Elements of the theory and practice of cookery

Breast of lamb, 1>^ pounds. Boiling water about 1 pint. Potatoes, 4, medium-sized, quartered and parboiled. ^ Onion, 1, about lyi inches in diameter, sliced. Rice, 2 tablespoonfuls. Tomato, strained, 1 cupful, or Tomato ketchup, 1 tablespoonful. Salt and pepper. Brown the onions in a little of the fat in a saucepan ; put with them the meat cut roughly into cube-shaped pieces about one and one-half inches thick, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Cover them with boiling water, heat this to the boiling-point again, then let it simmer directly over the heat for two hours ; or cook it over hot water for three hours, or until the meat is tender. After one hour of simmering add the rice ; half an hour before dishing the stew add the potatoes ; when they are done remove the bones and pieces of fat, stir in the tomato or ketchup, add salt and pepper, if needed, and serve. How does stewing differ from boiling ? From soup- making ? Why not leave the meat whole ? Why not cut it as small as for soup ? 1 Boiled by themselves for five minutes. Why is this done ? THE FLESH OF ANIMALS 167 294. What makes a stew good. — In a good stew the meat and vegetables are tender, the broth thick and savory. Onion, ketchup, minced parsley, tomato, Worcestershire sauce, or other vegetables and condi- ments may be used to give flavor. Lamb or mutton stew may be thickened with rice ; in beef stew flour is commonly used. Stew may be served in a platter within a border of boiled or steamed rice. 295. For a brown stew, the meat and sometimes the vegetables are browned in hot fat before being simmered. A brown stew without vegetables is a fricassee (French, fricasser^ to fry). Start a brown stew in cold water. Why ? Dumplings for Brown Beef Stew. — Sift together two cupfuls of flour ^ two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, and one teaspoonful of salt. Stir in enough 77iilk or tvater to make a stiff drop-batter. When the stew is cooked, set it where it will boil. Drop in the dumpling mixture by tablespoonfuls, cover closely, and boil the broth steadily without lifting the cover, for twelve minutes. Boiling the meat for a short time after it is tender will not harden it. How do dumplings differ from biscuit ? Why is no shortening used in biscuit ? 296. Choosing stew meat. — Stew meat should be se- lected from a cheap cut, as higher-priced meat is better cooked in other ways ; it should contain bone enough to make the broth gelatinous and well-flavored, also fat, since lean that lies next to fat is less watery than an 168 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COOKERY all-lean piece. What cuts of beef, of lamb or mutton, and of veal, possess these points ? ^ (See table on pp. 180 to 187.) Part of the melted fat may be skimmed off before thickening the stew ; the flour or rice will absorb the rest. 297. Braising is steaming meat in its own juices in the oven — a method suitable for solid pieces of meat not tender enough for roasting, but of better quality than those utilized in soups and stews. (For cuts of meat suitable for braising, see table.) The reten- tion of steam under a cover, together with basting with the broth, keeps the meat moist enough to permit the juices to flow, while the oven heat is intense enough to develop a rich flavor in both meat and broth. Recipe for Rolled Flank of Beef (Plate X)