SHEEP'S TONGUES

Soak the tongues in cold water for two hours in winter, and one in summer, and drain. Throw them in boiling water, and leave till you can easily take the skin off; then skin and clean well, split in two lengthwise, and let cool. Put in a stewpan two ounces of bacon cut in thin slices, a bay-leaf, two sprigs of thyme, four of parsley, two cloves, three green onions and six small red or white ones, one carrot cut in four pieces, salt and pepper, then the tongues; add also half a pint of broth, same of water, same of white wine; set in a moderately heated oven, and simmer about four hours; have the stewpan covered as nearly air-tight as possible. Then take the tongues from the pan and drain them; knead well together two ounces of fresh butter, with two teaspoonfuls of chopped parsley, a little salt and allspice; spread some on each of the tongues as soon as they are cold; envelop each in oiled paper, broil them gently on a slow fire, and serve with the paper.

You may also when prepared and cooked as above directed, and instead of broiling them, place a _puree_ on a dish, and serve them on a _puree_, pouring on the whole the sauce in which they have cooked, and straining it at the same time.

They are really more delicate when broiled.

_To select._--The flesh must be like that of mutton, rather black, and the fat white.

There is no difference in the wether and ewe. The shorter the quarters are the better the meat, and the fore as well as the hind quarter. With the exception that the breast-piece is prepared also in _epigramme_, and that it is cut in quarters instead of dividing it like mutton, lamb may be prepared in the same and every way like mutton. The quarters may be prepared like shoulder, leg, and saddle of mutton.

_Chops_ may be cut and prepared the same as mutton-chops.

_Fore-Quarter._--According to the opinion of a great many epicures, the fore-quarter is the best part of the lamb; but, as we have previously said, every one to his liking.

Lard it slightly, and envelop it with buttered paper, place it upon the spit before a good fire; when done take from the fire, and take the paper off, sprinkle on it salt, pepper, and chopped parsley; put back on the spit before a sharp fire, just long enough to allow it to take a fine color; then take off, run a knife under the shoulder to make a small hole, pour _maitre d'hotel_ sauce in it, and serve either as it is, with its gravy, or on a _puree_ of sorrel.

_To bake it._--Put it in a baking-pan, spread a little salt, pepper, and butter over it; cover it with a piece of buttered paper; have the bottom of the pan covered with cold water and put in a warm oven, baste often till done. If the paper burns, put on another piece. Run a small knife or a skewer into the meat, to ascertain when properly done.

It may be served with the gravy only, after having removed the fat, or with a _piquante_, _poivrade_, or _maitre d'hotel_ sauce.

It is also served with a garniture of mushrooms or onions, or with a _macedoine_, or on a _puree_ of spinach, or of sorrel.

_Hind-Quarter._--Throw it in boiling water for five minutes, and drain. Put in a stewpan a piece of butter the size of an egg, and set on the fire; when melted, mix in it a tablespoonful of flour; after which, pour in, little by little, a pint and a half of boiling water, stirring with a wooden spoon all the time; then put the meat in the pan, add four onions, a bay-leaf, two cloves, three sprigs of parsley, two of thyme, salt, and pepper; about fifteen minutes before it is done, add two or three mushrooms cut in slices, take from the fire when cooked, place the meat on a dish with the mushrooms and onions around, or if preferred, without either; strain the sauce on the meat, and serve.

If the sauce is not thick enough, mix the yolk of an egg in it just before serving.

_Roasted._--Roast and serve the hind-quarter in the same way as directed for the fore-quarter.

_Baked._--Bake and serve it also in the same and every way like the fore-quarter.

_Epigramme._--Put a breast of lamb in a saucepan, cover it with cold water, season with a small onion and one clove stuck in it, two stalks of parsley, a piece of carrot, one of turnip, and salt. Boil gently till you can pull off the bones easily. It may also be boiled in the soup-kettle while making broth. When the bones come off easily, take from the fire, pull out all the small bones and cut out the large one. Place the breast in a large bakepan, with some weight over so as to flatten it, and leave it so till perfectly cold. Then cut it in pieces of rhombic shape about four inches long and two inches broad; salt and pepper each piece on both sides; dip them in beaten egg, roll in bread-crumbs and fry them with a little butter, and serve on a tomato, _piquante_, _ravigote_, or _soubise_ sauce, or on any _puree_.

