of sugar. Scald and remove the skins in the usual way; put the sugar
to them, and boil until penetrated with it; then take them out, spread
them on dishes, flatten and dry them in the sun. A small quantity of
sugar should be sprinkled over them occasionally while drying. When
perfectly dry, pack them in boxes, sprinkling each layer with powdered
sugar.
=Pickle= (an excellent Condiment).
Put eight pounds of skinned tomatoes, and four of brown sugar, into a
preserving kettle. Stir often and see they do not burn. Boil them to
the consistency of molasses, then add a quart of sharp cider-vinegar,
a teaspoonful of mace, another of cinnamon, and half a teaspoonful of
clove, and boil five minutes longer.
=Stewed Tomato= (to keep the year round).
Skin and cut up the fruit, and boil it gently two hours in a porcelain
kettle; add nothing to it but a little salt. Have ready enough clean
bottles to contain the quantity to be stewed. Olive bottles are very
convenient for the purpose, but common junk bottles are also good.
Provide a tunnel, good corks, a coarse towel, a hammer, and a tin dish
containing equal parts of rosin and shoemaker's wax. After two hours'
boiling, set the kettle off; have the bottles ready warmed by standing
near the fire so that heat will not crack them, put hot water into
three or four at a time, shake it about, and drain it out; then fill
the bottles with the hot tomato _nearly_ far enough to meet the cork.
If it does not readily go through the tunnel, push it down with a stick
or skewer. When you have filled these, put in the corks and hammer
them down; take the coarse towel to protect your hands from the heat,
and dip the mouth of the bottle into the melted sealing-wax. See that
the cork is entirely covered by it. Set these aside and do the rest in
the same way. This is a convenient way for those who do not own the
cans now so much used; and tomatoes put up thus, are as good months
afterwards as if the fruit was just gathered. None but fresh and sound
ones should be used. Set the bottles in a cool, dry place.
=Catsup.=
Slice the tomatoes and sprinkle them with salt. If you intend to let
them stand until you have gathered several parcels, put in plenty of
salt. After you have gathered all you intend to use, boil them gently
an hour, strain them through a coarse sieve; slice two good-sized
onions very thin for every gallon; add half a spoonful of ginger, two
spoonfuls of powdered clove, two of allspice, and a teaspoonful of
black pepper. Boil it twenty minutes after the spices are added. Keep
it in a covered jar.
This kind of catsup is specially designed to be used in soups, and
stewed meats.
=Another Catsup= (retaining the color and flavor of the Fruit).
Skin and slice the tomatoes, and boil them an hour and a half. Then put
to one gallon not strained, a quarter of an ounce of mace, the same of
nutmegs and cloves, one handful of horseradish, two pods of red pepper,
or a large teaspoonful of cayenne, and salt as you like it. Boil it
away to three quarts, and then add a pint of wine and half a pint of
vinegar. Bottle it, and leave the bottles open two or three days; then
cork it tight. Make this catsup once, and you will wish to make it
every year.
=Pickled.=
Wash green tomatoes, and slice them rather thin; weigh them, and allow
three or four sliced onions, four pounds of sugar, and a gallon of
cider-vinegar to eight pounds of tomatoes. Put the vinegar to boil in
a porcelain kettle with the sugar, stir it, and when it boils up, set
it off, and let it stand a few minutes until you can remove the scum
without wasting the vinegar; then add the onions, two teaspoonfuls
of salt, a table-spoonful each of powdered cinnamon and clove, and
a grated nutmeg; then set it upon the fire and immediately add the
tomatoes. When the vinegar begins to simmer press the tomatoes gently
down. Let them boil only two or three minutes. Put them into covered
jars; or, when cool enough into wide-mouthed bottles. When the pickles
are all used, the vinegar need not be lost, as it is excellent upon
baked beans, and cold salt meat, or in mince pies.
ON COOKING VEGETABLES.
After being well washed, they should be laid in water, excepting corn
and peas, which should be husked and shelled with clean hands, and
not washed, as some of the sweetness is thereby extracted. Put all
kinds, except peas and beans, into boiling water, with a little salt
in it. Hard water spoils peas, and is not good for any vegetables; a
very little saleratus or soda will rectify it. Peas are much best when
first gathered, and they should not be shelled long before boiling. If
they are old, a salt-spoon of soda in the water will make them tender.
Asparagus should not be cut so far below the surface of the ground
as it usually is for market; the white end never boils tender. Sweet
potatoes require a third longer time to cook than the common ones.
