Valuable cooking receipts

Fillet of Beef.—Cut the fillet (tenderloin) out of a sirloin of beef; trim off the fat and the sack or skin, and lard it with fat pork cut into narrow strips two inches long. Put each strip of pork (or bacon) into a larding-needle, and with the point of your needle take up as much flesh as will hold the strip of pork, allowing about half an inch of each end exposed after removing the needle; repeat this process as neatly and as evenly as possible and at equal distances until finished. Rub a little sweet oil and salt over the fillet; set it one side a few minutes while you prepare the roasting (baking) pan for it.

Chop up into small pieces a few beef or veal bones, and cover the bottom of your pan with them. Add three slices of bacon, two carrots, two onions, and one turnip sliced, with a pint of stock. Season with salt, bruised whole peppers, a bay-leaf, a few cloves, and a blade of mace. Place the fillet in the pan with the larded side up. Moisten it with a wineglassful of vinegar, and bake. When done remove the fillet, add a tablespoonful of Barlow’s prepared flour and a glass of sherry or port to the pan, mix, and strain the sauce on to the fillet. Chop up half a dozen button-mushrooms, sprinkle over the meat, and serve.

Beef a la Mode.—Take three pounds of fresh rump of beef; remove the fat and sinews. Cut fat bacon into long strips and lard the meat with it through and through. Mix together a few cloves, mace, allspice, whole peppers, salt-spoonful of cayenne, a tablespoonful of powdered herbs, and a clove of garlic, with half a pint of vinegar. Put the meat into an earthen crock or deep stew-pan, with a thin piece of bacon under it; add the vinegar and seasoning and a pint of stock, with a walnut of butter rolled in flour. Cover the crock and simmer gently until done. When preferred vegetables may be added and served with the beef, allowing plenty of stock or water for them to boil nicely.

Beef Stew.—Take a three pound piece of rump of beef; remove the bone, bind it up tight, and put it in a pot or stew-pan that will just hold it. Season with ground spices. Fry two large onions sliced, and add them to it, with two carrots, two turnips, a few cloves, a blade of mace, a head of celery, and a potato quartered; add stock enough to cover the meat. Simmer as gently as possible until quite tender. Remove the fat, take out the meat, and add half a pint of port, a wineglassful of vinegar, a tablespoonful Worcestershire sauce to the gravy; strain over the meat, and serve with a garnish of assorted vegetables arranged neatly around the dish.

Beefsteak Pie.—Cover the sides of a raised pie-mould with butter, and put a lining of paste made in the following manner neatly into it: Chop a quarter of a pound of suet; put it into a stew-pan with the same quantity of butter and a pint of water. When boiling pass them through a sieve into two pounds of flour, and stir it with a spoon until cold. When the paste is quite smooth roll it out and it is ready for the lining. Cut up two pounds of round or rump steak into pieces about two inches square; dust them with flour; season with parsley, salt, and pepper; lay them round the mould; fill it with alternate layers of potatoes cut into quarters, and meat. Make a lid for the mould with some of the paste, brush it over with beaten egg, and bake three hours. Put an ornamental centre to the cover, that it may be more easily raised to throw in some gravy as soon as it is baked.

Calf’s Head.—The first thing to do on receiving a calf’s head is to remove the brains, throw them into cold water for an hour, drain, then boil them in salt and water for twenty minutes, and set them aside.

Put the head into cold water and wash it well, and leave it there to draw out the blood for an hour; then take it out and dry it well with a towel.

Bone a calf’s head in the following manner: Place the calf’s head on the table with the front part of the head facing you; draw the sharp point of a knife from the back part of the head right down to the nose, making an incision down to the bone of the skull; then with the knife clear the scalp and cheeks from the bones right and left, always keeping the point of the knife close to the bone. If you have not previously removed the brains, chop the head in two and remove them as carefully as possible.

When the head has been boned wash it well, wipe it with a clean cloth, season the inside with salt and pepper, roll it up with the tongue, tie it up, and blanch it in hot water for ten minutes; then put it into cold water a few minutes, wipe it dry, and set it aside until wanted.

