As soon as the water boils, after the meat is put in, it should be well skimmed. The impurities that are in the meat ate dissolved by the hot water, and they rise to the surface in the form of scum. If this is not taken off at once, it will sink again and make the meat a bail colour, so it will be well to watch for the scum, and take It off as quickly as it appears ; a little salt thrown into the liquid will help it to rise. The earliest scum should be thrown away ; but in a little while the fat of the meat will melt and rise, and this should be taken off and carefully preserved, for there is no fat that we can get that IS so useful for frying as the skimmings of saucepans. Of that I shall have to speak when we are talking of frvin'r meat. ° ^ ° The time that meat should simmer must, as in roasting, vary with the thickness of the joint. The safe general rule for beef and mutton is a quarter of an hour to the pound, and a quarter of an hour over. When meat is 22 The Girl’s Own Cookery Book. very thick and solid, half an hour over may be allowed. When meat is to be pressed under a weight, and eaten cold, half an hour a pound will not be too long for it to simmer. Pork and salt meat should have twenty minutes per pound, and fish ten minutes per pound, and ten minutes over if it is thick. The time should always be counted from the moment the meat is drawn back, after it has been surrounded by its shield. This, therefore, must be considered, and allowance made for the time the water will take to boil again after the meat has cooled it. This general rule of putting meat into boiling water holds good for fresh meat only. A difference must be made with salted meat. Salt gets into the pores of the meat and needs to be drawn out a little before the shield surrounds the joint, or the meat would be hard. There- fore salted meat should be put into lukewarm instead of boiling water, or, if it has been very strongly salted, it may even be put into cold water. The liquid may then be brought to the boiling point, be skimmed, and be left to boil for five minutes, and boiled twenty minutes per pound, and twenty niinutes over. I must not forget to mention one thing. When I was speaking of roasting meat I said that beef and mutton should hang as long as possible before being put down to the fire. It is not so with meat that is to be boiled. If meat on the point of turning were boiled it would neither taste well nor look well, and, more than that, the liquor in which it was cooked would be good for nothing. I hope no one would ever think of throwing away the liquor in which fresh meat had been boiled. As I said a little while ago, do what we will, some of the goodness of the meat will have gone into it, and this must not be wasted. We English have the character of being the most wasteful cooks in the world, and the greatest benefit that would follow the spread of the knowledge of cookery would be that there would not be so much waste. The meat liquor must be poured at once into a clean earthen- ware pan, and kept in a cool place till wanted. Excellent soup may afterwards be made of it, or it may be used instead of water for gravy and sauces. The only precaution that is necessary in order to keep it good is to boil it every 23 Baking.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

As soon as the water boils, after the meat is put in, it should be well skimmed. The impurities that are in the meat are dissolved by the hot water, and they rise to the surface in the form of scum. If this is not taken off at once, it will sink again and make the meat a bad colour, so it will be well to watch for the scum, and take it off as quickly as it appears ; a little salt thrown into the liquid will help it to rise. The earliest scum should be thrown away ; but in a little while the fat of the meat will melt and rise, and this should be taken off and carefully preserved, for there is no fat that we can get that IS so useful for frying as the skimmings of saucepans. Of that I shall have to speak when we are talking of frying meat. ° ^ ° The time that meat should simmer must, as in roasting, vary with the thickness of the joint. The safe general rule for beef and mutton is a quarter of an hour to the pound, and a quarter of an hour over. When meat is The Girl’s Own Cookery Book. very thick and solid, half an hour over may be allowed. When meat is to be pressed under a weight, and eaten cold, half an hour a pound will not be too long for it to simmer. Pork and salt meat should have twenty minutes per pound, and fish ten minutes per pound, and ten minutes over if it is thick. The time should always be counted from the moment the meat is drawn back, after it has been surrounded by its shield. This, therefore, must be considered, and allowance made for the time the water will take to boil again after the meat has cooled it. This general rule of putting meat into boiling water holds good for fresh meat only. A difference must be made with salted meat. Salt gets into the pores of the meat and needs to be drawn out a little before the shield surrounds the joint, or the meat would be hard. Therefore salted meat should be put into lukewarm instead of boiling water, or, if it has been very strongly salted, it may even be put into cold water. The liquid may then be brought to the boiling point, be skimmed, and be left to boil for five minutes, and boiled twenty minutes per pound, and twenty minutes over. I must not forget to mention one thing. When I was speaking of roasting meat I said that beef and mutton should hang as long as possible before being put down to the fire. It is not so with meat that is to be boiled. If meat on the point of turning were boiled it would neither taste well nor look well, and, more than that, the liquor in which it was cooked would be good for nothing. I hope no one would ever think of throwing away the liquor in which fresh meat had been boiled. As I said a little while ago, do what we will, some of the goodness of the meat will have gone into it, and this must not be wasted. We English have the character of being the most wasteful cooks in the world, and the greatest benefit that would follow the spread of the knowledge of cookery would be that there would not be so much waste. The meat liquor must be poured at once into a clean earthenware pan, and kept in a cool place till wanted. Excellent soup may afterwards be made of it, or it may be used instead of water for gravy and sauces. The only precaution that is necessary in order to keep it good is to boil it every Baking.

The girl's own cookery book