Part 4
FRENCH SPINACH.--Having picked them from the stalks, wash the leaves carefully in two or three cold waters, till they are quite free from grit. Put the spinach into a sauce-pan of hot water, in which a very small portion of salt has been boiled. There must be sufficient water to allow the spinach to float. Stir it frequently, that all the leaves may be equally done. Let it boil for a quarter of an hour. Then take it out, lay it in a sieve, and drain it well; pressing it thoroughly with your hands. Next chop it as fine as possible. For a large dish of spinach, put two ounces of butter into a stew-pan; dredge in a table-spoonful of flour and four or five table-spoonfuls of rich cream, mixed with a tea-spoonful of powdered loaf-sugar. Mix all well, and when they have come to a boil, add, gradually, the spinach. Stew it about ten minutes, (stirring it frequently,) till the superfluous moisture is all absorbed. Then serve it up very hot, garnishing it all round with leaves of puff-paste, that have been handsomely formed with a tin cutter, and are fresh from the oven.
STEWED SPINACH.--Pick the spinach very clean, and wash it through two or three waters. Then drain it, and put it into a sauce-pan, with only the water that remains about it after the washing. Add a very little salt and pepper, and let it stew for twenty minutes, or till it is quite tender; turning it often, and pressing it down with a broad wooden spoon or flat ladle. When done, drain it through a sieve, pressing out all the moisture, till you get it as dry as you can. Then put it on a flat dish, and chop or mince it well. Set it again over the fire; add to it some bits of butter dredged with flour, and some beaten yolk of egg. Let it simmer five minutes or more, and when it comes to a boil, take it off. Have ready some thin slices of buttered toast, cut into triangular or three-cornered pieces, without any crust. Lay them in regular order round a flat dish, and heap the spinach evenly upon them, smoothing the surface with the back of a spoon, and scoring it across in diamonds.
ASPARAGUS LOAVES.--Having scraped the stalks of three bundles of fine, large asparagus, (laying it, as you proceed, in a pan of cold water,) tie it up again in bunches, put them into a pot with a great deal of boiling water, and a little salt, and boil them about twenty minutes, or till quite tender. Then take out the asparagus, and drain it. Cut off the green tops of two-thirds of the asparagus, and on the remainder leave about two inches of the white stalk; this remaining asparagus must be kept warm. Put the tops into a stew-pan with a pint of cream, or rich milk, sufficient to cover them well; adding three table-spoonfuls of fresh butter, rolled in flour, half a grated nutmeg, and the well-beaten yolks of three eggs. Set the stew-pan over hot coals, and stir the mixture till it comes to a boil. Then immediately remove it. Have ready some tall fresh rolls or penny loaves; cut the tops carefully off, in a nice circular or oval piece, and then scoop out the inside of the rolls, and fill them with the stewed asparagus while it is hot. Make small holes very nicely in the tops or lids. Fit the lids again on the rolls, and stick in the holes (of which you must make as many as you can) the remaining asparagus, that has had the bit of stalk left on for this purpose. Send them to table warm, as side-dishes.
ASPARAGUS OMELET.--Take two bunches of the largest and finest asparagus. Put it into a pot of boiling water, with a tea-spoonful of salt, and boil it about twenty-five minutes, or till perfectly tender. Then drain it, and chop small all the green part. Beat four eggs very light, and add to them a wine-glass of cream. Mix the chopped asparagus thoroughly with the egg and cream, adding a salt-spoon of salt, and a very little cayenne. Melt a large slice of fresh butter in a frying-pan over the fire; and when it has boiled, and the bubbling has ceased, put in the mixture, and fry it till light and firm. Then slip it from the frying-pan to a hot dish, and fold it over.
For a soft omelet, put the mixture into a skillet, with a piece of fresh butter. Let it stew slowly for ten minutes. Lay a thin slice of buttered toast in the bottom of a hot dish, and cut the toast into small squares, but let them remain close together. With a spoon heap the soft omelet upon the toast, and serve it up.
Any omelet mixture may be kept soft by stewing instead of frying it, and it will be found far more wholesome.
