Part 11

_Sauce._--Simmer together for quarter of an hour half a cupful of grated cracker, half a cupful of grated horse-radish, one cupful of cream, a table-spoonful of the fat from the top of the water in which the beef is cooked, salt, and pepper.

Place the beef on the platter in which it is to be served, and pour the sauce around it. Garnish with parsley.

FILLET OF BEEF.

I will be very specific about the fillet of beef, as it is easily managed at home, and is very expensive ordered from the _restaurateur_. His price is generally ten dollars for a dressed and cooked fillet of beef for a dinner for ten or twelve persons. To buy it from the butcher costs a dollar a pound when dressed; three pounds are quite sufficient for ten or twelve persons. To lard it (an affair of ten minutes) would cost ten cents more; a box of French canned mushrooms, an additional forty cents; a little stock, five cents.

One sees a fillet of beef at almost every dinner party. “That same fillet, with mushrooms,” a frequent diner-out will say. I hope to see it continued, for among the substantials there is nothing more satisfactory.

A good butcher will always deliver a fillet of beef already dressed; if, however, it is necessary to have it dressed at home, the _modus operandi_ is as follows:

TO TRIM A FILLET OF BEEF.

The fillet is the under side of the loin of beef. The steaks cut from this part are called porter-house-steaks. This under side, or fillet, is covered with skin and fat. “All the skin and fat must be removed from the top of the fillet, from one end to the other; then the rib-bones are disengaged. The fat adhering to the side opposite the ribs is only partially removed. Now the sinewy skin covering the upper meat of the fillet must be removed in strips, proceeding by slipping the blade of the knife between the skin and the meat. This operation is very simple; yet it requires great precision. The upper part of a trimmed fillet must be smooth, _i. e._, must not be furrowed by hollows occasioned by wrong movements of the knife. The skin being removed, both extremities of the fillet are rounded. The fat inside the rib is the only portion of fat allowed to adhere to the meat. The larding of the meat is applied to its upper surface.”

TO COOK A FILLET OF BEEF.

After it is trimmed and larded, put it into a small baking-pan, in the bottom of which are some chopped pieces of pork and beef-suet; sprinkle some salt and pepper over it, and put a large ladleful of hot stock into the bottom of the pan, or it may be simply basted with boiling water. Half an hour (if the oven is very hot, as it should be) before dinner, put it into the oven. Baste it often, supplying a little hot stock, if necessary.

French cooks often braise a fillet of beef. I do not like it as well as baking or roasting, as the vegetables and wine destroy the beef’s own flavor.

TO MAKE THE MUSHROOM SAUCE.

Take a ladleful of stock, free from grease, from the stock-pot; add to it part of the juice from the can of mushrooms; thicken it with a little flour and butter mixed (_roux_); add pepper, salt, and a few drops of lemon-juice; now add the mushrooms--let them simmer a few minutes. Pour the sauce over the fillet of beef, and serve.

At small dinner companies, where the host carves, or has a good carver, the fillet can be served entire, decorated as elaborately as one wishes. If, however, the dinner is served from the side, it is convenient to have it carved as shown in cut on preceding page. The centre of the fillet is disengaged, then carved, and returned to its place. It has then the appearance of being whole.

TO GARNISH A FILLET OF BEEF.

As I have mentioned before, a fillet of beef is generally served with mushrooms; sometimes with different vegetables _à la jardinière_; sometimes with French pease; sometimes with potatoes cut into little round balls, and fried in boiling lard, called potatoes _à la Parisienne_ on a French bill of fare; sometimes with stuffed tomatoes; sometimes skewers are put in stuck through a turnip carved into a cup, and this cup holds horse-radish. But some people say skewers remind them of steamboat cooking; then some people are not easily pleased, anyway; and who remembers of having seen so many skewers on steamboats, after all? Not that I am particularly advocating skewers, but I think dishes _taste_ better, as a general thing, when they are decorated in almost any manner. I once saw at a dinner in Paris hot slices of roast or baked fillet of beef, tastefully arranged on a platter, with _sauce Hollandaise_ (rather thick) poured over each slice in the form of a ring. It was a success.

