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Miss Parloa's New Cook Book · Chapter 8Part 8

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Filling for a turkey weighing eight pounds: The flesh of one chicken weighing four pounds, one pound of clear veal, half a pound of clear salt pork, one small capful of cracker crumbs, two eggs, one cupful of broth, two and a half table-spoonfuls of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful of summer savory, one of sweet majoram, one of thyme, half a spoonful of sage, and, if you like, one table-spoonful of capers, one quart of oysters and two table-spoonfuls of onion juice. Have the meat uncooked and free from any tough pieces. Chop very fine. Add seasoning, crackers, etc., mix thoroughly, and use. If oysters are used, half a pound of the veal must be omitted. Where one cannot eat veal, use chicken instead. Veal is recommended for its cheapness. Why people choose boned turkey instead of a plain roast turkey or chicken, is not plain, for the flavor is not so good; but at the times and places where boned birds are used, it is a very appropriate dish. That is, at suppers, lunches and parties, where the guests are served standing, it is impracticable to provide anything that cannot be broken with a fork or spoon; therefore, the advantage of a boned turkey, chicken, or bird, is apparent. One turkey weighing eight pounds before being boned, will serve thirty persons at a party, if there are, also, say oysters, rolls, coffee, ices, cake and cream. If the supper is very elaborate the turkey will answer for one of the dishes for a hundred or more persons. If nothing more were gained in the boning of a bird, the knowledge of the anatomy and the help this will give in carving, pay to bone two or three chickens. It is advisable to bone at least two fowls before trying a turkey, for if you spoil them there is nothing lost, as they make a stew or soup.

Aspic jelly: One and a half pints of clear stock--beef if for amber jelly, and chicken or veal if for white; half a box of gelatine, the white of one egg, half a cupful of cold water, two cloves, one large slice of onion, twelve pepper-corns, one stalk of celery, salt. Soak gelatine two hours in the cold water. Then put on with other ingredients, the white of the egg being beaten with one spoonful of the cold stock. Let come to a boil, and set back where it will just simmer for twenty minutes. Strain through a napkin, turn into a mould or shallow dish, and put away to harden. The jelly can be made with the bones of the turkey and chicken, by washing them, covering with cold water and boiling down to about three pints; by then straining and setting away to cool, and in the morning skimming off all the fat and turning off the clear stock. The bones may, instead, be used for a soup.

Roast Goose.

Stuff the goose with a potato dressing made in the following manner: Six potatoes, boiled, pared and mashed fine and light; one table-spoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of pepper, one spoonful of sage, two table-spoonfuls of onion juice, two of butter. Truss, and dredge well with salt, pepper and flour. Roast before the fire (if weighing eight pounds) one hour and a half; in the oven, one hour and a quarter. Make gravy the same as for turkey. No butter is required for goose, it is so fat. Serve with apple sauce. Many people boil the goose half an hour before roasting, to take away the strong flavor. Why not have something else if you do not like the real flavor of the goose?

Roast Duck.

Ducks, to be good, must be cooked rare: for this reason it is best not to stuff. If, however, you do stuff them, use the goose dressing, and have it very hot. The better way is to cut an onion in two, and put into the body of the bird; then truss, and dredge with salt, pepper and flour, and roast, if before the fire, forty minutes, and if in the oven, thirty minutes. The fire must be very hot if the duck be roasted in the kitchen, and if in the oven, this must be a quick one. Serve with currant jelly and a sauce made the same as for turkey.

Roast Chicken.

