CHOICE FAMILY RECEIPTS.
CHOICE FAMILY RECEIPTS.
YEAST.
=Yeast.=--Good yeast is indispensable in order to secure good bread.
Pare and boil eight medium-sized potatoes. Remove them from the
water when done, and put into it one small handful of _loose_ or two
teaspoonfuls of _pressed_ hops. While these are boiling, mash and roll
the potatoes very smooth, free from lumps; mix with them three even
table-spoonfuls of flour, a half cup of sugar,--brown sugar is the
best for yeast,--one even table-spoonful of ginger, and three of salt.
Strain out the hops after boiling fifteen minutes, and pour the boiling
water over the potatoes, flour, etc. Stir well together, and again set
it on the range or stove till it boils up once, stirring it all the
time, or it will burn. This done, pour it into a large earthen bowl or
stone pot to cool. When blood-warm, add one penny’s worth of bakers’
yeast or a yeast-cake. Keep in a warm place till well raised, then put
it into a stone jug; cork and tie down securely.
One teacupful will raise three good-sized loaves.
=Another.=--Take one pint of the water in which the potatoes for dinner
were boiled; while it is boiling hot, thicken with flour; add a cup of
yeast when the batter is cool. Set the jar in which it is made in a
warm place, and it will be light in a few hours and ready to use.
=Yeast-Cakes.=--Pour a pint of boiling water over a teaspoonful of
hops; let it stand ten or fifteen minutes, then strain the water into
a saucepan; heat it boiling hot, stir in flour enough to make a stiff
batter, and set it aside to cool. When lukewarm, put in a teacupful of
good yeast, or a yeast-cake softened in water. Set in a warm place to
rise. When light, add a teaspoonful of salt, two table-spoonfuls of
molasses or sugar, and a little soda. Then mix in corn meal to make it
stiff enough to roll into a long round roll. Cut it in slices about
half an inch thick, spread meal over your board, and lay these cakes
to dry. Turn them frequently while drying, and, if possible, get them
dried in two or three days, or they may become sour. It is well to dry
them in the air, but not in the sun. Put them in bags in a dry place;
and when you use one soak it in milk-warm water.
BREAD.
=General Rules.=--Five quarts of flour and one quart of milk or water
are sufficient for two loaves in quart-pans.
Rub shortening, salt, and potatoes, if used, into the flour before
wetting it. The milk or water for wetting should be about milk-warm,
and the yeast be stirred into part of the wetting for the sponge, or
into the whole, if the bread is to be made without sponging; then pour
it on the flour and knead.
=Bread without Sponging.=--Sift five quarts of flour, cover and set by
the fire to dry. Pare and boil five medium-sized potatoes. When done,
drain them dry from the water and sprinkle over them a teaspoonful
of salt. Mash perfectly smooth and free from lumps, adding an even
table-spoonful of sugar, and rub all together, till potatoes and flour
are perfectly combined. Take a pint of the water in which the potatoes
were boiled, and a little more than a pint of milk, and when blood-warm
stir into it one cup of home-made or a cent’s worth of bakers’ yeast.
Pour it on the flour and potatoes, and knead the whole together without
sponging. All bread should be kneaded a full half-hour, then covered
with a clean bread-cloth, and over that a bread-blanket, and set in a
warm place to rise. If mixed overnight it will be ready for the second
molding before breakfast; then make into loaves and put into the pans
for the second and last rising. When light let it be well baked, but
not long enough to make it hard and dry. When done, take from the pans,
wrap a bread-cloth round each loaf, and turn upper side down into the
pans, leaving it there till cold. This will help to make the crust
tender.
=Good Bread.=--Put what flour will be needed for two or four loaves,
according to the size of your family, into your bread bowl or pan.
Make a hole in the middle, pressing the flour compactly towards the
sides of the pan; then pour in sufficient boiling water to thoroughly
scald and wet about one half of the flour. When cool, stir in one
cupful of lively domestic yeast or a cent’s worth of bakers’, or, if
you prefer, a small cake of dried yeast previously soaked in warm
water. Set it near the stove or in a warm place in cool weather, cover
closely just before retiring at night, and it will be light by morning,
when a teaspoonful of salt and enough more warm, but not hot, water to
wet all the flour must be added; knead it very thoroughly, and set it
to rise again. When light, work it again, and put in the pans to rise
for the last time, and as soon as it is light bake in a moderately
heated oven. If the oven is too hot at first, the bread is apt to get
brown on top and bottom too soon, and then it will not be done in the
middle. A moderate oven at first is best, increasing the heat gradually
until the bread is about half done, when it should be of a steady heat
till the bread is done.
=Bread with Sponging.=--Stir into three quarts of milk-warm water one
even table-spoonful of salt, and flour enough to make a soft batter. To
this add the yeast above mentioned, or, in warm weather, use only half
as much. Set the pan in a warm place in cold weather, and cover closely
with a clean bread-cloth. Make this sponge at bedtime. If the sponge is
at all sour in the morning, dissolve a teaspoonful of soda in a little
water and stir in; then work in as much flour as is needed to mold it
easily, and knead it thoroughly. Make it into small loaves, and see
that the pans are well buttered and warmed when used. Keep them in a
warm place, and cover with a clean white bread-cloth. If properly cared
for, it will be light in an hour, and ready for the oven, which must be
well heated. In baking bread or cake, care should be taken that the top
does not brown too soon, as that will prevent its rising up light, as
it otherwise would. If this makes too many loaves, it is easy to make
only half or one third the quantity.
=To make Bread from Flour that runs.=--Put what flour you need in your
pan, and pour enough boiling water over to just wet all of it, but not
to make it thin; sprinkle in a teaspoonful of salt and a spoonful of
butter; stir it up with a large wooden spoon until sure that all the
flour is scalded; then cover and let it stand till cool enough to add
the yeast. So that the yeast is sweet and lively, you can use any kind
you prefer, bakers’ or home-made. When the flour is sufficiently cool,
clear to the bottom, add your yeast, and give the whole mass a faithful
kneading, adding more tepid milk or water, if needed. Knead till the
dough cleaves from your hand easily, then set it to rise. When very
light, knead again, put into the pans, and leave it to rise once more;
then bake as directed above.
By this method _running_ flour can often be conquered, and bread thus
scalded will be found uncommonly sweet and tender.
=Bread by Scalding the Flour.=--Pour enough boiling water on two
quarts of flour to wet it thoroughly; add two even table-spoonfuls of
butter; stir all well together, and let it stand till cool; then add a
small cup of domestic yeast, or not quite a penny’s worth of bakers’
yeast; mold it fifteen minutes, then set by the fire to rise. When it
begins to crack on top, put it on the molding-board, beat it with the
rolling-pin, and chop and mold alternately for twenty minutes; then
make into loaves, prick them on top, and set them by the fire to rise
once more. As soon as light, bake. Bread made in this way is not quite
so white, but is very sweet and light. If flour is at all inclined to
“run,” the scalding will stop it.
=To make Stale Bread fresh.=--Put the loaf into a clean tin, and cover
closely to exclude all water, and set into a steamer or a kettle of
boiling water for half an hour; then remove it from the tin and it will
look like fresh bread, and be really almost equal to a new loaf.
=Graham Bread.=--Two quarts of unbolted wheat, half a cent’s worth of
bakers’ yeast, or half a teacup of home-made yeast; two table-spoonfuls
of molasses, one even teaspoonful of salt, and warm water or milk and
water enough to make a stiff dough. Beat this well, or, wetting your
hands in water, mix it very thoroughly; cover closely, and let it rise
light,--about six hours in warm weather, or in winter mix just before
going to bed. When it is light, wet your hands in cold water and put it
into well-buttered pans. Let it rise in the pans about an inch; an hour
will generally be long enough. Bake an hour and a half, or until it is
very well baked, but not scorched.
Or, take three small cups of the sponge from your wheat bread; when
well risen add to it two spoonfuls of molasses, half a teacup of Indian
meal, one teaspoonful of salt, and half a pint of warm milk and water;
stir in enough Graham flour to make a stiff dough, and cover closely
and set to rise. When light, fill your pans half full; let it rise once
more, and bake carefully.
Or, pour boiling water over one quart of Graham flour; add a
teaspoonful of salt, three table-spoonfuls of molasses. Let it stand
till lukewarm; then add half a cup of home-made yeast, or part of a
penny’s worth of bakers’ yeast; dip your hands in cold water, and mix
it thoroughly. If too stiff, add more warm water. If too thin, mix in
more flour. It should not be so stiff as for fine flour bread. Let it
rise light; then put it into well-buttered pans to rise again. When
light, bake one hour. It requires a hotter oven and needs to bake
longer than other bread.
Or, one quart of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, three table-spoonfuls
of molasses, and two table-spoonfuls of yeast; wet with warm water,
or warm milk and water, till as thick as pound-cake. If wanted
for breakfast, let it stand overnight. When ready to bake, add a
well-beaten egg and a teaspoonful of soda; put into buttered pans and
bake well.
Or, one quart of buttermilk or sour milk, soda enough to make it foam,
and while foaming pour it on the Graham flour, stirring it together
quickly. The flour should be all ready in the pan, and one teaspoonful
of salt, and a scant half-teacup of molasses stirred into it before the
soda is put to the buttermilk. Make it as thick as pound-cake; bake
immediately one hour with a steady hot fire; add a well-beaten egg if
in a hurry for your bread, as it will bake sooner, and we think be
lighter for it.
=Steamed Brown Bread.=--One cup of Indian meal, two cups of rye, one
cup of molasses, two cups of milk, a half-teaspoonful of soda, the same
of salt. Stir well together and steam in some of the new “boilers” or
“cookers” or “steamers” three hours; taking care that the water does
not stop boiling. Add boiling water as the water boils away. If you
wish it hot for breakfast, steam the day before, and in the morning set
it in the oven for half an hour to form a good crust.
=Corn Bread.=--Sift two cups of Indian meal overnight; pour on it just
enough really _boiling_ water to moisten or wet it through; cover it
up and let it stand till morning; then add one cup of flour in which
an even teaspoonful of cream of tartar has been sifted. Dissolve half
a teaspoonful of soda in one cup of sweet milk, and stir with the meal
and flour; add half a small cup of sugar; beat two eggs--yelks and
whites separately--and put in the last thing. Bake in a quick oven.
=Rice Bread= (_Southern Receipt_).--One pint of rice flour, half a pint
of wheat flour, one pint of sour milk, two eggs, butter half the size
of an egg, and one teaspoonful of soda. The rice flour must be very
fine, and stirred in after the other ingredients are partly mixed. Bake
as soon as possible after the whole is stirred together.
