Part 7

Sprinkle with pepper and salt, and place it over a clear, slow fire, with the skin down so as to retain the juice; put on a clean gridiron, rubbed with lard. Turn it when nearly done; take up, and season with a generous piece of butter, salt, and pepper to taste.--_Mrs. S._

POTTED SHAD.

Cut the fish as for frying; pack in a stone jar with layers of mixed spices, seasoning with salt; after the jar is filled, pour vinegar over; cover tightly with a cloth. Put the jar in a large pot of water and boil until the fish is thoroughly done.

A nice relish for tea.--_Mrs. C. L. T._

TO BARBECUE A SHAD.

Split the back of the fish, pepper and salt it, and put on the gridiron with the skin down.

Baste the upper side of the fish with butter; brown a little piece of butter with a small quantity of flour, and when brown add pepper, salt, and a little water.

Dish in a tureen.--_Mrs. J. W. S._

SCOLLOPED STURGEON.

Four pounds sturgeon, boiled; when cold, pick to pieces and then wash and squeeze out the water. Make a mayonnaise dressing, using celery, cayenne pepper instead of black pepper, and salt. Serve on white lettuce leaves.--_Mrs. R. R._

STURGEON CUTLET.

Remove all the fat from the fish; cut it into steak pieces. Beat up the yolks of eggs enough to moisten the pieces well; dip them into the beaten egg. Have ready a dish of grated bread crumbs (stale bread is best), then roll them in the bread crumbs and pepper them well.

Prepare a vessel of melted lard, have it boiling hot, but not burnt; lay in the pieces of fish and cover with a lid. Turn them over as they brown and remove the lid when they are nearly done.--_Mrs. Dr. P. C._

STURGEON OR DRUM.

Slice it like beefsteak, and roll in a thin egg batter, and fry in hot lard.

Chopped parsley and black pepper may be added, if liked.--_Mrs. D., Suffolk._

BAKED STURGEON.

Wash the skin _well_, put in a pan and bake for three-quarters of an hour. Then take it out on a dish; pierce it with a knife in several places. Make a stuffing of pot-meat, bread crumbs, onions, parsley, thyme, pepper, and salt, all chopped well together. Stuff the holes with the mixture and put the rest in the gravy; return to the pan and bake until done.--_Mrs. D._

TO FRY PERCH.

Sprinkle with salt and dredge with flour; after a while dredge with flour the other side. When the lard boils hard, skim it well and put in the fish. Serve hot.--_Mrs. W._

TO FRY TROUT.

Split the fish down the back, insert a thin slice of fat pork. Squeeze lemon juice over it and fry brown.--_Mrs. J. I., La._

BOILED COD-FISH.

Boil over a slow fire and skim frequently. Season with salt. Garnish with parsley and rings of hard boiled eggs, and serve with butter and egg-sauce.

COD-FISH BALLS.

One-fourth fish, to three-fourths potatoes, eggs enough to moisten. Season with pepper and salt, and fry brown.

NANTUCKET COD-FISH.

Cut the thick part out of a firm, white dried codfish, and soak it over night, then cut into very small pieces and parboil for a few minutes, changing the water until the fish remains but slightly salted. Drain off the water, leaving the fish in the saucepan. Pour over a little more milk than will cover it; when it becomes heated, add a little butter and pepper, thicken with flour stirred smooth in milk. Stir constantly for a few minutes.

TO DRESS SALT COD-FISH.

Take one-third of a large fish; soak it from three to four hours; next, boiling it till thoroughly done, pick the meat fine, taking out all the bones. Then add:

3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped fine. 3 to 4 Irish potatoes, boiled and mashed.

Mix all well together in a stewpan, with--

1 teacup of hot water. Salt and mustard to the taste.

Boil half an hour, and add a liberal supply of butter just before serving. If preferred, the salt and mustard need not be put in until during the cooking.--_Mrs. A. C._

BOILED MACKEREL.

Well wash the fish, put it into nearly boiling water with one tablespoonful salt in it; boil up quickly, then let it simmer gently for a quarter of an hour, and if the fish be very large, a few minutes longer. Serve in a hot dish.--_Mrs. B._

TO BROIL MACKEREL.

If the mackerel is fresh, after it is nicely scaled and cleaned, dry it; pepper and salt and broil it on a gridiron; baste it with fresh butter. After it is broiled, put it on a hot dish, pour melted butter over it, and serve. If the fish is salt, pour boiling water over it, soak it several hours; butter and pepper, and broil; serve in the same way as the fresh.--_Mrs. R._

TO COOK SALT MACKEREL.

