Roasting Beef

Never wash meat; simply wipe with a damp cloth, rub with salt and dredge with flour; put in the pan with a little of the suet chopped fine, and a teacupful of water; set in a hot oven, two inches above the bottom. The oven should be quite hot, in order to close the pores on the surface of the meat as quickly as possible. As the meat hardens reduce the heat a little, basting frequently. Turn two or three times during the roasting, taking care not to let the gravy scorch. Meat cooked in this way will be tender and juicy, and when done will be slightly red in the centre. Should it prove too rare, carve thin and lay in a hot pan with a little gravy for one minute. Beef will roast in from-one and-half to two hours, according to size. All meats may be roasted in the same way, taking care in every case, that the albuminous juices do not escape.

A Good Way To Roast A Leg Of Mutton

Into a kettle, with hot water enough to cover, put a leg of mutton. Let it boil half an hour, and the moment it is taken from the water, salt, pepper, and dredge with flour, and put on to roast with one-half a teacup of water in the pan. Baste frequently, first adding a tablespoonful of lard. Cooked in this way the meat has none of the peculiar mutton flavor which is distasteful to many.

Clayton's Mode Of Cooking Canvas-Back Ducks

That most delicately flavored wild fowl, the canvas-back duck, to be properly cooked, should be prepared in the following style:

The bird being properly dressed and cleaned, place in the opening, after drawing, a tablespoonful of salt dissolved in water - some add a stick of celery, or celery salt, to flavor, but this is not necessary. Sew up the opening with strong thread; have your fire in the grate red hot - that is, the oven almost red hot; place your duck therein, letting it remain nineteen minutes - which will be amply sufficient time if your oven is at the proper heat - but as tastes differ in this as in other matters of cookery, some prefer a minute longer and others one less. Serve the duck as hot as possible, with an accompanying dish of hominy, boiled, of course; the only condiment to be desired is a little cayenne pepper; some prefer a squeeze of lemon on the duck; others currant jelly; but the simplest and most palatable serving is the directions given.

Clayton's Mode Of Cooking California Quail, Or Young Chickens

Split the birds in the back, and wash, but do not let them remain in the water any time; dry with a cloth; salt and pepper well, and put in a pan with the inside up; also put in two or three slices of fresh or salt pork, and a piece of butter about the size of an egg, with three or four tablespoonfuls of water, and set the pan on the upper shelf of the range when quite hot, and commence basting frequently the moment the birds begin to harden on the top; and when slightly brown turn and serve the under side the same way, until that is also a little brown, taking care not to scorch the gravy. Having prepared a piece of buttered toast for each bird, lay the same in a hot dish, place the birds thereon, and pour the gravy over all. Birds cooked in this manner are always soft and juicy - whereas, if broiled, all the juices and gravy would have gone into the fire - and should you attempt cooking in that way, if not thoroughly, constantly basted, they are liable to burn; and if basted with butter it runs into the fire, smoking and destroying their rich natural flavor.

I have been thus particular in the directions detailed in this recipe, from the fact that many people have an idea that the quail of California are not equal to that of the Atlantic States, when, from my experience with both, which has been considerable, I find no difference in the flavor and juiciness of the birds when cooked in the way I have carefully laid down in the foregoing simple and easily understood directions.