Part 4

Beef suet, salted, is quite as good for frying as lard, and is much cheaper. It is well to purchase it by the pound, and have it rendered in the kitchen.

TO PREPARE GREASE FOR FRYING (_Professor Blot_).

Take beef suet, the part around the kidneys, or any kind of fat, raw or cooked, and free of fibres, nerves, thin skin, or bones; chop it fine; add to it whatever you may have of fat skimmed off the top of meat soup; put it in a cast-iron or crockery kettle; set it on a moderate fire; boil gently for fifteen minutes; skim it well during the process; take from the fire, leave it five minutes, and then strain it; after which, put it in pots, and keep them in a dry and cool place; cover the pots well every time you have occasion to use, but never cover them while the grease is warm. This grease is as good, if not better than any other to fry fish, fritters, and other similar things, which require to be entirely covered with grease.[A]

BROILING.

I did not appreciate the nicety of broiling until, upon an occasion, a gentleman invited a dinner company to a private dining-room of one of our large restaurants, to eat a certain kind of fish, which he considered especially fine. The host was quite out of humor to see the fish come to the table baked, when he had ordered it broiled. The proprietor afterward explained that, for some reason, his French cook was absent for that day, and he had no other who could broil so large a fish. I at once realized that, after all, it must be a delicate and difficult thing to broil a large fish, so that the centre would be well done, and the surface not burned. The smaller and thinner the article, the hotter should be the fire; the larger the article, the more temperate the fire, or, rather, the greater distance it should at first be placed from it. The fish, in this case, should have been wrapped in oiled or buttered paper. It should have been placed rather near the fire for the first few moments; then removed farther away, or placed on another more moderate fire. A large baking-pan should have covered the top of the fish, to hold the heat. When nearly done, the paper should have been removed, to allow the surface to brown.

Always grease the gridiron well, and have it _hot_, before the meat is placed on it. Any thing egged and bread-crumbed should be buttered before it is broiled. Fish should be buttered and sprinkled with flour, which will prevent the skin from adhering to the gridiron. Cutlets, and in fact every thing, are more delicate buttered before broiling. A little lemon-juice is also often a nice addition. Birds, and other things which need to be halved, should be broiled, _inside_ first.

Remember that a hot, clear fire is necessary for cooking all small articles. They should be turned often, to be cooked evenly, without being burned.

Never put a fork in the lean part of meat on the gridiron, as it allows the juice to escape.

Always cover the gridiron with a tin pan or a baking-pan. The sooner the meat is cooked without burning, the better. The pan holds the heat, and often prevents a stray line of smoke from touching the meat.

If the fire should be too hot, sprinkle salt over it.

ROASTING.

There is little use to talk about roasting, as but few will attempt it, always considering it easier to bake instead. Indeed, there is so little demand in many sections for stoves and ranges suited to the purpose that they are difficult to obtain. Of course, there is no comparison between these modes of cooking. Beef, mutton, turkeys, ducks, or birds--in fact, any kind of meat is tenfold better roasted than baked. In Europe, all these articles are roasted; and people there would have great contempt for a piece of beef or a turkey baked. In New York and Philadelphia, also, at the finer establishments, the meats are generally roasted. The trouble is little greater than to bake. It is only necessary to have the range or stove constructed for roasting, and a tin screen, with a spit and jack, to place before the coals. Some of the roasters are arranged with a spring-jack. The meat is placed on the spit, and the spring wound up, which sets the meat to revolving slowly before the fire.

In roasting, the meat should at first be placed near the coals, so as to quickly harden the surface; then it should be removed back a little distance, to be cooked through, without burning. The oftener it is basted, the better it is. If the roast of meat is very large, it should be surrounded with a buttered paper.

Just before the meat is done, it should be basted with a little butter or drippings, then sprinkled with flour, and placed nearer the fire, to brown nicely, when it will take a frothy appearance.

