Roasting a Leg of Lamb.—Slice salt pork very thin, cutting two slices down to the rind, leaving the rind on to make the piece as large as possible; make as many of these thin slices as will cover the whole leg; then wrap the whole in grape-leaves; pass a string round to keep them on, and roast. It is said the lamb will be exceedingly juicy and of delicious flavor. Never baste meat with butter, but with rich soup stock.
To use Cold Lamb.—When lamb or mutton is left in good shape,—and it is the fault of the carver if it is not always left neatly,—cut off some chops; trim off the greater portion of fat, and saw or cut off the end of the bone. Heat a platter, and pour into the centre some nicely cooked fresh green peas, or in winter canned peas. Heap them in the centre in the shape of a pyramid; brown the chops quickly over a bright fire, season in a hot plate with pepper, salt, and butter, and then arrange them around the peas, the small end laid upon the pyramid of peas. Garnish the edge of the dish with slices of hard-boiled eggs, each circled in a fringe of curled parsley. Serve hot.
Mint Sauce.—Three table-spoonfuls of fresh mint finely chopped, five table-spoonfuls of vinegar and two of sugar, dissolved in the vinegar. To be used with roast lamb or chops.
If so much vinegar is disagreeable, use one third water and a little more sugar.
Jerked Venison.—Take the haunches when the deer is first killed; rub in as much salt as you can; press and squeeze the meat hard with your hands to get out all the blood; then hang it up in some covered alley or shed, where the sun will not directly strike it, but where the dry breezes will sweep over it. If not quite salt enough the next day, rub more salt on; squeeze and press out all the blood which may still remain, and hang up again. Two or three days will dry it. When needed, cut off nice slices, rather thin; lay them in a dish of cold water a short time to soften a little, then broil, serving with pepper and salt. Or, fry a piece of bacon crisp; then lay the pieces of venison into the hot fat, and warm through quickly; shake a little flour over the meat, and when done salt and pepper; place the meat on a hot platter; sift a little more flour into the pan; let it boil up; add a few spoonfuls of boiling water; boil up again, and pour the brown gravy over the venison. It is very sweet and palatable.
In Florida, beef is also cured, or dried, so as to keep for several days. Cellars or ice houses not being common, it is necessary to resort to some means of keeping it. Take a fine round of beef, and cut in slices as large as your hand and about half an inch thick. String them on a strong cord, and hang up high in some place where the sun will not shine directly on it, but where a good breeze of hot air will pass over it. Build a fire of dry leaves or bits of paper, and place at one end of the place where the meat is hung, so that the wind will take the smoke under and over it; this will keep the flies away till the outside of the meat is too dry for them to injure it. A day or two in the dry breezes here will cure it, so that it may be put in paper bags and kept in a dark, dry place several days, to broil as it is needed. It is wonderfully sweet, probably because in drying all the juices of the meat are secured. Our Northern air is not so drying, but we see no reason why, in summer, those who have not smoke or ice houses could not hang meat under the trees, away from the sun, keeping up a smoke sufficient to drive away flies but not strong enough to heat the meat. It is an experiment well worth trying.
Venison Steaks.—Heat the gridiron, grease it well. Lay on the steak; broil quickly, without scorching, turning it two or three times; season with salt and pepper. Have the butter melted in a well-heated platter, into which the steak must be laid hot from the gridiron, turning it over two or three times in the butter, and send to table hot. It is well to set the platter into another in which you have some boiling water. Venison should not be overdone, and must be eaten hot.
In one of our “talks” in Part First we said something of the Rumford Boiler. We subjoin here a few hints as to the use of it. Other similar “boilers” or “steamers” or “cookers” can also be advantageously used. The “Rumford” happens to be the one we have used and thoroughly like.
To Roast Beef or Mutton.—Have boiling water two or three inches deep in the lower part of the boiler, deep enough to just touch the bottom of the pan to be set over it. Place the meat in the inner panwithout water, first seasoning it with salt and pepper, if agreeable. Put on the cover, fitting it in tightly.
When the water begins to boil, set the boiler back on the stove or range, where it will keep just at the boiling point, and let it remain cooking the usual time,—fifteen minutes for each pound is generally thought long enough. When done take it out, dredge with flour and put into a quick oven to brown, but not scorch.
It is usually estimated that one pint of gravy is lost when meat is boiled the usual way. Here you have it all saved in the dish, the pure juice of the meat making excellent gravy.
To Boil a Leg of Lamb or Mutton.—Keep in the boiler the ordinary length of time, with no water in the receiver or pan (which in all cases should be tightly closed), and send to the table without browning.
Corned Beef.—If very salt, the beef should be soaked in cold water three or four hours; then put it in the inner vessel withcoldwater enough to cover it. Keep the water in the bottom receiver boiling slowly till the beef is done. Salt meat needs to be cooked longer than fresh; fifteen minutes to a pound for fresh,and twenty minutes for salt, is the rule usually given, but we have not found the latter long enough. A piece weighing nine pounds should cook four hours, if without much bone, and three with bone. We think that better—more sure—than twenty minutes to a pound.
The water in which salt meat is thus cooked makes excellent stock for soup. If too salt (it should not be if the beef was properly freshened), add water sufficient to make it right.
To Cook a Ham.—Freshen the ham by soaking in cold water three or four hours, then scrape clean and wipe dry. Stick a few cloves into it, rub on a half cup of sugar, and put in the inner vesselwithout any water;cover closely, and set over the boiling water in the bottom of the boiler; bring to a boil, and then set back a little that it may cook slowly till tender, about four hours. This will be found very excellent in flavor, far surpassing ham boiled in the common way. If liked, when done, the ham may be set in a quick oven and delicately browned, like roast beef or mutton.
Fish.—Season a fresh fish with salt, pepper, and a table-spoonful of butter, and put in the receiver, or inner pan,without any water; cover closely, and cook for half an hour. Thicken the juices of the fish which will be found in the pan with a little flour, wet in cold water, and let it simmer a few minutes in the pan, closely covered. This makes an excellent sauce for the fish.
Steaks of cod, salmon, halibut, or any other fish, usually fried, are excellent cooked in this “Rumford Boiler,” and need no butter or sauce besides the juice which will be left in the vessel, and pepper and salt.
We have tried all these receipts since we possessed this excellent boiler, and can testify to the superiority of each dish over that cooked in the usual way.
We have cooked all our vegetables—corn, peas, beets, potatoes—in the pans that are made to fit over the first vessel with tight covers, and are greatly pleased with the improvement. It must be remembered that each vessel should be closely covered, and over all the cover for the whole boiler. Bread of all kinds and loaf cake are delicious cooked in a “Rumford,” and when done put into the oven to brown.
Meats for June.—It is more difficult to obtain good meats in June than any part of the year. Lamb is still quite expensive, and “broilers” or spring chickens are dear and very little of them. What you can manage to pick off is dry, stringy, and, we cannot but think, indigestible. Veal is the only meat within the reach of all classes; but be very sure that you obtain that which has been healthily fed, and butchered as humanely as is possible. It is well that we do not see or know all the barbarity of the butchers’ shops, or we should perforce become vegetarians. There are many ways of using the less desirable portions of veal, that when properly carried out make some very inviting breakfast or tea dishes.
