Page:Meat for Thrifty Meals.djvu/23

 Meat cooked in water or steamed is juicier if cooled in the broth. Save the broth for cooking beans, cabbage, or greens.

Cider and raisin sauce (p. 29) is good served with cured, smoked pork.

Veal breast, shoulder, neck, flank, and shank meat are all good for a fricassee. Cut the meat in inch cubes, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and flour. Brown in fat and add the onion. Add water to cover, put on a lid, and cook slowly for 1½ hours or until the meat is tender. Then remove the meat to a serving platter and keep hot. There should be 4 cups of good-flavored broth. To thicken it very slightly, blend 2 to 3 tablespoons of flour with an equal quantity of cold water. Stir in several tablespoons of the hot broth, then add the mixture gradually to the rest of the broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. The gravy is now ready for cooking the dumplings.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Beat the egg and add the milk. Then mix all the ingredients together just enough to moisten the flour. Drop the dumpling batter by spoonfuls over the boiling gravy, cover tightly to hold in the steam, and boil gently for l5 minutes without opening the pot. By this time the dumplings should be light and, fluffy. Serve at once with the meat and gravy.

Select 3 pounds of bony pieces of pork. Simmer (do not boil) in 3 quarts of water until the meat drops from the bone. Strain off the broth, remove the bones, taking care to get out all the tiny pieces, and chop the meat fine. There should be about 2 quarts of broth, and if necessary add water to make this quantity. Bring the broth to the boiling point, slowly stir in 2 cups of corn meal or 3 cups of cracked wheat, and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the chopped meat, salt, and any other seasoning such as a little sage or thyme. Pour the hot scrapple into bread pans which have been rinsed with cold water. These quantities will make two pans. Let stand until cold and firm. Slice about ½ inch thick and brown slowly in a hot skillet. If the scrapple is rich with fat, no more fat is needed for frying.