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Giblet Soup

Take the feet, neck, pinions, and giblets of two fowls, and add a pound and a half of veal, and a slice of lean ham. Pour on three quarts of cold water, and boil gently till the meat is very soft. Strain off the liquor, and, when cold, take off the fat. Cut the giblets and meat into half-inch pieces; add a tablespoonful of flour with one of butter, and some of the soup to thin it. Then put into the soup the butter and meat, with some sweet herbs tied in a bag, with salt to your taste. Boil it half an hour and it is done.

Directions for making Chowder

The best fish for chowder are haddock and striped bass. Cut the fish in pieces of an inch thick, and two inches square. Take six or eight good-sized slices of salt pork, and put in the bottom of an iron pot, and fry them in the pot till crisped. Take out the pork, leaving the fat. Chop the pork fine. Put in the pot a layer of fish, a layer of split crackers, some of the chopped pork, black and red pepper, and chopped onion, then another layer of fish, split crackers, and seasoning. This do till you have used your fish. Then just cover the fish with water, and stew slowly till the fish is perfectly tender. Take out the fish, and put it in the dish in which you mean to serve it; set it to keep warm. Thicken the gravy with pounded cracker; add, if you like, mushroom catsup and Port wine. Boil the gravy up once, and pour over the fish; squeeze in the juice of a lemon, and garnish with slices of lemon. If not salt enough from the pork, more must be added.

To Fry Fish

Fry some slices of salt pork, say a slice for each pound, and when brown take them up, and add lard enough to cover the fish. Skim it well, and have it hot, then dip the fish in flour, without salting it, and fry a light brown. Then take the fish up, and add to the gravy a little flour paste, pepper, salt; also wine, catsup, and spices, if you like. Put the fish and pork on a dish, and, after one boil, pour this gravy over the whole. Fish are good dipped first in egg and then in Indian meal, or cracker crumbs and egg, previous to frying.

To Boil Fish

Fill the fish with a stuffing of chopped salt pork, and bread, or bread and butter, seasoned with salt and pepper, and sew it up. Then sew it into a cloth, or you cannot take it up well. Put it in cold water, with water enough to cover it, salted at the rate of a teaspoonful of salt to each pound of fish, and about three tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Boil it slowly for twenty or thirty minutes, or till the fin is easily drawn out. Serve with drawn butter and eggs, with capers or nasturtions in it. Fish can be baked in the same way, except sewing it up in a cloth. Instead of this, cover it with egg and cracker, or bread crumbs.

To Broil Fish

Salt fish must be soaked several hours before broiling. Rub suet on the bars of your gridiron, then put the fish flesh side down (some say skin side down, as it saves the juices better), and broil till nearly cooked through. Then lay a dish on it, and turn the fish by inverting the gridiron over the dish. Broil slowly, and never pile broiled fish one above another on the dish.

Baked Fish

Cod, bass, and shad are good for baking. Stuff them with a seasoning made of bread crumbs or crackers, butter, salt, pepper, and, if you like, spices. Put the fish in a bake-pan, with a tea-cup of water, and a bit of butter, and bake from forty-five to sixty minutes.

Cod Sounds and Tongues

Soak them four hours in blood-warm water, then scrape off the skin, cut them up, and stew them in a little milk till tender. Just before taking up stir in butter, and a little flour paste, and scatter cold boiled eggs cut up over them.

To Cook Salt Codfish

Soak the fish in a pailful of water all night. Then hang it in a good deal of water where it will be kept warm. Put one even great spoonful of saleratus in the water. (This last softens it as nothing else will do.) Change the water an hour before dinner, and hang it where it will get scalding hot. It must not boil, but only simmer. Take it up into a napkin, so as to keep it dry and hot.

To Cook Cold Codfish

Mash boiled potatoes, mash the fish and mix with them, adding some cream or milk, and a little pepper, make them into round cakes an inch thick, and fry them in fresh lard.

To Cook Oysters

Oysters are best roasted in the shell, convex side downward, to hold the juices, and cooked till they will open well. They are good also cooked in a batter made by adding wheat flour to the juice till it is a batter, and adding two eggs and a salt spoonful of salt. Fry in hot lard to a light brown.

Lobsters

These must never be cooked after they are dead. Put them alive into boiling water, and boil them till the small joints come off easily.

Scolloped Oysters

Take the oysters from the liquor, and place some at the bottom of the dish, then grate some bread over them, a little nutmeg, pepper, salt, and cloves. Add another laying of oysters, and the seasoning, a little butter, and a glass of wine. Cover the whole with grated bread, and bake half an hour, or perhaps a little more. There will be liquor enough without adding any water or oyster broth.

Pickled Oysters

After taking out the oysters, to each quart of liquor put a teaspoonful of pepper, two blades of mace, three tablespoonfuls of white wine, and four of vinegar, also a tablespoonful of salt. Simmer the oysters in this five minutes, then take them out and put in jars, then boil the pickle, skim it, and pour it over them.

To Crimp Fresh Fish

Cut in slices and lay them for three hours in salt and water, and a glass of vinegar, then fry or broil them.

To Cook Eels

Dress them, lay them open flat, rub them with salt and pepper, cut them in short pieces, and broil them. Small ones are best skinned and fried.

