Chapter 2

Take two pounds of beef from the round or sirloin, and after taking out the bone, season it according to fancy; some prefer a seasoning of pepper, salt, onions, thyme, marjoram or sage; others the pepper and salt alone. Then prepare a plain stiff crust, either with or without butter or lard; spread the crust over a deep dish or bowl, put in the beef, and if you like it, add some butter; cover it close with a crust which must be closely turned in to prevent the water from penetrating; tie it up tight in a cloth, put it in a pot of boiling water and let it boil quickly for an hour. The cloth should be dipped in hot water, and floured, as for other boiled puddings.

Beef Steak Pie.

Take some fine beef steaks, beat them well with a rolling pin, and season them with pepper and salt according to taste. Make a good crust; lay some in a deep dish or tin pan; lay in the beef, and fill the dish half full of water; put in a table-spoonful of butter and some chopped thyme and parsley, and cover the top with crust; bake it from one to two hours, according to the size of the pie, and eat it while hot.

Baked Beef Pudding.

Par-boil some tender pieces of beef, in water enough to barely cover it; grease a pan with lard, season the beef and lay it in; make a batter of eggs, milk and flour, with a little salt, and pour it over; bake it an hour in a stove or dutch-oven, and when done keep it hot till it is eaten. Save the water the beef was boiled in, add a little butter, flour, pepper, salt and chopped parsley, thyme or sweet marjoram, and boil it up; when you dish up the pudding pour this over, or put it in a gravy dish to be served hot at the table.

Pork Stew Pie.

Take small bones and pieces of pork that will not do for sausage; roll out some crust with but little shortening; lay in the meat and small pieces of crust alternately; sprinkle in flour and seasoning, cover it with water, and put on a crust.

Spiced Beef in the Irish Style.

To a round weighing from twenty to twenty-five pounds, take a pint of salt, one ounce of saltpetre, two ounces of pepper, two ounces of cloves, one ounce of allspice, four ounces of brown sugar, all well pulverized, and mixed together; rub the round well with it, and lay it in a small tub or vessel by itself. Turn and rub it once a day for ten days. It will not injure if it remain a week longer in the spices, if it should not be convenient to bake it. When you wish to have it cooked, strew over the top of the round a small handful of suet. Be particular to bind it tight round with a cord, or narrow strip of muslin, which must be wrapped several times round to keep it in shape; put it in a dutch-oven, and add three pints of water when it is first put down; keep water boiling in the tea-kettle, and add a little as it seems necessary, observing not to add too much. It will require a slow heat, and take four hours to bake.

This is a very fine standing dish, and will be good for three weeks after cooking. Keep the gravy that is left to pour over it to keep it moist.

To Bake Fowls.

Season and stuff them the same as for roasting; put them in a dutch-oven or stove, with a pint of water; when they are half done, put in the giblets; when these are done, chop them with a knife, and put in thickening and a lump of butter.

If chickens are young, split them down the back, and put them in a dutch-oven, with a plate in the bottom, and a pint of water; when they are done, stir in a spoonful of flour, mixed in half a pint of milk, a piece of butter, salt, pepper and parsley; let it boil up and dish them.

To Fry Chickens.

After cutting up the chickens, wash and drain them; season them with salt and pepper; rub each piece in flour, and drop them separately in a frying-pan or dutch-oven of hot lard; when brown, turn the other side to fry; make a thickening of rich milk, flour, a piece of butter, salt, and chopped parsley; take up the chicken on a dish; pour a little water in the pan to keep the gravy from being too thick; put in the thickening, stir it, and let it boil a few minutes; then pour it over the chicken.

Chickens Fried in Batter.

Make a batter of two eggs, a tea-cup of milk, a little salt, and thickened with flour; have the chickens cut up, washed and seasoned; dip the pieces in the batter separately, and fry them in hot lard; when brown on both sides, take them up on a dish, and make a gravy as for fried chickens.

Lard fries much nicer than butter, which is apt to burn.

Chickens in Paste.

Make a crust as for pies, and roll it out in cakes, large enough to cover a chicken. The chickens should be very nicely picked and washed, and the inside wiped dry; put in each a small lump of butter, a little salt, pepper, and parsley; have the pot boiling, close the chickens in the dough, pin them up in separate cloths, and boil them three-quarters of an hour; dish them, and pour drawn butter over. Pigeons can be cooked in the same manner.