Bread is sometimes made of _apple_ mixed with flour, by putting one
third of stewed apple-pulp to two thirds of flour, and fermenting
with yeast for twelve hours. This bread is said to be light and very
palatable. It is much used in France.
BISCUIT.
=Morning Biscuit.=--One quart of flour, half a teaspoonful of salt,
two table-spoonfuls of yeast, and one pint of sour milk, with half a
teaspoonful of soda dissolved in it. Work this into a dough; then rub
into the dough half a cup of butter. Knead well; cut off small bits;
shape them into biscuits; lay them in the bake-pan, cover closely with
a bread-cloth, and let them stand overnight in a warm place in winter
and a cool place in summer. Bake in the morning for breakfast.
=Tea Biscuit.=--Peel and boil four potatoes of medium size. When done,
mash and roll them smooth and perfectly free from lumps, sprinkling
a table-spoonful of salt over them. Put to the potatoes a half-pint
of the water in which they were boiled, a half-pint of milk, and a
table-spoonful of sugar. Stir into this sufficient flour to make it a
stiff batter. When cool, add half a penny’s worth of bakers’ yeast, or
half a teacup of home-made yeast. Cover over with a bread-cloth and
blanket. In cold weather leave this sponge in a warm place overnight
to rise. In the summer, make it early in the morning. When this is
risen until quite foamy, soften--but do not melt--two thirds of a
teacupful of butter, and beat it into the sponge, together with two
eggs, yelks and whites beaten separately; add flour to make it stiff
enough to mold,--the softer it can be worked the better it will be.
Knead it half an hour, then cover and set it to rise. When light, knead
and _chop_ the dough at least fifteen minutes. This done, return it
to the bread-bowl, again cover closely, and set to rise. When light,
repeat the kneading; let it rise the second time, when it should be
worked down and set on the ice in the ice-box, until within an hour
of tea-time; then it must be again molded, rolled out, cut into small
biscuits, pricked on the top, put into a bake-pan, covered over, and
set to rise on a bench, near the stove, twenty minutes or half an hour.
When light, set the biscuits into an evenly heated oven, and bake
quickly to a delicate brown. When done, cover over with a bread-cloth
for a short time before removing from the pan, to soften the crust.
=Soda Biscuit.=--Put two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar into one
quart of flour; sift both together and rub in thoroughly two great
spoonfuls of butter. Put one teaspoonful of soda into a table-spoonful
of cold water, and stir till all is dissolved, then put it into a pint
of cold water and pour it on the flour. Stir together quickly; if it
cannot be rolled out, add a little more flour, but just as little as
it is possible to roll out the biscuits with. Cut in shape and bake
immediately. The great secret of making good soda biscuit is to sift
the soda with the flour, to have it thoroughly dissolved, the dough
made as thin and as quickly as possible, and baked immediately.
=Indian-Corn Biscuit.=--One quart of corn meal, one pint of wheat
flour, sifted together, and stirred into three pints of milk; add a
teaspoonful of salt. Beat four eggs, the yelks and whites separately,
as for sponge-cakes. First stir the yelks into the batter; then add the
whites, and a small teaspoonful of soda, the last thing. Have ready
buttered some cups or small pans; nearly fill them with the batter, and
set into the hot oven immediately. Bake fast, turn from the cups as
soon as done, and serve immediately. They should puff up so as to more
than fill the cups.
=Parker House Rolls.=--Two quarts flour, one large spoonful of lard,
small teaspoonful of salt, one pint boiled milk,--set aside till
cold,--half cup sugar, half cup yeast. Make a hole in center of the
flour, put in milk, etc., and let it rise overnight. In the morning
knead it well, and let it rise till noon; then cut it into long, narrow
rolls and let it rise till tea-time. Bake.
=Rusk.=--Three coffee-cups new milk, three eggs, one teacup butter,
one teacup sugar, one of yeast, and flour enough for batter. When the
batter has well risen, work in more flour, but mix it rather soft; let
it rise once more, quite light, but be careful that it does not sour;
then make it out into rolls or biscuits; let it stand again a short
time, and bake in a moderately hot oven; fifteen or twenty minutes
should cook them.
=Sweet Potato Buns.=--Boil and mash two good-sized potatoes; rub in
as much flour as will make it like bread; add a little nutmeg and one
table-spoonful of sugar, with a table-spoonful of good yeast. When it
has risen, work in two table-spoonfuls of butter, and soften so as to
be easily mixed thoroughly with the dough; then form into small rolls,
and, when raised the second time, bake on tins a nice brown. _Serve
hot._
=Potato Pone.=--Pare and grate on a large grater sweet potatoes enough
to make one quart of grated potato. Stir to this one pint of sweet
milk, two eggs, two thirds of a cup of butter, and enough sugar to make
it as sweet as plain cake; season with ginger. Bake till well done.
Eat, hot or cold, with butter. If desired to be light colored, put the
potatoes into cold water as soon as pared, and when ready grate into
the milk. If dark-colored pone is preferred, sweeten with molasses and
season with allspice. This is very rich made like pound-cake, using one
and a half pounds of grated potato in place of flour.
=Gems.=--Break into a quart of milk four eggs (two will answer) without
beating, stir in flour till as thick as waffles. Beat till smooth, and
fill the “gem” pans half full. Bake quick in a hot oven. No salt, soda,
or cream of tartar.
The “gem” pans should be well buttered, and set into the oven to get
quite hot while the batter is being prepared, and when you are filling
them, set the pan on the top of the range to keep it hot. When filled,
set them immediately in the oven.
=Gems, No. 2.=--Drop four eggs, without beating, into a quart of milk;
add two great spoonfuls of melted butter, and beat in flour until as
thick as waffles. Pour into hot buttered gem pans, and bake like the
first.
=Graham Gems.=--Drop one egg into a quart of milk or water. Stir in
Graham flour until as stiff as waffles. Pour into hot, buttered gem
pans, and bake quickly. Or add to the above one table-spoonful of
melted butter; they will be tenderer.
In all measures the spoon, cup, or tin should never be heaped, but even
full.
BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES.
=Corn Cakes.=--Rub one table-spoonful of lard into four cups of corn
meal. Stir the meal into four cups of sour milk, with a teaspoonful of
salt. Beat two eggs very light, and put in one teaspoonful of soda, the
last thing. Beat well, and bake in small gem irons, or light tin forms.
=Another Way.=--Three teacups of corn meal, one teacup of wheat flour,
two teacups of milk, one teacup of cream, or a third of a teacup
of butter, three table-spoonfuls of sugar, one egg,--beat yelk and
white separately, and very light; one teaspoonful of salt, and half a
teaspoonful of soda. Bake in small pans, with a brisk heat.
=Another.=--Sift two cups of meal, pour over it one teacup of boiling
milk, stir it up well, and let it stand all night if intended for
breakfast. The next morning add one cup of wheat flour, one of sugar,
a half cup of butter, the well-beaten yelks of two eggs; add, if
needed, more milk, so as to make it as thin as waffles. Take one scant
teaspoonful of soda; the whites of the eggs, beaten stiff, to be added
the last. Pour into a well-buttered pan and bake about twenty-five
minutes, in a well-heated oven, but not scorching hot. If Jewell’s
Prepared Flour is used, no soda need be added. If correctly prepared
and well baked, this is excellent. If you have sweet apples, three
or four chopped very fine, added, and two thirds of a cup of finely
chopped suet, instead of butter, is a very great improvement.
=Another.=--One cupful of flour, two cupfuls of corn meal, two great
spoonfuls of sugar, not quite half a cupful of butter, one cupful of
milk, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, sifted with the meal and
flour, and a small teaspoonful of soda; two eggs, whites and yelks well
beaten separately; the yelks mixed with the milk and meal, and the
whites added, the last thing.
=Steamed Johnny-Cake.=--One pint of sour cream, one teaspoonful of
soda, and one of salt. Stir in three table-spoonfuls of flour; then
add corn meal enough to make a stiff batter. Beat one egg, and add to
the batter; stir all carefully together, and pour into a well-buttered
tin basin; set this into a bread-steamer, and keep the steam up for an
hour, or more if the loaf is large. Serve with cream and sugar.
=Corn-Meal Cake with Apples and Suet.=--One pint scalded milk, or a
half cup cream, or a pint of sour milk, one teacupful suet chopped
fine, a table-spoonful sugar, a teaspoonful salt, six good-sized sweet
apples chopped fine, three eggs well beaten, and a small teaspoonful of
soda. Beat thoroughly, and bake in a shallow tin pan.
=Muffins.=--One pint of milk, one table-spoonful of butter, one pint of
flour, a small teaspoonful of salt, three eggs, whites and yelks beaten
separately and very stiff, a small even teaspoonful of soda; add the
whites last, beat smartly and perfectly free from lumps. Butter the
griddle, and bake in well-buttered rings. When the bottom is done, turn
over the rings and bake the top, or put the rings on a well-buttered
bake-pan and bake in a quick oven. We think them lighter and better so
baked.
=Another Way.=--One quarter of a pound of butter, one teaspoonful salt,
three eggs, one pint sweet milk, one quart flour, a heaping table-spoon
of brewers’ yeast, or two of home-made yeast. Melt the butter and
put into the milk, beat the eggs and put them also into the milk,
then stir in flour and add the yeast. If for breakfast, set them to
rise overnight. If at all sour, add half-teaspoonful of soda. Bake in
well-buttered rings in a quick oven.
=Cream Muffins.=--One quart rich milk, or, if you can get it, half
cream and half milk; one quart of flour heaping, six eggs, one
table-spoonful of butter, one of lard; softened together. Beat whites
and yelks separately very light; then add flour and shortening and
a scant teaspoonful of salt, and stir in the flour the last thing,
lightly as possible, and have the batter free from lumps. Half fill
your well-buttered muffin-rings, and bake immediately in a _hot_ oven,
or your muffins will not be good. Send to table the moment they are
done.
=Another Way.=--One teacup sour cream, two eggs, one half-teaspoonful
of soda, thickened with flour about as stiff as waffles. Bake in a
quick oven.
=Raised Muffins.=--One quart milk, a halfpenny’s worth of bakers’ yeast
or half cup of home-made yeast, two table-spoonfuls white sugar, one of
butter (lard will answer, but is not as good), one teaspoonful of salt,
two eggs well beaten, and flour sufficient to make a stiff batter.
Make the batter overnight, leaving out the eggs. In the morning beat
the eggs, yelks and whites separately, very light, and stir into the
well-risen batter. Have the muffin-rings well greased, fill half full
with the batter, and bake twenty minutes in a quick oven. Serve hot.
