Boiling is the most economical way of cooking, if properly done; there are several important points to be considered in this connection. We have already said that the best method of cooking meat is that which preserves all its nourishing juices; if in addition to this we can prepare it in such a way as to present a large available surface to the action of the digestive juices, we would seem to have reached culinary perfection. Judicious boiling accomplishes this: and we cannot do better than to follow Liebig’s plan to first plunge the meat into boiling water, and boil it five minutes to coagulate the albumen to a sufficient depth to form a crust upon the surface, and thus confine the juices, and then add enough cold water to reduce the temperature to 158 deg. Fahr., if the meat is to be rare, or to 165 deg. Fahr., if it is to be well done; and to maintain this gentle heat until the meat is tender. There is comparatively little waste in boiling, from the fact that fat melts less quickly than in broiling or roasting, and the covering of the pot retards evaporation, while the water absorbed by the meat adds to its bulk to a certain extent without detracting from its quality. A strainer or plate should be placed in the bottom of the pot to prevent burning; the pot should be skimmed clear as soon as it boils, and the subsequent simmering should be gentle and steady; there should always be sufficient water to cover the meat in order to keep it plump. Less body of heat is required to boil in copper or iron pots, than in those made of tin, especially if the latter have polished surfaces which throw off the heat. The pot-liquor from boiled meat should always be strained into an earthen jar and left to cool; the fat can then be taken off for kitchen use, and the liquor utilized as the basis for some kind of soup.

112. Leg of Mutton with Caper Sauce. Put a leg of mutton, weighing about six pounds, on the fire in enough boiling hot water to cover it; boil it for five minutes, skimming it as often as any scum rises, then pour in enough cold water to reduce the heat to about 160 deg. Fahr., season with a tablespoonful of salt, and simmer the meat at that heat until it is tender, allowing about twenty minutes cooking to each pound of meat; if turnips are to be served with it as a garnish, choose them of equal size, pare them smoothly, and boil them with the mutton; if the vegetables are cooked first take them up without breaking, and set them back off the fire, in a little of the mutton stock, to keep hot. Just before dishing the meat, make a caper sauce, as directed in receipt N; serve the mutton on a hot dish, with the turnips laid around it, and send the sauce in a gravy-boat to the table with it.

113. Caper Sauce. Put one ounce of butter and one ounce of flour in a sauce-pan over the fire, and stir until smoothly melted; gradually pour in half a pint of boiling water, season with one teaspoonful of salt, and quarter of a saltspoonful of white pepper, and stir until the sauce coats the spoon when you lift it out; take it from the fire, and stir in two ounces of butter, and two tablespoonfuls of small capers, and serve at once. Do not permit the sauce to boil after you have added the butter, as it may turn rancid.

114. Boiled Ham with Madeira Sauce. Choose a ham by running a thin bladed knife close to the bone, and if the odor which follows the cut is sweet the ham is good; soak it in cold water for twenty-four hours, changing the water once; scrape it well, and trim off any ragged parts; put it in enough cold water to cover it, with an onion weighing about one ounce, stuck with six cloves, and a bouquet made according to directions in Chapter first, and boil it four hours. Take it from the fire and let it cool in the pot-liquor. Then take it up carefully, remove the skin, dust it with sifted bread or cracker crumbs, and brown it in the oven. Serve it either hot or cold; if hot send it to the table with a gravy boat full of Madeira sauce.

115. Madeira Sauce. Put over the fire in a thick sauce-pan one pint of Spanish sauce made according to receipt N, or the same quantity of any rich brown gravy, season with salt and pepper to taste; the seasoning must depend on the flavor of the gravy; when scalding hot add half a pint of Madeira wine, and stir till the sauce is thick enough to coat the spoon; then strain through a fine sieve, and serve hot.

116. Beef a la Mode Jardiniere. Daube a seven pound piece of round of beef, by inserting, with the grain, pieces of larding pork, cut as long as the meat is thick, and about half an inch square, setting the strips of pork about two inches apart; this can be done either with a large larding needle, called a sonde, or by first making a hole with the carving-knife steel, and then thrusting the pork in with the fingers; lay the beef in a deep bowl containing the marinade, or pickle, given in receipt N, and let it stand from two to ten days in a cool place, turning it over every day. Then put it into a deep pot just large enough to hold it, together with the marinade, and turn it occasionally over the fire until it is nicely browned; cover it with hot stock or water, and simmer it gently four hours. When it has been cooking three hours cut about four ounces each of carrots and turnips in the shape of olives; pare two dozen button onions; and cut one pint of string beans in pieces one inch long; put all these vegetables on the fire in cold water, in separate vessels, each containing a teaspoonful of salt, and half a saltspoonful of sugar, and let them boil till tender; then lay them in cold water to keep them white, until ready to use them. When the meat is tender, take it up, and keep it warm; strain the sauce in which it has cooked, and stir it over the fire until it is thick enough to coat the spoon; drain the vegetables, and let them scald up in the sauce, and pour all over the beef.

117. Marinade. Cut in slices, four ounces each of carrot and onion, two ounces of turnip, and one ounce of leeks; chop a quarter of an ounce each of parsley and celery, if in season; slice one lemon; add to these one level tablespoonful of salt, one saltspoonful of pepper, six cloves, four allspice, one inch of stick cinnamon, two blades of mace, one gill of oil and one of vinegar, half a pint of red wine, and one pint of water. Mix all these ingredients thoroughly, and use the marinade for beef, game, or poultry, always keeping it in a cool place.

118. Boiled Fowl with Oyster Sauce. Prepare a pair of fowls in accordance with receipt N, but do not stuff them; put them into boiling water enough to cover them, with a level tablespoonful of salt to each quart of water; skim until clear, and boil slowly until tender, about fifteen minutes to a pound; when nearly done, make an oyster sauce, as directed in receipt N, and serve it on the same dish with the fowls, sprinkling them with a teaspoonful of chopped parsley.

119. Oyster Sauce. Blanch one quart of oysters by bringing them to a boil in their own liquor; drain them, saving the liquor; wash them in cold water, and set them away from the fire until you are ready to use them; stir one ounce of butter and one ounce of flour together over the fire until they form a smooth paste, strain into them enough of the oyster liquor and that the chicken was boiled in to make a sauce as thick as melted butter; season with a teaspoonful of salt, quarter of a saltspoonful of white pepper, and the same of grated nutmeg; put in the oysters, and serve.