Soak the fish over night in fresh water. In the morning drain off the water and place on a gridiron to broil, dressing with hot butter.--_Mrs. T._

BAKED SALMON.

When washed and dried, sprinkle over pepper and salt. Have ready in a baking-pan a small grating; lay the fish on this, with bits of butter over it; set in a hot oven, basting often and freely with butter. When nicely browned, butter a sheet of white paper and lay over it, to prevent its getting too dry; when done and tender, place on a hot dish. Add to the gravy one teacupful milk, one tablespoonful pepper vinegar, pepper, salt, and a mashed Irish potato smoothly mixed in; boil, and pour over the fish. Sift over all browned cracker. Garnish with bleached tops of celery and curled parsley alternately.--_Mrs. T._

BOILED SALMON.

After the fish has been cleaned and washed, dry it and sew it up in a cloth; lay it in a fish-kettle, cover with warm water, and simmer until done and tender. Meanwhile have ready in a saucepan one pint cream, two tablespoonfuls fresh butter, salt, pepper, minced parsley, and thyme; let it boil up once, not too quickly. Take the fish from the kettle, carefully unwrap it, lay it for a moment on a folded napkin to dry. Have ready a hot dish, lay the fish on it carefully, without breaking it, pour over the cream. Slice some hard-boiled eggs, and lay over the fish alternately with sliced lemon. Border the edges of the dish with curled parsley.--_Mrs. S. T._

SALMON STEAK.

When well dried, pepper and salt, sift over powdered cracker, and lay upon a gridiron, which has been first greased with butter or lard, over hot coals. As soon as the side next to the fire is brown, turn it by carefully slipping under it a batter-cake turner and holding the fish on it with the other hand, lest it should break. When both sides are of a light brown, lay in a hot dish; pepper and salt again; pour over melted butter; place the cover on, and serve.--_Mrs. T._

PICKLED SALMON.

Soak the salmon twenty-four hours, changing the water. Put it in boiling water, with a little vinegar. When done and cold, boil your vinegar with spice and pour on the fish.--_Mrs. A. P._

GERMAN FISH STEW.

Put the fish in a kettle to boil. Stew together in a saucepan one onion chopped fine and a wine-glass of sweet oil; when well done, pour them in with the fish. Then mix yolks of three eggs, juice of two lemons strained, one tablespoonful sifted flour. Beat these well together, and pour upon the fish when nearly done. Then add ginger, pepper, and salt to taste; stew three or four minutes, after mixing all the ingredients. Oysters may be cooked by the same receipt, only substituting one quart oysters for the fish.--_Mrs. A. D._

GAME.

HAUNCH OF VENISON.

Rub the venison over with pepper, salt, and butter. Repeat the rubbing. After it has been put in the oven, put in as much cold water as will prevent burning and draw the gravy. Stick five or six cloves in different parts of the venison. Add enough water to make sufficient gravy. Just before dinner, put in a glass of red wine and a lump of butter rolled in flour, and let it stew a little longer.--_Mrs. T._

VENISON HAUNCH.

Prepare the venison as you would mutton.

Put in a baking-pan, lard with a little bacon, add a pint of water, a gill of red wine, salt, and a little cayenne pepper. Bake quickly, and serve with or without gravy.

STEWED VENISON.

Cut in tolerably thick slices. Put in an oven with two spoonfuls of water and a piece of lard. Cook till nearly done, then pour off the gravy and baste it well with a large spoonful of butter, pepper, and salt.

_Stewed Venison._

Slice cold venison in a chafing dish and add--

A cup of water. A small teacup of red wine. A small teacup of currant jelly. A tablespoonful of butter. A teaspoonful of made mustard. A little yellow pickle. A little chopped celery. A little mushroom catsup. Salt and cayenne pepper to the taste.

The same receipt will answer for cold mutton.--_Mrs. R. L. O._

TO BARBECUE SQUIRREL.

Put some slices of fat bacon in an oven. Lay the squirrels on them and lay two slices of bacon on the top. Put them in the oven and let them cook until done. Lay them on a dish and set near the fire. Take out the bacon, sprinkle one spoonful of flour in the gravy and let it brown. Then pour in one teacup of water, one tablespoonful of butter, and some tomato or walnut catsup. Let it cool, and then pour it over the squirrel.

