The art of cooking

General Note — The above processes have been termed roasting but are in reality baking. Roasting proper only being done by reflected heat before an open fire. Meat is more nourishing done upon the spit than in the oven, for the reason that the unwholesome vapors are dissipated when exposed to the air, and preserved when confined to an oven. MEATS.— SECOND DIVISION. BOILED MEATS. Boiled leg of Mutton. — One leg of mutton, two ounces of butter, one ounce of flour, one and one-half gills of milk, one saltspoonful of salt, one saltspoonful of pepper, two heaped tablespoonfuls of capers. Put over the fire a large saucepan of water and bring it to the boiling point. If the mutton be newly killed, beat' it with a rolling-pin to soften the fibre, but it is better to have hung it a week if the weather permits. Plunge the meat into the boiling water and allow it to boil up once, then draw the saucepan aside from the blaze of the fire, ME A TS. cover it closely and allow it to simmer slowly, how slowly may be determined by keeping the water bubbling easily at one side, until it is done, which will be according to the weight of the leg, allowing fifteen minutes for each pound, and fifteen minutes longer. Fifteen minutes before the mutton will be done, prepare the sauce by melting iii a saucepan the butter, and stirring into this the dry flour. When the flour and butter are thoroughly mixed, add one gill and a half of thie liquor that the mutton is boiling in, also the milk, pepper and salt, cook all two minutes to swell the grains of the flour. Then take the mutton up and place it on a large hot platter, pour over it the sauce, adding just before doing this the capers, in order that their color may not be lost by standing in the hot liquid. Note — The plunging of the mutton first into boiling water is for the purpose of hardening the albumen and confining the juices of the meat ; it is then allowed to cook slowly, that the fibre may not toughen, which rapid boiling would inevitably bring about. Boiled corned-Beef. — Six pounds of comed-beef, twelve ounces of flour, five ounces of beef-suet, one-half teaspoonful of baking-powder, one saltspoonful of salt, one dozen small carrots, one-half pint of cold water. Place over the fire a large saucepan two-thirds full of cold water and put into it the meat. Bring this quickly to the boiling point over a hot fire, and when it boils, skim thoroughly. When the albumen has all been displaced and the scum all taken off, draw the saucepan aside from the blaze, and allowing fifteen minutes to each pound of meat, and fifteen minutes over, let the beef boil gently until done. BOILED FOWL. 41 Meantime the carrots should be well washed and thinly scraped, and three-quarters of an hour before the meat will be ready for serving, throw them in to cook with it. When this is done, mix next, in a large bowl, the suet, finely chopped, and flour ; add to this the baking-powder and salt and knead into a dry dough with the water. Divide this dough into six or eight pieces, roll each piece into a small ball and throw them one by one into the boiling liquor with the beef twenty minutes before serving. Note — The dropping in of the balls of dough cools the boiling liquor and care should therefore be taken to wait an instant between the putting in of each one that the liquid may boil, up, otherwise the balls will burst apart, making a very ugly combination. Beef suet should be used unless the dish prepared is designed for the sick as it mixes most readily with other materials. For the sick, mutton suet should always be used as it is easier of digestion, being thinner in the fibre, although inore difficult to manipulate.