them, set them aside in a cool place, to be used in the gravy. Wash the
fowls as clean as possible from the blood, and plunge one at a time
into a kettle of boiling water for five minutes, moving it about, that
the water may penetrate every part. Drain and wipe them dry and pepper
the inside and the necks. This process will enable you to keep them two
days in warm weather. In cold weather all sorts of poultry should be
kept at least a week; but care should be taken that they do not freeze,
as they are not quite so good for being frozen.
Pick out the pin feathers very carefully. A pair of tweezers is
sometimes necessary to take out those which a knife will not remove.
Cut out the oil bag above the tail. Singe off all the hair by turning
it quickly over a blazing paper. Cut off the legs at the joint above
the feet; trim the neck, and if too long cut off some of it; draw out
the crop and be sure to take out every thing from the inside. The best
way of removing the crop is to make an incision along the backbone,
just below the neck. It can be removed in this way as easily as by the
common method, and the appearance of the bird, when laid on the dish,
is much better. Be careful, in removing the gall bag, not to break it,
as it will make every spot it touches bitter, and the most careful
washing will not remove it. If there is much fat, trim off some of it.
Throw the liver, heart, and gizzard into water and wash them. Wash the
fowl in several waters. It is then ready to be stuffed and skewered, as
directed under the head, _To roast a Turkey_. Some persons think fowls
much better not to be washed; but they cannot be clean without.
The sharpness of the breast bone, which is a defect in the appearance
of a fowl on the table, may be remedied in the following way: When
preparing it to be cooked, take a small sharp knife, and passing
it up the body, cut off the little slender bones which join the
_hug-me-close_[13] to the side. Then push down the breast bone by
pressing heavily upon it. A little practice will make it easy to do
this.
[13] This is the bone on each side the neck of a fowl, which answers to
the collar bone in the human frame.
=To Roast a Turkey.=
Observe the directions under the head, _To prepare Poultry for being
cooked_. Make a stuffing, and fill both the breast and body. Sew it
up with a needle and coarse thread; tie the skin over the end of the
neck with a thread or piece of twine. Push a short skewer through above
the tail, and a long one through the body under the thighs; then tie
the ends of the legs down with a twine, close upon the short skewer.
Push another long skewer through the body, so as to confine the wings,
and tie them round with a twine. Put the spit through the length of
the body, and fasten it with two skewers; flour it, and put it to the
fire with a little water in the roaster. It should be roasted rather
slowly. A turkey weighing twelve pounds should roast three hours; one
weighing six or seven, an hour and a half. When half done, flour it
again thickly; when this is browned, baste it often. If much fat roasts
out, dip off most of it when the turkey is about half done, and put a
small piece of butter into the gravy, and baste the turkey with it.
Having washed the heart, liver, &c., boil them an hour and a half, in a
sauce-pan in a pint of water; skim them when the water first boils up;
if it boils away, add more.
To make the gravy, take out the heart and gizzard, mash the liver, and
put it back into the water in which it was boiled, and pour the gravy
also out of the roaster into it; set it on the coals, add browned
flour, wet smooth, and a little butter and pepper, and boil it a minute
or two, and then serve it. The liver should never be put under the
wing, or laid upon the dish, but always be used in the gravy, as it is
greatly improved by it.
More directions respecting gravies may be found under the head,
_Directions for making various kinds of Gravies_.
=To Boil a Turkey.=
Stuff a young turkey, weighing six or seven pounds, with bread, butter,
salt, pepper, and minced parsley; skewer up the legs and wings as if
to roast; flour a cloth and pin around it. Boil it forty minutes, then
set off the kettle and let it stand, close covered, half an hour more.
The steam will cook it sufficiently. To be eaten with drawn butter and
stewed oysters.
=To Roast Chickens.=
Observe the same directions in stuffing them as for a turkey. If you
wish to roast several before an open fire, the spit may be put through
side-ways, instead of length-ways, and four or five can thus be roasted
at once, in a large roaster. Boil the inwards and make the gravy as for
a turkey. Roast them an hour and a half.
=To Boil Chickens.=
Make the same dressing as directed for a boiled turkey, or boil them
without stuffing if preferred. Skewer them up into a good shape, as
when prepared to roast, and boil them an hour and a quarter. Serve them
with drawn butter and cut parsley. It is an improvement to mash the
livers and put into the butter. If chickens can be carefully skimmed,
they need no cloth around them.
