THE

WHITE HOUSE

COOK BOOK

COOKING, TOILET AND HOUSEHOLD
RECIPES,

MENUS, DINNER-GIVING, TABLE
ETIQUETTE,

CARE OF THE SICK, HEALTH
SUGGESTIONS,

FACTS WORTH KNOWING, Etc.,
Etc.

THE WHOLE COMPRISING

A COMPREHENSIVE CYCLOPEDIA OF
INFORMATION FOR THE HOME

BY

MRS. F.L. GILLETTE

AND

HUGO ZIEMANN,

Steward of the White house

1887

TO THE WIVES OF OUR PRESIDENTS,
THOSE NOBLE WOMEN WHO HAVE GRACED THE WHITE HOUSE, AND WHOSE NAMES
AND MEMORIES ARE DEAR TO ALL AMERICANS, THIS VOLUME IS
AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR.[Pg
2]

PUBLISHERS’ PREFACE

In presenting to the public the “WHITE HOUSE COOK BOOK,” the
publishers believe they can justly claim that it more fully
represents the progress and present perfection of the culinary art
than any previous work. In point of authorship, it stands
preëminent. Hugo Ziemann was at one time caterer for that
Prince Napoleon who was killed while fighting the Zulus in Africa.
He was afterwards steward of the famous Hotel Splendide in Paris.
Later he conducted the celebrated Brunswick Café in New
York, and still later he gave to the Hotel Richelieu, in Chicago, a
cuisine which won the applause of even the gourmets of foreign
lands. It was here that he laid the famous “spread” to which the
chiefs of the warring factions of the Republican Convention sat
down in June, 1888, and from which they arose with asperities
softened, differences harmonized and victory organized.

Mrs. F.L. Gillette is no less proficient and capable, having
made a life-long and thorough study of cookery and housekeeping,
especially as adapted to the practical wants of average American
homes.

The book has been prepared with great care. Every recipe has
been tried and tested, and can be relied upon as one
of the best of its kind. It is comprehensive, filling
completely, it is believed, the requirements of housekeepers of all
classes. It embodies several original and commendable features,
among which may be mentioned the menus for the holidays and
for one week in each month in the year, thus covering all varieties
of seasonable foods; the convenient classification and arrangement
of topics; the simplified method of explanation in preparing an
article, in the order of manipulation, thereby enabling the most
inexperienced to clearly comprehend it.

The subject of carving has been given a prominent place, not
only because of its special importance in a work of this kind, but
particu[Pg 4]larly because it contains entirely new and original
designs, and is so far a departure from the usual mode of treating
the subject.

Interesting information is given concerning the White
House; how its hospitality is conducted, the menus served on
special occasions, views of the interior, portraits of all the
ladies of the White House, etc.

Convenience has been studied in the make-up of the book. The
type is large and plain; it is sewed by patent flexible process, so
that when opened it will not close of itself, and it is bound in
enameled cloth, adapted for use in the kitchen.

THE PUBLISHERS.

CONTENTS.

HELEN HERRON TAFT.

Copyright, Photo Clinediust, Washington.

WHITE HOUSE COOK BOOK.

CARVING.

Carving is one important acquisition in the routine of daily
living, and all should try to attain a knowledge or ability to do
it well, and withal gracefully.

When carving use a chair slightly higher than the ordinary size,
as it gives a better purchase on the meat, and appears more
graceful than when standing, as is often quite necessary when
carving a turkey, or a very large joint. More depends on skill than
strength. The platter should be placed opposite, and sufficiently
near to give perfect command of the article to be carved, the knife
of medium size, sharp with a keen edge. Commence by cutting the
slices thin, laying them carefully to one side of the platter, then
afterwards placing the desired amount on each guest’s plate, to be
served in turn by the servant.

In carving fish, care should be taken to help it in perfect
flakes; for if these are broken the beauty of the fish is lost. The
carver should acquaint himself with the choicest parts and morsels;
and to give each guest an equal share of those tidbits
should be his maxim. Steel knives and forks should on no account be
used in helping fish, as these are liable to impart a very
disagreeable flavor. A fish-trowel of silver or plated silver is
the proper article to use.

Gravies should be sent to the table very hot, and in
helping one to gravy or melted butter, place it on a vacant side of
the plate, not pour it over their meat, fish or fowl, that
they may use only as much as they like.

When serving fowls, or meats, accompanied with stuffing, the
guests should be asked if they would have a portion, as it is not
every one to whom the flavor of stuffing is agreeable; in filling
their plates, avoid heaping one thing upon another, as it makes a
bad appearance.

A word about the care of carving knives: a fine steel knife
should not come in contact with intense heat, because it destroys
its temper, and therefore impairs its cutting qualities. Table
carving knives should not be used in the kitchen, either around the
stove, or for cutting bread, meats, vegetables, etc.; a fine
whetstone should be kept for sharpening, and the knife cleaned
carefully to avoid dulling its edge, all of which is quite
essential to successful carving.

BEEF.

HIND-QUARTER.

No. 1. Used for choice roasts, the porterhouse and sirloin
steaks.

No. 2. Rump, used for steaks, stews and corned beef.

No. 3. Aitch-bone, used for boiling-pieces, stews and pot
roasts.

No. 4. Buttock or round, used for steaks, pot roasts, beef
á la mode; also a prime boiling-piece.

No. 5. Mouse-round, used for boiling and stewing.

No. 6. Shin or leg, used for soups, hashes, etc.

No. 7. Thick flank, cut with under fat, is a prime
boiling-piece, good for stews and corned beef, pressed beef.

No. 8. Veiny piece, used for corned beef, dried beef.

No. 9. Thin flank, used for corned beef and boiling-pieces.

FORE-QUARTER.

No. 10. Five ribs called the fore-rib. This is considered the
primest piece for roasting; also makes the finest steaks.

No. 11. Four ribs, called the middle ribs, used for
roasting.

No. 12. Chuck ribs, used for second quality of roasts and
steaks.

No. 13. Brisket, used for corned beef, stews, soups and spiced
beef.

No. 14. Shoulder-piece, used for stews, soups, pot-roasts,
mince-meat and hashes.

Nos. 15, 16. Neck, clod or sticking-piece used for stocks,
gravies, soups, mince-pie meat, hashes, bologna sausages, etc.

No. 17. Shin or shank, used mostly for soups and stewing.

No. 18. Cheek.

The following is a classification of the qualities of meat,
according to the several joints of beef, when cut up.

First Class.—Includes the sirloin with the kidney
suet (1), the rump steak piece (2), the fore-rib (11).

Second Class.—The buttock or round (4), the thick
flank (7), the middle ribs (11).

Third Class.—The aitch-bone (3), the mouse-round
(5), the thin flank (8, 9), the chuck (12), the shoulder-piece
(14), the brisket (13).

Fourth Class.—The clod, neck and sticking-piece
(15, 16).

Fifth Class.—Shin or shank (17).

VEAL.

HIND-QUARTER.

No. 1. Loin, the choicest cuts used for roasts and chops.

No. 2. Fillet, used for roasts and cutlets.

No. 3. Loin, chump-end used for roasts and chops.

No. 4. The hind-knuckle or hock, used for stews, pot-pies,
meat-pies.

FORE-QUARTER.

No. 5. Neck, best end used for roasts, stews and chops.

No. 6. Breast, best end used for roasting, stews and chops.

No. 7. Blade-bone, used for pot-roasts and baked dishes.

No. 8. Fore-knuckle, used for soups and stews.

No. 9. Breast, brisket-end used for baking, stews and
pot-pies.

No. 10. Neck, scrag-end used for stews, broth, meat-pies,
etc.

In cutting up veal, generally, the hind-quarter is divided into
loin and leg, and the fore-quarter into breast, neck and
shoulder.

The Several Parts of a Moderately-sized, Well-fed Calf,
about eight weeks old, are nearly of the following
weights:—Loin and chump, 18 lbs.; fillet, 12½ lbs.;
hind-knuckle, 5½ lbs.; shoulder, 11 lbs.; neck, 11 lbs.;
breast, 9 lbs., and fore-knuckle, 5 lbs.; making a total of 144
lbs. weight.

MUTTON.

No. 1. Leg, used for roasts and for boiling.

No. 2. Shoulder, used for baked dishes and roasts.

No. 3. Loin, best end used for roasts, chops.

No. 4. Loin, chump-end used for roasts and chops.

No. 5. Rack, or rib chops, used for French chops, rib chops,
either for frying or broiling; also used for choice stews.

No. 6. Breast, used for roast, baked dishes, stews, chops.

No. 7. Neck or scrag-end, used for cutlets, stews and
meat-pies.

NOTE.—A saddle of muton or double loin is two loins cut
off before the carcass is split open down the back. French chops
are a small rib chop, the end of the bone trimmed off and the meat
and fat cut away from the thin end, leaving the round piece of meat
attached to the larger end, which leaves the small rib-bone bare.
Very tender and sweet.

Mutton is prime when cut from a carcass which has been
fed out of doors, and allowed to run upon the hillside; they are
best when about three years old. The fat will then be abundant,
white and hard, the flesh juicy and firm, and of a clear red
color.

For mutton roasts, choose the shoulder, the saddle, or the loin
or haunch. The leg should be boiled. Almost any part will do for
broth.

Lamb born in the middle of the winter, reared under shelter, and
fed in a great measure upon milk, then killed in the spring, is
considered a great delicacy, though lamb is good at a year old.
Like all young animals, lamb ought to be thoroughly cooked, or it
is most unwholesome.

PORK.

No. 1. Leg, used for smoked hams, roasts and corned pork.

No. 2. Hind-loin, used for roasts, chops and baked dishes.

No. 3. Fore-loin or ribs, used for roasts, baked dishes or
chops.

No. 4. Spare-rib, used for roasts, chops, stews.

No. 5. Shoulder, used for smoked shoulder, roasts and corned
pork.

No. 6. Brisket and flank, used for pickling in salt and smoked
bacon.

The cheek is used for pickling in salt, also the shank or shin.
The feet are usually used for souse and jelly.

For family use the leg is the most economical, that is when
fresh, and the loin the richest. The best pork is from carcasses
weighing from fifty to about one hundred and twenty-five pounds.
Pork is a white and close meat, and it is almost impossible to
over-roast or cook it too much; when underdone it is exceedingly
unwholesome.

VENISON.

No. 1. Shoulder, used for roasting; it may be boned and stuffed,
then afterwards baked or roasted.

No. 2. Fore-loin, used for roasts and steaks.

No. 3. Haunch or loin, used for roasts, steaks, stews. The ribs
cut close may be used for soups. Good for pickling and making into
smoked venison.

No. 4. Breast, used for baking dishes, stewing.

No. 5. Scrag or neck, used for soups.

The choice of venison should be judged by the fat, which, when
the venison is young, should be thick, clear and close, and the
meat a very dark red. The flesh of a female deer about four years
old, is the sweetest and best of venison.

Buck venison, which is in season from June to the end of
September, is finer than doe venison, which is in season from
October to December. Neither should be dressed at any other time of
year, and no meat requires so much care as venison in killing,
preserving and dressing.

SIRLOIN OF BEEF.

This choice roasting-piece should be cut with one good firm
stroke from end to end of the joint, at the upper part, in thin,
long, even slices in the direction of the line from 1 to 2, cutting
across the grain, serving each guest with some of the fat with the
lean; this may be done by cutting a small, thin slice from
underneath the bone from 5 to 6, through the tenderloin.

Another way of carving this piece, and which will be of great
assistance in doing it well, is to insert the knife just above the
bone at the bottom, and run sharply along, dividing the meat from
the bone at the bottom and end, thus leaving it perfectly flat;
then carve in long, thin slices the usual way. When the bone has
been removed and the sirloin rolled before it is cooked, it is laid
upon the platter on one end, and an even, thin slice is carved
across the grain of the upper surface.

Roast ribs should be carved in thin, even slices from the thick
end towards the thin in the same manner as the sirloin; this can be
more easily and cleanly done if the carving knife is first run
along between the meat and the end and rib-bones, thus leaving it
free from bone to be cut into slices.

Tongue.—To carve this it should be cut crosswise,
the middle being the best; cut in very thin slices, thereby
improving its delicacy, making it more tempting; as is the case of
all well-carved meats. The root of the tongue is usually left on
the platter.

BREAST OF VEAL.

This piece is quite similar to a fore-quarter of lamb after the
shoulder has been taken off. A breast of veal consists of two
parts, the rib-bones and the gristly brisket. These parts may be
separated by sharply passing the carving knife in the direction of
the line from 1 to 2; and when they are entirely divided, the
rib-bones should be carved in the direction of the line from 5 to
6, and the brisket can be helped by cutting slices from 3 to 4.

The carver should ask the guests whether they have a preference
for the brisket or ribs; and if there be a sweetbread served with
the dish, as is frequently with this roast of veal, each person
should receive a piece.

Though veal and lamb contain less nutrition than beef and
mutton, in proportion to their weight, they are often preferred to
these latter meats on account of their delicacy of texture and
flavor. A whole breast of veal weighs from nine to twelve
pounds.

A FILLET OF VEAL.

A fillet of veal is one of the prime roasts of veal; it is taken
from the leg above the knuckle; a piece weighing from ten to twelve
pounds is a good size and requires about four hours for roasting.
Before roasting, it is dressed with a force meat or stuffing placed
in the cavity from where the bone was taken out and the flap
tightly secured together with skewers; many bind it together with
tape.

To carve it, cut in even thin slices off from the whole of the
upper part or top, in the same manner as from a rolled roast of
beef, as in the direction of the figs. 1 and 2; this gives the
person served some of the dressing with each slice of meat.

Veal is very unwholesome unless it is cooked thoroughly, and
when roasted should be of a rich brown color. Bacon, fried pork,
sausage-balls, with greens, are among the accompaniments of roasted
veal, also a cut lemon.

NECK OF VEAL.

The best end of a neck of veal makes a very good roasting-piece;
it, however, is composed of bone and ribs that make it quite
difficult to carve, unless it is done properly. To attempt to carve
each chop and serve it, you would not only place too large a
piece upon the plate of the person you intend to serve, but you
would waste much time, and should the vertebræ have not been
removed by the butcher, you would be compelled to exercise such a
degree of strength that would make one’s appearance very
ungraceful, and possibly, too, throwing gravy over your neighbor
sitting next to you. The correct way to carve this roast is to cut
diagonally from fig. 1 to 2, and help in slices of moderate
thickness; then it may be cut from 3 to 4, in order to separate the
small bones; divide and serve them, having first inquired if they
are desired.

This joint is usually sent to the table accompanied by bacon,
ham, tongue, or pickled pork, on a separate dish and with a cut
lemon on a plate. There are also a number of sauces that are
suitable with this roast.

LEG OF MUTTON.

The best mutton, and that from which most nourishment is
obtained is that of sheep from three to six years old, and which
have been fed on dry, sweet pastures; then mutton is in its
prime, the flesh being firm, juicy, dark colored and full of
the richest gravy. When mutton is two years old, the meat is
flabby, pale and savorless.

In carving a roasted leg, the best slices are found by cutting
quite down to the bone, in the direction from 1 to 2, and slices
may be taken from either side.

Some very good cuts are taken from the broad end from 5 to 6,
and the fat on this ridge is very much liked by many. The
cramp-bone is a delicacy, and is obtained by cutting down to the
bone at 4, and running the knife under it in a semicircular
direction to 3. The nearer the knuckle the drier the meat, but the
under side contains the most finely grained meat, from which slices
may be cut lengthwise. When sent to the table a frill of paper
around the knuckle will improve its appearance.

FORE-QUARTER OF LAMB.

The first cut to be made in carving a fore-quarter of lamb is to
separate the shoulder from the breast and ribs; this is done by
passing a sharp carving knife lightly around the dotted line as
shown by the figs. 3, 4 and 5, so as to cut through the skin, and
then, by raising with a little force the shoulder, into which the
fork should be firmly fixed, it will easily separate with just a
little more cutting with the knife; care should be taken not to cut
away too much of the meat from the breast when dividing the
shoulder from it, as that would mar its appearance. The shoulder
may be placed upon a separate dish for convenience. The next
process is to divide the ribs from the brisket by cutting through
the meat in the line from 1 to 2; then the ribs may be carved in
the direction of the line 6 to 7, and the brisket from 8 to 9. The
carver should always ascertain whether the guest prefers ribs,
brisket, or a piece of the shoulder.

HAM.

The carver in cutting a ham must be guided according as he
desires to practice economy, or have at once fine slices out of the
prime part. Under the first supposition, he will commence at the
knuckle end, and cut off thin slices toward the thick and upper
part of the ham.

To reach the choicer portion of the ham, the knife, which must
be very sharp and thin, should be carried quite down to the bone
through the thick fat in the direction of the line from 1 to 2. The
slices should be even and thin, cutting both lean and fat together,
always cutting down to the bone. Some cut a circular hole in the
middle of a ham gradually enlarging it outwardly. Then again many
carve a ham by first cutting from 1 to 2, then across the other way
from 3 to 4. Remove the skin after the ham is cooked and send to
the table with dots of dry pepper or dry mustard on the top, a tuft
of fringed paper twisted about the knuckle, and plenty of fresh
parsley around the dish. This will always insure an inviting
appearance.

Roast Pig.—The modern way of serving a pig is not
to send it to the table whole, but have it carved partially by the
cook; first, by dividing the shoulder from the body; then the leg
in the same manner; also separating the ribs into convenient
portions. The head may be divided and placed on the same platter.
To be served as hot as possible.

A Spare Rib of Pork is carved by cutting slices from the fleshy
part, after which the bones should be disjointed and separated.

A leg of pork may be carved in the same manner as a ham.

HAUNCH OF VENISON

A haunch of venison is the prime joint, and is carved
very similar to almost any roasted or boiled leg; it should be
first cut crosswise down to the bone following the line from 1 to
2; then turn the platter with the knuckle farthest from you, put in
the point of the knife, and cut down as far as you can, in the
directions shown by the dotted lines from 3 to 4; then there can be
taken out as many slices as is required on the right and left of
this. Slices of venison should be cut thin, and gravy given with
them, but as there is a special sauce made with red wine and
currant jelly to accompany this meat, do not serve gravy before
asking the guest if he pleases to have any.

The fat of this meat is like mutton, apt to cool soon, and
become hard and disagreeable to the palate; it should, therefore,
be served always on warm plates, and the platter kept over a
hot-water dish, or spirit lamp. Many cooks dish it up with a white
paper frill pinned around the knuckle bone.

A haunch of mutton is carved the same as a haunch of
venison.

TURKEY.

A turkey having been relieved from strings and skewers used in
trussing should be placed on the table with the head or neck at the
carver’s right hand. An expert carver places the fork in the
turkey, and does not remove it until the whole is divided. First
insert the fork firmly in the lower part of the breast, just
forward of fig. 2, then sever the legs and wings on both sides, if
the whole is to be carved, cutting neatly through the joint next to
the body, letting these parts lie on the platter. Next, cut
downward from the breast from 2 to 3, as many even slices of the
white meat as may be desired, placing the pieces neatly on one side
of the platter. Now unjoint the legs and wings at the middle joint,
which can be done very skillfully by a little practice. Make an
opening into the cavity of the turkey for dipping out the inside
dressing, by cutting a piece from the rear part 1, 1, called the
apron. Consult the tastes of the guests as to which part is
preferred; if no choice is expressed, serve a portion of both light
and dark meat. One of the most delicate parts of the turkey are two
little muscles, lying in small dish-like cavities on each side of
the back, a little behind the leg attachments; the next most
delicate meat fills the cavities in the neck bone, and next to
this, that on the second joints. The lower part of the leg (or
drumstick, as it is called) being hard, tough and stringy, is
rarely ever helped to any one, but allowed to remain on the
dish.

ROAST GOOSE.

To carve a goose, first begin by separating the leg from the
body, by putting the fork into the small end of the limb, pressing
it closely to the body, then passing the knife under at 2, and
turning the leg back as you cut through the joint. To take off the
wing, insert the fork in the small end of the pinion, and press it
close to the body; put the knife in at fig. 1, and divide the
joint. When the legs and wings are off, the breast may be carved in
long, even slices, as represented in the lines from 1 to 2. The
back and lower side bones, as well as the two lower side bones by
the wing, may be cut off; but the best pieces of the goose are the
breast and thighs, after being separated from the drumsticks. Serve
a little of the dressing from the inside, by making a circular
slice in the apron at fig. 3. A goose should never be over a year
old; a tough goose is very difficult to carve, and certainly most
difficult to eat.

FOWLS.

First insert the knife between the leg and the body, and cut to
the bone; then turn the leg back with the fork, and if the fowl is
tender the joint will give away easily. The wing is broken off the
same way, only dividing the joint with the knife, in the direction
from 1 to 2. The four quarters having been removed in this way,
take off the merry-thought and the neck-bones; these last are to be
removed by putting the knife in at figs. 3 and 4, pressing it hard,
when they will break off from the part that sticks to the breast.
To separate the breast from the body of the fowl, cut through the
tender ribs close to the breast, quite down to the tail. Now turn
the fowl over, back upwards; put the knife into the bone midway
between the neck and the rump, and on raising the lower end it will
separate readily. Turn now the rump from you, and take off very
neatly the two side bones, and the fowl is carved. In separating
the thigh from the drumstick, the knife must be inserted exactly at
the joint, for if not accurately hit, some difficulty will be
experienced to get them apart; this is easily acquired by practice.
There is no difference in carving roast and [Pg 24]boiled
fowls if full grown; but in very young fowls the breast is usually
served whole; the wings and breast are considered the best parts,
but in young ones the legs are the most juicy. In the case of a
capon or large fowl, slices may be cut off at the breast, the same
as carving a pheasant.

ROAST DUCK.

A young duckling may be carved in the same manner as a fowl, the
legs and wings being taken off first on either side. When the duck
is full size, carve it like a goose; first cutting it in slices
from the breast, beginning close to the wing and proceeding upward
towards the breast bone, as is represented by the lines 1 to 2. An
opening may be made by cutting out a circular slice, as shown by
the dotted lines at number 3.

Some are fond of the feet, and when dressing the duck, these
should be neatly skinned and never removed. Wild duck is highly
esteemed by epicures; it is trussed like a tame duck, and carved in
the same manner, the breast being the choicest part.

PARTRIDGES.

Partridges are generally cleaned and trussed the same way as a
pheasant, but the custom of cooking them with the heads on is going
into disuse somewhat. The usual way of carving them is similar to a
pigeon, dividing it into two equal parts. Another method is to cut
it into three pieces, by severing a wing and leg on either side
from the body, by following the lines 1 to 2, thus making two
servings of those parts, leaving the breast for a third plate. The
third method is to thrust back the body from the legs, and cut
through the middle of the breast, thus making four portions that
may be served. Grouse and prairie-chicken are carved from the
breast when they are large, and quartered or halved when of medium
size.

PHEASANT.

Place your fork firmly in the centre of the breast of this large
game bird and cut deep slices to the bone at figs. 1 and 2; then
take off the leg in the line from 3 and 4, and the wing 3 and 5,
severing both sides the same. In taking off the wings, be careful
not to cut too near the neck; if you do you will hit upon the
neck-bone, from which the wing must be separated. Pass the knife
through the line 6, and under the merry-thought towards the neck,
which will detach it. Cut the other parts as in a fowl. The breast,
wings and merry-thought of a pheasant are the most highly prized,
although the legs are considered very finely flavored. Pheasants
are frequently roasted with the head left on; in that case, when
dressing them, bring the head round under the wing, and fix it on
the point of a skewer.

PIGEONS.

A very good way of carving these birds is to insert the knife at
fig. 1, and cut both ways to 2 and 3, when each portion may be
divided into two pieces, then served. Pigeons, if not too large,
may be cut in halves, either across or down the middle, cutting
them into two equal parts; if young and small they may be served
entirely whole.

Tame pigeons should be cooked as soon as possible after they are
killed, as they very quickly lose their flavor. Wild pigeons, on
the contrary, should hang a day or two in a cool place before they
are dressed. Oranges cut into halves are used as a garnish for
dishes of small birds, such as pigeons, quail, woodcock, squabs,
snipe, etc. These small birds are either served whole or split down
the back, making two servings.

MACKEREL.

The mackerel is one of the most beautiful of fish, being known
by its silvery whiteness. It sometimes attains to the length of
twenty inches, but usually, when fully grown, is about fourteen or
sixteen inches long, and about two pounds in weight. To carve a
baked mackerel, first remove the head and tail by cutting downward
at 1 and 2; then split them down the back, so as to serve each
person a part of each side piece. The roe should be divided in
small pieces and served with each piece of fish. Other whole fish
may be carved in the same manner. The fish is laid upon a little
sauce or folded napkin, on a hot dish, and garnished with
parsley.

BOILED SALMON.

This fish is seldom sent to the table whole, being too
large for any ordinary sized family; the middle cut is considered
the choicest to boil. To carve it, first run the knife down and
along the upper side of the fish from 1 to 2, then again on the
lower side from 3 to 4. Serve the thick part, cutting it lengthwise
in slices in the direction of the line from 1 to 2, and the thin
part breadthwise, or in the direction from 5 to 6. A slice of the
thick with one of the thin, where lies the fat, should be served to
each guest. Care should be taken when carving not to break the
flakes of the fish, as that impairs its appearance. The flesh of
the salmon is rich and delicious in flavor. Salmon is in season
from the first of February to the end of August.

SOUPS.

Consommé, or Stock, forms the basis of all meat soups,
and also of all principal sauces. It is, therefore, essential to
the success of these culinary operations to know the most complete
and economical method of extracting from a certain quantity of meat
the best possible stock or broth. Fresh, uncooked beef makes the
best stock, with the addition of cracked bones, as the glutinous
matter contained in them renders it important that they should be
boiled with the meat, which adds to the strength and thickness of
the soup. They are composed of an earthy substance—to which
they owe their solidity—of gelatine, and a fatty fluid,
something like marrow. Two ounces of them contain as much
gelatine as one pound of meat; but, in them, this is so
encased in the earthy substance, that boiling water can dissolve
only the surface of the whole bones, but by breaking them they can
be dissolved more. When there is an abundance of it, it causes the
stock, when cold, to become a jelly. The flesh of old animals
contains more flavor than the flesh of young ones. Brown meats
contain more flavor than white.

Mutton is too strong in flavor for good stock, while veal,
although quite glutinous, furnishes very little nutriment.

Some cooks use meat that has once been cooked; this renders
little nourishment and destroys the flavor. It might answer for
ready soup, but for stock to keep it is not as good, unless it
should be roasted meats. Those contain higher fragrant properties;
so by putting the remains of roast meats in the stock-pot you
obtain a better flavor.

The shin bone is generally used, but the neck or
“sticking-piece,” as the butchers call it, contains more of the
substance that you want to extract, makes a stronger and more
nutritious soup, than any other part of the animal. Meats for soup
should always be put on to cook in cold water, in a covered
pot, and allowed to simmer slowly for several [Pg 28]hours,
in order that the essence of the meat may be drawn out thoroughly,
and should be carefully skimmed to prevent it from becoming turbid,
never allowed to boil fast at any time, and if more water is
needed, use boiling water from the tea-kettle; cold or lukewarm
water spoils the flavor. Never salt it before the meat is tender
(as that hardens and toughens the meat), especially if the meat is
to be eaten. Take off every particle of scum as it rises, and
before the vegetables are put in.

Allow a little less than a quart of water to a pound of meat and
bone, and a teaspoonful of salt. When done, strain through a
colander. If for clear soups, strain again through a hair sieve, or
fold a clean towel in a colander set over an earthen bowl, or any
dish large enough to hold the stock. As stated before, stock is not
as good when made entirely from cooked meats, but in a family where
it requires a large joint roasted every day, the bones, and bits
and underdone pieces of beef, or the bony structure of turkey or
chicken that has been left from carving, bones of roasted poultry,
these all assist in imparting a rich dark color to soup, and would
be sufficient, if stewed as above, to furnish a family, without
buying fresh meat for the purpose; still, with the addition of a
little fresh meat it would be more nutritious. In cold weather you
can gather them up for several days and put them to cook in cold
water, and when done, strain, and put aside until needed.

Soup will be as good the second day as the first if heated to
the boiling point. It should never be left in the pot, but should
be turned into a dish or shallow pan, and set aside to get cold.
Never cover it up, as that will cause it to turn sour very
quickly.

Before heating a second time, remove all the fat from the top.
If this be melted in, the flavor of the soup will certainly be
spoiled.

Thickened soups require nearly double the seasoning used for
thin soups or broth.

Coloring is used in some brown soups, the chief of which is
brown burnt sugar, which is known as caramel by French cooks.

Pounded spinach leaves give a fine green color to soup. Parsley,
or the green leaves of celery put in soup, will serve instead of
spinach.

Pound a large handful of spinach in a mortar, then tie it in a
cloth, and wring out all the juice; put this in the soup you wish
to color green five minutes before taking it up.

Mock turtle, and sometimes veal and lamb soups, should be this
color.

Okras gives a green color to soup.

To color soup red, skin six red tomatoes, squeeze out the seeds,
and put them into the soup with the other vegetables—or take
the juice only, as directed for spinach.

For white soups, which are of veal, lamb or chicken, none but
white vegetables are used; rice, pearl barley, vermicelli, or
macaroni, for thickening.

Grated carrot gives a fine amber color to soup; it must be put
in as soon as the soup is free from scum.

Hotel and private-house stock is quite different.

Hotels use meat in such large quantities that there is always
more or less trimmings and bones of meat to add to fresh meats;
that makes very strong stock, which they use in most all soups and
gravies and other made dishes.

The meat from which soup has been made is good to serve cold
thus: Take out all the bones, season with pepper and salt, and
catsup, if liked, then chop it small, tie it in a cloth, and lay it
between two plates, with a weight on the upper one; slice it thin
for luncheon or supper; or make sandwiches of it; or make a hash
for breakfast; or make it into balls, with the addition of a little
wheat flour and an egg, and serve them fried in fat, or boil in the
soup.

An agreeable flavor is sometimes imparted to soup by sticking
some cloves into the meat used for making stock; a few slices of
onions fried very brown in butter are nice; also flour browned by
simply putting it into a saucepan over the fire and stirring it
constantly until it is a dark brown.

Clear soups must be perfectly transparent, and thickened soups
about the consistency of cream. When soups and gravies are kept
from day to day in hot weather, they should be warmed up every day,
and put into fresh-scalded pans or tureens, and placed in a cool
cellar. In temperate weather, every other day may be
sufficient.

HERBS AND VEGETABLES USED IN SOUPS.

Of vegetables the principal ones are carrots, tomatoes,
asparagus, green peas, okra, macaroni, green corn, beans, rice,
vermicelli, Scotch barley, pearl barley, wheat flour, mushroom, or
mushroom catsup, [Pg 30]parsnips, beetroot, turnips, leeks,
garlic, shallots and onions; sliced onions fried with butter and
flour until they are browned, then rubbed through a sieve, are
excellent to heighten the color and flavor of brown sauces and
soups. The herbs usually used in soups are parsley, common thyme,
summer savory, knotted marjoram, and other seasonings, such as
bay-leaves, tarragon, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace,
black and white pepper, red pepper, lemon peel and juice, orange
peel and juice. The latter imparts a finer flavor and the acid much
milder. These materials, with wine, and the various catsups,
combined in various proportions, are, with other ingredients, made
into almost an endless variety of excellent soups and gravies.
Soups that are intended for the principal part of a meal certainly
ought not to be flavored like sauces, which are only intended to
give relish to some particular dish.

STOCK.

Six pounds of shin of beef, or six pounds of knuckle of veal;
any bones, trimmings of poultry, or fresh meat; one-quarter pound
of lean bacon or ham, two ounces of butter, two large onions, each
stuck with cloves; one turnip, three carrots, one head of celery,
two ounces of salt, one-half teaspoonful of whole pepper, one large
blade of mace, one bunch of savory herbs except sage, four quarts
and one-half-pint of cold water.

Cut up the meat and bacon, or ham, into pieces of about three
inches square; break the bones into small pieces, rub the butter on
the bottom of the stewpan; put in one-half a pint of water, the
broken bones, then meat and all other ingredients. Cover the
stewpan, and place it on a sharp fire, occasionally stirring its
contents. When the bottom of the pan becomes covered with a pale,
jelly-like substance, add the four quarts of cold water, and simmer
very gently for five or six hours. As we have said before, do not
let it boil quickly. When nearly cooked, throw in a tablespoonful
of salt to assist the scum to rise. Remove every particle of scum
whilst it is doing, and strain it through a fine hair sieve; when
cool remove all grease. This stock will keep for many days in cold
weather.

Stock is the basis of many of the soups afterwards mentioned,
and this will be found quite strong enough for ordinary purposes.
Keep it in small jars, in a cool place. It makes a good gravy for
hash meats; one tablespoonful of it is sufficient to impart a fine
flavor to a dish of macaroni and various other dishes. Good soups
of various kinds are made from it at short notice; slice off a
portion of the jelly, add water, and whatever vegetables and
thickening preferred. It is best to partly cook the vegetables
before adding to the stock, as much boiling injures the flavoring
of the soup. Season and boil a few moments and serve hot.

FRANCES FOLSOM CLEVELAND.

WHITE STOCK.

White stock is used in the preparation of white soups, and is
made by boiling six pounds of a knuckle of veal, cut up in small
pieces, poultry trimmings, and four slices of lean ham. Proceed
according to directions given in STOCK, on opposite page.

TO CLARIFY STOCK.

Place the stock in a clean saucepan, set it over a brisk fire.
When boiling, add the white of one egg to each quart of stock,
proceeding as follows: beat the whites of the eggs up well in a
little water; then add a little hot stock; beat to a froth and pour
gradually into the pot; then beat the whole hard and long; allow it
to boil up once, and immediately remove and strain through a thin
flannel cloth.

BEEF SOUP.

Select a small shin of beef of moderate size, crack the bone in
small pieces, wash and place it in a kettle to boil, with five or
six quarts of cold water. Let it boil about two hours, or
until it begins to get tender, then season it with a tablespoonful
of salt, and a teaspoonful of pepper; boil it one hour longer, then
add to it one carrot, two turnips, two tablespoonfuls of rice or
pearl barley, one head of celery, and a teaspoonful of summer
savory powdered fine; the vegetables to be minced up in small
pieces like dice. After these ingredients have boiled a quarter of
an hour, put in two potatoes cut up in small pieces, let it boil
half an hour longer; take the meat from the soup, and if intended
to be served with it, take out the bones and lay it closely and
neatly on a dish, and garnish with sprigs of parsley.

Serve made mustard and catsup with it. It is very nice pressed
and eaten cold with mustard and vinegar, or catsup. Four hours are
required for making this soup. Should any remain over the first
day, [Pg 32]it may be heated, with the addition of a little
boiling water, and served again. Some fancy a glass of brown sherry
added just before being served. Serve very hot.

VEAL SOUP. (Excellent.)

Put a knuckle of veal into three quarts of cold water, with a
small quantity of salt, and one small tablespoonful of uncooked
rice. Boil slowly, hardly above simmering, four hours, when the
liquor should be reduced to half the usual quantity; remove from
the fire. Into the tureen put the yolk of one egg, and stir well
into it a teacupful of cream, or, in hot weather, new milk; add a
piece of butter the size of a hickory nut; on this strain the soup,
boiling hot, stirring all the time. Just at the last, beat it well
for a minute.

SCOTCH MUTTON BROTH.

Six pounds neck of mutton, three quarts water, five carrots,
five turnips, two onions, four tablespoonfuls barley, a little
salt. Soak mutton in water for an hour, cut off scrag, and put it
in stewpan with three quarts of water. As soon as it boils, skim
well, and then simmer for one and one-half hours. Cut best end of
mutton into cutlets, dividing it with two bones in each; take off
nearly all fat before you put it into broth; skim the moment the
meat boils, and every ten minutes afterwards; add carrots, turnips
and onions, all cut into two or three pieces, then put them into
soup soon enough to be thoroughly done; stir in barley; add salt to
taste; let all stew together for three and one-half hours; about
one-half hour before sending it to table, put in little chopped
parsley and serve.

Cut the meat off the scrag into small pieces, and send it to
table in the tureen with the soup. The other half of the mutton
should be served on a separate dish, with whole turnips boiled and
laid round it. Many persons are fond of mutton that has been boiled
in soup.

You may thicken the soup with rice or barley that has first been
soaked in cold water, or with green peas, or with young corn, cut
down from the cob, or with tomatoes, scalded, peeled and cut into
pieces.

GAME SOUP.

Two grouse or partridges, or, if you have neither, use a pair of
rabbits; half a [Pg 33]pound of lean ham; two medium-sized
onions; one pound of lean beef; fried bread; butter for frying;
pepper, salt and two stalks of white celery cut into inch lengths;
three quarts of water.

Joint your game neatly; cut the ham and onions into small
pieces, fry all in butter to a light brown. Put into a soup-pot
with the beef, cut into strips, add a little pepper. Pour on the
water; heat slowly, and stew gently two hours. Take out the pieces
of bird, and cover in a bowl; cook the soup an hour longer; strain;
cool; drop in the celery and simmer ten minutes. Pour upon fried
bread in the tureen.

Venison soup made the same, with the addition of a tablespoonful
of brown flour wet into a paste with cold water, adding a
tablespoonful of catsup, Worcestershire, or other pungent sauce,
and a glass of Madeira or brown sherry.

CONSOMMÉ SOUP.

