Cook one quart of potatoes diced, in boiling water until tender. Strain, reserving potato water. Measure and add enough more water to make three cups. Let come to a boil, add one-quarter cup of salt, and very gradually one and one-quarter cups of cornmeal. Cook two minutes, stirring constantly until thick. Remove from fire, add two tablespoons of any kind of fat, the potatoes riced or mashed and when cooled two cups of flour; then one tablespoon of sugar and one cake of yeast dissolved in one cup of lukewarm water. Mix and knead to a stiff dough adding wheat flour to keep it from sticking. Cover, set aside in a warm place overnight, or until double its bulk. Shape into four loaves, let rise again; bake in a moderate oven one hour or more, until well done. Glaze with egg diluted with water before putting in the oven. These loaves will keep moist one week.
Take the bone out of a round of fresh beef, and beat the meat well all over to make it tender. Chop and mix together equal quantities of sweet marjoram and sweet basil, the leaves picked from the stalks and rubbed fine. Chop also some small onions or shalots, and some parsley; the marrow from the bone of the beef; and a quarter of a pound, or more of suet. Add two penny rolls of stale bread grated; and pepper, salt, and nutmeg to your taste. Mix all these ingredients well, and bind them together with the beaten yolks of four eggs. Fill with this seasoning the place from whence you took out the bone; and rub what is left of it all over the outside of the meat. You must, of course, proportion the quantity of stuffing to the size of the round of beef. Fasten it well with skewers, and tie it round firmly with a piece of tape, so as to keep it compact and in good shape. It is best to prepare the meat the day before it is to be cooked. Cover the bottom of a stew-pan with slices of bacon. Lay the beef upon them, and cover the top of the meat with more slices of bacon. Place round it four large onions, four carrots, and four turnips, all cut in thick slices. Pour in from half a pint to a pint of water, and if convenient, add two calves' feet cut in half. Cover the pan closely, set it in an oven and let it bake for at least six hours; or seven or eight, according to the size. When it is thoroughly done, take out the beef and lay it on a dish with the vegetables round it. Remove the bacon and calves' feet, and (having skimmed the fat from the gravy carefully) strain it into a small sauce-pan; set it on hot coals, and stir into it a tea-cupful of port wine, and the same quantity of pickled mushrooms. Let it just come to a boil, and then send it to table in a sauce-tureen. If the beef is to be eaten cold, you may ornament it as follows:-- Glaze it all over with beaten white of egg. Then cover it with a coat of boiled potato grated finely. Have ready some slices of cold boiled carrot, and also of beet-root. Cut them into the form of stars or flowers, and arrange them handsomely over the top of the meat by sticking them on the grated potato. In the centre place a large bunch of double parsley, interspersed with flowers cut out of raw turnips, beets, and carrots, somewhat in imitation of white and red roses, and marygolds. Fix the flowers on wooden skewers concealed with parsley. Cold à-la-mode beef prepared in this manner will at a little distance look like a large iced cake decorated with sugar flowers. You may dress a fillet of veal according to this receipt. Of course it will require less time to stew.
1 yeast cake 2 c. lukewarm liquid 2 tsp. salt 1 Tb. sugar 2 Tb. fat 4-1/2 c. white flour 2 c. corn meal 1 c. white flour additional for kneading
Put the yeast to soak in 1/4 cupful of warm water and let it dissolve. Heat the liquid and cool it to lukewarm, and then add to it the salt, the sugar, the dissolved yeast, and the melted fat. Make a sponge with some of the flour and let it rise until it doubles in bulk. Then make a dough with the corn meal and the remaining flour. Knead the dough, let it rise again, and form it into loaves. Let these rise in the greased pans until they double in bulk; then bake about 45 minutes.
