Mix one pound and a half of salt, one pound and a half of coarse sugar, and one ounce of saltpetre, in one quart of water; set it on the fire, and keep stirring the liquor till it boils. Skim it. When boiled about five minutes take it off, and pour it boiling hot on the leg of pork, which, if not quite covered, must be turned every day. Let it remain in the pickle one month; then hang it in the chimney for six weeks. These proportions will cure a ham of sixteen pounds. When the ham is taken out of the pickle, the liquor may be boiled up again and poured boiling hot upon pigs’ faces. After that boil again, and pour it cold upon a piece of beef, which will be excellent. It will then serve cold for pigs’ or sheep’s tongues, which must be well washed and rubbed in a little of the liquor and left in the remainder.
Take a ham of fifteen pounds, and wash it well with a quarter of a pint of vinegar, mixed with a quarter of a pound of the coarsest sugar. Next morning rub it well with three quarters of a pound of bay salt rolled, on the lean part; baste it often every day for fourteen days, and hang it up to dry.
Three ounces of saltpetre, bay salt and brown sugar two ounces of each, a small quantity of cochineal; mix them all together, and warm them over the fire. Rub the hams well with it, and cover them over with common salt.
Take a quantity of spring water sufficient to cover the meat you design to cure; make the pickle with an equal quantity of bay salt and common salt; add to a pound of each one pound of coarse brown sugar, one ounce of saltpetre, and one ounce of petre-salt; let the pickle be strong enough to bear an egg. If you design to eat the pork in a month or six weeks, it is best not to boil the pickle; if you intend it for the year, the pickle must be boiled and skimmed well until it is perfectly clear; let it be quite cold before you use it. Rub the meat that is to be preserved with some common salt, and let it lie upon a table sloping, to drain out all the blood; wipe it very dry with a coarse cloth before you put it into the pickle. The proportion of the pickle may be this: four pounds of common salt, four pounds of bay salt, three pounds of coarse sugar, two ounces of saltpetre, and two ounces of petre-salt, with a sufficient quantity of spring water to cover what you do, boiled as directedabove. Let the hams lie about six weeks in the pickle, and then send them to be smoked. Beef, pork, and tongues, may be cured in the same manner: ribs of beef done in this way are excellent.
Wash the ham clean; soak it in pump water for an hour; dry it well, and rub into it the following composition: saltpetre two ounces, bay salt nine ounces, common salt four ounces, lump sugar three ounces; but first beat them separately into a fine powder; mix them together, dry them before the fire, and then rub them into the ham, as hot as the hand can bear it. Then lay the ham sloping on a table; put on it a board with forty or fifty pounds weight; let it remain thus for five days; then turn it, and, if any of the salt is about it, rub it in, and let it remain with the board and weight on it for five days more; this done rub off the salt, &c. When you intend to smoke it, hang the ham in a sugar hogshead, over a chaffing-dish of wood embers; throw on it a handful of juniper-berries, and over that some horse-dung, and cover the cask with a blanket. This may be repeated two or three times the same day, and the ham may be taken out of the hogshead the next morning. The quantity of salt here specified is for a middle sized ham. There should not be a hole cut in the leg, as is customary, to hang it up by, nor should it be soaked in brine. Hams thus cured will keep for three months without smoking, so that the whole quantity for the year may be smoked at the same time. The ham need not be soaked in water before it is used, but only washed clean. Instead of a chaffing-dish of coals to smoke the hams, make a hole in the ground, and therein put the fire; it must not be fierce: be sure to keep the mouth of the hogshead covered with a blanket to retain the smoke.
Cut a leg of pork to the shape of a Westphalia ham; salt it, and set it on the fire in a skillet till dry, and put to it two ounces of saltpetre finely beaten. The salt must be put on as hot as possible. Let it remain a week in the salt, and then hang it up in the chimney for three weeks or a month. Two ounces of saltpetre will be sufficient for the quantity of salt required for one ham.
Let the hams be very well pricked with a skewer on the wrong side, hanging them in an airy place as long as they will keep sweet, and with a gallon of saltpetre make a pickle,and keep stirring it till it will bear an egg; boil and skim it and put three pounds of brown sugar to it. Let the hams lie about a month in this pickle, which must be cold when they are put in; turn them every day; dry them with saw-dust and charcoal. The above is the quantity that will do for six hams.
Rub every ham with four ounces of saltpetre. Next day put bay salt, common salt, and coarse sugar, half a pound of each, into a quart of stale strong beer, adding a small quantity of each of these ingredients for every ham to be made at that time. Boil this pickle, and pour it boiling hot over every ham. Let them lie a fortnight in it, rubbing them well and turning them twice a day. Then smoke the ham for three days and three nights over a fire of saw-dust and horse-litter, fresh made from the stable every night; after which smoke them for a fortnight over a wood fire like other bacon.
For two hams the following proportions may be observed: wash your hams all over with vinegar, and hang them up for two or three days. Take one pound and a half of the brownest sugar, two ounces of saltpetre, two ounces of bay salt, and a quart of common salt; mix them together; heat them before the fire as hot as you can bear your hand in, and rub it well into the hams before the fire, till they are very tender. Lay them in a tub made long for that purpose, or a butcher’s tray, that will hold them both, one laid one way and the other the contrary way, and strew the remainder of the ingredients over them. When the salt begins to melt, add a pint of vinegar, and let them lie three weeks, washing them with the liquor and turning them every day. Dry them in saw-dust smoke; hang them in a cellar; and if they mould it will do them no harm, as these hams require damp and not extreme driness. Juniper-berries thrown into the fire at which they are smoked greatly improve their flavour.
