Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
by
Eliza Leslie
Part 3 out of 9
with it. This quantity of sugar and salt will be sufficient for
fifty pounds of meat. Have ready some large tubs, the bottoms
sprinkled with salt, and lay the meat in the tubs with the skin
downward. Put plenty of salt between each layer of meat. After it
has lain eight days, take it out and wipe off all the salt, and
wash the tubs. Make a pickle of soft water, equal quantities of
salt and molasses, and a little saltpetre; allowing four ounces of
saltpetre to two quarts of molasses and two quarts of salt, which
is the proportion for fifty pounds of meat. The pickle must be
strong enough to bear up an egg. Boil and skim it; and when it is
cold, pour it over the meat, which must be turned every day and
basted with the pickle. The hams should remain in the pickle at
least four weeks; the shoulders and middlings of the bacon three
weeks; and the jowls two weeks. They should then be taken out and
smoked. Having washed off the pickle, before you smoke the meat,
bury it, while wet, in a tub of bran. This will form a crust over
it, and prevent evaporation of the juices. Let the smoke-house be
ready to receive the meat immediately. Take it out of the tub
after it has lain half an hour, and rub the bran evenly over it.
Then hang it up to smoke with the small end downwards. The smoke-house
should be dark and cool, and should stand alone, for the
heat occasioned by an adjoining--building may spoil the meat, or
produce insects. Keep up a good smoke all day, but have no blaze.
Hickory is the best wood for a smoke-house fire, In three or four
weeks the meat will be sufficiently smoked, and fit for use.
During the process it should be occasionally taken down, examined,
and hung up again. The best way of keeping hams is to wrap them in
paper, or, to sew them in coarse cloths (which should be white-washed)
and bury them in a barrel of hickory ashes. The ashes must
be frequently changed.
An old ham will require longer to soak, and longer to boil than a
new one.
Tongues may be cured in the above manner.
LIVER PUDDINGS.
Boil some pigs' livers. When cold, mince them, and season them
with pepper, salt, and some sage and sweet marjoram rubbed fine.
You may add some powdered cloves. Have ready some large skins
nicely cleaned, and fill them with the mixture, tying up the ends
securely. Prick them with a fork to prevent their bursting; put
them into hot water, and boil them slowly for about an hour. They
will require no farther cooking before you eat them. Keep them in
stone jars closely covered. They are eaten cold at breakfast or
supper, cut into slices an inch thick or more; or they may be cut
into large pieces, and broiled or fried.
COMMON SAUSAGE-MEAT.
Having cleared it from the skin, sinews, and gristle, take six
pounds of the lean of young fresh pork, and three pounds of the
fat, and mince it all as fine as possible. Take some dried sage,
pick off the leaves and rub them to powder, allowing three tea-spoonfuls
to each pound of meat. Having mixed the fat and lean
well together, and seasoned it with nine tea-spoonfuls of pepper,
and the same quantity of salt, strew on the powdered sage, and mix
the whole very well with your hands. Put it away in a stone jar,
packing it down hard; and keep it closely covered. Set the jar in
a cool dry place.
When you wish to use the sausage-meat, make it into flat cakes
about an inch thick and the size of a dollar; dredge them with
flour, and fry them in butter or dripping, over rather a slow
fire, till they are well browned on both sides, and thoroughly
done.
Sausages are seldom eaten except at breakfast.
FINE SAUSAGES.
Take some fresh pork, (the leg is best,) and clear it from the
skin, sinews, and gristle. Allow two pounds of fat to three pounds
of lean. Mince it all very fine, and season it with two ounces and
a half of salt, half an ounce of pepper, thirty cloves, and a
dozen blades of mace powdered, three grated, nutmegs, six table-spoonfuls
of powdered sage, and two tea-spoonfuls of powdered
rosemary. Mix all well together. Put it into a stone jar, and
press it down very hard. Cover it closely, and keep it in a dry
cool place.
When you use this sausage-meat, mix with it some beaten yolk of
egg, and make it into balls or cakes. Dredge them with flour, and
fry them in butter.
BOLOGNA SAUSAGES.
Take ten pounds of beef, and four pounds of pork; two-thirds of
the meat should be lean, and only one third fat. Chop it very
fine, and mix it well together. Then season it with six ounces of
fine salt, one ounce of black pepper, half an ounce of cayenne,
one table-spoonful of powdered cloves; and one clove or garlic
minced very fine.
Have ready some large skins nicely cleaned and prepared, (they
should be beef-skins,) and wash them in salt and vinegar. Fill
them with the above mixture, and secure the ends by tying them
with packthread or fine twine. Make a brine of salt and water
strong enough to bear up an egg. Put the sausages into it, and'
let them lie for three weeks, turning them daily. Then take them
out, wipe them dry, hang them up and smoke them. Before you put
them away rub them all over with, sweet oil,
Keep them in ashes. That of vine-twigs is best for them.
You may fry them or not before you eat them.
PORK CHEESE.
Take the heads, tongues, and feet of young fresh pork, or any
other pieces that are convenient. Having removed the skin, boil
them till all the meat is quite tender, and can be easily stripped
from the bones. Then chop it small, and season it with salt and
black pepper to your taste, and if you choose, some beaten cloves.
Add sage-leaves and sweet marjoram, minced fine, or rubbed to
powder. Mix the whole very well together with your hands. Put it
into deep pans, with straight sides, (the shape of a cheese,)
press it down hard and closely with a plate that will fit the pan;
putting the under side of the plate next to the meat, and placing
a heavy weight on it. In two or three days it will be fit for use,
and you may turn it out of the pan. Send it to table cut in
slices, and use mustard and vinegar with it. It is generally eaten
at supper or breakfast.
PIG'S FEET AND EARS SOUSED.
Having cleaned them properly, and removed the skin, boil them
slowly till they are quite tender, and then split the feet and put
them with the ears into salt and vinegar, flavoured with a little
mace. Cover the jar closely, and set it away. When you use them,
dry each piece well with a cloth; dip them first in beaten yolk of
egg, and then in bread-crumbs, and fry them nicely in butter or
lard. Or you may eat them cold, just out of the vinegar.
If you intend keeping them some time, you must make a fresh pickle
for them every other day.
TO IMITATE WESTPHALIA HAM.
The very finest pork must be used for these hams. Mix together an
equal quantity of powdered saltpetre and brown sugar, and rub it
well into the hams. Next day make a pickle in sufficient quantity
to cover them very well. The proportions of the ingredients are a
pound and a half of fine salt, half a pound of brown sugar, an
ounce of black pepper and an ounce of cloves pounded to powder, a
small bit of sal prunella, and a quart of stale strong beer or
porter. Boil them all together, so as to make a pickle that will
bear up an egg. Pour it boiling hot over the meat, and let it lie
in the pickle two weeks, turning it two or three times every day,
and basting or washing it with the liquid. Then take out the hams,
rub them with bran and smoke them for a fortnight. When done, keep
them in a barrel of wood ashes.
In cooking these hams simmer them slowly for seven or eight hours.
To imitate the shape of the real Westphalia hams, cut some of the
meat off the under side of the thick part, so as to give them a
flat appearance. Do this before you begin to cure them, first
loosening the skin and afterwards sewing it on again.
The ashes in which you keep them must be changed frequently,
wiping the hams when you take them out.
TO GLAZE A COLD HAM.
With a brush or quill feather go all over the ham with beaten yolk
of egg. Then cover it thickly with pounded cracker, made as fine
as flour, or with grated crumbs of stale bread. Lastly go over it
with thick cream. Put it to brown in the oven of a stove, or brown
it on the spit of a tin roaster, set before the fire and turned
frequently.
This glazing will be found delicious.
VENISON, &c.
TO ROAST A SADDLE OR HAUNCH OF VENISON.
Wipe it all over with a sponge dipped in warm water Then rub the
skin with lard or nice dripping. Cover the fat with sheets of
paper two double, buttered, and tied on with packthread that has
been soaked to keep it from burning. Or, what is still better, you
may cover the first sheets of paper with a coarse paste of flour
and water rolled out half an inch thick, and then cover the paste
with the second sheets of paper, securing the whole well with the
string to prevent its falling off. Place the venison on the spit
before a strong clear fire, such as you would have for a sirloin
of beef, and let the fire be well kept up all the time. Put some
claret and butter into the dripping-pan and baste the meat with it
frequently. If wrapped in paste, it will not be done in less than
five hours. Half an hour before you take it up, remove the
coverings carefully, place the meat nearer to the fire, baste it
with fresh butter and dredge it very lightly with flour. Send it
to table with fringed white paper wrapped round the bone, and its
own gravy well skimmed. Have currant jelly to eat with it. As
venison chills immediately, the plates should be kept on heaters.
You may make another gravy with a pound and a half of scraps and
trimmings or inferior pieces of venison, put into a sauce-pan with
three pints of water, a few cloves, a few blades of mace, half a
nutmeg; and salt and cayenne to your taste. Boil it down slowly to
a pint. Then skim off the fat, and strain the gravy into a clean
sauce-pan. Add to it half a pint of currant jelly, half a pint of
claret, and near a quarter of a pound of butter divided into bits
and rolled in flour. Send it to table in two small tureens or
sauce-boats. This gravy will be found very fine.
Venison should never be roasted unless very fat. The shoulder is a
roasting piece, and may be done without the paper or paste.
Venison is best when quite fresh; but if it is expedient to keep
it a week before you cook it, wash it well with milk and water,
and then dry it perfectly with cloths till there is not the least
damp remaining on it. Then mix together powdered ginger and
pepper, and rub it well over every part of the meat. Do not,
however, attempt to keep it unless the weather is quite cold.
