Chapter M: E. James: ‘How to Decorate our Ceilings, Walls, and Floors.’ (17)

Fried.--After the sprats are washed, wipe them dry in a cloth, sprinkle a little salt over, and let them lie for 1 hour; put them on paper with flour, and turn them about until lightly coated with it. Throw as many as will cover the bottom of it into a wire frying basket, plunge it into hot fat, and keep gently moving the basket until the fish are crisp. Sprats should not be too small, and those of an average size take 5-6 minutes to fry. When the sprats are done, turn them on to a sheet of paper to free them from grease, and serve immediately with cayenne, cut lemon, and brown bread and butter. When not convenient to use a wire basket, the sprats can be thrown into the hot fat, and, when done, be taken out with a skimmer. (Mary Hooper.)

Patties.--Clean the sprats. When seasoned, add some vinegar to taste. Line some patty pans with pastry, fill with the fish, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and a scrap of butler on each, and bake in a smart heat. (D.)

Pie.--(_a_) Cut off the heads and tails of 1 lb. sprats, and place them in a pie-dish; sprinkle pepper and salt between the layers, also a few peppercorns, add 3 tablespoonfuls water; cover it with a light paste and bake. Best eaten cold. (Mary Hooper).

(_b_) Scald, bone, and mash the sprats. Mash some freshly boiled floury potatoes, butter a pie-dish, put layers of potato and fish seasoned with pepper, more salt, and chopped onion if approved of. The cover should be potatoes. Put breadcrumbs and butter, or a beaten-up egg on the top, and bake, according to size, for ½-1 hour. Brown before the fire. Hard-boiled eggs, in slices or mashed, can be added if available or desired. (D.)

Rissoles.--Prepare the sprats as for potting. Bind with egg and breadcrumbs, and fry. The same can be prepared with mashed potatoes instead of breadcrumbs. (D.)

Soused.--Clean the sprats by washing and rubbing them in a cloth; lay them in a baking dish in layers, sprinkle over lightly pepper and salt, cover them with vinegar and one-fourth water. Put a tin or dish over, and set the sprats in a cool oven to cook very slowly for 2 hours, taking care they do not get broken. These can be eaten either hot or cold. (Mary Hooper.)

Toast.--Clean without the addition of salt. Add a few chopped and cleaned anchovies; spread out the fish 2 in. deep on a Yorkshire pudding tin or baking plate, and warm well before the fire. Have some toast ready hot, slightly buttered. Lay a spoonful of the fish on each piece, draining off any oil which may have gathered.

_Tamarind Fish._--Tamarind fish is cured as follows: Cut the fish into slices about ½ in. thick; the slices are then rubbed well with salt; let them stand in the pickle 48 hours; then drain. Get some of the plain, sun-dried tamarinds, as imported from India; boil these in pickling vinegar, about 2 lb. to 1 qt., until the pulp separates from the seeds and stalks. Work through a sieve. Dip the slices of fish in this mixture when cold, and pack closely in large-mouthed jars, taking care the top layer is well covered with the tamarinds. Fish roes prepared in the same manner are excellent. Haddock, cod, herrings, and mackerel make good tamarind fish.

_Tench_ (Tanche).--Tench, when large and fat, is not bad when it is possible by eternal cleanings and soakings to get rid of the muddy taste, which clings to it with singular tenacity. Perhaps the best way of dressing it is to stew it in red wine, or to let it form the central spot of a _matelote_, into the composition of which eels, perch, &c., have entered.

Roast: see Carp, Chub. Broiled: see Chub. Stewed: see Trout.

_Trout_ (Truite).--Trout should be treated in the following way. Scrape, wash in salted water, remove gills, gut, and wipe with a linen cloth, flour one side, and fry in butter till brown and crisp; then flour the other side, and fry that likewise, put it on a hot dish, and lay on it some fried parsley and sage. Make a sauce with some fresh butter and boiling water, flavoured with anchovy. Pour over the fish and serve.

Baked.--Put inside the fish a piece of butter the size of an egg, into which a due quantity of salt, powdered pepper, and minced parsley have been worked. Lay it in a baking dish plentifully buttered, sprinkle pepper and salt over it, then lay a piece of oiled paper on the fish, and bake it in a moderate oven for about ½ hour, more or less according to the size of the fish. Serve garnished with pieces of lemon.

Broiled.--(_a_) Clean and split them down the back, notch them 3 or 4 times across, mix a little olive oil in a dish with pepper, salt, and powdered thyme; lay the trout in this, turn them over once or twice, so that they may be well oiled on both sides, then broil them over a moderate fire. (_b_) See Chub.

Grilled.--Small or moderately-sized trout may be advantageously dressed _à la tartare_--that is to say, grilled and served with a cold _tartare_ sauce. Very small trout may also be fried and served with or without tomato sauce.

Jelly.--Wash the trout carefully; form them into rings with the tail in the mouth. Boil some water with a little vinegar, salt, sliced onion, bay leaf, spice, and pepper according to taste. Let this boil so as to get the various flavours; set it aside to cool. Lay in the fish, and simmer a few minutes after the water has just come to the boil. Take out the fish carefully, and when drained baste them with clear fish jelly. When the first basting has set repeat another, until they have a nice coating of jelly; then arrange them gently and garnish to taste. Haddocks, whitings, smelts, &c., are good in this way.

Soused: see Carp.

