PART II.

CHOICE FAMILY RECEIPTS.

CHOICE FAMILY RECEIPTS.

YEAST.

=Yeast.=--Good yeast is indispensable in order to secure good bread.

Pare and boil eight medium-sized potatoes. Remove them from the water when done, and put into it one small handful of _loose_ or two teaspoonfuls of _pressed_ hops. While these are boiling, mash and roll the potatoes very smooth, free from lumps; mix with them three even table-spoonfuls of flour, a half cup of sugar,--brown sugar is the best for yeast,--one even table-spoonful of ginger, and three of salt. Strain out the hops after boiling fifteen minutes, and pour the boiling water over the potatoes, flour, etc. Stir well together, and again set it on the range or stove till it boils up once, stirring it all the time, or it will burn. This done, pour it into a large earthen bowl or stone pot to cool. When blood-warm, add one penny’s worth of bakers’ yeast or a yeast-cake. Keep in a warm place till well raised, then put it into a stone jug; cork and tie down securely.

One teacupful will raise three good-sized loaves.

=Another.=--Take one pint of the water in which the potatoes for dinner were boiled; while it is boiling hot, thicken with flour; add a cup of yeast when the batter is cool. Set the jar in which it is made in a warm place, and it will be light in a few hours and ready to use.

=Yeast-Cakes.=--Pour a pint of boiling water over a teaspoonful of hops; let it stand ten or fifteen minutes, then strain the water into a saucepan; heat it boiling hot, stir in flour enough to make a stiff batter, and set it aside to cool. When lukewarm, put in a teacupful of good yeast, or a yeast-cake softened in water. Set in a warm place to rise. When light, add a teaspoonful of salt, two table-spoonfuls of molasses or sugar, and a little soda. Then mix in corn meal to make it stiff enough to roll into a long round roll. Cut it in slices about half an inch thick, spread meal over your board, and lay these cakes to dry. Turn them frequently while drying, and, if possible, get them dried in two or three days, or they may become sour. It is well to dry them in the air, but not in the sun. Put them in bags in a dry place; and when you use one soak it in milk-warm water.

BREAD.

=General Rules.=--Five quarts of flour and one quart of milk or water are sufficient for two loaves in quart-pans.

Rub shortening, salt, and potatoes, if used, into the flour before wetting it. The milk or water for wetting should be about milk-warm, and the yeast be stirred into part of the wetting for the sponge, or into the whole, if the bread is to be made without sponging; then pour it on the flour and knead.

=Bread without Sponging.=--Sift five quarts of flour, cover and set by the fire to dry. Pare and boil five medium-sized potatoes. When done, drain them dry from the water and sprinkle over them a teaspoonful of salt. Mash perfectly smooth and free from lumps, adding an even table-spoonful of sugar, and rub all together, till potatoes and flour are perfectly combined. Take a pint of the water in which the potatoes were boiled, and a little more than a pint of milk, and when blood-warm stir into it one cup of home-made or a cent’s worth of bakers’ yeast. Pour it on the flour and potatoes, and knead the whole together without sponging. All bread should be kneaded a full half-hour, then covered with a clean bread-cloth, and over that a bread-blanket, and set in a warm place to rise. If mixed overnight it will be ready for the second molding before breakfast; then make into loaves and put into the pans for the second and last rising. When light let it be well baked, but not long enough to make it hard and dry. When done, take from the pans, wrap a bread-cloth round each loaf, and turn upper side down into the pans, leaving it there till cold. This will help to make the crust tender.

=Good Bread.=--Put what flour will be needed for two or four loaves, according to the size of your family, into your bread bowl or pan. Make a hole in the middle, pressing the flour compactly towards the sides of the pan; then pour in sufficient boiling water to thoroughly scald and wet about one half of the flour. When cool, stir in one cupful of lively domestic yeast or a cent’s worth of bakers’, or, if you prefer, a small cake of dried yeast previously soaked in warm water. Set it near the stove or in a warm place in cool weather, cover closely just before retiring at night, and it will be light by morning, when a teaspoonful of salt and enough more warm, but not hot, water to wet all the flour must be added; knead it very thoroughly, and set it to rise again. When light, work it again, and put in the pans to rise for the last time, and as soon as it is light bake in a moderately heated oven. If the oven is too hot at first, the bread is apt to get brown on top and bottom too soon, and then it will not be done in the middle. A moderate oven at first is best, increasing the heat gradually until the bread is about half done, when it should be of a steady heat till the bread is done.

=Bread with Sponging.=--Stir into three quarts of milk-warm water one even table-spoonful of salt, and flour enough to make a soft batter. To this add the yeast above mentioned, or, in warm weather, use only half as much. Set the pan in a warm place in cold weather, and cover closely with a clean bread-cloth. Make this sponge at bedtime. If the sponge is at all sour in the morning, dissolve a teaspoonful of soda in a little water and stir in; then work in as much flour as is needed to mold it easily, and knead it thoroughly. Make it into small loaves, and see that the pans are well buttered and warmed when used. Keep them in a warm place, and cover with a clean white bread-cloth. If properly cared for, it will be light in an hour, and ready for the oven, which must be well heated. In baking bread or cake, care should be taken that the top does not brown too soon, as that will prevent its rising up light, as it otherwise would. If this makes too many loaves, it is easy to make only half or one third the quantity.

=To make Bread from Flour that runs.=--Put what flour you need in your pan, and pour enough boiling water over to just wet all of it, but not to make it thin; sprinkle in a teaspoonful of salt and a spoonful of butter; stir it up with a large wooden spoon until sure that all the flour is scalded; then cover and let it stand till cool enough to add the yeast. So that the yeast is sweet and lively, you can use any kind you prefer, bakers’ or home-made. When the flour is sufficiently cool, clear to the bottom, add your yeast, and give the whole mass a faithful kneading, adding more tepid milk or water, if needed. Knead till the dough cleaves from your hand easily, then set it to rise. When very light, knead again, put into the pans, and leave it to rise once more; then bake as directed above.

By this method _running_ flour can often be conquered, and bread thus scalded will be found uncommonly sweet and tender.

=Bread by Scalding the Flour.=--Pour enough boiling water on two quarts of flour to wet it thoroughly; add two even table-spoonfuls of butter; stir all well together, and let it stand till cool; then add a small cup of domestic yeast, or not quite a penny’s worth of bakers’ yeast; mold it fifteen minutes, then set by the fire to rise. When it begins to crack on top, put it on the molding-board, beat it with the rolling-pin, and chop and mold alternately for twenty minutes; then make into loaves, prick them on top, and set them by the fire to rise once more. As soon as light, bake. Bread made in this way is not quite so white, but is very sweet and light. If flour is at all inclined to “run,” the scalding will stop it.

=To make Stale Bread fresh.=--Put the loaf into a clean tin, and cover closely to exclude all water, and set into a steamer or a kettle of boiling water for half an hour; then remove it from the tin and it will look like fresh bread, and be really almost equal to a new loaf.

=Graham Bread.=--Two quarts of unbolted wheat, half a cent’s worth of bakers’ yeast, or half a teacup of home-made yeast; two table-spoonfuls of molasses, one even teaspoonful of salt, and warm water or milk and water enough to make a stiff dough. Beat this well, or, wetting your hands in water, mix it very thoroughly; cover closely, and let it rise light,--about six hours in warm weather, or in winter mix just before going to bed. When it is light, wet your hands in cold water and put it into well-buttered pans. Let it rise in the pans about an inch; an hour will generally be long enough. Bake an hour and a half, or until it is very well baked, but not scorched.

Or, take three small cups of the sponge from your wheat bread; when well risen add to it two spoonfuls of molasses, half a teacup of Indian meal, one teaspoonful of salt, and half a pint of warm milk and water; stir in enough Graham flour to make a stiff dough, and cover closely and set to rise. When light, fill your pans half full; let it rise once more, and bake carefully.

Or, pour boiling water over one quart of Graham flour; add a teaspoonful of salt, three table-spoonfuls of molasses. Let it stand till lukewarm; then add half a cup of home-made yeast, or part of a penny’s worth of bakers’ yeast; dip your hands in cold water, and mix it thoroughly. If too stiff, add more warm water. If too thin, mix in more flour. It should not be so stiff as for fine flour bread. Let it rise light; then put it into well-buttered pans to rise again. When light, bake one hour. It requires a hotter oven and needs to bake longer than other bread.

Or, one quart of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, three table-spoonfuls of molasses, and two table-spoonfuls of yeast; wet with warm water, or warm milk and water, till as thick as pound-cake. If wanted for breakfast, let it stand overnight. When ready to bake, add a well-beaten egg and a teaspoonful of soda; put into buttered pans and bake well.

Or, one quart of buttermilk or sour milk, soda enough to make it foam, and while foaming pour it on the Graham flour, stirring it together quickly. The flour should be all ready in the pan, and one teaspoonful of salt, and a scant half-teacup of molasses stirred into it before the soda is put to the buttermilk. Make it as thick as pound-cake; bake immediately one hour with a steady hot fire; add a well-beaten egg if in a hurry for your bread, as it will bake sooner, and we think be lighter for it.

=Steamed Brown Bread.=--One cup of Indian meal, two cups of rye, one cup of molasses, two cups of milk, a half-teaspoonful of soda, the same of salt. Stir well together and steam in some of the new “boilers” or “cookers” or “steamers” three hours; taking care that the water does not stop boiling. Add boiling water as the water boils away. If you wish it hot for breakfast, steam the day before, and in the morning set it in the oven for half an hour to form a good crust.

=Corn Bread.=--Sift two cups of Indian meal overnight; pour on it just enough really _boiling_ water to moisten or wet it through; cover it up and let it stand till morning; then add one cup of flour in which an even teaspoonful of cream of tartar has been sifted. Dissolve half a teaspoonful of soda in one cup of sweet milk, and stir with the meal and flour; add half a small cup of sugar; beat two eggs--yelks and whites separately--and put in the last thing. Bake in a quick oven.

=Rice Bread= (_Southern Receipt_).--One pint of rice flour, half a pint of wheat flour, one pint of sour milk, two eggs, butter half the size of an egg, and one teaspoonful of soda. The rice flour must be very fine, and stirred in after the other ingredients are partly mixed. Bake as soon as possible after the whole is stirred together.

Bread is sometimes made of _apple_ mixed with flour, by putting one third of stewed apple-pulp to two thirds of flour, and fermenting with yeast for twelve hours. This bread is said to be light and very palatable. It is much used in France.

BISCUIT.

=Morning Biscuit.=--One quart of flour, half a teaspoonful of salt, two table-spoonfuls of yeast, and one pint of sour milk, with half a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in it. Work this into a dough; then rub into the dough half a cup of butter. Knead well; cut off small bits; shape them into biscuits; lay them in the bake-pan, cover closely with a bread-cloth, and let them stand overnight in a warm place in winter and a cool place in summer. Bake in the morning for breakfast.

=Tea Biscuit.=--Peel and boil four potatoes of medium size. When done, mash and roll them smooth and perfectly free from lumps, sprinkling a table-spoonful of salt over them. Put to the potatoes a half-pint of the water in which they were boiled, a half-pint of milk, and a table-spoonful of sugar. Stir into this sufficient flour to make it a stiff batter. When cool, add half a penny’s worth of bakers’ yeast, or half a teacup of home-made yeast. Cover over with a bread-cloth and blanket. In cold weather leave this sponge in a warm place overnight to rise. In the summer, make it early in the morning. When this is risen until quite foamy, soften--but do not melt--two thirds of a teacupful of butter, and beat it into the sponge, together with two eggs, yelks and whites beaten separately; add flour to make it stiff enough to mold,--the softer it can be worked the better it will be. Knead it half an hour, then cover and set it to rise. When light, knead and _chop_ the dough at least fifteen minutes. This done, return it to the bread-bowl, again cover closely, and set to rise. When light, repeat the kneading; let it rise the second time, when it should be worked down and set on the ice in the ice-box, until within an hour of tea-time; then it must be again molded, rolled out, cut into small biscuits, pricked on the top, put into a bake-pan, covered over, and set to rise on a bench, near the stove, twenty minutes or half an hour. When light, set the biscuits into an evenly heated oven, and bake quickly to a delicate brown. When done, cover over with a bread-cloth for a short time before removing from the pan, to soften the crust.

=Soda Biscuit.=--Put two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar into one quart of flour; sift both together and rub in thoroughly two great spoonfuls of butter. Put one teaspoonful of soda into a table-spoonful of cold water, and stir till all is dissolved, then put it into a pint of cold water and pour it on the flour. Stir together quickly; if it cannot be rolled out, add a little more flour, but just as little as it is possible to roll out the biscuits with. Cut in shape and bake immediately. The great secret of making good soda biscuit is to sift the soda with the flour, to have it thoroughly dissolved, the dough made as thin and as quickly as possible, and baked immediately.

=Indian-Corn Biscuit.=--One quart of corn meal, one pint of wheat flour, sifted together, and stirred into three pints of milk; add a teaspoonful of salt. Beat four eggs, the yelks and whites separately, as for sponge-cakes. First stir the yelks into the batter; then add the whites, and a small teaspoonful of soda, the last thing. Have ready buttered some cups or small pans; nearly fill them with the batter, and set into the hot oven immediately. Bake fast, turn from the cups as soon as done, and serve immediately. They should puff up so as to more than fill the cups.

=Parker House Rolls.=--Two quarts flour, one large spoonful of lard, small teaspoonful of salt, one pint boiled milk,--set aside till cold,--half cup sugar, half cup yeast. Make a hole in center of the flour, put in milk, etc., and let it rise overnight. In the morning knead it well, and let it rise till noon; then cut it into long, narrow rolls and let it rise till tea-time. Bake.

=Rusk.=--Three coffee-cups new milk, three eggs, one teacup butter, one teacup sugar, one of yeast, and flour enough for batter. When the batter has well risen, work in more flour, but mix it rather soft; let it rise once more, quite light, but be careful that it does not sour; then make it out into rolls or biscuits; let it stand again a short time, and bake in a moderately hot oven; fifteen or twenty minutes should cook them.

=Sweet Potato Buns.=--Boil and mash two good-sized potatoes; rub in as much flour as will make it like bread; add a little nutmeg and one table-spoonful of sugar, with a table-spoonful of good yeast. When it has risen, work in two table-spoonfuls of butter, and soften so as to be easily mixed thoroughly with the dough; then form into small rolls, and, when raised the second time, bake on tins a nice brown. _Serve hot._

=Potato Pone.=--Pare and grate on a large grater sweet potatoes enough to make one quart of grated potato. Stir to this one pint of sweet milk, two eggs, two thirds of a cup of butter, and enough sugar to make it as sweet as plain cake; season with ginger. Bake till well done. Eat, hot or cold, with butter. If desired to be light colored, put the potatoes into cold water as soon as pared, and when ready grate into the milk. If dark-colored pone is preferred, sweeten with molasses and season with allspice. This is very rich made like pound-cake, using one and a half pounds of grated potato in place of flour.

=Gems.=--Break into a quart of milk four eggs (two will answer) without beating, stir in flour till as thick as waffles. Beat till smooth, and fill the “gem” pans half full. Bake quick in a hot oven. No salt, soda, or cream of tartar.

The “gem” pans should be well buttered, and set into the oven to get quite hot while the batter is being prepared, and when you are filling them, set the pan on the top of the range to keep it hot. When filled, set them immediately in the oven.

=Gems, No. 2.=--Drop four eggs, without beating, into a quart of milk; add two great spoonfuls of melted butter, and beat in flour until as thick as waffles. Pour into hot buttered gem pans, and bake like the first.

=Graham Gems.=--Drop one egg into a quart of milk or water. Stir in Graham flour until as stiff as waffles. Pour into hot, buttered gem pans, and bake quickly. Or add to the above one table-spoonful of melted butter; they will be tenderer.

In all measures the spoon, cup, or tin should never be heaped, but even full.

BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES.

=Corn Cakes.=--Rub one table-spoonful of lard into four cups of corn meal. Stir the meal into four cups of sour milk, with a teaspoonful of salt. Beat two eggs very light, and put in one teaspoonful of soda, the last thing. Beat well, and bake in small gem irons, or light tin forms.

=Another Way.=--Three teacups of corn meal, one teacup of wheat flour, two teacups of milk, one teacup of cream, or a third of a teacup of butter, three table-spoonfuls of sugar, one egg,--beat yelk and white separately, and very light; one teaspoonful of salt, and half a teaspoonful of soda. Bake in small pans, with a brisk heat.

=Another.=--Sift two cups of meal, pour over it one teacup of boiling milk, stir it up well, and let it stand all night if intended for breakfast. The next morning add one cup of wheat flour, one of sugar, a half cup of butter, the well-beaten yelks of two eggs; add, if needed, more milk, so as to make it as thin as waffles. Take one scant teaspoonful of soda; the whites of the eggs, beaten stiff, to be added the last. Pour into a well-buttered pan and bake about twenty-five minutes, in a well-heated oven, but not scorching hot. If Jewell’s Prepared Flour is used, no soda need be added. If correctly prepared and well baked, this is excellent. If you have sweet apples, three or four chopped very fine, added, and two thirds of a cup of finely chopped suet, instead of butter, is a very great improvement.

=Another.=--One cupful of flour, two cupfuls of corn meal, two great spoonfuls of sugar, not quite half a cupful of butter, one cupful of milk, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, sifted with the meal and flour, and a small teaspoonful of soda; two eggs, whites and yelks well beaten separately; the yelks mixed with the milk and meal, and the whites added, the last thing.

=Steamed Johnny-Cake.=--One pint of sour cream, one teaspoonful of soda, and one of salt. Stir in three table-spoonfuls of flour; then add corn meal enough to make a stiff batter. Beat one egg, and add to the batter; stir all carefully together, and pour into a well-buttered tin basin; set this into a bread-steamer, and keep the steam up for an hour, or more if the loaf is large. Serve with cream and sugar.

=Corn-Meal Cake with Apples and Suet.=--One pint scalded milk, or a half cup cream, or a pint of sour milk, one teacupful suet chopped fine, a table-spoonful sugar, a teaspoonful salt, six good-sized sweet apples chopped fine, three eggs well beaten, and a small teaspoonful of soda. Beat thoroughly, and bake in a shallow tin pan.

=Muffins.=--One pint of milk, one table-spoonful of butter, one pint of flour, a small teaspoonful of salt, three eggs, whites and yelks beaten separately and very stiff, a small even teaspoonful of soda; add the whites last, beat smartly and perfectly free from lumps. Butter the griddle, and bake in well-buttered rings. When the bottom is done, turn over the rings and bake the top, or put the rings on a well-buttered bake-pan and bake in a quick oven. We think them lighter and better so baked.

=Another Way.=--One quarter of a pound of butter, one teaspoonful salt, three eggs, one pint sweet milk, one quart flour, a heaping table-spoon of brewers’ yeast, or two of home-made yeast. Melt the butter and put into the milk, beat the eggs and put them also into the milk, then stir in flour and add the yeast. If for breakfast, set them to rise overnight. If at all sour, add half-teaspoonful of soda. Bake in well-buttered rings in a quick oven.

=Cream Muffins.=--One quart rich milk, or, if you can get it, half cream and half milk; one quart of flour heaping, six eggs, one table-spoonful of butter, one of lard; softened together. Beat whites and yelks separately very light; then add flour and shortening and a scant teaspoonful of salt, and stir in the flour the last thing, lightly as possible, and have the batter free from lumps. Half fill your well-buttered muffin-rings, and bake immediately in a _hot_ oven, or your muffins will not be good. Send to table the moment they are done.

=Another Way.=--One teacup sour cream, two eggs, one half-teaspoonful of soda, thickened with flour about as stiff as waffles. Bake in a quick oven.

=Raised Muffins.=--One quart milk, a halfpenny’s worth of bakers’ yeast or half cup of home-made yeast, two table-spoonfuls white sugar, one of butter (lard will answer, but is not as good), one teaspoonful of salt, two eggs well beaten, and flour sufficient to make a stiff batter.

Make the batter overnight, leaving out the eggs. In the morning beat the eggs, yelks and whites separately, very light, and stir into the well-risen batter. Have the muffin-rings well greased, fill half full with the batter, and bake twenty minutes in a quick oven. Serve hot.

=Hominy Muffins.=--Wash a pint of small hominy through two or three waters, pour boiling water on it, cover, and let it soak for several hours. Then put it into a farina-kettle with half a pint of boiling water. Let it boil until soft enough to mash; drain it and mix it well with a pint of white corn meal or wheat flour, a little salt, and a pint and one half of milk in which two table-spoonfuls of butter have been melted. When nearly cold, add four table-spoonfuls of yeast; cover it, and set it in a warm place until very light, with the surface covered with bubbles. Butter some muffin-rings, set them on a hot griddle, pour into each a portion of the mixture, and bake them brown on both sides. Send them to table hot.

=Quick Muffins.=--Two teacups buttermilk, one of thick cream, or, if none, three even table-spoonfuls of melted butter, four eggs, half a teaspoonful of soda; thicken with prepared flour as thick as waffles.

=Graham Flour Muffins.=--One pint of sour milk, a small teaspoonful of soda, one table-spoonful of sugar, and Graham flour sufficient to make a thick batter. Bake in rings, or drop the batter in spoonfuls on a flat tin. Add a little salt before baking.

=Raised Waffles.=--One pint of sweet milk, a heaping teacup of butter, three eggs (yelks and whites beaten separately), a table-spoonful of thick brewers’ yeast or a halfpenny’s worth of bakers’, one quart of flour, one quarter of a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in one teacup of sweet milk; beat all together, and let it rise till very light, and then bake. Serve hot, with butter and sugar, or plain, according to taste.

=Corn-Meal Waffles.=--Pour over one pint of corn meal, _twice_ sifted, one pint of boiling milk. Put in one table-spoonful of butter, one of flour, and a teaspoonful of salt. Let this stand till cold; then add half a teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a little cold water; the yelks of two eggs well beaten, the whites whisked very light and stiff to be added the last thing, when just ready to bake.

Put a brown paper over bread, biscuit, or cake when first set into a hot oven, else the top will most likely brown and form a crust before they rise sufficiently, and thus make them tough or heavy.

=Buckwheat Cakes.=--One quart of buckwheat flour, mix with lukewarm water rather thicker than you will wish it when ready to bake. A cup of Graham meal added is, we think, an improvement. Stir in half a cup of family yeast, or a halfpenny’s worth of bakers’, and a teaspoonful of salt; mix in an earthen bowl or a large earthen pitcher,--the latter is the most convenient, as the batter can be poured from the lip of the pitcher more neatly than it can be dipped out of a bowl; set it where it will keep warm all night. The batter should be made early in the evening, as it takes fully ten hours in winter to rise; when ready to bake in the morning, beat half a teaspoonful of soda into a great spoonful of molasses, and stir into the batter, adding also enough lukewarm water to make it thin enough to fry; bake quick; the thinner the cakes can be baked the better they will be.

=Rice Griddle-Cakes.=--Half a teacupful of whole rice, three eggs, half a pint of rich milk, and half a teaspoonful of salt. Cook the rice till every grain is dissolved and like jelly. Warm the milk a little, and beat the rice in it till it is smoothly mixed. When the eggs are beaten very light, add to the rice and milk; then the salt. Bake on a hot, greased griddle till brown and light. If the batter does not adhere, add another egg, but no flour.

=Sour-Milk Griddle-Cakes.=--Stir into one quart of sour milk enough flour to make the batter as thick as waffles; add an even teaspoonful of salt and two well-beaten eggs. Dissolve an even teaspoonful of soda, and beat in when ready for frying. This is very good baked in waffle-irons.

=Green-Corn Fritters.=--One pint grated corn, one small cup butter, one egg, a teaspoonful salt, one table-spoonful flour, a little pepper. Drop on a buttered pan and bake or fry ten minutes.

=Mock Oyster Fritters.=--Grate one dozen raw ears of corn; after grating, scrape or wring all the milk from the cob; half a table-spoonful flour; season with pepper and salt; beat the yelks of three eggs very thick, and stir into the grated corn; whisk the whites to a stiff froth, and add the last thing. Drop a dessert-spoonful at a time on a hot, buttered griddle, and fry of a light brown on both sides.

=Corn Oysters.=--One quart grated corn, three eggs well beaten, one small teaspoonful salt, and a little pepper, with just flour enough to make the corn hold together. Drop from a spoon into hot butter, making cakes about the size of an oyster. Sour milk, with a half-teaspoonful of soda, will answer if eggs are not plenty.

=Rice Cakes.=--One cup cold boiled rice rubbed into a quart of milk, one pint of flour, a teaspoonful of salt, two eggs beaten very light. Beat all free from lumps. Bake as soon as made, on a well-greased griddle.

=Rice or Hominy Cakes.=--Warm one quart of sweet milk, and rub into it two cups of boiled rice or hominy; throw in a little salt, and add enough wheat flour to bind the rice, or to make the batter as thick as waffles. Beat two eggs and add to the batter, and half a teaspoonful of soda, unless you use the prepared flour. If you do, there will be no salt or soda needed.

=Rosie’s Sally Lunn.=--One spoonful of butter, one of sugar, one egg, one pint of milk, one quart of flour, with two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar sifted with the flour, and one teaspoonful of soda added the last thing. This is an excellent breakfast-cake, as well as tea-cake, and is sometimes varied by stirring in a pint of whortleberries.

=Strawberry Shortcake.=--Rub into a pint and a half of Jewell’s Prepared Flour one teacup of butter; beat one egg very light; add milk to make a soft dough; divide in three parts; roll out lightly, lay one portion on a pie-plate or tin, sprinkle a little flour on the top, then add the second cake, a little flour on the top of that, and cover with the third. Bake quickly, but not too brown. Let the berries stand with sugar sprinkled over them till the cake is baked, then pull the thin portions of cake apart; spread half of the berries over the bottom cake, adding more sugar and a little butter; lay the second over them, and put on the remainder of the berries with more sugar and butter, placing the top cake over all. Put it in the oven for a few minutes to heat through, and send to the table hot.

When wishing an extra nice strawberry cake for tea, beat the whites of two eggs with a cup of white sugar till stiff, and add to it half of a grated cocoa-nut, and spread over the cake. If you have no prepared flour, sift two small teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar with the flour; dissolve one small teaspoonful of soda in milk, and add the last thing before mixing the cake.

=Cream Toast.=--Put a pint of rich, sweet cream over the stove in the farina-kettle, and while heating toast thin slices of stale bread quickly on both sides, taking care that they do not scorch. Wet two table-spoonfuls of flour in cold milk; stir it smooth; add a teaspoonful of salt, and when the cream is scalding hot, put in the flour, stirring all the time till it thickens; then take the kettle from the fire. Have ready a dish of salt and water, hot, and dip each piece of the toasted bread into it, but only for a moment. Remove quickly to the toast-dish, and dip over it a liberal supply of the thickened cream; then cut more bread and lay into the dish, then more cream, till all is used, letting the cream be the last. If you have no cream, boil and thicken some sweet milk; put in an even teaspoonful of salt, two table-spoonfuls of butter, and, when done, add one or two well-beaten eggs the last thing; stir for a few minutes till well united with the boiling milk, and then pour over the bread.

SOUPS.

=General Directions.=--Before giving some receipts for _soups_, we wish first to remind our young housekeepers that it is important for them to bear in mind the necessity and economy of keeping good _stock_ constantly on hand. The French stock-pot is always in readiness to receive every bone, coarse or refuse bit of meat not suitable to use for the main dish or for side-dishes. We understand that the French use earthenware for this purpose and also for “soup-digesters.” It would be a benefaction if our house-furnishing merchants would import some of these “soup-digesters” and “stock-pots,” as they are far better than metal. But until we can procure such, the _stock_, as fast as made, should be strained into a large stone pot, and when cold, all the grease that rises and hardens on top must be removed, clarified, and set aside for cooking purposes. Aside from the economy of using all refuse meat and bones for stock, and the convenience of having it always ready for use, the soup will be better if the stock is made at least the day before, because one can then easily remove all the grease,--an important item in preparing good soups.

