The Italian Cook Book Part 15

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. Pa.s.s 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 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 b.u.t.ter, one fourth of a middle-sized onion cut in two pieces, three or four ribs of celery half an inch thick and as many slices of carrot.

Season with salt and pepper and when the meat begins to brown--turning it often--pour over one cup of water and complete the cooking on a low fire, leaving it to absorb great part of the gravy. See, however, that it doesn't dry up and become black. When you send to the table strain the juice that has remained and pour it on the meat, that may be surrounded with potatoes cut in pieces or kept whole if small, previously browned in b.u.t.ter or oil.

137

PIGEON SURPRISE

(Piccione a sorpresa)

The pigeon (or chicken) must be opened and stuffed with a cutlet of milk veal. Of course this cutlet must be of proportionate size. Beat it well to render it thinner and more tender, season with salt, pepper, a pinch of spices and little pieces of b.u.t.ter, roll it and put inside the pigeon sewing the opening. The liver and giblets of the pigeon can be cooked apart in brown stock or in b.u.t.ter, after being chopped. With the resulting gravy the cutlet can be smeared. In this way the different flavor of the two qualities of meat is better amalgamated.

138

STUFFED BEEF CUTLET

(Braciuola di manzo ripiena)

The ingredients for this dish are a slice of beef half an inch thick, weighing about one pound, half a pound or less of lean milk veal, two small slices of ham and two or three of tongue, one scant tablespoonful of grated cheese, a piece of b.u.t.ter, two chicken livers, one egg, a crumb of bread as large as a closed fist.

Make a hash with a small onion, a little celery, carrot and parsley, put it on the fire with the b.u.t.ter and when it is browned, place in the saucepan the veal cut in small pieces and the chicken livers, season with little salt and pepper and complete the cooking with a little broth. Remove the veal and chicken when cooked, and chop them fine. In the gravy that remains make a pap rather hard with the crumb of bread, moistening with broth if necessary. Now mix the chopped meat, the pap, the eggs, the cheese, the ham and tongue cut in little pieces. When the stuffing is composed thus, dip the cutlet in water, in order to stretch it better, beat it with the back of the knife and flatten with its blades. Put the stuffing inside and roll up and tie tightly with a string crosswise. Roast or bake with oil and salt.

139

STUFFED CHICKEN

(Pollo ripieno)

For a middle-sized fowl use the following ingredients: two sausages, the liver and giblets of the fowl, eight or ten chestnuts well roasted, some pieces of mushrooms, a taste of nutmeg, one egg. If, instead of a fowl, it is a turkey, double the dose.

Begin by giving the sausages and the giblets half a cooking, moistening them with a little broth if necessary. Season with a little salt and pepper on account of the sausages that already contain them. Remove them and in the gravy that remains put a crumb of bread, in order to obtain with a little broth two tablespoonfuls of thick pap. Skin the sausages, chop the chicken giblets and the giblets and grind everything together with the chestnuts, the egg and the pap; this is the stuffing with which the fowl is to be filled, to be baked afterward. It is more tasty cold than hot, and it can also be cut better.

140

CHICKEN WITH SAUCE PIQUANTE