DIRECTIONS FOR SALTING MEAT, FISH, &c.
To some young housekeepers, the salting of meat, and taking care of it, and of smoked meat, are perplexing. Perhaps the following directions may assist them. The best pieces to corn are the end of the rump, the thin end of the sirloin, and the edge-bone. If you like it with alternate streaks of fat and lean, the pieces at the ends of the ribs, called by butchers the rattle-ran, are very good. The edge-bone affords the most lean meat.
The best piece of pork to corn is the shoulder. It is a good way to divide it, if large, and stuff half of it with sage and bread crumbs, and roast it; and corn the other half.
In winter, hang fresh killed meat up two or three days before putting it into brine, as it will thus become more tender. Make a brine of four quarts of water, three pints of salt, half a table-spoonful of saltpetre, and a pint of molasses, or a pound of coarse brown sugar. Mix it thoroughly without boiling it. In this lay the meat, and see that it is entirely covered. It is well to look at it after a day or two, and if necessary, turn it the other side up. It will be good in a few days, but it is better to let it lie three or four weeks before boiling it. The same brine will do for many successive pieces in winter. But for a family that like salt meat, it is the best way to make a double measure, and put into it at once as much meat as it will cover. It should be kept in a firkin or tub, with a close cover.
After a considerable quantity of meat has thus been cured, scald and skim the brine, add a little more molasses, salt, and saltpetre, and let it become cold before meat is put into it.
A brine like this, only a little more rich with molasses, is very good for salting tongues, and pieces that are to be smoked. But they should lie in it four or five weeks. Meat should never be salted for smoking, later than February or the middle of March.
In warm weather, it will not do to use the same brine more than once, as the blood from the meat will become tainted. Therefore a less expensive mixture, that may be thrown away after being used once, is better. Two quarts of salt to four of water, is a good rule for brine in hot weather.
In the summer, the strong membrane that covers the rib bones, must be cut open with a sharp knife before the meat is put into brine; for, as the salt will not penetrate this membrane, the bones will else become tainted, and the meat soon be spoiled. Meat, at this season, should be cooked within three or four days after being put into brine.
To Salt Pork.
Allow a bushel of salt for a barrel of pork, or a peck for fifty weight. The salt called coarse-fine, is commonly used by butchers; but the best way in a private family, where no more than twenty-five or fifty weight is put down for the year's use, is to use fine salt. Put water enough to cover it. Examine it in a few days, and if the salt is all dissolved, add more. The only sure way of keeping pork sweet, is to have the brine so strong that some of the salt remains undissolved. A board, with a stone upon it, should always be kept on the top of pork, as it will soon become rusty if the edges lie above the surface of the brine.
It is not fit for use, until it has been in brine six weeks.
Pickle for one Ham.
To a gallon of water, put a pint of salt, a pint of molasses, and an ounce of saltpetre. Turn the ham over in the brine often, and let it lie in it six weeks; then let it be smoked nearly as long.
To Cure Hams.
[This receipt is furnished by a person whose hams are celebrated in the eastern part of Massachusetts, for their superior quality.]
For curing fifty weight, allow three quarts of coarse salt, half a pound of saltpetre, and two quarts of good molasses. Add soft water enough just to cover the hams. Common sized hams should be kept in this pickle five weeks; larger ones six. They should all be taken out once a week, and those which were on the top laid in first, and the lower ones last. They should be smoked from two to three weeks with walnut wood or with sawdust and corn-cobs, mixed. Meat smoked with cobs is very delicate.
Pieces of beef for smoking, may be laid in this pickle, after the hams are sent to the smoke house; but more salt should be added.
The Knickerbocker Pickle.
To three gallons of soft water, put four pounds and a half of salt, coarse and fine, mixed; a pound and a half of brown sugar, an ounce and a half of saltpetre, half an ounce of saleratus, and two quarts of good molasses.
Boil the mixture, skim it well, and when cold pour it over the hams or beef. Beef laid down in this pickle, does not become hard, and is very fine, when boiled gently and long.
Some persons consider this the best of all methods for curing beef and hams.
How to keep Hams through the Summer.
When they are taken from the smoke house, do not suffer them to lie a single hour where the flies can find them. Sew them up in a coarse cloth or stiff brown paper, and pack them in ashes. There is no method so sure to preserve them from insects, and the effect of the ashes is to improve the meat; but care should be taken that the hams are so secured that the ashes will not touch them. The ashes should be perfectly cold and dry, and the barrel be in a dry, cool place.