TO HASH COLD VENISON.
Cut the meat in nice small slices, and put the trimmings and bones
into a sauce-pan with barely water enough to cover them. Let them
stew for an hour. Then strain the liquid into a stew-pan; add to
it some bits of butter rolled in flour, and whatever gravy was
left of the venison the day before. Stir in some currant jelly,
and give it a boil up. Then put in the meat, and keep it over the
fire just long enough to warm it through; but do not allow it to
boil, as it has been once cooked already.
VENISON STEAKS.
Cut them from the neck or haunch. Season them with pepper and
salt. When the gridiron has been well heated over a bed of bright
coals, grease the bars, and lay the steaks upon it. Broil them
well, turning them once, and taking care to save as much of the
gravy as possible. Serve them up with some currant jelly laid on
each steak. Have your plates set on heaters.
VENISON PASTY.
The neck, breast, and shoulder are the parts used for a venison
pie or pasty. Cut the meat into pieces (fat and lean together) and
put the bones and trimmings into a stew-pan with pepper and salt,
and water or veal broth enough to cover it. Simmer it till you
have drawn out a good gravy. Then strain it.
In the mean time make a good rich paste, and roll it rather thick.
Cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish with one sheet of it,
and put in your meat, having seasoned it with pepper, salt,
nutmeg, and mace. Pour in the gravy which you have prepared from
the trimmings, and two glasses of port or claret, and lay on the
top some hits of butter rolled in flour. Cover the pie with a
thick lid of paste, and ornament it handsomely with leaves and
flowers formed with a tin cutter. Bake it two hours or more,
according to its size.
VENISON HAMS.
Venison for hams must be newly killed, and in every respect as
good as possible. Mix together equal quantities of salt and brown
sugar, and rub it well into the hams. Put them into a tub, and let
them lie seven days; turning them and rubbing them daily with the
mixture of salt and sugar. Next mix together saltpetre and common
salt, in the proportion of two ounces of saltpetre to a handful of
salt. Rub it well into your hams, and let them lie a week longer.
Then wipe them, rub them with bran, and smoke them a fortnight
over hickory wood. Pack them in wood ashes.
Venison ham must not be cooked before it is eaten. It is used for
the tea-table, chipped or shred like dried beef, to which it is
considered very superior.
It will not keep as long as other smoked meat.
TO ROAST A KID.
A kid should be cooked the day it is killed, or the day after at
farthest. They are best from three to four months old, and are
only eaten while they live on milk.
Wash the kid well, wipe it dry, and truss it. Stuff the body with
a force-meat of grated bread, butter or suet, sweet herbs, pepper,
salt, nutmeg, grated lemon-peel, and beaten egg; and sew it up to
keep the stuffing in its place. Put it on the spit and rub it over
with lard, or sweet oil. Put a little salt and water into the
dripping-pan, and baste the kid first with that, and afterwards
with its own gravy. Or you may make it very nice by basting it
with cream. It should roast about three hours. At the last,
transfer the gravy to a small sauce-pan; thicken it with a little
butter rolled in flour, give it a boil up, and send it to table in
a boat. Garnish the kid with lumps of currant jelly laid round the
edge of the dish.
A fawn (which should never be kept more than one day) may be
roasted in the same manner; also, a hare, or a couple of rabbits.
You may send to table, to eat with the kid, a dish of chestnuts
boiled or roasted, and divested of the shells.
TO ROAST A HARE.
If a hare is old do not roast it, but make soup of it. Wash and
soak it in water for an hour, and change the water several times,
having made a little slit in the neck to let out the blood. Take
out the heart and liver, and scald them. Drain, dry, and truss the
hare. Make a force-meat richer and more moist than usual, and add
to it the heart and liver minced fine. Soak the bread-crumbs in a
little claret before you mix them with the other ingredients.
Stuff the body of the hare with this force-meat, and sew it up.
Put it on the spit, rub it with butter, and roast it before a
brisk fire. For the first half hour baste it with butter; and
afterwards with cream, or with milk thickened with beaten yolk of
egg. At the last, dredge it lightly with flour. The hare will
require about two hours roasting.
For sauce, take the drippings of the hare mixed with cream or with
claret, and a little lemon-juice, a bit of butter, and some bread-crumbs.
Give it a boil up, and send it to table in a boat. Garnish
the hare with slices of currant jelly laid round it in the dish.
FRICASSEED RABBITS.
The best way of cooking rabbits is to fricassee them. Take a
couple of fine ones, and cut them up, or disjoint them. Put them
into a stew-pan; season them with cayenne pepper and salt, some
chopped parsley, and some powdered mace. Pour in a pint of warm
water (or of veal broth, if you have it) and stew it over a slow
fire till the rabbits are quite tender; adding (when they are
about half done) some bits of butter rolled in flour. Just before
you take it from the fire, enrich the gravy with a jill or more of
thick cream with some nutmeg grated into it. Stir the gravy well,
but take care not to let it boil after the cream is in, lest it
curdle.
Put the pieces of rabbit on a hot dish, and pour the gravy over
them.
TO STEW RABBITS.
Having trussed the rabbits, lay them in a pan of warm water for
about fifteen minutes. Then put them into a pot with plenty of
water and a little salt, and stew them slowly for about an hour,
or till they are quite tender. In the mean time, peel and boil in
a sauce-pan a dozen onions. When they are quite tender all
through, take them out, and drain and slice them. Have ready some
drawn, butter, prepared by taking six ounces of butter, (cut into
bits and rolled in about three tea-spoonfuls of flour,) and
melting it in a jill of milk. After shaking it round-over hot
coals till it simmers, add to it the onions, and give it one boil
up.
When the rabbits are done stewing lay them on a large dish (having
first cut off their heads, which should not he sent to table) and
cover them all over with the onion-sauce, to which you may add
some grated nutmeg.
TO FRY RABBITS,
Having washed the rabbits well, put them into a pan of cold water,
and let them lie in it two or three hours. Then cut them into
joints, dry them in a cloth, dredge them with flour, strew them
with chopped parsley, and fry them in butter. After you take them
out of the frying-pan, stir a wine-glass of cream into the gravy,
or the beaten yolk of an egg. Do not let it boil, but pour it at
once into the dish with the rabbits.
Rabbits are very good baked in a pie. A boiled or pot-pie may be
made of them.
They may he stuffed with force-meat and roasted, basting them with
butter. Cut off their heads before you send them to table.
POULTRY, GAME, &c.
GENERAL REMARKS
In buying poultry choose those that are fresh and fat. Half-grown
poultry is comparatively insipid; it is best when full-grown but
not old. Old poultry is tough and hard. An old goose is so tough
as to be frequently uneatable. When poultry is young the skin is
thin and tender, and can be easily tipped by trying it with a pin;
the legs are smooth; the feet moist and limber; and the eyes full
and bright. The body should be thick and the breast fat. The bill
and feet of a young goose are yellow, and have but few hairs on
them; when old they are red and hairy.
Poultry is best when killed overnight, as if cooked too soon
after-killing, it is hard and does not taste well. It is not the
custom in America, as in some parts of Europe, to keep game, or
indeed any sort of eatable, till it begins to taint; all food when
inclining to decomposition being regarded by us with disgust.
When poultry or game is frozen, it should be brought into the
kitchen early in the morning of the day on which it is to be
cooked. It may be thawed by laying it several hours in cold water.
If it is not thawed it will require double the time to cook, and
will be tough and tasteless when done. In drawing poultry be very
careful not to break the gall, lest its disagreeable bitterness
should be communicated to the liver.
Poultry should be always scalded in hot water to make the feathers
come out easily. Before they are cooked they should be held for a
moment over the blaze of the fire to singe off the hairs that are
about the skin. The head, neck, and feet should be cut off, and
the ends of the legs skewered in the bodies. A string should be
tied tightly round.
TO BOIL A PAIR OF FOWLS.
Make a force-meat in the usual manner, of grated, bread-crumbs,
chopped sweet herbs, butter, pepper, salt, and yolk of egg. Fill
the bodies of the fowls with the stuffing, and tie a string firmly
round them. Skewer the livers and gizzards to the sides, under the
wings. Dredge them with flour, and put them into a pot with just
enough of water to cook them; cover it closely, and put it over a
moderate fire. As soon as the scum rises, take off the pot and
skim it. Then cover it again, and boil it slowly half an hour.
Afterwards diminish the fire, and let them stew slowly till quite
tender. An hour altogether is generally sufficient to boil a pair
of fowls, unless they are quite old. By doing them slowly (rather
stewing than boiling) the skin will not break, and they will be
whiter and more tender than if boiled fast.
Serve them up with egg-sauce in a boat.
Young chickens are better for being soaked two hours in skim milk,
previous to boiling. You need not stuff them. Boil or stew them,
slowly in the same manner as large fowls. Three quarters of an
hour will cook them.
Serve them up with parsley-sauce, and garnish with parsley.
Boiled fowls should be accompanied by ham or smoked tongue.
TO ROAST A PAIR. OF FOWLS.
Leave out the livers, gizzards and hearts, to be chopped and put
into the gravy.--Fill the crops and bodies of the fowls with a
force-meat, put them before a clear fire and roast them an hour,
basting them with butter or with clarified dripping.
Having stewed the necks, gizzards, livers, and hearts in a very
little water, strain it and mix it hot with the gravy that has
dripped from the fowls, and which must be first skimmed. Thicken
it with a little browned flour, add to it the livers, hearts, and
gizzards chopped small. Send the fowls to table with the gravy in
a boat, and have cranberry-sauce to eat with them.
