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30 chapters
PREFACE
PREFACE
The success of her little book entitled “Seventy-five Receipts in Cakes, Pastry, and Sweetmeats.” has encouraged the author to attempt a larger and more miscellaneous work on the subject of cookery, comprising as far as practicable whatever is most useful in its various departments; and particularly adapted to the domestic economy of her own country. Designing it as a manual of American housewifery, she has avoided the insertion of any dishes whose ingredients cannot be procured on our side of t
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INTRODUCTORY HINTS.
INTRODUCTORY HINTS.
We recommend to all families that they should keep in the house: a pair of scales, (one of the scales deep enough to hold flour, sugar, &c., conveniently,) and a set of tin measures: as accuracy in proportioning the ingredients is indispensable to success in cookery. It is best to have the scales permanently fixed to a small beam projecting (for instance) from one of the shelves of the store-room. This will preclude the frequent inconvenience of their getting twisted, unlinked, and other
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SOUPS.
SOUPS.
GENERAL REMARKS. Always use soft water for making soup, and be careful to proportion the quantity of water to that of the meat. Somewhat less than a quart of water to a pound of meat, is a good rule for common soups. Rich soups, intended for company, may have a still smaller allowance of water. Soup should always be made entirely of fresh meat that has not been previously cooked. An exception to this rule may sometimes be made in favour of the remains of a piece of roast beef that has been very
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FISH.
FISH.
REMARKS. In choosing fresh fish, select only those that are thick and firm, with bright scales and stiff fins; the gills a very lively red, and the eyes full and prominent. In the summer, as soon as they are brought home, clean them, and put them in ice till you are ready to cook them; and even then do not attempt to keep a fresh fish till next day. Mackerel cannot be cooked too soon, as they spoil more readily than any other fish. Oysters in the shell may be kept from a week to a fortnight, by
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SHELL FISH
SHELL FISH
PICKLED OYSTERS. Take a hundred and fifty fine large oysters, and pick off carefully the bits of shell that may be sticking to them. Lay the oysters in a deep dish, and then strain the liquor over them. Put them into an iron skillet that is lined with porcelain, and add salt to your taste. Without salt they will not be firm enough. Set the skillet on hot coals, and allow the oysters to simmer till they are heated all through, but not till they boil. Then take out the oysters and put them into a
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DIRECTIONS FOR COOKING MEAT. BEEF.
DIRECTIONS FOR COOKING MEAT. BEEF.
GENERAL REMARKS. When beef is good, it will have a fine smooth open grain, and it will feel tender when squeezed or pinched in your fingers. The lean should be of a bright carnation red, and the fat white rather than yellow—the suet should be perfectly white. If the lean looks dark or purplish, and the fat very yellow, do not buy the meat. See that the butcher has properly jointed the meat before it goes home. For good tables, the pieces generally roasted are the sirloin and the fore and middle
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VEAL.
VEAL.
GENERAL REMARKS. The fore-quarter of a calf comprises the neck, breast, and shoulder: the hind-quarter consists of the loin, fillet, and knuckle. Separate dishes are made of the head, heart, liver, and sweet-bread. The flesh of good veal is firm and dry, and the joints stiff. The lean is of a very light delicate red, and the fat quite white. In buying the head see that the eyes look full, plump, and lively; if they are dull and sunk the calf has been killed too long. In buying calves’ feet for j
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MUTTON AND LAMB.
MUTTON AND LAMB.
GENERAL REMARKS. The fore-quarter of a sheep contains the neck, breast, and shoulder; and the hind-quarter the loin and leg. The two loins together are called the chine or saddle. The flesh of good mutton is of a bright red, and a close grain, and the fat firm and quite white. The meat will feel tender and springy when you squeeze it with your fingers. The vein in the neck of the fore-quarter should be of a fine blue. Lamb is always roasted; generally a whole quarter at once. In carving lamb, th
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PORK, HAM, ETC.
PORK, HAM, ETC.
GENERAL REMARKS. In cutting up pork, you have the spare-rib, shoulder, griskin or chine, the loin, middlings and leg; the head, feet, heart and liver. On the spare-rib and chine there is but little meat, and the pieces called middlings consist almost entirely of fat. The best parts are the loin, and the leg or hind-quarter. Hogs make the best pork when from two and a half to four years old. They should be kept up and fed with corn at least six weeks before they are killed, or their flesh will ac
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VENISON, ETC.
VENISON, ETC.
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 stri
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POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
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 goos
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GRAVY AND SAUCES.
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
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PLAIN SAUCES.
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
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STORE FISH SAUCES.
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 m
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FLAVOURED VINEGARS.
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
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MUSTARD AND PEPPER.
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 vinega
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VEGETABLES
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 g
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EGGS, ETC.
EGGS, ETC.
TO KEEP EGGS. There is no infallible mode of ascertaining the freshness of an egg before you break it, but unless an egg is perfectly good, it is unfit for any purpose whatever, and will spoil whatever it is mixed with. You may judge with tolerable accuracy of the state of an egg by holding it against the sun or the candle, and if the yolk, as you see it through the shell, appears round, and the white thin and clear, it is most probably a good one; but if the yolk looks broken, and the white thi
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PICKLING
PICKLING
GENERAL REMARKS. Never on any consideration use brass, copper, or bell-metal settles for pickling; the verdigris produced in them by the vinegar being of a most poisonous nature. Kettles lined with porcelain are the best, but if you cannot procure them, block tin may be substituted. Iron is apt to discolour any acid that is boiled in it. Vinegar for pickles should always be of the very best kind. In putting away pickles, use stone, or glass jars. The lead which is an ingredient in the glazing of
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SWEETMEATS.