=Hominy Muffins.=--Wash a pint of small hominy through two or three
waters, pour boiling water on it, cover, and let it soak for several
hours. Then put it into a farina-kettle with half a pint of boiling
water. Let it boil until soft enough to mash; drain it and mix it well
with a pint of white corn meal or wheat flour, a little salt, and a
pint and one half of milk in which two table-spoonfuls of butter have
been melted. When nearly cold, add four table-spoonfuls of yeast; cover
it, and set it in a warm place until very light, with the surface
covered with bubbles. Butter some muffin-rings, set them on a hot
griddle, pour into each a portion of the mixture, and bake them brown
on both sides. Send them to table hot.
=Quick Muffins.=--Two teacups buttermilk, one of thick cream, or, if
none, three even table-spoonfuls of melted butter, four eggs, half a
teaspoonful of soda; thicken with prepared flour as thick as waffles.
=Graham Flour Muffins.=--One pint of sour milk, a small teaspoonful of
soda, one table-spoonful of sugar, and Graham flour sufficient to make
a thick batter. Bake in rings, or drop the batter in spoonfuls on a
flat tin. Add a little salt before baking.
=Raised Waffles.=--One pint of sweet milk, a heaping teacup of butter,
three eggs (yelks and whites beaten separately), a table-spoonful of
thick brewers’ yeast or a halfpenny’s worth of bakers’, one quart of
flour, one quarter of a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in one teacup of
sweet milk; beat all together, and let it rise till very light, and
then bake. Serve hot, with butter and sugar, or plain, according to
taste.
=Corn-Meal Waffles.=--Pour over one pint of corn meal, _twice_ sifted,
one pint of boiling milk. Put in one table-spoonful of butter, one of
flour, and a teaspoonful of salt. Let this stand till cold; then add
half a teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a little cold water; the yelks
of two eggs well beaten, the whites whisked very light and stiff to be
added the last thing, when just ready to bake.
Put a brown paper over bread, biscuit, or cake when first set into a
hot oven, else the top will most likely brown and form a crust before
they rise sufficiently, and thus make them tough or heavy.
=Buckwheat Cakes.=--One quart of buckwheat flour, mix with lukewarm
water rather thicker than you will wish it when ready to bake. A cup of
Graham meal added is, we think, an improvement. Stir in half a cup of
family yeast, or a halfpenny’s worth of bakers’, and a teaspoonful of
salt; mix in an earthen bowl or a large earthen pitcher,--the latter
is the most convenient, as the batter can be poured from the lip of
the pitcher more neatly than it can be dipped out of a bowl; set it
where it will keep warm all night. The batter should be made early in
the evening, as it takes fully ten hours in winter to rise; when ready
to bake in the morning, beat half a teaspoonful of soda into a great
spoonful of molasses, and stir into the batter, adding also enough
lukewarm water to make it thin enough to fry; bake quick; the thinner
the cakes can be baked the better they will be.
=Rice Griddle-Cakes.=--Half a teacupful of whole rice, three eggs, half
a pint of rich milk, and half a teaspoonful of salt. Cook the rice till
every grain is dissolved and like jelly. Warm the milk a little, and
beat the rice in it till it is smoothly mixed. When the eggs are beaten
very light, add to the rice and milk; then the salt. Bake on a hot,
greased griddle till brown and light. If the batter does not adhere,
add another egg, but no flour.
=Sour-Milk Griddle-Cakes.=--Stir into one quart of sour milk enough
flour to make the batter as thick as waffles; add an even teaspoonful
of salt and two well-beaten eggs. Dissolve an even teaspoonful of
soda, and beat in when ready for frying. This is very good baked in
waffle-irons.
=Green-Corn Fritters.=--One pint grated corn, one small cup butter,
one egg, a teaspoonful salt, one table-spoonful flour, a little pepper.
Drop on a buttered pan and bake or fry ten minutes.
=Mock Oyster Fritters.=--Grate one dozen raw ears of corn; after
grating, scrape or wring all the milk from the cob; half a
table-spoonful flour; season with pepper and salt; beat the yelks of
three eggs very thick, and stir into the grated corn; whisk the whites
to a stiff froth, and add the last thing. Drop a dessert-spoonful at a
time on a hot, buttered griddle, and fry of a light brown on both sides.
=Corn Oysters.=--One quart grated corn, three eggs well beaten, one
small teaspoonful salt, and a little pepper, with just flour enough to
make the corn hold together. Drop from a spoon into hot butter, making
cakes about the size of an oyster. Sour milk, with a half-teaspoonful
of soda, will answer if eggs are not plenty.
=Rice Cakes.=--One cup cold boiled rice rubbed into a quart of milk,
one pint of flour, a teaspoonful of salt, two eggs beaten very light.
Beat all free from lumps. Bake as soon as made, on a well-greased
griddle.
=Rice or Hominy Cakes.=--Warm one quart of sweet milk, and rub into
it two cups of boiled rice or hominy; throw in a little salt, and add
enough wheat flour to bind the rice, or to make the batter as thick as
waffles. Beat two eggs and add to the batter, and half a teaspoonful of
soda, unless you use the prepared flour. If you do, there will be no
salt or soda needed.
=Rosie’s Sally Lunn.=--One spoonful of butter, one of sugar, one egg,
one pint of milk, one quart of flour, with two teaspoonfuls of cream
of tartar sifted with the flour, and one teaspoonful of soda added the
last thing. This is an excellent breakfast-cake, as well as tea-cake,
and is sometimes varied by stirring in a pint of whortleberries.
=Strawberry Shortcake.=--Rub into a pint and a half of Jewell’s
Prepared Flour one teacup of butter; beat one egg very light; add milk
to make a soft dough; divide in three parts; roll out lightly, lay one
portion on a pie-plate or tin, sprinkle a little flour on the top, then
add the second cake, a little flour on the top of that, and cover with
the third. Bake quickly, but not too brown. Let the berries stand with
sugar sprinkled over them till the cake is baked, then pull the thin
portions of cake apart; spread half of the berries over the bottom
cake, adding more sugar and a little butter; lay the second over them,
and put on the remainder of the berries with more sugar and butter,
placing the top cake over all. Put it in the oven for a few minutes to
heat through, and send to the table hot.
When wishing an extra nice strawberry cake for tea, beat the whites of
two eggs with a cup of white sugar till stiff, and add to it half of
a grated cocoa-nut, and spread over the cake. If you have no prepared
flour, sift two small teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar with the flour;
dissolve one small teaspoonful of soda in milk, and add the last thing
before mixing the cake.
=Cream Toast.=--Put a pint of rich, sweet cream over the stove in
the farina-kettle, and while heating toast thin slices of stale
bread quickly on both sides, taking care that they do not scorch.
Wet two table-spoonfuls of flour in cold milk; stir it smooth; add a
teaspoonful of salt, and when the cream is scalding hot, put in the
flour, stirring all the time till it thickens; then take the kettle
from the fire. Have ready a dish of salt and water, hot, and dip each
piece of the toasted bread into it, but only for a moment. Remove
quickly to the toast-dish, and dip over it a liberal supply of the
thickened cream; then cut more bread and lay into the dish, then more
cream, till all is used, letting the cream be the last. If you have no
cream, boil and thicken some sweet milk; put in an even teaspoonful
of salt, two table-spoonfuls of butter, and, when done, add one or
two well-beaten eggs the last thing; stir for a few minutes till well
united with the boiling milk, and then pour over the bread.
SOUPS.
=General Directions.=--Before giving some receipts for _soups_, we
wish first to remind our young housekeepers that it is important for
them to bear in mind the necessity and economy of keeping good _stock_
constantly on hand. The French stock-pot is always in readiness to
receive every bone, coarse or refuse bit of meat not suitable to use
for the main dish or for side-dishes. We understand that the French use
earthenware for this purpose and also for “soup-digesters.” It would
be a benefaction if our house-furnishing merchants would import some
of these “soup-digesters” and “stock-pots,” as they are far better
than metal. But until we can procure such, the _stock_, as fast as
made, should be strained into a large stone pot, and when cold, all
the grease that rises and hardens on top must be removed, clarified,
and set aside for cooking purposes. Aside from the economy of using
all refuse meat and bones for stock, and the convenience of having it
always ready for use, the soup will be better if the stock is made
at least the day before, because one can then easily remove all the
grease,--an important item in preparing good soups.
=Stock for Soups.=--Buy a knuckle of beef or veal. Have the bone well
cracked in small pieces. Put it in the soup-digester, or, if you have
none, in a closely covered iron pot. For a medium-size piece, add five
or six quarts of _cold water_ (by using cold water you will secure
all the juices, whereas in hot water half the juice is retained in
the meat). Let it come to a boil before you add salt or pepper; then
season it to suit your taste, and if agreeable put in a small bit of
red pepper. Set the kettle on the back part of the stove after it once
commences to boil, and keep it gently simmering all day; then strain it
from the bones and meat, which are now worthless, into a pot kept for
the purpose. Never throw away bones that are left from baked, boiled,
or roast meat of any kind, or from steak, poultry, anything, (except
those taken off the plates); dried or gristly bits of meat may also be
used to prepare stock for soup; and in a large family sufficient can be
gleaned that would otherwise be thrown into the swill to keep stock on
hands for weeks, without buying a bone for that purpose alone. When the
stock is strained off, set it in the cellar to cool. The next morning
carefully remove all the grease that has risen to the top and hardened,
and you will have a clear, rich stock ready for use. Clarify the grease
removed from the stock by slicing a raw potato into it, and set it over
the fire in a skillet till it boils; then strain it from the potato,
and you have fine dripping for many purposes.
=Tomato Soup.=--Use stock from beef, ham, veal, or any other bones or
refuse meat. Put two or three quarts into your soup-kettle,--the size
of your family must determine the quantity,--cut in one carrot, one
small onion, if agreeable, a little celery or fresh parsley; add salt,
pepper, and herbs to suit the taste, and then make the stock thick
with tomatoes,--fresh from the vine are much the best; a spoonful or
two of star maccaroni is an improvement, or rice or pearl barley, if
you have either at hand. Let it boil two hours.
=Another.=--Take bones or bits of meat left from any dish, and boil
well to extract all nutriment, then strain; or, if you have none
on hand, make a rich stock, put in cabbage, carrots, parsnips, or
any other vegetables you like; boil till well done, then add the
tomatoes,--a dozen fresh, or half a can of winter tomatoes; boil twenty
minutes, then strain and serve hot.
=A Vegetable Soup.=--Peel and slice six large onions and four turnips;
fry them in one quarter of a pound of butter, and then pour over them
four quarts of boiling water. Toast a good-sized crust of bread hard
and brown (but take care that it is not burned at all), and put into
the soup, with a little celery; sweet herbs, salt, and pepper to suit
your taste. Stew gently four hours, stirring often to prevent it
from scorching; strain through a coarse cloth or strainer, when it
has cooked the four hours. Have ready a little thinly sliced carrot,
turnip, and celery,--a few slices of each will be sufficient,--put
these into the soup after straining it; return to the fire and stew
till these last vegetables are tender. A spoonful or two of tomato
catsup will improve it for some people.