To Fricassee Chickens.

Cut up the chickens, and put them in a pot with just water enough to cover them; let it boil half an hour; have ready some thickening made of milk, flour, and butter, seasoned with parsley, thyme, pepper, and salt; let it boil a few minutes longer, and when it is dished, grate a little nutmeg over, if you like it. This is one of the easiest, cheapest and best ways of cooking chickens.

Chicken Pie.

Cut up the chickens, and if they are old, boil them fifteen minutes in a little water, which save to put in the pie; make a paste like common pie crust, and put it round your pan, or dish; lay in the chicken, dust flour over, and put in hotter, pepper, and salt; cover them with water, roll out the top crust quite thick, and close the pie round the edge; make an opening in the middle with a knife; let it bake rather more than an hour. If you warm a pie over for the next day, pour off the gravy and warm it separately, and add it to the pie.

Pot Pie.

Cut up two large chickens; grease your pot, or dutch-oven, with lard; roll out crust enough in two parts, to go round it, but not to cover the bottom, or it will burn before the pie is done. As you put in the pieces of chicken, strew in flour, salt, and pepper, some, pieces of the crust rolled thin, and a few potatoes; cover this with water, and put on a covering of paste, with a slit cut in the middle; let it cook slowly for about two hours; have hot water in a tea kettle, and if it should dry up too much, pour some in; just before you dish it, add a little parsley and thyme.

Veal, lamb and pork pies, may be made in the same way. If you like more top crust, cook it in a dutch-oven, and when the first crust is done, take it off in a pan and set it near the fire, and cover the pie again with dough.

Giblet Pie and Soup.

If you can get livers and gizzards from market, you can have a very nice pie made, the same as chicken pie, or soup with dumplings made of milk, egg and flour, beaten together, and dropped in when the soup is nearly done, and season it with parsley, pepper, and salt.

Chicken Stewed with New Corn.

Cut up the chickens as for pies; season them well; have green corn cut off the cob; put a layer of chicken in the bottom of a stew pan, and a layer of corn, and so till you fill all in; sprinkle in salt, pepper and parsley, and put a piece of butter in; cover it with water, and put on a crust, with slits cut in it; let it boil an hour; when done, lay the crust in a deep dish; dip out the chicken and corn, and put it on the crust; stir in the gravy a thickening of milk and flour; when this boils up, pour it in with the corn and chicken. Chicken and corn boiled together in a pot, make very nice soup, with dumplings.

To Broil Chickens.

Split the chickens down the back; season them, and put them on the gridiron over clear coals; cover them over with a plate, (which will make them cook faster,) baste with melted butter: be careful not to let them burn. Make gravy of the giblets, boiled in water and chopped fine; put in butter, thicken and season it; pour this in a dish, and put the chickens on the top.

Chicken Pudding.

Make a batter of six eggs, milk, flour and a little salt; par-boil the chickens; have each joint cut, grease a pan with lard, and lay the pieces in; put in some lumps of butter, and season it well with pepper and salt; then pour the batter over, and bake it an hour, in a stove or dutch-oven. Veal or beef makes a very nice pudding, done in the same way; but the batter need not be as rich as for chicken, and it requires no butter. Or it makes a good dish, if you cut slices of ham, after it will not do to appear on the table; make a batter, as for other pudding; put in a little butter and pepper, and bake it in a pan.

Cold Chicken With Vinegar.

Cut up the chicken in small pieces, and crack the bones; season it with salt and pepper, and put it in a deep baking plate, with a lump of butter and a table-spoonful of vinegar; cover it with hot water, put a plate over, and let it stew on a stove or hot embers.

Chicken Salad.

Cut up the white parts of a cold chicken, season it with oil, or drawn butter, mustard, pepper, salt, and celery, chopped very fine, and a little vinegar. Turkey salad is made in the same manner as above.

Stewed Chickens With Rice.