To Cook Scollops

Boil them, take out the hearts (which is the only part used), dip them in flour and fry brown in lard, or stew with butter, pepper, salt, and a little water.

A Good Way of Using Cold Fresh Fish

Take cold cooked fish, chop it with bread crumbs, pepper, salt, and boiled salt pork, or ham; season with salt, pepper, catsup, or wine. Mould into balls with egg and bread crumbs, and fry in lard.

To Cook Clams

Thin-edged clams are the best ones. Roast them in a pan over a hot fire, or in a hot oven, placing them so as to save the juice. When they open, empty the juice into a sauce-pan, and add the clams with butter, pepper, and very little salt. To boil them, put them in a pot with a very little water, and so as to save their juices. Proceed as above, and lay buttered toast in the dish when you take them up. Clams are good put into a batter and fried.

To prepare Gravy for a Cold Beef Hash, or Steak Hash

For a small dish for six persons, put a tea-cup and a half of boiling water into a small sauce-pan, and make a thin paste with a heaping teaspoonful of flour, wet with a great spoonful of cold water. Stir it in, and boil it three minutes. Then put in half a teaspoonful of black pepper and rather more salt, and let it stand where it will be kept hot, but not boiling, till fifteen minutes before it is to be used. Then cut the beef into half-inch mouthfuls and take as many mouthfuls of cold boiled potato, and half as many of cold turnip. Put these all together into a tin pan the size of a dining plate. Then stir in two great spoonfuls of butter into the gravy till melted, and, if you like tomato catsup, add a great spoonful, and pour it over the hash, and cover it with a plate and let it heat on the stove, or trivet, ten minutes, and then serve it. If the hash is made without vegetables, take only a tea-cup full of water, and a teaspoonful of flour, and a little less pepper and salt. If you have the beef gravy of yesterday, use it instead of butter, and put in less pepper, salt, butter, and water, and only one spoonful of butter. If tomatoes are liked, peel and slice two large ones, and add with the potatoes and turnips. Let a housekeeper try this, and then vary it to her own taste, or the taste of her family, and then write the exact proportions for the use of all the future cooks of her family.

Gravy for a Mutton Hash, or Venison Hash

For a dish for six persons, take a tea-cup and a half of boiling water, and slice fine one small onion (say one an inch in diameter) into it, to give a slight flavor of onion, and thus hide the strong mutton taste. Mix a thin paste made with a heaping teaspoonful of flour, wet with a great spoonful of water, stir it in, and let it boil three minutes, adding a half a teaspoonful of black pepper, and rather more salt. Then set it where it will keep hot, but not boil, till wanted. Cut the mutton into half-inch mouthfuls, leaving out most of the fat. Cut up the same number of mouthfuls of cold boiled potatoes, and half as much cold boiled turnips, and slice in two large peeled tomatoes, or cold boiled parsnip, or both. Mix them in a tin pan the size of a dining plate, stir two great spoonfuls of butter into the gravy, and, if you like, a great spoonful of tomato catsup, and pour it on to the hash. Cover it with a plate, and set it to heat ten minutes on the stove, or on a trivet over coals. If you do not put in vegetables, take less water, salt, and pepper. If you do not put in onion, put in a wine-glass of currant, plum, or grape jelly, or squeeze in some lemon juice when you add the butter, and leave out the catsup, or not, as you like. Modify to suit your taste, and then write the proportions exactly, for all future cooks of your family.

To prepare a Veal Hash

Take a tea-cup of boiling water in a sauce-pan, and mix in an even teaspoonful of flour wet with a spoonful of cold water, and let it boil five minutes. Then add, not quite half a teaspoonful of black pepper, as much salt, and two great spoonfuls of butter, and set it where it will keep hot, but not boil. Chop the veal very fine, and mix with it, while chopping, half as much stale bread crumbs. Put it in a tin pan and pour the gravy on to it, and let it heat on a stove or trivet ten minutes. Toast some bread and cut it into triangular pieces, and lay it on the bottom of a dish. Spread the hash over, and pour on the gravy. Cut slices of lemon to lay on the top and around the edge of the platter. If you like a seasoning of sweet herbs with this hash, the nicest way is to tie some in a rag and boil it in the water of the gravy when you first mix it.

Common Gravies

Pour out the drippings of the tin roaster through a gravy strainer, into a pan, and set it away till cold. Next day, scrape the sediment from the bottom and then use it to make gravy in place of butter, for hashes. Mutton drippings must never be used for cooking. It is not fashionable to have gravy made for roast beef or mutton, as the juice of the meat is preferred, which, on the plate, is mixed with catsup or whatever is preferred. Gravies for poultry are made as directed in the article on roasting meats. _Drawn butter_ is the foundation of most common gravies, and is to be prepared in either of the two ways described below.

Drawn Butter, or Melted Butter

Rub in two teaspoonfuls of flour into a quarter of a pound of butter. Add five tablespoonfuls of cold water. Set it into boiling water and let it melt, and heat until it begins to simmer, and it is done. Never simmer it on coals, as it fries the oil and spoils it. Be careful not to have the flour in lumps. If it is to be used with fish, put in chopped eggs and nasturtions, or capers. If used with boiled fowl, put in oysters while it is simmering, and let them heat through.

