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Some Kitchen Kinks: Meats
UTILIZING THE FAT, BONE, AND TRIMMINGS IN MEATS, AND THE LEFT-OVER COLD MEATS In the percentage of fat present in different kinds and cuts of meat, a greater difference exists than in the percentage of proteids. The lowest percentage of fat ordinarily found in meat is 8.1 per cent, as in the shank of beef; the highest is 32 per cent in pork chops. The highest priced cuts, loin and ribs of beef, contain 20 to 25 per cent. If the fat of the meat is not eaten at the table, and is not utilized otherwise, a pecuniary loss results. If butter is the fat used in making crusts for meat pies, and in preparing the cheaper cuts, there is little economy involved; the fats from other meat should therefore be saved, as they may be used in place of butter in such cases, as well as in preparing many other foods. The fat from sausage or from the soup kettle, or from a pot roast, which is savory because it has been cooked with vegetables, is particularly acceptable. Sometimes savory vegetables, onion, or sweet herbs are added to fat when it is tried out to give it flavor.
Some illustrations of methods of preparing such cooking fats follow:
Trying Out Fat.-A double boiler is the best utensil to use in trying out small portions of fat. There is no danger of burning the fat and the odor is much less noticeable than if it is heated in a dish set directly over the fire.
Clarifying Fat.-Excepting where the purpose of clarifying fat is to remove flavors, a good method to follow is to pour boiling water over the fat, to boil thoroughly, and then to set it away to cool. The cold fat may be removed in a solid cake and any impurities clinging to it may be scraped off, as they will be found at the bottom of the layer. By repeating this process two or three times a cake of clean, white fat may be obtained.
A slight burned taste or similar objectionable flavors often can be removed from fat by means of potatoes. After melting the fat, put into it thick slices of raw potato; heat gradually. When the fat ceases to bubble and the potatoes are brown, strain through a cloth placed in a wire strainer.
Savory Drippings. When rendering the drippings of fat meat, add a small onion (do not cut it), a few leaves of summer savory and thyme, a teaspoonful of salt, and a little pepper. This is enough for a pint of fat. Keep the drippings covered and in a cool place.
Uses for Bones. - Almost any meat bones can be used in soup making, and if the meat is not all removed from them the soup is better. But some bones, especially the rib bones, if they have a little meat left on them, can be grilled or roasted into very palatable dishes. The "sparerib" of southern cooks is made of the rib bones from a roast of pork, and makes a favorite dish when well browned. The braised ribs of beef often served in high-class restaurants are made from the bones cut from rib roasts. In this connection it may be noted that many of the dishes popular in good hotels are made of portions of meat such as are frequently thrown away in private houses, but which with proper cooking and seasoning make attractive dishes and give most acceptable variety to the menu. An old recipe for "broiled bones" directs that the bones (beef ribs or sirloin bones on which the meat is not left too thick in any part) be sprinkled with salt and pepper (Cayenne), and broiled over a clear fire until browned. Another example of the use of bones is boiled marrow bone. The bones are cut in convenient lengths, the ends covered with a little piece of dough over which a floured cloth is tied, and cooked in boiling water for two hours. After removing the cloth and dough, the bones are placed upright on toast and served. pared as above, the bones may also be baked in a deep dish. Marrow is sometimes removed from bones after cooking, seasoned, and served on toast.
Pre- Trimmings from meat may be utilized in various "made dishes," of which examples will be given further on, or they can always be put to good use in the soup kettle. It is surprising how many economies may be practiced in such ways and also in the table use of left-over portions of cooked meat if attention is given to the matter. Many of the recipes given in this bulletin involve the use of left-overs. Others will suggest themselves or may be found in all the usual cookery books.
This is an economy essay with several working procedures folded into it: rendering fat, clarifying it, seasoning drippings, and cooking marrow bones. The methods still hold, but a few assumptions behind them belong to a kitchen with a coal range and a cold pantry.
- "Trying out" is renderingTo try out fat is to melt it slowly so the pure fat separates from the connective tissue and water. The double boiler advice is sound for small amounts; over direct heat the scraps scorch before the fat is fully released. A heavy pan over the lowest burner with a splash of water to start works equally well.
- Clarifying with waterBoiling the fat with water and chilling it lets meat juices, salt, and fine solids settle into a jelly layer under the solid cake of fat. Scrape that layer off cleanly. The cake will only lift out intact if it is thoroughly cold, so allow several hours in the refrigerator rather than a cool pantry.
- The potato trickRaw potato slices do absorb and adsorb some off-flavors and stray solids as the fat heats. This will not rescue fat that has genuinely gone rancid or been overheated past smoking; rancidity is chemical and permanent. Strain through cloth in a sieve while the fat is still warm and pourable.
- Savory drippings, quantitiesA pint of rendered fat is two cups, seasoned with one whole small onion, a teaspoon of salt, and a few leaves each of summer savory and thyme. The onion is left whole so it can be lifted out; if it breaks up, strain the fat.
- Storage is the one thing to changeOnion and herbs left sitting in fat at room temperature are a low-acid food in an oxygen-poor medium, which is the classic setup for Clostridium botulinum. Remove the aromatics once the fat has taken their flavor, and keep seasoned drippings in the refrigerator rather than a "cool place." Plain rendered fat, fully strained, keeps for months chilled.
- Substituting drippings for butterBeef and pork fat are close to 100 percent fat, while butter is about 80 percent fat and 16 percent water. In a pie crust, use roughly a fifth less drippings by weight than the butter called for, and expect a shorter, more crumbly result with a distinctly savory flavor.
- Marrow bonesThe dough-and-cloth cap keeps the marrow from melting out into the water. Two hours of boiling is a good deal longer than modern practice tends to call for; marrow is soft and set after 20 to 30 minutes in simmering water, or 15 to 20 minutes roasted at 450F. Ask the butcher for center-cut canoe or crosscut bones.
- "Sparerib" here means something specificThe text uses the word for pork rib bones trimmed from a roast, not the whole rack sold under that name today. Any well-meated rib bones will do; salt, pepper, and a hot broiler give the browning the original wanted from a clear fire.
The reference to "this bulletin" gives the piece away as material drawn from the government agricultural bulletins of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which studied the proteid and fat content of meat cuts and then preached the practical moral: the cheap cuts feed you as well as the dear ones, and the fat you scrape into the bin is money. It describes a kitchen in which rendered beef and pork fat, not butter and certainly not bottled vegetable oil, was the default cooking medium for frying and for pastry; hydrogenated shortening only reached American shelves in 1911. The observation that hotels serve, at a price, the braised rib bones a private house throws out is a familiar argument in frugal cookery, and it was still true.