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Cti,^m-^ JCjr^ '^^ra'<rn^i'Cri^
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COPYRIGHTED 18S7 BY F. L. GIl-LETTE.
COPYRIGHTED 18S9 BY R. S. PEALE.
1 o the
Wi>7es of ©ur j^residents,
I hose JNIoble Women who ha>7e
(3 raced the White ylouse,
^nd whose JNames and JVlemories
i\re dear to all ^Americans,
I his Volume Is affectionately dedicated
N presenting this book of recipes to the public, I do so at the urgent request of friends and relatives. During forty years of practical housekeeping, it has been my custom, after trying and testing a recipe, and finding it invariably a success, and also one of the best of its kind, to copy it in a book, thereby accumulating a considerable amount of reliable and useful information in the culinary line.
As a convenient form of reference, this book embodies several original and conunendable features, among which may be mentioned its plain print, its sim- plified method of explanation in preparing an article, in the order of manipula- tion, thereby enabling the most inexperienced to clearly comprehend it. Unlike most books, the leaves are broad, and when opened it will not close of itself^ which obviates the necessity of frequently opening, as is the case with narrow pages.
The subject of carving has been given a prominent place, not only because of its special importance in a work of this kind, but particularly because it con- tains entirely new and original designs, and is so far a departure from the usual mode of treatiog the subject.
Hoping this book may be acceptable and of service to all housekeepers pos* sessing a copy,
I am faithfully yours,
Mrs. F. L. Gillette.
(0
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PAOB 1
Soups, i • . 21
Fiah, 41
Shell Fish, 57
Poultry and Ckkme, 70
Meats, 94
Mutton and Lamb, 120
Pork, 127
Sauces and Dressing for Meats and Fish, 138
Salads, 1^9
Catsups, 156
Pickles, 159
Yegetables, 169
Macaroni, 192
Butter and Cheese, 194
Eggs, 199
Omelets, 203
Sandwiches, 209
Bread 211
Biscuits, Bolls, Muffins, eta, 221
Toast, 246
Cakes, 251
Pastry, Pies and Tarts 284
Custards, Cream and Desserts, 305
Ice Cream and Ices, 334
Dumplings and Puddings, 339
Sauces for Pudding, 371
Preserves, Jellies, etc., 376
Canned Fruits, 389
Coloring for Fruit and Confectionery, 395
Confectionery, • . • . . 397
Coffee, Tea and Beverages, 408
Preparations for the Sick, 421
Suggestions in regard to Health, 431
Miscellaneous Becipes, .••••••••. 450
Facts worth Knowing, 470
Toilet Becipes and Items, 480
French Words in Cooking, 489
Articles required for the Kitchen, 490
Dyeing or Coloring, 493
Small Points on Table Etiquette, < 49i';
Dinner-giving, 500
Measures and Weights in ordinary use, 504
K^lt'Rrt-Ri'R.'fcR^t t r, r, f* I
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<StiQlnal anX> Selected, during a period of
FORTY YEARS'
i ff stilfetl iMii©i@©f 111 i
By Mrs. F. L. Gillette.
Y/^ L F- IvlILLER & CO L
)\N) CHICACO PKILADfLPHIA STOCKTON CAT /
1 •'■"^' '-^A
COPYRIGHTED 1887 BY F. L. GILLITTK.
COrYRlUHTKD 1889 BY R. S. PEALB.
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Wl^ifee §®yse Qm\\ B©©^.
CARVING.
Carving is one important acquisition in the routine of daily living, and all should try to attain a knowledge or ability to do it well, and withal gracefully.
When carving use a chair slightly higher than the ordinary size, as it gives a better purchase on the meat, and appears more graceful than when standing, as is often quite necessary when carving a turkey, or a very large joint. More depends on skill than strength. The platter should be placed opposite, and sufficiently near to give perfect command of the article to be carved, the knife of medium size, sharp with a keen edge. Commence by cutting the slices thin, laying them carefully to one side of the platter, then afterwards placing the desired amount on each guest*s plate, to be served in turn by the servant.
In carving fish, care should be taken to help it in perfect flakes; for if these are broken the beauty of the fish is lost. The carver should acquaint himself with the choicest parts and morsels; and to give each guest an equal share of those tidbits should be his maxim. Steel knives and forks should on no account be used in helping fish, as these are liable to impart a very disagreeable flavor. A fish-trowel of silver or plated silver is the proper article to use.
Gravies should be sent to the table very Aof, and in helping one to gravy or melted butter, place it on a vacant side of the plate; not pour it over their meat, fish or fowl, that they may use only as much as they like.
When serving fowls, or meat, accompanied with stufiing, the guests should be asked if they would have a portion, as it is not every one to whom the flavor of stufiing is agreeable; in filling their plates, avoid heaping one thing upon another, as it makes a bad appearance.
A word about the care of carving knives: a fine steel knife should not come in contact with intense heat, because it destroys its temper, and therefore impairs its cutting qualities. Table carving knives should not be used in the kitchen, either around the stove, or for cutting bread, meats, vegetables, etc.; a fine whetstone should be kept for sharpening, and the knife cleaned carefully to avoid dulling its edge, all of which is quite essential to successful carving.
BEEF.
HiND-QUARTEB.
No. 1. Used for choice roasts, the porter-house and suioin steaks.
No. 2. Eximp, used for steaks, stews and corned beef.
No. 3. Aitch-bone, used for boiling-pieces, stews and pot roasts.
No. 4. Buttock or round, used for steaks, pot roasts, beef d la mode; also a prime
boiling-piece. No. 5. Mouse round, used for boiling and stewing. No. 6. Shin or leg, used for soups, hashes, etc. No. 7. Thick flank, cut with under fat, is a prime boiling piece, good for stews
and corned beef, pressed beef. No. 8. Veiny piece, used for corned beef, dried beef. No. 9. Thin flank, used for corned beef and boiling-pieces.
FORE-QUARTEB.
No. 10. Five ribs called the fore-rib. This is considered the primest piece for
roasting; also makes the finest steaks. No. 11. Four ribs, called the middle ribs, used for roasting. No. 12. Chuck ribs, used for second quality of roasts and steaks. No. 13. Brisket, used for corned beef, stews, soups and spiced beef. No. 14. Shoulder-piece, used for stews, soups, pot-roasts, mince-meat, a^d hashes.
BBBF. 3
Nos. 15, 16. Neck, dod or sticfcmg-piece, used for stocks, gravies, soups, mince- pie meat, hashes, bologna sausages, etc. No. 17. Shin or shank, used mostly for soups and stewing. No. 18. Cheek.
The following is a classification of the qualities of meat, according to the several joints of beef, when cut up.
FirsA C/c(«i.— Includes the sirloin with the kidney suet (1), the rump steak piece (2), the forerib (11).
5eco7id C&ws.— The buttock or round (4), the thick flank (7), the middle ribs (11).
Third Class. — The aitch-bone (3), the mouse-roimd (5), the thin flank (8, 9), the chuck (12), the shoulder piece (14), the brisket (13).
Fourth CTass.— The clod, neck and sticking piece (15, 16.)
Fifth Class-Shin. or shank (17).
Lamb bom in the middle of the winter, reared under shelter, and fed in a great measure upon milk, then killed in the spring, is considered a great delicacy, though lamb is good at a year old. Like all young animaJis, lamb ought to be thoroughly cooked, or it is most unwholesome.
VEAL.
VEAL.
HlNB-QUARTEB.
.No. 1. Loin, the choicest cuts used for roasts and chops.
No. 2. Fillet, iised for roasts and cutlets.
No. 3. Loin, chump-end used for roasts and chops.
^o. 4. The hind-knuckle or hock, used for stews, pot-pies, meat-pies.
FORE-QUABTEB.
No. 5. Neck, best end used for roasts, stews and chops, ^o. 6. Breast, best end used for roasting, stews and chops. No. 7. Blade-bone, used for pot- roasts and baked dishes. No. 8. Fore-knuckle, used for soups and stews. No. 1^. Breast, brisket-end used for baking, stews and pot-pies. No. 10. Neck, scrag-end used for stews, broth, meat-pies, etc.
Li cutting up veal, generally, the hind-quarter is divided in loin and leg, and the fore-quarter into breast, neck and shoulder.
The Several Parts of a Moderately-sizedj well-fed Calf about eight weeks old, are nearly of the following weights:— Loin and chump, 18 lbs; fillet, 12i lbs. ; hind knuckle, 5i lbs.; shoulder, 11 lbs.; neck, 11 lbs.; breast, 9 lbs.; and fore- knuckle, 5 lbs. ; making a total of 144 lbs. weight.
I
MUTTON.
MUTTON.
^
No. 1. Leg, used for roasts and for boiling.
No. 2. Shoulder, used for baked dishes and roasts.
No. 3. Loin, best end used for roasts, chops.
No. 4. Loin, chump end used for roasts and chops.
No. 5. Back, or rib chops, iised for French chops, rib chops, either for trying or
broiling; also used for choice stews. No. 6. Breast, used for roast, baked dishes, stews, chops. No. 7. Neck or scrag end, used for cutlets and stews and meat pies.
Note. — A saddle of mutton or double loin is two loins cut off before the car- case is spUt open down the back. French chops are a small rib chop, the end of the bone trimmed off and the meat and fat cut away from the thin end, leaving the round piece of meat attached to the larger end, which leaves the small rib- bone bare. Very tender and sweet.
Mutton is prime when cut from a carcase which has been fed out of doors, and allowed to run upon the hillside; they are best when about three years old. The fat will then be abundant, white and hard, the flesh juicy and firm, and of a dear red color.
For mutton roasts, choose the shoulder, the saddle, or the loin or haunch. The leg should be boiled. Almost any part will do for broth.
PORK.
PORK.
No. 1. Leg, used for smoked hams, roasts and corned pork.
No. 2. Hind-loin, used for roasts, chops and baked dishes.
No. 3. Fore-loin or ribs, used for roasts, baked dishes or chops.
No. 4. Spare-rib, used for roasts, chops, stews.
No. 5. Shoulder, used for smoked shoulder, roasts and corned pork.
No. 6. Brisket and flank, used for pickling in salt, and smoked bacon.
The cheek is used for pickling in salt, also the shank or shin. The feet are usually used for souse and jelly.
For family use, the leg is the most economical, that is when fresh, and the loin the richest. The best pork is from carcases weighing from fifty to about one hundred and twenty-five pounds. Pork is a white and close meat, and it is almost impossible to over-roast pork or cook it too much; when underdone it is exceedingly unwholesome.
VENISON
VENISON.
No. 1. Shoulder, used for roasting; it may be boned and stuffed, then afterwards
baked or roasted. No. 2. Fore-loin, used for roasts and steaks. No. 3. Haunch or loin, used for roasts, steaks, stews. The ribs cut close may be
used for soups. Good for pickUng and making into smoked venison. No. 4. Breast, used for baking dishes, stewing. No. 5. Scrag or neck, used for soups.
The choice of venison should be judged by the fat, which, when the venison is young, should be thick, clear and close, and the meat a very dark red. The flesh of a female deer, about four years old, is the sweetest and best of venison.
Buck venison, which is in season from June to the end of September, is finer than doe venison, which is in season from October to December. Neither should be dressed at any other time of year, and no meat requires so much care as venison in killing, preserving, and dressing.
SIRLOIN OF BEEF.
SIRLOIN OF BEEF.
This choice roaating-piece should be cut with one good firm stroke from end to end of the joint, at the upper part, in thin, long, even slices in the direction of the line from 1 to 3, cutting across the grain, serving each guest with some of the fat with the lean; this may be done by cutting a small thin slice from underneath the bone from 5 to 6, through the tenderloin.
Another way of carving this piece, and which will be of great assistance in doing it well, is to insert the knife just above the bone at the bottom, and run sharply along, dividing the meat from the bone at the bottom and end, thus leav- ing it perfectly flat; then carve in long, thin slices the usual way. When the bone has been removed and the sirloin rolled before it is cooked, it is laid upon, the platter on one end, and an even, thin slice is carved across the grain of the upper surface.
Roast ribs should be carved in thin, even slices fix)m the thick end towards tiie thin in the same mamier as the sirloin; this can be more easily and cleanly done if the carving knife is first run along between the meat and the end and rib-bones, thus leaving it free from bone to be cut into slices.
Tongue. — To carve this, it should be cut crosswise, the middle being the best; cut in very thin slices, thereby improving its delicacy, making it more tempting; as is the case of all well-carved meats. The root of the tongue is usually left on the platter.
BREAST OF VEAL.
BREAST OF VEAL.
This piece is quite similar to a fore-quarter of lamb after the shoulder has- been taken off. A breast of veal consists of two parts, the rib-bones and the gristly brisket. These parts may be separated by sharply passing the carving knife in the direction of the line from 1 to 2; and when they are entirely divided, the rib bones should be carved in the direction of the line from 5 to 6, and the brisket can be helped by cutting slices from 3 to 4.
The carver should ask the guests whether they have a pi-eference for the- brisket or ribs; and if there be a sweetbread served with the dish, as is fre- quently with this roast of veal, each person should receive a piece.
Though veal and lamb contain less nutrition than beef and mutton, in pro* portion to their weight, they are often preferred to these latter meats on account of their dehcacy of texture and flavor. A whole breast of veal weighs from nine? to twelve pounds.
A FILLET OF VEAL.
A FILLET OF VEAL.
A Met of veal is oneof the prime roasts of veal; it istaken from the leg above the knuckle; a piece weighing from ten to twelve pounds is a good size and requires about four hours for roasting. Before roasting, it is dressed with a force meat or stuffing placed in the cavity from where the bone was taken out and the flap tightly secured together with skewers; many bind it together with tape.
To carve it, cut in even thin slices off from the whole of the upper part or top, in the same manner as &om a relied roast of beef, as in the direction of the figures 1 and 2; this gives the person served some of the dressing with each slice of meat.
Veal is very unwholesome unless it is cooked thoroughly, and when roasted should be of a rich brewn color. Bacon, fried pork, sausage-balls, with greens are among the accompaniments of roasted veal, also a cut lemon.
NECK OF VEAL.
II
NECK OF VEAL.
The best end of a neck of veal makes a very good roasting-piece; it however is composed of bone and ribs that make it quite difficult to carve, unless it is done properly. To attempt to carve each chop and serve it, you would not only place too large a piece upon the plate of the person you intend to serve; but you would waste much time, and should the vertebrae have not been removed by the butcher, you would be compelled to exercise such a degree of strength that vrould make one's appearance very ungraceful, and possibly, too, throwing gravy over your neighbor sitting next to you. The correct way to carve this roast is to cut diagonally from figure 1 to 2, and help in slices of moderate thickness; ihen it may be cut from 3 to 4, in order to separate the small bones; divide and serve them, having first inquired if they are desired.
This joint is usually sent to the table accompanied by bacon, ham, tongue, oi pickled pork on a separate dish and with a cut lemon on a plate. There are aisc a number of sauces that are suitable with this roast.
LEG OF MUTTON.
LEG OF MUTTON.
The best mutton, and that from which most nourishment is obtained, is that of sheep from three to six years old, and which have been fed on dry sweet pastures; then mutton is in its jjrtme, the flesh being Arm, juicy, dark colored, and full of the richest gravy. When mutton is two years old, the meat is flabby, pale and savorless.
In carving a roasted leg, the best sUces are found by cutting quite down to the bone, in the direction from 1 to 2, and slices may be taken from either side.
Some very good cuts are taken from the broad end from 5 to 6, and the fat on this ridge is very much liked by many. The cramp-bone is a dehcacy, and is obtained by cutting down to the bone at d, and running the knife under it in a semicircular direction to 3. The nearer the knuckle the drier the meat, but the under side contains the most finely grained meat, from which slices may be cut lengthwise. When sent to the table a frill of paper around the knuckle will im- prove its appearance.
FORE-QUARTES OF LAMB.
FORE-QUARTER OF LAMB.
The first cut to be made in carving a fore-quarter of lamb is to separate the shoulder from the breast and ribs; this is done by passing a sharp carving knife lightly around the dotted line as shown by the ^;ures 3, 4, and 5, so as to cut through the skin, and then, by raising with a Uttle force the shoulder, into which the fork should be firmly fixed, it will easily separate with just a Uttle more cutting with the knife; care should be taken not to cut away too much of the meat from the breast when dividing the shoulder from it, as that would mar its appearance. The shoulder may be placed upon a separate dish for con- Tenience. The next process is to divide the ribs from the brisket by cutting through the meat in the line from 1 to 3; then the ribs may be carved in tlie direction of the line 6 to 7, and the brisket from 8 to 9. The carver should always ascertain whether the guest prefers ribs, brisket or a piece of the shoulder.
'
14
HAM.
HAM.
The carver in cutting a ham must be guided according as he desires to prac- tise economy, or have at once fine slices out of the prime part. Under the first supposition, he will commence at the knuckle end, and cut off thin slices towards the thick and upper part of the ham.
To reach the choicer portion of the ham, the knife, which must be very sharp and thin, should be carried quite down to the bone through the thick fat in the direction of the line, from 1 to 2. The slices should be even and thin, cutting both lean and fat together, always cutting down to the bone. Some cut a circu- lar hole in the middle of a ham gradually enlarging it outwardly. Then again many carve a ham by first cutting from 1 to 2, then across the other way from 3 to 4. Bemove the skin after the ham is cooked and send to the table with dots of dry pepper or dry mustard on the top, a tuft of fringed paper twisted about the knuckle, and plenty of fresh parsley aroimd the dish. This will always ensure an inviting appearance.
Boast Pig.— The modem way of serving a pig is not to send it to the table whole, but have it carved partially by the cook; first, by dividing the shoulder from the body; then the leg in the same manner; also separating the ribs into convenient portions. The head may be divided and placed on the same plat- ter. To be served as hot as possible.
A Spare Rib of Pork is carved by cutting slices from the fleshy part, after which the bones should be disjointed and separated.
A leg of pork may be carved in the same manner as a ham.
HAUNCH OF VENISON.
HAUNCH OF VENISON.
A haunch o£ venison is the_prj7ne joint, and is carved very similar to almost any roasted or boiled leg; it should be first cut crosswise down to the bone fol- lowing the line from 1 to 2; then turn the platter with the knuckle farthest from you, put in the point of the knife, and cut down as far as you can, in the directions shown by the dotted lines from 3 to 4 then there can; be taken out as many slices as is required on the right and left of this. Slices of venison should be cut thin, and gravy given witii them, but as there is a spedal sauce made with red wine and currant jelly to accompany this meat, do not serve gravy before asking the guest if he pleases to have any.
The fat of this meat is like mutton, apt to cool soon, and become hard and disagreeable to the palate; it should therefore be served always on warm plates, and the platter kept over a hot-water dish, or spirit lamp. Many cooks dish it up with a wbite paper frill pined around the knuckle-bone.
A haunch of mutton is carved the same as a haunch of venison.
M
TURKEY.
A turl oy having been relieved from strings and skewers used in trussing should be placed on the table with the head or neck at the carver's right hand. An expert carver places the fork in the turkey, and does not remove it until the whole is divided. Krst insert the fork firmly in the lower part of the breast, just forward of fig. 2, then sever the legs and wings on both sides, if the whole is to be carved, cutting neatly through the joint next to the body, letting these parts lie on the platter. Next, cut downward from the breast from 2 to 3, as many even slices of the white meat as may be desired, placing the pieces neatly on one side of the platter. Now unjoint the legs and wings at the middle joint, which can be done very skillfully by a little practice. Make an opening into the cavity of the turkey for dipping out the inside dressing, by cutting a piece from the rear part 1, 1, called the apron. Consult the tastes of the guests as to which part is preferred; if no choice is expressed, serve a portion of both light and dai-k meat. One of the most delicate parts of the turkey, are two little muscles, ly- ing in small dish-like cavities on each side of the back, a httle behind the leg attachments; the next most delicate meat fills the cavities in the neck bone, and next to this, that on the second joints. The lower part of the leg (or drum- stick, as it is called) being hard, tough, and stringy is rarely ever helped to any one, but allowed to remain on the dish.
-aisHBt^^^
ROAST GOOSE— FO WLS. I ^
ROAST GOOSE.
To carve a goose, first begin by separating the leg from the body, by putting the fork into the small end of the limb, pressing it closely to the body, then passing the knife under at 2, and turning the leg back as you cut through the joint. To take off the wing, insert the fork in the small end of the pinion, and press it close to the body; put the knife in at figure 1, and divide the joint. When the legs and wings are oflf, the breast may be carved in long even slices, as represented in the lines from 1 to 2. The back and lower side bones, as well as the two lower side bones by the wing, may be cut off; but the best pieces of the goose are the breast and thighs, after being separated from the drum-sticks. Serve a Uttle of the dressing from the inside, by making a circular shoe in the apron at figure 3. A goose should never be over a year old; a tough goose is very difficult to carve, and certainly most difficult to eat
FOWLS.
First insert the knife between the leg and the body, and cut to the bone; then turn the leg back with the fork, and if the fowl is tender the joint will give away easily. The wing is broken oflf the same way, only dividing the joint with the knife, in the direction from 1 to 2. The four quarters having been removed in this way, take oflf the merry-thought and the neck-bones; these last are to bo removed by putting the knife in at figure 3 and 4, pressing it hard, when they will break off from the part that sticks to the breast. To separate the breast from the body of the fowl, cut through the tender ribs close to the breast, quite down to the tail. Now turn the fowl over, back upwards; put the knife into the bone midway between the neck and the rump, and on raising the lower end it will separate readily. Turn now the rump from you, and take off very neatly the two side-bones and the fowl is carved. In separating the thigh from the drum-stick, the knife must be inserted exactly at the joint, for if not accurately hit, some difficulty will be experienced to get them apart; this is easily acquired by practice. There is no difference in carving roast and boiled fowls if full grown; but in very young fowls, the breast is usually served whole; the wings and breast are considered the best part, but m young ones the legs are the most juicy. In the case of a capon or large fowl, slices may be cut off at the breast, the same as carving a pheasant.
