May be made either of beef or mutton, adding all kinds of vegetables. Boil one-half cup of rice separately in a farina kettle. Strain the beef or mutton broth. Add the rice and boil one-half hour longer, with potatoes, cut into dice shape; use about two potatoes; then add the beaten yolk of an egg. Strained stock of chicken broth added to this soup makes it very palatable and nutritious for the sick.
Put on one three-pound chicken to boil in six quarts cold water. Take one and one-half or two pounds of beef and the same quantity thick part of veal, put in a baking-pan, set in the stove and brown quickly with just enough water to keep from burning. When brown, cut the meat in pieces, add this with all the juice it has drawn, to the chicken soup. Set on the back of the stove, and cook slowly all day. Set in a cold place, or on ice over night, and next morning after it is congealed, skim off every particle of fat. Melt and season to taste when ready to serve. Excellent for the sick. When used for the table, cut up carrots and French peas already cooked can be added while heating. If cooked on gas stove, cook over the simmering flame the same number of hours.
These are made in the same manner, except that a dressing, like chicken dressing, is made for them. For one and a half pounds of veal take three crackers, half a table-spoonful of butter, half a teaspoonful of savory, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of sage, a teaspoonful of salt, a very little pepper and an eighth of a cupful of water. Spread the strips with this, and proceed as for beef olives.
For potting, one should have small stone or earthen jars, a little larger at the top than at the bottom, so that the meat may be taken out whole, and then cut in thin slices. All kinds of cooked meats and fish can be potted. The meat must, of course, be well cooked and tender, so that it can be readily pounded to a paste. Of the fish, salmon and halibut are the best for potting. When the potted meat or fish is to be served, scrape off all the butter, run a knife between the meat and the jar, and, when the meat is loosened, turn it out on a dish. Cut it in thin slices, and garnish with parsley; or, serve it whole, and slice it at the table. The butter that covered meats can be used for basting roasted meats, and that which covered fish can be used for basting baking fish. Beef. Three pounds of the upper part of the round of beef, half a cupful of butter, one table-spoonful of salt, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of pepper, a speck of cayenne, one-eighth of a teaspoonful of mace, the same quantity of clove, a bouquet of sweet herbs, three table- spoonfuls of water. Cut the meat in small pieces and put it in a jar with the water, herbs and seasoning. Mix one cupful of flour with water enough to make a stiff paste. Cover the mouth of the jar with paper, and spread over this the paste. Place the jar in a pan of hot water and put in a moderate oven for five hours. Take up and remove the cover and herbs. Pound the meat to a paste, add half of the butter to it, and when thoroughly mixed, pack solidly in small jars. Melt the remainder of the butter and pour it over the meat. Paste paper over the jars, put on the covers, and set away in a cool, dry place. Veal may be potted in the same manner, omitting the clove. Chicken. One quart of cold roasted chicken, one cupful of cold boiled ham, four table-spoonfuls of butter, a speck of cayenne, a slight grating of nutmeg, and two teaspoonfuls of salt. Free the chicken of skin and bones. Cut it and the ham in fine pieces. Chop, and pound to a paste. Add the butter and seasoning, and pack solidly in small stone pots. Cover these, and place them in a pan of hot water, which put in a moderate oven for one hour. When the meat is cold, cover with melted butter, and put away in a cool, dry place. Tongue. Pound cold boiled tongue to a paste, and season with salt, pepper and a speck of cayenne. To each pint of the paste add one table-spoonful of butter and one teaspoonful of mixed mustard. Pack closely in little stone jars. Place these in a moderate oven in a pan of hot water. Cook half an hour. When cool, cover the tongue with melted butter. Cover, and put away. Ham. Cut all the meat, fat and lean, from the remains of a boiled ham, being careful not to mix with it either the outside pieces or the gristle. Chop very fine, and pound to a paste with the vegetable masher. To each pint of the paste add one teaspoonful of mixed mustard and a speck of cayenne, and, if there was not much fat on the meat, one table-spoonful of butter, Pack this smoothly in small earthen jars. Paste paper over these, and put on the covers. Place the pots in a baking pan, which, when in the oven, should be filled with hot water. Bake slowly two hours. Cool with, the covers on. When cold, take off the covers and pour melted butter over the meat. Cover again, and set away in a cool place. The ham will keep for months. It is a nice relish for tea, and makes delicious sandwiches. Marbled Veal. Trim all the roots and tough parts from a boiled pickled tongue, which chop and pound to a paste. Have two quarts of cold roasted or boiled veal chopped and pounded to a paste. Mix two table-spoonfuls of butter and a speck of cayenne with the tongue, and with the veal mix four table-spoonfuls of butter, one of salt, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of pepper and a speck of mace. Butter a deep earthen dish. Put a layer of the veal in it and pack down solidly; then put spoonfuls of the tongue here and there on the veal, and fill in the