=Stock for Soups.=--Buy a knuckle of beef or veal. Have the bone well cracked in small pieces. Put it in the soup-digester, or, if you have none, in a closely covered iron pot. For a medium-size piece, add five or six quarts of _cold water_ (by using cold water you will secure all the juices, whereas in hot water half the juice is retained in the meat). Let it come to a boil before you add salt or pepper; then season it to suit your taste, and if agreeable put in a small bit of red pepper. Set the kettle on the back part of the stove after it once commences to boil, and keep it gently simmering all day; then strain it from the bones and meat, which are now worthless, into a pot kept for the purpose. Never throw away bones that are left from baked, boiled, or roast meat of any kind, or from steak, poultry, anything, (except those taken off the plates); dried or gristly bits of meat may also be used to prepare stock for soup; and in a large family sufficient can be gleaned that would otherwise be thrown into the swill to keep stock on hands for weeks, without buying a bone for that purpose alone. When the stock is strained off, set it in the cellar to cool. The next morning carefully remove all the grease that has risen to the top and hardened, and you will have a clear, rich stock ready for use. Clarify the grease removed from the stock by slicing a raw potato into it, and set it over the fire in a skillet till it boils; then strain it from the potato, and you have fine dripping for many purposes.

=Tomato Soup.=--Use stock from beef, ham, veal, or any other bones or refuse meat. Put two or three quarts into your soup-kettle,--the size of your family must determine the quantity,--cut in one carrot, one small onion, if agreeable, a little celery or fresh parsley; add salt, pepper, and herbs to suit the taste, and then make the stock thick with tomatoes,--fresh from the vine are much the best; a spoonful or two of star maccaroni is an improvement, or rice or pearl barley, if you have either at hand. Let it boil two hours.

=Another.=--Take bones or bits of meat left from any dish, and boil well to extract all nutriment, then strain; or, if you have none on hand, make a rich stock, put in cabbage, carrots, parsnips, or any other vegetables you like; boil till well done, then add the tomatoes,--a dozen fresh, or half a can of winter tomatoes; boil twenty minutes, then strain and serve hot.

=A Vegetable Soup.=--Peel and slice six large onions and four turnips; fry them in one quarter of a pound of butter, and then pour over them four quarts of boiling water. Toast a good-sized crust of bread hard and brown (but take care that it is not burned at all), and put into the soup, with a little celery; sweet herbs, salt, and pepper to suit your taste. Stew gently four hours, stirring often to prevent it from scorching; strain through a coarse cloth or strainer, when it has cooked the four hours. Have ready a little thinly sliced carrot, turnip, and celery,--a few slices of each will be sufficient,--put these into the soup after straining it; return to the fire and stew till these last vegetables are tender. A spoonful or two of tomato catsup will improve it for some people.

We have not tried this soup, but were told by an excellent housekeeper that it was capital. We demurred at the quantity of tomato and onion, but judge the long time given to cook the soup may combine and incorporate the different flavors so as to make it quite palatable.

=Mock-Turtle Soup.=--Take a calf’s head dressed with the skin on,--the fresher the better. Take out and lay aside the brains. After washing it several times in a plentiful supply of cold water, soak in cold spring water. Then put it into your soup-kettle or digester, adding two quarts more of cold water than is needed to cover it, and place over the stove or range. There should be about two gallons of water in all. As it begins to heat, a large amount of scum will rise to the top. Watch this carefully, and skim it off as fast as it rises. Let it boil one hour, or till the meat can be easily removed from the bone, when it should be taken from the liquor, and when nearly cold cut from the bones in neat pieces about an inch square. The tongue may be cut up in small pieces with the meat, or cut up and mixed with the brains for a side-dish. The skin of the head is the best part, and should be cut up carefully, leaving as much fat adhering to it as you can. As soon as the head is taken up, put to the broth in which it was boiled a five-pound knuckle of veal and the same amount of lean beef, adding all the bones and trimmings of the head; a half-dozen cloves, a quarter of an ounce of allspice, and the same of whole black pepper; boil five hours, skim well, and keep closely covered. Then strain and set aside till morning, when all the fat must be removed, and two quarts of this stock reserved. Now put in a large saucepan, over the fire, half a pound of good fresh butter, six ounces of onions, sliced, quarter of an ounce of green sage, chopped. Let these fry one hour slowly. Be careful that it does not scorch. Then rub in half a pound of flour by degrees, gradually adding the broth, till of the thickness of rich cream. Season with salt to your taste; half an ounce of lemon peel, grated. Let it simmer again gently an hour and a half, and strain through a hair-sieve or tamis. Don’t _rub_ the soup through the sieve, it will make it muddy. If it does not run through easily, knock a wooden spoon against the side of the sieve; that will start it through without the sediment, which would go through if rubbed. Put the stock, when strained, into a clean stew-pot with the pieces of the head; and to each gallon of soup have a pint of nice claret, if you wish it dark, madeira or sherry, if you prefer it light (those who object to wine or brandy in _mince_-pies must be careful not to call for turtle or mock-turtle soup at restaurants), two table-spoonfuls of lemon-juice, and two of catsup, one of the essence of anchovy, a teaspoonful of curry powder, or quarter of a drachm of cayenne. Let it simmer till the meat is tender, taking care that it is not done too much, and by frequent stirring prevent its sticking. When the meat is quite tender, serve the soup with force-meat, brain, or egg-balls. This should have been reduced by boiling to four or five quarts.

=Bean Soup.=--Wash your beans and boil them with a piece of salt pork. When the beans are soft, take them out and press through a colander; then put them back in the water they were boiled in, together with four hard-boiled eggs quartered, and half a lemon sliced, a little pepper, if you like it. Boil up and serve. This is liked by some better than when made with rich beef stock, with tomatoes or catsup for flavor.

=Soup with Eggs.=--Make a good stock from a knuckle of veal and any bones which may be on hand from baked or broiled beef or mutton. Add one turnip, two carrots, one onion, a little lemon-juice, a small sprinkling of thyme, and a little celery. Let it boil five or six hours, then strain, set it to cool, and, when cold, remove all the grease. When needed, heat it, add a little thickening of rolled cracker or flour, and to three quarts of this stock add the yelks of five or six eggs, one gill of cream, and pepper and salt to taste. Drop the yelks in whole, and let them cook a few minutes. Some like to drop them in just as the soup is dished. We do not think it so nice, but that is a matter of taste.

=Green Pea Soup.=--Take two quarts of green peas, a quarter of a pound of butter, a quarter of a pound of ham cut very fine, two small onions, and a little parsley, and put it into a soup-digester or kettle; add just a little water, enough to allow it to stew slowly, stirring it well together, and cover closely. When quite tender, add two quarts of veal, beef, or mutton broth, a great spoonful of sugar, and pepper and salt to season it to your taste. Let it boil up once, then rub through a hair-sieve into another kettle, and pour to it one pint of boiling milk; boil five minutes and serve.

=Turtle Bean Soup.=--Pick free from dirt and imperfect beans a pint and a half of turtle beans; soak them overnight in a good quantity of cold water. In the morning drain off the water, and wash the beans in fresh water; drain and put in the soup-digester, with four quarts of good strong stock from which all the fat has been carefully removed. Set it where it will boil steadily but slowly till dinner-time,--four hours at least, six is better. We always have ours put on as soon as the fire is kindled in the morning before breakfast. One small onion, a carrot, and two or three of the outside stalks of celery cut into the stock is considered an improvement by most persons. Stir it occasionally till the beans begin to soften, to prevent their sticking and burning at the bottom. Two hours before dinner put in half a can of tomatoes, or, in the season, eight or ten fresh ones, and a coffee-cup of tomato catsup. When ready to dish, strain through a fine colander or coarse sieve, rubbing through enough of the pulp of the beans to make it as thick as rich cream. Taste to see if there is plenty of salt and pepper, and send to the table hot. If you have any hard-boiled eggs left over, chop fine and put into the soup, after straining it, or, if eggs are plenty, boil three hard and add, chopped fine.

=Nursery Soup= (to be prepared the day before needing it).--Two pounds of scrag of mutton, or of the knuckle, put into two quarts of cold water; add two or three sliced turnips, or two spoonfuls rice or pearl barley or star tapioca, whichever best suits the taste. Simmer slowly an hour and a half, then take out the meat and set aside; pour the soup into a large bowl, and leave to cool till next day. In the morning skim off all the fat that has risen on the stock. An hour before needed, turn the stock into a saucepan and bring it to a boil; cut the meat from the bones in fine mouthfuls. Mince very fine a small onion, a little parsley and celery; add a bit of butter the size of a nutmeg, one table-spoonful browned flour; burn an _even_ table-spoonful of sugar in an iron spoon; pour a little boiling water over it and stir it into the browned flour, then stir both into the soup; add the other articles, and boil all together twenty minutes; serve hot, with small bits of carefully toasted bread. This is called _nursery_ soup, but it is not to be scorned by the old folks.

=Oyster and Clam Soup.=--Fifty oysters, two bunches long clams; drain all the liquor from the oysters into a farina-kettle, add a pint of milk, one and a half table-spoonfuls of butter, pepper and salt to suit the taste; cut off the soft bodies of the clams and put with the oysters; chop the tough, gristly parts very fine and put into the liquor; when it boils, add the oysters and clams, with two table-spoonfuls of powdered cracker or the same of farina. Let all boil about five minutes, and send to table hot. This makes soup enough for six persons.

=Potato Soup.=--Boil and mash potatoes; about three pints when mashed, to three quarts of rich beef stock; ready boiling; add pepper and salt to taste; stir gradually into the boiling stock, then pass all through a sieve and return to the soup-kettle; simmer five minutes, and serve with fried bread; or, if liked, a half-pint of peas boiled soft, one onion, one head of celery, two spoonfuls of rice, may be put to the stock, well boiled, and the potatoes added when all are done; then pass through the sieve, return to soup-kettle, simmer five minutes, and serve.

FISH.

=To boil Fresh Fish.=--Clean, wash thoroughly, wipe dry, and then sew up in a cloth, kept solely for fish, and plunge at once into boiling water that has been first salted sufficiently. Sew the cloth up on the _back_ of the fish. Take it out when done, cut the threads down the back of the fish, and cut the _skin_ of the fish so that in taking off the cloth, the skin will come off with it, leaving the fish white and whole. Be careful not to break it, as it should come to the table in good condition. Eat with egg sauce or plain drawn butter. A fat shad is very nice boiled; but most people prefer cod, rock-fish, or bass.

=Baked Salmon Trout, with Cream Gravy.=--Wash and clean the fish carefully, wipe dry and lay in the bake-pan, with only enough water to keep from scorching. If very large, score the backbone a little, but do not cut the sides. Bake slowly, basting with butter and water, from three quarters of an hour to an hour, according to the size. Have ready a cup of rich cream, into which stir three or four table-spoonfuls of boiling water, else the cream will clot when heated. Into this stir gently two table-spoonfuls of melted butter and a little chopped parsley. Put this into a milk-boiler or farina-kettle, or any vessel that you can set into another, half filled with boiling water, to prevent the sauce from burning. Add to the cream and butter the gravy from the dripping-pan in which the fish was baked. Lay the trout on a hot platter and let the gravy boil up once, and then pour over the fish. Garnish with sprigs of parsley, arranged neatly. Use no spiced sauces and very little salt. Serve hot.

To fully appreciate the excellence of this fish with the cream sauce or gravy, one should be able to eat it a very short time after it is taken from the water, but the cream sauce is a great improvement to most baked fish.

=Boiled Salmon Trout.=--Wash and dry the fish after cleaning it nicely. Wrap in a clean fish-cloth, lay it in a fish-kettle, cover with cold, salted water, and boil slowly from half to three quarters of an hour, according to the size of the fish. When done, take off the cloth gently, so as not to break the trout; lay in a hot fish-platter and pour around it cream gravy like that used for baked salmon trout, and serve hot.

All fish, boiled or baked, are improved by cream gravy. If you cannot obtain cream, use rich milk, and thicken it a little.

=Fried Halibut.=--Have the slices seasoned some hours before frying, as it will be less liable to break in turning; when ready to fry, dip it in egg beaten up, and roll it in bread crumbs; then fry in hot lard, or have three or four slices of sweet salt pork fried till quite brown and crisp, and then fry the halibut in the hot lard which came from the pork. Dish it and lay the crisp brown pork around it.

=Fish Chowder.=--Haddock and striped bass are generally considered the best fish for chowder. Cut the fish in pieces about one inch thick and two inches square. Cut five or six good slices of the best salt pork, lay them in the bottom of an iron pot and fry till crisped, but do not scorch; take out the pork, leaving the fat; chop the pork in small pieces; put into the pot a layer of fish, a layer of split crackers and some of the chopped pork; a little red and black pepper; a little chopped onion; then another layer of fish, split crackers, and seasoning, and so on till all the fish is used. Then just cover all with water, and stew slowly till tender. Thicken the gravy with cracker crumbs and catsup if you like. Take out the fish, boil up the gravy once, squeeze in the juice of a lemon, and pour the gravy over the fish. Add salt if necessary.

=To prepare and dress Cold Fish.=--Cut cold boiled fish into pieces about an inch long. Do not chop it. Take the yelks of four eggs, hard boiled, and rub them to a smooth paste with a few spoonfuls of salad-oil or melted butter. Add a little salt, pepper, and mustard,--the exact amount must be decided by your own taste and knowledge of how highly seasoned your family like their food. Add two teaspoonfuls of white sugar; rub all in with the paste, and the last thing after getting the paste perfectly smooth put in six table-spoonfuls of vinegar. Beat the mixture till very light, and just before pouring it over the fish beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth and stir in with it. Stir half the dressing into the picked-up fish. Serve in a glass dish, and spread the other half of the dressing over the top. Garnish with delicate leaves of lettuce, to be eaten with it.

=Newport Fish Pudding.=--Pick any cold fish left from the dinner into fine bits, carefully removing all the bones. Thicken some boiling milk with flour, wet to a batter with cold milk, and stir the fish into it; season with pepper, butter, and salt. Put it into a pudding-dish, and spread cracker or bread crumbs thickly over the top to prevent the milk from scorching, and set into the oven to bake just long enough to brown nicely. A good way to use up cold fish, making a nice breakfast or a side-dish for dinner.

=Fish-Balls.=--Salt codfish is usually preferred for making fish-balls, although any fresh boiled fish left over from dinner is very nice. When the salt cod is used, it should be put in a damp place for a day or two before using, to soften. Early in the evening, before needed, it should be thoroughly washed in several waters, rubbing it well, then put to soak in a large quantity of lukewarm water. Just before bedtime pour off the first water, and add more lukewarm water; wash again in clean water in the morning, rubbing off all the salt crystal that may adhere, particularly on the under side, and place over the fire, in enough warm water to fully cover it. Let it come to the boiling point slowly, but don’t let it really boil; keep it simmering a half-hour. If the fish is very salt, turn off this water and cover again with boiling water, and let it simmer fifteen or twenty minutes, then drain and spread it out to cool; remove every bone and bit of skin, and when perfectly cold pick to pieces very fine with a fork. While the fish is cooling have nice mealy potatoes boiling over the fire; when done, mash smooth and light, and add to the picked-up fish a little more than its weight of potatoes, say a pound and a quarter of potatoes to a pound of fish. For a dozen balls add one well-beaten egg, or two if plenty, or two table-spoonfuls of rich cream, two spoonfuls of butter; beat all together and form into neat balls with your hands--which should be well floured--and drop them into a kettle or large saucepan of boiling lard or drippings, and fry a good clear brown. Plainer fish-balls may be made if desirable, omitting eggs and cream, and using less butter.

=Codfish Balls.=--Soak in warm water as much salt codfish as is needed, judging by the size of the family. Let it stand in the water all night. In the morning pick out all the bones, press out the water, and chop fine. Boil the potatoes in the skin. When done, peel and mash while hot twice as much potato as you have fish; mix well together and moisten with cream or a little new milk, with a great spoonful of butter. Have some well-clarified drippings or sweet lard ready in a saucepan. Let it get boiling hot, and then put in the fish-balls. They should be made a little more than half an inch thick. Fry a good, clear brown, taking care not to scorch them. One egg well beaten is an improvement.

=Scalloped Crabs.=--Wash the crabs and put into a kettle of boiling water, throw in a handful of salt. Boil from twenty minutes to half an hour. Take them from the water when done, and pick out all the meat; be careful and not break the shell. To a pint of meat put a little salt and pepper; we cannot give the exact amount, as tastes differ so widely; but taste, and if there is not enough add more, a little at a time till suited. Grate in a very little nutmeg, and add one spoonful cracker or bread crumbs, two eggs well beaten, and two table-spoonfuls of butter (even full); stir all well together; wash the shells clean and fill each shell full of the mixture; sprinkle crumbs over the top and set in the oven till of a nice brown; a few minutes will do it. Send to the table hot.

=Oyster Pie.=--Line a deep dish with good puff paste, not too rich. Roll out the upper crust, and lay on a plate just the size of the oyster-dish; set it on the top of the dish and put into the oven, as the crust must be nearly cooked before the oysters are put in, for they require less time than the crust. While the crust is baking, strain the liquor from the oysters; thicken it with the yelks of eggs, boiled hard and grated,--three eggs for seventy-five oysters; add two even table-spoonfuls of butter, and the same quantity of bread or cracker crumbs; season with pepper, salt, and mace or nutmeg,--a very little of either,--and by tasting, be sure that you do not season it too much; to add is very easy, but to take out seasoning in cooking is a difficult task. Let the liquor just boil; then slip in the oysters, and as soon as they come to a boil, stir well and remove the plate with top crust, and pour them and their gravy into the hot bake-dish; place the top crust over, and return to the oven for five minutes. Send to the table hot.

=Oyster Fritters.=--Drain off the liquor and wipe the oysters dry; season with a little pepper and salt, if not salt enough. Make a batter with a pint of milk and flour enough to mix not very stiff. Beat the yelks of three eggs thoroughly, and put to the batter, beating all a good deal. Whisk the whites to a stiff, dry froth, and stir in gently the last thing. Take up a spoonful of batter on a spoon, lay an oyster on top, and cover with a little more batter, and with a broad knife slip this off gently into a pan of boiling lard. When brown on both sides, drain on a perforated plate, and send to the table hot.

=To Fry Oysters.=--Take from the shells carefully so as not to tear or break them; dry in a clean fish-cloth; beat the yelks of eggs with thick cream,--one yelk to two table-spoonfuls of cream; rub together some bread or cracker crumbs, a little salt and cayenne pepper. Have half a pound of butter boiling hot in a skillet; dip each oyster in the beaten yelks and cream; then roll in the cracker crumbs, taking pains to have the crumbs adhere thickly to the oyster. Drop into the skillet, and fry of a light brown on each side. They should be crisp and light. Drain free from all grease, and serve hot.

=Lobster Patties.=--Boil two or three good lobsters; take out all the meat, and chop very fine; mash the coral smooth, and mix with the meat. Boil three or four eggs hard, and _grate_ the yelks, mashing or rolling the whites to make them heavy and waxy. Season the whole with salt, cayenne, a very little pounded mace or nutmeg, and a small portion of lemon-rind, grated. Moisten the whole with cream, fresh butter, or salad-oil. (Be careful that you do not use too much of any of these seasonings. It will make the whole bitter. In all of these strong flavors, only just an _intimation_ that they are present is necessary.) Put it into a stewpan, add a little water, put over the fire till it just comes to a boil; then remove from the fire. Make puff paste, and line deep patty-pans. Bake the paste before filling, while preparing the lobster. As soon as the lobster has been removed from the fire, and is partially cooled, take the crust from the oven and fill the patty-pans with the mixture to the top. Crabs or prawns may be made into patties in a similar manner.

=Lobster Rissoles.=--Boil the lobster, take out the meat, mince it fine; pound the coral smooth, and grate the yelks of three hard-boiled eggs for one lobster. Season with cayenne pepper, a little nutmeg, and salt. Make a batter of milk, flour, and well-beaten eggs,--two table-spoonfuls of milk and one of flour to each egg. Beat this batter well, and mix the lobster with it gradually, till it is stiff enough to roll into balls the size of a large plum. Fry in fresh butter, or the best salad-oil, and serve up either warm or cold. Similar rissoles may be made of raw oysters minced fine, or of boiled clams. These should be fried in lard.

=Fish Sauce.=--Four ounces of butter blended with three table-spoonfuls of flour; stir in gradually half a pint of boiling water, stirring all the time. When smooth, put it into a farina-kettle or milk-boiler, and let boil five minutes. If too thick, add a little more water. Beat two eggs to a foam, and stir in the last thing before removing it from the fire. A little parsley chopped fine added to this sauce, or an onion, is relished by some.

=A good Breakfast Dish.=--When any boiled fresh fish is left from dinner, take out all the bones carefully, and pick the fish up in small bits. Cover the bottom of a deep dish with some of the fish, and, if needed, a little pepper and salt, and a few spoonfuls of the fish sauce, if any was left from dinner; then sprinkle over some fine bread crumbs; then another layer of fish, with sauce; then bread crumbs, until the dish is full. If all the fish sauce is used without making the composition quite moist, beat two eggs very light, and add a cup of milk and pour over the whole; then cover with more bread crumbs, and set in the oven long enough to heat through and brown delicately. If no fish sauce is left over, take two great spoonfuls of butter, cut in little bits, and lay in alternately with the fish and crumbs; use four eggs instead of two, and a pint of milk.

=Best Mode of Roasting Fish, Ducks, &c.=--The very best way of cooking fish and fowl ever devised is familiar to woodmen, but unknown to city epicures. It is this: Take a large fish,--say a trout of three or four pounds, fresh from its gambols in the cool stream,--cut a small hole in the neck and abstract the intestines. Wash the inside clean, and season it with pepper and salt; or, if convenient, fill it with bread crumbs or crackers chopped up with meat. Make a fire outside the tent, and when it has burned down to embers, rake it open, put in the fish, and cover it with coals and hot ashes. Within an hour take it from its bed, peel off the skin from the clean flesh, and you will have a trout with all its original juices and flavors preserved within it,--a dish too good, as Izaak Walton would say, “for any but very honest men.”

Grouse, ducks, and various other fowls can be cooked deliciously in a similar way. The intestines of the bird should be taken out by a small hole at the vent, and the inside washed and stuffed as before. Then wet the feathers thoroughly, and cover with hot embers. When the cooking is finished, peel off the burnt feathers and skin, and you will find underneath a lump of nice juicy flesh, which, when once tasted, will never be forgotten. The peculiar advantage of this method of roasting is that the covering of embers prevents the escape of juices by evaporation. This comes from the “Trappers’ Guide,” and we know it is good.

MEATS.

BEEF.

=Leicestershire Hunting Beef.=--Take four ounces saltpetre or one of allspice. Rub it over a nice round of beef very thoroughly. Let it stand twenty-four hours, then rub it in as much common salt as will be needed to salt it to suit your taste. Keep it in a cool place twelve days, turning it every day, then put it into a deep pan and cover it, upper and under side, with three pounds of beef suet. Then cover with a thick paste, and bake slowly for six hours. It will keep for six months, and is highly spoken of by English people. We have never tried it, but by request give the receipt, which we have had for a long time in our possession.

=Spiced Beef.=--Boil a shin of ten or twelve pounds of beef until the meat readily falls from the bone. Pick the meat to pieces and mash the gristle very fine, rejecting all parts that are too hard to mash. Set the liquor in which it was boiled away till cool, then take off all the fat. Boil the liquor down to a pint and a half; then return the meat to the liquor, and, while hot, add any salt and pepper that may be needed, a half-teaspoonful of cloves, the same of cinnamon, a little nutmeg, a half-spoonful of parsley chopped fine, a very little sage and summer savory, if agreeable, not quite half a salt-spoonful. Let it boil up once, and put it into a mold or deep dish to cool. Cut in thin slices for breakfast or tea.

=Curried Beef.=--In reply to inquiries how to use “_curry_ powder,” we give the following: Put in a saucepan over the fire two table-spoonfuls of butter, and, when hot, put in two small onions, sliced very thin; fry until brown; then add a table-spoonful and a half of curry powder, mixing all well together. Take three pounds of the best of a round of beef; cut in pieces an inch square; pour over it the milk of a cocoa-nut, and a quarter of the meat of the nut grated very fine and squeezed through muslin; moisten with a little water,--only enough to make it pass through the muslin easily. The cocoa-nut meat and milk soften the taste of the curry, and no _curry_ is ever made in India without it. If this does not make liquor enough, add half a teacup boiling water, and let the whole simmer for thirty minutes. Serve hot, in a dish with sliced lemon, and a wall of mashed potatoes or boiled rice around it.

=Meat Pie.=--Cut up some pieces of good, tender raw beef or mutton, season with pepper, salt, and, if liked, one finely minced onion. Boil a half-dozen good-sized mealy potatoes, mash smooth and wet with enough milk to form a dough to make the crust; salt to please the taste; roll out full half an inch thick, and line a buttered dish large enough to hold the meat. Lay in the meat, add a teacup of water, or less if the pie is to be for a small family, then roll out a thick crust of the potato, covering the top of the pie at least an inch thick, and bake about an hour and a half.

=Beef Collops.=--Cut the fillet from the under part of a rump of beef into thin slices; broil quickly until nearly done, then put into a stewpan with a little beef stock; add two or three slices of lemon or pickled cucumber and two table-spoonfuls of catsup, and stew till tender. Half a pint of oysters added ten minutes before it is done is a great improvement.

=To Cook a Beefsteak.=--Put a frying-pan over the stove till it becomes quite hot. Have your steak well pounded or mangled,--a sirloin steak is very good for this purpose,--lay it on the hot, dry pan and cover it instantly as tightly as possible. When the meat touches the heated pan it will seethe and adhere to it, but in a few seconds it will become loosened and juicy; turn the steak every half-minute, but be careful to do it as quickly as possible, so that it may not be long uncovered. When nearly done, sprinkle on pepper and salt, lay a small piece of butter on the steak, and add a table-spoonful of strong coffee. This makes a delicious broiled steak. Or, if you wish much gravy, shake a little flour over the steak when just done, and pour in three or four table-spoonfuls of cream, let it just boil up, under cover, and when the meat is done, take the pan from the fire, remove the meat, stir in quickly the well-beaten yelk of an egg, and serve hot. If cream is used, omit the coffee. Mutton or ham may be cooked in the same way, only they should be over the fire longer than beef.

=Rump Steak, with Oyster Sauce.=--Broil the steak nicely; put four even table-spoonfuls of butter into a frying-pan, add pepper and salt to your taste; shake in a table-spoonful of flour, and add the juice of half a lemon; when it begins to boil up, put in as many oysters as can be used in this preparation; let them heat through and just boil up once, taking care to shake the pan and keep its contents stirring all the time it is over the fire. When the oysters are done,--a pint to one steak is about the right quantity,--pour all over the steak, and serve.

=A French Broil.=--Select a spider or saucepan with a smooth, clean bottom, set it over the range or stove till really _hot_, then lay on a good tenderloin or sirloin steak; keep the spider very hot, and turn the steak as often as every two minutes,--no longer; when half done, sprinkle over salt and pepper to suit the taste of those who are to eat it; continue to turn the steak often till sufficiently done; just as you are ready to take up and dish the steak, dust a little flour over it, spread on a table-spoonful of butter, or, if a large steak, a little more; turn it over, dust on more flour, and spread on the butter as on the first side; turn again, set the saucepan back from the hot fire, take the steak on to the platter, and set in a heater or oven to keep hot, but not to cook any more; shake more flour into the butter in the saucepan, set again over the fire, and as soon as the butter bubbles up through the flour, rub it smooth with a spoon and pour in a few spoonfuls of boiling water; stir constantly, and as soon as it thickens, pour over the steak, and serve hot.

=Beefsteak Rolls.=--Cut small, thin steaks from the round; fry them slightly; make a stuffing as for roast veal or turkey; spread it over the steaks, roll them up tightly, and sew or tie up neatly. Stew them in rich beef stock or brown gravy twenty minutes, and serve hot, with the gravy poured over. A half-teacup of rich cream added a few minutes before serving is a great improvement.

=Beef Croquettes.=--Chop cold roast beef or veal with one onion very fine; add a little sweet-marjoram, half a teaspoonful of powdered cloves, and as much salt and pepper as will be palatable. Moisten with a rich beef gravy, from which all the fat has cooled and been removed. Roll into balls, dip in beaten eggs, roll in flour, or bread or cracker crumbs, and fry in good, sweet lard.

=Mock Duck.=--Prepare a good dressing, such as you like for turkey or duck; take a round steak, pound it, but not very hard, spread the dressing over it, sprinkle in a little salt, pepper, and a few bits of butter, lap over the ends, roll the steak up tight and tie it closely; spread two great spoonfuls of butter over the steak after rolling it up, then wash with a well-beaten egg, put water in the bake-pan, lay in the steak so as not to touch the water, and bake as you would a duck, basting often. A half-hour in a brisk oven will cook it. Make a brown gravy, and send to table hot.

