liver when you dish it, having previously removed the thickest part of
the stalk. The liver of beef or sheep is not seen at good tables. It is
very inferior to that of calf's, being hard and coarse.
LARDED LIVER.--Wash and drain a nice fat calf's liver. Liver of beef or
mutton is never seen at a good table; they are hard, coarse, and
tasteless, and only eaten by the poor, while the livers of veal and
poultry are considered very nice. Divide it into equal portions. Lard
them thickly with small slips of fat bacon, inserted at regular
distances with a larding-needle, and very near each other. Season the
liver with powdered nutmeg and mace. Put into a stew-pan, in the bottom
of which you have laid a large slice or two of fat bacon. Let it stew
gently, till thoroughly done and tender throughout. When you take the
liver out of the stew-pan, stir into the gravy left at the bottom, some
thick catchup, either mushroom or tomato. Do not send the slices of
bacon to table with the liver.
If liked, surround the liver while cooking, with small button onions,
(peeled and washed,) and see that they are well done. Serve them up on
the same dish. It is best always to boil onions before frying them.
STEWED LIVER.--Having soaked a fine calf's liver for two hours in cold
water, cut it into thick slices, and then cut the slices into mouthfuls.
Chop fine a small bunch of sweet marjoram, and sprinkle it among the
liver, seasoning with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and powdered mace. Put it
into a stew-pan, and cook it in lard or fresh butter. Make some nice
toast, and dip it for a minute in hot water, having pared off all the
crust. Lay the toast in the bottom of a deep dish, after covering it all
over with the stewed liver.
LIVER RISSOLES.--Take a calf's liver, and remove carefully all the
veins. Weigh a pound of it, boil it, and when cold, mince it very finely
with a quarter of a pound of suet, either of beef or veal. Add a quarter
of a pound of finely grated bread-crumbs. Season it with cayenne,
powdered mace, and nutmeg, and a very little salt. Mix in two
well-beaten eggs. Shape them into oval forms, about the size of large
walnuts, and fry them in plenty of boiling hot lard, draining them all
on a perforated skimmer, before they go to table.
LIVER PIE.--Prepare a fine fresh calf's liver. Split it in long pieces.
Lay it in a pan of cold water for an hour or two. Afterwards take it out
and wipe it dry, and boil it till tender. Drain it when done, and chop
it large with a slice of cold ham. Season it with pepper and nutmeg, (no
salt for any thing that has ham in it,) and add some minced sweet
marjoram and sweet basil, and two yolks of hard-boiled eggs, grated or
minced. The grated yellow rind of a fresh lemon will be an improvement.
Make a very nice light paste, and line a pie dish with it. Then fill it
high with the mixture, laying on the top several pieces of fine fresh
butter. Cover it with a lid of paste, notching the edges handsomely, and
cutting a cross-slit on the top. Bake it light brown, and serve it up,
either hot or cold. It will be found very nice.
With the same mixture you may make liver dumplings, enclosing them in a
nice paste, and boiling them; or a liver pudding, boiling the mixture in
one large paste, and tying it in a cloth, leaving room for it to swell.
CHITTERLINGS OR CALF'S TRIPE.--This is very delicate and digestible, and
is nice at breakfast, or as a side dish at dinner. To prepare it for
cooking, it should be cut open with scissors, emptied, and thoroughly
cleaned, and then laid all night, or for several hours, in cold water,
_slightly_ salted. It can be bought of the veal butchers ready prepared,
and run on a wooden skewer. Wash it again just before cooking. Cut it
into small pieces, and boil it slowly till _quite_ tender, in water
enough to keep it well covered. When entirely done, take it up, drain
it, and keep it warm. Have ready some onions boiled in milk till quite
soft, and sliced thin. Melt some excellent fresh butter, in milk
thickened with flour. Make a round of very nice toast, with the crust
pared off. Dip it for a minute in hot water; lay it in the bottom of a
deep dish. Cover it thickly with the onion sauce, and place the
chitterlings upon it, seasoning them with pepper and vinegar. It will be
an improvement to boil with them four or five blades of mace. Eat
vinegar with it, always. Tarragon vinegar is best. This dish deserves to
be more in use. Try it.
FRIED CHITTERLINGS.--Get chitterlings ready prepared by the butcher.
Wash them, and let them lie an hour or two in weak salt and water. Then
drain them, cut them in pieces, and parboil them. Dry them in a clean
cloth. Make a batter of two or three beaten eggs, and a pint of milk,
with a heaped table-spoonful of flour. Put into a frying-pan an ample
portion of the dripping of roast veal or pork, and when it boils,
(having first dipped each piece of the chitterling into the batter,) fry
them in the dripping. They must be thoroughly done. You may fry them in
lard, or fresh butter.