Much depends upon the management of the fire. It should be made some time before the meat is placed for roasting, so that the coals may be bright and hot. It should also be strong enough to last, with only the addition of an occasional coal at the top. In fine establishments abroad, a grate for burning coal, charcoal, or wood is made in the kitchen, for the purpose of roasting only. This is convenient, but more expensive than roasting in ranges or stoves, where the same fire may serve for cooking every thing.

SAUTÉING.

As I have already said, frying implies immersing in fat or oil; but _sautéing_ means to cook in a spider or _sauté_ pan, with just enough hot fat to keep the article, while being cooked, from sticking. The fat should always be quite hot before placing on it any thing to cook.

BRAISING.

A braising-kettle has a deep cover, which holds coals; consequently, the cooking is done from above as well as below. It is almost air-tight, thus preventing evaporation, and the article to be cooked imbibes whatever flavor one may wish to give it.

The article is generally cooked in stock or broth (water may be used also), with slices of bacon, onion, carrot, etc., placed around the meat. It is a favorite mode of cooking pigeons. An ordinary cut of beef may be made very savory cooked in this manner, and the juice left makes a good gravy when freed from fat.

If a braising-pan is not at hand, a common, tight-covered saucepan answers very well without the upper coals. Except for coloring larding on the top of the article to be braised, I do not appreciate the value of the upper coals, anyway; and the coloring may be accomplished with the salamander or hot shovel as well.

LARDING.

Cut the firmest bacon fat, with a heated or very sharp knife, into square lengths of equal size. Placing one end in a larding-needle, draw it through the skin and a small bit of the meat, leaving the strip of pork, or lardoon, as it is called, in the meat. The two ends left exposed should be of equal length. The punctures for the lardoons should be in rows, of equal distance apart, arranged in any fanciful way that may suit the cook. The usual form for larding, however, is as shown in cut (page 57).

BONING.

Boning is not a difficult operation. It only requires time, a thin, sharp knife, and a little care. Cut off the neck, and also the legs at the first joint. Cut the skin in a line down the middle of the back. Now, taking first one side and then the other of the cut in the fingers, carefully separate the flesh from the bones, sliding the knife close to the bone. When you come to the wings and legs, it is easier to break or unjoint the bones at the body-joint; cutting close by the bone, draw it, turning the flesh of the legs and wings inside out. When all the bones are out, the skin and flesh can be re-adjusted and stuffed into shape. As the leg and wing bones require considerable time to remove, they may be left in, and the body stuffed with lamb or veal force-meat. See receipt for boned chicken (page 174). It is a very pretty and delicious dish.

EGG AND BREAD CRUMBING.

Always sift the bread or cracker crumbs. Whenever there are spare pieces or trimmings of bread or broken crackers, dry them at once in the oven, and after pounding and sifting, put them away in a tin can, for future use. In preparing for use, beat the eggs a little. If they are to be used for sweet dishes, such as rice croquettes, sweeten them slightly. If they are to be used for meats, sweet-breads, oysters, etc., always salt and pepper them, and for a change, finely chopped parsley may be added. Add a small proportion of milk to the eggs, say a half-cupful for two of them, or for one of them, if intended for fish or cutlets. Have the eggs in one plate, and the bread-crumbs in another; roll the article first in the crumbs, then in the egg, then in the crumbs again. In the case of articles very soft, like croquettes, it will be more convenient for one person to shape and roll them in the eggs, and another, with dry hands, to roll them in the bread-crumbs.

Pounded and sifted cracker-crumbs can be purchased by the pound, at bakeries and large groceries, for the same price as whole crackers. However, it will never be necessary to purchase cracker-crumbs, if all scraps of bread are saved and dried. It is deplorable for a cook to throw them away. It shows that she is either too indolent to ever learn to cook, or too ignorant of the uses of scraps of bread to be tolerated. If she saves them for purposes of charity, let her give fresh bread, which will be more acceptable, and save the scraps, which are equally useful to her. Yet if the bread-crumbs when pounded and sifted are not very fine, they are not as good as the cracker-dust.

