Mash the hard-boiled yolks fine, and rub into them the butter, flour and mustard.
Put the milk into a double boiler; when it is scalded stir in the mixture of egg, etc.; season, and just before serving stir in the crab meat, and add one cupful of sherry. Place in bottom of a deep dish a few thin slices of lemon and turn the stew over them.
[128-*] This mixture can be spread on a pan, then marked into squares, and baked in the oven. This method makes it a more wholesome dish for those who are unable to eat fried preparations.—M. R.
Chapter IV
MEATS
Slow cooking. Long, slow cooking breaks down the fiber of meat, and so makes it more tender. Whatever method of cooking is employed, this fact should be remembered. Many of the tough pieces are the most nutritious ones, and can by slow cooking be made as acceptable as the more expensive cuts.
Juices. In order to shut in the juices, meat should at first be subjected to a high degree of heat for a short time. A crust or case will then be formed on the outside by the coagulation of the albumen, after which the heat should be lowered, and the cooking proceed slowly. The same rule holds for baking, where the oven must be very hot for the first few minutes only; for boiling, where the water must be boiling and covered for a time, and then placed where it will simmer only; for broiling, where the meat must be placed close to the coals at first, then held farther away.
Tough meats are better boiled, because a lower degree of heat can be maintained and slower cooking insured.
Degree of cooking. Dark meats should be served underdone or red; the white meats thoroughly cooked, but not dried.