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Maps, plataa, charts, ate, may ba filmad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thoaa too larga to ba antiraiy includad in ona axposura ara filmad baginning in tha uppar laft hand comar, laft to right and top to bottom, aa many framaa aa raquirad. Tha following diagrama illustrata tha mathod: Laa cartaa, planehaa, tablaaux, ate., pauvant Atra fiimAa i daa taux da reduction diffirants. Lorsqua la documant aat trop grand pour Atra raproduit an un saul ciiehA, il aat film* i partir da I'angia supAriaur gaucha, da gaucha i droita, at da haut an baa, an pranant la nombra d'imagas nAcaasaira. ^aa diagrammaa suivants illustrant la mAthoda. 1 2 a 1 t t 4 5 6 I 'A B THE SKILFUL HODSEWIFE'S GUIDE; A BOOK OF DOMESTIC COOKERY, COMPILED FROM THE BEST AUTHOBS. MONTREAL : ARMOUR & RAMSAY. QUEBEC : F. SINCLAIR. KINGSTON: RAMSAY, ARMOUR AND CO. ^ TORONTO : SCOBIE AND BALFOUR. HAMILTON : RAMSAY AND M'KENDRICK. BYT0WN:A. BRYSON. LONDON : T. CRAIG. NIAGARA ; J. SIMPSON. 1848. CHi MONTREAL J ARMOUR AND RAMSAY. !i TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. CHAPTER I— Choice or Meats, &c. . . 1 Regulation of Time in Cooking, 5 CHAPTER 11— Cooking Fish, Soups, Meats, &c., 7 Baked Shad, 7 To broil Shad and other fish, . • 7 Sturgeon Cutlets or Steaks, . . 8 To boil Fresh Salmon, . . .8 Salmon — English mode, ... 8 Smoked Salmon, .... 9 Salmon Broiled, .... 9 Lobsters and Crabs, .... 9 To dress Lobsters cold, . . 10 Stewed Oysters — American mode. • 10 Stewed Oysters, plain, • . . 10 Scalloped Oysters, . . • .10 Oysters in Scallop-Shells. . • 11 Oyster Fritters, . • . .11 To fry Oysters, . . . . 11 Oyster Patties, 11 Codfish Cakes^ • . . . 11 Boiled Cod, . . . . .12 Cod's Head and Oyster Sauce, . 12 Cod's Head and Shoulders, . .12 Stewed Cod, . . . . 13 To boil Fresh Codfish — American mode, 13 14 14 14 14 15 15 16 16 To boil Salt Codfish, To dress Salt Fish that has been boiled an excellent dish, . . Codfish Toast, . . . . Buttered Codfish, . . • . • To cook fresh Fish or Eels, Eel — English mode, • . . Eels Spitchcocked, .... To stew Eels, .... IV. TABLE OP CONTENTS, Page. CHAPTER II—CoNTiNUED— Cod Sounds anuTongues,16 »-H • Herrings, .... 16 Herrings and Onions, . 17 To make a Chowder, 17 For broiling Chickens, . 18 To fricasee a Chicken, . . 18 Chickens boiled. . 18 Chicken Pie, . , , 19 To roast Geese and Ducks, . 19 To roast Snipes or Woodcocks, 19 To boil a Duck or Rabbit, . 20 Mock Duck, 20 To cook Pigeons, . 20 To roast a Turkey, 21 To broil a Steak, . 21 Ham Sandwiches . • 22 To boil a Ham, . . • . 22 To broil Ham, 22 To fry Ham, .... . 22 roast Pork, • 23 To roast a Pig, . 23 To fry Pork, 24 Pork Steak, .... . 24 A Pork Stew, . • 24 To dress Venison, . , . 25 Haunch of Mutton, 26 Another way to make a Haunch of Mut- ton taste like Venison, . . 27 Saddle of Mutton, 27 To roast Veal, . • . . . 28 To roast Beef, 28 To boil a Tongue, . 28 To boil a Leg of Lamb, Mutton or Veal, 28 Mutton Chops, 28 Fricasseed Beef, . 29 Veal Cutlets, . . • 29 Rice Balls, .... , 29 French Rolls, 30 To make a Soup, . 30 Pes Soup, .... 30 B^uiliif . 31 CH TABLE OP CONTENTS. ' V. Page. CHAPTER II— Continued— Mock Turtle Soup, . 31 Macaroni Soup, . . . .31 Vermicelli Soup, • • #u, • 32 Fine Sausages, . • ^' • 32 To roast a Beef's Heart, . . 33 Beef Cakes, 33 Bologna Sausages, ... 34 Fresh Meat Balls, . . . .34 To make Sausages in summer, . 34 Fresh Meat Griddles, . . . 34 A Beef or Veal Pie, . . . 34 To fry Calves' Liver, • . .35 To stew Beef, .... 35 To make a Pot Pie, . . • . 35 Alamode Beef, .... 36 Souse, .••.>. 36 Tripe, ...... 36 Roasted Tripe, .... 37 Neck of Mutton, . * . . 37 Loin of Veal, . . . o • 37 Cairs Head boiled, ... 38 To dress Pork as Lamb, • . .38 Boiled Turkey, .... 38 Fovirls boiled with Rice, . • .39 Boiled Chickens, • . . .39 Roasted Pigejns, . • . • 40 To cook a Hare, Derrynane fashion, . 40 Scotch Collops, « . . • 40 Sweelbreads, . . • • . 40 Bubble and Squeak, ... 41 Minced Collops, . . . .41 Another Minced Colbps receipt, . 42 A Scotch Haggis, . . . .42 Mutton Cutlets, . . • . 42 Cutlets, Hindostanee fashion, . • 43 Lamb and Mutton Cutlets, . • 43 Mutton or Lamb Chops, . . .43 Hotchpotch, .... 44 Mock Brawn, . • . . .44 Another Mock Brawn, . . . 45 To keep Brawn, the Cambridge way, . 46 A 1 VI. TABLB OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 11— Continued— Pigeons To pickle Oysters, Eggs, . Preserving Eggs, To boil Eggs, . To fry Eggs, Poached Eggs, • t- Scrambled ^gs, ; J Omelet, . Pickled Eggs, Bread Omelet, CHAPTER III— Vegetables, Potatoes, • • Turnips, . Parsnips, Carrots, • -^ Cabbage, Cauliflower, Beets, • Onions, Tomatoes, Asparagus, Green Peas, String Beans, . Sweet Corn, 'f. Spinach, • • Dry Beans, . f. Dry Green Corn, Artichokes, . Fried Cucumbers, Sea Kale, Mushrooms, Salads, Radishes, Celery, Lettuce, • Chopped Cabbage, Pickles, , . Cucumbenqi, Melons, . Tomatoes, . in Jelly, ?age» 45 . 46 47 47 • 47 47 . 48 48 . 48 49 . 49 49 . 49 . 50 61 . 51 51 . 52 52 . 52 53 . 54 54 . 55 55 * 55 55 . 56 56 . 57 57 . 57 57 . 57 58 58 . 58 . 58 59 . 59 59 CH CH I'ABLE OF CONTENTS. Page, CHAPTER III— Continued— -Pepper, . . . 6Q Butternuts, 60 Peaches, . • , . , .60 Cherries, ..... 61 Cauliflower, 61 Cabbage, 61 Onions, ...... 62 Sour Krout, 62 Parsley, « . . . • -62 f East India Pickle, ... 62 Ketchups, 63 Tomatoe Ketchup, . . . .63 Mushroom Ketchup, , . .64 Walnut Ketchup, .... 64 Pudding Ketchup. . . . .65 CHAPTER IV— Pies, Puddings, Cakes, &c, . bJ Observations on Pastry, . . .65 Remarks on using Preserved Fruits in Pastry, . . ... 65 Raised Crust for Meat Pies, or Fowls, &c., ...... 66 Fine Tart Paste, .... 67 Short Crust, .... 67 Puff Paste, 67 Light Paste, .... 68 Tart Paste, 68 Cheap Pudding Crust, ... 68 Light Paste for Tarts and Cheesecakes, 68 Croquant Paste for Covering Preserves, 69 Icing for Tarts, . . . * 69 An excellent method of Icing Tarts, 69^ Veal Pie, 6^* Veal and Sweetbread Pie, . . 70 Calf's-Head or Calf's-Foot Pie, . 71 Beef-Steak Pie, .... 71 Mutton Pie, 71 Macaroni Pic, .... 72 Chicken Pie, 72 Pigeon Pies, .... 73 GibletPie, 73 Ling Pie, ... * . 73 I VIU. TABLE OP CONTENTS. *-*.^ To take Stains out of Marble, . 12i^ To take Iron-Stains out of Marble, . 130 '■ To preserve Irons from Rust, . 130 Another way, . . . . .130 To take Rust out of Steel, . . 1 30 To clean the Back of the Grate, the In- ner Hearth, and the Fronts of C*st- Iron Stoves, . . . .130 Another way to clean Cast-Iron and Black Hearths, . . . 131 To take the Black off the bright bars of Polished Stoves in a few minutes, . 131 To clean Tin Covers end Patjcnt Pewter Porter-Pols, • . . . 131 To prevent the Creaking of a Door, . 132 A stronge Paste for Paper, . . 1 32 Fme Blacking for Shoes, . . .132 THE SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE'S GUIDE. CHAPTER I. * ON THE CHOICE OF MEATS. Beef. When it is young, it will have a fine smooth open grain, be a good red, and feel tend- er. The fat should be white, rather than yellow ; when that is of a deep eolour, the meat is seldom good. When fed with oil cakes, it is usually so, and the flesh is flabby. Pork. If the rind is tough and thick, it is old. A thin rind is always preferable. When fresh," the meat will be smooth and cool ; if clammy, it is tainted. Mutton. Choose this by its fine grain, good colour, and white fat. Lamb. If it has a green or yellow cast, it is stale. Veal. The whitest is the most juicy, and therefore preferable. Bacoy . If the rind is thin, the fat firm, -^nd of a reel tinge, the lean of a good colour and adher- ing to the bone, it is good, and not old. Hams. Stick a sharp knife under the bone, if it comes out clean with a i)leasant smell, it is good ; but if the knife is daubed and has a bad ;^fent; do not buy it, SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 1^ ON THE CHOICE OF FOWLS. Turkeys, If young, the legs will be black and smooth, the eyes lively, and the feet pliable* If old, the eyes will be sunk and the feet dry. Geese. If young, the bill will be yellow, and the feet limber. If old, the bill and feet will be red and dry. Hens. If their comb and legs are rough, tliey are old ; if smooth and limber, they are young. Wild and Tame Ducks, If young, they will be limber-footed ; if old, hard and thick on the lower part of the body. A wild duck has red feet, and smaller than tame ones. Partridges, If young, will have a black bill and yellow legs ; if old, the bill will be white and the legs blue. Old fowls, tame and wild, may b© told by their hard, rough, or dry feet. Hares and Rabbits, If young, they will be white and stiff, the ears will tear like brown paper. If old, the flesh will bo dark, the body limber,, and the ears tough. A rabbit, if old, will be dark, the body limber, and the ears tough. A rabbit, if old, will be limber and flimsy ; if young, white and stiff*. ON THE CHOICE OF FISH. Cod, The gills should be very red, the fish thick at the neck, the flesh white and firm, and the eyes fresh. When flabby, they are not good. Salmon. If new, the flesh is cf a fine red, the gills particularly, the scales bright, and the whole fish stiff. SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. Shcdy if good, are white and thick ; g'?ls red, and eyes bright, the fish stiff and firm. Season, May and June. Mackerel, Their season is May, June, and July. Being very tender, they do not carry or keep as well as other fish unsalted. Striped Bass. If the eyes are sunken, and gills pale, they hav e been fi^om the water too long. Their fineness depends upon being cooked imme- diately after they are killed. Trout These should be killed and dressed as soon as caught. When you buy them, see that the gills are red, and hard to open; the eyes bright, and the body stiff". The season, July, August, and September. Flounders soon become flabby and bad ; they should be thick and firm, the eyes bright. Lobsters, If they have not been too long taken, the claws will have a strong motion if you press your finger on the eyes. The heaviest are the best. The male, though generally smaller, has the highest flavour, the firmest flesh, and the deep- est red. It may be known from the female by having a narrow tail. Crabs, Those of middling size are the sweet- est. The heaviest are best. When in perfection^ the joints of the legs are stiff", and the body has an agreeable smell. The eyes look loose and dead when stale. All fish should be well dressed and clean, as nothing is more unpalatable than fresh fish not thoroughly cooked. 4 SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. Fresh Fish, when boiled, should be placed m cold, and shell-fish in boiling water. Fish should be garnished with parsley, or hard boiled eggs cut in ring3> and laid around the dish. To keep Outers, * After washing them, lay them in a tub, with the deep part of the shell undermost, sprinkle them with salt and Indian meal, or flour, and fill the tub with cold water, and set it in a cool place. Change the water daily, and they will keep fresh a fortnight. Rules and Suggestions. If meat or fish has acquired a slightly unpleasant flavor, or does not smell perfectly fresh, when pre- pared to boil, add a tea-spoonful of saleratus, and, unless it is bad, it will remove every thing un- pleasant in taste and smell. If the brine of meat or fish begins to have an unpleasant smell, scald and sldm it, adding to it a spoonful or two of saleratus, pepper and cinnamon, or throw it away and make new with the above ingredients. Baking meats is easily done, and is a nice way of dressing a dinner, but a loan thin piece should never be used in this manner, it will all shrivel away. The most economical way of cooking fresh meat, is to boil it, if the lic^uid is used, as it always may be, for soups or broths. It takes fat mcut L 12:01' than lean to bake. All SKII^FUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. > fresh meat should be kept awhiie to make it tender. In baking any kind of meats or puddings, if a stove is used, they will bear more fire at jfirst than when they are nearly done. In cooking by afire-place, cooks impose on them- selves discomfort, and incur a great waste in fiiel, by making too much fire. Often, in summer, a fire is made like a small furnace to boil a pot. Three small sticks of wood, or two, with chips, are sufficient at a time, if the pot or kettle is hung l©w, and but little inconvenience is felt from the fire. If you use a tin baker, the upper part or lid is sufficient to bake meats of almost any kind, if bright. Mutton, veal, pork, beef, &c. have been well cooked in this simple way. Set the dripping pan on a few coals, with a small quantity of water, with merely the cover over it, and it will be done in the same time with less fire, less trouble, and no drawing out of smoke. Puddings may be done in the same way, and al^o custards. When a pig is baked, a nice crisp may be given by rubbing it over well with butter. It is better than oil, on account of the salt. REGULATION OF TIME IN COOKING. Boiling. . . ' • . The first caution is, that whatever is used for boiling must be perfectly clean. The second, keep it constantly boiling. Salt meat may be put into cold, and fresh into hot water. If a scum rises iipon the surface, it must be skimmed off, or it will SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. discolour the meat. Never crowd the pot with meat, but leave room for plenty of water. Allow a quarter of an hour for every pound of meat. An old fowl will need boiling three or four hours. A grown one an hour and a half. A pullet an hour. A chicken about half an hour. Boasting, Beef, A large roasting piece will bake in four hours, a smaller one in three or three and a half. Mutton, A leg, or saddle, will require two hours and a half each. A shoulder, loin, neck, and heart, will each need an hour and a half or three quarters. VeaL A fillet, which is the thick part of the hind quarter, will require four or five hours. A loin, or shoulder, from three to three and a half. A neck, or breast, nearly two hours. Lamb, A hind-quarter of lamb, is generally cooked whole, and requires nearly two hours. A fore-quarter, two hours. • A leg nearly an hour and a half. A shoulder and breast, one hour. Pork. A leg will require nearly three hours, A thick spare-rib, two hours or more ; a thin one, an hour and a quarter or half. A loin will bake in two hours or more. A pig, three or four weeks old, will require but about an hour and a half. Venison, A large haunch, will require four hours and a half; a smaller one, about three hours^ Poultry, Turkey, The largest size will require three hours ; a smaller one, two liours ; the least size, one hour and a half, i . flKILFDL housewife's GUIDE. 