10 lbs. Thick Brisket of Beef, Corned or Fresh--1s. 6d.
1 fagot of Herbs
1 stalk Celery--1/2d.
1 Onion
2 Carrots
1 Turnip
40 Peppercorns--1 1/2d.
Total Cost--1s. 8d.
Time--Four Hours
Bind the beef with tapes to keep it a good shape. If it is corned, put it on in cold water; if fresh, in hot stock or water, and bring to the boil, then skim carefully and put in the vegetables and peppercorns. Simmer very gently indeed for four hours, then take it up. Take off the tapes, slip out the bones, and put it into a dish; place a piece of board on the top and some heavy weights and leave till the next day, then turn out and serve with a salad. If fresh meat is used for this dish the liquor may be used for soup, or the bones may be put back when removed from the meat and boiled without the lid very quickly for an hour. Then strain off and stand away till the next day; it should then be in a strong jelly. This may be cut into blocks and put round the meat.
1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 tablespoon sour pickle 2 teaspoons salt 1/8 teaspoon cayenne 1 teaspoon celery salt
To 1 tablespoon of gelatine, softened in 1/2 cup of cold water add 1 cup of hot tomato juice and pulp. Add seasoned meat. Chill and slice. May be served with salad dressing.
Take three-quarters of a pound of beef, two ounces of ham, one tablespoon of butter (or one-half tablespoon of lard), some bread, some parsley, and a piece of onion. Chop up the onion fine and put it in a saucepan with the butter (or lard). When it is colored, put in the parsley and the ham cut up into little pieces, at the same time add the bread cut up into three or four small dice, salt, pepper, and a dash of nutmeg. Mix all together well. Cut the meat into six slices, pound them to flatten out; salt slightly, and when the other ingredients are cooked, put a portion on each slice of meat. Then roll up the meat like sausages, put them on skewers, alternating with a piece of fried bread of the same size. Butter well, roll in fresh bread crumbs, and broil on the gridiron over a slow fire. These are nice served with salad.
Take some slices of cold corned beef, dip them in a salad dressing, and lay them in a dish with alternate layers of lettuce leaves. Garnish with hard boiled eggs cut in slices.
Wash a good lettuce and a bunch of water-cress. Cut a cold boiled beef into strips, add six radishes, two hard-boiled eggs chopped up, and one small sliced cucumber. Arrange the lettuce-leaves in a salad-bowl, mix the other ingredients with a sufficient quantity of mayonnaise sauce, put them in the midst of the lettuce, and serve.
One quart of cold roasted or stewed beef--it must be very tender, double the rule for French dressing, one table-spoonful of chopped parsley, and one of onion juice, to be mixed with the dressing. Cut the meat in thin slices, and then into little squares. Place a layer in the salad bowl, sprinkle with parsley and dressing, and continue this until all the meat is used. Garnish with parsley, and keep in a cold place for one of two hours. Any kind of meat can be used instead of beef.
Prepare the meat as directed for beef salad, using, however, one-half the quantity. Add one pint of cold boiled potatoes, cut in thin slices, and dressing. Garnish, and set away as before. These salads can be used as soon as made, but the flavor is improved by their standing an hour or more.
Two small, or one large head of lettuce. Break off all the leaves carefully, wash each separately, and throw into a pan of ice water, where they should remain an hour. Put them in a wire basket or coarse towel, and shake out all the water. Either cut the leaves with a sharp knife, or tear them in large pieces. Mix the French dressing with them, and serve immediately. Beets, cucumbers, tomatoes, cauliflower, asparagus, etc., can each be served as a salad, with French or boiled dressing. Cold potatoes, beef, mutton or lamb, cut fine, and finished with either dressing, make a good salad.
Pot-au-feu is the national dish of France; it is cheap, nourishing and palatable, and very simple to make. The slower it is cooked the better it is; in fact, in this lies the whole secret of success, for if it boils instead of simmering it is spoilt. Tie the meat up into a nice shape with a piece of tape, put it into cold water, bring slowly to the boil, and very carefully remove the scum; peel and slice up the vegetables, and put them in with the fagot of herbs and the peppercorns tied in a piece of muslin; bring to simmering point, and keep it so for five hours. The liquor can then be served as a soup with part of the vegetables and some sippets of toast. Take the tapes off the meat, and serve with the rest of the vegetables round the dish as a border or garnish. The remains of the beef can be pressed between heavy weights till cold, or put into a brawn tin and served cold with a salad.
