bread, with butter; pepper and salt them, and lay them inside the fish.
Then take a needle and thread and sew it up. Put a small skewer through
the lip and tail, and fasten them together with a piece of twine. Lay
it into a dish, in which it may be served, put two or three thin slices
of salt pork upon it, sprinkle salt over it, and flour it well. Baste
it several times with the liquor which cooks out of it. A fish weighing
four pounds will cook in an hour.
=To make a richer dish.=
Chop fine a half a teacupful of fat ham; add a large spoonful of
butter, some parsley, thyme, marjoram, a little salt, nutmeg, and
pepper. If you have oysters, add a few. Beat two eggs, and put all
together with fine bread crumbs enough to compound them. With this,
stuff the fish, which should be floured thick, and wind a string around
it to keep it together, or else sew it up. Fasten the head and tail
together with a skewer. Bake it in a stove an hour. Baste it with
butter.
=To Fry Cod (or other Fish).=
After it has been cleansed, cut it into pieces of the proper size, and
lay them in a cloth in order to dry them. Fry four or five slices of
salt pork, or use instead, lard or nice beef drippings; but pork is
preferable. When the slices are fried crisp, take them out, dip the
pieces of fish in a plate of fine Indian meal, and lay them into the
spider. Fry them brown. When the fish is done, lay it with the pork
into a hot dish. Pour a little water into the spider, boil it up,
dredge in browned flour, and pour the whole over the fish.
=To make a Chowder.=
Fry three slices of salt pork, crisp, in a deep kettle; take them
out and lay in slices of potatoes; flour and pepper them; then lay in
slices of cod or haddock, which must also be floured and peppered. Put
in alternate layers of potatoes and fish, with flour, salt, and pepper,
till it is all laid in. Pour over it boiling water enough almost to
cover it. When it boils up, dredge in more flour. Dip a few crackers
in cold water and lay over the top, and cover the kettle close. Boil
it three quarters of an hour. Use ship bread, if it is preferred. Some
people add a cup of milk just before it is served. Add part of a fresh
lemon, if you like.
=Another Way.=
Fry three or four slices of salt pork, soak a dozen hard crackers, cut
up four or five onions. When the pork is fried brown take it out, and
lay in half of the crackers, and half the onions. Cut up the cod, and
lay the pieces next, then the rest of the crackers and onions, season
it with pepper and salt, pour boiling water enough into the kettle to
cover the whole. Let it stew moderately an hour.
The fish should be fresh from the water. Cod's heads and sound bones
make the richest chowder.
=To Boil Salt Cod.=
Lay a piece of salt fish into the cellar a few days before it is to
be cooked, that it may become softened by the dampness. The afternoon
before it is to be boiled, wash it carefully in several waters. It
is well to keep a brush on purpose to cleanse salt fish, and use it
repeatedly while it is soaking. Leave it in water till morning, and
then put it into a kettle, and set it where it will keep warm, and at
length simmer, but not boil. Eat it with beets and potatoes, and drawn
butter; or with pork scraps if you prefer.
_To prepare the Scraps._ Cut salt pork into very small square pieces,
put them in a saucepan, and cook them till they are crisped. A quarter
of a pound of pork will be enough for a family of five, and it will
take half an hour to fry it enough.
There is a great difference in the quality of salt fish. The Dun is
considered best.
=Minced Salt Fish.=
Pick out all the bones and bits of skin the day that the fish is
boiled, as it is most easily done while it is warm. Next day chop it
fine, and also all the potatoes left of the previous dinner; they are
better for this purpose than those that are just boiled. Lay three or
four slices of salt pork into a spider, and fry till they are crisped;
take them out, and put the chopped fish and potato into the middle, and
press it out equally, so that the fat will be at the sides. Cover it
close; after about five minutes put into the centre a gill of milk, and
cover it again. In a few minutes more stir it, but so carefully as not
to disturb the sides and bottom, else a brown crust will not form. Add
more milk if it is too dry. When thoroughly heated through, stir in a
small piece of butter, loosen the crust from the sides with a knife,
and turn it out upon a hot dish. If it is done right, it will come out
whole, and nicely browned.
=Fish-Balls.=
Chop and mix fish and potatoes in the same manner as directed in the
other receipt; melt a small piece of butter in a little milk, and when
you have stirred it into the fish, make it up into little flat cakes,
roll them in a plate of flour, and fry in hot lard, drippings, or the
fat of fried pork.
