The new century cookery book

814. Queue de boeuf braisee a la Polonaise (. Braised Oxtail with Cauliflower). — Cut a good-sized ox-tail into sections, blanch the pieces in slightly-salted water, cool and drain them thoroughly on a cloth. Melt about two ounces of butter in a braisingpan, when hot put in the ox-tail, season with salt and pepper and fry them over a quick fire for some minutes, now add one large carrot cut into slices, a sliced onion, a few slices of lean bacon, twelve peppercorns and a bay-leaf. Fry a little longer, so as to blend the vegetables. Pour off the butter, moisten with a pint of Madere sauce (No. 237 a), and cook in the oven (pan covered) from one and a half to two hours, or till the meat is quite tender. Meanwhile cook a large cauliflower (previously trimmed and washed) in salted water. Dish the ox-tail pieces on a round dish, sauce over carefully, put the centre part of the cauliflower in the centre of the dish, and place the smaller parts around it. Sprinkle with finely-chopped parsley and pour a little butter (beurre noisette, No. 244) over the vegetable. The slices of bacon, carrot, and onion may, if liked, be included when dishing up, but the sauce must be strained before being used. 815. Steak and Kidney Pie.— Make a puff-paste crust ( see ‘Pastry’), cut about a pound of rump or buttock steak into thin slices, dip each slice into a mixture of flour, salt, and pepper, and roll a slice of kidney and a tiny piece of fat into each slice of beef. Place them in a pie-dish pour, in enough water or stock to come half-way up the dish, wet the edges of the dish and line with a strip of paste, brush the edge of the crust with egg, milk, or water, and place on a cover of paste. Make a small incision in the centre of the paste, and decorate with a few fancifully cut leaves of paste. Brush over with beaten egg-yolk and bake for about one and a half hour. YVeal and ham, pigeon, and rabbit pies are made in the same manner.Hard-boiled eggs cut into quarters or slices can be used with the filling ingredients if liked. A rough puff or flaky crust is eminently suitable for all kinds of meat pies. 816. Steak and Oyster P adding . 1 lb. flour {sifted), 8 oz. beef suet, 1 gill milk, li lb. buttock or rump steak, 18 sauce oysters, ^ gill stock {No. 87), salt and pepper, | lemon. Free the suet from skin and chop it very finely, sprinkle a little flour or bread-crumbs with the suet when chopping it, put the flour and suet in a basin, add a good pinch of salt, and mix thoroughly. Add the milk, and a little water if needed, and work into a paste. Cut the beef across the grain into thin slices. Mix about a tablespoonful of flour with a teaspoonful of fine salt and half a teaspoonful of pepper in a plate, dip one side of the meat slices in this, roll in each a small piece of fat. Beard the oysters. Boll out the paste about a quarter of an inch thick and line with it a pudding-basin of suitable size. Reserve a piece of the paste large enough for the top of the pudding. Fill the lined basin with layers of beef and oysters. Rasp a little lemon-rind between the layers, moisten with well seasoned stock and a little lemon-juice. Wet the edge of the paste crust, and place on the cover ; press down the edges very firmly.