One pound of common salt, one pound of bay salt, four ounces of saltpetre, two ounces of black pepper; pound them separately, then mix them, and rub the ham very well until the whole is used. Rub one pound of treacle on them; lay them in the pickle one month, turning them every day. The quantity here specified will do for two hams. Before you hang them up, steep them in a pail of water for twelve hours.
Make a good brine of salt and water, sufficiently strong to bear an egg; boil and skim it clean, and when quite cold rub the meat with sal prunella and saltpetre mixed together. Put it in a vessel, and pour your brine into it; and, when the ham has been in the brine about fourteen days, take it out, drain it, and boil the brine, putting in a little salt, and letting it boil till clear. Skim it, and when cold put in your ham, rubbing it over with saltpetre, &c. as you did at first. Then let your ham again lie in the brine for three weeks longer; afterwards rub it well with bran, and have it dried by a wood fire.
Cut your legs of pork like hams; beat them well with a wooden mallet, till they are tender, but great care must be taken not to crack or break the skin, or the hams will be spoiled. To three hams take half a peck of salt, four ounces of saltpetre, and five pounds of coarse brown sugar; break all the lumps, and mix them well together. Rub your hams well with this mixture, and cover them with the rest. Let them lie three days; then hang them up one night, and put as much water to the salt and sugar as you think will cover them; the pickle must be strong enough to bear an egg: boil and strain it, and, when it is cold, pack your hams close, and cover them with the pickle at least an inch and half above their tops. Let them lie for a fortnight; then hang them up one night; the next day rub them well with bran, and hang them in the chimney of a fire-place in which turf, wood, or sawdust is burned. If they are small they will be dry enough in a fortnight; if large, in two or three days more. Then hang them up against a wall near a fire, and not in a damp place. Tongues may be cured in the same manner, and ribs of beef may be put in at the same time with the hams. You must let the beef lie in the pickle three weeks, and take it out when you want to boil it without drying it.
Cut off with the legs of young well grown porkers part of the flesh of the hind loin; lay them on either side in cloths, and press out the remaining blood and moisture, laying planks on them with heavy weights, which bring them into form; then salt them well with common salt and sugar finely beaten, and lay them in troughs one upon another, pressed closely down and covered with hyssop. Let them remain thus for a fortnight; then pass through the common salt, and with saltpetre rub them well over, which may be continued three or four days,till they soak. Take them out, and hang them in a close barn or smoke-loft; make a moderate fire under them, if possible of juniper-wood, and let them hang to sweat and dry well. Afterwards hang them up in a dry and airy place to the wind for three or four days, which will remove the ill scent left by the smoke; and wrap them up in sweet hay. To dress them, put them into a kettle of water when it boils; keep them well covered till they are done, and very few can distinguish them from the true Westphalia.
Take a ham of fifteen or eighteen pounds weight, two ounces of saltpetre, one pound of coarse sugar, one ounce of petre-salt, one ounce of bay salt, and one ounce of sal prunella, mixed with common salt enough to cover the ham completely. Turn your ham every other day, and let it remain in salt for three weeks. Take it out, rub a little bran over it, and dry it in a wood fire chimney, where a constant fire is kept: it will be fit for eating in a month. The quantity of the above ingredients must be varied according to the size of your ham. Before you dress it soak it over-night in water.
Hams from bacon pigs are better than pork. An onion shred small gives it a good flavour.
Salt a leg of pork as for boiling, with a little saltpetre tomake it red. Let it lie three weeks in salt, and then hang for a month or six weeks; but if longer it is of no consequence. When boiled, stuff with young strawberry leaves and parsley, which must be particularly well washed or they will be gritty.
Put the ham into a coarse sack well tied up, or sew it up in a cloth. Bury it three feet under ground in good mould; there let it remain for three or four days at least. This is an admirable way. The ham eats much mellower and finer than when soaked.
Boil the ham for two hours; take it out and trim it neatly all round; prepare in a stewpan some thin slices of veal, so as to cover the bottom; add to it two bunches of carrots sliced, six large onions, two cloves, two bunches of parsley, a tea-spoonful of cayenne pepper, a pint of beef jelly, a bottle of white wine, and three pints of boiling water. Place the ham inthe stewpan, and let it boil an hour and three quarters; then serve it immediately without sauce, preserving the sauce for other use.
Tie or sew up the ham in a coarse cloth, put it into a sack, and bury it three or four feet under ground, for three or four days before you dress it. Wash it in warm water, pare it, and scrape the rind. Spit and lay it down to roast. Into a broad stewpan put a pint of white wine, a quart of good broth, half a pint of the best vinegar, two large onions sliced, a blade of mace, six cloves, some pepper, four bay-leaves, some sweet basil, and a sprig of thyme. Let all these have a boil; and set the liquor under the ham, and baste very frequently with it. When the ham is roasted, take up the pan; skim all the fat off; pour the liquor through a fine sieve; then take off the rind of the ham, and beat up the liquor with a bit of butter; put this sauce under, and serve it.
Cut a dozen slices of ham; take off the fat entirely; fry them gently in a little butter. Have a good brown rich sauce of gravy; and serve up hot, with pieces of fried bread, cut of a semicircular shape, of the same size as the pieces of ham, and laid between them.
Cut slices of dressed ham, and thin slices of bread, or French roll, of the same shape; fry it in clarified butter; make the ham hot in cullis, or good gravy, thickened with a little floured butter. Dish the slices of ham on the toast; squeeze the juice of a Seville orange into the sauce; add a little pepper and salt; and pour it over them.
Put a layer of ham, then another of the white part of chicken, just as you would any other potted meat, into a pot. When it is cut out, it will shew a very pretty stripe. This is a delicate way of eating ham and chicken.