Stewed.--Wash, dry on a cloth, open, gut, and wipe very clean; notch 2 or 3 times to the bone on one side. Put into a fish-kettle enough liquor (half vinegar or white wine and half water) to cover the fish; add a good quantity of salt, the rind of a lemon, some grated horseradish, and a faggot of sweet herbs--rosemary, thyme, marjoram, parsley, and winter savory. When quite boiling, put in the fish--if many, one by one, so as not to lower the temperature. When quite done, put it on a dish sprinkled with horseradish and powdered ginger (or coarsely-bruised pepper); pour over it a sauce made of fresh butter, a little of the liquor in which the fish was boiled, and an anchovy. Grayling, carp, bream, roach, dace, perch, and tench may also be dressed in the same way. See Carp.

With Remoulade Sauce.--Fry some medium-sized trout, lay them on paper to remove all fat. Chop some chervil, chives, capers, parsley, cress, and a little shallot; pound them in a mortar; add a little French mustard, the yolks of raw eggs, season with salt and pepper; add drop by drop good olive oil, in the proportion of a dessertspoonful to each egg; beat up the mixture, and when quite smooth add a little chili vinegar. Dish the trout (when quite cold), pour the sauce over, and garnish with sprigs of chervil.

_Turbot_ (Turbot).--Great size in a turbot is rather a drawback than otherwise. Provided that the fish be thick and firm, with the under or white side of excessive roundness and of a thick, opaque, creamy look, it can hardly be too small. In a very large fish the thick, massive white flesh is out of all proportion to the delicate morsels, and the major portion of the fish must of course appear in the form of a _réchauffé_--for which turbot is admirably adapted. In choosing turbot, it is well, unless for a large dinner party, to select a fine, plump, round, “chicken” turbot, such as may be bought in London for 6-7_s._ Particular attention should be given to the colour of the white skin, as if this present a semi-diaphanous or a bluish look, the fish should be rejected. The white side must also never be flat, but should “plump up” directly from the fins like a firm white cushion. As brill is sometimes palmed off on youthful housewives, it may be well to say to those unskilled in markets and fishes that a chicken turbot may be known by the small round spines on the back, which may be easily felt and even seen. The brill is also more oval in shape and much flatter than the juvenile turbot, whose form acquires at an early age the peculiar rotundity so much prized. As a rule turbot require a severe soaking in salt and water to discharge the slime.

À la Normande.--In every respect an admirable dish. Take a nice small turbot, cleanse it thoroughly, lift up the flesh from the backbone, insert a stuffing made of 6 oz. scraped and pounded whiting to 4 oz. soaked breadcrumbs rubbed smooth. To this add 3 oz. fresh butter with which the flesh of 24 shrimps or 12 prawns has been skilfully incorporated. Put in gradually 2 whole eggs and the yolk of one more, season with nutmeg, pepper, and salt, and after thorough pounding and mixing put the forcemeat on the ice till wanted for use. When the fish has been carefully stuffed--not filled to excess--prepare a stewpan by buttering it liberally, then put in 2 tablespoonfuls finely-minced shallots, 3 glasses sherry, Madeira, or any good white wine, salt, pepper, and a cupful of fine white stock, lay in the turbot, and set it to boil over a slow fire. On its reaching the boiling point, take it off the fire and put it into a moderate oven for ½-¾ hour. Meanwhile prepare a _Normande_ sauce by putting a pint of _béchamel_ into a stewpan and giving it a boil up. Stir it carefully, and strain through a tammy into another stewpan. Add 2 doz. blanched oysters, 2 doz. mussels, also blanched, and 2 doz. small mushrooms. Add a little milk and a teaspoonful of pounded loaf sugar, and reduce to a proper consistency. Then put in 8 tablespoonfuls cream and the juice of a lemon, stir all well together, pour the sauce over the turbot, and group the oysters, mussels, and mushrooms around. Although best with a combination of oysters and mussels, these shellfish are not always to be procured at the same time, in which case double the quantity of that in season should be used. Many people prefer to leave out the stuffing, and supply its place by a garnish of fish _quenelles_.

Au Gratin.--Mince finely 2 shallots and 2 or 3 mushrooms, toss them in butter till quite cooked, add a little minced parsley, the remnants of a boiled turbot, with pepper and salt to taste; moisten with a cupful of stock and ½ glass white wine; shake the saucepan a few minutes over the fire, then turn out the contents into a silver dish, smooth them well down and sprinkle plentifully with baked breadcrumbs. Put the dish in a quick oven 10-15 minutes, and serve.

Boiled.--The fish must be either scored across once or twice, or cut right down to the bone lengthwise, on the black side. This precaution is necessary in order to prevent the white side--which is always served uppermost--from cracking when the fish begins to swell in boiling. The next proceeding is to rub over the turbot very thoroughly with the juice of a lemon and a little salt. Then have ready a large turbot kettle--to every gallon of cold water put 11 oz. salt--and put in the fish with sufficient water to cover it well. As soon as it begins to boil draw it back and allow it to simmer till done, which may be seen by the skin cracking very slightly. Then remove the fish carefully, drain it over the fish-kettle, and slip it gently on to a dish, masked with a wooden or china bottom, covered with a napkin. Garnish with slices of lemon, laid on and around the fish, and sprigs of fresh parsley.