SWEETMEATS.
GENERAL REMARKS. The introduction of iron ware lined with porcelain has fortunately almost superseded the use of brass or bell-metal kettles for boiling sweetmeats; a practice by which the articles prepared in those pernicious utensils were always more or less imbued with the deleterious qualities of the verdigris that is produced in them by the action of acids. Charcoal furnaces will be found very convenient for preserving; the kettles being set on the top. They can be used in the open air. Swe
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PASTRY, PUDDINGS, ETC.
PASTRY, PUDDINGS, ETC.
THE BEST PLAIN PASTE. All paste should be made in a very cool place, as heat renders it heavy. It is far more difficult to get it light in summer than in winter. A marble slab is much better to roll it on than a paste-board. It will be improved in lightness by washing the butter in very cold water, and squeezing and pressing out all the salt, as salt is injurious to paste. In New York and in the Eastern states, it is customary, in the dairies, to put more salt in what is called fresh butter, tha
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SYLLABUB, OR WHIPT CREAM.
SYLLABUB, OR WHIPT CREAM.
Pare off very thin the yellow rind of four large lemons, And lay it in the bottom of a deep dish. Squeeze the juice of the lemons into a large bowl containing a pint of white wine, and sweeten it with half a pound of powdered loaf-sugar Then, by degrees, mix in a quart of cream. Pour the whole into the dish in which you have laid the lemon-peel, and let the mixture stand untouched for three hours. Then beat it with rods to a stiff froth, (first taking out the lemon-peel,) and having put into eac
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CAKES, ETC.
CAKES, ETC.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. Unless you are provided with proper and convenient utensils and materials, the difficulty of preparing cakes will be great, and in most instances a failure; involving disappointment, waste of time, and useless expense. Accuracy in proportioning the ingredients is indispensable; and therefore scales and weights, and a set of tin measures (at least from a quart down to a jill) are of the utmost importance. A large sieve for flour is also necessary; and smaller ones for sugar
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WARM CAKES FOR BREAKFAST AND TEA.
WARM CAKES FOR BREAKFAST AND TEA.
BUCKWHEAT CAKES. Take a quart of buckwheat meal, mix with it a tea-spoonful of salt, and add a handful of Indian meal. Pour a large table-spoonful of the best brewer’s yeast into the centre of the meal. Then mix it gradually with cold water till it becomes a batter. Cover it, put it in a warm place and set it to rise; it will take about three hours. When it is quite light, and covered with bubbles, it is fit to bake. Put your griddle over the fire, and let it get quite hot before you begin. Grea
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DOMESTIC LIQUORS ETC.
DOMESTIC LIQUORS ETC.
SPRUCE BEER Put into a large kettle, ten gallons of water, a quarter of a pound of hops, and a tea-cupful of ginger. Boil them together till all the hops sink to the bottom. Then dip out a bucket full of the liquor, and stir into it six quarts of molasses, and three ounces and a half of the essence of spruce. When all is dissolved, mix it with the liquor in the kettle; strain it through a hair sieve into a cask; and stir well into it half a pint of good strong yeast. Let it ferment a day or two;
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PREPARATIONS FOR THE SICK.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE SICK.
CHICKEN JELLY. Take a large chicken, cut it up into very small pieces, bruise the bones, and put the whole into a stone jar with a cover that will make it water tight. Set the jar in a large kettle of boiling water, and keep it boiling for three hours. Then strain off the liquid, and season it slightly with salt, pepper, and mace; or with loaf-sugar and lemon juice, according to the taste of the person for whom it is intended. Return the fragments of the chicken to the jar, and set it again in a
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PERFUMERY, ETC.
PERFUMERY, ETC.
COLOGNE WATER. Procure at a druggists, one drachm of oil of lavender, the same quantity of oil of lemon, of oil of rosemary, and of oil of cinnamon; with two drachms of oil of bergamot, all mixed in the same phial, which should be a new one. Shake the oils well, and pour them into a pint of spirits of wine. Cork the bottle tightly, shake it hard, and it will be fit for immediate use; though it improves by keeping. You may add to the oils, if you choose, ten drops of the tincture of musk, or ten
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MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS.
MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS.
MINCED OYSTERS. Take fifty fine large oysters, and mince them raw. Chop also four or five small pickled cucumbers, and a bunch of parsley. Grate about two tea-cupfuls of stale bread-crumbs, and beat up the yolks of four eggs. Mix the whole together in a thick batter, seasoning it with cayenne and powdered mace; and with a little salt if the oysters are fresh. Have ready a pound of lard, and melt in the frying-pan enough of it to fry the oysters well. If the lard is in too small a quantity they w
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ADDITIONAL RECEIPTS.
ADDITIONAL RECEIPTS.
FRENCH GREEN PEA SOUP. This soup is made without meat. Put into a soup-pot four quarts of shelled green peas, two large onions sliced, a handful of leaves of sweet marjoram shred from the stalks, or a handful of sweet basil; or a mixed handful of both—also, if you like it, a handful of green mint. Add four quarts of water, and boil the whole slowly till all the peas are entirely to pieces. Then take off the pot, and mash the peas well against its sides to extract from them all their flavour. Aft
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ANIMALS
ANIMALS
FIGURES EXPLANATORY OF THE PIECES INTO WHICH THE FIVE LARGE ANIMALS ARE DIVIDED BY THE BUTCHERS. Beef. Veal . Mutton. Pork. Venison Pork. Venison...
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