To make Sausages.
A common fault is, that the meat is not chopped enough. It should be chopped very fine, and this is most easily done if it is a little frozen. When ready for the seasoning, put in just cold water enough to enable you to mix the ingredients equally; but be careful not to use more than is necessary for this purpose.
The following excellent rule for seasoning sausages is furnished by the same person whose receipt for curing hams I have been allowed to copy.
To twelve pounds and a half of meat put a gill of fine salt, a large gill of powdered sage, and half a gill of ground pepper. Let the measures be exact.
Some persons find it most convenient to keep sausage meat in a cloth. It is done by making a long bag of strong cotton cloth, of such a size that, when filled, it will be as large round as a common half pint mug. It should be crowded full, and each end tied up. If you have not a sausage-filler, it can be filled with the hand. Sew up only a quarter of a yard, then fill it tight, so far; then sew another quarter, and fill it, and so on until you reach the end. When the meat is to be used, open one end, rip up the seam a little way, and cut off slices rather more than an inch thick, and fry them. It may be kept good from December to March, in a cold, dry place.
How to salt Shad to keep a Year.
Procure those which are just caught; soak them an hour or two in a plenty of water, in order that the scales may be easily taken off. Take care to remove them all. Cut off the heads and open them down the back. When you have taken out all the refuse parts, remove the greatest part of the spine, as the fish will be more sure to keep sweet. A sharp knife is indispensable. Lay them in fresh water with a good deal of salt in it for an hour or two, in order to extract the blood. Then take them out, and sprinkle them plentifully with fine salt, taking care that it touches all the ends and edges. If most convenient, let them lie over night. In the morning, mingle an ounce of saltpetre and a pound of sugar with a peck of coarse-fine salt, and put a layer of salt, and a layer of fish (the skin being down), into the firkin. A peck of salt will cure twenty-five shad.
To try Lard.
The fat should not be suffered to stand long without being tried, because, even in cold weather, some parts of it may soon become musty, and nothing can then restore its sweetness. Remove all the lean bits, as they will adhere to the kettle, and cause the fat to burn. Cut it into pieces a little more than an inch square, and take care to have them nearly of a size. Put a little water into the kettle, and keep a steady, good fire, without much blaze, and stir the fat often. Attention to the kettle and the fire will be necessary, through the process. It will require three hours to do it. When the fat no longer bubbles, but is still, it is done enough. It is best to squeeze it through a tow cloth bag, made by folding half a square in such a way that the corner will form the end, and it should be rounded off a little at the bottom, and the seam made exactly as directed for a pudding-bag. Two pieces of wood fastened together, somewhat like a lemon-squeezer, will facilitate the process of straining it. Strain all that flows off without much pressure into one jar, and that which is extracted last, into another. There is no advantage in putting salt into lard. It does not mingle with it, as appears by its being always found at the bottom of the kettle, undissolved. Stone jars are best for keeping lard, but potter's ware does very well. It should stand in a cold place, and in warm weather, a fire-place with a close board, in a cool room, is a very good place to keep it.
Scraps are a favorite dish with many persons. Put salt, pepper, and pulverized sage to them, while they are still warm, break them small, and stir them well that the seasoning may be equally distributed.
TOMATOES.
Stewed.
Scald them in order to remove the skins. Cut them up and put them into a saucepan, with a little salt, a bit of butter, and some fine crumbs of bread or pounded cracker. Let them stew gently an hour; if you like them sweet, add sugar ten minutes before serving.
Baked.
Butter a dish, and when you have skinned the tomatoes lay them in it, whole. Sprinkle salt and sugar over them, and then fine crumbs of bread or pounded cracker. Bake them forty minutes in a dish in which they may be put upon the table. When they are half baked dip the syrup over the top, so as to moisten the crumbs.
Broiled.
Cut them in two without skinning, and lay them upon the gridiron. They will not break, and will require six or seven minutes to cook through. Turn them, and when laid in the dish, add salt and butter, and also pepper if you prefer.
Like Cucumbers.
Take fair fruit. The small kind, called love-apples, are the best for this use. Take off the skins, slice them, sprinkle salt over them, add vinegar (rather less than for cucumbers), and put on pepper.
Preserved.
