LESSON LXIII
BEEF: METHODS OF COOKING TOUGH CUTS (B)
EXAMINATION OF COLD BEEF STOCK.—Examine the beef stock of the previous lesson. Why has the fat risen to the top (see Experiment 35)? Why is fat cooked with meat and bone in making soup stock? What use can be made of the fat after removing it from the stock? Remove the fat from the stock. Stir the stock with a spoon. How do you account for its jellylike consistency? From what material has the gelatine been formed? What solid material is found in the stock? Should this be strained out when the stock is used for soup? Explain your answer (see Experiment 54).
VEGETABLE SOUP
2 quarts beef stock 2 tablespoonfuls fat 1 onion, sliced 1 carrot 1 turnip 1/2 stalk celery or dried celery leaves
Heat the fat and sliced onion. Cook until the onion is browned; add a small quantity of water. Cut the vegetables into dice, add them to the water containing browned onion and cook until the vegetables are tender. Add the beef stock to the vegetables and vegetable stock; heat; evaporate, if necessary, and then serve.
The vegetables may be strained from the soup, and cooked rice, macaroni, or barley added; or the rice, macaroni, or barley may be cooked with the vegetables. Pearl barley should be soaked in water before being cooked in the stock.
Other vegetables may be used for soup-making, as tomatoes, green peas, asparagus, and cauliflower. Indeed, ingenuity in combining flavors and utilizing "left overs" should form no small part of soup-making.
EXAMINATION OF MEAT LEFT FROM SOUP-MAKING.—Which contains the more nutriment,—beef stock or the meat from which the stock was prepared? What valuable protein material does the solid meat contain (see Protein in Meat)? Taste a bit of the meat. What does it lack? In what does the flavoring of this meat exist? What can be added to this "left over" meat as a substitute for its flavor? In the recipe for Baked Hash (below), what supplies flavor to the meat?
BAKED HASH
l 1/2 cupfuls chopped meat and fat 1/3 cupful (or more) boiling water 1 1/2 cupfuls mashed potatoes or stock Salt and pepper 1 cupful cracker crumbs, or 2 cupfuls soft bread crumbs 1 teaspoonful scraped onion Chopped parsley 2 tablespoonfuls butter or substitute
Mix all the ingredients, except the fat and crumbs. Add enough water or stock to moisten all ingredients. Place the mixture in a buttered baking- dish. Mix the fat with the bread or cracker crumbs. Cover the hash mixture with the crumbs, and bake slowly until the meat is thoroughly heated and the crumbs browned. Serve at once.