The Rural cook book

Ragout with Dumplings. — Get a piece of nice, fresh round steak, about one and one-half pound (cut thick). Cut it into pieces about an inch square, smother it with flour, well seasoned with salt and red pepper. Brown in the frying pan one large onion or two small ones, with about one large tablespoonful of butter; then add the steak and brown. Put the whole into a granite saucepan, pour over it live pints of boiling water and simmer two hours. About 30 minutes before serving make dumplings as follows: A cup of flour sifted with a little sah and a half teaspoonful of baking powder, and rub in a teaspoonful of butter. Mix very soft with milk— so soft that it is slightly sticky; drop by small spoonfuls into the stew and cover tightly until served. Sausage. — This is a Virginia recipe. To every 10 pounds of meat use three ounces of salt, one of black pepper, one-half ounce of sage rubbed fine. Having all ingredients weighed, put a layer of the meal cut in strips, sprinkle the mixed seasoning over it, another layer of meat with more seasoning, distributing as evenly as possible. Run twice through the grinder, and when it is put on the table it is surprising to see how quickly it vanishes. Ordinary pork sausage, smoked in bags, makes a desirable change, and keeps well. Pack the sausage meat in small bags of coarse, strong muslin, the size selected being that most convenient for slicing; small salt sacks, well washed, may answer. Qose the bags, and then smoke, just like ham, the amount of smoking depending on the family taste. When used, split down the seam of the bag for convenience in cutting the slices, and fry like ham. Sausage, Bologna.— Six pounds of lean beef; one pound salt pork; three pounds lean fresh pork; one pound beef suet; one ounce white pepper; one teaspoonful ground mace; three ounces salt; one teaspoonful cayenne; one large onion chopped fine. Chop the meat and suet separately very fine, then mix; add all the seasoning, and mix thoroughly. Fill into casings and tie into lengths, or use strong linen bags. Make a brine that will bear an egg; put the sausage into it, and let stand two weeks, turning and skimming every day. At the end of the first week throw away the old brine, and put the sausage into new for the second week; then smoke for a week. When smoked rub over the outside with olive oil, and store in a cool, dark dry place. If you wish to keep the sausage for any length of time sprinkle the outside with pepper. Sausage, Frankfurter. — Chop up pork, lean meat and fat (ham can be used) in the proportion of four pounds lean to one of fat. To a pound of the mixture season with salt, ii grams, one-half gram saltpetre, two grams white pepper and one-half gram cloves. Mix the whole so intimately that "you cannot tell the fat pieces from the lean" The more thorough the mixing the better the result. If the mixing is not free, you can add a little water, but do not overdo this. If too "waxy" from excess of fat, add lean; or, the other way, if too meaty. Use pig's cases for the filling. Tie the sausage in length desired. Hang the links well apart in the smokehouse. Tolerable heat will do them rightly enough, but if you want the deep rich tint of brown, you will have to finish them off over a brick fire. It is hard to fix the temperature, as the smokehouse in the open will be cooler than the one indoors. Test the state by running a quill in and examining the extract by the taste, sight and smell. Sometimes they are put in bundles of 10 or 18 folded together and pressed to flatten. Keep in a box under weight before putting in the smoke. Sausage, Holland Home.— Grind, mix and season the meat as de- ■ired. Instead of stuffing "cases," pack in half-gallon stone jars (butter jari). Bake four hours in a moderately hot oven. Remove from