The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) by Hugo Ziemann (ebook and pdf reader txt) 📕

Put it into a dripping-pan and pour over it a pint of hot water; turn a large pan over it to keep in the steam, and roast slowly from three to four hours, allowing a quarter of an hour to each pound of meat. If the meat should be tough, it may be stewed first in a pot, with water enough to cover it, until tender, and then put into a dripping-pan and browned in the oven.

If the meat is to be eaten hot, skim off the fat from the gravy, into which, after it is taken off the fire, stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs. If onions are disliked you may omit them and substitute minced oysters.

TENDERLOIN OF BEEF.

To serve tenderloin as directed below, the whole piece must be extracted before the hind-quarter of the animal is cut out. This must be particularly noted, because not commonly practiced, the tenderloin being usually left attached to the roasting pieces, in order to furnish a tidbit for a few. To dress it whole, proceed as follows: Washing the piece well, put it in an oven; add about a pint of water, and chop up a good handful of each of the following vegetables as an ingredient of the dish, viz., Irish potatoes, carrots, turnips and a large bunch of celery. They must be washed, peeled and chopped up raw, then added to the meat; blended with the juice, they form and flavor the gravy. Let the whole slowly simmer, and when nearly done, add a teaspoonful of pounded allspice. To give a richness to the gravy, put in a tablespoonful of butter. If the gravy should look too greasy, skim off some of the melted suet. Boil also a lean piece of beef, which, when perfectly done, chop fine, flavoring with a very small quantity of onion, besides pepper and salt to the taste. Make into small balls, wet them on the outside with eggs, roll in grated cracker or fine bread crumbs. Fry these force meat balls a light brown. When serving the dish, put these around the tenderloin, and pour over the whole the rich gravy. This dish is a very handsome one, and, altogether, fit for an epicurean palate. A sumptuous dish.

STEWED STEAK WITH OYSTERS.

Two pounds of rump steak, one pint of oysters, one tablespoonful of lemon juice, three of butter, one of flour, salt, pepper, one cupful of water. Wash the oysters in the water and drain into a stewpan. Put this liquor on to heat. As soon as it comes to a boil, skim and set back. Put the butter in a frying pan, and when hot, put in a steak. Cook ten minutes. Take up the steak, and stir the flour into the butter remaining in the pan. Stir until a dark brown. Add the oyster liquor and boil one minute. Season with salt and pepper. Put back the steak, cover the pan, and simmer half an hour or until the steak seems tender, then add the oysters and lemon juice. Boil one minute. Serve on a hot dish with points of toast for a garnish.

SMOTHERED BEEFSTEAK.

Take thin slices of steak from the upper part of the round or one large thin steak. Lay the meat out smoothly and wipe it dry. Prepare a dressing, using a cupful of fine bread crumbs, half a teaspoonful of salt, some pepper, a tablespoonful of butter, half a teaspoonful of sage, the same of powdered summer savory, and enough milk to moisten it all into a stiff mixture. Spread it over the meat, roll it up carefully, and tie with a string, securing the ends well. Now fry a few thin slices of salt pork in the bottom of a kettle or saucepan, and into the fat that has fried out of this pork, place this roll or rolls of beef, and brown it on all sides, turning it until a rich color all over, then add half a pint of water, and stew until tender. If the flavor of onion is liked, a slice may be chopped fine and added to the dressing. When cooked sufficiently, take out the meat, thicken the gravy, and turn over it. To be carved cutting crosswise, in slices, through beef and stuffing.

BEEFSTEAK ROLLS.

This mode is similar to the above recipe, but many might prefer it.

Prepare a good dressing, such as you like for turkey or duck; take a round steak, pound it, but not very hard, spread the dressing over it, sprinkle in a little salt, pepper, and a few bits of butter, lap over the ends, roll the steak up tightly and tie closely; spread two great spoonfuls of butter over the steak after rolling it up, then wash with a well-beaten egg, put water in the bake-pan, lay in the steak so as not to touch the water, and bake as you would a duck, basting often. A half-hour in a brisk oven will bake. Make a brown gravy and send to the table hot.

TO COLLAR A FLANK OF BEEF.

Procure a well-corned flank of beef—say six pounds. Wash it, and remove the inner and outer skin with the gristle. Prepare a seasoning of one teaspoonful each of sage, parsley, thyme, pepper and cloves. Lay your meat upon a board and spread this mixture over the inside. Roll the beef up tight, fasten it with small skewers, put a cloth over it, bandage the cloth with tape, put the beef into the stewpot, cover it with water to the depth of an inch, boil gently six hours; take it out of the water, place it on a board without undoing it; lay a board on top of the beef, put a fifty pound weight upon this board, and let it remain twenty-four hours. Take off the bandage, garnish with green pickles and curled parsley, and serve.