=A Nice Breakfast Dish.=--Grate some cold tongue or beef, put it into a stewpan with a little pepper and salt, and four table-spoonfuls of cream or milk; when quite hot, put in four well-beaten eggs; stir all the time till the mixture is quite thick; have ready some nicely toasted bread, well buttered, and spread the tongue or beef over it; send to table hot.

=Mock Venison.=--Cut a nice piece of _corned beef_ in thin slices and soak three or four hours in tepid water, changing the water often. Be sure and have plenty of water to soak it in. When sufficiently freshened, drain, wipe dry, put on a hot gridiron, and broil quickly, turning often, only enough to be fully hot through. Make a gravy of drawn butter, add a little pepper, taste before adding salt; chop fine the yelk of an egg boiled hard, and, if agreeable, a little boiled onion, and pour over it; or simply butter, pepper, and a little salt, as for beefsteak. This is an excellent dish when so situated as to have little opportunity for fresh meat, but a _fresh_ beefsteak thus seasoned is better.

=To prepare Cold Roast Beef or Mutton.=--Cut off the meat as thin as possible; dip each slice in flour; cover the bottom of a deep dish with a layer of meat thus prepared; dust over it a little pepper, salt, sage, and sweet-marjoram,--_very little_ of each; add another layer of the meat dipped in flour and seasoned in the same way. Continue this till the dish is half full, then pour over it what gravy was left, being careful to remove every particle of fat. If not gravy enough, substitute water. Turn in half a teacup of catsup, or half a pint of tomatoes, adding a little clove or allspice. Add water enough to fill it nearly full, fit a plate tightly over it to keep in the flavor, and bake two hours. Boil some potatoes and mash them, adding a little salt, butter, and milk. Make it into a high wall around the edge of a well-heated platter; beat up an egg and brush over the potatoes, and when the meat is done, turn it into the platter; slip it again into the oven, to remain long enough to brown the potatoes a fine golden brown. The poorest and toughest parts of uncooked beef may be made deliciously tender if prepared in this manner, but it must be in the oven one hour longer.

=Economical Breakfast Dish.=--If you have a few bits of meat or two or three cold potatoes left over, put some “drippings” into a skillet; slice the potatoes thin, cut the meat up fine, and add salt and pepper to taste; then beat two or three eggs, according to the size of the dish to be prepared; stir them into a cup of cream or milk, and pour over the meat and potatoes. If eggs are not plenty, use fewer eggs and more milk or cream. If milk, add a half table-spoonful of butter. Keep it over the fire, stirring constantly, till the eggs are cooked. It takes but a few moments to prepare this; but do not leave it an instant till done, or the eggs will burn and ruin the whole.

=A “Two Story.”=--A genuine farmer’s dish, but fit to set before a king,--so we are assured by one who knows.

Peel and slice thin potatoes and onions (five potatoes to one small onion); cut half a pound of sweet salt pork in thin slices to a pound of beef, mutton, or veal; cut the meat in small pieces; take some nice bread dough and shorten a little, and line the bottom of the stewpan with slices of pork; then a layer of meat, potatoes, and onions; dust over a little pepper, and cover with a layer of crust; then more pork, meat, and vegetables; then more crust. Repeat this till the stew-pot is full,--the size of the pot will depend on the number of the family; pour in sufficient water to cover; finish with crust. Let it simmer till meat, vegetables, etc., are done, but do not let it boil hard. Serve hot.

MUTTON AND LAMB.

=Shoulder of Mutton Boiled.=--All mutton should hang in a cool place till quite tender before being used, but be careful that it does not hang long enough to acquire the least rust or taint. When the shoulder has hung till tender, bone it; rub a little salt over it, and let it lie in a deep dish for two days, turning it over each day and rubbing in a little more salt,--half a table-spoonful each time. Meat to boil requires more salt than for roasting. On the third day, sprinkle over the inside one teaspoonful of pepper and half a teaspoonful of powdered mace. Spread twenty oysters over the inside; roll the meat up tightly and tie securely; put it into the stewpan or boiler with just enough boiling water to cover it; throw in six peppercorns, or seeds of the red pepper, and one onion chopped; shut the cover over very closely, and stew; twenty minutes’ cooking for each pound of meat is the proper time. Stew twenty-four oysters in a pint of good stock or gravy; add a table-spoonful of butter and enough flour to thicken it. When the meat is done, lay it in a good-sized platter and pour the gravy over it.

=Shoulder of Mutton Spiced.=--Bone carefully a shoulder of mutton, after it has hung till tender. For every pound of meat mix two ounces of brown sugar, one salt-spoonful of cloves, one teaspoonful each of mace and pepper, and half a salt-spoonful of ginger; rub these spices thoroughly into the meat; lay it into a deep dish, and the next day rub in two teaspoonfuls of salt for every pound of meat, and add one pint and a half of good beef gravy for the whole joint. Turn the meat over; rub it well with this pickle every day for a week or ten days, letting it remain in the pickle all the time after each rubbing. At the end of the week or ten days, roll it up tightly, bind with a string, and stew gently in beef broth four hours. Serve hot in its own gravy, and eat with any piquant sauce or catsup.

=Mutton Stew.=--Take such scraps of mutton or lamb as are not fit for chops or cutlets; just cover with water; add a little onion and parsley, if not disagreeable, and season well with black and red pepper; boil two eggs hard, or, if making a good-sized stew, use more (two are plenty for five persons); mash or grate the yelks fine, and stir them into a table-spoonful of butter and the same amount of browned flour. Stir this into the stew just before dishing, to season and thicken the gravy. Let it boil up once after adding this, and serve as soon as it thickens.

=Roasting a Leg of Lamb.=--Slice salt pork very thin, cutting two slices down to the rind, leaving the rind on to make the piece as large as possible; make as many of these thin slices as will cover the whole leg; then wrap the whole in grape-leaves; pass a string round to keep them on, and roast. It is said the lamb will be exceedingly juicy and of delicious flavor. Never baste meat with butter, but with rich soup stock.

=To use Cold Lamb.=--When lamb or mutton is left in good shape,--and it is the fault of the carver if it is not always left neatly,--cut off some chops; trim off the greater portion of fat, and saw or cut off the end of the bone. Heat a platter, and pour into the centre some nicely cooked fresh green peas, or in winter canned peas. Heap them in the centre in the shape of a pyramid; brown the chops quickly over a bright fire, season in a hot plate with pepper, salt, and butter, and then arrange them around the peas, the small end laid upon the pyramid of peas. Garnish the edge of the dish with slices of hard-boiled eggs, each circled in a fringe of curled parsley. Serve hot.

=Mint Sauce.=--Three table-spoonfuls of fresh mint finely chopped, five table-spoonfuls of vinegar and two of sugar, dissolved in the vinegar. To be used with roast lamb or chops.

If so much vinegar is disagreeable, use one third water and a little more sugar.

VENISON.

=Jerked Venison.=--Take the haunches when the deer is first killed; rub in as much salt as you can; press and squeeze the meat hard with your hands to get out all the blood; then hang it up in some covered alley or shed, where the sun will not directly strike it, but where the dry breezes will sweep over it. If not quite salt enough the next day, rub more salt on; squeeze and press out all the blood which may still remain, and hang up again. Two or three days will dry it. When needed, cut off nice slices, rather thin; lay them in a dish of cold water a short time to soften a little, then broil, serving with pepper and salt. Or, fry a piece of bacon crisp; then lay the pieces of venison into the hot fat, and warm through quickly; shake a little flour over the meat, and when done salt and pepper; place the meat on a hot platter; sift a little more flour into the pan; let it boil up; add a few spoonfuls of boiling water; boil up again, and pour the brown gravy over the venison. It is very sweet and palatable.

In Florida, beef is also cured, or dried, so as to keep for several days. Cellars or ice houses not being common, it is necessary to resort to some means of keeping it. Take a fine round of beef, and cut in slices as large as your hand and about half an inch thick. String them on a strong cord, and hang up high in some place where the sun will not shine directly on it, but where a good breeze of hot air will pass over it. Build a fire of dry leaves or bits of paper, and place at one end of the place where the meat is hung, so that the wind will take the smoke under and over it; this will keep the flies away till the outside of the meat is too dry for them to injure it. A day or two in the dry breezes here will cure it, so that it may be put in paper bags and kept in a dark, dry place several days, to broil as it is needed. It is wonderfully sweet, probably because in drying all the juices of the meat are secured. Our Northern air is not so drying, but we see no reason why, in summer, those who have not smoke or ice houses could not hang meat under the trees, away from the sun, keeping up a smoke sufficient to drive away flies but not strong enough to heat the meat. It is an experiment well worth trying.

=Venison Steaks.=--Heat the gridiron, grease it well. Lay on the steak; broil quickly, without scorching, turning it two or three times; season with salt and pepper. Have the butter melted in a well-heated platter, into which the steak must be laid hot from the gridiron, turning it over two or three times in the butter, and send to table hot. It is well to set the platter into another in which you have some boiling water. Venison should not be overdone, and must be eaten hot.

COOKING IN A “RUMFORD BOILER.”

In one of our “talks” in Part First we said something of the Rumford Boiler. We subjoin here a few hints as to the use of it. Other similar “boilers” or “steamers” or “cookers” can also be advantageously used. The “Rumford” happens to be the one we have used and thoroughly like.

=To Roast Beef or Mutton.=--Have boiling water two or three inches deep in the lower part of the boiler, deep enough to just touch the bottom of the pan to be set over it. Place the meat in the inner pan _without water_, first seasoning it with salt and pepper, if agreeable. Put on the cover, fitting it in tightly.

When the water begins to boil, set the boiler back on the stove or range, where it will keep just at the boiling point, and let it remain cooking the usual time,--fifteen minutes for each pound is generally thought long enough. When done take it out, dredge with flour and put into a quick oven to brown, but not scorch.

It is usually estimated that one pint of gravy is lost when meat is boiled the usual way. Here you have it all saved in the dish, the pure juice of the meat making excellent gravy.

=To Boil a Leg of Lamb or Mutton.=--Keep in the boiler the ordinary length of time, with no water in the receiver or pan (which in all cases should be tightly closed), and send to the table without browning.

=Corned Beef.=--If very salt, the beef should be soaked in cold water three or four hours; then put it in the inner vessel with _cold_ water enough to cover it. Keep the water in the bottom receiver boiling slowly till the beef is done. Salt meat needs to be cooked longer than fresh; fifteen minutes to a pound for fresh, and twenty minutes for salt, is the rule usually given, but we have not found the latter long enough. A piece weighing nine pounds should cook four hours, if without much bone, and three with bone. We think that better--more sure--than twenty minutes to a pound.

The water in which salt meat is thus cooked makes excellent stock for soup. If too salt (it should not be if the beef was properly freshened), add water sufficient to make it right.

=To Cook a Ham.=--Freshen the ham by soaking in cold water three or four hours, then scrape clean and wipe dry. Stick a few cloves into it, rub on a half cup of sugar, and put in the inner vessel _without any water_; _cover closely_, and set over the boiling water in the bottom of the boiler; bring to a boil, and then set back a little that it may cook slowly till tender, about four hours. This will be found very excellent in flavor, far surpassing ham boiled in the common way. If liked, when done, the ham may be set in a quick oven and delicately browned, like roast beef or mutton.

=Fish.=--Season a fresh fish with salt, pepper, and a table-spoonful of butter, and put in the receiver, or inner pan, _without any water_; cover closely, and cook for half an hour. Thicken the juices of the fish which will be found in the pan with a little flour, wet in cold water, and let it simmer a few minutes in the pan, closely covered. This makes an excellent sauce for the fish.

Steaks of cod, salmon, halibut, or any other fish, usually fried, are excellent cooked in this “Rumford Boiler,” and need no butter or sauce besides the juice which will be left in the vessel, and pepper and salt.

We have tried all these receipts since we possessed this excellent boiler, and can testify to the superiority of each dish over that cooked in the usual way.

We have cooked all our vegetables--corn, peas, beets, potatoes--in the pans that are made to fit over the first vessel with tight covers, and are greatly pleased with the improvement. It must be remembered that each vessel should be closely covered, and over all the cover for the whole boiler. Bread of all kinds and loaf cake are delicious cooked in a “Rumford,” and when done put into the oven to brown.

VEAL.

=Meats for June.=--It is more difficult to obtain good meats in June than any part of the year. Lamb is still quite expensive, and “broilers” or spring chickens are dear and very little of them. What you can manage to pick off is dry, stringy, and, we cannot but think, indigestible. Veal is the only meat within the reach of all classes; but be very sure that you obtain that which has been healthily fed, and butchered as humanely as is possible. It is well that we do not see or know all the barbarity of the butchers’ shops, or we should perforce become vegetarians. There are many ways of using the less desirable portions of veal, that when properly carried out make some very inviting breakfast or tea dishes.

=Calf’s Head and Harslet.=--The head to be split open, the grease screened off, and eyes taken out, before bringing from the butcher’s. Wash very carefully, and scrape thoroughly. Take out the brains and put into a bowl of cold water; also lay the head, when cleaned, into a large pan of water. Then see that the harslet is well cleaned; leave the windpipe on the lights, and let all soak in cold water, and plenty of it, for half an hour. Have a large pot of boiling water ready. Two hours before dinner put in the heart and lights, leaving the windpipe a little way out of the pot to carry off the scum that will rise while boiling. Put in salt, black and red pepper,--_very_ little of the latter,--and a little thyme and parsley. One hour after put in the liver; skim often. When the brains have soaked till free from blood, pick out all the veins or fibers, roll half a cracker and put it with the brains and a little parsley into a clean bit of muslin, tie it up, and put into the kettle with the head, etc. Let it boil from ten to fifteen minutes; then take it up, add butter, pepper, and salt, and serve in a small dish by itself. The bones must all be removed from the head; when well done, they will slip out easily. Lay the meat in the center of the platter; skin the tongue, and place it with the meat; remove the windpipe, and lay lights, heart, and liver around. Make a gravy of drawn butter, with parsley, chopped fine, and two eggs beaten, and added just as the gravy comes to a boil. Send all to table hot.

=Head and Harslet Hash.=--Take what may be left from dinner of the calf’s head and harslet, chop very fine, use a few spoonfuls of the drawn butter, moisten with the water in which the meat was boiled, put over the fire till hot, then serve on nice slices of toasted bread, and you have a breakfast dish even better than the dinner.

The water in which calf’s head, etc., is boiled, should be carefully kept, and when cold it will be a stiff jelly. Take off the grease that will harden on top, and the jelly may be made into a fine mock-turtle soup. It is still better if, when boiling the head and harslet, you add two calf’s feet.

=Veal Pie.=--Take the neck of veal, joint it as small as you can, and stew, adding just enough boiling water to prevent it from burning. Season with pepper, salt, and, if liked, a very little onion cut up fine, and a little parsley or summer savory. Make a crust of two potatoes, boiled and mashed smooth and free from lumps, two table-spoonfuls suet chopped _very_ fine, a little salt; stir it together with ice-cold water. Flour the board, roll out, and scatter over it thin shavings of hard butter right from the ice; shake over some flour; lap it together and roll out again. Then put on more butter, using, in all, four table-spoonfuls, _not heaped_. This done, sprinkle again with flour, roll it up and put on the ice till the veal is done, which should not cook over three quarters of an hour. When tender, pick the meat from most of the bones, leaving a few small ones to give shape to the pie; roll the meat in well-beaten eggs; three will suffice to wet it; then roll it in flour; cover the pie-dish with part of the paste, rolled about a quarter of an inch thick. Cut a strip of crust to place around the edge of the dish, and lay the meat in neatly, cutting in a few bits of butter, two table-spoonfuls will do, and pour over the meat the water in which it was cooked, which should have boiled down so as to leave only enough to make the pie juicy. Now roll out the rest of the paste for the upper crust, about three quarters of an inch thick, cover the pie, cut a slit in the top, and bake. Be careful not to scorch the crust.

=Sweetbread Croquettes.=--Trim the sweetbreads neatly; remove all the gristle; parboil and mince very fine; add grated bread seasoned with salt and pepper, and a very little mace, if agreeable; moisten with cream; stir all well together, and shape them by pressing firmly into a pear-shaped wineglass or small mold, or mold into little cones by rolling in your hands. Have ready a beaten egg and fine rolled and sifted bread or cracker crumbs. Dip each croquette into the egg and roll in the crumbs; stick a fruit-stem into the cone, to look like an apple or pear, and fry in butter. This is good for cold chicken, beef, or raw oysters.

=Veal Patty.=--Four pounds veal-steak, chopped while raw very fine; mix with it eight butter-crackers rolled, a piece of butter of the size of an egg, and two well-beaten eggs. Mix all thoroughly together, and season with pepper and salt. A little sage, thyme, or savory is thought an improvement by some. Mold into a loaf; put small bits of butter on top, and cover with grated bread crumbs. Judge of the quantity of butter necessary by your own taste. If not liked very rich, two table-spoonfuls of butter cut up and sprinkled over will be plenty. Bake two hours. When cold, cut off slices as from a loaf of bread, for tea or side-dishes.

=Minced Veal.=--Mince the veal very fine with a little ham, a table-spoonful of flour, three well-beaten eggs, one small onion scalded for five or ten minutes to remove the coarser flavor and then chopped fine; sweet herbs, pepper, and salt to suit the taste. Butter a deep pie-plate, set a small cup in the center, and fill the plate all around the cup with the mince-meat. Bake of a delicate brown; then remove the cup and fill its place with some nice sauce,--apple, cranberry, or jelly, or, if you please, some scalloped oysters. Beef, lamb, or chicken prepared in the same way is very good.

=Veal Hash.=--Boil a shin of veal which has about three pounds of meat on it in as small a quantity of water as you can, so that when done there shall be one quart of water left. Boil the day before needed, that it may be perfectly cold. When the meat is well done, lay it anywhere where it will be away from the air, but do not wrap it in a cloth. Save all the liquor in a separate dish. The next morning cut up all the meat; chop not quite so fine as for the “mince.” Half an hour before you send it to the table, put it over the fire in a covered stewpan with the liquor; have ready half a pint of hot-drawn butter and eight hard-boiled eggs; remove the shells, mince all but two, and add to the meat. As soon as it boils up, remove from the fire; season with salt, cayenne pepper, and a little black pepper. Cut the two eggs in slices, and when the meat is placed in a dish, lay them over the top neatly. Send to table hot.

=Veal Loaf.=--Three pounds of veal cutlet, a quarter of a pound salt pork chopped very fine. Three Boston crackers rolled fine, three well-beaten eggs, one wineglass claret or currant wine, half a cup of tomato catsup, five ripe tomatoes, if in season, or a teacup of canned tomatoes; one onion chopped fine, if not disagreeable; juice and chopped peel of one orange or lemon, whichever is the most palatable; one small teaspoonful each of pepper, cloves, sweet-marjoram, sage, and salt. Mix these very thoroughly with the meat, and mold into a loaf. Place in a dripping-pan, cover the top with cracker crumbs, and bake three hours. While baking, keep some butter and hot water on the side of range, and baste the loaf with it often and thoroughly. Let it stand in a cool place till the second day before cutting. Excellent as a relish for breakfast or tea.

=Croquettes.=--These are a sort of mince-meat dumpling. Take some cold veal, chicken, lobster, or tender cold beef, chopped fine. Put a half table-spoonful of butter in a saucepan on the fire. When melted, put in a piece of onion chopped fine; fry a little; add half a table-spoonful of flour. When it browns, put in the minced meat; stir it steadily till heated through, adding salt and pepper. Then add a gill and a half of broth, and set the pan a little off the fire to simmer. Chop three stalks of parsley fine, and mix it in on the fire, stirring all the time. Then break in two eggs, stirring faster; in two or three minutes take it from the fire and set it to cool. Thus far has occupied about ten minutes. When the meat is cold, sift some flour on the board; take a lump of the mince the size of an egg or larger, roll it in the fine flour, dip it in a cup of beaten egg, drain and roll it in bread crumbs; have a quantity of boiling suet or drippings in a frying-pan, and fry the croquettes in them for a couple of minutes, till brown. Put in a colander and let the fat drain off.

POULTRY AND GAME.

=Steamed Turkey.=--All poultry, after dressing, should remain in cold water from twenty minutes to half an hour to extract the blood and leave them white; then hang in a cool place for twenty-four hours, in winter even longer. They will be much sweeter and finer flavored for it.

When ready to cook a turkey, see that every pinfeather is taken out, rinse in cold water, and wipe dry with a cloth used for nothing but such purposes; rub inside with pepper and salt, and fill with oysters carefully washed in their own liquor to remove bits of shells; sew up the turkey, place in a large dish, and set it into a steamer over boiling water, or in a “Rumford Boiler”; lay a clean cloth over the steamer and shut the cover on tight, and steam till tender,--two and a half hours, or, if large, three hours; run a fork into the breast to see if done. If it seems tender, and no reddish juice flows out, it is ready to take up; strain the gravy and put into the oyster sauce, which should be ready while the turkey is cooking, made like stewed oysters and thickened with farina or butter and flour; let it just boil up, and add, if you like it white, a little boiled cream; pour this over the steamed turkey, and serve hot.

Or, if preferred, the turkey may be stuffed as for a common baked turkey and steamed; or it may be stuffed with good plump chestnuts after the skins are removed, and the gravy made with the giblets chopped fine, adding a little flour as you chop, and the gravy from the dish stirred to it, and set over the fire to boil up. While the gravy is being made, rub a little butter over and sprinkle the turkey with flour very slightly, and set in a hot oven to brown delicately. Many prefer this to sending to the table right from the steamer with white gravy poured on.

=Broiled Chickens.=--First boil the giblets, neck, and tips of the wings in just enough water to cover them; season with a little pepper and salt. When tender, pick off what little meat there is on the neck and wing-tips, and chop with the giblets, very fine, shaking over them, while chopping, enough flour to make the whole like a paste; then return it to the water it was boiled in, stirring all together, and leave it on the range to keep hot. This done, put the chicken on a well-heated gridiron over a clear fire, covering it closely with a cover made to fit the gridiron. Cook carefully, turning it often, and do not let it scorch. When done, it should be of a good, rich, clear brown, as uniform in color as possible. When partly cooked, sprinkle salt and pepper over it on both sides.

Put three great spoonfuls of butter on the platter you have ready to take the chickens up in; set it into the oven, leaving the door open lest you break the platter by too strong heat. When the chicken is well cooked, remove from the gridiron to this platter, turning it over several times in the melted butter; then pour over all the water in which the giblets have been put, which should have become a nice thick gravy; let the platter stand a few moments in the oven until all is thoroughly blended and heated, then send to the table hot.

If not in a hurry, it is well to melt butter in a deep kitchen-dish and put the chicken and gravy into the oven in that, and, when thoroughly heated through, remove to a hot china platter for the table. There is a risk of cracking the enamel on nice china or breaking the platter entirely, if set in the oven where a servant may forget and close the door.

=To Bake a Chicken.=--Choose full-grown, plump, well-fattened chickens; remove all the pinfeathers carefully and singe all the hairs off by holding a lighted paper under the chicken before opening; then open with care; see that the gall is not broken in taking out the entrails and giblets, and that none of the crop or windpipe is left in; then wash in plenty of cold water; put inside the gizzard, liver, and heart, when well cleaned and washed, and hang up to drain all night. If very warm weather, put in a piece of charcoal to keep it sweet. When ready the next morning to prepare for baking, cut off the neck and legs, and lay aside with the giblets for gravy; prepare a dressing, or stuffing, of dried bread rolled fine, with a little salt, pepper, sage, and summer savory,--the quantity of seasoning must be determined by the taste of the family; rub salt and pepper inside, fill with the dressing, putting enough into the neck or crop to give it a plump look; sew up and skewer. There should be a grate fitted to every meat-pan on which to lay meat or fowls, to keep them from becoming clammy by resting in the water; rub your fowls with a little butter and salt, place on this grate, pour boiling water into the pan, and put into the oven; let it cook about fifteen minutes, then baste with a little butter and salted water, kept in a bowl close by; dredge over some flour, and baste again; repeat the basting three or four times while the chickens are baking; turn them over every time; cook till a fork will enter the flesh easily, but taking care not to dry up the meat; then remove the skewers and thread with which they were sewed, put them on the platter and place in the heater, or where they will keep hot till the gravy is ready.

=Gravy for Roast or Baked Poultry.=--Put the giblets and neck into a small saucepan, sprinkle over a little salt and pepper, then cover them with boiling water and set on the back part of stove or range to cook slowly, as soon as you have put the poultry into the oven; dip the feet and legs into boiling water long enough to scald off all the leathery skin, and put them into the saucepan to boil with the giblets and neck. The feet and lower part of the leg, usually thrown away, contain a good deal of jelly, which gives a very desirable richness and body to the gravy, and when boiled tender many think them a great delicacy to be served whole. When the giblets are boiled tender, chop very fine, and while chopping dredge over flour till you have made them like a paste, then put back into the water they were boiled in to simmer till the chickens are done, stirring occasionally that the chopped giblets may not stick to the saucepan. After the fowls are taken up, set the meat-pan on the stove and shake some flour into the liquor at the bottom of the pan. By the time the poultry is cooked this should have been done to a brown gravy. After you have put in the flour, do not stir it until the liquor has boiled up over it, then rub it quite smooth, and little by little pour in the water in which the chopped giblets are; stir constantly until it thickens, and if properly managed you will have a smooth brown gravy of fine flavor.

=Chicken Pot-Pie.=--Cut up a chicken, or two if a large pie be required; lay the pieces neatly into the pot, and sprinkle over salt and pepper to your taste; rub one table-spoonful and a half of flour and two table-spoonfuls of butter (_even_ full) together, and spread this paste over the chicken; then cover the whole with good new milk, or, better still, with cream, if you have it. Set the pot, covered closely with a tight-fitting cover, where it will not cook or boil rapidly, but stew or simmer, for three quarters of an hour. While this is stewing, make a crust of prepared flour, or, if you have none, with soda and cream of tartar, just as you would for light, tender biscuit; roll this out quite thick, and cover over the meat. If there be not enough gravy, add a little more milk boiling hot, or boiling water if milk be not plenty. Cut a slit in the top of the crust to let the steam escape. Boil half an hour after the crust is put on, bringing the pot over a hotter fire, that it may boil, not simmer. In taking it out, pass a knife around the sides of the pot to loosen the crust; then slip a long-handled skimmer, as nearly flat as you have, or a batter-cake turner, carefully under, and try to lift it out so as to break the crust as little as possible; but it will, if properly made and cooked, be so light that it will probably break a little. When lifted out, lay it on a dish and take out the chicken and gravy; then lay the crust together over it, and serve hot. Lean fresh pork or veal is very nice cooked in the same way.

=Fried Chickens.=--Cut up the chickens neatly; lay them in a large panful of cold water half an hour to extract the blood. Then drain and put into just enough boiling water to cover them; season with pepper and salt; parboil for twenty minutes. Fry crisp and brown some thin slices of salt pork. When the chicken is sufficiently parboiled, drain it from the water and lay each piece into the hot pork-fat. Dust over some flour, and fry the chicken a clear brown, turning each piece when sufficiently brown. When done on both sides, lay each piece on the platter neatly, and set where it will keep hot but not dry. When each piece is done and laid on the platter, shake from the dredge-box into the hot fat enough flour to absorb the fat. Do not stir it till all the flour is saturated; then with a spoon stir smooth and pour in, little by little, enough of the water in which the chicken was parboiled--which should be kept boiling--to make what gravy you need, stirring it all the time. When thickened and free from lumps, pour on the chicken, and serve hot.

=To Cook an Old Fowl.=--Dress and stuff as for roasting; then boil three hours in a covered pot, with one quart of water, to which add two table-spoonfuls of vinegar; then take it from the water, rub over with a little butter, sprinkle over some flour, and put the fowl into a bake-pan and bake in a hot oven one hour. Use the liquor in the pot for gravy and to baste with. The vinegar makes it very tender, but does not taste at all.