Greens, lettuce, and cucumbers should be gathered before the dew is off
in the morning, and put into fresh water. All these, with peas, beans,
and asparagus, are unhealthful after they are withered.
=To Boil Potatoes.=
The best potatoes are good boiled without paring, but even they, are
best pared; and poor potatoes are unfit to eat, boiled with the skins
on. New potatoes are made watery by being laid in water, but late in
the winter and in the spring they should be pared and laid in cold
water an hour or two before they are cooked. Put them into boiling
water, with salt in it, and allow thirty or forty minutes for boiling,
according to the size. When they are done through, pour off the water,
and take the kettle to the door or window, and shake them. Doing this
in the open air makes them mealy; return them to the fire a minute or
two, and then serve. Many persons take a fork and break them up in the
kettle, before taking them up, and they make a beautiful looking dish
done in this way.
Potatoes require nearly an hour to bake in a cooking stove or range.
=Mashed Potatoes.=
Boil them according to the directions in the preceding receipt,
allowing twenty minutes more time before dinner, than if they were to
be put on the table whole. When they are dried, set off the kettle and
mash them in it with a wooden pestle. This is better than to take them
into a pan, as they will keep hot in the kettle. Have ready a gill or
two of hot milk or cream; if you use milk, put a small piece of butter
into it. Sprinkle salt into the potato and mash it till it is perfectly
fine; then pour in the hot milk and mix it thoroughly. The more it is
wrought with the pestle, the whiter it becomes. Put it into the dish
for the table, smooth the top into proper shape, and set it into the
stove to brown. To prepare it in the nicest manner, beat the yolk of an
egg and spread over the top before putting it into the stove. If you
do not care to take all this trouble, it is very good without being
browned.
=Potatoe Balls.=
Mash boiled potatoes fine, stir into them the yolk of an egg, and
make them into balls; then dip them into a beaten egg, roll them in
cracker crumbs, and brown them in a quick oven; or, fry them in a small
quantity of nice drippings, and in that case flatten them so that they
can be easily turned, and browned both sides.
=Old Potatoes.=
When potatoes are poor, as they often are in the spring, pare, soak,
and boil them as directed in the first receipt. Then take two together
in a coarse cloth, squeeze and wring them. You can, with care, turn
them into the dish in shape; but if not, it is no matter. The broken
pieces will still be far better than before, for they will be dry and
mealy. Keep a cloth for the purpose.
=To Fry Potatoes.=
Pare and slice them thin, and if you have the drippings of a baked
ham in which to fry them, it will give them a much better relish than
butter or beef drippings. Cold boiled potatoes, if fried, should be
sliced thicker than raw ones. The latter require much more time to cook
than the others. Sprinkle them with salt while frying.
=Potatoes Heated in Milk.=
To make a very good dish for breakfast, cut cold potatoes quite small,
and put them into a saucepan or spider, with milk enough almost, but
not entirely, to cover them. When the milk becomes hot, stir and mash
the potatoes with a large spoon until there are no lumps. Add salt, and
a small bit of butter, stir it often, until it is as dry as you wish
to have it. It is a nicer dish, when prepared with so much milk that a
good deal of stirring is necessary to make it dry, than if done in but
a small quantity.
=Sweet Potatoes.=
They are best baked; are very nice boiled till tender, and then pared
and laid into the oven to brown. They require more time for being
cooked, than the common potato. Cold sweet potatoes are excellent
sliced and browned on the griddle. When one side is done, sprinkle salt
over before turning them.
=Mashed Turnips.=
Boil them in salt and water, at least an hour and a half, unless they
are of early growth. Take them from the kettle into a deep dish, press
them a little and pour off the water; mash them like potatoes, but use
no milk, as they are moist enough. Add salt and a little butter.
It is a very nice way to put an equal number of potatoes and turnips
together, and mash them until they are thoroughly mixed. This is a
favorite dish among the Dutch in the State of New York.
=Shelled Beans.=
Put them into cold soft water, just enough to cover them. Boil them
from an hour to an hour and a quarter. Some kinds are more easily
boiled than others. Do not put in salt until they are nearly done, as
its tendency is to make them hard. Take them up with a skimmer and
butter them.
=String Beans.=
Beans should never be used in this way after the pod has become old
enough to have a _string_, or tough fibre upon it. Cut off each end,
and cut them up small. Boil them in as little water as will keep them
from burning. Just before you take them up, add salt and butter, and
dredge in a little flour. They should have only as much liquor in them
as you wish to take up in the dish, else the sweetness is wasted.
