The Ideal cook book

Lamb - Observe the neck of a fore-quarter; if the vein is bluish it is fresh ; if it has a green or yellow caste it is stale. In the hind-quarter, if there is a faint smell under the kidney, and the knuckle is limp, the meat is stale. If the eyes are sunken the head is not fresh. Grass-lamb comes in season in April or May, and continues till August. House-lamb may be had in great towns almost all the year, but is in highest perfection in December and January. Pork —Pinch the lean and if young it will break. Ifthe rind is tough, thick, and cannot easily be impressed by the finger, it is old. A thin rind is a merit in all pork. When fresh, the flesh will be smooth and cool ; if clammy it is tainted. : : SL eae tee ee 2 ‘THe Dominiox Cook Book. What is called measley pork is very unwholesome, and may be known by the fat being full of kernels, which in good pork is never the case. Pork fed at still-houses does not answer for curing any way, the fat being spongy. Dairy-fed pork is the ‘best. A sucking pig, to be eaten in perfection, should not be more than three weeks old, and should be dressed the same day it is killed. : Veal—Veal should be perfectly white; if purchasing the loin, the fat enveloping the kidney should be white and firm. Veal will not keep so long as an older meat, especially in hot or wet weather. Choose small and fat veal. It is in season from March to August. Tripe—This requires to be well cooked and nicely served, and then it is both light and nutritious, and can often be eaten by invalids, or persons having a delicate digestion. Choose a nice white piece; wash it well, and put into a stewpan with sufficient milk and water in equal parts to cover it ; let it simmer gently for about half an hour after it has boiled up. Serve with white sauce, omitting the parsley, and garnish the dish with slices of beet-root. Onion sauce may be substituted if preferred, or it may be served with a little of the liquor in which it has been cooked poured over it, and some plainly boiled Spanish onions handed round in a vegetable dish. CARVING BEEF. 128. Brisket of Beef. Cut neatly, across lines as shown here | 129. Ribs. The manner of carving is as follows : cut in direction of dotted line from 1 to 2. 130. Sirloin. The upper part of this joint should be cut along line from 5 to 6. Should you prefer it you may cut across from 3 to 4, but we do not advise this plan. The joint may be raised and slices cut from the under sidealonglinefrom 1 to 2. MEats. 53 131. Aitchbone. Follow with knife, line from 1 to 2. _ BEEF. 132. Spiced Beef—Ingredients—8 or 9 lbs. of beef, fat, 4% oz, of sal prunella, 3¢ oz. of saltpetre, 2 oz. of pounded spices, % lb. garlic, Yf |b. of moist sugar. Take eight or nine pounds of beef, with a good piece of fat, mix well together a quarter ounce of sal prunella, three quarters of an ounce saltpetre, about two ounces pounded spices—mace, cinnamon, cloyes, allspice, nutmeg half pound garlic chopped very fine, and a quarter pound of moist sugar; rub this mixture well into the beef, andlet it remain in the pickle a week, turning and rubbing it every day ; tie up the beef, put it into cold water, boil it up slowly, skim well, and simmer for two or three hours ; put it under heavy weights. ‘Trim and serve cold, 133. Beef-Steak Pudding—lIngredients— 4 lb. of flour, 6 oz. of beef suet, 21% lbs. of rump or beef steak, pepper and salt, 1 doz. oysters, 4 pt. of stock.