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Boiled Fresh Meats

A method of cooking fresh meat by boiling it in salted water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Boiled Fresh Meats

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Wipe the meat and trim off excess fat.

  2. Weigh the joint to determine cooking time.

  3. If needed, tie the meat to maintain its shape.

Boil the meat

  1. Place the meat in boiling water to cover.

  2. Bring to a boil.

  3. Skim off any foam.

  4. Boil for 5 minutes to firm the outside.

  5. Reduce heat to simmer for the remaining time.

  6. Add 2 teaspoons of coarse sea salt per quart of water when the meat is half cooked.

Cooking times and serving

  1. For thin cuts like mutton ribs, boil for 15 minutes per pound plus 15 minutes extra.

  2. For thick cuts like leg of mutton or round of beef, boil for 20 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes extra.

  3. For pork and veal, boil for 25 minutes per pound plus 25 minutes extra.

  4. Serve boiled mutton with white, parsley, onion, or caper sauce.

  5. Serve boiled rabbit with onion sauce.

  6. Serve boiled fowl with egg sauce.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Fresh meat
Provides the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks in simmering water.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the meat and the cooking water as it is added partway through cooking.

The step that matters

Simmer gently after the initial boil. Once the outside is firmed, a gentle simmer cooks the meat through evenly. A hard rolling boil toughens muscle fibres and can break the surface of the meat.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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