7 Goose. A full grown goose will requ: a nearly two hours ; but a young one will roast in an hour. Duck, The largest will bake in less than an hour ; the smaller ones in half an hour. Pricking with a fork will determine you, whether done or not. Fowls should be well done through, and all meats but beef; this is generally preferred rare done. CHAPTER IL . COOKING FISH, SOUPS, MEATS, &c. ^ Baked Shad* In the first place make a stuffing of the head and cold boiled ham, seasoned with pepper, salt, cloves, and sweet marjoram, moisten it with beaten yolk of an egg. Stuff the fish, rub the outside with the yolk of egg, and some of the stuffing. Lay the fish in a deep pan, putting its tail to its mouth. Pour in the pan a little water, a piece of butter rolled in flour. Bake two hours, pour the gravy round it, garnish with lemon, sliced, and send to table. Any fish may be baked in this way. To hroil Shad and other Fish, Split, wash, and dry in a cloth. Season with salt and pepper. Grease the gridiron, lay the fish, the outside uppermost, over coals, and broil a quarter of an hour or more. Butter it well, season with pepper and salt ; send to table hot. 8 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. Sturgeon Cutlets or Steaks, Take off the skin, cut from the tail-piece slicea hali' an inch thick, rub them with salt, and broil ovef a hot fire. Butter, and sprinkle on them Cayenne pepper. Or first dip them in beaten yolk of egg and bread crumbs, and wrap them up in buttered papers, and broil ov^ r a clear fire. Send to the table without the pfipers. To boil Fresh Salmon. Scale and clean, cutting open no more than is necessary. Place it in a kettle of cold water, with a handful of salt. Let it boil slowly, but it should be well cooked, about a quarter of an hour to a pound of fish. Skim it well, and as soon as done, lift it carefully into a napkin, to absorb the mois- ture, and wrap it close. Send to table on a hot dish, garnish with horse-radish and curled parsley, or boiled eggs cut in rings, laid round the dish. Oyster sauce is best with fresh boiled fish. Salmon — English tnode, . Families who purchase a whole salmon, and like it quite fresh, should parboil the portion not required for the day's consumption, and lay it aside in the liquor, boiling up the whole together when wanted. Bv this means the curd will be set, and the fish equally good on the following day. The custom of sending up rich sauces, such as lobster, is unknown in salmon countries; a little lemon pickle or white wine vinegar being quite sufficient, added to melted butter. Salmon should be garnish- ed with boiled fennel and parsley. It will require SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. :« great attention, and the boiling must be checked more than once. Smoked Salmon, Clean and scale, cut the fish up the back, take out the roe and the bone neatly. Rub inside and out, with equal parts of Havana sugar, add salt, and a little saltpetre. Press the fish flat with a board and weights on it, two days. Drain from the salt, wipe it, and stretch it open, and fasten with a pin or stick. Then hang up, and smoke over a wood fix^e five or six davs. When used, soak the slices in luke-warm water, and broil for breakfast. Salmon Broiled, Cut the salmon into thick dices, dry them in a cloth, flour them well, and broil them. This is an excellent method anywhere, but is cooked in full perfection only on the banks of the lakes of Kil- larney, where the salmon is broiled over an arbutus fire. Lobsters and Crabs, Put them in boiling water with a handful of salt. Boil half an hour or an hour in proportion to the size. If boiled too long, the meat will be hard and stringv. When done, wipe dry and take off the shell, and take out the blue veins, and what is called the lady-fingers, as they are unwholesome and not to be eaten. Send it to table cold with the body and tail split open, and the claws taken off. Lay the largo claws next the body, the small ones outside ; garnish with double parsley. A 2 10 SKILFUL HOUSEWIPE^S GUlbE. To dress Lobsters cold. Take the fish out of the shell, divide it in small pieces, mash up the scarlet meat and prepare a salad mixture of Cayenne pepper, salt, sweet oil, vinegar and mustard ; mix the lobster with this preparation together and serve in a dish. Stewed Oysters — Ameriean mode. They should be only boiled a few minutes. Add to them a little water, salt, and a sufficient quantity of butter, and pepper, roll crackers fine, and stir in. Some prefer toast of nice bread laid in the bottom of the dish, with less cracker. Either is good. They should be served hot. Stewed Oysters, plain. Beard the oysters, wash them in cheir own liquor, then strain it, thicken it with thin melted butter, or white sauce made of cream ; season it with a blade of mace and a few whole peppercorns tied in a muslin bag. Simmer the oysters very gently, and serve up with sippets of bread : they will require only a few minutes, and if allowed to boil will become hard. Scalloped Oysters. Beard the oysters, and wash them in their liquor, then strain the liquor and pour it over a quantity of bread-crumbs. Lay the crumbs into scalloj)s of china or tin, and put the oysters in layers, with bread-crumbs, pepper, and butter between, cover the top with bread-crumbs and butter, and bake them in an oven or before the fire. SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE 8 GUIDE, 11 Oysters in Scallop- Shells. Keep the oysters in their liquor : put a bit of butter in a stewpan, with minced parsley, shalot, and a little pepper ; brown them, dusting in a little flour, then add the oyster-liquor, strained, and a little good gravy, work them until they are of the consistence of sauce ; then toss and put in the oysters, add lemon-juice, and fill the scallop- shells : strew grated bread-crumbs over the top, adding some small pieces of butter, put them into a very quick oven, and finish them of a fine brown. Oyster Fritters, Beard the oysters, dip them into a thick batter, made rich with Qg^, or, what is better, into an omelette, and then in crumbs of bread, fry them : they are an exquisite garnish for fried fish. * To fry Oysters, Make a batter, wipe the oysters dry, dip them in the batter, and roll them in crumbs of bread and mace, finely powdered, and fry in butter. Oyster Patties. Stew some large oysters with a little nutmeg, a few cloves, some yolk of ^gg boiled hard, and grated, a little butter and as much of the oyster liquor as will cover them ; when stewed a few moments, take them out of the pan to cool. Have shells of puff paste previously baked in small patfcy pans, and lay two or three oysters in each. Codfish Cakes. Soak codfish over night, and scald it, add to it e* 12 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. twice its quantity of boiled potatoes, knead all well together, make in small cakes and fry in but- ter. If, after having boiled codfish, you have some left, use it in the same way. It makes a nice and wholesome dish. Boiled Cod* The finest portion of the cod, the head and shoulders and the middle, are not supposed to re- quire foreign aid or sophistication to fit them for the table, but may be sent up simply boiled, with oyster-sauce; the tail may be boned, cut into pieces, floured and fried, or stewed. Cod is occa- sionally cut into slices, and fried or broiled. Cod's Head and Ouster Sauce. ' Brown a bit of butter in a stewpan, dust it with flour to thicken the sauce; pour in some beef-soup, mince in an onion or two, and let the whole boil a little ; take half a hundred of oysters, or a quart of pickle.I mussels, with a considerable quantity of their iiq^ior, stew altogether till quite ready, taking care to season the sauce with salt and pepper ; meantime boil the cod in water, with a little salt. Serve in a deep dish, and pour the sauce over it. Cod^s Head and Shoulders Will eat much finer by having a little salt rubbed down the bone, and along the thick part, even if it be eaten the same day. Great care must be taken to serve it without the smallest speck of black or scum. Garnish with ^ large quantity of doublo paroley, lemony horse-radish, and the milt, roe, and : SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDEi 13 liver, and fried smelts, if approved. If with smelts, be careful that no water hangs about the fish, or the beauty of the smeUs will I be taken oiT, as. well as their flavour. Serve with plenty of oyster or shrimp sauce, and anchovy-butter. When pro- perly prepared, lay the fish on a tin fishplate, and covfer the whole with a cloth. Put it into cold hard water, with two handsful of salt, and two table-spoonsful of vinegar ; let it heat gradually un- til it boils, then take it quite off the fire, and keep it closely covered in the water for an liour, near, but not on the fire, scarcely being allowed to simmer. Stewed Cod. • ■ ^ Cut the cod into slices, season them with pepper and salt, put them into a stewpan with half a pint of water, and some good gravy. After stewing a few minutes, add half a pint of wine, the juice of half a lemon, a dozen or two of oysters with their liquor, a piece of butter, rolled in flour, and two or three blades of mace. When the fish is sufficiently stewed, which will be in a quarter of an hour, serve it up with the sauce. Any kind of fish-sauce may be substituted for the wine, and a Variety offered by employing anchovies instead of oysters. To boil Fresh Codjish — American mode. Put it in when the water is boiling hot, and boil it twenty or thirty minutes, according to the size of the fish. Use melted butter or ovster sauce for gravy. A 3 14 SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. . ' ' To boil Salt Codfish, " Lay it in water over night to soak. Then put it in water to cook, and when the water, becomes scalding hot, let it remain in that scalding state two or three hours. There should be but little water used ; and not boiled at all. that it may not grow hard. For gravy, use drawn butter or egg sauce. To dress Salt Fish that has been boiled ; an excel- lent dish. Break it into flakes, and put it into a pan with sauce thus made : beat boiled parsnips in a mor- tar, then add to it a cup of cream, and a good piece of butter rolled in flour, a little white pepper, and half a tea-spoonful of mustard, all boiled together; keep the fish no longer on the fire than to become hot, but not to boil. Codfish Toast. Shred it in fine pieces, and soak it in cold water mitil suflSciently fresh, then drain it well, and stir into it u table spoonful of flour, half a tea-cupful of sweet cream, and two thirds of a tea-cup of milk, and one egg if convenient. Season it well with pepper, and let it scald slowly, stirring it well. Make a nice moist toast, well seasoned, and lay it on the platter, with the fish over it, and it is ready for the table, and is a fine di^h. Made as above, without toast, it is also good ; with vegetables, butter may be used instead oi' cream. 1r uttered Codfish. Shred it ihie and soak aa above; when the SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. U water is well drained, have a piece of butter as large as an egg, melted and hot. Stir into the fish a spoonful of flour to abrorb all the water, and then lay into the butter, stirring it well about five minutes, then lay it upon the platter, pepper, and send it up. Some prefer this to any other mode of preparation. To cook fresh Fish or Eels, The fish should not be laid in until the fat is hot. Beat up an egg or t^vo, and with a pastry brush lay it on the fish, shake crumbs of bread and flour mixed, over the fish, and fry them a light brown, turn them once and take care they du not break. A more common method is, to fry them after salt pork, dipping them in Indian meal or flour. Lay the skin uppermost to prevent its breaking. Soaking fresh fish or fresh meat in water is injuri- ous ; after they are well ressed, they should be kept dry in a cool place, and if necessary, salted. Eel — English mode. Clean the eel well, and cut it into pieces, leaving it in water ; put them into a stewpan with butter, sot them for a minute on the fire ; then dust flour ; add some gravy, and stir it witli a wooden spoon until it boils ; add parsley, shalot, half a bay leaf, a clove, salt, }>epper, and small onions ; simmer all together, and reduce. Take oft' the fat, remove the herbs, and thicken with the yolks (;f eggs add- ing the juice of a lemon : or, after half boiling the eels with the herbs, they may be rolled in yolks of eggs, dipped in minced ])jir3ley and crumbs of hread, and boiled until brown. 16 SKILFUL nOUSEWIPB'a GUIDE, Eels Spitchcocked, Bruise together a small quantity of cloves, mace, nutmeg, salt, and pepper, and rub it over the fish, either cut in lengths or rolled round ; put it into a stewpan with half a pint of cider, a cupful of good gravy, one anchovy, a glass of port wine, a whole onion, some scraped horse-radish, a bunch of fiweet herbs, and a little lemon-peel : when suffici- ently stewed, strain tlie sauce, and thicken it with a little butter or cream. A good thickening may be made by melting a piece of butter the size of a walnut, rolled in half a tea-spoonful of flour in a little milk. . . To stew Eels. \ Cut the eels in pieces, fry them a little until they are a fine brown ; let them remain until cold ; take an onion, a little parsley, a leaf of sage chopped very finely ; put them in some gravy, with a clove, a blade of mace, pepper, and salt. Stew the eels until they are tender ; then add a glass of port wine, and a little lemon-juice, after straining the sauce and thickening it with butter and flour. Cod Sounds and Tongues* Make a batter of eggs and flour, or beat one egg, and dip them in the eg^, and then in the flour, and fry in butter, or boil them twenty min- utesj and use drawn butter gravy. Herrings, This fish is usually broiled, but they are some- times boiled. When thus dressed, rub them over with salt and vinegar, skewer them with their tiila \\\ SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 17 in their mouths, lay them on a fish-plate, and boil them for ten minutes in boiling water. Drain them thoroughly, and lay them round a dish with the heads in the centre ; garnish with boiled parsley, and serve up with a good sauce. Herrings should be broiled over a good fire : they will be improved by being sprinkled with salt and pressed, and then washed in vinegar : if kept more than a day, they should be covered with salt. Herrings and Onions, Notwithstanding the prejudice against the union of two such strongly-flavoured viands, the following method of dressing herrings has been so highly recommended, that it is given upon the authority of a very celebrated gastronome : — Shred the onions finely and fry them, clean fresh herrings, fry them also, and serve them in the dish with the onions. To make a Chowder, ,.. Lay four or five slices of salt pork in the bottom of the pot, let it cook slowly that it may not burn ; when done brown, take it out, and lay in fish cut in length- wise slices, then a layer of crackers, sliced onions, find very thin sliced potatoes, with some of the pork that was fried, and then a layer of fish again, und so on. Strew a little salt and pepper over each layer ; over the whole, pour a bowl full of flour and water well stirred up, enough to come up even with what you have in the pot. A sliced lemon adds to the flavour. A few clams im- A 4 18 SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. prove it. Let it be so covered that the steam can- not escape. It must not be opened until cooked, to see if it is well seasoned. For broiling Chickens, Separate the breast from the back, beat them flat as you would steak, lay the under side to the fire until it is above half done. Cover them over with a square tin, or other convenient covering, and they will be done through much sooner. Great care should be taken not to let the flesh side burn,but they should be of a fine brown colour. When the difierent parts of the chicken are done, turn over them some melted butter, with a little salt and and pepper. To fricasee a Chicken, Cut it in pieces, jointing it well, and boi) it tender with a slice or two of pork cut fine. When nearly done, add half a tea-spoonful of pepper and salt to just season it. When tender, turn ofl" the water and add half a pound of butter or nearly that, and let it fry a while. Then take out the chicken, and stir in two or three spoonsful of flour previously dissolved in cold water, and add the water from the chicken. Let it boil, and pour it upon the chicken on the platter. This makes a superior dish, and needs no vegeta- bles but mashed potatoes. Chickens Boiled. The wings and legs of fowls should be fastened to the body by a cord tied around to keep them 1 > I 1' SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 19 1 ii in place, instead of skewers. When thus pre- pared, let them lie in skim-milk two hours. Then put them in cold water, cover them, and boil over a slow fire. Skim the water clean. Serve with white sauce, or drawn butter. ' Chicken Pie. Boil the chickens tender or nearly so, having them cut in pieces. Make a rich crust, adding a little saleratus, and an egg or two, to make it light and puff. Lay it around the sides of the pan, and then lay in the chickens ; between each layer, sprinkle in flour, pepper, salt, and butter, with a thin slice of paste here and there. Then add the water in which they were boiled, and cover them. They should be baked an hour or an hour and a half, according to the size of the pie. To roast Geese and Ducks, See to it that they are well dressed, and then boil them an hour or more, according to their age. When they begin to feel tender, take them out, and having your stufling prepared of bread, salt, pepper, and butter, some like sage, made soft ; fill the body and fasten it up with thread. Roast them brown. Make your gravy of the dripping ; serve both with apple sauce. Poultry, when roasted or boiled, should have the wings and legs fastened close to the body with a cord tied around. To roast Snipes or Woodcocks, Flour and baste them until done. Have a slice or two of bread, toasted and dipped in the drip- 20 SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. ^; ping to lay on the dish. Lay them on the toast. Make a gravy of butter and flour mashed, with the dripping poured on and stirred until scalded. To boil a Duck or Eahhit, Use a good deal of water, and skim it as often as anything rises. Half an hour will boil them. Make a gravy of sweet cream, butter and flour, a little parsley chopped small, pepper and salt, and stew until done, and lay them in a dish, and pour the gravy over them. Mock Duck. Take a steak about as large as a breakfast plate, beat it out, and fill it with a bread stuffing prepared as for a turkey, and sew it up. Fry one hour in the dripping from roast beef or butter. Turn it and keep it covered until near done. When you take it up, turn in half a cup of hot water in the gravy that has been previously seasoned, and pour over. It will be thickened with the stuffing that falls from it. To cook Pigeons, After they are well dressed, put a slice of salt pork and a little ball of stuffing into the body of each. Flour the pigeons well, and lay them close in the bottom of the pot. Just cover them with water, and throw in a piece of butter, and let them stew an hour and a quarter, if young ; if old, longer. This is preferred to roasting, or any other way they can be prepared. They may be cooked in the same way without stuffing. SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 21 To roast a Turhey. Prepare the stuffing with bread, salt, pepper, butter, cinnamon or nutmeg, or a little lemon peel, or parsley and thyme, chop and mix all well together with one or two eggs beat well. With this dressing stuff the body and the breast, and sew them with a strong thread. Roast the turkey of a fine brown, not burning it. It will be well done in one hour and a half, or if old and very large, two hours or more. Make a gravy of drawn butter and the dripping. Another sauce is made of half a pint of oysters boiled in a pan, thickened with a lump of butter rolled in flour. Only let it boil once. Serve this by itself, in con- nection with other gravy, for every person does not like oyster sauce. To broil a Steak. ' '■ Pound it well, striking it with the edge to cut the fibres ; when sufficiently thin and tender, lay it upon the gri^ron and cook it over hot coals, turning it often ; when the blood settles upon tha top, hold the platter near and take it carefully on that it may not be lost ; let the steak lie upon the platter until every thing is in readiness, though not over a minute, then lay it back on a few fresh coals until done. Have butter melted, and when the steak is on the platter, pepper and salt it, and pour over the butter, and take it on hot. The meat should not be pressed to obtain the blood, it makes the meat dry, and greatly impairs its rich- pess. It should not be commenced until every-^ thing is ready. It requires constant attention. 