CHAPTER XXXIII.

Observations relating to, and Directions for Cooking for the Poor 382

{1}THE ENGLISH HOUSEKEEPER.

----

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

IT would be impossible to give rules for the management of a domestic

establishment, because they would necessarily be subject to many and

various exceptions, produced by various circumstances. But a few general

observations, accompanied by remarks on the most important matters in

domestic life, may not be unacceptable to young housekeepers.

In the young and thoughtless, a spirit of emulation, leading them to vie

with those who are richer than themselves, is often the source of domestic

unhappiness, by causing so much to be sacrificed to appearance, as to

circumscribe the means of enjoying the substantial comforts of life. It

sometimes manifests itself in houses, equipages, and retinues of servants;

but amongst persons of moderate income, for whose use this work is

principally intended, it is commonly displayed in costly furniture and

expensive entertainments. Many young married women conceive the notion,

that unless they have as fine a house, as expensive furniture, plate,

china, and glass, as some others have, and give as fine entertainments as

others give; in short, unless they make the appearance of living quite as

well as their richer neighbours, they will not be held in equal estimation.

It is not that they derive any real pleasure from the false appearance

which they make; indeed, expensive furniture is but an annoyance to its

possessor, if there be not a sufficient number of good servants to keep it

in order. Where the whole family concur in this sort of pride, no

{2}mortification arises from difference of opinion, but the unanimity tends

only to accelerate the ruin.

The young housekeeper should consider the serious consequences that are

likely to result from setting out in a style of lavish expenditure, and she

should remember that, while it is easy to extend, it is extremely difficult

to reduce, her establishment. One expensive article requires another to

correspond with it, and one expensive entertainment imposes the necessity

of other equally expensive entertainments; for it requires no small share

of moral courage to risk the loss of consequence which may result by its

being surmised that we are not so well off, as we have been supposed to be.

And when the time comes, as sooner or later it assuredly must, when the

means are not adequate to the demands, what sacrifices are made, and what

unseemly contrivances are resorted to, in order to keep up, to the last, a

poor remnant of "_appearance!_" and, when this can no longer be effected,

then comes the humiliation, with all the bitter feelings attendant upon

_retrenchment_; of all which feelings, the bitterest is, the dread of being

degraded in the world's estimation. To endure privations with resignation,

to feel the want of habitual comforts, yet be grateful for the blessings

which are left to us, is the duty of every Christian, and is the less

arduous when the reverse of fortune which has befallen us, has not been

produced by any fault of our own. But if, in addition to the distresses of

adversity, the wife and the mother be doomed to writhe under the pang of

self-reproach, great indeed must be her suffering, and one for which I can

suggest no adequate relief. To the young and generous-minded, the hardest

portion which accompanies reverses of fortune, is, the change which they

sometimes produce in the behaviour of acquaintances. When we are become

poorer than we were, and have lost the ability to entertain guests in the

accustomed manner, it is painful to perceive some of those very people who

have been the most hospitably entertained, and who, in our prosperity, have

appeared the most attached to us, turn from us and our difficulties, while

they banish from their minds the recollection of past kindness. To meet

with indifference in those whose smiles have courted ours; to feel that we

have thrown away sincere friendship upon mere heartlessness, is hard to be

endured, even by the faultless, but how {3}intolerable must it be, when

aggravated by the consciousness that we have incurred it by our own

misconduct. To the experienced, this is one of the severest vicissitudes of

life; what, then, must it be to us, before we have acquired that equanimity

of mind, which falls only to the lot of those who have passed through the

ordeal of the world, and who have been amply compensated for the desertion

of the many, by the sincerity, the warmth of heart, and the steadfastness

of the few.

Houses and furniture properly belong to the extraordinary expenses of the

household. When a young woman is called upon to exercise her judgment in

the choice of a house, she must pause before she rejects one which, though

she may consider it rather too small, might, nevertheless, be made to

accommodate the family _well enough_, and might be fitted up at a less cost

than a larger one. Such a house would require fewer servants, and would

certainly present a better appearance, than one that is rather too large

for the quantity, or for the style of its furniture, and is, perhaps,

larger than is actually required for the number of its inhabitants. It is

easier to remove from a small to a large house, when circumstances require

it, than it is to remove from a large to a small one. It is so easy to

increase our wants, and so difficult to reduce them, that young persons

should begin the world with caution, and not multiply their wants, lest, in

time, they lack the means of gratifying them.

In fitting up a house, the young housekeeper, who sets out with a

determination to choose furniture suitable to her circumstances and station

in life, will be content with that which is just _good enough_, rather than

be induced to exceed her previous good intentions, and gratify her fancy at

the expense of her comforts. She must never yield to the seductive

reflection, that "_only_ five pounds more cannot make much difference;"

for, the same argument may be equally applied to the sofa, the tables, the

carpet, the curtains, the grate, the fire-irons and fender; all of which

are necessary to furnish a dining room; to say nothing of the lamps, the

mirrors, and other articles of ornament, which fashion in some cases makes

of absolute necessity. If "_only five pounds_" be given for some of these,

and two, or even one pound, for others, more than is necessary, she {4}will

find that the "difference" is very great by the time that she has fitted up

only one room.

The rage for vying with our superiors shows itself in the bad taste which

encumbers houses with unsuitable furniture. Massive sideboards, and

unwieldy chairs, occupy too much space in a small room, while draperies not

only obscure the light, but have an inelegant appearance, unless the room

be large and lofty, or in keeping with the size and weight of cornices,

cords, tassels, and other ornaments, which give offence to the eye when too

gorgeous or prominent. Of equal bad taste, is the habit of occasionally

changing furniture, to suit the varying of fashions; which is so much the

practice that even persons in trade, having families to provide for, change

furniture, sufficiently good to serve its purpose for a lifetime, for other

no handsomer, but a little more fashionable.

It is strange that persons pretending to gentility should not rather

imitate the higher class of their superiors, who value their high-backed

chairs the more because they are old, and would on no account exchange them

for modern finery. When expensive furniture is introduced into the houses

of persons of small fortune, the long upholsterer's bill rises like a

phantom before the misplaced couches, ottomans, and ottoman sofas, crowded

into small drawing rooms; and my feelings of regret become almost feelings

of indignation on seeing plate, which belonged to fathers and mothers, or

to grandfathers and grandmothers, and spoons which have touched those lips

which spoke tenderness to our infancy, about to be bartered for the

"Prince's," the "King's," or the "fiddle pattern," or for some other

pattern that may happen to offer the newest temptation to vulgar taste.

Every young woman who has the good taste to wish that her house may be

characterised by its simplicity, and be more remarkable for comfort than

for show, will, if she wish to spare herself and her family much

discomfort, avoid having show-rooms; such rooms, I mean, as are considered

too fine to be habitually occupied by the family, and are, therefore, kept

shut up; except when, on particular occasions, and perhaps only a few times

in the year, a fire is lighted for the reception of company. Upon such

occasions, children are seen to look about them as if they {5}had never

beheld the place before; the master of the house fidgets from one seat to

another, as if he were anywhere but at home; and it is probable, that

before the entertainment is over, the mistress of the house is heard to

remark, that she is "never so comfortable as in the room she is accustomed

to;" by which her friends discover that their visit has put her out of the

way. True hospitality conceals from guests any trouble which their presence

may unavoidably occasion; but in the luxurious taste of the times, there is

little real hospitality left: friendly intercourse seems lost in

ostentatious display, and in our vain attempts to equal, if not to

outshine, each other. Most persons acknowledge this to be the case, and

lament that it is so; yet few have the courage to pursue a different

system.

There is no species of decoration which produces so much effect in

ornamenting a house as flowers. The artificial productions of the painter

and the upholsterer, the gilded ceilings, glittering mirrors, and couches

of brocade, are more splendid and durable, and are worthy of admiration for

their individual beauty and the ingenuity and industry which has produced

them, but they have not the lively, gay, and varied attractions of flowers.

Vases, whether gaudy or elegant, excite interest only as mere objects of

curiosity, unless filled with flowers.

To point to any particular department of the household, as demanding the

greatest share of attention, would tend rather to mislead than instruct;

for a due proportion ought to be bestowed upon every department; where the

mistress of the house is over particular on any one point, other matters,

of equal importance, may be neglected.

Perfect and uniform neatness is indispensable, not only for comfort, but

appearance. By uniform neatness, I mean, that nothing which presents

itself, whether about the house, in the dress of mistress, children, or

servants, should be left open to unfavourable remark. A young lady who

relaxes in attention to her own dress, merely because she has more

important cares after, than she had before her marriage, does wrong; but

she whose studied attire forms a contrast to the little soiled fingers

which are forbidden to approach it; she who strikes the beholder as having

bestowed care on herself, while her children bear the appearance of

neglect, does infinitely worse. To preserve the {6}neatness of a house,

there must be regular attention on the part of the mistress. I am a great

enemy to the system of periodical scrubbings and general house-cleanings,

which prevails to so great an extent, and especially in the country, where,

when the appointed day comes round, carpets are taken up, and floors, even

though they be delicately clean, are washed, whether the weather be

suitable or otherwise, the health of the family being left to take its

chance. The day of _general house-cleaning_ is no other than a day of

commotion and discomfort. One attendant evil is, the make-up dinner, which

does not, perhaps, content all the family; and it is a singular piece of

good fortune if friends do not select that very day for paying you a visit.

It is certainly a more simple process to clean a house, than it is to keep

a house clean; for mere labour is required for the one, while method is

necessary for the other. But this method every young housekeeper should

endeavour to acquire. Sweeping, dusting, and polishing, should proceed

daily. Carpets should be swept every day with a hair broom; but only once a

week with a carpet broom, because it wears them: and damp tea leaves should

always be used, whether in sweeping carpets or boards, as they lay the

dust, which would otherwise fly over the furniture, and again settle on the

floor. Bed room carpets should be in different pieces, not nailed to the

floor, for the convenience of shaking, which may then be done once in a

week. Bed rooms should be swept every day, and a damp mop passed under the

beds, chests of drawers, &c., &c., which will remove all the flue and dust,

and prevent accumulation of dirt, so that the washing of boards will not be

so often required during the winter. In summer, indeed, frequent washings

refreshen the atmosphere, and are also beneficial in removing the

collections of light dust which engender insects so difficult to get rid

of.

Upon the subject of wet boards, I believe that my dislike to great

scrubbings was acquired in that cleanest of cities, Philadelphia; where,

though American servants do not and will not work so hard as English

servants, yet, because it was the custom of the place, they were,

notwithstanding severe cold, everlastingly scrubbing the stairs during the

months of December and January. Some years afterwards, at Rome, one of the

dirtiest of cities, and in the middle of {7}summer, I recalled to mind,

with a complacency I had never bestowed on them before, the

scrubbing-brushes and the curd-white pails of Philadelphia, and marvelled,

as every one must, that in wet and cold countries people wash their houses

so much, and that, in hot and dry countries, they do not wash them at all.

With regard to the ordinary expenses of housekeeping, the most important

branch of domestic duty which devolves upon the mistress is, to estimate

and keep an exact account of the expenditure of her family. She may make

this a simple affair by first ascertaining the sum of money to be allotted

to it, and then making such arrangements as will confine the expenses

rigidly _within_ that sum. By keeping a strict account of every article for

the first three months, and making a due allowance for casualties, she will

be able to form an estimate for the year; and if she find she has exceeded

in these three months the allotted sum, she must examine each article, and

decide where she can best diminish the expense; and then, having this

average to go by, she may calculate how much to allow each month for meat,

bread, groceries, washing, and sundries. Having formed her plan, whatever

excess circumstances may have required in one month, she must make up for

in the next. I should not advise paying for everything at the moment, but

rather once a week; for if a tradesman omit to keep an account of the money

received for a particular article, he may, by mistake, make a charge for

it, as something had upon trust. A weekly account has every advantage of

ready money, and is a more convenient mode of payment. All tradesmen may be

paid on a Monday morning, the bills receipted, endorsed, and put by in a

portfolio or case (which should have the date of the year on the outside),

and they can then be referred to as vouchers, or to refresh the memory as

to the price of any particular article. It is a satisfaction, independently

of the pecuniary benefit, for the head of a family to be able, at the end

of the year, to account to herself for what she has done with her money.

Having, in the arrangement of her house, and in the choice of her servants,

kept in view the two main objects, namely, the comfort of her family, and

the care of her purse, the young housekeeper ought to commence her career,

by strictly adhering to order and regularity in the {8}performance of those

duties which devolve peculiarly upon herself. If the mistress of a house be

regular in the superintendence of her domestic affairs, if she proceed

every day to each department at the appointed time, and never pass over any

neglect, in such a manner as to give the servants an idea that it had

escaped her observation; if, in short, she be regular herself, her servants

must be so too, and she will find the business of housekeeping a matter of

no difficulty, and of comparatively little labour.

The comfort and respectability of a house depend, in a great degree, upon

the servants. Clean, neatly-dressed, and well-behaved servants, always

impress a visitor with a favourable idea of the mistress of a house; while

it is scarcely possible not to be somewhat prejudiced against her, if they

be the reverse.

Servants who understand their work, and do it without being continually

looked after, are invaluable; and, as regards wages, not to be compared

with ignorant and incapable ones, who perform their services only as they

are directed at every turn. A few pounds a year more to a good servant is

not, therefore, a consideration; the addition in wages will occasion little

additional cost; for, the bad servant consumes as much as the other, and

she wastes or damages more.

