Chapter 2

Split the pig's head into halves, sprinkle them with pepper and salt, and lay them with the rind part uppermost upon a bed of sliced onions in a baking dish. Next bruise eight ounces of stale bread-crumb, and mix it with four ounces of chopped suet, twelve sage leaves chopped fine, pepper and salt to season, and sprinkle this seasoning all over the surface of the pig's head; add one ounce of butter and a gill of vinegar to the onions, and bake the whole for about an hour and-a-half, basting the pig's head occasionally with the liquor.

No. 26. BAKED GOOSE.

Pluck and pick out all the stubble feathers thoroughly clean, draw the goose, cut off the head and neck, and also the feet and wings, which must be scalded to enable you to remove the pinion feathers from the wings and the rough skin from the feet; split and scrape the inside of the gizzard, and carefully cut out the gall from the liver. These giblets well stewed, as shown in No. 62, will serve to make a pie for another day's dinner. Next stuff the goose in manner following, viz.:--First put six potatoes to bake in the oven, or even in a Dutch oven; and, while they are being baked, chop six onions with four apples and twelve sage leaves, and fry these in a saucepan with two ounces of butter, pepper and salt; when the whole is slightly fried, mix it with the pulp of the six baked potatoes, and use this very nice stuffing to fill the inside of the goose. The goose being stuffed, place it upon an iron trivet in a baking dish containing peeled potatoes and a few apples; add half-a-pint of water, pepper and salt, shake some flour over the goose, and bake it for about an hour and a-half.

No. 27. BAKED SUCKING PIG.

Let the pig be stuffed in the same manner as directed for a goose, as shown in the preceding Number; score it all over crosswise, rub some grease or butter upon it, place it upon a trivet in a dish containing peeled potatoes and a few sliced onions, season with pepper and salt; add half-a-pint of water, and bake the pig for about two hours, basting it frequently with its own dripping, or, a bit of butter tied up in a piece of muslin.

No. 28. BAKED OR ROAST DUCKS.

These are to be dressed in the same way as directed for dressing geese.

No. 29. HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF A PIG, AFTER IT IS KILLED.

Cottagers sometimes feed a pig for their own consumption, and, therefore, in the hope that many of you may have it in your power to do so, I will give you proper instructions as to the best way to make the most of it. First, when the pig is killed, should the hair or bristles be wet, wipe them dry with a wisp of hay or straw, and having laid it on the ground upon a narrow bed of dry straw three inches in thickness, and laid some loose straw all over it, set fire to it, and as the upper straw burns out, lay on another covering of loose straw, and, by the time this has burnt out, all the hairs of the upper part of the pig will probably be singed off, if not, burn a little more straw upon the remaining parts; and, on turning the pig over, should it be found that any of the hairs yet remain, let them be singed off with a lighted wisp of straw. Throw a pail of water over the pig, and scrape it clean and dry with an old knife. The next thing to be done, is to insert a stout stick, pointed at the ends, into the hocks of the hind legs; fasten a strong cord to the stick, and hoist up the pig so as to enable you to stand up and finish your work with ease to yourself. With a sharp knife rip up the belly, and stretch out the flaps with two sticks to enable you to throw in some water to cleanse the pig's inside, having first removed the guts, etc.; hang up the pluck to cool, and also the chitterlings, and loose fat; and, after thoroughly wiping the pig, let it hang in the draught to become quite cold. You then split the pig in halves, commencing between the hind quarters; and, when this is done, first cut off the hocks, then the hams, and the head; next cleverly remove, slicing away, what is called the spare-rib--that is, the lean meat about the ribs--reaching up about four inches toward the breast part, and lay the spare-ribs aside to be sold or reserved for your own use. The head may be baked as shown in No. 25. The spare-rib may be dressed as in No. 27.

No. 30. HOW TO CURE HAMS.

To six pounds of common salt, add four ounces of saltpetre, eight ounces of treacle, two ounces of salprunella, winter savory, bay-leaves, thyme, marjoram, and a good table-spoonful of allspice, bruise all these things well together, and thoroughly rub them over and into the hams, _with very clean hands_. The rubbing-in must be repeated four or five successive mornings, and the hams must remain in this pickle for ten days longer.

No. 31. HOW TO SMOKE HAMS.