STEWED PEAS.--Take young, tender green peas, and put into a stew-pan, with sufficient fresh butter to keep them from burning, but no water. Season them with a little black pepper, and a very little salt. Set them over a moderate fire, and stir them about till the butter is well mixed through them. Let them simmer till quite soft and slightly broken; taking off the lid occasionally, and giving them a stir up from the bottom. If you find them becoming too dry, add some more butter. When done, drain off what superfluous butter may be about the peas, and send them to table hot. They will be found excellent.
To the taste of many persons, they will be improved by a lump or two of loaf-sugar put in with the butter; and also by a few sprigs of mint, to be removed before the peas go to table.
Lima beans may be stewed in butter, as above: also, asparagus tops, cut off from the white stalk.
FRENCH PEAS.--The peas should be young, freshly gathered, and shelled immediately before they are cooked. Boil them in water slightly salted, till they are perfectly tender. Then put them into a sieve, and drain them as dry as possible. To each quart of peas allow an ounce and a half of the best fresh butter; a large tea-spoonful of flour; and six table-spoonfuls or a tea-cup of rich cream; with a small tea-spoonful of powdered sugar. Put the butter into a stew-pan; place it over the fire; and when it comes to a boil, stir in the flour, making it quite smooth, and free from lumps. Having mixed the sugar with the cream, add it, gradually, to the butter and flour; and when it boils hard stir in the peas, and let them stew till they are all hot through. While stewing, stir them occasionally to prevent their burning. If the pan is small it is better to shake it over the fire.
LETTUCE PEAS.--Having washed four lettuces, and stripped off the outside leaves, take their hearts, and (having chopped them well) put them into a stew-pan with two quarts of young green peas, freshly shelled; a lump or two of loaf-sugar; and three or four leaves of green mint minced as finely as possible. Then put in a slice of cold ham, and a quarter of a pound of butter divided into four bits and rolled in flour; and two table-spoonfuls of water. Add a little black pepper, and let the whole stew for about twenty-five minutes, or till the peas are thoroughly done. Then take out the ham, and add to the stew half a pint of cream. Let it continue stewing five minutes longer. Then send it to table.
PLAIN LETTUCE PEAS.--Cover the bottom and sides of a stew-pan with large fresh leaves taken from lettuces. Have ready the peas, which should be young and green. To each quart of shelled peas allow two table-spoonfuls of fresh butter, and a lump of loaf sugar. Add a very little pepper and salt, and a sprig of green mint. Cover the pan closely, and let it stew for half an hour, or till the peas are thoroughly done. Then take them out from the lettuce leaves, and send only the peas to table.
TO STEW CARROTS.--Half-boil the carrots; then scrape them nicely, and cut them into thick slices. Put them into a stew-pan with as much milk as will barely cover them, a very little salt and pepper, and a sprig or two of chopped parsley. Simmer them till they are perfectly tender, but not broken. When nearly done, add a piece of fresh butter rolled in flour. Send them to table hot. Carrots require long cooking.
Parsnips and salsify may be stewed in the above manner, substituting a little chopped celery for the parsley.
STEWED BEANS, (_French way._)--Take fresh young green beans, and string them. Do not split them; but merely cut them in half. It destroys the flavour of string-beans to divide them into small pieces. If very young, do not even cut them in half, but merely string them and leave them whole. Have by you a pan of cold water to drop the beans in, as you proceed. Then, having washed and drained them, put them into a stew-pan of boiling water, and let them boil twenty minutes or more, till they are all tender. Then drain them well. Afterwards melt two ounces of butter in a stew-pan, and then stir smoothly into it a tea-spoonful of flour, adding a little powdered mace and a salt-spoon of salt. When it comes to a boil, add a tea-cup of rich cream. Then put in the beans, and stir or shake them over the fire till they are all thoroughly heated. A moment before you take them from the fire, stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs, and send them hot to table.
For this dish, you must have beans enough to absorb nearly all the liquid. They must on no account float about in it, as it is intended for a seasoning, not a gravy.
Stewed beans will be improved by adding a small piece of cold ham, to be removed before they go to table. If ham is used, omit any salt in the seasoning, as the ham will make it quite salt enough.