The manner of garnishing a fillet of beef _à la Godard_ and _à la Provençale_, etc., with truffles, _quenelles_, livers, olives, etc., all stewed with wines, stocks, etc., I will not explain. It is enough to make one groan to think of learning to make them, and more than ever to eat them.

TO ROAST A FILLET OF BEEF.

Lard it, and bind it carefully to the skewer with a small wire; cover the fillet with sweet salad-oil and a little lemon-juice. Do not place it too near the fire at first, as it would scorch the larding. Baste it frequently.

A professional cook would glaze the fillet two or three times with a glazing-brush, beginning the first time about five minutes before taking it away from the fire, then glazing it again when it is on the dish to be served.

Glaze is merely strong stock boiled down until it is almost a thick jelly. When the fillet is carved at table, the little juice which falls into the dish should be poured over each of the slices.

TO BRAISE A FILLET OF BEEF.

Put the larded fillet into a braising-pan or stew-pan; put in trimmings of pork, onions (with some cloves stuck in), carrots, a little celery (all cut in thick slices), and a bunch of parsley. Salt the meat slightly. Pour in stock and white wine, so that it may reach to half the height of the beef. If a braising-pan is used, cover the meat with a well-buttered paper, as in that case live coals are put on top of the pan. If you use a stew-pan, simply cover it as tight as possible. Let it simmer, replenishing it, when necessary, with more boiling stock. It will require an hour or an hour and a half to cook. When done, drain it: a professional cook would glaze it. Put it into the oven a moment to dry the larding. Pass the cooking-stock through a sieve; skim off the fat; add some tomato sauce; let it boil until it is reduced to the degree requisite. Serve the fillet whole, or carved in slices ready to serve. Generally only the middle part of the fillet is used, as the whole fillet is quite large--weighing from eight to ten pounds.

TO TRIM WITH VEGETABLES (_à la Jardinière_).

Every kind of vegetable is used, such as potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets, small onions, cauliflower-blossoms, asparagus-heads, French beans, pease, etc. The larger vegetables are cut into little fancy shapes with a vegetable-cutter or a fluted knife, or with a little plain knife, into little balls, olives, squares, diamonds, or into any form to suit the taste. Each kind of vegetable should be boiled separately in salted water or stock. The vegetables are piled into little groups, each pile being of one kind of vegetable.

FILLET OF BEEF CUT INTO SLICES OR SCOLLOPS.

This is a good way of managing the beef that is left from the roast or baked fillet of beef to be served the second day. Cut the fillet, after reheating it in the oven, into slices about three-fourths of an inch thick, and two inches wide. Form a circle in a dish by lapping each of these scollops partly over the other. Fill the centre with a tomato sauce, or potatoes _à la Parisienne_, or mushrooms, or with any of the small vegetables, such as pease, beans, little balls of carrots, potatoes, etc., in different little piles; or with truffles (they can be procured canned) sliced, with Madeira sauce; or with mushrooms and truffles mixed, with Madeira sauce.

BEEFSTEAK.

The porter-house and tenderloin steaks are best. Of course, there is great difference in the different cuts of these steaks. For a cheap steak, a good cut of what is called chuck-steak is best. It has more flavor and juice, and is more tender than the round-steak, costing the same price.

Have the choice steaks cut half an inch thick at least; they are even better three-quarters of an inch thick. Grease the gridiron well with pork or beef-suet. Have it quite hot. Put on the steak over a hot, clear fire; cover it with a baking-pan. In a moment, when the steak is colored, turn it over. Watch it constantly, turning it whenever it gets a little brown. Do not stick the fork into the middle of the steak, only into the sides, where it will do least harm by letting out the juice. It should be quite rare or pink in the centre, though not _raw_. When cooked enough, put it on a hot platter; sprinkle over plenty of salt and pepper--mind not to put on the salt and pepper before the steak is cooked; then spread over the top some sweet, fresh butter. Set the platter in the oven a few moments, to let the butter soak a little in the steak; then serve it immediately. Do not use too much butter; there should be none at all, or at least only a few stray drops, in the bottom of the platter. There should be no gravy. The juice of a properly cooked steak is supposed to be in the inside of the steak, and not swimming in the dish.

A steak is much improved by a simple addition, called by professional cooks _à la maître d’hôtel_.

