Chop up twelve large onions, boil them in three quarts of mi

THE VIRGINIA HOUSEWIFE

Or, Methodical Cook

By

MRS. MARY RANDOLPH

1860

Method Is the Soul of Management

PREFACE

The difficulties I encountered when I first entered on the duties of a

housekeeping life, from the want of books sufficiently clear and concise

to impart knowledge to a Tyro, compelled me to study the subject, and by

actual experiment to reduce every thing in the culinary line, to proper

weights and measures. This method I found not only to diminish the

necessary attention and labour, but to be also economical: for, when the

ingredients employed were given in just proportions, the article made

was always equally good. The government of a family, bears a Lilliputian

resemblance to the government of a nation. The contents of the Treasury

must be known, and great care taken to keep the expenditures from being

equal to the receipts. A regular system must be introduced into each

department, which may be modified until matured, and should then pass

into an inviolable law. The grand arcanum of management lies in three

simple rules:--"Let every thing be done at a proper time, keep every

thing in its proper place, and put every thing to its proper use." If

the mistress of a family, will every morning examine minutely the

different departments of her household, she must detect errors in their

infant state, when they can be corrected with ease; but a few days'

growth gives them gigantic strength: and disorder, with all her

attendant evils, are introduced. Early rising is also essential to the

good government of a family. A late breakfast deranges the whole

business of the day, and throws a portion of it on the next, which opens

the door for confusion to enter. The greater part of the following

receipts have been written from memory, where they were impressed by

long continued practice. Should they prove serviceable to the young

inexperienced housekeeper, it will add greatly to that gratification

which an extensive circulation of the work will be likely to confer.

M. RANDOLPH. Washington, January, 1831.

INTRODUCTION.

Management is an art that may be acquired by every woman of good sense

and tolerable memory. If, unfortunately, she has been bred in a family

where domestic business is the work of chance, she will have many

difficulties to encounter; but a determined resolution to obtain this

valuable knowledge, will enable her to surmount all obstacles. She must

begin the day with an early breakfast, requiring each person to be in

readiness to take their seats when the muffins, buckwheat cakes, &c. are

placed on the table. This looks social and comfortable. When the family

breakfast by detachments, the table remains a tedious time; the servants

are kept from their morning's meal, and a complete derangement takes

place in the whole business of the day. No work can be done till

breakfast is finished. The Virginia ladies, who are proverbially good

managers, employ themselves, while their servants are eating, in washing

the cups, glasses, &c.; arranging the cruets, the mustard, salt-sellers,

pickle vases, and all the apparatus for the dinner table. This occupies

but a short time, and the lady has the satisfaction of knowing that they

are in much better order than they would be if left to the servants. It

also relieves her from the trouble of seeing the dinner table prepared,

which should be done every day with the same scrupulous regard to exact

neatness and method, as if a grand company was expected. When the

servant is required to do this daily, he soon gets into the habit of

doing it well; and his mistress having made arrangements for him in the

morning, there is no fear of bustle and confusion in running after

things that may be called for during the hour of dinner. When the

kitchen breakfast is over, and the cook has put all things in their

proper places, the mistress should go in to give her orders. Let all the

articles intended for the dinner, pass in review before her: have the

butter, sugar, flour, meal, lard, given out in proper quantities; the

catsup, spice, wine, whatever may be wanted for each dish, measured to

the cook. The mistress must tax her own memory with all this: we have no

right to expect slaves or hired servants to be more attentive to our

interest than we ourselves are: they will never recollect these little

articles until they are going to use them; the mistress must then be

called out, and thus have the horrible drudgery of keeping house all

day, when one hour devoted to it in the morning, would release her from

trouble until the next day. There is economy as well as comfort in a

regular mode of doing business. When the mistress gives out every thing,

there is no waste; but if temptation be thrown in the way of

subordinates, not many will have power to resist it; besides, it is an

immoral act to place them in a situation which we pray to be exempt from

ourselves.

The prosperity and happiness of a family depend greatly on the order and

regularity established in it. The husband, who can ask a friend to

partake of his dinner in full confidence of finding his wife unruffled

by the petty vexations attendant on the neglect of household duties--who

can usher his guest into the dining-room assured of seeing that

methodical nicety which is the essence of true elegance,--will feel

pride and exultation in the possession of a companion, who gives to his

home charms that gratify every wish of his soul, and render the haunts

of dissipation hateful to him. The sons bred in such a family will be

moral men, of steady habits; and the daughters, if the mother shall have

performed the duties of a parent in the superintendence of their

education, as faithfully as she has done those of a wife, will each be a

treasure to her husband; and being formed on the model of an exemplary

mother, will use the same means for securing the happiness of her own

family, which she has seen successfully practised under the paternal

roof.

CONTENTS.

SOUPS.

Asparagus soup

Beef soup

Gravy soup

Soup with Bouilli

Veal soup

Oyster soup

Barley soup

Dried pea soup

Green pea soup

Ochra soup

Hare or Rabbit soup

Soup of any kind of old fowl

Catfish soup

Onion soup

To dress turtle

For the soup

Mock turtle soup of calf's head

BEEF.

Directions for curing beef

To dry beef for summer use

To corn beef in hot weather

Important observations on roasting, boiling, frying, &c.

Beef a-la-mode

Brisket of beef baked

Beef olives

To stew a rump of beef

A fricando of beef

An excellent method of dressing beef

To collar a flank of beef

To make hunter's beef

A nice little dish of beef

Beef steaks

To hash beef

Beef steak pie

Beef a-la-daube

VEAL.

