teaspoonful of salt, and ½ teaspoonful pepper. Simmer all for 3 hours as gently as possible. Pour the gravy away from the meat, skim off all the fat, add a glass more wine and a tablespoonful of red currant jelly, thicken with a ball of flour and butter, rewarm the meat, and pour the gravy over when it is served. Garnish with carrot, neatly shaped with a vegetable cutter, and sliced lemon.

Minced Mutton.—Take some meat from a joint of roast, boiled, or braised mutton; remove the skin and outside parts, mince it very fine; put a small piece of butter into a stewpan, when melted add ½ tablespoonful flour; stir 2-3 minutes over the fire; add 1 gill well-flavoured stock; when boiling put in the mince; add salt, pepper, a little grated nutmeg, chopped parsley, a few leaves of thyme, also finely minced, and the yolk of 1 egg; stir all on the fire for some minutes; then serve with bread sippets or croquettes of potatoes. If put aside until cold this mince can be used in various ways.

Neck of Mutton.—(a) A la Duchesse.—Procure a whole neck of mutton, that is, the neck not divided down the middle, but cut entire from the sheep. This will be the scrags united, and will weigh about 3 lb. It must be perfectly fresh. Having well washed the neck, dry, flour, and fry it, turning it about until nicely browned, then place it in a deep stewpan or in the soup kettle. Cover it with nicely seasoned stock, and put in 6 onions, 2 turnips, and 1 carrot. Cover the pot close, and let it simmer until the vegetables are tender, as they will be in 1½-2 hours; take them out and set them aside to garnish the neck, which will take 4-5 hours’ gentle simmering. When done it should be as tender as chicken, and sufficient time for cooking should always be allowed, as it is rather improved than otherwise by standing at a low heat when finished. When the neck is done take it out of the gravy, which set aside to cool in a pan of cold water, in order that all the fat may be readily removed. Keep the neck hot in the meantime, by covering it close in the pot in which it was cooked. Having taken the fat off the gravy put it into a stewpan, and let it boil rapidly without the lid, until reduced to about a pint. If it is not then thick enough, add a teaspoonful of Brown and Polson’s corn flour and one of flour, mixed smooth in 2 tablespoonfuls of cold water or stock. This done, return the neck to its gravy, and let it simmer gently for ½ hour. Mince the vegetables cooked with the meat, place them in a stewpan with a little piece of butter, shake them over the fire until thoroughly hot; arrange them neatly in little heaps on the dish round the neck. Peas, asparagus tops, or sprigs of cauliflower, cooked separately, may be added to the above vegetables. They not only make an improvement, but look pretty. The carver will cut the meat from the bone longitudinally in large handsome slices. A whole neck of mutton gently boiled for 4-5 hours in salted water, with 2 carrots, 2 onions, and 3 turnips, and served with caper is very good.

(b) Boiled.—Prepare, trim, and tie it back in the same way, but entirely removing the skin, and paring off nearly all the fat; in boiling there is no waste, on the contrary, the fat swells; ¼ in. is therefore quite a sufficient thickness to leave. Put it into a stewpan on the fire with just enough cold water, salted to taste, to cover it. The instant it boils draw it to the side, and let it gently simmer until done, when it should be as tender and delicate as chicken. Allow ¼ hour to the lb. after simmering begins. Serve with plain melted butter, stirring a tablespoonful of slightly chopped capers, and a spoonful or two of milk into it, just before pouring the sauce over the mutton.

(c) Braised.—Take a piece of the best end of a neck of mutton, trim off all superfluous fat, lay the joint in a stewpan over a slice of fat bacon; add whole pepper and salt to taste, an onion stuck with cloves, 2 sliced carrots, and a bundle of sweet herbs; moisten with a little stock, and let it braise gently for about 1 hour. When done strain the gravy, free it from fat, pour it over the joint in the dish, and serve garnished with carrots cut as for Julienne, and cooked by being tossed in butter till done.