TO STEW COLD POTATOES.--Take cold potatoes, (either white or sweet ones,) and cut them into round or circular slices. Have ready some nice gravy of roast beef, veal, or fresh pork, that has been left from the preceding day, and well skimmed. Care should every day be taken to save whatever gravy is left of roast meat, skimming off _all_ the fat from the surface, and putting away the gravy in a covered vessel set in a cool place. The gravy of cold mutton or lamb is so like tallow that it is unfit to use in any sort of cookery, and should always be consigned to the crock of soap-fat.
Season the sliced potatoes slightly with pepper, and putting them into a skillet with the cold gravy among them, stew them in that only, without a drop of water. Let them stew but a quarter of an hour. They are nice at breakfast, done in this manner; sweet potatoes especially.
TO IMPROVE OLD POTATOES.--In the spring when the potatoes of the preceding autumn have become old, and deteriorated in quality, they will be greatly improved if, previous to boiling, a piece about the size of a shilling or a twelve-cent-piece, is cut off from each end; like “topping and tailing” them. Afterwards boil these potatoes with the skins on, and see that they are thoroughly done. _Old_ potatoes require very long boiling, and are unfit to eat if hard in the centre, being then extremely indigestible. Their specks and blemishes make them so unsightly when sent to table whole, that it is best when sufficiently boiled, to peel and mash them. Mash them with milk or cream, if you cannot obtain good fresh butter. Salt butter will spoil their flavour instead of improving it, and all bad butter (whether salt or fresh) is unwholesome, as well as unpalatable, and should never be used for any purpose.
SYDNEY SMITH’S SALAD-DRESSING.--Have ready two well-boiled potatoes, peeled and rubbed through a sieve; they will give peculiar smoothness to the mixture. Also, a very small portion of raw onion, not more than a _quarter_ of a tea-spoonful, (as the presence of the onion is to be scarcely hinted,) and the pounded yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Mix these ingredients on a deep plate with two small tea-spoonfuls of salt; one of made mustard; three table-spoonfuls of olive oil; and one table-spoonful of vinegar. Add, lastly, a tea-spoonful of essence of anchovy; mash, and mix the whole together (using a boxwood spoon) and see that all the articles are thoroughly amalgamated. Having cut up a sufficiency of lettuce, (that has been well washed in cold water, and drained,) add to it the dressing immediately before dinner, mixing the lettuce through it with a boxwood fork.
This salad dressing was invented by the Rev. Sydney Smith, whose genius as a writer and a wit is well-known on both sides the Atlantic. If _exactly_ followed, it will be found very fine on trial; no peculiar flavour predominating, but excellent as a whole. The above directions are taken from a manuscript receipt given by Mr. Smith to an American gentleman then in London.
In preparing this, or any other salad-dressing, take care not to use that excessively pungent and deleterious combination of drugs which is now so frequently imposed upon the public, as _the best white wine vinegar_. In reality, it has no vinous material about it, and it may be known by its violent and disagreeable sharpness, which overpowers and destroys the taste (and also the substance) of whatever it is mixed with. And it is also very unwholesome. Its colour is always very pale, and it is nearly as clear as water. No one should buy or use it. The first quality of _real_ cider vinegar is good for all purposes.
The above receipt may be tried for lobster-dressing.
LETTUCE CHICKEN SALAD.--Having skinned a pair of cold fowls, remove the fat, and carve them as if for eating, cut all the flesh entirely from the bones, and either mince it or divide it into small shreds. Mix with it a little smoked tongue or cold ham, grated rather than chopped. Have ready one or two fine fresh lettuces, picked, washed, drained, and cut small. Put the cut lettuce on a dish, (spreading it evenly,) or into a large bowl, and place upon it the minced chicken in a close heap in the centre. For the dressing, mix together the following ingredients, in the proportion of the yolks of four eggs well beaten; a tea-spoonful of powdered white sugar; a salt-spoon of cayenne; (no salt if you have ham or tongue with the chicken;) two tea-spoonfuls of made mustard; two table-spoonfuls of vinegar, and four table-spoonfuls of salad oil. Stir this mixture well: put it into a small sauce-pan, set it over the fire, and let it boil three minutes, (not more,) stirring it all the time. Then set it to cool. When quite cold, cover with it thickly the heap of chicken in the centre of the salad. To ornament it, have ready half a dozen or more hard-boiled eggs, which after the shell is peeled off, must be thrown directly into a pan of cold water to prevent their turning blue. Cut each egg (white and yolk together) lengthways into four long pieces of equal size and shape; lay the pieces upon the salad all round the heap of chicken, and close to it; placing them so as to follow each other round in a slanting direction, something in the form of a circular wreath of leaves. Have ready, also, some very red cold beet, cut into small cones or points all of equal size; arrange them in a circle upon the lettuce, outside of the circle of cut egg. To be decorated in this manner, the salad should be placed in a dish rather than a bowl. In helping it, give each person a portion of every thing, and they will mix them together on their plates.