When the hams have been well pickled, as shown in the preceding Number, they must be pressed between boards with heavy stones to render them flat; the hams should remain in press for twenty-four hours; and, at the end of that time, must be well rubbed all over with peasemeal mixed with a little salt; they are then to be smoked in a close shed or in the chimney, burning for that purpose some branches of juniper or any other wood, and some sawdust. The smoking must last five days. The hams, when sufficiently smoked, must be kept in a cool place. They will not be ripe for cooking before six months after their curing. Remember that a couple of well-cured hams, kept in reserve for a case of need, will always prove a ready means to realize some twenty-five shillings towards paying the rent, etc.

No. 32. HOW TO CURE BACON.

Mind that your pickling-trough is well scalded out before using it for pickling the bacon. Allow at the rate of four ounces of salt to every pound of meat, and to every ten pounds of salt six ounces of saltpetre, two ounces of salprunella, and eight ounces of sugar; rub the salt, etc., well into the bacon every morning for twelve successive days; and at the end of that time, let the sides of bacon be pressed between boards with heavy stones placed upon them to keep them flat; and at the end of twenty-four hours, rub them over with peasemeal in which there has been mixed a little salt, and smoke the bacon in the same manner as the hams; and thus, by timely thriftiness, you will be provided with a meat dinner for a long while.

No. 33. HOW TO DISPOSE OF THE PIG'S PLUCK.

See Nos. 72 and 73.

No. 34. HOW TO MAKE PORK SAUSAGES.

Take equal parts of fat and lean meat, such as the inferior end of the spare-ribs and some of the loose fat; chop these well together, adding a few sage leaves, a little thyme, pepper and salt, and one or two eggs; when the whole is thoroughly mixed and chopped fine, use a sprinkle of flour on a table or dresser, for the purpose of rolling the sausages into shape of the size and form of a man's thumb. These sausages may be fried in the ordinary way.

No. 35. BLACK PUDDINGS.

When a pig is killed, the blood should be caught in a pan, and a little salt must be stirred in with it while yet warm, to prevent its coagulation or thickening. This will serve to make you some hog's puddings, excellent things in their way, and for the preparation of which you must attend to the following instructions, viz.:--To every pound of blood, add eight ounces of fat cut up in small squares, two ounces of rice or grits, boiled quite soft in milk; season with pepper and salt, chopped sage, thyme, and winter savory, and some chopped onions boiled soft in a little milk or water; mix all these things well together, and use a tin funnel for filling in the cleansed guts with the preparation, taking care to tie the one end of each piece of gut with string, to prevent waste. The puddings being thus prepared, tie them in links, each pudding measuring about six inches in length, and when all are tied, let them be dropped into a pot containing boiling-water, just taken off the fire, and allow them to remain in this until they become set, or slightly firm; the puddings must then be carefully lifted out, and hung to a nail driven into the wall, to drain them from all excess of moisture; and before they are fried or broiled, they must be slightly scored with a sharp knife, to prevent them from bursting while they are being cooked.

No. 36. HOW TO MELT DOWN THE SEAM, OR LOOSE FAT.

Cut up the seam in small pieces, put it into a pot with about a gill of water, and set it over a slow fire to melt down, stirring it frequently with a spoon to prevent it from burning; and as soon as all is melted, let it be strained off into a jar for use. This will produce what is called lard, and will serve for making lard cakes, pie or pudding crusts, and also for general cooking purposes, instead of butter, etc.

No. 37. ITALIAN CHEESE.

This is prepared by chopping up the whole of the pig's pluck, the chitterlings, and a couple of pounds of the fat; mix this in a pan with seasoning composed of chopped sage, thyme, winter savory, allspice, pepper, and salt, and with it fill earthen pots or jars having lids to them; bake the contents in moderate heat; or if you have no oven of your own, send them to the baker's. A jar containing two pounds would require about an hour and three-quarters' baking. Italian cheese is to be eaten cold, spread upon bread.

No. 38. PIG'S FEET.

These are to be well salted for about four days, and then boiled in plenty of water for about three hours; they may be eaten either hot or cold.

No. 39. CURRIED RICE.