22 SKIFLUL HOUSEWIFE 8 GUIDE. Ham Sandwiches, Slightly spread thin slices of bread ; if you choose, spread on a very little mustard. Lay very thin slices of boiled ham between ; tongue, sliced or grated, may be used instead. Lay them on plates, to be used at suppers. To boil a Ham, Soak according to its age twelve or twenty-four hours. Have it more than covered with cold water, and let it simmer two or three hours, and then boil an hour and a half or two hours ; skim it carefully. When done, take it up and skin it neatly, dress it with cloves and spots of pepper laid on accurately. You may cut writing or tissue paper in fringe, and twist around the shank bone if you like. It shoula be cut past the centre nearest the hock, in very thin slices. To broil Ham, Cut the pieces in thin slices, soak them in hot water fifteen or twenty minutes. Dry them in a cloth and lay them on a hot grid^'ron, and broil a few moments. Butter and season with a little pepper. Cold boiled ham is better to broil than raw, and mil require no soaking. If you wish to serve fried eggs with it, do it according to the directions ; lay on each slice of ham, and send it to the table hot. To fry a Ham. Cut a ham through the middlj, and then you get fat and lean in good proportions, lay it in your t I ' SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE'S GUIDE. 23 pan or spider, and cover it that it may cook tender in the steam. When nearly done, let it finish open that the steam may evaporate, and that it may slightly brown. To roast Pork, -> When you roast that which has the skin on, take a sharp knife and cut it through the rind, that it may crisp well. If a leg, cut a hole under the twist, and stuff it with chopped bread, seasoned with pepper, salt, and sage, and skewer it up. Roast it crisp and handsomely brown. Make a drawn gravy of the dripping, and serve it with apple sauce. This is called mock-goose. The spare-rib should be sprinkled with flour, and pep- per, and a little salt, and turned often, until near- ly done ; then let the round side lie up until nice- ly brown. Make the gravy of the dripping, pre- pared with flour, and seasoned well with salt j nevei send it to the table without apple sauce^ sallad, or pickles. Pork must be well done. To every pound allow a quarter of an hour ; for example, twelve pounds will require three hours^ If it be a thin piece of that weight, two hours will roast it. "^ To roast a Pig, V/hen well dressed and washed, prepare a stuf^ fing of chopped bread, seasoned well with pepper, salt, sage and butter, soaked enough to make it soft. Fill the body and sew it up with strong thread. Flour it well all over, and when the oven is wdl heated through^ put it in on dripping pans, i; i 11 n »a 24 SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. that will catch all the gravy. Let it stand in two or three hours, according to the size of the pig. Let it be well crisped and of course handsomely brown. When you take it from the oven, mash two spoonsful of flour, with butter enough to mix well, and dip on the dripping a little at a time at first until melted, then pour it on, stirring it un- til thickened, season it well with salt, and add to it the brains bruised fine, and then send it to the table. The head must be cut off and laid upon the platter. To fry Porh» If too salt, freshen by heating it in water after it is cut in slices. Then pour oiF the water and fry until done. Take out the pork, and stir a spoonful of flour into the lard, and turn in milk or cream enough to thicken. This makes a more delicate gravy u d is very palatable. JPork Steak, This should be broiled the same as beef, except that it requires to be done slower and much longer. If there is too much fire, it will blaze. Cut in around the bone that there may be nothing that has a raw appearance. Season with butter, salt and pepper. They may be cooked in cutlets like veal, with a little powdered sage and hard crumbs, or flour, fried in butter. A Pork Stew, Take pieces of fresh pork, sweet bread, liver, heart, tongue, and skirts. Boil in just water enough to cook them tender. Before they are SKILFUL HOUSEWIFES GUIDE. 25 done, season them with salt and a good deal of pepper, and let them fry after the water is out to a fine brown. It is an excellent dish. , To dress Venison. i A haunch of buck will take three hours and a half or three-quarters roasting 5 doe, only three hours and a quarter. Venison should be rather under than over done. Gravy for it should be put into a boat, and not into the dish (unless there is none in the venison), and made thus : Cut off the fat from two or three pounds of a loin of old mutton, and set in steaks on a gridiron for a few minutes, just to brown one side ; put them into a saucepan with a quart of water, cover quite close for an hour, and simmer it gently ; then uncover it, and stew till the gravy is reduced to a pint. Season with salt only. Currant-jelly sauce must be served in a boat. If the venison be fresh, merely dry it with a cloth, and hang it in an airy place. Should it be necessary to keep it for any length of time, rub it all over with beaten ginger. If it happen to be musty, wash it, firstly, with lukewarm water, and secondly, with milk and water, also lukewarm. Then dry it very well with clean cloths, and rub it over with powdered ginger. Observe the same method with hare. It must be looked at every day, and peppered if at- tacked by flies. When to be roasted, wash it well in luke-warm water, and dry it with a cloth. Cover the haunch with buttered paper when spitted for roasting, and baste it very well all the time it is at the fire. When sufficiently done, take off the paper, 25 SKlLtVL HOUSEWIFE*S GUIDE. and dredge it very gently with flour in order to froth it, but let it be dusted in this manner as quickly as possible, lest the fat should melt. Send it up in the dish with nothing but its own gravy. Some persons add a coarse paste, securing it and the paper with packthread : it is then frequently basted, and a quarter of an hour before it is removed from the fire the paper and paste are taken off, and the meat dredged with flour and basted with butter: gravy should accompany the venison, in a tureen, together with currant-jelly, either sent to table cold, or me^^'^d in port wine and served hot. Ve\p.,on may be kept by rubbing it over with coaisc sugar ; when to be roasted, should it have hung vevy long, take off the skin, as this becomes musty first, and will, in cooking, impart a disagree- able flavour to the whole. Wrap up the venison in a veal-caul, and then cover it with paper. Haunch of Mutton* This being a favourite joint, two or three recipes will be f^iven to improve the flavour. It will require to be kept for some time, and must therefore be well washed with vinegar, wiped every day, and, if necessary, rubbed with pounded pepper and ginger. Stick two cloves in the knuckle, and twenty- four hours before it is put upon the spit, having thoroughly .Vied and wiped it clean, lay it in a pan, and pour as much port wine over it as will serve io soak it, turning it frequently, so that every part shall equally imbibe the wine. Stick two more cloves in it, paper up the fat, and roast it the / SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE 8 GUIDE. 27 same as venison, basting with the wine mixed with butter : serve it with gravy and currant-jelly. Another way to make a Haunch of Mutton taste like Venison. Take the skin carefully off, and rub the meat with olive oil, then put it into a pan with a quan- tity of whole pepper, four cloves of garlic, a bundle of sweet herbs, consisting of parsley, thyme, sweet marjoram, and a couple of bay leaves. Pour upon the meat a pint of good vinegar and three or four table-spoonsful of olive oil. Cover the upper sur- face of the meat with slices of raw onion, and turn the mutton every day, always taking care to put the slices of onion on the top surface. At the expira- tion of four days, take the meat out, wipe it with a napkin, and hang it up in a cool place till the next day, when it is fit for roasting. The under part of a sirloin of beef, or the half of a beef-heart, may be prepared in the same manner, and stuffed and roasted like a hare. A more simple method is to stick two cloves in the haunch, wash it with vinegar which has been poured into a basin rubbed with garlic, repeating this latter process every day, and let it hang until it is tender. Saddle of Mutton, This joint should be well hung and well roasted ; take out the fat from the inside, and remove or re- tain the kidneys, as it may be convenient ; split the tail, skewer the pieces back in a ring on either side. When great pains are taken v/ith the dinner, raise 28 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. the skin, but skewer it on again, removing it alto- gether twenty minutes before the mutton is dished. On removing the skin, sprinkle the mutton with salt, dredge it with flour, and send it up finely frothed. To roast Veal, If the leg is used, it may be stuffed like pork, and requires nearly as much time to bake. It should be done a fine brown, and often ba^^ted. To roast Beef, Never salt fresh beef before you cook it in any way, for it draws out the gravy and leaves the meat dry. If the roasting piece is large, bake it three hours, otherwise two and a half. Make your gravy of the dripping. To boil a Tongue, Put a tongue into a pot o>^er night and soak, until three hours before dinner, then boil. To boil a Leg of Lamb, Mutton^ or Veal, Lot the water boil before any fresh meat is put in, that the richness of the meat may not bo lost. Boil a piece of pork with either of the above, but not with vegetal >lcs; when done, make a gravy with drawn butter. Mutton Chops, Take pieces of mutton that are not good for steak, ribs or other pieces, have them cut small, and boil them in water sutficieut t(» cook them tender ; add salt, pepper, and if not fat enough to make good gravy, add a little butter, or, if preferred, cut a little pork fine and boil with the meat, which SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIBE. •29 will make it nearly salt enough, and suffident gravy ; let them fry, after the water is out, a little brown. Fricaseed Beef, Take any piece of beef from the fore quarter, such as is generally used for corning, and cook it tender in just water sufficient to have it all eva- porate in cooking. When about half done, puc in salt enough to just season it well, and half a tea- spoonful of pepper. If the water should not be done out soon enough, turn it off and let it fry fifteen minutes, turning it often ; and it is even -better than the best roaot beef. Make your gravy of the dripping. Take one or two table-spoonsful -of flour, and add first the fat • when mixed, pour on the hot juice of the meat or hot water fi'om the tea-kettle, and your gravy will be nice. Serve with vegetables, and sallad, or apple sauce. ... Veal Ctitlet, Cut your veal as if for steak or frying, put clean nice lard or butter in your pan, and let it be hot. Peat up an egg on a plate, and have flour on an- other ; dip the. pieces flrst in the cggy then in the flour on both sides, and lay in the pan and fry until done, turning it carefully once. This makes an excellent dish if well prepared. This way is superior to batter. Rice Both. *^' »:■ Take the waste ])ieces of steak, or baked meat, chop fine and season with salt, popper, cloves, or cinnamon. Wash rice and mix with it, then tic 30 SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. up in cloths to sliape of balls, and boil half an hour, and serve with drawn butter. French Rolls, Cut strips of beefsteak to make a roll as long as a knife blade, and larger than a sausage, stuff with a prepared stuffing, and sew up and bake, or fry in butter. Melt butter for a gravy. To make a Soup, Beef soup should be stewed four ours, at least, over a moderate fire, with a handful of rice, and just water enough to keep it covered. An hour before it is done, put in two or three common size onions, and ten or twelve common potatoes, pared and sliced, and a few carrots, if you like ; at the same time put in salt to season it well, and half a tea-spoonful of pepper. Some like a little lemon peel cut in thin slices, others prefer powdered sage and parsley, or savory, two tea-spoonsful. Stir up two or three eggs with milk and flour, and drop it in with a spoon. This makes a soup look nice ; but bread broken into the tureen is preferable, with the soup taken over it. Pea Soup, If you use dry peas, soak them over night in a warm place. Early next morning boil them an hour, adding a tea-spoon of saleratus ten minutes before you change the water. Then, with fresh water and a pound of salt pork, boil three or four hours, or until they are perfectly soft. Green peas require only about an hour. SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 51 an or BouilU. Boil seven or eight pounds of beef in more water than enough to cover it. Remove the scum as it rises, then put in two carrots, two turnips, two onions, two heads of celery, two or three cloves, a faggot of parsley and sweet herbs. Let it boil gently four or five hours. Put a car- rot, a turnip, an onion, and a head of celery in to cook whole, and take them out when done and cut in small squares. Take out the meat careful- ly, skim off the fat, and lay the sliced vegetables into the soup, and add a spoonful of ketchup to heighten the flavour. Pour in a soup tureen, and serve as other soup. Mock Turtle Soup. Boil a calf's head, a knuckle of veal, a piece of ham six or eight hours. Reserve a part of the veal for force-meat-bdls to be added. Skim it carefully, and when the scum ceases to rise, sea- son with salt, pepper, cloves, and mace ; add onions and sweet herbs, and six sliced potatoes ; stew gently half an hour. Just before you take it up, add a half pint of white wine. Make balls about the size of half an egg, boil part, and fry the remainder ; put in a dish by themselves. For these take lean veal, pork, and brains, chop fine, and season with salt, pepper, or cloves, mace, sweet herbs, curry powder, with the oik of an egg to hold it together. , Macaroni Soup, Make a nice veal soup, seasoned with sweet IBQ SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. marjoram, parsley, salt, pepper, mace, and two or three onions. Break in small pieces a quarter of a pound of macaroni, and simmer in milk and water till swelled and tender. Strain and add to •the soup. To the milk add half a pint of cream ; thicken it with two spoonsfull of flour, and stir gradually into the soup, and boil a few moments , before serving. ;. Vermicelli Soup, Make a rich soup of veal, mutton, or fowls, -old fowls that are not good for other purposes will •do for soup. A few slices of ham will be an ad- dition. Season with salt, butter, two onions sliced, sweet herbs, a head of celery cut small. Boil un- til tne meat falls to pieces. Strain it, add a quar- .' ter of a pound of vermicelli which has been scald- ed in boilding water. Season to your taste with :>salt and Cayenne pepper, and let it boil five - minutes. Lay two slices of bread in your tureen, Land pour the soup upon it. Fine Scmsages, Have two-thirds lean and one-third fat pork, ' chop very fine. Season with nine tea-spoonsful of pepper, nine of salt, three of powdered sage, to every pound of meat. Add to every pan full, half a cup of sugar. Warm the meat, that you can mix it well win/h your hands ; do up a part in shiall patties, v/ith a little flour mixed with them, and pack the reef hi jars. When used, do it up in small cakes and flour on the outside, and fry •i iu butter or