Lay a sirloin of beef with the tenderloin down, and the thick end towards the left hand of the person who carves.
A loin of veal or a quarter of lamb, with the thick edge toward the carver, and the inside uppermost. A leg of veal, with the inside up, and the thick end toward the right hand. A leg of mutton or lamb in the same way. A fore quarter of lamb or a breast of veal, with the outside up, and the thick edge toward the carver. A ham, with the outside up, and the thick end toward the right hand. A turkey or goose upon the back, with the neck toward the left hand. Fowls on the back, and if there is more than one, with the legs toward the carver.
The appearance of a fowl or turkey when on the table, depends much on its having been handsomely skewered.
A young turkey has a smooth leg, and a soft bill, and if fresh, the eyes will be bright, and the feet moist. Old turkeys have scaly, stiff feet.
Young fowls have a tender skin, smooth legs, and the breast bone readily yields to the pressure of the finger. The best are those that have yellow legs. The feet and legs of old fowls look as if they had seen hard service in the world.
Young ducks feel tender under the wing, and the web of the foot is transparent. The best are thick and hard on the breast.
Young geese have yellow bills, and the feet are yellow and supple; the skin may be easily broken by the head of a pin; the breast is plump, and the fat white. An old goose is unfit for the human stomach.
To keep fowls in warm weather, take out the heart and liver and parboil them, set them aside in a cool place, to be used in the gravy. Wash the fowls as clean as possible from the blood, and plunge one at a time into a kettle of boiling water for five minutes, moving it about, that the water may penetrate every part. Drain and wipe them dry and pepper the inside and the necks. This process will enable you to keep them two days in warm weather. In cold weather all sorts of poultry should be kept at least a week; but care should be taken that they do not freeze, as they are not quite so good for being frozen.
Pick out the pin feathers very carefully. A pair of tweezers is sometimes necessary to take out those which a knife will not remove. Cut out the oil bag above the tail. Singe off all the hair by turning it quickly over a blazing paper. Cut off the legs at the joint above the feet; trim the neck, and if too long cut off some of it; draw out the crop and be sure to take out every thing from the inside. The best way of removing the crop is to make an incision along the backbone, just below the neck. It can be removed in this way as easily as by the common method, and the appearance of the bird, when laid on the dish, is much better. Be careful, in removing the gall bag, not to break it, as it will make every spot it touches bitter, and the most careful washing will not remove it. If there is much fat, trim off some of it. Throw the liver, heart, and gizzard into water and wash them. Wash the fowl in several waters. It is then ready to be stuffed and skewered, as directed under the head, To roast a Turkey. Some persons think fowls much better not to be washed; but they cannot be clean without.
The sharpness of the breast bone, which is a defect in the appearance of a fowl on the table, may be remedied in the following way: When preparing it to be cooked, take a small sharp knife, and passing it up the body, cut off the little slender bones which join the hug-me-close[13] to the side. Then push down the breast bone by pressing heavily upon it. A little practice will make it easy to do this.
To Roast a Turkey.
Observe the directions under the head, To prepare Poultry for being cooked. Make a stuffing, and fill both the breast and body. Sew it up with a needle and coarse thread; tie the skin over the end of the neck with a thread or piece of twine. Push a short skewer through above the tail, and a long one through the body under the thighs; then tie the ends of the legs down with a twine, close upon the short skewer. Push another long skewer through the body, so as to confine the wings, and tie them round with a twine. Put the spit through the length of the body, and fasten it with two skewers; flour it, and put it to the fire with a little water in the roaster. It should be roasted rather slowly. A turkey weighing twelve pounds should roast three hours; one weighing six or seven, an hour and a half. When half done, flour it again thickly; when this is browned, baste it often. If much fat roasts out, dip off most of it when the turkey is about half done, and put a small piece of butter into the gravy, and baste the turkey with it. Having washed the heart, liver, &c., boil them an hour and a half, in a sauce-pan in a pint of water; skim them when the water first boils up; if it boils away, add more.
To make the gravy, take out the heart and gizzard, mash the liver, and put it back into the water in which it was boiled, and pour the gravy also out of the roaster into it; set it on the coals, add browned flour, wet smooth, and a little butter and pepper, and boil it a minute or two, and then serve it. The liver should never be put under the wing, or laid upon the dish, but always be used in the gravy, as it is greatly improved by it.