BROILED CHICKENS.
Split a pair of chickens down the back, and beat them flat, Wipe
the inside, season them with pepper and salt, and let them, lie
while you prepare some beaten yolk of egg and grated bread-crumbs.
Wash the outside of the chickens all over with the egg, and then
strew on the bread-crumbs. Have ready a hot gridiron over a bed of
bright coals. Lay the chickens on it with the inside downwards, or
next the fire. Broil them about three quarters of an hour, keeping
them covered with a plate. Just before you take them up, lay some
small pieces of butter on them.
In preparing chickens for broiling, you may parboil them about ten
minutes, to ensure their being sufficiently cooked; as it is
difficult to broil the thick parts thoroughly without burning the
rest.
FRICASSEED CHICKENS.
Having cut up your chickens, lay them in cold water till all the
blood is drawn out. Then wipe the pieces, season them with pepper
and salt, and dredge them with flour. Fry them in lard or butter;
they should be of a fine brown on both sides. When they are quite
done, take them, out of the frying-pan, cover them up, and set
them by the fire to keep warm. Skim the gravy in the frying-pan
and pour into it half a pint of cream; season it with a little
nutmeg, pepper and salt, and thicken it with, a small bit of
butter rolled in flour. Give it a boil, and then pour it round the
chickens, which must he kept hot. Put some lard into the pan, and
fry some parsley in It to lay on the pieces of chicken; it must be
done green and crisp.
To make a white fricassee of chickens, skin them, cut them in
pieces, and having soaked out the blood, season them with salt,
pepper, nutmeg and mace, and strew over them some sweet marjoram
shred fine. Put them into a stew-pan, and pour over them half a
pint of cream, or rich unskimmed milk. Add some butter rolled in
Hour, and (if you choose) some small force-meat balls. Set the
stew-pan over hot coals. Keep it closely covered, and stew or
simmer it gently till the chicken is quite tender, but do not
allow it to boil.
You may improve it by a few small slices of cold ham.
CHICKEN CROQUETS AND RISSOLES.
Take some cold chicken, and having; cut the flesh from the bones,
mince it small with a little suet and parsley; adding sweet
marjoram and grated lemon-peel. Season it with pepper, salt and
nutmeg, and having mixed the whole very well pound it to a paste
in a marble mortar, putting in a little at a time, and moistening
it frequently with yolk of egg that has been previously beaten.
Then divide it into equal portions and having floured your hands,
make it up in the shape of pears, sticking the head of a clove
into the bottom of each to represent the blossom end, and the
stalk of a clove into the top to look like the stem. Dip them into
beaten yolk of egg, and then into bread-crumbs grated finely and
sifted. Fry them in butter, and when you take them out of the pan,
fry some parsley in it. Having drained the parsley, cover the
bottom of a dish with it, and lay the croquets upon it. Send it to
table as a side dish.
Croquets maybe made of cold sweet-breads, or of cold veal mixed
with ham or tongue.
Rissoles are made of the same ingredients, well mixed, and beaten
smooth in a mortar. Make a fine paste, roll it out, and cut it
into round cakes. Then lay some of the mixture on one half of the
cake, and fold over the other upon it, in the shape of a half-moon.
Close and crimp the edges nicely, and fry the rissoles in
butter. They should be of a light brown on both sides. Drain them
and send them to table dry.
BAKED CHICKEN PIE.
Cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish with a thick paste.
Having cut up your chickens, and seasoned them to your taste, with
salt, pepper, mace and nutmeg, put them in, and lay on the top
several pieces of butter rolled in flour. Fill up the dish about
two-thirds with cold water. Then lay on the top crust, notching it
handsomely. Cut a slit in the top, and stick into it an ornament
of paste made in the form of a tulip. Bake it in a moderate oven.
It will be much improved by the addition of a quarter of a hundred
oysters; or by interspersing the pieces of chicken with slices of
cold boiled ham.
You may add also some yolks of eggs boiled hard.
A duck pie may be made in the same manner. A rabbit pie also.
A POT PIE.
Take a pair of large fine fowls. Cut them up, wash the pieces, and
season them with pepper and salt. Make a good paste in the
proportion of a pound and a half of minced suet to three pounds of
flour. Let there be plenty of paste, as it is always much liked by
the eaters of pot pie. Roll out the paste not very thin, and cut
most of it into long squares. Butter the sides of a pot, and line
them with paste nearly to the top. Lay slices of cold ham at the
bottom of the pot, and then the pieces of fowl, interspersed all
through with squares of paste, and potatoes pared and quartered.
Lay a lid of paste all over the top, leaving a hole in the middle.
Pour in about a quart of water, cover the pot, and boil it slowly
but steadily for two hours. Half an hour before you take it up,
put in through the hole in the centre of the crust, some bits of
butter rolled in flour, to thicken the gravy. When done put the
pie on a large dish, and pour the gravy over it.
You may intersperse it all through with cold ham.
A pot pie may be made of ducks, rabbits, squirrels, or venison.
Also of beef-steaks.
CHICKEN CURRY.
Take a pair of fine fowls, and having cut them in pieces, lay them
in salt and water till the seasoning is ready. Take two table-spoonfuls
of powdered ginger, one table-spoonful of fresh
turmeric, a tea-spoonful of ground black pepper; some mace, a few
cloves, some cardamom seeds, and a little cayenne pepper with a
small portion of salt. These last articles according to your
taste. Put all into a mortar, and add to them eight large onions,
chopped or cut small. Mix and beat all together, till the onions,
spices, &c. form a paste.
Put the chickens into a pan with sufficient butter rolled in
flour, and fry them till they are brown, but not till quite done.
While this is proceeding, set over the fire a sauce-pan three
parts full of water, or sufficient to cover the chickens when they
are ready. As soon as the water boils, throw in the curry-paste.
When the paste has all dissolved, and is thoroughly mixed with the
water, put in the pieces of chicken to boil, or rather to simmer.
When the chicken is quite done, put it into a large dish, and eat
it with boiled rice. The rice may either be laid round on the same
dish, or served up separately.
This is a genuine East India receipt for curry.
Lamb, veal, or rabbits may be curried in the same manner.
_To boil Rice for the Curry._
Pick the rice carefully, to clear it from husks and motes. Then
soak it in cold water for a quarter of an hour, or more. When you
are ready to boil it, pour off the water in which it has soaked.
Have ready a pot or sauce-pan of boiling water, into which you
have put a little salt. Allow two quarts of water to a pound of
rice. Sprinkle the rice gradually into the water. Boil it hard for
twenty minutes, then take it off the fire, and pour off all the
water that remains. Set the pot in the chimney corner with the lid
off, while dinner is dishing, that it may have time to dry. You
may toss it up lightly with two forks, to separate the grains
while it is drying, but do not stir it with a spoon.
A PILAU.
Take a large fine fowl, and cover the breast with slices of fat
bacon or ham, secured by skewers. Put it into a stew-pan with two
sliced onions. Season it to your taste with white pepper and mace.
Have ready a pint of rice that has been well picked, washed, and
soaked. Cover the fowl with it. Put in as much water as will well
cover the whole. Stew it about half an hour, or till the fowl and
rice are thoroughly done; keeping the stew-pan closely covered.
Dish it all together, either with the rice covering the fowl, or
laid round it in little heaps.
You may make a pilau of beef or mutton with a larger quantity of
rice; which must not be put in at first, or it will be done too
much, the meat requiring a longer time to stew.
CHICKEN SALAD.
The fowls for this purpose should be young and fine. You may
either boil or roast them. They must be quite cold. Having removed
all the skin and fat, and disjointed the fowls cut the meat from
the bones into very small pieces, not exceeding an inch. Wash and
split two large fine heads of celery, and cut the white part into
pieces also about an inch long; and having mixed the chicken and
celery together, put them into a deep china dish, cover it and set
it away.
It is best not to prepare the dressing till just before the salad
is to be eaten, that it may be as fresh as possible. Have ready
the yolks of eight hard-boiled eggs. Put them into a flat dish,
and mash them to a paste with the back of a wooden spoon. Add to
the egg a small tea-spoonful of fine salt, the same quantity of
cayenne pepper, half a jill of made mustard, a jill or a wine-glass
and a half of vinegar, and rather more than two wine-glasses
of sweet oil. Mix all these ingredients thoroughly; stirring them
a long time till they are quite smooth.
The dressing should not be put on till a few minutes before the
salad is sent in; as by lying in it the chicken and celery will
become tough and hard. After you pour it on, mix the whole well
together with a silver fork.
Chicken salad should be accompanied with plates of bread and
butter, and a plate of crackers. It is a supper dish, and is
brought in with terrapin, oysters, &c.
Cold turkey is excellent prepared as above.
An inferior salad may be made with cold fillet of veal, instead of
chickens.
Cold boiled lobster is very fine cut up and drest in this manner,
only substituting for celery, lettuce cut up and mixed with the
lobster.
TO ROAST A PAIR OF DUCKS.
After the ducks are drawn, wipe out the inside with a clean cloth,
and prepare your stuffing. Mince very fine some green sage leaves,
and twice their quantity of onion, (which should first be
parboiled,) and add a little butter, and a seasoning of pepper and
salt. Mix the whole very well, and fill the crops and bodies of
the ducks with it, leaving a little space for the stuffing to
swell. Reserve the livers, gizzards, and hearts to put in the
gravy. Tie the bodies of the ducks firmly round with strings,
(which should be wetted or buttered to keep them from burning,)
and put them on the spit before a clear brisk fire. Baste them
first with a little salt and water, and then with their own gravy,
dredging them lightly with flour at the last. They will be done in
about an hour. After boiling the livers, gizzards and hearts, chop
them, and put them into the gravy; having first skimmed it, and
thickened it with a little browned flour.
