Minced meat

“ Mince finely a veal kidney and add one-half pound of minced veal. Make a brown sauce of flour and butter, and add the meat to it. Let it cool a little, and add three well-beaten eggs, with a teaspoonful of rasped Gruyère. Butter a mold, and sprinkle the inside with breadcrumbs, and fill it with the mince. Leave it for three quarters of an hour in the oven, or for an hour and a half in the double saucepan of boiling water. Turn it out of the mold and serve with either a tomato or a mushroom sauce. ”

“ Mince very finely, the breast, or other white parts of cold chicken, fowl, turkey, or roast veal, and about half the quantity of lean ham, or tongue. Have a little delicate gravy, or jelly of roast veal or lamb, thicken it with butter, rolled in flour, add pepper, salt, cayenne, and lemon juice; put the mince in, and stir it over the fire till quite hot, and fill the baked patties with this quite hot. A few oysters may be minced with the meat. ”

“ Mince Meat nearly conforms to the requisites of a perfect food. It contains protein from the meat content, carbohydrates, both sugar and starch in the form of fruits, and moisture. Spices and flavoring make it complete. Its fuel value is considerable. It should not merely be used as a holiday food, but as an all year round product.
Mince meat contains only the best and most wholesome ingredients. On the market are two varieties, the condensed and moist. Moist mince meat requires more attention because of its aptness to ferment. ”

“ Mince-meat made early in the winter, and packed closely in stone jars, will keep till spring, if it has a sufficiency of spice and liquor. Whenever you take out any for use, pour some additional brandy into the jar before you cover it again, and add some more sugar. No mince-meat, however, will keep well unless all the ingredients are of the best quality. The meat should always be boiled the day before you want to chop it. ”

“ Starch or flour is sometimes used in unpressed mince meat also. There is another advantage in using starch or flour, namely, that these bodies absorb large quantities of moisture and thus increase the weight of the mixture. Mince meat cannot be recommended on sanitary grounds, since the method of manufacture is not always known and the materials from which it is made are not always selected with the sole view to the excellence of the raw materials and the health of the consumer. ”

“ Dry or concentrated Mince Meat is made same as above, except that dried apples are used instead of fresh apples, and no liquids are added. Wet Mince Meat is better than the dry and will give better satisfaction. ”

“ If the Mince Meat is to be kept in bulk and not sealed up in jars, add 1⁄2 pint of good Brandy after the Mince Meat has been cooked and allowed to become nearly cold, stirring the Brandy into the Mince Meat thoroughly and then pack into stone crocks, cover tightly and keep in a very cool place where the Mince Meat will not freeze. ”

“ Fill bottom crust with some of the mixture, cover with top crust and bake. There must be just enough liquor in the jar to cover the meat, as that preserves it. This seems like a large quantity of liquor to use, but much of the strength evaporates in baking, so that only an agreeable flavor remains; that is, to those who like liquor in mince meat; some people do not. Others there are who think mince meat not good unless made with something stronger than cider. Mince pies made by this recipe are excellent. This recipe was given Mary by a friend, a noted housekeeper and cook. ”

“ The lean of good fresh beef is of a bright red color, a fine close grain, and feels tender to the touch on pinching it between your thumb and finger. The fat is firm and very nearly white. The suet about the kidney, firm and quite white. If, on the contrary, the lean is coarse, tough, and of a dull color, and the fat scanty, yellow, and moist, do not buy that meat for any purpose. The same rules will apply to mutton. If the weather is so cold that the meat is frozen, thaw it by lying it all night or early in the morning in a tub of cold water. ”

“ Meats are preserved by treating them with potassium nitrate, boric acid, sulfurous acid, salicylic acid, or benzoic acid. Cheap meat may be substituted for the more expensive. A few cases of horse meat in mince meat and sausages have been discovered. Diseased and stale meats have been found on the market. Canned meats often contain zinc, tin, and lead, and sometimes even arsenic. Aniline-red or cochineal-carmine may be added to improve the color of chopped or ground meats. Starch is sometimes added to sausage and similar meat. ”

“ The lean of fat beef cooked in steaks, with very little salt, is the best, and it should be rather underdone than otherwise. Mutton being reckoned easy of digestion, may be occasionally given, to vary the diet and gratify the taste. The legs of fowl are highly esteemed. It is preferable to have the meat broiled, as much of its nutritive quality is lost by roasting or boiling. Biscuit and stale bread are the only preparations of vegetable matter which are permitted to be given; and every thing inducing flatulency must be carefully avoided. ”

“ Their freshness will improve the flavour.
It is best to make mince-meat two or three times during the winter; as it will not continue very good longer than five or six weeks. Whenever you take any out of the jars, put some additional brandy to the remainder.
For mince-meat, and all other purposes, use none but the best raisins. What are called cooking raisins, (like cooking butter and cooking wine,) injure instead of improving the articles with which they are mixed. All things of bad quality are unwholesome as well as unpalatable. ”

“ The other half of the liver having boiled half an hour longer, put it in the air to get cold; then grate it to the mince, and put more onions if you like, but slightly parboiled. Toast a large tea-cupful of oatmeal flour; turn it often with a spoon, that it may be dried equally of a light brown. Spread the mince on a board, and strew the meal lightly over, with salt, pepper and cayenne. Have ready the haggis bag (it is better to have two, for one may burst) , put in the meat, with broth to make a thick stew; the richer the broth the better ”

“ 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 ”

“ In selecting Beef, take that which has a coarse, loose grain, which easily yields to the pressure of finger, or knife; which is a purplish red, and has whitish fat. Ox Beef is best. If the lean is purplish and the fat very yellow, it is bad Beef. If it is coarse-grained and hard to break or cut, it is tough. Stall-fed has lighter fat than grass-fed Beef.
If meat is frozen, lay it in cold water to thaw. A piece of ten pounds, or more, will require all night to thaw. Beef and Mutton improve by keeping. Meat is better for not being frozen, except fresh Pork. ”