More directions respecting gravies may be found under the head, Directions for making various kinds of Gravies.
To Boil a Turkey.
Stuff a young turkey, weighing six or seven pounds, with bread, butter, salt, pepper, and minced parsley; skewer up the legs and wings as if to roast; flour a cloth and pin around it. Boil it forty minutes, then set off the kettle and let it stand, close covered, half an hour more. The steam will cook it sufficiently. To be eaten with drawn butter and stewed oysters.
To Roast Chickens.
Observe the same directions in stuffing them as for a turkey. If you wish to roast several before an open fire, the spit may be put through side-ways, instead of length-ways, and four or five can thus be roasted at once, in a large roaster. Boil the inwards and make the gravy as for a turkey. Roast them an hour and a half.
To Boil Chickens.
Make the same dressing as directed for a boiled turkey, or boil them without stuffing if preferred. Skewer them up into a good shape, as when prepared to roast, and boil them an hour and a quarter. Serve them with drawn butter and cut parsley. It is an improvement to mash the livers and put into the butter. If chickens can be carefully skimmed, they need no cloth around them.
To Broil Chickens.
Cut them open through the back, take out the inwards, wash them and wipe them dry; place the inside down on the gridiron. They must broil slowly, and care be taken they do not burn. Turn them in ten minutes. To keep them flat, lay a tin sheet upon them, with a weight. Broil twenty-five minutes, and dress with butter, pepper, and salt. They can be broiled best over wood coals.
To Fricassee Chickens.
Boil them forty minutes in water enough barely to cover them. Take off the scum as fast as it rises. Take them up and carve them in the usual way. Put part of the water in which they were boiled into a spider or stew-pan. For two chickens rub a piece of butter as large as an egg, and a spoonful of flour together, and stir into the water as it boils up. Add some salt, and a gill of cream, or milk. Lay in the pieces of chicken, cover the pan close, and stew them gently eight or ten minutes. Parsley cut fine is a decided improvement.
Chicken Salad.
Boil or roast a nice fowl. When cold, cut off all the meat, and chop it a little, but not very small; cut up a large bunch of celery and mix with the chicken. Boil four eggs hard, mash, and mix them with sweet oil, pepper, salt, mustard, and a gill of vinegar. Beat this mixture very thoroughly together, and just before dinner pour it over the chicken.
Chicken Pie.
Boil chickens in water barely to cover them, forty minutes. Skim the water carefully. Take them out into a dish, and cut them up as they should be carved if placed upon the table. If the skin is very thick remove it. Have ready, lined with a thick paste, a deep dish, of a size proportioned to the number of chickens you wish to use; put in the pieces, with the hearts and livers, in layers; sprinkle each layer with flour, salt, and pepper, and put on each piece of chicken a thin shaving of butter; do this till you have laid in all the pieces; put rather more of the spice, flour, and butter over the top layer than on the previous ones, and pour in as much of the liquor in which the chickens were boiled as you can without danger of its boiling over. Lay on the upper crust, and close the edges very carefully with flour and water; prick the top with a knife. Cut leaves of crust and ornament it. Bake two hours. The crust for chicken pie should be twice as thick as for fruit pies. Use mace and nutmeg if you wish.
To Roast Ducks.
Flour them thick and baste them often. If they are roasted before the fire, an hour is long enough; if in a stove, an hour and a half. For making the stuffing and gravy, see the directions.
To Boil Ducks.
Scald and lay them in warm water a few minutes, then lay them in a dish, pour boiling milk over them, and let them lie in it two or three hours. Then take them out, dredge them with flour, and put them into a saucepan of cold water, cover close and boil them twenty minutes. Then take them out and set them, covered, where they will keep warm, and make the sauce as follows:—
Chop a large onion and a bunch of parsley fine, and put them into a gill of good gravy. [See receipt for Stock.] Add a table-spoonful of lemon juice, a little salt, pepper, and a small piece of butter. Stew these ingredients half an hour; then lay the ducks into a dish, and pour the sauce over them.
To Roast a Goose.
Boil it half an hour to take out the strong, oily taste, then stuff and roast it exactly like a turkey. If it is a young one, after being boiled, an hour's roasting will be sufficient.
To Boil Partridges.
Put them in a floured cloth into boiling water, and boil them fast fifteen minutes. For sauce, rub a very small piece of butter into some flour, and boil in a teacup of cream. Add cut parsley if preferred.