Calf’s Head and Harslet.—The head to be split open, the grease screened off, and eyes taken out, before bringing from the butcher’s. Wash very carefully, and scrape thoroughly. Take out the brains and put into a bowl of cold water; also lay the head, when cleaned, into a large pan of water. Then see that the harslet is well cleaned; leave the windpipe on the lights, and let all soak in cold water, and plenty of it, for half an hour. Have a large pot of boiling water ready. Two hours before dinner put in the heart and lights, leaving the windpipe a little way out of the pot to carry off the scum that will rise while boiling. Put in salt, black and red pepper,—verylittle of the latter,—and a little thyme and parsley. One hour after put in the liver; skim often. When the brains have soaked till free from blood, pick out all the veins or fibers, roll half a cracker and put it with the brains and a little parsley into a clean bit of muslin, tie it up, and put into the kettle with the head, etc. Let it boil from ten to fifteen minutes; then take it up, add butter, pepper, and salt, and serve in a small dish by itself. The bones must all be removed from the head; when well done, they will slip out easily. Lay the meat in the center of the platter; skin the tongue, and place it with the meat; remove the windpipe, and lay lights, heart, and liver around. Make a gravy of drawn butter, with parsley, chopped fine, and two eggs beaten, and added just as the gravy comes to a boil. Send all to table hot.
Head and Harslet Hash.—Take what may be left fromdinner of the calf’s head and harslet, chop very fine, use a few spoonfuls of the drawn butter, moisten with the water in which the meat was boiled, put over the fire till hot, then serve on nice slices of toasted bread, and you have a breakfast dish even better than the dinner.
The water in which calf’s head, etc., is boiled, should be carefully kept, and when cold it will be a stiff jelly. Take off the grease that will harden on top, and the jelly may be made into a fine mock-turtle soup. It is still better if, when boiling the head and harslet, you add two calf’s feet.
Veal Pie.—Take the neck of veal, joint it as small as you can, and stew, adding just enough boiling water to prevent it from burning. Season with pepper, salt, and, if liked, a very little onion cut up fine, and a little parsley or summer savory. Make a crust of two potatoes, boiled and mashed smooth and free from lumps, two table-spoonfuls suet choppedveryfine, a little salt; stir it together with ice-cold water. Flour the board, roll out, and scatter over it thin shavings of hard butter right from the ice; shake over some flour; lap it together and roll out again. Then put on more butter, using, in all, four table-spoonfuls,not heaped. This done, sprinkle again with flour, roll it up and put on the ice till the veal is done, which should not cook over three quarters of an hour. When tender, pick the meat from most of the bones, leaving a few small ones to give shape to the pie; roll the meat in well-beaten eggs; three will suffice to wet it; then roll it in flour; cover the pie-dish with part of the paste, rolled about a quarter of an inch thick. Cut a strip of crust to place around the edge of the dish, and lay the meat in neatly, cutting in a few bits of butter, two table-spoonfuls will do, and pour over the meat the water in which it was cooked, which should have boiled down so as to leave only enough to make the pie juicy. Now roll out the rest of the paste for the upper crust, about three quarters of an inch thick, cover the pie, cut a slit in the top, and bake. Be careful not to scorch the crust.
Sweetbread Croquettes.—Trim the sweetbreads neatly; remove all the gristle; parboil and mince very fine; add grated bread seasoned with salt and pepper, and a very little mace, if agreeable; moisten with cream; stir all well together, and shapethem by pressing firmly into a pear-shaped wineglass or small mold, or mold into little cones by rolling in your hands. Have ready a beaten egg and fine rolled and sifted bread or cracker crumbs. Dip each croquette into the egg and roll in the crumbs; stick a fruit-stem into the cone, to look like an apple or pear, and fry in butter. This is good for cold chicken, beef, or raw oysters.
Veal Patty.—Four pounds veal-steak, chopped while raw very fine; mix with it eight butter-crackers rolled, a piece of butter of the size of an egg, and two well-beaten eggs. Mix all thoroughly together, and season with pepper and salt. A little sage, thyme, or savory is thought an improvement by some. Mold into a loaf; put small bits of butter on top, and cover with grated bread crumbs. Judge of the quantity of butter necessary by your own taste. If not liked very rich, two table-spoonfuls of butter cut up and sprinkled over will be plenty. Bake two hours. When cold, cut off slices as from a loaf of bread, for tea or side-dishes.
Minced Veal.—Mince the veal very fine with a little ham, a table-spoonful of flour, three well-beaten eggs, one small onion scalded for five or ten minutes to remove the coarser flavor and then chopped fine; sweet herbs, pepper, and salt to suit the taste. Butter a deep pie-plate, set a small cup in the center, and fill the plate all around the cup with the mince-meat. Bake of a delicate brown; then remove the cup and fill its place with some nice sauce,—apple, cranberry, or jelly, or, if you please, some scalloped oysters. Beef, lamb, or chicken prepared in the same way is very good.
Veal Hash.—Boil a shin of veal which has about three pounds of meat on it in as small a quantity of water as you can, so that when done there shall be one quart of water left. Boil the day before needed, that it may be perfectly cold. When the meat is well done, lay it anywhere where it will be away from the air, but do not wrap it in a cloth. Save all the liquor in a separate dish. The next morning cut up all the meat; chop not quite so fine as for the “mince.” Half an hour before you send it to the table, put it over the fire in a covered stewpan with the liquor; have ready half a pint of hot-drawn butter and eight hard-boiled eggs; remove the shells, mince all but two, and add to the meat. Assoon as it boils up, remove from the fire; season with salt, cayenne pepper, and a little black pepper. Cut the two eggs in slices, and when the meat is placed in a dish, lay them over the top neatly. Send to table hot.
Veal Loaf.—Three pounds of veal cutlet, a quarter of a pound salt pork chopped very fine. Three Boston crackers rolled fine, three well-beaten eggs, one wineglass claret or currant wine, half a cup of tomato catsup, five ripe tomatoes, if in season, or a teacup of canned tomatoes; one onion chopped fine, if not disagreeable; juice and chopped peel of one orange or lemon, whichever is the most palatable; one small teaspoonful each of pepper, cloves, sweet-marjoram, sage, and salt. Mix these very thoroughly with the meat, and mold into a loaf. Place in a dripping-pan, cover the top with cracker crumbs, and bake three hours. While baking, keep some butter and hot water on the side of range, and baste the loaf with it often and thoroughly. Let it stand in a cool place till the second day before cutting. Excellent as a relish for breakfast or tea.
Croquettes.—These are a sort of mince-meat dumpling. Take some cold veal, chicken, lobster, or tender cold beef, chopped fine. Put a half table-spoonful of butter in a saucepan on the fire. When melted, put in a piece of onion chopped fine; fry a little; add half a table-spoonful of flour. When it browns, put in the minced meat; stir it steadily till heated through, adding salt and pepper. Then add a gill and a half of broth, and set the pan a little off the fire to simmer. Chop three stalks of parsley fine, and mix it in on the fire, stirring all the time. Then break in two eggs, stirring faster; in two or three minutes take it from the fire and set it to cool. Thus far has occupied about ten minutes. When the meat is cold, sift some flour on the board; take a lump of the mince the size of an egg or larger, roll it in the fine flour, dip it in a cup of beaten egg, drain and roll it in bread crumbs; have a quantity of boiling suet or drippings in a frying-pan, and fry the croquettes in them for a couple of minutes, till brown. Put in a colander and let the fat drain off.
Steamed Turkey.—All poultry, after dressing, should remain in cold water from twenty minutes to half an hour to extract theblood and leave them white; then hang in a cool place for twenty-four hours, in winter even longer. They will be much sweeter and finer flavored for it.
When ready to cook a turkey, see that every pinfeather is taken out, rinse in cold water, and wipe dry with a cloth used for nothing but such purposes; rub inside with pepper and salt, and fill with oysters carefully washed in their own liquor to remove bits of shells; sew up the turkey, place in a large dish, and set it into a steamer over boiling water, or in a “Rumford Boiler”; lay a clean cloth over the steamer and shut the cover on tight, and steam till tender,—two and a half hours, or, if large, three hours; run a fork into the breast to see if done. If it seems tender, and no reddish juice flows out, it is ready to take up; strain the gravy and put into the oyster sauce, which should be ready while the turkey is cooking, made like stewed oysters and thickened with farina or butter and flour; let it just boil up, and add, if you like it white, a little boiled cream; pour this over the steamed turkey, and serve hot.
