German Cookery
BOILED MEAT BALLS.—One pound of round steak, one egg, one slice of bread, two tablespoons melted butter, one teaspoon salt, a dash of pepper. Trim off all the fat, skin and bones, wash them and put on stove in cold water with one onion, piece of celery, a little parsley and salt to taste. Let boil one hour. Chop or grind the meat, soak the bread in water and press, then mix with all ingredients and form into balls the size of an egg, and boil in the above broth ten minutes. For the gravy brown one tablespoon butter, one of flour, add the broth and stir smooth. Put meat balls into a deep dish and pour gravy over them.—Mrs. J. Bruegger.
MARYLAND BAKED HAM.—Soak a ham over night in cold water and boil it tender in sweet cider or water, putting it on in enough liquid to cover. It must be tender but not broken. Remove the rind, outline the fat on top into diamonds, placing a clove in each. Rub half a cup of maple syrup into ham, sprinkle with pepper, place in oven and brown, sprinkling with sifted bread crumbs if liked. Serve hot or if sliced cold, lay plate and heavy weight on ham over night to make nice firm slices.—Mrs. Whitehead. Southern Cookery demonstration.
LULA’S CORNED BEEF.—Five pounds rump beef or sirloin, five tablespoons salt, three tablespoons brown sugar. Saltpetre size of a hickory nut. Dissolve the ingredients in enough water to cover the beef, and let the meat stand in the brine twenty four hours. Boil meat in the same brine three and a half hours. Quick, simple and good as it gives the purchaser a chance to select the cut of meat she prefers for corning.—Contributed.
SPICED BEEF LOAF.—Two and one half pounds of round steak put through a food chopper, with one fourth pound of salt pork; one teaspoonful of dried and rolled bread crumbs; two scant cupfuls of milk, one beaten egg, one teaspoon of butter; one teaspoonful of salt; one half teaspoon each of cinnamon, cloves, mace and allspice, a dash of cayenne pepper. Mix into one large loaf and lay in a buttered roasting pan. (I use two individual bread tins using one loaf hot for dinner and reserving the other to slice cold.) Add a cupful of hot water to each baking pan; sprinkle sifted bread crumbs over the meat and dot with butter. Bake covered until brown and tender basting often but do not cook until hard and dry. Serve with the gravy or hot tomato sauce, horseradish or mayonaise.—Mrs. Whitehead.
FAAR I KAAL. NORWEGIAN.—Get twenty cents worth of leg of mutton, cut in small pieces. Put in the kettle one layer of mutton, one medium sized head of cabbage cut into six pieces, four potatoes, cut in halves, two medium sized carrots, quartered. Between each layer of meat and vegetables add salt, whole peppers and a little flour. Set the kettle on the stove and add about one quart of water. Let boil slowly for at least three hours. When done remove from fire and serve. This will serve three people.—Mrs. R. Meidell.
ROUND STEAK STEW.—Take one and one half quarter pounds of round steak and pound it well, roll in flour and fry (same as any other steak) over this pour one pint of boiling water, season with salt, pepper and a little onion. Let stew one hour or until tender.—Mrs. R. Meidell.
STEAMED VEAL LOAF.—Take two pounds raw veal, grind, two teaspoons salt, one fourth teaspoon pepper, butter size of an egg, one cup freshly grated bread crumbs, two eggs, two tablespoons milk, knead until well mixed. Butter baking powder cans, coat with bread crumbs, fill compactly with the meat, put on cover, stand in kettle of water almost to the top of the mold. Boil steadily one and one half hours. When cool remove from molds at once. Can be eaten hot.—Mrs. Paul Leonhardy.
JELLIED VEAL OR CHICKEN.—Three pounds of stewing veal shank or chicken, one tablespoon of chopped onion, one tablespoon chopped celery; one level teaspoon of salt, dash of pepper. Cover with water and boil steadily until the meat is very tender and liquor reduced. Remove the meat from the liquor, free it from gristle and bones and chop fine. Strain the liquor, stir it through the meat and pack in a square mold, laying a heavy weight on top. Serve it cold, cut in thin slices and garnished with sliced hard boiled eggs, sliced lemon or pickled beets.—Mrs. Whitehead.
SCRAMBLED CALF’S BRAINS.—Soak two pounds of calf’s brains in strong salt water one hour. Then carefully remove all membrane and blood clots. Dip the brains in flour and fry brown in hot drippings, bacon preferred. Hash the brains with a knife and scramble four fresh eggs with them, season with salt and pepper, tossing well together with a knife until nicely browned. Serve with toast or hot buttered rolls or baking powder biscuit.—Contributed.