TO COOK PUDDINGS IN BOILING WATER.

Wet and flour the cloth before adding the pudding. In tying in the pudding, leave room enough for it to swell. If cooked in a mold, do not fill the mold quite full. Never let the water stop boiling. As it wastes away in boiling, replenish the kettle from another containing boiling water.

It is better to cook these puddings (plum-puddings as well) in a steamer than in boiling water. The principle is really the same, and there is no water soaked.

DRIED CELERY, PARSLEY, ETC., FOR WINTER USE.

Celery, parsley, thyme, summer savory, sage, etc., should all be prepared for winter use. After drying and pulverizing, put them in tin cans or glass jars. Celery and parsley are especially valuable for soups and gravies.

SEEDS FOR SOUPS.

If the fresh or dried vegetables are not at hand, seeds, such as celery, carrot-seed, etc., can be substituted for a flavoring.

TO FLAVOR WITH LEMON ZEST.

Never use the white part of the peel of a lemon for flavoring. It is bitter. The little globules of oil in the surface of the rind contain all the pleasant flavor of the peel. It may be thinly pared off, avoiding the white pulp. Professional cooks, however, rub loaf-sugar over the surface. The friction breaks the oil-ducts, and the sugar absorbs the oil. It is called zest. The sugar is afterward pounded fine for certain dishes, such as creams, _meringues_, etc.; or it can be simply melted in custards and beverages.

THE COOK’S TABLE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

1 quart of sifted flour = 1 pound. 1 quart of powdered sugar = 1 pound and 7 ounces. 1 quart of granulated sugar = 1 pound and 9 ounces. 1 pint of closely packed butter = 1 pound. Butter, size of an egg = about 2 ounces. 10 eggs = 1 pound. 3 cupfuls of sugar = 1 pound. 5 cupfuls of sifted flour = 1 pound. 1 heaping table-spoonful = ⅙th of a gill. 4 gills = 1 pint; 2 pints = 1 quart; 4 quarts = 1 gallon.

In my receipts, I prefer, generally, the use of terms of measure to those of weight, because the former are more convenient for the majority of housekeepers.

TO CHOP SUET.

Sprinkle flour over it while chopping, which will prevent the pieces from adhering.

RISING-POWDER PROPORTIONS.

To 1 quart of flour, use 2½ tea-spoonfuls of baking-powder; or,

To 1 quart of flour, use 1 tea-spoonful of soda, and 2 tea-spoonfuls of cream of tartar; or,

To 1 quart of flour, use 1 cupful of sour milk, and 1 tea-spoonful of soda.

TO MAKE ROUX.

A _roux_ is a mixture of butter and flour _cooked_. It is generally added, uncooked, to thicken a sauce or a soup; but the flavor is much better if it is first cooked, and the sauce or soup is added to _it_. Professional French cooks always manage it in this way. When the butter is first brought to the boiling-point, in a small stew-pan or cup, the sifted flour is sprinkled in, and both are mixed well together over the fire with an egg-whisk, until the flour is well cooked; a part of the sauce or soup is then stirred in until it becomes smooth and thin enough to add to the main sauce or soup. If the _roux_ is intended for a white sauce, it is not allowed to color; if for a brown sauce, it may color a little, or browned flour may be used.

COOKING UTENSILS.

_The Bain Marie._--This is an open vessel, to be kept at the back of the range or in some warm place, to be filled with hot (not _boiling_) water. Several stew-pans, or large tin cups with covers and handles, are fitted in, which are intended to hold all those cooked dishes desired to be kept hot. If there are delays in serving the dinner, there is no better means of preserving the flavor of dishes. The _bain marie_ is especially convenient at any time for keeping sauces, or vegetables for garnish, which can not always be prepared at the last minute.

_The Braising-pan._--The use of this pan will be found by referring to the article on “braising.”

_The Fish-kettle._--The fish is placed on the perforated tin sheet, which is then put into the kettle of water. The fish is thus taken out of the water at will, without breaking. When done, it is placed for a minute over an empty iron kettle on the fire, to drain well and steam. It is then carefully slipped on a napkin in the hot platter in which it is to be served.