=Roast Duck.=--Select those that are fat and tender. Remove every pinfeather, and singe off all the hairs; stuff with bread chopped fine, seasoned with a little sage, summer savory, salt, and pepper; or, if agreeable, add two onions chopped fine, but unless sure that all who are to eat can use onions without injury, it is better not to risk them. Remove the two oil-sacks from the back, or the oil will impart a strong, disagreeable flavor. Roast carefully till of a nice brown, basting thoroughly. One hour is quite long enough, as, if too much cooked, a duck becomes very dry and tasteless. Remove all the fat from the gravy, and put in the giblets, which should have been cooked and chopped fine before the ducks were done. When chopping them, dust in flour, so as to make a paste; then stir it into the gravy; stir till all lumps have been broken and smoothed; let it cook a few minutes, then pour in part of the water in which the giblets were boiled; cook till it is thick and entirely free from lumps, then serve.

We have been told that a very excellent French cook opens and _draws_ his poultry, but does not pluck them till they have hung a few days,--long enough for the substance in the end of the quill to absorb,--and thus they can be plucked clean leaving no pinfeathers. He then picks and stuffs them, and lets them hang a day or two longer, until the whole fowl is flavored with the dressing. We are assured poultry so prepared is very delicate and finely flavored. We will not vouch for this; but in part it sounds reasonable, and is well worth trying, only we think the feathers must impart a strong, oily flavor if left in so long.

=To Roast a Goose.=--Select a goose with clean, white skin, plump breast, and _yellow_ feet. If the feet are red, the bird is old. Let it hang for a few days, if the weather will permit, as by so doing the flavor is greatly improved. In dressing, take great care in plucking, singeing, and drawing the goose, for if the oil-sack is broken over it, or the gall bladder broken inside, it will be more noticeable and less easy to remove in a goose than any other poultry. Cut off the neck close to the back, leaving the skin long enough to tie over. This can be done by drawing back the skin, while you sever the neck from the body. Cut off the feet at the first joint, and separate the pinions at the first joint also; beat the breastbone flat with potato-masher or rolling-pin. Put a skewer through the under part of each wing; draw up the legs closely and run a skewer into the middle of each, passing it quite through the body. Put another skewer into the small part of the leg, bring it close down to the side-bone, run it through, and proceed the same way with the other side. Cut off the vent, make a hole in the skin large enough to draw the rump through, so as to keep in the seasoning. Make a dressing of mealy potatoes, finely mashed, two boiled onions chopped very fine, one and a half teaspoonfuls of powdered sage, one of salt, and one of black pepper. Fill the body of the goose, and secure it firmly by tying the skin over the neck, and drawing the rump through the hole cut in the skin. Roast for two hours, if large, or bake the same length of time; but roasting is much nicer. Baste often, dredging a little flour over. Do not baste in the drippings from the goose; they are too strong; but prepare some basting by putting a little browned butter, salt, and pepper into part of a cup of boiling water. When half done, drain the fat from the roaster; the last drippings will not be so strong, and, with the basting water, will suffice for the gravy. Make a good gravy, in which the giblets finely chopped, and a little flour for thickening, have been boiled. Put the gravy into a tureen, and serve the goose with a dish of nice apple or gooseberry sauce.

=Wild Goose.=--A wild goose should be cooked rare. One hour’s roasting is quite sufficient. A cup of currant jelly and a glass of red wine should be added to the gravy, which is made the same as for a common goose. Serve hot.

=To Roast a Green Goose.=--Geese are called _green_ till four months old. Dress and truss the same as a full-grown goose, but do not stuff the bird. Put into the body pepper and salt, and a little butter to moisten it. Roast for an hour; serve with gravy made like the first, and tomato or sorrel sauce.

=To Boil a Goose.=--Clean thoroughly, and soak for twelve hours in warm milk and water. Then dry, and stuff with sage and onions, as for roasting. Put it into cold water over the fire, and bring to a boil, then let it simmer gently for an hour and a quarter. Serve with onion sauce poured over it, and stewed cabbage around it.

A teaspoonful of made mustard, a salt-spoonful of salt, a few grains of cayenne, mixed with a glass of port wine, are sometimes poured into the goose, through a slit made in the apron when about half done, and by many persons considered a great delicacy.

Onions may be omitted, if injurious to any who are to partake of it. They make many persons quite ill, and it is a kindness to avoid using any seasoning that will disturb your guests. Whatever way a goose is to be cooked, it is well to soak it over night in milk poured over it boiling hot. In the morning wash off the milk and put the goose into a kettle of cold water, set it over the fire, and let it remain till almost boiling hot, not quite. This removes the strong taste of the oil, and you can then take it out, dry with a towel, and when cool stuff and cook as you wish,--either boiled, baked, or roasted.

=To Stew a Goose.=--Truss the goose as for boiling; cover with thin slices of bacon and tie it up. Cover the bottom of the saucepan also with bacon, sprinkle in a very little of sweet herbs powdered, a carrot cut in dice, and two bay leaves, if you can get them. Lay in the goose and giblets, cover with bacon, moisten with rich stock enough to cover the goose; set over the fire and let it boil up; then cover with buttered paper and a close-fitting cover; set it on a hot hearth with fire over it. Let it cook an hour and a half. Serve with onion or apple sauce.

Both geese and ducks if old, and we think turkeys and chickens also, are better for being parboiled before roasting. Put in just enough water to boil them; keep the vessel close covered. Let a tough goose gently simmer two hours; then dry, wipe clean, stuff, and roast; basting with a little bacon fat or butter.

=To Stew Pigeons.=--Pluck and clean the birds with great care. When drawn, leave them for about an hour to soak in cold water. This extracts the blood, leaving them white and sweet. This done, take them out, and tying the legs together, hang the birds up to drain. When dry, lay them in a deep dish and place on the ice or a cool place overnight.

The next morning prepare the stuffing of stale bread chopped very fine, and to it, for twelve pigeons, put one and a half table-spoonfuls of butter, two teaspoonfuls of salt, one of black pepper; _a little_ sage, thyme, summer savory, or sweet-marjoram (only a very little,--the exact quantity cannot well be given more explicitly,--too much will spoil it; better err by using too little, and profit by the experience the next time). Rub a little salt and pepper outside and inside of each bird, then fill with the stuffing and sew them up, passing the thread through the legs and wings to make them lie close to the body; then rub a little butter over the birds, dredge with flour, put them into a bake-pan and place in a quick oven to brown. While this is being done, chop a little fresh parsley, making, when fine, half a table-spoonful, and put it to two table-spoonfuls of butter and the same of flour; beat all together till smooth. Brown the birds on both sides; twenty minutes should do it, if your oven is of the right heat. Lay a small saucer or plate on the bottom of a close-covered iron stew-kettle or into a soup-digester, and put the birds when browned into the kettle, packing them compactly as you can; spread over them the smoothly beaten flour, butter, and parsley, and pour in enough rich milk to cover the pigeons (cream is better, but that is a luxury belonging to the country chiefly). Set them on the stove or range where they will steadily simmer four hours. They must not boil hard; occasionally stir them from the bottom with a spoon, to prevent them from sticking, but do not break them. When done, take up and place them neatly on a large, deep platter, pour the gravy over the birds, trim the edges of the platter with a neat fringe of green parsley, and send to the table hot.

=Wild Squabs.=--After dressing the birds, let them soak in cold water a half-hour to extract the blood, then drain off the water, wipe dry on a clean meat-cloth, and set on the ice till needed. (They are better to be dressed one day and cooked the next.) Let the gridiron be bright and clean; set it over the fire till hot, then lay the birds on, being careful that the fire is not so hot as to scorch. Turn them over every minute or two; when half done sprinkle salt and pepper over them and finish. Have a _thin_ slice of bread toasted and spread with butter to lay under each bird; place the birds on the bread, put butter on each and set in the oven a moment, and send to the table hot. It is well to have the bread toasted, buttered, and set in the oven to keep hot before the birds are put over the fire.

=Chicken Pudding.=--Joint a pair of small, tender chickens; season with salt and pepper; just cover with water, and stew with three thin slices of salt pork, that has been well washed in hot water. When tender, take from the liquor and set to cool. Make a batter of one quart of flour, one quart of milk, six eggs, and a teaspoonful of salt; or, if _prepared_ flour, no salt is needed. When the meat is cold, cover the bottom of a large bake-dish with batter, then a layer of chicken, then another of batter, and so on till all is used, finishing off with batter. Bake to a light brown. Beat an egg and stir into the liquor that was set aside, and serve it hot with the pudding.

=Chicken Jelly.=--Cut up an old hen into quite small pieces; skin it, and pour over three pints of cold water; boil until the bones slip from the meat easily. Then take out all the meat; throw back the bones to boil in the liquor longer; chop the meat with the rind of one lemon, having squeezed the juice into the boiling liquor; put the meat, well seasoned, into a jelly-mold, and when the liquor is boiled down full one half strain it upon the meat in the mold; next morning turn it out of the mold and cut in slices. Do not throw away the _feet_ of poultry, but pour boiling water over them to take off the skin, and then put the feet into the liquor to boil. There is a great deal of mucilage in their feet, and it is excellent both for this jelly and for enriching the gravy for poultry.

=Chicken Patties.=--Chop very fine all the dry, poorest bits left from baked chicken; season carefully with pepper, salt, and a little celery, cut in small bits; make a light puff paste, roll a quarter of an inch thick, cut with a neatly shaped paste-cutter; lay a narrow strip of the paste all round, then put some of the mince on the paste; cut another piece of the same size and lay over. Bake fifteen minutes. This makes a neat dish and is good.

=To make Remnants of Meat, Chicken, etc., palatable.=--When a boiled ham is nearly used up, there is considerable lean meat about the small part of the ham which may waste because no way can be contrived to use it. If you will grate all the hard dried bits, or, if too small to grate, pound them in a marble mortar to a paste, and pack it close in a stone pot, you will find it excellent for seasoning hashes, patties, or to sprinkle over dropped eggs laid on buttered toast.

=Meat Croquettes.=--Mince cold chicken very fine; moisten with rich gravy; season with pepper and salt. Shape them by pressing tightly into a jelly-glass or long, pear-shaped wineglass; brush over with beaten egg after they are shaped, roll in bread crumbs, and fry in lard. Drain, and send to table hot. Or, beat together one pint of cream and one pint of minced chicken, three even table-spoonfuls of butter, with salt and pepper. Fry in lard.

PORK AND HAM.

=To Boil a Ham.=--Boil it three or four hours, according to the size; then take up, skin the ham ready for the table, stick over it a dozen cloves, rub over half a small cupful of sugar, sprinkle thoroughly with pounded rusk or cracker crumbs, and set into a well-heated oven for half an hour.

=Broiled Ham.=--Cut _thin_ slices from the middle of the ham, as true and uniform as possible, having the knife very sharp. But if by carelessness some parts are thicker than others, roll the thick part out, stoutly, with a rolling-pin. Soak an hour or two in warm water, unless the ham is quite fresh. Have the gridiron perfectly free from roughness, and well heated; then broil over a brisk fire, turning constantly that no part may be black. If cut thin enough, it will take but a few minutes to broil it. When done, butter and pepper to suit the taste. For breakfast, an omelet, or eggs cooked in some acceptable way, should always go with ham.

=Ham Croquettes.=--Bits of boiled ham, too much broken to slice neatly for the table, may be made into a very desirable breakfast dish.

To two cups finely chopped boiled ham, put two table-spoonfuls of flour, six eggs if plenty,--four will answer,--yelks and whites beaten separately. Stir all together, and make into balls, or shape in a wineglass. When in shape, roll them in bread crumbs, cracker dust, or flour; dip them into a little beaten egg, and fry in butter to a clear golden brown.

=Ham and Toast.=--Boil a pint of milk, wet a table-spoonful of flour with cold milk, and stir up smooth. When the milk comes to a boil, pour in the flour, stir carefully till it thickens smoothly, add a table-spoonful of butter and a little black pepper. Shave some good ham very thin, pour over it boiling water, and let it scald a minute, pour it off, add a little more, let it boil up once, then put it into the thickened milk, leaving it there while you toast carefully a few evenly cut slices of bread. Lay them into a deep dish, skim out the ham from the milk and lay neatly on the toast, and then pour over all the thickened milk. You can beat an egg and put to the milk if you like. It makes it richer, but is not necessary.

This is a very nice breakfast relish. We think it preferable to dried beef.

=Ham Toast.=--Soften slightly in a stewpan a small piece of butter; put in as much finely minced ham as will cover a large round of buttered toast, and add gravy enough to make it moist. When quite hot stir in quickly with a fork one egg. Place the mixture over the toast, which cut in pieces of any shape you may fancy.

=To use Cold Boiled Ham.=--When a ham has been long boiled and is becoming dry, cut some thin slices, dip in egg and bread crumbs, and fry quickly. Serve immediately.

=Another Way.=--Cut off all fat; mince the ham very fine; break into a spider a half-dozen fresh eggs; add a table-spoonful of cream, a little salt and pepper, and set over the fire; as soon as the eggs are set or nearly solid, spread one half thickly with the minced ham, and fold the other half over upon it; slip it carefully from the spider to the platter. Garnish with curled parsley. Serve hot.

=Ham Ball.=--Chop fine such small pieces of boiled ham as are usually thought too poor or small for use; add as many eggs as there will be people at the table; sprinkle in a little flour; beat together with chopped ham, and make into balls. Fry in hot butter or well-clarified drippings to a golden brown.

=How a Pig was roasted on a Sugar Plantation.=--The pig, having been carefully cleaned and dressed, was wiped dry, part of the liver and heart chopped fine, mixed with bread crumbs, savory herbs, salt, and pepper, and sewed up. While this was being prepared a fire was built outdoors, and when burned down so as to secure a bright, large bed of coals, a long, smooth stick was run through the pig lengthwise, and smaller ones skewered the legs to the body. A piece of nice fat pork was fastened on the stick where it entered the head. Thus firmly fixed, one of the servants held the long stick with the pig on it over the fire, slowly turning it round and round as it began to cook; or, if he was needed elsewhere, one end of the stick was driven into the ground, close to the coals, but only for a few minutes, when he returned to continue to turn it round over the huge bed of coals. In much less time than we need to cook a pig in our convenient kitchens, the dweller under the cocoa-nut trees was beautifully browned, crisp, and tender. In cooking, much of the fat from the pork filtered through, and having given juice and relish to the meat, had, with a good deal of fat from the pig, fallen into the ashes around the bed of coals, leaving the meat rich and of peculiar sweetness and delicacy, without being too greasy.

We had not the good fortune to partake of it, but this, with others cooked in a similar manner, was pronounced the most delicious meat ever tasted, and we found no difficulty in believing it. Some of our Northern cooks, with any amount of “modern improvements,” might try this experiment with great success.

Wild game, birds, rabbits, ducks, etc., are often cooked in a similar manner. All wild birds are apt to be very dry, and if a thin piece of pork is tied about them, while baking or roasting, till it becomes brown and crisp, then removed, and the bird allowed to brown delicately, it is a wonderful addition to the juiciness and flavor of the game.

=Good Sausage Meat.=--Take two thirds ham and one third fat pork, season well with nine teaspoonfuls of pepper, the same of salt, three of powdered sage, and one of thyme or summer savory to every five pounds of meat (not heaping teaspoonfuls, remember); warm the meat enough so that you can mix it well with the hands; then pack in jars. When needed, make up in small cakes and fry in a little butter, or simply alone. But they must not be covered over, or they will fall to pieces. Some like a little cinnamon added. Keep where it is cool, but not damp.

=A Dutch Dish.=--Pare and slice as many potatoes as are needed for the size of your family; put them into a deep dish; pour in as much milk or cream as will fill the dish and not boil over. Stir in a little salt and pepper; lay some slices of salt pork cut thin over the top; and bake two hours. Be careful and not put in too much salt, as the pork will season it almost enough.

SALADS AND OMELETS.

=Chicken Salad.=--Well-fattened chickens, of medium size, tender and delicate, make better salad than large, overgrown ones. Put them on to cook in the morning, and save the water they are boiled in for soup. When cold, remove the skin and cut the flesh in pieces, the size you prefer. Some like the meat very coarse, others choose it quite fine. This is entirely a matter of taste. When cut up, throw over the dish a towel slightly damped in cold water, to keep the meat from drying. Take the best celery you can get, and cut it of the size you wish. The “fancy cooks” cut both celery and chicken in bits about one inch long and half an inch thick, but we think the salad better cut finer. When the celery is cut, put it between clean cloths to dry perfectly, and then prepare the dressing. For dressing for two chickens, take three fourths of a bottle of the purest salad-oil or thick sweet cream, two scant table-spoonfuls of the best mustard, the yelks of two raw eggs and of twelve hard-boiled ones. Put the eggs to be boiled in a saucepan of cold water over a quick fire; bring to a boil, and let them boil hard ten minutes, then drop them into cold water. When cool, remove the shells. Break the raw eggs, and drop the yelks into a dish large enough to make all the dressing in; beat them, stirring the same way, for ten minutes; then slowly add the mustard, mix it with the eggs thoroughly, then add a teaspoonful of the best vinegar, and, when this is well mixed, add the oil, a drop at a time, stirring constantly and always the same way. Then rub the yelks of the hard-boiled eggs very smooth, and stir in as lightly as possible a teacup of vinegar; pour it slowly into the first mixture, stirring with a silver fork. Now season the chicken and celery with salt and pepper, and as soon as ready for use pour on the dressing. If set where it is too cold in cold weather, the dressing will curdle and be ruined.

=Italian Chicken Salad.=--Make a dressing in the proportion of the yelks of three hard-boiled eggs, rubbed fine, one salt-spoonful of salt, one of mustard, and one of cayenne pepper, one of white sugar, four table-spoonfuls of salad-oil, and two table-spoonfuls of vinegar. Simmer this dressing over the fire, but don’t let it boil. Stir constantly while over the fire. Then take a sufficient quantity of the white meat of cold chicken for this quantity of dressing, or increase in this proportion to the desired quantity; pull the white meat into small flakes, pile it up in a dish, and pour the dressing on it. Take two heads of fine, fresh lettuce that have been washed and laid in water, take out the best part, cut it up, and arrange in a heap around the chicken, heaped in the middle of the dish, and on the top of this ridge place the whites of eggs, cut in rings and laid in form of a chain. A portion of the lettuce to be helped with each plate of chicken.

=Lobster Salad.=--Boil the lobsters half an hour; when cold, take from the shell; remove the vein in the back, which is not good. Two heads of lettuce, one cup of melted butter, two table-spoonfuls of mustard mixed with a little vinegar, is sufficient for six pounds of lobster; after being taken from the shell, salt and pepper to your taste, remembering that more can be added if not enough; but if too much, it is not so easily rectified. Chop them together and put in the salad-dish. Beat six eggs with a teacup of vinegar, put it over the stove to thicken, stirring it all the time; when cold, spread over the lobster.

=Potato Salad.=--Cut ten or twelve cold boiled potatoes into slices from a quarter to half an inch thick; put into a salad-bowl with four table-spoonfuls of tarragon or plain vinegar, six table-spoonfuls of best salad-oil, one teaspoonful of minced parsley, and pepper and salt to taste; stir well that all be thoroughly mixed. It should be made two or three hours before needed on the table. Anchovies, olives, or any pickles may be added to this salad, as also slices of cold beef, chicken, or turkey, if desired.

=Plain Omelet.=--Put your omelet-pan on the stove with a spoonful of butter; keep it so hot that the butter will almost brown in it, but not quite; break six fresh eggs into a clean bowl; if fresh, the whites will be clear and the yelks quite round; add a teaspoonful of milk for every egg, and whip the whole as thoroughly as for sponge-cake. When light, put the whipped eggs and milk into the omelet-pan and set it directly over the fire. As it begins to cool, take a thin-bladed knife and run it carefully under the bottom of the egg, so as to let that which is not cooked run beneath. If the fire is right, the whole mass will instantly puff and swell and cook in a minute, but great care is needed that it does not burn on the bottom, as scorched egg is very disagreeable and would ruin the whole. It is not necessary to wait till the whole mass is solid, for its own heat will cook it after it has been taken up, but begin to clear it at one side at once and carefully.

=Puff Omelet.=--Take the yelks of six eggs and the whites of three; beat very light. Take a teacup of cream (milk will answer) and mix with it very smoothly one table-spoonful of flour; salt and pepper to suit your taste; pour this into the beaten eggs. Melt a great spoonful of butter in a pan, and when hot pour in the mixture and set the pan into a hot oven. When it thickens up, pour over it the other three whites that were saved out, which you must have all ready, beaten very light. Return to the oven just long enough for a delicate brown, then slip out on a dish so that the top part shall remain uppermost.

=Oyster Omelet.=--Beat four eggs very light; cut out the hard part, or eye, from a dozen oysters; wipe them dry and cut into small pieces; stir them into the beaten egg, and fry in hot butter. When the under side is a light brown, sprinkle a very little salt and pepper over the top, and fold one half of the omelet over the other. Never turn an omelet; it makes it heavy and ruins it.

=Omelet with Jelly.=--Beat separately the yelks and whites of four fresh eggs; add to the yelks sufficient sugar to sweeten to your taste, and an even dessert-spoonful of corn flour very smoothly beaten in a table-spoonful of cream. Beat this with the yelks till perfectly smooth, and stir in the well-beaten whites very gently, so as to break the froth as little as possible; pour the whole into a frying-pan in which some butter has been melted, but drain off the butter before adding the eggs, etc. Put it over the fire,--two or three minutes will cook the under side; hold the pan to the fire till the under side looks firm, then spread raspberry or strawberry jam over one half; turn the other over it, and serve immediately.

=Baked Omelet.=--Boil half a pint of milk; beat six eggs thoroughly, yelks and whites separately; put half a teaspoonful of salt and a piece of butter half as large as an egg to the boiling milk; stir it into the beaten eggs; pour all instantly into a deep dish and bake. If the oven is hot, five minutes will bake it; not quite so hot an oven and a little longer time will be better,--say ten minutes. It should be of a delicate brown on top, and eaten right from the oven.

=Omelette Soufflee.=--Beat the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth; then add the yelks well beaten, with three table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar and the rind and juice of one lemon. Beat all well together, and bake in a moderately hot oven five minutes; serve immediately.

EGGS.

=Boiled Eggs.=--Be sure and select fresh eggs for boiling, never more than a week old. Have the water just boiling; if boiling fiercely when the eggs are put in, it will crack the shell. Three minutes will boil an egg soft; five minutes will be necessary if you like them hard, and ten or twelve minutes if needed for salad; in the latter case they should be thrown into cold water the instant they are taken from the boiling water, else the white will be dark colored or clouded. When perfectly new, an egg requires about half a minute longer boiling than if four or five days old.

=Fried Eggs.=--The fat left after frying ham, or that which is left in the bake-pan after browning a ham, is better for frying eggs than lard or butter. See that it is boiling hot, but not discolored, and drop the eggs in one at a time. Let them cook half a minute, then dip up some of the boiling fat from the pan, and pour over them. Continue to do this till they are done, and it will not be necessary to turn them over, which endangers breaking the yelk. Two and a half minutes should cook them sufficiently. When dropping them in, hold the cup into which you break each one close to the pan, and let the egg slip in as easily as possible, so that it will not spread in a ragged surface over the pan.

=Poached Eggs.=--While boiling a pint of milk, beat six eggs to a froth. Just before the milk begins to boil, add half a table-spoonful of butter and a teaspoonful of salt, and stir into it; then pour in the eggs, stir without ceasing, but gently, till it thickens,--not more than two minutes. Take it from the stove or range, and continue to stir half a minute or so, and then pour it over two or three thin slices of toasted bread which has been spread with butter, and all prepared in a deep dish before the eggs are put into the milk. This is very nice for breakfast.

=Hard Scrabbled.=--Put two teaspoonfuls of butter into a frying-pan; beat six eggs; season with pepper and salt. When the butter is very hot, but not scorched, put in the eggs; stir until it thickens, and serve hot.

=Fricasseed Eggs, or Egg Baskets.=--Boil hard half a dozen eggs or more, according to the size of your family. When done, throw into cold water immediately. (This should always be done with hard-boiled eggs, else the yelk will turn black.) Cut the eggs in half after taking from the cold water. Rub the yelks in a marble or wedgewood mortar, or with a silver or wooden spoon, with some melted butter, pepper, and salt, to a smooth paste; and, if you know it will be agreeable to all, add a very little made mustard. Pound the finely minced meat of a cold fowl, or grind some cold tongue or ham, and having made it smooth, mix with the egg-paste, moistening as you proceed with a little gravy, or, if you have none to spare, with melted butter. Cut a thin slice from the bottom of the white of the egg, so that it will stand, and fill each of the hard whites with this paste. Place close together on a flat dish, and pour over the gravy left from the roast fowl yesterday, heated boiling hot, into which a few spoonfuls of cream or rich milk have been stirred. Cover closely with a hot cover, and let them stand a few minutes before sending to table. If liked, a little parsley, chopped fine, may be added, to the taste.

Excellent for breakfast when eggs are plenty.

=Egg Toast.=--Put some milk to boil in a farina-kettle; when it comes to a full boil, take from over the fire and break in your eggs; let them stand in the hot milk from eight to ten minutes, but not over the fire. Steam a light biscuit, or, if you prefer, some Graham bread till soft, or dip it into boiling milk and lay the egg on it, sprinkling over a little salt and pepper. If desired, after the biscuit is steamed or moistened in hot milk, you can spread a little butter over it before the egg is put on it. This is a pretty breakfast dish, and much more healthy than when the eggs are boiled, fried, or made into an omelet, as the albumen (or white of the egg), being only slightly cooked, is much more digestible. If careful not to scorch it, it is better to boil in an iron kettle rather than the farina-kettle, as iron will retain the heat longer than tin when taken from the fire. Cooked in boiling water rather than milk, eggs are said to be even more digestible, but they are not so palatable.

=Scrambled Eggs.=--Put into a spider enough butter just to oil the bottom; set it on the stove. Break the eggs into a dish, taking care not to break the yelks. As soon as the spider is heated, slip in the eggs, adding a piece of butter as large as a walnut for twelve eggs; season with very little salt and pepper. When the eggs harden a little, stir the eggs from the bottom of the spider until cooked to suit. The yelks and whites should be separate, though stirred together; not mixed, like beaten eggs.

=Scrambled Eggs.=--Melt a table-spoonful of butter in a saucepan; beat the yelks of six eggs a few minutes; then add to them six table-spoonfuls of milk and a teaspoonful of salt, beat a little longer, and pour them into the melted butter. When they thicken slightly, pour in the whites unbeaten, and mix them with the yelks carefully with a fork, and serve on pieces of toast in a hot dish, or if preferred omit the bread. The whites should not be beaten in hard, only stirred with the fork enough to mix in slightly with the rest.

=Dropped Eggs.=--Have ready a saucepan of boiling water. Throw in a little salt. Break fresh eggs into a cup, one by one, and gently drop each into the water so as not to break the yelk or have the white spread much. Dip the boiling water over the yelk with a large spoon until the white sets; then with an egg-slice take each egg out separately upon buttered toast. Dress the dish with sprigs of parsley; sprinkle over a little salt if not seasoned sufficiently by the salted water. It is safer to cook one egg at a time, keeping the dish covered into which they are placed after being cooked, or where it will keep hot.

=Cottage Cheese.=--Take half sour milk, when well thickened, before it has been stirred, and half buttermilk, at least twenty-four hours old; set the dishes containing the milk and buttermilk separately over kettles of hot water till the clear whey just begins to rise to the top. Do not let it get too hot, or the cheese will be hard and tasteless. When the whey has risen, pour both into a strainer-cloth or bag; tie it at the top, and hang it up to drain. If prepared for draining in the morning, by the middle of the afternoon it will be sufficiently free from whey. Then turn it out of the strainer and crumble all up fine; throw in a little salt and black pepper, rub in a table-spoonful of butter, and moisten with milk till soft enough to make into small pats or rolls for tea. If you have cream to wet it up with, use no butter. If you like it quite soft, add more milk or cream, and put the cheese into a deep dish, without attempting to make into balls.

=Cheese Toast.=--Without great care, there is danger of much waste after a rich cheese is cut, and part sent to the table daily. If servants are allowed to cut it, waste would seem inevitable; but if the mistress looks after the cheese, there are many nice relishes to be made from the crumbs and dried pieces.

Take five table-spoonfuls of rich cheese, grated (the “crumbles” and dry bits are as good as if cut for this purpose from the cheese), mix with it the yelk of one egg, four ounces of grated bread, and two table-spoonfuls of butter. Beat it all in a mortar,--a marble one if you have it,--adding a dessert-spoonful of mustard and a little salt and pepper. Toast some slices of bread, lay the paste upon them quite thick; put it into the oven a few minutes and send to the table hot.

VEGETABLES.