Boil one or more pounds of rice, as directed in No. 92, and drain all the water from it; slice some onions very thin, and fry them brown with a little butter; then add the boiled rice, a spoonful of curry-powder, and a little salt to season; mix all together. This is excellent with boiled or fried fish.

No. 40. A PLAIN RICE PUDDING.

To every quart of milk add six ounces of rice, one ounce of brown sugar, a pinch of allspice, and ditto of salt; put all these in a proper sized pie-dish, with one ounce of butter, and set the pudding to bake for one hour and-a-half. When the pudding has been in the oven half an hour, stir it round with a fork.

No. 41. A GROUND RICE PUDDING.

Ingredients, eight ounces of ground rice, three pints of skim milk, one ounce of butter, four ounces of sugar, a pinch of allspice or bit of lemon-peel, a pinch of salt, and two or three eggs; mix all the above ingredients (except the eggs) in a saucepan, and stir them on the fire till the batter boils; then beat up the eggs with a fork in a basin, and mix them well into the rice batter, and pour the whole into a well-greased pie-dish, and bake the pudding for an hour.

No. 42. A BREAD PUDDING FOR A FAMILY.

Ingredients, a two-pound loaf, two quarts of milk, two ounces of butter, four ounces of sugar, four ounces of plums or currants, three eggs, a piece of lemon-peel chopped, and a spoonful of salt. Divide the loaf into four equal-sized pieces, and soak them in boiling-water for twenty minutes, then squeeze out the water, and put the bread into a saucepan with the milk, butter, sugar, lemon-peel, and salt, and stir all together on the fire till it boils; next add the beaten eggs and the currants; pour the pudding into a proper sized greased baking-dish, and bake it for an hour and a-quarter.

No. 43. A BATTER AND FRUIT PUDDING.

Ingredients, two quarts of milk, one pound of flour, four eggs, eight ounces of sugar, one quart of fruit (either plums, gooseberries, currants, &c.), one ounce of butter, a good pinch of salt. First, mix the flour, eggs, sugar, salt, and a pint of the milk, by working all together in a basin or pan, with a spoon, and when quite smooth, add the remainder of the milk; work the batter thoroughly, and pour it into a large pie-dish, greased with the butter; add the fruit, and bake the pudding for an hour and a-quarter.

No. 44. A TREACLE PUDDING.

Ingredients, two pounds of flour, twelve ounces of treacle, six ounces of suet or dripping fat, a quarter of an ounce of baking-powder, a pinch of allspice, a little salt, one pint of milk, or water. Mix the whole of the above-named ingredients in a pan, into a firm compact paste; tie it up in a well-greased and floured pudding-cloth; boil the pudding for at least two hours and a-half, and when done, cut it in slices, and pour a little sweetened melted butter over it.

No. 45. APPLE PUDDING.

Ingredients, one pound and a-half of flour, six ounces of suet chopped fine, two pounds of peeled apples, four ounces of sugar, a little salt, and three gills of water. Mix the flour, suet, and salt with three quarters of a pint of water into a firm paste; roll this out with flour shaken over the table, using a rolling-pin to roll it out; and line a greased cloth, which you have spread in a hollow form within a large basin, with the rolled-out paste; fill up the hollow part of the paste with the peeled apples, gather up the sides of the paste in a purse-like form, and twist them firmly together; tie up the pudding in the cloth, boil it in plenty of boiling water for two hours, and when it is turned out of the cloth on to its dish, cut out a round piece from the top, and stir in the sugar.

No. 46. RICE AND APPLES.

Ingredients, one pound of rice, twelve apples, two ounces of sugar. Tie up the rice very loose in a pudding-cloth, so as to admit that while boiling it may have sufficient room to swell out to five times its original quantity. While the rice is boiling, which will take about one hour, peel the apples, and put them in a saucepan with nearly half-a-pint of water, a bit of butter, lemon-peel, and the sugar, and stew them on the fire till dissolved, stirring them while boiling for a few minutes. When your rice pudding is done and turned out on its dish, pour the apple-sauce over it. This cheap kind of rice pudding may also be eaten with all kinds of fruits, prepared in the same manner as herein directed for apples.

No. 47. BROWN AND POLSON PUDDING.

