Camp cookery (Kephart)

Gravy from Extract of Beef. — When there is no venison in camp, it will not be long before the men crave the taste of beef. Liebig's extract dissolved in boiling water and liberally salted will make a good beef gravy by letting it boil up, then simmer, and thicken in one of the ways described above. Cream Gravy for Meat or Fish. — 14 pint milk. 1 tablespoonful butter. Yo tablespoonful flour. yo tablespoonful salt. l^ tablespoonful pepper. Heat butter in frying-pan. Add flour, stirring until smooth and frothy. Draw pun back and gradually stir in the milk. Then return the pan to the fire. Add salt and pepper. Stir until sauce boils. This must be used at once, and everybody's plate should be hot, of course. Sauces. — A camp cook nearly always lacks the sweet herbs, fresh parsley, mushrooms, capers, anchovies, shrimps, tarragon, wine, and many other condiments to which standard sauces owe their characteristic flavors. He must make shift with spices and perhaps lemon, Worcestershire, vinegar, mustard, curry powder, or celery seed. How to use these to the best advantage cannot be taught in a book. Personal tastes and the materials at hand must govern. I give here the recipes for three simple sauces for meat. Others will be found in the chapters on Game, Fish, and Desserts. Mustard Sauce. — Brown two teaspoonfuls of flour in a pan with a little butter. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter on a plate and blend with it the browned flour, a teaspoonful of mustard, and a little salt. When these are smoothly mixed stir them into ^ pint boiling water. Simmer five minutes. Add enough vinegar or lemon juice to flavor. Venison Sauce. — Stir together one tablespoonful of butter with a teaspoonful of mustard and three 64j camp cookery. tablespoonfuls of jelly (preferably currant). When these are well blended, add three tablespoonfuls of vinegar, some grated nutmeg, and a dash of Cayenne pepper. Heat together. When the sauce boils add three tablespoonfuls chopped pickles. Serve at once. Currant jelly alone goes well with venison. Sauce for Broiled Venison. — Make the steak-dish very hot. Put on it for each pound of venison ^ tablespoonful of butter, a tablespoonful of currant jelly, one of boiling water, and a little pepper and salt. Turn the broiled steaks in the sauce once or twice and serve verv hot. CHAPTER VI. THE following additional details are supplementary to what has gone before, and presuppose a careful reading of the preceding pages. Game and all other kinds of fresh meat should be hung up till they have bled thoroughly and have cooled through and through — they are tenderer and better after they have hung several days. Venison especially is tough until it has hung a week. In no case cook meat until the animal heat has left it: if you do, it is likely to sicken jou. This does not apply to fish. Frozen meat or fish should be thawed in very cold water and then cooked immediately — warm water would soften it and steal its flavor.