alone, They should not be covered. or thej a pnrt sugar : kept V very n Cut «oak i about stuffing it. R the gn Garnis withje fried i salt an Cho bread son wi the di"] be ad cakes, top an on eve Other way f( may I and w choppi butter and I fa«t d SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 33^ or they will fall to pieces. A little cinnamon to a part of them will be a pleasant addition ; tne sugar is a great improvement. They should be kept where it is cool but not damp. Tliey are very nice for breakfast. To roast a Beef^s Heart, Cut open, to remove the ventricles or pipes, soak in water to free it of blood, and parboil it about ten minutes. Prepare a highly seasoned stuffing and fill it. Tie a string around to secure it. Roast till tender. Add butter and flour to the gravy, and serve it up hot in a covered dish. Garnish it with cloves stuck in over it, and eat with jelly. They are good when boiled tender and fried in butter, cut in thin slices, seasoned with salt and pepper. Beef Cakes, Chop pieces of roast beef very fine. Mix grated bread crumbs, chopped onions and parsley ; sea- son with pepper and salt ; moisten with a little of the dHpping or ketchup ; cold ham or tongue may be added to improve it. Make in broad flat cakes, and spread a coat of mashed potatoes on the top and bottoms of each. Lay a piece of butter op every cake, and set it in an oven to brown. Other cold moats may be prepared in the same way for a breakfast dish. Slices of cold roast beef may be broiled, seasoned with salt and pepper, and well buttered ; served hot. They may be chopped fine, seasoned well, warmed with a little butter, dripju'ng, or water, seasoned well with salt and pei)per, and laid upon toa!:;t for a break-, fa^t dif?h. N 34 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. u [ u several times. Serve them up together with gravy. The water should be cooked out, which will leave the vegetables a light brown. Sweet potatoes are good cooked in this way. Bologna Sausages, Boil fresh beef, chop it fine, and season it with Cayenne and black pepper, and cloves ; put it in cloth bags, and cut off for tea. Fresh Meat Balls, Boil the liver, heart, tongue, &c., chop and season with drawn butter. To make Sausages in summer. Chop raw pork and veal fine, and season with salt, pepper, and sage ; add a little flour, and do up in balls to fry, and they make a fine fresh dish, equal to those made entirely of pork. Fresh Meat Griddles, Chop all the bits of cold fresh beef or veal, sea- son with salt and pepper ; make a griddle batter, ^nd lay on a spoonful on the iron, well buttered, to prevent its sticking, then a spoonful of the chopped meat, then a spoonful of batter over tbo meat, and when cooked on one side then turn, and when done carry them on hot, and they ai^e very nice, A Beef or Veal Pie, Take tlie cold pieces after baking, and make a light crust, like tea biscuit, only ^ little shorter, lay the crust around the dish, not on the bottom ; then season your meat with salt and pepper, SKILF'TL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. a To fry Calves Liver, Cut the liver in thin slices, season with pepper, salt, and, if you like, sweet herbs and parsley. Dredge with flour, and fry brown in lard or drip- pings. Cook it well, and serve with its own gravy. A calfs heart may be dressed in this manner. Slices of cold boiled ham may be added as an improvement. ^ To stew Beef, Take a good piece of fresh beef, not too f?*, rub with salt and boil in water just enough to cover it. An hour before you take it up, add pared potatoes, and parsnips, if you have them, split. Let them cook till tender, and turn the meat and butter between each layer; add water to make it moist with gravy, then lay on the cover and bake three quarters of an hour. To make a Pot Pie, Make your sponge as you would for biscuit, only shorter ; when you do it up, let it get just light, putting into the batter a little saleratus and salt ; when light take it on to the board and cut it in pieces like biscuit, only let them lie and rise without kneading them at all. When the meat is tender, there should be enough water to come just over the meat. Season it well with salt and pep- per, and dissolve flour in cold water and stir in enough to thicken it well. If the meat is very lean, put in butter, and when boiling hot, lay the crust over the surface and shut it up close, and 36 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE^ not allow it to be opened again in half an hour, when it will be ready for the table, as light and nice as sponge. Alamode Beef, Tie up a round of beef to keep in shape ; make a stuffing of bread, as you would for a turkey, adding sweet herbs, if you have them ; cut holes in the beef and put in half the stuffing. Tie the beef up in a cloth and just cover it with water, and let it boil an hour and a half, or more ; then turn the h'quor off, and let the beef brown over a slow fire ; turn it often. Then take it out and add a little water, and make tne remainder of the stuffing in balls and lay them in, and when boiled they are ready to serve in a boat, or to turn over the meat. Souse. Boil it until it is tender and will slip off the bone. If designed to pickle and keep on hand, throw it into cold water and take out the bones ; then pack it into a jar, and boil with the jelly liquor an equal quantity of vinegar, salt enough to season ; cloves, cinnamon, pepper enough to make it plea- sant, and pour it on the souse scalding hot, and when wanted for use, warm it in the liquor, or make a batter and dip each piece in, and fiy in hot butter. This way is usually preferred, and is as nice as tripe. Tripe. This should bo boiled tender, pickled and cook- ed like sousC; or broiled like steak, buttered and V ftKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 3T peppered well. If not pickled, it should be kept in salt and water, and changed every day while it lasts. Boasted Tripe* Cut the tripe in square pieces ; make a rich force-* meat ; spread it over the pieces of tripe, and roll them up tightly ; fasten them upon a spit, flour and baste them well, and serve them up with melted butter, and slices of Seville orange or lemon. Neck of Mutton, Boil the neck very gently until it is done enough, then, half an hour or twenty minutes before serving, cover it thickly with bread-crumbs and sweet herbs chopped, with a little drawn butter or the yolk of an egg, and put it into a Dutch oven before the fire. By this process the meat will taste much better than if merely roasted or boiled'; the dryness atten- dant upon roasting will be removed, and the dis- agreeable greasiness, which boiled meat, mutton especially, exhibits, will utterly disappear. Too much cannot be said of this method of dressing the neck and breast of mutton, for the liquor they have been boiled in will make very good soup. The' latter, the breast, after being boiled, may be boned^, , covered with forcemeat rolled round, and then roasted. The best end of a neck of mutton makes a good roast, but even the scrag may be sent to table, when cooked according to the above direc^ tiona. Loin of Veat This joint is usually divided, the kidney end = B 38 SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. roasted, and sent up with a toast under the fat, and melted butter in the dish. The chump end should be stuffed like the fillet, or sent up with balls of stuffing in the dish. The best end of the veal will make a good roast, served in the same way, stuffing being always an agreeable adjunct to veal. The breast is frequently roasted, but is not suited to the spit» Calfs Head^ Boiled. When thoroughly cleaned, the brains should be taken out, washed, soaked, and blanched, and boiled ; then mix well a little chopped sage, previ- ously scalded and warmed in melted butter ; serve in a separate dish with the tongue. If quite plain, the head must be sent up with parsley and butter j but it is sometimes brushed with yolk of egg, co- vered with bread-crumbs, and browned before the fire« To dress Pork as Lamb. Kill a ycung pig of four or five months ; dress the fore-quarters trussed with the shank-bone close, having taken off the skin. Serve with mint-sauce and salad. The other parts will make delicate pickled pork, steaks, or pies. Boiled Turkey, Fill the body of the turkey with oysters, and let it boil by steam without any water. When suffi- ciently done, take it up, strain the gravy that will be found in the pan, and which, when cold, will be a fine jelly ; thicken it with a little flour, add the l|quor of the oysters intended for sauce, also stewed, SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. 39 and warm the oysters up in it. A fowl may be boiled in the same manner ; and, if there should be no steam apparatus, a small one can be put in a jar and immersed in a kettle of water. Should a fowl or turkey prove of a bad colour, smother it in sauce, celery sauce, or any white sauce. Pepper fowls and turkeys in the inside, and, when roasted, baste them well with butter. Fowls Boiled with Rice, Clean and wash some rice, put it into the body of the fowl, with a piece of butter rolled in flour, and a little lemon-juice and salt. Put it into the saucepan, and pour over it, instead of water, the following hla7ic» Cut a pound of veal and th'^^ same quantity of fat bacon into small pieces, and lay them in a stewpan with half a pound of butter ; do not allow them to brown, but while the meat is white, pour on boiling water, adding at the same time a clove, half a bay-leaf, a bundle of sweet herbs, and a little shalot. When sufficiently stewed, strain it through a hair seive over the fowl, which must simmer in it for three-quarters of an hour. The veal and bacon that has been employed in this hlanc may be put into a mortar, and pounded together for stuffing. It is the fashion to lard the breasts of boiled fowls with tongue. Boiled Chickens. Chickens should be plump, and very nicely boiled ; if wanted to be particularly good, they must be boiled in a hlanc. It is the fashion to send them up with tufts of cauliflower or white brocoli, divested of stem and leaves^ and white sauce. 40 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. Roasted Pigeons, Stutf the whole of the body of the pigeon with veal stuffing: some persons merely chop a little parsley and put it inside ; but the other is the belter way. Pounded veal and bacon, and bread steeped in milk, form an excellent stuffing for pigeons. To Cooh a Hare, Derrynane Fashion, Take three or four eggs, a pint of new milk, a couple of handsful of flour ; make them into a batter, and, when the hare is roasting, baste it well, repeating the operation until the batter thickens, and forms a coating all over the hare : this should be allowed to hroivn, hut not to hum. N. B. This is a very popular dish with the guest* at Derrynane Abbey. Scotch Collops. Cut the collops thill, beat them a little, fry them in but%'r for about two minutes, after having sea- soned them with a little beaten mace ; place them in a deep dish as they are fried, and cover them with gravy. Put some butter into the frying-pan, and allow it just to change colour. Then strnin the collops througli a cullender from the gravy, and fry them (juickly ; pour the burnt butter from the pan, and put in the gravy, adding a liltle lemon- juice. The gravy may be nuule of tiie Iriiumings of the veal ; serve it up with forcemeat balls. iStvecthreads. Sweetbreads should be soaked in warm water^ SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. 41 •and then blanched by bei ig thrown into boiling water, boiled for a few minutes, and then put into cold water. They may then be larded and roasted, or fried, and afterwards stewed in fine white or brown sauce. Sweetbreads may also be larded and braised, and being of themselves rather insipid, they will be improved by a relishing sauce and by a large quantity of herbs in the braise. Slices of lemon, put upon the sweetbreads while braising, will heighten the flavour, and keep them' white ; w^hich is very desirable when sent to table with white sauce. Bubble and Squeah Cut slices from a cold round of beef; let them be fried quickly until brown, and put them into a dish to keep hot. Clean the pan from the fat ; put into it greens and carrots previously boiled and chopped small ; add a little butter, pepper, and salt ; make them very hot, and put them round the beef with a little gravy. Cold pork boiled is a better material for bubble-and-squeak than beef, which is always hard ; in either case these should be very thin and lightly fried. Mimed Collops, Take n pound of juicy beef, a quarter of r pound of suet, and an onion ; remove every bit ol skin or gristle from the ment, and mince it with the onion very finely ; add a little pepper and salt, flour die collops, melt a piece of butter in a stewpan, stir in the collops, adding a little water or gravy, and a spoontul of ketchup or oyster-sauce. Ten inin'Ues Will be eulfiricnt to drosa a poimd. r.nflaagjjUiw. ^a 42 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. Another Minced Collops Receipt. Take some lean beef, mince it very small, sea- son it with pepper and salt, adding a very small quantity of vinegar ; press it down in an earthen vessel : it will keep for some days. When wanted, take out the necessary quantity, put it into a stew- pan, with a chopped onion, a spoonful of any eauce, some beef gravy, and a piece of butter rolled in flour. Keep stirring it round until quite hot, and then send it to table. A Scotch Haggis, Take the stomach of a sheep ; wash it until per- fectly clean with cold water ; then turn it outside in, scald it and scrape it with a knife quickly, and then put it into cold salt and water till needed. Take the hver, lights, and heart of a sheep, and parboil them: graie the liver and mince the other parts quite fiiie; mince also half a pound of suet ; toast a pound of round oatmeal-cakes before the fire ; mix all well together, season with pepper and salt ; then fill the bag, and before sewing it up, put in a little water in which two or three onions have been boiled, which will give sufficient flavour without the onions themselves. Put the bag, neatly sewed up, in a pan with enough of boiling water to cover it, and a small plate under it in the pan ; prick over with a needle to prevent it bursting, and let it boil four or five hours, keeping the haggis constantly covered with boiling water. Mutton Cutlets* Cut the back end of a neck of mutton into steaks, SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 43 and chop each bone short ; brush them with egg and cover them with crumbs, herbs, and seasoning ; mash some potatoes with a little butter and cream ; ^ fry the steaka and put them round the potatoes piled in the middle of the dish. Cutlets, Hindostanee Fashion* Cut the chops from the neck ; pare away all the fat ; scrape the bone ; then have some very fine mashed potatoes ; wrap the cutlets in it ; brush them over with yolk of egg and fry them. They may also be fried in the same dipped in batter. Lamb and Mutton Cutlets* Cut a loin or neck in chops ; cut off the thick part of the bone at the bottom, and the point at the other end of the cutlets ; melt a little butter with some salt in a saucepan ; then put in the cutlets and stew them without browning. Let them cool ; then mix pepper and chopped parsley with the yolk of egg ; dip the cutlets into it and cover them with bread crumbs ; put them on a gridiron over rather a slow fire until they are of a nice colour ; squeeze lemon-juice over them, and send them to table. Mutton or Lamb Chops. Cut the chops very nicely, pare off the fat, and fry them a fine brown ; pile them up like hop-poles in the dish, with the bones meeting at the top, and place between each a slice of fried bread cut in the shape f)f half a largo pear. Make a pur6e of vege- tables of any kind, and lay it round in the bottom of the dish : peas or spinach with the lamb, turnips or tomatoes with the mutton. This is a cheap and elegant corner or ''ide dish. ii SKHJTJL HOnSEiraPE's 6CTDE. i!i Hotchpotch^ Prepare some carrots and turnips, by cutting them in dice ; take also celery, caulifiovvers, young onions, parsley, and any other vegetables, cut small, with a quart of green peas. Take a neck of mutton, not too fat, cut it into steaks, and put them on the fire with half a gallon of water. When it boils, skim it very thoroughly, then add the vegetables ; let all gently boil together till the s jup is rich, and half an h >ur before dishing, add a pint of young green peas and some salt. Mock Brawn, Split and nicely clean a hog's head, take out the brains, cut off the ears, and rub a good deal of salt into the head ; let it drain twenty-four hours ; then lay upon it two ounces of saltpetre, and the same of common salt : in thre<> days' time lay the head and salt into a pan, with just water to cover it, for two days more. Wash it well; and boil until the bones will come out ; remove them, and chop the meat as quick as possible, in pieces of an inch long ; but first take the sldn carefully off the head and the tongue, the latter cut in bits as above. Season with pepper and salt. Put the skin of one side of the head into a small long i)an, press the chop- ped head and tongue into it, and lay the skin of the other side of the head over, and press it down. When cold it will turn out, and make a kind of brawn. The head may probably bo too fat, in which case prepare a few bits of lean pork with the III SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. 