ROAST RABBIT.

Stew the rabbit. After boiling the haslet and liver, stew them with parsley, thyme, celery-seed, butter, salt, and pepper, for gravy. Soak a piece of loaf bread, a short time, in water. Mix with it the yolk of an egg and some butter, for stuffing; then soak it in milk and cream. Sprinkle the inside of the rabbit with salt and pepper, fill it with the above dressing, sew it up, and roast or bake quickly.--_Mrs. B._

BARBECUED RABBIT.

Lay the rabbit in salt and water half an hour, scald with boiling water, wipe dry, grease with butter, and sprinkle with pepper and a little salt. Lay it on the gridiron, turning often so that it may cook through and through, without becoming hard and dry. When brown, lay on a hot dish, butter plentifully on both sides, and add a little salt and pepper. Set in the oven, while preparing four teaspoonfuls of vinegar, one of made mustard, and one of currant jelly or brown sugar. Pour this over the rabbit, rubbing it in, then pour over the gravy and serve hot.--_Mrs. T._

STEWED RABBIT.

Cut up the rabbit and wash it. Put it in a stewpan and season it with salt and pepper. Pour in half a pint of water, and when this has nearly stewed away, add half a pint of Port wine, two or three blades of mace, and a tablespoonful of flour, mixed with a quarter of a pound of butter. Let it stew gently till quite tender, and then serve hot.--_Mrs. C. C._

_Stewed Rabbit._

Cut a rabbit into eight pieces. After soaking in salt and water, put it in a stewpan, with a slice of pork or bacon, and with more than enough water to cover it. When nearly done, take out the pieces, strain the water in which they have boiled, and return all to the stewpan, with a teacup of milk, a little pepper, salt, chopped onion and parsley. After this boils up, stir in a heaping tablespoonful of butter, in which a tablespoonful of flour has been rubbed. Let it boil up once more; then serve in a covered dish, with four hard-boiled eggs sliced over it, and grated bread crumbs. The same receipt will answer for squirrel.--_Mrs. T._

WILD TURKEY.

If the turkey is old, after it is dressed wash it inside thoroughly with soda and water. Rinse it and plunge it into a pot of boiling water for five minutes. Make a stuffing of bits of pork, beef, or any other cold meat, plenty of chopped celery, stewed giblets, hard-boiled eggs, pounded cracker, pepper, and salt, and a heaping spoonful of butter. Work this well and fill the turkey. With another large spoonful of butter grease the bird, and then sprinkle salt and pepper over it. Lay in a pan, with a pint of stock or broth in which any kind of meat has been boiled. Place in a hot oven. When it begins to brown, dredge with flour and baste, turning often, so that each part may be equally browned. Put a buttered sheet of paper over the breast, to prevent dryness. When thoroughly done, lay on a dish, brown some crackers, pound and sift over it, and serve with celery or oyster sauce.--_Mrs. T._

_A Simpler Way to Prepare Wild Turkey._

Prepare the turkey as usual, rub the inside with salt and cayenne pepper, and put in the baking-pan, with water enough to make gravy. Cut up the gizzard and liver with a lump of butter and a spoonful of cream. Mix with the gravy and serve hot.

_To Roast Wild Fowl in a Stove._

Put them on a rack above a pan, so that the gravy will drip through. This makes them as delicate as if roasted on a spit. If roasted in a pan, they will be exceedingly greasy and have the _stovey_ taste to which so many persons object.--_Mrs. J. W. S._

WILD GOOSE.

After the goose is dressed, soak it several hours in salt and water. Put a small onion inside and plunge it into boiling water for twenty minutes. Stuff with chopped celery, chopped eggs, mashed potatoes, bits of fat pork or other cold meat; a little butter; raw turnip grated; a tablespoonful of pepper vinegar; a little chopped onion; pepper and salt to the taste.

A teacup of stock or broth must be put in the pan with the fowl. Butter it, dredge with flour, and baste often. Pin a buttered paper over the breast to prevent its becoming hard. Serve with mushroom or celery sauce, or, for a simpler taste, serve merely with its own gravy.--_Mrs. T._

_Wild Goose._

Put a small onion inside, a slice of pork, pepper, salt, and a spoonful of red wine.

Lay in a pan with water enough to make gravy. Dredge with flour, and baste with butter frequently. Cook quickly and serve with gravy made as for wild turkey.

