Take one-half pound grated cracker or bread.
½ pound butter.
1 teaspoonful spice.
1 teaspoonful cloves.
1 teaspoonful nutmeg.
1 teaspoonful ginger.
1 teaspoonful mace.
3 spoonfuls sugar.
Celery-seed or celery.
6 eggs, beaten light.
1 spoonful mustard.
Mix all well together and moisten with cream, if too stiff. Whilst the
ham is hot, make holes to the bone and fill with this mixture. Put in
the stove to brown.
SPICED HAM.
Salt the hams for two days; put them in a keg and for each ham add:
½ cup molasses.
1 tablespoonful spice.
1 tablespoonful black pepper.
A pinch of saltpetre.
Let them stand four days, turning each day, then hang them up.--_Mrs.
D. R._
BROILED HAM.
To have this dish in a perfection, ham must first be soaked, then
boiled nearly done, and set aside to take slices from, as wanted. Cut
rather thin, lay on a gridiron over hot coals; when hot through, lay
on a dish, and pepper well. Pour over fresh butter melted, and serve.
If a raw ham is used, the slices must be cut thicker, dropped in a pan
of boiling water for a few minutes, then broiled as above.--_Mrs. S.
T._
FRIED HAM.
The slices are always taken from a raw ham, but are most delicate when
first simmered a short time: five minutes in a stewpan, dried with a
clean cloth and put in a hot frying-pan, first removing the skin. The
pan must be hot enough to scorch and brown both ham and gravy quickly.
Lay the slices on a hot dish, pour into the gravy half a teacup new
milk, pepper, and minced parsley; boil up and serve.--_Mrs. S. T._
SHOULDER OF BACON.
This piece is not used until cured or smoked, it is then boiled with
cabbage or salad, as you would the middling. It is inferior to the ham
or middling.--_Mrs. P. W._
BACON AND GREENS.
The middling is generally used for this purpose: cut a piece about a
foot square, boil three hours.
Take a good head of cabbage, cut, quarter, and wash clean; press the
water out as dry as you can. Boil them one or two hours with half a
pod of red pepper; put them on a dish and the middling on top. You can
fry the cabbage next day, and make a savory dish, but it does not suit
dyspeptics. The thin part of the middling is used for frying, and is
called "breakfast bacon."--_Mrs. P. W._
FRIED BACON.
Dip the ham or slices of middling in bread crumbs. Put in a frying-pan
with chopped parsley and pepper. Just before taking off the fire, pour
to the gravy a cup of cream.--_Mrs. W._
JOWL AND TURNIP SALAD.
This is an old Virginia dish, and much used in the spring of the year.
The jowl, which must have been well smoked, must be washed clean, and
boiled for three hours. Put in the salad, and boil half an hour; if
you boil too long, it will turn yellow. It is also good broiled for
breakfast with pepper and butter over it.
The jaw-bone should be removed before sending to the table; this is
easily done by running a knife around the lip and under the tongue.
The jowl and salad should always be served with fresh poached
eggs.--_Mrs. P. W._
PICKLED PORK EQUAL TO FRESH.
Let the meat cool thoroughly; cut into pieces four to six inches wide,
weigh them and pack them as tight as possible in a barrel, salting
very slightly. Cover the meat with brine made as strong as possible.
Pour off a gallon of brine and mix with it one tablespoonful saltpetre
for every 100 pounds meat and return it to the barrel. Let it stand
one month, then take out the meat, let it drain twelve hours. Put the
brine in an iron kettle, and one quart treacle or two pounds sugar,
and boil until perfectly clear. When it is cold, return the meat to
the barrel and pour on the brine. Weight it down and keep it covered
close, and you will have the sweetest meat you ever tasted.
HOW TO COOK SALT PORK.
Many people do not relish salt pork fried, but it is quite good to
soak it in milk two or three hours, then roll in Indian meal and fry
to a light brown. This makes a good dish with mashed turnips, or raw
onions cut in vinegar; another way is to soak it over night in skimmed
milk and bake like fresh pork; it is almost as good as fresh roast
pork.
