This section is from the book "My Pet Recipes, Tried and True", by Ladies and Friends of St. Andrew's Church, Quebec. Also available from Amazon: Dr. Pitcairn's New Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats.
To make beefsteak tender, rub a pinch of baking soda on each side of the steak about an hour before cooking and roll it up on itself in the meantime. A very small pinch of brown sugar used in the same way is good, but the soda is thought preferable.
Mash finely some potatoes, pass through a sieve, stir in the yolks of two eggs, one ounce of butter, pepper and salt. Mince finely some beef or tongue. Mix all well together, add a little parsley, roll into balls, cover with egg and bread crumbs, fry in hot lard. Let them dry before the fire on paper. Very good.
Rub well into a round weighing forty pounds, three ounces saltpetre, let stand six or eight hours, pound three ounces allspice, one pound black pepper, two pounds salt, and seven ounces brown sugar; rub the beef well with the salt and spices. Let it remain fourteen days turning it every day and rub with the pickle, then wash off the spices and put in a deep pan, cut small six pounds of suet, put some in the bottom of the pan, the greater part on the top, cover with coarse paste and bake eight hours; when cold take off the paste pour off the gravy, it will keep six months.
Two pounds of raw steak from the round, free from bone, fat or sinew, chopped very fine, six soda biscuits rolled fine, one cup of milk, two eggs beaten in one tablespoon salt, one dessertspoon of pepper, and add a little spice if you like. Butter an earthenware jar as large round the top as the bottom and press the mixture in very lightly. Cover with butter one half inch thick. Cover the jar with a plate and bake in an oven for two hours. Serve whole or cut in slices. Nicer cold.
One half pound of meat, cut up into four inch squares and two or three inches thick, add onion chopped fine, one teaspoon salt, and one half teaspoon pepper, cover with boiling water and place in jar and cook in oven for two hours.
Thin slices of steak cut into squares about the size of hand; make a dressing similar to chicken, bake, then put on the steak and roll, put in the saucepan with some onion and butter in a little water, let it simmer for an hour and a half to two hours.
Half pound cold meat or chicken, one ounce butter, one ounce of flour, one gill white stock, one teaspoon chopped parsley, one half saltspoon grated nutmeg, small teaspoon of salt, saltspoon of pepper, grated rind of half a small lemon. Pass chicken twice through the mincer, then melt the butter, stir into it the flour, get it perfectly smooth and add stock, don't let it brown, stir until it boils and boil two minutes, add the chicken, (when properly cooked will leave the pan clearly) add pepper, salt, nutmeg, parsley and lemon, put it away to cool. In using cold beef, a teaspoon anchovy essence or paste is an improvement, and to mutton a teaspoon mushroom catsup. When the mixture is cold, place some flour on board to prevent sticking and form into rolls with square edges, beat the egg, place breadcrumbs mixed with pepper and salt on paper, put the rolls first in the egg, then in crumbs, have sufficient fat in pan and when the white smoke rises, put the rolls in and fry three minutes, drain on paper.
Brown sauce may be served and mashed peas or potatoes placed in the centre.
Quarter of a pound bay salt, ditto of common salt, one ounce saltpetre, four ounces brown sugar, one ounce allspice, four ounces black pepper (whole), the allspice or one ounce of coriander seed must be bruised not ground, one quart of water: boil all together a few minutes and rub on hot. In three weeks the hams will be ready to hang if well rubbed with the pickle everyday. Sufficient pickle for two.
One boned shoulder of mutton, four ounces of bread crumbs, two ounces of suet, rind of half a lemon, bunch of mixed vegetables, one tablespoon chopped parsley, other herbs if liked, one egg, a little milk, one teaspoon of salt, half teaspoon of pepper. Chop suet finely (or fat from mutton will do) add breadcrumbs, parsley, grated lemon rind and salt, moisten with egg and milk. Place mixture in mutton, roll up and tie securely. Slice vegetables and put them with bones in saucepan also two cloves, a bay leaf and peppercorns, pour over them a pint of stock or water, place mutton on top and boil slowly about one and one half hours according to size of meat, then brush it over with glaze or sprinkle with flour, pepper and salt and bake it half an hour. Place on a dish, pour fat from pan and stir in half ounce of flour (browned) add stock in which meat was cooked, also one tablespoon mushroom catsup and one tablespoon Worcester sauce, pepper and salt, boil two minutes and strain around meat.
Vegetables in stock can be cut to ornament the dish.
Take the feet and legs of a pig, cut off at the hams, two will be sufficient for a family of eight. Singe off the hair and thoroughly cleanse them, removing the toes by scorching. Cut the legs in pieces suitable for stewing, put down in cold water and cook slowly for three hours. Pare and cut up nine or ten good sized potatoes and add to your stew with salt and pepper, about one half an hour before dishing. After the potatoes have been put in, the greatest care must be taken to prevent them from sticking to the pot and burning, therefore you must stir frequently with a spoon. What remains from dinner pour into a mould and it will become a jelly, which is nice eaten cold for breakfast.
Wash it very well and rub it well with common salt and a little saltpetre; let it lie two or three days; then boil till the skin will peel off; put it into a saucepan with part of the liquor it has boiled in and a pint of good stock, season with black and Jamaica pepper, two or three pounded cloves. Add a glassful of white wine, a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup and one of lemon pickle, thicken with butter rolled in flour. Stew the tongue till quite soft in this sauce; the wine can be added when dished or left out if preferred.
Six tongues, three heaping tablespoons of butter, one large onion, two slices of carrot, three slices of white turnip, three tablespoons flour, one of salt, a little pepper, one quart of stock or water and some sweet herbs. Boil the tongues one hour and a half in clear water, take them up, cover with cold water, and draw off the skins. Put the butter, onion, turnip and carrot in the stewpan and cook slowly for fifteen minutes, then add the flour and cook until brown, stirring all the time. Stir the stock into this and when it boils up, add the tongues, salt, pepper and herbs; simmer gently for two hours. Cut the carrots, turnips and potatoes into cubes. Boil the potatoes in salted water ten minutes and the carrots and turnips one hour. Place the tongues in the centre of a hot dish, arrange the vegetables around them, strain the gravy, over all. Garnish with parsley.
Take a good sized, white, fat leg of veal, weighing some ten or twelve pounds. Remove the meat carefully from the bone and take out the bone. Then pin the meat securely into a nice round with skewers; fill the cavity from which the bone was taken with the following dressing. Roast in a slow oven, allowing one quarter of an hour for each pound, and be sure to keep it thoroughly basted with plenty of beef dripping.
Make ready one coffee cup of bread crumbs, one teaspoonful of chopped parsley, one half teaspoonful summer savory, pepper and salt to taste. Take a good sized onion, peel, slice, and fry it well with a piece of butter the size of an egg; pour the liquor from this into your bread crumbs and blend all thoroughly together. Be careful not to put the onion in, only the fried butter and onion juice. When the meat is cooked, remove from pan and make a rich brown gravy to serve with it. Garnish your dish with fried bacon and slices of lemon.
Chop half a pound of beef suet very fine, put in a basin, with eight ounces of bread crumbs, four ounces of chopped parsley, a tablespoonful of equal quantities of powdered thyme and marjoram, the rind of a lemon grated, the juice of half a one; season with pepper and salt, and a quarter of a nutmeg; mix the whole with two eggs; this will do also for turkey or baked fish.
Two eggs, four tablespoonfuls of flour, a little salt and milk to make a batter the thickness of cream. When the beef is roasted pour off the boiling dripping into another pan, turn in the batter and bake to a good brown.
 
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