The size of the boiling-pots should be adapted to what they are to contain; the larger the saucepan the more room it takes upon the fire; and a larger quantity of water requires a proportionate increase of fire to boil it. In small families block tin saucepans are best, as being lightest and safest: moreover, if proper care is taken of them, and they are well dried after they are cleansed, they are by far the cheapest; the purchase of a new tin saucepan being little more than the expense of tinning a copper one. Take care that the covers of your boiling-pots fit close, not only to prevent unnecessary evaporation of the water, but that the smoke may not insinuate itself under the edge of the lid, and give the meat a bad taste.

1071. Average Boiling Times.

The following Table will be useful as an average of the time required to boil the various articles:

H.M. A ham, 20 lbs. weight, requires 6 30 A tongue (if dry), after soaking 4 O A tongue out of pickle 2-1/2 to 3 O A neck of mutton 1 30 A chicken O 20 A large fowl O 45 A capon O 35 A pigeon O 15



1072. Remove Immediately.

If you let meat or poultry remain in the water after it is done enough, it will become sodden and lose its flavour.

1073. Degree of Cooking.

Beef and mutton is preferred by some people a little underdone. Very large joints if slightly underdone, will make the better hash or broil. Lamb, pork, and veal are uneatable if not thoroughly boiled—but these meats should not be overdone. A trivet, a fish-drainer, or an American contrivance called a "spider"—which is nothing more than a wire dish raised on three or four short legs—put on the bottom of the boiling-pot, raising the contents about an inch and a half from the bottom, will prevent that side of the meat which comes next the bottom being done too much; and the lower part will be as delicately done as the upper; and this will enable you to take out the meat without inserting a fork, &c., into it. If yeu have not a trivet, a drainer, or a "spider," use a soup-plate laid the wrong side upwards.

1074. Stock.

Take care of the liquor you have boiled poultry or meat in, as it is useful for making soup.

1075. Using the Stock.

The good housewife never boils a joint without converting the broth into some sort of soup.

1076. Reducing Salt.

If the liquor be too salt, use only half the quantity, and add some water; wash salted meat well with cold water before you put it into the boiler.

1077. The Process of Boiling.

Boiling extracts a portion of the juice of meat, which mixes with the water, and also dissolves some of its solids; the more fusible parts of the fat melt out, combine with the water, and form soup or broth. The meat loses its red colour, becomes more savoury in taste and smell, and more firm and digestible. If the process is continued too long, the meat becomes indigestible, less succulent, and tough.

1078. Loss by Boiling (General).

The loss by boiling varies from 6-1/4 to 16 per cent. The average loss on boiling butcher's meat, pork, hams, and bacon, is 12; and on domestic poultry, is 14-3/4.

1079. Loss by Boiling (Specific).

The loss per cent, on boiling salt beef is 15; on legs of mutton, 10; hams, 12-1/2; salt pork, 13-1/3; knuckles of veal, 8-1/3; bacon, 6-1/4; turkeys, 16; chickens, 13-1/2.

1080. Economy of Fat.

In most families many members are not fond of fat—servants seldom like it: consequently there is frequently much wasted; to avoid which, take off bits of suet fat from beefsteaks, &c., previous to cooking; they can be used for puddings. With good management there need be no waste in any shape or form.

[A BELL HUNG WELL ITS TALE WILL TELL.]

1081. Broiling.

Broiling requires a brisk, rapid heat, which by producing a greater degree of change in the affinities of the raw meat than roasting, generates a higher flavour, so that broiled meat is more savoury than roast. The surface becoming charred, a dark-coloured crust is formed, which retards the evaporation of the juices; and, therefore, if properly done, broiled meat may he as tender and juicy as roasted meat.



1082. Baking.

Baking does not admit of the evaporation of the vapours so rapidly as by the processes of broiling and roasting; the fat is also retained more, and becomes converted, by the agency of the heat, into an empyreumatic oil, which renders the meat less fitted for delicate stomachs, and more difficult to digest. The meat is, in fact, partly boiled in its own confined water, and partly roasted by the dry, hot air of the oven. The loss by baking has not been estimated and reduced to a tabular form.

1083. Frying.

Frying is of all methods the most objectionable, from the foods being less digestible when thus prepared, as the fat employed undergoes chemical changes. Olive oil in this respect is preferable to lard or butter. The crackling noise which accompanies the process of frying meat in a pan is occasioned by the explosions of steam formed in fat, the temperature of which is much above 212 degrees. If the meat is very juicy it will not fry well, because it becomes sodden before the water is evaporated; and it will not brown, because the temperature is too low to scorch it. To fry fish well the fat should be boiling hot (600 degrees), and the fish well dried in a cloth; otherwise, owing to the generation of steam the temperature will fall so low that it will be boiled in its own steam, and not be browned. Meat, or indeed any article, should be frequently turned and agitated during frying to promote the evaporation of the watery particles. To make fried things look well, they should be done over twice with egg and stale bread-crumbs.

1084. Bastings.

i. Fresh butter. ii. Clarified suet. iii. Minced sweet herbs, butter, and claret, especially for mutton and lamb. iv. Water and salt. v. Cream and melted butter, especially for a flayed pig. vi. Yolks of eggs, grated biscuit and juice of oranges.

1085. Dredgings.

i. Flour mixed with grated bread. ii. Sweet herbs dried and powdered, and mixed with grated bread. iii. Lemon-peel dried and pounded, or orange-peel, mixed with flour. iv. Sugar finely powdered, and mixed with pounded cinnamon, and flour or grated bread. v. Fennel seeds, corianders, cinnamon, and sugar, finely beaten and mixed with grated bread or flour. vi. For young pigs, grated bread or flour, mixed with beaten nutmeg, ginger, pepper, sugar, and yolks of eggs. vii. Sugar, bread, and salt mixed.

1086. Estimating Meat for Cooking.

The housewife who is anxious to dress no more meat than will suffice for the meal, should remember that beef loses about one pound in four in boiling, but in roasting, loses in the proportion of one pound five ounces, and in baking about two ounces less, or one pound three ounces; mutton loses in boiling about fourteen ounces in four pounds; in roasting, one pound six ounces.

1087. Caution on Charcoal.

Cooks should be cautioned against the use of charcoal in any quantity, except whore there is a free current of air; for charcoal is highly prejudicial in a state of ignition, although it may be rendered even actively beneficial when boiled, as a small quantity of it, if boiled with meat on the turn, will effectually cure the unpleasant taint.

[AN ILL-FIXED BLIND NO ONE CAN WIND.]

1O88. Preparation of Vegetables.

There is nothing in which the difference between an elegant and an ordinary table is more seen, than in the dressing of vegetables, more especially of greens; they may be equally as fine at first, at one place as at another, but their look and taste are afterwards very different, entirely from the careless way in which they have been cooked. They are in greatest perfection when in greatest plenty, i.e., when in full season. By season, we do not mean those early days, when luxury in the buyers, and avarice in the sellers about London, force the various vegetables, but the time of the year in which, by nature and common culture, and the mere operation of the sun and climate, they are most plenteous and in perfection.

1089. New Potatoes and Green Peas.

New Potatoes and green peas, unless sent to us from warmer latitudes than our own, are seldom worth eating before Midsummer.

1090. Unripe Vegetables.

Unripe vegetables are as insipid and unwholesome as unripe fruits.

1091. The Quality of Vegetables.

As to the quality of vegetables, the middle size are preferable to the largest or the smallest; they are more tender, juicy, and full of flavour, just before they are quite full-grown: freshness is their chief value and excellence. The eye easily discovers if they have been kept too long; they soon lose their beauty in all respects.

1092. Freshness of Vegetables.

Roots, greens, salads, &c., and the various productions of the garden, when first gathered, are plump and firm, and have a fragrant freshness no art can give them again; though it will refresh them a little to put them into cold spring water for some time before they are dressed.

1093. To Boil Vegetables.

Soft water will best preserve the colour of such as are green; if you have only hard water, put to it a teaspoonful of carbonate of potash.

1094. Preparing Vegetables.

Take care to wash and cleanse Vegetables thoroughly from dust, dirt, and insects—this requires great attention. Pick off all the outside leaves, trim them nicely, and if they are not quite fresh-gathered and have become flaccid, it is absolutely necessary to restore their crispness before cooking them, or they will be tough and unpleasant. To do this, lay them in a pan of clean water, with a handful of salt in it, for an hour before you dress them. Most vegetables being more or less succulent, it is necessary that they possess their full proportion of fluids in order to retain that state of crispness and plumpness which they have when growing.

1095. Staleness.

On being cut or gathered, the exhalation from their surface continues, while from the open vessels of the cut surface there is often great exudation or evaporation, and thus their natural moisture is diminished; tho tender leaves become flaccid, and the thicker masses or roots lose their plumpness. This is not only less pleasant to the eye, but is a serious injury to the nutritious powers of the vegetable; for in this flaccid and shrivelled state its fibres are less easily divided in chewing, and the water which exists in the form of their respective natural juices is less directly nutritious.

1096. Preservation.

The first Care in the preservation of succulent vegetables, therefore, is to prevent them from losing their natural moisture. They should alway be boiled in a saucepan by themselves, and have plenty of water: if meat is boiled with them in the same pot, the one will spoil the look and taste of the other.

1097. Cleaning.

To have vegetables delicately clean, put on your pot, make it boil, put a little salt in, and skim it perfectly clean before you put in the greens, &c., which should not be put in till the water boils briskly: the quicker they boil the greener they will be.

1098. When Done.

When the vegetables sink, they are generally done enough, if the water has been kept constantly boiling. Take them up immediately, or they will lose their colour and goodness, Drain the water from them thoroughly before you send them to table. This branch of cookery requires the most vigilant attention.

[KEEP YOUR KEYS AND BE AT EASE.]

1099. Over-Cooked.

If vegetables are a minute or two too long over the fire, they lose all their beauty and flavour.

1100. Undercooked.

If not thoroughly boiled tender, they are very indigestible, and much more troublesome during their residence in the stomach than underdone meats.

1101. Take Care your Vegetables are Fresh.

To preserve or give colour in cookery many good dishes are spoiled; but the rational epicure, who makes nourishment the main end of eating, will be content to sacrifice the shadow to enjoy the substance. As the fishmonger often suffers for the sins of the cook, so the cook often gets undeservedly blamed instead of the greengrocer.

1102. To Cleanse Vegetables of Insects.

Make a strong brine of one pound and a half of salt to one gallon of water; into this, place the vegetables with the stalk ends uppermost, for two or three hours: this will destroy all the insects which cluster in the leaves, and they will fall out and sink to the bottom of the water.

1103. Potatoes.

Most people esteem potatoes beyond any other vegetable, yet few persons know how to cook them. The following will be found to be excellent methods of cooking this delicious esculent.