HAM TOAST.
Mince about one pint boiled lean ham.
Add the yolks of three eggs well beaten, two tablespoonfuls cream, and
a little cayenne pepper.
Stir all on the fire until it thickens, and spread on hot toast with
the crust cut off.--_Mrs. J. T. B._
HAM TOAST.
Chop very fine two spoonfuls of lean ham that has been cooked; take
two spoonfuls veal gravy; a few bread crumbs.
Put all together in a stewpan and heat it. Have ready a toast
buttered, spread the above upon it, strew a few bread crumbs over it
and brown it before the fire.--_Mrs. S._
HAM RELISH.
Cut a slice of dressed ham, season it highly with cayenne pepper and
broil it brown; then spread mustard over it, squeeze on it a little
lemon juice, and serve quickly.
POTTED TONGUE OR HAM.
Remove all skin, gristle, and outside parts from one pound of the lean
of cold boiled tongue or ham.
Pound it in a mortar to a smooth paste with either one-quarter pound
of the fat, or with two ounces fresh butter. Season with cayenne,
pounded mace and allspice.
Press it well into pots and cover with clarified butter or fat.
TO ROAST SHOAT.
The hind-quarter is considered best. Cut off the foot, leaving the
hock quite short. Wash well and put into boiling water; simmer until
done, adding salt and pepper just before lifting from the kettle; salt
put in sooner hardens and toughens. Place the meat in a baking-pan and
score across, in the direction in which it is to be carved. Skim
several ladlefuls from the top of the kettle and pour over; after this
has dried off, sprinkle over a little salt and pepper, cover with an
egg beaten stiff, sift over powdered cracker, and set to brown. Lay
around sweet potatoes first parboiled, then cut in thick slices. Serve
with minced parsley and thyme, both on the meat and in the
gravy.--_Mrs. S. T._
TO ROAST A FORE QUARTER OF SHOAT.
Put it on in hot water, boil for half an hour; take it out, put in a
pan, gash it across with a sharp knife, in diamond shapes, grease it
with lard and dredge with flour, pepper and a little salt. Peel some
good Irish potatoes, lay them around the pan and set in the stove to
brown, basting frequently. This meat should be cooked done, as it is
not good the least rare. Grate some bread crumbs over it and
serve.--_Mrs. P. W._
TO BARBECUE SHOAT.
Lay the shoat in water till ready for use; if small, it will cook in
an hour. Put in the oven with two spoonfuls of water, a piece of lard,
and dredge with flour. When ready for use, pour in half a teacup of
walnut catsup, and, if not fat, a piece of butter.
SHOAT JOWL.
The upper half of the head is what is generally used for what is
called "The Pig's-head Stew." Another nice dish may be made of the
under jaw or jowl by parboiling until the jaw-bone can be taken out;
always adding pepper and salt just before it is done. When perfectly
tender, score across; pepper and salt again, cover with beaten egg,
then with cracker. Set in a pan with some of the water in which it was
boiled. Put in a hot oven and brown.--_Mrs. S. T._
ROAST PIG.
When roasted whole, a pig should not be under four nor over six weeks
old. In town, the butcher prepares for roasting, but it is well to
know, in the country, how this may be done. As soon as the pig is
killed, throw it into a tub of cold water, to make it tender; as soon
as cold, take it by the hind leg, and plunge into scalding, not
boiling water (as the last cooks the skin so that the hair can with
difficulty be removed), shake it about until the hair can be removed
by the handful. When all that is possible has been taken off in this
way, rub from the tail up to the end of the nose with a coarse cloth.
Take off the hoofs, scrape and wash the ears and nose until perfectly
clean. The nicest way to dress it is to hang it by the hind legs, open
and take out the entrails; wash well with water, with a little soda
dissolved in it; rinse again and again, and leave hanging an hour.
