Beef Stewed With Oysters

Pre-pare two or three pounds of the best beef, by trimming off all the fat, and removing the bone. Lay in the bottom of the stew-pan a few bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. Then put in the meat, and sprinkle a little pepper over each piece. Have ready a quart of large fresh oysters. Strain the liquor to clear it from bits of the shell, and pour it over the meat in the stew-pan. Stew the meat in the oyster liquor till it is thoroughly cooked, skimming it well, and keeping it covered, except when skimming. Then add grated nutmeg, and a few blades of mace. Lastly, put in the oysters, and let them remain in just long enough to plump, which will be in a few minutes. If cooked too much oysters always shrivel, and become hard and tough. When all is done, serve up the whole in one dish.

In the same manner clams may be stewed with beef. Never put any salt where there are clams. They are quite salt enough in themselves.

French Stew

Cut into pieces two or three pounds of the lean of fresh tender beef, mutton, veal, or pork, and peel and slice a quarter of a peck or more of ripe tomatos. Season the whole with a little pepper and salt. Add, if you choose, a tea-spoonful of sugar to moderate the extreme acid of the tomatos. Put the whole together into a stew-pot, and cover it closely, opening it occasionally to see how it is doing. Put no water to this stew, the juice of the tomatos will cook it thoroughly. Add a large table-spoonful of minced tarragon leaves. When the tomatos are all dissolved, stir in a piece of fresh butter, dredged with flour. Let it stew about a quarter of an hour longer. When the meat is quite tender all through, and every thins: well done, make some sippets of triangular shaped toast, with the crust trimmed off. Dip the toast, for a moment, in hot water; butter and stand it up all round the inside of a deep dish. Then fill it with the stew, and serve it hot. Any meat may be stewed thus with tomatos.

Potato Beef

This is an excellent family dish. Boil some potatos till well done, all through. Peel them, put them into a large pan, and mash them smoothly, adding, as you proceed, some milk, and one or more beaten eggs, well mixed into the potatos. Rub the bottom of a white ware pudding dish with nice butter, or some drippings of cold beef, and cover it with a thick layer of mashed potatos. Next, put in thin slices of beef, (omitting the fat,) enough to cover the potatos. Next, add another layer of mashed potatos, evenly and thickly spread. Then, more thin slices of beef, and then more potatos. Bo this, till the dish is full; finishing it with potatos, on the top, heaping them up in the centre. Bake it in an oven. There must be plenty of potatos, as they will be much liked.

Beef And Mushrooms

Take three pounds of the best sirloin steaks. Season them with black pepper and a very little salt, having removed the fat and bone. Put a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter into a frying-pan, and set it over the fire. When it is boiling hot, put in the steaks, and fry them brown. Have ready a quart of very fresh mushrooms, peeled and stemmed. If large, cut them in four. Season them with a little pepper and salt, and dredge them lightly with flour, and add a few bits of butter. Stew them in a separate pan kept closely covered. When the steaks are done, pour the mushrooms over them with all their juice. Put them all (steaks and mushrooms) into a dish with a cover, and serve them up hot.

This is a breakfast dish, or a side dish for dinner. Unless the company is very small, four pounds of beef steaks, at least, and three pints of mushrooms, (with butter in proportion) will be required at dinner, as it will be much liked.