Part 12

Braise the tongue as described for sheep’s tongues (see page 158): arrange a circle of the slices around a platter, and on each slice smooth a little hill (enough for one person) of spinach prepared as described in the same receipt for “sheep’s tongues with spinach.” Put either a spoonful of _sauce Tartare_ or a slice of lemon into or on the top of each spinach-mold. This makes a nice lunch or dinner dish.

VEAL.

The best pieces of veal are the loin and the fillet. A variety of dishes can be made with veal cutlets and their different accompaniments. Veal is always better cooked with pork or ham. Professional cooks generally trim and lard their veal cutlets, serving them with tomato-sauce, pease, beans, breakfast bacon, lemon-slices, cucumbers, etc. For a cheap dish, one of the most satisfactory is a knuckle of veal made into a ragout, or pot-pie. Any of the inferior cuts may be made into a _blanquette_.

A _fricandeau_ of veal is perhaps considered the most distinguished veal dish. I would always advise the trimming of veal cutlets. It gives little trouble, but the appearance is much improved, and the trimmings should be thrown into the stock-pot. Veal should always be thoroughly cooked.

ROAST OF VEAL--THE FILLET.

Take out the bone of the joint; make a deep incision between the fillet and the flap; then fill it with stuffing made as follows: Two cupfuls of bread-crumbs, half a cupful of chopped pork, half a lemon-peel grated, a little juice, thyme, summer savory, or any herbs to taste; or it may be filled with a veal stuffing (see page 167). Bind the veal into a round form, fasten it with skewers and twine, sprinkle over pepper and salt, and cover it with buttered paper. Be careful not to put the meat too near the fire at first. Baste well and often. Just before it is done, remove the paper, sprinkle over a little flour, and rub over it a little butter. This will give a frothy appearance to the surface of the meat. When done, put the pan of gravy on the fire; add a little flour, some boiling water, and, when cooked, some lemon-juice. Strain it, remove the grease, and pour it around the roast. Fry some pieces of ham cut in diamond shape; place these in a circle around the roast, each piece alternated with a slice of lemon.

A FRICANDEAU OF VEAL.

What is called a _fricandeau_ of veal is simply a cushion of veal trimmed into shape, larded, and braised. Cut a thick slice (three or four pounds) from a fillet of veal, trim it around as in cut for “blind hare” (see page 150), and lard it on top. Put some pieces of pork into a braising-kettle, or saucepan, if you have no braising-kettle; also slices of carrot, an onion with cloves stuck in, a stick of celery, and some parsley. Put in the meat, sprinkle over pepper and salt, and cover it with well-buttered paper. Now fill the pan with boiling stock, or water enough to just cover the meat. Put on a tight lid. If it is a braising-pan, set it upon the fire, with live coals on top. If a common saucepan, cover it, and put it into a hot oven.

It will take about two hours, or two hours and a half, to cook it. A professional cook would boil down the stock in which the _fricandeau_ was cooked until reduced to a glaze, then with a brush would glaze all the top of the meat, placing it in the oven a moment to dry. However, it tastes as well without this extra trouble.

The best sauce for a _fricandeau_ is a tomato-sauce. It is as often garnished with green pease, spinach, or sorrel; or a little wine (Madeira, port, or sherry) and _roux_ (see page 51) may be added to the braising-stock for a gravy. The gravy should be strained, of course.

VEAL CUTLETS, BROILED.

The rib cutlets should always be neatly trimmed, the bone scraped at the end, so that it will look smooth and white. Broil them on a moderate fire, basting them occasionally with butter, and turning them often. Dish them in a circle with tomato-sauce.

VEAL CUTLETS, SAUTÉD AND FRIED.

These are cutlets cut from the round, although any veal cutlets may be cooked in the same way. Cut them into equal-sized pieces, beat them a little with a knife to get them into shape; season, egg, and bread-crumb them. Now, fry in a _sauté_ pan, or rather _sauté_ some thin slices of ham in a little hot lard, and when done take them out on a hot dish; fry slowly the cutlets in the same fat, and when done pour out some of the fat, if there is more than a tea-spoonful; add a little flour, then a little hot water, and, when cooked a few moments, season it well with lemon-juice, adding pepper and salt to taste; then strain it. Serve the cutlets in the centre of a dish, with the gravy poured over; and place alternate slices of the ham and lemon in a circle around them.