Clean the chicken, and stuff the breast and part of the body with dressing made as follows: For a pair of chickens weighing between seven and eight pounds, take one quart of stale bread (being sure not to have any hard pieces), and break up in very fine crumbs. Add a table-spoonful of salt, a scant teaspoonful of pepper, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, half a teaspoonful of powdered sage, one of summer savory and a scant half cupful of butter. Mix well together. This gives a rich dressing that will separate like rice when served. Now truss the chickens, and dredge well with salt. Take soft butter in the hand, and rub thickly over the chicken; then dredge rather thickly with flour. Place on the side, on the meat rack, and put into a hot oven for a few moments, that the flour in the bottom of the pan may brown. When it is browned, put in water enough to cover the pan. Baste every fifteen minutes with the gravy in the pan, and dredge with salt, pepper and flour. When one side is browned, turn, and brown the other. The last position in which the chicken should bake is on its back, that the breast may be nicely frothed and browned. The last basting is on the breast, and should be done with soft butter, and the breast should be dredged with flour. Putting the butter on the chicken at first, and then covering with flour, makes a paste, which keeps the juices in the chicken, and also supplies a certain amount of rich basting that is absorbed into the meat. It really does not take as much butter to baste poultry or game in this manner as by the old method of putting it on with a spoon after the bird began to cook. The water in the pan must often be renewed; and always be careful not to get in too much at a time. It will take an hour and a quarter to cook a pair of chickens, each weighing between three and a half and four pounds; anything larger, an hour and a half. A sure sign that they are done is the readiness of joints to separate from the body. If the chickens are roasted in the tin-kitchen, before the fire, it will take a quarter of an hour longer than in the oven.

Gravy for chickens: Wash the hearts, livers, gizzards and necks and put on to boil in three pints of water; boil down to one pint. Take them all up. Put the liver on a plate, and mash fine with the back of the spoon; return it to the water in which it was boiled. Mix two table-spoonfuls of flour with half a cupful of cold water. Stir into the gravy, season well with salt and pepper, and set back where it will simmer, for twenty minutes. Take up the chickens, and take the meat rack out of the pan. Then tip the pan to one side, to bring all the gravy together. Skim off the fat. Place the pan on top of the stove and turn into it one cupful of water. Let this boil up, in the meantime scraping everything from the sides and bottom of the pan. Turn this into the made gravy, and let it all boil together while you are removing the skewers and strings from the chickens.

Chicken à la Matelote.

Cut up an uncooked chicken. Rub in butter and flour, and brown in an oven. Fry in four table-spoonfuls of chicken fat or butter, for about twenty minutes, a small carrot, onion and parsnip, all cut into dice. When the chicken is browned, put it in a stew-pan with the cooked vegetables and one quart of white stock. Then into the fat in which the vegetables were fried, put two table-spoonfuls of flour, and cook until brown. Stir this in with the chicken. Add the liver, mashed fine, one table-spoonful of capers and salt and pepper to taste. Cook very gently three-quarters of an hour; then add one-fourth of a pound of mushrooms, cut in small pieces. Cook fifteen minutes longer. Serve with a border of boiled macaroni, mashed potatoes or rice.

Chicken à la Reine.

Clean, stuff and truss a pair of chickens, as for roasting. Dredge well with salt, pepper and flour. Cut a quarter of a pound of pork in slices, and put part on the bottom of a deep stew-pan with two slices of carrot and one large onion, cut fine. Stir over the fire until they begin to color; then put in the chickens, and lay the remainder of the pork over them. Place the stew-pan in a hot oven for twenty minutes; then add white stock to half cover the chicken (about two quarts), and a bouquet of sweet herbs. Dredge well with flour. Cover the pan and return to the oven. Baste about every fifteen minutes, and after cooking one hour, turn over the chickens. Cook, in all, two hours. Serve with Hollandaise sauce or with the sauce in which the chickens were cooked, it being strained over them.

Chicken à la Tartare.

Singe the chicken, and split down the back. Wipe thoroughly with a damp cloth. Dredge well with salt and pepper, cover thickly with softened butter, and dredge thickly on both sides with fine, dry bread crumbs. Place in a baking pan, the inside down, and cook in a very hot oven thirty minutes, taking care not to bum. Serve with Tartare sauce.

Broiled Chicken.