We have not tried this soup, but were told by an excellent housekeeper
that it was capital. We demurred at the quantity of tomato and onion,
but judge the long time given to cook the soup may combine and
incorporate the different flavors so as to make it quite palatable.
=Mock-Turtle Soup.=--Take a calf’s head dressed with the skin on,--the
fresher the better. Take out and lay aside the brains. After washing
it several times in a plentiful supply of cold water, soak in cold
spring water. Then put it into your soup-kettle or digester, adding
two quarts more of cold water than is needed to cover it, and place
over the stove or range. There should be about two gallons of water
in all. As it begins to heat, a large amount of scum will rise to the
top. Watch this carefully, and skim it off as fast as it rises. Let it
boil one hour, or till the meat can be easily removed from the bone,
when it should be taken from the liquor, and when nearly cold cut from
the bones in neat pieces about an inch square. The tongue may be cut
up in small pieces with the meat, or cut up and mixed with the brains
for a side-dish. The skin of the head is the best part, and should be
cut up carefully, leaving as much fat adhering to it as you can. As
soon as the head is taken up, put to the broth in which it was boiled
a five-pound knuckle of veal and the same amount of lean beef, adding
all the bones and trimmings of the head; a half-dozen cloves, a quarter
of an ounce of allspice, and the same of whole black pepper; boil five
hours, skim well, and keep closely covered. Then strain and set aside
till morning, when all the fat must be removed, and two quarts of this
stock reserved. Now put in a large saucepan, over the fire, half a
pound of good fresh butter, six ounces of onions, sliced, quarter of an
ounce of green sage, chopped. Let these fry one hour slowly. Be careful
that it does not scorch. Then rub in half a pound of flour by degrees,
gradually adding the broth, till of the thickness of rich cream. Season
with salt to your taste; half an ounce of lemon peel, grated. Let it
simmer again gently an hour and a half, and strain through a hair-sieve
or tamis. Don’t _rub_ the soup through the sieve, it will make it
muddy. If it does not run through easily, knock a wooden spoon against
the side of the sieve; that will start it through without the sediment,
which would go through if rubbed. Put the stock, when strained, into
a clean stew-pot with the pieces of the head; and to each gallon of
soup have a pint of nice claret, if you wish it dark, madeira or
sherry, if you prefer it light (those who object to wine or brandy in
_mince_-pies must be careful not to call for turtle or mock-turtle soup
at restaurants), two table-spoonfuls of lemon-juice, and two of catsup,
one of the essence of anchovy, a teaspoonful of curry powder, or
quarter of a drachm of cayenne. Let it simmer till the meat is tender,
taking care that it is not done too much, and by frequent stirring
prevent its sticking. When the meat is quite tender, serve the soup
with force-meat, brain, or egg-balls. This should have been reduced by
boiling to four or five quarts.
=Bean Soup.=--Wash your beans and boil them with a piece of salt pork.
When the beans are soft, take them out and press through a colander;
then put them back in the water they were boiled in, together with
four hard-boiled eggs quartered, and half a lemon sliced, a little
pepper, if you like it. Boil up and serve. This is liked by some better
than when made with rich beef stock, with tomatoes or catsup for flavor.
=Soup with Eggs.=--Make a good stock from a knuckle of veal and any
bones which may be on hand from baked or broiled beef or mutton. Add
one turnip, two carrots, one onion, a little lemon-juice, a small
sprinkling of thyme, and a little celery. Let it boil five or six
hours, then strain, set it to cool, and, when cold, remove all the
grease. When needed, heat it, add a little thickening of rolled cracker
or flour, and to three quarts of this stock add the yelks of five or
six eggs, one gill of cream, and pepper and salt to taste. Drop the
yelks in whole, and let them cook a few minutes. Some like to drop them
in just as the soup is dished. We do not think it so nice, but that is
a matter of taste.
=Green Pea Soup.=--Take two quarts of green peas, a quarter of a pound
of butter, a quarter of a pound of ham cut very fine, two small onions,
and a little parsley, and put it into a soup-digester or kettle; add
just a little water, enough to allow it to stew slowly, stirring it
well together, and cover closely. When quite tender, add two quarts of
veal, beef, or mutton broth, a great spoonful of sugar, and pepper and
salt to season it to your taste. Let it boil up once, then rub through
a hair-sieve into another kettle, and pour to it one pint of boiling
milk; boil five minutes and serve.
=Turtle Bean Soup.=--Pick free from dirt and imperfect beans a pint and
a half of turtle beans; soak them overnight in a good quantity of cold
water. In the morning drain off the water, and wash the beans in fresh
water; drain and put in the soup-digester, with four quarts of good
strong stock from which all the fat has been carefully removed. Set it
where it will boil steadily but slowly till dinner-time,--four hours at
least, six is better. We always have ours put on as soon as the fire
is kindled in the morning before breakfast. One small onion, a carrot,
and two or three of the outside stalks of celery cut into the stock is
considered an improvement by most persons. Stir it occasionally till
the beans begin to soften, to prevent their sticking and burning at the
bottom. Two hours before dinner put in half a can of tomatoes, or, in
the season, eight or ten fresh ones, and a coffee-cup of tomato catsup.
When ready to dish, strain through a fine colander or coarse sieve,
rubbing through enough of the pulp of the beans to make it as thick as
rich cream. Taste to see if there is plenty of salt and pepper, and
send to the table hot. If you have any hard-boiled eggs left over, chop
fine and put into the soup, after straining it, or, if eggs are plenty,
boil three hard and add, chopped fine.
=Nursery Soup= (to be prepared the day before needing it).--Two pounds
of scrag of mutton, or of the knuckle, put into two quarts of cold
water; add two or three sliced turnips, or two spoonfuls rice or pearl
barley or star tapioca, whichever best suits the taste. Simmer slowly
an hour and a half, then take out the meat and set aside; pour the soup
into a large bowl, and leave to cool till next day. In the morning skim
off all the fat that has risen on the stock. An hour before needed,
turn the stock into a saucepan and bring it to a boil; cut the meat
from the bones in fine mouthfuls. Mince very fine a small onion, a
little parsley and celery; add a bit of butter the size of a nutmeg,
one table-spoonful browned flour; burn an _even_ table-spoonful of
sugar in an iron spoon; pour a little boiling water over it and stir
it into the browned flour, then stir both into the soup; add the other
articles, and boil all together twenty minutes; serve hot, with small
bits of carefully toasted bread. This is called _nursery_ soup, but it
is not to be scorned by the old folks.
=Oyster and Clam Soup.=--Fifty oysters, two bunches long clams;
drain all the liquor from the oysters into a farina-kettle, add a
pint of milk, one and a half table-spoonfuls of butter, pepper and
salt to suit the taste; cut off the soft bodies of the clams and put
with the oysters; chop the tough, gristly parts very fine and put
into the liquor; when it boils, add the oysters and clams, with two
table-spoonfuls of powdered cracker or the same of farina. Let all boil
about five minutes, and send to table hot. This makes soup enough for
six persons.
=Potato Soup.=--Boil and mash potatoes; about three pints when mashed,
to three quarts of rich beef stock; ready boiling; add pepper and salt
to taste; stir gradually into the boiling stock, then pass all through
a sieve and return to the soup-kettle; simmer five minutes, and serve
with fried bread; or, if liked, a half-pint of peas boiled soft, one
onion, one head of celery, two spoonfuls of rice, may be put to the
stock, well boiled, and the potatoes added when all are done; then pass
through the sieve, return to soup-kettle, simmer five minutes, and
serve.
FISH.
=To boil Fresh Fish.=--Clean, wash thoroughly, wipe dry, and then sew
up in a cloth, kept solely for fish, and plunge at once into boiling
water that has been first salted sufficiently. Sew the cloth up on the
_back_ of the fish. Take it out when done, cut the threads down the
back of the fish, and cut the _skin_ of the fish so that in taking off
the cloth, the skin will come off with it, leaving the fish white and
whole. Be careful not to break it, as it should come to the table in
good condition. Eat with egg sauce or plain drawn butter. A fat shad is
very nice boiled; but most people prefer cod, rock-fish, or bass.
=Baked Salmon Trout, with Cream Gravy.=--Wash and clean the fish
carefully, wipe dry and lay in the bake-pan, with only enough water to
keep from scorching. If very large, score the backbone a little, but
do not cut the sides. Bake slowly, basting with butter and water, from
three quarters of an hour to an hour, according to the size. Have ready
a cup of rich cream, into which stir three or four table-spoonfuls
of boiling water, else the cream will clot when heated. Into this
stir gently two table-spoonfuls of melted butter and a little chopped
parsley. Put this into a milk-boiler or farina-kettle, or any vessel
that you can set into another, half filled with boiling water, to
prevent the sauce from burning. Add to the cream and butter the gravy
from the dripping-pan in which the fish was baked. Lay the trout on
a hot platter and let the gravy boil up once, and then pour over the
fish. Garnish with sprigs of parsley, arranged neatly. Use no spiced
sauces and very little salt. Serve hot.
To fully appreciate the excellence of this fish with the cream sauce or
gravy, one should be able to eat it a very short time after it is taken
from the water, but the cream sauce is a great improvement to most
baked fish.
=Boiled Salmon Trout.=--Wash and dry the fish after cleaning it
nicely. Wrap in a clean fish-cloth, lay it in a fish-kettle, cover with
cold, salted water, and boil slowly from half to three quarters of an
hour, according to the size of the fish. When done, take off the cloth
gently, so as not to break the trout; lay in a hot fish-platter and
pour around it cream gravy like that used for baked salmon trout, and
serve hot.
All fish, boiled or baked, are improved by cream gravy. If you cannot
obtain cream, use rich milk, and thicken it a little.
=Fried Halibut.=--Have the slices seasoned some hours before frying, as
it will be less liable to break in turning; when ready to fry, dip it
in egg beaten up, and roll it in bread crumbs; then fry in hot lard,
or have three or four slices of sweet salt pork fried till quite brown
and crisp, and then fry the halibut in the hot lard which came from the
pork. Dish it and lay the crisp brown pork around it.
=Fish Chowder.=--Haddock and striped bass are generally considered the
best fish for chowder. Cut the fish in pieces about one inch thick
and two inches square. Cut five or six good slices of the best salt
pork, lay them in the bottom of an iron pot and fry till crisped,
but do not scorch; take out the pork, leaving the fat; chop the pork
in small pieces; put into the pot a layer of fish, a layer of split
crackers and some of the chopped pork; a little red and black pepper; a
little chopped onion; then another layer of fish, split crackers, and
seasoning, and so on till all the fish is used. Then just cover all
with water, and stew slowly till tender. Thicken the gravy with cracker
crumbs and catsup if you like. Take out the fish, boil up the gravy
once, squeeze in the juice of a lemon, and pour the gravy over the
fish. Add salt if necessary.