String beans and peas are good boiled together.
=Peas.=
If peas are young and fresh (and none others are good), they will boil
in half an hour or thirty-five minutes. They should be put into cold
water, without salt. The same quantity should be used as for string
beans, and for the same reason. When they are tender, add salt and
butter. It is an improvement to boil a single small slice of pork in
them. It need not be laid into the dish, and the same slice will do for
another boiling.
=Asparagus.=
Wash it, trim off the white ends, and tie it up in bunches with a twine
or a strip of old cotton. Throw them into boiling water with salt in
it. Boil twenty-five minutes or half an hour. Have ready two or three
slices of toasted bread, dip them in the water and lay them in the
dish. Spread them with butter and lay the bunches of asparagus upon
the toast. Cut the strings with a scissors and draw them out without
breaking the stalks; lay thin shavings of butter over the asparagus,
and send it to the table.
=Asparagus and Eggs.=
Take cold asparagus, and cut it the size of peas; break four or five
eggs into a dish, and beat them with pepper, salt, and the asparagus.
Then put it into a stew-pan with a spoonful of butter, set it on the
fire, and stir it all the time till it thickens. Put it upon toasted
bread in a hot dish.
=Mushrooms.=
Choose such as are young, having red gills; cut off the part of the
stalk which grew in the earth; wash them, remove the skin from the top,
stew them with some salt in a little water, and when tender add butter,
into which you have rubbed browned flour. They are good fried on a
griddle.
=Salad.=
Gather lettuce and pepper-grass early, before the dew has evaporated;
pick them over, and lay them in cold water. If the weather is very
warm, change the water before dinner-time, and add ice. Just before
it is served, cut it small, and prepare the dressing in the following
manner. Boil three eggs twelve minutes, and throw them into cold water;
remove the shell, and take out the yolks; mash them fine in a spoonful
of water and two of oil; add salt, powdered sugar, made mustard and
vinegar; pour the mixture over the salad, cut the whites of the eggs in
rings and garnish the top.
=Cucumbers.=
Cucumbers should be gathered while dew is yet on them, and put
immediately into water. Half an hour before dinner, pare and slice them
very thin, and let them lie in fresh water till dinner is ready; then
drain them, lay them into a dish, sprinkle them with salt, pour on the
vinegar, and add the pepper last.
=Macaroni.=
Procure that which looks white and clean. When it is to be used,
examine it carefully, as there are sometimes little insects inside.
Wash it, and put it in a stew-pan in cold water enough almost to cover
it. Add a little salt. Let it boil slowly half an hour; then add a gill
of milk and a small piece of butter, and boil it a quarter of an hour
more. Then put it into the dish in which it is to go to the table,
grate old cheese over it, and heat a shovel red-hot and hold over the
top to brown it. It may be browned in a stove, but if the dish would be
injured by it, the better way is to use the shovel.
=Parsnips.=
Those that have remained in the ground till March, are usually very
nice. Boil them three quarters of an hour, and cook enough for two
days. Scrape the outside, split them, and lay them on a dish with a
little butter, salt, and pepper. Take those that are left the next day,
and lay them on a hot griddle or spider, with a little butter, ham fat,
or nice drippings, and brown them. These are better than on the first
day. They will brown well when first boiled, but not so quickly.
=Carrots.=
These are not considered by most people very good; but they are so in
broth and soup. To eat with meat they should be boiled three quarters
of an hour, if fresh from the garden; in the winter, an hour and a
half. They make very good pies after the fashion of pumpkin or squash;
but they must be boiled very tender, and in a good deal of water, else
a strong taste will pervade the pies.
=Beets.=
When they are washed the little fibres and ragged excrescences should
not be broken off, as the juices of the root will thus be lost. Young
beets boil in an hour; but in the winter they require from two to three
hours. When tender, put them for a minute or two into cold water, take
them in your hands and slip the skins off. This is a much easier and
better way than to remove the skin with a knife. Lay them into a dish,
cut them several times through, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, add
a little butter, and, if you choose, vinegar also. It is a very good
way to cut up all that remain after dinner, put on salt and vinegar,
and set them aside to be used cold another day.
=Salsify, or Oyster Plant.=
Wash and scrape it very thoroughly, and put it in boiling water with
salt in it. When tender, cut it in slices and fry it in hot fat, in a
batter made of an egg, milk, flour, and salt. It is very nice, also,
dipped in bread-crumbs moistened with a beaten egg, and browned on a
griddle.
