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recipe finds its place here.
To obtain a good roast-beef not less than two pounds ought to be cooked on a strong fire. It ought to be
covered with good olive oil and finally with cup of soup stock which with the oil and the juice from the meat
will form a rich gravy. Salt it only when it is half cooked and do it moderately, because the beef is already
tasty by itself.
Put it on the fire half an hour before the soup is served and the meal begins. This will be sufficient if the piece
is not very big. To ascertain the cooking prick it in the bigger part with a thin larding-pin, but not often, in
order not to allow too much juice to escape. The juice must neither be of the color of the blood nor too dark.
If baked it is to be seasoned with salt, oil and a piece of butter, surrounded by raw potatoes peeled. Pour in the
kettle a cup of broth or of water. If you do not like cold roast beef, cut it into slices and warm with butter and
brown stock or tomato sauce.
129
ROAST VEAL
(Arrosto di vitella)
Choose for that milk veal that is to be found all the year round, although it is always better during the spring
or summer.
The piece or pieces of veal can be cooked in a saucepan, slightly larded with garlic and rosemary, with oil,
butter and a hash of corned beef, salt, pepper and tomato sauce. In the gravy fresh peas can be cooked.
130
POT ROAST
(Arrosto morto)
The Italian Cook Book, by Maria Gentile 41
This can be done with all kinds of meats, but the best is milk veal. Take a good piece of the loins, roll it and
tie with a string and put on the fire with good olive oil and butter, both in small quantity. Brown well from all
sides, salt when half cooked and complete the cooking with a half cup of broth, seeing that little juice remains.
If no broth is at hand, use tomato sauce, or tomato paste diluted with water. Some corned beef chopped fine
can also be added.
131
POT ROAST WITH GARLIC AND ROSEMARY
(Arrosto morto coll'odore dell'aglio e del ramerino)
Cook the meat as above, but add a clove of garlic and one or two bunches of rosemary in the saucepan. When
serving the roast rub the gravy through a sieve without pressing and surround the meat with potatoes or
vegetables cooked apart.
The leg of lamb comes very well in this way, baked in the oven.
132
BIRDS
(Arrosto di uccelli)
The best way to cook birds, and that nearly always used by the Italians, is roasted at the spit. They must be
spitted with a small slice of bread between each bird. Also wrap each bird in very thin slices of bacon, in such
a way that it can be spitted with this covering. Mind to slice the bacon almost as thin as paper. Pass some
oil--only once--over when they begin to brown, using a brush or a feather, and salt only once, moderately.
Put on the fire when near to be served, otherwise they may get dry and lose much of their flavor. The cooking
is rapidly done if on a good fire.
133
ROAST OF LAMB
(Arrosto d'agnello)
Take a leg of lamb and season it with salt, pepper, oil and a drop of vinegar. Pierce it here and there with the
point of a knife and leave it like this for several hours. Also lard it with bay leaf or rosemary to be removed
when serving. The leg of lamb can be baked or, as the Italians do, cooked at the spit.
134
LEG OF MUTTON
(Cosciotto di castrato arrosto)
Before cooking see that several days elapse after the animal has been butchered. This, naturally, according to
the temperature. Beat it well with a wooden mallet, then skin and remove the middle bone, without spoiling
the meat. Then tie it and give it a good fire at the beginning, covering the fire when half cooked. Let it cook in
its own juice and in a cup of broth strained to remove the fat; nothing else. Salt when it is almost cooked, but
The Italian Cook Book, by Maria Gentile 42
see that it is neither too well done nor rare, just medium. Serve with its juice apart in a sauce.
135
ROAST OF HARE
(Arrosto di lepre)
The part of the hare fitted for roast is the hind quarters, but the limbs of this game are covered with little skins
that must be carefully removed, before cooking, without cutting the muscles.
Before roasting keep it soaking for twelve or fourteen hours in a liquid prepared as follows: put on the fire in a
kettle three tumblers of water with half a tumbler of vinegar or less in proportion with the piece to be cooked,
three of four scallions chopped fine, one or two bay-leaves, a bunch of parsley, a little salt and a pinch of
pepper; make it boil for five or six minutes, cool and pour when cold over the hare. When you remove the
latter from the liquid wipe it and lard it all with little pieces of good bacon.
Cook on a low fire, salt it sufficiently and grease with cream and nothing else. Never use the liver of the hare
which, it is said, is very indigestible.
136
POT ROAST LARDED
(Arrosto morto lardellato)
Take a piece short and thick of beef or veal, quite tender and weighing about two pounds or a little more. Lard
it with ham or bacon cut in little pieces. Tie with a string and put it in a stewpan with a piece of butter, one
fourth of a middle-sized onion cut in two pieces, three or four ribs of celery half an inch thick and as many [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]