Directions for the pieces in the different quarters of veal

Veal cutlets from the fillet or leg

Veal chops

Veal cutlets

Knuckle of veal

Baked fillet of veal

Scotch collops of veal

Veal olives

Ragout of a breast of veal

Fricando of veal

To make a pie of sweetbreads and oysters

Mock turtle of calf's head

To grill a calf's head

To collar a calf's head

Calf's heart, a nice dish

Calf's feet fricassee

To fry calf's feet

To prepare rennet

To hash a calf's head

To bake a calf's head

To stuff and roast calf's liver

To broil calf's liver

Directions for cleaning calf's head and feet

LAMB.

To roast the fore-quarter, &c.

Baked lamb

Fried lamb

To dress lamb's head and feet

MUTTON.

Boiled leg of mutton

Roasted leg of mutton

Baked leg of mutton

Steaks of a leg of mutton

To harrico mutton

Mutton chops

Boiled breast of mutton

Breast of mutton in ragout

To grill a breast of mutton

Boiled shoulder of mutton

Shoulder of mutton with celery sauce

Roasted loin of mutton

PORK.

To cure bacon

To make souse

To roast a pig

To barbecue shote

To roast a fore-quarter of shote

To make shote cutlets

To corn shote

Shote's head

Leg of pork with pease pudding

Stewed chine

To toast a ham

To stuff a ham

Soused feet in ragout

To make sausages

To make black puddings

A sea pie

To make paste for the pie

Bologna sausages

FISH.

To cure herrings

To bake sturgeon

To make sturgeon cutlets

Sturgeon steaks

To boil sturgeon

To bake a shad

To boil a shad

To roast a shad

To broil a shad

To boil rock fish

To fry perch

To pickle oysters

To make a curry of catfish

To dress a cod's head and shoulders

To make sauce for the cod's head

To dress a salt cod

Matelote of any kind of firm fish

Chowder, a sea dish

To pickle sturgeon

To caveach fish

To dress cod fish

Cod fish pie

To dress any kind of salted fish

To fricassee cod sounds and tongues

An excellent way to dress fish

Fish a-la-daub

Fish in jelly

To make egg sauce for a salt cod

To dress cod sounds

To stew carp

To boil eels

To pitchcock eels

To broil eels

To scollop oysters

To fry oysters

To make oyster loaves

POULTRY, &c.

To roast a goose

To make sauce for a goose

To boil ducks with onion sauce

To make onion sauce

To roast ducks

To boil a turkey with oyster sauce

To make sauce for a turkey

To roast a turkey

To make sauce for a turkey

To boil fowls

To make white sauce for fowls

Fricassee of small chickens

To roast large fowls

To make egg sauce

To boil young chickens

To roast young chickens

Fried chickens

To roast woodcocks or snipes

To roast wild ducks or teal

To boil pigeons

To roast pigeons

To roast partridges or any small birds

To broil rabbits

To roast rabbits

To stew wild ducks

To dress ducks with juice of oranges

To dress ducks with onions

To roast a calf's head

To make a dish of curry after the East Indian manner

Dish of rice to be served up with the curry, in a dish by itself

Ochra and tomatos

Gumbo--a West India dish

Pepper pot

Spanish method of dressing giblets

Paste for meat dumplins

To make an ollo--a Spanish dish

Ropa veija--Spanish

Chicken pudding, a favourite Virginia dish

To make polenta

Macaroni

Mock macaroni

To make croquets

To make vermicelli

Common patties

Eggs in croquets

Omelette souffle

Fondus

A nice twelve o'clock luncheon

Eggs a-la-creme

Sauce a-la-creme for the eggs

Cabbage a-la-creme

To make an omelette

Omelette--another way

Gaspacho--Spanish

Eggs and tomatos

To fricassee eggs

SAUCES.

Fish sauce to keep a year

Sauce for wild fowl

Sauce for boiled rabbits

Gravy

Forcemeat balls

Sauce for boiled ducks or rabbits

Lobster sauce

Shrimp sauce

Oyster sauce for fish

Celery sauce

Mushroom sauce

Common sauce

To melt butter

Caper sauce

Oyster catsup

Celery vinegar

VEGETABLES.

To dress salad

To boil potatos

To fry sliced potatos

Potatos mashed

Potatos mashed with onions

To roast potatos

To roast potatos under meat

Potato balls

Jerusalem artichokes

Cabbage

Savoys

Sprouts and young greens

Asparagus

Sea-kale

To scollop tomatos

To stew tomatos

Cauliflower

Red beet roots

Parsnips

Carrots

Turnips

To mash turnips

Turnip tops

French beans

Artichokes

Brocoli

Peas

Puree of turnips

Ragout of turnips

Ragout of French beans, snaps, string beans

Mazagan beans

Lima, or sugar beans

Turnip rooted cabbage

Egg plant

Potato pumpkin

Sweet potato

Sweet potatos stewed

Sweet potatos broiled

Spinach

Sorrel

Cabbage pudding

Squash or cimlin

Winter squash

Field peas

Cabbage with onions

Salsify

Stewed salsify

Stewed mushrooms

Broiled mushrooms

To boil rice

Rice journey, or johnny cake

PUDDINGS, &c.

Observations on puddings and cakes

Rice milk for a dessert

To make puff paste

To make mince-meat for pies

To make jelly from feet

A sweet-meat pudding

To make an orange pudding

An apple custard

Boiled loaf

Transparent pudding

Flummery

Burnt custard

An English plum pudding

Marrow pudding

Sippet pudding

Sweet potato pudding

An arrow root pudding

Sago pudding

Puff pudding

Rice pudding

Plum pudding

Almond pudding

Quire of paper pancakes

A curd pudding

Lemon pudding

Bread pudding

The Henrietta pudding

Tansey pudding

Cherry pudding

Apple pie

Baked apple pudding

A nice boiled pudding

An excellent and cheap dessert dish

Sliced apple pudding

Baked Indian meal pudding

Boiled Indian meal pudding

Pumpkin pudding

Fayette pudding

Maccaroni pudding

Potato paste

Compote of apples

Charlotte

Apple fritters

Bell fritters

Bread fritters

Spanish fritters

To make mush

CAKES.