Send to table with the ducks a small tureen of onion-sauce with
chopped sage leaves in it. Accompany them also with stewed
cranberries and green peas.
Canvas-back ducks are roasted in the same manner, omitting the
stuffing. They will generally be done enough in three quarters of
an hour. Send currant jelly to table with them, and have heaters
to place under the plates. Add to the gravy a little cayenne, and
a large wine-glass of claret or port.
Other wild ducks and teal may be roasted in about half an hour.
Before cooking soak them all night in salt and water, to draw out
whatever fishy or sedgy taste they may happen to have, and which
may otherwise render them uneatable. Then early in the morning put
them in fresh water (without salt,) changing it several times
before you spit them.
You may serve up with wild ducks, &c. orange-sauce, which is made
by boiling in a little water two large sweet oranges cut into
slices, having first removed the rind. When the pulp is all
dissolved, strain and press it through a sieve, and add to it the
juice of two more oranges, and a little sugar. Send it to table
either warm or cold.
STEWED DUCK.
Half roast a large duck. Cut it up, and put it into a stew-pan
with a pint of beef-gravy, or dripping of roast-beef. Have ready
two boiled onions, half a handful of sage leaves, and two leaves
of mint, all chopped very fine and seasoned with pepper and salt.
Lay these ingredients over the duck. Stew it slowly for a quarter
of an hour. Then put in a quart of young green peas. Cover it
closely, and simmer it half an hour longer, till the peas are
quite soft. Then add a piece of butter rolled in flour; quicken
the fire, and give it one boil. Serve up all together.
A cold duck that has been under-done may be stewed in this manner.
TO HASH A DUCK.
Cut up the duck and season it with pepper and mixed spices. Have
ready some thin slices of cold ham or bacon. Place a layer of them
in a stew-pan; then put in the duck and cover it with ham. Add
just water enough to moisten it, and pour over all a large glass
of red wine. Cover the pan closely and let it stew for an hour.
Have ready a quart or more of green peas, boiled tender drained,
and mixed with butter and pepper. Lay them round the hashed duck.
If you hash a cold duck in this manner, a quarter of an hour will
be sufficient for stewing it; it having been cooked already.
TO ROAST A GOOSE.
Having drawn and singed the goose, wipe out the inside with a
cloth, and sprinkle in some pepper and salt. Make a stuffing of
four good sized onions minced fine, and half their quantity of
green sage leaves minced also, a large tea-cupful of grated bread-crumbs,
a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and the beaten
yolks of two eggs, with a little pepper and salt. Mix the whole
together, and incorporate them well. Put the stuffing into the
goose, and press it in hard; but do not entirely fill up the
cavity, as the mixture will swell in cooking. Tie the goose
securely round with a greased or wetted string; and paper the
breast to prevent it from scorching. Fasten the goose on the spit
at both ends. The fire must be brisk and well kept up. It will
require from two hours to two and a half to roast. Baste it at
first with a little salt and water, and then with its own gravy.
Take off the paper when the goose is about half done, and dredge
it with a little flour towards the last. Having parboiled the
liver and heart, chop them and put them into the gravy, which must
be skimmed well and thickened with a little browned flour.
Send apple-sauce to table with the goose; also mashed potatoes.
A goose may be stuffed entirely with potatoes, boiled and mashed
with milk, butter, pepper and salt.
You may make a gravy of the giblets, that is the neck, pinions,
liver, heart and gizzard, stewed in a little water, thickened with
butter rolled in flour, and seasoned with pepper and salt. Add a
glass of red wine. Before you send it to table, take out all but
the liver and heart; mince them and leave them in the gravy. This
gravy is by many preferred to that which comes from the goose in
roasting. It is well to have both.
If a goose is old it is useless to cook it, as when hard and tough
it cannot be eaten.
A GOOSE PIE.
Cut a fine large young goose into eight pieces, and season it with
pepper. Reserve the giblets for gravy. Take a smoked tongue that
has been all night in soak, parboil it, peel it, and cut it into
thick slices, omitting the root, which you must divide into small
pieces, and put into a sauce-pan with the giblets and sufficient
water to stew them slowly.
Make a nice paste, allowing a pound and a half of butter to three
pounds of flour. Roll it out thick, and line with it the bottom
and sides of a deep dish. Fill it with the pieces of goose, and
the slices of tongue. Skim the gravy you have drawn from the
giblets, thicken it with a little browned flour, and pour it into
the pie dish. Then put on the lid or upper crust. Notch and
ornament it handsomely with leaves and flowers of paste. Bake the
pie about three hours in a brisk oven.
In making a large goose pie you may add a fowl, or a pair of
pigeons, or partridges,--all cut up.
A duck pie may be made in the same manner.
Small pies are sometimes made of goose giblets only.
A CHRISTMAS GOOSE PIE.
These pies are always made with a standing crust. Put into a
sauce-pan one pound of butter cut up, and a pint and a half of
water; stir it while it is melting, and let it come to a boil.
Then skim off whatever milk or impurity may rise to the top. Have
ready four pounds of flour sifted into a pan. Make a hole in the
middle of it, and pour in the melted butter while hot. Mix it with
a spoon to a stiff paste, (adding the beaten yolks of three or
four eggs,) and then knead it very well with your hands, on the
paste-board, keeping it dredged with flour till it ceases to be
sticky. Then set it away to cool.
Split a large goose, and a fowl down the back, loosen the flesh
all over with a sharp knife, and take out all the bones. Parboil a
smoked tongue; peel it and cut off the root. Mix together a
powdered nutmeg, a quarter of an ounce of powdered mace, a tea-spoonful
of pepper, and a tea-spoonful of salt, and season with
them the fowl and the goose.
Roll out the paste near an inch thick, and divide it into three
pieces. Cut out two of them of an oval form for the top and
bottom; and the other into a long straight piece for the sides or
walls of the pie. Brush the paste all over with beaten white of
egg, and set on the bottom the piece that is to form the wall,
pinching the edges together, and cementing them with white of egg.
The bottom piece must be large enough to turn up a little round
the lower edge of the wall piece, to which it must be firmly
joined all round. When you have the crust properly fixed, so as to
be baked standing alone without a dish, put in first the goose,
then the fowl, and then the tongue. Fill up what space is left
with pieces of the flesh of pigeons, or of partridges, quails, or
any game that is convenient. There must be no bones in the pie.
You may add also some bits of ham, or some force-meat balls.
Lastly, cover the other ingredients with half a pound of butter,
and pat on the top crust, which, of course, must be also of an
oval form to correspond with the bottom. The lid must be placed
not quite on the top edge of the wall, but an inch and a half
below it. Close it very well, and ornament the sides and top with
festoons and leaves cut out of paste. Notch the edges handsomely,
and put a paste flower in the centre. Glaze the whole with beaten
yolk of egg, and bind the pie all round with a double fold of
white paper. Set it in a regular oven, and bake it four hours.
This is one way of making the celebrated goose pies that it is
customary in England to send as presents at Christmas. They are
eaten at luncheon, and if the weather is cold, and they are kept
carefully covered up from the air, they will be good for two or
three weeks; the standing crust assisting to preserve them.
TO ROAST A TURKEY.
Make a force-meat of grated bread-crumbs, minced suet, sweet
marjoram, grated lemon-peel, nutmeg, pepper, salt, and beaten yolk
of egg. You may add some grated cold ham. Light some writing
paper, and singe the hairs from the skin of the turkey. Reserve
the neck, liver, and gizzard for the gravy. Stuff the craw of the
turkey with the force-meat, of which there should be enough made
to form into balls for frying, laying them round the turkey when
it is dished. Dredge it with flour, and roast it before a clear
brisk fire, basting it with cold lard. Towards the last, set the
turkey nearer to the fire, dredge it again very lightly with
flour, and baste it with butter. It will require, according to its
size, from two to three hours roasting.
Make the gravy of the giblets cut in pieces, seasoned, and stewed
for two hours in a very little water; thicken it with a spoonful
of browned flour, and stir into it the gravy from the dripping-pan,
having first skimmed off the fat.
A turkey should be accompanied by ham or tongue. Serve up with it
mushroom-sauce. Have stewed cranberries on the table to eat with
it. Do not help any one to the legs, or drum-sticks as they are
called.
Turkeys are sometimes stuffed entirely with sausage-meat. Small
cakes of this meat should then be fried, and laid round it.
To bone a turkey, you must begin with a very sharp knife at the
top of the wings, and scrape the flesh loose from the bone without
dividing or cutting it to pieces. If done carefully and
dexterously, the whole mass of flesh may be separated from the
bone, so that you can take hold of the head and draw out the
entire skeleton at once. A large quantity of force-meat having
been prepared, stuff it hard into the turkey, restoring it by
doing so to its natural form, filling out the body, breast, wings
and legs, so as to resemble their original shape when the bones
were in. Roast or bake it; pouring a glass of port wine into the
gravy. A boned turkey is frequently served up cold, covered with
lumps of currant jelly; slices of which are laid round the dish.
Any sort of poultry or game may be boned and stuffed in the same
manner,
A cold turkey that has not been boned is sometimes sent to table
larded all over the breast with slips of fat bacon, drawn through
the flesh with a larding needle, and arranged in regular form.
TO BOIL A TURKEY.
