Serve it up in a tureen or deep dish, with a dish of boiled rice to eat with it.
A good East India receipt for curry-powder, is to pound, very fine, in a marble mortar, (made very clean,) six ounces of coriander seed, three quarters of an ounce of cayenne, one ounce and a half of foenugreek seed; one ounce of c.u.mmin seed, and three ounces of turmeric. These articles (all of which can be obtained at a druggist"s,) being pounded extremely fine, must be sifted through clean thin muslin, and spread on a dish, and laid before the fire for three hours, stirring them frequently. Keep this powder in a bottle with a gla.s.s stopper. It is used for giving an East Indian flavor to stews. The turmeric communicates a fine yellow color.
Boiled rice is always eaten with curry dishes.
Curry b.a.l.l.s for Mock Turtle, &c., are made of bread-crumbs, fresh b.u.t.ter, hard-boiled yolk of egg, chopped fine, a seasoning of curry powder, and some beaten raw egg, to make the mixture into b.a.l.l.s, about the size of a hickory-nut.
FRIED TRIPE.--Having boiled the tripe till perfectly tender all through; cut it into pieces three or four inches square. Make a batter of four beaten eggs, four table-spoonfuls of flour, and a pint of milk, seasoned with powdered nutmeg or mace. Have boiling in the frying-pan an ample quant.i.ty of the drippings of roast veal, or beef. Dip each piece of tripe twice into the batter; then lay it in the pan, and fry it brown.
Send it to table hot.
Tripe was long considered very indigestible. This, it is now found, was a mistake; physicians having discovered that it is quite the contrary, the gastric juice that it contained, as the stomach of the animal, rendering it singularly fitted for digestion, provided that it is thoroughly cooked; so that on trial, a fork can easily penetrate every part of it.
TONGUES.--Corned or salted tongues are very little in use now. They spoil so soon, that it is scarcely possible to obtain one that has not been salted too late; and when quite fresh, they have a faint, sickening, doubtful taste. It is best always to buy them dried and smoked. Choose the largest and plumpest, and with as smooth an outside or skin as you can. Put a tongue into soak the evening before it is to be cooked; changing the water at bed-time. In the morning wash it in fresh water. Trim off the root, which is an unsightly object, and never carved at table. But it may be cut into pieces, and added to pea-soup, or bean-soup, or pepper-pot. Put on the tongue in a large pot of cold water, and boil it steadily for five or six hours, till it is so tender that a straw, or a twig from a corn-broom, will easily penetrate it.
When you find that it is thoroughly done (and not till then) take it up.
A smoked tongue requires more boiling than a ham, and therefore is seldom sufficiently cooked. When quite done, peel it carefully, and keep it warm till dinner. If well-boiled, it will seem almost to melt in your mouth. When you dish it do not split it. The flavor is much injured by carving it lengthways, or in long pieces. It should be cut in round slices, not too thin.
For a large party we have seen two cold tongues on one dish. One of them whole--the root concealed entirely with double parsley, cut paper, or a bunch of flowers cut out of vegetables, very ingeniously, with a sharp penknife--the vegetables raw, of course not to be eaten. Red roses made of beets, white roses or camellias of turnips, marigolds of carrots, &c.
The stems are short wooden skewers, stuck into the flowers, and concealed by double parsley. These vegetable bouquets can be made to look very well, as ornaments to cold tongue, or to the end of the shank of a ham, or to stick into the centre of a cold round of a-la-mode beef.
Where there are two cold tongues on one dish, it is usual to split one to be helped lengthways, and garnish it with the other, cut into circular pieces, and laid handsomely round.
Cold tongue sliced is a great improvement to a chicken pie, or to any bird pie.
BAKED TONGUE.--Having soaked a fine large smoked tongue all night, in the morning trim it nicely, and if it still seems hard, soak it again in fresh cold water till it is time to cook it. Then put it into a deep dish, (having trimmed off the root,) and make a coa.r.s.e paste of flour and water. Cut up the roots into little bits, and lay them round and about the tongue, to enrich the gravy. Lay all along the surface some bits of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, and season with a little pepper--no salt. Pour in a very little water, and cover the dish with the coa.r.s.e paste. Bake it till the tongue is very tender. This you may ascertain by raising up with a knife one corner of the paste and trying the tongue.