45 head, Boil two ounces of salt, a pint of vinegar, and a quart of the liquor, and, when cold, pour it over the head. The ears are to be boiled longer than the head, cut in thin strips, and divided about it, the hair being nicely removed. Reboil the pickle often. Another Mock Brawn. Boil a pair of neats' feet very tender ; take the meat off, and have ready the belly-piece of pork, salted with common salt and saltpetre for a week. Boil this almost enough ; take out the bones, and roll the feet and the pork together. Then roll it very tight with a strong cloth and coarse tape. Boil it till very tender, then hang it up in the cloth till cold ; after which keep it in a sousing liquor, as is directed in the next receipt. To Keep Brawn, the Cambridge Way. To two gallons of water put one pound of wheat- bran, and a pound of salt ; boil one hour ; when cold, strain it, and keep the brawn in it. In ten or twelve days fresh pickle will be required. If, by length of carriage or neglect, the brawn be kept too long out of pickle, make as above, and having rub- bed it well with salt, and washed with some of the l)ickle, it will be quite restored to its former good- ness. Pigeons in Jelly. Save some of the liquor in which a knuckle of veal has been boiled, or boil a calfs or a neat's foot : put the broth into a pan with a blade of mace, a ])u.ich of sweet herbs, some wliite pepper, lemon- B 2 lil! 46 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. peel, a slice of lean bacon, and the pigeons. The heads and feet must be left on, but the nails must be clipped close. Bake them, and let them stand to be cold. Season them as you like, beforc bak- ing. When done, take them out of the liquor, cover them close to preserve the colour, and clear the jelly by boiling with the whites of two eggs ; then strai.i it through a thick cloth dipped in boiling water, and put into a seive. The fat must be per- fectly removed before it be cleared. Put the jelly over and round them rough. They must be trussed, and the neck propped up with skewers, to appear in a natural state, before they are baked. To pichle Oysters, Take those that are large, separate them from their liquor, and pour over them boiling water ; take them out and rinse them. Put them in a kettle with just water enough to cover them, a table- spoonful of salt to every hundred oysiers, and just let them boil up. Take them out on a large board, and cover them with a cloth. Take the liquor of the oysters, and with every pint mix a quart of the best vinegar, a table-spoonful of whole cloves, the same of whole black pepper, a tea-spoonful of whole mace. Heat the liquor, and when it boils, put in the oysters and stir them five minutes. Then let thorn cool. When cold, put them in jars and cover them securely. II SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. 47 EGGS. -^ Presemng Eggs, Put a layer of salt in the bottom of a jar, and stick the eggs point downwards into the salt, to make a layer. Then add another layer of salt, and then of eggs, until the jar is full. This keepa them fresh and good. They may be kept well in lime 'water and salt. They should be w^ell covered, and kept in a co6l place. One cracked one will spoil the whole. They are cheapest in spring, and during September. If you have hens of your own, keep ajar of lime water always ready, and put in the eggs as they are brought from the nest. Jars that hold four or six quarts are best. It is well to renew the lime water occasionally. There is no sure way of discerning the freshness of eggs. It is ahvays best to break them separately in a saucer when used. If you get them to pack, lay them in a pan of w^ater, and those that float, will not answer to put away. To hoil Eggs. The fresher they are, the longer time tLej re- quire. Three minutes will boil them very soft, five minutes will cook hard all but the yolk, and eight minutes will cook them hard through. Ten minutes will cook them hard enough for dressing to fish or salad. If you boil them in a tin egg- boiler placed on the table, scald it well, and then it will take five minutes to boil even soft. To fry Eggs. This is done usually after frying ham. If there 48 sk:clpul housewife's guide. is not enough of gravy from the meat, add some clean lard, and have it hot. Break the eggs into a bowl, and slip them carefully in the lard with- out breaking the yolk. Let them fry gradually, dripping the hot lard over them until they are cooked sufficiently, without turning them at all. Then lay them on a plate or dish as they are cooked, and they look much more delicate than if they had been turned. , ^ Poached Eggs. Th~ beauty of eggs cooked in this way, is to have the yolk blushing through the white ; which should be just hardened to form a transparent veil for the e^^. Have some boiling water in a stew- pan, let it be half full, break each egg separately ■' ito a saucer, and carefully slip it into the water. When the eggs are set, put the pan on the coals, and i. he water boils, they are done. Scrambled Eggs. Beat seven or eight eggs quite light, throw them into a pan, with salt and butter. Stir them, until well thickened, and turn them on a hot dish, without allowing any to adhere to the pan. This is excellent with a light breakfast. Omelet, Five or six eggs will make a good sized omelet ; break them into a basin, and beat them well with a fork. Add a salt-spoonful of salt, some chop- ped parsley, and two ounces of butter. Have the same amount of butter hot in the pan, and stir in the omelet until it begins to set. Turn it up all f SKILFUL housewife's OUIDB. 49 I round the edges, and when it is a nice brown, it is done. Turn a plate up over it, and take it up by turning the pan upside down. Serve hot. It should never be done until just wanted. Pickled Eggs, Boil twelve eggs quite hard, and lay them in eold water to peel off the shell, then put them in a stone jar with a quarter of a pound of mace, the same of cloves, a sliced nutmeg, a table-spoon- ful of whole pepper, a little ginger root, and a peach-leaf. Fill the jar with boiling vinegar, and cover it that it may cool slowly. After three days, boil the vinegar again, and return it to the eggs and spices. They will be fit for use in a fortnight. Bread Omelet Put a handful of bread crumbs in a sauce-pan, a little cream, salt pepper, and nutmeg. When the broad has absorbed all the cream, then break into it ten eggs, beat all together and fry like an omelet. CHAPTER IIL VEGETABLES. Potatoes, They should bo kept covered in winter to keep them from freezing, but in summer they need a dry place, and should have the sprouts rubbed off. When boiled, they should be v^^ashed and only pared where it is necessary. If they are inclined B 3 ^0 KKILFUL HOU^JEWIFB'S GUIDE; to crack, put tliein in cold water. . When thoy are done, pour it olf, and keep them covered by the fire until they are wanted for the table. Old potatoes will require an hour, if large ; new ones, half an hour. Potatoes are nice when baked, but they require more than an hour in cooking. When the skins become shrivelled in spring, they should bo pared, sliced, and boiled in a small quantity of water, as they will req^dre but about fifteen minutes in boiling. Pound th'.*m with a beetle for the purpose, season them v/ell with salt, sweet cream, or milk, enough to mois - ten, or butter v^^ili answer the same purpose. Dish them, and, if you prefer, brown them on the top. Cold ones mtiy be cooked in various ways. They are very nice sliced as thin as possible, and warmed carefully in half a tea-cupful of cream, or milk, and salt to season them well. They make a favourite disli by being sliced rather thick, and then broiled on the gridiron, adding butter and salt. They are also nice, and look well, grated, minced with the yolk of an egg made in small eakes, and fried in butter for breakfast. " Snow balls'' are mealy potatoes boiled, peeled, and press- ed in a cloth into the shnpe of a ball. Potatoes, boiled and washed while hot, are good to use in making bread, ca'ce, puddings, &c. ; they save flour, and less shortening is necesssary. Turnips. Pare, or scrape the outside ; if large, cut them r . halves, or quarters ; boil as long as potatoes. When tender, place the^ji in a pan, lay ^ small F SIOLFUL HOUSEWIFE'S GUIDE. 51 plate over them to press out the water ; when pressed once, heap them high and press again, re- peating it until the water is out. Then add salt and butter, and send them to the table hot. Dish them, and lay the pepper in regular spots, if you wish to have it look well. Turnips should be kept in the cellar where they will not dry or freeze. When cooked with boiled salted meats, they are sent to the table whole. Parsnips. Pare or scrape and split them in two, that the inside may cook tender, which will be in two or three hours, according to their size. Dry them in a cloth when done, and pour melted butter over them in a dish, or serve plain. They are good baked, or stewed with meat. They may be served with any boiled meat. , , Carrots, » These may be cooked as parsnips, to accompany boiled beef, or mutton. Small ones will cook in an hour. • ;* Cahhage, " '■ '* All vegetables of this species should be care- fully examined and washed, then cut in two, and placed in cold water awhile, with a little common salt thrown into it. It is said, that this will draw out the worms or insects, and that they will sink to the bottom, so that greens or cabbages may be made free from any thing of the kind. They should be boiled an hour or more, and the water pressed out before sent to the table. They should be kept in the cellar, or in i- ^ole in the ground. S2 SKILF0I. HOUSETrra'E's GUIDE. 5 .'•-■i Cauliflower, Separate tlie green part, and cut the stalk close, let it soak awhile in cold water, tie it in a cloth, and lay it in boiling milk and water, observing to skim it well. When tender, which will be in an hour and a half or two hours, take it up, and drain it well ; send it to the table with melted butter in e boat. Brocoli is cooked in the same manner. Beets, Wash them clean with a cloth, rubbing them well. Be careiul not to cut them, unless they are very large, and then you may cut them in two, not spfitting them. They require, when grown, full size, three or four hours boiling. When ten- der all through, scrape off the outside, split or cut them in thin round slices, and pour over melt- ed butter, and sprinkle with pepper. Boiled beets sliced, and put in spiced vinegar until pickled, are good. The tops of beets are good, in summer, boiled as greens. Beets should be kept in the cellar, covered with earth to keep them fresh. It is said that they are nice, if roasted as potatoes for the table. Onions, It is well to boil onions in milk and water, to diminish their strong taste. They require an hour or more. When done, press out the water a little, and season them with a little salt, peppei, end a little melted butter. They should be serv-:- ed hot with baked, or roasted meats. They should be kept, prior to use, in a dry place, • I SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 53 Tomatoes, If very ripe, they may be skinned easily, but it is better done by pouring over them boiling water. Cut them fine and lay them in a stew- pan, with salt, a third of a tea-spoonful of pepper, and a piece of butter, cover them, and let them cook rapidly fifteen minutes. Have bread crumbs ready, rubbed fine, and add while boiling ; let the pair remain until they are soft, which will be, un- less too hard, in two or three minutes. They must cook gently after the Iw'ead is in. They are also good cooked in this way without the bread, but in that case they should be stewed uncovered, and longer. The former manner of preparing is gener- ally preferred, as it is less juicy. If cooked with- out the bread, they may be laid on a nice buttered toast, or sent to the table plain. They are kept best hung up on the vines in a dry place in the fall, as long as possible, but they should not be kept un- til they begin to decay. In Asia Minor, they are preserved for use during the winter, in the follow- ing mailner. Cut them in two, and sprinkle on them a quantity of fine salt to remain over night. Next day pass them through a cullender. Set the part strained through to dry in the sun, in shallow dishes, in depth an inch or less. Dry it to more consistence than jelly, and put in covered jars for use. If it is not sufficiently dry to keep, add more salt, and expose it again to the sun. A table- spoonful will season a soup or stewed meats. B 4 rA SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. yn If Asparagus. Cut when two or three inches long, wash and phace the heads all one away, and tie in bundles wiUi thread or twine. Have your water boiling, with a little salt, and lay it in, keeping it boiling half or three quarters of an hour, according to its age. Toast two slices of bread, moisten it wdth the "water in w liich the asparagus is boiling, sea- son with salt, and lay on a small platter or dish. Then drain the asparagus a moment, and laying the heads invrard, spread it on the toast, pouring o^'er it melted butter and pei)})er. Green Peas, They are best when tirst gathered and shelled. They lose their flavour and sweetness by being kept ; but if kept, do not shell them until they are needed. Put them in while the water boils, and only ha\'e just enough to cook them fully. Season with salt, pepj^er, and a good supply of butter. If they have been liept, or if they are not a sweet kind, they are greatly improved by the addition of a spoonful of sugar, and if a little old and yellow, a }>iece of saleratus. Anothrr method is said to be an imju'ON ement. Place in your sauce-pan or boiler, scNeral leaves of head lettuce, imt in your i)eas, with an ounce of butter to two (puirts of i)eas ; cover the i)an or boiler close, and place it over the fire ; in thirty minutes, they are ready for the table. Season with pepper aii(l salt, &c. It is said they are bett«'r than when cooked in water. Green peas should be boile I fi'<)!u tw;'nty to sixty uiimites; according to tlieir a.'jfc. SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 55 !•.' String Beans, Select those only that are tender, cut off the ends, and wash them wellj take a handful and lay them even, and cut them very fine with a sharp knife upon a hoard or table. Put them in when the water boils, and, if very tender, they will re- quire but half an hour ; if not, longer. Season as peas. Siueet Corn. This is sweeter for being boiled on the cob. If macV* into succotasli, cut it from the cobs, and ))oil it with new shelled beans. It will require half an hour or more. Season with sweet cream or butter, salt, pepper, a little nut- meg, and a table-spoonful of loaf sugar. It makes a most delightful dish to accompany a nice bit of boiled pork. Spinach. Pick it clean, and wash in several waters. ]3rain and put it in boiling water, and be care- ful to remove the scum. Wlien tender, drain and press it Avell. Chop it fine, and put it in a sauce-pan, w ith a ]>iece of butter and a little pep[)er and salt. Set it on liot coals, and let it stew five minutes, stirring it all the time. It re- quires about ten minutes to boil. Dri/ Beans, Look tliom over, \>'ash and soak them over night. Cut a new i)ioce of salt fat pork, but not too large, as it will make the beans too salt and hard, cut tln^ rind in thin strips, and change the ■■ 56 8RILFUL HOUSEWIFB'S GUIDE. water on the beans, and boil them together until the beans become soft. Turn them out into a bean dish, or deep dish of some kind, lay the pork in the centre, having the rind just above the beans, pepper them, and have gravy enough to almost cover. It should be about even with the beans, then set in an oven and bake an hour, or until the pork is crisped. Some add a little molasses, and they are more healthy, if cooked with a little sa- leratus. Soft water should be used, if possible, to boil in, or saleratus is necessary. Dry Green Corn, It must be gathered when just good to boil, strip off the husks, and throw the cobs in boil- ing water, and let them remain until the water boils over them, then take them out and shell off the corn by running the prong of a long fork along the base of the grain. This method saves the kernel whole, and is much more ex- peditious. Spread it thin on cloths in an airy, shaded place, to dry, and stir it every day until thoroughly dry. When cooked, put it in cold water and boil three hours. Let the water boil nearly off, add a little milk and sweet cream, or butter, pepper and salt, and it is very nice. If you wish succotash, soak dry white beans over night and boil with them. It is a nice rare dish in winter and spring. Artichokes Are very good cut in thin slices, with vinegar, salt and pepper. If cooked, they must be boiled two or three hours closely covered, and, when tender, served with melted butter. , , i SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 57 i Fried Cucumbers, ^Vhen pared, cut them in slices as thin as a dollar. Dry them with a cloth, season them with pepper and salt, and sprinkle them well with flour. Have butter hot, and lay them in. Fry of a light brown, and send to the table hot. They make a breakfast dish. When used raw, slice them into cold water to extract the unhealthy properties. Then season well with salt, pepper, and with vinegar. Sea Kale. This is prepared, boiled, and served up as aspar- agus. Mushroomj, Those of the right kind appear in August and September, after a heavy dew or misty night. They may be known by their pale pink or salmon colour on the under side on the gills, while the top is a dull peach coloured white. They grow only in open places where the air is clear. After they have been gathered a few hours, the pink colour turns to brown. There should be the utmost care in selecting only those that are good, as the others are a deadly poison. They are of various colours, sometimes all white, or scarlet, or yellow. It is easy to detect them when fresh, but not after they have lain awhile. .'a SALADS. Radishes. Wash them as soon as they aro brought in, and let them lie in clean cold water. 