Take as much lean of a boiled ham as you please, and half the quantity of fat; cut it as thin as possible; beat it very fine in a mortar, with a little good oiled butter, beaten mace, pepper, and salt; put part of it into a china pot. Then beat the white part of a fowl with a very little seasoning to qualify the ham. Put a layer of chicken, then one of ham, then another of chicken at the top; press it hard down, and, when it is cold,pour clarified butter over it. When you send it to table in the pot, cut out a thin slice in the form of half a diamond, and lay it round the edge of the pot.
Take twelve anchovies, washed and cleaned well, and chopped very fine; mix them with half a pound of butter; this must be run through a sieve, with a wooden spoon. With this, butter bread, and make a salad of tarragon and some chives, mustard and cress, chopped very small, and put them upon the bread and butter. Add chicken in slices, if you please, or hard-boiled eggs.
Steep oatmeal in pork or mutton broth, of milk; put to it two handfuls of grated bread, a good quantity of shred herbs, and some pennyroyal: season with salt, pepper, and ginger, and other spices if you please; and to about three quarts of oatmeal put two pounds of beef suet shred small, and as much hog suet as you may think convenient. Add blood enough to make it black, and half a dozen eggs.
To three or four quarts of blood, strained through a sieve while warm, take the crumbs of twelve-pennyworth of bread, four pounds of beef suet not shred too fine, chopped parsley, leeks, and beet; add a little powdered marjoram and mint, half an ounce of black pepper, and salt to your taste. When you fill your skins, mix these ingredients to a proper thickness in the blood; boil them twenty minutes, pricking them as they rise with a needle to prevent their bursting.
Steep a pint of cracked oatmeal in a quart of milk till tender; add a pound of grated bread, pennyroyal, leeks, a little onion cut small, mace, pepper, and salt, to your judgment. Melt some of the leaf of the fat, and cut some of the fat small, according to the quantity made at once; and add blood to make the ingredients of a proper consistence.
Take the pith of an ox, and lay it in water for two days, changing the water night and morning. Then dry the pith well in a cloth, and, having scraped off all the skin, beat it well; add a little rose-water till it is very fine and without lumps. Boil a quart or three pints of cream, according to the quantity ofpith, with such spices as suit your taste: beat a quarter of a pound of almonds and put to the cream. When it is cold, rub it through a hair sieve; then put the pith to it, with the yolks of eight or nine eggs, some sack, and the marrow of four bones shred small; some sweetmeats if you like, and sugar to your taste: if marrow cannot be procured suet will do. The best spices to put into the cream are nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon; but very little of the last.
Take a quart of cream and fourteen eggs, leaving out half the whites; beat them but a little, and when the cream boils up put in the eggs; keep them stirring on a gentle fire till the whole is a thick curd. When it is almost cold, put in a pound of grated bread, two pounds of suet shred small, having a little salt mixed with it, half a pound of almonds well beaten in orange-flower water, two nutmegs grated, some citron cut small, and sugar to your taste.
Take two pounds of grated bread; one pint and a half of cream; two pounds of beef suet and marrow; half a pound of blanched almonds, beat fine with a gill of brandy; a little rose-water; mace, cloves, and nutmeg, pounded, a quarter of an ounce; half a pound of currants, well picked and dried; ten eggs, leaving out half the whites; mix all these together, and boil them half an hour.
This dish may be made of any meat, but mutton is the best. Take a slice from a tender piece, not sinewy, a slice of ginger, and a slice of onion, put them on a silver skewer alternately, and lay them in a stewpan, in a little plain gravy. This is the kabob. Take rice and split peas, twice as much rice as peas; boil them thoroughly together, coloured with a little turmeric, and serve them up separately or together. The ginger must be steeped over-night, that you may be able to cut it.
To make the kabob which is usually served up with pilaw, take a lean piece of mutton, and leave not a grain of fat or skin upon it; pound it in a mortar as for forcemeat; add half a clove of garlic and a spoonful or more of curry-powder, according to the size of the piece of meat, and the yolk of anegg. Mix all well together; make it into small cakes; fry it of a light brown, and put it round the pilaw.
Divide the leg from the loin of a hind quarter of lamb; slit the skin off the leg, and cut out the flesh of one side of it, and chop this flesh very small; add an equal quantity of shred beef suet and some sweet-herbs shred small; season with nutmeg, pepper, and salt; break into it two eggs. Mix all well together, put it into the leg, sew it up, and boil it. Chop the loin into steaks, and fry them, and, when the leg is boiled enough, lay the steaks round it. Take some white wine, anchovies, nutmeg, and a quarter of a pound of butter; thicken with the yolks of two eggs; pour it upon the lamb, and so serve it up. Boil your lamb in a cloth.
Slit a leg of lamb on the wrong side, and take out as much meat as possible, without cutting or cracking the outward skin. Pound this meat well with an equal weight of fresh suet: add to this the pulp of a dozen large oysters, and two anchovies boned and clean washed. Season the whole with salt, black-pepper, mace, a little thyme, parsley, and shalot, finely shred together; beat them all thoroughly with the yolks of three eggs, and, having filled the skin tight with this stuffing, sew it up very close. Tie it up to the spit and roast it. Serve it with any good sauce.
Half roast, then score, and season it with pepper, salt, and cayenne. Broil it; reserve the gravy carefully; pass it through a sieve to take off all fat. Mix with it mushroom and walnut ketchup, onion, the size of a nut, well bruised, a little chopped parsley, and some of the good jelly reserved for sauces. Put a good quantity of this sauce; make it boil, and pour it boiling hot on the lamb when sent to table.
Roast a quarter of lamb, and when almost done dredge it well with grated bread, which must be put into the dish you serve it up in; take veal cullis, salt, pepper, anchovy, and lemon juice; warm it, lay the lamb in it, and serve it up.