=To Broil Chickens.=
Cut them open through the back, take out the inwards, wash them and
wipe them dry; place the inside down on the gridiron. They must broil
slowly, and care be taken they do not burn. Turn them in ten minutes.
To keep them flat, lay a tin sheet upon them, with a weight. Broil
twenty-five minutes, and dress with butter, pepper, and salt. They can
be broiled best over wood coals.
=To Fricassee Chickens.=
Boil them forty minutes in water enough barely to cover them. Take off
the scum as fast as it rises. Take them up and carve them in the usual
way. Put part of the water in which they were boiled into a spider or
stew-pan. For two chickens rub a piece of butter as large as an egg,
and a spoonful of flour together, and stir into the water as it boils
up. Add some salt, and a gill of cream, or milk. Lay in the pieces
of chicken, cover the pan close, and stew them gently eight or ten
minutes. Parsley cut fine is a decided improvement.
=Chicken Salad.=
Boil or roast a nice fowl. When cold, cut off all the meat, and chop
it a little, but not very small; cut up a large bunch of celery and mix
with the chicken. Boil four eggs hard, mash, and mix them with sweet
oil, pepper, salt, mustard, and a gill of vinegar. Beat this mixture
very thoroughly together, and just before dinner pour it over the
chicken.
=Chicken Pie.=
Boil chickens in water barely to cover them, forty minutes. Skim the
water carefully. Take them out into a dish, and cut them up as they
should be carved if placed upon the table. If the skin is very thick
remove it. Have ready, lined with a thick paste, a deep dish, of a
size proportioned to the number of chickens you wish to use; put in
the pieces, with the hearts and livers, in layers; sprinkle each layer
with flour, salt, and pepper, and put on each piece of chicken a thin
shaving of butter; do this till you have laid in all the pieces; put
rather more of the spice, flour, and butter over the top layer than
on the previous ones, and pour in as much of the liquor in which the
chickens were boiled as you can without danger of its boiling over. Lay
on the upper crust, and close the edges very carefully with flour and
water; prick the top with a knife. Cut leaves of crust and ornament it.
Bake two hours. The crust for chicken pie should be twice as thick as
for fruit pies. Use mace and nutmeg if you wish.
=To Roast Ducks.=
Flour them thick and baste them often. If they are roasted before the
fire, an hour is long enough; if in a stove, an hour and a half. For
making the stuffing and gravy, see the directions.
=To Boil Ducks.=
Scald and lay them in warm water a few minutes, then lay them in a
dish, pour boiling milk over them, and let them lie in it two or three
hours. Then take them out, dredge them with flour, and put them into a
saucepan of cold water, cover close and boil them twenty minutes. Then
take them out and set them, covered, where they will keep warm, and
make the sauce as follows:--
Chop a large onion and a bunch of parsley fine, and put them into a
gill of good gravy. [See receipt for Stock.] Add a table-spoonful of
lemon juice, a little salt, pepper, and a small piece of butter. Stew
these ingredients half an hour; then lay the ducks into a dish, and
pour the sauce over them.
=To Roast a Goose.=
Boil it half an hour to take out the strong, oily taste, then stuff
and roast it exactly like a turkey. If it is a young one, after being
boiled, an hour's roasting will be sufficient.
=To Boil Partridges.=
Put them in a floured cloth into boiling water, and boil them fast
fifteen minutes. For sauce, rub a very small piece of butter into some
flour, and boil in a teacup of cream. Add cut parsley if preferred.
=To Roast Partridges.=
Prepare them like chickens, and roast three quarters of an hour.
=To Roast Pigeons.=
Pick out the pin feathers, or if there are a great many, pull off
the skin. Examine the inside very carefully. Soak them half an hour
in a good deal of water, to take out the blood. Then boil them with
a little salt in the water, half an hour, and take off the scum as
fast as it rises. Take them out, flour them well, and lay them into a
dripping-pan; strain the water in which they were boiled, and put a
part of it into the pan; stir in it a little piece of butter, and baste
the pigeons often. Add pepper and sweet marjoram if you prefer. Roast
them nearly two hours. Pigeons need to be cooked a long time.
=Pigeons in Disguise.=
Prepare them just as directed in the receipt above, and boil them long
enough to remove all the blood, then pepper and salt them, make a good
paste, roll each pigeon close in a piece of it; tie them separately in
a cloth, taking care not to break the paste. Boil them gently an hour
and a half, in a good deal of water. Lay them in a hot dish, and pour a
gravy over them made of cream, parsley, and a little butter.