ROAST DUCK— PARTRIDGES.
ROAST DUCK.
A young ducklii^ may be carved in the same manner as a fowl, the \&^ and "wings beiog taken off first on either side. When the duck is full size, carve it like a goose; first cutting it in slices from the hreast, beginning close to the wing and proceeding upward towards the breast bone, as is represented by the lines 1 to 2. An opening may be made, by cutting out a circular slice as shown by the dotted lines at number 3.
Some are fond of the feet, and when dressing the duck, these should be neatly skinned and never removed. Wild duck is highly esteemed by epicures; it is trussed like a tame duck, and carved in the same manner, the breast being the choicest part.
PARTRIDGES.
Partridges are generally cleaned and trussed the same way as a pheasant, but the custom of cooking them with the heads on is going into disuse somewhat. The usual way of carving them is similar to a pigeon, dividing it into two equal parts. Another method is to cut it into three pieces, by severing a wing and 1^ on either side from the body, by following the lines 1 to 2, thus making two servings of those parts, leaving the breast for a third plate. The third method is to thrust back the body from the legs, and cut through the middle of the breast, thus making four portions that may be served. Grouse and prairie- chicken are carved from the breast when they are laige, and quartered or halved when of medium size.
FHEA SANT— PIGEONS.
^9
PHEASANT.
Place yoxir fork firmly in the centre of the breast of this large game bird and cut deep slices to the bone at figures 1 and 2; then take off the leg in the line from 3 and 4 and the wing 3 and 5, severing both sides the same. In taking off the wings, be careful not to cut too near the neck; if you do you will hit upon the neck-bone, from which the wing must be separated. Pass the knife through the line 6, and under the merry- thought towards the neck, which will detach it. Cut the other parts as in a fowl. The breast, wings, and merry-thought of a pheasant, are the most highly prized, although the legs are considered very finely flavored. Pheasants are frequently roasted with the bead left on; in that case, when dressing them, bring the head round under the wing, and fix it on the point of a skewer.
PIGEONS
A very good way of carving these birds is to insert the knife at figure 1, and cut both ways to 2 and 3, when each portion may be divided into two pieces, then served. Pigeons, if not too large, may be cut in halves, either across or dovni the middle, cutting them into two equal parts; if young and small they may be served entirely whole.
Tame pigeons should be cooked as soon as possible after they are killed, as they very quickly lose their flavor. Wild pigeons, on the contrary, should hang a day or two in a cool place before they are dressed. Oranges cut into halves are used as a garnish for dishes of small birds, such as pigeons, quails, woodcock, squabs, snipe, etc. These small birds are either served whole or split down the back, making two servings.
MACKEREI^BOILED SALMON.
MACKEREL.
The mackerel is one of the most beautiful of fish, being known by their silvery whiteness. It sometimes attains to the length of twenty inches, but usually, when fully grown, is about fourteen or sixteen inches long, and about two pounds in weight. To carve a baked mackerel, first remove the head and tail by cutting downward at i and 2; then split them down the back, so as to serve each person a part of each side piece. The ix>e should be divided in small pieces and served with each piece of fish. Other whole fish may be carved in the same manner. The fish is laid upon a little sauce or folded napkin, on a hot dish, and garnished with parsley.
BOILED SALMON. This fish is seldom sent to the table whole, being too Lirge for any ordinary sized famfly; the middle cut is considered the choicest to boil. To carve it, first run the knife down and along the upper side of the fish from 1 to 2, then again on the lower side from 3 to 4. Serve the thick part-, cutting it lengthwise in slices in the direction of the line from 1 to 2, and the thin part breadthwise, or in the direction from 5 to 6. A sUce of the thick with one of the thin, where lies the fat, should be served to each guest. Care should be taken when carv- ing not to break the flakes of the fish, as that iinpalrs its appearance. The flesh of the salmon is rich and dehcious in flavor. Salmon is in season from the flrst of February to the end of August.
^ CN(g>itt/3)/o
Consomm6, or Stock, forms the basis of all meat soups, and also of all princi- pal sauces. It is, therefore, essential to the success of these culinary operations to know the most complete and economical method of extracting from a certain quantity of meat the best possible stock or broth. Fresh micooked beef makes the best stock, with the addition of cracked bones, as the glutinous matter con- tained in them renders it important that they should be boiled with the meat, which adds to the strength and thickness of the soup. They are composed of an earthy substance — to which they owe their soUdity — of gelatine, and a fatty fluid, something like marrow. Tivo ounces of them contain as much gelatine as one pound of meat; but in them, this is so encased in the earthy substance, that boiling water can dissolve only the surface of the whole bones, but by breaking them they can be dissolved more. When there is an abundance of it, it causes the stock, when cold, to become a jelly. The flesh of old animals contains more flavor than the flesh of young ones. Brown meats contain more flavor than white.
Mutton is too strong in flavor for good stock, while veal, although quite glutinous, f mnishes very Uttle nutriment.
Some cooks use meat that has once been cooked; this renders little nourish- ment and destroys the flavor. It might answer for ready soup, but for stock to keep it is not as good, unless it should be roasted meats. Those contain higher fragrant properties; so by putting the remains of roast meats in the stock-pot you obtain a better flavor.
The shin bone is generally used, but the neck or "sticking piece,'' as the butchers call it, contains more of the substance that you want to extract, makes a stronger and more nutritious soup, than any other part of the animal. Meats for soup should always be put on to cook in cold water, in a covered pot, and allowed to simmer slowly for several hours, in order that the essence of the meat may be drawn out thoroughly, and should be carefully skimmed to pre-
22 SOUJPS.
vent it from becoming turbid, never allowed to boil fast at any time, and if more water is needed, use boiling water from the tea-kettle; cold or lukewarm water spoils the flavor. Never salt it before the meat is tender (as that hardens and toughens the meat), especially if the meat is to be eaten. Take off every parti- cle of scum as it rises, and before the vegetables are put in. ,
Allow a little less than a quart of water to a pound of meat and bone, and a teaspoonful of salt. When done, strain through a colander. If for clear soups strain again through a hair sieve, or fold a dean towel in a colander set over an earthen bowl, or any dish large enough to hold the stock. As stated before, stock is not as good when made entirely from cooked meats, but in a family where it requires a large joint roasted every day, the bones and bits and under- done pieces of beef, or the bony structure of turkey or chicken that has been left from carving, bones of roasted poultry, these all assist in imparting a rich dark color to soup, and would be sufficient, if stewed as above, to furnish a family, without buying fresh meat for the purpose; still, with the addition of a little fresh meat it would be more nutritious. In cold weather you can gather them up for several days and put them to cook in cold water, and when done, strain, and put aside until needed.
Soup will be as good the second day as the first if heated to the boiling point. It should never be left in the pot, but should be turned into a dish or shallow pan, and set aside to get cold. Never cover it up, as that will cause it to turn sour very quickly.
Before heating a second time, remove all the fat from the top. If this be melted in, the flavor of the soup will certainly be spoiled.
Thickened soups require nearly double the seasoning used for thin soups or broth.
Coloring is used in some brown soups, the chief of which is brown burnt sugar, which is known as caramel by French cooks.
Pounded spinach leaves give a fine green color to soup. Parsley, or the green leaves of celery, put in soup will serve instead of spinach.
Pound a large handful of spinach in a mortar, then tie it in a cloth, and wring out all the juice; put this in the soup you wish to color green, five min- utes before taking it up.
Mock turtle, and sometimes veal and lamb soups, should be this color.
Ochras gives a green color to soup.
To color soup red, skin six red tomatoes, squeeze out the seeds and put them into the soup with the other vegetables— or take the juice only as directed for spinach.
SOUFS.
23
For white soups, which are of veal, lamb or chicken, none but white vegeta- bles are used; rice, pearl barley, vermicelli, or macaroni for thickening.
Grated carrot gives a fine amber color to soup; it must be put in as soon as the soup is free from scum.
Hotel and private-house stock is quite different.
Hotels use meat in such large quantities, that there is always more or less trimmings and bones of meat to add to fresh meats; that makes very strong stock, which they use in most all soups and gravies and other made dishes.
The meat from which soup has been made is good to serve cold thus: take out all the bones, season with pepper and salt, and catsup, if hked, then chop it small, tie it in a cloth, and lay it between two plates, with a weight on the upper one; slice it thin for luncheon or supper; or make sandwiches of it; or make a hash for breakfast; or make it into balls, with the addition of a Uttle wheat flour and an egg, and serve them fried in fat, or boil in the soup.
An agreeable flavor is sometimes imparted to soup by sticking some cloves into the meat used for making stock; a few slices of onions fried very brown in butter are nice; also floiu* browned by simply putting it into a saucepan over the fire and stirring it constantly until it is a dark brown.
Clear soups must be perfectly transparent and thickened soups about the consistence of cream. When soups and gravies are kept from day to day in hot weather, they should be warmed up every day, and put into fresh-scalded paus or tureens, and placed in a cool cellar. In temperate weather, every other day may be sufficient.
HERBS AND VEGETABLES USED IN SOUPS.
Of vegetables the principal ones are can-ots, tomatoes, asparagus, green peas, okra, macaroni, green com, beans, rice, vermicelli, Scotch barley, pearl barley, wheat flour, mushroom or mushroom catsup, parsnips, beet-root, turnips, leeks, garUc, shalots and onions; sliced onions fried with butter and flour until they are browned, then rubbed through a sieve, are excellent to heighten the color and flavor of brown sauces and soups. The herbs usually used in soups are parsley, common thyme, summer savory, knotted marjoram, and other seasonings such as bay-leaves, tarragon, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace, black and white pepper, red pepper, lemon-peel and juice, orange peel and juice. The latter imparts a finer flavor and the acid much milder. These materials, with wine, and the various catsups, combined in various proportions, are, with other ingredients, made into almost an endless variety of excellent soups and gravies*
24 SOUPS.
Soups that are inteiided for the principal part of a meal certamlj ought not to be flavored like sauces, which are only intended to give relish to some particular dish«
STOCK.
Six pounds of shin of beef, or six pounds of knuckle of veal; any bones, trim- mings of poultry, or fresh meat; one-quarter pound of lean bacon or ham, two ounces of butter, two large onions, each stuck with cloves; one turnip, three carrots, one head of celery, two ounces of salt, one-half teaspoonful of whole I)epper, one large blade of mace, one bunch of savory herbs except sage, four quarts and one-half pint of cold water.
Cut up the meat and bacon, or ham, into pieces of about three inches square; break the bones into small pieces, rub the butter on the bottom of the stewpan; put in one-half a pint of water, the broken bones, then meat and all other ingredients. Cover the stewpan, and place it on a sharp fire, occasionally stirring its contents. When the bottom of the pan becomes covered with a pale, jelly-like substance, add the four quarts of cold water, and simmer very gently for five or six hours. As we have said before, do not let it boil quickly. When nearly cooked, throw in a tablespoonful of salt to assist the scum to rise. Be- move every particle of scum whilst it is doing, and strain it through a fine hair sieve; when cool remove all grease. This stock will keep for many days in cold weather.
Stock is the basis of many of the soups afterwards mentioned, and this will be foimd quite strong enough for ordinary purposes. Keep it in small jars, in a cool place. It makes a good gravy for hash meats; one tablespoonful of it is sufficient to impart a fine flavor to a dish of macaroni and various other dishes. Good soups of various kinds are made from it at short notice; slice off a portion of the jelly, add water, and whatever vegetables and thickening preferred. It is best to partly cook the vegetables before adding to the stock, as much boiling injures the flavoring of the soup. Season and boil a few moments and serve hot.
WHITE STOCK.
White stock is used in the preparation of white soups, and is made by boil- ing six pounds of a knuckle of veal, cut up in small pieces, poultry trimmings, and four sUces of lean ham. Proceed according to directions given in " Stock, '^ above.
SOUPS. 25
TO CLARIFY STOCK.
Place the stock in a clean saucepan, set it over a brisk fire. When boiling, add the white of one egg to each quart of stock, proceeding as follows: beat the whites of the eggs up well in a little water; then add a little hot stock; beat to a froth, and pour gradually into the pot; then beat the whole hard and long; allow it to boil up once, and immediately remove and strain through a thin flan- nel cloth.
BEEF SOUP.
Select a small shin of beef of moderate size, crack the bone in small pieces, wash and place it in a kettle to boil, with five or six quarts of cold water. Let it boil about two hours, or until it begins to get tender, then season it with a. tablespoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of pepper; boil it one hour longer, then add to it one carrot, two turnips, two tablespoonfuls of rice or pearl barley, one head of celery aud a teaspoonful of summer savoiy powdered fine; the vegetables to be minced up in small pieces like dice. After these ingredients have boiled a quarter of an horn*, put in two potatoes cut up in small pieces; let it boil half an hour longer, take the meat from the soup, and if intended to be served with it, take out the bones and lay it closely and neatly on a dish, and garnish with sprigs of parsley.
Serve made mustard and catsup with it. It is very nice pressed and eaten cold with mustard and vinegar, or catsup. Four hours are required for making this soup. Should any remain over the first day, it may be heated, with the addition of a little boiling water, and served again. Some fancy a glass of brown sherry added just before being served. Serve very hot.
VEAL SOUP. (Excellent.)
Put a knuckle of veaJ into three quarts of cold water, with a small quantity of salt, and one small tablespoonful of imcooked rice. Boil slowly, hardly above simmering, four hours, when the liquor should be reduced to half the usual quantity; remove from the fire. Into the tureen put the yolk of one egg, and stir well into it a teacupful of cream, or, in hot weather, new milk; add a piece of butter the si/,e of a hickory nut; on this strain the soup, boiling hot, stirring all the time. ist at the last, beat it well for a minute.
•VIUTTON BROTH.
Six pounds iv; <; quarts water, five carrots, five tiunips, two
onions, four tablesj^w ais barley, a little salt. Soak mutton in water for an
26 SOUPS.
hour, cut off scrag, and put it in stewpan with three quarts of water. As soon as it boils, stdm well, and then simmer for one and one-half hours Cut best end of mutton into cutlets, dividing it with two bones in each; take off nearly all fat before you put it into broth; skim the moment the meat boils, and every ten minutes afterwards; add carrots, turnips and onions, all cut into two or three pieces, then put them into soup soon enough to be thoroughly done; stir in bar* ley; add salt to taste; let all stew together for three and one-half hours: about one-half hour before sending it to table, put in little chopped parsley and serve.
Cut the mes^t off the scrag into small pieces, and send it to table in the tureen with the soup. The other half of the mutton should be served on a separate dish, with whole turnips boiled and laid round it. Many persons are fond of mutton that has been boiled in soup.
You may thicken the soup with rice or barley that has first been soaked in cold water; or with green peas; or with young com, cut down from the cob; or with tomatoes scalded, peeled and cut into pieces.
GAME SOUP.
Two grouse or partridges, or, if you have neither, use a pair of rabbits; half a pound of lean ham; two medium-sized onions; one poimd of lean beef; fried bread; butter for frying; pepper, salt, and two stalks of white celery cut into inch lengths; three quarts of water.
Joint your game neatly; cut the ham and onicns into small pieces, and fry all in butter to a light brown. Put into a soup-pot with the beef, cut into strips, and a little pepper. Pour on the water; heat slowly, and stew gently two hours. Take out the pieces of bird, and cover in a bowl; cook the soup an hour longer; strain; cool; drop in the celery, and simmer ten minutes. Pour upon fried bread in the tureen.
Venison soup made the same, with the addition of a tablespoonful of brown flour wet into a paste with cold water, adding a tablespoonful of catsup, Worces- tershire, or other pungent sauce, and a glass of Madeira or brown sherry.
WHITE MUSHROOM SOUP.
A knuckle of veal and a scant quart of water to each poimd that it weighs,
and, if the flavor is not objected to, a slice of boiled or scalded ham. (Be sure,
if you use xmboiled ham, to remove rind and trim away the dark edges.) If the
knuckle weighs four poimds, use a medium-sized carrot, ttimip, onion, two
cloves, a bay leaf, two large sprigs of parsley (and two of thyme if you have it.)
SOUPS. 27
Put the four quarts of water to the veal, which should have been gashed well and the bone broken in several places before it is put into the pot. Let it come very slowly to the boiling point, and skim it carefully. When it boils put in the vegetables and, just as it again boils, skim again, and then set the pot back. Watch it for a time till you find out where it will just boil and no more. This point is indicated by a bubble rising in the centre of the pot and breaking every few seconds. This is what is meant by slow boiUng; and soup of any kind, made in this way, will have a finer flavor than if allowed to boil quickly and be quite clear. When this has boiled five hours strain it through muslin.
While this stock is being made put into a saucepan four tablespoonf uls of flour and four of butter. Stir them till they bubble. Let them cook together for a minute, stirring the while. Then pour into them quickly, and still stirring, two quarts of the hot veal stock. Let them boil together one minute. This is now like thick, smooth, white sauce. Stir into it two quarts of boiled new milk, and, if you have it, a pint of sweet thick cream. Stir these together, but do not boil them. Next day make the soup boiUng hot, skim it, and put into it a can of French mushrooms with the Uquor, and two teaspoonf uls of salt, and half
a teaspoonful of white pepper. Do not let it boil more than once or it may curdle.
This will make nine pints of soup. If more is required, increase milk, butter, and flour, etc. , in the proportion of one oimce of butter and one of flour to each quart of soup, and one quart of milk to each quart of stock.
CHICKEN CREAM SOUP.
An old chicken for soup is much the best. Cut it up into quarters, put it into a soup kettle with half a poimd of corned ham, and an onion; add four quarts of cold water. Bring slowly to a gentle boil, and keep this up until the liquid has diminished one-third, and the meat drops from the bones; then add half a cup of rice. Season with salt, pepper, and a bimch of chopped parsley.
Cook slowly until the rice is tender, then the meat should be taken out. Now, stir in two cups of rich milk thickened with a Uttle flour. The chicken could be fried in a spoonful of butter and a gravy made, reserving some of the white part of the meat, chopping it and adding it to the soup.
PLAIN ECONOMICAL SOUP.
Take a cold-roast-beef bone, pieces of beef -steak, the rack of a cold turkey or chicken. Put them into a pot with three or four quarts of water, two carrots, three turnips, one onion, a few cloves, pepper and salt. Boil the whole gently
28 SOUFS.
four hours; then strain it through a colander^ mashing the vegetables so that they will all pass through. Skim oflf the fat, and return the soup to the pot. Mix one tablespoonful of flour with two of water, stir it into the soup and boil the whole ten ininutes. Serve this soup with sippets of toast.
Sippets are bits of dry toast cut into a triangular form.
A seasonable dish about the holidays.
OX-TAIL SOUP.
Two ox-tails, two shoes of ham, one ounce of butter, two carrots, two turnips^ three onions, one leek, one head of celery, one bunch of savory herbs, pepper, a tablespoonful of salt, two tablespoonfuls of catsup, one-half glass of port wine, three quarts of water.
Cut up the tails, separating them at the joints; wash them, and put them in a stewpan with the butter. Cut the vegetables in shoes and add them with the herbs. Put in one-half pint of water, and stir it over a quick fire till the juices are drawn. Fill up the stewpan with water, and when boiling, add the salt. Skim well, and simmer very gently for four hours, or until the tails are tender. Take them out, skim and strain the soup, thicken with flour, and flavor with the catsup and port wine. Put back the tails, simmer for five minutes and serve.
Another way to make an appetizing ox- tail soup. You should begin to make it the day before you wish to eat the soup. Take two tails, wash clean, and put in a kettle with nearly a gallon of cold water; add a small handful of salt; when the meat is well cooked, take out the bones. Let this stand in a cool room, covered, and next day, about an hour and a half before dinner, skim off the crust or cake of fat which has risen to the top. Add a Uttle onion, carrot, or any vegetables you choose, chopping them fine first; sxunmer savory may also be added.
CORN SOUP.
Cut the com from the cob, aad boil the cobs in water for at least an hour, then add the grains, and boil until they are thoroughly done; put one dozen ears of com to a gallon of water, which will be reduced to three quarts by the time the soup is done; then pour on a pint of new milk, two well-beaten eggs, salt and pepper to your taste; continue the boiling a while longer, and stir in, to season and thicken it a little, a tablespoonful of good butter rubbed up with two tablespoonfuls of flour. Com soup may also be made nicely with water in which a pair of grown fowls have been boiled or parboiled, instead of having plain water for the foundation.
SOUPS. 29
SPLIT PEA SOUP. No. i.
Wash well a pint of split peas and cover them well with cold water, adding a third of a teaspoonful of soda; let them remain in it over night to swell. In the morning put them in a kettle with a close fitting cover. Pour over them three quarts of cold water, adding half a pound of lean ham or bacon cut into slices or pieces; also a teaspoonful of salt and a little pepper, and some celery chopped fine. When the soup begins to boil, skim the froth from the siuf ace. Cook slowly from three to four hours, stirring occasionally till the peas are all dissolved, adding a little more boiling water to keep up the quantity as it boils away. Strain through a colander, and leave out the meat. It should be quite thick. Serve with small squares of toasted bread, cut up and added. If not rich enough, add a small piece of butter.