To Roast Partridges.
Prepare them like chickens, and roast three quarters of an hour.
To Roast Pigeons.
Pick out the pin feathers, or if there are a great many, pull off the skin. Examine the inside very carefully. Soak them half an hour in a good deal of water, to take out the blood. Then boil them with a little salt in the water, half an hour, and take off the scum as fast as it rises. Take them out, flour them well, and lay them into a dripping-pan; strain the water in which they were boiled, and put a part of it into the pan; stir in it a little piece of butter, and baste the pigeons often. Add pepper and sweet marjoram if you prefer. Roast them nearly two hours. Pigeons need to be cooked a long time.
Pigeons in Disguise.
Prepare them just as directed in the receipt above, and boil them long enough to remove all the blood, then pepper and salt them, make a good paste, roll each pigeon close in a piece of it; tie them separately in a cloth, taking care not to break the paste. Boil them gently an hour and a half, in a good deal of water. Lay them in a hot dish, and pour a gravy over them made of cream, parsley, and a little butter.
Pigeon Pie.
Pick, soak, and boil pigeons with the same care as directed in the receipt for roasting them. Make a crust just as for chicken or veal pie. Lay in the pigeons whole, and season with pepper, salt, shavings of butter, and sweet marjoram; flour them thickly, then strain the water in which they were boiled, and fill the dish two thirds with it. Lay the top crust over, and close the edges well. Make many incisions with the point of a knife, or a large fork, and bake an hour and a half.
Woodcocks, Quails, and other small birds.
Pull off the skin, split them down the back with a sharp knife, pepper the breasts, and lay the inside first upon the gridiron. Broil them slowly at first, skewer a small bit of pork upon each one. Turn them after seven or eight minutes. Broil them twenty minutes.
If you wish to make a pie, do just as directed for the pigeon pie.
Calcutta Curry.
Boil and joint two chickens. Fry three or four slices of salt pork, and when they are nearly brown add a large spoonful of butter. Cut three or four onions fine, and fry them a light brown; then remove them, and the pork, and fry the chickens gently in the fat; strew over the meat while it is frying a spoonful and a half of good curry powder, and dredge in flour. Then add hot water to make sufficient gravy; if the gravy is not thick enough, mix a little flour smooth in cold water, and stir in. Add salt to suit your taste. This dish is best when stewed slowly. Garnish with slices of lemon.
Partridges, pigeons, rabbits, sweet-breads, breasts of mutton, lamb, and veal, are all used for curries.
There is a difference in the quality of curry powder. The above measure, is for the strongest kind, and is enough for a quart of gravy. The East Indians never use flour in thickening the gravy, but depend on the curry powder.
To prepare rice for Calcutta curry, wash a pint in several waters, and put it into a kettle, containing a gallon of warm water, with salt in it. Cook it ten minutes from the time it begins to boil; then pour it into a sieve, and when the water is entirely drained out, shake the sieve, and the particles of rice will separate, and it is ready to serve.
Soup is economical food, and by a little attention may be made good with very small materials. It should never be made of meat that has been kept too long. If meat is old, or has become tainted in the least, the defect is peculiarly offensive in soup. All meat and bones for soup should be boiled a long time, and set aside until the next day in order that the fat may be entirely removed. Then add the vegetables, rice, and herbs, and boil it from an hour to an hour and a half. The water in which fresh meat is boiled should be saved for soup and broth; and the bones of roast beef should never be thrown away without boiling, as they make excellent soup, and if not used for this purpose, should be boiled in order to save the fat which they contain.
A Rich Soup.
The richest soups are made by using several kinds of meat together; as beef, mutton, and veal. A shank of each of these with very little meat upon it, should be boiled several hours the first day; and vegetables, with various kinds of spice, added the day it is to be served. Nice soups should be strained; and they are good with macaroni, added afterwards, and boiled half or three quarters of an hour. If you have the water, in which chickens have been boiled, the soup will be much better if the beef, mutton, and veal are boiled in this, instead of pure water.
Roast Beef Bone Soup.
Boil the bones at least three hours, or until every particle of meat is loose; then take them out and scrape off the meat and set aside the water; the next day take from it all the fat, cut up an onion, two or three potatoes and a turnip, and put into it. Add, half an hour before dinner, powdered sweet marjoram, catsup, and some salt. Boil it an hour.
