When possible, get the clams twenty-four hours before they are to be used, and after washing them thoroughly put them in a pan with just enough cold water to cover them; then, for a peck of clams, sprinkle in half a pint of corn meal. This will make the clams plump and tender.
Steamed Clams.
Prepare the clams as for roasting, but put them in a dish and place it in the steamer. When the shells open the clams are done.
CHAPTER X.
HOW TO COOK MEAT.
BOILING.
IN boiling meats the temperature of the liquid should be kept at about the boiling point or a few degrees lower; that is, the water should bubble gently at one side of the pot or stewpan. Great care must be taken that the water shall never boil rapidly, and that the temperature shall not be much lower than that indicated by a slight bubbling at the side of the stewpan. The meat and liquid will both be spoiled if kept for any length of time in a closed vessel with the temperature too low. A piece of meat cooked in water that boils rapidly all the time will be hard, dry, and stringy, no matter how long it is cooked or how tender and good it was originally; but even a tough, dry piece will be tender and juicy if cooked at the temperature indicated by the water’s bubbling at one side of the pot. All meats will be juicier if they be allowed to cool, or even partially to cool, in the liquid in which they were boiled. The dish in which a food material is cooling must always be uncovered until the substance is perfectly cold.
Boiled Leg of Mutton.
Wipe carefully with a damp cloth a leg of mutton weighing between eight and ten pounds, and put it in a deep kettle with enough boiling water to cover it. Set the kettle where the water will boil rapidly for a quarter of an hour. Skim the water when it begins to boil. At the end of the fifteen minutes draw the kettle back where the water will only bubble. If the meat be desired very rare, cook it for an hour and a half; but if you want it rather well done, cook it for two hours, being careful that the water only bubbles except during the first fifteen minutes.
When the mutton is done place it on a warm dish. Pour a few tablespoonfuls of butter sauce over it, and, if convenient, garnish with parsley. Send to the table at once with the caper sauce and vegetables.