Take twenty-five large fine oysters, and chop them. Mix with them
half a pint of grated bread-crumbs, half a handful of chopped
parsley, a quarter of a pound of butter, two table-spoonfuls, of
cream or rich milk, and the beaten yolks of three eggs. When it is
thoroughly mixed, stuff the craw of the turkey with it, and sew up
the skin. Then dredge it with flour, put it into a large pot or
kettle, and cover it well with cold water. Place it over the fire,
and let it boil slowly for half an hour, taking off the scum as it
rises. Then remove the pot from over the fire, and set it on hot
coals to stew slowly for two hours, or two hours and a half,
according to its size, Just before you send it to table, place it
again over the fire to get well heated. When you boil a turkey,
skewer the liver and gizzard to the sides, under the wings.
Send it to table with oyster-sauce in a small tureen.
In making the stuffing, you may substitute for the grated bread,
chestnuts boiled, peeled, and minced or mashed. Serve up chestnut-sauce,
made by peeling some boiled chestnuts and putting them
whole into melted butter,
Some persons, to make them white, boil their turkeys tied up in a
large cloth sprinkled with flour.
With a turkey, there should be on the table a ham, or a smoked
tongue.
TO ROAST PIGEONS.
Draw and pick four pigeons immediately after they are killed, and
let them be cooked soon, as they do not keep well. Wash the inside
very clean, and wipe it dry. Stuff them with a mixture of parsley
parboiled and chopped, grated bread-crumbs, and butter; seasoned
with pepper, salt, and nutmeg. Dredge them with flour, and roast
them before a good fire, basting them with butter. They will be
done in about twenty-five or thirty minutes. Serve them up with
parsley-sauce. Lay the pigeons on the dish in a row.
If asparagus is in season, it will be much better than parsley
both for the stuffing and sauce. It must first be boiled. Chop the
green heads for the stuffing, and cut them in two for the melted
butter. Have cranberry-sauce on the table.
Pigeons may be split and broiled, like chickens; also stewed or
fricasseed.
They are very good stewed with slices of cold ham and green peas,
serving up all in the same dish.
PIGEON PIE.
Take four pigeons, and pick and clean them very nicely, Season
them with pepper and salt, and put inside of every one a large
piece of butter and the yolk of a hard-boiled egg. Have ready a
good paste, allowing a pound of butter to two pounds of sifted
flour. Roll it out rather thick, and line with it the bottom and
sides of a large deep dish. Put in the pigeons, and lay on the top
some bits of butter rolled in flour. Pour in nearly enough of
water to fill the dish. Cover the pie with a lid of paste rolled
out thick, and nicely notched, and ornamented with paste leaves
and flowers.
You may make a similar pie of pheasants, partridges, or grouse.
TO ROAST PHEASANTS, PARTRIDGES, QUAILS, OR GROUSE.
Pick and draw the birds immediately after they are brought in.
Before you roast them, fill the inside with pieces of a fine ripe
orange, leaving out the rind and seeds. Or stuff them with grated
cold ham, mixed with bread-crumbs, butter, and a little yolk of
egg. Lard them with small slips of the fat of bacon drawn through
the flesh with a larding needle, Roast them before a clear fire.
Make a fine rich gravy of the trimmings of meat or poultry, stewed
in a little water, and thickened with a spoonful of browned flour.
Strain it, and set it on the fire again, having added half a pint
of claret, and the juice of two large oranges. Simmer it for a few
minutes, pour some of it into the dish with the game, and serve
the remainder in a boat.
If you stuff them with force-meat, you may, instead of larding,
brush them all over with beaten yolk of egg, and then cover them,
with bread-crumbs grated finely and sifted.
ANOTHER WAY TO ROAST PHEASANTS, PARTRIDGES, &c.
Chop some fine raw oysters, omitting the hard part; mix them with
salt, and nutmeg, and add some beaten yolk of egg to bind the
other ingredients. Cut some very thin slices of cold ham or bacon,
and cover the birds with them; then wrap them closely in sheets of
white paper well buttered, put them on the spit, and roast them
before a clear fire.
Send them to table with oyster-sauce in a boat.
Pies may be made of any of these birds in the same manner as a
pigeon pie.
TO ROAST SNIPES, WOODCOCKS, OR PLOVERS.
Pick them immediately; but it is the fashion to cook these birds
without drawing. Cut some slices of bread, allowing a slice to
each bird, and (having pared off the crust) toast them nicely, and
lay them in the bottom of the dripping-pan to catch the trail, as
it is called. Dredge the birds with flour, and put them on a small
spit before a clear brisk fire. Baste them with lard, or fresh
butter. They will be done in twenty or thirty minutes. Serve them
up laid on the toast, and garnished with sliced orange, or with
orange jelly.
Have brown gravy in a boat.
TO ROAST REED-BIRDS, OR ORTOLANS.
Put into every bird, an oyster, or a little butter mixed with some
finely sifted bread-crumbs. Dredge them with flour. Run a small
skewer through them, and tie them on the spit. Baste them with
lard or with fresh butter. They will be done in about ten minutes.
A very nice way of cooking these birds is, (having greased them
all over with lard or with fresh butter, and wrapped them in vine
leaves secured closely with a string,) to lay them in a heated
iron pan, and bury them in ashes hot enough to roast or bake them.
Remove the vine leaves before you send the birds to table.
Reed birds are very fine made into little dumplings with a thin
crust of flour and butter, and boiled about twenty minutes. Each
must be tied in a separate cloth.
LARDING.
To lard meat or poultry is to introduce into the surface of the
flesh, slips of the fat only of bacon, by means of a larding-pin
or larding-needle, it being called by both names. It is a steel
instrument about a foot long, sharp at one end, and cleft at the
other into four divisions, which are near two inches in length,
and resemble tweezers. It can be obtained at the hardware stores.
Cut the bacon into slips about two inches in length, half an inch
in breadth, and half an inch in thickness. If intended for
poultry, the slips of bacon should not be thicker than a straw.
Put them, one at a time, into the cleft or split end of the
larding-needle. Give each slip a slight twist, and press it down
hard into the needle with your fingers. Then push the needle
through the flesh, (avoiding the places where the bones are,) and
when you draw it out it will have left behind it the slip of bacon
sticking in the surface. Take care to have all the slips of the
same size, and arranged in regular rows at equal distances. Every
slip should stand up about an inch. If any are wrong, take them
out and do them over again. To lard handsomely and neatly requires
practice and dexterity.
Fowls and game are generally larded on the breast only. If cold,
they can be done with the fat of cold boiled ham. Larding may be
made to look very tastefully on any thing that is not to be cooked
afterwards.
FORCE-MEAT BALLS.
To a pound of the lean of a leg of veal, allow a pound of beef
suet. Mince them together very fine. Then season it to your taste
with pepper, salt, mace, nutmeg, and chopped sage or sweet
marjoram. Then chop a half-pint of oysters, and beat six eggs very
well. Mix the whole together, and pound it to a paste in a marble
mortar. If you do not want it immediately, put it away in a stone
pot, strew a little flour on the top, and cover it closely.
When you wish to use the force-meat, divide into equal parts as
much of it as you want; and having floured your hands, roll it
into round balls, all of the same size. Either fry them in butter,
or boil them.
This force-meat will be found a very good stuffing for meat or
poultry.
GRAVY AND SAUCES.
DRAWN OR MADE GRAVY.
For this purpose you may use coarse pieces of the lean of beef or
veal, or the giblets and trimmings of poultry or game. If must be
stewed for a long time, skimmed, strained, thickened, and
flavoured with whatever condiments are supposed most suited to the
dish it is to accompany.
In preparing meat to stew for gravy, beat it with a mallet or
meat-beetle, score it, and cut it into small pieces; this makes it
give oat the juices. Season it with pepper and salt, and put it
into a stew-pan with butter only. Heat it gradually, till it
becomes brown. Shake the pan frequently, and see that it does not
bum or stick to the bottom. It will generally be browned
sufficiently in half an hour. Then put in some boiling water,
allowing one pint to each pound of meat. Simmer it on coals by the
side of the fire for near three hours, skimming it well, and
keeping it closely covered. When done, remove it from the heat,
let it stand awhile to settle, and then strain it.
If you wish to keep it two or three days, (which you may in
winter,) put it into a stone vessel, cover it closely, and set it
in a cool place.
Do not thicken this gravy till you go to use it.
MELTED BUTTER, SOMETIMES CALLED DRAWN BUTTER.
Melted butter is the foundation of most of the common sauces. Have
a covered sauce-pan for this purpose. One lined with porcelain
will be best. Take a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter,
cut it up, and mix with it about two tea-spoonfuls of flour. When
it is thoroughly mixed, put it into the sauce-pan, and add to it
four table-spoonfuls of cold water. Cover the sauce-pan, and set
it in a large tin pan of boiling water. Shake it round continually
(always moving it the same way) till it is entirely melted and
begins to simmer. Then let it rest till it boils up.
If you set it on hot coals, or over the fire, it will be oily.
If the butter and flour is not well mixed it will be lumpy.
If you put too much water, it will be thin and poor. All these
defects are to be carefully avoided.
In melting butter for sweet or pudding sauce, you may use milk
instead of water.
TO BROWN FLOUR.
Spread some fine flour on a plate, and set it in
the oven, turning it up and stirring it frequently that it may
brown equally all through.
Put it into a jar, cover it well, and keep it to stir into gravies
to thicken and colour them.
TO BROWN BUTTER.
Put a lump of butter into a frying-pan, and toss
it round over the fire till it becomes brown. Then dredge some
browned flour over it, and stir it round with a spoon till it
boils. It must be made quite smooth. You may make this into a
plain sauce for fish by adding cayenne and some flavoured vinegar.