Take good strong stock (see pages 27 and 30), remove all fat
from the surface, and for each quart of the stock allow the white
and shell of one egg and a tablespoonful of water, well whipped
together. Pour this mixture into a saucepan containing the stock;
place it over the fire and heat the contents gradually, stirring
often to prevent the egg from sticking to the bottom of the
saucepan. Allow it to boil gently until the stock looks perfectly
clear under the egg, which will rise and float upon the surface in
the form of a thick white scum. Now remove it and pour it into a
folded towel laid in a colander set over an earthen bowl, allowing
it to run through without moving or squeezing it. Season with more
salt if needed, and quickly serve very hot. This should be a clear
amber color.

JULIENNE SOUP.

Cut carrots and turnips into quarter-inch pieces the shape of
dice; also celery into thin slices. Cover them with boiling water;
add a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful pepper, and cook
until soft. In another saucepan have two quarts of boiling stock
(see pages 27 and 30), to which add the cooked vegetables, the
water and more seasoning if necessary. Serve hot.

In the spring and summer season use asparagus, peas and string
beans—all cut into small uniform thickness.

CREAM OF SPINACH.

Pick, wash and boil enough spinach to measure a pint, when
cooked, chopped and pounded into a soft paste. Put it into a
stewpan with four ounces of fresh butter, a little grated nutmeg, a
teaspoonful of salt. Cook and stir it about ten minutes. Add to
this two quarts of strong stock (see pages 27 and 30); let boil up,
then rub it through a strainer. Set it over the fire again, and,
when on the point of boiling, mix with it a tablespoonful of
butter, and a teaspoonful of granulated sugar.

CHICKEN CREAM SOUP.

An old chicken for soup is much the best. Cut it up into
quarters, put it into a soup kettle with half a pound of corned
ham, and an onion; add four quarts of cold water. Bring slowly to a
gentle boil, and keep this up until the liquid has diminished
one-third, and the meat drops from the bones; then add half a cup
of rice. Season with salt, pepper and a bunch of chopped
parsley.

Cook slowly until the rice is tender, then the meat should be
taken out. Now stir in two cups of rich milk thickened with a
little flour. The chicken could be fried in a spoonful of butter
and a gravy made, reserving some of the white part of the meat,
chopping it and adding it to the soup.

PLAIN ECONOMICAL SOUP.

Take a cold roast-beef bone, pieces of beefsteak, the rack of a
cold turkey or chicken. Put them into a pot with three or four
quarts of water, two carrots, three turnips, one onion, a few
cloves, pepper and salt. Boil the whole gently four hours; then
strain it through a colander, mashing the vegetables so that they
will all pass through. Skim off the fat, and return the soup to the
pot. Mix one tablespoonful of flour with two of water, stir it into
the soup and boil the whole ten minutes. Serve this soup with
sippits of toast.

Sippits are bits of dry toast cut into a triangular form.

A seasonable dish about the holidays.

EDITH CAROW ROOSEVELT.

OX-TAIL SOUP.

Two ox-tails, two slices of ham, one ounce of butter, two
carrots, two turnips, three onions, one leek, one head of celery,
one bunch of savory herbs, pepper, a tablespoonful of salt, two
tablespoonfuls of catsup, one-half glass of port wine, three quarts
of water.

Cut up the tails, separating them at the joints; wash them, and
put them in a stewpan with the butter. Cut the vegetables in slices
and add them with the herbs. Put in one-half pint of water, and
stir it over a quick fire till the juices are drawn. Fill up the
stewpan with water, and, when boiling, add the salt. Skim well, and
simmer very gently for four hours, or until the tails are tender.
Take them out, skim and strain the soup, thicken with flour, and
flavor with the catsup and port wine. Put back the tails, simmer
for five minutes and serve.

Another way to make an appetizing ox-tail soup. You should begin
to make it the day before you wish to eat the soup. Take two tails,
wash clean, and put in a kettle with nearly a gallon of cold water;
add a small handful of salt; when the meat is well cooked, take out
the bones. Let this stand in a cool room, covered, and next day,
about an hour and a half before dinner, skim off the crust or cake
of fat which has risen to the top. Add a little onion, carrot, or
any vegetables you choose, chopping them fine first; summer savory
may also be added.

CORN SOUP.

Cut the corn from the cob, and boil the cobs in water for at
least an hour, then add the grains, and boil until they are
thoroughly done; put one dozen ears of corn to a gallon of water,
which will be reduced to three quarts by the time the soup is done;
then pour on a pint of new milk, two well-beaten eggs, salt and
pepper to your taste; continue the boiling a while longer, and stir
in, to season and thicken it a little, a tablespoonful of good
butter rubbed up with two tablespoonfuls of flour. Corn soup may
also be made nicely with water in which a pair of grown fowls have
been boiled or parboiled, instead of having plain water for the
foundation.

SPLIT PEA SOUP. No. 1.

Wash well a pint of split peas and cover them well with cold
water, adding a third of a teaspoonful of soda; let them remain in
it over night to swell. In the morning put them in a kettle with a
close fitting cover. Pour over them three quarts of cold water,
adding half a pound of lean ham or bacon cut into slices or pieces;
also a teaspoonful of salt and a little pepper, and some celery
chopped fine. When the soup begins to boil, skim the froth from the
surface. Cook slowly from three to four hours, stirring
occasionally till the peas are [Pg
36]all dissolved, adding
a little more boiling water to keep up the quantity as it boils
away. Strain through a colander, and leave out the meat. It should
be quite quick. Serve with small squares of toasted bread, cut up
and added. If not rich enough, add a small piece of butter.

CREAM OF ASPARAGUS.

For making two quarts of soup, use two bundles of fresh
asparagus. Cut the tops from one of the bunches and cook them
twenty minutes in salted water, enough to cover them. Cook the
remainder of the asparagus about twenty minutes in a quart of stock
or water. Cut an onion into thin slices and fry in three
tablespoonfuls of butter ten minutes, being careful not to scorch
it; then add the asparagus that has been boiled in the stock; cook
this five minutes, stirring constantly; then add three
tablespoonfuls of dissolved flour, cook five minutes longer. Turn
this mixture into the boiling stock and boil twenty minutes. Rub
through a sieve; add the milk and cream and the asparagus heads. If
water is used in place of stock, use all cream.

GREEN PEA SOUP.

Wash a small quarter of lamb in cold water, and put it into a
soup-pot with six quarts of cold water; add to it two
tablespoonfuls of salt, and set it over a moderate fire—let
it boil gently for two hours, then skim it clear; add a quart of
shelled peas, and a teaspoonful of pepper; cover it, and let it
boil for half an hour; then having scraped the skins from a quart
of small young potatoes, add them to the soup; cover the pot and
let it boil for half an hour longer; work quarter of a pound of
butter and a dessertspoonful of flour together, and add them to the
soup ten or twelve minutes before taking it off the fire.

Serve the meat on a dish with parsley sauce over it, and the
soup in a tureen.

DRIED BEAN SOUP.

Put two quarts of dried white beans to soak the night before you
make the soup, which should be put on as early in the day as
possible.

Take two pounds of the lean of fresh beef—the coarse
pieces will do. Cut them up and put them into your soup-pot with
the bones belonging to them (which should be broken in pieces), and
a pound of lean bacon, cut very small. If you have the remains of a
piece of beef [Pg 37]that has been roasted the day before, and so much
underdone that the juices remain in it, you may put it into the pot
and its bones along with it. Season the meat with pepper only, and
pour on it six quarts of water. As soon as it boils, take off the
scum, and put in the beans (having first drained them) and a head
of celery cut small, or a tablespoonful of pounded celery seed.
Boil it slowly till the meat is done to shreds, and the beans all
dissolved. Then strain it through a colander into the tureen, and
put into it small squares of toasted bread with the crust cut
off.

TURTLE SOUP FROM BEANS.

Soak over night one quart of black beans; next day boil them in
the proper quantity of water, say a gallon, then dip the beans out
of the pot and strain them through a colander. Then return the
flour of the beans, thus pressed, into the pot in which they were
boiled. Tie up in a thin cloth some thyme, a teaspoonful of summer
savory and parsley, and let it boil in the mixture. Add a
tablespoonful of cold butter, salt and pepper. Have ready four
hard-boiled yolks of eggs quartered, and a few force meat balls;
add this to the soup with a sliced lemon, and half a glass of wine
just before serving the soup.

This approaches so near in flavor to the real turtle soup that
few are able to distinguish the difference.

PHILADELPHIA PEPPER POT.

Put two pounds of tripe and four calves’ feet into the soup-pot
and cover them with cold water; add a red pepper, and boil closely
until the calves’ feet are boiled very tender; take out the meat,
skim the liquid, stir it, cut the tripe into small pieces, and put
it back into the liquid; if there is not enough liquid, add boiling
water; add half a teaspoonful of sweet marjoram, sweet basil, and
thyme, two sliced onions, sliced potatoes, salt. When the
vegetables have boiled until almost tender, add a piece of butter
rolled in flour, drop in some egg balls, and boil fifteen minutes
more. Take up and serve hot.

SQUIRREL SOUP.

Wash and quarter three or four good sized squirrels; put them
on, with a small tablespoonful of salt, directly after breakfast,
in a gallon of cold water. Cover the pot close, and set it on the
back part [Pg 38]of the stove to simmer gently, not boil. Add
vegetables just the same as you do in case of other meat soups in
the summer season, but especially good will you find corn, Irish
potatoes, tomatoes and Lima beans. Strain the soup through a coarse
colander when the meat has boiled to shreds, so as to get rid of
the squirrels’ troublesome little bones. Then return to the pot,
and after boiling a while longer, thicken with a piece of butter
rubbed in flour. Celery and parsley leaves chopped up are also
considered an improvement by many. Toast two slices of bread, cut
them into dice one-half inch square, fry them in butter, put them
into the bottom of your tureen, and then pour the soup boiling hot
upon them. Very good.

TOMATO SOUP. No. 1.

Place in a kettle four pounds of beef. Pour over it one gallon
of cold water. Let the meat and water boil slowly for three hours,
or until the liquid is reduced to about one-half. Remove the meat
and put into the broth a quart of tomatoes, and one chopped onion;
salt and pepper to taste. A teaspoonful of flour should be
dissolved and stirred in, then allowed to boil half an hour longer.
Strain and serve hot. Canned tomatoes in place of fresh ones may be
used.

TOMATO SOUP. No. 2.

Place over the fire a quart of peeled tomatoes, stew them soft
with a pinch of soda. Strain it so that no seeds remain, set it
over the fire again, and add a quart of hot boiled milk; season
with salt and pepper, a piece of butter the size of an egg, add
three tablespoonfuls of rolled cracker, and serve hot. Canned
tomatoes may be used in place of fresh ones.

TOMATO SOUP. No. 3.

Peel two quarts of tomatoes, boil them in a saucepan with an
onion, and other soup vegetables; strain and add a level
tablespoonful of flour dissolved in a third of a cup of melted
butter; add pepper and salt. Serve very hot over little squares of
bread fried brown and crisp in butter.

An excellent addition to a cold meat lunch.

MULLAGATAWNY SOUP. (As made in India.)

Cut four onions, one carrot, two turnips, and one head of celery
into three quarts of liquor, in which one or two fowls have been
[Pg 39]boiled; keep it over a brisk fire till it boils, then
place it on a corner of the fire, and let it simmer twenty minutes;
add one tablespoonful of currie powder, and one tablespoonful of
flour; mix the whole well together, and let it boil three minutes;
pass it through a colander; serve with pieces of roast chicken in
it; add boiled rice in a separate dish. It must be of good yellow
color, and not too thick. If you find it too thick, add a little
boiling water and a teaspoonful of sugar. Half veal and half
chicken answers as well.

A dish of rice, to be served separately with this soup, must be
thus prepared: put three pints of water in a saucepan and one
tablespoonful of salt; let this boil. Wash well, in three waters,
half a pound of rice; strain it, and put it into the boiling water
in saucepan. After it has come to the boil—which it will do
in about two minutes—let it boil twenty minutes; strain it
through a colander, and pour over it two quarts of cold water. This
will separate the grains of rice. Put it back in the saucepan, and
place it near the fire until hot enough to send to the table. This
is also the proper way to boil rice for curries. If these
directions are strictly carried out every grain of the rice will
separate, and be thoroughly cooked.

MOCK TURTLE SOUP, OF CALF’S HEAD.

Scald a well-cleansed calf’s head, remove the brain, tie it up
in a cloth, and boil an hour, or until the meat will easily slip
from the bone; take out, save the broth; cut it in small square
pieces, and throw them into cold water; when cool, put it in a
stewpan, and cover with some of the broth; let it boil until quite
tender, and set aside.

In another stewpan melt some butter, and in it put a quarter of
a pound of lean ham, cut small, with fine herbs to taste; also
parsley and one onion; add about a pint of the broth; let it simmer
for two hours, and then dredge in a small quantity of flour; now
add the remainder of the broth, and a quarter bottle of Madeira or
sherry; let all stew quietly for ten minutes and rub it through a
medium sieve; add the calf’s head, season with a very little
cayenne pepper, a little salt, the juice of one lemon, and, if
desired, a quarter teaspoonful pounded mace and a dessert-spoon
sugar.

Having previously prepared force meat balls, add them to the
soup, and five minutes after serve hot.

GREEN TURTLE SOUP.

One turtle, two onions, a bunch of sweet herbs, juice of one
lemon, five quarts of water, a glass of Madeira.

After removing the entrails, cut up the coarser parts of the
turtle meat and bones. Add four quarts of water, and stew four
hours with the herbs, onions, pepper and salt. Stew very slowly, do
not let it cease boiling during this time. At the end of four hours
strain the soup, and add the finer parts of the turtle and the
green fat, which has been simmered one hour in two quarts of water.
Thicken with brown flour; return to the soup-pot, and simmer gently
for an hour longer. If there are eggs in the turtle, boil them in a
separate vessel for four hours, and throw into the soup before
taking up. If not, put in force meat balls; then the juice of the
lemon, and the wine; beat up at once and pour out.

Some cooks add the finer meat before straining, boiling all
together five hours; then strain, thicken and put in the green fat,
cut into lumps an inch long. This makes a handsomer soup than if
the meat is left in.

Green turtle can now be purchased preserved in air-tight
cans.

Force Meat Balls for the Above.—Six tablespoonfuls
of turtle meat chopped very fine. Rub to a paste, with the yolk of
two hard-boiled eggs, a tablespoonful of butter, and, if
convenient, a little oyster liquor. Season with cayenne, mace, half
a teaspoonful of white sugar and a pinch of salt. Bind all with a
well-beaten egg; shape into small balls; dip in egg, then powdered
cracker; fry in butter, and drop into the soup when it is
served.

MACARONI SOUP.

To a rich beef or other soup, in which there is no seasoning
other than pepper or salt, take half a pound of small pipe
macaroni, boil it in clear water until it is tender, then drain it
and cut it in pieces of an inch length; boil it for fifteen minutes
in the soup and serve.

TURKEY SOUP.

Take the turkey bones and boil three-quarters of an hour in
water enough to cover them; add a little summer savory and celery
chopped fine. Just before serving, thicken with a little flour
(browned), and [Pg 41]season with pepper, salt and a small
piece of butter. This is a cheap but good soup, using the remains
of cold turkey which might otherwise be thrown away.

GUMBO OR OKRA SOUP.

Fry out the fat of a slice of bacon or fat ham, drain it off,
and in it fry the slices of a large onion brown; scald, peel and
cut up two quarts fresh tomatoes, when in season (use canned
tomatoes otherwise), and cut thin one quart okra; put them,
together with a little chopped parsley, in a stew-kettle with about
three quarts of hot broth of any kind; cook slowly for three hours,
season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

In chicken broth the same quantity of okra pods, used for
thickening instead of tomatoes, forms a chicken gumbo soup.

TAPIOCA CREAM SOUP.

One quart of white stock; one pint of cream or milk; one onion;
two stalks celery; one-third of a cupful of tapioca; two cupfuls of
cold water; one tablespoonful of butter; a small piece of mace;
salt, pepper. Wash the tapioca and soak over night in cold water.
Cook it and the stock together very gently for one hour. Cut the
onion and celery into small pieces, and put on to cook for twenty
minutes with the milk and mace. Strain on the tapioca and stock.
Season with salt and pepper, add butter and serve.

SOUPS WITHOUT MEAT.

ONION SOUP.

One quart of milk, six large onions, yolks of four eggs, three
tablespoonfuls of butter, a large one of flour, one cup full of
cream, salt, pepper. Put the butter in a frying pan. Cut the onions
into thin slices and drop in the butter. Stir until they begin to
cook; then cover tight and set back where they will simmer, but not
burn, for half an hour. Now put the milk on to boil, and then add
the dry flour to the onions and stir constantly for three minutes
over the fire; then turn the mixture into the milk and cook fifteen
minutes. Rub the [Pg 42]soup through a strainer, return to the
fire, season with salt and pepper. Beat the yolks of the eggs well,
add the cream to them and stir into the soup. Cook three minutes,
stirring constantly. If you have no cream, use milk, in which case
add a tablespoonful of butter at the same time. Pour over fried
croutons in a soup tureen.

This is a refreshing dish when one is fatigued.

WINTER VEGETABLE SOUP.

Scrape and slice three turnips and three carrots and peel three
onions, and fry all with a little butter until a light yellow; add
a bunch of celery and three or four leeks cut in pieces; stir and
fry all the ingredients for six minutes; when fried, add one clove
of garlic, two stalks of parsley, two cloves, salt, pepper and a
little grated nutmeg; cover with three quarts of water and simmer
for three hours, taking off the scum carefully. Strain and use.
Croutons, vermicelli, Italian pastes, or rice may be added.

VERMICELLI SOUP.

Swell quarter of a pound of vermicelli in a quart of warm water,
then add it to a good beef, veal, lamb, or chicken soup or broth,
with quarter of a pound of sweet butter; let the soup boil for
fifteen minutes after it is added.

SWISS WHITE SOUP.

A sufficient quantity of broth for six people; boil it; beat up
three eggs well, two spoonfuls of flour, one cup milk; pour these
gradually through a sieve into the boiling soup; salt and
pepper.

SPRING VEGETABLE SOUP.

Half pint green peas, two shredded lettuces, one onion, a small
bunch of parsley, two ounces butter, the yolks of three eggs, one
pint of water, one and a half quarts of soup stock. Put in a
stewpan the lettuce, onion, parsley and butter, with one pint of
water, and let them simmer till tender. Season with salt and
pepper. When done, strain off the vegetables, and put two-thirds of
the liquor with the stock. Beat up the yolks of the eggs with the
other third, toss it over the fire, and at the moment of serving
add this with the vegetables to the strained-off soup.

CELERY SOUP.

Celery soup may be made with white stock. Cut down the
white of half a dozen heads of celery into little pieces and boil
it in four pints of white stock, with a quarter of a pound of lean
ham and two ounces of butter. Simmer gently for a full hour, then
strain through a sieve, return the liquor to the pan, and stir in a
few spoonfuls of cream with great care. Serve with toasted bread,
and if liked, thicken with a little flour. Season to taste.

IRISH POTATO SOUP.

Peel and boil eight medium-sized potatoes with a large onion
sliced, some herbs, salt and pepper; press all through a colander;
then thin it with rich milk and add a lump of butter, more
seasoning, if necessary; let it heat well and serve hot.

PEA SOUP.

Put a quart of dried peas into five quarts of water; boil for
four hours; then add three or four large onions, two heads of
celery, a carrot, two turnips, all cut up rather fine. Season with
pepper and salt. Boil two hours longer, and if the soup becomes too
thick add more water. Strain through a colander and stir in a
tablespoonful of cold butter. Serve hot, with small pieces of
toasted bread placed in the bottom of the tureen.

NOODLES FOR SOUP.

Beat up one egg light, add a pinch of salt, and flour enough to
make a very stiff dough; roll out very thin, like thin pie
crust, dredge with flour to keep from sticking. Let it remain on
the bread board to dry for an hour or more; then roll it up into a
tight scroll, like a sheet of music. Begin at the end and slice it
into slips as thin as straws. After all are cut, mix them lightly
together, and to prevent them sticking, keep them floured a little
until you are ready to drop them into your soup which should be
done shortly before dinner, for if boiled too long they will
go to pieces.

FORCE MEAT BALLS FOR SOUP.

One cupful of cooked veal or fowl meat, minced; mix with this a
handful of fine bread crumbs, the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs
[Pg 44]rubbed smooth together with a tablespoon of milk;
season with pepper and salt; add a half teaspoon of flour, and bind
all together with two beaten eggs; the hands to be well floured,
and the mixture to be made into little balls the size of a nutmeg;
drop into the soup about twenty minutes before serving.

EGG BALLS FOR SOUP.

Take the yolks of six hard-boiled eggs and half a tablespoonful
of wheat flour, rub them smooth with the yolks of two raw eggs and
a teaspoonful of salt; mix all well together; make it in balls, and
drop them into the boiling soup a few minutes before taking it
up.

Used in green turtle soup.

EGG DUMPLINGS FOR SOUP.

To half a pint of milk put two well-beaten eggs, and as much
wheat flour as will make a smooth, rather thick batter free
from lumps; drop this batter, a tablespoonful at a time, into
boiling soup.

Another Mode.—One cupful of sour cream and one
cupful of sour milk, three eggs, well beaten, whites and yolks
separately; one teaspoonful of salt, one level teaspoonful of soda,
dissolved in a spoonful of water, and enough flour added to make a
very stiff batter. To be dropped by spoonfuls into the broth
and boiled twenty minutes, or until no raw dough shows on the
outside.

SUET DUMPLINGS FOR SOUP.

Three cups of sifted flour in which three teaspoonfuls of baking
powder have been sifted; one cup of finely chopped suet, well
rubbed into the flour, with a teaspoonful of salt. Wet all with
sweet milk to make a dough as stiff as biscuit. Make into small
balls as large as peaches, well floured. Drop into the soup
three-quarters of an hour before being served. This requires steady
boiling, being closely covered, and the cover not to be removed
until taken up to serve. A very good form of pot-pie.

SOYER’S RECIPE FOR FORCE MEATS.

Take 1½ lbs. of lean veal from the fillet, and cut it in
long thin slices; scrape with a knife till nothing but the fibre
remains; put it in a mortar, pound it ten minutes or until in a
purée; pass it through [Pg
45]a wire sieve (use the
remainder in stock), then take 1 lb. of good fresh beef suet, which
skin, shred and chop very fine; put it in a mortar and pound it,
then add 6 oz. of panada (that is, bread soaked in milk, and boiled
till nearly dry) with the suet; pound them well together, and add
the veal, season with 1 teaspoonful of salt, ¼ teaspoonful
of pepper, ½ that of nutmeg; work all well together; then
add four eggs by degrees, continually pounding the contents of the
mortar. When well mixed, take a small piece in a spoon, and poach
it in some boiling water, and if it is delicate, firm, and of a
good flavor, it is ready for use.

CROUTONS FOR SOUP.

In a frying pan have the depth of an inch of boiling fat; also
have prepared slices of stale bread cut up into little half-inch
squares; drop into the frying pan enough of these bits of bread to
cover the surface of the fat. When browned, remove with a skimmer
and drain; add to the hot soup and serve.

Some prefer them prepared in this manner:

Take very thin slices of bread, butter them well; cut them up
into little squares three-fourths of an inch thick, place them in a
baking pan, buttered side up, and brown in a quick oven.

FISH STOCK.

Place a saucepan over the fire with a good-sized piece of sweet
butter and a sliced onion; put into that some sliced tomatoes, then
add as many different kinds of fish as you can get—oysters,
clams, smelts, pawns, crabs, shrimps and all kinds of pan-fish;
cook all together until the onions are well browned; then add a
bunch of sweet herbs, salt and pepper, and sufficient water to make
the required amount of stock. After this has cooked for half an
hour pound it with a wooden pestle, then strain and cook again
until it jellies.

FISH SOUP.

Select a large, fine fish, clean it thoroughly, put it over the
fire with a sufficient quantity of water, allowing for each pound
of fish one quart of water; add an onion cut fine and a bunch of
sweet herbs. When the fish is cooked, and is quite tasteless,
strain all through a colander, return to the fire, add some butter,
salt and pepper to taste. [Pg
46]A small tablespoonful
of Worcestershire sauce may be added if liked. Serve with small
squares of fried bread and thin slices of lemon.

LOBSTER SOUP, OR BISQUE.

Have ready a good broth made of three pounds of veal boiled
slowly in as much water as will cover it, till the meat is reduced
to shreds. It must then be well strained.

Having boiled one fine middle-sized lobster, extract all the
meat from the body and claws. Bruise part of the coral in a mortar,
and also an equal quantity of the meat. Mix them well together. Add
mace, cayenne, salt and pepper, and make them up into force meat
balls, binding the mixture with the yolk of an egg slightly
beaten.

Take three quarts of the veal broth and put it into the meat of
the lobster cut into mouthfuls. Boil it together about twenty
minutes. Then thicken it with the remaining coral (which you must
first rub through a sieve), and add the force meat balls and a
little butter rolled in flour. Simmer it gently for ten minutes,
but do not let it come to a boil, as that will injure the color.
Serve with small dice of bread fried brown in butter.

OYSTER SOUP, No. 1.

Two quarts of oysters, one quart of milk, two tablespoonfuls of
butter, one teacupful of hot water; pepper, salt.

Strain all the liquor from the oysters; add the water, and heat.
When near the boil, add the seasoning, then the oysters. Cook about
five minutes from the time they begin to simmer, until they
“ruffle.” Stir in the butter, cook one minute, and pour into the
tureen. Stir in the boiling milk and send to table. Some prefer all
water in place of milk.

IDA SAXTON McKINLEY.

OYSTER SOUP. No. 2.

Scald one gallon of oysters in their own liquor. Add one quart
of rich milk to the liquor, and when it comes to a boil, skim out
the oysters and set aside. Add the yolks of four eggs, two good
tablespoonfuls of butter, and one of flour, all mixed well
together, but in this order—first, the milk, then, after
beating the eggs, add a little of the hot liquor to them gradually,
and stir them rapidly into the soup. Lastly, add the butter and
whatever seasoning you fancy besides plain pepper and salt, which
must both be put in to taste with caution.

Celery salt most persons like extremely; others would prefer a
little marjoram or thyme; others again mace and a bit of onion. Use
your own discretion in this regard.

CLAM SOUP. (French Style.)

Mince two dozen hard shell clams very fine. Fry half a minced
onion in an ounce of butter; add to it a pint of hot water, a pinch
of mace, four cloves, one allspice and six whole pepper corns. Boil
fifteen minutes and strain into a saucepan; add the chopped clams
and a pint of clam-juice or hot water; simmer slowly two hours;
strain and rub the pulp through a sieve into the liquid. Return it
to the saucepan and keep it lukewarm. Boil three half-pints of milk
in a saucepan (previously wet with cold water, which prevents
burning) and whisk it into the soup. Dissolve a teaspoonful of
flour in cold milk, add it to the soup, taste for seasoning; heat
it gently to near the boiling point; pour into a tureen previously
heated with hot water, and serve with or without pieces of fried
bread—called croutons in kitchen French.

CLAM SOUP.

Twenty-five clams chopped fine. Put over the fire the liquor
that was drained from them, and a cup of water; add the chopped
clams and boil half an hour; then season to taste with pepper and
salt and a piece of butter as large as an egg; boil up again and
add one quart of milk boiling hot, stir in a tablespoon of flour
made to a cream with a little cold milk, or two crackers rolled
fine. Some like a little mace and lemon juice in the seasoning.

MODES OF FRYING

The usual custom among professional cooks is to entirely immerse
the article to be cooked in boiling fat, but from inconvenience
most households use the half-frying method of frying in a small
amount of fat in a frying pan. For the first method a shallow iron
frying kettle, large at the top and small at the bottom, is best to
use. The fat should half fill the kettle, or an amount sufficient
to float whatever is to be fried; the heat of the fat should get to
such a degree that, when a piece of bread or a teaspoonful of the
batter is dropped in it, it will become brown almost instantly, but
should not be so hot as to burn the fat. Some cooks say that the
fat should be smoking, but my experience is, that is a mistake, as
that soon ruins the fat. As soon as it begins to smoke it should be
removed a little to one side, and still be kept at the boiling
point. If fritters, crullers, croquettes, etc., are dropped into
fat that is too hot, it crusts over the outside before the inside
has fully risen, making a heavy, hard article, and also ruining the
fat, giving it a burnt flavor.

Many French cooks prefer beef fat or suet to lard for frying
purposes, considering it more wholesome and digestible, does not
impart as much flavor, or adhere or soak into the article cooked as
pork fat.

In families of any size, where there is much cooking required,
there are enough drippings and fat remnants from roasts of beef,
skimmings from the soup kettle, with the addition of occasionally a
pound of suet from the market, to amply supply the need. All such
remnants and skimmings should be clarified about twice a week, by
boiling them all together in water. When the fat is all melted, it
should be strained with the water and set aside to cool. After the
fat on the top has hardened, lift the cake from the water on which
it lies, scrape off all the dark particles from the bottom, then
melt over [Pg 49]again the fat; while hot strain into a small clean
stone jar or bright tin pail, and then it is ready for use. Always
after frying anything, the fat should stand until it settles and
has cooled somewhat; then turn off carefully so as to leave it
clear from the sediment that settles at the bottom.

Refined cotton-seed oil is now being adopted by most
professional cooks in hotels, restaurants and many private
households for culinary purposes, and will doubtless in future
supersede animal fats, especially for frying, it being quite as
delicate a medium as frying with olive oil. It is now sold by
leading grocers, put up in packages of two and four quarts.

The second mode of frying, using a frying pan with a small
quantity of fat or grease, to be done properly, should, in the
first place, have the frying pan hot over the fire, and the fat in
it actually boiling before the article to be cooked is
placed in it, the intense heat quickly searing up the pores of the
article and forming a brown crust on the lower side, then turning
over and browning the other the same way.

Still, there is another mode of frying; the process is somewhat
similar to broiling, the hot frying pan or spider replacing the hot
fire. To do this correctly, a thick bottomed frying pan should be
used. Place it over the fire, and when it is so hot that it will
siss, oil over the bottom of the pan with a piece of suet, that is
if the meat is all lean; if not, it is not necessary to grease the
bottom of the pan. Lay in the meat quite flat, and brown it
quickly, first on one side, then on the other; when sufficiently
cooked, dish on a hot platter and season the same as broiled
meats.

FISH.

In selecting fish, choose those only in which the eye is full
and prominent, the flesh thick and firm, the scales bright and fins
stiff. They should be thoroughly cleaned before cooking.

The usual modes of cooking fish are boiled, baked, broiled,
fried and occasionally stewed. Steaming fish is much superior to
boiling, but the ordinary conveniences in private houses do not
admit of the possibility of enjoying this delicate way of cooking
it. Large fish are generally boiled, medium-sized ones baked or
boiled, the smaller [Pg 50]kinds fried or broiled. Very large fish,
such as cod, halibut, etc., are cut in steaks or slices for frying
or broiling. The heads of some fish, as the cod, halibut, etc., are
considered tidbits by many. Small fish, or pan-fish, as they are
usually called, are served without the heads, with the exception of
brook-trout and smelts; these are usually cooked whole, with the
heads on. Bake fish slowly, basting often with butter and water.
Salmon is considered the most nutritious of all fish. When boiling
fish, by adding a little vinegar and salt to the water, it seasons
and prevents the nutriment from being drawn out; the vinegar acting
on the water hardens the water.

Fill the fish with a nicely prepared stuffing of rolled cracker
or stale bread crumbs, seasoned with butter, pepper, salt, sage and
any other aromatic herbs fancied; sew up; wrap in a well-floured
cloth, tied closely with twine, and boil or steam. The garnishes
for boiled fish are: for turbot, fried smelts; for other boiled
fish, parsley, sliced beets, lemon or sliced boiled egg. Do not use
the knives, spoons, etc., that are used in cooking fish, for other
food, as they will be apt to impart a fishy flavor.

Fish to be boiled should be put into cold water and set
on the fire to cook very gently, or the outside will break before
the inner part is done. Unless the fish are small, they should
never be put into warm water; nor should water, either hot or cold,
be poured on to the fish, as it is liable to break the skin;
if it should be necessary to add a little water while the fish is
cooking, it ought to be poured in gently at the side of the
vessel.

Fish to be broiled should lie, after they are dressed, for two
or three hours, with their inside well sprinkled with salt and
pepper.

Salt fish should be soaked in water before boiling, according to
the time it has been in salt. When it is hard and dry, it will
require thirty-six hours soaking before it is dressed, and the
water must be changed three or four times. When fish is not very
salt, twenty-four hours, or even one night, will suffice.

When frying fish the fire must be hot enough to bring the fat to
such a degree of heat as to sear the surface and make it impervious
to the fat, and at the same time seal up the rich juices. As soon
as the fish is browned by this sudden application of heat, the pan
may be moved to a cooler place on the stove, that the process may
be finished more slowly.

Fat in which fish has been fried is just as good to use again
for the same purpose, but it should be kept by itself and not put
to any other use.

TO FRY FISH.

Most of the smaller fish (generally termed pan-fish) are usually
fried. Clean well, cut off the head, and, if quite large, cut out
the backbone, and slice the body crosswise into five or six pieces;
season with salt and pepper. Dip in Indian meal or wheat flour, or
in beaten egg, and roll in bread or fine cracker crumbs—trout
and perch should not be dipped in meal; put into a thick bottomed
iron frying pan, the flesh side down, with hot lard or drippings;
fry slowly, turning when lightly browned. The following method may
be deemed preferable: Dredge the pieces with flour; brush them over
with beaten egg; roll in bread crumbs, and fry in hot lard or
drippings sufficient to cover, the same as frying crullers. If the
fat is very hot, the fish will fry without absorbing it, and it
will be palatably cooked. When browned on one side, turn it over in
the fat and brown the other, draining when done. This is a
particularly good way to fry slices of large fish. Serve with
tomato sauce; garnish with slices of lemon.

PAN-FISH.

Place them in a thick bottomed frying pan with heads all one
way. Fill the spaces with smaller fish. When they are fried quite
brown and ready to turn, put a dinner plate over them, drain off
the fat; then invert the pan, and they will be left unbroken on the
plate. Put the lard back into the pan, and when hot slip
back the fish. When the other side is brown, drain, turn on a plate
as before, and slip them on a warm platter, to be sent to the
table. Leaving the heads on and the fish a crispy-brown, in perfect
shape, improves the appearance if not the flavor. Garnish with
slices of lemon.

BAKED PICKEREL.

Carefully clean and wipe the fish, and lay in a dripping pan
with enough hot water to prevent scorching. A perforated sheet of
tin, fitting loosely, or several muffin rings may be used to keep
it off the bottom. Lay it in a circle on its belly, head and tail
touching, and tied, or as directed in note on fish; bake slowly,
basting often with butter and water. When done, have ready a cup of
sweet cream or rich [Pg 52]milk to which a few spoons of hot water
has been added; stir in two large spoons of melted butter and a
little chopped parsley; heat all by setting the cup in boiling
water; add the gravy from the dripping-pan, and let it boil up
once; place the fish in a hot dish and pour over it the sauce. Or
an egg sauce may be made with drawn butter; stir in the yolk of an
egg quickly, and then a teaspoon of chopped parsley. It can be
stuffed or not, just as you please.

BOILED SALMON.

The middle slice of salmon is the best. Sew up neatly in a
mosquito-net bag, and boil a quarter of an hour to the pound in hot
salted water. When done, unwrap with care, and lay upon a hot dish,
taking care not to break it. Have ready a large cupful of drawn
butter, very rich, in which has been stirred a tablespoonful of
minced parsley and the juice of a lemon. Pour half upon the salmon
and serve the rest in a boat. Garnish with parsley and sliced
eggs.

BROILED SALMON.

Cut slices from an inch to an inch and an half thick, dry them
in a cloth, season with salt and pepper, dredge them in sifted
flour, and broil on a gridiron rubbed with suet.

Another Mode.—Cut the slices one inch thick, and
season them with pepper and salt; butter a sheet of white paper,
lay each slice on a separate piece, envelop them in it with their
ends twisted; broil gently over a clear fire, and serve with
anchovy or caper sauce. When higher seasoning is required, add a
few chopped herbs and a little spice.

FRESH SALMON FRIED.

Cut the slices three-quarters of an inch thick, dredge them with
flour, or dip them in egg and crumbs; fry a light brown. This mode
answers for all fish cut into steaks. Season well with salt and
pepper.

SALMON AND CAPER SAUCE.

Two slices of salmon, one-quarter pound butter, one-half
teaspoonful of chopped parsley, one shallot; salt and pepper to
taste.

Lay the salmon in a baking dish, place pieces of butter over it,
and add the other ingredients, rubbing a little of the seasoning
into the fish; place it in the oven and baste it frequently; when
done, take [Pg 53]it out and drain for a minute or two; lay it in a
dish, pour caper sauce over it and serve. Salmon dressed in this
way, with tomato sauce, is very delicious.

BROILED SALT SALMON OR OTHER SALT FISH.

Soak salmon in tepid or cold water twenty-four hours, changing
water several times, or let stand under faucet of running water. If
in a hurry, or desiring a very salt relish, it may do to soak a
short time, having water warm, and changing, parboiling slightly.
At the hour wanted, broil sharply. Season to suit taste, covering
with butter. This recipe will answer for all kinds of salt
fish.

PICKLED SALMON.

