bottles, with wide mouths; fill them with cold water, cork them and
tie down the corks, or cover them with a piece of bladder wet in
warm water, and tied over close; then set them into a flat-bottomed
wash-boiler with a little hay under them, and cold water enough to come
half-way up the sides of the bottles. Then heat the water gradually,
and while that is doing melt some bees-wax and rosin, in equal
quantities, and have it ready to use when the bottles are taken out of
the boiler. This must be done as soon as the water in it _begins to
boil_. Shut all the doors and windows before you do it, for a draught
of air will break the bottles. Throw a cloth over them till they are a
little cooled.
As soon as you can handle them at all, dip the necks of the bottles
into the melted rosin and wax, so as to cover the whole _cork and
bladder_, and make it secure against the entrance of any air. If, in
two or three months, a coat of mould should form on the top of the
water, that will do no harm; on the contrary it will help to exclude
the air, and for two months more will not hurt the fruit.
When about to use the fruit, take off the mould carefully, so as not to
break it, then pour out the fruit and the water into a stew-pan, add
some sugar, and stew it as you would fresh fruit for immediate use, and
it will have the same flavor.
All sorts of plums, cherries, gooseberries, apricots, and even peaches,
may be so preserved.
BAKED AND STEWED FRUITS.
These are economical, excellent, and healthy; and it is well worth
while for every family possessing only a plot of ground large enough
for two trees, to set out a pear and sweet apple tree.
=Steamed Sweet Apples.=
Wash and wipe a pailful of sweet apples; put them into a porcelain
kettle, with cold water enough to come half-way toward the top, cover
them and boil them slowly as possible an hour. Then try them with a
fork, and turn down the upper side of those which lie on the top. If
they are considerably softened, scatter a coffee-cup of brown sugar
over them, cover them close, and let them remain boiling another hour.
Very large apples need half an hour more.
=Baked Sweet Apples.=
If they are of a good kind, they are very nice baked in an earthen
dish, which is better than tin. If you cook them in a stove, there
should be a little water in the pan, else the juice will burn and be
lost. They are best done in a brick oven. Put them into a jar with no
water or sugar, but cover them close, and bake five or six hours. A
rich syrup will be found in the bottom of the jar, and the appearance
and flavor of the apples will be very fine.
=Baked Sour Apples.=
These are best baked in a stove. They require only an hour. There
should be a little water in the dish. Just before they are done,
sprinkle a little brown sugar upon them, dip the syrup over them, and
cover them close till wanted for the table. They are good done in this
way to eat at breakfast or tea; and also at dinner, with any meat
requiring apple sauce. Take out the cores before baking them if you
choose.
=Baked Pears.=
The common early pears are very good put into a jar without paring,
and with a teacup of molasses to every two quarts of pears. But little
water is necessary. Bake them five or six hours in a brick oven; two in
a range or stove. If you wish them more delicate, pare them, and put a
teacup of sugar instead of molasses. The later and larger fall pears
are very nice baked in a dish; but most kinds of heavy winter pears
cannot be baked so as to be tender.
=Boiled Cider Apple-Sauce.=
Take apples, sweet and sour together, that will not keep long, and
pare a large quantity. When finished, wash and put them into a large
brass kettle, in which you have turned down an old dish or large plate,
that will nearly cover the bottom; this is to prevent the apple from
burning. After you have put in all the apples, pour in a quart of cider
(boiled as directed in the receipt for boiled cider) to every pailful
of apples. After it has boiled an hour or two, add molasses in the
proportion of two quarts to every four pails of apples. If you have
refuse quinces, a peck of them gives a fine flavor to a large kettle
of apple-sauce. The best way to boil apple-sauce is to put the kettle
over the fire at night, and let the apple become partly done before
bed-time. When you leave it for the night, see that the fire lies in
such a way, that all parts of the apple boil equally, and that no
brands can fall.[9] Burn charcoal or peat if you have it, as either
of these will make a steady fire, and may be left without danger from
snapping. The chief things to be observed, are, that there is not too
much fire, that it lies safely, and that it will afford a moderate heat
several hours. In the morning the apple-sauce will be of a fine red
color, and must then be put away in firkins or stone jars. _Never use
potter's ware_ for this purpose.
[9] As the open fire-place is now seldom in use, these directions will
not often be apropos. But where a range or coal stove is used, a large
kettle of apple-sauce can, with care, be done well, on the top with the
cover under it.