Wrap in a coarse cloth wrung out of cold water and lay on ice or in a
cool cellar until next morning, when, if the weather is warm, it must
be cooked. It should never be used the same day that it is killed.
First prepare the stuffing of the liver, heart and haslets of the pig,
stewed, seasoned, and chopped. Mix with these an equal quantity of
boiled potatoes mashed; add a large spoonful of butter, with some
hard-boiled eggs, parsley and thyme, chopped fine, pepper and salt.
Scald the pig on the inside, dry it and rub with pepper and salt,
fill and sew up. Bend the fore legs under the body, the hind legs
forward, under the pig, and skewer to keep in position. Place in a
large baking-pan, pour over one quart of boiling water. Have a lump of
fresh butter tied up in a clean rag; rub it all over the pig, then
sprinkle over pepper and salt, putting some in the pan with a bunch of
herbs; invert over it a baking-pan while it simmers, and steam until
entirely done. Underdone pork, shoat, or pig, is both unpalatable and
unwholesome. Remove the pan, rub over with the butter and baste often.
When of a fine brown, cover the edges of a large dish with a deep
fringe of curled parsley; first sift over the pig powdered cracker,
then place it, kneeling, in the green bed. Place in its mouth an
orange or a red apple; and, if eaten hot, serve with the gravy in a
tureen or sauce-boat. It is much nicer cold; served with little mounds
of grated horseradish amongst the parsley.--_Mrs. S. T._
TO STEW PIG'S HEAD AND JOWL.
Clean the head and feet; take out the bone above the nose; cut off the
ears, clean them nicely. Separate the jowl from the head; take care of
the brains to add to the stew. Put the head, jowl, feet and part of
the liver in water sufficient to keep well covered; boil until quite
done. Split the feet to put on the dish; hash the head and liver; but
do not spoil the jowl, which must be put in the middle of the dish and
surrounded with the feet and hash. Put all of the hash, jowl and feet
in the pot and season with a cup of cream, a lump of butter, pepper
and salt, a tablespoonful walnut catsup, an onion chopped fine, a
stalk of celery.
A teaspoonful mustard improves it.
Stew half an hour; thicken the gravy with grated bread.--_Mrs. P. W._
SHOAT'S HEAD.
Get a shoat's head and clean it nicely. Boil and chop in pieces.
Season with:
2 tablespoonfuls tomato catsup.
2 tablespoonfuls walnut catsup.
2 cups water.
A little flour.
1 large spoonful butter.
Pepper and salt.
Have two or three hard-boiled eggs, cut them in half and lay on the
top of the head; set it in the oven to bake.
Veal or mutton head, can be cooked in the same way, but are not so
nice.--_Mrs. R._
SHOAT'S HEAD, TO STEW.
Clean the head and feet; and put them on to parboil with the liver.
Then split up the head, through the nose, taking out the bones. Cut
the meat from the feet and chop up with the liver, season this with
pepper and salt.
Lay the head open and fill it with this mince and the yolks of some
hard-boiled eggs: if this does not fill the head, add some grated
bread crumbs or crackers and butter.
Sew up the head and bind it with thread; put it in the pot with the
water it has been parboiled in and let it stew slowly. Take up the
head, and add to the gravy a lump of butter, rolled in flour, some
browning and some walnut catsup. Pour this over the head, which should
be brown. If the shoat is not very small, use bread and butter instead
of the liver.--_Mrs. R._
TO HASH PIG'S HEAD.
Take head, feet, and haslet of pig; boil them until done, then cut
them up fine, taking out the bones.
Add black pepper, salt, a little sage.
2 onions chopped fine.
A little red pepper.
1 teaspoonful mace.
1 teaspoonful cloves.
Put it back in the same vessel with liquor and cook till done, then
thicken with a little flour. Add two hard-boiled eggs and one cup
walnut catsup.--_Mrs. Dr. J._
BEEF AND VEAL.