Cut the hind quarter of lamb into thin slices, and season them with spice, sweet-herbs, and a shalot; fry and toss them up insome strong broth, with balls and palates, and a little brown gravy to thicken it.
A leg of veal, the fillet without bone, the knuckle for steaks, and a pie; bone of fillet and knuckle for soup.—Shoulder of veal, knuckle cut off for soup.—Breast of veal, thin end stews, or re-heats as a stew.—Half a calf’s head boils, then hashes, with gravy from the bones.—For mock turtle soup, neats’ feet instead of calf’s head, that is, two calves’ feet and two neats’ feet.—Giblets of all poultry make gravy.—Ox-cheek, for soup and kitchen.—Rump of beef cut in two, thin part roasted, thick boiled: or steaks and one joint, the bone for soup.—The trimmings of many joints will make gravy.—To boil the meat white, well flour the joint and the cloth it is boiled in, not letting any thing be boiled with it, and frequently skimming the grease.—Lamb chops fried dry and thin make a neat dish, with French beans in cream round them. A piece of veal larded in white celery sauce, to answer the chops.—Dressed meat, chopped fine, with a little forcemeat, and made into balls about the size of an egg, browned and fried dry, and sent up without any sauce.—Sweetbreads larded in white celery sauce.—To remove taint in meat, put the joint into a pot with water, and, when it begins to boil, throw in a few red clear cinders, let them boil together for two or three minutes, then take out the meat, and wipe it dry.—To keep hams, when they are cured for hanging up, tie them in brown paper bags tight round the hocks to exclude the flies, which omission occasions maggots.—Ginger, where spice is required, is very good in most things.
The general rule for roasting and boiling meat is as follows: fifteen minutes to a pound in roasting, twenty minutes to a pound in boiling.
On no account whatever let the least drop of water be poured on any roast meat; it soddens it, and is a bad contrivance to make gravy, which is, after all, no gravy, and totally spoils the meat.
Cut small pieces, of the size of a half-crown, of half-roasted mutton, and put them into a saucepan with half a pint of red wine, the same quantity of gravy, one anchovy, a little shalot, whole pepper, and salt; let them stew a little; then put in themeat with a few capers, and, when thoroughly hot, thicken with butter rolled in flour.
Mix three table-spoonfuls of mustard, one of salt, and cold spring water sufficient to reduce it to a proper thickness.
Let the chine hang downward, and raise the skin from the bone. Take slices of lean gammon of bacon, and season it with chives, parsley, and white pepper; spread them over the chine, and lay the bacon upon them. Turn the skin over them, and tie it up; cover with paper, and roast. When nearly done, dredge with crumbs of bread, and serve up, garnishing with mutton cutlets.
Put them in a stewpan, with an onion, and enough cold water to cover them; when come to a boil, skim and set them over a very slow fire till tender; perhaps about three quarters of an hour.
Turnips may be boiled with them.
Cut a neck of mutton into cutlets; beat it till very tender; wash it with thick melted butter, and strew over the side which is buttered some sweet-herbs, chopped small, with grated bread, a little salt, and nutmeg. Lay it on a gridiron over a charcoal fire, and, turning it, do the same to that side as the other. Make sauce of gravy, anchovies, shalots, thick butter, a little nutmeg, and lemon.
Cut the cutlets very small; trim all round, taking off all the fat; cut off the long part of the bone; put them into a stewpan, with all the trimmings that have been cut off, together with one onion cut in slices; add some parsley, a carrot or two, a pinch of salt, and six table-spoonfuls of mutton or veal jelly, and let them stew till the cutlets are of a brown colour all round, but do not let them burn. Take out the cutlets, drain them in a sieve, and let them cool; then strain the sauce till it becomes of a fine glaze, and re-warm them. Have ready some good onion sauce; put it in the middle of the dish; place the cutlets—eight, if they are small—round it, and serve the glaze with them; take care it does not touch the onion sauce, but pour it round the outside part.
Cut a hind quarter of mutton like a ham. Take one ounce of saltpetre, one pound of coarse sugar, and one pound of common salt; mix them together, and rub the ham well with them. Lay it in a hollow tray with the skin downward; baste it every day for a fortnight; then roll it in sawdust, and hang it in wood smoke for a fortnight. Boil and hang it in a dry place; cut it out in rashers. It does not eat well boiled, but is delicious broiled.
Take a neck of mutton, and cut it in the same manner as for mutton chops. When done, lay them in your stewpan, with a blade of mace, some whole peppercorns, a bunch of sweet-herbs, two onions, one carrot, one turnip, all cut in slices, and lay them over your mutton. Set your stewpan over a slow fire, and let the chops stew till they are brown; turn them, that the other side may be the same. Have ready some good gravy, and pour on them, and let them stew till they are very tender. Your ragout must be turnips and carrots cut into dice, and small onions, all boiled very tender, and well stirred up in the liquor in which your mutton was stewed.
Fry mutton chops in butter till they are brown, but not done through. Lay them flat in a stewpan, and just cover them with gravy. Put in small onions, whole carrots, and turnips, scooped or cut into shapes; let them stew very gently for two hours or more. Season the chops before you fry them with pepper and salt.
To give a leg of mutton the taste of mountain meat, hang it up as long as it will keep fresh; rub it every day with ginger and coarse brown sugar, leaving it on the meat.
A leg of mutton thus dressed is a very excellent dish. Pare off all the skin as neatly as possible; lard the leg with the best lard, and stick a few cloves here and there, with half a clove of garlic, laid in the shank. When half roasted, cut off three or four thin pieces, so as not to disfigure it, about the shank bone; mince these very fine with sage, thyme, mint, and any other sweet garden herbs; add a little beaten ginger, very little, three or four grains; as much cayenne pepper, two spoonfuls of lemon juice, two ladlefuls of claret wine, a few capers, the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs: stew these in somemeat jelly, and, when thoroughly stewed, pour over your roast, and serve it up. Do not spare your meat jelly; let the sauce be in generous quantity.