The hours of meals should vary as little as possible; particularly the

first meal of the day; for the work may be said to commence immediately

after breakfast, and when that takes place one hour only, after the usual

time, the whole business of the house is retarded. In even the most regular

families, the time of dining may unavoidably be postponed. But this should

happen as seldom as possible: for if the dinner ordered for five, be kept

waiting till half-past six, one day, and, perhaps, later still another day,

the cook may be prevented from performing some other part of her work, for

which she had allotted the time; she will naturally be dissatisfied in

having to consume that time in watching over the dinner; and if the dinner

upon which she has, perhaps, exerted her utmost skill, be spoiled by

waiting, she may be excused if she reproach herself for having taken so

much trouble in its preparation. If the trial of her patience and temper be

repeated, she will soon take little interest in pleasing her employers; she

will {9}take _her_ turn to be irregular, and that, perhaps, on some

occasion when it may produce inconvenience to the family. Under such

circumstances, it would be unreasonable to find fault with the cook, who

would only be following the bad example of those whose duty it is to

preserve regularity. Their hours for going to bed, and getting up, should

be as early as other arrangements will permit. But, those ought to be so

regulated as to make it unnecessary that the servants should be kept up

late, except on extraordinary occasions. Late dinners have, in a great

measure, done away with hot suppers. Where these are not eaten, the labours

of the twenty-four hours may be ended by ten o'clock at night; and that is

the latest hour at which the servants of a family of the middle rank, and

of regular habits, ought to remain up. Some one of the family should see

that fires have been put out, and doors and windows secured.

The honesty of servants depends, principally, upon their bringing up. But

it also depends much, with young servants especially, upon the temptations

to be dishonest they may have had to contend with; and it is the duty of

every master and mistress to put all such temptations out of their way, as

much as possible. The practice of locking up does not, as a matter of

course, imply _distrust_, but it denotes _care_; and surely carefulness is

one of the first principles to impress upon the mind of a poor person. I

would as scrupulously avoid anything which should lead a servant to imagine

that a drawer or tea-chest was locked up from _her_, as I would avoid

giving the same idea to an acquaintance; but it is a culpable practice to

leave tea, sugar, wine, or other things, open at all times, or only now and

then locked up. The _habit_ is bad; and it is the result, not of

generosity, but of negligence; it is also a habit which cannot fail to

excite, in the minds of experienced and well-disposed servants, feelings

rather of contempt, than of respect for their employers; while to the

young, and more particularly to those of unsettled principles, it is

nothing less than a temptation to crime. Little pilferings at the

tea-chest, perhaps, have been the beginning of that which has ended in

depriving a poor girl of her character, and, consequently, of all chance of

gaining her bread by honest means. To suspect servants of being disposed to

be dishonest merely because they are servants, is as silly as it is

unfeeling. I should {10}never hesitate to give my keys to a servant, when

it happened to be inconvenient to me to leave company, any more than I

should hesitate to entrust them to one of my own family; but such an act of

confidence is far different in its effects, from that neglect which often

proceeds from mere idleness, and, while it proclaims a disregard of the

value of property, is the occasion of much waste, and, in the end, proves

as ruinous to the employer as it is fatal in the way of example to

servants.

That "_servants are plagues_" may be the fact; but when the hardships which

belong to the life of a maid-servant are taken into consideration, the

wonder is, that they are not less obedient to the will of their employers,

and more callous to their displeasure, than we really find them. It is too

much the habit to regard servants as inferior beings, hired and paid to

perform certain services, but whose feelings are unworthy of the

consideration of those upon whom they wait, for whom they cook, and whom

they enable to sit at their ease, or to go about, and take their pleasure.

True, they are paid for what they do; but how paid? Not in a degree

adequate to their services. The double or the treble of what they are paid,

would not compensate us for the discomfort of having to work for ourselves.

Yet, "they are _paid_ for it," is said in justification of unreasonable

demands upon the time, strength, and patience of servants; when, in fact,

the whole of the pay to a female servant consists of that food, without

which she would be unable to work, and of a sum of money, barely sufficient

to keep her clothed, which she is required to be, for the credit of the

house she lives in. Ladies who shudder as they meet the cold air, in

descending to their breakfast rooms, forget the sufferings of the female

servant, who has, perhaps, gone to bed over-night exhausted by fatigue, but

whose duty compels her to rise again, some hours before she is rested, to

begin her work afresh, and to do over again all that had been done the day

before. A lady who thinks her servant _sufficiently paid_ for all she

endures, has never known what it is to get up in the dark of a cold winter

morning, and to spend half-an-hour on her knees, labouring to produce a

polish on the bars of a grate, which bars were burnt black yesterday, and

will be burnt black again to-day. Such a lady has never suffered from the

drudgery of a kitchen, not {11}from the scorching of a kitchen fire, either

of which is sufficient to impair the constitution of any woman,

independently of all that wearing of the spirits, which those exposed to

such trials must experience.

It is true, also, that it is by their own choice that servants go to

service; they are not compelled to do so by any other law than that of

necessity; but starvation is their only alternative; and we should think it

hard to be reduced to the alternative of either starving to death, in the

bloom of our youth, and of quitting a world which was made for us, as well

as for our more fortunate fellow beings, or of yielding up the whole of our

lives, to promote the ease of those who deem us amply rewarded, in being

fed and clothed, and suffered to repose from toil, at those times only when

their wants happen not to require our attention.

The apprehension of lowering our dignity and encouraging disrespect, by

giving way to familiarity with inferiors, is pleaded by some as an excuse

for haughty and overbearing demeanour towards servants. But such as adopt

that kind of demeanour are mistaken. There are few better judges of good

breeding than servants. Their ideas upon this subject are not formed by

rules, or by fashions; but they have generally, from observation, a

remarkably correct knowledge both of what is due to themselves, and of what

is most becoming to the dignity of their superiors. I have occasionally

been astonished at the quickness with which a servant has made the

discovery, that some upstart person, notwithstanding her lofty bearing,

"was no lady." The behaviour which characterises such persons is more

likely to give rise to contempt, in those who are beneath them, than any

behaviour that is unaffectedly conciliating and kind. To be loved, and to

be cheerfully served, is for those only who respect the feelings, and

consult the comfort of their dependents; and, as a single trait is often

sufficient to reveal the whole character, they will most assuredly be

disappointed, who expect to meet with the qualities which conduce to the

happiness of domestic life, in a woman who considers the feelings of a

female servant as unworthy of the same consideration as that which she

gives to the feelings of others of her own sex.

With regard to the general character and merits of servants, nothing is

more common than the remark, that {12}"servants are not so good as they

used to be." This is surely an error. There cannot be a greater

predisposition to misconduct in them now than formerly. It may be said,

that there are more frequent instances of bad conduct; but this does not

warrant the idea, that the servants of the present day have a degree of

inborn viciousness from which those of times past were free. If all who

rail at the negligences, the waste, the want of care, the dislike of work,

and the liking for dress and for gadding, to which servants are as much

addicted as their betters; if all such were themselves as free from fault

as they would have their servants be, it would probably be found that the

effect, what with precept and example combined, would be quite enough to

banish this commonplace remark. The truth is, that the change which has

taken place in the habits of the middle class, has produced a change, but a

very natural change, in the habits of those of a more humble station. There

exists now a greater degree of high living than formerly; and consequently,

a want of frugality, a waste in all sorts of ways, formerly unknown.

Persons of moderate income keep more company than persons of the same class

used to keep; they imitate the late hours, and other fashionable habits

which used to be reckoned among the privileges of their superiors in

fortune, instead of wisely avoiding emulation in such things, and keeping

to their own more simple, and less hazardous mode of life. What wonder,

then, if we find the most humble copying those of the middling, when the

middling are doing all they can to rival those of the highest rank.

Servants were formerly more the object of care with their employers than

they have been of late. When ladies gave a considerable portion of their

time to domestic duties, and prided themselves on their skill in household

matters, they were not above maintaining a certain degree of friendly

intercourse with their servants. This afforded opportunities for giving

good counsel, and for superintending their conduct, and was a more

efficient check upon them than "a good scolding now and then," which many

think better than "being always on the watch."

In addressing myself to young persons, it may not be considered impertinent

or foreign to the general purpose of this work, to offer a few remarks upon

the subject of {13}company. I do not mean in respect to the selection of

friends and acquaintance, or the _kind_ of visitors proper to be invited,

but simply as to the mode of entertaining them, which must, necessarily, be

a matter of importance in housekeeping, and, therefore, comes properly

within the scope of domestic economy.

It should be a rule, not to invite such visitors as cannot be entertained

without trespassing on the comforts and conveniences of the family. True

hospitality may be enjoyed without much ceremony, and may be practised in

the plainest manner; but when efforts to entertain _company_ disturb the

usual arrangements of a house, they are inconsistent with their object. Let

nothing, therefore, be attempted which cannot be performed without

difficulty; let nothing be provided which cannot be provided plentifully;

let nothing which is necessary be wanting, and nothing produced which may

seem to be out of place or uncalled for. Do nothing, in short, which you

cannot really afford to do; and the result will be, that while you consult

your own ease, you will, at the same time, ensure that freedom from

restraint which contributes, more than all besides, to make visiting

agreeable, and which never fails to create in your departing guest, those

mixed feelings of regret at going, but of pleasure at the prospect of

returning, which are amongst the most flattering acknowledgments that

genuine hospitality can receive.

{14}CHAPTER II.

THE STORE ROOM.

EVERY housekeeper knows the value of a good Store-room; for it seems to be

little less essential than a good kitchen. Few modern town residences,

except those for large establishments, have a store-room sufficiently large

to answer all its purposes.

In the country a good store-room is so indispensable that where there is

none it ought to be built; it should be on the same floor with, and as near

as possible to, the kitchen; and as this would be on the ground floor, it

would be necessary to make a cellar underneath, or to raise the building a

little distance from the ground, to prevent its being damp, above all

things to be guarded against, in a place where stores are kept. It may,

perhaps, be kept dry by flues from the kitchen fire; and this would be a

saving of fuel and labour; but if not practicable, the room should have a

fire-place.

If it be sufficiently large, and there be no other place for the purpose,

there might be a closet, or press, for household linen. This should always

be kept in a dry situation, and in some houses a small room is fitted up,

with closets or presses round it, some of these having shelves or drawers

for linen, and others with hooks, for a variety of things belonging to a

family; but in this room there ought to be a fire-place, unless it be aired

by one adjoining. In the store-room, there should be a closet or shelves

for china and glass, not in every-day use. But as these ought to be free

from dust, open shelves would not be so desirable as a closet; and if

expense is not of importance, glass doors would be the most convenient.

Preserves and pickles require air; they will ferment if shut up, or the

place very warm; and, therefore, open shelves are best for them; and they

should be at a convenient distance from the ground, so as not to be out of

sight, for they ought to be examined frequently, and the coverings dusted.

For {15}bottles of green gooseberries, peas, or any kind of fruit preserved

dry, without sugar, have shelves with holes in them, to turn the bottles

with their necks downwards. This effectually excludes the air.

A dresser is a convenience in a store-room; or a table in the middle of the

room may answer the purpose; but in either of these, or at the bottom of

the linen press, there should be drawers for dusters, tea-cloths, &c., &c.,

unless they be kept in the Pantry.

There should be boxes for candles and soap, but as these smell, the

store-boxes may be kept in a garret, or some dry place, and a smaller

quantity in the store-room for immediate use. Late in the summer is the

best time to provide the year's stock of candles and soap. Both are the

better for being kept some time before they are used: and the latter should

be cut in pieces the size required for the different household purposes,

and left, before packed in the box, a few days exposed to the air; but not

in a thorough draught, for that would cause the soap to crack. It is

mismanagement to buy candles a few at a time, and soap just as it is

wanted; and not good to buy cheap candles. The dearest articles are not

always the best; but it is very certain that the best are the cheapest.

Good candles afford more light than bad; and do not waste, particularly if

they have been kept some time, even for a year.

There ought to be a place in the store-room appropriated to groceries, for

they, too, should be laid in, not oftener than two or three times a year.

The price of starch varies with the price of flour; and, therefore, as it

keeps well, a stock should be laid in when flour is at a low price. Rice

keeps very well, and is useful in a family, particularly in the country,

where new milk and eggs are plenty. We once kept a quantity more than three

years, by spreading a well-aired linen sheet in a box, and folding it over

the rice, the sheet lifted out on the floor, once in two or three months,

and the rice spread about upon the sheet for a day or two. This had the

effect of keeping away the weevil. Jars and canisters, with closely fitting

lids, for tea, sugar, coffee, cocoa, mustard, pepper, spices, and such

things, will last many years. By giving, in the course of the year, one or

two large orders, to any respectable shop, and always to the same one, you

may pretty well depend upon {16}being supplied with good articles; but not

so, if you send here and there, and for small quantities at a time; besides

the inconvenience of finding yourself, now and then, without the very thing

which you want. To dispose of these things properly, they should be kept in

a closet, some in earthen jars, others in tin or japan boxes; and the

spices in little drawers very closely fitted. If drawers, which are

preferable, they should be labelled.

As it may be convenient sometimes to perform little culinary matters in the

store-room, there should be a rolling pin, pasteboard, and pestle and

mortar kept there, in addition to those of the kitchen, and on this account

a small marble slab would be very useful, for making pastry in hot weather.

The fire-place might have an oven attached to it; for though it would be

imprudent to heat the store-room, on account of preserves, &c., it may be

occasionally used, when there is more cooking than usual. Besides which, in

the season for making preserves, a hot plate in the store-room would be

found useful. Weights and scales of various sizes are absolutely necessary,

that the housekeeper may be able to ascertain the weight of the largest

joint of meat, as well as of the smallest quantity of spice. Care should be

taken to keep these in good order.--A hanging shelf is also a good thing in

a store-room. Here the flour-bin may find a place, if there be no other

more suitable.