SPLIT PEA SOUP. No. 2.
One pint of split peas, previously soaked in cold water over night; wash in cold water and drain; add two-thirds of a medium-sized carrot sliced; one onion quartered, with a clove stuck into each piece; two ounces of fat salt pork cut into dice. Make a bouquet of the following herbs: one sprig of parsley, thyme, celery and one bay leaf tied together; if not obtainable use one half teaspoonful of celery salt. Put on altogether over a brisk fire with three quarts of cold water. When it boils up, set back and allow to cook slowly about three hours or until done. Season with salt and pepper, strain and serve.
— Frmn Astor House Recipe,
GREEN PEA SOUP.
Wash a small quarter of lamb in cold water, and put it into a soup-pot with six quarts of cold water; add to it two tablespoonfuls of salt, and set it over a moderate fire — let it boil gently for two hours, then skim it clear; add a quart of shelled peas, and a teaspoonful of pepper; cover it, and let it boil for half an hour; then having scraped the skins from a quart of small young potatoes, add them to the soup; cover the pot and let it boil for half an hour longer; work quarter of a pound of butter and a dessert spoonful of flour together, and add them to the soup ten or twelve minutes before taking it off the fire.
Serve the meat on a dish with parsley sauce over, and the soup in a tureen.
DRIED BEAN SOUP.
Put two quarts of dried white beans to soak the night before you make the soup, which should be put on as early in the day as possible.
30 SOUPS.
Take two pounds of the lean of fresh beef— the coarse pieces will do. Out them up, and put them into your soup-pot with the bones belonging to them, (which should be broken in pieces,) and a pound of lean bacon, cut very smalL If you have the remains of a piece of beef that has been roasted the day before, and so much under-done that the juices remain in it, you may put it into the pot and its bones along with it. Season the meat with pepper only, and pour on it six quarts of water. As soon as it boils, take off -the scum, and put in the beans (having first drained them) and a head of celery cut small, or a table- spoonful of pounded celery seed. Boil it slowly till the meat is done to shreds, and the beans all dissolved. Then strain it through a colander into the tureen, and put into it small squares of toasted bread with the crust cut off.
TURTLE SOUP FROM BEANS.
Soak over night one quart of black beans; next day boil them in the proper quantity of water, say a gallon, then dip the beans out of the pot and strain them through a colander. Then return the flour of the beans, thus pressed, into the pot in which they were boiled. Tie up in a thin cloth some thyme, a tea- spoonful of summer savory and parsley, and let it boil in the mixture. Add a tablespoonf ul of cold butter, salt and pepper. Have ready four hard-boiled yolks of eggs quartered, and a few force meat balls; add this to the soup with a shced lemon, and half a glass of wine just before serving the soup.
This approaches so near in flavor to the real turtle soup that few are able to distinguish the difference.
PHILADELPHIA PEPPER POT.
Put two pounds of tripe and four calves' feet into the soup-pot and cover them with cold water; add a red pepper, and boil closely until the calves' feet are boiled very tender; take out the meat, skim the liquid, stir it, cut the tripe into small pieces, and put it back into the liquid; if there is not euough hquid, add boiling water; add half a teaspoonful of sweet marjoram, sweet basil, and thyme, two sliced onions, shced potatoes, salt. When the vegetables have boiled until almost tender, add a piece of butter rolled in flour, drop in some egg balls, and boU fifteen minutes more. Take up and serve hot.
SQUIRREL SOUP.
Wash and quarter three or four good sized squirrels; put them on, with a small tablespoonf ul of salt, directly after breakfast, in a gallon of cold water.
sours. 3 1
Cover the pot close, and set it on the back part of the stove to simmer gently, not boil. Add vegetables just the same as you do in case of other meat soups in the summer season, but especially good will you find com, Irish potatoes, tomatoes and Lima beans. Strain the soup through a coarse colander when the meat has boiled to shreds, so as to get rid of the squirrel's troublesome Uttle bones. Then return to the pot, and after boiUng a while longer, thicken with a piece of butter rubbed in flour. Celery and parsley leaves chopped up are also considered an improvement by many. Toast two slices of bread, cut them into dice one half inch square, fry them in butter, put them into the bottom of yoin: tm:een, and then pour the soup boiling hot upon them. Very good.
TOMATO SOUP. No. i.
Place in a kettle four pounds of beef. Pom* over it one gallon of cold water. Let the meat and water boil slowly for three hours, or until the liquid is reduced to about one-half. Remove the meat and put into the broth a quart of tomatoes, and one chopped onion; salt and pepper to taste. A teaspoonful of flour should be dissolved and stirred in, then allowed to boil half an horn: longer. Strain and serve hot. Canned tomatoes, in place of fresh ones, may be used.
TOMATO SOUP. No. 2.
Place over the fire a quart of peeled tomatoes, stew them soft with a pinch of soda. Strain it so that no seeds remain, set it over the fire again, and add a quart of hot boiled milk; season with salt and pepper, a piece of butter the size of an egg, add three tablespoonfuls of rolled cracker, and serve hot. Canned tomatoes may be used in place of fresh ones.
TOMATO SOUP. No. 3.
Peel two quarts of tomatoes, boil them in a sauce-pan with an onion, and other soup vegetables; strain and add a level tablespoonful of flour dissolved in a third of a cup of melted butter; add pepper and salt. Serve very hot over little squares of bread fried brown and crisp in butter.
An excellent addition to a cold meat lunch.
MULLAGATAWNY SOUP. (As made in India.)
Cut four onions, one carrot, two turnips, and one head of celery into three quarts of liquor, in which one or two fowls have been boiled; keep it over a brisk
32 SOUPS.
fire, till it boils, then place it on a comer of the fire, and let it simmer twenty min- utes; add one tablespoonful of currie powder, and one tablespoonful of floxir; mi-r the whole well together, and let it boil three minutes; pass it through a colander; serve with pieces of roast chicken in it; add boiled rice in a separate dish. It must be of good yellow color, and not too thick. If you find it too thick, add a little boiling water and a teaspoonful of sugar. Half veal and half chicken an- swers as well.
A dish of rice, to be served separately with this soup, must be thus prepared: put three pints of water in a sauce-pan and one tablespoonful of salt; let this boil. Wash well, in three waters, half a poimd of rice; strain it, and put it into the boiling water in sauce-pan. After it has come to the boil — which it will do in about two minutes— let it boil twenty minutes; strain it through a colander, and pour over it two quarts of cold water. This will separate the grains of rice. Put it back in the sauce-pan, and place it near the fire until hot enough to send to the table. This is also the proper way to' boil rice for curries. If these direc- tions are strictly carried out every grain of the rice will separate, and be thor- oughly cooked.
MOCK TURTLE SOUP, OF CALF'S HEAD.
Scald a weU-cleansed calf's head, remove the brain, tie it up in a cloth, and boil an hour, or until the meat wiU easily slip from the bone; take out, save the broth; cut it in small, square pieces, and throw them into cold water; when cool, put it in a stewpan, and cover with sr me of the broth; let it boil until quite tender, and set aside.
In another stewpan melt some butter, and in it put a quarter of a pound of lean ham, cut small, with fine herbs to taste; also parsley and one onion; add about a pint of the broth; let it simmer for two hours, and then dredge in a small quantity of flour; now add the remainder of the broth, and a quarter bot- tle of Madeira or sherry; let all stew quietly for ten minutes and rub it through a mediiun sieve; add the calf's head, season with a very httle cayenne pepper, a little salt, the juice of one lemon, and if desired, a quarter teaspoonful pounded mace and a dessert-spoon sugar.
Having previously prepared force-meat balls, add them to the soup, and five minutes after serve hot.
GREEN TURTLE SOUP.
One turtle, two onions, a bunch of sweet herbs, juice of one lemon, five quarts of water, a glass of Madeira.
SOUPS.
33
After removing the entrails, cut up the coarser parts of the turtle meat and bones. Add four quarts of water, and stew four hours with the herbs, onions, pepper and salt. Stew very slowly, do not let it cease boiling during this time. At the end of four hours strain the soup, and add the flbaer parts of the turtle and the green fat, which has been simmered one hour in two quarts of water. Thicken with brown flour; return to the soup-pot, and simmer gently for an hour longer. If there are eggs in the turtle, boil them in a separate vessel for four hours, and throw into the soup before taking up. K not, put in force-meat balls; then the juice of the lemon, and the wine; beat up at once and pour out.
Some cooks add the finer meat before straining, boiling all together five hours; then strain, thicken, and put in the green fat, cut mto lumps an inch long. This makes a handsomer soup than if the meat is left in.
Green turtle can now be purchased preserved in air-tight cans.
Force Meat Balls for the Above, — Six tablespoonfuls of turtle-meat chopped very fine. Eub to a paste, with the yolk of two hard-boiled eggs, a tablespoon- f ul of butter, and, if convenient a little oyster Uquor. Season with cayenne, mace, and half a teaspoonful of white sugar and a pinch of salt. Bind all with a well-beaten egg; shape into small balls; dip in egg, then powdered cracker; fry in butter, and drop into the soup when it is served.
MACARONI SOUP.
To a rich beef or other soup, in which there is no seasoning other than pep- per or salt, take half a pound of small pipe macaroni, boil it in clear water until it is tender, then drain it and cut it in pieces of an inch length; boil it for fifteen minutes in the soup and serve.
TURKEY SOUP.
Take the turkey bones and boil three-quarters of an horn: in water enough to cover them; add a Uttle siunmer savory and celery chopped fine. Just before serving, thicken with a httle flour (browned), and season with pepper, salt, and a smaU piece of butter. This is a cheap but good soup, using the remains of cold turkey which might otherwise be thrown away.
GUMBO OR OKRA SOUP.
Fry out the fat of a slice of bacon or fat ham, drain it off, and in it fry the
shoes of a large onion brown; scald, peel, and cut up two quarts fresh tomatoes,
when in season, (use canned tomatoes otherwise), and cut thin one quart okra;
3
r:f Jr.' â– ;
34 SOUPS WITHOUT MEAT.
pat ihem, together with a Uttle chopped parsley, in a stew-kettle with about three quarts of hot broth of any kind; cook slowly for three hours, season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.
In chicken broth the same quantity of okra pods, used for thickening instead of tomatoes, forms a chicken gumbo soup.
TAPIOCA CREAM SOUP.
One quart of white stock; one pint of cream or milk; one onion; two stalks celery; one-third of a cupful of tapioca; two cupfuls of cold water; one table- spoonful of butter; a small piece of mace; salt, pepper. Wash the tapioca and soak over night in cold water. Cook, it and the stock together very gently for one hour. Cut the onion and celery into small pieces, and put on to cook for twenty minutes with the milk and mace. Strain on the tapioca and stock. Season with salt and i)epper, add butter, and serve.
Soups Mitbout ^eat
ONION SOUP-
One quart of milk, six large onions, yolks of four eggs, three tablespoonfuls of butter, a large one of flour, one cupful of cream, salt, pepper. Put the but- ter in a frying pan. Cut the onions into thin slices and drop in the butter. Stir until they begin to cook; then cover tight and set back where they will sinmier, but not bum, for half an hour. Now put the milk on to boil, and then add the dry flour to the onions and stir constantly for three minutes over the fire; then turn the mixture into the milk and cook fifteen minutes. Bub the soup through a strainer, return to the fire, season with salt and pepper. Beat the yolks of the eggs well, add the cream to them and stir into the soup. Cook three minutes, stirring constantly. If you have no cream, use milk, in which case add a table- spoonful of butter at the same time. Pour over fried croutons in a soup tureen.
This is a refreshiug dish when one is fatigued.
WINTER VEGETABLE SOUP.
Scrape and sUce three turnips and. three carrots, and peel three onions, and fry all with a little butter until a light yellow; add a bunch of celery and three or four leeks cut in pieces; stir and fry all the ingredients for six minutes^
SOUFS WITHOUT MEAT. 35
when fried, add one clove of garlic, two stalks of parsley, two cloves, salt, pep- per and a little grated nutmeg; cover with three quarts of water and simmer for three hours, taking oflE the scum carefully. Strain and use. Croutons, vermicelli, Italian pastes, or rice may be added.
VERMICELLI SOUP.
Swell quarter of a pound of vermicelli in a quart of warm water, then add it to a good beef, veal, lamb, or chicken soup or broth, with quarter of a pound of sweet butter; let the soup boil for fifteen minutes after it is added.
SWISS WHITE SOUP.
A sufficient quantity of broth for six people; boil it; beat up three eggs well, two spoonfuls of flour, one cup milk; pour these gradually through a sieve into the boiling; soup salt and pepper.
SPRING VEGETABLE SOUP.
Half pint green peas, two shredded lettuces, one onion, a small bunch of parsley, two ounces butter, the yolks of three eggs, one pint of water, one and a half quarts of soup stock. Put in a stewpan the lettuce, onion, parsley and but- ter, with one pint of water, and let them simmer till tender. Season with salt and pepper. When done strain off the vegetables, and put two-thiids of the Uquor with the stock. Beat up the yolks of the eggs with the other third, toss it over the fire, and at the moment of serving add this with the vegetables to the strained-off soup.
CELERY SOUP.
Celery soup may be made with white stock. Cut down the white of half a dozen heads of celery into little pieces and boil it in four pints of white stock, with a quarter of a pound of lean ham and two ounces of butter. Simmer gently for a full hour, then strain through a sieve, return the liquor to the pan, and stir in a few spoonfuls of cream with great care. Serve with toasted bread and, if hked, thicken with a little flour. Season to taste.
IRISH POTATO SOUP.
Peel and boil eight medium-sized potatoes with a large onion, sliced, some herbs, salt and pepper; press all through a colander; then thin it with rich milk and add a lump of butter, more seasoning, if necessary; let it heat well and serve hot.
36 SOUPS WITHOUT MEAT.
PEA SOUP.
Put a quart of dried peas into five quarts of water; boil for four hours; then add three or four large onions, two heads of celery, a carrot, two turnips, all cut up rather fine. Season with pepper and salt. Boil two hours longer, and if the soup becomes too thick add more water. Strain through a colander and stir in a tablespoonful of cold butter. Serve hot, with small pieces of toasted bread placed in the bottom of the tureen.
NOODLES FOR SOUP.
Beat up one egg light, add a pinch of salt, and flour enough to make a very stiff dough; roll out very thin, like thin pie crust, dredge with flour to keep from sticking. Let it remain on the bread board to dry for an hour or more; then roll it up intiO a tight scroll, like a sheet of music. Begin at the end and slice it into sUps as thin as straws. After all are cut, mix them lightly together, and to prevent them sticking, keep them floured a little until you are ready to drop them into your soup, which should be done shortly before dinner, for if boiled too long they will go to pieces.
FORCE MEAT BALLS FOR SOUP.
One cupful of cooked veal or fowl meat, minced; mix with this a handful of fine bread-crumbs, the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs rubbed smooth together with a tablespoon of milk; season with pepper and salt; add a half teaspoon of flour, and bind all together with two beaten eggs; the hands to be well floured, and the mixture to be made into Uttle balls the size of a nutmeg, drop into the soup about twenty minutes before serving.
EGG BALLS FOR SOUP.
Take the yolks of six hard-boiled eggs and half a tablespoonful of wheat flour, rub them smooth with the yolks of two raw eggs and a teaspoonful of salt; mix all well together; make it in balls, and drop them into the boiling soup a few minutes before taking it up.
Used in green turtle soup.
EGG DUMPLINGS FOR SOUP.
To half a pint of milk put two well-beaten eggs, and as much wheat flour as will make a smooth, rather thick batter free from lumps; drop this batter, a tablespoonful at a time, into boiling soup.
SOUPS WITHOUT MEAT. 37
Another mode. — One cupful of sour cream and one cupful of sour milk, three «ggs, well beaten, whites and yolks separately; one teaspoonful of salt, one level i;easpoonful of soda, dissolved in a spoonful of water, and enough flour added to make a very stiff batter. To be dropped by spoonf ids into the broth and boiled twenty minutes, or imtil no raw dough shows on the outside.
SUET DUMPLINGS FOR SOUP.
Three cups Of sifted flour in which three teaspoonf uls of baking powder have been sifted; one cup of finely chopped suet, well rubbed into the flour, with a teaspoonful of salt. Wet all with sweet milk to make a dough as stiflf as bis- cuit. Make into small balls as large as peaches, well floured. Drop into the soup three-quarters of an hour before being served. This requires steady boil- ing, being closely covered, and the cover not t'> be removed until taken up to serve. A very good form of pot-pie.
SOYER'S RECIPE FOR FORCE MEATS.
Take IJ lbs. of lean veal from the fiUet, and cut it in long thin shc^s; scrape with a knife till nothing but the fibre remains; put it in a mortar, pound it 10 minutes, or imtil in a pur6e; pass it through a wire sieve (use the remainder in stock); then take 1 lb. of good fresh beef suet, which skin, shred, and chop Tery fine; put it in a mortar and pound it; then add 6 oz. of panada (that is, bread soaked in milk, and boiled till nearly dry) with the suet; pound them well together, and add the veal; season with 1 teaspoonful of salt, i teaspoonful of pepper, i that of nutmeg; work all well together; then add 4 eggs by degrees, continually poimding the contents of the mortar. When weU mixed, take a small piece in a spoon, and poach it in some boiling water; and if it is delicate, j&rm, and of a good flavor, it is ready for use.
CROUTONS FOR SOUP.
In a frying pan have the depth of an inch of boiling fat; also have prepared shces of stale bread, cut up into Uttle half -inch squares; drop into the frying pan enough of these bits of bread to cover the surface of the fat. When browned, remove with a skimmer and drain; add to the hot soup and serve.
Some prefer them prepared in this manner:
Take very thin sUces of bread, butter them well; cut them up into Uttle squares three fomljhs of an inch thick, place them in a baking pan, buttered side up, and brown in a quick oven.
38 SOUPS WITHOUT MEAT.
FISH STOCK.
Place a saucepan over the fire with a good sized piece of sweet butter, and a sliced onion; put into that some sliced tomatoes, then add as many different kinds of small fish as you can get — oysters, clams, smelts, pawns, crabs, shrimps, and all kinds of pan-fish; cook all together, until the onions are well browned; then add a bimch of sweet herbs, salt and pepper, and sufiicient water to make the required amount of stock. After this has cooked for half an hour pound it with a wooden pestle, then strain and cook again until it jellies.
FISH SOUP.
Select a large, fine fish, clean it thoroughly, put it over the fire with a suffi- cient quantity of water, allowing for each pound of fish one quart of water; add an onion cut fine, and a bunch of sweet herbs, ^^en the fish is cooked, and is quite tasteless, strain all through a colander, retiun to the fire, add some butter, salt and pepper to taste. A small tablespoonful of Worcestei'shire sauce may be added if liked. Served with small squares of fried bread and thin slices of lemon.
LOBSTER SOUP, OR BISQUE.
Have ready a good broth made of three pounds of veal boiled slowly in as much wat^r as will cover it, till the meat is reduced to shreds. It must then be well strained.
Having boiled one fine middle-sized lobster, extract all the meat from the body and claws. Bruise part of the coral in a mortar, and also an equal quan- tity of the meat. Mix them well together. Add mace, cayenne, salt and pepper, and make them up into force-meat balls, binding the mixtvire with the yolk of an egg slightly beaten.
Take three quarts of the veal broth, and put into it the meat of the lobster cut into mouthfuls. Boil it together about twenty minutes. Then thicken it with the remaining coral (which you must first rub through a sieve), and add the force meat baUs and a little butter rolled in flour. Simmer it gently for ten minutes but do not let it come to a boil, as that will injure the color. Serve with small dice of bread fried brown in butter.
OYSTER SOUR No. i.
Two quarts of oysters, one quart of milk, two tablespoonfuls of butter, one teacupful of hot water; pepper, salt.
SOUPS WITHOUT MEAT. 39
Strain all the liquor from the oysters; add the water, and heat. When near the boil, add the seasoning, then the oysters. Cook about five minutes from the time they begin to simmer, until they ** ruffle." Stir in the butter, cook one minute, and pour into the tureen. Stir in the boiling milk, and send to table. Some prefer all water in place of milk.
OYSTER SOUP. No. 2.
Scald one gallon of oysters in their own liquor. Add one quart of rich milk to the liquor, and when it comes to a boil, skim out the oysters and set aside. Add the yolks of four eggs, two good tablespoonfuls of butter, and one of flour, all mixed well together, but in this order — first, the milk, then, after beating the eggs, add a little of the hot Uquor to them gi-adually, and stir them rapidly into the soup. Lastly, add the butter and whatever seasoning you fancy besides plain pepper and salt, which must both be put in to taste with caution. Celery salt most persons like extremely; others would prefer a little marjoram and thyme; others, again, mace and a bit of onion. Use your own discretion in this regard.
CLAM SOUP. (French Style.)
Mince two dozen hard-shell clams very fine. Fry half a minced onion in an ounce of butter; add to it a pint of hot water, a pinch of mace, four cloves, one allspice and six whole pepper corns. Boil fifteen minutes and strain into a sauce-pan; add the chopped clams and a pint of clam- juice or hot water; simmer slowly two hours; strain and rub the pulp through a sieve into the liquid. Eetum it to the sauce-pan and keep it lukewarm. Boil three half pints of milk in a sauce-pan (previously wet with cold water, which prevents burning) and whisk it into the soup. Dissolve a teaspoonf ul of flour in cold milk, add it to the soup, taste for seasoning; heat it gently to near the boiling point; pour it into a tureen previously heated with hot water, and serve with or without pieces of fried bread — called croutons in kitchen French.