Another Mode of preparing Drawn Butter

Make three teaspoonfuls of flour into a thin batter, and stir it into a tea-cup of boiling water in a sauce-pan, and let it boil five minutes. Then take it off, and cut up a quarter of a pound of butter into pieces, and put in and keep it hot till it is melted. This is the easiest way, and if it is for very rich cooking more butter may be added.

Drawn Meat Gravies, or Brown Gravies

Put into a sauce-pan fresh meat cut in small pieces, seasoned with salt and pepper and a bit of butter, and heat it half an hour, till brown, stirring so that it shall not stick. Pour on boiling water, a pint for each pound--simmer three hours and skim it well. Settle and strain it, and set it aside to use. Thicken, when you need it, with brown flour, a teaspoonful to a half pint.

A Nice Article to use for Gravy, or Soup

Take butter the size of an egg, add a tablespoonful of sugar, put it in a skillet, and stir it till a dark brown, then dredge in flour, and use it to darken gravy or soup.

Burnt Butter for Fish, or Eggs

Heat two ounces of butter in a frying-pan, till a dark brown, then add a tablespoonful of vinegar, half a teaspoonful of salt, and half a dozen shakes from the pepper box.

Sauce for Salad, or Fish

Take the yolk of two eggs boiled hard, mash them with a mustard spoonful of mustard, a little black pepper, a little salt, three tablespoonfuls of salad oil, and three of vinegar. A tablespoonful of catsup would improve it for many.

Wine Sauce for Mutton, or Venison

Take half a pint of the liquor in which the meat was cooked, and when boiling, put in pepper, salt, currant jelly, and wine to your taste; add about a teaspoonful of scorched flour, mixed with a little water.

Oyster Sauce

Take a pint of oyster juice, add a little salt and pepper, and a stick of mace, boil it five minutes, and then add two teaspoonfuls of flour, wet up in half a tea-cup of milk. Let this boil two minutes, then put in the oysters and a bit of butter the size of an egg; in two minutes take them up.

Lobster Sauce

Mix in six tablespoonfuls of vinegar, the yolks of two boiled eggs, some of the lobster spawn, a mustard spoonful of mustard, two tablespoonfuls of salad oil or melted butter, and a little salt and pepper.

Apple Sauce

Boil peeled and quartered tart apples, and put in butter and sugar to your taste. If boiled in cider with quinces, it will keep a long time. The fresh-made is best.

Celery Sauce for Boiled Fowls

Take four or five celery heads, and cut up all but the green tops into small pieces, and boil it in half a pint of water till tender. Mix two teaspoonfuls of flour with a little milk and put in, with a salt spoonful of salt, and butter the size of an egg. When it boils, take it up.

Celery Vinegar

This is fine to keep in the castor stand. Pound two gills of celery seed, and add sharp vinegar. Shake every day for a week or two. The flavor of sweet herbs and sage can be obtained by pouring vinegar on to them, and for three successive days taking them out, and putting in a fresh supply of herbs. It must be kept corked and sealed.

Essence of Celery, to flavor Soup

Bruise celery seed, and steep it in brandy for a fortnight. An ounce to half a pint of brandy is enough. Half a teaspoonful will flavor soup.

Herb Spirit

It is convenient sometimes to use herb spirit instead of the herbs. It is made thus. Take all the sweet herbs, as thyme, marjoram, sweet basil, and summer savory, dry, pound, sift, and steep in brandy for a fortnight; an ounce to half a pint.

Soup Powder

The following is a very convenient article for soups. Dry, pound, and sift the following ingredients together. Take one ounce each, of lemon, thyme, basil, sweet marjoram, summer savory, and dried lemon peel, with two ounces of dried parsley, and a few dried celery seeds. Bottle it tight. Horseradish can be sliced thin, dried and pounded, and kept in a bottle for use. Mushrooms can be dried in a moderately warm oven, then powdered with a little mace and pepper, and kept to season soup or sauces.

Soy

One pound of salt, two pounds of sugar, fried half an hour over a slow fire, then add three pints of boiling water, half a pint of essence of anchovies, a dozen cloves, and some sweet herbs. Boil till the salt dissolves, then strain and bottle it.

Tomato Catsup

Pour boiling water on the tomatoes, let them stand until you can rub off the skin, then cover them with salt, and let them stand twenty-four hours. Then strain them, and to two quarts put three ounces of cloves, two ounces of pepper, two nutmegs. Boil half an hour, then add a pint of wine.

Mushroom Catsup

Put the mushrooms in layers, with salt sprinkled over each layer, and let them stand four days. Then mash them fine, and to every quart add two-thirds of a teaspoonful of black pepper, and boil it in a stone jar set in boiling water two hours. Strain it without squeezing, boil the liquor, let it stand to cool and settle, then bottle, cork, and seal it, and set it in a cool place.

Walnut Catsup

Bruise ten dozen young walnuts, add a quart of vinegar, and three-fourths of a pound of fine salt. Let them stand two weeks, stirring every day. Strain off the liquor, and add half an ounce of black pepper whole, thirty cloves, half an ounce of bruised nutmeg, half an ounce of ginger, and four sticks of mace. Boil the whole an hour, then strain and bottle tight.