1104. To Boil Potatoes.

Put them into a saucepan with scarcely sufficient water to cover them. Directly the skins begin to break, lift them from the fire, and as rapidly as possible pour off every drop of the water. Then place a coarse (we need not say clean) towel over them, and return them to the fire again until they are thoroughly done, and quite dry. A little salt, to flavour, should be added to the water before boiling.

1105. To Peel Potatoes.

The above recipe is for boiling potatoes in their jackets, as the phrase goes. When potatoes are to be peeled prior to cooking, the tubers should first be well washed and put in a bowl of clean water. As each potato is taken out of this receptacle and peeled, it should be thrown into another bowl of cold water, close at hand to receive them. This prevents undue discolouration of the potatoes.

1106. To Steam Potatoes.

Some kinds of potatoes are better steamed than boiled. Whether dressed with the skins on or off a careful eye must be kept on them, and when they are nearly done the steamer should be removed, the water in the saucepan thrown off, and the steamer then replaced, in order to allow the process of cooking to be completed. Some people shake the steamer when potatoes are somewhat close and heavy, under the idea that it renders them floury, and in many cases the shaking has this effect.

1107. Potatoes Fried with Fish.

Take cold fish and cold potatoes. Pick all the bones from the former, and mash the fish and the potatoes together; form into rolls, and fry with lard until the outsides are brown and crisp. For this purpose, the drier kinds of fish, such as cod, hake, &c., are preferable; turbot, soles, eels, &c., are not so good. This is an economical and excellent relish.

1108. Potatoes Mashed with Onions.

Prepare some boiled onions, by putting them through a sieve, and mix them with potatoes. Regulate the portions according to taste.

1109. Potato Cheesecakes.

One pound of mashed potatoes, quarter of a pound of currants, quarter of a pound of sugar and butter, and four eggs, to be well mixed together; bake them in patty-pans, having first lined them with puff paste.

1110. Potato Colcanon.

Boil potatoes and greens (or spinach) separately; mash the potatoes; squeeze the greens dry; chop them quite fine, and mix them with the potatoes with a little butter, pepper, and salt. Put into a mould, buttering it well first: let it stand in a hot oven for ten minutes.

[A CHAIR UNSOUND SOON FINDS THE GROUND.]

1111. Potatoes Roasted under Meat.

Half boil large potatoes; drain the water; put them into an earthen dish, or small tin pan, under meat roasting before the fire; baste them with the dripping. Turn them to brown on all sides; send up in a separate dish.

1112. Potato Balls Ragout.

Add to a pound of potatoes a quarter of a pound of grated ham, or some sweet herbs, or chopped parsley, an onion or shalot, salt, pepper, and a little grated nutmeg, and other spice, with the yolk of a couple of eggs; then dress as Potatoes Escalloped. (1116).

1113. Potato Snow.

Pick out the whitest potatoes, put them on in cold water; when they begin to crack, strain, and put them in a clean stewpan before the fire till they are quite dry, and fall to pieces; rub them through a wire sieve upon the dish they are to be sent up on, and do not disturb them afterwards.

1114. Potatoes Fried Whole.

When nearly boiled enough, put them into a stewpan with a bit of butter, or some clean beef dripping; shake them about often, to prevent burning, till they are brown and crisp; drain them from the fat. It will be an improvement if they are floured and dipped into the yoke of an egg, and then rolled in finely sifted bread-crumbs.

1115. Potatoes Fried in Slices.

Peel large potatoes, slice them about a quarter of an inch thick, or cut them into shavings, as you would peel a lemon; dry them well in a clean cloth, and fry them in lard or dripping. Take care that the fat and frying-pan are quite clean; put it on a quick fire, and as soon as the lard boils, and is still, put in the slices of potato, and keep moving them until they are crisp; take them up, and lay them to drain on a sieve. Send to table with a little salt sprinkled over them.

1116. Potatoes Escalloped.

Mash potatoes in the usual way; then butter some nice clean scallop-shells, pattypans, or tea cups or saucers; put in your potatoes; make them smooth at the top; cross a knife over them; strew a few fine bread-crumbs on them; sprinkle them with a paste-brush with a few drops of melted butter, and set them in a Dutch oven. When nicely browned on the top, take them carefully out of the shells, and brown on the other side. Cold potatoes may be warmed up this way.

1117. Potato Scones.

Mash boiled potatoes till they are quite smooth, adding a little salt; then knead out the flour, or barley-meal, to the thickness required; toast on the girdle, pricking them with a fork to prevent them blistering. When eaten with fresh or salt butter they are equal to crumpets—even superior, and very nutritious.

1118. Potato Pie.

Peel and slice your potatoes very thinly into a pie-dish; between each layer of potatoes put a little chopped onion, and sprinkle a little pepper and salt; put in a little water, and cut about two ounces of fresh butter into bits, and lay them on the top; cover it close with paste. The yolks of four eggs may be added; and when baked, a tablespoonful of good mushroom ketchup poured in through a funnel. Another method is to put between the layers small bits of mutton, beef, or pork. In Cornwall, turnips are added. This constitutes (on the Cornish method) a cheap and satisfactory dish for families.

1119. Cold Potatoes.

There are few articles in families more subject to waste, whether in paring, boiling, or being actually wasted, than potatoes; and there are few cooks who do not boil twice as many potatoes every day as are wanted, and fewer still who do not throw the residue away as being totally unfit in any shape for the next day's meal; yet if they would take the trouble to beat up the despised cold potatoes with an equal quantity of flour, they would find them produce a much lighter dumpling or pudding than they can make with flour alone: and by the aid of a few spoonfuls of good gravy, they will provide a cheap and agreeable appendage to the dinner table.

[EVERY RECEIPT IS THE BASIS OF MANY OTHERS.]

1120. Mashed Potatoes and Spinach or Cabbage.

Moisten cold mashed potatoes with a little white sauce: take cold cabbage or spinach, and chop it very finely. Moisten with a brown gravy. Fill a tin mould with layers of potatoes and cabbage; cover the top, and put it into a stewpan of boiling water. Let it remain long enough to warm the vegetables; then turn the vegetables out and serve them. Prepare by boiling the vegetables separately, and put them into the mould in layers, to be turned out when wanted. It forms a very pretty dish for an entree.

1121. Cold Carrots and Turnips.

These may be added to soups, if they have not been mixed with gravies: or if warmed up separately, and put into moulds in layers, they may be turned out, and served the same as the potatoes and cabbage described above.

1122. French Beans.

Cut away the stalk-end, and strip off the strings, then cut them into shreds. If not quite fresh, have a basin of spring water, with a little salt dissolved in it, and as the beans are cleaned and stringed throw them in; put them on the fire in boiling water, with some salt in it; after they have boiled fifteen or twenty minutes, take one out and taste it; as soon as they are tender take them up, throw them into a cullender or sieve to drain. Send up the beans whole when they are very young.

1123. Boiled Turnip Radishes.

Boil in plenty of salted water, and in about twenty-five minutes they will be tender; drain well, and send them to table with melted butter. Common radishes, when young, tied in bunches, boiled for twenty minutes, and served on a toast, are excellent.

1124. Asparagus.

Asparagus (often mis-called "asparagrass").—Scrape the stalks till they are clean; throw them into a pan of cold water, tie them up in bundles of about a quarter of a hundred each; cut off the stalks at the bottom to a uniform length leaving enough to serve as a handle for the green part; put them into a stewpan of boiling water, with a handful of salt in it. Let it boil, and skim it. When they are tender at the stalk, which will be in from twenty to thirty minutes, they are done enough.

Watch the exact time of their becoming tender; take them up that instant. While the asparagus is boiling, toast a round of a a quartern loaf, about half an inch thick; brown it delicately on both sides; dip it lightly in the liquor the asparagus was boiled in, and lay it in the middle of a dish; melt some butter, but do not put it over them. Serve butter in a butter-boat.

1125. Artichokes.

Soak them in cold water, wash them well; put them into plenty of boiling water, with a handful of salt, and let them boil gently for an hour and a half or two hours: trim them and drain on a sieve; send up melted butter with them, which some put into small cups, one for each guest.

1126. Stewed Water-Cress.

The following receipt will be found an agreeable and wholesome dish:—Lay the cress in strong salt and water, to clear it from insects. Pick and wash nicely, and stew it in water for about ten minutes; drain and chop, season with pepper and salt, add a little butter, and return it to the stewpan until well heated. Add a little vinegar previously to serving; put around it sippets of toast or fried bread. The above, made thin, as a substitute for parsley and butter, will be found an excellent sauce for a boiled fowl. There should be considerably more of the cress than of the parsley, as the flavour is much milder.

[A GOOD SUGGESTION IS OFTEN INVALUABLE.]

1127. Stewed Mushrooms.

Cut off the ends of the stalks, and pare neatly some middle-sized or button mushrooms, and put them into a basin of water with the juice of a lemon as they are done. When all are prepared, take them from the water with the hands to avoid the sediment, and put them into a stewpan with a little fresh butter, white pepper, salt, and a little lemon juice; cover the pan close, and let them stew gently for twenty minutes or half an hour; then thicken the butter with a spoonful of flour, and add gradually sufficient cream, or cream and milk, to make the same about the thickness of good cream. Season the sauce to palate, adding a little pounded mace or grated nutmeg. Let the whole stew gently until the mushrooms are tender. Remove every particle of butter which may be floating on the top before serving.

1128. Indications of Wholesome Mushrooms.

Whenever a fungus is pleasant, in flavour and odour, it may be considered wholesome; if, on the contrary, it have an offensive smell, a bitter, astringent, or styptic taste, or even if it leave an unpleasant flavour in the mouth, it should not be considered fit for food. The colour, figure, and texture of these vegetables do not afford any characters on which we can safely rely; yet it may be remarked that in colour the pure yellow, gold colour, bluish pale, dark or lustre brown, wine red, or the violet, belong to many that are eatable; whilst the pale or sulphur yellow, bright or blood-red, and the greenish belong to few but the poisonous. The safe kinds have most frequently a compact, brittle texture; the flesh is white; they grow more readily in open places, such as dry pastures and waste lands, than in places humid or shaded by wood. In general, those should be suspected which grow in caverns and subterranean passages, on animal matter undergoing putrefaction, as well as those whose flesh is soft or watery.

1129. To Distinguish Mushrooms from Poisonous Fungi.

i. Sprinkle a little salt on the spongy part or gills of the sample to be tried. If they turn yellow, they are poisonous,—if black, they are wholesome. Allow the salt to act, before you decide on the question.

ii. False mushrooms have a warty cap, or else fragments of membrane, adhering to the upper surface, are heavy, and emerge from a vulva or bag; they grow in tufts or clusters in woods, on the stumps of trees, &c., whereas the true mushrooms grow in pastures.

iii. False mushrooms have an astringent, styptic, and disagreeable taste. When cut they turn blue. They are moist on the surface, and generally of a rose or orange colour.

iv. The gills of the true mushroom are of a pinky red, changing to a liver colour. The flesh is white. The stem is white, solid, and cylindrical.

