FoodNetArchive

[Modern cookery, in all its branches

1884

Page 181

Presented as published in 1884. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
The breast only of a bird is sometimes held in the water while it boils, to render it firm for larding. To preserve the whiteness of meat, and the bright green of vegetables, they are lifted from the water after they have boiled a few minutes, and are thrown imme- diately into spring water, and left till cold. 5 to 10 minutes. GLAZING This process we have explained at the article Glaze , Chapter IY. The surface of the meat should be covered evenly, with two or three separate layers of the glaze, which, if properly made, soon be- comes firm. A ham should be well dried in the oven before it is laid on. Cutlets of all kinds may be glazed before they are sent to table, with very good effect. The figure above represents a glaze-pot and brush, used for heating and applying CHAP. IX.] BOILING, BOASTING, ETC. 183 the preparation : a jar placed in a pan of boiling water may be sub- stituted for the first, when it is not at hand. TOASTING. A very cheap apparatus, by which chops can be dressed before a clear fire, is shown by the first of these figures ; and the second is peculiarly convenient when bread or muffins are required to be toasted expeditiously and in large quantities, without much time and attention being bestowed upon them. TO BROWN THE SURFACE OF A DISH WITHOUT BAKING OR PLACING IT AT THE FIRE. This is done with a salamander, as it is called, formed like the en- graving below ; it is heated in the fire, and held over the dish suf- ficiently near to give it colour. It is very much used in a superior order of cookery. A kitchen shovel is sometimes substituted for it on an emergency. 184 MODERN COOKERY, [chap. x. CHAPTER X. Stef. No. 1. Sirloin. 2. Rump. 3. Edge-bone. 4. Buttock, or Round. 6. Mouse Buttock. 6. Veiny Piece. 7. Thick Flank. 8. Thin Flank. 9. Leg. 10. Fore Rib. (Five Ribs.) No. 11. Middle Rib. (Four Ribs.) 12. Chuck Rib. (Three Ribs.) 13. Shoulder, or Leg of Mutton Piece. 14. Brisket. 15. Clod. 16. Neck. 17. Shin. 18. Cheek. TO CHOOSE BEEF. Beef is in reality in season through the entire year, but it is best during the winter months, when it will hang a sufficient time to become tender before it is dressed. Meat of a more delicate nature is better adapted for the table in sum- mer. The Christmas beef of England is too much celebrated to require any mention here. If young and freshly killed, the lean of ox-beef will be smoothly grained, and of a fine, healthy, carnation-red, the fat rather white than yellow, and the suet white and firm. Heifer-beef is more BEEF. chap, x.] 185 closely grained, and rather less bright of colour, the bones are con- siderably smaller, and the fat of a purer white. Of bull-beef we only speak to warn our readers that it is of all meat the coarsest and the most rank in flavour. It may be known by its dark hue, its close tough fibre, and the scanty proportion, bad appearance, and strong odour of its fat. In choice and well-fed beef, the lean will be found intergrained with fat : very lean meat is generally of an inferior quality.