These are economical, excellent, and healthy; and it is well worth while for every family possessing only a plot of ground large enough for two trees, to set out a pear and sweet apple tree.
Steamed Sweet Apples.
Wash and wipe a pailful of sweet apples; put them into a porcelain kettle, with cold water enough to come half-way toward the top, cover them and boil them slowly as possible an hour. Then try them with a fork, and turn down the upper side of those which lie on the top. If they are considerably softened, scatter a coffee-cup of brown sugar over them, cover them close, and let them remain boiling another hour. Very large apples need half an hour more.
Baked Sweet Apples.
If they are of a good kind, they are very nice baked in an earthen dish, which is better than tin. If you cook them in a stove, there should be a little water in the pan, else the juice will burn and be lost. They are best done in a brick oven. Put them into a jar with no water or sugar, but cover them close, and bake five or six hours. A rich syrup will be found in the bottom of the jar, and the appearance and flavor of the apples will be very fine.
Baked Sour Apples.
These are best baked in a stove. They require only an hour. There should be a little water in the dish. Just before they are done, sprinkle a little brown sugar upon them, dip the syrup over them, and cover them close till wanted for the table. They are good done in this way to eat at breakfast or tea; and also at dinner, with any meat requiring apple sauce. Take out the cores before baking them if you choose.
Baked Pears.
The common early pears are very good put into a jar without paring, and with a teacup of molasses to every two quarts of pears. But little water is necessary. Bake them five or six hours in a brick oven; two in a range or stove. If you wish them more delicate, pare them, and put a teacup of sugar instead of molasses. The later and larger fall pears are very nice baked in a dish; but most kinds of heavy winter pears cannot be baked so as to be tender.
Boiled Cider Apple-Sauce.
Take apples, sweet and sour together, that will not keeplong, and pare a large quantity. When finished, wash and put them into a large brass kettle, in which you have turned down an old dish or large plate, that will nearly cover the bottom; this is to prevent the apple from burning. After you have put in all the apples, pour in a quart of cider (boiled as directed in the receipt for boiled cider) to every pailful of apples. After it has boiled an hour or two, add molasses in the proportion of two quarts to every four pails of apples. If you have refuse quinces, a peck of them gives a fine flavor to a large kettle of apple-sauce. The best way to boil apple-sauce is to put the kettle over the fire at night, and let the apple become partly done before bed-time. When you leave it for the night, see that the fire lies in such a way, that all parts of the apple boil equally, and that no brands can fall.[9]Burn charcoal or peat if you have it, as either of these will make a steady fire, and may be left without danger from snapping. The chief things to be observed, are, that there is not too much fire, that it lies safely, and that it will afford a moderate heat several hours. In the morning the apple-sauce will be of a fine red color, and must then be put away in firkins or stone jars.Never use potter's warefor this purpose.
Sweet Apple Marmalade.
This is made by boiling sweet apples alone, in cider made of sweet apples, and boiled down so as to be very rich. The sauce is in this case strained warm through a very coarse sieve or riddle, and boiled again a little while; or it may be put into deep dishes and set into the oven after the bread is drawn.
Coddled Apples.
Take fair early apples, wipe them, lay them in a preserving kettle, and put to half a peck a coffee-cup of brown sugar, andhalf a pint of water. Cover them and boil them gently, until they are tender and penetrated with the sugar.
They may be done quite as well in a jar in the oven, but care must be taken that they are not cooked too much. Early apples will bake with a very moderate heat.
Common Family Apple-Sauce.
Let your stock of apples be picked over several times in the course of the winter, and all the defective ones taken out. Let the good parts of these be pared, and if not used for pies, be made into apple-sauce. Boil it in a preserving kettle. After it is tender, add a pint bowl of brown sugar, and boil it gently fifteen minutes longer. Towards spring, when apples become tasteless, a teaspoonful of tartaric acid, dissolved in a little water, should be added to a gallon of apple.
Boiled Pears.
These are eaten with roast meat instead of apple or cranberry sauce. Choose fair, smooth ones; put them into cold water and boil them whole, without paring and without sugar. It will take an hour, or an hour and a half, according to the size of the fruit.
To Stew Dried Apples or Peaches.
Wash them in two or three waters, and put them to soak in rather more water than will cover them, as they absorb a great deal. After soaking two hours, put them into a preserving kettle in the same water, and with a lemon or orange cut up; boil them till very tender; when they rise up in the kettle press them down with a skimmer or spoon, but do not stir them. When they are tender, add clean brown sugar, and boil fifteen or twenty minutes longer.
Dried apples are rendered tasteless by being strained or stirred so as to break them up; and they are also injured by soaking over night.
If they are to be used for pies, there should be more sugaradded than for sauce, and a small piece of butter stirred in while they are hot. Nutmeg and clove are good spices for dried apple-pies.
Dried peaches are done in the same way, only the lemon and spice are omitted.