Jumbals

Macaroone

To make drop biscuit

Tavern biscuit

Rusk

Ginger bread

Plebeian ginger bread

Sugar ginger bread

Dough nuts--a yankee cake

Risen cake

Pound cake

Savoy, or spunge cake

A rich fruit cake

Naples biscuit

Shrewsbury cakes

Little plum cakes

Soda cakes

To make bread

To make nice biscuit

Rice bread

Mixed bread

Patent yeast

To prepare the cakes

Another method for making yeast

Nice, buns

Muffins

French rolls

Crumpets

Apoquiniminc cakes

Batter cakes

Batter bread

Cream cakes

Soufle biscuits

Corn meal bread

Sweet potato buns

Rice woffles

Velvet cakes

Chocolate cakes

Wafers

Buckwheat cakes

Observations on ice creams

Ice creams

Vanilla cream

Raspberry cream

Strawberry cream

Cocoa nut cream

Chocolate cream

Oyster cream

Iced jelly

Peach cream

Coffee cream

Quince cream

Citron cream

Almond cream

Lemon cream

Lemonade iced

To make custard

To make a trifle

Rice blanc mange

Floating island

Syllabub

COLD CREAMS

Lemon cream

Orange cream

Raspberry cream

Tea cream

Sago cream

Barley cream

Gooseberry fool

To make slip

Curds and cream

Blanc mange

To make a hen's nest

Pheasants a-la-daub

Partridges a-la-daub

Chickens a-la-daub

To make savoury jelly

Turkey a-la-daub

Salmagundi

An excellent relish after dinner

To stew perch

PRESERVES

Directions for making preserves

To preserve cling-stone peaches

Cling-stones sliced

Soft peaches

Peach marmalade

Peach chips

Pears

Pear marmalade

Quinces

Currant jelly

Quince jelly

Quince marmalade

Cherries

Morello cherries

To dry cherries

Raspberry jam

To preserve strawberries

Strawberry jam

Gooseberries

Apricots in brandy

Peaches in brandy

Cherries in brandy

Magnum bonum plums in brandy

PICKLING.

Lemon pickle

Tomato catsup

Tomato marmalade

Tomato sweet marmalade

Tomato soy

Pepper vinegar

Mushroom catsup

Tarragon or astragon vinegar

Curry powder

To pickle cucumbers

Oil mangos

To make the stuffing for forty melons

To make yellow pickle

To make green pickles

To prepare vinegar for green or yellow pickle

To pickle onions

To pickle nastertiums

To pickle radish pods

To pickle English walnuts

To pickle peppers

To make walnut catsup

To pickle green nectarines, or apricots

To pickle asparagus

Observations on pickling

CORDIALS, &c

Ginger wine

Orgeat

Cherry shrub

Currant wine

To make cherry brandy

Rose brandy

Peach cordial

Raspberry cordial

Raspberry vinegar

Mint cordial

Hydromel, or mead

To make a substitute for arrack

Lemon cordial

Ginger beer

Spruce beer

Molasses beer

To keep lemon juice

Sugar vinegar

Honey vinegar

Syrup of vinegar

Aromatic vinegar

Vinegar of the four thieves

Lavender water

Hungarian water

To prepare cosmetic soap for washing the hands

Cologne water

Soft pomatum

To make soap

To make starch

To dry herbs

To clean silver utensils

To make blacking

To clean knives and forks

SOUPS

ASPARAGUS SOUP.

Take four large bunches of asparagus, scrape it nicely, cut off one inch

of the tops, and lay them in water, chop the stalks and put them on the

fire with a piece of bacon, a large onion cut up, and pepper and salt;

add two quarts of water, boil them till the stalks are quite soft, then

pulp them through a sieve, and strain the water to it, which must be put

back in the pot; put into it a chicken cut up, with the tops of

asparagus which had been laid by, boil it until these last articles are

sufficiently done, thicken with flour, butter and milk, and serve it up.

* * * * *

BEEF SOUP.

Take the hind shin of beef, cut off all the flesh off the leg-bone,

which must be taken away entirely, or the soup will be greasy. Wash the

meat clean and lay it in a pot, sprinkle over it one small

table-spoonful of pounded black pepper, and two of salt; three onions

the size of a hen's egg, cut small, six small carrots scraped and cut

up, two small turnips pared and cut into dice; pour on three quarts of

water, cover the pot close, and keep it gently and steadily boiling five

hours, which will leave about three pints of clear soup; do not let the

pot boil over, but take off the scum carefully, as it rises. When it has

boiled four hours, put in a small bundle of thyme and parsley, and a

pint of celery cut small, or a tea-spoonful of celery seed pounded.

These latter ingredients would lose their delicate flavour if boiled too

much. Just before you take it up, brown it in the following manner: put

a small table-spoonful of nice brown sugar into an iron skillet, set it

on the fire and stir it till it melts and looks very dark, pour into it

a ladle full of the soup, a little at a time; stirring it all the while.

Strain this browning and mix it well with the soup; take out the bundle

of thyme and parsley, put the nicest pieces of meat in your tureen, and

pour on the soup and vegetables; put in some toasted bread cut in dice,

and serve it up.

* * * * *

GRAVY SOUP.

Get eight pounds of coarse lean beef--wash it clean and lay it in your

pot, put in the same ingredients as for the shin soup, with the same

quantity of water, and follow the process directed for that. Strain the

soup through a sieve, and serve it up clear, with nothing more than

toasted bread in it; two table-spoonsful of mushroom catsup will add a

fine flavour to the soup.

* * * * *

SOUP WITH BOUILLI.