=To Boil or Broil Halibut.=
If you wish to boil it, purchase a thick slice cut through the body, or
the tail piece, which is considered the richest. Wrap it in a floured
cloth and lay it in cold water with salt in it. A piece weighing six
pounds, should be cooked half an hour after the water begins to boil.
It is eaten with drawn butter and parsley. If any of it is left, lay it
in a deep dish and sprinkle on it a little salt, throw over it a dozen
or two of cloves, pour in some vinegar, and add butternut vinegar or
catsup. It will, when cold, have much the flavor of lobster.
The _nape_ of the halibut is considered best to broil; but a slice
through the body a little more than an inch thick, if sprinkled with
salt an hour or two before being cooked, will broil without breaking,
and is excellent. When taken up, put on butter, pepper, and salt.
=To Boil Salmon.=
Clean a salmon in salt and water. Allow twenty minutes for boiling
every pound. Wrap it in a floured cloth, and lay it in the kettle while
the water is cold. Make the water very salt. Skim it well; in this
respect it requires more care than any other fish. Serve it with drawn
butter and parsley.
If salmon is not thoroughly cooked it is unhealthy. When a piece of
boiled fresh fish of any kind is left of dinner, it is a very good
way to lay it in a deep dish, and pour over it a little vinegar, with
catsup, and add pepper or any other spice which is preferred.
=To Broil Salmon.=
Cut it in slices an inch and a half thick, dry it in a clean cloth,
salt it, and lay it upon a hot gridiron, the bars having been rubbed
with lard or drippings. It cooks very well in a stove oven, laid in a
dripping-pan.
=To Broil Shad.=
Procure fresh caught shad. It requires twenty minutes to broil, on
moderately hot coals. To turn it, see Directions respecting Fish.
Sprinkle it with salt, and spread on a little butter. Fresh fish
requires a longer time to broil than meat.
=The simplest way of Cooking Oysters.=
Take them, unopened, rinse the shells clean, and lay them on hot
coals, or the top of a cooking-stove, with the deepest side of the
shell down, so as not to lose the liquor. When they begin to open a
little, they are done, and the upper shell will be easily removed with
a knife, and the oyster is to be eaten from the lower shell. The table
should be supplied with coarse napkins, and a large dish to receive the
shells.
=Oyster Pie.=
Make a nice paste and lay into a deep dish, turn a teacup down in the
centre. This will draw the liquor under it, and prevent it from boiling
over; it also keeps the upper crust from falling in and becoming
clammy. Lay in the oysters, add a little pepper, butter, and flour;
make a wide incision in the upper crust, so that when the pie is nearly
done, you can pour in half a teacup of cream or milk. Secure the edges
of the crust according to the directions for making Pastry, and bake
it an hour. It should be put into the oven immediately, else the under
crust will be clammy. Use but little of the liquor.
=To Fry Oysters.=
Lay them in a cloth a few minutes to dry them, then dip each one into
sifted cracker crumbs, and fry in just enough fat to brown them. Put
pepper and salt on them, before you turn them over.
=Escaloped Oysters.=
Butter a deep dish, and cover the bottom and sides with fine crumbs of
bread. Put in half the oysters, with pounded mace, pepper, and salt,
and cover them with bread crumbs and small bits of butter; add the rest
of the oysters with pepper and mace, and cover as before. Put in but
little of the liquor, as oysters part with a good deal of moisture in
cooking, and if the mixture is too wet, it is not as good. Bake a quart
of oysters half an hour. A plainer dish, with little butter and no
spice is very good.
=Pickled Oysters.=
Boil the liquor of an hundred oysters and pour it over them. When they
have stood a few minutes, take them out and boil the liquor again, with
a gill of vinegar, a few whole black peppers, and two or three blades
of mace. When this is cold, pour it over the oysters, and cover them
closely. This is a very good way to keep them.
=Stewed Oysters.=
Boil them up very quickly, then set them off, in order to take off
the scum which rises. Have ready, for a quart of oysters, half a
table-spoonful of butter, with as much flour rubbed into it as it will
receive. Return the kettle to the fire, and when it begins to simmer,
stir in the butter till it is melted, and then serve.
=Another Way.=
Boil a pint of milk; rub a heaping table-spoonful of flour smooth in
cold milk, and strain into it; then strain in the liquor of a quart of
oysters, and when it boils up again, add half a spoonful of butter, a
little salt, and the oysters, and let the whole boil two minutes more.
[In opening lobsters, care must be taken to remove the poisonous part.
