Beef suet

“ Rub the beef with these ingredients. Put it into a tub as near the size of the beef as possible; turn it every day in the pickle it makes. In about four weeks it will be ready for use. For thirty pounds use two pounds beef suet. When cooked place sticks across the bottom of the pot to prevent its burning.—Mrs. R. L. P.
Spiced Beef.
Take eight or ten pounds of the thin flank, remove any gristle, 158 skin or bones; rub it over with half ounce saltpetre, half ounce bay salt, then rub it well in with a mixture of spices, the the following proportions being used:
1 ounce black pepper. ”

“ Take a slice of beef, about half an inch thick and four or five wide; cut it in two equal parts; beat them well to make them flat, and pare the edges neatly. Mince your parings with beef suet, parsley, onions, mushroom, a shalot, two leaves of basil, and mix them into a forcemeat with the yolks of four eggs. A little minced ham is a great addition. Spread this forcemeat upon the slices of beef, and roll them up in the form of sausages. Tie them with packthread, and stew them in a little broth, a glass of white wine, salt, pepper, an onion stuck with cloves, a carrot, and a parsnip. ”

“ Beef sausages are prepared in exactly the same manner as pork. The best part to use is beef steak. To 1 lb. of this use 1⁄4 lb. beef suet or other good fat, 1⁄4 pint stock, or water, 11⁄2 oz. sifted breadcrumbs, 1 large teaspoonful salt, 1⁄2 teaspoonful dried and sifted parsley mixed with a similar quantity of thyme, and 1 small teaspoonful salt. If these sausages are properly made and cooked, they will, when cut, give plenty of gravy; they are considered somewhat less rich than those made of pork. ”

“ The suet should be dry and crumbly and of a darker shade than the fat. In old beef both flesh and fat will be darker, much coarser in fiber and decidedly dry compared with young beef. If the beef is of a pale, dull color, and flabby, it is not well matured; if very dark and colored and coarse grained with deep yellow fat it will be found tough and tasteless and if it bears greenish tints and feels slippery on the surface it is already stale and unfit for use. When meat is tough add a little vinegar or a piece of lemon to the water in which it is boiled. ”

“ Ingredients.—To every lb. of suet allow 2 lbs. of lean beef; seasoning to taste of salt, pepper, and mixed spices. Mode.—Clear the suet from skin, and chop that and the beef as finely as possible; season with pepper, salt, and spices, and mix the whole well together. Make it into flat cakes, and fry of a nice brown. Many persons pound the meat in a mortar after it is chopped, but this is not necessary when the meat is minced finely. ”

“ When buying a pot roast, "Aunt Sarah" selected a thick, chunky piece of meat, weighing several pounds, and a small piece of beef suet which she cut into small bits, placed pan containing them on hot range, added a small, sliced onion, and when fat was quite hot she added the quickly rinsed piece of meat, and quickly seared it to retain the juice; added 1 cup of hot water, a sprig of parsley, seasoning of salt and pepper ”

“ For a moderate sized family it may seem too much beef to buy at one time; but it is the one kind of meat that can be served very often, and there is no waste. It is good hot or cold, warmed over or hashed. The suet is the best fat for frying purposes, and the bones make good soup. ”

“ Take small pieces of salt beef and pickle pork, veal and mutton chops, a goose or a duck cut into pieces, onions and potatoes cut into thick slices, and season with a little salt and plenty of pepper. Make a paste with beef suet chopped fine, some flour and water; knead them well together, then roll out the paste, sheet a large bowl with it, put into it the above ingredients alternately; cover it with the paste, put a cloth over, and boil four hours. When it is to be served up take off the cloth, make a little hole in the top, and add a good consumé. ”

“ Season well with salt and pepper. Another method that also proves satisfactory is to mix the flour and liquid and then add them to the fat that remains in the pan in which the meat has been cooked.
TRYING OUT SUET AND OTHER FATS
71. The suet obtained from beef is a valuable source of fat for cooking, and it should therefore never be thrown away. The process of obtaining the fat from suet is called trying, and it is always practiced in homes where economy is the rule.
To try out suet, cut the pieces into half-inch cubes, place them in a heavy frying pan, and cover them with hot water. ”

