THE COOK.

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On her first going into a family the Cook will do well to inform herself of the rules and regulations of the house,—the customs of the kitchen,—the peculiarities of her master and mistress,—and above all, she must study, most sedulously, to acquire a perfect knowledge of their taste; which, when attained, will most probably lead to her permanent establishment in the sovereignty of the kitchen.

She will enter into all the economical plans of her employers, and endeavour to make the most of every thing, as well for the sake of her own character as for their interest. Not forgetting, that “wilful waste makes woful want.”

She will consider the encomiums of her master and mistress as her highest praise, and will accept even their admonitions as pleasing proofs of their desire to make her useful to themselves, and to enhance her own confidence and consequence.

The presidency of the kitchen being a situation of great trust and responsibility, she will best evince her sense of the confidence reposed in her by her anxiety to please, and a sedulous regard to the health and comforts of the family, which are, necessarily, in her keeping; governing her whole conduct by that most excellent moral maxim “Do unto others as you would they should do unto you.”

To be well qualified for every situation, the Cook must not only understand the business of the kitchen, but must be a good judge of provisions, as in many families, where there is no housekeeper, she will be required to go to market. She must also be able to keep an account of the current expenses of the family; and to examine, check, and pay the tradesmen’s bills, which she will have to settle with her mistress weekly, or when required.

The Cook should give directions to her assistants to rise early, particularly when a great dinner is to be dressed, that so every thing may be got quite ready in the kitchen to begin business as early in the morning as possible; else, nine times out of ten, the dinner will be too late: and it must always be recollected that “things done in a hurry are never well done,” and that, “an hour lost in the morning may be run after the whole day, but never overtaken.” Besides, to have every thing properly dressed, and to be punctual, as to time, with the dinner, will afford great satisfaction to her employers, and do credit both to them and to herself. Having learnt the precise time of dinner, she must not fail to be punctual.

Cleanliness, in every branch of domestic concerns cannot be too forcibly inculcated, and in the business of a Cook, particularly, it becomes a cardinal virtue. Cleanliness and neatness of person and dress are not less important in her than the arrangement of the kitchen and larder, and all her operations.

Boiling.

The boilers, saucepans, and other vessels, to be used for culinary purposes, must be kept perfectly clean and well tinned. Block tin saucepans, &c. are safest, and perhaps best for these purposes.—When washed they should be dried by the fire, before they are put away; and they should always be wiped out again, with a clean dry cloth, immediately before they are used. This is to be done chiefly to prevent rust, and its baleful effects.

Poultry, and every kind of meat, both fresh and salted, should be washed and wiped dry, and then dredged well with flour, before it be put into the boiler, or pot; this will prevent its being soiled in the water, and will, also, prevent its looking greasy, when taken up.

Meat must always be put into cold water, with just enough water to cover it; say, about a quart of water to a pound of meat,—and it must be kept so covered, during the whole process of dressing, by adding boiling water occasionally.—By this method the inside will always be heated thoroughly, and be properly swollen, before the outside becomes hard; and the whole will be regularly done. This will, also, occasion the meat to look plump; and veal and poultry, in particular, will be the whiter and the better for it.

Beef loses about one-fourth, and mutton about one-fifth, in boiling.

A moderate fire must be kept up under the pot, increasing the heat gradually, till it boils, when it must be drawn back, kept close covered, and constantly simmering, quite gently, but by no means boiling fast. A tea-spoonful of salt thrown into the water, before it boils, will cause the scum to rise the better, which must be very carefully skimmed clean off, immediately; and if, afterwards, a little cold water be thrown in, more scum will be cast up, which must frequently be taken off, as it rises, as on this alone depends the good appearance of all boiled articles.

Remember—that water cannot possibly be made hotter than it is when it first boils; it is, therefore, a waste of firing, and very detrimental to the meat to make it boil fast, as it is thereby rendered hard, and its juices and finest flavour are evaporated in steam.