Take the nicest part of the thick brisket of beef, about eight pounds,

put it into a pot with every thing directed for the other soup; make it

exactly in the same way, only put it on an hour sooner, that you may

have time to prepare the bouilli; after it has boiled five hours, take

out the beef, cover up the soup and set it near the fire that it may

keep hot. Take the skin off the beef, have the yelk of an egg well

beaten, dip a feather in it and wash the top of your beef, sprinkle over

it the crumb of stale bread finely grated, put it in a Dutch oven

previously heated, put the top on with coals enough to brown, but not

burn the beef; let it stand nearly an hour, and prepare your gravy

thus:--Take a sufficient quantity of soup and the vegetables boiled in

it; add to it a table-spoonful of red wine, and two of mushroom catsup,

thicken with a little bit of butter and a little brown flour; make it

very hot, pour it in your dish, and put the beef on it. Garnish it with

green pickle, cut in thin slices, serve up the soup in a tureen with

bits of toasted bread.

* * * * *

VEAL SOUP.

Put into a pot three quarts of water, three onions cut small, one

spoonful of black pepper pounded, and two of salt, with two or three

slices of lean ham; let it boil steadily two hours; skim it

occasionally, then put into it a shin of veal, let it boil two hours

longer; take out the slices of ham, and skim off the grease if any

should rise, take a gill of good cream, mix with it two table-spoonsful

of flour very nicely, and the yelks of two eggs beaten well, strain this

mixture, and add some chopped parsley; pour some soup on by degrees,

stir it well, and pour it into the pot, continuing to stir until it has

boiled two or three minutes to take off the raw taste of the eggs. If

the cream be not perfectly sweet, and the eggs quite new, the thickening

will curdle in the soup. For a change you may put a dozen ripe tomatos

in, first taking off their skins, by letting them stand a few minutes in

hot water, when they may be easily peeled. When made in this way you

must thicken it with the flour only. Any part of the veal may be used,

but the shin or knuckle is the nicest.

* * * * *

OYSTER SOUP.

Wash and drain two quarts of oysters, put them on with three quarts of

water, three onions chopped up, two or three slices of lean ham, pepper

and salt; boil it till reduced one-half, strain it through a sieve,

return the liquid into the pot, put in one quart of fresh oysters, boil

it till they are sufficiently done, and thicken the soup with four

spoonsful of flour, two gills of rich cream, and the yelks of six new

laid eggs beaten well; boil it a few minutes after the thickening is put

in. Take care that it does not curdle, and that the flour is not in

lumps; serve it up with the last oysters that were put in. If the

flavour of thyme be agreeable, you may put in a little, but take care

that it does not boil in it long enough to discolour the soup.

* * * * *

BARLEY SOUP.

Put on three gills of barley, three quarts of water, few onions cut up,

six carrots scraped and cut into dice, an equal quantity of turnips cut

small; boil it gently two hours, then put in four or five pounds of the

rack or neck of mutton, a few slices of lean ham, with pepper and salt;

boil it slowly two hours longer and serve it up. Tomatos are an

excellent addition to this soup.

* * * * *

DRIED PEA SOUP.

Take one quart of split peas, or Lima beans, which are better; put them

in three quarts of very soft water with three onions chopped up, pepper

and salt; boil them two hours; mash them well and pass them through a

sieve; return the liquid into the pot, thicken it with a large piece of

butter and flour, put in some slices of nice salt pork, and a large

tea-spoonful of celery seed pounded; boil it till the pork is done, and

serve it up; have some toasted bread cut into dice and fried in butter,

which must be put in the tureen before you pour in the soup.

* * * * *

GREEN PEA SOUP.

Make it exactly as you do the dried pea soup, only in place of the

celery seed, put a handful of mint chopped small, and a pint of young

peas, which must be boiled in the soup till tender; thicken it with a

quarter of a pound of butter, and two spoonsful of flour.

* * * * *

OCHRA SOUP.

Get two double handsful of young ochra, wash and slice it thin, add two

onions chopped fine, put it into a gallon of water at a very early hour

in an earthen pipkin, or very nice iron pot; it must be kept steadily

simmering, but not boiling: put in pepper and salt. At 12 o'clock, put

in a handful of Lima beans; at half-past one o'clock, add three young

cimlins cleaned and cut in small pieces, a fowl, or knuckle of veal, a

bit of bacon or pork that has been boiled, and six tomatos, with the

skin taken off; when nearly done, thicken with a spoonful of butter,

mixed with one of flour. Have rice boiled to eat with it.

* * * * *

HARE OR RABBIT SOUP.

Cut up two hares, put them into a pot with a piece of bacon, two onions

chopped, a bundle of thyme and parsley, which must be taken out before

the soup is thickened, add pepper, salt, pounded cloves, and mace, put

in a sufficient quantity of water, stew it gently three hours, thicken

with a large spoonful of butter, and one of brown flour, with a glass of

red wine; boil it a few minutes longer, and serve it up with the nicest

parts of the hares. Squirrels make soup equally good, done the same way.

* * * * *

SOUP OF ANY KIND OF OLD FOWL.

_The, only way in which they are eatable._ Put the fowls in a coop and

feed them moderately for a fortnight; kill one and cleanse it, cut off

the legs and wings, and separate the breast from the ribs, which,

together with the whole back, must be thrown away, being too gross and

strong for use. Take the skin and fat from the parts cut off which are

also gross. Wash the pieces nicely, and put them on the fire with abort

a pound of bacon, a large onion chopped small, some pepper and salt, a

few blades of mace, a handful of parsley, cut up very fine, and two

quarts of water, if it be a common fowl or duck--a turkey will require

more water. Boil it gently for three hours, tie up a small bunch of

thyme, and let it boil in it half an hour, then take it out. Thicken

your soup with a large spoonful of butter rubbed into two of flour, the

yelks of two eggs, and half a pint of milk. Be careful not to let it

curdle in the soup.