Having skinned them, weigh equal quantities of fruit and sugar. Let the tomatoes lie upon a hair sieve a little while in order that some of the juice may drain out. Then lay them carefully, so as not to spoil the shape, into a stone jar, in alternate layers with the sugar. Allow one lemon for every four pounds of fruit, and lay slices of lemon between each layer of fruit. Cover the jar close, and set it in a kettle of cold water, where it will boil moderately, but constantly, many hours—all day if possible. See that the water comes up high enough around the jar, and also that none of it boils into the top. When it is boiled enough, let the jar stand until the water has in a measure cooled, as it may be broken by being taken at once out of boiling water.
Figs.
Choose smooth-shaped tomatoes, and to sixteen pounds allow six pounds of sugar. Scald and remove the skins in the usual way; put the sugar to them, and boil until penetrated with it; then take them out, spread them on dishes, flatten and dry them in the sun. A small quantity of sugar should be sprinkled over them occasionally while drying. When perfectly dry, pack them in boxes, sprinkling each layer with powdered sugar.
Pickle (an excellent Condiment).
Put eight pounds of skinned tomatoes, and four of brown sugar, into a preserving kettle. Stir often and see they do not burn. Boil them to the consistency of molasses, then add a quart of sharp cider-vinegar, a teaspoonful of mace, another of cinnamon, and half a teaspoonful of clove, and boil five minutes longer.
Stewed Tomato (to keep the year round).
Skin and cut up the fruit, and boil it gently two hours in a porcelain kettle; add nothing to it but a little salt. Have ready enough clean bottles to contain the quantity to be stewed. Olive bottles are very convenient for the purpose, but common junk bottles are also good. Provide a tunnel, good corks, a coarse towel, a hammer, and a tin dish containing equal parts of rosin and shoemaker's wax. After two hours' boiling, set the kettle off; have the bottles ready warmed by standing near the fire so that heat will not crack them, put hot water into three or four at a time, shake it about, and drain it out; then fill the bottles with the hot tomato nearly far enough to meet the cork. If it does not readily go through the tunnel, push it down with a stick or skewer. When you have filled these, put in the corks and hammer them down; take the coarse towel to protect your hands from the heat, and dip the mouth of the bottle into the melted sealing-wax. See that the cork is entirely covered by it. Set these aside and do the rest in the same way. This is a convenient way for those who do not own the cans now so much used; and tomatoes put up thus, are as good months afterwards as if the fruit was just gathered. None but fresh and sound ones should be used. Set the bottles in a cool, dry place.
Catsup.
Slice the tomatoes and sprinkle them with salt. If you intend to let them stand until you have gathered several parcels, put in plenty of salt. After you have gathered all you intend to use, boil them gently an hour, strain them through a coarse sieve; slice two good-sized onions very thin for every gallon; add half a spoonful of ginger, two spoonfuls of powdered clove, two of allspice, and a teaspoonful of black pepper. Boil it twenty minutes after the spices are added. Keep it in a covered jar.
This kind of catsup is specially designed to be used in soups, and stewed meats.
Another Catsup (retaining the color and flavor of the Fruit).
Skin and slice the tomatoes, and boil them an hour and a half. Then put to one gallon not strained, a quarter of an ounce of mace, the same of nutmegs and cloves, one handful of horseradish, two pods of red pepper, or a large teaspoonful of cayenne, and salt as you like it. Boil it away to three quarts, and then add a pint of wine and half a pint of vinegar. Bottle it, and leave the bottles open two or three days; then cork it tight. Make this catsup once, and you will wish to make it every year.
Wash green tomatoes, and slice them rather thin; weigh them, and allow three or four sliced onions, four pounds of sugar, and a gallon of cider-vinegar to eight pounds of tomatoes. Put the vinegar to boil in a porcelain kettle with the sugar, stir it, and when it boils up, set it off, and let it stand a few minutes until you can remove the scum without wasting the vinegar; then add the onions, two teaspoonfuls of salt, a table-spoonful each of powdered cinnamon and clove, and a grated nutmeg; then set it upon the fire and immediately add the tomatoes. When the vinegar begins to simmer press the tomatoes gently down. Let them boil only two or three minutes. Put them into covered jars; or, when cool enough into wide-mouthed bottles. When the pickles are all used, the vinegar need not be lost, as it is excellent upon baked beans, and cold salt meat, or in mince pies.
ON COOKING VEGETABLES.
