Put a small piece of butter, size of a pigeon’s egg, into a saucepan, and when it begins to boil add a heaping tea-spoonful of flour; stir for a minute to cook the flour, then add three or four table-spoonfuls of boiling water, or, what is much better, stock, gravy, or brown or white sauce if you happen to have it; when well mixed, add about two cupfuls of the meat dice, heat well, and just before taking from the fire stir in an egg.
The scraps of puff-paste are generally preferred, yet any kind of pie-paste may be used for _rissoles_. Roll the paste quite thin (one-sixth of an inch); wet it about three inches from the edge, and place upon it little balls (a generous tea-spoonful in each one) of the prepared meat, at distances of four inches apart; now lap over the edge of the paste, quite covering the balls of meat; press the side of the hand between each one, and, with the edge of a tumbler or muffin-ring, press the paste close to the meat; with a biscuit-cutter (scolloped one prettier) cut out each enveloped ball of meat into half circles. Now cut off the rough edges of the remaining paste, and proceed to make other rows of the _rissoles_ in the same manner. With a brush wet all the tops with the yolk of an egg. Bake the _rissoles_ in a hot oven, and serve them hot on a folded napkin. If they get cold, they may be reheated just before serving.
Chop cold cooked beef very fine; add a fifth as much pork, also chopped fine; pepper, salt, a little sage, or any herbs preferred, lemon-juice, and a few sprinkles of flour; mix all together with an egg, or eggs; form into little balls, fry in butter or lard in a _sauté_ pan. These sausages are good for breakfast served around a centre of apple-sauce. Or,
make as in last receipt, adding a very little butter. Stir in a quarter or half of its quantity of boiled rice; or, on another occasion, bread-crumbs may be substituted for rice.
There is no more satisfactory manner of using cold cooked beef than for _croquettes_, which may be served with tomato or any of the brown sauces, or may be served without sauce at all, as is generally the case. They are made in the same manner as is described for chicken _croquettes_ (see page 175), merely substituting the same amount of beef for the chicken, and of rice for the brains.