The rice must first be soaked in water, and very nicely washed, or it will not be white; two tea-cupsful of rice are sufficient to serve with one chicken, and must be boiled in a quart of water, which should be boiling when you put the rice in; add a dessert-spoonful of salt; generally half an hour is long enough to boil rice, and it must not be too long in the water after it is done, or it is less wholesome. Drain the water off, if the rice has not absorbed it, and place it in the bottom of the dish; the chicken must be in preparation at the same time with the rice, and should be cut up at the joints, as for fried or fricasseed chicken, and salted and seasoned; boil it in a little more water than sufficient to cover it; and when it is done, take it out, and lay it over the rice on the dish; then rub a small piece of butter with sufficient flour to thicken it, and stir both together in the liquor, which must remain over the fire for about two minutes; and just before it is taken up, add the yelk of an egg well beaten, and some chopped parsley; it must then be immediately poured over the chicken. In preparing this dish, take care that it does not get smoked.

SOUPS.

In making soup, allow yourself plenty of time. Dumplings should be put in about half an hour before the soup is done, and herbs a quarter of an hour--vegetables, about an hour,--rice, twenty minutes. If herbs are put in too soon, the flavor will fly off and be lost.

Chicken Soup.

Cut up the chicken; cut each joint, and let it boil an hour; make dumplings of a pint of milk, an egg, a little salt and flour, stirred in till quite stiff; drop this in, a spoonful at a time, while it is boiling; stir in a little thickening, with enough pepper, salt and parsley, to season the whole; let it boil a few minutes longer, and take it up in a tureen. Chopped celery is a great improvement to chicken soup; and new corn, cut off the cob, and put in when it is half done, gives it a very nice flavor.

Brown Calf's Head Soup.

Scald and clean the head, and put it to boil with two gallons of water, a shank of veal, three onions, two carrots, a little bacon, and a bunch of sweet herbs. When they have boiled half an hour, take out the head and shank of veal, and cut all the meat off the bones into pieces of two inches square; let the soup boil half an hour longer, when strain it, and put in the meat; season it with salt, cayenne and black pepper, and cloves, if you like; thicken it with butter and browned flour, and let it boil nearly an hour; put some fried force meat balls in the tureen, and just before you pour out the soup, stir into it a table-spoonful of sugar, browned in a frying pan, and half a pint of wine. This resembles turtle soup.

Beef Shin Soup, Mutton Soup, &c.

Crack the shin in several pieces, and wash it through three waters; put it in a pot of water four hours before dinner; when it begins to boil, take off the scum as it risen, and keep it covered; an hour before it is done, skim off all the fat, and put in potatoes, onions, turnips, carrots, and cut cabbage, if you like it; either beat up dumplings with eggs and milk, or roll them out of dough made as pie crust; a few minutes before it is done, stir in thickening with parsley, thyme, pepper and salt, and tomatoes, if they are in season; then dish it for dinner.

A shin will make a good dinner for a large family, and will do to warm up, if any is left. To eat pickles with it, or pour a little vinegar in your plate, is an improvement.

Soup made of mutton, veal and lamb, does not require many vegetables; carrots and potatoes are the most suitable. A shank of veal or mutton will make a small pot of very good soup. Celery, cut fine, is very nice seasoning.

Gumbo Soup.

Take two pounds fresh beef; put this in a dinner-pot, with two gallons of water; after boiling two hours, throw in a quarter of a peck of ocra, cut into small slices, and about a quart of ripe tomatoes, peeled and cut up; slice four or five large onions; fry them brown, and dust in while they are frying from your dredge box, several spoonsful of flour; add these, with pepper, salt and parsley, or other herbs, to your taste, about an hour before the soup is finished; it will require six hours moderate boiling.

Another Way.

Cut up a large fat chicken; boil it in two gallons of water, adding at the time you put in the chicken the same quantity of ocra, two large onions cut fine; season with pepper, salt, thyme and parsley; and when nearly done, drop in dumplings made of one egg, half a pint of rich milk, and flour sufficient to make them so that they will drop from a spoon. This soup requires from four to five hours moderate boiling. Just before serving, take up the chicken, and after taking out all the bones, return the chicken into the soup, and dish it up.

Pea Soup.

Leave a pint of peas in the pot, with the water they were boiled in; make a thickening of flour, milk and butter, seasoned with salt, pepper, parsley and thyme; toast two or three slices of bread; cut it up in the tureen; and when the soup has boiled about ten minutes, pour it over.