This salad should be prepared immediately before dinner or supper, as standing long will injure it. The colder it is the better.
ITALIAN CHICKEN SALAD.--Make a dressing in the proportion of the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs, mashed or pounded fine; a salt-spoon of salt; and the same quantity of mustard, and of cayenne; and a salt-spoon of powdered white sugar; four table-spoonfuls of salad-oil; and two table-spoonfuls of vinegar, (tarragon vinegar will be best.) Simmer this dressing over the fire, but do not let it come to a boil. Stir it all the time. Take a sufficiency of the white meat of cold fowls, and pull or cut it into flakes. Pile it in the middle of a dish, and pour the salad-dressing over it. Have ready two fine fresh lettuces that have been laid in cold water. Strip off the outside leaves; cut up the best part of the lettuces, and arrange it evenly in a ridge, or circular heap all round the pile of chicken in the centre. On the top of the ridge of lettuce, place the whites of the eggs, cut into rings and laid round so as to form a chain. Of course, a portion of the lettuce is to be helped with the chicken.
A lobster salad may be made as above; also a salad of minced prawns or crabs.
Persons who have no dislike to a very slight flavour of garlic, will find this chicken-salad improved, by a clove of garlic being lightly rubbed over the dish while empty.
In dressing and helping every sort of salad, use a boxwood spoon and fork.
TARRAGON SAUCE.--Take a large handful of tarragon leaves, stripped from the stalks: put them into a small sauce-pan with half a pint of boiling water, and four blades of mace. Cover the sauce-pan, and let it stew slowly till the liquid is reduced to one half, and the flavour of the tarragon is well drawn out. Then strain it; and put the liquid into a clean sauce-pan. Mix together a table-spoonful of flour, and six ounces of butter, and when it has been well-stirred, and beaten smoothly, stir it into the tarragon water. Place the sauce-pan over the fire, and watch it closely. When it has simmered well, and is just beginning to boil, take it off immediately and transfer it to a sauce-boat. Eat it with any sort of boiled meat or poultry, or with boiled fish. The tarragon will give it a fine flavour.
You may add to the tarragon, while stewing, a small white onion cut in slices.
This sauce may be coloured a fine green, by pounding in a mortar a sufficient quantity of young parsley or spinach. Then take some of the juice, and add it to the liquid after you have strained it from the tarragon leaves, and before you put in the butter.
Tarragon is an herb well worth cultivating. It grows from a slip or root, and is easily raised. The leaves are fit to gather in July and August. They impart a fine and peculiar flavour to sauces, soups, and salad; and are indispensable in making French mustard. Tarragon may be kept a year or more by drying it in bunches. Also by filling a bottle half with tarragon leaves, and half with good vinegar.
FINE LEMON PICKLE.--Take some fresh ripe lemons, and (having first rolled each one under your hand upon the table) cut them into quarters, and remove all the seeds. Put the pieces of lemon, with all the juice, into a stone jar. Have ready a sufficient quantity of excellent vinegar to cover the lemon well; the vinegar being boiled with a clove or two of garlic; some blades of mace; a broken up nutmeg; whole pepper, (the white or peeled pepper-corns will be best;) some cayenne or bird-pepper; and a very little salt. The proportion of these ingredients may be according to your taste, but the seasoning should be high, yet not so as to overpower the lemon-flavour. Having boiled the vinegar, with all these articles, about ten minutes, pour the whole boiling hot upon the lemon in the jar, and immediately cover it closely. Let the jar stand three weeks in the chimney-corner, stirring it frequently, and setting it occasionally in the oven after the baking is done. Then roll a sheet of blotting paper into a cone, pinning up the side, and folding the cone so as to close up the pointed end. Have ready some small clean black bottles. Set the paper cone into the mouth of the bottle, and through it filter the liquid. Seal the corks. This will be found an excellent sauce for fish, or any sort of white meat; and will keep for years.
