Classic
Cook Books
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page 321
FRAGMENTS
Mother's hash doesn't taste of soap grease, rancid butter, spoiled cheese, raw
flour, boarding-house skillets, hotel coffee, garden garlics, bologna sausage,
or cayenne pepper, neither is it stewed and simmered and simmered and stewed,
but is made so nicely, seasoned so delicately, and heated through so quickly,
that the only trouble is, "there is never enough to go round." Cold meat of any
kind will do, but corned beef is best; always remove all surplus fat and bits of
gristle, chop fine, and to one-third of meat add two-thirds of chopped cold
boiled potato, and one onion chopped very fine; place in the dripping-pan,
season with salt and pepper, dredge with a little flour, and pour in at the side
of the pan enough water to come up level with the hash, place in oven and do not
stir; when the flour is a light brown, and has formed a sort of crust, take out,
add a lump of butter, stir it through several times, and you will have a
delicious hash.
Or, by cooking longer, it may be made of cold raw potatoes, which peel, slice,
and let lie in salt and water a half hour before chopping. If of meat and
potatoes, always use the proportions given above, and, before chopping, season
with pepper and salt, and a chopped onion if you like (if onions are not to be
had, take them out of pickle jar), place in hot skillet with just enough water
to moisten, add a little butter or some nice beef drippings, stir often until
warmed through, cover and let stand on a moderately hot part of the stove
fifteen minutes. When ready to dish, run the knife under and fold as you would
an omelet, and serve hot with tomato catsup. In making hash, meats may be
combined if there is not enough of a kind. Do not make hash or any other dish
greasy. It is a mistaken idea to think that fat and butter in large quantities
are necessary to good cooking. Butter and oils may be melted without changing
their nature, but when cooked they become much more indigestible and injurious
to weak stomachs.
AFTER THANKSGIVING DINNER
a most excellent hash may be made thus: Pick meat off turkey bones, shred it in
small bits, add dressing and pieces of light biscuit cut up fine, mix together
and put into dripping-pan, pour over any gravy that was left, add water to
thoroughly moisten but not enough to make it sloppy, place in a hot oven for
twenty minutes, and, when eaten, all will agree that the turkey is better this
time than it was at first;
or warm the remnants of the turkey over after the style of escaloped oysters
(first a layer of bread-crumbs, then minced turkey, and so on);
or add an egg or two and make nice breakfast croquettes. The common error in
heating over meats of all kinds, is putting into a cold skillet, and cooking a
long time. This second cooking is
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Classic
Cook Books