PLAIN SAUCES.
LOBSTER SAUCE.
Boil a dozen blades of mace and half a dozen pepper-corns in about
a jill and a half (or three wine-glasses) of water, till all the
strength of the spice is extracted. Then strain it, and having cut
three quarters of a pound of butter into little bits, melt it in
this water, dredging in a little flour as you hold it over the
fire to boil. Toss it round, and let it just boil up and no more.
Take a cold boiled lobster,--pound the coral in a mortar adding a
little sweet oil. Then stir it into the melted butter.
Chop the meat of the body into very small pieces, and rub it
through a cullender into the butter. Cut up the flesh of the claws
and tail into dice, and stir it in. Give it another boil up, and
it will be ready for table.
Serve it up with fresh salmon, or any boiled fish of the best
kind.
Crab sauce is made in a similar manner; also prawn and shrimp
sauce.
ANCHOVY SAUCE.
Soak eight anchovies for three or four hours, changing the water
every hour. Then put them into a sauce-pan with a quart of cold
water. Set them on hot coals and simmer them till they are
entirely dissolved, and till the liquid is diminished two-thirds.
Then strain it, stir two glasses of red wine, and add to it about
half a pint of melted butter.
Heat it over again, and send it to table with salmon or fresh cod.
CELERY SAUCE.
Take a large bunch of young celery. Wash and pare it very clean.
Cut it into pieces, and boil it gently in a small quantity of
water, till it is quite tender. Then add a little powdered mace
and nutmeg, and a very little pepper and salt. Take a tolerably
large piece of butter, roll it well in flour, and stir it into the
sauce. Boil it up again, and it is ready to send to table.
You may make it with cream, thus:--Prepare and boil your celery as
above, adding some mace, nutmeg, a piece of butter the size of a
walnut, rolled in flour; and half a pint of cream. Boil all
together.
Celery sauce is eaten with boiled poultry.
When celery is out of season, you may use celery seed, boiled in
the water which you afterwards use for the melted butter, but
strained out after boiling.
NASTURTIAN SAUCE.
This is by many considered superior to caper sauce and is eaten
with boiled mutton. It is made with the green seeds of
nasturtians, pickled simply in cold vinegar.
Cut about six ounces of butter into small hits, and put them into
a small sauce-pan. Mix with a wine-glass of water sufficient flour
to make a thick batter, pour it on the butter, and hold the sauce-pan
over hot coals, shaking it quickly round, till the butter is
melted. Let it just boil up, and then take it from the fire.
Thicken it with the pickled nasturtians and send it to table in a
boat.
Never pour melted butter over any thing, but always send it to
table in a sauce-tureen or boat.
WHITE ONION SAUCE.
Peel a dozen onions, and throw them into salt and water to keep
them white. Then boil them tender. When done, squeeze the water
from them, and chop them. Have ready some butter that has been
melted rich and smooth with milk or cream instead of water. Put
the onions into the melted butter, and boil them up at once. If
you wish to have them very mild, put in a turnip with them at the
first boiling.
Young white onions, if very small, need not be chopped, but may be
put whole into the butter.
Use this sauce for rabbits, tripe, boiled poultry, or any boiled
fresh meat.
BROWN ONION SAUCE.
Slice some large mild Spanish onions. Cover them with butter, and
set them over a slow fire to brown. Then add salt and cayenne
pepper to your taste, and some good brown gravy of roast meat,
poultry or game, thickened with a bit of butter rolled in flour
that has first been browned by holding it in a hot pan or shovel
over the fire. Give it a boil, skim it well, and just before you
take it off, stir in a half glass of port or claret, and the same
quantity of mushroom catchup.
Use this sauce for roasted poultry, game, or meat.
MUSHROOM SAUCE.
Wash a pint of small button mushrooms,--remove the stems and the
outside skin. Stew them slowly in veal gravy or in milk or cream,
seasoning them with pepper and salt, and adding a piece of butter
rolled in a large proportion of flour. Stew them till quite
tender, now and then taking off the cover of the pan to stir them.
The flavour will be heightened by having salted a few the night
before in a covered dish, to extract the juice, and then stirring
it into the sauce while stewing.
This sauce may be served up with poultry, game, or beef-steaks.
In gathering mushrooms take only those that are of a dull pearl
colour on the outside, and that have the under part tinged with
pale pink.
Boil an onion with them. If there is a poisonous one among them,
the onion will turn black. Then throw away the whole.
EGG SAUCE.
Boil four eggs a quarter of an hour. Dip them into cold water to
prevent their looking blue. Peel off the shell. Chop the yolks of
all, and the whites of two, and stir them into melted butter.
Serve this sauce with boiled poultry or fish.
BREAD SAUCE.
Put some grated crumbs of stale bread into a sauce-pan, and pour
over them some of the liquor in which poultry or fresh meat has
been boiled. Add some plums or dried currants that have been
picked and washed. Having simmered them till the bread is quite
soft, and the currants well plumped, add melted butter or cream.
This sauce is for a roast pig.
MINT SAUCE.
Take a large bunch of young green mint; if old the taste will be
unpleasant. Wash it very clean. Pick all the leaves from the
stalks. Chop the leaves very fine, and mix them with cold vinegar,
and a large proportion of powdered sugar. There must be merely
sufficient vinegar to moisten the mint well, but by no means
enough to make the sauce liquid.
It is only eaten in the spring with roast lamb. Send it to table
in a sauce-tureen.
CAPER SAUCE.
Take two large table-spoonfuls of capers and a little vinegar.
Stir them for some time into half a pint of thick melted butter.
This sauce is for boiled mutton.
If you happen to have no capers, pickled cucumber chopped fine, or
the pickled pods of radish seeds, may be stirred into the butter
as a tolerable substitute.
PARSLEY SAUCE.
Wash a bunch of parsley in cold water. Then boil it about six or
seven minutes in salt and water. Drain it, cut the leaves from the
stalks, and chop them fine. Hare ready some melted butter, and
stir in the parsley. Allow two small table-spoonfuls of leaves to
half a pint of butter.
Serve it up with boiled fowls, rock-fish, sea-bass, and other
boiled fresh fish.. Also with knuckle of veal, and with calf's
head boiled plain.
APPLE SAUCE.
Pare, core, and slice some fine apples. Put them into a sauce-pan
with just sufficient water to keep them from burning, and some
grated lemon-peel. Stew them till quite soft and tender. Then mash
them to a paste, and make them very sweet with brown sugar, adding
a small piece of butter and some nutmeg.
Apple sauce is eaten with roast pork, roast goose and roast ducks.
Be careful not to have it thin and watery.
CRANBERRY SAUCE.
Wash a quart of ripe cranberries, and put them into a pan with
about a wine-glass of water. Stew them slowly, and stir them
frequently, particularly after they begin to burst. They require a
great deal of stewing, and should be like a marmalade when done.
Just before you take them from the fire, stir in a pound of brown
sugar.
When they are thoroughly done, put them into a deep dish, and set
them away to get cold.
You may strain the pulp through a cullender or sieve into a mould,
and when it is in a firm shape send it to table on a glass dish.
Taste it when it is cold, and if not sweet enough, add more sugar.
Cranberries require more sugar than any other fruit, except plums.
Cranberry sauce is eaten with roast turkey, roast fowls, and roast
ducks.
PEACH SAUCE.
Take a quart of dried peaches, (those are richest and best that
are dried with the skins on,) and soak them in cold water till
they are tender. Then drain them, and put them into a covered pan
with a very little water. Set them on coals, and simmer them till
they are entirely dissolved. Then mash them with brown sugar, and
send them to table cold to eat with roast meat, game or poultry.
WINE SAUCE.
Have ready some rich thick melted or drawn butter, and the moment
you take it from the fire, stir in two large glasses of white
wine, two table-spoonfuls of powdered white sugar, and a powdered
nutmeg. Serve it up with plum pudding, or any sort of boiled
pudding that is made of a batter.
COLD SWEET SAUCE.
Stir together, as for a pound-cake, equal quantities of fresh
butter and powdered white sugar. When quite light and creamy, add
some powdered cinnamon or nutmeg, and a few drops of essence of
lemon. Send it to table in a small deep plate with a tea-spoon in
it.
Eat it with batter pudding, bread pudding, Indian pudding, &c.
whether baked or boiled. Also with boiled apple pudding or
dumplings, and with fritters and pancakes.
CREAM SAUCE.
Boil a pint and a half of rich cream with four table-spoonfuls of
powdered sugar, some pieces of cinnamon, and a dozen bitter
almonds or peach kernels slightly broken up, or a dozen fresh
peach leaves. As soon as it has boiled up, take it off the fire
and strain it. If it is to be eaten with boiled pudding or with
dumplings send it to table hot, but let it get quite cold if you
intend it as an accompaniment to fruit pies or tarts.
OYSTER SAUCE.
Take a pint of oysters, and save out a little of their liquid. Put
them with their remaining liquor, and some mace and nutmegs, into
a covered sauce-pan, and simmer them on hot coals about eight
minutes. Then drain them.
Having prepared in another sauce-pan some drawn or melted butter,
(mixed with oyster liquor instead of water,) pour it into a sauce-boat,
add the oysters to it, and serve it up with boiled poultry
or with boiled fresh fish.
STORE FISH SAUCES.
GENERAL REMARKS.
Store fish sauces if properly made will keep for many months. They
may be brought to table in fish castors, but a customary mode is
to send them round in the small black bottles in which they have
been originally deposited. They are in great variety, and may be
purchased of the grocers that sell oil, pickles, anchovies, &c. In
making them at home, the few following receipts may be found
useful.