=Sweet Apple Marmalade.=
This is made by boiling sweet apples alone, in cider made of sweet
apples, and boiled down so as to be very rich. The sauce is in this
case strained warm through a very coarse sieve or riddle, and boiled
again a little while; or it may be put into deep dishes and set into
the oven after the bread is drawn.
=Coddled Apples.=
Take fair early apples, wipe them, lay them in a preserving kettle,
and put to half a peck a coffee-cup of brown sugar, and half a pint
of water. Cover them and boil them gently, until they are tender and
penetrated with the sugar.
They may be done quite as well in a jar in the oven, but care must be
taken that they are not cooked too much. Early apples will bake with a
very moderate heat.
=Common Family Apple-Sauce.=
Let your stock of apples be picked over several times in the course of
the winter, and all the defective ones taken out. Let the good parts
of these be pared, and if not used for pies, be made into apple-sauce.
Boil it in a preserving kettle. After it is tender, add a pint bowl of
brown sugar, and boil it gently fifteen minutes longer. Towards spring,
when apples become tasteless, a teaspoonful of tartaric acid, dissolved
in a little water, should be added to a gallon of apple.
=Boiled Pears.=
These are eaten with roast meat instead of apple or cranberry sauce.
Choose fair, smooth ones; put them into cold water and boil them whole,
without paring and without sugar. It will take an hour, or an hour and
a half, according to the size of the fruit.
=To Stew Dried Apples or Peaches.=
Wash them in two or three waters, and put them to soak in rather more
water than will cover them, as they absorb a great deal. After soaking
two hours, put them into a preserving kettle in the same water, and
with a lemon or orange cut up; boil them till very tender; when they
rise up in the kettle press them down with a skimmer or spoon, but do
not stir them. When they are tender, add clean brown sugar, and boil
fifteen or twenty minutes longer.
Dried apples are rendered tasteless by being strained or stirred so as
to break them up; and they are also injured by soaking over night.
If they are to be used for pies, there should be more sugar added than
for sauce, and a small piece of butter stirred in while they are hot.
Nutmeg and clove are good spices for dried apple-pies.
Dried peaches are done in the same way, only the lemon and spice are
omitted.
HOW TO SELECT AND TAKE CARE OF BEEF, MUTTON, LAMB, VEAL, AND PORK.
Ox beef is the best; next to this the flesh of an heifer; and both are
in perfection during the first three months of the year. Choose that,
the lean of which is red and of a fine grain, and the fat of which
is white.[10] In cold weather, if you have a large family, it is good
economy to buy a quarter. The hind quarter is considered best. Have
the butcher cut it up. Pack the roasting pieces, which you do not want
soon, in a barrel of snow, and set it where it will not melt. It is
not necessary to freeze the meat first. The leg will furnish, besides
a piece to cook alamode, two or three to smoke. The thin pieces at
the end of the ribs are good corned, and the flank also; or it may be
used for mince pies. The shank, although it has but little meat, is
very good for some purposes. It should be cut up into several pieces
and boiled four or five hours, no matter how long. There is a great
deal of marrow and fat in it which, when cold, should be taken off and
clarified for various uses. The meat is good used as is directed in the
receipt for brawn, and the liquor makes excellent soup and gravies.
[10] The flesh of diseased cattle is sometimes sold in city markets.
Therefore never buy beef the fat of which is very yellow, nor mutton
and lamb unless the fat is white. Yellow fat indicates that the meat is
of an unhealthy kind.
The best roasting pieces of beef are the sirloin, the second cut in
the fore quarter, and the rump. If you buy a sirloin for a family of
six or eight, get eight or ten pounds. Cut off the thin end in which
there is no bone. It is very good corned, and not very good roasted.
The roasting piece will still be large enough for the family dinner,
and the corned piece will do for another day, with a pudding or another
small dish of meat. The back part of the rump is a convenient and
economical piece, especially for a small family. It is a long and
rather narrow piece, weighing about ten pounds, and contains less fat
and bone than any other, equally good, in the ox. The thickest end
affords nice steaks, and next to them is a good roasting piece, and the
thinnest end which contains the bone, is very good corned, or for a
soup. The whole is an excellent piece for roasting, in case so large a
one is needed.
The spring is the best season for mutton. That which is not very large
is to be preferred. It should be of a good red and white, and fine
grained. There is a great difference between mutton and lamb killed
from a pasture, and that which has been driven a distance to market.