They are also very good _sautéd_ in a little lard, and served with a cream gravy poured over; or they are nice egged (with a little chopped parsley and onion mixed with the egg), and bread-crumbed, and fried in hot lard.

VEAL CUTLETS, BRAISED.

Professional cooks usually braise veal cutlets. They lard them (an easy matter) all on the same side, the flavor of pork particularly well suiting veal. To proceed then: Mince some onions and carrots; put them in the bottom of a stew-pan; put the cutlets on this layer; cover well with stock (add wine if you choose), and let them cook until thoroughly done.

If you wish to be particular, boil down the stock and glaze them; or make a gravy of the stock with flour, _roux_, pepper and salt, and strain it; or serve them with tomato-sauce; or make a little round hill of mashed potatoes, and put the cutlets around; or serve with them, instead, beans, pease, or flowerets of cauliflowers.

MUTTON OR VEAL CHOPS (_en papillote_).

Trim the chops; broil them in the usual way over the coals, and when done place each one in a paper (well buttered) cut in the form of Fig. 1; pour over each chop a sauce made as

follows: For three cutlets thicken a cupful of strong broth with equal quantities of either cold cooked chicken, lamb, or veal, and mushrooms (the mushrooms are a great improvement to the dish, yet they may be omitted if more convenient) with a quarter proportion of cold boiled ham added, and also one or two sprigs of parsley, all chopped very fine. Pour this hot over the hot cutlets; place a _very thin_ slice of fat salt pork over each cutlet;[B] fasten the paper as in Fig. 2, and place them in a hot oven for about ten minutes. Serve _immediately_ while the chops are steaming hot.

BLANQUETTE OF VEAL (_French Cook_).

Cut any kind of veal (say two pounds) into pieces; put it into boiling water, with a little bulb of garlic or slice of onion, and when done throw the meat from the boiling water into cold water, to whiten it. This is the rule, but I usually dispense with it. Make a drawn butter sauce, _i. e._, put butter the size of an egg into a saucepan, and when it bubbles mix in a table-spoonful of flour, which cook a minute, without letting it color; add then two cupfuls of boiling water and a little nutmeg. When the veal is done, drain it from the water, and let it simmer several minutes in the sauce, adding at the same time a sprig of parsley chopped fine. When just ready to serve, place the pieces of meat on a hot platter; stir the yolks of three eggs into the sauce without allowing them to boil; also several drops, or a seasoning, of lemon-juice. Pour the sauce over the veal, and serve.

BLIND HARE (_Mrs. Charles Parsons_).

Ingredients: Three pounds of minced veal, three pounds of minced beef, eight eggs well beaten, three stale rolls, or the same amount of bread-crumbs, pepper, salt, two grated nutmegs, a heaping table-spoonful of ground cinnamon. Mix all well together. Form it into an oval-shaped loaf, smooth it, and sprinkle bread or cracker crumbs over the top. Bake it in a moderate oven about three hours. It is to be sliced when cold.

BEWITCHED VEAL (_Mrs. Judge Embry_).

Ingredients: Three pounds of lean veal, half a pound of fat salt pork, one nutmeg grated, one small onion, butter the size of an egg, a little red pepper, and salt.

Chop all very fine, and mix them together, with three eggs well beaten, and a tea-cupful of milk; form it into a small loaf, pressing it very firmly; cover it with fine bread-crumbs; bake two hours and a half. It is intended to be eaten cold, yet is very good hot. The slices may be served in a circle around salad.

PLAIN VEAL STEW OR POT-PIE.

Cut the meat from a knuckle of veal into pieces not too small; put them into a pot with some small pieces of salt pork, and plenty of pepper and salt; pour over enough hot water to cover it well, and let it boil until the meat is _thoroughly_ done; then, while the water is still boiling, drop in (by the spoonful) a batter made with the following ingredients: Two eggs well beaten, two and a half or three cupfuls of buttermilk, one even tea-spoonful of soda, and flour enough to make a thick batter. Cover the pot, and as soon as the batter is well cooked, serve it. By standing, it becomes heavy.

TO COOK LIVER (_Melanie Lourant_), No. 1.