Ox beef is the best; next to this the flesh of an heifer; and both are in perfection during the first three months of the year. Choose that, the lean of which is red and of a fine grain, and the fat of which is white.[10]In cold weather, if you have a large family, it is good economy to buy a quarter. The hind quarter is considered best. Have the butcher cut it up. Pack the roasting pieces, which you do not want soon, in a barrel of snow, and set it where it will not melt. It is not necessary to freeze the meat first. The leg will furnish, besides a piece to cook alamode, two or three to smoke. The thin pieces at the end of the ribs are good corned, and the flank also; or it may be used for mince pies. The shank, although it has but little meat, is very good for some purposes. It should be cut up into several pieces and boiled four or five hours, no matter how long. There is a great deal of marrow and fat in it which, when cold, should be taken off and clarified for various uses. The meat is good used as is directed in the receipt for brawn, and the liquor makes excellent soup and gravies.
The best roasting pieces of beef are the sirloin, the secondcut in the fore quarter, and the rump. If you buy a sirloin for a family of six or eight, get eight or ten pounds. Cut off the thin end in which there is no bone. It is very good corned, and not very good roasted. The roasting piece will still be large enough for the family dinner, and the corned piece will do for another day, with a pudding or another small dish of meat. The back part of the rump is a convenient and economical piece, especially for a small family. It is a long and rather narrow piece, weighing about ten pounds, and contains less fat and bone than any other, equally good, in the ox. The thickest end affords nice steaks, and next to them is a good roasting piece, and the thinnest end which contains the bone, is very good corned, or for a soup. The whole is an excellent piece for roasting, in case so large a one is needed.
The spring is the best season for mutton. That which is not very large is to be preferred. It should be of a good red and white, and fine grained. There is a great difference between mutton and lamb killed from a pasture, and that which has been driven a distance to market.
Lamb is best in July and August.
Veal is best in the spring. It should look white and be fat. The breast is particularly nice stuffed; the loin should be roasted. The leg is an economical piece, as you can take off cutlets from the large end, make broth of the shank, and stuff and roast the centre.
Roasting pieces of all kinds of ribbed meat, except beef, should be jointed by the butcher, else the carving will be extremely difficult.
Always provide a sharp knife for carving. The juices of meat are extracted by its beinghaggled. An invalid, speaking of the kindness of a neighbor in sending him some slices of corned beef, said, "They were cut with asharpknife." For the sake of economy, if for no other reason, carve smoothly, and only as much as is wanted at first. It is easy to cut more for replenishing plates; and meat is far better not to lie sliced in the dish. If no more is cut than is used, a handsome piecemay often be reserved for the next day; whereas if all is cut up it cannot be so good, and some of it will certainly be wasted.
Ham and tongue should be sliced very thin.
Pork, to be the best, should not be more than a year old. The chine is the best roasting piece; the spare-ribs are very sweet food, but too rich to be healthy. The shoulder is good roasted, stuffed with bread and sage. If too large, half of it can be laid a week or two in brine, and will be good boiled, to eat cold. It is well for a small family, in November to buy half of a spring pig; this will furnish several nice pieces to roast, strips for salting, a ham and shoulder for smoking, andleafenough for a pot or two of lard, besides remnants for sausage meat.
In winter, all meat may be kept a long time; and, with the exception of pork, is much better for it; therefore it is easier to furnish a table without waste in winter than in summer. Meat will keep in an ice-house or a good refrigerator several days in hot weather; if you have neither, take your meat the moment it is brought in, wipe it dry if at all damp, and hang it in the cellar, sprinkling first a little pepper and salt over it, especially over the parts which flies are most apt to visit. In mutton and lamb, these are the tenderloin and the large end of the leg. The pepper and salt will also tend to preserve the meat from taint.
If you wish to keep it longer than two days, wrap it in a piece of cloth (no matter if it is very thin), and lay it in a charcoal bin, and throw a shovel of coal over it. A leg of mutton will keep several days wrapped in a cloth which has been dipped in vinegar, laid upon the ground of a dry cellar.
Meat that is to be salted for immediate use, should, if the weather is cool, be hung up a day or two first.[11]Where a large quantity of beef is to be salted, a different method is pursued. In winter, unless you wish to keep meat several weeks, place it where it will be cold without freezing. Mutton never looks as nice after being frozen hard; it has a dark, uninviting appearance.
To thaw frozen meat, bring it over night into a warm room. If this has been forgotten, lay it, early in the morning, into cold water. If meat is put to roast, boil, or broil, before being entirely thawed, it will be tough. It is best to preserve fowls without freezing. They will keep very well packed in snow; the liver, &c., being taken out and laid by themselves in the snow, and the body filled with it.
Meat that has been kept perfectly clean, or a beef steak just cut off, should not be washed; but, generally, it is necessary to wash a roasting piece. Pork having the rind on, needs great care in washing and scraping, to make it fit to cook.