Children are mostly fond of pea soup, and it seldom disagrees with them. A few slices of fat ham will supply the place of butter.

Soup of Dried White Beans, &c.

Dried beans or peas should be soaked before boiling; they make very good soup with a small piece of bacon or salt pork boiled with them; put them to boil in plenty of water, and after they have boiled an hour, pour it off, and put in cold water--and the meat or bones, and let them boil an hour longer; stir in a little thickening, with pepper, salt, parsley and thyme; mix up some dumplings, and drop in half an hour before the soup is done. Where you have a large family, you should always be provided with dried beans for winter use.

A Vegetable Soup.

Take an onion, a turnip, two pared potatoes, a carrot, a head of celery; boil them in three pints of water till the vegetables are cooked; add a little salt; have a slice of bread toasted and buttered, put it into a bowl, and pour the soup over it. Tomatoes when in season form an agreeable addition.

FISH, OYSTERS, &c.

To Bake a Rock Fish.

Rub the fish with salt, black pepper, and a dust of cayenne, inside and out; prepare a stuffing of bread and butter, seasoned with pepper, salt, parsley and thyme; mix an egg in it, fill the fish with this, and sew it up or tie a string round it; put it in a deep pan, or oval oven and bake it as you would a fowl. To a large fish add half a pint of water; you can add more for the gravy if necessary; dust flour over and baste it with butter. Any other fresh fish can be baked in the same way. A large one will bake slowly in an hour and a half, small ones in half an hour.

To Stew a Rock Fish.

Rub the fish with salt and pepper, and a little cayenne on the inside; put it in an oval stew-pan. To a fish that weighs six pounds, put a pint of water; when it is about half done; season it well with salt and pepper, and a little mace or cloves; rub a quarter of a pound of butter in a half a tea-cup of flour, with a little parsley and thyme; stir this in with a pint of oysters. Serve it with the gravy in the dish. A large fish should be allowed an hour, small ones half an hour.

To Broil Shad.

Soak a salt shad a day or night previous to cooking, it is best to drain an hour before you put it to the fire; if it hangs long exposed to the air, it loses its flavor: grease the gridiron to keep it from sticking; have good coals, and put the inside down first. Fresh shad is better to be sprinkled with salt, an hour before it is put to broil; put a plate over the top to keep the heat in. In broiling shad or other fresh fish you should dust them with corn meal before you put them down.

To Bake a Fresh Shad.

Make a stuffing of bread, butter, salt, pepper and parsley; fill a large shad with this, and bake it in a stove or oven.

To Fry Fresh Fish.

Have the fish well scalded, washed and drained; cut slits in the sides of each; season them with salt and pepper, and roll them in corn flour; have in your frying-pan hot lard or bacon drippings; if the fish have been kept several days, dip them in egg before rolling them in corn flour, to keep them from breaking; fry them light brown on both sides.

To Fry Clams.

After opening them as oysters, wash them in their own liquor and drain then; make a batter of an egg, flour and pepper; dip them in this, and fry them in butter.

To Stew Clams.

Strain the liquor and stew them in it for about twenty minutes; make a thickening of flour, water and pepper; stir this in and let it boil up; have some bread toasted and buttered in a deep dish, and pour the clams over.

Clam soup may be made by putting an equal quantity of water with the liquor, and putting in toasted bread, crackers or dumplings.

To Pot Fresh Herring.

Scale and wash them well; cut off the heads and fins, and season them with salt, pepper and cloves; pack them neatly in a large jar, and pour on enough cold vinegar to cover them; put a plate over the top of the jar, and set it in a moderately warm oven, or on the top of a stove, in a pan of hot water, for five or six hours; they will keep in a cool place several weeks, and are an excellent relish. The jar or pan should be of stone ware, or fire-proof yellow ware.

To Boil Salt Cod.

Put your fish to soak over night; change the water in the morning, and let it stay till you put it on, which should be two hours before dinner; keep it at scalding heat all the time, but do not let it boil, or it will get hard; eat it with egg sauce or drawn butter. If you have any cod fish left from dinner, mix it with mashed potatoes, and enough flour to stick them together; season with pepper; make it into little cakes, and fry them in ham drippings.