WILD DUCK.

When the duck is ready dressed, put in it a small onion, pepper, salt, and a spoonful of red wine. Lay in a pan with water enough to make the gravy. Cook in fifteen or twenty minutes, if the fire is brisk. Serve with gravy made as for wild turkey.

Canvas-back ducks are cooked in the same way, only you leave on their heads and do not use onion with them.--_Mrs. R. L. O._

_To Cook Wild Duck for Breakfast._

Split open in the back, put in a pan with a little water, butter, pepper and salt, and cook till tender. Baste with flour. If for dinner, cook whole.--_Mrs. J. L. C._

TO BROIL PARTRIDGES.

Place them in salt and water, an hour or two before broiling. When taken out, wipe them dry, and rub them all over with fresh butter, pepper and salt. First broil the under or split side on the gridiron, over bright, clear coals, turning until the upper side is of a fine, light brown. It must be cooked principally from the under side. When done, rub well again with fresh butter and if not ready to serve them immediately, put them in a large shallow tin bucket, cover it and set it over a pot or kettle of boiling water, which will keep them hot without making them hard or dry and will give time for the many "last things" to be done before serving a meal. When served, sift over them powdered cracker, first browned.--_Mrs. T._

TO ROAST PARTRIDGES.

Clean the birds as for stuffing. Rub with butter, salt and pepper. Put in sheets of letter paper and allow to cook in this way.--_Mrs. W. C._

TO COOK PARTRIDGES AND PHEASANTS.

Place them in a steamer, over a pot of boiling water, till tender.

Have ready a saucepan of large fresh oysters, scalded just enough to make them plump and seasoned with pepper-sauce, butter, and a little salt. Rub the cavity of the birds with salt and pepper, fill with oysters and sew up. Broil till a light brown. Place on a hot dish and sift over them browned cracker. Add a large tablespoonful of butter and one of pounded cracker to the oyster liquor. Boil it up once and pour into the dish, but not over the birds.--_Mrs. T._

TO BROIL PIGEONS.

Pigeons may be broiled the same as chickens, only cover the breast with slices of bacon. When nearly done, remove the bacon, dredge with flour and baste with butter. They will be done in half an hour.

STEWED PIGEONS.

The pigeons must be seasoned with pepper, salt, cloves, mace and sweet herbs. Wrap the seasoning up in a piece of butter and put it in the pigeon. Then tie up the neck and vest and half roast the pigeons. Then put them in a stewpan with a quart of good gravy, a little white wine, some pickled mushrooms, a few peppercorns, three or four blades of mace, a bit of lemon peel, a bit of onion and a bunch of sweet herbs. Stew until done, then thicken with butter and yolks of eggs. Garnish with lemon.

PIGEON PIE.

Take six young pigeons. After they are drawn, trussed, and singed, stuff them with the chopped livers mixed with parsley, salt, pepper, and a small piece of butter. Cover the bottom of the dish with rather small pieces of beef. On the beef, place a thin layer of chopped parsley and mushrooms, seasoned with pepper and salt. Over this place the pigeons, between each putting the yolk of a hard-boiled egg. Add some brown sauce or gravy. Cover with puff paste and bake the pie for an hour and a half.--_Mrs. C. C._

TO DRESS REED BIRDS.

Pick open and carefully wash one dozen or more birds. Place them between the folds of a towel, and with a rolling-pin mash the bones quite flat. Season with salt and a little cayenne and black pepper. Either fry or broil on a gridiron made for broiling oysters. This must be done over a clear fire. When done, season, put a lump of butter on each bird and serve hot.--_Mrs. A. M. D._

TO COOK SORA, ORTOLANS, AND OTHER SMALL BIRDS.

Prepare as you would a chicken for roasting. Lay in a pan and pour boiling water over them or, if convenient, steam them. Scald a few large fresh oysters till just plump, season them with cayenne pepper, salt and butter. Pour into the cavity of each bird a few drops of pepper-sauce and then put a large oyster in each. Broil a short time, frequently turning that they may not become dry. If not ready to serve them as soon as they are done, lay in a tin bucket, butter them and sprinkle them again with black pepper, cover the bucket and set it over boiling water till wanted. When laid in the dish, sift browned cracker over the birds, and pour gravy into the dish.--_Mrs. T._

_To Cook Sora, Ortolans, and Other Small Birds._

After they are split open in the back and dressed, lay them in weak salt and water for a short time. Then lay them on a board and roll with a rolling-pin to flatten the breastbone. Put butter, pepper, and salt on them. Lay them on a gridiron and broil slowly. When just done, add more butter and pepper, lay in a flat tin bucket, which set over a vessel of boiling water to keep the birds hot, juicy, and tender till wanted.--_Mrs. T._

SORA, ORTOLANS, ROBINS, AND OTHER SMALL BIRDS.

