Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book, by Eliza Leslie

T. B. Peterson, No. 102 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, has just published MISS LESLIE'S "NEW COOKERY BOOK." It comprises new and approved methods of preparing all kinds of Soups, Fish, Oysters, Beef, Mutton, Veal, Pork, Venison, Ham and Bacon, Poultry and Game, Terrapins, Turtle, Vegetables, Sauces, Bread, Pickles, Sweetmeats, Plain Cakes, Fine Cakes, Pies, Plain Desserts, Fine Desserts, Preparations for the Sick, Puddings, Confectionery, Rice, Indian Meal Preparations of all kinds, Miscellaneous Receipts, etc. etc. Also, lists of all articles in season suited to go together for breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, to suit large or small families, and much useful information and many miscellaneous subjects connected with general housewifery.

This work will have a very extensive sale, and many thousand copies will be sold, as all persons that have had Miss Leslie's former works, should get this at once, as all the receipts in this book are new, and have been fully tried and tested by the author since the publication of her former books, and none of them whatever are contained in any other work but this. It is the most complete Cook Book published in the world; and also the latest and best, as in addition to Cookery of all kinds and descriptions, its receipts for making cakes and confectionery are unequalled by any other work extant.

This new, excellent, and valuable Cook Book is published by T. B. Peterson, under the title of "MISS LESLIE'S NEW COOKERY BOOK," and is entirely different from any other work on similar subjects, under any other names, by the same author. It is an elegantly printed duodecimo volume, of 652 pages; and in it there will be found hundreds of Receipts—all[18] useful—some ornamental—and all invaluable to every lady, miss, or family in the world.

MISS LESLIE'S
NEW
COOKERY
BOOK.

[22] Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by

ELIZA LESLIE,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. [23]

PREFACE.

I have endeavored to render this work a complete manual of domestic cookery in all its branches. It comprises an unusual number of pages, and the receipts are all practical, and practicable—being so carefully and particularly explained as to be easily comprehended by the merest novice in the art. Also, I flatter myself that most of these preparations (if faithfully and liberally followed,) will be found very agreeable to the general taste; always, however, keeping in mind that every ingredient must be of unexceptionable quality, and that good cooking cannot be made out of bad marketing.

I hope those who consult this book will find themselves at no loss, whether required to prepare[24] sumptuous viands "for company," or to furnish a daily supply of nice dishes for an excellent family table; or plain, yet wholesome and palatable food where economy is very expedient.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

LIQUID MEASURE.

DRY MEASURE.

GENERAL CONTENTS.

	PAGE
Soups,	33
Fish,	77
Shell-Fish,	108
Beef,	138
Mutton,	173
Veal,	188
Pork,	216
Ham and Bacon,	235
Venison,	252
Poultry and Game,	265
Sauces,	309
Vegetables,	343
Bread, Plain Cakes, etc.,	401
Plain Desserts,	444
Fine Desserts,	469
Fine Cakes,	516
Sweetmeats,	543
Pickles,	568
Preparations for the Sick,	581
Miscellaneous Receipts,	595
Worth Knowing,	645

ANIMALS

FIGURES EXPLANATORY OF THE PIECES INTO WHICH THE FIVE LARGE ANIMALS ARE DIVIDED BY THE BUTCHERS.

Beef.

Veal.

Mutton.

Pork.

Venison.

MISS LESLIE'S
NEW
COOKERY BOOK.

SOUPS.

It is impossible to have good soup, without a sufficiency of good meat; thoroughly boiled, carefully skimmed, and moderately seasoned. Meat that is too bad for any thing else, is too bad for soup. Cold meat recooked, adds little to its taste or nourishment, and it is in vain to attempt to give poor soup a factitious flavor by the disguise of strong spices, or other substances which are disagreeable or unpalatable to at least one half the eaters, and frequently unwholesome. Rice and barley add to the insipidity of weak soups, having no taste of their own. And even if the meat is good, too large a proportion of water, and too small a quantity of animal substance will render it flat and vapid.

Every family has, or ought to have, some personal knowledge of certain poor people—people to whom their broken victuals would be acceptable. Let then the most of their cold, fresh meat be set[34] apart for those who can ill afford to buy meat in market. To them it will be an important acquisition; while those who indulge in fine clothes, fine furniture, &c., had best be consistent, and allow themselves the nourishment and enjoyment of freshly cooked food for each meal. Therefore where there is no absolute necessity of doing otherwise, let the soup always be made of meat bought expressly for the purpose, and of one sort only, except when the flavor is to be improved by the introduction of ham.

In plain cooking, every dish should have a distinct taste of its natural flavor predominating. Let the soup, for instance, be of beef, mutton, or veal, but not of all three; and a chicken, being overpowered by the meat, adds nothing to the general flavor.

Soup-meat that has been boiled long enough to extract the juices thoroughly, becomes too tasteless to furnish, afterwards, a good dish for the table; with the exception of mutton, which may be eaten very well after it has done duty in the soup-pot, when it is much liked by many persons of simple tastes. Few who are accustomed to living at hotels, can relish hotel soups, which (even in houses where most other things are unexceptionable), is seldom such as can be approved by persons who are familiar with good tables. Hotel soups and hotel hashes, (particularly those that are dignified with French names), are notoriously made of cold scraps, leavings, and in some houses, are the absolute refuse of the kitchen. In most[35] cases, the sight of a hotel stock-pot would cause those who saw it, to forswear soup, &c.

If the directions are exactly followed, the soups contained in the following pages will be found palatable, nutritious, and easily made; but they require plenty of good ingredients.

We have heard French cooks boast of their soup being "delicate." The English would call it "soup meagre." In such a country as America, where good things are abundant, there is no necessity of imbibing the flatulency of weak washy soups.

All soups should be boiled slowly at first, that the essence of the meat may be thoroughly drawn forth. The lid of the pot should be kept close, unless when it is necessary to remove it for taking off the scum, which should be done frequently and carefully. If this is neglected, the scum will boil back again into the soup, spoil it, and make it impure or muddled. When no more scum arises, and the meat is all in rags, dropping from the bones, it is time to put in the vegetables, seasoning, &c., and not till then; and if it should have boiled away too much, then is the time to add a little hot water from another kettle. Add also a large crust of bread or two. It may now be made to boil faster, and the thickening must be put in. This is a table-spoonful or more of flour mixed to a smooth paste with a little water, and enriched with a tea-spoonful of good butter, or beef-dripping. This thickening is indispensable to all soups. Let it be stirred in well. If making[36] a rich soup that requires wine or catchup, let it be added the last thing, just before the soup is taken from the fire.

When all is quite done and thoroughly boiled, cover the bottom of a tureen with small squares of bread or toast, and dip or pour the soup into it, leaving all the bones and shreds of meat in the pot. To let any of the sediment get into the tureen is slovenly and vulgar. Not a particle of this should ever be found in a soup-plate. There are cooks who, if not prevented, will put all the refuse into the tureen; so that, when helped, the plates are half full of shreds of meat and scraps of bone, while all the best of the soup is kept back for the kitchen. This should be looked to. Servants who cannot reconcile it to their conscience to steal money or any very valuable articles, have frequently no hesitation in purloining or keeping to themselves whatever they like in the way of food.

Soup may be colored yellow with grated carrots, red with tomato juice, and green with the juice of pounded spinach—the coloring to be stirred in after the skimming is over. These colorings are improvements both to its look and flavor. It may be browned with scorched flour, kept ready always for the purpose. Never put cloves or allspice into soup—they give it a blackish ashy dirt color, and their taste is so strong as to overpower every thing else. Both these coarse spices are out of use at good tables, and none are introduced[37] in nice cookery but mace, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon.

The meat boiled in soup gives out more of its essence, when cut off the bone, and divided into small pieces, always removing the fat. The bones, however, should go in, as they contain much glutinous substance, adding to the strength and thickness of the soup, which cannot be palatable or wholesome unless all the grease is carefully skimmed off. Kitchen grease is used chiefly for soap-fat.

In cold weather, good soup, if carefully covered and kept in a cool place, and boiled over again for half an hour without any additional water, will be better on the second day than on the first.

It is an excellent way in winter to boil the meat and bones on the first day, without any vegetables. Then, when very thick and rich, strain the liquid into a large pan; cover it, and set it away till next morning—it should then be found a thick jelly. Cut it in pieces, having scraped off the sediment from the bottom—then add the vegetables, and boil them in the soup.

MUSHROOM SOUP.—

Cut a knuckle of veal, or a neck of mutton, (or both, if they are small,) into large pieces, and remove the bones. Put it into a soup-pot with sufficient water to cover the whole, and season with a little salt and cayenne. Let it boil till the meat is in rags, skimming it well; then strain off the soup into another pot.[38] Have ready a large quart, or a quart and a pint of freshly-gathered mushrooms—cut them into quarters, having removed the stalks. Put them into the soup, adding a quarter of a pound (or more) of fresh butter, divided into bits and rolled in flour. Boil the whole about half an hour longer—try if the mushrooms are tender, and do not take them up till they are perfectly so. Keep the pot lid closely covered, except when you remove the lid to try the mushrooms. Lay at the bottom of the tureen a large slice of buttered toast, (cut into small squares,) and pour the soup upon it. This is a company soup.

SWEET CORN SOUP.—

Take a knuckle of veal, and a set of calf's feet. Put them into a soup-pot with some cold boiled ham cut into pieces, and season them with pepper only. Having allowed a quart of water to each pound of meat, pour it on, and let it boil till the meat falls from the bone; strain it, and pour the liquid into a clean pot. If you live in the country, or where milk is plenty, make this soup of milk without any water. All white soups are best of milk. You may boil in this, with the veal and feet, an old fowl, (cut into pieces,) that is too tough for any other purpose. When the soup is well boiled, and the shreds all strained away, have ready (cooked by themselves in another pot) some ears of sweet corn, young and tender. Cut the grains from the cob, mix the corn with fresh butter, sea[39]son it with pepper, and stir it in the strained soup. Give the whole a short boil, pour it into the tureen, and send it to table.

VENISON SOUP.—

Is excellent, made as above, with water instead of milk, and plenty of corn. And it is very convenient for a new settlement.

TOMATO SOUP.—

Take a shin or leg of beef, and cut off all the meat. Put it, with the bones, in a large soup-pot, and season it slightly with salt and pepper. Pour on a gallon of water. Boil and skim it well. Have ready half a peck of ripe tomatos, that have been quartered, and pressed or strained through a sieve, so as to be reduced to a pulp. Add half a dozen onions that have been sliced, and a table-spoonful of sugar to lessen a little the acid of the tomatos. When the meat is all to rags, and the whole thoroughly done, (which will not be in less than six hours from the commencement) strain it through a cullender, and thicken it a little with grated bread crumbs.

This soup will be much improved by the addition of a half peck of ochras, peeled, sliced thin, and boiled with the tomatos till quite dissolved.

Before it goes into the tureen, see that there are no shreds of meat or bits of bone left in the soup.[40]

FAMILY TOMATO SOUP.—

Take four pounds of the lean of a good piece of fresh beef. The fat is of no use for soup, as it must be skimmed off when boiling. Cut the meat in pieces, season them with a little salt and pepper, and put them into a pot with three quarts of water. The tomatos will supply abundance of liquid. Of these you should have a large quarter of a peck. They should be full-grown, and quite ripe. Cut each tomato into four pieces, and put them into the soup; after it has come to a boil and been skimmed. It will be greatly improved by adding a quarter of a peck of ochras cut into thin round slices. Both tomatos and ochras require long and steady boiling with the meat. To lessen the extreme acid of the tomatos, stir in a heaped table-spoonful of sugar. Add also one large onion, peeled and minced small; and add two or three bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. The soup must boil till the meat is all to rags and the tomatos and ochras entirely dissolved, and their forms undistinguishable. Pour it off carefully from the sediment into the tureen, in the bottom of which have ready some toasted bread, cut into small squares.

FINE TOMATO SOUP.—

Take some nice fresh beef, and divest it of the bone and fat. Sprinkle it with a little salt and pepper, and pour on water, allowing to each pound of meat a pint and a half (not more) of water, and boil and skim it till it is very thick and clear, and all the essence seems to[41] be drawn out of the meat. Scald and peel a large portion of ripe tomatos—cut them in quarters, and laying them in a stew-pan, let them cook in their own juice till they are entirely dissolved. When quite done, strain the tomato liquid, and stir into it a little sugar. In a third pan stew an equal quantity of sliced ochras with a very little water; they must be stewed till their shape can no longer be discerned. Strain separately the meat liquor, the tomatos, and the ochras. Mix butter and flour together into a lump; knead it a little, and when all the liquids are done and strained put them into a clean soup-pan, stir in the flour and butter, and give the soup one boil up. Transfer it to your tureen, and stir altogether. The soup made precisely as above will be perfectly smooth and nice. Have little rolls or milk biscuits to eat with it.

GREEN PEA SOUP.—

Make a nice soup, in the usual way, of beef, mutton, or knuckle of veal, cutting off all the fat, and using only the lean and the bones, allowing a quart of water to each pound of meat. If the meat is veal, add four or six calf's feet, which will greatly improve the soup. Boil it slowly, (having slightly seasoned it with pepper and salt,) and when it has boiled, and been well skimmed, and no more scum appears, then put in a quart or more of freshly-shelled green peas, with none among them that are old,[42] hard, and yellow; and also a sprig or two of green mint, and a little loaf sugar. Boil the peas till they are entirely dissolved. Then (having removed all the meat and bones) strain the soup through a sieve, and return it to the soup-pot, (which, in the mean time, should have been washed clean,) and stir into it a tea-cupful of green spinach juice, (obtained by pounding some spinach.) Have ready (boiled, or rather stewed in another pot) a quart of young fresh peas, enriched with a piece of fresh butter. These last peas should be boiled tender, but not to a mash. After they are in, give the soup another boil up, and then pour it off into a tureen, in the bottom of which has been laid some toast cut into square bits, with the crust removed. This soup should be of a fine green color, and very thick.

EXCELLENT BEAN SOUP.—

Early in the evening of the day before you make the soup, wash clean a large quart of dried white beans in a pan of cold water, and about bedtime pour off that water, and replace it with a fresh panful. Next morning, put on the beans to boil, with only water enough to cook them well, and keep them boiling slowly till they have all bursted, stirring them up frequently from the bottom, lest they should burn. Meantime, prepare in a larger pot, a good soup made of a shin of beef cut into pieces, and the hock of a cold ham, allowing a large quart of water to each pound of meat.[43]

Season it with pepper only, (no salt,) and put in with it a head of celery, split and cut small. Boil the soup (skimming it well) till the meat is all in rags; then take it out, leaving not a morsel in the pot, and put in the boiled beans. Let them boil in the soup till they are undistinguishable, and the soup very thick. Put some small squares of toast in the bottom of a tureen, and pour the soup upon it.

There is said to be nothing better for making soup than the camp-kettle of the army. Many of the common soldiers make their bean soup of surpassing excellence.

SPLIT PEA SOUP.—

In buying dried or split peas, see that they are not old and worm-eaten. Wash two quarts of them over night in two or three waters. In the morning make a rich soup of the lean of beef or mutton, and the hock of a ham. Season it with pepper, but no salt. When it has boiled, and been thoroughly skimmed, put in the split peas, with a head of celery cut into small pieces, or else two table-spoonfuls of celery seed. Let it boil till the peas are entirely dissolved and undistinguishable. When it is finished strain the soup through a sieve, divesting it of the thin shreds of meat and bits of bone. Then transfer it to a tureen, in which has been laid some square bits of toast. Stir it up to the bottom directly before it goes to table.

You may boil in the soup (instead of the ham) a[44] good piece (a rib piece, or a fillet) of corned pork, more lean than fat. When it is done, take the pork out of the soup, put it on a dish, and have ready to eat with it a pease pudding boiled by itself, cut in thick slices and laid round the pork. This pudding is made of a quart of split peas, soaked all night, mixed with four beaten eggs and a piece of fresh butter, and tied in a cloth and boiled three or four hours, or till the peas have become a mass.

ASPARAGUS SOUP.—

Make in the usual way a nice rich soup of beef or mutton, seasoned with salt and pepper. After it has been well boiled and skimmed, and the meat is all to pieces, strain the soup into another pot, or wash out the same, and return to it the liquid. Have ready a large quantity of fine fresh asparagus, with the stalks cut off close to the green tops or blossoms. It should have been lying in cold water all the time the meat was boiling. Put into the soup half of the asparagus tops, and boil them in it till entirely dissolved, adding a tea-cupful of spinach juice, obtained by pounding fresh spinach in a mortar. Stir the juice well in and it will give a fine green color. Then add the remaining half of the asparagus; having previously boiled them in a small pan by themselves, till they are quite tender, but not till they lose their shape. Give the whole one boil up together. Make some nice slices of toast, (having cut off the crust.) Dip[45] them a minute in hot water. Butter them, lay them in the bottom of the tureen, and pour the soup upon them. This (like green peas) will do for company soup.

CABBAGE SOUP.—

Remove the fat and bone from a good piece of fresh beef, or mutton—season it with a little salt and pepper, put it into a soup-pot, with a quart of water allowed to each pound of meat. Boil, and skim it till no more scum is seen on the surface. Then strain it, and thicken it with flour and butter mixed. Have ready a fine fresh cabbage, (a young summer one is best) and after it is well washed through two cold waters, and all the leaves examined to see if any insects have crept between, quarter the cabbage, (removing the stalk) and with a cabbage-cutter, or a strong sharp knife, cut it into shreds. Or you may begin the cabbage whole and cut it into shreds, spirally, going round and round it with the knife. Put the cabbage into the clear soup, and boil it till, upon trial, by taking up a little on a fork, you find it quite tender and perfectly well cooked. Then serve it up in the tureen. This is a family soup.

RED CABBAGE SOUP.—

Red cabbages for soup should either be quartered, or cut into shreds; it is made as above, of beef or mutton, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and a jill of strong tarra[46]gon vinegar, or a table-spoonful of mixed tarragon leaves, if in summer.

FINE CABBAGE SOUP.—

Remove the outside leaves from a fine, fresh, large cabbage. Cut the stalk short, and split it half-way down so as to divide the cabbage into quarters, but do not separate it quite to the bottom. Wash the cabbage, and lay it in cold water for half an hour or more. Then set it over the fire in a pot full of water, adding a little salt, and let it boil slowly for an hour and a half, or more—skimming it well. Then take it out, drain it, and laying it in a deep pan, pour on cold water, and let it remain till the cabbage is cold all through. Next, having drained it from the cold water, cut the cabbage in shreds, (as for cold-slaw,) and put it into a clean pot containing a quart and a pint of boiling milk into which you have stirred a quarter of a pound of nice fresh butter, divided into four bits and rolled in flour, adding a little pepper and a very little salt. Boil it in the milk till thoroughly done and quite tender. Then make some nice toast, cut it into squares, lay it in the bottom of a tureen, and pour the soup on it. This being made without meat is a good soup for Lent. It will be improved by stirring in, towards the last, two or three beaten eggs.[47]

CAULIFLOWER SOUP.—

Put into a soup-pot a knuckle of veal, and allow to each pound a quart of water. Add a set of calf's feet that have been singed and scraped, but not skinned; and the hock of a cold boiled ham. Boil it till all the meat is in rags, and the soup very thick, seasoning with cayenne and a few blades of mace, and adding, towards the last, some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. Boil in another pot, one or two fine cauliflowers. They are best boiled in milk. When quite done and very tender, drain them, cut off the largest stalks, and divide the blossoms into small pieces; put them into a deep covered dish, lay some fresh butter among them, and keep them hot till the veal soup is boiled to its utmost thickness. Then strain it into a soup-tureen, and put into it the cauliflower, grating some nutmeg upon it. This soup will be found very fine, and is an excellent white soup for company.

For Lent this soup may be made without meat, substituting milk, butter, and flour, and eggs, as in the receipt for fine cabbage soup. Season it with mace and nutmeg. If made with milk, &c., put no water on it, but boil the cauliflower in milk from the beginning. This can easily be done where milk is plenty.

FINE ONION SOUP.—

Take a fine fresh neck of mutton, and to make a large tureen of soup, you must have a breast of mutton also. Let the meat be divided into chops, season it with a little[48] salt, and put it in a soup-pot—allow a quart of water to each pound of mutton. Boil, and skim it till no more scum arises, and the meat drops in rags from the bones. In a small pot boil in milk a dozen large onions, (or more,) adding pepper, mace, nutmeg, and some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. The onions should previously be peeled and sliced. When they are quite soft, transfer them to the soup, with the milk, &c., in which they were cooked. Give them one boil in the soup. Then pour it off, or strain it into the tureen, omitting all the sediment, and bones, and shreds of meat. Make some nice slices of toast, dipping each in boiling water, and trimming off all the crust. Cut the toast into small squares, lay them in the bottom of the tureen, and pour the soup upon them. Where there is no objection to onions it will be much liked.

If milk is plenty use it instead of water for onion soup. White soups are always best when made with milk.

TURNIP SOUP.—

For a very small family take a neck of mutton, and divide it into steaks, omitting all the fat. For a family of moderate size, take a breast as well as a neck. Put them into a soup-pot with sufficient water to cover them, and let them stew till well browned. Skim them carefully. Then pour on more water, in the proportion of a pint to each pound of meat, and add eight or ten turnips pared and sliced thin, with a[49] very little pepper and salt. Let the soup boil till the turnips are all dissolved, and the meat in rags. Add, towards the last, some bits of butter rolled in flour, and in five minutes afterwards the soup will be done. Carefully remove all the bits of meat and bone before you send the soup to table. It will be found very good, and highly flavored with the turnips.

Onion soup may be made in the same manner. Parsnip soup also, cutting the parsnips into small bits. Or all three—turnips, onions and parsnips, may be used together.

PARSNIP SOUP.—

The meat for this soup may either be fresh beef, mutton, or fresh venison. Remove the fat, cut the meat into pieces, add a little salt, and put it into a soup-pot, with an allowance of rather less than a quart of water to each pound. Prepare some fine large parsnips, by first scraping and splitting them, and cutting them into pieces; then putting them into a frying pan, and frying them brown, in fresh butter or nice drippings. When the soup has been boiled till the meat is all in rags, and well skimmed—put into it the fried parsnips and let them boil about ten minutes, but not till they break or go to pieces. Just before you put in the parsnips, stir in a table-spoonful of thickening made with butter and flour, mixed to a smooth paste. When you put it into the tureen to go to table, be sure to leave in the pot all the shreds of meat and bits of bone.[50]

CARROT SOUP.—

Take a good piece of fresh beef that has not been previously cooked. Remove the fat. It is of no use in making soup; and as it must all be skimmed off when boiling, it is better to clear it away before the meat goes into the pot. Season the beef with a very little salt and pepper, and allow a small quart of water to each pound. Grate half a dozen or more large carrots on a coarse grater, and put them to boil in the soup with some other carrots; cut them into pieces about two inches long. When all the meat is boiled to rags, and has left the bone, pour off the soup from the sediment, transferring it to a tureen, and sending it to table with bread cut into it.

POTATO SOUP.—

Pare and slice thin half a dozen fine potatos and a small onion. Boil them in three large pints of water, till so soft that you can pulp them through a cullender. When returned to the pot add a very little salt and cayenne, and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, divided into bits, and boil it ten minutes longer. When you put it into the tureen, stir in two table-spoonfuls or more of good cream. This is a soup for fast-days, or for invalids.

CHESTNUT SOUP.—

Make, in the best manner, a soup of the lean of fresh beef, mutton, or venison, (seasoned with cayenne and a little salt,) allowing rather less than a quart of water to each[51] pound of meat, skimming and boiling it well, till the meat is all in rags, and drops from the bone. Strain it, and put it into a clean pot. Have ready a quart or more of large chestnuts, boiled and peeled. If roasted, they will be still better. They should be the large Spanish chestnuts. Put the chestnuts into the soup, with some small bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. Boil the soup ten minutes longer, before it goes to table.

PORTABLE SOUP.—

This is a very good and nutritious soup, made first into a jelly, and then congealed into hard cakes, resembling glue. If well made, it will keep for many months in a cool, dry place, and when dissolved in hot water or gravy, will afford a fine liquid soup, very convenient to carry in a box on a journey or sea voyage, or to use in a remote place, where fresh meat for soup is not to be had. A piece of this glue, the size of a large walnut, will, when melted in water, become a pint bowl of soup; or by using less water, you may have it much richer. If there is time and opportunity, boil with the piece of soup a seasoning of sliced onion, sweet marjoram, sweet basil, or any herbs you choose. Also, a bit of butter rolled in flour.

To make portable soup, take two shins or legs of beef, two knuckles of veal, and four unskinned calves' feet. Have the bones broken or cracked. Put the whole into a large clean pot that will hold four gallons of water. Pour in, at beginning,[52] only as much water as will cover the meat well, and set it over the fire, to heat gradually till it almost boils. Watch and skim it carefully while any scum rises. Then pour in a quart of cold water to make it throw up all the remaining scum, and then let it come to a good boil, continuing to skim as long as the least scum appears. In this be particular. When the liquid appears perfectly clear and free from grease, pour in the remainder of the water, and let it boil very gently for eight hours. Strain it through a very clean hair sieve into a large stoneware pan, and set it where it will cool quickly. Next day, remove all the remaining grease, and pour the liquid, as quickly as possible, into a three-gallon stew-pan, taking care not to disturb the settlings at the bottom. Keep the pan uncovered, and let it boil as fast as possible over a quick fire. Next, transfer it to a three-quart stew-pan, and skim it again, if necessary. Watch it well, and see that it does not burn, as that would spoil the whole. Take out a little in a spoon, and hold it in the air, to see if it will jelly. If it will not, boil it a little longer. Till it jellies, it is not done.

Have ready some small white ware preserve pots, clean, and quite dry. Fill them with the soup, and let them stand undisturbed till next day. Set, over a slow fire, a large flat-bottomed stew-pan, one-third filled with boiling water. Place in it the pots of soup, seeing it does not reach within two inches of their rims. Let the pots stand uncovered in this water, hot, but without[53] boiling, for six or seven hours. This will bring the soup to a proper thickness, which should be that of a stiff jelly, when hot; and when cold, it should be like hard glue. When finished turn out the moulds of soup, and wrap them up separately in new brownish paper, and put them up in boxes, breaking off a piece when wanted to dissolve the soup.

Portable soup may be improved by the addition of three pounds of nice lean beef, to the shins, knuckles, calves' feet, &c. The beef must be cut into bits.

If you have any friends going the overland journey to the Pacific, a box of portable soup may be a most useful present to them.

PEPPER-POT.—

Have ready a small half pound of very nice white tripe, that has been thoroughly boiled and skinned, in a pot by itself, till quite soft and tender. It should be cut into very small strips or mouthfuls. Put into another pot a neck of mutton, and a pound of lean ham, and pour on it a large gallon of water. Boil it slowly, and skim it. When the scum has ceased to rise, put in two large onions sliced, four potatos quartered, and four sliced turnips. Season with a very small piece of red pepper or capsicum, taking care not to make it too hot. Then add the boiled tripe. Make a quart bowlful of small dumplings of butter and flour, mixed with a very little water; and throw them into the pepper-pot,[54] which should afterwards boil about an hour. Then take it up, and remove the meat before it is put into the tureen. Leave in the bits of tripe.

NOODLE SOUP.—

This soup may be made with either beef or mutton, but the meat must be fresh for the purpose, and not cold meat, re-cooked. Cut off all the fat, and break the bones. If boiled in the soup they improve it. To each pound of meat allow a small quart of water. Boil and skim it, till the meat drops from the bone. Put in with the meat, after the scum has ceased to rise, some turnips, carrots and onions, cut in slices, and boil them till all to pieces. Strain the soup, and return the liquid to a clean pot. Have ready a large quantity of noodles, (in French nouillés,) and put them into the strained soup; let them boil in it ten minutes. The noodles are composed of beaten eggs, made into a paste or dough, with flour and a very little fresh butter. This paste is rolled out thin into a square sheet. This sheet is then closely rolled up like a scroll or quire of thick paper, and then with a sharp knife cut round into shreds, or shavings, as cabbage is cut for slaw. These cuttings must be dredged with flour to prevent their sticking. Throw them into the soup while boiling the second time, and let it boil for ten minutes longer.[55]

CHICKEN SOUP.—

Cut up two large fine fowls, as if carving them for the table, and wash the pieces in cold water. Take half a dozen thin slices of cold ham, and lay them in a soup-pot, mixed among the pieces of chicken. Season them with a very little cayenne, a little nutmeg, and a few blades of mace, but no salt, as the ham will make it salt enough. Add a head of celery, split and cut into long bits, a quarter of a pound of butter, divided in two, and rolled in flour. Pour on three quarts of milk. Set the soup-pot over the fire, and let it boil rather slowly, skimming it well. When it has boiled an hour, put in some small round dumplings, made of half a pound of flour mixed with a quarter of a pound of butter; divide this dough into equal portions, and roll them in your hands into little balls about the size of a large hickory nut. The soup must boil till the flesh of the fowls is loose on the bones, but not till it drops off. Stir in, at the last, the beaten yolks of three or four eggs; and let the soup remain about five minutes longer over the fire. Then take it up. Cut off from the bones the flesh of the fowls, and divide it into mouthfuls. Cut up the slices of ham in the same manner. Mince the livers and gizzards. Put the bits of fowl and ham in the bottom of a large tureen, and pour the soup upon it.

This soup will be found excellent, and may be made of large old fowls, that cannot be cooked in any other way. If they are so old that when the[56] soup is finished they still continue tough, remove them entirely, and do not serve them up at all.

DUCK SOUP.—

Half roast a pair of fine large tame ducks, keeping them half an hour at the fire, and saving the gravy, the fat of which must be carefully skimmed off. Then cut them up; season them with black pepper; and put them into a soup-pot with four or five small onions sliced thin, a small bunch of sage, a thin slice of cold ham cut into pieces, a grated nutmeg, and the yellow rind of a lemon grated. Add the gravy of the ducks. Pour on, slowly, three quarts of boiling water from a kettle. Cover the soup-pot, and set it over a moderate fire. Simmer it slowly (skimming it well) for about four hours, or till the flesh of the ducks is dissolved into small shreds. When done, strain it through a tureen, the bottom of which is covered with toasted bread, cut into square dice about two inches in size.

FRENCH WHITE SOUP.—

Boil a knuckle of veal and four calves' feet in five quarts of water, with three onions sliced, a bunch of sweet herbs, four heads of white celery cut small, a table-spoonful of whole pepper, and a small tea-spoonful of salt, adding five or six large blades of mace. Let it boil very slowly, till the meat is in rags and[57] has dropped from the bone, and till the gristle has quite dissolved. Skim it well while boiling. When done, strain it through a sieve into a tureen, or a deep white-ware pan. Next day, take off all the fat, and put the jelly (for such it ought to be) into a clean soup-pot with two ounces of vermicelli, and set it over the fire. When the vermicelli is dissolved, stir in, gradually, a pint of thick cream, while the soup is quite hot; but do not let it come to a boil after the cream is in, lest it should curdle. Cut up one or two French rolls in the bottom of a tureen, pour in the soup, and send it to table.

COCOA-NUT SOUP.—

Take eight calves' feet (two sets) that have been scalded and scraped, but not skinned; and put them into a soup-kettle with six or seven blades of mace, and the yellow rind of a lemon grated. Pour on a gallon of water; cover the kettle, and let it boil very slowly (skimming it well) till the flesh is reduced to rags and has dropped entirely from the bones. Then strain it into a broad white-ware pan, and set it away to get cold. When it has congealed, scrape off the fat and sediment, cut up the cake of jelly, (or stock,) and put it into a clean porcelain or enameled kettle. Have ready half a pound of very finely grated cocoa-nut. Mix it with a pint of cream. If you cannot obtain cream, take rich unskimmed milk, and add to it three ounces of the best fresh butter divided into three parts, each[58] bit rolled in arrow-root or rice-flour. Mix it, gradually, with the cocoa-nut, and add it to the calves-feet-stock in the kettle, seasoned with a small nutmeg grated. Set it over the fire, and boil it, slowly, about a quarter of an hour; stirring it well. Then transfer it to a tureen, and serve it up. Have ready small French rolls, or light milk biscuit to eat with it; also powdered sugar in case any of the company should wish to sweeten it.

ALMOND SOUP

is made in the above manner, substituting pounded almonds for the grated cocoa-nut. You must have half a pound of shelled sweet almonds, mixed with two ounces of shelled bitter almonds. After blanching them in hot water, they must be pounded to a smooth paste (one at a time) in a marble mortar; adding frequently a little rose-water to prevent their oiling, and becoming heavy. Or you may use peach-water for this purpose; in which case omit the bitter almonds, as the peach-water will give the desired flavor. When the pounded almonds are ready, mix them with the other ingredients, as above.

The calves' feet for these soups should be boiled either very early in the morning, or the day before.

SPRING SOUP.—

Unless your dinner hour is very late, the stock for this soup should be made the day before it is wanted, and set away in a[59] stone pan, closely covered. To make the stock take a knuckle of veal, break the bones, and cut it into several pieces. Allow a quart of water to each pound of veal. Put it into a soup-pot, with a set of calves' feet,[A] and some bits of cold ham, cut off near the hock. If you have no ham, sprinkle in a tea-spoonful of salt, and a salt-spoon of cayenne. Place the pot over a moderate fire, and let it simmer slowly (skimming it well) for several hours, till the veal is all to rags and the flesh of the calves' feet has dropped in shreds from the bones. Then strain the soup; and if not wanted that day, set it away in a stone pan, as above mentioned.

Next day have, ready boiled, two quarts or more of green peas, (they must on no account be old,) and a pint of the green tops cut off from asparagus boiled for the purpose. Pound a handful of raw spinach till you have extracted a tea-cupful of the juice. Set the soup or stock over the fire; add the peas, asparagus, and spinach juice, stirring them well in; also a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, divided into four bits, and rolled in flour. Let the whole come to a boil; and then take it off and transfer it to a tureen. It will be found excellent.

In boiling the peas for this soup, you may put with them half a dozen sprigs of green mint, to be afterwards taken out.[60]

Late in the spring you may add to the other vegetables two cucumbers, pared and sliced, and the whitest part or heart of a lettuce, boiled together; then well drained, and put into the soup with the peas and asparagus. It must be very thick with vegetables.

SUMMER SOUP.—

Take a large neck of mutton, and hack it so as nearly to cut it apart, but not quite. Allow a small quart of water to each pound of meat, and sprinkle on a tea-spoonful of salt and a very little black pepper. Put it into a soup-pot, and boil it slowly (skimming it well) till the meat is reduced to rags. Then strain the liquid, return it to the soup-pot, and carefully remove all the fat from the surface. Have ready half a dozen small turnips sliced thin, two young onions sliced, a table-spoonful of sweet marjoram leaves picked from the stalks, and a quart of shelled Lima beans. Put in the vegetables, and boil them in the soup till they are thoroughly done. You may add to them two table-spoonfuls of green nasturtion seeds, either fresh or pickled. Put in also some little dumplings, (made of flour and butter,) about ten minutes before the soup is done.

Instead of Lima beans, you may divide a cauliflower or two broccolis into sprigs, and boil them in the soup with the other vegetables.

This soup may be made of a shoulder of mutton, cut into pieces and the bones cracked. For a large[61] potful add also the breast to the neck, cutting the bones apart.

AUTUMN SOUP.—

Begin this soup as early in the day as possible. Take six pounds of the lean of fine fresh beef; cut it into small pieces; sprinkle it with a tea-spoonful of salt, (not more); put it into a soup-pot, and pour on six quarts of water. The hock of a cold ham will greatly improve it. Set it over a moderate fire, and let it boil slowly. After it comes to a boil, skim it well. Have ready a quarter of a peck of ochras cut into very thin round slices, and a quarter of a peck of tomatos cut into pieces; also a quart of shelled Lima beans. Season them with pepper. Put them in; and after the whole has boiled three hours at least, take four ears of young Indian corn, and having grated off all the grains, add them to the soup and boil it an hour longer. Before you serve up the soup remove from it all the bits of meat, which, if the soup is sufficiently cooked, will be reduced to shreds.

You may put in with the ochras and tomatos one or two sliced onions. The soup, when done, should be as thick as a jelly.

Ochras for soup may be kept all winter, by tying them separately to a line stretched high across the store room.[62]

WINTER SOUP.—

The day before you make the soup, get a leg or shin of beef. Have the bone sawed through in several places, and the meat notched or scored down to the bone. This will cause the juice or essence to come out more freely, when cooked. Rub it slightly with salt; cover it, and set it away. Next morning, early as possible, as soon as the fire is well made up, put the beef into a large soup-pot, allowing to each pound a small quart of water. Then taste the water, and if the salt that has been rubbed on the meat is not sufficient, add a very little more. Throw in also a tea-spoonful of whole pepper-corns; and you may add half a dozen blades of mace. Let it simmer slowly till it comes to a boil; then skim it well. After it boils, you may quicken the fire. At nine o'clock put in a large head of cabbage cut fine as for cold-slaw; six carrots grated; the leaves stripped from a bunch of sweet marjoram; and the leaves of a sprig of parsley. An hour afterwards, add six turnips, and three potatoes, all cut into four or eight pieces. Also two onions, which will be better if previously roasted brown, and then sliced. Keep the soup boiling steadily, but not hard, unless the dinner hour is very early. For a late dinner, there will be time to boil it slowly all the while; and all soups are the better for long and slow boiling. See that it is well skimmed, so that, when done, there will be not a particle of fat or scum on the surface. At dinner-time take it up with a large ladle, and transfer it to a tureen. In doing so, carefully avoid the[63] shreds of meat and bone. Leave them all in the bottom of the pot, pressing them down with the ladle. A mass of shreds in the tureen or soup-plate looks slovenly and disgusting, and should never be seen at the table; also, they absorb too much of the liquid. Let the vegetables remain in the soup when it is served up, but pick out every shred of meat or bone that may be found in the tureen when ready to go to table.

In very cold weather, what is left of this soup will keep till the second day; when it must be simmered again over the fire, till it just comes to a boil. Put it away in a tin or stone vessel. The lead which is used in glazing earthen jars frequently communicates its poison to liquids that are kept in them.

VEGETABLE SOUP—

(very good.)—Soak all night, in cold water, either two quarts of yellow split peas, or two quarts of dried white beans. In the morning drain them, and season them with a very little salt and cayenne, and a head of minced celery, or else a heaped table-spoonful of celery seed. Put them into a soup-pot with four quarts of water, and boil them slowly till they are all dissolved and undistinguishable. Stir them frequently. Have ready a profuse quantity of fresh vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, parsnips, potatos, onions, and cauliflowers; also, salsify, and asparagus tops. Put in, first, the vegetables that require the longest boiling. They should all be cut[64] into small pieces. Enrich the whole with some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. Boil these vegetables in the soup till they are all quite tender. Then transfer it to a tureen, and serve it up hot.

The foundation being of dried peas or beans, makes it very thick and smooth, and the fresh vegetables improve its flavor. It is a good soup for Lent, or for any time, if properly and liberally made.

All vegetable soups can be made in Lent without meat, if milk is substituted for water, and with butter, beaten eggs and spice, to flavor and enrich it.

FRENCH POT AU FEU.—

This is one of the national dishes of France. The following is a genuine French receipt, and it would be found very palatable and very convenient if tried in our own land of plenty. The true French way to cook it is in an earthen pipkin, such as can be had in any pottery shop. The French vessel has a wide mouth, and close-fitting lid, with a handle at each side, in the form of circular ears. It is large and swelling in the middle, and narrows down towards the bottom. The American pipkin has a short thick spout at one side, and stands on three or four low feet. No kitchen should be without these vessels, which are cheap, very strong, and easily kept clean. They can sit on a stove, or in the corner of the fire, and are excellent for slow cooking.

The wife of a French artisan commences her pot au feu soon after breakfast, prepares the ingre[65]dients, puts them, by degrees, into the pot, attends to it during the day; and when her husband has done his work she has ready for him an excellent and substantial repast, far superior to what in our country is called a tea-dinner. Men frequently indemnify themselves for the poorness of a tea-dinner by taking a dram of whiskey afterwards. A Frenchman is satisfied with his excellent pot au feu and some fruit afterwards. The French are noted as a temperate nation. If they have eaten to their satisfaction they have little craving for drink. Yet there is no country in the world where so much good eating might be had as in America. But to live well, and wholesomely, there should also be good cooking, and the wives of our artisans must learn to think more of the comfort, health, and cheerfulness of him who in Scotland is called the bread-winner, than of their own finery, and their children's uncomfortable frippery.

Receipt.—For a large pot au feu, put into the pipkin six pounds of good fresh beef cut up, and pour on it four quarts of water. Set it near the fire, skim it when it simmers, and when nearly boiling, add a tea-spoonful of salt, half a pound of liver cut in pieces, and some black pepper. Then add two or three large carrots, sliced or grated on a coarse grater; four turnips, pared and quartered; eight young onions peeled and sliced thick, two of the onions roasted whole; a head of celery cut up; a parsnip split and cut up; and six potatos, pared, sliced, or quartered. In short any good vegetables now in season, including tomatos in sum[66]mer and autumn. Also a bunch of sweet herbs, chopped small. Let the whole continue to boil slowly and steadily; remembering to skim well. Let it simmer slowly five or six hours. Then, having laid some large slices of bread in the bottom of a tureen, or a very large pan or bowl, pour the stew or soup upon it; all the meat, and all the vegetables. If you have any left, recook it the next morning for breakfast, and that day you may prepare something else for dinner.

For beef you may substitute mutton, or fresh venison, if you live in a venison country, and can get it newly killed.

WILD DUCK SOUP.—

This is a company soup. If you live where wild ducks are abundant, it will afford an agreeable variety occasionally to make soup of some of them. If you suspect them to be sedgy or fishy, (you can ascertain by the smell when drawing or cleaning them,) parboil each duck, with a carrot put into his body. Then take out the carrot and throw it away. You will find that the unpleasant flavor has left the ducks, and been entirely absorbed by the carrots. To make the soup—cut up the ducks, season the pieces with a little salt and pepper, and lay them in a soup-pot. For a good pot of soup you should have four wild ducks. Add two or three sliced onions, and a table-spoonful of minced sage. Also a quarter of a pound of butter divided into four, and each piece rolled in flour. Pour in water enough to make a[67] rich soup, and let it boil slowly till all the flesh has left the bones,—skim it well. Thicken it with boiled or roasted chestnuts, peeled, and then mashed with a potato beetle. A glass of Madeira or sherry will be found an improvement, stirred in at the last, or the juice and grated peel of a lemon. In taking it up for the tureen, be careful to leave all the bones and bits of meat in the bottom of the pot.

VENISON SOUP.—

Take a large fine piece of freshly killed venison. It is best at the season when the deer are fat and juicy, from having plenty of wild berries to feed on. I do not consider winter-venison worth eating, when the meat is poor and hard, and affords no gravy, and also is black from being kept too long. When venison is fresh and in good order it yields a fine soup, allowing a small quart of water to each pound of meat. When it has boiled well, and been skimmed, put in some small dumplings made of flour and minced suet, or drippings. Also, boiled sweet potatos, cut into round thick slices. You may add boiled sweet corn cut off the cob; and, indeed, whatever vegetables are in season. The soup-meat should boil till all the flesh is loose on the bones, and the bits and shreds should not be served up.

GAME SOUP.—

Take partridges, pheasants, grouse, quails, or any of the birds considered as game. You may put in here as many different sorts as you can procure. They must all be fresh killed. When they are cleaned and plucked, cut them in pieces as for carving, and put them into a soup-pot, with four calves' feet and some slices of ham, two sticks of celery, and a bundle of sweet herbs chopped small, and water enough to cover the whole well. Boil and skim well, till all the flesh is loose from the bones. Strain the liquid through a sieve into a clean pot, then thicken it with fresh butter rolled in flour. Add some force-meat balls that have been already fried; or else some hard-boiled yolks of eggs; some currant jelly, or some good wine into which a half-nutmeg has been grated; the juice of two oranges or lemons, and the grated yellow peel of one lemon. Give the soup another boil up, and then send it to table, having bread rolls to eat with it.

This is a fine soup for company. Venison soup may be made in this manner. Hare soup also.

SQUATTER'S SOUP.—

Take plenty of fresh-killed venison, as fat and juicy as you can get it. Cut the meat off the bones and put it (with the bones) into a large pot. Season it with pepper and salt, and pour on sufficient water to make a good rich soup. Boil it slowly (remembering to skim it well) till the meat is all in rags. Have ready some ears of young sweet corn. Boil them[69] in a pot by themselves till they are quite soft. Cut the grains off the cob into a deep dish. Having cleared the soup from shreds and bits of bone left at the bottom of the pot, stir in a thickening made of indian meal mixed to a paste with a little fresh lard, or venison gravy. And afterwards throw in, by degrees, the cut corn. Let all boil together, till the corn is soft, or for about half an hour. Then take it up in a large pan. It will be found very good by persons who never were squatters. This soup, with a wild turkey or a buffalo hump roasted, and stewed grapes sweetened well with maple sugar, will make a good backwoods dinner.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP.—

Boil together a knuckle of veal (cut up) and a set of calves' feet, split. Also the hock of a cold boiled ham. Season it with cayenne pepper; but the ham will render it salt enough. You may add a smoked tongue. Allow, to each pound of meat, a small quart of water. After the meat has come to a boil and been well skimmed, add half a dozen sliced parsnips, three sliced onions, and a head of celery cut small, with a large bunch of sweet marjoram, and two large carrots sliced. Boil all together till the vegetables are nearly dissolved and the meat falls from the bone. Then strain the whole through a cullender, and transfer the liquid to a clean pot. Have ready some fine large sweetbreads that have been soaked in warm water for[70] an hour till all the blood was disgorged; then transferred to boiling water for ten minutes, and then taken out and laid in very cold water. This will blanch them, and all sweetbreads should look white. Take them out; and remove carefully all the pipe or gristle. Cut the sweetbreads in pieces or mouthfuls, and put them into the pot of strained soup. Have ready about two or three dozen (or more) of force-meat balls, made of cold minced veal and ham seasoned with nutmeg and mace, enriched with butter, and mixed with grated lemon-peel, bread-crumbs, chopped marjoram and beaten eggs, to make the whole into smooth balls about the size of a hickory nut. Throw the balls into the soup, and add a fresh lemon, sliced thin, and a pint of Madeira wine. Give it one more boil up; then put it into a tureen and send it to table.

If the above method is exactly followed, there will be found no necessity for taking the trouble and enduring the disgust and tediousness of cleaning and preparing a calf's head for mock turtle soup—a very unpleasant process, which too much resembles the horrors of a dissecting room. And when all is done a calf's head is a very insipid article.

It will be found that the above is superior to any mock turtle. Made of shin beef, with all these ingredients, it is very rich and fine.[71]

FISH SOUP.—

All fish soups should be made with milk, (if unskimmed so much the better,) using no water whatever. The best fish for soup are the small sort of cat-fish; also tutaug, porgie, blue fish, white fish, black fish or sea-bass. Cut off their heads, tails, and fins, and remove the skin, and the backbone, and cut the fish into pieces. To each pound of fish allow a quart of rich milk. Put into the soup-pot some pieces of cold boiled ham. No salt will then be required; but season with cayenne pepper, and a few blades of mace and some grated nutmeg. Add a bunch of sweet marjoram, the leaves stripped from the stalks and chopped. Make some little dumplings of flour and butter, and put them in when the soup is about half done. Half an hour's steady boiling will be sufficient. Serve up in the tureen the pieces of fish and ham. Also some toast cut in dice.

Soup may be made in this manner, of chickens or rabbits, using always milk enriched with bits of butter rolled in flour and flavored with bits of cold ham.

LOBSTER SOUP.—

This is a fine soup for company. Take two or three fine fresh lobsters, (the middle sized are the best.) Heat a large pot of water, throwing in a large handful of salt. When it is boiling hard put in the lobsters, head foremost, that they may die immediately. They will require at least half an hour's fast boiling; if large, three quarters. When done, take[72] them out, wipe off the scum that has collected on the shell, and drain the lobster. First break off the large claws, and crack them, then split the body, and extract all the white meat, and the red coral—nothing else—and cut it into small pieces. Mash the coral into smooth bits with the back of a large spoon, mixing with it plenty of sweet oil; and, gradually, adding it to the bits of chopped lobster. Put into a clear soup-pot two quarts, or more, of good milk, and thicken it with half a dozen crackers or butter-biscuit, pounded fine; or the grated crumbs of two or three small rolls, and stir in a quarter of a pound of fresh butter made into a paste with two spoonfuls of flour. Put in the chopped lobster, seasoned with nutmeg, a few blades of mace powdered, and a little cayenne. Let all boil together, slowly, for half an hour, keeping it closely covered. Towards the last, stir in two beaten eggs. Lay some very small soda biscuit in the bottom of a tureen, and pour the soup upon them. Nasturtion flowers strewed at the last thickly over the surface of this soup, when in the tureen, are an improvement both to its appearance and flavor. So is peppergrass.

CRAB SOUP.—

Take the meat of two dozen boiled crabs, cut it small, and give it a boil in two quarts of milk. Season it with powdered mace, nutmeg, and a little cayenne, and thicken it with butter mixed in flour; or, make the flour and butter into little dumplings. Have ready half a dozen[73] yolks of hard-boiled eggs, and crumble them into the soup just before you take it from the fire. Add the heart of a fresh green lettuce, cut small and strewed over the surface of the soup, after it is poured into the tureen.

OYSTER SOUP.—

Strain the liquor from one hundred oysters, and carefully remove any bits of shell or particles of sea-weed. To every pint of oyster liquor allow an equal quantity of rich milk. Season it with whole pepper and some blades of mace. Add a head of celery, washed, scraped, and minced small. Put the whole into a soup-pot, and boil and skim it well. When it boils put in the oysters. Also, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter; divide into four pieces, each piece rolled in flour. If you can procure cream, add a half-pint, otherwise boil some six eggs hard, and crumble the yolks into the soup. After the oysters are in give them but one boil up, just sufficient to plump them. If boiled longer they will shrink and shrivel and lose their taste. Take them all out and set them away to cool. When the soup is done, place in the bottom of the tureen some small square pieces of nicely toasted bread cut into dice, and pour on the soup; grate in a nutmeg and then add the oysters. Serve it up very hot.

Another way is to chop or cut small the oysters, omitting the hard part. Make the soup as above, and put in the minced oysters at the last, letting them boil but five minutes. Mix the powdered[74] nutmeg with them. This is a good way, if you make but a small quantity of soup.

CLAM SOUP.—

Having washed clean the outside shells of a hundred small sand clams, (or scrubbed them with a brush,) put them into a large pot of boiling water. When they open their shells take them out with a ladle, and as you do so, put them into a cullender to drain off the liquor. Then extract the clams from the shells with a knife. Save a quart of the liquor, putting the clams in a pitcher by themselves. Mix with the quart of liquor, in a clean pot, two quarts of rich milk. Put in the clams, and add some pepper-corns and some blades of mace. Also, a bunch of sweet marjoram, the leaves stripped off and minced. After all has boiled well for an hour, add half a pound, or more, of nice fresh butter, made into little dumplings with flour; also a pint of grated bread-crumbs. Let it boil a quarter of an hour longer. Then pour the soup off from the clams and leave them in the bottom of the pot. They will not now be worth eating. If you cannot obtain small clams, you may cut large ones in pieces, but they are very coarse and tough.

FAST-DAY SOUP.—

For winter.—Having soaked all night two quarts of split peas, put them into a soup-pot, adding a sliced onion, two heads of celery, the stalks split and cut small; a table[75]-spoonful of chopped mint, another of marjoram, and two beets, that have been previously boiled and sliced. Mix all these with half a pound of fresh butter cut into pieces and dredged with flour. Season with a little salt and pepper. Pour on rather more than water enough to cover the whole. Let them boil till all the things are quite tender, and the peas dissolved. When done, cover the bottom of a tureen with small square bits of toast, and pour in the contents of the soup-pot.

It is a good way to boil the split peas in a pot by themselves, till they are quite dissolved, and then add them to the ingredients in the other pot.

Vegetable soups require a large portion of vegetables, and butter always, as a substitute for meat.

FRIDAY SOUP.—

For summer.—This is a fast-day soup. Pare and slice six cucumbers, and cut up the white part or heart of six lettuces; slice two onions, and cut small the leaves of six sprigs of fresh green mint, unless mint is disliked by the persons that are to eat the soup; in which case, substitute parsley. Add a quart of young green peas. Put the whole into a soup-pot, with as much water as will more than cover them well. Season slightly with salt and a little cayenne, and add half a pound of nice fresh butter, divided into six, each piece dredged well with flour. Boil the whole for an hour and a half. Then serve it up, without straining; having colored it green with a tea-cup of pounded spinach juice.[76]

When green peas are out of season, you may substitute tomatos peeled and quartered.

This soup, having no meat, is chiefly for fast days, but will be found good at any time.

BAKED SOUP.—

On the days that you bake bread, you may have a dish of thick soup with very little trouble, by putting into a large earthen jug or pipkin, or covered pan, the following articles:—Two pounds of fresh beef, or mutton, cut into small slices, having first removed the fat; two sliced onions and four carrots, and four parsnips cut in four; also, four turnips, six potatos pared and cut up, and half a dozen tomatos, peeled and quartered. Season the whole with a little salt and pepper. A large beet, scraped and cut up, will be an improvement. To these things pour on three quarts of water. Cover the earthen vessel, and set it in the oven with the bread, and let the soup bake at the same time.

If the bread is done before the dinner hour, you must keep the soup still longer in the oven.

Do not use cold meat for this or any other soup, unless you are very poor.[77]

FISH.

TO CLEAN FISH.—

This must always be done with the greatest care and nicety. If sent to table imperfectly cleaned, they are disgraceful to the cook, and disgusting to the sight and taste. Handle the fish lightly; not roughly so as to bruise it. Wash it well, but do not leave it in the water longer than is needful. It will lose its flavor, and become insipid, if soaked. To scale it, lay the fish flat upon one side, holding it firmly in the left hand, and with the right taking off the scales by means of a knife. When both sides are done, pour sufficient cold water over it to float off all the loose scales that may have escaped your notice. It is best to pump on it. Then proceed to open and empty the fish. Be sure that not the smallest particle of the entrails is left in. Scrape all carefully from the backbone. Wash out all the blood from the inside. A dexterous cook can draw a fish without splitting it entirely down, all the way from head to tail. Smelts and other small fish are drawn or emptied at the gills.

All fish should be cleaned or drawn as soon as they are brought in, and then kept on ice, till the moment for cooking.

TO BOIL FISH.—

No fish can be fit to eat unless the eyes are prominent and lively, the gills very red, and the body firm and stiff, springing back[78] immediately when bent round to try them. Every scale must be carefully scraped off, and the entrails entirely extracted; not the smallest portion being carelessly left sticking to the backbone. Previous to cooking, fish of every kind should be laid in cold water, and the blood thoroughly washed from the inside. Few fish are not the better for being put on to boil in cold water, heating gradually with it till it comes to a boil. If you put it on in boiling water, the outside becomes boiling hot too soon; and is apt to break and come off in flakes, while the inside still remains hard and underdone: halibut, salmon, cod, and other large thick fish must be boiled slowly and thoroughly throughout, taking nearly as long as meat. Always put salt into the water at the commencement, and a little vinegar towards the last. In every kitchen should be a large oval kettle purposely for boiling fish. This kettle has a movable strainer inside. The fish lies on the strainer. To try if it is done, run a thin sharp knife in it, till it reaches the backbone; and see if the flesh will loosen or separate easily. If it adheres to the bone it requires more boiling. When quite done, leave it no longer in the kettle, or it will lose its flavor and get a woolly look. Take out the strainer with the fish upon it. Drain off the water through the strainer, cover the fish with a folded napkin or fine towel, doubled thick; transfer it to a heated dish, and keep it warm and dry till it goes to table, directly after the soup. In the mean time prepare the sauce to be served up along with the fish.[79]

FRYING FISH.—

Fish should be fried in very good fresh butter, or nice beef drippings; or else in lard, which last, is the most usual method. A large allowance of lard should be put into the pan, and held over a clear fire, till it becomes so hot as to boil fast in the pan. Till the lard hisses and bubbles do not put in the fish. They must first be dried separately in a clean cloth, and then scored on the back in deep incisions, or gashes, and slightly dredged with flour. Unless the lard is amply sufficient in quantity to cover the fish well, and bear them up towards the surface, they will sink heavily to the bottom of the pan, and perhaps stick there and burn. Also, if there is not fat enough, the fish will absorb the whole of what there is, and become dark-colored and greasy.

BAKED FISH.—

This is a dish for company. You may bake in the same manner a shad, a fresh codfish, a sheep's head, a white fish, or a blue fish, or a pair of large black fish. Trout also are considered fish for baking. Cut off the head, and split the fish nearly down to the tail. For a stuffing, cut two slices of nice light wheat bread, of shape and size to fit easily into the inside of the fish, and spread them thickly with very new fresh butter. Season them with cayenne and powdered mace, and moisten them with port wine or sherry. Add the juice and yellow rind of a lemon, grated; and sufficient powdered white sugar to take off the extreme acid of the last. Fill the body of the fish[80] with this stuffing, kept in by tying round the fish, carefully, a white cotton cord, or tape, so as to confine it in several places. Lay bits of fresh butter over the outside, at equal distances. Place the fish on a trivet, in a bake pan, and pour round it a pint of wine and water mixed. Baste it with this frequently while baking. It will require at least an hour in a quick oven. If the basting does not leave sufficient gravy, add half a pint more of wine mixed with a little hot water.

When you have taken up the fish, keep it hot while you are finishing the gravy, which you should thicken and enrich by stirring in smoothly a piece of butter mixed slightly into a paste with flour, and seasoned with grated nutmeg. Serve up the gravy in a sauce-boat, and lay slices of lemon along the back of the fish, having, of course, removed the string that was wound around it to confine the stuffing. Send to table with the baked fish, a dish of potatos mashed with milk and butter, and browned on the surface with a salamander, or a red hot shovel. Always remove the seeds of lemon slices. Fresh mackerel may be baked thus.

Fish may be baked plainly, with a stuffing of sweet marjoram, minced sage, and onion, (previously boiled and drained,) a little butter, or finely chopped beef suet, and plenty of grated bread crumbs, seasoned with a little black pepper. Or instead of crumbs you may put in slices of bread and butter soaked in milk, and secured as above from falling out while the fish is baking.[81]

STEWED FISH.—

Take any nice fresh fish of moderate size, and when it is drawn and washed, cut it into three or four pieces, and put them into a stew-pan with amply sufficient hot water to keep them from burning. Season them with a little salt and cayenne. After it has simmered steadily for half an hour, and been skimmed, have ready a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, mixed into a smooth paste with a heaped table-spoonful of flour. Add this to the stew, with a bunch of sweet marjoram chopped fine, and a sprig of chopped parsley. If approved, add a small onion pared and sliced very thin. Cover it closely, and let it stew another half hour. Then send it to table. This is a family dish. Any fresh fish may be stewed thus.

SPICED FISH.—

Cold fish that has been left at dinner is very nice to put away for the supper table. It should be fresh salmon, fresh cod, rock-fish, halibut, or the remains of any other large fine fish. Take out the back bone, and cut the flesh into moderate sized pieces. Lay it in a deep dish that has a cover. Season the fish with cayenne pepper, a little salt, some grated nutmeg, and some blades of mace; also some whole black pepper-corns, and pour over it plenty of good cider vinegar. Tarragon vinegar will be an improvement. Cover it closely, and set it in a cold place till wanted. If in spring or summer, set it in ice.

We do not recommend cloves or allspice. The taste of those coarse spices is so overpowering,[82] (and to many persons so unpleasant,) that they are now nearly out of use at good tables.

Nutmeg, mace and ginger, will be found much better, and with cinnamon occasionally, are sufficient for all spice seasonings. Nevertheless, for those who like them, a few cloves will relieve the insipidity of halibut.

FISH CAKES.—

Take codfish (either fresh or salt) that has been boiled the day before. Carefully remove the bones, and mince the flesh. Mix with it a quantity of warm mashed potatos, (mashed with butter and milk) in the proportion of one third codfish, and two thirds mashed potatos. Add sufficient beaten egg to make the whole into a smooth paste. Season it with cayenne; and, if the mixture seems dry, moisten and enrich it with a little butter. Make it into cakes about an inch thick, and as large round as the top of a common sized tea-cup. Or into round balls. Sprinkle them well with flour.

Fry them in lard, or beef-drippings. When one side is done turn them over. Drain them, and send them to the breakfast table. If approved, you may add to the mixture two or three onions boiled and minced. Any large cold fish may be dressed in this manner for next morning's breakfast.

ROCK-FISH.—

Rock-fish are generally plain boiled, (with the heads and tails left on,) and they are eaten with egg sauce, (hard boiled eggs chopped,[83] and mixed with melted or drawn butter,) seasoned with a little cayenne. Put on the side of your plate, any nice fish sauce from the castors. Some serve up rock-fish with hard boiled eggs, cut into halves, and laid closely in a row along the back of the fish; half an egg being helped to each person. Cold butter is then eaten with it. We think this a very nice way.

Blue fish, white fish, and black fish, may be drest in this manner. Also, sea-bass.

BLACK FISH AND SEA-BASS—

Are all boiled in the same manner, having first carefully scaled, and drawn, and well washed them. In drawing fish take care that the whole of the inside is nicely scraped from the back-bone, all along. When ready, dredge a clean soft cloth with flour, wrap the fish in it; lay it on the strainer of a fish-kettle, and put it in plenty of water, into which has been thrown a small table-spoonful of salt. Keep it steadily boiling near half an hour. Take it carefully out of the cloth, drain it on the strainer, and keep it warm. Send to table with it egg-sauce.

Frying.—To fry the above fish,—cut them in two or three pieces; wash them and wipe them dry; score them with deep cuts, and season with cayenne and a little salt—dredge them with flour, and fry them brown in a pan nearly full of boiling lard.

FRESH COD.—

A fine codfish should be very thick about the neck; the eyes lively; the gills red; and the flesh firm and white. If flabby, it is not good. It is in season from October till May. After scaling, emptying, washing, and drying, cover it, and let it rest for an hour. Then put it on in a fish-kettle of cold water, (hard water if you can procure it,) throw in a small handful of salt, and let the cod heat gradually, skimming it well. Boil it gently, but steadily, till thoroughly done. Then, take it out of the kettle, drain it, and keep it warm till ready to go to table. No fish should be allowed to remain in the water after the boiling is quite over. Serve it up with oyster or lobster sauce.

You may broil fresh cod in steaks, or fry it in cutlets. For frying fish, you may use beef or veal drippings, with the fat skimmed off carefully. Mutton fat (which is tallow) is unfit for all cookery.

TROUT.—

Trout is considered a very nice fish, and is in season in the summer. When fresh it is a fine flesh color, and its spots are very bright. To fry trout, dry them in a cloth. Score them deeply, and touch each incision or cut with a little cayenne. Dredge them with flour. Grate some bread-crumbs very fine, and in another pan beat some eggs very light and thick. Dip each fish twice in the egg, and twice in the crumbs, and fry them in plenty of boiling lard, or in a mixture of lard and fresh butter. When done, drain them, and send them[85] to table with a dish of cucumbers sliced and dressed in the usual way, with vinegar, pepper and salt.

If boiled, serve them up with egg sauce. If broiled, eat them with cold butter and cayenne.

STEWED TROUT.—

This is a dish for company. Mix together as much cold water and sweet white wine, in equal quantities, as will well cover the fish. When done, take them out of the stew pan, drain them, and keep them hot while you prepare the gravy. For this, thicken the liquid with a piece of fresh butter divided into four, each bit rolled in flour; and add two or more well-beaten eggs, and season with powdered mace and nutmeg. Mix all this together, give it one boil up, and pour it over the trout, after they are dished for table.

BAKED TROUT.—

Having cleaned the trout, wrap each fish in a very thin slice of bacon, sprinkled with minced sweet marjoram, and seasoned with cayenne and mace. Inclose each fish in a white paper, cut larger than to fit exactly. Fasten the papers with strings or pins, to be removed before the fish goes to table. Lay the trout in a square tin pan, and bake them in the papers, which must be taken off when the fish are done; but serve them up with the bacon round them or not, as you please.[86]

SALT COD.—

The afternoon before the fish is to be eaten, put it to soak in plenty of cold water. Cover it, and let it stand in a warm place all night. In the morning pour off that water, wash the fish clean, and scrub the outside with a brush. Put it into a kettle with cold water sufficient to cover it well; and let it boil fast till near dinner time, skimming it well. About half an hour before dinner, pour off this boiling water, and substitute a sufficiency of cold. In this last water give the fish one boil up. Send it to table with egg sauce, made with plenty of butter, and hard-boiled eggs cut in half, and laid closely along the back of the fish, to be helped with it. Accompany the cod with a plate of sliced beets drest with vinegar.

Next morning you may take what is left, and having removed all the bone, mince the fish, and mix it with an equal quantity of mashed potatos, adding some butter, pepper, and raw egg. Make the whole into balls or flat cakes, and fry them in drippings or lard. They are good at breakfast. On every one put a small spot of pepper.

FRIED SMELTS.—

The smelt is a very nice little fish, which has a peculiarly sweet and delicate flavor of its own, that requires, to be tasted in perfection, no other cooking than plain broiling or frying in fresh lard. Do not wash them, but wipe them dry in a clean cloth; having opened and drawn them, (they should be drawn through the gills,) and cut off the heads and tails, dredge them[87] with flour. The frying-pan must be more than two-thirds full of boiling lard; boiling hard when the smelts are put in, so as to float them on the surface. If there is not sufficient lard, or if it is not boiling, the fish will sink and be dark colored, and greasy. About ten minutes are sufficient for the small ones, and fifteen for those of a larger size. When done, drain off the lard and send them to the breakfast table on a hot dish.

If you prefer retaining the heads and tails, dish them, alternately, with the heads up and tails down.

FRIED CAT-FISH.—

The best cat-fish are the small ones. If too large, they are generally coarse and strong. They must be cooked quite fresh; if possible, directly out of the water. They are very popular at fishing parties. Wash and clean them, cutting off their heads and tails, and removing the upper part of the back-bone, near the shoulders. Score them along the back, with deep gashes or incisions. Dredge them with flour, and fry them in plenty of lard, boiling fast when the cat-fish are put into the pan. Or, you may fry them in the drippings or gravy saved from roast beef, or veal. They are very nice dipped in a batter of beaten egg and grated bread-crumbs, or they may be done in a plain, though not so nice a way, with indian meal instead of bread-crumbs. Drain off the lard before you dish them. Touch each incision or cut,[88] very slightly, with a little cayenne before they go to table.

Cat-fish are a breakfast dish, and are also eaten at supper. Porgie and tutaug are cooked in this manner.

FINE CHOWDER.—

This is Commodore Stovens's receipt:—Take four table-spoonfuls of minced onions that have been fried with slices of salt pork; two pilot-biscuits broken up; one table-spoonful of minced sweet marjoram, and one of sweet basil; a quarter of a bottle of mushroom catchup; half a bottle of port wine; half a nutmeg grated; a few cloves, and mace, and pepper-corns; six pounds of fresh cod, and sea-bass, cut in slices. Put the whole into a pot, with water enough to cover it about an inch. Boil it steadily for an hour, carefully stirring it. Serve it up hot in a large deep dish.

Chowder may be made as above, substituting clams for the cod. The clams must be chopped small. You may, for variety, make chowder with oysters, or with boiled lobsters, or crabs; always beginning the mixture with pork fried with onions.

YANKEE CHOWDER.—

Having sliced very thin some salt fat pork, season it with pepper, lay it in the bottom of a large iron pot, set it over the[89] fire, and let it fry. When done, take out the pork, leaving the liquid fat in the bottom. Next, peel and slice some onions, and lay them on the fat. Pour in sufficient clam or oyster liquor to stew the onions. Have ready a sufficient quantity of sea-bass, black fish, tutaug, porgie, haddock, or fresh cod. Cut the fish in small pieces, and put it into the pot. Add plenty of potatos pared and quartered. Then some clam liquor; and lastly, some crackers, (soaked and split,) or some soda biscuit; the crackers to cover the top. If you wish to fill a large pot, repeat all these ingredients, arranging them in layers. If there is not gravy enough, add some boiling milk, poured in at the last, and enriched with bits of butter mixed with flour. Cover the pot closely, and let it stew half an hour, or more, till all the contents are thoroughly done. You may bake the chowder in an iron oven, over a wood fire, heaping live coals on the oven lid.

CLAM CHOWDER.—

Put into boiling water from fifty to a hundred of the small sand clams; and when all their shells have opened, take them out, as they are then sufficiently boiled. Extract all the hard, or tough, uneatable part, and throw it away. Slice thin as much salt pork as, when fried in the bottom of a large pot, will produce half a pint of liquid or gravy. Take out all the pork, leaving the liquid in the pot. Add to it a layer of clams. Then a layer of biscuit soaked in milk or warm water. Next another layer of clams; then an[90]other layer of soaked biscuit; then more clams. Season it with pepper and mace. If there is no objection to onions, add three or four boiled and sliced, and some minced marjoram. Also, some potatos, boiled, peeled, and quartered. Let the last layer be clams, and then cover the whole with a good paste, and bake it in an iron oven, or boil it in an iron pot.

Chowder of fresh codfish, halibut, sea-bass, or any other good fish, is made as above. Halibut requires a much larger portion of seasoning, and a little more pork. Though very large and therefore very profitable, it is in itself the most tasteless of all fish. Plain boiled halibut is not worth eating.

SALMON.—

In choosing a salmon, see that the gills are a fine red, the eyes full, the scales clear, and the whole fish stiff; the flesh being of the peculiar red known as salmon-color. Between the flakes is a substance called the curd, which gives it firmness. By keeping, this substance melts down and the flesh becomes soft. A salmon can only be eaten in perfection on the sea-coast where it was caught, and on the same day. To transport it any distance, it must be enclosed in a box, and well packed in ice. In America, salmon is found in the greatest perfection on the coast of Maine, in the Kennebec. Very fine ones are brought to Boston market. They also abound on the coasts of California and Oregon. The American salmon is much larger than those of Europe.[91] It is so fine a fish that its own flavor is better than any that can be communicated except by the most simple sauce. It requires as much boiling as meat, that is, a quarter of an hour for every pound. It is in season from May till August or September.

The lake salmon is good, but inferior to that of the ocean, in size, richness, and color.

In boiling a large fish, to judge if it is done, draw up the strainer or fish-plate, and with a thin knife try if the flesh separates easily from the bone. If you can loosen it immediately, it is cooked enough. It injures a fish to let it get cool in the water.

BOILED SALMON.—

After carefully emptying the salmon, wash it very clean from the blood inside, and remove the scales. To preserve the fine color of the salmon, or to set the curd or creamy substance between the flakes, it should be put into boiling water, allowing to a gallon of water a handful of salt. After the water has been boiling a few minutes, and has been skimmed, put in the fish, (laying it on the drainer,) and let it boil moderately fast, skimming it well. It must be thoroughly boiled. Underdone fish of every kind is disgusting and unwholesome. Before it is taken from the fish kettle ascertain if it is sufficiently cooked, by trying if the back-bone easily loosens from the flesh. A quarter of an hour may be allowed for each pound, for a large thick salmon requires as much cooking as meat.[92] When you take it up, drain it well, and serve it up immediately. Have ready some lobster sauce, or shrimp, if more convenient. To make it, mince the meat of a boiled lobster, mashing the coral with it, and mix it with melted or drawn butter, made very thick, and having but a very small portion of water. For shrimp sauce, boil the shrimps, take off their heads, and squeeze out their bodies from the shells. Thicken with them the drawn butter. Nothing should go with salmon that will interfere with the flavor of this fine fish, or give it any taste that will overpower or weaken its own.

Many prefer salmon with nothing more than cold butter spread on after it is helped. We think, ourselves, that when the butter is very good, it is not improved (for salmon) by the addition of flour and water; and a very little is sufficient. You need use nothing from the castors except cayenne.

It is usual to eat cucumbers with salmon, and no other vegetables; the cucumbers to be pared, sliced, laid in cold water, and dressed, and served up by themselves, with a little plate for each person, that the vinegar, &c., of the cucumbers may not impart too much acid to the salmon.

In places remote from the sea, a whole salmon is seldom seen at table but at dinner parties, or at good hotels. In a very hot climate it should not be seen at all. When in season, it can be bought in any quantity by the pound, for a small[93] family. For a small dinner company, from four to six pounds will suffice.

Cook salmon-trout in the same manner. Large fish should be helped with a silver fish trowel.

ROASTED SALMON.—

Take a large piece of fine fresh salmon, cut from the middle of the fish, well cleaned and carefully scaled. Wipe it dry in a clean coarse cloth. Then dredge it with flour, put it on the spit, and place it before a clear bright fire. Baste it with fresh butter, and roast it well; seeing that it is thoroughly done to the bone. Serve it up plain; garnishing the dish with slices of lemon, as many persons like a little lemon-juice with salmon. This mode of cooking salmon will be found excellent. A small one, or a salmon-trout, may be roasted whole.

BAKED SALMON.—

A small salmon may be baked whole. Stuff it with forcemeat made of bread-crumbs; chopped oysters, or minced lobster; butter, cayenne, a little salt, and powdered mace,—all mixed well, and moistened with beaten yolk of egg. Bend the salmon round, and put the tail into the mouth, fastening it with a skewer. Put it into a large deep dish; lay bits of butter on it at small intervals; and set it into the oven. While baking, look at it occasionally, and baste it with the butter. When one side is well browned, turn it carefully in the dish, and add[94] more butter. Bake it till the other side is well browned. Then transfer it to another dish with the gravy that is about it, and send it to table.

If you bake salmon in slices, reserve the forcemeat for the outside. Dip each slice first in beaten yolk of egg, and then in the forcemeat, till it is well coated.

BROILED SALMON.—

Wash carefully all traces of blood from the inside of the fish. Cut it into rather thick slices, or fillets. Dry them in a clean cloth, and dredge them with flour. Chalk the bars of the gridiron, or grease them with lard or suet, or the dripping of beef or veal, to prevent the fish from sticking. Let the fire be a bed of clear bright hot coals. Broil the slices well on both sides; and when done, transfer them to a hot dish, and lay a bit of fresh butter on each, and season them a little with cayenne.

FRIED SALMON CUTLETS.—

Having washed, dried and floured the cutlets, put near a pound of fresh lard into a frying pan, set it over a clear brisk fire till it boils fast. Have ready a marinade or dressing made of grated bread-crumbs,[95] chopped sweet-marjoram, beaten yolks of eggs, and powdered mace—all well mixed. Dip each cutlet into this marinade twice over, and fry them. There must be plenty of lard, so that the cutlets may float on its surface instead of sinking to the bottom, and becoming dark, heavy, and greasy. When they are done, take them up with a perforated skimmer, draining off the lard as you do so. Lay them on a hot dish, and keep them hot till wanted. Serve up with them mashed potatos made into flat cakes, and browned with a salamander or red hot shovel.

PICKLED SALMON.—

Clean a fine fresh salmon, and remove the bones. Cut off the head, fins, and tail. Fish, to be pickled, should (instead of washing) be wiped, and rubbed with a clean dry cloth. Cut it into steaks or cutlets. Put it into a stone-ware jar with a close cover. A broad low jar will be best. Sprinkle it with salt, and cayenne. Add some grains of whole black pepper, and some blades of mace, seasoning it highly to make it keep well. Fill up the jar with the best cider vinegar, set it in a moderate oven, and bake it till thoroughly done; adding more vinegar, if it seems too dry. Then cover the jar very closely, with the lid—if there is the[96] smallest crack, paste all round a fillet of strong, white paper. Whenever you open the jar to take out some of the salmon for use, add some fresh vinegar. Keep the jar in a dry cool place. If properly done, and well seasoned, it will keep several months.

BROILED FRESH MACKEREL.—

Mackerel cannot be eaten too fresh, as no fish spoils so soon; for which reason in England mackerel is permitted to be sold on Sundays. We have heard in London the fishwomen crying it about the streets on Sunday morning before church time. And even then it is far inferior to mackerel taken immediately out of the sea, at the places on the coast. It is generally broiled, as no other cooking seems to suit it, and draw forth its true flavor. Split your mackerel, remove the bone, and cut off the heads and tails. Dredge them on both sides with flour, and sprinkle the inside with black pepper and a little salt. Have your gridiron very hot, over a clear fire, and grease the bars with lard, or chalk them to prevent the fish from sticking. Broil them well on both sides, and when they are done, and very hot, lay some bits of fresh butter upon them. Cover to keep them warm, and send them to table as soon as possible. They are a fine breakfast fish, and good at a plain dinner. For sauce, cold butter is all that is necessary, but you may mix with it, chopped parsley, or minced fennel. At the best English tables, stewed gooseberries, pulped through[97] a sieve and sweetened, is the fashionable sauce for broiled mackerel, or lemon-juice is squeezed profusely over the fish. To this the lovers of fruit with every thing, will not object.

If a mackerel is fresh, the eyes will be full and lively, the gills very red, and the stripes or bars on the back a very dark color, (nearly black,) and strongly marked; and the body thick. If thin and flat below the shoulders, the eyes sunk, the gills pale, and the dark stripes dull and indistinct, the fish is unfit to eat.

FRIED MACKEREL.—

For frying, take small mackerel, as fresh as possible. Wash them, dry them in a clean cloth, and score them deeply in the back, making several deep cuts. Season them with a little salt and pepper. Go over them with beaten egg, and then cover them thickly with grated bread-crumbs; which, for this purpose, are superior to indian meal or pounded crackers. Fry them in boiling lard, and dish them hot. Send them to table with a dish of potatos sliced and fried in butter.

FRIED HALIBUT.—

There is a great deal of eating in a halibut, as it is a fish of immense size, and has only the back bone. It is sold in pieces of any weight or quantity, and is exceedingly white[98] and delicate in appearance. But it is so very insipid, that when boiled it has no taste at all. Therefore it is always broiled or fried, except at tables where economy is the chief consideration. If broiled, it is done in the same manner as any other large fish, but to make it palatable requires something to give it a little taste.

To fry halibut—take a piece from the middle of the fish, wash it very carefully, and dry it in a clean cloth. Then cut it into thick fillets, extracting the bone, which is easily done with a sharp knife, loosening the flesh from the bone, and raising it as you proceed. Remove the skin. You may also cut the fillets into slices about an inch thick. Season with cayenne, and a very little salt. Cover them slightly with nice butter. Have ready in one pan plenty of grated bread-crumbs; in another a sufficiency of beaten yolk of egg, seasoned with powdered mace and nutmeg. Dip the slices first into the egg, then into the pan of bread-crumbs. Do this twice over, to every slice. Have ready over the fire a hot frying pan full of boiling lard. Put in the slices and fry them well. When one side is done, turn the other. When all are done, take them from the frying pan with a perforated skimmer, and drain them. Keep them hot between two heated dishes.

Cooked in this manner, the halibut will be sufficiently flavored and is a profitable fish.

Instead of frying, the halibut steaks may be broiled over a clear fire, on a grooved gridiron. Having first buttered it, dip each steak, as above[99], in bread-crumbs and egg, and lay upon each steak a large tomato opened, and stuffed with a forcemeat of bread-crumbs seasoned with butter, pepper, and mace. This will be found a very nice way of cooking halibut. Fresh cod may be done in the same manner.

BOILED TURBOT OR SHEEP'S-HEAD FISH.—

Having cleaned and washed the fish, soak it an hour or two in salt and water to draw off the slime. Then let it lie half an hour or more in cold water. Afterwards drain, and wipe it dry. Score the back deeply with a knife. The whiteness of the fish will be improved by rubbing it over with a cut lemon. The fish kettle must be large, and nicely clean. Lay the fish with its back downward, on the strainer of the kettle. Cover it well with cold water, (milk and water in equal portions will be better still,) and add a small spoonful of salt. Do not let it come to a boil too fast, and skim it carefully. When the scum has ceased to rise, diminish the heat under the kettle, and let it simmer for about half an hour or more; not allowing it to boil hard. When the fish is done, take it up carefully with a fish-slice; and having prepared the sauce, pour it over the fish and send it to table hot.

For the sauce, mix together very smoothly, with a broad-bladed knife, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and two table-spoonfuls of flour. Put them into a clean sauce-pan, and hold it over the fire,[100] and stir them till melted. Then add a large salt-spoonful of powdered mace, and as much cayenne as will lie on a sixpence. It will be much improved by the addition of some boiled lobster, chopped small. When the sauce has simmered five minutes, add very gradually half a pint of rich cream, and let it come almost to a boil, stirring all the time. After the fish is taken up, pour the sauce over it hot. Or you may send it to table in a sauce-boat. In this case ornament the fish with the coral of the lobster put on in a handsome figure.

Another way of dressing this fish is, after it has been boiled, to set it on ice to get cold; and then, having carefully removed the bones, cut the flesh into small squares, put it into a stew-pan, and having mixed the above sauce, add it to the fish, and let it stew slowly in the sauce; but do not let it come to a boil. When thoroughly hot, take it up, and send it to table in a deep dish.

BAKED TURBOT OR SHEEP'S-HEAD FISH.—

Having cleaned the fish, soak it an hour or two in salt and water, and afterwards wash it well through two or three fresh waters. Then dry it in a clean towel. Score it deeply across the back; and then lay it in a deep white baking-dish. Mix together a large tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg; add a salt-spoon of cayenne; a few sprigs of sweet marjoram and sweet basil, finely minced; two large table-spoonfuls of fresh[101] butter; and two table-spoonfuls of grated bread-crumbs. Stir this mixture into a pint of rich cream. Pour this marinade over the fish, cover it, and let it stand half an hour. Then bake it in the marinade; and send it hot to table.

If the fish is too large to be baked whole, cut it into fillets, extracting the bone.

SEA BASS WITH TOMATOS.—

Take three large fine sea-bass, or black-fish. Cut off their heads and tails, and fry the fish in plenty of lard till about half done. Have ready a pint of tomatos, that have been pickled cold in vinegar flavored with a muslin bag of mixed spices. Drain the tomatos well from the vinegar; skin them, and mash them in a pan; dredging them with about as much flour as would fill a large table-spoon heaped up. Pour the mixture over the fish while in the frying pan; and continue frying till they are thoroughly done.

Cutlets of halibut may be fried in this manner with tomatos: also, any other pan-fish.

BAKED SALMON-TROUT.—

Having cleaned the fish, and laid it two hours in weak salt and water, dry it in a cloth, and then rub both the inside and outside with a seasoning of cayenne[102] pepper, powdered mace, nutmeg, and a little salt, mixed well together. Then lay it in a deep baking-pan, turn the tail round into the mouth, and stick bits of fresh butter thickly over the fish. Put it into an oven, and bake it well; basting it frequently with the liquid that will soon surround it. When you suppose it to be nearly done, try it by sticking down to the backbone a thin-bladed knife. When you find that the flesh separates immediately from the bone, it is done sufficiently. Serve it up with lobster-sauce.

CREAM TROUT.—

Having prepared the trout very nicely, and cut off the heads and tails, put the fish into boiling water that has been slightly salted, and simmer them for five minutes. Then take them out, and lay them to drain. Put them into a stew-pan, and season them well with powdered mace, nutmeg, and a little cayenne, all mixed together. Put in as much rich cream as will cover the fish, adding the fresh yellow rind of a small lemon, grated. Keep the pan covered, and let the fish stew for about ten minutes after it has begun to simmer. Then dish the fish, and keep them hot till you have finished the sauce. Mix, very smoothly, a small table-spoonful of arrow-root, the juice of the lemon, and two table-spoonfuls of sugar, and stir it into the cream. Pour the sauce over the fish, and then send them to table.

Turbot or sheep's-head fish may be dressed as[103] above; of course it will require a larger proportion of seasoning, &c., and longer time to cook.

STEWED CODFISH.—

Take fine fresh cod, and cut it into slices an inch thick, separated from the bones. Lay the pieces of fish in the bottom of a stew-pan: season them with grated nutmeg; half a dozen blades of mace; a salt-spoonful of cayenne pepper; and a small saucer full of chopped celery; or a bunch of sweet herbs tied together. Add a pint of oyster liquor, and the juice of a lemon. Cover it close, and let it stew gently till the fish is almost done, shaking the pan frequently. Then take a piece of fresh butter the size of an egg; roll it in flour, and add it to the stew. Also, put in two dozen large fine oysters, with what liquor there is about them. Cover it again; quicken the fire a little, and let the whole continue to stew five minutes longer. Before you send it to table, remove the bunch of sweet herbs.

FRIED CODFISH.—

Take the middle or tail part of a fresh codfish, and cut it into slices not quite an inch thick, first removing the skin. Season them with a little salt and cayenne pepper. Have ready in one dish some beaten yolk of egg, and in another some grated bread-crumbs. Dip each slice of fish twice into the egg, and then twice[104] into the crumbs. Fry them in fresh butter, and serve them up with the gravy about them.

STEWED HALIBUT.—

Cut the fish into pieces about four inches square, of course omitting the bone. Season it very slightly with salt, and let it rest for half an hour. Then take it out of the salt, put it into a large deep dish, and strew over it a mixture of cayenne pepper, ground white ginger, and grated nutmeg. Lay among it some small bits of fresh butter rolled in grated bread. Add half a pint of vinegar, (tarragon vinegar if you have it.) Place the dish in a slow oven, and let the halibut cook till thoroughly done, basting it very frequently with the liquid. When nearly done, add a large table-spoonful or more of capers, or pickled nasturtions.

STEWED ROCK-FISH.—

Take a large rock-fish, and cut it in slices near an inch thick. Sprinkle it very slightly with salt, and let it remain for half an hour. Slice very thin half a dozen large onions. Put them into a stew-pan with a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, cut into bits. Set them over a slow fire, and stir them continually till they are quite soft, taking care not to let them become brown. Then put in the sliced fish[105] in layers; seasoning each layer with a mixture of white ground ginger, cayenne pepper, and grated nutmeg; add some chopped parsley, and some bits of butter rolled in flour. Pour in a pint of water, and, if you choose, a wine-glass of vinegar, (tarragon vinegar will be best.[B]) Set it over a good fire and let it cook about an hour. When done, take out the fish carefully, to avoid breaking the slices. Lay it in a deep dish that has been made hot, and cover it immediately. Have ready the beaten yolks of two eggs. Stir them into the gravy. Give it one boil up; and then either pour it over the fish, or serve it up in a sauce-boat.

TO KEEP A SHAD FRESH.—

By the following process, (which we can highly recommend from experience,) a shad may be kept twenty-four hours, or indeed longer, so as to be perfectly fresh in taste and appearance. For instance, if brought fresh from market on Saturday morning, it may be broiled for breakfast on Sunday, and will seem like a fresh shad just from the water. Immediately on bringing it in, let it be scaled, cleaned, washed, split, and wiped dry; cutting off the head[106] and tail. Spread the shad open on a large flat dish. Mix well together in a cup, a heaped table-spoonful of brown sugar; a heaped tea-spoonful of cayenne pepper, and a tea-spoonful of fine salt; and then rub the mixture, thoroughly and evenly, all over the inside of the fish; which, of course, must be spread with the skin or outside downward. Cover it closely with a large tin cover or with another dish, and set it immediately on ice or in a very cold place, and let it rest till next morning, or till it is wanted for cooking. Immediately before you put it on the gridiron, take a clean towel and carefully wipe off the whole of the seasoning, not letting a particle of it remain round the edges, or anywhere else. Then put the shad on a previously heated gridiron, over hot coals, and broil it well. Butter it, and send it hot to table, where every one can season it again, according to their taste.

PLANKED SHAD.—

This is the best way of cooking shad when in perfection, just out of the river; and it is much in use at fishing party dinners. A board or plank, about three inches thick and two feet square, must be provided for the purpose. This plank should be of well-seasoned oak or hickory, and very clean. A pine board will very soon catch fire and burn; besides communicating to the fish a taste of turpentine or rosin. Take a very fine shad, and (having cut off the head and tail,) split it down the back,[107] clean it, wash it well, and wipe it dry. Sprinkle it with salt, and cayenne. Stand up the board before the fire till it becomes very hot, and almost begins to char. Then nail to the hot board the spread-open shad, with the back or skin-side next to the plank, securing it with a few nails, not driven in so hard that they cannot easily be drawn out. Begin to roast it with the head downward. After a while turn the other end of the plank, so as to place the tail downward. Turn it frequently up or down, that the juices of the fish may be equally dispersed throughout. When done, butter it with fresh butter, and send it to table on the board; under which, place a large dish or tray. Help it to the company off the plank. This mode of cooking a shad will be found superior to all others; and is so generally liked, that two at least will be required, one at each end of the table. It is much enjoyed by parties who have dinners on the banks of the river, and bespeak of the fishermen shad just out of the water.

Lake salmon may be cooked in this manner on a plank. Also, blue fish, and the lake white fish.

At the principal household stores, shad-boards of oak are now to be purchased ready made. The cost is from a dollar to seventy-five cents. They are very strong and smooth, and furnished with thick wires crossing the board diagonally. Behind these the fish is to slip in without nailing. They are much used, and we advise every house-keeper to get one. We see very nice ones at Carryl's Furnishing Store, Chestnut street, Philadelphia.[108]

SHELL FISH.

TO CHOOSE OYSTERS.—

Insert a knife, and if the shell instantly closes firmly on the knife, the oysters are fresh. If it shuts slowly and faintly, or not at all, they are dying, or dead. When the shells of raw oysters are found gaping open they are fit for nothing but to throw away, and should not have been seen in the market, as they are quite dead and decomposition has commenced. Clams the same.

TO FEED OYSTERS.—

When it is necessary to keep oysters a day or two before they are cooked, they must be kept clean and fed, otherwise they will die and spoil. Put them into a large tub of clean water; wash from them the mud and sand, and scrub them with a birch broom. Then pour off that water, and give them a clean tubful, placing the oysters with the deep or large side downward, and sprinkling them well, with salt mixed with it, allowing about a pint of salt to every two gallons of water. But if you have a very large quantity of oysters, add to the salt and water several handfuls of indian meal. Repeat this every twelve hours, with fresh water and meal. Always at the time of high water, oysters may be seen to open their shells, as if in expectation of their accustomed food. If this is[109] carefully continued, they will remain plump and healthy for two days.

Terrapins also, and other shell fish, should have the salt and water changed every twelve hours, and be fed with corn meal.

STEWED OYSTERS.—

Get two hundred or more fine large fresh oysters. Drain them from their liquor, (saving it in a pitcher,) and put them into a stew-pan with a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and set them over the fire. When they have simmered, and have almost come to a boil, remove them from the fire; and have ready a pan of very cold water. Take out the oysters, (one at a time, on a fork,) and put them into the cold water. This will plump them, and render them firm. Having saved about half their liquor, put it into the stew-pan, seasoned well with blades of mace, grated nutmeg, whole pepper-corns, and a little cayenne. Stir in half a pint or more of thick rich cream; and if you cannot procure cream, an equal quantity of nice fresh butter divided into bits, slightly dredged with a very little flour. Boil the liquor by itself, and when it comes to a boil, take the oysters out of the cold water, and put them into the boiling liquor. In five minutes remove the pan from the fire, (the oysters having simmered,) and transfer them to a tureen or deep dish, in the bottom of which has[110] been laid a buttered toast, that has previously been dipped a minute in hot water or milk.

FRENCH STEWED OYSTERS.—

Wash fifty fine large oysters in their own liquor, then strain it into a stew-pan, putting the oysters in a pan of cold water. Season the liquor with a large glass or half a pint of white wine, (sherry or Madeira,) the juice of two lemons, six or seven blades of mace, and a small grated nutmeg. Boil the seasoned liquor; and skim, and stir it well. When it comes to a boil, put in the oysters. Give them one good stir, and then immediately take them from the fire, transfer them to a deep dish, and send them to table. They are not to boil.

Many persons consider this the finest way of cooking oysters for company. Try it. The oysters must be of the very best.

FRIED OYSTERS.—

For frying, take only the largest and finest oysters. They should be as fresh as you can get them. Salt oysters are not good for frying. Take them out of their liquor, carefully, with a fork, picking off whatever bits of shell may be about them. Dry them in a clean napkin. Prepare some grated bread-crumbs, or pounded cracker, or soda biscuit, seasoned with cayenne pepper. Have ready plenty of yolk of egg beaten till very light; and to each egg allow a large tea-spoonful of rich cream, or of the best[111] fresh butter. Beat the egg and cream together. Dip each oyster first into the egg, &c., and then into the crumbs. Repeat this twice till the oysters are well-coated all over. Have ready boiling, in a frying-pan, an equal mixture of fresh butter and lard. It must come nearly to the edge or top of the frying-pan, and be boiling fast when the oysters go in; otherwise they will be heavy and greasy, and sink to the bottom. Fry them of a yellow brown on both sides. Send them to table very hot.

Oysters will be found much the best when fried in grated bread-crumbs. Cracker-crumbs form a hard, tough coating that is very indigestible, and also impairs the flavor. Use no salt in making the batter. Omit it entirely. It overpowers the taste of the oysters.

OYSTER FRITTERS.—

Allow to each egg a heaped table-spoonful of flour, and a jill or small tea-cupful of milk. Beat the eggs till very light and thick; then stir them, gradually, into the pan of milk, in turn with the flour, a little at a time. Beat the whole very hard. Have ready the oysters, that you may proceed immediately to baking the fritters. The oysters should be fresh, and of the largest size. Having drained them from their liquor, and dried them separately in a cloth, and dredged them with flour, set over the fire a frying-pan nearly full of lard. When it boils fast, put in a large spoonful of the batter. Then lay an oyster[112] upon it, and cover the oyster with another spoonful of batter. Fry the fritters of a nice yellow. As they are done, take them up, drain off the lard from the oysters, and keep them hot till they go to table. This will be found a very fine receipt if exactly followed.

CLAM FRITTERS.—

Put a sufficient quantity of clams into a pot of boiling water. The small sand-clam will be best. When the shells open wide, take them out, extract the clams from the shells, and put them into a stew-pan. Strain their liquor, and pour about half of it over the clams; adding a little black pepper. They will require no salt. Let them stew, slowly, for half an hour; then take them out; drain off all the liquor; and mince the clams as fine as possible, omitting the hardest parts. You should have as many clams as will make a large pint when minced. Make a batter of seven eggs, beaten till very thick and light, and then mixed gradually with a quart of milk, and a pint of sifted flour, stirred in by degrees, and made perfectly smooth and free from lumps. Then, gradually, mix the minced clams with the batter, and stir the whole very hard. Have ready in a frying-pan over the fire, a sufficiency of boiling lard. Put in, with a spoon, the batter so as to form fritters, and fry them light brown. Drain them well when done and serve them up hot.

