Head and Harslet Hash.—Take what may be left from dinner of the calf’s head and harslet, chop very fine, use a few spoonfuls of the drawn butter, moisten with the water in which the meat was boiled, put over the fire till hot, then serve on nice slices of toasted bread, and you have a breakfast dish even better than the dinner.
The water in which calf’s head, etc., is boiled, should be carefully kept, and when cold it will be a stiff jelly. Take off the grease that will harden on top, and the jelly may be made into a fine mock-turtle soup. It is still better if, when boiling the head and harslet, you add two calf’s feet.
Veal Pie.—Take the neck of veal, joint it as small as you can, and stew, adding just enough boiling water to prevent it from burning. Season with pepper, salt, and, if liked, a very little onion cut up fine, and a little parsley or summer savory. Make a crust of two potatoes, boiled and mashed smooth and free from lumps, two table-spoonfuls suet chopped very fine, a little salt; stir it together with ice-cold water. Flour the board, roll out, and scatter over it thin shavings of hard butter right from the ice; shake over some flour; lap it together and roll out again. Then put on more butter, using, in all, four table-spoonfuls, not heaped. This done, sprinkle again with flour, roll it up and put on the ice till the veal is done, which should not cook over three quarters of an hour. When tender, pick the meat from most of the bones, leaving a few small ones to give shape to the pie; roll the meat in well-beaten eggs; three will suffice to wet it; then roll it in flour; cover the pie-dish with part of the paste, rolled about a quarter of an inch thick. Cut a strip of crust to place around the edge of the dish, and lay the meat in neatly, cutting in a few bits of butter, two table-spoonfuls will do, and pour over the meat the water in which it was cooked, which should have boiled down so as to leave only enough to make the pie juicy. Now roll out the rest of the paste for the upper crust, about three quarters of an inch thick, cover the pie, cut a slit in the top, and bake. Be careful not to scorch the crust.
Sweetbread Croquettes.—Trim the sweetbreads neatly; remove all the gristle; parboil and mince very fine; add grated bread seasoned with salt and pepper, and a very little mace, if agreeable; moisten with cream; stir all well together, and shape them by pressing firmly into a pear-shaped wineglass or small mold, or mold into little cones by rolling in your hands. Have ready a beaten egg and fine rolled and sifted bread or cracker crumbs. Dip each croquette into the egg and roll in the crumbs; stick a fruit-stem into the cone, to look like an apple or pear, and fry in butter. This is good for cold chicken, beef, or raw oysters.
Veal Patty.—Four pounds veal-steak, chopped while raw very fine; mix with it eight butter-crackers rolled, a piece of butter of the size of an egg, and two well-beaten eggs. Mix all thoroughly together, and season with pepper and salt. A little sage, thyme, or savory is thought an improvement by some. Mold into a loaf; put small bits of butter on top, and cover with grated bread crumbs. Judge of the quantity of butter necessary by your own taste. If not liked very rich, two table-spoonfuls of butter cut up and sprinkled over will be plenty. Bake two hours. When cold, cut off slices as from a loaf of bread, for tea or side-dishes.
Minced Veal.—Mince the veal very fine with a little ham, a table-spoonful of flour, three well-beaten eggs, one small onion scalded for five or ten minutes to remove the coarser flavor and then chopped fine; sweet herbs, pepper, and salt to suit the taste. Butter a deep pie-plate, set a small cup in the center, and fill the plate all around the cup with the mince-meat. Bake of a delicate brown; then remove the cup and fill its place with some nice sauce,—apple, cranberry, or jelly, or, if you please, some scalloped oysters. Beef, lamb, or chicken prepared in the same way is very good.
Veal Hash.—Boil a shin of veal which has about three pounds of meat on it in as small a quantity of water as you can, so that when done there shall be one quart of water left. Boil the day before needed, that it may be perfectly cold. When the meat is well done, lay it anywhere where it will be away from the air, but do not wrap it in a cloth. Save all the liquor in a separate dish. The next morning cut up all the meat; chop not quite so fine as for the “mince.” Half an hour before you send it to the table, put it over the fire in a covered stewpan with the liquor; have ready half a pint of hot-drawn butter and eight hard-boiled eggs; remove the shells, mince all but two, and add to the meat. As soon as it boils up, remove from the fire; season with salt, cayenne pepper, and a little black pepper. Cut the two eggs in slices, and when the meat is placed in a dish, lay them over the top neatly. Send to table hot.
Veal Loaf.—Three pounds of veal cutlet, a quarter of a pound salt pork chopped very fine. Three Boston crackers rolled fine, three well-beaten eggs, one wineglass claret or currant wine, half a cup of tomato catsup, five ripe tomatoes, if in season, or a teacup of canned tomatoes; one onion chopped fine, if not disagreeable; juice and chopped peel of one orange or lemon, whichever is the most palatable; one small teaspoonful each of pepper, cloves, sweet-marjoram, sage, and salt. Mix these very thoroughly with the meat, and mold into a loaf. Place in a dripping-pan, cover the top with cracker crumbs, and bake three hours. While baking, keep some butter and hot water on the side of range, and baste the loaf with it often and thoroughly. Let it stand in a cool place till the second day before cutting. Excellent as a relish for breakfast or tea.
Croquettes.—These are a sort of mince-meat dumpling. Take some cold veal, chicken, lobster, or tender cold beef, chopped fine. Put a half table-spoonful of butter in a saucepan on the fire. When melted, put in a piece of onion chopped fine; fry a little; add half a table-spoonful of flour. When it browns, put in the minced meat; stir it steadily till heated through, adding salt and pepper. Then add a gill and a half of broth, and set the pan a little off the fire to simmer. Chop three stalks of parsley fine, and mix it in on the fire, stirring all the time. Then break in two eggs, stirring faster; in two or three minutes take it from the fire and set it to cool. Thus far has occupied about ten minutes. When the meat is cold, sift some flour on the board; take a lump of the mince the size of an egg or larger, roll it in the fine flour, dip it in a cup of beaten egg, drain and roll it in bread crumbs; have a quantity of boiling suet or drippings in a frying-pan, and fry the croquettes in them for a couple of minutes, till brown. Put in a colander and let the fat drain off.