A Course of Lectures on the Principles of Domestic Economy and Cookery

so that there is heat top and bottom; then they put their braising pan by the side of the fire or at the back of the stove, where it will have a gentle heat, and cook it for a very long time. They braise it four or five hours, and it makes the toughest meat tender. After you once bring the meat to the boiling point you must not boil it fast; if you boil it fast you will make it very much tougher. After you get it to the boiling point keep it there, and cook it slowly, and long enough so that it will be sure to be tender. If you are sure the meat is tough in the beginning, put half a cupful of vinegar into the water with it. You won't notice the vinegar when you come to eat the meat, and it will help to make the meat tender. The French, of course, use the ordinary wine of the country,--a sour wine,--it has the same effect; it is about as sour as vinegar, and has about the same effect. I think, indeed, that is the reason why the French use so much wine in cooking meat. They use a very acid wine always, and probably use it for the purpose of making the meat tender in many instances. Put in salt, but not too much, for the effect of salt, while the meat is boiling, would be to harden it. Just a little salt, and then in seasoning your gravy you can add more salt. After the meat is braised French fashion, it is taken out of the broth, and the broth is strained and then used as a broth or soup, or made into a gravy. To make the gravy, for each pint of gravy that you wish to make, use a tablespoonful of butter or beef drippings and a tablespoonful of flour. Stir the drippings and flour over the fire in a sauce pan until they are brown. Then begin to add the seasoned broth in which the meat was cooked, half a