Part 3 (1/2)

Many people like one small cold boiled beet cut up fine in corned beef hash, and sometimes for a change you can put this in before you put it in the frying-pan.

Broiled Bacon

Margaret's mother believed there was only one very nice way to cook bacon. It was like this: Slice the bacon very, very thin, and cut off the rind. Put the slices close together in a wire broiler, and lay this over a shallow pan in a very hot oven for about three minutes. If it is brown on top, then you can turn the broiler over, but if not, wait a moment longer. When both sides are toasted, lay it on a hot platter and put sprigs of parsley around. This is much nicer than bacon cooked in the frying-pan or over coals, for it is neither greasy nor smoky, but pink and light brown, and crisp and delicious, and good for sick people and little children and everybody.

Broiled Chops

Wipe off the chops with a clean wet cloth and trim off the edges; if very fat cut rather close to the meat. Rub the wire broiler with some of the fat, so that the chops will not stick. Lay in the chops and put over a clear, red fire without flame, and toast one side first and then the other; do this till they are brown.

Lay on a hot platter, and dust both sides with salt and a tiny bit of pepper. Put bits of lemon and parsley around, and send to the table hot.

Panned Chops

If the fire is not clear so that you cannot broil the chops, you must pan them. Take a frying-pan and make it very hot indeed; then lay in the chops, which you have wiped and trimmed, and cook one side very quickly, and then the other, and after that let them cook more slowly. When they are done,--you can tell by picking open a little place in one with a fork and looking on the inside,--put them on a platter as before, with pepper and salt. If they are at all greasy, put on brown paper in the oven first, to drain, leaving the door of the oven open. Be careful not to let them get cold.

Liver and Bacon

Buy half a pound of calf's liver and half a pound of bacon. Cut the liver in thin slices and pour boiling water over it, and then wipe each slice dry. Slice the bacon very thin and cut off the rind; put this in a hot frying-pan and cook very quickly, turning it once or twice. Just as soon as it is brown take it out and lay it on brown paper in the oven in a pan. Take a saucer of flour and mix in it a teaspoonful of salt and a very little pepper; dip the slices of liver in this, one at a time, and shake them free of lumps.

Lay them in the hot fat of the bacon in the pan and fry till brown.

Have a hot platter ready, and lay the slices of liver in a nice row on it, and then put one slice of bacon on each slice of liver.

Put parsley all around, and sometimes use slices of lemon, too, for a change.

Liver and Bacon on Skewers

Get from the butcher half a dozen small wooden skewers, and prepare the liver and bacon as you did for frying, scalding, dipping the liver in flour, and taking the rind off the bacon.

Make three slices of toast, cut into strips, and put in the oven to keep hot. Cut up both liver and bacon into pieces the size of a fifty-cent piece and put them on the skewers, first one of the liver and then one of the bacon, and so on, about six of each.

Put these in the hot frying-pan and turn them over till they are brown. Then lay one skewer on each strip of toast, and put lemon and parsley around. You can also put large oysters on the skewers with pieces of bacon, and cook in the same way.

Broiled Steak

See that the fire is clear and red, without flames. Trim off most of the fat from the steak, and rub the wires of the broiler with it and heat it over the coals. Then put in the meat and turn over and over as it cooks, and be careful not to let it take fire. When brown, put it on a hot platter, dust over with salt and a very little pepper, and dot it with tiny lumps of b.u.t.ter.

Put parsley around. Steak ought to be pink inside; not brown and not red. Put a fork in as you did with the chops, and twist in a little, and you can see when it gets the right color.

Steak with Bananas

Peel one banana and slice in round pieces, and while the steak is cooking fry them in a little hot b.u.t.ter till they are brown.

After the meat is on the platter, lay these pieces over it, arranging them prettily, and put the parsley around as before.

Bananas are very nice with steak.