Fried Calf’s Head.—Cut the prepared calf’s head into pieces two inches wide; lay them for three hours in a pickle made of two tablespoonfuls of lemon-juice, a wineglassful of Rhine wine, salt and pepper, and a pinch of mace. Take them out, drain them, and dip each piece in egg-batter; roll in cracker-dust, fry in hot fat, and send to table with sauce tartare.

Sauce Tartare.—Mince two small English pickles, one-fourth of an onion, and a few sprigs of parsley together. Add them to three tablespoonfuls of mayonnaise sauce, and the juice of half a lemon. Mix and serve (see mayonnaise sauce). A few tarragon leaves will improve the sauce.

Calf’s Head, Maitre d’Hotel.—Cut up your prepared calf’s head into neat slices, and simmer gently for two hours; take out the pieces of meat, place on a hot dish, and cover them with Maitre d’Hotel sauce; garnish with parsley.

Calf’s Head Broiled.—Cut up a prepared calf’s head into pieces quite three inches wide; place them in a saucepan, cover with water. Add a wineglassful of vinegar, and simmer half an hour; then place them in cold water a few minutes, dry them on a towel, rub a little sweet oil over each piece, and broil. When done brush melted butter over them with the juice of half a lemon.

Calf’s Head Collared.—Bone a calf’s head carefully, wash it well, and wipe it dry; lay the head on the table, and spread on it a force-meat made of the brain and tongue, and a very little ham mixed with a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, a teaspoonful of thyme, a teaspoonful of marjoram, the minced yolks of three hard-boiled eggs, a wineglassful brandy, and a little salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Roll the head as tightly as possible, and tie it in a cloth, binding it with tape. Put it into a saucepan with stock enough to cover it, and add a carrot, a parsnip, one onion, a sliced lemon, a few bay-leaves, salt, and a dozen bruised peppers.

Let it boil gently three hours; then take it out of the cloth and pour round it a sauce made of a pint of the liquid in which it was boiled, with a little lemon-juice, two small pickles, and four button-mushrooms chopped fine.

Calf’s Brains en Matelotte.—Wash the brains in several waters, remove the skin, and boil them in salt and water with a little vinegar in it for ten minutes. Take them out and lay them in cold water until wanted. Melt a tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan, and mix with it a teaspoonful of flour. Add three button-onions sliced, a teaspoonful Worcestershire, a clove, a bay-leaf, half a pint of stock, and a wineglassful of Rhine wine. When these are mixed thoroughly together put the brains with them and let them stew twenty minutes.

Calf’s Brains Fried.—Prepare the brains as in the foregoing receipt. Cut them into slices, dip them in egg-batter, roll in crumbs, and fry in hot fat or butter; garnish with fried parsley.

Calf’s Brains and Tongue.—Prepare the brains as heretofore recommended, and chop them. Put them in a saucepan with two tablespoonfuls of butter, a little chopped parsley, the juice of half a lemon, salt, and cayenne pepper. Skin and trim the boiled tongue, place it in the middle of the dish and pour the sauce and brains round it, and send to table.

Stewed Sweet-Breads.—Soak two sweet-breads in cold water for one hour; change the water twice; put them in boiling water ten minutes till they are firm, then take them out and place them in cold water until wanted.

Place them in a stew-pan, cover them with stock, and simmer nearly an hour; take them out, place them on a hot dish, remove the gravy from the fire a minute, and add to it gradually the yolk of an egg and four tablespoonfuls of cream; put this over a fire till the sauce thickens, but do not let it boil. Before serving add the juice of a lemon, pour the sauce around the sweet-breads, and send to table with a dish of green peas.

They may be cut up and fried after dipping in egg and rolled in crumbs.

Sweet-breads are very nice broiled and served with Maitre d’Hotel butter; garnish with parsley.

Pork Chops, Tomato Sauce.—Broil three nice pork chops, and when well done sprinkle them with pepper and salt, place on a hot dish, and serve with tomato sauce poured around them.

Tomato Sauce.—Stew half a dozen tomatoes in a pint of stock, with a slice of ham cut into dice, a bay-leaf, a blade of mace, three drops of tabasco pepper-sauce, and three small pickled onions; stir the whole over a gentle fire until done, then press them through a sieve, add salt, and put the sauce again upon the fire till it is very hot.