Shank Soup.
When you buy a shank, have the butcher cut it into several pieces, and split open the thickest part of the bone. Boil it three or four hours and set it aside. The next day, take off the fat, and if you do not wish to eat the meat in the soup, take that out also; add vegetables, etc., as in the preceding receipt. To make a convenient use of the meat, see the receipt for minced meat.
Ox-tail Soup.
Take two tails, divide them at the joints, soak them in warm water. Put them into cold water in a gallon pot or stew-pan. Skim off the froth carefully. When the meat is boiled to shreds, take out the bones, and add a chopped onion and carrot. Use spices and sweet herbs or not, as you prefer. Boil it three or four hours.
Soup of the remnants of Calf's Head.
Remove the fat from the water in which the head was boiled, and put into it the pieces left of the first day's dinner, cut up small. Add cloves, crackers, pepper, browned flour, curry powder, and, if you choose, catsup. Boil it an hour.
Mock-Turtle Soup.
Add to the foregoing ingredients, red wine, nutmeg, and mace; and force meat balls, made in the following way,—Chop some of the meat fine, and put with it an equal quantity of fine bread crumbs, onions chopped small, cayenne and black pepper, sweet marjoram and powdered clove. Beat two eggs and with them stir the ingredients together, and make into balls, and fry in butter enough to brown them; then put the balls and the butter into the soup.
Turkey Soup.
The remnants of a young turkey make good soup. Put all the bones, and little bits left of a dinner into about three quarts of water. If you have turkey gravy, or the remnants of chickens, add them also, and boil them two hours or more. Skim out the meat and bones, and set the water aside in a cool place till the next day. Then take all the fat from the top; take the bones and pieces of skin out from the meat and return it to the liquor. If some of the dressing has been left, put that in also, and boil all together a few minutes. If more seasoning is needed, add it to suit your taste.
White Soup.
Boil a knuckle of veal to shreds, add a quarter of a pound of vermicelli, half a pint of cream, and lemon peel and mace.
Pea Soup.
Take a pint of split peas, and when carefully picked over and washed, put them into a pint of water to soak over night. Three hours before dinner, put them into a pot with a quart more water, and about half a pound of pork (less if you wish the soup not very rich.) Boil it steadily, and be careful to stir it often, lest it should burn. It may need more water before dinner, and can be made of whatever thickness you prefer.
If you prefer to have the soup without pork (which makes it too rich for many persons), use the liquor in which beef or other fresh meat has been boiled instead of water, and use no pork. This is a very good way.
Vegetable Soup.
Take two turnips, two carrots, four potatoes, one large onion, one parsnip, and a few stalks of celery or some parsley. Cut them all very fine, or chop them in a tray; put them, with a spoonful of rice, into three quarts of water, and boil the whole three hours. Then strain the soup through a colander or coarse sieve, return it to the kettle, and put it over the fire. Add a piece of butter of the size of a nut, stir the soup till the butter is melted, dredge in a little flour, let it boil up and then serve it.
Mutton or Lamb Broth.
Take the water in which a leg of mutton or lamb was boiled on the previous day, take off the fat and boil it two hours with a turnip, an onion, and a carrot, cut small. Add some minced parsley and a spoonful of rice. All these, except the parsley, should be put in while the water is cold. Any little pieces of the neck, ribs, or shank will make excellent broth.
Veal Broth.
Take a knuckle, or if you have a large family, two knuckles of veal. Put them over the fire, at least three hours before dinner-time; use not more than two quarts of water for two knuckles, and skim it until it is no longer necessary. (Veal requires more attention in this respect than any other meat). When this is done, add a spoonful of rice. A quarter of an hour before it is to be served, put in some minced parsley, salt, and pepper. It is a very nutritious dish. Some persons add two or three slices of salt pork.
It is a good way, after having taken off cutlets from the large end of a leg of veal, to boil the entire piece that remains, with the knuckle. Boil it two hours or two hours and a half. Make broth of the liquor by putting in a small gill of rice, and some parsley; add the parsley about ten minutes before it is served.
Melt butter with cut parsley, to eat on the meat.
In families that like salt pork, a piece should be boiled separately to eat with the veal.
Boiled.
