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Veal Stew, or Pot Pie, with Dumplings

The ends of the ribs, the neck and the knuckle may be utilized for a stew. Take three pounds of veal; two small onions; five potatoes; one tablespoon of butter; one cup of milk; salt and pepper. Cut the meat into pieces the size of a teacup, and place them in a kettle with the onion, salt and pepper and enough water just to cover them. Simmer gently until the meat is tender, about an hour being generally sufficient. Strips of salt pork are sometimes cooked in with the veal and add much to the flavor. Half an hour before serving add the potatoes, cut in halves, and boil them with the meat. Use for the dumplings; one pint of flour; one-half a large tablespoon of lard; one teaspoon of baking-powder; one teaspoon of salt; milk to moisten. Stir the baking-powder and salt into the flour, and rub in the lard with a spoon until the whole is thoroughly mixed. Add enough milk to moisten the flour, and make a dough, taking care not to make the mixture too wet. Flour the baking-board, roll the dough out an inch thick, and cut out as for biscuit. Put the pieces on a plate, set the plate in a steamer over the steam, and steam twenty minutes. When the dumplings are done, place them on a platter, and with a skimmer lift the meat and potato from the kettle and lay them on the platter. Add the milk and butter to the gravy in the kettle, and thicken with a little flour stirred to a thin, smooth paste with water. Pour the gravy over meat and dumplings. If the stew should seem quite boiled down, the dumplings should be steamed over a separate kettle of boiling water, as the rapid boiling necessary for their cooking reduces the stew very much. Another mode of cooking the dumplings is to boil them in with the stew; but they are very apt to be heavy unless served the moment they are done. Steamed dumplings can always be relied upon to be light.