CROWN OF LAMB WITH CURRIED RICE BALLS.—Have the marketman prepare the rack of lamb for a “crown” roast by scraping the flesh from the ribs half way down, joining the rack together and fastening it firmly. Sprinkle with pepper and salt, wrap the ribs in oiled paper and roast in a brisk oven. Baste often and allow fifteen minutes to each pound. Garnish with rice balls made as follows: Steam one cupful of rice until tender. Make two cupfuls of sauce by melting two tablespoonfuls of butter, adding one teaspoonful currie powder, one saltspoonful of onion juice, and two tablespoonfuls flour, and stock, or water and milk, and one half teaspoonful of salt. Cook until smooth, then add sufficient sauce to the rice to form into balls; reheat them in a steamer, dip them in the sauce which has been kept warm and fill the crown.
MINT JELLY.—Is a toothsome accompaniment to roast lamb, and is a novel variation to the customary mint sauce. Soak one cupful of chopped mint in one pint of water for one hour. Strain, heat to the boiling point and pour over one half box of gelatin which has been softened in half a teacup of cold water. Add three tablespoonfuls of sugar, four tablespoonfuls lemon juice and a saltspoonful of salt. Pour into molds and set in a cold place to harden. Turn out on chilled saucers just before serving.—Contributed.
TONGUE IN PORT WINE.—Boil a beef’s tongue until it is tender enough to stick a fork through; put it in cold water and remove the skin; set it away until cold; save the water in which it was boiled and put it on the stove with four small onions and two small carrots, boil until the vegetables are tender, then remove the carrots and mash the onions into pieces; brown two tablespoonfuls of brown sugar, add it to the liquor, with a level teaspoonful each of allspice, cloves and mace, and pepper and salt to taste. Blend two tablespoonfuls each of butter and flour, thicken the liquor with this and add three quarters of a cup of port wine. Split the tongue lengthwise, put it in the liquor and heat thoroughly, and serve with the sauce.—Mrs. Whitehead.
SYRIAN STEW.—To be eaten with boiled rice. Neck of mutton will do nicely for this. Separate the fat from the lean meat. Mince the fat and melt it in frying pan. Cut the lean meat into chunks about a cubic inch, more or less, in size, and fry in a hot fat. Have at hand an earthen cooking vessel; remove the meat from frying pan when done and drop into the earthen vessel. Have ready the vegetables, also cut into chunks (not slices), and brown in the fat, removing them as they brown and putting them with the meat. Next, slice two large or four small Spanish onions (slicing not into rings, but first into halves, lengthwise; next slicing each half lengthwise), and fry until well done (sprinkling them with salt hastens the process). Add these to the meat and vegetables, then add a cupful of canned or fresh tomato and a small quantity of water, seasoned with salt and that brown pepper which is more spicy than hot; let it come to a boil and simmer gently. It should be begun two hours before mealtime. Any vegetable will do. Vegetable marrow is excellent, but this should be allowed to steam for awhile with the meat and onions before the tomatoes are added and cooked without water. For potatoes, add a few cloves or a small piece of cinnamon bark to flavor. Celery stew is excellent and cabbage also is good; but for either of these omit the tomatoes and add some lemon juice shortly before removing from fire. Such vegetables as celery, cabbage and haricot beans should not be browned in the fat, but stirred about for awhile in the cooking vessel with the meat and onions, and thus fried slightly before adding the water. There is an infinite variety of these stews, all on the same principle.
BOILED RICE.—To accompany Syrian stew.—A double boiler is not necessary. Wash the rice until the water is clear, removing any foreign grains or dirt. Have ready in a saucepan double the quantity of boiling water that you have of rice, in which has been melted a lump of butter. When the water boils hard drop in the rice, add a rounded teaspoonful of salt to every cup of rice and boil gently, uncovered. Do not stir. For very hard rice allow two and one half cups of water to a cup of rice. You will soon learn just the quantity required. By the time the water dries out the rice should be done and each grain firm and separate. Allow a generous teaspoonful of butter to each cup of rice. One cup is sufficient for two persons. When the water gets low, taste the rice, and if you find it is still hard add a little more boiling water, or cover and remove to the back of the stove to finish slowly.—Contributed.
HOME MADE SAUSAGE.—Grind six pounds of raw lean fresh pork and three pounds of raw fat pork to a pulp. Put it in a large graniteware pan and add twelve teaspoons of powdered sage, six teaspoons of ground black pepper, six teaspoons of dry salt and one teaspoon each of ground cloves, allspice and nutmeg. Mix the seasoning well into the meat and pack it into stone jars, as closely as possible. Pour melted lard or paraffine wax over the top, which will be all the protection it will require. All winter as wanted make it into small cakes and fry brown.—Contributed.
HEAD CHEESE.—This is made of the head, ears and tongue of a pig. Boil them after cleaning them, in salted water until tender. Strip the meat from the bones and chop (not grind) very fine. Season with salt, pepper, sage and powdered cloves, to taste; then add one cup of good vinegar. Mix all together thoroughly and pack hard into molds or bowls, interspersing bits of the tongue cut into oblongs and triangles an inch in length. Wet a plate and press down on the top of each mold and place a weight on top of that. In two days it will be ready to eat. If you desire to keep it several weeks you can turn it out of the molds and immerse in cold vinegar in stone jars. This will preserve it admirably and you have only to pare away the outside if too acid for your taste.—Contributed.