Put a little lard into a saucepan, and when hot throw in half an onion minced fine, one or two sprigs of parsley, chopped, and the slices of calf’s liver. Turn the liver several times, allowing it to cook well and imbibe the taste of the onion and parsley. When cooked, place it at the side of the fire. In another saucepan make a sauce as follows: Put in a piece of butter size of a large hickory-nut, and when it bubbles sprinkle in a heaping tea-spoonful of flour; stir it until it assumes a fine brown color, then pour in a cupful of boiling water, stirring it well with the egg-whisk; add pepper, salt, a table-spoonful of vinegar, and a heaping table-spoonful of capers. The sauce is very nice without the capers, but very much improved with them. Drain out the slices of liver, which put into the sauce, and let them remain at the side of the fire until ready to serve. Chopped pickle may be substituted for the capers, and stock may be used instead of the boiling water.

TO COOK LIVER (No. 2).

Fry in a _sauté_ pan some thin slices of breakfast bacon, and when done put them on a hot dish; fry then thin slices of liver in the same fat, which have previously been thrown into boiling water for only a _moment_, and then been sprinkled with flour. When well done on both sides, serve them and the bacon on the same dish, and garnish them with slices of lemon.

CALF’S BRAINS.

Before cooking, remove the fibrous membranes around them. Throw them into a pint of cold water, in which are mixed half a tea-spoonful of salt and one tea-spoonful of vinegar; boil them three minutes, then plunge them into cold water. When cold and about to be served, cut them into scollops; and when seasoned with pepper and salt, egged, and bread-crumbed, _sauté_ them in a little hot butter. Serve with tomato-sauce. Or they may be served with _spighetti_ (a small macaroni) cooked with tomato-sauce (see page 210), and placed around them, when they are called brains _à la Milanaise_.

SWEET-BREADS.

Veal sweet-breads are best. They spoil very soon. The moment they come from market, they should be put into cold water, to soak for about an hour; lard them, or rather draw a lardoon of pork through the centre of each sweet-bread, and put them into salted boiling water, or, better, stock, and let them boil about twenty minutes, or until they are thoroughly done; throw them then into cold water for only a few moments. They will now be firm and white. Remove carefully the skin and little pipes, and put them in the coolest place until ready to cook again. The simplest way to cook them is the best one, as follows:

FRIED SWEET-BREADS.

Parboil them as just explained. Just before serving, cut them in even-sized pieces, sprinkle over pepper and salt, egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them in hot lard. They are often immersed in boiling lard, yet oftener fried in the _sauté_ pan. If _sautéd_, when done put them on a hot dish, turn out part of the lard from the _sauté_ pan, leaving about half a tea-spoonful; pour in a cupful of milk thickened with a little flour; let it cook, stirring it constantly, and season it with pepper and salt; strain, and pour over the sweet-breads. With green pease, serve without sauce. This is the usual combination at dinner or breakfast companies, the pease in the centre of the dish, and the sweet-breads around (see cut above). Or they are often served whole with cauliflower or asparagus heads, when the cream-sauce is poured over both; or they are also nice piled in the centre of a dish, with macaroni (cooked with cheese) placed around them like a nest, and browned a little with a salamander (see cut on next page), or with a tomato-sauce in the centre of the dish, and the sweet-breads around, or with stuffed tomatoes alternating with the sweet-breads on the dish, or with mushrooms in the centre, or served on a dish made of boiled rice, called a rice _casserole_ (see page 205), or in little rice molds called _cassolettes_. To make the latter, boil the rice well, then work it to a smooth paste with a spoon; fill some little buttered patty-pans with the rice, and when it is quite cold take it out, brush the _cassolettes_ with butter on the outside, and color them a little in a hot oven; scoop out the inside, leaving the rice crust a quarter of an inch thick. Fill the _cassolettes_ with the sweet-breads cut into pieces, and pour over each a spoonful of cream dressing; or they may be _sautéd_ as described, and served with a _maître-d’hôtel_ sauce poured over.

SWEET-BREADS À LA MILANAISE.

Sweet-breads fried as in preceding receipt are placed in the centre of a hot platter. Small piped macaroni broken into two or three inch lengths is cooked with tomatoes as in receipt (see page 210), and neatly arranged in a circle around them.

SWEET-BREADS LARDED AND BRAISED (_English Lady_).