Fried.--Cut some remnants of boiled turbot into neat pieces, steep them in a marinade of lemon juice, oil, pepper, and salt for 1-2 hours, then dip them in batter and fry them a golden brown in plenty of hot lard.

Hashed.--Take the flesh off a cold turbot, carefully preserving the jelly and removing all the bones. Let the flakes be as large as will look well, and warm by steaming with the remains of the sauce, and serve with a wall of potatoes round the dish and the fish in the centre.

Sauté.--Pick out into neat flakes the remnants of a boiled turbot. Melt a large piece of butter in a saucepan, place the flakes of fish in it, and toss them on the fire till they are quite hot, add pepper and salt to taste, some finely minced parsley, and the juice of a lemon.

With Tomato Sauce.--Slice a Spanish onion, and fry it in butter or in olive oil till quite cooked, without being at all coloured, add the pieces of fish, of which there should be twice as many as there are onions, then moisten with a sufficient quantity of French tomato sauce, put in pepper and salt according to taste, and a small pinch of powdered sweet herbs, shake the saucepan on the fire till the fish is quite hot, and serve.

With White Sauce.--Pick out the remnants of a boiled turbot free from bones into flakes. Make some plain melted butter, not too thick, using plenty of butter and very little flour; season it with pepper, salt and nutmeg, and simmer in it 12 button mushrooms cut in two. When these are cooked add the turbot, and as soon as this is quite warm stir in, off the fire, the yolks of 2 eggs beaten up with the juice of a lemon and strained. A little minced parsley may be added.

With Wine Sauce.--Lay the turbot on a shallow tin or pan plentifully buttered, with slices of onion, some parsley, a few mushrooms, pepper, salt, 2 bay leaves and a few cloves, and enough white wine and water to come up to, but not over the fish; put a piece of buttered paper over the fish, and place the tin in the oven to bake for about 1½ hour, basting the fish frequently with the liquor. When done strain some of the liquor, thicken it with some of the browned butter and flour, add some grated nutmeg, and stir in, off the fire, the yolks of 2 eggs beaten up with the juice of a lemon, slip the fish on a dish, pour the sauce over, and serve.

_Whitebait_ (Blanchaille). Fried.--The great secret of successful frying depends upon the fat being boiling, scrupulously clean utensils, a clear, bright fire, and plenty of good fat. There must be little time lost in serving any fried fish. Directly it is taken from the fire it should be sent to table, never covered with a dish cover; that renders it tough. It is not to be expected that any one can perfectly succeed in cooking whitebait the first time of trying, but if these directions are carefully carried out, two or three trials will ensure success. Everything must be prepared. Have a stewpan (copper is the best) that is perfectly clean, for if there is anything sticking at the bottom of the pan, it will quickly catch or burn, and so spoil the contents; a wire fish-basket that fits the stewpan, and can easily be moved in or out. Have a clean, fine cloth; some fine white flour (the finer quality is requisite, as it is less heavy). American flour is first-rate, being fine and dry. Place an inverted sieve before the fire on a stand, and on the top of the sieve a double sheet of thick white blotting-paper. For a pint of whitebait have 2 lb. pure lard. Put it in the stewpan and let it melt; when the fat boils and all the little bubbles cease to appear on the surface, and it begins to smoke, it is ready for use. The fat must be very hot (some people test the heat by a frimometer); the heat should be 345° Fahrenheit for ordinary frying, and 400° for whitebait. The little bubbles that rise on the surface show there is still water in the fat; this would at once spoil the fish and make it flabby. When the lard is quite ready it is time to prepare the fish. The whitebait is generally sent from the fishmonger’s in a tin pot full of water. Take it from the pot and throw it into some clean, fresh cold water. Take a handful of the fish and throw it in the clean cloth; shake it lightly so that all the moisture may be absorbed. Have a sheet of clean white paper with a good handful of flour on it. Take the whitebait and sprinkle them into the flour, fingering them as little as possible. Take up the paper and shake the whitebait well in the flour, so that they all get well floured. Turn the whitebait into a wire basket and sift all the loose flour back on to the paper. Turn the whitebait a few at the time into the frying basket, and immerse it at once in the stewpan of hot lard for 1 minute; the fish should be quite crisp. Quickly let the fat drain from the frying basket, and turn the fish out on the blotting-paper on the sieve. Repeat the process until all is done. Have a dish ready with an ornamented paper, and pile up the fish pyramid fashion, and serve as quickly as possible with a plate of thin brown bread and butter and lemon. Place them on a plate with a caster of cayenne pepper in the centre. 2 lb. lard seems extravagant, but, if carefully poured into a clean basin, and when cold the sediment at the bottom taken away, and the lard put again into a clean vessel, it will serve 10-15 times.

_Whiting_ (Merlan). À la Venetienne.--Cut a large whiting into fillets, put them into a deep dish, with some salt, pepper, and the juice of a large lemon; let them marinade for an hour, then drain; flour the fillets well, and fry of a golden brown, serving them with whatever sauce is preferred. A good white sauce, with the squeeze of a lemon added at the last moment, is excellent with this fish.

Au Gratin.--Take a few mushrooms, 2 shallots, and some parsley, all finely minced; mix them together. Butter a tin very plentifully, strew in it some of the above mixture and some fine baked breadcrumbs with a little pepper and salt. On this place the whitings (split open), on them place the remainder of the mushrooms, &c., more pepper and salt, and cover up the whole with a thin layer of baked breadcrumbs. Pour in at the side a glass of white wine and a sufficient quantity of stock to come up to the fish, and soak the breadcrumbs without washing them off. Put the tin in the oven to bake for 20 minutes.