After being well washed, they should be laid in water, excepting corn and peas, which should be husked and shelled with clean hands, and not washed, as some of the sweetness is thereby extracted. Put all kinds, except peas and beans, into boiling water, with a little salt in it. Hard water spoils peas, and is not good for any vegetables; a very little saleratus or soda will rectify it. Peas are much best when first gathered, and they should not be shelled long before boiling. If they are old, a salt-spoon of soda in the water will make them tender. Asparagus should not be cut so far below the surface of the ground as it usually is for market; the white end never boils tender. Sweet potatoes require a third longer time to cook than the common ones.
Greens, lettuce, and cucumbers should be gathered before the dew is off in the morning, and put into fresh water. All these, with peas, beans, and asparagus, are unhealthful after they are withered.
To Boil Potatoes.
The best potatoes are good boiled without paring, but even they, are best pared; and poor potatoes are unfit to eat, boiled with the skins on. New potatoes are made watery by being laid in water, but late in the winter and in the spring they should be pared and laid in cold water an hour or two before they are cooked. Put them into boiling water, with salt in it, and allow thirty or forty minutes for boiling, according to the size. When they are done through, pour off the water, and take the kettle to the door or window, and shake them. Doing this in the open air makes them mealy; return them to the fire a minute or two, and then serve. Many persons take a fork and break them up in the kettle, before taking them up, and they make a beautiful looking dish done in this way.
Potatoes require nearly an hour to bake in a cooking stove or range.
Mashed Potatoes.
Boil them according to the directions in the preceding receipt, allowing twenty minutes more time before dinner, than if they were to be put on the table whole. When they are dried, set off the kettle and mash them in it with a wooden pestle. This is better than to take them into a pan, as they will keep hot in the kettle. Have ready a gill or two of hot milk or cream; if you use milk, put a small piece of butter into it. Sprinkle salt into the potato and mash it till it is perfectly fine; then pour in the hot milk and mix it thoroughly. The more it is wrought with the pestle, the whiter it becomes. Put it into the dish for the table, smooth the top into proper shape, and set it into the stove to brown. To prepare it in the nicest manner, beat the yolk of an egg and spread over the top before putting it into the stove. If you do not care to take all this trouble, it is very good without being browned.
Potatoe Balls.
Mash boiled potatoes fine, stir into them the yolk of an egg, and make them into balls; then dip them into a beaten egg, roll them in cracker crumbs, and brown them in a quick oven; or, fry them in a small quantity of nice drippings, and in that case flatten them so that they can be easily turned, and browned both sides.
Old Potatoes.
When potatoes are poor, as they often are in the spring, pare, soak, and boil them as directed in the first receipt. Then take two together in a coarse cloth, squeeze and wring them. You can, with care, turn them into the dish in shape; but if not, it is no matter. The broken pieces will still be far better than before, for they will be dry and mealy. Keep a cloth for the purpose.
To Fry Potatoes.
Pare and slice them thin, and if you have the drippings of a baked ham in which to fry them, it will give them a much better relish than butter or beef drippings. Cold boiled potatoes, if fried, should be sliced thicker than raw ones. The latter require much more time to cook than the others. Sprinkle them with salt while frying.
Potatoes Heated in Milk.
To make a very good dish for breakfast, cut cold potatoes quite small, and put them into a saucepan or spider, with milk enough almost, but not entirely, to cover them. When the milk becomes hot, stir and mash the potatoes with a large spoon until there are no lumps. Add salt, and a small bit of butter, stir it often, until it is as dry as you wish to have it. It is a nicer dish, when prepared with so much milk that a good deal of stirring is necessary to make it dry, than if done in but a small quantity.
Sweet Potatoes.
They are best baked; are very nice boiled till tender, and then pared and laid into the oven to brown. They require more time for being cooked, than the common potato. Cold sweet potatoes are excellent sliced and browned on the griddle. When one side is done, sprinkle salt over before turning them.
Mashed Turnips.
Boil them in salt and water, at least an hour and a half, unless they are of early growth. Take them from the kettle into a deep dish, press them a little and pour off the water; mash them like potatoes, but use no milk, as they are moist enough. Add salt and a little butter.
It is a very nice way to put an equal number of potatoes and turnips together, and mash them until they are thoroughly mixed. This is a favorite dish among the Dutch in the State of New York.
Shelled Beans.
Put them into cold soft water, just enough to cover them. Boil them from an hour to an hour and a quarter. Some kinds are more easily boiled than others. Do not put in salt until they are nearly done, as its tendency is to make them hard. Take them up with a skimmer and butter them.
String Beans.