Oyster fritters may be made as above: except[113] that the oysters must be minced raw, and mixed into the batter without having been stewed.

SCOLLOPED CLAMS.—

Having boiled a quantity of small sand-clams till they open of themselves, remove them from the shells. Drain away the liquor, and chop them small, omitting the hardest parts. Season them with black pepper and powdered mace, and mix them with grated bread-crumbs and fresh butter. Get some large clean clam-shells, and fill them to the edge with the above mixture, moistened with a very little of the liquor. Cover the surface with grated crumbs, and add to each one a small bit of butter. Set them in an oven, and bake them light brown. Send them to table in the shells they were baked in, arranged on large dishes. They are eaten at breakfast and supper. Clams must always have the shells washed before they are boiled.

Oysters are frequently scolloped in this manner, minced, and served up in large clam shells.

Boiled crabs, also, are cooked, minced, and prepared in this way, and sent to table in the back-shell of the crab.

All these scollops are improved by mixing among them some hard-boiled eggs, minced or chopped; or some raw egg beaten.[114]

ROASTED OYSTERS.—

The old-fashioned way of roasting oysters is to lay them on a hot hearth, and cover them in hot cinders or ashes, (taking them out with tongs when done,) or to put them into a moderate fire. When done, their shells will begin to open. The usual way now is to broil them on large gridirons of strong wire. Serve them up in their shells on large dishes, or on trays, at oyster suppers. At every plate lay an oyster knife and a clean coarse towel, and between every two chairs set a bucket to receive the empty shells. The gentlemen generally save the ladies the trouble of opening the oysters, by performing that office for them.

Have on the table, to eat with the oysters, bread-rolls, biscuits, butter, and glasses with sticks of celery scraped, and divested of the green leaves at the top. Have also ale or porter.

Or, you may take large oysters out of their shells, dredge them lightly with flour, lay them separately on a wire gridiron, and broil them. Serve them up on large dishes, with a morsel of fresh butter laid on each oyster.

SCOLLOPED OYSTERS.—

Drain the liquor from a sufficient quantity of fine fresh oysters; and season them with blades of mace, grated nutmeg, and a little cayenne. Lay about a dozen of them in the bottom of a deep dish. Cut some slices of wheat bread, and put them to soak in a pan of the oyster liquor (previously strained.)[115]

Soak the bread till it is soft throughout, but not dissolved. Cover the oysters in the bottom of the dish, with some slices of the soaked bread, (drained from the liquor,) and lay upon the bread a few small bits of nice fresh butter. Then put in another layer of seasoned oysters; then another layer of soaked bread with bits of butter dispersed upon it. Repeat this with more layers of oysters, soaked bread, and bits of butter, till the dish is full, finishing with a close layer of bread on the top. Set this into a hot oven, and bake it, a short time only, or till it is well browned on the surface. Oysters require but little cooking, and this bread has had one baking already. The liquid that is about the bread is sufficient. It requires no more.

Scolloped oysters may be cooked in large, clean, clam-shells and served up on great dishes.

PICKLED OYSTERS.—

Take a hundred fine large oysters—set them over the fire in their own liquor—add two ounces of nice fresh butter, and simmer them slowly for ten minutes; skimming them well. If they boil fast and long, they will become hard and shrivelled. Take them off the fire and strain from them their liquor; spread the oysters out on large dishes, and place them in the air to cool fast, or lay them in a broad pan of cold water. This renders them firm. Strain the liquor, and then mix with it an equal quantity of the best and purest clear cider-vinegar. Season (if the oysters are fresh,) with a small tea-spoonful of[116] salt, two dozen whole pepper-corns, and a table-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg, mixed. Let the liquor boil till it is reduced to little more than enough to cover the oysters well. Put the oysters into a tureen, or a broad stone jar. Pour the hot liquor over them, and let them grow quite cold before they are eaten. You may give them a fine tinge of pale pink color by adding to the liquor (while boiling,) a little prepared cochineal.

PICKLED OYSTERS.—

For keeping.—Have five or six hundred oysters of the finest sort and largest size. Proceed as in the foregoing receipt, but increase, proportionately, the quantity of spice and vinegar. Put them in stone-ware jars, securing the covers by pasting all round, bands or strips of thick white paper; and place on each jar, on the top of the liquor, a table-spoonful of salad oil.

Use no other than genuine cider-vinegar. Much that is sold for the best white-wine vinegar is in reality a deleterious compound of pernicious drugs, that will eat up or dissolve the oysters entirely, leaving nothing but a sickening whitish fluid. This vinegar is at first so overpoweringly sharp and pungent, as to destroy, entirely, the taste of the spices; and, while cooking, emits a disagreeable smell. The oysters immediately become ragged, and in less than an hour are entirely destroyed. This vinegar acts in the same manner on all other pickles, and the use of it should always be shunned.[117]

Drugs should not be employed in any sort of cookery, though their introduction is now most lamentably frequent. They ruin the flavor and are injurious to health.

OYSTER PATTIES.—

Make sufficient puff-paste for at least a dozen small patties. Roll it out thick, and line with it twelve small tin patty-pans. Bake them brown in a brisk oven; and when done set them to cool. Have ready two or three dozen large, fine, fresh oysters. Wash and drain them, and put them into a stew-pan with no other liquid than just enough of their own liquor to keep them from burning. Season them with cayenne, nutmeg, and mace, and a few of the green tops or leaves of celery sprigs minced small. Add a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, divided into bits, and laid among the oysters. To enrich the gravy, stir in, at the last, the beaten yolks of three or four eggs, or some thick cream or butter. Let the oysters stew in this gravy about five minutes. When the patties are beginning to cool, fill each with one or two large oysters. If you choose, you can bake for every patty a small round lid of pastry, to be laid lightly on the top, so as to cover the oysters when they go to table. For company, make a large quantity of oyster patties, as they are much liked.

OYSTER LOAVES.—

Take some tall fresh rolls, or small loaves. Cut nicely a round or oval[118] hole in the top of each, saving the pieces that come off. Then carefully scoop out most of the crumb from the inside, leaving the crust standing. Have ready a sufficient quantity of large fresh oysters. Put the oysters with one-fourth of their liquor into a stew-pan; adding the bread-crumbs, a large piece of fresh butter, some powdered nutmeg, and mace. Stew them about ten minutes. Then stir in two or three large table-spoonfuls of cream; take them off just as they are coming to a boil. If cooked too long the oysters will become tough and shriveled, and the cream will curdle. Fill the inside of your scooped loaves with the oysters, reserving as many large oysters as you have loaves. Place the bit of upper-crust carefully on the top of each, so as to cover the whole. Arrange them on a dish, and lay on each lid one of the large oysters kept out for the purpose. These ornamental oysters must be well drained from any liquid that is about them.

OYSTER OMELET.—

Having strained the liquor from twenty-five oysters of the largest size, mince them small; omitting the hard part or gristle. If you cannot get large oysters, you should have forty or fifty small ones. Break into a shallow pan six, seven, or eight eggs, according to the quantity of minced oysters. Omit half the whites, and, (having beaten the eggs till very light, thick, and smooth,) mix the oysters gradually into them, adding a little cayenne pepper,[119] and some powdered nutmeg. Put three ounces or more of the best fresh butter into a small frying-pan, if you have no pan especially for omelets. Place it over a clear fire, and when the butter, (which should be previously cut up,) has come to a boil, put in the omelet-mixture; stir it till it begins to set; and fry it light brown, lifting the edge several times by slipping a knife under it, and taking care not to cook it too much or it will shrivel and become tough. When done, clap a large hot plate or dish on the top of the omelet, and turn it quickly and carefully out of the pan. Serve it up immediately. It is a fine breakfast dish. This quantity will make one large or two small omelets.

An omelet pan should be smaller than a common frying-pan, and lined with tin. In a large pan the omelet will spread too much, and become thin like a pancake.

Never turn an omelet while frying, as that will make it heavy and tough. When done, brown it by holding a red-hot shovel or salamander close above the top.

Excellent omelets may be made of cold boiled ham, or smoked tongue; grated or minced small, mixed with a sufficiency of beaten eggs, and fried in butter.

BROILED OYSTERS.—

Take the largest and finest oysters. See that your gridiron is very clean. Rub the bars with fresh butter, and set it[120] over a clear steady fire, entirely free from smoke; or on a bed of bright hot wood coals. Place the oysters on the gridiron, and when done on one side, take a fork and turn them on the other; being careful not to let them burn. Put some fresh butter in the bottom of a dish. Lay the oysters on it, and season them with pepper and grated nutmeg. Send them to table hot.

OYSTER PIE.—

Having buttered the inside of a deep dish, line it with puff-paste rolled out rather thick; and prepare another sheet of paste for the lid. Pat a clean towel into the dish (folded so as to support the lid) and then put on the lid; set it into the oven, and bake the paste well. When done, remove the lid, and take out the folded towel. While the paste is baking, prepare the oysters. Having picked off carefully any bits of shell that may be found about them, lay them in a sieve and drain off the liquor into a pan. Put the oysters into a skillet or stew-pan, with barely enough of the liquor to keep them from burning. Season them with whole pepper, blades of mace, some grated nutmeg, and some grated lemon-peel, (the yellow rind only,) and a little finely minced celery. Then add a large portion of fresh butter, divided into bits, and very slightly dredged with flour. Let the oysters simmer over the fire, but do not allow them to come to a boil, as that will shrivel them. Next beat the yolks only, of three, four, or five eggs, (in pro[121]portion to the size of the pie,) and stir the beaten egg into the stew a few minutes before you take it from the fire. Keep it warm till the paste is baked. Then carefully remove the lid of the pie; and replace it, after you have filled the dish with the oysters and gravy.

The lid of the pie may be ornamented with a wreath of leaves cut out of paste, and put on before baking. In the centre, place a paste-knot or flower.

CLAM PIE.—

Take a sufficient number of clams to fill a large pie-dish when opened. Make a nice paste in the proportion of a pound of fresh butter to two quarts of flour. Paste for shell fish, or meat, or chicken pies, should be rolled out double the thickness of that intended for fruit pies. Line the sides and bottom of your pie-dish with paste. Then cover the bottom with a thin beef steak, divested of bone and fat. Put in the clams, and season them with mace, nutmeg, and a few whole pepper-corns. No salt. Add a spoonful of butter rolled in flour, and some hard-boiled yolks of eggs crumbled fine. Then put in enough of the clam liquor to make sufficient gravy. Put on the lid of the pie, (which, like the bottom crust, should be rolled out thick,) notch it handsomely, and bake it well. It should be eaten warm.[122]

SOFT CRABS.—

These are crabs that, having cast their old shells, have not yet assumed the new ones. In this, the transition state, they are considered delicacies. Put them into fast-boiling water, and boil them for ten minutes. Then take them out, drain them, wipe them very clean, and prepare them for frying by removing the spongy part inside and the sand-bag. Put plenty of fresh lard into a pan; and when it boils fast, lay in the crabs, and fry them well, seasoning them with cayenne. As soon as they are done of a nice golden color, take them out, drain off the lard back into the pan, and lay them on a large hot dish. Cover them to keep warm while you fry, in the same lard, all the best part of a fresh lettuce, chopped small. Let it fry only long enough to become hot throughout. When you serve up the crabs cover them with the fried lettuce. Stir into the gravy some cream, or a piece of nice fresh butter rolled in flour; and send it to table in a sauce-boat, seasoned with a little cayenne.

Soft crabs require no other flavoring. They make a nice breakfast-dish for company. Only the large claws are eaten, therefore break off as useless the small ones.

Instead of lettuce, you may fry the crabs with parsley—removed from the pan before it becomes brown. Pepper-grass is still better.

TERRAPINS.—

In buying terrapins select the largest and thickest. Like all other delicacies,[123] the best are the cheapest in the end. Small poor terrapins are not worth the cost of the seasoning. A poor terrapin, poorly dressed, is indeed a poor thing, and is always recognized as such, by those who are expected to eat it. Get fine terrapins only. Put them into a pot of water that is boiling very hard at the time, and let them boil for about ten minutes. Immediately on taking them out, proceed to rub, with a coarse clean cloth, all the skin from the head, neck, and claws—also, the thin shell, as it comes loose. Having washed them in warm water, put the terrapins into a clean pot with fresh water, and a table-spoonful of salt, and boil them again till they are thoroughly done, and the paws are perfectly soft. Remove the toe-nails. Some terrapins require three hours. When they are quite soft, open them carefully, remove the spongy part, the sand-bag, the gall, and the entrails—it being now the custom to throw away the whole of the disgusting garbage, always tasteless, tough, and disagreeable to look at. Be careful not to break the gall, as it will give an unpleasant bitter taste to the whole. Cut into small pieces all the meat of the terrapins, put them into a stew-pan, (adding the juice they have yielded in cutting up, but no water,) and proceed to season them, beginning with cayenne and black pepper, to your taste; also, a handful of flour for the thickening. Stir all well together, and in a short time add four table-spoonfuls of cream, or fresh butter, and a half pint of Madeira or sherry to every four terrapins. If they have no eggs, make up some[124] artificially; crumbling the yolks of hard-boiled common eggs, mashed to a paste with a little nice butter, and then made into balls with beaten raw egg. Add plenty of these to the stew, and let the whole cook together for a quarter of an hour longer. Serve it up hot, in a well heated covered dish.

Four fine large terrapins generally make one dish; and the above is the usual quantity of seasoning for them.

NEW WAY OF DRESSING TERRAPINS.—

In buying terrapins, select those only that are large, fat, and thick-bodied. Put them whole into water that is boiling hard at the time, and (adding a little salt) boil them till thoroughly done throughout. Then, taking off the shell, extract the meat, and remove carefully the sand-bag and gall; also, all the entrails,—they are disgusting, unfit to eat, and are no longer served up in cooking terrapin for the best tables. Cut the meat into pieces, and put it into a stew-pan with its eggs, and sufficient fresh butter to stew it well. Let it stew till quite hot throughout, keeping the pan carefully covered that none of the flavor may escape; but shake it over the fire while stewing. In another pan, make a sauce of beaten yolk of egg, highly flavored with Madeira or sherry, and powdered nutmeg and mace, and enriched with a large lump of fresh butter. Stir this sauce well over the fire, and when it has[125] almost come to a boil, take it off. Send the terrapin to table hot in a covered dish, and the sauce separately in a sauce-tureen, to be used by those who like it, and omitted by those who prefer the genuine flavor of the terrapin when simply stewed with butter.

This is now the usual mode of dressing terrapins in Maryland and Virginia, and will be found superior to any other.

No dish of terrapins can be good unless the terrapins themselves are of the best quality. It is mistaken economy to buy poor ones. Besides being insipid and tasteless, it takes more in number to fill a dish. The females are the best.

A TERRAPIN POT-PIE.—

Take several fine large terrapins, the fattest and thickest you can get. Put them into a large pot of water that is boiling hard; and boil them half an hour or more. Then take them out of the shell, pulling off the outer skin and the toe-nails. Remove the sand-bag and the gall, taking care not to break it, or it will render the whole too bitter to be eaten. Take out also the entrails, and throw them away; as the custom of cooking them is now, very properly, exploded. Then cut up all the meat of the terrapins, taking care to save all the liquid that exudes in cutting up, and also the eggs. Season the whole with pepper, mace, and nutmeg, adding a little salt; and lay among it pieces of fresh butter slightly rolled in flour.[126]

Have ready an ample quantity of paste, made in the proportion of a pound of butter to two large quarts (or pounds) of flour, or a pound and a half of butter to three quarts of flour, and rolled out thick. Butter the inside of an iron pot, and line the sides with paste, till it reaches within one-third of the top. Then put in the pieces of terrapin, with the eggs, butter, &c., and with all the liquid. Lay among the terrapin, square pieces of paste. Then pour in sufficient water to stew the whole properly. Next, cover all with a circular lid, or top-crust of paste, but do not fit it so closely that the gravy cannot bubble up over the edges while cooking. Cut a small cross slit in the top crust. Place the pot, with the pie, over a good fire, and boil it till the whole is thoroughly done, which will be in from three quarters to an hour after it comes to a boil. Take care not to let it get too dry, but keep at hand a kettle of boiling water to replenish the pot when necessary. To ascertain if the pie is done, lift up with a fork a little of the paste, at one side, and try it low down in the pot.

It may be much improved, by mixing among the pieces of terrapins, (before putting them into the pie,) some yolks of hard-boiled eggs, grated or minced. They will enrich the gravy.

A pot-pie may be made, (a very fine one too,) of some of the best pieces of a green turtle.[127]

A SEA-COAST PIE.—

Having boiled a sufficient number of crabs and lobsters, extract all the meat from the shells, and cut it into mouthfuls. Have ready some fine large oysters drained from the liquor. Cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish with puff-paste; and put in a thick layer of crab or lobster, seasoned with a little cayenne pepper, and a grated lemon-peel. Mix it with some hard-boiled yolk of egg, crumbled fine, and moistened with fresh butter. Next, put a close layer of oysters, seasoned with pounded mace and grated nutmeg. Put some bits of butter rolled in flour on the top of the layer. Proceed in this manner with alternate layers of crab or lobster, and of oysters, till the dish is nearly full. Then pour in, at the last, a tea-cupful or more of the oyster liquor, with an equal quantity of rich cream. Have ready a thick lid of puff-paste. Put it on the pie, pressing the edges closely, so as to unite them all round; and notch them handsomely. Make a wreath of leaves cut out of paste, and a flower or knot for the centre; place them on the top-crust; and bake the pie well. While it is baking, prepare some balls made of chopped oysters; grated bread-crumbs; powdered nutmeg, or mace; and grated lemon-peel; also, some hard-boiled yolks of eggs, grated. Having fried these balls in butter, drain them, and when the pie is baked, lay a circle of them round the top, between the border of paste-leaves and the centre-knot.

This pie will be found so fine that it ought to[128] be baked in a dish which will contain a large quantity.

TO DRESS A TURTLE.—

The turtle should be taken out of water, and killed over night in winter, and early in the morning in summer. Hang it up by the hind fins, and before it has had time to draw in its neck, cut off its head with a very sharp knife, and leave the turtle suspended. It should bleed two or three hours or more, before you begin to cut it up. Then lay it on its back upon a table: have at hand several vessels of cold water, in which to throw the most important parts as you separate them; also a large boiler of hot water. Take off the fins at the joint, and lay them by themselves in cold water; next divide the back-shell from the under-shell. The upper part of the turtle is called the calipash—the under part the calipee. In cutting open the turtle, be very careful not to break the gall, which should be taken out and thrown away; if broken, its bitterness will spoil all around it. Take out the entrails and throw them away. The practice of cooking them is now obsolete. So it is with the entrails of terrapins. Using a sharp knife, cut off the fins carefully, also the liver, lungs, heart, kidneys, &c. Wash them well, and lay them in a pan of cold water, the liver in a pan by itself. If there are eggs, put them also into cold water. Having extracted the intestines, stand up the turtle on end, to let the blood run out. Afterwards cut out all[129] the flesh from the upper and under shells, and remove the bones. Cut the calipee (or meat belonging to the under-shell) into pieces about as large as the palm of your hand, and break the shell. The calipash, or meat next the back-shell, may be cut smaller—the green fat into pieces about two inches square. Put all the meat into a large pan, sprinkle it slightly with salt, and cover it up. Lay the shells and fins in a tub of boiling water, and scald them till the scales can be scraped off with a knife, and all the meat that still adheres to the shells easily removed, as it is worth saving. Clean the fins nicely, (taking off the dark skin,) and lay them in cold water. Wipe the back-shell dry, and set it aside. Then proceed to make the soup. For this purpose, take the coarser pieces of flesh with the bone likewise. Put them into a pot with a pound of cold ham cut into pieces, and eight large calves'-feet (two sets) that have been singed and scraped, but not skinned. If you cannot conveniently obtain calves'-feet, substitute a large fore-leg or knuckle of veal. Add four onions, sliced thin; two tablespoonfuls of sweet-marjoram leaves; a large bunch of basil; a dozen blades of mace; and a salt-spoon of cayenne. The ham will make any other salt unnecessary. Pour on as much water as will completely cover the whole, and let it simmer slowly over a steady fire during five hours, skimming it well. If after a while the soup seems to be boiling away too much, replenish it with a little hot water from a kettle, kept boiling hard for the purpose. When it has simmered five hours, take[130] up the whole, and strain the soup through a sieve into a deep pan. Wash out the soup-pot with hot water, and return the strained soup to it, with the liver, &c., cut in small pieces, and some of the best of the meat, and a portion of the green fat. Have ready two or three dozen force-meat balls, the size of a hickory nut, and made of the usual proportions of minced veal, bread-crumbs, butter, grated lemon-peel, mace, nutmeg, and beaten yolk of egg. Put them into the soup, and let it boil an hour longer; also the eggs of the turtle, or some hard-boiled yolks of eggs. After it has thus boiled another hour, add the juice and grated yellow rinds of two lemons, and a pint of Madeira. Boil the soup a quarter of an hour longer, and it will then be ready for the tureen. It must never boil hard.

In the mean time, stew in another pot the finest of the turtle-meat, seasoned with a little salt and cayenne, and a liberal allowance of sweet-marjoram leaves rubbed fine, and mixed with powdered mace and nutmeg. Add a pound of fresh butter, cut into pieces and rolled in flour. When the turtle-meat has stewed an hour, put in the green fat, and add the juice and grated yellow rinds of two lemons, and a pint or more of Madeira, and let the whole stew slowly an hour longer. While the meat is stewing, take the shell of the back; wash it clean, and wipe it dry; lay a band of puff-paste all round the inside of the shell, two inches below the edge, and two inches above it. Notch the paste handsomely, and fill the shell with the stewed turtle. Have ready the oven, heated as if[131] for bread. Lay a large iron baking-sheet or a square pan upon four bricks (one at each corner) to elevate the turtle-shell from the floor of the oven. Place on it the shell with its contents, and let it bake till well browned on the surface. Send it to table with the shell placed on a large dish. At the other end set the tureen of soup. Have ready (on two side dishes) the fins stewed tender in a little of the soup, and the liver fried in butter.

This receipt is for a turtle of moderate size. A large one will, of course, require an increased proportion of all the articles used in seasoning it—more wine, &c. In serving up turtle at a dinner-party, let it constitute the first course, and have nothing else on the table while the turtle is there.

We have seen elegant silver turtle-dishes, representing the back-shell of the animal, superbly chased and engraved, the feet for it to stand on being paws of silver; and the fins having hollow places to hold the sauce. This was for the stew; making a dish separate from the soup, which is always sent to table in a tureen.

TURTLE PASTY.—

When the meat has been all extracted, scrape and wash the large back shell of the turtle till it is perfectly clean. Make a rich puff-paste. Roll it out thin, and line with it the bottom and sides, in fact the whole of the back-shell. Having prepared and seasoned the best pieces of the turtle-meat, as in the preceding receipt, stew them till thoroughly done, and very[132] tender, and when cool, fill the shell with them. Have ready an upper lid of the same puff-paste, rolled out rather thick. Cover the pie with it. Unite the edges of the upper and under crusts, very neatly, wetting your fingers with water. Then notch them handsomely all round, and cut a cross slit in the centre of the top or cover. Set it directly into a rather quick oven. Bake the crust of a light brown, and send it to table hot.

LOBSTERS.—

If you buy a lobster ready boiled, see that his tail is stiff and elastic, so that when you bend it under, it springs back immediately; otherwise he is not fresh. If alive or unboiled, he will be lively and brisk in his motion when newly caught. The same with prawns, and crabs.

To boil a lobster, have ready a pot of fast-boiling water, very strongly salted. Put in the lobster head downward; and if the water is really hot (it is cruel to have it otherwise,) he will be dead in a moment. Crabs, of course, the same. A moderate sized lobster (and they are the best,) will be done in half an hour. A large one requires from three-quarters to an hour. Before it is sent to table, the large claws should be taken off, and laid beside it. The head also should be separated from the body, but laid so near it that the division is nearly imperceptible. The head is never eaten. Split the body, and lay it open all[133] the way down, including the tail. If there is a good dresser of salads in the house, the lobster may be served up ready dressed, in a deep dish, seasoned with the proper condiments, after being cut small or minced, heaped up towards the centre of the dish, and decorated with the small claws laid across on the top, with the addition of green celery leaves, or parsley sprigs.

LOBSTER SALAD—

(plain.)—Take a well boiled lobster. Extract all the meat from the body and claws, cut it up small, and mash the coral with the back of a spoon or a broad knife. Wash the best part of a fresh lettuce, and cut that up also, omitting all the stalk. Mix together the chopped lobster and the lettuce, and put them into a salad bowl. Make the dressing in a deep plate, allowing for one lobster a salt-spoon of salt, half as much of cayenne, a tea-spoonful of made mustard, (tarragon mustard is best,) four table-spoonfuls (or more) of sweet oil, and three table-spoonfuls of the best cider vinegar. Mix all these together, with the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs, mashed to a soft moist paste with the other ingredients, adding the coral of the lobster. When they are all mixed smoothly, add them to the lobster and lettuce. If the mixture seems too dry, add more sweet oil. Toss and stir the salad with a box-wood fork. Also, the things should be mashed with a box-wood spoon. Cover, and set it in a cool place till wanted. It should be eaten[134] as soon as possible after mixing, as it becomes flat by standing.

Plenty of sweet oil renders a lobster wholesome. Still, persons who are not in good health, had best abstain from lobster.

FINE LOBSTER SALAD—

(This is for company.)—Boil eight eggs for ten minutes, or till quite hard. Lay them in cold water, or cool them by laying bits of ice among them. When quite cold, cut each egg lengthways into four or six pieces, taking a bit off one end of each piece or slice. Cut up into long pieces the best part of a fresh lettuce, that has just been washed in a pan of cold water. Lay the lettuce in a dish, and surround it closely with the pieces of egg standing up on their blunted ends, with the yolk side outward, and forming a handsome wall all round the bed of lettuce. Upon this, pile neatly the bits of chopped lobster, finishing with the small claws stuck into the top. Have ready the dressing in a sauce-tureen. Make it of the beaten yolks of two raw eggs, and four table-spoonfuls of sweet oil, thickened with the mashed coral of the lobster, and the crumbled yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, and season slightly with a little salt, cayenne, and a spoonful of tarragon mustard. Finish with two table-spoonfuls of vinegar, and stir the whole hard with a box-wood spoon or fork.[135] Send it to table with the sauce-tureen, along with the dish of lobster, &c. Pour on each plate of lobster a portion of this dressing. Or, if you can obtain no lettuce, mix this dressing at once with the chopped meat of the lobster. Smooth it in a pile on the dish, (keeping it towards the centre) and stand up the slips of hard egg handsomely surrounding it—the small claws decorating the top.

LOBSTER RISSOLES.—

Extract all the meat from the shells of one or two boiled lobsters. Mince it very fine; the coral also. Season it with a little salt and cayenne, and some powdered mace and nutmeg. Add about a fourth part of finely grated bread-crumbs; and with a sufficiency of fresh butter or a little finely-minced veal suet, or some sweet oil, make it up into balls or cones. Brush them over with yolk of egg, dredge them lightly with flour, and fry them in lard. Introduce them as a side dish at a dinner party, or as an accompaniment to salmon.

This mixture may be baked in puff-paste as little patties, or you may bake in a soup-plate an empty shell of paste, and when done, (having stewed the rissole mixture made moist) fill the cold paste with it, and serve it up as a lobster pie.

In buying lobsters, choose those that are the heaviest and liveliest, or quickest in their motions when touched. They are then fresh. The hen has the broadest tail and the softest fins.[136]

LOBSTER PUDDING.—

Take the empty back shell of one large boiled lobster, and all the best meat of two. Clean out the shell very nicely; washing it, and wiping it dry. Mince the meat, and mash the coral with it; adding half a dozen yolks of hard-boiled eggs crumbled among it, and season it well with powdered mace and nutmeg, and a little cayenne. Moisten it all through with plenty of sweet oil, and the raw yolks of one or two eggs, well beaten. Fill the shell with this pudding, and cover the surface of the mixture with a coating of finely-grated bread-crumbs. Brown it by holding over it a salamander, or a red hot fire-shovel. Send it to table in the shell, laid on a china dish.

Small puddings may be made as above, of crab-meat put into several large crab-shells, and placed side by side on a dish.

They may be eaten either warm or cold; and they look well with green lettuce or pepper-grass, disposed fancifully among them.

CRABS.—

Crabs are seldom eaten except at the sea-shore, where there is a certainty of their being fresh from the water. They are very abundant, but so little is in them, that when better things are to be had, they are scarcely worth the trouble of boiling and picking out the shell. They are cooked like lobsters, in boiling salt and water, and brought to table piled on large dishes, and are eaten with salt, pepper, sweet oil, and[137] vinegar. The meat of two dozen crabs, when all is extracted, will make but a small dish. Season it with cayenne, mustard, oil, vinegar, and eat it cold; or stew it with fresh butter, powdered mace, and nutmeg, and serve it up hot.

SHRIMPS.—

Of all fish belonging to the lobster species, shrimps are the smallest. In England, where they abound, they are sold by the quart, ready boiled. The way to eat them is to pull off the head, and squeeze the body out of the shell by pressing it between your fore-finger and thumb. At good tables they are only used as sauce for large fish, squeezed out of the shell, and stirred into melted butter.

LOBSTER SAUCE.—

Take a small hen lobster that has been well boiled. Extract all the meat, and chop it large. Take out the coral, and pound it smooth in a marble mortar, adding, as you proceed, sufficient sweet oil. Make some nice drawn butter, allowing half a pound of nice fresh butter to two heaped table-spoonfuls of flour, and a pint of hot water. Mix the butter and flour thoroughly, and then gradually add to them the coral, so as to give a fine color. Then mix this with a small pint of boiling water. Hold the saucepan over the fire, (shaking it about till it simmers) but do not let it quite boil. Put in the[138] chopped lobster, and let that simmer in the sauce, till well heated. To allow it to boil will spoil the color, (which should be pale pink,) and may be improved by a little prepared cochineal. Or, you may tie, in a small bit of thin muslin, a few chips of alkanet, and put it into the sauce, (taking it out, of course, before it goes to table.) Alkanet communicates a beautiful pink color, and has no taste in itself.

This quantity of sauce is for a large fish—salmon, cod, turbot, or sheep's head. There should always be an ample supply of sauce. It is very awkward for the sauce to give out, before it has gone round the company.

BEEF.

ROASTING BEEF.—

The prime piece of beef for roasting is the sirloin; but being too large for a small family, the ribs are generally preferred, when there are but few persons to eat of it. So also is the baron, or double sirloin, undivided along the back. It is chiefly seen at great dinners. Except the sirloin and ribs, there are no very good roasting pieces, all the rest being generally used for stews, soups, &c., and for corning or salting. Unless the animal is a very fine one, the inferior pieces are apt to be tough, hard, and coarse. The round is the best piece for corning or salting, and[139] for cooking, as beef a-la-mode, or converting into what, in England, is called rump-steaks. These steaks require a rolling-pin, before they can be made tender enough for good eating, or good digestion. The finest and tenderest steaks are those cut from the sirloin. The meat of a young well-fed heifer is very good; and that of an old ox, (that has done working, and afterwards been fattened well on plenty of wholesome food,) may be made of superior excellence. The lean of good fresh beef is of a bright red color, a fine close grain, and feels tender to the touch on pinching it between your thumb and finger. The fat is firm and very nearly white. The suet about the kidney, firm and quite white. If, on the contrary, the lean is coarse, tough, and of a dull color, and the fat scanty, yellow, and moist, do not buy that meat for any purpose. The same rules will apply to mutton. If the weather is so cold that the meat is frozen, thaw it by lying it all night or early in the morning in a tub of cold water. If thawed in water the least warm, the meat will spoil, and be rendered unfit to eat. Meat that has been frozen, requires a much longer time to cook, than if that accident had not happened. All frozen animals must be thawed in cold water previous to cooking. Cold roast-beef is much liked in England. In America, where meat is more abundant, and therefore less costly, it is not considered a proper dish to place before a visitor; therefore, in our country, a large piece is seldom cooked with a view to next day's dinner. We prefer smaller pieces,[140] always served up fresh and hot. Beef for roasting, should be well washed in plenty of cold water; then dried with a clean cloth. Prepare the fire, in time to be burning well, when the meat is put down. It should have plenty of hot coals, and no part of the fire black, ashy, or smoky, and the hearth swept very clean: for no sweeping must go on while the meat (or any thing else) is cooking. The spit should always be kept perfectly clean, when not in use; and well washed, wiped, and rubbed immediately after using. Run it evenly into the meat, which will hang crooked if not well balanced. When first put down, take care not to set it at once too close to the fire, but place it rather more than two feet distant, that the meat may heat gradually. If too near the fire at first, the outside will scorch, and leave the inside red and bloody. Underdone meat (foolishly called rare) is getting quite out of fashion, being unwholesome and indigestible, and to most Americans its savour is disgusting. To ladies and children it is always so, and even the English have ceased to like it. It is now seldom seen but at those public tables, where they consider it an object to have as little meat as possible eaten on the first day, that more may be left for the second day, to be made into indescribable messes, with ridiculous French names, and passed off as French dishes, by the so-called French cook, who is frequently an Irishman.

At first, baste the meat as soon as it begins to roast, with a little fresh butter, or fresh dripping saved from yesterday's beef. Then, when its own[141] fat begins to drip, baste it with that, all the while it is cooking. Gradually move it nearer to the fire, turning the spit round frequently, so that the meat may be cooked equally on all sides. When it is nearly done, sprinkle it slightly, with a little salt. When it is quite done, and you take it from the spit, put it on a large hot dish, and keep it warm while you skim the gravy, thoroughly, so as to remove all the fat. Then mix in the gravy a small tea-cup full of hot water, and thicken it with a very little browned flour. Send it to table very hot.

As a general rule, a sirloin, weighing fifteen pounds, will require about four hours (or more) before a good steady fire. If it has been frozen, it will take much longer. The fatter it is the more cooking it will require. When sent to table, place near it, a small sauce-shell of horse-radish, washed, scraped fine, and moistened with the best vinegar. Put a tea-spoon on the top to take it with. Pickles, and a bottle of French mustard, at good tables, are generally accompaniments to beef or mutton, whether roasted or boiled.

The dripping of roast beef, after all the fat has been removed, and the basting of the meat is over, should be strained into a pan, and kept in a cold place, with a cover; and next day, when it is congealed into a cake, scrape off whatever impurities may still adhere to the bottom, transfer it to a covered jar, and set it in the refrigerator, or where it will be cold. The dripping of roast beef is excellent for frying, for plain pie-crust, or for many other purposes. The dripping of mutton (being tallow)[142] is only fit for soap-fat, and will spoil any dish whatever.

BROILED BEEF STEAKS.—

The best steaks are those from the tender-loin. Those from the round or rump require beating with a rolling-pin. A steak-mallet tears them and destroys the juices of the meat. Without beating they will generally be found too tough or hard for an American taste, though much liked in Europe, where tender-loin steaks are considered too expensive. But they are here so much preferred, that, on good tables, any others are seldom seen. Have all the steaks nearly of a size and shape, and about half an inch thick. Trim off the fat, and cut short the bone, or remove it altogether. Season them with black pepper, but sprinkle on no salt till they have done cooking; as salt, if put on at first, hardens them. Set your gridiron over a bed of bright clear coals, having first rubbed the bars with a very little beef suet, or dripping. Not mutton fat, as it will give the taste of tallow.

A beef steak cannot be cooked in perfection unless over wood coals. To cook them before an anthracite fire, on an upright gridiron, is more like toasting than broiling, and much impairs the true flavor. A gridiron of the usual shape, with grooved or hollow bars to catch the gravy, is best of all. Broil the steaks well; and when done on one side, turn each steak with steak tongs; or a knife and fork, and an inverted plate.

If onions are liked, peel and boil a few; drain and mince them, and sprinkle them thickly over[143] the surface of each steak. When they are well done, take them off the gridiron, and transfer them to a heated dish, laying a small bit of butter upon it; and put another bit of butter on the surface of each steak, having first sprinkled them with a very little fine salt. What there is of their own gravy, pour round them on the dish. Send it to table as hot as possible.

The English custom of eating what is called rare or underdone beef or mutton, is now becoming obsolete. To ladies, especially, all food is disgusting that is red and bloody-looking—and physicians have discovered, that nothing is wholesome unless well cooked. The introduction of French cookery has done that much good.

The onions may be stewed in butter or gravy, and served up in a sauce-boat, seasoned with nutmeg. At the famous beef-steak club of London, each guest is furnished with a small raw onion, to take on his fork, and rub over his empty plate, just before the steaks are served up, which is done one at a time, and as hot as possible, being cooked in the room.

FRIED BEEF STEAKS.—

Sirloin steaks should be tender enough without beating. Rump steaks will require some; but do not beat them so much as to tear the meat and exhaust all its juices. We have seen them pounded almost into a mass of dry shreds, scarcely adhering together. Remove the fat and bone. Lay them in a frying-pan, with a little fresh butter dredged with flour, and season[144] them with pepper. Fry them brown, turning them on both sides. Have ready some onions, peeled, washed, and sliced. After you have turned the steaks, cover them with the sliced onions, and then finish the frying, till all is thoroughly done, meat and onions, slightly sprinkling them with salt. The onions had best be boiled in a small sauce-pan by themselves, before they are sliced and fried.

Mutton chops, or veal cutlets, or pork steaks, may be fried in this manner with onions, adding to them some minced sweet marjoram, or if pork, some sage.

BEEF STEAK WITH OYSTERS.—

Take very fine tender sirloin steak, divested of fat and bone; cut them not larger than the palm of your hand; lay them in a stew-pan with some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. Strain over them sufficient oyster-liquor to cook them well, and to keep them from burning, and to make a gravy so as to stew, but not to boil them. Season them with some blades of mace, some grated nutmeg, and a few whole pepper-corns. Let them cook till they are thoroughly done, and not the least red. Then put in some fine large oysters. Set the stew-pan again over the fire till the oysters are plump, which should be in about five or six minutes. If cooked too much, the oysters will toughen and shrink. When done, transfer the whole to a deep dish, mixing the oysters evenly among the meat. Before you[145] take them up, make some sippet or thin toast, in triangular or pointed slices, with the crust cut off. Dip the slices (for a minute) in boiling water; then take them out, and stand them in a circle all round the inside of the dish, the points of the sippets upwards.

CORNED OR SALTED BEEF.—

For boiling, there is no piece of corned beef so good, and so profitable, as the round. A large round is always better and more tender than a small one, if the ox has been well fed. A small round of beef is generally tough. In buying it, see that it looks and smells well, as sometimes beef is not salted till it begins to taint; and then it is done, with a view of disguising its unwholesome and disgusting condition, which, however, will immediately be manifest as soon as it is put on to boil, if not before. Every sort of food, the least verging on decomposition, is unfit for any thing but to throw away or bury. It is not necessary to buy always a whole round of beef. You can have it cut into a half, third part, quarter, or into as many pounds as you want. If very salt, lay it to soak in cold water the night before, or early in the morning. Half a round (weighing about fifteen pounds) will require about four hours to boil sufficiently. A whole round, double that time. It must boil very slowly. If it boils too fast at first, nothing will afterwards make it tender. The fire must be steady, and moderate, that the heat may penetrate all through, slowly and equally. The pot must be kept closely[146] covered, unless for a minute when the scum is taken off, and that must be done frequently. The beef should, while boiling, be turned several times in the pot. It is much the best way to boil it without any vegetables in the same pot; they imbibe too much of the fat, particularly cabbage. Boil the cabbage by itself in plenty of water, having first washed it well, laid it a while in cold water, with the head downwards, and examined it well to see if there are no insects between the leaves. The leaves on the very outside, should be removed, and the stalk cut short. Tie a string round the cabbage to keep it from falling apart. Put it into a pot with plenty of cold water, and boil it an hour. Then take it out, drain it, and lay it in a pan of cold water, or place it under the hydrant, for the hydrant water to run copiously upon it.

When the cabbage is perfectly cold, wash out the pot in which it was parboiled, or put it into another quite clean one, and boil it another hour. Then take it up, and keep it warm till wanted. Before you send it to table, lay some bits of nice fresh butter between the inside leaves, and sprinkle on a little pepper. This is much nicer than preparing what is called drawn or melted butter to pour over the cabbage, and far more wholesome. Drawn butter is seldom well made, being frequently little more than a small morsel of butter, deluged with greasy water; and sometimes it is nearly all flour and water. Cabbage cooked as above will be found excellent, and be divested of the[147] cabbage smell which is to many persons disagreeable.

Carrots are also an usual accompaniment to corned beef. They should be washed, scraped, cut into pieces, and split, if very large; put into boiling water, and cooked, according to their size, from one hour to two hours. Before taking them up, try with a fork if they are tender throughout. When done, they are best cut into slices, a little cold butter mixed with them, and put into a deep dish, to be helped with a spoon.

For a plain family dinner, corned beef, cabbage, and carrots, cooked exactly as above, with, of course, the addition of potatos, will, on trial, be found excellent.

Corned beef stewed very slowly, in a small quantity of water, (barely sufficient to cover the meat,) well skimmed, and with the vegetables done separately, is still better than when boiled. Mustard is a good condiment for corned beef—so is vinegar to the cabbage. Pickles, also; French mustard is very fine with it.

Next to the round, the edgebone is the best piece for boiling. The brisket or plate is too fat, and should only be eaten by persons in strong health, and who take a great deal of exercise. No fat meat should be given to children. Indeed there is generally great difficulty in making them eat it. They are right, as it is very unwholesome for them, unless the very leanest bits are selected from among the mass of fat.[148]

FRIED CORNED BEEF.—

This is a very homely and economical dish, but it is liked by many persons. Cut thin slices from a cold round of beef, and season them with pepper. Fry them brown over a quick fire, and put them in a covered dish to keep hot. Then wash the frying-pan, cleaning it well from the fat, and put into it plenty of cold boiled cabbage, cut small, and some cold carrots, sliced thin, adding some thin sliced suet, or beef dripping to fry them in. When done, dish the meat with the vegetables laid around it; adding the gravy. This is the dish called in England, Bubble-and-Squeak, perhaps from the noise it makes when frying. It is only designed for strong healthy people with good appetites.

It is sometimes made of salt pork or bacon; sliced potatos being added to the cabbage.

DRIED AND SMOKED BEEF.—

For this purpose have as much as you want cut off from a fine round. Mix together two ounces of saltpetre, (finely pounded) rub it into the meat, cover it, and let it stand a day. Then mix together half a pound of bay-salt, an ounce of black pepper, half an ounce of ground ginger, and an ounce of pounded mace, and a quarter of an ounce of powdered cloves. Rub this mixture well into the beef, put it into a deep[149] pan, and let it lie in this pickle two weeks, turning it every day. Then hang it up in a smoke-house, and smoke it over a fire made of corn-cobs, or maple chips. Never use pine for smoking.

It may be eaten chipped at tea, or what is much better, stewed and warmed in a skillet. Venison may be spiced, dried, and smoked in the same manner.

TO STEW SMOKED BEEF.—

Having chipped it thin, put it into a skillet, with fresh butter, pepper, and two or three beaten yolks of eggs. Let it stew till the beef is crisp and curled up.

Never allow yourself to be persuaded to use pyroligneous acid in curing dried beef or ham—instead of the real smoke of a wood fire. It communicates a taste and smell of kreosote, and is a detestable substitute, detected in a moment.

A SPICED ROUND OF BEEF.—

Take a large prime round of beef; extract the bone, and close the hole. Tie a tape all round it to keep it firm. Take four ounces of finely powdered saltpetre, and rub it well into the beef. Put the meat into a very clean pickling-tub that has a close-fitting cover, and let it rest for two days. Next rub it thoroughly with salt, and return it to the tub for eight days. Then take an ounce of powdered mace, a large nutmeg powdered, a half-ounce of pepper, and a quarter of an ounce of powdered cloves, (not more.)[150] Mix these spices well together, and then mix them with a pound of fine brown sugar. Rub the spices and sugar thoroughly all over the beef, which will be ready to cook next day. Then fill the opening with minced sweet herbs, sweet basil, and sweet marjoram, laid in loosely and lightly. Take half a pound of nice beef-suet. Divide it in two, and flatten each half of the suet by beating it with a rolling-pin. Lay it in a broad earthen pan, with one sheet of suet under the meat, and the other pressed over it. Above this place a sheet of clean white paper, and over all put a large plate. Set it in a hot oven, and bake it five hours or more, till by probing it to the bottom, with a sharp knife, you find it thoroughly cooked. It is excellent as a cold standing dish, for a large family. When it is to be eaten cold, boil fresh cabbage to go with it. Also parsnips and carrots.

Cabbage.—For this beef, red cabbage is very nice, cut small, and stewed with butter and tarragon vinegar.

A-LA-MODE BEEF.—

Remove the bone from a fine round of fresh beef, and also take off the fat. For a round that weighs ten pounds, make seasoning or stuffing in the following proportions. Half a pound of beef suet; half a pound of grated bread-crumbs; the crumbled yolks of three hard-boiled eggs; a large bundle of sweet marjoram, the leaves chopped; another of sweet basil; four onions minced small, a large table-spoonful of mixed mace and nutmeg, powdered. Season slightly with salt[151] and cayenne. Stuff this mixture into the place from whence you took out the bone. Make numerous deep cuts or incisions about the meat, and stuff them also. Skewer the meat into a proper shape, and secure its form by tying it round with tape. Put it into a clean iron oven or bake-pan, and pour over it a pint of port wine. Put on the lid, and bake the beef slowly for five or six hours, or till it is thoroughly done all through.

If the meat is to be eaten hot, skim all the fat from the gravy; into which, after it is taken off the fire, stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs.

BEEF A-LA-MODE—

(Another way.)—Take a fine round of fresh beef, extract the bone, and fill the place from whence it was taken with a stuffing made of bread soaked in milk and then mashed up, butter, and some yolks of hard-boiled eggs crumbled fine, the yellow rind and juice of a large grated lemon, sweet marjoram and sweet basil chopped small, with some powdered nutmeg and mace. Make deep cuts or incisions all over the outside of the meat, and in every cut stick firmly a slip of bacon or salt pork put in with a larding-pin. Bring round the flap and skewer to the side of the round, filling in between with some of the stuffing. And pour round it a pint or more of port wine. Lay it in an oven, and bake it slowly till it is well done all through, which will require[152] some hours. Serve it up with its own gravy under it. It is more generally eaten cold, at a supper party. In this case, cover it thickly all over with double parsley or pepper grass, so as to resemble a green bank. In the centre place a bouquet of natural flowers, rising from the green bank.

French a-la-mode beef, or beef a-la-daube, is prepared as above, but stewed slowly all night in lard.

BEEF BOUILLI.—

Take from six to eight pounds of a fine round of fresh beef. Put it into a soup-pot, with the remains of a piece of cold roast beef (bones and all) to enrich the gravy, but use no other cold meat than beef. Season it slightly with salt and pepper, and pour on just sufficient water to cover it well. Boil it slowly, and skim it well. When the scum ceases to rise, have ready half a dozen large carrots, cut into pieces, and put them in first. Afterwards add six turnips, quartered; a head of celery, cut small; half a dozen parsnips, cut in pieces; and six whole onions. Let it boil slowly till all the vegetables are done, and very tender.

Send it to table with the beef in the middle of a large dish; the vegetables laid all around it; and the gravy (thickened with fine grated bread-crumbs) in a sauce-boat. Serve up with it, white potatos, boiled whole; and mashed pumpkin, or winter squash.

Those who like tarragon mustard, or tarragon vinegar, may add it on their plates.

TO STEW COLD CORNED BEEF.—

Cut about four pounds of lean from a cold round of beef, that tastes but little of the salt. Lay it in a stew-pan, with a quarter of a peck of tomatos quartered, and the same quantity of ochras sliced; also, two small onions peeled and sliced, and two ounces of fresh butter rolled in flour. Add a tea-spoonful of whole pepper-corns, (no salt,) and four or five blades of mace. Place it over a steady but moderate fire. Cover it closely, and let it stew three or four hours. The vegetables should be entirely dissolved. Serve it up hot.

This is an excellent way of using up the remains of a cold round of beef at the season of tomatos and ochras, particularly when the meat has been rather under-boiled the first day of cooking it.

A few pounds of the lean of a fresh round of beef, will be still better, cooked in this manner, increasing the quantity of ochras and tomatos, and stewing it six hours.

Cold fillet of veal is very good stewed with tomatos, ochras, and an onion or two. Also, the thick or upper part of a cold leg of mutton; or of pork, either fresh or corned.[154]

TO STEW SMOKED BEEF.—

The dried beef, for this purpose, must be fresh and of the very best quality. Cut it (or rather shave it) into very thin, small slices, with as little fat as possible. Put the beef into a skillet, and fill up with boiling water. Cover it, and let it soak or steep till the water is cold. Then drain off that water, and pour on some more; but merely enough to cover the chipped beef, which you may season with a little pepper. Set it over the fire, and (keeping on the cover) let it stew for a quarter of an hour. Then roll a few bits of butter in a little flour, and add it to the beef, with the yolk of one or two beaten eggs. Let it stew five minutes longer. Take it up on a hot dish, and send it to the breakfast or tea-table.

FRENCH BEEF.—

Take a circular piece from the round, (having removed the bone,) and trim it nicely from the fat, skin, &c. Then lard it all over with long slips of fat pork or bacon. The place from whence the bone was taken must be filled with a forcemeat, made of minced suet, grated bread-crumbs, sweet marjoram rubbed fine, and grated lemon-peel; add a little salt and pepper. Tie a tape closely round the outside of the beef, to keep it compact, and in shape. Put it into a broad earthen jar with a cover; or into an iron bake-oven. Add some whole pepper, a large[155] onion, a bunch of sweet herbs, three bay-leaves, a quarter of a pound of butter, divided into small bits, (each piece rolled in flour,) and half a pint of claret, or port wine. Bake or stew it thus in its own liquor, for five, six, or seven hours, (in proportion to its size,) for it must be thoroughly done, quite tender, and brown all through the inside.

STEWED FRESH BEEF.—

Cut a square thick piece of beef from the round or sirloin, and trim off the fat. Put it into a stew-pan with just water enough to cover it, and season it slightly with salt and pepper. Let it stew slowly, till tender all through. Then add potatos pared and quartered, turnips the same; and also, parsnips split and cut short, and (if approved) a few sliced onions. Stew altogether till the vegetables are thoroughly cooked, and then serve up the whole on one large dish.

Mutton, veal, and fresh pork, may be stewed in the same manner. Sweet potatos, scraped and split, are excellent served with fresh meat. There should be a great plenty of vegetables, as they are much liked in stews. What is called an Irish stew is fresh beef stewed with potatos only—the potatos being first pared, and cut in quarters.

For economy, cold roast beef may be stewed next day with fresh potatos cut up, and as little water as possible. Cold potatos, if re-cooked, are always hard, tough, and unwholesome.[156]

STEWED BEEFSTEAKS WITH OYSTERS.—

Take some fine tender beef-steaks cut from the sirloin. If they are taken from the round they should be beaten with a rolling-pin to make them tender. Put them into a close stew-pan, with barely sufficient water to prevent their burning, and set them over the fire to brown. When they are browned, add sufficient oyster-liquor to cook them, and some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. Let them stew slowly for an hour, or till they are thoroughly done. Then add three or four dozen of fine large fresh oysters, in proportion to the quantity of meat, seasoning them well with nutmeg, a few blades of mace, and a little cayenne. Cover the pan, and simmer them till the oysters are well plumped, but not till they come to a boil. When all is properly cooked, transfer the whole to a deep dish, and send it to table hot.

The meat, when preparing, should be cut into pieces about as large as the palm of your hand, and an inch thick, omitting the fat. Small clams may be substituted for oysters.

TOMATO STEWED BEEF.—

Take large ripe tomatos, and scald them, to make the skins peel off easily. Pare, quarter them, and sprinkle them with a little salt and pepper. Lay in a stew-pan some thin tender beef-steaks, lamb, mutton-chops, or cutlets of fresh pork. Bury the meat in the tomatos, and add some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour and a little sugar to take off the[157] extreme acid of the tomatos; also, an onion or two, very finely minced. Let the whole cook slowly till the meat is thoroughly done, and the tomatos dissolved to a pulp. Send it to table all on the same dish.

A rabbit or chicken, (cut apart as for carving,) is very good stewed with tomatos. Freshly killed venison is excellent for this stew.

Many persons mix grated bread with tomato stew. We think it weakens the taste—a thing not desirable in any cooking.

This stew must not have a drop of water in it; the tomatos will give out sufficient liquid to cook the meat. There is not a more wholesome dish.

BEEF STEWED WITH ONIONS.—

Take a square piece of beef from the sirloin, where there is no bone or fat. With a sharp knife make very deep incisions all over it, but not quite so deep as to cut it through to the bottom. Prepare a forcemeat by peeling and boiling some onions. Then drain and mince them. Mix in with the onions some fine bread-crumbs, and some chopped sweet-marjoram, (seasoning with powdered nutmeg and mace,) and fill tightly all the incisions. Put into the bottom of a stew-pan some drippings of roast-beef, or else a piece of fresh butter rolled in flour. Lay the seasoned meat upon it. Let it stew till completely cooked, and no redness to be found in any part of it. Serve it up hot, and send it to table in its own gravy.[158]

A round or fillet of fresh pork may be cooked as above, putting into the incisions, or holes, powdered sage instead of sweet marjoram, with the onions and crumbs; and using lard instead of beef-drippings. Eat apple sauce with it.

BEEF STEWED WITH OYSTERS.—

Prepare two or three pounds of the best beef, by trimming off all the fat, and removing the bone. Lay in the bottom of the stew-pan a few bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. Then put in the meat, and sprinkle a little pepper over each piece. Have ready a quart of large fresh oysters. Strain the liquor to clear it from bits of the shell, and pour it over the meat in the stew-pan. Stew the meat in the oyster liquor till it is thoroughly cooked, skimming it well, and keeping it covered, except when skimming. Then add grated nutmeg, and a few blades of mace. Lastly, put in the oysters, and let them remain in just long enough to plump, which will be in a few minutes. If cooked too much oysters always shrivel, and become hard and tough. When all is done, serve up the whole in one dish.

In the same manner clams may be stewed with beef. Never put any salt where there are clams. They are quite salt enough in themselves.

FRENCH STEW.—

Cut into pieces two or three pounds of the lean of fresh tender beef,[159] mutton, veal, or pork, and peel and slice a quarter of a peck or more of ripe tomatos. Season the whole with a little pepper and salt. Add, if you choose, a tea-spoonful of sugar to moderate the extreme acid of the tomatos. Put the whole together into a stew-pot, and cover it closely, opening it occasionally to see how it is doing. Put no water to this stew, the juice of the tomatos will cook it thoroughly. Add a large table-spoonful of minced tarragon leaves. When the tomatos are all dissolved, stir in a piece of fresh butter, dredged with flour. Let it stew about a quarter of an hour longer. When the meat is quite tender all through, and every thing well done, make some sippets of triangular shaped toast, with the crust trimmed off. Dip the toast, for a moment, in hot water; butter and stand it up all round the inside of a deep dish. Then fill it with the stew, and serve it hot. Any meat may be stewed thus with tomatos.

POTATO BEEF.—

This is an excellent family dish. Boil some potatos till well done, all through. Peel them, put them into a large pan, and mash them smoothly, adding, as you proceed, some milk, and one or more beaten eggs, well mixed into the potatos. Rub the bottom of a white ware pudding dish with nice butter, or some drippings of cold beef, and cover it with a thick layer of mashed potatos. Next, put in thin slices of beef, (omitting the fat,) enough to cover[160] the potatos. Next, add another layer of mashed potatos, evenly and thickly spread. Then, more thin slices of beef, and then more potatos. Do this, till the dish is full; finishing it with potatos, on the top, heaping them up in the centre. Bake it in an oven. There must be plenty of potatos, as they will be much liked.

BEEF AND MUSHROOMS.—

Take three pounds of the best sirloin steaks. Season them with black pepper and a very little salt, having removed the fat and bone. Put a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter into a frying-pan, and set it over the fire. When it is boiling hot, put in the steaks, and fry them brown. Have ready a quart of very fresh mushrooms, peeled and stemmed. If large, cut them in four. Season them with a little pepper and salt, and dredge them lightly with flour, and add a few bits of butter. Stew them in a separate pan kept closely covered. When the steaks are done, pour the mushrooms over them with all their juice. Put them all (steaks and mushrooms) into a dish with a cover, and serve them up hot.

This is a breakfast dish, or a side dish for dinner. Unless the company is very small, four pounds of beef steaks, at least, and three pints of mushrooms, (with butter in proportion) will be required at dinner, as it will be much liked.[161]

BEEF'S HEART.—

Wash the heart well, and soak it in a pan of tepid water till all the blood is drawn out of the ventricles, and it is made very clean and dry. Next par-boil it a quarter of an hour. Then stuff the cavities with a forcemeat made of minced veal, bread-crumbs, butter or minced suet, and sweet herbs, seasoned with a little pepper and nutmeg; or it may be stuffed simply with sage and onions. Sew up the openings with coarse brown thread, lest the forcemeat should fall out. Put the heart on a spit, and roast it before a clear fire, for near two hours; basting it well with nice fresh butter. Thicken the gravy with a little flour, and stir into it a glass of port wine, or of tarragon vinegar. Have ready a hot dish and a heated cover. Serve up the heart as hot as possible, for it soon chills, and pour the gravy around it. The gravy should be heated to a boil in a small sauce-pan.

Calves' Hearts are cooked in the same manner. As they are small, it takes four calves' hearts to make a dish.

Hearts may be sliced and stewed with onions and sweet herbs, adding to the stew a little salad oil.

BEEF PATTIES.—

A nice way of disposing of underdone roast beef, is to mince fine all the lean, and a very little of the fat. Season it with cayenne, and powdered nutmeg, or mace, or else chopped sweet herbs. If you have any stewed mushroom-gravy, moisten the meat with that.[162] Make a nice paste, and cut it into small circular sheets, rolled out not very thin. Cover one half of each sheet of paste with the minced beef (not too near the edge) and fold over the other half, so as to form a half moon. Wet your fingers with cold water, and pinch together the two edges of the half moon. Then crimp them with a sharp knife. Lay the patties in square baking pans, prick them with a fork, and bake them brown. Or you may fry them in lard. Serve them up hot, as side dishes.

Cold veal, minced with cold ham, or tongue, makes very nice patties; also cold chicken or turkey.

A BEEF STEAK PIE.—

Stew two pounds or more, of fine tender sirloin steaks, divested of fat and bone, and cut rather thin. Season them with a very little salt and pepper; and, when about half done, remove them from the fire, and keep them warm, saving all the gravy. Make a nice paste, allowing to two quarts of flour one pound and a quarter of fresh butter. Divide the butter into four quarters. Rub one half into the pan of flour, and make it into a dough with, a very little cold water. Roll it out into a large sheet, and with a broad knife stick over it, at equal distances, one of the remaining divisions of butter. Then sprinkle it with more flour, fold it, and roll it out again into a large sheet. Put on the remainder of the butter in bits, as before. Then fold it again. Cut the paste into equal halves, and roll them out into[163] two sheets, trimmed into round or oval forms. With one sheet line a pie-dish, and fill it with your meat, adding, if convenient, some mushrooms, or some fresh oysters, or the soft part of a few clams, and some blades of mace. Use the other sheet of paste as a cover for the pie, uniting the edges with the under crust by crimping it nicely. Of the trimmings of the paste, make an ornament or tulip, and stick it into the slit at the top of the pie.

MEAT PIES—

May be made in the above manner of lamb, veal, or pork. Also of venison or any sort of fresh meat. Pie crust for baking should be shortened with butter, or with the dripping of roast beef, veal, or fresh pork. Mutton or lamb dripping are unfit for pie crust, as they make it taste of tallow. Suet will not do at all for baked paste, though very good if the paste is to be boiled. Butter and lard will make a nice plain paste for pies, if both are fresh and good; the butter to be rubbed into the flour, mixed with a little cold water, and rolled out; the lard to be spread evenly all over the sheet; then folded and rolled out again. Meat pies should always have a bottom crust, as the gravy it imbibes makes it very relishing. Veal pies are insipid without the addition of some cold ham.

On the shores of the Chesapeake, very fine pies are made of canvas-back, or red-neck ducks, when[164] in season. They require puff-paste to be made in perfection. Pot-pies of these ducks are, of course, excellent.

A BEEF STEAK POT-PIE.—

Take two pounds or more of tender beef steaks, exclusive of the fat and bone, which must be omitted; the steaks from the sirloin end, cut less than an inch thick, and not larger than four or five inches square. Put them into a pot with enough water to cover them, and season them slightly with pepper and salt. Dredge them with a little flour, and lay on each a morsel of nice fresh butter. Stew the steaks for half an hour. Meanwhile make a large portion of paste; allowing to every quart or pound of flour, a small half pound of nice beef-suet, entirely freed from all its skin and strings, and minced with a chopper as finely as possible. To three pounds of beef allow four quarts of flour and not quite two pounds of suet. A pot-pie with but little paste in proportion to the meat, is no better than a stew. The paste, if good, is always much liked. Divide the minced suet into two halves. Rub or crumble one half the suet into the pan of flour; adding by degrees a little cold water, barely enough to make a stiff dough; first mixing in a small tea-spoonful of salt. Roll out the lump of dough into a large sheet, and spread it all over with the remainder of the minced suet, laid on with a broad knife. Then fold it up, and set it on a dish in a cool place, to get quite cold. Take a large iron pot, made very clean. Lay in the bottom the largest pieces of beef steak,[165] and line round the sides with pieces of the paste, cut to fit. Next put in the remainder of the meat, interspersed with raw potatos sliced, (either white or sweet potatos,) and also pieces of the paste cut into squares, and laid among the meat, to which must be added the gravy saved from the stew. When the pot is nearly full, cover its contents with a large round or circular piece of paste. This must not fit quite closely, but a little space or crack must be left all around for the gravy to bubble up as it boils. Before you put on the lid pour in half a pint, or more, of water. Cut a cross-slit in the centre of the top-crust. Set the pot over a good fire, and let it boil steadily, till all is done, meat and paste. The upper-crust should be well-browned. When cooked, serve the whole upon one large dish, laying the brown upper-crust on the top of all. If there is too much gravy, send some of it to table in a sauce-boat, first skimming it.

It will be improved by adding to the seasoning some nutmeg or powdered mace. These are the only spices that accord well with meat or poultry.

POT-PIES.—

The preceding receipt is good for any sort of pot-pie. They are all on the same principle. The meat to be divested of the fat, and stewed first in a pot by itself, saving the gravy. The paste (of which there should always be an ample allowance) sufficient to line the sides of the pot all round, and reaching up nearly to the top, besides plenty of small square pieces to intersperse[166] with the meat, and an upper crust to cover the whole. At the very bottom the meat and gravy only, as there the paste might burn. Pot-pies may be made of any sort of fresh meat, or of fowls or any sort of poultry (cut up, as if for carving,) and previously stewed. If made of chickens or pigeons or rabbits, add a few slices of cold ham and put no other salt. For want of suet you may make the paste with butter, but it must be fresh and good. Allow half a pound of butter to a large quart of flour. Potato paste is tolerable for shortening pot-pies, if you make it half mashed potato and half lard. We do not recommend bread dough or any thing raised with yeast or soda for boiled paste; when there is no shortening, boiled paste is always tough and unwholesome.

Pot-pies may be made of apples pared, cored, and quartered; of peaches quartered and stoned, or of any nice fruit. Fruit pot-pies should have butter paste, and be well sweetened with brown sugar.

All boiled dough should be eaten warm. It falls and becomes heavy as soon as cold.

BEEF-STEAK PUDDING.—

After clearing it from the skin and strings, mince as fine as possible three quarters of a pound of nice beef suet. Sift into a pan two small quarts of flour. Rub half the suet into the flour, and make it into a paste with a little cold water, (as little as possible.) Roll it out into a large sheet, and spread over it, evenly, the other half of the minced suet. Fold it,[167] flour it, roll it again, and divide it unequally into two pieces, one nearly three times larger than the other. Roll them out, rather thick than thin. Have ready a large pound and a quarter of tender-loin beef steak, that has been cut into thin pieces (without fat or bone, seasoned with a very little salt and pepper, and some nutmeg) and half-stewed, saving its gravy. Lay this meat upon the large thick sheet of crust; pour the stewed gravy among it, and add some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. Cover it with the small round of paste, cut to fit, only allowing the lid large enough to project a little over, so as to be joined firmly by pressing it all round with your fingers. Do it well and securely, that it may not come apart while boiling. Dip a large square pudding-cloth in hot water—shake it out—lay it in a deep pan, dredge it with flour, lay the pudding into it and tie it firmly, leaving room for swelling. Put it into a large pot of boiling water, and boil it till, on probing with a fork, you find the meat quite tender.

Or you may boil it in a large bowl with a rim, tying the cloth carefully all over the top. Set the bowl in a pot of boiling water.

TO BOIL TRIPE.—

Clean the tripe very carefully, giving it a thorough scraping, and washing in warm water, and trim off the superfluous fat. Lay it all night in weak salt and water. Then wash it again. Let it lie an hour or two in milk and water, and then boil it five hours or more,[168] putting it on in cold water. It must be perfectly tender throughout. This should be done the day before it is to be cooked for dinner. On that day, cut it into strips or bands, roll them with the fat side inwards. Tie the rolls round with small white twine, and boil them two hours longer; or till they are perfectly tender throughout, and incline to look transparent near the edges. Have ready in a saucepan, some onions peeled; and boil in milk and water, till soft enough to mash. Then take them out; drain them; mix with the onion-water some nice fresh butter divided into pieces and rolled in flour. When this has come to a boil, return the onions to the liquor; season them with pepper, and give them one boil up. When the tripe is done, transfer it to a deep dish, and pour the onion sauce over it. When on your plate, add to it some tarragon vinegar or mustard. Take the strings off before the tripe goes to table.

TRIPE CURRY.—

Having boiled two pounds of double tripe, cut it into slips, peel two large onions, cut them also into dice, and put them into a stew-pan, with three ounces, or three table-spoonfuls of fresh butter. Let them stew till brown, stirring frequently, and mixing in a table-spoonful of curry-powder. Add a pint of milk, and the cut-up tripe. Let all stew together for an hour or more, skimming it well. Serve it up in a tureen or deep dish, with a dish of boiled rice to eat with it.

A good East India receipt for curry-powder, is[169] to pound, very fine, in a marble mortar, (made very clean,) six ounces of coriander seed, three quarters of an ounce of cayenne, one ounce and a half of fœnugreek seed; one ounce of cummin seed, and three ounces of turmeric. These articles (all of which can be obtained at a druggist's,) being pounded extremely fine, must be sifted through clean thin muslin, and spread on a dish, and laid before the fire for three hours, stirring them frequently. Keep this powder in a bottle with a glass stopper. It is used for giving an East Indian flavor to stews. The turmeric communicates a fine yellow color.

Curry balls for Mock Turtle, &c., are made of bread-crumbs, fresh butter, hard-boiled yolk of egg, chopped fine, a seasoning of curry powder, and some beaten raw egg, to make the mixture into balls, about the size of a hickory-nut.

FRIED TRIPE.—

Having boiled the tripe till perfectly tender all through; cut it into pieces three or four inches square. Make a batter of four beaten eggs, four table-spoonfuls of flour, and a pint of milk, seasoned with powdered nutmeg or mace. Have boiling in the frying-pan an ample quantity of the drippings of roast veal, or beef. Dip each piece of tripe twice into the batter; then lay it in the pan, and fry it brown. Send it to table hot.

Tripe was long considered very indigestible. This, it is now found, was a mistake; physicians[170] having discovered that it is quite the contrary, the gastric juice that it contained, as the stomach of the animal, rendering it singularly fitted for digestion, provided that it is thoroughly cooked; so that on trial, a fork can easily penetrate every part of it.

TONGUES.—

Corned or salted tongues are very little in use now. They spoil so soon, that it is scarcely possible to obtain one that has not been salted too late; and when quite fresh, they have a faint, sickening, doubtful taste. It is best always to buy them dried and smoked. Choose the largest and plumpest, and with as smooth an outside or skin as you can. Put a tongue into soak the evening before it is to be cooked; changing the water at bed-time. In the morning wash it in fresh water. Trim off the root, which is an unsightly object, and never carved at table. But it may be cut into pieces, and added to pea-soup, or bean-soup, or pepper-pot. Put on the tongue in a large pot of cold water, and boil it steadily for five or six hours, till it is so tender that a straw, or a twig from a corn-broom, will easily penetrate it. When you find that it is thoroughly done (and not till then) take it up. A smoked tongue requires more boiling than a ham, and therefore is seldom sufficiently cooked. When quite done, peel it carefully, and keep it warm till dinner. If well-boiled, it will seem almost to melt in your mouth. When you dish it do not split it. The flavor is much injured[171] by carving it lengthways, or in long pieces. It should be cut in round slices, not too thin.

For a large party we have seen two cold tongues on one dish. One of them whole—the root concealed entirely with double parsley, cut paper, or a bunch of flowers cut out of vegetables, very ingeniously, with a sharp penknife—the vegetables raw, of course not to be eaten. Red roses made of beets, white roses or camellias of turnips, marigolds of carrots, &c. The stems are short wooden skewers, stuck into the flowers, and concealed by double parsley. These vegetable bouquets can be made to look very well, as ornaments to cold tongue, or to the end of the shank of a ham, or to stick into the centre of a cold round of a-la-mode beef.

Where there are two cold tongues on one dish, it is usual to split one to be helped lengthways, and garnish it with the other, cut into circular pieces, and laid handsomely round.

BAKED TONGUE.—

Having soaked a fine large smoked tongue all night, in the morning trim it nicely, and if it still seems hard, soak it again in fresh cold water till it is time to cook it. Then put it into a deep dish, (having trimmed off the root,) and make a coarse paste of flour and water. Cut up the roots into little bits, and lay them round and about the tongue, to enrich the gravy.[172] Lay all along the surface some bits of butter rolled in flour, and season with a little pepper—no salt. Pour in a very little water, and cover the dish with the coarse paste. Bake it till the tongue is very tender. This you may ascertain by raising up with a knife one corner of the paste and trying the tongue. When done, peel it, dish it, strain the gravy over the tongue, and send it to table. Garnish with baked tomatos, or mushrooms, or large roasted chestnuts peeled.

For a large company have two baked tongues, one at each end of the table. Eat them warm.

LARDED TONGUE.—

Take a large cold tongue, that has been well boiled. Trim off the roots. Have ready some slips of the fat of cold boiled ham, cut into long thin pieces, about as thick as straws. With a larding needle, draw them through the outside of the tongue, and leave them there. Arrange the borders in rows, or handsome regular forms, leaving about an inch standing up on the surface.

TONGUE TOAST.—

Make some slices of nice toast, not very thick, but browned evenly all over, on both sides. Trim off the whole of the crust. Butter the toast slightly. Grate, with a large grater plenty of cold tongue, and spread it thickly[173] over the toast. Lay the slices side by side, on a large dish—not one slice on the top of another.

HAM TOAST—

Is prepared in the same manner, of grated cold ham spread on slices of buttered toast.

SANDWICHES—

Are slices of cold ham, or tongue, cut very thin, and laid between thin slices of buttered bread. The meat may be seasoned with French mustard. Roll them up nicely. There are silver cases made to contain sandwiches to eat on the road when traveling.

Sandwiches for traveling may be made of the lean of cold beef, (roast or boiled,) cut very thin, seasoned with French mustard, and laid between two slices of bread and butter.

MUTTON.

MUTTON.—

If mutton is good it is of a fine grain; the lean is of a bright red color, and the fat firm and white. Unless there is plenty of fat the lean will not be good; and so it is with all meat. If the lean is of a very dark red, and coarse and hard, and the fat yellowish and spongy, the mutton[174] is old, tough, and strong. Therefore, do not buy it. If there is any dark or blackish tint about the meat, it is tainted, and of course unwholesome. If kept till it acquires what the English call venison taste, Americans will very properly refuse to eat it.

We give no directions for disguising spoilt meat. It should be thrown away. Nothing is fit to eat in which decomposition is commencing.

BOILED LOIN OF MUTTON.—

A good loin of mutton is always very fat, so that in cooking it is well to remove or pare off a portion of the outside fat. Unlike most other meats, mutton is the better for being boiled in soup. Put it into a large pot; allow to every pound a quart of water. Boil it slowly and skim it well, adding the vegetables when the scum has done rising. The vegetables should be sliced turnips, potatos, and grated carrots. Have ready plenty of suet dumplings, in the proportion of half a pound of finely minced suet to a pound and a quarter of flour. Rub the suet into the pan of flour, and use as little water as possible in mixing the dough. Make it into thick dumplings, rather larger round than a dollar. Boil them in a pot by themselves, till thoroughly done. Serve up the meat with the dumplings round it. Or put the dumplings in a dish by themselves, and surround the meat with whole turnips. This is an excellent plain dish for a private family. Serve up pickles with it.[175]

SAUCE FOR BOILED MUTTON.—

This particularly applies to mutton that has been boiled in soup, and which is so very generally liked, that it is served up on tables where soup-meat of beef and veal is considered inadmissible. To make a suitable sauce to eat with it—take two or three large boiled onions; slice them and put them into a sauce-pan, with a piece of fresh butter slightly rolled in flour, a table-spoonful of made mustard. French mustard will be best; or, for want of that, two table-spoonfuls of strong tarragon vinegar, and a half-salt-spoon of cayenne, and some pickled cucumbers chopped, but not minced. Green nasturtion seeds will be still better than cucumbers. Put these ingredients into a small sauce-pan, adding to them a little of the mutton soup. Set this sauce over the fire, and when it simmers well, take it off, put into a sauce-boat, and keep it hot till the mutton goes to table.

To keep nasturtions—take the full-grown green seeds, and put them into a large bottle of the best cider vinegar, corking them closely. They require nothing more, and are far superior to capers.

BOILED LEG OF MUTTON.—

After nicely trimming a middle-sized leg of mutton, wash, but do not soak it. Put it into a pot that will hold it well, and pour on rather more water than is sufficient to cover it. Set it over a good fire, and skim it as soon as it begins to boil, and continue till no more scum appears; having thrown in a small[176] table-spoonful of salt after the first skimming. After the liquid is clear, put in some turnips, pared, and, if large, divided into four pieces. Afterwards it should boil slowly, or simmer gently for about two hours or more. Send to table with it caper sauce; or nasturtion, which is still better. Eat it with any sort of green pickles. Pickles and turnips seem indispensable to boiled mutton. Do not mash the turnips, but let them be well drained.

MUTTON STEAKS STEWED.—

Take some tender mutton steaks, cut from the leg. Beat them a little with a rolling pin, and season them with pepper and salt. Put them into a stew-pan with sliced potatos, sliced turnips, sliced onions, sliced or grated carrots, and sweet marjoram leaves stripped from the stalks. Pour in just sufficient water to cover the stew, and let it cook slowly till it is tender and well done. Serve it up hot in a deep dish, with a cover. A table-spoonful of tarragon mustard will improve the stew.

When tomatos are in season, you can stew mutton or any other meat with tomatos only—no water. Having prepared the meat, and laid it in the stew-pan, cover it with tomatos, peeled and quartered. Add some sugar to take off a portion of their acid, and a chopped onion. No water, as[177] the meat will cook in the liquid of the tomatos. They must stew till thoroughly dissolved.

MUTTON CHOPS BROILED.—

The best steaks are those cut from the loin, about half an inch thick. Divest them of the bone, and remove the skin and fat. Then butter them slightly all over, before cooking. This will be found an improvement. The French go over them with salad oil, which is still better. Sprinkle on them a little pepper and salt. Having heated the gridiron well over a bed of very hot live coals, place it somewhat aslant, grease its bars with a little of the mutton suet, and lay on the steaks and broil them well; turning them three or four times, and seeing that they are not scorched or burnt on the outside, and red or raw when cut. Turn them with a knife and fork, or with steak-tongs, an instrument with which every kitchen should be furnished. To cook them well requires a clear glowing fire, without blaze or smoke. They should be done in about a quarter of an hour. When you take them up, turn them on a well-heated dish, and pour their gravy over them.

If onions are liked, mince one as fine as possible, and strew it over the steaks while broiling; or, boil and slice some onions, mix some butter among them, season them with pepper, and a little[178] powdered mace or nutmeg, and serve them up with the meat on the same dish, or in a sauce-boat.

MUTTON CHOPS WITH TOMATOS.—

Broil some mutton steaks in the above manner, and have ready some baked tomatos. When the steaks are dished, lay on each a large baked tomato with the face downward, or cover each steak with stewed tomato sauce. For baking, take fine ripe tomatos of the largest size. Cut out a piece from the stem end, and extract the seeds. Then stuff each tomato with grated bread-crumbs, butter, and minced sweet marjoram, or finely minced onion. If you have any cold veal or chicken, add a little of that to the stuffing, mincing it, of course. Bake them in a dish by themselves.

Or, you may send the steaks to table with a slice of fried egg-plant laid upon each; buttered, and sprinkled with bread-crumbs.

MUTTON STEAKS FRIED.—

Make a nice batter of grated bread-crumbs, milk and beaten egg, and put it in a shallow pan. Prepare some fine steaks cut from the loin, divested of fat, and with the bone cut short. Have ready, in a hot frying-pan, some fresh butter or drippings. Dip each steak twice over in the batter, then fry them brown. Send them to table very hot.

You may fry mutton chops like beef steaks, covered with onions, boiled, drained, and sliced.[179]

POTATO MUTTON CHOPS.—

Cut some nice chops or steaks from the best end of a neck of mutton. The loin will be still better. Trim off all the fat, but leave a small part of the bone visible, nicely scraped. Season them with pepper and salt, and fry them in butter or drippings. Have ready plenty of mashed potatos with which cover the chops all over separately, so as to wrap them up in the mashed potatos. Glaze them with beaten egg, and brown them with a salamander or a red-hot shovel. This is a nice breakfast dish.

KEBOBBED MUTTON.—

This is an Asiatic dish, much approved by those who have eaten it in Turkey or India, and it is certainly very good. Remove the skin from a loin of mutton, and also the whole of the fat. Divide it at every joint, cutting all the steaks apart, and making separate steaks of the whole loin. Make a mixture of grated bread-crumbs, minced sweet-herbs, a little salt and pepper, and some powdered nutmeg. Have ready some beaten yolk of egg. Dip each steak into the egg then; twice into the seasoning. Roll up each steak round a wooden skewer, and tie them on a spit with packthread. Roast them before a clear fire, with a dripping-pan under them to catch the gravy, which must be skimmed frequently. They must be roasted slowly and carefully, taking care to have them thoroughly cooked, even to the inmost of every roll. Baste them with just butter enough to keep[180] them moist. When done, carefully take the kebobs from the skewers, and send them to table hot. Eat with them large Spanish chestnuts, roasted and peeled; or else sweet potatos, split, boiled, and cut into short pieces. Pour the gravy into the dish under the kebobs.

Instead of rolling up the kebobs, you may fasten them flat (after seasoning,) with the same spit going through them all, and roast them in that manner. They should all be of the same size and shape. To dish them, lay them one upon another in an even pile. Eat mushroom sauce with them, or any other sort that is very nice.

Venison steaks are very good kebobbed in this manner, at the season when venison can be had fresh, tender, and juicy. For sauce have stewed wild grapes, mashed and made very sweet with brown sugar, or grape jelly, which is still better; or, sauce made of fine cranberries, such as abound in the north-west.

AN IRISH STEW.—

Take three pounds of thick mutton cutlets from the loin, and remove the fat. Slice thick five pounds of fine potatos that have been previously pared. Place a layer of meat in the bottom of a stew-pan, or an iron pot, and lay some of the potatos upon it. Season all with salt and pepper. Upon this another layer of meat—then some potatos again, then meat, and so on till all is in, finishing with potatos at the top. Pour in a pint of cold water. Let it sim[181]mer gently for two hours or more, till the meat and potatos are thoroughly done. Serve it up very hot, meat and potatos, on the same dish. If approved, you may add, from the beginning, one or two sliced onions.

You may stew pork cutlets in the same manner, but with sweet potatos, split and cut in long pieces, or with yams. The seasoning for the pork should be minced sage.

This is a very plain, but very good dish, if made of nice fresh meat and good potatos, and well cooked.

LAMB.—

The vein in the neck of the fore-quarter should be blueish, and firm—otherwise do not buy it. If greenish or yellowish, it is tainted, and fit only for manure. Never buy any thing that has been kept too long. The worst may, by some process, be a little disguised, but nothing can render wholesome any article of food in which decomposition has commenced, even in the slightest degree. The fat should be quite white. If there is but little meat on the shoulder it has not been a good lamb. In America, where food is abundant, there is no occasion to eat any thing, that has the flavor in the least changed by keeping.

A fore-quarter of lamb comprises the shoulder, the neck, and the breast together. The hind-quarter is the loin and leg. Lamb comes in[182] season in the beginning of April, if the spring is not unusually backward.

Jersey lamb is sometimes garlicky early in the season. Avoid buying it; you can easily tell it by the garlicky smell. It can only be rendered eatable by stewing, or frying it with plenty of onions. To plain roast or boil garlicky meat is in vain. Beef, also, is sometimes garlicky.

ROAST LAMB.—

The roasting pieces for lamb are the fore-quarter, and hind-quarter; and the saddle, or both hind-quarters together, not having been cut apart. If the saddle is cooked whole, it should be of a small delicate lamb, nice and fat, and is then a fashionable dish at company dinners. Like all other young meat lamb should always be thoroughly done, not the least redness being left perceptible any where about it. A hind-quarter of eight pounds will require at least two hours—a fore-quarter, rather longer. It should be placed before a clear brisk fire, but not very near at first. Put a little water in the dripping-pan, and baste it with that till it begins to cook, adding a little nice fresh butter. Then place it nearer the fire, and when the gravy begins to fall, baste it with that, and repeat the basting very frequently. When the lamb drops white gravy it is nearly done, and you may prepare for taking it up. Skim the gravy that is in the dripping-pan till all the fat is taken[183] off. Then dredge over it a little flour, and send it to table in a gravy boat, having stirred in one or two table-spoonfuls of currant jelly. Lettuce is always an accompaniment to cold lamb.

In carving a fore-quarter of lamb it is usual to take off the shoulder from the ribs, put in a slice of fresh butter, sprinkle it with a little cayenne, and squeeze over the divided parts a fresh lemon cut in half; and put, for that purpose, on a small plate beside the carver.

The vegetables to be eaten with lamb are, new potatos, asparagus, green peas, and spinach. Mint sauce is indispensable. French cooks seldom understand how to make it. To do it properly, take a large bunch of fresh green mint, wash it, and when you have shaken the wet from them, mince the leaves very fine, omitting the stems. Put the leaves, when chopped, into a small tureen or sauce-boat, and pour on a sufficient quantity of the best cider vinegar to moisten the mint thoroughly, but not to render it the least liquid or thin. It should be as thick as horse-radish, prepared to eat with roast beef. Mix in sufficient sugar to make it very sweet. Good brown sugar will do. At table put a tea-spoonful on the side of your plate. Those who make mint sauce thin and weak, and pour it over the meat like gravy, know nothing about it.

LAMB STEAKS.—

Cut some nice cutlets or steaks (without any bone) from a hind-quarter of lamb. Lay them in a stew pan, and season them[184] with a little salt and cayenne, adding some butter rolled in flour. Wash carefully two fine fresh lettuces. Remove the outside leaves, quarter the lettuces, and cut off all the stalks. Set the stew-pan, with the meat, over a clear fire; and let it stew slowly till about half done. Then put in the lettuce, covering the meat with it, and let them all stew about half an hour longer. When done, take out the lettuces first. Put them into a sieve or cullender, press out the water, and chop them large. See if the meat is done all through. If it is, return the stewed lettuce to the pot, season it with a little cayenne and some salad oil, and add to it two or three hard-boiled eggs, chopped large. Cover it, and let it stew five minutes longer. Serve it up on the same dish.

LAMB CUTLETS.—

Cut the cutlets from the loin and trim them nicely, removing the skin, and most of the fat. Scrape the bone, and cut it short. Grate plenty of stale bread, and mix it with some minced sweet marjoram, seasoned with salt and pepper. Have ready a small deep dish of light beaten egg, flavored with grated nutmeg and fresh lemon-peel, grated fine, the thin yellow rind only. Put some nice lard or beef-dripping into a hot frying-pan, and when the lard boils is the time to put in the cutlets. Dip every cutlet separately into the beaten egg. Then into the bread-crumbs, &c. Repeat this a second time both with the egg and bread. The cutlets will be found much better for[185] the double immersion. Then lay them separately in the boiling lard, and fry them well. One cutlet must not be laid on the top of another. When done, dish them and send them to table very hot, with some currant jelly to mix with the gravy. This is a fine breakfast dish or for a small dinner.

Instead of frying, you may broil them. Dip each cutlet twice into the egg and twice into the crumbs, and cover each with clean writing paper, cut of a convenient shape, and secured with pins or packthread, the paper being twisted round the end of the bone. Broil them in the papers, which must be taken off before the cutlets go to table.

LAMB CHOPS, STEWED.—

Cut a loin of lamb into chops or steaks, removing the bone, or else sawing it very short. Trim off the skin and part of the fat. Season the chops with a little pepper and salt, and fry them in fresh butter till they are of a pale brown color. Then pour off the fat and transfer the steaks to a stew-pan. Add enough boiling water to cover them; and having seasoned them with some powdered nutmeg or some blades of mace, add a pint of shelled green peas that have been already parboiled, or a pint of the green tops of asparagus cut off after boiling, and a fresh lettuce stripped of its outside leaves and stalks and quartered. Finish with a small quarter of a pound of fresh butter cut in pieces and rolled in flour, and laid among the vegetables. Let them all stew together with the meat, for half an hour rather[186] slowly. Serve up all upon one large dish. It will make an excellent plain dinner for a small family, with the addition of a dish or two of new potatos, if they are in season.

LARDED LAMB.—

Cut off the fillet or round from a nice hind-quarter of lamb, and remove the bone from the centre. Make a stuffing or forcemeat of bread-crumbs, fresh butter, sweet marjoram, and sweet basil, minced finely; the yellow rind of a fresh lemon, grated; and a tea-spoonful of mixed nutmeg and mace, powdered. Fill with this stuffing the hole from whence the bone was taken, and secure the flap round the side of the meat, putting plenty of stuffing between. Then proceed to lard it. Cut a number of long thin slips of the fat of ham, bacon, or corned pork. All these slips must be of the same size. Take one at a time between the points of the larding-needle, and draw it through the flat surface of the top, or upper side of the meat, so as to leave one end of the ham in, as you slip the other end out of the needle. Do this nicely, arranging the slips of ham in regular form, and very near together. Put the lamb into an iron oven, or bake-pan, with a small portion of lard or fresh butter under it, and bake it thoroughly. When the meat is about half done, put in a quart or more of nice green peas with sufficient butter to[187] cook them well. Serve up the lamb with the peas round it, on the same dish.

LAMB PIE.—

Remove the fat and bone from two pounds or more of nice lamb steaks, or take some cutlets from the upper end of a leg of lamb, and cut them into pieces about as large as the palm of your hand. Season them with pepper and salt very slightly. Put them into a stew pot with a very little water, and let them stew for half an hour or more. In the mean time, make a nice paste, allowing half a pound of fresh butter to a pound of flour. Mix with a broad knife half the butter with the flour, adding gradually enough of cold water to make a dough. Roll out the dough into a large thin sheet, and spread all over it with the knife the remainder of the butter. Fold it, sprinkle it with a little flour, and then divide it into two sheets, and roll out each of them. That intended for the upper crust to be the thickest. Line with the under crust the bottom and sides of a pie-dish. Put in the stewed lamb with its gravy. Intersperse some blades of mace. Add some potatos, sliced, and some sliced boiled turnips. Cover the meat thick with the green tops of boiled asparagus, and lay among it a few bits of fresh butter. For asparagus tops you may substitute boiled cauliflower seasoned with nutmeg. Put on the paste-lid, closing the edges with crimping them nicely. Cut a cross-slit on the top. Put the pie directly into[188] the oven, and bake it of a light brown. Serve it up hot.

VEAL.

VEAL.—

Do not buy veal unless the vein in the shoulder looks blue or bright red. If of any other color, the veal is not fresh. A calf's head should have the eyes full and prominent. If they are dull and sunken, the head is stale. The kidney should be well covered with firm white fat. All the fat must be firm, dry, and white, and the lean fine in the grain, and light colored. If any part is found clammy or discolored, do not buy that veal. The best pieces of the calf are the loin and the fillet. The loin consists of the best and the chump end; the hind knuckle, and the fore knuckle. The inferior pieces are the neck, blade-bone, and breast. The brisket end of a breast of veal is very coarse, hard, and tough; the best end is rather better, having sweet-bread belonging to it.

Veal, like all other meat, should be well washed in cold water before cooking. Being naturally the most tasteless and insipid of all meat, it requires the assistance of certain articles to give it flavor. It is too weak to make rich soup without various additions. But well cooked, it is very nice as roasted loin, fillet, or fried cutlets.[189]

ROAST LOIN OF VEAL.—

Wash the meat well in cold water, wipe it dry, and rub it slightly with mixed pepper and salt. Make a stuffing of bread soaked in milk, or grated bread-crumbs, cold ham minced, sweet marjoram minced, and the juice and yellow grated rind of a lemon; also, a little fresh butter. Loosen with a sharp knife the skin, and put the stuffing under it, skewering down the flap to keep it in. Put the veal to roast before a strong clear fire, and pour a little water in the bottom of the roaster. Baste it with this till the gravy begins to run. Then baste it with that. Set the spit at first not very close to the fire, but bring it nearer as the roasting proceeds.

Send it to table with its own gravy, well skimmed and slightly thickened with a little flour.

Always choose a fine fresh loin of veal with plenty of fat about the kidney. No meat spoils so soon.

The breast and shoulder are roasted in the same manner as the loin, of which two dishes may be made, the kidney end, and the chump end.

FILLET OF VEAL.—

When a fillet is to be roasted or baked, let it be well washed, and then dried in a clean towel. Take out the bone, fold the flap round, and skewer it to the meat. Make plenty of forcemeat or stuffing, of bread soaked in milk, or grated dry and mixed with plenty of fresh butter, or some of the fat or suet finely[190] minced. Season with pepper, grated nutmeg, powdered mace, fresh lemon peel grated, and sweet marjoram and sweet basil minced fine. The hole that contained the bone must be stuffed full, and also the space between the flap and the side of the meat. This should be secured by three skewers. Dredge the meat all over lightly with flour before you put it down. At first, place the spit at a distance from the fire, which should be strong and clear. Then, as the meat begins to roast, set it nearer, and till the gravy begins to fall, baste it with fresh butter, or lard. Just before it is finished, (it will take about four hours,) dredge it with flour, and baste it well with its own gravy. When the meat is dished, skim the gravy, thicken it with a little flour, and pour it round the veal in the dish, or serve it in a sauce-boat.

ROAST VEAL HASHED.—

Take whatever cold roast veal was left from yesterday. To prepare it for a breakfast dish, cut it into small bits, and put it (without any water) into a stew-pan, adding to it the veal gravy that was left from yesterday, and a table-spoonful of fresh butter or lard, dredged with flour. Cover it, and after stewing it half an hour by itself, put in two large table-spoonfuls of well spiced tomato catchup, an article no family should be without. After the[191] catchup is in, cover the hash again, and let it stew half an hour longer. If you have no catchup, put in with the cold veal at the beginning, two or three large ripe tomatos, peeled and quartered, or sliced, and seasoned with powdered mace, nutmeg, and ginger; and let all stew together in gravy or butter. Mushroom catchup is a good substitute for tomato in hashing cold meat. If you have neither, put in a large table-spoonful of tarragon or French mustard, to be bought in bottles at all the best groceries.

VEAL A-LA-MODE.—

Remove the bone from a fillet of veal, and make a large quantity of forcemeat or stuffing of grated bread-crumbs; beef-suet or veal-suet minced fine, the grated yellow rind and juice of a ripe lemon or orange, or some chopped mushrooms that have been previously stewed, some grated yolk of hard-boiled eggs, and some sweet marjoram. Press in the stuffing, till the hole left by the bone is well filled; and also, put stuffing between the flap and the side of the meat, before you skewer the flap. Have ready some lardons or slips of cold ham, or tongue, and with a larding pin draw them all through the surface of the veal. Or else, make deep cuts or incisions throughout the meat, and press down into each a small thin square bit of bacon-fat, seasoning every one with a little of the stuffing. Lay the veal in a deep baking-pan, or iron bake[192]-oven. Surround it with nice lard, and bake it till thoroughly done all through. Then take it out, skim the gravy, and transfer it to a small sauce-pan. Stir in a dessert-spoonful of flour; add a glass of white wine to the gravy, and give it one boil up. Send it to table in a sauce-tureen, accompanying the veal.

TERRAPIN VEAL.—

Take some nice veal, (from the fillet, or the loin) and cut it into very small mouthfuls. Put it into a stew-pan. Have ready a dressing made of six or seven hard-boiled eggs, minced fine, a small tea-spoonful of made mustard, (tarragon or French mustard will be best,) a salt-spoon of salt, and the same of cayenne; two glasses of sherry or Madeira, and half a pint of rich cream. If you cannot conveniently obtain cream, substitute a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, divided into four pieces, and each piece dredged with flour. All the ingredients for this dressing must be thoroughly mixed. Then, pour it over the veal, and give the whole a hard stir. Cover it, and let it stew over the fire for about ten minutes. Fresh venison is excellent, cooked in this manner. So, also, are ducks, pheasants, partridges, or grouse, making a fine side dish for company.

