A Useful Guide for Large or Small Families, CONTAINING DIRECTIONS FOR COOKING, PRESERVING, PICKLING, AND PREPARING THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES ACCORDING TO THE MOST NEW AND APPROVED RECEIPTS, VIZ.: THIRD EDITION, ENLARGED, WITH ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY ADDITIONAL RECEIPTS FOR PREPARING FARINA, INDIAN MEAL, FANCY TEA CAKE, MARMALADES, ETC. BEING A SEQUEL TO HER “COMPLETE COOKERY.” “Let these receipts be fairly and faithfully tried, and I trust that few, if any, will cause disappointment in the result.”—

The present volume is designed as a sequel to my book, entitled “Directions for Cookery in all its Branches.” Since the first appearance of that work, I have introduced into the new editions so many improvements and additional receipts that its size can no longer be conveniently increased. While obtaining fresh accessions of valuable knowledge on this and other subjects connected with the domestic improvement of my young countrywomen, I have been induced to note down, as they presented themselve

LIQUID MEASURE. About twenty-five drops of any thin liquid will fill a common-sized tea-spoon. Four table-spoonfuls will generally fill a common-sized wine-glass. Four wine-glasses will fill a half-pint tumbler, or a large coffee-cup. A quart black bottle holds in reality about a pint and a half; sometimes not so much. A table-spoonful of salt is about one ounce. DRY MEASURE. Throughout this book, the pound is avoirdupois weight—sixteen ounces....

SPRING SOUP.—Unless your dinner hour is very late, the stock for this soup should be made the day before it is wanted, and set away in a stone pan, closely covered. To make the stock, take a knuckle of veal, break the bones, and cut it into several pieces. Allow a quart of water to each pound of veal. Put it into a soup-pot, with a set of calves-feet, and some bits of cold ham, cut off near the hock. If you have no ham, sprinkle in a table-spoonful of salt, and a salt-spoon of cayenne. Place the

FRESH SALMON STEWED.—Having cleaned and washed the fish, cut it into round slices or fillets, rather more than an inch in thickness. Lay them in a large dish; sprinkling a very little salt evenly over the slices; and in half an hour turn them on the other side. Let them rest another half hour; then wash, drain, and wipe them dry with a clean towel. Spread some of the best fresh butter thickly over the strainer of a large fish-kettle; and lay the pieces of salmon upon it. Cover them nearly all ov

AN EXCELLENT WAY OF BOILING CABBAGE.—Having trimmed the cabbage, and washed it well in cold water, (examining the leaves to see that no insects are lurking among them,) cut it almost into quarters, but do not divide it entirely down at the stem, which should be cut off just below the termination of the leaves. Let it lie an hour in a pan of cold water. Have ready a pot full of boiling water, seasoned with a small tea-spoonful of salt. Put the cabbage into it, and let it boil for an hour and a ha

STEWED LAMB.—Take a fine quarter of lamb, and for a large dish, cut the whole of it into steaks; for a small dish, cut up the loin only; or slice only the leg. Remove the skin, and all the fat. Place at the bottom of a large stew-pot a fresh lettuce split into long quarters. Having seasoned the steaks with a little salt and cayenne, and some powdered nutmeg and mace, lay them upon the lettuce, pour on just sufficient water to cover the whole, and let it stew gently for an hour, skimming it occas

CHICKENS STEWED WHOLE.—Having trussed a pair of fine fat young fowls or chickens, (with the liver under one wing, and the gizzard under the other,) fill the inside with large oysters, secured from falling out, by fastening tape round the bodies of the fowls. Put them into a tin butter-kettle with a close cover. Set the kettle into a larger pot or sauce-pan of boiling water, (which must not reach quite to the top of the kettle,) and place it over the fire. Keep it boiling till the fowls are well

COLUMBIAN PUDDING.—Tie up closely in a bit of very thin white muslin, a vanilla bean cut into pieces; and a broken-up stick of cinnamon. Put this bag with its contents into half a pint of rich milk, and boil it a long time till very highly flavoured. Then take out the bag; set the milk near the fire to keep warm in the pan in which it was boiled, covering it closely. Slice thin a pound of almond sponge-cake, and lay it in a deep dish. Pour over it a quart of rich cream, with which you must mix t

