Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/20

16 and had a tin the size of the opening to fit in as a door. It was a capital oven. I have baked bread, cakes, and a small joint in it. Shepherds’ wives, whom I told about it, when they once used one, preferred it to a colonial oven. Of course you light the fire above and below, as in the old fashioned camp oven. The only drawback is the smallness of the drum.

A flank steak is more savory and quite as tender as one from the tender loin. Oiled and nicely broiled, it is a delicious morsel. Made into a pie and eaten cold, it makes an excellent luncheon or supper dish.

Few housekeepers are aware that the “church ribs,” as they are called, gives them really as good joints for the table as any part of the bullock.

For rolling, braising or boiling, you cannot have a better part, while the meat from next the bones makes very sweet steaks. If the ribs are not converted into soup they are very good as devilled or grilled bones.

Roast Beef with Lemon Juice—When the roast is tough and flavorless, as it very often is in this country, the juice of a fresh lemon squeezed all over it just before it goes into the oven will improve and give a pleasant flavor to the meat. With a very fat joint the lemon takes off the oily taste.

To Bake a Round—Bind the calico round the beef tightly (it will not require the cloth by which to lift it). Then make a thick paste or dough, it must be quite half an inch thick everywhere when rolled out, and enclose the round in it, wrapping it well over the top. A good plan to ensure the proper thickness top and bottom is to make extra paste, and, having wetted the first, put a second cover top and bottom. It will take a lot of flour, and it is useless when done with; many people prefer to boil for that reason.—But if one can afford it, the extra goodness of the flavour makes up for the waste of flour. If baked in a colonial oven do not make it very hot, and have top and under heat as equal as possible, and allow twenty minutes to the lb. and twenty over. When half the time has gone draw the under fire, unless the paste is not very brown, in that case it can be left; but sometimes when both fires are going the crust becomes very brown or burnt, then it is easier to attend to only one fire, and turn the meat when necessary. To know when it is sufficiently cooked, pass a knitting needle through from side to side, or half way only. When done let it stand till cool before knocking off the crust. To a round cured and cooked in this way you should be able to cut and come again down to the last morsel.

Baked Calf's Head.—Clean the head very carefully, and put it into a baking dish on a rest in the centre. Grate some nutmeg over it with some sweet herbs chopped; pepper and salt, crumbs of bread, and a little lemon peel; dredge a little flour over, put some pieces of butter here and there, and then put into the oven. Put into the dish a bunch of sweet herbs, an onion, some peppercorns, and a pint of water. Bake according to size, about ten minutes for each pound. Sauce for the above is thus