Miss Corson. No, beets have to be boiled differently from any other vegetable. If you break the skin of beets, or cut them in any way, the color escapes in the water. So that to prepare the beets for boiling, wash them very carefully without breaking the skin. Do not cut off the roots or the tops of the beets close; leave some of the roots and three or four inches of the stalk. Do not trim them off close, because if you cut the roots or stalks close to the beet you make a cut whence the color can escape; wash them very carefully without breaking the skin. Put them over the fire in boiling water. You do not need to salt it, in fact, it is better not to salt it. Boil them until they grow tender to the touch. If you puncture the beet with a fork or knife, to try it, you let the color out, but you can take one of the beets up on a skimmer and use a thick towel and hold it in your hand and squeeze it to see if it is growing soft. Do not break the skin, always remember that. When the beet is tender you will find that it will yield a little, between your fingers, and the length of time required for cooking them will be from half an hour to two hours and a half, perhaps even longer than that. Young, tender, juicy beets may be cooked in half an hour. The older they are, the later it is in the season, the harder the woody fibre will be, and the longer it will take to cook them. After they are cooked really tender, then throw them into a bowl of cold water and rub off the skin with a wet towel. Do not leave them soaking in cold water.
VENISON WITH CURRANT JELLY.
Take the recipe for venison now, ladies. Enough butter to cover the bottom of the pan about a quarter of an inch. Let it get smoking hot, then put in the venison. You must have the pan large enough to hold the venison. As soon as the venison is brown on one side turn it and brown it on the other. Brown it very fast. As soon as the venison is browned put with it the currant jelly. For every pound of venison use two tablespoonfuls of currant jelly—not heaping spoonfuls; or you might put one heaping tablespoonful for every pound of venison. As soon as the venison is brown put the currant jelly in with it. Put the pan back where it will not be too hot, and finish cooking the venison until it is done to suit your taste. It will cook, if it is an inch thick, pretty well done in about twenty minutes. Season it with salt and pepper, and when it is done put it on the platter and pour the currant jelly and butter over it. The cooking of the jelly with the venison makes it a nice sauce or gravy.
Question. Wouldn’t this be a nice way to cook buffalo or any other kind of game?
Miss Corson. Yes, it is a very good way.
LECTURE EIGHTH.
MEATS AND VEGETABLES.
We will begin to-day with so-called roast beef, it is really baked. This is what is called a shoulder cut of beef, and is just as the butcher has sent it home, that is, without any of the bones being taken out. This thin part of the beef can be either roasted with the rest or cut off and used as a stew. It is not very available at the table. It almost always is tough, and there is a great deal of fat proportionately. The lean that is there is very apt to dry and harden in the baking. So that the best way to use the part is to cut it off and cook it separately. Have the beef cut large enough to give a roast from the thickest part. The white line of cartilage will be sure to bother in carving, and the best way is to cut it out before you cook the meat. You can cut it out without any difficulty. You can also cut off the bone entirely. You will not find that doing this will make the meat waste if you bake it or roast it properly, and you can carve it more easily and more economically. Carving when the bone is in the meat you are sure to leave more meat on than you really want to, and it is quite a difficult matter to carve even slices when the bone is in the meat. It is a very easy matter to take the bone out, and then either use the bone for soup meat or put it in the pan with the meat and let it bake as the basis for gravy. You will notice both in cutting the cartilage and the bone, I do not take off any meat. I simply cut close, and take away the parts I wish to remove without wasting any of the meat. That leaves a solid piece of meat which offers no difficulty in carving; you can either fasten it in shape by tying a string around it or by running a few skewers through it. The better way is to tie it with a string, because the skewers will make holes and permit the juice to escape. You can either take off the thin, outside skin of the beef or wipe it as I have already said, with a wet towel. With good beef the skin is so exceedingly thin that it is not objectionable in carving or to the taste. With poor beef, the skin is decidedly leathery, and then it is advisable to take it off.