This lies in the head, all of which must be thrown away, as well as the
vein which passes from it, through the body. All the other parts are
good. Break the shells with a hammer. The liquor and the spawn should
be saved.]
=Lobster Salad.=
To the yolks of four eggs, boiled hard, add a little sweet oil,
mustard, pepper, salt, and a gill of vinegar. Stir these all together a
long time. Cut up celery or lettuce fine, sprinkle it on the lobster in
the dish in which it is to be served, and pour the mixture over it.
The simplest way of serving lobsters is very good, and most healthful.
Take them from the shells and eat them cold, with vinegar and mustard.
=Stewed Lobster.=
Take one large or two small lobsters; cut them in pieces, and put into
the stew-pan with the liquor two glasses of wine, one teaspoonful of
fine allspice, half a teaspoonful of mixed mustard, a little cayenne,
and a quarter of a pound of butter rubbed into some flour. If there is
not liquor enough for the gravy, add a little water. Simmer the whole a
half an hour.
=Baked Bass.=
Make a stuffing of pounded cracker or crumbs of bread, an egg, pepper,
clove, salt, and butter. Fill it very full, and when sewed up, grate
over it a small nutmeg, and sprinkle it with pounded cracker. Then pour
on the white of an egg, and melted butter. Bake it an hour in the same
dish in which it is to be served.
=Potted Shad= (a very convenient and excellent dish).
Take three or four fresh caught shad, and when nicely dressed, cut
them down the middle, and across in pieces about three inches wide;
put these pieces into a jar in layers, with salt, whole cloves,
pepper-corns, and allspice sprinkled between. When all is laid in, put
in sharp vinegar enough just to cover them, and bake in the oven. It is
the best way to put the jar into a brick oven after the bread is drawn,
if considerable heat still remains, and let it stand two or three
hours, or put it into a range oven at night, to stand till morning.
This will keep several weeks, even in hot weather. Almost any fish of
the size of shad may be done in the same way.
=Brook Trout.=
If they are small, fry them with salt pork. If large, boil them, and
serve with drawn butter.
=Clams.=
The round clams, sometimes called quahogs, are much the most healthy.
The small ones, with thin edges, are to be preferred. They may be
roasted upon a gridiron, or laid in an iron pan upon a stove. When the
shell begins to open, pour the liquor into a sauce-pan, and cut the
clam from the shell and put with it. When all are taken out, set the
sauce-pan on the coals, and when the clams boil up, add pepper and a
bit of butter, and pour them upon toasted bread.
_Clam broth_ is made by washing them very clean, and boiling till the
shells open; then take out the clams and put them into the water again.
Boil them a few minutes, add a little butter and flour, and put toasted
crackers in the tureen into which you put the broth. This is very
healthy for feeble persons.
=Smelts.=
Soak smelts a little while in warm water; scrape them, and cut the
heads so far that you can gently pull them off, and thus draw out the
dark vein that runs through the body; then rinse and lay them into a
dry cloth while you fry two or three slices of salt pork crisp. Dip the
smelts into a plate of fine Indian meal, and fry them brown. If you fry
them in lard or drippings, sprinkle them with salt, but not until they
are nearly done, as they will not brown as well, if it is put on at
first.
=To prepare Salt Shad, Mackerel, or Halibut's Fin to Broil.=
Shad should be soaked twenty-four hours, the water being changed once
or twice. Mackerel often need soaking thirty, or even thirty-six hours;
and halibut's fin thirty-six. A gallon of water is the least in which
either of them should be soaked. Grease the gridiron, and lay the skin
side down. (See Directions at the head of this chapter.)
=Smoked Halibut.=
It should be washed in warm water, wiped and laid for only three or
four minutes on the gridiron. Halibut is so solid a fish that it is not
easy to get that which is cured perfectly free from taint.
DIRECTIONS FOR SALTING MEAT, FISH, &c.
To some young housekeepers, the salting of meat, and taking care
of it, and of smoked meat, are perplexing. Perhaps the following
directions may assist them. The best pieces to corn are the end of the
rump, the thin end of the sirloin, and the edge-bone. If you like it
with alternate streaks of fat and lean, the pieces at the ends of the
ribs, called by butchers the rattle-ran, are very good. The edge-bone
affords the most lean meat.
The best piece of pork to corn is the shoulder. It is a good way to
divide it, if large, and stuff half of it with sage and bread crumbs,
and roast it; and corn the other half.
In winter, hang fresh killed meat up two or three days before putting
it into brine, as it will thus become more tender. Make a brine of
four quarts of water, three pints of salt, half a table-spoonful of
saltpetre, and a pint of molasses, or a pound of coarse brown sugar.
