LAMB'S FRY.
A really proper fry should consist not only of sweetbreads and liver, but of the heart, melt, brains, frill, and kidneys, each of which requires a different treatment. It is quite as easy to cook a fry properly as to flour and fry it hard and over-brown, as is too frequently done. Trim the sweetbreads neatly, and simmer them for a quarter of an hour in good white stock with an onion. When they are done take them up and put the brains in the gravy, allowing them to boil as fast as possible in order to harden them; let them get cold, then cut into slices, egg and bread-crumb them, and fry with the sweetbread in a little butter. After the brains are taken out of the gravy, put the slices of heart and melt in, and let them stew slowly until tender. When they are ready, flour them, and fry with the liver and frill until brown. Lastly, put the kidneys, cut in slices, into the pan, and very gently fry for about a minute. Shake a little flour onto the pan, stir it about until it begins to brown; then pour on to it the gravy, in which the sweetbreads, etc., were stewed, see it is nicely seasoned, and pour round the fry, which should be neatly arranged in the centre of the dish. Garnish with fried parsley.
LAMB'S SWEETBREADS.
These make an admirable breakfast dish, and can be partly prepared over-night. Trim and wash the sweetbreads, put them into a saucepan with sufficient well-flavoured stock to cover them, a minced onion and a sprig of lemon-thyme; boil gently for fifteen minutes, or a little longer if necessary. Take them up, drain, dip in egg and finely-sifted bread-crumbs mixed with a little flour, pepper, and salt. Fry very carefully, so as not to make it brown or hard, some small slices of bacon, keep warm whilst you fry the sweetbreads in the fat which has run from it, adding, if required, a little piece of butter or lard. For a breakfast dish, the sweetbreads should be served without gravy, but if for an entrée the liquor in which they were stewed, with slight additions and a little thickening, can be poured round them in the dish. Calves' sweetbreads are prepared in the same manner as the above, and can either be fried, finished in a Dutch oven, or served white, with parsley and butter, or white sauce.
VEAL À LA CASSEROLE.
For this dish a piece of the fillet about three inches thick will be required, and weighing from two to three pounds. It should be cut from one side of the leg, without bone; but sometimes butchers object to give it, as cutting in this manner interferes with cutlets. In such a case a piece must be chosen near the knuckle, and the bone be taken out before cooking. For a larger party, a thick slice of the fillet, weighing about four pounds, will be found advantageous.
With a piece of tape tie the veal into a round shape, flour, and put it into a stewpan with a small piece of butter, fry until it becomes brown on all sides. Then put half a pint of good gravy, nicely seasoned with pepper and salt, cover the stewpan closely, and set it on the stove to cook very slowly for at least four hours. When done, the veal will be exquisitely tender, full of flavour, but not the least ragged. Take the meat up, and keep hot whilst the gravy is reduced, by boiling without the lid of the saucepan, to a rich glaze, which pour over the meat and serve.
BROWN FRICASSÉE OF CHICKEN.
This is a brown fricassée of chicken, and is an excellent dish. No doubt the reason it is so seldom given is that, although easy enough to do, it requires care and attention in finishing it. Many of the best cooks, in the preparation of chickens for fricassée, cut them up before cooking, but we prefer to boil them whole, and afterwards to divide them, as the flesh thus is less apt to shrink and get dry. The chicken can be slowly boiled in plain water, with salt and onions, or, as is much better, in white broth of any kind. When the chicken is tender cut it up; take the back, and the skin, pinions of the wings, and pieces which do not seem nice enough for a superior dish, and boil them in a quart of the liquor in which it was boiled. Add mushroom trimmings, onions, and a sprig of thyme; boil down to one-half, then strain, take off all fat, and stir over the fire with the yolk of two eggs and an ounce of fine flour until thickened. Dip each piece of chicken in some of this sauce, and when they are cold pass them through fine bread-crumbs, then in the yolk of egg, and crumb again. Fry carefully in hot fat. Dish the chicken with a border of fried parsley, and the remainder of the gravy poured round the dish. This dish is generally prepared by French cooks by frying the chicken in oil, and seasoning with garlic; but unless the taste of the guests is well known, it is safer to follow the above recipe.