New laid eggs require half a minute longer to cook than others. The fresher they are the better, and the more healthful. Eggs over a week old should never be boiled; they will do to fry. Put them into water that boils, but not furiously, as it will crack them. If you like them very soft, boil them three minutes. If you wish the yolk hard, boil them five minutes. To be served with salad, they should be boiled twelve minutes.
Fried.
After you have fried ham, drop in the eggs one at a time. In about a minute dip the boiling fat with a spoon over them again and again. This will prevent the necessity of turning them, which it is difficult to do without breaking the yolks. Take them up in about two minutes and a half, with a skimmer. The fat that roasts out of a ham that is browned in an oven, is good for frying eggs.
Poached.
Set a tin pan or pail on the range, containing a pint of milk; then beat six eggs well. When the milk is very nearly boiling, put in a teaspoonful of salt, and half a table-spoonful of butter; then add the eggs, and stir steadily, until it thickens, which will be in a minute or two. Set it off before it becomes very thick, and continue to stir it a minute more. Have ready, in a warm dish, two slices of toasted bread, spread with butter, and pour the egg over them. It should be a little thicker than boiled custard. This is an ample breakfast for six or seven persons.
Dropped.
Drop fresh eggs into a saucepan of boiling water with salt in it. Put them in gently, so as not to break the yolks. Have ready slices of buttered toast, and either take up the eggs with a skimmer or pour off the water, and then turn them out of the saucepan upon the toast. Add more salt, if they were not seasoned enough by that which was in the water.
Omelet (baked, and very simple).
Heat three gills of milk with a dessert spoonful of butter in it; beat four or five eggs thoroughly, wet a table-spoonful of flour with a teaspoonful of salt, smooth, in a little cold milk. Mix the eggs with the flour and cold milk, then add the hot milk, stirring very fast. Put the mixture into a buttered dish just large enough to contain it. It will bake in a quick oven in fifteen or twenty minutes. Besides being very palatable, it is a beautiful-looking dish for the breakfast-table, and a very convenient addition to a small dinner.
The old rule is, eight eggs to a pint of milk; but six is enough.
Omelet (Fried).
Make a batter of three eggs, two gills of milk, and two table-spoonfuls of flour. Beat it well, and add chopped onion, parsley, salt, and nutmeg. Fry brown in nice drippings or butter.
Another.
Make a batter in the same way, and add a gill of grated ham. Fry in nice fat, or the drippings of a roasted ham.
Another.
Wash a piece of salt cod as large as your hand, and soak it in warm water over night. In the morning take out the bones and chop it very fine; then put it into two or three gills of milk and boil it up. Stir in a piece of butter half the size of an egg, and a table-spoonful of flour wet smooth in cold milk; then add three eggs well beaten, and boil it half a minute more.
Purchase those which have just been caught. Of this you can judge by their being hard under the pressure of the finger. Fish lose their best flavor soon, and a few hours make a wide difference in the taste of some sorts.
Cod are best in cold weather. Mackerel are best in August, September, and October. Halibut, in May and June. Oysters are good from September to April; but are not very good or healthy from the first of May to the last of August. Lobsters are best at the season when oysters are not good.
They must be put alive into boiling water and be boiled from thirty-five to forty minutes. Allow a large spoonful of salt to every quart of water in which they are boiled. The medium sized ones are the best. The shells of old lobsters are apt to be encrusted. On no account should they be eaten later than eighteen hours after being boiled. Some persons never eat them after twelve hours. Pond fish should be soaked in strong salt and water to take out the earthy taste. Fish may be kept good several days, if frozen. All large fish need to be soaked in water that is a little warm, before being cleaned; and they should be cleaned with great care, for even if there are few scales upon them, there is a great deal of slimy substance which a knife will remove. A boiled fish is done when the eyes turn white.
When you broil fish, rub the gridiron with lard or drippings, to prevent its sticking. Do not attempt to turn it like steaks, with a knife and fork, but lay an old dish upon it, and hold it on with one hand, while you turn over the gridiron with the other. Lay the skin side down first.
Fish that is to be fried, should be cut up and laid in a cloth for an hour that the moisture may be absorbed. It should then be rolled in fine bread crumbs, or Indian meal. That which is apt to break in frying may be kept whole by being dipped in a beaten egg, before it is rolled in the bread crumbs. Oysters should be skimmed out of the liquor before being cooked, in order that it may be strained, as there are often bits of shell in it.
To Boil Cod.