(d) Roast.—Take a piece of the best end of a neck, trim off all superfluous fat, saw off the chine, wrap up the joint in a piece of oiled paper. Roast it at a brisk fire, basting frequently. When it has roasted ½ hour remove the paper, sprinkle the joint freely with salt, and put it nearer the fire, and as soon as it has taken a good colour it is ready. Time of roasting must necessarily vary according to the nature of the fire, the size of the joint, and the taste of those for whom it is cooked for eating meat overdone or underdone. No hard and fast rule can be given for the time of roasting.

(e) Rolled.—Take a piece of the best end of a neck of mutton, with a sharp knife remove the skin, taking with it as much meat as possible from the bones except the fillet, which is to form the cutlets; saw off the bones, divide the cutlets, trim them, and gather all the meat from the trimmings and the bones. Lay the best pieces on the skin with a few pieces of bacon, pound the rest in a mortar with any other trimmings of raw or cooked meat that may be at hand, a small piece of butter, half an onion, some sweet herbs, pepper and salt. Pass this through a sieve, and spread it on the skin, fold up ½ inch of both the long sides, then roll up the skin tight from one of the narrow sides, tie it up with thread several times round. Fry an onion with a little bacon fat, put in the meat, turn it round once or twice, and when it has taken colour moisten with a very little stock, and let it simmer till done. Remove the string, and serve with the sauce strained over it. With the cutlets another dish can be made in the ordinary way.

(f) Scrag of Mutton à la Russe.—Take about 1½ lb. scrag of mutton in one piece, boil it gently for about 3 hours in 1 qt. water with 1 teaspoonful salt, 2 onions, 1 turnip, 1 carrot, and a pinch of pepper. When the meat is perfectly tender, so that the bones can easily be taken out, brush it over well with yolk of egg, then sprinkle over it a mixture of finely sifted breadcrumbs, raspings, a shake of flower, a little dried and sifted parsley, and sufficient pepper and salt to season it highly. Put the meat into the Dutch oven, baste it until brown with 1 oz. butter, and serve with good gravy or brown caper sauce. The broth may be served with the vegetables minced in it, a little celery being added, and for those who like it a small quantity of chopped parsley put into the tureen and the broth poured boiling on it. Take care to remove all fat from the broth; it will rise very quickly if the basin is set in a larger one containing cold water changed frequently.

(g) Scrag of Mutton may be used for yet another dish, either by simmering it gently (after flouring and seasoning it with pepper and salt, using only rice and an onion sliced in rings, and letting it stew in water), or it may be made into an Irish stew, for which it will require to be cut into small pieces, floured and seasoned, and stewed with potatoes and onions in just enough water to cover it for about 2 hours. Half the potatoes to be sent up with it should be cut into quarters, and should not be put in until the stew is half cooked.

Pasty.—The undercut of a shoulder is best for this purpose. With a sharp knife cut the lean meat away from an uncooked shoulder of mutton; let the slices be thin. This will not in the least interfere with the upper side, which may be hung as long as required after the undercut is removed. Lay the slices of meat in a pie-dish, sprinkle pepper and salt over them, and nearly fill the dish with a gravy that will jelly, made from mutton shanks and a little gravy beef, 2 nicely fried onions, a few pepper-corns, and a very small bit of mace. If for eating cold cover the pasty with a good puff paste, and bake in a quick oven. If to be served hot a cover of mashed potatoes, or a crust as for Devonshire pie, is suitable.

Patties.—Make ¼ lb. paste, roll thin, and line with it 4, 6, or 9 patty pans; the pans must be previously buttered, and the paste cut with a crimped cutter; fill them with rice. When baked remove the rice, fill the patties with mince made a little more moist with gravy. Serve on a napkin, arranging them nicely on the dish. Serve very hot. The patties can be ornamented with fried parsley, or in any way you please.