Ingredients, six ounces of Brown and Polson's prepared Indian corn, two quarts of milk, two ounces of sugar, a bit of cinnamon or lemon-peel, a pinch of salt, three eggs. Mix all the above ingredients (except the eggs) in a saucepan, and stir them on the fire till they come to a boil; then add the eggs beat up; mix thoroughly, pour the batter into a pie-dish greased with butter, and bake the pudding for one hour. Brown and Polson's prepared Indian corn is a most excellent and economical article of food, equal to arrow-root, and will prove, on trial, to be both substantial and nutritive, and also easy of digestion to the most delicate stomachs.

No. 48. BROWN AND POLSON FRUIT PUDDING.

Prepare the pudding batter as indicated in the foregoing Number, and when you have poured one-half of it into the greased pie-dish, strew about two pounds of any kind of fruit upon this, such as gooseberries, currants, plums, cherries, etc., and then pour the remainder of the batter all over the fruit. Bake the pudding an hour and a quarter. Peeled apples or pears may be used for the same purpose.

No. 49. BROWN AND POLSON THICK MILK.

Ingredients, three ounces of Brown and Polson's prepared Indian corn, one quart of milk, one ounce of sugar, a bit of cinnamon, a pinch of salt. Mix all the above-named ingredients together in a saucepan, and stir them constantly while boiling on the fire for ten minutes. This thick milk is most excellent for children's breakfast or supper, and would be found both cheaper and better for their health than a sloppy mess of tea.

No. 50. POTATO PUDDING.

Ingredients, three pounds of potatoes, two quarts of milk, two ounces of butter, two ounces of sugar, a bit of lemon-peel, a good pinch of salt, and three eggs. First, bake the potatoes, if you have means to do so, or let them be either steamed or boiled; when done, scoop out all their floury pulp without waste into a large saucepan, and immediately beat it up vigorously with a large fork or a spoon; then add all the remainder of the above-named ingredients (excepting the eggs), stir the potato batter carefully on the fire till it comes to a boil, then add the beaten eggs; pour the batter into a greased pie-dish, and bake the pudding for an hour in your oven, if you have one; if not, send it to the baker's.

No. 51. YEAST DUMPLINGS.

Ingredients, two pounds of flour, a halfpenny worth of yeast, a pinch of salt, one pint of milk or water. Put the flour into a pan, with your fist hollow out a hole in the centre of the flour, place the yeast and salt at the bottom, then add the milk (which should be lukewarm), and with your clean hand gradually mix the whole well together, and work the dough perfectly smooth and elastic. The pan containing the dough must then be covered over with a cloth, and in the winter must be placed on a stool in a corner near the fire, that it may rise, or increase in size to nearly double its original quantity. When the dough has risen in a satisfactory manner, which will take about an hour, dip your hand in some flour and work it, or rather knead it together, without allowing it to stick to your hands; divide it into about twelve equal parts; roll these with flour into balls, and as you turn them out of hand, drop them gently into a pot on the fire, half full of _boiling_ water; allow the water to boil up once as you drop each dumpling in separately, before you attempt to put in another, in order to prevent the dumplings from sticking together, as this accident would produce a very unsatisfactory result, and spoil your dinner. Yeast dumplings must not boil too fast, as then they might boil out of the pot. They will require about half-an-hour's boiling to cook them; they must be eaten immediately, with a little butter or dripping, and salt or sugar.

No. 52. NORFOLK DUMPLINGS.

Ingredients, two pounds of flour, a pint of milk, a good pinch of salt. Let all these ingredients be well mixed in a pan, and after dividing the paste into twelve equal parts, roll these into balls, drop each of them into a pot half full of _boiling_ water on the fire, and allow the dumplings to continue boiling rather fast for half-an-hour, at the end of which time they will be done. They should then be eaten while hot, with a little butter or dripping, and either sugar, treacle, or salt. Norfolk dumplings are most excellent things to eke out an insufficient supply of baked meat for the dinner of a large family of children.

No. 53. STEWED EELS.

First skin, gut, and trim away the fins from the eels, and then cut them into pieces three inches long; put these into a saucepan, add a bit of butter, a spoonful of flour, some chopped parsley, pepper and salt, a little mushroom ketchup, and enough water to cover the pieces of eel; put them on the fire to boil gently for about ten minutes, shaking them round in the saucepan occasionally until they are done.

No. 54. STEWED OYSTERS.