TO HASH COLD MEAT.—

The best way of re-cooking cold roast meat, (veal, beef, or pork,) is to hash it, cutting it into mouthfuls, and stew[193]ing it in its own gravy, without a drop of water. For this purpose, save as much as you can of the dripping or gravy that fell from it when roasting. When you have done basting the roast meat, skim off all the fat from the surface, and strain the gravy through a small sieve. What is left of it, should be carefully set away in a cold place. Next day, when it has congealed into a cake, scrape it with a knife on both sides. If not wanted for immediate use, cut it in pieces, and put it up in a jar well covered. Use it (instead of water) for stews and hashes; and if well seasoned the meat will be found nearly as good (for a breakfast dish,) as if not previously cooked. Whenever it is possible, make your hashes without any water; and if you have saved no gravy, substitute lard, or fresh butter. But gravy or drippings of the same meat is best. A hash of cold meat, stewed merely in water, and with no seasoning but salt and pepper, is a poor thing. Cold potatos, when re-cooked, always remain hard and indigestible. In all cookery it is best to use fresh vegetables, even if the meat has been previously drest. Cold meat is of no use for soups or pies. It is better to slice it, and eat it cold—or, better still to give it the poor. Roast beef or mutton, if very much underdone, may be sliced and broiled on a gridiron, and well seasoned with pepper. Cold roast pork is best sliced plain, and eaten cold. Ham also.[194]

VEAL CUTLETS IN PAPERS (en papillotes.)—

Make a nice sauce of sweet herbs, bread-crumbs, powdered mace and nutmeg, butter and beaten egg. Lay the cutlets in a deep dish, (having first broiled them and saved the gravy,) pour the sauce over them, with the veal gravy added to it. Cover them, and let them rest till cold. Allow, for each cutlet, a sheet of foolscap paper, cut it into the shape of a heart, and go over it with sweet oil, or fresh butter or lard. Lay a cutlet with a little of the sauce upon it, on one-half of each sheet of paper; turn the other half over the meat. Fold a narrow rim all round, so as to unite both edges. Begin at the top of the heart, and pleat both edges together so as to form a good shape without puckering. When you come to the bottom, where the paper is to cover the bone, give it a few extra twists. Broil the cutlets slowly on a gridiron for half an hour, seeing that no blaze catches the papers—or put them in the oven for half an hour. If the papers are not too much burnt or disfigured, dish the cutlets still wrapped in them, to be removed by those who eat them. If the covers are scorched black, and ragged, take out the cutlets and lay them on a hot dish. Serve up with them a dish of mashed potatos or potatoe cake, browned on the surface with a salamander. Côtelettes à la Maintenon, are mutton or lamb steaks cooked in papers, in the above manner.[195]

VEAL STEAKS.—

Cut the steaks from the neck, leaving the bone very short, and polishing what there is of it. Make a seasoning of boiled onions minced, and sage or sweet marjoram leaves, or of chopped parsley. Lay on each steak a bit of fresh butter, spread the seasoning thickly over each, and fry them in the gravy or drippings of cold roast veal or beef. They will be the better for beating them slightly with a rolling pin. Put into the frying-pan three or four table-spoonfuls of mushroom or tomato catchup; or, fry them with fresh mushrooms or fresh tomatos, sliced.

VEAL CUTLETS.—

Cut your veal cutlets from the fillet or round about half an inch thick. Season them slightly with a little salt and cayenne. Have ready a pan with grated bread-crumbs, and another with beaten egg. Have ready, in a frying pan, plenty of boiling lard, or drippings of cold veal. Dredge each cutlet slightly with flour; then dip it twice in the pan of beaten egg, and then twice also in the bread-crumbs. Fry them well, and send them to table in their own gravy. Saffron, scattered thickly over them while frying, is an improvement much relished by the eaters.

KNUCKLE OF VEAL AND BACON.—

Unless your family is very small, get two knuckles of veal, and have them sawed into three pieces each. Put them into a pot with two pounds of ham or bacon; cover them with water, and stew them slowly, skimming them well. Season them with a little pepper, but no salt, as the bacon will be salt enough. When the scum ceases to rise, put in four onions and four turnips, and six potatos pared, and quartered; also, a carrot and two parsnips, scraped and cut into pieces. Let the whole boil till all the meat and all the vegetables are thoroughly done, and very tender. Drain them well, and serve up the whole on one large dish, having other vegetables served separately.

If you wish to have green vegetables, such as greens, young sprouts, poke, or string beans, flavored with bacon, put them to boil in a pot with the bacon only, and take another pot for the veal, and white vegetables, such as onions, turnips, &c. You may put the veal and bacon on the same dish.

SOUTHERN STEW (of veal.)—

Peel and boil a half dozen fresh spring onions, and then drain them well and slice them thin. Have ready two pounds or more of nice veal, sliced very thin, small, and evenly. Lay the veal in a stew-pan, and season it slightly with salt, and a very little cayenne. Cover the veal with the sliced onions, and lay upon them some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. If you cannot obtain very excellent[197] fresh butter, substitute lard, or cold gravy, or dripping of roast veal, which last will be best if you have enough of it. Finish with a flavoring of powdered nutmeg or mace, and the grated yellow rind of a fresh lemon.

VEAL KEBOBBED, (or kibaubed.)—

Cut into small thin slices some lean veal from the loin, chump end, or fillet. Trim them into a round or circular form. Season them with pepper, salt, and turmeric or curry powder. If onions are liked, slice some large ones, and lay them on the pieces of veal. Cover them with slices of ham, cut round like the veal, but a little smaller. Roll up the slices, (the ham inside,) and tie them on skewers. Then roast or bake them. When done, take them off the skewers, and send them to table in the gravy that has fallen from them. This is a Turkish dish, and is much liked.

VEAL FRITTERS.—

Take some thin slices of cold roast veal, and trim them round or circular. Beat them with a rolling-pin, to make them very tender, and season them with a little salt and pepper and some powdered nutmeg. Also some grated fresh yellow rind of lemon-peel. Make a very light batter, of eggs, milk, and flour; in the proportion of four well-beaten eggs to a pint of milk; and a[198] large half pint of sifted flour: the eggs beaten first, and then stirred gradually into the milk in turn with the flour. Have ready a frying-pan, nearly full of boiling lard. Drop into it two large spoonfuls of the batter. Then put in a slice of the veal, and cover it with two more large spoonfuls of the batter. As the fritters are fried, take them up with a perforated skimmer, and drain them.

VEAL PATTIES.—

Mince very fine, some cold roast veal, or some cold chicken, mixing with it some cold minced ham, or cold smoked tongue. Add some yolk of hard-boiled eggs, crumbled or minced. Season the mixture with powdered mace and nutmeg, moistened with cream or soft fresh butter. Have ready some nice puff-paste, rolled out thin, and cut into oval or circular pieces. Cover the half of each with the mixture, spread on evenly and thickly. Then, upon that, fold over the other half, (uniting both,) and crimp them together, in very small notches. Brush their outsides all over with some raw egg, slightly beaten, and lay them in large square tin pans to bake. Send them to table on china dishes.

These patties are excellent made of cold game. The green tops of boiled asparagus will improve the mixture.

FRIED LIVER.—

Put into a frying-pan some nice thin slices of ham or bacon, that have soaked all night, and fry them in their own fat. Have[199] ready your calf's liver, cut into slices not too thin, as that will render them hard. Take out the ham as soon as it is done, put it into a hot dish, and cover it closely. Lay the slices of liver into the gravy of the bacon that is left in the frying-pan, sprinkling it well with chopped parsley. It must be thoroughly done. Then dish with the bacon.

To those who like them, some onions will be thought an improvement to fried liver. First parboil the onions: then slice them, season them with a little salt and pepper, and fry them with the liver.

If lettuces are in season, quarter a fresh one, and lay it under the liver when you dish it, having previously removed the thickest part of the stalk. The liver of beef or sheep is not seen at good tables. It is very inferior to that of calf's, being hard and coarse.

LARDED LIVER.—

Wash and drain a nice fat calf's liver. Liver of beef or mutton is never seen at a good table; they are hard, coarse, and tasteless, and only eaten by the poor, while the livers of veal and poultry are considered very nice. Divide it into equal portions. Lard them thickly with small slips of fat bacon, inserted at regular distances with a larding-needle, and very near each other. Season the liver with powdered nutmeg and mace. Put into a stew-pan, in the bottom of which you have laid a large slice or two of fat bacon. Let it stew gently, till thoroughly done and tender throughout. When you take the liver out of the stew-pan, stir into the gravy left at the[200] bottom, some thick catchup, either mushroom or tomato. Do not send the slices of bacon to table with the liver.

If liked, surround the liver while cooking, with small button onions, (peeled and washed,) and see that they are well done. Serve them up on the same dish. It is best always to boil onions before frying them.

STEWED LIVER.—

Having soaked a fine calf's liver for two hours in cold water, cut it into thick slices, and then cut the slices into mouthfuls. Chop fine a small bunch of sweet marjoram, and sprinkle it among the liver, seasoning with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and powdered mace. Put it into a stew-pan, and cook it in lard or fresh butter. Make some nice toast, and dip it for a minute in hot water, having pared off all the crust. Lay the toast in the bottom of a deep dish, after covering it all over with the stewed liver.

LIVER RISSOLES.—

Take a calf's liver, and remove carefully all the veins. Weigh a pound of it, boil it, and when cold, mince it very finely with a quarter of a pound of suet, either of beef or veal. Add a quarter of a pound of finely grated bread-crumbs. Season it with cayenne, powdered mace, and nutmeg, and a very little salt. Mix in two well-beaten eggs. Shape them into oval forms, about the size of large walnuts, and fry them in plenty of boiling hot lard, draining them all on a perforated skimmer, before they go to table.[201]

LIVER PIE.—

Prepare a fine fresh calf's liver. Split it in long pieces. Lay it in a pan of cold water for an hour or two. Afterwards take it out and wipe it dry, and boil it till tender. Drain it when done, and chop it large with a slice of cold ham. Season it with pepper and nutmeg, (no salt for any thing that has ham in it,) and add some minced sweet marjoram and sweet basil, and two yolks of hard-boiled eggs, grated or minced. The grated yellow rind of a fresh lemon will be an improvement. Make a very nice light paste, and line a pie dish with it. Then fill it high with the mixture, laying on the top several pieces of fine fresh butter. Cover it with a lid of paste, notching the edges handsomely, and cutting a cross-slit on the top. Bake it light brown, and serve it up, either hot or cold. It will be found very nice.

With the same mixture you may make liver dumplings, enclosing them in a nice paste, and boiling them; or a liver pudding, boiling the mixture in one large paste, and tying it in a cloth, leaving room for it to swell.

CHITTERLINGS OR CALF'S TRIPE.—

This is very delicate and digestible, and is nice at breakfast, or as a side dish at dinner. To prepare it for cooking, it should be cut open with scissors, emptied, and thoroughly cleaned, and then laid all night, or for several hours, in cold water, slightly salted. It can be bought of the veal butchers ready prepared, and run on a wooden skewer.[202] Wash it again just before cooking. Cut it into small pieces, and boil it slowly till quite tender, in water enough to keep it well covered. When entirely done, take it up, drain it, and keep it warm. Have ready some onions boiled in milk till quite soft, and sliced thin. Melt some excellent fresh butter, in milk thickened with flour. Make a round of very nice toast, with the crust pared off. Dip it for a minute in hot water; lay it in the bottom of a deep dish. Cover it thickly with the onion sauce, and place the chitterlings upon it, seasoning them with pepper and vinegar. It will be an improvement to boil with them four or five blades of mace. Eat vinegar with it, always. Tarragon vinegar is best. This dish deserves to be more in use. Try it.

FRIED CHITTERLINGS.—

Get chitterlings ready prepared by the butcher. Wash them, and let them lie an hour or two in weak salt and water. Then drain them, cut them in pieces, and parboil them. Dry them in a clean cloth. Make a batter of two or three beaten eggs, and a pint of milk, with a heaped table-spoonful of flour. Put into a frying-pan an ample portion of the dripping of roast veal or pork, and when it boils, (having first dipped each piece of the chitterling into the batter,) fry them in the dripping. They must be thoroughly done. You may fry them in lard, or fresh butter.

BAKED CHITTERLINGS.—

Having first parboiled the chitterlings, lay among them some bits of fresh butter, season them with powdered nutmeg, put them into a deep dish, set it into an oven, and bake them brown.

FINE VEAL PIE.—

Boil, in two quarts of water, two unskinned calf's feet, adding the yellow rind of a large lemon, pared as thin as possible, or grated, and its squeezed juice. Also, two broken-up sticks of cinnamon, half a dozen blades of mace, and two glasses of sweet wine. Boil all these together (skimming well,) till the calf's feet are in rags, and all their flesh has dropped from the bone. Then put the whole into a jelly-bag and let it drip into a broad bowl. Set it away closely covered. Have ready two pounds of the parboiled chump end of a loin of veal cut into square pieces. Make a nice puff paste, and line with it a deep pie-dish. Put the pieces of veal into it, (all the fat cut off,) and intersperse them with a dozen or more forcemeat balls, each about as large as an English walnut. The balls may be made of cold minced chicken and ham, minced suet, bread-crumbs, and hard-boiled yolk of egg grated or crumbled fine; seasoned with sweet herbs, and grated lemon rind. Or they may be sweet balls of bread-crumbs, butter, chopped sultana raisins, and chopped citron, seasoned with nutmeg. Having dispersed them among the pieces of veal, put in the jelly made from the[204] calf's feet. Cover the pie with a lid of puff-paste, cut a cross slit in the centre; notch the edges, and bake it brown. This pie is for a company dish.

A PLAIN VEAL PIE.—

Cut the meat from an uncooked breast of veal, and stew it in a very little water. Have ready a pie dish lined with a nice paste. Put in a layer of stewed veal, with its gravy, and cover it with a layer of sausage meat; then veal again, and then sausage meat. Repeat this till the dish is full, finishing with the sausage. Cover it with a lid of paste, and bake it brown. This is a cheap and easy family pie.

VEAL LOAF.—

Take a cold fillet of veal, and (omitting the fat and skin) mince the meat as fine as possible. Mix with it a quarter of a pound of the fattest part of a cold ham, also chopped small. Add a tea-cupful of grated bread-crumbs; a grated nutmeg; half a dozen blades of mace, powdered; the grated yellow rind of a lemon; and two beaten eggs. Season with a salt-spoon of salt, and half a salt-spoon of cayenne. Mix the whole well together, and make it into the form of a loaf. Then glaze it over with beaten yolk of egg; and strew the surface evenly, all over, with bread raspings, or with pounded cracker. Set the dish into a dutch-oven, and bake it half an hour, or till hot all through. Have ready a gravy made of the trimmings of the veal, stewed in some of the gravy[205] that was left when the fillet was roasted the day before. When sufficiently cooked, take out the meat, and thicken the gravy with beaten yolk of egg, stirred in about three minutes before you take it from the fire.

STEWED CALF'S HEAD.—

Take a fine, large calf's head; empty it; wash it clean, and boil it till it is quite tender, in just water enough to cover it. Then carefully take out the bones, without spoiling the appearance of the head. Season it with a little salt and cayenne, and a grated nutmeg. Pour over it the liquor in which it has been boiled, adding a jill of vinegar, and two table-spoonfuls of capers, or of green nasturtion seeds, that have been pickled. Let it stew very slowly for half an hour. Have ready some forcemeat balls made of minced veal-suet, grated bread-crumbs, grated lemon-peel, and sweet marjoram,—adding beaten yolk of egg to bind the other ingredients together. Put in the forcemeat balls, and stew it slowly a quarter of an hour longer, adding some bits of butter rolled in flour to enrich the gravy. Send it to table hot.

EXCELLENT MINCED VEAL.—

Take three or four pounds of the lean only of a fillet or loin of veal, and mince it very finely, adding a slice or[206] two of cold ham, minced also. Add two or three small young onions, chopped small, a tea-spoonful of sweet marjoram leaves rubbed from the stalks, the yellow rind of a small lemon grated, and a tea-spoonful of mixed mace and nutmeg powdered. Mix all well together, and dredge it with a little flour. Put it into a stew-pan, with sufficient gravy of cold roast veal to moisten it, and a large table-spoonful or more of fresh butter. Stir it well, and let it stew till thoroughly done. If the veal has been previously cooked, a quarter of an hour will be sufficient. It will be much improved by adding a pint or more of small button mushrooms, cut from the stems, and then chopped small. Also, by stirring in two table-spoonfuls of cream about five minutes before it is taken from the fire.

VEAL WITH OYSTERS.—

Take two fine cutlets of about a pound each. Divide them into several pieces, cut thin. Put them into a frying-pan, with boiling lard, and let them fry awhile. When the veal is almost done, add to it a pint of large, fine oysters,—their liquor thickened with a few grated bread-crumbs, and seasoned with mace and nutmeg powdered. Continue the frying till the veal and oysters are thoroughly done. Send it to table in a covered dish.

TERRAPIN VEAL.—

Take some cold roast veal, (the fillet or the loin) and cut it into mouth[207]fuls. Put it in a skillet or stew-pan. Have ready a dressing made of six or seven hard-boiled eggs, minced fine; a small tea-spoonful of tarragon mustard; a salt-spoonful of salt; and the same of cayenne pepper; a large tea-cupful (half a pint) of cream, and two glasses of sherry or Madeira wine. The dressing must be thoroughly mixed. Pour it over the veal, and then give the whole a hard stir. Cover it, and let it stew over the fire for ten minutes. Then transfer it to a deep dish, and send it to table hot.

VEAL OLIVES.—

Take some cold fillet of veal and cold ham, and cut them into thin square slices of the same size and shape, trimming the edges evenly. Lay a slice of veal on every slice of ham, and spread some beaten yolk of egg over the veal. Have ready a thin forcemeat, made of grated bread-crumbs, sweet marjoram rubbed fine, fresh butter, and grated lemon-peel, seasoned with nutmeg and a little cayenne pepper. Spread this over the veal, and then roll up each slice tightly with the ham. Tie them round securely with coarse thread or fine twine; run a bird-spit through them, and roast them well. For sauce, simmer in a small sauce-pan, some cold veal gravy with two spoonfuls of cream, and some mushroom catchup.[208]

VEAL RISSOLES.—

Take as much fine wheat bread as will weigh one pound, after all the crust is cut off. Slice it; put it into a pan and pour over it as much rich milk as will soak it thoroughly. After it has soaked a quarter of an hour, lay it in a sieve and press it dry. Mince as finely as possible a pound of veal cutlet with six ounces of veal suet; then mix in gradually the bread; adding a salt-spoonful of salt, a slight sprinkling of cayenne, and a small tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg mixed; also the yellow rind of a lemon grated. Beat two eggs, and moisten the mixture with them. Then divide it into equal portions, and with a little flour on your hands roll it into oval balls rather smaller than an egg. Strew over them some dry bread-crumbs; then fry them in lard or fresh butter—drain them well, and send them to table hot. For gravy (which should be commenced before the rissoles) put some bits and trimmings of veal into a small sauce-pan, with as much water as will cover them; a very little pepper and salt; and three or four blades of mace. Cover the sauce-pan closely, and let the meat stew till all the strength is extracted; skimming it well. Then strain it; return the liquor to the sauce-pan; add a bit of butter rolled in flour; and squeeze in the juice of a lemon. Give it a boil up, and then, at the last, stir in the beaten yolk of an egg. Serve up this gravy in a sauce-boat, to eat with the rissoles.

Instead of stewing meat for the purpose, you may make this gravy with the drippings of roast[209] veal saved from the day before. You have then only to melt it over the fire; adding the seasoning; and giving it one boil.

TO PREPARE SWEETBREADS.—

The sweetbread belonging to the breast of the calf is far superior to that which is found about the throat, being larger, whiter, more tender, and more delicate. Always buy them in preference. They should be set immediately on ice, and prepared for cooking as speedily as possible, for they spoil very soon. Soak them in warm water till all the blood is discharged. Then put them into boiling water, and boil them five minutes. After this, lay them immediately in a pan of very cold water. This sudden transition from hot water to cold, will blanch or whiten them. Dark-colored sweetbreads make a very bad appearance. Four are generally sufficient for a small dish. But as, if well cooked, they are much liked, it is best to have six; or else eight upon two dishes. If the sweetbreads are to be cut up before cooking, remove and throw away the gristle or pipe that pervades every one. If they are to be cooked whole, you may leave the pipe in, to be taken out by the eaters.

For company, it is usual to lard sweetbreads with slips of fat ham or bacon, or of cold smoked tongue.

SWEETBREAD CROQUETTES.—

Having trimmed some sweetbreads nicely, and removed the gristle, parboil them, and then mince them very fine. Add grated bread, and season with a very little salt and pepper; some powdered mace and nutmeg; and some grated lemon-rind. Moisten the whole with cream, and make them up into small cones or sugar-loaves; forming and smoothing them nicely. Have ready some beaten egg, mixed with grated bread-crumbs. Dip into it each croquette, and fry them slowly in fresh butter. Serve them hot; standing up on the dish, and with a sprig of parsley in the top of each.

Sweetbreads should never be used unless perfectly fresh. They spoil very rapidly. As soon as they are brought from market they should be split open, and laid in cold water. Never attempt to keep sweetbreads till next day, except in cold weather; and then on ice.

Similar croquettes may be made of cold boiled chicken; or cold roast veal; or of oysters, minced raw, and seasoned and mixed as above.

FRICASSEED SWEETBREADS.—

Take half a dozen sweetbreads; clean them thoroughly, and lay them for an hour or two in a pan of water, having first removed the strings and gristle. Then put them into a stew-pan with as much rich milk or cream as will cover them well, and a very little salt. Stew them slowly, till tender throughout, and thoroughly done, saving the liquid. Then[211] take them up; cover them; and set them near the fire to keep warm. Prepare a quarter of a pound of butter, divided into four pieces, and rolled in flour. Put the butter into the milk in which the sweetbreads were boiled, and add a few sprigs of parsley cut small; five or six blades of mace; half a nutmeg grated; and a very little cayenne pepper. Have ready the yolks of three eggs well-beaten. Return the sweetbreads to the gravy; let it just come to a boil; and then stir in the beaten egg immediately before you take the fricassee from the fire, otherwise it will curdle. Serve it up in a deep dish with a cover.

TOMATO SWEETBREADS.—

Cut up a quarter of a peck (or more) of fine ripe tomatos; set them over the fire, and let them stew with nothing but their own juice, till they go entirely to pieces. Then press them through a sieve, to clear the liquid from the seeds and skins. Have ready four or five sweetbreads that have been trimmed nicely, cleared from the gristle, and laid open to soak in warm water. Put them into a stew-pan with the tomato-juice, seasoned with a little salt and cayenne. Add two or three table-spoonfuls of butter rolled in flour. Set the sauce-pan over the fire, and stew the sweetbreads in the tomato-juice till they are thoroughly done. A few minutes before you take them off, stir in two beaten yolks of eggs[212] Serve up the sweetbreads in a deep dish, with the tomato poured over them.

SWEETBREADS AND CAULIFLOWERS.—

Take four large sweetbreads, and two fine cauliflowers. Split open the sweetbreads and remove the gristle. Soak them awhile in lukewarm water. Then put them into a sauce-pan of boiling water, and let them boil ten minutes over the fire. Afterwards, lay them in a pan of very cold water. The parboiling will render them white; and putting them directly from the hot water into the cold will give them firmness. Having washed and drained the cauliflowers, quarter them, and lay them in a broad stew-pan with the sweetbreads upon them, seasoned with a very little cayenne, four or five blades of mace, and some nutmeg. Add as much water as will cover them; put on closely the lid of the pan, and let the whole stew for about an hour. Then take a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and roll it in two table-spoonfuls of flour. Add it to the stew with a tea-cupful of rich milk or cream, and give it one boil up, not more, or the milk may curdle. Serve it hot in a deep dish; the sweetbreads in the middle with the gravy poured over them, and the quartered cauliflowers laid handsomely round. This stew will be found delicious.

SWEETBREAD OMELET.—

For an omelet of six or seven eggs, take two fine sweetbreads. Split them, take out the gristle, and soak them in two lukewarm waters, to extract all the blood. Then put them into very hot water, boil them ten minutes, take them out, set them away to cool, and afterwards mince them small, and season them with a very little salt and cayenne pepper, and some grated nutmeg. Beat the eggs (omitting the whites of two) till very light. Then mix in the chopped sweetbreads. Put three ounces or more of fresh butter into a small frying-pan, and place it over the fire. Stir the butter with a spoon, as it melts, and when it comes to a boil put in the mixture, stirring it awhile after it is all in. Fry it a rich brown. Heat the plate or dish in which you turn it out of the pan. An omelet should never be turned while frying. The top may be well browned by holding above it a salamander or red-hot shovel.

While frying the omelet, lift the edge occasionally by slipping a knife-blade under it, that the butter may get well underneath.

If omelets are cooked too much they will become tough, and leather-like. Many persons prefer having them sent to table as soft omelets, before they have set, or taken the form of a cake. In this case, serve up the omelet in a deep dish, and help it with a spoon.[214]

SWEETBREADS AND OYSTERS.—

Take four sweetbreads, and when they have been soaked and blanched, quarter them, and remove the pipe. Strain the liquor from three dozen large fresh oysters, season it with powdered nutmeg and mace, and a little cayenne. Put the quartered sweetbreads into a stew-pan, and pour over them enough of the oyster-liquor to cover them well, adding, if you have it, three large spoonfuls of the gravy of roast veal, and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, cut into four bits; each bit rolled or dredged in flour. When the sweetbreads are done, put in the oysters, (first removing their gristle or hard part,) and take them out again as soon as they are plumped, which should be in five minutes. If allowed to boil, the oysters will shrivel, and become hard and tasteless. Add, at the last, two wine-glasses of cream, and shake the pan about, for a few minutes. Serve up in a deep dish.

SWEETBREAD PIES.—

Make shells of puff-paste, and bake them empty. When done, fill them to the top with the above mixture. Have ready a lid for each pie, baked on a flat plate, and lay it on the top of the filling.

STEWED SWEETBREADS.—

After blanching them, extract the pipe very carefully, and fill its place with a stuffing made of cold minced chicken or veal, minced ham or tongue sweet[215] marjoram, nutmeg, grated lemon-peel, and the crumbled yolks of hard-boiled eggs. Fasten the openings with small wooden skewers, and put the sweetbreads into a broad stew-pan with a thin slice of ham under each, and another on the top of each, kept in place by a splinter-skewer. Stew the sweetbreads in the gravy of roast veal, and before you send them to table take out the skewers.

Or make a gravy of uncooked trimmings of veal or beef, stewed slowly in as much water as will cover them well, and seasoned with pepper and salt—or, stew with the fresh meat, as much ham or bacon as will flavor the gravy, (using no other salt.) When all the essence is extracted from the meat, stir in a bit of butter dredged with flour. The flour for gravies should be browned. Strain the gravy, and add any other flavoring you like.

To brown flour, spread it evenly on a large dish or flat tin, and place it before the fire, or in a rather cool oven. Scrape it up from the edges where it will get the brownest. Take care it burns or blackens nowhere. Keep it for use in a dry tin box.

BAKED SWEETBREADS.—

Parboil four large sweetbreads, having first blanched them. When cold, lard them all over the surface, with slips of bacon the size of small straws. Lay them in a shallow pan, putting under each sweetbread a piece of nice fresh butter with a very little flour[216] mixed into it. Pour into the pan a glass of nice white wine, mixed with the juice and grated yellow rind of a lemon. Season also with grated nutmeg. Or for sauce, you may use mushroom catchup, with a little salad oil stirred into it.

If you do not live in a place where nice fresh butter is to be obtained, endeavor to do without butter at all, rather than use that which is strong, rancid, or too salt. Bad butter tastes through every thing—spoils every thing, and is also extremely unwholesome, as decomposition (or in plain terms putrefaction,) has already commenced. Rather than use what makes all your food taste worse instead of better, try to substitute something else—such as beef or fresh pork drippings, suet, lard, or olive oil; or, molasses, honey, or stewed fruit. We know that with these it is possible to live in health for years, without tasting butter. Nevertheless, good butter is a good thing, and an improvement to all sorts of cookery.

PORK.

PORK.—

Young pork has a thin rind or skin, easily indented by pressing with the finger, and the lean will break by pinching. If fresh, the meat is smooth and dry; but if damp and clammy, it is tainted. If the fat is rough with little kernels, the pig has had a disease resembling the measles, and to eat it is poisonous. Pigs that[217] have short legs, and thick necks, are the best. Pigs fed entirely on slop make very bad pork. They should be kept up for at least two months, fed with corn, and not allowed during the time of fattening to eat any sort of trash. No animal tastes more of its food than a pig. If allowed to eat the garbage of fish, they will not only have a fishy taste, but a smell of fish so intolerable, when cooking, that such pork cannot be endured in the house. During the two months that they are kept up to fatten, all their food must be wholesome as well as abundant, and it does them much good to have soap-suds given to them occasionally. Let them have plenty of corn, and plenty of fresh water. They will thrive better and make finer pork, if their pens are not allowed to be dirty. No animal actually likes dirt, and even pigs would be clean if they knew how. It is very beneficial to young pigs to wash them well in soap and water. We have seen this often done with great care.

The pork in Spain and Portugal is delicious, from being fed chiefly on the large chestnuts, of which there is great abundance in those countries. These pigs are short-legged and thick-bodied—a profitable species. The best pieces of a pig are the hind-leg and loin; the next is the shoulder, or fore-leg. The spare-rib, (pronounced sparrib by the English,) affords so little meat, and the bones are so tedious to pick, that it is seldom seen on good American tables, nothing being popular with us that cannot be eaten fast or fastish.

Pork must be thoroughly cooked; done well,[218] and completely to the very bone. Who ever asked for a slice of pork done rare? Who could eat pork with the blood appearing, when served? So it is with veal. Underdone veal, or underdone chicken, is not to be thought of without disgust.

Pork, for boiling, is always previously salted or corned. Fresh pork, however, is very good stewed or cooked slowly in a very little water, and with plenty of vegetables in the same pot. The vegetables should be potatos, (either sweet or white,) pared and cut into pieces—parsnips the same, or yams in thick slices. For corned pork cook the vegetables separately from the meat, or they will taste too salt and fat. They should be cabbage, or green sprouts, green beans or peas, green corn, young poke, squash, pumpkin, or cashaw, (winter squash,) boiled, mashed, and squeezed.

For salt pork, in winter, have dried beans or dried peas; first boiled, and then baked.

TO ROAST PORK.—

The roasting pieces are the loin, the leg, the saddle, the fillet, the shoulder and the spare-rib, (which last is found between the shoulder or fore-leg,) and the griskin or back-bone. All roast pork should be well seasoned; rubbed with pepper, salt, or powdered sage or marjoram. Score the skin with a sharp knife, making deep lines at regular distances, about an inch apart. Cross these lines with others, so as to form squares or diamonds. Make a stuffing of minced sage or marjoram leaves; bread-crumbs; if liked, a very[219] little minced onion previously boiled; and some powdered mace. Introduce this stuffing profusely wherever it can be inserted, loosening a piece of the skin, and fastening it down again with a small skewer. In a leg or shoulder you can put in a great deal at the knuckle. In a fillet or large end of the leg, stuff the place from whence you have taken the bone. Put the pork down to roast not very close to the fire, but place it nearer when the skin begins to brown. You can soon baste it with its own gravy; and see that it is thoroughly cooked, before removing it from the spit. After taking up the meat, skim the fat from the gravy, and stir in a little flour to thicken it.

The crackling or skin will be much more crisp and tender if you go all over it with sweet oil, or lard, before you put it to the fire.

Always accompany roast pork with apple sauce, served in a deep dish or a sauce-tureen.

SWEET POTATO PORK.—

Boil, peel, and mash a sufficiency of sweet potatos, moistened with butter and egg. Cover with them the bottom of a deep dish; then put on a layer of slices of fresh pork, sprinkled with minced sage or marjoram. Next, another thick layer of mashed sweet potatos; then another layer of pork cutlets, and so on till the dish is full, finishing with mashed sweet potatos. Bake it brown on the surface.[220]

CHESTNUT PORK.—

Where the large Spanish chestnuts abound, a similar dish may be made of layers of chestnuts boiled, peeled, and mashed, and layers of fresh pork in thin slices.

ROASTED SPARE-RIB.—

This will do for a second dish at the table of a very small family. Rub it all over with powdered sage, pepper, and salt, and having put it on the spit, lay the thickest end to the fire. Dredge it with powdered sage and baste it with a little butter. When dished, have ready some mashed potatos made into flat cakes, and browned on the top, and laid all round the pork, with some in another dish. Send to table apple sauce also.

When apples are difficult to procure, substitute dried peaches, stewed very soft, and in no more water than remains about them after being washed. Sweeten them while hot, as soon as you take them from the fire, mashing them smoothly.

TO DRESS A YOUNG PIG.—

The pig should not be more than three weeks old. If not fat, it is unfit to eat. To be in perfection, a sucking pig should be eaten the day it is killed, or its goodness and tenderness is impaired every hour. It requires great care in roasting, and constant watching. The custom of roasting a very young pig has now gone much, into disuse, it being found that[221] baking answers the purpose equally well or better, and is far less troublesome.

The pig should be washed perfectly clean, inside and out, and wiped very dry. Have ready a stuffing made of slices of bread, thickly buttered and soaked in milk, seasoned with powdered nutmeg and mace, and the grated yellow rind of a lemon, with the hard-boiled yolk of an egg, crumbled, and a large handful, or more, of fine bloom raisins, seeded and cut in half, mix all these ingredients well, and fill with them the body of the pig, sewing it up afterwards. Or you may make a plain stuffing of chopped sage and onions, boiled together, with marjoram; and mixed with bread-crumbs and butter. Having trussed the pig, with the fore-legs bent back, and the hind-legs forward, rub it all over with sweet oil, or with fresh butter tied in a rag. Lay it in a baking-pan, with a little water in the bottom. Then set it in an oven, not too hot, and bake it well, basting it frequently with butter. When done, dish it whole. Skim the gravy in the pan, and mix in some flour. Give it one boil up, having first put into it the chopped liver and heart of the pig, taken out after it was cooked, and stir in the beaten yolk of an egg.

The practice is now obsolete of dissecting a pig before it goes to table, splitting it down the back, and down the front, and laying the two halves in reverse positions, or back to back, with one half the split head at each side, and one ear at each end, the brains being taken out to enrich the gravy. All these disgusting things have been discarded by the[222] better taste of modern epicures. And the pig is baked and comes to table whole. We have always thought it a most unfeminine fancy for a lady to enjoy eating the head of any thing, and the brain particularly.

PORK STEAKS, STEWED.—

Take some nice fresh pork steaks, cut either from the leg or the loin. Trim off the superfluous fat. Season them with a little salt and pepper, and plenty of minced sage. Put in with them, minced onions, sliced sweet potatos, parsnips, and white potatos cut into pieces, also some lima beans. Pour in barely sufficient water to cover them; or else stew the pork in a very little lard. Apples cored, pared, and baked whole; the core-place filled with sugar, moistened with a very little water, to put in the bottom of the baking-dish, are a very nice accompaniment to pork steaks.

PORK AND APPLES.—

Take nice steaks, or cutlets, of fresh pork. Season them with a little pepper, and a very little salt. Pare, core, and quarter some fine juicy apples. Flavor them with the grated yellow rind and the juice of one or two lemons, and strew among them plenty of sugar. Stew them with merely sufficient water to prevent their burning; or else a little lard without water. When thoroughly done, serve all up in the same dish. If you cannot procure lemons, flavor[223] the apple with rose-water, or nutmeg, after it is cooked. Rose-water evaporates much in cooking.

PORK STEAKS, FRIED.—

Cut them thin, but do not trim off the fat. Sprinkle them well all over with finely minced sage or sweet marjoram. Lay them in a frying-pan, and fry them well on both sides, keeping them very hot after they are done. Wash out the frying-pan, (or have another one ready, which is better,) and put it over the fire with plenty of lard, or fresh butter. Have ready plenty of slices of large juicy apples, pared, cored, and cut into round pieces. Fry them well, and when done, take them up on a perforated skimmer, to drain the lard from them. Sprinkle them with powdered sugar, and pile them on a dish to eat with the pork.

Otherwise, send to table with the pork, a dish of apple sauce made in the usual manner, or a dish of dried peaches, stewed, mashed, and sweetened.

PORK APPLE POT-PIE.—

Make a plentiful quantity of nice paste. With some of it line the sides (but not the bottom) of a large pot. At the very bottom lay a slice of fresh pork, with most of the fat trimmed off. Season it with a very little salt and pepper, and add some pieces of paste. Next put in a thick layer of juicy apples, cut in slices, strewed with brown sugar. Add another layer of pork, and another of sliced apples. Proceed thus[224] till the pot is nearly full, finishing with a lid of paste, not fitting quite closely. Cut a cross-slit in the top, through which pour in some sweet cider to moisten it, and set it to cooking. Keep the pot covered; set it at once over a good fire, but not so hot as to burn the pie. See that it is well done before you take it up. It is a convenient dish in the country at the season of apple picking, cider making, and pork killing.

Stewed or baked apples are always greatly improved by a flavoring of lemon, rose-water, or nutmeg.

APPLE PORK PIE.—

Core, peel, and quarter some fine juicy baking-apples. Make a nice paste with fresh butter and sifted flour, and line with it the bottom and sides of a deep dish. Put in the apples, and strew among them sufficient brown sugar to make them very sweet. If you can obtain a fresh lemon, pare off very thin the yellow rind, and squeeze the juice to flavor the apples. Prepare some fresh pork steaks, cut thin, and divested of all the fat except a little at the edge; removing the bone. Cover the apples with a layer of meat, and pour in a tea-cup of sweet cider. The contents of the pie should be heaped up in the centre. Have ready a nice lid of paste, and cover the pie with it, closing and crimping the edge. In the centre of the lid cut a cross-slit. Put it into a hot oven and bake it well. This is a farm-house dish, and very good. Try it.[225]

FILLET OF PORK.—

Cut a fillet or round, handsomely and evenly, from a fine leg of fresh pork. Remove the bone. Make a stuffing or forcemeat of grated bread-crumbs; butter; a tea-spoonful of sweet marjoram, or tarragon leaves; and sage leaves enough to make a small table-spoonful, when minced or rubbed fine; all well mixed, and slightly seasoned with pepper and salt. Then stuff it closely into the hole from whence the bone was taken. Score the skin of the pork in circles to go all round the fillet. These circles should be very close together, or about half an inch apart. Rub into them, slightly, a little powdered sage. Put it on the spit, and roast it well, till it is thoroughly done throughout; as pork, if the least underdone, is not fit to eat. Place it, for the first hour, not very close to the fire, that the meat may get well heated all through, before the skin begins to harden so as to prevent the heat from penetrating sufficiently. Then set it as near the fire as it can be placed without danger of scorching. Keep it roasting steadily with a bright, good, regular fire, for two or three hours, or longer still if it is a large fillet. It may require near four hours. Baste it at the beginning with sweet oil (which will make the skin very crisp) or with lard. Afterwards, baste it with its own gravy. When done, skim the fat from the gravy, and then dredge[226] in a little flour to thicken it. Send the pork to table with the gravy in a boat; and a deep dish of apple sauce, made very thick, flavored with lemon, and sweetened well.

A fillet of pork is excellent stewed slowly in a very little water, having in the same stew-pot some sweet potatos, peeled, split, and cut into long pieces. If stewed, put no sage in the stuffing; and remove the skin of the pork. This is an excellent family dish in the autumn.

ITALIAN PORK.—

Take a nice leg of fresh pork; rub it well with fine salt and let it lie in the salt for a week or ten days. When you wish to cook it, put the pork into a large pot, with just sufficient water to cover it; and let it simmer, slowly, during four hours; skimming it well. Then take it out, and lay it on a large dish. Pour the water from the pot into an earthen pan; skim it, and let it cool while you are skinning the pork. Then put into a pot, a pint of good cider vinegar, mixed with half a pound of brown sugar, and a pint of the water in which the pork has been boiled, and from which all the fat has been carefully skimmed off. Put in the pork with the upper side towards the bottom of the pot. Set it again over the fire, (which must first be increased,) and heat the inside of the pot-lid by standing it upright against the front of the fire. Then cover the pot closely, and let the pork stew for an hour and a half longer; basting it frequently with the[227] liquid around it, and keeping the pot-lid as hot as possible that the meat may be well browned. When done, the pork will have somewhat the appearance of being coated with molasses. Serve up the gravy with it. What is left of the meat may be sliced cold for breakfast or luncheon.

You may stew with it, when the pork is put into the pot a second time, some large chestnuts, previously boiled and peeled. Or, instead of chestnuts, sweet potatos, scraped, split, and cut into small pieces.

PORK OLIVES.—

Cut slices from a fillet or leg of cold fresh pork. Make a forcemeat in the usual manner, only substituting for sweet herbs some sage-leaves, chopped fine. When the slices are covered with the forcemeat, and rolled up and tied round, stew them slowly either in cold gravy left of the pork, or in fresh lard. Drain them well before they go to table. Serve them up on a bed of mashed turnips, or potatos, or of mashed sweet potatos, if in season.

PIGS' FEET, FRIED.—

Pigs' feet are frequently used for jelly, instead of calves' feet. They are very good for this purpose, but a larger number is required (from eight to ten or twelve) to make the jelly sufficiently firm. After they have been boiled for jelly, extract the bones, and put the meat into a deep dish: cover it with some good cider vinegar, seasoned with sugar and a little salt and[228] cayenne. Then cover the dish, and set it away for the night. Next morning, take out the meat, and having drained it well from the vinegar, put it into a frying-pan, in which some lard has just come to a boil, and fry it for a breakfast dish.

PORK AND BEANS.—

Take a good piece of pickled pork, (not very fat,) and to each pound of pork allow a quart of dried white beans. The bone should be removed from the pork, and the beans well picked and washed. The evening before they are wanted for cooking, put the beans and pork to soak in separate pans; and just before bed-time, drain off the water, and replace it with fresh. Let them soak all night. Early in the morning, drain them well from the water, and wash first the beans, and then the pork in a cullender. Having scored the skin in stripes, or diamonds, put the pork into a pot with fresh cold water, and the beans into another pot with sufficient cold water to cook them well. Season the pork with a little pepper, but, of course, no salt. Boil them separately and slowly till the pork is thoroughly done (skimming it well) and till the beans have all burst open. Afterwards take them out, and drain them well from the water. Then lay the pork in the middle of a tin pan, (there must be no liquid fat about it) and the beans round it, and over it, so as nearly to bury it from sight. Pour in a very little water, and set the dish into a hot oven, to bake or brown for half an hour. If kept too long in the oven the beans will[229] become dry and hard. If sufficiently boiled when separate, half an hour will be long enough for the pork and beans to bake together. Carefully skim off any liquid fat that may rise to the surface. Cover the dish, and send it to table hot.

For a small dish, two quarts of beans and two pounds of pork will be enough. To this quantity, when put to bake in the oven, you may allow a pint of water.

This is a good plain dish, very popular in New England, and generally liked in other parts of the country, if properly done.

PORK WITH CORN AND BEANS.—

Boil a nice small leg of corned pork, skim it well, and boil it thoroughly. Then have ready a quart, or more, of fresh string-beans, each bean cut into only three pieces. Boil the beans for an hour in a separate pot. In another pot boil four ears of young sweet corn, and when soft and tender, cut it down from the cob, with a sharp knife, and mix it with the boiled beans, having drained them, through a cullender, from all the water that is about them. Having mixed them well together, in a deep dish, season them with pepper, (no salt,) and add a large lump of fresh butter.

For green beans you may substitute dried white ones, boiled by themselves, well drained, and seasoned with pepper and butter, and mixed in the same dish before they are sent to table. Or the mixed corn and beans may be heaped round the pork upon the same dish.[230]

To eat with them make some indian dumplings of corn meal and water, mixed into a stiff dough, formed into thick dumplings, about as large round as the top of a tea-cup, and boiled in a pot by themselves.

PORK WITH PEAS PUDDING.—

Boil a nice piece of pickled or corned pork, (the leg is the best,) and let it be well skinned, and thoroughly cooked. To make the pudding, pick over and wash through cold water, a quart of yellow split peas, and tie them in a square cloth, leaving barely sufficient room for them to swell; but if too much space is allowed for swelling, they will be weak and washy. When the peas are all dissolved into a mass, turn them out of the cloth, and rub them through a coarse sieve into a pan. Then add a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, mixed well into the peas, and a very little pepper. Beat light, three yolks and one whole egg, and stir them into the peas a little at a time. Then beat the whole very hard. Dip your pudding-cloth into hot water; spread it out in a pan, and pour the mixture into it. Tie up the cloth, and put the pudding into a pot of boiling water. Let it boil steadily for at least an hour. When done, send it to table, and eat it with the pork.

Next day, if there is much left, boil both the pork and the pudding over again, (the remains of the pudding tied in the cloth.) Let them boil till thoroughly warmed throughout. Cut them in slices. Place them on the same dish, the pork in the[231] middle, with slices of pudding laid round, and send them to the breakfast table, for strong healthy eaters.

SAUSAGE-MEAT.—

To fifteen pounds of the lean of fresh pork, allow five pounds of the fat. Having removed the skin, sinews, and gristle, chop both the fat and lean as fine as possible, and mix them well together. Rub to a powder sufficient sage-leaves to make four ounces when done. Mix the sage with two ounces of fine salt, two ounces of brown sugar, an ounce of powdered black pepper, and a quarter of an ounce of cayenne. Add this seasoning to the chopped pork, and mix it thoroughly. Pack the sausage-meat down, hard and closely, into stone jars, which must be kept in a cool place, and well covered. When wanted for use, make some of it into small flat cakes, dredge them with flour, and fry them well. The fat that exudes from the sausage-cakes, while frying, will be sufficient to cook them in.

SAUSAGE DUMPLING.—

Make a good paste in the proportion of three mashed potatos, and a quarter of a pound of finely minced suet to a quart of flour. Roll it out into a thick sheet. Fill it with the best home-made sausage meat. Lay the sausage meat in an even heap on the sheet of dough, and close it up so as to form a large round dumpling. Dip a square cloth in boiling water, shake it out, dredge it with flour, and tie the[232] dumpling in it, leaving room for it to swell. Put it into a pot of boiling water, and keep it boiling hard till thoroughly done. Do not turn it till immediately before it goes to table. It requires no sauce but a little cold butter. It may be made into several small dumplings.

VEAL AND SAUSAGE PIE.—

Line a deep oval dish with a very nice paste. Lay at the bottom a thin veal cutlet, seasoned with powdered mace. Place upon it some of the best sausage meat, spread thin; then another veal cutlet, and then more sausage. Repeat this till the dish is full, finishing with sausage meat on the top. Then cover the pie with a rather thick lid or upper crust, uniting the two edges at the rim, by crimping or notching them neatly. Make a cross slit in the centre of the lid. Bake the pie well, and serve it up hot.

Put no water into this pie, as the veal and the sausage will give out sufficient gravy. We recommend this pie.

If you live where veal cannot always be procured, substitute chicken or turkey, boiled and cut up, and covered with layers of sausage; or else thin slices of venison; or else, the best part of a pair of boiled or roasted rabbits.

BOLOGNA SAUSAGES.—

Take three pounds of the lean of a round of corned or salted beef,[233] and three pounds of the lean of corned or salted pork. Boil them for an hour in separate pots. Take them up, let them grow cold, and chop them separately. Chop also, very fine, two pounds of the fat of bacon, and one pound of beef suet. When these things are all separately minced, mix them well together, seasoning them well with chopped sage, sweet marjoram, black pepper, and powdered mace. Also, if liked, two or three boiled onions minced very small. Have ready some of the large skins commonly used for these sausages. The skins must have been carefully emptied, washed, and scraped till quite transparent. Fill them with the above mixture, stuffing it in hard and evenly with a sausage-stuffer, sewing and tying both ends securely. Put the sausages into a brine or pickle, such as is made for ham, of salt, brown sugar, and molasses mixed with water, and strong enough to bear up an egg. Let the sausages remain a week in this pickle, turning them every day, and keeping it closely covered. Then take them out and hang them up to dry, tied in strings or links. Smoke them for a week over a fire of oak sticks or corn-cobs. Afterwards, rub them over with salad oil, which is much the better for being mixed with ashes of vine twigs.

Sausages made faithfully as above, will be found equal to the real Bologna, by the lovers of this sort of relish. When it is eaten they are sliced very thin. Few ladies eat them.[234]

HOG'S HEAD CHEESE.—

Hog's head cheese is always made at what is called "killing time." To make four cheeses of moderate size, take two large hog's heads; two sets, (that is eight feet,) and the noses of all the pigs that have been killed that day. Clean all these things well, and then boil them to rags. Having drained off the liquid through a cullender, spread out the things in large dishes, and carefully remove all the bones, even to the smallest bits. With a chopper mince the meat as fine as possible, and season it well with pepper, salt, sage, and sweet marjoram, adding some powdered mace. Having divided the prepared meats into four equal parts, tie up each portion tightly in a clean coarse cloth, and press it into a compact cake, by putting on heavy weights. It will be fit for use next day. In a cool dry place it will keep all winter. It requires no farther cooking, and is eaten sliced at breakfast, luncheon, or supper. If well made, and well seasoned with the herbs and spices, it will be found very nice for a relish.

LIVER PUDDINGS.—

Boil some pigs' livers, and when cold mince them, adding some cold ham or bacon, in the proportion of a pound of liver to a quarter of a pound of fat bacon. Add also some boiled pigs' feet, allowing to each pound of liver four pigs' feet boiled, skinned, boned, and chopped. Season with pepper, powdered mace or nutmeg, and sweet herbs, (sweet basil and marjo[235]ram.) Put the mixture (packed hard,) into straight-sided tin or white ware pans, and cover them with a clean cloth. Put heavy weights on the top. Cover them also with folded brown paper, and set them in a cool dry place. They will be fit to eat next day. Slice them thick, and send them to the tea or breakfast table. Or you may fill with the mixture, some nicely cleaned and very transparent sausage skins, (of a large size,) and tie up the ends with coarse brown thread, to be removed before going to table.

Never use newspaper to cover or wrap up any thing eatable. The black always rubs off, and the copperas in the printing ink is very poisonous.

HAM, etc.

BRINE FOR PICKLING MEAT.—

To every four gallons of water allow four pounds of fine salt, two ounces of saltpetre, three pounds of brown sugar, and two quarts of West India molasses. Boil the whole together, stirring it well, and skimming it after stirring. When clear, let it cool. The meat being clean and dry, rub it all over with ground red pepper. Then put as much meat[236] into the pickling-tub as can be very well covered by the brine, which must be poured on cold. Let it remain six weeks in the pickle, (carefully taking off the scum,) and turning each piece every day. Afterwards, hang it till it is dry outside, and then smoke it well for a fortnight, hanging it high above the fire with the large end downward. The fire in the smoke-house should be steadily kept up all the time. Hickory or oak is the best wood for this purpose. On no account use pine, cedar, spruce, or hemlock. They will communicate to the meat a strong taste of turpentine, and render it uneatable. A fire made of corn-cobs is excellent for smoking meat, and they should be saved for that purpose. When the meat is smoked, rub it all over with ground pepper to prevent insects, and sew up all the pieces in new cotton cloths, coarse and thick, and then white-wash them. We have seen ham-covers, painted with flowers and gilded. Since California, gilding pervades the land.

This pickle will be found excellent for hams, bacon, tongues, or beef. Meat for pickling must be very fresh, and of excellent quality. Before sewing it up in covers see that it is free from insects. If to go to sea, pack in boxes of powdered charcoal for a long voyage. For a short one, barrels of wood-ashes will do.

TO CURE HAMS.—

To make good hams the pork must be of the best quality. No animal tastes[237] so much of its food as the pig. In America, we consider a pig "killed off the slop" as unfit to eat; and so he is. All our pigs are kept up in a pen, and fattened with Indian corn, or corn meal, for several weeks previous to killing. A hundred pounds of corn meal, (mixed with water to about the consistency of very thick mush,) is said to be equal in fattening pigs to two hundred pounds of dry-shelled corn. They should be kept up, and well fed for eight weeks; and occasionally, in the country, where such fruits are superabundant, the pigs should have a regale of melons, peaches, &c. This we have seen, and the pork was, of course, very fine. The hams or hind-quarters are considered the most valuable part of the animal. They are cured in various modes. But the Newbold receipt has hitherto been the most popular. Mr. Newbold was a Pennsylvania farmer. The following directions, we believe, are authentic.

For one hundred pounds of fine pork, take seven pounds of coarse salt, five pounds of brown sugar, two ounces of saltpetre, half an ounce of pearlash, and four gallons of water. Boil all together, and skim the pickle when cold. Pour it on the meat. Let hams or tongues remain in the pickling-tub eight weeks. Before it is smoked, hang it up and dry it two or three days. Three weeks will be sufficient for pickling beef. Previous to sewing the hams in cases, rub them all over with ground black pepper.

Soap-suds given frequently to pigs, when kept up to fatten, will greatly promote their health.[238]

BOILED HAM.—

Having soaked a fine ham from early in the evening till near bed-time, putting it into warm water, and changing that water about ten or eleven o'clock—wash and brush it well in the morning, and trim it so as to look nicely all over. Lay at the bottom of the ham-boiler a bed of nice fresh hay, which will greatly improve the flavor. Let the hock bone be sawed off short. A long shank bone looks very awkward. Place the ham upon the hay—pour in plenty of cold water, and keep it simmering very slowly an hour before you allow it to boil. Then increase the heat gradually, and keep the ham boiling steadily for four, five, or six hours, according to its size and age. An old ham requires more soaking and boiling than a new one. Skim it frequently after the boiling begins. It will be much improved by transferring it to a spit, (having taken off the whole skin,) and roasting the ham, for the last two or three hours, basting it with its own essence. Save the skin to cover the cold ham, and keep it fresh. Before it goes to table cover the ham with grated bread-crumbs, sifted on so as to form a slight crust.

If the ham is to be eaten cold, and is intended for company, brush it all over with beaten yolk of egg. Then dredge on sufficient grated crumbs to form a crust half an inch thick, and finish by going all over it with cream. Set it to brown in an oven, or put it on the spit of a roaster. When cold, this glazing will be found surpassingly fine. Decorate the hock with white paper, handsomely[239] cut, or with a bunch of flowers cut out of vegetables.

Carve a ham in very thin slices—if cut thick, they have not the same taste, besides looking ungenteelly.

BAKED HAM.—

For baking, take a small ham, or part of a large one, trimmed and made of good shape, cutting away whatever looks unsightly. Have the bone sawed off at the knuckle, or end of the hock. The evening previous to cooking, lay the ham in soak in a large pan of hot water. At bed-time pour off the water, and renew it. Keep it closely covered all night. In the morning wash and brush it well. Make a coarse paste of coarse flour mixed with water only, and roll it out about an inch thick. Line a clean iron bake-oven with this, and put in the ham, reserving enough of paste to cover the top. Pour in a very little water, merely sufficient to keep the ham from burning. Put on the lid of paste, and having wet the edges slightly press them together, so as to unite closely the top and bottom crust. Bake it over a steady fire, from four to five or six hours, or more, according to its size. When done, skim the gravy, remove the paste, (which is of no farther use,) and take off the skin of the ham. Dredge it all over with finely grated bread-crumbs, before it goes to table. A ham can scarcely be cooked too much, and too slow. The general fault is in cooking them too little, and too fast. A ham of the smallest size will require at[240] least four hours baking or boiling, even after it has been all night in soak. Save the skin whole, to cover the cold ham when it is put away in the pantry.

When a cooked ham is nearly all used up, take what remains, cut it all off from the bone, and stew the bits in a little water, till they are all to rags. You will find the essence an improvement to gravies, strained from the fragments.

MADEIRA HAM.—

This is a dish only seen at dinner parties. No one can believe, for a moment, that hams really cooked in Madeira wine are served up every week at hotels, particularly at those houses where there is no other superfluity, and where most of the great dishes exist only in the bill of fare. A genuine Madeira ham is cooked as follows:—Take a ham of the very finest sort; should be a Westphalia one. Lay it in hot water, and soak it all day and all night, changing the water several times, and every time washing out the pan. Early in the morning of the second day, put the ham into a large pot of cold water, and boil it slowly during four hours, skimming it well. Then take it out, remove the skin entirely, and put the ham into a clean boiler, with sufficient Madeira wine to cover it well. Boil, or rather stew it, an hour longer, keeping the pot covered except when you remove the lid to turn the ham. When well stewed take it up, drain it, and strain the liquor into a porcelain-lined saucepan. Have[241] ready a sufficiency of powdered white sugar. Cover the ham all over with a thick coating of the sugar, and set it into a hot oven to bake for an hour.

Mix some orange or lemon-juice with the liquor adding plenty of sugar and nutmeg. Give it one boil up over the fire, and serve it up in a tureen, as sauce to the ham.

What is left of the ham may be cut next day into small pieces, put into a stew-pan, with the remains of the liquor or sauce poured over it, and stewed for a quarter of an hour or more. Serve it up all together in the same dish. While it is on the fire, add a little butter to the stew.

BROILED HAM.—

Ham for broiling or frying should be cut into thin slices the evening before, trimmed, and laid in a pan of boiling water, which, near bed-time, should be changed for cold water, and very early in the morning for boiling water, in which it should lie half an hour to soak still longer. If ham is not well soaked previously, it will, when broiled or fried, be disagreeably hard and salt; the salt frying out to the surface and forming a rough unpleasant crust, which will create thirst in the eaters for hours after. Much of the salt of a ham goes off in boiling, but if it is not boiled or soaked, the salt comes out to the surface and there it sticks. The slices being cut thin and nicely trimmed, they should be broiled on a very clean gridiron over a clear fire, and so[242] well done that they incline to curl up at the edges. Dish them hot, and lay on every slice a very small bit of fresh butter, and sprinkle them with pepper.

FRIED HAM.—

Ham for frying need not be quite so thin as for broiling. Put but little butter in the frying-pan, as their own fat is generally sufficient to cook them. Break an egg over the middle of each slice, and let it cook till the white is set, and the yolk appears round and yellow through it. Before it goes to table trim off nicely the discolored and ragged edges of the fried eggs. They look disgusting when left on.

Cold ham is excellent for broiling or frying, and very nice without any further cooking. Send it to table strewed with either nasturtion flowers, pepper-grass, or parsley. All these things have a fine flavor of their own, especially nasturtions.

NICE FRIED HAM.—

Having scalded and soaked some nice ham, cut it into rather thick slices, and then cut these slices into mouthfuls or little narrow slips. Put them into a hot frying-pan, and fry them well. When done, season them with pepper and nutmeg, and serve them up in their own gravy. It will be an improvement to add a beaten egg just before they go to table.

You may add to the ham some bits of cold boiled chicken, pulled in little slips, from the breast, and fried with the ham, adding a little fresh butter.[243]

SLICED HAM.—

Slice very thin some cold boiled ham, and let the slices be nearly of the same size and appearance, making them look as handsome as you can. Cover them with fresh green pepper-grass at a summer breakfast or tea-table; and decorate the pepper-grass by interspersing with it some nasturtion flowers, which are very nice to eat, having a taste agreeably and slightly pungent. Pepper-grass and nasturtions, are very appetizing accompaniments to nice bread and butter.

DISGUISED HAM.—

Scrape or grate a pound of cold boiled ham, twice as much lean as fat. Season it slightly with pepper and a little powdered mace or nutmeg. Beat the yolks only, of three eggs, and mix with them the ham. Spread the mixture thickly over slices of very nice toast, with the crust pared off, and the toast buttered while hot. Brush it slightly on the surface with white of egg, and then brown it with a red hot shovel or salamander. This is a nice breakfast dish.

HAM CAKE.—

This should be made the day before it is wanted. Take the remains of a cold ham. Cut it into small bits, and pound it well (fat and lean together) in a marble mortar, adding some butter and grated nutmeg; or a little cream, sufficient to moisten it throughout. Fill a mould with the mixture, and set it for half an hour into a moderate oven. When ready for use, set the[244] mould for a few minutes into hot water, and then turn out the ham cake on a dish. Cover the surface all over with a coating of beaten white of egg. And before it is quite dry, decorate it with capers, or pickled nasturtion seeds, arranged in a pattern.

HAM OMELET.—

Mince very fine some cold boiled ham, (twice as much lean as fat,) till you have a half pint. Break six eggs, and strain them into a shallow pan. Beat them till very light and thick, and then stir in gradually the minced ham. Have ready, in a hot omelet pan, three table-spoonfuls of lard. When the lard boils, put in the omelet mixture and fry it. Occasionally slip a knife under the edge to keep it loose from the pan. It should be near an inch thick, as a ham omelet is best not to fold over. Make it a good even shape; and when one side is done, turn the other and brown it. You can turn it easily with a knife and fork, holding carefully, close to the omelet, the hot dish on which it is to go to table. Dredge the surface with a little cayenne.

Omelets may be made in this manner, of smoked tongue, or oysters chopped, cold sweetbread, asparagus minced, boiled onions, mushrooms, &c. A good allowance for a small omelet is the above proportion of eggs and lard, or fresh butter; and a large tea-cup of the seasoning article, which must always have been previously cooked.

They are much lighter when served up of their[245] full size, and not folded over in halfs. A large omelet must have from eight to ten, or a dozen eggs. It is best to bake all omelets of the six egg size, and have more in number if required.

HAM TOAST.—

Make some very nice slices of toast, with all the crust trimmed off; and dip each toast for an instant into a bowl of hot water, then butter it slightly. Have ready some grated cold ham, and spread it thick over each slice of toast. Tongue toast is made in the same manner.

SANDWICHES.—

Spread some thin slices of bread very thinly with nice fresh butter, and lay a thin slice of cold ham (the edges neatly trimmed) between every two slices of bread and butter. You may make them so thin, as to roll up—a number being piled on a plate.

BISCUIT SANDWICHES.—

This is a very nice and very pretty dish for a supper table. Have ready one or two dozen of fresh soft milk biscuit. Split them, and take a very little of the soft crumb out of each biscuit, so as to make a slight hollow. Butter the biscuits with very nice fresh butter, and fill them liberally with grated ham or tongue. Stick round the inside of the edges, full sprigs of pepper-grass, or curled parsley, or the green tops of celery. Arrange the sprigs closely and[246] handsomely, so as to project out all round the sides, forming a green border or fringe. We highly recommend biscuit sandwiches.

POTTED HAM.—

Take some cold ham, slice it, and mince it small, fat and lean together. Then pound it in a mortar; seasoning it as you proceed with cayenne pepper, powdered mace, and powdered nutmeg. Then fill with it a large deep pan, and set it in an oven for half an hour. Afterwards pack it down hard in a stone jar, and fill up the jar with lard. Cover it closely, and paste down a thick paper over the jar. If sufficiently seasoned, it will keep well in winter; and is convenient for sandwiches, or on the tea-table. A jar of this will be found useful to travelers in remote places.

TO PREPARE BACON.—

All pieces of pork that, after pickling, are dried and smoked, come under the denomination of bacon; except the hind-quarters or legs, and they are always called ham, and are justly considered superior to any other part of the animal, and bring a higher price. The shoulders or fore-quarters, the sides or flitches, the jowl or head, and all the other parts, are designated as bacon; and in some places they erroneously give that name to the whole animal, if cured, or preserved by the process of smoking.

To prepare bacon for being cooked, examine it[247] well, and scrape it carefully, and trim off all unsightly parts. If the fat is yellow, the meat is rusty or tainted, and not fit to eat. So, also, if on the lean there are brownish or blackish spots. All sorts of food, if kept too long, should be thrown away at once.

If perfectly good, prepare the bacon for cooking, by washing it well, and then soaking it for several hours in a pan full of cold water, removing the water once or twice during the process. If the bacon is salt and hard, soak it all night, changing the water at bed-time, and early in the morning.

A dish of broiled ham is a nice accompaniment to one of calves' chitterlings, at breakfast.

TO BOIL BACON.—

Put two or three pounds of nice bacon into a pot with plenty of cold water, and let it simmer slowly for an hour before it begins to boil. Skim it well, and when no more scum rises, put in the vegetables which are usually eaten with bacon, and which taste better for boiling with the meat. These are young greens, or sprouts, very young roots and leaves of the poke plant, and green beans—strung and cut in half—not smaller. On no account should any other vegetables be boiled with bacon. When the bacon is so tender as to be easily pierced through with a fork, even in the thickest places, take it up and drain it well in a cullender or sieve. Remove the skin. Then take up the vegetables and drain them[248] also, pressing out all the liquid. Season them with pepper only. Send the meat to table with the vegetables heaped round it, on the same large dish, (the cabbage being chopped, but not minced fine.) Potatos, squashes, peas, asparagus, &c., should never be boiled in the same pot, or served up in the same dish with bacon, which is too plain a dish for any but a country table; while a ham is a delicacy for the city, or for any place.

BACON AND BEANS.—

Scrape and trim a nice piece of bacon, (not too fat,) and see that no part of it looks yellow or rusty, or shows any appearance of being too old. If so, do not cook it, as it is unwholesome, unpalatable, and unfit to eat. A shoulder is a good piece to boil. The best of the animal, when smoked, is, of course, the ham or leg. We are now speaking of the other pieces that, when cured, are properly called bacon, and are eaten at plain tables only.

The meat, if very salt, is the better for being put in soak early in the morning, or the night before. Afterwards put it into a pot, and boil and skim it till tender. Have ready a quart or two of fresh green string beans, cut into three pieces, (not more); put them into the pot in which the bacon is boiling, and let them cook with the meat for an hour or more. When done, take them out, drain them well; season them well with pepper, and send them to table on a separate dish from the bacon.

Many persons like so well this bacon flavor, that[249] they always, when boiling string-beans, put a small piece of bacon in the pot, removing it before the beans are sent to table.

With bacon and beans, serve up whole potatos boiled and peeled—and in the country, where cream is plenty, they boil some with butter, and pour it over the potatos, touching each one with pepper.

BROILED HAM OR BACON.—

Wash and trim a nice piece of bacon; soak it all night, or for several hours, in cold water. In the morning scald it with boiling water. Let it lie till cool, then throw away the water, and scald it again. Cut it into thin slices, very smooth and even; the rind being previously pared off. Curl up the slices, rolling them round, and securing them with wooden skewers. Broil them on a gridiron, or bake them in a Dutch oven. If cut properly thin, they will cook in a quarter of an hour. They must not be allowed to burn or blacken. Before you send them to table, take out the skewers. They may be cooked in flat slices, without curling, but they must be cut always very thin. Slice some hard-boiled eggs, and lay them on the meat. Season with black pepper.

Cold boiled ham cooked as above, will require no soaking, and can be speedily prepared for a breakfast dish. Lay sprigs of parsley on the ham.

Serve up with them mashed potatos made into balls, or thick flat cakes, and browned on the surface with a red-hot shovel.[250]

STEWED HAM.—

Cut some thin slices of cold boiled ham. Season them slightly with pepper. No salt. Lay them in a stew pan with plenty of green peas or lima beans, or else cauliflowers, or young summer cabbage, quartered, and the thick stalk omitted. Add a piece of fresh butter, or a very little lard. Put in just water enough to keep the things from burning. When the vegetables are quite done, add a beaten egg or two, and in five minutes, take up the stew and send it to table.

STEWED BACON.—

Take a small piece of bacon, not too fat or salt. It had best be soaked in cold water the night before. Put it into a pot, with a large portion of string beans, each cut into three pieces, (not more,) or else some cabbage, or young cabbage sprouts. Early in the spring, the young stalks of the pokeberry plant will be found excellent with stewed bacon. Stew the bacon and vegetables in just water enough to cover them all; skimming frequently. Drain all, through a cullender, when done. Have a dish of boiled potatos also. A molasses indian pudding is a good conclusion to this homely dinner.

PREPARED LARD.—

As soon as it is cut off from the newly killed pork, put the fat into a crock, or deep earthen pot. Cover the crock with its own lid, and let it stand all night in a cool place. Next day, cut it into small bits, (carefully removing all[251] the fleshy particles of lean); and then put the fat into a very clean pot, without either water or salt. The pot should not be more than half full of pork-fat. Let it boil slowly, (stirring it frequently from the bottom, lest it burn,) till it becomes quite clear and transparent. Then ladle it into clean pans. When almost cold, put it into stoneware jars, which must be closely covered, and kept in a cool place. If it is to go to a distance, tie it up in new bladders.

There are two sorts of pork-fat for lard. The leaf-fat, which is best; and the fat that adheres to the entrails. These two fats should be boiled separately.

The large entrails, whose skins are to be used for sausages, must be cleaned out carefully, well scraped, and thrown into strong salt and water for two days, (changing the brine the second day,) and afterwards into strong lye for twenty-four hours. Lastly, wash them in fresh water. We think it much better to dispense with the skins altogether; keeping your sausage meat in jars, and frying it in cakes when wanted for use. Its own fat (as it exudes) will cook it.

Never use bad butter when you can obtain good lard, for frying, and other purposes.[252]

VENISON.

You may judge of the age of venison by looking at the hoof, which is always left on the leg. The deer is young if the cleft of the hoof is small and smooth; but large and rough, if he is old. Buck venison is considered better than the meat of the doe. The haunch, or hind-quarter, is the best part, and the fat upon it should, be thick and white. The shoulder, or fore-quarter, is the next best piece. The saddle comprises both hind-quarters; and these, for a large company, are always cooked together.

To eat venison in perfection, it should be killed when the deer can find plenty of fresh food in the forest, and when they have fattened on the abundance of wild berries, which they can obtain during the autumn. In winter, they are brought into the cities, lean, hard, dry, and black, and the meat infested all through with small threadlike white worms; showing that decomposition has commenced, and requiring the disguise of spices, wine, currant jelly, &c., to render it eatable, not wholesome, for every sort of food in the slightest degree tainted is utterly injurious to health, and cannot often be eaten with impunity.

It never was very fashionable, in America, to eat spoiled victuals, and it is now less so than ever. Fortunately, in our land of abundance, "we do not see the necessity"[253].

HAUNCH OF VENISON.—

To prepare a haunch of venison for roasting (we will suppose it to be perfectly good and well kept,) wipe it thoroughly all over with clean cloths, dipped in lukewarm water, and then go over it with clean dry cloths. Trim off all unsightly parts. Lay over the fat a large sheet of thick brown paper, well buttered, and securely tied on with twine. Or else make a coarse paste of brown meal, and cover it with that. Place it before a good steady fire, and let it roast from three to four hours, according to its size. After roasting well for three hours, remove the covering of paper or paste, and baste the meat well all over; first with dripping or butter, and then with its own gravy, dredging it very slightly with browned flour. Skim the fat off the gravy, and send the venison to table plain, with sweet sauce of black currant jelly, or raspberry jam, in a glass dish with a spoon in it.

VENISON STEAKS, BROILED.—

Cut the steaks not quite an inch thick. Trim them nicely, and season them with a little black pepper and salt. Have ready, over a bed of clear bright hot coals from a wood fire, a gridiron with grooved bars to catch the gravy. Put down the steaks, and when one side is quite done turn the other, and broil that. Venison should always be very thoroughly done. Before you take up the steaks, lay a bit of nice fresh butter upon each. Take them up on a hot dish, and keep them warm. Pour off the gravy into[254] a small saucepan. Give it a boil over the fire, and skim off all the fat from the surface. Stir into it some nice wine, and serve up with the steaks a deep dish of cranberry, or peach sauce, or a large cup of grape jelly.

STEWED VENISON STEAKS.—

Take some fine steaks of freshly killed venison. Cut them from the upper part of the leg. Make a forcemeat, or stuffing, with bread soaked in milk, mixed with fresh butter, with chopped sweet marjoram and sweet basil; or some boiled onions, minced small, and mixed with chopped sage, which may be boiled with the onion, and seasoned with a very little salt and pepper. Spread the stuffing thickly over the inside of the steaks. Then roll them up, and tie them round with packthread, or secure them at the ends with wooden skewers. Put the steaks into a stewpan with some fresh butter or lard, or some drippings that have been left of roast venison—the day before. Let them stew (keeping the pan covered) till thoroughly done. Then dish them with the gravy round them. Serve up with them a sauce of stewed cranberries, or stewed dried peaches.

You may stew lamb or mutton cutlets in the same manner, but do not use mutton dripping. Water (a very small quantity) is best for them. Veal cutlets may be stewed exactly like venison.[255]

HASHED VENISON.—

Take the remains of cold roast venison, from which sufficient gravy or dripping has been saved to cook the meat again, without any water at all. It would be well if this were done in all hashes made from cold meat. For want of drippings, use butter or lard. Cold meat stewed in water is weak and unpalatable.

Two or three large spoonfuls of mushroom, or tomato catchup, are improvements to all hashes. If nothing better can be obtained use onions, always previously boiled to render them less strong.

Minced sweet herbs are excellent seasoning for hashes. Also minced tarragon leaves; they give a peculiar flavor that is very generally liked. Fresh tarragon is in season in July, August, and September.

French mustard (to be obtained at all the best grocery stores) is a great improvement to hashes and stews. Stir in at the last, one or two large table-spoonfuls. The chief ingredient of French mustard is tarragon.

A FINE VENISON PIE.—

Cut steaks from a loin or haunch of venison, which should be as freshly killed as you can get it. The strange and absurd prejudice in favor of hard black-looking venison, (that has been kept till the juices are all dried up,) is fast subsiding; and no one now eats any sort of food in which decomposition has commenced. Those who have eaten venison fresh from the forest, when the deer have fattened on[256] wild grapes, huckleberries, blackberries, cranberries, &c., will never again be able to relish such as is brought in wagon loads to the Atlantic cities, and which has been kept till full of those fine threads that are in reality long thin whitish worms, and which are often seen in very old hams.

Having removed the bones and cut the meat into steaks, and seasoned it with salt and pepper, put the venison into a pot, with merely as much water as will cover it well. Let it stew till perfectly tender, skimming it occasionally. Then take it out, and set it to cool, saving the gravy in a bowl. Make a nice puff paste; divide the paste into two equal portions, and roll it out rather thick. Butter a deep dish, and line it with one of the sheets of paste, rolled thin at the bottom. Then put in the stewed venison. Season the gravy with a glass of very good wine, (either port or sherry,) a few blades of mace, and a powdered nutmeg. Stir into it the crumbled yolks of some hard-boiled eggs. Pour the gravy over the meat, and put on the other sheet of paste, as the lid of the pie. Bring the two edges close together, so as to unite evenly, and notch them handsomely. Set it immediately into the oven, and bake it well. If a steady heat is kept up, it will be done in an hour. Send it to table hot.

Instead of wine, you may put into the gravy half a pint of black currant jelly, which, for venison, is thought preferable to red. Either will do.

Any sort of game, partridges, pheasants, grouse,[257] wild ducks, &c., may be made into a fine pie, exactly as above.

VERY PLAIN VENISON PIE.—

Cut from the bone some good pieces of fine fresh venison, season them slightly with salt and pepper, and put them into a pot with plenty of potatos, (either sweet or white,) split and quartered, and only as much water as will cover the whole. Set it over the fire, cover it, and let it stew slowly and steadily, till all is tender, skimming it several times. Meanwhile, make a nice paste of flour shortened with cold gravy, or drippings saved from roast venison, or of nice lard. Allow half a pint of shortening to each quart of flour. Put the flour into a pan, and rub the shortening into it as quickly as possible, adding a very little cold water, to make it into a lump of paste. Then roll it out into a sheet, and spread over it with a broad knife the remaining half of the shortening. Dredge lightly with flour, fold it up, and roll it out in two sheets. With one of them line your pie-dish, and put into it the stewed venison and potatos. Pour in the gravy of the stew. The filling of this pie should be piled high in the centre. Lay on, as a lid, the other sheet of paste, which should be rather the largest. Pare off smoothly the edges of the two crusts, and crimp them nicely. Set the pie in the oven, and bake it well. It may be eaten either hot or cold, but is best hot.

The above quantity of paste is only sufficient[258] for a very small pie. For one of moderate size allow two quarts of flour, and a pound of shortening.

VENISON POT-PIE.—

Remove the bone from some fine venison steaks, cut near an inch thick. Season them lightly with pepper and salt, and score them each in several places. Stew them in a very little water till tender. Have ready an ample portion of nice suet paste. If you cannot obtain beef suet use cold venison fat, minced fine and made into a paste with double its quantity in flour, and as little water as possible. Lay some stewed venison at the bottom of the pot, and line the sides with paste almost up to the top. Put in the meat, adding among it boiled sweet potatos cut into pieces, or (if they are to be had in plenty,) chestnuts, boiled and peeled. Mushrooms will be a great improvement. Onion also, (if liked,) boiled and cut up. Intersperse the whole with square pieces of paste. Fill the pot almost to the top with the meat and other ingredients. Lay a thick paste over the whole, cut round to fit, but not too closely. Pour in a pint of warm water to increase the gravy. Make a cross slit in the middle of the upper crust. Cook the pie till all is well done. Serve it up with the brown crust in pieces, and laid on the top.

This pie, if well made, and with plenty of paste, will be thought excellent whenever fresh venison is to be had.[259]

VENISON HAM.—

Take fine freshly-killed venison. Mix together an ounce of saltpetre, a pound of coarse brown sugar, and a pound of salt. Let them be very thoroughly mixed and pounded. Rub this well into the meat, and continue rubbing hard till it froths. Keep the meat in the pickle for two weeks, turning it every day. Then take it out, and roll it in saw-dust, (which, on no account, must be the saw-dust of any species of pine.) Hang it for two weeks longer in the smoke of oak wood or of corn cobs. All hams, when being smoked, must be hung very high, and have the large end downwards. If hung too low, the heat softens or melts the fat.

Venison hams, if well cured, require no boiling. They are always eaten chipped or shaved like smoked beef, to which they are very superior. It may be stewed in a skillet with fresh butter and beaten egg, and cut into thin shavings, or very thin small slices—or, instead of butter, with the drippings of cold roast venison. Season with pepper only.

RABBITS.—

Rabbits should be young and tender, but full-grown and fat. Two are required to make a dish. One rabbit, except for an invalid, is scarcely worth the trouble of cooking; and, being naturally insipid, it must have certain seasoning to make it taste well. The hare, so much prized in England, owes its reputation entirely to their mode of dressing it, which is troublesome,[260] expensive, and in our country would never become popular, unless the animal had in itself more to recommend it. With all that can be done for a hare, it is, when cooked, black, dry, hard; and if it has been kept long enough to acquire what they call the "true game flavor," so much the worse. A fine fat well-fed tame rabbit is much better. In Virginia, the negroes frequently call a large rabbit "a hare"—or rather "a yar;" and though they know it to be young, they generally term it "that old yar." We opine that with them "yars" are not admired. If a rabbit is really old his ears are tough, and his claws blunt and rough with coarse hairs growing between them. A young rabbit has short sharp claws, and ears so tender that on trying you can easily tear them. Rabbits should be cooked the day they are killed. Always cut off the head. A rabbit dished whole, with its head on, is, to most persons, a disgusting sight. The head of no small animal is worth eating, and always looks disagreeable when cooked.

ROASTED RABBITS.—

Take a pair of fine well-fed young rabbits, and having drawn or emptied them, lay them, for about ten minutes, in a pan of warm water. Then dry them inside with a clean cloth, carefully wiping them out. Truss them short, and neatly, having removed the heads. Line the inside with very thin slices of fat bacon[261] that has had most of the salt soaked out. Make a plentiful stuffing or forcemeat of bread steeped in milk, some fresh butter mixed with a very little flour; or, instead of butter, some beef suet finely minced; some chopped sweet herbs; and some crumbled yolks of hard-boiled eggs. Season with mace and nutmeg, and grated lemon rind. Fill the rabbits well with this—or, you may stuff them entirely with boiled potatos, mashed with plenty of nice butter, or the drippings of roast veal or pork. Or (if liked) you may make the stuffing entirely of minced onion, (previously boiled,) and minced sage leaves, moistened with a very little lard or sweet oil, and seasoned with powdered mace, nutmeg, and pepper. Having put in plenty of stuffing, sew up the bodies of the rabbits, flour them well, and put them on the spit and set them before a clear fire. Baste them with milk, or with fresh butter, tied up in thin muslin. They will be done in an hour or more. Thicken the gravy with flour, and pour it over them in the dish. Roasted rabbits make a good second dish at a small dinner. Take the livers of the rabbits, and chop them, to put into the gravy.

RABBITS WITH ONIONS.—

Peel, boil, and slice six (or more) large onions, and season them with nutmeg, and a very little cayenne. Cover them, and set them aside till wanted. Cut two fine rabbits into pieces, and fry them in fresh butter or lard. When browned, and nearly done, cover[262] them with the sliced onions, and brown them, having laid among them some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour. Dish the rabbits, with the pieces entirely hidden under the onions.

A plainer, and not so good a way, is to put the pieces of rabbit, and the sliced onions, into a stew-pan with a little water, and stew the whole together.

RABBIT POT-PIE.—

Cut up the rabbits, and stew them in a little water. When nearly done, put the pieces into a pot and intersperse them with bits of cold ham. Add the gravy left from the stew. Season with pepper and mace. Have ready sufficient paste, (made with minced suet, and rather more than twice its quantity of flour.) There must be enough of paste to line the sides of the pot all round, nearly up to the top, and enough to make a thick lid, besides having plenty of extra pieces to lay among the other contents. Also have ready a few onions boiled and sliced. Cover the pie with the lid of paste, not fitting very closely. Make a cross slit in the top, and pour in a little water. When done, serve all up on one large dish.

This pie will be much improved by stewing with the rabbits a fresh beef steak. A beef steak in any pot-pie thickens and enriches the gravy.[263]

PULLED RABBITS.—

Boil, very tender, a fine pair of nice young rabbits. When cold, cut them in pieces as for carving, and peel off the skin. Then with a fork pull all the meat from the bones, first loosening it with a knife. Put it into a stew-pan with plenty of cream, or some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour; some minced sweet herbs, some grated fresh lemon rind, and some hard-boiled yolks of eggs crumbled. Season with cayenne and nutmeg. Cover it, and let it simmer till it comes to a boil. Then immediately take it off the fire, and transfer it to a deep dish. Serve it up hot. This is a side dish at dinner.

FRICASSEED RABBITS.—

Cut up the rabbits as for carving, and go over every piece with lard or sweet oil. Lay them in a frying pan, and fry them in nice fresh butter. If you cannot procure this, use lard. Season them with a very little salt and cayenne, dredge them well with flour, and sprinkle them thickly with parsley, or sweet marjoram. When they are fried brown, take them up. Keep them warm in a heated dish with a cover. Skim the gravy that remains in the pan, and add to it some cream, or rich milk thickened with flour, enriched with the beaten yolk of an egg, and flavored with nutmeg.

Rabbits may be cut up, and fried in batter made of bread-crumbs and beaten egg. Dip every piece of rabbit twice into the batter.[264]

A COATED HARE, OR LARGE RABBIT.—

The hare, or rabbit, should be large and fat. Save the liver and heart to assist in the gravy, which ought to be made of some pieces of the lean of good fresh beef, seasoned with pepper, salt, and nutmeg, stewed in a small sauce-pan, till all the essence is extracted, adding the chopped liver and heart, and a bit of fresh butter, rolled in flour. Cold fresh meat, or meat that has to be recooked, is unfit for gravy, and so it is for soup. Line the inside of the hare with small thin slices of fat ham, or bacon, and then fill the cavity with a stuffing made of grated bread-crumbs, the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon, or orange, a piece of fresh butter, some minced sweet marjoram, and the crumbled yolk of one or two hard-boiled eggs. Season the stuffing with a little pepper and salt, and some powdered nutmeg and mace. Fill the body of the hare with this mixture, and sew it up, to keep in the stuffing. Spit the hare, and roast it well, keeping it for a while at a moderate distance from the fire. To baste it, while roasting, make a dressing of the beaten yolks of four eggs, four spoonfuls of flour, a pint of milk, and three table-spoonfuls of salad oil, all well-beaten together. Baste the hare with this till it is thickly coated all over with the batter, taking care it does not burn. Send the gravy to table in a sauce-boat, accompanied by currant, or cranberry jelly.

A very young fawn, or a kid, may be drest in a similar manner. Kids are not eaten after three months old. Till that age their meat is white and[265] delicate. Their flesh, after that time, gradually becomes coarse and dark-colored. A very young kid, before it is weaned, is very delicious; but no longer. In the oriental countries, young kids are stuffed with chopped raisins and almonds, or pistachio nuts, previous to roasting; and basted with rich milk, or cream.

POULTRY AND GAME.

Spring chickens bring a high price, and are considered delicacies, but they are so insipid, and have so little on them, that we think the purchase of them, when very young, a mere fashionable extravagance, and a waste of money that might be better employed in something that had really a fine flavor, and that when divided was more than a morsel for each person. We wonder that any but invalids should care for spring chickens. It is better to wait till the young chickens grow into nice plump fowls, that were well fed, and have lived long enough to show it. A fine full-grown young fowl, has a clear white skin, that tears easily when tried with a pin. It has a broad fleshy breast, the legs are smooth, and the toes easily broken when bent back. Fowls with whitish legs are considered the best for boiling; those with dark legs the best for roasting. The finest of all[266] fowls are capons. They grow very large and fat, and yet are as tender as young chickens, have a fine delicate rich flavor of their own, and are well worth their cost. The great Bucks county fowls are profitable because they are large; but they are never very plenty in market, being difficult to raise. The best poultry feels heavy in proportion to its size. Hen turkeys are best for boiling.

Ducks and geese (particularly the latter) are so tough when old, that it is often impossible to eat them; therefore buy none that are not young. Geese are generally kept alive too long, for the sake of their feathers, which they always shed in August, and for which there is always a demand. And geese are not expensive to keep, as in summer they feed on grass, and will graze in a field like sheep. The feet and legs of an old goose are red and hard. So is her bill. The skin is rough, coarse, and tough, and full of hairs. Let nothing induce you to buy an old goose. You would find it too tough to carve, and too tough to eat. And no cooking can make her tender.

Poultry should be drawn, or emptied (taking care not to break the gall) as soon almost as killed. Then let it be well washed, inside and out, and wiped dry. In picking it, carefully remove every plug or vestige of feathers, and singe off the hairs, by holding the bird to the fire, with a lighted piece of writing paper. Brown paper will give it something of an unpleasant taste. Newspaper is worse, on account of the printing-ink.

If poultry is brought from market frozen, you[267] need not hasten to thaw it, before it is actually wanted for use. Till then, put it in a cold place, and let it remain frozen. It will keep the better. When you thaw it, by all means use only cold water. Any frozen poultry, or meat, thawed in warm water, will most certainly spoil. Let it be remembered that any food which has been frozen requires a much longer time to cook.

BOILED TURKEY.—

For boiling, choose a fine fat hen turkey. In drawing it, be careful not to break the gall, or a bitter taste will be communicated to the whole bird. In picking, remove every plug and hair, and then singe it with writing-paper. Wash it very clean, and then wipe it dry, inside and out. In trussing, draw the legs into the body, having cut them off at the first joint. Let the turkey look as round and plump as possible. Fill the breast with a very nice forcemeat, or stuffing, made of a quarter of a pound of grated bread-crumbs, mixed with two large table-spoonfuls or two ounces of fresh butter, or finely minced suet, seasoned with a little pepper and salt, a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg and mace mixed together, a table-spoonful of sweet herbs [C] (sweet basil and sweet marjoram) chopped small if green, and powdered if dry; and the crumbled yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Add the grated yellow rind,[268] and the juice of a fresh lemon, and mix the whole very well. Skewer the liver and gizzard under the pinions, having first cut open the gizzard and cleared it of sand or gravel.

It is no longer customary to mix stuffing or forcemeat with beaten raw egg for the purpose of binding the ingredients together. Leave them loose, without this binding, and the forcemeat will be much lighter, better flavored, and more abundant. It will not fall out if a packthread, or very small twine is wound carefully round the body, (to be removed before serving up,) and it may be secured by sewing it with a needle and thread.

Put the turkey into a large pot with plenty of cold water, and boil it gently, for two hours or more, in proportion to its size; carefully removing all the scum as it rises. It will be whiter if boiled in a large clean cloth, or in a coarse paste, (the paste to be thrown away afterwards,) and take care that it is thoroughly done. Serve up boiled turkey with oyster sauce, celery sauce, or cauliflower sauce. Sweet sauce is rarely eaten with boiled things—unless with puddings.

To ascertain if boiled poultry is done, try the thickest parts with a large needle. If the needle goes through, and in and out easily, it is sufficient.

A turkey (boiled or roast) for a family dish, may be stuffed with nice sausage meat, in which case it requires no other stuffing. Surround it on a dish[269] with fried sausage cakes, about the size of a dollar, but near an inch thick.

It is very convenient to keep always in the house, during the winter months, one or two large jars of nice home-made sausage-meat, well covered. The best time for making sausage-meat is in November. After March, sausages are seldom eaten.

OYSTER TURKEY.—

(French dish.)—Prepare a fine young hen turkey, for boiling; skewering the liver and gizzard under the pinions. Fill the body well with fine large fresh oysters, having removed their hard part or gristle. Add to the oysters a tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg and mace, and a tea-spoonful of celery seed or minced celery, and a piece of fresh butter dredged with flour. With this, stuff the turkey very full; securing the stuffing with packthread. Put the turkey into a large block-tin kettle, and let it stew in the oyster liquor only, without any water. Strain the oyster liquor before you put it in. Set the kettle into an outer kettle full of boiling water. This will cook the turkey very nicely. For such purposes, nothing is so convenient as the utensil called in French a bain marie, (pronounced bine marée.) This is a permanent double kettle with two covers, and a large tube or spout outside, for pouring in fresh hot water, without opening the lid and letting out the steam. They are to be had of all sizes at the furnishing stores in New York and Philadel[270]phia, and are so excellent for stewing without water, that no family should be without them.

When the turkey is well boiled and quite done, keep it warm by wrapping it closely in a cloth, putting a dish cover over it, and placing it near the fire. A fine oyster gravy will be found in the kettle. Add to it some fresh butter, dredged with flour, and some mace and nutmeg, and some celery seed. Give it one boil up, and send it to table as sauce for the turkey. This is a very nice way of cooking a small turkey.

A pair of oyster chickens may be thus prepared, and stewed in the above manner in a bain marie, or double kettle.

ROAST TURKEY.—

Take a fine large turkey, full-grown and fat, draw and singe him carefully, saving the giblets (neck, heart, gizzard, and liver,) for the gravy. After he is drawn, wash the inside well, wipe it dry, and sprinkle it with black pepper. Make a large quantity of stuffing or forcemeat. It increases his apparent size, and besides is generally liked. Mince small some cold boiled ham, in equal portions of fat and lean: grated lemon rind, minced sweet herbs, fresh butter, or finely minced suet. Add plenty of grated bread-crumbs or crumbled rusk; also, hard-boiled yolk of egg crumbled. Moisten the mixture with lemon juice and some good white wine. Stuff the turkey well with this forcemeat, sewing it up, or winding a small cord round the body to secure the filling.[271] Roast it before a clear and substantial fire, basting it well with fresh butter. When done, take it up and keep it hot.

Cut up the giblets and put them into a small sauce-pan, with a very little water, and stew them while the turkey is roasting; adding a piece of fresh butter dredged with flour. When done, remove the pieces of neck, &c., retaining those of the heart, liver, and gizzard. Stir into the gravy, after it comes from the fire, the yolk of a beaten egg. Having skimmed the gravy in the dripping-pan, add it to the gravy that has been made of the giblets, and send it to table in a sauce-boat. Accompany the turkey with an oval dish, or tureen of cranberry sauce, made very sweet.

A roast turkey may be stuffed with oysters, or with chestnuts boiled, peeled, and mashed with butter. If with chestnuts, thicken the gravy with whole boiled chestnuts. If with oysters, send oyster-sauce to table with the turkey. If chestnuts cannot be obtained, any roasted poultry is good stuffed with well-boiled sweet potatos, mashed with plenty of butter or meat drippings.

The legs of turkeys are never helped to any one at table. They are always sent away on the dish.

A BONED TURKEY.—

For this purpose you must have a fine, large, tender turkey; and after it is drawn, and washed, and wiped dry, lay it on a clean table, and take a very sharp knife, with a narrow blade and point. Begin at the neck; then[272] go round to the shoulders and wings, and carefully separate the flesh from the bone, scraping it down as you proceed. Next loosen the flesh from the breast, and back, and body; and then from the thighs. It requires care and patience to do it nicely, and to avoid tearing or breaking the skin. The knife should always penetrate quite to the bone; scraping loose the flesh rather than cutting it. When all the flesh has been completely loosened, take the turkey by the neck, give it a pull, and the whole skeleton will come out entirely from the flesh, as easily as you draw your hand out of a glove. The flesh will then fall down, a flat and shapeless mass. With a small needle and thread, carefully sew up any holes that have accidentally been torn in the skin.

Have ready a large quantity of stuffing, made as follows:—Take three sixpenny loaves of stale bread; grate the crumb; and put the crust in water to soak. When quite soft, break them up small into the pan of grated bread-crumbs, and mix in a pound of fresh butter, cut into little pieces. Take two large bunches of sweet marjoram; the same of sweet basil; and one bunch of parsley. Mince the parsley very fine, and rub to a powder the leaves of the marjoram and basil. You should have two large heaping table-spoonfuls of each. Chop, also, two very small onions or shalots, and mix them with the herbs. Pound to powder a quarter of an ounce of mace; and two large nutmegs. Mix the spices together, and add a tea-spoonful of salt, and a tea-spoonful of ground black pepper. Then mix[273] the herbs, spices, &c., thoroughly into the bread-crumbs, and add, by degrees, four hard-boiled eggs crumbled fine.

Take up a handful of this filling; squeeze it hard, and proceed to stuff the turkey with it—beginning at the wings; next do the body; and then the thighs. Stuff it very hard; and, as you proceed, form the turkey into its natural shape, by filling out, properly, the wings, breast, body, &c. When all the stuffing is in, sew up the body and skewer the turkey into the usual shape in which they are trussed; so that, if skillfully done, it will look almost as if it had not been boned. Tie it round with tape, and bake it three hours or more; basting it occasionally with fresh butter. Make a gravy of the giblets, chopped, and stewed slowly in a little water. When done, add to it the gravy that is in the dish about the turkey, (having first skimmed off the fat,) and enrich it with a glass of white wine, and two beaten yolks of eggs, stirred in just before you take it from the fire.

If the turkey is to be eaten cold at the supper-table, drop table-spoonfuls of currant or cranberry jelly all over it at small distances, and in the dish round it.

A very handsome way of serving it up cold is, after making a sufficiency of nice clear calves'-foot jelly, (seasoned, as usual, with wine, lemon, cinnamon, &c.,) to lay the turkey in the dish in which it is to go to table, and setting it under the jelly-bag, let the jelly drip upon it, so as to form a transparent coating all over it; smoothing the jelly[274] evenly with the back of a spoon, as it congeals on the turkey. Apple jelly may be substituted.

Large fowls may be boned and stuffed in the above manner: also, a young roasting pig.

ROAST GOOSE.—

A goose for roasting should be young, tender, and fat; so tender, that the skin can easily be torn by a pin; the bill and legs smooth and of a light yellow color, and the toes breaking when bent under. If the skin is thick and tough, and the bill and legs a dark reddish yellow, rough and hairy, do not buy the goose. It is old, and no cooking can make it eatable. A goose, from its profusion of feathers, looks like a large bird when walking about; but when plucked and prepared for the spit, it will be found very deceptive. It is much more hollow than a turkey; and, except the breast, there is but little eating on it. In large families it is usual to have a pair of roast geese, one not being sufficient. Geese are not good except for roasting, or in a pie.