58 SKIFLUL HOUSEWIFES GUIDE, 1 1 i Before they go to table, scrape off the outside skin, trim the sharjD end, leave the stalk about an inch long ; if large, split them in four, half way down, and send them to table in tumblers, to 130 eaten with salt. Celery, Scrape and wash it well, let it lie in cold w^ater until wanted for use, dry it with a cloth, trim it, and split down the stalks almost to the bottom. Send it to table in a celery glass, and eat with salt only; or chop it fine and make a salad dressing for it. Lettuce. Strip off the outside leaves, split it, and lay in cold water awhile. Drain and lay in a salad dish. Have ready two hard boiled eggs, cut in two, and lay on tlie leaves. If you choose, it may be dressed with sugar and vinegar, with a little salt, before it goes to the table. Some pre- fer a dressing of salt, mustard, loaf sugar, and vinegar, sweet oil, and a mashed hard-boiled egg, with the salad cut fine, and this over it. Chopped Cabbage. When the heads are not close, cliop them fine, and season with red ])e]3per, salt, and vinegar, and it makes a very convenient and wholesome salad for the table. ,. . f PICKLES. Kettles of block tin, or lined with porcelain, are best for pickling. Iron discolours the vinegar, and brass or copper, unless used with great care, is poisonous from the verdigris prodiK^ed l)y acids. Pickles should nl^^ ays be covered with vinegar. If SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 69 they show symptoms of not keeping well, scald the vinegar with fresh spices. Vinegar for pickles should never boil over five minutes, as it destroys the strength. Cucumbers, Let your cucumbers be small, fresh gathered, and sound. Make a brine strong enough to bear an egg, boil and skim it, pour it upon the cucumbci », and let them stand twenty- four hours. Take good vinegar, cloves, cinnam'^n, and pepper, and boil all together. Have your cucumbers in a large jar, and pour the hot spiced vinegar over them. If you wish them green, add a little aluvii with the spices, to boil in the vine- gar. Cover them well. Melons. To make mangoes of melons, you must gather them green, and pour over them a boiling hot brine strong enough to bear an egg, and let them stand five or six days. Then slit them down on one side, take out the seeds, scrape them clean, then take cloves, ginger, nutmeg, or cinnamon and pepper, with small cucumbers, and mustard seed, to fill them ; sew them up with coarse thread, or tie them in a jar, and pour over them hot spiced vinegar. Cover them, and they will keep sound almost any length of time. Tomatoes, They should not be very ripe. Mix in a stone jar an ounce of mustard, half an ounce of cloves, half an oimce of pepper, with half a jar of vinegar. Lay in the tomatoes with a dozen of onions, and cover it close for a month. They will then bo fit for use. If the jar is kept well covered, ; J 60 SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. they will keep for a year. The onions may Bd omitted if you choose, and more spice substituted. Pepper, The bell pepper is considered best by some for pickling, and should be gathered when half grown. Slit one side and carefully take out the seeds and core, so as not to injure the shell. Pour over them a strong hot brine, and keep them warm ; some simmer them a whole day. You may take them out next morning, when cool, and stuff them like mangoes, or lay them in a jar with mustard sprinkled over them, and fill up the jar with vinegar. They require no spice, and should be pickled alone. The vinegar may be put on cold, with a piece of alum to give them a fine green, and it tends to harden and preserve pickles of any kind. Butternuts, Gather them when they are easily penetrated by a pin, as early as July, when the sun is hot upon them ; lay them in a tub, with sufficient lye to cover them, and stir them rou^d with a stiff broom to get off the roughness, or they may be scalded and rubbed with a cloth. Soak them in salt and water a week, then rinse and drain them. Pierce them through with a long needle, and lay them in a stone jar. Boil cloves, cinnamon, pepper, and ginger in the vine- gar, and pour over them. Sprinkle through them two spoonsful of mustard seed previously, if you have it. They should be closely covered from the air. Walnuts may be pickled in the same way. Peaches. Take any land of fine largo peaches * i: SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. 61 '; tliat are not too ripe, wipe off the down with a clean flannel, and lay them whole in a stone jar. Dissolvo a table-spoonfiil of salt to ea^h quart of vinegar cold, and cover them. Secure them well from the air. Plums and grapes, and barberries, may be pickled in the same manner, except the salt, with the stem on. Add spices if you choose. They look beautiful, and barberries are sometimes used to garnish the edge of dishes. Cherries, Use the common, or Morclla cherries, pick off 1 e stems, see that they are perfect, and lay them in a glass or earthen jar, with sufficient cold vinegar to cover them, and keep them in a cool place. They need no spices, as they retain their own flavour. Cauliflower, Select the whitest and closest, full grown ; cut off the stalk, and divide the flower into eight or ton pieces, scald them in strong salt and water ; let them remain in the brine till next day. Then rinse and dry them. Lay them carefully in a jar not to break or crush them, and pour over them hot spiced vinegar. When the vinegar is cold, a few barberries or green grapes, put in the same jar, does not injure them, ind adds much to their beauty on the table. Brocoli and asparagus the same. Cabbage. Take red or white cabbage, quarter it lengthwise and crosswise. Select the firmest for pickling, and after it has lain in salt water four days, drain it and pour over it hot vinegar, in which has been boiled cloves; macc; allspice, and SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. If pepper ; if you wish to preserve the colour of the red cabbage, put a little cochineal to brighten it, with a little alum. It will be more tender to re- peat the scalding vinegar several times. Cover it closely. Onions, 1 eel and soak them in it ai id water three days. Then just scald tl \trong froth ; then mix it with as much water as vv'iil make three- quarters of a pound of fine flour into a very slitf paste : roll it vv:;ry lhin,thcn Iny the third part of half a pound of butter upon it in lillle bits ; dredge it with some flour left out at first, nrid roll it up tight. Roll it out again, and put the same proi)orti()n of butter j and so proceed till all be worked up. SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 69 Croquant Paste for Covering Preserves, Dissolve a drachm of sugar in as much cold water as will make four ounces of flour into paste : knead and beat it as smooth as possible. Roll it to the size of the croquant form, and about a quarter of an inch thick. Rub the form with beef-suet, and lay it on the paste, and press it so closely as to cut the pattern completely through. Then lay it on a tin to bake. Witli a bunch of white feathers, go over the paste with the white of an egg beaten, and sift fine sugar on it. Bake it in a slow oven ; and gently remove the paste from the tin while yet warm, and lay it over the fruit it is to cover. The same cover will serve many times, if kept in a dry place. Icing for Tarts » Beat the yolk of an egg and some melted butter well together, wash the tarts with a feather, and sift sugar over as you put them into the oven. Or beat white of egg, w^ash the paste, and sift white tiugar. An Excdlent Method of Icing Tarts* Brush the pa and take ofl" the thin skin. If you have a hot hearth, lay them in a dish, and j)ut over a thin syrup of sugar and water ; cover with another dish, and let it simmer very slowly an hour ; or do them in a black-tin saucepan. When cold, make into a tart. When tender, the baking tlie crust will be suflicient. Hunters* Puddhig. Mix a ])ound of suet, ditto flour, ditto currants, 82 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. Fine Pancakes^ fried without Butter ill. Soak in some cream, nutmeg, sugar, pounded cinnamon, and an Qg^, When well soaked, fry of a nice brown, and serve with butter, wine, and sugar-sauce. Potato Fritters, Boil two large potatoes, scrape them fine ; beat four yolks and three whites of eggs, and add to the abovf* one largo spoonful of cream, another of SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. 83 sweet wine, a squeeze of lemon, and a little nutmeg. Beat this batter half an hour at least. It will be extremely light. Put a good quantity of fine lard in a stewpan, and drop a spoonful of the batter at a time into it. Fry them, and serve, as a sauce, a glass of white wine, the juice of a lemon, one dessert -spoonful of peach-leaf or almond- wa- ter, and some white sugar, warmed together. Not to be served in the dish. Buck-wheat Fritter's, called Boching, Mix three ounces of buck-wheat flour with a tea-cupful of warm milk, and a spoonful of yeast ; let it rise before the fire about an hour ; then mix four eggs, well beaten, and as much milk as will make the batter the usual thickness for pancakes, and fry them the same. Indian Griddles, One quart of milk, one pint of Indian meal, four eggs, four spoonsful of flour, and a httle salt ; beat it well together, and bake on a griddle or pan. Another Receipt, Take equal parts of flour and Indian meal, and a little salt ; wet it in a thick batter with some milk or butter-milk, a tea-spoonful of saleratus ; bake as above. Bannock, Two cups of meal, two of flour, a tea-spoonful of salt, one of ginger, four spoonsful of molasses ; wet with butter-milk, or sour milk, and a tea-spoon- ftil of saleratus. Bake an hour. 84 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDK, i Johnny Cake* : Take a quart of sour milk, thick or otherwise^ a tea-spoonful of salt, sifted meal to make a stiff batter, a tea-spoon heaping full of dissolved saler- atus, with or without a spoonful of flour. Butter & pan, and bake nearly an hour. For tea, it is improved by adding half a tea-cup of molasses, a little allspice, and a spoonful of cream or shorten- ing. Another Johnny Cake, Take one quart of milk, three eggs, one tea- spoonful of saleratus, one tea-cupful of Sour, Indian meal enough to make a batter as thick as pancakes. Bake quick in pans, well buttered. Eat warm, with butter or milk. Those who may not have eggs, will find they are very good without. The milk should be sour, or buttermilk. - ' Potatoe Yeast To a pound of mashed potatoes, add two ounce* of brown sugar, and two spoonsful of common yeast. The potatoes must be pulped through a cullender, and mixed with warm water to a proper consistence. This will make a quart of good veast. It must be kept moderately warm while fermenting. If yeast is kept in a liquid state, or in a close jar, it should be corked close in a jug, when suitably light. A little salt and ginger, added to the yeast when you put it away, will improve it. « ' To keep Hops, Hops lose their fine flavour by exposure to the air and damp. They should be kept in a dry close place, and lightly packed. SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. ■ (. To make Good Bread with Grown Flour. ^^ Take eight quarts of flour, six ounces of butter, one pint of yeast of the best kind, three tea-spoonsful of saleratus dissolved in half a pint of warm milk ; add this to the yeast, and, after working the butter into the flour, add the yeast and milk just enough to make the bread stiff. Knead the whole together. Bread made of grown flour, must always be made harder or stifier than any other kind. In this wav good bread may be made. It should rise and bake like other bread. BiicJcioheat Cakes. ^ , ; , . , , .,, . , ,,^ Mix a quart of flour with a pint of lukewarm milk, (some prefer water,) add a tea-cup of yeast, and set in a warm place to rise. In the morning, if sour, add a tea-spoonful of saleratus, and a little salt. Bake as griddles, and butter when Hot. These are nice for breakfast, or, with butter and sugar, for tea. When you make them every day, leave a little in the jar, and it will raise the next. Hot Rolls. ' f .jf%l'. Dry your flour before the fire ; add a little warm TTiilk, with two spoonsful of yeast, an e^ well beaten, and a little salt. Let it stand all night, and bake tlie rolls in a quick oven. ., | ;. ,\^i,l\ y%h Hoe Cake. Scald a quart of Indian meal, with just water enough to make a thick batter. Stir in two tea- spoonsful of butter. Bake in a buttered pan half an hour. : , , .m./< t i- C 3 r HiU'J^:. i>XIii IH I 8« SKOiFUL housewife's GUIDE. • ^r- Waffles. t. Beat four eggs ; mix fiour and milk enough to make a thick batter, using a quart of flour, a table- spoonful of melted butter, and a tea-spoonful of salt. Bake in waffle irons, and season with melted but- ter and sugar, flavoured with nutmeg, lemon, or cinnamon. They may be made with a part of boiled rice, or like common griddles. Crumpets, Take three tea-cups of raised dough, and work into it half a te!i-cupful of melted-butter. Bake the crumpets in a hot buttered pan, in half an hour. A lietir^d Baker's Recipe for Bread, Take an earthen vessel, larger at the top than at the bottom, put in it one pint of warm water, one and a half pounds of flour, and half a pint of malt yeast ; mix well together, and set away in a warm place until it rises and falls again, which will be iu from three to five hours. Then put two large spoonsful of salt into two quarts of water, and mix with the above; rising, then put in about nine pounds of flour, and work it well ; let it rise until light. Then make it into loaves. New and runny flour requires one-fourth more salt than old and dry flour. Bake as soon as light. Common Domestic Bread. Take three quarts of warm milk or water, a tea- spoonful of salt, a tea-cupful of light, foamy yeast ; stir in enough flour to make a thick batter, and let it stand and rise until light. Then, if a little uoixt. \\- .\ ILFUL HOUSEVni^B'S QUIDS. 87 add a tea-spoonful of dissolved saleratus ; if very sour, add three. Grease four tins, and do up the bread into loaves ; after kneading them well, then let it rise again on the tins. When just light enough, bake in an oven or stove well heated, but not too hot. It will be done in three quarters of an hour. For biscuit, work into dough for a loaf, a cup of butter, and do up small. If dripping ia used, two-thirds of a cup is enough. Brown Bread* Take Indian meal sifted, and of wheat or rye flour, equal parts, a cup of yeast, and two spoons- ful of molasses. Some scald the meal, and others wet it with warm milk or water. Add a little salt, and place it in pans to rise. It should be wet soft, if the meal is not scalded, and stirred with a spoon ; but harder, if otherwise. 