Generally, beef, mutton, and lamb, unless the joints are very thin, or small, require boiling from a quarter of an hour to eighteen minutes to a pound; lamb, veal, and pork, and thick joints also, of whatever kind, require somewhat longer, especially in cold weather, or when fresh killed. A large leg of pork, for instance, will take a little more time;—always reckoning from the time of its first coming to boil, and taking into the account that the pot must always be kept gently simmering;—the slower the better, so that it be kept boiling. If you suffer boiled meats to remain in the pot after they are done, they become soddened and lose their flavour.

Examples in Boiling.

A LEG OF PORK.

A LEG OF MUTTON.

A TURKEY.

A FOWL.

VEGETABLES.

Greens must be carefully picked, neatly trimmed, washed quite clean from vermin, and laid on a cullender to drain. Then, having ready a well-tinned saucepan, with plenty of clean, soft, boiling water, into which some salt has been thrown, and the scum taken off, plunge them into it, boil them quickly, watch them, and keep continually pressing them under the water with a fork as they rise; and when they begin to sink of themselves, they are done, and must be taken up instantly, and drained dry; for if over done, they will lose not only their crispness and beautiful appearance, but their flavour also. Cabbages, savoys, and turnip-tops, require that the water should be changed when half done, the second water should be boiling, and if managed as above directed, they will eat much the milder and sweeter for it. This is the whole art of dressing vegetables to look green and eat well. We therefore deprecate the use of those factitious and filthy expedients recommended by some, and practised by many, to give, as they pretend, a good colour, to boiled vegetables. This is the best way;—and all artificial means ought to be avoided, as unnecessary and pernicious.

Esculent roots of all kinds may be set on to boil in cold water.

Fish.

Fish, particularly if large, must be put into cold water, with plenty of salt; when ready, it will part from the bone; or it may be tried with a fork, and must be taken out of the water the moment it is done.

If not immediately wanted, let it stay on the fish-plate, over the hot water, and throw over it a clean cloth, dipped in boiling water, to preserve its colour.

A sliced cod should be stewed fifteen minutes.

In all cases, dinner should be served up as soon as possible after it is ready, because keeping the boiled articles, particularly fish, in hot water, renders them vapid and heavy; and hot closets, covers, and other means used to keep them hot, dry the juices and make them eat strong and rancid.

Neither fish, nor vegetables of any kind, (except ripe potatoes,) should be boiled by steam.

Elements of Roasting.

Cleanliness must ever be the maxim for the kitchen.

Before the spit is drawn from the meat, let it be wiped clean, and when done with, let it be rubbed with a little sand and water.

A good brisk fire, due time, proper distance, and frequent basting, are the chief points to be attended to in roasting.

Much depends on the fire;—it should always be brisk and glowing, clear at the bottom, and suited to the article to be roasted.

Beef and mutton lose about one-third in roasting.

The ashes should be taken up, and the hearth made quite clean, before you begin to roast. If the fire require to be stirred during the operation, the dripping-pan must be drawn back, so that then, and at all times, it may be kept clean from cinders and dust.—Hot cinders, or live coals, dropping into the pan, make the dripping rank, and spoil it for basting.

Beef requires a strong, steady fire, which should be made up a little time previous to its being wanted. If the meat has been hung up some time, the dry outside parts must be pared off, and it must be basted, first, with a little salt and water, then well dredged with flour, and afterwards basted, continually, with the dripping; but, if the meat be frozen, it must be brought into the kitchen several hours before it is dressed.—Large joints should be kept at a good distance from the fire at first, and gradually brought nearer and nearer;—the average distance for a large joint, at a good fire, may be about ten or twelve inches, an inch or two more or less, according to circumstances: when kitchen paper, dipped in the dripping, must be tied, not skewered, over the fat parts, to prevent their being scorched. When nearly ready, the smoke will draw from the meat towards the fire; at which time the paper must be taken off, and the meat must be put nearer to the fire to brown it; it must also be sprinkled with a little salt, and well dredged again, with flour, to froth it.