Mix it thoroughly without boiling it. In this lay the meat, and see
that it is entirely covered. It is well to look at it after a day or
two, and if necessary, turn it the other side up. It will be good in
a few days, but it is better to let it lie three or four weeks before
boiling it. The same brine will do for many successive pieces in
winter. But for a family that like salt meat, it is the best way to
make a double measure, and put into it at once as much meat as it will
cover. It should be kept in a firkin or tub, with a close cover.
After a considerable quantity of meat has thus been cured, scald and
skim the brine, add a little more molasses, salt, and saltpetre, and
let it become cold before meat is put into it.
A brine like this, only a little more rich with molasses, is very good
for salting tongues, and pieces that are to be smoked. But they should
lie in it four or five weeks. Meat should never be salted for smoking,
later than February or the middle of March.
In warm weather, it will not do to use the same brine more than once,
as the blood from the meat will become tainted. Therefore a less
expensive mixture, that may be thrown away after being used once, is
better. Two quarts of salt to four of water, is a good rule for brine
in hot weather.
In the summer, the strong membrane that covers the rib bones, must be
cut open with a sharp knife before the meat is put into brine; for, as
the salt will not penetrate this membrane, the bones will else become
tainted, and the meat soon be spoiled. Meat, at this season, should be
cooked within three or four days after being put into brine.
=To Salt Pork.=
Allow a bushel of salt for a barrel of pork, or a peck for fifty
weight. The salt called _coarse-fine_, is commonly used by butchers;
but the best way in a private family, where no more than twenty-five or
fifty weight is put down for the year's use, is to use fine salt. Put
water enough to cover it. Examine it in a few days, and if the salt is
all dissolved, add more. The only sure way of keeping pork sweet, is to
have the brine so strong that some of the salt remains undissolved. A
board, with a stone upon it, should always be kept on the top of pork,
as it will soon become rusty if the edges lie above the surface of the
brine.
It is not fit for use, until it has been in brine six weeks.
=Pickle for one Ham.=
To a gallon of water, put a pint of salt, a pint of molasses, and an
ounce of saltpetre. Turn the ham over in the brine often, and let it
lie in it six weeks; then let it be smoked nearly as long.
=To Cure Hams.=
[This receipt is furnished by a person whose hams are celebrated in the
eastern part of Massachusetts, for their superior quality.]
For curing fifty weight, allow three quarts of coarse salt, half a
pound of saltpetre, and two quarts of good molasses. Add soft water
enough just to cover the hams. Common sized hams should be kept in this
pickle five weeks; larger ones six. They should all be taken out once a
week, and those which were on the top laid in first, and the lower ones
last. They should be smoked from two to three weeks with walnut wood
or with sawdust and corn-cobs, mixed. Meat smoked with cobs is very
delicate.
Pieces of beef for smoking, may be laid in this pickle, after the hams
are sent to the smoke house; but more salt should be added.
=The Knickerbocker Pickle.=
To three gallons of soft water, put four pounds and a half of salt,
coarse and fine, mixed; a pound and a half of brown sugar, an ounce and
a half of saltpetre, half an ounce of saleratus, and two quarts of good
molasses.
Boil the mixture, skim it well, and when cold pour it over the hams or
beef. Beef laid down in this pickle, does not become hard, and is very
fine, when boiled gently and long.
Some persons consider this the best of all methods for curing beef and
hams.
=How to keep Hams through the Summer.=
When they are taken from the smoke house, do not suffer them to lie
a single hour where the flies can find them. Sew them up in a coarse
cloth or stiff brown paper, and pack them in ashes. There is no method
so sure to preserve them from insects, and the effect of the ashes
is to improve the meat; but care should be taken that the hams are
so secured that the ashes will not touch them. The ashes should be
perfectly cold and dry, and the barrel be in a dry, cool place.
=To make Sausages.=
A common fault is, that the meat is not chopped enough. It should be
chopped very fine, and this is most easily done if it is a little
frozen. When ready for the seasoning, put in just cold water enough to
enable you to mix the ingredients equally; but be careful not to use
more than is necessary for this purpose.
The following excellent rule for seasoning sausages is furnished by
the same person whose receipt for curing hams I have been allowed to
copy.
To twelve pounds and a half of meat put a gill of fine salt, a large
gill of powdered sage, and half a gill of ground pepper. Let the
measures be exact.
Some persons find it most convenient to keep sausage meat in a cloth.