0' CHAPTER V. - ■ ■ ' ft MAKING VINEGAR, BEER, &c. How TO MAKE VINEGAR. Whiskey Vinegar. Take five g/'ons of soft clean water ; two quarts of whiskey ; two quarts of molasses, and half a pint of good fresh yeast. Lay a sheet of white paper at the bottom of the keg, and put in the mixture. Place it in the warm sun, and in six weeks it will be fit for use. If made in winteri it should be kept where there is a fire. SKILFUL IIOUSL'WIFE's GUIDE, ^ Cider Vinegar. This may be made of poor cider, or that whicli is good, weakened a little with water. It should be partly drawn off, after the cider is well worked, leaving the casks about two thirds full. A piece of wire gauze, or a linen cloth, let in a little, should be nailed over for a cover to keep out fties, and also for a strainer. When the vinegar is good, which will be sometimes in six months by frequent shaking, it may be increased by adding occasion- ally the juice of fruit, the rinsings of sweetmeat jars, cold tea, &c. ' «f • , ^. i • / Sugar Vinegar. To each gallon of water, add two pounds of brown sugar and a little yeast ; expose it to the sun for six months, in a vessel slightly stopped. Honey Vinegar. Mix one pound of honey with a gallon of cider, and expose it to the sun, or keep it where it is warm, and in a few months it will be so strong that water will be necessary to dilute it. HOW TO MAKE BEER, ETC. ^if^r :i '. White Spruce Beer. ' Three pounds of loaf sugar ; five gallons of water ; with enough of essence of spruce to give it a flavour ; a cup of good yeast ; a little lemon peel, if you choose ; and when fermented, bottle it up close. It is a delightful beverage in warm weather. SKILPUJi housewife's GUIDE, 89 i' Ginger Beer, One cup of ginger ; one pint of molasses ; one pail and a half of water, and a cup of lively yeast* In warm weather it may be made cold, but in cold weather, scald the ginger with two quarts of hot water, and the rest cold. Add the yeast when slightly warm. It should be put in jars or bottles, and securely corked. It is a pleasant and lively beverage, and will keep several weeks. Common /Small Beer, A handful of hops to a pailful of water ; a pint of bran, and half a pint of molasses ; a cup of yeast and a spoonful of ginger. r %,j Boot Beer, ' *^'^ Take a pint of bran ; a handful of hops ; some twigs of spruce, hemlock or cedar ; a little sassa- fras, or not, as you have it ; roots of various kinds, plantains, burdocks, dock, dandelions, &c. ; boil and strain, add a spoonful of ginger molasses to make it pleasant, and a cup of yeast. When you want it soon, let one bottle stand where it is warm, and the rest will work cold. This for a gallon. Molasses Beer, 5 Six quarts of water ; two quarts of molasses ; half a pint of yeast ; two spoonsful of cream tartar. Stir all together. Add the grated peel of a lemon ; and the juice may be substituted for the cream tartar. Bottle, after standing ten or twelve hours, with a raisin in each, C i 90 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. Haroest Drink. Mix with five gallons of water, half a gallon of molasses, one quart of vinegar, and two ounces of powdered ginger. This will make not only a very pleasant beverage, but one highly invigorat- ing and healthful. * To Restore Acid Beer, Stir in a small quantify of saleratus with a spoonful of sugar, and it is even richer and better than at first. To be prepared as you use it. Lemonade, Take good lemons, roll them, then cut and squeeze them into a pitcher. Add loaf sugar and cold water, till it makes a pleasant drink. It should be sweet ; it is sometimes too acid to be agreeable. Send round in small glasses with handles, or in tumblers a little more than half full. It is a favourite beverage for evening parties. Orangeade, This is made in the same manner as lemonade. CHAPTER VI. COOKERY FOR THE SICK AND FOR THE POOR. SICK COOKERY. General Re^narks. The following pages will contain cookery for the sick ; it being of more consequence to support i- Wi 11 SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 91 those whose bad app ;tite will not allow them to take the necessary nourishment, than to stimulate that of persons in health. It may be unnecessary to advise that a choice be made of things most likely to agree with the patient; that a change be provided; that somo one at least be always ready ; that not too much of those be made at once which are not likely to keep, as invalids require variety ; and that they should succeed each other in different forms and flavour. A clear Broth that will keep long* Put the mouse-round of beef, a knuckle-bone of veal, and a few shanks of mutton, into a deep pan, and cover close with a dish or coarse crust ; bake till the beef is done enough for eating, with only as much water as will cover it. When cold, cover it close in a cold place. When to be used, give what flavour may be approved. A quick-made Broth, Take a bone or two of a neck or loin of mutton, take off the fat and skin, set it on the fire in a small tin saucepan that has a cover, with three- quarters of a pint of water, the meat being first beaten and cut in thin bits ; put a bit of thyme and parsley, and, if approved, a slice of onion. Let it boil very quick ; skim it nicely ; take off the cover, if likely to be too weak ; else cover it. Half an hour is suflicient for the whole process. 02 SKILf'UL housewife's GUIDE. 11 im A ijery sitpporting Broth against arty kind of iveakness. Boil two pounds of loin of mutton, with a very large handful of chervil in two quarts of water to one. Take off part of the fat. Any other herbs or roots may be added. Take half a pint three or four times a day. A mry nounshing Veal Broth, Put the knuckle of a leg or shoulder of veal, with very little meat to it, an old fowl, and four shank-bones of mutton extremely well soaked and bruised, three blades of mace, ten peppercorns, an onion, and a large bit of bread, and three quarts of water, into a stewpot that covers close, and simmer in the slowest manner after it has boiled up and been skimmed ; or bake it ; strain, and take off the fat. Salt as wanted. It will require four hours. Beef Tea, to drink cold. Take a pound of lean beef, clear it from every particle of skin fat, oi sinew, rasp or divide it into very small pieces ; then put it into a jar, and pour a quart of boiling water upon it ; plunge the jar into a kettle of boiling water, let it stand by the side of the fire, but not near enough to simmer, and allow it to grow cold. Then strain the beef- tea througli a muslin-seive, and if the patient be very delicate, filter it througli blotting-paper. This tea is to be taken when cold, and will remain upon the stomach when other nourishment fails : it may be given to infants. SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 93 Beef Tea. -'i Cut a pound of fleshy beef in thin slices ; sim- mer with a quart of water twenty minutes after it has once boiled and been skimmed. Season, if approved ; but it has generally only salt. Dr. Eatoliffes restorative Pork Jelly. Take a leg of well-fed pork, just as cut up ; beat it, and break the bone. Set it over a gentle fire with three gallons of water, and simmer to one. Let half an ounce of mace and the same of nut- meg, stew in it. Strain through a fine seive. When cold, take off the fat. Give a chocolate- cupful, the first o.nd last thing, and at noon, put- ting salt to taste. Shank Jelly. Soak tw^elve shanks of mutton four hours, then brush and scour them very clean. Lay them in a saucepan with three blades of mace, an onion, twenty Jamaica and thirty or forty black peppers, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a crust of bread made very brown by toasting. Pour three quarts of water to them, and set them on a hot hearth close covered ; let them simmer as gently as possible for five hours, then strain it off, and put it in a cold place. This may have the addition of a pound of beef, if approved, for flavour. It is a remarkably good thing for people who are weak. Broth of Beef ^ Muttony and Veal. Put two pounds of loan beef, one pound of I 94 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. I I ' 1 . 1 I scrag of veal, one pound of scrag of mutton, svreet herbs, and ten peppercorns, into a nice tin sauce- pan, with five quarts of water : simmer to three quarts, and clear from the ft. when cold. Add one onion, if approved. Soup and broth made of different meats are more supporting, as well as better flavoured. To remove the fat, take it off when cold as clean as possible ; and if there be still any remaining, lay a bit of clean blotting or cap paper on the broth when in the basin, and it will take up every particle. Calfs'Fe4t Broth. Boil two feet in three quarts of water to half; strain and set it by ; when to be used, take off the fat, put a large tea-cupful of the jelly into a sauce- pan, with half a glass of sweet wine, a little sugar and nutmeg, and heat it up until it be ready to boil ; then take a little of it and beat by degrees to the yolk of an egg, and adding a bit of butter, the size of a nutmeg, stir it all together, but do not let it boil. Grate a piece of fk'esh lemon-peel into it. Another, Boil two calf 's-feet, two ounces of veal, and two of beef, the bottom of a penny-loaf, two or three blades of mace, half a nutmeg sliced, and a little salt, in three quarts of water, to three pints ; strain, and take off the fat. Chicken Broth. Put the body and the legs of the fowl that SKILFUL HOUSElinFE's GUIDE. 95 ' chicken panada i/ras made of, as in the following receipt, afiter taking off the skin and rump, into the water it was boiled in, with one blade of mace, one slice of onion, and ten white pepper- corns. Simmer till the broth be of a pleasant flavour. If not water enough, add a little. Beat a quarter of an ounce of sweet almonds with a tea-spoonful of water, fine, — boil it in the broth, strain, and, when cold, remove the fat. Chicken Panada, Boil a chicken till about three parts ready in a quart of water ; take off the skin, cut the white meat off when cold, and put into a marble-mor- tar : pound it to a paste with a little of the water it was boiled in, season with a little salt, a grate of nutmeg, and the least bit of a lemon-peel. Boil gently for a few minutes to the consistency you like : it should be such as you can drink, though tolerably thick. This conveys great nourishment in small com- pass. Eel Broth. Clean half a pound of small eels, and set them on with three pints of water, some parsley, one slice of onion, a fe\/ peppercorns ; let them sim- mer till the eels are broken, and the broth good. Add salt, and strain it off. The above should make three half pints of broth. ' ' Arrow-root Jelly, Of atk beware of haviog the wrong sort| for 96 SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. it has been counterfeited with bad effect. If genuine, it is very nourishing, especially for weak bowels. Put into a saucepan half a pint of water ; a glass of sherry, or a spoonful of brandy, grated nutmeg, and fine sugar ; boil up once, then mix into it by degrees a dessert-spoonful of arrow-root, previously rubbed smooth with two spoonsful of cold water ; then return the whole into the sauce- pan ; stir and boil it three minutes. Tapioca Jelly, Choose the largest sort, pour cold water on to wash it two or three times, then soak it in fresh water, five or six hours, and simmer it in the same until it become quite clear ; then put lemon- juice, wine, and sugar. The peel should have been boiled in. It thickens very much. ^ • Gloucester Jelly, '' Take rice, sago, pearl-barley, hartshorn shav- ings, aiid eringo-root, each an ounce ; simmer with three pints of water to one, and strain it. When cold it will be a jelly ; of which give, dis- solved in wine, milk, or broth, in change with other nourishment. ; -w*- Panada^ made in five minutes. Set a little water on the fire with a glass of white wine, some sugar, and a scrape of nutmeg and lemoii-peel : meanwhile grate some crumbs of bread. The moment the mixture boils up, keep- ing it still on the fire^ put the crumbs in^ and let $ SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. 97 of it boil as fast as it can. When of a proper thick- ness just to drink, take it off. Another, Make as above, but, instead of a glass of wine, put in a tea- spoonful of rum, and a bit of butter ; sugar as above. This is a most pleasant mess. Another. Put to the water a bit of lemon-peel, mix the crumbs in, and, when nearly boiled enough, put some lemon or orange syrup. Observe to boil all the ingredients, for if any be added after, the panada will break and not jelly. Bread Jelly, Take a penny-roll, pare off the crust, and cut the crumb into thin slices ; toast them on both sides, of a light pale brown. Put them into a quart of spring water, let it simmer gently over the fire until the liquid becomes a jelly, strain it through a thin cloth, and flavour it with a little lemon-juice and sugar, added when hot. If wine be permitted, it is an improvement. This jelly is of so strengthening a nature, that one tea-spoon- ful affords more nourishment than a tea-cupful of any other. It may be prepared without the lemon-juice and sugar, and a tea-spoonful put in- to every liquid the patient takes ; such as tea, coffee, broth, &c. A restorative Jelly* Take one ounce of rice, the same quantity of sago, pearl-barley, hartshorn-shavings, and eringo root, put them into three pints of water, and let it % S8 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. simmer till reduced to one pint : then strain it off, and, when cold, put in a little wine or milk. Farinaceous Jelly. Tapioca, whole rice, pearl-barley, and sago, of each two ounces ; boil them in two quarts of water over a slow fire, stir while boiling, strain it through a seive, and flavour it with sugar, lemon, or orange juice. Sippets, when the Stomach will not receive Meat* On an extremely hot plate put two or three sippets of bread, and pour over them some gravy from beef, mutton, or veal, with which no but- ter has been mixed. Sprinkle a little salt over. Eggs. An Qgg broken into a cup of tea, or beaten and mixed with a basin of milk, makes a breakfast more supporting than tea solely. An egg divided, and the yolk and white beaten separately, then mixed with a glass of wine, will aiFord two very wholesome draughts, and prove lighter than when taken together. Eggs very little boiled, or poached, taken in small quantity, convey much nourishment : the yolk only, when dressed, should be eaten by invalids. A Great Restorative. Bake two calf s-feet in two pints of water and the same quantity of new milk, in a jar, close- covered, three ho\irs and a half. When cold, re- move the fat. SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. 99 Give a large tea-cupful, the first and last thing. Whatever flavour is approved, give it by baking in it lemon-peel, cinnamon, or mace. Add sugar after. Another. Simmer six sheep's trotters, two blades of mace, a little cinnamon, lemon-peel, a few hartshorn shavings, and a little isinglass, in two quarts of water, to one ; when cold, take off the fat, and give near half a pint twice a-day, warming with it a little new milk. Another, Boil one ounce of isinglass shavings, forty Ja- maica peppers, and a bit of brown crust of bread, in a quart of water, to a pint, and strain it. This makes a pleasant jelly to keep in the house; of which a large spoonful may be taken in wine and water, milk, tea, soup, or any way. Another, a most pleasant draught. Boil a quarter of an ounce of isinglass shavings with a pint of new milk to half; add a bit d sugar, and for change, a bitter almond. Give this at bed-time, not too warm. Caudle. Make a very fine smooth gruel of half grits ; strain it when boiled well ; stir it at all times till cold. When to be used, add sugar, wine, and lemon-peel, with nutmeg. Some like a spoonful of brandy besides the wino ; others like lemon- juico. 100 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. Another, Boil up half a pint of fine gruel, with a bit of butter the size of a large nutmeg, a large spoonful of brandy, the same of white wino,one of capillaire^ a bit of lemon-peel, and nutmeg. Another, Into a pint of fine gruel, not thick, put, while it is boiling-hot, the yolk oi an egg beaten with sugar, and mixed with a large spoonful of cold water, a glass of wine and nutmeg. Mix by de- grees. It is very agreeable, and nourishing. Some like gruel, with a glass of table-beer, sugar^ &c., with or without a tea-spoonful of brandy. Cold Caudle, Boil a quart of spring- water ; when cold, add the yolk of an Qgg, the juice of a small lemon, six spoonsful of sweet wine, sugar to your taste, and syrup of lemons one ounce. A Flour CavMe, Into five large spoonsful of the purest water, rub smooth one dessert-spoonful of fine flour. Set over the fire five spoonsful of new milk, and put two bits of sugar into it ; the moment it boils, pour into it the flour and water, and stir it over a slow fire twenty minutes. It is a nourishing and gently astringent food. Tliis is an excellent food for bah .s who have weak bowels. Rice Caudle. When the water boils, pour into it some grated rice mixed with a little cold water ; when of a SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. 