Or, if preferred, the turkey may be stuffed as for a common baked turkey and steamed; or it may be stuffed with good plump chestnuts after the skins are removed, and the gravy made with the giblets chopped fine, adding a little flour as you chop, and the gravy from the dish stirred to it, and set over the fire to boil up. While the gravy is being made, rub a little butter over and sprinkle the turkey with flour very slightly, and set in a hot oven to brown delicately. Many prefer this to sending to the table right from the steamer with white gravy poured on.
Broiled Chickens.—First boil the giblets, neck, and tips of the wings in just enough water to cover them; season with a little pepper and salt. When tender, pick off what little meat there is on the neck and wing-tips, and chop with the giblets, very fine, shaking over them, while chopping, enough flour to make the whole like a paste; then return it to the water it was boiled in, stirring all together, and leave it on the range to keep hot. This done, put the chicken on a well-heated gridiron over a clear fire, covering it closely with a cover made to fit the gridiron. Cook carefully, turning it often, and do not let it scorch. When done, it should be of a good, rich, clear brown, as uniform in color aspossible. When partly cooked, sprinkle salt and pepper over it on both sides.
Put three great spoonfuls of butter on the platter you have ready to take the chickens up in; set it into the oven, leaving the door open lest you break the platter by too strong heat. When the chicken is well cooked, remove from the gridiron to this platter, turning it over several times in the melted butter; then pour over all the water in which the giblets have been put, which should have become a nice thick gravy; let the platter stand a few moments in the oven until all is thoroughly blended and heated, then send to the table hot.
If not in a hurry, it is well to melt butter in a deep kitchen-dish and put the chicken and gravy into the oven in that, and, when thoroughly heated through, remove to a hot china platter for the table. There is a risk of cracking the enamel on nice china or breaking the platter entirely, if set in the oven where a servant may forget and close the door.
To Bake a Chicken.—Choose full-grown, plump, well-fattened chickens; remove all the pinfeathers carefully and singe all the hairs off by holding a lighted paper under the chicken before opening; then open with care; see that the gall is not broken in taking out the entrails and giblets, and that none of the crop or windpipe is left in; then wash in plenty of cold water; put inside the gizzard, liver, and heart, when well cleaned and washed, and hang up to drain all night. If very warm weather, put in a piece of charcoal to keep it sweet. When ready the next morning to prepare for baking, cut off the neck and legs, and lay aside with the giblets for gravy; prepare a dressing, or stuffing, of dried bread rolled fine, with a little salt, pepper, sage, and summer savory,—the quantity of seasoning must be determined by the taste of the family; rub salt and pepper inside, fill with the dressing, putting enough into the neck or crop to give it a plump look; sew up and skewer. There should be a grate fitted to every meat-pan on which to lay meat or fowls, to keep them from becoming clammy by resting in the water; rub your fowls with a little butter and salt, place on this grate, pour boiling water into the pan, and put into the oven; let it cook about fifteen minutes, then baste with a little butter and salted water, kept in a bowl close by;dredge over some flour, and baste again; repeat the basting three or four times while the chickens are baking; turn them over every time; cook till a fork will enter the flesh easily, but taking care not to dry up the meat; then remove the skewers and thread with which they were sewed, put them on the platter and place in the heater, or where they will keep hot till the gravy is ready.
Gravy for Roast or Baked Poultry.—Put the giblets and neck into a small saucepan, sprinkle over a little salt and pepper, then cover them with boiling water and set on the back part of stove or range to cook slowly, as soon as you have put the poultry into the oven; dip the feet and legs into boiling water long enough to scald off all the leathery skin, and put them into the saucepan to boil with the giblets and neck. The feet and lower part of the leg, usually thrown away, contain a good deal of jelly, which gives a very desirable richness and body to the gravy, and when boiled tender many think them a great delicacy to be served whole. When the giblets are boiled tender, chop very fine, and while chopping dredge over flour till you have made them like a paste, then put back into the water they were boiled in to simmer till the chickens are done, stirring occasionally that the chopped giblets may not stick to the saucepan. After the fowls are taken up, set the meat-pan on the stove and shake some flour into the liquor at the bottom of the pan. By the time the poultry is cooked this should have been done to a brown gravy. After you have put in the flour, do not stir it until the liquor has boiled up over it, then rub it quite smooth, and little by little pour in the water in which the chopped giblets are; stir constantly until it thickens, and if properly managed you will have a smooth brown gravy of fine flavor.
Chicken Pot-Pie.—Cut up a chicken, or two if a large pie be required; lay the pieces neatly into the pot, and sprinkle over salt and pepper to your taste; rub one table-spoonful and a half of flour and two table-spoonfuls of butter (evenfull) together, and spread this paste over the chicken; then cover the whole with good new milk, or, better still, with cream, if you have it. Set the pot, covered closely with a tight-fitting cover, where it will not cook or boil rapidly, but stew or simmer, for three quartersof an hour. While this is stewing, make a crust of prepared flour, or, if you have none, with soda and cream of tartar, just as you would for light, tender biscuit; roll this out quite thick, and cover over the meat. If there be not enough gravy, add a little more milk boiling hot, or boiling water if milk be not plenty. Cut a slit in the top of the crust to let the steam escape. Boil half an hour after the crust is put on, bringing the pot over a hotter fire, that it may boil, not simmer. In taking it out, pass a knife around the sides of the pot to loosen the crust; then slip a long-handled skimmer, as nearly flat as you have, or a batter-cake turner, carefully under, and try to lift it out so as to break the crust as little as possible; but it will, if properly made and cooked, be so light that it will probably break a little. When lifted out, lay it on a dish and take out the chicken and gravy; then lay the crust together over it, and serve hot. Lean fresh pork or veal is very nice cooked in the same way.
Fried Chickens.—Cut up the chickens neatly; lay them in a large panful of cold water half an hour to extract the blood. Then drain and put into just enough boiling water to cover them; season with pepper and salt; parboil for twenty minutes. Fry crisp and brown some thin slices of salt pork. When the chicken is sufficiently parboiled, drain it from the water and lay each piece into the hot pork-fat. Dust over some flour, and fry the chicken a clear brown, turning each piece when sufficiently brown. When done on both sides, lay each piece on the platter neatly, and set where it will keep hot but not dry. When each piece is done and laid on the platter, shake from the dredge-box into the hot fat enough flour to absorb the fat. Do not stir it till all the flour is saturated; then with a spoon stir smooth and pour in, little by little, enough of the water in which the chicken was parboiled—which should be kept boiling—to make what gravy you need, stirring it all the time. When thickened and free from lumps, pour on the chicken, and serve hot.
To Cook an Old Fowl.—Dress and stuff as for roasting; then boil three hours in a covered pot, with one quart of water, to which add two table-spoonfuls of vinegar; then take it from the water, rub over with a little butter, sprinkle over some flour, and put the fowl into a bake-pan and bake in a hot oven onehour. Use the liquor in the pot for gravy and to baste with. The vinegar makes it very tender, but does not taste at all.
Roast Duck.—Select those that are fat and tender. Remove every pinfeather, and singe off all the hairs; stuff with bread chopped fine, seasoned with a little sage, summer savory, salt, and pepper; or, if agreeable, add two onions chopped fine, but unless sure that all who are to eat can use onions without injury, it is better not to risk them. Remove the two oil-sacks from the back, or the oil will impart a strong, disagreeable flavor. Roast carefully till of a nice brown, basting thoroughly. One hour is quite long enough, as, if too much cooked, a duck becomes very dry and tasteless. Remove all the fat from the gravy, and put in the giblets, which should have been cooked and chopped fine before the ducks were done. When chopping them, dust in flour, so as to make a paste; then stir it into the gravy; stir till all lumps have been broken and smoothed; let it cook a few minutes, then pour in part of the water in which the giblets were boiled; cook till it is thick and entirely free from lumps, then serve.