Cut small flat pieces of the meat, taking care to pare the skin and sinews, but leaving as much fat as you can find in the inside of the leg; season with a little salt and cayenne pepper and a little soup jelly; put in two whole onions, two bunches of parsley, the same of thyme, and a table-spoonful of mushroom-powder. Take two or three little balls of flour and butter, of the size of a nut, to thicken the sauce; beat it well together; let this simmer a little while; take off the scum; put in the meat, and let it boil. Serve up hot, with fried bread round it.
Take the mutton and cut it into slices, taking off the skin and fat; beat it well, and rub the dish with garlic; put in the mutton with water, and season with salt, an onion cut in half, and a bundle of savoury herbs; cover it, and set it over a stove and stew it. When half stewed, add a little white wine (say two glasses) three blades of mace, and an anchovy; stew it till enough done; then take out the onion and herbs, and put the hash into the dish, rubbing a piece of butter in flour to thicken it, and serve it up.
Cut your mutton in steaks, and put it into as much water as will cover it. When it is skimmed, add four onions sliced and four large turnips.
Draw the neck with parsley, and then roast it; and, when almost enough, dredge it with white pepper, salt, and crumbs; serve it with the juice of orange and gravy.
Lard a neck of mutton with lemon-peel, and then boil it in salt and water, with sweet-herbs. While boiling, stew a pint of oysters in their own liquor, half a pint of white wine, and the like quantity of broth; put in two or three whole onions and some anchovies, grated nutmeg, and a little thyme. Thicken the broth with the yolks of four eggs, and dish it up with sippets. Lay the oysters under the meat, and garnish with barberries and lemon.
Take the best end of a neck of mutton, cut it into steaks, beat them with a rolling-pin, strew some salt on them, and lay them in a frying-pan: hold the pan over a slow fire that may not burn them: turn them as they heat, and there will be gravy enough to fry them in, till they are half done. Then put to them some good gravy; let them fry together, till they are done; add a good bit of butter, shake it up, and serve it hot with pickles.
Raise the skin of the fore-chine of mutton, and draw it with lemon and thyme; and with sausage-meat farce part of it. Take twelve kidneys, farce, skewer, and afterwards broil them; and lay round horseradish between, with the gravy under.
Cut the shoulder as you would venison; take off the skin, and let it lie in blood all night. Take as much powder of sweet-herbs as will lie on a sixpence, a little grated bread, pepper, nutmeg, ginger, and lemon-peel, the yolks of two eggs boiled hard, about twenty oysters, and some salt; temper these all together with the blood; stuff the meat thickly with it, and lay some of it about the mutton; then wrap the caul of the sheep about the shoulder; roast it, and baste it with blood till it is nearly done. Take off the caul, dredge, baste it with butter, and serve it with venison sauce. If you do not cut it venison fashion, yet take off the skin, because it will eat tough; let the caul be spread while it is warm, and, when you are to dress it, wrap it up in a cloth dipped in hot water. For sauce, take some of the bones of the breast; chop and put to them a whole onion, a little lemon-peel, anchovies, and a little spice. Stew these; add some red wine, oysters, and mushrooms.
Make six holes in either a shoulder or leg of mutton with a knife: roll in eggs with your oysters, with crumbs and nutmeg, and stuff three or four in every hole. If you roast, put a caul over it; if for boiling, a napkin. Make some good oyster sauce, which lay under, and serve up hot.
Bone a neck and loin of mutton, leaving on only the top bones, about an inch long; draw the one with parsley, and lard the other with bacon very closely; and, after skewering, roast them. Fry and stew your cucumbers; lay them under the mutton, and season them with salt, pepper, vinegar, andminced shalot, and put the sauce under the mutton, garnishing with pickled cucumbers and horseradish.
Boil and skin a loin of mutton; take the bones, two onions, two anchovies, a bunch of sweet-herbs, some pepper, mace, carrot, and crust of bread; stew these all together for gravy; strain it off, and put the mutton into a stewpan with the fat side downward; add half a pint of port wine. Stew it till thoroughly done.
Roast a shoulder of mutton till it is three parts done, and let it cool; raise the skin quite up to the knuckle, and cut off all to the knuckle. Sauce the blade-bone; broil it, and hash the rest, putting in some capers, with good gravy, pickled cucumbers, and shalots. Stir them well up, and lay the blade-bone on the skin.
Take some pepper and salt, with a little cayenne and a little cream; thicken with butter and flour. To do them white, cut out all the black inside.
Cut the lean part of a leg of mutton in little thin collops; beat them; butter a stewpan, and lay the collops all over. Have ready pepper, salt, shalot or garlic, and strew upon them. Set them over a very slow fire. As the gravy draws, turn over the collops, and dredge in a very little flour; have ready some good hot gravy. Shake it up all together, and serve with pickles.
Choose one that is fat and young, which may be known by the teeth; pick out the eye-balls; cut away the snout and all superfluous bits. Wash and clean it perfectly; well dry it in a cloth, and, with the back of a cleaver, break all the bones in the inside of the cheek; then with a rollingpin beat the flesh of the outside. If it is intended for the next day’s dinner, proceed in this manner:—quarter and lard it with marrow; then pour on it garlic or elder vinegar so gently that it may sink into the flesh; strew salt over it, and let it remain so till morning. Then put it into a stewpan, big enough, if you do both cheeks, to admit of their lying flat close to one another; but first rub the pan well with garlic, and with a spoon spread a pound of butter and upwards at the bottom and sides of the pan. Strew cloves and beaten mace on the cheeks, also thyme and sweet marjoram, finely chopped; then put in as much white wine as will cover them an inch or more above themeat, but wash not off the other things by pouring it on. Rub the lid of the pan with garlic, and cover it so close that no steam can escape. Make a brisk fire under it, and, when the cover is so hot that you cannot bear your hand on it, then a slack fire will stew it, but keep it so that the cover be of the same heat as long as it is stewing. It must not be uncovered the whole time it is doing: about three hours will be sufficient. When you take it up, be careful not to break it; take out the loose bones; pour the liquor on the cheek; clear from the fat and the dross, and put lemon-juice to it. Serve it hot.