When the steak is cooked, it is placed on the hot platter. First, then, salt and pepper are sprinkled over; then comes a sprinkling of very finely chopped parsley; then some drops of lemon-juice; lastly, small pieces of butter are carefully spread over. Place the steak into the oven for a few moments until the butter is well melted and soaked into the steak.

For extra-company breakfasts, only the fillets, _i. e._, the tender parts of the porter-house or tenderloin steaks, are used. They are cut into little even shapes, round or oval, one for each plate. They are cooked, then served in a hot dish, surrounded with Saratoga potatoes, or fried potatoes in any form, or with water-cresses, or with mushrooms, or stuffed tomatoes, or green pease, etc.

CORNED BEEF.

A good piece of beef well corned, then well boiled, is a most excellent dish.

Put it into the pot with enough cold water to just cover it. When it comes to a boil, set it on the back of the range, so that it will boil moderately. Too fast boiling renders meat tough, yet the water should never be allowed to cease boiling until the meat is done; skim often. Let it boil at least four or five hours, according to its size. It must be thoroughly done. In England, where this dish is an especial favorite, carrots are always boiled and served with the beef. The carrot flavor improves the meat, and the meat improves the carrot. Do not put the carrots into the pot, however, until there is only time for them to become thoroughly cooked before serving (about three-quarters of an hour). Serve the carrots around the beef.

In America, cabbage is oftener boiled with corned beef. This is very nice also. If cabbage is used, add at the same time one or two little red peppers. When about to serve, press out all the water from the cabbage, adding little pieces of butter. Serve the meat placed in the centre of the cabbage.

Little pickles are a pretty garnish for corned beef, with or without the vegetables.

CORNED BEEF TO SERVE COLD (_Mrs. Gratz Brown_).

If it is too salt, soak it for an hour in cold water, then put it over the fire, covered with fresh cold water, four or five cloves (for about six pounds of beef), and three table-spoonfuls of molasses. Boil it slowly. In an hour change the water, adding five more cloves and three more table-spoonfuls of molasses. In two hours more, press the beef, after removing the bones, into a basin rather small for it; then, turning it over, place a flat-iron on top. When entirely cold, the beef is to be sliced for lunch or tea.

BEEFSTEAK STEWED.

Never use a choice steak for a stew. Stewing is only a good way of cooking an inferior steak. The meat from a soup-bone would make a very good stew.

Put ripe tomatoes (peeled and cut) into a stew-pan; sprinkle over pepper and salt. Let them cook a little to make some juice; put in the pieces of beef, some little pieces of butter mixed with flour, two or three cloves, and no water. Let it stew until the meat is quite done. Then press the tomatoes through a sieve. Serve all on the same dish.

BEEFSTEAK ROLLED.

Procure a round steak, spread over it a layer of almost any kind of force-meat. An ordinary bread, onion, thyme, or parsley dressing, used to stuff turkeys, is very good. Begin, then, at one end of the steak, and roll it carefully; tie the roll to keep it in shape. Bake it in the oven as you would a turkey, basting very often. Make a gravy of the drippings, adding water, flour, and a little butter mixed; season with pepper and salt, strain, skim off the fat, and pour it around the meat when served. Slice it neatly off the end when carving.

BEEF ROLL (_Cannelon de Bœuf_).

Chop two pounds of lean beef very fine; chop and pound in a mortar half a pound of fat bacon, and mix it with the beef. Season it with pepper and salt (it will not require much salt), a small nutmeg, the grated rind of a lemon, the juice of a quarter of it, a heaping table-spoonful of parsley minced fine; or it can be seasoned with an additional table-spoonful of onion; or, if no onion or parsley is at hand, with summer savory and thyme. Bind all these together with two eggs. Form them into a roll; surround the roll with buttered paper, which tie securely around it. Then cover it with a paste made of flour and water. Bake two hours. Remove the paper and crust. Serve it hot, with tomato-sauce or brown gravy. This may be made with raw or under-dressed meat. If the meat is not raw, but under-dressed, surround the roll with pie-crust. Bake, and serve with tomato-sauce, or any of the brown sauces, poured in the bottom of the dish. Potato _croquettes_ may be served around it.

WHAT TO DO WITH COLD COOKED BEEF.

