Stewed Beef Steak

Beef steak stewed according to this recipe is useful when there is not time to prepare a thick slice in one piece, nevertheless, to have it tender and in perfection, an hour and a half is required for stewing.

Get a pound and a half of buttock steak, without extra fat; first cut it in long thin strips, then in neat small dice. Have ready a pint of boiling water with half a teaspoonful of salt and a large pinch of pepper; put in the meat, let it boil for a few seconds sharply, then moderate the heat so that the meat will only simmer until done. Half an hour after the meat begins to cook put in two or three minced onions. When the meat is perfectly tender, stir into the gravy two tablespoonfuls of flour mixed smooth in half a pint of cold water, and a little more salt and pepper if necessary, and as soon as the gravy has thickened put the stew on a dish and garnish with suet dumplings.

Suet Dumplings

Scrape two ounces of fine beef suet very thin, mix it with three ounces of flour, a pinch of salt, and water to make a stiff paste. Flour your hands and roll the paste into balls about the size of a florin, have ready a stewpan half filled with boiling water slightly salted, drop in the dumplings and let them boil fast for twenty minutes, take them up with a fish slice and place them round the stewed steak. If preferred, these dumplings may be made of dripping or butter in the proportion of two ounces of the fat to four ounces of flour. A small pinch of sage and pepper can, if liked, be used as flavouring for the dumplings.

Boiled Potatoes

It is a matter both of taste and convenience whether potatoes be boiled with or without their skins, but the idea that any great economy is effected by the former method is erroneous. If the potato boiled in its skin is of a friable nature and thoroughly well done, it is apt to break in peeling; and the haste in which this process is often necessarily accomplished at the moment of serving dinner is a great disadvantage.

At different seasons of the year potatoes require special modes of treatment, and they take a longer or shorter time according to the size and kind. Experience alone can teach the art of cooking potatoes to perfection, and by far the best and nicest way is to steam them.

For boiling potatoes in their skins, wash them in lukewarm water, and scrub them with a brush kept for the purpose, afterwards rinsing them in cold water. Put the potatoes in a saucepan that will just hold them, sprinkle salt over and cover them with cold water, let them boil gently until done, drain away all the water, cover the potatoes with a cloth, shake them, allow them to remain for five minutes. Take each potato in a cloth, hold it in your hand and peel it carefully with a knife. Serve immediately.

To prepare potatoes for boiling without their skins, wash and brush them, put them into a pan of cold water, peel each one as thin as possible and take out the eyes, and as you do them throw them into a pan of clean cold water. Potatoes may be thus prepared many hours before it is time to cook them, and if care be taken to cover them with cold water they will look all the whiter and be more floury for lying all night. Put the potatoes in a saucepan of cold water with salt, let them boil until they begin to look floury, but are still not quite done through, drain away the water, cover the potatoes closely with a nice linen cloth, put on the lid and set the saucepan on the range for ten or fifteen minutes until the potatoes resemble a ball of flour.

If convenient to steam potatoes, sprinkle them with salt when put into the steamer, and when they are done cover them with a cloth in the same way as for boiled potatoes, take the steamer off the saucepan, put it on a cool part of the range, and when it has stood for five minutes, serve the potatoes.

A very general impression prevails that a small quantity of potatoes cannot be successfully steamed, but even two may be exquisitely cooked if a fine clean cloth which will fill up the steamer be placed over them, as this keeps in the steam and prevents the potatoes becoming watery.

Bread Pudding

This pudding can be made of any stale pieces of bread, the lighter kinds being preferable. Break the bread into small pieces, put it into an earthenware pan with sufficient water to cover it, drain this away, and let the bread stand for an hour, when squeeze it as dry as possible. To a pound of bread thus prepared put an egg beaten up in half a pint of boiling milk, sugar to taste, and an ounce of finely shred beef-suet. Flavour with nutmeg, pudding spice, or grated lemon-peel; put the pudding into a tart-dish rubbed over with butter or lard, and bake in a moderate oven for three quarters of an hour.

If it is desired to have sauce, make it as follows:- Stir into half a pint of boiling water a dessertspoonful of corn-flour mixed smooth in a gill of cold water, let it boil up, sweeten with golden syrup or sugar, add the juice of half a lemon or a pinch of tartaric acid, and an ounce of butter stirred into the sauce just before serving.