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Some Kitchen Kinks: Mock
Mock Duck.
Mock duck is made by placing on a round steak a stuffing of bread crumbs well seasoned with chopped onions, butter, chopped suet or dripping, salt, pepper, and a little sage, if the flavor is relished. The steak is then rolled around the stuffing and tied with a string in several places.
If the steak seems tough, the roll is steamed or stewed until tender before roasting in the oven until brown. Or it may be cooked in a casserole or other covered dish, in which case a cupful or more of water or soupstock should be poured around the meat. Mock duck is excellent served with currant or other acid jelly.
Mock Wild Duck. 1 flank steak, or 112 pounds round steak cut 12inch thick. 2 lamb kidneys. 1/4 cup butter or drippings. 1½ cup cracker crumbs. 1 tablespoonful minced onion.
Salt, pepper, and powdered thyme, sage, and savory. 2 tablespoonsful flour. 1 tablespoonful sugar. 3 cupfuls water or stock.
Trim the kidneys of all fat, cords, and veins. Cut into small pieces and spread evenly over one side of the steak together with the crumbs, onion, and seasonings. Roll and tie with a cord. Brown the roll in fat, then remove and make a gravy by heating the flour in the fat and adding three cupfuls of stock or water and the sugar. Put the meat into the gravy and cook slowly until tender in a covered baking dish, a steamer, or a fireless cooker. If steamed or cooked in a fireless cooker, the roll should be browned in the oven before serving.
Veal or Beef Birds.
A popular dish known as veal or beef birds or by a variety of special names is made by taking small pieces of meat, each just large enough for an individual serving, and preparing them in the same way as the mock duck is prepared.
Sometimes variety is introduced by seasoning the stuffing with chopped olives or tomato. Many cooks prepare their "birds" by browning in a little fat, then adding a little water, covering closely and simmering until tender.
UTILIZING THE CHEAPER CUTS OF MEAT IN PALATABLE DISHES When the housekeeper attempts to reduce her meat bill by using the less expensive cuts, she commonly has two difficulties to contend with-toughness and lack of flavor. It has been shown how prolonged cooking softens the connective tissues of the meat. Pounding the meat and chopping it are also employed with tough cuts, as they help to break the muscle fibers. As for flavor, the natural flavor of meat even in the least desirable cuts may be developed by careful cooking, notably by browning the surface, and other flavors may be given by the addition of vegetables and seasoning with condiments of various kinds. Methods of preparing inexpensive meat dishes will be discussed and practical directions for them will be given in the following sections. As often happens, two or three methods may be illustrated by the same dish, but the attempt has been made to group the recipes according to their most salient feature.
APPENDIX Prolonged Cooking at Low Heat.
Meat may be cooked in water in a number of ways without being allowed to reach the boiling point. With the ordinary kitchen range this is accomplished by cooking on the cooler part of the stove rather than on the hottest part, directly over the fire. Experience with a gas stove, particularly if it has a small burner known as a "simmerer," usually enables the cook to maintain temperatures which are high enough to sterilize the meat if it has become accidentally contaminated in any way and to make it tender without hardening the fibers. The double boiler would seem to be a neglected utensil for this purpose. Its contents can easily be kept up to a temperature of 200° F., and nothing will burn. Another method is by means of the fireless cooker. In this a high temperature can be maintained for a long time without the application of fresh heat. Still another method is by means of a closely covered baking dish. Earthenware dishes of this kind suitable for serving foods as well as for cooking are known as casseroles. For cooking purposes a baking dish covered with a plate or a bean jar covered with a saucer may be substituted. The Aladdin oven has long been popular for the purpose of preserving temperatures which are near the boiling point and yet do not reach it. It is a thoroughly insulated oven which may be heated by a kerosene lamp or a gas jet.
In this connection directions are given for using some of the toughest and least promising pieces of meat.
Stewed Shin of Beef. 4 pounds of shin of beef. 1 medium sized onion. 1 whole clove and a small bay leaf. 1 sprig of parsley. 112 tablespoonfuls of flour. 1 small slice of carrot. 1/2 tablespoonful of salt. 1/2 teaspoonful of pepper. 2 quarts of boiling water. 112 tablespoonfuls of butter or savory drippings.
Have the butcher cut the bone in several pieces. Put all the ingredients but the flour and butter into a stewpan and bring to a boil. Set the pan where the liquid will just simmer for six hours, or after boiling for five or ten minutes, put all into the fireless cooker for eight or nine hours. With the butter, fiour, and one-half cupful of the clear soup from which the fat has been removed, make a brown sauce; to this add the meat, the marrow removed from the bone. Heat and serve. The remainder of the liquid in which the meat has been cooked may be used for soup.
Boiled Beef with Horse-radish Sauce.
Plain boiled beef may also be served with horse-radish sauce, and makes a palatable dish. A little chopped parsley sprinkled over the meat when served is considered an improvement by many persons. For the sake of variety the meat may be browned like pot roast before serving.
Scotch Broth. 3 pounds mutton. 2 tablespoonsful of pearl barley. 2 tablespoonsful of minced onion. 2 tablespoonsful of minced turnip. 2 tablespoonsful of minced carrot. 2 tablespoonsful of minced celery. 2 tablespoonsful of salt. 1 teaspoonful of pepper. 1 tablespoonful of minced parsley. 3 quarts cold water.