Rub a little salt down the bone, and over the thick part. Wrap it in a cloth and put it over the fire in cold water; putting it into hot water at first will cause the outside to break before the centre is done. See that it is covered with water, and throw in a table-spoonful of salt. Take off the froth carefully, and boil it half an hour. Fresh cod is eaten with oyster sauce and melted butter, or with the latter alone, prepared as directed under the head of Drawn Butter, with the addition of parsley and if you choose three or four eggs boiled very hard, cut up and put into it.
The head and shoulders of cod are so much thicker than the other part, that it is impossible to boil the fish whole and have all parts equally cooked. It is therefore a good way to buy a large cod, divide it, boil the head and shoulders, and fry the other part, or sprinkle it with salt, and after a day or two, broil it.
Cod Sounds and Tongues.
Soak them in warm water, scrape them thoroughly, and boil them ten minutes in milk and water. To be served with egg sauce.
To Bake a Cod or Black Fish.
The simplest way of baking fish, is very good. Spread little pieces of bread, with butter; pepper and salt them, and lay them inside the fish. Then take a needle and thread and sew it up. Put a small skewer through the lip and tail, and fasten them together with a piece of twine. Lay it into a dish, in which it may be served, put two or three thin slices of salt pork upon it, sprinkle salt over it, and flour it well. Baste it several times with the liquor which cooks out of it. A fish weighing four pounds will cook in an hour.
To make a richer dish.
Chop fine a half a teacupful of fat ham; add a large spoonful of butter, some parsley, thyme, marjoram, a little salt, nutmeg, and pepper. If you have oysters, add a few. Beat two eggs, and put all together with fine bread crumbs enough to compound them. With this, stuff the fish, which should be floured thick, and wind a string around it to keep it together, or else sew it up. Fasten the head and tail together with a skewer. Bake it in a stove an hour. Baste it with butter.
To Fry Cod (or other Fish).
After it has been cleansed, cut it into pieces of the proper size, and lay them in a cloth in order to dry them. Fry four or five slices of salt pork, or use instead, lard or nice beef drippings; but pork is preferable. When the slices are fried crisp, take them out, dip the pieces of fish in a plate of fine Indian meal, and lay them into the spider. Fry them brown. When the fish is done, lay it with the pork into a hot dish. Pour a little water into the spider, boil it up, dredge in browned flour, and pour the whole over the fish.
To make a Chowder.
Fry three slices of salt pork, crisp, in a deep kettle; take them out and lay in slices of potatoes; flour and pepper them; then lay in slices of cod or haddock, which must also be floured and peppered. Put in alternate layers of potatoes and fish, with flour, salt, and pepper, till it is all laid in. Pour over it boiling water enough almost to cover it. When it boils up, dredge in more flour. Dip a few crackers in cold water and lay over the top, and cover the kettle close. Boil it three quarters of an hour. Use ship bread, if it is preferred. Some people add a cup of milk just before it is served. Add part of a fresh lemon, if you like.
Another Way.
Fry three or four slices of salt pork, soak a dozen hard crackers, cut up four or five onions. When the pork is fried brown take it out, and lay in half of the crackers, and half the onions. Cut up the cod, and lay the pieces next, then the rest of the crackers and onions, season it with pepper and salt, pour boiling water enough into the kettle to cover the whole. Let it stew moderately an hour.
The fish should be fresh from the water. Cod's heads and sound bones make the richest chowder.
To Boil Salt Cod.
Lay a piece of salt fish into the cellar a few days before it is to be cooked, that it may become softened by the dampness. The afternoon before it is to be boiled, wash it carefully in several waters. It is well to keep a brush on purpose to cleanse salt fish, and use it repeatedly while it is soaking. Leave it in water till morning, and then put it into a kettle, and set it where it will keep warm, and at length simmer, but not boil. Eat it with beets and potatoes, and drawn butter; or with pork scraps if you prefer.
To prepare the Scraps. Cut salt pork into very small square pieces, put them in a saucepan, and cook them till they are crisped. A quarter of a pound of pork will be enough for a family of five, and it will take half an hour to fry it enough.
There is a great difference in the quality of salt fish. The Dun is considered best.
Minced Salt Fish.