Singe the chicken, and split down the back, if not already prepared; and wipe with a damp cloth. Never wash it. Season well with salt and pepper. Take some soft butter in the right hand and rub over the bird, letting the greater part go on the breast and legs. Dredge with flour. Put in the double broiler, and broil over a moderate fire, having the breast turned to the heat at first. When the chicken is a nice brown, which will be in about fifteen minutes, place in a pan and put into a moderate oven for twelve minutes. Place on a hot dish, season, with salt, pepper and butter, and serve immediately. This rule is for a chicken weighing about two and a half pounds. The chicken is improved by serving with maître d' hôtel butter or Tartare sauce.

Chicken Stew with Dumplings.

One chicken or fowl, weighing about three pounds; one table-spoonful of butter, three of flour, one large onion, three slices of carrot, three of turnip, three pints of boiling water and salt and pepper. Cut the chicken in slices suitable for serving. Wash, and put in a deep stew-pan, add the water, and set on to boil. Put the carrot, turnip and onion, cut fine, in a sauce-pan, with the butter, and cook slowly half an hour, stirring often; then take up the vegetables in a strainer, place the strainer in the stew-pan with the chicken, and dip some of the water into it. Mash the vegetables with the back of a spoon, and rub as much as possible through the strainer. Now skim two spoonfuls of chicken fat from the water, and put in the pan in which the vegetables were cooked. When boiling hot, add the three table-spoonfuls of flour. Stir over the fire until a dark brown; then stir it in with the chicken, and simmer until tender. Season well with pepper and salt. The stew should only simmer all the while it is cooking. It must not boil hard. About two hours will be needed to cook a year old chicken. Twelve minutes before serving draw the stew-pan forward, and boil up; then put in the dumplings, and cook ten minutes. Take them up, and keep in the heater while you are dishing the chicken into the centre of the platter. Afterwards, place the dumplings around the edge. This is a very nice and economical dish, if pains are taken in preparing. One stewed chicken will go farther than two roasted.

Larded Grouse.

Clean and wash the grouse. Lard the breast and legs. Run a small skewer into the legs and through the tail. Tie firmly with twine. Dredge with salt, and rub the breast with soft butter; then dredge thickly with flour. Put into a quick oven. If to be very rare, cook twenty minutes; if wished better done, thirty minutes. The former time, as a general thing, suits gentlemen better, but thirty minutes is preferred by ladies. If the birds are cooked in a tin-kitchen, it should be for thirty or thirty-five minutes. When done, place on a hot dish, on which has been spread bread sauce. Sprinkle fried crumbs over both grouse and sauce. Garnish with parsley. The grouse may, instead, be served on a hot dish, with the parsley garnish, and the sauce and crumbs served in separate dishes. The first method is the better, however, as you get in the sauce all the gravy that comes from the birds.

Larded Partridges.

Partridges are cooked and served the same as grouse.

Larded Quail.

The directions for cooking and serving are the same as those for grouse, only that quails cook in fifteen minutes. All dry-meated birds are cooked in this way. The question is sometimes asked, Should ducks be larded? Larding is to give richness to a dry meat that does not have fat enough of its own; therefore, meats like goose, duck and mutton are not improved by larding.

Broiled Quail.

Split the quail down the back. Wipe with a damp towel. Season with salt and pepper, rub thickly with soft butter, and dredge with flour. Broil ten minutes over clear coals. Serve on hot buttered toast, garnishing with parsley.

Broiled Pigeons.

Prepare, cook and serve the same as quail They should be young for broiling, squabs being the best.

Broiled Small Birds.

All small birds can be broiled according to the directions for quail, remembering that for extremely small ones it takes a very bright fire. As the birds should be only browned, the time required is very brief.

Small Birds, Roasted.

Clean, by washing quickly in one water after they have been drawn. Season with salt and pepper. Cut slices of salt pork very thin, and with small skewers, fasten a slice around each bird. Run a long skewer through the necks of six or eight, and rest it on a shallow baking-pan. When all the birds are arranged, put into a hot oven for twelve minutes, or before a hot fire for a quarter of an hour. Serve on toast.

Potted Pigeons.

