Middle class cookery book

Melt the butter in a stewpan ; peel and slice the onions (if large, use one onion) • peel and core the 104 MIDDLE CLASS COOKERY BOOK PART II apples ; chop them into small pieces ; put the slices of onion into the butter ; let them fry a light brown ; add the meat, cut into thick pieces about an inch square ; let it brown lightly ; take the meat from the pan ; put in the apples ; let them become soft ; add the curry powder, grated cocoa-nut, and a quarter teaspoonful of salt ; stir until the mixture is a thick sauce ; add the stock, put in the meat, cover the pan, and let it simmer, not boil, for three-quarters of an hour. The sauce should stick to the meat ; just before serving stir in the lemon juice. Serve with boiled rice (see “ To Boil Bice for Curry,” p. 139). If a thinner sauce is liked, add a little milk or more stock, but a good curry is thick. If fresh meat or chicken is used, fry it as above, allow- ing a longer time for cooking after the meat is added to the curry. Curried Shrimps or Fish Prepare the curry as in the previous recipe ; shell the shrimps ; put them into the hot sauce, after it has boiled ; let them simmer, not boil, for about half an hour. If cold fish is used, cut it into small pieces. Add the lemon juice just before serving. Bice always accompanies curry. CHAPTEB VII COLD MEAT COOKERY It is in the cookery of the remains of cooked meat that the usefulness of the stockpot. is most apparent. With the help of an onion, a few herbs, the remains of cold vegetables, or a small quantity of fresh ones, the CHAP. VII COLD MEAT COOKERY 105 cook can prepare a gravy from the contents of the stockpot (see p. 45) that will enable her to send a savoury dish to table from the remnants of cooked joints. Satirists and humorists have delighted in de- scribing the horrors of a dinner where hashed mutton is the principal dish, and we need not be surprised at this when we see that the popular idea of a hash is a greasy liquid, in which float lumps of tough meat, the whole having a strong flavour of onion. With a small amount of trouble this despised dish may be converted into one as palatable as it is economical. One import- ant rule in re-cooking meat must be remembered ; the meat must be put into hot liquid and allowed to heat thoroughly ; but the liquid must not boil after the meat is put in, otherwise the meat will be tough and leathery. A wall of rice, haricot beans, or mashed potatoes im- proves both the look and taste of the dish. A portion of the contents of the stock-jar should be strained from the bones every day and set aside to get cold ; the cook will then have a supply of stock, from which all fat can be easily removed ; it is nearly impossible to remove it from hot stock. Greasy gravy is both unpalatable and unwholesome. The bones from the cold meat, instead of being hastily boiled for gravy, can be put into the stockpot, there to stew till all their juices are extracted. Hashed Meat £ lb. Cold Mutton or other Meat ^ oz. Butter \ „ Flour 4 Teaspoon ful Salt 4 Pint Stock or Water 1 Onion 3 Cloves 4 Teaspoonful Pepper Cut the meat into neat slices , trim off the outside brown edge and any gristle. Peel and slice the onion ; melt the butter in a stewpan ; fry the slices of onion a light brown ; stir in the flour ; add the stock or water; 10G MIDDLE CLASS COOKERY BOOK PART II