When the sauce is spread on the dish, place the pieces of lamb all around it, one lapping over the other, and forming a kind of oblong string, and serve warm.

_Another._--When the _epigramme_ is prepared as above and ready to be served, have as many mutton-chops as you have pieces of meat from the breast; dish in the same way, except that you put one piece of the breast and then a mutton-chop fried in the same way as the pieces of meat; the chops lapping over the pieces of breast, and _vice versa_.

_Broiled._--The same may be broiled instead of fried, and served in the same way.

_Roasted entire._--Skewer a lamb properly on the spit, envelop it with buttered paper, place before a good fire, baste often with melted butter first, and then with the drippings; when nearly done take the paper off, let the lamb take a fine color around, and serve it with the gravy. It may be served with a garniture around and decorated with skewers, the same as directed for fillet of beef; it then makes a sightly as well as a delicious dish.

Served with a garniture and decorated as directed for a fillet of beef, it is served as a _releve_ at a grand dinner, and as an _entree_ at a family dinner.

_Cold._--Cold lamb is served in every way like cold mutton. A part left from a roasted piece may be enveloped in buttered paper, put on the spit just long enough to warm it, and served just in the same way as roast lamb.

_Lamb's head_, _feet_, _kidneys_, etc., are prepared and served like the same parts of the sheep, and as directed in the different receipts.

Prepare, cook, and serve kid the same as lamb.

Never buy too young veal. It is very easy to know it; when too young, the bones are very tender; they are more like nerves than bones; the meat is gluish, and has little or no taste. Epicures say that if a calf is killed before it is two months old, or at least six weeks, it is not fit for eating. We are of that opinion, although, perhaps, very few are allowed so long a life. We will therefore recommend our readers to beware buying too young veal; many diseases, especially in children, come from eating it.

When you broil or roast a piece of veal, baste often. Veal is better when a little overdone; it is not good, and operates like physic, if underdone.

The best veal is that of a greenish color and very fat. It is fresh when the eyes are full and smooth, and when the meat is firm. If the meat is yellowish or contains yellowish spots, it is not fresh. The veins must be red.

_To improve._--Chop fine a tablespoonful of parsley, a teaspoonful of shallots, same of green onions, a bay-leaf, two sprigs of thyme, two or three mushrooms, add to them, salt, pepper, a little grated nutmeg; cover the bottom of a tureen with half of each, put on it the piece of veal you wish to improve, cover with the other half of the seasonings; then pour gently on the whole two tablespoonfuls of sweet-oil; leave the veal thus about four or five hours in winter and about two in summer.

The pieces of veal that are roasted are the _loin_, _leg_, and _shoulder_.

It may be improved as directed above or not, according to taste; but we earnestly recommend it as not a little improvement, but as a marked one, as everybody can try it and judge, veal being naturally tasteless.

There are three ways of roasting veal. We will describe them, so that it can be done according to taste.

1. Spread a thin coat of butter around the piece of veal after being salted all around, put on the spit before a good but not very sharp fire; near it, but not too much so: veal being more tender than beef, it would also burn much quicker. Baste often with melted butter first, and then with the drippings, and from the beginning to the end. When done, that is, when overdone, as veal must always be, serve with the gravy only, or in the different ways described below.

2. Lard all the fleshy parts of the piece of veal with a larding-needle and strips of salt pork, the same as a fillet of beef, but which strips you roll in a mixture of parsley chopped, salt and pepper, before running them into the meat, and proceed as above for the rest. Serve also like the above.

3. After the piece of veal is improved as directed, spread the seasonings in which it has been improved all around it, then envelop the whole in buttered paper, which you fasten with twine, put it on the spit, and baste often with melted butter. It must be basted often to prevent the paper from burning. About fifteen minutes before it is done, remove the paper, put the meat a little nearer the fire so as to give it a fine yellow or golden color, finish the cooking till overdone, and serve also like the first, or No. 1.

No matter which of these three ways the piece of veal is roasted, it is served in the same manner.

_With Asparagus._--When the roasted piece of veal is dished, put a _puree_ of asparagus all around, and serve warm.

_With Peas._--Spread one pint or one quart (according to the size of the piece of meat) of green peas _au jus_, on a dish; place the meat on the peas, spread the gravy over the whole, and serve as warm as possible.

_With Quenelles._--Dish the roasted piece, place around it six or eight _quenelles_ of chicken or of veal, strain the gravy on the whole, and serve warm.