CLAM SOUP.
Twenty -five clams chopped fine. Put over the fire the liquor that was drained from them, and a cup of water; add the chopped clams, and boil half an hour; then season to taste with pepper and salt and a piece of butter as large as an egg; boil up again and add one quart of milk boiling hot, stir in a table- spoon of flour made to a cream with a little cold milk, or two crackers rolled fine. Some like a little mace and lemon juice in the seasoning.
The usual custom among professional cooks is to entirely immerse the article to be cooked in boiling fat, but from inconvenience most households use the half -frying method of frying in a small amoimt of fat in a frying-pan. For the first method a shallow iron f rying-kettle, large at the top and small at the bottom, is best to use. The fat should half fill the kettle, or an amoimt sufficient to float whatever is to be fried; the heat of the fat should get to such a degree that, when a piece of bread or a teaspoonful of the batter is dropped in it, it wiU become brown almost instantly, but should not be so hot as to bum the fat. Some cooks say that the fat should be smoking, but my experience is, that is a mistake, as that soon ruins the fat. As soon as it begins to smoke it should be removed a little to one side, and still be kept at the boiling point. K fritters, crullers, croquettes, etc., are dropped into fat that is too hot, it crusts over the outside before the inside has fully risen, making a heavy hard article, and also ruining the fat, giving it a burnt flavor.
Many French cooks prefer beef fat or suet to lard for frying purposes, con- sidering it more wholesome and digestible, does not impart as much flavor, or adhere or soak into the article cooked as pork fat.
In families of any size, where there is much cooking required, there axe enough drippings and fat remnants from roasts of beef, skimmings from the soup-kettle, with the addition of occasionally a pound of suet from the market, to amply supply the need. All such remnants and skimmings should be clarified about twice a week, by boiling them all together in water. When the fat is all melted, it should be strained with the water and set aside to cool. After the fat on the top has hardened, lift the cake from the water on which it lies, scrape oflf all the dark particles from the bottom, then melt over again the fat; while hot strain into a small clean stone jar or bright tin pail, and then it is ready for use. Always after frying anything, the fat should stand until it settles and has cooled somewhat; then turn off carefully so as to leave it dear from the sediment that settles at the bottom.
FISH. 41
Refined cotton-seed oil is now being adopted by most professional cooks in hotels, restaurants, and many private households for culinary purposes, and will doubtless in future supersede animal fats, especially for frying, it being quite as delicate a medium as frying with oUve oil. It is now sold by leading grocers, put up in packages of two and four quarts.
The second mode of frying, using a frying-pan with a small quantity of fat- or grease, to be done properly, should in the first place have the frying-pan hot over the fire, and the fat in it actually boiling before the article to be cooked is placed in it, the intense heat quickly searing up the pores of the article and forming a brown crust on the lower side, then turning over and browning the other the same way.
Still, there is another mode of frying; the process is somewhat similar to broihng, the hot frying-pan or spider replacing the hot fire. To do this cor- rectly, a thick bottom frying-pan should be used. Place it over the fire, and when it is so hot that it wiU siss, oil over the bottom of the pan with a piece of suet, that is if the meat is all lean; if not, it is not necessary to grease the bottom of the pan. Lay in the meat quite flat, and brown it quickly, first on one side then on the other; when sufficiently cooked, dish on a hot platter and season the same as broiled meats.
jfisb.
In selecting fish, choose those only in which the eye is fuU and prominent, the flesh thick and firm, the scales bright and fins stiff. They should be thor- oughly cleaned before cooking.
The usual modes of cooking fish are boiled, baked, broiled, fried and occa- sionally stewed. Steaming fish is much superior to boiling, but the ordinary conveniences in private houses do not admit of the possibility of enjoying this deUcate way of cooking it. Large fish are generally boiled, medium-sized ones baked or boiled, the smaller kinds fried or broiled. Very large fish, such as cod, halibut, etc., are cut in steaks or slices for frying or broiling. The heads of some fish, as the cod, halibut, etc., are considered tidbits by many. Small fish, or pan fish, as they are usually called, are served without the heads, with the exception of brook-trouts and smelts; these are usually cooked whole, with the head on. Bake fish slowly, basting often with butter and water. Salmon is considered the most nutritious of all fish. When boiUng fish, by adding a little vinegar and salt to the water, it seasons and prevents the nutriment from being drawn out; the vinegar acting on the water hardens the water.
42 FISH.
Fill the fish with a nicely prepared stuffing of rolled cracker or stale bread crumbs, seasoned with butter, pepper, salt, sage, and any other aromatic herbs fancied; sew up; wrap in a well-floured cloth, tied closely with twine, and boil or steam. The garnishes for boiled fish are: For turbot, fried smelts; for other boiled fish, parsley, sUced beets, lemon or shced boiled egg. Do not use the knives, spoons^ etc., that are used in cooking fish, for other food, or they will be apt to impart a fishy fiavor.
Fish to be boiled should be put into cold water arid set on the fire to cook very gently, or the outside will break before the inner part is done. Unless the fish are small, they should never be put into warm water; nor should water, either hot or cold, be poured on to the fish, as it is liable to break the skin: if it should be necessary to add a little water while the fish is cooking, it ought to be poured in gently at the side of the vessel.
Fish to be broiled should he, after they are dressed, for two or three homig, VTith their inside well sprinkled with salt and pepper.
Salt fish should be soaked in water before boiling, according to the time it has been in salt. When it is hard and dry, it will require thirty-six hoxu?s soak- ing before it is dressed, and the water must be changed three or four times. When fish is not very salt, twenty-four hours, or even one night, will suffice.
When frying fish the fire must be hot enough to bring the fat to such a degree of heat as to sear the surface and make it impervious to the fat, and at the same time seal up the rich juices. As soon as the fish is browned by this sudden application of heat, the pan may be moved to a cooler place on the stove, that the process may be finished more slowly.
Fat in which fish has been fried is just as good to use again for the same purpose, but it should be kept by itself and not be put to any other use.
TO FRY FISH.
Most of the smaller fish (generally termed pan-fish) are usually fried. Clean well, cut off the head, and, if quite large, cut out the backbone, and shoe the body crosswise into five or six pieces; season with salt and pepper. Dip in Indian meal or wheat flour, or in beaten egg, and roll in bread or fine cracker crumbs — trout and perch should not be dipped in meal; put into a thick bot- tomed iron frying-pan, the flesh side down, with hot lard or drippings; fry slowly, turning when lightly browned. The following method may be deemed preferable: Dredge the pieces with flour; brush them over with beaten egg; roll in bread crumbs, and fry in hot lard or drippings sufficient to cover, the same
FISH. 43
as frying crullers If the fat is very hot, the fish will fry without absorbing it, and it will be palatably cooked. When browned on one side, turn it over in the fat and brown the other, draining when done. This is a particularly good way to fry slices of large fish. Serve with tomato sauce; garnish with shces of lemon.
PAN FISH.
Place them in a thick bottom frying-pan with heads all one way. Fill the spaces with smaller fish. When they are fried quite brown and ready to turn, put a dinner plate over them, drain off the fat; then invert the pan, and they will be left unbroken on the plate. Put the lard back into the pan, and when Tiot sUp back the fish. When the other side is brown, drain, turn on a plate as before, and sUp them on a warm platter, to be sent to the table. Leaving the heads on and the fish a crispy-browTi, in perfect shape, improves the appearance if not the flavor. Garnish with slices of lemon.
— Hotel Lafayettey Philadelphia,
BAKED PICKEREL.
Carefully clean and wipe the fish, and lay in a dripping-pan with enough hot water to prevent scorching. A perforated sheet of tin, fitting loosely, or several muffin rings may be used to keep it off the bottom. Lay it in a circle on its belly, head and tail touching, and tied, or as directed in note on fish; bake slowly, basting often vrith butter and water. When done, have ready a cup of sweet cream or rich milk to which a few spoons of hot water has been added; stir in two large spoons of melted butter and a little chopped parsley; heat all by setting the cup in boiling water; add the gravy from the dripping-pan, and let it boil up once; place the fish in a hot dish, and pour over it the sauce. Or an egg sauce may be made with drawn butter; stir in the yolk of an egg quickly, and then a teaspoon of chopped parsley. It can be stuffed or not, just as you please.
BOILED SALMON.
The middle slice of salmon is the best. Sew up neatly in a mosquito-net bag, and boil a quarter of an hour to the pound in hot salted water. When done, tinwrap with care, and lay upon a hot dish, taking care not to break it. Have ready a large cupful of drawn butter, very rich, in which has been stirred a tablespoonful of minced parsley and the juice of a lemon. Pour half upon the salmon, and serve the rest in a boat. Garnish with parsley and sliced eggs.
44 FISH.
BROILED SALMON.
Cut dices from an inch to an inch and a half thick, dry them in a cloth, season: with salt and pepper, dredge them in sifted flour, and broil on a gridiron rubbed with suet.
Another wode.— Cut the slices one inch thick, and season them with pepper and salt; butter a sheet of white paper, lay each slice on a separate piece, envelope them in it with their ends twisted; broil gently over a clear fire, and serve with anchovy or caper sauce. When higher seasoning is required, add a few chopped herbs and a little spice.
FRESH SALMON FRIED.
Cut the slices three-quarters of an inch thick, dredge them with flour, or dip . them in egg and crumbs,— fry a light brown. This mode answers for all fish, cut into steaks. Season well with salt and pepper.
SALMON AND CAPER SAUCE.
Two slices of salmon, one-quarter pound butter, one-half teaspoonful of chopped parsley, one shalot; salt and pepper to taste.
Lay the salmon in a baking-dish, place pieces of butter over it and add the other ingredients, rubbing a little of the seasoning into the fish; place it . in the oven and baste it frequently; when done, take it out and diuin for a minute or two; lay it in a dish, pour caper sauce over it, and serve. Salmon dressed in this way, with tomato sauce, is very delicious.
BROILED SALT SALMON OR OTHER SALT FISH.
Soak salmon in tepid or cold water twenty-four hours, changing water sev- eral times, or let stand imder faucet of running water. If in a hurry or desiring a vefy salt relish, it may do to soak a short time, having water warm, and changing, parboiling slightly. At the hour wanted, broil sharply. Season to . suit taste« covering with butter. . This recipe will answer for all kinds of salt fish.
PICKLED SALMON.
Take a fine, fresh salmon, and having cleaned it, cut it into large pieces, and boil it in salted water as if for eating. Then drain it, vsrrap it in a dry cloth, and set it in a cold place till next day. Then make the pickle, which must be in.
FISH. 45
proportion to the quantity of fish. To one quart of the water in which the sahnon was boiled, allow two quarts of the best vinegar, one oimce of whole black pepper, one nutm^ grated and a dozen blades of mace. Boil all these together in a kettle closely covered to prevent the flavor from evaporating. When the vinegar thus prepai'ed is quite cold, pour it over the sahnoii, and put on the top a tablespoonful of sweet oil, which will make it keep the longer.
Cover it closely, put it in a dry, cool place, and it will be good for many months. This is the nicest way of preserving salmon, and is approved by all who have tried it.
SMOKED SALMON.
Smoked salmon to be broiled should be put upon the gridiron first, with the flesh side to the fire.
Smoked salmon is very nice when shaved like smoked beef, and served with coffee or tea.
FRICASSEE SALMON.
This way of cooking fresh salmon is a pleasant change from the ordinary modes of cooking it: Cut one and one-half pounds of salmon into pieces one inch square; put the pieces in a stewpan with half a cupful of water, a httle salt, a little white pepper, one clove, one blade of mace, three pieces of sugar, one shalot and a heaping teaspoonf ul of mustard mixed smoothly with half £L teacupful of vinegar. Let this boil up once and add six tomatoes peeled and cut into tiny pieces, a few sprigs of parsley finely minced, and one wineglassful of sherry. Let all simmer gently for three-quarters of an hour. Serve very hot, and garnish with dry toast cut in triangular pieces. This dish is good, very cold, for luncheon or breakfast.
SALMON PATTIES.
Cut cold cooked salmon into dice. Heat about a pint of the dice in half a pint of cream. Season to taste with cayenne pepper and salt. Fill the shells and serve. Cold cooked fish of any kind may be made into patties in this way. Use any fish sauce you choose — all are equally good.
FISH AND OYSTER PIE.
Any remains of cold fish, such as cod or haddock, 2 dozen oysters^ pepper and salt to taste, bread-crumbs sufiicient for the quantity of fish; i teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 1 teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley.
'
\ â–
46 J^/SIf.
Clear the fish from the bones, and put a layer of it in a pie-dish, which sprinkle with pe])per and salt; then a layer of bread-crumbs, oysters, nutmeg, and chopped parsley. Repeat this till the dish is quite full. Tou may form a covering either of bread crumbs, which should be browned, or p\iff -paste, which should be cut off into long strips, and laid in cross-bars over the fish, with a line of the paste first laid round the edge. Before putting on the top, pour in some made melted butter, or a httle thin white sauce, and the oyster-liquor, and bake.
T£ine.—I£ of cooked fish, i hour; if made of fresh fish and puff-paste, i hour.
STEAMED FISH.
Secure the taU of the fish in its mouth, the body in a circle; pom: over it half a pint of vinegar, seasoned with pepper and salt; let it stand an hour in a cool place; pour off the vinegar, and put it in a steamer over boiling water, and steam twenty minutes, or longer for large fish. When the meat easily separates from the bone it is done. Drain wellj^ and serve on a very clean white napkin, neatly folded and placed on the platter; decorate the napkin around the fish with sprigs of curled parsley, or with fanciful beet cuttings, or alternately with both.
TO BROIL A SHAD.
SpUt and wash the shad, and afterwards dry it in a cloth. Season it with salt and pepper. Have ready a bed of clear, bright coals. Grease your gridiron well, and as soon as it is hot, lay the shad upon it, the fiesh side down; cover vdth a dripping-pan and broil it for about a quarter of an hour, or more, accord- ing to the thickness. Butter it well, and send it to the table. Covering it while broiling gives it a more delicious flavor.
BAKED SHAD.
Many people are of the opinion that the very best method of cooking a shad is to bake it. Stuff it with bread-crumbs, salt, pepper, butter and parsley, and mix this up with the beaten yolk of egg; fill the fish with it, and sew it up or fasten a string around it. Pour over it a little water and some butter, and bake as you would a fowl. A shad will require from an hour to an hoiu* and a quarter to bake. Garnish with shoes of lemon, water cresses, etc.
Dressing for Baked Shad. — Boil'up the gravy in which the shad was baked, put in a large tablespoonf ul of catsup, a tablespoonful of brown fiour which has been wet with cold water, the juice of a lemon, and a glass of sherry or Ma- deira wine. Serve in a sauce boat.
FISH. 47
TO COOK A SHAD ROE.
Drop into boiling water, and cook gently for twenty minutes; then take from the fire, and drain. Butter a tin plate, and lay the drained roe upon it. Dredge well with salt and pepper, and spread soft butter over it; then dredge thickly with flour. Cook in the oven for half an hour, basting frequently with salt, pepper, flour, butter and water.
TO COOK SHAD ROE. (Another Way.)
First partly boil them in a small covered pan, take out and season them with salt, a little pepper, dredge with flour and fry as any fish.
EELS A LA TART ARE.
Two pounds of eels, one carrot, one onion, a little flour, one glass of sherry; salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste; bread-crumbs; one egg, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
Rub the butter on the bottom of the stew-pan; cut up the carrot and onion, and stir them over the fire for 5 minutes; dredge in a little flour; add the wine and seasoning, and boil for \ an hour. Skin and wash the eels, cut them into pieces, put them to the other ingi-edients, and simmer till tender. When they are done, take them out, let them get cold, cover them with egg and bread- cinimbs, and fry them of a nice brown. ^ Put them on a dish, pour '^ sauce piquante'' over, and serve them hot.
Time. — 1^ hoims.
FRIED EELS.
After cleaning the eels well, cut them in pieces two inches long; wash them and wipe them dry; roll them in wheat flour or rolled cracker, and fry as di- rected for other fish, in hot lard or beef dripping, salted. They should be browned all over and thoroughly done.
Eels are sometimes dipped in batter and then fried, or into egg and bread crumbs. Serve with crisped parsley.
SHEEPSHEAD WITH DRAWN BUTTER.
Select a medium-sized fish, clean it thoroughly, and rub a Uttle salt over it; wrap it in a doth and put it in a steamer; place this over a pot of fast-boiling water and steam one hour; then lay it whole upon a hot side-dish, garnish with
48 FISH.
tufts of parsley and slices of lemon, and serve with drawn butter, prepared as follows: Take two ounces of butter and roll it into smaJl balls, dredge these with flour; put one-fourth of them in a sauce-pan, and as they begin to melt, whisk them; add the remainder, one at a time, until thoroughly smooth; while stirring, add a tablespoonful of lemon juice, half a tablespoonf ul of chopped pars- ley; pour into a hot sauce boat, and serve.
BAKED WHITE FISH.
Thoroughly clean the fish; cut oflf the head or not, as preferred; cut out the backbone from the head to within two inches of the tail, and stuff with the fol- lowing: Soak stale bread in water, squeeze dry; cut in pieces a large onion, fry in butter, chop fine; add the bread, two otmces of butter, salt, pepper and a lit- tle parsley or sage; heat through, and when taken off the fire, add the yolks of two well-beaten eggs; stuff the fish rather full, sew up with fine twine, and wrs^p with several coils of white tape. Rub the fish over slightly with butter; just cover the bottom of a baking pan with hot water, and place the fish in it, standing back upward, and bent in the form of an S. Serve with the following dressing: Eeduce the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs to a smooth paste with two tablespoonfuls good salad oil; stir in half a teaspoon FiUglish mustard, and add pepper and vinegar to taste.
HALIBUT BOILED.
The cut next to the tail-piece is the best to boil. Rub a little salt over it, soak it for fifteen minutes in vinegar and cold water, then wash it and scrape it until quite clean; tie it in a cloth, and boil slowly over a moderate fire, allow- ing seven minutes boiling to each pound of fish; when it is half cooked, turn it over in the pot; serve with drawn butter or egg sauce.
Boiled halibut minced with boiled potatoes, and a little butter and milk, makes an excellent breakfast dish.
STEAMED HALIBUT.
Select a three-pound piece of white haUbut, cover it with a cloth and place it in a steamer; set the steamer over a pot of fast-boihng water and steam two hours; place it on a hot dish surrounded with a border of pai'sley, and serve with egg-sauce.
FJ[SH. 49
FRIED HALIBUT. No. I.
Select choice, firm slices from this large and delicate-looking fish, and, after •carefully washing and diying with a soft towel, with a sharp knife take off the skin. Beat up two eggs, and roll out some brittle crackers upon the kneading board iintil they are as fine as dust. Dip each sUce into the beaten egg, then into the cracker crumbs, (after you have salted and peppered the fish), and place them in a hot frying-pan half full of boiling lard, in which a httle butter has been added to make the fish brown nicely; turn and brown both sides, remove from the frying-pan and di*ain. Serve hot.
FRIED HALIBUT. No. 2.
First fry a few thin slices of salt pork until brown in an iron frying-pan; then take it up on a hot platter, and keep it warm until the halibut is fried. After washing and drying two pounds of shced halibut, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, dredge it well with flour, put it into the hot pork-drippings and fry brown on both sides; then serve the pork with the fish.
HaUbut broiled in shoes is a very good way of cooking it, broiled the same as Spanish mackerel.
BAKED HALIBUT.
Take a nice piece of halibut weighing five or six pounds, and lay it in salt vrater for two hours. Wipe it dry and score the outer skin. Set it in a drip- ping-pan in a moderate hot oven, and bake an hour, basting often with butter and water heated together in a sauce-pan or tin cup. When a fork will pene- trate it easily, it is done. It should be a fine, brown color. Take the gravy in the dripping-pan, add a Uttle boiUng water should there not be enough, stir in a tablespoonful of walnut catsup, a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce, the juice of a lemon, and thicken with brown flour, previously wet with cold water. Boil up once and put in a sauce boat.
HALIBUT BROILED.
Broil the same as other fish, upon a buttered gridiron, over a clear fire, first reasoning with salt and pepper, placed on a hot dish when done, buttered well -and cover closely.
FRIED BROOK TROUT.
These deUcate fish are usually fried, and form a delightful breakfast or sup- per dish. Clean, wash and dry the fish, spUt them to the tail, salt and pepper
50 FISH.
them, and flour them nicely. K you use lard instead of the fat of fried salt pork, put in a piece of butter to prevent their sticking, and which causes them to brown nicely. Let the fat be hot, fry quickly to a deUcate brown. Thej- should be sufficiently browned on one side before turning on the other side. They are nice served with sUces of fried pork, fried crisp. Lay them side by side on a heated platter, garnish and send hot to the table. They are often cooked and served with their heads on.
FRIED SMELTS.
Fried with their heads on the same as brook trout. Many think that the\^ make a much better appearance as a dish when cooked whole with the heads on, and nicely garnished for the table.
BOILED WHITE FISH.
Taken from Mrs. A. W\ Ferry* s Cook Book, Mackinac^ 1824. The most deli- cate mode of cooking white fish. Prepare the fish as for broiling, lajring it open ; put it into a dripping-pan with the back down; nearly cover with water; to one fish two tablespoonfuls of salt; cover tightly and simmer (not boil) one-half horn*. Dress with gravy, a Uttle butter and pepper, and garnish with hard- boiled eggs.