They should be carefully cleaned, buttered, sprinkled with pepper and salt, and broiled. When they are served, butter them again. If you like, serve each bird on a piece of toast, and pour over them a sauce of red wine, mushroom catsup, salt, cayenne pepper, and celery.

MEATS.

All meats are better in winter for being kept several weeks, and it is well, in summer, to keep them as long as you can without danger of their being tainted. If it is not in your power to keep meat in an ice-house, in summer, keep it in a cool dark cellar, wrapped around with wet cloths, on top of which lay boughs of elderberry. The evaporation from the cloth will keep the meat cool and the elderberry will keep off insects.

If you should unfortunately be obliged to use stale meat or poultry, rub it in and out with soda, before washing it. Tough meats and poultry are rendered more tender by putting a little vinegar or a few slices of lemon in the water in which they are boiled. The use of an acid will save time and fuel in cooking them and will render them more tender and digestible.

If possible, keep the meat so clean that it will not be necessary to wash it, as water extracts the juices. When it is frozen, lay it in cold water to thaw, and then cook quickly, to prevent its losing its moisture and sweetness.

In roasting or boiling, use but little salt at first, as it hardens meat to do otherwise. In roasting, baste frequently, to prevent the meat from hardening on the outside, and try to preserve the juices. If possible, roast the meat on a spit before a large, open fire, after using salt, pepper, butter or lard, and dredging with flour. Where an open fire-place cannot be obtained, however, the meat may be well roasted in a stove or range. Mutton, pork, shote and veal should be well done, but beef should be cooked rare.

In boiling, put on salt meat in cold water, but fresh meat in hot. Remember also that salt meat requires more water and a longer time to cook than fresh. Boil slowly, removing the scum that rises when it begins to simmer. Keep a tea-kettle of boiling water at hand to replenish the water in the pot, as it boils away. Do not let the meat boil too hard or too long, as this will toughen it and extract the juices. Add salt to fresh meat, just before it is done.

Lardering beef, veal, and poultry is a great improvement, keeping it moist whilst cooking and adding richness to the flavor. Lardering consists in introducing slips of clear fat bacon or salt pork, into the surface of meat, by means of a pin, sharp at one end and cleft into four divisions at the other. This pin may be obtained at any hardware store.

As the housekeeper is sometimes hurried in preparing a dish, it will save time and trouble for her to keep on hand a bottle of meat-flavoring compounded of the following ingredients.

2 chopped onions. 3 pods of red pepper (chopped). 2 tablespoonfuls brown sugar. 1 tablespoonful celery seed. 1 tablespoonful ground mustard. 1 teaspoonful turmeric. 1 teaspoonful black pepper. 1 teaspoonful salt.

Put all in a quart bottle and fill it up with cider vinegar. A tablespoonful of this mixed in a stew, steak, or gravy, will impart not only a fine flavor, but a rich color. Keeping this mixture on hand will obviate the necessity of the housekeeper looking through various spice boxes and packages to get together the requisite ingredients for flavoring, and will thus save her time and trouble.

HOW TO SELECT MEATS.

Good and wholesome meat should be neither of a pale rosy or pink color, nor of a deep purple. The first denotes the diseased condition, the last proves the animal has died a natural death. Good meat has more of a marble look, in consequence of the branching of the veins which surround the adipose cells. The fat, especially of the inner organs, is always firm and suety and never moist, while in general the fat from diseased cattle is flabby and watery and more often resembles jelly or boiled parchment. Wholesome meat will always show itself firm and elastic to the touch, and exhibit no dampness, while bad meat will appear soft and moist, in fact, often more wet, so that the liquid substance runs out of the blood when pressed hard. Good meat has very little smell and diffuses a certain medicinal odor. This can be distinctly proved by cutting the meat through with a knife and smelling the blade or pouring water over it. Lastly, bad meat has the peculiarity that it shrinks considerably in the boiling, wholesome meat rather swells and does not lose an ounce in weight.

OBSERVATIONS ON PORK, CURING BACON, ETC.