CHAPTER XXXVIII.
ONE MORE USE FOR SOUP MEAT—STEWED CALF’S TONGUE—BRAINS, AU BEURRE NOIR (BROWN BUTTER)—CALF’S HEAD—HOLLANDAISE SAUCE—CALF’S HEAD EN TORTUE.
“Molly, what are you going to do with all that beef from consommé?” asked Mrs. Welles, on the Monday after the reception.
“I have usually made hash of it and given it to a family who need all the help they can get; but there is so much, I am inclined to try an experiment. Would not part do to make an imitation of that mock brawn that is so good in London? What is the recipe?”
“That is made with new beef and pork, but if the jelly can be supplied, it would be very nice and savory treated exactly as if it were new meat.”
“So I thought, and I got from the butcher the day I bought the beef two hocks of pork. It’s early for pork, but he assured me this was killed right on a farm here, and I could see it was really good, although I must say I think November early enough, as a rule, for pork.”
“It’s a little different when you buy it in that way. What are you going to do with the feet, or ‘hocks’ as you call them?”
“They have been cleaned and laid in salt; to-morrow they will be salt enough. I think of boiling them till the bones slip out, cutting the flesh in small bits, and putting the bones back into the water and boiling till there is no more goodness in them; but as the beef is over-cooked, I don’t want the pork to be so; then strain the liquor, which will be solid jelly when cold. I think two quarts and a pint of water may be put on the hocks,—that will leave rather less than two quarts when boiled slowly for three hours with the lid on,—then I shall choose the firmest pieces of the beef, cut them into large dice, and put them into the liquor with the pork; but I want you to give me the seasoning of the regular recipe, if you brought it.”
“Yes; as you wrote you wanted some English pickling and curing recipes, I brought my little book; but I advise you to remember the difference in climate.”
“Yes, I do; but I know a family who have the most delicious bacon and ham, and they use old country recipes in curing.”