ROASTING IN THE PAN—FRYING.
Heat a clean pan, put in the fat of the meat or butter and heat it; the fat must be steaming and the butter have a light brown color before the meat is put into the pan. Fat and butter mixed may also be used.
Beef steak, veal, mutton or pork chops, liver, pork or veal steak, etc., are cut into uniformly thick slices; the time for frying is estimated according to the average weight of the pieces. Do not salt too soon as this will draw out the juice. Breading must be done immediately before frying, otherwise the juices of the meat will be drawn out and the breading will not hold.
Do not leave meat on boards, as the juices will be absorbed by the wood; it is better to put meat on china. The pieces of meat, the largest first are placed in the hot fat with a cake turner, not with a fork, and take note of the time when beginning. Never put so much meat into the pan at one time as to cool the fat and stop its sizzling. After every three pieces stop long enough to give the fat a chance to heat up.
When several pieces, of meat are in the pan, they must be turned in the order in which they were put in, baste frequently with the fat or butter in the pan and turn often.
When done, the meat must be well browned but not hard on the outside, and be reddish and tender inside. Stabbing the meat with a fork is not advisable for two reasons. In the first place the juice will run out and the meat will be dry, and then the meat will begin to stew in the juice and the temperature of the fat will be reduced, the meat will not turn brown; breaded meat loses the breading or this will be soft. Washed meat must be well dried with a clean cloth before breading. When fried meat is pale and colorless, it has been either fried in too low a temperature or was stabbed with a fork or was not well dried before frying.