=To prepare and dress Cold Fish.=--Cut cold boiled fish into pieces
about an inch long. Do not chop it. Take the yelks of four eggs,
hard boiled, and rub them to a smooth paste with a few spoonfuls
of salad-oil or melted butter. Add a little salt, pepper, and
mustard,--the exact amount must be decided by your own taste and
knowledge of how highly seasoned your family like their food. Add
two teaspoonfuls of white sugar; rub all in with the paste, and
the last thing after getting the paste perfectly smooth put in six
table-spoonfuls of vinegar. Beat the mixture till very light, and just
before pouring it over the fish beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff
froth and stir in with it. Stir half the dressing into the picked-up
fish. Serve in a glass dish, and spread the other half of the dressing
over the top. Garnish with delicate leaves of lettuce, to be eaten with
it.
=Newport Fish Pudding.=--Pick any cold fish left from the dinner into
fine bits, carefully removing all the bones. Thicken some boiling milk
with flour, wet to a batter with cold milk, and stir the fish into it;
season with pepper, butter, and salt. Put it into a pudding-dish, and
spread cracker or bread crumbs thickly over the top to prevent the milk
from scorching, and set into the oven to bake just long enough to brown
nicely. A good way to use up cold fish, making a nice breakfast or a
side-dish for dinner.
=Fish-Balls.=--Salt codfish is usually preferred for making fish-balls,
although any fresh boiled fish left over from dinner is very nice. When
the salt cod is used, it should be put in a damp place for a day or
two before using, to soften. Early in the evening, before needed, it
should be thoroughly washed in several waters, rubbing it well, then
put to soak in a large quantity of lukewarm water. Just before bedtime
pour off the first water, and add more lukewarm water; wash again in
clean water in the morning, rubbing off all the salt crystal that may
adhere, particularly on the under side, and place over the fire, in
enough warm water to fully cover it. Let it come to the boiling point
slowly, but don’t let it really boil; keep it simmering a half-hour.
If the fish is very salt, turn off this water and cover again with
boiling water, and let it simmer fifteen or twenty minutes, then drain
and spread it out to cool; remove every bone and bit of skin, and when
perfectly cold pick to pieces very fine with a fork. While the fish is
cooling have nice mealy potatoes boiling over the fire; when done, mash
smooth and light, and add to the picked-up fish a little more than its
weight of potatoes, say a pound and a quarter of potatoes to a pound of
fish. For a dozen balls add one well-beaten egg, or two if plenty, or
two table-spoonfuls of rich cream, two spoonfuls of butter; beat all
together and form into neat balls with your hands--which should be well
floured--and drop them into a kettle or large saucepan of boiling lard
or drippings, and fry a good clear brown. Plainer fish-balls may be
made if desirable, omitting eggs and cream, and using less butter.
=Codfish Balls.=--Soak in warm water as much salt codfish as is needed,
judging by the size of the family. Let it stand in the water all night.
In the morning pick out all the bones, press out the water, and chop
fine. Boil the potatoes in the skin. When done, peel and mash while hot
twice as much potato as you have fish; mix well together and moisten
with cream or a little new milk, with a great spoonful of butter. Have
some well-clarified drippings or sweet lard ready in a saucepan. Let it
get boiling hot, and then put in the fish-balls. They should be made a
little more than half an inch thick. Fry a good, clear brown, taking
care not to scorch them. One egg well beaten is an improvement.
=Scalloped Crabs.=--Wash the crabs and put into a kettle of boiling
water, throw in a handful of salt. Boil from twenty minutes to half an
hour. Take them from the water when done, and pick out all the meat;
be careful and not break the shell. To a pint of meat put a little
salt and pepper; we cannot give the exact amount, as tastes differ so
widely; but taste, and if there is not enough add more, a little at a
time till suited. Grate in a very little nutmeg, and add one spoonful
cracker or bread crumbs, two eggs well beaten, and two table-spoonfuls
of butter (even full); stir all well together; wash the shells clean
and fill each shell full of the mixture; sprinkle crumbs over the top
and set in the oven till of a nice brown; a few minutes will do it.
Send to the table hot.
=Oyster Pie.=--Line a deep dish with good puff paste, not too rich.
Roll out the upper crust, and lay on a plate just the size of the
oyster-dish; set it on the top of the dish and put into the oven, as
the crust must be nearly cooked before the oysters are put in, for they
require less time than the crust. While the crust is baking, strain
the liquor from the oysters; thicken it with the yelks of eggs, boiled
hard and grated,--three eggs for seventy-five oysters; add two even
table-spoonfuls of butter, and the same quantity of bread or cracker
crumbs; season with pepper, salt, and mace or nutmeg,--a very little of
either,--and by tasting, be sure that you do not season it too much; to
add is very easy, but to take out seasoning in cooking is a difficult
task. Let the liquor just boil; then slip in the oysters, and as soon
as they come to a boil, stir well and remove the plate with top crust,
and pour them and their gravy into the hot bake-dish; place the top
crust over, and return to the oven for five minutes. Send to the table
hot.
=Oyster Fritters.=--Drain off the liquor and wipe the oysters dry;
season with a little pepper and salt, if not salt enough. Make a batter
with a pint of milk and flour enough to mix not very stiff. Beat the
yelks of three eggs thoroughly, and put to the batter, beating all a
good deal. Whisk the whites to a stiff, dry froth, and stir in gently
the last thing. Take up a spoonful of batter on a spoon, lay an oyster
on top, and cover with a little more batter, and with a broad knife
slip this off gently into a pan of boiling lard. When brown on both
sides, drain on a perforated plate, and send to the table hot.
=To Fry Oysters.=--Take from the shells carefully so as not to tear
or break them; dry in a clean fish-cloth; beat the yelks of eggs with
thick cream,--one yelk to two table-spoonfuls of cream; rub together
some bread or cracker crumbs, a little salt and cayenne pepper. Have
half a pound of butter boiling hot in a skillet; dip each oyster in the
beaten yelks and cream; then roll in the cracker crumbs, taking pains
to have the crumbs adhere thickly to the oyster. Drop into the skillet,
and fry of a light brown on each side. They should be crisp and light.
Drain free from all grease, and serve hot.
=Lobster Patties.=--Boil two or three good lobsters; take out all the
meat, and chop very fine; mash the coral smooth, and mix with the meat.
Boil three or four eggs hard, and _grate_ the yelks, mashing or rolling
the whites to make them heavy and waxy. Season the whole with salt,
cayenne, a very little pounded mace or nutmeg, and a small portion of
lemon-rind, grated. Moisten the whole with cream, fresh butter, or
salad-oil. (Be careful that you do not use too much of any of these
seasonings. It will make the whole bitter. In all of these strong
flavors, only just an _intimation_ that they are present is necessary.)
Put it into a stewpan, add a little water, put over the fire till it
just comes to a boil; then remove from the fire. Make puff paste, and
line deep patty-pans. Bake the paste before filling, while preparing
the lobster. As soon as the lobster has been removed from the fire,
and is partially cooled, take the crust from the oven and fill the
patty-pans with the mixture to the top. Crabs or prawns may be made
into patties in a similar manner.
=Lobster Rissoles.=--Boil the lobster, take out the meat, mince it
fine; pound the coral smooth, and grate the yelks of three hard-boiled
eggs for one lobster. Season with cayenne pepper, a little nutmeg,
and salt. Make a batter of milk, flour, and well-beaten eggs,--two
table-spoonfuls of milk and one of flour to each egg. Beat this batter
well, and mix the lobster with it gradually, till it is stiff enough to
roll into balls the size of a large plum. Fry in fresh butter, or the
best salad-oil, and serve up either warm or cold. Similar rissoles may
be made of raw oysters minced fine, or of boiled clams. These should be
fried in lard.
=Fish Sauce.=--Four ounces of butter blended with three table-spoonfuls
of flour; stir in gradually half a pint of boiling water, stirring all
the time. When smooth, put it into a farina-kettle or milk-boiler, and
let boil five minutes. If too thick, add a little more water. Beat two
eggs to a foam, and stir in the last thing before removing it from the
fire. A little parsley chopped fine added to this sauce, or an onion,
is relished by some.
=A good Breakfast Dish.=--When any boiled fresh fish is left from
dinner, take out all the bones carefully, and pick the fish up in small
bits. Cover the bottom of a deep dish with some of the fish, and, if
needed, a little pepper and salt, and a few spoonfuls of the fish
sauce, if any was left from dinner; then sprinkle over some fine bread
crumbs; then another layer of fish, with sauce; then bread crumbs,
until the dish is full. If all the fish sauce is used without making
the composition quite moist, beat two eggs very light, and add a cup of
milk and pour over the whole; then cover with more bread crumbs, and
set in the oven long enough to heat through and brown delicately. If
no fish sauce is left over, take two great spoonfuls of butter, cut in
little bits, and lay in alternately with the fish and crumbs; use four
eggs instead of two, and a pint of milk.
=Best Mode of Roasting Fish, Ducks, &c.=--The very best way of cooking
fish and fowl ever devised is familiar to woodmen, but unknown to city
epicures. It is this: Take a large fish,--say a trout of three or four
pounds, fresh from its gambols in the cool stream,--cut a small hole in
the neck and abstract the intestines. Wash the inside clean, and season
it with pepper and salt; or, if convenient, fill it with bread crumbs
or crackers chopped up with meat. Make a fire outside the tent, and
when it has burned down to embers, rake it open, put in the fish, and
cover it with coals and hot ashes. Within an hour take it from its bed,
peel off the skin from the clean flesh, and you will have a trout with
all its original juices and flavors preserved within it,--a dish too
good, as Izaak Walton would say, “for any but very honest men.”
Grouse, ducks, and various other fowls can be cooked deliciously in a
similar way. The intestines of the bird should be taken out by a small
hole at the vent, and the inside washed and stuffed as before. Then wet
the feathers thoroughly, and cover with hot embers. When the cooking
is finished, peel off the burnt feathers and skin, and you will find
underneath a lump of nice juicy flesh, which, when once tasted, will
never be forgotten. The peculiar advantage of this method of roasting
is that the covering of embers prevents the escape of juices by
evaporation. This comes from the “Trappers’ Guide,” and we know it is
good.
MEATS.
BEEF.