Potatoes

The great art of cooking potatoes is, to take them up _as soon_ as they are done. Of course it is important to begin to cook them at the proper time. When boiled, baked, fried, or steamed, they are rendered watery by continuing to cook them after they reach the proper point. For this reason, potatoes, to bake or boil, should be selected so as to have them nearly the same size. Begin with the largest first, and continue to select the largest till all are gone. Be careful that the water does not stop boiling, as thus the potatoes will be watery. Never boil them very hard, as it breaks them.

Boiled Potatoes

Wash, but do not cut them. Put them in boiling water, having only a small quantity more than enough to cover them. Put salt in, say a great spoonful to half a pailful of potatoes. Boil them moderately; when nearly done, let them simmer slowly, and when cooked (as is discovered, not by their cracking, but by a fork) pour off the water, and let them stand till dry. Medium-sized potatoes, when young, will cook in from twenty to thirty minutes; when old, it requires double the time. When peeled they boil fifteen minutes quicker. Old potatoes, in the spring, are improved by soaking in water all night.

Other Modes of Cooking Potatoes

After boiling and peeling them, divide them and lay them on a gridiron to brown. Or when cold, the day after boiling, cut them in slices, and cook them on a griddle, with just enough lard to make them brown, or you can brown them on a gridiron. Another pretty mode for a fancy dish is, to peel large potatoes and then cut them round and round in shavings, as you pare an apple. Fry them with clean sweet lard in a frying-pan, till brown, stirring them to brown alike, drain them on a sieve, and after sprinkling a little fine salt over them, place them on the table. Another tasteful mode is, after boiling and peeling them, to flour them, then dip them in the yolk of an egg, and roll them in fine bread crumbs. Then fry them till brown and they look very handsomely, and are excellent to the taste. Fry them without this preparation and they are very nice. When potatoes become old, mash them fine, season with salt and butter, and a little cream or milk, place them in a dish, smoothing and shaping the top handsomely, and making checks with a knife; then brown them in a stove, or range-oven, and they are excellent. These can also be made into balls, dipped in egg and crumbs, and fried as directed above, and they look very handsomely. Potatoes, when roasted, should be very carefully washed and rinsed, and then roasted in a Dutch oven, or stove oven. Notice, lest they be put in too soon, and thus be made watery by cooking too long. The following is a very nice way of preparing potatoes for breakfast. Peel them, and cut them in very thin slices into a very little boiling water, so little that it will be evaporated when they are cooked. At this point, add salt to your taste, some cream, or if you have not cream put in a _very little_ milk and a bit of butter. A little practice will make this a very favorite dish in any family. The art is, to cook the potatoes with very little water, so that it will be evaporated at the time the potatoes are done. They must be stirred while cooking occasionally. Another mode is, to mash the potatoes and add salt, butter, and a little cream, and set them away. Then cut them in slices, and fry for breakfast. Many think the following the best way of boiling potatoes. Peel them, and soak in cold water two hours. Boil in just enough water to cover them. When about done, pour off the water, and let them steam five minutes uncovered.

Turnips

Boil turnips in a vessel by themselves. Try them with a fork, and if sweet and good, send them to the table when taken up. If watery, mash them, wring them in a cloth, and add salt and butter, and if the sweetness is gone, add a little white sugar, and they will be as good as new. Boil them in a good deal of water, with salt in it. If they boil too long, they lose their sweetness and become bitter. An hour is the medium time required.

Asparagus

Keep it cool and moist on the cellar bottom till wanted. Throw it into cold water, cut off all that is tough, tie it in small bundles, salt the water when boiling, and then put them in and let them boil from fifteen to twenty-five minutes. When done, take it up with a skimmer, lay it on buttered toast, and put butter on to it. Drain it well on the skimmer before putting it on the toast, or it will spoil the dish.

Beets

Beets must not be cut, as this makes them lose their sweetness. Salt the water, and boil them in summer an hour, and in winter three hours.

Parsnips and Carrots

Parsnips and carrots must be split, or else the outside is done too much before the inside is cooked sufficiently. Salt the water, and boil them when young half an hour, and two hours when old. Boil enough to have some to slice and fry for the next day’s dinner or breakfast, as they are much the best cooked in this way.

Onions

Select the white kind, peel them and put them in boiling milk, a little salted, and boil them from half to three quarters of an hour. When taken up, drain in a colander, pour a little melted butter over them, or put on cold butter.

Jerusalem Artichokes

Scrape them, and put them in boiling salted water. Boil large ones about two hours, then take them up and butter them.

Squashes

Summer squashes boil whole, when very young. When older, quarter them, and take out the seeds. Put them into boiling salted water; when done, squeeze out the water by wringing in a cloth, and add butter and salt to your taste. The neck part of the winter squash is the best; cut it into slices, peel it, boil it in salted water till tender, then drain off the water, and serve it without mashing, or, if preferred, wring it and season with butter and salt. What is left over is excellent _fried_ for next day’s breakfast or dinner. It must be in slices, and not mashed. Save the water in which they are boiled, to make yeast or brown bread, for which it is excellent.

Cabbage and Cauliflowers

Take off the outer leaves of a cabbage, cut the stalky part in quarters, down to the centre, put it in boiling salted water, and boil them from half an hour to an hour. Cabbages, like turnips, must have a good deal of water, or they will taste strong. For cauliflowers, cut off all the leaves but the small ones mixed with the head, and boil in salted water till it is tender. Some wrap some of the large leaves around the head, and tie them on, and when cooked throw aside the leaves. Drain the cauliflower with a skimmer and eat it with drawn butter. * * * * * Most vegetables must be put in water only sufficient to cover them, allowing a little more for evaporation. Strong vegetables like turnips, cabbage, and some of the greens, require a good deal of water.

