Souse. — Clean pig's ears and feet well ; cover them with cold water slightly salted and boil until tender. Pack in stone jars while hot, and cover while you make ready for pickle. To half a gallon of good cider vinegar allow half a ciip of white sugar, three .dozen whole black pep- pers, a dozen blades of mace and a dozen cloves✪ Souse. Boil this one minute. taking care that it really boils, and pour while hot over the still warm feet and ears. It will be ready to use in two days and will keep in a cool place for two months. If you wish it for breakfast, make a batter of one egg, one cup of milk, salt to taste, and a teaspoonful of butter, with enough flour for a thin muffin batter; dip each piece in this and fry in hot lard or dripping. Or dip each in beaten egg, then in pounded cracker before frying. Souse is also good eaten cold, especially the feet. Stew, Oven. — Two or three pounds of beef shin are selected, the bone being broken into three or four pieces. After wiping with a damp cloth, remove all the meat from the bone and cut into small pieces for serving. Scrape the marrow from the bone and place in a kettle, and in it brown first the meat, then the vegetables cut in cubes — half an onion and one carrot. Now dredge well with flour and salt, adding about a tablespoon- iul of browned flour to give color. Add one or two whole cloves, one- half cup of tomato✪ Stew, Oven or a little tomato catsup, then the pieces of bone. Cook in the oven in a deep iron meat-pan for three or four hours, adding potatoes, cut in cubes, one hour before serving. Stew. Tomato. — Fry a tiny onion, or a slice or two of ordinary size, in a couple of tablespoonfuls of fat. Add two or three slices of carrot and let them brown. Then stir in a cupful of canned tomatoes and half a cupful of beef stock or gravy. If stock is used the mixture should be thickened with a little flour. Add also half a bayieaf and a couple of sprays of Summer savory✪ Stew, Tomato, and simmer the stew slowly for half an hour, so that it may be permeated with the seasonings. At the end of this time add the cold meat from a shank of beef, or any "leftover," cut in small pieces. Simmer very slowly tor five or 10 minutes and serve hot, after dashing in a little salt and pepper. Tough Meat. — To soften a tough steak pour a few spoonfuls of vine- gar, or vinegar and oil mixed, over it, and allow it to stand 13 to 34 hours, turning occasionally. A tough piece of meat may be laid in vine- gar (not too strong) for three or four days in Summer, or twice as long in Winter. Oil or spices may be added to the vinegar if desired, this bath being termed a marinade. Tough meat should receive long gentle cook- ing, preferably in an enclosed vessel which will prevent evaporation of juices. Such beef should not be treated like a tender rib roast; it would THE RURAL COOK BOOK. 39 better be braised (pot roast) or cooked as beef a la mode. The mar- inade will be found desirable when the meat is cooked in this way. If stewed, the same system of piolonged gentle cooking (preferably in an earthen stewpan or casserole) should be employed.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Souse. — Clean pig's ears and feet well ; cover them with cold water slightly salted and boil until tender. Pack in stone jars while hot, and cover while you make ready for pickle. To half a gallon of good cider vinegar allow half a cup of white sugar, three .dozen whole black peppers, a dozen blades of mace and a dozen cloves. Boil this one minute. taking care that it really boils, and pour while hot over the still warm feet and ears. It will be ready to use in two days and will keep in a cool place for two months. If you wish it for breakfast, make a batter of one egg, one cup of milk, salt to taste, and a teaspoonful of butter, with enough flour for a thin muffin batter; dip each piece in this and fry in hot lard or dripping. Or dip each in beaten egg, then in pounded cracker before frying. Souse is also good eaten cold, especially the feet. Stew, Oven. — Two or three pounds of beef shin are selected, the bone being broken into three or four pieces. After wiping with a damp cloth, remove all the meat from the bone and cut into small pieces for serving. Scrape the marrow from the bone and place in a kettle, and in it brown first the meat, then the vegetables cut in cubes — half an onion and one carrot. Now dredge well with flour and salt, adding about a tablespooniul of browned flour to give color. Add one or two whole cloves, one-half cup of tomato or a little tomato catsup, then the pieces of bone. Cook in the oven in a deep iron meat-pan for three or four hours, adding potatoes, cut in cubes, one hour before serving. Stew. Tomato. — Fry a tiny onion, or a slice or two of ordinary size, in a couple of tablespoonfuls of fat. Add two or three slices of carrot and let them brown. Then stir in a cupful of canned tomatoes and half a cupful of beef stock or gravy. If stock is used the mixture should be thickened with a little flour. Add also half a bay leaf and a couple of sprays of Summer savory, and simmer the stew slowly for half an hour, so that it may be permeated with the seasonings. At the end of this time add the cold meat from a shank of beef, or any "leftover," cut in small pieces. Simmer very slowly tor five or 10 minutes and serve hot, after dashing in a little salt and pepper. Tough Meat. — To soften a tough steak pour a few spoonfuls of vinegar, or vinegar and oil mixed, over it, and allow it to stand 13 to 34 hours, turning occasionally. A tough piece of meat may be laid in vinegar (not too strong) for three or four days in Summer, or twice as long in Winter. Oil or spices may be added to the vinegar if desired, this bath being termed a marinade. Tough meat should receive long gentle cooking, preferably in an enclosed vessel which will prevent evaporation of juices. Such beef should not be treated like a tender rib roast; it would better be braised (pot roast) or cooked as beef a la mode. The marinade will be found desirable when the meat is cooked in this way. If stewed, the same system of piolonged gentle cooking (preferably in an earthen stewpan or casserole) should be employed.

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