A store-room of this description is not adapted for keeping fruit; it would

be too warm, besides that the fruit might prove injurious to other stores,

from the smell which it occasions. There are various methods of keeping

apples through the winter; but scarcely any other will be found to succeed

so well as that of making layers of fruit, and layers of perfectly fresh

and dry straw, in hampers, boxes, or the corner of a dry room. The apples

should be examined every now and then, the specked ones taken away for use,

the others wiped, and covered up again. In hard frosts, windows that have

no shutters could be covered with rugs, old carpet, or mats, and something

of the same kind spread over the apples. When we were in America, we were

surprised to find that our neighbours took so little care to preserve their

apples, during the three months of unremitting hard frost, which occur in

their winter season. They merely {17}laid their apples on the floor of a

spare room, sometimes of the barn, or of an outhouse, each sort by itself,

and then covered them with a linen sheet. The people told us that their

apples never became frozen, and attributed this to the dryness of the

atmosphere. Apples and pears may also be preserved in the following way.

Gather them on a dry day: wipe, and roll them, singly, in very soft paper,

then pack them in jars, each containing about a gallon. Put a cover on the

jar, and cement it closely, so as to keep out the air; and place the jar in

a dry cellar. When a jar is opened, the fruit will eat the better for being

taken out of the paper, and exposed to the air of a warm room for two or

three days. Large baking pears may be suspended by their stalks on lines,

placed across near the ceiling of a room. There are many ways of preserving

grapes; but the best way is, to gather them with about five or six inches

of the branch to each bunch, to seal the end with common sealing wax, and

hang them to lines in a dry room. Examine them frequently, and cut out the

mouldy berries. Nuts of all kinds may be preserved in jars, the covers

cemented, the jars in a dry cellar.

In this short sketch of what a store-room ought to be, even in the plainest

houses in the country, many things requisite to the fitting up of a

complete one are omitted. But one thing more necessary to be observed than

any other, must not be omitted; which is, that it must be always in order,

and everything kept in its proper place, or the main object in having it

will be defeated. A store-room out of order can be compared to nothing but

a drawer in a state of confusion. A lady once dressing in haste, to keep an

appointment for which she was already too late, needed the assistance of

all about her, to aid in her search for different articles necessary to

complete her toilet. I sought a pair of gloves, and discovered many single

ones of various sorts and colours, but no two to form a perfect match. And

with this ill success must have ended my labours, if the drawer had not

been regularly _put to rights_: and by the time that scarfs were folded,

ribands rolled, collars smoothed, and scissors disentangled from sewing

silk, half a dozen gloves were paired.

The saving of time occasioned by observing order, and the waste of time

occasioned by want of order, are {18}incalculable. A general putting to

rights, every now and then, does not answer the purpose, because, in that

case, it is sure to happen that some things will find new places; and

persons coming in a hurry be unable to find them. The mistress of a house,

when she sends her servant or a child to a store-room, should be able to

say precisely where what she wants may be found. Negligence, and its

companion disorder, are the two demons of housekeeping. Once admit them,

and, like the moth, they gradually but completely destroy.

CHAPTER III.

THE PANTRY.

WHAT is commonly called the _Butler's Pantry_, does not of necessity imply

the presence of a butler; nor does it require to be spacious, when the

china and glass not in daily use are kept in the store-room. Where women

servants only are kept, the care of the pantry belongs either to the

parlourmaid or the housemaid, and the same servant usually performs the

office of laying the cloth, and waiting at table: which is always done

better by women than by men servants, except it be the higher order of men

servants, those who are in the daily practice of it, and whose occupation

is in the house. The same hands which, in the morning, rubbed down the

horses, swept the stable, cleaned the harness, and blackened the shoes,

seem unfit to be employed in placing dishes on the dining-table, folding up

napkins, and handling tea-things. It is almost impossible that occupations

so widely differing should be equally well suited to one and the same

person. The employing of men servants in work which properly belongs to

women is highly objectionable; and nothing renders travelling in the South

of France and Italy so disagreeable as being waited on by men, acting as

housemaids and chambermaids. If, indeed, men were employed to scrub the

floor, wash the stone halls, and clean the dirty doorsteps in London, the

lives of many female servants might be saved. But the more delicate

{19}occupations, such as wiping glasses, trimming candles, and waiting in

the parlour, seem more suitable for women.

Some women servants, it is true, never learn to wait at table well; but,

then, others are very expert at it. Short people are generally the most

nimble, but it is desirable that the servant who waits at table be tall,

for the convenience of setting on and taking off dishes; and it requires

long arms to carry heavy mahogany trays. Practice is as necessary to good

waiting as it is in any of the higher domestic occupations. The mistress,

therefore, should require the same particularity in preparing the table,

arranging the sideboard, and waiting at dinner, when her family dines

alone, as she requires when there are visitors; because, in the latter

case, an increase in number gives sufficient additional trouble to a

servant, without her being thrown into confusion by having to do what she

may have forgotten, from being out of practice.

There is one item of expenditure in housekeeping which should not be too

narrowly restricted, and that is the washing of table-cloths and napkins.

The fineness is not so much a matter of consideration with me: neither

should I desire a clean table-cloth every day, merely for the sake of the

change; but, if at all soiled, I would rather not see it on the table

again. It is a very neat practice to spread a napkin on the centre of the

table, large or small according to the size of the latter, and to remove it

with the meat. In Italy this napkin is clean every day, and I have seen it

folded in a three-cornered shape, and then crimped at the edges with the

thumb and finger, which, when the napkin was spread out, gave it a pretty

appearance. It is also a neat practice to place the dessert on the table

cloth, and a convenient one too, where there are few servants, because the

cloth saves the table; and rubbing spots out of dining tables, day after

day, seems waste of labour. But the cloth must be preserved from gravy

spots, or it will disgrace the dessert. A baize between two cloths is

sometimes used, and this, being rolled up with the upper cloth and removed

with the dinner, leaves the under cloth for the dessert. A table cloth

_once folded_ may be laid over the one which is spread, and then removed

with the dinner. A table cloth press is a convenience.

The fitting up of the pantry must, in a great measure, be {20}regulated by

the style of the establishment, but, in any case, there should be a

dresser, furnished with drawers, one for table cloths, napkins and mats

(unless all these be kept in sideboard drawers); another for tea cloths,

glass cloths, dusters, &c. &c., and another drawer lined with baize, for

the plate which is in use. Plate-leathers, flannels and brushes, kept in a

bag; and the cloths and brushes used in cleaning furniture, in another bag,

to preserve them from dust. A small sink, with the water laid on,

indispensable. There should also be a horse, or lines, for drying tea and

glass cloths upon.

China and glass, whether plain or of the finest kind, require to be kept

equally clean; and the servant whose business this is ought to have soft

cloths for the purpose. China should be washed in warm water, with a piece

of flannel, and wiped with a clean and soft cloth, or it will look dull.

Glass washed in cold water, drained nearly dry, and then wiped; if the

cloth be not clean and dry, the glasses will not look clear. For cut glass

a brush, because a cloth will not reach into the crevices to polish it; and

dull looking salts, or other cut glass, spoil the appearance of a table.

Wash lamps and lustres with soap and cold water. When looking glasses are

become tarnished and dull, thump them over with a linen bag containing

powdered blue, and wipe it off with a soft cloth.

Paper trays are the best, considering the small difference in the price,

compared with the great difference in the appearance: it would be better to

save in many other things, than to hear tea-things, glasses, or snuffers,

jingle on japan. Paper trays are very durable, if taken care of. They will

seldom require washing; but when they do, the water should only be

lukewarm, for if hot water be poured on them the paper will blister. Wipe

clean with a wet cloth, and when dry, dust a little flour over, and wipe

that off with a soft cloth. To prevent their being scratched, keep

tea-boards and trays in green baize cases, under the dresser of the pantry,

or, if convenient, hung against the wall, to be out of the way, when not in

use.

Plate, plain, handsome, old or new, looks badly, if not perfectly clean and

polished. Washing is of great consequence; and if in cold soft water, wiped

dry with a linen cloth, and then polished with leather, it will not want

any other cleaning oftener than once a week. Unskilful {21}servants may do

great injury by using improper things to polish plate, or by rubbing it too

hard, for that may bend it. Plate should be kept covered up, when not in

use, to preserve it from tarnish. Tea pots, coffee pots, sugar bowls, cream

jugs, candlesticks, and all large things, each in a separate bag of cloth,

baize, or leather; a lined basket for that which is in daily use, preserves

it from scratches. Where there is neither butler, nor housekeeper, to take

charge of it, the mistress of the house usually has the plate basket taken

at night into her own room, or that of some one of the family, where it

may, occasionally, be looked over and compared with the inventory, kept in

the basket. If a spoon or any article be missing, it should be immediately

inquired after; the effect of this will be that the servant who has the

care of these things will take more care of them for the future. It has

happened to us to have spoons found, at different times, in the pig-sty,

which had been thrown out in the wash. If they had not been discovered

there, the servant, who was only careless, might have been suspected of

dishonesty.

_To clean Plate._

Having ready two leathers, and a soft plate brush for crevices, and the

plate being washed clean, which it always should be first, rub it with a

mixture of prepared chalk, bought at the chemist's, and spirits of wine;

let it dry, rub it off with flannel, and polish with leather. I find this

the best way of all.

Much of the labour necessary to keep tables in good order might be saved,

if mats were used, when jugs of hot water are placed on the table; and,

also, if the servant were brought to apply a duster, the instant any

accident had occurred to cause a stain. For this purpose a clean and white

duster should always be in readiness. Rosewood and all polished, japanned,

or other ornamental furniture, is best _dusted_ with a silk handkerchief,

and wiped with a soft leather. China and all ornaments dusted with clean

leathers.

So little furniture is now used which is not _French polished_, that I

shall only give the plainest receipt I know of, for cleaning mahogany. Take

out ink spots with salts of lemon; wet the spot with water, put on enough

to cover it, let it be a quarter of an hour, and if not disappeared, put

{22}a little more. Wash the table clean with stale beer, let it dry, then

brush it well with a clean furniture brush. To polish it, use the following

FURNITURE PASTE:--½ lb. beeswax, turpentine to moisten it, _or_ spirits of

wine, melt it, stirring well, and put by in a jar for use. Rub some on with

a soft cloth, rub it off directly, and polish with another soft cloth.

Nothing betrays slovenliness and want of attention more than ill-used and

badly cleaned knives and forks. Plate, glass and china, however common, may

be made to answer every purpose; but knives and forks ought to be good in

quality, or they soon wear out, and nothing looks so bad on a table as bad

knives and forks, and when good they are so expensive that it is

unpardonable not to take care of them. Carving knives are of great

consequence; there should be a judicious assortment of them, to suit

various joints, or different carvers, and particular attention paid to

their cleaning and sharpening. When it can be done, knives and forks should

be cleaned immediately after they have been used; but when not, they ought,

if possible, to be dipped in warm (not hot) water, wiped dry, and laid by

till the time of cleaning comes. After bath brick has been used, dip the

handles into lukewarm water, or wipe them with a soaped flannel, and then

with a dry soft cloth. Inexperienced men servants seldom _wipe_ knives and

forks sufficiently; but it is next to impossible for a woman to clean them

well, and it is a masculine occupation. To preserve those not in daily use

from rust, rub with mutton fat, roll each one in brown paper, and keep in a

dry place. A good knife-board indispensable; covered with leather saves the

steel, but the knives not so sharp as if cleaned on a board, and bath

brick. Both knives and forks are the better for being occasionally plunged

into fresh fine earth, for a few minutes. It sweetens them.

Knife-trays do not always have so much care as they ought to have. Out of

sight when in the dining-room, they are often neglected in the pantry; but

they ought to be as clean as the waiters on which glasses are handed. The

tray made of basket work and lined with tin, is best; there should be a

clean cloth spread in it, before it is brought into the parlour, and also

one in the second tray to receive the knives and forks, as they are taken

from the table.

{23}CHAPTER IV.

THE LARDER.

A GOOD larder is essential to every house. It should have a free

circulation of air through it, and not be exposed to the sun. If it can be

so contrived, the larder ought to be near the kitchen, for the convenience

of the cook. For a family of moderate style of living it need not be very

roomy. There should be large and strong hooks for meat and poultry; a

hanging shelf so placed as for the cook to reach it with ease; and a safe,

either attached to the wall, or upon a stand, for dishes of cold meat,

pastry, or anything which would be exposed to dust and flies on the shelf.

Wire covers should be provided for this purpose, and in hot weather, when

it may be necessary to place dishes of meat on a brick floor, these covers

will be found to answer every purpose of a safe. There should be a pan,

with a cover, for bread, another for butter, and one for cheese. A shelf

for common earthenware bowls, dishes, &c., &c., &c. Cold meat, and all

things left from the dinner, should be put away in common brown or yellow

ware; there ought to be an ample supply of these. Tubs and pans for salted

meat sometimes stand in the dairy, but it is not the proper place for them,

for meat ought not to be kept in a dairy.

Meat should be examined every day in cold, and oftener in warm weather, as

it sometimes taints very soon. Scrape off the outside, if the least

appearance of mould, on mutton, beef, or venison; and flour the scraped

parts. By well peppering meat you may keep away flies, which cause so much

destruction in a short time. But a very coarse cheese-cloth, wrapped round

the joint, is more effectual, if the meat is to be dressed soon. Remove the

kidneys, and all the suet, from loins which are wanted to hang long, in

warm or close weather, and carefully wipe and flour that part of the meat.

Before you put meat which is rather stale to the fire, wipe it with a cloth

dipped in vinegar. A {24}joint of beef, mutton, or venison, may be saved by

being wrapped in a cloth and buried, over night, in a hole dug in fresh

mould. Neither veal, pork, or lamb should be kept long.