=Pigeon Pie.=
Pick, soak, and boil pigeons with the same care as directed in the
receipt for roasting them. Make a crust just as for chicken or veal
pie. Lay in the pigeons whole, and season with pepper, salt, shavings
of butter, and sweet marjoram; flour them thickly, then strain the
water in which they were boiled, and fill the dish two thirds with it.
Lay the top crust over, and close the edges well. Make many incisions
with the point of a knife, or a large fork, and bake an hour and a half.
=Woodcocks, Quails, and other small birds.=
Pull off the skin, split them down the back with a sharp knife, pepper
the breasts, and lay the inside first upon the gridiron. Broil them
slowly at first, skewer a small bit of pork upon each one. Turn them
after seven or eight minutes. Broil them twenty minutes.
If you wish to make a pie, do just as directed for the pigeon pie.
=Calcutta Curry.=
Boil and joint two chickens. Fry three or four slices of salt pork, and
when they are nearly brown add a large spoonful of butter. Cut three or
four onions fine, and fry them a light brown; then remove them, and the
pork, and fry the chickens gently in the fat; strew over the meat while
it is frying a spoonful and a half of good curry powder, and dredge in
flour. Then add hot water to make sufficient gravy; if the gravy is not
thick enough, mix a little flour smooth in cold water, and stir in. Add
salt to suit your taste. This dish is best when stewed slowly. Garnish
with slices of lemon.
Partridges, pigeons, rabbits, sweet-breads, breasts of mutton, lamb,
and veal, are all used for curries.
There is a difference in the quality of curry powder. The above
measure, is for the strongest kind, and is enough for a quart of gravy.
The East Indians never use flour in thickening the gravy, but depend on
the curry powder.
To prepare rice for Calcutta curry, wash a pint in several waters, and
put it into a kettle, containing a gallon of warm water, with salt in
it. Cook it ten minutes from the time it begins to boil; then pour it
into a sieve, and when the water is entirely drained out, shake the
sieve, and the particles of rice will separate, and it is ready to
serve.
SOUPS.
Soup is economical food, and by a little attention may be made good
with very small materials. It should never be made of meat that has
been kept too long. If meat is old, or has become tainted in the least,
the defect is peculiarly offensive in soup. All meat and bones for soup
should be boiled a long time, and set aside until the next day in order
that the fat may be entirely removed. Then add the vegetables, rice,
and herbs, and boil it from an hour to an hour and a half. The water
in which fresh meat is boiled should be saved for soup and broth; and
the bones of roast beef should never be thrown away without boiling, as
they make excellent soup, and if not used for this purpose, should be
boiled in order to save the fat which they contain.
=A Rich Soup.=
The richest soups are made by using several kinds of meat together; as
beef, mutton, and veal. A shank of each of these with very little meat
upon it, should be boiled several hours the first day; and vegetables,
with various kinds of spice, added the day it is to be served. Nice
soups should be strained; and they are good with macaroni, added
afterwards, and boiled half or three quarters of an hour. If you have
the water, in which chickens have been boiled, the soup will be much
better if the beef, mutton, and veal are boiled in this, instead of
pure water.
=Roast Beef Bone Soup.=
Boil the bones at least three hours, or until every particle of meat
is loose; then take them out and scrape off the meat and set aside the
water; the next day take from it all the fat, cut up an onion, two or
three potatoes and a turnip, and put into it. Add, half an hour before
dinner, powdered sweet marjoram, catsup, and some salt. Boil it an hour.
=Shank Soup.=
When you buy a shank, have the butcher cut it into several pieces, and
split open the thickest part of the bone. Boil it three or four hours
and set it aside. The next day, take off the fat, and if you do not
wish to eat the meat in the soup, take that out also; add vegetables,
etc., as in the preceding receipt. To make a convenient use of the
meat, see the receipt for minced meat.
=Ox-tail Soup.=
Take two tails, divide them at the joints, soak them in warm water. Put
them into cold water in a gallon pot or stew-pan. Skim off the froth
carefully. When the meat is boiled to shreds, take out the bones, and
add a chopped onion and carrot. Use spices and sweet herbs or not, as
you prefer. Boil it three or four hours.
=Soup of the remnants of Calf's Head.=
Remove the fat from the water in which the head was boiled, and put
into it the pieces left of the first day's dinner, cut up small. Add
cloves, crackers, pepper, browned flour, curry powder, and, if you
choose, catsup. Boil it an hour.