1130. Cookery for Soldiers Sailors, Travellers, and Emigrants.

The following seven receipts are due to the inventive genius of the late Alexis Soyer, who at one time was chief cook of the Reform Club:

1131. Stewed Salt Beef and Pork.

Put into a saucepan about two pounds of well-soaked beef, cut in eight pieces; half a pound of salt pork, divided in two, and also soaked: half a pound of rice, or six tablespoonfuls; a quarter of a pound of onions, or four middle-sized ones, peeled and sliced; two ounces of brown sugar, or a large tablespoonful; a quarter of an ounce of pepper, and five pints of water; simmer gently for three hours, remove the fat from the top, and serve. This dish is enough for six people, and it cannot fail to be excellent if the receipt be closely followed. Butchers' salt meat will require only a four hours' soaking, having been but lightly pickled.

[A GOOD BEGINNING MAKES A GOOD ENDING.]

1132. Mutton Soup.

Put into a pan—half a pound of mutton will make a pint of good family soup—six pounds of mutton, cut in four or six pieces; three quarters of a pound of mixed vegetables, or three ounces of preserved, three and a half teaspoonfuls of salt, one teaspoonful of sugar, and half a teaspoonful of pepper, if handy; five tablespoonfuls of barley or rice; eight pints of water; let it simmer gently for three hours and a half, remove this fat, and serve. Bread and biscuit may be added in small quantities.

1133. Plain Pea Soup.

Put in a pan six pounds of pork, well soaked and cut into eight pieces; pour six quarts of water over; one pound of split peas; one teaspoonful of sugar; half a teaspoonful of pepper; four ounces of fresh vegetables, or two ounces of preserved, if handy; let it boil gently for two hours, or until the peas are tender. When the pork is rather fat, as is generally the case, wash it only; a quarter of a pound of broken biscuit may be used for the soup. Salt beef, when rather fat and well soaked, may be used for pea soup.

1134. French Beef Soup, or Pot au Feu (Camp Fashion).

Put into the kettle six pounds of beef, cut into two or three pieces, bone included; one pound of mixed green vegetables, or half a pound of preserved, in cakes; four teaspoonfuls of salt; if handy, one teaspoonful of pepper, one of sugar, and three cloves; and eight pints of water. Let it boil gently three hours; remove some of the fat, and serve. The addition of a pound and a half of bread, cut into slices, or one pound of broken biscuits, well soaked, will make a very nutritious soup. Skimming is not required.

1135. How to Stew Fresh Beef, Pork, Mutton, and Veal.

Cut or chop two pounds of fresh beef into ten or twelve pieces; put these into a saucepan, with one and a half teaspoonfuls of salt, one teaspoonful of sugar, half a teaspoonful of pepper, two middle-sized onions sliced, half a pint of water. Set on the fire for ten minutes until forming a thick gravy. Add a good teaspoonful of flour, stir on the fire a few minutes; add a quart and a half of water; let the whole simmer until the meat is tender. Beef will take from two hours and a half to three hours; mutton and pork, about two hours; veal, one hour and a quarter to one hour and a half; onions, sugar, and pepper, if not to be had, must be omitted; it will even then make a good dish; half a pound of sliced potatoes, or two ounces of preserved potatoes; either fresh or preserved vegetables may be added if they can be obtained, also a small dumpling.

1136. Plain Boiled Beef.

Put in a saucepan six pounds of well-soaked beef, cut in two, with three quarts of cold water; simmer gently three hours, and serve. About a pound of either carrots, turnips, parsnips, greens, or cabbage, as well as dumplings, may be boiled with it.

1137. Cossack's Plum Pudding.

Put into a basin one pound of flour, three quarters of a pound of raisins (stoned, if time be allowed), three quarters of a pound of the fat of salt pork (well washed, cut into small squares, or chopped), two tablespoonfuls of sugar or treacle; and half a pint of water; mix all together; put into a cloth tied lightly; boil for four hours, and serve. If time will not admit, boil only two hours, though four are preferable. How to spoil the above:—Add anything to it.

1138. Meat Cookery.

1139. Beef Minced.

Cut into small dice remains of cold beef: the gravy reserved from it on the first day of it being served should be put in the stewpan, with the addition of warm water, some mace, sliced shalot, salt, and black pepper. Let the whole simmer gently for an hour, A few minutes before it is served, take out the meat and dish it, add to the gravy some walnut ketchup, and a little lemon juice or walnut pickle. Boil up the gravy once more, and, when hot, pour it over the meat. Serve it with bread sippets.

1140. Beef with Mashed Potatoes.

Mash some potatoes with hot milk, the yolk of an egg, some butter and salt. Slice the cold beef and lay it at the bottom of a pie-dish, adding to it some sliced shalot, pepper, salt, and a little beef gravy; cover the whole with a thick paste of potatoes, making the crust to rise in the centre above the edges of the dish. Score the potato crust with the point of a knife in squares of equal sizes. Put the dish before a fire in a Dutch oven, and brown it on all sides; by the time it is coloured, the meat and potatoes will be sufficiently done.

[TRY ALL THINGS, HOLD FAST THAT WHICH IS GOOD.]

1141. Beef Bubble and Squeak.

Cut into pieces convenient for frying, cold roasted or boiled beef; pepper, salt, and fry them; when done, lay them on a hot drainer, and while the meat is draining from the fat used in frying them, have in readiness a cabbage already boiled in two waters; chop it small, and put it in the frying-pan with some butter, add a little pepper and keep stirring it, that all of it may be equally done. When taken from the fire, sprinkle over the cabbage a very little vinegar, only enough to give it a slightly acid taste. Place the cabbage in the centre of the dish, and arrange the slices of meat neatly around it.

1142. Beef or Mutton Lobscous.

Mince, not too finely, some cold roasted beef or mutton. Chop the bones, and put them in a saucepan with six potatoes peeled and sliced, one onion, also sliced, some pepper and salt; of these make a gravy. When the potatoes are completely incorporated with the gravy, take out the bones and put in the meat; stew the whole together for an hour before it is to be served.

1143. Beef Rissoles.

Mince and season cold beef, and flavour it with mushroom or walnut ketchup. Make of beef dripping a very thin paste, roll it out in thin pieces, about four inches square; enclose in each piece some of the mince, in the same way as for puffs, cutting each neatly all round; fry them in dripping to a very light brown. The paste can scarcely be rolled out too thin.

1144. Veal Minced.

Cut veal from the fillet or shoulder into very small dice; put into veal or mutton broth with a little mace, white pepper, salt, some lemon peel grated, and a tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup or mushroom powder, rubbed smooth into the gravy, Take out some of the gravy when nearly done, and when cool enough thicken it with flour, cream, and a little butter; boil it up with the rest of the gravy, and pour it over the meat when done. Garnish with bread sippets. A little lemon juice added to the gravy improves its flavour.

1145. Veal dressed with White Sauce.

Boil milk or cream with a thickening of flour and butter; put into it thin slices of cold veal, and simmer it in the gravy till it is made hot without boiling. When nearly done, beat up the yolk of an egg, with a little anchovy and white sauce; pour it gently to the rest, stirring it all the time; simmer again the whole together, and serve it with sippets of bread and curled bacon alternately.

1146. Veal Rissoles.

Mince and pound veal extremely fine; grate into it some remains of cooked ham. Mix these well together with white sauce, flavoured with mushrooms: form this mixture into balls, and enclose each in pastry. Fry them in butter to a light brown. The same mince may be fried in balls without pastry, being first cemented together with egg and breadcrumbs.

1147. Mutton Hashed.

Cut cold mutton into thin slices, fat and lean together; make gravy with the bones whence the meat has been taken, boiling them long enough in water, with onion, pepper and salt; strain the gravy, and warm, but do not boil, the mutton in it. Then take out some of the gravy to thicken it with flour and butter, and flavour it with mushroom ketchup. Pour in the thickening and boil it up, having previously taken out the meat, and placed it neatly on the dish in which it is to go to the table. Pour over it the boiling gravy, and add sippets of bread.

1148. Lamb.

Fry slices or chops of lamb in butter till they are slightly browned. Serve them on a puree of cucumbers, or on a dish of spinach; or dip the slices in bread-crumbs, chopped parsley, and yolk of an egg; some grated lemon and a little nutmeg may be added. Fry them, and pour a little nice gravy over them when served.

[WE LEARN SOMETHING, EVEN BY OUR FAILURES.]

1149. Pork.

Slices of cold pork, fried and laid on apple sauce, form an excellent side or corner dish. Boiled pork may also he made into rissoles, minced very fine like sausage meat, and seasoned sufficiently, but not over much.

1150. Round of Salt Beef.

Skewer it tight and round, and tie a fillet of broad tape about it. Put it into plenty of cold water, and carefully remove the scum; let it boil till all the scum is removed, and then put the boiler on one side of the fire, to continue simmering slowly till it is done. Half a round may be boiled for a small family. When you take it up, wash the scum off with a paste-brush—garnish with carrots and turnips.

1151. Aitchbone of Beef.

Manage in the same way as the round. The soft, marrow-like fat which lies on the back is best when hot, and the hard fat of the upper corner is best cold.

1152. Stewed Brisket of Beef.

Stew in sufficient water to cover the meat; when tender, take out the bones, and skim off the fat; add to the gravy, when strained, a glass of wine, and a little spice tied up in a muslin bag. (This can he omitted if preferred.) Have ready either mushrooms, truffles, or vegetables boiled, and cut into shapes, Lay them on and around the beef; reduce part of the gravy to glaze, lay it on the top, and pour the remainder into the dish.

1153. Baked Brisket of Beef.

Brisket of beef may lie baked, the bones being removed, and the holes filled with oysters, fat bacon, parsley, or all three in separate holes; these stuffings being chopped and seasoned to taste. Dredge it well with flour, pour upon it half a pint of broth, bake for three hours, skim off the fat, strain the gravy over the meat, and garnish with cut pickles.

1154. Pork, Spare-rib.

Joint it nicely before roasting, and crack the ribs across as lamb. Take care not to have the fire too fierce. The joint should be basted with very little butter and flour, and may be sprinkled with fine dried sage, It takes from two to three hours. Apple sauce, mashed potatoes, and greens are the proper accompaniments, also good mustard, fresh made.

1155. Lamb Stove or Lamb Stew.

Take a lamb's head and lights, open the jaws of the head, and wash them thoroughly; put them in a pot with some beef stock, made with three quarts of water and two pounds of shin of beef, strained; boil very slowly for an hour; wash and string two or three good handfuls of spinach; put it in twenty minutes before serving; add a little parsley, and one or two onions, a short time before it comes off the fire; season with pepper and salt, and serve all together in a tureen.