Poultry and game keep for some length of time, if the weather be dry and

cold, but if moist or warm, will be more liable to taint, than venison or

any kind of meat, except veal. A piece of charcoal put inside of any kind

of poultry will greatly assist to preserve it. Poultry should be picked,

drawn and cropped. Do not wash, but wipe it clean, and sprinkle the parts

most likely to taint with powdered loaf sugar, salt, and pepper. As I

should reject the use of all chemical processes, for the preservation of

meat, I do not recommend them to others.

Frost has a great effect upon meat, poultry, and game. Some cooks will not

be persuaded of the necessity for its being completely _thawed before it is

put near the fire_; yet it neither roasts, boils, nor eats well, unless

this be done. If slightly frozen, the meat may be recovered, by being five

or six hours in the kitchen; _not_ near the fire. Another method is, to

plunge a joint into a tub of _cold_ water, let it remain two or three

hours, or even longer, and the ice will appear on the outside. Meat should

be cooked immediately after it has been thawed, for it will keep no longer.

If the tastes of all persons were simple and unvitiated, there would be

little occasion for the cook's ingenuity to preserve meat after it has

begun to putrefy. An objection to meat in that state, does not arise merely

from distaste, but from a conviction of its being most unwholesome. There

may have been a difference of opinion among the scientific upon this

subject: but, it seems now to be generally considered by those who best

understand such matters, that when meat has become poisonous to the air, it

is no longer good and nutritious food. The fashion of eating meat _à la

cannibale_, or half raw, being happily on the decline, we may now venture

to express our dislike to eat things which are half decomposed, without

incurring the charge of vulgarity.

SALTING AND CURING MEAT.

The Counties of England differ materially in their modes of curing bacon

and pork; but the palm of excellency in {25}bacon has so long been decreed

to Hampshire, that I shall give no other receipts for it, but such as are

practised in that, and the adjoining counties. The best method of keeping,

feeding, and killing pigs, is detailed in COBBETT's _Cottage Economy_; and

there, also, will be found directions for salting and smoking the flitches,

in the way commonly practised in the farm-houses in Hampshire. The

_smoking_ of bacon is an important affair, and experience is requisite to

give any thing like perfection in the art. The process should not be too

slow nor too much hurried. The skin should be made of a dark brown colour,

but not black; for by smoking the bacon till it becomes black, it will also

be made hard, and cease to have any flavour but that of rust.--Before they

are dressed, both bacon and hams require to be soaked in water; the former

an hour or two, the latter, all night, or longer, if very dry. But,

according to some, the best way to soak a ham is to bury it in the earth,

for one, two, or three nights and days, according to its state of dryness.

Meat will not take salt well either in frosty or in warm weather. Every

thing depends upon the first rubbing; and the salt, or pickle, should not

only be well rubbed in, but this is best done by a hard hand. The following

general direction for salting meat may be relied on:--"6 lbs. of salt, 1

lb. of coarse sugar, and 4 oz. of saltpetre, boiled in 4 gallons of water,

skimmed and allowed to cool, forms a very strong pickle, which will

preserve any meat completely immersed in it. To effect this, which is

essential, either a heavy board or flat stone must be laid upon the meat.

The same pickle may be used repeatedly, provided it be boiled up

occasionally with additional salt to restore its strength, diminished by

the combination of part of the salt with the meat, and by the dilution of

the pickle by the juices of the meat extracted. By boiling, the _albumen_,

which would cause the pickle to spoil, is coagulated and rises in the form

of scum, which must be carefully removed."

It is a good practice to wash meat before it is salted. This is not

generally done; but pieces of pork, and, more particularly, beef and

tongues, should first lie in cold spring water, and then be well washed to

cleanse them from all impurities, in order to ensure their being free from

taint; after which, drain the meat, and it will take the salt much

{26}quicker for the washing.--Examine it well; and be careful to take all

the kernels out of beef.

Some persons like salted meat to be red. For this purpose, saltpetre is

necessary. Otherwise, the less use is made of it the better, as it tends to

harden the meat. Sweet herbs, spices, and even garlic, may be rubbed into

hams and tongues, with the pickle, according to taste. Bay salt gives a

nice flavour. Sugar is generally used in curing hams, tongues and beef; for

the two latter some recommend lump sugar, others treacle, to make the meat

eat short.

In cold weather salt should be warmed before the fire. Indeed, some use it

quite hot. This causes it to penetrate more readily into the meat than it

does when rendered hard and dry by frost.

Salting troughs or tubs should be clean, and in an airy place. After meat

of any kind has been once well rubbed, keep it covered close, not only with

the lid of the vessel, but, in addition, with the thick folds of some

woollen article, in order to exclude the air. This is recommended by good

housekeepers; yet in Hampshire the trough is sometimes left uncovered, the

flitches purposely exposed to the air.

_To cure Bacon._

As soon as the hog is cut up, sprinkle salt thickly over the flitches, and

let them lie on a brick floor all night. Then wipe the salt off, and lay

them in a salting trough. For a large flitch of bacon, allow 2 gallons of

salt, 1 lb. of bay salt, 4 cakes of salt prunella, a ¼ lb. of saltpetre,

and 1 lb. of common moist sugar; divide this mixture into two parts; rub

one half into it the first day, and rub it in _well_. The following day rub

the other half in, and continue to rub and turn the flitch every day for

three weeks. Then hang the flitches to drain, roll them in bran, and hang

them to smoke, in a wood-fire chimney. The more quickly, in reason, they

are smoked, the better the bacon will taste.

_To cure a Ham._

Let a leg of pork hang for three days; then beat it with a rolling pin, and

rub into it 1 oz. of saltpetre finely {27}powdered, and mixed with a small

quantity of common salt; let it lie all night. Make the following pickle: a

quart of stale strong beer, ½ lb. of bay salt, ½ lb. of common salt, and

the same of brown sugar; boil this twenty minutes, then wipe the ham dry

from the salt, and with a wooden ladle, pour the pickle, by degrees, and as

hot as possible, over the ham; and as it cools, rub it well into every

part. Rub and turn it every day, for a week; then hang it, a fortnight, in

a wood-smoke chimney. When you take it down, sprinkle black pepper over the

bone, and into the holes, to keep it safe from hoppers, and hang it up in a

thick paper bag.

_Another._

For one of 16 lb. weight. Rub the rind side of the ham with ¼ lb. of brown

sugar, then rub it with 1 lb. of salt, and put it in the salting-pan, then

rub a little of the sugar, and 1 oz. of saltpetre, and 1 oz. salt prunel,

pounded, on the lean side, and press it down; in three days turn it and rub

it well with the salt in the pan, then turn it in the pickle for three

weeks; take it out, scrape it well, dry it with a clean cloth, rub it

slightly with a little salt, and hang it up to dry.

_Another._

Beat the ham well on the fleshy side with a rolling pin, then rub into it,

on every part, 1 oz. of saltpetre, and let it lie one night. Then take a ½

pint of common salt, and a ¼ pint of bay salt, and 1 lb. of coarse sugar or

treacle; mix these ingredients, and make them very hot in a stew-pan, and

rub in well for an hour. Then take ½ a pint more of common salt and lay all

over the ham, and let it lie on till it melts to brine; keep the ham in the

pickle three weeks or a month, till you see it shrink. This is sufficient

for a large ham.

_Another, said to be equal to the Westphalian._

Rub a large fat ham well, with 2 oz. of pounded saltpetre, 1 oz. of bay

salt, and a ¼ lb. of lump sugar: let it lie two days. Prepare a pickle as

follows: boil in 2 quarts {28}of stale ale, 1 lb. of bay salt, 2 lb. of

common salt, ¾ lb. of lump sugar, 2 oz. of salt prunella, 1 oz. of pounded

black pepper, and ½ an oz. of cloves; boil this well, and pour it boiling

hot over the ham. Rub and turn it every day for three weeks or a month;

then smoke it for about a fortnight.

_To cure a Mutton Ham._

A hind quarter must be cut into the shape of a ham: rub into it the

following mixture: ¼ lb. saltpetre, ¼ lb. bay salt, 1 lb. common salt, and

¼ lb. loaf sugar; rub well, every other day, for a fortnight, then take it

out, press it under a weight for one day, then hang it to smoke ten or

fifteen days. It will require long soaking, if kept any length of time,

before it is dressed. Boil very gently, three hours. It is eaten cut in

slices, and these broiled for breakfast or lunch.--_Or_; the ham smoked

longer, not boiled, but slices very thinly shaved to eat by way of relish

at breakfast.

_To pickle Pork._

For a hog of 10 score.--When it is quite cold, and cut up in pieces, have

well mixed 2 gallons of common salt, and 1½ lb. of saltpetre; with this,

rub well each piece of pork, and as you rub, pack it in a salting tub, and

sprinkle salt between each layer. Put a heavy weight on the top of the

cover, to prevent the meat's swimming. If kept close and tight in this way,

it will keep for a year or two.

_Leg of Pork._

Proceed as above, salt in proportion, but leave out the saltpetre if you

choose. The hand and _spring_ also, in the same way--and a week sufficient

for either. Rub and turn them every day.

_Pig's Head_ in the same way, but it will require two weeks.

_To pickle a Tongue._

Rub the tongue over with common salt; and cut a slit in the root, so that

the salt may penetrate. Drain the tongue next day, and rub it over with 2

oz. of bay salt, {29}2 oz. of saltpetre, and 2 oz. of lump or coarse sugar,

all mixed together. This pickle should be poured over the tongue, with a

spoon, every day, as there will not be sufficient liquor to cover it. It

will be ready to dress in three weeks or a month.

_To salt Beef._

Be sure to take out the _kernels_, and also be sure to fill up the holes

with salt, as well as those which the butcher's skewers have made. In

frosty weather, take care that the meat be not frozen; also, to warm the

salt before the fire, or in a frying pan.

For a piece of 20 lb. weight.--Sprinkle the meat with salt, and let it lie

twenty-four hours; then hang it up to drain. Take 1 oz. of saltpetre, a ½

oz. of salt prunella, a ¼ lb. of very coarse sugar, 6 oz. of common salt,

all finely powdered, and rub it well into the beef. Rub and turn it every

day. It will be ready to dress in ten days, but may be kept longer.

_To salt a Round of Beef._

For one of 30 lb. weight.--Rub common salt well into it all over and in

every part, cover it well with salt: rub it well next day, pouring the

brine over the meat. Repeat this every day for a fortnight, when it will be

ready. Let it drain for 15 minutes, when you are going to cook it. You may,

if you wish it to look red, add 4 oz. salt prunel, and 1 lb. saltpetre to

the pickle.

_An Edge Bone._

To one of 10 or 12 lb. weight allow ¾ lb. of salt, and 1 oz. of moist

sugar. Rub these well into the meat. Repeat the rubbing every day, turning

the meat also, and it will be ready to dress in four or five days.

_Tongue Beef._

After the tongues are taken out of the pickle, wash and wipe dry a piece of

flank or brisket of beef; sprinkle with salt, and let it lie a night; then

hang it to drain, rub in a {30}little fresh salt, and put the beef into the

pickle; rub and turn it every day for three or four days, and it will be

ready to dress, and if the pickle have been previously well prepared, will

be found to have a very fine flavour.

_To smoke Beef._

Cut a round into pieces of 5 lb. weight each, and salt them very well; when

sufficiently salted, hang the pieces in a wood-smoke chimney to dry, and

let them hang three or four weeks. This may be grated, for breakfast or

luncheon. _Another._--Cut a leg of beef like a ham, and to one of 14 lb.

make a pickle of 1 lb. salt, 1 lb. brown sugar, 1 oz. saltpetre, and 1 oz.

bay salt. Rub and turn the ham every day for a month, then roll it in bran

and smoke it. Hang it in a dry place. Broil it in slices.

_To make pickle for Brawn._

To rather more than a sufficient quantity of water to cover it, put 7 or 8

handsful of bran, a few bay leaves, also salt enough to give a strong

relish; boil this an hour and a half, then strain it. When cold, pour the

pickle from the sediment into a pan, and put the meat into it.

Any of these pickles may be used again. First boil it up and take off all

the scum.

----

THE SEASONS FOR MEAT, POULTRY, GAME, AND VEGETABLES.

IT is always the best plan to deal with a respectable butcher, and to keep

to the same one. He will find his interest in providing his regular

customers with good meat, and the _best_ is always the _cheapest_, even

though it may cost a little more money.

_Beef_ is best and cheapest from Michaelmas to Midsummer.

_Veal_ is best and cheapest from March to July.

_Mutton_ is best from Christmas to Midsummer.

_Grass Lamb_ is best from Easter to June.

_House Lamb_ comes in in February.

_Poultry_ is in the greatest perfection, when it is in the greatest plenty,

which it is about September.

{31}_Chickens_ come in the beginning of April, but they may be had all the

year round.

_Fowls_ are dearest in April, May, and June, but they may be had all the

year round, and are cheapest in September, October, and November.

_Capons_ are finest at Christmas.

_Poulards_, with _eggs_, come in in March.

_Green Geese_ come in in March, and continue till September.

_Geese_ are in full season in September, and continue till February.

_Turkey Poults_ come in in April, and continue till June.

_Turkeys_ are in season from September till March, and are cheapest in

October and November.

_Ducks_ are in season from June till February.

_Wild Ducks_, _Widgeons_, _Teal_, _Plovers_, _Pintails_, _Larks_, _Snipes_,

_Woodcocks_, from the end of October till the end of March.

_Tame Pigeons_ are in season all the year, _Wild Pigeons_ from March till

September.

_Pea-Fowl_ (young ones) from January till June.

_Partridges_ from 1st September till January.

_Pheasants_ from 1st October till January.

_Grouse_ from the 12th of August till Christmas, also _Black Cocks_ and

_Grey Hens_.

_Guinea Fowls_ from the end of January till May; their eggs are much more

delicate than common ones.

_Hares_ from September to March.

_Leverets_ from March to September.

_Rabbits_ all the year round.