=Mock-Turtle Soup.=
Add to the foregoing ingredients, red wine, nutmeg, and mace; and force
meat balls, made in the following way,--Chop some of the meat fine,
and put with it an equal quantity of fine bread crumbs, onions chopped
small, cayenne and black pepper, sweet marjoram and powdered clove.
Beat two eggs and with them stir the ingredients together, and make
into balls, and fry in butter enough to brown them; then put the balls
and the butter into the soup.
=Turkey Soup.=
The remnants of a young turkey make good soup. Put all the bones, and
little bits left of a dinner into about three quarts of water. If you
have turkey gravy, or the remnants of chickens, add them also, and boil
them two hours or more. Skim out the meat and bones, and set the water
aside in a cool place till the next day. Then take all the fat from the
top; take the bones and pieces of skin out from the meat and return it
to the liquor. If some of the dressing has been left, put that in also,
and boil all together a few minutes. If more seasoning is needed, add
it to suit your taste.
=White Soup.=
Boil a knuckle of veal to shreds, add a quarter of a pound of
vermicelli, half a pint of cream, and lemon peel and mace.
=Pea Soup.=
Take a pint of split peas, and when carefully picked over and washed,
put them into a pint of water to soak over night. Three hours before
dinner, put them into a pot with a quart more water, and about half
a pound of pork (less if you wish the soup not very rich.) Boil it
steadily, and be careful to stir it often, lest it should burn. It may
need more water before dinner, and can be made of whatever thickness
you prefer.
If you prefer to have the soup without pork (which makes it too rich
for many persons), use the liquor in which beef or other fresh meat has
been boiled instead of water, and use no pork. This is a very good way.
=Vegetable Soup.=
Take two turnips, two carrots, four potatoes, one large onion, one
parsnip, and a few stalks of celery or some parsley. Cut them all very
fine, or chop them in a tray; put them, with a spoonful of rice, into
three quarts of water, and boil the whole three hours. Then strain the
soup through a colander or coarse sieve, return it to the kettle, and
put it over the fire. Add a piece of butter of the size of a nut, stir
the soup till the butter is melted, dredge in a little flour, let it
boil up and then serve it.
=Mutton or Lamb Broth.=
Take the water in which a leg of mutton or lamb was boiled on the
previous day, take off the fat and boil it two hours with a turnip, an
onion, and a carrot, cut small. Add some minced parsley and a spoonful
of rice. All these, except the parsley, should be put in while the
water is cold. Any little pieces of the neck, ribs, or shank will make
excellent broth.
=Veal Broth.=
Take a knuckle, or if you have a large family, two knuckles of veal.
Put them over the fire, at least three hours before dinner-time;
use not more than two quarts of water for two knuckles, and skim it
until it is no longer necessary. (Veal requires more attention in
this respect than any other meat). When this is done, add a spoonful
of rice. A quarter of an hour before it is to be served, put in some
minced parsley, salt, and pepper. It is a very nutritious dish. Some
persons add two or three slices of salt pork.
It is a good way, after having taken off cutlets from the large end of
a leg of veal, to boil the entire piece that remains, with the knuckle.
Boil it two hours or two hours and a half. Make broth of the liquor
by putting in a small gill of rice, and some parsley; add the parsley
about ten minutes before it is served.
Melt butter with cut parsley, to eat on the meat.
In families that like salt pork, a piece should be boiled separately to
eat with the veal.
EGGS.
=Boiled.=
New laid eggs require half a minute longer to cook than others. The
fresher they are the better, and the more healthful. Eggs over a week
old should never be boiled; they will do to fry. Put them into water
that boils, but not furiously, as it will crack them. If you like them
very soft, boil them three minutes. If you wish the yolk hard, boil
them five minutes. To be served with salad, they should be boiled
twelve minutes.
=Fried.=
After you have fried ham, drop in the eggs one at a time. In about a
minute dip the boiling fat with a spoon over them again and again. This
will prevent the necessity of turning them, which it is difficult to
do without breaking the yolks. Take them up in about two minutes and a
half, with a skimmer. The fat that roasts out of a ham that is browned
in an oven, is good for frying eggs.
=Poached.=
Set a tin pan or pail on the range, containing a pint of milk; then
beat six eggs well. When the milk is very nearly boiling, put in a
teaspoonful of salt, and half a table-spoonful of butter; then add the
eggs, and stir steadily, until it thickens, which will be in a minute
or two. Set it off before it becomes very thick, and continue to stir
it a minute more. Have ready, in a warm dish, two slices of toasted
bread, spread with butter, and pour the egg over them. It should be a
little thicker than boiled custard. This is an ample breakfast for six
or seven persons.