Pick out all the bones and bits of skin the day that the fish is boiled, as it is most easily done while it is warm. Next day chop it fine, and also all the potatoes left of the previous dinner; they are better for this purpose than those that are just boiled. Lay three or four slices of salt pork into a spider, and fry till they are crisped; take them out, and put the chopped fish and potato into the middle, and press it out equally, so that the fat will be at the sides. Cover it close; after about five minutes put into the centre a gill of milk, and cover it again. In a few minutes more stir it, but so carefully as not to disturb the sides and bottom, else a brown crust will not form. Add more milk if it is too dry. When thoroughly heated through, stir in a small piece of butter, loosen the crust from the sides with a knife, and turn it out upon a hot dish. If it is done right, it will come out whole, and nicely browned.
Fish-Balls.
Chop and mix fish and potatoes in the same manner as directed in the other receipt; melt a small piece of butter in a little milk, and when you have stirred it into the fish, make it up into little flat cakes, roll them in a plate of flour, and fry in hot lard, drippings, or the fat of fried pork.
To Boil or Broil Halibut.
If you wish to boil it, purchase a thick slice cut through the body, or the tail piece, which is considered the richest. Wrap it in a floured cloth and lay it in cold water with salt in it. A piece weighing six pounds, should be cooked half an hour after the water begins to boil. It is eaten with drawn butter and parsley. If any of it is left, lay it in a deep dish and sprinkle on it a little salt, throw over it a dozen or two of cloves, pour in some vinegar, and add butternut vinegar or catsup. It will, when cold, have much the flavor of lobster.
The nape of the halibut is considered best to broil; but a slice through the body a little more than an inch thick, if sprinkled with salt an hour or two before being cooked, will broil without breaking, and is excellent. When taken up, put on butter, pepper, and salt.
To Boil Salmon.
Clean a salmon in salt and water. Allow twenty minutes for boiling every pound. Wrap it in a floured cloth, and lay it in the kettle while the water is cold. Make the water very salt. Skim it well; in this respect it requires more care than any other fish. Serve it with drawn butter and parsley.
If salmon is not thoroughly cooked it is unhealthy. When a piece of boiled fresh fish of any kind is left of dinner, it is a very good way to lay it in a deep dish, and pour over it a little vinegar, with catsup, and add pepper or any other spice which is preferred.
To Broil Salmon.
Cut it in slices an inch and a half thick, dry it in a clean cloth, salt it, and lay it upon a hot gridiron, the bars having been rubbed with lard or drippings. It cooks very well in a stove oven, laid in a dripping-pan.
To Broil Shad.
Procure fresh caught shad. It requires twenty minutes to broil, on moderately hot coals. To turn it, see directions respecting Fish. Sprinkle it with salt, and spread on a little butter. Fresh fish requires a longer time to broil than meat.
The simplest way of Cooking Oysters.
Take them, unopened, rinse the shells clean, and lay them on hot coals, or the top of a cooking-stove, with the deepest side of the shell down, so as not to lose the liquor. When they begin to open a little, they are done, and the upper shell will be easily removed with a knife, and the oyster is to be eaten from the lower shell. The table should be supplied with coarse napkins, and a large dish to receive the shells.
Oyster Pie.
Make a nice paste and lay into a deep dish, turn a teacup down in the centre. This will draw the liquor under it, and prevent it from boiling over; it also keeps the upper crust from falling in and becoming clammy. Lay in the oysters, add a little pepper, butter, and flour; make a wide incision in the upper crust, so that when the pie is nearly done, you can pour in half a teacup of cream or milk. Secure the edges of the crust according to the directions for making Pastry, and bake it an hour. It should be put into the oven immediately, else the under crust will be clammy. Use but little of the liquor.
To Fry Oysters.
Lay them in a cloth a few minutes to dry them, then dip each one into sifted cracker crumbs, and fry in just enough fat to brown them. Put pepper and salt on them, before you turn them over.
Escaloped Oysters.
Butter a deep dish, and cover the bottom and sides with fine crumbs of bread. Put in half the oysters, with pounded mace, pepper, and salt, and cover them with bread crumbs and small bits of butter; add the rest of the oysters with pepper and mace, and cover as before. Put in but little of the liquor, as oysters part with a good deal of moisture in cooking, and if the mixture is too wet, it is not as good. Bake a quart of oysters half an hour. A plainer dish, with little butter and no spice is very good.
Pickled Oysters.
Boil the liquor of an hundred oysters and pour it over them. When they have stood a few minutes, take them out and boil the liquor again, with a gill of vinegar, a few whole black peppers, and two or three blades of mace. When this is cold, pour it over the oysters, and cover them closely. This is a very good way to keep them.