Clean and wash one dozen pigeons. Stand them on their necks in a deep earthen or porcelain pot, and turn on them a pint of vinegar. Cut three large onions in twelve pieces, and place a piece on each pigeon. Cover the pot, and let it stand all night In the morning take out the pigeons, and throw away the onions and vinegar. Fry, in a deep stew-pan, six slices of fat pork, and when browned, take them up, and in the fat put six onions, sliced fine. On these put the pigeons, having first trussed them, and dredge well with salt pepper and flour. Cover, and cook slowly for forty-five minutes, stirring occasionally; then add two quarts of boiling water, and simmer gently two hours. Mix four heaping table-spoonfuls of flour with a cupful of cold water, and stir in with the pigeons. Taste to see if there is enough seasoning, and if there is not, add more. Cook half an hour longer. Serve with a garnish of rice or riced potatoes. More or less onion can be used; and, if you like it so, spice the gravy slightly.

Pigeons in Jelly.

Wash and truss one dozen pigeons. Put them in a kettle with four pounds of the shank of veal, six cloves, twenty-five pepper-corns, an onion that has been fried in one spoonful of butter, one stalk of celery, a bouquet of sweet herbs and four and a half quarts of water. Have the veal shank broken in small pieces. As soon as the contents of the kettle come to a boil, skim carefully, and set for three hours where they will just simmer. After they have been cooking one hour, add two table-spoonfuls of salt. When the pigeons are done, take them up, being careful not to break them, and remove the strings. Draw the kettle forward, where it will boil rapidly, and keep there for forty minutes; then strain the liquor through a napkin, and taste to see if seasoned enough. The water should have boiled down to two and a half quarts. Have two moulds that will each hold six pigeons. Put a thin layer of the jelly in these, and set on ice to harden. When hard, arrange the pigeons in them, and cover with the jelly, which must be cold, but liquid. Place in the ice chest for six or, better still, twelve hours. There should be only one layer of the pigeons in the mould.

To serve: Dip the mould in a basin of warm water for one minute, and turn on a cold dish. Garnish with pickled beets and parsley. A Tartare sauce can be served with this dish.

If squabs are used, two hours will cook them. All small birds, as well as partridge, grouse, etc., can be prepared in the same manner. Remember that the birds must be cooked tender, and that the liquor must be so reduced that it will become jellied.

Roast Rabbit.

First make a stuffing of a pound of veal and a quarter of a pound of pork, simmered two hours in water to cover; four crackers, rolled fine; a table-spoonful of salt, a scant teaspoonful of pepper, a teaspoonful of summer savory, a large table-spoonful of butter and one and a quarter cupfuls of the broth in which the veal and pork were cooked. Chop the meat fine, add the other ingredients, and put on the fire to heat. Cut off the rabbit's head, open the vent, and draw. Wash clean, and season with salt and pepper. Stuff while the dressing is hot, and sew up the opening. Put the rabbit on its knees, and skewer in that position. Rub thickly with butter, dredge with flour, and put in the baking pan, the bottom of which should be covered with hot water. Bake half an hour in a quick oven, basting frequently. Serve with a border of mashed potatoes, and pour the gravy over the rabbit.

Curry of Rabbit.

Cut the rabbit in small pieces. Wash, and cook the same as chicken curry.

Saddle of Venison.

Carefully scrape off the hair, and wipe with a damp towel; Season well with salt and pepper, and roll up and skewer together. Rub thickly with soft butter and dredge thickly with flour. Roast for an hour before a clear fire or in a hot oven, basting frequently. When half done, if you choose, baste with a few spoonfuls of claret. Or, you can have one row of larding on each side of the back-bone. This gives a particularly nice flavor.

To make the gravy: Pour off all the fat from the baking pan, and put in the pan a cupful of boiling water. Stir from the sides and bottom, and set back where it will keep hot. In a small frying-pan put one table-spoonful of butter, a small slice of onion, six pepper-corns and four whole cloves. Cook until the onion is browned, and then add a generous teaspoonful of flour. Stir until this is browned; then, gradually, add the gravy in the pan. Boil one minute. Strain, and add half a teaspoonful of lemon juice and three table-spoonfuls of currant jelly. Serve both venison and gravy very hot. The time given is for a saddle weighing between ten and twelve pounds. All the dishes and plates for serving must be hot. Venison is cooked in almost the same manner as beef, always remembering that it must be served rare and hot.

