POTTED MEATS.
Any tender and well-roasted meat, taken free of fat, skin, and gristle, as well as from the dry outsides, will answer for potting admirably, better indeed than that which is generally baked for the purpose, and which is usually quite deprived of its juices by the process. Spiced or corned beef also is excellent when thus prepared; and any of these will remain good a long time if mixed with cold fresh butter, instead of that which is clarified; but no addition that can be made to it will render the meat eatable, unless it be thoroughly pounded; reduced, in fact, to the smoothest possible paste, free from a single lump or a morsel of unbroken fibre. If rent into fragments, instead of being quite cut through the grain in being minced, before it is put into the mortar, no beating will bring it to the proper state. Unless it be very dry, it is better to pound it for some time before any butter is added, and it must be long and patiently beaten after all the ingredients are mixed, that the whole may be equally blended and well mellowed in flavour.
The quantity of butter required will depend upon the nature of the meat; ham and salted beef will need a larger proportion than roast meat, or than the breasts of poultry and game; white fish, from being less dry, will require comparatively little. Salmon, lobsters, prawns, and shrimps are all extremely good, prepared in this way. They should, however, be perfectly fresh when they are pounded, and be set immediately afterwards into a very cool place. For these, and for white meats in general, mace, nutmeg, and cayenne or white pepper, are the appropriate spices. A small quantity of cloves may be added to hare and other brown meat, but allspice we would not recommend unless the taste is known to be in favour of it. The following receipt for pounding ham will serve as a general one for the particular manner of proceeding.
POTTED HAM.[[100]]
[100]. See Baked Ham, Chapter [XIII]., page [258].
(An excellent Receipt.)
To be eaten in perfection this should be made with a freshly cured ham, which, after having been soaked for twelve hours, should be wiped dry, nicely trimmed, closely wrapped in coarse paste, and baked very tender. When it comes from the oven, remove the crust and rind, and when the ham is perfectly cold, take for each pound of the lean, which should be weighed after every morsel of skin and fibre has been carefully removed, six ounces of cold roast veal, prepared with equal nicety. Mince these quite fine with an exceedingly sharp knife, taking care to cut through the meat, and not to tear the fibre, as on this much of the excellence of the preparation depends. Next put it into a large stone or marble mortar, and pound it to the smoothest paste with eight ounces of fresh butter, which must be added by degrees. When three parts beaten, strew over it a teaspoonful of freshly-pounded mace, half a large, or the whole of a small nutmeg grated, and the third of a teaspoonful of cayenne well mixed together. It is better to limit the spice to this quantity in the first instance, and to increase afterwards either of the three kinds to the taste of the parties to whom the meat is to be served.[[101]] We do not find half a teaspoonful of cayenne, and nearly two teaspoonsful of mace, more than is generally approved. After the spice is added, keep the meat often turned from the sides to the middle of the mortar, that it may be seasoned equally in every part. When perfectly pounded, press it into small potting-pans, and pour clarified butter[[102]] over the top. If kept in a cool and dry place, this meat will remain good for a fortnight, or more.
[101]. Spice, it must be observed, varies so very greatly in its quality that discretion is always necessary in using it.
[102]. This should never be poured hot on the meat: it should be less than milk-warm when added to it.
Lean of ham, 1 lb.; lean of roast veal, 6 oz.; fresh butter, 8 oz.; mace, from 1 to 2 teaspoonsful; 1/2 large nutmeg; cayenne, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoonful.
Obs.—The roast veal is ordered in this receipt because the ham alone is generally too salt; for the same reason butter, fresh taken from the churn, or that which is but slightly salted and quite new, should be used for it in preference to its own fat. When there is no ready-dressed veal in the house, the best part of the neck, roasted or stewed, will supply the requisite quantity. The remains of a cold boiled ham will answer quite well for potting, even when a little dry.