“ PATTY MEATS May be prepared from any dressed materials, such as cold dressed veal, beef and mutton, poultry, sweetbreads, and fish; the chief art is to mince them properly, and give them the appropriate flavor and sauce; for veal, sweetbreads, and poultry, which may be used together or separately, the usual seasonings are mace, nutmeg, white pepper, salt, mushrooms minced, or in powder, lemon-peel, and sometimes the juice also; the mince is warmed in a small quantity of white sauce, not too thin, and the patty crusts, when ready baked, are filled with it. ”

“ The fruit should never be floured in making mince pie.
Mince-meat, 2.—2 pounds currants, 5 pounds peeled and cored apples, 2 pounds lean boiled beef, 1 pound beef suet, 3⁄4 pound citron, 21⁄2 pounds coffee sugar, 2 pounds raisins, 1 pound seedless raisins, 2 tablespoons cinnamon, 1 nutmeg, 1 tablespoon each mace, cloves, and allspice, 1 pint each Madeira wine and brandy. Wash currants, dry, pick them; stone the raisins; remove skin and sinews from the beef. Chop each ingredient up, separately, very fine; place as soon as done in large pan, finally adding spices, Madeira, and brandy ”

“ Spread the bottom of the pot with butter, or marrow. Pack in pieces of meat, bone, gristle, the carcases of birds, two or three vegetables cut up in small pieces, two cloves, and a bouquet of herbs.
Cover the meat, etc., with cold water. Put on the lid. Heat slowly, and when it boils set back to simmer for four or five hours.
In preparing meat for this stock, look it over carefully; reject any piece which is not perfectly good, also all stuffing, skin, smoked or burnt pieces. A little beef fat can always be retained, but mutton fat should not be used as it is rank in flavour. ”

“ If she be not hungry, compelling her to eat will do her more harm than good. A medical man, in such a case, ought to be consulted.
640. The best meats are mutton and beef; veal and pork may, for a change, be eaten. Salted meats are hard of digestion; if boiled beef, therefore, be eaten, it ought to be only slightly salted. It is better, in winter, to have the boiled beef unsalted; it is then, especially if it be the rump, deliciously tender. Salt, of course, must be eaten with the unsalted meat. High-seasoned 264dishes are injurious; they inflame the blood, and thus they disorder the milk. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As cold meat is very light in weight, a pound of the white part of the veal will be sufficient for a dish, and for this quantity a pint of gravy will be needed. Break down the bones of the joint well, add the trimmings of the meat, a small bunch of savoury herbs, a slice or two of carrot or of celery, a blade of mace, a few white peppercorns, and a bit or two of lean ham, boiled, or unboiled if it can be had, as either will improve the flavour of the mince. ”

“ If the corned beef is very salty change the water several times. While the meat is hot, separate gristle and excess fat from the lean. Line a bread pan with tough paper or a strip of cheesecloth, lay the pieces of lean meat in the pan so that the fibers of the meat run lengthwise, and add about 1⁄2 cup of the meat broth. Cover the meat with paper or cheesecloth, and press it down with a heavily weighted pan or board. Chill overnight. Turn the pressed meat out of the pan, slice very thin across the grain, and serve with horseradish sauce or a spicy relish. ”

“ Mince raw veal very fine, and mingle it with lard cut into the form of dice, then mince some sweet marjoram, penniroyal, camomile, winter-savory, nutmeg, ginger, pepper, salt, work all together with good store of beaten cinamon, sugar, barberries, sliced figs, blanched almonds, half a pound of beef-suet finely minced, put these into the guts of a fat mutton or hog well cleansed, and cut an inch and a half long, set them a boiling in a pipkin of claret wine with large mace ”

“ If the animal’s age is less than 17 to 18 months, the properly prepared cooked meat should be relatively tender. Yearlings just off the cow with perhaps a short period on grass, weighing 400 to 600 pounds, will produce meat low in fat. This meat will be less flavorful than meat from grain-fed animals but should be acceptably tender. Many persons who slaughter on the farm expect the meat from an 800-pound forage-fed steer to taste like U.S. Choice or Prime.
Meat Yield
Well-fed steers from most beef breeds yield a dressed carcass weighing approximately 60 percent of the animal’s live weight. ”

“ This exception should be duly noted, inasmuch as it is the one redeeming feature of such proceeding that renders it fairly well adapted for the cookery of such [125] meat as cow-heels, sheeps’-trotters, calves’-heads, shins of beef, knuckles of veal, and other viands which consist mainly of membranous, tendinous, or integumentary matter composed of gelatin. To treat the prime parts of good beef or mutton in this manner is to perpetrate a domestic atrocity. ”

“ In the cooking of animal substances in public institutions, where the allowance of meat is generally weighed out in its raw state, and includes bones, and is served out cooked, and sometimes without bone, it is a matter of importance to ascertain nearly their relative proportions. Much, no doubt, depends upon the piece of the meat cooked, and the degree of cookery, and the attention bestowed on it. Persons who salt rounds [129] of beef to sell by retail, after it is boiled, get 19 lbs. of cold boiled beef from 25 lbs. raw; but the meat is always rather underdone. ”

“ A sufficient quantity of mutton or [100] beef suet, butter, lard, or oil, being melted in a pan, and made boiling-hot, the meat is laid in it. It is not necessary that the meat be wholly immersed in the boiling fat; if it be immersed in part, it will be quite sufficient. When flesh is the substance to be fried, the pieces, previously to their being put into the pan, are sometimes brushed over with eggs and crumbs of stale bread, flour, or any other farinaceous substance. ”