Take a fine, fresh salmon, and, having cleaned it, cut it into
large pieces, and boil it in salted water as if for eating. Then
drain it, wrap it in a dry cloth, and set it in a cold place till
next day. Then make the pickle, which must be in proportion to the
quantity of fish. To one quart of the water in which the salmon was
boiled, allow two quarts of the best vinegar, one ounce of whole
black pepper, one nutmeg grated and a dozen blades of mace. Boil
all these together in a kettle closely covered to prevent the
flavor from evaporating. When the vinegar thus prepared is quite
cold, pour it over the salmon, and put on the top a tablespoonful
of sweet oil, which will make it keep the longer.

Cover it closely, put it in a dry, cool place, and it will be
good for many months. This is the nicest way of preserving salmon,
and is approved by all who have tried it.

SMOKED SALMON.

Smoked salmon to be broiled should be put upon the gridiron
first, with the flesh side to the fire.

Smoked salmon is very nice when shaved like smoked beef, and
served with coffee or tea.

FRICASSEE SALMON.

This way of cooking fresh salmon is a pleasant change from the
ordinary modes of cooking it. Cut one and one-half pounds of salmon
into pieces one inch square; put the pieces in a stewpan with
[Pg 54]half a cupful of water, a little salt, a little white
pepper, one clove, one blade of mace, three pieces of sugar, one
shallot and a heaping teaspoonful of mustard mixed smoothly with
half a teacupful of vinegar. Let this boil up once and add six
tomatoes peeled and cut into tiny pieces, a few sprigs of parsley
finely minced, and one wine-glassful of sherry. Let all simmer
gently for three-quarters of an hour. Serve very hot, and garnish
with dry toast cut in triangular pieces. This dish is good, very
cold, for luncheon or breakfast.

SALMON PATTIES.

Cut cold, cooked salmon into dice. Heat about a pint of the dice
in half a pint of cream. Season to taste with cayenne pepper and
salt. Fill the shells and serve. Cold, cooked fish of any kind may
be made into patties in this way. Use any fish sauce you
choose—all are equally good.

FISH AND OYSTER PIE.

Any remains of cold fish, such as cod or haddock, 2 dozen
oysters, pepper and salt to taste, bread crumbs, sufficient for the
quantity of fish; ½ teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 1
teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley.

Clear the fish from the bones, and put a layer of it in a
pie-dish, which sprinkle with pepper and salt; then a layer of
bread crumbs, oysters, nutmeg and chopped parsley. Repeat this till
the dish is quite full. You may form a covering either of bread
crumbs, which should be browned, or puff-paste, which should be cut
off into long strips, and laid in cross-bars over the fish, with a
line of the paste first laid round the edge. Before putting on the
top, pour in some made melted butter, or a little thin white sauce,
and the oyster-liquor, and bake.

Time.—If of cooked fish, ¼ hour; if made of
fresh fish and puff-paste, ¾ hour.

STEAMED FISH.

Secure the tail of the fish in its mouth, the body in a circle;
pour over it half a pint of vinegar, seasoned with pepper and salt;
let it stand an hour in a cool place; pour off the vinegar, and put
it in a steamer over boiling water, and steam twenty minutes, or
longer for large fish. When the meat easily separates from the bone
it is done. [Pg 55]Drain well and serve on a very clean white napkin,
neatly folded and placed on the platter; decorate the napkin around
the fish with sprigs of curled parsley, or with fanciful beet
cuttings, or alternately with both.

TO BROIL A SHAD.

Split and wash the shad and afterwards dry it in a cloth. Season
it with salt and pepper. Have ready a bed of clear, bright coals.
Grease your gridiron well, and as soon as it is hot, lay the shad
upon it, the flesh side down; cover with a dripping-pan and broil
it for about a quarter of an hour, or more, according to the
thickness. Butter it well and send it to the table. Covering it
while broiling gives it a more delicious flavor.

BAKED SHAD.

Many people are of the opinion that the very best method of
cooking a shad is to bake it. Stuff it with bread crumbs, salt,
pepper, butter and parsley, and mix this up with the beaten yolk of
egg; fill the fish with it, and sew it up or fasten a string around
it. Pour over it a little water and some butter, and bake as you
would a fowl. A shad will require from an hour to an hour and a
quarter to bake. Garnish with slices of lemon, water cress,
etc.

Dressing for Baked Shad.—Boil up the gravy in which
the shad was baked, put in a large tablespoonful of catsup, a
tablespoonful of brown flour which has been wet with cold water,
the juice of a lemon, and a glass of sherry or Madeira wine. Serve
in a sauce boat.

TO COOK A SHAD ROE.

Drop into boiling water and cook gently for twenty minutes; then
take from the fire and drain. Butter a tin plate and lay the
drained roe upon it. Dredge well with salt and pepper and spread
soft butter over it; then dredge thickly with flour. Cook in the
oven for half an hour, basting frequently with salt, pepper, flour,
butter and water.

TO COOK SHAD ROE. (Another Way.)

First partly boil them in a small covered pan, take out and
season them with salt, a little pepper, dredge with flour and fry
as any fish.

BOILED BASS.

After thoroughly cleaning it place in a saucepan with enough
water to cover it; add two tablespoonfuls of salt; set the saucepan
[Pg 56]over the fire, and when it has boiled about five
minutes try to pull out one of the fins; if it loosens easily from
the body carefully take the fish out of the water, lay it on a
platter, surround it with half a dozen hard-boiled eggs, and serve
it with a sauce.

BOILED BLUEFISH.

Boiled the same as BASS.

BAKED BLUEFISH.

Baked the same as BAKED SHAD—see page 55.

FRIED EELS.

After cleaning the eels well, cut them in pieces two inches
long; wash them and wipe them dry; roll them in wheat flour or
rolled cracker, and fry, as directed for other fish, in hot lard or
beef dripping, salted. They should be browned all over and
thoroughly done.

Eels are sometimes dipped in batter and then fried, or into egg
and bread crumbs. Serve with crisped parsley.

SHEEPSHEAD WITH DRAWN BUTTER.

Select a medium-sized fish, clean it thoroughly, and rub a
little salt over it; wrap it in a cloth and put it in a steamer;
place this over a pot of fast-boiling water and steam one hour;
then lay it whole upon a hot side-dish, garnish with tufts of
parsley and slices of lemon, and serve with drawn butter, prepared
as follows: Take two ounces of butter and roll it into small balls,
dredge these with flour; put one-fourth of them in a saucepan, and
as they begin to melt, whisk them; add the remainder, one at a
time, until thoroughly smooth; while stirring, add a tablespoonful
of lemon juice, half a tablespoonful of chopped parsley; pour into
a hot sauce boat and serve.

BAKED WHITE FISH.

Thoroughly clean the fish; cut off the head or not, as
preferred; cut out the backbone from the head to within two inches
of the tail, and stuff with the following: Soak stale bread in
water, squeeze dry; cut in pieces a large onion, fry in butter,
chop fine; add the bread, two ounces of butter, salt, pepper and a
little parsley or sage; heat through, and when taken off the fire,
add the yolks of two well-beaten [Pg
57]eggs; stuff the fish
rather full, sew up with fine twine, and wrap with several coils of
white tape. Rub the fish over slightly with butter; just cover the
bottom of a baking pan with hot water, and place the fish in it,
standing back upward, and bent in the form of an S. Serve with the
following dressing: Reduce the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs to a
smooth paste with two tablespoonfuls good salad oil; stir in half a
teaspoon English mustard, and add pepper and vinegar to taste.

HALIBUT BOILED.

The cut next to the tail-piece is the best to boil. Rub a little
salt over it, soak it for fifteen minutes in vinegar and cold
water, then wash it and scrape it until quite clean; tie it in a
cloth and boil slowly over a moderate fire, allowing seven minutes’
boiling to each pound of fish; when it is half-cooked, turn it over
in the pot; serve with drawn butter or egg sauce.

Boiled halibut minced with boiled potatoes and a little butter
and milk makes an excellent breakfast dish.

STEAMED HALIBUT.

Select a three-pound piece of white halibut, cover it with a
cloth and place it in a steamer; set the steamer over a pot of
fast-boiling water and steam two hours; place it on a hot dish
surrounded with a border of parsley and serve with egg sauce.

FRIED HALIBUT. No. 1.

Select choice, firm slices from this large and delicate looking
fish, and, after carefully washing and drying with a soft towel,
with a sharp knife take off the skin. Beat up two eggs and roll out
some brittle crackers upon the kneading board until they are as
fine as dust. Dip each slice into the beaten egg, then into the
cracker crumbs (after you have salted and peppered the fish), and
place them in a hot frying pan half full of boiling lard, in which
a little butter has been added to make the fish brown nicely; turn
and brown both sides, remove from frying pan and drain. Serve
hot.

FRIED HALIBUT. No. 2.

First fry a few thin slices of salt pork until brown in an iron
frying pan; then take it up on a hot platter and keep it warm until
the halibut is fried. After washing and drying two pounds of sliced
halibut, [Pg 58]sprinkle it with salt and pepper, dredge it well with
flour, put it into the hot pork drippings and fry brown on both
sides; then serve the pork with the fish.

Halibut broiled in slices is a very good way of cooking it,
broiled the same as Spanish mackerel.

BAKED HALIBUT.

Take a nice piece of halibut weighing five or six pounds and lay
it in salt water for two hours. Wipe it dry and score the outer
skin. Set it in a dripping pan in a moderately hot oven and bake an
hour, basting often with butter and water heated together in a
sauce pan or tin cup. When a fork will penetrate it easily, it is
done. It should be a fine, brown color. Take the gravy in the
dripping pan, add a little boiling water, should there not be
enough, stir in a tablespoonful of walnut catsup, a teaspoonful of
Worcestershire sauce, the juice of a lemon, and thicken with brown
flour, previously wet with cold water. Boil up once and put in a
sauce boat.

HALIBUT BROILED.

Broil the same as other fish, upon a buttered gridiron, over a
clear fire, first seasoning with salt and pepper, placed on a hot
dish when done, buttered well and covered closely.

FRIED BROOK TROUT.

These delicate fish are usually fried, and form a delightful
breakfast or supper dish. Clean, wash and dry the fish, split them
to the tail, salt and pepper them, and flour them nicely. If you
use lard instead of the fat of fried salt pork, put in a piece of
butter to prevent their sticking, and which causes them to brown
nicely. Let the fat be hot; fry quickly to a delicate brown. They
should be sufficiently browned on one side before turning on the
other. They are nice served with slices of fried pork, fried crisp.
Lay them side by side on a heated platter, garnish and send hot to
the table. They are often cooked and served with their heads
on.

FRIED SMELTS.

Fried with their heads on the same as brook trout. Many think
that they make a much better appearance as a dish when cooked whole
with the heads on, and nicely garnished for the table.

BOILED WHITE FISH.

The most delicate mode of cooking white fish. Prepare the fish
as for broiling, laying it open; put it into a dripping pan with
the back down; nearly cover with water; to one fish two
tablespoonfuls of salt; cover tightly and simmer (not boil)
one-half hour. Dress with gravy, a little butter and pepper, and
garnish with hard-boiled eggs.

BAKED WHITE FISH. (Bordeaux Sauce.)

Clean and stuff the fish. Put it in a baking pan and add a
liberal quantity of butter, previously rolled in flour, to the
fish. Put in the pan half a pint of claret, and bake for an hour
and a quarter. Remove the fish and strain the gravy; add to the
latter a gill more of claret, a teaspoonful of brown flour and a
pinch of cayenne, and serve with the fish.

BAKED SALMON TROUT.

This deliciously flavored game-fish is baked precisely as shad
or white fish, but should be accompanied with cream gravy to make
it perfect. It should be baked slowly, basting often with butter
and water. When done have ready in a saucepan a cup of cream,
diluted with a few spoonfuls of hot water, for fear it might clot
in heating, in which have been stirred cautiously two
tablespoonfuls of melted butter, a scant tablespoonful of flour,
and a little chopped parsley. Heat this in a vessel set within
another of boiling water, add the gravy from the dripping-pan, boil
up once to thicken, and when the trout is laid on a suitable hot
dish, pour this sauce around it. Garnish with sprigs of
parsley.

This same fish boiled, served with the same cream gravy (with
the exception of the fish gravy), is the proper way to cook it.

TO BAKE SMELTS.

Wash and dry them thoroughly in a cloth, and arrange them nicely
in a flat baking-dish; the pan should be buttered, also the fish;
season with salt and pepper, and cover with bread or cracker
crumbs. Place a piece of butter over each. Bake for fifteen or
twenty minutes. Garnish with fried parsley and cut lemon.

BROILED SPANISH MACKEREL.

Split the fish down the back, take out the backbone, wash it in
cold water, dry it with a clean, dry cloth, sprinkle it lightly
with salt and lay it on a buttered gridiron, over a clear fire,
with the flesh side downward, until it begins to brown; then turn
the other side. Have ready a mixture of two tablespoonfuls of
butter melted, a tablespoonful of lemon juice, a teaspoonful of
salt, some pepper. Dish up the fish hot from the gridiron on a hot
dish, turn over the mixture and serve it while hot.

Broiled Spanish mackerel is excellent with other fish sauces.
Boiled Spanish mackerel is also very fine with most of the fish
sauces, more especially “Matre d’Hotel Sauce.”

BOILED SALT MACKEREL.

Wash and clean off all the brine and salt; put it to soak with
the meat side down, in cold water over night; in the morning rinse
it in one or two waters. Wrap each up in a cloth and put it into a
kettle with considerable water, which should be cold; cook about
thirty minutes. Take it carefully from the cloth, take out the
backbones and pour over a little melted butter and cream; add a
light sprinkle of pepper. Or make a cream sauce like the
following:

Heat a small cup of milk to scalding. Stir into it a teaspoonful
of cornstarch wet up with a little water. When this thickens, add
two tablespoonfuls of butter, pepper, salt and chopped parsley, to
taste. Beat an egg light, pour the sauce gradually over it, put the
mixture again over the fire, and stir one minute, not more. Pour
upon the fish, and serve it with some slices of lemon, or a few
sprigs of parsley or water-cress, on the dish as a garnish.

BAKED SALT MACKEREL.

When the mackerel have soaked over night, put them in a pan and
pour on boiling water enough to cover. Let them stand a couple of
minutes, then drain them off, and put them in the pan with a few
lumps of butter; pour on a half teacupful of sweet cream, or rich
milk, and a little pepper; set in the oven and let it bake a little
until brown.

FRIED SALT MACKEREL.

Select as many salt mackerel as required; wash and cleanse them
well, then put them to soak all day in cold water, changing
them every two hours; then put them into fresh water just before
retiring. In the morning drain off the water, wipe them dry, roll
them in flour, and fry in a little butter on a hot, thick-bottomed
frying pan. Serve with a little melted butter poured over, and
garnish with a little parsley.

BOILED FRESH MACKEREL.

Fresh mackerel are cooked in water salted, and a little vinegar
added; with this exception they can be served in the same way as
the salt mackerel. Broiled ones are very nice with the same cream
sauce, or you can substitute egg sauce.

POTTED FRESH FISH.

After the fish has laid in salt water six hours, take it out,
and to every six pounds of fish take one-quarter cupful each of
salt, black pepper and cinnamon, one-eighth cupful of allspice, and
one teaspoonful of cloves.

Cut the fish in pieces and put into a half gallon stone
baking-jar, first a layer of fish, then the spices, flour, and then
spread a thin layer of butter on, and continue so until the dish is
full. Fill the jar with equal parts of vinegar and water, cover
with tightly fitting lid, so that the steam cannot escape; bake
five hours, remove from the oven, and when it is cold it is to be
cut in slices and served. This is a tea or lunch dish.

SCALLOPED CRABS.

Put the crabs into a kettle of boiling water, and throw in a
handful of salt. Boil from twenty minutes to half an hour. Take
them from the water when done and pick out all the meat; be careful
not to break the shell. To a pint of meat put a little salt and
pepper; taste, and if not enough add more, a little at a time, till
suited. Grate in a very little nutmeg and add one spoonful of
cracker or bread crumbs, two eggs well beaten, and two
tablespoonfuls of butter (even full); stir all well together; wash
the shells clean, and fill each shell full of the mixture; sprinkle
crumbs over the top and moisten with the liquor; set in the oven
till of a nice brown; a few minutes will do it. Send to the table
hot, arranged on large dishes. They are eaten at breakfast or
supper.

FISH IN WHITE SAUCE.

Flake up cold boiled halibut and set the plate into the steamer,
that the fish may heat without drying. Boil the bones and skin of
the fish with a slice of onion and a very small piece of red
pepper; a bit of this the size of a kernel of coffee will make the
sauce quite as hot as most persons like it. Boil this stock down to
half a pint; thicken with one teaspoonful of butter and one
teaspoonful of flour, mixed together. Add one drop of extract of
almond. Pour this sauce over your halibut and stick bits of parsley
over it.

FRESH STURGEON STEAK MARINADE.

Take one slice of sturgeon two inches thick; let it stand in hot
water five minutes; drain, put it in a bowl and add a gill of
vinegar, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, half a teaspoonful of
salt, a saltspoonful of black pepper and the juice of half a lemon;
let it stand six hours, turning it occasionally; drain and dry on a
napkin; dip it in egg; roll in bread crumbs and fry, or rather
boil, in very hot fat. Beat up the yolks of two raw eggs, add a
teaspoonful of French mustard, and by degrees, half of the
marinade, to make a smooth sauce, which serve with the fish.

POTTED FISH.

Take out the backbone of the fish; for one weighing two pounds
take a tablespoonful of allspice and cloves mixed; these spices
should be put into little bags of not too thick muslin; put
sufficient salt directly upon each fish; then roll in cloth, over
which sprinkle a little cayenne pepper; put alternate layers of
fish, spice and sage in an earthen jar; cover with the best cider
vinegar; cover the jar closely with a plate, and over this, put a
covering of dough, rolled out to twice the thickness of pie crust.
Make the edges of paste, to adhere closely to the sides of the jar,
so as to make it air tight. Put the jar into a pot of cold water
and let it boil from three to five hours, according to quantity.
Ready when cold.

MAYONNAISE FISH.

Take a pound or so of cold boiled fish (halibut, rock or cod),
not chop, but cut, into pieces an inch in length. Mix in a bowl a
dressing as follows: The yolks of four boiled eggs rubbed to a
smooth paste with salad oil or butter; add to these salt, pepper,
mustard, [Pg 63]two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, and, lastly, six
tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Beat the mixture until light, and just
before pouring it over the fish, stir in lightly the frothed white
of a raw egg. Serve the fish in a glass dish, with half the
dressing stirred in with it. Spread the remainder over the top, and
lay lettuce leaves (from the core of the head of lettuce) around
the edges, to be eaten with it.

FISH CHOWDER. (Rhode Island.)

Fry five or six slices of fat pork crisp in the bottom of the
pot you are to make your chowder in; take them out and chop them
into small pieces, put them back into the bottom of the pot with
their own gravy. (This is much better than having the slices
whole.)

Cut four pounds of fresh cod or sea-bass into pieces two inches
square, and lay enough of these on the pork to cover it. Follow
with a layer of chopped onions, a little parsley, summer savory and
pepper, either black or cayenne. Then a layer of split Boston, or
butter, or whole cream crackers, which have been soaked in warm
water until moistened through, but not ready to break. Above this
put a layer of pork and repeat the order given above—onions,
seasoning (not too much), crackers and pork, until your materials
are exhausted. Let the topmost layer be buttered crackers well
soaked. Pour in enough cold water to barely cover all. Cover the
pot, stew gently for an hour, watching that the water does not sink
too low. Should it leave the upper layer exposed, replenish
cautiously from the boiling tea-kettle. When the chowder is
thoroughly done, take out with a perforated skimmer and put into a
tureen. Thicken the gravy with a tablespoonful of flour and about
the same quantity of butter; boil up and pour over the chowder.
Serve sliced lemon, pickles and stewed tomatoes with it, that the
guests may add if they like.

CODFISH BALLS.

Take a pint bowl of codfish picked very fine, two pint bowls of
whole raw peeled potatoes, sliced thickly; put them together in
plenty of cold water and boil until the potatoes are thoroughly
cooked; remove from the fire and drain off all the water. Mash them
with the potato masher, add a piece of butter the size of an egg,
one well-beaten egg, and three spoonfuls of cream or rich milk.
Flour your hands and make into balls or cakes. Put an ounce each of
butter [Pg 64]and lard into a frying pan; when hot, put in the
balls and fry a nice brown. Do not freshen the fish before boiling
with the potatoes. Many cooks fry them in a quantity of lard
similar to boiled doughnuts.

STEWED CODFISH. (Salt.)

Take a thick, white piece of salt codfish, lay it in cold water
for a few minutes to soften it a little, enough to render it more
easily to be picked up. Shred it in very small bits, put it over
the fire in a stew pan with cold water; let it come to a boil, turn
off this water carefully, and add a pint of milk to the fish, or
more according to quantity. Set it over the fire again and let it
boil slowly about three minutes, now add a good-sized piece of
butter, a shake of pepper and a thickening of a tablespoonful of
flour in enough cold milk to make a cream. Stew five minutes
longer, and just before serving stir in two well-beaten eggs. The
eggs are an addition that could be dispensed with, however, as it
is very good without them. An excellent breakfast dish.

CODFISH A LA MODE.

Pick up a teacupful of salt codfish very fine and
freshen—the desiccated is nice to use; two cups mashed
potatoes, one pint cream or milk, two well-beaten eggs, half a cup
butter, salt and pepper; mix; bake in an earthen baking dish from
twenty to twenty-five minutes; serve in the same dish, placed on a
small platter, covered with a fine napkin.

BOILED FRESH COD.

Sew up the piece of fish in thin cloth, fitted to shape; boil in
salted water (boiling from the first), allowing about fifteen
minutes to the pound. Carefully unwrap and pour over it warm oyster
sauce. A whole one boiled the same.

SCALLOPED FISH.

Pick any cold fresh fish, or salt codfish, left from the dinner,
into fine bits, carefully removing all the bones.

Take a pint of milk in a suitable dish and place it in a
saucepan of boiling water; put into it a few slices of onion cut
very fine, a sprig of parsley minced fine, add a piece of butter as
large as an egg, a pinch [Pg
65]of salt, a sprinkle of
white pepper, then stir in two tablespoonfuls of cornstarch, or
flour, rubbed in a little cold milk; let all boil up and remove
from the fire. Take a dish you wish to serve it in, butter the
sides and bottom. Put first a layer of the minced fish, then a
layer of the cream, then sprinkle over that some cracker or bread
crumbs, then a layer of fish again, and so on until the dish is
full; spread cracker or bread crumbs last on the top to prevent the
milk from scorching.

This is a very good way to use up cold fish, making a nice
breakfast dish, or a side dish for dinner.

FISH FRITTERS.

Take a piece of salt codfish, pick it up very fine, put it into
a saucepan, with plenty of cold water; bring it to a boil,
turn off the water, and add another of cold water; let this boil
with the fish about fifteen minutes, very slowly; strain off this
water, making the fish quite dry, and set aside to cool. In the
meantime, stir up a batter of a pint of milk, four eggs, a pinch of
salt, one large teaspoonful of baking powder in flour, enough to
make thicker than batter cakes. Stir in the fish and fry like any
fritters. Very fine accompaniment to a good breakfast.

BOILED SALT CODFISH. (New England Style.)

Cut the fish into square pieces, cover with cold water, set on
the back part of the stove; when hot, pour off water and cover
again with cold water; let it stand about four hours and simmer,
not boil; put the fish on a platter, then cover with a drawn-butter
gravy and serve. Many cooks prefer soaking the fish over night.

BOILED CODFISH AND OYSTER SAUCE.

Lay the fish in cold, salted water half an hour before it is
time to cook it, then roll it in a clean cloth dredged with flour;
sew up the edges in such a manner as to envelop the fish entirely,
yet have but one thickness of cloth over any part. Put the
fish into boiling water slightly salted; add a few whole cloves and
peppers and a bit of lemon peel; pull gently on the fins, and when
they come out easily the fish is done. Arrange neatly on a folded
napkin, garnish and serve with [Pg
66]oyster sauce. Take six
oysters to every pound of fish and scald (blanch) them in a
half-pint of hot oyster liquor; take out the oysters and add to the
liquor, salt, pepper, a bit of mace and an ounce of butter; whip
into it a gill of milk containing half of a teaspoonful of flour.
Simmer a moment; add the oysters, and send to table in a sauce
boat. Egg sauce is good with this fish.

BAKED CODFISH.

If salt fish, soak, boil and pick the fish, the same as for
fish-balls. Add an equal quantity of mashed potatoes, or cold,
boiled, chopped potatoes, a large piece of butter, and warm milk
enough to make it quite soft. Put it into a buttered dish, rub
butter over the top, shake over a little sifted flour, and bake
about thirty minutes, and until a rich brown. Make a sauce of drawn
butter, with two hard-boiled eggs sliced, served in a gravy
boat.

CODFISH STEAK. (New England Style.)

Select a medium-sized fresh codfish, cut it in steaks crosswise
of the fish, about an inch and a half thick; sprinkle a little salt
over them, and let them stand two hours. Cut into dice a pound of
salt fat pork, fry out all the fat from them and remove the crisp
bits of pork; put the codfish steaks in a pan of corn meal, dredge
them with it, and when the pork fat is smoking hot, fry the steaks
in it to a dark brown color on both sides. Squeeze over them a
little lemon juice, add a dash of freshly ground pepper, and serve
with hot, old-fashioned, well-buttered Johnny Cake.

SALMON CROQUETTES.

One pound of cooked salmon (about one and a half pints when
chopped), one cup of cream, two tablespoonfuls of butter, one
tablespoonful of flour, three eggs, one pint of crumbs, pepper and
salt; chop the salmon fine, mix the flour and butter together, let
the cream come to a boil, and stir in the flour and butter, salmon
and seasoning; boil one minute; stir in one well-beaten egg, and
remove from the fire; when cold make into croquettes; dip in beaten
egg, roll in crumbs and fry. Canned salmon can be used.

SHELL-FISH

STEWED WATER TURTLES, OR TERRAPINS.

Select the largest, thickest and fattest, the females being the
best; they should be alive when brought from market. Wash and put
them alive into boiling water, add a little salt, and boil them
until thoroughly done, or from ten to fifteen minutes, after which
take off the shell, extract the meat, and remove carefully the
sand-bag and gall; also all the entrails; they are unfit to eat,
and are no longer used in cooking terrapins for the best tables.
Cut the meat into pieces, and put it into a stewpan 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, a gill of
currant jelly, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and salt to taste,
enriched with a large lump of fresh butter. Stir this sauce well
over the fire, and when it has almost come to a boil take it off.
Send the terrapins to the 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
terrapins when simply stewed with butter. This is now the usual
mode of dressing terrapins in Maryland, Virginia, and many other
parts of the South, and will be found superior to any other. If
there are no eggs in the terrapin, “egg balls” may be substituted.
(See recipe.)

STEWED TERRAPIN, WITH CREAM.

Place in a saucepan, two heaping tablespoonfuls of butter and
one of dry flour; stir it over the fire until it bubbles; then
gradually stir in a pint of cream, a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter
of a teaspoonful of white pepper, the same of grated nutmeg, and a
very small pinch of cayenne. Next, put in a pint of terrapin meat
and stir all until it is scalding hot. Move the saucepan to the
back part of the stove or range, where the contents will keep hot
but not boil; then stir in four [Pg
68]well-beaten yolks of
eggs; do not allow the terrapin to boil after adding the eggs, but
pour it immediately into a tureen containing a gill of good Madeira
and a tablespoonful of lemon juice. Serve hot.

STEWED TERRAPIN.

Plunge the terrapins alive into boiling water, and let them
remain until the sides and lower shell begin to crack—this
will take less than an hour; then remove them and let them get
cold; take off the shell and outer skin, being careful to save all
the blood possible in opening them. If there are eggs in them put
them aside in a dish; take all the inside out, and be very careful
not to break the gall, which must be immediately removed or it will
make the rest bitter. It lies within the liver. Then cut up the
liver and all the rest of the terrapin into small pieces, adding
the blood and juice that have flowed out in cutting up; add half a
pint of water; sprinkle a little flour over them as you place them
in the stewpan; let them stew slowly ten minutes, adding salt,
black and cayenne pepper, and a very small blade of mace; then add
a gill of the best brandy and half a pint of the very best sherry
wine; let it simmer over a slow fire very gently. About ten minutes
or so, before you are ready to dish them, add half a pint of rich
cream, and half a pound of sweet butter, with flour, to prevent
boiling; two or three minutes before taking them off the fire peel
the eggs carefully and throw them in whole. If there should be no
eggs use the yolks of hens’ eggs, hard boiled. This recipe is for
four terrapins.

BASTING THE TURKEY.

OILED LOBSTER.

Put a handful of salt into a large kettle or pot of boiling
water. When the water boils very hard put in the lobster, having
first brushed it and tied the claws together with a bit of twine.
Keep it boiling from twenty minutes to half an hour, in proportion
to its size. If boiled too long the meat will be hard and stringy.
When it is done take it out, lay it on its claws to drain, and then
wipe it dry.

It is scarcely necessary to mention that the head of a lobster
and what are called the lady fingers are not to be eaten.

Very large lobsters are not the best, the meat being coarse and
tough. The male is best for boiling; the flesh is firmer and the
shell a brighter red. It may readily be distinguished from the
female; [Pg 69]the tail is narrower, and the two uppermost fins
within the tail are stiff and hard. Those of the hen lobster are
not so, and the tail is broader.

Hen lobsters are preferred for sauce or salad, on account of
their coral. The head and small claws are never used.

They should be alive and freshly caught when put into the
boiling kettle. After being cooked and cooled, split open the body
and tail and crack the claws, to extract the meat. The sand pouch
found near the throat should be removed. Care should be exercised
that none of the feathery, tough, gill-like particles found under
the body shell get mixed with the meat, as they are indigestible
and have caused much trouble. They are supposed to be the cause of
so-called poisoning from eating lobster.

Serve on a platter. Lettuce and other concomitants of a salad
should also be placed on the table or platter.

SCALLOPED LOBSTER.

Butter a deep dish and cover the bottom with fine bread crumbs;
put on this a layer of chopped lobster, with pepper and salt; so
on, alternately, until the dish is filled, having crumbs on top.
Put on bits of butter, moisten with milk and bake about twenty
minutes.

DEVILED LOBSTER.

Take out all the meat from a boiled lobster, reserving the
coral; season highly with mustard, cayenne, salt and some kind of
table sauce; stew until well mixed and put it in a covered
saucepan, with just enough hot water to keep from burning; rub the
coral smooth, moistening with vinegar until it is thin enough to
pour easily, then stir it into the saucepan. The dressing should be
prepared before the meat is put on the fire, and which ought to
boil but once before the coral is put in; stir in a heaping
teaspoonful of butter, and when it boils again it is done and
should be taken up at once, as too much cooking toughens the
meat.

LOBSTER CROQUETTES.

Take any of the lobster remaining from table and pound it until
the dark, light meat and coral are well mixed; put with it not
quite as much fine bread crumbs; season with pepper, salt and a
very little [Pg 70]cayenne pepper; add a little melted butter, about
two tablespoonfuls if the bread is rather dry; form into egg-shaped
or round balls; roll them in egg, then in fine crumbs, and fry in
boiling lard.

LOBSTER PATTIES.

Cut some boiled lobster in small pieces; then take the small
claws and the spawn, put them in a suitable dish, and jam them to a
paste with a potato masher. Now add to them a ladleful of gravy or
broth, with a few bread crumbs; set it over the fire and boil;
strain it through a strainer, or sieve, to the thickness of a
cream, and put half of it to your lobsters, and save the other half
to sauce them with after they are baked. Put to the lobster the
bigness of an egg of butter, a little pepper and salt; squeeze in a
lemon, and warm these over the fire enough to melt the butter, set
it to cool, and sheet your patty pan or a plate or dish with good
puff paste, then put in your lobster, and cover it with a paste;
bake it within three-quarters of an hour before you want it; when
it is baked, cut up your cover, and warm up the other half of your
sauce above mentioned, with a little butter, to the thickness of
cream, and pour it over your patty, with a little squeezed lemon;
cut your cover in two, and lay it on the top, two inches distant,
so that what is under may be seen. You may bake crawfish, shrimps
or prawns the same way; and they are all proper for plates or
little dishes for a second course.

LOBSTER Á LA NEWBURG.

Take one whole lobster, cut up in pieces about as large as a
hickory nut. Put in the same pan with a piece of butter size of a
walnut, season with salt and pepper to taste, and thicken with
heavy cream sauce; add the yolk of one egg and two oz. of sherry
wine.

Cream sauce for above is made as follows: 1 oz. butter, melted
in saucepan; 2 oz. flour, mixed with butter, thin down to proper
consistency with boiling cream.

BAKED CRABS.

Mix with the contents of a can of crabs, bread crumbs or pounded
crackers. Pepper and salt the whole to taste; mince some cold ham;
have the baking pan well buttered, place therein first a layer of
the crab meat, prepared as above, then a layer of the minced ham,
and [Pg 71]so on, alternately until the pan is filled. Cover the
top with bread crumbs and bits of butter, and bake.

DEVILED CRABS.

Half a dozen fresh crabs, boiled and minced, two ounces of
butter, one small teaspoonful of mustard powder; cayenne pepper and
salt to taste. Put the meat into a bowl and mix carefully with it
an equal quantity of fine bread crumbs. Work the butter to a light
cream, mix the mustard well with it, then stir in very carefully, a
handful at a time, the mixed crabs, a tablespoonful of cream and
crumbs. Season to taste with cayenne pepper and salt; fill the crab
shells with the mixture, sprinkle bread crumbs over the tops, put
three small pieces of butter upon the top of each, and brown them
quickly in a hot oven. They will puff in baking and will be found
very nice. Half the quantity can be made. A crab shell will hold
the meat of two crabs.

CRAB CROQUETTES.

Pick the meat of boiled crabs and chop it fine. Season to taste
with pepper, salt and melted butter. Moisten it well with rich milk
or cream, then stiffen it slightly with bread or cracker crumbs.
Add two or three well-beaten eggs to bind the mixture. Form the
croquettes, egg and bread, crumb them and fry them delicately in
boiling lard. It is better to use a wire frying basket for
croquettes of all kinds.

TO MAKE A CRAB PIE.

Procure the crabs alive, and put them in boiling water, along
with some salt. Boil them for a quarter of an hour or twenty
minutes, according to the size. When cold pick the meat from the
claws and body. Chop all together, and mix it with crumbs of bread,
pepper and salt, and a little butter. Put all this into the shell
and brown in a hot oven. A crab shell will hold the meat of two
crabs.

CRABS. (Soft Shell.)

Crabs may be boiled as lobsters. They make a fine dish when
stewed. Take out the meat from the shell, put it into a saucepan
with butter, pepper, salt, a pinch of mace and a very little water;
dredge with flour and let simmer five minutes over a slow fire.
Serve hot; garnish the dish with the claws laid around it.

The usual way of cooking them is frying them in plenty of butter
and lard mixed; prepare them the same as frying fish. The spongy
substance from the sides should be taken off, also the sand bag.
Fry a nice brown and garnish with parsley.

OYSTERS.

Oysters must be fresh and fat to be good. They are in season
from September to May.

The small ones, such as are sold by the quart, are good for
pies, fritters, or stews; the largest of this sort are nice for
frying or pickling for family use.

FRIED OYSTERS.

Take large oysers from their own liquor into a thickly folded
napkin to dry them; then make hot an ounce each of butter and lard
in a thick-bottomed frying pan. Season the oysters with pepper and
salt, then dip each one into egg and cracker crumbs rolled fine,
until it will take up no more. Place them in the hot grease and fry
them a delicate brown, turning them on both sides by sliding a
broad-bladed knife under them. Serve them crisp and hot.

Some prefer to roll oysters in corn meal and others use flour,
but they are much more crisp with egg and cracker crumbs.

OYSTERS FRIED IN BATTER.

Ingredients.—One-half pint of oysters, two eggs,
one-half pint of milk, sufficient flour to make the batter; pepper
and salt to taste; when liked, a little nutmeg; hot lard.

Scald the oysters in their own liquor, beard them, and lay them
on a cloth to drain thoroughly. Break the eggs into a basin, mix
the flour with them, add the milk gradually, with nutmeg and
seasoning, and put the oysters in a batter. Make some lard hot in a
deep frying pan; put in the oysters one at a time; when done, take
them up with a sharp pointed skewer and dish them on a napkin.
Fried oysters are frequently used for garnishing boiled fish, and
then a few bread crumbs should be added to the flour.

STEWED OYSTERS. (In Milk or Cream.)

Drain the liquor from two quarts of oysters; mix with it a small
teacupful of hot water, add a little salt and pepper and set it
over [Pg 73]the fire in a saucepan. Let it boil up once, put in
the oysters, let them come to a boil, and when they “ruffle” add
two tablespoonfuls of butter. The instant it is melted and well
stirred in, put in a pint of boiling milk and take the saucepan
from the fire. Serve with oyster or cream crackers. Serve while
hot.

If thickening is preferred, stir in a little flour or two
tablespoonfuls of cracker crumbs.

PLAIN OYSTER STEW.

Same as milk or cream stew, using only oyster liquor and water
instead of milk or cream, adding more butter after taking up.

OYSTER SOUP.

For oyster soup, see SOUPS.

DRY OYSTER STEW.