It is done by making a long bag of strong cotton cloth, of such a size
that, when filled, it will be as large round as a common half pint mug.
It should be crowded full, and each end tied up. If you have not a
sausage-filler, it can be filled with the hand. Sew up only a quarter
of a yard, then fill it tight, so far; then sew another quarter, and
fill it, and so on until you reach the end. When the meat is to be
used, open one end, rip up the seam a little way, and cut off slices
rather more than an inch thick, and fry them. It may be kept good from
December to March, in a cold, dry place.
=How to salt Shad to keep a Year.=
Procure those which are just caught; soak them an hour or two in a
plenty of water, in order that the scales may be easily taken off. Take
care to remove them all. Cut off the heads and open them down the back.
When you have taken out all the refuse parts, remove the greatest part
of the spine, as the fish will be more sure to keep sweet. A sharp
knife is indispensable. Lay them in fresh water with a good deal of
salt in it for an hour or two, in order to extract the blood. Then
take them out, and sprinkle them plentifully with fine salt, taking
care that it touches all the ends and edges. If most convenient, let
them lie over night. In the morning, mingle an ounce of saltpetre and
a pound of sugar with a peck of _coarse-fine_ salt, and put a layer of
salt, and a layer of fish (the skin being down), into the firkin. A
peck of salt will cure twenty-five shad.
=To try Lard.=
The fat should not be suffered to stand long without being _tried_,
because, even in cold weather, some parts of it may soon become musty,
and nothing can then restore its sweetness. Remove all the lean bits,
as they will adhere to the kettle, and cause the fat to burn. Cut
it into pieces a little more than an inch square, and take care to
have them nearly of a size. Put a little water into the kettle, and
keep a steady, good fire, without much blaze, and stir the fat often.
Attention to the kettle and the fire will be necessary, through the
process. It will require three hours to do it. When the fat no longer
bubbles, but is still, it is done enough. It is best to squeeze it
through a tow cloth bag, made by folding half a square in such a way
that the corner will form the end, and it should be rounded off a
little at the bottom, and the seam made exactly as directed for a
pudding-bag. Two pieces of wood fastened together, somewhat like a
lemon-squeezer, will facilitate the process of straining it. Strain
all that flows off without much pressure into one jar, and that which
is extracted last, into another. There is no advantage in putting salt
into lard. It does not mingle with it, as appears by its being always
found at the bottom of the kettle, undissolved. Stone jars are best for
keeping lard, but potter's ware does very well. It should stand in a
cold place, and in warm weather, a fire-place with a close board, in a
cool room, is a very good place to keep it.
Scraps are a favorite dish with many persons. Put salt, pepper, and
pulverized sage to them, while they are still warm, break them small,
and stir them well that the seasoning may be equally distributed.
TOMATOES.
=Stewed.=
Scald them in order to remove the skins. Cut them up and put them into
a saucepan, with a little salt, a bit of butter, and some fine crumbs
of bread or pounded cracker. Let them stew gently an hour; if you like
them sweet, add sugar ten minutes before serving.
=Baked.=
Butter a dish, and when you have skinned the tomatoes lay them in it,
whole. Sprinkle salt and sugar over them, and then fine crumbs of bread
or pounded cracker. Bake them forty minutes in a dish in which they may
be put upon the table. When they are half baked dip the syrup over the
top, so as to moisten the crumbs.
=Broiled.=
Cut them in two without skinning, and lay them upon the gridiron. They
will not break, and will require six or seven minutes to cook through.
Turn them, and when laid in the dish, add salt and butter, and also
pepper if you prefer.
=Like Cucumbers.=
Take fair fruit. The small kind, called love-apples, are the best for
this use. Take off the skins, slice them, sprinkle salt over them, add
vinegar (rather less than for cucumbers), and put on pepper.
=Preserved.=
Having skinned them, weigh equal quantities of fruit and sugar. Let the
tomatoes lie upon a hair sieve a little while in order that some of the
juice may drain out. Then lay them carefully, so as not to spoil the
shape, into a stone jar, in alternate layers with the sugar. Allow one
lemon for every four pounds of fruit, and lay slices of lemon between
each layer of fruit. Cover the jar close, and set it in a kettle
of cold water, where it will boil moderately, but constantly, many
hours--all day if possible. See that the water comes up high enough
around the jar, and also that none of it boils into the top. When it
is boiled enough, let the jar stand until the water has in a measure
cooled, as it may be broken by being taken at once out of boiling water.
=Figs.=