1156. Roast Beef Bones

Roast beef bones furnish a very relishing luncheon or supper, prepared with poached or fried eggs and mashed potatoes as accompaniments. Divide the bones, having good pickings of meat on each; score them in squares, pour a little melted butter over, and sprinkle with pepper and salt; put them on a dish; set in a Dutch oven for half or three quarters of an hour, according to the thickness of the meat; keep turning till they are quite hot and brown: or broil them on the gridiron. Brown but do not burn them. Serve with piquant sauce.

1157. Marrow Bones.

Saw the bones evenly, so that they will stand steadily; put a piece of paste into the ends; set them upright in a saucepan, and boil till they are done enough—beef marrow bone will require from an hour and a half to two hours; serve fresh-toasted bread with them.

1158. Beef (Rump) Steak and Onion Sauce.

Peel and slice two large onions, put them into a quart stewpan, with two tablespoonfuls of water; cover the pan close, and set on a slow fire till the water has boiled away, and the onions have become a little browned; then add half a pint of good broth, and boil the onions till they are tender; strain the broth, and chop very fine; season with mushroom ketchup, pepper, and salt; put in the onions then, and let them boil gently for five minutes, pour into the dish, and lay over it a broiled rump steak. If instead of broth you use good beef gravy, it will be delicious.

[WHEN WE THINK WE FAIL, WE ARE OFTEN NEAR SUCCESS.]

1159. Beef a la Mode and Veal Ditto.

Take about eleven pounds of the mouse buttock,—or clod of beef,—or blade bone,—or the sticking-piece, or the like weight of the breast of veal;—cut it into pieces of three or four ounces each; put in three or four ounces of beef dripping, and mince a couple of large onions, and lay them into a large deep stewpan. As soon as it is quite hot, flour the meat, put it into the stewpan, continue stirring with a wooden spoon; when it has been on about ten minutes, dredge with flour, and keep doing so till you have stirred in as much as you think will thicken it; then add by degrees about a gallon of boiling water; keep stirring it together; skim it when it boils, and then put in one drachm of ground black pepper, two of allspice, and two bay-leaves; set the pan by the side of the fire, or at a distance over it, and let it stew very slowly for about three hours; when you find the meat sufficiently tender, put it into a tureen, and it is ready for table.

1160. Ox-Cheek Stewed.

Prepare the day before it is to be eaten; clean the cheek and put it into soft water, just warm; let it lie for three or four hours, then put it into cold water, to soak all night; next day wipe it clean, put it into a stewpan, and just cover it with water; skim it well when it is coming to a boil, then add two whole onions with two or three cloves stuck into each, three turnips quartered, a couple of carrots sliced, two bay-leaves, and twenty-four corns of allspice, a head of celery, and a bundle of sweet herbs, pepper, and salt; lastly, add a little cayenne and garlic, if liked.

Let it stew gently till perfectly tender, about three hours; then take out the cheek, divide into pieces fit to help at table; skim and strain the gravy; melt an ounce and a half of butter in a stewpan; stir into it as much flour as it will take up; mix with it by degrees a pint and a half of the gravy; add a tablespoonful of mushroom or walnut ketchup, or port wine, and boil a short time. Serve up in a soup or ragout dish, or make it into barley broth. This is a very economical, nourishing, and savoury meal.

1161. Hashed Mutton or Beef.

Slice the meat small, trim off the brown edges, and stew down the trimmings with the bones, well broken, an onion, a bunch of thyme and parsley, a carrot cut into slices, a few peppercorns, cloves, salt, and a pint and a half of water or stock. When this is reduced to little more than three quarters of a pint, strain it, clear it from the fat, thicken it with a large dessertspoonful of flour or arrowroot, add salt and pepper, boil the whole for a few minutes, then lay in the meat and heat it well. Boiled potatoes are sometimes sliced hot into the hash.

1162. Irish Stew.

Take two pounds of potatoes; peel and slice them; cut rather more than two pounds of mutton chops, either from the loin or neck; part of the fat should he taken off; beef, two pounds, six large onions sliced, a slice of ham, or lean bacon, a spoonful of pepper, and two of salt. This stew may be done in a stewpan over the fire, or in a baker's oven, or in a close-covered earthen pot. First put a layer of potatoes, then a layer of meat and onions, sprinkle the seasoning, then a layer of potatoes, and again the meat and onions and seasoning; the top layer should be potatoes, and the vessel should be quite full. Then put in half a pint of good gravy, and a spoonful of mushroom ketchup. Let the whole stew for an hour and a half; be very careful it does not burn.

[SECOND TRIALS OFTEN SUCCEED.]

1163. Palatable Stew.

Cut pieces of salt beef and pork into dice, put them into a stewpan with six whole peppercorns, two blades of mace, a few cloves, a teaspoonful of celery-seeds, and a faggot of dried sweet herbs; cover with water, and stew gently for an hour, then add fragments of carrots, turnips, parsley, or any other vegetables at hand, with two sliced onions, and some vinegar to flavour; thicken with flour or rice, remove the herbs, and pour into the dish with toasted bread, or freshly baked biscuit, broken small, and serve hot. When they can be procured, a few potatoes improve it very much.

1164. Ragout of Cold Veal.

Either a neck, loin, or fillet of veal will furnish this excellent ragout with a very little expense or trouble. Cut the veal into handsome cutlets; put a piece of butter, or clean dripping, into a frying pan; as soon as it is hot, flour and fry the veal to a light brown; take it out, and if you have no gravy ready, put a pint of boiling water into the frying-pan, give it a boil-up for a minute, and strain it in a basin while you make some thickening in the following manner:

Put an ounce of butter into a stewpan; as soon as it melts, mix as much flour as will dry it up; stir it over the fire for a few minutes, and gradually add the gravy you made in the frying-pan: let them simmer together for ten minutes; season with pepper, salt, a little mace, and a wineglassful of mushroom ketchup or wine; strain it through a tammy, or fine sieve, over the meat, and stew very gently till the meat is thoroughly warmed, If you have any ready-boiled bacon, cut it in slices, and put it to warm with the meat.

1165. Economical Dish.

Cut some rather fat ham or bacon into slices, and fry to a nice brown; lay them aside to keep warm; then mix equal quantities of potatoes and cabbage, bruised well together, and fry them in the fat left from the ham. Place the mixture at the bottom, and lay the slices of bacon on the top. Cauliflower, or broccoli, substituted for cabbage, is truly delicious; and, to any one possessing a garden, quite easily procured, as those newly blown will do. The dish must be well seasoned with pepper.

1166. Mock Goose

(being a leg of pork skinned, roasted, and stuffed goose fashion).—Parboil the leg; take off the skin, and then put it down to roast; baste it with butter, and make a savoury powder of finely minced or dried or powdered sage, ground black pepper, salt, and some bread-crumbs, rubbed together through a cullender: add to this a little very finely minced onion; sprinkle it with this when it is almost roasted; put half a pint of made gravy into the dish, and goose stuffing under the knuckle skin; or garnish the dish with balls of it fried or boiled.

1167. Roast Goose.

When a goose is well picked, singed, and cleaned, make the stuffing, with about two ounces of onion—if you think the flavour of raw onions too strong, cut them in slices, and lay them in cold water for a couple of hours, add as much apple or potato as you have of onion, and half as much green sage, chop them very fine, adding four ounces, i.e., about a large breakfast cupful, of stale breadcrumbs, a bit of butter about as big as a walnut, and a very little pepper and salt, the yolk of an egg or two, and incorporating the whole well together, stuff the goose; do not quite fill it, but leave a little room for the stuffing to swell. Spit it, tie it on the spit at both ends, to prevent it swinging round, and to prevent the stuffing from coming out. From an hour and a half to an hour and three-quarters will roast a fine full-grown goose. Send up gravy and apple sauce with it.

[SECOND THOUGHTS ARE OFTEN BEST.]

1168. Jugged Hare.

Wash it very nicely, cut it up in pieces proper to help at table, and put them into a jugging-pot, or into a stone jar, just sufficiently large to hold it well; put in some sweet herbs, a roll or two of rind of a lemon, and a fine large onion with five cloves stuck in it; and, if you wish to preserve the flavour of the hare, a quarter of a pint of water; but, if you wish to make a ragout, a quarter of a pint of claret or port wine, and the juice of a lemon. Tie the jar down closely with a bladder, so that no steam can escape; put a little hay in the bottom of the saucepan, in which place the jar; let the water boil for about three hours, according to the age and size of the hare, keeping it boiling all the time, and till up the pot as it boils away.

Care, however, must be taken that it is not overdone, which is the general fault in all made dishes. When quite tender, strain off the gravy from the fat, thicken it with flour, and give it a boil up; lay the pieces of hare in a hash dish, and pour the gravy over it. You may make a pudding the same as for roast hare, and boil it in a cloth, and when you dish up your hare, cut it in slices, or make forcemeat balls of it for garnish. For sauce, red currant jelly.

1169. Stewed Hare.

A much easier and quicker way is the following:—Prepare the hare as for jugging; put it into a stewpan with a few sweet herbs, half a dozen cloves, the same of allspice and black pepper, two large onions, and a roll of lemon peel; cover it with water: when it boils, skim it clean, and let it simmer gently till tender (about two hours); then take the meat up with a slice, set it by a fire to keep hot while you thicken the gravy; take three ounces of butter and some flour, rub together, put in the gravy, stir it well, and let it boil about ten minutes; strain it through a sieve over the meat, and it is ready.

1170. Curried Beef, Madras Way.

Take about two ounces of butter, and place it in a saucepan, with two small onions cut up into slices, and let them fry until they are a light brown; then add a tablespoonful and a half of curry powder, and mix it up well. Now put in the beef, cut into pieces about an inch square; pour in from a quarter to a third of a pint of milk, and let it simmer for thirty minutes; then take it off, and place it in a dish, with a little lemon juice. Whilst cooking stir constantly, to prevent it burning. Send to table with a wall of mashed potatoes or boiled rice round it. It greatly improves any curry to add with the milk a quarter of a cocoa-nut, scraped very small, and squeezed through muslin with a little water; this softens the taste of the curry, and, indeed, no curry should be made without it.

1171. Ragout of Duck, or any kind of Poultry or Game.

Partly roast, then divide into joints, or pieces of a suitable size for helping at table. Set it on in a stewpan, with a pint and a half of broth, or, if you have no broth, water, with any little trimmings of meat to enrich it; a large onion stuck with cloves, a dozen berries of allspice, the same quantity of black pepper, and the rind of half a lemon shaved thin. When it boils, skim it very clean, and then let it simmer gently, with the lid close, for an hour and a half. Then strain off the liquor, and take out the pieces, which keep hot in a basin or deep dish.

Rinse the stewpan, or use a clean one, in which put two ounces of butter, and as much flour or other thickening as will bring it to a stiff paste; add to it the gravy by degrees. Let it boil up, then add a glass of port wine, a little lemon juice, and a teaspoonful of salt; simmer a few minutes. Put the meat in a deep dish, strain the gravy over, and garnish with sippets of toasted bread. The flavour may be varied at pleasure by adding ketchup, curry powder, or vinegar.

