[Sidenote: Thickness.]
[Sidenote: Sauces.]
The difference between a thick and a thin steak is particularly marked--the former seems like an altogether different dish from the latter. Some may like their steak well done, but it is not a taste to be commended. A perfect steak should be cut one and a half inches thick, and cooked so that on both sides it has a crust one eighth of an inch thick of browned meat, the rest being an even red color. It should be puffed and elastic from the confined steam of the juices. When the steak is over-cooked the steam and the juices have escaped, leaving the meat dry and tasteless. The three best sauces which are served with steak are first the maitre d"hotel and then the Bearnaise and mushroom sauces. Tough beefsteaks can be made more tender by pounding them; but a better way is to brush them on both sides with a mixture of one tablespoonful of vinegar and two tablespoonfuls of oil or melted b.u.t.ter. The steak should then stand two or more hours before being cooked.
It is the fiber of meat which makes it tough, and this fiber is soluble in acetic acid, which is found in vinegar. Broiling under the coals is better than over them when possible, as all smoke is then avoided.
=TO BROIL A BEEFSTEAK=
Time: one inch thick, eight minutes; one and a half inches thick, ten minutes.
Trim a steak into good shape, taking off the end-piece to be used in some other form, as it is not eatable when broiled; take off superfluous fat; make the surface smooth by striking it with the broad blade of knife; heat the broiler very hot. Take a piece of the fat, trimmed off the meat, on a fork and grease the broiler well; lay on the steak with the outside or skin edge toward the handle, so the fat may run on the meat. Place it close to the hot coals and count ten slowly; turn it and do the same; this is to sear the outside and keep the juices in; then hold it farther from the coals to cook more slowly, and turn it as often as you count ten, counting about as fast as the clock ticks. If turned in this way very little fat will run into the fire, and it also cooks slowly, giving an even color all through. The flame from fat does not injure the meat, but the smoke must be avoided. Wrap a napkin around the hand holding the broiler to protect it from the heat. A steak ought not to be less than an inch, but should be one and a half to one and three quarters inches thick. Allow eight to ten minutes for cooking according to the thickness. One two inches thick will take fourteen to eighteen minutes. A steak should be rare but not raw, should have a uniform red color, and be full of juice.
When done it will be puffed between the wires of broiler, and will offer a little resistance to the touch. If experience does not enable one to judge in this way, remove the broiler to a dish on the table, and make a small clean cut on one side. Do not at any time pierce the meat with a fork. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and spread with maitre d"hotel b.u.t.ter. If the steak has to stand a few minutes before serving, which should be avoided if possible, dredge it at once with salt and pepper, but do not spread with the maitre d"hotel b.u.t.ter until just before sending it to the table. The heat of the meat must melt the b.u.t.ter, and the parsley should look fresh and bright. Steak, as well as all broiled articles, should be garnished with slices of lemon and with water-cress.
Fried potato-b.a.l.l.s, straws, puffed, or Saratoga potatoes may be served on the same dish.
=CHATEAUBRIAND=
The Chateaubriand is cut from the center of the fillet; but a good subst.i.tute is a tenderloin steak cut two inches thick, the bone removed, and the meat then turned so as to make a circle. Flatten it by striking with broad blade of knife or a cleaver. Broil slowly as directed above for eighteen minutes. Serve with maitre d"hotel b.u.t.ter, mushroom, or olive sauce, placing the mushrooms or olives on top of the steak, the sauce under it. (See ill.u.s.tration facing page 152.)
The Chateaubriand may also be roasted or braised.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A BONED TENDERLOIN STEAK MADE TO IMITATE A CHATEAUBRIAND GARNISHED WITH WATER-CRESS AND LEMON. (SEE PAGE 157.)]
=MIGNON FILLETS=
Cut slices from the end of the fillet of beef about five eighths of an inch thick. Press and trim them into circles; dredge with salt and pepper; saute them in b.u.t.ter; spread Bearnaise sauce on a hot dish, and lay the mignon fillets on it, or lay the fillets on croutons of the same size as the fillet, and place on top of each one a small spoonful of peas, string-beans, or macedoine of vegetables.
=CORNED BEEF=
Put corned beef into cold water; using enough to cover it well; let it come slowly to the boiling-point; then place where it will simmer only; allow thirty minutes or more to each pound. It is improved by adding a few soup vegetables the last hour of cooking. A piece from the round is the best cut, and should have a layer of fat. If cooked very slowly as directed, it will be tender and juicy.
If the piece can be used a second time, trim it to good shape; place it again in the water in which it was boiled; let it get heated through; then set aside to cool in the water and under pressure, a plate or deep dish holding a flat-iron being set on top of the meat. The water need not rise above the meat sufficiently to wet the iron. When cooled under pressure the meat is more firm and cuts better into slices.
Cabbage is usually served with hot corned beef, but should not be boiled with it. The receipt given on page 212 is recommended, and if that method is followed, there will be no odor from the cooking, and the objection to this very good dish will be removed.
