Page:Meier - The Art of German Cooking and Baking.djvu/395

 with a fork, and take note of the time when beginning. Never put so much meat into the pan at one time as to cool the fat and stop its sizzling. After every three pieces stop long enough to give the fat a chance to heat up.

When several pieces, of meat are in the pan, they must be turned in the order in which they were put in, baste frequently with the fat or butter in the pan and turn often.

When done, the meat must be well browned but not hard on the outside, and be reddish and tender inside. Stabbing the meat with a fork is not advisable for two reasons. In the first place the juice will run out and the meat will be dry, and then the meat will begin to stew in the juice and the temperature of the fat will be reduced, the meat will not turn brown; breaded meat loses the breading or this will be soft. Washed meat must be well dried with a clean cloth before breading. When fried meat is pale and colorless. It has been either fried in too low a temperature or was stabbed with a fork or was not well dried before frying.

Flat pieces of meat only are suitable for broiling, the fire must be a fairly hot one, all coals aglowing. The broiler is greased with a bit of bacon or suet and heated over the fire. Lay on the pounded slices of meat and as soon as. the same begins to blister, turn with a cake turner. The meat must be rich and not too lean. The meat is seasoned after broiling and hot butter may be poured over it before serving.

In Germany roasts made in the oven are preferred on account of the desired gravies.

Roast beef, fillet of beef, mutton, game and small birds require comparatively little time for roasting, but a uniformly hot oven. Veal, lamb, turkey and goose roasts require a longer time but only a moderate heat. For roasting use only meats from full grown, but not old, animals. The cellular walls of the muscle tissues must be still tender and fill'ed with juice. In older animals the tissues become harder and less juicy and such meat is better suited for stewing than for roasting. Meats for roasting should be 2 to 3 days old and ought to be slightly pounded.

Good nutritive flour has a yellowish tinge on account of the nutritive gluten contained therein; flour must not be gray, for this color denotes impurities. The whiter the flour the larger is the proportion of starch and smaller the proportion of albuminous substances. To test flour, put some of it on a bluish white sheet of paper, where color, finish and grain can be distinguished.