Much care in selecting vegetables is necessary, but still more in preparing them for the table. It is to be regretted that so little attention is given to this. Half the enjoyment that should be derived from the abundance of the best varieties which our farms and markets offer in every summer season is lost by unskillful cooking. So evident is this fact, that it appears quite important to call the particular attention of _young housekeepers_ to this part of their duty. We are so much in earnest, and deem this part of their labors so worthy of extra care, that no doubt those who think us quite too particular and whimsical in our inculcations of extreme neatness in household management will find the same grounds for objection here. We would suggest that those who feel inclined to raise these objections should overlook everything and every place about their houses, and attend with their own hands to all that ought to be done _for one month_. We imagine that, should they do this, their experience of the beauty of great cleanliness, and the added luxury and pleasure of their table comforts, would justify our teachings.

Of course it is only those who raise vegetables themselves who can enjoy in the highest degree the pleasure of eating them. No luxury of this kind, peas, corn, beans, salads, etc., can ever be had in perfection when gathered overnight and brought to the market or the store, lying for hours it may be before they are used. But even after such exposure and waste of the finer flavors, they can be made more palatable by proper cooking.

Almost all vegetables are better _steamed_ than boiled, as all the juices are secured by this method; particularly is this true in cooking corn and peas. A large kettle half filled with boiling water, a _steamer_ fitting closely in the top of the kettle, and the cover fitting as closely to the steamer, answers very well when there is no better way. But there are now in market various kinds of steamers for cooking, which profess to make it a very convenient mode of preparing food. The “Peerless,” one of the best cooking-stoves we have ever known, has a large steamer of the size and shape of a wash-boiler, with two perforated compartments in which to put the various articles to be cooked, and we have found it exceedingly convenient for steaming all kinds of vegetables. We have elsewhere mentioned the “Rumford Boiler,” the “Warren Cooker,” etc. A large amount of corn--for those who can gather sweet corn right from the stalk are not likely to be satisfied with a _small_ mess--can be placed in one part; peas in a dish, all seasoned, set beside the corn; potatoes, beets, cauliflower, each in separate dish, can find a place in this large steamer, and cooked without losing any of their richness, yet, all being in one large receptacle, less room is occupied on the stove than when each article is put in a separate kettle.

=Corn.=--Like peas and most summer produce, corn should be used as soon as plucked. Husk, silk, and put into _boiling_ water as soon as possible after it is brought from the garden. Let it boil twenty minutes, or, if large kernels and cob, thirty.

The small early corn that will not cook in fifteen or twenty minutes is too old, or wholly worthless for cooking. As soon as the corn is done, put it on the plates with a napkin under, and send it to the table hot. If you prefer it cut from the cob, as soon as it is cooked cut it off, and to three pints of corn put one spoonful of butter, with pepper and salt to suit your taste; put in but a little at first and then taste (always remember that in seasoning you can _add_ if needed, but cannot easily _take away_), add a cup and a half of good cream, or if you must use milk instead, put in half a spoonful more butter. Have boiling water in the under part of your farina-kettle, and pour your corn into the upper. Set over the fire till just ready to boil, then dish and send to the table hot.

=Another Way.=--With a thin, sharp knife, cut the corn from the cob before cooking, being careful not to cut so closely as to take the horny point that fastens the kernel to the cob. Put the corn into the farina-kettle as above directed, with a little salt, pepper, two cups cream, one spoonful butter, or two cups sweet milk and two great spoonfuls of butter. Be sure and scrape all the milk from the cob when you have cut off the kernels, or squeeze it out with your hand. It adds more to the richness of the dish than you would at first imagine. Set the kettle over the fire and let it boil fifteen minutes. It will take less time to cook than when boiled on the cob.

=Boiling Potatoes.=--To boil potatoes well requires more attention than is usually given. They should be well washed, and left standing in cold water an hour or two, to remove the black liquor with which they are impregnated, and a brackish taste they would otherwise have. They should not be pared before boiling; they lose much of the starch by so doing, and are made insipid. Put them into a kettle of clear cold water, with a little salt, cover closely and boil rapidly, using no more water than will just cover them, as they produce a considerable quantity of fluid themselves while boiling, and too much water will make them heavy. As soon as _just_ done, instantly pour off the water, set them back on the range, and leave the cover off the saucepan till the steam has evaporated. They will then, if a good kind, be dry and mealy. This is an Irish receipt, and a good one.

=Another Way.=--Put them, with skins on, into a kettle of hot water; let them come just to the boiling point, and pour in a cup of cold water, and, as the Irish say, the boiling is “backed.” Repeat this till the potato is tender. The object is to keep the water just on the verge of boiling, but check it by a little cold water till the potato is done.

=To Boil New Potatoes.=--When fresh dug take the small potatoes not quite ripe, wash clean, then rub the skin off with the hand--never use a knife--and put them into boiling water with a little salt; boil quickly; when done, drain dry and lay into a dish, spreading a little butter over them, or boil some new milk, put in a great spoonful of butter, and thicken with a little flour wet smooth with milk. When the potatoes are cooked and laid in the dish pour this _dip_ over them. This is very nice.

=Mashed Potatoes.=--Boil with skins on; when done, peel quickly, and put, as you peel, into a saucepan over the stove, but not hot enough to burn; mash free from lumps to a smooth paste; have ready, before peeling the potatoes, a piece of butter half the size of an egg, melted, and half a cup of sweet milk, with pepper and salt to taste; when the potatoes are mashed smooth, pour in the milk and butter, and work it quick and smooth, then dish; dress the top with a knife so as to be round and smooth, rub on a little beaten egg, and brown in the oven very delicately. Serve with fowls or roast meat.

=Potato Croquettes.=--Boil potatoes with just enough water to cover; when three quarters done pour off the water and let them steam to finish cooking; then press them through a wire sieve; this done, put them into a stewpan, adding one ounce butter to one quart potatoes, and the well-beaten yelks of two eggs; mix together thoroughly; then flour the paste-board, divide the potato paste into square parts and roll them on the board to any shape,--balls, pears, corks, or what you choose,--dip them in egg and bread crumbs, and fry in hot fat to a light brown.

=Saratoga Fried Potatoes.=--Wash the potatoes clean, slice with a potato-slicer very thin, throw into cold water long enough to take out some of the starch, then wipe dry and put into boiling lard, a few pieces at a time; be sure and keep the lard boiling; as soon as the potatoes are of a clear golden brown, skim out, drain in a colander or sieve, and serve hot.

=Scalloped Potatoes.=--Boil in the skins. Peel quickly, when done, and rub through a colander or coarse sieve, or mash smoothly; season highly with salt, pepper, and butter; add two or three hard-boiled eggs chopped fine. Four eggs to a quart of mashed potatoes are nice; but if eggs are not plenty, two will do. Fill a bake-dish with it, and bake long enough to form a delicately brown crust. Serve as soon as taken from the oven.

=Snow Potatoes.=--Boil till just done; peel and throw into a colander or coarse sieve; break them up a little; then sprinkle in a little salt; add as much butter as for common mashed potatoes, and enough milk to enable you to rub them easily through the colander. They will, if not too moist, come through in strings and fall in a light snowy mass into the vegetable-dish, which should be placed underneath. Do not stir it, but send to the table just as it falls into the dish.

=Potato Cakes.=--Grate one teacup of raw ham, mix it with a quart of finely mashed potatoes; beat and stir into this two eggs, add pepper, salt (not too much), and a little mustard,--a small teaspoonful is not too much if you like it highly seasoned,--roll in balls and fry a light brown. Sage and sweet-marjoram can be added if their taste is agreeable.

=To Fry Sweet Potatoes.=--Pare, slice thin, fry in hot lard, like fritters, and sprinkle with a little salt as they are taken from the lard.

=Maccaroni.=--Boil a quarter of a pound of maccaroni in clear water till tender. While boiling, thicken half a pint of boiling milk with enough flour to make it as stiff as thick cream; add half a table-spoonful of butter and two table-spoonfuls of cream, half a small teaspoonful of mustard, a little pepper (white if you have it, if not black will answer), a little salt, and a very little cayenne pepper. Stir into this a quarter of a pound of grated cheese. Boil this all together a few moments, stirring it constantly to prevent its burning, then drain the water from the maccaroni, and stir it into the thickened milk; let it boil up a few moments, and serve hot; or, if preferred, after dishing it, set the dish in the oven and let it brown. For variety, a little parsley chopped fine and stirred in before adding the maccaroni is considered an improvement.

Another very good way to prepare maccaroni is, boil it fifteen or twenty minutes in clear water, then drain it, and use chicken or veal broth instead of milk for the seasoning.

Another: Prepare as above or with milk, and just before it is done beat up two eggs and stir in.

=Egg-Plant.=--Take the fruit fully ripe; cut in slices not more than a quarter of an inch thick, and put it to soak in cold salted water for two hours. This removes a black, bitter property, said to be unhealthful, certainly disagreeable; then wipe the slices on a clean cloth, dip in the white of egg and fry in boiling hot butter till well browned, but be careful not to scorch them; serve hot.

=Another Way.=--Pare and quarter two or three egg-plants, according to the size of your family. Soak them in salt and water, as directed above, then boil till soft enough to mash like turnips. Mash them smooth, add a few bread crumbs soaked in milk, and one or two table-spoonfuls of butter, according to the quantity; a little chopped parsley, an onion boiled and mashed, and salt and pepper. Mix all thoroughly; pour into a baking-dish, cover the top with grated bread, and bake for a half-hour. Serve hot. For a fancy dish some boil the plant till soft, then cut in halves and scoop out the flesh, leaving the skin whole. Mash the inside smooth, and dress as above. Mix well, and stew half an hour, then put it back into the shell or skin; strew bread crumbs over, and brown slightly.

Cucumbers after they begin to turn yellow, and muskmelons that come on too late to ripen, may be sliced and fried like the egg-plant, and can scarcely be distinguished from it. Some think they are better.

=Fricasseed Egg-plant.=--Peel and slice the egg-plant; lay the slices in salt-water two hours, to remove the bitterness and the black which it would otherwise have; after soaking, drain off all the water; have enough boiling water in a clean, bright saucepan to cover the slices; throw in a table-spoonful of salt, and lay in the egg-plant; let them boil till thoroughly cooked; then drain off the water, pour in sufficient milk to cover the slices, and add two table-spoonfuls of butter, rolled in flour; let it simmer gently, shake the pan over the fire till the sauce is thick, and then stir in the beaten yelks of three eggs just before serving.

=To Stew Tomatoes.=--Pour boiling water over fair and fully ripe tomatoes, that you may peel them quickly; let the water remain only long enough to start the skin. When peeled, cut into an earthen pipkin or a porcelain-lined kettle, as tin or iron turns them dark and gives a bad taste. If onions are agreeable, cut one small one in with the tomatoes. Cover closely and set where they will gently simmer, but not boil hard. Stir them occasionally to prevent burning, and when they have cooked two hours add salt and pepper to suit your own taste, and to a quart of tomatoes add a table-spoonful and a half of sugar, and two and a half even spoonfuls of bread or cracker crumbs. After the crumbs are added stir often or they will stick to the bottom of the dish and soon burn. Twenty minutes before dinner beat two eggs, or if you have more than a quart of tomatoes increase the number in the proportion of two eggs to a quart; stir briskly and often after the eggs are added, and serve hot. If possible the tomatoes should be skinned and on the back part of the stove before breakfast, as the longer they simmer the better they will be. Three hours’ slow cooking at least, _five is better_. If prepared according to rule, they are thought very nice by tomato-lovers, and are better warmed over the second day than they were the first.

=Baked Tomatoes.=--Peel and slice good, firm, but ripe tomatoes; put them in a pudding-dish, season with pepper, salt, two great spoonfuls of sugar to a quart of tomatoes, and one spoonful of butter. Sprinkle some finely powdered bread crumbs over the top and bake slowly two hours.

To add two well-beaten eggs is thought by some to improve this dish.

=Scalloped Tomatoes.=--Peel as many large, ripe tomatoes as you wish to prepare; cut them in slices a quarter of an inch thick; pack in a pudding-dish first a layer of tomatoes, then a thick layer of bread crumbs, pepper, salt, a little white sugar, and a teaspoonful of butter; then a layer of tomatoes, then bread crumbs, etc., till the dish is nearly full, having tomatoes last. Now dust over pepper, a little sugar, and more butter; strew the top with bread crumbs, and bake, _covered_, half an hour; then remove the cover, and bake brown, but be careful not to scorch.

We have received from a South Carolina lady the two following receipts:--

=Boiled Rice.=--One pint of rice, as new as it can be had,--old rice has a dead taste,--to one quart of boiling water and one table-spoonful of salt. Boil briskly a few minutes, until the water seems absorbed; then, keeping it closely covered, set on one side of the stove, where it can be kept hot and steam itself done,--not become soft and mushy. In about half an hour it will be cooked sufficiently. Serve very hot with the meats, like potatoes. If cooked soft and watery, and stirred till gluey--as is so often done--it would not be thought eatable at the South. _Never_ stir more than once, and then only when it first boils. Some prefer only one pint of water to one pint of rice.

=Cooking Rice.=--Pick over and wash a cup of rice; cover with cold water, and set where it will cook slowly. When the rice has absorbed all the water, pour in a cup of milk; stir often and cook slowly; in ten or fifteen minutes it will take up all the milk; then add another cup, and so on, till the rice is soft, then add a little salt, and dish. Eat with meat, or as dessert; if the latter, sweeten rich sweet cream and grate in nutmeg, and use as sauce to the pudding.

=Peas.=--To prepare any article of food in the _best_ way should not be thought “too much trouble.” Many kinds of early peas are dry, almost tasteless, and if what sweetness there may be in the pod is not added to the peas to remedy this deficiency, they will be very insipid.

“Carter’s Full Crop” and the “Daniel O’Rourke” are among our earliest, but neither is a very sweet pea. To use these with any enjoyment, _securing_ all the saccharine properties of the pod, is very essential. They are of the smooth, round kind, and these are never as sweet as the _wrinkled_ peas,--that is, those that wrinkle in boiling or drying.

“The Little Gem” and the “Champion of England” are later, but among our best and sweetest peas. They do not need the juices of the pod so much in cooking, but we think are enough sweeter and richer for it to pay for the trouble. Some cooks throw in a little sugar to increase the flavor, as they use _soda_ to make them tender; but don’t do it unless your taste is so deficient that you can be satisfied with simple sweetness and tenderness, without regard to rich, genuine flavor. For such, any tasteless thing, so that it is sweet and tender, is as good as peas.

=Green Peas.=--The first rule is to use the peas fresh from the vines, every hour’s delay in cooking after they are gathered destroys something of their finest flavor. Wash them _before_ shelling, _never after_. Shell and pick over nicely. First put in the _fresh pods_. Press them down, leaving only water enough to cover them. Let them boil fifteen minutes, then skim out, and put in the peas. If there is more than enough water to cover the peas after the pods have been removed, pour it out. Let them boil fifteen or twenty minutes. Peas that require more than twenty minutes, or need soda to make them tender, are only fit for soup. When done, put what butter is needed into the dish, and pour the peas on it, adding a little pepper. Some prefer them dry, and drain them through a strainer, but we think some of the water in which they were boiled is a very great improvement. The amount of butter needed must be decided by the quantity of peas and the taste. Boiling the pods adds greatly to the sweetness and richness of the peas.

=Beans.=--The dwarf wax beans are among the best string-beans. The pod is very tender and white, almost transparent when cooked. The Valentine is also very good. Of the pole-beans the Horticultural and Lima are the best. If you cannot raise the Lima, the Saba is a good substitute, though by no means equal to it.

In cooking the wax bean, simply cut off the ends, and snap the pod in small bits. Put salt into boiling water and then put in the beans. If the salt is thrown in before the vegetables, they retain their color; but if salt is added _after_ they are in hot water, they will be of a faded olive color when cooked, and not so well flavored. String-beans should cook a full hour unless very tender. When done put in your vegetable-dish some butter, allowing an even great spoonful to a pint of string-beans; add a little pepper and pour the beans upon it, with some of the water in which they were boiled. Like peas, some prefer them quite moist; those who do not can easily be suited by having theirs taken out free from the liquor. Lima beans are not good to use for _string-beans_, but the bean itself is delicious. It requires a full hour to boil. When ready to dish, season the same as peas or string-beans. Many consider cream an addition both for peas and beans, but we think much of the peculiar delicacy is lost by it. The more simple such articles can be prepared the more of the true flavor is retained.

=Asparagus.=--Wash it clean, but do not leave in water. Cut off all of the white ends that are woody and tough, and when ready to boil tie up the stalks in a neat bunch, lay them in the saucepan, sprinkle over as much salt as is needed to season, then just cover the bunch or bunches with boiling water. Cook twenty minutes. When done, take the asparagus out and with a sharp knife cut off any part that has not cooked tender and throw away. Then cut the stalks up into pieces half an inch long and put them back into the saucepan with two table-spoonfuls of butter to each good-sized bunch; a little pepper, one cup of good cream, and enough finely rolled bread crumbs to thicken it a little, say only two even table-spoonfuls. If there is enough water left after boiling to make the dish too liquid, pour off part of it before returning the asparagus, cream, and bread crumbs to the saucepan. Let it all boil up for two or three minutes, then dish and send to the table hot.

=Spinach.=--Pick and wash it with great care. Put into a saucepan that will just hold it; sprinkle in some salt, and pour over only one cup and a half of boiling water; cover close, set on the stove, and shake the pan often to prevent the spinach from burning. When done, beat it up with a little butter and pepper. It should come to the table quite dry. It looks nicely when pressed into a mold in the form of a leaf. Serve with poached eggs.

=To Boil Cabbage.=--Wash very thoroughly in cold water; look between the leaves, where insects and worms are very often secreted; then put into boiling water, some say without any salt; we prefer to add salt, when half done; boil quickly till tender; then take it out with a skimmer into a colander or sieve, and drain free from all water. Season with a little butter and pepper.

=To Boil Cabbage with Meat.=--Select small, white, firm heads; cut in quarters; examine carefully; then lay the quarters an hour in cold salted water, to drive out any insects that may have escaped your observation. Skim all the fat from the pot in which the pork or beef is boiling, and put in the cabbage while the water boils; cook till tender; then drain, and serve as whole and compact as possible. If the meat is to be used cold, take out some of the water in which it is boiling, and put in another kettle and boil the cabbage in that, as it gives a disagreeable taste to meat when cold.

=Another Way.=--After washing and examining the cabbage, put it into a kettle of fast-boiling water, into which you have put some salt and a small bit of soda. Press it down into the water, then let it boil quickly eight minutes; have on hand another kettle of fast-boiling water prepared as above, and transfer the cabbage to that; press it down into the water and let it boil twelve minutes more; meanwhile throw away the first water and prepare more like it; after the second boiling remove the cabbage once more to another water, and boil ten minutes if the cabbage is small, twenty if large; then take it up in a colander, lay a plate over, and drain well; dish on toasted bread that has been dipped in drawn butter, and pour a little over the cabbage.

=Cabbage like Cauliflower.=--Chop a good, solid head of cabbage fine, as if for cold slaw. Put it into boiling water. Boil till tender; then drain quite free from water; season with salt, pepper, and butter; add a cup of cream or milk, and simmer a few minutes. Send to table hot.

=Cauliflower.=--Soak the head two hours in salt and water, and boil until tender in milk and water, if you have plenty of milk, if not, boiling water will answer. Serve whole with drawn butter, or cut it up and season richly with butter, and a little pepper and salt. The first way is the most stylish, the last the most palatable. In either case it must be well drained.

=Hot-Slaw.=--Cut a firm white head of cabbage in thin shreds; put it into boiling water; cook till tender; only just cover with water, so that when done there may be hardly any remaining. Just before dishing, add to one good-sized head half a teacupful of good cider vinegar and a piece of butter half the size of an egg, with salt and pepper to suit your taste.

=Cold Slaw.=--Shave a firm head of cabbage fine; put a teaspoonful of salt, the same of sugar, and a little pepper into a small cup of vinegar, and pour over the cabbage.

=To Cook Onions.=--The strong, disagreeable taste and smell from onions may be in a large degree removed by leaving them to soak in cold salt and water an hour after the outside skin has been removed; then boil them in milk and water till thoroughly tender; lay into a deep dish, season with pepper and salt, and pour over them drawn butter.

CAKE.

GENERAL RULES.

First examine the range or stove. See that the ashes are shaken out, and sufficient coal added to keep the oven in working order till your cake is put together and baked; for fuel should never be added while bread or cake is baking. See if the dampers are all right, and ovens at the proper heat,--a slow, even heat for rich cake, a quick heat for plain cake.

The range being in proper condition, next collect all the ingredients to be used. Line the tins with buttered paper.

Sift the flour, then weigh or measure it and the sugar, butter, fruit, and milk. Baking-powder or cream of tartar should always be sifted in with the flour, which should then be covered up, and set near the fire to dry while you are getting other articles ready. If Jewell’s _prepared_ flour is used, no salt, soda, or cream of tartar is needed for anything; and those ingredients may be omitted in using the following receipts.

Dissolve soda in a little cold water.

Put the eggs in cold water. They will beat easier and lighter. Beat yelks and whites separately.

Never mix sweet and sour milk.

When fruit is to be used, it is always better to pick it over, slice or stone, and, if need be, wash and dry it, the evening before, covering it over closely, to keep from the heat and air.

Everything being now in readiness, put the butter into a deep earthen dish. Stir it with a wooden spoon till soft, then add sugar, and beat until light and white, like thick cream. Next add the yelks of the eggs well beaten, then a little of the flour, and very gradually the milk, beating the batter steadily; then add spices, and the whites, well beaten to a very stiff foam, with the remainder of the flour, alternately. Now beat the batter till all is thoroughly combined, and you will be sure of light, fine-grained cake.

Fruit should be rolled in flour and added the last thing, or add it in alternate layers with the batter, as you fill it into the pans. Use some of the flour weighed out for the cake to dredge the fruit.

So far it is well; but quite as much depends on baking, as in the preparation of the cake, and if you have not the most trusty, reliable servants, your watch and care is not ended.

Unless a _raised cake_, it should be put into the oven as soon as you have put it into the pans, opening the oven door, after the cake is in, as seldom as consistent with proper oversight, as a draught of cold air passing through the oven will tend to make the cake heavy.

If the oven is too hot, cover the cake for a while with a piece of brown paper.

Whenever you buy a broom, break off a few of the splints; tie them up and lay away safely to use in _trying_ cake. It is not pleasant to think of using a splint from a broom that has been used in sweeping a kitchen floor, or any other floor, however nicely kept. Try the cake with one of these clean splints, or a small knitting-needle. If it comes out quite free from any particle of batter, the cake is done.

Cake keeps fresher to be allowed to remain in the pan in which it was baked; but if necessary to remove it, place it on the top of a sieve until quite cold, when it may be frosted if desirable, and put into a large stone pot, or cake-safe, and covered with clean linen.

Steam stale cake, and eat with a nice hot sauce, and you have a very good pudding.

=Loaf Cake.=--Two cups sugar; two of milk; two of flour; one of yeast; make into a sponge overnight. In the morning, if this sponge is light, beat together two cups sugar, one of butter, and four eggs; add these to the sponge with enough more flour to make it quite stiff; add spice and fruit to suit the taste; a cup and a half of stoned raisins, well floured, and half a cup of citron cut thin and in small pieces. Raise till light, and bake in an even oven.

=Mrs. Breedley’s Fruit Cake.=--Five eggs; five cups of flour; two and a half cups of sugar; one and a half cups butter, and two cups sour milk; two cups raisins. Beat sugar and butter to a cream; add the egg-yelks and whites, beaten separately; then three cups of the flour and the milk; beat well and then add one gill wine, cloves and cinnamon to suit your taste, and the remainder of the flour; and last, one teaspoonful soda dissolved in a very little water. Bake as soon as put together.

Spices, in all receipts, may be increased or diminished to suit the taste. One nutmeg and a teaspoonful of other spices will be a medium allowance; cloves are generally undesirable, except in fruit cake.

=Rosie’s Raised Cake.=--Three cups bread dough, two cups sugar, one cup butter, or half cup butter and half cup lard, two eggs, nutmeg to suit the taste, one wineglass of wine, half a teaspoonful of soda, one pound of raisins chopped or stoned; beat all thoroughly together, and let it stand to rise till quite light. Always roll raisins in plenty of flour before putting into the dough, to prevent their sinking.

=Fruit Cake.=--Three cups sugar, half a pound butter, four cups flour, three eggs well beaten, one cup of milk, two nutmegs, two pounds of raisins stoned, one pound Zante currants, or half a pound of preserved orange peel sliced very thin and cut fine, one teaspoonful soda. Bake two hours and a half.

=Farmer’s Fruit Cake.=--Three cupfuls of sour dried-apples soaked overnight in warm water. In the morning drain off the water, chop not too fine, leaving the apple about as large as raisins, then simmer in two cupfuls of molasses two hours or until quite done, that is, until the apple has absorbed all the molasses; one and a half cupfuls of butter well beaten; one of sugar, four eggs, one cupful of sweet milk, one teaspoonful of cloves, one of cinnamon, one of nutmeg, one and a half teaspoonfuls of soda, one wineglass of wine, four and a half teacupfuls of flour; add one cup raisins or currants, if you please, but roll in flour before putting them to other ingredients; beat all together thoroughly; bake carefully in a well-heated oven. This is excellent to our taste, far better than the richer kind, and more easily digested.

=Whortleberry Cake.=--Prepare the batter just like Sally Lunn, then stir in one coffee-cup of whortleberries rolled in flour the last thing before putting into the oven. If the berries are not well floured, they will sink to the bottom of the cake and be worthless. Stir them in gently and quickly. Bake half an hour. Very good for breakfast or tea.

=Olic Cake.=--Three pounds of flour, five eggs, three quarters of a pound of butter, one and a half pints of milk, one pound of sugar, and one penny’s worth of bakers’ yeast; beat and knead well and put to rise; knead over every time it rises,--say three times a day for three days,--using as little flour as possible at each kneading. After the first rising, keep it in the cellar or a cool place. When ready for use, break off small bits, flatten with the hand, and lay a bit of citron on them; then roll into a ball and fry in boiling lard, like doughnuts. Roll in sugar after they are fried. This is a Dutch receipt, and, if properly made, very fine. We have never _fried_ these cakes, but often make a large bowlful in cold weather, and keep it on the ice a fortnight at a time, using as we want it, kneading it every day an hour before tea, and using it for biscuits instead of cake. Let it stand a short time to rise, then bake. _They are very light and tender._

=Nice little Cakes.=--Whites of six eggs left from Spanish cream, three and a half cups of flour, two cups sugar, one small cup butter, one cup milk, one teaspoonful soda, and two of cream of tartar. Flavor to taste.

=Queen Charlotte’s Cake.=--One pound of flour, one of sugar, one of raisins (Sultana or _stoneless_ raisins are the best), one half-pound butter, four eggs, one gill brandy, one gill wine, one gill cream, half a nutmeg, half-teaspoonful each cloves and cinnamon. Bake in one loaf.

=Lemon Cake.=--Two cups of flour, two of sugar, six eggs, six table-spoonfuls of butter, four of milk, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar sifted with the flour, and one teaspoonful of soda. Beat all well together, and bake in two loaves. For the jelly to use with it, take three fourths of a pound of sugar, one fourth of a pound of butter, six eggs, the rind of three lemons grated, and their juice. Beat the sugar, butter, and eggs thoroughly together, and set in a dish of hot water until heated, then add the grated lemon and juice; stir till thick enough and quite smooth, then split the cake and put this jelly in while warm. It is very delicious.

=Molasses Drop Cake.=--One cup of molasses, half a cup of butter or lard, half a cup of water, three cups of flour, two teaspoonfuls of ginger, one teaspoonful of soda. Beat well together, and drop with a spoon on a buttered pan or in muffin-rings. Bake quickly.

=Chicago Fruit Cake.=--One and one fourth pound flour, six eggs, one pound sugar, half-pint of milk, three fourths pound butter, one pound raisins, two teaspoonfuls soda, half a gill molasses, three teaspoonfuls mace, one teaspoonful cloves, one of cinnamon, one of allspice, one of nutmeg. Beat the yelks and whites of eggs separately, and beat the cake well before baking.

=Cider Cake.=--Two pounds of flour, one pound of butter, one and a quarter-pound of sugar, one pound of raisins (stoned), five eggs, two teaspoonfuls of soda (only even full), a teaspoonful of cloves, cinnamon, and half a nutmeg, and one pint of cider. Put in the soda the last thing.