There is a good-sized book written on this subject. When there are about two hundred ways of utilizing cold cooked beef, one should not regard it contemptuously. I studied this treatise, and practiced from it, but soon considered the few old ways the best, after all. _Croquettes_ are very good, and there are beef-sausages, or cakes, seasoned in different ways; beef rolls, meat pies, and mince-pies, made from a few scraps of cold cooked beef, are all exceedingly nice when properly made.

BEEF HASH.

Notwithstanding this distinguished dish is so much abused, I particularly like it; not swimming hash, nor onion hash, nor Southern or Western hash, nor yet hash half cooked, but New York hash. I know a New York family who set a most expensive and elaborate table, which table is especially noted for its good hash. Large joints are purchased with special reference to this dish. Cold corned beef is generally considered best. The hash to which I have referred, however, is generally made of cold roast beef.

Chop the cold cooked meat rather fine; use half as much meat as of boiled potatoes (chopped when cold). Put a little boiling water and butter into an iron saucepan; when it boils again, put in the meat and potatoes well salted and peppered. Let it cook well, stirring it occasionally--not enough to make a _purée_ or mush of it. It is not done before there is a coating at the bottom of the saucepan, from which the hash will free itself without sticking. The hash must not be at all watery, nor yet too dry, but so that it will stand quite firm on well-trimmed and buttered slices of toast, and to be thus served on a platter. _Voilà!_

Chicken or turkey hash should be made in the same way.

MEAT PIE (_French Cook_).

Cut cold cooked meat into quite small dice; add pepper, salt, a little nutmeg, and two or three sprigs of chopped parsley; also a little thyme and a piece of bay-leaf, if you have them, but the two latter herbs may be omitted. Put a little butter into a saucepan, and when hot throw in a table-spoonful of flour, which brown carefully; pour in then several table-spoonfuls of hot water, or, better, stock; mix well; then introduce the meat dice; stir all well over the fire, cooking it thoroughly. Just before taking it up, mix in one or two eggs. It should be quite moist, yet consistent. Put a thin pie-crust into a pudding-dish. Fill in a few table-spoonfuls of the mixture; then lay on it a thin strip of bacon; continue these layers until the dish is filled. Now fit a piece of crust over the top; turn the edges in a fancy manner, and make a cut in the centre. Take a strip of pie-paste, form it into a tie or knot, wet the bottom, and place it over the cut in the centre of the pie, so as not to obstruct the opening.

The proper way to make a meat pie is with a pie-mold (see page 58). Butter the mold, press the crust neatly around in the inside and bottom, and continue, as explained for the pudding-dish. When baked, the wire holding the sides of the mold is drawn out, and the mold removed from the pie. This pie can be made with veal or lamb, in the same manner.

MEAT RISSOLES.

For _rissoles_, cold beef, chicken, veal, tongue, or lamb may be used, separately or mixed. The meat should not be chopped, but cut into quite small dice. It is well to add to it a slight flavoring of chopped pork, and a little finely chopped parsley. As the meat can be prepared in different ways, the addition of a superfluous mushroom or two, cut into dice, would not be amiss.

Put a small piece of butter, size of a pigeon’s egg, into a saucepan, and when it begins to boil add a heaping tea-spoonful of flour; stir for a minute to cook the flour, then add three or four table-spoonfuls of boiling water, or, what is much better, stock, gravy, or brown or white sauce if you happen to have it; when well mixed, add about two cupfuls of the meat dice, heat well, and just before taking from the fire stir in an egg.

The scraps of puff-paste are generally preferred, yet any kind of pie-paste may be used for _rissoles_. Roll the paste quite thin (one-sixth of an inch); wet it about three inches from the edge, and place upon it little balls (a generous tea-spoonful in each one) of the prepared meat, at distances of four inches apart; now lap over the edge of the paste, quite covering the balls of meat; press the side of the hand between each one, and, with the edge of a tumbler or muffin-ring, press the paste close to the meat; with a biscuit-cutter (scolloped one prettier) cut out each enveloped ball of meat into half circles. Now cut off the rough edges of the remaining paste, and proceed to make other rows of the _rissoles_ in the same manner. With a brush wet all the tops with the yolk of an egg. Bake the _rissoles_ in a hot oven, and serve them hot on a folded napkin. If they get cold, they may be reheated just before serving.