Aux Fines Herbes.--Butter the bottom and sides of a pie-dish, put into it some whitings nicely cleaned, with a sufficient quantity, according to the number of fish, of chopped parsley, thyme, tarragon, and shallot, very finely chopped, moisten them with a small quantity of white wine, and put them into the oven; when the whitings are about half cooked, turn them, and when they are quite done thicken the sauce with a little butter and flour, pepper and salt should of course be added. In serving them let them go to table in the same dish, just adding a squeeze of lemon juice.

Baked.--This fish is very nice baked and served with caper sauce.

Dressed.--Take 4 or 5 whitings, according to size and number of people, 1-2 hours before they are wanted; sprinkle them with a little salt to make them firm, as they are apt to break. About ½ hour before dinner put the fish into a wide enamelled stewpan, so that they may form one layer. This stewpan should be shallow, so that the whitings may be more easily lifted out; pour over them a little stock or gravy (it should reach about half-way up the fish), and put with them one moderate-sized onion, cut into quarters, and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley. Stew the fish 20-25 minutes. Put into a saucepan 2 oz. butter and 1 tablespoonful flour, stir over the fire till the flour is well mixed with the butter. When the fish are done, with a slice lift them out on the dish in which they are to be served, and pour the liquor in which they were cooked into the saucepan with the butter and flour, stir well and boil up, then add the yolks of 2 eggs, a tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup, the same of lemon juice, a little pepper and salt, and serve. Be careful the sauce does not boil after the eggs are in.

Fillets.--Carefully skin and free from bones 3 or 4 small whitings. Put the heads and bones into the stockpot. Dip the fish into a beaten egg. Roll in finely-sifted breadcrumbs, and tie up with cotton before frying. The fish may be rolled up wholly or divided into slices. It may also be fried as fillets without rolling up. Serve up with parsley and slices of lemon.

Fried.--Flour the fish, and, having shaken the flour from them, brush them over carefully all over with egg beaten up with pepper and salt; then breadcrumb with fine breadcrumbs, and fry in plenty of lard to a light colour; sprinkle with fine salt; serve with fried parsley and cut lemon.

In jelly.--See Trout.

Puddings (Boudin).--Take the raw meat of some whiting, pound it in a mortar, and pass it through a sieve. Put ½ pint water into a saucepan with a pinch of salt, and a small piece of butter; when it boils stir in it enough flour to make a thick paste; when cold take of this paste half the quantity there is of fish, and take of butter half the quantity there is of paste; thoroughly amalgamate the whole in the mortar, season with pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg, work in 1-2 spoonfuls of white sauce (_béchamel_), and lastly as many eggs, in the proportion of 2 yolks to 1 white, as will bind the mixture. Butter some small moulds, fill them with the mixture, and steam them in a stewpan half full of water for 15-20 minutes. Then turn them out, and serve with white sauce (_béchamel_).

=Meat.=--Before proceeding to deal with the four recognised forms of culinary flesh, viz., beef, mutton, pork (including bacon), and veal, some space may be devoted to recipes for cooking frozen and tinned meats.

_Frozen Meat._--This requires special treatment, for its juices are liquified by being first turned to ice, and then thawed that it may cook throughout the joint. A joint would be raw in the centre if it were roasted or boiled before it had been perfectly thawed. As an example, take a shoulder of New Zealand mutton to roast. The first thing to be done is to pitch 1-2 oz. of fat off it into the fire, and hold the inside, or lean side, of it in the blaze till the tubes of the lean become seared or hermetically sealed. This may be done by holding the joint with a pair of tongs, or laying it on a gridiron. Of course an absence of smoke from a coal fire is advisable during the few minutes this operation takes. If it be required to roast a leg, the thick end, where the cut lean is apparent, should be served in the same way. If the leg is to be boiled, the water should be made to boil rapidly, and the leg rested on the side of the boiler, so that the thick end is covered about an inch up the outside. This will require about 10 minutes. If the whole leg be put into the water, the boiling will at once cease, when the attempt to close the ends of the tubes will not be effectual. If a neck of New Zealand mutton is to be boiled, the lean end should be hung in the water when it is boiling rapidly, and the whole joint put into the water when it is at the same heat.

Another question of importance raised here, is that frozen meat requires to be thawed gradually to be fit to cook in the best condition. If taken from a frozen chamber into a warm or a muggy atmosphere, it will, of course, condense vapour as a bottle of wine taken from a cool cellar into a warm dining room does. This makes the outside of the meat pale from its being sopped. It needs first to be taken from the freezing chamber to another at about 40° F., then to another at, say, 55° F.; then to one at about 70° F., or the temperature of the outside air. Then the meat--if the water from the ice outside has been properly wiped off with soft, dry clothes--will appear in a retailer’s shop or larder as dry and fresh as home-killed meat. Of course these thawing chambers need to be provided with dry air by the use of ice and fans for circulating the air as above described.