Roast Leg of Venison.

Draw the dry skin from the meat, and wipe with a damp towel. Make a paste with one quart of flour and a generous pint of cold water. Cover the venison with this, and place before a hot fire, if to be roasted in the tin kitchen, or else in a very hot oven. As the paste browns, baste it frequently with the gravy in the pan. When it has been cooking one hour and a half, take off the paste, cover with butter, and dredge thickly with flour. Cook one hour longer, basting frequently with butter, salt and flour. Make the gravy the same as for a saddle of venison, or serve with game sauce. The time given is for a leg weighing about fifteen pounds.

ENTREES.

Fillet of Beef, Larded.

The true fillet is the tenderloin, although sometimes one will see a rib roast, boned and rolled, called a fillet. A short fillet, weighing from two and a half to three pounds (the average weight from a very large rump), will suffice for ten persons at a dinner where this is served as one course; and if a larger quantity is wanted a great saving will still be made if two short fillets are used. They cost about two dollars, while a large one, weighing the same amount, would cost five dollars, Fillet of beef is one of the simplest, safest and most satisfactory dishes that a lady can prepare for either her own family or guests. After a single trial she will think no more of it than of broiling a beef steak. First, remove from the fillet, with a sharp knife, every shred of muscle, ligament and thin, tough skin. If it is not then of a good round shape, skewer it into shape. Draw a line through the centre, and lard with two rows of pork, having them meet at this line. Dredge well with salt, pepper and flour, and put, without water, in a very small pan. Place in a hot oven for thirty minutes. Let it be in the lower part of the oven the first ten minutes, then place on the upper grate. Serve with mushroom, Hollandaise or tomato sauce, or with potato balls. If with sauce, this should be poured around the fillet, the time given cooks a fillet of any size, the shape being such that it will take half an hour for either two or six pounds. Save the fat trimmed from the fillet for frying, and the lean part for soup stock.

Fillet of Beef à la Hollandaise.

Trim and cut the short fillet into slices about half an inch thick. Season these well with salt, and then lay in a pan with six table-spoonfuls of butter, just warm enough to be oily. Squeeze the juice of a quarter of a lemon over them. Let them stand one hour; then dip lightly in flour, place in the double broiler, and cook for six minutes over a very bright fire. Have a mound of mashed potatoes in the centre of a hot dish, and rest the slices against this. Pour a Hollandaise sauce around. Garnish with parsley.

Fillet of Beef à l'Allemand.

Trim the fillet and skewer it into a good shape. Season well with pepper and salt. Have one egg and half a teaspoonful of sugar well beaten together; roll the fillet in this and then in bread crumbs. Bake in the oven for thirty minutes. Serve with Allemand sauce poured around it.

Fillet of Beef in Jelly.

Trim a short fillet, and cut a deep incision in the side, being careful not to go through to the other side or the ends. Fill this with one cupful of veal, prepared as for quenelles, and the whites of three hard-boiled eggs, cut into rings. Sew up the openings, and bind the fillet into good shape with broad bands of cotton cloth. Put in a deep stew-pan two slices of ham and two of pork, and place the fillet on them; then put in two calf's feet, two stalks of celery and two quarts of clear stock. Simmer gently two hours and a half. Take up the fillet, and set away to cool. Strain the stock, and set away to harden. When hard, scrape of every particle of fat, and put on the fire in a clean sauce-pan, with half a slice of onion and the whites of two eggs, beaten with four table-spoonfuls of cold water. When this boils, season well with salt, and set back where it will just simmer for half an hour; then strain through a napkin. Pour a little of the jelly into a two-quart charlotte russe mould (half an inch deep), and set on the ice to harden. As soon as it is hard, decorate with the egg rings. Add about three spoonfuls of the liquid jelly, to set the eggs. When hard, add enough jelly to cover the eggs, and when this is also hard, trim the ends of the fillet, and draw out the thread. Place in the centre of the mould, and cover with the remainder of the jelly. If the fillet floats, place a slight weight on it. Set in the ice chest to harden. When ready to serve, place the mould in a pan of warm water for half a minute, and then turn out the fillet gently upon a dish. Garnish with a circle of egg rings, each of which has a stoned olive in the centre. Put here and there a sprig of parsley.