“ Good steer or heifer beef has a fine grain, a yellowish-white fat, and is firm. When first cut it will be of a dark red color, which changes to a bright red after a few minutes' exposure to the air. It will also have a juicy appearance; the suet will be dry, crumble easily and be nearly free from fibre. The flesh and fat of the ox and cow will be darker, and will appear dry and rather coarse. The quantity of meat should be large for the size of the bones. Quarters of beef should be kept as long as possible before cutting. ”

“ When beef is good, it will have a fine smooth open grain, and it will feel tender when squeezed or pinched in your fingers. The lean should be of a bright carnation red, and the fat white rather than yellow—the suet should be perfectly white. If the lean looks dark or purplish, and the fat very yellow, do not buy the meat. ”

“ Take 3 or 4lbs. of either beef or mutton suet, cut in small dice; put in a stewpan, with half a pint of water; place on the fire to melt, stirring now and then; when the suet turns to a light yellow colour, pour it through a colander, which you have already placed in a basin, press the suet with the back of a spoon to extract the oil of the fat; it is then ready for use, and will keep a long time without spoiling; you may fry many times with the same. ”

“ 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 185closely grained, and rather less bright of colour, the bones are considerably 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. ”

“ Tie up a round of beef so as to keep it in shape; make a stuffing of grated bread, suet, sweet herbs, quarter of an ounce of nutmeg, a few cloves pounded, yolk of an egg. Cut holes in the beef, and put in the stuffing, leaving about half the stuffing to be made into balls. Tie the beef up in a cloth, just cover it with water, let it boil an hour and a half; then turn it, and let it boil an hour and a half more; then turn out the liquor, and put some skewers across the bottom of the pot, and lay the beef upon it, to brown; turn it that it may brown on both sides. ”

“ As soon as it begins to smoke it should be removed a little to one side, and still be kept at the boiling point. If fritters, crullers, croquettes, etc., are dropped into fat that is too hot, it crusts over the outside before the inside has fully risen, making a heavy, hard article, and also ruining the fat, giving it a burnt flavor.
Many French cooks prefer beef fat or suet to lard for frying purposes, considering it more wholesome and digestible, does not impart as much flavor, or adhere or soak into the article cooked as pork fat. ”

“ A small piece of bacon or lean ham is sometimes cooked with vegetables for flavor.
Beef ranks first as regards utility and economy in soup making. It should be cut from the fore or hind shin (which cuts contain marrow-bone) , the middle cuts being most desirable. If the lower part of shin is used, the soup, although rich in gelatin, lacks flavor, unless a cheap piece of lean meat is used with it, which frequently is done. It must be remembered that meat, bone, and fat in the right proportions are all necessary; allow two-thirds lean meat, the remaining one-third bone and fat. ”

“ The thick pieces of belly meat, packed in a two-gallon jar and covered with salt or brine, will make a supply of fat pork to cook with beans and other vegetables. The tenderloin makes good roasts, the head and feet may go into head cheese or scrapple, and the trimmings and other scraps of lean meat serve for a few pounds of home-made sausage. In some large families it is found profitable to "corn" a fore quarter of beef for spring and summer use. Formerly it was a common farm practice to dry beef, but now it seems to be more usual to purchase beef which has been dried in large establishments. ”

“ As much salt as may be required should be added to the stock when the head first begins to boil in it: the cook must regulate also by the taste the exact proportion of cayenne, mace, and catsup, which will flavour the soup agreeably. The fragments of the head, with the bones and the residue of the beef used for stock, if stewed down together with some water and a few fresh vegetables, will afford some excellent broth, such as would be highly acceptable, especially if well thickened with rice, to many a poor family during the winter months. ”

