The meat must be cooked until very tender then lift it out of the soup and lay upon a platter and season while hot. Heat a tablespoon of fat or drippings of roast beef in a spider, cut up a few slices of onion in it, also half a clove of garlic, add a tablespoon of flour, stirring all the time; then add soup stock or rich gravy, and the soup meat, which has been seasoned with salt, pepper and ginger. You must sprinkle the spices on both sides of the meat, and add one-half teaspoon of caraway seed to the sauce, and if too thick add more soup stock and a little boiling water. Cover closely and let it simmer about fifteen minutes.
In making soup, bring the cold water in the soup pot with the meat and bones to a boil slowly, and let it simmer for hours, never boiling and never ceasing to simmer. If clear soup is not desired soup may be allowed to boil. Bones, both fresh and those partly cooked, meats of all kinds, vegetables of various sorts, all may be added to the stock pot, to give flavor and nutriment to the soup. One quart of cold water is used to each pound of meat for soup; to four quarts of water, one each of vegetables of medium size and a bouquet. Make the soup in a closely covered kettle used for no other purpose. Remove scum when it first appears; after soup has simmered for four or five hours add vegetables and a bouquet. Parsley wrapped around peppercorn, bayleaf, six cloves and other herbs, excepting sage, and tied, makes what is called a bouquet and may be easily removed from the soup. Root celery, parsley, onions, carrots, asparagus and potatoes are the best vegetables to add to the soup stock. Never use celery leaves for beef soup. You may use celery leaves in potato soup, but sparingly, with chopped parsley leaves. Vegetables, spices and salt should always be added the last hour of cooking. Strain into an earthen bowl and let cool uncovered, by so doing stock is less apt to ferment. A cake of fat forms on the stock when cold, which excludes air and should not be removed until stock is used. To remove fat run a knife around edge of bowl and carefully remove the same. A small quantity will remain, which should be removed by passing a cloth, wrung out of hot water, around edge and over top of stock. This fat should be clarified and used for drippings. If time cannot be allowed for stock to cool before using, take off as much fat as possible with a spoon, and remove the remainder by passing tissue or any absorbent paper over the surface. Bouillon should always be thickened with yolks of eggs, beat up with a spoon of cold water. Ordinary beef soup or tomato soup may be thickened with flour. To do this properly heat a scant spoon of soup drippings, stir in briskly a spoon of flour, and add gradually a large quantity of soup to prevent it becoming lumpy.
Get the small ribs of beef and put on with water enough to cover, seasoning with salt, pepper, an onion and a tiny clove of garlic. Let it cook about two hours, then add a can of tomatoes and season highly either with red peppers or paprika. Cook at least three hours.
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 this dish use sweet apples, and steam in a closely covered iron pot for three-quarters of an hour. Quarter and core five apples without paring. Put into the pot and melt beef drippings; when hot, lay a layer of apples in, skin down, sprinkle with brown sugar, and when nearly done, turn and brown; place on a platter and sprinkle with sugar.
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.
To two pounds of chopped beef take three egg yolks, three tablespoons of parsley, three tablespoons of melted chicken-fat, four heaping tablespoons of soft bread crumbs, one-half teaspoon of kitchen bouquet, two teaspoons of lemon juice, grated peel of one lemon, one teaspoon of salt, one-half teaspoon of onion-juice and one teaspoon of pepper. Mix and bake twenty-five minutes in a quick oven with one-fourth cup of melted chicken-fat, and one-half cup of boiling water. Baste often.
Take one pound of raw beef, cut off fat and stringy pieces, chop extremely fine, season with salt and pepper, grate in part of an onion or fry with onions. Make into round cakes a little less than one-half inch thick. Heat pan blue hot, grease lightly; add cakes, count sixty, then turn them and cook on the other side until brown. When well browned they are done if liked rare. Cook ten minutes if liked well done.
Soak two cups of beans overnight. Drain and boil until the skin cracks, and let one cup of water remain on the beans. Chop fine one onion and two cloves of garlic and fry a light brown in one tablespoon of olive oil; then add one-half can of tomatoes, one teaspoon chili powder dissolved in a little cold water, salt to taste and half a dozen olives chopped. A piece of smoked beef or tongue improves the flavor.
