The European cookbook for American homes (from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France)

Wet y2 cup of the bread crumbs and squeeze dry. Add to the hamburger, with 2 of the eggs, salt and pepper, bacon, and parsley. Mix thoroughly, and form into balls the size of an egg. Dredge with flour, roll in beaten egg, and then in crumbs. Let stand a few minutes. Meanwhile boil garlic, onion, bay leaf, celery, and thyme in 1J/2 pints of water until reduced to 1 pint. Strain; put back in the sauce pan and bring to a boil. Drop in the meat balls and cook, not letting the water boil so hard that they fall to pieces. Take up. Add lemon juice, and more salt and pepper if necessary. Let boil up, take from the fire, and stir in the egg yolk. Pour over the meat balls and serve. LITTLE BEEFSTEAKS, PAN-FRIED (Bifes de Vacca Panados) i pound sirloin or tenderloin i cube beef suet (sliced thin) Bread crumbs, sifted Salt and pepper Grated Parmesan cheese i tablespoon lemon juice 2 eggs, beaten Lard for frying Be sure all skin and fat have been removed from meat. Cut in equal pieces about 3 inches in diameter. Sprinkle each piece lightly on both sides, with salt, freshly ground pepper, and drops of lemon juice. Slice suet and try out the fat. Mix crumbs with equal quantity of Parmesan cheese. Dip meat in hot fat and then in crumb mixture, carefully covering both sides. Pile up, one piece on top of the other, in a neat stack and set aside for at least 1 hour. Then carefully dip each piece in beaten egg, and then in crumbs. Have lard hot, and fry until tender. MINCED BEEF {Picada) 1 pound roast beef, minced Cayenne l/2 pint gravy Hot cooked rice Y& teaspoon nutmeg Baked tomato halves Make a hash of minced beef and gravy, season with nutmeg and cayenne. Press rice into buttered small molds and unmold. Arrange in a ring on a platter, put a baked tomato half on each mold of rice. Pour hash into the center of platter. This arrangement of boiled rice and tomatoes is known throughout the cooking world as Portuguese garnishing, and is a tempting accompaniment to many a meat dish, from a roast leg of lamb to a platter of dainty chops. A French dish cooked "a la Portugaise" is one cooked either with a bed or a cover of forcemeat or chopped meat. MEAT FLOWERS (Flor de Came Estujada) For Each Flower: 2 tablespoons white meat, 1 thin slice uncooked beef minced Sorrel leaves, without stems Salt and pepper (or young spinach) l/2 hard-boiled egg 1 thin circle uncooked ham Portuguese cooking sauce 1 thin omelet, egg yolks only Lettuce for garnishing 1 thin slice cooked smoked tongue