Cookery

Maccaroni. This also provides a pleasant change, and goes very well with all kinds of stews, or can be eaten separately as an entree. The maccaroni must be of good quality. Lately an excellent make hailing from Rolle in Switzerland, where it is prepared and dried in patent hot-air ovens, has been imported into England, and can now be procured in London at M. Paul Schiller’s, 29, New Oxford Street, W. It is strongly to be recommended as going further than poorer qualities, and giving better results. There is a secret about the proper preparation of this particular article, namely, rapidity. Boil it in plenty of water over a fierce fire, so that the process may take place almost violently ; as soon as it is tender pour it into a colander, and shake out all the liquid promptly ; have ready some butter heated in a suitable saucepan, with or without crushed tomatoes, put in the maccaroni, stir, and season plentifully ; then serve quickly on a very hot dish, and send in grated cheese as an accompaniment. Broad beans, dried beans, peas, lentils, and such things are delicious in the winter when other vegetables are scarce, but unless they are carefully cooked are heavy and unwholesome. The secret of making them tender and enjoyable lies in cooking them very slowly and for two or three hours ; moreover, as they are rather lacking in flavour, it is advisable to stir in some sliced or chopped onions and parsley slightly browned in hot butter, and if it is convenient to boil some bacon or some smoked sausage with them, it will greatly improve them. BEEF. CHAPTER VIII. BEEF. The flesh of this meat should be neither too red nor too pale, and it is a sign of good quality if the fat is slightly tinted with yellow. The most useful pieces for stock are the buttock and the shin ; the sirloin is generally reserved for roasting, though it can also be prepared according to various recipes. It is a mistaken notion that fresh beef when merely boiled is considered unfit for the table ; if it is properly cooked with a view to serving it thus, it can be perfectly tender and wholesome. The great mistake in boiling meats of all kinds, and also in stewing them, is that the process is carried on too rapidly, so that the meat hardens before it has had time to properly expand and become soft. With fresh boiled beef serve carrots, onions, turnips, and small dumplings. In using the sirloin it is a good plan to remove the undercut, so as to serve it in different ways. For instance, it can be cooked whole, either roasted, baked, or slowly stewed in a covered saucepan and in the oven, the time to depend on the size of the joint. Or it may be cut into slices, dipped in oil and fried or grilled, not too long; it may be accompanied with any kind of desirable garnish according to the time of year 7fi or to the vegetables in season. The upper cut can be roasted as it is, or removed from the bone and rolled.