This is a nice breakfast dish.
BAKED CHITTERLINGS.--Having first parboiled the chitterlings, lay among
them some bits of fresh butter, season them with powdered nutmeg, put
them into a deep dish, set it into an oven, and bake them brown.
This is a side dish at dinner.
FINE VEAL PIE.--Boil, in two quarts of water, two unskinned calf's feet,
adding the yellow rind of a large lemon, pared as thin as possible, or
grated, and its squeezed juice. Also, two broken-up sticks of cinnamon,
half a dozen blades of mace, and two glasses of sweet wine. Boil all
these together (skimming well,) till the calf's feet are in rags, and
all their flesh has dropped from the bone. Then put the whole into a
jelly-bag and let it drip into a broad bowl. Set it away closely
covered. Have ready two pounds of the parboiled chump end of a loin of
veal cut into square pieces. Make a nice puff paste, and line with it a
deep pie-dish. Put the pieces of veal into it, (all the fat cut off,)
and intersperse them with a dozen or more forcemeat balls, each about as
large as an English walnut. The balls may be made of cold minced chicken
and ham, minced suet, bread-crumbs, and hard-boiled yolk of egg grated
or crumbled fine; seasoned with sweet herbs, and grated lemon rind. Or
they may be sweet balls of bread-crumbs, butter, chopped sultana
raisins, and chopped citron, seasoned with nutmeg. Having dispersed them
among the pieces of veal, put in the jelly made from the calf's feet.
Cover the pie with a lid of puff-paste, cut a cross slit in the centre;
notch the edges, and bake it brown. This pie is for a company dish.
A PLAIN VEAL PIE.--Cut the meat from an uncooked breast of veal, and
stew it in a very little water. Have ready a pie dish lined with a nice
paste. Put in a layer of stewed veal, with its gravy, and cover it with
a layer of sausage meat; then veal again, and then sausage meat. Repeat
this till the dish is full, finishing with the sausage. Cover it with a
lid of paste, and bake it brown. This is a cheap and easy family pie.
VEAL LOAF.--Take a cold fillet of veal, and (omitting the fat and skin)
mince the meat as fine as possible. Mix with it a quarter of a pound of
the fattest part of a cold ham, also chopped small. Add a tea-cupful of
grated bread-crumbs; a grated nutmeg; half a dozen blades of mace,
powdered; the grated yellow rind of a lemon; and two beaten eggs. Season
with a salt-spoon of salt, and half a salt-spoon of cayenne. Mix the
whole well together, and make it into the form of a loaf. Then glaze it
over with beaten yolk of egg; and strew the surface evenly, all over,
with bread raspings, or with pounded cracker. Set the dish into a
dutch-oven, and bake it half an hour, or till hot all through. Have
ready a gravy made of the trimmings of the veal, stewed in some of the
gravy that was left when the fillet was roasted the day before. When
sufficiently cooked, take out the meat, and thicken the gravy with
beaten yolk of egg, stirred in about three minutes before you take it
from the fire.
Send the veal loaf to table, in a deep dish, with the gravy poured round
it.
Chicken loaf, or turkey loaf, may be made in this manner.
STEWED CALF'S HEAD.--Take a fine, large calf's head; empty it; wash it
clean, and boil it till it is quite tender, in just water enough to
cover it. Then carefully take out the bones, without spoiling the
appearance of the head. Season it with a little salt and cayenne, and a
grated nutmeg. Pour over it the liquor in which it has been boiled,
adding a jill of vinegar, and two table-spoonfuls of capers, or of green
nasturtion seeds, that have been pickled. Let it stew very slowly for
half an hour. Have ready some forcemeat balls made of minced veal-suet,
grated bread-crumbs, grated lemon-peel, and sweet marjoram,--adding
beaten yolk of egg to bind the other ingredients together. Put in the
forcemeat balls, and stew it slowly a quarter of an hour longer, adding
some bits of butter rolled in flour to enrich the gravy. Send it to
table hot.