Lamb is best in July and August.
Veal is best in the spring. It should look white and be fat. The breast
is particularly nice stuffed; the loin should be roasted. The leg is an
economical piece, as you can take off cutlets from the large end, make
broth of the shank, and stuff and roast the centre.
Roasting pieces of all kinds of ribbed meat, except beef, should be
jointed by the butcher, else the carving will be extremely difficult.
Always provide a sharp knife for carving. The juices of meat are
extracted by its being _haggled_. An invalid, speaking of the kindness
of a neighbor in sending him some slices of corned beef, said, "They
were cut with a _sharp_ knife." For the sake of economy, if for no
other reason, carve smoothly, and only as much as is wanted at first.
It is easy to cut more for replenishing plates; and meat is far better
not to lie sliced in the dish. If no more is cut than is used, a
handsome piece may often be reserved for the next day; whereas if all
is cut up it cannot be so good, and some of it will certainly be wasted.
Ham and tongue should be sliced very thin.
Pork, to be the best, should not be more than a year old. The chine is
the best roasting piece; the spare-ribs are very sweet food, but too
rich to be healthy. The shoulder is good roasted, stuffed with bread
and sage. If too large, half of it can be laid a week or two in brine,
and will be good boiled, to eat cold. It is well for a small family, in
November to buy half of a spring pig; this will furnish several nice
pieces to roast, strips for salting, a ham and shoulder for smoking,
and _leaf_ enough for a pot or two of lard, besides remnants for
sausage meat.
In winter, all meat may be kept a long time; and, with the exception of
pork, is much better for it; therefore it is easier to furnish a table
without waste in winter than in summer. Meat will keep in an ice-house
or a good refrigerator several days in hot weather; if you have
neither, take your meat the moment it is brought in, wipe it dry if at
all damp, and hang it in the cellar, sprinkling first a little pepper
and salt over it, especially over the parts which flies are most apt
to visit. In mutton and lamb, these are the tenderloin and the large
end of the leg. The pepper and salt will also tend to preserve the meat
from taint.
If you wish to keep it longer than two days, wrap it in a piece of
cloth (no matter if it is very thin), and lay it in a charcoal bin,
and throw a shovel of coal over it. A leg of mutton will keep several
days wrapped in a cloth which has been dipped in vinegar, laid upon the
ground of a dry cellar.
Meat that is to be salted for immediate use, should, if the weather is
cool, be hung up a day or two first.[11] Where a large quantity of beef
is to be salted, a different method is pursued. In winter, unless you
wish to keep meat several weeks, place it where it will be cold without
freezing. Mutton never looks as nice after being frozen hard; it has a
dark, uninviting appearance.
[11] See directions for salting meat, page 162.
To thaw frozen meat, bring it over night into a warm room. If this has
been forgotten, lay it, early in the morning, into cold water. If meat
is put to roast, boil, or broil, before being entirely thawed, it will
be tough. It is best to preserve fowls without freezing. They will keep
very well packed in snow; the liver, &c., being taken out and laid by
themselves in the snow, and the body filled with it.
Meat that has been kept perfectly clean, or a beef steak just cut
off, should not be washed; but, generally, it is necessary to wash a
roasting piece. Pork having the rind on, needs great care in washing
and scraping, to make it fit to cook.
Trim off the superfluous fat from beef, mutton, and fresh pork before
cooking it.
Tough steak is made more tender by being pounded with a rolling-pin;
but some of the juice of the meat is lost by the operation.
STOCK FOR GRAVIES AND SOUPS.
Wash a leg or shin of beef very clean, crack the bone in two or three
places, put with it any trimmings you may have of meat or fowls, such
as gizzards, necks, &c.; cover them with cold water in a stew-pan that
shuts close. The moment it begins to simmer, skim it carefully till
it boils up. Then add half a pint of cold water, which will make the
remaining scum rise, and skim it again and again, till no more appears,
and the broth looks perfectly clear. Then put in a moderate sized
carrot, cut up small, two turnips, a head of celery, and one large or
two small onions. Stir it several times that it may not burn, or stick
at the bottom. Herbs and spices are not to be added until the broth
is used for gravies for particular dishes. After these vegetables are
added, set the pan where the broth will boil very slowly for four or
five hours. Then strain it through a sieve into a stone pan or jar, and
when cold, cover it, and set it in an ice-house or some other very cool
place. The meat thus stewed may be used as directed for minced meat in
the chapter on Common Dishes, &c., p. 187.
