Never spoil your tender meat by frying it hard with a large amount of fat.

Broiling over coals. Wipe meat with a damp cloth. If a wood or coal stove is used, have a bed of glowing coals ready. If gas is used, have the gas broiler thoroughly heated. Grease the bars of the broiler. Place meat in the broiler and sear meat first on one side, then on the other. Continue to turn the broiler, and cook the meat until it is brown and done according to taste. Steak an inch thick will take about ten minutes to be cooked to a medium degree. Chops are broiled in the same way.

Pan broiled. Here we use just enough fat to keep the meat from sticking. An iron frying pan is the best utensil. Heat the pan and brush it over with a small piece of fat cut from the steak or the chops. The purpose of this is merely to keep the meat from sticking to the pan. The principle of cooking is the same as with broiling over coals. Turn the steak or chops frequently, using a knife and a fork, but being careful not to prick the meat with the fork. The length of time is slightly longer than for broiling. This method must not be confused with the frying of steak in a pan with a large amount of fat. This does not fry the steak, and is often a convenient method.

Roasted meat. This is a rule for tender meats. Wipe roast with a damp cloth. Sprinkle with salt and dredge with flour. Place in a roasting pan, fat side up if it is a standing roast. Put the roast in a very hot oven, and after fifteen minutes reduce the heat. Baste roast two or three times with the fat that tries out during cooking. The usual allowance of time for a medium rare roast is fifteen minutes for every pound of meat.

Roast beef gravy. After the roast has been taken from the pan, pour out all but 1 1/2 tablespoonfuls of the melted fat. Stir in 1 heaping tablespoonful of flour and brown very slightly. Add one cup of cold water and stir constantly until thickened. Add 1/2 teaspoonful salt. Strain.

Round steak. Ask the butcher to cut it an inch or an inch and a half thick. A pound of round steak cooked in this way will give good-sized portions to three people. Wash the steak off with salt and water. Heat a deep frying pan, and melt enough beef suet to just cover the bottom. Make the pan very hot and brown the steak first on one side, then on the other. Remove to a cooler part of the stove, or turn down the flame, if it is a blue-flame oil stove. To a pound of steak allow 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1/2 an onion chopped. Cover the meat with water, put a cover on the pan, and let the steak simmer for two hours. This is perfect when cooked in the Atkinson cooker all the morning. You may make this more savory by adding a little of several kinds of vegetables.

A pot roast or stew. For this select a large, solid piece of meat from rump or round. The method of cooking is in principle just like the cooking of the round steak, only the piece of meat is larger. The meat is browned all over in fat and put in the kettle. Suppose you have a 5-lb. piece of meat. Put in the kettle with it two or three carrots, a small turnip or two, two or three onions, and a few stalks of celery or celery leaves or celery salt. The flavor is improved by a few cloves, say 1/2 dozen. Add water and cook very gently for from 4 to 6 hours. This is another kind of dish that cooks well in the Atkinson cooker. When you are ready to serve the beef, take it out and put it on a platter and keep hot. If the water has not boiled away enough, let it cook a little longer, and thicken with a little flour. If you have a pint of gravy, you will need a tablespoonful of flour. Stir a little cold water into the flour, and stir this paste gradually into the hot liquid. Let it boil up and serve it with the meat.

Old-fashioned meat soup. Everybody says that Grandmother Stark can make the best soup in Pleasant Valley: and she has not any rule! You will find recipes for making soup in all the cook books, but this is Grandmother Stark's method. She uses meat bones or chicken bones and any pieces of cold meat that are left. She cuts up the larger pieces of meat and puts them to one side. She breaks up the bones, puts them in a kettle, and covers them with cold water. The kettle stands on the stove all day long, simmering gently, and from time to time Mrs. Stark adds a little more hot water. When the soup has simmered until the bones are bare, they are removed. Then Mrs. Stark looks in the pantry and refrigerator, and adds any cooked vegetable that is left, and a little stewed fruit, if it is not too sweet. When she is asked what she uses, she says, "Just whatever I find." Sometimes she adds a teaspoonful or so of dried herbs or a few cloves. If the soup is a little thin, it is thickened with flour, but when cold mashed potato or beans are added, no other thickening is needed. Just before serving, the larger pieces of meat are added and, if there are not enough of these, cooked vegetables like carrots, turnips, beets, or whole peas and beans. Served with bread this makes a good dinner or supper for any cold day in winter. It is not a summer dish because it needs a long, slow cooking. It can be made in an Atkinson cooker, but not so well in a fireless cooker. You may think that you would not like it; but try it some time and see.

Exercises And Problems

1. Why is meat a more expensive food than beans?

2. Why is it better to eat meat only once or twice a day?

3. Make a list of the cost of different cuts of meat in your own home place. Study cost of canned meats (page 298).

4. What is a meat substitute? Make a list of those that you can use at home. Write recipes for tough and tender fowl.