Gravy for Baked Fish

Ingredients

• two tablespoonfuls of blended brown flour
• season with pepper
• season with salt

Method

1. 1

   After the fish is taken from the pan, put the pan on the fire, and stir into it gradually the blended brown flour.

2. 2

   Boil up once, season with pepper and salt, remove any black specks, and pour it over the fish.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Manual for army cooks (1896) by United States. War Dept. Subsistence Dept., page 30. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

GRAVY FOR BAKED FISH. After the fish is taken from the pan put the pan on the fire, and stir into it gradually two table- spoonfuls of blended brown flour. Boil up once, season with pej)per and salt, remove any black specks, and j^our it over the fish. SAUCES FOR BOILED FISH. Drawn-Butter Sauce. 1 pint boiling water. 2 tablesponfuls sifted flour. 2 tablespoonf uls butter. Pepper and salt. Piit a saucepan on the fire ; put in the butter and fiour ; mix them with a spoon (a wooden one is pre- ferable) into a smooth paste ; pour over very gradu- ally the boiling water, stirring it Avell in. Boil up once, season, and serve. If an acid taste is desired, add a few drops of vinegar. Pickle Sauce. Add to a drawn-butter sauce two or more table- spoonfuls of minced pickled cucumbers, Boiled-Egg Sauce. Add to a drawn-butter sauce two minced hard- boiled eggs. REMARKS ON MEAT. Good fresh beef presents the following charac- teristics : The lean, when freshly cut, is of a bright red color, easily compressed and elastic, the grain fine and interspersed with fat. The fat is firm and of a yellowish- white color ; the suet firm and per- fectly white. If beef is of inferior quality the lean is coarse, tough, and inelastic, and of a dull MANUAL FOK AKMY COOKS. 81 ])urplisli color; the fat is scanty, yellow, and moist. The above remarks apply to mutton, except that in good mutton the fat is white. In unwholesome mutton the fat is decidedly yellow. If meat is frozen it should be thawed in cold water before it is cooked. This rule applies to all frozen meats, poultry, game, and fish. If meat is tainted, it is useless to attempt to disguise it; it should be thrown away. Meat becomes tender and more digestible by keeping. If it is to be kept longer than ordinary it should be dredged with pepper. It should be wiped with a dry cloth as soon as it comes from the butcher. Meat must not be j^laced in contact with ice. It should not be kept wrapped in paper, nor in any- thing that may impart flavor. Before putting raw or cooked meat into a refrigerator cover it with a clean cloth. The x>i'a'Ctice of taking the bones out of baking i)ieces and skewering is improper, as the escape of the juices is thereby facilitated. The time required for baking depends on the oven, the quality of the meat, its size and shape, and the time it has been killed; fresh-killed meat requires a longer time to cook. A longer time is required in cold than in warm weather. The time may be generally stated at from fifteen to twenty minutes to the pound. If dripping from the baked beef is not used for gravy, strain it into a tin or earthen vessel, cover it, and put it in a cool place for future cooking. When congealed into a cake, if any sediment adheres to it, scrape it oft*. Mutton dripping can not be used for any kind of cooking, as it communicates a tallowy taste to everything cooked with it. BAKED BEEF. Cleanse the meat ; then place it in the \ya,n with the fat and skin side up ; put the pan into a hot 9281 6 82 MANUAL FOR ARMY COOKS. oven, and when tlie heat has started enough of the oil of the fat commence to baste, which should be performed quickly, closing the oven door as soon as basting is done. The basting should be repeated often during the baking ; when nearly done sprinkle it with pepper and salt, and baste. The meat should be served on a warm platter. (See Gravy for Baked Meats.) If the beef is not sufficiently fat and juicy to fur- nish material for basting, a tablespoonful or more of stock, gravy, or beef dripping should be put into the pan ; putting water into the -pan to baste with is improper, as water can not be raised to as high a temperature as fat and does not, therefore, serve as well ; besides this, when water is used, the beef is, to a certain extent, stewed and not baked, and its flavor is injured. One or more onions sliced and placed on the beef may be cooked with it. Mutton, veal, and fresh pork may be prepared and baked as above. 'They must be well done to be palatable. Before putting pork into the oven, score the skin into small squares. As ordinarily cooked by the soldier, baked meats are generallj overdone and dry. It has been sug- gested that just before the beef is done it be covered with a large pan to confine the juices which would otherwise evaporate. When cutting meats to cook, cut across grain of muscle. Never wash fresh meat before roasting; scrape it if necessary to clean it. If wet or moist, dry thoroughly before cooking. Do not place meat on ice but in a vessel on ice. Do not use salt when basting, but salt the meat when done. POT ROAST. Trim off the rough parts of a nice brisket of beef, and jDlace in a kettle over a good fire. Add one pint of Lolling water, cover, and cook slowly fifteen min- utes to every pound. Add salt when meat is half MANUAL FOR ARMY COOKS. 83 done. After the water evcqiorates add no more, as there should be fat enough to finish cooking the meat. Serve with gravy made from the fat in the pot. BROILED FILLET. Cut a fillet of beef into slices an inch thick. Moisten them with melted dripping or butter and let stand for half an hour. Then place them on a broiler and broil over a quick fire five minutes, turning them two or three times. Place them on a hot plate, season with salt

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.