_The Custard-kettle._--This is an iron utensil, the inside kettle being lined with block-tin. Although there are cheaper custard-kettles made of tin, it is better economy to purchase those of iron, which are more durable. The inside kettle containing the custard is placed in the larger one, which is partly filled with boiling water.

_The Sauté-pan._--This pan may either be used for _sautéing_, or for an omelet pan.

_Sieve for Purées._--This is a substantial arrangement, the sides being made of tin. It is invaluable for bean, pea, or any of the _purée_ soups, which should be forced through the sieve. It is also used for bread or cracker crumbs--in fact, for any thing which requires sifting.

_The Steaming-kettle._--The article to be cooked is placed in the pan perforated with holes. It is put in the long kettle, which is partly filled with boiling water, then covered with the close-fitting cover. This is an invaluable kettle for cooking vegetables, puddings, and, in fact, almost any thing that is usually immersed in boiling water. A cabbage, with salt sprinkled among the leaves, is cooked much quicker in this way than when immersed, and is much more delicate. It is especially nice for plum-puddings, which then can not become water-soaked. Cooks generally manage to let the water stop boiling for some minutes when boiling puddings, which is just long enough to ruin them. This kettle is no less valuable for cooking chickens or rice.

_The Saratoga Potato-cutter._--The screws at the sides adjust a sharp knife, so that, by rubbing the potato over the plane, it may be cut as fine or as coarse as may be desired. The plane is also used for cutting cabbage, or for onions to serve with cucumbers. Cabbage, however, should not be cut too thin, as it is thereby less crisp. Cost, 50 cents.

_The Can-opener._--This is the best and cheapest pattern. The handle, knife, and square piece are all made together of pressed iron. Cost, 25 cents.

_The Cream-whipper._--The handle _A_ is placed inside the tube _B_. The tube is dipped into a bowl of sweetened and flavored cream. By churning and pressing it through the perforated holes, the cream becomes a light froth, which is skimmed off the top, and put on a sieve, as soon as a few table-spoonfuls of it are formed. Cost, 25 cents.

_The Wire-basket, for Frying._--Articles to be fried are placed in the basket, which is immersed in boiling fat. It facilitates frying, as the articles are all cooked, lifted out, and well drained at the same time. It is especially nice for frying smelts or for boiling eggs.

_The Egg-poacher._--The eggs are carefully broken into the little cups, and placed in the stand. The stand is then dipped into well-salted water, which is merely simmering. When done, each cup (formed like a shell) is taken out from the stand, and carefully tipped over a piece of buttered toast, leaving the egg with the pretty form of the cup on top.

_The Fish-stand._--Fried smelts are hung by catching them to the sharp points of the stand. The intervening places are filled with parsley or leaves, and the whole served in form of a pyramid.

_The Butter-roller._--The wooden squares are dipped into cold water. A small piece of butter (enough for one person at table) is placed on one square, then rolled around with the other one held in the other hand. A little ball is formed with a net-work surface. A number of balls are thus formed of the same size, and piled on the butter-dish, as in cut.

_Butter or Mashed-potato Syringe._--The butter is placed in the tube, and pressed through the round holes in the end on to the butter-dishes. It forms a pretty effect of fillets of butter, resembling vermicelli. Potatoes boiled, seasoned, and mashed may also be pressed through the tube around beef, venison, or almost any meat or fish dish, making a pretty decoration.

_French Vegetable-cutters._--The little cups of figures _A_ and _B_ are pressed into potatoes, or any bulbous vegetable, then turned around. The cutter _A_ will make little potato-balls, say an inch in diameter, which are fried, and called “potatoes _à la Parisienne_.” The figure _B_ will cut oblong forms. Smaller-sized cutters are preferable for cutting potatoes, carrots, turnips, etc., for garnishing _à la jardinière_.