_Fish._

The seasons of Fish frequently vary; therefore the surest way to have it

good is to confide in the honesty of respectable fishmongers; unless,

indeed, you are well acquainted with the several sorts, and have frequent

practice in the choosing of it. No fish when out of season can be wholesome

food.

_Turbot_ is in season from September to May. Fish of this kind do not all

spawn at the same time; therefore, there are good as well as bad all the

year round. The finest are brought from the Dutch coast. The belly of a

Turbot {32}should be cream coloured, and upon pressing your finger on this

part, it should spring up. A Turbot eats the better for being kept two or

three days. Where there is any apprehension of its not keeping, a little

salt may be sprinkled on it, and the fish hung in a cool dry place.

_Salmon._--This favourite fish is the most unwholesome of all. It ought

never to be eaten unless perfectly fresh, and in season. Salmon is in

season from Christmas till September. The Severn Salmon, indeed, is in

season in November, but it is then obtained only in small quantities. This,

and the Thames Salmon, are considered the best. That which comes from

Scotland, packed in ice, is not so good. _Salmon Peel_ are very nice

flavoured, but much less rich than large Salmon; come in June.

_Cod_ is in perfection at Christmas; but it comes in, generally, in

October; in the months of February and March it is poor, but in April and

May it becomes finer. The Dogger Bank Cod are considered the best. Good Cod

fish are known by the yellow spots on a pure white skin. In cold weather

they will keep a day or two.

_Skate_, _Haddocks_, _Soles_, _Plaice_, and _Flounders_ are in season in

January, as well as _Smelts_ and _Prawns_. In February, _Lobsters_ and

_Herrings_ become more plentiful; _Haddocks_ not in such good flavour as

they were. In March _Salmon_ becomes plentiful, but is still dear. And in

this month the _John Dory_ comes in.

In April _Smelts_ and _Whiting_ are plentiful; and _Mackerel_ and _Mullet_

come in; also river _Trout_.

In May _Oysters_ go out of season, and _Cod_ becomes not so good; excepting

these, all the fish that was in season at Christmas, is in perfection in

this month.

In June _Salmon_, _Turbot_, _Brill_, _Skate_, _Halibut_, _Lobsters_,

_Crabs_, _Prawns_, _Soles_, _Eels_ and _Whiting_ are plentiful and cheap.

Middling sized Lobsters are best, and must weigh heavy to be good. The best

Crabs measure about eight inches across the shoulders. The silver eel is

the best, and, next to that, the copper-brown backed eel. A humane method

of putting this fish to death is to run a sharp-pointed skewer or fine

knitting needle into the spinal marrow, through the back part of the skin,

and life will instantly cease.

In July fish of all sorts plentiful, except Oysters, and about at the

cheapest. Cod not in much estimation.

{33}In the months of August and September, particularly the former, fish is

considered more decidedly unwholesome than at any other time of the year,

and more especially in London. _Oysters_ come in, and _Turbot_ and _Salmon_

go out of season. In choosing Oysters, natives are best; they should be

eaten as soon after they are opened as possible. There are various ways of

_keeping_ and _feeding_ oysters, for which see Index.

In October _Cod_ comes in good season, also _Haddocks_, _Brill_, _Tench_,

and every sort of shell fish.

In November most sorts of fish are to be got, but all are dear. _Oysters_

are excellent in this month.

_Fresh Herrings_ from November to January.

_River Eels_ all the year.

_Red Mullet_ come in May.

_Flounders_ and _Plaice_ in June.

_Sprats_ beginning of November.

_Gurnet_ is best in the spring.

_Sturgeon_ in June.

_Yarmouth Mackerel_ from May till August.

_Vegetables._

_Artichokes_ are in season from July to October.

_Jerusalem Artichokes_ from September till June.

_Asparagus_, forced, may be obtained in January; the natural growth, it

comes in about the middle of April, and continues through May, June, and

July.

_French Beans_, forced, may be obtained in February, of the natural growth,

the beginning of July; and they continue in succession through August.

_Red Beet_ is in season all the year.

_Scotch Cale_ in November.

_Brocoli_ in October.

_Cabbage_ of most sorts in May, June, July, and August.

_Cardoons_ from November till March.

_Carrots_ come in in May.

_Cauliflowers_, the beginning of June.

_Celery_, the beginning of September.

_Corn Salad_, in May.

_Cucumbers_ may be forced as early as March; of their natural growth they

come in July, and are plentiful in August and September.

{34}_Endive_ comes in in June, and continues through the winter.

_Leeks_ come in in September, and continue till the Spring.

_Lettuce_, both the Coss and the Cabbage, come in about April, and continue

to the end of August.

_Onions_, for keeping, in August.

_Parsley_, all the year.

_Parsnips_ come in in October; but they are not good until the frost has

touched them.

_Peas_, the earliest forced, come in about the beginning of May; of their

natural growth, about the beginning of June, and continue till the end of

August.

_Potatoes_, forced, in the beginning of March; and the earliest of natural

growth in May.

_Radishes_, about the beginning of March.

_Small Salad_, in May and June; but may be had all the year.

_Salsify_ and _Scorzonera_, in July and August.

_Sea Kale_ may be found as early as December or January, but of the natural

growth it comes in in April and May.

_Eschalots_, for keeping, in August and three following months.

_Spring Spinach_, in March, April, and three following months.

_Winter Spinach_ from October through the winter.

_Turnips_, of the garden, in May; but the field Turnips, which are best, in

October.

{35}CHAPTER V.

THE KITCHEN.

THE benefit of a good kitchen is well known to every housekeeper, but it is

not every mistress that is aware of the importance of having a good cook. I

have seen kitchens which, though fitted up with every convenience, and

certainly at considerable expense, yet failed to send forth good dinners,

merely because the lady of the house was not happy in her choice of a cook.

I do not in the least admire gourmands, or gourmandism; and yet I would be

more particular in selecting the servant who is to perform the business of

preparing the food of the family, than I should deem it necessary to be in

selecting any of the other servants. In large establishments there is a

greater quantity of cookery to be performed, and, consequently, a greater

quantity of waste is likely to be caused by unskilful cooks, than there can

be in small families; but even in the latter considerable waste may be the

consequence of saving a few pounds a year in the wages of a cook. An

experienced cook knows the value of the articles submitted to her care; and

she knows how to turn many things to account which a person unacquainted

with cooking would throw away. A good cook knows how to convert the remains

of one dinner into various dishes to form the greater part of another

dinner; and she will, also, be more capable than the other of forwarding

her mistress's charitable intentions; for her capability in cooking will

enable her to take advantage of everything which can be spared from the

consumption of the family, to be converted into nourishing food for the

poor, for those of her own class who have not the comfort of a home such as

she herself enjoys. The cook who knows how to preserve the pot-liquor of

fresh meat to make soup, will, whenever she boils mutton, fowls, or

rabbits, &c., &c., carefully scum it, and, by adding peas, other

vegetables, or crusts of bread, and proper seasonings, make some tolerable

soup for poor {36}people, out of materials which would otherwise be thrown

away.

To be a good cook she must take pleasure in her occupation; for the

requisite painstaking cannot be expected from a person who dislikes the

fire, or who entertains a disgust for the various processes necessary to

convert meat into savoury dishes. But a cook who takes pride in sending a

dinner well dressed to table, may be _depended upon_, and that is of great

importance to the mistress of a house: for though Englishmen may not be

such connoisseurs in eating as Frenchmen, I question whether French

husbands are more dissatisfied with a badly-cooked dinner than English

husbands are. Dr. KITCHENER observes, "God sends us victuals, but _who_

sends us cooks?" And the observation is not confined to the Doctor, for the

walls of many a dining-room have echoed it, to the great discomfiture of

the lady presiding at the head of the table. Ladies might, if they would,

be obliged to confess that many ill humours had been occasioned by either

under or over roasted meat, cold plates, or blunt knives; and perhaps these

_are_ grounds for complaint. Of the same importance as the cooking is

neatness in serving the dinner, for there is a vast difference in its

appearance if neatly and properly arranged in hot dishes, the vegetables

and sauces suitable to the meat, and _hot_--there is a vast difference

between a dinner so served, and one a part of which is either too much or

too little cooked, the meat parting from the bone in one case, or looking

as if barely warmed through in the other case; the gravy chilled and

turning to grease, some of the vegetables watery, and others crisped, while

the edges of the dishes are slopped, and the block-tin covers look dull. A

leg of mutton or piece of beef, either boiled or roasted--so commonly the

dinner of a plain-living family--requires as much skill and nicety as the

most complicated made dishes; and a plain dinner well cooked and served is

as tempting to the appetite as it is creditable to the mistress of the

house, who invariably suffers in the estimation of her guests for the want

of ability in her servants. The elegance of the drawing-room they have just

left is forgotten by those who are suffocating from the over-peppered soup;

and the coldness of the plate on which is handed a piece of turbot bearing

a reddish hue, may hold a place in the memory of a visitor, to {37}the

total obliteration of the winning graces, and agreeable conversation, of

the lady at the head of the table.

It is impossible to give particular directions for fitting up a kitchen,

because so much must depend upon the number of servants, and upon what is

required in the way of cookery. It was the fashion formerly to adorn it

with a quantity of copper saucepans, stewpans, &c., &c., very expensive,

and troublesome to keep clean. Many of these articles, which were regularly

scoured once a week, were not, perhaps, used once in the year. A young lady

ought, if she has a good cook, to be guided by her, in some measure, in the

purchase of kitchen utensils; for the accommodation of the cook, if she be

a reasonable person, ought to be consulted. But, where there is no

kitchen-maid to clean them, the fewer coppers and tins the better. It is

the best plan to buy, at first, only just enough for use, and to replace

these with new ones as they wear out; but all stewpans, saucepans,

frying-pans, &c., &c., should be kept in good order--that is to say, clean

and in good repair.

Some of the best cooks say that iron and block tin answer every purpose.

There is an useful, but somewhat expensive, article, called the

_Bain-marie_, for heating made dishes and soups, and keeping them hot for

any length of time, without over-cooking them. A _Bain-marie_ will be found

very useful to persons who are in the habit of having made dishes. A

_braising_ kettle and a _stock-pot_ also; and two or three cast-iron

_Digesters_, of from one to two gallons, for soups and gravies. Saucepans

should be washed and scoured as soon as possible after they have been used:

wood ashes, or very fine sand, may be used. They should be rinsed in clean

water, wiped dry (or they will rust), and then be turned down on a clean

shelf. The upper rim may be kept bright, but it seems labour lost to scour

that part where the fire reaches; besides which, the more they are scoured

the more quickly they wear out. Copper utensils must be well tinned, or

they become poisonous. Never allow anything to be put by in a copper

vessel; but the fatal consequences of neglect in this particular are too

well known for it to be necessary here to say much in the way of caution.

The fire-place is a matter of great importance. I have not witnessed the

operations of many of the steam cooking apparatuses, which the last thirty

years have produced, but {38}the few I have seen do not give me

satisfaction. It is certainly desirable that every _possible_ saving should

be made in the consumption of coals; but it is _not possible_ to have

cooking in perfection, without a proper degree of heat; and, as far as my

observation has gone, meat cannot be well roasted unless before a good

fire. I should save in many things rather than in coals; and am often

puzzled to account for the false economy which leads persons to be sparing

of their fuel, whilst they are lavish in other things infinitely less

essential. A cook has many trials of her temper, but none so difficult to

bear as the annoyance of a bad fire; for she cannot cook her dinner well,

however much she may fret herself in the endeavour; and the waste caused by

spoiling meat, fish, poultry, game, &c., is scarcely made up for by saving

a few shillings in coals. "Economy in fuel" is so popular, that every

species of invention is resorted to, in order to go without fire; and the

price of coals is talked of in a fine drawing room, where the shivering

guest turns, and often in vain, to seek comfort from the fire, which, alas!

the brightly polished grate does not contain. The beauty of the cold marble

structure which rises above it, and is reflected in the opposite mirror, is

a poor compensation for the want of warmth. I advise young housekeepers to

bear in mind, that of the many things which may be saved in a house,

without lessening its comforts, firing is _not_ one.

It is best to lay in coals in the month of August or September, to last

until the spring. They should be of the best kind; paid for in ready money,

to prevent an additional charge for credit. The first year of housekeeping

will give a pretty correct average to go by: and then the consumption

should be watched, but not too rigidly.

To return to the fire-place.--Perhaps there is no apparatus more convenient

for a family of moderate style of living than the common kitchen range,

that which has a boiler for hot water on one side, and an oven on the other

side. It is a great convenience to have a constant supply of hot water, and

an advantage to possess the means of baking a pie, pudding, or cake; and

this may always be done, when there is a large fire for boiling or

roasting. There is a great difference in the construction of these little

ovens. We have had several, and only three which {39}answered; and these

were all, I believe, by different makers.--A _Hot plate_ is also an

excellent thing, as it requires but little fire to keep it sufficiently hot

for any thing requiring gradual cooking; and is convenient for making

preserves, which should never be exposed to the fierceness of a fire. The

charcoal stoves are useful, and so easily constructed that a kitchen should

not be without one. There is a very nice thing, called a _Dutch Stove_, but

I do not know whether it is much in use in England. On a rather solid

frame-work, with four legs, about a foot from the ground, is raised a round

brick-work, open at the top sufficiently deep to receive charcoal, and in

the front, a little place to take out the ashes; on the top is a trivet,

upon which the stew-pan, or preserving-pan, or whatever it may be, is

placed. This is easily moved about, and in the summer could be placed

anywhere in the cool, and would, therefore, be very convenient for making

preserves.--Where there is much cooking, a _Steamer_ is convenient; it may

be attached to the boiler of the range. I have seen lamb and mutton which

had been steamed, and which in appearance was more delicate than when

boiled, and equally well flavoured. But there is an _uncertainty_ in

cooking meat by steam, and, besides, there is no liquor for soup. Puddings

cook well by steam.--The _Jack_ is an article of great consequence, and

also a troublesome one, being frequently out of repair. A _Bottle-jack_

answers very well for a small family; and where there is a good _meat

screen_ (which is indispensable), a stout nail and a skein of worsted will,

provided the cook be not called away from the kitchen, be found to answer

the purpose of a spit.