Trim off the superfluous fat from beef, mutton, and fresh pork before cooking it.
Tough steak is made more tender by being pounded with a rolling-pin; but some of the juice of the meat is lost by the operation.
Wash a leg or shin of beef very clean, crack the bone in two or three places, put with it any trimmings you may have of meat or fowls, such as gizzards, necks, &c.; cover them with cold water in a stew-pan that shuts close. The moment it begins to simmer, skim it carefully till it boils up. Then add half a pint of cold water, which will make the remaining scum rise, and skim it again and again, till no more appears, and the broth looks perfectly clear. Then put in a moderate sized carrot, cut up small, two turnips, a head of celery, and one large or two small onions. Stir it several times that it may not burn, or stick at the bottom. Herbs and spices are not to be added until the broth is used for gravies for particular dishes. After these vegetables are added, set the pan where the broth will boil very slowly for four or five hours. Then strain it through a sieve into a stone pan or jar, and when cold, cover it, and setit in an ice-house or some other very cool place. The meat thus stewed may be used as directed for minced meat in the chapter on Common Dishes, &c., p.187.
If meat is to be roasted before the fire, allow a quarter of an hour for the cooking of every pound in warm weather, and in winter twenty minutes. Flour it well, and put two or three gills of water in the roaster. Put the bony side to the fire first, and do not place it very near. If meat is scorched in the beginning, it cannot be roasted through afterwards, without burning. Turn it often, and when all parts are slightly cooked, place it nearer the fire. When about half done, flour it again. Baste it very often. Salt it half an hour before serving it.
It is not well to salt meat at first, as salt extracts the juices. In roasting all meats, the art depends chiefly on flouring thoroughly, basting frequently, and turning so often as not to allow any part to burn.
To roast in a cooking stove, it is necessary to attend carefully to the fire, lest the meat should burn. Lay it into the pan with three or four gills of water in it. Turn the pan around often, that all the parts may roast equally. When it is about half done, flour it again, turn it over that the lower side may become brown. If the water wastes so that the pan becomes nearly dry, add a little hot water.
Among thelittlethings which are worthy the attention of a housekeeper, is that of having a dinner servedhot. It is often the case, that a well-cooked dinner loses much of its excellence, by a want of care in this particular. All the meat and vegetable dishes should be heated, and in winter the plates should also be warmed.
It is a common impression that boiled meat requires very little attention; and probably one reason why many persons dislike it, may be, that it is seldom so carefully cooked as roast meat.
If proper attention can be secured, meat should not be boiled in a cloth. But if the pot is not likely to be thoroughly skimmed, it is best to use one. All kinds of meat are best put over the fire in cold water, in the proportion of a quart to every pound of meat. The fibres are thus gradually dilated, and the meat is more tender. The fire should be moderate, and the water should heat gradually. If it boils in thirty or forty minutes it is soon enough.
All kinds of meat, poultry, and fish should boil very slowly. Fast boiling makes meat tough and hard. Allow twenty minutes to a pound of fresh meat; but a little more time is required to cook a hind than a fore quarter. Salt meat should boil longer than fresh; allow forty minutes for every pound.
A tongue that has been cured with saltpetre and smoked, should soak over night, and be boiled at least four hours; it is not easy to boil it too much, and nothing is more disagreeable or indigestible than a tongue not well boiled. A ham, if very salt, should also be soaked over night, and should be boiled from three to five hours, according to the size, unless you prefer to cook it the last half of the time in the oven, as is directed in the receipt for cooking a ham or shoulder. This is the better way. Calf's head should lie in a great deal of water several hours; and if large, will require two hours and a half to boil.
The two things most important in boiling meat, are, to boil it gently; and to skim it until no more froth rises. To do this, have a skimmer or a spoon and dish, and the moment the froth begins to rise, which will be when the water becomes very hot,skim it off. Put in a pint of cold water, which will cause it to rise more freely, and continue to skim it every minute or two, till all is taken off.[12]If the water boils fast before you begin to take off the froth, it will all return into the water, and will adhere to the meat, and make it look badly. Some nice housekeepers throw a handful of flour into the kettle to prevent scum from adhering to meat. Calf's head, and veal need more skimming than any other meat; but all kinds need to be skimmed several times. If the water boils away so that the meat is not covered, add more, as the part which lies above the water will have a dark appearance.
Many young housekeepers who succeed well in most kinds of cooking, are a long time in finding out how to make good gravy. To have it free from fat is the most important thing. For a small family it is not necessary to prepare stock. The water in which fresh meat, a tongue, or piece of beef slightly salted, has been boiled, should be saved for this purpose, and for use in various economical dishes. In cold weather it will keep a good while, and in warm weather, several days in a refrigerator.