Beans should never be used in this way after the pod has become old enough to have a string, or tough fibre upon it. Cut off each end, and cut them up small. Boil them in as little water as will keep them from burning. Just before you take them up, add salt and butter, and dredge in a little flour. They should have only as much liquor in them as you wish to take up in the dish, else the sweetness is wasted. String beans and peas are good boiled together.
Peas.
If peas are young and fresh (and none others are good), they will boil in half an hour or thirty-five minutes. They should be put into cold water, without salt. The same quantity should be used as for string beans, and for the same reason. When they are tender, add salt and butter. It is an improvement to boil a single small slice of pork in them. It need not be laid into the dish, and the same slice will do for another boiling.
Asparagus.
Wash it, trim off the white ends, and tie it up in bunches with a twine or a strip of old cotton. Throw them into boiling water with salt in it. Boil twenty-five minutes or half an hour. Have ready two or three slices of toasted bread, dip them in the water and lay them in the dish. Spread them with butter and lay the bunches of asparagus upon the toast. Cut the strings with a scissors and draw them out without breaking the stalks; lay thin shavings of butter over the asparagus, and send it to the table.
Asparagus and Eggs.
Take cold asparagus, and cut it the size of peas; break four or five eggs into a dish, and beat them with pepper, salt, and the asparagus. Then put it into a stew-pan with a spoonful of butter, set it on the fire, and stir it all the time till it thickens. Put it upon toasted bread in a hot dish.
Mushrooms.
Choose such as are young, having red gills; cut off the part of the stalk which grew in the earth; wash them, remove the skin from the top, stew them with some salt in a little water, and when tender add butter, into which you have rubbed browned flour. They are good fried on a griddle.
Salad.
Gather lettuce and pepper-grass early, before the dew has evaporated; pick them over, and lay them in cold water. If the weather is very warm, change the water before dinner-time, and add ice. Just before it is served, cut it small, and prepare the dressing in the following manner. Boil three eggs twelve minutes, and throw them into cold water; remove the shell, and take out the yolks; mash them fine in a spoonful of water and two of oil; add salt, powdered sugar, made mustard and vinegar; pour the mixture over the salad, cut the whites of the eggs in rings and garnish the top.
Cucumbers.
Cucumbers should be gathered while dew is yet on them, and put immediately into water. Half an hour before dinner, pare and slice them very thin, and let them lie in fresh water till dinner is ready; then drain them, lay them into a dish, sprinkle them with salt, pour on the vinegar, and add the pepper last.
Macaroni.
Procure that which looks white and clean. When it is to be used, examine it carefully, as there are sometimes little insects inside. Wash it, and put it in a stew-pan in cold water enough almost to cover it. Add a little salt. Let it boil slowly half an hour; then add a gill of milk and a small piece of butter, and boil it a quarter of an hour more. Then put it into the dish in which it is to go to the table, grate old cheese over it, and heat a shovel red-hot and hold over the top to brown it. It may be browned in a stove, but if the dish would be injured by it, the better way is to use the shovel.
Parsnips.
Those that have remained in the ground till March, are usually very nice. Boil them three quarters of an hour, and cook enough for two days. Scrape the outside, split them, and lay them on a dish with a little butter, salt, and pepper. Take those that are left the next day, and lay them on a hot griddle or spider, with a little butter, ham fat, or nice drippings, and brown them. These are better than on the first day. They will brown well when first boiled, but not so quickly.
Carrots.
These are not considered by most people very good; but they are so in broth and soup. To eat with meat they should be boiled three quarters of an hour, if fresh from the garden; in the winter, an hour and a half. They make very good pies after the fashion of pumpkin or squash; but they must be boiled very tender, and in a good deal of water, else a strong taste will pervade the pies.
Beets.
When they are washed the little fibres and ragged excrescences should not be broken off, as the juices of the root will thus be lost. Young beets boil in an hour; but in the winter they require from two to three hours. When tender, put them for a minute or two into cold water, take them in your hands and slip the skins off. This is a much easier and better way than to remove the skin with a knife. Lay them into a dish, cut them several times through, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, add a little butter, and, if you choose, vinegar also. It is a very good way to cut up all that remain after dinner, put on salt and vinegar, and set them aside to be used cold another day.
Salsify, or Oyster Plant.
Wash and scrape it very thoroughly, and put it in boiling water with salt in it. When tender, cut it in slices and fry it in hot fat, in a batter made of an egg, milk, flour, and salt. It is very nice, also, dipped in bread-crumbs moistened with a beaten egg, and browned on a griddle.
