Part 3

Slice the onion and tomatoes, heat them in a tin with the oil, salt and pepper. Wash the plaice and dry it well, put it in the tin, season it, dredge it with flour, and baste it with the oil. Parboil the potatoes and put them round the plaice to get brown. When dishing up, squeeze the lemon-juice over the plaice and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

Haddocks may also be cooked in this way.

Soused Herrings. Time—½ hour.

3 herrings, ½ pint vinegar, 2 bay-leaves, whole peppers, salt, and cloves to taste.

Split and halve the herrings, roll and tie them up. Place them in a pie-dish, half cover with vinegar, add whole peppers, salt, cloves, and bay-leaves, and bake in a slow oven until they feel soft (about 20 minutes).

Sole à la Maître d’Hôtel. Time—½ hour.

1 sole filleted, 1 oz. butter, ¾ oz. flour, juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper to taste, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, ½ pint water, ½ gill cream.

Put the bones and fins of the sole into a saucepan with the water, and put it on to boil. Place the fillets folded loosely on a greased tin, and sprinkle them with lemon-juice, pepper and salt. Cover with a greased paper, and cook in a moderate oven, about 6 minutes. Melt the butter in a clean saucepan, drop the flour in gradually, and mix well. Add the fish liquor and boil 10 minutes. Then add salt, pepper, cream, lemon-juice, and parsley. Arrange the fillets on a dish with the sauce poured over them.

Sole au Gratin. Time—½ hour.

1 sole, ½ shalot, 4 mushrooms, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, juice of a lemon, 1 oz. butter, raspings (see page x.); salt and pepper to taste.

Skin the sole, cut off the fins and nick it on both sides with a knife, dry it well. Chop the shalot, mushrooms and parsley, mix them together, and sprinkle half of them on to a dish. Lay the sole on this seasoning, and sprinkle the rest of it over the sole. Squeeze lemon-juice over, sprinkle with salt, pepper and raspings. Put little bits of butter on the fish, bake in a moderate oven for 10 minutes.

Soles Stewed with Tomatoes. Time—¾ hour.

A pair of soles, 1 small onion, 2 tablespoonfuls oil, or 2 oz. butter, 4 tomatoes, the juice of 1 lemon, pepper, salt, a little cayenne and nutmeg.

Heat the oil or butter in a stew-pan, add chopped onion, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. When the onion is tender, put in the soles, slice the tomatoes on to them, cook for 20 minutes, or ½ hour if the soles are large. Take out the soles carefully, put them on a hot dish, rub the liquor through a sieve, add the lemon-juice, and a very little cayenne and nutmeg, return to the saucepan to get hot, and pour over the soles.

Gurnets and shad may also be cooked in this way, and can be eaten hot or cold.

Brown Stewed Fish. (Salmon and other rich fish.) Time—1 hour.

_For 4 Mackerel or Herrings._

¾ pint porter, 2 Spanish onions, ground ginger, nutmeg, allspice, ground cloves, pepper and salt to taste, juice of three lemons, 1 dessertspoonful vinegar, ½ lb. real black treacle.

Stew a crust of bread and the onions in the porter. When tender, take out the crust, and put in the fish with the spice, lemon-juice, vinegar, pepper and salt. When the fish is nearly cooked, add the treacle gradually, cook 3 minutes, and serve cold with slices of lemon between bunches of scraped horse-radish.

Brown Stewed Fish. (Fresh Water Fish, etc.) Time—40 minutes.

2 to 3 lbs. fish, ½ pint water, 1 onion, 1 tablespoonful oil, 1 tablespoonful vinegar, two-pennyworth ginger-bread, one-pennyworth golden syrup, 1 lemon; pepper and salt to taste.

Peel and cut up the onion, brown it in the oil, put it in the stew-pan with the fish and water, and cook for half an hour. Soak the ginger-bread in the golden syrup and vinegar; when soft, beat it up and add the lemon-juice, pepper and salt. Ten minutes before the fish is ready, pour this sauce on to it, and tilt the stew-pan well backwards and forwards. Serve cold.