In selecting beef, see that the flesh is firm and of a clear red, and
the fat of a yellowish white. In buying a quarter of beef, it is
better to have it cut up by the butcher, if you are living in town.
The hind quarter is considered better, and sells higher than the fore
quarter. If a roasting piece is desired, the sirloin from the hind
quarter is usually preferred. It is not generally known, however, that
the second cut of the rib-roast from the fore quarter is the finest
roast from the beef.
When the bone has been removed, and the meat skewered in the shape of
a round, by the butcher, it is well to roast it on a spit before an
open fire. If the latter cannot be obtained, however, plunge the beef
for a moment in boiling water, then rub well with salt and pepper,
dredge with flour, and place on a little grate or trivet which will
readily go in a baking-pan. In this pour about a pint of the water in
which the beef was scalded. Place it in a very hot oven, with an
inverted tin plate on top of the roast. Remove this plate often to
baste the meat. When nearly done, which will be in about two hours for
a roast of six pounds, baste several times and bake a nice brown.
Season the gravy with minced onion, parsley and thyme, add a little
salt and pepper and a tablespoonful of the meat flavoring of which a
receipt was given in the general directions about meat. Serve the
gravy in a sauce-tureen, so that each person may choose whether to eat
the beef with gravy or with the juice that escapes from the meat while
it is being carved. The latter mixed with grated horseradish is
preferred to gravy by some persons.
Every portion of the beef, from head to feet, is useful and delicious
when properly prepared.
The rounds and rump pieces are generally used for beef _à la mode_.
Fresh beef from the ribs, boiled with turnips, is considered a nice
dish by some persons.
For steak, nothing is so nice as tenderloin or porter-house steak. I
take this occasion to protest against the unwholesome custom of frying
steak in lard. When inconvenient to broil, it may be deliciously
cooked by being first beaten till tender, then laid in a hot
frying-pan, closely covered, and cooked without lard or butter, in its
own juices. When scorched brown on both sides, but not hard, remove
the pan from the fire, pepper and salt the steak, and put a large
tablespoonful of fresh butter on it. Press this in with a knife and
fork, turning the steak, so that each side may absorb the butter.
Serve on a hot dish. The whole process will not consume five minutes.
Some persons think it best to add the salt after the steak is done,
though many good housekeepers salt and pepper the steak before
broiling it. Beefsteak should be cooked rare; it is a great mistake to
cook it till hard and indigestible.
The parts most suitable for soup are the head, neck, shank, and all
the unsightly parts. After the bones are broken and the meat boiled
from them, the liquor is used for soup, while the meat, picked or cut
to pieces, will make an excellent stew seasoned with potatoes,
turnips, sweet herbs, one tablespoonful of butter and the same of meat
flavoring.
It is well always to keep brine on hand for corning beef. All the
parts not desirable for roast or steak had better be corned.
The beef, after being dressed, should be hung up by the hind legs,
with a smooth, round piece of timber sufficiently strong to hold the
weight, passed through the legs at the hock, or run between the tendon
and bone, with short pegs to keep the legs stretched apart. Then with
a sharp axe, standing behind the suspended beef, split it down the
backbone, severing it in half. Then pass a knife through the ribs,
leaving two or three short ribs on the hind-quarter. Sever the
backbone with an axe. Then cut with a sharp knife straight across the
parallel line with the spinal bone, which piece must be divided into
two pieces, the sirloin and steak. Then take off two rounds, or three,
according to the size of the animal, cutting with a sharp knife, and
cutting the bone with a meat saw or axe, as near the joints as
possible, which leaves the shin-bone.
The fore quarter then is divided into four pieces, after taking off
the shoulder, which may be divided into three or more pieces.
The loin of veal is the nicest part, and is always roasted.
The fillets and knuckles may be stewed and roasted.
The latter is nicest for soup.
The breast may be stewed or roasted.