Stewed Oysters.
Boil them up very quickly, then set them off, in order to take off the scum which rises. Have ready, for a quart of oysters, half a table-spoonful of butter, with as much flour rubbed into it as it will receive. Return the kettle to the fire, and when it begins to simmer, stir in the butter till it is melted, and then serve.
Another Way.
Boil a pint of milk; rub a heaping table-spoonful of flour smooth in cold milk, and strain into it; then strain in the liquor of a quart of oysters, and when it boils up again, add half a spoonful of butter, a little salt, and the oysters, and let the whole boil two minutes more.
[In opening lobsters, care must be taken to remove the poisonous part. This lies in the head, all of which must be thrown away, as well as the vein which passes from it, through the body. All the other parts are good. Break the shells with a hammer. The liquor and the spawn should be saved.]
Lobster Salad.
To the yolks of four eggs, boiled hard, add a little sweet oil, mustard, pepper, salt, and a gill of vinegar. Stir these all together a long time. Cut up celery or lettuce fine, sprinkle it on the lobster in the dish in which it is to be served, and pour the mixture over it.
The simplest way of serving lobsters is very good, and most healthful. Take them from the shells and eat them cold, with vinegar and mustard.
Stewed Lobster.
Take one large or two small lobsters; cut them in pieces, and put into the stew-pan with the liquor two glasses of wine, one teaspoonful of fine allspice, half a teaspoonful of mixed mustard, a little cayenne, and a quarter of a pound of butter rubbed into some flour. If there is not liquor enough for the gravy, add a little water. Simmer the whole a half an hour.
Baked Bass.
Make a stuffing of pounded cracker or crumbs of bread, an egg, pepper, clove, salt, and butter. Fill it very full, and when sewed up, grate over it a small nutmeg, and sprinkle it with pounded cracker. Then pour on the white of an egg, and melted butter. Bake it an hour in the same dish in which it is to be served.
Potted Shad (a very convenient and excellent dish).
Take three or four fresh caught shad, and when nicely dressed, cut them down the middle, and across in pieces about three inches wide; put these pieces into a jar in layers, with salt, whole cloves, pepper-corns, and allspice sprinkled between. When all is laid in, put in sharp vinegar enough just to cover them, and bake in the oven. It is the best way to put the jar into a brick oven after the bread is drawn, if considerable heat still remains, and let it stand two or three hours, or put it into a range oven at night, to stand till morning. This will keep several weeks, even in hot weather. Almost any fish of the size of shad may be done in the same way.
Brook Trout.
If they are small, fry them with salt pork. If large, boil them, and serve with drawn butter.
Clams.
The round clams, sometimes called quahogs, are much the most healthy. The small ones, with thin edges, are to be preferred. They may be roasted upon a gridiron, or laid in an iron pan upon a stove. When the shell begins to open, pour the liquor into a sauce-pan, and cut the clam from the shell and put with it. When all are taken out, set the sauce-pan on the coals, and when the clams boil up, add pepper and a bit of butter, and pour them upon toasted bread.
Clam broth is made by washing them very clean, and boiling till the shells open; then take out the clams and put them into the water again. Boil them a few minutes, add a little butter and flour, and put toasted crackers in the tureen into which you put the broth. This is very healthy for feeble persons.
Smelts.
Soak smelts a little while in warm water; scrape them, and cut the heads so far that you can gently pull them off, and thus draw out the dark vein that runs through the body; then rinse and lay them into a dry cloth while you fry two or three slices of salt pork crisp. Dip the smelts into a plate of fine Indian meal, and fry them brown. If you fry them in lard or drippings, sprinkle them with salt, but not until they are nearly done, as they will not brown as well, if it is put on at first.
To prepare Salt Shad, Mackerel, or Halibut's Fin to Broil.
Shad should be soaked twenty-four hours, the water being changed once or twice. Mackerel often need soaking thirty, or even thirty-six hours; and halibut's fin thirty-six. A gallon of water is the least in which either of them should be soaked. Grease the gridiron, and lay the skin side down. (See directions at the head of this chapter.)
Smoked Halibut.
It should be washed in warm water, wiped and laid for only three or four minutes on the gridiron. Halibut is so solid a fish that it is not easy to get that which is cured perfectly free from taint.