=Dropped.=
Drop fresh eggs into a saucepan of boiling water with salt in it. Put
them in gently, so as not to break the yolks. Have ready slices of
buttered toast, and either take up the eggs with a skimmer or pour off
the water, and then turn them out of the saucepan upon the toast. Add
more salt, if they were not seasoned enough by that which was in the
water.
=Omelet (baked, and very simple).=
Heat three gills of milk with a dessert spoonful of butter in it; beat
four or five eggs thoroughly, wet a table-spoonful of flour with a
teaspoonful of salt, smooth, in a little cold milk. Mix the eggs with
the flour and cold milk, then add the hot milk, stirring very fast. Put
the mixture into a buttered dish just large enough to contain it. It
will bake in a quick oven in fifteen or twenty minutes. Besides being
very palatable, it is a beautiful-looking dish for the breakfast-table,
and a very convenient addition to a small dinner.
The old rule is, eight eggs to a pint of milk; but six is enough.
=Omelet (Fried).=
Make a batter of three eggs, two gills of milk, and two table-spoonfuls
of flour. Beat it well, and add chopped onion, parsley, salt, and
nutmeg. Fry brown in nice drippings or butter.
=Another.=
Make a batter in the same way, and add a gill of grated ham. Fry in
nice fat, or the drippings of a roasted ham.
=Another.=
Wash a piece of salt cod as large as your hand, and soak it in warm
water over night. In the morning take out the bones and chop it very
fine; then put it into two or three gills of milk and boil it up. Stir
in a piece of butter half the size of an egg, and a table-spoonful of
flour wet smooth in cold milk; then add three eggs well beaten, and
boil it half a minute more.
DIRECTIONS RESPECTING FISH.
Purchase those which have just been caught. Of this you can judge by
their being hard under the pressure of the finger. Fish lose their best
flavor soon, and a few hours make a wide difference in the taste of
some sorts.
Cod are best in cold weather. Mackerel are best in August, September,
and October. Halibut, in May and June. Oysters are good from September
to April; but are not very good or healthy from the first of May to the
last of August. Lobsters are best at the season when oysters are not
good.
They must be put alive into boiling water and be boiled from
thirty-five to forty minutes. Allow a large spoonful of salt to every
quart of water in which they are boiled. The medium sized ones are the
best. The shells of old lobsters are apt to be encrusted. On no account
should they be eaten later than eighteen hours after being boiled. Some
persons never eat them after twelve hours. Pond fish should be soaked
in strong salt and water to take out the earthy taste. Fish may be kept
good several days, if frozen. All large fish need to be soaked in water
that is a little warm, before being cleaned; and they should be cleaned
with great care, for even if there are few scales upon them, there is a
great deal of slimy substance which a knife will remove. A boiled fish
is done when the eyes turn white.
When you broil fish, rub the gridiron with lard or drippings, to
prevent its sticking. Do not attempt to turn it like steaks, with a
knife and fork, but lay an old dish upon it, and hold it on with one
hand, while you turn over the gridiron with the other. Lay the skin
side down first.
Fish that is to be fried, should be cut up and laid in a cloth for an
hour that the moisture may be absorbed. It should then be rolled in
fine bread crumbs, or Indian meal. That which is apt to break in frying
may be kept whole by being dipped in a beaten egg, before it is rolled
in the bread crumbs. Oysters should be skimmed out of the liquor before
being cooked, in order that it may be strained, as there are often bits
of shell in it.
=To Boil Cod.=
Rub a little salt down the bone, and over the thick part. Wrap it in
a cloth and put it over the fire in cold water; putting it into hot
water at first will cause the outside to break before the centre is
done. See that it is covered with water, and throw in a table-spoonful
of salt. Take off the froth carefully, and boil it half an hour. Fresh
cod is eaten with oyster sauce and melted butter, or with the latter
alone, prepared as directed under the head of _Drawn Butter_, with the
addition of parsley and if you choose three or four eggs boiled very
hard, cut up and put into it.
The head and shoulders of cod are so much thicker than the other part,
that it is impossible to boil the fish whole and have all parts equally
cooked. It is therefore a good way to buy a large cod, divide it, boil
the head and shoulders, and fry the other part, or sprinkle it with
salt, and after a day or two, broil it.
=Cod Sounds and Tongues.=
Soak them in warm water, scrape them thoroughly, and boil them ten
minutes in milk and water. To be served with egg sauce.
=To Bake a Cod or Black Fish.=