The way to use meat liquor, or the stock for which a receipt is given, is this: In case you are roasting beef, mutton, lamb, or pork, pour off entirely, into a dish, half an hour before the dinner hour, all the contents of the dripping pan or roaster, and set it away in a cold place; then put into the roaster two or three gills of the meat liquor or stock; if you have cold gravy, or drippings of a previous day, remove all the fat from the top, and put the liquid that remains at the bottom into the pan.Wet some browned flour smooth, and when you take up the meat, set the pan on the top of the stove. The gravy will immediately boil, and the wet flour must then be stirred in. It will boil away fast, therefore see that it does not stand too long.
For veal and venison, gravy is made differently because there is but little fat on these meats, and what there is, is not gross. Put into the roaster, or dripping pan, some of the meat liquor or stock, when you first put the meat to roast, and if it is done in a stove or range, add a little more in case it boils away. When it is done, set the dripping pan on the stove, and having stirred in the wet flour, add a piece of butter half the size of an egg, and stir until it is all melted, else it will make the gravy oily.
Gravy for poultry is made by boiling the giblets (necks, gizzards, hearts, and livers) by themselves in five or six gills of water. Skim them carefully, as a great deal of scum will rise. After an hour, or hour and a half, take them out, and pour the water into the dripping-pan. Mash, or chop the liver fine, and when you make the gravy, add this, and a bit of butter, some pepper, the wet flour, and, if you choose, a little sweet marjoram.
The fat that roasts out of a turkey should be dipped off with a spoon before these ingredients are added. It is too gross to be palatable or healthy.
In making gravy for a goose, pour off all the drippings as in roasting beef or pork, and put in some of the stock or meat liquor.
It is best to brown a quart of flour at once. Put it into a spider, and set it in the stove oven, or on the top; stir it often lest it should burn. When it is a light brown, put it into a jar or wide-mouthed bottle.
Drawn Butter.
Take a small cupful of butter, and rub into it half a table-spoonful of flour, then pour upon it about a gill of boiling water, stirring it fast. Set it upon the coals, and let it boil uponce. If it is suffered to remain boiling it will become oily. Some persons prefer to use boiling milk instead of water. Parsley is an improvement. Tie a few sprigs together with a thread and throw them for a minute into boiling water, then cut them fine, and add them to the butter.
For a fillet of veal, a turkey, chickens, partridges, and pigeons, take light bread enough to make three gills of fine crumbs. Cut off the crust and lay by itself in just enough boiling water to soften it. Rub the soft part into fine crumbs between your hands; put in a teaspoonful of salt, one or two of powdered sweet marjoram, a little pepper, and a piece of butter half as large as an egg; add the softened crusts, and mix the whole together very thoroughly. If it is not moist enough, add a spoonful or two of milk. Taste it, and if there is not seasoning enough, add more.
To put it into the fowl neatly, and without waste, use a teaspoon.
If stuffing is made of pounded crackers, the seasoning is the same, but crackers swell so much that two gills will be plenty for a turkey. Milk will be necessary to mix it, and also a beaten egg to make it cohere. Some people prefer dressing made of crackers, but it is hard and not as healthy as that which is made of good bread, without an egg.
Stuffing for ducks is usually made with a little finely chopped onion in it. For a goose, sage should be used instead of sweet-marjoram.
For a pig, or a shoulder of fresh pork, make a dressing without butter, moistened with milk, and seasoned with pepper,salt, and a good deal of powdered sage. This tends to prevent the deleterious effects of such rich meat upon the stomach.
For a dressing for alamode beef, and stewed lamb, salt pork, chopped fine, is substituted for butter, and for a fillet of veal it is very well to make it in the same way.
Potatoes are good with all meats. With fowls they are nicest mashed. Sweet potatoes are most appropriate with roast meat, as also are onions, winter squash, cucumbers, and asparagus.
Carrots, parsnips, turnips, greens, and cabbage are eaten with boiled meat; and corn, beets, peas, and beans are appropriate to either boiled or roasted meat. Mashed turnip is good with roasted pork, and with boiled meats.
Tomatoes are good with every kind of meat, but specially so with roasts. Apple-sauce with roast pork; cranberry-sauce with beef, fowls, veal, and ham. Currant jelly is most appropriate with roast mutton. Pickles are good with all roast meats, and capers or nasturtiums with boiled lamb or mutton. Horseradish and lemons are excellent with veal.
To Roast Beef.
See the directions forroasting meat.
Beef Steak.
The best slices are cut from the rump, or through the sirloin. The round is seldom tender enough, and is very good cooked in other ways. Do not cut your slices very thick. Have the gridiron perfectly clean. Set it over moderately hot coals at first, and turn the steaks in less than a minute. Turn them repeatedly. If the fat makes a blaze under the gridiron, put it out by sprinkling fine salt on it. Steaks will broil in about seven minutes. Have ready a hot dish, and sprinkle each piece with salt, and a little pepper; lay on small pieces of butter, and cover close. This is a much better way than to melt the butter in the dish before taking up the meat. Some persons keep a small pair of tongs on purpose to turn beef-steaks, as using a fork wastes the juice. Steaks should be served hot as possible.
