LESSON LXIV

BEEF: METHODS OF COOKING TOUGH CUTS (C)

ROLLED BEEFSTEAK

1 pound round steak 1 cupful soft bread crumbs 1/8 teaspoonful ground cloves Pepper 1/2 teaspoonful salt 1 small onion, chopped Hot water or milk, salt, pepper, flour and fat

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 57.--RUMP.]

Cut round steak of 1/2 inch thickness into pieces 3 by 4 inches. Make a stuffing of the bread crumbs, chopped onions, cloves, salt, pepper, with enough hot water or milk to moisten. Spread the stuffing over the pieces of steak, roll up each piece and tie it with a piece of string, or skewer it with toothpicks. Dredge generously with flour and add salt and pepper.

Brown in beef drippings or other fat, cover with boiling water, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Remove the strings or toothpicks, and serve the meat with the sauce in which it was cooked.

If the meat has not been cut thin enough, it may be pounded with a wooden potato masher or mallet to make it sufficiently thin.

BEEF STEW

2 pounds beef 1/4 cupful flour 2 teaspoonfuls salt 1/8 teaspoonful pepper 1 onion cut into slices 1 quart hot water 2 carrots, cut in dice 1 turnip, cut in dice 4 potatoes, cut in dice 1 tablespoonful kitchen bouquet

Remove the fat from the meat to be stewed; cut the meat into 1-inch pieces. Dredge the meat with the flour; add the salt and pepper. Try out the fat in a frying pan; remove the sc.r.a.ps. Brown the onion and then the meat in the hot fat. Add the hot water and pieces of bone and cook in the frying pan for 2 hours at a low temperature; or turn into a double boiler and cook for the same length of time. Add vegetables, except potatoes, and cook for I hour longer; add the potatoes 1/2 hour before the stew is done.

If desired, more flour,--mixed with enough cold water to pour easily,--may be added when the potatoes are added. Remove the bone, add kitchen bouquet, and serve.

THICKENING THE SAUCE OF MEAT COOKED IN WATER.--When meat is dipped in flour, then browned in fat, and finally cooked in water, the flour thickens the water and forms a sauce around the meat. Usually, however, more flour needs to be added to the sauce to make it sufficiently thick.

Sometimes directions for adding a flour-and-water paste to the hot meat stock are given, but unless the flour-and-water paste is cooked for some time (boiled for 5 minutes at least) the sauce does not have a pleasing flavor. This is because the starch is insufficiently cooked or the flour is not browned. It has been found much more satisfactory to sprinkle a little extra flour into the hot fat while browning the floured meat. Thus the sauce is made smooth, and the starch cooked thoroughly by the time the sauce is ready to serve.

QUESTIONS

If round steak has been cut too thick for rolling, what is a practical way of making it of one half inch thickness?

For what purpose is rolled steak browned in fat before cooking in water?

Explain why the rolled steak is cooked in water at simmering rather than at boiling temperature.

What is the purpose of dredging these meats in flour?

Why are not the vegetables added to the Beef Stew when the boiling water is added? Why are not the potatoes added with the other vegetables?

Why is the bone added to the Beef Stew?

Name at least two cuts of beef that would be suitable for Beef Stew. What are the prices per pound of these cuts?

LESSON LXV

BEEF: METHODS OF COOKING TOUGH CUTS (D)

SWISS STEAK

1 1/2 pounds round steak, cut 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick 1/2 to 1 cupful flour Suet or bacon fat 1/2 onion, sliced 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls salt Dash pepper

With the edge of a saucer, pound the flour into both sides of the steak.

In a frying pan, put the suet or bacon fat and brown the onion in it. Then brown both sides of the floured meat in the fat. Cover with boiling water and let the meat cook at simmering temperature either on top of the range or in the oven from 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until it is tender. Add enough salt and pepper to season the meat. If necessary, evaporate the sauce around the meat until it is of sufficient thickness to serve as Brown Sauce. Serve the meat and sauce hot.

If desired, the meat may be stewed in tomato juice instead of water. (If tomato is added, what kind of frying pan (_i.e._ of what material) should be used in cooking the meat? See _Suggestions for Cooking Fruits._)

This variation may also be made: One half green pepper may be chopped and sprinkled over the surface of the steak while the latter is simmering. The onion may be omitted, if desired.

POT ROAST

3 pounds beef Flour Salt pork or suet 1/2 bay leaf 6 peppercorns Salt and pepper 1/4 cupful each,--diced carrot, turnip, onion, and celery

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 58.--CROSS RIB, BOSTON CUT, OR ENGLISH CUT]

Try out the fat and remove the sc.r.a.ps. Dredge the meat generously with flour and brown the entire surface in the fat. Place the meat on a rack in the kettle; surround it with the vegetables and spices, and season it with salt and pepper. Add 3 cupfuls of boiling water; cover closely and simmer for 4 hours. Turn after the second hour. Serve hot both the meat and the sauce containing vegetables.

NOTE--This meat may be saved and used in the following lesson regarding the uses of cooked beef

[Ill.u.s.tration: Courtesy of _Bureau of Publications_ Teachers College FIGURE 59--SKIRT STEAK, FLANK STEAK.]

SUMMARY OF THE METHODS OF COOKING TOUGH CUTS OF MEAT--There are many recipes for cooking meats All, however, are modifications of a few methods. Moist heat must be applied to tough cuts of meat (see _Tough Cuts of Beef_) The methods of cooking such cuts can be summed up as follows

1 _Soup-making_--Soak meat, bone, and fat in cold salted water, and then cook below boiling temperature in the water.

2. "_Boiling" or Stewing_.--Plunge meat into boiling water; boil until well seared; then cook in water below the boiling temperature.

3. _Pot-roasting and Braising_.--Sear meat by boiling or browning in fat, then cook in steam. If the cooking is done on the top of the range, it is called pot-roasting. If it is done in the oven, it is called braising.

QUESTIONS

What is the chief difference between pot-roasting and braising?

Why is it not necessary to baste meats cooked by these methods?

What is the difference between braising and roasting meats (see _Roasting_)? Why is braising suitable for tough cuts, and roasting for tender cuts (see Experiments 51 and 52)?

Name at least three cuts of meat suitable for pot roasts. Give the price per pound of each.

LESSON LXVI

BEEF: USES OF COOKED BEEF