We have been told that a very excellent French cook opens anddrawshis poultry, but does not pluck them till they have hung a few days,—long enough for the substance in the end of the quill to absorb,—and thus they can be plucked clean leaving no pinfeathers. He then picks and stuffs them, and lets them hang a day or two longer, until the whole fowl is flavored with the dressing. We are assured poultry so prepared is very delicate and finely flavored. We will not vouch for this; but in part it sounds reasonable, and is well worth trying, only we think the feathers must impart a strong, oily flavor if left in so long.
To Roast a Goose.—Select a goose with clean, white skin, plump breast, andyellowfeet. If the feet are red, the bird is old. Let it hang for a few days, if the weather will permit, as by so doing the flavor is greatly improved. In dressing, take great care in plucking, singeing, and drawing the goose, for if the oil-sack is broken over it, or the gall bladder broken inside, it will be more noticeable and less easy to remove in a goose than any other poultry. Cut off the neck close to the back, leaving the skin long enough to tie over. This can be done by drawing back the skin, while you sever the neck from the body. Cut offthe feet at the first joint, and separate the pinions at the first joint also; beat the breastbone flat with potato-masher or rolling-pin. Put a skewer through the under part of each wing; draw up the legs closely and run a skewer into the middle of each, passing it quite through the body. Put another skewer into the small part of the leg, bring it close down to the side-bone, run it through, and proceed the same way with the other side. Cut off the vent, make a hole in the skin large enough to draw the rump through, so as to keep in the seasoning. Make a dressing of mealy potatoes, finely mashed, two boiled onions chopped very fine, one and a half teaspoonfuls of powdered sage, one of salt, and one of black pepper. Fill the body of the goose, and secure it firmly by tying the skin over the neck, and drawing the rump through the hole cut in the skin. Roast for two hours, if large, or bake the same length of time; but roasting is much nicer. Baste often, dredging a little flour over. Do not baste in the drippings from the goose; they are too strong; but prepare some basting by putting a little browned butter, salt, and pepper into part of a cup of boiling water. When half done, drain the fat from the roaster; the last drippings will not be so strong, and, with the basting water, will suffice for the gravy. Make a good gravy, in which the giblets finely chopped, and a little flour for thickening, have been boiled. Put the gravy into a tureen, and serve the goose with a dish of nice apple or gooseberry sauce.
Wild Goose.—A wild goose should be cooked rare. One hour’s roasting is quite sufficient. A cup of currant jelly and a glass of red wine should be added to the gravy, which is made the same as for a common goose. Serve hot.
To Roast a Green Goose.—Geese are calledgreentill four months old. Dress and truss the same as a full-grown goose, but do not stuff the bird. Put into the body pepper and salt, and a little butter to moisten it. Roast for an hour; serve with gravy made like the first, and tomato or sorrel sauce.
To Boil a Goose.—Clean thoroughly, and soak for twelve hours in warm milk and water. Then dry, and stuff with sage and onions, as for roasting. Put it into cold water over the fire, and bring to a boil, then let it simmer gently for an hour and a quarter. Serve with onion sauce poured over it, and stewed cabbage around it.
A teaspoonful of made mustard, a salt-spoonful of salt, a few grains of cayenne, mixed with a glass of port wine, are sometimes poured into the goose, through a slit made in the apron when about half done, and by many persons considered a great delicacy.
Onions may be omitted, if injurious to any who are to partake of it. They make many persons quite ill, and it is a kindness to avoid using any seasoning that will disturb your guests. Whatever way a goose is to be cooked, it is well to soak it over night in milk poured over it boiling hot. In the morning wash off the milk and put the goose into a kettle of cold water, set it over the fire, and let it remain till almost boiling hot, not quite. This removes the strong taste of the oil, and you can then take it out, dry with a towel, and when cool stuff and cook as you wish,—either boiled, baked, or roasted.
To Stew a Goose.—Truss the goose as for boiling; cover with thin slices of bacon and tie it up. Cover the bottom of the saucepan also with bacon, sprinkle in a very little of sweet herbs powdered, a carrot cut in dice, and two bay leaves, if you can get them. Lay in the goose and giblets, cover with bacon, moisten with rich stock enough to cover the goose; set over the fire and let it boil up; then cover with buttered paper and a close-fitting cover; set it on a hot hearth with fire over it. Let it cook an hour and a half. Serve with onion or apple sauce.
Both geese and ducks if old, and we think turkeys and chickens also, are better for being parboiled before roasting. Put in just enough water to boil them; keep the vessel close covered. Let a tough goose gently simmer two hours; then dry, wipe clean, stuff, and roast; basting with a little bacon fat or butter.
To Stew Pigeons.—Pluck and clean the birds with great care. When drawn, leave them for about an hour to soak in cold water. This extracts the blood, leaving them white and sweet. This done, take them out, and tying the legs together, hang the birds up to drain. When dry, lay them in a deep dish and place on the ice or a cool place overnight.
The next morning prepare the stuffing of stale bread chopped very fine, and to it, for twelve pigeons, put one and a half table-spoonfuls of butter, two teaspoonfuls of salt, one of black pepper;a littlesage, thyme, summer savory, or sweet-marjoram (only avery little,—the exact quantity cannot well be given more explicitly,—too much will spoil it; better err by using too little, and profit by the experience the next time). Rub a little salt and pepper outside and inside of each bird, then fill with the stuffing and sew them up, passing the thread through the legs and wings to make them lie close to the body; then rub a little butter over the birds, dredge with flour, put them into a bake-pan and place in a quick oven to brown. While this is being done, chop a little fresh parsley, making, when fine, half a table-spoonful, and put it to two table-spoonfuls of butter and the same of flour; beat all together till smooth. Brown the birds on both sides; twenty minutes should do it, if your oven is of the right heat. Lay a small saucer or plate on the bottom of a close-covered iron stew-kettle or into a soup-digester, and put the birds when browned into the kettle, packing them compactly as you can; spread over them the smoothly beaten flour, butter, and parsley, and pour in enough rich milk to cover the pigeons (cream is better, but that is a luxury belonging to the country chiefly). Set them on the stove or range where they will steadily simmer four hours. They must not boil hard; occasionally stir them from the bottom with a spoon, to prevent them from sticking, but do not break them. When done, take up and place them neatly on a large, deep platter, pour the gravy over the birds, trim the edges of the platter with a neat fringe of green parsley, and send to the table hot.
Wild Squabs.—After dressing the birds, let them soak in cold water a half-hour to extract the blood, then drain off the water, wipe dry on a clean meat-cloth, and set on the ice till needed. (They are better to be dressed one day and cooked the next.) Let the gridiron be bright and clean; set it over the fire till hot, then lay the birds on, being careful that the fire is not so hot as to scorch. Turn them over every minute or two; when half done sprinkle salt and pepper over them and finish. Have athinslice of bread toasted and spread with butter to lay under each bird; place the birds on the bread, put butter on each and set in the oven a moment, and send to the table hot. It is well to have the bread toasted, buttered, and set in the oven to keep hot before the birds are put over the fire.
Chicken Pudding.—Joint a pair of small, tender chickens;season with salt and pepper; just cover with water, and stew with three thin slices of salt pork, that has been well washed in hot water. When tender, take from the liquor and set to cool. Make a batter of one quart of flour, one quart of milk, six eggs, and a teaspoonful of salt; or, ifpreparedflour, no salt is needed. When the meat is cold, cover the bottom of a large bake-dish with batter, then a layer of chicken, then another of batter, and so on till all is used, finishing off with batter. Bake to a light brown. Beat an egg and stir into the liquor that was set aside, and serve it hot with the pudding.
