Tinned meat

“ There are many varieties of tinned meats, according to the labels, but they all taste alike when one has become tired of them and dislikes them equally; sometimes, when one is feverish, the smell of them is as much as an ordinary stomach can digest in that debilitating climate. During those first months our meats were chiefly Armour’s sausage and some anomalous concoction of strong meats and stale onions called Irish Stew. We bought from the natives bananas, plantains and sweet potatoes, and after some time we were able to buy a chicken on rare occasions. ”

“ The larger end of the tin should be cut away, and a small hole made in the opposite end to admit air, which, by its pressure, enables the meat to slip out easily. Great care is needed in opening tinned game and poultry. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is more economical, as the joint loses less weight, and if carefully attended to cannot be distinguished from roast meat. A double tin which holds hot water should be used, so that the steam from the water may prevent the dripping from burning. Place the meat on a trivet in the tin, flour the meat, sprinkle it with salt, put it in the hottest part of the oven for the first few minutes, then remove it to a cooler part, baste well, and turn it over occasionally. (For time and gravy see Roast Meat.) ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When your meat, of whatever kind, has been down some time, but before it begins to look brown, cover it with paper and baste on it; when it is nearly done, take off the peper, dredge it with flour, turn the spit for some minutes very quick, and baste all the time to raise a froth—after which, serve it up. When mutton is roasted, after you take off the paper, loosen the skin and peel it off carefully, then dredge and froth it up. Beef and mutton must not be roasted as much as veal, lamb, or pork ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 lower tin is filled with water, which prevents the fat in the upper tin burning, and giving off unpleasant odours to be absorbed by the meat, and which would spoil its flavour. The principles of roasting and baking are exactly the same, the object being in both processes to preserve the nutritive qualities of the meat by preventing the escape of the juices of the meat. Before putting the joint in the oven it should be well basted with hot fat, for the reason already explained in reference to roasting meat. ”

“ Coarse-grained meat, and meat streaked with connective tissue or gristle, is sure to be tough. (2) Freshness. Fresh beef is a good red colour, modified, when it is very cold, to a purplish shade. If black or greenish in tint the meat is stale, and its odour will be bad. Meat is flabby after it is killed, but soon grows firm. It is in suitable condition for cooking before this change takes place, or some days after it. ”

“ 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. ”

“ BEEF RAGOUT. Take a small well cut piece of lean beef, lard it with the fat of smoked beef, and stew it with good gravy, highly seasoned with allspice, cloves, pepper and salt; when the meat is well done remove it from the gravy, which skim carefully and free from every particle of fat, and add to it a glass of port wine, the juice of a lemon, half a tea-spoonful of cayenne pepper, and a little mushroom ketchup; the beef should be glazed when required to have an elegant appearance. ”

“ 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 ”

“ It extracts less of the valuable matter from the meat, it shrinks the meat before packing so that the tins contain more nutrient matter, and it improves the appearance of the meat to the consumer when opened. ”

“ A ROUND OF BEEF STEWED BROWN.—Take a round of fresh beef; the larger it is the more tender it will be: a small round is always, comparatively, hard and tough. Remove the fat; with a sharp knife make [70] deep cuts or incisions all over the meat, and stuff into them a seasoning of finely minced onions, mixed with powdered mace, nutmeg, and a little pepper and salt. Then go all over the meat with the drippings or cold gravy of roast beef, and dredge it slightly with flour. Have ready an iron dutch-oven and its lid, well heated by standing up both lid and oven before the fire. ”

“ Very large joints if slightly underdone, will make the better hash or broil. Lamb, pork, and veal are uneatable if not thoroughly boiled—but these meats should not be overdone. A trivet, a fish-drainer, or an American contrivance called a "spider"—which is nothing more than a wire dish raised on three or four short legs—put on the bottom of the boiling-pot, raising the contents about an inch and a half from the bottom, will prevent that side of the meat which comes next the bottom being done too much ”

“ In poor beef, the watery part seems to separate from the rest, which lies in a pool of serous bloody fluid. The gravy from such beef is pale and poor in flavor; while the fat, which in healthy beef is firm and of a delicate yellow, in the inferior quality is dark yellow and of rank smell and taste. Beef is firmer in texture and more satisfying to the stomach than any other form of meat, and is usually considered more strengthening. ”