The cutlets are nicest from the legs or fillet.
The head is a dish for soup, stew or pie.
Sweetbreads from the throat make a delicious dish, much prized by
epicureans.
The feet, boiled till the bones drop out, make a delightful dish,
fried in batter, while the water in which they are boiled makes
excellent jelly.
Veal, to be eaten in its perfection, should be killed when from four
to six weeks old.
BEEF.
The sirloin, or fore and middle ribs, are best for roasting.
The steaks are best cut from the ribs, or the inner part of the
sirloin; shank, tail and head make nice soup.--_Mrs. W._
TO ROAST BEEF.
Lay the meat on some sticks in a dripping-pan or other vessel, so that
it will not touch the water which it is necessary to have in the
bottom. Season with salt and pepper, and put in the oven three or
four hours before it is wanted for the table. Baste it often with the
water in the bottom of the pan, renewing it as often as it gets low.
This makes sweet, juicy roast beef. The great secret of it is, not to
have the meat touch the water in the bottom of the pan, and to baste
it often. Tough, unpromising pieces of beef are best cooked by
steaming them an hour and a half or so and then putting them in the
oven and roasting as much longer.
Crackers, first browned and then pounded, should always be kept to
sift over roast meats: and curled parsley to garnish with. Grated
horseradish is also excellent with the roast.--_Mrs. S. T._
RIB ROAST OF BEEF.
Get, from the butcher, a rib-roast--the second cut is best--and get
him to take out the bones, and roll and skewer it: if this is not
convenient, it can be done at home with a sharp knife. Before
roasting, take out the wooden skewers put in at market, unroll, season
well with salt and pepper and anything else liked, and roll again
tightly, fastening securely with the iron skewer pins. Put it in a pan
on a little iron griddle or trivet, made for the purpose to keep it
just over the pint of water in the pan. Pepper and salt freely, dredge
with flour and baste. Some persons like half a teacup of pepper
vinegar, poured over just before it is done; and minced onion, thyme
and parsley added to the gravy, which should be brown.--_Mrs. B._
TO ROAST BEEF.
The sirloin is the nicest for the purpose.
Plunge the beef in boiling water and boil for thirty minutes: then put
it in the stove-pan; skim the top of the water in which it has been
boiled, and baste the roast, after dredging it with flour; pepper and
salt to taste. Baste frequently, and roast till done.--_Mrs. P. W._
BEEF À LA MODE.
Take, from a round of fresh beef, the bone; beat the meat all over
slightly to make tender. Grate a loaf of bread, mix with it equal
quantities of--
Thyme and parsley, rubbed fine.
1 onion.
The marrow from the bone.
¼ pound suet.
Pepper and salt, cloves and nutmeg to the taste.
Mix these ingredients with three eggs well beaten: fill the place from
whence came the bone, and what is left rub all over the round: fasten
well with a tape, tied round to keep in shape. Cover the pan with
slices of bacon, lay the beef upon them, baste with butter: pour in
the pan a pint of water. Cover closely and stew gently for six hours;
when thoroughly done, take out the beef, skim the fat from the gravy,
strain into a saucepan, set it on the stove and stir into it one
teacup Port wine. Let it come to a boil and send to the table in a
sauce tureen. You may, for supper, dish cold: dress with vegetable
flowers, whites of eggs boiled hard and chopped fine.--_Mrs. J. W. S._
_Beef à la Mode._
Take a round or a rump piece of beef, take out the bone, the gristle
and all the tough pieces about the edges. Fill the cavities from which
the bone was taken, with suet, and fat salt pork.
Press this so as to make it perfectly round, pass around a coarse,
strong piece of cloth, so as to hold it firmly in shape. If the round
is six inches thick, the cloth must be six inches wide, leaving the
top and bottom open. With a larding needle, fill this thickly with
strips of fat pork, running through from top to bottom and about one
inch apart each way. Set this in a baking-pan, pour over:
1 teacup boiling water,
1 teacup boiling vinegar; mixed.