Soak it in water, and make it very clean; put it in a gallon of water, with some potherbs, salt, and whole pepper. When stewed, so that the bones will slip out easily, take it up and strain off the soup; put a bit of butter in the frying-pan with some flour, and fry the meat brown, taking care not to burn it. Put some of the soup to the flour and butter, with ketchup, mushrooms, anchovy, and walnut liquor. Lay the cheek in a deep dish, and pour the sauce over it.
Some good gravy must first be made, and the tail chopped through every joint, and stewed a long time in it till quite tender, with an onion stuck with cloves, a table-spoonful of port or Madeira wine, a tea-spoonful of soy, and a little cayenne. Thicken the gravy with a little flour.
Take two or three ox-tails; put them in a saucepan, with turnips, carrots, onions, and some black peppercorns; stew them for four hours. Take them out; cut them in pieces at every joint; put them into a stewpan with some good gravy, and scraped turnip and carrot; or cut them into the shape of a ninepin; pepper and salt to your taste; add the juice of half a lemon; and send it to table very hot.
Take a quart of fine peas, and two small or one large cabbage lettuce; boil the lettuce tender; take it out of the water, shake it well, and put it into the stewpan, with about two ounces of butter, three or four little onions cut small, and the peas. Set them on a very slow fire, and let them stew about two hours; season them to your taste with pepper and a tea-spoonful of sugar; and, instead of salt, stew in some bits ofham, which you may take out or leave in when you serve it. There should not be a drop of water, except what inevitably comes from the lettuce.
To your peas, add cabbage lettuces cut small, a small faggot of mint, and one onion; pass them over the fire with a small bit of butter, and, when they are tender and the liquor from them reduced, take out the onion and mint, and add a little white sauce. Take care it be not too thin; season with a little pepper and salt.
Gather your peas, when neither very young nor old, on a fine dry day. Shell, and let two persons holding a cloth, one at each end, shake them backward and forward for a few minutes. Put them into clean quart bottles; fill the bottles, and cork tight. Melt some rosin in a pipkin, dip the necks of the bottles into it, and set them in a cool dry place.
Shell the peas, and dry them in a gentle heat, not much greater than that of a hot summer’s day. Put them when quite dry into linen bags, and hang them up in a dry place. Before they are boiled, at Christmas or later, steep them in half milk, half water, for twelve or fourteen hours; then boil them as if fresh gathered. Beans and French beans may be preserved in the same manner.
A quarter of a pound of saltpetre, a large commonbasinful of coarse sugar, and coarse salt. A leg of pork to lie in it a fortnight.
Rump steaks are preferable to beef; season them with the usual seasoning, puff-paste top and bottom, and good gravy to fill the dish.
Parboil the head; cut it into thin slices; season with pepper and salt; lay them into a crust with some good gravy, forcemeat balls, and yolks of eggs boiled hard. Bake it about an hour and a half; cut off the lid; thicken some good gravy with a little flour; add some oysters; serve it with or without a lid.
Take a loin of mutton or lamb, and clear it from fat and skin; cut it into steaks; season them well with pepper and salt; almost fill the dish with water; lay puff paste at top and bottom.
Make exactly as you would a beef-steak pie.
Take a neck, a fillet, or a breast of veal, cut from it your steaks, seasoned with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and a few cloves, truffles, and morels; then slice two sweetbreads; season them in the same manner, and put a layer of paste round the dish; then lay the meat, yolks of eggs boiled hard, and oysters at the top: fill it with water. When taken out of the oven, pour in at the top through a funnel some good boiled gravy, thickened with cream and flour boiled up.
Take two pounds of veal cutlets, or the best end of the neck, cut them in pieces about half the size of your hand, seasoned with pepper and a very little salt, and some dressed ham in slices. Lay them alternately in the dish with forcemeat or sausage meat, the yolks of three eggs boiled hard, and a gill of water.
Make your olives as directed in the receipt for making olives; put them into a crust; fill the pie with water: when baked, pour in some good gravy, boiled and thickened with a little good cream and flour boiled together. These ingredients make an excellent pie.
Make your olives as you would common beef olives; put them into puff paste, top and bottom; fill the pie with water, when baked, pour in some good rich gravy.
The best pig for this purpose is of the thick neck breed, about six weeks old. Season the barbicue very high with cayenne, black pepper, and sage, finely sifted; which must be rubbed well into the inside of the pig. It must then be sewed up and roasted, or, if an oven can be depended upon, it will be equally good baked. The sauce must be a very high beef gravy, with an equal quantity of Madeira wine in it. Send the pig to table whole. Be careful not to put any salt into the pig, as it will change its colour.
Have your pig cut down the back, and bone and wash it clean from the blood; dry it well, and season it with spice, salt,parsley, and thyme, and roll it hard in a collar; tie it close in a dry cloth and boil it with the bones, in three pints of water, a quart of vinegar, a handful of salt, a faggot of sweet-herbs, and whole spice. When tender, let it cool and take it off; take it out of the cloth, and keep it in the pickle.