Alamode Beef.

Six pounds of the upper part, or of the vein, of the round of beef, half a pound of fat salt pork, three table-spoonfuls of butter, two onions, half a carrot, half a turnip, two table-spoonfuls of vinegar, one of lemon juice, one heaping table-spoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, two cloves, six allspice, a small piece of stick cinnamon, a bouquet of sweet herbs, two scant quarts of boiling water and four table-spoonfuls of flour. Cut the pork in thick strips--as long as the meat is thick, and, with a large larding needle (which comes for this purpose), draw these through the meat. If you do not have the large needle, make the holes with the boning knife or the carving steel, and press the pork through with the fingers. Put the butter in a six-quart stew-pan, and when it melts, add the vegetables, cut fine. Let them cook five minutes, stirring all the while. Put in the meat, which has been well dredged with the flour; brown on one aide, and then turn, and brown the other. Add one quart of the water; stir well, and then add the other, with the spice, herbs, vinegar, salt and pepper. Cover tightly, and simmer gently four hours. Add the lemon juice. Taste the gravy, and, if necessary, add more salt and pepper. Let it cook twenty minutes longer. Take up the meat, and draw the stew-pan forward, where it will boil rapidly, for ten or fifteen minutes, having first skimmed off all the fat. Strain the gravy on the beef, and serve. This dish may be garnished with, potato balls or button onions.

Macaronied Beef.

Six pounds of beef from the upper part of the round or the vein, a quarter of a pound of macaroni (twelve sticks), half a cupful of butter, four large onions, one quart of peeled and sliced tomatoes, or a quart can of the vegetable; two heaping table-spoonfuls of flour, salt, pepper and two cloves. Make holes in the beef with the large larding needle or the steel, and press the macaroni into them. Season with salt and pepper. Put the butter and the onions, which have been peeled and cut fine, in a six-quart stew-pan, and stir over the fire until a golden brown; then put in the meat, first drawing the onions aside. Dredge with the flour, and spread the top of the meat with the fried onions. Put in the spice and one quart of boiling water. Cover tightly, and simmer slowly for three hours; then add the tomato, and cook one hour longer. Take up the meat, and strain the gravy over it. Serve hot. The tomato may be omitted if one pint more of water and an extra table-spoonful of flour are used instead. Always serve macaroni with this dish.

Cannelon of Beef.

One thin slice of the upper part of the round of beef. Cut off all the fat, and so trim as to give the piece a regular shape. Put the trimmings in the chopping tray, with a quarter of a pound of boiled salt pork and one pound of lean cooked ham. Chop very fine; then add a speck of cayenne, one teaspoonful of mixed mustard, one of onion juice, one table-spoonful of lemon juice and three eggs. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Spread the mixture over it, and roll up. Tie with twine, being careful not to draw too tightly. Have six slices of fat pork fried in the braising pan. Cut two onions, two slices of carrot, and two of turnip into this, and stir for two minutes over the fire. Roll the cannelon in a plate of flour, and put it in the braising pan with the pork and vegetables. Brown slightly on all sides; then add one quart of boiling water, and place in the oven. Cook three hours, basting every fifteen minutes. When it has been cooking two hours, add half a cupful of canned tomatoes or two fresh ones. Taste to see if the gravy is seasoned enough; if it is not, add seasoning. The constant dredging with flour will thicken the gravy sufficiently. Slide the cake turner under the beef, and lift carefully on to a hot dish. Cut the string in three or four places with a sharp knife, and gently draw it away from the meat. Skim off all the fat. Strain the gravy through a fine sieve on to the meat. Garnish with a border of toast or riced potatoes. Cut in thin slices with a sharp knife.