Add to this one heaping tablespoonful brown sugar and a bunch of
herbs.
Sprinkle over the beef liberally with salt and black pepper; chop one
small onion fine, and lay over top of the beef. Simmer this for two or
three hours, basting frequently and keeping an inverted tin plate over
the beef except when basting. If the gravy stews down too much, add
stock or broth of any kind. Turn it over, and let the top be at the
bottom. When it is done and tender, skim the fat from the gravy. Pour
over:
2 tablespoonfuls celery vinegar.
2 tablespoonfuls pepper.
2 tablespoonfuls made mustard.
1 wineglassful acid fruit jelly.
Simmer and bake for two hours longer, frequently basting, that it may
be soft and seasoned through and through. Take the beef from the pan
and remove the cloth; place in a large flat dish, pour over the gravy,
and over this one teacup of mushroom sauce. Sift finely powdered
cracker over the top and garnish with grated or scraped horseradish
and parsley.--_Mrs. S. T._
_Beef à la Mode._
To 10 pounds of beef, 4 onions chopped up.
1 tablespoonful allspice, 1 teaspoonful mace.
Red pepper and salt to the taste.
1 pint strong vinegar.
Rub the beef in the mixture for three or four days, then cook, with
all these ingredients. The H piece is generally the part taken for
this purpose.--_Mrs. M. B._
BOILED BEEF AND TURNIPS.
The brisket or breast of beef is nicest for boiling. Keep sufficiently
covered in water, boiling three hours, or until tender.
Peel and slice half a dozen turnips and put with beef, boiling until
soft enough to mash with a spoon, which will require about thirty
minutes. Dress with one teacup of milk, pepper and salt to the taste.
Stew together a short time and put in bottom of dish with beef on the
top.--_Mrs. P. W._
TO COLLAR BEEF.
Take a flank of fresh beef, stew it with pepper, salt, allspice,
saltpetre, thyme, and sage.
Then roll as hard as you can, and wind a string around it; then boil
till done. It must be served up cold, cut in slices.--_Mrs. M. P._
ROLLED BEEFSTEAK.
Beat a large tender steak thoroughly and carefully.
Sprinkle over salt, pepper, sage, minced onion, minced parsley, and
bits of butter.
Have ready some mealy Irish potatoes mashed fine, and seasoned with a
little butter and salt. Spread over all, and roll up tightly: fasten
the ends and sides securely with skewer pins. Place in a pan with such
broth or gravy as may be on hand; if none, two teacups of boiling
water, and one small minced onion, pepper, salt, and one slice of
pork.
Simmer and baste as you would a roast duck. Sift over it browned
cracker, pounded fine. Very nice.--_Mrs. S. T._
BEEFSTEAK BROILED.
Cut the steak one-half inch thick; it should then be beaten with a
steak beater or pestle. The griddle should be hot and on the coals:
place the steak on the griddle, and as soon as seared, turn it; when
both sides are seared, place it in a pan, season it with pepper, salt,
and butter: repeat this for every piece of steak, and place in the
pan, which should be kept closely covered without being on the fire.
If your heat is sufficient, from three to five minutes is sufficient
to cook.--_Mrs. P. W._
BROILED STEAK.
A porter-house steak is considered, by some persons, best, others
prefer the tenderloin. Beat either tender, and place on a gridiron
over coals, frequently turning. Have ready a hot dish, place the steak
on it, pepper and salt well, then with a knife and fork profusely
butter, with one large tablespoonful fresh butter, turning and
pressing it so as to absorb the butter; pepper again and set the dish
over boiling water until wanted, when it will be found tender and
juicy, if not cooked too long on a gridiron. One tablespoonful pepper
vinegar gives this the taste of venison, and to this may be added one
tablespoonful made mustard, for those who like highly seasoned
food.--_Mrs. S. T._
HOW TO COOK BEEFSTEAK.