Chicken Jelly.—Cut up an old hen into quite small pieces; skin it, and pour over three pints of cold water; boil until the bones slip from the meat easily. Then take out all the meat; throw back the bones to boil in the liquor longer; chop the meat with the rind of one lemon, having squeezed the juice into the boiling liquor; put the meat, well seasoned, into a jelly-mold, and when the liquor is boiled down full one half strain it upon the meat in the mold; next morning turn it out of the mold and cut in slices. Do not throw away thefeetof poultry, but pour boiling water over them to take off the skin, and then put the feet into the liquor to boil. There is a great deal of mucilage in their feet, and it is excellent both for this jelly and for enriching the gravy for poultry.
Chicken Patties.—Chop very fine all the dry, poorest bits left from baked chicken; season carefully with pepper, salt, and a little celery, cut in small bits; make a light puff paste, roll a quarter of an inch thick, cut with a neatly shaped paste-cutter; lay a narrow strip of the paste all round, then put some of the mince on the paste; cut another piece of the same size and lay over. Bake fifteen minutes. This makes a neat dish and is good.
To make Remnants of Meat, Chicken, etc., palatable.—When a boiled ham is nearly used up, there is considerable lean meat about the small part of the ham which may waste because no way can be contrived to use it. If you will grate all the hard dried bits, or, if too small to grate, pound them in a marble mortar to a paste, and pack it close in a stone pot, you will find it excellent for seasoning hashes, patties, or to sprinkle over dropped eggs laid on buttered toast.
Meat Croquettes.—Mince cold chicken very fine; moisten with rich gravy; season with pepper and salt. Shape them by pressing tightly into a jelly-glass or long, pear-shaped wineglass; brush over with beaten egg after they are shaped, roll in bread crumbs, and fry in lard. Drain, and send to table hot. Or, beat together one pint of cream and one pint of minced chicken, three even table-spoonfuls of butter, with salt and pepper. Fry in lard.
To Boil a Ham.—Boil it three or four hours, according to the size; then take up, skin the ham ready for the table, stick over it a dozen cloves, rub over half a small cupful of sugar, sprinkle thoroughly with pounded rusk or cracker crumbs, and set into a well-heated oven for half an hour.
Broiled Ham.—Cutthinslices from the middle of the ham, as true and uniform as possible, having the knife very sharp. But if by carelessness some parts are thicker than others, roll the thick part out, stoutly, with a rolling-pin. Soak an hour or two in warm water, unless the ham is quite fresh. Have the gridiron perfectly free from roughness, and well heated; then broil over a brisk fire, turning constantly that no part may be black. If cut thin enough, it will take but a few minutes to broil it. When done, butter and pepper to suit the taste. For breakfast, an omelet, or eggs cooked in some acceptable way, should always go with ham.
Ham Croquettes.—Bits of boiled ham, too much broken to slice neatly for the table, may be made into a very desirable breakfast dish.
To two cups finely chopped boiled ham, put two table-spoonfuls of flour, six eggs if plenty,—four will answer,—yelks and whites beaten separately. Stir all together, and make into balls, or shape in a wineglass. When in shape, roll them in bread crumbs, cracker dust, or flour; dip them into a little beaten egg, and fry in butter to a clear golden brown.
Ham and Toast.—Boil a pint of milk, wet a table-spoonful of flour with cold milk, and stir up smooth. When the milk comes to a boil, pour in the flour, stir carefully till it thickens smoothly, add a table-spoonful of butter and a little black pepper.Shave some good ham very thin, pour over it boiling water, and let it scald a minute, pour it off, add a little more, let it boil up once, then put it into the thickened milk, leaving it there while you toast carefully a few evenly cut slices of bread. Lay them into a deep dish, skim out the ham from the milk and lay neatly on the toast, and then pour over all the thickened milk. You can beat an egg and put to the milk if you like. It makes it richer, but is not necessary.
This is a very nice breakfast relish. We think it preferable to dried beef.
Ham Toast.—Soften slightly in a stewpan a small piece of butter; put in as much finely minced ham as will cover a large round of buttered toast, and add gravy enough to make it moist. When quite hot stir in quickly with a fork one egg. Place the mixture over the toast, which cut in pieces of any shape you may fancy.
To use Cold Boiled Ham.—When a ham has been long boiled and is becoming dry, cut some thin slices, dip in egg and bread crumbs, and fry quickly. Serve immediately.
Another Way.—Cut off all fat; mince the ham very fine; break into a spider a half-dozen fresh eggs; add a table-spoonful of cream, a little salt and pepper, and set over the fire; as soon as the eggs are set or nearly solid, spread one half thickly with the minced ham, and fold the other half over upon it; slip it carefully from the spider to the platter. Garnish with curled parsley. Serve hot.
Ham Ball.—Chop fine such small pieces of boiled ham as are usually thought too poor or small for use; add as many eggs as there will be people at the table; sprinkle in a little flour; beat together with chopped ham, and make into balls. Fry in hot butter or well-clarified drippings to a golden brown.
How a Pig was roasted on a Sugar Plantation.—The pig, having been carefully cleaned and dressed, was wiped dry, part of the liver and heart chopped fine, mixed with bread crumbs, savory herbs, salt, and pepper, and sewed up. While this was being prepared a fire was built outdoors, and when burned down so as to secure a bright, large bed of coals, a long, smooth stick was run through the pig lengthwise, and smaller ones skeweredthe legs to the body. A piece of nice fat pork was fastened on the stick where it entered the head. Thus firmly fixed, one of the servants held the long stick with the pig on it over the fire, slowly turning it round and round as it began to cook; or, if he was needed elsewhere, one end of the stick was driven into the ground, close to the coals, but only for a few minutes, when he returned to continue to turn it round over the huge bed of coals. In much less time than we need to cook a pig in our convenient kitchens, the dweller under the cocoa-nut trees was beautifully browned, crisp, and tender. In cooking, much of the fat from the pork filtered through, and having given juice and relish to the meat, had, with a good deal of fat from the pig, fallen into the ashes around the bed of coals, leaving the meat rich and of peculiar sweetness and delicacy, without being too greasy.
We had not the good fortune to partake of it, but this, with others cooked in a similar manner, was pronounced the most delicious meat ever tasted, and we found no difficulty in believing it. Some of our Northern cooks, with any amount of “modern improvements,” might try this experiment with great success.
Wild game, birds, rabbits, ducks, etc., are often cooked in a similar manner. All wild birds are apt to be very dry, and if a thin piece of pork is tied about them, while baking or roasting, till it becomes brown and crisp, then removed, and the bird allowed to brown delicately, it is a wonderful addition to the juiciness and flavor of the game.
Good Sausage Meat.—Take two thirds ham and one third fat pork, season well with nine teaspoonfuls of pepper, the same of salt, three of powdered sage, and one of thyme or summer savory to every five pounds of meat (not heaping teaspoonfuls, remember); warm the meat enough so that you can mix it well with the hands; then pack in jars. When needed, make up in small cakes and fry in a little butter, or simply alone. But they must not be covered over, or they will fall to pieces. Some like a little cinnamon added. Keep where it is cool, but not damp.
A Dutch Dish.—Pare and slice as many potatoes as are needed for the size of your family; put them into a deep dish; pour in as much milk or cream as will fill the dish and not boil over. Stir in a little salt and pepper; lay some slices of salt porkcut thin over the top; and bake two hours. Be careful and not put in too much salt, as the pork will season it almost enough.