Trim all the skin and cartilage very carefully from two fine sweet-breads; lay them in cold water for an hour, and lard them; lay some slices of bacon in the bottom of a braising-pan, or any pan with a good cover (Francatelli would add also minced onions, carrots, celery, and parsley; however, they are quite good enough without); then put in sweet-breads, with slices of bacon between the pan and the sweet-breads; pour over all some stock, just high enough not to touch the larding, which must stand up free; let it simmer very gently for half or three-quarters of an hour. Look at it occasionally to see that the stock does not waste; add a little if it does. When done, hold a salamander or a hot kitchen shovel over the sweet-breads until they are a pale-yellow color on top. Serve these with tomato-sauce poured in the centre of the dish. The whole dish should look moist, the sweet-breads nearly white, and the larding transparent, standing up distinct and firm, like glass, white at the bottom, and pale-yellow on top.

BAKED SWEET-BREADS (_New York Cooking-school_).

Put a pair of sweet-breads on the fire in one quart of cold water, in which are mixed one tea-spoonful of salt and one table-spoonful of vinegar. When the water boils, take them off, and throw them into cold water, leaving them until they get cold; now lard them with lardoons about one-eighth of an inch square and two inches long. Chop rather fine one-third of a medium-sized onion (one ounce), four or five slices of carrot (one and a half ounces), half a stalk of celery, and one sprig of parsley. Put in the bottom of a baking-dish trimmings of pork; on this place the sweet-breads, and sprinkle the chopped vegetables over the top; bake them twenty minutes in a hot oven. Cut a slice of bread into an oval or any fancy shape, and fry it in a _sauté_ pan in a little hot butter, coloring it well; put this _croûton_ in the centre of a hot platter, on which place the sweet-breads. Serve pease or tomato-sauce around.

SWEET-BREAD FRITTERS.

Parboil the sweet-breads as before explained, and cut them into slices about half an inch thick; then sprinkle over them pepper and salt, a little grated nutmeg, some finely chopped parsley, and a few drops of lemon-juice; dip them each into French fritter batter (see page 229); fry them a moment in boiling-hot lard. Always test the lard before frying by putting in a piece of bread or a bit of the batter; if it turns yellow readily, it is hot enough. Drain them well; pile them on a napkin neatly arranged on a platter; garnish them with fried parsley, _i. e._, parsley thrown into the lard, and skimmed out almost immediately.

SWEET-BREAD CROQUETTES (_New York Cooking-school_).

After two pairs of sweet-breads are blanched (boiled in salted water as described), cut them into dice; cut also half a box (four ounces) of mushrooms into dice. Make a _roux_ by putting one and a half ounces of butter into a saucepan, and when it bubbles sprinkle in two ounces of flour; mix and cook it well; then pour in a gill of strong stock or cream; when this is also mixed, add the dice, which stir over the fire until they are thoroughly heated; take them from the fire, add the beaten yolks of two eggs, which return to the fire a moment to set, without allowing to boil. When cool, form into _croquettes_; roll them first in cracker-crumbs, then in egg, then in cracker-crumbs again, and fry them in boiling lard.

The _croquettes_ may be cone-shaped, with a stick of parsley or celery pressed in the top for a stem just before serving; or the sweet-bread _croquettes_ may be made in the same manner as chicken _croquettes_ (French cook receipt), substituting sweet-breads for the chickens. They may be served alone, or with pease, or with tomato or Bechamel sauce, etc.

SKEWER OF SWEET-BREADS.

Parboil the sweet-breads as before described; cut them into slices or scollops about half an inch or more thick; sprinkle them with pepper and salt, and egg and bread-crumb them; now run a little skewer (see page 56) through two of these slices, alternating with two thin, square slices of bacon; fry in boiling lard; serve a tomato or cream sauce in the centre, and garnish with parsley. Serve one skewerful to each person at table.

MUTTON.

The best roasts are the leg, the saddle, and the shoulder of mutton. They are all roasted according to the regular rules for roasting. In England, mutton is hung some time before cooking. There must be something in the air of England quite different from that of America in reference to the hanging of meats and game; there, it is to be confessed, the mutton, after having hung a certain length of time, certainly is most delicious; here it would be unwholesome, simply not fit to eat. These joints of which I speak are also good braised. Serve currant-jelly-sauce with the roast, or garnish it with stuffed baked tomatoes.

BOILED LEG OF MUTTON.

This should be quite fresh. Put it into well-salted boiling water, which do not let stop boiling until the meat is thoroughly done. The rule is to boil it a quarter of an hour for each pound of meat. Caper-sauce should be served with this dish, either in a sauce-boat or poured over the mutton; garnish with parsley.