“ If you have no bones or bits of meat on hand to make stock with, a knuckle of beef or veal can be procured with little expense; or, if a rich soup is desired, several kinds of meat should be mixed. For instance: Take four pounds of the shin of beef, four pounds of the knuckle of veal, and a half-pound of good lean ham—any scraps of poultry, necks, wings, etc.—that may chance to be unused. Three onions, three carrots, one head of celery, a few chopped mushrooms, two or three fresh tomatoes, or what would be equal to them in canned tomatoes, if they can be obtained ”

“ In choice and well-fed beef, the lean will be found intergrained with fat: very lean meat is generally of an inferior quality.
The ribs, the sirloin, and the rump, are the proper joints for roasting. The round, or buttock, the edgebone, the second round, or mouse-buttock, the shin, the brisket, the shoulder or leg of mutton piece, and the clod, may be boiled or stewed. The neck is generally used for soup or gravy; and the thin flank for collaring. The best steaks are cut from the middle of the rump ”

“ Should any of the veal be left until cold, it might be cut into thin slices, and gradually warmed in either of the before-mentioned sauces. Should you make your stock from the leg or shin of beef, stew it double the time, preserve the vegetables boiled in the stock, and serve with beef, or serve the beef with some nice sharp sauce over; the remainder, if cold, may also be hashed in the ordinary way. If of mutton, and you have used the scrags of the neck, the breast, head, or the chump of the loin, keep them in as large pieces as possible ”

“ Any kind of meat can be used to make a meat-and-potato hash; but, of course, nothing is so good as corned beef. Cold roast, boiled, or broiled beef, mutton, lamb, veal, or tongue can be freed from skin, fat, and bones, seasoned highly with salt and pepper, and cooked like corned beef hash. Even two or three kinds of meat can be used. If it happens that you have a bit of steak, a part of a chop, and perhaps a slice of tongue, use them all. ”

“ Consommé, or Stock, forms the basis of all meat soups, and also of all principal sauces. It is, therefore, essential to the success of these culinary operations to know the most complete and economical method of extracting from a certain quantity of meat the best possible stock or broth. Fresh, uncooked beef makes the best stock, with the addition of cracked bones, as the glutinous matter contained in them renders it important that they should be boiled with the meat, which adds to the strength and thickness of the soup. ”

“ In cases of sudden emergency, when stock is wanted and is not to be had, the recipe for Quick Beef Tea answers very well, using one quart of water instead of one pint, and by adding a few vegetables; this is made in five minutes. White soup is looked upon as quite a high-class soup, but it is just as easy to make as any other kind. A piece of stewed veal or mutton, or a boiled chicken, gives the stock at once, or the bones of mutton, veal, or pork alone will form the foundation. Never throw away the water in which carrots, parsnips, celery, or even cauliflowers have been boiled. ”

“ When nearly done, season with black and cayenne pepper and salt. The habit of dredging beef with flour is a very bad one. Flour is no improvement to beef. Ten pounds of beef will roast, before a good fire, in two hours. For the gravy, pour off the grease, add a little water, pepper and salt; send to table in a gravy boat. This receipt will answer for any part of the beef that is fit to roast. Garnish with horse-radish, grated. All roasts should be well skewered to the spit. ”

“ Pork, veal, and lamb, should always be well roasted; but many eaters prefer mutton and beef rather underdressed, though some persons have a strong objection to the sight even of any meat that is not thoroughly cooked.
Joints which are thin in proportion to their weight, require less of the fire than thick and solid ones. Ribs of beef, for example, will be sooner ready to serve than an equal weight of the rump, round, or sirloin ”

“ By adding one tea-spoonful of made mustard, the juice of half a lemon, and a little vinegar to the poivrade, instead of the claret, one has the sauce Robert.
BEEF.
For a roast of beef, the sirloin and tenderloin cuts are considered the best. They are more expensive, and are no better than the best cuts of a rib roast: the sixth, seventh, and eighth ribs are the choicest cuts. The latter roasts are served to better advantage by requesting the butcher to remove the bones and roll the meat. Always have him send the bones also, as they are a valuable acquisition to the soup-pot. ”