Stuffed Beef Steak.
Take a thick and tender slice of rump, of about two pounds weight; make two gills of stuffing, of crumbs of bread, pepper, salt, and powdered clove, or sweet marjoram, as you choose; roll the dressing up in the steak, wind a piece of twine around it, taking care to secure the ends. Have ready a kettle or deep stew-pan, with a slice or two of pork fried crisp. Take out the pork and lay in the steak, and turn it on every side, until it is brown. Then put in two gills of the stock, or of water in which meat has been boiled; sprinkle in a little salt, cover close, and stew slowly an hour and a half. Add more water after a while, if it becomes too dry. Some persons like the addition of chopped onion. There should, however, be very little; half of a small one is enough. When nearly done, add half a gill of catsup. When you take up the meat, unwind the string carefully, so as not to unroll it. Lay it in a fricassee dish, thicken the gravy, if not thick enough already, and pour it over the meat. Cut the meat in slices through the roll.
Tomato Steak.
Take two pounds of beef; cut it in small strips, and put it into the pot with seven medium-sized tomatoes. Stew it very slowly. Add a dessert spoonful of sugar, salt, a little clove, and,just before you take it up, a dessert spoonful of butter. If you have tomato catsup, add a little, and if you like chopped onion, that also. Very tender beef is, of course, to be preferred; but that which is tough becomes more palatable in this than in almost any other way. This dish is quite as good, if not better, heated over the next day.
Alamode Beef (in a plain way).
Take a thick piece of flank, or, if most convenient, the thickest part of the round, weighing six or eight pounds, for a small family of four or five persons. Cut off the strips of coarse fat upon the edge, make incisions in all parts, and fill them with a stuffing made of bread, salt pork chopped, pepper, and sweet marjoram. Push whole cloves here and there into the meat; roll it up, fasten it with skewers, and wind a strong twine or tape about it. Have ready a pot in which you have fried to a crisp three or four slices of salt pork; take out the pork, lay in the beef, and brown every side. When well browned, add hardly water enough to cover it, chop a large onion fine, add eighteen or twenty cloves, and boil it gently, but steadily, three or four hours, according to the size. The water should boil away so as to make a rich gravy, but be careful it does not burn. When you take up the beef, add browned flour to the gravy, if it needs to be thickened.
Another (more rich).
Take seven or eight pounds of the upper part of the round, cut off the coarse fat upon the side, and make deep incisions in every part. To a pint bowl of bread crumbs, put pepper, powdered clove, a small nutmeg, a teaspoonful of salt, some whole allspice, a large spoonful of butter, and, if you choose, a very little chopped salt pork, and two beaten eggs. Mix these ingredients well together, and fill the incisions, but reserve a part of the stuffing. Put in two or three skewers horizontally, near the edges, and tie twine across to keep in the stuffing. Push whole cloves into the meat here and there. Lay it, when thusprepared, into a bake-pan or stew-pan, having a lid which may be heated; put in water enough just to cover it, and set it where it will simmer, but not quite boil. Have the lid heated, and a few embers laid over it. After two hours, pour upon the top the stuffing which you reserved, heat the lid again, and cover the meat. Let it stew two hours more. If the gravy is too thin, add browned flour and boil it up again. Some persons use red wine, but it is very good without. Half the quantity of meat and stuffing for a small family.
Stewed Brisket of Beef.
Put three or four pounds of brisket into a kettle, and cover it with water. Take off the scum as it rises. Let it boil steadily two hours. Then take it from the pot and brown it with butter in a spider. When it is browned on every side, return it to the kettle, and stew it gently five hours more. Add more water if it boils away. Put in a carrot and a turnip or two, cut small, an onion also; a few cloves, and salt and pepper as you think necessary. Half an hour before dinner add tomato or mushroom catsup. To serve it, lay the beef upon a dish, and strew capers over it. The water in which it was stewed is a nice soup.
Stewed Tongue.
Boil a fresh tongue three hours, and if the skin does not easily come off, boil it longer. Remove the skin; strain the water in which it was boiled. Wash the pot, and return the tongue to it, with enough of the strained liquor to cover it. Put in it a carrot, a turnip, and an onion, cut fine, and a table-spoonful of powdered clove and also of ground pepper, tied up in muslin bags. Boil the tongue gently two hours and a half. About fifteen minutes before it is taken up, toast two slices of bread without the crust, cut it up in small bits, and put it into the pot. When you dish it up, put about a pint of the liquor and vegetables round the tongue in a fricassee dish.
To Boil Corned Beef.