MUTTON CUTLETS.

Trim them well, scraping the bones; roll them in a little melted butter or oil, season, and broil them; or they are nice egged, bread-crumbed, and fried. They are especially nice when broiled, served around a bed of mashed boiled potatoes: the cutlets help to season the potatoes, which in turn well suit the meat. Tomato-sauce is also a favorite companion to the cutlets. They may, however, be served with almost any kind of vegetables, such as pease or string-beans, in the centre of the dish, and the cutlets arranged in a circle around.

RAGOUTS (_made of Pieces of Mutton, Veal, Beef, or Rabbits_).

Cut the upper parts, or the neck, from a fore-quarter of mutton (or take inferior cuts from any part) into pieces for a ragout; heat a heaping table-spoonful of drippings, or lard, in a saucepan, and when hot _sauté_ in it the pieces of mutton (say two pounds) until they are almost done; take them out, put in a table-spoonful of flour, brown it, add at first a little cold or lukewarm water, mix it well, then add a quart of boiling water; now add also salt, Cayenne pepper, two cloves, the pieces of _sautéd_ meat, three or four onions (not large), and six or seven peeled potatoes. Some prefer to boil the potatoes a few minutes in other water first, as the water in which potatoes are boiled is considered unwholesome; cover the stew-pan well. When the vegetables are cooked, take them and the meat out, skim off every particle of fat from the gravy, taste to see if it is properly seasoned, pour it over the ragout, and serve.

These ragouts can be made with the neck, or any pieces of veal, in the same manner, or with pieces of beef, in which case carrots might be substituted for the potatoes. A ragout of rabbits is most excellent made in the same way, adding a glassful of red wine when it is almost done.

In buying a fore quarter of mutton, there are enough trimmings for a good ragout, with a shapely roast besides.

ANOTHER RAGOUT (_of Pieces of Mutton, Veal, Beef, etc._).

Make rich pie-paste about the size of an egg (for four persons); roll it a quarter of an inch thick; cut it into diamonds, say an inch long and half an inch broad. Bake them, and put them aside until five minutes before serving the ragout. Take mutton, veal, beef, or almost any kind of meat. Any cheap cut of meat will make a good ragout, and choice cuts had better be cooked in other ways. In this instance, I will say, cut two pounds from the side of mutton. Put a table-spoonful of lard or drippings into a saucepan, and when hot _sauté_ in it the pieces of mutton; when half done, place them in a kettle. Add a heaping table-spoonful of flour to the drippings in the saucepan; stir it constantly several minutes to brown, then add gradually a pint of hot water; now pour this over the meat in the kettle, adding three small onions, two sprigs of parsley, three cloves, and a clove or bulb of garlic, if you have it; pepper and salt. Cover it closely, and let it simmer slowly for an hour, occasionally turning the kettle to one side to skim off all the fat. Five minutes before serving, add the diamonds of crust.

At the moment of serving, take out the meat, crust, and three onions, and arrange them on a hot platter. Pass the gravy through a sieve, and skim off every remaining particle of fat; taste to see if it is properly seasoned with pepper and salt, and pour it over the meat.

SHEEP’S TONGUES, WITH SPINACH.

Braise a number of sheep’s-tongues with salt pork, parsley, onion, some whole peppers, a tea-spoonful of sugar, and enough stock to cover them. Let them simmer one and a half hours. Serve with spinach in the centre of the dish, and seasoned with lemon-juice, a little of the tongue stock, some Cayenne pepper, salt, and butter. Serve the tongues around it, and diamonds or fancy cuts of fried bread (_croûtons_) around the outside circle.

SHEEP’S TONGUES À LA MAYONNAISE.

Boil half a dozen sheep’s tongues with one or two slices of bacon, one carrot, one onion, two cloves, two or three sprigs of parsley, salt and pepper (some add two table-spoonfuls of sherry or port wine, but this may be omitted), and enough boiling water (or, better, stock) to cover them. Let them simmer about one and a half hours, replenishing the boiling water or the stock when necessary. When thoroughly done, skin and trim them neatly; lay them between two plates, to flatten them. A professional cook would glaze them with the stock boiled down in which they were cooked; however, this is only for the sake of appearance. Arrange them in a circle around a dish, with a _Mayonnaise_ sauce poured in the centre.

SHEEP’S TONGUES, WITH SAUCE TARTARE.