Beef stiet salted is quite as good for frying as lard, and is much cheaper; it can be
prepared for use as follows: Skin carefully, chop it fine, add to it any fat you may have
skimmed off of soup or meat boilers, put it on the fire with a little water, boil gently fif-
teen minutes, skim it well during the process, take from the fire, leave it five minutes, and
then strain it; after which, put it in pots, and keep them in a dry, cool place. Cover the
pots well every time you have occasion to use the fat, but never cover them while the
grease is warm. This fat is as good as any other to fry fish, fritters, and other things
that require to be entirely covered with grease in cooking.
There are a few common-sense recipes and rules which the young housewife will do
well to remember: Meat must have a hot fire always to start on to cicatrize the outside
and keep in the juices. Avoid sticking a fork in it as much as possible. When necessary
to turn, if a roast, do it with the aid of a cloth, taking it by the skewers or bone. If boil-
ing meat, leg of mutton for instance, pour boiling water over it and skim thoroughly.
Never expose meat to the action of salt while cooking, — it extracts the juice, and leaves
the meat poor; but in making soup, where the idea is to extract all the virtue possible, use
salt. Seasonings must be added to the gravy of the meat, which should always be thick-
ened with a little flour; the old-fashioned way of rubbing flour into the roast before cook-
ing is a good one, or at least does no harm.
Roasting, meaning to heat violently, is cooking before an open fire; it implies the action
of a much greater degree of heat than that employed in any of the previously specified
methods of cooking. In the days of open fireplaces this was the general mode of cooking
9i> HOME DISSERTATIONS.
large pieces of meat; now but few persons care to take the trouble to have meat so cooked;
consequently baking, or roasting as it is improperly termed, in a very hot oven is found to
be a cheaper and more convenient method, and is more generally adopted. Meat of any
kind is tenfold better roasted than baked. In Europe, all these articles are roasted, and
people there would have great contempt for a piece of beef or a turkey baked. Much de-
pends upon the management of the fire. It should be made some time before the meat
is placed for roasting, so that the coals may be bright and hot. It should also be strong
enough to last, with only the addition of an occasional coal at the top. Basting can be
avoided, without allowing the juice to escape — harden the sides by exposure to a hot fire.
The idea of basting must have arisen from the fact that the juice of the meat was allowed
to escape, and then the attempt to restore it by basting. To baste meat when only fat is
in the pan will make it a little fatter. The seasoning of meat before it is brown lets out
a good deal of juice.
Page 87
Presented as published in 1891. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Beef suet salted is quite as good for frying as lard, and is much cheaper; it can be prepared for use as follows: Skin carefully, chop it fine, add to it any fat you may have skimmed off of soup or meat boilers, put it on the fire with a little water, boil gently fifteen minutes, skim it well during the process, take from the fire, leave it five minutes, and then strain it; after which, put it in pots, and keep them in a dry, cool place. Cover the pots well every time you have occasion to use the fat, but never cover them while the grease is warm. This fat is as good as any other to fry fish, fritters, and other things that require to be entirely covered with grease in cooking.
There are a few common-sense recipes and rules which the young housewife will do well to remember: Meat must have a hot fire always to start on to cicatrize the outside and keep in the juices. Avoid sticking a fork in it as much as possible. When necessary to turn, if a roast, do it with the aid of a cloth, taking it by the skewers or bone. If boiling meat, leg of mutton for instance, pour boiling water over it and skim thoroughly. Never expose meat to the action of salt while cooking, — it extracts the juice, and leaves the meat poor; but in making soup, where the idea is to extract all the virtue possible, use salt. Seasonings must be added to the gravy of the meat, which should always be thickened with a little flour; the old-fashioned way of rubbing flour into the roast before cooking is a good one, or at least does no harm.
Roasting, meaning to heat violently, is cooking before an open fire; it implies the action of a much greater degree of heat than that employed in any of the previously specified methods of cooking. In the days of open fireplaces this was the general mode of cooking
large pieces of meat; now but few persons care to take the trouble to have meat so cooked; consequently baking, or roasting as it is improperly termed, in a very hot oven is found to be a cheaper and more convenient method, and is more generally adopted. Meat of any kind is tenfold better roasted than baked. In Europe, all these articles are roasted, and people there would have great contempt for a piece of beef or a turkey baked. Much depends upon the management of the fire. It should be made some time before the meat is placed for roasting, so that the coals may be bright and hot. It should also be strong enough to last, with only the addition of an occasional coal at the top. Basting can be avoided, without allowing the juice to escape — harden the sides by exposure to a hot fire. The idea of basting must have arisen from the fact that the juice of the meat was allowed to escape, and then the attempt to restore it by basting. To baste meat when only fat is in the pan will make it a little fatter. The seasoning of meat before it is brown lets out a good deal of juice.