White Stewed Fish with Balls. Time—1½ hour.

3 lbs. fish, 2 small onions, 2 tablespoonfuls sweet oil, 1 pint cold water, nutmeg and ginger, pepper and salt to taste, a pinch of powdered saffron, juice of 3 lemons, 1 tablespoonful flour, 2 eggs; (_for the balls_) a piece of cod’s-liver, chopped parsley, bread-crumbs.

Chop the onions, stew till tender in the oil in a stew-pan, take out one-third for balls, add the fish and water, season with salt, pepper, ginger and nutmeg. When the liquor boils, place the balls (see below) on the top of the fish and cook ¼ hour, then draw the stew-pan to the side of the fire. Mix the flour to a smooth paste with a little cold water in a separate basin, add the lemon-juice, 1 whole egg and 1 yolk beaten, the saffron, and mix all well together. Take a pint of the fish-liquor from the stew-pan, add this gradually to the contents of the basin, stirring all the time. When thoroughly mixed, pour it back into the stew pan, from which must previously be taken some of the fish-liquor, if there seem too much. Tilt the stew-pan backwards and forwards till the sauce has thickened sufficiently. Serve hot or cold, with the sauce poured over the fish and balls, and garnish with parsley and slices of lemon.

_To make the balls_: Chop the cod’s-liver very fine; add the remainder of the onion chopped fine, parsley, white of egg beaten, pepper, salt, nutmeg, ginger, and sufficient bread-crumbs to make them the right stiffness.

SIMPLE WAYS OF USING COLD COOKED FISH.

Curried Fish. Time—1 hour.

1 lb. cold cooked fish, 1 apple or stick of rhubarb, 2 oz. butter, 2 onions, 1 pint water or fish liquor, 1 tablespoonful curry powder, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 teaspoonful lemon-juice or vinegar; salt and pepper to taste.

Peel and cut up the onions and apple, or rhubarb; fry till brown in hot butter. Add the curry powder, flour, salt and pepper, and stir the water or fish-liquor in gradually; boil this all up and simmer gently for half-an-hour, then add the lemon-juice or vinegar; strain, and return to the saucepan with the fish cut into neat pieces to get thoroughly hot. Serve the curry in a border of boiled rice (see page 35).

A Fish Cake. Time—1 hour.

½ lb. cold cooked fish, 2 oz. bread-crumbs, 1 onion, ½ oz. butter; pepper and salt to taste; ½ gill milk or fish-liquor, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 1 egg, raspings (see page x.).

Cover a greased cake-tin with raspings; melt the butter in a saucepan; fry the minced onions and parsley in the butter; mince the fish and stir into the fried onion and parsley. Remove the saucepan from the fire, stir in the bread-crumbs, the milk or liquor, the beaten egg and seasoning; pour all into the cake-tin and bake in a moderate oven three-quarters of an hour. Turn out and serve with melted butter (see page 40).

Fish Cakes. Time—½ hour.

1 lb. cold cooked fish, ½ lb. potatoes, 2 oz butter, 2 eggs; pepper and salt to taste.

Use any remains of cold fish, or boil some fish as on page 10. Cold potatoes may also be used instead of boiling fresh ones. Mash the potatoes, add the pieces of fish broken up small, the yolk of one egg, the butter melted, and salt and pepper to taste. Form the mixture into balls with a tablespoon, flatten them into cakes brush over with beaten egg, toss them in bread-crumbs, and fry in oil. This mixture may also be made into a large fish-cake, by putting it into a greased tin and baking it in the oven about ¼ hour.

Fish Pie. Time—20 minutes.

Cold cooked fish of any kind, bread-crumbs, 2 oz. butter; pepper and salt to taste, fish-liquor or water.

Butter a pie-dish, sprinkle on it a layer of bread-crumbs, then a layer of fish broken up into pieces; some pepper, salt, and bits of butter; cover this with more bread-crumbs and bits of butter; pour on a little fish-liquor or water, and bake 10 minutes.

Fish Quenelles. Time—¾ hour.