In preparing a goose for cooking, save the giblets for the gravy. After the goose has been drawn, singed well, washed and wiped, inside and out; trussed so as to look round and short; make a quantity of stuffing, (as its hollow body will require a great deal.) For this purpose, parboil two good sized onions, and a large bunch of green sage. Mince both the sage and onions, seasoning them with a small salt-spoon of salt, half as much black pepper, and still less cayenne. Add a hard-boiled[275] egg finely minced (yolk and white;) the chopped egg giving a nice smoothness to the sage and onion. If your goose is large, take two chopped eggs.

To make the stuffing very mild, (if preferred so,) add a handful of finely grated bread-crumbs; or two or three fine juicy chopped apples. Fill the body and craw with this stuffing, and secure it with a needle and thread from falling out. Set the goose before a clear, steady fire—having a little warm water in the dripping-pan to baste it till the gravy begins to fall. Keep it well basted all the time it is roasting. It must be thoroughly done all through. Roast it according to its size, from an hour and a half to two hours or more.

Boil the giblets in a sauce-pan by themselves, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, and having among them a bit of butter dredged with flour. When done, remove the neck, and retain the heart, liver, and gizzard, cut into pieces, and served in the gravy, which should be well skimmed. Also, skim carefully the fat off the gravy in the bottom of the dripping-pan. Put the two gravies together, and serve them up in a gravy tureen. To eat with the goose, have plenty of apple-sauce, made of fine juicy apples, stewed very dry, well sweetened, and flavored with the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon; or with some rose-water and nutmeg stirred in after the sauce is taken from the fire. Rose-water evaporates in cooking, and should never boil or be kept on the fire. A bain marie, or double kettle, is excellent for stewing fruit; putting the fruit inside, and the water outside.[276]

For a family dinner a goose is very good stuffed with well-boiled potatos, mashed smooth, with plenty of fresh butter or gravy. Sweet potatos make an excellent stuffing. So do boiled chestnuts, mashed with butter or gravy.

GOOSE PIE.—

The old fashioned goose pie made with a standing crust, (the flour being mixed with boiling water, and therefore unfit for eating,) is now obsolete. They were generally sent as Christmas presents. Besides the goose, they contained chickens, pigeons, (all boned,) and various other things. They had standing sides like an oval wall, covered with a lid of the same paste, having, on the top, a knob, by which to lift off. These pies were expected to remain good a week; but generally the gravy became sour in a few days, even in winter, and however carefully kept from the air. The following is a receipt to make a fine goose pie for immediate use, and with a nice eatable paste.

Take a fine plump young goose, and parboil it, (in as little water as will cover it,) saving the gravy. Having removed the skin, cut all the flesh from the bones. Make a nice light short paste, allowing a large half pound of fresh butter to each quart of flour. For a goose pie you will require two quarts of flour and one pound of butter. Line a deep pie-dish with one sheet of paste, reserving the other sheet for the lid, which should be rolled out thick. Put in the pieces of[277] goose, seasoned with pepper only, interspersing among it the best part of a smoked tongue, cut in thick round slices. Make a nice forcemeat into balls, about the size of a hickory nut, and add them to the filling of the pie; and some chestnuts boiled and peeled; or some round slices of boiled sweet potato. Having made a gravy of the giblets stewed, pour that over the other ingredients, filling the pie well, and heaping it high in the middle. Add a few bits of fresh butter dredged in flour. Pour in the gravy, and lay on the top the lid of the pie rolled out thick, ornamenting the edges handsomely. Cut a cross slit in the top, and fit into it a flower, or tulip cut out of paste. This pie is for dinner company, and to be eaten warm.

You may make a similar pie of a pair of fine ducks, either tame or wild. Canvas-backs and red necks are excellent for this purpose. To eat with it, have mashed potato, browned all over with a salamander.

On the shores of our southern rivers, where canvas-backs and other fine wild ducks are abundant, a pie affords an agreeable variety to the usual modes of cooking them.

A GIBLET PIE.—

Clean, very nicely, the giblets of two geese or four ducks. Put them into a stew-pan, with a sliced onion; a bunch of tarragon, or sweet marjoram and sage; half a dozen pepper-corns; and four or five blades of mace. Add a very little water; cover the pan closely, and let[278] them stew till the giblets are tender. Then take them out, and save all the gravy; having strained it from the seasoning articles. Make a rich paste, and roll it out into two sheets. With one sheet cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish. Put in the giblets—mixing among them a few raw potatos sliced very thin, the chopped yolks of some hard-boiled eggs, and some bits of butter rolled in flour. Pour the gravy over the giblets, &c. Cover the pie with the other sheet of paste, and notch the edges. Bake it brown, and send it to table hot.

ROAST DUCKS.—

Take a pair of fine fat ducks, and having prepared them nicely for the spit, put them, for a few minutes, into boiling water to loosen the skin, which must be peeled entirely off, to have them very nice and tender. Wash their insides by pouring water through them, and wipe the outside all over with a dry cloth. Fill the body and craw of one duck with a seasoning of sage and onion, as for a goose. In case some of the company should have a dislike to onion, fill the other duck with a forcemeat of bread-crumbs, sweet herbs, &c., as for turkey. Place them before a quick fire, but not so near as to scorch. Roast them well, basting them all the time. Skim the fat off, and pour over the ducks their own gravy, mixed with what has been made of the necks, livers, hearts, and gizzards, stewed[279] in a small sauce-pan with some butter dredged with flour. Send to table with the ducks either cranberry or apple sauce, made thick and sweet.

Let them be thoroughly roasted, which will require from an hour to an hour and a quarter.

WILD DUCKS.—

To remove the fishy or sedgy taste so often found in wild ducks, parboil them with a large carrot, cut in pieces, and placed in the body of each. When the ducks are half boiled, take out the carrot and throw it away. It will have imbibed all the unpleasant taste, and taken it away from the ducks. Then cook them as you please.

BOILED DUCK.—

Prepare for cooking a fine plump tame duck, and lay it five or six minutes in warm water. Then put it into a clean large bowl or deep dish, and pour over it a pint of rich boiling milk, in which has been melted two table-spoonfuls of nice fresh butter. Let the duck soak in the milk three hours, or till it has absorbed nearly all the liquid. Next, dredge the duck well with flour. Boil it in cold water for half an hour, till tender all through. Have ready a quantity of onion sauce made with milk and butter, and flavored with powdered mace or nutmeg. Cover the duck all over with the onion sauce, so as to smother it entirely. Then send it to table hot. This is a French dish, (canard bouilli.)[280]

DUCKS AND PEAS.—

Stuff a fine plump pair of ducks with potato stuffing, made of boiled potatos mashed very smooth with fresh butter; or, if for company, make a fine forcemeat stuffing, as for a turkey. Bake the ducks in an iron oven or bake-pan; and when nearly done, put in with them a quart of very young green peas, and a few bits of fresh butter, seasoning slightly with black pepper. When the peas and ducks are all quite done, serve them all up on one large dish.

FRICASSEED DUCKS.—

Half roast a pair of ducks. Then cut them apart, as for carving. If they are wild ducks, parboil them with a large carrot (cut to pieces) inside of each, to draw out the fishy or sedgy taste. Having thrown away the carrot, cut the ducks into pieces, as for carving. Put them into a clean stew-pan, and season them with pepper and salt. Mix in a deep dish a very small onion minced fine, a table-spoonful of minced or powdered tarragon leaves, (for which you may substitute sage and sweet marjoram, if you cannot procure tarragon,) and two or three large tomatos, scalded, peeled, and quartered, or two large table-spoonfuls of thick tomato catchup. Put in, also, two table-spoonfuls of fresh butter rolled in grated bread-crumbs, and a glass of port wine, claret, or brandy, with a small tea-spoonful of powdered mace. Cover the pieces of duck with this mixture, and then add barely as much water as will keep the whole from burning. Cover[281] the pan closely, and let the fricassee stew slowly for an hour, or till the duck, &c., are thoroughly done.

Venison or lamb cutlets may be fricasseed in this manner. Likewise, tame fat pigeons, which must previously be split in two. This, also, is a very nice way of dressing hares or rabbits.

TO ROAST CANVAS-BACK DUCKS.—

Having trussed the ducks, put into each a thick piece of soft bread that has been soaked in port wine. Place them before a quick fire and roast them from three quarters to an hour. Before they go to table, squeeze over each the juice of a lemon or orange, and serve them up very hot with their own gravy about them. Eat them with currant jelly. Have ready also, a gravy made by stewing slowly in a sauce-pan the giblets of the ducks in butter rolled in flour, and as little water as possible. Serve up this additional gravy in a boat.

CANVAS-BACK DUCKS DRESSED PLAIN.—

Truss the ducks without washing, but wipe them inside and out with a clean dry cloth. Roast them before a rather quick fire for half an hour. Then send them to table hot, upon a large dish placed on a heater. There must also be heaters under each plate, and currant jelly on both sides of the table, to mix with the gravy, on your[282] plate; claret or port wine also, for those who prefer it as an improvement to the gravy.

TO STEW CANVAS-BACK DUCKS.—

Put the giblets into a sauce-pan with a very little water, and a piece of butter rolled in flour, and a very little salt and cayenne. Let them stew gently to make a gravy, keeping the sauce-pan covered. In the mean time, half roast the ducks, saving the gravy that falls from them. Then cut them up, put them into a large stew-pan, with the gravy (having first skimmed off the fat,) and merely water enough to keep them from burning. Set the pan over a moderate fire, and let them stew gently till done. Towards the last, (having removed the giblets) pour over the ducks the gravy from the small sauce-pan, and stir in a large glass of port wine, and a glass of currant jelly. Send them to table as hot as possible.

Any ducks may be stewed as above. The common wild duck, teal, &c., should always be parboiled with a large carrot in the body to extract the fishy or sedgy taste. On tasting this carrot before it is thrown away, it will be found to have imbibed strongly that disagreeable flavor.

BROILED CANVAS-BACK DUCKS.—

To eat these ducks with their flavor and juices in perfection, they should be cooked immediately after killing. If shot early in the morning, they will[283] be found delicious, if broiled for breakfast. If killed in the forenoon, let them be on that day's dinner table. When they can be obtained quite fresh they want nothing to improve the flavor. Neither do red-necks, or the other water fowl that are found in such abundance on the shores of the Chesapeake.

As soon as the ducks have been plucked, singed, drawn, and washed, split them down the back, (their heads, necks, and legs having been cut off,) rub with chalk the bars of a very clean gridiron, and set it over a bed of bright lively wood-coals. This gridiron (and all others) should have grooved bars, so as to save as much of the gravy as possible. Broil the ducks well and thoroughly, turning them on both sides. They will generally be done in half an hour. Dish them in their own gravy. The flesh should have no redness about it when dished. To half broil them on the gridiron, and to finish the cooking on a hot plate, set over a heater on the table, renders the ducks tough, and deadens the natural taste, for which no made-up sauce can atone. You may lay a few bits of nice butter on them after they are dished.

TERRAPIN DUCKS.—

Take a fine large plump duck. Cut it in small pieces, and stew it in merely as much water as will cover it well, and keep it from burning. Let it stew gently, and skim it well. When it is done take it out, and cut all the meat off the bones in little bits. Return the[284] meat to the stew-pan, and lay it in its own gravy. Add the yolks of half a dozen hard-boiled eggs, and make them into little balls with beaten white of egg, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter divided into eight bits, each bit dredged with flour, the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon or orange, and a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg. Let it stew or simmer gently till it comes to a boil, keeping it covered. When it has boiled, stir in while hot two beaten yolks of raw egg, and two large wine glasses of sherry or Madeira. Set it over the fire again for two or three minutes, keeping it covered. Then serve it up in a deep dish with a cover.

For company, you must have two ducks, and a double portion of all the above ingredients.

ROAST FOWLS.—

Stuff two fowls with a nice forcemeat, made in the best manner, or with good sausage meat, if in haste. Another nice stuffing for roast fowls is boiled chestnuts, stewed in butter, or in nice drippings. Mushrooms cut up and stewed in a very little butter, make a fine stuffing for roasted fowls. Secure the stuffing from falling out by winding a twine or tape round the body of the fowl, or sewing it. Roast the fowls before a very clear fire, basting them with butter. When the fowls are done, set them away to be kept warm, while you finish the gravy, having saved the heart, gizzard, and liver, to enrich it. Skim it well from the fat and thicken it with a[285] very little browned flour. Send it to table in a sauce-boat. Serve up with roast fowls, dried peach sauce, or cranberry. Make all fruit sauces very thick and sweet. If watery and sour, they seem poor and mean.

Full-grown fowls require, (at least,) an hour for roasting. If very large, from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half.

Nothing can be done with old tough fowls but to boil them in soup, till they are reduced to rags. The soup, of course, should be made chiefly of meat. The fowls will add nothing to its flavor but something to its consistence.

Capons are cooked in the same manner as other fowls. They are well worth their cost.

BOILED FOWLS.—

Take a fine plump pair of young (but full-grown) fowls, and prepare them for boiling. Those with white or light yellow legs are considered the best. Make a nice forcemeat stuffing, and fill their bodies with it, and fasten the livers and gizzards under the pinions. For boiled poultry they are not wanted in the gravy. Having trussed the fowls, and picked and singed them carefully, put them into a large pot containing equal quantities of boiling water and cold water. This will make it lukewarm. Let them boil steadily for an hour after the simmering has commenced, carefully removing the scum.

Serve them up with egg sauce, celery sauce,[286] parsley sauce, or oyster sauce—or, with cauliflower or broccoli sauce.

For boiled fowls, you may make a nice stuffing of fresh oysters, cut in small pieces, but not minced. Omit the gristle. Mix them with an equal portion of hard-boiled eggs chopped, but not minced fine. Add plenty of grated bread-crumbs, and season with powdered mace. Mix in, also, some bits of fresh butter. Where onions are liked, you may substitute for the oysters some onions boiled and minced.

Fowls boil very nicely in a bain marie, or double kettle, with the water outside. They require a longer time, but are excellent when done. To quicken the boiling of a double kettle, put a handful of salt in the outside water.

PULLED FOWL.—

This is a side dish for company. Select a fine tender fowl, young, fat, full-grown, and of a large kind. When quite done take it out of the pot, cover it, and set it away till wanted. Then, with a fork, pull off in flakes all the flesh, (first removing the skin,) and with a chopper break all the bones, and put them into a stew-pan, adding two calves' feet split, and the hock of a cold ham, a small bunch of parsley and sweet marjoram, and a quart of water. Let it boil gently till reduced to a pint. Then take it out. Have ready, in another stew-pan, the bits of pulled fowl. Strain the liquor from the bones,[287] &c., over the fowl, and add a piece of fresh butter, (the size of a small egg,) rolled in flour, and a tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg, mixed. Mix the whole together, and let the pulled fowl stew in gravy for ten minutes. Serve it hot.

A turkey may be cooked in this manner, and will make a fine dish. For a turkey allow four calves' feet.

FRIED CHICKENS.—

Cut up a pair of nice young fowls, flatten and quarter them, and season them with cayenne and powdered mace, rubbing it in well. Put some lard into a heated frying pan over the fire, or if you have plenty of nice fresh butter use that in preference. When the lard or butter boils, and has been skimmed, put in the pieces of chicken, and fry them brown on one side. Then turn them, and sprinkle them thickly all over with chopped parsley, or sweet marjoram, and fry them brown on the other side. You may fry with them a few thin slices of cold ham. Before serving them up drain off the lard you have used for frying.

When there is no dislike to onions, they may be fried nicely with boiled onions cut in rings, and laid over the pieces of chicken.

BROILED CHICKENS.—

These are very dry and tasteless if merely split and broiled plain, which is the usual way. It seems to be supposed by many that no chicken is too poor for broiling,[288] and therefore it is often difficult to get more than two or three small mouthfuls of flesh off their bones. On the contrary, poor chickens are not worth broiling or cooking in any way. To have broiled chickens good, choose those that are fat and fleshy. Having cleaned them well, and washed them, and wiped them dry, split and divide them into four quarters; flattening the bones with a steak mallet. They will be much improved by stewing or boiling in a little water for ten minutes. Then draining them and saving the liquor for gravy. Boil in this the neck, feet, heart, gizzard and liver. Strain it after boiling, and save the liver to mash into the gravy. Season the gravy with grated carrot and minced parsley, or sweet marjoram, and a little cayenne, adding a small piece of fresh butter dredged in flour. Have ready plenty of fine bread-crumbs, seasoned with nutmeg, and in another pan four yolks of eggs well beaten. The quarters of the chickens having become quite cold, dip each one first into the egg, and then into the crumbs. Set the gridiron over a clear fire, and broil the chicken well, first laying down the inside. Having prepared the gravy as above, give it a short boil, then send it to table in a sauce-boat with the chickens.

The excellence of chickens broiled in this way amply repays the trouble. This is a breakfast dish.

Serve up with the broiled chicken a dish of mashed potato cakes, browned with a salamander or red-hot shovel.[289]

FRICASSEED CHICKEN.—

Have ready a pair of fine plump full-grown fowls nicely prepared for cooking. Strip off all the skin, and carve the fowls neatly. Reserve all the white meat and best pieces for the fricassee, putting them in a dish by themselves, and save all the inferior pieces or black meat to make the gravy. Season with pepper and salt slightly, and add a bunch of sweet herbs cut small, and four small bits of fresh butter dredged with flour. Put the black meat, herbs, &c., into a stew-pan. Pour in a pint and a half of water, and stew it gently, skimming off every particle of fat. When reduced to less than one half, strain the gravy. Arrange the pieces of white meat in a very clean stew-pan, and pour over them the gravy of the inferior parts; add mace, nutmeg, and a little cayenne. Mix into half a pint of boiling cream, a large tea-spoonful of arrow-root, and shake the pan briskly round, while adding the beaten yolks of two fresh eggs, mixed with more cream, (two table-spoonfuls.) Shake it gently over the fire till it begins to simmer again, but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle in an instant. Watch it carefully.

This is a fine side-dish for company. There is no better way of fricasseeing fowls. A fricassee is not a fry, but a stew.

Accompany this fricassee with a dish of asparagus tops, green peas, or lima beans. Also, mashed potatos.[290]

CHICKENS STEWED WHOLE.—

Having trussed a pair of fine fat young fowls or chickens, (with the liver under one wing, and the gizzard under the other,) fill the inside with large oysters, secured from falling out by fastening tape round the bodies of the fowls. Put them into a tin butter kettle with a close cover. Set the kettle into a larger pot or saucepan of boiling water, (which must not reach quite to the top of the kettle,) and place it over the fire. Keep it boiling till the fowls are well done, which they should be in about an hour after they begin to simmer. Occasionally take off the lid to remove the scum, and be sure to put it on again closely. As the water in the outside pot boils away, replenish it with more hot water from a tea-kettle that is kept boiling hard. When the fowls are stewed quite tender, remove them from the fire; take from them all the gravy that is about them, and put it into a small sauce-pan, covering closely the kettle in which they were stewed, and leaving the fowls in it to keep warm. Then add to the gravy two table-spoonfuls of butter rolled in flour, two table-spoonfuls of chopped oysters, the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs minced fine, half a grated nutmeg, four blades of mace, and a small tea-cup of cream. Boil this gravy about five minutes. Put the fowls on a dish and send them to table, accompanied by the gravy in a sauce-boat. This is an excellent way of cooking chickens. They do well in large bain marie.[291]

FOWL AND OYSTERS.—

Take a fine fat young fowl, and having trussed it for boiling, fill the body and craw with oysters, seasoned with a few blades of mace, tying it round with twine to keep them in. Put the fowl into a tall strait-sided jar, and cover it closely. Then place the jar in a kettle of water, set it over the fire, and let it boil at least an hour and a half after the water has come to a hard boil. When it is done take out the fowl, and keep it hot while you prepare the gravy, of which you will find a quantity in the jar. Transfer this gravy to a saucepan, enrich it with the beaten yolks of two eggs mixed with three table-spoonfuls of cream, and add a large table-spoonful of fresh butter rolled in flour. If you cannot get cream, you must have a double portion of butter. Set this sauce over the fire, stirring it well, and when it comes to a boil, add twenty-five oysters. In five minutes take it off, put it into a sauce-boat, and serve it up with the fowl, which cooked in this manner will be found excellent.

Clams may be substituted for oysters, but they should be removed from the fowl before it is sent to table. Their flavor being drawn out in the gravy, the clams themselves will be found tough, tasteless, and not proper to be eaten.

FRENCH CHICKEN PIE.—

Parboil a pair of full-grown, but fat and tender chickens. Then take the giblets, and put them into a small sauce-pan with[292] as much of the water in which the chickens were parboiled as will cover them well, and stew them for gravy; add a bunch of sweet herbs and a few blades of mace. When the chickens are cold, dissect them as for carving. Line a deep dish with thick puff paste, and put in the pieces of chicken. Take a nice thin slice of cold ham, or two slices of smoked tongue, and pound them one at a time in a marble mortar, pounding also the livers of the chickens, and the yolks of half a dozen hard-boiled eggs. Make this forcemeat into balls, and intersperse them among the pieces of chicken. Add some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour, and then (having removed the giblets) pour on the gravy. Cover the pie with a lid of puff-paste, rolled out thick; and notch the edges handsomely; placing a knot or ornament of paste on the centre of the top. Set it directly into a well-heated oven, and bake it brown. It should be eaten warm.

This pie will be greatly improved by a pint of mushrooms, cut into pieces. Also by a small tea-cup of cream.

CHICKEN GUMBO.—

Cut up a young fowl as if for a fricassee. Put into a stew-pan a large table-spoonful of fresh butter, mixed with a tea-spoonful of flour, and an onion finely minced. Brown them over the fire, and then add a quart of water, and the pieces of chicken, with a large quarter of a[293] peck of ochras, (first sliced thin, and then chopped,) and a salt-spoon of salt. Cover the pan, and let the whole stew together, till the ochras are entirely dissolved, and the fowl thoroughly done. If it is a very young chicken, do not put it in at first; as half an hour will be sufficient to cook it. Serve it up hot in a deep dish.

You may add to the ochras an equal quantity of tomatos cut small. If you use tomatos, no water will be necessary, as their juice will supply a sufficient liquid.

[D] FILET GUMBO.—Cut up a pair of fine plump fowls into pieces, as when carving. Lay them in a pan of cold water, till all the blood is drawn out. Put into a pot, two large table-spoonfuls of lard, and set it over the fire. When the lard has come to a boil, put in the chickens with an onion finely minced. Dredge them well with flour, and season slightly with salt and pepper; and, if you like it, a little chopped marjoram. Pour on it two quarts of boiling water. Cover it, and let it simmer slowly for three hours. Then stir into it two heaped tea-spoonfuls of sassafras powder. Afterwards, let it stew five or six minutes longer, and then send it to table in a deep dish; having a dish of boiled rice to be eaten with it by those who like rice.

This gumbo will be much improved by stewing with it three or four thin slices of cold boiled ham, in which case omit the salt in the seasoning. When[294]ever cold ham is an ingredient in any dish, no other salt is required.

A dozen fresh oysters and their liquor, added to the stew about half an hour before it is taken up, will also be an improvement.

If you cannot conveniently obtain sassafras-powder, stir the gumbo frequently with a stick of sassafras root.

This is a genuine southern receipt. Filet gumbo may be made of any sort of poultry, or of veal, lamb, venison, or kid.

TOMATO CHICKEN.—

Take four small chickens or two large ones, and cut them up as for carving. Put them into a stew-pan, with one or two large slices of cold boiled ham cut into little bits; eight or ten large tomatos; an onion sliced; a bunch of pot-herbs,(cut up;) a small green pepper, (the seeds and veins first extracted;) half a dozen blades of mace; a table-spoonful of lard or of fresh butter, rolled in flour; or a handful of grated bread-crumbs. Add a tumbler or half a pint of water. Cover the sauce-pan closely with a cloth beneath the lid; set it on hot coals, or over a moderate fire; and let it stew slowly till the chickens are thoroughly done, and the tomatos entirely dissolved. Turn it out into a deep dish.

Rabbits may be stewed in this manner. Also, veal steaks, cut thin and small.[295]

TURKEY AND CHICKEN PATTIES.—

Take the white part of some cold turkey or chicken, and mince it very fine. Mince also some cold boiled ham or smoked tongue, and then mix the turkey and ham together. Add the yolks of some hard-boiled eggs, grated or minced; a very little cayenne; and some powdered mace and nutmeg. Moisten the whole with cream or fresh butter. Have ready some puff-paste shells, that have been baked empty in patty-pans. Place them on a large dish, and fill them with the mixture.

Cold fillet of veal minced, and mixed with chopped ham, and grated yolk of egg, and seasoned as above will make very good patties.

CHICKEN RICE PUDDING.—

Parboil a fine fowl, and cut it up. Boil, till soft and dry, a pint of rice; and while warm, mix with it a large table-spoonful of fresh butter. Beat four eggs very light; and then mix them, gradually, with the rice. Spread a coating of the fresh butter, &c., over the bottom and sides of a deep dish. Place on it the pieces of the parboiled fowl, with a little of the liquid in which it was boiled—seasoned with powdered mace and nutmeg. Add some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour and a little cream. Cover the dish closely with the remainder of the rice; set the pudding immediately into the oven and bake it brown.

Cold chicken or turkey, cooked the day before, may be used for this purpose. The pudding may[296] be improved by the addition of a few very thin, small slices of cold ham, or smoked tongue.

RICE CROQUETTES.—

Boil half a pound of rice till it becomes quite soft and dry. Then mix with it two table spoonfuls of rich (but not strong) grated cheese, a small tea-spoonful of powdered mace, and sufficient fresh butter to moisten it. Mince very fine, six table-spoonfuls of the white part of cold chicken or turkey, the soft parts of six large oysters, and a few sprigs of tarragon or parsley; add a grated nutmeg, and the yellow rind of a lemon. Mix the whole well, moistening it with cream or white wine. Take of the prepared rice, a portion about the size of an egg, flatten it, and put into the centre a dessert-spoonful of the mixture; close the rice round it as you would the paste round a dumpling-apple. Then form it into the shape of an egg. Brush it over with some beaten yolk of egg and then dredge it with pounded crackers. In this way make up the whole into oval balls. Have ready, in a sauce-pan over the fire, a pound of boiling lard. Into this throw the croquettes, two at a time, so as to brown them. Let them brown for a few minutes; then take them out with a perforated skimmer. Drain them from the lard, and serve them up hot, garnished with curled parsley.[297]

CHICKEN POT-PIE.—

Cut up and parboil a pair of large fowls, seasoning them with pepper, salt, and nutmeg. You may add some small slices of cold ham; in which case use no salt, as the ham will make it salt enough. Or you may put in some pieces of the lean of fresh pork. You may prepare a suet-paste; but for a chicken pot-pie it is best to make the paste of butter, which should be fresh, and of the best quality. Allow to each quart of flour, a small half-pound of butter. There should be enough for a great deal of paste. Line the sides of the pot, two-thirds up, with paste. Put in the chickens, with the liquor in which they were parboiled. You may add some sliced potatos. Intersperse the pieces of chicken with layers of paste in square slices. Then cover the whole with a lid of paste, not fitting very closely. Make a cross-slit in the top, and boil the pie about an hour or more.

Instead of ham, you may add some clams to the chicken, omitting salt in the seasoning, as the clams will salt it quite enough.

CHICKEN CURRY.—

Having skinned a pair of fine chickens, cut them into six pieces each, that is, two wings, two pieces of the breast, and two legs cut off at the joint. Put into a stew-pan two boiled onions chopped, and four ounces or four table-spoonfuls of fresh butter. Shake the pan till the contents begin to simmer; then add four table-spoonfuls of curry-powder and mix it[298] well in; also, four table-spoonfuls of grated cocoa-nut. Mix all well in the stew-pan, and then put in the pieces of chicken. Cover the pan, and let all stew moderately for half an hour, stirring it round occasionally; and, if getting too dry, add a little hot water. Also, towards the last, the grated yellow rind of a lemon and the juice. It should stew till the chicken is quite tender, and till the flesh parts easily from the bones. Serve it up hot, in a covered dish, and send half a pound of boiled rice in a separate dish, uncovered. This is a dish for company.

Young ducks, or a young hen turkey, or a pair of rabbits, may be cooked in the same manner. Also, lamb or veal.

RICE PIE.—

Pick clean a quart of rice, and wash it well through two or three waters. Tie it in a cloth, put it into a pot of boiled milk, and boil it till perfectly soft. Then drain and press it till as dry as possible, and mix with it two ounces of fresh butter. Take a small tin butter-kettle; wet the inside, put in the rice, and stand it in a cool place till quite cold. Then turn it carefully out of the kettle, (of which it will retain the form,) rub it over with the beaten yolk of an egg, and set it in an oven till lightly browned. Cut out from the top of the mass of rice an oval lid, about two inches from the edge,[299] so as to leave a flat rim or border all round. Then excavate the mould of rice, leaving a standing crust all round and at the bottom, about two inches thick. Have ready some hot stewed oysters or birds, or brown or white fricassee. Fill up the pie with it, adding the gravy. Lay on the lid, and decorate it with sprigs of green curled parsley, stuck in all round the crack where the lid is put on.

COUNTRY CAPTAIN.—

This is an East India dish, and a very easy preparation of curry. The term "country captain," signifies a captain of the native troops, (or Sepoys,) in the pay of England; their own country being India, they are there called generally the country troops. Probably this dish was first introduced at English tables by a Sepoy officer.

Having well boiled a fine full-grown fowl, cut it up as for carving. Have ready two large onions boiled and sliced. Season the pieces of chicken with curry powder or turmeric; rubbed well into them, all over. Fry them with the onion, in plenty of lard or fresh butter, and when well-browned they are done enough. Take them up with a perforated skimmer, and drain through its holes. It will be a great improvement to put in, at the beginning, three or four table-spoonfuls of finely grated cocoa-nut. This will be found an advantage to any curry.

Serve up, in another dish, a pint of rice, well[300] picked, and washed clean in two or three cold waters. Boil the rice in plenty of water, (leaving the skillet or sauce-pan uncovered;) and when it is done, drain it very dry, and set it on a dish before the fire, tossing it up with two forks, one in each hand, so as to separate all the grains, leaving each one to stand for itself. All rice for the dinner table should be cooked in this manner. Persons accustomed to rice never eat it watery or clammy, or lying in a moist mass. Rice should never be covered, either while boiling, or when dished.

CURRIED EGGS.—

Boil six fresh eggs till they are hard enough for salad, and then set them away to get cold. Mix together, in a stew-pan, three ounces (or three large table-spoonfuls) of nice fresh butter, and three dessert-spoonfuls of curry powder. Shake them together for five minutes over a clear but moderate fire. Then throw in two boiled onions finely minced, and let them cook, gently, till quite soft, adding three ounces or three large spoonfuls of grated cocoa-nut. Cut the eggs into rather thick slices. Put them into the mixture, with a small tea-cupful of thick cream, or if you cannot obtain cream, with two more spoonfuls of butter dredged with flour. Let the whole simmer together, but when it approaches coming to a boil, take it immediately off the fire and serve it up hot. This is a nice side-dish for company.[301]

PARTRIDGES PEAR FASHION—

(French dish.)—Your partridges should be fine and fat, and of the same size. For a large dish have three or four. Truss them tight and round, and rub over them a little salt and cayenne, mixed. Cut off one of the legs and leave the other on, fill them with a nice forcemeat. Make a rich paste of flour, butter, and beaten egg, using as little water as possible. Be sure to make enough of paste to cover each partridge entirely over, and roll it out evenly, and rather thick than thin. Put a sufficient portion of paste nicely round each partridge, pressing it closely and smoothly with your hand, and forming it into the shape of a large pear. Leave one leg sticking out at the top to resemble the stem, having cut off the foot. Set them in a pan, and bake them in a dutch oven. In the mean time, make in a small sauce-pan, a rich brown gravy of the livers, and other trimmings of the partridges, and some drippings of roast veal or roasted poultry. It will be better still if you reserve one or two small partridges to cut up, and stew for the gravy. Season it with a little salt and cayenne. When it has boiled long enough to be very thick and rich, take it off, strain it, and put the liquid into a clean sauce-pan. Add the juice of a large orange, made very sweet with powdered white sugar. Set it over the fire, and when it comes to a boil, stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs. Let it boil two or three minutes longer; then take it off, and keep it hot till the partridges and their paste are thoroughly well baked. When[302] done, stand up the partridges in a deep dish, and serve up the gravy in a sauce-boat. Ornament the partridge-pears by sticking some orange leaves into the end that represents the stalk. This is a nice and handsome side dish, of French origin.

SALMI OF PARTRIDGES—

(French dish.)—Having covered two large or four small partridges with very thin slices of fat cold ham, secured with twine, roast them; but see that they are not too much done. Remove the ham, skin the partridges, cut them into pieces, and let them get quite cold. Partridges that have been roasted the preceding day are good for this purpose. Cut off all the meat from the bones, season it with a little cayenne, and put it into a stew-pan. Mix together three table-spoonfuls of sweet oil, a glass of excellent wine, (either red or white,) and the grated peel and juice of an orange. Pour this gravy over the partridges, and let them stew in it during ten minutes; then add the beaten yolk of an egg, and stew it about three or four minutes longer. All the time it is stewing, continue to shake or move the pan over the fire. Serve it up hot.

ROASTED PARTRIDGES, PHEASANTS, AND QUAILS.—

Make a stuffing of fat bacon finely minced, and boiled chestnuts or grated sweet potatoe boiled, mashed, and seasoned with pepper[303] only. Fill the birds with this. Cover them with thin slices of bacon, and wrap them well in young vine leaves. Roast them well, and serve them up in the bacon and vine leaves, to be taken off when they come to table. For company, have orange sauce to eat with them. If you roast pigeons, &c., without a covering of bacon and vine leaves, do them with egg and bread-crumbs all over.

If these birds have a bitter taste when cooked, do not eat them. It is produced by their feeding on laurel berries in winter, when their food is scarce. Laural berries are poisonous, and people have died from eating birds that have fed on them.

BIRDS WITH MUSHROOMS.—

Take two dozen reed-birds, (or other nice small birds,) and truss them as if for roasting. Put into each a button mushroom, of which you should have a heaping pint after the stalks are all removed. Put the birds and the remaining mushrooms into a stew-pan. Season them with a very little salt and pepper, and add either a quarter of a pound of fresh butter (divided into four, and slightly rolled in flour,) or a pint of rich cream. If cream is not plenty, you may use half butter and half cream, well mixed together. Cover the stew-pan closely, and set it over a moderate fire, to stew gently till the birds and mushrooms are thoroughly done and tender all through. Do not open the lid to stir the stew, but give the pan, occasionally, a hard shake. Dip in hot water a large slice of[304] toast with the crust trimmed off. When the birds are done lay them on the toast with the mushrooms around.

BIRDS IN A GROVE—

(French dish.)—Having roasted some reed-birds, larks, plovers, or any other small birds, such as are usually eaten, mash some potatos with butter and cream. Spread the mashed potato thickly over the bottom, sides, and edges of a deep dish. Nick or crimp the border of potatoe that goes round the edge, or scollop it with a tin cutter. You may, if you choose, brown it by holding over it a salamander, or a red-hot shovel. Then lay the roasted birds in the middle of the dish, and stick round them and among them, very thickly, a sufficient number of sprigs of curled or double parsley.

THATCHED HOUSE PIE—

(French dish.)—Rub the inside of a deep dish with two ounces of fresh butter, and spread over it two ounces of vermicelli. Then line the dish with puff-paste. Have ready some birds seasoned with powdered nutmeg, and a very little salt and pepper. Place them with the breast downward. They will be much improved by putting into each a mushroom or an oyster chopped fine. Lay them on the paste.[305] Add some gravy of roast veal, (cold gravy saved from veal roasted the preceding day will do very well,) and cover the pie with a lid of puff-paste. Bake it in a moderate oven, and when done, turn it out carefully upon a flat dish, and send it to table. The vermicelli, which was originally at the bottom, will now be at the top, covering the paste like thatch upon a roof. Trim off the edge, so as to look nicely. You may, if you choose, use a larger quantity of vermicelli. The yellow sort will be best for this purpose.

BIRDS PREPARED FOR LARDING.—

Cut a thin slice of fresh veal, and fill the bird with it, adding a bit of fat bacon. Tie a string round the body to keep in the stuffing, and roast the bird head downward. The gravy of the meat will diffuse a pleasant taste all through the bird.

After being well roasted, let it get cold, and then lard it all over the breast with lardons or regular slips of fat bacon, put in with a larding needle, and left standing in rows. It is more easy to lard poultry or game when cold, rather than warm. Lardons should be set very close and evenly.

BIRD DUMPLINGS.—

Take a large tender beef steak, trim off all the fat, and remove the bone. Make a large sheet of nice suet paste. Lay the beef steak upon it, seasoned with pepper and a very little salt. In the centre of the meat[306] place either a partridge, a quail, a plover, or any nice game, or three or four reed-birds—season with powdered mace and nutmeg. Add some bits of excellent fresh butter, dredged with flour. Inclose the birds completely in the steak, so that the game flavor may pervade the whole. Close the crust over all, so as to form a large dumpling. Tie it in a cloth. Put it into a pot of fast-boiling water, and boil it well, turning it several times with a fork. Dish it very hot.

TO ROAST WOODCOCKS OR SNIPES.—

Be very careful in plucking these to pull out the feathers as carefully and handle them as lightly as possible; for the skin is very easily torn or broken. Do not draw them, for epicures have decided, that the trail, (as they call the intestines,) is the most delicious part of the bird, and should by all means be saved for eating. Having wiped the outside carefully with a soft cloth, truss them with the head under the wing, and the bill laid along upon the breast. Keep the legs bent from the knees, retaining that posture by means of a splinter skewer. Suspend the birds to a bird-spit, with their feet downward. Melt some fresh butter in the dripping-pan, and baste them with it, having first dredged the birds with flour. Before the trail begins to drop, (which it will do as soon as they are well heated,) lay a thick round of very nice[307] toast, (with the crust pared off,) buttered on both sides, and placed in the dripping-pan beneath, so as to catch the trail as it falls; allowing a slice of toast to each bird, with the trail spread equally over it. Continue the basting, letting the butter fall back from them into the basting spoon. When the birds are done, which will be in less than half an hour at a brisk fire—carefully transfer the toasts to a very hot dish; place the birds upon them, and pour some gravy round the toast.

Snipes require less cooking than woodcocks. These birds are very fashionable; but we do not think either of them superlative. They seldom appear except at supper parties.

PLOVERS.—

This is a very nice bird, with a peculiar and pleasant flavor. They abound near our large bays and estuaries in the vicinity of the ocean. There are two sorts, the green plover and the gray. Roast them plain; basting them only with butter. Or fill them with a forcemeat, and go entirely over the outside, first with beaten egg, and then roll each plover in finely grated bread-crumbs.

If very fat, stew them plain in butter rolled in flour. Then serve them up in their own gravy, enriched with a beaten egg. They make a nice breakfast dish, either roasted or stewed. And are excellent in pies.[308]

REED BIRDS.—

Reed birds and rice birds are the same. They are very small, (only a mouthful on each side of the breast,) but very delicious, and immensely fat in the summer and autumn. They are brought to market with a lump of fat skewered on the outside, and are sold by the dozen strung on a stick like cherries.

To cook them, roast them on a bird-spit, basting with their own fat, as it drips. A nice way for retaining the whole flavor is to tie each bird closely in a vine leaf, and bake them in a dutch oven. Or wrap them in double vine leaves, and roast them in the ashes of a wood fire. Remove the vine leaves before the birds are dished.

ROASTED PIGEONS.—

Take fine fat tame pigeons, and clean and truss them nicely. Four pigeons, at least, are requisite to make a dish. Prepare a stuffing or forcemeat of finely minced veal, and an equal quantity of cold-boiled ham, seasoned with powdered mace and a very little cayenne. Also, two slices of bread and butter soaked in as much milk as they will absorb. Fill their bodies with this, (tying a string round to keep it in,) and roast the pigeons till thoroughly done; basting with fresh butter or lard.

Or you may stuff the pigeons with chopped mushrooms, seasoned with a little cayenne, and putting into each a piece of fresh butter rolled in flour.

Or you may stuff them with sweet potatos,[309] boiled well, and mashed with plenty of fresh butter. Or with chestnuts, boiled, peeled, and mashed with butter.

Wild pigeons are generally too poor to roast. In places where they abound, it has been found very profitable to catch them in nets, clip their wings, and put them into inclosures, feeding them well with corn so as to make them fat. They will then bring as high a price as tame pigeons.

SAUCES.

MELTED BUTTER.—

For Sauces.—This is frequently called Drawn Butter. For this purpose none should be used but fresh butter of the very best quality. It is usually sent to table with boiled fish and boiled poultry. Also, with boiled mutton, lamb, and veal. It is never served up with any thing roasted, fried or broiled. Numerous sauces are made with melted butter. If mixed with too much flour and water, and not enough of butter, it will be very poor, particularly if the water is in too large proportions. To prepare it properly, allow a quarter of a pound of nice butter, to a heaped table-spoonful of flour. Mix the butter and flour thoroughly, before it goes on the fire. Then add to it four large table-spoonfuls of milk, or hot water, well mixed in. Hold it over the fire in a small sauce-pan, kept for the purpose. One[310] lined with what is called porcelain or enamel is best. Take care there is no blaze where the sauce-pan is held. Cover it, and shake it over the fire till it boils. Then having skimmed it, add three or four hard-boiled eggs chopped small, and give it one more boil up; or season it with any other ingredient with which you wish to distinguish the sauce.

CLARIFIED BUTTER.—

For this purpose use none but the very best fresh butter, such as is made in summer, when the cows are well pastured. Cut up the butter, put it into an enameled or porcelain stew-pan, and melt it gently over a clear and moderate fire. When it simmers, skim it thoroughly, draw it from the fire, and let it stand five minutes, that the milk or sediment may sink to the bottom. Then pour it clear from the sediment through a muslin strainer, or a fine clean hair sieve. Transfer to jars with close covers, and keep them in a cool dry place. If well prepared, and originally very good, this butter will answer for sauces, stews, &c., and continue good a long time. In France, where they do not salt any butter, large quantities are melted in this way for winter use.

COLORING FOR SAUCES.—

For Pink Sauce. Take a few chips of red alkanet root, (to be had at the druggist's.) Pick it clean, and tie it in a very thin muslin bag. Put the alkanet into the mixture, and let it infuse in the boiling drawn but[311]ter. It will communicate a beautiful pink color, which you may heighten, by pressing the bag a little. When done, take out the bag, and stir the alkanet color evenly through the sauce. The alkanet has no taste, and is very cheap. Beet juice will color a tolerable red.

For Green Sauce.—Pound some fresh spinach leaves, till you extract a tea-cup or more of the clear green juice. Stir it into the melted butter while boiling.

For Yellow Sauce.—Tie up a very little turmeric powder in a muslin bag. Let it boil in the butter. When done, take it out of the sauce-pan, and stir the yellow coloring evenly through the sauce.

For Wine Sauce.—Stir in, just before you take the sauce from the fire, a large wine-glass or more of very good white wine, and grate in half a large nutmeg, adding the grated yellow rind, and the juice of a lemon. The wine must be of excellent quality, otherwise it will give a bad taste to the sauce.

WHITE THICKENING—

(French Roux.)—Cut up a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter, and put it into a well tinned or enameled sauce-pan. Set it over a moderate fire, and melt it slowly, shaking it round frequently, and taking care to skim it well. When no more scum appears[312] on the surface, let it settle a few minutes; then pour it off from the sediment at the bottom. Wash the sauce-pan or get another clean one. Return the melted butter to it, and set it again over the fire. Then dredge in gradually sufficient sifted flour to make it very thick and smooth, stirring it well after each addition of flour. Do not allow it to brown in the slightest degree, but keep it perfectly white to the last; simmering, but not actually boiling, and take care that there is no smoke about the fire.

To thicken white sauces, or soups, stir in a table-spoonful or two of this roux, pronounced roo. In French cooking it passes for cream.

Browned thickening is made in the same manner; but with butter and browned flour, and is used for brown soups and gravies.

BROWNING.—

This is to enrich the taste and improve the color of gravies, stews, and soups. Mix a quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar with two ounces of fine fresh butter; and, having stirred them well together, put them into a sauce-pan over the fire, and simmer till it begins to froth; then diminish the heat a little. When its color becomes a fine dark brown, add two glasses of port wine, and three or four blades of mace, powdered. When it comes to a boil, take it off, and stir it into whatever you intend to color.

Another browning is mushroom catchup, or walnut catchup. They communicate a slightly acid taste. So also does French mustard. Stir it in[313] at the last. Its tarragon flavor is very generally liked.

BROWNED FLOUR.—

Sift some fine flour, spread it on a large dish, or clean tin-pan. Place it before the fire, so as to brown but not to scorch or burn. It will color first at the edges; therefore watch it, and keep it evenly mixed with the white flour from the centre. When all is nicely browned, set it to cool, and then put it away for use in a large clean bottle or jar, well corked. Flour may be browned in an oven, after baking is over, taking care to stir it well.—Have two dredging boxes. One for browned flour and one for white. It is convenient also to have dredging-boxes for powdered herbs. The cost of these boxes is very trifling, and it saves time and trouble to have things ready when wanted. A small sieve for powdered white sugar is indispensable.

LOBSTER SAUCE.—

This sauce is for fresh salmon or turbot, or sheep's-head fish. Also for salmon-trout, blue-fish, or the lake white-fish.

Put a large hen lobster into a hard-boiling pot of highly-salted water, that the animal may die immediately. Continue the boiling with a steady heat, and in about three quarters, or an hour, the lobster will be done. When cold, extract all the meat from the shell, and cut it into small bits. Pound the coral, or red substance, in a marble mor[314]tar, with some fresh butter, or plenty of salad oil; and a little cayenne. Add the coral to the cut-up lobster, and put the whole into a stew-pan, with some powdered mace and nutmeg, and a large table-spoonful of sweet oil. Divide into four bits a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, each bit rolled in flour. If your butter is not fresh and very good, omit it entirely and substitute a larger quantity of oil. As bad butter spoils every thing, never on any account, use it. Set the sauce-pan over the fire, and let it boil up once. Then take it off, and while very hot, stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs.

SHRIMP SAUCE.—

Shrimps are the smallest shell-fish of the lobster species. Put them into salted boiling water. They are done when they have turned entirely red. When cold, pull off the heads, and peel off the shells from the bodies; or squeeze out the meat with your fingers. Have ready some nice drawn butter, and thicken it with the shrimps, either chopped or whole. Season the sauce with mace or nutmeg powdered, and give it one boil up. Shrimp sauce is eaten with salmon and other fine fish.

PICKLED SHRIMPS.—

Having boiled, in salted water, three quarts or more of shrimps, and taken them from the shells, boil two quarts of the[315] best cider vinegar, and season it well with blades of mace and pepper-corns, and pour it hot on the shrimps, in a stone jar. Cork the jar, and seal the cork with the usual red cement for pickle jars: a mixture of one-third beeswax with two-thirds powdered rosin, and some fine brickdust, all melted together.

OYSTER SAUCE.—

Take a pint of the liquor of fresh oysters, and strain it into a sauce-pan. If your oysters are salt, and you can get no others, boil a pint of milk instead of the oyster liquor, seasoning with powdered nutmeg and mace, and enriching it with fresh butter dredged with flour. When it has come to a boil, put in the oysters (having removed from each the gristle, or hard part.) Let them simmer, but take them from the fire without letting them come to a boil, which will shrivel them, and render them tough and tasteless. A new fashion is to season oyster sauce with the grated yellow rind and juice of a fresh lemon. Others stir in a glass of sherry or Madeira. If you use wine or lemon, you must not make the sauce with milk, as it will curdle. Use in this case the oyster liquor, if it is fresh, thickened well with finely grated bread-crumbs. The small, highly-flavored oysters, abounding on the coast of New England, are excellent for sauce, or soups.

CLAM SAUCE.—

Make this of half milk and half clam liquor, seasoned with whole mace, and[316] whole pepper. Use only the soft part of the clams, cut up small, and simmer them from the beginning; adding bits of butter dredged all over with flour Clams require longer cooking than oysters.

EGG SAUCE.—

Boil four eggs from eight to twelve minutes. Then lay them in a pan of fresh water, and let them remain till quite cold. Peel off the shells, and take out the eggs. Chop the yolks and whites separately; mix them, lightly, into half a pint of melted fresh butter, made in the proportion of a quarter of a pound of butter to two large table-spoonfuls of flour, and four of milk and hot water. Add some powdered mace, or nutmeg. Egg sauce is eaten with boiled fish and poultry.

Instead of milk or water, you can use for melted butter, some of the water in which chicken or turkey was boiled, or some veal gravy.

CELERY SAUCE.—

Split and cut up into short slips a bunch of celery, having taken off the green leaves from the tops. The celery must have been well washed, and laid an hour in cold water. Take a pint of milk, and cut up in it a quarter of a pound of fresh butter that has been well dredged with flour. Set it over the fire in a sauce-pan, and add the celery gradually; also three or four blades of mace broken up. Boil all slowly together, till the celery is quite soft and tender, but not dissolved. The green tops of the celery, (strewed in, when it[317] begins to simmer,) will improve the flavor. Celery sauce is served up with boiled turkey, boiled fowls, and with any sort of fresh fish, boiled or fried.

MINT SAUCE.—

This is only used for roast lamb in the spring. When the lambs are grown into sheep, the mint is too old for sauce. But they harmonize very pleasantly when both are young.

Take a large bunch of fine fresh green mint, that has been washed well. Strip the leaves from the stems, and mince them small. Put it into a pint bowl, and mix with it gradually some of the best cider vinegar. This sauce must not be the least liquid, but as thick as horse-radish sauce or thicker. Make it very sweet, with the best brown sugar. Mix it well, and transfer to a small tureen, or a little deep dish with a tea-spoon in it. Serve it up always with roast lamb, putting a tea-spoonful on the rim of your plate.

A quart or more of mint sauce, made as above, but with a larger proportion of sugar and vinegar, will keep very well for several weeks, in a jar well corked.

HORSE-RADISH.—

Wash clean some roots of horse-radish, wipe them dry, and scrape off the outside. Then grate the sticks of horse-radish with a large grater. Put some of the grated horse-radish into a large saucer, or small deep plate, and moisten it with good cider vinegar, but do not put so much[318] vinegar as will render it liquid. Send it to table with roast beef or mutton.

CAULIFLOWER SAUCE.—

Have ready some very rich good melted or drawn butter, made with milk and flavored with nutmeg. Thicken it with plenty of ready-boiled cauliflower, cut into little sprigs or blossoms. Give it one boil up after the cauliflower is in, and send it to table with any sort of boiled poultry. It will be found very nice. For a boiled turkey it is far superior to celery sauce, and well suited to dinner company.

BROCCOLI SAUCE.—

Make some nice drawn butter with milk. Flavor it with powdered mace. Pound some spinach in a mortar to extract the juice. Strain the spinach juice, and stir a small tea-cupful into the butter to give it a fine green color. Have ready some well-boiled broccoli. Divide one or two heads of the broccoli into tufts or sprigs. Put them into the melted butter, and when it comes to a boil, take it off, and transfer it to a sauce-boat. Serve it up with boiled poultry or fresh fish.

PARSLEY SAUCE.—

Strip from the stalks the leaves of some fresh green parsley; allow plenty of it. Chop it slightly; and while the drawn butter is hot, stir into it the parsley, till the butter looks very green. Serve it up with boiled[319] fowls, rabbits, or boiled fish. The appearance of parsley sauce will be much improved by stirring in some spinach juice. The whole will be then a fine green.

CRIMPED PARSLEY.—

Pick the small sprigs of parsley from the large stalks. Wash it, and then throw it into clean cold water. After the meat or fish that it is to accompany has been fried and taken out of the pan, give the fat that remains a boil up, and lay the parsley into it. It will crimp and still continue green, if not kept frying too long. Take it out, drain it, and place it before the fire a few minutes, to dry it from the fat. Dish it laid on the top of the fish or steaks.

FENNEL SAUCE.—

The fennel should be young and fresh. Take a large handful, or more, and having washed it clean, strip the leaves from the stems, and boil it till quite tender. Put it into a sieve, and press the water well from it. Mince it very small, and stir it into drawn butter.

Instead of melted butter, you may put the fennel into veal gravy, thickened with butter dredged with flour.

SAGE AND ONION SAUCE.—

Take a bunch of fresh sage leaves. Wash and drain them. Pick them from the stems, and put them to boil in a small sauce-pan, with just water enough to[320] cover them. Boil them fast about ten minutes. Take them out, and press them in a sieve to drain them dry. Then mince or chop them small. Have ready two onions, boiled tender in another sauce-pan; chop them also, and mix them well with the minced sage. While warm, mix in a small bit of nice butter—season with pepper. Put this sauce into a little tureen, and serve it up with roast goose, roast duck, or roast pork, that has been stuffed with potato, bread, or other stuffing. The sage and onion sauce is for those who prefer their flavor to any other seasoning for those dishes.

This sauce will be greatly improved if moistened with some of the gravy of the duck or goose.

FINE ONION SAUCE.—

Peel some nice mild onions, and boil them in plenty of milk, skimming them well. When done, take them out of the milk, (saving it,) and slice them very thin, cutting the slices across, so as to make the pieces of onion very small. Return them to the sauce-pan of milk, (adding some fresh butter dredged with flour;) season them with powdered mace or nutmeg, and give the onions another boil, till they are soft enough to mash, and to thicken the milk all through. Eat this sauce with steaks, cutlets, rabbits, or chickens.[321]

PLAIN ONION SAUCE.—

Peel some very small onions, and boil them whole in milk, (seasoned slightly with pepper and salt,) and put in some bits of butter rolled in flour. Let them boil till tender all through, but not till they loose their shape. Eat them with any sort of boiled meat.

NASTURTION SAUCE.—

This is eaten with boiled mutton; is superior to caper sauce, and costs almost nothing, if you have nasturtions in your garden. Gather the green seeds as soon as they are full grown, and throw them (without the stems) into a jar of cider vinegar. They require no cooking, but keep a muslin bag of spice in the jar, (mace and nutmeg broken small, and a little piece of root ginger.) To use them for sauce, make some nice drawn butter, and as it simmers throw in plenty of nasturtions from the jar. The seeds, when gathered, should be full grown, but by no means hard; and the color a fine green. If there is the slightest brown tinge, the nasturtion seeds are too old, and should be kept for planting.

MUSHROOM SAUCE.—

Have ready some excellent drawn butter, and thicken it with small button mushrooms that have been pickled. Or, take freshly-gathered mushrooms of good size, rub off the outer skin with a clean flannel, and cut off the stems close to the flaps. Wash the mushrooms in a cullender. Have ready some bits of[322] fresh butter dredged all over with flour. Lay them among the mushrooms, (which, if very large, should be quartered,) and put them into a stew-pan. Cover the pan, and let them stew till the mushrooms are all tender. When you take off the lid to try them, replace it immediately, keeping in as much of the aroma as possible. If fresh, they will yield a great deal of juice. When done, transfer them to a sauce-tureen, and serve them up with any nice dish of meat or poultry.

The best mushrooms are found in pure open air or rather high ground, and where there is no swamp or woodland. On the upper side of their top they are not white, but of a pale grayish tint; the under side is invariably light red, pinkish, or pale salmon color, which in a few hours, or after being gathered, turns brown. The false mushrooms are poisonous. They are entirely white above and below. The fungi that grow in forests or marshes can never be mistaken for real mushrooms. They are of various colors, chiefly bright yellow and red, and originate in foul air. By boiling a silver tea-spoon with your mushrooms, you may test their goodness. If the silver turns black, throw the mushrooms away. An onion will also blacken from the same cause. Mushrooms should be cooked as soon as possible. If kept two or three days, worms will be found in them. Never give mushrooms to children. Even in their best state they are not wholesome. The taste for mushrooms is an acquired one, and it is best not to acquire it.[323]

TOMATO SAUCE.—

Scald some large ripe tomatos, to make them peel easily. Then quarter them, and press them through a sieve to divest them of their seeds. Put the juice into a stew-pan, adding some bits of fresh butter dredged with flour; add finely grated bread-crumbs, and season with a little pepper, and, if liked, a little onion boiled and minced. Set the pan over a moderate fire, and let the tomatos simmer slowly till it comes to a boil. Continue the boiling ten minutes longer. Serve it up in a sauce-tureen. It will be mellowed and improved by stirring in (as soon as it comes to a boil) a table-spoonful or a lump of white sugar.

TARRAGON SAUCE.—

Put into a sauce-pan a large half pint of any nice gravy that is at hand. After it has boiled five minutes, have ready a handful of fresh green tarragon leaves, minced, and moistened with plenty of cider vinegar. Add this to the gravy, and let it simmer five minutes. Then take it out, and serve it up with any kind of boiled poultry.

TO MAKE GRAVY.—

Take two pounds of the lean of veal, or of very nice beef. Cut it into small bits, and lay it in a sauce-pan with only as much water as will cover it. Stew it slowly, (skimming it well) till the meat is all rags. Then strain the gravy, and thicken it with some bits of fresh butter dredged all over with browned flour,[324] and give it another simmer. You may flavor it with any seasoning you like.

For made gravies, you can use any small pieces of fresh meat that has never been cooked, and the feet of calves and pigs. Boil in it also such vegetables as you like, cut small. Strain out every thing before it goes to table. For gravies, use nothing that has been cooked before. They will not add to its goodness, but only render it flat and washy.

White gravy is made with fresh veal boiled in milk; and after straining, thickened arrow-root, or rice flour, mixed with fresh butter, if real cream cannot be obtained.

MUSHROOM CATCHUP.—

Let the mushrooms be large and freshly-gathered, for they soon become worm-eaten if not speedily salted. They should be well examined. Cut off the stalks of four quarts of nice mushrooms. Put the flaps into a deep earthen pan, and break them up with your hands. Strew among them half a pound of salt, reserving the largest portion of it for the top. Let them stand for three days, stirring them gently every morning. The fourth day, put them into a sieve, and draw off the liquor without pressing the mushrooms. When all the liquor has drained through, measure it, allowing to each quart a tea-spoon of cayenne, a dozen blades of mace, and a nutmeg broken up. Put the whole into a porcelain kettle, and boil it slowly till re[325]duced one half. Then pour it into a clean white-ware pitcher, cover it with a folded napkin, and keep it in a cool dry place till next day. Then, through a funnel, pour it gently from the sediment into small bottles. Finish with a tea-spoonful of sweet oil on the top of each. Cork the bottles tightly, and seal the corks.

The next time you make catchup, proceed as above with the new mushrooms, and other ingredients; and, when it is done, strain it, and put it into a clean kettle. Then add to it a quart of last year's mushroom catchup, and boil it a quarter of an hour. Then bottle it as above.

WALNUT CATCHUP.—

Take two hundred walnuts or butter-nuts, while the green shell is still so soft that you can pierce it with the head of a pin. Bruise them to small pieces, in a marble mortar. Transfer them to a broad stone-ware pan, and stew among them six handfuls of salt. Stir them three times a day, for ten days or two weeks. Then squeeze and strain them through a cloth, pressing them very dry, till no more juice comes out. Boil up the liquor with two quarts of cider vinegar, half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of whole pepper, half an ounce of nutmegs broken up, and two roots of ginger cut small, and half a dozen shalots or small onions, peeled and cut up, and a large bunch of sweet herbs. Let the whole boil for half an hour. Then pour off[326] the liquor into a large pitcher, leaving out the bunch of sweet herbs. Pour off the liquor (through a funnel,) into small bottles, having first put into the bottom of each bottle a portion of the spice. Fill the bottle up to the top with the catchup, finishing with a tea-spoonful of salad oil, which will greatly assist in keeping the catchup good. Cork the bottles very closely, and seal the corks.

TOMATO CATCHUP.—

Take a peck of large ripe tomatos. In the middle States they are in perfection the last of August. Late in the autumn they are comparatively insipid and watery. Cut a slit down the side of every tomato. Put them into a large preserving kettle without any water. Their own juice is sufficient. On no account boil tomatos in brass or copper, their acid acting on those metals produces verdigris, and renders them poisonous. Boil them till they are quite soft, and easily mashed, stirring them up frequently from the bottom. Press and mash them through a hair sieve, till all the pulp has run out into the pan below, leaving in the sieve only the skins and seeds. Season the liquid with a little salt, some cayenne, and plenty of powdered nutmeg and mace. Mix it well, and when cold put up the catchup in small jars, the covers pasted all round with bands of white paper. This catchup, when done, should be very thick and smooth.[327]

LEMON CATCHUP.—

Take six fine large ripe lemons, and roll them under your hand to increase the quantity of juice. Grate off all the yellow rind, and squeeze the juice into a pitcher, removing all the seeds. Prepare two ounces of finely scraped horse-radish, and two ounces of minced shalots, or very small onions. Put them into a pint of boiling vinegar, in which half an ounce of bruised ginger and a quarter of an ounce of mace have been simmered for five minutes. Add to this the lemon-juice and the grated peel, and two grated nutmegs. Boil all together for half an hour, and then transfer it with all the ingredients to a glass jar with a lid. Paste a band of strong white paper round the lower part of the lid. Set it in a dry cool place, and leave it undisturbed for three months. Then, through a funnel, pour off the liquid into small bottles, putting a tea-spoonful of salad oil at the top of each. Cork and seal them.

CUCUMBER CATCHUP.—

For a small quantity of this catchup, take twelve fine full-grown cucumbers, and lay them an hour in cold water. Then pare them, and grate them down into a deep dish. Grate also two small onions, and mix them with the grated cucumber. Season the mixture to your taste with pepper, salt, and vinegar, making it of the consistence of very thick marmalade or jam. When thoroughly amalgamated, transfer it to a glass jar. Cover it closely, tying over it a[328] piece of bladder, so as to render it perfectly air-tight.

It will be found very nice, (when fresh cucumbers are not in season,) to eat with beef or mutton. And if properly made, and securely covered, will keep well. It should be grated very fine, and the vinegar must be of very excellent quality—real cider vinegar.

CAMP CATCHUP.—

Take a pint or quart of strong ale or porter, and a pint of white wine; half a dozen shalots, or very small onions, peeled and minced; half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of nutmeg, broken up; and two large roots or races of ginger, sliced. Put all together, over a moderate fire, into a porcelain-lined kettle, and boil it slowly till one-third of the liquid is wasted. Next day transfer it to small bottles, putting a portion of the seasoning in the bottom of each, and filling them to the top with the liquid. Finish with a tea-spoonful of salad oil at the top. Cork the bottles with good corks, and seal them. In a dry place this catchup will keep for years.

TARRAGON VINEGAR.—

The fresh leaves of the tarragon plant are in perfection in July and August, and impart a new and pleasant taste to soups, hashes, gravies, &c. To use it fresh, wash a bunch of tarragon in cold water. Afterwards strip off the green leaves, chop or mince them, and boil a tea-spoonful or more in the dish you intend[329] to flavor. The best way of keeping tarragon is to strip off as many fresh leaves as will half fill a glass jar that holds a quart. Pour on as much real cider vinegar as will fill up the jar. Cover it closely, and let the tarragon infuse in it for a week, shaking the jar every day. Then pour off that vinegar carefully, and throw away the tarragon leaves that have been steeping in it. Wash that jar, or take another clean one, put into it the same quantity of fresh tarragon leaves, and fill up with the same vinegar in which you have infused the first supply. Let the second leaves remain in the jar of vinegar. A tarragon bush is well worth planting; even in a small city garden.

FINE FRENCH MUSTARD.—

Take a jill or two large wine-glasses of tarragon vinegar, (strained from the leaves,) and mix with it an equal quantity of salad oil, stirring them well together. Pound in a mortar, two ounces of mustard seed till it becomes a fine smooth powder, and mix it thoroughly. Add to it one clove of garlic (not more) peeled, minced and pounded. Make the mixture in a deep white-ware dish. If the mustard affects your eyes, put on glasses till you have finished the mixture. When done, put it up in white bottles, or gallipots. Cork them tightly, and seal the corks. Send it to table in those bottles.

This mustard is far superior to any other, the tarragon imparting a peculiar and pleasant flavor.[330]

It is excellent to eat with any sort of roast meat, particularly beef or mutton, and an improvement to almost all plain sauces, stews, soups, &c.

SAUCE ROBERT.—

Peel five large onions, and parboil them to take off some of the strength. Cut them into small dice, and put them into a stew-pan with a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, divided into four, and dredged with flour. When they are well browned, pour on them half a pint of beef or veal gravy, and let it simmer for a quarter of an hour. Season it slightly with cayenne. Just before it goes to table, stir in a table-spoonful of French mustard.

GREEN MAYONNAISE.—

This is a fine accompaniment to cold poultry, which must be cut into small pieces as for chicken salad, using only the white meat. To begin the mayonnaise. Put into a shallow pan the yolks only of three fresh eggs, having strained out the specks. Having beaten them till light and thick, add, by degrees, a half pint of salad oil, stirring it in gradually, so that no oil whatever is to be seen on the surface. Then add two table-spoonfuls of tarragon vinegar. Next a few drops of shalot vinegar, or a very small onion minced as finely as possible. If you have at hand[331] any clear meat gravy (for instance, veal,) stir in two or three table-spoonsful. Add the grated yellow rind, and the juice of a lemon. Pound as much spinach as will yield a small tea-cupful of green juice. Give it a short boil up, to take off the rawness, and mix it with the mayonnaise. When cool, pour it over the dish of cold poultry.

EPICUREAN SAUCE.—

Pound in a mortar five or six anchovies; a heaped table-spoonful of minced tarragon leaves; a shalot, or very small onion, two or three pickled gherkins, finely minced; the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and a large table-spoonful of French mustard. If you have no good butter, mix a sufficient portion of olive oil to moisten it well. Let the whole be thoroughly mixed. Put it into a bowl, and set it on ice till wanted. Then mould it into pats of equal size. Arrange them on small glass or china plates, and send them to table for dinner company, to eat with the cheese.

EAST INDIA SAUCE FOR FISH.—

Mix well together a jill of India soy; a jill of chili vinegar; half a pint of walnut catchup, and a pint of mushroom-catchup. Shake the whole hard, and transfer it to small green bottles, putting a tea-spoonful of sweet oil at the top of each, and keep the sauce in a cool dry place. If you have not a fish castor, bring the store sauces to table in the[332] small bottles they are kept in. When eating fish, mix a little of this with the melted butter on your plate.

CURRY POWDER.—

Curry powder originates in India, where it is much used as a peculiar flavoring for soups, stews, and hashes. With curry dishes, boiled rice is always served up, not only in a separate dish, but also heaped round the stew in a thick even border. To make curry powder, pound in a marble mortar three ounces of turmeric, three ounces of coriander seed, and a quarter of an ounce of cayenne; one ounce of mustard, one ounce of cardamoms, a half ounce of cummin seed, and half an ounce of mace. Let all these ingredients be thoroughly mixed in the mortar, and then sift it through a fine sieve, dry it for an hour before the fire, and put it into clean bottles, securing the corks well. Use from two to three table-spoonfuls at a time, in proportion to the size of the dish you intend to curry.

It may be mixed into the gravy of any of the preceding receipts for stews. Two ounces of finely grated cocoa-nut is a pleasant improvement to curried dishes, and is universally liked.

The curry powder you buy is frequently much adulterated with inferior articles. The best curry powder imported from India is of a dark green color, and not yellow or red. It has among its ingredients, tamarinds, not preserved, as we always get them—but raw in the shell. These tamarinds[333] impart a pleasant acid to the mixture. For want of them use a lemon.

MADRAS CURRY POWDER.—

Pound separately, and sift, six ounces of coriander seed, three of turmeric, one of black pepper, two of cummin, one of fennel seed, and half an ounce of cayenne. Mix all together, put them into a glass jar or bottle, and seal the cover.

Curry powder may be added to any stew of meat, poultry, or game. Boiled rice must always accompany a dish of curry.

The ingredients indispensable to all curries (and you may make a curry of any nice meat, or poultry, or even of oysters) is a very pungent powder, prepared for the purpose with turmeric. Also onions and boiled rice. In India there is always something acid in the mixture, as lemons, sour apple juice, or green tamarinds. The turmeric has a peculiar flavor of its own.

STORE SAUCES.—

The celebrated English sauces, for fish and game, Harvey's sauce, (which is the best,) Quin's, Reading's, Kitchener's, Soyer's, &c., are all very good, and keep well, if genuine. They are imported in small sealed bottles, and are to be had of all the best grocers. To make them at home, is so troublesome and expensive, that it is[334] better to buy them. They are, however, very nice, and are generally introduced at dinner parties; a little being mixed on your plate with the melted butter. If you have no fish castors, bring these sauces to table in their own bottles, to be carried round by a servant.

FINE PINK SAUCE.—

Take a pint of excellent port wine, the juice and grated yellow rinds of four large lemons, two dozen blades of mace and a large nutmeg, broken up; with a quarter of an ounce of prepared cochineal, or a small tea-spoonful of alkanet chips. Add a table-spoonful of fresh salad oil. Mix the whole well in a wide-mouthed glass jar with a lid. Let the ingredients infuse a fortnight; stirring it several times a day. Then strain it, pour it through a funnel into small bottles, and seal the corks. It will give a fine pink color to drawn butter. Eat it with any sort of fish or game.

Alkanet produces a much finer color than cochineal, but it must unite with some substance of an oily nature to give out its color to advantage. It is very cheap, and very beautiful, and to be had at the druggist's. Infuse it tied in a thin muslin bag.

WINE SAUCE FOR VENISON OR GAME.—

Take the half of a sixpenny loaf of bread. Cut off all the crust. Put the crumb (or soft part) into a bowl, and pour on sufficient good port wine to steep it. Soak the bread in the wine till dissolved.[335] Then add two heaped table-spoonsful of fresh butter, and two heaped spoonsful of sugar; seasoning with powdered mace and nutmeg, and the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon. Beat all together till very smooth. Put it into a sauce-pan, and give it one boil up; taking it off as soon as it comes to a boil. Send it to table hot. It is a fine company sauce for venison, or hare, or any sort of game.

FINE PUDDING SAUCE.—

Take a large half-pint cup of the best fresh butter, and the same quantity of powdered loaf-sugar. Put them together in an earthen pan, and beat them to a light thick cream. Then mix a jill or wine-glass of boiling water, and a large wine-glass of the best brandy, with the grated yellow rind and juice of a large lemon or orange; and a small nutmeg, grated. Mix these ingredients, gradually, with the beaten butter and sugar; and transfer the sauce to a small tureen, putting a spoon or ladle into it.

If designed for sauce to a plum-pudding or any other large one, you will require a pint of butter, a pint of sugar, half a pint of boiling water with half a pint of brandy, two lemons or oranges, and a large nutmeg, or two small ones. Divide the sauce in two tureens. A boiled pudding for company requires no finer sauce than this.

Where real cream is plenty, a bowl of it well sweetened with sugar, and flavored with nutmeg, is nice for any boiled pudding. If you add wine or lemon juice to cream sauce, previously mix the[336] acid with the sugar, and make it very sweet before you put them to the cream, lest it should curdle.

VANILLA SAUCE.—

Split and break up a small stick of vanilla, and boil it in a very little milk, till all the vanilla flavor is extracted. Then strain it through very fine muslin, and stir it into the cream. Give it one boil up in a small porcelain sauce-pan; and sweeten it well with white sugar.

PLAIN SAUCE FOR PUDDING.—

Stir together (as in making pound cake) equal quantities of fresh butter and white sugar. This is the usual proportion; but if you can stir or beat it easily, try a little less butter, and a little more of the sugar. Grate in some nutmeg, and the yellow rind of a fresh lemon, and send it to table heaped on a small plate, with a tea-spoon near it.[E]

Many persons prefer, with plain puddings, cold butter on a butter plate, and sugar from the sugar-bowl; mixing it for themselves on their own plate. This is best for boiled fruit pudding or dumplings; and for egg or batter puddings, molasses or syrup is very good; and costs but little.[337]

CRANBERRY SAUCE.—

Pick the cranberries clean, seeing that no stems, sticks, or dead leaves are left among them. Put them into a cullender, or sieve, and wash them through two waters. Cook them in a porcelain-lined, or enameled stew-pan, without any additional water. The water that remains about them after washing is quite sufficient for stewing them properly. No stewed fruit should be too thin or liquid. Keep a steady heat under the cranberries, stirring them up from the bottom frequently: and when they are soft, mash them with the back of the spoon. When they are quite shapeless, take them off the fire, and while they are very hot, stir in, gradually, an ample quantity of nice brown sugar. They require much sweetening. Season them with nothing else. Their natural flavor is sufficient (if well sweetened) and cannot be improved by spice, lemon, or any of the usual condiments. Always buy the largest and ripest cranberries. The best things are cheapest in the end.

In stewing any sort of fruit, do not add the sugar till the fruit is done, and taken from the fire. If sweetened at the beginning, much of the strength of the sugar evaporates in cooking; besides rendering the fruit tough and hard, and retarding the progress of the stew.

In America, sweet sauce is eaten with any sort of roast meat. Send it to table cold. For company, put it into a blanc-mange mould, and turn it out in a shape, first dipping the mould, for a minute, in warm water to loosen it.[338]

APPLE SAUCE.—

Get fine juicy apples—bellflowers are the best for cooking. Sweet apples cook very badly—becoming tough, dry and tasteless. Green apples, if full grown, cook well, and have a pleasant acid.

For sauce, pare, core, and quarter or slice the apples. Wash the pieces in a cullender, and put them to stew, with only water enough to wet them a little. Apple stews that are thin and watery are disgraceful to the cook, or to the cook's mistress. Let them stew till you can mash them easily all through. Then take them off the fire, and sweeten them, adding the seasoning while the apples are warm. Season with rose-water, lemon juice, nutmeg; or with all these if for company. If you can get fresh lemon-peel, cut it into very thin slips, and put it in to stew with the apples at first. It is still better, and little more trouble, to grate the lemon-peel.

Fruit for pies should be stewed in the same manner as for sauce, and not sweetened till taken from the fire. Let the paste be baked empty in large deep plates, and when cool, filled to the brim with stewed fruit. A pie, (as we have seen them,) only half or one third full, looks very meanly—and tastes so.

All these fruit-sauces are good receipts for stewing fruit for pies or any other purpose.

We advise all families to have, among their kitchen utensils, bain maries, or double-kettles, putting the article to be stewed in the inner kettle, and the boiling water in the outside one. They are to be had of all sizes at the furnishing stores.[339] They are also excellent for custards and boiled puddings.

BAKED APPLE SAUCE.—

Core very nicely as many fine juicy apples as will fill a large baking-pan. All coring of apples should be done with a tin cover. This you can buy at a tinman's for a quarter dollar, and it is invaluable for the purpose. After coring the apples, pare them smooth and evenly. Put a large table-spoonful of cold water in the bottom of the baking-pan, and then put in the apples first, filling, with fine brown sugar, the hole from whence the core was taken out. To have them very nice, add some grated lemon-peel, or some rose-water. Set the pan into an oven, (not too hot,) close the oven, and bake till the apples are all broken and can be easily mashed. This way of making apple sauce, by baking in a close oven, will be found far superior to boiling or stewing them. They require no more water than is barely sufficient to give them a start at the bottom.

The flavoring (sugar, lemon, or rose,) may be deferred till the apples are baked, taken out of the oven and mashed. Then mix it in while hot.

Boiled apple sauce is usually spoiled with too much water, rendering it the consistence of thin pap, weak, washy, and mean.

GOOSEBERRY SAUCE.—

Get fine full-grown green gooseberries. Pick them over, and top and[340] tail them. Wash them in a cullender or sieve through two waters. Put them into an enameled stew-pan, with only the water remaining on them after washing, and no sugar till after they are stewed to a mash, and taken from the fire. Then while hot, stir in brown sugar enough to make them very sweet. Serve them up cold. For company, before they are sweetened, press them through a sieve, using only the pulp. Then add the sugar; and mould the whole in a form.

CURRANT SAUCE.—

Take fine ripe currants, and strip them from the stems. Put them into a pan, and mash them with a large spoon, or a wooden beetle. Stew them in their own juice (no water,) and sweeten them when they are taken from the fire. For company, press the fruit through a sieve before you add the sugar, and shape it in a mould.

It will answer every purpose of regular currant jelly, to eat with game, venison, &c.

RIPE PEACH SAUCE.—

Take juicy freestone peaches; pare and stone them, and cut them up. Save all the juice, and stew them in it. When quite soft, take them off the fire, and sweeten them. The flavor will be much improved by stewing with them a bunch of fresh peach leaves, to be taken out when the peaches are done. Or, if you cannot readily obtain the leaves, a handful of the fresh[341] peach kernels, stewed with the fruit, (and to be taken out afterwards,) will answer the purpose.

It is well, even in the sunny side of a city garden, to plant two peach stones; so that when they grow into trees, you may have peach leaves at hand for improving the flavor of custards, and other things. Unless the trees are perfectly healthy, and the leaves green, do not use them.

DRIED PEACH SAUCE.—

The richest and best dried peaches, are those that are dried with the skins on. The skins (however thick,) entirely dissolve in cooking, and become imperceptible when the fruit is well stewed. It is a great error to pare peaches for drying. Apples must be pared, for the skin is tougher than that of peaches, and does not dissolve in cooking.

To prepare dried peaches for stewing, pick them over carefully, throwing away all the imperfect pieces. Wash them in two cold waters, and then put them into a stew-pan, (adding no water,) and stew them till they are quite soft, and shapeless, and mash easily and smoothly in the pan. Sweeten them with plenty of brown sugar, as soon as they come off the fire.

DRIED APPLE SAUCE.—

Wash the dried apples through a cullender, and put a very little water with them in the stew-pan. Being rather insipid, they require some additional flavor. Add cinna[342]mon, or other spice of any sort you like, and the yellow rind of a fresh lemon or orange, pared very thin and cut into slips. When these apples are well stewed and mashed, sweeten them.

We believe, that when dried peaches can be procured, few will buy dried apples; they are so far inferior; being the poorest of dried fruit.

Dried cherries also are scarcely worth cooking, even if they have been stoned. Being tough and indigestible, they are very unwholesome, except for rough, hard-working people. If the stones are left in, dried cherries are fit for nothing.

DAMSON SAUCE.—

Having stewed the damsons in their own juice, till all the stones slip out, (and can be easily removed with a spoon, when taken from the fire,) make them very sweet by stirring in a large portion of brown sugar.

FINE PRUNE SAUCE.—

Wash a pound of prunes, and stew them in orange juice, adding the yellow rind of an orange, pared so fine as to be transparent—or grate it. Stir them up frequently, and when quite done, and the stones are all loose, sweeten the prunes with plenty of sugar.

Prune sauce is eaten with venison, or any sort of game; or with roast kid or fawn—or with roast pig.[343]

CHESTNUT SAUCE.—

Take the large Spanish chestnuts. Cut a slit in the side of each, and roast them well. Peel them, and put them into a saucepan of very rich melted butter. If you use American chestnuts, boil them till quite soft, (trying two or three to ascertain,) then peel, and thicken your melted butter with them. American chestnuts are too small to roast.

PEA-NUT SAUCE.—

Having roasted and shelled a pint of pea-nuts, or ground-nuts, remove the thin brown skin, and simmer the nuts in melted or drawn butter; adding some fine fresh oysters, omitting the gristle.

VEGETABLES.

All vegetables are best when fresh, as can easily be discovered by the difference between those newly brought from the garden, and those that have been kept in a provision shop till next day, (and perhaps longer,) imbibing the atmosphere of meat, fish, poultry, and a variety of things, each becoming impure from the same causes; not to mention the rats, mice, and insects which run over them at night. You cannot have vegetables in perfection without a country garden. But if obliged to depend upon the market or the provi[344]sion shops, always have your vegetables washed and laid in cold water before cooking. Some are best when put on to boil in cold water; others require boiling water at the beginning, to give them what the cooks call a quick start. All should be thoroughly done throughout. If hard in the centre they are unpalatable, and very unwholesome; even worse than underdone meat. Use but very little salt in cooking vegetables; too much renders them hard, and overpowers their real taste. Also, it is easy for the lovers of salt to add more when at table. When vegetables are done, and taken out the pot, drain them well through a cullender or sieve, carefully pressing out all the water that is about them. There is generally, in our country, too much water allowed to the vegetables. Merely enough to cover them well, and keep them from burning, is in most cases sufficient. In France, so little water is used in cooking vegetables, that they are rather stewed than boiled, and are the better for it. A puddle of greasy water in the bottom of every vegetable dish is a disgusting sight; and yet how frequently it is seen. If of every-day occurrence, it is a certain indication of a bad cook, or an inefficient mistress, or both.

Almost all green vegetables should be thrown into fast-boiling water, and cooked rapidly; first washing them carefully, and laying them for half an hour in a large pan of cold water. If found frozen in the winter, be sure to thaw them in cold water. Continue the boiling till they are[345] thoroughly done, and with a steady heat, taking off the scum as it rises.

It is very usual in the spring to bring early vegetables from the south, for the markets of Philadelphia and New York. By the time they reach us they are faded, withered, tough and unwholesome. It is better to wait a week or two longer till the season is a little more advanced, and the farms and gardens of our neighborhood can supply our own markets, at a far less cost, and with fresher and better vegetables.

The water in which vegetables have been boiled becomes very unwholesome, and should be thrown out immediately.

BOILED POTATOS.—

To have boiled potatos in perfection they should all be of a good sort and as nearly as possible of the same size. Till it is time to cook them, let the slight mould or earth that has adhered to the potatos in digging, be carefully washed off, even scrubbing them with a hard brush. This can be done very conveniently, by laying them under the hydrant or pump, washing them there with a broom, and letting the water run on them.

An iron pot is the best of all things for boiling potatos, as it retains the heat longer than any other utensil. Lay them in it, closely and compactly, and pour in barely sufficient cold water to cover them well, adding a tea-spoonful of salt. Simmer them till nearly done, which you may[346] ascertain by probing all through with a fork. You may quicken the fire for the last five minutes. Pour off all the water from them as soon as they are tender all through. Lift the lid of the pot at one side to allow the steam to pass off, and set them beside the fire, or on a trevet far above it, till the moisture has escaped; the potatos will then be dry and mealy. Then peel them; or if preferred, send them to table with the skin on, which will keep them hot longer.

If the potatos are old, cut a piece of skin (about the size of a sixpence) from the top and bottom before boiling; or, take off a long slip from each side. In the spring, when quite old, cut out all the blemishes, pare the potatos, and always boil them for mashing.

ROAST POTATOS.—

Potatos for roasting should always be large and fine. If small, "they go all to skin." Select those that are nearest of a size, and wash them very clean, and wipe every one with a cloth. Put them into an oven, and let them roast or bake for more than two hours, turning them with a fork. Dish them in the skins, and send only cold butter to table with them. Bake sweet potatos in the same manner, but much longer. Small sweet potatos should be boiled; as, when small, they are not worth cooking in any other way; and when roasted there is scarcely any thing of them, but tough shriveled skin[347].

BAKED POTATOS.—

Pare some fine potatos all about the same size, and cover with them the whole bottom of a large deep earthen dish; lay them close together so that they all touch. Bake them under a nice piece of beef, veal, or pork, raised above them on a trivet. The gravy from the meat will drip upon them as soon as it begins to bake. They must bake till they are nicely browned, and till a fork will easily go through them. Have a smaller dish of potatos baked without meat, in a dish by themselves, as potatos pared before baking are much liked. Lay some bits of fresh butter among those that are cooked without any meat.

TO BOIL NEW POTATOS.—

Rub each one with a coarse cloth to clear off the skin, it being too thin for paring. Wash them well, and cut a small piece off the top and bottom of each potato, to make them boil tender all through. Put no salt in the water, and boil them till soft. Serve them plain, and eat them with cold butter—or, put them into a sauce-pan, and stew them in butter.

MASHED POTATOS.—

Having boiled the potatos till tender all through, drain them very dry in a cullender, and mash them smoothly with a potato beetle, a large wooden spoon, or a short-handled wooden ladle. When all are nicely mashed, add gradually plenty of fresh butter, and some cream or rich milk. On no account spoil[348] the potatos by putting any water to them, when mashing. Put them into a deep dish or mould, and brown them with a salamander.

POTATO CAKES.—

After the mashed potatos are mixed with butter in a deep earthen pan, beat them with a wooden spoon to render them very light. Then make them up into thick flat cakes, about the size of a muffin, and brown each with a salamander.

COUNTRY POTATOS.—

Having boiled and peeled some fine newly-dug potatos, melt some butter in a sauce-pan, with cream, instead of flour and water, and pour it plentifully into the dish of potatos; seasoning with black pepper and sweet marjoram leaves. Where cream is plenty, this is a very nice way of cooking. Serve them up with the sauce poured over them, and around them. They must be well boiled, and tender all through.

FRIED POTATOS.—

The potatos must be raw, large, unblemished, and of a good round shape. First take off a thin paring of the skin. Then, pare the whole potato round and round, (not too thin,) till you have gone through it all, and nothing is left unpared but a little lump in the centre. Then put these continuous rings of potato into a frying-pan, in which is boiling plenty of fresh butter, or butter and lard mixed. Fry them[349] brown and tender, and arrange them handsomely in a dish for breakfast.

Another Way.—Slice thin a sufficiency of fine raw potatos, and lay them in a pan of cold water to soak for an hour or more. Then pour off that water entirely, and replace it with fresh. Let them remain in this for another hour, or till it is time to cook them. Put them into a frying-pan that has in it plenty of fresh butter or lard, enough, while frying, to keep the potatos near the surface. Fry them till perfectly well done and tender.

STEWED POTATOS.—

Having pared some fine raw potatos, quarter them, and put them into a stew-pan with a little salt, pepper, and some green sweet marjoram stripped from the stalks, and scattered among the potatos. Put them into a stew-pan with milk enough to prevent their burning, and some fresh butter—no water. If you can get cream conveniently, add some to the milk. Cover the pan, and let the potatos stew, till, on trying them with a fork, you find them thoroughly cooked, and soft and tender all through. If not sufficiently done, they are hard, tough, leathery, and unfit to eat.

They are very good stewed entirely in the dripping of cold gravy of roast beef, veal, or pork[350]—but not mutton, as that will give them the taste of tallow. This is a nice breakfast dish. Cold potatos re-cooked never again become good. After potatos once become cold, no cooking can restore them.

STEWED SWEET POTATOS.—

These should first be scraped or pared. Then cut into pieces, and stewed as above.

BOILED CABBAGE.—

All cabbage should be well washed, and boiled in a large quantity of water with a little salt; the loose or faded leaves being stripped from the outside. They should always be cut or split in two, or in four pieces if very large. Cut the stalk short, and split it up to where the leaves begin. Put it on in boiling water, and keep it boiling steadily till quite done, which will not be till the stalk is tender throughout. If a young summer cabbage, split it in half, and when well boiled, and drained and pressed in a cullender, serve it up with a few bits of cold fresh butter, laid inside among the leaves. Season it with pepper. This is a much nicer and easier way, than to make drawn butter, and pour over the outside of the cabbage.

Sprouts and very young greens, require nothing more than to be well washed, boiled and drained. In the country, cabbage sprouts are commonly boiled with bacon.

Savoy cabbage is considered the finest sort. It[351] is a late autumn and winter cabbage. If very large, split it in four. Do not boil it with meat. The fat will render it strong and unwholesome. Still worse, when melted butter is added to a cabbage already saturated with the fat of corned beef.

AN EXCELLENT WAY OF BOILING CABBAGE.—

Having trimmed the cabbage, and washed it well in cold water, (examining the leaves to see that no insects are lurking among them,) cut it almost into quarters, but do not divide it entirely down at the stem, which should be cut off just below the termination of the leaves. Let it lie an hour in a pan of cold water. Have ready a pot full of boiling water, seasoned with a small tea-spoonful of salt. Put the cabbage into it, and let it boil for an hour and a half, skimming it occasionally. Then take it out; put it into a cullender to drain, and when all the hot water has drained off; set it under the hydrant. Let the hydrant run on it, till the cabbage has become perfectly cold all through. If you have no hydrant, set it under a pump, or keep pouring cold water on it from a pitcher. Then, having thrown out all the first water, and washed the pot, fill it again, and let the second water boil. During this time the cabbage under the hydrant will be growing cold. Then put it on again in the second water, and boil it two hours, or two and a half. Even the thickest part of the stalk must be perfectly tender all through. When thoroughly done, take up the[352] cabbage, drain it well through the cullender, pressing it down with a broad ladle to squeeze out all the moisture; lay it in a deep dish, and cut it entirely apart, dividing it into quarters. Lay some bits of fresh butter among the leaves, add a little pepper, cover the dish, and send it to table hot.

Cooked in this manner it will be made perfectly wholesome, and the usually unpleasant cabbage smell will be rendered imperceptible. We recommend it highly.

CALE CANNON.—

Boil in one pot a fine large cabbage, and when done, drain and press it in a cullender till all the water is squeezed out. Have boiled in another, four or five large mealy potatos. Peel and mash the potatos, and chop the cabbage small. Mix the cabbage and the potatos evenly, in one large dish, and season them with black pepper; adding some bits of nice butter. Cale cannon is a plain family dish, but is very good, when all the dinner corresponds.

FRIED CABBAGE.—

Parboil a fine cabbage. When half-boiled, take it out, drain it, and lay it awhile in cold water, to remove the cabbage smell. Next put it into a clean pot of fresh water, and boil it again till thoroughly done. Afterwards, chop it small, season it with pepper and salt, and fry it in fresh butter.

A less delicate way is to fry it in boiling lard,[353] taking care to drain it well. It should be eaten only by people in good health.

FORCED CABBAGE—

(Choux farcie.)—This is for dinner company. Take two fine fresh cabbages, and examine them well to see that there are no insects hidden among the leaves. Wash the cabbages in cold water, and drain them. Take out the heart or inside cluster of leaves in the centre of each cabbage, leaving a circle of them standing. Cut off the stalk near the bottom, but not so close as to cause the cabbage to fall apart. You may leave a double circle of leaves. Have ready plenty of stuffing, or forcemeat, made of veal or fresh pork minced finely, cold ham or smoked tongue minced also, grated bread-crumbs, fresh butter, powdered mace, sweet marjoram and sweet basil, grated lemon-peel, and two hard-boiled yolks of egg, crumbled fine. Fill the cabbages full with this stuffing, and to keep them in shape, tie them firmly round in several places, with strings of twine or bass. They must be tied in the form of a round ball. Put them into a stew-pot, with water enough to cover them well, and let them stew till thoroughly done. Take them up immediately before they are wanted, and remove the strings that have kept them in shape while cooking. Red cabbages may be done in this way.[354]

FRENCH SOUR CROUT.—

This may be made fresh every day, and has none of the objections generally alleged against the German saur-kraut. Having taken out the stalks or cores, split into quarters, four large white-heart cabbages. Shred them fine with a cabbage-cutter. Wash them well in two waters, and drain them in a cullender. Next lay the shred cabbages in a large earthen pan, add a table-spoonful of salt, and a pint of the best cider vinegar. Stir and toss the cabbage in this, and let it steep for three hours. Then wash and drain it, and put it into a large stew-pan, with half a pound of nice sweet butter, or a quarter of a pound of lard. Season it with a little black pepper, and three table-spoonfuls of French mustard, or a jill of tarragon vinegar. Cover the whole with a buttered white paper, and stew it slowly for two hours longer. Take off the paper, and send the sour crout to table in a covered dish.

You may lay on the top of the stew, a pound of sausage meat, or of sausage cakes. Or a thin slice or two of cold ham.

DRESSING FOR SLAW.—

Mix a small pint of real cider vinegar with four large table-spoonfuls of nice fresh butter, divided into four bits, and each bit rolled in flour; a tea-spoon of salt, and a salt-spoon of cayenne. Being well stirred, and mixed thoroughly, boil this in a porcelain-lined sauce-pan; and, as soon as it has come to a fast boil, remove it from the fire, and stir in[355] the beaten yolk of four eggs. Have ready a nice fresh white cabbage, that has been washed, drained, and cut, or shaved, into small shreds with a cabbage cutter. Lay the shred cabbage in a deep dish or bowl, while you prepare the above dressing. Having taken it from the fire, and stirred in, gradually, the beaten yolk of egg, pour the dressing hot over the cabbage: mixing it all with a large boxwood salad-spoon or fork. Set it out of doors to cool; or cool it quickly on ice or snow.

Or if preferred warm, place it on the top of a stove, and cover it closely till wanted. It may be made of red cabbage.

This slaw (either cold or warm) will be found very superior to all others, if this receipt is exactly followed.

SALSIFY FRITTERS.—

Having washed and scraped the salsify roots, and cut off the extreme joints, stand them up and grate them. Beat three eggs very light, and stir them gradually into a pint of milk, with sufficient flour to make a stiff batter. Instead of grating the salsify you may cut it into pieces, and boil it till quite soft, so that you can mash it easily. Add a little pepper. Have ready over the fire a deep frying-pan or skillet, with plenty of boiling lard. Put in a large spoonful of the batter, and into the middle of each drop a spoonful of the mashed salsify. Fry these fritters of a light brown on both sides, and take them out with a perforated skimmer, draining off the lard through its holes.[356]

You may fry the mashed salsify without the batter, taking large spoonfuls, and dipping each in beaten egg first, and afterward twice over in grated bread-crumbs, so as to resemble fried oysters.

Or you may first boil the roots merely split in two, and then fry them in fresh butter, or bake them brown in an oven.

SALSIFY OYSTERS.—

Get some fine salsify roots, (called also oyster-plant,) and wash and scrape them well. Boil them in sufficient fresh oyster liquor to cover them well, and when they are soft take them out, split them, and cut them into pieces about two inches long. Then put them into a stew-pan, with the oyster liquor, some pieces of fresh butter rolled in flour, and some blades of mace and some grated nutmeg, with a few whole pepper-corns. Let them cook between five and ten minutes, having stirred among them the beaten yolks of two or three eggs. Serve them up hot, as a side dish.

MELONGINA OR EGG-PLANT.—

Take a large fine egg-plant, and see that there are no blemishes about it. Having cut it into thin round slices, (without paring off the skin,) sprinkle between the slices a very little salt and pepper, cover them with a plate, and let them rest an hour more. Then wipe the pieces dry. Have some beaten egg[357] in one deep plate, and some bread-crumbs, finely grated, in another. Dip each slice of egg-plant first into the beaten egg, and then into the bread-crumbs, and fry them brown in a pan full of boiling lard, or else lard and fresh butter mixed in equal quantities. Take them out with a perforated skimmer, and drain them well.

They will be much better if each slice is dipped twice in the egg, and twice in the crumbs.

They may be fried very plainly, simply dredged with flour, and then put into a pan with plenty of boiling lard, the lard drained well from each slice when it is done. They should be fried brown on both sides. If underdone, and left greenish or whitish, they have a raw bitter taste.

