Such common dishes as ham and eggs, bacon or salt pork and eggs, and omelette with minced ham or other meat are familiar to all cooks.

ROAST BEEF WITH YORKSHIRE PUDDING

The beef is roasted as usual and the pudding made as follows:

3 eggs.

1 pint milk.

1 cupful flour.

1 teaspoonful salt.

Beat the eggs until very light, then add the milk. Pour the mixture over the flour, add the salt, and beat well. Bake in hissing hot gem pans or in an ordinary baking pan for forty-five minutes, and baste with drippings from the beef. If gem pans are used they should be placed on a dripping pan to protect the floor of the oven from the fat. Many cooks prefer to bake Yorkshire pudding in the pan with the meat; in this case the roast should be placed on a rack and the pudding batter poured on the pan under it.

CORNED-BEEF HASH WITH POACHED EGGS

A dish popular with many persons is corned-beef hash with poached eggs on top of the hash. A slice of toast is sometimes used under the hash.

This suggests a way of utilizing the small amount of corned-beef hash which would otherwise be insufficient for a meal.

Housekeepers occasionally use up odd bits of other meat in a similar way, chopping and seasoning them and then warming and serving in individual baking cups with a poached or shirred egg on each.

STUFFING

Another popular way to extend the flavor of meat over a large amount of food is by the use of stuffing. As it is impossible to introduce much stuffing into some pieces of meat even if the meat is cut to make a pocket for it, it is often well to prepare more than can be put into the meat and to cook the remainder in the pan beside the meat. Some cooks cover the extra stuffing with b.u.t.tered paper while it is cooking and baste it at intervals.

MOCK DUCK

Mock duck is made by placing on a round steak a stuffing of bread crumbs well seasoned with chopped onions, b.u.t.ter, chopped suet or dripping, salt, pepper, and a little sage, if the flavor is relished. The steak is then rolled around the stuffing and tied with a string in several places. If the steak seems tough, the roll is steamed or stewed until tender before roasting in the oven until brown. Or it may be cooked in a ca.s.serole or other covered dish, in which case a cupful or more of water or soup-stock should be poured around the meat. Mock duck is excellent served with currant or other acid jelly.

VEAL OR BEEF BIRDS

A popular dish known as veal or beef birds or by a variety of special names is made by taking small pieces of meat, each just large enough for an individual serving, and preparing them in the same way as the mock duck is prepared.

Sometimes variety is introduced by seasoning the stuffing with chopped olives or tomato. Many cooks prepare their "birds" by browning in a little fat, then adding a little water, covering closely and simmering until tender.

UTILIZING THE CHEAPER CUTS OF MEAT

When the housekeeper attempts to reduce her meat bill by using the less expensive cuts, she commonly has two difficulties to contend with--toughness and lack of flavor. It has been shown how prolonged cooking softens the connective tissues of the meat. Pounding the meat and chopping it are also employed with tough cuts, as they help to break the muscle fibers. As for flavor, the natural flavor of meat even in the least desirable cuts may be developed by careful cooking, notably by browning the surface, and other flavors may be given by the addition of vegetables and seasoning with condiments of various kinds.

CHAPTER XIV

RECIPES FOR MEAT DISHES

Prolonged Cooking at Low Heat--Stewed Shin of Beef--Boiled Beef with Horseradish Sauce--Stuffed Heart--Braised Beef, Pot Roast, and Beef a la Mode--Hungarian Goulash--Ca.s.serole Cookery--Meat Cooked with Vinegar--Sour Beef--Sour Beefsteak--Pounded Meat--Farmer Stew--Spanish Beefsteak--Chopped Meat--Savory Rolls--Developing Flavor of Meat--Retaining Natural Flavor--Round Steak on Biscuits--Flavor of Browned Meat or Fat--Salt Pork with Milk Gravy--"Salt-Fish Dinner"--Sauces--Mock Venison.