The usual way of eating these sauces is to pour a little on your
plate, and mix it with the melted butter. They give flavour to
fish that would otherwise be insipid, and are in general use at
genteel tables.
Two table-spoonfuls of any of these sauces may be added to the
melted butter a minute before you take it from the fire. But if
brought to table in bottles, the company can use it or omit it as
they please.
SCOTCH SAUCE.
Take fifteen anchovies, chop them fine, and steep them in vinegar
for a week, keeping the vessel closely covered. Then put them into
a pint of claret or port wine. Scrape fine a large stick of
horseradish, and chop two onions, a handful of parsley, a tea-spoonful
of the leaves of lemon-thyme, and two large peach leaves.
Add a nutmeg, six or eight blades of mace, nine cloves, and a tea-spoonful
of black pepper, all slightly pounded in a mortar. Put
all these ingredients into a silver or block tin sauce-pan, or
into an earthen pipkin, and add a few grains of cochineal to
colour it. Pour in a large half pint of the best vinegar, and
simmer it slowly till the bones of the anchovies are entirely
dissolved.
Strain the liquor through a sieve, and when quite cold put it away
for use in small bottles; the corks dipped in melted rosin, and
well-secured by pieces of leather tied closely over them. Fill
each bottle quite full, as it will keep the better for leaving no
vacancy.
This sauce will give a fine flavour to melted butter.
QUIN'S SAUCE.
Pound in a mortar six large anchovies, moistening them with their
own pickle. Then chop and pound six small onions. Mix them with a
little black pepper and a little cayenne, half a glass of soy,
four glasses of mushroom catchup, two glasses of claret, and two
of black walnut pickle. Put the mixture into a small sauce-pan or
earthen pipkin, and let it simmer slowly till all the bones of the
anchovies are dissolved. Strain it, and when cold, bottle it for
use; dipping the cork in melted rosin, and tying leather over it.
Fill the bottles quite full.
KITCHINER'S FISH SAUCE.
Mix together a pint of claret, a pint of mushroom catchup, and
half a pint of walnut pickle, four ounces of pounded anchovy, an
ounce of fresh lemon-peel pared thin, and the same quantity of
shalot or small onion. Also an ounce of scraped horseradish, half
an ounce of black pepper, and half an ounce of allspice mixed, and
the same quantity of cayenne and celery-seed. Infuse these
ingredients in a wide-mouthed bottle (closely stopped) for a
fortnight, shaking the mixture every day. Then strain and bottle
it for use. Put it up in small bottles, filling them quite full.
HARVEY'S SAUCE.
Dissolve six anchovies in a pint of strong vinegar, and then add
to them three table-spoonfuls of India soy, and three table-spoonfuls
of mushroom catchup, two heads of garlic bruised small,
and a quarter of an ounce of cayenne. Add sufficient cochineal
powder to colour the mixture red. Let all these ingredients infuse
in the vinegar for a fortnight, shaking it every day, and then
strain and bottle it for use. Let the bottles be small, and cover
the corks with leather.
GENERAL SAUCE.
Chop six shalots or small onions, a clove of garlic, two peach
leaves, a few sprigs of lemon-thyme and of sweet basil, and a few
bits of fresh orange-peel. Bruise in a mortar a quarter of an
ounce of cloves, a quarter of an ounce of mace, and half an ounce
of long pepper. Mix two ounces of salt, a jill of vinegar, the
juice of two lemons, and a pint of Madeira. Put the whole of these
ingredients together in a stone jar, very closely covered. Let it
stand all night over embers by the side of the fire. In the
morning pour off the liquid quickly and carefully from the lees or
settlings, strain it and put it into small bottles, dipping the
corks in melted rosin.
This sauce is intended to flavour melted butter or gravy, for
every sort of fish and meat.
PINK SAUCE.
Mix together half a pint of port wine, half a pint of strong
vinegar, the juice and grated peel of two large lemons, a quarter
of an ounce of cayenne, a dozen blades of mace, and a quarter of
an ounce of powdered cochineal. Let it infuse a fortnight,
stirring it several times a day. Then boil it ten minutes, strain
it, and bottle it for use.
Eat it with any sort of fish or game. It will give a fine pink
tinge to melted butter.
CATCHUPS.
LOBSTER CATCHUP.
This catchup, warmed in melted butter, is an excellent substitute
for fresh lobster sauce at seasons when the fish cannot he
procured, as, if properly made, it will keep a year.
Take a fine lobster that weighs about three pounds. Put it into
boiling water, and cook it thoroughly. When it is cold break it
up, and extract all the flesh from the shell. Pound the red part
or coral in a marble mortar, and when it is well bruised, add the
white meat by degrees, and pound that also; seasoning it with a
tea-spoonful of cayenne, and moistening it gradually with sherry
wine. When it is beaten to a smooth paste, mix it well with the
remainder of the bottle of sherry. Put it into wide-mouthed
bottles, and on the top of each lay a dessert-spoonful of whole
pepper. Dip the corks in melted rosin, and secure them well by
tying leather over them.
In using this catchup allow four table-spoonfuls to a common-sized
sauce-boat of melted butter. Put in the catchup at the last, and
hold it over the fire just long enough to be thoroughly heated.
ANCHOVY CATCHUP.
Bone two dozen anchovies, and then chop them. Put to them ten
shalots, or very small onions, cut fine, and a handful of scraped
horseradish, with a quarter of an ounce of mace. Add a lemon, cut
into slices, twelve cloves, and twelve pepper-corns. Then mix
together a pint of red wine, a quart of white wine, a pint of
water and half a pint of anchovy liquor. Put the other ingredients
into the liquid, and boil it slowly till reduced to a quart. Then
strain it, and when cold put it into small bottles, securing the
corks with leather.
OYSTER CATCHUP.
Take large salt oysters that have just been opened. Wash them in
their own liquor, and pound them, in a mortar, omitting the hard
parts. To every pint of the pounded oysters, add a half pint of
white wine or vinegar, in which you must give them a boil up,
removing the scum as it rises. Then to each quart of the boiled
oysters allow a tea-spoonful of beaten white pepper, a salt-spoonful
of pounded mace, and cayenne and salt to your taste. Let
it boil up for a few minutes, and then pass it through a sieve
into an earthen pan. When cold, put it into small bottles, filling
them quite full, as it will not keep so well if there is a vacancy
at the top. Dip the corks in melted rosin, and tie leather over
each.
WALNUT CATCHUP.
Take green walnuts that are young enough to be easily pierced
through with a large needle. Having pricked them all in several
places, throw them into an earthen pan with a large handful of
salt, and barely sufficient water to cover them. Break up and mash
them with a potato-beetle, or a rolling-pin. Keep them four days
in the salt and water, stirring and mashing them every day. The
rinds will now be quite soft. Then scald them with boiling-hot
salt and water, and raising the pan on the edge, let the walnut
liquor flow away from the shells into another pan. Put the shells
into a mortar, and pound them with vinegar, which will extract
from them all the remaining juice.
Put all the walnut liquor together, and boil and skim it, then to
every quart allow an ounce of bruised ginger, an ounce of black
pepper, half an ounce of cloves, and half an ounce of nutmeg, all
slightly beaten. Boil the spice and walnut liquor in a closely
covered vessel for three quarters of an hour. When cold, bottle it
for use, putting equal proportions of the spice into each bottle.
Secure the corks with leather.
MUSHROOM CATCHUP.
Take mushrooms that have been freshly gathered, and examine them
carefully to ascertain that they are of the right sort. Pick them
nicely, and wipe them clean, but do not wash them. Spread a layer
of them at the bottom of a deep earthen pan, and then sprinkle
them well with salt; then another layer of mushrooms, and another
layer of salt, and so on alternately. Throw a folded cloth over
the jar, and set it by the fire or in a very cool oven. Let it
remain thus for twenty-four hours, and then mash them well with
your hands. Next squeeze and strain them through a bag.
To every quart of strained liquor add an ounce and a half of whole
black pepper, and boil it slowly in a covered vessel for half an
hour. Then add a quarter of an ounce of allspice, half an ounce of
sliced ginger, a few cloves, and three or four blades of mace.
Boil it with the spice fifteen minutes longer. When it is done,
take it off, and let it stand awhile to settle. Pour it carefully
off from the sediment and put it into small bottles, filling them
to the top. Secure them well with corks dipped in melted rosin,
and leather caps tied over them.
The longer catchup is boiled, the better it will keep. You may add
cayenne and nutmeg to the spices.
The bottles should be quite small, as it soon spoils after being
opened.
TOMATA CATCHUP.
Gather the tomatas on a dry day, and when quite ripe. Peel them,
and cut them into quarters. Put them into a large earthen pan, and
mash and squeeze them till they are reduced to a pulp. Allowing
half a pint of fine salt to a hundred tomatas, put them into a
preserving kettle, and boil them gently with the salt for two
hours, stirring them frequently to prevent their burning. Then
strain them through a fine sieve, pressing them with the back of a
silver spoon. Season them to your taste with mace, cinnamon,
nutmeg, ginger, and white or red pepper, all powdered fine.
Put the tomata again over the fire with the spices, and boil it
slowly till very thick, stirring it frequently.
When cold, put it up in small bottles, secure the corks well, and
it will keep good a year or two.
LEMON CATCHUP.
Cut nine large lemons into thin slices, and take out the seeds.