BAKED WHITE FISH. (Bordeaux Sauce.)
Clean and stuff the fish. Put it in a baking-pan and add a hberal quantity of butter, previously rolled in flour, to the fish. Put in the pan half a pint of claret, and bake for an hoiu* and a quarter. Bemove the fish and strain the gravy; add to the latter a gill more of claret, a teaspoonful of brown flour and a pinch of cayenne, and serve with the fish.
— Plankington House, Milwaukee^
BAKED SALMON TROUT.
This deliciously flavored game-fish is baked precisely as shad or white fish,, but should be accompanied with cream gravy to make it perfect. It should be- baked slowly, basting often with butter and water. When done, have ready in. a sauce-pan a cup of cream, diluted with a few spoonfuls of hot water, for fear it might clot in heating, in which have been stirred cautiously two tablespoon- fuls of melted butter, a scant tablespoonful of flour, and a Uttle chopped parsley. Heat this in a vessel set within another of boiling water, add the gravy from the
FISH. 5 r
drippiiig-pan, boil up once to thicken, and when the trout is laid on a suitable hot dish, pour this sauce around it. GJamish with sprigs of parsley.
This same fish boiled, served with the same cream gravy, (with the exception of the fish gravy,) is the proper way to cook it.
TO BAKE SMELTS.
Wash and dry them thoroughly in a cloth, and arrange them nicely in a flat baking-dish; the pan should be buttered, also the fish; season with salt and pep- per, and cover with bread or cracker-crumbs. Place a piece of butter over each. Bake for fifteen or twenty minutes. Garnish with fried parsley and cut lemon.
BROILED SPANISH MACKEREL.
Spht the fish down the back, take out the back bone, wash it in cold water,, dry it with a clean dry cloth, sprinkle it lightly with salt and lay it on a but- tered gridiron, over a clear fire, with the flesh side downward, until it begins to brown; then turn the other side. Have ready a mixture of two tablespoonfuls of butter melted, a tablespoonful of lemon juice, a teaspoonful of salt, some pep- per. Dish up the fish hot from the gridiron on a hot dish, tmn over the mix- ture and serve it while hot.
Broiled Spanish mackerel is excellent with other fish sauces. Boiled Spanish mackerel is also very fine with most of the fish sauces, more especially '' Matre d'Hotel Sauce.''
BOILED SALT MACKEREL.
Wash and clean off all the brine and salt; put it to soak with the meat side> down, in cold water over night; in the morning rinse it in one or two waters.. Wrap each up in a cloth and put it into a kettle with considerable water, which should be cold; cook about thu-ty minutes. Take it carefully from the cloth,, take out the back bones and pour ov^er a httle melted butter and cream; add a light sprinkle of pepper. Or make a cream sauce hke the following:
Heat a smaU cup of milk to scalding. Stir into it a teaspoonful of com starch, wet up with a little water. When this thickens, add two tablespoonfuls of butter, pepper, salt, and chopped parsley, to taste. Beat an egg light, pour the sauce gradually over it, put the mixture again over the fire, and stir one minute, not more. Pour upon the fish, and serve it with some slices of lemon, or a few- sprigs of parsley or water-cresses, on the dish as a garnish.
3^ FISH.
BAKED SALT MACKEREL.
When the mackerel have soalced over night, put them in a pan and pom* on filing water enough to cover. Let them stand a couple of minutes, then drain "them off, and put them in the pan with a few lumps of hutter; pour on a half i;eacupful of sweet cream, or rich milk, and a little pepper; set in the oven and let it bake a little until brown.
FRIED SALT MACKEREL.
Select as many salt mackerel as required; wash and cleanse them well, then put them to soak all day in cold water, changing them every two hours; then put them into fresh water just before retiring. In the morning drain off the "water, wipe them dry, roll them in flour, and fry in a little butter on a hot thick- lx>ttom frying-pan. Serve with a Httle melted butter poured over, and garnish ^with a httle parsley.
BOILED FRESH MACKEREL.
Fresh mackerel are cooked in water salted, and a httle vinegar added; with this exception they can be served in the same way as the salt mackerel. Broiled ones are very nice with the same cream sauce, or you can substitute egg usance.
POTTED FRESH FISH.
After the fish has laid in salt water six hours, take it out, and to every six pounds of fish take one-quarter cupful each of salt, black pepper and cinnamon, *one eighth cupful of allspice, and one teaspoonful of cloves.
Cut the fish in pieces and put into a half gallon stone baking-jar, first a layer of fish, then the spices, flour, and then spread a thin layer of butter on, and con- ijinue so until the dish is full. Fill the jar with equal parts of vinegar and water, •cover with tightly fitting hd, so that the steam cannot escape; bake five hours, :remove from the oven, and when it is cold, it is to be cut in shoes and served, "^his is a tea or liinch dish.
SCALLOPED CRABS.
Put the crabs into a kettle of boihng water, and throw in a handful of salt. "Boil from twenty minutes to half an hour. Take them from the water when «don3 and pick out all the meat; be careful not to break the shell. To a pint of imeat put a httle salt and pepper; taste, and if not enough add more, a httle at a
FISH. 53
time, till suited. Grate in a very little nutmeg, and add one spoonful of cracker or bread-crumbs, two eggs well beaten, and two tablespoonfuls of butter (even full): stir all well together; wash the shells clean, and fill each shell full of the mix- ture; sprinkle crumbs over the top and moisten with the Uquor; set in the oven till of a nice brown; a few minutes will do it. Send to the table hot, arranged on large dishes. They are eaten at breakfast or supper.
FISH IN WHITE SAUCE.
Make up cold boiled halibut and set the plate into the steamer, that the fish may heat without drying. Boil the bones and skin of the fish with a slice of onion and a very small piece of red pepper; a bit of this the size of a kernel of coffee will make the sauce quite as hot as most persons Uke it. Boil this stock down to half a pint; thicken with one teaspoonful of butter and one teaspoonful of flour, mixed together. Add one drop of extract of almond. Pour this sauce over your haUbut and stick bits of parsley over it.
FRESH STURGEON STEAK MARINADE.
Take one sUce of sturgeon two inches thick; let it stand in hot water five minutes; drain; put it in a bowl and add a gill of vinegar, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, half a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of black pepper, and the juice of half a lemon; let it stand six hours, turning it occasionally; drain and dry on a napkin; dip it in egg; roll in bread-crumbs, and fry, or rather boil, in very hot fat. Beat up the yolks of two raw eggs, add a teaspoonful of French mustard, and, by degrees, half of the marinade, to make a smooth sauce, which serve with the fish.
POTTED FISH.
Take out the backbone of the fish; for one weighing two pounds take a table- spoonful of allspice and cloves mixed; these spices should be put into little bags of not too thick muslin; put sufficient salt directly upon each fish; then roll in a cloth, over which sprinkle a little cayenne pepper; put alternate layers of fish, spice and sage in an earthern jar; cover with the best cider vinegar; cover the jar closely with a plate, and over this put a covering of dough, rolled out to twice the thickness of pie crust. Make the edges of paste, to adhere closely to the sides of the jar, so as to make it air-tight. Put the jar into a pot of cold water and let it boil from three to five hours, according to quantity. Ready when cold.
54 ^J^SIT.
MAYONNAISE FISH.
Take a pound or so of cold boiled fish (halibut, rock, or cod), not chop, but cut, into pieces an inch in length. Mix in a bowl a dressing as follows: The yolk of four boiled eggs rubbed to a smooth paste with salad oil or butter; add to these salt, pepper, mustard, two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, and, lastly, six tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Beat the mixtin^ until hght, and just before poiuing it over the fish, stir in lightly the frothed white of a raw egg. Serve the fish in a glass dish, with half the dressing stirred in with it. Spread the remainder over the top, and lay lettuce leaves (from the core of the head of let- tuce) around the edges, to be eaten with it.
FISH CHOWDER. (Rhode Island.)
Fry five or six slices of fat pork crisp in the bottom of the pot you are to make your chowder in; take them out and chop them into small pieces, put them back into the bottom of the pot with their own gravy. (This is much better than having the slices whole.)
Cut four pounds of fresh cod or sea-bass into pieces two inches square, and lay enough of these on the pork to cover it. Follow with a layer of chopped onions, a little parsley; summer savory and pepper, either black or cayenne. Then a layer of split Boston, or butter, or whole cream crackers, which have been soaked in warm water until moistened through, but not ready to break. Above this put a layer of pork, and repeat the order given above — onions, sea- soning, (not too much), crackers and pork, until your materials are exhausted. Let the topmost layer be buttered crackers well soaked. Pour in enough cold water to barely cover all. Cover the pot, stew gently for an hour, watching that the water does not sink too low. Should it leave the upper layer exposed, replenish cautiously from the boiling tea-kettle. When the chowder is thoroughly done, take out with a perforated skimmer and put into a tinmen. Thicken the gravy with a tablespoonful of flour and about the same quantity of butter; boil up and pom: over the chowder. Serve sliced lemon, pickles and stewed toma- toes with it, that the guests may add if they like.
CODFISH BALLS.
Take a pint bowl of codfish picked very fine, two pint bowls of whole raw peeled potatoes, sliced thickly; put them together in plenty of cold water and boil until the potatoes are thoroughly cooked; remove from the- fire, and drain off all the water. Mash them with the potato masher, add a piece of butter the
FISH. 55
size of an egg, one well -beaten egg, and three spoonfuls of cream or rich milk. Flour your hands and make into balls or cakes. Put an ounce each of butter and lard into a frying pan; when hot, put in the balls and fry a nice brown. Do not freshen the fish before boiUng with the potatoes. Many cooks fry them in a quantity of lard similar to boiled doughnuts.
STEWED CODFISH. (Salt.)
Take a thick, white piece of salt codfish, lay it in cold water for a few min- utes to soften it a Uttle, enough to render it more easily to be picked up. Shred it in very small bits, put it over the fire in a stew-pan with cold water; let it come to a boil, turn off this water carefully, and add a pint of milk to the fish, or more according to quantity. Set it over the fire again and let it boil slowly about three minutes, now add a good-sized piece of butter, a shake of pepper and a thickening of a tablespoonful of flour in enough cold milk to make a cream. Stew five minutes longer, and just before serving stir in two well-beaten eggs. The eggs are an addition that could be dispensed with, however, as it is very good without them. An excellent breakfast dish.
CODFISH A LA MODE.
Pick up a teacupful of salt codfish very fine, and freshen— the dessicated i.s nice to use; two cups mashed potatoes, one pint cream or milk, two weU-beaten eggs, half a cup butter, salt and pepper; mix; bake in an earthen baking dish from twenty to twenty-five minutes; serve in the same dish, placed on a small platter, covered with a fine napkin.
BOILED FRESH COD.
Sew up the piece of fish in thin cloth, fitted to shape; boil in salted water (boiling from the first), allowing about fifteen minutes to the pound. Carefully unwrap, and pour over it warm oyster sauce. A whole one boiled the same.
— Hotel Brighton. SCALLOPED FISH.
Pick any cold fresh fish, or salt codfish, left from the dinner, into fine bits, carefully removing aU the bones.
Take a pint of milk in a suitable dish, and place it in a sauce- pan of boiling water; put into it a few shoes of onion, cut very fine, a sprig of parsley minced fine, add a piece of butter as large as an egg, a pinch of salt, a sprinkle of white pepper, then stir in two tablespoonfuls of corn-starch, or flour, rubbed in a little cold milk; let all boil up and remove from the fire. Take a dish you wish to
56 FJSH.
serve it in, butter the sides and bottom. Put first a layer of the minced fish, then a layer of the cream, then sprinkle over that some cracker or bread-crumbs, then a layer of fish again, and so on, until the dish is full; spread cracker or bread-crumbs last on the top, to prevent the milk from scorching.
This is a very good way to use up cold fish, making a nice breakfast dish, or a side-dish for dinner.
FISH FRITTERS.
Take a piece of salt codfish, pick it up very fine, put it into a sauce-pan, with plenty of cold water; bring it to a boil, turn off the water, and add another of cold water; let this boil with the fish about fifteen minutes, very slowly; strain off this water, making the fish quite dry, and set aside to cool. In the meantime, stir up a batter of a pint of milk, f oiu* eggs, a pinch of salt, one large teaspoon- ful of baking powder in flour, enough to make thicker than batter cakes. Stir in the fish and fry like any fritters. Very fine accompaniment to a good break- fast.
BOILED SALT CODFISH. (New England Style).
Cut the fish into square pieces, cover with cold water, set on the back part of the stove; when hot, pour off water and cover again with cold water; let it stand about four hours and simmer, not boil ; put the fish on a platter, then cover with a drawn-butter gravy, and serve. Many cooks prefer soaking the fish over night.
BOILED CODFISH AND OYSTER SAUCE.
Lay the fish in cold salted water half an hour before it is time to cook it, then roll it in a clean cloth dredged with flour; sew up the edges in such a manner as to envelope the fish entirely, yet have but one thickness of cloth over any part. Put the fish into boiling water, slightly salted; add a few whole cloves and peppers and a bit of lemon peel; pull gently on the fins, and when they come out easily the fish is done. Arrange neatly on a folded napkin, ganrish and serve with oyster sauce. Take six oysters to every pound of fish and scald (blanch) them in a half -pint of hot oyster liquor; take out the oysters and add to the Hquor, ssdt, pepper, a bit of mace and an oxmce of butter; whip into it a gill of milk containing half of a teaspoonful of flour. Simmer a moment; add the oysters, and send to table in a sauce-boat. Egg sauce is good with this fish.
BAKED CODFISH.
K salt fish, soak, boil and pick the fish, the same as for fish-baUs. Add an equal quantity of mashed potatoes, or cold, boiled, chopped potatoes, a large
SHELL-FISH. 5;-
piece of butter, and warm milk enough to make it quite soft. Put it into a but tered dish, rub butter over the top, shake over a httle sifted flour, and bake about, thirty minutes, and until a rich brown. Make a sauce of drawn butter, wifcfe two hard-boiled eggs sliced, served in a gravy-boat.
CODFISH STEAK. (New England Style.)
Select a medium-sized fresh codfish, cut it in steaks cross- wise of the fish about an inch and a half thick; sprinkle a httle salt over them, and let them stand two hours. Cut into dice a poxmd of salt fat pork, fry out all the fat. from them and remove the crisp bits of pork; put the codfish steaks in a pan of com meal, dredge them with it, and when the pork fat is smoking hot, fry the steaks in it to a dark-brown color on both sides. Squeeze over them a little^ lemon juice, add a dash of freshly ground pepper, and serve with hot, old-fash- ioned, weU-buttered Johnny Cake.
SALMON CROQUETTES.
One pound of cooked salmon (about one and a half pints when chopped), one cup of cream, two tablespoonfuls of butter, one tablespoonfiil of flour, three eggs, one pint of crumbs, pepper and salt; chop the salmon fijie, mix the flour and butter together, let the cream come to a boil, and stir in the flour and butter, salmon and seasoning; boil one minute; stir in one well-beaten egg, and remove from the fire; when cold make into croquettes: dip in beaten egg, roll in crumbs and fry. Canned salmon can be used.
STEWED WATER TURTLES, OR TERRAPINS.
Select the largest, thickest and fattest, the females being the best; they ^/ould be alive when brought from market. Wash and put them aUve into boiling water, add a httle salt, and boil them until thoroughly done, or from ten to fif- teen minutes, after which take oflf the shell, extract the meat, and remove care- fully the sand-bag and gall; also all the entrails; they are unfit to eat, and are no longer used in cooking terrapins for the best tables. Cut the meat into pieces, and put it into a stew-pan with its eggs, and sufficient fresh butter to stew it well. Let it stew till quite hot throughout, keeping the pan carefully
58 SHELL-FISH.
covered, that none of the flavor may escape, but shake it over the fire whfle stewing. In another pan make a sauce of beaten yolk of ^g, highly flavored with Madeira or sherry, and powdered nutmeg and mace, a gill of currant jeUy, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and salt to taste, enriched with a large lump of fresh butter. Stir this sauce well over the fire, and when it has almost come to a boil, take it off. Send the terrapins to the table hot in a covered dish, and the sauce separately in a sauce-tureen, to be used by those who like it, and omitted by those who prefer the genuine fliavor of the terrapins when simply stewed with hutter. This is now the usual mode of dressing terrapins in Maryland, Virginia, and many other parts of the South, and will be f oimd superior to any other. If there are no eggs in the terrapin, "egg balls" may be substituted. (See recipe).
STEWED TERRAPIN, WITH CREAM.
Place in a sauce-pan, two heaping tablespoonfuls of butter and one of dry flour; stir it over the fire until it bubbles; then gradually stir in a pint of cream, a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter of a teaspoonful of white pepper, the same of grated nutmeg, and a very small pinch of cayenne. Next, put in a pint of ter- rapin meat and stir all imtil it is scalding hot. Move the sauce-pan to the back part of the stove or range, where the contents will keep hot but not boil; then stir in four well-beaten yolks of eggs; do not allow the terrapin to boil after add- ing the eggs, but pour it immediately into a tureen containing a gill of good Madeira and a tablespoonful of lemon juice. Serve hot.
STEWED TERRAPIN.
Plunge the terrapins alive into boiling water, and let them remain rmtil the sides and lower shell begin to crack — this will take less than an horn*; then re- move them and let them get cold; take off the shell and outer skin, being care- ful to save all the blood possible in opening them. If there are eggs in them put them aside in a dish; take all the inside out, and be very careful not to break the gall, which must be immediately removed or it will make the rest bitter. It hes within the liver. Then cut up the Uver and aU the rest of the terrapin into small pieces, adding the blood and juice that have flowed out in cutting up; add half a pint of water; sprinkle a Uttle flour over them as you place them in the stew-pan; let them stew slowly ten minutes, adding salt, black and cayenne pepper, and a very small blade of mace; then add a gill of the best brandy and half a pint of the very best sherry wine ; let it simmer over a slow fire very gently. About ten minutes or so, before you are ready to dish them, add half a pint of rich cream, and half a pound of sweet butter, with fiour, to prevent boil-
SHELI^FISH. 59
ing; two or three minutes before taMng them ofif the fire, peel the eggs carefully
and throw them in whole. If there should be no eggs use the yolk of hens' eggs,
hard boiled. This receipt is for four terrapins.
— Sennerfs Hotel, Baltimore.
BOILED LOBSTER.
Put a handful of salt into a large kettle or pot of boiling water. When the water boils very hard, put in the lobster, having first brushed it, and tied the claws together with a bit of twine. Keep it boiling from 20 minutes to half an hour in proportion to its size. If boiled too long the meat will be hard and stringy. When it is done take it out, lay it on its claws to drain, and then wipe it dry.
It is scarcely necessary to mention that the head of a lobster, and what are called the lady-fingers, are not to be eaten.
Very large lobsters are not the best, the meat being coarse and tough. The male is best for boiling; the flesh is firmer, and the shell a brighter red; it may readily be distinguished from the female; the tail is narrower, and the two up- I)er-most fins within the tail are stiff and hard. Those of the hen lobster are not so, and the tail is broader.
Hen lobsters are preferred for sauce or salad, on account of their coral. The head and small claws are never used.
They should be alive and freshly caught when put into the boiling kettle. After being cooked and cooled, split open the body and tail, and crack the claws, to extract the meat. The sand pouch found near the throat should be removed. Care should be exercised that none of the feathery, tough, gill-like particles found under the body shell get mixed with the meat, as they are indigestible, and have caused much trouble. They are supposed to be the cause of so-called poisoning from eating lobster.
Serve on a platter. Lettuce, and other concomitants of a salad, should also be placed on the table or platter.
SCALLOPED LOBSTER.
Butter a deep dish, and cover the bottom with fine bread-crumbs; put on this a layer of chopped lobster, with pepper and salt; so on alternately until the dish is filled, having crumbs on top. Put on bits of butter, moisten with milk, and bake about twenty minutes.
DEVILED LOBSTER.
Take out all the meat from a boiled lobster, reserving the coral; season highly with mustard, cayenne, salt and some kind of talle sauce; stew imtil well mixed,
6o SHELL-FISH.
and put it in a covered sauce-pan^ with just enough hot water to keep from burning; rub the coral smooth, moistening with vinegar until it is thin enough to pour easily, then stir it into the sauce-pan. The dressing should be prepared before the meat is put on the fire, and which ought to boil but once before the coral is put in; stir in a heaping teaspoonful of butter, and when it boils again it is done, and should be taken up at once, as too much cooking toughens the meat.
LOBSTER CROQUETTES.
Take any of the lobster remaining from table, and pound it until the dark, light meat and coral are well mixed; put with it not quite as much fine bread- cmmbs; season with pepper, salt and a very httle cayenne pepper; add a Uttle melted butter, about two tablespoonfuls if the bread is rather dry; form into ^g-shaped or roimd balls; roll them in egg, then in fine crumbs, and fry in boil* inglard.
LOBSTER PATTIES.
