Put it in pots, press it down as close as possible, and cover it a quarter of an inch thick with clarified butter; to prepare which, see receipt [No. 259], and if you wish to preserve it a long time, over that tie a bladder. Keep it in a dry place.
Obs. You may mince a little ham or bacon, or an anchovy, sweet or savoury herbs, or an eschalot, and a little tarragon, chervil, or burnet, &c., and pound them with the meat, with a glass of wine, or some mustard, or forcemeat ([No. 376], or Nos. [378] and [399*], &c.); if you wish to have it devilish savoury, add ragoût powder ([No. 457]), curry powder ([No. 455]), or zest ([No. 255]), and moisten it with mushroom catchup ([No. 439]), or essence of anchovy ([No. 433]), or tincture of allspice ([No. 413]), or essence of turtle ([No. 343*]), or, ([No. 503*]).
It is a very agreeable and economical way of using the remains of game or poultry, or a large joint of either roasted or boiled beef, veal, ham, or tongue, &c. to mince it with some of the fat, (or moisten it with a little butter, or [No. 439], &c.) and beat it in a mortar with the seasoning, &c., as in the former receipt.
When either the teeth or stomach are extremely feeble, especial care must be taken to keep meat till it is tender before it is cooked; or call in the aid of those excellent helps to bad teeth, the pestle and mortar. And see Nos. [10], [18], [87], [89], [175], [178]; from [185] to [250], [502], [542], and especially [503]. Or dress in the usual way whatever is best liked, mince it, put it into a mortar, and pound it with a little broth or melted butter, vegetable, herb, spice, zest ([No. 255]), &c. according to the taste, &c. of the eater. The business of the stomach is thus very materially facilitated.
“Flesh in small quantities, bruised to a pulp, may be very advantageously used in fevers attended with debility.”—Darwin’s Zoonomia, vol. ii. p. 400.
“Mincing or pounding meat saveth the grinding of the teeth; and therefore (no doubt) is more nourishing, especially in age, or to them that have weak teeth; but butter is not proper for weak bodies, and therefore moisten it in pounding with a little claret wine, and a very little cinnamon or nutmeg.”—Lord Bacon; Natural History, Century 1. 54.
Obs.—Meat that has been boiled down for gravies, &c. see Nos. [185] and [252], (which has heretofore been considered the perquisite of the cat) and is completely drained of all its succulence, beat in a mortar with salt and a little ground black pepper and allspice, as directed in the foregoing receipt, and it will make as good potted beef as meat that has been baked till its moisture is entirely extracted, which it must be, or it will not keep two days.
Mem.—Meat that has not been previously salted, will not keep so long as that which has.
Sandwiches,—(No. 504.)
Properly prepared, are an elegant and convenient luncheon or supper, but have got out of fashion, from the bad manner in which they are commonly made: to cut the bread neatly with a sharp knife seems to be considered the only essential, and the lining is composed of any offal odds and ends, that cannot be sent to table in any other form.