It is as necessary to roast slowly as to boil slowly;—and the General Rule is to allow full a quarter of an hour to a pound for roasting with a proper fire, under ordinary circumstances, and with frequent basting. But neither beef nor mutton require to be so well done as pork, lamb, and veal.—Pork, in particular, requires to be thoroughly done. It must be basted with salt and water; and the skin or rind of the leg, loin, and spare-rib, must be scored, with a sharp knife, after it has been some time at the fire, to make it eat the better. Geese, pigs, and young pork, require a brisk fire, and should be turned quickly.

Great care should be taken in spitting the meat, that the prime part of the joint be not injured:—to balance it on the spit, cook-holds and loaded skewers are very handy.

A bottle jack is an excellent substitute for a spit, in small families, and for want of that, ten or a dozen yards of worsted, folded to a proper length, will answer the purpose very well. Meat if hung to be roasted, should have its ends changed when about half done. A good meat skreen, lined with tin, should always be set before the fire when roasting; it keeps off the cold air, renders the heat more equable, and saves coals.

After all, the above General Rule is liable to many exceptions. If the meat be fresh killed, or the weather be cold, a good joint will require half an hour longer than if the meat be tender and the weather temperate or warm.

We give the following particulars as a more certain guide to the Cook, in most cases on this important point.

Examples in Roasting.

A SIRLOIN OF BEEF.

THE RIBS, OR OTHER JOINTS OF BEEF.

LEG, SHOULDER, LOIN OR NECK OF MUTTON.

A LOIN OF VEAL.

LAMB.

FOWLS.

A GOOSE.

Baking.

We do not much approve of baking butcher’s-meat, as a substitute for roasting it, though it cannot be denied that some articles may be baked to answer nearly as well as if roasted; and when a great dinner is to be prepared it may be convenient to send a dish or two to the oven, but over these the cook can have no controul, and must, therefore, depend entirely on the baker. The following are articles that may with most advantage be baked, provided the meat be good and fat, and the baker be very attentive:—A sucking-pig, goose, some joints of beef, leg and shoulder of mutton, leg and loin of pork, fillet of veal, ham, hare, sprats, and other small kinds of fish in pans, or jugs. To poor families, however, the oven affords great convenience as well as a considerable saving of expense and trouble.

Beef loses about one third of its weight by baking.

A SUCKING PIG.

Broiling.

For this operation let the fire be brisk and clear. The bars of the gridiron must be bright at top and clean betwixt; wipe the gridiron quite clean with a cloth, make its bars hot, and rub them with nice mutton suet, before you lay on the meat. Set the gridiron slanting over the fire, to prevent the fat dropping into it so as to occasion a smoke, which must be prevented. We shall give as an example in this branch of cookery,

A RUMP STEAK.

Frying.

Frying is, in fact, boiling in fat. Before you begin to fry, rub the inside of the Frying-pan with a little fat, warm it and wipe it out with a cloth, quite clean.—To fry fish, half fill the pan with fat, olive oil, nice fresh lard, clarified drippings, or beef or mutton suet;—but whatever fat be used let it be perfectly sweet, free from salt, and nice and clean. Keep a brisk fire, and make the fat very hot, which may be known by its having done hissing. When ready, carefully drain it quite dry before the fire.

We give the following as an example of the best method of Frying soles, and most other kinds of fish:

Let them be quite fresh, and some time before you dress them, wash them thoroughly, and wipe them with a clean cloth, quite dry.—If to be fried with bread-crumbs, beat up an egg, the white and yolk together, quite well, dip the fish in the egg, and cover them completely with grated crumbs, and if you wish the fish to look still better, do them twice over with egg. The fish, if large, may be cut into pieces, the proper size for the table, otherwise they may be fried whole; when cut they must be dished up as if whole. Let the fat in the pan be sufficient to cover the fish, and when it quite boils, and begins to smoke, put in the fish; it will be nicely browned in about five minutes, when it should be turned, and fried just as long on the other side. When done lay them on a soft cloth, before the fire, and turn them every two or three minutes, till they are perfectly dry on both sides.