spaces with veal. Continue this until all the meat has been used, and pack very solidly. Cover the dish, and place it in the oven in a pan of water. Cook one hour. When cold, pour melted butter over it. Cover, and set away. Fish. Take any kind of cooked fish and free it of skin and bones. To each quart of fish add one table-spoonful of essence of anchovy, three of butter, two teaspoonfuls of salt, a little white pepper and a speck of cayenne. Pound the fish to a paste before adding the butter and anchovy. When all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, pack the fish closely in little size jars. Place these in a pan of water and put in a moderate oven. Cook forty-five minutes. When cold, pour melted butter over the fish. Paste paper over the top, and set way. Lobster. Prepare and pot lobster the same as fish. If there is "coral" in the lobster, pound it with the meat. Mackerel. Nine pounds of small mackerel (about twenty-five in number), one ounce of whole cloves, one of pepper-corns, one of whole allspice, six teaspoonfuls of salt, three pints of vinegar. Wash the mackerel and pack them in small, deep earthen or stone pots. Three will be needed for the quantities given. Divide the spice into six parts. Put each portion in a small piece of muslin, and tie. Sprinkle two teaspoonfuls of salt on the fish in each pot, and put two of the little bags of spice in each pot. Cover the fish with the vinegar; and if there should not be enough, use more. Cover the pots with old plates, and place in a moderate oven. Bake the fish four hours. Cool, and put away in the pots in which they were baked. They will keep five or six months. Where oil is liked, half a cupful can be added to each pot with the vinegar. Any kind of small fish can be potted in this manner. Smelts. Six dozen smelts, one pint of olive oil, three pints of vinegar, or enough to cover the smelts; three table-spoonfuls of salt. Spice the same as potted mackerel, and prepare and cook the same as mackerel. More or less oil can be used. Smelts are almost as nice as sardines.
Cook one pound of brisket of beef and three pounds of young chicken with one pint of soup stock or water, one pint of Lima beans, four ears of cut corn (cut from cob), three potatoes diced, two tomatoes quartered; one small onion, one teaspoon of paprika and one teaspoon of salt. Let all these simmer until tender, and before serving remove the meat and any visible chicken bones. This stew may be made of breast of veal omitting the chicken and brisket.
Veal, mutton, lamb, beef and turkey can be prepared in the same manner as chicken. Very dry, tough meat is not suitable for croquettes. Tender roasted pieces give the finest flavor.
Place one pound Russian peas in granite kettle, add one tablespoon of salt and hot water to more than cover and let soak twelve hours or more. Drain, return to the kettle, cover with boiling water, let cook fifteen minutes, add one-quarter teaspoon of soda and one pound of brisket of beef or back or neck of fat chicken and let cook slowly until peas are tender. Melt two tablespoons of fat, add two tablespoons of flour and two tablespoons of brown sugar, let brown, add one cup of the liquid from the peas, cook until thick and smooth. Pour over the peas, cook thoroughly, then place in casserole and bake in a moderate oven one- half hour.
For shortening; use drippings and mix with goose, duck or chicken fat. In the fall and winter, when poultry is plentiful and fat, save all drippings of poultry fat for pie-crust. If you have neither, use rendered beef fat. Take one-half cup of shortening, one and one-half cups of flour. Sifted pastry flour is best. If you have none at hand take two tablespoons of flour off each cup after sifting; add a pinch of salt. With two knives cut the fat into the sifted flour until the shortening is in pieces as small as peas. Then pour in six or eight tablespoons of cold water; in summer use ice-water; work with the knife until well mixed (never use the hand). Flour a board or marble slab, roll the dough out thin, sprinkle with a little flour and put dabs of soft drippings here and there, fold the dough over and roll out thin again and spread with fat and sprinkle with flour, repeat this and then roll out not too thin and line a pie-plate with this dough. Always cut dough for lower crust a little larger than the upper dough and do not stretch the dough when lining pie-pan or plate. If fruit is to be used for the filling, brush over top of the dough with white of egg slightly beaten, or sprinkle with one tablespoon of bread crumbs to prevent the dough from becoming soggy. Put in the filling, brush over the edge of pastry with cold water, lay the second round of paste loosely over the filling; press the edges together lightly, and trim, if needed. Cut several slits in the top crust or prick it with a fork before putting it in place. Bake from thirty-five to forty-five minutes until crust is a nice brown. A gas stove is more satisfactory for baking pies than a coal stove as pies require the greatest heat at the bottom. The recipe given above makes two crusts. Bake pies having a cooked filling in a quick oven and those with an uncooked filling in a moderate oven. Let pies cool upon plates on which they were made because slipping them onto cold plates develops moisture which always destroys the crispness of the lower crust.
Swell quarter of a pound of vermicelli in a quart of warm water, then add it to a good beef, veal, lamb, or chicken soup or broth, with quarter of a pound of sweet butter; let the soup boil for fifteen minutes after it is added.