Cut some boiled lobster in small pieces; then take the small daws and the £fpawn, put them in a suitable dish, and jam them to a paste with a potato masher. Now add to them a ladleful of gravy or both, with a few bread-crumbs; set it over the fire and boil; strain it through a strainer, or sieve, to the thickness of a cream, and put half of it to your lobsters, and save the other half to sauce them with after they are baked. Put to the lobster the bigness of an egg of butter, a httle i)epper and salt; squeeze in a lemon, and warm these over the fire enough to melt the butter, set it to cool, and sheet your patty-pan or a plate or dish with good puff paste; then put in your lobster, and cover it with a paste; bake it within three-quarters of an hour before you want it; when it is baked, cut up your cover, and warm up the other half of your sauce above mentioned, with a httle butter, to the thickness of cream, and pour it over your patty, with a httle squeezed lemon; cut your cover in two, and lay it on the top, two inches distant, so that what is under may be seen. You may bake crawfish, shrimps or prawns the same way; and they are all proper for plates or httle dishes for a second course.
TO POT LOBSTERS.
Take from a hen lobster the spawn, coral, flesh, and pickings of the head and daws; pound weU and season with cayenne, white pepper and mace, according to taste. Mix it to a firm past^ with good melted butter. Pound and season
SHELL-FISH. 6 1
the flesh from the tail and put it into a pot, and then fill with the other paste. Ck)yer the top of each pot with clarified butter, and keep it in a cool place. Time, three-quarters of an hour to one hour to boil the lobster.
BAKED CRABS.
Mix with the contents of a can of crabs, bread-crumbs or pounded crackers. Pepper and salt the whole to taste; mince some cold ham; have the baking-pan well buttered, place therein first a layer of the crab meat, prepared as above, then a layer of the minced ham, and so on, alternating until the pan is filled. Cover the top with bread-crumbs and bits of butter, and bake.
DEVILED CRABS.
Half a dozen fresh crabs, boiled and minced, two ounces of butter, one small teaspoonful of mustard powder; cayenne pepper and salt to taste. Put the meat into a bowl and mix carefully with it an equal quantity of fine bread- crumbs. Work the butter to a light cream, mix the mustard well with it, then stir in very carefully, a handful at a time, the mixed crabs, a tablespoonful of cream, and crumbs. Season to taste with cayenne pepper and salt: fill the crab shells with the mixture, sprinkle bread-crumbs over the tops, put three small pieces of butter upon the top of each, and brown them quickly in a hot oven. They will puff in baking and will be found very nice. Half the quantity can be made. A crab-shell will hold the meat of two crabs.
CRAB CROQUETTES.
Pick the meat of boiled crabs and chop it fine. Season to taste with pepper, salt and melted butter. Moisten it well with rich milk or cream, then stiflfen it slightly with bread or cracker-crumbs. Add two or three well-beaten eggs to bind the mixture. Form the croquettes, egg and bread-crumb them and fry them deUcately in boiling lard. It is better to use a wire frying-basket for cro- quettes of all kinds.
TO MAKE A CRAB PIE.
Procure the crabs alive, and put them in boiling water, along with some salt. Boil them for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, according to the size. When cold, pick the meat from the claws and body. Chop aU together, and mix it with crumbs of bread, pepper and salt, and a little butter. Put all this into the shell, and brown in a hot oven. A crab-shell will hold the meat of two crabs.
62 SHELL-FISH.
CRABS. (SoftSheU.)
Crabs may be boiled as lobsters. They make a fine dish when stewed. Take out the meat from the shell, put it into a sauce-pan with butter, pepper, salt, a pinch of mace, and a very little water; dredge with flour, and let simmer five minutes over a slow fire. Serve hot; garnish the dish with the claws laid around it.
The usual way of cooking them is frying them in plenty of butter and lard mixed; prepare them the same as frying fish. The spongy substance from the sides should be taken off, also the sand bag. Fry a nice brown, and garnish with parsley.
OYSTERS.
Oysters must be fresh and fat to be good. They are in season from Septem- ber to May.
The small ones, such as are sold by the quart, are good for pies, fritters, or stews; the largest of this sort are nice for frying or pickling for family use.
FRIED OYSTERS.
Take large oysters from their own liquor into a thickly folded napkin to dry them; then make hot an ounce each of butter and lard, in a thick bottom fry- ing-pan. Season the oysters with pepper and salt, then dip each one into egg and cracker-crumbs rolled fine, until it will take up no more. Place them in the hot grease and fry them a delicate brown, turning them on both sides by sliding
% broad-bladed knife imder them. Serve them crisp and hot.
— Boston Oyster House.
Some prefer to roll oysters in corn-meal and others use flour, but they are
much more crisp with egg and cracker-crumbs.
OYSTERS FRIED IN BATTER.
Ingredients. — i pint of oysters, 2 eggs, i pint of milk, sufficient flour to make the batter; pepper and salt to taste; when liked, a little nutmeg; hot lard.
Scald the oysters in their own liquor, beard them, and lay them on a cloth to drain thoroughly. Break the eggs into a basin, mix the flour with them, add the milk gradually, with nutmeg and seasoning, and put the oysters in a batter. Make some lard hot in a deep frying-pan; put in the oysters, one at a time; when done, take them up with a sharp-pointed skewer, and dish them on a napkin. Fried oysters are frequently used for garnishing boiled fish, and then a few bread-crumbs should be added to the floiu:.
SHELLr-FISH. 63
STEWED OYSTERS. (In Milk or Cream.)
Drain the liquor from two quarts of oysters; mix with it a small teacupful of hot water, add a little salt and pepper, and set it over the fire in a sauce-pan. Let it boil up once, put in the oysters, let them come to a boil, and when they "ruffle " add two tablespoonfuls of butter. The instant it is melted and well stirred in, put in a pint of boiling milk, and tal^e the sauce-pan from the fire. Serve with oyster or cream crackers. Serve while hot.
If thickening is preferred, stir in a little florn: or two tablespoonfuls of cracker- crumbs.
PLAIN OYSTER STEW.
Same as milk or cream stew, using only oyster liquor and water instead of milk or cream, adding more butter after taking up.
OYSTER SOUP. For oyster soup, see Soups.
DRY OYSTER STEW.
Take six to twelve large oysters and cook them in half a pint of their own liquor; season with butter and white pepper; cook for five minutes, stirring con- stantly. Serve in hot soup-plates or bowls.
— Fulton MarJcety New York.
BOSTON FRY.
Prepare the oysters in egg batter and fine cracker meal; fry in butter over a
slow fire for about ten minutes; cover the hollow of a hot platter with tomato
sauce; place the oysters in it, but not covering; garnished with chopped parsley
sprinkled over the oysters.
— Boston Oyster House.
BROILED OYSTERS.
Dry a quart of oysters in a cloth, dip each in melted butter weU peppered; then in beaten egg, or not, then in bread or cracker-crumbs, also peppered. Broil on a wire broiler over live coals, three to five minutes. Dip over each a little melted butter. Serve hot.
ROAST OYSTERS IN THE SHELL.
Select the large ones, those usually termed ^' Saddle Rocks," formerly known as a distinct variety, but which are now but the large oysters selected from any beds; wash and wipe them, and place with the upper or deep shell down, to
. \
64 SHELL-FISH.
catch the juice, over or on live coals. When they open their shells, remove the shallow one, being careful to save all the juice in the other; place them, shells and all, on a hot platter, and send to table hot, to be seasoned by each person with butter and pepper to taste. If the oysters are fine, and they are just cooked enough and served all hot, this is, 'par excellence, the style.
OYSTER ROAST. No. 2.
Put one quart of oysters in a basin with their own Uquor and let them boil three or four minutes; season with a Uttle salt, pepper and a heaping spoonful of butter. Serve on buttered toast.
STEAMED OYSTERS.
Wash and drain a quart of counts or select oysters; put them in a shallow pan and place in a steamer over boiling water; cover and steam till they are plump, with the. edges rufBed, but no longer. Place in a heated dish, with but- ter, pepper and salt, and serve.
— BaUimare Style.
STEAMED OYSTERS IN THE SHELL.
Wash and place them in an air-tight vessel, laying them the upper shell downward, so that the liquor will not run out when they open. Place this dish or vessel over a pot of boiling water where they will get the steam. Boil them rapidly until the shells open, about fifteen to twenty minutes. Serve at once while hot« seasoned with butter, salt and pepper.
PAN OYSTERS. No. i.
Cut some stale bread in thin slices, taking off all the crust; round the slices
to fit patty -pans, toast, butter, place them in the pans and moisten with three or
four teaspoonfuls of oyster liquor; place on the toast a layer of oysters, sprinkle
with pepper, and put a small piece of butter on top of each pan; place all the
pans in a baking-pan, and place in the oven, covering tightly. They will cook
in seven or eight minutes if the oven is hot; or, cook till the beards are ruffled;
remove the covei^ sprinkle lightly with salt, replace, and cook one minute
longer. Serve in palty-pans. They are delicious.
—Ifew York Siyle.
PAN OYSTERS. No. 2.
Lay in a thin pie-tin or dripping-pan half a pint of large oysters, or more if required; have the pan large enough so that each oyster will lie flat on the hot*
SHELL-FISH. 65
torn; put in over them a little oyster liquor, but not enough to float; place them
carefully in a hot oven and just heat them through thoroughly — do not bake
them — which will be in three to five minutes, according to fire; take them up
and place on toast; first moistened with the hot juice from the pan. Are a very
good substitute for oysters roasted in the shell, the slow cooking bringing out
the flavor.
— French Restaurant^ New Orleans, La.
OYSTER FRITTERS.
Select plump, good-sized oysters; drain oflf the juice, and to a cup of this juice add a cup of milk, a little salt, four well-beaten eggs, and flour enough to make batter like griddle-cakes.
Envelop an oyster in a spoonful of this batter, (some cut them in halves or chop them fine,) then fry in butter and lard, mixed in a frying-pan the same as we fry eggs, tmning to fry brown on both sides. Send to the table very hot.
— Delmonico,
Most cooks fry oyster fritters the same as crullers, in a quantity of hot lard, but this is not always convenient; either way they are excellent.
OYSTER PATTIES.
Line patty-pans with thin pastry, pressing it well to the tin. Put a piece of bread or a ball of paper in each. Cover them with paste and brush them over with the white of an egg. Cut an inch square of thin pastry, place on the centre of each, glaze this also with egg, and bake in a quick oven fifteen to twenty minutes. Remove the bread or paper when half cold.
Scald as many oysters as you require (allowing two for each patty, three if small) in their own Uquor. Cut each in four and strain the liquor. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour into a thick sauce-pan; stir them together over the fire till the flour smells cooked, and then pour half a pint of oyster liquor and half a pint of milk into the flour and butter. (If you have cream, use it instead of milk.) Stir till it is a thick, smooth sauce. Put the oysters into it and let them boil once. Beat the yolks of two eggs. Remove the oysters for one minute from the fire, then stir the eggs into them till the sauce looks hke thick custard.
Fill the patties with this oyster fricassee, taking care to make it hot by stand- ing in boiling water before dinner on the day required, and to make the patty
cases hot before you fiU them.
5
66 SHELL'FISH.
FULTON MARKET ROAST.
It is still known in New York from the place at which it was and is still served. Take nine large oysters in the shell; wash, dry and roast over a char- coal fire, on a broiler. Two minutes after the shells open they will be done. Take them up quickly, saving the juice in a small, shallow, tin pan; keep hot until all are done; butter them and sprinkle with pepper.
This is served for one person when caUing for a roast of this kind. It is often I)oured over a sUce of toast.
SCALLOPED OYSTERS. Have ready about a pint bowl of fine cracker-crumbs. Butter a deep earthen dish; put a layer of the cracker-crumbs on the bottom; wet this with some of the oyster Uquor; next have a layer of oysters; sprinkle with salt and pepper, and lay small bits of butter upon them; then another layer of cracker-crumbs and oyster juice; then oysters, pepper, salt and butter, and so on, until the dish is full; the top layer to be cracker-crumbs. Beat up an egg in a cup of millr and turn over all. Cover the dish and set it in the oven for thirty or forty-five minutes. When baked through, uncover the top, set on the upper grate and brown.
OYSTER POT-PIE.
Scald a quart can of oysters in their own liquor; when it boils, skim out the
oysters and set aside in a warm place. To the liquor add a pint of hot water;
season well with salt and pepper, a generous piece of butter, thicken with flour
and cold milk. Have ready nice light biscuit dough, rolled twice as thick as
pie-crust; cut out into inch squares, drop them into the boiling stew, cover closely,
and cook forty minutes. When taken up, stir the oysters into the juice and
serve all together in one dish. A nice side entr6e.
— Pr Mice's Bat/y S.L
BOSTON OYSTER PIE.
Having buttered the inside of a deep pie-plate, line it with puff-paste, or common pie-crust, and prepare another sheet of paste for the lid; put a clean towel into the dish (folded so as to support the lid), set it into the oven and bake the paste well; when done, remove the hd and take out the towel. While the paste is baking prepare the oysters. Having picked off carefully every bit of shell that may be found about them, drain off the liquor into a pan and put the oysters into a stew-pan with barely enough of the liquor to keep them from burning; season them with pepper, salt and butter; add a little sweet cream or milk, and one or two crackers rolled fine; let the oysters simmer, but not
SHELL-FISH. 6 J
boily as that will shrivel them. Keraove the upper crust of pastry and fill the dish with the oysters and gravy; replace the cover and serve hot.
Some prefer baking the upper crust on a pie-plate, the same size as the pie^ then sUpping it off on top of the pie after the same is filled with the oysters.
MOCK OYSTERS.
Grate the com, while green and tender, with a coarse grater, into a deep dish. To two ears of com, allow one egg; beat the whites and yolks separately, and add them to the com, with one tablespoonf ul of wheat flour and one of butter, a teaspoonful of salt and pepper to taste. Drop spoonfuls of this batter into a frying-pan with hot butter and lard mixed, and fry a light brown on both sides.
In taste, they have a singular resemblance to fried oysters. The com must be young.
FRICASSEED OYSTERS.
Take a slice of raw ham, which has been pickled, but not smoked, and soak in boiling water for half an hour; cut it in quite small pieces, and put in a sauce- pan with two-thirds of a pint of veal or chicken broth, well strained; the Uquor from a quart of oysters, one small onion, minced fine, and a little chopped parsley, sweet marjoram, and pepper; let them simmer for twenty minutes, and then boil rapidly two or three minutes; skim well, and add one scant table - spoonful of corn-starch, mixed smoothly in one- third cup of milk; stir constantly, and when it boils add the oysters and one ounce of butter; after which, just let it come to a boil, and remove the oysters to a deep dish; beat one eggj and add to it gradually some of the hot broth, and, when cooked, stir it into the pan; season with salt, and pour the whole over the oysters. When placed upon the table, squeeze the juice of a lemon over it.
SMALL OYSTER PIES.
For each pie take a tin plate half the size of an ordinary dinner plate; butter it, and cover the bottom with a puff paste, as for pies; lay on it five or six select oysters, or enough to cover the bottom; butter them and season with a httle salt and plenty of pepper; spread over this an egg batter, and cover with a crust of the paste, making small openings in it with a fork. Bake in a hot oven fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the top is nicely browned.
— Boston Oyster Hon^e.
68 SHELL-FISH.
STEWED CLAMS.
Wash clean as many round clams as required; pile them in a large iron pot, with half a cupful of hot water in the bottom, and put over the fire; as soon as the shells open, take out the clams, cut off the hard, uneatable " fringe '^ from each, with strong, dean scissors, put them into a stew-pan with the broth from the pot, and boil slowly till they are quite tender; pepper weU, and thicken the gravy with flour, stirred into melted butter.
Or, you may get two dozen freshly opened very small clams. Boil a pint of milk, a dash of white pepper and a small pat of butter. Now add the clams. Let them come to a boil, and serve. Longer boiling will make the dams almost indigestible.
ROAST CLAMS IN THE SHELL. Eoast in a pan over a hot fire, or in a hot oven, or, at a " Clam Bake, " on hot stones; when they open, empty the juice into a sauce-pan; add the clams with
butter, pepper and a very little salt.
— Rye Beach.
CLAM FRITTERS. Take fifty small or twenty-five large sand clams from their shells; if large, cut each in two, lay them on a thickly folded napkin; put a pint bowl of wheat flour into a basin, add to it three well-beaten eggs, half a pint of sweet milk, and nearly as much of their own liquor; beat the batter imtil it is smooth and perfectly free from lumps; then stir in the clams. Put plenty of lard or bsef fat into a thick-bottomed frying-pan, let it become boiling hot; put in the batter by the spoonful; let them fry gently; when one side is a delicate brown, turn the other.
CLAM CHOWDER.
The materials needed are fifty round clams (quahogs), a large bowl of salt pork, cut up fine, the same of onions, finely chopped, and the same (or more, if you desire,) of potatoes cut into eighths or sixteenths of original size; wash the clams very thoroughly, and put them in a pot with half a pint of water; when the shells are open they are done; then take them from the shells and chop fine, saving all the clam water for the chowder; fry out the pork very gently, and when the scraps are a good brown, take them out and put in the chopped onions to fry; they should be fried in a frying-pan, and the chowder-kettle be made very clean before they are put in it, or the chowder will bum. (The chief secret in chowder-making is to fry the onions so dehcately that they will be missing in the chowder.)
SHELLr-FISH. 69
Add a quart of hot water to the onions; put in the clams^ clam- water and pork scraps. After it boils, add the potatoes, and when they are cooked, the -chowder is finished. Just before it is taken up, thicken it with a cup of pow- dered crackers, and add a quart of fresh milk. If too rich, add more water. No Beasoning is needed but good black pepper.
With the addition of six sliced tomatoes, or half a can of the canned ones^ tliis is the best recipe of this kind, and is sei-ved in many of our best restaurants.
— Ntw Bedford Recipe*
SCALLOPED CLAMS.
Purchase a dozen large soft clams in the shell and three dozen opened clams. Ask the dealer to open the first dozen, care being used not to injure the shells, which are to be used in cooking the clams. Clean the shells well, and put two fioft clams on each half shell; add to each a dash of white pepper, and half a teaspoonful of minced celery. Cut a slice of fat bacon into the smallest dice, add four of these to each shell, strew over the top a thin layer of cracker-dust; place a piece of table butter on top, and bake in the oven until brown. They are delightful when properly prepared.
SCALLOPS.
K bought in the shell boil them and take out the hearts, which is the only part iised. Dip them in beaten egg, and fry in the same manner as oysters. Some prefer them stewed the same as oysters.
FROGS FRIED.
Progs are usually fried, and are considered a great delicacy. Only the hind- legs and quarters are used. Clean them well, season, and fry in egg batter, or dipped in beaten egg and fine cracker-crumbs, the same as oysters.
FROGS STEWED.
Wash and skin the quarters, parboil them about three minutes, drain them. Now, put into a stew-pan two ounces of butter. When it is melted, lay in the frogs, and fry about two minutes, stirring them to prevent biurdng; shake over them a tablespoonful of sifted flour and stir it into them; add a sprig of parsley, a pinch of powdered summer savory, a bay leaf, three shces of onion, salt and pepper, a cup of hot water and one of cream. Boil gently until done; remove the legs, strain and mix into the gravy the yolks of two eggs, well beaten to a cream; put the legs in a suitable dish, pour over the gravy and serve.
. CN^^^e/S*/^ , , e\ffXoe/5)/0 .
^&^«xi)'^ ' ' ^fe^^X^"^ '
In choosing poultry, select those that are fresh and fat, and the surest way to determine whether they are young, is to try the skin under the leg or wing. If it is easily broken, it is young; or, turn the wing backwards, if the joint yields readily, it is tender. When poultry is young the skin is thin and tender, the legs smooth, the feet moist and Umber, and the eyes full and bright. The body should be thick and the breast fat. Old turkeys have long hairs, and the flesh is purplish where it shows under the skin on the legs and back. About March they deteriorate in quality.
Young ducks and geese are plump, with light, semi-transparent fat, soft breast -bone, tender flesh, leg- joints which will break by the weight of the bird, fresh-colored and brittle beaks, and wind -pipes that break when pressed between the thumb and forefinger. They are best in fall and winter.
Toimg pigeons have light red flesh upon the breast, and full, fresh-colored legs; when the legs are thin and the breast very dark the birds are old.
Fine game birds are always heavy for their size; the flesh of the breast is firm and plump, and the skin clear; and if a few feathers be plucked from the inside of the leg and around the vent, the flesh of freshly-killed birds will be fat and fresh-colored; if it is dark and discolored, the game has been hung a long time. The wings of good ducks, geese, pheasants, and woodcock are tender to the touch; the tips of the long wing feathers of partridges are pointed in young birds and roimd in old ones. Quail, snipe and small birds should have full, tender breasts. Poultry should never be cooked until six or eight hours after it has been killed, but it should be picked and drawn as soon as possible. Plunge it in a pot of scalding hot water; then pluck oif the feathers, taking care not to tear the skin; when it is picked clean, roll up a piece of white paper, set fire to it, and singe oflE all the hairs. The head, neck and feet should be cut off, and the ends of the legs skewered to the body, and a string tied tightly around the body. When roastiag a chicken or small fowl there is danger of the legs brown-
POULTRY AND GAME. 71
ing or becoming too hard to be eaten. To avoid this, take strips of cloth, dip them into a little melted lard, or even just rub them over with lard, and wind them aromid the legs. Remove them in time to allow the legs to brown deli- catelv.
Fowls, and also various kinds of game, when bought at our city markets^ require a more thorough cleansing than those sold in country places, where as a general thing the meat is wholly dressed. In large cities they lay for some length of time with the intestines undrawn, imtil the flavor of them diffuses itself all through the meat, rendering it distasteful. In this case, it is safe after taking out the intestines, to rinse out in several waters, and in next to the last water, add a teaspoonful of baking soda; say to a quart of water. This process neutral- izes all sourness, and helps to destroy all impleasant taste in the meat.