When done, peel it, dish it, strain the gravy over the tongue, and send it to table. Garnish with baked tomatos, or mushrooms, or large roasted chestnuts peeled.
For a large company have two baked tongues, one at each end of the table. Eat them warm.
LARDED TONGUE.--Take a large cold tongue, that has been well boiled.
Trim off the roots. Have ready some slips of the fat of cold boiled ham, cut into long thin pieces, about as thick as straws. With a larding needle, draw them through the outside of the tongue, and leave them there. Arrange the borders in rows, or handsome regular forms, leaving about an inch standing up on the surface.
Cold meat or poultry is far better for larding than that which is yet to cook.
TONGUE TOAST.--Make some slices of nice toast, not very thick, but browned evenly all over, on both sides. Trim off the whole of the crust.
b.u.t.ter the toast slightly. Grate, with a large grater plenty of cold tongue, and spread it thickly over the toast. Lay the slices side by side, on a large dish--not one slice on the top of another.
Serve them up at breakfast, luncheon, or supper.
HAM TOAST--Is prepared in the same manner, of grated cold ham spread on slices of b.u.t.tered toast.
SANDWICHES--Are slices of cold ham, or tongue, _cut very thin_, and laid between thin slices of b.u.t.tered bread. The meat may be seasoned with French mustard. Roll them up nicely. There are silver cases made to contain sandwiches to eat on the road when traveling.
Sandwiches for traveling may be made of the _lean_ of cold beef, (roast or boiled,) cut very thin, seasoned with French mustard, and laid between two slices of bread and b.u.t.ter.
MUTTON.
MUTTON.--If mutton is good it is of a fine grain; the lean is of a bright red color, and the fat firm and white. Unless there is plenty of fat the lean will not be good; and so it is with all meat. If the lean is of a very dark red, and coa.r.s.e and hard, and the fat yellowish and spongy, the mutton is old, tough, and strong. Therefore, do not buy it.
If there is any dark or blackish tint about the meat, it is tainted, and of course unwholesome. If kept till it acquires what the English call venison taste, Americans will very properly refuse to eat it.
We give no directions for disguising spoilt meat. It should be thrown away. Nothing is fit to eat in which decomposition is commencing.
BOILED LOIN OF MUTTON.--A good loin of mutton is always very fat, so that in cooking it is well to remove or pare off a portion of the outside fat. Unlike most other meats, mutton is the better for being boiled in soup. Put it into a large pot; allow to every pound a quart of water. Boil it slowly and skim it well, adding the vegetables when the sc.u.m has done rising. The vegetables should be sliced turnips, potatos, and grated carrots. Have ready plenty of suet dumplings, in the proportion of half a pound of finely minced suet to a pound and a quarter of flour. Rub the suet into the pan of flour, and use as little water as possible in mixing the dough. Make it into thick dumplings, rather larger round than a dollar. Boil them in a pot by themselves, till thoroughly done. Serve up the meat with the dumplings round it. Or put the dumplings in a dish by themselves, and surround the meat with whole turnips. This is an excellent plain dish for a private family.
Serve up pickles with it.
SAUCE FOR BOILED MUTTON.--This particularly applies to mutton that has been boiled in soup, and which is so very generally liked, that it is served up on tables where soup-meat of beef and veal is considered inadmissible. To make a suitable sauce to eat with it--take two or three large boiled onions; slice them and put them into a sauce-pan, with a piece of fresh b.u.t.ter slightly rolled in flour, a table-spoonful of _made_ mustard. French mustard will be best; or, for want of that, two table-spoonfuls of strong tarragon vinegar, and a half-salt-spoon of cayenne, and some pickled cuc.u.mbers chopped, but not minced. Green nasturtion seeds will be still better than cuc.u.mbers. Put these ingredients into a small sauce-pan, adding to them a little of the mutton soup. Set this sauce over the fire, and when it simmers well, take it off, put into a sauce-boat, and keep it hot till the mutton goes to table.