_Tinned Meats._--These having been cooked once already and deprived of bone, can only be used in stews and the like. The following recipes are well adapted:--

Collops.--Fry an onion to a golden colour in butter, add a tablespoonful of flour, mix well, add ½ pint stock, a sprig of thyme, one of parsley, a bay leaf, 6 cloves, some whole pepper, and some salt. Let the whole simmer for ½ hour; strain, add a little walnut or mushroom ketchup, and a little Worcester sauce. Lastly, put in the meat cut into neat collops, and let it remain by the side of the fire for about an hour. Serve with bread sippets round the dish.

In Batter.--Cut some pieces of beef 1 in. thick, dip them in a batter made of 3 tablespoonfuls flour, a teacup of milk, and one egg well beaten, pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg. Handle the pieces of beef gently, so that they do not break. Fry a nice brown, and serve with fried potato slices.

Irish Stew.--Simmer 6 sliced onions and 12 sliced potatoes in a pint thin stock for ½ hour. Then add the contents of a 2 lb. tin of Australian mutton cut in slices. Season with pepper and salt, and let all simmer together for 15 minutes.

Mince.--(_a_) Boil 2 carrots in water, peel them, and cut in slices. Fry 3 large onions in golden brown rings, put these into a teacupful of gravy, and let them simmer for 10 minutes. Then thicken the gravy with a heaping teaspoonful of cornflour, mixed in a little water. 10 minutes before serving, put in 2 lb. minced Australian beef, and keep it quite hot, but not boiling. Serve with sippets of toast round the dish; or make a wall of mashed potato, and put the mince in the centre. A few slices of the red carrot can be dotted at the base of the white potato wall.

(_b_) Mince 1 lb. Australian mutton very finely, boil ¼ lb. rice to a pulp, mix it with the meat and add a teacupful of gravy in which an onion has been boiled; stir over the fire, only until the meat is heated through, turn into a dish; have ready turnips (which have been previously parboiled and cut in dice), onions sliced, carrots sliced, all well fried; dish up round the mince. Care should be taken not to cook the Australian meat too long, or it loses its flavour.

Patties.--Mince finely 1 lb. tinned beef, melt 1 oz. good butter, and mix it with the meat. Season the meat highly with pepper and salt, and a dash of powdered mace and nutmeg. Mix all these ingredients together, and add 2 tablespoonfuls rich beef gravy. Cut rounds of light paste to line the patty pans, put in a tablespoonful of minced feed, and cover with lids of paste, leaving a small hole in the centre. Bake for 20 minutes in a hot oven. Their appearance is improved by brushing the lids over with beaten yolk of egg.

Pie.--(_a_) Rub 6 oz. lard into 1 lb. flour and a dessertspoonful of baking powder; add 2 well-beaten eggs, and scarcely ½ gill milk: this should make a stiff paste. Cut off pieces, the size of an egg; line small tin cups with the paste, and fill with the same meat as for the raised pie, cover with a lid of paste and bake 20 minutes. When cooked, turn them out of the tins, pour a little gravy through the lid, and leave to get cold. This paste is very light and short; 6 of these little pies on a dish garnished with parsley, are useful for luncheon or supper. They can also be made the same shape as small pork pie by moulding the paste round the bottom of a bottle, filling the case with meat, and covering with a lid. They are rather tiresome to get into a good shape, but practice soon overcomes this difficulty.

(_b_) Fill a pie dish with alternate layers of beef, mutton, and bacon, all thinly sliced; season between each layer with chopped onion (boiled), chopped apple, sage, pepper, and salt; pour in a little good gravy, and bake with a crust over it for ½ hour. The onion, sage, apple and seasoning should be well mixed together. This dish is generally liked in the kitchen, and can also be covered with potatoes, mashed smoothly with milk and butter, and seasoned to taste.

Pudding.--(_a_) Cut 1 lb. Australian mutton into thick pieces, the length of one’s little finger, and 1 in. wide; cut up ½ lb. beef kidney, and season it with pepper and salt. Line a greased pudding basin with suet crust; put in the meat and kidney alternately; pour in half a teacupful of gravy, with a tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup; cover with the crust, and boil for 2 hours. This makes a very savoury pudding.

(_b_) Make a crust of 1 lb. flour, a large teaspoonful of baking powder, ½ lb. suet, and ½ teaspoonful salt; add water sufficient to make rather a soft paste; roll out as for a roly-poly pudding; and spread over it a mince of Australian meat, seasoned with pepper, salt, ¼ lb. minced bacon, and 2 shallots finely chopped. Spread this an inch thick, roll it up, pinch the ends firmly, and boil for 2 hours. Serve with thick brown gravy.

Sausage Rolls.--Put 1 lb. Australian tinned beef through a mincing machine; mince with a chopper ¼ lb. pork; grate 1 oz. bread crumbs; mix all together, and season well with pepper, salt, sweet marjoram, and, if liked, a little thyme. Make some light paste, roll it thin into square pieces, put some meat on it, and fold the paste over it, pinch the edges and ends securely, and bake for 20 minutes. This mixture of meat can be made into flat cakes or rissoles, egged and bread crumbed, and fried a golden brown in Australian fat.

Shape.--Take ½ oz. gelatine previously soaked in water, an onion, a carrot, a little thyme and marjoram, and 1 qt. good stock; boil until reduced to 1½ pint, add a tablespoonful of ketchup, and pepper and salt to taste. Strain the liquor into a saucepan, take 2 lb. of the meat, and cut it into neat collops; put them also into the saucepan and let them get warm, then pour all into a mould, put it into a cool place until cold and firm.