=CORNED BEEF HASH=
Chop cooked corned beef, using some of the fat. Do not make it too fine; chop some cold boiled potatoes (not fine); mix the two together in equal proportions; season with salt, pepper, and onion juice, if liked.
Put a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter in a frying-pan with as much milk, stock, or hot water as will be required to moisten the hash; add the chopped meat and potatoes; mix them together with care to not mash the potatoes; cover and cook slowly for half an hour, or until a crust has formed on the bottom of the pan; then turn it on to a hot dish, like an omelet.
Hash should not be like mush, but the meat and potato quite distinct, and as both ingredients have been already cooked they need only to be well heated and incorporated with the seasoning.
=HASH=
Unless for brown hash, or corned beef hash, potato is not used. Chop the meat to a fine mince. Put a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter into a frying-pan with one slice of onion; remove the onion when cooked, and add one tablespoonful of flour, and let it brown, thus making a brown roux, if the hash is to be made of beef or mutton. Do not let it brown if it is to be used for veal or chicken hash. To the brown roux add slowly a cupful of stock or hot water; then a cupful and a half of minced meat; season with salt and pepper; stir until well incorporated, and serve at once on toast. To a white roux add slowly a cupful of milk; then add one and a half cupfuls of veal or chicken chopped fine; season with salt and pepper. Cut toast into large circles with a biscuit-cutter. Spread them with a thick layer of mince, and on this place a poached egg, neatly trimmed to the same size as the toast. It can be cut with the same cutter, or it may be poached in a m.u.f.fin-ring (see page 263).
Put a dash of pepper on the center of yolk. Garnish with parsley. This makes a very presentable breakfast or luncheon dish.
=BROWN HASH=
Cut lean meat into small dice; cut also cold boiled potatoes into dice of the same size; mix them together, and place in a small baking-pan; dredge with salt and pepper, and dot plentifully with bits of b.u.t.ter.
Put into hot oven to brown; stir them often so all sides will brown alike, and do not let them become too dry.
=MARROW-BONES=
Have the bones cut into pieces two or three inches long; sc.r.a.pe and wash them very clean; spread a little thick dough on each end to keep the marrow in; then tie each bone in a piece of cloth and boil them for one hour. Remove the cloth and paste, and place each bone on a square of toast; sprinkle with red pepper and serve very hot. Or the marrow-bone can be boiled without being cut, the marrow then removed with a spoon and placed on squares of hot toast. Serve for luncheon. (See ill.u.s.tration facing page 152.)
[Ill.u.s.tration: MARROW-BONES SERVED ON ROUND SLICES OF TOAST. (SEE PAGE 159.)]
MUTTON
[Sidenote: The cuts and cooking of Mutton.]
Mutton should be hung for some days before being used. The leg may be either boiled or roasted; the saddle always roasted; the shoulder boned, stuffed and roasted; the chops broiled, and the neck stewed. Except where it is stewed, mutton should be cooked rare. Mrs. Brugiere recommends pounding the leg of mutton before cooking it. The roasted leg or the saddle are the only forms of mutton permissible to serve at a ceremonious dinner. The strong taste of mutton is in the fat. Therefore trim off a part of the fat from the outside, and when baking it in the oven set the joint on a rack in the pan, so it will not cook in the fat.
[Sidenote: Vegetables to serve with Mutton.]
[Sidenote: Anecdote of Charles Lamb.]
Certain vegetables have by experience been found to go well with certain meats. Of these turnips have been established as the accompaniment of mutton. This has been amusingly emphasized by an anecdote told of Charles Lamb. On an occasion when riding in a stage coach, he was much annoyed by a Scotch farmer, who was a fellow pa.s.senger, asking him questions about the crops. "And pray, sir," asked the farmer, "how are turnips t" year?" "Why," stammered Lamb, "that will depend upon the boiled legs of mutton."
Turnips and carrots cut into dice, boiled separately, then mixed and covered with white sauce, also make a good vegetable dish for boiled mutton. Caper sauce is always served with it.
Another anecdote is given as a suggestion for an expedient in case the mutton is too underdone (boiled mutton should be red, but not black). An English n.o.bleman, on being shown a Dutch picture representing a man in a pa.s.sion with his wife because the mutton was underdone, exclaimed, "What a fool the fellow is not to see that he may have a capital broil."
With roasted mutton may be served baked turnips stuffed with seasoned bread-crumbs soaked in cream. It is a Russian dish.
Bananas cut in two, rolled in egg and crumbs, and fried like croquettes, are also recommended for roast mutton. Mint sauce and green peas are usually served with spring lamb.
=ROAST LEG OF MUTTON=
Time ten minutes per pound (rare); fifteen minutes per pound (moderately well done).
Cut the bone short, place in a hot oven for twenty minutes; then add one cupful of hot water; baste frequently. Allow ten minutes to the pound for cooking rare. When ready to serve conceal the bone with a frill of paper, or a few leaves of parsley.