PHILADELPHIA SCRAPPLE.—Take a cleaned pig’s head and boil until the flesh slips easily from the bones. Remove all the bones and chop fine. Set the liquor in which the meat was boiled aside until cold, take the cake of fat from the surface and return the liquor to the fire. When it boils, put in the chopped meat and season well with pepper and salt. Let it boil again and thicken with corn meal as you would in making ordinary corn meal mush, by letting it slip slowly through the fingers to prevent lumps. Cook an hour, stirring constantly at first, afterwards putting back on the range in a position to boil gently. When done, pour into a long, square pan, not too deep, and mould. In cold weather this can be kept several weeks. Slice and saute in butter or dripping.—Contributed.
MUTTON ROAST.—Just cover the breast of mutton with water, adding a little salt. Set over the fire, and when it comes to a boil place over a more moderate heat and simmer for three hours. Then take it up on a platter, draw out the bones, make a stuffing of bread crumbs, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper and a little melted suet or butter; lay this on the meat, roll it up and fasten with skewers. Cover thickly with egg and bread crumbs and bake in a good oven fifteen minutes to each pound of meat. When it begins to brown baste frequently with the pan drippings. Serve on a bed of cress.—Contributed.
FRIED HAM WITH CREAM SAUCE.—Trim off the edges; put into a hot pan with one teaspoonful of drippings, put over hot fire and keep turning the ham. Never put into pan and fry on one side before turning. You must keep turning constantly. When nice and brown on both sides remove to a hot platter. Put one tablespoonful of flour into pan, mix well and add one cup of cold milk slowly, stir and boil three minutes. Pour over ham.—Contributed.
HAM JELLY.—Mix two cupfuls of boiled ham, chopped and pounded very fine, with one teaspoonful of French mustard, a good dash of cayenne, one teaspoonful of granulated gelatin dissolved in one half cupful of hot water (with a teaspoonful of beef extract if at hand), and finally with one half cupful of cream which has been whipped. When thoroughly blended press into a wet square mold and place on ice for two or three hours. It will keep for a day or two. When ready to serve cut in thin slices and put on each a teaspoonful of mayonnaise dressing in which a little freshly grated horseradish and whipped cream have been stirred. Two tablespoonfuls of mayonnaise, four tablespoonfuls of whipped cream and one tablespoonful of horseradish will be the right proportions.—Contributed.
GOULASH.—Use two pounds of lean beef cut into neat pieces; chop an onion, half a carrot and one eighth of a green pepper; place all in a kettle with two cups of stock, or water will do, cover and stew gently for two hours; add five small sour pickles in the kettle with the meat, a teaspoonful of salt; continue to stew for half an hour longer. Remove the meat on a hot platter, place the pickles around the meat, thicken the gravy with a little flour and water and pour the gravy around the meat.
JELLIED VEAL.—One or two knuckles of veal boiled until very tender in water to cover. Strain the juice and cut the meat into small pieces or chop fine, season with salt, pepper and a little powdered sage; put back into strained broth and boil until nearly dry. Add juice of one lemon and turn into a mold, press well and let it stand until cold and firm. Slice in thin slices. For pressed beef use minced parsley instead of sage and omit the lemon juice. For pressed chicken omit the parsley and sage, add the lemon juice to the chicken broth and mould with a layer of sliced hard boiled eggs placed in the center of the loaf.—Contributed.
PORK PATTIES.—One cup chopped pork, two cups bread crumbs, two beaten eggs and one half cup milk, season with butter, salt and pepper, (and sage if liked). Fill buttered gem tins and bake until nicely brown.—Mrs. A. McKay.
CREAMED DRIED BEEF.—Pick half a pound of chipped dried beef into small pieces and bring it to a boil in water to cover. Drain, add one tablespoon of butter and dredge with one large tablespoon of flour, add two cupfuls of milk or cream and cook thick. Season with pepper. Nice for breakfast or lunch. Make creamed codfish the same way.—Contributed.
HAMBURG HASH.—One pound hamburg steak, two tablespoonfuls butter, eight or ten potatoes, one small onion, one small bunch parsley, one teaspoonful celery salt, half teaspoonful common salt, paprika for seasoning, half cupful hot water. Having all these things chopped and ready, melt the butter in a frying pan and toss the onion about in the pan until it becomes colored. Add the chopped beef and stir it until it has become nicely browned. Add the hot water, stirring thoroughly; then add the potatoes, parsley, paprika and salt. Stir about until well cooked. Turn out on a hot dish and serve promptly, garnished with parsley.
CORN BEEF HASH.—Make like above hamburg hash but use cold, chopped cooked corn beef and omit the onion and celery salt.