* * * * *

CATFISH SOUP.

_An excellent dish for those who have not imbibed a needless prejudice

against those delicious fish._

Take two large or four small white catfish that have been caught in deep

water, cut off the heads, and skin and clean the bodies; cut each in

three parts, put them in a pot, with a pound of lean bacon, a large

onion cut up, a handful of parsley chopped small, some pepper and salt,

pour in a sufficient quantity of water, and stew them till the fish are

quite tender but not broken; beat the yelks of four fresh eggs, add to

them a large spoonful of butter, two of flour, and half a pint of rich

milk; make all these warm and thicken the soup, take out the bacon, and

put some of the fish in your tureen, pour in the soup, and serve it up.

* * * * *

ONION SOUP.

Chop up twelve large onions, boil them in three quarts of milk and water

equally mixed, put in a bit of veal or fowl, and a piece of bacon with

pepper and salt. When the onions are boiled to pulp, thicken it with a

large spoonful of butter mixed with one of flour. Take out the meat, and

serve it up with toasted bread cut in small pieces in the soup.

* * * * *

TO DRESS TURTLE.

Kill it at night in winter, and in the morning in summer. Hang it up by

the hind fins, cut off the head and let it bleed well. Separate the

bottom shell from the top, with great care, lest the gall bladder be

broken, which must be cautiously taken out and thrown away. Put the

liver in a bowl of water. Empty the guts and lay them in water; if there

be eggs, put them also in water. It is proper to have a separate bowl of

water for each article. Cut all the flesh from the bottom shell, and lay

it in water; then break the shell in two, put it in a pot after having

washed it clean; pour on as much water as will cover it entirely, add

one pound of middling, or flitch of bacon, with four onions chopped, and

set it on the fire to boil. Open the guts, cleanse them perfectly; take

off the inside skin, and put them in the pot with the shell; let them

boil steadily for three hours, and if the water boils away too much, add

more. Wash the top shell nicely after taking out the flesh, cover it,

and set it by. Parboil the fins, clean them nicely--taking off all the

black skin, and put them in water; cut the flesh taken from the bottom

and top shell, in small pieces; cut the fins in two, lay them with the

flesh in a dish; sprinkle some salt over, and cover them up. When the

shell, &c. is done, take out the bacon, scrape the shell clean, and

strain the liquor; about one quart of which must be put back in the pot;

reserve the rest for soup; pick out the guts, and cut them in small

pieces; take all the nice bits that were strained out, put them with the

guts into the gravy; lay in the fins cut in pieces with them, and as

much of the flesh as will be sufficient to fill the upper shell; add to

it, (if a large turtle,) one bottle of white wine; cayenne pepper, and

salt, to your taste, one gill of mushroom catsup, one gill of lemon

pickle, mace, nutmegs and cloves, pounded, to season it high. Mix two

large spoonsful of flour in one pound and a quarter of butter; put it in

with thyme, parsley, marjoram and savory, tied in bunches; stew all

these together, till the flesh and fins are tender; wash out the top

shell, put a puff paste around the brim; sprinkle over the shell pepper

and salt, then take the herbs out of the stew; if the gravy is not thick

enough, add a little more flour, and fill the shell; should there be no

eggs in the turtle, boil six new laid ones for ten minutes, put them in

cold water a short time, peel them, cut them in two, and place them on

the turtle; make a rich forcemeat, (see receipt for forcemeat,) fry the

balls nicely, and put them also in the shell; set it in a dripping pan,

with something under the sides to keep it steady; have the oven heated

as for bread, and let it remain in it till nicely browned. Fry the liver

and send it in hot.

* * * * *

FOR THE SOUP.

At an early hour in the morning, put on eight pounds of coarse beef,

some bacon, onions, sweet herbs, pepper and salt. Make a rich soup,

strain it and thicken with a bit of butter, and brown flour; add to it

the water left from boiling the bottom shell; season it very high with

wine, catsup, spice and cayenne; put in the flesh you reserved, and if

that is not enough, add the nicest parts of a well boiled calf's head;

but do not use the eyes or tongue; let it boil till tender, and serve it

up with fried forcemeat balls in it.

If you have curry powder, (see receipt for it,) it will give a higher

flavour to both soup and turtle, than spice. Should you not want soup,

the remaining flesh may be fried, and served with a rich gravy.

* * * * *

MOCK TURTLE SOUP OF CALF'S HEAD.

Have a large head cleaned nicely without taking off the skin, divide the

chop from the front of the head, take out the tongue, (which is best

when salted,) put on the head with a gallon of water, the hock of a ham

or a piece of nice pork, four or five onions, thyme, parsley, cloves and

nutmeg, pepper and salt, boil all these together until the flesh on the

head is quite tender, then take it up, cut all into small pieces, take

the eyes out carefully, strain the water in which it was boiled, add

half a pint of wine and a gill of mushroom catsup, let it boil slowly

till reduced to two quarts, thicken it with two spoonsful of browned

flour rubbed into four ounces of butter, put the meat in, and after

stewing it a short time, serve it up. The eyes are a great delicacy.

* * * * *

BEEF.

DIRECTIONS FOR CURING BEEF.