Peas

Peas, to be good, must be fresh from the vines. Throw them into boiling salted water, and cook them from fifteen to thirty minutes, according to their age. When old, they are improved by putting a very little saleratus into the water, say a quarter of a teaspoonful to half a peck of shelled peas.

Sweet Corn

If it is to be boiled on the cob, put it in salted boiling water, and let it cook from twenty minutes to three quarters of an hour after it begins to boil, according to the age of the corn.

Succatosh

If you wish to make succatosh, boil the beans from half to three quarters of an hour, in water a little salt, meantime cutting off the corn and throwing the cobs to boil with the beans. Take care not to cut too close to the cob, as it imparts a bad taste. When the beans have boiled the time above mentioned, take out the cobs, and add the corn, and let the whole boil from fifteen to twenty minutes, for young corn, and longer for older corn. Make the proportions two-thirds corn and one-third beans. Where you have a mess amounting to two quarts of corn and one quart of beans, take two tablespoonfuls of flour, wet it into a thin paste, and stir it into the succatosh, and let it boil up for five minutes. Then lay some butter in a dish, take it up into it, and add more salt if need be.

Beans

Throw them into salted boiling water, and cook them from an hour to an hour and a half, according to the age. A little saleratus improves them when old; a piece as big as a pea will do. If you put in too much, the skins will slip off.

Egg Plant

Boil them in a good deal of water a few minutes, to get out the bitter taste, then cut them in slices, and sprinkle a little salt on them. Then fry them brown in lard or butter. If they are fried on a griddle, with only butter enough to keep them from sticking, they are better than when more butter is used.

Baked Beans

Pick over the beans the night before, and put them in warm water to soak, where they will be kept warm all night. Next morning pour off the water, and pour on boiling water, and let them stand and simmer till the beans are soft, and putting in with them a nice piece of pork, the skin gashed. Put them into the deep dish in which they are to bake, having water just enough to cover them. Bury the pork in the middle, so that the top will be even with the surface. All the garden beans are better for baking than the common field bean. They must bake in a moderately hot oven from two to three hours.

Tomatoes

Pour on scalding water, and let them remain in it five minutes, to loosen the skins. Peel them, and put them in a stew-pan with a little salt and butter, and let them stew half an hour, and then pour them on to buttered toast. _Another Way._--Peel them, put them in a deep dish, put salt and pepper, and a little butter over them, then make a layer of bread crumbs, or pounded crackers, then make another layer of tomatoes, and over these another layer of crumbs, till the dish is filled. The top layer must be crumbs. Some persons put nutmeg and sugar with the other seasoning. Bake three quarters of an hour, or more, according to the size. _Another Way._--Peel them, put them in a stew-pan with some salt, boil them nearly half an hour, then put into them three or four beaten eggs, and more salt if needed, and very little pepper. Many would add a few small slices of onion. Most who have tried this last are very fond of it.

Greens

Beet tops, turnip tops, spinach, cabbage sprouts, dandelions, cowslips, all these boil in salted water till they are tender, then drain in a colander, pressing hard. Chop them a little, and warm them in a sauce-pan, with a little butter. Lay them on buttered toast, and if you like, garnish them with hard-boiled egg, cut in slices. If not fresh, soak them half an hour in salt and water.

Cucumbers

The chief art of preparing cucumbers consists in making them cool and crisp. This is done by putting them in cold water for half an hour, and then cut them in thin slices into cold water. Then drain them in a colander, and season them with pepper, salt, and vinegar. Cucumbers are very nice cooked in this way. Peel and cut them into quarters, take out the seeds, and boil them like asparagus. Put them on to buttered toast, and put a little butter over them.

Macaroni

Mix a pint of milk, and a pint of water, and a teaspoonful of salt; put in two ounces of macaroni, and boil till the liquor is wasted and the macaroni tender. Put on butter, or pour over some gravy. Cut the macaroni in pieces of three or four inches, in order to help it out more conveniently.

Another Way

Simmer it in thin gravy; when tender lay it in a dish, and grate on it old cheese, and over that grated bread. Pour over it melted butter, and set in a Dutch oven till of a brown color.

To Cook Hominy

Wash in several waters, and boil it five hours, allowing two quarts of water, and half a teaspoonful of salt, to every quart of hominy. Drain it through a colander, and add butter and salt, if needed. The small-grained requires less water and time.

Macaroni Pudding, to eat with Meat

Simmer a quarter of a pound of macaroni in plenty of water, until it is tender. Strain off the water, and add a pint of milk or cream, an ounce of grated cheese, and a teaspoonful of salt. Mix well together, and strew over the top two ounces of grated cheese and crumbs of bread. Brown it well, in baking, on the top. It will bake in a quick oven in half an hour. It is appropriate to be eaten with boiled ham, or forms a course by itself, after meat.

Salad

Salad, to be in perfection, should be fresh gathered, and put into salted cold water, which will remove all insects. Let them stand half an hour, and then drain them thoroughly.