Summer Squash.
If the rind is tender, boil it whole, in a little bag kept for the purpose. It should be put into boiling water; three quarters of an hour is long enough to cook it. Take the bag into a pan and press it with the edge of a plate or with a ladle, until the water is out; then turn the squash out into a dish, add salt and butter, and smooth over the top.
Winter Squash.
Cut it up and take out the inside. Pare the pieces, and stew them in as little water as possible. If you have a tin with holes in it, which will fit the kettle and keep the squash from touching the water, it is the nicest way to steam it. Be careful it does not burn. It will cook in an hour. Mash it in a dish, or, if it is watery, squeeze it in a coarse cloth like summer squash. Stir in butter and salt. Lay it into the dish, smooth the top, and, if you like, pepper it.
Onions.
Boil them twenty minutes, and pour off the water entirely; then put in equal parts of hot water and milk, or skimmed milk alone, and boil them twenty minutes more. When they are done through, take them up with a skimmer, let them drain a little, and lay them into the dish. Put on butter, pepper, and salt.
Spinage.
Put it into a net, or a bag of coarse muslin, kept for the purpose, and boil it in a plenty of water with salt in it, ten or twelve minutes. All kinds of greens should be boiled in plenty of water, else they will be bitter.
One method of serving spinage is, to press it between two plates, then put it into a saucepan with a small bit of butter, salt, and a little cream, and boil it up. Another is to drain it thoroughly, lay it in the dish, put upon the top hard boiled eggs, sliced, and pour melted butter over it.
Greens.
Cabbage plants, turnip or mustard tops, the roots and tops of young beets, cowslips, dandelions, and various other things, make a good dish in the spring. When boiled enough, they will sink to the bottom of the kettle. Some require an hour, and others less time. Turnip-tops will be boiled enough in twenty minutes. Remember to put salt into the water unless you boil a piece of pork with them.
Cabbage.
Remove the waste leaves, and divide the stump end as far as the centre of the cabbage. It is good boiled with salt meat; but if cooked by itself, salt should be added to the water. Cabbage should be put into boiling water, be well skimmed, and boil an hour or hour and a half, according to the size.
Cauliflowers.
Lay them an hour or two in cold salt and water; remove the outside leaves and boil them half an hour in milk and water. If they are strong, pour off the water when they are half done, and put fresh boiling water to them. Brocoli is cooked in the same manner, and should be laid on toast exactly like asparagus.
Egg Plant.
Take fresh purple ones, and pull out the stem; parboil them and cut them in slices about an inch thick. Dip them in a beaten egg, and then in a plate of bread or cracker crumbs, with salt and pepper, and fry them in drippings until they are nicely browned.
Boiled Corn.
Put the ears into boiling water, with salt in it, and boil them half an hour.
Corn Soup.
Cut the corn off the cob, and boil the cobs half an hour in the water; then take them out, put in the corn and boil it twenty minutes or half an hour. If there is a quart of the corn and water, add a pint of new milk, with salt, pepper, and one or two beaten eggs. Continue the boiling a few minutes, and thicken it a little with flour.
Succotash.
Cut off the corn from the cobs, and, an hour and a half before dinner, put the cobs, with a few shelled beans, into cold water to boil. After one hour take out the cobs, put in the corn and boil it half an hour. There should be no more water than will be necessary to make the succotash of the right thickness; as having too much occasions a loss of the richness imparted by the cobs. When you take it up, add a small piece of butter. This is much better than to boil the corn on the cob and then cut it off.
It is a very good way, when a family are tired of fresh meat in hot weather, to boil a piece of pork in another pot until the grossest fat has boiled out, and then put it with the succotash for the remainder of the time. It gives a very good flavor to the corn, and makes an excellent dinner.
Corn Oysters.
Grate young, sweet corn into a dish, and to a pint add one egg, well beaten, a small teacup of flour, half a gill of cream, and a teaspoonful of salt. Mix it well together. Fry it exactly like oysters, dropping it into the fat by spoonfuls about the size of an oyster.
PICKLES.
Pickles should never be kept in potter's ware, as arsenic and other poisonous substances are used in the glazing; and this is sometimes decomposed by vinegar. Whole families have been poisoned in this way; and where fatal effects do not follow, a deleterious influence may be operating upon the health, from this cause, when it is not suspected. Pickles should be made with cider vinegar.
Cucumbers.