Wash it thoroughly, and put it into a pot that will hold plenty of water. The water should be cold; the same care is necessary in skimming it as for fresh meat. It is not too much to allow forty minutes for every pound, after it has begun to boil. The goodness of corned beef depends much on its being boiled gently and long. If it is to be eaten cold, lay it into a coarse earthen dish or pan, and over it a piece of board the size of the meat. Upon this put a clean stone or some other heavy weight. Salt meat is very much improved by being pressed.
To Roast Mutton.
Any part may be roasted, but the leg is the best. Allow fifteen minutes for a pound, and do according to the directions forroasting meat.
To Boil a Leg of Mutton or Lamb.
Cut off the shank bone. Have water enough to cover the meat. If the pot is well skimmed, the water will make excellent broth for another day.
A leg of lamb is a very nice dish if boiled well. It requires a little more time in proportion to the size than mutton, as mutton is good done rare, while lamb is neither good or healthy, unless well done.
Most people like capers, and drawn butter with mutton and lamb, and cut parsley added is an improvement.
Mutton or Lamb Steaks.
Have the leg cut into steaks at the market, or by the butcher. If this has not been done, you can do it yourself with a sharp knife. Cut through the largest part first; have the slices about the thickness of your finger; separate them from the bone neatly. Broil exactly like beef steak. The bone and fragments which are left will make a good broth.
Roast Lamb.
If it is a hind quarter, and very fat, take off the thickest from the kidneys; place it on the spit, or in the dripping-pan as it should lie on the dish, slightly drawn up. Do exactly as in roasting beef. An hour and a half will suffice to roast a quarter weighing five or six pounds.
The breast of lamb is very sweet and requires about as much roasting as the hind quarter.
Stewed or Alamode Lamb.
Pick off all the fat from a nice leg of lamb, or small leg of mutton. Cut off the shank, make deep incisions in various parts of the inside; fill them with stuffing made of crumbs of bread, salt pork, sweet marjoram, and pepper; stuff it very full. Fry two or three slices of pork crisp in the pot, then take them out, and lay in the leg; brown it on every side, then put hardly water enough into the pot to cover it. Throw in a dozen or two of cloves, half an onion sliced or chopped very fine, and a little salt. A half a teacup of catsup or a few tomatoes added half an hour before it is served, improve it very much. Let it simmer, steadily, three hours.
When you take up the leg, thicken the gravy, if it is not thick enough. Put a few spoonfuls over the meat, and the rest in a gravy tureen.
To Roast a Fillet of Veal.
Veal requires more time than any other meat except pork. It is scarcely ever done too much. A leg weighing eight or nine pounds should roast three hours. If your family is large, so that most of it will be eaten the first day, it is best to take out the bone, which is easily done with a sharp knife, the knuckle having been cut off by the butcher. Put this bone aside with the knuckle for a broth. If you design to use what is left cold for dinner the next day, let the bone remain in, as it keeps the leg in better shape. Prepare a stuffing of bread, pepper, salt pork, and sweet marjoram; make deep incisions inthe meat and fill them with it. Fasten the fold of fat which is usually upon the fillet over the stuffed incisions with a skewer. Roast it slowly at first. Put into the dripping-pan some hot water with a little salt in it, or some of the stock. When the meat has roasted about an hour, flour it thickly, and skewer upon it four or five slices of salt pork. After the flour has become brown, baste the veal every fifteen minutes. If it is very good veal, the pork will flavor it without the addition of any butter; but if not, or if you wish it to be particularly nice, add a small piece of butter to the gravy in the roaster, before you begin to baste the meat. In cutting the incisions, endeavor to make them wider inside than at the surface, so that the stuffing may not fall out. See the directions (page123) for making the gravy.
A Loin of Veal.
A breast or a loin of veal should be basted a great many times and roasted thoroughly. It is an improvement to put on slices of pork as in cooking the leg. Allow two hours for roasting; more, if it is large.
Veal Pot Pie.
Take the neck, the shank, and almost any pieces you have. Boil them long enough to skim off all the froth. Make a paste and roll it about half an inch thick. Butter the pot and lay in the crust, cutting out a piece on each side of the circle in such a way as to prevent its having thick folds. Put in a layer of meat, then flour, salt and pepper it, and add a little butter or a slice or two of salt pork, as you choose. Do this until you have laid in all your meat; pour in enough of the water in which the veal was boiled to half fill the kettle, then lay on the top-crust and make an incision in it to allow the escape of the steam. Watch that it does not burn, and pour in more of the water through the hole in the crust if necessary. Boil an hour and a half. The objection to this dish is, that boiled crust is apt to be heavy, and therefore unhealthy; but if it is made afterthe receipt for cream tartar biscuit, or of potato crust, it will be light.
Baked Veal Pie.