Pork tenderloin baked or broiled is acceptable with sauce Robert.

Sauce Robert.—Slice two onions, and fry them in butter until they begin to turn yellow; pour over them as much brown gravy as will cover them; add a tablespoonful of French or German mustard (do not use English mustard), a teaspoonful of salt, a salt-spoonful of pepper. Simmer very gently, adding more gravy, if necessary, till the onions are tender. Rub them through a fine sieve. Mix with the pulp a very little more stock or gravy, and boil once. This is a simple recipe, and one that any housekeeper can easily make.

Pork Sausages.—The most wholesome way to cook sausages is to bake them. Place them in a baking-pan in a single layer, and bake in a moderate oven; turn them over when they are half done, that they may be equally browned all over. Send to table with pieces of toast between each sausage. Cut the toast about the same size as the sausage, and moisten it with a very little of the sausage-fat.

They make a nice entrée by placing them on a mound of mashed potatoes and served with apple-sauce, or small apple-fritters neatly arranged round them.

About the best sausages that come to the New York market are the Deerfoot Farm sausages; fancy grocers retail them for about twenty cents a pound. Split them in two and broil them, and send to table with Boston brown bread toast, buttered. Use your sausage-fat for frying hash, etc.

Breast of Mutton with Peas.—Cut up two pounds of the breast of mutton into square pieces; put them into a stew-pan with an ounce of butter, and brown them nicely; then cover with hot water and stew for an hour. Take the meat from the pan and skim all the fat from the gravy; place the meat in a clean saucepan with one onion sliced, a bouquet of herbs, pepper and salt; pour in the gravy, and stew for one hour; add a quart of young peas, remove the herbs, simmer fifteen minutes, and serve.

String beans cut into dice, or boiled macaroni, may be substituted for the peas.

Curry of Mutton.—Put six button-onions, cut fine, and an ounce of butter into a saucepan with an ounce of curry-powder, a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of flour, and half a pint of cream; stir until smooth. Remove the bones from two pounds of mutton, cut it into neat pieces, and fry a light brown; put the meat into a saucepan, pour the sauce over it, and boil gently one hour and a half. Place the meat on a hot dish and arrange a border of broiled rice neatly round it.

Cold boiled mutton cut into slices may be used instead of the raw meat.

Veal may be used instead of mutton.

Mutton Hash with Poached Eggs.—Take a pound and a half of the remains of roast mutton, chop it up fine, and put it in a stew-pan with a cupful of mutton gravy or stock; season with salt, pepper, and a little grated nutmeg; add a tablespoonful of Barlow’s prepared flour, and let the meat heat gradually until hot. Do not let it boil. Simmer twenty minutes, and serve with poached eggs placed neatly round the dish.

A spoonful of Worcestershire sauce may be added to the dish, if desired.

Ragout of Mutton.—Slice two turnips, two carrots, and two onions; put them in a saucepan with two ounces of butter, and brown them. Dust in a little flour and stir the whole to prevent browning too quickly, and turn them out upon a hot dish until wanted.

Cut up cold roast mutton into square pieces, and brown them on each side in the same pan in which you browned your vegetables; then add half a pint of hot water, salt and pepper, a few sprigs of parsley, and the sliced vegetables. Stew gently until the vegetables are tender; arrange the vegetables in the centre of the dish, with the meat as a border; pour the sauce over all, and serve.

Mutton Pie.—Cut into square pieces about two pounds of cold roast or boiled mutton; trim off a portion of the fat; quarter three kidneys; put the meat into a pie-dish, season with two tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley, a tablespoonful of powdered herbs, salt and pepper, and half an onion minced; add half a pint of light stock or water, a wineglassful of port wine; cover the dish with puff paste, brush an egg over it, and bake an hour and a half.

Cold lamb makes a very nice pie.

