School and Home Cooking · Chapter 66Lesson LXV
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1 1/2 pounds round steak, cut 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick 1/2 to 1 cupful flour Suet or bacon fat 1/2 onion, sliced 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls salt Dash pepper
With the edge of a saucer, pound the flour into both sides of the steak. In a frying pan, put the suet or bacon fat and brown the onion in it. Then brown both sides of the floured meat in the fat. Cover with boiling water and let the meat cook at simmering temperature either on top of the range or in the oven from 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until it is tender. Add enough salt and pepper to season the meat. If necessary, evaporate the sauce around the meat until it is of sufficient thickness to serve as Brown Sauce. Serve the meat and sauce hot.
If desired, the meat may be stewed in tomato juice instead of water. (If tomato is added, what kind of frying pan (i.e. of what material) should be used in cooking the meat? See Suggestions for Cooking Fruits.)
This variation may also be made: One half green pepper may be chopped and sprinkled over the surface of the steak while the latter is simmering. The onion may be omitted, if desired.
3 pounds beef Flour Salt pork or suet 1/2 bay leaf 6 peppercorns Salt and pepper 1/4 cupful each,—diced carrot, turnip, onion, and celery
[Illustration: FIGURE 58.—CROSS RIB, BOSTON CUT, OR ENGLISH CUT]
Try out the fat and remove the scraps. Dredge the meat generously with flour and brown the entire surface in the fat. Place the meat on a rack in the kettle; surround it with the vegetables and spices, and season it with salt and pepper. Add 3 cupfuls of boiling water; cover closely and simmer for 4 hours. Turn after the second hour. Serve hot both the meat and the sauce containing vegetables.
NOTE—This meat may be saved and used in the following lesson regarding the uses of cooked beef
[Illustration: Courtesy of Bureau of Publications Teachers College FIGURE 59—SKIRT STEAK, FLANK STEAK.]
SUMMARY OF THE METHODS OF COOKING TOUGH CUTS OF MEAT—There are many recipes for cooking meats All, however, are modifications of a few methods. Moist heat must be applied to tough cuts of meat (see Tough Cuts of Beef) The methods of cooking such cuts can be summed up as follows
1 Soup-making—Soak meat, bone, and fat in cold salted water, and then cook below boiling temperature in the water.
2. "Boiling" or Stewing.—Plunge meat into boiling water; boil until well seared; then cook in water below the boiling temperature.
3. Pot-roasting and Braising.—Sear meat by boiling or browning in fat, then cook in steam. If the cooking is done on the top of the range, it is called pot-roasting. If it is done in the oven, it is called braising.
What is the chief difference between pot-roasting and braising?
Why is it not necessary to baste meats cooked by these methods?
What is the difference between braising and roasting meats (see Roasting)? Why is braising suitable for tough cuts, and roasting for tender cuts (see Experiments 51 and 52)?
Name at least three cuts of meat suitable for pot roasts. Give the price per pound of each.