Stew.--(_a_) Cook some potatoes and onions in stock, or with some of the jelly from the tin, until thoroughly done and falling to pieces; add salt and pepper, and about 10 minutes before serving put in some small slices of the meat; simmer gently just long enough to warm them through, and serve with the potatoes and onions all mixed together.

(_b_) Slice 2 large Portugal onions in thin slices, and fry them a golden brown; simmer them in ½ pint thin gravy for 20 minutes; then add 2 lb. tinned mutton finely minced, pepper and salt to taste. Thicken the stew with a dessertspoonful of corn flour, and a piece of butter the size of a walnut; add a few drops of colouring, if it is necessary, to make the stew look a nice colour, and serve very hot on toasted bread.

Vienna Steak.--Turn out a 2 lb. tin of Australian fresh beef, scrape all the fat and jelly from it, melt the jelly in a saucepan, and use the fat, if any, to fry the steak with. Mince the meat finely, and pepper and salt it to taste; mix with it some finely-chopped onion, fried a light brown, and form it into pats the size of the hand and 2 in. thick; brush the pats--which should be more oblong than round, and slightly irregular in form--with egg and bread crumbs, and fry to a dark brown in the fat. Pile them on a hot dish, and surround them with fried onions and good gravy, in which the melted jelly forms a part. The pats should be strewed over with chopped parsley just before they are sent to table.

Vinaigrette.--Cut some Australian mutton in slices, lay them in a dish, make a sauce of 2 tablespoonfuls oil, 1 dessertspoonful vinegar, chopped parsley, a little celery cut small, sliced potatoes, sliced cucumber (when not obtainable, beetroot), and put over the mutton.

_Beef_ (Bœuf). A la financière.--This is simply grenadins of beef served with a ragout _à la financière_ in the centre of the dish. It requires some little care and taste to cook properly. The best part of the beef for the purpose is the undercut, which should be neatly trimmed, all fat and skin removed, and then cut up into shapely pieces about ⅓ in. in thickness, and shaped something like a flat pear--a long oval, rather pointed at one end. These grenadins or fillets should then be finely larded, and afterwards braised by putting them in a stewpan on some slices of bacon, with a carrot and onion sliced, a little celery, if in season, some sweet herbs, parsley, spices, salt and pepper to taste, and a little stock. When sufficiently cooked, take them out, drain, and glaze them, then serve round a ragout made with truffles, cockscombs, quenelles of chicken, mushrooms, &c., all previously cooked, then tossed together in some good brown gravy, highly flavoured with chicken or game, mushrooms, and white wine.

A la Macédoine.--Cut some rump steak in slices a little more than ½ in. thick, trim them all to the same size in the shape of cutlets, and lard them thickly on one side with fine lardoons of bacon fat. Lay them out, the larded side uppermost, into a flat pan, and put into it as much highly flavoured rich stock or gravy as will come up to the grenadins without covering them. Cover the pan, and place it in the oven to braise gently for an hour. Then remove the cover, baste the grenadins with the gravy, and let them remain uncovered in the oven till the larding has taken colour; they are then ready. Take equal quantities of carrots and turnips cut into the shape of olives, also equal quantities of peas, of green haricot beans, of asparagus points, and of small sprigs of cauliflowers. Boil all these vegetables in salted water, then melt a piece of butter in a saucepan, add a tablespoonful of flour, stir in sufficient milk to make a sauce, add pepper, salt, and a little grated nutmeg. Put all the vegetables into this sauce, of which you should have just enough to make them hold together; toss them gently in it to make them quite hot. Dress them in the middle of a dish, round them dispose the grenadins in a circle, and, having removed the superfluous fat from their gravy, pour this round the grenadins, and serve.

Alamode.--Rub your beef with saltpetre, if it is a large round it will take 3 oz., and the same weight of coarse sugar, then salt it very thick. Strew some black pepper over it and turn it frequently. Do not salt in too wide a pan, as the beef should be nearly covered with the brine. Let it be 3 weeks in salt; then wash it, and rub over it some pounded cloves and mace, and Jamaica pepper, then bind it up, and put some chopped suet into the pan, and cover it with water, and bake it. You must have it from the oven hot, as it will want binding up afresh. Bind with strong wide tape, unbleached.

À la Napolitaine.--Take a piece of fresh silverside, make 2 or 3 holes in it, and insert in each a piece of bacon rolled in powdered sweet herbs and pepper. Tie up the meat with string carefully. Take a piece of the fat of bacon, mince it with a meat chopper, adding to it a clove of garlic, an onion, some parsley, thyme, and marjoram. When the whole is finely minced and well amalgamated, put it into a saucepan with the meat, and keep turning the latter until it is browned on all sides; then moisten with plenty of French tomato sauce, diluted with a little stock, add salt to taste, and let the meat stew slowly till done. Remove the string and serve with macaroni, dressed with the sauce, round the meat. Having boiled the macaroni, mix with it a fair allowance of the above sauce, strained and freed from any superfluity of fat, and plenty of grated Parmesan cheese. The macaroni should be mixed or dressed in a warmed tureen, not in a saucepan on the fire.