Put the oysters, with their liquor and a little water or milk, into a saucepan; add a bit of butter kneaded, that is, well mixed with a table-spoonful of flour; pepper, and a little salt; stir the oysters over the fire until they have gently boiled for about five minutes, and then pour them into a dish containing some slices of toasted bread.

No. 55. STEWED MUSCLES, OR MUSSELS.

Thoroughly wash the muscles, and pull off any weeds there may be hanging to them; next put them in a clean saucepan with a little water, and salt enough to season, and set them on the fire to boil, tossing them occasionally, until you find that their shells begin to open; they must then be taken off the fire, and their liquor poured off into a basin. Next, after removing one of the shells from each muscle, put them back into the saucepan; add the liquor, a bit of butter, a spoonful of flour, some pepper, chopped parsley, and a little drop of vinegar, toss the whole over the fire until the muscles have boiled five minutes, and then you will enjoy a treat for supper. Cockles and whelks are cooked in the same way.

No. 56. BAKED BEEF AND POTATOES.

The cheapest pieces of beef, suitable for baking or roasting, consist of the thick part of the ribs, cut from towards the shoulder, the mouse buttock and gravy pieces, and also what is commonly called the chuck of beef, which consists of the throat boned and tied up with string in the form of a small round. Whichever piece of beef you may happen to buy, it should be well sprinkled over with pepper, salt, and flour, and placed upon a small iron trivet in a baking dish containing peeled potatoes and about half-a-pint of water, and either baked in your own oven or else sent to the baker's. If you bake your meat in your own oven, remember that it must be turned over on the trivet every twenty minutes, and that you must be careful to baste it all over now and then with the fat which runs from it into the dish, using a spoon for that purpose. It would be very economical if, when you have baked meat for dinner, you were always to make a Yorkshire pudding to be baked under it. There are baking dishes made with a parting down the middle which just suit this purpose. In this case the potatoes are put in one part and the pudding in the other part.

No. 57. YORKSHIRE PUDDING.

To one pound of flour add three pints of skim milk, two eggs, nutmeg and salt; mix smoothly, and pour the pudding into the greased dish, and bake it under the meat, as recommended above.

No. 58. BAKED SUET PUDDING.

To one pound of flour add six ounces of chopped suet, three pints of skim milk, nutmeg and salt; mix thoroughly and smoothly, and bake the pudding in the dish under the meat.

No. 59. TOAD IN THE HOLE.

To make this a cheap dinner, you should buy 6_d._ or 1_s._ worth of bits or pieces of any kind of meat, which are to be had cheapest at night when the day's sale is over. The pieces of meat should be first carefully overlooked, to ascertain if there be any necessity to pare away some tainted part, or perhaps a fly-blow, as this, if left on any one piece of meat, would tend to impart a bad taste to the whole, and spoil the dish. You then rub a little flour, pepper, and salt all over the meat, and fry it brown with a little butter or fat in the frying-pan; when done, put it with the fat in which it has been fried into a baking-dish containing some Yorkshire or suet pudding batter, made as directed at Nos. 57 and 58, and bake the toad-in-the-hole for about an hour and a half, or else send it to the baker's.

No. 60. BOILED SHOULDER OF MUTTON WITH ONIONS.

Put the shoulder of mutton to boil in your two-gallon pot, with a handful of salt and plenty of water, allow it to boil gently for about two hours, and when done, and placed on its dish, smother it over with the following sauce:--Chop six or eight large onions, and boil them with a pint of water for twenty minutes, by which time the water must be reduced to half a pint; then add two ounces of butter, a pint of milk, four ounces of flour, pepper, and salt, and stir the sauce whilst boiling for ten minutes. A shoulder of mutton for boiling is all the better for its being salted for two or three days previous to its being cooked.

No. 61. MEAT PIE.

Of whatever kind, let the pieces of meat be first fried brown over a quick fire, in a little fat or butter, and seasoned with pepper and salt; put these into a pie-dish with chopped onions, a few slices of half-cooked potatoes, and enough water just to cover the meat. Cover the dish with a crust, made with two pounds of flour and six ounces of butter, or lard, or fat dripping, and just enough water to knead it into a stiff kind of dough or paste, and then bake it for about an hour and a-half.

No. 62. GIBLET PIE.