Scrape out all the ashes and brush up all the dust. Then, with a brush, thoroughly clean the flues. Brush the stove over with liquid blacklead, and when it is dry polish with brushes. Then clean any steel about the stove and the fire-irons and fender with emery-paper; any brass with brick-dust well rubbed on with a leather.
Brush all the dust from the oven, and wipe it round with a cloth wrung out of hot water.
Wash off any grease that may have been spilled on the stove with a cloth dipped in hot water, and wipe the inside of the stove, taking care to dry it thoroughly. Wash the dripping-pan in hot water with soda in it, and rub it with sand to brighten it. Then wipe it quite dry.
Brush the stove over with liquid blacklead, and polish it with brushes.
Wash them well in hot water with soda in it; moisten some salt with vinegar, and rub them well with this to remove stains and tarnish. Then wash them quickly with soap and water, and dry them thoroughly; polish them with a little powdered whiting rubbed on with a soft leather.
All meat, with the exception of salt meat, should be put into boiling water, and should be well boiled for quite five minutes, in order that the albumen on the outside of the joint may be set. The hardened albumen forms a kind of casing. This casing serves to keep in, as far as possible, the flavour and juices of the meat. When the meat has been boiled sufficiently long to effect this hardening, the kettle should be drawn to one side of the fire. The water should be kept at simmering point until the joint is cooked. The general rule, as regards time required for boiling, is a quarter of an hour for each pound of meat and a quarter of an hour over. But only general rules can be given, as the time will vary according to the nature of the joint to be cooked. A thick piece of meat will necessarily take longer to cook than a thin piece with much bone, although both may be the same weight. Very fresh meat will also take longer to cook than that which has been hung.
As soon as the water boils, after the meat is in it, the scum should be carefully removed from time to time, while it is cooking. If the scum be allowed to boil down, it will settle on the joint and discolour it. It is best, however, as a precaution, to wrap the meat in a very clean cloth; this will effectually preserve its colour. Salt meat should be put into lukewarm water, for the purpose of drawing out some of the salt. It should be simmered gently, allowing always twenty minutes to the pound, and twenty minutes over. Salt hardens the fibre of the meat; it, therefore, requires to be cooked for a longer time to make it tender.
To roast successfully, make up a nice clear fire. When once made up, it should be replenished, if necessary, by putting on coal or coke at the back. The live coals should be drawn to the front to prevent smoke. Fasten the joint to the jack. Place the roaster close to the fire for the first ten minutes, so that the heat of the fire may at once harden the albumen, and form a case to keep in the flavour and juices. Afterwards, draw the roaster farther back and cook gradually, basting every ten minutes. The basting keeps the meat from drying up, and gives it a better flavour. The length of time allowed for roasting is the same as for boiling, the rule being a quarter of an hour for each pound, and a quarter of an hour over. For white meat, veal and pork, or solid joints without bone, allow twenty minutes to the pound, and twenty minutes over. These rules, however, cannot always be strictly adhered to, as the size and shape of the joint must be taken into consideration, as well as the weight. Meat that has been frozen will take longer to cook than fresh meat. Meat which has been well hung will take a shorter time than fresh meat. If a jack is not used, the joint should be fastened to a rope of worsted, which should be kept constantly turning.
Gravy, for a joint, may be made according to two methods. The first method is to take the dripping-pan away half an hour before the joint is cooked, then to put a hot dish in its place, and to pour the contents of the pan into a basin. Put the basin into a refrigerator; or, place it on ice. As soon as it is cold, the fat will cake on the top of the gravy, and should be removed very carefully. Make the gravy hot, diluting it with warm water, if necessary, and pour it round the joint.
The other and more usual method of making gravy, is to pour away all the fat from the pan as soon as the joint is cooked; and then pour into the pan a sufficient quantity of hot water, scraping well the brown glaze from the bottom; colour carefully with caramel, or burnt sugar, and pour it round the joint, not over it. Pouring the gravy over the meat destroys its crispness.
On no account make gravy from stock; stock is quite unsuitable, as the vegetable flavour is, to many persons, disagreeable.