Mode of Dressing Salad

Take the yolks of one or two eggs boiled hard, mash them fine, mix with them pepper, salt, mustard, oil, and vinegar to your taste. Then cut up the salad, and mix it with this preparation. This is usually done at table.

Mushroom

Cut off the lower part of the stem, peel them, and put them in a sauce-pan, with just water enough to prevent their burning at the bottom, put in a little salt, and shake them occasionally while cooking, to prevent burning. When tender, add butter, salt, and pepper to your taste, and wine and spice, if you like them. Serve them on buttered toast.

Celeriac

This is very good, and but little known. It resembles celery in flavor, and is much more easily cultivated. Scrape and cut the roots in slices. Boil them very tender, drain off the water, add a little salt, and turn in just milk enough to cover them. Then take them up and add a little butter.

Salsify, or Vegetable Oyster

Boil it till tender, then pour off the water, and add a little milk, and a little salt and butter. _Another Way._--Parboil it, scraping off the outside, cut it in slices, dip it into beaten egg and fine bread crumbs, and fry it in lard. _Another Way._--Make a batter of wheat flour, milk and eggs, and a little salt. Cut the salsify in slices; after it is boiled tender, put it in the batter, and drop this mixture into hot fat by the spoonful. Cook them a light brown.

Southern Mode of Cooking Rice

Pick over the rice, and wash it in cold water. To a pint of rice, put three quarts of _boiling_ water, and half a teaspoonful of salt. Boil it just _seventeen minutes_ from the time it fairly begins to boil. Then turn off _all_ the water, and set it over a moderate fire, with the lid off, to steam fifteen minutes. Great care must be taken to be accurate. The rice water poured off is good to stiffen muslins.

Common Mode of Cooking Rice

To a pint of clean rice, put three quarts of cold water, and a teaspoonful of salt. Boil it fifteen or twenty minutes, then pour off the water, add milk and some cream, and let it boil a few minutes longer. It should not be so soft as to lose its form. In case you wish to fry it next morning, boil it longer in the water, and omit the milk, or not, as you please. It is always a good plan to boil a good deal, so as to have it next day for griddle cakes, or to cut in slices and fry.

Best Mode of Cooking Tomatoes

This vegetable is much improved by cooking _a long time_. Immediately after breakfast, begin by boiling two onions. If they are not liked, omit this part; but it is best to make the trial, as some can eat this, who cannot take onions any other way comfortably. Pour boiling water over a dozen large tomatoes, and peel them. Cut them into a stew-pan; add a tea-cup and a half of bread crumbs, a teaspoonful of black pepper, a tablespoonful of salt, four tablespoonfuls of butter, and also the cooked onion. Set them where they will stew _very slowly_ all the forenoon, the longer the better. Fifteen minutes before serving them, beat up six eggs, and add, and give them a good boil, stirring all the time. (Indiana Receipt.)

Sweet Potatoes

The best way to cook sweet potatoes is to bake them with their skins on. When boiled, the largest should be put in first, so as to have all cook alike. Drain them and dry them, then peel them. They are excellent sliced and fried for breakfast next day; much better than at first.

Artichokes

Boil them till tender, drain them, and serve them with melted butter.

Stewed Egg Plant

Take the purple kind, stew till soft, take off the skin, mash it with butter and sweet herbs, grate bread over the top, and bake it till brown.

On Constructing and Heating an Oven

The best ovens are usually made thus. After the arch is formed, four or five bushels of ashes are spread over it, and then a covering of charcoal over that, then another layer of bricks over all. The use of this is, that the ashes become heated, and the charcoal being a non-conductor, the heat is retained much longer. In such an oven, cake and pies can be baked after the bread is taken out, and then custards after them. Sometimes four bakings are done in succession. The first time an oven is used, it should be heated the day previous for half a day, and the oven lid kept up after the fire is out, till heated for baking. As there is so little discretion to be found in those who heat ovens, the housekeeper will save much trouble and mortification by this arrangement. Have oven wood prepared of sticks of equal size and length. Find, by trial, how many are required to heat the oven, and then require that just that number be used, and no more. The fire must be made the back side of the oven, and the oven must be heated so hot as to allow it to be closed fifteen minutes after clearing, before the heat is reduced enough to use it. This is called _soaking_. If it is burnt down entirely to ashes, the oven may be used as soon as cleared.

How to know when an Oven is at the right Heat

An experienced cook will know without rules. For a novice, the following rules are of some use in determining. If the black spots in the oven are not burnt off, it is not hot, as the bricks must all look red. If you sprinkle flour on the bottom, and it burns quickly, it is _too hot_. If you cannot hold your hand in longer than to count twenty moderately, it is _hot enough_. If you can count thirty moderately, it is _not_ hot enough for bread. These last are not very accurate tests, as the power to bear heat is so diverse in different persons; but they are as good rules as can be given, where there has been no experience.