Boiled.--Take a piece of the round, silverside, aitch-bone, or brisket; skewer it if absolutely necessary, and tie it up with string. Put it into a saucepan, cover it with cold water, and let it come gradually to the boil, removing the scum as it rises, and throwing in a small quantity of cold water from time to time. When well skimmed add 2 or more carrots, an onion, and a bundle of sweet herbs, and salt to taste. Draw the pan to the side of the fire, and let the beef slowly boil till done. 2-2½ hours from the time of boiling for a piece of beef 10-12 lb. weight. Strain and preserve the liquor for stock.

Braised.--Put in a stewpan a layer of slices of onion, and over this a layer of slices of fat bacon ½ in. thick; on this place a piece of round of beef 8-10 lb. weight, neatly tied up with string; set the saucepan on the fire for 20 minutes, and turn the beef over once or twice during the process, then add a cupful of wine (red or white), 2 carrots, and an onion cut in slices, a bundle of sweet herbs, pepper and salt to taste, and a few cloves. Lastly, fill up the saucepan with just enough common stock to come up to the top of the piece of beef; cover the pan close, and braise it for 4-5 hours, keeping a few hot cinders on the lid. Serve with its own gravy, freed from fat, and strained.

Brasciolette.--Take a piece of rump steak freed from fat, skin, and gristle, mince it finely, and pound it to a paste. Grate some breadcrumb and mix with it pepper, salt, spices, and chopped parsley to taste. Take some lean bacon and cut it in thin strips, 1 in. wide. Spread out the meat paste to the thickness of ½ in. Cut it into squares about 2½ by 4½ in. Put a strip of bacon on each square, with a small piece of butter, and 4 or 5 pine cone kernels (pignoli). Strew over a little breadcrumb prepared as above, and roll up tight on the table each brasciolette in meat paste, then roll it between the palms of the hands. When they are all done, pack them up close in one layer in a well-buttered baking tin. Strew plenty of the prepared breadcrumbs over them, and some little bits of butter. Bake in a quick oven. Look at them frequently, and when the brown gravy shows on the top they are done. They should not in any case be baked longer than 15 minutes. They may be served plain, or with some tomato sauce poured over them.

Bubble and Squeak.--Cut from a piece of boiled beef slices the thickness of a penny piece, trim and cut them into any shape you please--parts underdone being the best; plain boil 1 large cabbage, 1 carrot, 1 onion; when cooked, drain and mince them together very fine, removing any hard part of the cabbage. Put into a sauté pan a piece of butter the size of an egg; when melted put in the beef to warm, taking care it does not dry; this done, remove the meat and put in the vegetables; stir on the fire until they are very hot, moisten with a little good stock, add salt and pepper, a little grated nutmeg; place them and the meat on the dish in the same way as cutlets, pour over a little stock, and serve. (J. Burtenshaw.)

Bullock’s heart.--(_a_) A bullock’s heart, stuffed in the usual way, should first be gently simmered for an hour or more, according to size; then roasted slowly, being basted continuously, as all meat should; if preferred, it may be larded. Thus managed, it is an excellent dish.

(_b_) Put the heart in lukewarm water, and let it soak for 1½ hour, then have ready a good supply of veal stuffing, which put in the heart in every available place; sew it up carefully, and plunge it into boiling water, allowing it to boil 2 hours; then take it out, put it in the oven with a good piece of dripping on the top; baste occasionally, and bake 1½ hour. Have a tureen of good gravy, slightly thickened, sent to table with it, and, of course, currant jelly. (Kate Campion.)

Cow-heel.--(_a_) Wash, clean, and scald a cow-heel, and cut into pieces about 2 in. long and 1 wide. Dip these into the yolk of an egg beaten up. Cover them with breadcrumbs mixed with chopped parsley, pepper and salt, and a little cayenne. Fry them in boiling batter.

(_b_) Split the cow-heel, wash it, and place it in a stewpan with just enough water to cover it. Simmer gently for 3 hours, chop enough parsley to fill a tablespoon, put it into the stewpan. Mix 2 tablespoonfuls baked flour, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 saltspoonful pepper, and 1 teacupful cold water, pour it in, and stir till it thickens. Boil for 10 minutes longer, then serve.

Croquettes.--The croquettes can be made from any remains of cold beef, whether boiled or roast, that will cut into neat slices. These slices must be rather thin and nicely trimmed. Make a forcemeat by chopping parsley, fat bacon, dried herbs, and a suspicion of lemon peel together; season well, spread a little on each slice of meat, roll up and dip in a thin batter, then fry in boiling fat.

Fillet.--Take a piece of fillet of beef (the undercut of the sirloin), trim off the fat neatly and the thin skin next to it, lard not too finely the outside of the fillet with fat bacon, and lay it for a whole day in a pie dish with plenty of olive oil, pepper, salt, parsley, slices of onion, and bay leaves. Turn it occasionally. Cover the larded side with a piece of oiled paper, roast it at a brisk fire, and do not let it be overdone. Baste it frequently with butter, or with some of the marinade and a short time before serving remove the paper, sprinkle the fillet with salt, and cease basting, to let the larding take colour. Collect what gravy is in the dripping pan, free it entirely from fat, or serve it under the fillet; which may be garnished either with fried potatoes or with watercresses. If the gravy collected in the dripping pan is not sufficient, some well-flavoured and reduced clear beef stock can be added to it.

Frizzled.--Brown a piece of butter the size of an egg in a saucepan, add a cup of cream or milk, 1 teaspoonful flour, mixed with a little cold milk. Have ready ½ lb. of thinly-shaved smoked beef, add it to the mixture, let it just come to a boil; serve. (F. E. W.)