AMERICAN CITRON.—Pare a sufficient number of citron-melons, and cut each melon into four thick quarters. Weigh them, and put them over-night into a tureen, or a large white-ware pan or basin. Prepare some very weak brine, allowing a table-spoonful of salt to a quart of water, for every pound of citron. Pour the salt and water over the citron; cover it, and let it stand all night to draw out the sliminess. Prepare some alum-water, allowing to each quart of water a bit of alum about the size of a

INDIANA BATTER CAKES.—Sift into a pan three large pints of yellow corn-meal; and add a large table-spoonful of fresh lard; or of nice drippings of roast beef, well cleared from fat. Add a small tea-spoonful of sal-eratus, or a large one of soda, dissolved in a little warm water. Next make the whole into a soft dough, with a pint of cold water. Afterwards thin it to the consistence of a moderate batter, by adding, gradually, not quite a pint and a half of warm water. When it is all mixed, continu

TO BEAT EGGS.—In making cakes it is of the utmost importance that the eggs should be properly and sufficiently beaten; otherwise the cakes will most certainly be deficient in the peculiar lightness characterizing those that are made by good confectioners. Home-made cakes, if good in other respects, are too frequently (even when not absolutely heavy or streaked) hard, solid and tough. This often proceeds from too large a portion of flour, and too small an allowance of butter and eggs. The richest

GOOSEBERRY CHAMPAGNE.—Take large, fine gooseberries, that are full-grown, but not yet beginning to turn red; and pick off their tops and tails. Then weigh the fruit, and allow a gallon of clear, soft water to every three pounds of gooseberries. Put them into a large, clean tub; pour on a little of the water; pound and mash them, thoroughly, with a wooden beetle; add the remainder of the water, and give the whole a hard stirring. Cover the tub with a cloth, and let it stand four days; stirring it

MACASSAR OIL.—This popular and pleasant unguent for the hair can ( as we know ) be prepared at home, so as to equal, in efficacy and appearance, any that is for sale in the shops; and at less than one-third the expense. Take half an ounce of chippings of alkanet root, which may be bought at a druggist’s, for a few cents. Divide this quantity into two portions, and having cleared away any dust that may be about the alkanet, put each portion of the chips into a separate bit of new bobbinet, or ver

SODA SOAP.—Take six pounds of the best brown soap, and cut it into pieces. Put it into a large wash-kettle, and pour on seven gallons and a half of clear soft water. Next stir in six pounds of washing-soda, (sub-carbonate,) set it over the fire, and let it boil two hours after it has come to a boil. Then strain it into stone jars; cover it, and put it away. It must be used for white clothes only , as it will fade coloured things. Put the clothes in soak the night before, in tubs of cold water; h

At the earnest request of numerous young housekeepers, the author has been induced to offer the following hints for the selection of suitable articles in preparing breakfasts, dinners, and suppers. They, of course, may be varied according to convenience, taste, and the size and circumstances of the family. Receipts for them all may be found either in the present work, or in its predecessor, “Miss Leslie’s Directions for Cookery.” BREAKFASTS FOR SPRING AND SUMMER.—Fresh shad broiled; hashed mutto

BUENA VISTA CAKE.—Put half a pound of powdered white sugar into a deep pan, and cut up in it half a pound of fresh butter. Stir them together hard, till perfectly light. Add a nutmeg powdered. (This cake should be highly-flavoured with nutmeg.) Beat four eggs in a shallow pan, till they are very thick and smooth. Then stir them, gradually, into the pan of beaten butter and sugar; in turn with three-quarters of a pound of sifted flour. Add a wine-glass of rose-water. Have ready three large wine-g

HINTS ON HEATING OVENS, AND BAKING.—Brick ovens are generally heated with dry fagots or small branches, or with light split wood. For baking bread, the oven-wood must be heavier than for pies. A heap of wood should be placed in the centre of the oven on the brick floor, and then set on fire. While the wood is burning, the door of the oven must be left open. When the wood is all burnt down, and reduced to a mass of small red coals, the oven will be very hot. Then shovel out all the coals and swee

BY MISS LESLIE. PRICE ONE DOLLAR. THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF ITS CONTENTS: Transcriber’s Note The following typographical errors were corrected. The following words were inconsistently spelled. A-la-mode / Alamode band-boxes / bandboxes Blanc-mange / Blancmange BLANC-MANGE / BLANCMANGE brick-dust / brickdust butter-milk / buttermilk chesnut / chestnut force-meat / forcemeat goose-berries / gooseberries Indian / indian madeira / Madeira moor-fowl / moorfowl nasturtian / nasturtion parboil / par-b