ON ROASTING MEAT.
If meat is to be roasted before the fire, allow a quarter of an hour
for the cooking of every pound in warm weather, and in winter twenty
minutes. Flour it well, and put two or three gills of water in the
roaster. Put the bony side to the fire first, and do not place it
very near. If meat is scorched in the beginning, it cannot be roasted
through afterwards, without burning. Turn it often, and when all parts
are slightly cooked, place it nearer the fire. When about half done,
flour it again. Baste it very often. Salt it half an hour before
serving it.
It is not well to salt meat at first, as salt extracts the juices. In
roasting all meats, the art depends chiefly on flouring thoroughly,
basting frequently, and turning so often as not to allow any part to
burn.
To roast in a cooking stove, it is necessary to attend carefully to the
fire, lest the meat should burn. Lay it into the pan with three or four
gills of water in it. Turn the pan around often, that all the parts may
roast equally. When it is about half done, flour it again, turn it over
that the lower side may become brown. If the water wastes so that the
pan becomes nearly dry, add a little hot water.
Among the _little_ things which are worthy the attention of a
housekeeper, is that of having a dinner served _hot_. It is often the
case, that a well-cooked dinner loses much of its excellence, by a want
of care in this particular. All the meat and vegetable dishes should be
heated, and in winter the plates should also be warmed.
ON BOILING MEAT.
It is a common impression that boiled meat requires very little
attention; and probably one reason why many persons dislike it, may be,
that it is seldom so carefully cooked as roast meat.
If proper attention can be secured, meat should not be boiled in a
cloth. But if the pot is not likely to be thoroughly skimmed, it is
best to use one. All kinds of meat are best put over the fire in cold
water, in the proportion of a quart to every pound of meat. The fibres
are thus gradually dilated, and the meat is more tender. The fire
should be moderate, and the water should heat gradually. If it boils in
thirty or forty minutes it is soon enough.
All kinds of meat, poultry, and fish should boil very slowly. Fast
boiling makes meat tough and hard. Allow twenty minutes to a pound of
fresh meat; but a little more time is required to cook a hind than a
fore quarter. Salt meat should boil longer than fresh; allow forty
minutes for every pound.
A tongue that has been cured with saltpetre and smoked, should soak
over night, and be boiled at least four hours; it is not easy to boil
it too much, and nothing is more disagreeable or indigestible than a
tongue not well boiled. A ham, if very salt, should also be soaked
over night, and should be boiled from three to five hours, according
to the size, unless you prefer to cook it the last half of the time in
the oven, as is directed in the receipt for cooking a ham or shoulder.
This is the better way. Calf's head should lie in a great deal of water
several hours; and if large, will require two hours and a half to boil.
The two things most important in boiling meat, are, to boil it gently;
and to skim it until no more froth rises. To do this, have a skimmer or
a spoon and dish, and the moment the froth begins to rise, which will
be when the water becomes very hot, skim it off. Put in a pint of cold
water, which will cause it to rise more freely, and continue to skim it
every minute or two, till all is taken off.[12] If the water boils fast
before you begin to take off the froth, it will all return into the
water, and will adhere to the meat, and make it look badly. Some nice
housekeepers throw a handful of flour into the kettle to prevent scum
from adhering to meat. Calf's head, and veal need more skimming than
any other meat; but all kinds need to be skimmed several times. If the
water boils away so that the meat is not covered, add more, as the part
which lies above the water will have a dark appearance.
[12] Froth from fat meat should be put into the soap-grease.
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING GRAVIES.
Many young housekeepers who succeed well in most kinds of cooking, are
a long time in finding out how to make good gravy. To have it free
from fat is the most important thing. For a small family it is not
necessary to prepare stock. The water in which fresh meat, a tongue,
or piece of beef slightly salted, has been boiled, should be saved for
this purpose, and for use in various economical dishes. In cold weather
it will keep a good while, and in warm weather, several days in a
refrigerator.
The way to use meat liquor, or the stock for which a receipt is given,
is this: In case you are roasting beef, mutton, lamb, or pork, pour
off entirely, into a dish, half an hour before the dinner hour, all
the contents of the dripping pan or roaster, and set it away in a cold
place; then put into the roaster two or three gills of the meat liquor
or stock; if you have cold gravy, or drippings of a previous day,
remove all the fat from the top, and put the liquid that remains at
the bottom into the pan. Wet some browned flour smooth, and when you
take up the meat, set the pan on the top of the stove. The gravy will
immediately boil, and the wet flour must then be stirred in. It will
boil away fast, therefore see that it does not stand too long.