=Leicestershire Hunting Beef.=--Take four ounces saltpetre or one of
allspice. Rub it over a nice round of beef very thoroughly. Let it
stand twenty-four hours, then rub it in as much common salt as will be
needed to salt it to suit your taste. Keep it in a cool place twelve
days, turning it every day, then put it into a deep pan and cover it,
upper and under side, with three pounds of beef suet. Then cover with
a thick paste, and bake slowly for six hours. It will keep for six
months, and is highly spoken of by English people. We have never tried
it, but by request give the receipt, which we have had for a long time
in our possession.
=Spiced Beef.=--Boil a shin of ten or twelve pounds of beef until the
meat readily falls from the bone. Pick the meat to pieces and mash the
gristle very fine, rejecting all parts that are too hard to mash. Set
the liquor in which it was boiled away till cool, then take off all the
fat. Boil the liquor down to a pint and a half; then return the meat to
the liquor, and, while hot, add any salt and pepper that may be needed,
a half-teaspoonful of cloves, the same of cinnamon, a little nutmeg, a
half-spoonful of parsley chopped fine, a very little sage and summer
savory, if agreeable, not quite half a salt-spoonful. Let it boil up
once, and put it into a mold or deep dish to cool. Cut in thin slices
for breakfast or tea.
=Curried Beef.=--In reply to inquiries how to use “_curry_ powder,” we
give the following: Put in a saucepan over the fire two table-spoonfuls
of butter, and, when hot, put in two small onions, sliced very thin;
fry until brown; then add a table-spoonful and a half of curry powder,
mixing all well together. Take three pounds of the best of a round
of beef; cut in pieces an inch square; pour over it the milk of a
cocoa-nut, and a quarter of the meat of the nut grated very fine and
squeezed through muslin; moisten with a little water,--only enough to
make it pass through the muslin easily. The cocoa-nut meat and milk
soften the taste of the curry, and no _curry_ is ever made in India
without it. If this does not make liquor enough, add half a teacup
boiling water, and let the whole simmer for thirty minutes. Serve hot,
in a dish with sliced lemon, and a wall of mashed potatoes or boiled
rice around it.
=Meat Pie.=--Cut up some pieces of good, tender raw beef or mutton,
season with pepper, salt, and, if liked, one finely minced onion. Boil
a half-dozen good-sized mealy potatoes, mash smooth and wet with enough
milk to form a dough to make the crust; salt to please the taste; roll
out full half an inch thick, and line a buttered dish large enough to
hold the meat. Lay in the meat, add a teacup of water, or less if the
pie is to be for a small family, then roll out a thick crust of the
potato, covering the top of the pie at least an inch thick, and bake
about an hour and a half.
=Beef Collops.=--Cut the fillet from the under part of a rump of beef
into thin slices; broil quickly until nearly done, then put into a
stewpan with a little beef stock; add two or three slices of lemon or
pickled cucumber and two table-spoonfuls of catsup, and stew till
tender. Half a pint of oysters added ten minutes before it is done is a
great improvement.
=To Cook a Beefsteak.=--Put a frying-pan over the stove till it becomes
quite hot. Have your steak well pounded or mangled,--a sirloin steak is
very good for this purpose,--lay it on the hot, dry pan and cover it
instantly as tightly as possible. When the meat touches the heated pan
it will seethe and adhere to it, but in a few seconds it will become
loosened and juicy; turn the steak every half-minute, but be careful
to do it as quickly as possible, so that it may not be long uncovered.
When nearly done, sprinkle on pepper and salt, lay a small piece of
butter on the steak, and add a table-spoonful of strong coffee. This
makes a delicious broiled steak. Or, if you wish much gravy, shake a
little flour over the steak when just done, and pour in three or four
table-spoonfuls of cream, let it just boil up, under cover, and when
the meat is done, take the pan from the fire, remove the meat, stir
in quickly the well-beaten yelk of an egg, and serve hot. If cream is
used, omit the coffee. Mutton or ham may be cooked in the same way,
only they should be over the fire longer than beef.
=Rump Steak, with Oyster Sauce.=--Broil the steak nicely; put four even
table-spoonfuls of butter into a frying-pan, add pepper and salt to
your taste; shake in a table-spoonful of flour, and add the juice of
half a lemon; when it begins to boil up, put in as many oysters as can
be used in this preparation; let them heat through and just boil up
once, taking care to shake the pan and keep its contents stirring all
the time it is over the fire. When the oysters are done,--a pint to one
steak is about the right quantity,--pour all over the steak, and serve.
=A French Broil.=--Select a spider or saucepan with a smooth, clean
bottom, set it over the range or stove till really _hot_, then lay on
a good tenderloin or sirloin steak; keep the spider very hot, and turn
the steak as often as every two minutes,--no longer; when half done,
sprinkle over salt and pepper to suit the taste of those who are to
eat it; continue to turn the steak often till sufficiently done; just
as you are ready to take up and dish the steak, dust a little flour
over it, spread on a table-spoonful of butter, or, if a large steak, a
little more; turn it over, dust on more flour, and spread on the butter
as on the first side; turn again, set the saucepan back from the hot
fire, take the steak on to the platter, and set in a heater or oven to
keep hot, but not to cook any more; shake more flour into the butter
in the saucepan, set again over the fire, and as soon as the butter
bubbles up through the flour, rub it smooth with a spoon and pour in
a few spoonfuls of boiling water; stir constantly, and as soon as it
thickens, pour over the steak, and serve hot.
=Beefsteak Rolls.=--Cut small, thin steaks from the round; fry them
slightly; make a stuffing as for roast veal or turkey; spread it over
the steaks, roll them up tightly, and sew or tie up neatly. Stew them
in rich beef stock or brown gravy twenty minutes, and serve hot, with
the gravy poured over. A half-teacup of rich cream added a few minutes
before serving is a great improvement.
=Beef Croquettes.=--Chop cold roast beef or veal with one onion very
fine; add a little sweet-marjoram, half a teaspoonful of powdered
cloves, and as much salt and pepper as will be palatable. Moisten with
a rich beef gravy, from which all the fat has cooled and been removed.
Roll into balls, dip in beaten eggs, roll in flour, or bread or cracker
crumbs, and fry in good, sweet lard.
=Mock Duck.=--Prepare a good dressing, such as you like for turkey
or duck; take a round steak, pound it, but not very hard, spread the
dressing over it, sprinkle in a little salt, pepper, and a few bits of
butter, lap over the ends, roll the steak up tight and tie it closely;
spread two great spoonfuls of butter over the steak after rolling it
up, then wash with a well-beaten egg, put water in the bake-pan, lay in
the steak so as not to touch the water, and bake as you would a duck,
basting often. A half-hour in a brisk oven will cook it. Make a brown
gravy, and send to table hot.
=A Nice Breakfast Dish.=--Grate some cold tongue or beef, put it into
a stewpan with a little pepper and salt, and four table-spoonfuls of
cream or milk; when quite hot, put in four well-beaten eggs; stir
all the time till the mixture is quite thick; have ready some nicely
toasted bread, well buttered, and spread the tongue or beef over it;
send to table hot.
=Mock Venison.=--Cut a nice piece of _corned beef_ in thin slices and
soak three or four hours in tepid water, changing the water often.
Be sure and have plenty of water to soak it in. When sufficiently
freshened, drain, wipe dry, put on a hot gridiron, and broil quickly,
turning often, only enough to be fully hot through. Make a gravy of
drawn butter, add a little pepper, taste before adding salt; chop fine
the yelk of an egg boiled hard, and, if agreeable, a little boiled
onion, and pour over it; or simply butter, pepper, and a little salt,
as for beefsteak. This is an excellent dish when so situated as to
have little opportunity for fresh meat, but a _fresh_ beefsteak thus
seasoned is better.
=To prepare Cold Roast Beef or Mutton.=--Cut off the meat as thin as
possible; dip each slice in flour; cover the bottom of a deep dish with
a layer of meat thus prepared; dust over it a little pepper, salt,
sage, and sweet-marjoram,--_very little_ of each; add another layer of
the meat dipped in flour and seasoned in the same way. Continue this
till the dish is half full, then pour over it what gravy was left,
being careful to remove every particle of fat. If not gravy enough,
substitute water. Turn in half a teacup of catsup, or half a pint of
tomatoes, adding a little clove or allspice. Add water enough to fill
it nearly full, fit a plate tightly over it to keep in the flavor,
and bake two hours. Boil some potatoes and mash them, adding a little
salt, butter, and milk. Make it into a high wall around the edge of a
well-heated platter; beat up an egg and brush over the potatoes, and
when the meat is done, turn it into the platter; slip it again into the
oven, to remain long enough to brown the potatoes a fine golden brown.
The poorest and toughest parts of uncooked beef may be made deliciously
tender if prepared in this manner, but it must be in the oven one hour
longer.
=Economical Breakfast Dish.=--If you have a few bits of meat or two or
three cold potatoes left over, put some “drippings” into a skillet;
slice the potatoes thin, cut the meat up fine, and add salt and pepper
to taste; then beat two or three eggs, according to the size of the
dish to be prepared; stir them into a cup of cream or milk, and pour
over the meat and potatoes. If eggs are not plenty, use fewer eggs and
more milk or cream. If milk, add a half table-spoonful of butter. Keep
it over the fire, stirring constantly, till the eggs are cooked. It
takes but a few moments to prepare this; but do not leave it an instant
till done, or the eggs will burn and ruin the whole.
=A “Two Story.”=--A genuine farmer’s dish, but fit to set before a
king,--so we are assured by one who knows.
Peel and slice thin potatoes and onions (five potatoes to one small
onion); cut half a pound of sweet salt pork in thin slices to a pound
of beef, mutton, or veal; cut the meat in small pieces; take some nice
bread dough and shorten a little, and line the bottom of the stewpan
with slices of pork; then a layer of meat, potatoes, and onions; dust
over a little pepper, and cover with a layer of crust; then more pork,
meat, and vegetables; then more crust. Repeat this till the stew-pot
is full,--the size of the pot will depend on the number of the family;
pour in sufficient water to cover; finish with crust. Let it simmer
till meat, vegetables, etc., are done, but do not let it boil hard.
Serve hot.
MUTTON AND LAMB.
=Shoulder of Mutton Boiled.=--All mutton should hang in a cool place
till quite tender before being used, but be careful that it does not
hang long enough to acquire the least rust or taint. When the shoulder
has hung till tender, bone it; rub a little salt over it, and let it
lie in a deep dish for two days, turning it over each day and rubbing
in a little more salt,--half a table-spoonful each time. Meat to boil
requires more salt than for roasting. On the third day, sprinkle over
the inside one teaspoonful of pepper and half a teaspoonful of powdered
mace. Spread twenty oysters over the inside; roll the meat up tightly
and tie securely; put it into the stewpan or boiler with just enough
boiling water to cover it; throw in six peppercorns, or seeds of the
red pepper, and one onion chopped; shut the cover over very closely,
and stew; twenty minutes’ cooking for each pound of meat is the proper
time. Stew twenty-four oysters in a pint of good stock or gravy; add a
table-spoonful of butter and enough flour to thicken it. When the meat
is done, lay it in a good-sized platter and pour the gravy over it.
