Roasting Meat

Ingredients

• The meat
• Wipe the meat with a damp towel
• salt
• pepper
• flour
• a cupful of hot water

Method

1. 1

   Dredge the meat lightly with salt, pepper, and flour.

2. 2

   Place it in a baking pan with salt and flour on the bottom.

3. 3

   When the flour turns dark brown, add enough water to cover the bottom.

4. 4

   Baste the meat every 15 minutes with the pan gravy.

5. 5

   Renew the water frequently and let it cook away in the last half-hour.

6. 6

   When done, place on a warm platter, pour off fat, scrape sediment, add hot water, and thicken with flour and water mixture.

7. 7

   Season and strain into a hot dish.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Miss Parloa's kitchen companion (1887) by Maria Parloa, page 121. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

the meat is cooking, that temperature being necessary for the development of the proper flavor. From this we see that the meat must first be subjected to a high temperature to close the pores on the surface, and as soon as this is accomplished the temperature must be lowered to the boiling-point (212°), and kept at that degree until the cooking is done. 234 MISS PARLOA'S KITCHEN COMPANION. BOILING. For all meats except ham, corned beef, and salt tongue, the water should be boiling when the meat is put in, and when the water begins to boil again (it will be cooled somewhat when the meat is put in), skim it, and keep it at the boiling-point for fifteen or twenty minutes. At the end of that time draw the kettle back where there is only enough heat to keep the water at the boiling-point. If the water bubbles a little, it is about right for cooking meat. A leg of mutton weighing ten or twelve pounds will be cooked moderately rare in two hours. A turkey of about the same weight will require cooking for three hours and a half, unless it happens to be very tough, when it will require an hour longer to make it tender. A piece of corned beef will take five hours to cook, no matter how small the piece may be. If it should weigh more than eight pounds, give it an extra hour. It will be improved by letting it partially cool in the water in which it was boiled. This is true of all boiled meats that are to be used cold. Ham and smoked tongue should be soaked in cold water for twelve hours, and should then be boiled from five to six hours. Fowls take from two to four hours to cook. If these directions be followed, every piece of boiled meat that comes to the table will be found tender and juicy. It will cut smooth ; whereas meat that has been boiled rapidly will break into long shreds when you at- tempt to cut it, and will be found hard and flavorless. We are all too well acquainted with this kind of boiled and roasted meats. It is time that such waste of good materials should cease. ROASTING. There are three modes of roasting, — before the fire, in a tin-kitchen ; under a sheet of flame, in a gas-stove ; or VAKIOUS MODES OF COOKING MEAT. 235 in the oven of an ordinary stove or range. The last- named mode is inferior to either of the others ; still, as the oven is always available, while the first two modes may not be, the greater part of the roasting of meat is done in a close oven. Some ovens are so arranged that the side next the fire can be opened, thus exposing the meat to the clear coals ; others are so constructed that there is a constant circulation of fresh air through them, giving one of the elements which we get by roasting with an open fire or with gas. General Rules. No matter how the roasting is done, a few things must always be borne in mind. The heat should be great at first, so that the surface of the meat shall be hardened, to retain the juices ; but it should afterward be de- Beef in Baking-pan. creased, so that the meat shall cook more slowly and evenly. The meat should be raised at least two inches from the bottom of the baking-pan. There are racks made expressly for keeping it at the proper height. Wipe the meat with a damp towel, and then dredge it lightly with salt, pepper, and flour. After sprinkling a quantity of salt and flour on the bottom of the pan, put the meat into the oven. Watch carefully, and when the 236 MISS PARLOA'S KITCHEN COMPANION. dry flour in the pan turns a dark brown, put in just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan. After the meat has become browned it should be basted every quarter of an hour with the gravy in the pan and then with salt and flour. Always use considerable gravy, and dredge only lightly with salt and flour. The water in the pan should be renewed frequently. Let the water cook away in the last half-hour, so that there shall be only fat and sediment in the bottom of the pan when the meat is done. When it is done, lay it on a warm platter. After lifting the rack from the pan, pour off the fat, and scrape the sediment from the sides and bottom of the pan. Place on the stove in the same pan, adding a cupful of hot water

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