1 teacupful bread-crumbs, ½ gill milk or cream, 1 teacupful cold cooked fish, 1 oz. fresh butter, 1 egg; salt and pepper to taste.

Soak the bread-crumbs in the milk, pound the fish, melt the butter, beat up the egg, yolk and white separately, mix all together, season to taste; ¾ fill six small buttered moulds with the mixture and steam for ½ hour; turn out and serve with white or lemon sauce (see page 39).

Fish Soufflée. Time—½ hour.

½ lb. cold cooked fish, 2 eggs, 2 oz. butter, pepper and salt to taste; anchovy sauce if liked.

Pound up the fish, melt the butter, add it to the fish with the beaten yolks of eggs and seasoning. Beat up the whites of eggs to a stiff froth, add them lightly to the other mixture in a pie-dish and bake in a quick oven about 20 minutes.

Halibut Crême. Time—¾ hour.

1 lb. cold cooked fish (halibut preferred), 2 oz. butter, 1½ oz. flour, ½ pint milk, 1 oz. grated cheese; pepper, salt and nutmeg to taste.

Remove the skin and bone from the fish, mash it up with a fork, then place it in a vegetable dish; melt the butter in a small saucepan, stir in the flour carefully, then add the milk by degrees. When it boils remove from the fire add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg, spread this mixture over the fish and sprinkle with grated cheese, or if preferred with bread-crumbs. Bake in the oven till brown.

Kedgeree. Time—¾ hour.

½ lb. boiled fish, ¼ lb. boiled rice, 2 eggs, 2 oz. butter, salt, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg to taste.

Boil the eggs hard, break the fish into small pieces, chop the white of egg and grate the yolks. When the boiled rice is dry, melt the butter in a stew-pan and add the rice, fish, white of egg, cayenne pepper, grated nutmeg, and salt. Mix well and serve on a hot dish, with the grated yolks sprinkled over.

MEAT.

Good meat should be firm to the touch, adhere closely to the bones, be streaked with fat, and should have a slight but not unpleasant odour.

Meat becomes much more tender if it can be hung a day or two before it is cooked.

To Bake Meat.

Baking closely resembles roasting. It is more economical, as the joint loses less weight, and if carefully attended to cannot be distinguished from roast meat. A double tin which holds hot water should be used, so that the steam from the water may prevent the dripping from burning. Place the meat on a trivet in the tin, flour the meat, sprinkle it with salt, put it in the hottest part of the oven for the first few minutes, then remove it to a cooler part, baste well, and turn it over occasionally. (For time and gravy see Roast Meat.)

To Boil Meat.

Weigh the meat, allow twenty minutes to each pound, and twenty minutes extra for dishing up. Put the meat into boiling water, boil five minutes, then draw the saucepan to the side of the fire, and simmer; keep the meat well covered with water; serve with a teacupful of its own liquor. Never throw away the liquor in which meat has been boiled; it makes excellent soup.

To Roast Meat.

Have a bright and clear fire; weigh the meat, allow twenty minutes to each pound, and twenty minutes extra for dishing up; flour the joint well, and sprinkle it with salt; let it roast quickly the first ten minutes, then put it farther from the fire, and let it cook more slowly, basting often; flour occasionally. When dishing up, pour the dripping out of the pan, and set it aside. Add one pint or more of boiling water to the brown lumps under the dripping, and put it in the hottest part of the oven. Pour this gravy over the meat and serve.

Beef à la Mode. Time—5 hours.

3 lbs. lean brisket, 1 quart water, ½ gill vinegar, 4 Spanish onions, 2 oz. mustard seed, 1 oz. long pepper, ½ teaspoonful ground ginger; salt to taste; a thickening of flour, sugar, and browning.

Put the beef on in cold water, bring it to the boil, then simmer for three hours, reducing the water to one pint. Add the vinegar, onions, and other ingredients. Stew in the oven (if possible) for two hours, but if the saucepan is too large for the oven, let the meat continue to simmer on the stove. Half an hour before serving, thicken the gravy with flour, sugar, and browning (see page x.).