=Shoulder of Mutton Spiced.=--Bone carefully a shoulder of mutton,
after it has hung till tender. For every pound of meat mix two ounces
of brown sugar, one salt-spoonful of cloves, one teaspoonful each of
mace and pepper, and half a salt-spoonful of ginger; rub these spices
thoroughly into the meat; lay it into a deep dish, and the next day
rub in two teaspoonfuls of salt for every pound of meat, and add one
pint and a half of good beef gravy for the whole joint. Turn the meat
over; rub it well with this pickle every day for a week or ten days,
letting it remain in the pickle all the time after each rubbing. At the
end of the week or ten days, roll it up tightly, bind with a string,
and stew gently in beef broth four hours. Serve hot in its own gravy,
and eat with any piquant sauce or catsup.
=Mutton Stew.=--Take such scraps of mutton or lamb as are not fit
for chops or cutlets; just cover with water; add a little onion and
parsley, if not disagreeable, and season well with black and red
pepper; boil two eggs hard, or, if making a good-sized stew, use more
(two are plenty for five persons); mash or grate the yelks fine, and
stir them into a table-spoonful of butter and the same amount of
browned flour. Stir this into the stew just before dishing, to season
and thicken the gravy. Let it boil up once after adding this, and serve
as soon as it thickens.
=Roasting a Leg of Lamb.=--Slice salt pork very thin, cutting two
slices down to the rind, leaving the rind on to make the piece as large
as possible; make as many of these thin slices as will cover the whole
leg; then wrap the whole in grape-leaves; pass a string round to keep
them on, and roast. It is said the lamb will be exceedingly juicy and
of delicious flavor. Never baste meat with butter, but with rich soup
stock.
=To use Cold Lamb.=--When lamb or mutton is left in good shape,--and
it is the fault of the carver if it is not always left neatly,--cut
off some chops; trim off the greater portion of fat, and saw or cut
off the end of the bone. Heat a platter, and pour into the centre some
nicely cooked fresh green peas, or in winter canned peas. Heap them in
the centre in the shape of a pyramid; brown the chops quickly over a
bright fire, season in a hot plate with pepper, salt, and butter, and
then arrange them around the peas, the small end laid upon the pyramid
of peas. Garnish the edge of the dish with slices of hard-boiled eggs,
each circled in a fringe of curled parsley. Serve hot.
=Mint Sauce.=--Three table-spoonfuls of fresh mint finely chopped, five
table-spoonfuls of vinegar and two of sugar, dissolved in the vinegar.
To be used with roast lamb or chops.
If so much vinegar is disagreeable, use one third water and a little
more sugar.
VENISON.
=Jerked Venison.=--Take the haunches when the deer is first killed;
rub in as much salt as you can; press and squeeze the meat hard with
your hands to get out all the blood; then hang it up in some covered
alley or shed, where the sun will not directly strike it, but where the
dry breezes will sweep over it. If not quite salt enough the next day,
rub more salt on; squeeze and press out all the blood which may still
remain, and hang up again. Two or three days will dry it. When needed,
cut off nice slices, rather thin; lay them in a dish of cold water a
short time to soften a little, then broil, serving with pepper and
salt. Or, fry a piece of bacon crisp; then lay the pieces of venison
into the hot fat, and warm through quickly; shake a little flour over
the meat, and when done salt and pepper; place the meat on a hot
platter; sift a little more flour into the pan; let it boil up; add a
few spoonfuls of boiling water; boil up again, and pour the brown gravy
over the venison. It is very sweet and palatable.
In Florida, beef is also cured, or dried, so as to keep for several
days. Cellars or ice houses not being common, it is necessary to resort
to some means of keeping it. Take a fine round of beef, and cut in
slices as large as your hand and about half an inch thick. String them
on a strong cord, and hang up high in some place where the sun will
not shine directly on it, but where a good breeze of hot air will pass
over it. Build a fire of dry leaves or bits of paper, and place at one
end of the place where the meat is hung, so that the wind will take
the smoke under and over it; this will keep the flies away till the
outside of the meat is too dry for them to injure it. A day or two in
the dry breezes here will cure it, so that it may be put in paper bags
and kept in a dark, dry place several days, to broil as it is needed.
It is wonderfully sweet, probably because in drying all the juices of
the meat are secured. Our Northern air is not so drying, but we see no
reason why, in summer, those who have not smoke or ice houses could
not hang meat under the trees, away from the sun, keeping up a smoke
sufficient to drive away flies but not strong enough to heat the meat.
It is an experiment well worth trying.
=Venison Steaks.=--Heat the gridiron, grease it well. Lay on the steak;
broil quickly, without scorching, turning it two or three times; season
with salt and pepper. Have the butter melted in a well-heated platter,
into which the steak must be laid hot from the gridiron, turning it
over two or three times in the butter, and send to table hot. It is
well to set the platter into another in which you have some boiling
water. Venison should not be overdone, and must be eaten hot.
COOKING IN A “RUMFORD BOILER.”
In one of our “talks” in Part First we said something of the Rumford
Boiler. We subjoin here a few hints as to the use of it. Other similar
“boilers” or “steamers” or “cookers” can also be advantageously used.
The “Rumford” happens to be the one we have used and thoroughly like.
=To Roast Beef or Mutton.=--Have boiling water two or three inches deep
in the lower part of the boiler, deep enough to just touch the bottom
of the pan to be set over it. Place the meat in the inner pan _without
water_, first seasoning it with salt and pepper, if agreeable. Put on
the cover, fitting it in tightly.
When the water begins to boil, set the boiler back on the stove or
range, where it will keep just at the boiling point, and let it remain
cooking the usual time,--fifteen minutes for each pound is generally
thought long enough. When done take it out, dredge with flour and put
into a quick oven to brown, but not scorch.
It is usually estimated that one pint of gravy is lost when meat is
boiled the usual way. Here you have it all saved in the dish, the pure
juice of the meat making excellent gravy.
=To Boil a Leg of Lamb or Mutton.=--Keep in the boiler the ordinary
length of time, with no water in the receiver or pan (which in all
cases should be tightly closed), and send to the table without browning.
=Corned Beef.=--If very salt, the beef should be soaked in cold water
three or four hours; then put it in the inner vessel with _cold_ water
enough to cover it. Keep the water in the bottom receiver boiling
slowly till the beef is done. Salt meat needs to be cooked longer than
fresh; fifteen minutes to a pound for fresh, and twenty minutes for
salt, is the rule usually given, but we have not found the latter long
enough. A piece weighing nine pounds should cook four hours, if without
much bone, and three with bone. We think that better--more sure--than
twenty minutes to a pound.
The water in which salt meat is thus cooked makes excellent stock
for soup. If too salt (it should not be if the beef was properly
freshened), add water sufficient to make it right.
=To Cook a Ham.=--Freshen the ham by soaking in cold water three or
four hours, then scrape clean and wipe dry. Stick a few cloves into
it, rub on a half cup of sugar, and put in the inner vessel _without
any water_; _cover closely_, and set over the boiling water in the
bottom of the boiler; bring to a boil, and then set back a little that
it may cook slowly till tender, about four hours. This will be found
very excellent in flavor, far surpassing ham boiled in the common way.
If liked, when done, the ham may be set in a quick oven and delicately
browned, like roast beef or mutton.
=Fish.=--Season a fresh fish with salt, pepper, and a table-spoonful
of butter, and put in the receiver, or inner pan, _without any water_;
cover closely, and cook for half an hour. Thicken the juices of the
fish which will be found in the pan with a little flour, wet in cold
water, and let it simmer a few minutes in the pan, closely covered.
This makes an excellent sauce for the fish.
Steaks of cod, salmon, halibut, or any other fish, usually fried, are
excellent cooked in this “Rumford Boiler,” and need no butter or sauce
besides the juice which will be left in the vessel, and pepper and salt.
We have tried all these receipts since we possessed this excellent
boiler, and can testify to the superiority of each dish over that
cooked in the usual way.
We have cooked all our vegetables--corn, peas, beets, potatoes--in the
pans that are made to fit over the first vessel with tight covers, and
are greatly pleased with the improvement. It must be remembered that
each vessel should be closely covered, and over all the cover for the
whole boiler. Bread of all kinds and loaf cake are delicious cooked in
a “Rumford,” and when done put into the oven to brown.
VEAL.
=Meats for June.=--It is more difficult to obtain good meats in
June than any part of the year. Lamb is still quite expensive, and
“broilers” or spring chickens are dear and very little of them. What
you can manage to pick off is dry, stringy, and, we cannot but think,
indigestible. Veal is the only meat within the reach of all classes;
but be very sure that you obtain that which has been healthily fed, and
butchered as humanely as is possible. It is well that we do not see or
know all the barbarity of the butchers’ shops, or we should perforce
become vegetarians. There are many ways of using the less desirable
portions of veal, that when properly carried out make some very
inviting breakfast or tea dishes.
=Calf’s Head and Harslet.=--The head to be split open, the grease
screened off, and eyes taken out, before bringing from the butcher’s.
Wash very carefully, and scrape thoroughly. Take out the brains and
put into a bowl of cold water; also lay the head, when cleaned, into a
large pan of water. Then see that the harslet is well cleaned; leave
the windpipe on the lights, and let all soak in cold water, and plenty
of it, for half an hour. Have a large pot of boiling water ready. Two
hours before dinner put in the heart and lights, leaving the windpipe
a little way out of the pot to carry off the scum that will rise while
boiling. Put in salt, black and red pepper,--_very_ little of the
latter,--and a little thyme and parsley. One hour after put in the
liver; skim often. When the brains have soaked till free from blood,
pick out all the veins or fibers, roll half a cracker and put it with
the brains and a little parsley into a clean bit of muslin, tie it up,
and put into the kettle with the head, etc. Let it boil from ten to
fifteen minutes; then take it up, add butter, pepper, and salt, and
serve in a small dish by itself. The bones must all be removed from the
head; when well done, they will slip out easily. Lay the meat in the
center of the platter; skin the tongue, and place it with the meat;
remove the windpipe, and lay lights, heart, and liver around. Make a
gravy of drawn butter, with parsley, chopped fine, and two eggs beaten,
and added just as the gravy comes to a boil. Send all to table hot.
=Head and Harslet Hash.=--Take what may be left from dinner of the
calf’s head and harslet, chop very fine, use a few spoonfuls of the
drawn butter, moisten with the water in which the meat was boiled, put
over the fire till hot, then serve on nice slices of toasted bread, and
you have a breakfast dish even better than the dinner.