PROLONGED COOKING AT LOW HEAT

Meat may be cooked in water in a number of ways without being allowed to reach the boiling point. With the ordinary kitchen range this is accomplished by cooking on the cooler part of the stove rather than on the hottest part, directly over the fire. Experience with a gas stove, particularly if it has a small burner known as a "simmerer," usually enables the cook to maintain temperatures which are high enough to sterilize the meat if it has become accidentally contaminated in any way and to make it tender without hardening the fibers. The double boiler would seem to be a neglected utensil for this purpose. Its contents can easily be kept up to a temperature of 200 degrees F., and nothing will burn. Another method is by means of the fireless cooker. In this a high temperature can be maintained for a long time without the application of fresh heat. Still another method is by means of a closely covered baking dish. Earthenware dishes of this kind suitable for serving foods as well as for cooking are known as ca.s.seroles. For cooking purposes a baking dish covered with a plate or a bean jar covered with a saucer may be subst.i.tuted. The Aladdin oven has long been popular for the purpose of preserving temperatures which are near the boiling point and yet do not reach it. It is a thoroughly insulated oven which may be heated either by a kerosene lamp or a gas jet.

In this connection directions are given for using some of the toughest and less promising pieces of meat.

STEWED SHIN OF BEEF

4 pounds of shin of beef.

1 medium-sized onion.

1 whole clove and a small bay leaf.

1 sprig of parsley.

1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of flour.

1 small slice of carrot.

1/2 tablespoonful of salt.

1/2 teaspoonful of pepper.

2 quarts of boiling water.

1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter or savory drippings.

Have the butcher cut the bone in several pieces. Put all the ingredients but the flour and b.u.t.ter into a stewpan and bring to a boil. Set the pan where the liquid will just simmer for six hours, or after boiling for five or ten minutes, put all into the fireless cooker for eight or nine hours. With the b.u.t.ter, flour, and one-half cupful of the clear soup from which the fat has been removed, snake a brown sauce (see p. 39); to this add the meat and the marrow removed from the bone. Heat and serve.

The remainder of the liquid in which the meat has been cooked may be used for soup.

BOILED BEEF WITH HORSERADISH SAUCE

Plain boiled beef may also be served with horseradish sauce, and makes a palatable dish. A little chopped parsley sprinkled over the meat when served is considered an improvement by many persons. For the sake of variety the meat may be browned like pot roast before serving.

STUFFED HEART

Wash the heart thoroughly inside and out, stuff with the following mixture, and sew up the opening: One cup broken bread dipped in fat and browned in the oven, 1 chopped onion, and salt and pepper to taste.

Cover the heart with water and simmer until tender or boil ten minutes and set in the fireless cooker for six or eight hours. Remove from the water about one-half hour before serving. Dredge with flour, pepper, and salt, or sprinkle with crumbs and bake until brown.

BRAISED BEEF, POT ROAST, AND BEEF A LA MODE

The above names are given to dishes made from the less tender cuts of meat They vary little either in composition or method of preparation. In all cases the meat is browned on the outside to increase the flavor and then cooked in a small amount of water in a closely covered kettle or other receptable until tender. The flavor of the dish is secured by browning the meat and by the addition of the seasoning vegetables. Many recipes suggest that the vegetables be removed before serving and the liquid be thickened. As the vegetables are usually extremely well seasoned by means of the brown fat and the extracts of the meat, it seems unfortunate not to serve them.

Of course, the kind, quality, and shape of the meat all play their part in the matter. Extra time is needed for meats with a good deal of sinew and tough fibers, such as the tough steaks, shank cuts, etc.; and naturally a fillet of beef, or a steak from a prime cut, will take less time than a thick piece from the shin. Such dishes require more time and perhaps more skill in their preparation and may involve more expense for fuel than the more costly cuts, which like chops or tender steaks may be quickly cooked, but to the epicure, as well as to the average man, they are palatable when rightly prepared.

HUNGARIAN GOULASH