BEEF OR ANY COLD-MEAT SAUSAGES.

Chop cold cooked beef very fine; add a fifth as much pork, also chopped fine; pepper, salt, a little sage, or any herbs preferred, lemon-juice, and a few sprinkles of flour; mix all together with an egg, or eggs; form into little balls, fry in butter or lard in a _sauté_ pan. These sausages are good for breakfast served around a centre of apple-sauce. Or,

FOR RICE AND MEAT CAKES,

make as in last receipt, adding a very little butter. Stir in a quarter or half of its quantity of boiled rice; or, on another occasion, bread-crumbs may be substituted for rice.

BEEF CROQUETTES.

There is no more satisfactory manner of using cold cooked beef than for _croquettes_, which may be served with tomato or any of the brown sauces, or may be served without sauce at all, as is generally the case. They are made in the same manner as is described for chicken _croquettes_ (see page 175), merely substituting the same amount of beef for the chicken, and of rice for the brains.

A CHEAP ARRANGEMENT.

Purchase two soup bones (twenty cents). Boil them four or five hours with a few vegetables (as described for stock, see page 79). The stock will make two or three soups. Cut up the meat for _croquettes_. Of course the _croquettes_ are better made with the best of meat, yet may be excellent when made of the soup meat.

MINCE-PIES (_made from Remnants of Cold Beef_).

A good disposition in winter of cold roast beef is to make with it two or three mince-pies, as by the following receipt: One cupful of chopped meat (quarter of it fat), two cupfuls of apple, one tea-spoonful of salt, one table-spoonful of ground allspice, half a table-spoonful of ground cinnamon, half a table-spoonful of ground cloves, one cupful of sugar, half a cupful of raisins, half a cupful of currants, one cupful of cider; or, if one has no cider, use the same amount of cider-vinegar and water mixed--say half of each.

A COMMON POT-PIE OF VEAL, BEEF, OR CHICKEN.

Cut the meat into pieces, and put them into enough boiling water to cover them well; add also two or three strips of pork. Cover the pot closely. Boil an hour, then season with pepper and salt to taste, and a little piece of butter.

Just before taking out the ingredients of the pot to send to table, put into it, when the water is boiling, separate spoonfuls of batter made with two eggs well beaten, two and a half or three cupfuls of buttermilk, one tea-spoonful of soda, and sufficient flour. The batter should be made just before it is cooked. It takes about three or four minutes to cook it, the water not to be allowed to stop boiling. The dish should then be served immediately, or the dumplings will become heavy.

CALF’S HEART.

If people generally knew how nice a calf’s heart is, if properly cooked, the butchers would never charge so little as ten cents for it. In France, the calf’s heart and kidneys are considered great delicacies. In America they are often thrown away.

Merely wash off the blood. One could, by soaking, extract all the flavor from the heart. Stuff it with a veal force-meat stuffing, or a common stuffing, often used for turkeys, of bread-crumbs, onion, a little thyme or sage, egg, pepper, and salt. Tie a buttered paper over the mouth of the heart to keep the stuffing in place. Put it into a small baking-pan with a little hot water, pepper, and salt. Bake nearly two hours, basting it very frequently. When done, thicken the gravy with flour; strain, skim, and season it, and pour it on the dish around the heart. Garnish the plate with onions, first boiled until nearly done, then seasoned with pepper, salt, and a little butter, and browned in the oven.

TONGUE, WITH MUSTARD PICKLE SAUCE.

Cut boiled tongue into slices; fry them in a little hot butter, with a sprinkle of minced onion thrown in. Then, for the sauce, take out the slices of tongue; put in a tea-spoonful of flour, and when brown, a tea-cupful of hot water. When done, strain, and season with salt and pepper; add a table-spoonful of chopped pickles (piccalilli is best); however, common cucumber pickles may be used, with a little mustard added; or the sauce may be flavored with capers, or with both capers and pickles. Let the slices of tongue soak in the sauce until ready to serve, then arrange the slices of tongue on a platter, one lapped over the other, and pour over the sauce. A beef tongue may be braised, and served with spinach or _sauce Tartare_, as described for sheep’s tongues.

TONGUE SLICES, WITH SPINACH AND SAUCE TARTARE.