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Liverpool School of Cookery recipe book

1900

Page 3 · 3 recipe records on this page

Presented as published in 1900. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Put a layer of roughly cut-up vegetables — carrot, turnip and onion — in the bottom of a stewpan. Add a bouquet garni, and if a boned piece of meat is to be braised, put the bones also into the pan. Pour in water or second stock to just cover the bed of vegetables, lay in the meat, and cover with a tightly-fitting lid. Put on the pan and cook steadily. Slow boiling may be allowed if the meat is well raised out of the liquid. When the meat is cooked remove it from the pan and place on a dripping tin in a hot oven to crisp and brown the surface, while the liquid is reduced by fast boiling that it may be used for glaze, gravy or sauce making. Note.— Braising may also be done by placing the closely-covered stewpan in the oven instead of over the fire. This plan more nearly resembles the original French braising, where heat is applied not only underneath, but also to the top of the pan by means of hot coals laid on a lid specially constructed for this purpose. 7 LARDING. Bacon for larding should be unsmoked and cured with- out saltpetre, as this turns white meats red. The fat only is used for larding, it should be firm and hard, that nearest the rind is best for the purpose. Cut the length of the lardoons in the direction of the grain of the bacon. The average length is lj to 2 inches, the width and thick- ness being about inch. Use a larding needle large enough to perfectly encase the end of the lardoon, any projecting bits will cause the bacon to break. As a rule the stitches are taken with the grain of meat, and across the grain of poultry and game, but in all cases the larding must be arranged to look neat. TO CLARIFY FAT. Cut up uncooked fat into pieces about \ inch square, taking from it all skin and sinew. Put into an iron pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil, skimming well. Boil till most of the water has evaporated, then cook very gently, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and burning. When the pieces look dried up and a golden brown and sink to the bottom of the melted fat, remove the pan from the fire. Allow the fat to cool, but before it begins to solidify strain through a very fine strainer or through muslin. Cooked fat is clarified in the same way, but should not be mixed with the uncooked. 8 PRACTICAL COOKERY. GRAVY FOR ROAST MEAT. To make gravy successfully from the brown sediment found in the dripping tin under roast meat, it is essential that the meat should have been well basted while cooking. After removing the joint, carefully pour off all the fat, add a little stock or water to the sediment, and with an iron spoon scrape off all the browned meat juices that adhere to the tin. Add stock or water to make up the required quantity. About | pint gravy will be needed for a small joint. If necessary, use a little caramel browning, and if water has been used instead of stock, a little Liebig’s Extract may be added. Bring the gravy to the boil, season and strain. Pour a little round the joint, serve the rest in a gravy boat. 9 PASTRY. 1. Flour : Perfectly dry and free from lumps. 2. ShorteningFlaky Crust Pastry : Butter, lard or dripping, cold and as free as possible from water. 3. Water : Extremely cold. 4. Baking Powder : Added to short crust when the weight of shortening is less than half the weight of flour.