Poultry may be baked so that its wings and legs are soft and tender, by being placed in a deep roasting pan with close cover, thereby retaining the aroma and essences by absorption while confined. These pans are a recent innovation, and are made double with a small opening in the top for giving vent to the accumu- lation of steam and gases when required. Eoast meats of any kind can also be cooked in the same manner, and it is a great improvement on the old plan.
ROAST TURKEY.
Select a young turkey; remove all the feathers carefully, singe it over a burn- ing newspaper on the top of the stove; then " draw " it nicely, being very care- ful not to break any of the internal organs; remove the crop carefully; cut off the head, and tie the neck close to the body by drawing the skin over it. Now rinse the inside of the turkey out with several waters, and in the next to the last, mix a teaspoonful of baking soda; oftentimes the inside of a fowl is very sour, especially if it is not freshly killed. Soda, being cleansing, acts as a cor- rective, and destroys that unpleasant taste which we frequently experience in the dressing when fowls have been killed for some time. Now, after washing, wipe the turkey dry, inside and out, with a clean cloth, rub the inside with some salt, then stuff the breast and body with " Dressing for Fowls.'* Then sew up the turkey with a strong thread, tie the legs and wings to the body, rub it over with a little soft butter, sprinkle over some salt and pepper, dredge with a little flour; place it in a dripping pan, pour in a cup of boiling water, and set it in the oven. Baste the turkey often, turning it around occasionally so that every part will be uniformly baked. When pierced with a fork and the liquid runs out perfectly dear^ the bird i^ done- If any part is likely to scorch, pin over it a piece of but-
72 POULTRY AND GAME.
tered white paper. A fifteen-pound turkey requires between three and four hours to bake. Serve with cranberry sauce.
Qravy for Turkey.— Whsu you put the turkey in to roast, put the neck, heart, liver and gizzard into a stew-pan with a pint of water; boil until they become quite tender; take them out of the water, chop the heart and gizzard, mash the liver and throw away the neck; return the chopped heart, gizzard and liver to the liquor in which they were stewed; set it to one side, and when the tinrkey is done it should be added to the gravy that dripped from the turkey, having first skimmed off the fat from the smface of the dripping-pan; set it all over the fire, boil three minutes and thicken with flour. It will not need brown floin: to color the gravy. The garnishes for turkey or chicken are fried oysters, thin slices of ham, slices of lemon, fried sausages, or force-meat balls, also X>arsley.
DRESSING OR STUFFING FOR FOWLS.
For an eight or ten pound turkey, cut the brown crust from slices or pieces of stale bread until you have as mudi as the inside of a pound \oal\ put it into a suitable dish, and pour tepid water (not warm, for that makes it heavy) over it; let it stand one minute, as it soaks very quickly. Now take up a handful at a time and squeeze it hard and dry with both hands, placing it, as you go along, in another dish; this process makes it veiy light. When all is pressed dry, toss it all up lightly through your fingers; now add pepper, salt, — about a teaspoonful — also a teaspoonful of powdered simimer savory, the same amount of sage, or the green herb minced fine; add half a cup of melted butter, and a beaten egg, or not. Work thoroughly all together, and it is ready for dressing either fowls, fish or meats. A little chopped sausage in turkey dressing is considered by some an improvement, when well incorporated with the other ingredients. For geese and ducks the stuffing may be made the same as for turkey with the addition of a few slices of onion chopped fine.
OYSTER DRESSING OR STUFFING.
This is made with the same ingredients as the above, with the exception of half a can of oysters drained, and slightly chopped and added to the rest. This is used mostly with boiled turkey and chicken, and the remainder of the can of oysters used to make an oyster sauce to be poured over the turkey when served; served generally in a separate dish, to be dipped out as a person desires.
These recipes were obtained from an old colored cook, who was famous for his fine dressings for fowls, fish and meats, and his advice was, always soak
FO UL TR Y AND GAME. 73
stale bread in cold liquid, either milk or water, when used for stuffing or for pud- dings, as they were much lighter. Hot liquid makes them heavy.
BOILED TURKEY.
Prepare as you would for baking or roasting; fill with an oyster stufiSng, made as the above. Tie the legs and wings close to the body, place in salted boihng water with the breast downward; skim it often and boil about two hours, but not till the skin breaks. Serve with oyster or celery sauce. Boil a nicely pickled piece of salt pork, apd serve at table a thin slice to each plate. Some prefer bacon or ham instead of pork.
Some roll the turkey in a cloth dipped in flour. If the liquor is to be used afterwards for soup, the cloth imparts an unpleasant flavor. The liquor can be saved and made into a nice soup for the next day's dinner, by adding the same seasonings as for chicken soup.
TURKEY SCALLOP.
Pick the meat from the bones of cold turkey, and chop it fine. Put a layer of bread-crumbs on the bottom of a buttered dish, moisten them with a little milk, then put in a layer of turkey with some of the fiUing, and cut small pieces of butter over the top; sprinkle with pepper and salt; then another layer of bread-crumbs, and so on until the dish is nearly full; add a Uttle hot water to the gravy left from the tiu'key and pour over it; then take two eggs, two table- spoonfuls of milk, one of melted butter, a little salt and cracker-crumbs as much as will make it thick enough to spread on with a knife; put bits of butter over it, and cover with a plate. Bake three-quarters of an hour. Ten minutes before serving, remove the plate and let it brown.
TURKEY HASHED.
Cut the remnants of turkey from a previous dinner into pieces of equai size. Boil the bones in a quart of water, until the quart is reduced to a pint; then take out the bones, and to the liquor in which they were boiled add turkey gravy, if you have any, or white stock, or a small piece of butter with salt and pepper; let the liquor thus prepared boil up once; then put in the pieces of turkey, dredge in a Uttle flour, give it one boil-up, and serve in a hot dish.
TURKEY WARMED OVER.
Pieces of cold turkey or chicken may be warmed up with a little butter in a frying-pan; place it on a warm platter, surround it with pieces of small thick slices of bread or biscuit halved, first dipping them in hot salted water; then
74 POULTRY AND GAME.
place the platter in a warm oven with the door open. Have already made the following gravy to poiu" over all:
Into the frying-pan put a large spoonful of butter, one or two cupfuls of milk, and any gravy that may be left over. Bring it to a boil; then add suflB- dent flour, wet in a little cold milk or water, to make it the consistency of cream. Season with salt, pepper and add a Uttle of the dark meat chopped very fine. Let the sauce cook a few moments; then pour over the biscuit and fowl. This will be found a really nice dish.
BONED TURKEY.
dean the fowl as usual. With a sharp and pointed knife, begin at the extremity of the wing, and pass the knife down close to the bone, cutting all the flesh from the bone, and preserving the skin whole; run the knife down each side of the breast bone and up the legs, keeping close to the bone; then spUt the back half way up, and draw out the bones; fill the places whence the bones were taken with a stufiing, restoring the fowl to its natural form, and sew up all the incisions made in the skin. Lard with two or three rows of slips of fat bacon on the top, basting often with salt and water, and a httle butter. Some like a glass of port wine in the gravy.
This is a difficult dish to attempt by any but skillful hands. Carve across in slices, and serve with tomato sauce.
ROAST GOOSE.
The goose should not oe more than eight months old, and the fatter the more tender and juicy the meat. Stuff with the following mixture: Three pints of bread-crumbs, six ounces of butter, or part butter and part salt pork, one tea- spoonful each of sage, black pepper and salt, one chopped onion. Do not stuff very full, and stitch openings firmly together to keep flavor in and fat out. Place in a baking pan with a httle water, and baste frequently with salt and water (some add vinegar); turn often so that the sides and back may be nicely browned. Bake two hours or more; when done take from the pan, pour off the fat, and to the brown gravy left, add the chopped giblets which have previously been stewed until tender, together with the water they were boiled in; thicken with a little floiu* and butter rubbed together, bring to a boil and serve. English style.
ROAST CHICKEN.
Kck and draw them, wash out well in two or three waters, adding a httle soda to the last but one to sweeten it. if there is doubt as to its being fresh. Dry it
POULTRY AND GAME, 75
well with a clean cloth^ and fill the crop and body with a stuffing the same as " Dressing for Fowls." Lay it in a dripping-pan; put a pint of hot water and a piece of butter in the dripping-pan, add to it a small tablespoonf ul of salt, and a small teaspoonful of pepper; baste frequently, and let it roast quickly, without scorching; when nearly done, put a piece of butter the size of a large egg to the water in the pan; when it melts, baste with it, dredge a Uttle flour over, baste again, and let it finish; half an hour will roast a full-grown chicken, if the fire is right. When done, take it up.
Having stewed the necks, gizzards, livers and hearts in a very little water, strain it and mix it hot with the gravy that has dripped from the fowls, and which must be first skimmed. Thicken it with a httle browned flour, add to it the hvers, hearts and gizzards chopped smaU. Or, put the giblets in the pan with the chicken, and let them roast. Send the fowls to the table with the gravy in a boat. Cranberry sauce should accompany them, or any tart sauce.
BOILED CHICKEN.
Clean, wash and stuff, as for roasting. Baste a floured cloth around each, and put into a pot with enough boiling water to cover them well. The hot water cooks the skin at once and prevents the escape of the juice. The broth will not be so rich as if the fowls are put on in cold water, but this is a proof that the meat will be more nutritious and better flavored. Stew very slowly, for the first half hour especially. Boil an hour or more, guidiug yoinrself by size and toughness. Serve with egg, bread, or oyster sauce. (See Sauces.)
STEAMED CHICKEN.
Rub the chicken on the inside with pepper and half a teaspoonful of salt; place in a steamer in a kettle that will keep it as near the water as possible, cover, and steam an hour and a half; when done, keep hot while dressing is prepared, then cut up, arrange on the platter, and serve with the dressing over them.
The dressing is made as follows: Boil one pint of gravy from the kettle with- out the fat, add cayenne pepper and half a teaspoonful of salt; stir a tablespoonf ul of flour into a quarter of a pint of cream until smooth, and add to the gravy. Com starch may be used instead of the flom-, and some cooks add nutmeg or celery salt.
FRICASSEE CHICKEN.
Cut up two young chickens, put them in a stew-pan with just enough cold water to cover them. Cover closely, and let them heat very slowly; then stew
76 PO UL TR y AND GAME.
them over an nour, or until tender. K they are old chickens, they will require long, slow boiUng, often from three to four hours. When tender, season with salt and pepper, a piece of butter as large as an egg, and a httle celery, if liked. Stir up two tablespoonfuls of flour in a little water or milk, and add to the stew, also two well beaten yolks of eggs; let all boil up one minute; arrSmge the chicken on a warm platter, pour some of the gravy over it, and send the rest to the table in a boat. The egg should be added to a httle of the cooled gravy, before putting with the hot gravy.
STEWED WHOLE SPRING CHICKEN.
Dress a full-grown spring chicken the same as for roasting, seasoning it with salt and pepper inside and out; then fill the body with oysters; place it in a tin pail with a close-fitting cover. Set the paU in a pot of fast-boiling water and cook imtil the chicken is tender. Dish up the chicken on a warm dish, then pour the gravy into a sauce-pan, put into it a tablespoonful jf butter, half of a cupful of cream or rich milk, three hard-boiled eggs chopped fine; some minced herbs and a tablespoonful of flour. Let all boil up and then pour it over the chicken. Serve hot.
PICKLED CHICKEN.
Boil four chickens till tender enough for meat to fall from bones: put meat in a stone jar, and pour over it three pints of cold, good cider vinegar and a pint and a half of the water in which the chickens were boiled; add spices if preferred, and it will be ready for use in two days. This is a popular Sunday evening dish; it is good for luncheon at any time.
RISSOLES OP CHICKEN.
Mince up finely the remains of a cold chicken together with half the quan- tity of lean, cold ham. Mix them well, adding enough white sauce to moisten them. Now have light paste rolled out until about a quarter of an inch or a little more in thickness. Cut the paste into pieces, one inch by two in size, and lay a httle of the mixture upon the centres of half of the pieces and cover them with the other halves, pressing the edges neatly together and forming them into httle rolls. Have your frying-pan ready with plenty of boiling hot lard, or other frying medium, and fry until they become a golden -brown color. A minute or two will be sufficient for this. Then drain them well and serve inmiediately on a napkin.
POULTRY AND GAME. 77
CHICKEN PATTIES.
Mince up fine cold chicken, either roasted or boiled. Season it with pepper and salt, and a little minced parsley and onion. Moisten it with chicken gravy or cream sauce, fill scalloped shells that are lined with pastry with the mixture, and sprinkle bread-crumbs over the tops. Put two or three tiny pieces of butter over each, and bake brown in a hot oven.
TO BROIL CHICKEN.
After dressing and washing the chickens as previously directed, spht them open through the back-bone; frog them by cutting the cords under the wings and laying the wings out flat; cut the sinews under the second joint of the leg and turn the leg down; press down the breast-bone without breaking it.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper, lay it upon the gridiron with the inside first to the fire; put the gridiron over a slow fire, and place a tin sheet and weight upon the chicken, to keep it flat; let it broil ten minutes, then turn and proceed in the same manner with the other side.
The chicken should be perfectly cooked, but not scorched. A broiled chicken brought to the table with its wings and legs burnt, and its breast half cooked, is very disagreeable. To avoid this, the chicken must be closely watched while broiling, and the fire must be arranged so that the heat shaU be equally dis- pensed. When the fire is too hot under any one part of the chicken, put a little ashes on the fire imder that part, that the heat may be reduced.
Dish a broiled chicken on a hot plate, putting a large lump of butter and a tablespoonf ul of hot water upon the plate, and turning the chicken two or three times that it may absorb as much of the butter as possible. Garnish with parsley. Serve with poached eggs on a separate dish. It takes from thirty to forty minutes to broil a chicken well.
CHICKEN PIE.
Prepare the chicken as for fricassee. When the chickens are stewed tender, seasoned, and the gravy thickened, take it from the fire; take out the largest bones, scrape the meat from the neck and back-bone, throw the bones away; line the sides of a four or six quart pudding-dish with a rich baking powder or soda biscuit-dough, a quarter of an inch thick; put in part of the chicken, a few lumps of butter, pepper and salt, if needed, some cold boiled eggs cut in slices. Add the rest of the chicken and season as before; a few new potatoes in their season might be added. Poinr over the gravy, being sure to have enough to
78 POULTRY AND GAME.
fill the dish, and cover with a crust a quarter of an inch thick, made with a hole in the centre the size of a teacup.
Brush over the top with beaten white of egg, and bake for half to three- quarters of an hour. Gfamish the top with small bright celery leaves, neatly arranged in a circle.
FRIED CHICKEN.
Wash and cut up a young chicken, wipe it dry, season with salt and pepper, dredge it with flour, or dip each piece in beaten egg and then in cracker-crumbs. Have in a frying-pan, one ounce each of butter and sweet lard, made boiling hot. Lay in the chicken and fry brown on both sides. Take up, drain them, and set aside in a covered dish. Stir into the gravy left, if not too much, a large table- spoonful of flour, make it smooth, add a cup of cream or nulk, season with salt and pepper, boil up and pour over the chicken. Some like chopped parsley added to the gravy. Serve hot.
If the chicken is old, put into a stew-pan with a little water, and simmer gently till tender; season with salt and pepper, dip in flour or cracker-crumb and Qgg, and fry as above. Use the broth the chicken was cooked in to make the gravy instead of the cream or milk, or use an equal quantity of both.
FRIED CHICKEN A LA ITALIENNE.
Make common batter; mix into it a cupful of chopped tomatoes, one onion chopped, some minced parsley, salt and pepper. Cut up young fender chickens, dry them well and dip each piece in the batter; then fry brown in plenty of butter, in a thick bottom frying-pan. Serve with tomato sauce.
CHICKEN CROQUETTES. No. i.
Put a cup of cream or milk in a sauce-pan, set it over the fire, and when it boils add a lump of butter as large as an egg, in which has been mixed a table- spoonful of flour. Let it boil up thick; remove from the fire, and when cool, mix into it a teaspoonf ul of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, a bit of minced onion or parsley, one cup of fine bread-crumbs, and a pint of finely-chopped cooked chicken, either roasted or boiled. Lastly, beat up two eggs and work in with the whole. Floin: your hands and make into small, round, flat cakes; dip in egg and bread-crumbs, and fry like flsh-cakes, in butter and good sweet lard mixed, or like fried cakes in plenty of hot lard. Take them up with a skimmer and lay them on brown paper to free them from the grease. Serve hot.
POULTRY AND GAME. 79
CHICKEN CROQUETTES. No. 2.
Take any kind of fresh meat or fowl, chop very fine, add an equal quantity of smoothly mashed potatoes, mix, and season with butter, salt, black pepper, a little prepared mustard, and a little cayenne pepper; make into cakes, dip in egg and bsead-crumbs and fry a light brown. A nice relish for tea.
TO FRY CROQUETTES.
Beat up two eggs in a deep bowl; roll enough crackers until you have a cup- ful of crumbs, or the same of fine stale bread-crumbs; spread the crumbs on a large plate or pie-tin. Have over the fire a kettle containing two or three inches of boiling lard. As fast as the croquettes are formed, roll them in the crumbs, then dip them in the beaten egg, then again roll them in crumbs; drop them in the smoking hot fat and fry them a Ught golden brown.
PRESSED CHICKEN.
Clean and cut up your chickens. Stew in just enough water to cover them. When nearly cooked, season them well with salt and pepper. Let them stew down until the water is nearly all boiled out, and the meat drops easily from the bones. Remove the bones and gristle; chop the meat rather coarsely, then tiun it back into the stew-kettle, where the broth was left (after skimming off all fat), and let it heat through again. Turn it into a square bread-pan, placing a platter on the top, and a heavy weight on the platter. This, if properly prepared, will turn out like a mold of jeUy and may be shced in smooth, even slices. The suc- cess of this depends upon not having too much water; it will not jelly if too weak, or if the water is allowed to boil away entirely while cooking. A good way to cook old fowls.
CHICKEN LUNCH FOR TRAVELLING.
Cut a young chicken down the back; wash and wipe dry; season with salt and pepper; put in a dripping pan and bake in a moderate oven three-quai1;ers of an hour. This is much better for travelling lunch than when seasoned with butter.
All kinds of poultry and meat can be cooked quicker by adding to the water in which they are boiled a Uttle vinegar or a piece of lemon. By the use of a little acid there will be a considerable saving of fuel, as well as shortening of time. Its action is beneficial on old tough meats, rendering them quite tender and easy of digestion. Tainted meats and fowls will lose their bad taste and
80 POULTRY AND GAME.
odor if cooked in this way, and if not used too freely no taste of it will be acquired.
POTTED CHICKEN.
Strip the meat from the bones of a cold, roast fowl; to every pound of meat allow a quarter of a pound of butter, salt and cayenne pepper to taste; one tea- spoonful of pounded mace, hsdf a small nutmeg. Cut the meat into small pieces, pound it well with the butter, sprinkle in the spices gradually, and keep pounding until reduced to a perfectly smooth paste. Pack it into small jars and cover with clarified butter, about a quarter of an inch in thickness. Two or three slices of ham, minced and pounded with the above, wiU be an improve- ment. Keep in a dry place. A luncheon or breakfast dish.
Old fowls can be made very tender by putting into them, while boiUng, a piece of soda as large as a bean.
SCALLOPED CHICKEN.
Divide a fowl into joints and boil till the meat leaves the bone readily. Take out the bones and chop the meat as small as dice. Thicken the water in which the fowl was boiled with flour, and season to taste with butter and salt. Fill a deep dish with alternate layers of bread-crumbs and chicken and shoes of cooked potatoes, having crumbs on top. Poxu* the gravy over the top, and add a few bits of butter and bake till nicely browned. There should be gravy enough to moisten the dish. Serve with a garnish of parsley. Tiny new potatoes are nice in place of sliced ones, when in season.
BREADED CHICKEN.
Prepare yoimg chickens as for fricassee by cutting them into pieces. Dip each piece in beaten egg, then in grated bread-crumbs or rolled cracker; season them with pepper and salt, and a httle minced parsley. Place them in a baking- ])an, and put on the top of each piece a lump of butter, add half of a cupful of hot water; bake slowly, basting often. When sufficiently cooked take up on a warm platter. Into the pan pour a cup of cream or rich milk, a cupful of bread-crumbs. Stir it well until cooked then pour it over the chicken. Serve while hot.
BROILED CHICKEN ON TOAST.
Broil the usual way, and when thoroughly done take it up in a square tin or dripping-pan, butter it weU, season with pepper and salt, and set it in the oven for a few minutes. Lay slices of moistened buttered toast on a platter; take the
POULTRY AND GAME. 8 1
chicken up over it, add to the gravy in the pan part of a cupful of cream, if you have it; if not, use milk. Thicken with a little flour and pour over the chicken. This is considered most excellent.
CURRY CHICKEN.
Cut up a chicken weighing from a pound and a half to two pounds, as for fricassee, wash it well, and put it into a stew-pan with sufficient water to cover it; boil it closely covered, until tender; add a large teaspoonful of salt, and cook a few minutes longer; then remove from the fire, take out the chicken, pour the liquor into a bowl, and set it one side. Now cut up into the stew-pan two small onions, and fry them with a piece of butter as large as an egg; as soon as the onions are brown, skim them out and put in the chicken; fry for three or four minutes; next sprinkle over two teaspoonfuls of Curry Powder. Now pom: over the liquor in which the chicken was stewed, stir all well together, and stew for five minutes longer, then stir into this a tablespoonf ul of sifted flour made thin with a Uttle water; lastly, stir in a beaten yolk of egg, and it is done.