The water in which calf’s head, etc., is boiled, should be carefully
kept, and when cold it will be a stiff jelly. Take off the grease that
will harden on top, and the jelly may be made into a fine mock-turtle
soup. It is still better if, when boiling the head and harslet, you add
two calf’s feet.
=Veal Pie.=--Take the neck of veal, joint it as small as you can, and
stew, adding just enough boiling water to prevent it from burning.
Season with pepper, salt, and, if liked, a very little onion cut
up fine, and a little parsley or summer savory. Make a crust of
two potatoes, boiled and mashed smooth and free from lumps, two
table-spoonfuls suet chopped _very_ fine, a little salt; stir it
together with ice-cold water. Flour the board, roll out, and scatter
over it thin shavings of hard butter right from the ice; shake over
some flour; lap it together and roll out again. Then put on more
butter, using, in all, four table-spoonfuls, _not heaped_. This done,
sprinkle again with flour, roll it up and put on the ice till the veal
is done, which should not cook over three quarters of an hour. When
tender, pick the meat from most of the bones, leaving a few small ones
to give shape to the pie; roll the meat in well-beaten eggs; three will
suffice to wet it; then roll it in flour; cover the pie-dish with part
of the paste, rolled about a quarter of an inch thick. Cut a strip of
crust to place around the edge of the dish, and lay the meat in neatly,
cutting in a few bits of butter, two table-spoonfuls will do, and pour
over the meat the water in which it was cooked, which should have
boiled down so as to leave only enough to make the pie juicy. Now roll
out the rest of the paste for the upper crust, about three quarters
of an inch thick, cover the pie, cut a slit in the top, and bake. Be
careful not to scorch the crust.
=Sweetbread Croquettes.=--Trim the sweetbreads neatly; remove all the
gristle; parboil and mince very fine; add grated bread seasoned with
salt and pepper, and a very little mace, if agreeable; moisten with
cream; stir all well together, and shape them by pressing firmly into
a pear-shaped wineglass or small mold, or mold into little cones by
rolling in your hands. Have ready a beaten egg and fine rolled and
sifted bread or cracker crumbs. Dip each croquette into the egg and
roll in the crumbs; stick a fruit-stem into the cone, to look like an
apple or pear, and fry in butter. This is good for cold chicken, beef,
or raw oysters.
=Veal Patty.=--Four pounds veal-steak, chopped while raw very fine; mix
with it eight butter-crackers rolled, a piece of butter of the size
of an egg, and two well-beaten eggs. Mix all thoroughly together, and
season with pepper and salt. A little sage, thyme, or savory is thought
an improvement by some. Mold into a loaf; put small bits of butter
on top, and cover with grated bread crumbs. Judge of the quantity
of butter necessary by your own taste. If not liked very rich, two
table-spoonfuls of butter cut up and sprinkled over will be plenty.
Bake two hours. When cold, cut off slices as from a loaf of bread, for
tea or side-dishes.
=Minced Veal.=--Mince the veal very fine with a little ham, a
table-spoonful of flour, three well-beaten eggs, one small onion
scalded for five or ten minutes to remove the coarser flavor and then
chopped fine; sweet herbs, pepper, and salt to suit the taste. Butter
a deep pie-plate, set a small cup in the center, and fill the plate
all around the cup with the mince-meat. Bake of a delicate brown;
then remove the cup and fill its place with some nice sauce,--apple,
cranberry, or jelly, or, if you please, some scalloped oysters. Beef,
lamb, or chicken prepared in the same way is very good.
=Veal Hash.=--Boil a shin of veal which has about three pounds of meat
on it in as small a quantity of water as you can, so that when done
there shall be one quart of water left. Boil the day before needed,
that it may be perfectly cold. When the meat is well done, lay it
anywhere where it will be away from the air, but do not wrap it in a
cloth. Save all the liquor in a separate dish. The next morning cut up
all the meat; chop not quite so fine as for the “mince.” Half an hour
before you send it to the table, put it over the fire in a covered
stewpan with the liquor; have ready half a pint of hot-drawn butter and
eight hard-boiled eggs; remove the shells, mince all but two, and add
to the meat. As soon as it boils up, remove from the fire; season with
salt, cayenne pepper, and a little black pepper. Cut the two eggs in
slices, and when the meat is placed in a dish, lay them over the top
neatly. Send to table hot.
=Veal Loaf.=--Three pounds of veal cutlet, a quarter of a pound salt
pork chopped very fine. Three Boston crackers rolled fine, three
well-beaten eggs, one wineglass claret or currant wine, half a cup
of tomato catsup, five ripe tomatoes, if in season, or a teacup of
canned tomatoes; one onion chopped fine, if not disagreeable; juice and
chopped peel of one orange or lemon, whichever is the most palatable;
one small teaspoonful each of pepper, cloves, sweet-marjoram, sage, and
salt. Mix these very thoroughly with the meat, and mold into a loaf.
Place in a dripping-pan, cover the top with cracker crumbs, and bake
three hours. While baking, keep some butter and hot water on the side
of range, and baste the loaf with it often and thoroughly. Let it stand
in a cool place till the second day before cutting. Excellent as a
relish for breakfast or tea.
=Croquettes.=--These are a sort of mince-meat dumpling. Take some cold
veal, chicken, lobster, or tender cold beef, chopped fine. Put a half
table-spoonful of butter in a saucepan on the fire. When melted, put in
a piece of onion chopped fine; fry a little; add half a table-spoonful
of flour. When it browns, put in the minced meat; stir it steadily till
heated through, adding salt and pepper. Then add a gill and a half of
broth, and set the pan a little off the fire to simmer. Chop three
stalks of parsley fine, and mix it in on the fire, stirring all the
time. Then break in two eggs, stirring faster; in two or three minutes
take it from the fire and set it to cool. Thus far has occupied about
ten minutes. When the meat is cold, sift some flour on the board;
take a lump of the mince the size of an egg or larger, roll it in the
fine flour, dip it in a cup of beaten egg, drain and roll it in bread
crumbs; have a quantity of boiling suet or drippings in a frying-pan,
and fry the croquettes in them for a couple of minutes, till brown. Put
in a colander and let the fat drain off.
POULTRY AND GAME.
=Steamed Turkey.=--All poultry, after dressing, should remain in cold
water from twenty minutes to half an hour to extract the blood and
leave them white; then hang in a cool place for twenty-four hours, in
winter even longer. They will be much sweeter and finer flavored for it.
When ready to cook a turkey, see that every pinfeather is taken out,
rinse in cold water, and wipe dry with a cloth used for nothing but
such purposes; rub inside with pepper and salt, and fill with oysters
carefully washed in their own liquor to remove bits of shells; sew
up the turkey, place in a large dish, and set it into a steamer over
boiling water, or in a “Rumford Boiler”; lay a clean cloth over the
steamer and shut the cover on tight, and steam till tender,--two and a
half hours, or, if large, three hours; run a fork into the breast to
see if done. If it seems tender, and no reddish juice flows out, it is
ready to take up; strain the gravy and put into the oyster sauce, which
should be ready while the turkey is cooking, made like stewed oysters
and thickened with farina or butter and flour; let it just boil up, and
add, if you like it white, a little boiled cream; pour this over the
steamed turkey, and serve hot.
Or, if preferred, the turkey may be stuffed as for a common baked
turkey and steamed; or it may be stuffed with good plump chestnuts
after the skins are removed, and the gravy made with the giblets
chopped fine, adding a little flour as you chop, and the gravy from the
dish stirred to it, and set over the fire to boil up. While the gravy
is being made, rub a little butter over and sprinkle the turkey with
flour very slightly, and set in a hot oven to brown delicately. Many
prefer this to sending to the table right from the steamer with white
gravy poured on.
=Broiled Chickens.=--First boil the giblets, neck, and tips of the
wings in just enough water to cover them; season with a little pepper
and salt. When tender, pick off what little meat there is on the neck
and wing-tips, and chop with the giblets, very fine, shaking over
them, while chopping, enough flour to make the whole like a paste;
then return it to the water it was boiled in, stirring all together,
and leave it on the range to keep hot. This done, put the chicken on
a well-heated gridiron over a clear fire, covering it closely with a
cover made to fit the gridiron. Cook carefully, turning it often, and
do not let it scorch. When done, it should be of a good, rich, clear
brown, as uniform in color as possible. When partly cooked, sprinkle
salt and pepper over it on both sides.
Put three great spoonfuls of butter on the platter you have ready to
take the chickens up in; set it into the oven, leaving the door open
lest you break the platter by too strong heat. When the chicken is
well cooked, remove from the gridiron to this platter, turning it over
several times in the melted butter; then pour over all the water in
which the giblets have been put, which should have become a nice thick
gravy; let the platter stand a few moments in the oven until all is
thoroughly blended and heated, then send to the table hot.
If not in a hurry, it is well to melt butter in a deep kitchen-dish and
put the chicken and gravy into the oven in that, and, when thoroughly
heated through, remove to a hot china platter for the table. There is
a risk of cracking the enamel on nice china or breaking the platter
entirely, if set in the oven where a servant may forget and close the
door.
=To Bake a Chicken.=--Choose full-grown, plump, well-fattened chickens;
remove all the pinfeathers carefully and singe all the hairs off by
holding a lighted paper under the chicken before opening; then open
with care; see that the gall is not broken in taking out the entrails
and giblets, and that none of the crop or windpipe is left in; then
wash in plenty of cold water; put inside the gizzard, liver, and heart,
when well cleaned and washed, and hang up to drain all night. If
very warm weather, put in a piece of charcoal to keep it sweet. When
ready the next morning to prepare for baking, cut off the neck and
legs, and lay aside with the giblets for gravy; prepare a dressing,
or stuffing, of dried bread rolled fine, with a little salt, pepper,
sage, and summer savory,--the quantity of seasoning must be determined
by the taste of the family; rub salt and pepper inside, fill with the
dressing, putting enough into the neck or crop to give it a plump look;
sew up and skewer. There should be a grate fitted to every meat-pan
on which to lay meat or fowls, to keep them from becoming clammy by
resting in the water; rub your fowls with a little butter and salt,
place on this grate, pour boiling water into the pan, and put into
the oven; let it cook about fifteen minutes, then baste with a little
butter and salted water, kept in a bowl close by; dredge over some
flour, and baste again; repeat the basting three or four times while
the chickens are baking; turn them over every time; cook till a fork
will enter the flesh easily, but taking care not to dry up the meat;
then remove the skewers and thread with which they were sewed, put them
on the platter and place in the heater, or where they will keep hot
till the gravy is ready.