This is cooking in a large quantity of fat sufficient to cover the articles fried in it. Oil, lard, dripping, or fat rendered down, may be used for this purpose. Oil is considered the best, as it will rise to 600° without burning; other fats get over-heated after 400°, and therefore require greater care in using. Success depends, almost entirely, on getting the fat to the right degree of heat. For ordinary frying, the heat required is 345°. Unless this point is carefully attended to, total failure will be the result. There are signs, however, by which anyone may easily tell when the fat is ready for use. It must be quite still, making no noise; noise, or bubbling, will be caused by the evaporation of moisture, or water in it. The expression, ‘boiling lard,’ or ‘boiling fat,’ has been misleading to many inexperienced cooks, who, not unnaturally, imagine that when the fat is bubbling, like boiling water, it is boiling, and, therefore, at the right heat. But boiling fat does not bubble. When it has the appearance of boiling water, it is simply due, as already explained, to the presence of water in it, which must pass away by evaporation, before the fat can reach the required heat. When it ceases to make any noise, and is quite still, it should be carefully watched; for very soon a pale blue vapour is seen rising, and then the fat is sufficiently hot. If, from the position of the stove, it is not easy to see this vapour, a piece of bread may be held in the fat as a test; if it begins to turn brown, in about a minute, the fat is ready. It should then be used without delay; since, when once hot enough, it rapidly gets overheated or burnt. Fat is burning when the blue vapour becomes like smoke. Burnt fat has an unpleasant smell, and is apt to give a disagreeable taste to the articles fried in it. With ordinary care fat need not get overheated. Next to oil, fat rendered down (see Rendering down Fat), is best for the purpose. If strained after each time of using, and not allowed to burn, it will keep good for months, and may be used for fish, sweets, or savouries, and no taste of anything previously fried in it will be given to the articles cooked. For this kind of frying, a kitchener, or gas stove, is preferable to an open range.
All kinds of rissoles, croquettes, fillets and cutlets of fish, fritters, &c., should be fried in this manner, and should not be darker than a golden brown. It is an advantage to use a frying-basket for all such things as are covered with egg and bread-crumbs; but fritters, or whatever is dipped in batter, should be dropped into the fat, as they become so light that they rise to the top of it. When they are a pale fawn colour on the one side, they should be turned over to the other. Care must be taken to drain everything, after frying, on kitchen paper in order to remove any grease.
This is frying in a cutlet or frying pan, with a small quantity of fat, and is only suitable for such things as require slow cooking, such as steaks, mutton or veal cutlets, fillets of beef, liver and bacon. Pancakes also are fried in this manner. Success depends, as in French frying, in having the fat rightly heated, taking care that the outside of the meat cooked be sealed up. In this way the juices and flavour will be retained in it. Make, therefore, the frying-pan hot, then put in the fat; and when that is also perfectly hot, put in the meat to be cooked. When each side has been well sealed up, the heat applied must be moderated, so that the cooking may be gradual. The common mistake in this kind of frying is to put the meat into the fat when it is but barely melted; the juices of the meat are thus allowed to escape, and the meat is toughened.
To bake meat successfully, the oven must be well ventilated, otherwise, the joint cooked in this manner will have an unpleasant flavour. The meat should be put on a trivet, which should be placed on a baking-tin. The oven must be very hot when the meat is put into it, and the heat should be kept up for the first quarter of an hour. This is to form the casing already alluded to in the directions for roasting and boiling; the heat of the oven must then be very much moderated, and the joint cooked very gradually, allowing twenty minutes for every pound, and twenty minutes over. The meat should be basted; and the gravy may be made in the same manner as in roasting.
For this method of cookery, a clear fire is essential. The griller is warmed, and the meat fastened in it. It is then hung on the bars of the fireplace, and a dish passed underneath to catch any gravy. An ordinary sized chop, cooked in this way, will take about five minutes on the one side, and three on the other.
This is cooking over the fire on a gridiron. The flavour of broiled meat is usually preferred to that of grilled. Put the gridiron over the fire to heat, and then put the chop, or steak, on it; place the gridiron close to the fire at first, that the heat may rapidly seal up the outside of the meat. When this has been accomplished, lift the gridiron further from the fire, and cook gradually, turning occasionally. A clear fire is essential. Coke is better than coal for broiling, because there is less smoke from it.