“ You can remove the bone or not, it improves the flavor if left. Put the joint into a saucepan and over it pour some boiling water. Boil about fifteen or sixteen minutes, and then remove it to one side of the fire. This process secures all the juices in the meat. Now put the bacon, onion, carrots (cut in lengths) , turnips (sliced) , spice, cloves, pepper corns, celery, parsley and salt into a braizing pan. Put in the meat and pour the stock over it, and, if you have it, add some sherry or wine. ”

“ To the gravy that is now running from the meat add nothing but a tea-cup of boiling water. Skim it, and send it to table in a boat. Serve up with the beef in a small deep plate, scraped horseradish moistened with vinegar.
Fat meat requires more roasting than lean, and meat that has been frozen will take nearly double the usual time.
Basting the meat continually with flour and water is a bad [71] practice, as it gives it a coddled par-boiled appearance, and diminishes the flavour. ”

“ Of course, the kind, quality, and shape of the meat all play their part in the matter. Extra time is needed for meats with a good deal of sinew and tough fibers, such as the tough steaks, shank cuts, etc.; and naturally a fillet of beef, or a steak from a prime cut, will take less time than a thick piece from the shin. ”

“ Chop sufficient cold cooked beef to make one pint; add to it a teaspoonful of salt, and a quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper. Beat two eggs until light, add to them a half pint of water or stock; stir into this one and a half cups of flour, beat until smooth, add a teaspoonful of baking powder and the meat. Drop this by spoonfuls into smoking hot fat; cook about three minutes, drain on brown paper, and serve either on a folded napkin, or in a dish with tomato sauce. ”

“ Take a pound of beef free from skin, bone, etc., put into a sausage machine, and get it mashed up; put on a plate, pepper it slightly. Now take ingredients same as for No. 4, and chop fine the ginger, garlic, and mix with the meat with little salt. Now make this meat into balls as large as a marble, flour it, and fry in lard to a brown colour. Do not let it break. Now keep this to a side, and place a good stew-pan on fire, and put in the butter and the onions sliced, and the Curry Powder. When all these nice and brown add the meat balls to it. Just mix slowly, not to break the meat balls. ”

“ Tender, well-fatted meat holds its juices, cooks perfectly in an open pan if moderate heat is used.
Tough meat, on the other hand, requires long, slow cooking in a covered pan with water or steam. So turn the less tender cuts into pot roast, stew, or some other braised dish. Or, grind them and cook the same as tender meat. Meat cooked in water or steamed is juicier if cooled in the broth for an hour or longer.
Regardless of cut, add fat to very lean beef, lamb, and most veal for richness and good flavor. Then cook as braised steaks and chops, oven-braised meat, pot roast, or stew. ”

“ Beef à la Mode Insert twelve large lardoons in a four-pound piece of beef cut from the round. Make incisions for lardoons by running through the meat a large skewer. Season with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and brown the entire surface in pork fat. Put on a trivet in kettle, surround with one-third cup each carrot, turnip, celery, and onion cut in dice, sprig of parsley, bit of bay leaf, and water to half cover meat. Cover closely, and cook slowly four hours, keeping liquor below the boiling-point. Remove to hot platter. Strain liquor, thicken and season to serve as a gravy. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Pigs' Knuckles and Sauerkraut Wash and scrape pigs' knuckles and simmer in water to cover for about 2 hours, or until tender. Then add sauerkraut to the broth and cook just long enough to make it tender. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and if available, celery or caraway seed.
GROUND MEAT IN SAVORY WAYS Grinding helps to make tough meat tender. Good cuts of beef for grinding grinding are lower round, fore part of the chuck, lean sections of brisket, and other small pieces of good flavor. There are also many small tidbits of tender lamb, pork, and veal that are best used as ground meat. ”

“ Perhaps there is no one piece of sausage as susceptible of being made so excellent or so tasteless, it being entirely a matter of what it is made from. The better grades are made from freshly killed bull beef, hashed warm. The process consists in boning bull beef and opening the meats along the seams, so to speak, skinning each bundle of muscle to remove the wrapping and cutting out all ligaments. Fresh pork, preferably, shoulder meat is treated in the same manner. ”