=Snow-flake Cake.=--Half a cup of butter, two cups of sugar, four of flour, one of sweet milk, three eggs well beaten, one table-spoonful cream of tartar, half a teaspoonful of soda; or, if you use prepared flour, use no soda or cream of tartar. Bake the cake in shallow jelly-cake pans; while baking, grate two fresh cocoa-nuts carefully, and spread over each cake, as it comes from the oven, a thin frosting, and then sprinkle thickly with the grated nut. Three layers of cake make one cake. This receipt will make two loaves.

=Cocoa-nut Cake.=--One coffee-cup butter, two and a half sugar, four and a half of flour, whites of nine eggs beaten stiff, half a cup of milk, two cocoa-nuts grated, one small teaspoonful soda, two of cream of tartar. Save out a saucer of grated cocoa-nut to sprinkle on the frosting after the cake is baked.

=Macaroons.=--One pound of sugar, whites of three eggs, one quarter-pound blanched and pounded almonds. Sprinkle sugar on paper and drop in little round cakes.

=Delicate Cake.=--When making cocoa-nut custard (see Puddings, etc.), use the whites of the eggs as follows: One cup white sugar, five table-spoonfuls of butter, whites of six eggs, one teacup of sweet milk, three cups of “prepared flour,” or to the same quantity of common flour, add one small teaspoonful of soda, and two of cream of tartar sifted in the flour. Flavor with orange, lemon, or vanilla.

=Sponge Cake= (very good).--Three eggs, one cup of sugar, one of flour, three table-spoonfuls of water, and one teaspoonful of yeast powder; flavor with lemon and nutmeg.

=Pineapple Cake.=--Make a cake as for jelly-cake; bake it in three or four jelly-pans; grate a large ripe pineapple in one bowl and a cocoa-nut in another. When the cakes are done, spread over one a layer of pineapple, and over that a layer of cocoa-nut; then place the second cake over this, and on that put another layer of pineapple and cocoa-nut, and so on till the last; cover that with the pineapple and grated cocoa-nut, and then beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff meringue; lay it over the top, and place the cake in the oven just a few minutes to stiffen.

=Molasses Cup Cake= (very good).--One cup each, sugar, molasses, and milk, three cups flour, half a cup butter, three eggs, one table-spoonful ginger, one small even teaspoonful of soda, half a teaspoonful of salt. Pour the milk to the flour, beat butter and sugar to a cream and add to it the salt and ginger, then the well-beaten yelks of the eggs; beat the soda into the molasses, and when it foams pour in with the rest, adding the whites of the eggs, beaten stiff, the last thing.

=Loaf Cake.=--One and a half pints of well-raised sponge, two and a half cups sugar, two thirds cup of butter, three eggs, yelks and whites beaten separately, half a pound stoned raisins well rolled in flour to prevent their sinking to the bottom, half-teaspoonful each cinnamon and cloves, one nutmeg. Beat into the sponge a half-teaspoonful soda before adding these ingredients, then stir all together thoroughly; let it stand till quite light, then stir up from the bottom with a wooden spoon to prevent raisins from settling, and bake slowly. If the sponge is very thin, add a little more flour.

=Walnut Cake.=--One pound of flour, one of sugar, three quarters of a pound of butter, one and a half pounds raisins stoned, the meats from two quarts of walnuts, one nutmeg, half a teaspoonful of cinnamon, half a cup of milk, one wineglassful of cider or wine, six eggs, whites and yelks beaten separately, half a teaspoonful of soda. Pick over the walnut-meats to see that no bits of shells remain; pour boiling water over to take off the skin, drain and rub dry, then mix with raisins, flour well, and stir into the batter. Bake in a quick oven, but not scorching hot.

=Loaf Cake.=--Two cups of sugar, two of milk, two of flour, one of yeast. Make into sponge overnight. In the morning rub together two cups of sugar, one of butter, and four eggs. Flour to make quite stiff; one nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves; if wished, one pound of fruit. Raise till light, and bake in an even oven.

=Western Cake.=--Four cups of flour, two and a half of sugar, one of butter, one of new milk, and five eggs, one teaspoonful of soda. Spice to taste.

=Snowball Cake.=--One cup of sugar, half a cup of butter, half a cup of sweet milk, two cups of flour, the whites of three eggs, half a teaspoonful of soda, one spoonful of cream of tartar sifted with the flour; beat butter and sugar thoroughly together; add the whites of eggs beaten to a stiff foam; then the flour, and milk and soda the last.

=Molasses Cake.=--Half a cup of molasses, half cup sugar, half cup sour milk, piece of butter size of an egg, one egg, two cups flour, spices, and a few chopped raisins. Spice with a little ginger, cloves, and cinnamon.

=Corn-Starch Cake.=--One cupful of butter, two of sugar; beat to a white foam; add four eggs beaten quite stiff, one cupful of corn-starch, one cupful of milk, two cupfuls of prepared flour, and flavor with one teaspoonful of bitter almonds. If you have no prepared flour, sift one teaspoonful of cream of tartar with the flour, and add half a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a teaspoonful of milk, the last thing; beat thoroughly after the soda is added, and bake immediately.

=Moss Cake.=--Two cupfuls of sugar, half a cupful of butter, three eggs, one cupful of milk, three cupfuls of flour, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar sifted with the flour, and one teaspoonful of soda.

=Jenny Lind Cake.=--Half cup butter, one teacup of milk, two table-spoonfuls cream, two cups sugar, three eggs, one teaspoonful cream tartar, half-teaspoonful soda, and four cups flour. Any spice that is palatable.

=Sugar Cookies.=--One cup butter, two cups sugar, three eggs, five cups flour, two table-spoonfuls sour milk (or sweet milk, with two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar added), one small teaspoonful of soda; spice to suit your taste. Bake quickly.

=Cookies.=--Two cups of sugar, one of butter, one of sweet milk, one teaspoonful soda, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, just flour enough to roll; rub butter and sugar into the dry flour, as if for pastry, and then wet up, using no eggs; spice to suit the taste; cream of tartar to be sifted in with the flour, soda added the last. Be careful not to use too much flour, more can easily be added if not stiff enough.

=Another Way.=--Three cups of flour, one cup of sugar a trifle heaped, half cup of butter, one third cup half cream and half sweet milk, two eggs, half-teaspoonful soda,--if you don’t use prepared flour; spice with cinnamon. Work butter and sugar to a smooth white cream, then add yelks of eggs, beat well, and then add milk and soda; whites beaten stiff, added the last thing before the flour; make as thin as they can be rolled, putting the hands to the dough as little as possible. Much handling makes them hard and tough.

=Molasses Gingerbread.=--Half a cupful of sugar, half a cupful molasses, half a cupful of milk, half a cupful of butter, three cupfuls of flour, two teaspoonfuls of ginger, and half a teaspoonful of soda. Beat the sugar, butter, and ginger together; then add the milk, then the flour; beat the soda into the molasses, and as soon as it foams, beat it in with the other ingredients. Better beat all together with the hand. Bake it either in a shallow pan or in little cups. This is very nice, if a teaspoonful of cinnamon, half a teaspoonful of cloves, and a teacupful of stoned raisins are added, and the whole baked in a loaf.

=Plain Gingerbread.=--One cupful of sugar, one of molasses, half a cupful of butter, half a cupful of milk, one cupful of raisins or currants, two teaspoonfuls of ginger, and one of yeast powder, with flour enough to make it as stiff as cup cake.

=Excellent Ginger-Snaps.=--Boil together one pint molasses, one cup butter, one table-spoonful of ginger. Let them only boil up once, then set aside to cool. When cold, roll two small teaspoonfuls of soda perfectly smooth, and beat into the molasses; while foaming pour it upon just as little flour as will make it possible to roll out very thin. Bake quick.

In measuring by spoonfuls, be careful that the spoon is _even_ full, not _heaped_. Careless measurement spoils many good dishes.

PIES, PUDDINGS, AND DESSERTS.

=Pastry.=--One quart flour, half-pound butter; mix half the flour with ice-cold water, stiff enough to roll; put it on a well-floured paste-board, sprinkle flour over and roll half an inch thick. Divide the butter into three parts; shave one of the three portions quite thin and put it lightly over the paste, shake one third of the dry flour over it, fold the four ends inward, then double the sheet together and beat it with the rolling-pin till it is about half an inch thick; shave a second portion of the butter and put on the paste, flour, fold up and beat out as at first. Repeat this process for the third and last time, using up all the butter and flour, and put the paste on the ice for a half-hour. Then cut off a piece large enough to cover a plate, roll out,--always rolling from you,--and handle as little as possible; cover the plate, trim it by passing the knife round the plate, cutting _upwards_. (This should be borne in mind with all pastry. If cut round the edge of the plate _upwards_, it will be light; if _downwards_, it will cling to the plate and be heavy.) Cut a strip an inch wide and lay round the edge, fill in the fruit or whatever the contents are to be, and if it is to have an upper crust roll out, put it on and trim as above directed. Prick the top to let out steam and prevent the waste of the juice.

=Puff Paste.=--Half a pound of butter, half a pound of lard, one and a quarter pounds of flour; wet half the flour to a paste; mix the other half with the shortening, chopping it fine, but do not use your hand; stir together with a silver or wooden spoon. Roll the paste out on the board about a quarter of an inch thick, and add one third of the mixed flour and shortening; fold the four ends over it, and beat out with the rolling-pin till again a quarter of an inch thick; spread over it one third more of the shortening; fold over the ends; beat out thin again; add the remainder of the shortening; beat, roll out, and use.

=Potato Pastry for Meat Pies.=--Six good-sized potatoes, boiled and mashed mealy and white, one teacup of sweet cream, a teaspoonful of salt, and flour enough to make it stay together and roll out. Work and handle as little as possible, and roll thicker than common pastry.

=Pumpkin Pies.=--Cut the pumpkin into small pieces; take out the seeds and inside, but do not pare it. It must be a well-grown and thoroughly ripened pumpkin, and not watery. Put the pieces in a saucepan, with only a few spoonfuls of water, not more than four; cover close and let it cook gently, so as not to scorch, until the water has all evaporated, and the pumpkin has cooked quite dry and of a rich, dark orange color. While hot sift it through a coarse sieve. Season only as much as you are needing for the day. For one large pie, one egg, one table-spoonful of molasses, four table-spoonfuls of condensed milk, and enough of new milk to make it as thin as you wish, or if you have it, half milk and half cream, instead of condensed milk; sugar and spice to suit the taste. Ginger and cinnamon are very nice. Bake to a clear, rich brown, but do not blister or scorch.

=Dried-Apple Pies.=--Wash the apples in several waters, then put them into an earthen dish or stone pot, and pour on rather more water than will cover them; for if the apples are good, they will absorb a good deal of water and become twice as large by soaking. Never soak or cook fruit in tin or iron. A few hours should soak the apples sufficiently for cooking. If soaked overnight they become insipid. Put them into an earthen pipkin or porcelain kettle and cook in the water they are soaked in. If you like it, cut up a little dried orange or lemon peel and stew with the apples. Some use dried plums with apples, but they make it too sharp for our taste. Let them cook slowly, till very tender. When they rise up in the kettle, _press_ them down gently, but never _stir_ them. When perfectly tender, before taking from the fire, stir in a little butter--about one table-spoonful to a quart of cooked apples--and sugar to suit your taste. Season with very little nutmeg and cinnamon, if you do not use the orange or lemon peel,--nothing else is needed if you do. Bake with an upper and under crust, but do not make the pie very thick with apples. Half an inch deep is sufficient.

Dried plums and peaches may be prepared in the same way, but require no spice.

=Pies of Canned Fruit.=--Canned pears, peaches, and quinces usually will bear scalding in their own liquor before putting them in the pie-plate. When tender, skim out and lay on a dish to cool. Then add to the liquor enough sugar to make a syrup, more or less rich, according to the taste of those who are to eat them. When both fruit and liquor are cold, if the pears, peaches, or quinces are in halves, cut them in slices a quarter of an inch thick, and lay into the pie-plate; pour over as much of the syrup as it will hold, having first put on the under crust and laid an edge of crust around it. Fill the plate not quite an inch thick. This is more economical, and, to our taste, much nicer than to use the fruit in large pieces. Cut a few small bits of butter (half a table-spoonful in all) and lay the spice over; put on the upper crust and bake a rich brown, but be careful not to scorch the crust, as a little scorch spoils the best of pastry.

Plums must not be scalded before baking, as they come to pieces very easily, but prepare the liquor in which they are canned the same as for pears, peaches, and quinces.

=Mince Pie.=--Put a large-sized tongue into boiling water, with a little salt and pepper. A fresh tongue is better than one smoked and dried. Boil slowly till tender, then take out and dip for a minute in cold water; then peel it, beginning at the tip, as it peels easier. Cut off all the gristly parts and chop fine. Pare and chop enough of the best flavored sour apples to fill a three-pint bowl when chopped. The finer the meat and apples are chopped the better the pies will be. Pick over and rub clean one pound Sultana, or stoneless raisins, one pound Malaga, or bloom raisins, stoned and chopped, and one pound whole raisins. Slice thin half a pound citron and half a pound candied orange peel; chop and pick clean from skinny pieces three quarters of a pound of suet; add a table-spoonful salt, five grated nutmegs, one and a half table-spoonfuls ground cloves, the same of cinnamon, a pound of sugar, half a pint maple syrup, one pint cider, one of Madeira wine, one of brandy. Syrups from preserves, or small portions of jelly of any kind left over, and not sufficient to be put on the table again, are a great improvement to mince-meat for pies, beside finding an economical way of use. Put all these ingredients into a porcelain kettle, and set over the range to scald, not boil, one hour, stirring all the time; then pack in a stone jar and cover closely, ready for use.

=Rice Pie.=--Take cold rice, cooked with milk, add sufficient cream to make quite thin, mash it with a wooden or silver spoon till free from lumps. Beat up four eggs very light,--yelks and whites separately,--sweeten the rice to suit your taste, and pour in the egg,--the whites last; stir well, grate a little nutmeg over all; cover a deep custard or pumpkin pie-plate with pastry, pour in the rice, and bake, but not long enough to make the custard watery.

=Apple Puffs.=--Peel and core as many sour apples as will be needed, simmer with a little water till tender, then add a half-pound of sugar to a pound of apples, let it simmer till the apples become a kind of marmalade; take it up, and when cold put it into puff paste and bake quickly; when done ice it, return to the oven just long enough to turn the icing golden.

=Marlborough Pie.=--One cup stewed apples, sifted; one cup sugar, one cup cream or milk; one fourth cup butter if cream is used, if milk, one third; half a gill wine, three well-beaten eggs, whites whisked separately, and a little nutmeg; beat sugar, butter, and apple together, then add the wine, then milk or cream, nutmeg and yelks, adding the whites the last thing. No upper crust.

=Chess Pie.=--Four eggs, two cups sugar, one of cream, two thirds of a cup butter, one table-spoonful flour; flavor with nutmeg. When a delicate brown, try with a spoon as for a custard.

=English Christmas Plum Pudding.=--One pound of clean, dry currants, half a pound of the best raisins, stoned; mix these with one pound of bread crumbs, half a pound of fine flour, and one pound and a half of finely shred suet; add a quarter of a pound of sifted sugar, one grated nutmeg, a drachm of cinnamon, two drachms of cloves, half a dozen almonds, pounded, and an ounce each of candied orange and lemon, sliced thin; mix all these materials thoroughly together in a bowl, with a glass of brandy and one of sherry, then beat six eggs very light, and slowly stir them in till all is well blended; cover the bowl, and let this mixture stand for twelve hours; then pour it into a pudding-bag, and tie it not very tight, leaving room for it to swell; or fill a pudding-mold not quite two thirds full, lay a clean cloth over the top, and shut the cover over tightly to exclude all water; put the bag or mold into boiling water; keep it covered, and keep it boiling all the time, for six hours. Serve with sugar sifted over, and wine sauce. Brandy is usually sent in with a Christmas pudding, to be poured over the whole pudding, or over each slice, then lighted, and served while burning.

=A Family Christmas Pudding.=--Beat up four eggs very light (which always means yelks and whites beaten separately); add to the yelks, after beating, a quarter of a teaspoonful each of ginger, nutmeg, grated lemon peel, and salt; four ounces of sugar, half a pound of well-cleaned and dried currants, one pound of flour, half a pound of well-shred and chopped suet; beat this all up thoroughly, adding the whites of the eggs last. Wine or brandy, or both, may be added, if one has no scruples about using them in cooking; but the pudding will be good without this addition. Tie it in a cloth or pudding-bag, or put it into a mold, and boil six hours. Serve with any good sauce.

In boiling puddings of all kinds, the cloth should be dipped in hot water before the batter is put in, or the mold be well buttered. Any of these Christmas puddings may be kept for a month after boiling, if the cloth in which they are boiled be replaced by a clean one, and the pudding be hung up to the ceiling of a kitchen, or in a warm store-room. When wanted, they will require one hour’s boiling to heat them through, as all such puddings should be sent to the table hot.

=A Simple Christmas Pudding.=--Six ounces of finely chopped suet, six ounces of Malaga raisins, stoned and chopped; eight ounces of well-cleaned and dried currants, three ounces of fine bread crumbs, three ounces of flour, three well-beaten eggs, the sixth part of a nutmeg, grated; half a teaspoonful each of cinnamon, cloves, and mace; four ounces of sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt, half a pint of milk; one ounce of candied orange or lemon peel, and the same of citron, all sliced thin. Beat all together thoroughly; pour into a pudding-bag or mold; put into boiling water, and keep it boiling six hours. Serve with sauce to suit your taste.

=Bread Pudding.=--One quart fine bread crumbs, one cup of sugar, two table-spoonfuls of molasses, half-pound suet chopped fine, one coffee-cup raisins, half a rind of preserved orange peel or citron cut thin and fine, a very little nutmeg and cinnamon, two teaspoonfuls cream of tartar, one small teaspoonful soda, one teaspoonful of salt. Stir in milk enough to make it thick as pound-cake, beating all thoroughly together; put it into a buttered pudding-mold, and boil three hours. Be careful to keep the water boiling all the time.

=Boiled Indian Pudding.=--Two cupfuls of sour milk, two spoonfuls of molasses, one teaspoonful of soda, one of salt, half a cupful of sifted flour, mixed with enough corn meal to make a batter not very stiff; half a cupful of chopped suet, from which all the stringy substance has been removed; a cup and a half of chopped sweet apples, or huckleberries, dried or fresh, as you have on hand. Boil from two and a half to three hours.

=Baked Indian Pudding.=--Boil one quart of milk, and pour over a pint of sifted Indian meal; stir it well till the meal is thoroughly wet and scalded. Mix three table-spoonfuls of wheat flour with one pint of milk, and beat to a smooth batter, entirely free from lumps; then pour it in with the Indian batter, and beat well together. When the whole is lukewarm, beat three eggs and three table-spoonfuls of sugar, and mix with the batter, together with two table-spoonfuls of molasses; add two teaspoonfuls of salt, two of nutmeg, cinnamon, or ginger, as you prefer; two great spoonfuls of suet chopped fine, or the same of melted butter; let it bake a few minutes, and then add half a pound of raisins and half a pint of milk, which the raisins will soak up. Bake till the pudding is of a rich color, but do not let it whey.

=Palmyra, or Date Pudding.=--One pound of fresh dates, chopped fine and free from stones; one pound of suet, chopped fine; a quarter of a pound of moist sugar, and a pound of flour. Mix all well together; add a little salt and nutmeg, and make into a soft dough with milk. Beat three eggs very stiff, yelks and whites separately, and add the last thing. Boil in a pudding-dish three hours, or bake slowly two hours. Eat with liquid sauce.

=Sponge-Cake Pudding.=--Make a batter as for good sponge-cake. Bake on a flat, square pan, so as to be an inch thick, when done. When cold, cut it into pieces about three inches square; slice and butter them, and lay each slice together as it was before you split it. Make a custard with four eggs and a quart of new milk, flavor and sweeten as you like it. Almond in the cake, and lemon or vanilla in the custard, are very good. Put the buttered slices of cake in a baking-dish, so that when the custard is poured over them, the dish will be full. Bake half an hour; eat with or without sauce as you prefer.

=Steamed Pudding.=--Two eggs, two teacupfuls of sour milk, one teaspoonful of soda, a little salt, flour enough to make it quite thick, or it will be heavy. Beat this smooth. Add cherries, raspberries, currants, or any _dried_ fruit you may have. Steam two hours, taking care that the water is kept over the pudding or bag all the time, and that it does not stop boiling. Eat with cream and sugar, hard sauce, or any liquid sauce you may prefer.

=An Excellent Pudding.=--One cup of sugar, one cup of milk, three eggs, beaten stiff; one table-spoonful of butter, a little clove and cinnamon, about half a teaspoonful of each; one cup of raisins, stoned; half a teaspoonful of salt, and three cups of prepared flour. Bake quick. Eat with liquid or hard sauce, according to taste. We think this would also be excellent steamed or boiled.

=Apple and Tapioca Pudding.=--Put a teacup of tapioca into a pint and a half of cold water overnight. Before breakfast the next morning set it where it will become quite warm, but not hot enough to cook. After breakfast pare six good-sized sour apples, or eight if not very large; quarter them and _steam_ them in a dish till tender. Lay them into the pudding-dish, stir a cup and a half of sugar into the soaked tapioca, add a teacup of water and an even teaspoonful of salt, stir together and pour over the apple, slice a lemon very thin and lay over the top, bake slowly three hours; eat with butter, with wine sauce, or hard sauce, as you prefer.

=Sweet-Apple Pudding.=--One pint of scalded milk, half a pint of Indian meal, one teaspoonful of salt, six sweet apples cut in small pieces, one small teacupful of finely chopped suet, two great spoonfuls of molasses, half a teaspoonful of ginger, nutmeg, or cinnamon,--whichever is most desirable,--two eggs well beaten, and half a teaspoonful soda. Beat all well together, put into a pudding-mold, and boil two hours.

=Fig Pudding.=--Half a pound of the best figs, washed and chopped fine, two teacupfuls of grated bread, half a cupful of sweet cream, half a cupful of sugar, and one cupful of milk. Mix the bread and cream, add the figs, then the sugar, and lastly the milk. Pour the mixture into a mold, and boil three hours. Eat with wine or hard sauce.

=Barley Cream for Invalids.=--Boil two pounds of lean veal in one quart of water, add to it a quarter of a pound of pearl barley, and boil till it can be rubbed through a sieve. It should be about as thick as cream. Add a little salt.

=Apple Float.=--One pint stewed and well-mashed apples; whites of three eggs, and four large spoonfuls of sugar, beaten until stiff; then add the apples, and beat all together till stiff enough to stand alone. Fill a deep dish with rich cream, or boiled soft custard, and pile the float on top. This is excellent with other fruits in place of the apples.

=Sago Pudding.=--One dozen tart apples, one and a half cup of sago,--soak the sago in water till soft; peel and core the apples and place in a dish, fill the apples with sugar, a very little cinnamon and nutmeg, pour the sago over and bake until the apples are cooked. Eat with wine sauce or hard sauce.

=Cocoa-nut Custard.=--One pound grated cocoa-nut, one pint of rich milk, and six ounces of sugar. Beat the yelks of six eggs, and stir them into the milk with the nut and sugar. Put into a farina-kettle, or into a small pail which you can set into a kettle of boiling water; stir all the time till very smooth and thick; as soon as it comes to a hard boil, take off and pour into cups.

=Apple Pudding.=--One pint of stewed and sifted apples, three eggs well beaten, whites and yelks separate, sugar enough to make the apple quite sweet, one cup of stoned raisins rolled in flour; half-pint each of milk and cream or condensed milk, and a little salt and nutmeg.

=Sauce.=--One cup of sugar and half a cup of butter, rubbed to a cream; the white of one egg well beaten, a little nutmeg or orange, and when ready to serve, stir in two great spoonfuls of boiling water; if preferred, add half a gill of wine instead of orange juice.

=Nice Cheap Pudding.=--One quart of milk, four table-spoonfuls of flour, four eggs, six table-spoonfuls of sugar, nutmeg. Steam three fourths of an hour.

=Orange Pudding.=--Peel five oranges; cut in thin slices; take out all the seeds. Pour over them a large cupful of white sugar. Bring a pint of rich milk to a boil in a farina-kettle; wet a table-spoonful of corn-starch in a little cold milk; beat the yelks of three eggs and pour them into the boiling milk, stirring all the time. When it thickens a little, pour over the fruit. Beat the whites to a stiff foam; add a table-spoonful of white sugar, and pour over the top; set it in the oven a few minutes to harden, but do not brown it. Eaten hot or cold for dinner or tea. Substitute berries or peaches for oranges, if you prefer.

=Custard without Eggs.=--To one quart of new milk one teaspoonful of rennet wine, or a small piece of rennet, a little lemon, nutmeg, or vanilla, or any spice you prefer, and one table-spoonful of sugar to each quart of milk. If too sweet, the milk will not set firmly or quickly. Stir all together, and set by the stove or near the fire; cover closely. It should begin to stiffen in an hour. If it does not, add more wine, or rennet. When firm, before the whey separates, take out the piece of rennet if the skin was used, and set on ice till dinner. To be eaten with sugar and rich cream. Nutmeg is always an improvement, even if lemon or vanilla is used.

The wine rennet is nicer than simply the skin, and it is a good idea to keep a bottle of wine with a piece of rennet in always on hand, as it is often desirable to have it ready.

=A Quick Pudding.=--Bring a quart of milk to the boiling point in a farina-kettle or a pail set into boiling water; add a small teaspoonful of salt, two table-spoonfuls of rice or wheat flour, wet smooth with cold milk. Stir this in as soon as the milk boils. Stir it a few minutes till perfectly smooth, and let it remain in the outside vessel of boiling water half an hour. Be sure and keep the water in receiver or saucepan boiling hard around the inner one all the time. Eat with butter and sugar, or thick cream and sugar.

This is very healthful, especially in the summer, and invaluable for invalids, or children suffering with summer complaint. When used as a remedy or preventive, it should boil longer, say one hour.

=Rice Meringue.=--Pick over one teacup of rice, wash clean, and boil in water until it is soft. When done, drain all the water from it. Let it get cool and then add one quart of new milk, the well-beaten yelks of three eggs, three table-spoonfuls of white sugar, and a little nutmeg; pour into a baking-dish and bake half an hour. Let it get cold; then beat the whites stiff, add two great spoonfuls of sugar, flavor with lemon or vanilla, and spread it over the pudding, and slightly brown it in the oven. Be careful not to let it scorch.

=Sago Pudding.=--One dozen tart apples, one and a half cups of sago, soak the sago in water till soft; peel and core the apples and place in a dish; fill the apples with sugar, a very little cinnamon and nutmeg, pour the sago over, and bake until the apples are cooked. Eat with wine or hard sauce.

=Lemon or Orange Honeycomb.=--Sweeten the juice of two oranges or lemons. Beat the whites of two eggs into a quart of rich cream, and whisk it; as the froth rises, skim off and lay on the lemon or orange juice. Whisk until you have the whole frothed and laid on the juice. It makes a pretty and agreeable dish. It should be prepared the day before needed, and set in a cool place.

=Apple Snow.=--Stew fine flavored, sour apples; sweeten and flavor to suit your taste; strain, and to one quart of sifted apples allow the whites of four eggs. Whisk them to a stiff froth; then put the apple and whites together, and continue to whip until they are so stiff you can turn the dish upside down without the mass falling off. Eat with cream or with bread and milk.

=Snow Pudding.=--Dissolve one box Cox’s gelatine in one pint of boiling water; add two cups sugar and the juice of one lemon; strain when nearly cold; beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth, add them to the gelatine; beat all well together and put into a mold to shape it and let it get cold. Then take the yelks of three eggs, beat and add to a pint of rich milk, one teaspoonful corn-starch, flavor with vanilla, and boil in a farina-kettle. When you wish to serve, empty the mold of gelatine, etc. into the dish, and pour the custard over. In boiling the custard, be careful not to cook it too much; stir all the time, and the moment it begins to set or thicken remove it. If cooked too long it will whey.

