Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Calf's udder is a fat-looking substance attached to the inner part of the leg of veal. To prepare it tie it in a piece of netting, and boil it in the stock-pot for one hour. If there be no stock cooking, boil it in slightly salted water. When cold, chop it; then pound, and rub it through a puree sieve. When the udder is used in place of butter, great care must be taken to have it blend with the other ingredients. This is best done by pounding all the ingredients together in the mortar. In all the rules for force-meats given in this book, butter and cream have been used ; but the same quantity of udder may be substituted for the butter, and soup stock may always be used instead of cream in the panada. It should be borne in mind that all the meat except liver (which is boiled) and all the fish must be raw. Sometimes the bread may be a little firmer than at others ; or it may be cooked too long in the cream, and thus become tough and rather dry, in which case the force-meat will not be so delicate. Again, the force-meat may from various causes be too delicate to keep its form. It is always best to try the mixture after it is finished. To do this, roll a small piece into the shape of a ball ; drop it into a small saucepan of boiling water, move the saucepan back where the water will not boil, and cook the force-meat ball for ten minutes. This is called poaching. Take up and cut open. If it cuts smooth and firm all through, and yet is very tender, it is all right ; but if it should be tough, add two table-spoonfuls of cream to each half -pint of force-meat; or if you should use a little Bechamel sauce, it would be better than the cream. If, on the other hand, the force-meat ball is too soft, and shrinks when cut, add one well- beaten egg to every pint of the force-meat. This will give it more body. No matter in what form the force-meat may be cooked, the greatest care must always be used to cook it very slowly. The heat must never be above the boiling-point. If the water with which the article is surrounded be allowed to boil, the force-meat will be spongy and tough ; but if cooked at the boiling-point, or a little below it, the force-meat will be smooth, fine-grained, and delicate. Force-meats are used for quenelles, boudins, borders for entries, in the shape of balls for soups, for raised pies, timbales, etc. Chicken-Liver Force-meat. For about a pint and a half of force-meat use six chicken livers, one pint of cream or rich chicken stock, half a pint of stale bread crumbs, three eggs, one generous table-spoonful of salt, one-sixth of a teaspoonful of pepper, eight table-spoonfuls of butter, and one-eighth of a teaspoonful of ground mace. Wash the livers, and put them in a stew-pan with boiling water enough to cover them. Boil for half an hour, and then take them from the water and let them cool. When cold, pound to a smooth paste, and then rub through a puree sieve. Put the bread and cream