Smoked Beef.

Soak over-night in cold water; next morning place it in cold water, and simmer till quite tender, reckoning ½ hour to the pound.

Beef Steak. Time—20 minutes.

Heat the gridiron, put in the steak, turn the gridiron four times at intervals of 2 minutes, then eight times at intervals of 1 minute. Sprinkle with pepper and salt, and serve on a hot plate.

_Chops_ are done in the same way, turning the gridiron twice at intervals of 2 minutes, and six times at intervals of 1 minute.

To make steak tender: beat it well, and rub into it a small pinch of carbonate of soda.

Beef Steak Pie. Time—2½ hours.

1½ lb. beef steak, ¾ lb. flour, ¼ lb. clarified dripping, 1 teaspoonful salt, ½ teaspoonful pepper.

Beat the steak well, cut it up into neat pieces. Mix 1 tablespoonful flour, salt, and pepper on a plate, and dip each piece of meat into the mixture. Put the pieces in a stew-pan, cover with cold water, and simmer gently about ½ hour, then turn the meat and gravy into a pie-dish.

Put the flour into a large basin with half a saltspoonful of salt, rub the dripping into it, and add by degrees enough cold water to make a stiff paste. Flour a board, roll the pastry out rather larger than the pie-dish, about one-third of an inch thick, cut a strip off, wet the edge of the dish, place the strip round it, wet the strip, and press the rest of the pastry on to it, trimming off the rough edges with a sharp knife. Make a hole in the top of the pie to allow the steam to escape whilst baking; ornament the top and edges and brush over with beaten egg. Bake for ¾ hour, putting it into the hottest part of the oven for a few minutes, then remove it to a cooler part.

Beef Steak Pudding. Time—3½ hours.

1 lb. beef, 4 oz. suet, ¾ lb. flour, 1½ gill water, 1 teaspoonful baking-powder; salt and pepper to taste.

Put on a large saucepan of water to boil. Mix on a plate 1 dessertspoonful of flour, some pepper and salt. Beat the steak well, cut it into slices, dip each piece in the mixture, and roll it up. Put the flour, baking-powder, salt, and suet chopped fine, into a basin, and mix to a stiff paste with cold water. Cut off one-third for the top. Grease a basin well, line it with the paste, put in the meat with a little water or gravy, wet the edges, press the top on. Tie a pudding cloth, dipped in boiling water and dredged with flour, over the basin, place it in the saucepan of boiling water, and boil 2½ hours.

Stewed Shin of Beef (with Dumplings). Time—2½ hours.

1 lb. shin of beef, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, 2 oz. dripping or suet; pepper and salt to taste.

Prepare the carrots and turnips and boil them quickly 20 minutes in 1 quart of water. Cut the meat into pieces, fry a light brown in the dripping, then place the pieces in a saucepan. Peel and slice the onions, fry them in the same dripping, then stir in carefully 2 tablespoonfuls of flour to brown. Add the carrots and turnips to the meat, pour the water in which they were boiled into the frying-pan to brown; then add it with the onions, pepper and salt to the meat, etc, and stew slowly 1½ hour.

_Dumplings._—½ lb. flour, 2 oz. dripping, 1 teaspoonful baking-powder, 1 teaspoonful salt.

Shred the fat fine and rub it into the flour with the baking-powder and salt. Mix with lukewarm water to a stiff paste. Cut into eight pieces, and roll lightly into dumplings on a floured board. Throw them into a saucepan of boiling water, and boil till they rise to the surface (20 minutes). Add them to the stew 10 minutes before serving.

Beef Stewed with French Beans. Time—3 hours.

5 lbs. lean brisket, 2 lbs. French beans, 4 good-sized onions, 1 pint water, 1 gill vinegar, 1 tablespoonful flour, 2 tablespoonfuls dark moist sugar; pepper and salt to taste.

Stew the beef 3 hours in the water. String the beans, cut them in halves, peel and cut up the onions, and add all to the beef at the end of the first hour. About 10 minutes before serving skim off all the fat; mix smoothly in a separate basin the flour, sugar, vinegar, pepper and salt, and add the mixture to the stew.