Veal Croquettes.—Remove the gristle, skin, and sinews from a pound of cold veal; mince it finely with four ounces of cold boiled beef or calf’s tongue; season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Put into a saucepan an ounce of butter rolled in flour, a wineglassful of cream; add the minced meat, and stir for twenty minutes over a slow fire. (If too dry moisten with stock.) Turn the preparation upon a round pie-board; spread it to a smooth layer about an inch thick, and set it in the ice-box to get cold and stiff. It must then be divided into about two dozen pieces, each piece rolled into the form of a cork or round ball over bread-crumbs, then dipped in beaten egg and again rolled in crumbs. Handle carefully so as not to break them. Fry in boiling fat.

Fricassee of Veal.—Take two pounds of lean veal free from skin and bone, and cut it into pieces convenient for serving; fry them in melted butter until the flesh is firm without having acquired any color; dredge a tablespoonful of flour upon them, add a little grated lemon-peel, and gradually as much boiling veal stock as will cover the meat; simmer until tender. Take out the meat and add to the gravy a gill of boiling cream, salt, cayenne, and a pinch of powdered mace. Beat the yolks of two eggs in a bowl; add gradually a little of the sauce (after it has cooled a few minutes), then add it carefully to the remainder. Return the meat to the sauce, and let the saucepan remain near the fire until the eggs are set. Add the juice of half a lemon and serve immediately.

Fricassee of Lamb.—Take a breast of lamb and cut it into pieces about an inch and a half square; season with salt and pepper. Put them into a saucepan, with a quartered onion, three cloves, a bay-leaf, and three ounces of butter. Cover the saucepan closely, and let it steam gently for half an hour, shaking it occasionally to prevent sticking. Add a pint of boiling water; cover closely once more and boil gently for one hour; then strain the sauce and thicken with a tablespoonful of flour (mix the flour smoothly with a little cold water before adding it to the sauce), boil a moment longer, and serve.

A tablespoonful of very small A. G. capers may be added before serving.

Breast of Lamb with Asparagus Tops.—Remove the skin and part of the fat from a breast of lamb, and cut it into neat pieces; dredge a little flour over them, and place them in a stew-pan with an ounce of butter; let them remain until nicely browned; cover the meat with warm water, add a bunch of parsley, two button-onions; simmer until the meat is cooked; skim off the fat, take out the onions and parsley, and mince the latter finely; return it to the gravy with a pint of the tops of boiled asparagus, add salt and pepper, simmer a few minutes longer, and serve. Canned asparagus may be used when the fresh vegetable is out of season.

Fricassee of Chicken.—Take the remains of a cold chicken, cut it into joints, make a gravy by simmering the trimmings in stock enough to cover them, with one onion, stock with three cloves, a bouquet of herbs, salt and pepper. Simmer the gravy for one hour; strain and thicken a cupful of it with a teaspoonful of flour; let this boil, then put in the chicken. Draw the saucepan from the fire a few minutes, mix a little of the sauce with the beaten yolks of two eggs and a cupful of cream. Add this last mixture to the saucepan, let it get hot, but on no account allow it to boil, or the eggs will curdle. Serve with the sauce poured over the chicken, and sprinkle a little chopped parsley on top.

Fried Chicken.—Take the remains of a cold chicken, place it in a pan, and simmer with an ounce of butter, a finely-chopped onion, the juice of a lemon, salt and pepper; let them simmer nearly half an hour; take the pieces out and dredge them in flour, and fry in boiling fat; turn the pieces over while cooking, and fry a deep brown.

Make a dressing of flour, mixed smoothly in a cupful of cold milk and a little chopped parsley. Add to the pan that the chicken simmered in, boil gently, strain over the chicken and serve.

Chicken with Rice a la Maryland.—Cut up a chicken into joints, and put it into a stew-pan with the heart, gizzard, and liver, and a slice or two of bacon; cover with warm water, and boil gently until the chicken is quite tender; then take the meat out of the stew-pan, and set it where it will be kept warm; wash half a pint of rice, add it to the gravy, season highly with salt and pepper. When done place the rice upon a dish, lay the chicken on top, and if too dry brush a little melted butter over it.