1172. To Dress Cold Turkey, Goose, Fowl, Duck, Pigeon, or Rabbit.

Cut the cold bird or rabbit in quarters, beat up an egg or two (according to the quantity to be dressed) with a little grated nutmeg, and pepper and salt, some parsley minced fine, and a few crumbs of bread; mix these well together, and cover the pieces with this batter: broil them, or put them in a Dutch oven, or have ready some dripping hot in a pan, in which fry them a light brown colour; thicken a little gravy with some flour, put a large spoonful of ketchup to it, lay the fry in a dish, and pour the sauce round it; garnish with slices of lemon and toasted bread.

[READ FREQUENTLY THE MEDICAL HINTS.]

1173. Pulled Turkey, Fowl, or Chicken.

Skin a cold chicken, fowl, or turkey; take off the fillets from the breasts, and put them into a stewpan with the rest of the white meat and wings, side-bones, and merry-thought, with a pint of broth, a large blade of mace pounded, a shalot minced fine, the juice of half a lemon, and a strip of the peel, some salt, and a few grains of cayenne; thicken it with flour and butter, and let it simmer for two or three minutes, till the meat is warm. In the meantime score the legs and rump, powder them with pepper and salt, broil them in a dish and lay the pulled chicken round them. Three tablespoonfuls of good cream, or the yolks of as many eggs, will be a great improvement to it.

1174. Hashed Poultry, Game, or Rabbit.

Cut them into joints, put the trimmings into a stew pan with a quart of the broth in which they were boiled, and a large onion cut in four; let the whole boil half an hour: strain it through a sieve; then put two tablespoonfuls of flour in a basin, and mix it well by degrees with the hot broth; set it on the fire to boil up, then strain it through a fine sieve: wash out the stewpan, lay the poultry in it, and pour the gravy on it (through a sieve); set it by the side of the fire to simmer very gently (it must not boil) for fifteen minutes; five minutes before you serve it up, cut the stuffing in slices, and put it in to warm, then take it out, and lay it round the edge of the dish, and put the poultry in the middle; skim the fat off the gravy, then shake it round well in the stewpan, and pour it over the hash. Garnish the dish with toasted sippets.

1175. Ducks or Geese Hashed.

Cut an onion, into small dice: put it into a stewpan with a bit of butter; fry it, but do not let it get any colour; put as much boiling water into the stewpan as will make sauce for the hash; thicken it with a little flour; cut up the duck, and put it into the sauce to warm; do not let it boil; season it with pepper and salt and ketchup.

1176. Broiled Goose.

The legs of geese, &c., broiled, and laid on a bed of apple sauce, form an appetising dish for luncheon or supper.

1177. Grilled Fowl.

Take the remains of cold fowls, and skin them or not, at choice; pepper and salt them, and sprinkle over them a little lemon juice, and let them stand an hour; wipe them dry, dip them into clarified butter, and then into fine bread-crumbs, and broil gently over a clear fire. A little finely minced lean of ham or grated lemon peel, with a seasoning of cayenne, salt, and mace, mixed with the crumbs, will vary this dish agreeably. When fried instead of broiled, the fowls may be dipped into yolk of egg instead of butter.

1178. A Nice Way of serving up a fowl that has been dressed.

Beat the whites of two eggs to a thick froth; add a small bit of butter, or some salad oil, flour, a little lukewarm water, and two tablespoonfuls of beer, beaten altogether till it is of the consistency of very thick cream. Cut up the fowl into small pieces, strew over it some chopped parsley and shalot, pepper, salt, and a little vinegar, and let it lie till dinner-time; dip the fowl in the batter, and fry it in boiling lard, of a nice light brown. Veal that has been cooked may be dressed in the same way.

1179. Curry of any Kind.

Cut up a good fowl; skin it or not, as you please; fry it nicely brown: slice two or three onions, and fry them; put the fried fowl and onions into a stew-pan with a tablespoonful of curry powder, and one clove of garlic: cover it with water or veal gravy: let it stew slowly for one hour, or til very tender; have ready, mixed in two or three spoonfuls of good cream, one teaspoonful of flour, two ounces of butter, juice of a lemon, some salt; after the cream is in, it must only have one boil up, not to stew. Any spice may be added if the curry powder is not highly seasoned. With chicken, rabbit, or fish, observe the same rule. Curry is made also with sweetbreads, breast of veal, veal cutlets, lamb, mutton or pork chops, lobster, turbot, soles, eels, oysters, &c. Any kind of white meat is fit for a curry.

[AND STUDY ALL THE PRECAUTIONS.]

1180. Curried Eggs.

Slice two onions and fry them in butter, add a tablespoonful of curry powder; let the onions and curry powder stew in a pint of good broth till the former are quite tender; mix a cup of cream, and thicken with arrowroot, or rice flour. Simmer a few minutes, then add six or eight hard-boiled eggs cut in slices; heat them thoroughly, but do not let them boil.

1181. Cold Meat Broiled, With Poached Eggs.

The inside of a sirloin of beef or a leg of mutton is the best for this dish. Cut the slices of equal thickness, and broil and brown them carefully and slightly over a clear smart fire, or in a Dutch oven; give those slices most fire that are least done; lay them in a dish before the fire to keep hot, while you poach the eggs and mash the potatoes. This makes a savoury luncheon or supper. The meat should be underdone the first time.

1182. Curried Oysters.

This receipt may be greatly modified, both in quantity and ingredients. Let a hundred of large oysters be opened into a basin without losing one drop of their liquor. Put a lump of fresh butter into a good-sized saucepan, and when it boils, add a large onion, cut into thin slices, and let it fry in the uncovered stewpan until it is of a rich brown: now add a bit more butter, and two or three tablespoonfuls of curry powder. When these ingredients are well mixed over the fire with a wooden spoon, add gradually either hot water, or broth from the stock-pot; cover the stewpan, and let the whole boil up. Meanwhile, have ready the meat of a cocoa-nut, grated or rasped fine, put this into the stewpan with an unripe apple, chopped. Let the whole simmer over the fire until the apple is dissolved, and the cocoa-nut very tender; then add a cupful of strong thickening made of flour and water, and sufficient salt, as a curry will not bear being salted at table. Let this boil up for five minutes.

Have ready also a vegetable marrow, or part of one, cut into bits, and sufficiently boiled to require little or no further cooking. Put this in with a tomato or two. These vegetables improve the flavour of the dish, but either or both of them may be omitted. Now put into the stewpan the oysters with their liquor, and the milk of the cocoa-nut, if it be perfectly sweet; stir them well with the former ingredients; let the curry stew gently for a few minutes, then throw in the strained juice of half a lemon. Stir the curry from time to time with a wooden spoon, and as soon as the oysters are done enough, serve it up with a corresponding dish of rice on the opposite side of the table. This dish is considered at Madras the ne plus ultra of Indian cookery.

1183. Fried Oysters.

Large oysters are the best. Simmer for a minute or two in their own liquor; drain perfectly dry; dip in yolks of eggs, and then in bread-crumbs, seasoned with nutmeg, cayenne, and salt; fry them of a light brown. They are chiefly used as garnish for fish, or for rump steaks; but if intended to be eaten alone, make a little thick melted butter, moistened with the liquor of the oysters, and serve as sauce.

1184. Stewed Oysters.

The beard or fringe is generally taken off. When this is done, set on the beards with the liquor of the oysters, and a little white gravy, rich, but unseasoned; having boiled for a few minutes, strain off the beards, put in the oysters, and thicken the gravy with flour and butter (an ounce of butter to half a pint of stew), a little salt, pepper, and nutmeg, or mace, a spoonful of ketchup, and three of cream; some prefer a little essence of anchovy to ketchup, others the juice of a lemon, others a glass of white wine; the flavour may be varied according to taste. Simmer till the stew is thick, and the oysters warmed through, but avoid letting them boil. Lay toasted sippets at the bottom of the dish and round the edges.

[STUDY THE PRECAUTIONS RESPECTING FIRE.]

1185. Bologna Sausages.

Take equal quantities of bacon, fat and lean, beef, veal, pork, and beef suet; chop them small, season with pepper, salt, &c., sweet herbs, and sage rubbed fine. Have a well-washed intestine, fill, and prick it; boil gently for an hour, and lay on straw to dry. They may be smoked the same as hams.

1186. Oxford Sausages.

To each pound of lean pork allow one pound of lean veal, one pound of fat, part pork and part veal. Chop and beat well with a lard-beater. Allow one pound of bread-crumbs, thyme, a little parsley; an ounce of sage leaves, chopped very small; two heads of leeks, or a little garlic, or shalot, chopped very fine; salt, pepper, and nutmeg. To each pound allow one egg, the yolks and whites separately; beat both well, mix in the yolks, and as much of the whites as is necessary to moisten the bread. Then make the sausages in the usual way.

1187. Worcester Sausages.

Worcester sausages are made of beef, &c.; add allspice, and any other spices and herbs you may choose.

1188. Mutton Sausages.

The lean of the leg is the best. Add half as much of beef suet; that is, a pound of lean and half a pound of suet (this proportion is good for all sausages). Add oysters, anchovies chopped very fine, and flavour with seasoning. No herbs. These will require a little fat in the pan to fry.

1189. Veal Sausages.

Veal sausages are made exactly as Oxford sausages, except that you add ham fat, or fat bacon; and, instead of sage, use marjoram, thyme, and parsley.

1190. Preparing Sausage Skins.

Turn them inside out, and stretch them on a stick; wash and scrape them in several waters. When thoroughly cleansed, take them off the sticks, and soak in salt and water two or three hours before filling.

1191. Saveloys.

Saveloys are made of salt pork, fat and lean, with bread-crumbs, pepper, and sage; they are always put in skins: boil half an hour slowly. These are eaten cold.

1192. Black Hog Pudding.

Catch the blood of a hog; to each quart of blood put a large teaspoonful of salt, and stir it without ceasing till it is cold. Simmer half a pint or a pint of Embden groats in a small quantity of water till tender; there must be no gruel. The best way of doing it is in a double saucepan, so that you need not put more water than will moisten them. Chop up (for one quart of blood) one pound of the inside fat of the hog, and a quarter of a pint of bread-crumbs, a tablespoonful of sage, chopped fine, a teaspoonful of thyme, three drachms each of allspice, salt, and pepper, and a teacupful of cream. When the blood is cold, strain it through a sieve, and add to it the fat, then the groats, and then the seasoning. When well mixed, put it into the skin of the largest gut, well cleansed; tie it in lengths of about nine inches, and boil gently for twenty minutes. Take them out and prick them when they have boiled a few minutes.

1193. Scotch Woodcock.

Three or four slices of bread; toast and butter well on both sides,—nine or ten anchovies washed, scraped, and chopped fine; put them between the slices of toast,—have ready the yolks of four eggs well beaten, and half a pint of cream—which set over the fire to thicken, but not boil,—then pour it over the toast, and serve it to table as hot as possible.

