Practical West African cookery

The length of time to boil an ox tongue varies according to the size, an hour to an hour and a quarter is about the usual time. 1. Clean and wash the tongue thoroughly. Put it in your vegetable boiler or a large native pot with enough water to well cover it, add the onion, berkono and salt. Bring it to the boil, taking off the scum as it rises. Move it a little aside and let it simmer gently till tender. Take it out of the saucepan and take the skin off at once. Note. — The tongue can be eaten hot or cold, but in Nigeria it is better cold and eaten with a salad. Beef Steak Pie. About 1 lb. of steak cut in strips about 1 inch broad. 2 sheep’s kidneys. 1 hard boiled egg. 1 dessertspoon flour. 1 small teaspoon salt. 1 small teaspoon pepper. 1 large breakfast cup stock. Pie crust (see index). 1. Mix the flour, salt and pepper on a plate. Turn in it the strips of steak and kidneys, cut in slices. Roll up the strips of steak and pack them in the pie dish, filling in the spaces with the sliced kidney and hard boiled egg. Pour over half the stock which should nearly fill the pie dish. 2. With a feather and a little water wet the edges of the pie dish. Have ready the paste for the pie crust. Cut a strip the width of the edge of the dish and lay it all round. Wet it with a feather and then lay the remainder of the paste over the dish, press the edges down lightly all round the dish and cut off evenly what is left hanging down. Make a small hole in the middle of the crust. 3. Cover the pie dish with a piece of well greased paper and put it in the oven for about two hours. Do not take off the paper till half an hour before the pie is ready or the crust will be burnt. 4. Heat the remaining stock, then take the pie out of the oven and pour the stock through the little hole, taking care not to wet the crust around it. This pie is better eaten hot. To Boil a Ham. (I) Soak the ham in cold water for at least fifteen hours, or more if the ham is a large one. Change the water once or twice if possible. The time a ham should soak varies a great deal according to its kind and size. Put the ham in the vegetable boiler or in a large native pot if the boiler is not big enough, with enough cold water to well cover it. Add two onions stuck with six cloves and a little dried thyme. Let it come to the boil, take off the scum and set the pot aside to simmer, counting twenty-five minutes simmering for each pound. A seven pound ham ought to simmer between three and three and a half hours. On no account must it be allowed to go on boiling quickly. If the ham is to be eaten cold, let it cool in the liquid it has cooked in, it will add to its flavour. When cold, take it out, skin and trim it, and cover it with fine yellow bread crumbs. In order to make the crumbs stick, the outside of the ham must be slightly warmed. Lastly, stick in cloves like little nails all over the ham, about half an inch apart. Tinned Meat. (1). “ Army and Navy Rations” or tinned stews of any kind should be heated by putting a tin into a saucepan of boiling water. Tinned cold meat, such as brisket of beef, spiced beef, brawn or tongue, should be put in a cooler as long as possible before opening.