This is made in the same way as the boiled. The dish should be very deep, and when you are ready to lay on the upper crust, wet the edge of the under crust all around and flour it; then lay on the upper crust and press your hand upon the edge, so that the flour and water will make it adhere, and thus prevent the gravy from escaping. Prick the top several times with a large fork. If you have pieces of crust left, cut them into leaves and ornament the pie. Bake it an hour and a half.
Stewed Breast of Veal.
Cut it into handsome pieces and fry it brown, either in drippings, or the fat fried out of salt pork. Brown all parts thoroughly; then pour in hot water enough barely to cover it. Add lemon peel cut fine and sweet marjoram. Cover it close as possible, and stew it gently two hours; then pour off the liquor into a sauce-pan, and thicken it with browned flour. Take up the veal into a hot fricassee dish, and pour the gravy over it.
Always allow half an hour for frying veal brown. No other meat requires as much time.
Veal Cutlets.
Take slices from the broad end of the leg. Fry three or four slices of salt pork crisp, then take them out, lay in the veal half an hour at least before dinner time. When it has become brown, take it out and dip the slices, one by one, into a plate of fine bread crumbs, then fry them a few minutes longer. When done through, take them up on a hot dish, pour hot water into the spider or frying pan, and instantly when it boils up dredge in a little flour; pour it over the meat. Lay the slices of pork around the edge of the dish.
The best veal is to be had at the time when winter vegetables are not very good, and fresh ones have not come into market. Horseradish, spring cranberries, or fresh lemons are therefore the more acceptable with it.
Broiled Veal.
It must not be done too fast, and will take longer than beef. It is a great improvement to broil pork and lay between the slices of veal. Lay them upon the meat while it is broiling, and if they are not brown when the veal is done, put them a few minutes longer on the gridiron. If pork is not used, season with butter. In either case, add pepper and salt.
Calf's Head.
Let the head, feet, liver and lights, soak some hours in a plenty of cold water. Take out the brains. Boil the head, &c., till very tender, which will require from two hours to two and a half. Throw some salt into the water, and skim it thoroughly. Boil the brains ten or fifteen minutes, tied up in a piece of muslin; chop them, and put them with melted butter, and parsley cut fine. If you choose, boil an egg hard, cut it up and add it. Cold calf's head is good. It is also good hashed. To make it into soup the second day, see thereceiptunder the head of Soups.
Melton Veal, or Veal Cake.
Cut three or four pounds of raw veal, and half as much ham, into small pieces. If you have the remains of cooked veal or ham, add them. Boil six eggs hard, cut them in slices, and lay some of them in the bottom of a deep brown pan; shake in a little minced parsley; lay in some of the pieces of veal and ham, then add more egg, parsley, pepper, and salt; then more meat, and again parsley, pepper, and salt, till all the meat is laid in. Lastly add water enough just to cover it, and lay on about an ounce of butter shaved thin; tie over it a double paper, bake it an hour, then remove the paper, press it down with a spoon,and lay a small plate with a weight upon it, and let it remain another hour in the oven. When cold, it will cut in slices.
Venison.
Roast a haunch like a loin or leg of veal, and about as long. Flour it thickly. Put some of the stock for gravies, or water in which beef has been boiled, into the pan, and baste it often. Half an hour before serving it add a table-spoonful of butter to the gravy, and baste it again and again.
If you useblazesat the table, roast it but an hour. Most persons like venison cooked simply, without spices. But if you choose to have a dressing, make it as for veal, with the addition of powdered clove.
Venison steaks are cooked like beef steaks.
To Roast a Pig.
It should not be more than a month old. It is better a little less, and it should be killed on the morning of the day it is to be cooked. Sprinkle fine salt over it an hour before it is put to the fire. Cut off the feet at the first joint. Make stuffing enough to fill it very full, of bread crumbs moistened with a little milk, a small piece of butter, sweet marjoram, sage, pepper, and salt. When placed on the spit, confine the legs in such a manner as to give it a good shape. Rub it all over with butter or sweet oil, to keep it from blistering. Flour it at first a little. As soon as it begins to brown, dredge on averythick covering of flour. Turn the spit every three or four minutes. If the flour falls off, instantly renew it. When it has all become of a dark brown color, scrape it off into a plate and set it aside. Put a piece of butter into the gravy in the roaster, and baste the pig very often, till it is done, which it is when the eyes fall out. The feet and liver should be boiled an hour or two, and the gravy from the roaster be poured into the water in which they were boiled. The liver should be cut or mashed fine, and the feet cut open and returned to the sauce-pan, the brains taken out and added, and the gravy thickened with thebrowned flour reserved in the plate. A pig of a month old will roast in two hours and a half.
A Shoulder of Pork.