1194. Sweetbread.

Trim a fine sweetbread (it cannot be too fresh); parboil it for five minutes, and throw it into a basin of cold water. Then roast it plain—or beat up the yolk of an egg, and prepare some fine breadcrumbs; or when the sweetbread is cold, dry it thoroughly in a cloth; run a lark-spit or a skewer through it, and tie it on the ordinary spit; egg it with a paste-brush; powder it well with bread-crumbs, and roast it. For sauce, fried bread-crumbs, melted butter, with a little mushroom ketchup, and lemon juice, or serve on buttered toast, garnished with egg sauce, or with gravy. Instead of spitting the sweetbread, you may put it into a tin Dutch oven, or fry it.

[READ THE HINTS TO HUSBANDS AND WIVES.]

1195. Sweetbreads Plain.

Parboil and slice them as before, dry them in a clean cloth, flour them, and fry them a delicate brown; take care to drain the fat well, and garnish with slices of lemon, and sprigs of chervil or parsley, or crisp parsley. Serve with sauce, and slices of ham or bacon, or force-meat balls.

1196. Kidneys.

Cut them through the long way, score them, sprinkle a little pepper and salt on them, and run a wire skewer through to keep them from curling on the gridiron, so that they may be evenly broiled. Broil over a clear fire, taking care not to prick the kidney with the fork, and turning them often till they are done; they will take about ten or twelve minutes, if the fire is brisk. Another mode is to fry them in butter, and make gravy for them in the pan (after you have taken out the kidneys), by putting in a teaspoonful of flour; as soon as it looks brown, put in as much water as will make gravy. Kidneys will take five minutes more to fry than to broil.

1197. Devil.

The gizzard and rump, or legs, &c., of a dressed turkey, capon, or goose, or mutton or veal kidney, scored, peppered, salted, and broiled, sent up for a relish, being made very hot, has obtained the name of a "devil."

1198. Bacon.

Dr. Kitchiner very justly says:

"The boiling of bacon is a very simple subject to comment upon; but our main object is to teach common cooks the art of dressing common food in the best manner. Cover a pound of nice streaked bacon with cold water, let it boil gently for three quarters of an hour; take it up, scrape the under side well, and cut off the rind: grate a crust of bread not only on the top, but all over it, as you would ham, put it before the fire for a few minutes, not too long, or it will dry and spoil it. Bacon is sometimes as salt as salt can make it, therefore before it is boiled it must be soaked in warm water for an hour or two, changing the water once; then pare off the rusty and smoked part, trim it nicely on the under side, and scrape the rind as clean as possible."

1199. Ham or Bacon Slices.

Ham or bacon slices should not be less than one-eighth or more than a quarter of an inch thick, and, for delicate persons, should be soaked in hot water for a quarter of an hour, and then well wiped and dried before broiling. If you wish to curl a slice, roll it up, and put a wooden skewer through it; then in may be dressed in a cheese-toaster or a Dutch oven.

1200. Relishing Rashers of Bacon.

If you have any cold bacon, you may make a very nice dish of it by cutting it into slices about a quarter of an inch thick. Then grate some crust of bread as directed for ham, and powder the slices well with it on both sides; lay the rashers in a cheese-toaster,—they will be browned on one side in about three minutes:—turn them and do the other. These are a delicious accompaniment to poached or fried eggs:—the bacon, having been boiled first, is tender and mellow.—They are an excellent garnish round veal cutlets, sweetbreads, calf's head hash, green peas, or beans, &c.

1201. Anchovy Sandwiches.

Anchovy sandwiches made with the above, will be found excellent.

1202. Anchovy Toast.

Anchovy toast is made by spreading anchovy paste upon bread either toasted or fried.

[FIRE IS A GOOD SERVANT BUT A BAD MASTER.]

1203. Scotch Porridge.

For four persons.—Boil three pints of water in a clean saucepan, add a teaspoonful of salt; mix very gradually, while the water is boiling, one pound of fine oatmeal, stirring constantly, while you put in the meal, with a round stick about eighteen inches long, called a "spirtle." Continue stirring for fifteen minutes; then pour into soup plates, allow it to cool a little, and serve with sweet milk. Scotch porridge is one of the most nutritive diets that can be given, especially for young persons, on account of the bone-producing elements contained in oatmeal. It is sometimes boiled with milk instead of water, but the mixture is then rather rich for delicate stomachs.

1204. Scotch Brose.

This favourite Scotch dish is generally made with the liquor in which meat has been boiled. Put half a pint of oatmeal into a porringer with a little salt, if there be not enough in the broth,—of which add as much as will mix it to the consistence of hasty pudding or a little thicker,—lastly, take a little of the fat that swims on the broth and put it on the porridge, and eat it in the same way as hasty pudding.

1205. Barley Broth, Scotch.

Dr. Kitchiner, from whose "Cook's Oracle," [1] we take this receipt, after testing it, says:

"This is a most frugal, agreeable, and nutritive meal. It will neither lighten the purse nor lie heavy on the stomach. It will furnish you with a pleasant soup, and meat for eight persons.

Wash three-quarters of a pound of Scotch barley in a little cold water; put it in a soup-pot with a shin or leg of beef, of about ten pounds weight, sawn into four pieces (tell the butcher to do this for you); cover it well with cold water; set it on the fire; when it boils, skim it very clean, and put in two onions, of about three ounces weight each; set it by the side of the fire to simmer very gently for about two hours; then skim all the fat clean off, and put in two heads of celery and a large turnip cut into small squares; season it with salt, and let it boil for an hour and a half longer, and it will be ready: take out the meat carefully with a slice (and cover it up, and set it by the fire to keep warm), and skim the broth well before you put it in the tureen.

Put a quart of the soup into a basin, and about an ounce of flour into a stewpan, and pour the broth to it by degrees, stirring it well together; set it on the fire, and stir it till it boils, then let it boil up, and it is ready. Put the meat in a ragout dish, and strain the sauce through a sieve over the meat; you may put to it some capers, or minced gherkins, or walnuts, &c. If the beef has been stewed with proper care, in a very gentle manner, and taken up at 'the critical moment when it is just tender,' you will obtain an excellent and savoury meal."

[Footnote 1: Published by Messrs. Houlston and Suns, Paternoster-square. London, E.C.]

1206. Hotch-Potch for Summer.

Make a stock from the neck or ribs of lamb or mutton, reserving some chops, which cook for a shorter time and serve in the tureen. Chop small, four turnips, four carrots, a few young onions, a little parsley, and one lettuce; boil for one hour. Twenty minutes before they are done, put in a cauliflower cut small, one quart of shelled peas, and a pint of young beans.

1207. Hotch-Potch for Winter.

This can be made of beef or mutton, or, for those who are partial to Scotch cookery, a sheep's head and feet, one pound of old green peas, steeped all the night previously, one large turnip, three carrots, four leeks, a little parsley, all cut small, with the exception of one carrot, which should be grated; add a small bunch of sweet herbs, pepper, and salt. The peas take two hours and a half to cook; the other vegetables, two hours; the head, three hours; and the feet, four hours.

[THERE IS NO BALM FOR EVERY WOUND.]

1208. Beef Broth.

Beef broth may be made by adding vegetables to essence of beef—or you may wash a leg or shin of beef, the bone of which has been well cracked by the butcher; add any trimmings of meat, game, or poultry, heads, necks, gizzards, feet, &c.; cover them with cold water; stir the whole up well from the bottom, and the moment it begins to simmer, skim it carefully. Your broth must be perfectly clear and limpid; on this depends the goodness of the soups, sauces, and gravies of which it is the basis. Add some cold water to make the remaining scum rise, and skim it again.

When the scum has done rising, and the surface of the broth is quite clear, put in one moderate sized carrot, a head of celery, two turnips, and two onions,—it should not have any taste of sweet herbs, spice, or garlic, &c.; either of these flavours can easily be added after, if desired,—cover it close, set it by the side of the fire, and let it simmer very gently (so as not to waste the broth) for four or five hours, or more, according to the weight of the meat. Strain it through a sieve in to a clean and dry stone pan, and set it in the coldest place you have, if for after use.

1209. Beef Tea.

Beef extract, by adding water, forms the best beef tea or broth for invalids. (See BEEF EXTRACT, par. 1226.)

1210. Clear Gravy Soup

This may be made from shin of beef, which should not be large or coarse. The meat will be found serviceable for the table. From ten pounds of the meat let the butcher cut off five or six from the thick fleshy part, and again divide the knuckle, that the whole may lie compactly in the vessel in which it is to be stewed. Pour in three quarts of cold water, and when it has been brought slowly to boil, and been well skimmed, throw in an ounce and a half of salt, half a large teaspoonful of peppercorns, eight cloves, two blades of mace, a faggot of savoury herbs, a couple of small carrots, and the heart of a root of celery; to these add a mild onion or not, at choice.

When the whole has stewed very softly for four hours, probe the large bit of beef, and, if quite tender, lift it out for table; let the soup he simmered from two to three hours longer, and then strain it through a fine sieve, into a clean pan. When it is perfectly cold, clear off every particle of fat: heat a couple of quarts; stir in, when it boils, half an ounce of sugar, a small tablespoonful of good soy, and twice as much of Harvey's sauce, or, instead of this, of clear and fine mushroom ketchup. If carefully made, the soup will be perfectly transparent, and of good colour and flavour. A thick slice of ham will improve it, and a pound or so of the neck of beef with an additional pint of water, will likewise enrich its quality. A small quantity of good broth may be made of the fragments of the whole, boiled down with a few fresh vegetables.

1211. Beef Glaze.

Beef glaze, or portable soup, is simply the essence of beef condensed by evaporation. It may be put into pots, like potted meats, or into skins, as sausages, and will keep for many months. If further dried in cakes or lozenges, by being laid on pans or dishes, and frequently turned, it will keep for years, and supply soup at any moment.

1212. Vermicelli Soup.

To three quarts of gravy soup, or stock, add six ounces of vermicelli. Simmer for half an hour; stir frequently.

1213. Vegetable Soup.

Peel and cut into very small pieces three onions, three turnips, one carrot, and four potatoes, put them into a stewpan with a quarter of a pound of butter, the same of lean ham, and a bunch of parsley, pass them ten minutes over a sharp fire; then add a large spoonful of flour, mix well in, moisten with two quarts of broth, and a pint of boiling milk; boil up, keeping it stirred; season with a little salt and sugar, and run it through a hair sieve; put it into another stewpan, boil again, skim, and serve with fried bread in it.

1214. Asparagus Soup.

Two quarts of good beef or veal stock, four onions, two or three turnips, some sweet herbs, and the white parts of a hundred young asparagus,—if old, half that quantity,—and let them simmer till fit to be rubbed through a tammy; strain and season it; have ready the boiled green tops of the asparagus, and add them to the soup.