There are now so many excellent weighing-machines, of simple construction,

that there ought to be one in every kitchen, to weigh joints of meat as

they come from the butcher, and this will enable the cook to weigh flour,

butter, sugar, spices, &c., &c.

The cook should be allowed a sufficiency of kitchen cloths and brushes,

suitable to her work. Plates and dishes will not look clear and bright

unless rinsed in clean water, after they are washed, then drained, and

wiped dry with a cloth which is not greasy. A handful of bran in the water

will produce a fine polish on crockery ware.

{40}As they do not cost much, there need be no hesitation to allow plenty

of jelly-bags, straining cloths, tapes, &c. &c. These should be very clean,

and scalded in hot water before they are used.

There should be a table in the middle of the kitchen, or so situated as not

to be exposed to a current of air, to arrange the dishes upon, that

blunders may not be committed in placing them upon the dining-table. Much

of the pleasure which the lady at the head of her table may feel at seeing

her guests around her, is destroyed by the awkward mistakes of servants in

waiting; who, when they discover that they have done wrong, frequently

become too frightened and confused to repair the error they have committed.

The cook in a small family should have charge of the beer; and where there

are no men servants, it should be rather good than weak, for the better in

quality, the more care will be taken of it. When more is drawn than is

wanted, a burnt crust will keep it fresh from one meal to another, but for

a longer time it should be put into a bottle, and corked close; it would be

well for the cook to keep a few different sized bottles, so that the beer

may not stand to become flat before she bottle it.

A clock, in or near the kitchen, will tend to promote punctuality. But the

lady herself should see to its being regulated, or this piece of furniture

may do more harm than good. There is nothing fitter to be under lock and

key than the clock, for, however true to time, when not interfered with, it

is often made to bear false testimony. That good understanding which

sometimes subsists between the clock and the cook, and which is brought

about by the instrumentality of a broom-handle, or some such magic, should

be noted by every prudent housekeeper as one of the things to be guarded

against.

The kitchen chimney should be frequently swept; besides which, the cook

should, once or twice a week, sweep it as far as she can reach; for where

there are large fires in old houses, accidents sometimes occur; and the

falling of ever so little soot will sometimes spoil a dinner.

Every lady ought to make a receipt-book for herself. Neither my receipts

nor those of any cookery book can be supposed to give equal satisfaction to

every palate. After {41}performing any piece of cookery according to the

directions given in a book, a person of common intelligence would be able

to discover whatever was displeasing to the taste, and easily alter the

receipt, and so enter it in her own book that the cook could not err in

following it. This plan would be found to save much trouble.

As soon after breakfast as she conveniently can, the mistress of a house

should repair to the kitchen; which ought to be swept, the fire-place

cleaned, tea-kettles, coffee-pots, and anything else used in preparing the

breakfast, put in their appropriate places, and the cook ready to receive

her orders for the day. Without being parsimonious, the mistress should

see, with her own eyes, every morning, whatever cold meat, remains of

pastry, bread, butter, &c., &c., there may be in the larder, that she may

be able to judge of the additional provision required. Having done that,

she should proceed to the store-room, to give the cook, the housemaid, and

others, such stores as they may require for the day. This will occupy but

very little time, if done regularly every morning; and having done this,

she should proceed to make her purchases at once, lest visitors, or any

accidental circumstance, cause her to be late in her marketing, and so

derange the regularity of the dinner hour, the servants' work, &c., &c.

Many ladies, in consequence of their own ill health, or that of their

children, are compelled to employ their servants to market for them; but

when they can avoid doing so it is better. I do not say this from a

suspicion that either tradespeople or servants are always likely to take

advantage of an opportunity to impose upon their customers or their

employers, but because this important part of household management ought to

be conducted by some one of the family, who must necessarily be more

interested in it than servants can be. Besides, more judgment is required

in marketing than all servants possess. A servant, for instance, is sent to

a fishmonger's for a certain quantity of fish, and she obeys the order

given her and brings home the fish, but at a higher price, perhaps, than

her mistress expected. Now if the lady had gone herself, and found that the

weather, or any other circumstance, had raised the price of fish for that

day, she would probably have made a less expensive one suit her purpose, or

turned to the Butcher or Poulterer to supply her table. {42}Also it is a

hindrance to a servant to be sent here and there during the early part of

the day, not to mention the benefit which the lady of the house would

derive by being compelled to be out of doors, and in exercise, for even a

short time, every day.

Although I like French cookery, I am not sufficiently acquainted with the

interior of French kitchens to know whether we should improve in the

fitting up of ours by imitating our neighbours. When I was abroad, and had

opportunities of informing myself upon this subject, I had not the present

work in contemplation. And though it is the object of travellers in general

to inquire into almost every thing while passing through a foreign country,

it happened once to me to meet with so much discouragement, when prying

into the culinary department of a large Hotel in the south of France, that

I hesitated to enter a foreign kitchen again. I was then on the way to

Italy, and from what was afterwards told me respecting the kitchens of the

latter country, I have reason to think that my resolution was not unwise,

since, had it been overcome by fresh curiosity, I might have been induced

to starve from too intimate knowledge of the mode in which the dishes of

our table were prepared. We had, at the hotel I am speaking of, fared

sumptuously for three days. There were, among other things, the finest

poultry and the most delicate pastry imaginable. But some chicken broth was

wanted for an invalid of our party, and the landlord suggested that if

Mademoiselle would herself give directions to the cook, the broth might,

perhaps, be the better made; and he went, accordingly, to announce my

intended visit to the important person who commanded in the kitchen. Upon

receiving intimation that all was ready, I descended, and was introduced to

the said cook, who met me at the door of a large, lofty, vaulted apartment,

the walls of which were black, not from any effect of antiquity, but from

those of modern smoke, and decorated with a variety of copper utensils, all

nearly as black on their outsides as the walls on which they hung. Of what

hue their insides might be I did not ascertain; and, at the moment, my

attention was suddenly diverted by the cook, who, begging me to be seated,

placed a chair by the side of a large, wild-looking fire-place. I had not

expected to see a tall, thin and bony, or a short and {43}fat woman, like

the cook of an English kitchen; I imagined a man, somewhat advanced in age,

and retaining some traces of the _ancien regime_, with large features and a

small body, with grizzly and half-powdered hair, and, perhaps, a pigtail;

at all events, with slippers down at heel, hands unclean, and a large

snuff-box. It was, therefore, not without surprise that I found the very

contrary of this in the personage who, dressed in a white apron, white

sleeves, and white night cap of unexceptionable cleanness, and bowing with

a grace that would have done credit to the most accomplished _petit maître_

of the last century, proceeded to relate how he had been instructed in the

art of making chicken broth by an English _Miledi_, who in passing into

Italy for the benefit of her health, had staid some weeks at the Hotel de

l'Europe. His detail of the process of broth-making was minute, and no

doubt scientific, but unhappily for the narrator, it was interrupted by his

producing a delicate white fowl, which he without ceremony laid on the

kitchen table, which stood in the middle of the room, and rivalled the very

walls themselves in blackness. I was assured, by the first glance at this

table, by reason of the fragments of fish, fowl, and pastry, strewed over

it, that the same piece of furniture served every purpose of

_chopping-block_ and _paste-board_. When, therefore, under these

circumstances, I saw the preparation for the broth just going to commence,

the exclamation of "Dirty pigs!" was making its way to my lips, and I, in

order to avoid outraging the ears of French politeness, in the spot of all

France most famous for the romantic, made the best of my way out of the

kitchen, and endeavoured, when the next dinner-time arrived, to forget that

I had ever seen it. Whenever afterwards the figure of this black table

appeared to my fancy, like a spectre rising to warn me against tasteful and

delicate looking _entremets_, I strove to forget the reality; but I never

recovered the feeling of perfect security in what I was about to eat until

the sea again rolled between me and the kitchen of the Hotel de l'Europe,

and I again actually saw the clear bright fire, the whitened hearth, the

yellow-ochred walls, the polished tins, the clean-scrubbed tables and

chairs, and the white dresser cloths, of the kitchen, such as I had always

been used to see at my own home.

{44}CHAPTER VI.

JOINTING, TRUSSING, AND CARVING.

Below will be found the figures of the five larger animals, followed by a

reference to each, by which the reader, who is not already experienced, may

observe the names of all the principal joints, as well as the part of the

animal from which the joint is cut. No book that I am acquainted with,

except that of MRS. RUNDELL, has taken any notice of this subject, though

it is a matter of considerable importance, and one as to which many a young

housekeeper often wishes for information.

_Venison._

[Illustration]

1. Shoulder.

2. Neck.

3. Haunch.

4. Breast.

5. Scrag.

{45}_Beef._

[Illustration]

1. Sirloin.

2. Rump.

3. Edge Bone.

4. Buttock.

5. Mouse Buttock.

6. Leg.

7. Thick Flank.

8. Veiny Piece.

9. Thin Flank.

10. Fore Rib: 7 Ribs.

11. Middle Rib: 4 Ribs.

12. Chuck Rib: 2 Ribs.

13. Brisket.

14. Shoulder, or Leg of Mutton Piece.

15. Clod.

16. Neck, or Sticking Piece.

17. Shin.

18. Cheek.

_Mutton._

[Illustration]

1. Leg.

2. Shoulder.

3. Loin, Best End.

4. Loin, Chump End.

5. Neck, Best End.

6. Breast.

7. Neck, Scrag End.

_Note._ A Chine is two Loins; and a Saddle is two Loins, and two Necks of

the Best End.

{46}_Veal._

[Illustration]

1. Loin, Best End.

2. Fillet.

3. Loin, Chump End.

4. Hind Knuckle.

5. Neck, Best End.

6. Breast, Best End.

7. Blade Bone, or Oyster-part.

8. Fore Knuckle.

9. Breast, Brisket End.

10. Neck, Scrag End.

_Pork._

[Illustration]

1. Leg.

2. Hind Loin.

3. Fore Loin.

4. Spare Rib.

5. Hand.

6. Belly or Spring.

{47}_Cod's Head._--FIG. 1.

[Illustration]

_Cod's Head_ (_Fig. 1_) is a dish in carving which you have nothing to

study beyond that preference for particular parts of the fish which some

persons entertain. The solid parts are helped by cutting through with the

fish trowel from _a_ to _b_ and from _c_ to _d_, and so on, from the

jaw-bone to the further end of the shoulder. The _sound_ lies on the

inside, and to obtain this, you must raise up the thin part of the fish,

near the letter _e_.--This dish never looks so well as when served dry, and

the fish on a napkin neatly folded, and garnished with sprigs of parsley.

_Haunch of Venison._--FIG. 2.

[Illustration]

_Haunch of Venison_ is cut (as in _Fig. 2._) first in the line _a_ {48}to

_b_. This first cut is the means of getting much of the gravy of the joint.

Then turning the dish longwise towards him, the carver should put the knife

in at _c_, and cut, as deep as the bone will allow, to _d_, and take out

slices on either side of the line in this direction. The fat of venison

becomes cold so very rapidly, that it is advisable, when convenient, to

have some means of giving it renewed warmth after the joint comes to table.

For this purpose, some use water plates, which have the effect of rendering

the meat infinitely nicer than it would be in a half chilled state.

_Haunch of Mutton_ is carved in the same way as _Venison_.

_Saddle of Mutton._--FIG. 3.

[Illustration]

_Saddle of Mutton._ This is prepared for roasting as in _Fig. 3_, the

_tail_ being split in two, each half twisted back, and skewered, with one

of the kidneys enclosed. You carve this by cutting, in straight lines, on

each side of the backbone, as from _a_ to_ b_, from _c_ to _d_. If the

saddle be a fine one, there will be fat on every part of it; but there is

always more on the sides (_ee_) than in the centre.

{49}_Edge Bone of Beef._--FIG. 4.

[Illustration]

_Edge Bone of Beef_, like the Round of Beef, is easily carved. But care

should be taken, with both of these, to carve neatly; for if the meat be

cut in thick slices or in pieces of awkward shape, the effect will be both

to cause waste and to render the dish, while it lasts, uninviting. Cut

slices, as thin as you please, from _a_ to _b_ (_Fig. 4_). The best part of

the fat will be found on one side of the meat, from about _c_ to _d_. The

most delicate is at _c_.

_Fore Quarter of Lamb._--FIG. 5.

[Illustration]

_Fore Quarter of Lamb_ is first to be cut so as to divide the _shoulder_

from the rest of the quarter, which is called {50}the _target_. For this

purpose, put the fork firmly into the shoulder joint, and then cut

underneath the blade-bone beginning at _a_ (_Fig. 5_), and continue all

round in the direction of a circular line, and pretty close to the under

part of the blade-bone. Some people like to cut the shoulder large, while

others take off no more meat with it than is barely necessary to remove the

blade-bone. It is most convenient to place the shoulder on a separate dish.

This is carved in the same way as the shoulder of mutton. (See _Fig. 7_.)

When the shoulder is removed, a lemon may be squeezed over that part of the

remainder of the joint where the knife had passed: this gives a flavour to

the meat which is generally approved.--Then, proceed to cut completely

through from _b_ to _c_, following the line across the bones as cracked by

the butcher; and this will divide the ribs (_d_) from the brisket (_e_).

Tastes vary in giving preference to the ribs or to the brisket.

_Leg of Mutton._--FIG. 6.