Pudding.—Get 1½ to 2 lb. scrag of mutton, take off all the fat, boil it gently for 2 hours, meat downwards, in 1 qt. water, with 2 onions and a good seasoning of pepper and salt. Take up the meat; set the broth aside to cool, in order that you may take off the fat. Carefully remove the meat from the bones. Make a crust with the fat from the scrag of mutton or beef suet, in the proportion of 2 oz. fat to 4 oz. flour; line a pudding basin with this, slice in 2 cooked potatoes, lightly pepper and salt them, then the onions cooked with the mutton, then the meat of the scrag, and, as a great improvement to the pudding, a sheep’s kidney sliced, or half an ox kidney; sprinkle pepper and salt over, and put on the top 2 more sliced potatoes. Fill up the basin with some of the broth, put on a lid of paste, and boil the pudding for 2 hours. Return the bones to the remainder of the broth, with an onion; let them boil until the pudding is ready, then serve the broth in a sauce-boat. All meat puddings should be served in the basins in which they are boiled, a napkin being neatly folded round. The carver should remove a round piece from the lid of the pudding, and pour in enough of the broth from the sauce boat to fill it up; this will ensure each person getting the same kind of gravy. This pudding may be made of sheep’s head after it has been boiled. To make the crust for a richer pudding, use equal quantities of suet and flour. Mix a pinch of salt with the flour and suet, make into a paste with cold water in the proportion of ½ pint to 1 lb. of flour. Flour the paste board, and roll out the crust ¼ in. thick. Dissolve a little butter, and brush the inside of a basin thickly with it, then line with the paste.

Rissoles.—Make a short paste with 6 oz. flour, 3 oz. butter, a pinch of salt, 1 whole egg, and 1 yolk; mix all into a paste, roll it out to the thickness of a penny piece; place the mince at equal distances, say 1½ in.; egg lightly, cover with paste of a similar thickness, press the paste around each piece of mince, and cut it out with a crimped cutter. Egg each rissole, and pass it in bread crumbs; fry in hot lard, and serve.

Roast Quarter of Lamb.—Let the fire be clear, but not too fierce. Cover the joint with greased paper, and baste it frequently; ½ hour before serving remove the paper and base the joint with butter and lemon juice, lastly sprinkle a little flour and salt over it. Time of roasting 2-2½ hours.

Roast Saddle of Mutton.—Trim the joint carefully, roast it at a brisk clear fire; baste frequently, and when done dredge it plentifully with salt, and serve with the gravy well freed from fat.

Saddle of Lamb, venison fashion.—Hang a saddle of lamb as long as it will keep, having previously dusted it all over with black pepper. After it has hung, chop together some shallots, a good-sized sprig of green rosemary, a small one of tarragon, or only a few small leaves of tarragon, and a sprig of marjoram. Pound together 6 cloves, 6 juniper berries, and 1 teaspoonful black pepper; mix these with the herbs. Rub the mixture well into the lamb all over, and lay it in a deep dish; sprinkle over any remains of the seasoning; mix a glass of red wine with a glass of vinegar, pour it over the meat, and let it lie in this marinade 2-3 days, turning and basting it every day. Before cooking, wipe off the herbs. Lard the joint if preferred. Put it in an earthen baking-pan and cover it with pieces of butter. Add a little broth or boiling water to the marinade in the picking dish. Put this on the fire to simmer a minute in a little saucepan; then strain and add some by degrees to baste the meat with, and when this is nicely browned, put the rest of the marinade in the baking dish with a good sprinkling of salt in the sauce and over the meat. The latter must be frequently basted to prevent its drying; 1½ hour is long enough to bake it. Pour a cup of cream or good milk over it a few minutes before serving it; stir this well round the crusting of the dish. Skim the fat off the sauce. Put the yolk of an egg in the same tureen, and stir the gravy boiling hot into it. Garnish the meat with slices of lemon.

