Creamed Oysters

Drain and wash the oysters. Strain the liquor through cheese-cloth. Heat the oysters in the liquor by themselves and scald the milk. Rub the butter and flour together, add them to the hot milk or cream, and let it boil. Put this mixture with the boiling oysters and set it in a cooker for one-half hour or more. Just before serving add the seasoning. Serve it on toast or crisped crackers, or in [croustades].

XII
BEEF

To select good beef. (1) Quality. “Heavy” beef, that is, taken from fat, heavy animals, is the best. It should be mottled with fat all through the lean, and the large masses of fat should be firm and of a creamy white colour. The grain of tender meat is fine. Coarse-grained meat, and meat streaked with connective tissue or gristle, is sure to be tough. (2) Freshness. Fresh beef is a good red colour, modified, when it is very cold, to a purplish shade. If black or greenish in tint the meat is stale, and its odour will be bad. Meat is flabby after it is killed, but soon grows firm. It is in suitable condition for cooking before this change takes place, or some days after it.

Figure No. 7.
Diagram of the cuts of beef. The double line shows the division between forequarter and hindquarter.

Uses of the different cuts. Beef is cut variously in different parts of the country, and the same cuts are not always similarly named. Merely to call the cuts by name would, therefore, make this chapter unintelligible to some readers; but by consulting the accompanying chart the pieces can be selected without reference to their names, according to the part of the animal adapted to each particular use. Those muscles which are much used and which have hard work to do will have the most juice and the best flavour, though, at the same time, they will be the toughest. For instance, all cuts, such as round, shoulder, shin, and rump, which come from the legs or parts by which the legs are connected with the body, will be tough and high-flavoured. The neck also, and upper part of the shoulder, by reason of the support they give to the weight of the head, are tough, although rich in flavour. Any cuts from these parts, by whatever name they are called, are not suitable for cooking with dry heat, such as that of baking, or broiling, but will require long, slow cooking with water to make them tender. Such pieces are the ones to buy for cooking in a hay-box. They do not command the price of the tender cuts from the back of the animal, and it is, therefore, a distinct economy to buy these cheap pieces and by skilful cooking make them digestible and palatable. The parts numbered 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, in [Fig. 7] are suitable for stews; those marked 11 and 12, as well as all bones, are suitable for soups. Numbers 2, 5, 6, and 10 may be used for stews or broth, but are adapted also to pot roasts, rolled steaks, cannelon, Hamburg steak, etc., while only numbers 3 and 4 are adapted to roasting or broiling.

Other parts of beef used as food, suitable for cooking in the hay-box or cooker, are:

Brains, stewed or scalloped, or for croquettes.

Heart, stuffed and braised.

Liver, braised.

Tongue, boiled; fresh, corned, or pickled.

Kidneys, stewed.

Tail, soup.

TABLE SHOWING SOME OF THE NAMES GIVEN TO CUTS OF BEEF IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.

The numbers indicate the part from which the cuts are taken, as shown on the chart ([Fig. No. 7]).

Care of meat. All meat should at once be removed from the wrapping paper when it comes from the store, otherwise the paper absorbs the juices and sticks to the meat. Never put meat into water, except it be such parts as kidney, liver, heart, etc., or the water will soak out the juice which is the part of meat that contains the flavour. Wipe it with a clean, wet cloth, and keep it in a cool place. If it must be kept longer than is safe for raw meat, it may be partially cooked, cooled quickly, and kept cold till time to complete the cooking.

Cooking meat. If meat is put into cold water and gradually heated to the boiling point, a large proportion of the juice will be extracted. The meat will thus be rendered tasteless and the water will contain the flavouring matter. Long cooking in water dissolves the gelatine of the bones and connective tissue. These effects are desirable for soups and broths, but undesirable when the meat itself is also to be used.

If meat is put into boiling water, allowed to boil a few minutes, and then cooked a long time at a lower temperature, the albumen of the juice is hardened on the surface of the meat and the remaining juice is thus kept to a considerable extent. The long cooking may then soften the tough tissue while the meat retains much of its flavour, the water becoming also flavoured. This is desirable for stews, meat pies, pot roasts, poultry, etc., in which cases meat and liquor are both to be served.