[Illustration]

_Leg of Mutton_, either boiled or roasted, is carved as in _Fig. 6_. You

begin, by taking slices from the most meaty part, which is done by making

cuts straight across the joint, and quite down to the bone (_a_, _b_), and

thus continuing on towards the thick end, till you come to _c_, the

_cramp-bone_ (or, as some call it, the _edge-bone_). Some {51}mutton is

superfluously fat on every part of the leg. The most delicate fat, however,

is always that which is attached to the outside, about the thick end. After

cutting as above directed, turn the joint over, and cut longwise the leg,

as with a haunch of venison (see _Fig. 1_). Some people like the _knuckle_,

that part which lies to the right of _b_, though this is always the driest

and the leanest. A few nice slices may be taken at _d_, by cutting across

that end: these are not juicy, but the grain of the meat is fine; and here

there is also some nice fat.

_Shoulder of Mutton._--FIG. 7.

[Illustration]

_Shoulder of Mutton._--Cut first from _a_ to _b_ (_Fig. 7_) as deep as the

bone will permit, and take out slices on each side of this line. Then cut

in a line with and on both sides of the ridges of the blade-bone, which

will be found running in the direction _c_ to _d_. The meat of this part is

some of the most delicate, but there is not much of it. You may get some

nice slices between _e_ and _f_, though these will sometimes be very fat.

Turn the joint over, and take slices from the flat surface of the under

part: these are the coarsest, yet some think the best.--In small families

it is sometimes the practice to cut the under side while hot; this leaves

the joint better looking for the next day.

{52}_Ham._--FIG. 8.

[Illustration]

_Ham_ is generally cut by making a deep incision across the top of it, as

from _a_ to _b_, and down to the bone. Those who like the _knuckle_ end,

which is the most lean and dry, may cut towards _c_; but the prime part of

the ham is that between _a_ and the thick end. Some prefer carving hams

with a more slanting cut, beginning in a direction as from _a_ to _c_, and

so continuing throughout to the thick end. The slanting mode is, however,

apt to be very wasteful, unless the carver be careful not to take away too

much fat in proportion to the lean.

_Sucking Pig_ should always be cut up by the cook; at least, the principal

parts should be divided before the dish is served. First, take off the

_head_ immediately behind the ears: then cut the body in two, by carrying

the knife quite through from the neck to the tail. The _legs_ and the

_shoulders_ must next be removed from the sides, and each of them cut in

two at their respective joints. The _sides_ may either be sent to table

whole, or cut up: if the latter, separate the whole length of each side

into three or four pieces. The _head_ should be split in two, and the lower

jaws divided from the upper part of it; let the _ears_ be cut off. In

serving, a neat cook will take care to arrange the different parts thus

separated so that they may appear, upon the dish, as little uneven and

confused as possible. The sides, whether whole or in several pieces, should

be laid parallel with each other; the legs and {53}shoulders on the outer

side of these, and opposite to the parts to which they have respectively

belonged; and the portions of the head, and the ears, may be placed, some

at one end, and some at the other end, or, as taste may suggest, at the

sides of the dish.

_Hare, or Rabbit, for Roasting._--FIG. 9.

[Illustration]

_Hare, or Rabbit, for Roasting_, is prepared for the spit as in _Fig.

9_.--To carve: begin by cutting through near to the back-bone, from _a_ to

_b_; then make a corresponding cut on the other side of the back-bone;

leaving the _back_ and the _head_ in one distinct piece. Cut off the _legs_

at the hip joint (_e_), and take off the _wing_ nearly as you would the

wing of a bird, carrying the knife round the circular line (_c_). The

_ribs_ are of little importance, as they are bare of meat. Divide the

_back_ into three or four portions, as pointed out by the letters _f g h_.

The _head_ is then to be cut off, and the lower jaws divided from the

upper. By splitting the upper part of the head in the middle you have the

_brains_, which are prized by epicures. The comparative goodness of

different parts of a hare, will depend much on the age, and also upon the

cooking. The back and the legs are always the best. The wing of a young

hare is nice; but this is not so good in an old one, and particularly if it

be not thoroughly well done. The carving of a _rabbit_ is pretty much the

same as that of a hare: there is much less difficulty, however, with the

former; and it would always save a good deal of trouble, as well as delay,

if hares which are not quite young were sent to table already cut up.

{54}_Rabbit, for Boiling._--FIG. 10.

[Illustration]

_Rabbit, for Boiling_, should be trussed, according to the newest fashion,

as in _Fig. 10_. Cut off the _ears_ close to the head, and cut off the

_feet_ at the foot-joint. Cut off the _tail_. Then make an incision on each

side of the backbone, at the _rump-end_, about an inch and a half long.

This will enable you to stretch the legs further towards the head. Bring

the _wings_ as close to the body as you can, and bring the legs close to

the outside of the wings. The _head_ should be bent round to one side, in

order that, by running one skewer through the legs, wings and mouth, you

may thus secure all and have the rabbit completely and compactly trussed.

_Turkey, for Roasting._--FIG. 11.

[Illustration]

_Turkey for Roasting_, is sometimes trussed with the _feet_ on; and it is

sometimes brought to table with the _head_ as {55}well as the feet. But

such trussing is exceedingly ugly, and altogether unworthy of a good cook.

The manner here described (see _Fig. 11_) is the most approved. If the

breast-bone be sharp, it should be beaten down, to make the bird appear as

plump as possible.--See _Carving_, in observations on _Fig. 15_.

_Goose._--FIG. 12.

[Illustration]

_Goose._--For Carving, see observations on _Fig. 15_.

_Fowls, for Roasting._

[Illustration: FIG. 13.] [Illustration: FIG. 14.]

_Fowls, for Roasting._--The most modern way of trussing these is as in

_Figs. 13_ and _14_. If it be but a chicken, or a small fowl, a single

skewer through the wings, and the legs simply tied, as in _Fig. 14_, will

be sufficient. But a large fowl is best kept in shape by the other method

(_Fig. 13_).--See _Carving_, in observations on _Fig. 15_.

{56}_Turkey or Fowl for Boiling._--FIG. 15.

[Illustration]

_Turkey or Fowl, for Boiling._--For boiling, turkeys and fowls should,

according to the newest fashion, both be trussed in the same way. There is

nothing peculiar in this way, excepting as to the legs, which are to be

trussed _within the apron_. To do this, the cook must first cut off the

feet, and then, putting her fingers into the inside of the fowl, separate

the skin of the leg from the flesh, all the way to the extreme joint. The

leg, being drawn back, will thus remain, as it were, in a bag, within the

apron; and, if this be properly done, there need be no other break in the

skin than what has been occasioned at the joint by cutting the feet. If it

be a turkey, or a large fowl, the form may be better preserved, by putting

a skewer through the legs as well as through the wings (_see Fig. 15_). But

with small fowls there needs no skewer for the legs. All skewers used in

trussing should be taken out before the dish comes to table. To carve

fowls, turkeys, &c., see _Fig. 15_. Begin by taking off the _wings_,

cutting from _a_ to _b_, _c_ to _d_. Next the _legs_, putting your knife in

at _f f_. Then, if it be a large bird, you will help slices from the breast

(_e e_). But with the smaller birds, as chickens, partridges, &c., a

considerable portion of the breast should come off with the wing, and then

there is not enough left to spare any thing more from the breast-bone. _The

merry-thought_, situated at the point of the breast-bone, is taken off by

cutting straight across at _h h_. In helping, recollect that the

_liver-wing_ is {57}commonly thought more of than the other. The

_breast-bone_ is divided from the back by simply cutting through the ribs

on each side of the fowl. The _neck-bones_ are at _g g_; but for these see

_Fig. 16_, and the directions for carving the _back_.

_Back of a Fowl._--FIG. 16.

[Illustration]

Rest your knife firmly on the centre of the back, at the same time turning

either end up with your fork, and this part will easily break in two at _a

b_. The _side-bones_ are at _c d_; and to remove these, some people put the

point of the knife in at midway the line, just opposite to _c d_; others at

the rump end of the bones _e f_. The _neck-bones_ (at _g h_) are the most

difficult part of the task. These must be taken off before the breast is

divided from the back; they adhere very closely, and require the knife to

be held firmly on the body of the fowl, while the fork is employed to twist

them off.

_Duck._--FIG. 17.

[Illustration: _Breast._] [Illustration: _Back._]

_Duck._--This should be trussed as in _Fig. 17_. The _leg_ is {58}twisted

at the joint, and the _feet_ (with the _claws_ only cut off) are turned

over, and so brought to lie flat on the rump.--For _Carving_, see

observations on _Fig. 15_.

_Pheasant._--FIG. 18.

[Illustration]

_Partridge._--FIG. 19.

[Illustration]

_Pheasant and Partridge._--These two are trussed nearly in one way, as in

_Figs. 18_ and _19_, excepting, that the _legs_ of the partridge are

raised, and tied together over the apron, crossing each other. For

_Carving_, see observations on _Fig. 15_.

{59}CHAPTER VII.

BOILING.

THERE is no branch of cookery which requires more nicety than plain

boiling, though, from its simplicity, some cooks think it does not. They

think that to put a piece of meat into water, and to make that boil for a

given length of time, is all that is needful; but it is not so. To boil a

leg of mutton, or a fowl, properly, requires as much care as to compound a

made dish. Meat which is poor and tough cannot be made tender and fine

flavoured by boiling; but that which was, to all appearance, very fine meat

before it was put into the pot, has often been taken out really good for

nothing. And many a Butcher and Poulterer have been blamed, when the fault

was not theirs.

Meat should be put into cold water, enough to keep it _well_ covered. The

longer in reason it is coming to a boil, the better, as a gradual heating

produces tenderness, and causes a separation from the meat of the grosser

particles, which rise in the shape of scum to the surface, and which should

be carefully taken off. The finest leg of mutton must be disgusting, if

garnished with flakes of black scum. Care should be taken to watch the

first moment of the scum's appearing in order to remove it, and then, by

throwing in a little salt, the remainder will be caused to rise; and if the

fast boiling of the water render the scumming difficult, pour in a very

little cold water. The practice of boiling meat, such as poultry, veal, and

lamb, in floured cloths, to keep it white, must have been the invention of

lazy cooks, if not of tasteless and extravagant housewives; for the meat is

rendered less juicy, and the liquor in which it has been boiled, so good

for broth or gravy, must be lost.

When the pot has been well scummed, and no more scum to be seen, set in

such a situation on, or by, the fire, that it may continue to boil _gently_

and _regularly_, for the time required; and see that it do not stop boiling

{60}altogether at one time, and then be hurried to a wallop at another

time, for this dries up the juices, hardens the meat, and tears it. A

kettle of boiling water should be at hand, in order to replenish the pot,

as the quantity diminishes, taking heed not to exceed the original

quantity, namely, enough to _cover_ the meat, for the less water, the

better the broth will be.

Salted meat, if very salt, and all smoked meat, should be washed, and in

some cases, _soaked_ before it is boiled. If too little salted, it must not

be either washed or scraped, and may be put on to boil in water a little

heated, because a slow process would help to freshen it.

No positive rule can be given for the time required to boil meat, any more

than to roast, for much depends on its freshness, and a piece of _solid_

meat requires a longer time to boil than a joint of equal weight but of

less thickness. Salted and smoked meat require longer boiling than fresh

meat, veal longer than beef, mutton, or lamb; and pork, though ever so

little salted, still longer than veal. A leg of mutton which has hung long

will boil in less time than one which is quite or nearly fresh; but then

the former ought not to be boiled at all, but roasted, for the fire takes

away mustiness, and all the impurities with which the boiling water would

only tend still more to impregnate the meat. A quarter of an hour, and a

quart of water, to every pound of meat, is the rule of boiling, but

practice must teach this, as well as many other important parts of culinary

science. By a little care and attention, a cook will soon gain sufficient

experience to preserve her from the risk of sending a joint to table too

little, or too much done.

When meat is sufficiently boiled, take it up directly; and if it have to

wait, stand it over the pot it was cooked in, to keep it hot; remaining in

the water will sodden it.

The next thing for consideration, after that of cooking the meat properly,

is the turning to account the liquor in which it is boiled. This, be the

meat what it may, is good as a foundation for _Soups_ or _Gravies_ unless

it be the liquor of ham or bacon, and that can only be used in small

quantities, to flavour. The liquor of pork makes good pease soup. When such

liquor is not wanted for the family, it may always, at a trifling expense,

be converted {61}into wholesome and nourishing food for the poor. (_See

cookery for the poor._)

_Round of Beef._

If too large a joint to dress whole, for a small family, or where cold meat

is not liked, it may be cut into two or even three pieces, taking care to

give to each piece a due portion of fat; skewer it up tightly, of a good

shape, then bind it with strong coarse tape, or strips of linen. The vessel

roomy, the beef placed on a fish drainer (as should all large joints), and

care taken to keep it covered with water. Three hours for a piece of 12

lbs. About three hours and a half to 16 lbs., and so on, in proportion. Put

in carrots and turnips two hours after the meat. See that there be no scum

left on, before you send it to table. Garnish with sliced carrots, and

serve mashed turnips or greens, in a separate dish. Also dumplings, if

approved.

The whole round, if 30 lbs. weight, will require to boil five hours. But

remember, that the _boiling_ should be only steady _simmering_. Place the

vessel over the fire, that the water may come to a boil; then draw it to

the side, and never let it cease to simmer. Have a kettle of boiling water

by the side, to fill up with.

_Edge Bone of Beef._

One of 20 lbs. weight will require to boil three hours and a half. One of

10 lbs. weight will be done in two hours. The soft fat is best hot, the

hard fat cold.

_Brisket of Beef._

This being a long, awkward joint, may be cut in two; it requires longer

boiling than the edge bone; five hours not too much for a large piece. (See

_Beef to Press._)

For _Bouilli_ and other ways of cooking beef, see the _Index_.