Take a calf's head and boil it, when it is cold take one half of the head and cut off the meat in thin slices, put it into a stew pan with a little brown gravy, put to it a spoonful or two of walnut pickle, a spoonful of catchup, a little claret, a little shred mace, a few capers shred, or a little mango; boil it over a stove, and thicken it with butter and flour; take the other part of the head, cut off the bone ends and score it with a knife, season it with a little pepper and salt, rub it over with the yolk of an egg, and strew over a few bread crumbs, and a little parsley; then set it before the fire to broil whilst it is brown; and when you dish up the other part lay this in the midst; lay about your hash-brain-cakes, forc'd-meat-balls and crisp bacon. To make Brain-cakes; take a handful of bread-crumbs, a little shred lemon-peel, pepper, salt, nutmeg, sweet-marjorum, parsley shred fine, and the yolks of three eggs; take the brains and skin them, boil and chop them small, so mix them all together; take a little butter in your pan when you fry them, and drop them in as you do fritters, and if they run in your pan put in a handful more of bread-crumbs.
2 Tb. fat 2 Tb. sugar 1 Tb. salt 2 cakes compressed yeast 1 qt. lukewarm liquid 3 qt. flour 1 c. flour additional for kneading
Put the fat, the sugar, and the salt into the mixing bowl, and then to them add the yeast dissolved in a few tablespoonfuls of the lukewarm liquid. Add the remaining liquid and stir in half or all of the flour, according to whether the process is to be completed by the sponge or the straight-dough method. One yeast cake may be used instead of two. However, if the smaller quantity of yeast is used, the process will require more time, but the results will be equally as good. After the dough has been allowed to rise the required number of times and has been kneaded properly for the method selected, place it in greased pans, let it rise sufficiently, and proceed with the baking.
3 cups thick cooked oatmeal 2 tablespoons fat 1-1/2 tablespoons salt 3 tablespoons molasses 1-1/2 cakes yeast 3/4 cup lukewarm water About 5 cups flour
To oatmeal add the sugar, salt and fat. Mix the yeast cake with the lukewarm water, add it to the other materials and stir in the flour until the dough will not stick to the sides of the bowl. Knead until elastic, ten to fifteen minutes, moisten the top of the dough with a little water to prevent a hard crust forming, and set to rise in a warm place. When double its bulk, knead again for a few minutes. Shape into loaves and put into greased pans. Let rise double in bulk and bake in a moderate oven for about 50 minutes.
1 pint milk, or milk and water 2 teaspoons salt 2 tablespoons molasses 1 yeast cake 2 tablespoons fat
Mix as ordinary bread dough. Add 2 cups cornmeal and 2 cups rye meal and enough whole wheat flour to knead. Let rise, knead, shape, let rise again in the pan and bake 45 minutes.
Take two pounds of the thick part of a leg of veal, cut it in little bits clear from the skins, and put it in a marble mortar, then shred a pound of beef suet and put to it, and beat them well together till they be as fine as paste; put to it a handful of bread-crumbs and two or three eggs, season it with mace, nutmeg, pepper, and salt, and work it well together; take one part of your forc'd-meat and wrap it in the kell, about the bigness of a pigeon, the rest make into little flat cakes and fry them; the rolls you may either broil in a dripping-pan, or set them in an oven; three is enough in a dish, set them in the middle of the dish and lay the cakes round; then take some strong gravy, shred in a few capers, and two or three mushrooms or oysters if you have any, so thicken it up with a lump of butter, and serve it up hot. Garnish your dish with pickles.
Melt butter in saucepan; add flour and add cold milk slowly, stirring until smooth and creamy; add seasoning and parsley. Boil 3 minutes. Add chicken; mix well and pour out on platter to cool. When cool enough to handle take a large spoon of the mixture in floured hands; shape into balls, cones, or oval cakes and put into cold place until firm. Roll in bread crumbs, then dip in eggs beaten with 2 tablespoons milk, then in bread crumbs. Lay on plate which has been sprinkled with bread crumbs. Fry in deep hot fat until brown. Drain and serve.