Chicken Salad.—Well-fattened chickens, of medium size, tender and delicate, make better salad than large, overgrown ones. Put them on to cook in the morning, and save the water they are boiled in for soup. When cold, remove the skin and cut the flesh in pieces, the size you prefer. Some like the meat very coarse, others choose it quite fine. This is entirely a matter of taste. When cut up, throw over the dish a towel slightly damped in cold water, to keep the meat from drying. Take the best celery you can get, and cut it of the size you wish. The “fancy cooks” cut both celery and chicken in bits about one inch long and half an inch thick, but we think the salad better cut finer. When the celery is cut, put it between clean cloths to dry perfectly, and then prepare the dressing. For dressing for two chickens, take three fourths of a bottle of the purest salad-oil or thick sweet cream, two scant table-spoonfuls of the best mustard, the yelks of two raw eggs and of twelve hard-boiled ones. Put the eggs to be boiled in a saucepan of cold water over a quick fire; bring to a boil, and let them boil hard ten minutes, then drop them into cold water. When cool, remove the shells. Break the raw eggs, and drop the yelks into a dish large enough to make all the dressing in; beat them, stirring the same way, for ten minutes; then slowly add the mustard, mix it with the eggs thoroughly, then add a teaspoonful of the best vinegar, and, when this is well mixed, add the oil, a drop at a time, stirring constantly and always the same way. Then rub the yelks of the hard-boiled eggs very smooth, and stir in as lightly as possible a teacup of vinegar; pour it slowly into the first mixture, stirring with a silver fork. Now season the chicken and celery with salt and pepper, and as soon as ready for use pour on the dressing. If set where it is too cold in cold weather, the dressing will curdle and be ruined.
Italian Chicken Salad.—Make a dressing in the proportion of the yelks of three hard-boiled eggs, rubbed fine, one salt-spoonful of salt, one of mustard, and one of cayenne pepper, one of white sugar, four table-spoonfuls of salad-oil, and two table-spoonfulsof vinegar. Simmer this dressing over the fire, but don’t let it boil. Stir constantly while over the fire. Then take a sufficient quantity of the white meat of cold chicken for this quantity of dressing, or increase in this proportion to the desired quantity; pull the white meat into small flakes, pile it up in a dish, and pour the dressing on it. Take two heads of fine, fresh lettuce that have been washed and laid in water, take out the best part, cut it up, and arrange in a heap around the chicken, heaped in the middle of the dish, and on the top of this ridge place the whites of eggs, cut in rings and laid in form of a chain. A portion of the lettuce to be helped with each plate of chicken.
Lobster Salad.—Boil the lobsters half an hour; when cold, take from the shell; remove the vein in the back, which is not good. Two heads of lettuce, one cup of melted butter, two table-spoonfuls of mustard mixed with a little vinegar, is sufficient for six pounds of lobster; after being taken from the shell, salt and pepper to your taste, remembering that more can be added if not enough; but if too much, it is not so easily rectified. Chop them together and put in the salad-dish. Beat six eggs with a teacup of vinegar, put it over the stove to thicken, stirring it all the time; when cold, spread over the lobster.
Potato Salad.—Cut ten or twelve cold boiled potatoes into slices from a quarter to half an inch thick; put into a salad-bowl with four table-spoonfuls of tarragon or plain vinegar, six table-spoonfuls of best salad-oil, one teaspoonful of minced parsley, and pepper and salt to taste; stir well that all be thoroughly mixed. It should be made two or three hours before needed on the table. Anchovies, olives, or any pickles may be added to this salad, as also slices of cold beef, chicken, or turkey, if desired.
Plain Omelet.—Put your omelet-pan on the stove with a spoonful of butter; keep it so hot that the butter will almost brown in it, but not quite; break six fresh eggs into a clean bowl; if fresh, the whites will be clear and the yelks quite round; add a teaspoonful of milk for every egg, and whip the whole as thoroughly as for sponge-cake. When light, put the whipped eggs and milk into the omelet-pan and set it directly over the fire. As it begins to cool, take a thin-bladed knife and run it carefully under the bottom of the egg, so as to let that which is not cooked runbeneath. If the fire is right, the whole mass will instantly puff and swell and cook in a minute, but great care is needed that it does not burn on the bottom, as scorched egg is very disagreeable and would ruin the whole. It is not necessary to wait till the whole mass is solid, for its own heat will cook it after it has been taken up, but begin to clear it at one side at once and carefully.
Puff Omelet.—Take the yelks of six eggs and the whites of three; beat very light. Take a teacup of cream (milk will answer) and mix with it very smoothly one table-spoonful of flour; salt and pepper to suit your taste; pour this into the beaten eggs. Melt a great spoonful of butter in a pan, and when hot pour in the mixture and set the pan into a hot oven. When it thickens up, pour over it the other three whites that were saved out, which you must have all ready, beaten very light. Return to the oven just long enough for a delicate brown, then slip out on a dish so that the top part shall remain uppermost.
Oyster Omelet.—Beat four eggs very light; cut out the hard part, or eye, from a dozen oysters; wipe them dry and cut into small pieces; stir them into the beaten egg, and fry in hot butter. When the under side is a light brown, sprinkle a very little salt and pepper over the top, and fold one half of the omelet over the other. Never turn an omelet; it makes it heavy and ruins it.
Omelet with Jelly.—Beat separately the yelks and whites of four fresh eggs; add to the yelks sufficient sugar to sweeten to your taste, and an even dessert-spoonful of corn flour very smoothly beaten in a table-spoonful of cream. Beat this with the yelks till perfectly smooth, and stir in the well-beaten whites very gently, so as to break the froth as little as possible; pour the whole into a frying-pan in which some butter has been melted, but drain off the butter before adding the eggs, etc. Put it over the fire,—two or three minutes will cook the under side; hold the pan to the fire till the under side looks firm, then spread raspberry or strawberry jam over one half; turn the other over it, and serve immediately.
Baked Omelet.—Boil half a pint of milk; beat six eggs thoroughly, yelks and whites separately; put half a teaspoonful of salt and a piece of butter half as large as an egg to the boilingmilk; stir it into the beaten eggs; pour all instantly into a deep dish and bake. If the oven is hot, five minutes will bake it; not quite so hot an oven and a little longer time will be better,—say ten minutes. It should be of a delicate brown on top, and eaten right from the oven.
Omelette Soufflee.—Beat the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth; then add the yelks well beaten, with three table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar and the rind and juice of one lemon. Beat all well together, and bake in a moderately hot oven five minutes; serve immediately.
Boiled Eggs.—Be sure and select fresh eggs for boiling, never more than a week old. Have the water just boiling; if boiling fiercely when the eggs are put in, it will crack the shell. Three minutes will boil an egg soft; five minutes will be necessary if you like them hard, and ten or twelve minutes if needed for salad; in the latter case they should be thrown into cold water the instant they are taken from the boiling water, else the white will be dark colored or clouded. When perfectly new, an egg requires about half a minute longer boiling than if four or five days old.
Fried Eggs.—The fat left after frying ham, or that which is left in the bake-pan after browning a ham, is better for frying eggs than lard or butter. See that it is boiling hot, but not discolored, and drop the eggs in one at a time. Let them cook half a minute, then dip up some of the boiling fat from the pan, and pour over them. Continue to do this till they are done, and it will not be necessary to turn them over, which endangers breaking the yelk. Two and a half minutes should cook them sufficiently. When dropping them in, hold the cup into which you break each one close to the pan, and let the egg slip in as easily as possible, so that it will not spread in a ragged surface over the pan.
Poached Eggs.—While boiling a pint of milk, beat six eggs to a froth. Just before the milk begins to boil, add half a table-spoonful of butter and a teaspoonful of salt, and stir into it; then pour in the eggs, stir without ceasing, but gently, till it thickens,—not more than two minutes. Take it from the stove or range, and continue to stir half a minute or so, and then pourit over two or three thin slices of toasted bread which has been spread with butter, and all prepared in a deep dish before the eggs are put into the milk. This is very nice for breakfast.