To Boil Salt Shad, Mackerel Or Herring.

Wash the fish from the pickle; put it in a frying-pan; cover it with water, and let it boil fifteen minutes; take it up and drain it between two plates; put a little butter over and send it hot to the table: or, after boiling, you can flour, and fry it in drippings of any kind.

To Boil Salt Salmon.

Let salmon soak over night, and boil it slowly for two hours; eat it with drawn butter. To pickle salmon after it has been boiled, heat vinegar scalding hot, with whole peppers and cloves; cut the fish in small square pieces; put it in a jar, and pour the vinegar over. Shad may be done in the same way.

To Boil Fresh Fish.

After being well cleaned, rub the fish with salt, and pin it in a towel; put it in a pot of boiling water, and keep it boiling fast;--a large fish will take from half to three-quarters of an hour--a small one, from fifteen to twenty minutes. A fat shad is very nice boiled, although rock and bass are preferred generally; when done, take it up on a fish dish, and cover it with egg sauce or drawn butter and parsley. Pickled mushrooms and walnuts, and mushroom catsup, are good with boiled fish.

To Stew Terrapins.

Wash four terrapins in warm water; then throw them in a pot of boiling water, which will kill them instantly; let them boil till the shells crack; then take them out, and take off the bottom shell; cut each quarter separate; take the gall from the liver; take out the eggs; put the pieces in a stew-pan, pour in all the liquor, and cover them with water; put in salt, cayenne, and black pepper, and a little mace; put in a lump of butter the size of an egg, and let them stew for half an hour; make a thickening of flour and water, which stir in a few minutes before you take it up, with two glasses of wine; serve it in a deep covered dish; put in the eggs just as you dish it.

Oyster Soup.

Strain the liquor from the oysters, and put it on to boil, with an equal quantity of water; take off the scum as it rises; put in pepper, salt, parsley, thyme and butter; stir in a thickening of flour and water; throw in the oysters, and let them scald. If you have cream, put in half a pint just before you take them up.

Another Way.

Strain the liquor from a gallon of oysters, and add to it an equal quantity of water; put it on the fire, and boil and skim it before you add the seasoning; then put in six large blades of mace, a little cayenne, and black or white pepper; (the latter, on account of the color, is preferable, as it is desirable to have the soup as white as possible;) afterwards, permit all to boil together about five minutes; then pour in the oysters and a quarter of a pound of butter, into which a dessert-spoonful of wheat flour has been rubbed fine; keep this at boiling heat until the oysters begin to look plump--when it is ready for the table, and must be served up very hot. If you can procure a pint of good cream, half the amount of butter will answer,--if you believe the cream to be rather old, even if it seems to be sweet, add before it goes into the soup, half a small tea-spoonful of soda, well mixed with it; after you put in the cream, permit it to remain on the fire long enough to arrive at boiling heat again, when it must be taken up, or it may curdle; throw into the tureen a little finely cut parsley.

Scolloped Oysters.

Toast several slices of bread quite brown, and butter them on both sides; take a baking dish, and put the toast around the sides, instead of a crust.

Pour your oysters into the dish, and season, to your taste, with butter, pepper and salt, adding mace or cloves.

Crumb bread on the top of the oysters, and bake it with a quick heat about fifteen minutes.

To Fry Oysters.

Pick out the largest oysters and drain them; sprinkle them with pepper and salt; beat up an egg, and dip them first in it, and then in pounded crackers, and fry them in butter. It is a plainer way to dip them in corn meal.

Oyster Fritters.

Make a thick batter with two eggs, some crumbs of bread and flour, and a little milk; season this well with pepper and salt; have in a frying-pan equal parts of lard and butter; drop in a spoonful of the batter and put into it one large oyster, or two small ones, let them brown slowly, so as not to burn; turn them carefully. This is a good way to have oysters at breakfast.

To Stew Oysters.

Open them and throw them in a stew-pan, with a lump of butter; make a thickening of flour and water, salt and pepper, and stir it in just as the oysters boil; when they are done, take them up in a deep covered dish, with buttered toast in the bottom.

A Rich Oyster Pie.