The fat in which any thing is fried will serve to fry the same kind of thing several times.

Broths, Soups, Stock, &c.

Cleanliness in this, as in every department of kitchen business, must ever be held as the leading principle, and will contribute most to the satisfaction of all parties.

An economical Cook, when she boils animal food, will make a rule to convert the liquor, or broth, into some sort of soup or stock, which may be done at her leisure, and by which means she will always have a rich kitchen, as it is technically called, and will be able to make an extra dish, or an additional tureen of soup, at a short notice, and at a trifling expense. The fragments of meat left after dinner, with the trimmings of undressed meat and game, the heads, necks, gizzards, and feet of fowls, &c. when picked and washed clean, will help to enrich soups, or make stock, and save much expense in gravy meat. The broths, if saved in separate pans, will assist in making white or brown soups, and the gravies left in the dishes after dinner, will be good in hashes, or, with some trifling ingredients added, will make sauce for fish, goose, &c.

The liquor of a knuckle of veal may be converted into glaze, if boiled with a knuckle of ham, till reduced to a fourth or a third part, with the necessary herbs and spices added.

To prepare Soups, &c.—the first care of the Cook will be to see that the stew-pan to be used is well tinned, scalded, and wiped out perfectly clean and dry. She will put some butter or marrow into the bottom of the pan, then lay in a leg or shin of beef with the bones well broken, and the meat cut to pieces; or the skirts of beef, the kidney or melt, or the shank bones of mutton, well cleaned, with the fragments and trimmings of meat and other articles, as above mentioned;—these she will cover close and keep over a slow fire an hour, stirring it up, occasionally, from the bottom, and taking great care that it does not burn.—When all the virtues of the meats are extracted, and the juices are again absorbed by them, she will add water enough to cover them, which will be in the proportion of about a quart of water to a pound of meat, for soup, and to two pounds, for gravies; the scum must then be carefully taken off, quite clean, as it rises, after it has boiled; for the more soups and broths are skimmed, the better, and more transparent they will be: and this transparency, combined with their uniformity of taste, constitutes their chief excellence. It is important that the soup be kept gently simmering five or six or more hours, and that then be added a scraped carrot, a head of celery, a couple of onions, two turnips, and a few sweet herbs;—when ready, let it be strained carefully through a clean tamis, previously dipped in cold water, into stone or unglazed earthen pans, and let the fat remain upon it, to preserve it, till wanted.

Soups and broths when done, ought not to be covered, nor put away with vegetables in them.

Use soft water to boil white peas, and let the peas be whole; but pump water will make green peas-soup of a better colour.

A good tureen of peas-soup may be made from the liquor of pork, mutton, or beef.

The lean of hams or gammon of bacon should be used when Stock is made; but if the former, first give it a boil in water, before you put it in, else it will turn the soup red.

The sediment of gravies, &c. that have stood to be cold, should never be used.

A clear jelly of cow-heels makes a great improvement to gravies and soups.

A lump of clarified butter, thoroughly mixed with flour and boiled with the soup will give it a richness and a greater consistency, if required.—A little tarragon added, just before it is served up, will give it an agreeable flavour.

All soups should be sent to table quite hot.

Cullis, or brown gravy, is made with lean veal and ham or gammon, and sweet herbs, &c.

Bechamel, or white sauce, is made in the same way, but is not browned; it must be improved by the addition of equal quantities of good broth and thick cream simmered with it half an hour, before it is strained off.

The articles used in thickening, seasoning, and flavouring broths and soups, are chiefly bread, flour, oatmeal, peas, rice, Scotch and pearl-barley, isinglass, maccaroni, turnips, beet, carrots, mushrooms, garlick, onions, shallots, cress, parsley, thyme, sage, mint, and other sweet and savoury herbs; also allspice, cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmeg, ginger, pepper, lemon-juice, essence of anchovies, &c. these combined with wine and mushroom catsup, form an endless variety for flavouring and seasoning broths and soups.