Hard Scrabbled.—Put two teaspoonfuls of butter into a frying-pan; beat six eggs; season with pepper and salt. When the butter is very hot, but not scorched, put in the eggs; stir until it thickens, and serve hot.
Fricasseed Eggs, or Egg Baskets.—Boil hard half a dozen eggs or more, according to the size of your family. When done, throw into cold water immediately. (This should always be done with hard-boiled eggs, else the yelk will turn black.) Cut the eggs in half after taking from the cold water. Rub the yelks in a marble or wedgewood mortar, or with a silver or wooden spoon, with some melted butter, pepper, and salt, to a smooth paste; and, if you know it will be agreeable to all, add a very little made mustard. Pound the finely minced meat of a cold fowl, or grind some cold tongue or ham, and having made it smooth, mix with the egg-paste, moistening as you proceed with a little gravy, or, if you have none to spare, with melted butter. Cut a thin slice from the bottom of the white of the egg, so that it will stand, and fill each of the hard whites with this paste. Place close together on a flat dish, and pour over the gravy left from the roast fowl yesterday, heated boiling hot, into which a few spoonfuls of cream or rich milk have been stirred. Cover closely with a hot cover, and let them stand a few minutes before sending to table. If liked, a little parsley, chopped fine, may be added, to the taste.
Excellent for breakfast when eggs are plenty.
Egg Toast.—Put some milk to boil in a farina-kettle; when it comes to a full boil, take from over the fire and break in your eggs; let them stand in the hot milk from eight to ten minutes, but not over the fire. Steam a light biscuit, or, if you prefer, some Graham bread till soft, or dip it into boiling milk and lay the egg on it, sprinkling over a little salt and pepper. If desired, after the biscuit is steamed or moistened in hot milk, you can spread a little butter over it before the egg is put on it. This is a pretty breakfast dish, and much more healthy than when the eggs are boiled, fried, or made into an omelet, as the albumen (or white of the egg), being only slightly cooked, is much moredigestible. If careful not to scorch it, it is better to boil in an iron kettle rather than the farina-kettle, as iron will retain the heat longer than tin when taken from the fire. Cooked in boiling water rather than milk, eggs are said to be even more digestible, but they are not so palatable.
Scrambled Eggs.—Put into a spider enough butter just to oil the bottom; set it on the stove. Break the eggs into a dish, taking care not to break the yelks. As soon as the spider is heated, slip in the eggs, adding a piece of butter as large as a walnut for twelve eggs; season with very little salt and pepper. When the eggs harden a little, stir the eggs from the bottom of the spider until cooked to suit. The yelks and whites should be separate, though stirred together; not mixed, like beaten eggs.
Scrambled Eggs.—Melt a table-spoonful of butter in a saucepan; beat the yelks of six eggs a few minutes; then add to them six table-spoonfuls of milk and a teaspoonful of salt, beat a little longer, and pour them into the melted butter. When they thicken slightly, pour in the whites unbeaten, and mix them with the yelks carefully with a fork, and serve on pieces of toast in a hot dish, or if preferred omit the bread. The whites should not be beaten in hard, only stirred with the fork enough to mix in slightly with the rest.
Dropped Eggs.—Have ready a saucepan of boiling water. Throw in a little salt. Break fresh eggs into a cup, one by one, and gently drop each into the water so as not to break the yelk or have the white spread much. Dip the boiling water over the yelk with a large spoon until the white sets; then with an egg-slice take each egg out separately upon buttered toast. Dress the dish with sprigs of parsley; sprinkle over a little salt if not seasoned sufficiently by the salted water. It is safer to cook one egg at a time, keeping the dish covered into which they are placed after being cooked, or where it will keep hot.
Cottage Cheese.—Take half sour milk, when well thickened, before it has been stirred, and half buttermilk, at least twenty-four hours old; set the dishes containing the milk and buttermilk separately over kettles of hot water till the clear whey just begins to rise to the top. Do not let it get too hot, or the cheese will be hard and tasteless. When the whey has risen, pourboth into a strainer-cloth or bag; tie it at the top, and hang it up to drain. If prepared for draining in the morning, by the middle of the afternoon it will be sufficiently free from whey. Then turn it out of the strainer and crumble all up fine; throw in a little salt and black pepper, rub in a table-spoonful of butter, and moisten with milk till soft enough to make into small pats or rolls for tea. If you have cream to wet it up with, use no butter. If you like it quite soft, add more milk or cream, and put the cheese into a deep dish, without attempting to make into balls.
Cheese Toast.—Without great care, there is danger of much waste after a rich cheese is cut, and part sent to the table daily. If servants are allowed to cut it, waste would seem inevitable; but if the mistress looks after the cheese, there are many nice relishes to be made from the crumbs and dried pieces.
Take five table-spoonfuls of rich cheese, grated (the “crumbles” and dry bits are as good as if cut for this purpose from the cheese), mix with it the yelk of one egg, four ounces of grated bread, and two table-spoonfuls of butter. Beat it all in a mortar,—a marble one if you have it,—adding a dessert-spoonful of mustard and a little salt and pepper. Toast some slices of bread, lay the paste upon them quite thick; put it into the oven a few minutes and send to the table hot.
Much care in selecting vegetables is necessary, but still more in preparing them for the table. It is to be regretted that so little attention is given to this. Half the enjoyment that should be derived from the abundance of the best varieties which our farms and markets offer in every summer season is lost by unskillful cooking. So evident is this fact, that it appears quite important to call the particular attention ofyoung housekeepersto this part of their duty. We are so much in earnest, and deem this part of their labors so worthy of extra care, that no doubt those who think us quite too particular and whimsical in our inculcations of extreme neatness in household management will find the same grounds for objection here. We would suggest that those who feel inclined to raise these objections should overlook everything and every place about their houses, and attend withtheir own hands to all that ought to be donefor one month. We imagine that, should they do this, their experience of the beauty of great cleanliness, and the added luxury and pleasure of their table comforts, would justify our teachings.
Of course it is only those who raise vegetables themselves who can enjoy in the highest degree the pleasure of eating them. No luxury of this kind, peas, corn, beans, salads, etc., can ever be had in perfection when gathered overnight and brought to the market or the store, lying for hours it may be before they are used. But even after such exposure and waste of the finer flavors, they can be made more palatable by proper cooking.
Almost all vegetables are bettersteamedthan boiled, as all the juices are secured by this method; particularly is this true in cooking corn and peas. A large kettle half filled with boiling water, asteamerfitting closely in the top of the kettle, and the cover fitting as closely to the steamer, answers very well when there is no better way. But there are now in market various kinds of steamers for cooking, which profess to make it a very convenient mode of preparing food. The “Peerless,” one of the best cooking-stoves we have ever known, has a large steamer of the size and shape of a wash-boiler, with two perforated compartments in which to put the various articles to be cooked, and we have found it exceedingly convenient for steaming all kinds of vegetables. We have elsewhere mentioned the “Rumford Boiler,” the “Warren Cooker,” etc. A large amount of corn—for those who can gather sweet corn right from the stalk are not likely to be satisfied with asmallmess—can be placed in one part; peas in a dish, all seasoned, set beside the corn; potatoes, beets, cauliflower, each in separate dish, can find a place in this large steamer, and cooked without losing any of their richness, yet, all being in one large receptacle, less room is occupied on the stove than when each article is put in a separate kettle.
Corn.—Like peas and most summer produce, corn should be used as soon as plucked. Husk, silk, and put intoboilingwater as soon as possible after it is brought from the garden. Let it boil twenty minutes, or, if large kernels and cob, thirty.