Boil and wash your pig well, and lay it on a dresser: chop parsley, thyme, and sage, and strew them over the inside of the pig. Beat some mace and cloves, mix with them some pepper and salt, and strew that over. Boil some eggs hard, chop the yolks, and put them in layers across your pig; boil some beet-root, and cut that into slices, and lay them across; then roll it up in a cloth and boil it. Before it is cold, press it with a weight, and it will be fit for use.
Take a fair fat pig, cut off his head, and cut him through the middle. Take out the brains, lay them in warm water, and leave them all night. Roll the pig up like brawn, boil till tender, and then throw it into an earthen pan with salt and water. This will whiten and season the flesh; for no salt must be put into the boiling for fear of turning it black. Then take a quart of this broth and a quart of white wine, boil them together, and put in three or four bay-leaves: when cold, season your pig, and put it into this sauce. It will keep three months.
Chop the liver small by itself: mince blanched bacon, capers, truffles, anchovy, mushrooms, sweet-herbs and garlic. Season and blanch the whole. Fill your pig with it; tie it up; sprinkle some good olive oil over it; roast and serve it up hot.
Put a piece of bread, parsley, and sage, cut small, into the belly with a little salt; sew up the belly; spit the pig, and roast it; cut off the ears and the under-jaws, which you will lay round; making a sauce with the brains, thick butter and gravy, which lay underneath.
After skinning the pig, but leaving the skin quite whole, with the head on, chine it down, as you would do mutton, larding it with thyme and lemon-peel; and roast it in quarters like lamb. Fill the other part with a plum-pudding; sew the belly up, and bake it.
Clean the feet and ears, and boil them very tender. Cut them in small shreds, the length of a finger and about a quarter of an inch in breadth; fry them in butter till they are brown but not hard; put them into a stewpan with a little brown gravy and a good piece of butter, two spoonfuls of vinegar, and a good deal of mustard—enough to flavour it strong. Salt to your taste; thicken with very little flour. Put in half an onion; then take the feet, which should likewise be boiled as tender as for eating; slit them quite through the middle; take out the large bones; dip them in eggs, and strew them over with bread crumbs, seasoned with pepper and salt; boil or fry them, and put them on the ragout, into which squeeze some lemon-juice.
Split the feet, and take them out of souse; dip them in eggs, then in bread-crumbs and choppedparsley; fry them in lard. Drain them; cut the ears in long narrow slips; flour them; put them into some good gravy; add ketchup, morels, and pickled mushrooms; stew them into the dish, and lay on the feet.
Take the belly-piece and head of pork, rub it well with saltpetre and a very little salt; let it lie three or four days; wash it clean; then boil the head tender, and take off all the meat with the ears, which cut in pieces. Have ready four neats’ feet, also well boiled; take out the bones, cut the meat in thin slices, mix it with the head, and lay it with the belly-piece: roll it up tight, and bind it up, and set it on one end, with a trencher upon it; set it within the tin, and place a heavy weight upon that, and let it stand all night. In the morning take it out, and bind it with a fillet; put it in some salt and water, which must be changed every four or five days. When sliced, it looks like brawn. It is also good dipped in butter and fried, and eaten with melted butter, mustard, and vinegar: for that purpose the slices should be only about three inches square.
Take six or eight ribs of a neck of mutton; separate and take off all the skin and fat, and put them into a stewpan with twelve cloves, a small piece of ginger, twelve grains of black pepper, and a little cinnamon and mace, with one clove of garlic. Add as much water as will serve to stew these ingredients thoroughly and make the meat tender. Then take out the mutton, and fry it in nice butter of a light brown, with somesmall onions chopped fine and fried very dry; put them to the mutton-gravy and spice in which it was stewed, adding a table-spoonful of curry-powder and half an ounce of butter. After mixing all the above ingredients well together, put them to the rice, which should be previously half boiled, and let the whole stew together, until the rice is done enough and the gravy completely absorbed. When the pilaw is dished for table, it should be thinly covered with plain boiled rice to make it look white, and served up very hot.
Bone and season a breast of pork with savoury spice, parsley, sage, and thyme; roll it in a hard collar of cloth; tie it close, and boil it, and, when cold, keep it in souse.
Having boned your pork, cut it into such pieces as will lie most conveniently to be powdered. The tub used for this purpose must be sufficiently large and sound, so as to hold the brine; and the narrower and deeper it is the better it will keep the meat. Well rub the meat with saltpetre; then take one part of bay and two parts of common salt, and rub every piece well, covering it with salt, as you would a flitch of bacon. Strew salt in the bottom of the tub; lay the pieces in it as closely as possible, strewing salt round the sides of the tub, and if the salt should even melt at the top strew no more. Meat thus cured will keep a long time.
Cut your pork into small pieces, of the size you would boil at one time; rub all the pieces very well with salt, and lay them on a dresser upon boards made to slope that the brine may run off. After remaining three or four days, wipe them with a dry cloth; have ready a quantity of salt mixed with a small portion of saltpetre: rub each piece well with this mixture, after which cover them all over with salt. Put them into an earthen jar, or large pan, placing the pieces as close together as possible, closing the top of the jar or pan, so as to prevent all external air from getting in; put the shoulder pieces in a pan by themselves. Pork prepared in this manner will keep good a year.
Make your stuffing of parsley, sage, thyme, eggs, crumbs of bread, and season it with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and shalot; stuff the chine thick, and roast it gently. When about a quarter roasted, cut the skin in slips, making your sauce with lemon-peel, apples, sugar, butter, and mustard, just as you would for a roast leg.
Take a chine of pork that has hung four or five days; make holes in the lean, and stuff it with a little of the fat leaf, chopped very small, some parsley, thyme, a little sage, and shalot, cut very fine, and seasoned with pepper and salt. It should be stuffed pretty thick. Have some good gravy in the dish. For sauce, use apple sauce.