101 proper consistence, add sugar, lemon-peel, and cinnamon, and a glass of brandy to a quart. Boil all smooth. Another. Soak some Carolina rice in water an hour, strain it and put two spoonsful of the rice into a pint and a quarter of milk; simmer till it will pulp through a seive, then put the pulp and milk into the saucepan, with a bruised clove and a bit of white sugar. Simmer ten minutes : if too thick, add a spoonful or two of milk ; and serve with thin toast. To Mull Wine. Boil some spice in a little water till the flavour is gained, then add an equal quantity of port, some sugar and nutmeg ; boil together, and serve with toast. Another way. Boil a bit of cinnamon and one grated nutmeg a few minutes in a large tea-cupful of water : then put to it a pint of port wine, and add sugar to your taste ; beat it up, and it will be ready. Or it may be made of good British wine. To make Coffee, Put two ounces ot fresh-ground coffee, of the best quality, in a coffee-pot, and pour eight coffee- cups of boiling water on it ; let it boil six minutes, pour out a cupful two or three times, and return it again ; then put two or three isinglass-chips into it and pour one large spoonful of boiling water on it, and boil it five minutes more, and set the pot by 102 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. the fire to keep hot for ten minutes, and you will have coffee of a beautiful clearness. Fine cream should always be served with coffee, and either pounded sugar- candy or fine Lisbon sugar. If for foreigners, or those who like it extremely strong, make only eight dishes from three ounces. If not fresh roasted, lay it before the fire until per- fectly hot and dry ; or you may put the smallest bit of fresh butter into a preserving-pan of a small size, and when hot, throw the coffee into it, and toss it about until it be freshened, letting it be cold before ground. Coffee Milh. Boil a dessert-spoonful of ground coffee in nearly a pint of milk, a quarter of an hour ; then put into it a shaving or two of isinglass, and clear it ; let it boil a few minutes, and set it on the side of the fire to grow fine. This is a very fine breakfast : it should be sweet- ened with real Lisbon sugar of a good quality. Chocolate, Those who use much of this article \yill find the following mode of preparing it both useful and eco- nomical : — cut a cake of chocolate in very small bits ; put a pint of water into the pot, and wnen it boils, put in the above ; mill it off the fire until quite melted, then on a gentle fire till it boil 5 pour it into a basin, and it will keep in a cool place eight or ten days, or more. When wanted, put a spoonful or two into milk, boil it with sugar, and mill it well. SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. 103r Patent Cocoa. Js a light wholesome breakfast. Saloop. Boil a little water, wine, lemon-peel, and sugar together : then mix with a small quantity of the powder, previously rubbed smooth with a little cold "water ; stir it all together, and boil it a few minutes. Milk Porridge. Make a fine gruel of half-grits, long boiled ; strain off; either add cold milk, or warm with milk, as may be approved. French Milk Porridge. Stir some oatmeal and water together, let it stand to be clear, and pour off the latter ; pour fresh water upon it, stir it well, let it stand till next day ; strain through a fine seive, and boil the water, adding milk while doing. The proportion of water must be small. This is much ordered w^ith toast, for the break- fast of weak persons abroad. Ground Bice Milk. Boil one spoonful of ground rice, rubbed down smooth, with three half-pints of milk, a bit of cinna- mon, lemon-peel, and nutmeg, Sweeten when nearly done. Sago. To prevent the earthy taste, soak it in cold water an hour, pour that off, and wash it well ; then add more, and simmer gently till the berries are clear, with lemon-peel and spice, if approved. Add wine and sugar, and boil all up together. 104 SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. I i Sago Milk* Cleanse, as above, and boil it slowly, and wholly with new milk. It swells so much, that a small quantity will be sufficient for a quart, and, when done, it will be diminished to about a pint. Jt re- quires no sugar or flavouring. Asses^ Milk Far surpasses any imitation of it that can be niade. It should be milked into a glass that is kept warm by being in a basin of hot water. The fixed air that it contains give some people a pain in the stomach. At first a tea-spoonful of rum may be taken with it, but should only be put in the momen. it is to be swallowed. Artificial Asses Milk, Boil together a quart of water, a quart of new milk, an ounce of white sugar-candy, half an ounce of eringo-root, and half an ounce of conserve of roses, till hdf be wasted. This is astringent, therefore proportion the doses lo the effect, and the quantity to what will be used while sweet. Another, Mix two spoonsful of boiling waler, two of milk, and an egg well beaten ; sweeten with pounded white sugar-candy. This may be taken twice or thrice a-day. Another, Boil two ounces of haitshorni shavings, two ounces of pearl-barley, two ounces of candied eringo- SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. 105 root, and one dozen of snails, that have been bruised, in two quarts of water to one. Mix with an equal quantity of new milk, when taken twice a-day. Water Gruel, Put a large spoonful of oatmeal by degrees into a pint of water^ and, when smooth, boil it. Another Way, Rub smooth a large spoonful of oatmeal with two of water, and pour it into a pint of water boiling on the fire ; stir it well and boil it quick, but take care it does not boil over. In a quarter of an hour strain it oft', and add salt and a bit of butter when eaten. Stir until the butter be incorporated. Barley Gruel. Wash four ounces of pearl-barley ; boil it in two quarts of water with a stick of cinnamon, till reduced to a quart ; strain and return it into the saucepan with sugar and three-quarters of a pint of port wine. Heat up, and use as wanted. A very agreeable Drink, Into a tumbler of fresh cold water, pour a table- spoonful of capillaire and the same of good vine- gar. Tamarinds, currants fresh or in jelly, or scalded currants or cranberries, make excellent drinks, witira little sugar or not as may be agreeable. A refreshing Drink in a Fever, Put a little tea-sage, two sprigs of balm, and a little wood-sorrel, into a stone jug, having first washed and dried them ; peel thin a small lemon, 106 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE, I) ' ui . II *■ fl ■li i and clear from the white ; slice it, and put a bit of the peel in ; then pour in three pints of boiling water, sweeten and cover it close. Another Drink. Wash extremely well an ounce of pearl-barley ; sift it twice, then put to it three pints of water, an ounce of sweet almonds beaten fine, and a bit of lemon-peel; boil till you have a smooth liquor, then put in a little syrup of lemons and capillaire. Another, Boil three pints, of water, with an ounce and a half of tamarinds, three ounces of currants, and two ounces of stoned raisins, till near a third be consumed. Strain it on a bit of lemon-peel, which remove in an hour, as it gives a bitter taste if left long. A most pleasant Drink. Put a tea-cupful of cranberrid^ into a cup of water, and mash them. In the meantime, boil two quarts of water with one largo spoonful of oatmeal and a bit of lemon -peel ; then add the cranberries, and as much fine Lisbon sugar as shall leave a smart flavour of the fruit, and a quarter of a pint of .cherry, or less, as may be pro- per : boil all for halt' an hour, and strain off. Soft and fine DraiKjht for those icho are weak and haxe a cowjh. Boat a fresli-laid (^i^t;, and m\\ it with a quart(T of a pint of new milk warmed, a Jar^;' spoonful of ca|)illairo, llie same of rose-water, an-l a little SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. 107 nutmeg scraped. Do not warm it after the egg is put in. Take it the first and last thing. Toast and Water, Toast slowly a thin piece of bread till extremely brown and hard, but not the least black ; then plunge it into a jug of cold water, and cover it over an hour before used. This is of particular use in weak bowels. It should be of a fine brown colour before drinking it. Put a pint of milk, milk- warm, into a stewpan or other vessel before the fire, add to it half a table- spoonful of rennet. When the curd forms, cut it into squares to allow the whey to escape. Then put it on a seive carefully, for it must not be burned. Lemon Water, a delightful Drink. Put two slices of lemon thinly pared into a tea-pot, a little bit of the i)cel, and a bit of sugar, or a large spoonful of capillaire ; pour on a pint of boiling water and stop it close two hours. Apple Water. Cut two largo apples in slices, and pour a quart of boiling water on them ; or on roasted apples ; strain in two or throe hours, and sweeten slightly. White-wine Whey. Put half a ])int of new milk on the fire ; the moment it boils up, pour in as much sound raisin wine as will completely turn it, and it looks clear ; let it boil up, then set tlie soucoj>an aside till the 108 SKILFUL HOUSEWIFE S GUIDE. I? I I ,^ curd snbsides, and do not stir it. Pour the whey off, and add to it half a pint of boiling water and a bit of white sugar. Thus you will have a whey perfectly cleared of milky particles, and as weak as you choose to make it. Vinegar and Lemon Wheys, Pour into boiling milk as much vinegar or lemon-juice as will make a small quantity quite clear, dilute with hot water to an agreeable smart acid, and put a bit or two of sugar. This is less heating than if made of wine ; and, if only to excite perspiration, answers as well. Buttermilk, with Bread or without. It is most wholesome when sour, as being less likely to be heavy; but most agreeable when made of sweet cream. Dr, Boerhaave'^s sweet Buttermilk, Take the milk from the cow i:ito a small churn, of about six shillings price ; in about ten minutes begin churning, and continue till tlie flakes of but- ter swim about pretty thick, and the milk is dis- charged of all the greasy particles, and appears thin and blue. Strain it through a seive, and drink it as frequently as possible. It should form the whole of the patient's drink, and the food should be I)iseuitfl and rusks in every way and sort ; rijK» and dried fruits of various kinds, when a decline is apprehended. Baked and dried fruits, raisins in particular, make excellent suppers for invalids, with biscuits or common cake. SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. 109 Orgeat Beat two ounces of almonds, with a tea-spoon- ful of orange-flower water, and a bitter almond or two ; then pour a quart of milk and water to the paste. Sweeten with sugar oe capillaire. This is a fine drink for those who have a tender chest ; and in the gout, it is highly useful, and with the addition of half an ounce of gum arable has been found to allay the painfulness of the at- tendant heat. Half a glass of brandy may be added, if thought too cooling in the latter com- plaint, and the glass of orgeat may be put into a basin of warm water. Orangeade or Lemonade, Squeeze the juice, pour boiling water on a little of the peel, and cover close. Boil water and sug ir to a thin syrup, and skim it. When all are colu, mix the juice, the infusion, and the syrup, with as much more water as will make a sherbet ; strain through a jelly-bag. Or squeeze the juice, and strain it, and add water and capillaire. Egg-Wine, Beat an o^g, mix with it a spoonful of cold water ; set on the fire a glass of white wine, half a glass of water, sugar, and nutmeg. When it boils, pour a little of it to the egg by degrees, till the whole be in, stirring it well ; then return the whole into a saucepan, put it on a gentle fire, stir it one way for not more than a minute ; for if it boil, or the egg be stale, it will curdle. Servo with toast. D 110 SKILFUL flOUSBWIFE'S OUIDB. lI K:h •■■'. Egg-wine may be made ^s above, without warming the egg, and it is then lighter on the stomach, though not so pleasant to the taste. COOKERY FOR THE POOR. GENERAL REMARKS AND HINTS. We subjoin a few hints, to enable every family to assist the poor of their neighbourhood at a very trivial expense ; and these may be varied or amended at the discretion of the mistress. Where cows are kept, a jug of skimmed milk is a valuable present, and a very common one. When the oven is hot, a large pudding may be baked, and given to a sick or young family ; and, thus made, the trouble is little. — Into a deep coarse pan, put half a pound of rice, four ounces of coarse sugar or treacle, two quarts of milk, and two ounces of dripping : set it cold into the oven. It will take a good while, but be an excellent solid food. A very good meal may be bestowed in a thing called a brewis, which is thus made :— Cut a very thick upper crust of bread, and put it into the pot where salt beef is boiling and near read- ; it will attract some of the fat, and when swelled out will be no unpalatable dish to those who rarely taste meat. A baked Soup, Put a pound of any kind of meat cut in slices, two onions, two ca/.rots, ditto, two ounces of rice, a pint of split peus, or whole ones if previously SKILFUL housewife's GUIDE. Ill ithout m the e. family a very ied or milk is ^* may be J ; and, a deep ounces ilk, and le oven, xcellent a thing t a very nto the )ad'- ; it jlled out o rarely in slices, s of rice, rcviously soaked, pepper and salt into an earthen jug or pan, and pour one gallon of water. Cover it very close, and bake it with the bread. The cook should be charged to save the boiling of every piece of meat, ham, tongue, &c., however salt ; and it is easy to use only a part of that, and the rest of fresh water, and by the addition of more vegetables, the bones of the meat used in the family, the pieces of meat that co ie from table on the plates, and rice, Scotch luarley, or oatmeal, there will be some gallons of nutritious soup two or three times a week. The bits of meat should be only warmed in the soup, and re- main whole ; the bones, &c., boiled till they yield their nourishment. If the things are ready to put in the boiler as soon as the meat is served, it will save lighting the fire and second cooking. Take turnips, carrots, leeks, potatoes, the outer leaves of lettuce, celery, or any sort of vegetable that is at hand ; cut them small, and throw in with the thick part of peas after they have pulped for soup, and grits or co^^rse oatmeal which have been used for gruel. Should the soup be of poor meat, the long boil- ing of the bones and different vegetables will afford better nourishment than the laborious poor can obtain ; especially as they are rarely tolerable cooks, and have not fuel to do justice to what they buy. But in every family there is some super- fluity ; and, if it be prepared with cleanliness and care, the benefit will be very great to the receiver, and the satisfaction no less to the giver. 112 tKILTUL H0USEV7IFES GUIDE. i li: It was found, in a time of scarcity, that ten or fif- teen gallons of soup could be dealt out weekly,at an i expense not worth mentioning, though the veget- - ables were bought. If in the villages about Lon- don, abounding with opulent families, the quanti- ty of ten gallons were made in ten gentlemen's ^ houses, there would be a hundred gallons of wholesome agreeable food given weekly for the supply of forty poor families, at the rate of two • gallons and a half each. What a relief to the labouring husband, instead of bread and cheese, to have a warm, comfortable meal ! To the sick, aged, and infant branches, how important an advantage ! Nor less to the industrious mother, whose forbearance from the necessary quantity of food, that others may have a larger share, frequently reduces that strength upon which the welfare of her family essentially depends. It very rarely happens that servants object to seconding the kindness of their superiors to the poor ; but, should the cook in any family think the adoption of this plan too troublesome, a gra- tuity at the end of the winter might repay her, if the love of her fellow-creatures failed of doing it a hundred-fold. Did she readily enter into it, she would never wash away, as useless, the peas or grits of which soup or gruel has been made, broken potatoes, the green heads of celery, the necks and feet of fowls, and particularly the shanks of mutton, and various other articles which, in preparing dinner for the family, are thrown aside. BKILFUL H0US£WIF£8 GUIDS. 113 gra- if Fish affords great nourishment, and that not by the part eaten only, but the bones, heads, and fins, which contain an isinglass. When the fish is served, let the cook put by some of the water, and stew in it the above ; as likewise add the gravy that is in the dish, until she obtain all the goodness. If to be eaten by itself, when it makes a delightful broth, she should add a very small bit of onion, some pepper, and a little rice-flour rub- bed down smooth with it. But strained, it makes a delicious improvement to the meat-soup, particularly for the sick ; and, when such are to be supplied, the milder parts of spare bones and meat should be used for them, with little, if any, of the liquor of the salt meats. The fat should not be taken off the broth or soup, as the poor like it, and are nourished by it. An excellent Soup for the weakly. Put two cow-heels and a breast of mutton into a large pan, with four ounces of rice, one onion, twenty Jamaica peppers, and twenty black, a tur- nip, a carrot, and four gallons of water ; cover with brown paper, and bake six hours. Sago, Put a tea-cupful of sago into a quart of water, and a bit of lemon-peel ; when thickened, grate some ginger, and add half a pint of raisin wine, brown sugar, and two spoonsful of geneva ; boil all up together. It is a most supporting thing for thoso whom