Fried Corned Beef

This is a very homely and economical dish, but it is liked by many persons. Cut thin slices from a cold round of beef, and season them with pepper. Fry them brown over a quick fire, and put them in a covered dish to keep hot. Then wash the frying-pan, cleaning it well from the fat, and put into it plenty of cold boiled cabbage, cut small, and some cold carrots, sliced thin, adding some thin sliced suet, or beef dripping to fry them in. When done, dish the meat with the vegetables laid around it; adding the gravy. This is the dish called in England, Bubble-and-Squeak, perhaps from the noise it makes when frying. It is only designed for strong healthy people with good appetites.

It is sometimes made of salt pork or bacon; sliced potatos being added to the cabbage.

Dried And Smoked Beef

For this purpose have as much as you want cut off from a fine round. Mix together two ounces of saltpetre, (finely pounded) rub it into the meat, cover it, and let it stand a day. Then mix together half a pound of bay-salt, an ounce of black pepper, half an ounce of ground ginger, and an ounce of pounded mace, and a quarter of an ounce of powdered cloves. Rub this mixture well into the beef, put it into a deep pan, and let it lie in this pickle two weeks, turning it every day. Then hang it up in a smoke-house, and smoke it over a fire made of corn-cobs, or maple chips. Never use pine for smoking.

It may be eaten chipped at tea, or what is much better, stewed and warmed in a skillet. Venison may be spiced, dried, and smoked in the same manner.

To Stew Smoked Beef

Having chipped it thin, put it into a skillet, with fresh butter, pepper, and two or three beaten yolks of eggs. Let it stew till the beef is crisp and curled up.

Never allow yourself to be persuaded to use pyroligneous acid in curing dried beef or ham - instead of the real smoke of a wood fire. It communicates a taste and smell of kreosote, and is a detestable substitute, detected in a moment.

A Spiced Round Of Beef

Take a large prime round of beef; extract the bone, and close the hole. Tie a tape all round it to keep it firm. Take four ounces of finely powdered saltpetre, and rub it well into the beef. Put the meat into a very clean pickling-tub that has a close-fitting cover, and let it rest for two days. Next rub it thoroughly with salt, and return it to the tub for eight days. Then take an ounce of powdered mace, a large nutmeg powdered, a half-ounce of pepper, and a quarter of an ounce of powdered cloves, (not more.)

Mix these spices well together, and then mix them with a pound of fine brown sugar. Rub the spices and sugar thoroughly all over the beef, which will be ready to cook next day. Then fill the opening with minced sweet herbs, sweet basil, and sweet marjoram, laid in loosely and lightly. Take half a pound of nice beef-suet. Divide it in two, and flatten each half of the suet by beating it with a rolling-pin. Lay it in a broad earthen pan, with one sheet of suet under the meat, and the other pressed over it. Above this place a sheet of clean white paper, and over all put a large plate. Set it in a hot oven, and bake it five hours or more, till by probing it to the bottom, with a sharp knife, you find it thoroughly cooked. It is excellent as a cold standing dish, for a large family. When it is to be eaten cold, boil fresh cabbage to go with it. Also parsnips and carrots.

Cabbage. - For this beef, red cabbage is very nice, cut small, and stewed with butter and tarragon vinegar.