_Leg of Mutton._

This joint should be kept from two days to a week. Cut out the pipe, and

carefully wipe the meat to clear it of all {62}mustiness. Chop but a very

small piece off the shank. Boil carrots and turnips with it if you _like_,

but the former will not improve the colour; and do not put them in before

the pot has been carefully scummed. A leg of 9 lbs. will take three hours

_slow_ boiling. Garnish with slices of carrot, or a rim of mashed turnip.

Serve caper sauce in a boat. _Walnut_ also is good, in place of capers. If

chickens or a fowl be wanted for the same dinner, they may boil in the same

vessel with the mutton, but not with vegetables. The _broth_ will be better

for this addition. If broth be wanted the same day, put into the water, as

soon as it has been scummed, some barley or rice, and after it has boiled

one hour and a half, lift out the mutton and place it by the fire, covered

to keep warm; take the lid off the pot, and let it boil quickly till the

liquor be reduced to the quantity you desire; put in turnips and carrots,

in small pieces, a head of celery, and a little parsley; return the mutton,

and boil it slowly half an hour.--A leg of mutton, if too large to cook at

once, may be divided into two; roast the fillet and boil the shank. _Or_:

you may take cutlets off the large end two days running, and then dress the

shank.--Tongue is good with boiled mutton.

_Neck of Mutton._

Should be very much trimmed of its fat, and, if from 3 to 5 lbs. weight,

boil _slowly_ two hours; it will likewise make very good broth, as the leg.

Garnish and serve in the same way.--Some do not cut off any of the fat,

until after it is cooked, then pare it off, and put it by: this, shred

finely, makes light pudding crust.

_Leg of Lamb._

A delicate dish, if nicely boiled, served with parsley and butter, and

garnished with sprigs of cauliflower, brocoli, or spinach. A dish of the

latter should be served with it. (_See in the Index._) If small, the loin

may be cut into steaks, fried, and placed round the leg, lightly garnished

with crisped parsley; or they may be placed round mashed potatoes, in

another dish. A leg of 5 lbs. should _simmer_ gently two hours, counting

from the time it is first put on, in cold water.

{63}_Calf's Head._

Wash it well in several waters, and soak it in warm water for a quarter of

an hour, but first take the brains out, and having well washed, let them

soak in cold water with a little salt for an hour. _Half_ the head (without

the skin), will require _gentle_ boiling two hours; with the skin, another

hour. Put it on in cold water. Boil 8 or 10 sage leaves, and the same

quantity in bulk of parsley, half an hour, then drain, chop very fine, and

spread them on a plate. Scald and peel the skin off the brains, put them

into a saucepan with plenty of cold water: when it boils, carefully scum

it, and let it boil gently fifteen minutes; chop the brains, but not very

fine, and put them into a small saucepan with the parsley and sage, also 2

table-spoonsful of thin melted butter, a little salt, and, if you like,

cayenne and lemon juice. Take the tongue out of the head, trim off the

roots, skin and place it in the middle of a dish, the brains round it. Pour

parsley and butter over the head, garnish with broiled rashers of bacon.

Serve ham, bacon, or pork, and greens. Save a quart of the liquor to make

sauce for the hash (_which see_). A very good sauce for this, eaten in

France, is as follows: 2 table-spoonsful of chopped eschalots, 1 of

parsley, 1 of tarragon and chervil, 1 of salt, a little pepper, 6

table-spoonsful of salad oil, 1 of vinegar: mix well together and serve

cold.

_Veal._

In some parts of England a boiled fillet is considered a delicacy. It

should not be large. Stuff it the same as for roasting (_which see_), or

with the forcemeat directed for boiled turkey. Serve white sauce, and

garnish with slices of lemon and barberries.--The neck is good boiled, and

eaten with parsley and butter.

_Pork._

This must be exceedingly well done. Wash and scrape a leg, and let it lie

in cold water a quarter of an hour to whiten; put it on to boil in cold

water; do not let it boil fast, because the knuckle will be broken to

pieces, before the thick part of the meat is done. Be careful to {64}take

off all the scum, and let a leg of 7 lbs. weight simmer three hours. If to

eat cold, do not cut it in the middle, because that will allow too much

gravy to be lost, but cut from the knuckle, and it will eat more tender.

Peas pudding with leg of pork, also parsnips, carrots, turnips or greens,

and mashed potatoes.

_Petit-Toes._

Put a thin slice of bacon at the bottom of a stew-pan, with a little broth

or thin melted butter, a blade of mace, a few peppercorns, and a sprig of

thyme; in this boil the feet, the heart, liver and lights, till tender; the

three latter will be done first; take them out and mince them fine: put

this mince and the feet into another saucepan with some good gravy

thickened with butter rolled in flour, season with pepper, salt, and a

small quantity of walnut and mushroom catsup; let it simmer five minutes.

While this is cooking prepare some sippets of toasted bread, lay them round

a dish, pour the mince and sauce into the middle, and having split the

feet, lay them lightly on the top.--A little cream may be added. (_See to

fry._)

_Poultry._

Be careful in picking, that the skin be not broken. Some cooks wash

poultry, but if wiping will be sufficient, it is best not washed. Chickens

and fowls will keep two or three days, except in very hot weather. A fowl

put on in cold water, should simmer by the side of the fire, from

twenty-five minutes to half an hour. Some cooks boil a little fresh suet

sliced, and also slices of lemon peel, with fowl. Some boil them in milk

and water. The water must be well scummed.

_Boiled Fowls_ with white sauce, or mushroom, oyster, celery, liver, or

lemon sauce, or parsley and butter. A pretty remove of fish or soup, is, a

small tongue in the centre, a boiled chicken on each side, and small heads

of brocoli, with a few asparagus and French beans to fill the spaces. Serve

any of the above sauces.--Always ham, bacon or tongue, and some sort of

green vegetable, with fowl and turkey; chine with the latter. Garnish with

slices of lemon.

{65}_Ducks._

Choose fine fat ones. Some persons salt them slightly, for two days, others

boil them without. Smother them with onions, or serve onion sauce.

_Turkey._

Let it hang four days, and take care not to blacken it in singeing. It is

usual to fill the crop of a turkey with forcemeat (_see forcemeats_), or

with a stuffing of bread-crumbs, suet shred fine, a little parsley, thyme,

and lemon peel, chopped fine, nutmeg, pepper, and salt, the whole mixed

together by an egg. In America it is the practice to stuff turkeys with

oysters chopped and mixed with bread-crumbs. About 4 would be sufficient. A

large turkey, with the crop filled, requires two hours _slow_ boiling; not

filled, half an hour less; and a small hen turkey an hour. Serve with

oyster or celery sauce, and either chine, bacon or tongue. The forcemeat

may be enriched by grated tongue or ham, chopped veal, an anchovy and a

little bit of eschalot. (_See to hash, also grill._)

_Rabbits._

A full-sized one will boil in half an hour; an old one above an hour. Some

use _milk_ and water. Serve with onion sauce poured over; or a sauce made

of melted butter, and the livers, previously boiled, and minced small, with

a little parsley. Lay slices of lemon round the dish. Ham or Bacon.

_Bacon_

Should be well washed and scraped, and old bacon soaked in cold water.

After coming slowly to a boil, let a piece of 4 lbs. simmer by the fire two

hours, if young and fresh cured, less time. Some cooks put fat bacon into

hot water, and lean into cold. Take off the rind and set it before the fire

to dry up the oozing fat. Strew bread-raspings over.

_Ham._

The main thing to be attended to is the previous soaking, and the requisite

time must be left to the discretion of the cook, for, whereas one night

would be sufficient for a small {66}and tender ham, if very old and dry,

less than four days and four nights will scarcely be enough. The water

should be changed every day, and the night before it is boiled, scrape

well, pour warm water over it, and trim off all the rusty, ill-looking,

bits, then lay it in the water again. Scum the pot, and let the ham _simmer

from three to five_ hours, according to its weight. When done, take the

skin off gently, and after covering the ham with bread-raspings, set it

before the fire, to crisp it. Twist writing paper round the shank, and

garnish with greens, or little heaps of bread-raspings. The liquor, if well

scummed at first, may be strained or put by, and if you boil fowls or veal

on the following day, you may put the two liquors together, boil them

rapidly down; add pepper, mace, eschalot, and a faggot of herbs, and you

will have a highly relishing gravy. Some persons contend that the practice

of boiling a ham until half cooked, and then finishing by _baking_ it,

improves the flavour. (_See to bake meat._)

_Tongue._

If you buy it salted, learn how long it has been in pickle, for according

to that it must soak. If old and hard, twenty-four hours will not be too

much. Have plenty of water, and let it be a full hour in coming to a boil;

then _simmer gently_ for three hours; longer if very large. The root is an

excellent ingredient for peas soup.

_Tripe._

Cut in cutlets, or not, as you choose, and simmer it in milk and water till

quite tender. Peel and boil a dozen button onions, put the tripe in a deep

dish with some of the sauce, and the onions on the top; or you may boil it

in plain water. Mustard sauce is good.--As all persons would not choose

onions, you may serve onion sauce as directed for rabbits (_which see_).

Serve rashers of bacon, if approved.

_Cow-Heel._

When well boiled, cut into nice pieces, egg, bread crumb, and fry them of a

light brown, and serve with fried onions or any piquant sauce. Is very good

only boiled, and served with parsley and butter.

{67}CHAPTER VIII.

ROASTING.

FOR roasting, meat should be kept longer than for boiling, or it will not,

though ever so good, eat well. The proper length of time depends upon the

state of the weather, and the age of the animal when killed, for young meat

bears keeping less time than old meat. Two days of hot weather will do as

much to render meat fit for the spit, as a week of cold weather.

Next after the state of the meat, the thing of most consequence is

preparing the fire, which ought to be made up (of the size required by the

length and breadth of the joint) half an hour before the meat is put down.

It should not at first be exposed to a fierce fire. Let there be a backing

of wetted cinders or small coals: this tends to throw the heat in front;

lay large coals on the top, smaller ones between the bars, give the fire

time to draw, and it will be clear. Before you put down the meat, stir the

fire, clear it at the bottom, and see that it be free from smoke in front.

Some cooks make a practice of washing meat, with salt and water, then

wiping it dry, before it is roasted. Where there is mustiness, or slimy

appearance, it should be wiped off with a wet cloth, otherwise much washing

is neither necessary nor beneficial. See that it be properly jointed; if

there be too much fat, cut it off (it is better for puddings, in the shape

of suet, than dripping); cover the meat with kitchen paper, _tied_ on with

twine, and not fastened by _pins_; see also, that the spit be bright and

clean, and take care to run it through the meat, in the right place, at

once, for the more the meat is perforated, the greater chance will be given

for the escape of the gravy. Great nicety is required in spitting, that the

joint may be accurately balanced. In the absence of spits and smoke-jacks,

a bottle-jack, or a stout nail with a strong string or skein of worsted,

will {68}dangle a joint, and if the fire be made proportionably high to the

length of the joint, there is no better mode of roasting. A strong skewer

must be run in, at each end of the joint, in order to turn it.

The larger the joint the greater distance it should, at first, be from the

fire, that the outside may not be shrivelled up before the middle is

warmed. A quarter of an hour to a pound of meat, is the rule for roasting,

and it admits of the same exceptions as in the case of boiling, with this

addition, that fat meat takes longer than lean meat, as do pork and veal

longer than any other kind. Fillets and legs, on account of their

solidness, longer than loins and breasts. Much depends upon the situation

of the fire-place, and whether the joint be exposed to draughts of cold

air, or whether it be preserved from them, and the fire assisted, by a meat

screen. Where there is none, a contrivance must be resorted to, by way of

substitute, such as small wooden horses, or chairs, with cloths hung over

them; these will keep off the cold, but a meat screen, lined with tin,

keeps in the heat, and acts as a reflector.--Twice, or if the roast be

large, oftener, remove the pan, pour off the dripping (it ought to be

strained), draw the spit to a distance, and stir the fire, bring forward

the hot coals, and put fresh at the back. Be careful that cinders do not

reach the dripping-pan, for the smoke which they cause to rise from the

fat, gives a disagreeable flavour to the meat, besides the injury to the

dripping. (_See Dripping._)--When the meat is nearly done, the steams will

draw towards the fire; take the paper off, and move the joint nearer to the

fire, particularly the ends, if they want more cooking; sprinkle salt

lightly over the roast; then pour off all the remaining dripping, dredge

flour _very lightly_ over the joint, and baste with a very little fresh

butter, which will not injure the gravy in the pan, but give a delicate

froth to the meat. To the gravy now flowing from the meat, the best

addition is a teacupful of boiling water. (_See Gravies._)

With a clear strong fire (and meat cannot be well roasted without a strong

fire), time allowed for gradual cooking, a cook may ensure for her roasts

that fine pale brown colour, to produce which is esteemed one of the

greatest proofs of a cook's skill.

{69}_Sirloin of Beef._

After reading the foregoing observations, the cook must gain, by

observation and practice, that experience which will enable her to send

this very best of joints to table, done enough, yet not overdone. A piece

of 15 lbs. weight will require nearly four hours to cook it well: cover it

with two half sheets of foolscap paper, and put it near to the fire for a

few minutes; then rub it well over with butter, and draw it back to a

distance (provided always that there is a very _good, steady_ fire); and in

this case do not baste at all, but put some boiling water into the

dripping-pan when you first put the meat down, and this, by the time the

meat is done, will be good gravy, after you have poured the fat off. The

older fashion is to baste with dripping as soon as you put it down, and

continue the basting every quarter of an hour; but I think the other method

gives the meat the most delicate taste and appearance. However, a cook

should try both ways, and afterwards follow the one which best suits the

taste of her employers.