Basil, savoury, and knotted-marjorum, are very pungent, and should be used cautiously.

No Cook can support the credit of her kitchen without having plenty of gravy, cullis, and stock always at hand, as these are the bases of all soups and high-seasoned dishes.

Sauces and Gravies.

These are simple, and easily made.

GRAVY FOR ROAST MEAT.

GRAVY FOR BOILED MEAT.

MELTED BUTTER.

LEMON SAUCE.

PARSLEY AND BUTTER.

ANCHOVY SAUCE.

CAPER SAUCE FOR MUTTON.

GARLIC SAUCE.

SHALOT SAUCE,

Browning,

All plain sauces, should taste only of the articles from which they take their names.

In compound sauces the several ingredients should be so nicely proportioned that no particular flavour should predominate.

Soy, walnut-peels, burnt treacle, or sugar, cayenne pepper, or capsicums, chilies, vinegar, pickled herrings, anchovies, sardinias, or sprats, are the bases of almost all the sauces to be found in the shops.

Never season too highly your sauces, gravies, or soups.

Cloves and allspice,—mace and nutmeg,—marjorum, thyme, and savory,—leeks, onions, shalots, and garlic,—need not be mixed together in the same preparation, when either of them will supply the place of the others.

In short, Cooks now know, by experience, that a much less number of ingredients are sufficient to give a finer flavour to sauces, &c. than was formerly used; because, in this age of refined taste, we have learnt to combine the simply elegant with the purely nutritious.

Salads.

These may be eaten at all seasons of the year; but they are most wholesome in the spring, when green herbs, of all kinds, are in the greatest perfection. They are, then, most efficacious, in cleansing, sweetening, and purifying the blood. But, though Salads in the winter act not so powerful as in the spring, yet, such as are to be had, retain all the properties or qualities of their nature, and the warmer kinds, in particular, being gentle, salutary, and most excellent stimulants, are well calculated to warm the stomach, and exhilarate the spirits.

The following are the principal herbs, or vegetables, used in English salads; viz.

Beet Root,	Mint,	Small Salading
Celery,	Onions,	which are
Chervil,	Parsley,	Turnip,
Chives,	Radish, Common,	Rape,
Corn Salad,	——–, Turnip,	Salad Radish,
Cucumber,	Shalots,	Mustard,
Garlic,	Sorrel,	Garden Cress.
Lettuce,	Water Cresses, and

Balm, Dandelion, Nettle Tops, Sage, Spinage Tops, and Tarragon, are sometimes used.

Besides these, the French use many other articles as Salads, most of which being warm, exhilarating, and antiscorbutic, contribute greatly to their health and cheerfulness; viz.

Balm,	Pennyroyal Tops,	Dandelion,
Sage,	Tarragon,	Spinage Tops,
Nettle Tops.

Salad herbs should be used fresh from the gardens; but if grown stale, they must be refreshed in cold water. They must be carefully picked, and washed clean, and then shaken in a clean cloth to dry.

The ingredients generally used in mixing Salads are eggs boiled hard, and rubbed fine, oil, vinegar, mustard, pepper, and salt.

The adulteration of articles of provision is now so common, that the Cook will do well to be guarded against such impositions, by dealing with respectable tradesmen only.—The articles most frequently adulterated are bread, tea, brown sugars, coffee, mustard, pepper, and all other things that are to pass through the mill.

The Cook should take care to be amply provided with proper instruments, and kitchen utensils of all kinds, without which she can do nothing as it ought to be done. It will be necessary to have graduated glass measures, such as the apothecaries use, divided into tea-spoonsful and table-spoonsful,[14] and also graduated on their sides, according to the following figures, in order to measure quantities of fluids with accuracy.