EXCELLENT MINCED VEAL.--Take three or four pounds of the lean only of a
fillet or loin of veal, and mince it very finely, adding a slice or two
of cold ham, minced also. Add two or three small young onions, chopped
small, a tea-spoonful of sweet marjoram leaves rubbed from the stalks,
the yellow rind of a small lemon grated, and a tea-spoonful of mixed
mace and nutmeg powdered. Mix all well together, and dredge it with a
little flour. Put it into a stew-pan, with sufficient gravy of cold
roast veal to moisten it, and a large table-spoonful or more of fresh
butter. Stir it well, and let it stew till thoroughly done. If the veal
has been previously cooked, a quarter of an hour will be sufficient. It
will be much improved by adding a pint or more of small button
mushrooms, cut from the stems, and then chopped small. Also, by stirring
in two table-spoonfuls of cream about five minutes before it is taken
from the fire.
VEAL WITH OYSTERS.--Take two fine cutlets of about a pound each. Divide
them into several pieces, cut thin. Put them into a frying-pan, with
boiling lard, and let them fry awhile. When the veal is almost done, add
to it a pint of large, fine oysters,--their liquor thickened with a few
grated bread-crumbs, and seasoned with mace and nutmeg powdered.
Continue the frying till the veal and oysters are thoroughly done. Send
it to table in a covered dish.
TERRAPIN VEAL.--Take some cold roast veal, (the fillet or the loin) and
cut it into mouthfuls. Put it in a skillet or stew-pan. Have ready a
dressing made of six or seven hard-boiled eggs, minced fine; a small
tea-spoonful of tarragon mustard; a salt-spoonful of salt; and the same
of cayenne pepper; a large tea-cupful (half a pint) of cream, and two
glasses of sherry or Madeira wine. The dressing must be thoroughly
mixed. Pour it over the veal, and then give the whole a hard stir. Cover
it, and let it stew over the fire for ten minutes. Then transfer it to a
deep dish, and send it to table hot.
Cold roast duck or fowl may be drest as above. Also, venison.
VEAL OLIVES.--Take some cold fillet of veal and cold ham, and cut them
into thin square slices of the same size and shape, trimming the edges
evenly. Lay a slice of veal on every slice of ham, and spread some
beaten yolk of egg over the veal. Have ready a thin forcemeat, made of
grated bread-crumbs, sweet marjoram rubbed fine, fresh butter, and
grated lemon-peel, seasoned with nutmeg and a little cayenne pepper.
Spread this over the veal, and then roll up each slice tightly with the
ham. Tie them round securely with coarse thread or fine twine; run a
bird-spit through them, and roast them well. For sauce, simmer in a
small sauce-pan, some cold veal gravy with two spoonfuls of cream, and
some mushroom catchup.
VEAL RISSOLES.--Take as much fine wheat bread as will weigh one pound,
after all the crust is cut off. Slice it; put it into a pan and pour
over it as much rich milk as will soak it thoroughly. After it has
soaked a quarter of an hour, lay it in a sieve and press it dry. Mince
as finely as possible a pound of veal cutlet with six ounces of veal
suet; then mix in gradually the bread; adding a salt-spoonful of salt, a
slight sprinkling of cayenne, and a small tea-spoonful of powdered mace
and nutmeg mixed; also the yellow rind of a lemon grated. Beat two eggs,
and moisten the mixture with them. Then divide it into equal portions,
and with a little flour on your hands roll it into oval balls rather
smaller than an egg. Strew over them some dry bread-crumbs; then fry
them in lard or fresh butter--drain them well, and send them to table
hot. For gravy (which should be commenced before the rissoles) put some
bits and trimmings of veal into a small sauce-pan, with as much water as
will cover them; a very little pepper and salt; and three or four blades
of mace. Cover the sauce-pan closely, and let the meat stew till all the
strength is extracted; skimming it well. Then strain it; return the
liquor to the sauce-pan; add a bit of butter rolled in flour; and
squeeze in the juice of a lemon. Give it a boil up, and then, at the
last, stir in the beaten yolk of an egg. Serve up this gravy in a
sauce-boat, to eat with the rissoles.
Instead of stewing meat for the purpose, you may make this gravy with
the drippings of roast veal saved from the day before. You have then
only to melt it over the fire; adding the seasoning; and giving it one
boil.
Similar rissoles may be made of minced chicken or turkey.
TO PREPARE SWEETBREADS.--The sweetbread belonging to the breast of the
calf is far superior to that which is found about the throat, being
larger, whiter, more tender, and more delicate. Always buy them in
preference. They should be set immediately on ice, and prepared for
cooking as speedily as possible, for they spoil very soon. Soak them in
warm water till all the blood is discharged. Then put them into boiling
water, and boil them five minutes. After this, lay them immediately in a
pan of very cold water. This sudden transition from hot water to cold,
will blanch or whiten them. Dark-colored sweetbreads make a very bad
appearance. Four are generally sufficient for a small dish. But as, if
well cooked, they are much liked, it is best to have six; or else eight
upon two dishes. If the sweetbreads are to be cut up before cooking,
remove and throw away the gristle or pipe that pervades every one. If
they are to be cooked whole, you may leave the pipe in, to be taken out
by the eaters.