Prepare your brine in the middle of October, after the following manner:

get a thirty gallon cask, take out one head, drive in the bung, and put

some pitch on it, to prevent leaking. See that the cask is quite tight

and clean. Put into it one pound of saltpetre powdered, fifteen quarts

of salt, and fifteen gallons of cold water; stir it frequently, until

dissolved, throw over the cask a thick cloth, to keep out the dust; look

at it often and take off the scum. These proportions have been

accurately ascertained--fifteen gallons of cold water will exactly hold,

in solution, fifteen quarts of good clean Liverpool salt, and one pound

of saltpetre: this brine will be strong enough to bear up an egg: if

more salt be added, it will fall to the bottom without strengthening the

brine, the water being already saturated. This brine will cure all the

beef which a private family can use in the course of the winter, and

requires nothing more to be done to it except occasionally skimming the

dross that rises. It must be kept in a cool, dry place. For salting your

beef, get a molasses hogshead and saw it in two, that the beef may have

space to lie on; bore some holes in the bottom of these tubs, and raise

them on one side about an inch, that the bloody brine may run off.

Be sure that your beef is newly killed--rub each piece very well with

good Liverpool salt--a vast deal depends upon rubbing the salt into

every part--it is unnecessary to put saltpetre on it; sprinkle a good

deal of salt on the bottom of the tub. When the beef is well salted, lay

it in the tub, and be sure you put the fleshy side downward. Put a great

deal of salt on your beef after it is packed in the tub; this protects

it from animals who might eat, if they could smell it, and does not

waste the salt, for the beef can only dissolve a certain portion. You

must let the beef lie in salt ten days, then take it out, brush off the

salt, and wipe it with a damp cloth; put it in the brine with a bit of

board and weight to keep it under. In about ten days it will look red

and be fit for the table, but it will be red much sooner when the brine

becomes older. The best time to begin to salt beef is the latter end of

October, if the weather be cool, and from that time have it in

succession. When your beef is taken out of the tub, stir the salt about

to dry, that it may be ready for the next pieces. Tongues are cured in

the same manner.

* * * * *

TO DRY BEEF FOR SUMMER USE.

The best pieces for this purpose are the thin briskets, or that part of

the plate which is farthest from the shoulder of the animal, the round

and rib pieces which are commonly used for roasting. These should not be

cut with long ribs and the back-bones must be sawed off as close as

possible, that the piece may lay flat in the dish. About the middle of

February, select your beef from an animal well fatted with corn, and

which, when killed, will weigh one hundred and fifty per quarter--larger

oxen are always coarse. Salt the pieces as directed, let them lie one

fortnight, then put them in brine, where they must remain three weeks:

take them out at the end of the time, wipe them quite dry, rub them over

with bran, and hang them in a cool, dry, and, if possible, dark place,

that the flies may not get to them: they must be suspended, and not

allowed to touch any thing. It will be necessary, in the course of the

summer, to look them over occasionally, and after a long wet season, to

lay them in the sun a few hours. Your tongues may be dried in the same

manner: make a little hole in the root, run a twine through it, and

suspend it. These dried meats must be put in a good quantity of water,

to soak, the night before they are to be used. In boiling it is

absolutely necessary to have a large quantity of water to put the beef

in while the water is cold, to boil steadily, skimming the pot, until

the bones are ready to fall out; and, if a tongue, till the skin peels

off with perfect ease: the skin must also be taken from the beef. The

housekeeper who will buy good ox beef, and follow these directions

exactly, may be assured of always having delicious beef on her table.

Ancient prejudice has established a notion, that meat killed in the

decrease of the moon, will draw up when cooked. The true cause of this

shrinking, may be found in the old age of the animal, or in its diseased

state, at the time of killing. The best age is from three to five years.

Few persons are aware of the injury they sustain, by eating the flesh of

diseased animals. None but the Jewish butchers, who are paid exclusively

for it, attend to this important circumstance. The best rule for judging

that I have been able to discover, is the colour of the fat. When the

fat of beef is a high shade of yellow, I reject it. If the fat of veal,

mutton, lamb or pork, have the slightest tinge of yellow, I avoid it as

diseased. The same rule holds good when applied to poultry.

* * * * *

TO CORN BEEF IN HOT WEATHER.

Take a piece of thin brisket or plate, cut out the ribs nicely, rub it

on both sides well with two large spoonsful of pounded saltpetre; pour

on it a gill of molasses and a quart of salt; rub them both in; put it

in a vessel just large enough to hold it, but not tight, for the bloody

brine must run off as it makes, or the meat will spoil. Let it be well

covered, top, bottom and sides, with the molasses and salt. In four days

you may boil it, tied up in a cloth with the salt, &c. about it: when

done, take the skin off nicely, and serve it up. If you have an

ice-house or refrigerator, it will be best to keep it there. A fillet or

breast of veal, and a leg or rack of mutton, are excellent done in the

same way.

* * * * *

IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS ON ROASTING, BOILING, FRYING, &c.

