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Boil, To

Before boiling joints of meat, the cook should think for a moment whether she desires the juices to go into the water, as in soups and gravies, or to be retained in the meat itself. If they are to be retained, put the meat into fast-boiling water, let it boil for about five minutes, to make the outside hard, and thus prevent the juice escaping. Remove the scum carefully as it rises, or the appearance of the meat will be spoilt. Draw the saucepan a little to the side of the fire, throw a little cold water into the liquor in order to reduce the temperature considerably, and let it simmer very gently until ready. Care must be taken to remove the scum when the water is on the point of boiling, or it will quickly sink, and cannot afterwards be removed. If it is desired to extract the juice from the meat, cover it with cold water, and simmer slowly as before. The practice of boiling meat quickly cannot be sufficiently deprecated. It only renders it hard and tasteless. At the same time the simmering should be continuous. Before boiling, all joints should be delicately and neatly trimmed, and firmly skewered. It is a good plan to put a few pieces of wood under the meat to prevent it adhering to the pan. Salted meat requires longer boiling than fresh meat. Dried and smoked meat should be soaked for some hours before it is put into the water. As a very large quantity of water takes the goodness out of the meat, it is well to use a saucepan sufficiently large to contain the joint easily, and no more. Afterwards, if the meat is entirely covered with water, this is all that is required. The whiteness of meat or poultry is preserved by its being wrapped in a well-floured cloth whilst in the pan, but great care must be taken that this is perfectly sweet and clean before using, or the flavour will be spoilt. From a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes should be allowed for each pound, counting from the time the water boils. Puddings should be plunged into plenty of boiling water, and kept boiling quickly until done.