French Sallad.
Chop three anchovies, a shalot, and some parsley small; put them in a bowl with two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, one of oil, a little mustard, and salt. When well mixed, add by degrees some cold roast or boiled meat in the very thinnest slices; put in a few at a time, they being small, not exceeding two or three inches long; shake them in the seasoning, and then put more; cover the bowl close; and let the sallad be prepared three hours before it be eaten.
Garnish with parsley, and a few slices of the fat.
Lobster Sallad.
Make a sallad, and put some of the red part of the lobster to it, cut; which forms a pretty contrast to the white and green of the vegetables.
Do not put much oil, as shellfish take off the acidity of vinegar.
Serve in a dish, not a bowl.
To boil Potatoes.
Set them on a fire, unpared, in cold water; let them half boil, then throw some salt in, and a pint of cold water, and let them boil again till near done. Pour off the water, and put a clean cloth over them, and then the saucepan cover, and set them by the fire to steam till ready. Many use steamers.
To broil Potatoes.
Parboil, then slice and broil them; or parboil, and set them whole on the gridiron over a very slow fire; and when thoroughly done, send up with their skins on. The latter is done in many Irish families.
To roast Potatoes.
Half boil, take off the thin peel, and roast them of a beautiful brown.
To fry Potatoes.
Slice raw potatoes after the skin is removed, and fry either in butter, or thin batter.
To mash Potatoes.
Boil, peel, and break to paste the potatoes; then, to two pounds, add a quarter of a pint of milk, and a little salt, with two or three ounces of butter, and stir all well over the fire. Serve thus, or brown the top, when placed on the dish in a form, with a salamander; or in scollops.
To mash Parsnips.
Boil tender; scrape them; then mash into a stewpan, with a little cream, a good piece of butter, pepper, and salt.
To keep Green Peas.
Shell, and put them into a kettle of water when it boils: give them two or three warms only, and pour them into a colander. When the water drains off, turn them on a dresser covered with cloth; pour them on another cloth to dry perfectly: then bottle them in widemouth bottles, leaving only room to pour clarified mutton suet upon them an inch thick, and for the cork; rosin it down, and keep in a cellar, or in the earth, as ordered for gooseberries. Boil them, with a bit of butter, a spoonful of sugar, and a bit of mint, till tender, when to be used.
Another way, as practised in the Emperor of Russia’s Kitchen.
Shell, scald, and dry as above. Put them on tins or earthen dishes in a cool oven to harden, once or twice. Keep them in paper bags hung up in the kitchen. When to be used, let them lie an hour in water; then set them on with cold water, and a bit of butter, and boil till ready. Put a sprig of dried mint to boil with them.
To preserve French Beans, to eat in the Winter.
Pick them young, and throw into a little wooden keg a layer three inches deep; then sprinkle with salt: put another layer of beans, and do the same as high as you think proper, alternately with salt; but do not be too liberal of the latter: lay a plate, or cover of wood that will go into the keg, and put on it a heavy stone. A pickle will rise from the beans and salt. If too salt, the soaking and boiling will not be sufficient to make them pleasant to the taste. When to be eaten, cut, soak, and boil as when fresh.
Potatoes should be kept in the earth that adheres to them when dug; and preserved from frost.
Carrots, parsnips, and turnips the same, and put in layers of dry sand.
Small close cabbages laid on a stone floor before the frost sets in, will blanch and be very fine, after many weeks’ keeping.
To boil Vegetables Green.
Be sure the water boils when you put them in; when in, make them boil very fast. Do not cover, but watch them; and if the water has not slackened, you may be assured they are done when they are beginning to sink; take them out immediately, or the colour will change.