Marion Harland's Complete Cook Book: A Practical and Exhaustive Manual of Cookery and Housekeeping

meat and send to the table. A New England pot-roast Lay a round of beef in a broad, deep pot. Pour in a cupful of boiling water, add two slices of onion, cover closely and cook gently ten minutes to the pound. Transfer to a dripping-pan, rub with butter, dredge with flour, and brown in a quick oven. Strain and cool the gravy left in the pot, take off the fat, put the gravy into a saucepan, season with pepper, salt and a little kitchen bouquet, and thicken with a heaping tablespoonful of brown roux. Boil up once and serve in a gravy-boat, or pour around the base of the beef. Savory ragout of beef Cut a round beefsteak into inch-squares. Fry minced salt pork in a pan until you have enough fat to fry the meat, then remove the bits of pork and lay in the meat, each piece of which must first be rolled in flour. When the meat is brown at the edges, add to the fat two tablespoonfuls of flour that has been lightly browned, stir in a pint of weak stock, or, if you have not that, of boiling water; stir to a brown sauce, and return the meat to it, throwing in, at the same time, a minced onion. Leave the meat at the side of the range where it will cook very slowly for three-quarters of an hour. Now, season to taste with salt, add a bay leaf and a little kitchen bouquet. A little Worcestershire sauce is thought by some to be an improvement. Cover again and cook, still slowly, for over an hour, or until the meat is very tender. Stir in two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, and turn out upon a heated platter. Beef hot pot Two pounds of beef ribs; one tablespoonful of dripping; two chopped onions and six tiny green peppers, four slices of toast, a little black pepper, chives, vinegar, thyme, raisins, olives, tomatoes to taste, all minced. Heat the dripping in a saucepan, put into it the ingredients (leave the peppers whole, and mince the chives), cover