=Cocoa-nut Pudding or Pies.=--Break the nut, save the milk; take out the meat and grate it very fine; take equal weight of sugar and cocoa-nut, and half the quantity of butter; rub the butter and sugar to a cream; take five eggs, whites and yelks beaten separately very stiff; one cup of milk and the milk of the cocoa-nut, and a little grated lemon. Line the dish with a nice paste, put in the pudding, and bake one hour. Cover the rim with paper to prevent burning. This receipt will answer equally as well for pies as for pudding. It will make three pies.

=Bohemian Cream.=--Four ounces of any fruit you choose, which has been steamed soft and sweetened. Pass the fruit through a sieve, and add one and a half ounces of melted or dissolved isinglass to a half-pint of fruit; mix it well together; then whip a pint of rich cream, and add the fruit and isinglass gradually to it. Then pour it all into a mold; set it on ice or in a cool place, and when hardened or set, dip the mold a moment in warm water, and turn it out on a dish, ready for the table.

=Spanish Cream.=--Dissolve three quarters of an ounce Cox’s gelatine in one half-pint of water; take one pint milk, one pint cream, the well-beaten yelks of five eggs, five table-spoonfuls of sugar. Sift all well together. Flavor with vanilla, lemon, or orange, or any flavor most agreeable. Put into a farina-kettle and boil till it just begins to turn. If done too much it will be watery, or wheyey, which spoils it. When thickened like a smooth rich cream, stir in the dissolved gelatine, pour into molds, and set in the refrigerator or a very cool place to harden. Beat up the whites of the eggs and pour over the top of the cream after you have removed it from the mold to the glass dish, for the table.

=Rennet Wine.=--Buy a dried rennet in market, or get a fresh one from the butcher’s and prepare and dry it yourself. When well dried and cured, cut it in pieces of one or two inches; put it into a large bottle and fill up with Madeira wine; for a good-sized rennet add from three pints to two quarts of wine. It will keep for a year or two.

=Cold Custard.=--Warm one quart of milk as warm as when just milked; sweeten and flavor to suit your taste; stir into it two table-spoonfuls of rennet wine, and turn it at once into the dish in which it is to be sent to table.

=Baked Apples.=--Core some Baldwin pippins, or any other fine-flavored tart apple. Sprinkle sugar on the bottom of a deep dish, and set the apples into the dish with two or three on top. Fill the holes with sugar; cover the lower apples with water, and bake one hour. A little cinnamon, nutmeg, or lemon will be an improvement for those who like fruit seasoned.

=Apple Snow.=--Stew some fine-flavored sour apples tender, sweeten to taste; strain them through a fine wire sieve, and break into one pint of strained apples the white of an egg; whisk the apple and egg very briskly, till quite stiff, and it will be as white as snow; eaten with a nice boiled custard, it makes a very desirable dessert.

Season with a very little nutmeg and cinnamon, add a little butter, and bake in good pastry, and you will have a very good apple pie.

PRESERVES AND JELLIES.

=To Can Peaches.=--We find the following mode of canning peaches in “Tilton’s Journal of Horticulture,” published in Boston. That journal is always so reliable, that we have no hesitation in giving these directions to our readers: “Take large ripe peaches,--not over-ripe,--halve and pare neatly and lay on a large meat-dish. To a three-peck basket of fruit allow four pounds of sifted sugar; sprinkle it over the fruit as you lay it in the dish; when done set it in a cool place overnight; the next morning fit each piece, one by one, nicely into the jar, draining them from the juice. When the jars are all filled put them close together in a kettle of cold water, putting a double towel or something of the kind under them, in the bottom of the kettle, to prevent their cracking, and set over the fire. Let the water heat gradually till it boils, while you prepare the syrup from the juice that has been formed from the peaches and sugar overnight, then fill up the jars with it, being careful to let the bubbles of air escape; they will be seen rising to the top; if any are in the lower part of the jar they will rush up on the insertion of a fork. When all are full begin to seal up, and have a large pan of hot water standing near to put the jars in as fast as sealed, where they can cool off gradually.

“Where one has glass jars or bottles, without tight-fitting covers, prepare a cement of one pound rosin to two pounds of mutton-suet, melted together and well mixed; have pieces of strong muslin cut large enough to tie over the mouths of the jars or bottles; lay the muslin on a board and with a spoon spread over a thick coating of cement; take up the muslin quickly, before it has time to cool, and put it on the jar with the cement side downward, pressing it closely over the sides. If the muslin is not very thick it is well to spread more cement on top of the first cover, and lay over that a second piece of muslin, then tie down with twine and finish with a good coat of cement over all. This is a good way to use up old jars whose covers have been broken or lost.”

=Mixed Marmalade.=--Apples or pears mixed with quince make very pleasant marmalade. They should be pared and cut in small pieces; just cover them with water, or boil the cores and skins first and use the liquor to boil the fruit in; stew the fruit till it can be mashed with a wooden spoon; when well mashed add the sugar, three fourths of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit (of course the fruit is weighed before beginning to cook); let it cook slowly for two or three hours, the longer it cooks the more solid it will be when cold. Pear, quince, and apple marmalade are made in the same way. With pears, if very mild, many add the juice and grated rind of lemons, to suit the taste, to the sugar.

=Jellies.=--In making jellies of apricots, quinces, peaches, apples, or plums, peel, remove the stones or cores, cut in pieces, cover with water and boil gently till well cooked; then strain the juice gently through a jelly-bag, and add a half-pint of sugar to a pint of juice (for _berries_ a _pound_ of sugar to a pint of juice); boil till it ropes from the spoon, or from fifteen to twenty minutes. In making raspberry jelly, use one third currants and two thirds raspberries.

=Peach Jelly.=--Cut peaches in half, peel them, and take out the pits from the stones; make a clear syrup of a pound of white sugar to half a teacup of water. When made and boiling hot put in the peaches and part of the pits,--too many pits give a bitter flavor,--boil gently ten minutes, then put half of the peaches on a platter, and boil the other half ten minutes longer; mix with the liquor of the peaches the strained juice of three lemons or oranges, and one ounce of isinglass or Cox’s gelatine, that has been first dissolved and strained; fill the molds half full of jelly, let it stand till set, then add the rest of the peaches, and fill the molds with jelly. One dozen peaches will make a good-sized moldful. It is a very handsome table ornament, and very palatable.

=Quince Jelly.=--Boil the quince peelings, cores, and such of the fruit as you do not wish to can till soft, in just enough water to cover; then put into jelly-bags wrung out of hot water; hang the bags by strings on a stick laid across two chairs or benches, with a dish underneath, and let it drain without squeezing till the juice is all run out; then to every pint of juice weigh three quarters of a pound of sugar, put it into a large platter or a deep dish, and set in the oven to get hot, _but not browned_, while the juice in the preserving-kettle is brought to a boil; when it begins to boil skim clear, and then pour in the hot sugar, stir all well together, skim clear, boil fifteen minutes, and dip into hot jelly-glasses.

=To Preserve Quinces.=--Select the fairest quinces, pare, cut in half, and remove the core neatly; then weigh, using a quarter of a pound of sugar to one of fruit; boil the quinces until tender in enough water to cover them, and when done take carefully up on a platter. To make your syrup, use half a pint of the water in which the fruit was boiled to each pound of sugar. When skimmed clear, boil the quinces in the syrup five minutes; have the cans hot, and fill while the fruit and syrup are boiling hot; seal each can, or close the covers tightly, as fast as filled.

=Candied Orange Peel.=--Cut the fruit into quarters lengthwise, take out the pulp and put the peels in strong salt and water for two days, then take them out and soak for an hour in cold water, after which put them into a preserving-kettle with fresh cold water and boil till the peels are tender, when they should be put on a sieve to drain. Make a thin syrup of a quart of the water in which they were boiled and a pound of sugar, and simmer the peels in it for half an hour, when they will look clear; pour the peels and syrup into a bowl together, to stand till the next day, when you must make as much syrup as will cover them, of the proportion of a pound of sugar to a pint of water, boiling it till it will fall from the spoon in threads; put the peels into this syrup, boil half an hour, then take them out, drain on a sieve, and as the candy dries transfer them to a dish to finish in a warm place. When dry, store them for use. This receipt is useful for any lemon, orange, or citron peel, and perfectly wholesome.

=Apple and Quince Sauce.=--Pare, quarter, and core one peck of sweet apples and half a peck of quinces; then weigh both together; save all the cores and peels that are free from specks or worms; put these into a preserving-kettle, just cover with water, and boil twenty minutes; strain and pour the liquor over the quinces, cover closely, and let it boil till about half done, then add the apples; stir occasionally to prevent its burning, being careful to break the pieces as little as possible. When done so that a straw or knitting-needle will pass easily, add half a pound of sugar to every pound of fruit, stir it in gently, cover again closely, and leave it on the back part of the stove to simmer a short time, say twenty minutes, till the sugar is thoroughly incorporated with the fruit. Then pack in stone pots and cover closely. It is a very excellent substitute for apple-butter, and to most tastes more palatable.

=Apple Sauce.=--Take sweet cider, as soon as it comes from the cider-press, before it has passed through any change. Boil it down nearly half; then pare and quarter as many of the best sour apples as you wish to “do up”; cover them with the cider when boiling hot, and cook till well done; but not so as to lose their shape. Most of the cider will be absorbed by the apples. What remains can be bottled for future use. When done, put into jars, and cover or cement.

Or, if only needed for daily sauce, let the apples boil longer, stirring often, until it becomes like marmalade.

This makes not only a most delicious sauce, but is very healthful, as all the nourishment of the apples from which the cider is made is retained, and the stimulating or alcoholic properties are dispelled by boiling before fermentation takes place, and we lose the sharp, biting taste of the old _apple-butter_ made from boiled cider.

=Baked Pears.=--Take ripe pears, juicy and of a good flavor,--not ripe enough to be very soft. Wipe them clean, put them into a stone jar, stems upward; when the bottom of the jar is covered, sprinkle over sugar (the nature of the pear must determine the quantity of sugar needed; some are so sweet that they require but little). Set in another layer of pears; add more sugar, and so on till the jar is full. Put in a pint and a half of water for every gallon that the jar contains; cover the top of the jar with a paste of simple flour and water, and bake in a slow oven two hours.

CHEESE.

_Stilton Cheese_ is one of the richest kinds. The cream of one day’s milk is added to the warm new milk of the next. In England they are made in a deep hoop or vat containing from eight to ten pounds, and are not considered of proper age for the table till two years old. Little blue spots through the cheese, not at all like those on common moldy cheese, is the test of ripeness. We have seen them made in a two-quart hoop. They require very careful handling, and are very fine (we think more agreeable) at a year old than when left to the age that epicures love best in cheese.

The _Cottenham Cheese_ is a variety of cream cheese manufactured in Cottenham, near Cambridgeshire, that is considered superior to the Stilton, as the herbage upon which the cows feed gives the milk a peculiar fragrance.

The _Parmesan_ is made in several parts of Lombardy. It is quite celebrated. Many suppose it is made from goat’s milk, but it is simply from cow’s milk skimmed. The meadows of the Po are noted for extremely rich herbage, and the peculiarities of the Parmesan cheese are owing in part to this, together with the mode of manufacturing it. Half the milk to be used is allowed to stand sixteen hours, the other half but six. It is then heated and coagulated in a boiler, and broken up fine, without removing, by sticks with cross-wires; then scalded once more till the curd has separated from the whey and become quite firm. It is then taken out, drained, salted, and pressed. The best Parmesan cheese is kept four years before cutting.

The _Cheddar_ is similar to the Parmesan; but very little of the best quality is now made, and that which is generally imported for it is inferior.

The _Dunlop_ is one of the best Scottish cheeses, made only of new milk, but there is nothing peculiar in the mode of making it.

A peculiar kind of cheese in Lincolnshire is known in London as _New Cheese_. It is made wholly from cream, or sometimes morning’s milk, warm from the cow, is used, and the cream of the day before added to it. It is made quite thin, pressed gently two or three times, then left to _cure_ for a few days, when it is ready to be sent to market for immediate use. It is greatly esteemed for eating with radish and salad. This cheese is easily made in any family when sufficient cream can be spared. Stir in a table-spoonful of rennet to a quart of warm cream; when the curd is “set,” spread a cloth over a sieve and lay the curd into it to stand for twenty-four hours, when it may be put into a small hoop, a wet cloth and a board laid on top, to press and drain it a little, and in a few hours it will be ready for use.

The _Swiss Cheese_ has a peculiar flavor and richness, which can be gained only from the mountain pastures. Some varieties are mottled and highly flavored by the bruised leaves of the melilot.

In _Sage_ or _Green Cheese_, the curd is colored and flavored by bruising the fresh green leaves of sage, marigold, parsley, or corn leaves, and mixing with the curd. Among the Romans it was customary to flavor with thyme and other sweet herbs.

_Cream Cheese_ is simply cream dried sufficiently to be cut with a knife. Green rushes are plated or sewed together and laid on the bottom of the hoop, which must have holes all through it for the whey to run off freely. On these rushes a quantity of good thick cream is laid; another plait of rushes or Indian-corn leaves is put on top of the cheese, so that it may be turned without handling. The cheese should not be more than an inch to an inch and a half thick. The thinner it is made the sooner it ripens. It is now kept in a warm place for a few days to sweat or ripen, but it requires much care and good judgment, as too great heat or cold is injurious.

In Thuringia and Saxony a cheese is made of five pounds of the best _potatoes_, half steamed, pulverized and reduced to a pulp, and well beaten and mixed into ten pounds of sweet curd; a little salt is added, then it stands three or four days, and is again thoroughly broken up and kneaded, and then pressed into little baskets for the whey to drain off, then made into balls and dried in the shade. They keep well, and improve with age, and are said to excel in flavor the best cheeses made in Holland.

We are indebted for much information respecting foreign cheese to Webster’s “Encyclopedia of Domestic Economy,” a very useful and valuable work for all housekeepers.

=Cheese Straus.=--Quarter of a pound of puff paste, and a quarter of an ounce of good cheese, grated very fine, a little salt and cayenne pepper mixed with it. Sprinkle the cheese, salt, and pepper over the paste, and roll it out two or three times. Cut the paste into narrow strips about five inches long; bake in a slow oven, and serve very hot.

PICKLES.

=Peach Pickles.=--Select the finest and fairest fruit (we prefer Rareripes or Honest Johns to Morris Whites or Malacatoons, but that is a matter of taste), weigh the peaches, and for every pound of fruit take a full pound or slightly heaped quart of granulated sugar; put one gill of good cider vinegar and half a gill of water to every six pounds of sugar; put the vinegar and water into the preserving-kettle first, then add the sugar, set the kettle on the back part of the range or stove where it will dissolve gradually. While the sugar is melting prepare the peaches; pour boiling water over a few at a time, and then rub each one carefully with a soft towel to take off a thin skin without disfiguring the peach; as you peel throw them into cold water to prevent their turning black. When all are peeled, or if two are working at them, as one peels let the other stick a clove and two small pieces of cinnamon, or two or three cassia-buds into each peach, and occasionally put in two cloves, but not often, as too many cloves make them bitter. While preparing the sugar over the fire, and after waiting a suitable time, if you find it will not dissolve without more water, add some, but only a little at a time, say half a cupful. It is difficult to tell _just_ how much water is needed, as some sugar melts more readily and with less water than others; for this reason it is wise to add the water by degrees, as for sweet peach pickles it is desirable to use just as little water as possible. Bring the syrup to a boil just as soon as possible after you have all the fruit prepared; skim as fast as the scum rises, and when clear put in as many peaches as will cover the surface of the syrup without crowding and bruising; let them boil up for three or four minutes, turn over carefully in syrup that both sides may be cooked evenly, and then remove into two-quart stone jars, with nicely fitting covers, taking care not to break the fruit; dip out a cup or two of syrup to each jar, cover over and set on the side of the range to keep hot for a little while, till you have others filled to take their place. Fill each jar full of fruit. When all the peaches have been thus cooked and removed to jars, pour in as much syrup as they will hold and allow the cover to fit closely. Put them aside for three or four days, then drain off all the syrup and heat it again; when _boiling hot_ fill up the jars again, and cover up. Repeat the scalding again in a week’s time, unless you find the peaches were so ripe as to have cooked enough to endanger their falling to pieces. In that case another scalding would injure them. To seal up jars, cut a piece of old cotton or linen, large enough to cover over the top and come half an inch over the side, leaving it loose so the cover will fit in, dip the cloth in the white of egg to seal it down over the edge, place on the cover, then wet plaster of Paris quite soft and spread over the top and so far over the sides as to cover the cloth. The plaster hardens immediately, and you have a solid cover at once, and air-tight; wet only as much at a time as will be needed for one jar, as it stiffens so soon. Put on sufficient to entirely bury the stone cover.

=Pickled Plums.=--Prick the plums with a sharp needle, else they will fall to pieces badly when you put in hot syrup; tie the cloves and cassia-buds in a cloth, or throw loose into the syrup, instead of sticking them into the plums. Of course they are not thrown into boiling water like peaches, as it is desirable to preserve them as whole and perfect as possible. Except in these two particulars, proceed as with the peaches.

For extra rich pickles, when boiling the syrup the second time, add one third more sugar than was used to make the first syrup. This gives a very rich fine flavor; the small amount of vinegar used at first prevents its being too sweet.

Some prefer peaches, when pickled, quite sour. In that case a pint of vinegar and three pounds of sugar to every seven pounds of peaches is the common proportion, with cloves and cassia-buds or cinnamon, as in the first receipt; cassia-buds are milder and less _woody_ in taste than cinnamon.

Pears and crab-apples, prepared like peaches, make a fine pickle.

=Green Tomato Pickles.=--Slice half a peck of full-grown tomatoes just ready to turn red. They are more crisp if you can secure them after there has been almost a frost, not enough to turn the vines black. Slice very thin, cut off the blossom and stem ends and throw away. For every gallon of sliced tomatoes take twelve large green peppers,--the bell pepper is the best. Put a layer of sliced tomatoes into an earthen or wooden dish, then a layer of peppers, sprinkle over a handful of salt, then more tomatoes and peppers, adding salt to each layer till all are put in. A pint of salt is sufficient for a gallon. Press this down and place a weight on the plate or wooden cover. A metal cover will not answer. Let it stand till morning, when it should be put in a sieve or hung up in a strainer to drain. Put three quarts of best cider vinegar over the fire to scald. Tie up in a cloth two cups of white mustard-seed, half a cup of sliced horse-radish, half an ounce of whole cloves, and the same of cinnamon and allspice, and throw into the vinegar. When the brine has all drained from the tomatoes, pack them closely in a stone pot and pour the boiling spice and vinegar over it. Lay over them a plate small enough to fit inside the pot, and put a smooth clean stone on the plate to keep the pickle under the vinegar. Let it stand a few days, and then scald again. Some like part of the spices sprinkled through the tomatoes rather than have all tied in a bag. Some prefer the spices ground, and many prefer the tomatoes and peppers chopped, not very fine, rather than sliced. Either way they make a fine pickle.

=To Pickle Green Tomatoes.=--Slice thin in separate plates green tomatoes and onions; allow half a dozen of large green peppers to one peck of tomatoes. Take a large earthen or wooden bowl and lay in a layer of tomatoes and a layer of onions, sprinkling in a table-spoonful of salt to each layer; continue this until you have packed together all you wish to pickle. Then turn a large plate or clean dry board over the tomatoes, and put some heavy weight, a stone, on top and let it stand till morning; then drain off all the salt and juice, and pour over boiling vinegar, strongly spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and very little allspice and ginger, which should be tied in a little bag, and removed when the vinegar is poured over; cover close and let them stand a week, when the vinegar should be poured off, the pickles thoroughly drained, and cold vinegar poured over the tomatoes. Some chop the onions pretty fine after they are drained from the salt.

=Pickled Nasturtiums.=--Gather the seed when green and not fully grown, and drop them into vinegar as you pick them. When you have a sufficient quantity scald the whole in vinegar, and bottle them or soak them twelve hours in brine; then drain and pour over boiling vinegar, with whole black peppers and allspice tied in a bag. They are often used as substitutes for capers, and the flowers and young seeds are used in salads.

=Pickled Cauliflower.=--Select the most perfect; break off the flowers, as they would naturally part. Put a layer of them in a jar and sprinkle over salt; then another layer of cauliflower; then salt, and so on. Let them soak two days; then wash off the salt and let them drain well; then pack in a jar or bottle, and pour over boiling spiced vinegar. In a few days, if necessary, heat the vinegar again, and pour over them, and cover or cork closely.

=Tomato Pickles.=--Slice half a peck of green tomatoes very thin; sprinkle over them half a pint of salt; slice half a dozen onions and three large peppers full grown, but before they have turned red; add these to the tomatoes; let them stand twenty-four hours, then drain them perfectly free of the liquor or brine; mix with them one table-spoonful of black pepper, one of allspice, one of mustard, half a table-spoonful of cloves, and the same of cinnamon all finely powdered; to this add a quarter-pound of whole mustard-seed; stir all well together and just cover with good cider vinegar. Boil this mixture until as thick as jam, stirring often to prevent its burning.

=To Pickle Onions.=--Choose all of a size; peel and pour on them boiling salt and water; cover close, and when cold drain the onions, and put them into jars or bottles. For white onions, fill up with hot distilled vinegar; for colored onions, use white wine vinegar; for both, add ginger, two or three blades of mace and whole pepper. If the onions are soaked in milk a little while after peeling, it will preserve their color.

Another way is to soak the onions in brine three or four days, then drain and pour on cold boiled vinegar, with spices. This will insure their being crisp.

=To Pickle Red Cabbage.=--Select the purple-red cabbage, take off the outside leaves, quarter, and take out the stalk, then shred the cabbage into a colander or small basket, and sprinkle with common salt. Let it remain a day or two, then drain and put into jars; fill up with boiling vinegar, spiced with ginger and black pepper, in the same proportions as for the cucumbers, and add a few slices of red beet-root; some add a few grains of powdered cochineal. If the vinegar is _boiled_, and then allowed to stand until cold before pouring over the cabbage, it will better insure its crispness, but will not keep so well as if put on boiling hot.

=Cucumber Pickles.=--The small long kind are the best for pickling, and those but half grown are nicer than the full grown. Let them be freshly gathered; pull off the blossom; but do not rub them; pour over them a strong brine boiling hot; cover close, and let them stand all night. The next day put your hand in the jar or tub and stir gently, to remove all sand; drain on a sieve, and then dry in a cloth. Make a pickle with the best cider vinegar, adding spice in the following proportions: To each quart of vinegar put half an ounce of whole black pepper, the same of ginger and allspice, and one ounce of mustard-seed. If the flavor is agreeable, add four shalots and two cloves of garlic to a gallon of vinegar. When this pickle boils up, throw in the cucumbers, and make them boil as quickly as possible three or four minutes. Put them in a jar with the boiling vinegar, and cover closely. When cold, put in a sprig of _dill_, the seed downward, if you like it. Made in this way they will be tender, crisp, and green. If the color is not quite clear enough, pour off the vinegar the next day; boil up, and pour over the cucumbers; cover perfectly tight.

=To Pickle small Cucumbers and Gherkins.=--Choose small perfect gherkins or cucumbers; spread on platters, mix a small bit of alum, pulverized, with salt, and cover them; let them lie in this a week. Then drain them, put them into a jar, cover with boiling vinegar, and cover it thick with grape-leaves. Set them near the fire. If they do not become tolerably green after an hour or so, pour the vinegar into another jar, set it on the hot range or hearth until too hot to bear your hand in it, but do not let it _boil_, then pour again over the pickles, cover with fresh leaves; repeat this till they are as green as you wish.

=Tomato Catsup.=--Wash and drain two bushels of fair, ripe tomatoes; cut out the stems and any imperfect spot; put the fruit into a kettle, giving each one a squeeze to break the skin as you throw them in (a brass kettle, _scoured perfectly bright_, is the best, as being less likely to burn on the bottom than the porcelain kettle). Cut up twelve ripe bell-peppers and as many onions, and put with the tomatoes. Set the kettle over the fire and let the fruit cook two hours, stirring often from the bottom to prevent the tomatoes sticking or burning. Then strain through a wire sieve, or better still a patent scoop and sieve combined, made of tin; with a _crank_ or handle to turn the paddle, which easily presses the juice and meat through the strainer at the bottom, leaving seeds and skins inside. When strained, add a pint and a half of salt, a quart of vinegar, three table-spoonfuls of ground cinnamon, three of black pepper, two of cloves, two of allspice, two of mace, and one of ginger. Boil slowly twelve hours. Of course it cannot be finished in one day; but at night must be emptied from the kettle into large wooden or earthen bowls, covered over closely, and left to stand till morning. The brass kettle should be well cleaned and dried as soon as emptied, that no verdigris may form in or around it, and to be all ready for use the next day. In the morning put the catsup up into the kettle again, and boil slowly all day, or till as thick as rich cream, so that no clear liquid will rise to the top. Stir often from the bottom; as it thickens it will stick to the bottom if not carefully stirred, and scorch very easily. That will spoil the whole. It is well to turn a plate down on the bottom of the kettle, it will not burn so readily. People differ so in their ideas of seasoning--some like food very fiery and highly seasoned, while others like very little--that it is not possible to give the exact amount of spices. We have given a medium quantity which, by tasting, can be varied to suit your own taste. When cooked sufficiently the catsup should be put into strong bottles tightly corked and tied down. Very little danger of bursting the bottles or forcing the cork out. None that we have ever tried have done so. In hot weather, if kept too damp, it may sour; but we have now some made last summer as good as the new.

MISCELLANEOUS HINTS.

=To Make Tea.=--There is very little skill required in making tea, and yet very few have it well prepared. It is important that the water should be _boiling_, not simply scalding; if it is not, the tea will be worthless. For English breakfast tea it is best to allow two heaped teaspoonfuls for each person. Either put the tea into a perfectly dry pot, and set it on the corner of the range till heated through, before adding the water, or fill the teapot with _boiling_ water and let it stand till thoroughly hot; and then empty it out and put in the tea. This done, pour on two cups of _boiling, bubbling_ hot water, set it on a range or a trivet over a spirit lamp, and let it boil two minutes; then add a teacup of boiling water for every person, and let it boil again for three or four minutes. Put into the teacups sugar and milk according to the taste of those who are to use the tea, and fill up with the boiling tea. When the cups are once filled, put more boiling water to the tea in the same proportion, and again set the pot on the trivet to boil again three or four minutes. The last will be nearly if not quite as good as the first drawing, some prefer it; but in no case fail to have _really boiling_ water.

In making oolong or green teas, less tea is needed, and much less boiling. In both cases it is well to put the tea into a perfectly dry teapot, and set it where it will get hot before the water is put in, or fill the teapot with boiling water, cover close till thoroughly heated, then pour out the water and put in the tea before the pot has time to cool, and then cover the tea with boiling water. Set it where it will simmer, _not_ boil, five minutes before using.

_The tea-tree_, or shrub, commonly grows from three to six feet high; but in its wild or native state it is said to reach twenty-four feet. In China it is cultivated in numerous small plantations. It resembles the myrtle in the form of the leaf and general appearance. The blossoms are not unlike those of the wild rose, but smaller, white, and very fragrant. The blossoms are succeeded by soft green capsules, containing from one to three white seeds. These capsules are crushed for oil, which is in general use in China.

=Substitute for Milk in Tea and Coffee.=--Beat up one egg to every coffee-cupful of tea or coffee. Put it in a cup and pour over it very gradually the tea or coffee, very hot, stirring all the time to prevent the egg from curdling.

=Bread Crumbs.=--Be very careful that no piece of bread, that can be used, is wasted. Gather all waste or broken pieces, put them in a clean dish, and set into the “heater,” if you have one to your stove or range; if not, into the oven after the cooking for the day is done, leaving the door open that the pieces may not burn. When thoroughly dried roll them fine on a board, and with a rolling-pin kept expressly for the purpose, as it makes a pastry board and pin rough to roll any hard substance. Sift the crumbs through a colander, and keep them in a stone pot, in a dry place, covered closely, or put in a linen bag and hung up in a cool place. They are excellent to use in cooking many things, as well as for stuffing, and you cannot save too large a quantity. If well dried and properly aired, they will keep a year, and be as sweet as when first rolled, and, aside from the economy, are a great convenience.

GLEANINGS.

=To Clean Kid Gloves.=--Have ready a little new milk in one saucer, a piece of white soap in another, and a clean cloth folded two or three times. On the cloth spread out the glove smooth and neat. Take a piece of flannel, dip it in the milk, then rub off a good quantity of soap on the wetted flannel, and commence to rub the glove toward the fingers, holding it firmly with the left hand. Continue this process until the glove, if white, looks of a dingy yellow, though clean; if colored, till it looks dry and spoiled. Lay it to dry, and the operator will soon be gratified to see that the old glove looks nearly new. It will be soft, glossy, smooth, and elastic.