_Tin Cutters, for cutting Slices of Bread to fry for decorating Dishes (croûtons), or to serve in Soups._--They may also be used for cutting slices of vegetables for decorations or for soups.

_Potato, Carrot, or Turnip Cutter._--This simple little instrument cuts the vegetables mentioned into curls. When the curl is cut, the vegetable is afterward cut from the outside to meet it, when it easily slips out. The handle is separate from the iron wire, and has to be taken off in order to remove the curl. The curls can be boiled in salted water, if of carrots; if of turnips, they are better cooked after the French receipt given; if of potatoes, they are generally fried in boiling lard, and sprinkled with a little salt as soon as done. They make a pretty garnish, or may be served alone.

_Fluted Knife, for cutting Vegetables into various fancy Forms for Decorations, or for Salads._--Some cut mushrooms with this knife, to give them a scolloped surface.

_French Cook’s Knife._--Made of best steel. It can easily be kept very sharp, and made of almost constant use in preparing dishes. It is especially useful for boning. It costs seventy-five cents, yet, with proper care, should last a life-time. These knives are so light, sharp, and easily handled, that, when once used, a person would consider it very awkward to cook without one.

_A Knife for Peeling._--The wire prevents the cutting of more than the skins of fruits or vegetables. The wire may be attached or detached at will, for cleaning it.

_Wire Skewers_ (Fig. A).--They are about three inches long, and may be of silver or plain wire. Fig. B is a skewer run through three smelts, with thin slices of bacon between. They are fried in boiling lard, and one skewerful is served to each person at table. The fish dish is garnished with lemon slices, one of which is placed on the top of each skewerful of fish when on the plate (see page 112). Fig. C, a skewer of alternate slices of egged and bread-crumbed sweet-breads and bacon, managed in the same manner as the smelts (see page 155).

_Knife for carving Poultry and Game._--Besides cutting the flesh, this knife disjoints or cuts the bones, which are often embarrassing, especially in ducks and geese.

_Meat-squeezer, for pressing out the Juice of Beef for Invalids._--A piece of round-steak (which yields more juice than other cuts) is barely heated through, when it is cut, and the juice pressed out at the angle _A_ into a warm cup, placed in a basin of hot water. The juice should be served immediately, and taken while still warm.

_Pancake-lifter._--This form, having more breadth than the ordinary square lifter, has the advantage of turning the pancakes with greater facility.

_Brush_, for rubbing whites of eggs over rusks, crullers, etc., or for glazing meats with clear stock, reduced by boiling to a stiff jelly.

_Larding-needles, Lardoons, and Manner of Larding._--See article on Larding, page 48.

_Apple-corer._--The larger tube is for coring apples; the smaller one for coring Siberian crab-apples, for preserving.

_Jelly-stand._--This is simply and cheaply made. Rings can be fastened to the ends of the cords, and slipped over the four top rounds, to hold the jelly-bag on the stand; or it may be tied. The jelly-bag should be made of flannel, or of Canton flannel. This arrangement is not only convenient for jellies, but for clear soups as well.

_Meat-pie Mold._--Fig. A represents the mold closed, the wires at each end fastening the two sides together. It is here ready to be buttered, the crust to be laid in, and pressed into the decorations at the sides, filled, the top crust to be fitted over, and baked. Fig. B, the wire is drawn out one side, the mold opened, and removed from the pie. Fig. C, the pie ready to be served at table.

_Paste-jagger._--Fig. A represents a paste-jagger, for cutting and ornamenting the edges of pie-crust. Fig. B is a plain circle of pie-crust cut with the jagger, to fit the pie-dish. Fig. C is part of a strip of pie-paste, which is cut with the jagger to lay around the edge of the pie. Fig. D, the strip laid around the edge. Fig. E, the pie placed upon a plate, ready to serve at table.

_Glass or Tin Flower Forms._--These are flat forms for decorating the table with flowers. They are filled with water or wet sand. The flowers are placed in, and may, or may not, conceal the tin form.