LECTURE NINTH.
BEEF A LA MODE ROLLS.
Our lesson this morning will begin with beef a la mode rolls. Use the round of the beef or the end of sirloin steak. I have here a piece of round of beef. Cut the beef in pieces about two inches wide and five long; lay these strips of meat on the cutting board and season them with salt and pepper. In the middle of each one put a little piece of salt pork about a quarter of an inch thick. Roll the meat up in such a way that the pork is inclosed in the middle of the little roll. Tie the roll to keep it in shape. You can use instead of salt pork pieces of fat from the meat. After all the little rolls are tied up put a very small quantity of beef drippings or butter in the bottom of the saucepan or kettle. Put the saucepan over the fire with the drippings or butter in it and let the fat get hot. As soon as it is hot put the little rolls of meat in it and let them brown. As soon as the little rolls of meat are brown sprinkle flour over them, a tablespoonful of dry flour to half a dozen little rolls of meat. Let the flour brown. As soon as the flour is brown pour in boiling water enough to cover the rolls; add salt. Then put the cover on the sauce pan and set the meat where it will cook very gently. Remember what I have told you about cooking meat slowly if you want it to be tender. When the meat is quite tender—and that will be in from half an hour to an hour and a half—the time will depend, of course, upon the fibre of the meat, then take off the strings and serve the rolls in the gravy in which they have been cooking. You see the brown flour and water and butter will have make a nice gravy for the rolls. Now if the meat is very tough remember what I have told you about the action of the vinegar on the meat fibre. For a pound of meat add about two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, when you begin to stew the meat, and let it cook with the meat; that will make it tender. You can vary the dish by cooking with it vegetables of any kind that you like to use. Add potatoes when it is within half an hour of being done, turnips peeled, cut in small pieces; carrots peeled and sliced.
CARAMEL CUSTARD.
I will make a caramel custard next. For caramel custard use a plain tin mould, oval or square in shape, that will hold about three pints. Put a teaspoonful of sugar in the bottom of the mould and set the mould on the top of the stove where the sugar will brown. You may want to shake the mould a little to scatter the sugar evenly over the bottom. When the sugar is brown set the mould off the fire on the table where the burnt sugar will get cold; that forms what is called a caramel or coat of burnt sugar on the bottom of the mould. Make a custard by beating together six eggs, a quarter of a pound of sugar and a pint of milk. After the custard is made pour it into the mould and set the mould in a sauce pan with boiling water that will come half way up the sides of the mould, and steam the custard until it is firm. When the custard is firm you can turn it out of the mold and use it hot or leave it until it is quite cold and use it cold. I have used granulated sugar this time. You can make the same custard, preparing it just exactly as for steaming, but bake it, if you like, only you would set the mould in the dripping pan with water in it, baking it just until it is firm, in a moderate oven. You could make it in teacups; in that case you would burn the sugar in an iron-spoon or in the frying pan and while it still is liquid put just a little in the bottom of each cup, because you remember it hardens directly. Then bake the cups of custard in a pan of water. Use the custard in the cups either hot or cold. If the custard is to be used cold leave it in the mould; it will stand better than if it is turned out hot. But it is stiff enough to retain its form even when it is hot. And the sugar that is in the mould forms a little sauce around it on the dish.
TOMATO SOUP.
Next take a recipe for tomato soup. A can of tomatoes; put them over the fire. In the summer use about two quarts of fresh tomatoes. You will find that about two quarts will be sufficient. After the fresh tomatoes are peeled and sliced (you will remember canned tomatoes are already peeled), put them over the fire and stew them gently for about half an hour, or until they are tender. If the canned tomatoes are entirely solid you may need to add a little liquid, but I find there is generally more liquid in the can than you need. When the tomatoes are tender enough to rub through a sieve, put them through the sieve with a potato masher. That gives you pulp, or puree, of tomatoes. And you will add to the tomatoes, after they have been passed through the sieve, half a salt spoon of baking soda, and then milk enough to thin them to the proper consistency of soup. Season with salt and pepper, and let them boil, and serve the soup. If you want a thick soup, add to the tomatoes a quart of milk, and thicken the soup with cracker dust, very finely powdered and sifted. Thicken as much as you like, beginning with two heaping tablespoonfuls; add more if you want it. Of course you can put butter in either of these soups, but it is not necessary. The way I shall make the soup to-day will be to thicken it with butter and flour after the tomatoes have been passed through the sieve. Do not confuse these two recipes. You have got one of thin soup; you have got another with milk, salt and pepper, thickened with cracker dust. Now a third: Put a tablespoonful of butter and a tablespoonful of flour in a saucepan. Stir them over the fire until they are melted together, then put in a pint of water gradually—a pint of hot water—stirring it smooth; and the tomato pulp. If that does not make the soup as thin as you desire—and it should be about the consistency of good cream—add a little more boiling water. Season with salt and pepper, and stir it until it boils, and then it is ready to use.
Next take directions for boiling vegetables, so that the color is perfectly kept. I told you yesterday that we should have spinach if we could get it, if not, that we would use lettuce. I think that next week, in the course of the lessons, I shall succeed in having some spinach from Cleveland. However, I shall use lettuce to-day. First, thoroughly wash it in salted water. For a quart of water use a tablespoonful of salt. As I told you the other day, the salt in the water is for the purpose of killing any little insects that are in the leaves, especially of the lettuce. You know that it is very troublesome to dislodge them, but the salt kills them, and of course you can wash them out. As long as they are alive they cling there. If you sprinkle salt on the leaves it will wither them, but if you put it in the water it will not. Salted water is intensely cold, you know, and it would restore the freshness of the leaves of lettuce, even if they were wilted, unless they were really on the verge of decay. If you will remind me, after I have finished giving the recipe for cooking the vegetables, I will tell you how to keep lettuce fresh. After your vegetables, whatever they may be, whether lettuce, or spinach, or asparagus, or string beans, are washed perfectly clean—I do not say wash peas, and I will tell you after a little the reason why—after they are thoroughly washed put them over the fire in enough boiling salted water to more than cover them—plenty of water, so that they can float about—the water to be salted with a tablespoonful of salt in a quart of water, and to be actually boiling when you put in the vegetables. This same rule applies to the cooking of peas, only that the peas are treated a little differently in the cleaning, but they are cooked in the same way. Boil the vegetable (whatever it is) in salted water, fast, just till they are tender. Remember what I said about boiling carrots yesterday. As soon as the vegetables are tender, drain them and throw them into plenty of cold water. Leave them in the cold water until you want to use them. Then, if peas or beans, drain them, heat them quickly, with a little salt and pepper and butter, very quickly, or any sauce or gravy you wish to serve them in, and serve them hot. If lettuce or spinach, to make a puree, after having boiled in boiling salted water and then put in cold water, rub them through a sieve with a potato masher. After they are rubbed through the sieve they are ready to be used in different ways. In Europe the puree of lettuce is served as a vegetable, just as the puree of spinach is. We do not often cook it in that way, but it is very nice; it is such an exceedingly tender vegetable that it takes proportionately more than of spinach. After the lettuce or spinach is rubbed through the colander or sieve with a potato masher it is ready to be seasoned with salt, pepper and vinegar, or any sauce you like, and used as a vegetable, or used in soup. You remember what I told you about spinach soup yesterday—puree of spinach with cream soup, colored green with spinach. Put in just enough spinach to cover it. If I succeed in getting spinach next week I shall make, at one of the lessons, spinach soup, and also boil and serve some as a vegetable.