DRIED BEEF.

Buy the best of beef, or that part which will be the most lean and tender. The tender part of the round is a very good piece. For every twenty pounds of beef use one pint of salt, one teaspoonful of saltpetre, and a quarter of a pound of brown sugar. Mix them well together, and rub the beef well with one-third of the mixture for three successive days. Let it lie in the liquor it makes for six days, then hang up to dry.

A large crock or jar is a good vessel to prepare the meat in before drying it.

BEEF CORNED OR SALTED. (Red.)

Cut up a quarter of beef. For each hundred weight take half a peck of coarse salt, a quarter of a pound of saltpetre, the same weight of saleratus and a quart of molasses, or two pounds of coarse brown sugar. Mace, cloves and allspice may be added for spiced beef.

Strew some of the salt in the bottom of a pickle-tub or barrel, then put in a layer of meat, strew this with salt, then add another layer of meat, and salt and meat alternately, until all is used. Let it remain one night. Dissolve the saleratus and saltpetre in a little warm water, and put it to the molasses or sugar; then put it over the meat, add water enough to cover the meat, lay a board on it to keep it under the brine. The meat is fit for use after ten days. This recipe is for winter beef. Rather more salt may be used in warm weather.

Towards spring take the brine from the meat, make it boiling hot, skim it clear, and when it is cooled, return it to the meat.

Beef tongues and smoking pieces are fine pickled in this brine. Beef liver put in this brine for ten days, and then wiped dry and smoked, is very fine. Cut it in slices, and fry or broil it. The brisket of beef, after being corned, may be smoked, and is very good for boiling.

Lean pieces of beef, cut properly from the hind-quarter, are the proper pieces for being smoked. There may be some fine pieces cut from the fore-quarter.

After the beef has been in brine ten days or more, wipe it dry, and hang it in a chimney where wood is burned, or make a smothered fire of sawdust or chips, and keep it smoking for ten days; then rub fine black pepper over every part to keep the flies from it, and hang it in a dry, dark, cool place. After a week it is fit for use. A strong, coarse brown paper, folded around the beef, and fastened with paste, keeps it nicely.

Tongues are smoked in the same manner. Hang them by a string put through the root end. Spiced brine for smoked beef or tongues will be generally liked.

ROAST BEEF PIE WITH POTATO CRUST.

When you have a cold roast of beef, cut off as much as will half fill a baking-dish suited to the size of your family; put this sliced beef into a stewpan with any gravy that you may have also saved, a lump of butter, a bit of sliced onion and a seasoning of pepper and salt, with enough water to make plenty of gravy; thicken it, too, by dredging in a tablespoonful of flour; cover it up on the fire, where it may stew gently, but not be in danger of burning. Meanwhile there must be boiled a sufficient quantity of potatoes to fill up your baking-dish, after the stewed meat has been transferred to it. The potatoes must be boiled done, mashed smooth, and beaten up with milk and butter, as if they were to be served alone, and placed in a thick layer on top of the meat. Brush it over with egg, place the dish in an oven, and let it remain there long enough to be brown. There should be a goodly quantity of gravy left with the beef, that the dish be not dry and tasteless. Serve with it tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce or any other kind that you prefer. A good, plain dish.

ROAST BEEF PIE.

Cut up roast beef, or beefsteak left from a previous meal, into thin slices, lay some of the slices into a deep dish which you have lined on the sides with rich biscuit dough, rolled very thin (say a quarter of an inch thick); now sprinkle over this layer a little pepper and salt; put in a small bit of butter, a few slices of cold potatoes, a little of the cold gravy, if you have any left from the roast. Make another layer of beef, another layer of seasoning, and so on, until the dish is filled; cover the whole with paste leaving a slit in the centre, and bake half an hour.

BEEFSTEAK PIE.

Cut up rump or flank steak into strips two inches long and about an inch wide. Stew them with the bone, in just enough water to cover them, until partly cooked; have half a dozen of cold boiled potatoes sliced. Line a baking-dish with pie paste, put in a layer of the meat with salt, pepper, and a little of thinly-sliced onion, then one of the sliced potatoes, with bits of butter dotted over them. Then the steak, alternated with layers of potato, until the dish is full. Add the gravy or broth, having first thickened it with brown flour. Cover with a top crust, making a slit in the middle; brush a little beaten egg over it, and bake until quite brown.

FRIZZLED BEEF.

Shave off very thin slices of smoked or dried beef, put them in a frying pan, cover with cold water, set it on the back of the range or stove, and let it come to a very slow heat, allowing it time to swell out to its natural size, but not to