FoodNet

Home cookery

1898

Page 1

Presented as published in 1898. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
7. Time — Twenty minutes to the pound, and twenty minutes over. Dried salt meat requires a longer time. Stewing. 1. If coarse meat is used, put it into cold or luke- warm stock or water. 2. If tender meat is used, and you wish to keep the juices in the meat and not to let them pass into the gravy, the stock may be quite hot when the meat is put in. 3. Do not have more stock or water than is required for the g-ravy. 7 4- Cook slowly for a long time. 5. Keep covered. 6. Stew must never boil except when you wish to thicken the gravy, and then only till the gravy is thickened. Broiling. 1. The fire must be clear. 2. Grease and heat the gridiron. 3. Turn often, using a knife and spoon, or the tongs that are made for the purpose. Braising. True braising is cooking* in a special vessel with heat above and below. The most usual manner of this form of cooking* in England, however, is to place whatever is to be braised on a bed of vegetables (carrots, onions, &c.), with slices of bacon, then to add a small quantity of stock, cover closely, and let it cook very gently till done. Larding. This is inserting thin strips of fat bacon through lean meats to give them flavour, and also to enrich them. Wet Frying Is frying in a large quantity of fat. 1. The best fat for ordinary frying is mutton fat (rendered) or clarified dripping. 2. Have enough fat to cover whatever is to be fried, and use a saucepan or stew-pan. 3. Heat the fat slowly. 4. Take care that the fat is of the rig-ht heat. Tests— Faint blue smoke rises, or a piece of bread dropped in becomes golden brown and crisp at once. 5. If possible, increase the heat while frying. 6. Do not fry too many things at once. 7. Drain on soft paper. 8. Strain the fat when cool, and keep it for frying purposes. The above method of frying is suitable for fish, and for preparations of cooked meat. 8 Dry Frying Is frying in a hot frying" pan which is just heated and greased for frying chops or beefsteaks, or which has a little fat melted in it as for frying pancakes. Remember that in all cases the pan must be quite hot and the fat must be hot also. Sauter. 1. Butter should be used, if possible. 2. The butter must be hot before the cutlets, potatoes, or whatever is to be cooked is put in. 3. When the underside of what is being cooked is a golden brown, it must be turned with a knife and spoon. Time — About eight to ten minutes. Breakfast. This meal is often found to be one of the most difficult that the housekeeper has to provide. A certain amount of variety is required, but dishes that need much preparation are naturally out of place at an early hour in the morning. We give several ways of preparing solid meat dishes suitable for breakfast, which are followed by recipes for dishes of a less substantial nature. Ham. The best hams are those that are home-cured, and that are least a year old. Soakmg. — All hams require soaking before they are cooked ; they should be placed in a deep vessel and entirely covered with water. A very old and dry ham should be soaked for three days, but for a new or American ham eighteen hours is quite sufficient.