In roasting butchers' meat, be careful not to run the spit through the

nice parts: let the piece lie in water one hour, then wash it out, wipe

it perfectly dry, and put it on the spit. Set it before a clear, steady

fire: sprinkle some salt on it, and when it becomes hot, baste it for a

time with salt and water: then put a good spoonful of nice lard into the

dripping-pan, and when melted, continue to baste with it. When your

meat, of whatever kind, has been down some time, but before it begins to

look brown, cover it with paper and baste on it; when it is nearly done,

take off the paper, dredge it with flour, turn the spit for some minutes

very quick, and baste all the time to raise a froth--after which, serve

it up. When mutton is roasted, after you take off the paper, loosen the

skin and peel it off carefully, then dredge and froth it up. Beef and

mutton must not be roasted as much as veal, lamb, or pork; the two last

must be skinned in the manner directed for mutton. You may pour a little

melted butter in the dish with veal, but all the others must be served

without sauce, and garnished with horse-radish, nicely scraped. Be

careful not to let a particle of dry flour be seen on the meat--it has a

very ill appearance. Beef may look brown, but the whiter the other meats

are, the more genteel are they, and if properly roasted, they may be

perfectly done, and quite white. A loin of veal, and hind quarter of

lamb, should be dished with the kidneys uppermost; and be sure to joint

every thing that is to be separated at table, or it will be impossible

to carve neatly. For those who _must_ have gravy with these meats, let

it be made in any way they like, and served in a boat. No meat can be

well roasted except on a spit turned by a jack, and before a steady

clear fire--other methods are no better than baking. Many cooks are in

the habit of half boiling the meats to plump them as they term it,

before they are spitted, but it destroys their fine flavour. Whatever is

to be boiled, must be put into cold water with a little salt, which will

cook them regularly. When they are put in boiling water, the outer side

is done too much, before the inside gets heated. Nice lard is much

better than butter for basting roasted meats, or for frying. To choose

butchers' meat, you must see that the fat is not yellow, and that the

lean parts are of a fine close grain, a lively colour, and will feel

tender when pinched. Poultry should be well covered with white fat; if

the bottom of the breast bone be gristly, it is young, but if it be a

hard bone, it is an old one. Fish are judged by the liveliness of their

eyes, and bright red of their gills. Dredge every thing with flour

before it is put on to boil, and be sure to add salt to the water.

Fish, and all other articles for frying, after being nicely prepared,

should be laid on a board and dredged with flour or meal mixed with

salt: when it becomes dry on one side, turn it, and dredge the other.

For broiling, have very clear coals, sprinkle a little salt and pepper

over the pieces, and when done, dish them, and pour over some melted

butter and chopped parsley--this is for broiled veal, wild fowl, birds

or poultry: beef-steaks and mutton chops require only a table-spoonful

of hot water to be poured over. Slice an onion in the dish before you

put in the steaks or chops, and garnish both with rasped horse-radish.

To have viands served in perfection, the dishes should be made hot,

either by setting them over hot water, or by putting some in them, and

the instant the meats are laid in and garnished, put on a pewter dish

cover. A dinner looks very enticing, when the steam rises from each dish

on removing the covers, and if it be judiciously _ordered_, will have a

double relish. Profusion is not elegance--a dinner justly calculated for

the company, and consisting for the greater part of small articles,

correctly prepared, and neatly served up, will make a much more pleasing

appearance to the sight, and give a far greater gratification to the

appetite, than a table loaded with food, and from the multiplicity of

dishes, unavoidably neglected in the preparation, and served up cold.

There should always be a supply of brown flour kept in readiness to

thicken brown gravies, which must be prepared in the following manner:

put a pint of flour in a Dutch oven, with some coals under it; keep

constantly stirring it until it is uniformly of a dark brown, but none

of it burnt, which would look like dirt in the gravy. All kitchens

should be provided with a saw for trimming meat, and also with larding

needles.

* * * * *

BEEF A-LA-MODE.

Take the bone from a round of beef, fill the space with a forcemeat made

of the crumbs of a stale loaf, four ounces of marrow, two heads of

garlic chopped with thyme and parsley, some nutmeg, cloves, pepper and

salt, mix it to a paste with the yelks of four eggs beaten, stuff the

lean part of the round with it, and make balls of the remainder; sew a

fillet of strong linen wide enough to keep it round and compact, put it

in a vessel just sufficiently large to hold it, add a pint of red wine,

cover it with sheets of tin or iron, set it in a brick oven properly

heated, and bake it three hours; when done, skim the fat from the gravy,

thicken it with brown flour, add some mushroom and walnut catsup, and

serve it up garnished with forcemeat balls fried. It is still better

when eaten cold with sallad.

* * * * *

BRISKET OF BEEF BAKED.

Bone a brisket of beef, and make holes in it with a sharp knife about an

inch apart, fill them alternately with fat bacon, parsley and oysters,

all chopped small and seasoned with pounded cloves and nutmeg, pepper

and salt, dredge it well with flour, lay it in a pan with a pint of red

wine and a large spoonful of lemon pickle; bake it three hours, take the

fat from the gravy and strain it; serve it up garnished with green

pickles.

* * * * *

BEEF OLIVES.

Cut slices from a fat rump of beef six inches long and half an inch

thick, beat them well with a pestle; make a forcemeat of bread crumbs,

fat bacon chopped, parsley, a little onion, some shred suet, pounded

mace, pepper and salt; mix it up with the yelks of eggs, and spread a

thin layer over each slice of beef, roll it up tight, and secure the

rolls with skewers, set them before the fire, and turn them till they

are a nice brown; have ready a pint of good gravy, thickened with brown

flour and a spoonful of butter, a gill of red wine, with two spoonsful

of mushroom catsup, lay the rolls in it, and stew them till tender;

garnish with forcemeat balls.

* * * * *

TO STEW A RUMP OF BEEF.

Take out as much of the bone as can be done with a saw, that it may lie

flat on the dish, stuff it with forcemeat made as before directed, lay

it in a pot with two quarts of water, a pint of red wine, some carrots

and turnips cut in small pieces and stewed over it, a head of cellery

cut up, a few cloves of garlic, some pounded cloves, pepper and salt,

stew it gently till sufficiently done, skim the fat off, thicken the

gravy, and serve it up; garnish with little bits of puff paste nicely

baked, and scraped horse-radish.

* * * * *

A FRICANDO OF BEEF.

Cut a few slices of beef six inches long, two or three wide, and one

thick, lard them with bacon, dredge them well, and make them a nice

brown before a brisk fire; stew them half an hour in a well seasoned

gravy, put some stewed sorrel or spinage in the dish, lay on the beef,

and pour over a sufficient quantity of gravy; garnish with fried balls.

* * * * *

AN EXCELLENT METHOD OF DRESSING BEEF.

Take a rib roasting piece that has been hanging ten days or a fortnight,

bone it neatly, rub some salt over it and roll it tight, binding it

around with twine, put the spit through the inner fold without sticking

it in the flesh, skewer it well and roast it nicely; when nearly done,

dredge and froth it; garnish with scraped horse-radish.