=To Keep Grapes.=--The Chinese have a curious method of preserving grapes, so as to have them at command during the entire year. It consists in cutting a circular piece out of a ripe pumpkin or gourd, making an aperture large enough to admit the hand. The interior is next completely cleaned out, the ripe grapes are placed inside, and the cover replaced and pressed in firmly. The pumpkins are then kept in a cool place, and the grapes will be found to retain their freshness for a very long time.

=To Clean Oil-Cloths.=--Do not use soap, or scour with a brush, but wash with soft flannel and lukewarm water; wipe perfectly dry. Then wring a clean cloth out of skimmed milk, and wipe the oil-cloth over, moving the cloth one way, straight across, not round in circles or waves, and finish with a clean, dry cloth. In this way you can keep the oil-cloth looking fresh and new, and it will last much longer than if washed with soap and scrubbed with a brush.

=Fill your Lamps in the Morning.=--Scarcely a week passes but we read accounts of frightful accidents from kerosene lamps exploding and killing or scarring for life men, women, and children. A simple knowledge of the inflammable nature of the liquid will probably put a stop to nearly all the accidents. As the oil burns down in the lamp, highly inflammable gas gathers over its surface, and as the oil decreases the gas increases. When the oil is nearly consumed, a slight jar will inflame the gas, and an explosion is sure to follow. A bombshell is no more to be dreaded. Now, if the lamp is not allowed to burn more than half-way down, such accidents are almost impossible. Always fill your lamp every morning, and then you need never fear an explosion.

=Colored Silk.=--Mix equal parts of soft soap, alcohol, and molasses. Cover a table with a clean cloth, spread the article to be cleansed on smooth, and, holding firmly with one hand, sponge it thoroughly with this mixture. If the silk is spotted with grease or stains, give the spots an extra sponging. When the silk has been well sponged, rinse in tepid water twice, and finish with a third rinsing in cold water. Have your irons hot, and iron the silk immediately as it is taken from the last water. Of course if a dress is to be cleansed, it will be first ripped apart and each piece sponged, rinsed, and ironed, before the next is touched. It is a great convenience when two persons can work together in doing this,--one to sponge, while the second rinses and irons. This compound for cleansing silk does not sound inviting, but _try it_. We have washed the most delicate colors,--blues, violets, etc.,--and unless the color is entirely taken out, or paint been transferred to the silk, it is surprising how like a new silk the dress can be made to look. Cashmeres or merinoes of the finest color can be thus cleansed and made to look like new; but they should be rinsed in hot water.

=To Remove Fruit Stains.=--A solution of chloride of soda will remove peach and all fruit or vegetable stains, and is also excellent in removing mildew; but for this it must be applied several times, and exposed to the sun, while fruit can be removed by it instantly. Of course it can only be used for white cotton or linen goods. It is perfectly harmless if well rinsed in clear water immediately after using.

=Bee or Wasp Stings.=--Wet some cut tobacco and lay it on the sting. In five minutes it will be cured. Always keep cut tobacco in the house for such emergencies. It is invaluable and sure.

=To Preserve Brooms.=--Wet the broom every week in boiling suds, and it will be toughened by it, will last much longer, will not cut the carpet, and will sweep as elastic as a new broom.

=Glossy Starch.=--Put two ounces of white gum-arabic powder into a pitcher; pour over it a pint of boiling water, stir well and cover it up; let it stand overnight. In the morning pour it from the dregs into a clean bottle, and keep for use. A table-spoonful of this stirred into a pint of starch made in the usual manner will give your lawns, either black or printed, a new look, which nothing else can give, after being once washed. Much diluted, it is excellent for thin white muslin.

=Salt for Nuts.=--Many people find nuts of all kinds injurious, and some are made seriously ill by them. It is said, and we think truly, if a little salt be used with them it will prevent any injury or inconvenience arising from their use.

=To Take Ink Stains from Mahogany.=--Put a few drops of nitre in a teaspoonful of water. Touch the ink-spot with a feather dipped in the mixture; and as soon as the ink disappears, rub it instantly with a cloth wet in cold water, or there will be a white mark left, which will be difficult to remove.

=To Keep Quinces.=--Gather the fruit at the usual time, then put carefully into barrels so as not to bruise, rejecting all but the perfectly sound; then fill with water, head up, and put in the cellar. They will keep all winter, retaining all the peculiar qualities and flavor of fresh quinces.

=Fruit Stains.=--When berries and fruits of all kinds are in season, the housekeeper will find it necessary to look carefully after the stains. They are easily removed if attended to at once, but if left to dry for a day or two it will be a more difficult work. Stretch the stained spot tightly over a deep bowl or pail, and pour over it _boiling_ hot water, letting it filter through till the stain disappears. The water must be really _boiling_, not simply scalding. If the article has been thrown into suds before looking after the stains, the hot water will not destroy them. In that case wet the stain, and while wet spread over the spot some chloride of lime, lay the piece on the grass, or hang on the clothes-line where the sun will strike through for a few minutes, and then wash and boil immediately. This is sure, but should be used with care and judgment or it will eat the cloth; but with proper oversight it is safe and reliable. Chloride of lime is largely used in bleaching linen, cotton, and silk in the different manufactures. In former times _chlorine_, or oxygenated muriatic gas, was used in bleaching, but its effect on the lungs of the workmen was very injurious. Since chloride of lime has been used instead of _chlorine_, it is considered safe for those employed in factories, and harmless in its effects on the goods bleached. In pickling, paring, or preserving fruit, the hands get badly stained. Rub them in lemon-juice; wet your nail-brush in the juice and carefully brush your nails and hands; this will remove the stains effectually. A “bleaching liquid,” prepared from chloride of lime, is very effectual in removing all stains except those made by grease. Put four ounces of chloride of lime into a wide-mouthed quart bottle, add a little water and stir well with a stick, then fill the bottle nearly full with water, and let it stand corked for two weeks, that the chloride may dissolve. During this time some gas will be disengaged, and to prevent explosion or driving out the cork it will be well twice a day to remove the cork for an instant only, and as the gas has an extremely offensive smell it is important that care should be taken not to inhale it, as it is injurious to the lungs; when diffused through the apartment in small quantity it is not hurtful. After standing two weeks, the fluid portion should be poured off and kept in a bottle in a dark place, with paper wrapped around it, as light and air injure its properties. This fluid should be kept in every family, but servants ought not to be allowed to use it indiscreetly.

=Ink Stains.=--If _ink_ is spilled on clothes or carpet, do not allow it to dry, but as speedily as possible get _cotton batting_, and, wetting it in sweet milk, soak the spot and rub with the cotton. Wring the cotton out and soak again with milk, and if used when the ink is fresh it will soon remove it. This done, wash in warm soapsuds and rinse in clear warm water.

=Buying Furs.=--In purchasing furs, a sure test of what dealers call a prime fur is the length and density of the down next to the skin. This can be readily determined by blowing a brisk current of air from the mouth against the set of the fur. If the fibers open readily, exposing the skin to view, reject the article; but if the down is so dense that the breath cannot penetrate it, or at most shows but a small portion of the skin, the article may be accepted.

=Drying Umbrellas.=--Most people dry their umbrellas handle upwards. This concentrates the moisture at the tip where it is close, rusts the wire which secures the stretchers, and rots the cloth. After the umbrella is drained, it is better to invert it, and dry it in that position.

=A Tight Ring.=--To remove a tightly fitting ring from a finger, without pain, pass the end of a portion of rather fine twine underneath the ring, and evenly encircle the finger from below upward (as whipmakers bind lashes on) with the remainder, as far as the centre of the finger, then unwind the string from above downward by taking hold of the end passed under the ring, and it will be found the ring will gradually pass along the twine toward the tip of the finger.

=Scrubbing White Paint.=--As little soap as possible should be used with this, and that in the water and not on the cloth. It not only makes the paint yellow, but, after a little while, removes it altogether. A noted housekeeper would never allow either soap or hot water to be used on paint, except in case of grease. Cold water and a scrubbing-brush were her weapons of offence in waging warfare with dirt. This makes hard work, but it gives a very fresh look to paint, and saves soap and fire, if one is inclined to try it. For greasy spots use a very little soda (carbonate) in the first water, to be immediately rinsed off and wiped dry.

=How to Wash Graining.=--Take clear _warm_ water, a clean, white cloth, and wash a small place and wipe dry with another _clean white_ cloth. Do not wet any more space than you can dry immediately with your cloth, as it must not be left to dry in the atmosphere; it must be rubbed dry, hence the necessity for clean white cloths. If the paint has been neglected until very much soiled with greasy fingers, or specked with a summer’s growth of flies, a very little hard soap may be put in the first water, and then rinsed off with clear water; but avoid soap if you possibly can, as it dulls the varnish, however carefully used. On no account must it be rubbed on with a cloth.

Codfish should be purchased in small quantities, as they are disagreeable to have in the house. Even the desiccated codfish, that comes in boxes, cannot be kept so tightly covered as to secure us from the unpleasant smell. If kept in a dry place they grow hard, if in a damp place they will spoil. They must be changed from garret to cellar often to keep them in proper condition, and therefore it is better to get them only as needed.

Zante currants and stoneless or sultana raisins should be washed and dried when first bought, and then packed into jars for use. It is well to look them over occasionally, to see that they do not become wormy. If there should be any appearance of mold or worms, empty from the jars and spread on a cloth or paper to dry, in the warm sun or by the fire. When dry, repack.

Keep cheese in a dry place. A cheese-box with perforated wire sides is the best thing to put it in, as the air will circulate through it. When the cheese is cut wrap a cloth tightly about it to prevent its drying.

Smoked beef should be kept in a bag and hung up. Hams, also, when cut, should be tied into a cloth or bag and hung up in a cool dry place.

If strawberries, pineapples, and all delicate preserves are kept in a box and filled in with sand, they will keep better and longer. Sawdust or tan-bark is not good to fill in around them, as it gathers moisture and molds the preserves.

Keep the flour-barrel well covered with a close-fitting wooden cover. Hang the sifter on a nail over it, but never leave it in the barrel. Besides being untidy, the accumulation of flour, dough, or moisture from your hands will soon coat the sieve so that it cannot be used with ease, and in a short time make the flour musty or sour. It should be well washed and dried after the baking for each day is finished. No flour should be use unsifted, both from cleanliness and because the food will be lighter.

Indian meal should be kept in a cool, dry place, in a barrel or wooden pail, and stirred from the bottom often, particularly in warm weather, as it will readily become sour or musty. Never use without sifting.

Coffee should be bought by the bag or barrel, as it grows better by age.

Tea is cheaper by the box, but take out a pound canister at a time, and replacing the tin foil, nail the box up again.

Keep the canister always shut, as air injures the tea badly.

Raisins and starch are cheaper by the box; but raisins must be kept from heat or air, or they dry up and become almost worthless; and the starch must be kept covered to protect it from dust.

=Household Weights and Measures.=--Wheat flour, one pound is one quart.

Indian meal, one pound two ounces is one quart.

Butter, when soft, one pound one ounce is one quart.

Loaf sugar, broken, one pound is one quart.

White sugar, powdered, one pound one ounce is one quart.

Best brown sugar, one pound two ounces is one quart.

Eggs, average size, ten are one pound.

Liquid measure, sixteen table-spoonfuls are half a pint.

=To test Flour.=--Place a little in the palm of the hand, rub gently with the finger; if the flour smooths down, feeling slippery, it is inferior flour and will never make good bread, but if it rubs rough in the palm, feeling like fine sand, and has an orange hue, you may purchase it confidently. It will not disappoint you.

THE END.

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PRINCIPLES OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE: As applied to the Duties and Pleasures of Home. By CATHARINE E. BEECHER and HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. A compact 12mo volume of 390 pages, profusely illustrated; well printed, and bound in neat and substantial style. Price, $2.00.

Prepared with a view to assist in training young women for the distinctive duties which inevitably come upon them in household life, this volume has been made with especial reference to the duties, cares, and pleasures of _the family_, as being the place where, whatever the political developments of the future, woman, from her very nature of body and of spirit, will find her most engrossing occupation. It is full of interest for all intelligent girls and young women.

☞ The work has been heartily endorsed and adopted by the directors of many of the leading Colleges and Seminaries for young women as a text-book, both for study and reading.

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. From the date of the Discovery and Settlements on Manhattan Island to the Present Time. A Text-Book for High Schools, Academies, and Colleges. By S. S. RANDALL, Superintendent of Public Education in New York City. 12mo vol, 396 pages. Illustrated. Price, $1.75.

“This work contains so much valuable information that it should be found in every house in the State as a volume of reference. Its value for use in educational institutions is of a very high character.”--_Northern Budget, Troy (N. Y.)._

☞ Officially adopted by the Boards of Education in the cities of New York, Brooklyn, and Jersey City for use in the Public Schools, and also extensively used in Private Schools throughout the State, both as a text-book and alternate reader.

H. W. BEECHER’S WORKS. Uniform edition. This is a set of books long needed in the trade. It will include “Norwood,” “Lectures to Young Men,” “Eyes and Ears,” “Summer in the Soul,” the early “Star Papers,” a new edition of “Lecture-Room Talks,” and other works, embracing some which are now out of print, and for which there is constant call.

The first volumes issued in this new edition of Mr. Beecher’s minor works are

YALE LECTURES ON PREACHING,

Price, extra cloth, $1.25; half calf, $2.50; and a new edition of

LECTURES TO YOUNG MEN,

including several new lectures never before published, a new Introduction by the author, etc., etc. Price, extra cloth, $1.50; half calf, $3.00.

STAR PAPERS,

A new edition, including much new matter added to the original book. Price, extra cloth, $1.75; half calf, $3.25.

A FRESH BOOK BY GRACE GREENWOOD.

NEW LIFE IN NEW LANDS: NOTES OF WESTERN TRAVEL. Racy, sparkling, readable, full of wit and keen observation, it gives a series of brilliant pen pictures along the great route from the Mississippi to the Pacific. 12mo. 396 pp. Price, extra cloth, stamped cover, $2.00.

A BRILLIANT SUCCESS.

IN CONSTANT DEMAND! RAPID AND CONTINUED SALES!!

500 Volumes in One.

AGENTS WANTED

FOR THE

LIBRARY OF POETRY AND SONG,

BEING

Choice Selections from the Best Poets,

ENGLISH, SCOTCH, IRISH, AND AMERICAN, INCLUDING TRANSLATIONS FROM THE GERMAN, SPANISH, etc.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION

BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT,

_Under whose careful Supervision the Work was Compiled_.

In one Superb Large Octavo Volume of over 800 pages, well printed, on Fine Paper, and Illustrated with an admirable Portrait on Steel of Mr. Bryant, together with twenty-six Autographic Fac-Similes on Wood of Celebrated Poets, besides other choice Full-page Engravings, by the best Artists.

* * * * *

The handsomest and cheapest subscription book extant. _A Library of over =500= Volumes in one book_, whose contents, of no ephemeral nature or interest, will never grow old or stale. It can be, and will be, read and re-read with pleasure as long as its leaves hold together.

This book has been prepared with the aim of gathering into a single volume the largest practicable compilation of the best Poems of the English language, making it as nearly as possible the choicest and most complete general collection of Poetry yet published.

THE

“LIBRARY OF POETRY AND SONG”

Is a volume destined to become one of the most popular books ever printed. It is truly a people’s book. Its contents would cost hundreds of dollars in the books whence they are gleaned, English and American; and, indeed, although one possessed the volumes, the reading of such vast numbers of pages would be a labor not readily undertaken by most people, even those who appreciate poetry.

The New York Times,

A journal well known the country over for high literary excellence and correct taste, says:--

“This very handsome volume differs from all collections of ‘elegant extracts,’ parlor books, and the like, which we have seen, in being arranged according to an intelligible and comprehensive plan, in containing selections which nearly cover the entire historical period over which English poetry extends, and in embracing matter suited to every conceivable taste and every variety of feeling and culture. _We know of no similar collection in the English language which, in copiousness and felicity of selection and arrangement, can at all compare with it._... The volume is a model of typographical clearness.”

The Albany Evening Journal,

One of the oldest papers and highest literary standards in the country, says:--

“It is undoubtedly ‘the choicest and most complete general collection of poetry yet published.’ It will be deemed sufficient proof of the judicious character of the selections, and of their excellence, that ‘every poem has taken its place in the book only after passing the cultured criticism of Mr. William Cullen Bryant,’ whose portrait constitutes the fitting frontispiece of the volume. The work could have no higher indorsement. Mr. Bryant’s Introduction to the volume is a most beautiful and critical essay on poets and poetry, from the days of ‘the father of English poetry’ to the present time.... _No other selection we know of is as varied and complete as this_: and it must find its way into every library and household where poetry is read and appreciated.”

This book, supplying a real public need in an admirable manner, has constantly sold so fast that the publishers have had trouble to keep up their stock. It has won an INSTANT AND PERMANENT POPULARITY.

=Terms liberal.= Agents all like it, and buyers are more than pleased with it. ☞ Send for Circular and Terms to

J. B. FORD & CO., Publishers, 27 Park Place, New York.

=BRANCH OFFICES=: Boston, 11 Bromfield Street; Chicago, 75 West Washington Street; San Francisco, 339 Kearney Street.

A HOUSEHOLD BOOK.

NINE UNABRIDGED, WORLD-RENOWNED VOLUMES IN ONE.

AGENTS WANTED

FOR THE

LIBRARY OF FAMOUS FICTION,

EMBRACING THE

Nine Standard Masterpieces of Imaginative Literature

(UNABRIDGED),

_WITH AN INTRODUCTION_

BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.

BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED

With =34 Full-page Engravings=; executed by the best Artists in England and America; with an Illuminated Title-Page, Biographical Notice of each Author, etc.,--in one Elegant Large Octavo Volume of nearly =1,100 pages=, brilliantly printed on fine paper, handsomely and substantially bound.

In their present venture, the publishers congratulate themselves that the matter offered has been endorsed by the approval of the entire reading world for many generations. The remarkable success attending their _Library of Poetry and Song_, put forth under the auspices of that greatest American poet, WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, naturally suggested the idea of a corresponding _Library of Famous Fiction_, to be guaranteed and set before the public by the most popular American writer of fiction known to this day,--MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. Thus have been combined the nine great masterpieces of imaginative prose, embodying in a single convenient volume those Famous Fictions which have been admired and loved always, everywhere, and by all classes.

Their number is not large; their names rise spontaneously, and by common consent, in every mind: _Pilgrim’s Progress_; _Robinson Crusoe_; _The Vicar of Wakefield_; _Gulliver’s Travels_ (revised); _Paul and Virginia_; _Picciola_; _Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia_; _Undine_; _Vathek_; _and a Selection of Tales from the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments_. As MRS. STOWE says in her Introduction, “not a single one could be spared from this group, in gathering those volumes of fiction which the world, without dissent, has made _classic_.”

☞ Sold only by Subscription through our Agents. ☜

=TERMS LIBERAL.= Send for full description and business circulars, to

J. B. FORD & CO., Publishers, =27 Park Place, New York=.

=BRANCH OFFICES=: Boston, 11 Bromfield Street; Chicago, 75 West Washington Street; San Francisco, 339 Kearney Street.

SOLD ONLY BY AGENTS.

A BOOK FOR EVERYBODY!

The very remarkable success of this book is not strange, although it is having unprecedented sales.

THE LIFE

OF

JESUS THE CHRIST,

BY

HENRY WARD BEECHER.

From the Boston (Mass.) Traveller.

“This work has a deeper purpose to serve than that of mere ornament. It is the product of a life of thought and loving labor in study of the character and life of Jesus, and a remarkably successful career of presenting it to the popular mind in the ministry of the pulpit.

“The demand for this book will be great among the searchers after knowledge, and it will be a standard for Christian homes and libraries. It is destined to exert a tremendous influence, not only in this day and generation, but in all time.”

By the Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, LL. D., from an article in The Independent.

“That which first impresses one in Mr. Beecher’s book is the maturity of the work, both in its conception and in its execution. If any have expected to find in it rhetorical fancies struck out at extemporaneous heat, declamatory statements--‘the spontaneities of all his individual personal life’--projected from some fusing centre of philosophy within, but not welded into logical consistency, they have yet to know Mr. Beecher through this book, as working by method upon a well-ordered scheme of thought, and with a deep philosophic purpose toward one great, overmastering conception. He has neither thrown off his random thoughts nor strung together his best thoughts; but has brought all his powers, in the maturity of their strength, in the richness of their experience, and the largeness of their development, to produce a work that may fitly represent the labors and the results of his life.”

More Agents Wanted.

Intelligent men and women may obtain lucrative employment by taking an agency. Full descriptive Circulars mailed free. Very liberal terms to Canvassers. Apply to

J. B. FORD & CO.,

=27 Park Place, New York=; =11 Bromfield St., Boston, Mass.=; =75 West Washington St., Chicago, Ill.=; =339 Kearney St., San Francisco, Cal.=

THE

CHRISTIAN UNION

IS AN UNSECTARIAN RELIGIOUS WEEKLY.

HENRY WARD BEECHER,

Editor.

This journal has had a very remarkable success, _in two years_ attaining a circulation surpassing that of any other religious weekly in the world.

WHY IS IT?

=Because=, _First_, HENRY WARD BEECHER is its Editor, and his Editorials, Star Papers, and occasional Literary Reviews and _Lecture-Room Talks_ are sought for by thousands, while the auxiliary editorial labor is in the hands of cultivated journalists; _the CONTRIBUTORS being representative men and women of ALL Denominations_.

=Because=, _Secondly_, ITS FORM, twenty-four pages, large quarto, SECURELY PASTED AT THE BACK AND CUT AT THE EDGES, is so convenient for reading, binding, and preservation, as to be a great and special merit in its favor.

=Because=, _Thirdly_, _It is called “the most Interesting Religious Paper published_,” being quoted from by the press of the entire country more extensively than any other. The critical _Nation_ (N. Y.) says it is “Not only the ablest and best, but also, as we suppose, the most popular of American religious periodicals. At all events it is safe to predict that it will soon have, if it has not already, greater influence than any other religious paper in the country.”

=Because=, _Fourthly_, _It has something for every Member of the Household_: admirable contributed and editorial articles, discussing all timely topics, fresh information on unhackneyed subjects; reliable news of the Church and the world; Market and Financial Reports; an Agricultural Department; excerpts of Public Opinion from the press; careful Book Reviews, with Educational, Literary, Musical, and Art Notes; much matter of a high and pure religious tone; a Household Department; choice Poems; Household Stories; and Chat for the Little Ones.

=Because=, _Fifthly_, Every subscriber is presented with

TWO SUPERB OIL CHROMOS,

“WIDE AWAKE” AND “FAST ASLEEP,”

_A pair_,--no cheap colored prints, but splendid copies of Oil Paintings, by an eminent English artist. The selling price of the pair is (=$10=) _Ten Dollars_, at which price thousands have been sold in America, and still are selling and will be sold by the picture trade generally.

Or, if any should prefer it, the subscriber will be presented with our new, large, and

EXQUISITE OLEOGRAPH,

from a charming painting by LOBRICHON (one of the most brilliant artists of the Parisian school), entitled

“LITTLE RUNAWAY AND HER PETS.”

The size (14½ × 21½ inches) makes it a very large picture, and it is an admirable and artistic centre-piece for “Wide Awake” and “Fast Asleep,” or a most delicate, attractive, and beautiful work of art in itself.

TERMS.

One Year’s Subscription (including _unmounted_ Pictures) $3.00

Do. do. (including Pictures _mounted_; the Chromos on card board, or the Oleograph on canvas, sized, varnished, and ready for framing) 3.25

Two do. do. (including all the Pictures, sized, varnished, etc.) 5.75

THE CHRISTIAN UNION and PLYMOUTH PULPIT mailed for one year to one address (including Chromos as above) for $5.00 or 5.25

☞ In all cases, _ten cents extra_ must be sent to defray the cost of wrapping and mailing the pictures to the subscriber’s address. ☜

☞ Canvassers allowed liberal Commissions.

An old agent who knows says: “I have never presented anything for sale that met with the approval of the entire reading community as nearly as does HENRY WARD BEECHER’S CHRISTIAN UNION. Sorry I did not work for it sooner. Think it _the best business for canvassers ever offered by any firm_, to my knowledge.”

J. B. FORD & CO., Publishers, =27 Park Place, New York City=.

=BRANCH OFFICES=: Boston, 11 Bromfield Street; Chicago, 75 West Washington Street; San Francisco, 339 Kearney Street.

PLYMOUTH PULPIT

Is a weekly pamphlet Publication of Sermons preached by

HENRY WARD BEECHER,

Printed from MR. T. J. ELLINWOOD’S careful, verbatim phonographic reports, taken down from the speaker’s lips. This issue is the only regularly authorized edition of them, the one endorsed by MR. BEECHER’S approval as correct, and sanctioned by his authority. It is well printed on good paper, in book form; it is _suitable for binding and preservation_, and it is _cheap_, within the reach of all. The publishers have also responded to the demand for a continued insertion of the Prayers before and after the Sermon, as among the most spiritually profitable of MR. BEECHER’S ministrations. Besides this, the Scriptural lesson and hymns sung (Plymouth Collection) are indicated, thus making a complete record of one service of Plymouth Church for each Sunday.

CRITICAL OPINIONS.

BRITISH.

“They are magnificent discourses. I have often taken occasion to say that Beecher is the greatest preacher that ever appeared in the world; this judgment is most soberly considered and most deliberately pronounced; his brilliant fancy, his deep knowledge of human nature, his affluent language, and the many-sidedness of his noble mind, conspire to place him at the head of all Christian speakers.”--REV. DR. PARKER, in _The Pulpit Analyst_ (_Article_ “AD CLERUM”).

“These corrected Sermons of perhaps the greatest of living preachers,--a man whose heart is as warm and catholic as his abilities are great, and whose Sermons combine fidelity to Scriptural truth, great power, glorious imagination, fervid rhetoric, and vigorous reasoning, with intense human sympathy and robust common sense.”--_British Quarterly Review._

“They are without equal among the published sermons of the day. Everywhere we find ourselves in the hands of a man of high and noble impulses, of thorough fearlessness, of broad and generous sympathies, who has consecrated all his wealth of intelligence and heart to the service of preaching the Gospel.”--_Literary World_, London.

AMERICAN.

“We certainly find in these sermons a great deal which we can conscientiously commend, and that amply justifies the exalted position which their author holds among American preachers. They are worthy of great praise for the freshness, vigor, and earnestness of their style; for the beauty and oftentimes surprising aptness of their illustrations; for the large amount of consolatory and stimulating thought embodied in them, and for the force and skill with which religious considerations are made to bear upon the most common transactions of life.”--_Bibliotheca Sacra_, Andover, Mass.

“In point of ability and eloquence he has scarcely a rival, while in the magnetism that arises from earnestness and deep, broad, humanity, he is absolutely unrivalled. No preacher of the present age exercises so wide and potent an influence. And he reaches a class that ordinary preachers fail to touch.”--_Philadelphia Inquirer._

Mr. Beecher “by his genius, and without any direct effort, has more influence upon the ministerial profession than all the theological seminaries combined. The discourses are rich in all that makes religious literature valuable.”--_Chicago Evening Journal._

Vol. I., No. 1, of PLYMOUTH PULPIT was issued September 26, 1868. Each _Volume_ contains twenty-six numbers, being one sermon each week for six months. This gives annually two volumes of _nearly five hundred_ pages each.

=TERMS.=--Single numbers, ten cents. Yearly Subscription price, =$3.00=. Half yearly, =$1.75=. Subscriptions may begin with any number. Back numbers supplied.

=CLUB RATES=--five copies for =$12.00=.

THE CHRISTIAN UNION, together with the two charming French Oil Chromos, “WIDE AWAKE” and “FAST ASLEEP,” (=$3.00=), and PLYMOUTH PULPIT (=$3.00=), will be sent to ONE ADDRESS for =$5.00=.

POSTAGE ON PLYMOUTH PULPIT to subscribers in the United States is twenty cents per year, payable quarterly in advance, at the Post-Office to which the pamphlet is sent; and on single copies to England it is _four cents_.

J. B. FORD & CO., Publishers, =27 Park Place, New York=.

Transcriber’s Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.

Italics are represented thus _italic_, bold is represented thus =bold=.