Sausages.—Prick them lightly with a fork or trussing needle, and fry them in butter or lard, turning them frequently until thoroughly cooked.

Scollops.—Trim the mutton in the same way as for mince, but it must not be cut so small. It should be as thin as possible, about the size of threepenny pieces; make a sauce as for mince, and place it in scallop shells; sprinkle with baked breadcrumbs, pour a little warm butter over; arrange them on a napkin, and serve hot.

Sheep’s brains.—(a) Prepare the brains as directed in (b); when cold cut them into dice, and dip them into a batter made as follows:—Mix 2 large tablespoonfuls flour with 4 of water, a tablespoonful of dissolved butter or oil, the yolk of an egg and a pinch of salt and pepper. Let it stand for 2 hours. When ready to use beat the white of the egg to a froth, and mix with the batter. Fry in oil or other good fat, taking care that it boils when you drop in the beignets one by one.

(b) Wash them thoroughly and boil them very fast so as to harden them, either in water highly seasoned and flavoured with onion or in stock. When done (they will take about 20 minutes), take them up and allow them to stand until cold, then cut them into thin slices, dip them in egg, and afterwards in very finely sifted breadcrumbs with an equal proportion of raspings, a pinch of flour, and enough pepper and salt to season highly. Fry in a little butter, first on one side, until brown and crisp, then on the other until finished. Serve on a hot dish with a little thick rich gravy.

(c) Take some lambs’ or sheeps’ brains, and first boil them in milk; then chop them finely, and mix with them a few bread crumbs, a small quantity of cream, seasoning of salt and pepper, and the yolk of an egg to bind the ingredients. Roll this mixture into small round balls, cover them with egg and breadcrumbs, and fry them a light brown. To be served on a napkin, with fried parsley, like rissoles.

(d) Well wash the brains and soak them in cold water till white. Parboil them till tender in a small saucepan for about ¼ hour; then thoroughly drain them, and place them on a board. Divide them into small pieces with a knife. Dip each piece into flour, and then roll them in egg and bread crumbs, and fry in butter or well clarified dripping. Serve very hot with gravy. Another way of doing brains is to prepare them as above, and then stew them gently in rich stock, like stewed sweetbreads. They are also nice plainly boiled and served with parsley and butter sauce.

(e) Take off the skin, and let them soak for 2 hours in lukewarm water; when white blanch them in boiling water, to which salt and a little vinegar have been added; when quite firm lay them in cold water. Line a stewpan just large enough to hold the brains, with bacon, a very small onion stuck with a clove, a sprig or two of parsley, and a slice or two of lemon; cover with more bacon, and pour in a little broth. 15-20 minutes are quite enough to cook them, but they should be cooked an hour or two before dinner to be properly flavoured. When wanted, have ready some fried sippets of bread, and dish with a piece of bread and brains alternately, and in the centre pour some good white sauce, with mushrooms, or truffles if you have them, a tiny onion or two, or any rich flavouring, and serve very hot; or, having dished the brains and the sippets, work a couple of spoonfuls of rich white sauce with a little fresh butter, salt, cayenne, a sprig or two of parsley finely chopped, and the juice of half a lemon, till quite hot over the fire; pour this over the brains and serve quickly. Calves’ brains are very good in the same way, or served with tomato sauce, or brown butter, as follows: Fry some parsley, but keep it as green as possible; also fry some butter till it is a good dark brown; add to this a spoonful of vinegar and a little salt and pepper. Dish the brains, with the fried parsley in the centre, and pour the butter sauce carefully round them (not over), and serve.

Sheep’s heads.—(a) Clean the head well, boil it 2 hours, remove the bones; egg and breadcrumb the meat; boil the brains in a piece of muslin ¼ hour, chop with a little parsley and onion, serve round the head; the tongue boiled and served in the dish or separately; or the tongue and brains may be sent in one dish, and the meat served with gravy.