For veal and venison, gravy is made differently because there is but
little fat on these meats, and what there is, is not gross. Put into
the roaster, or dripping pan, some of the meat liquor or stock, when
you first put the meat to roast, and if it is done in a stove or range,
add a little more in case it boils away. When it is done, set the
dripping pan on the stove, and having stirred in the wet flour, add
a piece of butter half the size of an egg, and stir until it is all
melted, else it will make the gravy oily.
Gravy for poultry is made by boiling the giblets (necks, gizzards,
hearts, and livers) by themselves in five or six gills of water.
Skim them carefully, as a great deal of scum will rise. After an
hour, or hour and a half, take them out, and pour the water into the
dripping-pan. Mash, or chop the liver fine, and when you make the
gravy, add this, and a bit of butter, some pepper, the wet flour, and,
if you choose, a little sweet marjoram.
The fat that roasts out of a turkey should be dipped off with a spoon
before these ingredients are added. It is too gross to be palatable or
healthy.
In making gravy for a goose, pour off all the drippings as in roasting
beef or pork, and put in some of the stock or meat liquor.
It is best to brown a quart of flour at once. Put it into a spider, and
set it in the stove oven, or on the top; stir it often lest it should
burn. When it is a light brown, put it into a jar or wide-mouthed
bottle.
=Drawn Butter.=
Take a small cupful of butter, and rub into it half a table-spoonful
of flour, then pour upon it about a gill of boiling water, stirring it
fast. Set it upon the coals, and let it boil up once. If it is suffered
to remain boiling it will become oily. Some persons prefer to use
boiling milk instead of water. Parsley is an improvement. Tie a few
sprigs together with a thread and throw them for a minute into boiling
water, then cut them fine, and add them to the butter.
STUFFING OR DRESSING OF VARIOUS KINDS.
For a fillet of veal, a turkey, chickens, partridges, and pigeons, take
light bread enough to make three gills of fine crumbs. Cut off the
crust and lay by itself in just enough boiling water to soften it. Rub
the soft part into fine crumbs between your hands; put in a teaspoonful
of salt, one or two of powdered sweet marjoram, a little pepper, and
a piece of butter half as large as an egg; add the softened crusts,
and mix the whole together very thoroughly. If it is not moist enough,
add a spoonful or two of milk. Taste it, and if there is not seasoning
enough, add more.
To put it into the fowl neatly, and without waste, use a teaspoon.
If stuffing is made of pounded crackers, the seasoning is the same, but
crackers swell so much that two gills will be plenty for a turkey. Milk
will be necessary to mix it, and also a beaten egg to make it cohere.
Some people prefer dressing made of crackers, but it is hard and not as
healthy as that which is made of good bread, without an egg.
Stuffing for ducks is usually made with a little finely chopped onion
in it. For a goose, sage should be used instead of sweet-marjoram.
For a pig, or a shoulder of fresh pork, make a dressing without
butter, moistened with milk, and seasoned with pepper, salt, and a good
deal of powdered sage. This tends to prevent the deleterious effects of
such rich meat upon the stomach.
For a dressing for alamode beef, and stewed lamb, salt pork, chopped
fine, is substituted for butter, and for a fillet of veal it is very
well to make it in the same way.
VEGETABLES AND SAUCES APPROPRIATE TO DIFFERENT MEATS.
Potatoes are good with all meats. With fowls they are nicest mashed.
Sweet potatoes are most appropriate with roast meat, as also are
onions, winter squash, cucumbers, and asparagus.
Carrots, parsnips, turnips, greens, and cabbage are eaten with boiled
meat; and corn, beets, peas, and beans are appropriate to either boiled
or roasted meat. Mashed turnip is good with roasted pork, and with
boiled meats.
Tomatoes are good with every kind of meat, but specially so with
roasts. Apple-sauce with roast pork; cranberry-sauce with beef, fowls,
veal, and ham. Currant jelly is most appropriate with roast mutton.
Pickles are good with all roast meats, and capers or nasturtiums with
boiled lamb or mutton. Horseradish and lemons are excellent with veal.
DIRECTIONS FOR COOKING MEATS.
=To Roast Beef.=
See the directions for roasting meat.
=Beef Steak.=