Mushroom and Veal Ragout.
Take equal quantities of cold veal steak or roast veal and small puffballs or other mushrooms, and mince all fine; mince a small onion and put with the mushrooms and meat into a pan with some cold veal gravy, if you have it, and water enough to cover the mixture. Add a tablespoonful of butter, pepper and salt well, and let the mixture cook until it is almost dry, stirring it frequently to keep it from scorching; it should cook fully half an hour. When almost done, add a large tablespoonful of good catsup, or Worcestershire sauce if preferred. Serve hot.
Mushroom Patés.
Wash mushrooms well, cut them into small pieces and drop them in salt water for five minutes. Have ready in a pan upon the stove about two ounces of butter to each pint of mushrooms, having pan and butter very hot but not scorching; dip the mushrooms from the salt water with a skimmer and drop them into the hot butter; cover them closely to retain the flavor, shaking the pan or stirring them over to keep them from scorching or sticking. Let them cook with moderate heat from fifteen to thirty minutes, according to the tenderness of the mushrooms. Remove the cover from the pan, draw the mushrooms to one side and lift the pan on one side so that the gravy will run down to the opposite side; stir into the gravy a level tablespoonful of sifted flour, and rub this smooth with the gravy; then add a half a pint of rich milk or cream; stir the mushrooms into this and allow it to boil for a minute. Have ready in the oven some paté shells, fill them with the mushrooms, seasoned to taste with salt and pepper, and set back in the oven for a few minutes to heat before serving. These are especially fine when made of Tricholoma personatum or Pleurotus ostreatus, but many other varieties will answer well.
Baked Beefsteak With Mushroom Sauce.
Have your sirloin steak cut an inch or more thick, put into an exceedingly hot baking pan on top of the stove, in one minute turn steak over so that both sides will be seared. Put the pan into an exceedingly hot oven and allow it to remain for twenty minutes.
Have ready in a saucepan two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, heat well and add two cupfuls of fresh, clean mushrooms which have been allowed to stand in salt water for a period of five minutes; cover closely and cook briskly without burning for ten minutes; set on the back of the stove (after having seasoned them properly with salt and pepper) to keep hot until ready to use. Place the steak upon a hot dish, pour the mushrooms over it and send to the table at once. It is a dish fit for a king.
Stuffed Morels.
Choose the freshest and best morels; cleanse them thoroughly by allowing the water from the faucet to run on them; open the stalk at the bottom; fill with veal stuffing, anchovy or any rich forcemeat you choose, securing the ends and dressing between slices of bacon; bake for a half an hour, basting with butter and water, and serve with the gravy which comes from them.