BAKED EGG-PLANTS.—

Prepare several fine large unblemished egg-plants, by scooping out the inside or pulp with a spoon, leaving the rind standing. To do this you must cut off very nicely and evenly a round piece from the top, (afterwards to be tied on again.) Make a sufficient quantity of forcemeat or stuffing of soaked bread, pressed and dried slightly; fresh butter; minced sweet marjoram leaves; a little pepper and salt; and some powdered mace, and the yellow rind of a lemon grated off very fine. Mix all these with the pulp or inside of the egg-plant. When thoroughly mixed, stuff with it the rind or outside into a perfectly round shape, and with a packthread tie on the top-piece which[358] was cut off. Put the egg-plants into a dish, the bottom covered with thin slices of cold ham. Bake them for an hour or more, and then send them to table whole, with the slices of ham laid round on the dish. Remove the strings.

FRIED BANANAS.—

The bananas should be perfectly ripe and yellow all over. Peel them, split them into long slips, and dredge them slightly with flour. Have ready a frying pan filled with boiling lard. Put in the bananas, and fry them well. When done, take them up on a perforated skimmer, and drain back the lard into the frying pan. Dish, and send them to table with powdered sugar to eat with them.

In the West Indies, the large green bananas that are exported from thence, are by no means in favor, compared with a very small yellow sort, the only banana eaten at the best tables. The little ones are fried in the above manner.

ONION CUSTARD.—

Peel and slice ten or twelve mild onions, and fry them in fresh butter, draining them well when you take them up. Then mince them as fine as possible. Beat four eggs till very thick and light, and stir them gradually into a pint of milk, in turn with the minced onion. Season the whole with plenty of grated nutmeg, and stir it very hard. Then put it into a deep white dish, and bake it about a quar[359]ter of an hour. Send it to table as a side dish, to be eaten with poultry. It is a French preparation, and will be found very nice, by those who have no dislike to onions.

CAULIFLOWERS.—

Choose large fine white cauliflowers. Wash them well, and lay them in a pan of cold water, having divided each cauliflower into quarters. Trim off the outside green leaves. Put on the cauliflowers in boiling water with a little salt in it. It is still better to boil them in milk. Let them cook till tender throughout, flower and stalk. When quite done, put some bits of fresh butter among the flowers, or pour over them drawn butter sauce, made with milk and seasoned with powdered nutmeg or mace. Serve them up hot, and covered.

BROCCOLI—

Is drest in the same manner. It is very good with toast under, though inferior to cauliflower.

CAULIFLOWER OMELET.—

Take the white part of a boiled cauliflower after it is cold; chop it very small, and mix with it a sufficient quantity of well beaten-egg, to make a very thick batter. Then fry it in fresh butter in a small pan, and send it hot to table.[360]

FRIED CAULIFLOWER.—

Having laid a fine cauliflower in cold water for an hour, put it into a pot of boiling water that has been slightly salted, (milk and water will be still better,) and boil it twenty-five minutes, or till the large stalk is perfectly tender. Then divide it, equally, into small tufts, and spread it on a dish to cool. Prepare a sufficient quantity of batter made in the proportion of a table-spoonful of flour, and two table-spoonfuls of milk to each egg. Beat the eggs very light, then stir into them the flour and milk alternately; a spoonful of flour, and two spoonfuls of milk at a time. When the cauliflower is cold, have ready some fresh butter in a frying-pan over a clear fire. When it has come to a boil and has done bubbling, dip each tuft of cauliflower twice into the pan of batter, and fry them a light brown. Send them to table hot.

CAULIFLOWER MACCARONI.—

Having removed the outside leaves, and cut off the stalk, wash the cauliflower, and examine it thoroughly to see if there are any insects about it. Next lay it for an hour in a pan of cold water. Then put it into a pot of boiling milk and water that has had a little fresh butter melted in it. Whatever scum may float on the top of the water must be removed before the cauliflower goes in. Boil it steadily half an hour, or till it is quite tender. Then take it out, drain it, and cut it into short[361] sprigs. Have ready three ounces of rich, but not strong cheese, grated fine. Put into a stew-pan a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, nearly half of the grated cheese, two large table-spoonfuls of cream or rich milk, and a very little salt and cayenne. Toss or shake it over the fire till it is well mixed and has come to a boil. Then add the tufts of cauliflower, and let the whole stew together about five minutes. When done put it into a deep dish, strew over the top the remaining half of the grated cheese, and brown it with a salamander or a red-hot shovel held above the surface.

BROCCOLI AND EGGS.—

Take several heads of broccoli and cut the stalks short, paring off from the stalks the tough outside skin. Trim off the small outside shoots or blossoms, and tie them together in bunches. After all the broccoli has been washed, and lain half an hour or more in a pan of fresh cold water, put the large heads, with a salt-spoonful of salt, into a pot of boiling water, and let them boil till thoroughly done, and the stalk perfectly tender. When the large heads have boiled about a quarter of an hour, put in the small tufts, which of course require less time to cook. In the meanwhile have ready six beaten eggs. Put a quarter of a pound of butter into a sauce-pan, and stir it over the fire till it is all melted; then add gradually the beaten eggs, and[362] stir the mixture, or shake it over the fire till it becomes very thick. Toast sufficient bread to cover entirely the bottom of a deep dish, cutting it to fit exactly, having removed the crust. Dip the toast for a minute in hot water. Pour the egg and butter over the hot toast. Then place upon it the broccoli; the largest and finest head in the middle, the lesser ones round it, and having untied the small sprigs, lay them in a circle close to the edge.

FRIED CELERY.—

Take fine large celery, cut it into pieces three or four inches in length, and boil it tender, having seasoned the water with a very little salt. Then drain the pieces well, and lay them, separately, to cool on a large dish. Make a batter in the proportion of three well-beaten eggs stirred into a pint of rich milk, alternately with half a pint of grated bread-crumbs, or of sifted flour. Beat the batter very hard after it is all mixed. Put into a hot frying-pan a sufficiency of fresh lard; melt it over the fire, and when it comes to a boil, dip each piece of celery twice into the batter, put them into the pan, and fry them a light brown. When done, lay them to drain on an inverted sieve with a broad pan placed beneath it. Then dish the fried celery, and send it to table hot.

Parsnips, and salsify, (or oyster plant) may be fried in butter according to the above directions. Also the tops of asparagus cut off from the stalk, and the white part or blossom of cauliflower.[363] Cold sweet potatos are very nice, peeled, cut into long slips, and fried in this way.

FRIED ARTICHOKES.—

The artichokes must be young and tender. Cut them into quarters, remove the choke part, and strip off the leaves. Having washed the artichokes well and laid them an hour in cold water, put them into a pot of boiling water, and keep them boiling steadily for a long time, till you find by trying them with a a fork that they are tender all through. Then take them out immediately, and drain them. Have ready a sufficiency of batter, made in the proportion of the yolk of one egg to a large table-spoonful of milk, and a tea-spoonful of flour. The eggs must be well beaten before they are mixed with the milk; then beat in the flour a spoonful at a time. Have ready over the fire some fresh butter, or lard, in a frying-pan. When it has boiled hard, dip the artichokes into the butter, (each piece should be twice dipped,) and fry them brown. Then drain them well, and send them to table hot.

Another way of frying artichokes, parsnips, and salsify, is, after they have been boiled tender, to dip each piece first in beaten yolk of egg, (without milk or flour,) and then roll it in finely grated bread-crumbs. Then put them into the pan and fry them in butter or lard, or a mixture of both.[364]

In boiling artichokes, observe to take them out as soon as they are tender. If they remain in the water after they are done, they turn blackish and lose their flavor.

MUSHROOM OMELET.—

Take some fresh-gathered mushrooms; remove the stalks, and rub the flaps or heads very slightly with a little salt, mixed with cayenne. Then stew the mushrooms in a small sauce-pan, with barely sufficient cream or rich milk to cover them. Put in with them a small onion; and if the onion is found to turn blackish, throw away the whole; it being proof that there is among them a false or poisonous mushroom. Stir them with a silver spoon, and keep on the lid of the pan closely, unless when you are stirring. If the spoon turns black, the mushrooms should not be eaten.

After they have come to a boil, take them off the fire; drain them, and when cool, chop them small. To a pint or more of the minced mushrooms, allow six or seven eggs. Beat the eggs till very light and thick, (omitting the whites of two,) and then mix in, gradually, the mushrooms, stirring the whole very hard. Put three ounces of fresh butter into a hot omelet pan, or a small frying-pan; place it over the fire and stir the butter as it melts. When it has boiled hard, put in the omelet mixture, and as it fries, stir it till it begins to set. Do not turn the omelet; but brown the top by holding close above it a red-hot[365] shovel. When done, drain off the butter, fold over or double the omelet, and serve it up immediately on a hot dish.

In gathering mushrooms, those that are fit to eat may be known by their being of a pale pearl color, or of a grayish white, instead of what is called a dead white; and the underside of the flap or head (if good) is of a light pink, or a pinkish salmon color. The best mushrooms grow on uplands, or in high open fields where the air is pure and good, and they should be gathered early in the morning before the dew is off. All that are found in low swampy ground, or in the woods, or under large trees, are poisonous.

SCOLLOPED TOMATOS.—

Take fine large tomatos, perfectly ripe. Scald them to loosen the skins, and then peel them. Cover the bottom of a deep dish thickly with grated bread-crumbs, adding a few bits of fresh butter. Then put in a layer of tomatos, seasoned slightly with a little salt and cayenne, and some powdered mace or nutmeg. Cover them with another layer of bread-crumbs and butter; then another layer of seasoned tomatos; and proceed thus until the dish is full, finishing at the top with bread-crumbs. Set the dish into a moderate oven, and bake it near three hours. Tomatos require long cooking, otherwise they will have a raw taste, that to most persons is unpleasant.[366]

ASPARAGUS OMELET.—

Take two bunches of the largest and finest asparagus. Put it into a pot of boiling water, with a salt-spoonful of salt, and boil it about twenty-five minutes, or till perfectly tender. Then drain it, and chop small all the green part. Beat four eggs very light, and add to them a wine-glass of cream. Mix the chopped asparagus thoroughly with the egg and cream, adding a salt-spoon of salt, and a very little cayenne. Melt a large slice of fresh butter in a frying-pan over the fire; and when it has boiled, and the bubbling has ceased, put in the mixture, and fry it till light and firm. Then slip it from the frying-pan to a hot dish, and fold it over.

For a soft omelet, put the mixture into a skillet with a piece of fresh butter. Let it stew slowly for ten minutes. Lay a thin slice of buttered toast in the bottom of a hot dish, and cut the toast into small squares, but let them remain close together. With a spoon heap the soft omelet upon the toast, and serve it up.

Any omelet mixture may be kept soft by stewing instead of frying it, and it will be found more wholesome.

STEWED PEAS.—

Take young, tender, green peas, wash them, and put them into a stew-pan, with sufficient fresh butter to keep them from burning, but no water. Season them with a little[367] black pepper, and a very little salt. Set them over a moderate fire, and stir them about till the butter is well mixed through them. Let them simmer till quite soft and slightly broken; take off the lid occasionally, and give them a stir up from the bottom. If you find them becoming too dry, add some more butter. When done, drain off what superfluous butter may be about the peas, and send them to table hot. They will be found excellent.

To the taste of many persons, they will be improved by a lump or two of loaf-sugar put in with the butter, and also by a few sprigs of mint, to be removed before the peas go to table.

Lima beans may be stewed in butter, as above; also, asparagus tops, cut off from the white stalk.

LETTUCE PEAS.—

Having washed four lettuces, and stripped off the outside leaves, take their hearts, and (having chopped them well) put them into a stew-pan with two quarts of young green peas, freshly shelled; a lump or two of loaf-sugar; and three or four leaves of green mint minced as finely as possible. Then put in four slices of cold ham, and a quarter of a pound of butter divided into four bits, and rolled in flour; and two table-spoonfuls of water. Add a little cayenne, and let the whole stew for about twenty-five minutes, or till the peas are thoroughly done. Next take out the ham, and add to the[368] stew half a pint of cream. Let it continue stewing five minutes longer. Then send it to table.

PLAIN LETTUCE PEAS.—

Cover the bottom and sides of a stew-pan with large fresh leaves taken from lettuces. Have ready the peas, which should be young and green. To each quart of shelled peas allow two table-spoonfuls of fresh butter, and a lump of loaf sugar. Add a very little pepper and salt, and a sprig of green mint. Cover the pan closely, and let it stew for half an hour, or till the peas are thoroughly done. Then take them out from the lettuce leaves, and send only the peas to table.

TO STEW CARROTS.—

Half-boil the carrots; then scrape them nicely, and cut them into thick slices. Put them into a stew-pan with as much milk as will barely cover them; a very little salt and pepper; and a sprig or two of chopped parsley. Simmer them till they are perfectly tender. When nearly done, add a piece of fresh butter rolled in flour. Send them to table hot. Carrots require long cooking; longer than any other vegetable.

Parsnips and salsify may be stewed in the above manner, substituting a little chopped celery for the parsley.[369]

SPINACH.—

Having peeled and washed the spinach very nicely, put it into a bain marie, or inside kettle, without any water, and cover it closely. Pour the water into the outside kettle, and you may hurry the boiling by throwing a handful of salt in the outside tin, taking care that none of the salt gets into the inside. When the spinach is well stewed, take it up and drain it without squeezing or pressing, as that will make it tough and dry. Then chop it small, and add some hard-boiled eggs, also chopped. Season it with pepper and fresh butter, stir it well together, return it to the kettle, and let it stew a quarter of an hour or more. Serve it up with buttered toast and poached eggs laid upon it.

Spinach being very watery, should always be stewed rather than boiled. If you have no bain marie, the water that remains about the spinach, after it has been washed, will suffice to stew it slowly.

Spinach juice, for coloring green, must be strained, and boiled slightly. You can obtain plenty of juice by pounding the leaves.

TO PREPARE CUCUMBERS.—

Let the cucumbers be full-grown, but not in the least yellow or hard. They are then only fit to be saved for seed. Lay the cucumbers in a pan of cold water for an hour or more, or till it is nearly time to send them to table, being careful not to set them in the sun. Have ready another pan of fresh[370] water, (very cold) and having pared the cucumbers, slice them into it. Transfer them to a deep china or white-ware dish. Season them with vinegar, pepper, salt, and a little salad oil, taking care not to use too much salt. When there is no dislike to onions, peel and slice a few that are mild, and mix them with the cucumbers. It is usual now, at the best tables, to have the onions in a small separate dish, (sliced with vinegar and pepper) to be eaten by those that like them, and omitted by those who do not. Onions, (and also salad oil) are said to render cucumbers more wholesome.

Tomatos (raw) are frequently sliced, seasoned, and sent to table in the manner of cucumbers. Tomatos are always wholesome.

STEWED CUCUMBERS.—

Pare six fine fresh cucumbers. Cut each of them lengthways into four pieces; lay them for an hour in a pan of cold water. Take a clean stew-pan, and place in its bottom two table-spoonfuls of good fresh butter. Then put in the slices of cucumber, and sprinkle them slightly with a very little pepper. Add two table-spoonfuls of cold water. Set the pan over a moderate fire, and let the cucumbers stew slowly for half an hour or more, till they are well cooked. Keep the pan closely covered, except when you have to remove the lid to stir the stew. Serve them up hot, at breakfast, or as a side dish, at dinner.[371]

Persons who have no objection to the taste of onions, will think the cucumbers improved by the addition of the half of a moderate sized onion, sliced thin and stewed with them.

A NICE WAY OF COOKING ASPARAGUS.—

Where asparagus is plenty, there is no better way of cooking it than the following. Take it as nearly of a size as possible, wash it, and cut off the stalks very short, leaving them not more than half an inch in length. Two quarts of water will be sufficient to boil one quart of asparagus tops; allow a tea-spoonful of salt to this quantity of water, and set it over the fire to boil. When the water is boiling hard, put in the asparagus, and boil it fast for at least half an hour. To see if it is done, take up two or three of the largest pieces and taste them. While it is boiling, prepare two slices of bread cut half an inch thick, and (having removed the crust) toast the bread brown on both sides. Have ready a large jill of melted (or drawn) fresh butter. When the asparagus is done, take it up with a perforated skimmer, and lay it on a sieve to drain. Dip the slices of toast (one at a time) first in the hot asparagus liquor, and then in the melted butter. Lay the slices, side by side, in a deep dish, and cover it with the asparagus, laid evenly over and round the toast. Then add the remainder of the drawn butter, and send the asparagus to table hot, in a covered dish.[372]

This is a much nicer way than that of boiling and serving it up with the long stalks left on. And where you have asparagus in abundance, (for instance in a country garden,) it may always be cooked in this manner.

ASPARAGUS OYSTERS.—

Take two bundles of fine full-grown asparagus. Cut off the green tops or points as far down as the white stalk. Take a sufficient quantity of fresh oysters, the finest you can get at that season. Put the asparagus tops into a stew-pan, with enough of oyster liquor (previously strained) to stew them quite tender. Stew the oysters themselves in another pan with some more of their liquor, seasoned with pepper, mace, and nutmeg, adding a large piece of fresh butter, divided into four, and each part rolled in flour. Do not let the oysters stew more than five minutes, or they will become tough and shriveled. When they are merely plumped, take them out and cut them up small, omitting the gristle or hard part. Set the mixture over the fire for about five minutes, stirring all the time. Have ready some slices of nice toast, with all the crust pared off; the slices dipped for a minute in hot water. Butter the toast, and cover with it the bottom of a deep dish, and fill it with the mixture of asparagus and oysters.[373]

ONION EGGS.—

Boil a dozen eggs quite hard. Slice and fry in fresh butter five or six onions. Slice (whites and yolks together) ten of the eggs, reserving two for the seasoning. Drain the sliced onions, and lay them on a dish with the sliced eggs placed upon them. Cover the dish, and keep it hot. Take the two remaining eggs, grate the yolks, and mix them with cream and grated nutmeg, and a very little cayenne. Put this mixture into a very small sauce-pan, give it one boil up, pour it over the eggs and onions, and send it to table hot. For those who have no objection to onions this is a nice side dish.

EGG BALLS.—

Boil eight eggs till quite hard, and when done, throw them directly into cold water. Then put the yolks into a mortar, and pound them to a paste, moistening them as you proceed with the beaten yolks of three raw eggs, seasoned with as much salt as will lie flat upon a shilling, and a little cayenne, and powdered nutmeg and mace. Mix the whole well together, and make it up into small round balls. Throw them into mock-turtle soup, or into stewed terrapin, about two minutes before you take it up.

CURRY BALLS.—

Take a sufficiency of finely-grated bread-crumbs; hard-boiled yolk of egg, grated; fresh butter, and a little curry powder. Pound the whole in a mortar, moistening it with[374] raw yolk of egg (well-beaten) as you proceed. Make it into small balls, and add them to stewed chicken or rabbit, about five minutes before you take it up.

TOMATO PASTE.—

Scald and peel as many ripe tomatos as will fill a large, deep, stone jar. Set them into a warm oven for an hour. Then skim off the watery liquid that has risen to the top, and press and squeeze the tomatos in a sieve. Afterwards add salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and powdered nutmeg, to your taste; and to every quart of tomatos allow a half a pint of cider vinegar. Stew the whole slowly in a porcelain kettle for three hours, (stirring it frequently from the bottom,) till it becomes a smooth, thick paste. Then put it into small jars or glasses, and cover it closely, pasting paper over each. It is an excellent sauce, at the season when fresh tomatos are not to be had, and is very good to thicken soup.

DRIED OCHRAS.—

Take fine large fresh ochras; cut them into thin, round slices; string them on threads, and hang them up in festoons to dry in the store-room. Before using, they must be soaked in water during twenty-four hours. They will then be good (with the addition of tomato paste) to boil in soup or gumbo.[375]

BEEF GUMBO.—

Put into a large stew-pan some pieces of the lean of fresh beef, cut up into small bits, and seasoned with a little pepper and salt. Add sliced ochras and tomatos, (either fresh or dried ochras and tomato paste.) You may put in some sliced onions. Pour on water enough to cover it well. Let it boil slowly, (skimming it well,) till everything is reduced to rags. Then strain and press it through a cullender. Have ready a sufficiency of toasted bread, cut into dice. Lay it in the bottom of a tureen, and pour the strained gumbo upon it.

TO BOIL OCHRAS.—

For boiling, the ochras should be young and small. Wash them, and cut off a small piece from each end. Boil them till very tender throughout. Then drain them well, and transfer them to a deep dish. Lay among them some bits of fresh butter, and season them with pepper. Cover the dish, that the butter may be warm and melt the sooner. Or you may make a sauce of half a pint of milk boiled, and when it has come to a boil enrich with a quarter of a pound of very good fresh butter, divided into four pieces; each piece rolled in a little flour, the butter stirred in gradually and smoothly, as soon as the milk is taken off the fire. Pour this sauce over the dish of ochras, and keep it covered till it has gone to table.

We prefer the first way, putting the bit of butter cold into the hot ochras, with either milk or[376] flour, and letting the butter melt gradually, in the manner of green beans. You may boil with them a small piece of very good bacon, removing when the ochras are taken off the fire. Season with pepper.

ONIONS.—

The best onions for cooking are the white or silver-skinned. The red-skinned are generally strong and coarse. Shalots are very small and delicate. Some sorts of large onions are milder and nicer than those of middle size, and some that are very small have a powerful taste and smell. The outer skin of most onions should be peeled entirely, and the ends cut off. All onions are the better for boiling, before they are cooked for any other purpose. Put them into a stew-pan with cold water, and when they have come to a boil pour off that water, and replace it with fresh cold also. Boil them slowly till quite tender all through, which will not be in less than half an hour; more, if they are large. When done, drain them well, dish them, and pour over them some nice melted butter.

To Stew Onions.—Peel, slice them, and stew them in milk, enriched with butter rolled in flour, and seasoned with a little cayenne and a few blades of mace.

To Roast Onions.—Select fine large onions; do not peel them, but place them in a bake-pan, and set them in an oven. Bake them slowly till tender all through. When done, peel off the outer skin,[377] and send them hot to table, to eat with pepper and cold butter.

They are very good when covered up and roasted under hot ashes, taking care that they are done quite through to the heart.

TO BOIL GREEN PEAS.—

When the peas are shelled, wash them in a pan of cold water. Put on the peas in cold water, (a little salted) and let them boil very fast. If nice peas, they will generally be done in a quarter of an hour after beginning to boil. When simmering, add to them a lump or a spoonful of loaf-sugar, and a sprig of fresh green mint, (half a dozen leaves) having first ascertained if mint is not disliked by any person who is to eat of the peas. To some the taste and odor of mint is very agreeable, to others very disgusting, as is the case with onions, and many other things that are liked by the majority.

When the peas are all soft or tender, take out the mint, drain the peas through a cullender till not a drop of water is left among them; transfer them to a deep dish, mix into them some of the best fresh butter, and sprinkle them with pepper. Cover them immediately, and send them to table hot.

STEWED PEAS.—

Having prepared the peas as above, put them into a stew-pan without any water. Mix among them plenty of bits of nice[378] fresh butter, sufficient to cook them. Let them stew slowly in the butter till they are quite soft, stirring them up from the bottom frequently. Drain and dish them. They will be found very fine—better than if boiled in water. Peas should not be stewed this way, except in places where plenty of good fresh butter is to be easily obtained.

GREEN PEAS.—

The largest and finest peas are what the English call marrowfat. The sugar pea is next. All green peas for boiling should be young and tender, but not so young as to be tasteless or insipid. As a general rule, nearly every article of food is best when it has just attained its full growth and ripeness; after that period the older it is the worse. Peas, so old as to be hard and yellow, are unfit to eat. In some ultra economical houses, good peas are things unknown. They are not bought in spring or early summer while young and fresh, but are never thought cheap enough till they become hard and yellow. Afterwards, when they reach the cheap state, a quantity are bought low, and put into jars not to be touched till next spring, when they are boiled, (with great difficulty, for they never become soft,) and attempted to be passed off "as this year's fresh peas"—and by the time the family have gotten through with them, "this year's young peas" have become old. Do not believe (for it is untrue,) that any eatable can be kept in all its genuine freshness and original flavor, by merely secluding them[379] entirely from air. They will not spoil or decompose if skillfully managed; but they have not exactly their natural taste and consistence. It is better for those who never make pickles or preserves, to wait for fresh vegetables or fruit, till they are actually in market—or, if put up in jars, to add something more than parboiling and seclusion from the air. Vinegar, salt, sugar, spice and alcohol, will be found the grand and universal articles for securing the goodness of nearly all eatables. Without some of these along with them, things that have not spoiled while secluded from air, will surely spoil almost as soon as the jars are opened, and the external air admitted to them.

GREEN OR STRING BEANS.—

Take young and tender beans, the seeds just forming in the pods. Take off the string with a knife, leaving no bits of string adhering to the beans, either at top or bottom. Do not split them. Cut each bean into three pieces, not more, and as you cut them throw them into a pan of cold water, kept beside you for the purpose. The old-fashioned way is now obsolete of cutting them into dice or diamonds, or of splitting them. The more they are cut up (beside the trouble and time wasted,) the more the water gets through them when cooking; the more tasteless they become, and the more difficult they are to drain. We have never met with beans that, when cut small, had not a puddle of greasy water in the bottom of the dish, and[380] sometimes the water was all through the dish, and the beans floating in it. Shame on such bean-cooking! When the beans are all ready for the pot, throw them into boiling water very slightly salted, and they will generally be done in half an hour after they have come to a boil. Transfer them to a sieve; and press, and drain them well, till no water is left about them. Then put them into a deep dish, mix them with fresh butter, and dredge them with black pepper.

LIMA BEANS.—

Shell the lima beans into a pan of cold water. Let them lie in it an hour. Put them in boiling water, little more than enough to cover them, and boil them till soft and tender. When done, drain and serve them up in a deep dish, adding among them a good piece of butter. The Lima beans now raised in North America have become coarse and white, requiring a renewal of fresh stock or new seeds from Peru. They will then be green and delicate again, as formerly.

SWEET POTATOS.—

Choose the sweet potatos large, and nearly of the same size, then you can either boil or roast them. When small they should always be boiled; as, when baked or roasted, the skin becomes so thick and hard, that it takes up nearly the whole potato. Wash them very clean, and cut off a bit from each end. Put them into a large pot of boiling water without[381] salt, and boil them steadily for at least an hour. Probe them with a narrow-bladed sharp knife, and if it does not easily penetrate all through the largest potato, (in at one side and out at the other) continue the boiling till all are soft throughout. Then take them up, peel them, and keep them warm till sent to table.

To Bake Sweet Potatos they should all be large. Wash them, dry them, and cut off the ends. Then bake them in an oven, lying side by side, not piling one on another. Or else (which is better) roast them in hot ashes. They will not be done in less than an hour and a half, perhaps longer. Then wipe them clean, and serve them up in the skins. Eat them from the skins, with cold butter and a tea-spoon.

To Stew Sweet Potatos.—Wash and wipe them. Then scrape off the skins with a sharp knife. Split them, and cut them into long pieces. Stew them with fresh pork, veal, or beef; first putting at the bottom a very little butter or water to start them, and then the gravy of the meat will suffice for cooking them—skimming it well. Water to stew should be hot.

Mashed Sweet Potatos are very nice. When well boiled, mash them smoothly with a potato beetle. Mix them with fresh butter, and then stir them well, or beat them with a large wooden spoon to render them light. Afterwards, you may make them into round thick cakes, and touch the surface of every one with pepper—red or black. This is a breakfast dish for company.[382]

BOILED TURNIPS.—

Have all your turnips nearly of the same size. Pare them; and if large cut them in half. Put them into boiling water, very slightly salted, and keep them closely covered. Twenty minutes will boil them if very small and young; their flavor is then very fine. Afterwards, according to their size, they will require of gentle boiling, from three-quarters to a full hour. Keep them boiling till, on trying them with a fork, you find them perfectly tender all through. Then take them up, drain them well, and pour melted butter over them; touch the top of each with a spot of black pepper. If very old and spongy, they are only fit for the pig barrel. It is said that if boiled in their skins, (though requiring a much longer time to cook well) they have a fine flavor, and are less watery. You can try it.

If the turnips are to be mashed, cut them into small pieces, boil them very soft, and drain and squeeze them till all the water is pressed out. Then mash them very smooth. Transfer them to a deep dish, and mix them with a moderate portion of fresh butter. Turnips are generally served with too much butter. Season them with pepper. When sent to table take care not to set them in a sunny place, as it will give them a bad taste.

SYDNEY SMITH'S SALAD-DRESSING.—

Have ready two well-boiled potatos, peeled and[383] rubbed through a sieve; they will give peculiar smoothness to the mixture. Also, a very small portion of raw onion, not more than a quarter of a tea-spoonful, (as the presence of the onion is to be scarcely hinted,) and the pounded yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Mix these ingredients on a deep plate with one tea-spoonful of salt, one of made mustard, three table-spoonfuls of olive oil, and one table-spoonful of vinegar. Add, lastly, a tea-spoonful of essence of anchovy; mash, and mix the whole together, (using a boxwood spoon) and see that all the articles are thoroughly amalgamated. Having cut up a sufficiency of lettuce, that has been well washed in cold water, and drained, add to it the dressing immediately before dinner, mixing the lettuce through it with a boxwood fork.

This salad dressing was invented by the Rev. Sydney Smith, whose genius as a writer and a wit is well known on both sides the Atlantic. If exactly followed, it will be found very fine on trial; no peculiar flavor predominating, but excellent as a whole. The above directions are taken from a manuscript receipt given by Mr. Smith to an American gentleman then in London.

In preparing this, or any other salad-dressing, take care not to use that excessively pungent and deleterious combination of drugs which is now so frequently imposed upon the public, as the best white wine vinegar. In reality, it has no vinous material about it; and it may be known by its violent and disagreeable sharpness, which overpowers[384] and destroys the taste (and also the substance) of whatever it is mixed with. It is also very unwholesome. Its color is always pale, and it is nearly as clear as water. No one should buy or use it. The first quality of real cider vinegar is good for all purposes.

A Spanish proverb says, that for compounding a good salad, four persons are required—a spend-thrift for oil; a miser for vinegar; a man of judgment for salt; and a madman for stirring the dressing.

FINE CHICKEN SALAD.—

Having skinned a pair of cold fowls, remove the fat, and carve them as if for eating; cut all the flesh entirely from the bones, and either mince it or divide it into small shreds. Mix with it a little smoked tongue or cold ham, grated rather than chopped. Have ready one or two fine fresh lettuces, picked, washed, drained, and cut small. Put the cut lettuce on a dish, (spreading it evenly,) or into a large bowl, and place upon it the minced chicken in a close heap in the centre. For the dressing, mix together the following ingredients, in the proportion of the yolks of four eggs well beaten, a tea-spoonful of powdered white sugar, a salt-spoon of cayenne; (no salt if you have ham or tongue with the chicken,) two tea-spoonfuls of made mustard, six table-spoonfuls of salad oil, and five of celery vinegar. Stir this mixture well: put it into a small[385] sauce-pan, set it over the fire, and let it boil three minutes,(not more,) stirring it all the time. Then set it to cool. When quite cold, cover with it thickly, the heap of chicken in the centre of the salad. To ornament it, have ready half a dozen or more, hard-boiled eggs, which, after the shell is peeled off, must be thrown directly into a pan of cold water to prevent them from turning blue. Cut each egg (white and yolk together) lengthways into four long pieces of equal size and shape; lay the pieces upon the salad all round the heap of chicken, and close to it; placing them so as to follow each other round in a slanting direction, something in the form of a circular wreath of leaves. Have ready, also, some very red cold beet, cut into small cones or points all of equal size; arrange them in a circle upon the lettuce, outside of the circle of cut egg. To be decorated in this manner, the salad should be placed in a dish rather than a bowl. In helping it, give each person a portion of every thing, and they will mix them together on their plates.

This salad should be prepared immediately before dinner or supper; as standing long will injure it. The colder it is the better.

CARROTS.—

Having washed the carrots, and scraped off the outer skin with a sharp knife, or taken off a very thin paring, split them a few inches down, leaving a long cleft in the upper half only, and put them on to cook in plenty of boiling[386] water, with a little salt in it. There is no table vegetable that needs more boiling than a carrot. Small young carrots require at least half an hour. If large, they must boil from one to two hours, according to their size. When you find them tender throughout, dish them, with melted butter poured round them. They are eaten plain, only with boiled beef or boiled mutton. They are often added to soups and stews, when they must be put in long before the other vegetables. For soups and stews the nicest way is to grate them (before boiling,) on a coarse grater. This way they improve both the taste and color.

Carrots are very nice, sliced thin after boiling, put into a sauce-pan, with bits of butter dredged with flour, seasoned with pepper, and stewed soft without any water.

PARSNIPS.—

Scrape the parsnips, and split them half way down. Put them into boiling water with a little salt. Parsnips require less boiling than carrots; and, according to their size, will take from half an hour to an hour. Skim the water while they are boiling. When quite tender take them up, drain them, dish them, and pour melted butter over them. They are especially eaten with corned pork, or salted cod; but are good with various things. They are excellent stewed with fresh beef, or fresh pork, for a plain dinner.

Fried Parsnips make a nice breakfast dish.[387] They must first be parboiled; then split, and cut into long pieces, and fried brown in fresh butter, or in nice dripping of veal or beef.

Baked Parsnips.—Split and parboil them. Then place them in a large dish. Lay among them some bits of fresh butter, and bake them brown. Eat them with any sort of roast meat.

Parsnip Fritters.—Boil and peel half a dozen large parsnips, and then split and cut them in pieces. Make a nice batter, allowing four beaten eggs to a pint of milk, and four table-spoonfuls of flour. Have ready over the fire, a frying-pan with boiling lard. Put in a large spoonful of batter; upon that a piece of parsnip, and cover it with another spoonful of batter. Proceed thus till you have used up the parsnips. When done, drain them from the lard, and serve them hot at breakfast or dinner.

BEETS.—

Beets must be washed very clean, but not scraped, trimmed, or cut till after they are boiled. Put them on in boiling water; and, according to their size, boil them steadily from one hour and a half, to two hours and a half, but they must not be probed (to ascertain if they are tender all through,) but pinched with the fingers. Then peel off the skins, and trim them neatly. Hold the beet in a pan of cold water while you peel it. Do it quickly. Serve them up either split or sliced, with melted butter poured over them, and seasoned with pepper. Or else they[388] may be sliced thick, (allowing them to get cold,) and spiced vinegar poured over them. Red beets are usually dressed with vinegar; the white or pale ones with melted butter.

Baked Beets have a finer flavor, and are more nutritious than when boiled. Wash and wipe them dry, but do not skin or cut them till after cooking. They must be thoroughly done before they are taken out of the oven, and then pared and trimmed. According to their size they will require from four to six hours baking. Their blood-red color makes them ornamental to the table; but when cooked in soups or stews they add little to the taste, which is overpowered by that of other ingredients.

SQUASHES OR CYMLINGS.—

See that the squashes are not turning old, and hardening. Wash them, and cut them into four pieces each; but do not split them. Put them on in boiling water, with a little salt. Boil them steadily till quite tender throughout. Then take them up, and mash or drain them through a cullender, pressing them with a broad short-handled wooden ladle. All the water (of which there will be a profusion,) must be entirely squeezed out. Serve them up very dry, and smoothly and evenly mashed, having first mixed with them a very little butter; and season them with very little pepper. Much butter gives them a disagreeable taste and consistence, and the butter should be fresh and[389] good. It is better to mash squashes, turnips, pumpkins, &c., without any butter, than to use that which is salt and bad. The flat white ones are the best summer squashes; the striped green are more watery; the cashaw, or yellow winter squash, is best of all, and grows well in the New England states, from whence, as it keeps well all winter, it is often brought in barrels. Every family should get a barrel of winter squashes from Boston. They do not thrive in the middle States. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, they cannot be raised even from the best yankee seed, turning pumpkinish the next year, and afterwards becoming quite pumpkins, and very bad ones too. But when raised in their native soil and climate nothing of the squash kind is equal to them. They are very dry and sweet, and of a rich yellow color. Take them out of the barrel, and keep them far apart on the shelves or floor of a dry pantry.

STEWED PUMPKIN.—

No pumpkin is too large to be good, but they may be too old. Cut a good deep-colored pumpkin in half, and empty out all the seeds, &c. Then cut it into pieces, and pare them. Put the pieces of pumpkin into a pot with barely sufficient water to keep them from burning. When they are thoroughly done or soft all through, take them up; drain, mash, and press them through a cullender. They must be very dry. Put the stewed pumpkin into a dish, and mix it with a small portion of butter. Season it[390] with black pepper, and eat it with boiled corned beef, or corned pork, or bacon.

YANKEE PUMPKIN PUDDING.—

Take a pint of stewed pumpkin. Mix together a pint of West India molasses and a pint of milk, adding two large table-spoonfuls of brown sugar, and two table-spoonfuls of ground ginger. Beat three eggs very light, and stir them, gradually, into the milk and molasses. Then, by degrees, stir in the stewed pumpkin. Put it into a deep dish, and bake it without a crust. This is a good farm-house pudding, and equally good for any healthy children.

For a large family, double the quantities of ingredients—that is, take a quart of milk, a quart of molasses, four spoonfuls of brown sugar, four spoonfuls of ginger, six eggs, and a quart of stewed pumpkin.

You had best have at hand more than a quart of pumpkin, lest when mixed it should not hold out. This pudding is excellent made of winter squash.

STEWED MUSHROOMS.—

Peel and wash a quart of very fresh mushrooms, and cut off all the stems. Button mushrooms are best; but if you can only procure large ones, quarter them. Sprinkle them slightly with salt and pepper, and put them into a stew-pan with a quarter of a pound of nice fresh butter, cut in pieces and[391] slightly dredged with flour. Keep the lid closely covered all the time. When quite tender, put the mushrooms into a deep dish, in the bottom of which is laid a nice toast that has had all the crust pared off, and been dipped for a minute in hot water, and slightly buttered. Serve up the mushrooms closely covered. They require no seasoning.

BAKED MUSHROOMS.—

Take large fine fresh mushrooms. Peel them and remove the stems. Lay them on their backs in a large dish, (not letting them touch each other) and put into each mushroom, (as in a cup) a bit of the best fresh butter. Set the dish in an oven and bake them. Send them to table in the same dish; or transfer them to another, with a large toast at the bottom. There is no better way of cooking mushrooms than this.

TO BOIL INDIAN CORN.—

Corn for boiling should be full grown, but young and tender, and the grains soft and milky. If its grains are becoming hard and yellow, it is too old for cooking. Strip the ears of their leaves and the silk. Put them into a large pot of boiling water, and boil it rather fast for half an hour or more, in proportion to its size and age. When done, take it up, drain it, dish it under a cover, or napkin,[392] and serve it up hot. Before eating it, rub each ear with salt and pepper, and then spread it with butter. Epicures in corn consider it sweetest when eaten off the cob. And so it is; but before company few persons like to hold an ear of indian corn in their hands, and bite the grains off the cob with their teeth. Therefore, it is more frequently cut off the cob into a dish; mixed with salt, pepper, and butter, and helped with a spoon.

It is said that young green corn will boil sufficiently in ten minutes, (putting it, of course, into a pot of boiling water.) Try it.

Another way.—Having pulled off the silk, boil the corn without removing any but the outside leaves. With the leaves or husk on, it will require a longer time to cook, but is sweeter and more nutritious.

HOMINY.—

Hominy is white indian corn, shelled from the cob, divested of the outer skin by scalding in hot lye, and then winnowed and dried. It is perfectly white. Having washed it through two or three waters, pour boiling water on it; cover it, and let it soak all night, or for several hours. Then put it into a pot or sauce-pan, allow two quarts of water to each quart of hominy, and boil it till perfectly soft. Then drain it, put it into a deep dish, add some butter to it, and send it to table hot, (and uncovered,) to eat with any sort of meat; but particularly with corned beef or pork. What is left may be made[393] next day into thick cakes, and fried in butter. To be very good, hominy should boil four or five hours.

CAROLINA GRITS OR SMALL HOMINY.—

The small-grained hominy must be washed and boiled in the same manner as the large, only allow rather less water for boiling. For instance, put a pint and a half of water to a quart of small hominy. Drain it well, send it to table in a deep dish without a cover, and eat it with butter and sugar, or molasses. If covered after boiling, the vapor will condense within the lid, and make the hominy thin and watery.

SAMP.—

This is indian corn skinned, and then pounded or ground till it is still smaller and finer than the Carolina grits. It must be cooked and used in the same manner. It is very nice eaten with cream and sugar.

HOMINY CAKES.—

A pint of small hominy, or Carolina grits; a pint of white indian meal, sifted; a salt-spoonful of salt, three large table-spoonfuls of fresh butter; three eggs or three table-spoonfuls of strong yeast; a quart of milk. Having washed the small hominy, and left it soaking all night, boil it soft, drain it, and while hot mix it with the indian meal; adding[394] the salt, and the butter. Then mix it gradually with the milk, and set it away to cool. Beat the eggs very light, and add them gradually to the mixture. The whole should make a thick batter. Then bake them on a griddle, in the manner of buckwheat cakes, rubbing or scraping the griddle always before you put on a fresh cake. Trim off their edges nicely, and send them to table hot. Eat them with butter.

If you prefer making these cakes with yeast, you must begin them earlier, as they will require time to rise. The yeast should be strong and fresh. If not very strong, use four table-spoonfuls instead of two. Cover the pan, set it in a warm place; and do not begin to bake till it is well risen, and the surface of the mixture is covered with bubbles.

CORN PORRIDGE.—

Take young corn, and cut the grains from the cob. Measure it, and to each heaping pint of corn allow not quite a quart of milk. Put the corn and milk into a pot, stir them well together, and boil them till the corn is perfectly soft. Then add some bits of fresh butter dredged with flour, and let it boil five minutes longer. Stir in at the last, four beaten yolks of eggs, and in three minutes remove it from the fire. Take up the porridge and send it to table hot, and stir some fresh butter into it. You may add sugar and nutmeg.[395]

CORN OYSTERS.—

Three dozen ears of large young indian corn, six eggs; lard and butter in equal portions for frying. The corn must be young and soft. Grate it from the cob as fine as possible, and dredge it with wheat flour. Beat very light the six eggs, and mix them gradually with the corn. Then let the whole be well incorporated by hard beating. Add a salt-spoon of salt.

Have ready, in a frying pan, a sufficient quantity of lard and fresh butter mixed together. Set it over the fire till it is boiling hot, and then put in portions of the corn mixture, so as to form oval cakes about three inches long, and nearly an inch thick. Fry them brown, and send them to table hot. In taste they will be found to have a singular resemblance to fried oysters, and are universally liked if properly done. They make nice side-dishes at dinner, and are very good at breakfast.

SUMMER SACCATASH.—

String a quarter of a peck of young green beans, and cut each bean into three pieces, (not more,) and do not split them. Have by you a pan of cold water, and throw the beans into it as you cut them. Have ready over the fire a pot or sauce-pan of boiling water; put in the beans, and boil them hard near twenty minutes. Afterwards take them up, and drain them well through a cullender. Take half a dozen ears of young but full-grown indian corn, (or eight or nine if they are not all large) and cut[396] the grains down from the cob. Mix together the corn and the beans, adding a very small tea-spoonful of salt, and boil them about twenty minutes. Then take up the saccatash, drain it well through a sieve, put it into a deep dish, and while hot mix in a large piece of butter, (at least the size of an egg,) add some pepper, and send it to table. It is generally eaten with salted or smoked meat.

Fresh Lima beans are excellent cooked in this manner, with green corn. They must be boiled for half an hour or more, before they are cooked with the corn.

Dried beans and dried corn will do very well for saccatash, but they must be soaked all night before boiling. The water poured on them for soaking should be hot.

WINTER SACCATASH.—

This is made of dried shelled beans and hard corn, soaked over night in separate pans, and boiling water poured over them in the morning, after pouring off the first water. Then boil both together till they are quite soft. Drain them dry in a sieve, put them into a deep dish, and mix in a large piece of butter, seasoned with pepper. This is a good accompaniment to corned pork or beef. The meat must be boiled in a separate pot.

CAROLINA WAY OF BOILING RICE.—

Pick the rice carefully, and wash it through two[397] or three cold waters till it is quite clean. Then (having drained off all the water through a cullender,) put the rice into a pot of boiling water, with a very little salt, allowing as much as a quart of water to half a pint of rice. Boil it twenty minutes or more. Then pour off the water, draining the rice as dry as possible. Lastly, set it on hot coals with the lid off, that the steam may not condense upon it and render the rice watery. Keep it drying thus for a quarter of an hour. Put it into a deep dish, and loosen and toss it up from the bottom with two forks, one in each hand, so that the grains may appear to stand alone.

TOMATOS.—

Tomatos require long cooking; otherwise they will have a raw taste, and be quite too acid. Take fine tomatos that are quite ripe, put them into a pan, and scald them in very hot water. Let them remain for ten minutes, or till you can peel them without scalding your hands. Drain them through a sieve. You may either press out all the seeds, (retaining only the pulp or liquid,) or leave the seeds in, squeezing the tomatos slightly. Put them into a stew-pan, which must on no account be of copper, as the acid of the tomatos will render it poisonous. We knew a lady who died in agonies from eating tomatos cooked in a copper vessel that had the tinning partly worn off. If the tin inside is indispensable, (which it is) why have any copper about it? A vessel of double block tin only, will last as long,[398] and stand the fire as well as if there was copper inside. For all stews, an iron pan, lined with delft (or what is called porcelain or enamel) is excellent. Best of all for stewing tomatos, and many other things, is a bain marie, or double kettle, with the water outside, in the outer kettle.

Having nearly filled the stew-pan with the tomatos, (cut up, if they are large) add a little salt and pepper, a piece of fresh butter dredged with flour, and (if approved) a very little chopped onion. If you have ready-boiled onions at hand, take one or two of them and mince it fine. Add to the tomatos some powdered white sugar to lessen the excessive acid. Put but very few bread-crumbs—if too many, they will weaken the taste. Tomatos are an improvement to every kind of plain soups, and may be added, with advantage, after the soup is in the tureen. The cooking of tomatos should be commenced at least three hours before dinner. Put no water with them—their own juice is sufficient.

Many persons like tomatos raw, sliced like cucumbers, and seasoned with vinegar and pepper.

TO KEEP TOMATO PULP.—

Having boiled them till entirely dissolved, (adding a little salt and pepper) press and strain them through a sieve, pour the liquor into pint or half-pint bottles, (which must be perfectly clean) and stand the bottles up in a large iron pot or oven, with a layer of straw in the bottom. Fill up the pot[399] with cold water, cork them tightly, and let the water boil round the bottles for five hours. As it boils away, fill up with more hot water. When you take them out, put a spoonful of salad oil at the top of each bottle; seal the bottles with rosin cement. This pulp will be good for tomato purposes till next summer, if kept in a cool dry place. When you open a bottle use it fast, or cork it again immediately.

BROILED TOMATOS.—

Take the very largest and ripest tomatos. Wash, but do not scald or peel them. Cut the tomatos half apart on four sides, extract the seeds, and fill each tomato with a nice forcemeat of stuffing, made of bread-crumbs, butter, minced veal or pork, mace, nutmeg, and sweet marjoram. Having stewed this stuffing in a sauce-pan, (moistening it with tomato juice, or gravy) fill all the tomatos with it, opening them out a little like the leaves of a tulip. Butter slightly a heated gridiron, and broil them on it. Or, they may be baked in an oven.

BUTTON TOMATOS.—

These are the very smallest tomatos, and are excellent for pickling and preserving. If quite ripe, and free from blemishes, they will keep very well in cold vinegar, and are the easiest done of all pickles. There are two sorts of button tomatos, the red and the yel[400]low, both equally good. Wipe every tomato clean and dry, and put them into small glass jars that have a cover. Fill the jars two-thirds with the tomatos, and then fill up to the top with the best cider vinegar. On the top put a table-spoonful of salad oil, and cover them closely. They require nothing to secure their keeping well. But the taste will be improved, by putting in with them, three very small thin muslin bags, each containing mace, nutmeg, and ginger, broken small, but not powdered. Lay one bag of spice at the bottom of the jar; one about the middle, and one near the top. If done without spice, they are the cheapest of all pickles. Do not put them into soups or stews; but eat them cold with meat, like other pickles.

If kegs of these tomatos were carried to sea, and liberally served out to the crew, the scurvy would be less frequent, even on long voyages.

Large whole tomatos would do for this purpose. We wish it were the universal custom in ships to take out with them plenty of tomatos kept in this way in vinegar. Tomato catchup is now much used for the army—so it should be for the navy; not only for the sick, but for the well; to keep them well.[401]

BREAD, PLAIN CAKES, etc.

HINTS ON HEATING OVENS AND BAKING.—

Brick ovens are generally heated with dry fagots or small branches, or with light split wood. For baking bread, the oven-wood must be heavier than for pies. A heap of wood should be placed in the centre of the oven on the brick floor, and then set on fire. While the wood is burning, the door of the oven must be left open. When the wood is all burnt down, and reduced to a mass of small red coals, the oven will be very hot. Then shovel out all the coals and sweep the oven floor with a broom, till it is perfectly clean, and entirely free from ashes. Try the heat within. For baking bread, the floor of the oven should look red, and a little flour thrown in should burn brown immediately. If you can hold your hand within the mouth of the oven as long as you can distinctly count twenty, the heat is about right. Pies, puddings, &c., require less heat. When a brick oven is used, a peel, or large broad-bladed long-handled wooden shovel is necessary for putting in the bread, pies, &c., placing them on the broad or shovel-end of the peel, and slipping them off on the oven floor. Then close up the door of the oven, and leave the things to bake. When done, slip the peel beneath them, and hand them out on it.

To bake in an Iron Dutch oven, (a large deep, cast-iron pan, with a handle, a close-fitting lid, and[402] standing on three or four feet,) you must first stand the lid upright before a clear fire to heat the inside; and it will be best if the oven itself is also stood up before the fire for the same purpose. This should be done while the article to be baked is preparing, that it may be put in as soon as it is ready. The oven may be suspended to the crane, and hung over the fire, or it may be set on a bed of hot wood coals in the corner of the hearth. As soon as the loaf or pie is in, put on the lid of the oven, and cover it all over with hot coals, replenishing it with more live coals as the baking proceeds. If you find it too hot on the top, deaden it with ashes. If the oven stands on the hearth, keep up the heat at the bottom, by additional live coals placed beneath it. Whether the oven is hung over the fire, or stood on the hearth, there must always be hot coals all over the lid, the hottest near the edge.

To bake on a griddle, you may either hang it over the fire, or set it over hot coals on the hearth. Most griddles have feet. The fire must be quite clear and bright, and free from smoke, or the cakes will be blackened, and have a disagreeable taste. The griddle must be perfectly clean; and while you are baking, it will require frequent scraping, with a broad knife. If it is well scraped after every cake is taken off, it will not want greasing, as there will be no stickiness. Otherwise, some butter tied up in a clean rag and laid on a saucer, must be kept at hand all the time, to rub over the griddle between the baking of each[403] cake; for butter, lard, or nice beef or veal dripping may be substituted, but it will not be so fine. Never grease with mutton fat, as it will communicate the taste of tallow. A bit of the fat of fresh pork may do, (stuck on a fork,) but salt pork will give the outside of the cakes a disagreeable saltness, and therefore should not be used.

A griddle may be placed in the oven of a hot stove. Some close stoves have a hole in the top with a flat lid or cover, which lid can be used as a griddle.

The tin-reflecting ovens (with shelves for the pies and cakes) that are used for baking in the summer, and that, having a furnace beneath, and a chimney-pipe, can be set out of doors, so that the kitchen may not be kept hot, are very good for things that will bake soon, and that do not require what is called a strong, solid heat. But they are not effective unless the inside is kept very bright; otherwise it will not reflect the heat. The tin ovens should (as well as tin roasters) be cleaned thoroughly and scoured bright with sand every time they are used.

The art of baking with anthracite, (or any other mineral coal,) can only be acquired by practice. The above hints on baking, refer exclusively to wood fires.

When a charcoal furnace is used for baking, stewing, or any sort of cooking, it should either be set out in the open air, or the door of the kitchen must be kept open all the time. The[404] vapor of charcoal in a close room is so deleterious as to cause death.

DRIED CORN MEAL YEAST CAKES.—

Half a pound of fresh hops, four quarts of water, a pint of wheat or rye flour, half a pint of strong fresh yeast from the brewer or baker, three pints or more of indian meal. Boil half a pound of fresh hops in four quarts of water, till the liquid is reduced to two quarts. Strain it into a pan, and mix in sufficient wheat flour to make a thin batter, adding half a pint of the best yeast you can procure. Leave it to ferment; and when the fermentation is over, stir in sufficient indian meal to make a moderately stiff dough. Cover it, and set in a warm place to rise. When it has become very light, roll it out into a square sheet an inch thick, and cut it into flat cakes, about four inches square. Spread them out separately, on a large dish, and let them dry slowly in a cool place where there is no sun. While drying, turn them five or six times a day. When they are quite dry and hard, put them, separately, into brown paper bags, and keep them in a box closely covered, and in a place not the least damp.

When you want them to use for yeast, dissolve in a little warm water one or more of the cakes, in proportion to the quantity of bread you intend making. When it is quite dissolved, stir it hard, thicken it with a little wheat flour, cover it, and place it near the fire to rise, before you use it[405]. Then mix it with the flour, according to the usual manner of making bread. One yeast cake is enough for two quarts of meal or flour.

This way of preserving yeast is very convenient for keeping through the summer, or for conveying to a distance.

EXCELLENT HOME-MADE YEAST.—

Yeast should always be kept in a glass bottle or a stone jug, and never in earthen or metal. Before you make fresh yeast, empty entirely the vessel that has contained the last; and if of stone, scald it twice with boiling water, in which it will be well to mix a little clear lye. Then rince it with cold water, till perfectly clean. If you have not used lye in scalding it, dissolve some potash or pearlash in the rinsing water, to remove any acidity that may linger about the vessel, and may therefore spoil the new yeast. If you keep your yeast in glass bottles, the water must be warm, but not hot; as scalding water may crack them: also, melt some potash or pearlash in this water. The vessel for keeping it being purified, proceed to make your yeast. Have ready, in a kettle over the fire, two quarts of boiling water; put into it a very large handful of hops, (as fine and fresh as possible,) and let the water boil again with the hops in it for twenty minutes more. Sift into a pan three pints of wheat flour. Strain the liquor from the hops into a large bowl, and pour half of it hot over the flour. Stir it well, and press out all the[406] lumps till it is quite smooth. Let the other half of the liquid stand till it is cool, and then pour it gradually to the rest; mixing it well, by stirring as you proceed. Then take half a pint of good strong yeast—brewer's or baker's yeast, if you can get it fresh; if not, you must use some that has been left from your last making, provided it is not the least sour; stir this yeast into the mixture of hop water and flour, put it immediately into your jug or bottles, and cork it loosely till the fermentation is over, (which should be in an hour,) and it will then be fit for use. Afterwards cork it tightly. It will keep better if you put a raisin or two into the bottom of each bottle, before you pour in the fresh yeast. Into a stone jug put half a dozen raisins.

All yeast is better and more powerful for being fresh. It is better to make it frequently, (the trouble being little,) than to risk its becoming sour by endeavoring to keep it too long. When sour it becomes weak and watery, and tastes and smells disagreeably, and will never make light bread; besides, being very unwholesome. The acidity may be somewhat corrected by stirring in some dissolved pearlash, saleratus, or soda, immediately before the yeast is used; but it is better to have it good and fresh, without the necessity of any corrective. Yeast should always be kept in a cool place.

Those who live in towns where there are breweries have no occasion to make their own yeast during the brewing season, and in summer they[407] can every day supply themselves with fresh yeast from the baker's. It is only in country places where there are neither brewers or bakers that it is expedient to make it at home. For home-made yeast, we know the above receipt to be excellent.

Sweet cakes, buns, rusks, &c., require stronger and fresher yeast than bread; the sugar will otherwise retard their rising.

INDIAN BREAD OR PONE.—

Four quarts of indian meal sifted, a large half pint of wheat flour, a table-spoonful of salt, half a pint of strong fresh yeast, a quart of warm water. Sift into a large deep pan the indian meal and the wheat flour, mixing them well. Make a hole in the centre. The water must be warm, but not hot. Mix it with the yeast, and pour them into the hole in the midst of the meal. Take a spoon, and with it mix into the liquid enough of the surrounding meal to make a thin batter, which you must stir till it is quite smooth, and free from lumps. Then strew a handful of wheat flour over the surface, scattering it thinly, so as to cover the whole. Warm a clean cloth, and lay it folded over the top of the pan. Then set it in a warm place to rise, nearer the fire in winter than in summer. When it is quite light, and has risen so that the flour on the surface is cracked, strew on the salt, and begin to form the whole mass into a dough; commencing round the hole that contains the batter, and adding, gradually,[408] sufficient lukewarm water (which you must have ready for the purpose,) to mix it of the proper consistence. When the whole is completely mixed, and the batter in the centre is thoroughly incorporated with the dough, knead it hard for at least half an hour. Then, having formed the dough into a round lump in the middle of the pan, strew a little more flour thinly over it. Cover it, and set it again in a warm place for half an hour. Then flour your pasteboard, divide the dough equally, and make it into two loaves. Have the oven ready. Put in the loaves directly, and bake them about two hours or more. Indian meal requires always more baking than wheat. When you take them out, it is well to wrap each loaf in a clean, coarse towel, well sprinkled with cold water, and rolled up damp till the bread is baked. Having thus wrapped up the loaves, stand them on end to cool slowly. The damp cloths will prevent the crust from hardening too much while the loaves are cooling.

Excellent bread may be made of equal proportions of wheat, rye flour, and indian corn; or of three parts wheat and one part indian. All bread should be kept closely secluded from the air, wrapped in cloths, and put away in boxes or baskets with tightly-fitting lids.

Should you find the dough sour, (either from the heat of the weather, or from standing too long,) you may recover it, by dissolving in a little[409] lukewarm water a tea-spoonful of pearlash, saleratus, or soda. Sprinkle this water all over the dough. Then knead it in, so that it may be dispersed throughout. Then put it into the oven as soon as possible; first tasting the dough, to discover if the sourness is entirely removed. If not, mix in a little more pearlash, and then taste it again. Take care not to put in too much of any of these alkaline substances, lest they communicate a disagreeable, soapy taste to the bread.

When you buy corn meal, it will keep better if the whole is sifted as soon as you get it. Avoid buying much at a time, unless you can keep it in a very cool place. When sour, it is unfit to eat. Common indian meal is much the best for use.

INDIAN RYE BREAD.—

Two quarts of indian meal, two quarts of rye meal, three pints of milk or water, two tea-spoonfuls of salt, half a pint of strong fresh yeast. Having sifted the rye and indian meal in a large pan, mix them well together, adding the salt. Boil the milk or water in a sauce-pan, and when scalding hot pour it on the meal, and stir the whole very hard. If too stiff, add a little more warm water. Let it stand till it becomes only of a lukewarm heat, and then stir in the yeast. Knead the mixture into a stiff dough, and knead it long and hard for at least half an hour. Then cover the pan with a thick cloth that has been previously warmed, and set it near the fire to rise. When[410] the dough is quite light, and cracked all over the top, take it out of the pan; divide the mass in half, make it into two loaves, knead each loaf well for ten minutes or more, and then cover and set them again near the fire for about half an hour. By this time have the oven ready, put in the loaves directly, and bake them at least an hour and a half. This bread is considered very wholesome.

Should you find the dough sour, you may rectify it by kneading in a tea-spoonful of soda or pearlash, dissolved in a little warm water.

INDIAN WHEAT BREAD.—

In any sort of home-made bread, (either white or brown) a handful or more of indian meal will be found an improvement, rendering it moist and sweet.

BOSTON RYE AND INDIAN BREAD.—

Two quarts of indian meal, two quarts of rye meal, half a pint of strong fresh yeast, half a pint of West India molasses, a small table-spoonful of salt. Sift the rye and indian meal into a large pan or wooden bowl; and mix them well together, adding a little salt. Have ready half a pint of water, warm but not hot. Mix with it the molasses, and then stir into it the yeast. Make a hole in the middle of the pan of meal, pour in[411] the liquid, and then with a spoon work into it a portion of the flour that surrounds the hole, till the liquid in the centre becomes a thick batter. Sprinkle the top with rye meal, lay a thick cloth over the pan, and set it in a warm place to rise. In three or four hours it should be light enough to appear cracked all over the surface. Then pour into the middle (by degrees) about a pint of warm water, (it must not be hot,) and as you pour mix it well all through the dough, till the whole becomes a round mass. Sprinkle some rye flour on the dough, and having floured your hands, knead it long and hard, (at least half an hour, and after it ceases to stick to your hands,) turning it over as you proceed. Then sprinkle the dough again with flour, cover it, and again set it in a warm place to rise. Have the oven ready, and of the proper heat, so that the bread may be put in as soon as it has completely risen the second time. When perfectly light, the dough will stand high, and the surface will be cracked all over. This quantity will be sufficient for a common-sized loaf. Set it directly into the oven, and bake it about two hours. When bread has done rising, it will fall again if not put into the oven. As soon as it is done, wrap it immediately in a clean coarse towel wet with cold water, and stand it up on end till it is cool.

This is a palatable, cheap, and wholesome bread. It may be baked in a deep tin or iron pan.

If the dough should have stood so long as to become sour, (which it will, if mixed over night,)[412] restore it by kneading in a small tea-spoonful of pearlash or saleratus melted in a little warm water.

EGG PONE.—

Three eggs, a quart of indian meal, a large table-spoonful of fresh butter, a small tea-spoonful of salt, a half pint (or more) of milk. Beat the eggs very light, and mix them with the milk. Then stir in, gradually, the indian meal, adding the salt and butter. It must not be a batter, but a soft dough, just thick enough to be stirred well with a spoon. If too thin, add more indian meal; if too stiff, thin it with a little more milk. Beat or stir it long and hard. Butter a tin or iron pan. Put the mixture into it, and set the pan immediately into an oven, which must be moderately hot at first, and the heat increased afterward. A Dutch oven is best for this purpose. It should bake an hour and a half or two hours, in proportion to its thickness. Send it to table hot, and cut into slices. Eat it with butter, or molasses.

INDIAN MUSH.—

Have ready on a clear fire a pot of boiling water. Stir into it, by degrees, (a handful at a time,) sufficient indian meal to make a very thick porridge, and then add a very small portion of salt, allowing not more than a level tea-spoonful to a quart of meal. You must keep the pot boiling all the time you are stirring in the meal; and between every handful stir hard with the[413] mush-stick, (a round stick about half a yard long, flattened at the lower end,) as, if not well stirred, the mush will be lumpy. After it is sufficiently thick and smooth, keep it boiling an hour longer, stirring it occasionally. Then cover the pot closely, and hang it higher up the chimney, or set it on hot coals on the hearth, so as to simmer it slowly for another hour. The goodness and wholesomeness of mush depends greatly on its being long and thoroughly boiled. It should also be made very thick. If well made, and well cooked, it is wholesome and nutritious; but the contrary, if thin, and not sufficiently boiled. It is not too long to have it three or four hours over the fire, first boiling, then simmering. On the contrary, it will be better for it. The coarser the corn meal the less cooking it requires. Send it to table hot, and in a deep dish. Eat it with sweet milk, buttermilk, or cream, or with butter and sugar, or with butter and molasses; making a hole in the middle of your plate of mush, putting some butter into the hole, and then adding the sugar or molasses.

Cold mush that has been left may be cut into slices, or mouthfuls, and fried next day, in butter, or in nice dripping of veal, beef, or pork; but not mutton or lamb.

INDIAN HASTY PUDDING.—

Put two quarts of milk into a clean pot or sauce-pan. Set it over the fire, adding a level tea-spoonful of salt,[414] and, when it comes to a boil, stir in a lump of fresh butter about the size of a goose egg. Then add (a handful at a time) sufficient indian meal to make it very thick, stirring it all the while with a mush stick. Keep it boiling well, and continue to throw in indian meal till it is so thick that the stick stands upright in it. Then send it to table hot, and eat it with milk, cream, or molasses and butter. What is left may be cut into slices, and fried next day, or boiled in a bag.

INDIAN MEAL GRUEL.—

This is an excellent food for the sick. Having sifted some indian meal, mix in a quart bowl three table-spoonfuls of the meal with six of cold water. Stir it smooth, and press out the lumps against the side of the bowl. Have ready a very clean sauce-pan, entirely free from grease, with a pint of boiling water. Pour this, scalding hot, on the mixture in the bowl, a little at a time, and stir it well, adding a pinch of salt. Then put the whole back into the sauce-pan. Set it on hot coals and stir it till it boils, making the spoon go down to the bottom to prevent the gruel from burning. After it has come to a boil, let it continue boiling half an hour, stirring it frequently, and skimming it. Give it to the invalid warm, in a bowl or tumbler, to be eaten with a tea-spoon. It may be sweetened with a little sugar. When the physician permits, some grated nutmeg may be added; also, a very little wine.[415]

RYE MUSH.—

To make smooth rye mush, sift a quart or more of rye meal into a pan, and gradually pour in sufficient cold water to make a very thick batter, stirring it hard with a spoon as you proceed, and carefully pressing out all the lumps against the side of the pan. Add a very little salt. The batter must be so thick at the last that you can scarcely stir it. Then thin it with a little more water, and see that it is quite smooth. Rye, and also wheat flour, have a disposition to be more lumpy than corn meal, when made into mush. When thoroughly mixed and stirred, put it into a pot, place it over the fire and boil it well, stirring it with a mush-stick till it comes to a hard boil; then place it in a diminished heat, and simmer it slowly till you want to dish it up. Eat it warm, with butter and molasses, or with sweet milk, or fresh buttermilk. Rye mush is considered very wholesome, particularly in cases of dyspepsia.

COMMON HOE-CAKE.—

Take an earthen or tin pan, and half fill it with coarse indian meal, which had best be sifted in. Add a little salt. Have ready a kettle of boiling water. Pour into the indian meal sufficient hot water (a little at a time,) to make a stiff dough, stirring it with a spoon as you proceed. It must be thoroughly mixed, and stirred hard. If you want the cakes for breakfast, mix this dough over night; cover the pan, and set it in a cool place till morning.[416] If kept warm, it may turn sour. Early next morning, as soon as the fire is burning well, set the griddle over it, and take out the dough, a handful at a time. Flatten and shape it by patting it with your hands, till you form it into cakes about the size of a common saucer, and half an inch thick. When the griddle is quite hot, lay on it as many cakes as it will hold, and bake them brown. When the upper side is done, slip a broad knife beneath and turn them over. They must be baked brown on both sides. Eat them warm, with buttermilk, sweet milk, butter, molasses, or whatever is most convenient. If you intend these cakes for dinner or supper, mix them as early in the day as you can, and (covering the pan) let them stand in a cool place till wanted for baking. In cold weather you may save trouble by mixing over night enough to last the next day for breakfast, dinner, and supper; baking them as they are wanted for each meal. Or they may be all baked in the morning, and eaten cold; but they are then not so palatable as when warm. They will be less liable to stick, if before each baking the griddle is dredged with wheat flour, or greased with a bit of fat pork stuck on a fork. You may cover it all over with one large cake, instead of several small ones.

This cake is so called, because in some parts of America it was customary to bake it on the iron of a hoe, stood up before the fire. It is better known by that name than by any other.[417]

COMMON GRIDDLE CAKE.—

A quart of indian meal, sufficient warm water to make a soft dough, a small tea-spoonful of salt. Put the indian meal into a pan, and add the salt. Make a hole in the centre of the meal, and pour in a little warm water. Then mix it with a large, strong spoon, adding, by degrees, water enough to make a soft dough. Flour your hands, and knead it into a large lump—divide it into two equal portions. Flour your pasteboard, lay on it the first lump of dough, and roll it out about an inch thick. Then, (having already heated your griddle,) lay the cake upon it, spreading it evenly, and make it a good round shape. It should cover the whole surface of the griddle, which must first be greased, either with butter or lard tied in a rag, or with a bit of fat fresh pork. Bake it well; and when one side is well browned, turn it on the other, taking care not to break it. Send it to table hot, cut into three-cornered pieces—split and butter them. As soon as the first cake is sent in, put on the other to bake.

This is one of the plainest and simplest preparations of indian cake; and is very good when warm.

PLAIN JOHNNY CAKE.—

A quart of indian meal, a pint of warm water, a level tea-spoonful of salt. Sift a quart of indian meal into a pan. Make a hole in the middle, and pour in a pint of warm water, adding the salt. With a spoon mix the meal and water gradually into a soft dough. Stir[418] it very hard for a quarter of an hour or more, till it becomes light and spongy. Then spread the dough, smooth and evenly, on a stout, flat board. A piece of the head of a flour barrel will serve for this purpose. Place the board nearly (but not quite) upright, and set a smoothing-iron or a stone against the back to support it. Bake it well. When done, cut it into squares, and send it hot to table, split and buttered. You may eat molasses with it.

VERY PLAIN INDIAN DUMPLINGS.—

Sift some indian meal into a pan; add about a salt-spoon of salt to each quart of meal, and scald it with sufficient boiling water to make a stiff dough. Pour in the water gradually, stirring as you pour. When the dough becomes a stiff lump divide it into equal portions; flour your hands, and make it into thick flat dumplings, about as large round as the top of a glass tumbler, or a breakfast cup. Dredge the dumplings on all sides with flour, put them into a pot of boiling water, (if made sufficiently stiff they need not be tied in cloths,) and keep them boiling hard till thoroughly done. Try them with a fork, which must come out quite clean, and with no clamminess sticking to it. They are an excellent appendage to salt pork or bacon, serving them up with the meat; or they may be eaten afterwards with butter and molasses, or with milk sweetened well with brown sugar, and flavored with a little ground cinnamon. On no account boil them with meat.[419]

INDIAN MUFFINS.—

A pint and a half of yellow indian meal, sifted; a handful of wheat flour; a quarter of a pound of fresh butter; a quart of milk; four eggs; a very small tea-spoonful of salt. Put the milk into a sauce-pan. Cut the butter into it. Set it over the fire and warm it till the butter is very soft, but not till it melts. Then take it off, stir it well till all mixed, and set it away to cool. Beat four eggs very light, and when the milk is cold, stir them into it alternately with the meal, a little at a time, of each. Add the salt. Beat the whole very hard after it is all mixed. Then butter some muffin-rings on the inside. Set them in a hot oven, or on a heated griddle; pour some of the batter into each, and bake the muffins well. Send them hot to table, continuing to bake while a fresh supply is wanted. Pull them open with your fingers, and eat them with butter, to which you may add molasses or honey. These muffins will be found excellent, and can be prepared in a very short time; for instance, in three quarters or half an hour before breakfast or tea.

This mixture may be baked in waffle-irons, as waffles. Butter them, and have on the table a glass bowl with powdered sugar and powdered cinnamon, to eat with these waffles.

CORN MEAL BREAKFAST CAKES.—

A quart of indian meal; a handful or more of wheat flour; a large salt-spoon of salt; a quart of warm water; an additional pint of lukewarm water; a bit[420] of pearlash the size of a hazle-nut, or the same quantity of soda or saleratus. Mix over night, in a large pan, the indian meal, the wheat flour and salt. Pour on gradually a quart of warm water, (warm but not hot,) and stir it in with a large wooden or iron spoon, so as to form a very soft dough. Cover the pan, and set it on the dresser till morning. In the morning thin the dough with another pint of warm water, so as to make it into a batter, having first dissolved in the water a salt-spoonful of powdered pearlash or saleratus, or a bit the size of a hazle-nut. Beat the mixture hard. Then cover it, and let it stand near the fire for a quarter of an hour before you begin to bake it. Bake it in thin cakes on a griddle. Send them to table hot, and eat them with butter and molasses, or honey.

INDIAN RICE CAKES.—

Take equal quantities of yellow indian meal and well boiled rice. Mix them together in a pan, the meal and rice alternately, a little at a time of each. The boiled rice may be either hot or cold; but it will be rather best to mix it hot. Having first mixed it with a spoon, knead it well with your hands; moistening it with a little milk or water, if you find it too stiff. Have ready, over the fire, a heated griddle. Grease it with fresh butter tied in a clean rag; and having made the mixture into flat round cakes, bake them well on both sides. Eat them[421] with butter and sugar, or butter and molasses, or with butter alone.

PUMPKIN INDIAN CAKES.—

Take equal portions of indian meal, and stewed pumpkin that has been well mashed and drained very dry in a sieve or cullender. Put the stewed pumpkin in a pan, and stir the meal gradually into it, a spoonful at a time, adding a little butter as you proceed. Mix the whole thoroughly, stirring it very hard. If not thick enough to form a stiff dough, add a little more indian meal. Make it into round, flat cakes, about the size of a muffin, and bake them over the fire on a hot griddle greased with butter. Or lay them in a square iron pan, and bake them in an oven.

EXCELLENT BUCKWHEAT CAKES.—

A quart of buckwheat meal, sifted; a level tea-spoonful of salt; a small half pint or a large handful of indian meal; two large table-spoonfuls of strong fresh brewer's yeast or four table-spoonfuls of home-made yeast; sufficient lukewarm water to make a moderate batter. Mix together the buckwheat and indian meal, and add the salt. Make a hole in the centre of the meal, and pour in the yeast. Then stir in gradually, from a kettle, sufficient tepid or lukewarm water to make a moderately thick batter when united with the yeast.[422] Cover the pan, set it in a warm place, and leave it to rise. It should be light in about three hours. When it has risen high, and is covered with bubbles, it is fit to bake. Have ready a clean griddle well heated over the fire. Grease it well with a bit of fresh butter tied in a clean white rag, and kept on a saucer near you. Then dip out a large ladleful of the batter, and bake it on the griddle; turning it when brown, with the cake-turner, and baking it brown on the other side. Grease the griddle slightly between baking each cake, or scrape it smooth with a broad knife. As fast as you bake the cakes, lay them, several in a pile, on a hot plate. Butter them, and if of large size cut them across into four pieces. Or send them to table to be buttered there. Trim off the edges before they go in.

If your batter has been mixed over night, and is found sour in the morning, dissolve a salt-spoon of pearlash or saleratus in a little lukewarm water, stir it into the batter, let it stand a quarter of an hour, and then bake it. The alkali will remove the acidity, and increase the lightness of the batter. If you use soda for this purpose it will require a tea-spoonful.

If the batter is kept at night in so cold a place as to freeze, it will be unfit for use. Do not grease the griddle with meat-fat of any sort.

NICE RYE BATTER CAKES.—

A quart of lukewarm milk, two eggs, a large table-spoonful[423] of fresh, brewer's yeast or two of home-made yeast; sufficient sifted rye meal to make a moderate batter; a salt-spoon of salt; having warmed the milk, beat the eggs very light, and stir them gradually into it, alternately with the rye meal, adding the salt. Put in the meal, a handful at a time, till you have the batter about as thick as for buckwheat cakes. Then stir in the yeast, and give the batter a hard beating, seeing that it is smooth and free from lumps. Cover the pan, and set it in a warm place to rise. When risen high, and covered with bubbles, the batter is fit to bake. Have ready over the fire a hot griddle, and bake the cakes in the manner of buckwheat. Send them to table hot, and eat them with butter, molasses, or honey.

Yeast powders, used according to the directions that accompany them, and put in at the last, just before baking, are an improvement to the lightness of all batter cakes, provided that real yeast or eggs are also in the mixture. But it is not well to depend on the powders exclusively; particularly when real yeast is to be had. The lightness produced by yeast powders alone, is not the right sort; and though the cakes are eatable, they are too tough and leathery to be wholesome. As auxiliaries to genuine yeast, and to beaten eggs, yeast powders are excellent. But not as the sole dependence.

Indian batter cakes may be made as above; or rye and indian meal be mixed in equal proportions.[424]

INDIAN CUP CAKES.—

A pint and a half of yellow Indian meal; half a pint of wheat flour; a pint and a half of sour milk; (buttermilk is best;) a small tea-spoonful of saleratus or soda dissolved in warm water; two eggs; a level tea-spoonful of salt. Sift the indian and wheat meal into a pan and mix them well, adding the salt. If you have no buttermilk or other sour milk at hand, turn some sweet milk sour by setting a pan of it in the sun, or stirring in a spoonful of vinegar. Take out a small tea-cupful of the sour milk, and reserve it to be put in at the last. Beat the eggs very light, and then stir them, gradually, into the milk, alternately with the meal, a little at a time of each. Lastly, dissolve the soda or saleratus, and stir it into the cup of sour milk that has been reserved for the purpose. It will effervesce; stir it while foaming into the mixture, which should be a thick batter. Have ready some tea-cups, or little deep tins. Butter them well; nearly fill them with the batter, and set them immediately into a rather brisk oven. The cakes must be thoroughly baked all through. When done, turn them out on large plates, and send them hot to the breakfast or tea-table. Split them into three pieces, and eat them with butter.

The soda will entirely remove the acidity of the milk, which will effervesce the better for being sour at first, adding therefore to the lightness of the cake. Taste the milk, and if you find that the slightest sourness remains, add a little more dissolved soda.[425]

All the alkalies, pearlash, saleratus, soda, and sal-volatile, will remove acidity, and increase lightness; but if too much is used, they will impart a disagreeable taste. It is useless to put lemon or orange juice into any mixture that is afterwards to have one of these alkalies, as they will entirely destroy the flavor of the fruit.

CAROLINA RICE CAKES.—

Having picked and washed half a pint of rice, boil it by itself till the grains lose all form, and are dissolved into a thick mass or jelly. While warm, mix into it a large lump of the best fresh butter, and a salt-spoonful of salt. Pour into a bowl a moderate sized tea-cupful of ground rice flour, and add to it as much milk as will make a tolerably stiff batter. Stir it till it is quite smooth, and free from lumps. Then mix it thoroughly with the boiled rice. Beat six eggs as light as possible, and stir them, gradually, into the mixture. Bake it on a griddle, in cakes about as large round as a saucer. Eat them warm with butter; and have on the table, in a small bowl, some powdered white sugar and nutmeg, for those who like it.

AUNT LYDIA'S CORN CAKE.—

Sift into a large pan a quart of yellow corn meal, and add a level tea-spoonful of salt, (not more.) Have ready a pint of boiling milk, sufficient to make a soft dough. Mix the milk hot into the corn meal,[426] and add about a quarter of a pound, or half a pint of nice fresh butter. Having beaten five eggs till very light and thick, stir them gradually into the mixture, and set it to cool. All preparations of corn meal require much beating and stirring. Have ready some small tin pans, about four or five inches square, and two or three inches deep. They are especially good for baking such cakes, (far better than patty-pans,) and are made by any tinsmith. Grease the pans with the same butter you have used in mixing the cakes. Fill the pans to the top with the above mixture, that the heat may immediately catch the surface, and cause it to puff up high above the edges of the pan. If properly mixed, and well beaten, there is no danger of it running over. If only half filled, and not very light, the mixture when baking will sink down, and become heavy and tough. Set these cakes immediately into a moderate oven. Bake them brown, and send them to the breakfast table hot. Split and butter them.

This is the very best preparation of Indian cakes. If exactly followed, we believe there is none superior; as is the opinion of all persons who have eaten them. The cook from whom this receipt was obtained, is a Southern colored woman, called Aunt Lydia.

The above quantities will furnish cakes only for a small family. If the family is of tolerable size, double the proportions of each article—as[427] for instance, two quarts of Indian meal, one quart of milk, half a pound of butter, and ten eggs, with a level table-spoonful of salt. Let them be well baked; not scorched on the top, and raw at the bottom.

We recommend them highly as the perfection of corn cakes, if well made, well baked, and with all the ingredients of the best quality.

Use yellow indian meal in preference to white. The yellow is sweeter, has more of the true corn taste, and its color shows at once what it is. The white has less flavor, and may be mistaken for very coarse wheat. It is difficult to keep corn meal good for the whole year. Before the new corn meal is in market, the old is apt to become musty. If you live in a city it is best to buy it as you want it; a few pecks at a time. If in the country, sift your barrel of corn meal soon after it is brought; divide it, and keep it in several different vessels, always well covered.

SHORT CAKE.—

As this requires no rising, it may be mixed and prepared at half an hour's notice. Take a quart and a pint of wheat flour, sift it into a pan, and divide into three parts three quarters of a pound of nice fresh butter. Cut up one piece into the pan of flour, and mix it into a dough with a broad knife, adding, as you proceed, as little water as will be barely sufficient. The water must be very cold. Roll out this lump of paste, dredge it slightly with flour, fold it up, and[428] roll it out again. Then cover it with a second division of the butter, put on the sheet of paste with the knife, and dispersed at equal distances. Sprinkle it with flour, fold it, and roll out the sheet again. Put on the remainder of the butter as before, in bits equally dispersed. Fold, dredge, and roll out the dough into a rather thin sheet. Cut it into small round cakes with the edge of a tumbler, or something like it, using up the clippings of paste left at the last to make one more cake. Have ready a hot griddle or oven. Put on the cakes so as not to touch each other, and bake them light brown on both sides. Send them to table hot, to be split and buttered. Mix and roll out these cakes as fast as possible, and avoid handling them more than you need. Paste made slowly is never light or flakey. Mix quick and roll quick. This is a good plain paste for fruit pot-pies or dumplings.

You may make common short cake for very healthy people, with two quarts of flour, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and a quarter of a pound of lard, mixed into the pan of meal with a very little cold water, and a second quarter of lard spread all over the sheet of paste, after rolling it out. Fold, sprinkle, and roll it out again into one round griddle cake, or two if you have enough of dough. Take care, in baking, not to have it smoked or blackened at the edge. When done, cut it into "pie pieces," and send it to table to be split and buttered.[429]

HALF MOONS.—

Of this paste you may make half-moon pies. Cut the paste into round cakes. On half the circle, lay plenty of stewed fruit well sweetened, (for instance, stewed dried peach,) fold over it the other half, pinch the two edges together, and crimp them. Bake them in an oven, and eat them fresh. If you have fruit in the house ready stewed, half-moon pies can be got up for a plain dessert on an emergency. Either mince meat, or sausage meat, may be baked in half-moons. They will bake very nicely, laid side by side, in large square tin pans, first dredged slightly with flour.

SOFT MUFFINS.—

Warm a quart of milk, and melt in it a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter, cut into bits. When melted, stir it about, and set it away to cool. Beat four eggs till very thick and light, and stir them gradually into a pan of milk, and butter when it is quite cold. Then, by degrees, stir in enough of sifted flour to make a batter as thick as you can well beat it. Then, at the last, stir in three table-spoonfuls of baker's or brewer's yeast. Cover the pan of batter with a double cloth, and set it on the hearth (or some other warm place) to rise, but it must not be allowed to get hot. It should have risen nearly to the top of the pan, and be covered with bubbles in about three hours. The griddle being heated, grease it with nice butter tied in a rag; take a ladleful of batter out of the[430] pan, pour it into the ring, and bake the muffins. Send them hot to table, and split and butter them. These are superior to all muffins. Those who have eaten them will never desire any others, if this receipt has been faithfully followed. Try it.

SALLY LUNN CAKE.—

This is a favorite tea cake, and so universally liked that it is well to make a liberal quantity of the mixture, and bake it in two loaves. Sift into a large pan three pounds of fine flour. Warm in a quart of milk half a pound of fresh butter, and add a small tea-spoonful of salt, six eggs well beaten, and add, gradually, two wine glasses of excellent fresh yeast. Mix the flour well into the pan, (a little at a time) and beat the whole very hard. Divide this quantity into two equal portions, and set it to rise in two pans. Cover it with thick cloths, and set it on the hearth to rise. When quite light, grease two loaf-pans with the same butter used for the cakes, and bake it in a moderate oven, keeping up the heat steadily to the last. It should be thoroughly done all through. Send it to table hot, cut in slices, but the slices left standing as in a pound cake at a party.

The Sally Lunn mixture may be baked on a griddle, as muffins in muffin rings, and split and buttered at table.

In mixing this cake, add neither sugar nor spice. They do not improve, but spoil it, as would be[431] found on trial. It is the best of plain tea cakes, if properly made and baked.

DELAWARE CAKES.—

This is a plain tea cake. Sift into a pan two quarts of flour. Cut up half a pound of fresh butter, and rub it into the flour with your hands. Beat five eggs very light and thick; make a hole in the centre of the flour, and gradually stir the beaten eggs, in turn with a pint of milk. Then add a jill of fine fresh yeast. Mix the whole thoroughly with a broad knife. Transfer it to large square tin pans. Cover it with a clean flannel, and set it on the hearth to rise. When it is quite light, and cracked all over the surface, divide the dough into cakes and bake them in muffin rings, on a griddle or in a stove. If baked in one large cake, there is a risk of their being made heavy, by cutting them when hot.

To make sweet cakes with the above mixture, add gradually to the flour in the pan, half a pound of powdered sugar before you rub in the butter, and after the eggs and milk. Stir in a wineglass of rosewater, or less, if it is very strong, (which rosewater seldom is) and also it loses much of its strength in cooking. Or, substitute the yellow rind and juice of a lemon, and some powdered nutmeg. They will then be a cake for company; otherwise, they will be for family teas.

Either plain or sweet they are very good. We rather prefer them plain. If plain, omit even[432] sugar. Sugar, without other flavoring, gives plain tea cakes a faint sickly taste, and is better left out entirely, except for children—and they like any kind of sweetness, however little.

MARYLAND BISCUIT.—

Take two quarts of sifted wheat flour, and add a small tea-spoonful of salt. Rub into the pan of flour a large quarter of a pound of lard, and add, gradually, warm milk enough to make a very stiff dough. Knead the lump of dough long and hard, and pound it on all sides with a rolling-pin. Divide the dough into several pieces, and knead and pound each piece separately. This must go on for two or three hours, continually kneading and pounding, otherwise it will be hard, tough, and indigestible. Then make it into small round thick biscuits, prick them with a fork, and bake them a pale brown.

This is the most laborious of cakes, and also the most unwholesome, even when made in the best manner. We do not recommend it; but there is no accounting for tastes. Children should not eat these biscuits—nor grown persons either, if they can get any other sort of bread.

When living in a town where there are bakers, there is no excuse for making Maryland biscuit. Believe nobody that says they are not unwholesome. Yet we have heard of families, in country places, where neither the mistress nor the cook knew any other preparation of wheat bread. Better to live on indian cakes[433].

HOME-MADE BREAD.—

You cannot have good bread without good flour, good yeast, good kneading, and good baking, all united. Like many other things, the best flour is always the cheapest in the end. There is none better than that which comes from the mills of Hiram Smith, Rochester, New York. All flour should be kept in a dry place, damp being always injurious to it. Good flour goes farther than that of inferior quality, and is both whiter and lighter. No skill will avail either in making or baking bread, if the flour is of bad quality. Flour will keep much better if, as soon as a new barrel is brought in, the whole of it is sifted, and divided in several buckets. Flour buckets, made for the purpose, are short and wide, are broader at the bottom than the top, and have handles and lids. They are to be had of all coopers. Yeast must always be of the best quality, strong and fresh. With too much yeast the bread will be bitter; with too little it will be heavy; with stale yeast it will be heavy, sour, and dark-colored. If baked too little, it becomes tough and clammy. We deprecate the practice of putting hartshorn in bread. It gives it a bad taste; and even if it produces a sort of factitious lightness, it also renders it tough and difficult to masticate, however nice it may look. Also, it is very unwholesome.

The oven should be heated in time, to set in the bread as soon as ready. When once it has risen to its utmost lightness, it will fall and turn sour if permitted to stand. The only remedy for sour[434] bread is, to melt a table-spoonful of soda or pearlash in tepid water, and sprinkle it over the dough, which must then be kneaded again, after it has rested half an hour. In summer, do not begin your bread over night; it will certainly be sour before morning. In winter you may do so, but keep it all night in a warm (though not a hot) place. If the dough freezes, you may throw it away at once.

To knead, double up your hands, put them deep into the dough, and work it with your knuckles, exerting all your strength. When the dough sticks to them no longer, but leaves your bent fingers clean and clear, it is time to cease kneading, for you have done enough for that time.

Sift into a deep pan, or large wooden bowl, a peck of fine wheat flour, (adding a large table-spoonful of salt,) and mix the water with half a pint of strong fresh brewer's yeast, or near a whole pint if the yeast is home-made. Pour this into the hole, in the middle of the heap of flour. Mix in with a wooden spoon, a portion of the flour from the surrounding edges of the hole so as to make a thick batter, and having sprinkled dry flour over the top, let it rest for near an hour. This is called "setting the sponge," or "making the leaven." When it has swelled up to the surface, and burst through the coating of flour that covered the hole, pour in as much more lukewarm water as will suffice to mix the whole gradually into a dough. Knead it hard and thoroughly, leaving no lumps in it, and continue to knead[435] till the dough leaves your hands. Throw over it a clean thick cloth, and set it in a warm place to rise again. When it is quite light and cracked all over the surface, divide it into loaves, and give each loaf a little more kneading, and let it rest till it has risen as high as it will. Have your oven quite ready, and (having transferred the loaves to pans, sprinkled with flour,) bake them well. Try the heat of the oven by previously throwing in a little flour. If it browns well, and you can hold your hand in the heat while you count twenty, it is a good temperature for bread. If the flour scorches black the oven is too hot, so leave the oven open a little while till it becomes cooler. As soon as the bread is quite done, take out the loaves, wrap each tightly in a clean coarse cloth, damped by sprinkling it with water, and stand them up on their edges. This will prevent the crust from becoming too hard. Keep the loaves wrapped up after they are deposited in the bread box.

ROLLS—

Are made as above, except that they are mixed with warm milk instead of water, and a little fresh butter rubbed into the dough.

TWIST BREAD.—

Before you put the dough into the baking pans, divide it equally into long thick rolls, (smaller at the ends) and plait or twist three together.[436]

BRAN BREAD—

Is made like any other, only of bran meal; and in setting the sponge, put wheat flour into the hole, and add to the liquid half a tea-cupful of nice brown sugar. Bran bread should look very brown. It should be eaten fresh. When stale, it is too dry and hard. Bran batter cakes are made and baked like buckwheat.

RYE BREAD.—

Is made like wheat bread, but that it requires more kneading and baking. Rye batter cakes, made like buckwheat, should have one half corn meal.

BREAD BISCUITS.—

When making bread after the dough has risen very light, take from it a quart or more; knead into it a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and form it into tall rolls. Bake them in an oven, and when done break them apart, but do not cut them with a knife—or, bake them in flat biscuits, to be split and buttered. Bread dough, with some butter added to the mixture, will make plain cakes for children, with the addition of white sugar, powdered cinnamon, some good raisins, (stoned,) cut in half, and dredged well with flour, to prevent their clodding or sinking. A beaten egg mixed into the dough is an improvement. Children, (accustomed only to plain living,) like these cakes very well, but they must be light and well baked[437].

BREAD CAKES.—

Take slices of stale wheat bread, that has been well made and light. There should be enough to fill a pint bowl, closely packed. Put the bread into a deep dish, and pour boiling water upon it. While the bread is soaking, mix in a crock or jar a pint of milk, and a pint of wheat flour. Put the soaked bread into a cullender, and let the water drain off. When the water is drained away, beat the bread lightly with a fork, but do not press or mash it. Beat two eggs very light and thick, and gradually stir them into the flour and milk. Then stir in the bread. Bake the mixture on a griddle in the manner of buckwheat cakes, and eat them hot with butter. This quantity is for a small family of four persons.

For a family of moderate size, take a quart of stale bread, a quart of milk, a quart of flour, and four eggs.

For a large family, two quarts of bread, two quarts of milk, two quarts of flour, and eight eggs. This quantity will not be more than sufficient for a large family, as they will all like these cakes.

If you have not enough of stale bread in the house, send for a stale loaf, rather than not have the proper proportion for the cakes.

MILK BISCUIT.—

Warm a pint of milk on the top of the stove, and cut up in it half a pound of fresh butter, to soften, but not to melt. Sift into a pan two quarts of flour; make a hole in[438] the middle of the flour, and pour into it the milk and butter. Beat two eggs till very thick and smooth, and pour them in also. Lastly, pour into the hole two wine-glasses of strong fresh brewer's or baker's yeast; or, three of good home-made yeast. Mix altogether with a broad knife, till it becomes a lump of soft dough. Then knead it well on your pasteboard, and make it into round rolls or balls. Knead every ball separately. Flatten them with your hand into thick biscuits, and prick every one with a fork. Lay them separately in buttered square pans, and set them to rise. If all is right, they will be light in little more than an hour. When quite light, (risen high and cracked all over) set them in a moderate oven, and bake them a light brown. They should be eaten quite fresh.

RUSK.—

Sift a quart of flour into a pan. Make a hole in the centre, and pour in a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, cut up and softened in half a pint of milk warmed on the stove. Beat two eggs very light, and mix them gradually into the hole in the pan of flour, in turn with a small wine-glass of rose water; or a table-spoonful of the rose water if as strong as it should be, adding a large tea-spoonful of powdered mace, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Lastly, a wine-glass and a half of fresh brewer's yeast. Mix those articles well into the flour, till it becomes a lump of soft dough. Knead it well on your pasteboard, and[439] divide it into pieces of equal size. Knead each piece separately. Form them so as to be tall and high, when finished. Butter an iron pan, lay the rusks in it side by side, and set them in a warm place to rise again. When quite light, bake them in a moderate oven, and sift sugar over them when cool.

DRY RUSKS.—

Dry rusks are used for infant's food, and for invalids. They are made plain, without any butter, spice, or rose water, and after being once baked are split, and baked over till they are all crisp and browned on the inside. Use them dissolved, by pouring on a little warm water or milk, and beat them with a spoon to a thick pap.

CROSS BUNS.—

Pick clean a pound and a half of dried or Zante currants; wash, drain, and dry them on a large flat dish placed in a slanting position near the fire, or in the sun. It will be still better to substitute for the currants a pound of Sultana (or seedless) raisins, each raisin cut in half. When quite dry, dredge the fruit thickly with flour to prevent their sinking or clodding in the cake. Sift into a deep pan two quarts of flour, and mix thoroughly with it a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and three quarters of a pound of powdered sugar. Cut up three-quarters of a pound of fresh butter, into a large half pint of rich milk. Warm it till the butter is quite soft, but not till it melts. Make a hole in the[440] centre of the pan of flour, and pour in the mixed liquid, adding a jill (or two wine-glasses) of strong fresh yeast. Mix in the flour by degrees, beginning round the edge of the hole, and proceed gradually till you have the whole mass of ingredients well incorporated. Cover the pan with a clean thick towel, and set it in a warm place to rise. When it has risen high, and is cracked all over, mix in a small tea-spoonful of dissolved soda. Flour your pasteboard, divide the dough into equal portions, mix in the plums, and slightly knead it into round cakes the size of a small saucer. Place them on a large dish, cover them, and set them again to rise in a warm place for half an hour. Mark every one deeply with a cross, bake them brown, and when done brush each bun lightly over with a glazing of white of egg, sweetened with sugar.

