Braised Beef

This mode of cooking is particularly well adapted to the cheaper pieces of meat, or those that are lacking in flavor and are tough. Braising is properly done when vegetables and herbs are used for seasoning meat and gravy, although these are sometimes omitted and the meat still said to be braised. This receipt calls for six pounds of beef. Spread in the braising-pan one-fourth of a pound of salt pork, cut in slices, and over this spread two table-spoonfuls each of chopped onion, carrot, turnip and celery. Lay the meat on this bed, and dredge well with salt, pepper and flour. Cover, and put in a moderately hot oven for half an hour. At the end of this time add a pint and a-half of water, or if you have it, of soup-stock, basting the meat with some of the liquid, and again dredging with salt, pepper and flour. Cook for four .hours, basting every quarter of an hour. At the end of two hours add another pint of stock or water; also mix two table-spoonfuls of corn-starch with half a cupful of cold water, and stir this into the juices in the bottom of the pan. Cook the meat for the last half hour without a cover, as it should be of a delicate brown. Place it in the serving-dish ; then strain the gravy in the pan, seasoning it with salt and pepper if necessary, and pour part of it on and around the beef, serving the rest in a separate dish.

A Pot Roast

A tough piece of meat may be made very tender by this mode of cooking. Wipe the meat with a damp cloth, season with salt and pepper and put it into an iron pot. Place the latter over a moderate heat, and brown the meat slowly, turning it frequently ; this will usually take about twenty minutes. When the roast is well browned, put in half a pint of boiling water, cover closely, and set the pot back where the meat will cook slowly. As the water steams away add a little more, half a pint at a time. Allow about fifteen minutes to each pound for a piece of meat that is not tough, but a very tough roast will require twice that time. Take up the meat, and add a small quantity of water to the juices in the kettle. Thicken the gravy with a little flour stirred to a thin paste with 10 a little water, and serve in a separate dish. Boiled rice is generally eaten with a pot roast.

Stuffed Beefsteak

Use the round for this dish, having it cut half an inch thick. Lay the steak flat on the meat board, spread over it with a thin layer of butter, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Take for the stuffing

' One and a-half pint of bread-crumbs. Two table-spoonfuls of butter. One small onion. One large tea spoonful of salt. One-half tea-spoonful of pepper. Milk to moisten.

Grate the crumbs fine, season with the salt and pepper, and rub in the butter; then chop the onion fine, and add it to the crumbs. Moisten slightly with milk, being careful to put only enough in to soften the crumbs a little.

Spread this stuffing over the steak, placing tiny bits of butter on top of it. Roll the steak up tightly, rolling away from rather than towards you, and keeping the stuffing in at the ends as the beef is rolled up. Wrap cord or common wrapping twine around the roll, using plenty of it, and winding it round and round until the meat is tightly compressed. Place the roll in an iron pot and roast the same as a pot roast. Remove the strings after laying the beef on the serving dish, pour the gravy around and over the meat, and serve hot. This stuffed steak is sometimes baked, and in that case a little water should be added to the pan together with any pieces of suet that have been trimmed off the meat.