Take six to twelve large oysters and cook them in half a pint of
their own liquor; season with butter and white pepper; cook for
five minutes, stirring constantly. Serve in hot soup plates or
bowls.

BOSTON FRY.

Prepare the oysters in egg batter and fine cracker meal; fry in
butter over a slow fire for about ten minutes; cover the hollow of
a hot platter with tomato sauce; place the oysters in it, but not
covering; garnished with chopped parsley sprinkled over the
oysters.

BROILED OYSTERS.

Dry a quart of oysters in a cloth, dip each in melted butter
well peppered; then in beaten egg, or not, then in bread or cracker
crumbs also peppered. Broil on a wire broiler over live coals three
to five minutes. Dip over each a little melted butter. Serve
hot.

ROAST OYSTERS IN THE SHELL. No. 1.

Select the large ones, those usually termed “Saddle Rocks,”
formerly known as a distinct variety, but which are now but the
large oysters selected from any beds; wash and wipe them, and place
with the upper or deep shell down, to catch the juice, over or on
live coals. When they open their shells, remove the shallow one,
being careful to [Pg 74]save all the juice in the other; place
them, shells and all, on a hot platter, and send to the table hot
to be seasoned by each person with butter and pepper to taste. If
the oysters are fine, and they are just cooked enough and served
hot, this is, par excellence, the style.

OYSTER ROAST. No. 2.

Put one quart of oysters in a basin with their own liquor and
let them boil three or four minutes; season with a little salt,
pepper and a heaping spoonful of butter. Serve on buttered
toast.

STEAMED OYSTERS.

Wash and drain a quart of counts or select oysters; put them in
a shallow pan and place in a steamer over boiling water; cover and
steam till they are plump, with the edges ruffled, but no longer.
Place to a heated dish, with butter, pepper, and salt, and
serve.

STEAMED OYSTERS IN THE SHELL.

Wash and place them in an air-tight vessel, laying them the
upper shell downward, so that the liquor will not run out when they
open. Place this dish or vessel over a pot of boiling water where
they will get the steam. Boil them rapidly until the shells open,
about fifteen to twenty minutes. Serve at once while hot, seasoned
with butter, salt and pepper.

PAN OYSTERS. No. 1.

Cut some stale bread into thin slices, taking off all the crust,
round the slices to fit patty-pans; toast, butter, place them in
the pans and moisten with three or four teaspoonfuls of oyster
liquor; place on the toast a layer of oysters, sprinkle with
pepper, and put a small piece of butter on top of each pan; place
all the pans in a baking-pan, and place in the oven, covering
tightly. They will cook in seven or eight minutes if the oven is
hot; or, cook till the beards are ruffled; remove the cover,
sprinkle lightly with salt, replace, and cook one minute longer.
Serve in patty pans. They are delicious.

PAN OYSTERS. No. 2.

Lay in a thin pie tin or dripping-pan, half a pint of large
oysters, or more if required; have the pan large enough so that
each oyster will lie flat on the bottom; put in over them a little
oyster liquor, but [Pg 75]not enough to float; place them
carefully in a hot oven and just heat them through
thoroughly—do not bake them—which will be in three to
five minutes, according to fire; take them up and place on toast;
first moistened with the hot juice from the pan. Are a very good
substitute for oysters roasted in the shell, the slow cooking
bringing out the flavor.

OYSTER FRITTERS.

Select plump, good-sized oysters; drain off the juice, and to a
cup of this juice add a cup of milk, a little salt, four
well-beaten eggs, and flour enough to make batter like
griddle-cakes.

Envelope an oyster in a spoonful of this batter (some cut them
in halves or chop them fine), then fry in butter and lard, mixed in
a frying pan the same as we fry eggs, turning to fry brown on both
sides. Send to the table very hot.

Most cooks fry oyster fritters the same as crullers, in a
quantity of hot lard, but this is not always convenient; either way
they are excellent.

OYSTER PATTIES.

Line patty-pans with thin pastry, pressing it well to the tin.
Put a piece of bread or a ball of paper in each. Cover them with
paste and brush them over with the white of an egg. Cut an inch
square of thin pastry, place on the centre of each, glaze this also
with egg, and bake in a quick oven fifteen to twenty minutes.
Remove the bread or paper when half cold.

Scald as many oysters as you require (allowing two for each
patty, three if small) in their own liquor. Cut each in four and
strain the liquor. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of
flour into a thick saucepan; stir them together over the fire till
the flour smells cooked, and then pour half a pint of oyster liquor
and half a pint of milk into the flour and butter. (If you have
cream use it instead of milk.) Stir till it is a thick, smooth
sauce. Put the oysters into it and let them boil once. Beat the
yolks of two eggs. Remove the oysters for one minute from the fire,
then stir the eggs into them till the sauce looks like thick
custard.

Fill the patties with this oyster fricassee, taking care to make
it hot by standing in boiling water before dinner on the day
required, and to make the patty cases hot before you fill them.

FULTON MARKET ROAST.

It is still known in New York from the place at which it was and
is still served. Take nine large oysters out of the shell; wash,
dry and roast over a charcoal fire, on a broiler. Two minutes after
the shells open they will be done. Take them off quickly, saving
the juice in a small shallow, tin pan; keep hot until all are done;
butter them and sprinkle with pepper.

This is served for one person when calling for a roast of this
kind. It is often poured over a slice of toast.

SCALLOPED OYSTERS.

Have ready about a pint of fine cracker crumbs. Butter a deep
earthen dish; put a layer of the cracker crumbs on the bottom; wet
this with some of the oyster liquor; next have a layer of oysters;
sprinkle with salt and pepper, and lay small bits of butter upon
them; then add another layer of cracker crumbs and oyster juice;
then oysters, pepper, salt and butter, and so on, until the dish is
full; the top layer to be cracker crumbs. Beat up an egg in a cup
of milk and turn over all. Cover the dish and set it in the oven
for thirty or forty-five minutes. When baked through, uncover the
top, set on the upper grate and brown.

OYSTER POT-PIE.

Scald a quart can of oysters in their own liquor; when it boils,
skim out the oysters and set them aside in a warm place. To the
liquor add a pint of hot water; season well with salt and pepper, a
generous piece of butter, thicken with flour and cold milk. Have
ready nice light biscuit dough, rolled twice as thick as pie crust;
cut out into inch squares, drop them into the boiling stew, cover
closely, and cook forty minutes. When taken up, stir the oysters
into the juice and serve all together in one dish. A nice side
entrée.

BOSTON OYSTER PIE.

Having buttered the inside of a deep pie plate, line it
with puff paste, or common pie crust, and prepare another sheet of
paste for the [Pg 77]lid; put a clean towel into the dish (folded so as
to support the lid), set it into the oven and bake the paste well;
when done, remove the lid and take out the towel. While the paste
is baking, prepare the oysters. Having picked off carefully every
bit of shell that may be found about them, drain the liquor into a
pan and put the oysters into a stewpan with barely enough of the
liquor to keep them from burning; season them with pepper, salt and
butter; add a little sweet cream or milk, and one or two crackers
rolled fine; let the oysters simmer, but not boil, as that
will shrivel them. Remove the upper crust of pastry and fill the
dish with the oysters and gravy. Replace the cover and serve
hot.

Some prefer baking the upper crust on a pie plate, the same size
as the pie, then slipping it off on top of the pie after the same
pie is filled with the oysters.

MOCK OYSTERS.

Grate the corn, while green and tender, with a coarse grater,
into a deep dish. For two ears of corn, allow one egg; beat the
whites and yolks separately, and add them to the corn, with one
tablespoonful of wheat flour and one of butter, a teaspoonful of
salt and pepper to taste. Drop spoonfuls of this batter into a
frying pan with hot butter and lard mixed, and fry a light brown on
both sides.

In taste, they have a singular resemblance to fried oysters. The
corn must be young.

FRICASSEED OYSTERS.

Take a slice of raw ham, which has been pickled, but not smoked,
and soak in boiling water for half an hour; cut it in quite small
pieces, and put in a saucepan with two-thirds of a pint of veal or
chicken broth, well strained; the liquor from a quart of oysters,
one small onion, minced fine, a little chopped parsley, sweet
marjoram, and pepper; let them simmer for twenty minutes, and then
boil rapidly for two or three minutes; skim well and add one scant
tablespoon of cornstarch, mixed smoothly in one-third cup of milk;
stir constantly, and when it boils add the oysters and one ounce of
butter; after which, just let it come to a boil, and remove the
oysters to a deep dish; beat one egg, and add to it gradually some
of the hot broth, and, when cooked, stir it into the pan; season
with salt, and pour the whole over the oysters. When placed upon
the table, squeeze the juice of a lemon over it.

Small Oyster Pies.

For each pie take a tin plate half the size of an ordinary
dinner plate; butter it, and cover the bottom with a puff paste, as
for pies; lay on it five or six select oysters, or enough to cover
the bottom; butter them and season with a little salt and plenty of
pepper; spread over this an egg batter, and cover with a crust of
the paste, making small openings in it with a fork. Bake in a hot
oven fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the top is nicely
browned.

STEWED CLAMS.

Wash clean as many round clams as required; pile them in a large
iron pot, with half a cupful of hot water in the bottom, and put
over the fire; as soon as the shells open take out the clams, cut
off the hard, uneatable “fringe” from each with strong, clean
scissors, put them into a stewpan with the broth from the pot, and
boil slowly till they are quite tender; pepper well and thicken the
gravy with flour stirred into melted butter.

Or, you may get two dozen freshly opened very small
clams. Boil a pint of milk, a dash of white pepper and a small pat
of butter. Now add the clams. Let them come to a boil and serve.
Longer boiling will make the clams almost indigestible.

ROAST CLAMS IN THE SHELL.

Roast in a pan over a hot fire, or in a hot oven, or, at a “Clam
Bake,” on hot stones; when they open, empty the juice into a
saucepan; add the clams, with butter, pepper and a very little
salt.

CLAM FRITTERS.

Take fifty small or twenty-five large sand clams from their
shells; if large, cut each in two, lay them on a thickly-folded
napkin; put a pint bowl of wheat flour into a basin, add to it
three well-beaten eggs, half a pint of sweet milk and nearly as
much of their own liquor; beat the batter until it is smooth and
perfectly free from lumps, then stir in the clams. Put plenty of
lard or beef fat into a thick-bottomed frying pan, let it become
boiling hot; put in the batter by the spoonful; let them fry
gently; when one side is a delicate brown turn the other.

CLAM CHOWDER.

The materials needed are fifty round clams (quahogs), a large
bowl of salt pork cut up fine, the same of onions finely chopped,
and the same (or more, if you desire) of potatoes cut into eighths
or sixteenths of original size; wash the clams very thoroughly and
put them in a pot with half a pint of water; when the shells are
open they are done; then take them from the shells and chop fine,
saving all the clam water for the chowder; fry out the pork very
gently, and when the scraps are a good brown take them out and put
in the chopped onions to fry; they should be fried in a frying pan,
and the chowder kettle be made very clean before they are put in
it, or the chowder will burn. (The chief secret in chowder-making
is to fry the onions so delicately that they will be missing in the
chowder.)

Add a quart of hot water to the onions; put in the clams,
clam-water and pork scraps. After it boils, add the potatoes, and
when they are cooked, the chowder is finished. Just before it is
taken up, thicken it with a cup of powdered crackers, and add a
quart of fresh milk. If too rich, add more water. No seasoning is
needed but good black pepper.

With the addition of six sliced tomatoes, or half a can of the
canned ones, this is the best recipe of this kind, and is served in
many of our best restaurants.

SCALLOPED CLAMS.

Purchase a dozen large soft clams in the shell and three dozen
opened clams. Ask the dealer to open the first dozen, care being
used not to injure the shells, which are to be used in cooking the
clams. Clean the shells well, and put two soft clams on each half
shell; add to each a dash of white pepper, and half a teaspoonful
of minced celery. Cut a slice of fat bacon into the smallest dice,
add four of these to each shell, strew over the top a thin layer of
cracker dust; place a piece of table butter on top, and bake in the
oven until brown. They are delightful when properly prepared.

SCALLOPS.

If bought in the shell boil them and take out the hearts, which
is the only part used. Dip them in beaten egg and fry in the same
manner as oysters.

Some prefer them stewed the same as oysters.

FROGS FRIED.

Frog are usually fried, and are considered a great delicacy.
Only the hind-legs and quarters are used. Clean them well, season,
and fry in egg batter, or dip in beaten egg and fine cracker
crumbs, the same as oysters.

FROGS STEWED.

Wash and skin the quarters, parboil them about three minutes,
drain them. Now put into a stewpan two ounces of butter. When it is
melted, lay in the frogs, and fry about two minutes, stirring them
to prevent burning; shake over them a tablespoonful of sifted flour
and stir it into them; add a sprig of parsley, a pinch of powdered
summer savory, a bay leaf, three slices of onion, salt and pepper,
a cup of hot water and one of cream. Boil gently until done; remove
the legs, strain and mix into the gravy the yolks of two eggs, well
beaten to a cream; put the legs in a suitable dish, pour over the
gravy and serve.

POULTRY AND GAME

In choosing poultry, select those that are fresh and fat, and
the surest way to determine whether they are young is to try the
skin under the leg or wing. If it is easily broken, it is young;
or, turn the wing backwards, if the joint yields readily, it is
tender. When poultry is young the skin is thin and tender, the legs
smooth, the feet moist and limber, and the eyes full and bright.
The body should be thick and the breast fat. Old turkeys have long
hairs, and the flesh is purplish where it shows under the skin on
the legs and back. About March they deteriorate in quality.

Young ducks and geese are plump, with light, semi-transparent
fat, soft breast bone, tender flesh, leg-joints which will break by
the weight of the bird, fresh-colored and brittle beaks, and
windpipes that break when pressed between the thumb and forefinger.
They are best in fall and winter.

Young pigeons have light red flesh upon the breast, and full,
fresh-colored legs; when the legs are thin and the breast very dark
the birds are old.

Fine game birds are always heavy for their size; the flesh of
the breast is firm and plump and the skin clear; and if a few
feathers be plucked from the inside of the leg and around the vent,
the flesh of freshly-killed birds will be fat and fresh-colored; if
it is dark and discolored, the game has been hung a long time. The
wings of good ducks, geese, pheasants and woodcock are tender to
the touch; the tips of the long wing feathers of partridges are
pointed in young birds and round in old ones. Quail, snipe and
small birds should have full, tender breasts. Poultry should never
be cooked until six or eight hours after it has been killed, but it
should be picked and drawn as soon as possible. Plunge it in a pot
of scalding hot water; then pluck off the feathers, taking care not
to tear the skin; when it is picked clean, roll up a piece of white
paper, set fire to it and singe off all the hairs. The [Pg 82]head,
neck and feet should be cut off, and the ends of the legs skewered
to the body, and a string tied tightly around the body. When
roasting a chicken or small fowl there is danger of the legs
browning or becoming too hard to be eaten. To avoid this, take
strips of cloth, dip them into a little melted lard, or even just
rub them over with lard, and wind them around the legs. Remove them
in time to allow the legs to brown delicately.

Fowls, and also various kinds of game, when bought at our city
markets, require a more thorough cleansing than those sold in
country places, where as a general thing the meat is wholly
dressed. In large cities they lay for some length of time with the
intestines undrawn, until the flavor of them diffuses itself all
through the meat, rendering it distasteful. In this case, it is
safe, after taking out the intestines, to rinse out in several
waters, and in next to the last water, add a teaspoonful of baking
soda, say to a quart of water. This process neutralizes all
sourness, and helps to destroy all unpleasant taste in the
meat.

Poultry may be baked so that its wings and legs are soft and
tender, by being placed in a deep roasting pan with close cover,
thereby retaining the aroma and essences by absorption while
confined. These pans are a recent innovation, and are made double
with a small opening in the top for giving vent to the accumulation
of steam and gases when required. Roast meats of any kind can also
be cooked in the same manner, and it is a great improvement on the
old plan.

ROAST TURKEY.

Select a young turkey; remove all the feathers carefully, singe
it over a burning newspaper on the top of the stove; then “draw” it
nicely, being very careful not to break any of the internal organs;
remove the crop carefully; cut off the head, and tie the neck close
to the body by drawing the skin over it. Now rinse the inside of
the turkey out with several waters, and in the next to the last,
mix a teaspoonful of baking soda; oftentimes the inside of a fowl
is very sour, especially if it is not freshly killed. Soda, being
cleansing, acts as a corrective, and destroys that unpleasant taste
which we frequently experience in the dressing when fowls have been
killed for some time. Now, after washing, wipe the turkey dry,
inside and out, with a clean cloth, rub the inside with some salt,
then stuff the breast and body [Pg
83]with “Dressing for
Fowls.” Then sew up the turkey with a strong thread, tie the legs
and wings to the body, rub it over with a little soft butter,
sprinkle over some salt and pepper, dredge with a little flour;
place it in a dripping-pan, pour in a cup of boiling water, and set
in the oven. Baste the turkey often, turning it around occasionally
so that every part will be uniformly baked. When pierced with a
fork and the liquid runs out perfectly clear, the bird is done. If
any part is likely to scorch, pin over it a piece of buttered white
paper. A fifteen pound turkey requires between three and four hours
to bake. Serve with cranberry sauce.

Gravy for Turkey.—When you put the turkey in to
roast, put the neck, heart, liver and gizzard into a stewpan with a
pint of water; boil until they become quite tender; take them out
of the water, chop the heart and gizzard, mash the liver and throw
away the neck; return the chopped heart, gizzard and liver to the
liquor in which they were stewed; set it to one side, and when the
turkey is done it should be added to the gravy that dripped from
the turkey, having first skimmed off the fat from the surface of
the dripping-pan; set it all over the fire, boil three minutes and
thicken with flour. It will not need brown flour to color the
gravy. The garnishes for turkey or chicken are fried oysters, thin
slices of ham, slices of lemon, fried sausages, or force meat
balls, also parsley.

DRESSING OR STUFFING FOR FOWLS.

For an eight or ten pound turkey, cut the brown crust from
slices or pieces of stale bread until you have as much as the
inside of a pound loaf; put it into a suitable dish and pour tepid
water (not warm, for that makes it heavy) over it; let it stand one
minute, as it soaks very quickly. Now take up a handful at a time
and squeeze it hard and dry with both hands, placing it, as you go
along, in another dish; this process makes it very light. When all
is pressed dry, toss it all up lightly through your fingers; now
add pepper, salt—about a teaspoonful—also a teaspoonful
of powdered summer savory, the same amount of sage, or the green
herb minced fine; add half a cup of melted butter, and a beaten
egg, or not. Work thoroughly all together, and it is ready for
dressing either fowls, fish or meats. A little chopped sausage in
turkey dressing is considered by some an improvement, when well
incorporated with the other ingredients. [Pg
84]For geese and ducks
the stuffing may be made the same as for turkey, with the addition
of a few slices of onion chopped fine.

OYSTER DRESSING OR STUFFING.

This is made with the same ingredients as the above, with the
exception of half a can of oysters drained and slightly chopped and
added to the rest. This is used mostly with boiled turkey and
chicken, and the remainder of the can of oysters used to make an
oyster sauce to be poured over the turkey when served; served
generally in a separate dish, to be dipped out as a person
desires.

These recipes were obtained from an old colored cook, who was
famous for his fine dressing for fowls, fish and meats, and his
advice was, always soak stale bread in cold liquid,
either milk or water, when used for stuffings or for
puddings, as they were much lighter. Hot liquid makes them
heavy.

BOILED TURKEY.

Prepare as you would for baking or roasting; fill with an oyster
stuffing, made as the above. Tie the legs and wings close to the
body, place in salted boiling water with the breast downward; skim
it often and boil about two hours, but not till the skin breaks.
Serve with oyster or celery sauce. Boil a nicely pickled piece of
salt pork, and serve at table a thin slice to each plate. Some
prefer bacon or ham instead of pork.

Some roll the turkey in a cloth dipped in flour. If the liquor
is to be used afterwards for soup, the cloth imparts an unpleasant
flavor. The liquor can be saved and made into a nice soup for the
next day’s dinner, by adding the same seasoning as for chicken
soup.

TURKEY SCALLOP.

Pick the meat from the bones of cold turkey and chop it fine.
Put a layer of bread crumbs on the bottom of a buttered dish,
moisten them with a little milk, then put in a layer of turkey with
some of the filling, and cut small pieces of butter over the top;
sprinkle with pepper and salt; then another layer of bread crumbs,
and so on until the dish is nearly full; add a little hot water to
the gravy left from the turkey and pour over it; then take two
eggs, two tablespoonfuls of milk, one of melted butter, a little
salt and cracker [Pg 85]crumbs as much as will make it thick
enough to spread on with a knife; put bits of butter over it, and
cover with a plate. Bake three-quarters of an hour. Ten minutes
before serving, remove the plate and let it brown.

TURKEY HASHED.

Cut the remnants of turkey from a previous dinner into pieces of
equal size. Boil the bones in a quart of water, until the quart is
reduced to a pint; then take out the bones, and to the liquor in
which they were boiled add turkey gravy, if you have any, or white
stock, or a small piece of butter with salt and pepper; let the
liquor thus prepared boil up once; then put in the pieces of
turkey, dredge in a little flour, give it one boil-up, and serve in
a hot dish.

TURKEY WARMED OVER.

Pieces of cold turkey or chicken may be warmed up with a little
butter in a frying pan; place it on a warm platter, surround it
with pieces of small thick slices of bread or biscuit halved, first
dipping them in hot salted water; then place the platter in a warm
oven with the door open. Have already made the following gravy to
pour over all:—

Into the frying pan put a large spoonful of butter, one or two
cupfuls of milk, and any gravy that may be left over. Bring it to a
boil; then add sufficient flour, wet in a little cold milk or
water, to make it the consistency of cream. Season with salt,
pepper and add a little of the dark meat chopped very fine.
Let the sauce cook a few moments, then pour over the biscuit and
fowl. This will be found a really nice dish.

BONED TURKEY.

Clean the fowl as usual. With a sharp and pointed knife, begin
at the extremity of the wing, and pass the knife down close to the
bone, cutting all the flesh from the bone, and preserving the skin
whole; run the knife down each side of the breast bone and up the
legs, keeping close to the bone; then split the back half way up,
and draw out the bones; fill the places whence the bones were taken
with a stuffing, restoring the fowl to its natural form, and sew up
all the incisions made in the skin. Lard with two or three rows of
slips of fat bacon on the top, basting often with salt and water,
and a little butter. Some like a glass of port wine in the
gravy.

This is a difficult dish to attempt by any but skillful hands.
Carve across in slices, and serve with tomato sauce.

ROAST GOOSE.

The goose should not be more than eight months old, and the
fatter the more tender and juicy the meat. Stuff with the following
mixture: Three pints of bread crumbs, six ounces of butter, or part
butter and part salt pork, one teaspoonful each of sage, black
pepper and salt, one chopped onion. Do not stuff very full, and
stitch openings firmly together to keep flavor in and fat out.
Place in a baking pan with a little water, and baste frequently
with salt and water (some add vinegar); turn often so that the
sides and back may be nicely browned. Bake two hours or more; when
done take from the pan, pour off the fat, and to the brown gravy
left add the chopped giblets which have previously been stewed
until tender, together with the water they were boiled in; thicken
with a little flour and butter rubbed together, bring to a boil and
serve, English style.

ROAST CHICKEN.

Pick and draw them, wash out well in two or three waters, adding
a little soda to the last but one to sweeten it, if there is doubt
as to its being fresh. Dry it well with a clean cloth, and fill the
crop and body with a stuffing the same as “Dressing for Fowls.” Lay
it in a dripping-pan; put a pint of hot water and a piece of butter
in the dripping-pan, add to it a small tablespoonful of salt, and a
small teaspoonful of pepper; baste frequently, and let it roast
quickly, without scorching; when nearly done, put a piece of butter
the size of a large egg to the water in the pan; when it melts,
baste with it, dredge a little flour over, baste again, and let it
finish; half an hour will roast a full grown chicken, if the fire
is right. When done, take it up.

Having stewed the necks, gizzards, livers and hearts in a very
little water, strain it and mix it hot with the gravy that has
dripped from the fowls, and which must be first skimmed. Thicken it
with a little browned flour, add to it the livers, hearts and
gizzards chopped small. Or, put the giblets in the pan with the
chicken and let them roast. Send the fowls to the table with the
gravy in a boat. Cranberry sauce should accompany them, or any tart
sauce.

BOILED CHICKEN.

Clean, wash and stuff, as for roasting. Baste a floured cloth
around each and put into a pot with enough boiling water to cover
them well. The hot water cooks the skin at once and prevents the
escape of the juice. The broth will not be so rich as if the fowls
are put on in cold water, but this is a proof that the meat will be
more nutritious and better flavored. Stew very slowly, for the
first half hour especially. Boil an hour or more, guiding yourself
by size and toughness. Serve with egg, bread or oyster sauce. (See
SAUCES.)

STEAMED CHICKEN.

Rub the chicken on the inside with pepper and half a teaspoonful
of salt; place in a steamer in a kettle that will keep it as near
the water as possible, cover and steam an hour and a half; when
done, keep hot while dressing is prepared, then cut up, arrange on
the platter, and serve with the dressing over it.

The dressing is made as follows: Boil one pint of gravy from the
kettle without the fat, add cayenne pepper and half a teaspoonful
of salt; stir a tablespoonful of flour into a quarter of a pint of
cream until smooth and add to the gravy. Cornstarch may be used
instead of the flour, and some cooks add nutmeg or celery salt.

FRICASSEE CHICKEN.

Cut up two young chickens, put them in a stewpan with just
enough cold water to cover them. Cover closely and let them heat
very slowly; then stew them over an hour, or until tender. If they
are old chickens they will require long, slow boiling, often from
three to four hours. When tender, season with salt and pepper, a
piece of butter as large as an egg, and a little celery, if liked.
Stir up two tablespoonfuls of flour in a little water or milk and
add to the stew, also two well-beaten yolks of eggs; let all boil
up one minute; arrange the chicken on a warm platter, pour some of
the gravy over it and send the rest to the table in a boat. The egg
should be added to a little of the cooled gravy before putting with
the hot gravy.

STEWED WHOLE SPRING CHICKEN.

Dress a full-grown spring chicken the same as for roasting,
seasoning it with salt and pepper inside and out; then fill the
body with [Pg 88]oysters; place it in a tin pail with a close-fitting
cover. Set the pail in a pot of fast-boiling water and cook until
the chicken is tender. Dish up the chicken on a warm dish, then
pour the gravy into a saucepan, put into it a tablespoonful of
butter, half a cupful of cream or rich milk, three hard-boiled eggs
chopped fine, some minced herbs and a tablespoonful of flour. Let
all boil up and then pour it over the chicken. Serve hot.

PICKLED CHICKEN.

Boil four chickens till tender enough for meat to fall from
bones; put meat in a stone jar and pour over it three pints of
cold, good cider vinegar and a pint and a half of the water in
which the chickens were boiled; add spices if preferred, and it
will be ready for use in two days. This is a popular Sunday evening
dish; it is good for luncheon at any time.

RISSOLES OF CHICKEN.

Mince up finely the remains of a cold chicken together with half
the quantity of lean, cold ham. Mix them well, adding enough white
sauce to moisten them. Now have light paste rolled out until about
a quarter of an inch or a little more in thickness. Cut the paste
into pieces, one inch by two in size, and lay a little of the
mixture upon the centres of half of the pieces and cover them with
the other halves, pressing the edges neatly together and forming
them into little rolls. Have your frying pan ready with plenty of
boiling hot lard, or other frying medium, and fry until they become
a golden-brown color. A minute or two will be sufficient for this.
Then drain them well and serve immediately on a napkin.

CHICKEN PATTIES.

Mince up fine cold chicken, either roasted or boiled. Season it
with pepper and salt, and a little minced parsley and onion.
Moisten it with chicken gravy or cream sauce, fill scalloped shells
that are lined with pastry with the mixture, and sprinkle bread
crumbs over the tops. Put two or three tiny pieces of butter over
each, and bake brown in a hot oven.

TO BROIL CHICKEN.

After dressing and washing the chickens as previously directed,
split them open through the backbone; frog them by cutting the
cords under the wings and laying the wings out flat; cut the sinews
under the second joint of the leg and turn the leg down; press down
the breast-bone without breaking it.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper, lay it upon the
gridiron with the inside first to the fire; put the gridiron over a
slow fire, and place a tin sheet and weight upon the chicken, to
keep it flat; let it broil ten minutes, then turn and proceed in
the same manner with the other side.

The chicken should be perfectly cooked, but not scorched. A
broiled chicken brought to the table with its wings and legs burnt,
and its breast half cooked, is very disagreeable. To avoid this,
the chicken must be closely watched while broiling, and the fire
must be arranged so that the heat shall be equally dispensed. When
the fire is too hot under any one part of the chicken, put a little
ashes on the fire under that part, that the heat may be
reduced.

Dish a broiled chicken on a hot plate, putting a large lump of
butter and a tablespoonful of hot water upon the plate, and turning
the chicken two or three times that it may absorb as much of the
butter as possible. Garnish with parsley. Serve with poached eggs
on a separate dish. It takes from thirty to forty minutes to broil
a chicken well.

CHICKEN PIE.

Prepare the chicken as for fricassee. When the chicken is stewed
tender, seasoned, and the gravy thickened, take it from the fire;
take out the largest bones, scrape the meat from the neck and
backbone, throw the bones away; line the sides of a four or six
quart pudding-dish with a rich baking powder or soda biscuit dough,
a quarter of an inch thick; put in part of the chicken, a few lumps
of butter, pepper and salt, if needed, some cold boiled eggs cut in
slices. Add the rest of the chicken and season as before; a few new
potatoes in their season might be added. Pour over the gravy, being
sure to have enough to fill the dish, and cover with a crust a
quarter of an inch thick, made with a hole in the centre the size
of a teacup.

Brush over the top with beaten white of egg and bake for half to
three-quarters of an hour. Garnish the top with small bright celery
leaves, neatly arranged in a circle.

FRIED CHICKEN.

Wash and cut up a young chicken, wipe it dry, season with salt
and pepper, dredge it with flour, or dip each piece in beaten egg
and then in cracker crumbs. Have in a frying pan one ounce each of
butter and sweet lard made boiling hot. Lay in the chicken and fry
brown on both sides. Take up, drain it and set aside in a covered
dish. Stir into the gravy left, if not too much, a large
tablespoonful of flour, make it smooth, add a cup of cream or milk,
season with salt and pepper, boil up and pour over the chicken.
Some like chopped parsley added to the gravy. Serve hot.

If the chicken is old, put into a stewpan with a little water
and simmer gently till tender; season with salt and pepper, dip in
flour or cracker crumb and egg, and fry as above. Use the broth the
chicken was cooked in to make the gravy, instead of the cream or
milk, or use an equal quantity of both.

FRIED CHICKEN Á LA ITALIENNE.

Make common batter; mix into it a cupful of chopped tomatoes,
one onion chopped, some minced parsley, salt and pepper. Cut up
young, tender chickens, dry them well and dip each piece in the
batter; then fry brown in plenty of butter in a thick-bottomed
frying pan. Serve with tomato sauce.

CHICKEN CROQUETTES. No. 1.

Put a cup of cream or milk in a saucepan, set it over the fire,
and when it boils add a lump of butter as large as an egg, in which
has been mixed a tablespoonful of flour. Let it boil up thick;
remove from the fire, and when cool mix into it a teaspoonful of
salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, a bit of minced onion or
parsley, one cup of fine bread crumbs, and a pint of finely-chopped
cooked chicken, either roasted or boiled. Lastly, beat up two eggs
and work in with the whole. Flour your hands and make into small,
round, flat cakes; dip in egg and bread crumbs and fry like fish
cakes in butter and good sweet lard mixed, or like fried cakes in
plenty of hot lard. Take them up with a skimmer and lay them on
brown paper to free them from the grease. Serve hot.

CHICKEN CROQUETTES. No. 2.

Take any kind of fresh meat or fowl, chop very fine, add an
equal quantity of smoothly mashed potatoes, mix, and season with
butter, salt, black pepper, a little prepared mustard, and a little
cayenne pepper; make into cakes, dip in egg and bread crumbs and
fry a light brown. A nice relish for tea.

TO FRY CROQUETTES.

Beat up two eggs in a deep bowl; roll enough crackers until you
have a cupful of crumbs, or the same of fine stale bread crumbs;
spread the crumbs on a large plate or pie-tin. Have over the fire a
kettle containing two or three inches of boiling lard. As fast as
the croquettes are formed, roll them in the crumbs, then dip them
in the beaten egg, then again roll them in crumbs; drop them in the
smoking hot fat and fry them a light golden brown.

PRESSED CHICKEN.

Clean and cut up your chickens. Stew in just enough water to
cover them. When nearly cooked, season them well with salt and
pepper. Let them stew down until the water is nearly all boiled
out, and the meat drops easily from the bones. Remove the bones and
gristle; chop the meat rather coarsely, then turn it back into the
stew-kettle, where the broth was left (after skimming off all fat),
and let it heat through again. Turn it into a square bread pan,
placing a platter on the top, and a heavy weight on the platter.
This, if properly prepared, will turn out like a mold of jelly and
may be sliced in smooth, even slices. The success of this depends
upon not having too much water; it will not jelly if too weak, or
if the water is allowed to boil away entirely while cooking. A good
way to cook old fowls.

CHICKEN LUNCH FOR TRAVELING.

Cut a young chicken down the back; wash and wipe dry; season
with salt and pepper; put in a dripping-pan and bake in a moderate
oven three-quarters of an hour. This is much better for traveling
lunch than when seasoned with butter.

All kinds of poultry and meat can be cooked quicker by adding to
the water in which they are boiled a little vinegar or a piece of
lemon. By the use of a little acid there will be a considerable
saving of fuel, [Pg 92]as well as shortening of time. Its
action is beneficial on old tough meats, rendering them quite
tender and easy of digestion. Tainted meats and fowls will lose
their bad taste and odor if cooked in this way, and if not used too
freely no taste of it will be acquired.

POTTED CHICKEN.

Strip the meat from the bones of a cold roast fowl; to every
pound of meat allow a quarter of a pound of butter, salt and
cayenne pepper to taste; one teaspoonful of pounded mace, half a
small nutmeg. Cut the meat into small pieces, pound it well with
the butter, sprinkle in the spices gradually and keep pounding
until reduced to a perfectly smooth paste. Pack it into small jars
and cover with clarified butter, about a quarter of an inch in
thickness. Two or three slices of ham minced and pounded with the
above will be an improvement. Keep in a dry place. A luncheon or
breakfast dish.

Old fowls can be made very tender by putting into them, while
boiling, a piece of soda as large as a bean.

SCALLOPED CHICKEN.

Divide a fowl into joints and boil till the meat leaves the bone
readily. Take out the bones and chop the meat as small as dice.
Thicken the water in which the fowl was boiled with flour and
season to taste with butter and salt. Fill a deep dish with
alternate layers of bread crumbs and chicken and slices of cooked
potatoes, having crumbs on top. Pour the gravy over the top and add
a few bits of butter and bake till nicely browned. There should be
gravy enough to moisten the dish. Serve with a garnish of parsley.
Tiny new potatoes are nice in place of sliced ones when in
season.

BREADED CHICKEN.

Prepare young chickens as for fricassee by cutting them into
pieces. Dip each piece in beaten egg, then in grated bread crumbs
or rolled cracker; season them with pepper and salt and a little
minced parsley. Place them in a baking pan and put on the top of
each piece a lump of butter, add half of a cupful of hot water;
bake slowly, basting often. When sufficiently cooked take up on a
warm platter. Into the pan pour a cup of cream or rich milk, a
cupful of bread crumbs. Stir it well until cooked, then pour it
over the chicken. Serve while hot.

BROILED CHICKEN ON TOAST.

Broil the usual way and when thoroughly done take it up in a
square tin or dripping-pan, butter it well, season with pepper and
salt and set it in the oven for a few minutes. Lay slices of
moistened buttered toast on a platter; take the chicken up over it,
add to the gravy in the pan part of a cupful of cream, if you have
it; if not, use milk. Thicken with a little flour and pour over the
chicken.

This is considered most excellent.

CURRY CHICKEN.

Cut up a chicken weighing from a pound and a half to two pounds,
as for fricassee, wash it well, and put it into a stewpan with
sufficient water to cover it; boil it, closely covered, until
tender; add a large teaspoonful of salt, and cook a few minutes
longer; then remove from the fire, take out the chicken, pour the
liquor into a bowl, and set it one side. Now cut up into the
stewpan two small onions, and fry them with a piece of butter as
large as an egg; as soon as the onions are brown, skim them out and
put in the chicken; fry for three or four minutes; next sprinkle
over two teaspoonfuls of Curry Powder. Now pour over the liquor in
which the chicken was stewed, stir all well together, and stew for
five minutes longer, then stir into this a tablespoonful of sifted
flour made thin with a little water; lastly, stir in a beaten yolk
of egg, and it is done.

Serve with hot boiled rice laid around on the edge of a platter,
and the chicken curry in the centre.

This makes a handsome side dish, and a fine relish accompanying
a full dinner of roast beef or any roast.

All first-class grocers and druggists keep this “India Curry
Powder,” put up in bottles. Beef, veal, mutton, duck, pigeons,
partridges, rabbits or fresh fish may be substituted for the
chicken, if preferred, and sent to the table with or without a dish
of rice.