PEACH PICKLES.--Stir two pounds of white sugar into two quarts of the best cider vinegar. Boil it ten minutes, skimming it well. Have ready some large fully-ripe peaches; rub them with a clean flannel to take off the down, and stick four cloves into each. Put them into glass or white-ware jars, (rather more than half-full,) and pour on them the vinegar boiling hot. Cover them closely, set them in a cool place, and let them rest for a week. Then pour off the liquid, and give it another boiling. Afterwards pour it again on the peaches; cover them closely, corking the jars, and tying leather over each, and put them away till wanted for use.
Instead of cloves you may stick the peaches with blades of mace, six blades to each peach.
Apricots may be pickled as above. Morella cherries also, using mace instead of cloves.
If you find a coat of mould on the top of a jar of pickles, remove it carefully, and do not throw away the pickles, as they may still be quite good beneath.
CUCUMBER CATCHUP.--For a small quantity, take twelve fine full-grown cucumbers, and lay them an hour in cold water. Then pare them, and grate them down into a deep dish. Grate also six small onions, and mix them with the grated cucumber. Season the mixture to your taste, with pepper, salt, and vinegar; making it of the consistence of rich marmalade or jam. When thoroughly incorporated, transfer it to a glass jar, cover it closely, tying down over the top a piece of bladder, so as to make it perfectly air-tight.
It will be found very nice (when fresh cucumbers are not in season) to eat with beef or mutton, and if properly made and tightly covered will keep well. It should be grated very fine, and the vinegar must be of excellent quality--real cider vinegar.
ONION CUSTARD.--Peel and slice some mild onions, (ten or twelve, in proportion to their size,) and fry them in fresh butter; draining them well when you take them up. Then mince them as fine as possible. Beat four eggs very light, and stir them gradually into a pint of milk, in turn with the minced onions. Season the whole with plenty of grated nutmeg, and stir it very hard. Then put it into a deep, white dish, and bake it about a quarter of an hour. Send it to table as a side dish to be eaten with meat or poultry. It is a French preparation of onions, and will be found very fine.
MEATS, ETC.
STEWED LAMB.--Take a fine quarter of lamb, and for a large dish, cut the whole of it into steaks; for a small dish, cut up the loin only; or slice only the leg. Remove the skin, and all the fat. Place at the bottom of a large stew-pot a fresh lettuce split into long quarters. Having seasoned the steaks with a little salt and cayenne, and some powdered nutmeg and mace, lay them upon the lettuce, pour on just sufficient water to cover the whole, and let it stew gently for an hour, skimming it occasionally. Then put in a quart or two of young green peas, (in proportion to the quantity of meat,) a sprig of fresh green mint, a lump of loaf-sugar, and some bits of fresh butter. Let it cook slowly about half an hour longer, or till the peas are all soft and well-done. In sending it to table, place the meat upon the lettuce, and the peas round it.
Cold ham sliced, and stewed in this manner, will be found excellent. The ham having been already cooked, half an hour will be sufficient to stew it with the lettuce, and another half-hour after the peas are in.
LAMB CUTLETS, (_a French dish_.)--Cut a loin of lamb into chops. Remove all the fat, trim them nicely, scrape the bone, and see that it is the same length in all the cutlets. Lay them in a deep dish, and cover them with salad oil. Let them steep in the oil for an hour. Mix together a sufficiency of finely grated bread-crumbs, and a little minced parsley, seasoned with a very little pepper and salt, and some grated nutmeg. Having drained the cutlets from the oil, cover them with the mixture, and broil them over a bed of hot, live coals, on a previously heated gridiron, the bars of which have been rubbed with chalk. The cutlets must be thoroughly cooked. When half done, turn them carefully. You may bake them in a dutch-oven, instead of broiling them. Have ready some boiled potatoes, mashed smooth and stiff with cream or butter. Heap the mashed potatoes high on a heated dish, and make it into the form of a dome or bee-hive. Smooth it over with the back of a spoon, and place the lamb cutlets all round it, so that they stand up and lean against it, with the broad end of each cutlet downward. In the top of the dome of potatoes, stick a handsome bunch of curled parsley.