Braised Beef

Wipe the beef with a wet cloth, cut off any tough ends and bone if it will not mar the appearance of the meat, as these parts will not become palatable in the length of time required for the remainder of the roast. They will be found useful for soups, stews, cannelon of beef, Hamburg steak, and such dishes. Roast the meat in a hot oven for half an hour, transfer it quickly to a cooker utensil, add enough boiling water to nearly cover it, let the whole become very hot in the oven, and place it quickly in the cooker. The time that is required for completing the cooking will depend upon the size of the piece and the degree of cooking desired. A five-pound roast may be cooked four hours, and if not found done to taste, it can be reheated to boiling point and cooked longer. A larger roast will require more time in the cooker. If preferred, the meat may first be partially cooked in the hay-box and browned in the oven afterward. It must then be boiled for half an hour, cooked three or more hours in the cooker, and then roasted. Lay a piece of raw fat on top of the roast, or baste it with drippings to assist in the browning.

Pot Roast

3 lbs. beef rump 3 cups boiling water 1 bay leaf I small onion Salt and pepper

2 small carrots

2 sprigs parsley

1/2 teaspoon celery seed, or

1/4 cup celery, cut in pieces

Flour

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Have the butcher bone and roll the meat, dredge it well with salt, pepper, and flour, and brown it on all sides in a frying-pan with a little of the fat from the meat, or one or two tablespoons of beef drippings or pork fat. Put all the ingredients together in a small cooker-pail, let it simmer thirty minutes, set it into a larger pail of boiling water and put into a cooker for nine hours or more. Reheat it to boiling point; strain and thicken the liquor for gravy. Round of beef may be used for pot roast, but it is drier than the rump, which has some fat on it. Four or five pounds of rump will make three pounds when boned. Have the bone sent from the market to use for soup stock. Serves ten or twelve persons.

Beef A La Mode

3 lbs. beef from the round

1 oz. fat, salt pork

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper Flour

1 onion

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

6 cloves

2 tablespoons rendered beef fat

Water to nearly cover it

Wash the meat, lard it with the pork cut into strips, or gash it deeply and insert the pork in the gashes. Dredge it with the salt, pepper, and flour, and fry it in the beef fat till well browned on all sides. Put the meat and other ingredients into a two or three quart cooker-pail or pan, and nearly cover the meat with boiling water. Let it simmer for half an hour, then stand the pail in a larger cooker-pail of boiling water and put it into a cooker for from nine to twelve hours. Unless several times this recipe is cooked at once, do not allow the meat to cook more than twelve hours, or it may ferment. Reheat it before serving. Strain and thicken the gravy.

Serves ten or twelve persons.

Corned Beef

Order eight or ten pounds of rump of beef corned for four days. Put it into a large cooker-pail and fill the pail with cold water. When it boils, allow it to simmer for thirty or forty minutes, then put it into a hay-box for ten or twelve hours. Reheat it before serving it. If ordinary corned beef is used it will be more delicate if, when it is allowed to come to a boil, the water is changed and fresh boiling water added. It may then be cooked as directed above for that specially corned.

Serves twenty or twenty-five persons.

Boiled Dinner

2 lbs. lean, salt pork

3 turnips

4 beets

2 carrots

1 head cabbage 12 potatoes 1/2 teaspoon pepper Water to cover

Wash the pork and gash it in slices; wash and pare the vegetables.. If preferred, the beets may be cooked separately, without paring them. Put all, except the potatoes, into the cooker-pail and cover them with boiling water. When boiling let them cook ten minutes on the stove, then put the pail into the cooker for six hours or more. Add the potatoes, reheat it to boiling point, and replace it in the cooker for two hours. If more salt or pepper is required add it when the potatoes are put in.

In order to save time the potatoes may be cooked separately, drained and added to the dinner before bringing it to a boil for serving.

Corned beef may be used in place of pork, if preferred.

Serves eight or ten persons.