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Meats (Ways of dressing a dinner)
ways of dressing a dinner in small families, and | winter. A good screen, to keep off the chilling although the general superiority of roasting must be allowed, still certain joints and dishes, such as legs and loins of pork, legs and shoulders of mutton, and fillets of veal, will bake to great advantage if the meat be good. Besides those joints above-mentioned, we shall enumerate a few baked dishes which may be particularly recommended.
A pig when sent to the baker prepared for baking, should have its ears and tail covered with buttered paper, and a bit of butter tied up in a piece of linen to baste the back with, otherwise it will be apt to blister. If well baked it is considered equal to a roast one. A goose prepared the same as for roasting, or a duck placed upon a stand and turned, as soon as one side is done upon the other, are equally good.
A buttock of beef, prepared as follows, is particularly fine: After it has been put in salt about a week, let it be well washed and put into a brown earthen pan with a pint of water; cover the pan tight over with two or three thicknesses of cap paper, and give it four or five hours in a moderately heated oven. A ham, if not too old, put in soak for an hour, taken out and baked in a moderately heated oven, cuts fuller of graver, and of a finer flavor, than a boiled one.
Codfish, haddock, and mackerel should have a dust of flour and some bits of butter spread over them. Eels, when large and stuffed, herrings and sprats are put in a brown pan, with vinegar and a little spice, and tied over with paper.
A hare, prepared the same as for roasting, with a few bits of butter and a little milk, put into the dish and basted several times, will be found nearly equal to roasting. In the same manner, legs and shins of beef will be equally good with proper vegetable seasoning.
To Roast Meats, etc.
The first thing requisite for roasting is to have a strong, steady fire, or a clear brisk one, according to the size and weight of the joint that is put down to the spit. A cook, who does not attend to this, will prove herself totally incompetent to roast victuals properly. All roasting should be done open to the air, to ventilate the meat from its gross fumes; otherwise it becomes baked instead of roasted. The joint should be put down at such a distance from the fire as to imbibe the heat rather quickly; otherwise its plumpness and good quality will be gradually dried up, and it will turn shrivelly, and look meagre. When the meat is first put down, it is necessary to see that it lies level in the pan, otherwise the process of cooking will be very troublesome. When it is warm, begin to baste it well, which prevents the nutritive juices escaping; and, if required, additional dripping must be used for that purpose. As to sprinkling with salt while roasting, most able cooks dispense with it, as the penetrating particles of the salt have a tendency to draw out the animal juices. However, a little salt thrown on, when first laid down, is sometimes necessary, with strong meats. When the smoke draws to wards the fire, and the dropping of the clear gravy begins, it is a sure sign that the joint is nearly done. Then take off the paper, baste well, and dredge it with flour, which brings on that beautiful brownness which makes roasted meats look so inviting.
With regard to the time necessary for roasting various meats, it will vary according to the different sorts, the time it has been kept, and the temperature of the weather. In summer twenty minutes may be reckoned equal to half an hour in currents of air, is essentially useful. The old housewife's rule is to allow rather more than a quarter of an hour to each pound, and in most instances it proves practically correct.
In roasting mutton or lamb, the loin, the chine, and the saddle, must have the skin raised, and skewered on, and, when nearly done, take off this skin, and baste and flour to froth it up.
Veal requires roasting brown, and, if a fillet or loin, be sure to paper the fat, that as little of it may be lost as possible. When nearly done baste it with butter and dredge with flour.
Pork should be well done. When roasting a loin, cut the skin across with a sharp knife, otherwise the crackling is very awkward to manage. Stuff the knuckle part with sage and onion, and skewer it up. Put a little drawn gravy in the dish, and serve it up with apple-sauce in a tureen. A spare-rib should be basted with a little butter, a little dust of flour, and some sage and onions shred small. Apple-sauce is the only one which suits this dish.
Wild fowls require a clear brisk fire, and should be roasted till they are of a light brown, but not too much; yet it is a common fault to roast them till the gravy runs out, thereby losing their fine flavor.
Tame fowls require more roasting, as the heat is longer in penetrating. They should be often basted, in order to keep up a strong froth, and to improve their plumpness. The seasoning of the dressing or stuffing of a fowl is important to its flavor. The dressing should consist of bread crumbs, seasoned with black pepper, salt, and no herb but thyme.
Pigs and geese should be thoroughly roasted before a good fire, and turned quickly.
Hares and rabbits require time and care, especially to have the ends sufficiently done, and to remedy that raw discoloring at the neck, etc., which proves often so objectionable at table.
To regulate Time in Cookery.
Mutton. A leg of 8 pounds will require two hours and a half. A chine or saddle of 10 or 11 pounds, two hours and a half, A shoulder of 7 pounds, one hour and a half. A loin of 7 pounds, one hour and three quarters. A neck and breast, about the same time as a loin.
Beef. The sirloin of 15 pounds, from three hours and three-quarters to four hours. Ribs of beef, from 15 to 20 pounds, will take three hours to three hours and a half.
Veal. A fillet, from 12 to 16 pounds, will take from four to five hours, at a good fire. A loin, upon the average, will take three hours. A shoulder, from three hours to three hours and a half. A neck, two hours. A breast, from an hour and a half to two hours.