Sunday, September 6, 2015

Mystery Meat


I’m stumped.  Are these some kind of croquettes?  And what is a clear sauce?

Meat Toast.  Take any sort of meat that has been served at table, cut it into small square pieces, and make a well-thickened ragout of it; when cold, put in the yolks of two raw eggs, arrange the meat upon some crumb of bread and draw a knife dipped in a beaten egg over it.  Grate some bead upon the whole, fry, and serve with clear sauce.”

Tempting Dishes for Small Incomes, by Mrs De Salis (1903).

3 comments:

Lady Anne said...

A clear sauce is generally gravy made with cornstarch rather than flour; think Chinese food. It sounds to me like a rather fancy way to make open-faced sandwiches.

Shay said...

I think you're right. The reference to crumbs threw me, though.

Bunnykins said...

It sounds like a chef's surprise type of thing: throw all the leftover meat and veg? from a meal in a pot with a bit of water and thicken, cool and add yolks, then spread on breadcrumbs, probably from stale bread, top with crumbs, and fry up, probably in drippings or lard. But why not the whites, too, and how do you get it into a frying pan without it falling apart?
Like the old knitting patterns, there are questions as we don't do things the same way any more.