Page:Meat for Thrifty Meals.djvu/14

 For Swiss steak select about 2 pounds of beef from the rump, round, or chuck, or a slice of veal, cut fairly thick. Season the meat with salt and pepper, sprinkle with flour. Pounding helps to make the meat tender. Cut the steak into individual portions and brown in suet or other fat in a heavy frying pan or kettle. Then add canned or sliced tomatoes, or water to cover. Partly cover with a lid and simmer for 2 to 2½ hours, or until the meat is tender enough to cut with a fork. Serve the gravy over the meat.

With macaroni (as Spanish Steak).&mdash;Follow the recipe above using 1½ pounds of meat, and a quart of tomatoes as the liquid. Coctk ½ pound macaroni in boiling, salted water until tender, and drain. Brown ½ cup chopped onion and 1 large chopped green pepper in fat. Add the macaroni, onion, and pepper to the tomato gravy, and serve over the meat.

Smothered with onions.&mdash;If the steak is from the round, rump, or chuck, or if it is a flank steak, follow the recipe for Swiss steak, and add sliced onions during the last half hour of cooking. If it is a beef porterhouse or sirloin steak, but very lean, brown it on both sides in suet, or other fat; then remove from the pan. Brown sliced onions in the same pan. Put the steak back, cover with the onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, put a lid on the pan, and cook slowly for about 15 minutes.

For braising, use veal or very lean lamb or pork chops. Cut through the edges in several places to prevent curling. Sprinkle the meat with salt, pepper, and flour, and brown in fat. Cover the pan, and finish the cooking slowly for ½ to ¾ hour, or until the meat is tender. Serve the chops and drippings on a platter with a border of boiled noodles or rice.

Cut the ham or shoulder into pieces for serving. If the meat is very, salty, parboil it in water and drain. Brown the meat lightly on both sides and arrange the pieces to cover the bottom of a baking dish. Spread the sliced sweetpotatoes over the meat, sprinkle with sugar. Add the hot water to the drippings in the frying pan and pour over the sweetpotatoes and meat. Cover the dish and bake slowly until the meat and sweetpotatoes are tender, basting the sweetpotatoes occasionally with the gravy. Toward the last, remove the lid and let the top brown well.