The Project Gutenberg eBook of Marion Harland's Complete Cook Book, by Marion Harland

FOR READY REFERENCE

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

It is so much easier to measure ingredients than to weigh them that the housewife saves time and work by acquainting herself with certain equivalent measures and weights. Without burdening her memory with a dry array of items and figures, I have collected here certain details to which she can refer quickly and confidently.

“One cupful” of flour, milk, etc., means half a pint.
Two scant cupfuls of packed butter make one pound.
Two and a half even cupfuls of powdered sugar are one pound.
Two cupfuls (one pint) of water or milk make one pound.
Three even cupfuls of Indian meal make one pound.
Four even cupfuls of dry flour make one pound.
Two cupfuls (one pint) of water or milk make one pound.
Ten eggs of ordinary size make one pound.
Two cupfuls of minced beef, packed closely, make one pound.
A gill of liquid is half a cupful.
One heaping tablespoonful of granulated sugar is one ounce.
Two heaping tablespoonfuls of flour make one ounce.
Two heaping tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar make one ounce.
Two heaping tablespoonfuls of ground coffee make one ounce.
One tablespoonful of milk, vinegar or brandy make one-half ounce.
The juice of an ordinary lemon is about a tablespoonful. A breakfast cupful of bread-crumbs well pressed in equals about four ounces. Very finely chopped suet, slightly heaped up, weighs about the same. A heaped breakfast cupful of brown sugar represents half a pound, and stoned raisins well pressed in weigh about the same.

TIME-TABLE

Baking and roasting

FISH AND MEATS

Baked beans with pork	6 to 8 hours.
Beef, fillet, rare	20 to 30 minutes.
Beef ribs or loin, well done, per pound	12 to 16 minutes.
Beef ribs, or loin, rare, per pound	8 to 10 minutes.
Chicken, per pound	15 minutes or more.
Duck, domestic	1 hour or more.
Duck, wild	12 minutes per pound.
Fish, whole, as bluefish, salmon, etc.	10 minutes per pound.
Goose, 8 to 10 pounds	2 hours or more.
Grouse	25 to 30 minutes.
Ham	15 minutes per pound.
Lamb, well done, per pound	15 to 18 minutes.
Liver, whole	12 minutes per pound.
Mutton, leg, well done, per pound	15 minutes or more.
Mutton, leg, rare, per pound	10 minutes.
Mutton, saddle, rare, without flank, per pound	9 minutes.
Mutton shoulder, stuffed, per pound	15 to 25 minutes.
Partridge	35 to 40 minutes.
Pork, well done, per pound	20 minutes.
Small fish and fillets	20 to 30 minutes.
Turkey, 8 to 10 pounds	12 minutes per pound.
Veal, well done, per pound	18 to 20 minutes.
Venison, rare, per pound	10 minutes.

Boiling

MEATS

Chicken	1 to 1-1/2 hours.
Corned beef (rib or flank)	4 to 6 hours, according to size.
Corned beef (fancy brisket)	5 to 8 hours.
Corned tongue	3 to 4 hours.
Fowl, 4 to 5 pounds	15 minutes per pound, if tender.
Fresh beef	4 to 6 hours.
Ham	4 to 6 hours.
Mutton	15 minutes per pound.
Turkey, per pound	15 to 18 minutes.

FISH

Clams and oysters	3 to 5 minutes.
Codfish and haddock, per pound	10 minutes.
Bass and bluefish, per pound	10 minutes.
Halibut, whole or thick piece, per pound	15 minutes.
Lobster	30 to 40 minutes.
Salmon, whole or thick piece, per pound	10 to 20 minutes.
Small fish	6 to 8 minutes.

Broiling

Bacon	4 to 8 minutes.
Lamb, or mutton chops	8 to 10 minutes.
Liver	4 to 8 minutes.
Quail	10 to 15 minutes.
Quail in paper cases	10 to 12 minutes.
Steak, 1 inch thick	8 to 12 minutes.
Steak, 1-1/2 inch thick	9 to 15 minutes.
Shad, bluefish, etc.	15 to 30 minutes.
Slices of fish	12 to 15 minutes.
Small fish, trout, etc.	8 to 12 minutes.
Spring chicken	20 minutes.
Squabs	10 to 15 minutes.

Frying

Bacon fried in its own fat	2 to 3 minutes.
Chops, breaded	8 to 10 minutes.
Doughnuts and fritters	3 to 5 minutes.
Fillets of fish	4 to 6 minutes.
Potatoes	2 to 5 minutes.

Boiling vegetables

Asparagus	20 to 25 minutes.
Beans, string	1 to 2 hours.
Beans, Lima	30 to 40 minutes.
Beets, new	45 minutes to one hour.
Beets, old	4 to 6 hours.
Brussels sprouts	15 to 25 minutes.
Cabbage	30 to 80 minutes.
Carrots (old)	1 hour or more.
Cauliflower	20 to 30 minutes.
Celery	20 to 30 minutes.
Corn	10 to 20 minutes.
Macaroni	20 to 50 minutes.
Onions	45 minutes to 2 hours.
Oyster-plant	45 to 60 minutes.
Parsnips	30 to 45 minutes.
Peas	20 to 50 minutes.
Potatoes, white	20 to 30 minutes.
Potatoes, sweet	15 to 25 minutes.
Rice	20 to 30 minutes.
Squash	20 to 30 minutes.
Spinach	20 to 30 minutes.
Tomatoes, stewed	15 to 20 minutes.
Turnips	30 to 45 minutes.

Steaming

Brown bread	3 hours.
Puddings, one quart or more	2 to 3 hours.
Rice	45 to 60 minutes.

Baking of bread, cakes, custards and pudding

Fruit cake	2 to 3 hours.
Layer cake	15 to 20 minutes.
Loaf bread	40 to 60 minutes.
Muffins, baking-powder	20 to 25 minutes.
Muffins, yeast	about 30 minutes.
Pie crust	30 to 45 minutes.
Plain loaf cake	30 to 90 minutes.
Potatoes	30 to 45 minutes.
Rolls, biscuit	10 to 30 minutes.
Scalloped and au gratin dishes	10 to 20 minutes,
	according to size.
Sponge cake, loaf	45 to 60 minutes,
	according to size.
Timbales	about 20 minutes.

The instructions given above must be modified by circumstances: the age and quality of meat, vegetables and fish, the size of loaves and so forth. It is not possible to make out a table which shall be absolutely accurate. Experience is the one trustworthy teacher.