CINNAMON BREAD.—

On a bread-baking day, (having made more than your usual quantity of wheat bread,) when the dough has risen quite light, and is cracked all over the surface, take out as much as will weigh two pounds. Mix into it a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, that has been cut up and melted in a half pint of milk; and also, three beaten eggs. Incorporate the butter, milk, and egg, thoroughly with the dough, and then add (dissolved in a little tepid water,) a salt-spoonful (not more) of soda. Have ready mixed in a bowl a pint of brown sugar, moistened[441] with fresh butter, so as to make a stiff paste, and flavor it with two heaped table-spoonfuls of powdered cinnamon. Form the cake into the shape of a round loaf, and make deep incisions or cuts all over its surface; filling them up with the cinnamon mixture pressed hard into the cuts, pinching and closing the dough over them with your thumb and finger to prevent the seasoning running out. Put the loaf into a round pan, and set it into the oven to bake with the other bread. When cool, glaze it over with white of egg, in which some powdered sugar has been dissolved. Send it to table whole in form, but cut into loose slices. Eat it fresh. All yeast cakes become dry and hard the next day.

This mixture may be baked in a square iron pan, and cut into square cakes when cool.

WAFFLES.—

We are indebted to the Germans for this cake, which, if this receipt is exactly followed, will be found excellent. Warm a quart of milk, and cut up in it a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter, and stir it about to soften in the warm milk. Beat eight eggs till very thick and smooth, and stir them gradually into the milk and butter, in turn with half a pound of sifted flour. Then add two table-spoonfuls of strong fresh brewer's or baker's yeast. Cover the pan with a clean thick cloth, and set it in a warm place to rise. When the batter has risen nearly to the top, and is covered with bubbles, it is time[442] to bake; first stirring in a wine-glass of rose-water. Having heated your waffle-iron in a good fire, grease it inside with the fresh butter used for the waffle mixture, or with fresh lard; fill it, and shut the iron closely. Turn it on the fire, that both sides of the cake may be equally well done. Each side will require about three minutes baking. Take them out of the iron by slipping a knife underneath. Then grease and prepare the iron for another waffle. Butter them, and send them to the tea-table "hot and hot;" and, to eat with this, a bowl or glass dish of sugar flavored with powdered cinnamon.

In buying waffle irons choose them very deep, so as to make a good impression when baked—if shallow, the waffle will look thin and poor. Those that bake one waffle at a time are the handsomest and most manageable.

SOFT CRULLERS.—

Sift a pound and a half of flour, and have ready a pound of powdered sugar. Heat in a round-bottomed sauce-pan a quart of water; and when quite warm, stir the flour gradually into the water. In another vessel set a pound of nice fresh butter over the fire, and when it begins to melt, stir it, by degrees, into the flour and water. Then add, gradually, the powdered sugar, and a grated nutmeg. Take the sauce-pan off the fire, and beat the contents with a wooden spaddle, (which is far better than a spoon) till they are thoroughly mixed. Next,[443] having beaten six eggs till very thick and light, stir them, gradually, into the mixture, and then beat the whole very hard till it becomes a thick batter. Add rose-water or lemon juice. Flour a pasteboard, and lay out the batter upon it in the form of rings. The best and easiest way is to pass it through a screw funnel.

Have ready on the fire a pot of boiling lard. Put in the crullers, taking them off the board one at a time, on a broad-bladed knife. Boil but a few at a time. They must be of a fine brown. Lift them out with a perforated skimmer, draining back the lard into the pot. Lay them on a large dish, and dredge them with sugar.

These, if properly managed, are far superior to all other crullers, but they cannot be made in warm weather.

DOUGH-NUTS.—

On baking day, take two pounds of very light bread dough that has been made in the usual manner. Put it into a broad pan. Rub into it half a pound of fresh butter, and half a pound of powdered sugar, and a table-spoonful of mixed nutmeg and cinnamon. Wet it with half a pint of milk, and mix in three well beaten eggs. Cover it, and set by the fire to rise again. When quite light, flour your pasteboard, and make the dough into oval balls; or, you may cut it into diamond shapes, (handling it as little as possible.) Have ready, over the fire, a pot of boiling lard. Drop the dough-nuts into it, and boil them; or fry them brown in a frying-pan.[444] Take them out one by one in a perforated skimmer, draining back the lard into the pan. Spread them on a large dish, and sift sugar over them. Eat them fresh; when heavy and stale they are not fit. This is a German cake.

COMMON CRULLERS.—

The above mixture for dough-nuts will make good crullers. Flour your pasteboard, lay the dough upon it, roll it very thick, and cut it into strips with a jagging iron. Take off short pieces, and twist them into various forms. Throw them into a pot of boiling lard. When done, drain the lard from them, spread them on a large dish, and dredge them with powdered white sugar.

The Alpistera is a Spanish cruller, shaped like the five fingers united at the wrist.

PLAIN DESSERTS.

MOLASSES PUDDING.—

Sift into a pan a large quart of yellow indian meal. Simmer over the fire a quart of milk, a pint of West India molasses, stirred in while the milk is hot. Put the milk and molasses into a large pan, and mix gradually into them the corn meal while they are quite warm. Add a large table-spoonful of ground ginger, and a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered[445] cinnamon. Beat the whole mixture long and hard, for on that will chiefly depend the lightness of the pudding, as it has neither eggs, butter, nor yeast. If your batter seems too thin, add, gradually, a little more corn meal; if too thick, a little more milk and molasses.

Dip in hot water a large square pudding cloth. Spread it out in a pan, dredge it well with flour, and then pour the pudding-mixture into it. Tie it up, making the string very secure, but leave plenty of room between the batter and the tying place, for the pudding to swell in boiling, at least one-third. Put the pudding, directly, into a large pot, and keep it steadily boiling for about three hours. Corn meal requires long cooking. Turn the pudding twice with a fork. If the water boils away too much, replenish it from a tea-kettle of hot water, kept boiling for the purpose. If you pour in cold water the pudding will become hard and heavy, and be totally spoiled. Do not turn it out and send it to table till wanted at dinner. Then dip it for a moment in cold water, untie the string, and transfer it to a dish with a cover. Eat it with molasses and butter; or make a sauce of drawn butter, flavored with wine and nutmeg.

This pudding, if properly mixed, well beaten, and well boiled, will be as light as if made with eggs, (the West India molasses having that property) and it will cut down rough or open grained, like a very light sponge cake, unless the batter has been made too thick and stiff, and not sufficiently beaten, and not allowed space enough to swell in[446] boiling. If made too thin, or not boiled well, the pudding will come out a soft, shapeless mass. But if all is carefully managed, this (the least costly of American puddings) will be found excellent for a plain table, and perfectly wholesome. The flavor will be much improved by adding to the cinnamon and ginger the grated yellow rind and juice of an orange or lemon. If your first attempt at this pudding is a failure, try it again—practice makes perfect.

For a large family, have two quarts of corn meal, two quarts of milk, and one quart of West India molasses; two table-spoonfuls of ginger, and one of cinnamon.

What is left may be tied in a cloth, and boiled over again next day, for half an hour or longer.

MOLASSES PIE.—

Make a plain paste, allowing a quart of flour to a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and a quarter of a pound of lard. Cut up the butter into the pan of flour, and rub it into a dough, with a half tumbler of cold water. Too much water is injurious to any paste, rendering it tough and hard. Roll out the paste into a sheet, and with a broad knife spread all over it one-half of the lard. Sprinkle it with flour, fold it, and roll it out again. Spread on the remainder of the lard, dredge it slightly, fold it again, and then divide it into two sheets. Line with one sheet the inside of a pie-dish, and fill it with molasses, mixed with butter, and flavored with ginger and[447] cinnamon, or lemon or orange. Put on the other sheet of paste as a lid to the pie. Crimp or notch the edges. Bake it of a pale brown, and send it to table fresh, but not hot.

MOLASSES POT-PIE.—

Make plenty of paste, allowing to each quart of flour a small half pound of finely minced suet. Line the pot three-quarters up the sides with paste, and put in a quart of West India molasses, flavored with ginger and cinnamon, lemon or orange grating, and juice. Cover it with a lid of paste, not fitting closely round its edges, and cut a cross slit in the top. Have ready six or eight extra pieces of suet paste, cut into squares, and boiled by themselves. When the pie is done, put these little cakes (ready boiled) into the molasses, having removed the lid or cover of the pie, and cut it up. Take out the inside paste, and cut it in pieces also. Serve up the whole in one large dish.

BATTER PUDDING.—

Having beaten eight eggs till very thick and smooth, stir them gradually into a pan of milk, in turn with eight table-spoonfuls of flour, added by degrees. Give the whole a hard stirring at last. Dip a square pudding cloth into hot water, shake it out, dredge it with flour, and spread it over the inside of an empty pan. Pour the pudding mixture into it. Gather up the cloth, leaving ample space for the pudding to swell in boiling, and securing the string[448] tightly. Put the pudding into a large pot of boiling water, and boil it fast and steadily for two hours. Turn it with a large fork once or twice while boiling. When done, dip it for a moment in cold water, that you may turn it out easily. Send it to table hot, and eat it with any sauce you like, from molasses, or butter and sugar, to wine sauce. This, if exactly followed, is the very best receipt for a plain batter pudding. It may be made of corn meal, or wheat bread-crumbs, (eight table-spoonfuls to eight eggs, and one quart of milk.) Corn meal requires with it one or two spoonfuls of wheat flour for this pudding.

We cannot approve of boiling batter puddings in moulds, as they are rarely allowed sufficient space for swelling, and are therefore tough and solid. Also, it is frequently very difficult to get a hot pudding out of a mould.

The above pudding is very nice baked in the dripping pan under a piece of roast beef or veal.

FRITTERS.—

Make the same mixture as for batter pudding. Eight eggs beaten very light and thick, and stirred gradually into a quart of milk, in turn with eight spoonfuls of flour; and, when all are united, beat the whole very hard. In a large frying-pan melt a pound of lard, and when it comes to a boil, put in with a large spoon a half tea-cupful of batter. Fry them fast, a panful at a time, and as they require no stirring they will soon be done. For the next panful, add half a[449] pound more of lard, and see that it is boiling well all the time. If there is not enough of lard, or if it only simmers, the fritters will stick to the bottom, and be heavy, dark, and greasy. Send them to table "hot and hot," sprinkled with sugar. Eat them with sugar, cinnamon, and white wine. This is the best possible receipt for plain fritters.

ORANGE FRITTERS.—

For frying fruit fritters use nice fresh butter. Peel, and cut into round slices (not very thin) some fine oranges, removing the seeds carefully. Put into each fritter (while frying) a slice of orange, and dredge with sugar. Eat them with sweetened orange juice. These are fritters for company.

PEACH FRITTERS.—

Take large ripe free-stone peaches, the best you can get. Peel them, cut them in half, remove the stones, and put some loaf sugar into the cavities from whence you took them. Have ready, in a large frying-pan over the fire, an ample quantity of nice fresh butter, boiling fast. Put in the batter, and to every spoonful allow half a peach, laid on its back. When done take them up separately, and drain the butter back into the pan. Serve up the fritters dredged with white sugar. You may color these fritters pink by mixing in the batter a little prepared alkanet, the chips tied up in a thin muslin bag, and laid in a small saucer of sweet oil. Stir the co[450]lored oil into the batter; it has no taste, but the color is beautiful. Fritters may be colored green by mixing in the batter some of the juice obtained from pounded spinach leaves.

APPLE OR QUINCE FRITTERS.—

Pare and core some pippin or bell-flower apples, or ripe quinces. Cut them into round slices, and fry one in every fritter. Eat them with sweetened lemon juice. You may make fritters with a large table-spoonful of any thick marmalade in the centre. Or, with a large fresh oyster in the middle of each. Or, with a table-spoonful of minced meat. These, also, are company fritters.

PANCAKES—

Are very inferior to good fritters, and much more troublesome to bake. They are the same ingredients mixed thinner; are also fried in lard, and must be turned by tossing them over (one at a time) in the frying-pan.

JUNKET.—

Having turned a quart of rich milk, by stirring into it a half tea-cupful of the water in which two or three square inches of rennet has been soaked for several hours, set the milk in a covered pitcher, in a warm place, till it becomes a firm curd, the whey separating from it, and looking thin and greenish. Keep it on ice till just before it is wanted for table. Then transfer[451] it to a large bowl, and sweeten it well with white sugar. Mix in two glasses of sweet wine, and grate over it a nutmeg. It is very nice with extract of vanilla added to the wine, &c.

It is not a good way to preserve a rennet by cutting it into little pieces, and keeping it in wine, stirring the wine into milk when you wish to form a curd. If turned with rennet wine, the curd will never separate completely from the whey, which will therefore be always thick and whitish. By using rennet water, the whey will be pure, thin, and of a light green, and the curd very white and firm. In Philadelphia market, dried rennets (which will keep a year or two hanging up in a cool dry closet) are universally used to make curds, and are always to be bought at small prices. They are cured by salting them, and stretching on a bent rod. To use this rennet, cut off a small bit, and soak it several hours, or over night, in a cup of lukewarm water. Then stir this water into the milk.

MILK POTTAGE OR FARMER'S RICE.—

Take some rich milk, and put it on to boil in a pot of sufficient size. When it has begun to boil, stir in, by degrees, enough of wheat flour to make it about as thick as the general consistence of rice milk, and boil it well, stirring it frequently down to the bottom. Add a few blades of mace, or some powdered cinnamon. Knead together some flour and fresh butter, forming a lump of white paste. Divide the paste into small round dumplings about[452] the size of a cent, and put them to boil with the milk. When the pottage is well boiled, take it up, and transfer it to a tureen or deep white-ware dish, and make it very sweet with good brown sugar. Grate some nutmeg over the surface.

This is an excellent addition to a winter supper-table, and is much liked by children, for whom it is also good at the end of a plain dinner. As a substitute for rice milk, it is better and more wholesome than rice itself.

PLAIN RICE PUDDING.—

Pick some rice, carefully removing from it the husks, and all impurities; and if you find it the least sour or musty, throw it away, and get some that is perfectly good. Wash it through two or three waters, till it drains off quite clean. Stir a quarter of a pound of this rice into a quart of good rich milk. If the milk is poor and thin, and has been skimmed till it is blue, or mixed with water, the pudding will be poor accordingly. In the country where cream is easily to be obtained, add some to the milk which you use for the rice pudding. Stir in also a quarter of a pound of good brown sugar, and a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Set the pudding into an oven, and bake till a brown skin covers the surface, and the rice is quite soft, which you may ascertain by lifting a bit of the brown skin from the edge and trying the rice. Eat it warm or cold. It is usual in the country to put[453] several of these rice puddings into the oven on baking days.

They will be greatly improved by the addition of two or three beaten eggs, and a few bits of fresh butter, stirred in with the rice and sugar. Also powdered cinnamon. Rice is in itself so tasteless, that it requires good flavoring.

PLAIN BOILED RICE PUDDING.—

Pick, wash, and drain a pound of rice. Moisten it with a quart of milk. Have ready a pound of seedless raisins. Dredge them well all over with flour to prevent their sinking. Stir them gradually into the rice and milk. Boil it in a cloth, leaving ample space for it to swell. Keep the water very hot all the time. Eat it with butter and sugar, seasoned with ground cinnamon.

RICE CUPS.—

Boil in water, in the usual manner, a pound or more of cleaned rice till it is perfectly soft. Drain it well, and mix it with a quart of milk, seasoned with a mixed table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon and nutmeg or mace. Boil it a second time till all the grains are dissolved into a smooth mass, and their form cannot be distinguished. Mould it in large tea-cups, pint bowls, or blanc-mange moulds; and when it has taken the desired form, turn it out on dishes, and serve up with it a small tureen of wine sauce, or of boiled custard made very sweet, and seasoned, by[454] boiling in the milk of which the custard was made a few peach leaves, or some bitter almonds broken up, or a broken-up stick of cinnamon, to be taken out when it is done.

BREAD PUDDING.—

Grate or crumble as much stale wheat bread (omitting the crust) as will fill a pint bowl when done. Boil a pint of good milk with a broken-up stick of cinnamon in it. Strain the milk, and pour it (boiling) over the bread. Sweeten it with three large table-spoonfuls of sugar. Stir in one or two large table-spoonfuls of fresh butter. Beat four eggs till very thick and smooth, and add them, gradually, to the mixture, when it is lukewarm. It will be much improved by the grated peel and juice of a lemon or orange. Bake it in a deep dish or mould; sift white sugar over it. Eat it warm, with sweet sauce flavored with nutmeg.

BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING.—

Cut large even slices of yesterday's bread, (leaving on the crust) and spread them well with fresh butter. Strew over them thickly half a pound of Zante currants, picked and washed. Make a batter of four beaten eggs and a large pint of milk, seasoned with powdered nutmeg or mace. Pour some of this batter into the bottom of a deep white dish. Then put on as many slices of bread and currants as will cover the bottom. Next, add the[455] remainder of the batter, and finish with slices of bread and butter strewed with currants. Bake till the batter is set and firm. When done, serve it up warm.

A BROWN BETTY.—

Pare, core, and slice thin some fine juicy apples. Cover with the apples the bottom of a large deep white-ware dish. Sweeten them well with plenty of brown sugar; adding grated lemon or orange peel. Strew over them a thick layer of bread-crumbs, and add to the crumbs a very few bits of fresh butter. Then put in another layer of cut apples and sugar, followed by a second layer of bread-crumbs and butter. Next more apples and sugar; then more bread-crumbs and butter; repeat this till the dish is full, finishing it with bread-crumbs. Bake it till the apples are entirely done and quite soft. Send it to table hot. It will be improved (if in the country at cider-making season) by adding to each layer of apples a very little sweet unfermented cider, fresh from the press.

This pudding is in some places called an Apple Pandowdy. We believe it is Brown Betty in the South; Pandowdy in the North. It is a good plain pudding if the butter is fresh and sweet, and not too much of it. The apples must be juicy and not sweet. Sweet apples never cook well.

SWEETENED SWEET POTATOS.—

The sweet potatos should be all about the same size,[456] or else so large as to require splitting. Boil them till, on probing them with a fork, you find them soft all through. Peel off the skin, and trim off the sharp points of each end. Place them in a large baking dish, and lay among them some pieces of fresh butter; sprinkle powdered sugar profusely over them and among them, especially in the vacancies between the potatos. Set the dish into a moderate oven, and bake slowly till the butter and sugar are all melted and blended together, forming a nice crust. They should be eaten not with the meat, but after it. They make a good supper or luncheon dish, and a plain dessert at dinner for plain-living people.

Sufficient butter and sugar will make the crust like a thick syrup, when broken. They should be cooked this way only when in the height of their season, and perfectly fresh and nice. When sweet potatos are old enough to decay at the ends, give them up. Large sweet potatos may be first boiled; then peeled and sliced thick, sprinkled thick with sugar, and fried in fresh butter or lard; the lard well drained from them as they are taken up. Eat them with meat.

They are good boiled very soft, peeled and sent to table mashed, (while hot) with fresh butter—or made into thick flat cakes, and browned on the top.

It is a great waste to bake sweet potatos whole. If baked enough, (as they seldom are) they "go all to skin."[457]

APPLE DUMPLINGS.—

For dumplings the apples should be large and juicy—pippins, bellflowers, or the best you can get. Small sweet apples make very poor dumplings. Having pared the apples, extract the cores with a tin apple-corer, so as to leave them smooth and whole. Why is it that so many families "have never had an apple corer in their house?" They cost, at the utmost, but twenty-five cents, are to be had at all the tinsmiths' and furnishing stores; and they screw out an apple core in a minute; saving time and trouble. The apples being ready, make a nice paste in the proportion of a small pint of finely-minced suet, to a large quart of flour; one-half of the suet rubbed into the pan of flour, (adding a very little water) the other half sliced thin, and spread all over the sheet of dough after it is rolled out; then folding it, and rolling it out again. Cut the sheet of dough in as many circular pieces as you have apples, allowing them large enough to close entirely over the top, and rolling it thick enough to hold the apple securely without danger of its breaking through. Put an apple on every piece of paste, and fill with brown sugar the hole from whence the core was taken. Squeeze on the sugar some fresh lemon juice, with the grated yellow rind; or, add some powdered nutmeg or mace, or some rose-water. This will make them very nice. They should be boiled in small cloths kept clean for the purpose, dipped in hot water, and sprinkled with flour, and room left for the dumpling to swell. Put them[458] into a pot of boiling water, and boil them steadily for near an hour. Serve them up very hot, as they become heavy when cold. Eat with them butter and sugar, or cream sauce.

PEACH DUMPLINGS.—

Take large fine free-stone peaches. Peel them, cut them in half, and extract the stones; fill the sockets with white sugar, and put the two halves together. Make a nice suet paste, or, if more convenient, of butter, but it must be quite fresh, and very nice. Allow half a pound of butter to a large quart (or a pound) of sifted flour. Rub half the butter into the pan of flour, and make it into a dough, with a very little cold water. Too much water always makes tough heavy paste. Then roll the paste into a sheet, and put on it with a knife the remainder of the butter in regular bits. Fold it, roll it out again, and divide it into circular pieces. Lay a peach on each. Gather up the dough over the top, so as to form a well-shaped dumpling. Boil them in cloths for full three-quarters of an hour or more. Eat them with cream sauce.

Dumplings of raspberries, or blackberries, may be made as above. Also, of gooseberries or currants, made very sweet. Quinces preserved whole make excellent dumplings.

APPLE PUDDINGS—

Are made like large dumplings, with suet paste, and flavored with[459] lemon, or rose, or nutmeg. The apples must be sliced. The pudding should be tied in a cloth; put into a pot of fast-boiling water, kept steadily boiling for two hours or more, and sweetened with brown sugar as soon as it is taken up, cutting a round piece of paste out of the top, and putting in with the sugar a small piece of fresh butter.

Large puddings may be made in this manner of stoned cherries, damsons, or plums, or of gooseberries, or currants—allowing plenty of fruit, and making it very sweet; besides sending sugar to table with it.

ROLLED PUDDING.—

Have ready a quart or more of apples stewed with very little water, sweetened with brown sugar, and flavored with lemon or rose. Prepare a nice suet paste. Roll it out, and cut it into a square sheet. Spread it thickly with the stewed fruit, (not extending the fruit quite to the edges of the dough) and roll it up as far as it will go. Close it nicely at each end. Tie it in a cloth, dipped in hot water and floured, and put it into a fast-boiling pot. Boil it well. Cut it down in round slices. Eat it with butter and sugar beaten together, or with cream sauce. You may make this pudding of any sort of thick marmalade, spread over the sheet of paste; or, with ripe uncooked currants, raspberries, or blackberries, mashed raw, sweetened, and spread on thickly. This pudding is the same that common[460] English people call a "Jack in a blanket;" and sometimes "a Dog in a blanket." The blanket is supposed to mean the paste; the dog is probably the fruit.

FRUIT POT-PIES.—

These are made in a pot lined with paste, interspersed with small squares of the same dough, and covered with a paste lid. The filling is of dried apples, peaches quartered, blackberries, raspberries, ripe currants, or gooseberries; all well sweetened, and cooked in their own juice, with a small tea-cupful of water at the bottom to "start them." Both fruit and paste must be perfectly well done.

Fruit pot-pies are easier made and cooked, than fruit puddings or dumplings. We recommend them highly for plain tables. They require more sugar when they are dished. A large bain-marie is excellent for cooking any sort of pot-pie, the water being all in the outside kettle.

PLAIN BAKED CUSTARD.—

Boil a quart of milk, with a small bunch of green peach leaves in it, or a half dozen of peach kernels broken up. When the milk has boiled well strain it into a broad pan, and set it away to cool. In a shallow pan beat six eggs till very light, thick, and smooth. Stir them, gradually, into the milk, in turn with a tea-cup of white sugar, and a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon or mace. Transfer the mixture to a deep white dish, set it into the oven,[461] and bake it till the top is well browned, but not scorched. When done, set it away to cool, and grate nutmeg over the surface.

BOILED CUSTARD.—

Make exactly the above mixture; but instead of baking, boil it in a porcelain lined sauce-pan, stirring it all the time. As soon as it comes to a boil, take it immediately from the fire, or it will curdle. Put it into a glass or china pitcher, and set it to cool. A bain-marie is excellent for boiled custard.

If custards are baked in cups, set them in an iron pan half full of warm water. If too hot, or kept baking too long, they will be tough and porous, and have whey at the bottom. So they will if the milk is warm when the eggs are added. Good custards will cut down to the very bottom as smooth and firm as the best blanc-mange.

APPLES BAKED WHOLE.—

Never bake apples without paring and coring. They will be found nearly all skin and core, and are troublesome and inconvenient to eat. Have fine large apples; take off a thin paring, and extract the core with a tin corer. Fill up the holes with brown sugar. Place the apples, side by side, in a square tin pan, set them in an oven, and bake them till, when tried with a fork, you find them soft all through. Send them to table warm, but[462] not burning hot. If you have country cream to eat with them, so much the better.

BAKED PEARS.—

Take good-sized pears. Small ones are not worth the trouble of cooking. Peel them, split them in half, and remove the core, the stem, and the blossom end. Strew them well with brown sugar, and lay them on their backs in a large baking dish. A narrow slip of the yellow rind of lemon or orange, (cut so thin as to look transparent,) will be a great improvement, laid in the hollow of each pear. Also the juice squeezed. Put into the dish sufficient molasses or steam-syrup to well cover the pears. Place them in an oven, and bake them till they are soft, but not till they break. If you have no lemon or orange, season them with ground ginger or cinnamon.

The great pound pears are baked as above, with the addition of port wine and a few cloves, and colored red with a little cochineal.

COUNTRY CHARLOTTE.—

Slice or quarter some fine juicy apples, having pared and cored them. Put them on a large dish, sweeten them well with brown sugar, set them in the oven, and bake them till soft enough to mash smoothly. Then cut some slices of bread, butter them slightly, and dip every one in sweet cider fresh from the press. Let them soak in the cider a[463] short time, but not till they break. Take them out of the cider, spread every one thickly with the mashed apple, (sprinkling on more sugar) and send them to the dinner table in a deep dish or pan.

A PLAIN CHARLOTTE.—

Stew very nicely any sort of ripe fruit, (currants, gooseberries, blackberries, stoned cherries, or stoned plums,) and as soon as you take them from the fire make them very sweet with brown sugar. Prepare some large slices of buttered bread, with the crust pared off. Cover each slice thickly with the stewed fruit. Lay some in the bottom of a deep dish, and stand up others all round its sides. Fill up the dish with the same, and sift white sugar over the surface.

GOOSEBERRY FOOL.—

This foolish name signifies an excellent preparation of gooseberries; stewed, mashed, and made very sweet with brown sugar. Have ready in another dish a good boiled custard. When all has become cool, mix well together in a large bowl the stewed gooseberries and the custard, and season the mixture well with nutmeg. It will be found very good.

Any other "fool" may be made in the same manner, of stewed fruit and boiled custard. It saves the trouble and expense of making paste, or can[464] be prepared at a shorter notice. It is good either at dinner or tea.

POTATO PASTE.—

Boil three moderate-sized potatos till very soft. Then peel and mash them fine and smooth. Put them into a deep pan, and mix them well with a quart of flour and a half pint of lard; or what is better, with that quantity of beef dripping, or the dripping of fresh roast pork. Never for any sort of crust use mutton dripping. Having mixed the mashed potato, dripping, and flour into a lump, roll it out into a thick sheet. Sprinkle it with flour, and spread over it evenly a thin layer of dripping or lard. Fold it again, and set it in a cool place till wanted. It is good for meat pies, and for boiled meat pudding, or any sort of dumplings.

VERY PLAIN PIE-CRUST.—

Sift a quart of flour into a pan. Mix together, with a knife, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and a quarter of a pound of lard, and when they are well blended mix them with the flour, and form them into a dough with as little water as possible—the water being very cold. Use ice water in summer. Avoid touching the paste with your hands, but use a knife almost entirely. If your hand is warm, do not rub butter into flour with it, but manage all the mixing with a knife. If you have a cool[465] hand, you may rub the butter into the flour, and reserve the lard to spread all over the sheet of dough. Roll it out lightly. Dredge with flour, fold it, spread on the lard, and roll it again. Divide it into two pieces, and roll out each of them. Trim the edges nicely, and make them to fit your pie-dish. If one is for bottom crust, roll it out thinnest towards the centre, having for this part of the process a very small rolling-pin, but a finger long. Grease with lard a deep dish, or soup plate, and line it with the bottom crust. Fill it up with the fruit you intend for the pie, sweetened well with brown sugar, and heaping the fruit high in the centre. Cover it with a lid of paste, trim, and notch the edges neatly, and make a cross slit in the top; set it in the oven, and bake it steadily till it is a light brown. When it seems to be done, lift up a small piece at one side to try if the fruit is soft. Apples for pies should be pared, cored, and sliced very thin. If green, stew them before they are baked.

If you have saved enough of the dripping of roast beef, veal, or pork, (skimmed and put away in a covered crock) it will be good shortening for common pies—far superior to salt butter, and much lighter. Salt renders pastry hard and heavy.

Never use suet for baked paste. It is only for dumplings and pot-pies. Bread dough, or any dough made with yeast, is not good when boiled, becoming tough and leathery, and being very unwholesome.

Except in very plain country places a fruit pie,[466] with two crusts, (under and upper) is now seen but rarely. Meat pies, or birds, however, should have two crusts. The gravy is a great improvement to the under one. English people usually make their fruit pies with a top-crust only, putting a turned down tea-cup under the centre of the lid to collect the juice, (of course removing the cup when the pie is cut.) It is a good method in a country where the cost of flour is high.

Too much economy in the shortening will infallibly make the crust very poor, hard, heavy, and unwholesome. If you cannot afford dessert paste, do not attempt pies at all; but substitute a plain charlotte, or slices of bread and butter, covered with stewed fruit, sweetened, and laid in a deep dish.

COMMON FRUIT PIES.—

Make the paste as above. For baking, use only apples that are juicy, and rather sour. If green, stew them before they are put in the pie, and make them very sweet with brown sugar. Peaches should be peeled and quartered, leaving out the stones. Of cherries, take the large red juicy pie cherries. Black cherries, (when baked) go all to stones, and they are not worth the trouble of cooking, though very good when eaten from the trees. Currants must be carefully stripped from the stems, and made very sweet. Gooseberries must be "top and tailed," and require great sweetening; so do cranberries. Blackberries make good plain pies, and are very juicy if ripe. All pies should be well filled.[467]

EXCELLENT PLAIN PASTE.—

Sift into a deep pan a quart and a pint of the best superfine flour. Have ready (set on ice, and covered with a thick double cloth) a pound of the very best fresh butter. When you want to use it, cut it into four quarters. Cut one quarter into very little bits, and with a broad knife mix it well into the flour, adding, by degrees, a very little water, no more than half a tumbler. Some flour, however, requires more water than others. Avoid touching the dough with your hands, in case they should be warm. Take out the lump of dough, dredge it with flour, and lay it on your pasteboard. Keep on a plate near you a little extra flour for sprinkling and rolling. Roll out the sheet of dough very thin, having floured the rolling-pin to prevent its sticking. Place, with a knife, the second quarter of butter in little bits all over the sheet of paste, at equal distances. Then fold it square, (covering the butter with the corners of paste) dredge it, and roll it out again to receive the third quarter of butter. Repeat this again, till all the butter is in; always rolling very fast, and pressing on lightly. You will see, towards the last, the paste puffing into little blisters all over the surface; a sign of success. When the last layer of butter is all in, roll the whole into a large sheet; roll it round like a scroll, and put it[468] away in a cold place, but not so cold as to freeze it, for it will then be spoiled. When you are ready for it bring it out, cut it down, and roll out each piece ready for use. There is no better family paste than this, for all sorts of pies; meat or bird pies, especially.

LEMON BREAD PUDDING.—

Mince very fine a quarter of a pound of beef suet. Have ready a pint and a half of finely-grated bread-crumbs. Prepare the yellow rind of a large lemon, grated off from the white skin beneath, and squeeze the juice among it. Mix together in a deep pan the bread-crumbs and suet, adding four or five table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar, and a tea-spoonful of mixed spice, cinnamon, nutmeg and mace. Beat in a broad shallow pan five eggs till very smooth and thick. Add them gradually to the other ingredients, a little at a time. Have ready a square pudding-cloth, scalded and floured. Pour in the mixture, and tie the cloth tightly, but not closely, as room must be left for the pudding to swell in boiling. Put it into a pot of hot water, and boil it steadily for two hours. Send wine sauce to table with it—or cold sauce, of beaten butter, and sugar, and nutmeg.

PLAIN PLUM PUDDING.—

This is for a small plain-living family. Chop very fine half a[469] pound of nice fresh beef suet. Stone a half pound of very good raisins, or use the sultana or seedless sort. Dredge them well on all sides with flour to prevent their sinking to the bottom. Grate the yellow rind of a large fresh lemon, and strain the juice into the saucer on which you have grated the rind. It will be still better if you use the rind and juice of an orange as well as of a lemon. Put into a bowl half a pint of grated bread-crumbs, and a heaped table-spoonful of flour, and pour on them a half pint of boiling milk. Beat in a shallow pan four eggs till very thick and light. Mix the suet gradually into the bread, adding alternately the beaten egg, (a little at a time) the lemon and orange, and four heaped table-spoonfuls of sugar. Lastly, stir in by degrees, the raisins, well floured. Put the mixture into a square pudding-cloth spread out into a deep pan, and dipped in boiling water. Tie it securely, leaving room to swell. Boil it three hours.

FINE DESSERTS.

THE BEST PUFF-PASTE.—

To a pound of the best fresh butter allow a pound of the finest flour, sifted into a deep pan. Have on a plate some additional sifted flour for sprinkling and[470] rolling in. Divide the pound of butter into four equal parts, and three of those parts divide again into two portions. Mix the first quarter of butter into the mass of flour, cutting it with a broad-bladed knife. If your hands are naturally warm, avoid touching the dough with them, as their heat will render it heavy. Paste, to be very good, should be made on a marble slab. All well-furnished kitchens or pastry rooms should be provided with marble-topped tables, and marble mortars. Add gradually to the lump of dough a very little cold water, barely sufficient to moisten it with the first quarter of butter, and mix it well with the aid of the broad knife; but proceed as fast as you can, and do not work with it too long. Too much water will render it tough, and too much working will make it heavy. Then sprinkle the marble slab with some of the spare flour, take the lump of paste from the pan, and roll it out into a sheet. Divide one of the portions of butter into little bits, and with the knife disperse them equally all over the sheet of paste. Then sprinkle it again with flour, fold it up so as to cover the butter, and roll it out again. Proceed in this manner till you have got in all the butter, rolling always lightly, and you will soon see the surface of the dough puffing up in little blisters, a sign that it is becoming light. Besides the first mixing in the lump, the butter will then be put in with what are called six turns. When baked, you will see that every turn makes a layer or sheet. If you choose to multiply them, you may make nine[471] sheets. We have seen twelve. All this must be done fast and lightly. Then put away the paste to cool for ten minutes before arranging it in the dishes. This quantity will make two pies or four tarts. In baking, let the oven be hot, and keep up a steady heat, so the paste may not fall after it has first risen. When pale brown, it is done.

SHELLS.—

For shells take the best puff paste, and line with it large deep plates, the size of a soup-plate. They should have broad rims. Notch the edges of the paste handsomely with a sharp penknife, and be careful not to plaster on, afterwards, any bits by way of mending or rectifying an error. When baked, every patch in the border will show itself plainly. Bake the shells entirely empty, till pale brown all over. When cool fill them, quite up the top, with whatever marmalade or stewed fruit you have prepared for the purpose. In this way (baking them empty,) the shells are thoroughly done, and not clammy and heavy at the bottom, as they always are when filled before baking. The fruit requires no other cooking, having been done once already. Sift white sugar over the surface. If for company whip some cream, sweeten it, and flavor it with lemon, orange, pine-apple, strawberry or vanilla, and pile it on the surface of the shell before it goes to table.

Small tarts may, in this way, be baked empty, for patty-pans, and filled with ripe fruit, such as[472] strawberries, raspberries, or grated pine-apple, made very sweet, and creamed on the top—or you may fill the shells with any sort of sweetmeats, either preserves or marmalade, or with mince-meat. Shells may be made thus, and filled with stewed oysters, or reed-birds, cooked previously, and served up warm; or with nicely-dressed lobster. You may make lids for them of the same paste baked by itself on a shallow plate, and when taken off fitting well as a cover to put on afterwards before sending to table.

BORDERS OF PASTE.—

These are made of fine puff-paste cut into handsome patterns, or wreaths of leaves or flowers. They are laid round the broad edge of the deep plate that contains a rich pudding, such as lemon, orange, almond, cocoa-nut, pine-apple, &c.; the dish being full down to the bottom and up to the top, and having no paste but the border round the edge. They must be baked in the dish on which they come to table, and not in tin or iron, as the pudding cannot be transferred. At handsome tables, a pudding baked with a paste under it (lining the dish,) is now seen but seldom.

Instead of wreaths, you may make a puff-paste border by laying a thick evenly cut band of paste round the flat rim of the dish, and notching it, forming with a penknife small squares about an inch wide, and turning one square up and one square down alternately, cheveux de frize fashion. Or you[473] may make the squares near two inches wide and turn over one corner sharp, leaving the other flat. This looks pretty when baked, if the paste is very puff.

LEMON PUDDING.—

To make two puddings take two fine large ripe lemons, and rub them under your hand on a table. Grate off the thin yellow rind upon a large lump of loaf sugar. Cut the lemon, and squeeze the juice into a saucer through a strainer, to avoid the seeds. Put half a pound of powdered white sugar into a deep earthen pan, (including the sugar on which you have rubbed the lemons) and cut up in it half a pound of the best fresh butter, adding the juice. Stir them to a light cream with a wooden spaddle, which is shorter than a mush-stick, and flattened at one end; that end rather thin, and rather broad. Beat in a shallow pan, (with hickory rods) six eggs, till very thick and smooth, and stir them gradually into the mixture. Have ready some of the best puff-paste, made in the proportion of a pint or half a pound of very nice fresh butter to a pint or half a pound of sifted flour. Take china or white-ware dishes with broad rims. Butter the rim, and lay round it neatly a border of the paste. Put no paste inside the dish beneath the mixture. Fill each dish to the top with the pudding mixture, and set it immediately into the oven. It will bake in about half an hour When done, and browned on the surface, set it to[474] cool, and send it to table in the dish it was baked in.

Fine puddings are now made without an under crust, but merely a handsome border of puff-paste laid round the edge, and helped with the pudding. Sift sugar over the surface. This quantity will make one large pudding, or two small ones.

To almost all puddings the flavor of lemon or orange is an improvement. A genuine baked lemon pudding, (such as was introduced by the justly celebrated Mrs. Goodfellow,) and is well known at Philadelphia dinner parties, must have no flour or bread whatever. The mixture only of butter, sugar, and eggs, (with the proper flavoring) and when baked it cuts down smooth and shining, like a nice custard. Made this way, they are among the most delicious of puddings; but, of course, are not intended for children or invalids. We have already given numerous receipts for plain family desserts. In this chapter the receipts are "for company." The author was really a pupil of Mrs. Goodfellow's, and for double the usual term, and while there took notes of every thing that was made, it being the desire of the liberal and honest instructress that her scholars should learn in reality.

ALMOND PUDDING.—

Blanch in hot water a quarter of a pound of shelled sweet and two ounces of bitter almonds, and as you blanch them throw them into a bowl of cold water. When all are[475] thus peeled, take them out singly, wipe them dry in a clean napkin, and lay them on a plate. Pound them one at a time in a marble mortar till they become a smooth paste, adding frequently a few drops of rose-water to make them light and preserve their whiteness, mixing the bitter almonds with the sweet. As you pound them, take out the paste and lay it in a saucer with a tea-spoon. Without the rose-water they will become oily and dark-colored. Without a few bitter almonds the others will be insipid. The almonds may be thus prepared a day before they are wanted for use. Cut up a large quarter of a pound of fresh butter in a large quarter of a pound of powdered sugar, and stir them together with a spaddle till very light and creamy. Add a large wine-glass of mixed wine and brandy, and half a grated nutmeg. Beat, till they stand alone, the whites only of six eggs, and stir them gradually into the butter and sugar, in turn with the pounded almonds. Stir the whole very hard at the last. Put the mixture into a deep dish with a broad rim, and fill it up to the top, laying a border of puff-paste all round the rim. Serve up the pudding cool, having sifted sugar over it.

Boiled Almond Pudding—Is made as above; only with whole eggs, both yolks and whites beaten together. Boil it in a bain-marie or in a thick square cloth, in a pot of boiling water. When done, turn it out and send it to table warm. Eat it with sugar, wet with rose-water.

Orange Pudding—Is made exactly like lemon[476] pudding; the ingredients in the same proportion, and baked without an under crust, having a border of puff-paste all round the edge, and sent to table in the dish it was baked in. These fine-baked puddings should have no addition whatever of bread-crumbs or flour. They should cut down smooth and glassy.

Boiled Lemon or Orange Pudding—Make the foregoing mixture either with two lemons or two oranges, adding to the other ingredients a half pint finely-crumbled sponge cake. Boil the mixture either in a bain-marie or a thick pudding cloth, and serve it up warm. For sauce, have ready butter and sugar beaten to a cream, and flavored well with lemon or orange, and grated nutmeg.

COCOA-NUT PUDDING.—

Break up a ripe cocoa-nut. Having peeled off the brown skin, wash all the pieces of nut in cold water, and wipe them dry on a clean napkin. Then grate the cocoa-nut very fine into a pan, till you have a quart. In a deep pan cut up a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and add a very light quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar. Stir together (with a spaddle,) the butter and sugar till they are very light and creamy, and add a grated nutmeg. Beat, (till they stand alone) the whites only of six eggs; the yolks may be reserved for soft custards. Stir the beaten white of egg gradually into the pan of butter and sugar,[477] alternately with the grated cocoa-nut, a little at a time of each, and a glass of mixed brandy and white wine. Stir the whole very hard. Fill with it a broad-edged deep white dish, and lay a puff-paste border all round the rim. Bake it light brown, and when cool sift white sugar over it, serving it up in the dish it was baked in.

Boiled Cocoa-nut Pudding.—For this make the above mixture, and boil it in a mould, or in a bain-marie, with the water in the outside kettle. Eat it either warm or cold.

SWEET POTATO PUDDING.—

Wash, boil, and peel some fine sweet potatos. Mash them, and rub them through a coarse sieve—this will make them loose and light. If merely mashed the pudding will clod and be heavy. In a deep pan stir to a cream a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and a quarter of a pound of powdered sugar; adding a grated nutmeg, a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, a half glass of white wine, and a half glass of brandy. Beat in a shallow pan three eggs, till very thick and smooth, and stir them into the mixture of butter and sugar, alternately with the sweet potato. At the last mix all thoroughly with a very hard stirring. Put the mixture into a deep dish, and lay a border of puff-paste all round the rim. Set the pudding immediately into a rather brisk oven, and when cool sift white sugar over it. For two of these puddings double the quantities of all the ingredients.[478]

White Potato Pudding—Is made exactly as above. Chestnut pudding also—the large Spanish chestnuts, boiled, peeled, and mashed.

Fine Pumpkin Pudding—Also, allowing to the above ingredients a half pint of stewed pumpkins, squeezed dry and rubbed through a sieve.

Cashaw Pudding.—A similar pudding may be made of stewed cashaw, or winter squash.

PINE-APPLE TART.—

Take a fine large ripe pine-apple. Remove the leaves, and quarter it without paring, standing up each quarter in a deep plate, and grating it down till you come to the rind. Strew plenty of powdered sugar over the grated fruit. Cover it, and let it rest for an hour. Then put it into a porcelain kettle, and steam it in its own syrup till perfectly soft. Have ready some empty shells of puff-paste, baked either in patty-pans or in soup plates. When they are cool, fill them full with the grated pine-apple; add more sugar, and lay round the rim a border of puff-paste.

QUINCE PIES.—

Wash well, pare, and core some fine ripe quinces, having cut out all the blemishes. Put the cores and parings into a small sauce-pan, and stew them in a little water, till all broken to pieces. Then strain and save the quince water. Having quartered the quinces, or sliced them in round slices, transfer them to a porcelain stew-pan, and pour over the[479] quinces water extracted from boiling the cores and parings. Let them cook in this till quite soft all through. Make them very sweet with powdered sugar, and fill with them two deep soup plates that have been baked empty, with a puff paste border round the rims. Fill them up to the top, (they are already cooked) and sift sugar over them—or, you may pile on the surface of each some ice-cream. You may cook the quinces whole, and lay one on each tart.

FINE APPLE PIES—

May be made in the same manner, flavored with the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon. The apples should be fine juicy pippins. If done whole, lay one on each patty-pan tart, and stick into the core hole a slip of the yellow rind of lemon, pared so thin as to be nearly transparent.

A MERINGUE PUDDING.—

Rub off upon a large lump of sugar the yellow rind of two fine ripe lemons, and mix it with a pound of powdered loaf sugar, adding the juice. Whip, to a stiff froth, the whites only of eight eggs; and then, gradually, beat in the sugar and lemon, adding a heaped table-spoonful of the finest flour. Spread part of the mixture thickly over the bottom of a deep dish, the rim of which has been bordered with a handsome wreath of puff-paste, and baked. Lay upon it a thick layer of stiff currant or strawberry[480] jelly. Then fill up the dish, and set it, a few minutes in a rather cool oven to brown slightly. This pudding is for dinner company. If you use oranges, omit half the grated peel.

You may flavor the meringue with vanilla. Split, and break up a small vanilla bean, and boil it in a very little cream till all the vanilla flavor is extracted, the cream tasting of it strongly. Then strain it well, and mix the vanilla cream with the white of egg. Or, a little home-made extract of vanilla will be still better. This is obtained by splitting and breaking up some vanilla beans, and steeping them for a week or two in a bottle of absolute alcohol; then straining the liquid, transferring it to a clean bottle, and keeping it closely corked. Very little of what is called "Extract of Vanilla" is good, and it is more expensive than to make it yourself. Also, what is generally sold for essence of lemon is very inferior to real lemon juice.

JELLY OR MARMALADE PUDDING.—

Divide the paste equally and line two puff-paste shells. Bake them empty; and while baking, beat till very light and thick, the yolks of six eggs. Mix the beaten egg with a liberal portion of any nice kind of fruit, jelly or marmalade, and boil it ten minutes in a sauce-pan, stirring it well. Take it up and set it away to cool. When cold, fill with it the baked shells. Fill them up to the top with the mixture, and before they go to table sift powdered white sugar over the surface of the puddings.[481]

CHEESE PUDDING.—

Take a quarter of a pound of excellent cheese; rich, but not strong or old. Cut it in small bits, and then beat it (a little at a time) in a marble mortar. Add a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter. Cut it up, and pound it in the mortar with the cheese, till perfectly smooth and well mixed. Beat five eggs till very thick and smooth. Mix them, gradually, with the cheese and butter. Put the mixture into a deep dish with a rim. Have ready some puff-paste, and lay a broad border of it all round the edge, ornamenting it handsomely. Set it immediately into a moderate oven, and bake it till the paste is browned, and has risen very high all round the edge of the dish. Sift white sugar over it before it goes to table.

It is intended that the cheese taste shall predominate. But, if preferred, you may make the mixture very sweet by adding powdered sugar; it may be seasoned with nutmeg and mace. Either way is good.

It may be baked in small patty-pans, lined at the bottom and sides with puff-paste. Remove them from the tins as soon as they come out of the oven, and place them on a large dish.

This pudding is very nice made of rich fresh cream cheese; the rind, of course, being pared off. Cream cheese pudding will require sugar and spice—that is, a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon, all mixed; two ounces of fresh butter, and six eggs.[482]

FLORENDINES.—

These are made of any sort of fruit, stewed in its own juice or in sweetmeat syrup, but when practicable, without any water. A pint of this fruit is mixed with half a pint of fresh butter, and half a pint of powdered sugar stirred together to a light cream, and then mixed with three well-beaten eggs, and the fruit stirred in alternately with the beaten butter and sugar. Have ready baked shells of puff-paste, ready to be filled with the mixture. The fruit may be apples, quinces, peaches, gooseberries, currants, raspberries. Cranberries, gooseberries, and currants, require additional sugar, as they are naturally very sour. If you use plums or cherries for any sort of cooking, stone them first.

PEACH PIES.—

Take a sufficient number of fine juicy freestone peaches. Clingstones are very hard and insipid when raw, and still more tasteless when cooked. Peel the peaches and quarter them, having removed the stones. Stew them in their own juice, and while hot make them very sweet with white sugar. When you put them to stew, place among them a bunch of fresh green peach leaves, to be removed when the peaches are done. Or, cook with them some peach kernels, blanched in hot water, to be picked out when the stewing is finished. Peach leaves or kernels communicate a flavor which to most persons is pleasant. Have ready some puff-paste shells; baked, and beginning to cool. Fill them to the top with[483] the stewed peaches, and pile on them some whipped cream sweetened, and flavored with noyau or rose-water.

A FRUIT CHARLOTTE.—

Have ready a large fresh almond sponge cake, or lady cake. Cut a round or circular piece to fit the bottom of a great glass bowl. Also, about twelve or fourteen oblong slices, to stand up all round to line the sides. Have ready two quarts or more of ripe strawberries or raspberries. Mash the fruit to a jam, and having made it very sweet with white sugar, spread it thickly over the pieces of cake. Lay the circular piece of cake in the bottom of the bowl and stand up the others all round the sides, all close to each other or wrapping over a little. Proceed to fill the bowl with the fruit; and when half way up, put on another layer of sliced cake spread with fruit. Then fill up with fruit to the top. Have ready a quart of whipped cream flavored with vanilla or bitter almonds. Heap it high on the bowl, and set it in a cool place till it goes to table. This is a very fine article for a nice dessert, and can be prepared at a short notice, and without going down stairs, as it requires no cooking.

For the whipped cream, you may pile the bowl with any sort of white ice-cream ready made, and if there is no fresh fruit in season, substitute marmalade or fruit jelly.

If you have no large bowl you may serve up this charlotte in glass or china saucers, laying in the bottom of each a circular slice of cake spread[484] over with ripe fruit or marmalade. Fill up with the same, and finish with whipped cream, or ice-cream heaped on the top.

VANILLA CUSTARDS.—

Split a vanilla bean, break it into small bits, and boil it in a half pint of milk, till all the flavor of the vanilla is extracted. Strain it through a very fine strainer, cover it, and set it aside. Boil a quart of rich milk, and when it comes to a boil set it away to cool. Beat eight eggs till very thick and smooth, (and when the milk is cold) add that which is flavored with vanilla, and stir it in gradually with a quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar. Divide the mixture in custard cups, (filling them to the top) and set them into an iron bake-pan filled with boiling water, reaching nearly to the the rim of the cups. Put them into a moderate oven, and bake them a pale brown. When cool, grate nutmeg, or lay a maccaroon on the top over each. Never send custards warm to table. If well made, and baked not too much, there will be no whey at the bottom of the cups, and the custards will be smooth and firm all through, and have no spongy holes in them.

To make soft custards, omit the whites of all the eggs, and have a double quantity of yolks. The whites may be used for almond or cocoa-nut pudding, for lady cake, for meringue or icing, and for kisses or maccaroons.

Orange Custards.—Prepare four large ripe[485] oranges, by rolling them under your hand on a table to increase the juice. Use none of the peel for these custards, but reserve it for something else. Beat in a shallow pan twelve eggs till thick and smooth. Mix the orange juice with a wineglass of cold water, and stir it gradually into the beaten egg, with a small tumblerful of powdered sugar. There is no milk in these custards. Divide them into custard cups, and beat them ten minutes. When cold, grate nutmeg over them.

Lemon Custard—Is made in the above manner, with the juice of four large lemons, (omitting the rind) a small wineglass of cold water, twelve beaten eggs, and a quarter of a pound of powdered sugar. Any of these fine custards may be boiled in a bain-marie, with water in the outside kettle, and there is no way better. When boiled and cool, grate in some nutmeg, and serve up the custard in a glass or china pitcher, with saucers of the same to eat it from, or divide it in small glass cups with handles to them.

Chocolate Custard.—Make some strong chocolate, allowing a quarter of a pound of the best, (which is Baker's prepared cocoa) to a quart of rich milk; first mixing the milk and scraped chocolate to a smooth paste. Boil them together a quarter of an hour. While warm, stir in two or three table-spoonfuls of loaf sugar. Then set it away to cool. Have ready eight well-beaten eggs, and stir them gradually into the chocolate.[486] Bake the mixture in cups, and serve them up with a chocolate maccaroon laid on the top of each.

Almond and Maccaroon Custard.—Boil in half a pint of rich milk a handful of bitter almonds, blanched and broken up. When highly flavored, strain that milk and set it aside. Boil a quart of milk by itself, and when cold stir in, gradually, eight well beaten eggs, adding the flavored milk, and half a pint of powdered sugar. Stir the whole very hard at the last. Bake it in cups, and when done and cold, lay on the top of each a maccaroon with four others placed around it; five maccaroons to each custard. Or, if the maccaroons are made in the house, let every one be large enough to cover the top of the custard like a lid.

FINE PLUM PUDDING.—

This pudding is best when prepared, (all but the milk and eggs,) the day before it is wanted. Seed and cut in half one pound of the best bloom raisins; and pick, wash, and dry before the fire, a pound of Zante currants, (commonly called plums.) Dredge the fruit well with flour, to prevent its sinking or clogging. Take one pound of fresh beef suet, freed from the skin and strings, and chopped very fine; a pint of grated bread-crumbs, and half a pint of sifted flour; a large quarter of a pound of the best sugar, a large table-spoonful of powdered mace and cinnamon mixed, and two powdered nutmegs—all the spice steeped in a half pint of mixed wine and brandy. Put away these[487] ingredients separately, closely covered, and let them stand undisturbed all night. Next morning proceed to finish the pudding, which requires at least six hours boiling. Beat nine eggs till very thick and smooth, then add gradually a pint of rich milk, in turn with the bread-crumbs and flour. Mix with the sugar the grated yellow rind and juice of two large lemons or two oranges, and add gradually to the mixture all the ingredients, stirring very hard. If you find it too thick, add by degrees some more milk; if too thin, some more bread-crumbs. But take care not to have too much bread or flour, or the pudding will be solid and heavy. Dip a large strong cloth in boiling water; shake it out, and spread it in a large pan. Dredge it lightly with flour, and pour in the mixture. Tie it tightly, but leave sufficient space for the pudding to swell in boiling. Put it into a pot of fast-boiling water, and boil it steadily six hours or more, not taking it up till wanted for table. Before turning it, dip the cloth for a moment in cold water to make the pudding come out easily. Have ready some slips of citron or of blanched sweet almonds, or both, and stick them, liberally, all over the surface of the pudding after you have dished it. Serve it up with wine sauce highly flavored, or with butter and sugar beaten to a cream, and seasoned with nutmeg and rose. Do not set the pudding on fire to burn out the liquor; that practice has had its day, and is over. It was always foolish.

If you wish to send it to a distant place, (for[488] instance, to some part of the world where plum puddings are not known or not made) you may preserve it, (after boiling it well,) by leaving it tied up in the cloth it was cooked in; hanging it up in a cool dry place, and then packing it well in a tin vessel having a close fitting cover. Paste a band of thick white paper all around the place where the lid shuts down, and put into a tight box the vessel that contains the pudding. When it arrives at its destination, the friend who receives it will pare off thinly the outside, and tying up the pudding in a fresh clean cloth, will boil it over again for an hour or more; and when done the surface may be then decorated with slips of citron or almond. It has been said that in this way a plum pudding can be kept for six months, as good as ever. It cannot. But it may keep six weeks. Do not fry or broil plum pudding that is left at dinner. The slices will be greasy and heavy. But tie the piece that remains in a small cloth, and boil it over again for an hour. It will then be nearly as good as on the first day. Believe in no wonders that you hear, of the long keeping of either plum pudding, plum cake, or mince meat, which are all of the same family. However long they may be preserved from absolute decomposition, these things are always best when fresh.

MINCE PIES.—

The best mince meat is made of fresh beef's tongue boiled, peeled, and when quite cold, chopped very fine. The next best is[489] of beef's heart boiled and chopped. The next of cold roast beef. And the next, of the lean of cold boiled beef, quite fresh, and cooked especially for the purpose. All the meat must be fresh, and not minced till entirely cold. To two large pounds of lean meat allow two small pounds of nice kidney suet, cleared from skin and strings, and chopped very small; two pounds of fine juicy apples, pared, cored, and minced; two pounds of Zante currants, washed, and picked clean; two pounds of fine bloom raisins, seeded and chopped, or of seedless sultana raisins cut in half; two pounds of the best sugar; two large nutmegs, powdered; a table-spoonful of ground cinnamon; the same quantity of ground ginger, with the juice and grated yellow rind of six large lemons, or the juice of six oranges, and their grated rind; a pint of Madeira or sherry, and half a pint of brandy; lastly, half a pound of citron cut into slips, rather large. If the citron is chopped small it cannot be distinguished among the other ingredients, and its flavor is lost. When all is prepared, mix well in a large pan the chopped meat, suet, and fruit. Then, gradually add the spice, having steeped it in the liquor all the preceding night, mixing the whole thoroughly, and putting in the citron at the last. Line with fine puff-paste deep pie-dishes, or patty-pans. Fill them, quite full of the mince, heaping it higher towards the centre; and put on a lid, handsomely decorated with puff-paste ornaments, and having a cross slit in the centre surrounded with paste leaves or[490] flowers. Set the pies immediately into a moderately brisk oven, and bake them a light brown. Eat them warm. If baked the preceding day, heat them again before they go to table. The foolish custom of setting the pies on fire after they come to table, and causing a blue blaze to issue from the liquor that is in them, is now obsolete, and considered ungenteel and tavern-like. If this practice originated in a polite desire to frighten the ladies, its purpose is already a failure, for the ladies are not frightened; that is, not really.

Mincemeat will taste more fresh and pleasant if the apples are not added till the day the pies are made. It should be kept well-secured from air and damp, in stone jars closely covered. Whenever a jar is opened to take out some for immediate use, pour in a large glass or two of brandy, and stir it about. It is not true that mincemeat will keep all winter, even by this preservative. It is sure to become musty (or worse,) before two months. It is best to make fresh mincemeat at least three times during the season. When the cold weather is over, do not attempt it, unless a little for immediate use.

Mincemeat, with a double portion of excellent raisins, (cut in half,) will do very well without currants, which are very troublesome to prepare; and those imported of late years are rarely of good quality.

We have heard of West India mincemeat made with cold roast turkey; chopped pine-apple; grated[491] cocoa-nut; preserved ginger chopped, and moistened with its own syrup; and seasoned with nutmeg and noyau.

CALF'S FEET JELLY.—

Select the largest and best calf's feet. Four is called a set. Choose those that, after the hair has been well scalded and scraped off, are prepared with the skins left on. There is much glutinous substance in the skin itself, therefore it adds to the strength and firmness of the jelly. The feet being made perfectly clean, split them upwards as far as you can, and put them to boil in a gallon of very clear soft water. Boil them till they have all gone to pieces, and the flesh is reduced to rags, and the liquid to one half. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve into a white-ware pan, and set it away to cool. When quite cold, it should be a cake of firm jelly. Take it out, and scrape from it all the fat at the top and sediment at the bottom. Press on the surface, some clean blotting paper, to remove any grease that may yet remain about it. Cut the cake of jelly into pieces, and put it into a very clean porcelain kettle, with a large pint of sherry, (inferior wine will spoil it,) a pound of the best loaf sugar, broken small; the yellow rind of six lemons, pared so thin as to be transparent, and their juice squeezed over the sugar through a strainer; the whites of six or seven eggs, with their shells mashed small. If the jelly is to be[492] moulded, add a quarter ounce of the best Russia isinglass. Boil together all these ingredients for near twenty minutes. Then take it off the fire, and let it stand undisturbed for about five minutes, to settle. Next, have ready a pointed jelly bag, made of clean white flannel. Spread it open, suspended by strings to a table edge. Set a large tureen or white-ware pan beneath it, and let the jelly drip as long as it will; but on no account squeeze or press the bag, as that will spoil all, rendering the whole jelly cloudy or streaked. If it is not quite clear at the first straining, empty the contents of the bag into a basin, wash the bag clean, hang it up again, pour the jelly back, wash the tureen or pan, and let the jelly pass into it again. Repeat this straining if necessary. When quite clear, shape the jelly in white-ware moulds, which have been setting two hours in cold water. When the jelly is wanted, wrap round the moulds for a moment, a cloth dipped in warm water, and turn it out on glass dishes. The ingredients that are left in the bag may be boiled and strained over again for children. If the jelly is not to be moulded, you may omit the isinglass. In that case break it up, and serve it in a glass bowl. It is now the general opinion that jellies have a more lively taste when broken up, from the numerous acute angles they present to the tongue and palate. We think this opinion correct; and also they look brighter and more glittering, and go farther.

Apple Jelly—Is far less expensive than that of calf's feet, and if well made looks beautifully. It[493] requires the very best and most juicy apples, (for instance, two dozen large pippins or bell-flowers.) Wash and wipe them well, (removing all blemishes,) pare, core, and slice or quarter them. Put them into a bain-marie or double kettle, with the water outside, and let them boil till broken and dissolved, putting in with them the grated yellow rind of four large lemons. Press and mash the stewed apples through a very clean sieve, till you have extracted all the juice. Measure it while warm, and allow to each quart a pound of the finest powdered and sifted loaf sugar well mixed in, and the juice of the lemons. Transfer it to a clean white flannel jelly bag, and let it drip into a large white-ware pan. When quite clear, put it into moulds, and set it on ice to congeal. When wanted, turn it out of the moulds, (loosened by wrapping round their outsides cloths dipped a minute in warm water) and serve it up in glass dishes.

Siberian Jelly.—A fine pink-colored jelly may be made in the above manner, of the red Siberian crab-apple, but it requires an additional quarter of a pound of sugar to a pint of juice. Instead of lemon you may flavor it, (after all the juice has done dripping) by mixing with extract of rose, or strong rose-water, allowing a wine-glassful to each quart of jelly. Rose-water, or extract of rose, evaporates so speedily when over the fire, that it should never be added till the very last.

Orange Jelly—Is made in the proportion of a pint of strained orange juice to a pound of loaf sugar, boiled with an ounce of isinglass, that[494] has first been melted over the fire by itself in a very little water. Add the yellow rind of the oranges pared from the white as thin as possible. Give it one boil up, and strain it into the jelly-bag. When clear, transfer it to moulds. Twelve large oranges will generally yield a pint of juice. Lemon jelly is made in the same manner, but with more sugar.

CURRANT JELLY.—

The currants should be large, fine, and fully ripe. The best and sweetest currants grow in the shade; and the largest, also. If exposed to the full heat of our American sun, it turns them sour, dries up the juice, and withers their growth. Gather them when fully ripe, strip them from the stems into a cullender, and wash and drain them. Transfer them to a large pan, and mash them well with a wooden beetle. Then put the currants, with their juice, into a bain-marie or double kettle, and cook them with the water outside, stirring them hard to bring out the juice. Simmer them for a quarter of an hour, and then transfer them to a very clean sieve, and press them over a pan till no more juice appears. Measure the juice, and to each pint allow a pound of broken-up loaf sugar. Mix the sugar with the juice, put all into a porcelain kettle, and boil it till the scum ceases to rise. If the sugar is of excellent quality, (the best double-refined should be used for all nice sweetmeats) it will need but little skimming, and leave no sediment when poured off.[495] Boil it twenty minutes with the sugar. To try if it is done, take up a spoonful and hold it out in the open air. If it congeals very soon, it is cooked enough. Put it warm into glass tumblers. Cut out some white tissue paper into double rounds, exactly fitting the glasses. Press these papers lightly on the surface of the jelly; and, next day, tie over the top thick papers dipped in brandy, and set them in the sun all that day if the weather is bright and warm.

All jellies of small fruit may be made in a similar manner; first boiling the fruit by itself, and mashing it to get out all the juice. Then boiling the berries again, with the sugar, for about twenty minutes. The above receipt is equally good for grapes, blackberries, and gooseberries. Black currant jelly (excellent for sore throats,) requires but three quarters of a pound of sugar, the juice being very thick of itself. Peaches, plums, damsons, and green gages, must be scalded, peeled, and stoned, before boiling for jelly, and they require, at least, a pound and a half of sugar to a pint of juice. It is better to preserve them as marmalade than as jelly. Strawberries and raspberries require no previous cooking; mash out the juice, strain it, allow a pound of sugar to every pint of juice, and then boil them together (skimming carefully) for about a quarter of an hour, or till they congeal on being tried in the air.[496]

WINE JELLY.—

Wine jellies are seldom made except for company. The wine must be of excellent quality; either port, madeira, or champagne. To a quart of wine allow a pound of the best double-refined loaf sugar, and an ounce of the best Russian isinglass. Melt the sugar (broken small) in the wine. Melt the isinglass by itself in as much warm water as will just cover it, and when quite dissolved, stir it into the mixed wine and sugar. Boil all together, till on trial it becomes a firm jelly, which will be very soon. If it does not congeal well, add some more dissolved isinglass, and more sugar. Serve in moulds, and eat it on saucers. Jelly is made in this manner of any nice sort of liqueur or cordial. Also of strong green tea, or very strong coffee; first made as usual, and then boiled with loaf sugar and isinglass till they congeal. We do not recommend them, except as some exhilaration to the fatigue of a party.

TRIFLE.—

This is a very nice and very elegant party dish, and is served in a large glass bowl. Put into the bottom of the bowl a pound of bitter almond maccaroons. Pour on sufficient madeira or sherry to dissolve them. Let them soak in it till soft and broken. Have ready a very rich custard, flavored with vanilla bean (broken up and boiled by itself in a little milk), and then strained into the quart of milk prepared for the custard, which should be of ten eggs, (using only the yolks)[497] and sweetened with a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf sugar. It is best and easiest to bake the custard. It will be very rich and soft with yolk of egg only. When the custard is cold lay it on the dissolved maccaroons. Then add a thick layer of very nice marmalade. Rub off the yellow rind of a large lemon or two on some pieces of loaf sugar, and add to it some powdered sugar mixed with the lemon juice. Whip to a strong froth a large quart (or more) of rich cream, gradually mixing with it the lemon and sugar. Lastly, pile up the frothed cream high on the glass bowl, and keep it on ice till it is sent to table. Instead of lemon you may flavor the whipt cream with rose-water; it will require, if not very strong, a wine-glassful. To give the cream a fine pink color, tie up some alkanet chips in a thin muslin bag; lay the bag to infuse in a tea-cup of plain cream, and then add the pink infusion to the quart of cream as you froth it.

BLANCMANGE.—

The best and finest blancmange is made with a set of calves' feet, (singed but not skinned) boiled slowly in a gallon of water till the meat drops from the bone; then strain it, and set it away till next day, in a broad white-ware pan. Skim it well while boiling. Next day it should be a solid cake of clear jelly. Scrape off all the fat and sediment from the outside, cut the jelly into small bits, and melt it over again. Boil in a porcelain kettle a pint of cream,[498] and when it has come to a boil, stir in six ounces of loaf sugar, and whatever you intend for flavoring; either the milk, in which a handful of bitter almonds has been boiled, (first being blanched and broken up) or a vanilla bean split and cut to pieces, and boiled in a little milk and strained. Or, it may be mixed with three ounces of chocolate, (Baker's prepared cocoa is the best) scraped fine. When the flavoring has had a boil with the sugar, stir into it, gradually, the melted jelly, and transfer it to white-ware moulds that have set in cold water, and are still damp. Stir it well, and when the blancmange is thickening, and becoming hard to stir, set the moulds on ice, or in pans of cold water in the cellar, and cease stirring. When quite congealed, dip the moulds in lukewarm water, and turn out the blancmange on glass dishes. You may color almond or vanilla blancmange a fine pink, by putting into the cream chips of alkanet root tied in a small thin muslin bag, to be removed as soon as the cream is highly colored. Or, it may be made green by the infusion of spinach juice, obtained by pounding in a marble mortar, and then boiling and straining.

Gelatine is now frequently used for blancmange and jelly, instead of calves' feet or isinglass. It has no advantage but that of being more speedily prepared than calves' feet, which must be boiled the day before. Four cakes of gelatine are equal to four calves' feet. Before using, they must be soaked for an hour or more in a pan of cold water, then boiled with the other ingredients.[499] Some persons think they perceive an unpleasant taste in gelatine; perhaps they have heard of what it is made.

When calves' feet cannot be obtained, pigs' feet will do very well, if nobody knows it. Four feet of calves are equal to eight of pigs. They are very glutinous, and have no perceptible taste.

FINEST BLANCMANGE.—

Break up a half pound of the best double-refined loaf sugar. On some of the pieces rub off the yellow rind of two large lemons, having rolled them under your hand to increase the juice. Then powder all the sugar, and mix with it, gradually, the juice of the lemons, a pint of rich cream, and a large half pint (not less) of sherry or madeira. Stir the mixture very hard till all the articles are thoroughly amalgamated. Then stir in, gradually, a second pint of cream. Put into a small sauce-pan an ounce of the best Russia isinglass, with one jill (or two common-sized wineglasses) of cold water. Boil it till the isinglass is completely dissolved, stirring it several times down to the bottom. When the melted isinglass has become lukewarm, stir it gradually into the mixture, and then give the whole a hard stirring. Have ready some white-ware moulds that have just been dipped and rinsed in cold water. Fill them with the mixture, set them on ice, and in two or three hours the blancmange will be congealed. When it is perfectly firm, dip the moulds for a minute in luke[500]warm water, and turn out the blancmange on glass dishes. This, if accurately made, is the finest of blancmange. For company, you must have double, or treble, or four times the quantity of ingredients; each article in due proportion.

FARINA.—

Farina is a very fine and delicate preparation, made from the inner part of the grain of new wheat. It is exceedingly nutritious, and excellent either for invalids or for persons in health. It is now much in use, and is to be had, in packages of a pound or half a pound, of the best grocers and druggists, and is highly recommended by physicians for gruel and panade. It also makes an excellent pudding, either boiled or baked, prepared in the same manner as any flour pudding. For boiling farina, nothing is so good as a bain-marie or double kettle.

For Farina Blancmange.—From a quart of rich milk take out a half pint. Put the half pint into a small sauce-pan, and add to it a handful of bitter almonds broken up; or a bunch of fresh peach leaves, or a vanilla bean split, cut up, and tied in a thin muslin bag. When this milk has boiled till very highly flavored, strain it into the pint and a half, and set it over the fire in a porcelain kettle or a bain-marie. When the milk has come to a boil, sprinkle in, gradually, a large half pint or more (or four large heaping table-spoonfuls) of farina, stirring it well—also sprinkling in and stirring, as if making thick mush. Let it boil[501] slowly a quarter of an hour after the farina is all in. When done, remove it from the fire, and stir in two large table-spoonfuls of sugar, and a wineglass of rose-water, or one of white wine. Transfer it to a blancmange mould, (previously wet with cold water,) set it on ice, and turn it out when ready for dinner. Eat it with sauce of wine, sugar, and nutmeg.

FINE MARROW PUDDING.—

Mince very small a quarter of a pound of nice beef marrow, and grate or crumble half a pound of almond sponge cake. Cut in half, a quarter of a pound of sultana or seedless raisins, chop two peels of candied citron, mix them with the raisins, and dredge both thickly with flour. Add a large heaped table-spoonful of loaf sugar, a small nutmeg grated, and a wineglass of mixed wine and brandy. Mix all these ingredients well, put them into a deep dish, lay a border of puff-paste all round the rim, and fill the dish up to the top with a nice custard made in the proportion of four eggs to a pint of well-sweetened milk, flavored with either bitter almonds, rose-water, peach-water, or vanilla. Bake this pudding half an hour. When cool, sift sugar over it.

OMELETTE SOUFFLÉ.—

Break six eggs, separating the yolks and whites. Give them a slight stir, and strain the whites into one pan and[502] the yolks into another. Add to the yolks three large table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf sugar, a heaped tea-spoonful of arrow-root flour, and twelve drops of strong orange-flower water, and beat it till very thick and smooth. Then beat the whites to a stiff froth, beginning slowly at first, but gradually beating faster. Then add the beaten yolk very gently to the whites. Have ready a silver or plated dish well-buttered. Use tin for want of better, but it will not look well, as the omelette has to be served up in the dish it was baked in. Place the dish with the mixture in a hot oven, and watch it while baking. When it has well risen, and seems very light, take it out of the oven for a moment; run a knife round it, sift some sugar over it, set it again in the oven, and when raised to its utmost take it out again, and serve it up as hot as possible, with a spoon on the plate beside it. When once broken, it will sink immediately. It is usual to send round the omelette soufflé at the very last of the pastry course; the cook not beginning to make it till the dinner has commenced. If not light when baked, give it up, and do not send it to table at all. It is safest for an inexperienced housewife to engage a French cook to come to the house with his own ingredients and utensils, and make and bake the omelette soufflé while there. Still though very fashionable, it is less delicious than many other desserts.[503]

SUNDERLANDS.—

Warm a quart of rich milk, and cut up in it half a pound of the best fresh butter to soften in the milk, but not to oil. Beat eight eggs till very light and thick, and then stir them gradually into the pan of milk and butter, in turn with eight large table-spoonfuls of sifted flour. Beat all very hard together, and then transfer the batter to white tea-cups, slightly buttered, not filling them quite full. Set them immediately into a brisk oven, and bake them about twenty minutes, or till they are slightly browned, and have puffed up very light. As soon as they are cool enough to handle without burning your fingers, turn them out of the cups on a dish, cut a slit in the top of each, and, taking a tea-spoon, fill them quite full of any sort of jelly or marmalade; or if more convenient, with ripe strawberries or raspberries, sweetened with powdered sugar, and mashed smoothly. When filled with fruit, close the slit neatly with your fingers; and on the top of each lay a large strawberry or raspberry, having first dredged the sunderland with sugar.

Cream Cakes—Are made in the above manner, but baked in patty-pans. When baked take them out, cut a slit in the side of each; and having prepared an ample quantity of rich boiled custard, made with yolk of egg, and highly flavored (after it has boiled,) with lemon, orange, vanilla, rose-water or peach-water, fill the cakes full of the custard, closing the opening well by pinching[504] it together. Sift powdered sugar over them, and send them to table on a large china dish.

CREAM TART.—

Make a fine puff-paste of equal quantities of fresh butter and sifted flour; mixing into the pan of flour a heaped table-spoonful of powdered sugar, and wetting it with a beaten egg. Rub one quarter of the butter into the pan of flour. Divide the remainder of butter into six, and roll it into the flour at six turns till it is all in. Have, ready grated, the yellow rind and the juice of a large lemon or orange mixed with a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf sugar; or a flavoring of a split-up vanilla bean; or a dozen bitter almonds broken up, and boiled in a very little milk. Mix the flavoring with a pint of rich cream, and the well-beaten whites of three eggs. Take small deep pans, line them all through with the paste rolled out very thin, and cut square. Fill them with the cream, and turn the square pieces of paste a little over it at the top, so as to form corners. Bake the tarts in a brisk oven, and when cold, grate nutmeg over the surface.

ORANGE COCOA-NUT.—

Break up a fine ripe cocoa-nut, and after peeling off the brown skin, lay the pieces in cold water for a while. Then wipe them dry with a clean towel, and grate them into a deep dish. Mix in, plenty of pow[505]dered white sugar. Take some fine large oranges, very ripe and juicy. Peel off all the rind, and slice the oranges rather thick. Cover the bottom of a large glass bowl with sliced orange, (the first layer being double, where the bowl is small) and strew among the slices sufficient sugar. Then put in a thick layer of the grated cocoa-nut, next another layer of orange—again a layer of cocoa-nut, and so on, alternately, till the bowl is filled, finishing with cocoa-nut heaped high. This is a handsome and delicious article for a supper-table, and a nice impromptu addition to the dessert at a dinner; and soon prepared, as it requires no cooking. When the fruit is in season, a dessert for a small company may consist entirely of orange cocoa-nut, raspberry charlotte, and cream strawberries.

Creamed Strawberries.—Take fine large ripe strawberries. Hull or stem them, and set them on ice till just before they are wanted. Divide them into saucerfulls. If you have glass saucers, they will make a better show than china. Put some powdered white sugar in the bottom of each saucer. Fill them with strawberries, and then strew on a liberal allowance of sugar, for American strawberries (however fine in appearance) are seldom sweet. Have ready sufficient whipped cream, that has been frothed with rods or with a tin cream-churn. Pile high a portion of the whipt cream on each saucer of strawberries.[506]

Strawberries are sometimes eaten with wine and sugar, when cream is not convenient. With milk they curdle, and are unwholesome—besides tasting poorly.

Creamed Pine-apple.—Cut into four pieces two large ripe pine-apples. Stand them up successively in a deep dish, and grate them from the rind. When all is grated, transfer it to a large glass bowl, and make it very sweet by mixing in powdered white loaf sugar. Whip to a stiff froth a sufficiency of rich cream, adding to it some sugar, and heap it high upon the grated pine-apple.

Peaches and Cream.—Take fine juicy freestone peaches. Pare them, and cut them in slices. Put them, with their juice, into a large bowl, and make them very sweet with powdered loaf sugar. Set them on ice, and let them remain in the juice till wanted. Then send them to table with fresh sugar sifted over the top. Set near them pitchers of plain cream, not frothed.

If you cannot obtain cream, it is better to be satisfied with sugar alone, than to substitute milk, with peaches, or any other fruit.

LEMON TAFFY.—

Put into a porcelain-lined preserving kettle three pounds of the best loaf sugar, and pour on it a pint and a half of very clear water. When it has entirely dissolved, set it over the fire, and add a table spoonful of fine cider vinegar to assist in clearing it as it boils. Boil and skim it well, and when no more scum rises[507] add the juice of four large lemons or oranges. Let it boil till it will boil no longer, stirring it well. When done transfer it to square tin pans, that have been made very clean and bright, and that are slightly greased with sweet oil. Set the taffy away to cool, first marking it with a knife, while soft. Mark it in straight lines the broad or crossway of the pans. If marked lengthways, the pieces will be too long. When the taffy is cold, cut it according to the lines, in regular slips, like cocoa-nut candy. It is for a handsome supper party. Serve it up in glass dishes.

Orange taffy is made in the same manner. These candies should be kept in tin boxes.

Cocoa-nut Candy—Is made in the manner of taffy, using finely grated cocoa-nut, instead of lemon or orange.

CHARLOTTE RUSSE.—

Split, cut up, and boil a large vanilla bean in half a pint of rich milk, till it is highly flavored, and reduced to one-half. Then strain out the vanilla through a strainer so fine as to avoid all the seeds. Mix the strained milk with half a pint of rich cream. Beat five eggs till very smooth and thick. Strain them, and add them gradually to the cream when it is entirely cold, to make a rich custard. Set this custard over the fire (stirring it all the time) till it simmers; but take it off before it comes to a boil, or it will curdle. Set it on ice. Have ready in another sauce-pan an ounce of the best[508] Russia isinglass, boiled in half a pint of water, till it is all dissolved into a thick jelly. When both are cold, (but not hard) mix the custard and the isinglass together, and add four table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf sugar. Then take a large lump of loaf sugar, and rub off on it the yellow rind of two large lemons. Scrape off the lemon-grate with a tea-spoon, and add it to the mixture, with the lump of sugar powdered and crushed fine. Mix together the strained juice of the lemons, and two glasses of madeira; dissolve in them the lemon-flavored sugar, and mix it with a pint of rich cream that has been whipped with a whisk to a strong froth. Add the whipped cream gradually to the custard, starring very hard at the time, and also after the whole is mixed. Then set it on ice.

Cover the bottom of a flat oval dish with a slice of almond sponge cake, cut to fit. Prepare a sufficient number of oblong slices of the cake, (all of the same size and shape) to go all round; with one extra slice, in case they should not quite hold out. Dip every one in a plate of beaten white of egg to make them adhere. Stand each of them up on one end, round the large oval slice that lies at the bottom. Make them follow each other evenly and neatly, (every one lapping a little way over its predecessor) till you have a handsome wall of slices, cemented all round by the white of egg. Fill it quite full with the custard mixture. Cover the top with another oval slice of cake, cemented with a little white of egg[509] to the upper edge of the wall. Make a nice icing in the usual way, of powdered sugar beaten into frothed white of egg, and flavored with lemon, orange, or rose. Spread this icing thickly and smoothly over the cake that covers the top of the charlotte, and ornament it with a handsome pattern of sugar flowers. There is no charlotte russe superior to this.

Another Charlotte Russe.—Have a very nice circular lady cake. It should be iced all over, and ornamented with sugar flowers. Take off the top nicely, and without breaking or defacing, and hollow out the inside, leaving the sides and bottom standing. The cake taken from the inside may be cut in regular pieces and used at tea, or for other purposes. Make a very fine boiled custard, according to the preceding receipt. Fill with it the empty cake, as if filling a mould. Then put on the lid, set the whole on ice, and when wanted serve it up on a glass or china dish.

A charlotte that requires no cooking may be very easily made by hollowing a nice circular almond sponge cake, and filling it with layers of small preserves, and piling on the top whipped cream finely flavored.

For the walls of a charlotte russe you may use the oblong sponge cakes, called Naples biscuits, or those denominated lady fingers, dipping them first in beaten white of egg, standing them on end, and arranging them so as to lap over each other in forming the wall. Arrange some of them handsomely to cover the top of the custard.[510]

ICE CREAM.—

Pewter freezers for ice cream are better than those of block tin; as in them the freezing goes on more gradually and thoroughly, and it does not melt so soon, besides being smoother when done. The ice tub should be large enough to allow ample space all round (six inches, at least,) the freezer as it stands in the centre, and should have a plug at the bottom (beneath the freezer) for letting out the water that drips from the ice; that a large coarse woolen cloth should be folded, and laid under it and around it. The ice should be broken up into small bits, and mixed with coarse salt, in the proportion of a pound of salt to five pounds of ice. Fill the tub within three inches of the top; pounding and pressing down hard the mixed ice and salt. Have ready all the ingredients. To every quart of real rich cream mix in a pint of milk, (not more) and half a pound of fine loaf sugar. The following are the most usual flavorings, all the fruit being made very sweet. Ripe strawberries or raspberries, mashed through a sieve till all the juice is extracted; ripe juicy freestone peaches, pared, and cut in half, the kernels being taken from the stones, are pounded, and mashed with the fruit through a cullender; all the juice that can be mashed out of a sliced pine-apple, the grated yellow rind and the juice of lemons or oranges, allowing two to each quart of cream, and mixing the juice with plenty of sugar before it is put to the cream. A handful of shelled bitter almonds blanched, broken, and boiled by themselves in[511] half a pint of milk till all the almond flavor is extracted, and then strain the bitter almond milk into the cream. For vanilla flavor, split and cut up a vanilla bean, boil it by itself in a half pint of milk, and when highly flavored, strain the vanilla milk into the cream. For chocolate ice cream, scrape down a quarter of a pound of Baker's prepared cocoa, and melt it in just water enough to cover it; then sweeten and mix it gradually into a quart of rich milk, (boiling at the time) and then boil and stir it till strong and smooth. Ice cream is spoiled by the addition of eggs. Besides giving it a yellowish color, eggs convert it into mere frozen custard, particularly if instead of using real cream, it is made of milk thickened with arrow-root or flour. For company at least, ice cream should be made in the best and most liberal manner, or else do not attempt it. Mean ice cream is a very mean thing.

When all the ingredients are prepared and mixed, put the whole into the freezer, and set it in the ice tub; and having put on the lid tightly, take the freezer by the handle and turn it about very fast for five or six minutes. Then remove the lid carefully, and scrape down the cream from the sides with a spaddle or long-handled spoon. Repeat this frequently while it is freezing, taking care to keep the sides clear, stirring it well to the bottom, and keeping the tub well filled with salt and ice outside the freezer.

After the cream has been well frozen in the freezer, transfer it to moulds, pressing it in hard,[512] so as to fill every part of the mould. Then set the mould in a fresh tub of ice and salt, (using as before the proportion of a pound of salt to five pounds of ice) and let it remain undisturbed in the mould for an hour, not turning it out till it is time to serve it up to the company. Then wrap a cloth, dipped in warm water, round the outside of the moulds, open them, and turn out the frozen cream on glass or china dishes, and serve it up immediately.

Unless ice cream is very highly flavored at the beginning, its taste will be much weakened in the process of freezing.

The most usual form of ice cream moulds are pyramids, dolphins, doves, and baskets of fruit. We have seen ice cream in the shape of a curly lap-dog, and very well represented.

If you eat what is called strawberry ice cream looking of an exquisite rose-pink color, there is no strawberry about it, either in tint or taste. It is produced by alkanet or cochineal. Real strawberries do not color so beautifully; neither do raspberries, or any other sort of red fruit. But genuine fruit syrups may be employed for this purpose, having at least the true taste. To make strawberry or raspberry syrup, prepare first what is called simple syrup, by melting a pound of the best double-refined loaf sugar in half a pint of cold water; and when melted, boiling them together, and skimming it perfectly clean. Then stir in as much fruit juice (mashed and strained,)[513] as will give it a fine tinge, and let it have one more boiling up.

Vanilla Syrup.—Take six fine fresh vanilla beans. Split, and cut them in pieces. Scrape the seeds loose in the pods with your finger nail, and bruise and mash the shells. All this will increase the vanilla flavor. Put all you can get of the vanilla into a small quart of what is called by the druggist "absolute alcohol." Cork the bottle closely, and let the vanilla infuse in it a week. Then strain it through a very fine strainer that will not let out a single seed. Have ready half a dozen pint bottles of simple syrup. Put into every bottle of the simple syrup a portion of the strained infusion of vanilla. Cork it tightly and use it for vanilla flavoring in ice creams, custards, blancmange, &c.

Orange or Lemon Syrups—Are made by paring off the yellow rind very thin (after the fruit has been rolled under your hand on a table to increase the juice,) then boiling the rind till the water is highly flavored. Strain this water over the best loaf sugar, allowing two pounds of sugar to a pint of juice. The sugar being melted, mix it with the juice.

WATER ICES OR SHERBET.—

Water ices are made of the juice of fruits, very well sweetened, mixed with a little water, and frozen in the manner of ice cream, to which they are by many persons preferred. They are all prepared nearly[514] in the same manner, allowing a pint of juice to a pint of water, and a quarter of a pound of sugar. Mix it well, and then freeze it in the manner of ice cream, and serve it up in glass bowls. For lemon and orange sherbet, first roll the fruit on a table under your hand; then take off a very thin paring of the yellow rind, and boil it slowly in a very little water, till all the flavor is extracted. Next, strain the flavored water into the cold water you intend to mix with the juice, and make it very sweet with loaf sugar. Squeeze the juice into it through a tin strainer to avoid the seeds. Stir the whole very hard, and transfer it to a freezer. Orange water-ice is considered the best, if well made. For pine-apple water-ice, pare, core, and slice fine ripe apples very thin. Put them into a dish with thick layers of powdered loaf sugar; cover the dish, and let them lie several hours in the sugar. Then press out all the juice you can, from the pine-apple; mix it with a little water, and freeze it. To two large pine-apples allow a half pound of sugar, which has been melted in a quart of boiling water. This looks very well frozen in a mould shaped like a pine-apple. Orange sherbet may be frozen in a pine-apple mould. It can be made so rich with orange juice as to perfume the whole table.

Roman Punch—Is made of strong lemonade or orangeade, adding to every quart a pint of brandy or rum. Then freeze it, and serve in saucers or a large glass bowl. Put it into a porcelain kettle, and boil and skim it till the scum ceases to rise.[515] When cold, bottle it, seal the corks and keep it in a cool place.

Syrup of strawberries, raspberries, currants and blackberries, is made in a similar manner.

FLOATING ISLAND.—

For one common-sized floating island have a round thick jelly cake, lady cake, or almond sponge cake, that will weigh a pound and a half, or two pounds. Slice it downwards, almost to the bottom, but do not take the slices apart. Stand up the cake in the centre of a glass bowl or a deep dish. Have ready a pint and a half of rich cream, make it very sweet with sugar, and color it a fine green with a tea-cupful of the juice of pounded spinach, boiled five minutes by itself; strained, and made very sweet. Or for coloring pink you may use currant jelly, or the juice of preserved strawberries. Whip to a stiff froth another pint and a half of sweetened cream, and flavor it with a large glass of mixed wine and brandy. Pour round the cake, as it stands in the dish or bowl, the colored unfrothed cream, and pile the whipped white cream all over the cake, highest on the top[516].

FINE CAKES.

PLUM CAKE.—

In making very fine plum cake first prepare the fruit and spice, and sift the flour (which must be the very best superfine,) into a large flat dish, and dry it before the fire. Use none but the very best fresh butter; if of inferior quality, the butter will taste through every thing, and spoil the cake. In fact, all the ingredients should be excellent, and liberally allowed. Take the best bloom or muscatel raisins, seeded and cut in half. Pick and wash the currants or plums through two waters, and dry them well. Powder the spice, and let it infuse over night in the wine and brandy. Cut the citron into slips, mix it with the raisins and currants, and dredge all the fruit very thickly, on both sides, with flour. This will prevent its sinking or clodding in the cake, while baking. Eggs should always be beaten till the frothing is over, and till they become thick and smooth, as thick as a good boiled custard, and quite smooth on the surface. If you can obtain hickory-rods as egg-beaters, there is nothing so good; but if you cannot get them, use the common egg-beaters, of thin fine wire. For stirring butter and sugar you should have a spaddle, which resembles a short mush-stick flattened at one end. Stir the butter and sugar in a deep earthen pan, and continue till it is light, thick, and creamy. Beat eggs always in a broad shallow earthen pan, and with a short[517] quick stroke, keeping your right elbow close to your side, and moving only your wrist. In this way you may beat for an hour without fatigue. But to stir butter and sugar is the hardest part of cake making. Have this done by a man servant. His strength will accomplish it in a short time—also, let him give the final stirring to the cake. If the ingredients are prepared as far as practicable on the preceding day, the cake may be in the oven by ten or eleven o'clock in the forenoon.

For a large plum cake allow one pound, (or a quart) of sifted flour; one pound of fresh butter cut up in a pound of powdered loaf sugar, in a deep pan; twelve eggs; two pounds of bloom raisins; two pounds of Zante currants; half a pound of citron, either cut into slips or chopped small; a table-spoonful of powdered mace and cinnamon, mixed; two grated nutmegs; a large wine-glass of madeira (or more), a wine-glass of French brandy, mixed together, and the spice steeped in it.

First stir the butter and sugar to a light cream, and add to them the spice and liquor. Then beat the eggs in a shallow pan till very thick and smooth, breaking them one at a time into a saucer to ascertain if there is a bad one among them. One stale egg will spoil the whole cake. When the eggs are very light, stir them gradually into the large pan of butter and sugar in turn with the flour, that being the mixing pan. Lastly, add the fruit and citron, a little at a time of each,[518] and give the whole a hard stirring. If the fruit is well floured it will not sink, but it will be seen evenly dispersed all over the cake when baked. Take a large straight-sided block tin pan, grease it inside with the same butter used for the cake, and put the mixture carefully into it. Set it immediately into a well-heated oven, and keep up a steady heat while it is baking. When nearly done, the cake will shrink a little from the sides of the pan; and on probing it to the bottom with a sprig from a corn broom, or a splinter-skewer, the probe will come out clean. Otherwise, keep the cake in the oven a little longer. If it cracks on the top, it is a proof of its being very light. When quite done, take it out. It will become hard if left to grow cold with the oven. Set it to cool on an inverted sieve.

ICING.—

Allow to the white of each egg a quarter of a pound of the best loaf sugar, finely powdered; but if you find the mixture too thin, you must add still more sugar. Put the white of egg into a shallow pan, and beat it with small rods or a large silver fork, till it becomes a stiff froth, and stands alone without falling. Then beat in the powdered sugar, a tea-spoonful at a time. As you proceed, flavor it with lemon juice. This will render the icing whiter and smoother, also improving the taste. You may ice the cake as soon as it becomes lukewarm, without waiting till it is quite cold. Dredge it lightly with flour to[519] absorb the grease from the outside; then wipe off the flour. With a broad knife put some icing on the middle of the cake, and then spread it down, thickly and evenly, all over the top and sides, smoothing it with another knife dipped in cold water. When this is quite dry, spread on a second coat of icing rather thinner than the first, and flavored with rose. Set it a few minutes in the oven to harden the icing, leaving the oven-door open; or place it beneath the stove. When the icing is quite dry, you may ornament it with sugar borders and flowers; having ready, for that purpose, some additional icing. By means of a syringe, (made for the purpose, and to be obtained at the best furnishing stores) you can decorate the surface of the cake very handsomely; but it requires taste, skill, and practice. You may first cover the cake with pink, brown, green, or other colored icing, and then take white icing to decorate it, forming the pattern by moving your hand skilfully and steadily over it, and pressing it out of the syringe as you go. An easier way is to ornament the cake (when the top-icing is nearly dry, but not quite,) with large strawberries or raspberries, or purple grapes placed very near each other, and arranged in circles or patterns. Be careful not to mash the berries.

Warm Icing.—This is made in the usual proportion of the whites of four eggs, beaten to stiff froth, and a pound of finely powdered loaf sugar afterwards added to it, gradually. Then boil the egg and sugar in a porcelain kettle, and skim it[520] till the scum ceases to rise. Take it off the fire, and stir into it sufficient orange juice, lemon juice, or rose-water, to flavor it highly. Flour your cake—wipe off the flour, put on the icing with a broad knife, and then smooth it with another knife dipped in cold water. For this icing the cake should be warm from the oven, and dried slowly and gradually afterwards. Warm icing is much liked. It is very light; rises thick and high in cooling, and has a fine gloss. Try it. The mixture called by the French a meringue, and used for macaroons, kisses, and other nice articles, is made in the same manner as icing for cakes, allowing a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf sugar to every beaten white of egg.