Serve with hot boiled rice laid roimd on the edge of a platter, and the chicken curry in the centre.
This makes a handsome side dish, and a fine relish accompanying a full dinner of roast beef or any roast.
AD first-class grocers and druggists keep this '* India Curry Powder," put up in bottles. Beef j veal, mutton, duck, pigeons, partridges, rabbits or fresh fish may be substituted for the chicken, if preferred, and sent to the table with or without a dish of rice.
To Boil Rice for Curry. — Pick over the rice, a cupful. Wash it thoroughly in two or three cold waters; then leave it about twenty minutes in cold water. Put into a stew-pan two quai-ts of water with a teaspoonful of salt in it, and when it boils, sprinkle in the rice. Boil it briskly for twenty minutes, keeping the pan covered. Take it from the fire, and drain off the water. Afterwards set the sauce-pan on the back of the stove, with the lid off, to allow the rice to dry and the grains to separate.
Rice, if properly boiled, should be soft and white, and every grain stand alone. Serve it hot in a separate dish or served as above, laid around the chicken curry.
CHICKEN POT-PIE. No. i.
Cut and joint a large chicken, cover with cold water, and let it boil gently
until tender. Season with salt and pepper, and thicken the gravy with two
6
82 POULTRY AND GAME.
tablespoonfuls of flour, mixed smooth with a piece of butter the size of an %^. Have ready nice light bread-dough; cut with the top of a wineglass about half an inch thick; let them stand half an hour and rise, then drop these into the boiling gravy. Put the cover on the pot closely, wrap a cloth around it, in order that no steam shall escape; and by no means allow the pot to cease boiling. Boil three-quarters of an hour.
CHICKEN POT-PIE. No. 2.
This style of pot-pie was made more in our grandmother^s day than now, as most cooks consider that cooking crust so long destroys its spongey Ughtness,and renders it too hard and dry.
Take a pair of fine fowls; cut them up, wash the pieces, and season with pepper only. Make a light biscuit dough, and plenty of it, as it is always much liked by the eaters of pot-pie. Boll out the dough not very thin, and cut most of it into long squares. Butter the sides of a pot, and line them with dough nearly to the top. Lay shces of cold ham at the bottom of the pot, and then the pieces of fowl, interspersed all through with squares of dough and potatoes, pared and quartered. Pour in a quart of water. Cover the whole with a Ud of dough, having a sht in the centre, thi'ough which the gravy will bubble up. Boil it steadily for two hours. Half an hour before you take it up, put in through the hole in the centre of the crust some bits of butter roUed in flour, to thicken the gravy. When done, put the pie on a large dish, and pour the gravy over it.
You inay intersperse it all through with cold ham.
A pot-pie may be made of ducks, rabbits, squirrels, or venison. Also of beef- steak. A beef- steak, or some pork-steaks (the lean only), greatly improve a chicken pot-pie. If you use no ham, season with salt.
CHICKEN STEWED, WITH BISCUIT.
Take chickens, and make a fricassee; just before you are ready to dish it up, have ready two baking- tins of rich soda or baking-powder biscuits; take them from the oven hot, split them apart by breaking them with your hands, lay them on a large meat platter, covering it, then pour the hot chicken stew over alL Send to the table hot. This is a much better way than boiling this kind of biscuit in the stew, as you are more sure of its being always Ught.
CHICKEN DRESSED AS TERRAPIN.
Select young chickens, clean and cut them into pieces; put them into a stew* pan with just enough water to cook them. When tender stir into it half of a
PO UL TR Y AND GAME. 83
cap of butter and one beaten egg. Season it with salt and pepper, a teaspoonful of powdered thyme; add two hard-boiled eggs coarsely minced and a small glass of wine. Boil up once and serve with jeDy.
CHICKEN ROLY-POLY.
One quart of flour, two teaspoonf uls of cream tartar mixed with the flour, one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a teacupful of milk; a teaspoonful of salt; do not use shortening of any kind, but roll out the mixture half an inch thick, and on it lay minced chicken, veal or mutton. The meat must be seasoned with pepper and salt, and be free from gristle. EoU the crust over and over, and put it on a buttered plate and place in a steamer for half an hour. Serve for break- fast or liinch, giving a slice to each person with gravy served with it.
CHICKEN TURNOVERS.
Chop cold roast chicken very fine. Put it into a sauce-pan, place it over the fire, moisten it with a Uttle water and gravy, or a piece of butter. Season with salt and pepper; add a small tablespoonful of sifted flour, dissolved in a httle water; heat all through, and remove from the fire to become cool. When cooled roll out some plain pie-crust quite thin, cut out in rounds as large as a saucer; wet the edge with cold water, and put a large spoonful of the minced meat on one-half of the round; fold the other half over, and pinch the edges well together, then fry them in hot drippings or fat, a nice brown. They may also be cooked in a moderate oven.
CHICKEN PUDDING.
Cut up two yoimg chickens into good- sized pieces; put them in a sauce-pan with just enough water to cover them well. When boiled quite tender, season with salt and pepper; let them simmer ten or fifteen minutes longer; then take the chicken from the broth and remove all the large bones. Place the meat in a well-buttered pudding-dish, season again, if necessary, adding a few bits of butter. Pour over this the following batter:
Eight eggs beaten light and mixed with one quart of milk, three tablespoon- fuls of melted butter, a teaspoonful of salt, and two large teaspoonf uls of baking powder, added to enough sifted flour to make a batter Uke griddle-cakes.
Bake one hour in a moderate oven.
Make a gravy of the broth that remained from the cooking of the chicken, adding a tablespoonful of flour, stirred into a third of a cup of melted butter; let it bofl up, putting in more water, if necessary. Serve hot in a gravy boat, with the pudding.
84 POULTRY AND GAME.
CHICKEN AND MACCARONI.
Boil a chicken until very tender, take out all the bones, and pick up the meat quite fine. Boil half a pound of maccaroni until tender, first breaking it up to pieces an inch long. Butter a deep pudding-dish, put on the bottom a layer of the cooked maccaroni, then a layer of the minced chicken, bits of butter, pepper and salt, then some of the chicken liquor, over this put another layer of macca- roni, and so on, until the dish is filled. Pour a cup of cream over the whole, and bake half an hour. Serve on a platter.
ROAST DUCK. (Tame.)
Pick, draw, dean thoroughly, and wipe dry. Cut the neck dose to the back, beat the breast-bone flat with a rolling-pin, tie the wings and l^s securely, and stuff with the following:
Three pints bread-crumbs, six ounces butter, or part butter and salt pork, two chopped onions and one teaspoonful each of sage, black pepper and salt. Do not stuff very full, and sew up the openings firmly to keep the flavor in and the fat out. If not fat enoughs it should be larded with salt pork, or tie a slice upon the breast. Place in a baking-pan, with a little water, and baste frequently with salt and water— some add onion, and some vinegar; txun often, so that the sides and back may all be nicely browned. When nearly done, baste with butter and a Uttle flour. These directions will apply to tame geese as well as ducks. Young ducks should roast from twenty-five to thirty minutes, and full- grown ones for an hour or more, with frequent basting. Some prefer them underdone and served very hot; but, as a rule, thorough cooking will prove more palatable. Make a gravy out of the neck and gizzards by putting them in a quart of cold water, that must be reduced to a pint by boiling. The giblets, when done, may be chopped fine and added to the juice. The preferred season- ings are one table-spoonful of Madeira or sherry, a blade of mace, one small onion, and a Uttle cayenne pepper; strain through a hair sieve; pour a little over the ducks and serve the remainder in a boat. Served with jellies or any tart sauce.
BRAISED DUCKS.
Prepare a pair of fine young ducks, the same as for roasting, place them in a stew-pan together with two or three slices of bacon, a carrot, an onion stuck with two cloves, and a little thyme and parsley. Season with pepper, and cover the whole with a broth, adding to the broth a gill of white wine. Place the pan
POULTRY AND GAME. 85
over a gentle fire and allow the ducks to sunnier until done, basting them fre- quently. When done remove them from the pan, and place them where they win keep hot. A tiunip should then be cut up and fried in some butter. When nicely browned, drain the pieces and cook them until tender in the liquor in which the ducks were braised. Now strain and thicken the gravy, and after dishing up the ducks, pour it over them, garnishing with the pieces of turnip.
— Palmer House y Cliicago.
STEWED DUCK.
Prepare them by cutting them up the same as chicken for fricassee. Lay two or three very thin slices of salt pork upon the bottom of a stew-pan; lay the pieces of duck upon the pork. Let them stew slowly for an hour, closely cov- ered. Then season with salt and pepper, half a teaspoonful of powdered sage, or some green sage minced fine; one chopped onion. Stew another half hour until the duck is tender. Stir up a large tablespoonf ul of brown flour in a Uttle water and add it to the stew. Let it boil up, and serve all together in one dish,
accompanied with green peas.
— Palmer House, Chicago.
DUCK PIE.
Cut all the meat from cold roast ducks; put the bones and stufling into cold water; cover them and let boil; put the meat into a deep dish; pour on enough of the stock made from the bones to moisten; cover with pastry slit in the centre with a knife, and bake a light brown.
WARMED UP DUCK.
A nice dish for breakfast, and very relishing, can be made from the remains of a roast of duck. Cut the meat from the bones, pick out all the little tidbits in the recesses, lay them in a frying-pan, and cover with water and the cold gravy left from the roast; add a piece of butter; let all boil up once and if not quite thick enough, stir in a Uttle dissolved flour. Serve hot.
ROAST WILD DUCK.
Wild duck should not be dressed too soon after being killed. If the weather is cold it will be better for being kept several days. Bake in a hot oven, letting it remain for five or ten minutes without basting to keep in the gravy, then baste frequently with butter and water. If over-done it loses flavor, 30 to 40 minutes in the right kind of an oven being sufficient. Serve on a very hot dish, and send to table as hot as possible with a cut lemon and the following sauce:
86 POULTRY AND GAME.
Put in a tiny sauce-pan a tablespoonful each of Worcestershire sauce and
mushroom catsup, a httle salt and cayenne pepper, and the juice of half a
lemon. Mix well, make it hot, remove from the fire, and stir in a teaspoonful
of made mustard. Pour into a hot gravy boat.
— Oalifomia Style, Lick Bouse.
WILD DUCKS.
Most wild ducks are apt to have the flavor of fish, and when in the hands of inexperienced cooks are sometimes unpalatable on this account. Before roasting them, parboil them with a small peeled carrot put within each duck. This absorbs the unpleasant taste. An onion will have the same effect, but unless you use onions in the stufBng, the carrot is preferable. Boast the same as tame duck. Or put into the duck a whole onion peeled, plenty of salt and pepper and a glass of claret, bake in a hot oven 20 minutes. Serve hot with the gravy it yields in cooking and a dish of currant jeUy.
CANVAS-BACK DUCK.
The epicurean taste declares that this special kind of bird requires no spices
or flavors to make it perfect, as the meat pai*takes of the flavor of the food
that the bird feeds upon, being mostly wild celery; and the delicious flavor is
best preserved when roasted quickly with a hot fire. After dressing the duck
in the usual way, by plucking, singing, drawing, wipe it with a wet towel, truss
the head under the wing; place it in a dripping-pan, put it in the oven, basting
often, and roast it half an hour. It is generally preferred a httle underdone.
Place it when done on a hot dish, season well with salt and pepper, pour over it
the gravy it has yielded in baking and serve it immediately while hot.
— Delmonico.
ROAST PIGEONS.
Pigeons lose their flavor by being kept more than a day after they are killed. They may be prepared and roasted or broiled the same as chickens; they will require from twenty to thirty minutes cooking. Make a gravy of the giblets or not, season it with pepper and salt, and add a Uttle floxu* and butter.
STEWED PIGEONS.
Clean and stuff with onion dressing, thyme, etc., — do not sew up; take five or more slices of corned pork, let it fry a while in a pot so that the fat comes out and it begins to brown a httle; then lay the pigeons all around in the fat, leaving the pork still in; add hot water enough to partially cover them; cover tightly and boil an hour or so until tender; then turn off some of the Uquid, and keep
FOULTR Y AND GAME, 5 ^
turning them so they will brown nicely; then heat and add the Uquor poured oflf ; add extra thyme, pepper, and keep turning until the pigeons and gravy are nicely browned. Thicken with a Uttle flour, and serve with the gravy poiured over them; garnish with parsley.
PIGEON PIE.
Take half a dozen pigeons; stuff each one with a dressing the same as for turkey; loosen the joints with a knife, but do not separate them. Put them in a stew-pan with water enough to cover them, let them cook until nearly tender, then season them with salt and pepper and butter. Thicken the gravy with flour, remove and cool. Butter a pudding dish, line the sides with a rich crust. Have ready some hard-boiled eggs cut in slices. Put in a layer of egg and birds and gravy until the dish is full. Cover with a crust and bake,
BROILED PIGEONS OR SQUABS.
SpUt them down the back and broil the same as chicken; seasoning well with salt, pepper and plenty of butter. Broil slices of salt pork, very thin; place a slice over each bird and serve.
SQUAB POT-PIE.
Cut into dice three ounces of salt pork; divide six wild squabs into pieces, at the joints; remove the skin. Cut up four potatoes into small squares, and pre- pare a dozen small dough balls.
Put into a yellow, deep baking-dish the pork, potatoes and squabs, and then
the balls of dough; season with salt, white pepper, a dash of mace or nutmeg;
add hot water enough to cover the ingredients, cover with a " short '* pie-crust
and bake in a moderate oven three-quarters of an hour.
— Pdlmer House, Chicago.
WOODCOCK, ROASTED.
Skin the head and neck of the bird, pluck the feathers, and truss it by bring- ing the beak of the bird under the wing, and fastening the pinion to the thigh; twist the legs at the knuckles and press the feet upon the thigh. Put a piece of bread under each bird to catch the drippings, baste with butter, dredge with flour, and roast fifteen or twenty minutes with a sharp fire. When done, cut the bread in diamond shape, each piece large enough to stand one bird upon, place them aslant on your dish, and serve with gravy enough to moisten the bread; serve some in the dish and some in the tureen; garnish with shoes of lemon. Roast from twenty to twenty-five minutes.
88 POULTRY AND GAME.
SNIPE.
Snipe are similar to woodcock, and may be served in the same manner; they will, require less time to roast.
REED BIRDS.
Pick and draw them very carefully, salt and dredge with flour, and roast with a quick fire ten or fifteen minutes. Serve on toast with butter and pepper. You can put in each one an oyster dipped in butter and then in bread-crumbs before roasting. They are also very nice broiled.
ROAST QUAIL. Rinse well and steam over boiling water until tender, then dredge with flour, and smother in butter; season with salt and pepper and roast inside the stove; thicken the gravy; serve with green grape jelly, and garnish with parsley.
TO ROAST PARTRIDGES, PHEASANTS, QUAILS OR GROUSE.
Carefully cut out aU the shot, wash thoroughly but quickly, using soda in the water; rinse again, and dry with a clean cloth. Stuff them and sew them up. Skewer the legs and wings to the body, larder the breast with very thin slices of fat salt pork, place them in the oven, and baste with butter and water before taking up, having seasoned them with salt and pepper; or you can leave out the pork and use only butter, or cook them without stuffing. Make a gravy of the drippings thickened with browned flour. Boil up and serve in a boat.
These are all very fine broiled, first spUtting down the back, placing on the gridiron the inside down, cover with a baking tin, and broil slowly at first. Serve with cream gravy.
GAME PIE.
Clean well, inside and out, a dozen small birds, quail, snipe, woodcock, etc., and split them in half; put them in a sauce-pan with about two quarts of water; when it boils, skim off all scum that rises; then add salt and pepper, a bunch dt minced parsley, one onion chopped fine, and three whole cloves. Cut up half a poimd of salt pork into dice, and let all boil until tender, using care that there be enough water to cover the birds. Tliicken this with two tablespoonfuls of browned flour and let it boil up. Stir in a piece of butter as large as an egg; remove from the fire and let it cool. Have ready a pint of potatoes cut as small as dice, and a rich crust made. Line the sides of a buttered pudding-dish with the crust; lay in the birds, then some of the potatoes, then birds and so on, until the dish is full. Pour over the gravy, put on the top crust, with a slit cut in the
POULTRY AND GAME. 89
centre, and bake. The top can be ornamented with pastry leaves m a wreath about the edge, with any fancy design placed in the centre across the sUt.
— Rockaway Beach.
SNOW BIRDS.
One dozen thoroughly cleaned birds; stuff each with an oyster, put them into a yellow dish, and add two ounces of boiled salt pork and three raw potatoes cut into slices; add a pint of oyster liquor, an oimce of butter; salt and pepper; cover the dish with a crust and bake in a moderate oven.
SQUIRREL.
They are cooked similar to rabbits, are excellent when broiled or made into a stew, and, in fact, are very good in all the different styles of cooking similar to rabbit.
There are many species common to this coimtry; among them the black, red, gray and fox. Oophers and chipmxmks may also be classed as another but smaller variety
ROAST HARE OR RABBIT.
A very close relationship exists between the hare and the rabbit, the chief difference being in the smaller size and shorter legs and ears of the latter. The manner of dressing and preparing each for the table is, therefore, pretty nearly the same. To prepare them for roasting, first skin, wash well in cold water and rinse thoroughly in lukewarm water. K a httle musty from being emptied before they were hung up, and afterward neglected, 111b the insides Math vin^ar and afterward remove all taint of the acid by a thorough washing in lukewarm water. After being well wiped with a soft cloth put in a dressing as usual, sew the animal up, truss it, and roast for a half or three-quarters of an hour, until well browned, basting it constantly with butter and dredging with floiu*, just before taking up.
To make a gravy, after the rabbits are roasted, pour nearly aU the fat out of the pan, but do not pour the bottom or brown part of the drippings; put the pan over the fire, stir into it a heaping tablespoonful of flour, and stir until the flour browns. Then stir in a pint of boiling water. Season the gravy with salt and pepper; let it boil for a moment. Send hot to the table in a tureen with the hot rabbits. Serve with currant jelly.
FRICASSEE RABBIT.
Clean two young rabbits, cut into joints, and soak in salt and water half an hour. Put into a sauce-i)an with a pint of cold water, a bunch of sweet herbs,
90 POULTRY AND GAME.
an onion finely minced, a pinch of mace, half a nutmeg, a pinch of pepper and half a pound of salt pork cut in small thin slices. Cover and stew \mtil tender. Take out the rabbits and set in a dish where they will keep warm. Add to the gravy a cup of cream (or milk), two well-beaten eggs, stirred in a Httle at a time, a tablespoonf ul of butter, and a thickening made of a tablespoonf ul of flour and a little milk. Boil up once; remove the sauce-pan from the fire, squeeze in the juice of a lemon, stirring all the while, and pour over the rabbits. Do not cook the head or neck.
FRIED RABBIT.
After the rabbit has been thoroughly cleaned and washed, put it into boiling water, and let it boil ten minutes; drain it, and when cold, cut it into joints, dip into beaten egg, and then in fine bread-crumbs; season with salt and pepper. When all are ready, fry them in butter and sweet lard, mixed over a moderate fire until brown on both sides. Take them out, thicken the gravy with a spoon- ful of flour, turn in a cup of milk or cream; let all boil up, and turn over the rabbits. Serve hot with onion sauce. (See Sauces.) Garnish with sliced lemon.
RABBIT PIE.
This pie can be. made the same as '^Game Pie," exceptiiog you scatter through it four hard-boiled eggs cut in sUces. Cover with puff paste, cut a slit in the middle, and bake one hour, laying paper over the top should it brown too fast.
BROILED RABBITS.
After skinning and cleaning the rabbits, wipe them dry, spht them down the back lengthwise, pound them flat, then wrap them in letter paper well buttered, place them on a buttered gridiron, and broil over a clear, brisk fire, turning them often. When sufiidently cooked, remove the papers, lay them on a very hot platter, season with salt, pepper, and plenty of butter, turning them over and over to soak up the butter. Cover and keep hot in a warming oven until served.
SALMI OF GAME.
This is a nice mode of serving the remains of roasted game, but when a superlative salmi is desired, the birds must be scarcely more than half roasted for it. In either case, carve them very neatly, and strip every particle of skin and fat from the legs, wings and breasts; bruise the bodies well, and put them with the skin and other trimmings into a very clean stew-pan. K for a simple and inexpensive dinner, merely add to them two sliced onions, a bay-leaf, a small
POULTRY AND GAME. 91
l>lade of mace and a few peppercorns; then pour in a pint or more of good veal gravy, or strong broth, and boil it briskly until reduced nearly half; strain the gravy, pressing the bones well to obtain all the flavor; skim off the fat, add a little cayenne and lemon juice, heat the game very gradually in it, but do not on any account allow it to boil; place pieces of fried bread round a dish, arrange the birds in good form in the centre, give the sauce a boil, and pour it on them.
ROAST HAUNCH OF VENISON.
To prepare a haunch of venison for roasting, wash it slightly in tepid water,
and dry it thoroughly by rubbing it with a clean, soft cloth. Lay over the fat
side a large sheet of thickly buttered paper, and next a paste of floin: and water
about three-quarters of an inch thick; cover this again with two or three sheets
of stout paper, secure the