For company, it is usual to lard sweetbreads with slips of fat ham or
bacon, or of cold smoked tongue.
Sweetbreads are used as side-dishes at dinners, or at nice breakfasts.
SWEETBREAD CROQUETTES.--Having trimmed some sweetbreads nicely, and
removed the gristle, parboil them, and then mince them very fine. Add
grated bread, and season with a very little salt and pepper; some
powdered mace and nutmeg; and some grated lemon-rind. Moisten the whole
with cream, and make them up into small cones or sugar-loaves; forming
and smoothing them nicely. Have ready some beaten egg, mixed with grated
bread-crumbs. Dip into it each croquette, and fry them slowly in fresh
butter. Serve them hot; standing up on the dish, and with a sprig of
parsley in the top of each.
Sweetbreads should never be used unless perfectly fresh. They spoil very
rapidly. As soon as they are brought from market they should be split
open, and laid in cold water. Never attempt to keep sweetbreads till
next day, except in cold weather; and then on ice.
Similar croquettes may be made of cold boiled chicken; or cold roast
veal; or of oysters, minced raw, and seasoned and mixed as above.
FRICASSEED SWEETBREADS.--Take half a dozen sweetbreads; clean them
thoroughly, and lay them for an hour or two in a pan of water, having
first removed the strings and gristle. Then put them into a stew-pan
with as much rich milk or cream as will cover them well, and a very
little salt. Stew them slowly, till tender throughout, and thoroughly
done, saving the liquid. Then take them up; cover them; and set them
near the fire to keep warm. Prepare a quarter of a pound of butter,
divided into four pieces, and rolled in flour. Put the butter into the
milk in which the sweetbreads were boiled, and add a few sprigs of
parsley cut small; five or six blades of mace; half a nutmeg grated; and
a very little cayenne pepper. Have ready the yolks of three eggs
well-beaten. Return the sweetbreads to the gravy; let it just come to a
boil; and then stir in the beaten egg _immediately before_ you take the
fricassee from the fire, otherwise it will curdle. Serve it up in a deep
dish with a cover.
Chickens, cut up, may be fricasseed in this manner.
TOMATO SWEETBREADS.--Cut up a quarter of a peck (or more) of fine ripe
tomatos; set them over the fire, and let them stew with nothing but
their own juice, till they go entirely to pieces. Then press them
through a sieve, to clear the liquid from the seeds and skins. Have
ready four or five sweetbreads that have been trimmed nicely, cleared
from the gristle, and laid open to soak in warm water. Put them into a
stew-pan with the tomato-juice, seasoned with a little salt and cayenne.
Add two or three table-spoonfuls of butter rolled in flour. Set the
sauce-pan over the fire, and stew the sweetbreads in the tomato-juice
till they are thoroughly done. A few minutes before you take them off,
stir in two beaten yolks of eggs Serve up the sweetbreads in a deep
dish, with the tomato poured over them.
SWEETBREADS AND CAULIFLOWERS.--Take four large sweetbreads, and two fine
cauliflowers. Split open the sweetbreads and remove the gristle. Soak
them awhile in lukewarm water. Then put them into a sauce-pan of boiling
water, and let them boil ten minutes over the fire. Afterwards, lay them
in a pan of very cold water. The parboiling will render them white; and
putting them directly from the hot water into the cold will give them
firmness. Having washed and drained the cauliflowers, quarter them, and
lay them in a broad stew-pan with the sweetbreads upon them, seasoned
with a very little cayenne, four or five blades of mace, and some
nutmeg. Add as much water as will cover them; put on closely the lid of
the pan, and let the whole stew for about an hour. Then take a quarter
of a pound of fresh butter, and roll it in two table-spoonfuls of flour.
Add it to the stew with a tea-cupful of rich milk or cream, and give it
one boil up, not more, or the milk may curdle. Serve it hot in a deep
dish; the sweetbreads in the middle with the gravy poured over them, and
the quartered cauliflowers laid handsomely round. This stew will be
found delicious.
Broccoli may be thus stewed with sweetbreads.