To Boil Rice or Curry.—Pick over the rice, a
cupful. Wash it thoroughly in two or three cold waters; then leave
it about twenty minutes in cold water. Put into a stewpan two
quarts of water with a teaspoonful of salt in it; and when it
boils, sprinkle in the rice. Boil it briskly for twenty minutes,
keeping the pan covered. Take it from the fire, and drain off the
water. Afterwards set the saucepan [Pg
94]on the back of the
stove, with the lid off, to allow the rice to dry and the grains to
separate.

Rice, if properly boiled, should be soft and white, and every
grain stand alone. Serve it hot in a separate dish or served as
above, laid around the chicken curry.

CHICKEN POT-PIE. No. 1.

Cut and joint a large chicken, cover with cold water, and let it
boil gently until tender. Season with salt and pepper, and thicken
the gravy with two tablespoonfuls of flour, mixed smooth with a
piece of butter the size of an egg. Have ready nice light
bread-dough, cut with the top of a wine-glass about a half an inch
thick; let them stand half an hour and rise, then drop these into
the boiling gravy. Put the cover on the pot closely, wrap a cloth
around it, in order that no steam shall escape; and by no means
allow the pot to cease boiling. Boil three-quarters of an hour.

CHICKEN POT-PIE. No. 2.

This style of pot-pie was made more in our grandmother’s day
than now, as most cooks consider that cooking crust so long
destroys its spongy lightness, and renders it too hard and dry.

Take a pair of fine fowls, cut them up, wash the pieces, and
season with pepper only. Make a light biscuit dough, and plenty of
it, as it is always much liked by the eaters of pot-pie. Roll out
the dough not very thin, and cut most of it into long squares.
Butter the sides of a pot, and line them with dough nearly to the
top. Lay slices of cold ham at the bottom of the pot, and then the
pieces of fowl, interspersed all through with squares of dough and
potatoes, pared and quartered. Pour in a quart of water. Cover the
whole with a lid of dough, having a slit in the centre, through
which the gravy will bubble up. Boil it steadily for two hours.
Half an hour before you take it up, put in through the hole in the
centre of the crust some bits of butter rolled in flour, to thicken
the gravy. When done, put the pie on a large dish, and pour the
gravy over it.

You may intersperse it all through with cold ham.

A pot-pie may be made of ducks, rabbits, squirrels or venison.
Also of beefsteak. A beefsteak, or some porksteaks (the lean only),
greatly improve a chicken pot-pie. If you use no ham, season with
salt.

CHICKEN STEWED WITH BISCUIT.

Take chickens, and make a fricassee; just before you are ready
to dish it up, have ready two baking-tins of rich soda or
baking-powder biscuits; take them from the oven hot, split them
apart by breaking them with your hands, lay them on a large meat
platter, covering it, then pour the hot chicken stew over all. Send
to the table hot. This is a much better way than boiling this kind
of biscuit in the stew, as you are more sure of its being always
light.

CHICKEN DRESSED AS TERRAPIN.

Select young chickens, clean and cut them into pieces; put them
into a stewpan with just enough water to cook them. When
tender stir into it half of a cup of butter and one beaten egg.
Season it with salt and pepper, a teaspoonful of powdered thyme;
add two hard-boiled eggs coarsely minced and a small glass of wine.
Boil up once and serve with jelly.

CHICKEN ROLY-POLY.

One quart of flour, two teaspoonfuls of cream tartar mixed with
the flour, one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a teacupful of
milk; a teaspoonful of salt; do not use shortening of any kind, but
roll out the mixture half an inch thick, and on it lay minced
chicken, veal or mutton. The meat must be seasoned with pepper and
salt and be free from gristle. Roll the crust over and over, and
put it on a buttered plate and place in a steamer for half an hour.
Serve for breakfast or lunch, giving a slice to each person with
gravy served with it.

CHICKEN TURNOVERS.

Chop cold roast chicken very fine. Put it into a saucepan, place
it over the fire, moisten it with a little water and gravy, or a
piece of butter. Season with salt and pepper; add a small
tablespoonful of sifted flour dissolved in a little water; heat all
through and remove from the fire to become cool. When cooled roll
out some plain pie-crust quite thin, cut out in rounds as large as
a saucer; wet the edge with cold water and put a large spoonful of
the minced meat on one-half of the round; fold the other half over
and pinch the edges well together, then fry them in hot drippings
or fat a nice brown. They may also be cooked in a moderate
oven.

CHICKEN PUDDING.

Cut up two young chickens into good-sized pieces; put them in a
saucepan with just enough water to cover them well. When boiled
quite tender, season with salt and pepper; let them simmer ten or
fifteen minutes longer; then take the chicken from the broth and
remove all the large bones. Place the meat in a well-buttered
pudding dish, season again, if necessary, adding a few bits of
butter. Pour over this the following batter:—

Eight eggs beaten light and mixed with one quart of milk, three
tablespoonfuls of melted butter, a teaspoonful of salt and two
large teaspoonfuls of baking powder, added to enough sifted flour
to make a batter like griddle-cakes.

Bake one hour in a moderate oven.

Make a gravy of the broth that remained from the cooking of the
chicken, adding a tablespoonful of flour stirred into a third of a
cup of melted butter; let it boil up, putting in more water if
necessary. Serve hot in a gravy boat with the pudding.

CHICKEN AND MACARONI.

Boil a chicken until very tender, take out all the bones, and
pick up the meat quite fine. Boil half a pound of macaroni until
tender, first breaking it up to pieces an inch long. Butter a deep
pudding dish, put on the bottom a layer of the cooked macaroni,
then a layer of the minced chicken, bits of butter, pepper and
salt, then some of the chicken liquor, over this put another layer
of macaroni, and so on, until, the dish is filled. Pour a cup of
cream over the whole, and bake half an hour. Serve on a
platter.

ROAST DUCK. (Tame.)

Pick, draw, clean thoroughly, and wipe dry. Cut the neck close
to the back, beat the breast-bone flat with a rolling pin, tie the
wings and legs securely, and stuff with the following:—

Three pints bread crumbs, six ounces butter, or part butter and
salt pork, two chopped onions and one teaspoonful each of sage,
black pepper and salt. Do not stuff very full, and sew up the
openings firmly to keep the flavor in and the fat out. If not fat
enough, it should be larded with salt pork, or tie a slice upon the
breast. Place in a baking pan, with a little water, and baste
frequently with salt and [Pg
97]water—some add
onion, and some vinegar; turn often, so that the sides and back may
all be nicely browned. When nearly done, baste with butter and a
little flour. These directions will apply to tame geese as well as
ducks. Young ducks should roast from twenty-five to thirty minutes,
and full-grown ones for an hour or more, with frequent basting.
Some prefer them underdone and served very hot; but, as a rule,
thorough cooking will prove more palatable. Make a gravy out of the
necks and gizzards by putting them in a quart of cold water, that
must be reduced to a pint by boiling. The giblets, when done, may
be chopped fine and added to the juice. The preferred seasonings
are one tablespoonful of Madeira or sherry, a blade of mace, one
small onion, and a little cayenne pepper; strain through a hair
sieve; pour a little over the ducks and serve the remainder in a
boat. Served with jellies or any tart sauce.

BRAISED DUCK.

Prepare a pair of fine young ducks, the same as for roasting,
place them in a stewpan together with two or three slices of bacon,
a carrot, an onion stuck with two cloves, and a little thyme and
parsley. Season with pepper, and cover the whole with a broth,
adding to the broth a gill of white wine. Place the pan over a
gentle fire and allow the ducks to simmer until done, basting them
frequently. When done remove them from the pan, and place them
where they will keep hot. A turnip should then be cut up and fried
in some butter. When nicely browned, drain the pieces and cook them
until tender in the liquor in which the ducks were braised. Now
strain and thicken the gravy, and after dishing up the ducks, pour
it over them, garnishing with the pieces of turnip.

STEWED DUCK.

Prepare them by cutting them up the same as chicken for
fricassee. Lay two or three very thin slices of salt pork upon the
bottom of a stewpan; lay the pieces of duck upon the pork. Let them
stew slowly for an hour, closely covered. Then season with salt and
pepper, half a teaspoonful of powdered sage, or some green sage
minced fine; one chopped onion. Stew another half hour until the
duck is tender. Stir up a large tablespoonful of brown flour in a
little water and add it to the stew. Let it boil up, and serve all
together in one dish, accompanied with green peas.

DUCK PIE.

Cut all the meat from cold roast ducks; put the bones and
stuffing into cold water; cover them and let boil; put the meat
into a deep dish; pour on enough of the stock made from the bones
to moisten; cover with pastry slit in the centre with a knife, and
bake a light brown.

WARMED UP DUCK.

A nice dish for breakfast, and very relishing, can be made from
the remains of a roast of duck. Cut the meat from the bones, pick
out all the little tidbits in the recesses, lay them in a frying
pan, and cover with water and the cold gravy left from the roast;
add a piece of butter; let all boil up once and if not quite thick
enough, stir in a little dissolved flour. Serve hot.

ROAST WILD DUCK.

Wild duck should not be dressed too soon after being killed. If
the weather is cold it will be better for being kept several days.
Bake in a hot oven, letting it remain for five or ten minutes
without basting to keep in the gravy, then baste frequently with
butter and water. If over-done it loses flavor, thirty to forty
minutes in the right kind of an oven being sufficient. Serve on a
very hot dish, and send to table as hot as possible with a cut
lemon and the following sauce:—

Put in a tiny saucepan a tablespoonful each of Worcestershire
sauce and mushroom catsup, a little salt and cayenne pepper and the
juice of half a lemon. Mix well, make it hot, remove from the fire
and stir in a teaspoonful of made mustard. Pour into a hot gravy
boat.

WILD DUCKS.

Most wild ducks are apt to have the flavor of fish, and when in
the hands of inexperienced cooks are sometimes unpalatable on this
account. Before roasting them, parboil them with a small peeled
carrot put within each duck. This absorbs the unpleasant taste. An
onion will have the same effect, but unless you use onions in the
stuffing the carrot is preferable. Roast the same as tame duck. Or
put into the duck a whole onion peeled, plenty of salt and pepper
and a glass of claret, bake in a hot oven twenty minutes. Serve hot
with the gravy it yields in cooking and a dish of currant
jelly.

CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

The epicurean taste declares that this special kind of bird
requires no spices or flavors to make it perfect, as the meat
partakes of the flavor of the food that the bird feeds upon, being
mostly wild celery; and the delicious flavor is best preserved when
roasted quickly with a hot fire. After dressing the duck in the
usual way by plucking, singeing, drawing, wipe it with a wet towel,
truss the head under the wing; place it in a dripping-pan, put it
in the oven, basting often, and roast it half an hour. It is
generally preferred a little underdone. Place it when done on a hot
dish, season well with salt and pepper, pour over it the gravy it
has yielded in baking and serve it immediately while hot.

ROAST PIGEONS.

Pigeons lose their flavor by being kept more than a day after
they are killed. They may be prepared and roasted or broiled the
same as chickens; they will require from twenty to thirty minutes’
cooking. Make a gravy of the giblets or not, season it with pepper
and salt, and add a little flour and butter.

STEWED PIGEONS.

Clean and stuff with onion dressing, thyme, etc.,—do not
sew up; take five or more slices of corned pork, let it fry a while
in a pot so that the fat comes out and it begins to brown a little;
then lay the pigeons all around in the fat, leaving the pork still
in; add hot water enough to partially cover them; cover tightly and
boil an hour or so until tender; then turn off some of the liquid,
and keep turning them so they will brown nicely; then heat and add
the liquor poured off; add extra thyme, pepper, and keep turning
until the pigeons and gravy are nicely browned. Thicken with a
little flour, and serve with the gravy poured over them; garnish
with parsley.

PIGEON PIE.

Take half a dozen pigeons; stuff each one with a dressing the
same as for turkey; loosen the joints with a knife, but do not
separate them. Put them in a stewpan with water enough to cover
them, let them cook until nearly tender, then season them with salt
and pepper and butter. Thicken the gravy with flour, remove and
cool. Butter a [Pg 100]pudding dish, line the sides with a
rich crust. Have ready some hard-boiled eggs cut in slices. Put in
a layer of egg and birds and gravy until the dish is full. Cover
with a crust and bake.

BROILED PIGEONS OR SQUABS.

Split them down the back and broil the same as chicken;
seasoning well with salt, pepper and plenty of butter. Broil slices
of salt pork, very thin; place a slice over each bird and
serve.

SQUAB POT-PIE.

Cut into dice three ounces of salt pork; divide six wild squabs
into pieces at the joints; remove the skin. Cut up four potatoes
into small squares, and prepare a dozen small dough balls.

Put into a yellow, deep baking dish the pork, potatoes and
squabs, and then the balls of dough, season with salt, white
pepper, a dash of mace or nutmeg; add hot water enough to cover the
ingredients, cover with a “short” pie-crust and bake in a moderate
oven three-quarters of an hour.

WOODCOCK, ROASTED.

Skin the head and neck of the bird, pluck the feathers, and
truss it by bringing the beak of the bird under the wing, and
fastening the pinion to the thigh; twist the legs at the knuckles
and press the feet upon the thigh. Put a piece of bread under each
bird to catch the drippings, baste with butter, dredge with flour,
and roast fifteen or twenty minutes with a sharp fire. When done,
cut the bread in diamond shape, each piece large enough to stand
one bird upon, place them aslant on your dish, and serve with gravy
enough to moisten the bread; serve some in the dish and some in the
tureen; garnish with slices of lemon. Roast from twenty to
twenty-five minutes.

SNIPE.

Snipe are similar to woodcock, and may be served in the same
manner; they will require less time to roast.

REED BIRDS.

Pick and draw them very carefully, salt and dredge with flour,
and roast with a quick fire ten or fifteen minutes. Serve on toast
with [Pg 101]butter and pepper. You can put in each one an oyster
dipped in butter and then in bread crumbs before roasting. They are
also very nice broiled.

ROAST QUAIL.

Rinse well and steam over boiling water until tender, then
dredge with flour, and smother in butter; season with salt and
pepper and roast inside the stove; thicken the gravy; serve with
green grape jelly, and garnish with parsley.

TO ROAST PARTRIDGES, PHEASANTS, QUAIL OR GROUSE.

Carefully cut out all the shot, wash thoroughly but quickly,
using soda in the water; rinse again, and dry with a clean cloth.
Stuff them and sew them up. Skewer the legs and wings to the body,
larder the breast with very thin slices of fat salt pork, place
them in the oven, and baste with butter and water before taking up,
having seasoned them with salt and pepper; or you can leave out the
pork and use only butter, or cook them without stuffing. Make a
gravy of the drippings thickened with browned flour. Boil up and
serve in a boat.

These are all very fine broiled, first splitting down the back,
placing on the gridiron the inside down, cover with a baking tin,
and broil slowly at first. Serve with cream gravy.

GAME PIE.

Clean well, inside and out, a dozen small birds, quail, snipe,
woodcock, etc., and split them in half; put them in a saucepan with
about two quarts of water; when it boils, skim off all scum that
rises; then add salt and pepper, a bunch of minced parsley, one
onion chopped fine, and three whole cloves. Cut up half a pound of
salt pork into dice, and let all boil until tender, using care that
there be enough water to cover the birds. Thicken this with two
tablespoonfuls of browned flour and let it boil up. Stir in a piece
of butter as large as an egg; remove from the fire and let it cool.
Have ready a pint of potatoes cut as small as dice, and a rich
crust made. Line the sides of a buttered pudding dish with the
crust; lay in the birds, then some of the potatoes, then birds and
so on, until the dish is full. Pour over the gravy, put on the top
crust, with a slit cut in the centre, and bake. The top can be
ornamented with pastry leaves in a wreath about the edge, with any
fancy design placed in the centre across the slit.

SNOWBIRDS.

One dozen thoroughly cleaned birds; stuff each with an oyster,
put them into a yellow dish, and add two ounces of boiled salt pork
and three raw potatoes cut into slices; add a pint of oyster
liquor, an ounce of butter; salt and pepper; cover the dish with a
crust and bake in moderate oven.

SQUIRREL.

They are cooked similar to rabbits, are excellent when broiled
or made into a stew, and, in fact, are very good in all the
different styles of cooking similar to rabbit.

There are many species common to this country; among them the
black, red, gray and fox. Gophers and chipmunks may also be classed
as another but smaller variety.

ROAST HARE OR RABBIT.

A very close relationship exists between the hare and the
rabbit, the chief difference being in the smaller size and shorter
legs and ears of the latter. The manner of dressing and preparing
each for the table is, therefore, pretty nearly the same. To
prepare them for roasting, first skin, wash well in cold water and
rinse thoroughly in lukewarm water. If a little musty from being
emptied before they were hung up, and afterward neglected, rub the
insides with vinegar and afterward remove all taint of the acid by
a thorough washing in lukewarm water. After being well wiped with a
soft cloth put in a dressing as usual, sew the animal up, truss it,
and roast for half or three-quarters of an hour, until well
browned, basting it constantly with butter and dredging with flour,
just before taking up.

To make a gravy, after the rabbits are roasted, pour nearly all
the fat out of the pan, but do not pour the bottom or brown part of
the drippings; put the pan over the fire, stir into it a heaping
tablespoonful of flour, and stir until the flour browns. Then stir
in a pint of boiling water. Season the gravy with salt and pepper;
let it boil for a moment. Send hot to the table in a tureen with
the hot rabbits. Serve with currant jelly.

FRICASSEE RABBIT.

Clean two young rabbits, cut into joints, and soak in salt and
water half an hour. Put into a saucepan with a pint of cold water,
a [Pg 103]bunch of sweet herbs, an onion finely minced, a
pinch of mace, half a nutmeg, a pinch of pepper and half a pound of
salt pork cut in small thin slices. Cover and stew until tender.
Take out the rabbits and set in a dish where they will keep warm.
Add to the gravy a cup of cream (or milk), two well-beaten eggs,
stirred in a little at a time, a tablespoonful of butter, and a
thickening made of a tablespoonful of flour and a little milk. Boil
up once; remove the saucepan from the fire, squeeze in the juice of
a lemon, stirring all the while, and pour over the rabbits. Do not
cook the head or neck.

FRIED RABBIT.

After the rabbit has been thoroughly cleaned and washed, put it
into boiling water, and let it boil ten minutes; drain it, and when
cold, cut it into joints, dip into beaten egg, and then in fine
bread crumbs; season with salt and pepper. When all are ready, fry
them in butter and sweet lard, mix over a moderate fire until brown
on both sides. Take them out, thicken the gravy with a spoonful of
flour, turn in a cup of milk or cream; let all boil up, and turn
over the rabbits. Serve hot with onion sauce. (See SAUCES.) Garnish
with sliced lemon.

RABBIT PIE.

This pie can be made the same as “Game Pie” excepting you
scatter through it four hard-boiled eggs cut in slices. Cover with
puff paste, cut a slit in the middle, and bake one hour, laying
paper over the top should it brown too fast.

BROILED RABBITS.

After skinning and cleaning the rabbits, wipe them dry, split
them down the back lengthwise, pound them flat, then wrap them in
letter paper well buttered, place them on a buttered gridiron, and
broil over a clear, brisk fire, turning them often. When
sufficiently cooked, remove the papers, lay them on a very hot
platter, season with salt, pepper and plenty of butter, turning
them over and over to soak up the butter. Cover and keep hot in a
warming oven until served.

SALMI OF GAME.

This is a nice mode of serving the remains of roasted game, but
when a superlative salmi is desired, the birds must be scarcely
more than half roasted for it. In either case, carve them very
neatly, and [Pg 104]strip every particle of skin and fat from the
legs, wings and breasts; bruise the bodies well, and put them with
the skin and other trimmings into a very clean stewpan. If for a
simple and inexpensive dinner, merely add to them two sliced
onions, a bay-leaf, a small blade of mace and a few peppercorns;
then pour in a pint or more of good veal gravy, or strong broth,
and boil it briskly until reduced nearly half; strain the gravy,
pressing the bones well to obtain all the flavor; skim off the fat,
add a little cayenne and lemon juice, heat the game very gradually
in it, but do not on any account allow it to boil; place pieces of
fried bread around a dish, arrange the birds in good form in the
centre, give the sauce a boil, and pour it on them.

ROAST HAUNCH OF VENISON.

To prepare a haunch of venison for roasting, wash it slightly in
tepid water and dry it thoroughly by rubbing it with a clean, soft
cloth. Lay over the fat side a large sheet of thickly-buttered
paper, and next a paste of flour and water about three-quarters of
an inch thick; cover this again with two or three sheets of stout
paper, secure the whole well with twine, and put down to roast,
with a little water, in the dripping-pan. Let the fire be clear and
strong; baste the paper immediately with butter or clarified
drippings, and roast the joint from three to four hours, according
to its weight and quality. Doe venison will require half an hour
less time than buck venison. About twenty minutes before the joint
is done remove the paste and paper, baste the meat in every part
with butter, and dredge it very lightly with flour; let it take a
pale brown color, and serve hot with unflavored gravy made with a
thickening in a tureen and good currant jelly. Venison is much
better when the deer has been killed in the autumn, when wild
berries are plentiful, and it has had abundant opportunities to
fatten upon this and other fresh food.

BROILED VENISON STEAK.

Venison steaks should be broiled over a clear fire, turning
often. It requires more cooking than beef. When sufficiently done,
season with salt and pepper, pour over two tablespoonfuls of
currant jelly melted with a piece of butter. Serve hot on hot
plates.

Delicious steaks, corresponding to the shape of mutton chops,
are cut from the loin.

BAKED SADDLE OF VENISON.

Wash the saddle carefully; see that no hairs are left dried on
to the outside. Use a saddle of venison of about ten pounds. Cut
some salt pork in strips about two inches long and an eighth of an
inch thick, with which lard the saddle with two rows on each side.
In a large dripping-pan cut two carrots, one onion and some salt
pork in thin slices; add two bay-leaves, two cloves, four kernels
of allspice, half a lemon sliced, and season with salt and pepper;
place the saddle of venison in the pan, with a quart of good stock
boiling hot and a small piece of butter, and let it boil about
fifteen minutes on top of the stove; then put it in a hot oven and
bake, basting well every five minutes, until it is medium rare, so
that the blood runs when cut; serve with jelly or a wine sauce. If
the venison is desired well done, cook much longer, and use a cream
sauce with it, or stir cream into the venison gravy. (For cream
sauce see SAUCES.)

Venison should never be roasted unless very fat. The shoulder is
a roasting piece and may be done without the paper or paste.

In ordering the saddle request the butcher to cut the ribs off
pretty close, as the only part that is of much account is the
tenderloin and thick meat that lies along the backbone up to the
neck. The ribs which extend from this have very little meat on
them, but are always sold with the saddle. When neatly cut off they
leave the saddle in a better shape, and the ribs can be put into
your stock-pot to boil for soup.

VENISON PIE OR PASTRY.

The neck, breast and shoulder are the parts used for a venison
pie or pastry. Cut the meat into pieces (fat and lean together) and
put the bones and trimmings into the stewpan with pepper and salt,
and water or veal broth enough to cover it. Simmer it till you have
drawn out a good gravy. Then strain it.

In the meantime make a good rich paste, and roll it rather
thick. Cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish with one sheet of
it, and put in your meat, having seasoned it with pepper, salt,
nutmeg and mace. Pour in the gravy which you have prepared from the
trimmings, and a glass of port wine. Lay on the top some bits of
butter rolled in flour. Cover the pie with a thick lid of paste and
ornament it handsomely with leaves and flowers formed with a tin
cutter. Bake [Pg 106]two or more hours according to the
size. Just before it is done, pull it forward in the oven, and
brush it over with beaten egg; push it back and let it slightly
brown.

VENISON HASHED.

Cut the meat in nice small slices, and put the trimmings and
bones into a saucepan with barely water enough to cover them. Let
them stew for an hour. Then strain the liquid into a stewpan; add
to it some bits of butter, rolled in flour, and whatever gravy was
left of the venison the day before. Stir in some currant jelly, and
give it a boil up. Then put in the meat, and keep it over the fire
just long enough to warm it through; but do not allow it to boil,
as it has been once cooked already.

FRIED VENISON STEAK.

Cut a breast of venison into steaks; make a quarter of a pound
of butter hot in a pan; rub the steaks over with a mixture of a
little salt and pepper; dip them in wheat flour, or rolled
crackers, and fry a rich brown; when both sides are done, take them
up on a dish, and put a tin cover over; dredge a heaping
teaspoonful of flour into the butter in the pan, stir it with a
spoon until it is brown, without burning; put to it a small
teacupful of boiling water, with a tablespoonful of currant jelly
dissolved into it; stir it for a few minutes, then strain it over
the meat and serve. A glass of wine, with a tablespoonful of white
sugar dissolved in it, may be used for the gravy, instead of the
jelly and water. Venison may be boiled, and served with boiled
vegetables, pickled beets, etc., and sauce.

MEATS.

In the selection of meat it is most essential that we understand
how to choose it; in beef it should be a smooth, fine grain, of a
clear bright red color, the fat white, and will feel tender when
pinched with the fingers. Will also have abundant kidney fat or
suet. The most choice pieces for roast are the sirloin, fore and
middle ribs.

Veal, to be good, should have the flesh firm and dry, fine
grained and of a delicate pinkish color, and plenty of kidney fat;
the joints stiff.

Mutton is good when the flesh is a bright red, firm and juicy
and a close grain, the fat firm and white.

Pork, if young, the lean will break on being pinched smooth when
nipped with the fingers, also the skin will break and dent; if the
rind is rough and hard it is old.

In roasting meat, allow from fifteen to twenty minutes to the
pound, which will vary according to the thickness of the roast. A
great deal of the success in roasting depends on the heat and
goodness of the fire; if put into a cool oven it loses its juices,
and the result is a tough, tasteless roast; whereas, if the oven is
of the proper heat, it immediately sears up the pores of the meat
and the juices are retained.

The oven should be the hottest when the meat is put into it, in
order to quickly crisp the surface and close the pores of the meat,
thereby confining its natural juices. If the oven is too hot to
hold the hand in for only a moment, then it is right to receive the
meat. The roast should first be washed in pure water, then wiped
dry with a clean dry cloth, placed in a baking pan without any
seasoning; some pieces of suet or cold drippings laid under it, but
no water should be put into the pan, for this would have a
tendency to soften the outside of the meat. The water can never get
so hot as the hot fat upon the [Pg
108]surface of the
meat, and the generating of the steam prevents its crispness, so
desirable in a roast.

It should be frequently basted with its own drippings, which
flow from the meat when partly cooked, and well seasoned. Lamb,
veal and pork should be cooked rather slower than beef, with a more
moderate fire, covering the fat with a piece of paper, and
thoroughly cooked till the flesh parts from the bone, and
nicely browned, without being burned. An onion sliced and put on
top of a roast while cooking, especially roast of pork, gives a
nice flavor. Remove the onion before serving.

Larding meats is drawing ribbons of fat pork through the upper
surface of the meat, leaving both ends protruding. This is
accomplished by the use of a larding needle, which may be procured
at house-furnishing stores.

Boiling or stewing meat, if fresh, should be put into
boiling water, closely covered and boiled slowly,
allowing twenty minutes to each pound, and, when partly cooked, or
when it begins to get tender, salted, adding spices and
vegetables.

Salt meats should be covered with cold water, and require
thirty minutes very slow boiling, from the time the water
boils, for each pound; if it is very salt, pour off the first water
and put it in another of boiling water, or it may be soaked one
night in cold water. After meat commences to boil the pot should
never stop simmering and always be replenished from the
boiling tea-kettle.

Frying may be done in two ways. One method, which is most
generally used, is by putting one ounce or more (as the case
requires) of beef drippings, lard or butter into a frying pan, and
when at the boiling point lay in the meat, cooking both
sides a nice brown. The other method is to completely
immerse the article to be cooked in sufficient hot lard
to cover it, similar to frying doughnuts.

Broiled meats should be placed over clear, red coals free from
smoke, giving out a good heat, but not too brisk, or the meat will
be hardened and scorched; but if the fire is dead the gravy will
escape and drop upon the coals, creating a blaze, which will
blacken and smoke the meat. Steaks and chops should be turned
often, in order that every part should be evenly done—never
sticking a fork into the lean part, as that lets the juices escape;
it should be put into the outer skin or fat. When the meat is
sufficiently broiled it should be laid on [Pg
109]a hot dish
and seasoned. The best pieces for steak are the porterhouse,
sirloin and rump.

THAWING FROZEN MEAT, ETC.

If meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, or any other article of
food, when found frozen, is thawed by putting it into warm
water or placing it before the fire, it will most certainly
spoil by that process, and be rendered unfit to eat. The only way
to thaw these things is by immersing them in cold water.
This should be done as soon as they are brought in from market,
that they may have time to be well thawed before they are cooked.
If meat that has been frozen is to be boiled, put it on in cold
water. If to be roasted, begin by setting it at a distance from the
fire, for if it should not chance to be thoroughly thawed all
through to the centre, placing it at first too near the fire will
cause it to spoil. If it is expedient to thaw the meat or poultry
the night before cooking, lay it in cold water early in the
evening, and change the water at bed-time. If found crusted with
ice in the morning, remove the ice, and put the meat in fresh cold
water, letting it lie in it till wanted for cooking.

Potatoes are injured by being frozen. Other vegetables are not
the worse for it, provided they are always thawed in cold
water.

TO KEEP MEAT FROM FLIES.

Put in sacks, with enough straw around it so the flies cannot
reach through. Three-fourths of a yard of yard-wide muslin is the
right size for the sack. Put a little straw in the bottom, then put
in the ham and lay straw in all around it; tie it tightly and hang
it in a cool, dry place. Be sure the straw is all around the meat,
so the flies cannot reach through to deposit the eggs. (The sacking
must be done early in the season before the fly appears.) Muslin
lets the air in and is much better than paper. Thin muslin is as
good as thick, and will last for years if washed when laid away
when emptied.

ROAST BEEF.

One very essential point in roasting beef is to have the oven
well heated when the beef is first put in; this causes the pores to
close up quickly, and prevents the escape of the juices.

Take a rib piece or loin roast of seven or eight pounds. Wipe it
thoroughly all over with a clean wet towel. Lay it in a
dripping-pan, and baste it well with butter or suet fat. Set it in
the oven. Baste it frequently with its own drippings, which will
make it brown and tender. When partly done season with salt and
pepper, as it hardens any meat to salt it when raw, and draws out
its juices, then dredge with sifted flour to give it a frothy
appearance. It will take a roast of this size about two hours’ time
to be properly done, leaving the inside a little rare or
red—half an hour less would make the inside quite rare.
Remove the beef to a heated dish, set where it will keep hot; then
skim the drippings from all fat, add a tablespoonful of sifted
flour, a little pepper and a teacupful of boiling water. Boil up
once and serve hot in a gravy boat.

Some prefer the clear gravy without the thickening. Serve with
mustard or grated horse-radish and vinegar.

YORKSHIRE PUDDING.

This is a very nice accompaniment to a roast of beef; the
ingredients are, one pint of milk, four eggs, whites and yolks
beaten separately, one teaspoonful of salt, and two teaspoonfuls of
baking powder sifted through two cups of flour. It should be mixed
very smooth, about the consistency of cream. Regulate your time
when you put in your roast, so that it will be done half an hour or
forty minutes before dishing up. Take it from the oven, set it
where it will keep hot. In the meantime have this pudding prepared.
Take two common biscuit tins, dip some of the drippings from the
dripping-pan into these tins, pour half of the pudding into each,
set them into the hot oven, and keep them in until the dinner is
dished up; take these puddings out at the last moment and send to
the table hot. This I consider much better than the old way of
baking the pudding under the meat.

BEEFSTEAK. No. 1.

The first consideration in broiling is to have a clear, glowing
bed of coals. The steak should be about three-quarters of an inch
in thickness, and should be pounded only in extreme cases,
i.e., when it is cut too thick and is “stringy.” Lay
it on a buttered gridiron, turning it often, as it begins to drip,
attempting nothing else while cooking it. Have everything else
ready for the table; the potatoes and vegetables dished and in the
warming closet. Do not season it until it is done, [Pg 111]which
will be in about ten to twelve minutes. Remove it to a warm
platter, pepper and salt it on both sides and spread a liberal lump
of butter over it. Serve at once while hot. No definite rule can be
given as to the time of cooking steak, individual tastes
differ so widely in regard to it, some only liking it when well
done, others so rare that the blood runs out of it. The best pieces
for broiling are the porterhouse and sirloin.

BEEFSTEAK. No. 2.

Take a smooth, thick-bottomed frying pan, scald it out with hot
water, and wipe it dry; set it on the stove or range, and when
very hot, rub it over the bottom with a rag dipped in
butter; then place your steak or chops in it, turn often until
cooked through, take up on a warm platter, and season both sides
with salt, pepper and butter. Serve hot.

Many prefer this manner of cooking steak rather than broiling or
frying in a quantity of grease.

BEEFSTEAK AND ONIONS.

Prepare the steak in the usual way. Have ready in a frying pan a
dozen onions cut in slices and fried brown in a little beef
drippings or butter. Dish your steak, and lay the onions thickly
over the top. Cover and let stand five minutes, then send to the
table hot.

BEEFSTEAK AND OYSTERS.

Broil the steak the usual way. Put one quart of oysters with
very little of the liquor into a stewpan upon the fire; when it
comes to a boil, take off the scum that may rise, stir in three
ounces of butter mixed with a tablespoonful of sifted flour, let it
boil one minute until it thickens, pour it over the steak. Serve
hot.

TO FRY BEEFSTEAKS.

Beefsteak for frying should be cut much thinner than for
broiling. Take from the ribs or sirloin and remove the bone. Put
some butter or nice beef dripping into a frying pan and set it over
the fire, and when it has boiled and become hot lay in the steaks;
when cooked quite enough, season with salt and pepper, turn and
brown on both sides. Steaks when fried should be thoroughly done.
Have ready a hot dish, and when they are done take out the steaks
and lay them on [Pg 112]it, with another dish cover the top to
keep them hot. The gravy in the pan can be turned over the steaks,
first adding a few drops of boiling water, or a gravy to be served
in a separate dish made by putting a large tablespoonful of flour
into the hot gravy left in the pan after taking up the steaks. Stir
it smooth, then pour in a pint of cream or sweet rich milk, salt
and pepper, let it boil up once until it thickens, pour hot into a
gravy dish and send to the table with the steaks.

POT ROAST. (Old Style.)

This is an old-fashioned dish, often cooked in our grandmothers’
time. Take a piece of fresh beef weighing about five or six pounds.
It must not be too fat. Wash it and put it into a pot with
barely sufficient water to cover it. Set it over a slow fire, and
after it has stewed an hour salt and pepper it. Then stew it slowly
until tender, adding a little onion if liked. Do not replenish the
water at the last, but let all nearly boil away. When tender all
through take the meat from the pot and pour the gravy in a bowl.
Put a large lump of butter in the bottom of the pot, then dredge
the piece of meat with flour and return it to the pot to brown,
turning it often to prevent its burning. Take the gravy that you
have poured from the meat into the bowl and skim off all the fat;
pour this gravy in with the meat and stir in a large spoonful of
flour wet with a little water; let it boil up ten or fifteen
minutes and pour into a gravy dish. Serve both hot, the meat on a
platter. Some are very fond of this way of cooking a piece of beef
which has been previously placed in spiced pickle for two or three
days.

SPICED BEEF. (Excellent.)

For a round of beef weighing twenty or twenty-four pounds, take
one-quarter of a pound of saltpetre, one-quarter of a pound of
coarse brown sugar, two pounds of salt, one ounce of cloves, one
ounce of allspice and half an ounce of mace; pulverize these
materials, mix them well together, and with them rub the beef
thoroughly on every part; let the beef lie for eight or ten days in
the pickle thus made, turning and rubbing it every day; then tie it
around with a broad tape, to keep it in shape; make a coarse paste
of flour and water, lay a little suet finely chopped over and under
the beef, inclose the beef entirely in the paste, and bake it six
hours. When you take the beef from the oven, remove the paste, but
do not remove the tape until [Pg
113]you are ready to
send it to the table. If you wish, to eat the beef cold, keep it
well covered that it may retain its moisture.

BEEF Á LA MODE.

Mix together three teaspoonfuls of salt, one of pepper, one of
ginger, one of mace, one of cinnamon, and two of cloves. Rub this
mixture into ten pounds of the upper part of a round of beef. Let
this beef stand in this state over night. In the morning, make a
dressing or stuffing of a pint of fine bread crumbs, half a pound
of fat salt pork cut in dice, a teaspoonful of ground thyme or
summer savory, two teaspoonfuls sage, half a teaspoonful of pepper,
one of nutmeg, a little cloves, an onion minced fine, moisten with
a little milk or water. Stuff this mixture into the place from
whence you took out the bone. With a long skewer fasten the two
ends of the beef together, so that its form will be circular, and
bind it around with tape to prevent the skewers giving way. Make
incisions in the beef with a sharp knife; fill these incisions very
closely with the stuffing, and dredge the whole with flour.

Put it into a dripping-pan and pour over it a pint of hot water;
turn a large pan over it to keep in the steam, and roast slowly
from three to four hours, allowing a quarter of an hour to each
pound of meat. If the meat should be tough, it may be stewed first
in a pot, with water enough to cover it, until tender, and then put
into a dripping-pan and browned in the oven.

If the meat is to be eaten hot, skim off the fat from the gravy,
into which, after it is taken off the fire, stir in the beaten
yolks of two eggs. If onions are disliked you may omit them and
substitute minced oysters.