Beef Stewed with Haricot Beans. Time—5 hours.

3 lbs. lean brisket, 1 onion, 1 tablespoonful moist sugar, 1 oz. dripping, ¾ pint haricot beans, ¾ pint cold water, 1 tablespoonful flour; pepper, salt and ground ginger to taste.

The beans must be put in soak over-night.

Chop the onion fine, fry in the dripping, add the flour, seasoning, sugar, beans and water. Stew the meat and vegetables, etc., very gently 4 or 5 hours.

Brain Fritters. Time—½ hour.

1 set brains, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoonfuls bread-crumbs; pepper and salt.

Wash the brains in vinegar and water, then put them into boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. Drain them, chop them, and put them into a basin with 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, pepper, salt and 1 egg. Add sufficient bread-crumbs to make them into a stiff paste (not exceeding two tablespoonfuls). Form into flat, round cakes, dip into egg and bread-crumbs and fry.

Brazilian Stew. Time—3 hours.

1 lb. beef, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, herbs, pepper and salt to taste, ½ gill vinegar.

Cut the meat into neat pieces, dip each piece in the vinegar, and pack closely in a saucepan. Sprinkle with pepper and salt. Cut the vegetables into slices, and put them with the herbs into the saucepan. Close the lid, and steam 2½ hours, stirring occasionally.

Braised Beef. Time—3 hours.

5 lbs. topside, ½ lb. smoked beef, 3 oz. dripping, 1 medium-sized onion, 1 small carrot, 1 turnip, 3 to 4 sticks celery, 1 pint water, a few whole peppers and allspice, 1 tablespoonful vinegar, 1 tablespoonful flour; salt to taste.

Melt the dripping, cut up the smoked beef into thin wedge-like strips and insert them into the meat with a knife. Brown both sides of the meat in the dripping, add the vegetables, seasoning and water, and let all stew _very_ slowly for 2½ hours. ¼ hour before serving, take out the meat, keep it hot; mix the flour, vinegar and 1 tablespoonful water to a paste, pour it into the stew-pan and thicken it, strain gravy over meat and serve.

To Clarify Dripping.

Pour the dripping from the pan into a basin of cold water. When cool lift off the cake of clarified dripping, scrape away the sediment from the bottom, and wipe dry.

To Clarify Fat.

Cut up any scraps of cooked or uncooked fat into small pieces, place in a saucepan, add just sufficient cold water to cover them, stir often, and simmer with the lid off till nothing is left of the pieces of fat but brownish scraps. Strain into a basin, and when cold, a hard white cake will be formed, which will keep good some time. This fat makes excellent pastry, and can be used for frying.

Irish Stew. Time—2 hours.

1½ lb. breast or scrag of mutton, 2 lbs. of potatoes, 1 pint water, 3 onions, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 teaspoonful salt, ½ teaspoonful pepper.

Cut the meat into neat pieces, removing some of the fat, peel and slice the potatoes and onions. Mix the flour, pepper and salt on a plate, and dip each piece of meat into this mixture. Put a layer of potatoes at the bottom of the saucepan, then one of meat, then one of onion, covering with a layer of potatoes. Pour the water over the whole and stew slowly, or bake in the oven 1½ hour, stirring occasionally.

Liver. Time—½ hour.

½ lb. liver, 1 gill water, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, 2 oz. dripping; pepper and salt to taste.

Cut the liver into slices about one-third of an inch thick. Dip each piece into one tablespoonful flour mixed with pepper and salt, and fry in hot fat. Take out the liver, put it on a hot dish. Mix one tablespoonful flour carefully with the water in a separate basin. Add this gradually to the contents of the frying-pan; let it boil and thicken. Pour it over the liver and serve.

Liver Fritters. Time—½ hour.

½ lb. liver, 1 shalot, sage, bread-crumbs, 1 slice cold smoked beef (if liked), 1 oz. suet; pepper and salt to taste.