SWEETBREAD OMELET.--For an omelet of six or seven eggs, take two fine
sweetbreads. Split them, take out the gristle, and soak them in two
lukewarm waters, to extract all the blood. Then put them into very hot
water, boil them ten minutes, take them out, set them away to cool, and
afterwards mince them small, and season them with _a very little salt_
and cayenne pepper, and some grated nutmeg. Beat the eggs (omitting the
whites of two) till very light. Then mix in the chopped sweetbreads. Put
three ounces or more of fresh butter into a small frying-pan, and place
it over the fire. Stir the butter with a spoon, as it melts, and when it
comes to a boil put in the mixture, stirring it awhile after it is all
in. Fry it a rich brown. Heat the plate or dish in which you turn it out
of the pan. An omelet should never be turned while frying. The top may
be well browned by holding above it a salamander or red-hot shovel.
If you wish it very thick, have _three_ sweetbreads.
While frying the omelet, lift the edge occasionally by slipping a
knife-blade under it, that the butter may get well underneath.
If omelets are cooked too much they will become tough, and leather-like.
Many persons prefer having them sent to table as _soft omelets_, before
they have set, or taken the form of a cake. In this case, serve up the
omelet in a deep dish, and help it with a spoon.
SWEETBREADS AND OYSTERS.--Take four sweetbreads, and when they have been
soaked and blanched, quarter them, and remove the pipe. Strain the
liquor from three dozen large fresh oysters, season it with powdered
nutmeg and mace, and a little cayenne. Put the quartered sweetbreads
into a stew-pan, and pour over them enough of the oyster-liquor to cover
them well, adding, if you have it, three large spoonfuls of the gravy of
roast veal, and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, cut into four
bits; each bit rolled or dredged in flour. When the sweetbreads are
done, put in the oysters, (first removing their gristle or hard part,)
and take them out again as soon as they are plumped, which should be in
five minutes. If allowed to boil, the oysters will shrivel, and become
hard and tasteless. Add, at the last, two wine-glasses of cream, and
shake the pan about, for a few minutes. Serve up in a deep dish.
SWEETBREAD PIES.--Make shells of puff-paste, and bake them empty. When
done, fill them to the top with the above mixture. Have ready a lid for
each pie, baked on a flat plate, and lay it on the top of the filling.
STEWED SWEETBREADS.--After blanching them, extract the pipe very
carefully, and fill its place with a stuffing made of cold minced
chicken or veal, minced ham or tongue sweet marjoram, nutmeg, grated
lemon-peel, and the crumbled yolks of hard-boiled eggs. Fasten the
openings with small wooden skewers, and put the sweetbreads into a broad
stew-pan with a thin slice of ham under each, and another on the top of
each, kept in place by a splinter-skewer. Stew the sweetbreads in the
gravy of roast veal, and before you send them to table take out the
skewers.
Or make a gravy of uncooked trimmings of veal or beef, stewed slowly in
as much water as will cover them well, and seasoned with pepper and
salt--or, stew with the fresh meat, as much ham or bacon as will flavor
the gravy, (using no other salt.) When all the essence is extracted from
the meat, stir in a bit of butter dredged with flour. The flour for
gravies should be browned. Strain the gravy, and add any other flavoring
you like.
To brown flour, spread it evenly on a large dish or flat tin, and place
it before the fire, or in a rather cool oven. Scrape it up from the
edges where it will get the brownest. Take care it burns or blackens
nowhere. Keep it for use in a dry tin box.
BAKED SWEETBREADS.--Parboil four large sweetbreads, having first
blanched them. When cold, lard them all over the surface, with slips of
bacon the size of small straws. Lay them in a shallow pan, putting under
each sweetbread a piece of nice fresh butter with a very little flour
mixed into it. Pour into the pan a glass of nice white wine, mixed with
the juice and grated yellow rind of a lemon. Season also with grated
nutmeg. Or for sauce, you may use mushroom catchup, with a little salad
oil stirred into it.
If you do not live in a place where nice fresh butter is to be obtained,
endeavor to do without butter at all, rather than use that which is
strong, rancid, or too salt. Bad butter tastes through every
thing--spoils every thing, and is also extremely unwholesome, as
decomposition (or in plain terms _putrefaction_,) has already commenced.
Rather than use what makes all your food taste worse instead of better,
try to substitute something else--such as beef or fresh pork drippings,
suet, lard, or olive oil; or, molasses, honey, or stewed fruit. _We
know_ that with these it is possible to live in health for years,
without tasting butter. Nevertheless, good butter is a good thing, and
an improvement to all sorts of cookery.
PORK.