TENDERLOIN OF BEEF.

To serve tenderloin as directed below, the whole piece must be
extracted before the hind-quarter of the animal is cut out. This
must be particularly noted, because not commonly practiced, the
tenderloin being usually left attached to the roasting pieces, in
order to furnish a tidbit for a few. To dress it whole, proceed as
follows: Washing the piece well, put it in an oven; add about a
pint of water, and chop up a good handful of each of the following
vegetables as an ingredient of the dish, viz., Irish
potatoes, carrots, turnips and a large bunch of [Pg 114]celery. They must be washed, peeled and chopped up
raw, then added to the meat; blended with the juice, they form and
flavor the gravy. Let the whole slowly simmer, and when nearly
done, add a teaspoonful of pounded allspice. To give a richness to
the gravy, put in a tablespoonful of butter. If the gravy should
look too greasy, skim off some of the melted suet. Boil also a lean
piece of beef, which, when perfectly done, chop fine, flavoring
with a very small quantity of onion, besides pepper and salt to the
taste. Make into small balls, wet them on the outside with eggs,
roll in grated cracker or fine bread crumbs. Fry these force meat
balls a light brown. When serving the dish, put these around the
tenderloin, and pour over the whole the rich gravy. This dish is a
very handsome one, and, altogether, fit for an epicurean palate. A
sumptuous dish.

STEWED STEAK WITH OYSTERS.

Two pounds of rump steak, one pint of oysters, one tablespoonful
of lemon juice, three of butter, one of flour, salt, pepper, one
cupful of water. Wash the oysters in the water and drain into a
stewpan. Put this liquor on to heat. As soon as it comes to a boil,
skim and set back. Put the butter in a frying pan, and when hot,
put in a steak. Cook ten minutes. Take up the steak, and stir the
flour into the butter remaining in the pan. Stir until a dark
brown. Add the oyster liquor and boil one minute. Season with salt
and pepper. Put back the steak, cover the pan, and simmer half an
hour or until the steak seems tender, then add the oysters and
lemon juice. Boil one minute. Serve on a hot dish with points of
toast for a garnish.

SMOTHERED BEEFSTEAK.

Take thin slices of steak from the upper part of the
round or one large thin steak. Lay the meat out smoothly and wipe
it dry. Prepare a dressing, using a cupful of fine bread crumbs,
half a teaspoonful of salt, some pepper, a tablespoonful of butter,
half a teaspoonful of sage, the same of powdered summer savory, and
enough milk to moisten it all into a stiff mixture. Spread it over
the meat, roll it up carefully, and tie with a string, securing the
ends well. Now fry a few thin slices of salt pork in the bottom of
a kettle or saucepan, and into the fat that has fried out of this
pork, place this roll or rolls of beef, and brown it on all sides,
turning it until a rich color all over, [Pg
115]then add half a
pint of water, and stew until tender. If the flavor of onion is
liked, a slice may be chopped fine and added to the dressing. When
cooked sufficiently, take out the meat, thicken the gravy, and turn
over it. To be carved cutting crosswise, in slices, through beef
and stuffing.

BEEFSTEAK ROLLS.

This mode is similar to the above recipe, but many might prefer
it.

Prepare a good dressing, such as you like for turkey or duck;
take a round steak, pound it, but not very hard, spread the
dressing over it, sprinkle in a little salt, pepper, and a few bits
of butter, lap over the ends, roll the steak up tightly and tie
closely; spread two great spoonfuls of butter over the steak after
rolling it up, then wash with a well-beaten egg, put water in the
bake-pan, lay in the steak so as not to touch the water, and bake
as you would a duck, basting often. A half-hour in a brisk oven
will bake. Make a brown gravy and send to the table hot.

TO COLLAR A FLANK OF BEEF.

Procure a well-corned flank of beef—say six pounds. Wash
it, and remove the inner and outer skin with the gristle. Prepare a
seasoning of one teaspoonful each of sage, parsley, thyme, pepper
and cloves. Lay your meat upon a board and spread this mixture over
the inside. Roll the beef up tight, fasten it with small skewers,
put a cloth over it, bandage the cloth with tape, put the beef into
the stewpot, cover it with water to the depth of an inch, boil
gently six hours; take it out of the water, place it on a board
without undoing it; lay a board on top of the beef, put a fifty
pound weight upon this board, and let it remain twenty-four hours.
Take off the bandage, garnish with green pickles and curled
parsley, and serve.

DRIED BEEF.

Buy the best of beef, or that part which will be the most lean
and tender. The tender part of the round is a very good piece. For
every twenty pounds of beef use one pint of salt, one teaspoonful
of saltpetre, and a quarter of a pound of brown sugar. Mix them
well together, and rub the beef well with one-third of the mixture
for three successive days. Let it lie in the liquor it makes for
six days, then hang up to dry.

A large crock or jar is a good vessel to prepare the meat in
before drying it.

BEEF CORNED OR SALTED. (Red.)

Cut up a quarter of beef. For each hundred weight take half a
peck of coarse salt, a quarter of a pound of saltpetre, the same
weight of saleratus and a quart of molasses, or two pounds of
coarse brown sugar. Mace, cloves and allspice may be added for
spiced beef.

Strew some of the salt in the bottom of a pickle-tub or barrel,
then put in a layer of meat, strew this with salt, then add another
layer of meat, and salt and meat alternately, until all is used.
Let it remain one night. Dissolve the saleratus and saltpetre in a
little warm water, and put it to the molasses or sugar; then put it
over the meat, add water enough to cover the meat, lay a board on
it to keep it under the brine. The meat is fit for use after ten
days. This recipe is for winter beef. Rather more salt may be used
in warm weather.

Towards spring take the brine from the meat, make it boiling
hot, skim it clear, and when it is cooled, return it to the
meat.

Beef tongues and smoking pieces are fine pickled in this brine.
Beef liver put in this brine for ten days, and then wiped dry and
smoked, is very fine. Cut it in slices, and fry or broil it. The
brisket of beef, after being corned, may be smoked, and is very
good for boiling.

Lean pieces of beef, cut properly from the hind-quarter, are the
proper pieces for being smoked. There may be some fine pieces cut
from the fore-quarter.

After the beef has been in brine ten days or more, wipe it dry,
and hang it in a chimney where wood is burned, or make a smothered
fire of sawdust or chips, and keep it smoking for ten days; then
rub fine black pepper over every part to keep the flies from it,
and hang it in a dry, dark, cool place. After a week it is
fit for use. A strong, coarse brown paper, folded around the beef,
and fastened with paste, keeps it nicely.

Tongues are smoked in the same manner. Hang them by a string put
through the root end. Spiced brine for smoked beef or tongues will
be generally liked.

ROAST BEEF PIE WITH POTATO CRUST.

When you have a cold roast of beef, cut off as much as will half
fill a baking-dish suited to the size of your family; put this
sliced [Pg 117]beef into a stewpan with any gravy that you may have
also saved, a lump of butter, a bit of sliced onion and a seasoning
of pepper and salt, with enough water to make plenty of gravy;
thicken it, too, by dredging in a tablespoonful of flour; cover it
up on the fire, where it may stew gently, but not be in danger of
burning. Meanwhile there must be boiled a sufficient quantity of
potatoes to fill up your baking-dish, after the stewed meat has
been transferred to it. The potatoes must be boiled done, mashed
smooth, and beaten up with milk and butter, as if they were to be
served alone, and placed in a thick layer on top of the meat. Brush
it over with egg, place the dish in an oven, and let it remain
there long enough to be brown. There should be a goodly quantity of
gravy left with the beef, that the dish be not dry and tasteless.
Serve with it tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce or any other kind
that you prefer. A good, plain dish.

ROAST BEEF PIE.

Cut up roast beef, or beefsteak left from a previous meal, into
thin slices, lay some of the slices into a deep dish which you have
lined on the sides with rich biscuit dough, rolled very thin
(say a quarter of an inch thick); now sprinkle over this layer a
little pepper and salt; put in a small bit of butter, a few slices
of cold potatoes, a little of the cold gravy, if you have any left
from the roast. Make another layer of beef, another layer of
seasoning, and so on, until the dish is filled; cover the whole
with paste leaving a slit in the centre, and bake half an hour.

BEEFSTEAK PIE.

Cut up rump or flank steak into strips two inches long and about
an inch wide. Stew them with the bone, in just enough water to
cover them, until partly cooked; have half a dozen of cold boiled
potatoes sliced. Line a baking-dish with pie paste, put in a layer
of the meat with salt, pepper, and a little of thinly-sliced onion,
then one of the sliced potatoes, with bits of butter dotted over
them. Then the steak, alternated with layers of potato, until the
dish is full. Add the gravy or broth, having first thickened it
with brown flour. Cover with a top crust, making a slit in the
middle; brush a little beaten egg over it, and bake until quite
brown.

FRIZZLED BEEF.

Shave off very thin slices of smoked or dried beef, put
them in a frying pan, cover with cold water, set it on the back of
the range or stove, and let it come to a very slow heat, allowing
it time to swell out to its natural size, but not to boil. Stir it
up, then drain off the water. Melt one ounce of sweet butter in the
frying pan and add the wafers of beef. When they begin to frizzle
or turn up, break over them three eggs; stir until the eggs are
cooked; add a little white pepper, and serve on slices of buttered
toast.

FLANK STEAK.

This is cut from the boneless part of the flank and is secreted
between an outside and inside layer of creamy fat. There are two
ways for broiling it. One is to slice diagonally across the grain;
the other is to broil it whole. In either case brush butter over it
and proceed as in broiling other steaks. It is considered by
butchers the finest steak, which they frequently reserve for
themselves.

TO BOIL CORNED BEEF.

The aitch-bone and the brisket are considered the best pieces
for boiling. If you buy them in the market already corned, they
will be fit to put over the fire without a previous soaking in
water. If you corn them in the brine in which you keep your beef
through the winter, they must be soaked in cold water over night.
Put the beef into a pot, cover with sufficient cold water,
place over a brisk fire, let it come to a boil in half an hour;
just before boiling remove all the scum from the pot, place the pot
on the back of the fire, let it boil very slowly until quite
tender.

A piece weighing eight pounds requires two and a half hours’
boiling. If you do not wish to eat it hot, let it remain in the pot
after you take it from the fire until nearly cold, then lay it in a
colander to drain, lay a cloth over it to retain its fresh
appearance; serve with horse-radish and pickles.

If vegetables are to accompany this, making it the old-fashioned
“boiled dinner,” about three-quarters of an hour before dishing up
skim the liquor free from fat and turn part of it out into
another kettle, into which put a cabbage carefully prepared,
cutting it into four quarters; also half a dozen peeled
medium-sized white turnips, cut [Pg
119]into halves; scrape
four carrots and four parsnips each cut into four pieces. Into the
kettle with the meat, about half an hour before serving, pour on
more water from the boiling tea-kettle, and into this put peeled
medium-sized potatoes. This dinner should also be accompanied by
boiled beets, sliced hot, cooked separate from the rest, with
vinegar over them. Cooking the cabbage separately from the meat
prevents the meat from having the flavor of cabbage when cold. The
carrots, parsnips and turnips will boil in about an hour. A piece
of salt pork was usually boiled with a “New England boiled
dinner.”

SPICED BEEF RELISH.

Take two pounds of raw, tender beefsteak, chop it very
fine, put into it salt, pepper and a little sage, two
tablespoonfuls of melted butter; add two rolled crackers made very
fine, also two well-beaten eggs. Make it up into the shape of a
roll and bake it; baste with butter and water before baking. Cut in
slices when cold.

FRIED BEEF LIVER.

Cut it in rather thin slices, say a quarter of an inch thick;
pour over it boiling water, which closes the pores of the
meat, makes it impervious to the fat, and at the same time seals up
the rich juice of the meat. It may be rolled in flour or bread
crumbs, seasoned with salt and pepper, dipped in egg and fried in
hot fat mixed with one-third butter.

PRESSED BEEF.

First have your beef nicely pickled; let it stay in pickle a
week; then take the thin, flanky pieces, such as will not make a
handsome dish of themselves, put on a large potful, and let them
boil until perfectly done; then pull to pieces, and season just as
you do souse, with pepper, salt and allspice; only put it in a
coarse cloth and press down upon it some very heavy weight.

The advantage of this recipe is that it makes a most acceptable,
presentable dish out of a part of the beef that otherwise might be
wasted.

FRENCH STEW.

Grease the bottom of an iron pot, and place in it three or four
pounds of beef; be very careful that it does not burn, and turn it
until it is nicely browned. Set a muffin ring under the beef to
pre[Pg 120]vent its sticking. Add a few sliced carrots, one or
two sliced onions, and a cupful of hot water; keep covered and stew
slowly until the vegetables are done. Add pepper and salt. If you
wish more gravy, add hot water, and thicken with flour. Serve on a
dish with the vegetables.

TO POT BEEF.

The round is the best piece for potting, and you may use both
the upper and under part. Take ten pounds of beef, remove all the
fat, cut the lean into square pieces, two inches thick. Mix
together three teaspoonfuls of salt, one of pepper, one of cloves,
one of mace, one of cinnamon, one of allspice, one of thyme, and
one of sweet basil. Put a layer of the pieces of beef into an
earthen pot, sprinkle some of this spice mixture over this layer,
add a piece of fat salt pork, cut as thin as possible, sprinkle a
little of the spice mixture over the pork, make another layer of
the beef with spices and pork, and so on, until the pot is filled.
Pour over the whole three tablespoonfuls of Tarragon vinegar, or,
if you prefer it, half a pint of Madeira wine; cover the pot with a
paste made of flour and water, so that no steam can escape. Put the
pot into an oven, moderately heated, and let it stand there eight
hours; then set it away to use when wanted.

Beef cooked in this manner will keep good for a fortnight in
moderate weather.

It is an excellent relish for breakfast, and may be eaten either
warm or cold. When eaten warm, serve with slices of lemon.

STEWED BRISKET OF BEEF.

Put the part that has the hard fat into a stewpot with a small
quantity of water; let it boil up and skim it thoroughly; then add
carrots, turnips, onions, celery and a few pepper-corns. Stew till
extremely tender; then take out all the flat bones and remove all
the fat from the soup. Either serve that and the meat in tureen, or
the soup alone, and the meat on a dish garnished with some
vegetables. The following sauce is much admired served with the
beef: Take half a pint of the soup and mix it with a spoonful of
catsup, a teaspoonful of made mustard, a little flour, a bit of
butter and salt; boil all together a few minutes, then pour it
round the meat.

DRIED BEEF WITH CREAM.

Shave your beef very fine. Put it into a suitable dish on
the back of the stove; cover with cold water and give it time to
soak out to its original size before being dried. When it is quite
soft and the water has become hot (it must not boil) take it off,
turn off the water, pour on a cup of cream; if you do not have it
use milk and butter, a pinch of pepper; let it come to a boil,
thicken with a tablespoonful of flour wet up in a little milk.
Serve on dipped toast or not, just as one fancies. A nice breakfast
dish.

BEEF CROQUETTES. No. 1.

Chop fine one cup of cold, cooked, lean beef, half a cup of fat,
half a cup of cold boiled or fried ham; cold pork will do if you
have not the ham. Also mince up a slice of onion. Season all with a
teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, and a
teaspoonful of powdered sage or parsley if liked. Heat together
with half a cup of stock or milk; when cool add a beaten egg. Form
the mixture into balls, slightly flattened, roll in egg and bread
crumbs, or flour and egg. Fry in hot lard or beef drippings. Serve
on a platter and garnish with sprigs of parsley. Almost any cold
meats can be used instead of beef.

BEEF CROQUETTES. No. 2.

Take cold roast or corned beef. Put it into a wooden bowl and
chop it fine. Mix with it about twice the quantity of hot mashed
potatoes well seasoned with butter and salt. Beat up an egg and
work it into the potato and meat, then form the mixture into little
cakes the size of fish balls. Flatten them a little, roll in flour
or egg and cracker crumbs, fry in butter and lard mixed, browning
on both sides. Serve piping hot.

MEAT AND POTATO CROQUETTES.

Put in a stewpan an ounce of butter and a slice of onion minced
fine; when this simmers add a level tablespoonful of sifted flour;
stir the mixture until it becomes smooth and frothy; then add half
of a cupful of milk, some seasoning of salt and pepper; let all
boil, stirring it all the while. Now add a cupful of cold meat
chopped fine, and a cupful of cold or hot mashed potato. Mix all
thoroughly and spread on a plate to cool. When it is cool enough,
shape it with your hands into balls or rolls. Dip them in beaten
egg and roll in cracker [Pg
122]or bread crumbs.
Drop them into hot lard and fry about two minutes a delicate brown;
take them out with a skimmer and drain them on a piece of brown
paper. Serve immediately while hot. These are very nice.

Cold rice or hominy may be used in place of the potato; or a
cupful of cold fish minced fine in place of the meat.

COLD ROAST, WARMED. No. 1.

Cut from the remains of a cold roast the lean meat from the
bones into small, thin slices. Put over the fire a frying pan
containing a spoonful of butter or drippings. Cut up a quarter of
an onion and fry it brown, then remove the onion, add the meat
gravy left from the day before, and if not thick enough add a
little flour; salt and pepper. Turn the pieces of meat into this
and let them simmer a few minutes. Serve hot.

COLD ROAST, WARMED. No. 2.

Cold rare roast beef may be made as good as when freshly cooked
by slicing, seasoning with salt, pepper and bits of butter; put it
in a plate or pan with a spoonful or two of water, covering
closely, and set in the oven until hot, but no longer. Cold steak
may be shaved very fine with a knife and used the same way.

Or, if the meat is in small pieces, cover them with buttered
letter paper, twist each end tightly, and boil them on the
gridiron, sprinkling them with finely chopped herbs.

Still another nice way of using cold meats is to mince the lean
portions very fine and add to a batter made of one pint of milk,
one cup of flour and three eggs. Fry like fritters and serve with
drawn butter or sauce.

COLD MEAT AND POTATO, BAKED.

Put in a frying pan a round tablespoonful of cold butter; when
it becomes hot, stir into it a teaspoonful of chopped onion and a
tablespoonful of flour, stirring it constantly until it is smooth
and frothy; then add two-thirds of a cupful of cold milk or water.
Season this with salt and pepper and allow it to come to a boil;
then add a cupful of cold meat finely chopped and cleared from bone
and skin; let this all heat thoroughly; then turn it into a shallow
dish well buttered. Spread hot or cold mashed potatoes over the
top, and cook for fifteen or twenty minutes in a moderate hot
oven.

Cold hominy, or rice may be used in place of mashed potatoes,
and is equally as good.

BEEF HASH. No. 1.

Chop rather finely cold roast beef or pieces of beefsteak, also
chop twice as much cold boiled potatoes. Put over the fire a
stewpan or frying pan, in which put a piece of butter as large as
required to season it well, add pepper and salt, moisten with beef
gravy if you have it, if not, with hot water; cover and let it
steam and heat through thoroughly, stirring occasionally, so that
the ingredients be evenly distributed, and to keep the hash from
sticking to the bottom of the pan. When done it should not be at
all watery, nor yet dry, but have sufficient adhesiveness to stand
well on a dish or buttered toast. Many like the flavor of onion; if
so, fry two or three slices in the butter before adding the hash.
Corned beef makes excellent hash.

BEEF HASH. No. 2.

Chop cold roast beef, or pieces of beefsteak; fry half an onion
in a piece of butter; when the onion is brown, add the chopped
beef; season with a little salt and pepper; moisten with the beef
gravy, if you have any, if not, with sufficient water and a little
butter; cook long enough to be hot, but no longer, as much cooking
toughens the meat. An excellent breakfast dish.

Some prefer to let a crust form on the bottom and turn the hash
brown side uppermost. Served with poached eggs on top.

HAMBURGER STEAK.

Take a pound of raw flank or round steak, without any fat, bone
or stringy pieces. Chop it until a perfect mince, it cannot be
chopped too fine. Also chop a small onion quite fine and mix well
with the meat. Season with salt and pepper; make into cakes as
large as a biscuit, but quite flat, or into one large flat cake a
little less than half an inch thick. Have ready a frying pan with
butter and lard mixed; when boiling hot put in the steak and fry
brown. Garnish with celery top around the edge of the platter and
two or three slices of lemon on the top of the meat.

A brown gravy made from the grease the steak was fried in and
poured over the meat enriches it.

TO ROAST BEEF HEART.

Wash it carefully and open it sufficiently to remove the
ventricles, then soak it in cold water until the blood is
discharged; wipe it dry and stuff it nicely with dressing, as for
turkey; roast it about an hour and a half. Serve it with the gravy,
which should be thickened with some of the stuffing and a glass of
wine. It is very nice hashed. Served with currant jelly.

STEWED BEEF KIDNEY.

Cut the kidney into slices, season highly with pepper and salt,
fry it a light brown, take out the slices, then pour a little warm
water into the pan, dredge in some flour, put in slices of kidney
again; let them stew very gently; add some parsley if liked.
Sheep’s kidneys may be split open, broiled over a clear fire and
served with a piece of butter placed on each half.

BEEFS HEART STEWED.

After washing the heart thoroughly cut it up into squares half
an inch long; put them into a saucepan with water enough to cover
them. If any scum rises skim it off. Now take out the meat, strain
the liquor and put back the meat, also add a sliced onion, some
parsley, a head of celery chopped fine, pepper and salt and a piece
of butter. Stew until the meat is very tender. Stir up a
tablespoonful of browned flour with a small quantity of water and
thicken the whole. Boil up and serve.

BOILED BEEF TONGUE.

Wash a fresh tongue and just cover it with water in the pot; put
in a pint of salt and a small red pepper; add more water as it
evaporates, so as to keep the tongue nearly covered until
done—when it can be easily pierced with a fork; take it out,
and if wanted soon, take off the skin and set it away to cool. If
wanted for future use, do not peel until it is required. A cupful
of salt will do for three tongues, if you have that number to boil;
but do not fail to keep water enough in the pot to keep them
covered while boiling. If salt tongues are used, soak them over
night, of course omitting the salt when boiling. Or, after peeling
a tongue, place it in a saucepan with one cup of water, half a cup
vinegar, four tablespoonfuls sugar, and cook until the liquor is
evaporated.

SPICED BEEF TONGUE.

Rub into each tongue a mixture made of half a pound of brown
sugar, a piece of saltpetre the size of a pea and a tablespoonful
of ground cloves, put it in a brine made of three-quarters of a
pound of salt to two quarts of water and keep covered. Pickle two
weeks, then wash well and dry with a cloth; roll out a thin paste
made of flour and water, smear it all over the tongue and place in
a pan to bake slowly; baste well with lard and hot water; when done
scrape off the paste and skim.

TO BOIL TRIPE.

Wash it well in warm water, and trim it nicely, taking off all
the fat. Cut into small pieces, and put it on to boil five hours
before dinner in water enough to cover it very well. After it has
boiled four hours, pour off the water, season the tripe with pepper
and salt, and put it into a pot with milk and water mixed in equal
quantities. Boil it an hour in the milk and water.

Boil in a saucepan ten or a dozen onions. When they are quite
soft, drain them in a colander and mash them. Wipe out your
saucepan and put them on again, with a bit of butter rolled in
flour and a wine-glass of cream or milk. Let them boil up, and add
them to the tripe just before you send it to table. Eat it with
pepper, vinegar and mustard.

It is best to give tripe its first and longest boiling the day
before it is wanted.

TO FRY TRIPE.

Boil the tripe the day before till it is quite tender, which it
will not be in less than four or five hours. Then cover it and set
it away. Next day cut it into long slips, and dip each piece into
beaten yolk of egg, and afterwards roll them in grated bread
crumbs. Have ready in a frying pan over the fire some good beef
drippings. When it is boiling hot put in the tripe, and fry it
about ten minutes, till of a light brown.

You may serve it with onion sauce.

Boiled tripe that has been left from the dinner of the preceding
day may be fried in this manner.

FRICASSEED TRIPE.

Cut a pound of tripe in narrow strips, put a small cup of water
or milk to it, add a bit of butter the size of an egg, dredge in a
large teaspoonful of flour, or work it with the butter; season with
pepper and salt, let it simmer gently for half an hour, serve hot.
A bunch of parsley cut small and put with it is an improvement.

Some put in oysters five minutes before dishing up.

TRIPE LYONNAISE.

Cut up half a pound of cold boiled tripe into neat squares. Put
two ounces of butter and a tablespoonful of chopped onion in a
frying pan and fry to a delicate brown; add to the tripe a
teaspoonful of chopped parsley and a little strong vinegar, salt
and cayenne; stir the pan to prevent burning. Cover the bottom of a
platter with tomato sauce, add the contents of the pan and
serve.

TO CLARIFY BEEF DRIPPINGS.

Drippings accumulated from different cooked meats of beef or
veal can be clarified by putting it into a basin and slicing into
it a raw potato, allowing it to boil long enough for the potato to
brown, which causes all impurities to disappear. Remove from the
fire, and when cool drain it off from the sediment that settles at
the bottom. Turn it into basins or small jars and set it in a cool
place for future use. When mixed with an equal amount of butter it
answers the same purpose as clear butter for frying and basting any
meats except game and poultry.

Mutton drippings impart an unpleasant flavor to anything cooked
outside of its kind.

ROAST LOIN OF VEAL.

Prepare it the same as any roast, leaving in the kidney, around
which put considerable salt. Make a dressing the same as for fowls;
unroll the loin, put the stuffing well around the kidney, fold and
secure with several coils of white cotton twine wound around in all
directions; place in a dripping-pan with the thick side down, and
put in a rather hot oven, graduated after it commences to roast to
moderate; in half an hour add a little hot water to the pan, and
baste often; in another half hour turn over the roast, and when
about done dredge lightly with flour and baste with melted butter.
Before serving care[Pg 127]fully remove the twine. A roast of
four to five pounds will bake in about two hours. For a gravy, skim
off some of the fat if there is too much in the drippings; dredge
in some flour, stir until brown, add some hot water if necessary;
boil a few minutes, stir in such sweet herbs as fancied, and put in
a gravy boat. Serve with green peas and lemon jelly. Is very nice
sliced cold for lunch, and Worcestershire or Chili sauce forms a
fine relish.

ROAST FILLET OF VEAL.

Select a nice fillet, take out the bone, fill up the space with
stuffing, and also put a good layer under the fat. Truss it of a
good shape by drawing the fat round and tie it up with tape. Cook
it rather moderately at first, and baste with butter. It should
have careful attention and frequent basting, that the fat may not
burn. Roast from three to four hours, according to the size. After
it is dished pour melted butter over it; serve with ham or bacon,
and fresh cucumbers if in season. Veal, like all other meat, should
be well washed in cold water before cooking and wiped thoroughly
dry with a clean cloth. Cold fillet of veal is very good stewed
with tomatoes and an onion or two.

In roasting veal, care must be taken that it is not at first
placed in too hot an oven; the fat of a loin, one of the most
delicate joints of veal, should be covered with greased paper; a
fillet, also, should have on the caul until nearly done enough.

BOILED FILLET OF VEAL.

Choose a small, delicate fillet; prepare as for roasting, or
stuff it with an oyster force meat; after having washed it
thoroughly, cover it with water and let it boil very gently three
and a half or four hours, keeping it well skimmed. Send it to the
table with a rich white sauce, or, if stuffed with oysters, a
tureen of oyster sauce. Garnish with stewed celery and slices of
bacon. A boiled tongue should be served with it.

VEAL PUDDING.

Cut about two pounds of lean veal into small collops a quarter
of an inch in thickness; put a piece of butter the size of an egg
into a very clean frying pan to melt; then lay in the veal and a
few slices of bacon, a small sprig of thyme and a seasoning of
pepper and salt; place [Pg
128]the pan over a slow
fire for about ten minutes, then add two or three spoonfuls of warm
water. Just boil it up and then let it stand to cool. Line a
pudding-dish with a good suet crust, lay in the veal and bacon,
pour the gravy over it; roll out a piece of paste to form a lid,
place it over, press it close with the thumb, tie the basin in a
pudding cloth and put it into a saucepan of boiling water, keeping
continually boiling until done, or about one hour.

FRIED VEAL CUTLETS.

Put into a frying pan two or three tablespoonfuls of lard or
beef drippings. When boiling hot lay in the cutlets, well seasoned
with salt and pepper and dredged with flour. Brown nicely on both
sides, then remove the meat, and if you have more grease than is
necessary for the gravy put it aside for further use. Reserve a
tablespoonful or more and rub into it a tablespoonful of flour,
with the back of the spoon, until it is a smooth, rich brown color;
then add gradually a cup of cold water and season with
pepper and salt. When the gravy is boiled up well return the meat
to the pan and gravy. Cover it closely and allow it to stew gently
on the back of the range for fifteen minutes. This softens the
meat, and with this gravy it makes a nice breakfast dish.

Another mode is to simply fry the cutlets, and afterwards
turning off some of the grease they were fried in and then adding
to that left in the pan a few drops of hot water, turning the whole
over the fried chops.

FRIED VEAL CHOPS. (Plain.)

Sprinkle over them salt and pepper, then dip them in beaten egg
and cracker crumbs, and fry in drippings, or hot lard and butter
mixed. If you wish a gravy with them, add a tablespoonful of flour
to the gravy they were fried in and turn in cream or milk; season
to taste with salt and pepper. Boil up and serve hot with the gravy
in separate dish. This dish is very fine accompanied with a few
sound fresh tomatoes, sliced and fried in the same grease the
cutlets were, and all dished on the same platter.

VEAL COLLOPS.

Cut veal from the leg or other lean part into pieces the size of
an oyster. Season with pepper, salt and a little mace; rub some
over [Pg 129]each piece; dip in egg, then into cracker crumbs and
fry. They both look and taste like oysters.

VEAL OLIVES.

Cut up a slice of a fillet of veal, about half an inch thick,
into squares of three inches. Mix up a little salt pork, chopped
with bread crumbs, one onion, a little pepper, salt, sweet
marjoram, and one egg well beaten; put this mixture upon the pieces
of veal, fastening the four corners together with little bird
skewers; lay them in a pan with sufficient veal gravy or light
stock to cover the bottom of the pan, dredge with flour and set in
a hot oven. When browned on top, put a small bit of butter on each,
and let them remain until quite tender, which will take twenty
minutes. Serve with horse-radish.

VEAL CHEESE.

Prepare equal quantities of boiled sliced veal and smoked
tongue. Pound the slices separately in a mortar, moistening with
butter as you proceed; then pack it in a jar or pail, mixing it in
alternate layers; first the tongue and then the veal, so that when
cut it will look variegated. Press it down hard and pour melted
butter over the top. Keep it well covered and in a dry place. Nice
for sandwiches, or sliced cold for lunch.

VEAL CROQUETTES.

Mince a coffee cup of cold veal in a chopping bowl, adding a
little cold ham and two or three slices of onion, a pinch of mace,
powdered parsley and pepper, some salt. Let a pint of milk or cream
come to the boiling point, then add a tablespoonful of cold butter,
then the above mixture. Beat up two eggs and mix with a teaspoonful
of cornstarch or flour, and add to the rest; cook it all about ten
minutes, stirring with care. Remove from the fire, and spread it on
a platter, roll it into balls, when cooled flatten each; dip them
in egg and bread crumbs, and fry in a wire basket, dipped in hot
lard.

BROILED VEAL CUTLETS. (Fine.)

Two or three pounds of veal cutlets, egg and bread crumbs, two
tablespoonfuls of minced savory herbs, salt and pepper to taste, a
little grated nutmeg.

Cut the cutlets about three-quarters of an inch in thickness;
flatten them, and brush them over with the yolk of an egg; dip them
into [Pg 130]bread crumbs and minced herbs, season with pepper
and salt, and fold each cutlet in a piece of white letter paper
well buttered; twist the ends, and broil over a clear fire; when
done remove the paper. Cooked this way, they retain all the
flavor.

VEAL POT-PIE.

Procure a nice breast or brisket of veal, well jointed, put the
pieces into the pot with one quart of water to every five pounds of
meat; put the pot over a slow fire; just before it comes to a boil,
skim it well and pour in a teacupful of cold water; then turn over
the meat in order that all the scum may rise; remove all the scum,
boil quite hard, season with pepper and salt to your taste, always
remembering that the crust will take up part of the seasoning; when
this is done cut off your crust in pieces of equal size, but do not
roll or mould them; lay them on top of the meat, so as to cover it;
put the lid on the pot closely, let the whole boil slowly one hour.
If the lid does not fit the pot closely, wrap a cloth around it, in
order that no steam shall escape; and by no means allow the pot to
stop boiling.

The crust for pot-pie should be raised with yeast. To three
pints of flour add two ounces of butter, a little salt, and wet
with milk sufficient to make a soft dough; knead it well and set it
away to rise; when quite light, mould and knead it again, and let
it stand, in winter, one hour, in summer, one-half hour, when it
will be ready to cut.

In summer you had better add one-half a teaspoonful of soda when
you knead it the second time, or you may wet it with water and add
another bit of butter.

VEAL PIE.

Cut the veal into rather small pieces or slices, put it in a
stewpan with hot water to cover it; add to it a tablespoonful of
salt and set it over the fire; take off the scum as it rises; when
the meat is tender turn it into a dish to cool; take out all the
small bones, butter a tin or earthen basin or pudding-pan, line it
with pie paste, lay some of the parboiled meat in to half fill it;
put bits of butter in the size of a hickory nut all over the meat;
shake pepper over, dredge wheat flour over until it looks white,
then fill it nearly to the top with some of the water in which the
meat was boiled; roll a cover for the top of the crust, puff-paste
it, giving it two or three turns, and roll it to nearly half
[Pg 131]an inch thickness; cut a slit in the centre and make
several small incisions on either side of it, put the crust on,
trim the edges neatly with a knife; bake one hour in a quick oven.
A breast of veal will make two two-quart basin pies; half a pound
of nice corned pork, cut in thin slices and parboiled with the
meat, will make it very nice, and very little, if any, butter will
be required for the pie; when pork is used not other salt will be
necessary. Many are fond of thin slices of sweet ham cooked with
the veal for pie.

VEAL STEW.

Cut up two or three pounds of veal into pieces three inches long
and one thick. Wash it, put it into your stewpan with two quarts of
water, let it boil, skim it well, and when all the scum is removed,
add pepper and salt to your taste, and a small piece of butter;
pare and cut in halves twelve small Irish potatoes, put them into
the stewpan; when it boils, have ready a batter made with two eggs,
two spoonfuls of cream or milk, a little salt, and flour enough to
make it a little thicker than for pancakes; drop this into the
stew, a spoonful at a time, while it is boiling; when all is in,
cover the pan closely so that no steam can escape; let it boil
twenty minutes and serve in a deep dish.

VEAL LOAF.

Three pounds of raw veal chopped very fine, butter the size of
an egg, three eggs, three tablespoonfuls of cream or milk; if milk
use a small piece of butter; mix the eggs and cream together; mix
with the veal four pounded crackers, one teaspoonful of black
pepper, one large tablespoonful salt, one large tablespoonful of
sage; mix well together and form into a loaf. Bake two and one-half
hours, basting with butter and water while baking. Serve cut in
thin slices.

VEAL FOR LUNCH.

Butter a good-sized bowl, and line it with thin slices of
hard-boiled eggs; have veal and ham both in very thin slices;
place, in the bowl a layer of veal, with pepper and salt, then a
layer of ham, omitting the salt, then a layer of veal, and so on,
alternating with veal and ham, until the bowl is filled; make a
paste of flour and water as stiff as it can be rolled out; cover
the contents of the bowl with the paste, and over this tie a double
cotton cloth; put the bowl into a saucepan, [Pg 132]or
other vessel, with water just up to the rim of the bowl, and boil
three hours; then take it from the fire, remove the cloth and
paste, and let it stand until the next day, when it may be turned
out and served in very thin slices. An excellent lunch in
traveling.

VEAL PATTIES.

Cut portions of the neck or breast of veal into small pieces,
and, with a little salt pork cut fine, stew gently for ten or
fifteen minutes; season with pepper and salt, and a small piece of
celery chopped coarsely, also of the yellow top, picked (not
chopped) up; stir in a paste made of a tablespoonful of flour, the
yolk of one egg, and milk to form a thin batter; let all come to a
boil, and it is ready for the patties. Make the patties of a light,
flaky crust, as for tarts, cut round, the size of a small
sauceplate; the centre of each, for about three inches, cut half
way through, to be raised and serve as a cover. Put a spoonful of
the stew in each crust, lay on the top and serve. Stewed oysters or
lamb may be used in place of veal.

BRAISED VEAL.

Take a piece of the shoulder weighing about five pounds. Have
the bone removed and tie up the meat to make it firm. Put a piece
of butter the size of half an egg, together with a few shavings of
onion, into a kettle or stone crock and let it get hot. Salt and
pepper the veal and put it into the kettle, cover it tightly and
put it over a medium fire until the meat is brown on both sides,
turning it occasionally. Then set the kettle back on the stove,
where it will simmer slowly for about two hours and a half. Before
setting the meat back on the stove, see if the juice of the meat
together with the butter do not make gravy enough, and if not, put
in about two tablespoonfuls of hot water. When the gravy is cold it
will be like jelly. It can be served hot with the hot meat, or cold
with the cold meat.

BAKED CALF’S HEAD.