=Summer Squash.=
If the rind is tender, boil it whole, in a little bag kept for the
purpose. It should be put into boiling water; three quarters of an hour
is long enough to cook it. Take the bag into a pan and press it with
the edge of a plate or with a ladle, until the water is out; then turn
the squash out into a dish, add salt and butter, and smooth over the
top.
=Winter Squash.=
Cut it up and take out the inside. Pare the pieces, and stew them in
as little water as possible. If you have a tin with holes in it, which
will fit the kettle and keep the squash from touching the water, it is
the nicest way to steam it. Be careful it does not burn. It will cook
in an hour. Mash it in a dish, or, if it is watery, squeeze it in a
coarse cloth like summer squash. Stir in butter and salt. Lay it into
the dish, smooth the top, and, if you like, pepper it.
=Onions.=
Boil them twenty minutes, and pour off the water entirely; then put in
equal parts of hot water and milk, or skimmed milk alone, and boil them
twenty minutes more. When they are done through, take them up with a
skimmer, let them drain a little, and lay them into the dish. Put on
butter, pepper, and salt.
=Spinage.=
Put it into a net, or a bag of coarse muslin, kept for the purpose, and
boil it in a plenty of water with salt in it, ten or twelve minutes.
All kinds of greens should be boiled in plenty of water, else they will
be bitter.
One method of serving spinage is, to press it between two plates, then
put it into a saucepan with a small bit of butter, salt, and a little
cream, and boil it up. Another is to drain it thoroughly, lay it in the
dish, put upon the top hard boiled eggs, sliced, and pour melted butter
over it.
=Greens.=
Cabbage plants, turnip or mustard tops, the roots and tops of young
beets, cowslips, dandelions, and various other things, make a good dish
in the spring. When boiled enough, they will sink to the bottom of the
kettle. Some require an hour, and others less time. Turnip-tops will be
boiled enough in twenty minutes. Remember to put salt into the water
unless you boil a piece of pork with them.
=Cabbage.=
Remove the waste leaves, and divide the stump end as far as the centre
of the cabbage. It is good boiled with salt meat; but if cooked by
itself, salt should be added to the water. Cabbage should be put into
boiling water, be well skimmed, and boil an hour or hour and a half,
according to the size.
=Cauliflowers.=
Lay them an hour or two in cold salt and water; remove the outside
leaves and boil them half an hour in milk and water. If they are
strong, pour off the water when they are half done, and put fresh
boiling water to them. Brocoli is cooked in the same manner, and should
be laid on toast exactly like asparagus.
=Egg Plant.=
Take fresh purple ones, and pull out the stem; parboil them and cut
them in slices about an inch thick. Dip them in a beaten egg, and then
in a plate of bread or cracker crumbs, with salt and pepper, and fry
them in drippings until they are nicely browned.
=Boiled Corn.=
Put the ears into boiling water, with salt in it, and boil them half an
hour.
=Corn Soup.=
Cut the corn off the cob, and boil the cobs half an hour in the water;
then take them out, put in the corn and boil it twenty minutes or half
an hour. If there is a quart of the corn and water, add a pint of new
milk, with salt, pepper, and one or two beaten eggs. Continue the
boiling a few minutes, and thicken it a little with flour.
=Succotash.=
Cut off the corn from the cobs, and, an hour and a half before dinner,
put the cobs, with a few shelled beans, into cold water to boil. After
one hour take out the cobs, put in the corn and boil it half an hour.
There should be no more water than will be necessary to make the
succotash of the right thickness; as having too much occasions a loss
of the richness imparted by the cobs. When you take it up, add a small
piece of butter. This is much better than to boil the corn on the cob
and then cut it off.
It is a very good way, when a family are tired of fresh meat in hot
weather, to boil a piece of pork in another pot until the grossest fat
has boiled out, and then put it with the succotash for the remainder
of the time. It gives a very good flavor to the corn, and makes an
excellent dinner.
=Corn Oysters.=
Grate young, sweet corn into a dish, and to a pint add one egg,
well beaten, a small teacup of flour, half a gill of cream, and a
teaspoonful of salt. Mix it well together. Fry it exactly like oysters,
dropping it into the fat by spoonfuls about the size of an oyster.
PICKLES.
Pickles should never be kept in potter's ware, as arsenic and other
poisonous substances are used in the glazing; and this is sometimes
decomposed by vinegar. Whole families have been poisoned in this way;
and where fatal effects do not follow, a deleterious influence may be
operating upon the health, from this cause, when it is not suspected.