This is the primest joint, and must be either roasted or baked (see directions). Horse-radish should be served with it. Yorkshire pudding is also liked with roast beef.
These should be cooked like sirloin, and served with the same accompaniments. A neater looking joint is made by boning and rolling them. The bones can be used for soup.
Those are usually salted and boiled (see directions for boiling salt meat). Serve with carrots and turnips, and yeast, Norfolk, or suet dumplings.
This should be stewed (see directions for stewed brisket).
This may be roasted, baked, or boiled. If roasted, it should be served with red-currant jelly; if boiled, with caper sauce. Carrots and turnips are liked with boiled mutton.
This may be either roasted or baked. Serve with onion sauce.
This may be either roasted or baked. Serve with red-currant jelly.
This is boiled, and requires long and gentle cooking. Serve with caper sauce.
This joint should be roasted or baked. Serve with mint sauce.
This may be either roasted, baked, or boiled. Serve, if roast, with mint sauce; and if boiled, with maître d'hôtel sauce.
All these are either roasted or boiled, and served with mint sauce.
Stuff it with veal stuffing and make into nice round shape; fasten it securely with string and skewers, and roast or bake it. Serve with cut lemon, and send some boiled ham, pork, or bacon to table with it. Use a pint of thin melted butter, instead of water, for making the gravy.
These are all roasted. Thin melted butter is used to make the gravy for them, and cut lemon is served with them.
This is boiled, and served with one dessertspoonful of chopped parsley added to one pint of melted butter.
This must be roasted or baked, the skin having been previously scored with a knife. Serve it with apple sauce.
Stuff it with pork stuffing (see Forcemeats) and roast it. Serve with apple sauce.
This is roasted, the skin having previously been scored. Serve it with apple sauce.
Soak it for two or three hours before cooking, and boil it. Serve with pease pudding.
This joint is also salted and boiled. It is served with pease pudding.
Put into lukewarm water, to which has been added one pint of old ale. Simmer it very gently until quite tender. For a ham always allow twenty-five minutes to each pound, and twenty-five minutes over. Let it get cold in the liquor in which it boiled, then remove the rind and carefully cover with raspings.
Cook like ham, taking care that it is simmered until perfectly tender. Remove the skin and cover with raspings.
Put it into lukewarm water and simmer gently until tender.
Method.—Stuff the goose by placing the sage and onion forcemeat inside it.
Then truss it nicely and roast it from one and a half to two hours.
If it is a large one, two hours; if a small one, one and a half hours.
To make the gravy, simmer the giblets in water for three hours with half a pound of gravy beef cut in pieces, a sliced onion, apple, and three sage leaves, pepper and salt.
Then stir in a thickening made of the flour, and colour the gravy with a little burnt sugar. If liked, a glass of port wine may be added.
Pour a little gravy round the goose, and serve the rest in a tureen.
Apple or tomato sauce should be served with roast goose.
Method.—Place the forcemeat inside the turkey, and truss it nicely.
Roast it from one and a half to two and a half hours.
Make the gravy by simmering the giblets and beef in the water with the onion for three hours.
Thicken the gravy with the flour, and pour a little round the turkey.
Serve the rest in a tureen.
Place some fried or baked sausages round the turkey, and serve with bread sauce.
A small turkey is sometimes boiled like a fowl, and served with oyster, celery, or Béchamel sauce.
Method.—Stuff the duck by placing the forcemeat inside it.
Truss it nicely, and roast it from three-quarters of an hour to an hour, according to its size.
Make the gravy by simmering the giblets in the water with the beef or bones, onion, apple, pepper and salt, for two hours.
Thicken it with the flour, and colour carefully with burnt sugar.
Pour a little gravy round the duck, and serve the rest in a tureen.
A glass of port wine may be added to the gravy if liked.
Apple or tomato sauce should be served with roast duck.
These are cooked and served like ducks, and take from twenty to forty minutes to roast, according to their size.
Method.—Stuff the belly of the hare with the forcemeat, and sew it in.
Truss it nicely, and roast it from one and a quarter to two hours, according to its size, basting it constantly.