Scrape the liver, chop the suet and shalot and mix all well together with the bread-crumbs and seasoning till the mixture is firm enough to roll into balls. Flatten into cakes, dip in egg and bread-crumbs and fry a golden brown in hot fat or oil.

_Sausage meat_ can also be made into fritters, but should be dipped in batter (page 43) instead of egg and bread-crumbs.

Braised Leg of Mutton. Time—4 hours.

5 lbs. leg of mutton, ¼ lb. smoked beef, 1½ pint stock or water, 1 lb. Brussels sprouts, 3 carrots, 1 turnip, 1 onion, 3 sticks celery, a little thyme and parsley; pepper and salt to taste.

Place the mutton in a stew-pan on a layer of slices of smoked beef, add some pepper and salt, the stock or water, and simmer gently 3½ hours (in the oven, if possible). Prepare and cut up the vegetables, and add all the ingredients, except the sprouts, to the meat 1 hour before serving. Boil the sprouts separately and add them when serving. Thicken and brown the gravy if liked.

Mutton Cutlets. Time—½ hour.

4 lbs. best end of a neck of mutton, 1 egg, bread-crumbs; pepper and salt to taste.

Saw off the upper rib bones, leaving the bones which will form the cutlets about three inches long. Cut off each cutlet, trim neatly, scraping off the fat. Dip each one in the egg, which has been well beaten, sprinkle with bread-crumbs, and fry a golden brown in hot fat or oil. Arrange on a hot dish round mashed potatoes or other vegetables.

The pieces cut off in preparing the cutlets should be used for Irish stew, toad-in-the hole, or any other small dish.

Haricot Mutton. Time—2½ hours.

1 lb. scrag of mutton, ¾ pint water or stock, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1 oz. dripping, ½ oz. flour; pepper and salt to taste.

Cut the mutton into neat pieces, fry them brown in the dripping, then take them out and brown the flour carefully. Stir in the water or stock, and put back the meat. Cut the vegetables into dice, and add them with the seasoning. Skim well and simmer 2 hours.

Pillau. Time—2½ hours.

1 lb. mutton, 3 tomatoes, 1 teacupful rice, 1 quart water; salt to taste.

Cut up some pieces of raw fat mutton, add a little water, cover the stew-pan, and place on a slow fire. The meat must consume the water and stew till it becomes a light brown colour. Wash the tomatoes, put them into a stew-pan without water, and stew them soft over a slow fire. Strain the pulp through a sieve and add sufficient water to make 1½ pint of liquor. This must be thrown into the stew-pan over the mutton; add salt and boil it up. Wash and dry the rice well, throw it into the stew-pan, let it boil 5 minutes, and then simmer ½ hour.

Poor Man’s Goose. Time—1½ hour.

4 lbs. bola. _Stuffing._—1 onion, 1 teaspoonful sage, a small piece of soaked bread, 1 oz. suet; pepper and salt to taste.

Make holes in the meat with a skewer, and fill them up with the stuffing, made as follows: Chop the suet and onion fine, squeeze the bread dry, and mix all together with the sage, pepper and salt. Flour the meat and roast it (see p. 19). Serve with baked potatoes.

Sausage Rolls. Time—1 hour.

4 sausages, ½ lb. flour, ¼ lb. dripping, 1 egg.

Skin the sausages, make flaky pastry (page 41), after the final rolling, cut the pastry into 4, place a sausage in the centre of each piece of pastry, egg half-way round the edges, fold over, press the edges together, trim neatly, place on a greased baking-tin, brush over with beaten egg and bake in a hot oven about ½ hour.

Sausage and Rice. Time—¾ hour.

½ lb. choriza (sausage), ¼ lb. rice, 1 pint boiling water, a pinch of saffron.

Wash and drain the rice well, put it in a saucepan with the saffron and boiling water. Skin the sausage, place it on the top of the rice, and simmer very gently till the rice swells and soaks up all the water. Serve the sausage in a ring of rice. Sausage cooked alone should simmer about 20 minutes.

Boiled Sheep’s Head. Time—5 hours.