One weighing ten pounds will require full three hours and a half to roast it. For a small family divide it, and roast one half and corn the other. With a sharp knife score the skin in diamonds, or in strips about an inch wide. Make a dressing, as directed under the head of Stuffing of Various Kinds. Put this into deep incisions made in the thick part of the meat. Rub a little fine powdered sage into the skin where it is scored; and then rub the whole surface with sweet oil, or drippings, to prevent its blistering. Observe the directions respecting the basting and frequent turning of meat. Pork burns very easily, and both the taste and appearance are much injured by its being burnt.
Spare-rib or Chine.
A spare-rib requires an hour and a half or two hours, according to the thickness. A very thin one will roast in an hour and a half. Flour it well, and take care it does not burn. Baste it often. The chine requires a longer time, being a thicker piece. It is more healthy, because less fat than the spare-rib, and having more meat in proportion to the bone, is a more economical piece. Before roasting either, trim off neatly, with a sharp knife, all the fat which can be removed without disfiguring the piece, and set it aside to be tried and used as lard.
Pork Steaks.
Cut slices from the loin or neck.
To fry pork steaks requires twenty-five or thirty minutes. Turn them often. If they are quite fat, pour off all that fries out when they are half done, and reserve it for some other use. Then dip the steaks in crumbs of bread with a little powdered sage, and lay them back into the frying-pan. When donethrough, take them up, dredge a little browned flour into the gravy, put in salt, pour in a gill of boiling water, and turn it instantly, as it boils up, upon the dish of steaks.
To Fry Sausages.
Sausages may be kept for some time, but fresh ones are considered best. Separate them, prick them to prevent their bursting, and lay them in a spider. If they are properly made, they will need no fat to fry them. Cook them slowly, at first, but brown every side of them before taking them up. They cook very well laid in a pan and set in a cooking-stove, but must be turned often, and care taken that they do not burn. Some persons fry bread in the fat which remains, in this way. Dip slices of bread, or crusts which have been cut and become dry, in salt and water, and lay them in the spider as soon as you take out the sausages. When brown one side, turn them. Serve them with the sausages. It takes twenty minutes to fry sausages in a spider, and half an hour to cook them in a stove. For those persons whose health is injured by eating them, it is best to lay them into a little water, and cook them thus, as long as they are usually fried, then pour off the water and brown them. This renders them comparatively harmless. The bread, fried as directed, does not absorb much fat.
To Boil a Ham or Shoulder.
A ham, weighing twelve pounds, should be cooked four or five hours. Boil it slowly in a plenty of water half the time it should be cooked; then take off the skin and any excrescences that were not removed by washing. Cover the fat side with pounded cracker, and lay it in a dripping pan, or iron basin, and put it into the stove. Let it remain the other half of the time.
The baking roasts out a great quantity of fat, and leaves the meat much more delicate. In warm weather it will keep in a dry, cool place, a long time. If after ten days you perceive a tendency to mould, set it a little while into the oven again. It is often a more agreeable dinner in hot weather than fresh meat.
If a ham is very salt, it should lie in water over night. In baking it, care should be taken that it is not done too much, and thus made hard. If the oven is a brick one and holds the heat a long time, it will do to put it in when the bread is taken out.
The fat which bakes out is good to fry eggs or potatoes, and if not strong, will do to use on the griddle.
To Fry Ham.
Cut thin slices, and take off the rind; if very salt, pour hot water upon them, but do not suffer them to lie long in it, as the juices of the meat will be lost. Wipe them in a cloth; have the spider ready hot, lay in the pieces and turn them in a minute or two. They will cook in a very short time. The secret of having good fried ham is in cooking it quick, and not too much. The practice of cutting thick slices, laying them into a cold spider and frying a long time, makes ham black and hard. It needs nothing added, but to be laid upon a hot covered dish.
To Broil Ham.
Cut the slices very thin, for which you must have a sharp knife; pare off the rind; lay them on the gridiron over hot coals. Do not leave them a moment, as they must be almost immediately turned, and will need attention to keep the edges from burning. Two minutes will broil them.
To Fry Salt Pork.
Cut slices and lay them in cold water in the spider; boil them up two or three minutes, then pour off the water and set the spider again on the coals and brown the slices on each side. Fried pork, with baked potatoes, and baked or fried sour apples, makes a very good dinner. It is an improvement to dip the pork, after being par-boiled, into Indian meal, before frying it.
Frizzled Smoked Beef.
Shave thin slices, and put them in a teacupful of milk into asmall kettle or sauce-pan; boil it a few minutes, and then add a small bit of butter and an egg beaten with a teaspoonful of flour, and stir well. Put a little more milk to it if needed.
[Smoked beef is good in poached eggs, but in that case the beef should be boiled a few minutes in the milk before the eggs are added. The last remnants of a ham may be scraped from the bone, and put into poached eggs, but will not need the boiling which is necessary in the case of the smoked beef.]
To Shave Smoked Beef.
Use a very thin-bladed, sharp knife, and shave as thin as the thinnest paper. Do not attempt to cut it across the whole piece; no matter how small the shavings are, if they are but thin.