POUND CAKE.—

One of Mrs. Goodfellow's maxims was, "up-weight of flour, and down-weight of every thing else"—and she was right, as the excellence of her cakes sufficiently proved, during the thirty years that she taught her art in Philadelphia, with unexampled success. Therefore, allow for a pound cake a rather small pound of sifted flour; a large pound of the best fresh butter, a large pound of powdered loaf sugar, ten eggs, or eleven if they are small; a large glass of mixed wine and brandy; a glass of rose-water; a grated nutmeg, and a heaped tea-spoonful of mixed spice, powdered mace, and cinnamon. Put the sugar into a deep earthen pan, and cut up the butter among it. In cold weather place it near[521] the fire a few minutes, till the butter softens. Next, stir it very hard with a spaddle till the mixture becomes very light. Next, stir in, gradually, the spice, liquor, &c. Then beat the eggs in a shallow pan with rods or a whisk, till light, thick, and smooth. Add them gradually to the beaten batter and sugar, in turn with the flour; and give the whole a hard stirring at the last. Have the oven ready with a moderate heat. Transfer the mixture to a thick straight-sided tin pan well greased with the best fresh butter, and smooth the butter on the surface. Set it immediately into the oven, and bake it with a steady heat two hours and a half, or more. Probe it to the bottom with a twig from a corn broom. When it shrinks a little from the pan it is done. When taken out, set it to cool on an inverted sieve. When you ice it, flavor the icing with lemon or rose.

Pound cake is not so much in use as formerly, particularly for weddings and large parties; lady cake and plum cake being now substituted. A pound cake may be much improved by the addition of a pound of citron, sliced, chopped well, dredged with flour to prevent its sinking, and stirred gradually into the batter, in turn with the sifted flour and beaten egg.[522]

QUEEN CAKE—

Is made in the same manner as pound cake, only with a less proportion of flour, (fourteen ounces, or two ounces less than a pound) as it must be baked in little tins; and small cakes require less flour than large ones. Also, (besides a somewhat larger allowance of spice, liquor, &c.) add the juice and grated yellow rind of a lemon or two, and half a pound of sultana or seedless raisins, cut in half and dredged with flour. Butter your small cake tins, and fill to the edge with the batter. They will not run over the edge if well made, and baked with a proper fire, but they will rise high and fine in the centre. Ice them when beginning to cool, flavoring the icing with lemon or rose. Queen cakes made exactly as above are superlative.

ORANGE CAKES.—

Make a mixture precisely as for queen cake, only omit the wine, brandy, and rose-water, and substitute the grated yellow rind and the juice of four large ripe oranges, stirred into the batter in turn with the egg and flour. Flavor the icing with orange juice.

LEMON CAKES—

Are also made as above, substituting for the oranges the grated rind and juice of three lemons. To give a full taste, less lemon is required than orange.[523]

SPONGE CAKE.—

Many persons suppose that sponge cake must be very easy to make, because there is no butter in it. On the contrary, the want of butter renders it difficult to get light. A really good sponge cake is a very different thing from those numerous tough leathery compositions that go by that name, and being flavored with nothing, are not worthy of eating as cake, and are neither palatable nor wholesome as diet, unless too fresh to have grown dry and hard. The best sponge cake we know of is made as follows, and even that should be eaten the day it is baked. Sift half a pound of flour, (arrow-root is still better,) in a shallow pan; beat twelve eggs till very thick, light, and smooth. You need not separate the yolks and whites, if you know the true way of adding the flour. Beat a pound of powdered loaf sugar, gradually, (a little at a time) into the beaten eggs, and add the juice and grated yellow rinds of two large lemons or oranges. Lastly stir in the flour or arrow root. It is all important that this should be done slowly and lightly, and without stirring down to the bottom of the pan. Hold the egg-beater perpendicularly or quite upright in one hand, and move it round on the surface of the beaten egg, while with the other hand you lightly and gradually sprinkle in the flour till all is in. If stirred in hard and fast it will render the cake porous and tough, and dry and hard when cold. Have ready either a large turban mould, or some small oblong or square tins. Butter them nicely, transfer to them the[524] cake mixture, grate powdered sugar profusely over the surface to give it a gloss like a very thin crust, and set it immediately into a brisk oven. The small oblong cakes are called Naples biscuits, and require no icing. A large turban cake may be iced plain, without ornament.

A very light sponge cake, when sliced, will cut down rough and coarse grained, and it is desirable to have it so.

Lady Fingers—Are mixed in the same manner, and of the same ingredients as the foregoing receipt for the best sponge cake. When the mixture is finished, form the cakes by shaping the batter with a tea-spoon, upon sheets of soft white paper slightly damped, forming them like double ovals joined in the centre. Sift powdered sugar over them, and bake them in a quick oven till slightly browned. When cool, take them off the papers. They are sometimes iced.

ALMOND SPONGE CAKE.—

The addition of almonds makes this cake very superior to the usual sponge cake. Sift half a pound of fine flour or arrow root. Blanch in scalding water two ounces of shelled sweet almonds, and two ounces of bitter ones, renewing the hot water when expedient. When the skins are all off, wash the almonds in cold water, (mixing the sweet and bitter) and wipe them dry. Pound them to a fine smooth paste, (one at a time,) in a very clean marble mortar, adding, as you proceed, plenty of rose-water to prevent their oiling. Then set them in a cool place. Beat twelve[525] eggs till very smooth and thick, and then beat into them, gradually, a pound of powdered loaf sugar, in turn with the pounded almonds. Lastly, add the flour, stirring it round slowly and lightly on the surface of the mixture, as in common sponge cake. Have ready a deep square pan. Butter it nicely. Put the mixture carefully into it, set it into the oven, and bake it till thoroughly done and risen very high. When cool, cover it with plain white icing, flavored with rose-water. With sweet almonds, always use a small portion of bitter ones. Without them, sweet almonds have little or no taste, though they add to the richness of the cake.

SPANISH BUNS.—

In a shallow pan put a half pint of rich unskimmed milk, and cut up in it a half pound of the best fresh butter. Set it on the stove, or near the fire, to warm and soften, but do not let it melt or oil. When soft, stir it all through the milk with a broad knife, and then set it away to cool. Sift into a broad pan half a pound of the finest flour, and an additional quarter of a pound put on a plate by itself. Beat four eggs in a shallow pan till very thick and smooth, and mix them at once into the butter and sugar, adding the half pound of flour. Stir in a powdered nutmeg, and two wine-glasses of strong yeast, fresh from the brewer's, first removing the thin liquid or beer from the top. Stir the mixture very hard with a knife, and then add,[526] gradually, half a pound of powdered white sugar. The buns will become heavy if the sugar is thrown in all at once. It is important that it should be added a little at a time. Then sprinkle in, by degrees, the extra quarter of a pound of sifted flour, and lastly add a wine-glass of strong rose-water. When all has been well stirred, butter (with fine fresh butter,) an oblong iron or block-tin pan, and carefully put the bun mixture into it. Cover it with a clean cloth, and set it near the fire to rise. It may require five hours; therefore buns wanted for tea should be made in the forenoon. When the batter has risen very high, and is covered with bubbles, put the pan immediately into a moderate but steady oven, and bake it. When cool, cut the buns into squares, and ice each one separately, if for company; the icing being flavored with lemon or orange juice. Otherwise, you may simply sift sugar over them. These buns were first introduced by Mrs. Goodfellow; and in her school were always excellently made, nothing being spared that was good, and the use of soda and other alkalis being unknown in the establishment—hartshorn in cakes would have horrified her.

LADY CAKE.—

This cake must be flavored highly with bitter almonds; without them, sweet almonds have little or no taste, and are useless in lady cake. Blanch, in scalding water, three small ounces of shelled bitter almonds, and then lay[527] them in a bowl of very cold water. Afterwards wipe them dry, and pound them (one at a time,) to a smooth paste in a clean marble mortar; adding, as you proceed, a wine-glass of rose-water to improve the flavor, and prevent their oiling, and becoming heavy and dark. When done, set them away in a cool place, on a saucer. Almonds are always lighter and better when blanched and pounded the day before. Cut up three quarters of a pound of the best fresh butter in a pound of powdered loaf sugar. Mix it in a deep earthen pan, and stir and beat it with a spaddle till it becomes very light and creamy. Then, gradually, stir in the pounded almonds. Take the whites only of seventeen or eighteen fresh eggs, and beat them in a shallow pan to a stiff froth, till they stand alone. Then stir the beaten white of egg, gradually, into the pan of creamed butter and sugar, in turn with three small quarters of a pound (or a pint and a half,) of sifted flour of the very best quality. Stir the whole very hard at the last, and transfer it to a straight-sided tin pan, well greased with excellent fresh butter. Set the pan immediately into an oven, and bake it with a moderate but steady heat. When it has been baking rather more than two hours, probe it by sticking down to the bottom a twig from a corn broom, or a very narrow knife. If it comes out clean the cake is done; if clammy or daubed, keep it longer in the oven. A cake when quite done generally shrinks a little. When you take it out, set it to cool on an inverted sieve. Ice a[528] lady cake entirely with white, and ornament it with white flowers. It is now much in use at weddings, and if well made, and quite fresh, there is no cake better liked.

CINNAMON CAKE.—

Cut up half a pound of fine fresh butter, and warm it till soft in half a pint of rich milk. Sift a pound of fine flour into a broad pan; make a hole in the centre, and pour into it the milk and butter, having stirred them well together. Then, gradually, add a large quarter of a pound of powdered sugar, and a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Beat three eggs very smooth and thick, and stir them in, also a wine-glass and a half of strong fresh brewer's yeast, or two glasses of fresh baker's yeast. Then mix, (having sprinkled some over the top,) all the flour into the hole in the centre, so as to make a soft dough. When all is well mixed cover it, and set it to rise in a round straight-sided tin pan. Place it near the fire, and when quite light and cracked all over the surface, flour your pasteboard well, place the loaf upon it, and having prepared in a pint bowl a stiff mixture of ground cinnamon, fresh butter, and brown sugar, beaten together so as to stand alone, make numerous deep cuts or incisions all over the surface on the sides and top of the cake; fill them with the cinnamon mixture, and pinch each together so as to keep the seasoning from coming out. Glaze it all over with beaten[529] white of egg a little sweetened. Then return the loaf to the pan, and bake it in a moderate oven till thoroughly done. When cool, cut it down in slices like a pound cake.

This dough may be divided into small round cakes, the size of a muffin, and baked on tin or iron sheets, sifting sugar over them when cool. It must have a high flavor of cinnamon.

WEST INDIA COCOA-NUT CAKE.—

Cut up and peel some pieces of very ripe cocoa-nut. Lay them for a while in cold water. Then take them out and wipe them dry, and grate very fine as much as will weigh half a pound. Beat eight eggs till very light, thick, and smooth. Have ready half a pound of powdered loaf sugar, and stir it into the pan of beaten egg, alternately with the grated cocoa-nut; adding a handful of sifted flour, a powdered nutmeg, and a large glass of madeira or sherry, stirring the whole very hard. Butter an oblong tin pan. Put in the mixture, set it immediately into a quick oven, and bake it well. Set it to cool on an inverted sieve; cut it into squares, and ice each square, flavoring the icing with rose.

You may bake it in a large loaf; adding double portions of all the ingredients, and ornamenting the icing handsomely.

Sweet Potato Cake—Is made like the above cocoa-nut cake. The sweet potatos must be pared and grated raw, till you have as much as weighs[530] half a pound. Then proceed as above, and with the same ingredients and proportions. You may boil and mash the sweet potatos; but be sure, afterwards, to pass them through a coarse sieve, or they may chance to clod and become heavy. If well made, and well flavored, this cake is very nice.

GOLDEN CAKE.—

The best time for making this cake is when ripe oranges are plenty. For one cake select four large deep-colored oranges, and roll each one under your hand upon a table to soften them, and increase the juice. Weigh a pound of the best loaf sugar. On some of the largest pieces rub off the yellow or outer rind of the oranges, omitting the white entirely. The white or inner rind of oranges or lemons should never be used for any thing. Cut the oranges, and squeeze their juice through a strainer into a large saucer or a small deep plate. Powder all the sugar, including that which has the orange zest upon it, and put it into a deep earthen pan, with a pound of the best fresh butter cut up among it. With a wooden spaddle stir the butter and sugar together, till very light and creamy. In a shallow pan beat twelve eggs, omitting the whites of three. Sift into a dish a small quart of the best and finest flour, and stir it gradually into the pan of butter and sugar and orange, in turn with the beaten egg, a little at a time of each. Stir the whole very hard; and when done, immediately transfer the batter to square tin pans,[531] greased with the same fresh butter that was used for the cake. Many a fine cake has been spoiled, at last, by the poor economy of greasing the pans with salt butter. Fill the pans to the top. If the cake has been well made, and well beaten, there is no danger of the batter running over the edges. Put it, immediately, into a quick oven and bake it well, not allowing the heat to be lessened till the cake is quite done. When cool, cut it into squares. If you ice it, flavor the icing with orange juice.

Do not attempt to make this cake with yolk of egg only, by way of improving the yellow color. Without any whites, it will assuredly be tough and heavy. Cakes may be made light with white of egg only, but never with yellow of egg only.

If you use soda, saleratus, hartshorn, or any of the alkalis, they will entirely destroy the orange flavor, and communicate a bad taste of their own.

SILVER CAKE.—

Scald in a bowl of boiling water two ounces of shelled bitter almonds. As you peel off the skins throw each almond into a bowl of ice-cold water. When all are blanched, take them out, and wipe them dry on a clean napkin. Put them, one at a time, into a very clean marble mortar, and pound each one separately to a smooth paste, adding, as you pound them, a few drops of strong rose-water, till you have used up a large wine-glass full. As you remove[532] the pounded almonds from the water, lay them lightly and loosely on a plate. When all are done, put them into a very cool place. In a deep earthen pan cut up a pound of fresh butter into a pound of powdered sugar, and with a wooden spaddle stir the butter and sugar together till perfectly light. Into another pan sift three quarters of a pound of fine flour, and in a broad shallow pan beat with small rods the whites only of eighteen eggs till they are stiff enough to stand alone. Then, gradually, and alternately, stir into the pan of beaten butter and sugar the flour, the beaten white of eggs, and the pounded almonds. Give the whole a hard stirring at the last. Transfer it to square tin pans greased with the same butter, and bake it well. When cool, cut it into square cakes, and send it to table on china plates, piled alternately with pieces of golden cake, handsomely arranged. If you ice silver cake, flavor the icing with strong rose-water.

These cakes, (gold or silver) if made as above, will be found delicious. The yolk of egg left from the silver cake may be used for soft custards. But yolk of egg alone, will not raise a cake; though white of egg will.

APEES.—

Cut up a pound of fresh butter into two pounds of sifted flour, and rubbing the butter very fine, and mixing in a pound of powdered sugar, with a heaped tea-spoonful of mixed spice, nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon, and four tea-spoon[533]fuls of carraway seeds. Moisten the whole with a large glass of white wine; and barely sufficient cold water to make a stiff dough. Mix it well with a broad knife, and roll it out into a sheet less than half an inch thick; then with the edge of a tumbler, or a tin cake-cutter, divide it into round small cakes. Bake them in oblong pans, (tin or iron) slightly buttered; and do not place them so closely as to touch. Bake them in a quick oven, till they are of a pale brown. These cakes are soon prepared, requiring neither eggs nor yeast.

MARMALADE MERINGUES.—

Make a mixture as for apees, omitting only the carraway seeds. Roll out the sheet of dough quite thin; cut it into round flat cakes with the edge of a tumbler, and bake them a few minutes, till lightly colored. Take them out of the oven and spread them thickly with very nice marmalade, or with ripe strawberries or raspberries, sweetened, and mashed without cooking. Have ready a stiff meringue of beaten white of egg and sugar. Pile it high over the marmalade on each cake. Heap it on with a spoon, so as quite to conceal the marmalade, and do not smooth it on the top. It should stand up uneven as the spoon left it. Set it again in the oven for a minute or two, to harden it.[534]

JUMBLES.—

Mix together, all at once, in a deep pan, a pound of butter cut up in a pound of powdered sugar, a pound of sifted flour, and six eggs, previously beaten very light in a pan by themselves. Add a table-spoonful of powdered spice, (mixed nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon) and a glass of mixed wine and brandy; or else a glass of rose water; or the juice and grated yellow rind of a large lemon. Stir the whole very hard till all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, and become a soft dough. Flour your hands and your pasteboard, and lay the dough upon it. Take off equal portions from the lump, and with your hands form them into round rolls, and make them into rings by joining together the two ends of each. Place the jumbles (not so near as to touch,) in tin pans slightly buttered, and bake them in a very brisk oven little more than five or six minutes, or enough to color them a light brown. If the oven is too cool, the jumbles will spread and run into each other. When cold, sift sugar over them. Jumbles may be made with yolks of eggs only, if the whites are wanted for something else.

Cocoa-nut Jumbles—Are made as above, only with finely grated cocoa-nut instead of flour, and with white of egg instead of yolk.

Cocoa-nut Puffs.—Grate any quantity of cocoa-nut. Mix it with powdered sugar and a little beaten white of egg, and lay it in small heaps of equal size. On the top of each place a ripe strawberry, raspberry, or any small preserved[535] fruit, flattening a slight hollow, to hold it without its rolling off.

SCOTCH CAKE.—

Take a pound of fresh butter, a pound of powdered white sugar, and two pounds of sifted flour. Mix the sugar with the flour, and rub the butter into it, crumbled fine. Add a heaped table-spoonful of mixed nutmeg and cinnamon. Put no water, but moisten it entirely with butter. A small glass of brandy is an improvement. Roll it out into a large thick sheet, and cut it into round cakes about the size of saucers. Bake them on flat tins, slightly buttered. This cake is very crumbly but very good, and of Scottish origin. It keeps well, and is often sent from thence, packed in boxes.

JELLY CAKE.—

For baking jelly cake you must have large flat tin pans rather larger than a dinner plate. But a very clean soap-stone griddle may be substituted, though more troublesome. Make a rich batter as for pound cake, and bake it in single cakes, (in the manner of buckwheat, or thicker) taking care to grease the tin or soap-stone with excellent fresh butter. Have ready, enough of fruit jelly or marmalade, to spread a thick layer all over each cake when it cools. Pile one on another very evenly, till you have four, five, or half a dozen; and ice the surface of the whole. Cut it down in triangular[536] pieces like a pie. Jelly cake is no longer made of sponge cake, which is going out of use for all purposes, as being too often dry, tough, and insipid, and frequently not so good as plain bread.

ALMOND MACAROONS.—

The day before they are wanted, prepare three quarters of a pound of shelled sweet almonds, and a quarter of a pound of shelled bitter almonds; by scalding, blanching, and pounding them to a smooth paste in a marble mortar, (one or two at a time) adding, as you proceed, rose-water to prevent their oiling, and becoming dark and heavy. Having beaten to a stiff froth the whites of six eggs, and prepared a pound of powdered loaf sugar, beat the sugar into the egg a spoonful at a time. Then mix in gradually the pounded almonds, and add a grated nutmeg. Stir the whole very hard, and form the mixture into small round balls. Then flatten slightly the surface of each. Butter slightly some shallow tin pans. Place the macaroons not so close as to be in danger of touching; and glaze them lightly with a little beaten white of egg. Put them into a brisk oven, and bake them a light brown.

Chocolate Macaroons.—Scrape down, very fine, half a pound of Baker's prepared cocoa. Beat to a stiff froth the white of four eggs, and beat into the white of egg a pound of powdered loaf[537] sugar, in turn with the chocolate, adding a little sifted flour if the mixture appears too thin. Grease the bottom of some oblong tin pans, very slightly, with sweet oil. Having formed the mixture into small thick cakes, lay them (not close,) in the pan, and bake them a few minutes. Sift sugar over them while warm.

KISSES.—

Having beaten to a stiff froth, till it stands alone, the whites of eight eggs, mix with it, gradually, three quarters of a pound of finely powdered loaf sugar, beating it in very hard, a spoonful at a time, and as you proceed flavoring it with extract of vanilla, rose, or lemon juice. If the meringue is not thoroughly beaten and very stiff, the kisses will lose their shape and run in baking. Try one first, and if that runs, beat a while longer before you bake the whole. Pile portions of the meringue on sheets of letter paper, placing each heap far apart. Smooth and shape them with a broad knife dipped in cold water. Make them about the size and form of half eggs, with the flat part downwards. Arrange them on a smooth hickory board, and set it in a quick oven, (leaving the door open) and watch them well. A few minutes will color them a pale brown, and that is all they require. Then take them out, and set them to cool. When cool, slip a knife carefully under each, and remove them from the paper. Then with your knife hollow the meringue from the base of each kis[538]s and scrape upwards toward the top, being careful not to break through the outside or crust. Fill up this vacancy with any sort of stiff jelly. Then clap two halves together, and unite them at the base, by moistening the edges with a little of the meringue that was left. Handle them very carefully throughout.

Large kisses, of twice or thrice the usual size, are introduced at parties, filled with ice cream, or flavored calf's foot jelly.

It is very customary now to finish a fine charlotte russe with a thick layer of this jelly at the top.

LAFAYETTE GINGERBREAD.—

Cut up in a deep pan half a pound of the best fresh butter, with a half pound of excellent brown sugar; and stir it to cream with a spaddle. Add a pint of West India molasses, mixed with half a pint of warm milk; four table-spoonfuls of ginger; a heaped table-spoonful of mixed powdered cinnamon and powdered mace and nutmeg; and a glass of brandy. Sift in a pound and a half of fine flour. Beat six eggs till very light and thick, and mix them, alternately, into the pan of butter, sugar, molasses, &c. At the last, mix in the yellow rind (grated fine) of two large oranges and the juice. Stir the whole very hard. Melt in one cup a very small level tea-spoonful of soda, and in another a small level salt-spoon of tartaric acid. Dissolve them both in lukewarm water, and see that both are quite melted. First stir the soda[539] into the mixture, and then put in the tartaric acid. On no account exceed the quantity of the two alkalis, as if too much is used, they will destroy entirely the flavoring, and communicate a very disagreeable taste instead. Few cakes are the better for any of the alkaline powders, and many sorts are entirely spoiled by them. Even in gingerbread they should be used very sparingly, rather less than more of the prescribed quantity. Having buttered, (with the same butter) a large round or oblong pan, put in the mixture, and bake it in a moderate oven till thoroughly done, keeping up a steady heat, but watching that it does not burn. There is no gingerbread superior to this, if well made. Instead of lemon or orange, cut in half a pound of seedless raisins, dredge them well with flour, and stir them, gradually, into the mixture.

GINGER NUTS.—

Cut a pound of the best fresh butter into two pounds or two quarts of sifted flour, and half a pound of fine brown sugar. Add four heaped table-spoonfuls of ground ginger; a heaped table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and the same quantity of mixed nutmeg and mace. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly together; adding, gradually, a large pint of West India molasses, and the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon or orange. Stir it very hard with a spaddle. Flour your hands, break off[540] pieces of the dough, and knead each piece a little; then flatten them on the top. Make them the size of a quarter dollar. Or, (flouring your pasteboard) roll out the dough, and cut out the ginger-nuts with the edge of a small wine-glass. Bake them on buttered tins, having first glazed them with a thin mixture of molasses and water. The same dough may be baked in long straight sticks, divided by lines deeply marked with a knife.

There are many other gingerbreads; but any of the soft sorts may be made with little variation from the foregoing directions for Lafayette gingerbread; and of the hard sort of ginger-nut preparation, the above is the basis of the rest. If the receipts are liberally and exactly followed, it will be found that to those two none are superior.

PIGEON PIE.—

For this pie take six fine fat tame pigeons, carefully cleaned and picked. Lay them in cold water for an hour, changing the water twice during that time. This is to remove what is called "the taste of the nest." Have ready the yolks of six hard-boiled eggs, seasoned with powdered nutmeg. Place a bit of fresh butter rolled in flour, in the inside of each pigeon, with its liver cut up, and with a yolk of egg seasoned with powdered mace. Lay a nice tender beef steak, or thin veal cutlet, in the bottom of a large deep dish, that has been lined with puff-paste. Butter the steak, and dredge it with flour[541]. There must be meat enough to cover well the bottom of the pie dish. Lay the pigeons upon it, with the breast downward, (their heads and feet cut off, and their livers cut up, and put inside with the stuffing.) Fill up the dish with water. Roll out and put on the lid of the pie, which you may ornament with paste leaves or flowers, according to your taste. For company, pigeon pies are expected to look handsome. It is no longer fashionable to have the feet of the pigeons sticking out of the slit in the top of the paste.

Moorfowl, pheasants, partridges, or quails, may be made into pies in the above manner. It is usual, for partridge pies, to peel two fine sweet oranges; and having divided them into quarters, carefully remove the strings and seeds, and put the oranges into the birds without any other stuffing. Instead of beef steak or veal cutlet, lay a thin slice of cold ham in the bottom of the pie-dish.

This receipt, and the following, were accidentally omitted in their proper places.

CHICKEN PIE.—

Skin a pair of fine fowls, and cut them up. Save out the necks, backs, feet, livers, and gizzards, and the ends of the pinions; and seasoning them with a little pepper and salt add some trimmings or spare bits of fresh beef or veal, and stew them in a small sauce-pan with a little water, to make the gravy. Let them stew till all to rags, and then strain off[542] the liquid; and while hot, stir into it a beaten egg and a bit of fresh butter, dredged with flour. In the mean time make a nice puff-paste, and roll it out rather thick; divide it in two circular sheets. Line with one sheet the bottom and sides of a deep pie dish, and put in the best pieces of chicken. Lay among them four hard-boiled eggs, sliced or quartered. Season well with powdered mace or nutmeg. The gravy being strained, pour that into the pie, and finish at the top with a layer of butter divided into small pieces, and dredge with flour. This is what the old English cookery books mean when they say—"Close the pie with a lear."

A chicken pie will be improved by the addition of a dozen or more large fresh oysters, stewed. If you add oysters, take off the lid or upper crust as soon as the pie is baked, and put in the oysters then; if put in at the beginning, they will bake too long. Replace the lid nicely, and send the pie to table hot.

The lid should have in the top a cross slit with a nice paste flower in it. To make a paste flower roll out a straight narrow slip of paste, about four or five inches wide. Roll it up with your fingers as if you were rolling up a ribbon. Then with a sharp knife cut four clefts in the upper half, and when baked, it will spread apart as like the leaves of a flower.[543]

SWEETMEATS.

No sweetmeats can either look well or taste well unless the fruit and the sugar are of the best quality. As in all other branches of cookery, it is false economy to provide bad or low-priced ingredients. It has of late years been difficult to obtain very good sugar at any price, so much is adulterated with flour or ground starch. In the common powdered sugar the flour is so palpable that we are surprised at its having any sale at all; and the large quantity required to produce any perceptible sweetness renders it totally unfit for sweetmeats, or indeed for any thing else. The best brown sugar is better than this, having clarified it with white of egg. To do this, allow to every pound of sugar the beaten white of an egg, and a half pint of clear cold water. Having poured the water on the sugar, let it stand to melt before it goes on the fire. Then add the white of egg and put in on to boil. When it boils, carefully take off the scum as it rises, and add when it is boiling hard another jill or quarter pint of water for each pound of sugar. Remove it from the fire when the scum ceases to rise, and let it stand for a quarter of an hour to settle. Strain, and bottle it for use. The best brown sugar thus prepared will make a good syrup; and good marmalade, when white sugar of the best quality is not to be obtained. But for the nicest sweetmeats use always, if you can, the best double-refined loaf.[544]

In warm weather there is nothing better for a preserving fire than a portable charcoal furnace placed out in the open air; as in a room with the doors or windows shut the vapor of charcoal is deadly, and never fails to produce suffocation. Of whatever the fire is made, it should be clear and steady without smoke or blaze. Never use copper or bell-metal for either preserving or pickling. For all such purposes employ only iron, lined with what is called porcelain or enamel, but is in reality a thick strong white earthen, first made at Delft, in Holland. This lining will crack if the kettle is placed over a blaze, which it should never be. All sweetmeats should be boiled with the lid off. If covered, the steam having no means of escaping, returns upon them, and causes them to look dark and unsightly. When done, put the sweetmeats warm into jars or glasses, and leave them open a few hours that the watery particles may evaporate, but have them all pasted and closely covered before night. Do nothing to render your preserves hard, or firm, as it is called. It is better to have them soft and tender. The old custom of steeping them for days in salt and water, and then boiling them in something else to remove the salt, is now considered foolish, and is seldom practised.

Put up jellies and small sweetmeats in common tumblers, laying on the surface of each a double cover of white tissue paper cut exactly to fit, and then put on another cover of thick white paper pleated and notched where it descends below the[545] edge, using always gum tragacanth paste, which you should keep always in the house, as it requires no boiling; and if in making it, a bit of corrosive sublimate (not larger than a cherry-stone) is dissolved with the ounce of gum tragacanth and the half pint of warm water, in a yellow or white-ware mug, and stirred only with a stick, the paste will never spoil, and if kept covered, will be found superior to all others. No metal must touch this cement, as it will then turn black and spoil.

Keep your sweetmeats always in a dry place. But if after a while you see a coat of mould on the surface, you need not throw them away, till you have tried to recover them by carefully removing every particle of mould, filling up the jars with fresh sugar, and setting them, one by one, in a bottle of water, and in this way boiling them over again. But if they have an unpleasant smell, and you see insects about them, of course they must be thrown away. To purify jars, clean and scrape them, and wash them thoroughly with ley and water, or with a solution of soda—afterwards exposing them to the sun and air for a week or more.

Jellies.—We have already given directions for various fruit jellies in the chapter on Fine Desserts. They are all made nearly in the same manner, using the juice of the fruit, and sufficient sugar to make it congeal and to keep it. Jellies should always be bright and transparent, and[546] therefore require the best and ripest of fruit and the finest of loaf sugar.

MARMALADE OR JAMS.—

Marmalade or jams are the easiest sweetmeats to make, and are useful for all sweetmeat purposes. They are all made nearly in the same manner; and to be very good, and to keep well, at least a pound of fine sugar should be allowed to every pound of fruit—the fruit being quite ripe, freshly gathered, and of the best kind.

For Peach Marmalade—Take fine, juicy free-stone peaches. Pare them; cut them in half; remove the stones, and let them be saved and the kernels extracted to use as bitter almonds. Cut up the peaches, and allow for each pound a pound of sugar. Lay the peaches (with all the sugar among them,) in a large pan or tureen, and let them rest for three or four hours. Boil the peaches and sugar together in a porcelain kettle (without a cover) for half an hour, skimming and stirring well. When it becomes a thick smooth mass it is finished. Put it up in glass jars, and leave it uncovered till cool; but not longer. The flavor will be much improved by boiling with the peaches and sugar one or two handfuls of the kernels, blanched and pounded; or else a bunch of fresh peach leaves, to be removed afterward.

Quince Marmalade is made in the same manner—first carefully removing all the blemishes. Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of quinces.[547] They must boil longer than peaches. All marmalades must be cooked till the form of the fruit is quite indistinguishable, and till it mashes into a thick smooth mass. Quinces should be allowed to remain on the trees till after the first frost, which greatly improves them. Persimmons and wild grapes are not eatable till they are touched by the frost.

Tomato Marmalade.—Make this when lemons are ripe and plenty. To every two pounds of tomatos allow two pounds of sugar, and the grated yellow rind and the juice of one lemon. The worst way of using lemons for any purpose is to merely slice them. Depend on the slices for flavoring, and they are wasted; the taste being scarcely perceptible. They should always be first rolled under your hand, which increases the yield of juice. Then grate off from the outside the yellow rind only (the white part of the rind is worse than useless,) and having cut the lemon, squeeze the juice through a tin strainer to exclude the seeds, which otherwise would be troublesome to pick out. The yellow rind and the juice are all you need want of a lemon for any purpose of flavoring. Scald the tomatos to make them peel easily, and mix the sugar thoroughly with them. Boil them slowly for an hour in a porcelain kettle, skimming carefully, and stirring well after each skimming. Then add the lemon grate and the juice, and boil the marmalade another half hour, or till it is a thick smooth mass.

Pumpkin Marmalade.—Take a fine ripe high-[548]colored pumpkin. Cut it up. Empty it very clean of the seeds and strings; take off a thick paring. Slice the pieces small and thin, and weigh them. To each pound of pumpkin allow a pound of powdered sugar, and the grated peel and the juice of one large lemon. Pumpkin sweetmeats require a high lemon flavoring. Boil the pumpkin alone, till quite soft. Then mash it in a cullender till the water is pressed out, and the pumpkin left dry. Afterwards put it into a porcelain kettle, mix with it the sugar and lemon, and boil it again till it becomes a thick jam. Cantaloupe marmalade is made in the same way with lemon and sugar—also marmalade of ripe figs.

Plum Marmalade.—Choose plums that are fully ripe. Allow to each pound a pound and a half of sugar. Scald them till the skins peel off easily, and extract all the stones. Lay them in the sugar for two or three hours or more, and then boil them till they become a thick smooth mass. Green-gages the same.

Raspberry Jam.—To every quart of fine ripe raspberries allow a pound of best loaf sugar, powdered. Put them together into a broad white-ware pan, and let them rest for two or three hours. Then boil them in an uncovered porcelain kettle, taking off the scum carefully. When no more scum rises, mash them, and boil them to a smooth thick marmalade. When cold, put it up in half pint tumblers, and cover them with rounds of double tissue[549] paper, cut exactly to fit, and then with thick white paper dipped in brandy.

Strawberry Jam.—The strawberries must be quite ripe, and very fine. Allow to each quart a pound of powdered loaf sugar. Put them into a large white-ware pan; a layer of sugar and a layer of strawberries alternately, finishing with strawberries on the top. Let them rest in the sugar and juice three or four hours. Then boil and skim them till they become very thick and smooth. When cold, put them up in tumblers, with double tissue paper over the top. Blackberry jam is made in the same manner.

Gooseberry Jam.—Top and tail the gooseberries, which must be thoroughly ripe, and with thin skins. They require to every pound of fruit a pound and a half of sugar of the best sort. Mash them with a wooden beetle, and put them with all the sugar into an uncovered porcelain kettle, and boil and skim them. When half done add more sugar, and continue boiling till they are a very thick marmalade. When cold, cover the tumblers with brandy paper.

Pine-apple Marmalade.—Take the best and ripest pine-apples; remove the leaves, and split each pine-apple into four pieces, and cut out the core from the centre. Stand the pieces upright in a deep dish, and, with a large coarse grater grate down all the flesh of the fruit, as it is called. To every pint of grated pine-apple allow a pound of powdered loaf sugar, and put them together in a large tureen. Let them rest two[550] hours. Then transfer the whole to a porcelain kettle. Leave it uncovered; and boil, skim, and stir, till it becomes a very thick marmalade. When cool, put it up in glass jars. It is a very nice sweetmeat, particularly for shells or tarts.

Grape Marmalade.—Take a sufficiency of fine grapes, thoroughly ripe. Having picked them from the stems, mash them with a wooden beetle, and then press them through a sieve. To every pint of the pulp allow a pound of powdered sugar, well mixed in; let it stand an hour or two. Then boil it, uncovered, in a porcelain kettle, skimming and stirring well, till it is very thick and smooth. When cool, put it up in small marmalade pots of white-ware with lids, and paste a band of thick white paper round each, at the small crack where the cover fits on. A good marmalade for the backwoods may be made of wild grapes and maple sugar.

Cherry Marmalade.—If you cannot procure morellas, (the best of all cherries for sweetmeats) use the large Virginia or carnation cherries. Black cherries are unfit for cooking. Stem and stone your cherries, saving all the juice you can. Allow a pound of powdered loaf sugar to every pint of cherries. Boil the fruit and the sugar together, uncovered, for an hour, skimming and stirring. When cool, put it in white-ware marmalade pots and paste the lids.

Orange Marmalade.—Quarter some large ripe oranges, and remove the rind, the seeds, and the strings or filaments, taking care to save all[551] the juice. Put the pulp, with the juice, into a porcelain kettle, and mix with it an equal quantity of strained honey, adding sufficient powdered loaf sugar to render it very thick and sweet. The honey alone will not make it sweet enough. Boil it uncovered, and skim it till very thick, smooth, and clear. Taste it, and if necessary add more sugar, and boil it longer. When cold, put it up in tumblers or white-ware marmalade pots, and cover it securely. This marmalade is exquisite, and very superior to any other.

Orange Milk.—Take four dozen large ripe juicy oranges, and roll them under your hand. Cut them in two; remove the seeds, and squeeze the juice into a large clean stone jar. Have ready four pounds of the best double-refined loaf sugar, dissolved in a gallon of French brandy. Pour it into the jar that contains the orange juice; stir the mixture well, and add the yellow rind of the oranges, pared so thin from the white as to be transparent, and divide it into bits. Cover the jar, and let it stand four days, stirring it frequently. Then take a gallon of new unskimmed milk, (the morning's milk of that day,) boil it alone, and when it comes to a hard boil pour it into the mixture of orange, sugar, and brandy. Cover it closely, and let it stand till quite cold. Then strain it into another vessel through a linen jelly bag. Bottle it immediately, and seal the corks. It improves by keeping. To use it, pour it out in half tumblers, and fill up with ice water, or serve it round undiluted in small cordial[552] glasses, after ice-cream. It is much admired, and in orange countries may be made in large quantities. Lemon milk is made in the same manner, having a larger proportion of sugar.

Fruit in Syrups.—Make a syrup in the proportion of half a pint of water to every pound of sugar, and a pint of the juice of any sort of fine ripe fruit. Boil and skim it till very clear, but not till it congeals or jellies. Then bottle it, and cork the bottles. As the fresh fruit comes again into season, select the finest, largest, and ripest. For instance, half fill a white-ware preserve jar with fine fresh strawberries, and fill up from a bottle of strawberry syrup; or ripe raspberries with raspberry syrup; currants, with currant syrup, &c. Cover them closely till wanted for immediate use.

PRESERVED CITRON MELONS.—

Take some fine citron melons; pare, core, and cut them into slices. Then weigh them; and, to every six pounds of melon, allow six pounds of the best double refined loaf sugar, and the juice and yellow rind (grated very fine,) of four large fresh lemons, and a quarter of a pound of root ginger.

Put the slices of lemon into a preserving kettle, and boil them half an hour or more, till they look quite clear, and are so tender that a broom twig will pierce through them. Then drain them; lay them in a broad pan of cold water, cover them, and let them stand all night. In the morning tie the root ginger in a thin muslin cloth, and boil[553] it in three pints of clear spring or pump water till the water is highly flavored. Then take out the bag of ginger. Having broken up the sugar put it into a clean preserving kettle, and pour the ginger water over it. When the sugar is all melted set it over the fire, put in the grated yellow peel of the lemons, and boil and skim it till no more scum rises. Then put in the sliced citrons, and the juice of the lemons; and boil them in the syrup till all the slices are quite transparent, and so soft that a straw will go through them; but do not allow them to break. When quite done, put the slices (while still warm,) into wide-mouthed glass or white-ware jars, and gently pour on the syrup. Lay inside of each jar, upon the top of the syrup, a round of white paper dipped in brandy. Put on the lids of the jars, and tie leather over them.

This will be found a delicious sweetmeat; equal to any imported from the West Indies, and far less expensive.

PINE-APPLES PRESERVED.—

Take six fine large pine-apples, as ripe as you can get them. Make them very clean, but do not, at first, pare off the rind or cut off the leaves. The rind and leaves being left on while boiling will keep in the flavor of the fruit. Put the pine-apples whole into a very large and very clean iron pot. Fill it up with cold water, and boil the pine-apples till they are so tender that you can pierce them through the rind to the core, with a splinter skewer or a twig from a corn broom. Then take them out of the pot,[554] and drain them. When they are so cool as to be handled without inconvenience, remove the leaves, and pare off the rind. Cut then into round slices about half an inch thick, extracting the core from the centre as to leave a small round hole in every slice. Weigh them, and to each pound of fruit allow a pound of double refined loaf sugar, broken up and powdered. Cover the bottom of a large dish or dishes with a thick layer of the sugar. On this place a layer of pine-apple slices; then a layer of sugar; then a layer of fruit, and so on till the slices are all thickly covered, finishing with a layer of sugar at the top. Let them stand twenty-four hours. Then drain the slices from the syrup, and lay them in wide jars. Put all the syrup into a clear porcelain kettle, and boil and skim it till the scum ceases to rise. Then pour it hot upon the pine-apple. While warm, cover the jars closely with white paper cut to fit, and dipped in brandy; and then tie on a piece of bladder. There is no better way of preserving pine-apples, or that retains the flavor so well.

PRESERVED LEMONS OR ORANGES.—

The fruit must be perfectly ripe, of the best quality, with a smooth rind and fine color. Cut out from the stem end of each, a piece not quite the size of a quarter dollar, and with a small knife scoop out all the inside, keeping the rind as whole as possible. Put the pulp and juice into a large[555] bowl, and clear it from the strings and seeds. Lay the skins in a tureen of cold ice water, and change it twice during the day, (fresh water and fresh ice); and at bedtime put ice only. Next morning boil the skins slowly in a porcelain kettle with plenty of water, keeping them well covered. Continue to boil till they are tender all through, and can easily be pierced with a splinter skewer. Then drain them, and lay them in cold water immediately. Take care to boil with them the small round pieces that come out of the top. Make a thick jelly or marmalade of the pulp and juice of these, and some additional fruit, allowing to a pint of juice a pound of loaf sugar. When the jelly has been boiled till clear and firm when held in the air, fill with it the skins so as to swell them out into a good shape. Replace the small circular pieces that have been cut off the top of the fruit, and tie them on securely with packthread, so as to keep in the jelly. Next make a thin syrup, allowing to a pound of broken-up loaf sugar half a pint of fresh juice, and the beaten white of an egg. Boil and skim it till no more scum rises. Then having put the oranges into large glass jars rather more than half full, pour the syrup on them, filling up to the top.

To Green Small Lemons or Limes.—Boil them first in a little hard water, placing them in a porcelain kettle with a thick bed of fresh vine leaves under them and a thick cover of vine leaves over them. Boil them till green and tender in two or three waters, putting entirely fresh vine leaves whenever[556] you change the water, and persisting till they are well greened. Then make holes in the stem end, and extract the pulp, strings, and seeds, and proceed as directed in the last receipt. The skins, as soon as empty, being laid in cold water, and then filled and shaped out with lemon jelly, and the jars filled up warm with lemon syrup. Or by putting a larger portion of sugar, and boiling the syrup longer, you may candy it all over the surface of the fruit.

Green limes are preserved in the above manner, filling the skins with lemon jelly. To candy the syrup use a double portion of sugar, and boil it till it bubbles and sparkles in the kettle.

PEACHES PRESERVED.—

Take the finest ripe free-stone peaches. Pare them, cut them in half, and remove the stones. To every pound of peaches allow a pound of double refined loaf sugar, and half the white of an egg (slightly beaten) with half a pint of very clear soft water. Put the sugar into a porcelain preserving kettle, mix it with the water and white of egg, and when it has entirely dissolved, set it over the fire, and boil and skim it till the scum ceases to rise, which will be very soon, if the sugar is as good as it should be. There is no economy in using inferior sugar for sweetmeats, as much of it will be lost in skimming and sediment. In the mean time, boil in a little sauce-pan a bunch of fresh green peach leaves that have been cleared from all dust; or a[557] handful of broken-up peach kernels. When the flavor is well extracted, strain this water and mix it with the syrup. Then put in the halved peaches, and boil them (uncovered) till quite clear and soft, but not till they break. While warm, put them up with the syrup in glass or white-ware jars.

Preserved Green Gages.—Get the largest and ripest green gages, or egg plums. Scald them in boiling water to make them peel easily; the skins of all sorts of plums becoming very hard and tough when preserved. Remove the stems; they are no ornament, and render them troublesome to eat. Make a syrup in the usual way, allowing to each pound of plums a pound of the finest loaf sugar, half a pint of water, and half a white of egg. When well skimmed and boiled put in the plums, and boil them gently till quite clear and soft, but not till broken. All plums may be done in this manner. If not as ripe as possible, they will require to each pound of fruit a pound and a half of the best sugar.

BRANDY PEACHES.—

Take large juicy free-stone peaches, not so ripe as to burst or mash on being handled. Rub off the down from every one with a clean thick flannel. Prick every peach down to the stone with a large silver fork, and score them all along the seam or cleft. To each pound of peaches allow a pound of double-refined loaf sugar, broken-up small, and a half pint of[558] water mixed with half a white of egg, slightly beaten. Put the sugar into a porcelain kettle, and pour the water upon it. When it is quite melted give it a stirring, set it over the fire, and boil and skim it till no more scum rises. Next put in the peaches, and let them cook (uncovered) in the syrup till they look clear, or for about half an hour, or till a straw will penetrate them. Then take the kettle off the fire. Having allotted a pint of the very best white brandy to each pound of peaches, mix it with the syrup, after taking out the fruit with a wooden spoon, and draining it over the kettle. Put the peaches into a large tureen. Let the syrup remain in the kettle a little longer. Mix the brandy with it, and boil them together ten minutes, or more. Transfer the peaches to large glass jars, (two thirds full,) and pour the brandy and syrup over them, filling quite up to the top. When cool, cover them closely, and tie some bladder over the lids.

Green Gages—Are brandied in the same manner. Also, large egg-plums. Pears also, having first peeled them. To pear sweetmeats always add lemon rind grated, and lemon juice.

PRESERVED TOMATOS.—

This is an excellent and popular sweetmeat, when flavored well with lemon, which is indispensable to making it palatable. Also, it should be well penetrated with sugar, therefore it is best not to attempt preserving tomatos whole. The best time for doing them[559] is in the height of the lemon season. The most convenient for preserving are those with smooth even surfaces. If fluted or cleft they are difficult to peel when scalded, as the skins do not strip off so easily. Having weighed the tomatos, (which must be full-grown and quite ripe) allow to every two pounds, two pounds of the best brown sugar, a large spoonful of ground ginger, and the juice and grated yellow rind of one large ripe lemon, rolled awhile under your hand. Having scalded and peeled all the tomatos, and mixed with the sugar a little beaten white of egg, put them into a porcelain-lined preserving kettle, (uncovered,) and add, gradually, the sugar. Boil the tomatos and sugar slowly together, till the scum ceases to appear. Then add, gradually, the lemons, (peel and juice,) and boil slowly for an hour or more. The tomatos must all have bursted, otherwise they will not keep, from the sugar not getting sufficiently into them. When done, take them off the fire, and transfer to glass jars the tomatos with their syrup.

For yellow preserves take yellow tomatos, scald and peel them, and prick each with a silver fork. Lay them in a porcelain preserving kettle with plenty of fresh vine leaves under and over them. Boil them with the vine leaves till they become a finer yellow. Then wash out the kettle and boil the tomatos, as above, with the white sugar, and add the lemon.

Green Tomatos Preserved.—Take green tomatos when they are full grown, but have not yet begun[560] to turn in the least red. Scald and peel them, and lay them in a porcelain kettle with plenty of fresh vine leaves at the bottom. Cover them thickly with another layer of vine leaves at the top. Boil them very slowly with the vine leaves till they have all turned yellow. Then take them out, and spread them on large dishes. Wash the kettle, put in fresh vine leaves under and over the tomatos. They should become a fine green with the second boiling in vine leaves; otherwise repeat the greening. Then take them out, wash the kettle again, and return the tomatos to it with a pound and a half of white sugar to each pound of tomatos. Boil and skim, till all is clear and nice. Then add the grated yellow rind and the juice of one large lemon to every pound of tomatos, and boil slowly an hour longer. All the tomatos should burst, that the sugar may thoroughly enter the inside. Before you cover the jars, stir into each an additional quarter or half pound of powdered sugar. Green tomatos require a high flavoring of lemon, as they have no peculiar taste of their own.

PRESERVED QUINCES.—

Take the largest and ripest yellow quinces; after they have remained on the trees till the first frost. Wipe them clean, and boil them whole till they are tender all through, and can be easily penetrated with a splinter skewer. Save and strain the water in which they were boiled. When cool, pare and[561] core the quinces, and carefully remove the blemishes. To every pound of fruit allow a pound of the best double-refined loaf sugar. Make a syrup of the water in which the quinces were boiled, allowing half a pint of this water to every pound of sugar. When melted, set it in a porcelain kettle over a moderate fire, and boil and skim it till no more scum appears. Then put in the fruit, either whole or quartered, or cut into circular slices about half an inch thick; and boil it uncovered. When the quinces are quite clear and soft, (but not the least broken) take them out, and spread them on large flat dishes. Afterwards transfer them to large glass jars, rather more than half filled; pour the syrup warm over them; and when cool cover the jars, and tie pieces of bladder over the covers. You may boil, by themselves, the cores and parings, in as much water as will cover them well, till they are entirely dissolved. Then strain them through a linen bag, and while hot stir in as much powdered loaf sugar as will form a thick jelly. If the quinces have been preserved whole, fill up with this jelly the holes left by the cores; or if sliced, spread the jelly over the slices. Quinces soon become very hard and tough, unless they have been well boiled by themselves, before putting them into the sugar. Merely scalding or coddling them is not sufficient. If you have not jelly for filling up the holes, substitute marmalade. To keep quinces well, requires plenty of rich syrup.[562]

PRESERVED CRAB-APPLES.—

Take the finest Siberian crab-apples, which being always red, and having a pleasant acid, are the only sort now used for preserving. Rub each crab-apple with a dry clean flannel, and then prick every one in several places with a large needle to prevent their bursting. To every pound of fruit allow a pound and a half of double-refined loaf sugar, and a pint of water. First make a syrup of the sugar and water, boiling it in a porcelain kettle, and skimming it till perfectly clear. Put in the crab-apples, adding for each pound the juice and grated yellow rind of a large lemon. The lemon is indispensable to this sweetmeat. Simmer them slowly in this syrup till tender all through, so that they can be pierced with a twig of broom-corn; but do not allow them to break. When done, put them up warm in glass jars more than half full, and the syrup over them. You may heighten the fine red color with a little prepared cochineal—that is, cochineal powder kept in a bottle after being boiled with alum and cream of tartar.

Bellflower Apples or Large Pippins—May be preserved whole in the above manner. They look handsomely on a supper table, covered all over with a thick meringue or icing flavored with lemon or rose, and spread smoothly over every apple with a real rose-bud stuck in the top of each. You may color the icing a beautiful pink, by mixing with it a little prepared cochineal.[563]

PRESERVED CHERRIES.—

No cherries are worth preserving except morellas, or the large Virginia red, or carnation cherries. Stem and stone them carefully, saving the juice; and strew them thickly with powdered white sugar. To a quart of cherries allow a pound of the best loaf sugar. Make a syrup, allowing half a pint of water to a pound of sugar. Boil and skim it, and when the scum has ceased to rise put in the cherries and their juice, and give them a slow boil up. Put them up warm in glass or white-ware jars, and tie bladder over the lids.

FINE PRESERVED STRAWBERRIES.—

Have ready two sorts of strawberries, one half being of the largest and finest scarlet sort, (not too ripe,) the other smaller and less expensive, but quite ripe and perfectly fresh and nice. Put the smaller ones into a porcelain kettle, having allowed three quarters of a pound of double-refined loaf sugar to every quart of fruit. Boil the sugar and small strawberries together; skimming well, and stirring down to the bottom after every skimming, and mashing it to a jam. When done, set it to cool in a large pan; wash the kettle clean, or take another one, and make in it a clear syrup, allowing to each pound of the best loaf sugar a small half pint of water. When melted set it over the fire, and boil and skim till the scum ceases to rise. Put the large strawberries in this, and give them one boil up. If boiled too long they will[564] break. As soon as they have come to a boil take them (one at a time,) with a silver tea-spoon, and lay them separately on large flat dishes. Then mix the syrup with the jam thoroughly together, and boil it a quarter of an hour. Put the large strawberries, one at a time, into glass jars, (more than half full,) and fill up to the top with the hot jam. When cool lay a round of brandy paper on the surface, and secure the lids by tying pieces of bladder over them.

STRAWBERRIES IN WINE.—

Put a small quart of fine large scarlet strawberries into a glass jar, having sprinkled among them a quarter of a pound of the best loaf sugar. Fill up the jar with madeira or sherry. They are served at parties in small glass saucers, heaped on the top with whipped cream, or with white ice cream. What is sold by many confectioners as strawberry ice cream, has in reality no strawberries about it; as may be known by its beautiful rose color, such as strawberry juice never produces, particularly after being preserved with sugar. This fine delicate pink tinge comes in reality from alkanet. Most of what is called strawberry cordial, is in reality alcohol colored with that elegant dye.

STRAWBERRY WINE.—

Fill four glass jars holding each a quart, with fine ripe strawberries that have been hulled or picked clean. Cover[565] them; set them in a large kettle of cold water, and place it in a moderate heat till it gradually comes to a boil. Then let it boil but five minutes. Cork the jars, and seal them closely before you take them out of the water. Use the cement of two-thirds resin and one-third beeswax. Keep the jar for four weeks in a dry cool place. By that time you will find the strawberries with a thick white scum at the top, and a clear juice at the bottom. Pour it into clean bottles, through a funnel with a fine straining cloth. Cork the bottles, but do not drive the corks hard down, lest the bottles should burst if too tight. Arrange the bottles on the kitchen mantleshelf, where they may have some heat from the fire. You will see when a vinous fermentation takes place. It may continue a week. When it has entirely subsided, and is very clear, strain off the liquid from the sediment into fresh bottles, and cork them tightly. When you put them away, lay the bottles on their sides. This is a delicious cordial, and requires no brandy in it.

Preserved Gooseberries.—Top and tail the gooseberries, which should be of two sorts, and as ripe as you can get. The best kind quite ripe, large, and of a light amber color. Wash the others, and boil them in a porcelain kettle with barely water enough to keep them from burning. When they are soft and broken, mash the pulp through a sieve, or squeeze it through a linen bag. Measure it, and to each pint allow a large pound of powdered loaf sugar. Boil the sugar with the[566] pulp, skimming and stirring it till it begins to jelly. Then put in the large gooseberries, and give them one boil up. When done take them out separately, and spread them on a large flat dish. Continue to boil the syrup a while longer, till you find it congeals well on holding out a spoonful in the open air. Then put the large gooseberries into jars, and pour the syrup over them while still hot and liquid. Put them up warm.

Raspberries—May be preserved as above, reserving the finest for putting whole into the jelly. The large white raspberries make a fine sweetmeat, done whole in jelly or jam of white currants.

Black currants should always be made into jelly or jam. They require less sugar than other sweetmeats, (a quarter of a pound less) their juice being naturally very thick.

COUNTRY PLUMS.—

Gather your plums when perfectly ripe, and ready to fall from the trees. Split them with a knife, and remove the stones. Spread them out on large dishes, so as not to touch, and set them in the hot sun on a sunny roof or balcony; taking them in every evening before dark, and not putting them out till after the dew is off in the morning. Repeat this for three or four days. Then pack them down in stone jars with a large quantity of the best brown sugar, a layer of plums and a layer of sugar alternately, (sugar being at the bottom and[567] top) and cover the jars closely. Let them remain undisturbed till February or March. When opened, you will have plenty of rich syrup among them. They make good spring pies, and will be prized for family use at that season.

Country Grapes.—The little wild grapes have a very pleasant taste after the first frost in the autumn, and should not be gathered till that time. Until frosted, they are too sour to eat. To keep them all winter, strip them from the stems and put them in stone jars with layers of good brown sugar, till the jars are three parts full. Then fill up to the top with West India molasses. They will make good winter pies, when cranberries, dried peaches, and dried apples are scarce.

Persimmon Jam.—Do not gather persimmons till late in the fall, when they are well sweetened with the frost. They are unfit to eat till all the leaves are off the trees, and till they are ripe enough to mash. Then pack them in jars with plenty of brown sugar. Maple sugar will do. In the back-woods they will be valued. When cooked they will be improved by the addition of a little sweet cider.[568]

PICKLES.

For pickles the articles should all be fine and freshly gathered. They are generally too hard to be cut or eaten conveniently, and there is too much unnecessary fear of pickles proving soft. It is not now customary to keep them for weeks in salt and water; two or three days will be sufficient for this part of the process, and some kinds do not require it at all. The arts of both preserving and pickling are of late years much simplified. All pickles have nearly the same taste, and there is no use (and much trouble) in multiplying varieties, when a few sorts of the very best will be found amply sufficient for any table. One important point to be always observed, is to use none but the most wholesome vinegar, (the genuine cider,) as all that is made of drugs is unwholesome to the eater and destructive to the pickles. On no consideration boil them in brass, copper, or bell-metal—things which fortunately are now nearly exploded from all kitchens; iron lined with Delft, (called porcelain,) being universally substituted.

To green pickles boil them with a thick bed of fresh vine leaves, both under and over them. This will first render them yellow; then boil them again in a clean kettle with fresh vine leaves. If not green enough when you think they are done, repeat the boiling again, with fresh vine[569] leaves and fresh water. Avoid eating pickles that are of a fine verdigris green. They are greened with copper, and are poisonous.

If you cannot obtain vine leaves, you may green pickles by boiling them with fresh cabbage leaves under and over. The first boiling will turn them yellow, the second with new leaves should render them green. But vine leaves are better and more certain. Put them up warm in stone or, glass jars with broad flat corks; and tie kid leather over them.

INDIA PICKLE.—

For this pickle you may use a variety of young fruits and vegetables. For instance, red cherries, grapes, plums, apricots, young peaches, or lemons, limes, button-tomatos, cauliflowers sliced, white cabbage sliced, hard-boiled eggs sliced, little onions, nasturtions, small cucumbers, &c. Having nicely prepared these things, put them all together into a large porcelain kettle, and scald them in a strong brine made in the proportion of a quarter of a pound of fine salt to a quart of boiling water. Pour it hot over the pickles, and let them remain in it till next day. Then take them out, and drain off all the brine through a sieve. Spread them out (so as not to touch,) on large flat dishes or old japan servers, and set them in the hot sun for three or four days; carefully taking them in at evening, and if the weather becomes damp or cloudy. Afterwards put them into a cullender or sieve,[570] wash them well through cold water, and then wipe them all dry with a coarse cloth. Put them into a large pan. Mix together a quarter pound of grated horse-radish, sliced; two cloves of garlic; half a hundred small white onions; two ounces of mace; a quarter of a pound of ground ginger; two nutmegs, powdered; two pounds of powdered loaf sugar; half a bottle of the best ground mustard; half a pound of yellow mustard seed, and an ounce of turmeric powder, which must on no account be omitted, as a yellow tinge is indispensable to this pickle. Mix all the seasoning with sufficient excellent cider vinegar to render it liquid, and pour it over the pickles in the pan, and then stir them up from the bottom. Let the whole rest till cold. Then transfer it to stone jars. Have ready some more vinegar, pour it boiling hot on the pickles, &c., but do not fill up to the top, as they expand and rise.

PICKLED PEACHES.—

Take eight fine large free-stone peaches, (white or yellow,) when nearly but not quite ripe. Wipe off the down with a clean flannel, and put them into a brine strong enough to bear up an egg. In two days take them out, and drain them for several hours on an inverted sieve. Tie in a piece of thin muslin one ounce of whole white pepper; one of broken-up ginger; eight blades of mace, and two ounces of mustard seed. Boil this seasoning for ten minutes in a quart of the best cider vinegar. Lay the[571] peaches in a broad-mouthed stone jar, with the bag of spice at the bottom, and pour the vinegar boiling hot upon them. At the top add a table-spoonful of salad oil. Put them up warm, and secure them with broad flat corks, and rounds of leather tied on carefully.

Peach Mangoes.—The above sort of peaches are best for mangoes. Steep them in brine for two days. Cut a small piece out of each, and carefully loose the stones from the inside with a small sharp knife. It will then be easy to thrust them out of free-stone peaches, and none others should be used, either for pickling or preserving. Make a filling for the places that were occupied by the stones. For this purpose, use fresh mustard seed moistened with vinegar; scraped horse-radish, powdered ginger, a clove of garlic, or a minced shalot or very small onion, and a very little chilli or red pepper minced very small. Also a little powdered mace, and a little chopped peach. With this mixture stuff the peaches hard. Replace the bits that were cut off, and tie them on firmly with fine packthread, crossing the peach. Boil a quart of the best vinegar, seasoned with white spices and mustard seed, tied up in muslin; and when it has boiled ten minutes, pour it hot over the peach mangoes in a stone jar. Add at the top a table-spoonful of salad oil; cork the jar immediately, and tie leather over it. Where there is no dislike to cloves, you may stick half a dozen into the outside of each peach; but we think a[572] few small bits of mace will be preferable, as the clove taste will overpower every thing else.

MELON MANGOES.—

Take the small green melons, used only for this purpose, and let them lie in a strong brine for two days. Take them out and drain them well. Cut a small square bit out of one side, and through this hole extract all the seeds and filaments. Have ready a stuffing made of grated horse-radish, white mustard seed, minced shalot, or a clove of garlic chopped fine; a very little chilli or red pepper, and a little powdered mace. Wet this stuffing well with vinegar, and then fill with it the cavity of the mango. Replace the bit that was cut out, and tie it in with packthread, crossing all over the melon. Then place the mangoes in a stone jar. Have ready a sufficiency of the best vinegar, (a large quart or more, for eight or ten mangoes,) boiled ten minutes, with a seasoning of mustard seed, ginger, mace, grated horse-radish, and chopped shalot or little onion, or a clove of garlic minced very small—all tied in a bit of muslin. Pour the vinegar boiling hot over the mangoes, having placed among them the bag of seasoning. Finish with sweet oil at the top of the jar.

MUSHROOMS PICKLED.—

For pickling, the small button mushrooms are best. After cutting off the stalk closely, and with a sharp penknife[573] peeling off carefully their thin outside skin, measure two quarts, taking care that they are all of the right sort, and freshly gathered; the outside of a dull whitish color, and the underside of a fine pinkish salmon tinge. If very white above and below, or if bright yellow, they are poisonous. Good mushrooms grow always in open fields or airy places; never in woods or marshes. To pickle two quarts, prepare eight little bags of very clear muslin; and tie up in each bag six blades of mace, six slices of root ginger, and half a nutmeg broken up. Have ready four glass jars, such as are considered to hold a quart. Lay a bag of spice in the bottom of each. Having sprinkled the mushrooms well with salt, let them rest till next day. Then divide the mushrooms and their liquor into four pints. Put one pint into each jar, with a bag of spice at the bottom, and another at the top. Pour on boiling cider vinegar of the best quality, and finish with a table-spoonful of salad oil. Cork the jars immediately, and tie leather carefully over the top. All mushrooms turn brown on the under-side the day after they are gathered, and sometimes sooner.

Boiling the spice in the vinegar will weaken the mushroom flavor. When you open a jar of pickled mushrooms, immediately cork it again; tie on the leather cover, and use it up as soon as possible. Therefore, pint jars, with half a pint of mushrooms in each, are convenient.[574]

BELL-PEPPERS PICKLED.—

Take fine full-grown bell-peppers. Make a brine in a stone jar of salt and water, strong enough to float an egg, and let the peppers remain in it two days, putting a weight on the cover to keep it down. Then take them out, wash them well in cold water, drain them, and wipe them dry. Cut a slit in the side of each, and extract all the seeds, as if left in, they will be entirely too hot. Through these slits let all the water run out. Put them into a clean stone jar. Boil sufficient of the best cider vinegar, interspersed with the muslin bags of broken-up cinnamon, mace, and nutmeg. Pour it, boiling hot, on the peppers in the jar. Distribute the bags of spice among the peppers, and cork the jar warm. You may stuff the peppers in the manner of mangoes, with pickled red cabbage finely shred, minced onions and minced cucumbers pickled, and seasoned with a little mustard seed, ginger, and mace. Tie up the slit with packthread, crossing all round. Fill up the jars with vinegar, putting sweet oil on the top.

Your may green bell-peppers in the usual way, with vine leaves or cabbage leaves.

All pickles should be kept in a dry place. If you find them mouldy they are not always spoiled. Take them out of the jar, wipe off all the mould carefully, and throw away the vinegar. Wash the jar very clean, scald it, and set it in the sun to purify still more. Make a new pickle with fresh seasoning, and put them into that.[575]

PICKLED CAULIFLOWERS.—

Take large, ripe, full-blown cauliflowers. Remove the leaves and stalk, and divide the blossom into pieces or clusters of equal size. Throw them into a porcelain kettle of boiling water, (adding a little salt,) let them simmer, and skim them well. When they come to a boil, take them up with a perforated skimmer, and lay them on a sieve to drain. Put them into stone jars, (three parts full.) Season with mace and nutmeg infused in sufficient of the best cider vinegar, and simmer it for a quarter of an hour. When it comes to a boil take it off the fire, and pour it hot over the cauliflower in the jar, filling quite up to the top, and adding sweet oil at the last. Cover it while warm, and tie leather over the top. If you wish to have the cauliflowers yellow, boil with the vinegar some turmeric powder tied up in thin muslin. This is a very nice pickle.

Broccoli is done in the same manner, but should be previously greened by boiling it with vine leaves.

PICKLED BEETS WITH CABBAGE.—

Take a large fine red cabbage, wash it well, and drain it. Quarter it, (having removed the stalk) and slice it with a cabbage-cutter as for coldslaw. Boil some beets in the usual way till quite tender, (they require a very long time) and while warm peel and slice them in round pieces, or split them down, and cut them into long bits. Lay them in a large stone jar, alternately with layers[576] of the shred cabbage, till the jar is more than half full. Have ready some scalding vinegar that has been boiled with a seasoning of blades of mace and sliced ginger root, and some nutmeg. Pour the vinegar, boiling hot, upon the cabbage and beet, till you have the jars quite full. Finish with a large table-spoonful of sweet oil. Cover the jar with leather, and put it away warm.

PICKLED CUCUMBERS.—

Take small young cucumbers, freshly gathered, and free from blemishes. Make a brine strong enough to float an egg, and let the cucumbers lie in it till they become yellow, stirring them down to the bottom twice a day. Then pour off all the brine, wash the cucumbers in cold water, and drain them. Lay a thick bed of fresh green vine leaves in the bottom and sides of a porcelain kettle. Put in the cucumbers, and pour on sufficient cold water to wet them all plentifully. Then cover them, closely, with more vine leaves, and pour on more water, packing the leaves well and pressing them down. Fill up to the top with water and vine leaves, and cover the kettle closely to keep in the steam. Hang it over a slow fire where there is no blaze, and keep it warm all night, but not hot. In the morning if the pickles are not a fine deep green, remove the vine leaves and replace them with a fresh supply. After this, they will be generally green enough; but if not, continue till they are. Then drain the cucumbers on a sieve, and trans[577]fer them to a very clean stone jar. To fifty cucumbers allow four quarts of excellent vinegar, and a bit of alum about the size of a large grain of corn, with half an ounce of mustard seed, half an ounce of mace, a broken-up nutmeg, and half an ounce of root ginger, sliced. Tie up the spice in three muslin bags, and boil them ten minutes in the vinegar. Then take out and lay them among the cucumbers in the jar; one to the bottom, one in the middle, and one at the top. Pour over them the vinegar boiling hot; add a table-spoonful of sweet oil, and cork the jar immediately, tying a leather over it. Keep wooden pickle spoons in the pantry for taking out pickles, and always be careful to close the jar immediately after.

PICKLED ONIONS.—

Take the small silver-skinned white onions. Peel off the outer skin. Make a brine strong enough to float an egg, skim it well, and when it begins to cool pour it upon the onions. Let them stand in it (closely covered,) till quite cold. Then take them out, peel off another skin, and wash them through a cullender in cold water. Next, boil them in milk till tender all through, so that you can easily pierce them with a needle. Then drain off the milk. Measure them, and to a quart of onions allow a quart of the best cider vinegar. Boil in the vinegar two muslin bags tied up with broken-up[578] nutmeg and mace. When it has boiled, pour it hot over the onions in the jar; having laid one bag of spice at the bottom, and one in the middle. The onions should fill two thirds of the jar, and the vinegar the remainder. Finish with a table-spoonful of salad oil, and cork the jar immediately, and tie on the leather cover.

As onions pickled this way are generally much liked, it is well, when doing them, to make several jars full.

Cucumber and Onion Pickle.—To a dozen fine cucumbers allow three large onions. Pare the cucumbers and peel the onions, and cut both into thick slices. Sprinkle salt and pepper over them, and let them rest till next day. Then drain them well, and put them into a stone jar. Pour boiling vinegar over them. Close the jar, and set it in a warm place. Next day repeat the boiling vinegar, and cork the jar. Next day repeat it again, with a bag of mace, nutmeg, and ginger, boiled in the vinegar. Then cork the jar, and tie it up. When the pickle is finished, divide it in small stone jars, with sweet oil on the top of each.

WALNUTS OR BUTTERNUTS PICKLED—

Gather them in early summer, when they are full-grown, but so tender that a large needle will easily pierce them all through. Rub off the outer skin with a coarse cloth, and then lay them in salt and water for a week, changing the brine every other day. Allow for this brine a small[579] quarter of a pound of salt to a large quart of water. Make enough to cover all the nuts well. Place a large lid over the pan, and keep them closely from the air. The last day take them out of the brine, drain them, and prick every one quite through in several places with a large needle. Drain them again, spread them out on large flat dishes, and set them to blacken for two days in the hot sun. For a hundred nuts, allow a gallon of excellent cider vinegar, half an ounce of black pepper-corns, half an ounce of cloves, half an ounce of allspice, an ounce of root ginger, and an ounce of mace. Boil the spice in the vinegar for ten minutes, tied up in eight small muslin bags. Then take them out, and having divided the nuts in four stone jars, distribute among them, equally, the bags of spice, and pour on the vinegar hot, an equal portion in each jar. While warm, secure them with flat corks, and tie leather over them. Done this way, you may begin to use them in a week. If you have not enough of vinegar to fill the jars up to the top, add some cold, and strew among the nuts some blades of mace. Finish with a large spoonful of salad oil at the top of each jar.

PICKLED PLUMS.—

Take large fine plums; perfect, and quite ripe. To every quart of plums allow half a pound of the best white sugar powdered, and a large pint of the best cider vinegar. Melt the sugar in the vinegar, and put it with the[580] fruit into a porcelain kettle; all the plums having been previously pricked to the stone with a large needle. Lay among them some small muslin bags filled with broken nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon; and if you choose, a few cloves. Give them one boil up, skimming them well. Put them warm into stone jars, with the bags interspersed, and cork them immediately. Green gages may be done in this manner, first rendering them greener by boiling with vine leaves in the usual way.

Damsons Pickled.—Do these in the same manner as plums; but as they are much more acid, allow brown sugar of the best kind. Plums or damsons may be pickled plain, and with little trouble if full ripe, pricked with a needle, and packed down in a stone jar with profuse layers of brown sugar between the layers of fruit; the jars filled up with cold cider vinegar, and putting sweet oil at the top.

Pickled Cherries.—Take the largest and finest red cherries, fully ripe. Morellas are the best. Either remove the stems entirely, or cut them short, within two inches of the fruit. Have ready a large glass jar. Fill it two thirds with fresh newly-gathered cherries, and then fill up to the top with the best vinegar. Keep it well covered, and if both fruit and vinegar are of excellent quality, no boiling is necessary, and no spice, as the cherry flavor will be retained, and they will not shrivel.[581]

Button Tomatos.—The small round tomatos, either red or yellow, will keep perfectly, if put whole into cold vinegar of the really best quality. You may add a bag of spice if you choose.

Nasturtion Seeds.—Keep a large glass jar of cold cider vinegar, and put in the green seeds of nasturtions after the flowers are off, and the seeds full-grown, but not hard. Remove the stalks. In this simple way nasturtions will keep perfectly well, and are an excellent substitute for capers with boiled mutton. They can be raised profusely, even in a city garden, and the blossoms are very beautiful. With pepper-grass and nasturtion flowers from your own garden, you can have a nice salad for a summer evening tea-table.

The three pickles above (cherries, button tomatos, and nasturtion seeds,) are cheap, easy, and palatable. Try them. To flavor them with spice, boil the vinegar with a bag of spice in it, and pour it on hot, leaving the bag among them in the jar.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE SICK.

CHICKEN BROTH.—

Skin and cut up a fine full-grown fowl. If but little is wanted, take only the dark meat for the broth, and put it into a pot with a small quart of water, and slowly boil it to rags. Strain the liquid and return it to the[582] pot, and thicken it with two spoonfuls of arrow root, if no vegetables are permitted. Otherwise, you may boil with the chicken some sliced onion and sliced turnip, with a grated parsnip and a sliced potato, straining out the vegetables with the shreds of fowl. You may reserve the white meat of the breast and wings to make another dish, if the patient is permitted to take it. This is the white meat cut off the bones, and stewed slowly in fresh oyster liquid, with a bit of nice butter. If the patient is well enough, stir in a beaten egg just before the stew is taken from the fire.

Oyster Soup for Invalids.—Remove the gristle from a dozen fine large fresh oysters. Take half their liquor and mix it with an equal portion of very good milk, seasoning it with three or four blades of mace, and a stalk of celery scraped and cut into pieces. When it has boiled and been skimmed well, strain it over the oysters, and let all simmer together till the oysters are plumped, but do not let them come to a boil. Serve it up in a bowl, with some milk biscuit to eat with it.

Clam Soup for Invalids.—Where salt is permitted, cut up and boil slowly in their own liquor a dozen or more small sand clams. When well boiled and skimmed, strain the liquor into a clean sauce-pan, and thicken it with bread crumbs, and a small bit of nice fresh butter. The clams are of no further use. Throw them away.[583]

MUTTON BROTH FOR THE SICK.—

Take two pounds from a nice neck of mutton, and leave out some of the fat if there seems too much. Cut the meat from the bones, and put it into a pot with a large quart of water, and no seasoning. Boil it till the meat is all in rags. Do not skim it, as the fat on the surface is very healing, if without salt or pepper. When done, strain it into a bowl. Let the patient eat with it a slice of very light wheat bread, having the crust cut off. It is excellent for the dysentery. When the patient is convalescent, a little seasoning may be allowed, and some well-boiled mashed turnips stirred into the bowl of soup with a boiled onion sliced, and a thickening of arrow-root or farina, stirred in about half an hour before the soup is taken up. Pour it off clear from the shreds of meat at the bottom.

Veal Broth for Invalids.—Take a pound of knuckle of veal cut in pieces, four calf's feet, split up. Boil them in a large quart of water, till they are all reduced to rags. Then strain the liquid, and add to it the soft part, only, of half a dozen fine oysters, and three or four blades of mace. Set it again on the fire, and as soon as it simmers well, take it off, and serve it up with very light milk biscuit, or little bread rolls, to eat with it. Veal broth may be made with a piece of knuckle of veal cut small, and boiled in the liquor of clams instead of water. The clams themselves must be omitted, as they are always tough and indigestible for an invalid, but their liquor adds a pleasant[584] relish to the insipidity of the veal. As the strength of the patient improves, a grated carrot, a sliced onion, and some sliced turnip, may be added to the veal from the beginning.

Raw Oysters for the Sick.—Take large fine fresh oysters, and carefully cut out the hard part or gristle. They are considered very good for convalescents, being, when raw, cooling, refreshing, and nutritious. Drain them well from the liquor, making them as dry as you can; and if permitted, accompany the oysters with black pepper and vinegar, and a plate of bread and butter.

Birds.—Convalescents, not yet allowed to eat meat, can generally relish birds nicely broiled, or stewed in their own gravy, with any appropriate seasoning, and a little fresh butter, if they are not very fat. When dished, lay under each a piece of nice toast, dipped for a minute in hot water.

Beefsteak for Invalids.—When this can be eaten with an appetite, there is no greater promoter of returning health; but it must be of the best sirloin steak, very tender, well broiled, and thoroughly done on both sides, the gravy being carefully saved to serve up with it, a little fresh butter being added after the meat comes off the gridiron. If the taste of onion is desired, merely rub the plate with a peeled onion. A very tender lamb-chop well broiled may be eaten by way of change; but a tenderloin steak is better. Avoid pork, or veal cutlets.

Gravy Sippets.—For invalids who cannot yet eat meat, a light and relishing preparation may be[585] made with one or two slices of the best wheat bread, divested of the crust, and spread on a hot plate, while some nice well-skimmed gravy is poured over them; the gravy of roast beef, veal, or mutton, that has had no butter about it. Gravy sippets will form a variety to the usual broths, and other beginnings for the resumption of animal food.

HERB TEAS.—

Have one or more china or white-ware pots for the purpose of making herb teas; and see that, after using, they are well washed, well scalded and dried, and set open in the sun till wanted again. The herbs, whether green or dried, should be of excellent quality, and picked very clean from dust and stems. Having well-scalded the pot, take the allotted quantity of the herb and put it in; then pour on the water, which must be actually boiling at the time, and press the herbs down at the bottom with a silver spoon. Then put on the lid closely, and immediately stop up the spout with a small cork, or a wad of soft white paper rolled tightly. This is to keep in the steam, and prevent the strength of the herb from escaping. When sufficiently boiled, pour into a pitcher with a lid, and through a strainer, as much of the tea as is wanted. Strainers of block tin, with a handle and very fine close holes, are excellent for this and other purposes.

Herb Candies.—Hoarhound candy, and many others, may be made of a strong decoction or tea of the herb, thickened with loaf sugar, and boiled,[586] skimmed, and stirred till very thick and stiff. Then pour it smoothly into a square tin pan and set it in a cool place to congeal. While still soft, mark it in even squares with a knife. When quite cold and hard, loosen it from the pan with a knife, and take it out. It is good for coughs.

GRUEL.—

Gruels, for patients who are unable to take any thing more substantial, may be made of ground rice flour, arrow root, indian meal, oatmeal grits, or farina. Mix to a paste, with water, two large table-spoonfuls of any of the above articles; then stir the paste, gradually, into a pint of water boiling on the fire, making it very smooth and pressing out all the lumps. To prevent it boiling over, when it has risen nearly to the top of the pan, remove it from the fire. Sweeten it while hot, and, if permitted, add a little white wine with nutmeg, and a small bit of fresh butter.

Toast and Water.—Cut a large slice or two of the best wheat bread; pare off all the crust; and with a long-handled toasting fork toast it evenly on both sides, not allowing it to blacken or burn in any part. While hot from the fire, plunge the toast immediately into a quart pitcher of clear cold water. Cover the pitcher instantly, and let it infuse for half an hour or more, without leaving off the cover. When done, it should be of a very pale brown color.[587]

JELLY WATER.—

Stir a table-spoonful of currant jelly into a half pint tumbler of ice water, if the patient is feverish. The jelly may be of other fruit, and if not sweet enough add some loaf sugar. The juice of any ripe fruit, made sweet and mixed with cold water, is a good substitute when sweetmeats are not at hand. Warm drinks are now seldom used, but to promote perspiration and carry off a cold. Tamarinds are in themselves very cooling and pleasant, and make an agreeable drink infused in water, either warm or cold.

CARRAGEEN BLANCMANGE.—

Carrageen is a species of sea moss which becomes glutinous when boiled, and is considered remarkably nutritious and strengthening. It can also be rendered very palatable. It is found abundantly on some parts of our sea-coast, and may be obtained of the best druggists, very nicely cleaned and pressed. To a small loose handful of carrageen allow a small quart of rich unskimmed milk, half a pound of powdered white sugar, a stick of the best cinnamon broken-up, six or seven blades of mace, and half a nutmeg, powdered. Having washed the carrageen through two or three cold waters, and shaken it out to remove the drops that hang about it, put it to a pint and a half of the cold milk. Boil it half an hour in a covered porcelain kettle. Then take it out, for if it boils too long the carrageen will taste too strongly. In another vessel boil the remaining half pint of milk with[588] the spices, till very highly flavored. Then strain it into the carrageen milk, and stir in, gradually, the half pound of powdered loaf sugar. Set the porcelain kettle again over the fire, and let it boil fast for five minutes longer. Then strain it into moulds or bowls previously wet with cold water; and when it has well congealed, turn it out, and serve it up with sweetened cream, flavored with rose-water or peach-water. If for an invalid, who is not allowed spices, flavor it with rose-water only, stirred in after the blancmange has been taken from the fire.

FARINA BLANCMANGE.—

From a quart of rich milk take out half a pint. Put the half pint into a small sauce-pan, and add (if permitted) sufficient mace, nutmeg, and cinnamon to flavor it well; the spices being tied up in a very thin muslin bag. Then add the flavored milk to the remainder, having stirred in two heaped table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf sugar. Set it over the fire in a porcelain kettle, and when it has come to a boil sprinkle in, gradually, four large heaping table-spoonfuls of farina, stirring it well. Keep it boiling a quarter of an hour after all the farina is in. When done, strain it into blancmange moulds, and set it on ice to congeal. If for an invalid not allowed spice, boil it plain, and when taken from the fire stir in a wine-glass of rose-water. If rose-water is boiled with it from the beginning, the strength and flavor will evaporate.[589]

Farina Flummery.—Mix with a small pint of water a large pint of the juice of ripe currants, or strawberries, or of stewed cranberries in winter, made very sweet with white sugar. Boil the water and juice together, and stir in gradually a quarter pound of farina, and then boil it fifteen minutes longer. Afterwards transfer it to moulds, and set it on ice till congealed.

Farina Gruel.—Have some water boiling on the fire, and when it boils fast, sprinkle in sufficient farina to make it moderately thick. Then sweeten it with white sugar. If permitted, stir in some white wine, and nutmeg grated.

BEEF TEA.—

Take a pound of fine fresh beefsteak cut from the round, without any fat. Chop it into small bits, and season it with a level salt-spoon of salt. Put it into a wide-mouthed bottle, cork it closely, and set it into a kettle of cold water, which must reach to the neck of the bottle. Let it boil steadily for three hours, by which time the essence will be all extracted from the beef. Then remove the cork, and strain the liquid into a bowl, and skim it. It can be made still more conveniently in a bain-marie or double kettle; an article useful for many purposes, particular in cookery for an invalid. Mutton or veal tea are made in the same manner. Also chicken tea, or essence of any sort of poultry or game.

Chicken Panada.—Having skinned and cut up a fine full-grown chicken, take the white meat[590] from the breast and wings, and mince it small for panada. The dark meat will do for chicken tea. Add to the panada a slice of wheat bread crumbled and mixed in, and boil it in a bain-marie with the water outside; seasoning it (if permitted) with powdered mace or nutmeg.

Sweet Panada.—Mix with a pint of water a glass of madeira or sherry; a heaped table-spoonful of powdered loaf sugar, half the yellow rind of a lemon grated, and half the juice; and a half tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg or mace. Set the mixture over the fire, and as soon as it boils add crumbled milk biscuit, or a rusk. Then give it another boil up.

BARLEY WATER.—

Having washed clean two ounces of pearl barley, put it into a sauce-pan with a quart of water, the grated rind and the juice of a lemon, and two ounces of seeded raisins. Boil it slowly till the liquid is reduced one half. Then strain it, and sweeten it, while warm, with loaf sugar.

Gum Arabic Water.—Take an ounce of the best and cleanest gum arabic. Put it into a pitcher, and pour on a pint of boiling water, and stir while dissolving. When cool, squeeze in (if permitted) the juice of a lemon, and add loaf sugar enough to make it pleasantly sweet. Gum arabic water, alone, is sometimes given to a patient, whom it is expedient to keep very low as a preventive to inflammation.[591]

Tamarind Water.—This is a pleasant and cooling drink in fevers, allowing half a pint of cold water to as many tamarinds as you can take up with a table-spoon. Cover it, and let it stand for a few minutes.

Apple Water.—Take four fine large juicy apples, (pippins or bellflowers,) core and pare them, and bake them side by side in a tin pan. When well done and quite soft all through, put them into a pitcher and fill up with warm water. Simmer them over the fire, and when quite soft mash them; and, if necessary, add more water till they become a thick liquid that can be drank. Sweeten well with loaf sugar, and if permitted, add some lemon juice or rose-water. Drink it cool.

Egg Wine.—Break a nice fresh egg into a tumbler, and beat it till smooth and thick. Add a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered loaf sugar, and stir in a glass of the best port wine. This, when permitted, is very strengthening and cheering for an invalid, to take about the hour of noon or earlier. When wine is not allowed, you may beat the egg into a glass of new unskimmed milk.

WHEY.—

Milk can be converted into a curd by the infusion of rennet water, white wine, lemon juice, tamarind juice, or vinegar, stirred into good milk, covered and set in a warm place till the curd has formed, and has separated from the whey which remains beneath it. Take off the curd carefully, breaking it as little as possible,[592] and put it into a deep dish. Pour the whey into a pitcher. It should look clear, and greenish rather than white, and have none of the milk curd remaining about it. Set the pitcher on ice. It is an excellent drink in fevers. When approved, the curd may be eaten in a saucer with sugar. For rennet whey, cut a piece of dried rennet about two inches square, and wipe all the salt from the outside, but do not wash it. Soak the bit of rennet for several hours (or all night) in a small tea-cup of lukewarm water. Then pour the rennet water into the milk. For wine whey, boil a jill of sherry in a pint of milk, without stirring it.

TAPIOCA.—

Having washed in cold water three heaped table-spoonfuls of tapioca; drain it, put it into a clean quart bowl, pour on water enough to cover it well, and soak it four hours. Then pour on as much more water, transfer the whole to a porcelain skillet, in the bottom of which you have laid the yellow peel of a fresh lemon, pared so thin as to be transparent, and boil the tapioca gently till it looks quite clear. Then take out the lemon peel, and stir in sufficient loaf sugar to make it very sweet. If approved, flavor it with some madeira or sherry, and some grated nutmeg. Tapioca may be boiled in plain milk, with no seasoning but the sugar to sweeten it.

Sago.—Pick and wash clean, in two cold waters, a half pint of sago. Put it into a porcelain skillet, with the yellow rind of a lemon pared tran[593]sparent. Pour on it a quart of water, and let it all soak for two hours. Then set it over the fire, and boil it, gently, till the lemon is all to pieces and nearly dissolved, and the sago looks clear. Take out the lemon peel, and stir in, if permitted, some sherry wine, sugar, and grated nutmeg, and give it another boil.

If the above seasoning is not allowed, boil the sago in milk only, or water only, till the liquid becomes thick and like a jelly.

Sago Pudding for an invalid.—Boil three table-spoonfuls of soaked sago in a pint of milk till quite soft. Add gradually three ounces of white sugar, and set it away to cool. Beat three eggs till thick and smooth, and stir them by degrees into the sago and milk. Grate in some nutmeg, and bake the pudding in a deep dish. Tapioca pudding is made in the same manner.

SWEETBREADS FOR INVALIDS.—

Cut open two fine fresh sweetbreads, and lay them in warm water till all the blood is discharged. Then transfer them to a pan of cold water to blanch or whiten. Stew them in the strained liquid of fresh oysters, till quite tender. When done, take out the sweetbreads, remove the gristle or pipe, and serve them up warm, having laid in the bottom of the dish a slice of nice toast that has been dipped for a minute in hot water. If permitted, the oysters may be cooked with the sweetbread, first removing the hard part.[594]

STEWED SMELTS.—

Smelts are considered a delicate and nutritious fish for invalids. They are in season in winter, and early in the spring. Choose them as large as you can find them. Having drawn and cleaned them, cut off their heads and tails. Put sufficient water to cover them in a small stew-pan, adding a very little powdered white sugar, and a few small sprigs of parsley, or sweet marjoram. When the water boils lay in the fish, and simmer them five minutes. Then stir in a very little arrow root, mixed with a few drops of cold water, and let it stew ten minutes longer. Serve up the stew in a small deep dish with a cover, and eat with it some very light bread-roll. It will be a pleasant change from the usual broths and infusions prepared for the sick.

A Molasses Supper.—Make a thick slice of very nice toast, evenly browned on both sides, but not the least burnt. Lay it in a pint bowl, and pour over it a small half pint of the best West India molasses, having stirred into the molasses a heaped table-spoonful of ground ginger. Mix the molasses with half a pint of hot water, and pour the whole over the toast. Cover it with a plate for a few minutes, and eat it while warm, previous to going to bed. This is a wholesome strengthening palatable supper for an invalid, (as we know by experience) and may be continued as long as the patient continues to like it. It is always a good winter supper for children. The ginger must on no account be omitted. If the molasses has turned a little sour, stir in a salt-spoonful of soda.[595]

To prevent a jug of molasses from running over when kept in a warm place, pour out a little into another vessel, and leave the molasses jug uncorked for two days. Then cork it tightly.

MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS.

TEA.—

No metal (not even silver,) is good for tea-pots. All tea should be made in china or queensware. Wedgewood (whether black or white) imbibes much of the essence of the tea, and from constant use soon becomes unpleasant. Britannia ware is exceedingly unwholesome for any sort of cooking, as one fourth of the composition is copper. Block tin for a common tea-pot is less objectionable, and much cheaper. All tea-pots should, after using, be thoroughly emptied of the old leaves, and washed very clean in warm water, and set open in the sun and air for several hours. To make good tea, the tea itself, whether black or green, must be of excellent quality. There is no economy in buying that which is low-priced. Green tea, if fresh and good, and not adulterated will look green in the cup, and have a fragrant odor. If it draws red, or brown, or blackish, it is old or mixed with something wrong. Begin to make your tea about a quarter of an hour before it is wanted. Scald the tea-pot (twice over) with boiling water. Then put in the tea, allowing three heaping table-spoonfuls to each[596] person, and a pint of water, actually boiling, when put in. Cover it closely with the lid, and set it by the fire for ten or fifteen minutes to infuse. After the first cups have gone round, put some fresh tea into the pot, and pour on it some more boiling water, that the second cups may be as strong as the first, having time to infuse. Weak tea for company is very mean. For those that like it so, have a small pot of water on the server. If the water is not boiling fast when poured on the tea, and is beginning to cool, the tea will be flat and insipid, and the leaves will float on the surface of the cups. There is then no remedy but to make some fresh.

COFFEE.—

To drink coffee in perfection, a sufficient quantity for breakfast should be roasted every morning, and ground hot, as it loses much of its strength by keeping even for a few hours. The best coffee roasters are iron cylinders, (standing on feet) with a door in one side, and a handle that turns the cylinder round towards the fire or from it, that the coffee may be equally done throughout. It must be roasted a bright brown color, and on no account black or burnt. When about half done, put in bits of fresh butter, allowing a table-spoonful to a pound of coffee. Previous to roasting pick the coffee carefully, throwing away the defective grains, and the stones or sand. Coffee should be ground while warm in a[597] mill kept solely for that purpose, and fastened up against the kitchen wall.

For boiled coffee allow four ounces of ground coffee (or a quarter of a pound) to a quart of water. When the water boils, stir in the coffee. Give it one hard boil up. Then set it farther from the fire, and simmer it for ten minutes, adding the white of an egg, (including the egg shell,) or a small strip of isinglass. Pour out a large cup of the coffee, and then (holding it high above the coffee-pot,) pour it back again. Repeat this till wanted, and then set the coffee-pot beside the fire, (but not over it.) For company, allow six ounces of coffee to a quart of water. Keep the lid always on, but if when boiling hard it rises and seems inclined to run over, remove it instantly from the fire and set it back. Cream is indispensable to first-rate coffee; if not to be obtained sweet, substitute rich milk boiling hot. On no consideration fill up the coffee-pot with water. A percolator (to be had at the best tin stores) makes excellent coffee without boiling, if properly managed.

CHOCOLATE.—

There is no plain chocolate better than Baker's prepared cacao, and none has so much of the true chocolate flavor. The foreign chocolate is generally mixed with sugar, spice, and milk. It cannot be made thick and strong, and therefore to many tastes is not agreeable. To make a pint (or two large cupfuls of chocolate,) scrape down two ounces on a plate, and moisten[598] the chocolate with a jill of water, rubbing it on the plate till quite smooth. Then boil it five minutes, and add a small pint of water. When it has been well stirred with a wooden spoon, and has come again to a boil, serve it as hot as possible, accompanied by a saucer of fine loaf sugar, and a small jug of rich hot cream and a plate of nice dry toast, or some milk biscuits or sponge cake. Milled chocolate is made with rich unskimmed milk instead of water. The chocolate mill is a deep pot, belonging to which is a stick with a broad wheel-shaped bottom, the other end coming up through a hole in the lid. Take this between your hands, and turn it round fast till the chocolate is finely frothed. Then transfer it to large cups. Chocolate, after it becomes cold, is unfit to drink. But if made with milk, you can convert what is left into a custard or pudding, with the addition of more sugar and some beaten egg. The low-priced chocolate is both unpalatable and unwholesome, being adulterated with animal fat or lard, and made with old cacao beans.

MILK TOAST.—

To a pint of nice rich milk allow a quarter of a pound of excellent fresh butter. Boil the milk, and as soon as it boils take it off, and stir in the butter cut into pieces. When the butter has melted, give it another boil up Have ready a deep plate with four rather thick slices of bread, nicely and evenly toasted on both sides. Pour the milk hot over the toast, and keep[599] it covered till it goes to the breakfast table. Send a spoon with it. Bread should always be toasted by a long-handled fork, such as are made for the purpose. They cost but twenty-five cents, and no kitchen should be without one.

BUTTERED TOAST.—

Cut even slices of bread all of the same thickness, and pare off the whole of the crust. With a long-handled toasting fork toast it evenly on both sides, taking care that no part of it is burnt or blackened. Butter the slices hot, as you take them off the fork, (using none but nice fresh butter) and lay them evenly on a heated plate. Cover them till they go to table.

All toast prepared for cookery, (to lay in the bottom of dishes,) should have the crust pared off, and be dipped in hot water after toasting.

RASPBERRY VINEGAR.—

Take a gallon of fine ripe raspberries. Put them into a large deep earthen pan, and mash them well with a wooden beetle. Then pour them with all their juice into a large and very clean linen bag, and squeeze and press out their liquid into a vessel beneath. Measure it, and to each pint of juice allow half a pint of the best and clearest cider vinegar, and half a pound of fine loaf sugar, powdered. First mix the juice and the vinegar, and give them a boil in a porcelain kettle. Then stir in the sugar, gra[600]dually, adding to every two pounds of sugar a beaten white of egg. Boil and skim till the scum ceases to rise. When it is done, bottle it cold, cork it tightly, and seal the corks. To use it, pour out half a tumbler of raspberry vinegar, and fill up with ice water. It is a pleasant and cooling beverage in warm weather, and for invalids who are feverish. Mixed with hot water, and taken at bed-time, it is good for a cold.

Strawberry Vinegar—Is made in the above manner, carefully hulling them. The strawberries must be of the finest kind, and fully ripe. These vinegars are made with much less trouble than the usual way; and are quite as good, if not better.

MACARONI.—

In buying macaroni, choose that of a large pipe; see that it is clean and white and that it has not been touched by insects. Half a pound makes one dish. If soaked before boiling it is apt to dissolve or go to pieces, but wash and drain it through cold water in a sieve. Have over the fire a large pan of boiling water, in which has been melted a piece of fresh butter the size of an egg. If boiled steadily, it will be quite tender in less than an hour; but do not boil it so long that the pipes break up and lose their shape. Having drained it well through a clean sieve, transfer it to a deep dish, dividing it into four layers, having first cut it into even lengths of two or three inches. Between the layers place on it seasoning of grated cheese of the very best qua[601]lity, and bits of fresh butter, with some powdered mace. On the top layer, add to the covering of cheese and butter sufficient bread-crumbs to form a slight crust all over the surface. Brown it with a salamander or a red hot shovel. Or (omitting the cheese) you may dress it with rich gravy of roast meat.