Chicken Croquettes.—Pound the white meat of a cold chicken with a cold boiled sweetbread in a mortar; add a little salt, beat up an egg with a teaspoonful of flour and a wineglassful of cream; mix the pounded meat with the batter, put it in a saucepan, and simmer long enough to absorb the moisture, stirring all the time; then turn it into a flat dish, and set it in the ice-box to get cold and stiff, roll it into balls or cones, dip in egg-batter, then roll them in crumbs or cracker-dust and fry in boiling fat.

Chicken a l’Italienne.—Take half a pound of La Favorita macaroni, and boil it in water with a lump of butter. When it has boiled a quarter of an hour, drain off the water and cover the macaroni with milk; add salt and pepper and a whole onion, stock with a few cloves; boil until the macaroni is tender but unbroken.

Boil a chicken in the usual manner, cut it up and lay it on a hot dish, pour the macaroni over it (remove the onion), grate a quarter of a pound of Parmesan cheese over the dish, and brown it in the oven or with a salamander.

Chicken Patties.—Pick the meat from a cold chicken, and cut it up into small dice; place it in a saucepan with a cupful of chicken stock, a cupful of cream, a piece of butter the size of an egg, rolled in flour, salt and pepper, and a little grated nutmeg and lemon-peel; simmer gently until it begins to thicken, remove the dish from the fire a few minutes to cool; beat up the yolks of two eggs with a half teaspoonful flour, moistened in milk or cream, and add to the saucepan, mix thoroughly, and draw towards the fire (but do not let it boil) until it thickens; before serving add the juice of half a lemon.

Fill your patty-shells with the mixture, one for each person, and serve (see Oyster Patties for patty-shells).

Chicken Pie.—Line the sides of a pie-dish with a good puff paste. Have your chicken cooked as for a fricassee, seasoned with salt and pepper and a little chopped parsley. When they are nearly cooked lay them in a pie-dish with half a pound of salt pork cut into inch squares, and some of the paste cut into inch and a half pieces; pour in a part of the chicken gravy, thicken with a little flour, and cover the dish with the paste cover. Cut a hole the size of a dollar in the cover, and cover it with a piece of dough twice the size of the hole (when baked remove this piece occasionally and examine the interior), brush egg over the pie, and bake in a quick oven.

Should the pie become dry pour in more of the gravy. Pigeon Pie may be made by the above recipe.

Chicken Panada (Invalid cookery).—Take a fresh young chicken and boil it until quite tender, in sufficient water to cover it. Strip the meat from the bones and pound in a mortar until quite smooth, with a little of the liquor it was boiled in; add salt, nutmeg, and a very little grated lemon-peel. Boil this gently for a few minutes, with sufficient liquid to make it the consistency of custard.

Chicken with Dumplings.—Disjoint one chicken, and put to boil in cold water until done. Make dumplings with one pint of flour, one teaspoonful of yeast-powder, and same quantity of salt. Wet this mixture with milk and put with chicken until boiled. Take them out and fry in hot fat until brown; do same with chicken afterwards. Use water in which chicken was boiled to make gravy.

Chicken Toast.—Take the remains of a cold chicken and chop up fine, put in a saucepan, season with salt and pepper and just a little onion, with a lump of butter; break over the meat two or three raw eggs; stir all together, pour it upon nicely-buttered toast, and serve.

Chicken Liver en Brochette.—Wash the livers in cold water, dry them on a towel, and cut them in two; cut slices of bacon into pieces about the same size, and put them on a skewer alternately, and broil. When done brush over them a sauce of melted butter, lemon-juice, pepper and salt.

Braise of Duck with Turnips.—Prepare a domestic duck as for roasting. Line a small pan, just large enough for the duck, with slices of bacon; strew over the bottom a little parsley, powdered herbs, and lemon-peel; lay in the duck, and add a carrot cut into strips, an onion stuck with a few cloves, and a dozen whole peppers; cover with stock and add a table spoonful of strong vinegar; baste frequently and simmer until done. Fry some slices of turnip in butter to a light brown, drain and add them to the stew-pan after removing the duck, which should be kept hot. When the turnips are tender remove them, strain the gravy, thickening if necessary with a little flour or arrowroot; put the duck on a dish, throw the hot gravy over it, and garnish with the turnips.