* * * * *

TO COLLAR A FLANK OF BEEF.

Get a nice flank of beef, rub it well with a large portion of saltpetre

and common salt, let it remain ten days, then wash it clean, take off

the outer and inner skin with the gristle, spread it on a board, and

cover the inside with the following mixture: parsley, sage, thyme

chopped fine, pepper, salt and pounded cloves; roll it up, sew a cloth

over it, and bandage that with tape, boil it gently five or six hours,

when cold, lay it on a board without undoing it, put another board on

the top, with a heavy weight on it; let it remain twenty-four hours,

take off the bandages, cut a thin slice from each end, serve it up

garnished with green pickle and sprigs of parsley.

* * * * *

TO MAKE HUNTERS' BEEF.

Select a fine fat round weighing about twenty-five pounds, take three

ounces saltpetre, one ounce of cloves, half an ounce of alspice, a large

nutmeg, and a quart of salt; pound them all together very fine, take the

bone out, rub it well with this mixture on both sides, put some of it at

the bottom of a tub just large enough to hold the beef, lay it in and

strew the remainder on the top, rub it well every day for two weeks, and

spread the mixture over it; at the end of this time, wash the beef, bind

it with tape, to keep it round and compact, filling the hole where the

bone was with a piece of fat, lay it in a pan of convenient size, strew

a little suet over the top, and pour on it a pint of water, cover the

pan with a coarse crust and a thick paper over that, it will take five

hours baking; when cold take off the tape. It is a delicious relish at

twelve o'clock, or for supper, eaten with vinegar, mustard, oil, or

sallad. Skim the grease from the gravy and bottle it; it makes an

excellent seasoning for any made dish.

* * * * *

A NICE LITTLE DISH OF BEEF.

Mince cold roast beef, fat and lean, very fine, add chopped onion,

pepper, salt, and a little good gravy, fill scollop shells two parts

full, and fill them up with potatos mashed smooth with cream, put a bit

of butter on the top, and set them in an oven to brown.

* * * * *

BEEF STEAKS.

The best part of the beef for steaks, is the seventh and eighth ribs,

the fat and lean are better mixed, and it is more tender than the rump

if it be kept long enough; cut the steaks half an inch thick, beat them

a little, have fine clear coals, rub the bars of the gridiron with a

cloth dipped in lard before you put it over the coals, that none may

drip to cause a bad smell, put no salt on till you dish them, broil them

quick, turning them frequently; the dish must be very hot, some slices

of onion in it, lay in the steaks, sprinkle a little salt, and pour over

them a spoonful of water and one of mushroom catsup, both made boiling

hot, garnish with scraped horse-radish, and put on a hot dish cover.

Every thing must be in readiness, for the great excellence of a beef

steak lies in having it immediately from the gridiron.

* * * * *

TO HASH BEEF.

Cut slices of raw beef, put them in a stew pan with a little water, some

catsup, a clove of garlic, pepper and salt, stew them till done, thicken

the gravy with a lump of butter rubbed into brown flour. A hash may be

made of any kind of meat that has been cooked, but it is not so good,

and it is necessary to have a gravy prepared and seasoned, and keep the

hash over the fire only a few minutes to make it hot.

* * * * *

BEEF STEAK PIE.

Cut nice steaks, and stew them till half done, put a puff paste in the

dish, lay in the steaks with a few slices of boiled ham, season the

gravy very high, pour it in the dish, put on a lid of paste and bake it.

* * * * *

BEEF A-LA-DAUBE.

Get a round of beef, lard it well, and put it in a Dutch oven; cut the

meat from a shin of beef, or any coarse piece in thin slices, put round

the sides and over the top some slices of bacon, salt, pepper, onion,

thyme, parsley, cellery tops, or seed pounded, and some carrots cut

small, strew the pieces of beef over, cover it with water, let it stew

very gently till perfectly done, take out the round, strain the gravy,

let it stand to be cold, take off the grease carefully, beat the whites

of four eggs, mix a little water with them, put them to the gravy, let

it boil till it looks clear, strain it, and when cold, put it over the

beef.

* * * * *

VEAL.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE PIECES IN THE DIFFERENT QUARTERS OF VEAL.

A loin of veal must always be roasted: the fillet or leg may be dressed

in various ways, the knuckle or knee is proper for soup or for boiling;

these are the pieces that compose the hind quarter. In the fore quarter,

the breast and rack admit variety in cooking; the shoulder and neck are

only fit for soup.

* * * * *

VEAL CUTLETS FROM THE FILLET OR LEG.

Cut off the flank and take the bone out, then take slices the size of

the fillet and half an inch thick, beat two yelks of eggs light, and

have some grated bread mixed with pepper, salt, pounded nutmeg and

chopped parsley; beat the slices a little, lay them on a board and wash

the upper side with the egg, cover it thick with the bread crumbs, press

them on with a knife, and let them stand to dry a little, that they may

not fall off in frying, then turn them gently, put egg and crumbs on in

the same manner, put them into a pan of boiling lard, and fry them a

light brown; have some good gravy ready, season it with a tea-spoonful

of curry powder, a large one of wine, and one of lemon pickle, thicken

with butter and brown flour, drain every drop of lard from the cutlets,

lay them in the gravy, and stew them fifteen or twenty minutes, serve

them up garnished with lemon cut in thin slices.

* * * * *

VEAL CHOPS.

Take the best end of a rack of veal, cut it in chops, with one bone in

each, leave the small end of the bone bare two inches, beat them flat,

and prepare them with eggs and crumbs, as the cutlets, butter some

half-sheets of white paper, wrap one round each chop, skewer it well,

leaving the bare bone out, broil them till done, and take care the paper

does not burn; have nice white sauce in a boat.

* * * * *

VEAL CUTLETS.