How to know when Bread is Sour, or Heavy

If the bread is sour, on opening it quick and deeply with your fingers, and applying the nose to the opening, a tingling and sour odor escapes. This is remedied by taking a teaspoonful of saleratus, for every four quarts of flour, very thoroughly dissolved in hot water, which is to be put in a hole made in the middle, and very thoroughly kneaded in, or there will be yellow streaks. If the bread is light and not sour, it will, on opening it deep and suddenly, send forth a pungent and brisk, but not a sour odor, and it will look full of holes, like sponge. Some may mistake the smell of light bread for that of sour bread, but a little practice will show the difference very plainly. If the bread is light before the oven is ready, knead it a little without adding flour, and set it in a cool place. If it _rises too much_, it loses all sweetness, and nothing but care and experience will prevent this. The best of flour will not make sweet bread, if it is allowed to rise too much, even when no sourness is induced.

How to treat Bread when taken from the Oven

Never set it flat on a table, as it sweats the bottom, and acquires a bad taste from the table. Always take it out of the tins, and set it up end way, leaning against something. If it has a thick, hard crust, wrap it in a cloth wrung out of cold water. Keep it in a tin box, in a cool place, where it will not freeze.

Yeast

The article in which yeast is kept must, when new yeast is made, or fresh yeast bought, be scalded and emptied, and then have a salt spoonful of saleratus put in, and be rinsed out again with warm water. If it is glass, rinsing twice with warm water will answer. Junk bottles are best for holding yeast, because they can be corked tight, and easily cleansed.

Potato Yeast

By those who use potato yeast, it is regarded as much the best, as it raises bread quicker than common home-brewed yeast, and, best of all, never imparts the sharp, disagreeable yeast taste to bread or cake, often given by hop yeast. Mash half a dozen peeled boiled potatoes, and mix in a handful of wheat flour, and two teaspoonfuls of salt, and after putting it through a colander, add hot water till it is a batter. When blood warm, put in half a tea-cup of distillery yeast, or twice as much potato, or other home-brewed. When raised, keep it corked tight, and make it new very often in hot weather. It can easily be made when potatoes are boiled for dinner.

Home-made Yeast, which will keep Good a Month

Four quarts of water, two handfuls of hops, eight peeled potatoes, sliced, all boiled soft, mixed and strained through a sieve. To this, add a batter, made one-third of Indian, and two-thirds of rye, in a pint of cold water, and then boil the whole ten minutes. When cool as new milk, add a tea-cup of molasses, a tablespoonful of ginger, and a tea-cup of distillery yeast, or twice as much home-brewed.

Home-brewed Yeast more easily made

Boil a handful of hops half an hour in three pints of water. Pour half of it, _boiling hot_, through a sieve, on to nine spoonfuls of flour, mix, and then add the rest of the hop water. Add a spoonful of salt, half a cup of molasses, and _when blood warm_, a cup of yeast.

Hard Yeast

This often is very convenient, especially for hot weather, when it is difficult to keep yeast. Take some of the best yeast you can make, and thicken it with Indian meal, and if you have rye, add a little to make it adhere better. Make it into cakes an inch thick, and three inches by two in size, and dry it in a drying wind, but not it the sun. Keep it tied in a bag, in a dry, cool place, where it will not freeze. One of these cakes is enough for four quarts of flour. When you wish to use it, put it to soak in milk or water for several hours, and then use it like other yeast.

Rubs, or Flour Hard Yeast

This is better than hard yeast made with Indian. Take two quarts of best home-brewed yeast, and a tablespoonful of salt, and mix in wheat flour, so that it will be in hard lumps. Set it in a dry, warm place (but not in the sun) till quite dry. Then leave out the fine parts to use the next baking, and put up the lumps in a bag, and hang it in a dry place. In using this yeast, take a pint of the rubs for six quarts of flour, and let it soak from noon till night. Then wet up the bread to bake next day. Brewer’s and distillery yeast cannot be trusted to make hard yeast. Home-brewed is the best, and some housekeepers say, the only yeast for this purpose.

Milk Yeast

One pint of new milk, and one teaspoonful of fine salt. One large spoonful of flour. Mix, and keep it blood warm an hour. Use twice as much as the common yeast. Bread soon spoils made of this.

Wheat Bread of Distillery, or Brewer’s Yeast

Take eight quarts of flour, and two of milk, a tablespoonful of salt, a gill and a half of distillery yeast, and sometimes rather more, if not first rate. Take double the quantity of home-brewed yeast. Sift the flour, then make an opening in the middle, pour in a part of the wetting, and put in the salt. Then mix in a good part of the flour. Then pour in the yeast, and mix it well, then add the rest of the wetting, using up the flour so as to make a stiff dough. Knead it half an hour, till it cleaves clean from the hand. This cannot be wet over night, as, if the yeast is good, it will rise in one or two hours. Some persons like bread best wet with water, but most very much prefer bread wet with milk. If you have skimmed milk, warm it with a small bit of butter, and it is nearly as good as new milk. You need about a quart of wetting to four quarts of flour. Each quart of flour makes a common-sized loaf.

Wheat Bread of Home-brewed Yeast

Sift eight quarts of flour into the kneading tray, make a deep hole in the middle, pour into it a pint of yeast, mixed with a pint of lukewarm water, and then work up this with the surrounding flour, till it makes a thick batter. Then scatter a handful of flour over this batter, lay a warm cloth over the whole, and set it in a warm place. This is called sponge. When the sponge is risen so as to make cracks in the flour over it (which will be in from three to five hours), then scatter over it two tablespoonfuls of salt, and put in about two quarts of wetting, warm, but not hot enough to scald the yeast, and sufficient to wet it. Be careful not to put in too much of the wetting at once. Knead the whole thoroughly for as much as half an hour, then form it into a round mass, scatter a little flour over it, cover it, and set it to rise in a warm place. It usually will take about one quart of wetting to four quarts of flour. In winter, it is best to put the bread in sponge over night, when it must be kept warm all night. In summer it can be put in sponge early in the morning, for if made over night, it would become sour.

