CALF’S FEET, Boiled, and Parsley and Butter.
Ingredients.—2 calf’s feet, 2 slices of bacon, 2 oz. of butter, two tablespoonfuls of lemon-juice, salt and whole pepper to taste, 1 onion, a bunch of savoury herbs, 4 cloves, 1 blade of mace, water, parsley, and butter. Mode.—Procure 2 white calf’s feet; bone them as far as the first joint, and put them into warm water to soak for 2 hours. Then put the bacon, butter, lemon-juice, onion, herbs, spices, and seasoning into a stewpan; lay in the feet, and pour in just sufficient water to cover the whole. Stew gently for about three hours; take out the feet, dish them, and cover with parsley and butter. The liquor they were boiled in should be strained and put by in a clean basin for use: it will be found very good as an addition to gravies, &c. Time.—Rather more than 3 hours. Average cost, in full season, 9d. each. Sufficient for 4 persons. Seasonable from March to October.
CALF’S-FOOT BROTH.
Ingredients.—1 calf’s foot, 3 pints of water, 1 small lump of sugar, nutmeg to taste, the yolk of 1 egg, a piece of butter the size of a nut. Mode.—Stew the foot in the water with the lemon-peel very gently, until the liquid is half wasted, removing any scum, should it rise to the surface. Set it by in a basin until quite cold, then take off every particle of fat. Warm up about ½ pint of the broth, adding the butter, sugar, and a very small quantity of grated nutmeg; take it off the fire for a minute or two, then add the beaten yolk of the egg; keep stirring over the fire until the mixture thickens, but do not allow it to boil again after the egg is added, or it will curdle, and the broth will be spoiled. Time.—To be boiled until the liquid is reduced one half. Average cost, in full season, 9d. each. Sufficient to make 1½ pint of broth. Seasonable from March to October.
CALF’S FEET, Fricasseed.
Ingredients.—A set of calf’s feet; for the batter, allow for each egg 1 tablespoonful of flour, 1 tablespoonful of bread-crumbs, hot lard, or clarified dripping, pepper and salt to taste. Mode.—If the feet are purchased uncleaned, dip them into warm water repeatedly, and scrape off the hair, first one foot and then the other, until the skin looks perfectly clean, a saucepan of water being kept by the fire until they are finished. After washing and soaking in cold water, boil them in just sufficient water to cover them, until the bones come easily away. Then pick them out, and after straining the liquor into a clean vessel, put the meat into a pie-dish until the next day. Now cut it down in slices about ½ inch thick, lay on them a stiff batter made of egg, flour, and bread-crumbs in the above proportion; season with pepper and salt, and plunge them into a pan of boiling lard. Fry the slices a nice brown, dry them before the fire for a minute or two, dish them on a napkin, and garnish with tufts of parsley. This should be eaten with melted butter, mustard, and vinegar. Be careful to have the lard boiling to set the batter, or the pieces of feet will run about the pan. The liquor they were boiled in should be saved, and will be found useful for enriching gravies, making jellies, &c. Time.—About 3 hours to stew the feet, 10 or 15 minutes to fry them. Average cost, in full season, 9d. each. Sufficient for 8 persons. Seasonable from March to October.
Note.—This dish can be highly recommended to delicate persons.
CALF’S-FEET JELLY.
Ingredients.—1 quart of calf’s-feet stock,½ lb. sugar,½ pint of sherry, 1 glass of brandy, the shells and whites of 5 eggs, the rind and juice of 2 lemons,½ oz. of isinglass. Mode.—Prepare the stock as directed in recipe for stock, taking care to leave the sediment, and to remove all the fat from the surface. Put it into a saucepan cold, without clarifying it; add the remaining ingredients, and stir them well together before the saucepan is placed on the fire. Then simmer the mixture gently for ¼ hour, but do not stir it after it begins to warm. Throw in a teacupful of cold water, boil for another 5 minutes, and keep the saucepan covered by the side of the fire for about ½ hour, but do not let it boil again. In simmering, the head or scum may be carefully removed as it rises; but particular attention must be given to the jelly, that it be not stirred in the slightest degree after it is heated. The isinglass should be added when the jelly begins to boil: this assists to clear it, and makes it firmer for turning out. Wring out a jelly-bag in hot water; fasten it on to a stand, or the back of a chair; place it near the fire with a basin underneath it, and run the jelly through it. Should it not be perfectly clear the first time, repeat the process until the desired brilliancy is obtained. Soak the moulds in water, drain them for half a second, pour in the jelly, and put it in a cool place to set. If ice is at hand, surround the moulds with it, and the jelly will set sooner, and be firmer when turned out. In summer it is necessary to have ice in which to put the moulds, or the cook will be, very likely, disappointed, by her jellies being in too liquid a state to turn out properly, unless a great deal of isinglass is used. When wanted for table, dip the moulds in hot water for a minute, wipe the outside with a cloth, lay a dish on the top of the mould, turn it quickly over, and the jelly should slip out easily. It is sometimes served broken into square lumps, and piled high in glasses. Earthenware moulds are preferable to those of pewter or tin for red jellies, the colour and transparency of the composition being often spoiled by using the latter. To make this jelly more economically, raisin wine may be substituted for the sherry and brandy, and the stock made from cow-heels, instead of calf’s feet. Time.—20 minutes to simmer the jelly,½ hour to stand covered. Average cost, reckoning the feet at 6d. each, 5s. 6d. Sufficient to fill two 1½-pint moulds. Seasonable at any time.
JELLY-MOULD.
Note.—As lemon-juice, unless carefully strained, is liable to make the jelly muddy, see that it is clear before it is added to the other ingredients. Omit the brandy when the flavour is objected to.
CALF’S HEAD à la Maître d’Hôtel.
[Cold Meat Cookery.] Ingredients.—The remains of a cold calf’s head, rather more than ½ pint of maître d’hôtel sauce. Mode.—Make the sauce by the given recipe, and have it sufficiently thick that it may nicely cover the meat; remove the bones from the head, and cut the meat into neat slices. When the sauce is ready, lay in the meat; gradually warm it through, and, after it boils up, let it simmer very gently for 5 minutes, and serve. Time.—Rather more than 1½ hour. Average cost, exclusive of the meat, 1s. 2d. Seasonable from March to October.
CALF’S HEAD, Boiled (with the Skin on).