To make gravy, cut the beef into small pieces, and simmer in the water, with the onion sliced, for three hours. Thicken it with the flour, and add, if liked, a glass of port wine.
Pour a little gravy round the hare, and serve the remainder in a tureen.
Method.—Dry the hare well and cut it in pieces.
Fry them in the butter.
Then remove them and fry the flour a nice brown.
Pour in the gravy or stock, and stir until it boils.
Then put the stock into an earthenware jar with the hare, onion, thin rind and juice of the lemon, and pepper and salt to taste.
Cover the jar close, and put it into a moderate oven, where it must simmer gently from three to four hours until the hare is quite tender.
Make some balls of veal forcemeat, to which the chopped liver of the hare has been added, and either fry or bake them.
Add them to the jugged hare, and, last of all, pour in the wine.
Serve with red-currant jelly.
Method.—Fill the belly of the rabbit with the forcemeat, and sew it in.
Truss it nicely, and roast it from three-quarters to one hour, basting constantly.
Pour a little gravy round it, and send some to table in a tureen.
Serve with red-currant jelly.
Method.—Boil the rabbit gently from half an hour to an hour, according to its size and age.
Serve it with onion or maître d'hôtel sauce.
Method.—Cut the rabbits into joints, and slice the onions.
Put them with the water into a large stewpan, and simmer for one hour or more until the rabbits are tender.
Then make a thickening of the flour and stir it in, letting it boil well.
Put the rabbit on a hot dish, and pour the gravy over.
Method.—Cut the rabbit into neat joints, and fry them in a stewpan in the butter or dripping.
When brown remove them and fry the flour.
Then pour in the water or stock, and stir until it boils.
Put in the pieces of rabbit with the onion, and pepper and salt to taste.
Simmer gently for about one hour or more until quite tender.
Serve the rabbit on a hot dish, and strain the gravy over it.
Method.—Roast the pheasant nicely for three-quarters of an hour or an hour, according to its size, basting it constantly with butter.
Make a nice gravy for it (see Gravy), and serve it with bread sauce and browned crumbs.
Method.—Roast the wild duck nicely before a clear fire for thirty or forty-five minutes, basting it constantly with butter.
Sprinkle over it a little cayenne and salt, and a few drops of lemon juice.
Serve the gravy in a tureen.
If liked, a glass of port wine may be poured over the duck.
Partridges should be nicely roasted before a clear fire from twenty-five to thirty minutes.
Serve with a little gravy and bread sauce.
Browned crumbs are also handed with them.
Roast these birds before a nice clear fire, basting constantly with butter.
Serve with gravy, bread sauce, and browned crumbs.
These birds should be nicely trussed but not drawn.
Roast them carefully from twenty to thirty minutes, basting constantly.
Place under them rounds of toasted bread, buttered on each side, to catch the trail as it drops, as this is considered a delicacy.
When cooked, lay the toast on a hot dish, place the birds on it, and pour a little good gravy over.
Truss nicely and flour the breast slightly.
Fold it in buttered paper, and tie securely with string.
Boil in stock or water, according to the directions given for boiling meat for three-quarters of an hour to one hour and a half, according to its age and size.
Serve with white, egg, or maître d'hôtel sauce poured over it.
Truss nicely and roast, according to directions given for roasting meat, for three-quarters of an hour to one hour and a half according to its age and size.
Serve with bread sauce and some gravy (see Gravy).
Method.—Truss two partridges as for boiling.
Put at the bottom of a stewpan the vegetables cut in small pieces.
Lay the partridges on the top and pour in the stock and sherry; these should be sufficient to come half way up the partridges.
Cover with buttered paper.
Put the lid on the stewpan and simmer very gently until the partridges are tender.
Then put them on a baking tin in the oven to brown them.
Strain the stock and boil it rapidly down to a glaze.
Serve the partridges with the glaze poured over them.
Method.—Cut all the fat from the steak.
Make the dripping hot in a stewpan and fry the steak in it.
Then put in the vegetables, and pour in the water, adding pepper and salt.
Simmer the steak gently from three to four hours, until quite tender.
When quite cooked, remove it from the gravy.
Put it on a hot dish.