Boil a calf’s head (after having cleaned it) until tender, then
split it in two, and keep the best half (bone it if you like); cut
the meat from the other in uniform pieces, the size of an oyster;
put bits of butter, the size of a nutmeg, all over the best half of
the head; sprinkle pepper over it, and dredge on flour until it
looks white, then set it on [Pg
133]a trivet or muffin
rings in a dripping-pan; put a cup of water into the pan, and set
it in a hot oven; turn it that it may brown evenly; baste once or
twice. Whilst this is doing, dip the prepared pieces of the head in
wheat flour or batter, and fry in hot lard or beef drippings a
delicate brown; season with pepper and salt and slices of lemon, if
liked. When the roast is done put it on a hot dish, lay the fried
pieces around it, and cover it with a tin cover; put the gravy from
the dripping-pan into the pan in which the pieces were fried, with
the slices of lemon, and a tablespoonful of browned flour, and, if
necessary, a little hot water. Let it boil up once, and strain it
into a gravy boat, and serve with the meat.

CALF’S HEAD CHEESE.

Boil a calf’s head in water enough to cover it, until the meat
leaves the bones; then take it with a skimmer into a wooden bowl or
tray; take from it every particle of bone; chop it small; season
with pepper and salt, a heaping tablespoonful of salt and a
teaspoonful of pepper will be sufficient; if liked, add a
tablespoonful of finely chopped sweet herbs; lay in a cloth in a
colander, put the minced meat into it, then fold the cloth closely
over it, lay a plate over, and on it a gentle weight. When cold it
may be sliced thin for supper or sandwiches. Spread each slice with
made mustard.

BRAIN CUTLETS.

Well wash the brains and soak them in cold water until white.
Parboil them until tender in a small saucepan for about a quarter
of an hour; then thoroughly drain them and place them on a board.
Divide them into small pieces with a knife. Dip each piece into
flour, and then roll them in egg and bread crumbs, and fry them in
butter or well-clarified drippings. Serve very hot with gravy.
Another way of doing brains is to prepare them as above, and then
stew them gently in rich stock, like stewed sweetbreads. They are
also nice plainly boiled and served with parsley and butter
sauce.

CALFS HEAD BOILED.

Put the head into boiling water and let it remain about five
minutes; take it out, hold it by the ear, and with the back of the
knife scrape off the hair (should it not come off easily dip the
head again [Pg 134]in boiling water.) When perfectly clean take out
the eyes, cut off the ears and remove the brain, which soak for an
hour in warm water. Put the head to soak in hot water a few minutes
to make it look white, and then have ready a stewpan, into which
lay the head; cover it with cold water and bring it gradually to
boil. Remove the scum and add a little salt, which increases it and
causes it to rise to the top. Simmer it very gently from two and a
half to three hours, or until the bones will slip out easily, and
when nearly done, boil the brains fifteen or twenty minutes; skin
and chop them (not too finely), add a tablespoonful of minced
parsley which has been previously scalded; also a pinch of pepper,
salt; then stir into this four tablespoonfuls of melted butter; set
it on the back of the range to keep it hot. When the head is done,
take it up and drain very dry. Score the top and rub it over with
melted butter; dredge it with flour and set it in the oven to
brown.

When you serve the head, have it accompanied with a gravy boat
of melted butter and minced parsley.

CALF’S LIVER AND BACON.

Slice the liver a quarter of an inch thick; pour hot water over
it and let it remain for a few minutes to clear it from blood; then
dry it in a cloth. Take a pound of bacon, or as much as you
require, and cut the same number of thin slices as you have of
liver; fry the bacon to a nice crisp; take it out and keep it hot;
then fry the liver in the same pan, having first seasoned it with
pepper and salt and dredged in a little flour; lay it in the hot
bacon fat and fry it a nice brown. Serve it with a slice of bacon
on the top of each slice of liver.

If you wish a gravy with it, pour off most of the fat from the
frying pan, put in about two ounces of butter, a tablespoonful of
flour well rubbed in, add a cup of water, salt and pepper, give it
one boil and serve in a gravy boat.

Another Way.—Cut the liver in nice thin slices,
pour boiling water over it and let it stand about five minutes;
then drain and put in a dripping-pan with three or four thin slices
of salt pork or bacon; pepper and salt and put in the oven, letting
it cook until thoroughly done, then serve with a cream or milk
gravy poured over it.

Calf’s liver and bacon are very good broiled after cutting each
in thin slices. Season with butter, pepper and salt.

CROQUETTES OF SWEETBREADS.

Take four veal sweetbreads, soak them for an hour in cold salted
water, first removing the pipes and membranes; then put them into
boiling salted water with a tablespoonful of vinegar, and cook them
twenty minutes, then drop them again into cold water to harden. Now
remove them, chop them very fine, almost to a paste. Season with
salt, pepper and a teaspoonful of grated onion; add the beaten
yolks of three raw eggs, one tablespoonful of butter, half a cupful
of cream, and sufficient fine cracker crumbs to make stiff enough
to roll out into little balls or cork-shaped croquettes. Have ready
a frying kettle half full of fat over the fire, a dish containing
three smoothly beaten eggs, a large platter of cracker dust; wet
the hands with cold water and make the mixture in shape; afterwards
rolling them in the cracker dust, then into the beaten egg, and
again in the cracker dust; smooth them on the outside and drop them
carefully in the hot fat. When the croquettes are fried a nice
golden brown, put them on a brown paper a moment to free them from
grease. Serve hot with sliced lemon or parsley.

SWEETBREADS.

There are two in a calf, which are considered delicacies. Select
the largest. The color should be clear and a shade darker than the
fat. Before cooking in any manner let them lie for half an hour in
tepid water; then throw into hot water to whiten and harden, after
which draw off the outer casing, remove the little pipes, and cut
into thin slices. They should always be thoroughly cooked.

FRIED SWEETBREADS.

After preparing them as above they are put into hot fat and
butter, and fried the same as lamb chops, also broiled the same,
first rolling them in egg and cracker crumbs.

BAKED SWEETBREADS.

Three sweetbreads, egg and bread crumbs, oiled butter, three
slices of toast, brown gravy.

Choose large, white sweetbreads, put them into warm water to
draw out the blood, and to improve their color; let them remain for
rather more than one hour; then put them into boiling water, and
allow them to simmer for about ten minutes which renders them firm.
Take [Pg 136]them up, drain them, brush over the egg, sprinkle
with bread crumbs; dip them in egg again, and then into more bread
crumbs. Drop on them a little oiled butter, and put the sweetbreads
into a moderately heated oven, and let them bake for nearly
three-quarters of an hour. Make three pieces of toast; place the
sweetbreads on the toast, and pour round, but not over, them a good
brown gravy.

FRICASSEED SWEETBREADS.

If they are uncooked, cut into thin slices, let them simmer in a
rich gravy for three-quarters of an hour, add a well-beaten egg,
two tablespoonfuls of cream and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley;
stir all together for a few minutes and serve immediately.

MUTTON AND LAMB.

ROAST MUTTON.

The pieces mostly used for roasting are the hind-quarter of the
sheep, called the loin and leg, the fore-quarter, the shoulder,
also the chine or saddle, which is the two loins together. Every
part should be trimmed off that cannot be eaten; then wash well and
dry with a clean cloth; lay it in your dripping-pan and put in a
little water to baste it with at first; then afterward with its own
gravy. Allow, in roasting, about twelve minutes to the pound; that
is, if your fire is strong, which it should be. It should not be
salted at first, as that tends to harden it, and draws out too much
of the blood or juices; but salt soon after it begins to roast
well. If there is danger of its browning too fast, cover it with a
sheet of white paper. Baste it often, and about a quarter of an
hour before you think it will be done dredge the meat very lightly
with flour and baste it with butter. Skim the gravy well and
thicken very slightly with brown flour. Serve with currant jelly or
other tart sauce.

BONED LEG OF MUTTON ROASTED.

Take the bone out of a small leg of mutton, without spoiling the
skin if possible, then cut off most of the fat. Fill the hole
whence the bone was taken with a stuffing made the same as for
fowls, adding to [Pg 137]it part of an onion finely minced. Sew
the leg up underneath to prevent the dressing or stuffing from
falling out. Bind and tie it up compactly; put it in a roasting
pan, turn in a cup of hot water and place it in a moderately hot
oven, basting it occasionally. When partly cooked season with salt
and pepper. When thoroughly cooked, remove and place the leg on a
warm platter; skim the grease from the top of the drippings, add a
cup of water and thicken with a spoonful of dissolved flour. Send
the gravy to the table in a gravy dish, also a dish of currant
jelly.

BOILED LEG OF MUTTON.

To prepare a leg of mutton for boiling, wash it clean, cut a
small piece off the shank bone, and trim the knuckle. Put it into a
pot with water enough to cover it, and boil gently from two to
three hours, skimming well. Then take it from the fire, and keeping
the pot well covered, let it finish by remaining in the steam for
ten or fifteen minutes. Serve it up with a sauce boat of melted
butter, into which a teacupful of capers or nasturtiums have been
stirred. If the broth is to be used for soup, put in a little salt
while boiling; if not, salt it well when partly done, and boil the
meat in a cloth.

BRAISED LEG OF MUTTON.

This recipe can be varied either by preparing the leg with a
stuffing, placed in the cavity after having the bone removed, or
cooking it without. Having lined the bottom of a thick iron kettle
or stewpan with a few thin slices of bacon, put over the bacon four
carrots, three onions, a bunch of savory herbs; then over these
place the leg of mutton. Cover the whole with a few more slices of
bacon, then pour over half a pint of water. Cover with a tight
cover and stew very gently for four hours, basting the leg
occasionally with its own liquor, and seasoning it with salt and
pepper as soon as it begins to be tender. When cooked strain the
gravy, thicken with a spoonful of flour (it should be quite brown),
pour some of it over the meat and send the remainder to the table
in a tureen, to be served with the mutton when carved. Garnish the
dish around the leg with potatoes cut in the shape of olives and
fried a light brown in butter.

LEG OF MUTTON Á LA VENISON.

Remove all the rough fat from the mutton and lay it in a deep
earthen dish; rub into it thoroughly the following: One
tablespoonful of salt, one each of celery-salt, brown sugar, black
pepper, English mustard, allspice, and some sweet herbs, all
powdered and mixed; after which pour over it slowly a teacup of
good vinegar, cover tightly, and set in a cool place four or five
days, turning it and basting often with the liquid each day. To
cook, put in a kettle a quart of boiling water, place over it an
inverted shallow pan, and on it lay the meat just as removed from
the pickle; cover the kettle tightly and stew for four hours. Do
not lat the water touch the meat. Add a cup of hot water to the
pickle remaining and baste with it. When done, thicken the liquid
with flour and strain through a fine sieve, to serve with the meat;
also a relish of currant jelly, the dame as for venison.

This is a fine dish when the directions are faithfully
followed.

STEAMED LEG OF MUTTON.

Wash and put the leg in a steamer and cook it until tender, then
place in a roasting pan, salt and dredge well with flour and set it
in a hot oven until nicely browned; the water that remains in the
bottom of the steamer may be used for soup. Serve with currant
jelly.

HASHED MUTTON.

Cut into small pieces the lean of some cold mutton that has been
underdone, and season it with pepper and salt. Take the bones and
other trimmings, put them in a sauce-pan with as much water as will
cover them, and some sliced onions, and let them stew till you have
drawn from them a good gravy. Having skimmed it well, strain the
gravy into a stew-pan, and put the mutton into it. Have
ready-boiled some carrots, turnips, potatoes and onions. Slice them
and add to the meat and gravy. Set the pan on the fire and let it
simmer till the meat is warmed through, but do not allow it to
boil, as it has been once cooked already. Cover the bottom of the
dish with slices of buttered toast. Lay the meat and vegetables
upon it, and pour over them the gravy.

Tomatoes will be found an improvement.

If green peas or Lima beans are in season, you may boil them and
put them to the hashed mutton, leaving out the other vegetables, or
serving them up separately.

BROILED MUTTON CHOPS.

Loin of mutton, pepper and salt, a small piece of butter. Cut
the chops from a tenderloin of mutton, remove a portion of the fat,
and trim them into a nice shape; slightly beat and level them;
place the gridiron over a bright clear fire, rub the bars with a
little fat, and lay on the chops. While broiling frequently turn
them, and in about eight minutes they will be done. Season with
pepper and salt, dish them on a very hot dish, rub a small piece of
butter on each chop, and serve very hot and expeditiously. Nice
with tomato sauce poured over them.

FRIED MUTTON CHOPS. NO. 1.

Put in a frying-pan a tablespoonful of cold lard and butter
mixed; have some fine mutton chops without much fat; trim off the
skin. Dip into wheat flour, or rolled cracker, and beaten egg, then
lay them into the hot grease, sprinkle with salt and pepper, fry on
both sides a fine brown. When dine, take them up and place on a hot
dish. If you wish a made gravy, turn off the superfluous grease, if
any. stir into the hot gravy remaining a heaping spoonful of cold
water or milk; season with pepper and salt, let it boil up thick.
You can serve it in a separate dish or pour it over the chops.
Tomato sauce is considered fine, turned over a dish of hot fried or
broiled chops.

FRIED MUTTON CHOPS. NO. 2.

Prepare the chops by trimming off all extra fat and skin, season
them with salt and pepper; dip each chop in beaten egg, then in
rolled cracker or bread-crumbs; dip again in the egg and crumbs,
and so on until they are well coated with the crumb. Have ready a
deep spider containing a pound or more of lard, hot enough to fry
crullers. Drop into this hot lard the chops, frying only a few at a
time, as too many cool the fat. Fry them brown, and serve them up
hot and dry, on a warm platter.

MUTTON CUTLETS. (Baked.)

Prepare them the same as for frying, lay them in a dripping-pan
with a very little water at the bottom. Bake quickly, and
baste often with butter and water. Make a little brown gravy and
turn over them when they are served.

BAKED MUTTON CHOPS AND POTATOES.

Wash and peel some good potatoes and cut them into slices the
thickness of a penny-piece. The quantity of potatoes must, of
course, be decided according to the number of persons to whom they
have to be served; but it is a safe plan to allow two, or even
three, potatoes for each person. After the potatoes are sliced,
wash them in two or three waters to thoroughly cleanse them, then
arrange them neatly (in layers) in a brown stone dish proper for
baking purposes. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper between each
layer, and add a sufficient quantity of cold water to prevent their
burning. Place the dish in a very hot oven—oil the top
shelf—so as to brown the potatoes in a few minutes. Have
ready some nice loin chops (say one—for each person); trim
off most of the fat; make them into a neat round shape by putting a
small skewer through each. When the potatoes are nicely browned,
remove the dish from the oven, and place the chops on the top. Add
a little more salt and pepper, and water if required, and return
the dish to a cooler part of the oven, where it may be allowed to
remain until sufficiently cooked, which will be in about
three-quarters of an hour. When the upper sides of the chops are a
nice crisp brown, turn them over so as to brown the other side
also. If, in the cooking, the potatoes appear to be getting too
dry, a little more water may be gently poured in at one corner of
the dish, only care must be taken to see that the water is hot this
time—not cold as at first. The dish in which the chops and
potatoes are baked must be as neat looking as possible, as it has
to be sent to the table; turning the potatoes out would, of course,
spoil their appearance. Those who have never tasted this dish have
no idea how delightful it is. While the chops are baking the gravy
drips from them among the potatoes, rendering the whole most
delicious.

MUTTONETTES.

Cut from a leg of mutton slices about half an inch thick. On
each slice lay a spoonful of stuffing made with bread crumbs,
beaten [Pg 141]egg, butter, salt, pepper, sage and summer savory.
Roll up the slices, pinning with little skewers or small wooden
toothpicks to keep the dressing in. Put a little butter and water
in a baking-pan with the muttonettes, and cook in hot oven
three-quarters of an hour. Baste often, and when done thicken the
gravy, pour over the meat, garnish with parsley, and serve on hot
platter.

IRISH STEW.

Time about two hours. Two and a half pounds of chops, eight
potatoes, four turnips, four small onions, nearly a quart of water.
Take some chops from loin of mutton, place them in stewpan in
alternate layers of sliced potatoes and chops; add turnips and
onions cut into pieces, pour in nearly a quart of cold water; cover
stewpan closely, let it stew gently till vegetables are ready to
mash and the greater part of the gravy is absorbed; then place in a
dish; serve it up hot.

MUTTON PUDDING.

Line a two-quart pudding basin with some beef suet paste; fill
the lining with thick mutton cutlets, slightly trimmed, or, if
preferred, with steaks cut from the leg; season with pepper and
salt some parsley, a little thyme and two slices of onion chopped
fine, and between each layer of meat, put some slices of potatoes.
When the pudding is filled, wet the edges of the paste around the
top of the basin, and cover with a piece of paste rolled out the
size of the basin. Fasten down the edge by bearing all around with
the thumb; and then with the thumb and forefinger twist the edges
of the paste over so as to give it a corded appearance. This
pudding can be set in a steamer and steamed, or boiled. The time
required for cooking is about three hours. When done, turn it out
carefully on a platter and serve with a rich gravy under it.

This is a very good recipe for cooking small birds.

SCRAMBLED MUTTON.

Two cups of chopped cold mutton, two tablespoonfuls of hot
water, and a piece of butter as large as an English walnut. When
the meat is hot, break in three eggs, and constantly stir until the
eggs begin to stiffen. Season with pepper and salt.

SCALLOPED MUTTON AND TOMATOES.

Over the bottom of an earthen baking-dish place a layer of bread
crumbs, and over it alternate layers of cold roast mutton cut in
thin slices, and tomatoes peeled and sliced; season each with salt,
pepper and bits of butter, as laid in. The top layer should be of
tomatoes, spread over with bread crumbs. Bake three-quarters of an
hour, and serve immediately.

LAMB SWEETBREADS AND TOMATO SAUCE.

Lamb sweetbreads are not always procurable, but a stroll through
the markets occasionally reveals a small lot of them, which can
invariably be had at a low price, owing to their excellence being
recognized by but few buyers. Wash them well in salted water and
parboil fifteen minutes; when cool, trim neatly and put them in a
pan with just butter enough to prevent their burning; toss them
about until a delicate color; season with salt and pepper and
serve, surrounded with tomato sauce. (See SAUCES.)

ROAST QUARTER OF LAMB.

Procure a nice hind-quarter, remove some of the fat that is
around the kidney, skewer the lower joint up to the fillet, place
it in a moderate oven, let it heat through slowly, then dredge it
with salt and flour; quicken the fire, put half a pint of water
into the dripping-pan, with a teaspoonful of salt. With this liquor
baste the meat occasionally; serve with lettuce, green peas and
mint sauce.

A quarter of lamb weighing seven or eight pounds will require
two hours to roast.

A breast of lamb roasted is very sweet and is considered by many
as preferable to hind-quarter. It requires nearly as long a time to
roast as the quarter, and should be served in the same manner.

Make the gravy from the drippings, thickened with flour.

The mint sauce is made as follows: Take fresh, young spearmint
leaves stripped from stems; wash and drain them or dry on a cloth,
chop very fine, put in a gravy tureen, and to three tablespoonfuls
of mint add two of finely powdered cut-loaf sugar; mix, and let it
stand a few minutes, then pour over it six tablespoonfuls good
cider or white-wine vinegar. The sauce should be made some time
before dinner, so that the flavor of the mint may be well
extracted.

TO BROIL THE FORE-QUARTER OF LAMB.

Take off the shoulder and lay it upon the gridiron with the
breast; cut in two parts, to facilitate its cooking; put a tin
sheet on top of the meat, and a weight upon that; turn the meat
around frequently to prevent its burning; turn over as soon as
cooked on one side; renew the coals occasionally, that all parts
may cook alike; when done, season with butter, pepper and
salt—exactly like beefsteak. It takes some time to broil it
well; but when done it will be found to be equal to broiled
chicken, the flavor being more delicate than when cooked otherwise.
Serve with cream sauce, made as follows: Heat a tablespoonful of
butter in a saucepan, add a teaspoonful of flour and stir until
perfectly smooth; then add, slowly stirring in, a cup of cold milk;
let it boil up once, and season to taste with salt and pepper and a
teaspoonful of finely chopped fresh parsley. Serve in a gravy boat,
all hot.

LAMB STEW.

Cut up the lamb into small pieces (after removing all the fat)
say about two inches square. Wash it well and put it over the fire,
with just enough cold water to cover it well, and let it heat
gradually. It should stew gently until it is partly done; then add
a few thin slices of salt pork, one or two onions sliced up fine,
some pepper and salt if needed, and two or three raw potatoes cut
up into inch pieces. Cover it closely and stew until the meat is
tender. Drop in a few made dumplings, made like short biscuit, cut
out very small. Cook fifteen minutes longer. Thicken the
gravy with a little flour moistened with milk. Serve.

PRESSED LAMB.

The meat, either shoulder or leg, should be put to boil in the
morning with water just enough to cover it; when tender, season
with salt and pepper, then keep it over the fire until very
tender and the juice nearly boiled out. Remove it from the
fire-place in a wooden chopping bowl, season more if necessary,
chop it up like hash. Place it in a bread-pan, press out all the
juice, and put it in a cool place to harden. The pressing is
generally done by placing a dish over the meat and putting a
flat-iron upon that. Nice cut up cold into thin slices, and the
broth left from the meat would make a nice soup served with it,
adding vegetables and spices.

CROQUETTES OF ODDS AND ENDS.

These are made of any scraps or bits of good food that happen to
be left from one or more meals, and in such small quantities that
they cannot be warmed up separately. As, for example, a couple of
spoonfuls of frizzled beef and cream, the lean meat of one mutton
chop, one spoonful of minced beef, two cold hard-boiled eggs, a
little cold chopped potato, a little mashed potato, a chick’s leg,
all the gristle and hard outside taken from the meat. These things
well chopped and seasoned, mixed with one raw egg, a little flour
and butter, and boiling water; then made into round cakes, thick
like fish-balls and browned well with butter in a frying pan or on
a griddle.

Scraps of hash, cold rice, boiled oatmeal left from breakfast,
every kind of fresh meat, bits of salt tongue, bacon, pork or ham,
bits of poultry, and crumbs of bread may be used. They should be
put together with care, so as not to have them too dry to be
palatable, or too moist to cook in shape. Most housekeepers would
be surprised at the result, making an addition to the breakfast or
lunch table. Serve on small squares of buttered toast, and with
cold celery if in season.

PORK.

The best parts, and those usually used for roasting, are the
loin, the leg, the shoulder, the sparerib and chine. The hams,
shoulders and middlings are usually salted, pickled and smoked.
Pork requires more thorough cooking than most meats; if the least
underdone it is unwholesome.

To choose pork: If the rind is thick and tough, and cannot be
easily impressed with the finger, it is old; when fresh, it will
look cool and smooth, and only corn-fed pork is good; swill or
still-fed pork is unfit to cure. Fresh pork is in season from
October to April. When dressing or stuffing is used, there are more
or less herbs used for seasoning—sage, summer savory, thyme
and sweet marjoram; these can be found (in the dried, pulverized
form, put up in small, light packages) at most of the best
druggists; still those raised and gathered at home are considered
more fresh.

ROAST PIG.

Prepare your dressing as for DRESSING FOR FOWLS, adding half an
onion, chopped fine; set it inside. Take a young pig about six
weeks old, wash it thoroughly inside and outside; and in another
water put a teaspoonful of baking soda, and rinse out the inside
again; wipe it dry with a fresh towel, salt the inside and stuff it
with the prepared dressing; making it full and plump, giving it its
original size and shape. Sew it up, place it in a kneeling posture
in the dripping-pan, tying the legs in proper position. Pour a
little hot salted water into the dripping-pan, baste with butter
and water a few times as the pig warms, afterwards with gravy from
the dripping-pan. When it begins to smoke all over rub it often
with a rag dipped in melted butter. This will keep the skin from
cracking and it still will be crisp. It will take from two to three
hours to roast. Make the gravy by skimming off most of the grease;
stir into that remaining in the pan a good tablespoonful of flour,
turn in water to make it the right consistency, season with pepper
and let all boil up once. Strain, and if you like wine in it, add
half a glass; turn it into a gravy boat. Place the pig upon a
large, hot platter, surrounded with parsley or celery tops; place a
green wreath around the neck, and a sprig of celery in its mouth.
In carving, cut off its head first; split down the back, take off
its hams and shoulders, and separate the ribs.

ROAST LOIN OF PORK.

Score the skin in strips about a quarter of an inch apart; place
it in a dripping-pan with a very little water under it; cook
it moderately at first, as a high heat hardens the rind before the
meat is heated through. If it is very lean, it should be rubbed
with fresh lard or butter when put into the pan. A stuffing might
be made of bread crumbs, chopped sage and onions, pepper and salt,
and baked separately on a pie dish; this method is better than
putting it in the meat, as many persons have a great aversion to
its flavor. A loin weighing about six pounds will roast in two
hours; allow more time if it should be very fat. Make a gravy with
flour stirred into the pork drippings. Serve with apple sauce and
pickles.

ROAST LEG OF PORK.

Choose a small leg of fine young pork; cut a slit in the knuckle
with a sharp knife, and fill the space with sage and onion chopped,
[Pg 146]and a little pepper and salt. When half done, score
the skin in slices, but do not cut deeper than the outer rind.
Apple sauce and potatoes should be served with it. The gravy is to
be made the same way as for beef roast, by turning off all the
superfluous fat and adding a spoonful of flour stirred with a
little water; add water to make the right consistency. Serve in a
gravy boat.

BOILED LEG OF PORK.

For boiling, choose a small, compact, well-filled leg, and rub
it well with salt; let it remain in pickle for a week or ten days,
turning and rubbing it every day. An hour before dressing it put it
into cold water for an hour, which improves the color. If the pork
is purchased ready salted, ascertain how long the meat has been in
pickle and soak it accordingly. Put it into a boiling-pot, with
sufficient cold water to cover it, let it gradually come to a boil,
and remove the scum as it rises. Simmer it very gently until
tender, and do not allow it to boil fast, or the knuckle will fall
to pieces before the middle of the leg is done. Carrots, turnips or
parsnips may be boiled with the pork, some of which should be laid
around the dish as a garnish.

Time.—A leg of pork weighing eight pounds, three
hours after the water boils, and to be simmered very gently.

FRESH PORK POT-PIE.

Boil a sparerib, after removing all the fat and cracking the
bones, until tender; remove the scum as it rises, and when tender
season with salt and pepper; half an hour before time for serving
the dinner thicken the gravy with a little flour. Have ready
another kettle, into which remove all the bones and most of the
gravy, leaving only sufficient to cover the pot half an inch above
the rim that rests on the stove; put in the crust, cover tight, and
boil steadily forty-five minutes. To prepare the crust, work into
light dough a small bit of butter, roll it out thin, cut it
in small, square cakes, and lay them on the moulding-board until
very light. No steam should possibly escape while the crust is
cooking, and by no means allow the pot to cease boiling.

ROAST SPARERIB.

Trim off the rough ends neatly, crack the ribs across the
middle, rub with salt and sprinkle with pepper, fold over, stuff
with turkey [Pg 147]dressing, sew up tightly, place in a dripping-pan
with a pint of water, baste frequently, turning over once so as to
bake both sides equally until a rich brown.

PORK TENDERLOINS.

The tenderloins are unlike any other part of the pork in flavor.
They may be either fried or broiled; the latter being drier,
require to be well-buttered before serving, which should be done on
a hot platter before the butter becomes oily. Fry them in a little
lard, turning them to have them cooked through; when done, remove,
and keep hot while making a gravy by dredging a little flour into
the hot fat; if not enough add a little butter or lard, stir until
browned, and add a little milk or cream, stir briskly, and pour
over the dish. A little Worcestershire sauce may be added to the
gravy if desired.

PORK CUTLETS.

Cut them from the leg, and remove the skin; trim them and beat
them, and sprinkle on salt and pepper. Prepare some beaten egg in a
pan, and on a flat dish a mixture of bread crumbs, minced onion and
sage. Put some lard or drippings into a frying pan over the fire,
and when it boils put in the cutlets, having dipped every one first
in the egg, and then in the seasoning. Fry them twenty or thirty
minutes, turning them often. After you have taken them out of the
frying pan, skim the gravy, dredge in a little flour, give it one
boil, and then pour it on the dish round the cutlets.

Have apple sauce to eat with them.

Pork cutlets prepared in this manner may be stewed instead of
being fried. Add to them a little water, and stew them slowly till
thoroughly done, keeping them closely covered, except when you
remove the lid to skim them.

PORK CHOPS AND FRIED APPLES.

Season the chops with salt and pepper and a little powdered
sage; dip them into bread crumbs. Fry about twenty minutes or until
they are done. Put them on a hot dish; pour off part of the gravy
into another pan to make a gravy to serve with them, if you choose.
Then fry apples which you have sliced about two-thirds of an inch
thick, cutting them around the apple so that the core is in
[Pg 148]the centre of each piece; then cut out the core.
When they are browned on one side and partly cooked, turn them
carefully with a pancake turner, and finish cooking; dish around
the chops or on a separate dish.

FRIED PORK CHOPS.

Fry them the same as mutton chops. If a sausage flavor is liked,
sprinkle over them a little powdered sage or summer savory, pepper
and salt, and if a gravy is liked, skim off some of the fat in the
pan and stir in a spoonful of flour; stir it until free from lumps,
then season with pepper and salt and turn in a pint of sweet milk.
Boil up and serve in a gravy boat.

PORK PIE.

Make a good plain paste. Take from two and a half to three
pounds of the thick ends of a loin of pork, with very little fat on
it; cut into very thin slices three inches long by two inches wide;
put a layer at the bottom of a pie-dish. Wash and chop finely a
handful of parsley, also an onion. Sprinkle a small portion of
these over the pork, and a little pepper and salt. Add another
layer of pork, and over that some more of the seasoning, only be
sparing of the nutmeg. Continue this till the dish is full. Now
pour into the dish a cupful of stock or water, and a spoonful or
two of catsup. Put a little paste around the edge of the dish; put
on the cover and place the pie in a rather hot oven. When the paste
has risen and begins to take color, place the pie at the bottom of
the oven, with some paper over it, as it will require to be baked
at least two hours. Some prefer to cook the meat until partly done,
before putting into the crust.

PORK POT-PIE.

Take pieces of ribs of lean salt pork, also a slice or two of
the fat of salt pork; scald it well with hot water so as to wash
out the briny taste. Put it into a kettle and cover it with cold
water, enough for the required want. Cover it and boil an hour,
season with pepper; then add half a dozen potatoes cut into
quarters. When it all commences to boil again, drop in dumplings
made from this recipe:—

One pint of sour or buttermilk, two eggs, well beaten, a
teaspoonful of salt, a level teaspoonful of soda; dissolve in a
spoonful of water as much flour as will make a very stiff batter.
Drop this into the kettle or broth by spoonfuls, and cook forty
minutes, closely covered.

PORK AND BEANS. (Baked.)

Take two quarts of white beans, pick them over the night before,
put to soak in cold water; in the morning put them in fresh water
and let them scald, then turn off the water and put on more, hot;
put to cook with them a piece of salt pork, gashed, as much as
would make five or six slices; boil slowly till soft (not mashed),
then add a tablespoonful of molasses, half a teaspoonful of soda,
stir in well, put in a deep pan, and bake one hour and a half. If
you do not like to use pork, salt the beans when boiling, and add a
lump of butter when preparing them for the oven.

BOSTON PORK AND BEANS.

Pick over carefully a quart of small, white beans; let them soak
over night in cold water; in the morning wash and drain in another
water. Put on to boil in plenty of cold water with a piece of soda
the size of a bean; let them come to a boil, then drain again,
cover with water once more, and boil them fifteen minutes, or until
the skin of the beans will crack when taken out and blown upon.
Drain the beans again, put them into an earthen pot, adding a
tablespoonful of salt; cover with hot water, place in the centre a
pound of salt pork, first scalding it with hot water, and scoring
the rind across the top, a quarter of an inch apart to indicate
where the slices are to be cut. Place the pot in the oven, and bake
six hours or longer. Keep the oven a moderate heat; add hot water
from the tea-kettle as needed, on account of evaporation, to keep
the beans moist. When the meat becomes crisp and looks cooked,
remove it, as too long baking the pork destroys its solidity.

FRIED SALT PORK.

Cut in thin slices, and freshen in cold water, roll in flour,
and fry crisp. If required quickly pour boiling water over the
slices, let stand a few minutes, drain and roll in flour as before;
drain off most of the grease from the frying pan; stir in while hot
one or two tablespoonfuls of flour, about half a pint of milk, a
little pepper, and salt if over freshened; let it boil, and pour
into a gravy dish. A teaspoonful of finely-chopped parsley will add
pleasantly to the appearance of the gravy.

GRILLED SALT PORK.

Take quite thin slices of the thick part of side pork, of a
clear white, and thinly streaked with lean; hold one on a toasting
fork before a brisk fire to grill; have at hand a dish of cold
water, in which immerse it frequently while cooking, to remove the
superfluous fat and render it more delicate. Put each slice as
cooked in a warm covered pan; when all are done, serve hot.

FRIED HAM AND EGGS.

Cut slices of ham quite thin, cut off the rind or skin, put them
into a hot frying pan, turning them often until crisp, taking care
not to burn the slices; three minutes will cook them well. Dish
them on a hot platter; then turn off the top of the grease, rinse
out the pan, and put back the clear grease to fry the eggs. Break
the eggs separately in a saucer, that in case a bad one should be
among them it may not mix with the rest. Slip each egg gently into
the frying pan. Do not turn them while they are frying, put keep
pouring some of the hot lard over them with a kitchen spoon; this
will do them sufficiently on the upper side. They will be done
enough in about three minutes; the white must retain its
transparency so that the yolk will be seen through it. When done
take them up with a tin slice; drain off the lard, and if any part
of the white is discolored or ragged, trim it off. Lay a fried egg
upon each slice of the ham, and send to table hot.

COLD BACON AND EGGS.

An economical way of using bacon and eggs that have been left
from a previous meal is to put them in a wooden bowl and chop them
quite fine, adding a little mashed or cold chopped potato, and a
little bacon gravy, if any was left. Mix and mould it into little
balls, roll in raw egg and cracker crumbs, and fry in a spider the
same as frying eggs; fry a light brown on both sides. Serve hot.
Very appetizing.

SCRAPPEL.

Scrappel is a most palatable dish. Take the head, heart and any
lean scraps of pork, and boil until the flesh slips easily from the
bones. Remove the fat, gristle and bones, then chop fine. Set the
liquor in which the meat was boiled aside until cold, take the cake
of fat from the surface and return to the fire. When it boils put
in the chopped [Pg 151]meat and season well with pepper and
salt. Let it boil again, then thicken with corn meal as you would
in making ordinary corn meal mush, by letting it slip through the
fingers slowly to prevent lumps. Cook an hour, stirring constantly
at first, afterwards putting back on the range in a position to
boil gently. When done, pour into a long, square pan, not too deep,
and mould. In cold weather this can be kept several weeks. Cut into
slices when cold, and fried brown, as you do mush, is a cheap and
delicious breakfast dish.

TO BAKE A HAM. (Corned.)

Take a medium-sized ham and place it to soak for ten or twelve
hours. Then cut away the rusty part from underneath, wipe it dry,
and cover it rather thickly over with a paste made of flour and
water. Put it into an earthen dish, and set it in a moderately
heated oven. When done, take off the crust carefully, and peel off
the skin, put a frill of cut paper around the knuckle, and raspings
of bread over the fat of the ham, or serve it glazed and garnished
with cut vegetables. It will take about four or five hours to bake
it.

Cooked in this way the flavor is much finer than when
boiled.

PIGS’ FEET PICKLED.

Take twelve pigs’ feet, scrape and wash them clean, put them
into a saucepan with enough hot (not boiling) water to cover them.
When partly done, salt them. It requires four to five hours to boil
them soft. Pack them in a stone crock, and pour over them spiced
vinegar made hot. They will be ready to use in a day or two. If you
wish them for breakfast, split them, make a batter of two eggs, a
cup of milk, salt, a teaspoonful of butter, with flour enough to
make a thick batter; dip each piece in this and fry in hot lard.
Or, dip them in beaten egg and flour and fry. Souse is good eaten
cold or warm.

BOILED HAM.

First remove all dust and mold by wiping with a coarse cloth;
soak it for an hour in cold water, then wash it thoroughly. Cut
with a sharp knife the hardened surface from the base and butt of
the ham. Place it over the fire in cold water, and let it
come to a moderate boil, keeping it steadily at this point,
allowing it to cook twenty minutes for every pound of meat. A ham
weighing twelve pounds will require [Pg
152]four hours to cook
properly, as underdone ham is very unwholesome. When the ham is to
be served hot, remove the skin by pealing it off, place it on a
platter, the fat side up, and dot the surface with spots of black
pepper. Stick in also some whole cloves.

If the ham is to be served cold, allow it to remain in the pot
until the water in which it was cooked becomes cold. This makes it
more juicy. Serve it in the same manner as when served hot.

BROILED HAM.

Cut your ham into thin slices, which should be a little less
than one quarter of an inch thick. Trim very closely the skin from
the upper side of each slice, and also trim off the outer edge
where the smoke has hardened the meat. If the ham is very salt lay
it in cold water for one hour before cooking, then wipe with
a dry cloth. Never soak ham in tepid or hot water, as it will
toughen the meat.

Broil over a brisk fire, turning the slices constantly. It will
require about five minutes, and should be served the last thing
directly from the gridiron, placed on a warm platter, with a little
butter and a sprinkle of pepper on the top of each slice. If ham or
bacon is allowed to stand by the fire after it has been broiled or
fried, it will speedily toughen, loosing all its grateful
juices.