Baker’s Bread

Take a gill of distillery yeast, or twice as much fresh home-brewed yeast, add a quart of warm (not hot) water, and flour enough to make a thin batter, and let it rise in a warm place all night. This is the sponge. Next day, put seven quarts of sifted flour into the kneading tray, make a hole in the centre, and pour in the sponge. Then dissolve a bit of volatile salts, and a bit of alum, each the size of a hickory-nut, and finely powdered, in a little cold water, and add it, with a heaping tablespoonful of salt, to the sponge, and also a quart more of blood-warm water. Work up the flour and wetting to a dough, knead it well, divide it into three or four loaves, prick it with a fork, put it in buttered pans, and let it rise one hour, and then bake it about an hour. Add more flour, or more water, as you find the dough too stiff, or too soft. A teaspoonful of saleratus can be used instead of the volatile salts and alum, but it is not so good.

Wheat Bread of Potato Yeast

This is made like bread made with home-brewed yeast, except that you may put in almost any quantity of the potato yeast without injury. Those who use potato yeast like it much better than any other. The only objection to it is, that in summer it must be made often, as it will not keep sweet long. But it is very easily renewed. The chief advantage is, that it rises quick, and never gives the sharp and peculiar taste so often imparted to bread and cake by all yeast made with hops.

Potato Bread

Rub a dozen peeled and boiled potatoes through a very coarse sieve, and mix with them twice the quantity of flour, mixing very thoroughly. Put in a coffee-cup full of home-brewed, or of potato yeast, or half as much of distillery yeast, also a teaspoonful of salt. Add whatever water may be needed to make a dough as stiff as for common flour bread. An ounce or two of butter rubbed into the flour, and an egg beat and put into the yeast, and you can have fine rolls, or warm cakes for breakfast. This kind of bread is very moist, and keeps well.

Cream Tartar Bread

Three pints of dried flour, measured after sifting. Two cups of milk. Half a teaspoonful of salt. One teaspoonful of soda (Super Carbonate). Two teaspoonfuls of cream tartar. Dissolve the soda in half a tea-cup of hot water, and put it with the salt into the milk. Mix the cream tartar _very_ thoroughly in the flour: the whole success depends on this. Just as you are ready to bake, pour in the milk, knead it up sufficiently to mix it well, and then put it in the oven as quick as possible. Add either more flour or more wetting, if needed, to make dough to mould. Work in half a cup of butter after it is wet, and it makes good short biscuit.

Eastern Brown Bread

One quart of rye. Two quarts of Indian meal: if fresh and sweet, do not scald it; if not, scald it. Half a tea-cup of molasses. Two teaspoonfuls of salt. One teaspoonful of saleratus. A tea-cup of home-brewed yeast, or half as much distillery yeast. Make it as stiff as can be stirred with a spoon with warm water. Let it rise from night till morning. Then put it in a large deep pan, and smooth the top with the hand dipped in cold water, and let it stand a while. Bake five or six hours. If put in late in the day, let it remain all night in the oven.

Rye Bread

A quart of water, and as much milk. Two teaspoonfuls of salt, and a tea-cup of Indian meal. A tea-cup full of home-brewed yeast, or half as much distillery yeast. Make it as stiff as wheat bread, with rye flour.

Rice Bread.--No. 1

One pint of rice, boiled till soft. Two quarts of rice flour, or wheat flour. A teaspoonful of salt. A tea-cup of home-brewed, or half as much distillery yeast. Milk to make it so as to mould like wheat bread.

Rice Bread.--No. 2

Three half pints of ground rice. Two teaspoonfuls (not heaping) of salt. Two gills of home-brewed yeast. Three quarts of milk, or milk and water. Mix the rice with cold milk and water to a thin gruel, and boil it three minutes. Then stir in wheat flour till as stiff as can be stirred with a spoon. When blood warm, add the yeast. This keeps moist longer than No. 1.

Bread of Unbolted Wheat, or Graham Bread

Three pints of warm water. One tea-cup of Indian meal, and one of wheat flour. Three great spoonfuls of molasses, or a tea-cup of brown sugar. One teaspoonful of salt, and one teaspoonful of saleratus, dissolved in a little hot water. One tea-cup of yeast. Mix the above, and stir in enough unbolted wheat flour to make it as stiff as you can work with a spoon. Some put in enough to mould it to loaves. Try both. If made with home-brewed yeast, put it to rise over night. If with distillery yeast, make it in the morning, and bake when light. In loaves the ordinary size, bake one hour and a half.

Apple Bread

Mix stewed and strained apple, or grated apple uncooked, with an equal quantity of wheat flour; add yeast enough to raise it, and mix sugar with the apple, enough to make it quite sweet. Make it in loaves, and bake it an hour and a half, like other bread.

Pumpkin Bread

Stew and strain some pumpkin, stiffen it with Indian meal, add salt and yeast, and it makes a most excellent kind of bread.