[BOOKS AND THOUGHT;—THEY SHOULD NOT SUPERSEDE IT.]

1215. Carrot Soup.

Scrape and wash half a dozen large carrots; peel off the red outside (which is the only part used for this soup); put it into a gallon stewpan, with one head of celery, and an onion cut into thin pieces; take two quarts of beef, veal, or mutton broth, or liquor in which mutton or beef has been boiled, as the foundation for this soup. Stock that is equally good may be made by boiling down some cold roast mutton or beef bones. When you have put the broth to the roots, cover the stewpan close, and set it on a slow stove for two hours and a half, when the carrots will be soft enough. At this stage some cooks put in a teacupful of bread-crumbs. Next boil the soup for two or three minutes; rub it through a tammy or hair sieve, with a wooden spoon, and add as much broth as will make it a proper thickness, i.e., almost as thick as pea soup; put it into a clean stewpan, make it hot and serve.

1216. Cock-a-Leekie.

Boil from four to six pounds of good shin of beef well broken, until the liquor is very good. Strain it and add a good-sized fowl, with two or three leeks cut in pieces about an inch long, put in pepper and salt to taste, boil slowly about an hour, then put in as many more leeks, and give it three-quarters of an hour longer. A somewhat similar soup may be made of good beef stock, and leeks cut up and put in without a fowl, though this cannot be called Cock-a-Leekie with propriety.

1217. Mince Meat.

Take seven pounds of currants well picked and cleaned; of finely chopped beef suet, and finely chopped apples (Kentish or golden pippins), each three and a half; pounds; citron, lemon peel, and orange peel cut small, each half a pound; fine moist sugar, two pounds; mixed spice, an ounce; the rind of four lemons and four Seville oranges; mix well, and put in a deep pan. Mix a bottle of brandy, another of white wine, and the juice of the lemons and oranges that have been grated, together in a basin; pour half over and press down tight with the hand, then add the other half and cover closely. This may be made one year so as to be used the next.

1218. Minced Collops.

Two pounds of good rump steak, chopped very fine; six good-sized onions, also chopped small; put both into a stewpan, with as much water or gravy as will cover the meat; stir it without ceasing till the water begins to boil; then set the stewpan aside, where the collops can simmer, not boil, for three-quarters of an hour. Just before serving, stir in a tablespoonful of flour, a little pepper and salt, and boil it up once. Serve with mashed potatoes round the dish. The above quantity will be enough for four persons.

1219. Forcemeat Balls.

(For turtle, mock turtle, or made dishes.)—Pound some veal in a marble mortar, rub it through a sieve with as much of the udder as you have veal, or about n third of the quantity of butter: put some bread-crumbs into a stewpan, moisten them with milk, add a little chopped parsley and shalot, rub them well together in a mortar, till they form a smooth paste; put it through a sieve, and when cold, pound, and mix all together, with the yolks of three eggs boiled hard; season the mixture with salt, pepper, and curry powder, or cayenne; add to it the yolks of two raw eggs, rub it well together, and make it into small balls which should be put into the soup or hash, as the case may be, ten minutes before it is ready.

[THERE IS SOMETHING TO BE LEARNED FROM THE MEREST TRIFLE.]

1220. Beef Extract.

(AS RECOMMENDED BY BARON LIEBIG).—Take a pound of good juicy beef from which all the skin and fat has been cut away, chop it up like sausage meat; mix it thoroughly with a pint of cold water, place it on the side of the stove to heat very slowly, and give it an occasional stir. It may stand two or three hours before it is allowed to simmer, and will then require but fifteen minutes of gentle boiling. Salt should be added when the boiling commences, and this for invalids in general, is the only seasoning required. When the extract is thus far prepared, it may be poured from the meat into a basin, and allowed to stand until any particles of fat on the surface can he skimmed off, and the sediment has subsided and left the soup quite clear, when it may be poured off gently, heated in a clean saucepan, and served. The scum should be well cleared as it accumulates.

1221. Potted Beef.

Take three or four pounds, or any smaller quantity, of lean beef, free from sinews, and rub it well with a mixture made of a handful of salt, one ounce of saltpetre, and one ounce of coarse sugar; let the meat lie in the salt for two days, turning and rubbing it twice a day. Put it into a stone jar with a little beef gravy, and cover it with a paste to keep it close. Bake it for several hours in a very slow oven till the meat is tender; then pour off the gravy, which should be in a very small quantity, or the juice of the meat will be lost; pound the meat, when cold, in a marble mortar till it is reduced to a smooth paste, adding by degrees a little fresh butter melted. Season it as you proceed with pepper, allspice, nutmeg, pounded mace, and cloves, or such of these spices as are thought agreeable. Some flavour with anchovy, ham, shalots, mustard, wine, flavoured vinegar, ragout powder, curry powder, &c., according to taste. When it is thoroughly beaten and mingled together, press it closely into small shallow pots, nearly full, and fill them up with a layer a quarter of an inch thick of clarified butter, and tie them up with a bladder, or sheet of Indian rubber. They should be kept in a cool place.

1222. Strasburg Potted Meat.

Take a pound and a half of rump of beef, cut into dice, and put it in an earthen jar, with a quarter of a pound of butter at the bottom; tie the jar close up with paper, and set over a pot to boil; when nearly done, add cloves, mace, allspice, nutmeg, salt, and cayenne pepper to taste; then boil till tender, and let it get cold. Pound the meat, with four anchovies washed and boned; add a quarter of a pound of oiled butter, work it well together with the gravy, warm a little, and add cochineal to colour. Then press into small pots, and pour melted mutton suet over the top of each.

1223. Brown Stock (1).

Put five pounds of shin of beef, three pounds of knuckle of veal, and some sheep's trotters or cow-heel into a closely-covered stewpan, to draw out the gravy very gently, and allow it to become nearly brown. Then pour in sufficient boiling water to entirely cover the meat, and let it boil up, skimming it frequently; seasoning it with whole peppers, salt, and roots, herbs, and vegetables of any kind. That being done, let it boil gently five or six hours, pour the broth off from the meat, and let it stand during the night to cool. The following morning take off the scum and fat, and put it away in a stone jar for further use.

1224. Brown Stock (2).

Brown stock may be made from all sorts of meat, bones, remnants of poultry, game, &c. The shin of beef makes an excellent stock.

1225. Brown Gravy.

Three onions sliced, and fried in butter to a nice brown; toast a large thin slice of bread until quite hard and of a deep brown. Take these, with any piece of meat, bone, &c., and some herbs, and set them on the fire, with water according to judgment, and stew down until a rich and thick gravy is produced. Season, strain, and keep cool.

1226. Goose or Duck Stuffing.

Chop very fine about two ounces of onion, of green sage leaves about an ounce (both unboiled), four ounces of bread-crumbs, a bit of butter about as big as a walnut, &c., the yolk and white of an egg, and a little pepper and salt; some add to this a minced apple.

[STRIVE TO LEARN FROM ALL THINGS.]

1227. Bacon.

Bacon is an extravagant article in housekeeping; there is often twice as much dressed as need be; when it is sent to table as an accompaniment to boiled poultry or veal, a pound and a half is plenty for a dozen people, A good German sausage is a very economical substitute for bacon; or fried pork sausage.

1228. Culinary Economy.

The English, generally speaking, are very deficient in the practice of culinary economy; a French family would live well on what is often wasted in an English kitchen: the bones, dripping, pot-liquor, remains of fish, vegetables, &c., which are too often consigned to the grease-pot or the dust-heap, especially where pigs or fowls are not kept, might, by a very trifling degree of management on the part of the cook, or mistress of a family, be converted into sources of daily support and comfort, at least to some poor pensioner or other, at an expense that even the miser could scarcely grudge.

1229. Calf's Head Pie.

Boil the head an hour and a half, or rather more. After dining from it, cut the remaining meat off in slices. Boil the bones in a little of the liquor for three hours; then strain it off, let it remain till next day, and then take off the fat.

To make the Pie.—Boil two eggs for five minutes; let them get cold, then lay them in slices at the bottom of a pie-dish, and put alternate layers of meat and jelly, with pepper and chopped lemon also alternately, till the dish is full; cover with a crust and bake it. Next day turn the pie out upside down.

1230. Sea Pie.

Make a thick pudding crust, line a dish with it, or what is better, a cake-tin; put a layer of sliced onions, then a layer of salt beef cut in slices, a layer of sliced potatoes, a layer of pork, and another of onions; strew pepper over all, cover with a crust, and tie down tightly with a cloth previously dipped in boiling water and floured. Boil for two hours, and serve hot in a dish.

1231. Rump-Steak Pie.

Cut three pounds of rump-steak (that has been kept till tender) into pieces half as big as your hand, trim off all the skin, sinews, and every part which has not indisputable pretensions to be eaten, and beat them with a chopper. Chop very fine half a dozen shalots, and add to them half an ounce of pepper and salt mixed; strew some of the seasoning at the bottom of the dish, then a layer of steak, then some more of the seasoning, and so on till the dish is full; add half a gill of mushroom ketchup, and the same quantity of gravy, or red wine; cover it as in the preceding receipt, and bake it two hours. Large oysters, parboiled, bearded, and laid alternately with the steaks—their liquor reduced and substituted instead of the ketchup and wine, will impart a delicious flavour to the pie.

1232. Raised Pies.

Put two pounds and a half of flour on the pasteboard,—and set on the fire, in a saucepan, three quarters of a pint of water, and half a pound of good lard. When the water boils, make a hole in the middle of the flour, pour in the water and lard by degrees, gently incorporating the flour with a spoon, and when it is well mixed, knead it with your hands till it becomes stiff; dredge a little flour to prevent it sticking to the board, or you cannot make it look smooth. Roll the dough with your hands—the rolling-pin must not be used—to about the thickness of a quart pot; leave a little for the covers, and cut the remainder into six circular discs. Take each of these pieces in succession; put one hand in the middle, and keep the other close on the outside till you have worked it either into an oval or a round shape.

Have your meat ready cut, and seasoned with pepper and salt; if pork, cut it in small slices—the griskin is the best for pasties: if you use mutton, cut it in very neat cutlets, and put them in the pies as you make them; roll out the covers with the rolling-pin, and cut them to the size of the pies, wet them round the edge, put them on the pie. Then press the paste of each pie and its cover together with the thumb and finger, and lastly, nick the edge all round with the back of a knife, and bake them an hour and a half.

[OBSERVATION IS THE BEST TEACHER.]

1233. Wild Duck, To Dress.

The birds are roasted like common ducks, but without stuffing, and with a rather less allowance of time for cooking. For example, a full-sized duck will take from three-quarters of an hour to an hour in roasting, but a wild duck will take from forty to fifty minutes. Before carving the knife should be drawn longitudinally along the breast, and upon these a little cayenne pepper must be sprinkled, and a lemon squeezed. They require a good made gravy, as described below. They are excellent half roasted and hashed in a good gravy made as follows:

1234. Sauce for Wild Duck.

Simmer a teacupful of port wine, the same quantity of good gravy, a small shalot, with pepper, nutmeg, mace, and salt to taste, for about ten minutes; put in a bit of butter and flour; give it all one boil, and pour it over the birds, or serve in a sauce tureen.