The small early corn that will not cook in fifteen or twenty minutes is too old, or wholly worthless for cooking. As soon asthe corn is done, put it on the plates with a napkin under, and send it to the table hot. If you prefer it cut from the cob, as soon as it is cooked cut it off, and to three pints of corn put one spoonful of butter, with pepper and salt to suit your taste; put in but a little at first and then taste (always remember that in seasoning you canaddif needed, but cannot easilytake away), add a cup and a half of good cream, or if you must use milk instead, put in half a spoonful more butter. Have boiling water in the under part of your farina-kettle, and pour your corn into the upper. Set over the fire till just ready to boil, then dish and send to the table hot.
Another Way.—With a thin, sharp knife, cut the corn from the cob before cooking, being careful not to cut so closely as to take the horny point that fastens the kernel to the cob. Put the corn into the farina-kettle as above directed, with a little salt, pepper, two cups cream, one spoonful butter, or two cups sweet milk and two great spoonfuls of butter. Be sure and scrape all the milk from the cob when you have cut off the kernels, or squeeze it out with your hand. It adds more to the richness of the dish than you would at first imagine. Set the kettle over the fire and let it boil fifteen minutes. It will take less time to cook than when boiled on the cob.
Boiling Potatoes.—To boil potatoes well requires more attention than is usually given. They should be well washed, and left standing in cold water an hour or two, to remove the black liquor with which they are impregnated, and a brackish taste they would otherwise have. They should not be pared before boiling; they lose much of the starch by so doing, and are made insipid. Put them into a kettle of clear cold water, with a little salt, cover closely and boil rapidly, using no more water than will just cover them, as they produce a considerable quantity of fluid themselves while boiling, and too much water will make them heavy. As soon asjustdone, instantly pour off the water, set them back on the range, and leave the cover off the saucepan till the steam has evaporated. They will then, if a good kind, be dry and mealy. This is an Irish receipt, and a good one.
Another Way.—Put them, with skins on, into a kettle of hot water; let them come just to the boiling point, and pour in a cupof cold water, and, as the Irish say, the boiling is “backed.” Repeat this till the potato is tender. The object is to keep the water just on the verge of boiling, but check it by a little cold water till the potato is done.
To Boil New Potatoes.—When fresh dug take the small potatoes not quite ripe, wash clean, then rub the skin off with the hand—never use a knife—and put them into boiling water with a little salt; boil quickly; when done, drain dry and lay into a dish, spreading a little butter over them, or boil some new milk, put in a great spoonful of butter, and thicken with a little flour wet smooth with milk. When the potatoes are cooked and laid in the dish pour thisdipover them. This is very nice.
Mashed Potatoes.—Boil with skins on; when done, peel quickly, and put, as you peel, into a saucepan over the stove, but not hot enough to burn; mash free from lumps to a smooth paste; have ready, before peeling the potatoes, a piece of butter half the size of an egg, melted, and half a cup of sweet milk, with pepper and salt to taste; when the potatoes are mashed smooth, pour in the milk and butter, and work it quick and smooth, then dish; dress the top with a knife so as to be round and smooth, rub on a little beaten egg, and brown in the oven very delicately. Serve with fowls or roast meat.
Potato Croquettes.—Boil potatoes with just enough water to cover; when three quarters done pour off the water and let them steam to finish cooking; then press them through a wire sieve; this done, put them into a stewpan, adding one ounce butter to one quart potatoes, and the well-beaten yelks of two eggs; mix together thoroughly; then flour the paste-board, divide the potato paste into square parts and roll them on the board to any shape,—balls, pears, corks, or what you choose,—dip them in egg and bread crumbs, and fry in hot fat to a light brown.
Saratoga Fried Potatoes.—Wash the potatoes clean, slice with a potato-slicer very thin, throw into cold water long enough to take out some of the starch, then wipe dry and put into boiling lard, a few pieces at a time; be sure and keep the lard boiling; as soon as the potatoes are of a clear golden brown, skim out, drain in a colander or sieve, and serve hot.
Scalloped Potatoes.—Boil in the skins. Peel quickly,when done, and rub through a colander or coarse sieve, or mash smoothly; season highly with salt, pepper, and butter; add two or three hard-boiled eggs chopped fine. Four eggs to a quart of mashed potatoes are nice; but if eggs are not plenty, two will do. Fill a bake-dish with it, and bake long enough to form a delicately brown crust. Serve as soon as taken from the oven.
Snow Potatoes.—Boil till just done; peel and throw into a colander or coarse sieve; break them up a little; then sprinkle in a little salt; add as much butter as for common mashed potatoes, and enough milk to enable you to rub them easily through the colander. They will, if not too moist, come through in strings and fall in a light snowy mass into the vegetable-dish, which should be placed underneath. Do not stir it, but send to the table just as it falls into the dish.
Potato Cakes.—Grate one teacup of raw ham, mix it with a quart of finely mashed potatoes; beat and stir into this two eggs, add pepper, salt (not too much), and a little mustard,—a small teaspoonful is not too much if you like it highly seasoned,—roll in balls and fry a light brown. Sage and sweet-marjoram can be added if their taste is agreeable.
To Fry Sweet Potatoes.—Pare, slice thin, fry in hot lard, like fritters, and sprinkle with a little salt as they are taken from the lard.
Maccaroni.—Boil a quarter of a pound of maccaroni in clear water till tender. While boiling, thicken half a pint of boiling milk with enough flour to make it as stiff as thick cream; add half a table-spoonful of butter and two table-spoonfuls of cream, half a small teaspoonful of mustard, a little pepper (white if you have it, if not black will answer), a little salt, and a very little cayenne pepper. Stir into this a quarter of a pound of grated cheese. Boil this all together a few moments, stirring it constantly to prevent its burning, then drain the water from the maccaroni, and stir it into the thickened milk; let it boil up a few moments, and serve hot; or, if preferred, after dishing it, set the dish in the oven and let it brown. For variety, a little parsley chopped fine and stirred in before adding the maccaroni is considered an improvement.
Another very good way to prepare maccaroni is, boil it fifteenor twenty minutes in clear water, then drain it, and use chicken or veal broth instead of milk for the seasoning.
Another: Prepare as above or with milk, and just before it is done beat up two eggs and stir in.
Egg-Plant.—Take the fruit fully ripe; cut in slices not more than a quarter of an inch thick, and put it to soak in cold salted water for two hours. This removes a black, bitter property, said to be unhealthful, certainly disagreeable; then wipe the slices on a clean cloth, dip in the white of egg and fry in boiling hot butter till well browned, but be careful not to scorch them; serve hot.
Another Way.—Pare and quarter two or three egg-plants, according to the size of your family. Soak them in salt and water, as directed above, then boil till soft enough to mash like turnips. Mash them smooth, add a few bread crumbs soaked in milk, and one or two table-spoonfuls of butter, according to the quantity; a little chopped parsley, an onion boiled and mashed, and salt and pepper. Mix all thoroughly; pour into a baking-dish, cover the top with grated bread, and bake for a half-hour. Serve hot. For a fancy dish some boil the plant till soft, then cut in halves and scoop out the flesh, leaving the skin whole. Mash the inside smooth, and dress as above. Mix well, and stew half an hour, then put it back into the shell or skin; strew bread crumbs over, and brown slightly.
Cucumbers after they begin to turn yellow, and muskmelons that come on too late to ripen, may be sliced and fried like the egg-plant, and can scarcely be distinguished from it. Some think they are better.
Fricasseed Egg-plant.—Peel and slice the egg-plant; lay the slices in salt-water two hours, to remove the bitterness and the black which it would otherwise have; after soaking, drain off all the water; have enough boiling water in a clean, bright saucepan to cover the slices; throw in a table-spoonful of salt, and lay in the egg-plant; let them boil till thoroughly cooked; then drain off the water, pour in sufficient milk to cover the slices, and add two table-spoonfuls of butter, rolled in flour; let it simmer gently, shake the pan over the fire till the sauce is thick, and then stir in the beaten yelks of three eggs just before serving.