_With Vegetables._--When roasted and dished, put any kind of vegetables, prepared _au jus_, all around the piece of meat, and serve warm.

_With Sweetbreads._--Roast the piece of veal as directed, and when dished, place six sweetbreads, prepared _au jus_, tastefully around the meat; strain the gravy over, and serve very warm.

_Decorated._--Every piece of roasted veal may be decorated with skewers, either served _au jus_ or in any of the above ways. The skewers are first run through either of the following and then stuck into the piece of meat: slices of truffles; chicken-combs, prepared as for garniture; slices of sweetbreads or whole ones, prepared _au jus_; _quenelles_ of chicken or of veal; slices of carrots, turnips, beets, all prepared _au jus_; and mushrooms. One, two, three, or more to every skewer; for instance: one slice of truffle, then one of turnip, a chicken-comb, then a slice of sweetbread or a whole one, and then stick in the meat. From two to six skewers may be used. On a large piece never put less than two, and no matter how many you use, always have even numbers of them.

All the parts of veal that are roasted, that is, the loin, leg, and shoulder, can be baked. They may be improved in the same way as to roast them. Put the piece of veal in a bakepan; spread salt, pepper, and butter on it; cover the bottom of the pan with cold water, about a quarter of an inch in depth; place a piece of buttered paper on the meat, and put in a warm oven. If the meat has been improved, the seasonings are spread over it before placing the buttered paper. Baste often with the water and juice in the pan and over the paper, which you need not remove till about ten minutes before taking from the oven, or in case it should burn; then you must replace it by another. It keeps the top of the meat moist, and it is more juicy when done.

When properly baked (overdone, as every piece of veal must be), serve either _au jus_, or with the same garnitures, the same decorations, as directed for roasted veal.

The gravy in the bakepan is strained, the fat skimmed off, and then it is turned over the meat and garnitures when dished, the same as the drippings or gravy of roast meat. In case the water in the bakepan, or the juice, or both, should boil away or be absorbed, put more cold water in it, so as to be able to baste.

BLANQUETTE.--(_Also called Poulette._)

Take about two pounds of neck, breast, shoulder, or any other piece, which cut in pieces, two inches square, throw them in boiling water, with a little salt, for five minutes, and drain them. Put in a stewpan a piece of butter the size of an egg, set it on a good fire, and when melted mix in a tablespoonful of flour, stirring all the time, and when turning yellow pour gently and slowly in the pan a pint of boiling water; add a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and green onions, salt, pepper, six small white or red onions, two or three mushrooms, and then the meat; boil gently about three hours, and serve.

CROQUETTES.

Proceed as for chicken croquettes in every particular, except that you use cold veal instead of cold chicken.

The neck and breast pieces are generally used to make a _ragout_, but any other piece may be used. Take about three pounds of veal, which cut in pieces about two inches square. Put two ounces of butter in a saucepan, set it on the fire, and as soon as the butter is melted, lay the meat in, stir now and then till of a golden color, and then take the meat from the pan. Leave the pan on the fire, and put in it a tablespoonful of flour, little by little, keep stirring about five minutes; add also half a pint of broth, same of warm water, one onion with a clove stuck in it, a bay leaf, two sprigs of thyme, two of parsley, a clove of garlic, a small carrot cut in two or three pieces, salt and pepper, then the meat, and cover the pan. Half an hour after your meat is in, fry in butter in a frying-pan six small onions, which you also put in the stewpan as soon as fried. When the whole is cooked, place the meat on a dish, strain the sauce on it, surround the whole with the six small onions, and serve warm.

_In Scallops._--Take a piece from the loin or leg of veal, cut it in pieces about three inches long, two inches broad, and one-third of an inch thick, as evenly as possible, and flatten them with a chopper. Salt and pepper them on both sides, and fry them with a little butter till about half done, on both sides alike. Add a little broth and chopped parsley, and boil gently till done. Place the pieces of veal all around the platter, one lapping over another, turn the sauce in the middle of them, and serve.

_Another._--Cut the veal in pieces as for the above; beat one or two eggs in a plate with salt, pepper, and chopped parsley; dip each piece into it and then roll in bread-crumbs; butter a bakepan, place the veal in with a small lump of butter on each piece, and bake; turn over to bake evenly. Serve as the above, with a _piquante_ or tomato sauce in the middle.