BEEF, Fried Salt.
[Cold Meat Cookery.] Ingredients.—A few slices of cold salt beef, pepper to taste, ½ lb. of butter, mashed potatoes. Mode.—Cut any part of cold salt beef into thin slices, fry them gently in butter, and season with a little pepper. Have ready some very hot mashed potatoes, lay the slices of beef on them, and garnish with 3 or 4 pickled gherkins. Cold salt beef, warmed in a little liquor from mixed pickle, drained, and served as above, will be found good. Time.—About 5 minutes. Average cost, exclusive of the meat, 4d. Seasonable at any time.
BEEF FRITTERS.
[Cold Meat Cookery.] Ingredients.—The remains of cold roast beef, pepper and salt to taste, ¾ lb. of flour, ½ pint of water, 2 oz. of butter, the whites of 2 eggs. Mode.—Mix very smoothly, and, by degrees, the flour with the above proportion of water; stir in 2 oz. of butter, which must be melted but not oiled, and, just before it is to be used, add the whites of two well-whisked eggs. Should the batter be too thick, more water must be added. Pare down the cold beef into thin shreds, season with pepper and salt, and mix it with the batter. Drop a small quantity at a time into a pan of boiling lard, and fry from 7 to 10 minutes, according to the size. When done on one side, turn and brown them on the other. Let them dry for a minute or two before the fire, and serve on a folded napkin. A small quantity of finely-minced onions, mixed with the batter, is an improvement. Time.—From 7 to 10 minutes. Average cost, exclusive of the meat, 6d. Seasonable at any time.
BEEF, Hashed.
[Cold Meat Cookery. 1.] Ingredients.—Gravy saved from the meat, 1 teaspoonful of tomato sauce, one teaspoonful of Harvey’s sauce, one teaspoonful of good mushroom ketchup, ½ glass of port wine or strong ale, pepper and salt to taste, a little flour to thicken, 1 onion finely minced, a few slices of cold roast beef. Mode.—Put all the ingredients but the beef into a stewpan with whatever gravy may have been saved from the meat the day it was roasted; simmer these gently for 10 minutes, then take the stewpan off the fire; let the gravy cool and skim off the fat. Cut the beef into thin slices, dredge them with flour, and lay them in the gravy; let the whole simmer gently for 5 minutes, but not boil, or the meat will be tough and hard. Serve very hot, and garnish with sippets of toasted bread. Time.—20 minutes. Average cost, exclusive of the cold meat, 4d. Seasonable at any time.
[Cold Meat Cookery. 2.] Ingredients.—The remains of ribs or sirloin of beef, 2 onions, 1 carrot, 1 bunch of savoury herbs, pepper and salt to taste, ½ blade of pounded mace, thickening of flour, rather more than 1 pint of water. Mode.—Take off all the meat from the bones of ribs or sirloin of beef; remove the outside brown and gristle; place the meat on one side, and well stew the bones and pieces, with the above ingredients, for about 2 hours, till it becomes a strong gravy, and is reduced to rather more than ½ pint; strain this, thicken with a teaspoonful of flour, and let the gravy cool; skim off all the fat; lay in the meat, let it get hot through, but do not allow it to boil; and garnish with sippets of toasted bread. The gravy should be flavoured as in the preceding recipe. Time.—Rather more than 2 hours. Average cost, exclusive of the cold meat, 6d. Seasonable at any time.
Note.—Either of the above recipes may be served in walls of mashed potatoes browned; in which case the sippets should be omitted. Be careful that hashed meat does not boil, or it will become tough.