Wash and drain them in a sieve, but take care not to break the little prickles upon them, as the effect will be to make them soft. Lay them in a jar, pour boiling vinegar upon them and cover them close. The next time you gather any, take those from the jar, and put them into that in which they are to be kept, in fresh vinegar having a very little salt in it, and a small bag of spices. Take the vinegar from the first jar, boil it again, pour it upon the fresh cucumbers, and transfer them like the first to the larger jar, the next time you have a new quantity to boil. When you have gathered all you wish for, put a brass or bell-metal kettle[14] over the fire, with the vinegar in it which you have so often boiled, and add a little more to it,—no matter if it is not sharp. Lay in your pickles and scald them a few minutes. Take them out with a large skimmer, draining them, and lay them back into the jar of spiced vinegar. Look at them occasionally; they may need a little more vinegar. Keep them covered close.
Mangoes.
Select small musk-melons (the common kind are much better for this purpose than cantelopes); cut an oval piece out of one side. You must have a sharp knife, and be careful to make a smooth incision. Take out the seeds with a teaspoon. Fill the melons with a stuffing made of cloves, mustard-seed, pepper-corns, scrapings of horseradish, and chopped onion if you like it. Sew on the piece with a needle and coarse thread, or bind a strip of old cotton around each one and sew it. Lay them in a jar, and pour boiling vinegar on them with a little salt in it. Do it two or three times, then lay them in fresh vinegar and cover them close.
Peaches.
Select peaches that are ripe, yet not quite soft enough to eat; push a clove into each one at the end opposite the stem. Put two pounds of brown sugar to a gallon of vinegar, and boil it up; skim off the top, boil it up once more, and pour it, hot, upon the peaches. Cover them close.
It may be necessary to scald the vinegar again in a week or two; after that, they will keep any length of time. They retain much of the flavor of a fresh peach.
Nasturtiums.
Gather the seeds while green, let them lie a few days, then throw them into vinegar. They need no spice except a little salt, being themselves sufficiently spicy. Boil the vinegar and pour on them. They are considered by many persons better than capers, and are much like them. They should be kept six months, covered close, before they are used.
Eggs.
Boil them twelve minutes, and throw them immediately into cold water, which will cause the shell to come off easily. Boil some red beets till very soft, peel and mash them fine, and put them into cold vinegar enough to cover the eggs; add salt, pepper, cloves, and nutmeg. Put the eggs into a jar and pour the mixture over them.
Peppers.
Take fresh, hard peppers, soak them in salt and water nine days, changing the brine each day. Let them stand in a warm place. Then put them into cold vinegar. If you wish them very hot, leave in the seeds. If not, take out the seeds of the greatest part of them. If peppers are put into the same jar with cucumbers, the entire strength of them will go into the cucumbers, and they themselves will become nearly tasteless. Half a dozen peppers will improve a jar of cucumbers.
Butternuts.
Gather them between the twenty-fifth and thirtieth of June. Make a brine of boiled salt and water, strong enough to bear up an egg after it is cold. Skim it while it boils. Pour it on the nuts, and let them lie in it twelve days. Then drain them; lay them in a jar, and pour over them the best of cider vinegar, boiled with pepper-corns, cloves, allspice, mustard, ginger, mace, and horseradish. This should be cooled before it is poured on. Cover close, and keep them a year before using them. Walnuts are done in the same way. The vinegar becomes an excellent catsup, by many persons preferred to any other.
Martinias.
Gather them when they are rather small, and so tender that you can run the head of a pin into them. Wipe off the down and put them into a cold, weak brine. Keep them in brine nine days, changing it every other day. Make a pickle of vinegar, allspice, cloves, mace, nutmegs, and cinnamon. Take the martinias out of the brine, wipe them, and lay them into a stone jar; pour the mixture of vinegar and spice, boiling hot, over them; cover them close, and let them stand one month, and they will be fit for use. There can be no finer pickle than this, and the plant is so prolific, that half a dozen seeds will produce enough to fill a large jar.
Tomatoes.
See page 170.
Plums, Peaches, Cherries, or Tomatoes.
Four quarts of cider vinegar, five pounds of sugar, a quarter of a pound of cinnamon, and two ounces of clove, to seven pounds of fruit. Scald the vinegar and sugar together, and take off the scum; add the spices and boil it up again, and pour it immediately upon the fruit. Scald the vinegar twice more at intervals of three or four days, and cover the jar close after it is poured in.