Pickles should be made with cider vinegar.
=Cucumbers.=
Wash and drain them in a sieve, but take care not to break the little
prickles upon them, as the effect will be to make them soft. Lay them
in a jar, pour boiling vinegar upon them and cover them close. The next
time you gather any, take those from the jar, and put them into that
in which they are to be kept, in fresh vinegar having a very little
salt in it, and a small bag of spices. Take the vinegar from the first
jar, boil it again, pour it upon the fresh cucumbers, and transfer
them like the first to the larger jar, the next time you have a new
quantity to boil. When you have gathered all you wish for, put a brass
or bell-metal kettle[14] over the fire, with the vinegar in it which you
have so often boiled, and add a little more to it,--no matter if it is
not sharp. Lay in your pickles and scald them a few minutes. Take them
out with a large skimmer, draining them, and lay them back into the jar
of spiced vinegar. Look at them occasionally; they may need a little
more vinegar. Keep them covered close.
[14] A kettle lined with porcelain is better than any other for cooking
acids. Brass or bell-metal should be thoroughly scoured immediately
before it is used for these purposes.
=Mangoes.=
Select small musk-melons (the common kind are much better for this
purpose than cantelopes); cut an oval piece out of one side. You must
have a sharp knife, and be careful to make a smooth incision. Take
out the seeds with a teaspoon. Fill the melons with a stuffing made
of cloves, mustard-seed, pepper-corns, scrapings of horseradish, and
chopped onion if you like it. Sew on the piece with a needle and coarse
thread, or bind a strip of old cotton around each one and sew it. Lay
them in a jar, and pour boiling vinegar on them with a little salt in
it. Do it two or three times, then lay them in fresh vinegar and cover
them close.
=Peaches.=
Select peaches that are ripe, yet not quite soft enough to eat; push
a clove into each one at the end opposite the stem. Put two pounds of
brown sugar to a gallon of vinegar, and boil it up; skim off the top,
boil it up once more, and pour it, hot, upon the peaches. Cover them
close.
It may be necessary to scald the vinegar again in a week or two; after
that, they will keep any length of time. They retain much of the flavor
of a fresh peach.
=Nasturtiums.=
Gather the seeds while green, let them lie a few days, then throw them
into vinegar. They need no spice except a little salt, being themselves
sufficiently spicy. Boil the vinegar and pour on them. They are
considered by many persons better than capers, and are much like them.
They should be kept six months, covered close, before they are used.
=Eggs.=
Boil them twelve minutes, and throw them immediately into cold water,
which will cause the shell to come off easily. Boil some red beets till
very soft, peel and mash them fine, and put them into cold vinegar
enough to cover the eggs; add salt, pepper, cloves, and nutmeg. Put the
eggs into a jar and pour the mixture over them.
=Peppers.=
Take fresh, hard peppers, soak them in salt and water nine days,
changing the brine each day. Let them stand in a warm place. Then put
them into cold vinegar. If you wish them very hot, leave in the seeds.
If not, take out the seeds of the greatest part of them. If peppers
are put into the same jar with cucumbers, the entire strength of them
will go into the cucumbers, and they themselves will become nearly
tasteless. Half a dozen peppers will improve a jar of cucumbers.
=Butternuts.=
Gather them between the twenty-fifth and thirtieth of June. Make a
brine of boiled salt and water, strong enough to bear up an egg after
it is cold. Skim it while it boils. Pour it on the nuts, and let them
lie in it twelve days. Then drain them; lay them in a jar, and pour
over them the best of cider vinegar, boiled with pepper-corns, cloves,
allspice, mustard, ginger, mace, and horseradish. This should be cooled
before it is poured on. Cover close, and keep them a year before
using them. Walnuts are done in the same way. The vinegar becomes an
excellent catsup, by many persons preferred to any other.
=Martinias.=
Gather them when they are rather small, and so tender that you can run
the head of a pin into them. Wipe off the down and put them into a
cold, weak brine. Keep them in brine nine days, changing it every other
day. Make a pickle of vinegar, allspice, cloves, mace, nutmegs, and
cinnamon. Take the martinias out of the brine, wipe them, and lay them
into a stone jar; pour the mixture of vinegar and spice, boiling hot,
over them; cover them close, and let them stand one month, and they
will be fit for use. There can be no finer pickle than this, and the
plant is so prolific, that half a dozen seeds will produce enough to
fill a large jar.
=Tomatoes.=
See page 170.