To keep nasturtions--take the full-grown green seeds, and put them into a large bottle of the best _cider_ vinegar, corking them closely. They require nothing more, and are far superior to capers.
BOILED LEG OF MUTTON.--After nicely tr.i.m.m.i.n.g a middle-sized leg of mutton, wash, but do not soak it. Put it into a pot that will hold it well, and pour on rather more water than is sufficient to cover it. Set it over a good fire, and skim it as soon as it begins to boil, and continue till no more sc.u.m appears; having thrown in a small table-spoonful of salt after the first skimming. After the liquid is clear, put in some turnips, pared, and, if large, divided into four pieces. Afterwards it should boil slowly, or simmer gently for about two hours or more. Send to table with it caper sauce; or nasturtion, which is still better. Eat it with any sort of green pickles. Pickles and turnips seem indispensable to boiled mutton. Do not mash the turnips, but let them be well drained.
Setting boiled turnips in the sun will give them an unpleasant taste.
Tarragon sauce is excellent with boiled mutton.
MUTTON STEAKS STEWED.--Take some tender mutton steaks, cut from the leg.
Beat them a little with a rolling pin, and season them with pepper and salt. Put them into a stew-pan with sliced potatos, sliced turnips, sliced onions, sliced or grated carrots, and sweet marjoram leaves stripped from the stalks. Pour in just sufficient water to cover the stew, and let it cook slowly till it is tender and well done. Serve it up hot in a deep dish, with a cover. A table-spoonful of tarragon mustard will improve the stew.
When tomatos are in season, you can stew mutton or any other meat with tomatos only--no water. Having prepared the meat, and laid it in the stew-pan, cover it with tomatos, peeled and quartered. Add some sugar to take off a portion of their acid, and a chopped onion. No water, as the meat will cook in the liquid of the tomatos. They must stew till thoroughly dissolved.
Tender-loin beef steaks--or veal cutlets, may be stewed as above.
MUTTON CHOPS BROILED.--The best steaks are those cut from the loin, about half an inch thick. Divest them of the bone, and remove the skin and fat. Then b.u.t.ter them slightly all over, before cooking. This will be found an improvement. The French go over them with salad oil, which is still better. Sprinkle on them a little pepper and salt. Having heated the gridiron well over a bed of very hot live coals, place it somewhat aslant, grease its bars with a little of the mutton suet, and lay on the steaks and broil them well; turning them three or four times, and seeing that they are not scorched or burnt on the outside, and red or raw when cut. Turn them with a knife and fork, or with steak-tongs, an instrument with which every kitchen should be furnished. To cook them well requires a clear glowing fire, without blaze or smoke. They should be done in about a quarter of an hour. When you take them up, turn them on a well-heated dish, and pour their gravy over them.
If onions are liked, mince one as fine as possible, and strew it over the steaks while broiling; or, boil and slice some onions, mix some b.u.t.ter among them, season them with pepper, and a little powdered mace or nutmeg, and serve them up with the meat on the same dish, or in a sauce-boat.
MUTTON CHOPS WITH TOMATOS.--Broil some mutton steaks in the above manner, and have ready some baked tomatos. When the steaks are dished, lay on each a large baked tomato with the face downward, or cover each steak with stewed tomato sauce. For baking, take fine ripe tomatos of the largest size. Cut out a piece from the stem end, and extract the seeds. Then stuff each tomato with grated bread-crumbs, b.u.t.ter, and minced sweet marjoram, or finely minced onion. If you have any cold veal or chicken, add a little of that to the stuffing, mincing it, of course.
Bake them in a dish by themselves.
Or, you may send the steaks to table with a slice of fried egg-plant laid upon each; b.u.t.tered, and sprinkled with bread-crumbs.
MUTTON STEAKS FRIED.--Make a nice batter of grated bread-crumbs, milk and beaten egg, and put it in a shallow pan. Prepare some fine steaks cut from the loin, divested of fat, and with the bone cut short. Have ready, in a hot frying-pan, some fresh b.u.t.ter or drippings. Dip each steak twice over in the batter, then fry them brown. Send them to table very hot.