Cut off the skin of a loin or neck of pork and make cutlets; season them with parsley, sage, and thyme, mixed together with crumbs of bread, pepper, and salt; broil them, and make sauce with mustard, butter, shalot, and gravy, and serve up hot.
Let the gammon soak for twenty-four hours in warm water. Boil it tender, but not too much. When hot, score it with your knife; put some pepper on it, and then put it into a dish to crisp in a hot oven; but be mindful to pull the skin off.
After skinning part of the fillet, cut it into slices, and hack it with the back of your knife; season with pepper, salt, thyme, and sage, minced small. Broil the slices on the gridiron, and serve with sauce made with drawn butter, sugar, and mustard.
Cut off the spring of a knuckle of pork, and leave as much skin on the spring as you can, parting it from the neck, and taking out the bones. Rub it well with salt, and strew it all over with thyme shred small, parsley, sage, a nutmeg, cloves, and mace, beaten small and well mixed together. Rub all well in, and roll the whole up tight, with the flesh inward. Sew it fast, spit it lengthwise, and roast it.
The following is the celebrated Lancashire receipt for cooking potatoes:—Cleanse them well, put them in cold water, and boil them with their skins on exceedingly slow. When the water bubbles, throw in a little cold water. When they are done, drain the water completely away through a colander; return them into a pot or saucepan without water; cover themup, and set them before the fire for a quarter of an hour longer. Do not pare the potatoes before they are boiled, which is a very unwholesome and wasteful practice.
Scrape off the rind; put them into an iron pot; simmer them till they begin to crack, and allow a fork to pierce easily; then pour off the water, and put aside the lid of the pot, and sprinkle over some salt. Place your pot at the edge of the fire, and there let it remain an hour or more, and during this time all the moisture of the potatoes will gradually exhale in steam, and you will find them white or flaky as snow. Take them out with a spoon or ladle.
Boil them as usual; half an hour before sending to table, throw away the water from them, and set the pot again on the fire; sufficient moisture will come from the potatoes to prevent the pot from burning; let them stand on the half stove, and not be peeled until sent to table.
Wash nicely, make into balls, and bake in the Dutch oven a light brown. This forms a neat side or corner dish.
Pound some boiled potatoes in a mortar, with the yolks of two eggs, a little pepper, and salt; make them in balls about the size of an egg; do them over with yolk of egg and crumbs of bread; then fry them of a light brown for table; five balls for a corner dish.
Boil some potatoes in water, strain them, and take sufficient milk to make them into a mash, rather thick; before you mix the potatoes put the peel of half a lemon, finely grated, one lump of sugar, and a pinch of salt; strain the milk after heating it, and add the potatoes; mash them well together; let the mash cool; roll it into balls of the shape and size of an egg; let there be ten or twelve of them; brush them over with the yolk of egg, and roll them in crumbs of bread and a pinch of salt. Do this twice over; then fry them of a fine brown colour, and serve them with fried parsley round.
After your potatoes are nicely boiled and skinned, grate them, and to every large table-spoonful of potatoes add oneegg well beat, and to each egg a small spoonful of cream, with some salt. Drop as many spoonfuls as are proper in a pan in which is clarified butter.
After the potatoes are boiled and peeled, mash them in a mortar, or on a clean board, with a broad knife, and put them into a stewpan. To two pounds of potatoes put in half a pint of milk, a quarter of a pound of butter, and a little salt; set them over the fire, and keep them stirred till the butter is melted; but take care they do not burn to the bottom. Dish them up in what form you please.
Boil the potatoes in a weak white gravy till nearly done; stir in some cream and vermicelli, with three or four blades of mace, and let it boil till the potatoes are sufficiently done, without being broken.
Cut boiled potatoes into slices, not too thin; simmer them in a little plain gravy, a bit of butter rubbed in a little flour, chopped parsley, pepper, and salt, and serve hot.
To boil rice well, though a simple thing, is rarely well done. Have two quarts of water boiling, while you wash six ounces of rice, picked clean. Change the water three or four times. When the rice is clean, drain and put it into the boiling water. Boil twenty minutes; add three quarters of a table-spoonful of salt. Drain off the water well—this is the most essential point—set it before the fire, spread thin to dry. When dry, serve it up. If the rice is not dry, so that each grain separates easily from the others, it is not properly boiled.
Put one pound of rice into three quarts of boiling water; let it remain twenty minutes. Skim the water, and add one ounce of hog’s lard and a little salt and pepper. Let it simmer gently over the fire closely covered, for an hour and a quarter, when it will be fit for use. This will produce eight pounds of savoury rice.
Take a roasted fowl, turkey, or pullet; pull it into shreds; there must be neither bone nor skin. Cut some veal and ham into large dice; put it into a stewpan, with a little thyme,carrots, onions, cloves, and two or three mushrooms. Make these ingredients simmer over a slow fire for two hours, taking care they do not burn; put in a handful of flour, and stir well, with a pint of cream and as much good broth; let the whole then stew for a quarter of an hour; continue to stir with a wooden spoon to prevent its burning. When it is done enough, strain it through a woollen strainer; then put in the whole meat of the poultry you have cut, with which you must make little balls of the size of pigeons’ eggs. Dip them twice in very fine crumbs of bread; wrap them in paste, rolled very thin; then fry them in lard, which should be very hot.
Take the fleshy parts and breasts of two fowls, which cut into small dice, all of an equal size; then throw them into some white sauce, and reduce it till it becomes very thick and stiff. When this is cold, cut it into several pieces, and roll them to the size and shape of a cork; then roll them in crumbs of bread very fine; dip them into some white and yolks of eggs put up together with a little salt, and roll them again in bread. If they are not stiff enough to keep their shape, this must be repeated; then fry them of a light brown colour, drain them, wipe off the grease, and serve them with fried parsley between them.