Prepare, by pounding them in a mortar, two ounces of mustard seed,
half an ounce of black pepper, half an ounce of nutmeg, a quarter
of an ounce of mace, and a quarter of an ounce of cloves. Slice
thin two ounces of horseradish. Put all these ingredients
together. Strew over them three ounces of fine salt. Add a quart
of the best vinegar.
Boil the whole twenty minutes. Then put it warm into a jar, and
let it stand three weeks closely covered. Stir it up daily.
Then strain it through a sieve, and put it up in small bottles to
flavour fish and other sauces. This is sometimes called lemon
pickle.
SEA CATCHUP.
Take a gallon of stale strong beer, a pound of anchovies washed
from the pickle, a pound of peeled shalots or small onions, half
an ounce of mace, half an ounce of cloves, a quarter of an ounce
of whole pepper, three or four large pieces of ginger, and two
quarts of large mushroom-flaps rubbed to pieces. Put the whole
into a kettle closely covered, and let it simmer slowly till
reduced to one half. Then strain it through a flannel bag, and let
it stand till quite cold before you bottle it. Have small bottles
and fill them quite full of the catchup. Dip the corks in melted
rosin.
This catchup keeps well at sea, and may be carried into any part
of the world. A spoonful of it mixed in melted butter will make a
fine fish sauce. It may also be used to flavour gravy.
FLAVOURED VINEGARS.
These vinegars will be found very useful, at times when the
articles with which they are flavoured cannot be conveniently
procured. Care should be taken to have the bottles that contain
them accurately labelled, very tightly corked, and kept in a dry
place. The vinegar used for these purposes should be of the very
best sort.
TARRAGON VINEGAR.
Tarragon should be gathered on a dry day, just before the plant
flowers. Pick the green leaves from the stalks, and dry them a
little before the fire. Then put them into a wide-mouthed stone
jar, and cover them with the best vinegar, filling up the jar. Let
it steep fourteen days, and then strain it through a flannel bag.
Pour it through a funnel into half-pint bottles, and cork them
well.
SWEET BASIL VINEGAR.
Is made precisely in the same manner; also those of green mint,
and sweet marjoram.
CELERY VINEGAR.
Pound two ounces of celery seed in a mortar, and steep it for a
fortnight in a quart of vinegar. Then strain and bottle it.
BURNET VINEGAR.
Nearly fill a wide-mouthed bottle with the fresh green leaves of
burnet, cover them with vinegar, and let them steep two weeks.
Then strain off the vinegar, wash the bottle, put in a fresh
supply of burnet leaves, pour the same vinegar over them, and let
it infuse a
fortnight longer. Then strain it again and it will be fit for use.
The flavour will exactly resemble that of cucumbers.
HORSERADISH VINEGAR.
Make a quart of the best vinegar boiling hot, and pour it on four
ounces of scraped horseradish. Let it stand a week, then strain it
off, renew the horseradish, adding the same vinegar cold, and let
it infuse a week longer, straining it again at the last.
SHALOT VINEGAR.
Peel and chop fine four ounces of shalots, or small button onions.
Pour on them a quart of the best vinegar, and let them steep a
fortnight; then strain and bottle it.
Make garlic vinegar in the same manner; using but two ounces of
garlic to a quart of vinegar. Two or three drops will be
sufficient to impart a garlic taste to a pint of gravy or sauce.
More will be offensive. The cook should be cautioned to use it
very sparingly, as to many persons it is extremely disagreeable.
CHILLI VINEGAR.
Take a hundred red chillies or capsicums, fresh gathered; cut them
into small pieces and infuse them for a fortnight in a quart of
the best vinegar, shaking the bottle every day. Then strain it.
RASPBERRY VINEGAR.
Put two quarts of ripe fresh-gathered raspberries into a stone or
china vessel, and pour on them a quart of vinegar. Let it stand
twenty-four hours, and then strain it through a sieve. Pour the
liquid over two quarts of fresh raspberries, and let it again
infuse for a day and a night. Then strain it a second time. Allow
a pound of loaf sugar to every pint of juice. Break up the sugar,
and let it melt in the liquor. Then put the whole into a stone
jar, cover it closely, and set it in a kettle of boiling water,
which must be kept on a quick boil for an hour. Take off all the
scum and when cold, bottle the vinegar for use.
Raspberry vinegar mixed with water is a pleasant and cooling
beverage in warm weather; also in fevers.
MUSTARD AND PEPPER.
COMMON MUSTARD
Is best when fresh made. Take good flour of mustard; put it in a
plate, add to it a little salt, and mix it by degrees with boiling
water to the usual consistence, rubbing it for a long time with a
broad-bladed knife or a wooden spoon. It should be perfectly
smooth. The less that is made at a time the better it will be. If
you wish it very mild, use sugar instead of salt, and boiling milk
instead of water.
KEEPING MUSTARD.
Dissolve three ounces of salt in a quart of boiling vinegar, and
pour it hot upon two ounces of scraped horseradish. Cover the jar
closely and let it stand twenty-four hours. Strain it and then mix
it by degrees with the best flour of mustard. Make it of the usual
thickness, and beat it till quite smooth. Then put it into wide-mouthed
bottles and stop it closely.
FRENCH MUSTARD.
Mix together four ounces of the very best mustard
powder, four salt-spoons of salt, a large table-spoonful of minced
tarragon leaves, and two cloves of garlic chopped fine. Pour on by
degrees sufficient vinegar (tarragon vinegar is best) to dilute it
to the proper consistence. It will probably require about four
wine-glassfuls or half a pint. Mix it well, using for the purpose
a wooden spoon. When done, put it into a wide-mouthed bottle or
into little white jars. Cork it very closely, and keep it in a dry
place. It will not be fit for use in less than two days.
This (used as the common mustard) is a very agreeable condiment
for beef or mutton.
TO MAKE CAYENNE PEPPER.
Take ripe chillies and dry them a whole day before the fire,
turning them frequently. When quite dry, trim off the stalks and
pound the pods in a mortar till they become a fine powder, mixing
in about one sixth of their weight in salt. Or you may grind them
in a very fine mill. While pounding the chillies, wear glasses to
save your eyes from being incommoded by them. Put the powder into
small bottles, and secure the corks closely.
KITCHEN PEPPER.
Mix together two ounces of the best white ginger, an ounce of
black pepper, an ounce of white pepper, an ounce of cinnamon, an
ounce of nutmeg, and two dozen cloves. They must all be ground or
pounded to a fine powder, and thoroughly mixed. Keep the mixture
in a bottle, labelled, and well corked. It will be found useful in
seasoning many dishes; and being ready prepared will save much
trouble.
VEGETABLES
GENERAL REMARKS.
All vegetables should be well picked and washed. A very little
salt should always be thrown into the water in which they are
boiled. A steady regular fire should be kept up, and they should
never for a moment be allowed to stop boiling or simmering till
they are thoroughly done. Every sort of vegetable should be cooked
till tender, as if the least hard or under-done they are both
unpalatable and unwholesome. The practice of putting pearl-ash in
the pot to improve the colour of green vegetables should be
strictly forbidden, as it destroys the flavour, and either renders
them flat and insipid, or communicates a very disagreeable taste
of its own.
Every sort of culinary vegetable is infinitely best when fresh
from the garden, and gathered as short a time as possible before
it is cooked. They should all be laid in a pan of cold water for a
while previous to boiling.
When done, they should be carefully drained before they go to
table, or they will be washy all through, and leave puddles of
discoloured water in the bottoms of the dishes, to the disgust of
the company and the discredit of the cook.
TO BOIL POTATOES.
Potatoes that are boiled together, should be as nearly as possible
of the same size. Wash, but do not pare them. Put them into a pot
with water enough to cover them about an inch, and do not put on
the pot lid. When the water is very near boiling, pour it off, and
replace it with the same quantity of cold water, into which throw
a good portion of salt. The cold water sends the heat from the
surface to the heart, and makes the potatoes mealy. Potatoes of a
moderate size will require about half an hour boiling; large ones
an hour. Try them with a fork. When done, pour off the water,
cover the pot with a folded napkin, or flannel, and let them stand
by the fire about a quarter of an hour to dry.
Peel them and send them to table.
Potatoes should not be served up with the skins on. It has a
coarse, slovenly look, and disfigures the appearance of the
dinner; besides the trouble and inconvenience of peeling them at
table.
When the skins crack in boiling, it is no proof that they are
done, as too much fire under the pot will cause the skins of some
potatoes to break while the inside is hard.
After March, when potatoes are old, it is best to pare them before
boiling and to cut out all the blemishes. It is then better to
mash them always before they are sent to table. Mash them when
quite hot, using a potato-beetle for the purpose; add to them a
piece of fresh butter, and a little salt, and, if convenient, some
milk, which will greatly improve them. You may score and brown
them on the top.
A very nice way of serving up potatoes is, after they are peeled,
to pour over them some hot cream in which a very little butter has
been melted, and sprinkle them with pepper. This is frequently
done in country houses where cream is plenty. New potatoes (as
they are called when quite young) require no peeling, but should
be well washed and brushed before they are boiled.
FRIED POTATOES.
Take cold potatoes that have been boiled, grate them, make them
into flat cakes, and fry them in butter. They are nice at
breakfast. You may mix some beaten yolk of egg with them.
Cold potatoes may be fried in slices or quarters, or broiled on a
gridiron.
Raw potatoes, when fried, are generally hard, tough, and strong.
POTATO SNOW.
For this purpose use potatoes that are very white, mealy, and
smooth. Boil them very carefully, and when they are done, peel
them, pour off the water, and set them on a trivet before the fire
till they are quite dry and powdery. Then rub them through a
coarse wire sieve into the dish on which they are to go to table.
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