FRENCH HASH.
Next take the recipe for a dish called French hash. There is no potato in it, it is simply meat and gravy, so that you must not let the name mislead you. Little slices of cold meat, fat and lean together. For a pint bowlful of meat use about a tablespoonful of chopped onion. First slightly brown the onion with a tablespoonful of butter or drippings or fat from the meat; then when the onion begins to brown put in the meat and let that brown. Next a tablespoonful of dried flour; stir the flour with the brown meat and onion until the flour is quite brown; then cover the meat with pork gravy or boiling water. After you have covered the meat with water or cold gravy just let the water or gravy boil, then season it palatably with salt and pepper; of course, the seasoning will depend upon whether you have used gravy or broth or water. If you have used gravy or broth that already will have been seasoned, so that you want to taste for the seasoning. After the gravy is both boiled and seasoned take the sauce pan off the fire and stir in the yolk of one raw egg with it and dish at once. You must not put the hash back on the fire after putting the egg in. If you do you will curdle it. Do not stir the egg in till you are ready to serve it, on toast or plain.
BAKED TENDERLOINS.
The next recipe will be for baked tenderloins. Split the pork tenderloins in such a way as to make rather thick slices. Tenderloins are so thick that by cutting you spread them out. Inside the slice of tenderloin put any stuffing that you like. I have given two or three recipes for different kinds of stuffing. For this to-day I shall use a little stale bread, crumbed, seasoned with salt and pepper, and moistened with butter; a tablespoonful of butter to a scant cupful of bread, or in place of butter you could use an egg. After you put a little stuffing in the tenderloins fold them together and either tie or sew them so as to keep the stuffing inside. Put the tenderloins in the dripping pan in the oven and bake them until they are thoroughly browned. Then take off the strings and serve them. They are very nice if you bake potatoes in the pan with them. If the oven is hot the potatoes and tenderloins will bake in about the same time. The potatoes should be peeled. Remember what I told you about always taking large stitches in sewing up meat, so that you can see to pull them out when the meat is done. Of course, pork tenderloins will be pretty sure to yield drippings enough to baste with. I have spoken about that in the baking of meats two or three times. No water is needed in preparing them. The tenderloins, when sewed up, will resume their original shape.
FRIED LIVER.
First, wash the liver in cold water, then pour scalding water on it and let it stand for about ten minutes to draw out the blood; slice it about half an inch thick. After the liver is scalded and sliced, roll it in flour, season it with salt and pepper and put it into the frying pan containing about a quarter of an inch of hot fat, which may be drippings or fat from bacon or salt pork. In that case you first would fry the salt pork or bacon to get the fat or drippings, and put the slices of pork or bacon to keep warm when they are done. After the pork or bacon is fried put it on a dish to keep warm, and then fry the liver in the drippings. As soon as the liver is browned on both sides serve it on a dish with the fried pork or bacon. Fried liver needs to be cooked as quickly as possible, making sure that it is done. The more quickly you can cook it the tenderer it will always be. You can take that as a rule in regard to liver, heart and tongue, that the faster they can be cooked the tenderer they will be. To-day I simply have fried this with drippings. I have not fried the bacon with it, but I have told you how to fry it.
BAKED HASH.
Next take a recipe for baked hash. Equal quantities of chopped meat and stale bread, meat of any kind. Suppose you have a pint bowl of each. Mix with the meat and the bread a heaping tablespoonful of butter, a palatable seasoning of salt and pepper, and that, of course, will depend upon the seasoning of the meat. You may use corned beef or highly seasoned meat, and then you will not need so much seasoning as you would if you used fresh meat. A heaping teaspoonful of chopped parsley, enough cold gravy, if you have it, or broth to moisten the hash,—just to moisten it, not make it sloppy,—or if you have not gravy or broth you must use water and butter. Mix the hash very thoroughly. Have ready an earthen dish, buttered. See that the oven is hot, then very quickly dissolve a teaspoonful of baking powder in a teaspoonful of water or broth and stir it into the hash just as fast as you can and put it into the oven to bake. As soon as the hash is brown on top it will be done.
CORNED BEEF HASH.
Now I will give you a recipe for corned beef hash. Yesterday we spoke about boiling corned beef. You will take cold corned beef and boiled potatoes, either hot or cold, about equal quantities. Sometimes people like a little more potato than meat. Mix the meat and potato together; add just enough water or broth to moisten the meat and potato. Season palatably with salt and pepper and butter; have the hash nicely mixed together; put into the frying pan; suppose you have a quart of hash, about two tablespoonfuls of butter and let it get hot, then put in the hash. Stir the hash in the butter until it is nearly hot. Then, using a knife, form it into a cake on one side of the frying pan and let the bottom brown. Loosen the hash once in a while from the bottom of the pan to make sure it is not burning and when it is brown on the bottom turn it out on a dish with the brown side up. Another form of hash is the moist hash. That is simply prepared and warmed without browning it, using broth or butter and hot water for moistening it.