A less expensive way is found to be very good. Put four pounds of sugar to eight of fruit, half the quantity of spice, a spoonful of salt, and one also of powdered allspice.
TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, COCOA, ETC.
Tea.
See that the water boils. Scald the pot, and put in a teaspoonful for each person. Upon green tea, pour a little water, and allow it to stand two or three minutes where it will keep hot; then fill the pot from the teakettle. Green tea should never be boiled, and it is rendered dead by being steeped long.
Of black tea the same measure is used; the pot being filled up at first, and set immediately upon the stove, just long enough to boil up once. Water should be added to the teapot from the teakettle; never from the water pot, as in that case it cannot be boiling hot. Black and green tea are good mixed. If tea is made from a boiling urn at the table, which is, on several accounts, a very good practice, make black tea in the same way as green.
To roast Coffee.
As this must be done well in order to have good coffee, directions for it may not be amiss. There are often little stones in coffee, of the same color with it; therefore, pick it over carefully. If you have no coffee-roaster, put it into a round-bottomed, iron kettle, and let it be where it will be hot an hour or two without burning; then put it where it will brown, and stir it constantly until it is done. If it is left half a minute, the kernels next to the kettle may be burnt black, and this is enough to injure all the rest. It should be a dark, rich brown, but not black. Before taking it up, stir in a piece of butter the size of a small nut. Put it, while steaming hot, into a box with a close cover.
In a small family, not more than two pounds should be roasted at once, as it loses its freshness by being roasted long before use. For the same reason it should be ground as it is wanted. The practice of grinding up a quantity for two or three weeks, is a poor one. The best kinds are the Java and the Mocha, and it is considered an improvement to mix the two. West India coffee, though of a different flavor, is often very good.
To make Coffee.
Put a coffee-cup full into a pot that will hold three pints of water; add the white of an egg, or a few shavings of isinglass, or a well cleansed and dried bit of fish-skin of the size of a ninepence. Pour upon it boiling water and boil it ten minutes. Then pour out a little from the spout, in order to remove the grains that may have boiled into it, and pour it back into the pot. Let it stand eight or ten minutes where it will keep hot, but not boil; boiling coffee a great while makes it strong, but not so lively or agreeable. If you have no cream, boil a saucepan of milk, and after pouring it into the pitcher, stir it now and then till the breakfast is ready, that the cream may not separate from the milk.
If you use a coffee-biggin, let the coffee be ground very fine and packed tight in the strainer; pour on boiling water, stop the spout of the pot, shut the lid close, and place it upon a heater kept for the purpose. This is made at the table.
Coffee Milk.
Put a dessert spoonful of ground coffee into a pint of milk; boil it a quarter of an hour with a shaving or two of isinglass; then let it stand ten minutes and pour it off.
Chocolate.
For those who use a great deal of chocolate, the following is an economical method. Cut a cake into small bits and put them into a pint of boiling water. In a few minutes set it off the fire and stir it well till the chocolate is dissolved; then boil it again gently a few minutes, pour it into a bowl, and set it in a cool place. It will keep good eight or ten days. For use, boil a spoonful or two in a pint of milk, with sugar.
Another.
Shave fine an inch wide across a cake of chocolate; pour on it a quart of boiling water; boil it twenty minutes; add milk in such proportion as you like, and boil it up again.
Cocoa.
The cracked cocoa is considered the best. Two large spoonfuls put into three pints of cold water, and boiled from one to two hours, is a good rule to make it for four or five persons. It should be boiled over several times, as it is very strong. Boil milk for it by itself.
To make the ground Cocoa.
Boil two large spoonfuls in a quart of water half an hour; skim off the oil, pour in three gills of milk, and boil it up again. It is the best way to make it the day before it is used, as the oily substance can be more perfectly removed when the cocoa is cold.
Shells.
Put a heaping teacupful to a quart of boiling water. Boil them a great while. Half an hour will do, but two or three hours is far better. Scald milk as for coffee. If there is not time to boil shells long enough before breakfast, it is well to put them into the water over night.
Syrup of Cream.
To a pint of fresh cream, put a pound and a quarter of loaf sugar; boil it in an earthen pot or saucepan; pour it into a jar or basin, and let it stand till it is cold; then put it into phials and cork close. It will keep good for several weeks, and is convenient to carry to sea.
To raise a Thick Cream.
Put new milk into an earthen pan, and set it on a stove, or over clear embers till it is quite hot. Then set it aside till the next day, and it will produce excellent cream for coffee or fruit.