1235. Widgeon and Teal, To Dress.

These birds may be roasted or half roasted and baked, according to the directions given for wild duck, and served up with, a sauce or gravy made in precisely the same way. A widgeon will take as long to roast as a wild duck, but a teal, being a smaller bird, will take only from twenty to thirty minutes.

1236. Roast Duck.

Put into the body of the bird a seasoning of parboiled onions mixed with finely-chopped sage, salt, pepper, and a slice of butter. Place it before a brisk fire, but not sufficiently near to be scorched; baste it constantly, and when the breast is well plumped, and the steam from it draws towards the fire, dish and serve it quickly, with a little good brown gravy poured round them, and also some in a gravy tureen. Young ducks will take about half an hour to roast; full-sized ones from three-quarters of an hour to an hour.

1237 Roast Partridge.

Let the bird hang as long as it can be kept without being offensive. Pick it carefully, and singe it; wipe the inside thoroughly with a clean cloth, truss it with the head turned under the wing and the legs drawn close together, but not crossed. Flour partridges prepared in this manner when first laid to the fire, and baste them plentifully with butter. Serve them with bread sauce and good brown gravy.

1238. Partridge Pudding.

Skin a brace of well-kept partridges, and cut them into pieces; line a deep basin with suet crust, and lay in the pieces, which should be rather highly seasoned with white pepper and cayenne, and moderately with salt. Pour in water for the gravy, close the pudding carefully, and boil it for three hours or three hours and a half. When mushrooms are plentiful, put a layer of buttons or small mushrooms, cleaned as for pickling, alternately with a layer of partridge in filling tho pudding. The crust may he left untouched and merely emptied of its contents, where it is objected to, or a richer crust made with butter may be used instead of the ordinary suet crust.

1239. Roast Ptarmigan.

The ptarmigan, which is either a variety of grouse or grouse in its winter plumage, and black game, when roasted, are cooked in precisely the same manner as grouse.

1240. Roast Grouse.

Truss the birds in the same manner as pheasants, and set down before a brisk fire. When nearly ready—they will be done in from twenty to twenty-five minutes—baste well with butter and sprinkle with flour in order to froth them, and send to table with some good brown gravy and some fried bread crumbs and bread sauce. These accompaniments should be served in different sauce tureens.

[SMALL BEGINNINGS MAY LEAD TO LARGE ENDS.]

1241. To Truss and Roast a Pheasant.

The following method of trussing a pheasant—which applies equally to partridges, grouse, &c., and to fowls, guineafowls, &c.—is prescribed by Francatelli in his "Cook's Guide":

"Rub the scaly cuticle off the legs with a cloth; trim away the claws and spurs; cut off the neck close up to the back, leaving the skin of the breast entire; wipe the pheasant clean and truss it in the following manner, viz.:—Place the pheasant upon its breast, run a trussing needle and string through the left pinion (the wings being removed); then turn the bird over on its back, and place the thumb and forefinger of the left hand across the breast, holding the legs erect; thrust the needle through the middle joint of both thighs, draw it out and then pass it through the other pinion, and fasten the strings at the back; next pass the needle through the hollow of the back, just below the thighs, thrust it again through the legs and body and tie the strings tightly; this will give it an appearance of plumpness."

Roast and send to table in the same manner, and with the same accompaniments as directed for Roast Partridge (par. 1237.)

1242. Cold Partridge Pie.

Bone as many partridges as the size of pie to be made may require. Put a whole raw truffle, peeled, into each partridge, and fill up the remaining space in each bird with good forcemeat. Make a raised crust; lay a few slices of veal in the bottom, and a thick layer of forcemeat; then the partridges, and four truffles to each partridge; then cover the partridges and truffles over with sheets of bacon, cover the pie in, and finish it. It will take four hours baking.

Cut two pounds of lean ham (if eight partridges are in the pie) into very thin slices, put it in a stewpan along with the bones and giblets of the partridges, and any other loose giblets that are at hand, an old fowl, a faggot of thyme and parsley, a little mace, and about twenty-four shalots: add about a pint of stock. Set the stewpan on a stove to simmer for half an hour, then put in three quarts of good stock; let it boil for two hours, then strain it off, and reduce the liquid to one pint; add sherry wine to it, and put aside till the pie is baked.

When the pie has been out of the oven for half an hour, boil the residue strained from the bones &c., of the partridges, and put it into the pie. Let it stand for twenty-four hours before it is eaten.—Do not take, any of the fat from the pie, as that is what preserves it. A pie made in this manner will be eatable for three months after it is cut; in short, it cannot spoil in any reasonable time. All cold pies are made in this manner. Either poultry or game, when put into a raised crust and intended not to be eaten until cold, should be boned, and the liquor that is to fill up the pie made from the bones, &c.

1243. Veal Pie.

Take some of the middle or scrag of a small neck; season it with pepper and salt, and, put to it a few pieces of lean bacon or ham. If a high seasoning is required, add mace, cayenne, and nutmeg to tho salt and pepper, and forcemeat and egg balls, truffles, morels, mushrooms, sweetbreads cut into small bits, and cocks' combs blanched, can form part of the materials, if liked, but the pie will be very good without them. Have a rich gravy to pour in after baking.

1244. Mutton Pie.

The following is a capital family dish:—Cut mutton into pieces about two inches square, and half an inch thick; mix pepper, pounded allspice, and salt together, dip the pieces in this; sprinkle stale bread-crumbs at the bottom of the dish; lay in the pieces, strewing the crumbs over each layer; put a piece of butter the size of a hen's egg at the top; add a wineglassful of water, and cover in, and bake in a moderate oven rather better than an hour. Take an onion, chopped fine; a faggot of herbs; half an anchovy; and add to it a little beef stock or gravy; simmer for a quarter of an hour; raise the crust at one end, and pour in the liquor—not the thick part. (See POTATO PIE. par, 1118).

[IF NONE ENDEAVOUR, THERE WOULD BE AN END TO DISCOVERY.]

1245. Seven-Bell Pasty.

Shred a pound of suet fine, cut salt pork into dice, potatoes and onions small, rub a sprig of dried sage up fine; mix with some pepper, and place in the corner of a square piece of paste; turn over the other corner, pinch up the sides, and bake in a quick oven. If any bones, &c., remain from the meat, season with pepper and sage, place them with a gill of water in a pan, and bake with the pasty; when done, strain and pour the gravy into the centre of the pasty.

1246. Apple Pie.

Pare, core, and quarter the apples; boil the cores and parings in sugar and water; strain off the liquor, adding more sugar; grate the rind of a lemon over the apples, and squeeze the juice into the syrup; mix half a dozen cloves with the fruit, put in a piece of butter the size of a walnut; cover with puff paste.

1247. Cup in a Pie-Dish.

The custom of placing an inverted cup in a fruit pie, is to retain the juice while the pie is baking in the oven, and prevent its boiling over. When the cup is first put in the dish it is full of cold air, and when the pie is placed in the oven, this air will expand by the heat and fill the cup, and drive out all the juice and a portion of the present air it contains, in which state it will remain until removed from the oven, when the air in the cup will condense, and occupy a very small space, leaving the remainder to be filled with juice; but this does not take place till the danger of the juice boiling over is passed.

1248. Excellent Paste for Fruit or Meat Pies.

Excellent paste for fruit or meat pies may be made with two-thirds of wheat flour, one-third of the flour of boiled potatoes, and some butter or dripping; the whole being brought to a proper consistence with warm water, and a small quantity of yeast or baking powder added when lightness is desired. This will also make very pleasant cakes for breakfast, and may be made with or without spices, fruits, &c.

1249. Pastry for Tarts, &c.

Take of flour one pound; baking powder, three teaspoonfuls; butter, six ounces; water, enough to bring it to the consistence required.

1250. Preparation.

When much pastry is made in a house, a quantity of fine flour should be kept on hand, in dry jars, and quite secured from the air, as it makes lighter pastry and bread when kept a short time, than when fresh ground.

1251. My Wife's Little Suppers.

1252. Meat Cakes.

Take any cold meat, game, or poultry (if underdone, all the better), mince it fine, with a little fat bacon or ham, or an anchovy; season it with pepper and salt; mix well, and make it into small cakes three inches long, an inch and a half wide, and half an inch thick; fry these a light brown, and serve them with good gravy, or put into a mould, and boil or bake it. Bread-crumbs, hard yolks of eggs, onions, sweet herbs, savoury spices, zest, curry-powder, or any kind of forcemeat may be added to these meat cakes.

1253. Oyster Patties.

Roll out puff paste a quarter of an inch thick, cut it into squares with a knife, sheet eight or ten patty pans, put upon each a bit of bread the size of half a walnut; roll out another layer of paste of the same thickness, cut it as above, wet the edge of the bottom paste, and put on the top; pare them round to the pan, and notch them about a dozen times with the back of the knife, rub them lightly with yolk of egg, bake them in a hot oven about a quarter of an hour: when done, take a thin slice off the top, then with a small knife, or spoon, take out the bread and the inside paste, leaving the outside quite entire; then parboil two dozen of large oysters, strain them from their liquor, wash, beard, and cut them into four; put them into a stewpan with an ounce of butter rolled in flour, half a gill of good cream, a little grated lemon peel, the oyster liquor, free from sediment, reduced by boiling to one-half, some cayenne pepper, salt, and a teaspoonful of lemon juice; stir it over a fire five minutes, and fill the patties.

[THE STEAM ENGINE IS A MIGHTY AGENT OF GOOD.]

1254. Lobster Patties.

Prepare the patties as in the last receipt. Take a hen lobster already boiled; pick the meat from the tail and claws, and chop it fine; put it into a stewpan with a little of the inside spawn pounded in a mortar till quite smooth, an ounce of fresh butter, half a gill of cream, and half a gill of veal consomme, cayenne pepper, and salt, a teaspoonful of essence of anchovy, the same of lemon juice, and a tablespoonful of flour and water: stew for five minutes.

1255. Egg and Ham Patties.

Cut a slice of bread two inches thick, from the most solid part of a stale quartern loaf: have ready a tin round cutter, two inches in diameter; cut out four or five pieces, then take a cutter two sizes smaller, press it nearly through the larger pieces, then remove with a small knife the bread from the inner circle: have ready a large stewpan full of boiling lard; fry the discs of bread of a light brown colour, drain them dry with a clean cloth, and set them by till wanted; then take half a pound of lean ham, mince it small, add to it a gill of good brown sauce; stir it over the fire a few minutes, and put to it a small quantity of cayenne pepper and lemon juice: fill the shapes with the mixture, and lay a poached egg upon each.