ROAST BEEF.
From MRS. MATILDA B. CARSE, of Chicago, Lady Manager,
In roasting meats of all kinds, the method adopted should be the one that in the most perfect manner preserves the juices inside the meat. To roast beef in the best possible manner, place the clean-cut side of the meat upon a very hot pan. Press it close to the pan until seared and browned. Reverse and sear and brown the other side. Then put at once in the oven, the heat of which should be firm and steady, but not too intense, and allow 20 minutes to the pound: if it is to be rare, less half an hour deducted from the aggregate time on account of searing. For example, a five-lb. roast of beef will require one and one-quarter hours, a six-lb. roast one and one-half hours, and so on. If the oven is in not too hot, the beef requires no basting. When it is at the proper temperature and the cooking is going all right, the meat will keep up a gentle sputtering in the pan. A roast of beef should never be washed but carefully wiped off with a damp cloth. When meal is done, take it from the oven, cut off the outside slices, then salt and pepper well. The meat, if roasted in this way, will be sweet, juicy and tender.
YORKSHIRE PUDDING.
From MRS. HARRIET A. LUCAS of Pennsylvania, Lady Manager.
This pudding, as its name indicates is a great English dish, and to be used as vegetables are, with roast beef only. When vegetables are scarce, it adds a change to the ménu, which everybody likes but few know how to make successfully, because it is very simple.
For a small family, put one pint of milk into a bowl, a small pinch of salt: break into this (without beating) two fresh eggs. Now have a good egg beater in your hand; dust into this one-half pint of sifted flour; beat vigorously and rub out all the lumps of flour. Have ready a smaller roasting pan than that in which your beef is roasting, and put in it a good tablespoonful of sweet lard, very hot; pour your light batter into this, place a spit or wire frame in the pudding, lift the roast from the pan about 20 minutes before it is done and put it on the spit, so that the juices of the beef will drop on to the pudding. About 20 minutes will cook it. Make gravy in the pan from which the roast has been removed. Slide into a hot meat dish and serve with the meat. Most cooks persistently raise it by adding some sort of baking powder, thinking it of no importance that the meat is over the pudding.
I never yet found a person that did not enjoy a good Yorkshire pudding. This is a small one, for four or five persons. If you increase the pudding, also select a larger pan, as the batter should be fully one-half to an inch in the pan; if not, it will become too crusty.
ROULARDS.
From MRS. RALPH TRAUTMANN, of New York City, First Vice President
Board of Lady Managers.