Hash.--(_a_) Two tumblers hot water, 1 large spoonful butter, 3 tablespoonfuls grated cheese, and the same of fine breadcrumbs; then season highly with cayenne pepper, adding three tumblers cold beef, minced. All stirred well together, and served as soon as hot.

(_b_) Fry a small onion, cut in thin slices in butter; when it begins to colour stir in a tablespoonful of flour, then add a cupful of stock, pepper and salt, a small pinch of powdered sweet herbs, and ½ wineglassful tarragon vinegar. When the sauce has boiled for a minute or two strain it into another saucepan; when cold, put in the beef cut in thin slices. If roast beef, all outside parts must be trimmed off. Set the saucepan by the side of the fire for the contents to get gradually warm; when nearly so, a fair allowance of sliced gherkins would be added. The longer the process of warming, the better the hash will be.

(_c_) Cut some thin slices of underdone roast or boiled beef, lay them in a buttered tin, strew over them some mushrooms and onions and a little parsley, all finely chopped, add pepper and salt, and pour in at the side as much stock as will come up to, but not over, the meat. Strew plenty of baked breadcrumbs over all, and put the tin in the oven for ½ hour, or till the moisture is nearly dried up. A very small quantity of wine may be added along with the stock.

Hung Beef.--(_a_) This is served in America, shaved very thin, so thin as to curl up; or grated, to spread on toast; also shred in omelettes.

(_b_) It should be soaked for a few hours, then boiled slowly until tender with carrots and cabbages. It is best eaten cold, or it may be shaved or grated, and served on buttered toast. Slices of it can be broiled on a gridiron and served with any green vegetables.

Kidney.--Parboil a beef kidney and cut it in slices, the thickness of a penny piece, toss them in a saucepan with a piece of butter for 5 minutes; in another saucepan put 1 oz. butter, and 1 dessertspoonful flour; stir on the fire until it begins to brown; moisten with 1 teacupful stock, add some finely minced parsley, the juice of a lemon, pepper and salt to taste; pour this sauce into the saucepan with the kidneys, and let them very gently simmer until thoroughly done.

Minced Collops.--Mince some raw beef very finely, put the mince into a saucepan with a bit of butter to prevent it sticking to the pan. When they are hot add 1 teaspoonful flour and a little gravy or water. They should be stirred often, to prevent their getting lumpy: they take about 20 minutes to cook. Onions minced may be added, or a little hot pickle. Hare collops are dressed the same way, with the addition of a little claret.

Mock Brawn.--Take 4 cowheels, clean and wash them thoroughly, boil them in plenty of water till very tender, then take them out and shred them in long pieces, which put in a stewpan; just cover them with stock, and let them stew a little. Have ready chopped a handful of capers, half as many gherkins, and one glass of vinegar stir in with the heels; put all into a mould; when quite cold turn out.

Ox Brains.--Lay the brains in plenty of lukewarm water to blanch. Put them into scalding water, with some salt, to boil slowly about ½ hour. Take them up, drain, and divide them into small pieces. Dip these into a well-beaten egg, sprinkle them with grated bread; fry them in plenty of butter a delicate brown. Sprinkle with lemon juice when done, and serve with slices of lemon as garnish.

Ox Cheek.--(_a_) One of the nicest dishes that comes to table is an ox cheek. It will require to be well washed, not soaked, and to be put on the fire in a large boiler full of cold water, and when it boils it must continue to do so for 4 hours. 1½-2 pints peas should be in soak all the night before, and put in with the cheek at first. Onions, carrots, turnips, and celery are also added, and require 2 or 3 hours’ boiling. This makes delicious soup for the following days, and the cheek itself a savoury and tender dish for a family. What is left can either be made into a shape for the breakfast or luncheon table, or cut into dice about 1 in. square and sent to table in the soup. Hard-boiled eggs, pepper, salt, and nutmeg must be added to the shape.

(_b_) It has long been in the north a favourite dish for breakfasts, or lunch when made into a pie; it is a most economical, excellent, and appetising dish, gentlemen like it for breakfast before a hard day’s shooting or hunting. Wash the ox cheek in several waters, let it soak 1 hour, then stew gently until the meat is cooked; remove it from the stew pot, take out all the bones, which return to the stew pot--use a digester for this purpose; put the meat on one side until quite cold, boil 2 eggs hard and leave until cold; any remnants of bacon or ham you have should be cut into pieces about ½ in. in size. Take 1½ pint of the stock from which you took the meat, reduce it one-third by boiling, flavour it with a teaspoonful of Yorkshire relish or Worcester sauce, pepper, and for those who like it, a little tarragon vinegar. Trim the meat, that is, take off the white skin, cut the rest into pieces, about 1 in. in size, lay them in your dish with the egg cut in slices, bacon or ham, till full, then pour in your gravy, cover with the paste, taking care to make an incision in the centre, and bake until the crust is sufficiently cooked. The pie should be eaten cold. If you have any other bones from meat they should be added to the stock and boiled for some hours; we always boil them for 3-4 days, removing the stock occasionally and filling up again with water, for the longer they are boiled, the more the stock is likely to jelly, you then have the foundation of many good soups. The ox cheek may be made into a galantine instead of pie. (M. E. S.)