Make a thickening of the flour; stir it into the gravy; boil for two minutes, and strain over the steak.
A little mushroom catsup, Harvey, or Worcester sauce may be added if liked.
The fat should previously have been cut into dice, placed on a baking tin, and cooked in the oven.
For serving, put them in the middle of the steak.
Method.—Put the meat into a saucepan with the vegetables and other ingredients, and simmer gently for three hours.
Serve on a hot dish, with some of the liquor for gravy.
The remainder can be made into soup.
If to be eaten cold, remove the bones, and press the beef.
Strain the meat liquor, remove the fat, and boil it down to a glaze.
Brush the meat over with it, giving it as many coats of glaze as necessary.
Method.—Wash the ox-cheek and cowheel, and cut them into neat pieces.
Put them into the water with the carrots, turnips, and onions, and celery cut in pieces, and the herbs, pepper and salt.
Stew very gently from four to five hours, until the stew is quite tender.
Make a thickening of the flour.
Stir and cook it well in the gravy.
Put the cheek and cowheel on a hot dish, and strain the gravy over them.
The bones can be used for soup.
Method.—Put the beef into the water with the vegetables cut in pieces, herbs, cloves, pepper and salt, and stew gently from four to five hours, until quite tender.
Then make a thickening of the flour, stir it in, and boil well for two or three minutes.
For serving, place the beef on a hot dish.
Add the wine to the gravy, and strain it over the meat.
Method.—Fry the cutlets a nice brown in the dripping.
Mix the flour smoothly with the stock; boil it in a stewpan for two minutes.
Then put in the cutlets and the vegetables cut in fancy shapes.
Stew gently for about three-quarters of an hour, until the meat and vegetables are tender.
Dish the cutlets in a circle; place the vegetables round them and pour the gravy over.
Method.—See that the head has been properly prepared by the butcher, and the nostrils removed.
Soak it well in salt and water, and wash it carefully.
Cut out the tongue, remove the brains, and tie the head into shape with a piece of string.
Put it and the tongue into a saucepan of boiling water, and simmer it from three to four hours.
A quarter of an hour before it is cooked, put in the brains tied in muslin.
To make a sauce for it, melt the butter or dripping in a small stewpan.
Mix in the flour smoothly.
Pour in one pint of the broth from the sheep's head.
Stir and cook well, adding pepper and salt to taste a few drops of lemon juice, or one teaspoonful of vinegar.
Lastly, add the brains, chopped small.
For serving, put the head on a hot dish.
Remove the string, and pour the sauce over.
Method.—Boil the sheep's head according to the directions in preceding recipe.
When cooked, lay it on a greased baking-sheet.
Sprinkle over it the crumbs, parsley, and herbs, adding a few drops of lemon juice; pepper and salt.
Put the butter in little pieces about the head, and brown it in a quick oven or before the fire.
Serve with the brain sauce given in the foregoing recipe.
Method.—Cut the bacon into slices, and remove the rind.
Cut the liver into slices, and dip them in flour.
Fry the bacon in a frying-pan, then remove it, and fry the liver in the bacon fat, adding a little dripping, if necessary.
When the liver is cooked, place it on a hot dish; dredge the pan with about half an ounce of flour.
Fry the flour brown.
Then pour in one pint of boiling water, stir and boil for one or two minutes; adding pepper and salt to taste.
Place the liver in a circle in the middle of a hot dish.
Put the bacon round it, and strain the gravy over it.
Method.—Boil the potatoes until half-cooked.
Then cut them in slices.
Cut the fry in small pieces.
Chop the onion and apple small.
Dry and powder the sage leaves.
Grease a pie-dish, and put a layer of sliced potatoes at the bottom.
Place on them a layer of pigs' fry.
Sprinkle it with some of the onion, apple, and powdered sage, pepper, and salt.
Cover with another layer of potatoes; and put on that some more of the fry.
Sprinkle again with the onion, apple, pepper, and salt.
Proceed in this way until the dish is full, letting the last layer be potatoes.
Pour in half a pint of water; and cover the dish with a piece of pig's caul, or paper spread with dripping.
Bake in a moderate oven for one hour and a half.
It may be served in the pie-dish, or on a hot dish.