The aitch bone is the nicest piece for a beef stew. There is some very juicy meat on the upper side in the large muscle which lies next to the top of the round, and it will serve a small family for a roast, and then may be made into a stew. The flavor obtained by roasting adds much to the stew; for this reason, when the meat has not been cooked, brown it in a little fat before stewing. The bones should never be chopped and splintered, but sawed carefully, and all the fine, crumbly pieces removed before cooking. Other good pieces for stews are two or three pounds from the middle cut of the shin, or the flank end of a large sirloin roast, or the upper part of the chuck rib. Any part that has bone and fat, as well as lean, either cooked or uncooked, makes the best-flavored stew. The fat and bones may be removed before serving, and such pieces are much better than dry, lean meat. Remove the meat from the bones, and put them with part of the fat into the stewpan. Cut the meat into small pieces, and if not previously cooked, dredge with salt, pepper, and flour, and brown all over in salt pork fat or drippings. Put it into the stewpan. Cut two onions, one small white turnip, and half a small carrot (if you like the flavor) into half-inch dice. Cook them slightly in the dripping, and add them to the stew. Add boiling water enough to cover, and simmer two or three hours, or till the meat is tender. Remove the bones, and skim off the fat. While the meat is cooking pare six or eight small potatoes, and soak them in cold water. When the meat is tender, pour boiling water over them, and boil five minutes to take out the acrid taste. Drain, and add them to the stew. Add salt and pepper to taste. When dumplings are to be served with the stew, add them when the potatoes are nearly done. The liquor should come up just even with the potatoes, that the dump-plings may rest on them. Cover closely to keep in the steam, and cook ten minutes without lifting the cover. Take out the dumplings, put the meat and potatoes in the centre of a hot platter, and the dumplings round the edge.

Remove the fat, and add more salt and pepper, if needed, to the broth; and if not thick enough, add a little flour wet smooth in cold water, and boil five minutes. Add one cup of strained tomato and one teaspoonful of chopped parsley.

Pour the gravy over the meat, putting part of it in a sauce tureen if there be more than the platter will hold.

Dumplings

One pint of flour, half a teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, and half a tea-spoonful of soda (or three level teaspoonfuls of baking-powder). Mix with one scant cup of sweet milk into a dough soft enough to handle easily. Pat it out half an inch thick. Cut in small rounds, or mix softer and drop by the spoonful into the boiling stew. Cook ten minutes.