For Sweet Macaroni.—Having boiled it in milk instead of water, drain it, and mix with it powdered mace and nutmeg, with butter, sugar, and rose or peach-water. Macaroni (like vermicelli) has in itself no taste, but is only made palatable by the manner of dressing it. Good soup is rather weakened than improved by the addition of macaroni.

COMMON OMELET.—

Beat five eggs till very light and thick. Stir gradually into the pan of eggs four table-spoonfuls of sifted flour. Thin the batter with a large tea-cup of milk. Take a yeast powder; dissolve the soda (from the blue paper) in a small quantity of tepid or lukewarm water, and stir it into the batter. In another cup melt the tartaric acid, (from the white paper;) stir that into the mixture, and stir the whole very hard. Have ready in a frying-pan a large portion of lard, boiling hot. Put in the omelet mixture, and fry it well. When one side is done turn it, and fry the other. To flavor this omelet, mix gradually into the batter either grated ham or smoked tongue; minced oysters; minced onion; mixed[602] with sweet marjoram, or else some mushrooms chopped very fine.

For a Sweet Omelet, add to the above batter powdered sugar, nutmeg, mace, and powdered cinnamon.

The custom is now to dish omelets without folding them over, it being found that folding renders them heavy. Spread them out at full length on a very hot dish. The batter for omelets should always be made in sufficient quantity to allow them very thick.

There is no use in attempting to flavor an omelet, or any thing else, with marmalade or lemon, if you put in soda. The alkalies destroy the taste of every sort of fruit.

A PLAIN POTATO PUDDING.—

Having pared a pound of fine large potatos, put them into a pot, cover them well with cold water, and boil them gently till tender all through. When done, lay each potato (one at a time,) in a clean warm napkin, and press and wring it till all the moisture is squeezed out, and the potato becomes a round, dry lump. Mince as fine as possible a quarter of a pound of fresh beef suet, (divested of skin, and strings.) Crumble the potato, and mix it well with the suet, adding a small salt-spoon of salt. Add sufficient milk to make a thick batter, and beat it well. Dip a strong square cloth in hot water, shake it out, and dredge it well with flour. Tie the pudding in, leaving room for it to swell,[603] and put it into a large pot of hot water and boil it steady for an hour. This is a good and economical family pudding.

ELLEN CLARK'S PUDDING.—

Slice, rather thick, some fresh bread. Pare off all the crust. Butter the bread on both sides, and lay it in a deep dish. Fill up with molasses very profusely, having first seasoned the molasses with ginger, ground cinnamon, and powdered mace or nutmeg. It will be much improved by adding the grated yellow rind and the juice of a large lemon or orange. Bake it till brown all over the top, and till the bread and butter has absorbed the molasses; taking care not to let it burn.

ARROW-ROOT BISCUIT.—

Mix in a pan half a pint of arrow-root, and half a pint of sifted wheat flour. Cut up a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and rub it into the pan of flour, crumbling the bits of butter so small as to be scarcely visible. Mix a quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar, and wet it with a beaten egg. Add gradually a very little cream, just enough to make it into a stiff dough. Flavor it with the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon, and half a nutmeg grated. Roll out the dough into thin sheets, and cut it out into biscuits with the edge of a tumbler. Prick every biscuit all over with a fork. Lay them in square pans[604] slightly floured, and bake them immediately. They will be improved by adding (at the last of the mixture) a table-spoonful of the best rose-water. If rose-water is put into cakes early in the mixing, much of its strength will evaporate before baking. It should always be deferred to the last. These are very nice tea biscuits.

ONTARIO CAKE.—

Take a pint and a half (or three large breakfast cups,) of sifted flour, and the same quantity of powdered white sugar, and half a pint of milk; a quarter of a pint or half a cup of the best fresh butter, and the grated yellow rind and juice of a large lemon. Have ready four well-beaten eggs, and two table-spoonfuls of strong fresh yeast.

Cut up the butter into the pan of flour. Add the milk and sugar gradually, and then the beaten egg, and then the lemon; next the yeast. Stir the whole very well, and set it to rise in a buttered pan. Place it near the fire, and cover it with a clean flannel or a double cloth. When it has risen and is quite light, and is cracked all over the surface, transfer it to a square baking pan, put it immediately into the oven, and bake it well. When cool, either ice it or sift white sugar over it, and cut it into squares. Or, you may bake it in a round loaf, or in small round cakes.[605]

NEW-YEAR'S CAKE.—

Stir together a pound of nice fresh butter, and a pound of powdered white sugar, till they become a light thick cream. Then stir in, gradually, three pounds of sifted flour. Add, by degrees, a tea-spoonful of soda dissolved in a small tea-cup of milk, and then a half salt-spoonful of tartaric acid, melted in a large table-spoonful of warm water. Then mix in, gradually, three table-spoonfuls of fine carraway seeds. Roll out the dough into sheets half an inch thick, and cut it with a jagging iron into oval or oblong cakes, pricked with a fork. Bake them immediately in shallow iron pans, slightly greased with fresh butter. The bakers in New York ornament these cakes, with devices or pictures raised by a wooden stamp. They are good plain cakes for children.

GOOD YEAST.—

Take two handfuls of hops. The best hops have a fresh light green color, and a pleasant, lively smell. Pour on them two quarts of boiling water, and let them boil five minutes after they have come to a boil; not longer, for it makes them bitter. Then strain the liquid into a pan, and add a table-spoonful of brown sugar and one of salt. When lukewarm, stir in flour enough to make a thick batter. Add a jill and a half of fresh baker's yeast. Set it in a warm place till it begins to ferment; then keep it in the cellar well corked.

This yeast will continue good two weeks. When[606] you open the jug to take out some yeast, put in always a table-spoonful of flour before you cork it up again.

A stone jug or pitcher is a good vessel for yeast. Wash it very clean in hot water, always before you put in fresh yeast, and then rinse the jug with water in which a spoonful of pearlash has been melted, letting the pearlash water remain in it five or six minutes, and shaking it round hard. Then rinse it with plain cold water.

All vessels that have contained acids should have pearlash or soda in the rinsing water, and then be finished with plain water.

Never clean a bottle by rinsing it with shot. The lead is poisonous, and has caused death. Some bits of raw potato chopped, and put in the water, will clean the inside of bottles or jugs, and brighten decanters.

YEAST POWDERS.—

Get two ounces of bicarbonate of soda, and one ounce of tartaric acid. Divide the soda into equal portions, about a level tea-spoonful in each, and the tartaric acid into level salt-spoonfuls. By level we mean that the article is not to be heaped in the least, not rising above the edge of the spoon. Cut some papers of regular and sufficient size, and fold them nicely. Put the soda into white papers, and the tartaric acid into blue papers. Place an equal number of each in a little square or oblong box, standing up the papers on their folded edges. Dissolve them[607] in two separate cups, in as much tepid water as will cover the powder. They must be entirely melted before using. Stir in the soda at the beginning, and the tartaric acid at the conclusion of the batter or cake mixture.

We do not approve of the introduction of these substances into cakes. They give a sort of factitious lightness very different from that honestly produced by a liberal allowance of egg and butter, genuine yeast, and good beating and stirring—but they destroy the taste of the seasoning, and are certain destruction to the taste of lemon, orange, strawberry, pine-apple, and every kind of fruit flavoring. The justly celebrated Mrs. Goodfellow never used any of them in her school, and the articles made there by her pupils, (of whom the author was one) were such as no money can purchase in the present times. Any confectioner who would faithfully revive them could make a fortune by doing so.

The present introduction of hartshorn into bread and cakes is an abomination, rendering the articles equally unpalatable and unwholesome. Cannot the use of hartshorn in food be put down? Which of our American doctors will write a book on "culinary poisons."

VINEGAR.—

Mix together in a clean keg three gallons of clear rain water, (that has been caught in a clean tub without running over the roof of a house,) one quart of West India molasses, and one[608] pint of baker's yeast. Cover it, and set it in a warm place where it will be exposed to the summer sun. Remember to shake the cask every day. In three months it will be excellent vinegar. Then transfer it to stone jugs, and keep it closely corked. Begin it in May.

So much of the vinegar sold in stores is concocted of pernicious drugs, that we recommend all families to make their own, or to buy it from a cider farmer. Good cider, set in the sun, will after a while become good vinegar.

What is shamefully called the best white wine vinegar is frequently a slow poison, as may be known by its action upon oysters, pickles, &c. It is quite clear and well to look at. Its taste is very sharp and pungent, as to overpower and render every thing that is with it painfully sour, and it has a singular and disagreeable smell when boiling. Oysters cooked with this vinegar go immediately into rags, and are soon entirely eaten up, or dissolved into a thin whitish liquid, fit for nothing but to throw away.

Pickles the same. A punishment should be provided by law for persons who manufacture and sell these deleterious compounds, of which we have now so many, that it would indeed be well if we could make at home, as far as possible, every thing we eat and drink.

PINK CHAMPAGNE—

(Domestic.)—Pick from the stems three quarts of fine ripe red currants,[609] and mix with them three quarts of ripe white currants. Bruise them all. Put nine pounds of loaf sugar to melt in three gallons of very clear soft water. Boil the water and sugar together for half an hour, skimming carefully, and pour the liquid boiling hot over the currants. When it is nearly cold, add a small tea-cupful of excellent strong fresh yeast. Let it ferment for two days, and then strain it into a small cask through a very clean hair sieve. Put into the cask half an ounce of finely-chipped isinglass. Have rather more liquor than will fill the cask at first, and keep it to fill up as it works over. In about a fortnight bung it up. Let it remain in the cask till April. Then transfer it to bottles, (putting into each a lump of double-refined loaf sugar,) and letting them remain one day uncorked. Then cork and wire them. They must stand upright in the cellar; but when likely to be wanted, lay a few of them on their sides for a week.

SHERRY COBBLER.—

Lay in the bottom of a large tumbler, two table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf sugar, and squeeze over it (through a strainer) the juice of a large lemon that has been softened by rolling under your hand. Then half fill the tumbler with ice, broken very small. Add a large glass of very good sherry wine. Take another tumbler, and pour the liquid back and forward from glass to glass, till completely mixed without[610] stirring. Sip it through a clean straw, or one of the tubes made on purpose.

MINT JULEP.—

Cut two or three round slices from a fine ripe pine-apple that has been pared; and take out the core or hard part from the centre of each slice. A still better way is to split down the pine-apple into four pieces, and grate two of the quarters with a coarse grater, standing it upright while doing so. Put it into a large tumbler, and cover the fruit with two or three heaped table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf sugar. Add a large glass of the best brandy, and pour on cold water till the tumbler is two-thirds full. Then put in a thick layer of finely broken ice, till it almost reaches the top. Finish by sticking in a full bunch of fresh green mint in handsome sprigs, that rise far above one side of the tumbler; and at the other side place a clean straw, or one of the tubes used for the same purpose.

CAROLINA PUNCH.—

Mix together a tumbler of peach brandy and a tumbler of water, the juice of two lemons, the yellow rinds of four, pared to transparent thinness, and four large juicy free-stone peaches cut in half, and the kernels of their stones blanched and broken up. If you cannot obtain peaches, quarter and grate down a ripe pine-apple. Let all these ingredients[611] infuse with a quart of Jamaica spirits in a bowl for two days before the punch is wanted. Keep it carefully covered with a cloth. Then pour on sufficient cold water to make the punch of the desired strength; and strain the liquid into another bowl, and put in a large lump of ice. Serve it out in small glasses.

NECTAR.—

Take two pounds of the best raisins, seeded and chopped; the grated yellow rind and the juice of four fine lemons, and two pounds of loaf sugar, powdered. Put the sugar into a large porcelain kettle, and melt it in a gallon of water. Boil and skim it for half an hour, and while it is boiling hard, put in by degrees the raisins and lemons. Continue the boiling about ten minutes. Put the mixture into a stoneware crock, and cover it closely. Let it stand three days, stirring it down to the bottom twice every day. Then strain it through a linen bag, and bottle it, sealing the corks. It will be fit for use in a fortnight. Take it in wine-glasses, with a bit of ice in each. This is a nice temperance drink.

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL.—

Take half a pint of rich milk, and put it to boil in a porcelain kettle; scrape down a square and a half of Baker's chocolate, put it into a very clean tin cup, and set on the top of a stove till it becomes soft. Let the milk boil up twice. Then add, gradually,[612] the chocolate, and stir both over the fire till thoroughly mixed and free from lumps. Stir in a half pint of the best white sugar powdered, and half a jill (or four large table-spoonfuls,) of molasses. Let the whole boil fast and constantly (so as to bubble,) for at least one hour or more, till it is nearly as stiff as good mush. When all is done add a small tea-spoonful of essence of vanilla, and transfer the mixture to shallow tin pans, slightly greased with very nice sweet oil. Set it on ice, or in a very cool place, and while yet soft mark it deeply in squares with a very sharp knife. When quite hard, cut the squares apart. If it does not harden well it has not been boiled long enough, or fast enough.

EGGS TO BOIL.—

The water must be boiling fast when the eggs are put in. First wipe them clean all over, with a wet cloth. It is true that the shells are never eaten, but still, if brought to table dirty and discolored, they look slovenly, disgusting, and vulgar, such as are never seen in good houses. Put them into water that is boiling fast; and if desired very soft, four minutes will be sufficient. Six or eight minutes will barely set the whites and yolks, and ten or twelve minutes (in water that is really boiling,) will render them hard enough for salad. In the egg-boilers that are set on the table no egg will ever boil hard, as the water cools too soon. A stale egg never boils hard.[613]

Except in the spring, and late in the winter, there is often much difficulty in obtaining good eggs, unless you have fowls of your own. If an egg is really fresh, when held up against the light, the yolk looks round and compact and the white clear and transparent; you may then trust it. But if the yolk is thick, broken, and mixed among the white, and the white is cloudy and muddled, it is certainly bad, and should be thrown away. When tried in a pan of cold water the freshest will sink, and the stale ones float on the surface. It requires strong brine to bear up a good egg. Eggs may be preserved for keeping a few months, by putting every one in fast boiling water for one minute. Then grease them all over the outside with good melted fat, and wedge down close together (layer above layer,) in a box of powdered charcoal. This preserves them for a sea voyage of several weeks. The charcoal box must be kept closely covered, and closed immediately whenever opened. Pack the eggs with the small end downwards.

POACHED EGGS.—

See that the eggs are quite fresh. Pour from a kettle of boiling water enough to fill a broad shallow stew-pan. Break the eggs into a saucer, (one at a time,) slip them carefully into the hot water, and let them stand in it till the whites are set. Then put the pan over a moderate fire; and, as soon as the water boils again, the eggs are ready. The whites should be firm, and the yolks should appear in the centre[614] looking yellow through a thin transparent coating of the white. Take them out carefully (one by one,) with an egg-slice. Have ready, for each egg, a nice slice of toast of a light brown or yellow all over. Trim off all the crust, and dip the toast for a minute in hot water. Then butter it slightly with fresh butter. Trim off neatly the ragged and discolored white from the edge of each egg. Lay a poached egg in the middle of every toast, and serve them up warm.

Instead of toast, you may lay beneath every egg a thin slice of ham, that has been soaked, and nicely broiled and trimmed. Or, large thin slices from the breast of a cold roast turkey, or cold fillet of roast pork or veal. These are nice breakfast dishes.

Scrambled Eggs.—Make a mixture as for an omelet, but instead of frying put it into a sauce-pan, and when it has boiled five minutes take it off, and chop and mix all the ingredients into confusion. Serve it up hot in a deep dish. It is eaten at breakfast, and is by many preferred to a fried omelet. You may season it with grated ham, tongue, or sweet herbs.

EGG-NOGG.—

Beat, till very light and thick, the yolks only of six eggs. Stir the eggs, gradually, into a quart of rich unskimmed milk, and add half a pound of powdered loaf sugar, a half pint of brandy, and a grated nutmeg. Next beat three whites of the eggs by themselves, and stir[615] them quickly into the mixture. Divide it into two pitchers, and pour it back and forward from one pitcher to the other till it has a fine froth. Then serve it in a large china bowl, with a silver ladle in it, and distribute it in glasses with handles.

To Beat Eggs.—For beating eggs have a broad shallow earthen pan. If beaten in tin, the coldness of the metal retards their lightness; for the same reason, hickory rods are better than tin wire. Beat with a short quick stroke, holding the egg rods in your right hand close to your side, and do not exert your elbow, or use your arm violently with a hard sweeping stroke; of this there is no necessity. If beaten in a proper manner, (moving your hand only at the wrist) the eggs will be light long before you are fatigued. But you must continue beating till after the froth has subsided, and the pan of eggs presents a smooth thick surface, like a nice boiled custard. White of egg is done if it stands stiff alone, and will not fall from the beater when held upon it.

Butter and sugar should always be stirred with a strong hickory spaddle, which resembles a short mush stick, rather broad and flattened at one end.

BRAN MUFFINS.—

Take three quarts of bran, (unbolted wheat flour) and sift it into a large pan. Warm three half pints of rich milk, mixing with it half a common tumbler of West India molasses. Cut up in the warm milk and molasses two ounces or two large heaped table-spoonfuls of fresh but[616]ter, and stir it about till well mixed all through. Then stir all the liquid into the flour. Beat in a shallow pan three eggs till very thick and light, and then stir them gradually into the pan of flour, &c. Lastly, add two table-spoonfuls of strong fresh yeast. Cover the mixture and set it to rise. When risen very light heat a griddle on the oven of a stove, set muffin rings upon it, fill the rings nearly to the top, and bake the muffins. Send them to table hot, pull them open with your fingers, and butter them. They will be much liked if properly made and baked.

COTTAGE CHEESE.—

This is a good way of using up a pan of milk that is found to be turning sour. Or you may turn it, on purpose, by stirring in a spoonful of cider vinegar. Having covered it, set it in a warm place till it becomes a curd. Then pour off the liquid, and tie up the curd in a clean linen bag with a pointed end, and set a bowl under it to catch the droppings; but do not squeeze it. After it has drained ten or twelve hours, transfer the curd to a deep dish, enrich it with some cream, and press and chop it with a large spoon till it is a soft mass; adding, as you proceed, an ounce or more of nice fresh butter. Then set it on ice till tea-time.

FRENCH HAM PIE.—

Having soaked, boiled, and skinned a small ham of the best quality, and[617] taken out the bone, trim it into a handsome oval shape. Of the trimmings make a rich gravy by stewing them in a sauce-pan with a little water, and four pigs feet, (split up.) Have ready a plentiful sufficiency of nice forcemeat made of cold roast chicken or veal, minced suet, and grated bread-crumbs, butter, minced sweet marjoram or tarragon, and some hard-boiled yolk of egg crumbled. Have ready, prepared, a very nice puff paste; line with it the bottom and sides of a large deep dish, and lay in it the oval ham, filling up at the corners and all round with the forcemeat, and spreading a layer of it on the top. Pour on gravy to moisten the whole, and put on the paste intended for the lid. Notch the edges handsomely, and stick a flower or tulip of paste in the cross slit at the top, and place a wreath of paste leaves all round. Bake it light brown, and eat it warm or cold. It is a fine dish for a dinner or supper party, or for a handsome luncheon or breakfast.

A Tongue Pie—Is made in a similar manner of a boiled smoked tongue, peeled and trimmed, and filled in with forcemeat. For a large company have two tongue pies, as it will be much liked, if made as above.

FIG PUDDING.—

Take a pint of very ripe figs, (peeled,) cut them up and mash them smooth with the grated yellow rind of a large ripe lemon or orange, and the juice of two. Mix together a large spoonful of fresh butter, and two table-spoonfuls[618] of sugar, and stir the whole very hard. Bake it in a deep dish, and eat it fresh, but not warm. Grate sugar over the surface. When ripe figs can be obtained, this pudding is much liked.

POKE PLANT.—

Early in the spring, the young green stalks of the pokeberry plant, (when they are still mild and tender, and have not yet acquired a reddish tinge or a strong unpleasant taste,) are generally much liked as a vegetable, and are by many persons considered equal to asparagus. They are brought in bundles to Philadelphia market. Wash and drain them, and put them on to boil in a pot of cold water. When quite tender all through they are done. Dish them in the manner of asparagus, laid on a toast dipped for a minute in hot water, and then buttered.

RHUBARB TARTS.—

Take large fresh stalks of the rapontica plant, such as are full-grown and reddish. Peel off the thin skin, and cut them into bits all of the same size, either one inch or two inches long. Wash them in cold water through a cullender, (but do not drain them much,) and put them into a stew-pan without any more water. Mix with them plenty of good sugar, in the proportion of half a pound of sugar to a pint of cut-up rhubarb stalks. Cover it, and stew it slowly[619] till quite soft. Then mash it into a smooth mass. Have some puff-paste shells baked empty; and when cool, fill them to the top, and grate nutmeg and powdered sugar thickly over them. The juice and grated yellow rind of a lemon (added when the rhubarb is half stewed,) will be a pleasant flavoring. This is sometimes called "spring-fruit" and "pie-plant." It comes earlier, but is by no means so good as gooseberries. We do not think it worth preserving, or making into a sweetmeat.

VOL-AU-VENT.—

Have ready a large quantity of the best and lightest puff paste. Roll it an inch thick, and then cut it neatly into shapes, either square or circular. Bake every one separately on a flat tin pan, cutting a round hole in the centre of each, and fitting in pieces of stale bread to keep the holes open while baking. The cakes of paste should diminish in size as they ascend to the top, but the holes should all be of exactly the same dimensions. The lower cake, which goes at the bottom, should be solid and not perforated at all. The small cake which finishes the top of the pyramid must also be left solid, for a lid. When all the cakes are baked and risen high, (as good puff-paste always does) take them carefully off the baking plates; remove the bread that has kept the centres open and in shape; brush over every cake, separately, with beaten white of egg, and pile one upon another nicely and evenly so as to form a pyramid. Have ready a[620] very nice stew of oysters or game cut small, and cooked with cream, &c. Fill the pyramid with this, and then put on the top or lid, which may terminate in a flower of baked paste.

A Sweet Vol-au-Vent—May be filled with small preserves, or with ripe strawberries or raspberries, made very sweet. Vol-au-vents are for dinner, or supper parties. The paste should be peculiarly light. The name Vol-au-vent signifies, in French, something that will fly away in the wind; which, however, it never does.

A SOUFFLÉ PUDDING.—

Take eight rusks, or soft sugar-biscuits, or plain buns. Lay them in a large deep dish, and pour on a pint of milk, sufficient to soak them thoroughly. Cover the dish, and let them stand undisturbed for about an hour and a half before dinner. In the mean time, boil half a pint of milk in a small sauce-pan with a handful of bitter almonds or peach kernels broken small, or a small bunch of fresh peach-leaves, with two large sticks of cinnamon, broken up. Boil this milk slowly, (keeping it covered,) and when it tastes strongly of the flavoring articles, strain it, and set it away to cool. When cold, mix it into another pint of milk, and stir in a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf sugar. Beat eight eggs very light, and add them gradually to the milk, so as to make a rich custard. After dinner has commenced, beat and stir the soaked rusk very hard till it becomes a smooth mass,[621] and then, by degrees, add to it the custard. Stir the whole till thoroughly amalgamated. Set the dish into a brisk oven, and bake the pudding rather more than ten minutes. The yeast, &c., in the rusk, will cause it to puff up very light. When done, send it to table warm, with white sugar sifted over it. You may serve up with it as sauce sweetened thick cream flavored with rose-water, and grated nutmeg, or powdered loaf sugar and fresh butter stirred together in equal portions, and seasoned with lemon or nutmeg.

ICED PLUM PUDDING.—

Take two dozen sweet and half a dozen bitter almonds. Blanch them in scalding water, and then throw them into a bowl of cold water. Pound them one at a time in a mortar, till they become a smooth paste, free from the smallest lumps. As you proceed, add frequently a few drops of rose-water or lemon juice to make them light, and prevent their oiling. Seed and cut in half a quarter of a pound of the best bloom raisins. Mix with them a quarter of a pound of Zante currants, picked, washed, and dried; and add to the raisins and currants three ounces of citron, chopped. Mix the citron with the raisins and currants, and dredge them all with flour to prevent their sinking or clodding. Take a half pint of very rich milk; split a vanilla bean, and cut it into pieces two or three inches long, and boil it in the milk till the flavor of the vanilla is well extracted; then strain[622] it out, and mix the vanilla milk with a pint of rich cream, and stir in, gradually, a half pound of powdered loaf sugar, and a nutmeg grated. Then add the pounded almonds, and a large wine-glass of either marasquino, noyau, curaçoa, or the very best brandy. Beat, in a shallow pan, the yolks of eight eggs till very light, thick, and smooth, and stir them gradually into the mixture. Simmer it over the fire, (stirring it all the time,) but take it off just as it is about to come to a boil, otherwise it will curdle. Then, while the mixture is hot, stir in the raisins, currants, and citron. Set it to cool, and then add a large tea-cupful of preserved strawberries or raspberries, half a dozen preserved apricots or peaches; half a dozen preserved green limes; and any other very nice and delicate sweetmeats. Then whip to a stiff froth another pint of cream, and add it lightly to the mixture. Put the whole into a large melon-mould that opens in the middle, and freeze it in the usual way. It will take four hours to freeze it well. Do not turn it out till just before it is wanted. Then send it to table on a glass dish. It will be found delicious. Iced puddings are now considered indispensable on fashionable supper tables or at dinner parties. There is no flour in this pudding. The freezing will keep it together.

RENNETS.—

Milk turned into a curd with wine is by no means so good as that which is done with rennet-water alone. The curd and[623] whey do not separate so completely; the curd is less firm, and the whey less clear; the latter being thick and white, instead of thin and greenish, as it ought to be. Neither is it so light and wholesome as when turned with rennet.

Rennets of the best quality can be had at all seasons in the Philadelphia market; particularly in the lower part, called the Jersey market. They are sold at twelve, eighteen, or twenty-five cents, according to their size, and will keep a year or two; but have most strength when fresh. You may prepare excellent rennets yourself at a very trifling expense, by previously bespeaking them of a veal butcher; a rennet being the stomach of a calf. Its form is a bag. As soon as you get the rennet, empty out all its contents, and wipe it very clean, inside and out; then rince it with cold water, but do not wash it much, as washing will weaken its power of turning milk into curd. When you have made it quite clean, lay the rennet in a broad pan, strew it over on both sides with plenty of fine salt; cover it, and let it rest five days. When you take it out of the pan, do not wipe or wash it, for it must be stretched and dried with the salt on. For this purpose hold it open like a bag, and slip within it a long, thick, smooth rod, bent into the form of a large loop wide at the top, and so narrow at the bottom as to meet together. Stretch the rennet tightly and smoothly over this bent rod, on which it will be double, and when you have brought the two ends of the rod together at the bottom, and tied them fast, the form[624] will somewhat resemble that of a boy's kite. Hang it up in a dry place, and cut out a bit as you want it. A piece about two inches square will turn one quart of milk; a piece of four inches, two quarts. Having first washed off all the salt in several cold waters, and wiped the bit of rennet dry, pour on it sufficient lukewarm water to cover it well. Let it stand several hours; then pour the rennet-water into the milk you intend for the curd, and set it in a warm place. When the curd is entirely formed, set the vessel on ice.

AN EASY WAY OF MAKING BUTTER IN WINTER.—

The following will be found an excellent method of making butter in cold weather for family use. We recommend its trial. Take, in the morning, the unskimmed milk of the preceding evening, (after it has stood all night in a tin pan,) and set it over a furnace of hot coals, or in a stove; being careful not to disturb the cream that has risen to the surface. Let it remain over the fire till it simmers, and begins to bubble round the edges; but on no account let it come to a boil. Then take the pan carefully off, (without disturbing the cream) and carry it to a cool place, but not where it is cold enough to freeze. In the evening take a spoon, and loosen the cream round the sides of the pan. If very rich, it will be almost a solid cake. Slip off the sheet of cream[625] into another and larger pan, letting as little milk go with it as possible. Cover it, and set it away. Repeat the process for several days, till you have thus collected a sufficiency of clotted cream to fill the pan. Then scald a wooden ladle, and beat the cream hard with it during ten minutes. You will then have excellent butter. Take it out of the pan, lay it on a flat dish, and with the ladle squeeze and press it hard, till all the buttermilk is entirely extracted and drained off. Then wash the butter in cold water, and work a very little salt into it. Set it away in a cool place for three hours. Then squeeze and press it again; also washing it a second time in cold water. Make it up into pats, and keep it in a cool place.

The unskimmed morning's milk, of course, may also be used for this purpose, after it has stood twelve hours. The simmering over the fire adds greatly to the quantity of cream, by throwing all the oily part of the milk to the surface; but if allowed to boil, this oleaginous matter will again descend, and mix with the rest, so as not to be separated.

This is the usual method of making winter butter in the south of England; and it is very customary in the British provinces of America. Try it.

SWEET POTATO PONE.—

Stir together till very light and white, three quarters of a pound of fresh butter, and three quarters of a pound of powdered white sugar, adding two table-spoonfuls[626] of ginger. Grate a pound and a half of sweet potato. Beat eight eggs very light, and stir them gradually into the butter and sugar, in turn with the grated sweet potato. Dissolve a tea-spoonful of saleratus or soda in a jill of sour milk, and stir it in at the last, beating the whole very hard. Butter the inside of a tin pan. Put in the mixture, and bake it four hours or more. It should be eaten fresh, cut into slices.

RICE BREAD.—

To a pint of well boiled rice add half a pint of wheat flour, mixing them well together. Take six eggs, and beat the whites and yolks separately. Having beaten the whites to a stiff froth, mix them gradually with a pint of rich milk, and two large table-spoonfuls of fresh butter, softened at the fire. Mix, by degrees, the yolks of the eggs with the rice and flour. Then add the white-of-egg mixture, a little at a time. Stir the whole very hard. Put it into a buttered tin pan with straight or upright sides. Set it in a moderate oven, and bake it an hour or more. Then turn it out of the pan, put it on a dish, and send it warm to the breakfast table, and eat it with butter.

This cake may be baked, by setting the pan that contains it into an iron dutch-oven, placed over hot coals. Heat the lid of the oven on the inside, by standing it up before the fire while the rice-bread is preparing; and, after you put it on, keep the lid covered with hot coals.[627]

RICE FLOUR BREAD.—

Sift into a pan a pint and a half of rice flour, and a pint and a half of fine wheat flour. Add two large table-spoonfuls of fresh butter or lard, and mix in a pint and a half of milk. Beat four eggs very light; then stir them gradually into the mixture. When the whole has been well mixed, add, at the last, a small tea-spoonful of soda or saleratus, dissolved in as much warm water as will cover it. Put the whole into a buttered tin pan, set it immediately into a quick oven, and bake it well. It is best when eaten fresh. Slice and butter it.

RICE FLOUR BATTER CAKES.—

Melt a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, or lard, in a quart of milk; but be careful not to let it begin to boil. Divide the milk equally, by putting it into two pans. Beat three eggs very light, and stir them into one half of the milk with the addition of a large table-spoonful of wheat flour. Stir in as much ground rice flour as will make a thick batter. Then put in a small tea-cupful of strong fresh yeast, and thin the batter with the remainder of the milk. Cover it, and set it to rise. When it has risen high, and is covered with bubbles, bake it on a griddle in the manner of buckwheat cakes. Send them to table hot, and butter them.[628]

GROUND-NUT MACAROONS.—

Take a sufficiency of ground-nuts, or pea-nuts, that have been roasted in an iron pot over the fire; remove the shells, and weigh a pound of the nuts. Put them into a pan of cold water, and wash off the skins. Have ready some beaten white of egg. Pound the ground-nuts (two or three at a time,) in a marble mortar, adding frequently a little cold water to prevent their oiling. They must be pounded to a smooth light paste; and, as you proceed, remove the paste to a saucer or a plate. Beat, to a stiff froth, the whites of four eggs, and then beat into it gradually a pound of powdered loaf sugar, and a large tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg mixed. Then stir in, by degrees, the pounded ground-nuts, till the mixture becomes very thick. Flour your hands, and roll between them portions of the mixture, forming each portion into a little ball. Lay sheets of white paper on flat baking tins, and place on them the macaroons at equal distances, flattening them all a little, so as to press down the balls into cakes. Then sift powdered sugar over each. Place them in a brisk oven, with more heat at the top than in the bottom. Bake them brown.

Almond macaroons may be made as above, mixing one quarter of a pound of shelled bitter almonds, with three quarters of shelled sweet al[629]monds. For almond macaroons, instead of flouring your hands, you may dip them in cold water; and when the macaroons are formed on the papers, go slightly over every one with your fingers wet with cold water.

Macaroons may be made, also, of grated cocoa-nut mixed with beaten white of egg and powdered sugar.

COLUMBIAN PUDDING.—

Tie up closely in a bit of very thin muslin a split vanilla bean, cut into pieces, and a broken-up stick of cinnamon. Put this bag, with its contents, into half a pint of rich milk, and boil it a long time till very highly flavored. Then take out the bag; set the milk near the fire to keep warm in the pan in which it was boiled, covering it closely. Slice thin a pound of almond sponge cake, and lay it in a deep dish. Pour over it a quart of rich cream, with which you must mix the vanilla-flavored milk, and leave the cake to dissolve in it. Blanch, in scalding water, two ounces of shelled bitter almonds or peach kernels, and pound them (one at a time,) to a smooth paste in a marble mortar, pouring on each a few drops of rose-water or peach-water to prevent their oiling. When the almonds are done, set them away in a cold place till wanted. Beat eight eggs till very light and thick; and having stirred together hard the dissolved cake and the cream, add them gradually to the mixture in turn with the almond, and half a pound of powdered loaf sugar, a little at a time of each. Butter a deep[630] dish, and put in the mixture. Set the pudding into a brisk oven and bake it well. Have ready a star nicely cut out of a large piece of candied citron, a number of small stars, all of equal size, as many as there are States in the Union, and a sufficiency of rays or long strips also cut out of citron. The rays should be wide at the bottom and run to a point at the top. As soon as the pudding comes out of the oven, while it is smoking, arrange these decorations. Put the large star in the centre, then the rays so that they will diverge from it, narrowing off towards the edge of the pudding. Near the edge place the small stars in a circle.

Preserved citron-melon will be still better for this purpose than the dry candied citron.

This is a very fine pudding; suitable for a dinner party, or a Fourth of July dinner.

A WASHINGTON PUDDING.—

Pick, and wash clean half a pound of Zante currants; drain them, and wipe them in a towel, and then spread them out on a flat dish, and place them before the fire to dry thoroughly. Prepare about a quarter of a pound or half a pint of finely-grated bread-crumbs. Have ready a heaping tea-spoonful of powdered mace, cinnamon, and nutmeg mixed. When the currants are dry, dredge them thickly on all sides with flour, to prevent their sinking or clodding in the pudding while baking. Cut up in a deep pan half a pound of the best[631] fresh butter, and add to it half a pound of fine white sugar, powdered. Stir the butter and sugar together with a wooden spaddle, till they are very light and creamy. Then add a table-spoonful of wine, and a table-spoonful of brandy. Beat in a shallow pan, eight eggs till perfectly light, and as thick as a good boiled custard. Afterwards, mix with them, gradually, a pint of rich milk and the grated bread-crumbs, stirred in alternately. Next, stir this mixture, by degrees, into the pan of beaten butter and sugar, and add the currants a few at a time. Finish with a table-spoonful of strong rose-water; or a wine-glass full, if it is not very strong. Stir the whole very hard. Butter a large deep white dish, or two of soup-plate size. Put in the batter. Set it directly into a brisk oven, and bake it well. When cold, dredge the surface with powdered sugar. Serve it up in the dish in which it was baked. You may ornament the tops with bits of citron cut into leaves and forming a wreath; or with circles of preserved strawberries.

This will be found a very fine pudding. It must be baked in time to become quite cold before dinner.

For currants, you may substitute raisins of the best quality; seeded, cut in half, and well dredged with flour.

Instead of rose-water you may stir in the yellow rind (finely grated) of one large lemon, or two small ones, and their juice also.[632]

A COTTAGE PUDDING.—

Take ripe currants, and having stripped them from the stalks, measure as many as will make a heaping quart. Cover the bottom of a deep dish with slices of bread, slightly buttered, and with the crust cut off. Put a thick layer of currants on the bread, and then a layer of sugar. Then other layers of bread, currants, and sugar, till the dish is full; finishing at the top with very thin slices of bread. Set it into the oven, and bake it half an hour. Serve it either warm or cold; and eat it with sweetened cream.

Instead of currants you may take cherries, (first stoning them all,) raspberries, ripe blackberries, or barberries, plums, (first extracting the stones,) stewed cranberries, or stewed gooseberries. If the fruit is previously stewed, the pudding will require but ten minutes' baking. When it is sent to table, have sugar at hand in case it should not be sweet enough.

ICE-CREAM CAKES.—

Stir together, till very light, a quarter of a pound of powdered sugar and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter. Beat six eggs very light, and stir into them a half pint of rich milk. Add, gradually, the eggs and milk to the butter and sugar, alternately with a half pound of sifted flour. Add a glass of sweet wine and some grated nutmeg. When all the ingredients are mixed, stir the batter very hard. Then put it into small deep pans, or cups that have[633] been well buttered, filling them about two thirds with the batter. Set them immediately into a brisk oven, and bake them brown. When done, remove them from the cups, and place them to cool on an inverted sieve. When quite cold make a slit or incision in the side of each cake. If very light, and properly baked, they will be hollow in the middle. Fill up this cavity with ice cream, carefully put in with a spoon, and then close the slit with your fingers to prevent the cream running out. Spread them on a large dish. Either send them to table immediately before the ice-cream melts or keep them on ice till wanted.

WHIPPED CREAM MERINGUES.—

Take the whites of eight eggs, and beat them to a stiff froth that will stand alone. Then beat into them, gradually, (a tea-spoonful at a time,) two pounds or more of finely-powdered loaf sugar; continuing to add sugar till the mixture is very thick, and finishing with lemon juice or extract of rose. Have ready some sheets of white paper laid on a baking board, and with a spoon drop the mixture on it in long oval heaps, about four inches in length. Smooth and shape them with a broad-bladed knife, dipped occasionally in cold water. The baking board used for this purpose should be an inch thick, and must have a slip of iron beneath each end to elevate it from the floor of the oven, so that it may not scorch, nor the bottoms of the meringues be baked too hard. This baking-[634]board must not be of pine wood, as a pine board will communicate a disagreeable taste of turpentine. The oven must be moderate. Bake the meringues of a light brown. When cool, take them off the paper by slipping a knife nicely beneath the bottom of each. Then push back or scoop out carefully a portion of the inside of each meringue, taking care not to break them. Have ready some nice whipped cream, made in the following proportion:—Take a quarter of a pound of broken-up loaf sugar, and on some of the lumps rub off the yellow rind of two large lemons. Powder the sugar, and then mix with it the juice of the lemons, and grate in some nutmeg. Mix the sugar with a half pint of sweet white wine. Put into a pan a pint of rich cream, and whip it with rods or a wooden whisk, or mill it with a chocolate mill till it is a stiff froth. Then mix in, gradually, the other ingredients; continuing to whip it hard a while after they are all in. As you proceed, lay the froth on an inverted sieve, with a dish underneath to catch the droppings; which droppings must afterwards be whipped and added to the rest. Fill the inside of each meringue with a portion of the whipped cream. Then put two together, so as to form one long oval cake, joining them nicely, so as to unite the flat parts that were next the paper, leaving the inside filled with the whipped cream. Set them again in the oven for a few minutes. They must be done with great care and nicety, so as not to break. Each meringue should be about the usual[635] length of a middle finger. In dropping them on the paper, take care to shape the oval ends handsomely and smoothly. They should look like very long kisses.

CHOCOLATE PUFFS.—

Beat very stiff the whites of three eggs, and then beat in gradually half a pound of powdered loaf sugar. Scrape down very fine three ounces of the best chocolate, (prepared cocoa is better still,) and dredge it with flour to prevent its oiling; mixing the flour well among it. Then add it gradually to the mixture of white of egg and sugar, and stir the whole very hard. Cover the bottom of a square tin pan with a sheet of fine white paper, cut to fit exactly. Place upon it thin spots of powdered loaf sugar about the size of a half dollar. Pile a portion of the mixture on each spot, smoothing it with the back of a spoon or a broad knife, dipped in cold water. Sift white sugar over the top of each. Set the pan into a brisk oven, and bake them a few minutes. When cold, loosen them from the paper with a broad knife.

COCOA-NUT PUFFS.—

Break up a large ripe cocoa-nut. Pare the pieces, and lay them awhile in cold water. Then wipe them dry, and grate them as finely as possible. Lay the grated cocoa-nut in well-formed heaps on a large handsome dish. It will require no cooking. The heaps[636] should be about the circumference of a half dollar, and must not touch each other. Flatten them down in the middle, so as to make a hollow in the centre of each heap; and upon this pile some very nice sweetmeat. Make an excellent whipped cream, well sweetened and flavored with lemon and wine, and beat it to a stiff froth. Pile some of this cream high upon each cake over the sweetmeats. If on a supper-table, you may arrange them in circles round a glass stand.

FIG MARMALADE.—

Take fine fresh figs that are perfectly ripe, such as can only be obtained in countries where they are cultivated in abundance. Weigh them, and to every two pounds of figs allow a pound and a half of sugar, and the grated yellow rind of a large orange or lemon. Cut up the figs, and put them into a preserving kettle with the sugar, and orange or lemon rind, adding the juice. Boil them till the whole is reduced to a thick smooth mass, frequently stirring it up from the bottom. When done, put it warm into jars, and cover it closely.

CARRAWAY GINGERBREAD.—

Cut up half a pound of fresh butter in a pint of West India molasses, and warm them together slightly till the butter is quite soft. Then stir them well, and add gradually a half pound of good brown sugar, a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and two[637] heaped table-spoonfuls of ground ginger, or three, if the ginger is not very strong. Sift two pounds or two quarts of flour. Beat four eggs till very thick and light, and stir them gradually into the mixture, in turn with the flour, and five or six large table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds, a little at a time. Dissolve a very small tea-spoonful of pearlash or soda in as much lukewarm water as will cover it. Then stir it in at the last. Stir all very hard. Transfer it to a buttered tin pan with straight sides, and bake it in a loaf in a moderate oven. It will require a great deal of baking.

SEA-VOYAGE GINGERBREAD.—

Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, and cut up in it a pound and a quarter of fresh butter; rub the butter well into the flour, and then mix in a pint of West India molasses and a pound of the best brown sugar. Beat eight eggs till very light. Stir into the beaten egg two glasses or a jill of brandy. Add also to the egg a tea-cupful of ground ginger, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, with a tea-spoonful of soda melted in a little warm water. Wet the flour, &c., with this mixture till it becomes a soft dough. Sprinkle a little flour on your pasteboard, and with a broad knife spread portions of the mixture thickly and smoothly upon it. The thickness must be equal all through; therefore spread it carefully and evenly, as the dough will be too soft to roll out. Then with the edge of a tumbler dipped in flour,[638] cut it out into round cakes. Have ready square pans, slightly buttered; lay the cakes in them sufficiently far apart to prevent their running into each other when baked. Set the pans into a brisk oven, and bake the cakes well, seeing that they do not burn.

You may cut them out small with the lid of a cannister (or something similar) the usual size of gingerbread nuts.

These cakes will keep during a long voyage, and are frequently carried to sea. Many persons find highly-spiced gingerbread a preventive to sea-sickness.

EXCELLENT GROUND RICE PUDDING.—

Take half a pint from a quart of rich milk, and boil in it a large handful of bitter almonds or peach kernels, blanched and broken up; also half a dozen blades of mace, keeping the sauce-pan closely covered. When the milk is highly flavored and reduced to one half the quantity, take it off and strain it. Stir, gradually, into the remaining pint and a half of milk, five heaping table-spoonfuls of ground rice; set it over the fire in a sauce-pan, and let it come to a boil. Then take it off, and while it is warm, mix in gradually a quarter of a pound of fresh butter and a quarter of a pound of white sugar. Afterwards, beat eight eggs as light as possible, and stir them gradually into the mixture. Add some grated nutmeg. Stir the whole very hard; put it into a deep dish, and set it immediately into the oven. Keep it[639] baking steadily for an hour. It should then be done. Eat it cool, having sifted sugar over it.

CHOCOLATE MACAROONS.—

Blanch half a pound of shelled sweet almonds, by scalding them with boiling water, till the skins peel off easily. Then throw them into a bowl of cold water, and let them stand awhile. Take them out and wipe them separately. Afterwards set them in a warm place to dry thoroughly. Put them, one at a time, into a marble mortar, and pound them to a smooth paste, moistening them, as you proceed, with a few drops of rose-water to prevent their oiling. When you have pounded one or two, take them out of the mortar with a tea-spoon, and put them into a deep plate beside you, and continue removing the almonds to the plate till they are all done. Scrape down, as fine as possible, half a pound of the best chocolate, or of Baker's prepared cocoa, and mix it thoroughly with the pounded almonds. Then set the plate in a cool place. Put the whites of eight eggs into a shallow pan, and beat them to a stiff froth that will stand alone. Have ready a pound and a half of finely-powdered loaf sugar. Stir it hard into the beaten white-of-egg, a spoonful at a time. Then stir in, gradually, the mixture of almond and chocolate, and beat the whole very hard. Drop the mixture in equal portions upon thin white paper, laid on square tin pans; smoothing them with a spoon into round cakes about the size of a half dollar. Dredge the top of each[640] lightly with powdered sugar. Set them into a quick oven, and bake them a light brown. When done, take them off the paper.

BREAD FRITTERS.—

Pick, wash, and dry half a pound of Zante currants, and having spread them out on a flat dish, dredge them well with flour. Grate some bread into a pan, till you have a pint of crumbs. Pour over the grated bread a pint of boiling milk, into which you have stirred, (as soon as taken from the fire,) a piece of fresh butter the size of an egg. Cover the pan and let it stand an hour. Then beat it hard, and add nutmeg, and a quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar, stirred in gradually, and two table-spoonfuls of the best brandy. Beat six eggs till very light, and then stir them by degrees into the mixture. Lastly, add the currants a few at a time, and beat the whole very hard. It should be a thick batter. If you find it too thin, add a little flour. Have ready, over the fire, a hot frying-pan with boiling lard. Put in the batter in large spoonfuls, (so as not to touch,) and fry the fritters a light brown. Drain them on a perforated skimmer, or an inverted sieve placed in a deep pan, and send them to table hot. Eat them with wine, and powdered sugar.

TO KEEP FRESH BUTTER FOR FRYING STEWING, &c.—

Take several pounds of the[641] very best fresh butter. Cut it up in a large tin sauce-pan, or in any clean cooking vessel lined with tin. Set it over the fire, and boil and skim it during half an hour. Then pour it off, carefully, through a funnel into a stone jar, and cover it closely with a bladder or leather tied down over the lid. The butter having thus been separated from the salt and sediment, (which will be found remaining at the bottom of the boiling vessel,) if kept closely covered and set in a cool place, will continue good for a month, and be found excellent for frying and stewing, and other culinary purposes. Prepare it thus in May or June, and you may use it in winter, if living in a place where fresh butter is scarce at that season.

EXCELLENT MUTTON SOUP.—

Having been accidentally omitted in its proper place, we here insert a receipt for very fine mutton soup. Try it. If for a large family, take two necks of mutton of the best quality, and let the butcher disjoint it. To each pound of meat allow a quart of water. Put it into a soup-pot, with a slice of ham, which will render the soup sufficiently salt. Boil it slowly, and skim it well, till the scum ceases to appear. If you have no ham, season the meat, when you first put it in, with a tea-spoonful of salt. In the mean time prepare the vegetables, but do not put them in till the meat has boiled to rags, and all the scum has risen to the surface and been carefully removed. It is then time to strain out[642] the shreds of meat and bone, return the soup to the pot, and add the vegetables. First, have ready the deep yellow outsides of three or four carrots grated, and stir them into the soup to enrich it, and give it a fine color. Next, add turnips, potatos, parsnips, salsify, celery, (including its green leaves from the top) and onions that have been already peeled and boiled by themselves to render them less strong. All the vegetables should be cut nicely into small pieces of equal size, (as for Soup à la Julienne.) You may add some boiled beets, handsomely sliced. And (if approved) strew in at the last a handful of fresh leaves of the marygold flower, which adds a flavor to some persons very agreeable. Put all these vegetables gradually into the soup, (those first that require the longest boiling,) and when they are all quite done the soup is finished. If well made, with a liberal allowance of meat and vegetables, and well boiled, it will be much liked—particularly if served as Julienne soup, for company.

NEW ENGLAND CREAM CHEESE.—

Take a large pan of rich unskimmed milk that has set in the dairy all night, and is from pasture-fed cows in the summer. Have ready a small tea-cup of rennet-water, in which a piece of rennet, from four to six inches square, has been steeping several hours. Stir the rennet-water into the pan of milk, and set it in a warm place till it forms a firm curd. Tie up the curd in a clean linen bag, and[643] hang it up in the dairy with a pan under it to receive the droppings, till it drips no longer. Then transfer the curd to a small cheese mould. Cover it all over with a clean linen cloth, folded over the sides, and well secured. Put a heavy weight on the top, so as to press it hard. The wooden vessel in which you mould cream cheeses, should be a bottomless, broad hoop, about the circumference of a dinner plate. Set it (before you fill it with the curd) on a very clean table or large flat dish. Turn it every day for four days, keeping it covered thickly all over with fresh green grass, frequently renewed. When done, keep it in a dry cool place, first rubbing the outside with fresh butter. When once cut, use the whole cheese on that day, as it may spoil before the next. Send it to the tea-table cut across in triangular or pie pieces.

MOLASSES CANDY.—

Take three quarts of the best West India molasses—no other will do. Put it into a thick block-tin kettle, (or a bain-marie) and stir in a pound and a half of the best and cleanest brown sugar. Boil slowly and skim it well, (stirring it always after skimming,) and taking care that it does not burn. Prepare the grated rind and the juice of three large lemons or oranges, and stir them in after the molasses and sugar have boiled long enough to become very thick. Continue to boil and stir till it will boil no longer, and the spoon will no longer move. Try some in a saucer, and let it get cold. If it is[644] brittle, it is done. Then take it from the fire, and transfer it immediately to shallow square tin pans, that have been well greased with nice fresh butter or sweet oil. Spread it evenly, and set it to cool.

While boiling, you may add three or four spoonfuls of shell-barks, cracked clean from their shells, and divided into halves. Or the same quantity of roasted pea-nuts or ground-nuts. With both nuts and lemon it will be very good.[645]

WORTH KNOWING.

THE BEST CEMENT FOR JARS.—

Before preserving and pickling time, buy at a druggist's, two ounces of the clearest and whitest gum tragacanth. Obtain also two grains of corrosive sublimate, (indispensable to this cement), and having picked the gum tragacanth clean, and free from dust and dark or discolored particles, put it with the sublimate into a very clean yellow or white-ware mug that holds a small quart and has a close-fitting lid belonging to it. Then fill the vessel more than two-thirds with very clean water, either warm or cold; and put on the lid. Let it rest till next morning. Then stir it with an unpainted stick, that will reach quite down to the bottom. Repeat the stirring frequently through the day, always replacing the lid. In a few days the cement will have risen to the top of the mug, and have become a fine, clear, smooth paste, far superior to any other; and, by means of the corrosive sublimate, it will keep perfectly well to an indefinite period, if always closely covered, and having no sort of metal dipped into it. On no account attempt to keep this paste in tin, or even in silver. Both paste and metal will turn black and become spotted. Remember this.

When going to put away your sweetmeats or pickles, this paste will come into use, and be found invaluable. It is best to keep all these things in small jars, as opening a large jar frequently, may[646] injure its contents by letting in the air. In a large family, or where many pickles are eaten, those in most frequent use may be kept in stone-ware jars, with a wooden spoon always at hand for taking them out when wanted. On the surface of every jar of pickles, put one or two table-spoonfuls of salad oil, and then cover the top of the jar closely with a circular piece of bladder or thin leather. Next cut out a narrow band of the same, and cement it on with gum tragacanth paste, (made as above), and let it remain till you open the jar for use.

For sweetmeats, have glass or white-ware jars. Lay on the surface of each a circular paper, cut to fit and dipped in brandy. Next, put on an outside cover of bladder or thick white paper secured with a band of the same, coated with tragacanth paste. When this cement is used, the jars will not be infested with ants or other insects, the corrosive sublimate keeping them out.

This paste should be at hand in every library or office, when wanted for papers or books. It requires no boiling when made, and is always ready, and never spoils. For a small quantity, take an ounce of the best gum tragacanth and a grain of corrosive sublimate. Get a covered white or yellow-ware mug that holds a pint; such a mug will cost but twelve cents. Dissolve in less than a pint of water.

A BAIN-MARIE; OR, DOUBLE KETTLE.—

These are most useful and satisfactory utensils,[647] as all who have tried them can certify. They are to be had of various sizes at the best household furniture stores, and are made to order by the chief tinsmiths. The French make great use of the Bain-Marie; which, in some measure, accounts for the general superiority of their cookery.

This utensil, as made in America, is a double kettle of the strongest and best block-tin. The bottom of the outside kettle is of strong copper or iron, well tinned, and kept so. The food, however, is all contained in the inner kettle, which is of tin entirely. After the food is in, (having with it no water whatever), put on the lid tightly, and through the tube on the outside, pour into the outer kettle the water that is to cook it. If it boils away too fast, replenish it with more water poured in at the tube.

If it boils too slowly, quicken it by adding some salt put in at the tube. Keep the kettle closely covered, except when removing the lid to take off the scum; and do this quick and seldom. The superfluous steam is all the time escaping through the top of the tube and through a very small hole in the lid. Nothing cooked in this manner (with all the water outside) can possibly burn or scorch. After every skimming, stir the stew down to the bottom before you replace the lid. To cook in a Bain-Marie, requires a strong, steady heat, well kept up; and you must begin earlier than in the common way of stewing. This is an excellent vessel for boiling custards, blancmanges, marmalades, and many other nice things; as a good[648] housewife will soon discover. Also, for making beef tea and other preparations for invalids. It is well to keep a small one purposely for a sick room.

If from deficiency of sugar, or being kept too warm, or not closely covered, any of your sweetmeats turn sour, do not hastily throw them away, but carefully remove the surface, (even if coated with blue mould), add an additional portion of sugar so as to make them very sweet, and put them into a Bain-Marie. Fill the outer kettle with hot water, and boil it till you find the preserves restored to their proper taste. Then put them up again in jars that have been well scalded, rinsed, and sunned, and lay brandied paper on the surface of each.

Mouldy pickles may be recovered in a similar manner, adding fresh spices and vinegar before you put them up again.

INDEX.

A-la-mode beef, 150.
Almond and macaroon custards, 486.
Almond macaroons, 536.
Almond pudding, baked, 474.
Almond pudding, boiled, 475.
Almond sponge cake, 524.
Almond soup, 58.
Apees, 532.
Apple dumplings, 457.
Apples, baked whole, 461.
Apples, bellflower or pippins, 562.
Apple fritters or quince, 450.
Apple jelly, 492.
Apple pies, (fine) 479.
Apple pork pie, 224.
Apple sauce, 338.
Apple sauce, baked, 339.
Apple pudding, 458.
Apple water, 591.
Arrow-root biscuit, 603.
Artichokes, fried, 363.
Asparagus, new way, 371
Asparagus omelet, 366.
Asparagus oysters, 372.
Asparagus soup, 44.
Autumn soup, 61.
Aunt Lydia's corn cake, 425.

Bacon, to prepare, 246.
Bacon, to boil, 247.
Bacon and beans, 248.
Bacon, broiled, 249.
Bacon, stewed, 250.
Baked fish, 79.
Baked soup, 76.
Baked tongue, 171.
Barley water, 590.
Bananas, fried, 358.
Batter pudding, 447.
Bean soup, 42.
Beans, (green,) 379.
Beef-a-la-mode, 151.
Beef bouilli, 152.
Beef, corned, 145.
Beef, corned, fried, 148.
Beef, (French,) 154.
Beef, corned, stewed, 153.
Beef, fresh, stewed, 155.
Beef, dried and smoked, 148.
Beefs heart, 161.
Beef with mushrooms, 160.
Beef with onions, 157.
Beef with oysters, 158.
Beef gumbo, 375.
Beef patties, 161.
Beef, spiced, 149.
Beef with potatoes, 159. [650]
Beef, fresh, (stewed,) 155.
Beef, roasted, 138.
Beef, (smoked,) stewed, 154.
Beefsteaks, 141.
Beefsteaks, broiled, 142.
Beefsteaks, fried, 143.
Beefsteaks, stewed, 144.
Beefsteak with oysters, 156.
Beefsteak pie, 162.
Beefsteak pot-pie, 164.
Beefsteak pudding, 166.
Beefsteaks for invalids, 584.
Beef tea, 589.
Beef with tomatos, 156.
Beets, 387.
Beets, baked, 388.
Bell-peppers, pickled, 574.
Bird dumplings, 305.
Birds for larding, 305.
Birds for invalids, 584.
Birds in a grove, 304.
Birds with mushrooms, 303.
Biscuit sandwiches, 245.
Bologna sausages, 232.
Borders of paste, 472.
Boned turkey, 271.
Blackfish, and sea-bass, 83.
Blancmange, 497.
Blancmange, carrageen, 587.
Blancmange, finest, 499.
Bran muffins, 615.
Brandy green gages, 557.
Brandy peaches, 557.
Bread, 433.
Bran bread, 436.
Bread biscuit, 436.
Bread cakes, 437.
Bread, rye, 436.
Bread, home-made, 433.
Bread pudding, 454.
Bread-and-butter pudding, 454.
Bread, (twist,) 435.
Buckwheat cakes, 421.
Brine for pickling meat, 235.
Broccoli, 359.
Broccoli and eggs, 361.
Brown Betty, 455.
Browning for soups, 312.
Browned flour, 313.
Buns, (Spanish,) 525.
Butter, (clarified,) 310.
Butter, (melted,) 309.
Buttered toast, 599.
Butternuts to pickle, 578.

Cabbage, boiled, 350.
Cabbage boiled an excellent way, 351.
Cabbage, forced, 353.
Cabbage, fried, 352.
Cabbage soup, 45.
Cabbage, red, 45.
Cale cannon, 352.
Catchup, (mushroom,) 324.
Catchup, (tomato,) 326.
Catchup, (walnut,) 325.
Calf's head, stewed, 205.
Calf's feet jelly, 491.
Camp catchup, 328.
Canvass-back ducks, 281.
Canvass-backs, broiled, 282.
Canvass-backs, (stewed,) 282.
Canvass-backs, (roasted,) 281.
Carolina punch, 610.
Carrots, 385.
Carrot soup, 50.
Carrots, stewed, 368.
Carrageen blancmange, 587.
Cashaw pudding, 478. [651]
Catfish, fried, 87.
Cauliflower, boiled, 359.
Cauliflower, fried, 360.
Cauliflower macaroni, 360.
Cauliflower omelet, 359.
Cauliflowers, pickled, 575.
Celery, fried, 362.
Charlotte, (country,) 462.
Charlotte, plain, 463.
Charlotte russe, 507.
Champagne, (pink,) 608.
Cheese pudding, 481.
Chestnut soup, 50.
Chestnut pork, 220.
Cherry marmalade, 550.
Cherries, preserved, 563.
Cherries, pickled, 580.
Chicken salad, 384.
Chicken curry, 297.
Chickens, fricasseed, 289.
Chickens, stewed whole, 290.
Chicken broth for the sick, 581.
Chicken gumbo, 292.
Chicken-pie, 541.
Chicken pot-pie, 297.
Chicken soup, 55.
Chicken, (tomato,) 294.
Chicken and turkey patties, 295.
Chicken rice pudding, 295.
Chickens, fried, 287.
Chickens, broiled, 287.
Chitterlings, 201.
Chitterlings, baked, 203.
Chitterlings, fried, 202.
Chocolate, 597.
Chocolate caramel, 611.
Chocolate custards, 484.
Chocolate macaroons, 536.
Chowder, fine, 88.
Chowder, (Yankee,) 88.
Cinnamon bread, 440.
Cinnamon cake, 528.
Citron melons, preserved, 552.
Clam chowder, 89.
Clam fritters, 112.
Clam pie, 121.
Clams, scolloped, 113.
Clam soup, 74.
Clam soup for invalids, 582.
Cocoa-nut cake, 528.
Cocoa-nut jumbles, 534.
Cocoa-nut, (orange,) 504.
Cocoa-nut pudding, baked, 476.
Cocoa-nut pudding, boiled, 477.
Cocoa-nut puffs, 534.
Cocoa-nut soup, 57.
Codfish, (stewed,) 103.
Codfish, (boiled,) 84.
Codfish, (fried,) 103.
Codfish, salt, 86.
Coffee, 596.
Coloring for sauces, 310.
Corn cake, (Aunt Lydia's,) 426.
Corn soup, 38.
Cottage cheese, 616.
Country captain, 299.
Country grapes, 567.
Country plums, 566.
Country potatos, 348.
Crab-apples, preserved, 562.
Crabs, 136.
Crabs, (soft,) 122.
Crab fritters, soft, 113.
Cranberry sauce, 337.
Cream cakes, 503.
Creamed pine-apple, 506.
Cream and peaches, 506.
Creamed strawberries, 505.
Cream tarts, 504. [652]
Cross buns, 439.
Crullers, (common,) 444.
Crullers, (soft,) 442.
Croquettes, (rice,) 296.
Cucumbers, (to prepare,) 369.
Cucumbers, stewed, 370.
Cucumbers, pickled, 576.
Cucumber catchup, 327.
Curry balls, 373.
Curried eggs, 300.
Curried chicken, 297.
Curry powder, 332.
Curry powder, (Madras,) 333.
Custards, baked, 460.
Custard, boiled, 461.

Damson pickles, 580.
Damson sauce, 342.
Dressing for slaw, 354.
Dried apple sauce, 341.
Dried peach sauce, 341.
Dried and smoked beef, 148.
Doughnuts, 443.
Dumplings, (apple,) 457.
Dumplings, (peach,) 458.
Dumplings, (bird,) 305.
Dumpling, (sausage,) 231.
Ducks, boiled, 279.
Ducks, fricasseed, 280.
Ducks with peas, 280.
Ducks, roasted, 278.
Duck soup, 56.
Ducks, (terrapin,) 283.
Ducks, (canvas-back,) broiled, 282.
Ducks, (canvas-back,) plain, 281.
Ducks, (canvas-back,) roasted, 281.
Ducks, (canvas-back,) stewed, 282.

East indian pickle, 569.
East India sauce for fish, 331.
Egg balls, 373.
Egg-plants, baked, 357.
Eggs, to beat, 615.
Eggs, to boil, 612.
Egg-nogg, 614.
Egg sauce, 316.
Eggs, poached, 613.
Eggs, scrambled, 614.
Egg wine, 591.
Ellen Clarke's pudding, 603.
Epicurean sauce, 331.

Farina, 500.
Farina blancmange, 588.
Farina flummery, 589.
Farina gruel, 589.
Fast-day soup, 74.
Farmer's rice, 451.
Fennel sauce, 319.
Fig pudding, 617.
Filet gumbo, 293.
Fish, to clean, 77.
Fish, to bake, 79.
Fish cakes, 82.
Fish, to boil, 77.
Fish, to fry, 79.
Fish, spiced, 81.
Fish soup, 71.
Fish, to stew, 81.
Floating island, 515.
Florendines, 482.
Fillet of pork, 225.
Fillet of veal, 189. [653]
Fowls, boiled, 285.
Fowls, pulled, 286.
Fowls, roasted, 284.
Fowl and oysters, 291.
French chicken pie, 291.
French ham pie, 616.
French pot-au-feu, 64.
French sour crout, 354.
French stew, 158.
French white soup, 56.
Friday soup, 75.
Fried oysters, 110.
Fritters, 448.
Fritters, (orange,) 449.
Fritters, (peach,) 449.
Fruit charlotte, 483.
Fruit pies, (common,) 466.
Fruit pot-pies, 460.
Fruit in syrups, 552.

Game soup, 68.
Giblet pie, 277.
Gingerbread, (Lafayette,) 538.
Gingernuts, 539.
Golden cake, 530.
Gooseberry fool, 463.
Gooseberries preserved, 565.
Gooseberry sauce, 339.
Goose pie, 276.
Goose, to roast, 274.
Gravy sippets, 584.
Gravy, to make, 323.
Green beans, to boil, 379.
Green gages, to preserve, 557.
Green lemons or limes, 555.
Green Mayonnaise, 330.
Green peas, to boil, 378.
Green pea soup, 41.
Gruel, 586.
Gumbo, (beef,) 375.
Gumbo, (filet,) 293.
Gumbo, (chicken,) 292.
Gum arabic water, 590.

Halibut, fried, 97.
Halibut, stewed, 104.
Hams, to cure, 236.
Ham, baked, 239.
Ham, boiled, 238.
Ham, brine for pickling, 235.
Ham, broiled, 241.
Ham, disguised, 243.
Ham, fried, 242.
Ham, fried, (nice,) 242.
Ham cake, 243.
Ham, (madeira,) 240.
Ham toast, 173.
Ham omelet, 244.
Ham, potted, 246.
Ham pie, (French,) 616.
Ham, sliced, 243.
Hashed cold meat, 193.
Hare, coated, 264
Herb teas, 585.
Herb candies, 585.
Hog's head cheese, 234.
Hominy, 392.
Horse-radish, 317.

Ice cream, 510.
Icing, (warm,) 519.
Icing, 518.
Ice cream cakes, 632.
Ice water, (or sherbet,) 513.
Iced plum pudding, 621.
Indian corn, to boil, 391.
Indian mush, 412. [654]
India pickle, 569.
Indian pudding, (fine,) 428.
Italian pork, 226.
Irish stew, 180.

Jams or marmalade, 546.
Jam, strawberry, 549.
Jam, raspberry, 548.
Jellies, 545.
Jelly, apple, 492.
Jelly, calf's feet, 491.
Jelly cake, 535.
Jelly, currant, 494.
Jelly, (or marmalade,) pudding, 480.
Jelly, orange, 493.
Jelly, Siberian, 493.
Jelly, (Wine,) 496.
Jelly water, 587.
Jumbles, 534.
Jumbles, (cocoa-nut,) 534.
Junket, 450.

Kebobbed mutton, 179.
Kebobbed veal, 197.
Kisses, 537.
Knuckle of veal and bacon, 196.

Lady cake, 526.
Lady fingers, 524.
Lafayette gingerbread, 538.
Lamb, 181.
Lamb, larded, 186.
Larded tongue, 172.
Lamb chops, stewed, 185.
Lamb cutlets, 184.
Lamb pie, 187.
Lamb, roast, 182.
Lamb steaks, 183.
Lard, to prepare, 250.
Larded liver, 199.
Lemon cakes, 522.
Lemon catchup, 327.
Lemon custards, 485.
Lemon pudding, 473.
Lemon bread pudding, 468.
Lemons or limes, to preserve green, 555.
Lemon syrups, 513.
Lemon taffy, 506.
Lemons or oranges, preserved, 554.
Lettuce peas, 367.
Lettuce peas, plain, 368.
Lima beans, 380.
Liver, fried, 198.
Liver pie, 201.
Liver pudding, 234.
Liver rissoles, 200.
Liver, stewed, 200.
Lobsters, 132.
Lobster pudding, 136.
Lobster salad, (plain,) 133.
Lobster sauce, 137.
Lobster rissoles, 135.
Lobster salad, (fine,) 134.
Lobster soup, 71.

Macaroni, 600.
Macaroni, (sweet,) 601.
Macaroons, (almond,) 536.
Macaroons, (ground-nut,) 628.
Macaroons, (chocolate,) 536.
Mackerel, broiled, 96.
Mackerel, fried, 97.
Madras curry powder, 333. [655]
Mangoes, (peach,) 571.
Mangoes, (melon,) 572.
Marmalade meringues, 533.
Marmalade, (grape,) 550.
Marmalade, (cherry,) 550.
Marmalade, (orange,) 550.
Marmalade, (peach,) 546.
Marmalade, (plum,) 548.
Marmalade, (pumpkin,) 547.
Marmalade, (quince,) 546.
Marmalade, (pine-apple,) 549.
Marmalade, (tomato,) 547.
Maryland biscuit, 432.
Marrow pudding, 501.
Mayonnaise, (green,) 330.
Melongina or Egg-plant, 356.
Meringue pudding, 479.
Meringues, (whipped cream,) 633.
Meat pies, 163.
Milk biscuit, 437.
Milk pottage, 451.
Milk toast, 598.
Mince pies, 488.
Mint julep, 610.
Mint sauce, 317.
Mock turtle soup, 69.
Molasses pie, 446.
Molasses pot-pie, 447.
Molasses pudding, 444.
Molasses supper, 594.
Muffins, (soft,) 429.
Mush, 412.
Mushrooms with beef, 160.
Mushrooms, baked, 391.
Mushroom catchup, 324.
Mushroom omelet, 364.
Mushroom sauce, 321.
Mushrooms, pickled, 572.
Mushrooms, stewed, 390.
Mustard, (French,) 329.
Mutton, 173.
Mutton broth for invalids, 583.
Mutton, (boiled leg of,) 175.
Mutton, (boiled loin of,) 174.
Mutton chops, (broiled,) 177.
Mutton steaks, (fried,) 178.
Mutton chops with potatos, 179.
Mutton chops with tomatos, 178.
Mutton, (boiled,) (sauce for,) 175.
Mutton steaks, (stewed,) 176.
Mutton, kebobbed, 179.

Nasturtions, pickled, 581.
Nectar, 611.
Noodle soup, 54.
New Year's cake, 605.

Ochras, to boil, 375.
Ochras, dried, 374.
Omelet, (common,) 601.
Omelet soufflé, 501.
Omelet of sweetbreads, 213.
Onion custard, 358.
Onions, 376.
Onion eggs, 373.
Onions, pickled, 577.
Onion sauce, (fine,) 320.
Onion sauce, (plain,) 321.
Onions, (to roast,) 376.
Onions, (to stew,) 376.
Onion soup, 47.
Ontario cake, 604.
Orange cake, 522.
Orange or lemon custards, 484.
Orange cocoa-nut, 504.
Orange fritters, 449. [656]
Orange jelly, 493.
Orange marmalade, 550.
Orange milk, 551.
Orange pudding, baked, 476.
Orange pudding, boiled, 476.
Oranges (or lemons,) preserved, 554.
Orange or lemon syrup, 513.
Oysters, broiled, 119.
Oysters, to choose, 108.
Oysters, to feed, 108.
Oysters, fried, 110.
Oyster fritters, 111.
Oysters, (French,) 110.
Oyster loaves, 117.
Oyster omelet, 118.
Oyster patties, 117.
Oysters, pickled, 115.
Oysters, pickled for keeping, 116.
Oyster pie, 120.
Oysters, roasted, 114.
Oysters, scolloped, 114.
Oysters, raw, for the sick, 584.
Oyster soup, 73.
Oyster soup, for invalids, 582.
Oysters, stewed, 109.

Panada, (chicken,) 589.
Panada, (sweet,) 590.
Pancakes, 450.
Parsley, crimped, 319.
Parsley sauce, 318.
Parsnips, baked, 387.
Parsnips, boiled, 386.
Parsnips, fried, 386.
Parsnip fritters, 387.
Parsnip soup, 49.
Partridges, (pear fashion,) 301.
Partridges, roasted, 302.
Partridge, plain, 302.
Paste, (excellent plain,) 467.
Paste, (potato,) 464.
Paste puff, (the best,) 469.
Paste borders, 472.
Peas, to boil, 377.
Peas, stewed, 377.
Pea soup, (green,) 41.
Pea soup, (split,) 43.
Peas with lettuce, 367.
Peas, plain lettuce, 368.
Peaches and cream, 506.
Peach dumplings, 458.
Peach mangoes, 571.
Peach marmalade, 546.
Peaches, (brandied,) 557.
Peaches, pickled, 570.
Peaches, preserved, 556.
Pears, baked, 462.
Pepper-pot, 53.
Peppers, (bell,) pickled, 574.
Persimmon jam, 567.
Pheasants, roasted, 302.
Pickles, 568.
Pickled beets with cabbage, 575.
Pickled bell-peppers, 574.
Pickled button tomatos, 581.
Pickled butternuts, 578.
Pickled cauliflowers, 575.
Pickled cherries, 580.
Pickled cucumbers, 576.
Pickled cucumbers with onions, 578.
Pickled damsons, 580.
Pickles, East India, 569.
Pickled melon mangoes, 572.
Pickled mushrooms, 572.
Pickled nasturtions, 581. [657]
Pickled onions, 577.
Pickled peaches, 570.
Pickled peach mangoes, 571.
Pickled plums, 579.
Pickled shrimps, 314.
Pickled walnuts, 578.
Pie, (crust,) very plain, 464.
Pigeon pie, 540.
Pigeons, roasted, 308.
Pig, to dress, 220.
Pig's feet, fried, 227.
Pine-apple marmalade, 549.
Pine-apples, preserved, 553.
Pine-apple tart, 478.
Pink champagne, 608.
Pink sauce, 334.
Planked shad, 106.
Plovers, roasted, 307.
Plum cake, 516.
Plums, preserved, 557.
Plums, pickled, 579.
Plum pudding, (plain,) 468.
Plum pudding, (fine,) 486.
Poke plant, 618.
Pot-au-feu, (French,) 64.
Pot-pies, 165.
Pot-pie, (terrapin,) 125.
Pumpkin, stewed, 389.
Pork, 216.
Pork and apples, 222.
Pork and beans, 228.
Pork with corn and beans, 229.
Pork with pea pudding, 230.
Pork, (Italian,) 226.
Pork, fillet, 225.
Pork olives, 227.
Pork pie, (apple,) 224.
Pork, (apple pot-pie,) 223.
Pork, to roast, 218.
Pork spare-ribs, roasted, 220.
Pork steaks, stewed, 222.
Pork steaks, fried, 223.
Pork, (sweet potato,) 219.
Portable soup, 51.
Potatos, boiled, 345.
Potatos, roasted, 346.
Potatos, baked, 347.
Potato cakes, 348.
Potatos, (country,) 348.
Potatos, fried, 348.
Potatos, (new,) 347.
Potatos, mashed, 347.
Potato paste, 464.
Potato pudding, (plain,) 602.
Potatos, stewed, 349.
Potato beef, 159.
Potato mutton chops, 179.
Potato soup, 50.
Pot-pie, (beefsteak,) 164.
Pot-pie, (chicken,) 297.
Poultry and game, 265.
Pound cake, 520.
Pudding, (almond,) baked, 474.
Pudding, (almond,) boiled, 475.
Pudding, (apple,) 458.
Pudding, (batter,) 447.
Pudding, (bread,) 454.
Pudding, bread and butter, 454.
Pudding, Brown Betty, 455.
Pudding, (cashaw,) 478.
Pudding, (cheese,) 481.
Pudding, (cocoa-nut,) 476.
Pudding, (cocoa-nut,) boiled, 477.
Pudding, (cottage,) 632.
Pudding, iced plum, 621.
Pudding, (Columbian,) 629.
Pudding, (Ellen Clarke's,) 603.
Pudding, lemon bread, 468.
Pudding, marrow, 501. [658]
Pudding, plum, 486.
Pudding, plum, (plain,) 468.
Pudding, molasses, 444.
Pudding, rice, (baked,) 452.
Pudding, rice, (boiled,) 453.
Pudding, orange, 476.
Pudding, lemon or orange, (boiled,) 476.
Pudding, sweet potato, 477.
Pudding, white potato, 478.
Pudding, meringue, 479.
Pudding, marmalade or jelly, 480.
Pudding, pumpkin, (fine,) 478.
Pudding, pumpkin, (Yankee,) 390.
Pudding, rolled, 459.
Pumpkin, stewed, 389.

Quails, roasted, 302.
Queen cake, 522.
Quince marmalade, 546.
Quince pies, 478.
Quinces, preserved, 560.

Rabbits, 259.
Rabbits, coated, 264.
Rabbits, fricasseed, 263.
Rabbits with onions, 261.
Rabbit pot-pie, 262.
Rabbits, pulled, 263.
Rabbits, roasted, 260.
Raspberry jam, 548.
Raspberries, preserved, 566.
Raspberry vinegar, 599.
Rhubarb tarts, 618.
Rice cups, 453.
Rice pie, 298.
Rice pudding, baked, 452.
Rice pudding, boiled, 453.
Rennets, 622.
Ripe peach sauce, 340.
Rissole patties, 198.
Rockfish, 82.
Reed birds, 308.
Rolls, 435.
Rolled pudding, 459.
Roman punch, 514.
Rusk, 438.
Rusks, (dry,) 439.

Sage and onion sauce, 319.
Sago, 592.
Sago pudding, 593.
Salad, (chicken,) 384.
Sally Lunn, 430.
Salsify fritters, 355.
Salsify oysters, 356.
Salmi of partridges, 302.
Salmon, 90.
Salmon, baked, 93.
Salmon, boiled, 91.
Salmon, broiled, 94.
Salmon cutlets, 94.
Salmon, pickled, 95.
Salmon, roasted, 93.
Salmon trout, 101.
Sandwiches, 173.
Sausages, (Bologna,) 232.
Sausage meat, 231.
Sausage dumplings, 231.
Sauce, apple, 338.
Sauce, apple, baked, 339.
Sauce, apple, dried, 341.
Sauce, dried peach, 341.
Sauce, (broccoli,) 318.
Sauce, (cauliflower,) 318. [659]
Sauce, chestnut, 343.
Sauce, (celery,) 316.
Sauce, (clam,) 315.
Sauce, (cranberry,) 337.
Sauce, (damson,) 342.
Sauce, (egg,) 316.
Sauce, (fennel,) 319.
Sauce, (gooseberry,) 339.
Sauce, (lobster,) 137, 313.
Sauce, mint, 317.
Sauce, mushroom, 321.
Sauce, (nasturtion,) 321.
Sauce, (onion,) plain, 321.
Sauce, (onion,) fine, 320.
Sauce, (onion and sage,) 319.
Sauce, (oyster,) 315.
Sauce, (parsley,) 318.
Sauce, pea-nut, 343.
Sauce, (peach,) ripe, 340.
Sauce, (prune,) 342.
Sauce, (pink,) 334.
Sauce, (pudding,) fine, 335.
Sauce, (pudding,) plain, 336.
Sauce, Robert, 330.
Sauce, (shrimp,) 314.
Sauce, (vanilla,) 336.
Sauce, (wine,) 334.
Sausage dumplings, 231.
Sausage and veal pie, 232.
Scolloped tomatos, 365.
Scotch cake, 535.
Seabass with tomatos, 101.
Sea-coast pie, 127.
Shad, to keep without corning, 105.
Shad, planked, 106.
Shells, 471.
Sherry cobbler, 609.
Short cake, 427.
Shrimps, 137.
Siberian jelly, 493.
Silver cake, 531.
Smelts, fried, 86.
Smelts for invalids, 594.
Soft crabs, 122.
Soft crullers, 442.
Soft muffins, 429.
Soufflé, (omelet,) 501.
Soups, 33.
Soup, almond, 58.
Soup, asparagus, 44.
Soup, autumn, 61.
Soup, baked, 76.
Soup, bean, 42.
Soup, (cabbage,) 45.
Soup, red cabbage, 45.
Soup, fine cabbage, 46.
Soup, cauliflower, 47.
Soup, clam, 74.
Soup, cocoa-nut, 57.
Soup, crab, 72.
Soup, corn, 38.
Soup, carrot, 50.
Soup, chestnut, 50.
Soup, chicken, 55.
Soup, duck, 56.
Soup, fast-day, 74.
Soup, fish, 71.
Soup, French white, 56.
Soup, Friday, 75.
Soup, game, 68.
Soup, green peas, 41.
Soup, lobster, 71.
Soup, mock turtle, 69.
Soup, mushroom, 37.
Soup, noodle, 54.
Soup, onion, 47.
Soup, oyster, 73.
Soup, parsnip, 49.
Soup, pea, green, 41. [660]
Soup, peas, split, 43.
Soup, pepper-pot, 53.
Soup, portable, 51.
Soup, pot-au-feu, 64.
Soup, potato, 50.
Soup, spring, 59.
Soup, summer, 60.
Soup, squatters, 68.
Soup, tomato, 39.
Soup, family tomato, 40.
Soup, fine tomato, 40.
Soup, turnip, 48.
Soup, vegetable, 63.
Soup, venison, 39.
Soup, winter, 62.
Soup, wild duck, 66.
Southern stew, 196.
Sour crout, (French,) 354.
Soufflé pudding, 620.
Spanish buns, 525.
Spinach, 369.
Sponge cake, 523.
Squashes or cymlings, 388.
Stewed smoked beef, 149.
Stewed calf's head, 205.
Stewed peas, 366.
Stewed pumpkin, 389.
Store sauces, 333.
Strawberry jam, 549.
Strawberries, preserved, 563.
Strawberries in wine, 564.
Strawberry wine, 564.
Sweetbreads, baked, 215.
Sweetbread croquettes, 210.
Sweetbreads, fricasseed, 210.
Sweetbreads with cauliflower, 212.
Sweetbread omelet, 213.
Sweetbreads with oysters, 214.
Sweetbreads, to prepare, 209.
Sweetbreads for invalids, 593.
Sweetbread pies, 214.
Sweetbreads, stewed, 214.
Sweetbreads with tomatos, 211.
Sweetmeats, 543.
Sweet potatos, boiled, 380.
Sweet potatos, baked, 381.
Sweet potatos, mashed, 381.
Sweet potatos, stewed, 381.
Sweet potato pudding, 477.
Sweet potato cake, 529.
Sweet potatos, sweetened, 455.
Sunderlands, 503.
Sydney Smith's salad dressing, 382.

Taffy, (lemon,) 506.
Tamarind-water, 591.
Tapioca, 592.
Tarragon sauce, 323.
Tarragon vinegar, 328.
Tea, 595.
Thatched house pie, 304.
Terrapins, 122.
Terrapins, dressed a new way, 124.
Terrapin pot-pie, 125.
Toast and water, 586.
Toast, buttered, 599.
Toast, (milk,) 598.
Tomato catchup, 326.
Tomato paste, 374.
Tomatos, pickled, 581.
Tomatos, preserved green, 559.
Tomatos, preserved, 558.
Tomatos with sea-bass, 101.
Tomato soup, 39.
Tomato soup, (fine,) 40.
Tomato soup, (family,) 40. [661]
Tomato sweetbreads, 211.
Tongues, 170.
Tongue, baked, 171.
Tongue, larded, 172.
Tongue toast, 172.
Trifle, 496.
Tripe, to boil, 167.
Tripe, to fry, 169.
Tripe curry, 168.
Trout, 84.
Trout, baked, 85.
Trout, stewed, 85.
Trout with cream, 102.
Turbot, baked, 100.
Turbot, boiled, 99.
Turkey, boiled, 267.
Turkey, roasted, 270.
Turkey with oysters, 269.
Turkey, boned, 271.
Turnips, boiled, 382.
Turnip soup, 48.
Turtle, to dress, 128.
Turtle pastry, 131.

Vanilla custards, 484.
Vanilla sauce, 336.
Vanilla syrup, 513.
Veal, 188.
Veal a-la-mode, 191.
Veal and bacon, 196.
Veal broth for the sick, 583.
Veal cutlets, 195.
Veal cutlets, in papers, 194.
Veal fillet, 189.
Veal fritters, 197.
Veal kebobbed, 197.
Veal, (knuckle,) with bacon, 196.
Veal, hashed, 190.
Veal loaf, 204.
Veal, minced, 205.
Veal pie, 204.
Veal olives, 207.
Veal with oysters, 206.
Veal rissoles, 208.
Veal steaks, 195.
Veal and sausage pie, 232.
Veal, (loin of,) roast, 189.
Veal, southern stew, 196.
Veal, (terrapin,) 192.
Vegetables, 343.
Vegetable soup, 63.
Venison, 252.
Venison ham, 259.
Venison, hashed, 255.
Venison pie, (fine,) 255.
Venison pie, (plain,) 257.
Venison pot-pie, 258.
Venison steaks, (broiled,) 253.
Venison, stewed, 254.
Venison haunch, (roasted,) 253.
Venison soup, 39.
Vinegar, 607.
Vinegar, (raspberry,) 599.
Vol-au-vent, 619.
Vol-au-vent, (sweet,) 620.

Waffles, 441.
Walnut catchup, 325.
Walnuts, pickled, 578.
Washington pudding, 630.
Warm icing, 519.
West India cake, 529.
Whey, 591.
White thickening, 311.
White potato pudding, 478.
Wine jelly, 496.
Wine sauce, 334. [662]
Wine, (strawberry,) 564.
Winter butter, (to make,) 624.
Winter soup, 62.
Woodcocks or snipes, to roast, 306.

Yankee chowder, 88.
Yankee pumpkin pudding, 390.
Yeast, (good,) 605.
Yeast powders, 606.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] In buying calves' feet always get those that are singed, not skinned. Much of the glutinous or jelly property resides in the skin.

[B] To make this vinegar—half fill a bottle with tarragon leaves, and fill it quite up with the best cider vinegar. Cork it tightly, and do not remove the tarragon, but let it remain always at the bottom. The flavor is very fine.

[C] The herbs summer savory and thyme (like the spices cloves and allspice) are now seldom used in good cookery.

[D] Pronounced Feelay.

[E] The butter and sugar sauce is very nice flavored and colored with the juice of strawberries or raspberries.

Transcriber's Notes:

Some minor obvious typographical errors have been corrected silently.
Missing page numbers are attributed to blank pages in the original text.

Corrections made appear in [square brackets]:

Pg. 20: "From the Pennslyvania [replaced with "Pennsylvania"]"
Pg. 65: "his excellent pot a [replaced with "au"] feu"
Pg. 146: "aid [replaced with "laid"] it a while in cold"
Pg. 201: "for any thing that has ham [added "in"] it,"
Pg. 202: "Taragon [replaced with "Tarragon"] vinegar is best."
Pg. 293: "a dish of beiled [replaced with "boiled"] rice to be eaten"
Pg. 338: "looks very meanly--and thstes [replaced with "tastes"] so."
Pg. 348: "beat them with a wooden spoon to reder [replaced with "render"] them very light."
Pg. 464: "If you have a coo [last letter cut off, replaced with "cool"] hand,"
Pg. 493: "loosened by wrapping round their ousides [replaced with "outsides"] cloths"
Pg. 496: "either port, madeira, or chamaigne [replaced with "champagne"]"
Pg. 496: "except as some exhiliration [replaced with "exhilaration"]"
Pg. 536: "Ground-nut macaroon [replaced with "macaroons"] are made in the same manner."
Pg. 563: "stirring down to the bottom after evey [replaced with "every"] skimming,"
Pg. 575: "Brocoli [replaced with "Broccoli"] is done in the same manner"
Pg. 583: "as soon as it simmers, [deleted comma] well [added comma] take it off"
Pg. 620: "beat and stir the soaked rusk very had [replaced with "hard"]"
Marjoram, marjoran (Pg. 357) and majoram (Pp. 90, 95, 602) are used in the text, these have all been standardised to "marjoram" as it was used in the majority.

The following index entries were corrected (corrections listed below in square brackets):

Almond and macaroon custards, 484 [486]
Almond soup, 53 [58]
Arrow-root biscuit, 303. [603]
Beef, corned, fried, 143. [148]
Bird dumplings, 505. [305]
Birds for invalids, 384. [584]
Boned turkey, 279. [271]
Cheese pudding, 431. [481]
Chocolate, 527. [597]
Cinnamon cake, 440. [528]
Crab fritters, soft, 213. [113]
Crullers, (soft,) 422. [442]
Curry balls, 273. [373]
Doughnuts, 442. [443]
Eggs, scrambled, 612. [614]
Ellen Clarke's pudding, 303. [603]
Farino [Farina] flummery, 589.
French ham pie, 516. [616]
Gravy sippets, 584. [put in correct alphabetical order]
Gravy, to make, 223. [323]
Halibut, fried, 98. [97]
Ham, broiled, 243. [241]
Ice water, (or sherbet,) 523. [513]
Indian corn, to boil, 321. [391]
India pickle, 269. [569]
Indian pudding, (fine,) 428. [incorrect page number, unable to locate]
Jam, raspberry, 549. [548]
Jelly, (or marmalade,) pudding, 431. [480]
Lamb pie, 189. [187]
Lemon custards, 484. [485]
Lemon syrups, 522. [513]
Meringue pudding, 480. [479]
Mint julep, 608. [610]
Mutton chops, (broiled,) 171. [177]
Orange or lemon syrup, 523. [513]
Pea soup, (green,) 42. [41]
Pork with pea pudding, 280. [230]
Pork steaks, fried, 228. [223]
Pudding, (apple,) 558. [458]
Pudding, (cottage,) 582. [632]
Pudding, (Ellen Clarke's,) 303. [603]
Pudding, lemon or orange, (boiled,) 426. [476]
Pudding, meringue, 480. [479]
Pudding, plum, (plain,) 469. [468]
Pudding, white potato, 476. [478]
Pudding, marmalade or jelly, 431. [480]
Quince pies, 479. [478]
Raspberry vinegar, 509. [599]
Rice pudding, baked, 442. [452]
Rice pudding, boiled, 443. [453]
Rissole patties, 198. [incorrect page number, unable to locate]
Sauce, chestnut, 348. [343]
Sauce, (gooseberry,) 389. [339]
Sauce, (lobster,) 187 [137], 313.
Sauce, pea-nut, 348. [343]
Sausage and veal pie, 282. [232]
Soufflé, (omelet,) 591. [501]
Soup, red cabbage, 46. [45]
Soup, corn, 88. [38]
Soup, oyster, 78. [73]
Soup, pea, green, 42. [41]
Soup, peas, split, 48. [43]
Soup, pepper-pot, 58. [53]
Soup, vegetable, 68. [63]
Stewed smoked beef, 145. [149]
Stewed calf's head, 206. [205]
Sweetbreads for invalids, 598. [593]
Sweet potatos, stewed, 358. [381]
Sweet potato cake, 528. [529]
Tarragon sauce, 223. [323]
Tomatos, pickled, 211. [581]
Tomatos with sea-bass, 365. [101]
Tomato soup, 89. [39]
Tongue toast, 178. [172]
Turtle, to dress, 628. [128]
Vanilla custards, 485. [484]
Vanilla syrup, 523. [513]
Vinegar, (raspberry,) 509. [599]
White potato pudding, 78. [478]
Yankee pumpkin pudding, [390].

Not changed:

Some entries in the index are not in alphabetical order.
Inconsistencies in word hyphenation, for example: backbone and back-bone, table-spoonful and tablespoonful.
Inconsistencies in section title punctuation.
All French spelling.
Pg. 574: "Your may green bell-peppers in the usual way, with vine leaves or cabbage leaves." [unsure as to the true meaning]

Variant spellings left unchanged:

canvas-back, canvass-back
Ellen Clarke's pudding, Ellen Clark's pudding
inclose, enclose
Indian meal, indian meal
macaroni, maccaroni
marigold, marygold
panada, panade
potato, potatoe
rince, rinse
trevet, trivet

Wheat flour	one pound of 16 ounces	is one quart.
Indian meal	one pound 2 ounces	is one quart.
Butter, when soft	one pound 1 ounce	is one quart.
Loaf sugar, broken up,	one pound	is one quart.
White sugar, powdered,	one pound 1 ounce	is one quart.
Best brown sugar,	one pound 2 ounces	is one quart.
Eggs	ten eggs	weigh one pound.

Four large table-spoonfuls	are	half a jill.
Eight large table-spoonfuls	are	one jill.
Two jills	are	half a pint.
A common-sized tumbler	holds	half a pint.
A common-sized wine-glass	holds about	half a jill.
Two pints	are	one quart.
Four quarts	are	one gallon.

Half a gallon	is	a quarter of a peck.
One gallon	is	half a peck.
Two gallons	are	one peck.
Four gallons	are	half a bushel.
Eight gallons	are	one bushel.

MISS LESLIE'S NEW COOKERY BOOK.

MISS LESLIE'S NEW COOKERY BOOK.

PREFACE.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

LIQUID MEASURE.

DRY MEASURE.

GENERAL CONTENTS.

ANIMALS

Beef.

Veal.

Mutton.

Pork.

Venison.

MISS LESLIE'S NEW COOKERY BOOK.

SOUPS.

MUSHROOM SOUP.—

SWEET CORN SOUP.—

VENISON SOUP.—

TOMATO SOUP.—

FAMILY TOMATO SOUP.—

FINE TOMATO SOUP.—

GREEN PEA SOUP.—

EXCELLENT BEAN SOUP.—

SPLIT PEA SOUP.—

ASPARAGUS SOUP.—

CABBAGE SOUP.—

RED CABBAGE SOUP.—

FINE CABBAGE SOUP.—

CAULIFLOWER SOUP.—

FINE ONION SOUP.—

TURNIP SOUP.—

PARSNIP SOUP.—

CARROT SOUP.—

POTATO SOUP.—

CHESTNUT SOUP.—

PORTABLE SOUP.—

PEPPER-POT.—

NOODLE SOUP.—

CHICKEN SOUP.—

DUCK SOUP.—

FRENCH WHITE SOUP.—

COCOA-NUT SOUP.—

ALMOND SOUP

SPRING SOUP.—

SUMMER SOUP.—

AUTUMN SOUP.—

WINTER SOUP.—

VEGETABLE SOUP—

FRENCH POT AU FEU.—

WILD DUCK SOUP.—

VENISON SOUP.—

GAME SOUP.—

SQUATTER'S SOUP.—

MOCK TURTLE SOUP.—

FISH SOUP.—

LOBSTER SOUP.—

CRAB SOUP.—

OYSTER SOUP.—

CLAM SOUP.—

FAST-DAY SOUP.—

FRIDAY SOUP.—

BAKED SOUP.—

FISH.

TO CLEAN FISH.—

TO BOIL FISH.—

FRYING FISH.—

BAKED FISH.—

STEWED FISH.—

SPICED FISH.—

FISH CAKES.—

ROCK-FISH.—

BLACK FISH AND SEA-BASS—

FRESH COD.—

TROUT.—

STEWED TROUT.—

BAKED TROUT.—

SALT COD.—

FRIED SMELTS.—

FRIED CAT-FISH.—

FINE CHOWDER.—

MISS LESLIE'S
NEW
COOKERY BOOK.

MISS LESLIE'S
NEW
COOKERY
BOOK.

MISS LESLIE'S
NEW
COOKERY BOOK.