Cold boiled ham is very nice for broiling, and many prefer it to
using the raw ham.

POTTED HAM.

To TWO pounds of lean ham allow one pound of fat, two
teaspoonfuls of powdered mace, half a nutmeg, grated, rather more
than half a teaspoonful of cayenne.

Mode.—Mince the ham, fat and lean together, in the
above proportion, and pound it well in a mortar, seasoning it with
cayenne pepper, pounded mace and nutmeg; put the mixture into a
deep baking-dish, and bake for half an hour; then press it well
into a stone jar, fill up the jar with clarified lard, cover it
closely, and paste over it a piece of thick paper. If well
seasoned, it will keep a long time in winter, and will be found
very convenient for sandwiches, etc.

BOLOGNA SAUSAGE. (Cooked.)

Two POUNDS of lean pork, two pounds of lean veal, two pounds of
fresh lean beef, two pounds of fat salt pork, one pound of beef
suet, [Pg 153]ten tablespoonfuls of powdered sage, one ounce each
of parsley, savory, marjoram and thyme mixed. Two teaspoonfuls of
cayenne pepper, the same of black, one grated nutmeg, one
teaspoonful of cloves, one minced onion, salt to taste. Chop or
grind the meat and suet; season, and stuff into beef skins; tie
these up, prick each in several places to allow the escape of
steam; put into hot, not boiling, water, and heat gradually to the
boiling point. Cook slowly for one hour; take out the skins and lay
them to dry in the sun, upon clean sweet straw or hay. Rub the
outside of the skins with oil or melted butter, and place in a
cool, dry cellar. If you wish to keep them more than a week, rub
ginger or pepper on the outside, then wash it off before using.
This is eaten without further cooking. Cut in round slices and lay
sliced lemons around the edge of the dish, as many like to squeeze
a few drops upon the sausage before eating. These are very nice
smoked like hams.

COUNTRY PORK SAUSAGES.

Six pounds lean fresh pork, three pounds of chine fat, three
tablespoonfuls of salt, two of black pepper, four tablespoonfuls of
pounded and sifted sage, two of summer savory. Chop the lean and
fat pork finely, mix the seasoning in with your hands, taste to see
that it has the right flavor, then put them into cases, either the
cleaned intestines of the hog, or make long, narrow bags of stout
muslin, large enough to contain each enough sausage for a family
dish. Fill these with the meat, dip in melted lard, and hang them
in a cool, dry, dark place. Some prefer to pack the meat in jars,
pouring melted lard over it, covering the top, to be taken out as
wanted and made into small round cakes with the hands, then fried
brown. Many like spices added to the seasoning—cloves, mace
and nutmeg. This is a matter of taste.

TO FRY SAUSAGES.

Put a small piece of lard or butter into the frying pan. Prick
the sausages with a fork, lay them in the melted grease, keep
moving them about, turning them frequently to prevent bursting; in
ten or twelve minutes they will be sufficiently browned and cooked.
Another sure way to prevent the cases from bursting is to cover
them with cold water and let it come to the boiling point; turn off
the water and fry them. Sausages are nicely cooked by putting them
in a baking-pan them in the oven, turning them once or twice. In
this [Pg 154]way you avoid all smoke and disagreeable odor. A
pound will cook brown in ten minutes in a hot oven.

HEAD CHEESE.

Boil the forehead, ears and feet, and nice scraps trimmed from
the hams of a fresh pig, until the meat will almost drop from the
bones. Then separate the meat from the bones, put in a large
chopping-bowl, and season with pepper, salt, sage and summer
savory. Chop it rather coarsely; put it back in the same kettle it
was boiled in, with just enough of the liquor in which it was
boiled to prevent its burning; warm it through thoroughly, mixing
it well together. Now pour it into a strong muslin bag, press the
bag between two flat surfaces, with a heavy weight on top; when
cold and solid it can be cut in slices. Good cold, or warmed up in
vinegar.

TO CURE HAMS AND BACON. (A Prize Recipe.)

For each hundred pounds of hams, make a pickle of ten pounds of
salt, two pounds of brown sugar, two ounces of saltpetre, one ounce
of red pepper, and from four to four and a half gallons of water,
or just enough to cover the hams, after being packed in a
water-tight vessel, or enough salt to make a brine to float a fresh
egg high enough, that is to say, out of water. First rub the hams
with common salt and lay them into a tub. Take the above
ingredients, put them into a vessel over the fire, and heat it hot,
stirring it frequently; remove all the scum, allow it to boil ten
minutes, let it cool and pour over the meat. After laying in this
brine five or six weeks, take out, drain and wipe, and smoke from
two to three weeks. Small pieces of bacon may remain in this pickle
two weeks, which would be sufficient.

TO SMOKE HAMS AND FISH AT HOME.

Take an old hogshead, stop up all the crevices, and fix a place
to put a cross-stick near the bottom, to hang the article to be
smoked on. Next, in the side, cut a hole near the top, to introduce
an iron pan filled with hickory wood sawdust and small pieces of
green wood. Having turned the hogshead upside down, hang the
articles upon the cross-stick, introduce the iron pan in the
opening, and place a piece of red-hot iron in the pan, cover it
with sawdust, and all will be complete. Let a large ham remain ten
days, and keep up a good smoke. [Pg
155]The best way for
keeping hams is to sew them in coarse cloths, white-washed on the
outside.

TO CURE ENGLISH BACON.

This process is called the “dry cure,” and is considered far
preferable to the New England or Yankee style of putting prepared
brine or pickle over the meat. First the hog should not be too
large or too fat, weighing not over two hundred pounds, then after
it is dressed and cooled cut it up into proper pieces; allow to
every hundred pounds a mixture of four quarts of common salt, one
quarter of a pound of saltpetre and four pounds of sugar. Rub this
preparation thoroughly over and into each piece, then place them
into a tight tub or suitable cask; there will a brine form of
itself from the juices of the meat, enough at least to baste it
with, which should be done two or three times a week; turning each
piece every time.

In smoking this bacon, the sweetest flavor is derived from black
birch chips, but if these are not to be had, the next best wood is
hickory; the smoking with corn-cobs imparts a rank flavor to this
bacon, which is very distasteful to English people visiting this
country. It requires three weeks or a month to smoke this bacon
properly.

TO TRY OUT LARD.

Skin the leaf lard carefully, cut it into small pieces, and put
it into a kettle or saucepan; pour in a cupful of water to prevent
burning; set it over the fire where it will melt slowly. Stir it
frequently and let it simmer until nothing remains but brown
scraps. Remove the scraps with a perforated skimmer, throw in a
little salt to settle the fat, and, when clear, strain through a
coarse cloth into jars. Remember to watch it constantly, stirring
it from the bottom until the salt is thrown in to settle it; then
set it back on the range until clear. If it scorches it gives it a
very bad flavor.

SAUCES AND DRESSINGS.

DRAWN BUTTER.

Melted butter is the foundation of most of the common sauces.
Have a covered saucepan for this purpose. One lined with porcelain
will be best. Take a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter,
cut it up, and mix with it about one tablespoonful of flour. When
it is thoroughly mixed, put it into the saucepan, and add to it
half a teacupful of hot water. Cover the saucepan and set it in a
large tin pan of boiling water. Shake it round continually (always
moving it the same way) till it is entirely melted and begins to
simmer. Then let it rest till it boils up.

If you set it on too hot a fire it will be oily.

If the butter and flour are not well mixed, it will be
lumpy.

If you put in too much water, it will be thin and poor. All
these defects are to be carefully avoided.

In melting butter for sweet or pudding sauce, you may use milk
instead of water.

TARTARE SAUCE.

The raw yolks of two eggs, half a teacupful of pure olive oil,
three tablespoonfuls of vinegar, one of made mustard, one
teaspoonful of sugar, a quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper, one
teaspoonful of salt, one of onion juice, one tablespoonful of
chopped capers, one of chopped cucumber pickle. Put together the
same as mayonnaise dressing, adding the chopped ingredients the
last thing.

This sauce is good for fried or boiled fish, boiled tongue, fish
salad, and may be used with fried and broiled meats.

EGG SAUCE, OR WHITE SAUCE.

Mix two tablespoonfuls of sifted flour with half a teacup of
warm butter. Place over the fire a saucepan containing a pint of
sweet milk and a saltspoon of salt, and a dash of white pepper;
when it [Pg 157]reaches the boiling point, add the butter and flour,
stirring briskly until it thickens and becomes like cream. Have
ready three cold hard-boiled eggs, sliced and chopped, add them to
the sauce; let them heat through thoroughly, and serve in a boat.
If you have plenty of cream, use it and omit the butter. By
omitting the eggs, you have the same as “White Sauce.”

OYSTER SAUCE.

Take a pint of oysters and heat them in their own liquor long
enough to come to a boil, or until they begin to ruffle. Skim out
the oysters into a warm dish, put into the liquor a teacup of milk
or cream, two tablespoonfuls of cold butter, a pinch of cayenne and
salt; thicken with a tablespoonful of flour stirred to a paste,
boil up and then add the oysters.

Oyster sauce is used for fish, boiled turkey, chickens and
boiled white meats of most kinds.

LOBSTER SAUCE.

Put the coral and spawn of a boiled lobster into a mortar with a
tablespoonful of butter; pound it to a smooth mass, then rub it
through a sieve; melt nearly a quarter of a pound of sweet butter,
with a wine-glass of water or vinegar; add a teaspoonful of made
mustard, stir in the coral and spawn, and a little salt and pepper;
stir it until it is smooth and serve. Some of the meat of the
lobster may be chopped fine and stirred into it.

SAUCE FOR SALMON AND OTHER FISH.

One cupful of milk heated to a boil and thickened with a
tablespoonful of cornstarch previously wet up with cold water, the
liquor from the salmon, one great spoonful of butter, one raw egg
beaten light, the juice of half a lemon, mace and cayenne pepper to
taste. Add the egg to thickened milk when you have stirred in the
butter and liquor; take from the fire, season and let it stand in
hot water three minutes, covered. Lastly put in lemon juice and
turn out immediately. Pour it all over and around the salmon.

SAUCE FOR BOILED COD.

To one gill of boiling water add as much milk; stir into this
while boiling two tablespoonfuls of butter gradually, one
tablespoonful of [Pg 158]flour wet up with cold water; as it
thickens, the chopped yolk of one boiled egg, and one raw egg
beaten light. Take directly from the fire, season with pepper,
salt, a little chopped parsley and the juice of one lemon, and set
covered in boiling water (but not over fire) five minutes, stirring
occasionally. Pour part of the sauce over fish when dished; the
rest in a boat. Serve mashed potatoes with it.

FISH SAUCE. No. 1.

Make a pint of drawn butter, add one tablespoonful of pepper
sauce or Worcestershire sauce, a little salt and six hard-boiled
eggs chopped fine. Pour over boiled fish and garnish with sliced
lemon.

Very nice.

FISH SAUCE. No. 2.

Half a cupful of melted butter, half a cupful of vinegar, two
tablespoonfuls of tomato catsup, salt, and a tablespoonful of made
mustard. Boil ten minutes.

CELERY SAUCE.

Mix two tablespoonfuls of flour with half a teacupful of butter;
have ready a pint of boiling milk; stir the flour and butter into
the milk; take three heads of celery, cut into small bits, and boil
for a few minutes in water, which strain off; put the celery into
the melted butter, and keep it stirred over the fire for five or
ten minutes. This is very nice with boiled fowl or turkey. Another
way to make celery sauce is: Boil a head of celery until quite
tender, then put it through a sieve; put the yolk of an egg in a
basin, and beat it well with the strained juice of a lemon; add the
celery and a couple of spoonfuls of liquor in which the turkey was
boiled; salt and pepper to taste.

CAPER SAUCE.

Chop the capers a very little, unless quite small; make half a
pint of drawn butter, to which add the capers, with a large
spoonful of the juice from the bottle in which they are sold; let
it just simmer and serve in a tureen. Nasturtiums much resemble
capers in taste, though larger, and may be used, and, in fact, are
preferred by many. They are grown on a climbing vine, and are
cultivated for their blossom and for pickling. When used as capers
they should be chopped [Pg
159]more. If neither
capers nor nasturtiums are at hand, some pickles chopped up form a
very good substitute in the sauce.

BREAD SAUCE.

One cup of stale bread crumbs, one onion, two ounces of butter,
pepper and salt, a little mace. Cut the onion fine, and boil it in
milk till quite soft; then strain the milk on to the stale bread
crumbs, and let it stand an hour. Put it in a saucepan with the
boiled onion, pepper, salt and mace. Give it a boil, and serve in
sauce tureen. This sauce can also be used for grouse, and is very
nice. Roast partridges are nice served with bread crumbs, fried
brown in butter, with cranberry or currant jelly laid beside them
in the platter.

TOMATO SAUCE.

Take a quart can of tomatoes, put it over the fire in a stewpan,
put in one slice of onion and two cloves, a little pepper and salt;
boil about twenty minutes; then remove from the fire and strain it
through a sieve. Now melt in another pan an ounce of butter, and as
it melts, sprinkle in a tablespoonful of flour; stir it until it
browns and froths a little. Mix the tomato pulp with it, and it is
ready for the table.

Excellent for mutton, chops, roast beef, etc.

ONION SAUCE.

Work together until light a heaping tablespoonful of flour and
half a cupful of butter, and gradually add two cups of boiling
milk; stir constantly until it come to a boil; then stir into that
four tender boiled onions that have been chopped fine. Salt and
pepper to taste. Serve with boiled veal, poultry of mutton.

CHILI SAUCE.

Boil together two dozen ripe tomatoes, three small green
peppers, or a half teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, one onion cut
fine, half a cup of sugar. Boil until thick; then add two cups of
vinegar; then strain the whole, set back on the fire and add a
tablespoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful each of ginger, allspice,
cloves and cinnamon; boil all five minutes, remove and seal in
glass bottles. This is very nice.

MINT SAUCE.

Take fresh young spearmint leaves stripped from the stems; wash
and drain them, or dry on a cloth. Chop very fine, put in a gravy
boat, and to three tablespoonfuls of mint put two of white sugar;
mix and let it stand a few minutes, then pour over it six
tablespoonfuls of good cider or white-wine vinegar. The sauce
should be made some time before it is to be used, so that the
flavor of the mint may be well extracted. Fine with roast lamb.

SHARP BROWN SAUCE.

Put in a saucepan one tablespoonful of chopped onion, three
tablespoonfuls of good cider vinegar, six tablespoonfuls of water,
three of tomato catsup, a little pepper and salt, half a cup of
melted butter, in which stir a tablespoonful of sifted flour; put
all together and boil until it thickens. This is most excellent
with boiled meats, fish and poultry.

BECHAMEL SAUCE.

Put three tablespoonfuls of butter in a saucepan; add three
tablespoonfuls of sifted flour, quarter of a teaspoonful of nutmeg,
ten peppercorns, a teaspoonful of salt; beat all well together;
then add to this three slices of onion, two slices of carrot, two
sprigs of parsley, two of thyme, a bay leaf and half a dozen
mushrooms cut up. Moisten the whole with a pint of stock or water
and a cup of sweet cream. Set it on the stove and cook slowly for
half an hour, watching closely that it does not burn; then strain
through a sieve. Most excellent with roast veal, meats and
fish.

MAITRE D’HOTEL SAUCE.

Make a teacupful of drawn butter; add to it the juice of a
lemon, two tablespoonfuls of minced onion, three tablespoonfuls of
chopped parsley, a teaspoonful of powdered thyme or summer savory,
a pinch of cayenne and salt. Simmer over the fire and stir well.
Excellent with all kinds of fish.

WINE SAUCE FOR GAME.

Half a glass of currant jelly, half a glass of port wine, half a
glass of water, a tablespoonful of cold butter, a teaspoonful of
salt, the juice of half a lemon, a pinch of cayenne pepper and
three cloves. Simmer all together a few minutes, adding the wine
after it is [Pg 161]strained. A few spoonfuls of the gravy from the
game may be added to it. This sauce is especially nice with
venison.

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE.

Half a teacupful of butter, the juice of half a lemon, the yolk
of two eggs, a speck of cayenne pepper, half a cupful of boiling
water, half a teaspoonful of salt; beat the butter to a cream, add
the yolks of eggs one by one; then the lemon juice, pepper and
salt, beating all thoroughly; place the bowl in which is the
mixture in a saucepan of boiling water; beat with an egg-beater
until it begins to thicken which will be in about a minute; then
add the boiling water, beating all the time; stir until it begins
to thicken like soft custard; stir a few minutes after taking from
the fire; be careful not to cook it too long. This is very nice
with baked fish.

CURRANT JELLY SAUCE.

Three tablespoonfuls of butter, one onion, one bay leaf, one
sprig of celery, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, half a cupful of
currant jelly, one tablespoonful of flour, one pint of stock, salt,
pepper. Cook the butter and onion until the latter begins to color.
Add the flour and herbs. Stir until brown; add the stock, and
simmer twenty minutes. Strain and skim off all the fat. Add the
jelly and stir over the fire until it is melted. Serve with
game.

BROWN SAUCE.

Delicious sauce for meats is made in this way: Slice a large
onion and fry in butter till it is brown; then cover the onion with
rich brown gravy, which is left from roast beef; add mustard, salt
and pepper, and if you choose a tablespoonful of Worcestershire
sauce; let this boil up, and if too thick, thin it with a little
stock or gravy, or even a little hot water with butter. Pour this
when done through a fine sieve. Of course a larger quantity can be
prepared at once than is mentioned here.

MUSHROOM SAUCE.

Wash a pint of small button mushrooms, remove the stems and
outside skins, stew them slowly in veal gravy or milk or cream,
adding an onion, and seasoning with pepper, salt and a little
butter rolled in [Pg 162]flour. Their flavor will be heightened
by salting a few the night before, to extract the juice. In
dressing mushrooms only those of a dull pearl color on the outside
and the under part tinged with pale pink should be selected. If
there is a poisonous one among them, the onion in the sauce will
turn black. In such a case throw the whole away. Used for poultry,
beef or fish.

APPLE SAUCE.

When you wish to serve apple sauce with meat prepare it in this
way: Cook the apples until they are very tender, then stir them
thoroughly so there will be no lumps at all; add the sugar and a
little gelatine dissolved in warm water, a tablespoonful in a pint
of sauce; pour the sauce into bowls, and when cold it will be stiff
like jelly, and can be turned out on a plate. Cranberry sauce can
be treated in the same way. Many prefer this to plain stewing.

Apples cooked in the following way look very pretty on a
tea-table, and are appreciated by the palate. Select firm, round
greenings; pare neatly and cut in halves; place in a shallow
stewpan with sufficient boiling water to cover them, and a cupful
of sugar to every six apples. Each half should cook on the bottom
of the pan, and be removed from the others so as not to injure its
shape. Stew slowly until the pieces are very tender; remove to a
dish carefully; boil the syrup half an hour longer; pour it over
the apples and eat cold. A few pieces of lemon boiled in the syrup
adds to the flavor. These sauces are a fine accompaniment to roast
pork or roast goose.

CIDER APPLE SAUCE.

Boil four quarts of new cider until it is reduced to two quarts;
then put into it enough pared and quartered apples to fill the
kettle; let the whole stew over a moderate fire four hours; add
cinnamon if liked. This sauce is very fine with almost any kind of
meat.

OLD-FASHIONED APPLE SAUCE.

Pare and chop a dozen medium-sized apples, put them in a deep
pudding-dish; sprinkle over them a heaping coffeecupful of sugar
and one of water. Place them in the oven and bake slowly two hours
or more, or until they are a deep red brown; quite as nice as
preserves.

CRANBERRY SAUCE.

One quart of cranberries, two cupfuls of sugar and a pint of
water. Wash the cranberries, then put them on the fire with the
water, but in a covered saucepan. Let them simmer until each
cranberry bursts open; then remove the cover of the saucepan, add
the sugar and let them all boil twenty minutes without the cover.
The cranberries must never be stirred from the time they are placed
on the fire. This is an unfailing recipe for a most delicious
preparation of cranberries. Very fine with turkey and game.

APPLE OMELET.

Apple omelet, to be served with broiled sparerib or roast pork,
is very delicate. Take nine large, tart apples, four, eggs, one cup
of sugar, one tablespoonful of butter; add cinnamon or other spices
to suit your taste; stew the apples till they are very soft; mash
them so that there will be no lumps; add the butter and sugar while
they are still warm; but let them cool before putting in the beaten
eggs; bake this till it is brown; you may put it all in a shallow
pudding-dish or in two tin plates to bake. Very good.

FLAVORED VINEGARS.

Almost all the flavorings used for meats and salads may be
prepared in vinegar with little trouble and expense, and will be
found useful to impart an acid to flavors when lemons are not at
hand.

Tarragon, sweet basil, burnet, green mint, sage, thyme, sweet
marjoram, etc., may be prepared by putting three ounces of either
of these herbs, when in blossom, into one gallon of sharp vinegar,
let stand ten days, strain off clear, and bottle for use.

Celery and cayenne may be prepared, using three ounces of the
seed as above.

CUCUMBER VINEGAR.

Ingredients.—Ten large cucumbers, or twelve smaller
ones, one quart of vinegar, two onions, two shallots, one
tablespoonful of salt, two tablespoonfuls of pepper, a quarter of a
teaspoonful of cayenne.

Mode.—Pare and slice the cucumbers, put them in a
stone jar, or wide-mouthed bottle, with the vinegar; slice the
onions and shallots, and add them, with all the other ingredients,
to the cucumbers. Let it stand four or five days; boil it all up,
and when cold, strain the [Pg
164]liquor through a
piece of muslin, and store it away in small bottles well sealed.
This vinegar is a very nice addition to gravies, hashes, etc., as
well as a great improvement to salads, or to eat with cold
meat.

CURRY POWDER.

To make curry powder, take one ounce of ginger, one ounce of
mustard, one ounce of pepper, three ounces of coriander seed, three
ounces of turmeric, half an ounce of cardamoms, one-quarter ounce
of cayenne pepper, one-quarter ounce of cinnamon, and one-quarter
ounce of cumin seed. Pound all these ingredients very fine in a
mortar; sift them and cork tight in a bottle.

This can be had ready prepared at most druggists, and it is much
less trouble to purchase it than to make it at home.

CURRY SAUCE.

One tablespoonful of butter, one of flour, one teaspoonful of
curry powder, one large slice of onion, one large cupful of stock,
salt and pepper to taste. Cut the onion fine, and fry brown in the
butter. Add the flour and curry powder. Stir for one minute, add
the stock and season with the salt and pepper. Simmer five minutes;
then strain and serve. This sauce can be served with a broil or
sauté of meat or fish.

TO BROWN BUTTER.

Put a lump of butter into a hot frying pan and toss it about
until it browns. Stir brown flour into it until it is smooth and
begins to boil. Use it for coloring gravies, and sauces for
meats.

TO BROWN FLOUR.

Spread flour upon a tin pie-plate, set it upon the stove or in a
very hot oven, and stir continually, after it begins to
color, until it is brown all through.

Keep it always on hand; put away in glass jars covered closely.
It is excellent for coloring and thickening many dishes.

TO MAKE MUSTARD.

Boil some vinegar; take four spoonfuls of mustard, half of a
teaspoonful of sugar, a saltspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of
melted butter; mix well.

FRENCH MUSTARD.

Three tablespoonfuls of mustard, one tablespoonful of granulated
sugar, well worked together, then beat in an egg until it is
smooth; add one teacupful of vinegar, a little at a time, working
it all smooth; then set on the stove and cook three or four
minutes, stirring all the time; when cool, add one tablespoonful of
the best olive oil, taking care to get it all thoroughly worked in
and smooth. You will find this very nice.

KITCHEN PEPPER.

Mix one ounce of ground ginger, half an ounce each of black
pepper, ground cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, one teaspoonful of
ground cloves, and six ounces of salt. Keep in a tightly corked
bottle.

PREPARED COCOANUT. (For Pies, Puddings, etc.)

To prepare cocoanut for future use, first cut a hole through the
meat at one of the holes in the end, draw off the milk, then loosen
the meat by pounding the nut well on all sides. Crack the nut and
take out the meat, and place the pieces of meat in a cool open oven
over night, or for a few hours, to dry; then grate it. If there is
more grated than is needed for present use, sprinkle it with sugar,
and spread out in a cool dry place. When dry enough put away in dry
cans or bottles. Will keep for weeks.

SPICES.

Ginger is the root of a shrub first known in Asia, and now
cultivated in the West Indies and Sierra Leone. The stem grows
three or four feet high and dies every year. There are two
varieties of ginger—the white and black—caused by
taking more or less care in selecting and preparing the roots,
which are always dug in winter, when the stems are withered. The
white is the best.

Cinnamon is the inner bark of a beautiful tree, a native
of Ceylon, that grows from twenty to thirty feet in height and
lives to be centuries old.

Cloves.—Native to the Molucca Islands, and so
called from resemblance to a nail (clavis). The East Indians
call them “changkek” from the Chinese “techengkia” (fragrant
nails). They grow on a straight, smooth-barked tree, about forty
feet high. Cloves are not fruits, but blossoms, gathered before
they are quite unfolded.

Allspice.—A berry so called because it combines the
flavor of several spices—grows abundantly on the allspice or
bayberry tree; native of South America and the West Indies. A
single tree has been known to produce one hundred and fifty pounds
of berries. They are purple when ripe.

Black pepper is made by grinding the dried berry of a
climbing vine, native to the East Indies. White pepper is obtained
from the same berries, freed from their husk or rind. Red or
cayenne pepper is obtained by grinding the scarlet pod or
seed-vessel of a tropical plant that is now cultivated in all parts
of the world.

Nutmeg is the kernel of a small, smooth, pear-shaped
fruit that grows on a tree in the Molucca Islands, and other parts
of the East. The trees commence bearing in the seventh year, and
continue fruitful until they are seventy or eighty years old.
Around the nutmeg or kernel is a bright, brown shell. This shell
has a soft, scarlet covering, which, when flattened out and dried,
is known as mace. The best nutmegs are solid, and emit oil when
pricked with a pin.

HERBS FOR WINTER.

To prepare herbs for winter use, such as sage, summer savory,
thyme, mint or any of the sweet herbs, they should be gathered
fresh in their season, or procure them from the market. Examine
them well, throwing out all poor sprigs; then wash and shake them;
tie into small bundles, and tie over the bundles a piece of netting
or old lace (to keep off the dust); hang up in a warm, dry place,
the leaves downward. In a few days the herb will be thoroughly dry
and brittle. Or you may place them in a cool oven and let them
remain in it until perfectly dry. Then pick off all the leaves and
the tender tops of the stems; put them in a clean, large-mouthed
bottle that is perfectly dry. When wanted for use, rub fine, and
sift through a sieve. It is much better to put them in bottles as
soon as dried, as long exposure to the air causes them to lose
strength and flavor.

MEATS AND THEIR ACCOMPANIMENTS.

With roast beef: tomato sauce, grated horse-radish, mustard,
cranberry sauce, pickles.

With roast pork: apple sauce, cranberry sauce.

With roast veal: tomato sauce, mushroom sauce, onion sauce and
cranberry sauce. Horse-radish and lemons are good.

With roast mutton: currant jelly, caper sauce.

With boiled mutton: onion sauce, caper sauce.

With boiled fowls: bread sauce, onion sauce, lemon sauce,
cranberry sauce, jellies. Also cream sauce. With roast lamb: mint
sauce.

With roast turkey: cranberry sauce, currant jelly. With boiled
turkey: oyster sauce.

With venison or wild ducks: cranberry sauce, currant jelly, or
currant jelly warmed with port wine.

With roast goose: apple sauce, cranberry sauce, grape or currant
jelly.

With boiled fresh mackerel: stewed gooseberries.

With boiled blue fish: white cream sauce, lemon sauce.

With broiled shad: mushroom sauce, parsley or egg sauce.

With fresh salmon: green peas, cream sauce.

Pickles are good with all roast meats, and in fact are suitable
accompaniments to all kinds of meats in general.

Spinach is the proper accompaniment to veal; green peas to lamb.
Lemon juice makes a very grateful addition to nearly all the
insipid members of the fish kingdom. Slices of lemon cut into very
small dice and stirred into drawn butter and allowed to come to the
boiling point, served with fowls, is a fine accompaniment.

VEGETABLES APPROPRIATE TO DIFFERENT DISHES.

Potatoes are good with all meats. With fowls they are nicest
mashed. Sweet potatoes are most appropriate with roast meats, as
also are onions, winter squash, cucumbers and asparagus.

Carrots, parsnips, turnips, greens and cabbage are generally
eaten with boiled meat, and corn, beets, peas and beans are
appropriate to either boiled or roasted meat. Mashed turnip is good
with roast pork and with boiled meats. Tomatoes are good with
almost every kind of meats, especially with roasts.

WARM DISHES FOR BREAKFAST.

The following of hot breakfast dishes may be of assistance in
knowing what to provide for the comfortable meal called
breakfast.

Broiled beefsteak, broiled chops, broiled chicken, broiled fish,
broiled quail on toast, fried pork tenderloins, fried pig’s feet,
fried oysters, fried clams, fried liver and bacon, fried chops,
fried pork, ham and eggs fried, veal cutlets breaded, sausages,
fricasseed tripe, fricasseed kidneys, turkey or chicken hash, corn
beef hash, beef croquettes, codfish balls, creamed codfish, stewed
meats on toast, poached eggs on toast, omelettes, eggs boiled
plain, and eggs cooked in any of the various styles.

VEGETABLES FOR BREAKFAST.

Potatoes in any of the various modes of cooking, also stewed
tomatoes, stewed corn, raw radishes, cucumbers sliced, tomatoes
sliced raw, water cress, lettuce.

To be included with the breakfast dishes: oatmeal mush, cracked
wheat, hominy or corn-meal mush, these with cream, milk and sugar
or syrup.

Then numberless varieties of bread can be selected, in form of
rolls, fritters, muffins, waffles, corn-cakes, griddle-cakes, etc.,
etc.

For beverages, coffee, chocolate and cocoa, or tea if one
prefers it; these are all suitable for the breakfast table.

When obtainable always have a vase of choice flowers on the
breakfast table; also some fresh fruit, if convenient.

SALADS.

Everything in the make-up of a salad should be of the freshest
material, the vegetables crisp and fresh, the oil or butter the
very best, meats, fowl and fish well cooked, pure cider or white
wine vinegar—in fact, every ingredient first class, to insure
success.

The vegetables used in salad are: Beet-root, onions, potatoes,
cabbage, lettuce, celery, cucumbers, lentils, haricots, winter
cress, peas, French beans, radish, cauliflower—all these may
be used judiciously in salad, if properly seasoned, according to
the following directions.

Chervil is a delicious salad herb, invariably found in all
salads prepared by a French gourmet. No man can be a true
epicure who is unfamiliar with this excellent herb. It may be
procured from the vegetable stands at Fulton and Washington markets
the year round. [Pg 169]Its leaves resemble parsley, but are
more divided, and a few of them added to a breakfast salad give a
delightful flavor.

Chervil Vinegar.—A few drops of this vinegar added
to fish sauces or salads is excellent, and well repays the little
trouble taken in its preparation. Half fill a bottle with fresh or
dry chervil leaves; fill the bottle with good vinegar and heat it
gently by placing it in warm water, which bring to boiling point;
remove from the fire; when cool cork, and in two weeks it will be
ready for use.

MAYONNAISE DRESSING.

Put the yolks of four fresh raw eggs, with two hard-boiled ones,
into a cold bowl. Rub these as smooth as possible before
introducing the oil; a good measure of oil is a tablespoonful to
each yolk of raw egg. All the art consists in introducing the oil
by degrees, a few drops at a time. You can never make a good salad
without taking plenty of time. When the oil is well mixed, and
assumes the appearance of jelly, put in two heaping teaspoonfuls of
dry table salt, one of pepper and one of made mustard. Never put in
salt and pepper before this stage of the process, because the salt
and pepper would coagulate the albumen of the eggs, and you could
not get the dressing smooth. Two tablespoonfuls of vinegar added
gradually.

The Mayonnaise should be the thickness of thick cream
when finished, but if it looks like curdling when mixing it, set in
the ice-box or in a cold place for about forty minutes or an
hour, then mix it again. It is a good idea to place it in a pan of
cracked ice while mixing.

For lobster salad, use the coral, mashed and pressed
through a sieve, then add to the above.

Salad dressing should be kept in a separate bowl in a cold,
place, and not mixed with the salad until the moment it is to be
served, or it may lose its crispness and freshness.

DRESSING FOR COLD SLAW. (Cabbage Salad.)

Beat up two eggs with two tablespoonfuls of sugar, add a piece
of butter the size of half an egg, a teaspoonful of mustard, a
little pepper, and lastly a teacup of vinegar. Put all of these
ingredients into a dish over the fire and cook like a soft custard.
Some think it im[Pg 170]proved by adding half a cupful of
thick sweet cream to this dressing; in that case use less vinegar.
Either way is very fine.

SALAD CREAM DRESSING. No. 1.

One cup fresh cream, one spoonful fine flour, the whites of two
eggs beaten stiff, three spoonfuls of vinegar, two spoonfuls of
salad oil or soft butter, two spoonfuls of powdered sugar, one
teaspoonful salt, one-half teaspoonful pepper, one teaspoonful of
made mustard. Heat cream almost to boiling; stir in the flour,
previously wet with cold milk; boil two minutes, stirring all the
time; add sugar and take from fire. When half cold, beat in whipped
whites of egg; set aside to cool. When quite cold, whip in the oil
or butter, pepper, mustard and salt; if the salad is ready, add
vinegar and pour at once over it.

CREAM DRESSING. No. 2.

Two tablespoonfuls of whipped sweet cream, two of sugar and four
of vinegar; beat well and pour over the cabbage, previously cut
very fine and seasoned with salt.

FRENCH SALAD DRESSING.

Mix one saltspoon of pepper with one of salt; add three
tablespoonfuls of olive oil and one even tablespoonful of onion
scraped fine; then one tablespoonful of vinegar; when well mixed,
pour the mixture over your salad and stir all till well
mingled.

The merit of a salad is that it should be cool, fresh and crisp.
For vegetables use only the delicate white stalks of celery, the
small heart-leaves of lettuce; or tenderest stalks and leaves of
the white cabbage. Keep the vegetable portion crisp and fresh until
the time for serving, when add the meat. For chicken and fish
salads use the “Mayonnaise dressing.” For simple vegetable salads
the French dressing is most appropriate, using onion rather than
garlic.

MIXED SUMMER SALAD.

Three heads of lettuce, two teaspoonfuls of green mustard
leaves, a handful of water cresses, five tender radishes, one
cucumber, three hard-boiled eggs, two teaspoonfuls of white sugar,
one teaspoonful of [Pg 171]salt, one teaspoonful of pepper, one
teaspoonful of made mustard, one teacupful of vinegar, half a
teacupful of oil.

Mix all well together, and serve with a lump of ice in the
middle.

“Common Sense in the Household.”

CHICKEN SALAD.

Boil the fowls tender and remove all the fat, gristle and skin;
mince the meat in small pieces, but do not hash it. To one chicken
put twice and a half its weight in celery, cut in pieces of about
one-quarter of an inch; mix thoroughly and set it in a cool
place—the ice chest.

In the meantime prepare a “Mayonnaise dressing,” and when ready
for the table pour this dressing over the chicken and celery,
tossing and mixing it thoroughly. Set it in a cool place until
ready to serve. Garnish with celery tips, or cold hard-boiled eggs,
lettuce leaves, from the heart, cold boiled beets or capers,
olives.

Crisp cabbage is a good substitute for celery; when celery is
not to be had use celery vinegar in the dressing. Turkey makes a
fine salad.

LOBSTER SALAD. No. 1.

Prepare a sauce with the coral of a fine, new lobster,
boiled fresh for about half an hour. Pound and rub it smooth, and
mix very gradually with a dressing made from the yolks of two
hard-boiled eggs, a tablespoonful of made mustard, three of salad
oil, two of vinegar, one of white powdered sugar, a small
teaspoonful of salt, as much black pepper, a pinch of cayenne and
yolks of two fresh eggs. Next fill your salad bowl with some shred
lettuce, the better part of two leaving the small curled centre to
garnish your dish with. Mingle with this the flesh of your lobster,
torn, broken or cut into bits seasoned with salt and pepper and a
small portion of the dressing. Pour over the whole the rest of the
dressing; put your lettuce-hearts down the centre and arrange upon
the sides slices of hard-boiled eggs.

LOBSTER SALAD. No. 2.

Using canned lobsters, take a can, skim off all the oil on the
surface, and chop the meat up coarsely on a flat dish. Prepare the
same way six heads of celery; mix a teaspoonful of mustard into a
smooth paste with a little vinegar; add yolks of two fresh eggs; a
tablespoonful of butter, creamed, a small teaspoonful of salt, the
same of pep[Pg 172]per, a quarter of a teaspoonful of cayenne
pepper, a gill of vinegar, and the mashed yolks of two hard-boiled
eggs. Mix a small portion of the dressing with the celery and meat,
and turn the remainder over all. Garnish with the green tops of
celery and a hard-boiled egg, cut into thin rings.

FISH SALAD.

Take a fresh white fish or trout, boil and chop it, but not too
fine; put with the same quantity of chopped cabbage, celery or
lettuce; season the same as chicken salad. Garnish with the tender
leaves of the heart of lettuce.