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Some Kitchen Kinks: Beefsteak

Sour Beefsteak.

Round steak may be cooked in water in which there is a little vinegar, or if the time is sufficient, it may be soaked for a few hours in vinegar and water and then cooked in a casserole or in some similar way.

POUNDED MEAT Pounding meat before cooking is an old-fashioned method of making it tender, but while it has the advantage of breaking down the tough tissues it has the disadvantage of being likely to drive out the juices and with them the flavor. A very good way of escaping this difficulty is pounding flour into the meat; this catches and retains the juices. Below are given the recipes for two palatable dishes in which this is done:

Farmer Stew.

Pound flour into both sides of a round steak, using as much as the meat will take up. This may be done with a meat pounder or with the edge of a heavy plate. Fry in drippings, butter, or other fat in a Scotch bowl, or if more convenient in an ordinary iron kettle or a frying pan; then add water enough to cover it. Cover the dish very tightly so that the steam can not escape and allow the meat to simmer for two hours or until it is tender. One advantage of this dish is that ordinarily it is ready to serve when the meat is done as the gravy is already thickened. However, if a large amount of fat is used in the frying, the gravy may not be thick enough and must be blended with flour.

Spanish Beefsteak.

Take a piece of round steak weigh ing 2 pounds and about an inch thick; pound until thin, season with salt and Cayenne pepper, cover with a layer of bacon or salt pork, cut into thin slices, roll and tie with a cord. Pour around it half a cupful of milk and half a cupful of water.

Place in a covered baking dish and cook two hours, basting occasionally.

CHOPPED MEAT Chopping meat is one of the principal methods of making tough and inexpensive meat tender, i. e., dividing it finely and thus cutting the connective tissue into small bits.

Such meats have another advantage in that they may be cooked quickly and economically.

In broiling chopped meat the fact should be kept in mind that there is no reason why it should not be cooked like the best and most expensive tenderloin. The only reason that ever existed for difference in treatment was the toughness of the connective tissue, and this feature has been overcome by the chopping.

The ideal to be reached in broiling steak is to sear the surface very quickly, so that the juices which contain the greater part of the flavoring of the meat shall be kept in, and then to allow the heat to penetrate to the inside until the whole mass is APPENDIX or cooked to the taste of the family.

To pass the point where the meat ceases to be puffy and juicy and becomes flat and hard is very undesirable, as the palatability is then lost. Exactly the same ideal should be kept in mind in broiling chopped meat. If this were always done, hard, compact, tasteless balls cakes of meat would be served less often. To begin with, the broiler should be even more carefully greased than for a whole steak. This makes it possible to form the balls or cakes of chopped meat with very little pressure without running the risk of having them pulled to pieces by adhering to the wires of the broiler. They should be heated on both sides even more quickly than the steak, because the chopping has provided more ways of escape for the juice, and these openings should be sealed as soon as possible. The interior should be cooked to the taste of the family just as the steak is.

In regard to broiling it may incidentally be noted that housekeepers often make themselves unnecessary work when broiling under gas by allowing the juice from steaks or meat balls to drop into the large pan under the rack. A smaller pan set in the larger one may be made to catch all the juice and fat and is much easier to wash. It serves also to economize the gravy.

Chopped raw meat of almost any kind can be very quickly made into a savory dish by cooking it with water or with water and milk for a short time, then thickening with butter and flour, and adding different seasonings as relished, either pepper and salt alone, or onion juice, celery, or tomato. Such a dish may be made to "go further" by serving it on toast or with a border of rice or in some similar combination.

Tough Portions of Porterhouse Steak.

Before speaking of the cooking of the cuts that lack tenderness throughout, it may be well to refer to the fact that the flank end of the porterhouse is to be classed with the toughest of cuts and with those which, when cooked alone, are with difficulty made tender even by long heating. Mock duck, which is commonly made out of flank steak, can be rendered tender enough to be palatable only by long steaming or cooking in water and yet people quite generally broil this part of the steak with the tenderloin and expect it to be eaten. The fact is that to broil this part of the porterhouse steak is not good management. It is much more profitable to put it into the soup kettle or to make it into a stew. In families where most of the members are away during the day the latter is a good plan, for the end of a steak makes a good stew for two or three people. This may be seasoned with vegetables left from dinner, or two or three olives cut up in gravy will give a very good flavor; or a few drops of some one of the bottled meat sauces, if the flavor is relished, or a little Chili sauce may be added to the stew. But if the tough end of a porterhouse is needed with the rest, a good plan is to put it through a meat grinder, make it into balls, and broil it with the tender portions. Each member of the family can then be served with a piece of the tenderloin and a meat ball. If the chopped meat is seasoned with a little onion juice, grated lemon rind, or chopped parsley, a good flavor is imparted to the gravy.