The handy dictionary of cookery

cayenne pepper; stir till boiling. Have ready the whiting or any fish, cleaned and wiped in a dry cloth ; drop it into the sauce and cook it slowly ten minutes. Put it on a hot dish and pour over the sauce. Note. — If wanted richer, half a pint of cream and the yolks of two eggs may be added to the sauce. Stewed Kidney. Take half an ox kidney, or two sheep’s kidneys; remove the skin and kernel ; cut up the kidney into small pieces. Stew them slowly in a quart of stock or water for about two hours, till quite tender. Melt in a small pan one ounce of butter or dripping ; stir into it one ounce of flour ; add some of the liquor from the kidney gradually ; stir till quite smooth. Add this with the pepper and salt to the stewed kidneys a quarter of an hour before they are ready. Arrange neatly on a dish with a wall of mashed potatoes or boiled rice round. Stewed Pigeon. Put into an iron saucepan one ounce of butter, allow it to get quite hot ; then put in the pigeon, which must have been cleaned, trussed, and dredged with flour, brown it well on all sides, remove it from the pan and stir into the butter one ounce of flour, next add one pint of stock or water ; stir carefully till boiling, put in a small piece of every kind of flavouring vegetable, as turnip, carrot, onion, celery, &c., a few drops of browning, a tablespoonful of ketchup, a teaspoonful of Harvey’s Sauce, a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt, and a very little pepper. Place the bird on the top of the vegetable, simmer altogether very slowly one hour. Place the bird on a slice of hot toast, and strain the gravy over it. Stewed Steak. Choose a steak about two inches in thickness that has been hung in order that the fibre may have had time to become tender. Put into a stewpan two ounces of butter, when it is hot put in the steak, and fry it on both sides a nice brown : lift it out with a knife ; do not pierce the lean part or the juices of the steak will escape. Stir into the butter a tablespoonful of flour, then add enough stock to cover the steak, stir till boiling ; put in the steak, simmer it very slowly until done ; it will take about an hour and a half, but it must be cooked very slowly or it will not be tender. After it is cooked place it on a hot dish. Have some turnip, carrot, celery, and onion cut into dice and cooked separately. Place the vegetables round the meat. Add to the gravy salt, pepper, a tablespoonful of ketchup, Harvey’s Sauce, and browning. Pour it over the steak and vegetables, and serve hot. Note. — The gravy should be nice and thick, and a rich brown colour. Stock for Soups or Gravies. Do not throw away any scrap of cooked or uncooked meat, tiny bone, bit of bacon-rind, or remains of stews or gravies, even though you may have no more than a teaspoonful. Keep a saucepan on the fire whenever you have room, and put into it all these pieces as you get them, adding a reasonable quantity of water. Let the whole simmer all day long, or for several hours, and at the end of the week you will have soup enough for dinner, or at least broth enough to make one or two nice brown gravies for puddings or vegetables. Such a saucepan is called a stock-pot, and the broth is often called stock j and any iron saucepan will do if you keep the lid on. i8o